Player of trains

I have to say I'm really very very fond of this take on Rheneas, using it as a missing link is quite inspired though its the coach conversions for the MSR I particularly like, you've gotten me trawling Ebay for some similar items to bash about. I don't think Rotten Row could have gone to a better person. Apologies if this comes off as intrusive or rude but do you take commissions for transfers Corbs? You've gotten great results making your own and I'm after a stock of custom lining for several planned locos.

As one more note please let me know if anything is obviously wrong with this, it's playing with history but I want to try to remain as plausible as possible.

Many thanks to 36C for outlining Eastwich. Tumm was initially their idea during talks a year ago now and I ran with it from there. And speaking of running I have written up the rest of the history of the island and although it's all subject to change this is the overall history I've been working too though the finer details always need tweaking as I find out more about the area and history. It's both entertaining and confusing trying to come up with reasons for not massively changing the course of European or global history in some respects. The previously posted text block and the following are just outlines but there's plenty more behind it if anyone has more questions to ask. History of Tumm 1086 to the modern day Under Norman administration Tumm was broken up into counties that today form part of the Tumm Administration for the island. These counties were Chervilshire, Meadeshire, Torrshire, Rardwicke and Eastwich. Much like the rest of feudal England the island continued much the same as the rest of the country but developed with some autonomy due to its distance and soon would become a large trading hub for the countries of Northern and Western Europe. The island would further its own economic standing with the easy exploitation of timber, peat, sea coal and iron ore mined from the bogs of the island. Trade would be significantly disrupted in the Hundred Year War with the island receiving several coastal fortifications financed by the crown to protect the island from a theorised French invasion of the island which could act as an ideal staging area for a northern invasion of England. During the Wars of the Roses midway through the 14th century the affluent groups of interest on the on the islands backed the house of York namely to protect their trading interests and money than any true political siding with Richard of Henry as the York troops could have easily bared ships from Tumm docking in the Humber and cutting off significant revenue stream to the island. When the House of York was overtook by Lancastrian forces the island happily changed allegiances to keep trade flowing. By the time of Henry the VIII the islands were brought out of their relative autonomy into a closer ruling by the Crown due to Henry’s administration and it was here that the islands trading ports were upgraded to capacitate his large new naval vessels beginning a long tradition with the royal navy. In this time the monasteries were included under the disillusionment and their dismantling largely funded the rebuilding of Port Chevril Magna to service naval vessels. As a final addition some of the existing coastal emplacements were upgraded with better guns turning some into the now intrinsic idea of a Tudor gun battery and several coastal castles were erected such as Fort Barrows. This was continued under the reign of Elizabeth I and the guns were used in anger when the remnants of the Spanish armada were shepherded up the North Sea and came too close to Tumm while hoping to shelter in shallower water. Under the Stuart reign the island largely kept its purpose as a trading hub and fortification in the North Sea allowing the Royal Navy to comfortably patrol the east coast as and when needed. And served as a heavy naval deterrent to other countries operating in the North Sea and indeed played a part into supporting various conflicts throughout the 17th century. At the start of the English Civil war the island's county families and local governments sided with the royalist forces contributing resources, money and manpower to the royalist side. In 1649 during the second rebellion of the war, as royalist forces and resistance were gradually eradicated by parliamentary troops, a detachment of royalist troops sailed to Tumm in an attempt to safeguard the island against a parliament siege and provide a safe haven for Charles I in case the war did end in a loss. This plan was unfortunately jeopardised as Oliver Cromwell and his associates dispatched their own troops to Tumm in order to sabotage this effort. The royalist troops were caught in the town of Pidney and the castle triggered the Battle of Pidney in the early hours of the morning with an overwhelming parliament victory. Pidney castle was slighted and is now known as Cavaliers Stand and the island was secured to the side of parliament and the resources diverted to the parliament war effort. Despite the parliamentary efforts this did not stop royalist sympathisers and abettors being able to escape via Tumm at the