Artless Bodger

C1902 - I wondered about the apparently different placing of the pantographs on the first and second units, but find on further investigation that the first unit was a 2 car, expanded to 4, so the pan would have to be on a driving car, not an intermediate one. Thanks for the photos, I've learned something new from this.

It is the only one I know that would be supplied via London, but am ready to be corrected. Here's the empties passing New Hythe sometime around 1984/5. The loco number appears to be 56057. And an earlier one with two x 33s. Sorry, poor quality, taken with an instamatic.

Would that be the train from Allington? I've checked the Flickr page but no details. The Allington trains were usually 56 hauled in 1985, the last time I saw them, previously double headed 33s.

APM - Aylesford Paper Mills at New Hythe, part then of Reeds. We used chlorine for water treatment, the building you see the end of the roof is the Medway pump house, water was drawn off the river, pumped up, screened then flowed by gravity to the powerhouse turbine condensers, some of the return flow was directed into the 'ballast pit' reservoir which you could see from the passing train. Liquid chlorine was drawn off the siphon pipe in the tank wagon, mixed with water and dosed into the condenser feed, and process water feeds to kill off any microorganisms that might cause fouling of the pipes etc. We used about 1 ton a day in summer, 1/2 ton a day in winter when the microorganism level was lower.

The real thing in use. The drawing of the tank wagon in our technical dept at APM (supplied when our siding was relaid to accomodate the bogie tanks replacing the 4 wheel ones) was lettered for Murgatroyds. This is the last one on site about to be returned, BR stopped wagon load services on the North Kent line soon after, c. 1983/4. Hope this is of interest.

At one of the Wembley exhibitions there was a continuously moving train / tram driven by an Archimedean screw between the rails, https://blog.railwaymuseum.org.uk/the-never-stop-railway/

The wagon looks interesting - highfit? There were some fitted with a roller shutter roof - is this one? There seems to be a frame on top of the side. I see it is shock wagon too.

Make that move permanent, really level the country up. Save the HoP refurb money, sell it off to developers like Battersea Power Station was, or demolish it as a symbol of a discredited colonial / imperial past? With rising sea levels the HoP will be inundated within a few decades if not sooner.

A bit about the background, real and imaginary, to the layout. Our family walks on sunday afternoons encompassed much of the district surrounding Maidstone, favourites were to catch a trolley bus to Loose, walk down the valley to Tovil and then home. To me the Loose valley would have been perfect if it had a railway line, not knowing then that one had been projected in the past. Mote Park was near our house and a great playground as kids, Whatman's Turkey Mill was alongside the river Len as it exited the park and had a short siding off the up line approaching Maidstone East. Venturing beyond the park further up the Len valley to Spot Lane where there were quarries, and I later discovered once a small paper mill. There were sandpits and fullers earth pits nearer to Leeds, and Grant's cherry brandy distillery in Maidstone had orchards out near Lenham where the river Len rises. Walks along the Medway to Allington Lock and back through Little Switzerland in those days revealed more ragstone quarries, some with remnants of narrow gauge tramways leading to the river (all under housing now), and there were large sandpits around Aylesford, also with NG lines to riverside wharves. From all this I have plenty of inspiration for an independant railway, built to transport stone and sand to a river wharf, inward coal, rags and woodpulp traffic to industries and some local fruit, hops and timber traffic. The layout represents (loosely) the riverside wharf on the Medway in Maidstone, at the mouth of the Len. It occupies a space which in real life was Palace Gardens, sandwiched between the Archbishop's Palace and Maidstone bridge. There was a wharf and warehouse here - Bridge Wharf. I'm imagining that the track extends off scene under the approach to the bridge to access Town Wharf, the electricity works and breweries (and maybe a mainline connection via Springfield Mill and the LCDR). Going the other way to the fiffle yard the line would cross Mill Street, run along the mill pond beside the tanyard, later Rootes motor works, crosses Lower Stone street and passes the Lower Brewery (Isherwoods) and Len Cabinet works, Padsole Mill (paper), B.L. Wood meat cannery, Primrose and Len dairy, Whatman's Turkey paper mill, Spot Lane mill and quarries then out to sand pits near Leeds etc. There are some obvious problems with this imagined route, not least how to cross Mote Park, developed around 1800 by 3rd Baron Romney, Charles Marsham, sold in 1895 to 1st Viscount Bearsted, Marcus Samuel (founder of Royal Dutch Shell), and in 1929 to Maidstone Corporation. But in imagination anything is possible...... The flights of fantasy go much further but are not relevant here, but could be indulged with more space, time and money. The planned NG element is really inspired by systems around the Medway valley, at Tovil, Allington and Aylesford. It is a stand alone system bringing sand to the river quay. There - enough blether.

