SteveyDee68

I grew up with insulfrog points. I made multiple purchases of second hand points going with the "what I know" principle (live frogs scares the heebie jeebies out of me) and as this is now a vastly cut back scheme from my original I'll stick with these few points and part exchange the rest for live frogs for the next layout ... I need to do this one first!

I forgot - the Inglenook .... doctored photo showing where the puzzle will exist... Forgot to say - DRS Engineering services both locos (top line) and wagons (lower line), making for some interesting shunting... a reason for my lovely new Ruston & Hornsby loco to potter about to pop wagons into the works!

So, tracks are positioned and distances checked to ensure the Inglenook formula will work. The works uses two Hornby magazine facades, with the "bays" re-ordered (kit bashed) to get the sliding doors in the right places. The extension kit has been downloaded and from that a deeper version of the works shall be kitbashed, using the brown brick texture sheet. I had already bought (but not made) the industrial buildings - the boiler house will be at the rear of the works, possibly reskinned in brown brick to match if the aged brown brick finish doesn't blend well enough. The industrial warehouse will be hard up against the boundary wall, so the large loading door will be moved to the other end. Likewise the unloading platform will be extended along the siding, with the Workshops being served by the same platform. There are two next to each other - one will be kitbashed so it does not have the large loading door. Further along, the entrance gates are guarded on their left by the works offices, this being the two extensions for the Medium Station Building (to be purchased). The industrial water tower and the freebie weighbridge complete the structures. The photo shows the track plan - there is a dummy siding serving the boiler house at the rear, entering through a wooden gate, likewise the track at front left leaves the works yard via a wooden gate to the rest of the world. So now I need to perform surgery on the baseboard and reduce it to length, before laying the track. After that, a whole lot of buildings need to be constructed before sets/concrete can be added appropriately, and the track ballasted. Well, it's further than I have ever got before! The wood across the right hand end marks where the board will be cut. The whole complex will be surrounded by a high wall ... for safety I think I may use ply and covered with brick papers. In other news, all my locos happily trundle over the insulfrog points except the PLA Janus diesel shunter, which is a bit fussy about the first point until it is pinned flat. The Hornby Pecketts, my Andrew Barclay and friends all cope brilliantly with the dead frogs but I intend to solder lots of power feeds everywhere to ensure power at all times! Hours of fun! Steve S

DRS ENGINEERING WORKS REBOOT APRIL 2021 To avoid reading through my meanderings, you can jump straight to the REBOOT post by clicking - https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/148501-drs-engineering-railway-works/?do=findComment&comment=4399397 ================================================================== The Long And Winding Road To The Same Destination or How I Got Back Into Railway Modelling I, like many others, am a late returner to the hobby. I got all excited with a bit of spare cash and a carefree attitude to eBay, which resulted in me gradually amassing a whole raft of Bachmann intermodal wagons, various big locos (Bachmann classes 57, 66 and 70 in Freightliner livery along with a smooth running Bachmann class 08) and a scheme to build an inglenook shunting layout with the containers being the 'identifiers' on the stock being moved! Scalescenes crane downloaded, second hand track purchased from my local model shop and resurrected my old DC controller. Experiments followed. Trackplans were drawn. Scenic treatments contemplated. Modern freighter downloaded from Scalescenes so I could model the simple ship to shore facilities of the Manchester Ship Canal down the road from me. Then the penny dropped - how ridiculous to shunt Freightliner wagons around when you can simply shuffle the boxes themselves around! Another "bargain"* of a Hornby Crossley & Evans Sentinel shunter from Rails of Sheffield, and I got sidetracked into some modern rolling stock, now with the intention of modelling a small Freightliner terminal plus other industries (a wind turbine manufacturer being my main idea). Then I spotted RES coaches, and a lovely class 47. A Bachmann Voyager followed, and a TransPennine Express DMU ... now I was thinking "what if" Manchester Liners had continued, and furthermore won a rail franchise... a Dapol class 56 and a Lima class 59 (both badly painted in BR green) were purchased off eBay and stripped, ready for some new liveries... Then I only went and won an auction for a Dapol J94 Austerity saddle tank loco, one of my favourite steam engines. I needed rolling stock for it. Bidding online plus visits to my local shop and toy fairs and I slowly started building up a selection of short wheelbase wagons, late BR period... Does all this sound in any way familiar? The Freightliner stock is now stored in a big box, together with all the “modern” locomotives and rolling stock. I realised that what I wanted to model was a port, with ships (not boats) and warehouses and inset tracks. An accidental (honest) win of seven upgraded Hornby Railroad’ Pullman coaches and suddenly I was looking at boat trains, train ferries, Weymouth (of course), Dover Marine... helped along, no doubt, by the inspirational article about a train ferry (in N gauge) that I remembered from my childhood. And so another mad round of retail therapy ... this time a bunch of train ferry wagons ... including HO scale wagons ... what a mistake! (I still have another four to be delivered ... will I ever learn?) And quite by chance stumbling upon the Wardleworth Lines Committee articles in a freebie magazine box, with the Rev Alan Shone’s description of how he designed and built his train ferry! Now I have become rather more focused - I think - on Southern region, late BR, end of steam and electrification. (And this from a Northerner?!) What has the above got to do with box files and micro layouts? Well, suffice to say that I built a baseboard to build my harbour layout upon; a seven foot long baseboard. (Yes, I ignored all the advice about baseboard size in my eagerness to avoid joints between boards!) Which I then extended with a narrower “quay" section board (a la Weymouth) behind my computer, to act as a fiddleyard. Then I started planning passenger facilities, and suddenly everything got out of hand… I had fallen into the trap of doing TOO MUCH and way too soon! So, how to break out of this vicious cycle? I part exchanged some of my stock and locos, and got myself a Hornby Peckett 0-4-0 to go with my Hattons Andrew Barclay. Another flurry of purchases and I now have a veritable fleet of dock locos - I have a penchant for them, and am 'collecting' them as I am able to! And, finally, I have packed all the track away after settling upon an Inglenook on part of the original board, with kickback sidings into the Hornby Magazine/Scalescenes Railway Works! Track has been put together and tested for clearances etc, and so now I need to saw the baseboard in half so I can start the laying the track permanently. And why do I share all this? So that I am committed to moving forward and bl**dy well doing something! This will force ... no, encourage me, to regularly update progress here! There will be lots of "firsts" for me, so I shall keep it small, keep it focused and get it done! Last but not least, the "DRS" in the title is for my father's initials - a lifelong modeller, he is living with dementia and Alzheimers and can model no longer. Steve