conflict’s end and join Charles II in exile. During the 18th century the Enclosures Act bought about radical change by dividing up much of the common land on the island to create several large landowners such as the Whenbarrows and further bolster others like the Earldom of Eastwich. The second to last large scale naval engagement around the island would take place in 1781 in the 4th Anglo Dutch war with the battle of Dogger Bank and Tumm with the British and Dutch fleets being drawn into a battle on the large sandbank south east of the island known as Dogger Bank while they were escorting respective merchant convoys. Although a large bloody engagement neither side won a military victory instead being a strategic victory for the British, crippling Dutch trade and pinning their Navy to Texel while the British convoy sheltered on the island. It would be two years later under King George the III the island gained its current status as an independent nation, as a Crown Dependency to the throne of the United Kingdom, following suit of the Isle of Man becoming a Crown Dependency a few years prior the crown and government declared the island a dependency in 1783, and similar to the Isle of Man the Isle of Tumm setup its own parliament, Stornget, and government with the 4th Earl of Eastwich, William Eastwich elected as its first Prime Minister. The creation of the government also led to the creation of a new county in the form of the current day, Tarland and Island Representatives, representing the constituents of Tarland and the other smaller islands around Tumm. The defeat of the Dutch forces as well as the American War of Independence are arguably the greatest influences for the allowance of Tumm to become an independent entity. The 4th Anglo Dutch War safeguarded Britain from naval invasion for the foreseeable future and the island was able to take advantage of the American Revolution and the restriction of funds to the crown by effectively buying its freedom by lobbying with trade profits to the crown. Despite this independence the island still retained strong links to the UK and by and large the rest of Europe, keeping its position as a trading port and shelter in the North Sea. The Royal Navy continued to maintain its bases on the island as part of the dependency agreement from its own docks to the gun batteries which saw infrequent use in the Napoleonic wars and small conflicts between European nations as the 1700s came to a close. With the development of the industrial revolution the island’s mineral wealth was fully realised and with steam pumping engines imported from Britain the first deep shaft coal mines were sunk at Bramble Fosse in the 1790s by the Whenbarrows, a feat previously impossible due to the marshy makeup of the island with the mined coal transported by boat along the canalised River Ruth to Port Chevril Magna. The islands mineral wealth would further be exploited throughout the 1800s bolstered by the development of modern canal and railway links built from the 1840s onwards; coal, iron ore, aggregates and other metals would all be exploited as well as petroleum becoming a crucial industry into the 1890s and beyond. Holiday making would become another popular industry and several coastal towns would make the change from fishing to resort towns and became popular destinations for tourists from all over Europe. During both world wars the island was host to several internment camps for prisoners of war and vitally important as a supply of domestic oil. Resultantly the island was heavily bombed by conventional explosives and attempts at targeted incendiary bombing of the oil wells by both zeppelins and the Luftwaffe. Oil production and railways were the chief area of concern but Jutham and other major towns would be bombed heavily throughout 1941 to 1943. Coastal shipping was disrupted heavily by U boat activity and coastal shelling by the Kreigsmarine wasn’t uncommon in accompaniment of the bombing. Since the end of World War Two and into the modern era the island become a large tourist destination due to its unique landscape and architecture formed from various European influences with buildings of a British, German, Norwegian or Danish flair all found on the same streets in the maritime towns. The island's coal reserves were largely exhausted in the 1970s or deemed no longer economical to work although mining did continue in part until the early 2000s. Oil has remained a consistent mainstay although inland fields have a limited expected lifespan remaining and instead pipelines have been laid to North Sea oil and gas rigs to the refineries on the island. The heavy industry does remain on the north face of the island as several shipyards have remained open and expanded to accommodate full drilling rigs and carrying ships for maintenance to save on costs of towing the rigs further afield to the coasts of other European countries. Agriculture remains a predominant industry on the island with open farming on the common ground remaining a common practice amongst the Tummish farmers, the grand majority being livestock like cattle and sheep although cereals are grown in the east of the island on rockier ground.

