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Ken A.

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  1. Ken A.

    #5. Brief up-date

    By Ken A.,

    Sorry for the long delay since the last entry. My computer died in June and I have only just obtained a replacement.
     
    In the meantime, work has carried on a pace with the new layout and the shed (20'x8') has been cleared, all traces of the old American layout have been cleared out, almost all stock has been disposed of and a start made on the new project.
     
    The layout will consist of a large through station (Netherton, Bilston Road), at one side of the oval with a fiddle yard on the other side of the shed. Directly in front of the fiddle yard is the GWR branch to Bear's End,the track for which has been laid as has the gin pit (Small Colliery) and the Coal Tar Distillery, both served by the branch.
     
    Enough point work has been obtained for me to begin laying the main station but work has been suspended because it is now too cold to work out in the shed for any length of time - yes it can get a bit chilly in Cornwall..
     
    Photos will follow when my wife remembers where she has put the camera!
     
    In the meantime I am working on locos and rolling stock.
  2. Ken A.

    Progress (#4)

    By Ken A.,

    Well although I have been quiet for a couple of months after an initial frenetic burst of blogging, I haven't been idle. The main thing that your comments regarding my proposal for the first section of the new layout triggered was a complete and total rethink. (You know who you are!!!) And I must say, I am glad that I posted because my previous idea would not have fitted into the general scheme of things.
     
    Okay, I hear you ask, now what is he planning? The answer is simple - an industrial scene, what else. The tiny, 1' 3" by 4' baseboard has been constructed, complete with legs and I am about to begin work on the entirely fictitious (probably!) 'Dudley Coal Tar Distillers' which will fit perfectly into the general scheme of things; I even know where on the proposed layout it will fit. Why a Coal Tar Distillery? Well its a visually interesting industry with a range of different goods wagons required to service it and there is a war on after all, so its products will be very much in demand.
     
    The general schematic is attached and all comments are welcome.
  3. Ken A.
    Okay, so this is the third entry in two days and will probably be the last for some time. The main reason that I am making it is to run my plan for a very small station past a critical audience.
     
    The idea is to produce a very small layout that will serve to ease me back into British outline and practice after a gap of 35 years working on American HO followed by O and On30. American O is a great scale and is 1/4 inch to the foot and is very easy to work in. Now I've got to start visualizing a foot as 4mm, this is a real cultural gear change.
     
    Please take a look at the plan below and remember that it is four feet by one foot. It is designed as a through station/halt, complete with a goods yard, that can be operated as a stand-alone terminus until it is finally incorporated into the greater scheme of things.
     
    Okay, so am I on the right track? Will it work? Please let me know your views, together with suggested additions. Does it need signaling? Would the GWR have built a ground frame, or small signal box to control the yard, or would the points be left to the shunters to operate?
     
    I need to draw on other people's knowledge here which is clearly greater than mine.
     
    All the best,
    Ken
  4. Ken A.
    I chose the Dudley area as the location for the new layout: the only snag was that the LNWR did not extend to the south-west: (See the first map).
     
    Something had to be done, so I split the map east-wast and added another couple of miles to the Dudley area (as if it isn't bad enough as it is!). Next thing was I added another line, a direct link between Dudley and the LNWR at Craven Arms. The rationalization is that this is "a direct link between South Wales and the West Midlands). (See the second map)..
     
    The final thing to do was to place stations with Blackcountry-sounding names. This was easier than I thought because Dudley is dotted with -hills, -holes and -ends. The first module, the 4' by 1' will be Shut End, which I hope will be followed by Bears End... Can't wait to get started.
     
    If you read, please comment (positive or negative)... You will probably come up with something that I hadn't even considered. Who knows? It might even be something good about the Midland Railway!
  5. Ken A.
    Okay, so this is the first (and knowing me) possibly the only entry in this blog!
     
    So why am I beginning it in the first place? You may well ask.
     
    Well, I plan to use it as a tool to keep myself on track at the start of what will, at 67, probably be the last big project. I have spent the last 30+ years working at American O scale... The first layout had to be abandoned due to a house move while the second one (a mix of standard gauge and On30) was too grandiose to get anywhere with - I'd bitten off more than I could chew and the layout had become moribund. I have a 20' by 8' shed which is to small for American O gauge but is just right for British OO. Sure, I know that any available space is, by definition, too small for the planned layout! Stands to reason!
     
    ​So why should the next layout be any different from the string of unfinished layouts that I have previously started? Simple. I'm tackling it as a modular project. I've already built the first baseboard - 4' x 1' - I'm beginning small! The next stage is to dismantle the old layout and dispose of the large accumulation of rolling stock... Shouldn't take too long... Famous last words, no doubt.
     
    Okay, so where am I going? What's the new effort going to entail? Well I've always had a great admiration for the LNWR and the GWR plus a degree of contempt for the MR so I needed a location where the three of them rubbed along together and grudgingly co-operated. Well although I have lived in Cornwall since 1984, I am a Blackcountryman born and bred, so I had the ideal location. The era? Having been a soldier and having an interest in military history, the Great War sprung readily to mind, so why not? It is Pre-grouping, so is pre the slow decline of the British railway network which began in 1923 and has the benefit of extra wartime workings.
     
    So here we go with "THE LAST GREAT PROJECT"... Coming soon: Planning.
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