Thanks for the replies - I guess my wallet is going to spring a leak to the tune of a USA tank and a class 07 in the next few days!

I wonder if anyone could advise upon the minimum radius these models can take? Planning a set track radius 1 curve for my dockyard shunting layout, but want to double check before laying and before purchase of said loco ... I realise the originals were ideal for tight curves and hoping the model likewise. (I suppose the same question applies for the Heljan Class 07 diesel). Thanks for any advice. Steve

This may have been a while ago (2014) but the design reminds me of Rev Alan Shone's Wardleworth Lines Committee terminus St John's, which featured a train ferry. If the above "goods shed" became a train ferry as per the Rev's own idea, that would allow both passenger and freight to use Platform 3, as cross-Channel traffic. Of course, if the "goods shed" became a ferry, it would need to be considerably longer to look realistic (say three or four carriages per road) which would make the station longer too, and the scenic treatment would need to change. Off topic from the original discussion of an intensive city terminus, but perhaps makes the "goods" aspect more palettable/appealing? Below is Rev Shone's St John's station - although mirrored, hopefully the similarity I see might be seen by others, too? Not the best editing, but here's the plan "ferry-fied!"

This was the video I found, too. Thanks for all the information -- have been busy reading the Minories layout design thread, particularly regarding the curved approach to a terminus negating reverse curves into platforms, and noticed the pointwoek into St John's in the plan in the RM ... the Rev appears to have used the same idea, so even more impressed with his work. Having decided to model a train ferry in 4mm scale, I may end up with something similar to his plan for St John's, especially as his design for a "generic" train ferry is damned good looking! Hopefully not infringing copyright by pasting a photo of the relevant bit of the plan here...

Thanks folks So, the first bit of information gleaned is that his name was actually Rev Robert Alan Shone whereas I thought it was simply Rev Alan Shone! I have two RM articles - the Wardleworth Lines Committee article itself and the feature article on his train ferry. I remember reading a further article (I am sure) about the locomotives, again in RM. Although I am sure the magazine was still black and white, I seem to remember there being colour photos of his locos, to demonstrate the liveries applied. I do know that the parish was in Wardleworth in Rochdale - not only does the article mention it, but I also did some cover teaching at Wardleworth High School (of youth brass band fame) which is in the parish. In fact, "jus down't rowd from mi, lad" (I live in Bury). His supposition was for a cross-Pennine railway route that got "missed" by BR... bringing it up to date it would be a cross-Pennine rail franchise, and more modern locos could easily appear in WLC liveries! Maybe an opportunity for a limited production run of class 66s in WLC colours?! Steve S