Indeed they do, it's the capital of the island because of being such a large natural harbour and has been a military port since the 600s, the island was settled by the Jutes and the name literally means Jute Town. Both Chevril Magna and Jutham were established as naval ports under Henry VIII and though the Tudor docks are now serving colliers and trampers the naval docks at Jutham are still in use. Nor'Haven also saw some use but never as a dock for large warships, instead it was protected by two shore batteries erected on Og's Lump. And no subject is too thorny at all politics of Tumm is something I've had on the backburner even if it may be idealised. The island is a crown dependency which makes jurisdiction a little bit flaky so the industrialisation compared to Scotland is something that I don't intend to change much. I want to look into Tumm having supported its own military after gaining its semi-independence effectively as an auxiliary to the Royal Navy and British army though this is something that I need to research more. Mr Edwardian I do indeed love that idea even if its not on the mainland there's plenty of outlying rocks and islets that would be very valuable to any guano concerns. It also allows some very interesting private owner stock. I'm going to begin setting the rest of the history in concrete when I have the time but for now I'll include the first part below. Origin of the Name The name of the island is derived from a mix of sources from both Roman Latin and the native language. Tuool is the Tummish word for land and as judged by old roman records written by Pliny the Elder it is believed to have been adopted by the occupying Roman forces due to the similarity to the Latin word Tumulis, meaning tomb (which historians believe may also reflect on the native Celtic practice of burying their dead in the peat bogs of the island), and is what the Romans knew the island as. With the departure of the Romans the island reverted to it's ancient name of Tuool though the name in continental Europe remained as Tumlis. With the investment of the island into the English crown following 1067 and the compilation of the Domesday book by William the 1st the island was firmly named Tumm in the book's penning. History of Tumm 6500BC - 1086AD Tumm is formerly a region known as Doggerland, the land bridge that connected Britain and Ireland to continental Europe and was disconnected from both some time around 6500BC and it is primarily made up of a large deposit of glacial rock dumped onto the island by southern travelling glaciers which stumbled on the extant Dogger Hills which has led to historians nicknaming the island a "Glacial Speedhump". The islands first occupants would be hunter gatherers and settled fishermen from Britain, Europe and Scandinavia who settled onto the island or were isolated when sea levels rose. Several Bronze age burial mounds and even villages have been unearthed on the island with the mounds becoming smaller and more ornate as the era progressed and several survive as landmarks today. The Romans knew of the island as Insula Tuoolim and would conquer the island after the Iceni revolts in AD64 but their control was limited to the interior port of Chevril Magna and the modern day Silver Head peninsula. Various groups would claim the island in later years with Angles, Saxons and Jutes laying claim to the island throughout the sixth and seventh centuries. The Jutes would ultimately be the main presence on the island with the name of the capital Jutham being derived from Jute and the Saxon Ham meaning town. This led to the kingdom of Tooul under King Cedric forming out of the Jutes comingling with the resident islanders which closely parallels the kingdoms on mainland Britain and the Kingdom of the Isles formed from Man and the Hebrides. Into the 8th century the Norse invasions of Britain began with coastal raiding and the Kingdom of Tooul was very quickly subdued and invaded by the Vikings and would later form a stopgap or midway point on voyages from Denmark and Norway for these raiders with the forces rebuilding or even expanding some long abandoned Roman ports and quays, these are known as the First Invasions. With the culmination of these invasions in the 890s a considerable portion of the occupying Vikings either left for mainland Europe or settled on the island permanently. Tumm was left in relative peace under various Norse lords as a small independent nation without a formal ruler for the next century until the 1000s. This was when the second Norse invasion would occur with the island being invaded by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1014 as part of his North Sea Empire. With the following death of King Cnut in 1035 and the collapse of the empire the island would again be left to its own devices. In 1064 Harald III Hardraade, then king or Norway initiated the third invasion of Tumm in 1064 in an attempt to intimidate any other competitors for the throne, specifically William Duke of Normandy as well as Edward into making him the heir to the English throne. With the coronation of Harold II in 1066 sending waves through early medieval Europe designs were set into form and Harald and Harold’s brother Torsig invaded using the Isle of Tumm as a launching point for their invasion. This unfortunately did not help Harald and he was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge rendering his invasion and preparations of Tumm pointless. The remaining men of Harald’s army retreated back to Tumm. However with the defeat of Harold at the Battle of Hastings several days later and William pushing victorious into England, the survivors fully retreated back to Norway realising they would easily be defeated if William chose to then secure Tumm. After William’s coronation in December he did indeed send men to secure the island, brining it officially under English rule in the start of 1070, and solidifying this rule with the compilation of the Domesday Book in 1086, although documentation has survived indicating that clerks were compiling information for the crown from 1080 given the island being a newer territory. This Norman control also cemented the name of Tumm due to poor translations of Tooul into Norman.

