Artless Bodger

Photo 5. Western ramp started, wall panels and rubble (?) infill. Photo 6. Piling for the western abutment. Photo 7. Rebar construction for the western abutment. Photo 8. Looking west through the rebar cage along the ramp alignment.

Here we go then. To set the scene, the link to the NLS website shows how the new bridge was built at a skew across the top of the existing level crossing which may help orientate the views in the photographs. New Hythe Lane was diverted, partly to allow for a straight run onto the bridge ramp, and to maintain connection over the level crossing during construction. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=51.31319&lon=0.45403&layers=173&right=BingHyb Photo 1. Diversion of NHL opposite RCC (maybe Reedpack then?), looking south, west side of the railway. The chimneys in the distance are of the Aylesford Power and Steam power house (the new coal fired / gas CHP one that replaced the old boiler houses shown earlier in this thread). Photo 2. The foundation for the eastern ramp cleared and levelled. The old export warehouse on Blackhorse (which later burned down), new 2 metre flood wall along the river Medway, and the North Downs in the background. New Hythe lane just visible above the footbridge parapet. Photo 3. Standing on the new east ramp alignment looking west to the railway line, the corrugated asbestos shed roof is visible in photo 2. New Hythe signal box and the crossing barriers visible to the right of the crane jib. Photo 4. West ramp foundation looking west towards the road realignment seen in photo 1. More to come.

Thank you Andy. Interesting stuff about the operation and signalling. In semaphore days New Hythe had an up advanced starter to allow the oil trains to pass over the level crossing to clear the points to Brookgate Siding (and I presume the earlier coal trains too). I was lucky sometimes to have a late running oil train arrive when I was waiting for the train home to Maidstone, especially if ED hauled. Arriving on the third rail with the engine already running it would stop across the crossing; the disc pulled off for the siding, the ED would come back up grade pushing 1000t at full power on the diesel, wonderful thrash, echoing off the steel platform awning. They'd ease off once more than 50% of the train was over the break of gradient as the slope down into the mill was quite steep. After spotting the train at the discharge point the loco would uncouple and pull forward clear of the internal roadway and park opposite the power and steam dept offices. Am I right in thinking 36 loaded HAAs is about 1800t? So with 3200HP from a 56, a bit more HP/t than the ED could muster! The bottom of the advance starter post is just about visible in the photo, below the soffit of the new road bridge being built to carry New Hythe Lane over the railway. The soffit forms the top border of the photo and the bridge casts its shadow on the road. Also visible above the roof of the 4Cep is the down home post, Blackhorse siding (where 31618 was stabled after recovery from Barry) trailed in roughly where the track worker is. The marker light you mention might be that black and white object with the bird sitting on top? Is the white X visible in the distance the stop marker? I've got some more photos of the bridge under construction (courtesy of my brother) if anyone's interested?

Just found this after a search for Barlow Rails, was your Barlow rail one of about 4 lengths covering a manhole or drain sump just off the country end of the up platform? I used to see them every day on the way to work. Some years later on the train again I saw they'd gone and wondered if they had gone to a museum (hopefully), if someone had recognised them for what they were. Glad to know at least one still exists. Some gate posts in Bristol harbour around the old gas works look like two lengths riveted flange to flange.

It is indeed, when we received notice that the 4w tanks would be replaced with the bogie ones, we were sent a drawing (our siding had to be re-aligned, spurs lengthened and the discharge platform moved), the drawing was lettered for Murgatroyds. One of my regrets is that I didn't spirit it away when the chlorine deliveries were discontinued.

Interesting reference to Butler's - a bit OT, but my first job was at Reed's APM, we used rosin size supplied by Tenneco (a 45% beater ready soap size - saponified rosin) - Tencol I think though that may have been the later rosin emulsion size. Some of the technical service guys were ex Reed's APM (Graham Chapman and Graham Austin?), and the earlier name of their company was Butler Malros, becoming Tenneco Malros, Avonmouth based too. There was a tar works previously situated at the Aylesford end of our site, rail access was through our siding, even though the works was only a few 100 yds from Aylesford goods yard. The only tankers I ever saw though were round ones when passing on the train, the works had gone by the mid 70s.