Possibly the wrong place for this as it is a query, but try as I might with the search function I keep returning to the same half dozen entries... The Wardleworth Lines Committee (layout) written about back in 1973/74 (?) in The Railway Modeller magazine has been cited as inspiration by a couple of folks on here. I recently came into possession of said articles but wonder if anyone knows what became of the layout and its builder, Rev Alan Shone? Searching his name here pulls up plenty of references to "the sun shine" but not the Rev Alan. Somebody else mentioned his son, but no luck with that either! A Google search on the wider www points me to the same RMWeb entries, my own reference and a YouTube video of one of the locos running elsewhere! I'm intrigued as to what became of the layout, and especially the amazing LARGE ship models seen in the photos - the train ferry and the cross channel packet steamer. If this is the wrong place to ask, AndyY or Moderators please feel free to move appropriately! Steve S

Just noticed... The title is incorrect -- the shop is somewhere called Besses o'th Barn. This is the name of the nearest tram stop on the Metrolink tram system, and also the name of one of the oldest and most famous Brass Bands in the UK - Besses o'th Barn Brass Band! Local history lesson over -- the shop is well worth a visit too!

Hi Ianmacc I am certain I will get bombed for saying this when so many modellers do not have a local model shop, but sometimes I think The LocoShed is a little too near for the health of my wallet! Steve S

Joseph - would you be willing too share, please? PM if not public? Regards Steve S

This is the model that has set me onto my own quest for a night ferry model, linked to my interest in ships, docks and dock shunters, and now the crazy idea to do what The Wardleworth Lines did (in N gauge) and build a train ferry! Having spent a long time searching for 1:76 kits for larger ships, I've reached the conclusion that I can either pay a fortune to have one made or attempt to build it myself! If only I had John Wiffen's skills at creating hulks in card! (See Scalescenes for his range of ships!)

Asking the combined wisdom of RMWeb... Have just acquired a Lima “HO” Wagonlits blue livery sleeper coach... Is this model, to the best of the Forum’s knowledge, true HO, or over-scale? Wanting to create a “representative” Night Ferry train without paying £100+ per etched coach kit! Many thanks Steve

Have just stumbled upon this layout, and have to say that the like button has been liberally pressed despite this thread being a few years old and the layout now being in new ownership! Thank you for providing so much inspirational modelling! Steve S

Excellent modelling - really got atmosphere. Hoping to see more soon. Steve

Thanks - wasn't aware of this one! Steve

Hi Jon Thanks - I also saved lots of photos of all of those bridges in my search for a "generic not POLA" design to work from. The Birkenhead version may inspire a double track version yet! Steve

I like your idea ... I would have an overbridge carry the road over the tracks to act as an end stop, perhaps with a mirror ... that would create the "loop"

Updating to 2019... Jim and The Locoshed are still going strong, aided and abetted by a team of knowledgeable assistants - Chris, Paul, Rob being the usual suspects! Jim also takes a stall out to exhibitions and toy fairs. A brew and a biscuit is usually on offer, and there is often a clubhouse feeling in the shop - fellow customers are always happy to chat, share their knowledge or even wield a soldering iron on your behalf! Staff and some customers are also gold mines of prototype information, too! Great service, and Jim will often be open to negotiation! Second hand items galore (and for someone like me always an opportunity to sort stock out into something resembling a logical order!). Loco chipping, repairs etc. Stock mainly OO, but a selection of HO, O gauge and even some G gauge in the shop. Plastic kits including ships and vehicles as well as railway related items and buildings. Well stocked for resin buildings and as mentioned earlier carries most of the necessaries for a railway modeller. All in all a "traditional" model railway shop. No connections, simply a satisfied customer. Recommended! NB closed Sundays and Mondays

Looking back on your thread you mention discrepancies in size of HO stock - I just won a bunch of stuff off the Bay of Fleas including a STEF van which all looked big, but on your layout look true HO. Did Lima produce outsize wagons generally, or just the "ferry vans"?

Okay, this post is three years old but it is responsible for me now searching out ferry vans! Any chance of any more details as to how you altered the wagon, so I can do the same?! Steve

Well, a great day for bridge research! After someone mentioning Pegasus Bridge, I did a Google search and lots of photos later I tried the Google lens search thing... lo and behold, a bridge from New Jersey that looks almost exactly like the Pola kit, down to the circular pylons holding the bridge deck at the ends! So, I can now claim that I am working from prototypes and not copying the Pola kit! LOL Very satisfying to discover there is a cross beam where I thought one should be, on the Pegasus Bridge. [smug face]

Exactly why I ended up trying to replicate the bridge, JiLo, as I have been doing likewise! Couple of days away from modelling (including watching the hilarious Book of Mormon as a birthday gift from a friend) and returning to the project have immediately thought to move the side struts so they intersect higher, to allow a strengthening girder beam to be slung between them and clear stock. That may not be prototypical or even needed, but it is another step away from the Pola original! Also, measuring along the arc of the curved section will tell me how long the sections upon which the bascule rolls need to be! As a regular contributor to the Gnatterbox forum says in his signature, "hours of fun!" Steve