Gwiwer

True. I overlooked in my post above the fact that the train ran via the long-closed Cudworth route . This route took the left turn near Swinton station at what I think was called Wath Road Junction, crossed the Hull & Barnsley route into Wath and ambled cautiously past seemingly endless mining ruins and vast scrap yards, closed stations at Cudworth, Royston and others and finally crept with wheels squealing around the sharp curves into and out of Wakefield Kirkgate (without calling) to reach Westgate station. Dreary and slow.

Some small works are going on around the church scene and to the branch line which climbs from Treheligan station around to and behind the church itself. The branch line sits on a separate curved board from the church until it ends at the garden fence. The final section has not proven to be entirely proofed against rainwater running down the fence and now has to be cut back. I can still support the shortened board at the fence end by inserting slotted steel bearers beneath it. In order to retain the length required to hold a loco+2 or 2-car dmu train on the shortened branch I have had to move the skew-arch bridge portal about a coach-length closer to the station. The new arch is formed of a painted Ratio "coarse stone" sheet and has had new land built behind it creating a tunnel. This land rises slightly above and behind the church and will be blended into a higher backscene board yet to be fitted. Here we see the newly re-worked scene as a 150/2 Sprinter comes off the branch and through the new tunnel. Taken with flash in very poor light today. The new portal is still skewed over the line and continues the church yard boundary wall in a straight line. The old arch through the scenery, which used to be a stone bridge, is now the far end of this tunnel. The 08 is sitting on No.1 Church Loco Siding with Nos. 2 and 3 to its left. The two through fiddle yard tracks are on the lower level centrally beneath the new tunnel and emerge in the distance beyond the church. And another view looking from track level up the steeply-graded branch as the train emerges from the new portal. As owner-operator I have a PTS and authority to take such pictures!

I have enjoyed the Thames - Clyde (10.00 St. Pancras - Glasgow Central if I remember rightly) on numerous occasions during its later days. It would appear to the casual observer to have been just another train out of St. Pancras, as it was a 45 duty and Mk1 stock just like everything else there in the 1970s. While most trains ran to Nottingham or Derby / Sheffield, with a couple on to Leeds, this was the only daytime train to continue northward. The Thames - Clyde reversed at Nottingham and in those days ran back to Trent Junction before taking the right turn past Toton Depot; the route now is via Radford joining the Erewash Valley north of the depot. There was an overnight working at one time as well though not under the same name. The train reversed again at Leeds (City - as it then was) before taking the Settle & Carlisle and GSW routes to reach Glasgow Central via Appleby and Kilmarnock. On some occasions I used it it was a Peak throughout though the loco was changed at Leeds; other times the northern leg was entrusted to a 47. I believe a 40 might have been used on one trip. In the days when on-board service still meant something the catering crew came through the train providing brewed (not instant) tea and coffee from silver pots to all passengers. The restaurant car did a decent trade on the long haul north as the journey encompassed both lunch and dinner times. The return southbound train worked in a similar fashion and was one of the dwindling number of passenger trains between Carlisle and Settle. Only three trips were timetabled once the stopping trains were withdrawn and all stations bar Appleby closed. Ribblehead Viaduct had double track. Then timetable "rationalisation" struck. The Mk 1 rakes were to be replaced with Mk 2, the run-down of the S&C was clearly gathering pace, the train was never terribly attractive as a through London - Glasgow option (nor even London - Leeds, London - Carlisle or Carlisle - Glasgow option as all had much faster and more frequent direct services) and it was alleged that the use of two complete rakes of coaches for a single trip each day could not be justified. My experience was that the London - Sheffield legs were the only really well-used parts of the journey with a 10(?) coach train running virtually empty north of Leeds at times. The Thames-Clyde was cut back to Leeds and lost its name. It was later cut back further to Sheffield to fit the standard service pattern. Timetables varied somewhat and there was a through Nottingham - Glasgow service briefly as mentioned in a post above. Leeds - Carlisle became a separate and very much secondary service, though still loco and coaches (47+4 or 5) though the fortunes of the line - well documented elsewhere - were to turn around soon after. Loco-hauled passenger trains continued on the GSW route between Glasgow and Carlisle and from London to Leeds for a time meaning it was, with a few changes, still possible to recreate the journey. You would have scored class 26 haulage north of Carlisle into the bargain. In retrospect the Thames - Clyde was really an artificial joining-up of three separate workings and conveyed precious little through traffic across Leeds, not that much across Carlisle and at times not a huge amount of traffic anywhere at all. Along with some of the overnight workings which used to criss-cross the country after dark it might have seemed like a blend of tradition and a good idea at one time but truthfully it had outlived any commercial usefulness as a through service by the time of its demise.