Thank you so much for the responses, I'm so happy everyone likes it. I haven't just yet, the formal history is only concrete until 1086 when Tumm was included in the Domesday book but I do have a variety of plans for both world wars. The island's main importance is fuel as it sits over the edge of the real Ekofisk oilfield and the southern natural gas field and these have been being exploited since the 1890s. This means it was heavily bombed and shelled with the aim of disrupting oil fields and refineries as well as the railways during both world wars with several Zeppelin raids in ww1 and bombing raids in WW2 and later V1 rocket attacks.

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't updated this further. I admit I was a little apprehensive thinking I'm in the wrong part of the forum but Tumm was always inspired by pre-grouping practice and this is the part of the forum that appreciates large narratives and backstories most of all with Castle Aching and Annie's work which have always been so nice to read though so I'm going to continue here. I've done more work on the CM&BFR since my last posting and started on the town and a few other bits and pieces like newer maps to work off and writing the formal history. Maps Work in progress map of the islands This is the island at the height of the network in 1931, after the earthquake (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_Dogger_Bank_earthquake) in June of that year the network would begin a slow rationalisation due to the damage sustained and a good amount of overexpansion in the days of railwaymania especially on the Mostad Peninsula. Not all of these companies would be independent at the same time but they did exist at one point or another, the exception to this rule is the inclusion of the branch to the Burkreid nuclear power station that was built in the 1960s to serve the plant. The map is still a work in progress and I'm working on the topography of the map. Standard Gauge Key Red - Chevrilshire & South Coast Railway Yellow - Isle of Tumm Central Railway Dark Blue - County Eastwich Railway Pink - Postgate & Granthwaite Railway (Absorbed into the IoTCR in 1909) Blue - Great Northern Navigation Railway (Semi industrial network inspired by the MSC railway) Narrow Gauge Key Light Blue - Chevril Magna & Bramble Fosse Railway Dark Blue - County Eastwich Railway (needs distinction but the northern CER route and Castrum Head lines are 2ft6in) Dark Blue (isle of mort) Isle of Mort Railway, 3ft Cyan - St Williams' Isle Causeway Railway, 3ft Purple - Fludir Railway, 3ft Green - Cottoness & Mumbling Hill Railway, 2ft6in Dark Green - Isle of Tumm Central Narrow Gauge Railway, 2ft6in Lime - Codsollop Tramway, 2ft6in Mostad Key (Because its a railwaymania induced mess) Blue - Sigda Ind Railway, 2ft6in Yellow - Nestad Military Railway, dual standard and 2ft6in Red - East Mostad Railway 2ft6in Brown - Hofyorness Cableway 2ft6in Purple - North-Haven, Laudark & Prestad Railway 2ft6in Cyan - Nor-Haven Bay & Casrum Railway 2ft6in The companies on Mostad are the result of late stage railwaymania and early narrow gauge resulting in several poorly thought out and competing companies in a very cramped area, they were all absorbed into the CER after WW1 which instituted several policies of rationalisation to that small network. Chevril Magna & the Ruth Valley The CM&BFR is the portion of the island I'm modelling with a permanent layout as I've already posted. This is the expanse of the company at its largest with several branches and the mainline and it really is much easier to come up with ways to model it with it properly mapped out. The company began with the mainline between Chevril Magna and Bramble Fosse in 1875 replacing an earlier gravity tramway and the incline at Cavaliers Stand and the bulk of the traffic is coal to be exported out of the port at Chevril Magna. The Pidd vale line was opened in 1886 to serve the chemical mill at Tuton Lowe which remained a stable source of revenue as the mill produced various chemicals for munitions and explosives. The other branches were opened later post WW1 with Catspaw in 1919 as part of the post war construction of the reservoir and dam over the river Dare and the Harrowsford line was opened in 1923 with a heavy subsidy as an investment in the farmlands and towns of the area. Modelling (yes I do occasionally do some...) I've begun ballasting the boards for the port and laying down cobbles on the roads and quayside and starting to make the buildings for this part of the layout. I intend to be able to take the boards out of the loft on occasion so in order for it to fit though the hatch the buildings are designed to be removable. The bases are foamboard and eventually will plug into the gaps in the paving. I'm using these buildings as a bit of an experiment to play with both traditional methods and printing for the buildings. I'm making the station buildings from templates drawn up in Publisher and backed onto card with Scalescenes sheets. I want to keep the architecture for the railway buildings consistent with red ballast brick from ships docking at the port and ashlar edging and sills locally quarried at Catspaw. Next is an attempt I'm making to print a building, this is the market hall that will sit on the side of the layout though it's not really progressed beyond this point. Locos are much more fun to make in CAD. Cheers for sitting though and reading this update and I'm hoping to discuss more about the island in a bit. Thanks, Alec.

