Tallpaul69

Mick, I don't think horse racing works on the double or quits basis!!?? Mind you , the way things are going we will all have forgotten how any sport and the betting thereon works by the time things return to get to the new normal! Never mind, just take care, keep smiling (from at least a 2 metre distance) Best regards to you all Paul

Afternoon Clive, It used to be said that one big plus of kit built steam locos was that the motion of the valve gear was more realistic than on RTR locos? This , of course, presupposes one has the skill to get all the bits of the valve gear in the right place and to move in the right direction at the right time! I am afraid the results of my valve gear building always subscribed to the Eric Morcombe philosophy, so were always inferior to the RTR versions!! From that point of view diesels are much easier. Picking up on your earlier post on the music front, with Milllie Small's passing we loose another artist whose cheerful music just entertained us. You didn't need to analyse the story behind such songs, you just went with the flow. We could do with some new singers to entertain us in the current gloom. Right, I'll put away my soap box and get on with some modelling, there is a parcels train needs Kadee couplings and weathering. Take care, be safe Best regards Paul

Following on from yesterday's post I decided this morning to pull together the set of vans that I would use for the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels in Lower Thames Yard, (or in the smaller Lower Thames Goods Shed currently under construction it will be the 2010 Maidenhead to Southall Parcels). This may sound an easy 5 minute job, but my model parcel vans are not all in one place! Some have been unloaded from their large transit boxes used in our house move, others are in fruit boxes from being stored in the garage I rented over out move period, and others are loose in drawers in a cabinet that stores unboxed stock! So while doing this I reviewed my parcels stock and got it all together in one place, divided into categories, to make it easier to allocate stock eventually to the other parcels trains on Lower Thames Yard. I should also explain that Lower Thames Goods Shed will have only this one set of vans which cover the am down Southall to Princes Risborough (will be 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough on Lower Thames Yard), attachments to up branch afternoon passengers, and the 2010 Parcels. Otherwise there will just be a couple of Fish vans and a couple of loose Parcels vans attached to various trains! So will post more on these vans and the work I need to do on them later in the week! Cheers Paul

Good Afternoon everyone, Can anyone tell me if during the period 1960-2 there were still numbers of ex LMS and BR BGs in "Blood and Custard" working out of Paddington along the route to Reading, or had they all by then been repainted into Maroon? Many thanks Paul

Hi Rich, Just looking at the castings, as I havn't built this kit, I would say Sets of steps? Cheers Paul

Good Afternoon Kevin, I have a similar problem with the Relief Line junction on my temporary layout Lower Thames Goods Shed. However, I have decided that trying to make the junction between the High Wycombe Branch and the Relief Lines, is just too complicated on a "quicky" layout, so my lines history is that the relief lines between Maidenhead East and Reading were never built, initially due to shortage of funds, and then Lord Maidenhead bought the land to build houses for commuters, so the relief line platforms were needed for terminating trains from Paddington! Hence the layout has three tracks on the right hand side but only the branch on the left! Rule 1, or what??!! Cheers Paul