And did so on rather regular occasions with 8TC attached. 2x73+8TC clocked at over 90mph would be the swansong equivalent in some ways to steam in its last days. Let's just say on one run a 5 minute late start from Waterloo was on time by Southampton with the locos at the back. Not necessarily what you might expect with a train officially restricted to a slightly lower speed than that which the timetable allowed for. In fairness to all parties I don't have the working times and those might have included more than adequate recovery and pathing allowances.

With a 4Rep having enough installed power in two coaches to shift 12 coaches at 100mph it follows that a 6Rep with a single power car would have virtually the same power : weight ratio i.e. one motor coach to power a total of six coaches. The 73's were sometimes the only power on a train and sometimes added as insurance during the changeover to Wes units. Some trains were rostered 8TC (or equivalent, however formed!) + 2x73/1. If that happened they flew; when only a single 73 was available and there was no other power in the train it would struggle to keep time. The booked VEP+TC+33/1 (splitting at Basingstoke) could also prove to be a flyer thanks to the amount of power despite the differing acceleration and braking characteristics of the electric and diesel traction. Where now is the compatibility and flexibility the SR worked hard to achieve?

I have watched this thread from afar recently but have decided to resume with the occasional contribution. Here are a few recent views from Penhayle Bay A "King Arthur" taking the curve at St. Senara's church Silver bullets reflect the station lighting at Treheligan where the canopy woodwork has recently been weathered Early morning traffic awaits as the up local draws into the station

That sounds as though it is late enough to have been in the REP - WES transition period. In those days, with REPs being released one or two at a time to yield up their traction gear to the new units, NSE reached a situation where "anything went". Official reformations were commonplace and daily extempore formations far from unknown in order to have enough stock for service. Two 4TC units missing their first class vehicles would have been perfectly possible. Those were the days of the 5TCB, 8MIG and the return of the 3TC all on very short-term basis. I seem to recall some REP units were also reformed into 6REP sets briefly.

There are many logs, some taken by highly skilled recorders, of REP units achieving the "ton". With the horses installed roughly equal to a class 55 Deltic which was designed to haul 12 coaches at that speed, but with the traction characteristics of a straight electric which can exert a much greater effort over much more of its speed range than can any diesel, it wasn't that hard. Many of the drivers in the earlier days would have retrained from steam and of course signed the various diesel classes used in the area as well. There was a very well known trend in the last days of steam to get as much out of it as could be got. Numerous unofficial speeds were claimed. The same quickly became true of the new electric traction. I have never claimed to be a skilled train recorder but with stopwatch in hand and concentrating on mileposts I have clocked 102 on several occasions and 103 once. The speedometers in the intermediate driving cabs could be a good guide but the angle at which one viewed them it wasn't possible to confirm with accuracy the maximum indicated speed. REP+TC was always a recipe for sparks to fly - in more ways than one; a full 12-car train took a little longer to whisk up to the limit or above but it was certainly done. When a REP was moved alone under its own power there were restrictions applied to prevent it blowing the circuit breakers. I believe it had to remain below weak field or have at least one motor cut out.

Thanks for the comments guys - all feedback is appreciated. A rare appearance today for the "King Arthur" with Mainline green stock in tow as it heads around the curve below St Senara's Church and over a length of track which I relaid during the day. The original track had been in place five years and had a joint right above a baseboard edge. That edge - along with most others - has shifted by about 1mm over the years so while in most cases it is possible to simply refettle the track to overcome that it wasn't possible on this length due to the rail joint. I had to replace it with a spare length and cut back to shift the rail joint by a few centimetres so that it no longer sits over the board join. Newly-relaid track on the right; original track still in situ on the left with an obvious difference in the ballast as well. There's a narrow strip of grass between the tracks as they are farther apart on the curve than standard geometry (a relic of the broad gauge still often found on GWR lines) and a couple of Jim Smith-Wright's etched drainage gratings have been added in the central cess as well. The SR steam fleet and the green stock will be diverted onto the left-hand route through the tunnel at some time next year onto their own SR-themed layout. In an ambitious challenge I have set myself I intend to create a north Cornwall SR-themed scene on boards double-stacked over part of the existing fiddle yard. Trains will still run the full circuit of the layout but will come through an SR-styled station to the rear of and higher than the present Treheligan scene. A movable panel will conceal which ever station is not in use.