Thanks! It's OO just posed next to some 009 track, they're the heavy oil haulers on the freelance I'm working on, Isle of Tumm Central Railway 2D-1 class. it started out as a replica of the Southern proposal but now they're Armstrong Witworth locos as I found some remarkably similar machines they built for the Buenos Aries railway, I need to sit down and rebuild them with more Armstrong Witworth hallmarks.

I'm definitely following this, lovely work so far. I cheated a bit with mine and used an 8F and a Schools body carved about a bit.

I’ve been wondering myself if it’s OO or HO, I’ll measure when it arrives, I know it used the Merchant Navy wheels so I guess it must be somewhere in between OO and HO. Begs the question as to why it was made though, never seems to have been any hints of an export attempt and American Flyer already made the J1 Hudsons in HO

Thanks Grifone, I've a hunch the coaches likely never made it to market I can't find any references outside of advertisements, the plan for cars instead is to track down some Trix Twin heavyweight coaches, I've seen them around, cheap and ratty and they'd be nice to restore and repaint into NYC two tone grey. I'm very quickly falling down a rabbit hole I see no recovery from...

Hello everyone, I’ve been going though adverts for Graham and Farish’s OO range to try and narrow down some dates after obtaining a NYC Hudson from a friend for restoration, there were some lightweight coaches shown in the advertisements to run with the Hudson but I’ve never seen them mentioned outside of advertisements. Were they ever made available and if so does anyone have photos? I imagine they ended up like the Pullman coaches and banana shaped. cheers, Alec.

Huzzar, some progress! Over the course of July I've spent time wiring the boards for Port Chevril Magna installing point motors and the track power, I've bitten the bullet and decided to go fully DCC and have so far chipped the tramway Peckett and surprisingly the electrics worked first time round. The trackpower feeds are supplied from a central bus made from some lengths of OO flexi-track and all the point motors are wired to a stud contact panel of the layout, its a rats nest but all colour coded and tied up depending on the motor number. Now onto something more Pre-Grouping in style; scenery and locos. I've been starting to apply the brickwork and cobbles to the nearside of the quay, the idea behind Port Chevril Magna is that its a port that's seen several different uses over its long life from a fishing village at the mouth of the River Ruth to investment in the 1500s by Henry VIII into a naval port before being abandoned due to silting up constantly and then repurposed for coal at the start of the 19th century. I'm trying to reflect this with the walling with irregular blocks, older chunkier stones for the Tudor age walling to neater cut blocks showing where the walling has been restored. I'm yet to properly weather the stones to show differences in age aside from an overall black wash but they're all painted the same basic shade to show they've generally come from the same location, a small quarry several miles upstream which will eventually be represented by a few PO wagons, both narrow gauge and standard. The water uses the loo roll method by layering toilet paper and brushing on a PVA and water mix then sculpting waves and patterns into the paper to simulate water and it will get all painted a muddy green and gloss coated. Cobbles are all the now traditional method of DAS clay and made by depressing them with the handle of a razor saw, painted grey and I'm going to give them all a white wash to bring out the mortar courses. The final thing I've been working on are the designs for the 1875 built 0-6-0s that formed the backbone of the coal traffic until the 1910s they were originally based off of a freelance design by a friend of mine which I've adapted for my own use. Chunks of inspiration came from Beyer designs of the time with the bent iron cab and the Ffestinog Englands, heavy expensive locomotives for the time. The body is another 3D print and fitted onto the long wheelbase Grafar 0-6-0 chassis, eventually they'll be fitted with RT models valve gear although I plan to do it as a batch when I've built the other three locos as the plan is for a class of four locos, the tender is a print too with the frame and body printed separately, fitted with tophat bearings and greenwich 8mm wheels popped in. Nameplates for two of these locos are on order from Narrow Planet No.2 Parzifal and No.3 Berrenger and they'll probably be the first two completed.

Goodness that station building is looking absolutely gorgeous, might have to magpie a look like that for the stations on my own layout. The chimneys set it off really nicely.