If you fancy a Manning Wardle tank engine, have a look at page 24 of this edition of the Colonel Stephens Soc https://colonelstephenssociety.co.uk/onewebmedia/Colonel 119 compressed.pdf - an MW engine working for contractors building the Tovil Goods branch, crossing the road just by Allnutt's Lower Tovil Mill. The bridge was replaced with a permanent one.

Sorry, no. I was a bit surprised to find it was so close to my own exit. I wouldn't care to contradict the recorded dates, but I know they left the Aylesford site the same day.

For the record. APM Diesel Shunter ‘Hornblower’. Details taken from the engineer’s dept record card, c. 1984. Ruston -Hornsby 165DE Wo 416211 Engine 6VPH 416586 Front axle 30 cwt Rear axle 34 cwt Total weight 29T 2 cwt Less wheels 26T 2 cwt Full width 8’6” Full height 11’0” Full length 21’11” Cab roof – centre line lift holes 7’8” Lift to clear wheels 2’6” Compressor Broomwade TN13 No /340719 spec. 314/0507 Engine data: Firing order124653 Bumping clearance 0.060” ± 0.004” Valve clearance 0.015” Big ends and Mains 0.0025” – 0.005” max Injectors 3000 psi BHP 150 Max RPM 1250 Bore 5.375” Stroke 8” Injection 30° BTDC Fan belts B79 – 2 off Compressor belts A86 – 3 off Engine water pump races 620422

Hi SED Freightman Thank you for that info. I'd assumed they could not have gone far as the lowloader returned within a couple of hours to take Hornblower. From memory the sequence was: OMED (Outside Maintenance Engineering Dept) replaced the nicked battery in Hornblower, so the donkey petrol engine could be run to pressurize the air bottle. The diesel was started and Hornblower towed Bounty (which was US with gearbox trouble) round from under the beaterfloor to the wharf road. On a subsequent day the crane arrived first and I went down to see what was going on as it was visible from our office, talking to the crane crew, they were awaiting the lowloader. Lowloader arrived, and Bounty - nearest the exit from site, was craned on and taken away. I then tried to get Hornblower's key from the OMED, but Len Capeling was not in. Returning to the loco, the crane crew went through their keys and found one (iirc a Mercedes boot key!) which would turn the key switch (to energise the contactor). We started the engine on the air bottle, and when we'd got enough brake air the contactor tripped in. I drove Hornblower down the wharf as far as I dared - i.e. not quite in view of the management offices in the hutted encampment (ex WW1 wooden huts), and back to the crane. Play time over I went in search of a camera, and the the drawing office / project engineers (Roy Gunson) had a polaroid with 2 exposures left, which I used to photograph; Hornblower slung ready to lift, and the one above with it lifted. The lowloader returned and Hornblower was loaded and taken away. As it can only have been about 2 hours or so between removals perhaps the locos were taken to a temporary staging point as I cannot think the lowloader would get north of the river and back in that time. The crane definitely loaded both locos at APM the same day. The only thing I cannot be absolutely sure of is that the lowloader unit and trailer were the same for both locos as I didn't note the registration. Of interest Roy Gunson had been a railway engineering apprentice at Ashford and told me he'd worked on the Bulleid diesel 10201 that was displayed at the Festival of Britain - the apprentices had to clean and burnish all the pipework and lacquer it among other tasks. He did his national service in the ROD (or the later version of it) including at Longmoor. I had not remembered the locos went so close to my own departure, as I resigned about that time and left on Friday 26 April 1985, to start a job in Maidenhead the following Wednesday. My resignation was not connected with the loss of the locos!

Hi. I should have started with welcome to RMweb, hope you find plenty to interest you here. As you worked at APM, perhaps this thread might interest you too? Very early stuff, photos of the first 2 paper machines being built. I remember smelly alley well, it was a short-cut from NH station to the old yard office where EM technical and Water and Effluent depts were housed. It could be a bit unpleasant on winter nights, few working lights and quite a bit of junk laying around. When 6 was working it was even worse as any wet end flooding inevitably ran out the back door, down the steps and festered between the rails.