Good Afternoon one and all, This week I am starting with the vehicles of the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels as detailed in the 1961 Carriage Working book, as well as details of the vans that I intend to use to portray this working. The basic working comprised 4 vans:- a) The first van is a GUV. This starts its day according to the carriage Working Book from Paddington on the 0533 parcels to Oxford. There is a problem with this as the van is to be detached at Maidenhead to join the 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough Parcels to get to High Wycombe. The problem is that the 0533 is timed by the WTT to pass Maidenhead at 0620, which is the time the 0540 Parcels is due to leave Maidenhead from the branch platform! So in my model world the van leaves Paddington on the 0430 Paddington to Westbury News due to stop at Maidenhead on the relief line from 0515 to 0520. The Carriage Working Book says this van should be a GUV or similar type end door vehicle. (I assume this is to cater for loading at an end dock at High Wycombe?) The van returns to Maidenhead from High Wycombe attached to the 1850 High Wycombe to Maidenhead Passenger. The ultimate destination of this GUV is Crewe. It leaves Reading on the 2030 Greenford to Parcels which shunts in Reading from 2019 to 2115. I have yet to work out how this van gets back from Crewe to Paddington. I guess there were two of them on a two day cycle? I will use a Lima or a Lima/Hornby GUV to model this. b) The next van is a "van" which started its day at Paddington attached to the 1138 Paddington to Didcot parcels which dropped it at Maidenhead when it stopped from 1207 to 1212. It was then put in the East Siding until being picked up around 1400 by a class 121, and deposited in the branch platform while the 121 took a trip to Bourne end at 1412 before leaving with the van for Aylesbury at 1506. The van returned on the 1825 Aylesbury to Maidenhead. Once back at Reading, it reached Didcot on the 2030 Greenford to Birkenhead Parcels. I have yet to sort out how the van got back from Didcot to Paddington, or whether it started its day early at Didcot? I might use a Dapol Fruit D or a Bachmann BR CCT to model this. c) Then there is a Brake Van which started its day at Reading on the 0540 Reading Parcels , joining the Van (b) above at Aylesbury, and stayed coupled to it for the rest of the day until they both got to Reading in the evening. I have yet to decide whether to use a Hornby Hawksworth, or a Bachmann, BG to model this. d) Finally there was a van (probably a Syphon G), which had started its day at Chippenham full of milk in churns destined for Aylesbury, before joining the 0540 Reading Parcels, but was emptied more quickly at Aylesbury so returned empty to Maidenhead on the 1642 Aylesbury to Maidenhead Passenger. This van then started its journey back to Chippenham from Reading on the 2230 Paddington to Penzance Parcels which stopped in Reading from 1133 to 12 Midnight. I will use either a Lima or an Airfix Syphon G to model this. As you can see from the above, these four vehicles had quite different and involved daily or two daily cycles. However, this does, I think, illustrate that we should be careful about running simple out and back trips for our Parcels vans? Best regards Paul

Good Afternoon to all on RMWeb, For a change, here in Bedfordshire it is sunny with little wind, so we have spent the morning on spring cleaning the raised vegetable beds ready for the courgette plants from last years left over seed that are currently threatening to take over the greenhouse! I am just deciding what this week's modelling saga on this thread will be after boring everyone last week with the saga of the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish train? I might go for the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels, which is made up of parcels vans that went up the High Wycombe Branch on the 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough parcels after it reversed at Maidenhead, then return singly down the branch on the afternoon passenger trains. Hopefully then by the end of the week I should have finished a few jobs on that set of stock and the Fish train set of stock so I can put up pics of both next weekend! So, I had better get on with things! Stay safe, well and happy modelling, Best regards Paul

Agreed! I think if we came out of Lockdown, and found that everyone agreed with everyone else, we would soon want to go back under Lockdown! Meanwhile, for a change, here in Bedfordshire it is sunny with little wind, so we have spent the morning on spring cleaning the raised vegetable beds ready for the courgette plants from last years left over seed that are currently threatening to take over the greenhouse! I am just deciding what this week's modelling saga on my Lower Thames Yard thread will be after boring everyone last week with the saga of the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish train? I might go for the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels, which is made up of parcels vans that went up the High Wycombe Branch on the 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough parcels after it reversed at Maidenhead, then return singly down the branch on the afternoon passenger trains. Hopefully then by the end of the week I should have finished a few jobs on that set of stock and the Fish train set of stock so I can put up pics of both next weekend! So, I had better get on with things! Stay safe, well and happy modelling, Best regards Paul

Thanks Nick and Paul, I looked this morning at the 2.5in OS. Partly because I wanted to support my east of Maidenhead theory to allow more fish vans at Maidenhead, I hadn't looked west of Maidenhead station! I thought I was onto something when I found "Railway Cottages" to the west of Taplow station, but on closer inspection I realized that they were too far from the lines, at an angle to the lines and too short for the terrace as I saw it in the photo! There are a couple of other candidates to the east of Taplow, but I think your theories are the best. Looking at the 25inch OS in the GWJ No36 of Autumn 2000 on Maidenhead, there is a SP opposite the end of the terrace of houses, so the train could be held at that, although the photo of the West Box up Home signal in the above article would suggest the other signal was a distant. But maybe it was practice to stop at a distance against you rather than to slow, if you could see that the home was also down? I might dig out my HST Cab video and see what that shows, but knowing my luck there will be a break in the sequence or a train going the other way at the crucial time. So looks like if I want more fish vans that I will have to "adjust" the composition of my train under Rule 1! Cheers Paul