Stu - the original order was for 11 Rep, 28 4TC, 3 3TC and 20 Vep units (not 15 Reps as you mention); 3012 / 3 were a later order and had 3014 / 5 added on as a second extra order. 301-3 became 429 -431 with three all-new conversions taking the fleet to 34 4TCs. Alex - Cigs were very uncommon on the Bournemouth line. They would not have appeared at all until the 1972 deliveries from 7337 on were on the Pompey Direct; from then they had very occasional peak workings to Bournemouth and also covered the summer Saturday Waterloo - Lymington through trains (8Cig). The 8Vab 8001 was formed from coaches out of 7739, 7741 and 7742 with the spares stored from almost new at Eastleigh. IIRC one of those had a slight bump with another which in effect allowed the release of the undamaged coaches for the Vab project. The story of the Bournemouth line is well away from the OT so perhaps a Mod could assist in transferring these posts to a new topic so we can continue.

I'm not too sure in the NZ context David but blue has been used in some locations as having better visibility than green. It may also have another meaning altogether. Blue appears beneath a main aspect on some LU signals as a point or electrical indication I believe

Adding just a little to Olddudders' excellent précis of the 4TC units it was for most of their lives normal to have the REP at the London end and two 4TC units at the "country" end. The use of a REP in the middle was short-lived as it prevented 8 car trains running on to Weymouth in busy times. There were also three 3TC units (without the TF vehicle) which formed part of the original build of 1967 electric stock for that route. These were intended to be used in trains where a locomotive might work an all-trailer formation to Waterloo such as on a boat train duty and require a locomotive at each end while in the platform to shunt or return. 13 vehicles (in theory loco+4+4+3TC+loco) is the maximum which could fit within the signals at the London end. In practice that operation was seldom if ever actually employed as the SR maintained loose-coupled Mk1 rakes for boat train use and the 3TC units were used as substitutes for 4TC's as needed. This gave the fairly regular sight of 11-car trains on Waterloo - Bournemouth duties though the 3TC was never (that I know of) sent on to Weymouth alone owing to its lack of first class accommodation. Those units, 301 - 303, were augmented to become 4TC sets when further TF coaches were converted and a small additional batch of REP and TC units created for enhanced services. They have also been seen regularly on diverted Bournemouth line trains between Salisbury (Laverstock Loop) and Redbridge via Nursling or Eastleigh via Chandlersford, and Woking - Fareham - Southampton and have made many trips off the SR on railtours. They have run on London Underground lines including around the Circle Line and TfL still has a rake of TC coaches in stock for occasional charter use, sometimes behind steam.

Two workbench projects in one shot. The 4-year old Metcalfe viaduct which is printed card and has been outside for most of it's life has come to the end of its useful service. It has done very well in the outdoor environment coping with everything from extreme heat to persistent dampness but has finally started to warp and break apart. It is time to replace it. I have had a Wills viaduct kit with two extension arches sitting on the workbench for some time and this has now been started on. It will form a five-arch structure with both ends sprung from the hillsides and will be taller than the Metcalfe unit it replaces thus requiring a new baseboard. As the viaduct is on its own little lift-out section this poses no major obstacles. Here is a test fit of one arch - minus the brickwork insert - after several coats of paint to bring it towards the appearance of old weathered stone. The honey-coloured cap stones require toning down and when built there will be wooden inserts to add considerably to the strength of the plastic kit. The other project, seen placed on the deck for scale, is the ongoing weathering of the Clayton which has now been completed on one side and is â…” finished on the side shown; the right-hand engine compartment is still in its out-of-the-box condition but not for much longer.

