PannierTanker14

One from my archive of jokes randomly thought up one day: Q: What happens if there’s an earthquake in a Lumber Mill? A: Shiver me timbers!

This is the Schwimmpanzer. its probably the weirdest looking amphibious modification I’ve ever seen. Certainly makes me smile when I see it

I’ve seen videos of it. Such a brilliant locomotive! in one of the videos, 4014 was pulling freight and I thought an 8F on a gravel train was big!

It’s one of the American loco classes I’ve always wanted to go and see. Along with, of course, good old 4014.

It’s one of these: a Baldwin 0-6-0

That engine is looking great! There appears to be a few bits missing on it

The castle in Castle Rock has always caused debate on how it came to be. Dracana.Castle had been repaired several times in the past due to damage, but it’s original walls and parts of it’s underground areas still prevail and date back to before the Roman era which is thousands of years before the Normans built the castles across Britain. The Normans did tinker with the castle, adding their own bits, but we’re also baffled by its creation, therefore seeing it as a sign from god that they would take over Britain successfully. However, the town of Castle Rock spent a lot of it’s time out of the way of the rest of Britain since it’s in a natural bowl shaped valley. It was only when, in the 1800s, coal was discovered at Castle Rock and the Industrial Revolution sparked in the old town, now called ‘Castle Rock’ by the growing colliery that sat in it’s hillside. The historians today argue about who made the castle. They still think it was one of the Norman’s first attempts at a stone castle but Castle Rock is in the Midlands, and the first Norman castles were on the south east. The original parts of the castle date back to around the gap between the Iron Age and the Roman era. The castle’s name is ‘Dracana’ by what was written in several places around the castle. The word is in the shape quite like Latin, but is not a Latin word. It, as of yet, is part a language not recognised by history. Archeology still continues around the castle, trying to figure answer the age old questions from over the years. The railway that runs along the bottom of the hill was repaired recently and the Archeologists took the chance to check what was under the track bed. Several settlements dating back to the Stone Age were found along and around the track bed, and around the castle itself. Most of the remains have been destroyed by the industrial past of Castle Rock. (more to come. I just had to write this down somewhere)

A few WD locomotives were built at the Riverside Works, along with Tanks and Aircraft. The biggest locos that we’re built there were four of the Riddles WD 2-10-0 locomotives. They were sent over to Greece during the end of the war. They were named 101 ‘Broadsword’, 102 ‘Valiant’, 103 ‘Courageous’ and 104 ‘Dracana’ by the Works. As you can see, their names are based on Castle Rock’s medieval past. ‘Dracana’ is the name of the Castle itself. During their time overseas, the four WDs found themselves hauling weapons and munitions for their Greek owners. ‘Valiant’ was the first to be destroyed, blown up in an air raid whilst it was carrying tanks to the battle lines. ‘Courageous’ was second to be destroyed, this time derailed when the tracks in front of it were demolished. In the end it was cut up and presumably made into munitions and armour by the Axis. ‘Broadsword’ and ‘Dracana’ were all that was left by the end of the war and found themselves in freight work right up until the 80s as Λβ967 and Λβ968. Once they became obsolete, they were dumped with other WD locos and left to rot with no second thoughts. The Riverside Works wanted it’s WDs back if they were just going to be left lying around for the rest of time, so they applied to have them removed from the loco dump. The request was granted and both locomotives removed from the dump along with a few other WD 2-8-0s by other preservation societies, one of the other 2-10-0s now resides at the North Norfolk Railway as 90775. ‘Broadsword’ now runs in BR colours as 90776 (which will be changed into WD livery by next summer) and can be found pulling heavier trains from the exchange sidings near the Mainline. As for 104 ‘Dracana’, she now resides inside the Riverside Works. Out of steam since withdrawal in Greece, ‘Dracana’ now is a static exhibit that only moves into the main workshops during Wartime events. One day she will be returned to steam, repainted in WD green, but for now that is a distant dream. There are five WD 2-10-0 locomotives in total about the whole railway. Three are ex-BR and the fourth is 101 ‘Broadsword’. All except ‘Dracana’ are in steam. (This is alternate history. I’ve added a little bit of actual history to the story but do remember that the Castle Rock railway is entirely fictional)

One of the most out of place locomotives in the whole railway is probably the BR 52 2-10-0 German Heavy Freight Locomotive that turns up sometimes for wartime events. Owned by the the town’s local regiment since they stole it in the Second World War and somehow managed to smuggle it back to Britain, the BR 52 is a sight to behold when being put alongside the British countryside. Often looked after by the Riverside Works, the locomotive is very much in steam. It doesn’t get steamed up often but when it does, the whole countryside shakes as it passes. Still painted in the colours the local regiment ‘found’ it in, and with the braces for the Anti-Aircraft gun still on it’s tender, it is a stark reminder of the war. (And also: Turkey was given a whole lot of these big beasties whilst we were giving them 8F. Our strongest loco of the time, the good ol’ 8F, was vastly outmatched by this BR 52 and were often used as shunters since they couldn’t pull trains up hills there. However I do love the TCDD colour scheme for the 8F, it’s lovely and bright. The Riverside works has one of them too!) I’ve never seen a BR 52 in o gauge, so I’ll have to settle for the kit in OO gauge until one turns up.