Good Afternoon everyone, I thought I would round off the week by sharing the latest version of the Lower Thames Goods Shed Plan and (yet more) notes about the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish and Parcels train! So the latest version of the Goods Shed Layout Plan, as I suggested a few posts back, has used the larger space to improve the radius of the scenic curves at the left hand side and add a couple of sidings. I have also improved the usefulness of the fiddle yard sidings. Yet to be finalized are a couple of loco sidings shown in broken lines at each end of the fiddle yard. I might possibly add two more loco sidings running off those, but following the curve of the fiddle yard lines. My latest thoughts on the Fish train is that I need to try to locate where the photo I described in my earlier post was taken. It looks to have been taken at ground level from the south side of the Main Lines with the train correctly on the Relief lines.. Unfortunately there is little showing of the background except that what appears to be part of a row of terraced houses at approx. rail level can be seen past the front of the loco. In the foreground is what appears to be grassed area on which the photographer is standing . There does not appear to be any fence between the grass and the track(!) Now I don't know the lineside between Reading and Slough very well, but I can't think of anywhere where there is a row of terraced houses near the north side of the line, at line level. If the location is between Taplow and Slough, this would explain why there are only two fish vans as others could have been dropped off at Twyford, Maidenhead, and Taplow? If anyone remembers this area in the 60s and can help, I will be pleased to hear. The article was by Robert Carroll, so I will contact him and see if he has some location details in his records, plus I am going to email the Model Rail team and see if they can find anything from their archives. Keep safe and enjoy your modelling, Best regards Paul

Thanks Nick, In that case it looks like the loco on the 0720 Reading to Slough had previously covered the 0535 Oxford to Reading Fish and Parcels, which makes sense because earlier in the 60s there was one through Oxford to Slough train. Not sure why they split them, but the 0535 did stay a fair while and do a lot of shunting at Reading as it carried numerous vans for the SR! I guess the Oxford Loco got back to Oxford via the morning Slough to Hinksey freight using the High Wycombe and Thame branches. Best regards Paul

Yes, Richard I agree. Little Muddle is often the first thread that I look at each day!

Hi Nick, Those bridges look good and sturdy! What is your favoured method for doing water? I don't know these bridges, but what sort of depth is the water under them? I am assuming this bit of the Thames is not navigable. Cheers Paul

Hi All, Reference the above train the details I have are as follows:- Carriage Working Diagram:- Formation Item From To Brake Van Oxford Slough Vans Various Twyford to Slough Formed with Traffic from 1840 York, 2150 Shrewsbury, 2055 Birkenhead, 2222 York. The Photo:- From page 56 of the January 2011 issue of Model Rail:- o720 Reading to Slough Fish and Parcels photo on 2nd August 1961 with 6 vans Loco : 4148 (I need to check where it was sheded?) Stock:- Item 1 ex LNER Fish van Item 2 ex LNER Fish Van Item 3 exSR Bogie B brake Van (grn) Item 4 BR Mk1 BG (maroon) Item 5 GWR or BR Syphon G (maroon) item 6 ex LMS or GWR BG (maroon) The above is all the information I have. The photo is quite dark, so I was not able to take a picture of it to post that showed any worthwhile detail! Cheers Paul

Hi Richard, I have only just got to read your thread. It is of great interest to me as I have a similar space to you (mine is 12ft x 8ft) and my layout is also (G)WR (c1960/2). Well done, you are well ahead of me, partly because I have to depend on others for my baseboards, track laying and electrics as I know from past experience my skills in these areas are not great, and are not increasing with age, being 71 years young! Straight forward kits for wagons and coaches I can manage and I have someone who can do more complex items and especially painting and weathering for me. I can also deal with scenery , buildings etc. Construction of my layout, which I have only had space for since moving to our current house three years ago, should have started this week but the virus has put pay to that so I am currently working on a simple version of part of my plan on boards I already have. My layout thread is "Lower Thames Yard", the layout inspired by the High Wycombe branch and relief lines at Maidenhead. The simple layout is called "Lower Thames Goods Yard", and is detailed on the above thread. The plan is that the buildings from this can be reused on "Lower Thames Yard". Keep up the good work! Stay safe, Best regards Paul