Here are some more images of the patch of moorland westernglory was asking about. The construction is of crumpled and mushroomed newspaper sheets placed randomly on the baseboard and covered with plaster cloth. The random distribution gives uneven ground surface without huge peaks or valleys; one straight-ish valley was intentionally created through the middle of the scene. The construction was then painted a shade of olive green before the application of a range of Woodland Scenics products. Foliage sheets of light and olive green were stretched over and stuck to most of the area first. I have then used fine and coarse turf of several shades of green and brown, bushes in several shades of green including in the bottom of the deeper valley, fine leaf foliage again in several shades of green, yellow foliage to represent flowering gorse and have included random sprinkles of fine ballast to represent stony ground. Brown, buff and grey ballast has been used. There are some larger stones again randomly scattered to represent boulders and also used to create a tor; these are bluestone chippings found at bonsai nursery and have been most useful in all the moorland areas as well as for boulders along the rocky shoreline of the beach scenes. A few wandering Hornby sheep complete the scene which is edged with Skaledale granite walls and has a green Hornby bubblecar included for scale.

I'll see what I can find over the next few days as I have time to go through the photo files. Many thanks for all the comments.

That is the working which should have been 33/1 (leading into Cardiff) + 8TC. The formation should have been TC leading from Portsmouth then after reversal at Bristol the 33 would lead as WR crews were not all trained to drive the TC leading. With a run-round at Cardiff the 33 then led back to Bristol and the TC stock led back to Portsmouth. By 1979 the TC may have given way to loose-coupled stock or this might have been a substitution for example if engineering works had cut the route and the SR stock did not work through.

I will verify and amplify some of the above comments. In the early 1970's the through Porstmouth - Cardiff weekday service was entirely worked by class 35 Hymek locos with usually 6 Mk1 coaches including a buffet. There were just three return trips; hard to believe with todays hourly or better service. There was a summer Saturday Brighton (not Portsmouth) - Cardiff working which was an out-and-back class 33 with what I believe was an Oxted line peak hour 8-set of Mk1 stock as it did not include a buffet. The only Sunday working was a Portsmouth Harbour - Cardiff out-and-back 8TC+33/1 which sometimes ran with only one 4TC unit. A couple of years earlier you would indeed have seen class 123 dmu sets on the service. They were not built specifically for this route but I believe were less than successful on their intended fast Taunton - London and Plymouth - Birmingham workings and were cascaded very quickly. They were moved on just as quickly to the Thames Valley where they were often found on Oxford and Newbury turns and occasionally on Reading semi-fasts. While there was only a very limited through service there was also an hourly Portsmouth & Southsea - Salisbury semi-fast formed of 3H units. Usually only one but with appearances of two together for peak traffic or stock balancing. There were also Bristol - Salisbury workings formed of class 120 dmu stock and occasionally anything else available. I have noted class 116 / 117 triples at Salisbury on these trips for example. There was, therefore, almost an hourly option of travel between Cardiff, Bristol, Salisbury and Portsmouth even if it meant at least one change. Move forward a couple of years and the changes were rapid. First the loco-hauled sets had the buffets (usually an RMB though blue-grey Gresley buffet W9135E became a regular performer) removed and cut to five-car rakes. The through service was cut to a single out-and-back trip from the Cardiff end. Hymeks then went the way of all diesel-hydraulics and were replaced on a trial basis by class 31 and 33 briefly. The service was cut back to Bristol except for a few workings. Next came the dreaded interlude when the 3H sets - with no toilets for most passengers and no catering either - worked throughout alongside a handful of WR dmu types. This was basically a combination of the two stopping services across Salisbury and was a disaster. Overcrowding was rife, late running was the norm, the WR sets couldn't cope with the SR timetables which relied upon the better acceleration and braking of their stock and there were complaints about the lack of toilets. Loco and coaches returned on a 2-hourly timetable, much the same as the dmu stock had been working but once again additional to the local services which gave the required increase in capacity, and with a mixture of classes 31 and 33 again. Class 33 subsequently became the staple as WR crews were trained farther and farther afield on them and they ventured as far as Manchester feeding onto the North & West from Portsmouth rosters at Cardiff. By this time the Salisbury semi-fasts had also been extended up to Portsmouth Harbour. There continued to be a few through workings to and from Brighton though they switched from Saturday to Sunday at one point and then seemed to change with every new timetable. During the withdrawal phase of the Hymeks anything available could (and sometimes did) appear in their place; class 47 was not unknown. There was one entirely unsubstantiated claim of a 45; no evidence has been presented to suggest this ever occurred but it received mention in passing among some enthusiasts at the time. Peaks have been seen at Salisbury; I noted two on freights in the early 70's and they also had a summer Saturday working to Portsmouth Harbour from Derby for several years. But not on the Portsmouth - Cardiff trains. Unless anyone here knows better.

