Din

https://www.tgauge.com/product/188/sensor-cable Used the sensors here, apparently.

Operated by a simple shuttle unit on scene. the holes were to allow the stock to be put on with a ramp. Only had one wobble where the sensor didn't quite react when it should've and nearly catapulted itself onto the half built layout next to it! Few of us had shuttle units to allow for ease of operation as some of us were playing with the big, dirty, smelly, sooty ones outside as nearly all of us are also SBR volunteers!

Phil the Catering manager did such an amazing job, considering they've only taken sandwich prep "in house" like less than two weeks ago. So I suspect the lunches were what he could quickly put together en masse for an acceptable price point. Now they have full control and a year's advance notice, I reckon we'll get something good in next year. To be fair, I did glance at the catering prices, and considering the prices the public is expected to pay elsewhere, and have seen at places like Doncaster, Warley etc, I think it did very well. He was a happy man after tallying up after the weekend, I know that much!

To be fair, you CAN see the pall of black smoke rising from a good mile or two out on our Spectacle of Steams firs thing in the morning. 😅

Whats even more incredible is the lady who made it was on our stand. (Lawries Mechanical Marvels the yootoober where we had a bunch of little layouts of various scales to show what you can do with basically zero space ranging from T-0 gauge) My own is a glorified, functional photoplank that I was still making in the week beforehand! Thats her second attempt at model railway layouts and she had a lot of fun talking to people who dont normally "do" model railways by talking about her craft background and how much fun she has with it. Emphasisng the fact it's in a boxfile was a major talking point, especially with Suitcase Trains just next door in the main roundhouse. The railway really is completely incidental to the scene, and thats what made it wonderful. The video on our stand and the show should be out this Friday, all being well. There's a LOT of really good events coming up this year. The Trust went public in 2019, on the basis it would build itself up during 2020, and 2021 and- Oh yeah. So what should be like, year 4/5 of being more public is like year 2 n a bit.

Ok. Well, as we broke last years attendance record with this year's crowds, and the show was considered a roaring success by all involved both exhibitor and organiser alike (to the point next year's already on sale) I think we'll cope without your £14 and apparently inability to comprehend the "Railway" part of "Statfold Barn Railway." Please, stick to your models if a bit of soot on the 9 (yes, 9!) steam locomotives that were put out for the public to enjoy (Including one you could drive yourself for a reasonable beer token) bothers you so much. It's still 3ft gauge and running on the Lisbon Chassis assigned to it when running in Detroit. It has Brill axleboxes too. This allowed the SBR to stick another rail out, allowing for the line to be 3ft, 18" and 4' 8.5" No 14 is a wonderful mix of of its history and one I can (and often do) bore visitors to tears about it. I seem to dimly remember chatting with them at the end of Last Year's show after they'd done such an amazing trade over the weekend, I think they had a prior engagement or something that meant they couldn't return. I was as bitterly dissapointed as you were as I usually would stop and have a natter with them between mouthfuls of cake!

Have you heard the tale of the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway? It's not a story the Swindonians would tell you.... Its one of Colonel Stephens lines that he actually helped engineer and sounds a little along the lines of what you're looking for albeit on a larger scale. It was built ruthlessly to budget on the line of an old Canal formation and was in the typical Stephens Style, and would boast its own passenger service and very light touch in everything not the trackwork. Link to a helpful gallery from the Stephens Society: https://colonelstephenssociety.co.uk/the colonels railways/burry port %26 gwendraeth valley light railway/burry port %26 gwendraeth valley light railway photo gallery-2.html I beleive towards the end, all of the Signalling was removed and it was largely treated akin to an incredibly long siding. Depending on how you would want to do it, I'd definitely replace it with a ground frame (unmanned, natch) but maybe consider retaining the signal. I'd probably go and have a look at Scale Model Scenery's own bunches of buildings that could be adapted to something "different". I quite like the look of the Polsue Stables/stores. Perhaps when the railway was built on the cheap they hired people more used to building farm buildings than railway ones?

Sir Joseph Bazalgate, when building the London Sewarage System, ordered the size of the all pipes doubled despite them being perfectly adequate for the needs of the people of London at the time. He stated that "We will get one chance to do this, and we are going to do this properly." Had he not done so, effluent would've begun to wash itself back into London homes and on its streets in the 1960s. Instead it continued with very little intervention for several decades longer, and still makes a significant core of the London system to this day. Something to be said, with that attitude considering some things we build and the wasteful society we have today.

I am surprised you're not going down the same route as the Shelby Group vehicles, which you did such a stunning job on.

Only trace I could find is likely produced by a company called Base Toys. I also found a single pic of the Hansons lorry similar to one above with a bit of a googling but when I go through to the flickr account it just takes me back to images of actual trucks, not the model.

What about making the barge centre removable if you did the barge tipper? Maybe also either go for a slightly wider or heigher barge mouth than scale to help catch more coal?

Sadly I probably wont be anywhere near either other show to collect. It's got my little grey cells firing though, so I'll see what's what in the future.

Every congratulations and my smouldering jealousy. Wonderful to see it going to someone who put in such a passionate and respective post above, I shall go and drool over it at Doncaster on the Saturday. I'll once again be part of the eponimous youtuber Lawrie Rose's entourage there.

By my estimates, 5 layouts of various flavour. Sevastapol, Calder Vale, Charlie Stong and Waterylane, Harboro Stone Co, Blacker Lane D.P 3 out in the wild with new owners. The little welsh one which I can't pronounce, Bury Thorn and Sons and White Peak Stone and Tarmacadum.

Workshop and maybe an engine shed? The one at Cadley Hill in Swadlincote, Derbyshire was a lovely and simple two road affair. Pictures/inspiration here: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/cadley-hill-colliery-railway-derbyshire-april-1976.66298/