Castle Rock has a very wide selection of locomotives and rolling stock from across the British isles, ranging from a Southern E4 to an LMS Black 5. There’s even a BR 52 taken from Germany in WW2. Riverside Works is home to most of these locomotives, keeping them safe and in running order. Recently two American locomotives arrived at the works as a gift from a heritage railway in America, in which the Riverside Works does a lot of boiler work and parts creation for. These two locomotives are an operating 0-6-0 switcher steam locomotive (I always see them as being a tender version of the USA class dock tank, since I can never remember the real name) and an F-unit diesel, which was recently overhauled. A second F-unit was gifted too, this time from an enthusiast who saved it from scrap and had it sent over to Britain. However, this diesel is very run down and would require a lot of work done to it before it could move under it’s own power, therefore the Works has decided that it either will be restored cosmetically as a static exhibit in the main hall of the attached museum ,which would take a week or so, or fully restored with new parts and will top-and-tail with the other unit, which would take longer to do. Along with these locomotives, 4029 was moved over to the Riverside Works. The Works had purchased it from being cut up from an anonymous seller who sold it for a lot less than it was worth, given that this is the ninth Big Boy 4-8-8-4 locomotive in the world. By its condition, it had been left in the open for decades and has many plants growing from inside of it. As not to spoil Big Boy 4014’s spotlight, the Works will not be restoring this loco to operation. It will be stored in Workshop ‘C’ until an agreement on what to do with it is made. The locomotive isn’t too heavy for the Works’ tracks but it’s best not to risk it. (this is alternate history. 4029 was scrapped years ago)

Armoured trains came before long tanks and since the world at the time was connected by rail they had connections everywhere, which is what made them so powerful during their time. True that destroying the track is a definite weakness in the armoured trains and with the trains themselves breaking the track under their armoured bulk, some trains could never get to where they were needed. I always found that armoured trains were quite brilliant in scare tactics if not actual service. The thought of a massive armoured beast certainly spooked the people of the First World War. (The train on the game Battlefield 1 is certainly a sight to behold!) I’m currently planning to build an armoured train in 7mm (O gauge) as a side project based off of the locomotive used to push the Zaamurets armoured railcar around. I don’t think there are many modelled in this scale, if any.

FT-17s were also still in some use in WW2, however were already antiquated by then. The Americans made some weird variants of the tank too, like an Artillery version!

This layout is superb its always good to see the behind-the-scenes workings of WW1 and at the stuff people don’t usually remember. Plus, I’ve spotted that you have a train of Renault FT-17s, which is probably one of the best bits so far!

I think that there may be a leak in their fuel tanks if they’re always at the fuel pumps

People are probably thinking too much about it, that’s true, but I’d rather wait and see what happens.

I’ve put my channel project on hold because of this, in hope that the combined rage of thousands changes the law. I’ve already seen some great channels shut down which is a real shame. And if these changes weren’t bad enough, a group of hackers have destroyed several channels already. it’s not looking good for YouTube

Here’s an old photo of before the diorama had its wooden frame in place. I look at the RTR o gauge A4 and think “one day...” (because this is in fact a Hornby Mallard in the magic of illusion)

Now that would be worth every penny! I’ll see if I can wedge a sound chip into mine when I build it

That is the tried and tested way do deal with telemarketers and it works first time!

The frame is looking good, if I do say so myself. The problem is that I miscalculated the wood needed and now need another trip to the hardware store to get some more, along with some plasticard for the building shape. Soonish I will have the backboard nailed to the back of the frame, with the little door built in to house the light switch. it’s large enough to have a MK1 coach on it but I doubt I’ll need to have one of them in my shunting layout. The diorama will be used to photograph the wagons with a nice background to them for the puzzle cards and also to set up little scenes like a wagon being unloaded or a loco being repainted. if it at all falls under the category of a micro layout, the diorama also might attend shows (unlikely since it’s just a board with some track on it in the shape of a building) progress continues! i still aim to have it looking somewhat like what I want it to look like soon!

Found this at Loughborough...

Proper Chopper!