Nice work. The Cortina resembles the bomb I used to drive around the far south-western tip of Cornwall for years. In the days when the right person would give you an MoT in exchange for a pint or two

Is that a kettle I see in the background? I realise green Co-Bos ran alongside such things but surely not the RF grey ones?

I don't buy many items that are completely out of theme simply because I'd have no legitimate reason to run them. The CEP units are among the few that fit that category. Recently an opportunity arose to purchase a bargain-priced Heljan Clayton which is a type I have always rather liked and have memories of in service from my early treks north of the border. And of course on its long haul "doon sooth" the class 17 has acquired a certain amount of grime! So here is a home-dirtied D8606 having failed to blow up, explode or break down while working a Paterill to Truro goods throughout. You've never heard of Paterill? It's the opposite of Motherwell in the local dialect

Cheers Dave. The orders have been placed for ages here. Just waiting patiently while you work through the issues and get the product delivered. Like any train it's a case of better late than never.

Thank you Jed. I have several more signals on the workbench at the moment mostly of the square-post variety and mostly kit-bashed to some degree to meet the requirements of my operation. Even the ancient Crescent signals (which are probably even older than me) can be modified using bits of Ratio kit as I have shown above. If you are careful with the Ratio kits it isn't hard to adapt them. The trickiest part I find is assembling the extremely small parts which should allow them to be built as fully-working. The soft plastic really isn't up to that sort of use in my opinion and the size of some critical parts and the need to bend wires through them presents a real challenge.

Sure. I think it was posted earlier but re-posted here anyway. Not to any sort of scale but for guidance the length is about 16m and the width around 2.25m though narrower at the beach end. The complete circuit is therefore about 35m of track and takes around 1½ minutes. And the detail of the larger station area Since those plans were drawn up there have been a couple of slight changes. The "Back Siding" which was laid along a fence rail well away from the main board has been removed as it was impossible to keep it dry in wet weather. There is a crossover ⅔ of the way along the East Siding to the Up Through meaning I can park a loco or bubble car at the buffers on the siding and use the rest of it as a short loop. And a further crossover has been fitted between 60 and 72 points to increase operating flexibility at that end of the yard. There has never been space for a full crossover there as there is at the other end but this means most lines can now feed to most others. For example if the Up side of the yard is full and I still need to run a train through in that direction it can now come via the Down Through or Down Through Loop crossing over and back at each end of the yard. I have more loco run-round options as well.

I have completed some signalling work which has been waiting for many months. First at the up end of Treheligan station where the three-arm gantry has been in place for a long time but the moves from both down platforms onto the Ponsangwyn branch have not previously been signalled. These require a full signal, not a ground disc, because the moves enter a bi-directional running line to the yard and not merely to a loop or siding. The new two-arm signal post is seen in the first image along with detailed attention to oil staining of the track and the recently-completed barrow crossing. Detail of the new signal, which is a Ratio kit, with a Bachmann class 221 waiting to depart from platform 2, the up main. Mid-way around the layout a small but critical addition has been made to another 3-arm post. This one controls the junction between main and fiddle yard routes and acts as Treheligan outer home signal. The main arms here control moves to down loop (a move to which the 15mph speed restriction sign in the background applies) , down main and fiddle yard respectively. A subsidiary arm and route indicator have been added to the central post to control entry to the two up-side sidings and permit a crossing move from down main to up main which is required when trains drop a portion for the St. Agnes branch in Treheligan station. The signal post, in a typically GWR "right-hand drive" position, which was previously just placed has also now been glued down and the ground worked around it. A train of "unsilver bullets" is making its way into the fiddle yard.

James the headboard is taken from a photo of the real one. There are so many of those that it is well and truly in the public domain and I am not using anythign more of the original image than the board itself. It was printed, colour-adjusted slightly then reduced on the printer to be the right size and printed onto medium-weight art paper. It is fixed to the unit with a tiny blob of PVA.