TeakDB

@wainwright1 Those npcs look great! Fun is one way to descibe the horsebox- as my first foray into brass kits I definately feel that finding a solution to soldering on all the fine bits has not gone particularly well- I used a lot of liquid flux (gaugemasters or dccs) which seemed to do ok but in truth I seem to have 'tacked' down several parts of each detail rather than soldering the whole piece on. I'd just stress that removing the fine details from the sprue straight seems to be 80-90% of the battle to me. I also found there were some etching issues- i found one of the buffer beams seemed to be on an angle and require a bit of cutting down to get straight. Of course there are also detail differences for the IOW horsebox i'll need to address shortly. As for work on Brading- i'll continue working on the stroudley set and see what I can do about working on one board at a time- in truth its been one of the reasons i've been slow to work on the layout as its far easier for me to move the stock around than the boards. I am hopeful that I will get a good deal done of the actual layout in 2021 though! Cheers for the messages as always, David

Glad to see we agree on all three of those counts and I can stop glancing back at those books to see if ive provided duff advice!

Buffers was something that was vaguely on my horizon aswell so I've looked through all the books I have tonight. Now in the the 50s onwards i've found (so far) 4 early SR bufferstops, some rebuilt with sleepers instead of wood for the beam. Considering the SR didnt produce a standardised buffer untill around 1928 i think for both our time periods it would probably be a bit out of character to get brand spanking new bufferstops. Now I think I can identify lbscr buffers at ventnor in the 30s after the turntable was removed and horringford on the IWCR pre grouping, I also a view of one of the buffers at a siding in bembridge in the 30s is a lswr buffer. To confuse matters further I think the carriage siding at Brading had an earth mound contained by timber as the bufferstop in the 30s. Looking at your backstory for shalfleet with a relaying of track in 26/27 I think it'd be most likely for lbsc or lswr buffers to be used- im currently erring more towards lbsc due to seeing one used when relaying a bit of ventnor in the early 30s. Im so far thinking about using these for Brading unless I find anything to the contrary. Additionally since yours was originally a private concern like the FYN you could of hodgepodged any old thing and the SR may of just left it in place or added a new stop on it so really it could be anything- It also means like the FYN you could of bought any old rolling stock pre grouping so you could throw in all manner of kits- problem solved!

Looking great, I would second the part about everything being a good learning curve as I am finding out. Thanks for your kind words but really the lbsc open kits from cambrian and a few vans from smallbrook would be the majority of the stock for your quay and well within your skills. After that im sure you'll enjoy making a few one-off bits of stock.

Bit of a break as ive currently got two stressful bits on the bench and im moving house. Stress no 1 is the continuing saga of the coach lining- for some reason I thought all windows are lined whicg is wrong and resulted in a lot of lining having to be removed. Currently the left hand half in matt is finished. I am adding handrails from roxey as the finishing touches. Frankly I would not buy these again from smallbrook as the casting quality is very variable and it is hard to try for straight lining when some of the panelling isnt. I have just bought some vans and cattle wagons from them which is a different resin so I will report back in due course on them. Stress no 2 is the roxey (ex chatham kits) Lbscr horsebox which is eliciting a lot of unsavoury words from me. I have finally finished soldering all the detailing to the sides and have fitted the ends and solebars. I massively struggled removing the thin mouldings and strapping from the sprue without distorting them (I was using a snap off knife and dcc concepts cutters). Frankly im looking forward to finishing it so I can laugh about my first brass kit. On the plus side I have enjoyed reading through my now extensive collection of iow books- I recommend the once upon a line book for giving you small ideas like having flowers on the front of an engine and a bit of a feel of the operations of the lines.

Today I started messing around with the dingham couplings. I made up a few hook and loop ends which was fairly painless. I then dry fitted one of the hoops to the stroudley brake and tested the clearances around the tightest curve- I also hit on the fact that as long as it was set at the right height on the brake I could attach/detach from the terriers current 'hook' by pulling on the dropper. I need to test this with the electromagnets in situ but im hoping this is the case because it would not only save installation time but also improve the look of the locomotives no end as i'll be free to fit cosmetic screw couplings onto the existing 'hook'. The only issue i found was the placement of the brake hose on the terrier which will have to be moved slightly further from centre to provide clearance for the hoop to lift. (On an unrelated note i noticed the moulded lamp irons on the stroudley brakes are unprotypical and will be filed off for brass replacements) Promise I will eventually get round to finishing up wiring point motors/magnets/ adding point rodding in order to cover up all this bare balsa and cork!

Looking good, really coming together now, keep up the great work!

Good to hear it, one wonders why someone would not of already donated it or indeed sold it on for the price of a new shed!

It was rebuilt in mid 1930. Late 1928/ early 1929 seems to have been the date that almost all surviving stock was repainted by, I have a lot more books/ photos to trawl through so if I see/ read of any exceptions ill be sure to mention it.