Hello Annie, I’ve followed the Big UK layout ever since you started posting it on NGRM and it’s fascinating to see the bare bones layout again. How many different parts ended up getting added to it over time? I recall you added a 3ft line at some time and the custom stock for the Grand Navigation company has proved to be a bit of inspiration for my own Isle. Thanks for posting in these threads as they’re all lovely reads (especially the Kotanga Tramway)

Hello everyone, I'm back, the 0-4-2 has had it's cab and a new chimney printed out in resin and it's starting to look the part. On the narrow gauge front I've been printing off the final prototypes for the CM&BFR coal wagons, these are replicas of the Campbeltown and Machrihanish light railway, the 1907 batch of 5 plank 3.5 ton wagons, 1914 batch of 6 plank 4.5 ton wagons and the proposed yet not built 4 ton hoppers Pickering proposed but the CM&BFR ultimately never bought. The plan is for coal traffic to be modernised around 1910 with the purchase of a large garratt and better material handling with automatic discharge into the holds of ships. Heavily inspired by the NER practices

Not quite a level crossing but exactly the same vein, the street running section of the Molliebahn and of course it was a Mercedes. Seems the driver deliberately pulls out in front of the loco too. No way they didn't hear it coming even if they didn't look.

It’s based off of the Sole SECR S class No.685, it was a saddle tank rebuild of one of the Wainright C classes hence it’s ungainly height. It worked at Richburough port then Bricklayers Arms until 1951. The Triang model is way oversize for an already pretty big engine as it was originally clockwork and the large tank was to fit the spring, same went for the diesel shunter lookalike. My guess is a designer must have seen it at Bricklayers Arms and figured it a good fit to the clockwork 0-6-0 mechanism.

I'm afraid I can't contribute much to the music and headlines despite being thoroughly entertaining so I'm just going to compliment Edwardian for an exceedingly rich and varied read and I look forward to what comes next.

Thanks for the interest Schooner. I've finally had a new bottle of printer resin dispatched so I've gotten on with the cab for the 0-4-2 loco, I've given up with working the belpaire into the design at the moment so I've put a basic wagon-top firebox onto the cab. Whether it'd be exactly humane to just have a weatherboard in the middle of the North Sea remains to be seen and I'm very much in the mind of giving the poor saps crewing it a tarpaulin.

Hi Everyone, Thanks for stopping in to check out my overarching project, Tumm as a name is no more and the island now goes by Alnogg or Alsey depending on who you ask, I'm starting afresh from page 2 onwards but much of the original concepts are remaining. Thanks for saying hello. Alec ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello everyone, although I've been a member of the forum since 2016 I've never posted much aside from some now very dated kitbashing projects but with the lock down resulting in school finishing far earlier than planned and nothing happening until at least September I'm finally making a start on a project I've been sitting on for some time. I've been heavily inspired by Pre-grouping companies, dozens of other layouts both SG and Narrower Gauges as well as companies on mainland Europe (Dutch machines are ruddy beautiful). So I present the Island of Tumm, a fictional Crown Dependency in the middle of the North Sea. You can probably guess what it's based upon or by reading the title and you'd be correct if you thought Dogger Bank, given the size of the bank there's great scope for large secondary route size companies like the Furness, SECR or Hull & Barnsley and being an island there is obvious inspiration with the Isle of Wight companies and the Isle of Man, furthermore the bank is smack on top of several gas and oil deposits which would allow for a vastly different freight workings as compared to mainland Britain or Europe, namely earlier oil and petroleum products as a bit of an analogue to the British coal industry at the time. The Flag of Tumm The island in relation to the rest of the North Sea and Europe The overall map of the island with major towns and points of interest. In terms of actual modelling the layout I am slowly putting together is a model of the Chevril Magna end of the Chevril Magna & Bramble Fosse Railway, a 2'4" gauge coal carrying railway, modelled in 009, that runs up the Ruth Valley following the river Ruth to the pits at Bramble Fosse and takes inspiration from a few sources; Ted Polet's Craigcorry and Dunalistair Railway, the Campbeltown and Machrihanish light railway and the Welshpool and Llanfair. Currently I've the main board for the dockside tracks laid and I need to begin with the wiring, a whole new learning curve as any other layout attempt has been isolated frog points and DC. The trackplan is partially based off of Douglas station on the IoM at least with the station roads and engine shed placement, the second loop is for coal trains coming onto the dock where the harbour shunter will take charge of the train and move it on to a yet to be constructed coal dock board over a wooden swing bridge that sits over the inner harbour entrance. And despite not having plans for a standard gauge layout just yet I am modelling some stock for the island's standard gauge companies. Although probably pushing the pre-grouping label I've been building a 4-8-0 oil fired class for heavy oil trains, owned and operated by the Isle of Tumm Central, this is very much based off of Maunsell's proposal for the Southern and exists as a class of 6 delivered in 1936, the model is still in it's WIP stage and is a horrible concoction of a Dapol Schools kit and a 70s era Hornby tender-drive 8F and several other bits and pieces like a pony truck off of a Wills County class which I still need to figure out how to properly attach to the frame. The next machine is far more relevant to the pre-grouping aesthetic I'm aiming for and is a Chevrilshire & South Coast Railway machine, currently stalled as I'm not too sure how to motorise it, it is an 0-4-2 built from an Airfix dean goods, as of now it really is quite basic but I want to try and 3D print a new open cab and tender for this loco. As the original is a tender drive I'm looking towards building a motorised four wheel tender although I might leave it as a dummy loco for now. The fishmouth (is that the name? smokebox door demonstrates it's age and it'll be appropriately weathered either acting as a light freight or passenger engine. Finally I've a pair of freelance diesel boxcabs running on Bachmann Underground Ernie frames which can be found for pittance on Ebay, given the local oil supplies the companies on the island began to experiment heavily with oil firing and internal combustion and these are supposed to be a pair of diesel electric boxcabs delivered at the end of the 1920s to the C&SCR from English Electric for use in tandem for general workings. Thanks for taking the time to read this admittedly very very out there freelance and I hope people do like it. If there is the interest I can go into far more detail concerning the other companies and the island's history if people would be interested in a big slab of text. Alec.