Not if they are keen spotters! I suggest they might be at the end of the platform watching the shunting? Those were the days! Cheers Paul

Hi everyone, Down here in a wet and chilly Bedfordshire, where it seems like we have had all of April's showers (who is April??) in the last couple of days, I am still trying to get a round tuit, in terms of completing this week's modelling jobs. Have managed to sketch version 2 of Lower Thames Goods Shed, and fiddle with a few points and bits of track to get rid of the worst howlers. Provided there are no violent objections, I will share that with you tomorrow? Sorting through some old mags this morning in the continuing quest to reduce the weight on my shelves I found a 1961 pic, admittedly pretty dark, of a train I have been trying to sort the model of for a while now. This is the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish and Parcels. Had the Local Parcels formation from the 1961 Carriage workings for some time, but nothing better than having a pic, which also gives me the loco used. Luckily the caption is pretty good so that makes up for the difficulty in making out the last 3 of the 6 vans! Looks like the rain has stopped so I had better sign off now and dash to my Railway Room to get some bits into the house , so I have finished some modelling this week! Stay safe, Cheers Paul

Meanwhile, down here in a wet and chilly Bedfordshire, where it seems like we have had all of April's showers (who is April??) in the last couple of days, I am still trying in modelling terms to get a round tuit, this week. Have managed to sketch version 2 of Lower Thames Goods Shed, and fiddle with a few points and bits of track to get rid of the worst howlers. Provided there are no violent objections, I will share that with you tomorrow? Sorting through some old mags this morning to reduce the weight on my shelves I found a 1961 pic, admittedly pretty dark, of a train I have been trying to sort the model of for a while now. This is the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish and Parcels. Had the Local Parcels formation from the 1961 Carriage workings for some time, but nothing better than having a pic, which also gives me the loco used. Looks like the rain has stopped so I had better sign off now and dash to my Railway Room to get some bits into the house , so I have got some modelling achieved this week! Stay safe, Cheers Paul

Thanks Nick, I'll put that on my to get list after I've tried the insulating tape solution. There might be other things Wizard can supply which would offset postage on the tape! Cheers Paul

Good day to you All, from a wet and breezy Bedfordshire, I have completed the first redraw of the Lower Thames Goods Yard layout to the larger size as per my yesterday's posting., but have put it on one side until tomorrow to look at it with refreshed eyes as I'm not quite happy with it.. I need also to fiddle around with a couple of bits of track to verify they work in reality, before I am happy enough with it to share! So I have now been fiddling around with bits and bobs to make up the missing Coopers Craft wagon roofs. The problem on the Cattle wagons is well on the way to being solved as I have found that our toilet roll card centres are of the correct radius to fit. They do need careful cutting, and I am not satisfied with the dimensions of the first few, but I know what I need to do to improve them. Also, while the curve is just right the card is too thin, but the obvious solution of two thicknesses gives less than ideal edges. The other problem is how to replicate the four narrow bands that fixed the canvas to the roof. Card ones are too flimsy to handle, so I think I need to look in my scrap box for some thin metal that can easily be curved. At least these vans don't have the curved rain strips that the more modern vans have! Take care, best of luck with your modelling Paul

Once you have drilled the 17 holes (correctly!), will you be rewarding yourself with a trip to the beach? I hear tell that the Aus authorities have opened the Sydney beaches once more? Take care, stay safe, measure twice and drill once! Best regards Paul