Hello Dark One. Thank you, that is interesting information. I knew there had been considerable rebuilding done in east mill, including a much taller flood wall along the towpath, so it is nice to get some details of what was done. You wouldn't have any photos or drawings would you? I remember Hornblower and Bounty being craned on to lowloaders and taken away - probably for scrap, the scrap men had already cut up and removed all the old internal user coal wagons you used to be able to see south of the ballast pit and the steam crane too. The wagons were mainly ex wartime cupboard door type steel minerals, but mainly rust by the 80s. We used to put the empty plastic biocide barrels in them as several got blown into the ballast pit one very windy day! The last time I saw the ballast pit from a passing train it looked like it had been filled in, but perhaps it had just silted up and grown weeds. I borrowed the engineers' polaroid camera to take this photo as the locos were taken unexpectedly. I note that in the shot the conveyor gantries have already been removed, and the stothert and pitt crane used to unload clay wagons, but I cannot remember them being cut down - odd becasue I would have looked out on the gantries from the office.

Hi Sophia I've realised I pasted the wrong address for the Historic England photos, should have been: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/results/?searchType=HE+Archive+New&search=Aylesford+Paper+Mills NB. Some are of Colthrop near Thatcham, part of the Reed Group but clearly not the Kent mills.

No expert but FWIW: There are a few photos of the Tovil goods branch - see the Kentrail site, this shows vans behind an electro-diesel, and the covered loading area, not really a goods shed. Try the Historic England site: https://historicengland.org.uk/sitesearch?search=Aylesford+Paper+Mills You will need to wade through it but there are a couple of photos showing vans - normal goods vans as far as I can see. Dad took me round parts of the mill at weekends when I was young, I remember the SR eliptical roof vans in one stockroom loading bay, also opens (highfits? 5plank) with straw used as dunnage packing around wrapped webs (reels) of paper, then sheeted over before despatch - so similar protection against the weather as webs on lorries to Fleet St etc - note the photos on the HE website showing lorries delivering paper reels - they've taken the sheets off to show the paper, normally you would not see the individual reels (too vulnerable to damp), just the lumpy outline under the sheets. Vans would be used for palleted loads, e.g. packed reams, small counter reels of wrapping paper etc. The paper sacks were loaded in tied bundles as might box blanks (cut, glued, corrugated cases laid flat). That covers outbound traffic. Inbound could include any goods vans with bagged starch, bagged clay, dyes and pigments in sacks or drums, bagged rosin. Chlorine tankers of course (for a big mill, I dont think Tovil used it), maybe caustic soda (again not Tovil & Bridge to my knowledge, though Allnutt's and Hayle were rag mills and usually rags are boiled with caustic to soften and swell the fibre before breaking - Allnutt's had a rag boiler, but I didn't see one at Hayle on my one visit). Woodpulp arrived mainly by river in lighters. Coal. I'm not aware of any of the Reed Mills, or Allnutt's having any private owner wagons, but I only knew them in the 60s onwards. Oh, and if you fancy some special traffic - Allnutt's took delivery of a new Lancashire boiler sometime in the 20s or 30s, brought into Tovil goods by a C class (or an O1) and rolled off the wagon, down the embankment to road level where it was winched onto a solid tyred trailer and drawn round to the mill with a traction engine - Mum had a set of photos of the event, I've asked my brother if they were kept after she died, so I may be lucky.

Easter vac 1976, I was on a geology field course, based in Torquay. Crossing the railway line on the way to Paignton and beyond I saw a Gresley (?) catering vehicle on a train passing underneath, I recall nothing else about the train except it was in blue / grey and had the square paneling immediately making me think 'LNER'. Would this have been on an excursion train? Though I'm pretty sure this would have been mid-week, so at that time of year excursion seems a bit unlikely. No camera of course

Sorry, it's not meant to be proscriptive. Your railway, your rules! Other papermills are (were) available around Tovil.

What glue do you use to stick the cardboard together? PVA or hot melt? Thanks.