Hi 313201, just saw this, I think you meant to quote me, I haven’t actually attached the pony truck yet, it’s something I still need to fathom out. The pony truck is off a Wills County that was floating about and has a rectangular slot to slide in, I’ll be able to simply screw it in but I need to get the Dremel out and carve out the backs of the cylinders to allow some decent movement. Aside from that it’s a pretty good chassis to kitbash although if you can get hold of some HO chassis as made by Tyco/Mantua it would save a good bit of work.

Either Beyer or Manning Wardle I think, Wardle built locos in a similar style to Beyer for some export machines

Blows dust off of account... This thread has to be one of the most dangerous to peruse on the site, more-so under lockdown and in that fiddly period where there’s no schoolwork to be done. I’ve been adapting Maunsell’s 4-8-0 proposal to my own needs, and mostly for fun. Overall it’s a bit of a mix of my own design, the proposal drawings as well as the Mathew Cousins painting and Mr Corbs excellent photobashes. The running gear is adapted from a first generation Hornby 8F and tender drive while the body has been fudged together with a Dapol schools kit and bits from the 8F, the boiler extension was imply solved by carving off the washout plugs to extend the barrel, glued to the Stanier belpaire and filled. The cylinders are mounted on their own extension fabricated from styrene and the crank axle and second driving axle swapped, I was expecting this to be a bit of a difficult job as I expected to have to pop the wheels off and re-quarter them but the wheels are held in with a keeper plate running in brass bushes, very nice for the time it would have been made. The tender is the real difference to the proposal and others mockups as they design called for the standard bogie tender, given this is a tender drive unit I’ve had to stick to the six wheel design so I’ve made a new body from the schools sides and styrene extensions to the rear of the tank and shaved off the raised lining. The tender is also an oil tender, the locomotive isn’t destined to become a Southern locomotive rather working somewhere else entirely and the oil tank top has been made from more styrene and pieces from the BR1F tender in the 9F kit with other odds and ends for the fuel filler flap and coach ventilators as well, ventilators. I’m quite pleased with how it’s gone so far and it’s so much better than what I posted on RM web several years ago, I hope the denizens of the thread will too. Keep up the imaginary workshops gents.

Thank you for the post on the smoke units incredibly informational, I have a triang Britannia with a smoke unit in and love it to bits. With the unit though I have replaced the original wading with cotton and instead on the standard smoke oil i use glycerine this makes a rather good show even at low speed so the engine doesn't need to be run at mach 4

Thank you for the help everyone, as instructed I've dismantled the body by bending the tabs out and given the mechanism a through oil and it works beautifully. Many many thanks PoT