Hi Everyone, Only time for a few comments today. Firstly, I've been doing some work on how I might increase the size of Lower Thames Goods Shed. The materials I have to hand will, I think, allow me to increase the size from %ft 6ins x 3ft to 6ft 2 ins x 3ft 9ins. This will allow me to increase the radius of most of the curves in the scenic side of the layout from Hornby R2 and R1 to Hornby R3 and R2. I should be able to fit in the two extra sidings in the scenic area that I mentioned yesterday and also alter the alignment of the roadway so that the length of the Branch siding can be increased. So over the next couple of days I will do some full size track fiddling and revise the layout sketch. A few days ago I mentioned in a post somewhere (not necessarily in this thread(!)) that I had a problem with some Coopers Craft Cattle wagons and Mink vans that were missing roofs. I now have to hand several curved pieces of card and plastic from various packaging which I hope will solve the problem. After I have made and fitted the roofs I will post some pics, I just need to remember to take some how to do it pics as I go along! So I hope you are all keeping sane in this continuing lockdown, but please stay safe. Best regards Paul

Good Afternoon All, Here are my latest thoughts on Lower Thames Goods Shed after a session checking the timetable moves, which suggests I need two more sidings in the scenic area:- One is needed to hold:- a) an early morning GUV or Syphon G that arrives from Paddington. In reality it was on the 0430 Paddington to Westbury Parcels, but as I cannot portray that train, we will assume it arrives on the early morning shunter. Now this shunter in reality worked LE from Slough to Twyford alternate mornings to shunt then worked back to Taplow LE to be the early shunter there. So I am working it 5 days a week with the Van. Then LE back from Maidenhead to Taplow. The Van is added to the 0620 Parcels (now Slough to Princes Risborough) for the trip up the branch to High Wycombe. b) Later, for most of the morning the Class 121 and trailer need a siding, and from 1300 for the afternoon the class 121 drops the trailer so that also needs a siding. One possibility is to cut bach the straight bottom side of platform H in my sketch and fit a siding there. The only disadvantage to that is that it may not be long enough for the 121 and trailer. I am not worried by the loss of part of the platform, it was never going to be very realistic any way In reality the siding used for this was the East end siding which ran off the Platform 5 (Branch) loop parallel to the up relief line. The second siding is an addition to the goods yard to make the employment of a shunter a little more realistic. If I have a three way point I will substitute it for the right hand point out of the Branch siding/ Goods Shed siding, and run a siding across the goods yard. I might also alter the alignment of the road along the centre of the layout and the position of the bridge across the branch so that I can make the Branch siding longer, and the goods yard a little bigger (and less symmetrical). There will need to be a bit of trial and error as the bridge cannot move too far round the curve otherwise it will not hide the first curved Fiddle Yard point! So some time this week there might be a version 2 layout plan. Best regards, and keep safe Paul

Hi there, Perhaps a word or two about the operation of Lower Thames Goods Shed" might be useful? All the trains though short, when operated in "serious" mode, will be according to the 1961 WTT for the Maidenhead to High Wycombe branch. So most trains will run from the fiddle yard to the station round the single track left side of the layout and reverse Also included will be a couple of morning Paddington Trains (one steam and one DMU) from Maidenhead and their evening returns. Some Reading to Maidenhead and Maidenhead to Reading trains will be portrayed by making them Maidenhead to Slough trains or the reverse. So the morning Reading to Princes Risborough Parcels , reversing at Maidenhead, will become a Slough to Princes Risborough parcels. Its return working the evening Maidenhead to Reading Parcels will become a Maidenhead to Slough parcels! As the layout will only hold some 8 trains and 2/3 LEs, most trains will portray several workings! The station will have its shunter, although the amount of shunting will be limited. I might try to fit in an additional siding off the goods shed siding. In "Play" mode, trains will just circulate passing each other in the station loops. I aim to use this mode mainly while doing jobs on the layout, buildings or rolling stock. Lastly the layout will be used in "test" mode for setting up DCC on locos and units and testing new/ tinkered with items. Here is a repeat of the plan so that you can look at it while reading the above. Please stay safe and keep smiling. This morning's paper suggests we may be allowed as a first easing of the Lockdown to interact with a named list of up to 10 friends and family, goodness knows how they plan to police that! Hope I can change my group when I fall out with some of the members??!! Cheers Paul