Another project started: a carriage on the 6 wheel sausage van chassis. The Ratio large grounded coach body kit seemed to offer some material to construct a coach from. The Hornby 6w chassis is a bit crude (as is my model making), having a pseudo Cleminson arrangement for the middle axle. I photocopied the side mouldings and did a few cut and shut exercises to see what I could fit. Pleasantly surrised to find on the internet a Midland Railway 6w lavatory 3rd (Slaters), which meant a minimum of hacking to the kit sides - just a bit of beading to restore at the ends. Job started at least, though I'm tussling with adapting the roof at present. Current status:

Sporadic activity here again, firstly I had to buy new materials - all my embossed plastic sheet and brick card was N scale. Now I have planked, brick, random stone etc embossed PS sheet appropriate to new projects and some Metcalfe brick printed card. Also a few Will's kits for small buildings. One I decided I had to have is the so called crossing keeper's cottage, this has special relevance for me as the prototype was the gate lodge to Clare Park in East Malling. Some of my relatives lived on the housing estate built post war on part of the park (the house and rest of the park is now an amenity), just round the corner from the lodge. I recognised it as the prototype for the kit some years ago when passing. Since my layout is imagined to be in Kent (most of the time anyway), a ragstone cottage seems appropriate, furthermore, the uncle who lived on Clare Park estate, worked in the ragstone quarries at Allington.

Access to the basement of the former GNR goods depot and Snow Hill tunnel perhaps? The buffer stop in the middle distance was originally part of the access to the yard, and used for stabling a banker to push goods trains up the gradient from Holborn Viaduct LL to Blackfriars I think.

Were they still splitting at Swanley at that time? In my early days I can remember the Gillingham section combining with the ME one at Swanley in the up direction and panic ensuing at Swanley in the down while we listened out for the announcements to ensure we were in the right section (front for Gillingham, back for ME iirc, often only 1x2HAP for each route). Otford station had the headcodes painted on the down platform wall indicating which for Maidstone and which for Sevenoaks.

I thought EMD SW1500.

How about side contact and (preferably) bottom contact 3rd rail installations which have protection, for the tunnel section would not need to be compatible with SR 3rd rail? SNCF used protected top contact 3rd on the Maurienne line (mainly for protection against snow and ice in the mountains).

Were not some early broad gauge coaches built with bodies between the wheels, so the body would be less than 7' wide? The benefit was lower CoG, increased stability compared to 'narrow gauge' coaches bodies above the wheels. That vehicle looks only about 6' wide or so.

Good to see a decent fence along the edge of the gardens, last time I visited, the path was inaccesible, fenced off with a tatty wooden paling fence. Given the trains will not be travelling at high speed here, presumably catenary supports could be much less obtrusive than elesewhere on the GWML?

Probably a bit too early ('63) and outside the area of your interests, but a lovely photo here, of a 72xx on clasp braked minerals used for steel coil traffic at Llanharan. https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/46539176721

A 'Silverstone Halt' for race track visitors, on HS2. I've now got a mental picture of a short, 1 carriage, wooden platform with a corrugated iron shelter and an oil lamp on a post. A muddy path leading away through the bosky hinterland. (Get Colonel Stephens to run HS2, that'll save a bit of money).

APM at New Hythe took roughly a couple of wagons each week into East Mill, along with the chlorine tankers. Bulk china clay was used until the MG (machine glazed paper) machines in West Mill closed around 1982. The wagons were shunted round to the wharf by Bounty 88DS, later by Hornblower 165DE and unloaded by a Stothert & Pitt crane into the clay bunkers. Once slurried the clay was pumped to West Mill via the enclosed pipe bridge over the railway.

Didn't Vivarail try this idea out on the Bo'ness and Kinneil railway? I recall reading that they proposed the use of a lead acid battery bank on trickle charge and then dump to the train battery during its reversal at the station.

Is this the battery recharge system for the converted D stock trains? GWR bought the entire St Simon beat me to it! Thank you both, for the detailed explanation, and the photos. Hope it is succesful.

Ah! Yes, thank you. I should ensure I read the whole thread before commenting, not dip in at intervals. I did suggest I might be talking out of the top of my head..... Still interested in those extra spring leaves though.

Looking closely, I think it is still 6 wheeled, the centre axle spring is visible under the wide greyish panel (once a ducket now removed?), and possibly the centre axle just visible under the coach. The spring on the nearest axle appears to have extra, smaller span, leaves on top - to accomodate greater load at this end? Or was it typical to have stronger springs at the ends (havent managed to find photos with the springs clear enough to decide). If reduced to 4 wheels would the workshop leave the springs and W irons in place (and beef up the remaining springs to compensate for spreading the load over 4 not 6 springs)? Or am I talking out of the top of my head as usual?

Thank you for that photo, I've not seen it before. Most of what I have is either off the web or in Stephen Garrett's book. From the latter I'd hazard a guess that the short coaches are some of the 'mixed rake of GER and CLC stock', the others are the Pickering bogie rebuilds of original Hurst Nelson stock. The KESR had some ex LBSCR round ended wagons apparently, maybe those in the siding, though they look a bit SER. The main platform starter appears to be off - no loco on the train though? Also the up starter spectacle plate looks like that signal is off too. Looks like I can justify plenty of coaches on my imaginary line!