Hi. I've just found this (via your comments in Minories are made of this), a very nice concept. Though currently modelling in N, I've still got some OO, mainly SR, and hanker after some sort of layout. N probably wont be my final layout as my eyesight deteriorates, so OO will eventually become a necessity. Combining your ideas of corrugated cardboard, and Sophia NSE's use of foamboard, gives me something to factor into doodling ideas for the next one. Particularly as I'm still in the 2x1 and Sundeala age of baseboard carpentry and cannot saw / drill anything square. Plywood I cannot get on with at all, but anything I can cut with a Stanley knife or scalpel and straight edge I can cope with. Thanks for the ideas.

I've only visited Queen Street once or twice but it did give me the Minories feeling, with mainline stuff too.

Glad to hear you sorted the Q1. Reeds - owners of Upper Tovil and Bridge mills - had green locos with red rods, green wheels in some cases (Aylesford, Imperial and Empire mills).

Some photos of Unilever house under construction, April and July 1931. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/unilever-house-under-construction-blackfriars-london-news-photo/3434654 https://www.alamy.com/unilever-house-blackfriars-in-course-of-construction-london-17-july-1931-image359629871.html Other views https://alondoninheritance.com/the-thames/unilever-house-de-keysers-royal-hotel-and-the-drinking-fountain-association/ Given the state of Unilever house in April 1931, the demolition of de Keysers was probably autumn 1930? Would fit the suggested dates above. It's amazing where perusing RMWeb will take you!

FWIW I'll chuck my hat in the ring on this one, having had a few electrical issues in the past. A while ago I bought a cheap multi meter on a stand at an exhibition and I find that useful, but not essential for fault finding. BTW you can download the service sheet on the Hornby website: https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/downloads/service-sheets/ , enter 14xx in the search box, it's number SS227G, shows an exploded diagram, and a spare parts list. In this case a few steps to try - my apologies if you've tried this already. 1. When you apply power with the loco on the track, or direct to the wheels, does it hum? If so it might be a mechanical problem stopping the motor turning, if it doesn't its probably the electrical connection somewhere. Assuming you don't get a dead short. 2. Can you turn the motor armature shaft with your finger tip and get the wheels to turn? If the wheels turn ok then there is no mechanical obstruction in the gear train. If there is an obstruction it might be a bit of loose ballast or similar in the gear teeth. 3. With a couple of wires connected to the controller, at low power apply the ends of the wires to the brush connections on the motor, if you can. They're probably in the white / clear plastic part at the opposite end of the motor to the worm in your photo. If the motor turns there's a break in the circuit between the wheels / pick ups and the motor. If the motor doesn't turn then the motor might be kaputt, or the brushes worn down and not in contact. If it's the brushes, you my be able to get spares - I've no experience with modern motors - X04 and GF Poole N motors are about my limit. Modern ones tend to be can type and not user serviceable but your 14xx chassis doesn't look like that. 4. Assuming the motor turns when current is applied direct to the brush connections, then move one wire back down the wiring path towards the pick ups and wheels step by step, wherever you can get contact. Once one side of the chassis is tested ok by this method move the other wire in a similar way back and you should be able to determine at what point in the circuit you have a break. Some things I've found: Sometimes over enthusiastic oiling or greasing can in itself build up an insulating layer on pickups, I've found a wadge of greasy fluff and dust displacing the wipers on my Minitrix cl27, and I don't run it one the carpet! I clean wheel rins and pick ups with IMS or surgical spirit on a piece of thin cloth (worn out handkerchiefs are good) held in fine tweezers. Carbon deposits on the commutator can also affect the motor by conducting across between windings, the old advice was to carefully clean armature slots with a fine pin or needle, BUT to take care not to scratch the commutator surface. I think though that carbon build up would cause a short. Hope this helps and good luck.

It has that Whitstable Crab look to it with the low boiler mountings. Nice, certainly looks better than the original cab.

1926 aerial view on Britain From Above: https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW015771 , with the Royal Hotel, 1934 aerial view: https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW045388 , Unilever building complete. I cannot make out the exact position of the tram shelter in either view as it is too grainy.

Looking at this photo, I'm thinking the river is on the right, the twin lamp standards on the right distance are on Blackfriars Bridge, so on the left should be the City of London School and other fairly tall buildings, the light bulbous object and the cigar shaped 'airship' are either parts of those buildings or artifacts of the long exposure - the background to the photo is not very uniform. I wonder if you would see much sky to the left?