Looking good and thanks for this. I think im fairly happy with the adhesion of the weathering powders so far, especially as after trawling through several books there arn't many wagons I see with heavy weathering. Although I have recently found a great photo of ex IWR no2 brake van before scrapping where the paint has weathered so far as for the old IWR marking to start showing through- now that will be an effect to work on in the future. Heres the finished rake of wagons so far. I say finished but I have also found a photo with the ex midland brake van with the westinghouse through pipes before being rebuilt which I need to add. I also redid the lining around the terrier nameplate with black and white lining rather than pure white. I have thought about your idea to create a table of rolling stock I build and what kits I used to get there, which got me thinking to what rolling stock I would want to convert/kitbash. This has got me to think that actually casting some of these wagons myself may be easier than (for example) converting a mid sized rake of ballast wagons from pre existing white metal kits and allow others to fill the many gaps in more interesting Isle of wight rolling stock. All I can say at the moment is this will not be something that moves quickly but potentially watch this space. My next update will hopefully see the iwr wagon fully bolted and finally a finished stroudley third.

I will be doing similar with the two o2s I currently have once ive finished my stroudley set. Also remember the extended bunkers came in later than the naming of the earlier o2s by a good few years and that might fit more firmly in your time period so thats still an option. I have a few surplus modelmaster nameplates if you are interested. As for efe 02s I think id probably hold off unless there was a LSWR version for the 1923 summer season which I wouldnt be able to resist.

Thank you both for the comments. Just playing around with weathering powders ect tonight as was also starting to install point motors on one board. From Left to right the IWC brake and ballast wagon heavily weathered, a lightly weathered complete imposter LSWR wagon and an unweathered LBSC wagon with a coal load. All the goods stock will be weathered to the level of the LSWR wagon with a few to the level of the brake to fit in with repaint guesstimates. The poor IWC and IWR stock will unfortuantly be horrendously weathered. I think its best if I work from my end date backwards to avoid jumping into the pregrouping IWR too early.

Bit of a while since last posting but I have made some progress. First up is the current state of the IWR 4 plank coal wagon, I have finished the strapping and other bits of detailing and am now awaiting some archers rivets to arrive from the states to finish it off. I have decided to model this one in SR revenue traffic and as such have added the door drop iron work and double sided brakes. Its main body is from the ratio LNWR 4 plank which is 3mm out in length but otherwise matches fairly well. The ends are from the Cambrian LBSC 5 plank as most if not all southern ones seem to have been rebuilt with 5 planks on the end. The only thing missing really is the IWR detailing on the axleboxes but im as yet unsure how to model the oval detail on such a small scale. I will not be modelling any with the famous Mcleod 'For CME use only' writing as its right at the end of my time period but I will certaintly be after several more at some point to put into IWR livery. Which brings me onto the next wagon- an ex Midland IWCR ballast wagon. This one only needed the inside planks scribing and the end doorstops to be added. I have opted to leave it in the grey IWCR livery as seen in the only photo I can find of them clearing a chalk fall as I figure they were unlikely to get an IWCR repaint. However since one made it untill 1930 I will most likely also make another one in SR livery to go in the St Helens permanent way goods train for the latter end of my modelled period. This is my first attempt at weathering and I have, so far, only weather the main body on the shown side. Any tips on how to improve the look would be much appreciated.

Although progress is being made im finding it hard to hold up anything suitably finished as im working on a few bits at once. I have joined up the two scenic boards with pattern makers dowels which will now mean I can finally get down to fixing the track in place and wiring the layout up properly. With that done I started to think more in depth in what operations I wanted from this layout and after a bit of reading around ive ordered some dingham couplings and electro magnets to allow some of these operations. The simplest is the 'running around' of the loco on the bembridge line aswell as the addition/subtraction of a spare coach from the coach siding as this only requires the end coaches of fixed sets to be fitted and three electromagnets installed. The small goods sidings at Brading proper are a bit more tricky in terms of deciding what stock gets dinghams as that will dictate what wagon combinations can be shunted. Finally im torn between seperating this thread into seperate layout and workbench topics as I will certaintly be doing much more of the latter rather than the former- as a teaser here is a part completed IWR open goods wagon which I will describe when its finished.

It was from wessex wagons, however apart from the lettering everything else about it is unfortuantly fairly off from the wagon its meant to represent- although as always I doubt many people would look close enough anyway so if you could find a few for a good price would be worth it.

Thanks for the motivation as always. As for the lining its not too bad however the flush glazing is what im dreading- took long enough on a brake van let alone a set of 4 coaches! The timeline for this project is definately now more realistically in the years rather than months- the ultimate aim for coaching stock is to have a set of stroudleys, a set or two of lcdr 28ft stock, a mixed set of lswr and lcdr bogie stock and a metropolitan 8 wheeler rake (aswell as passenger brake vans and a loose 4 wheel 3rd here and there). Ive just put an order in with branchlines for the three neccesary lcdr bogie coaches for my set and will, im sure, look forward to straight line beading rather than these horrible brighton curves! Am still watching anxiously for progress on your layout, especially now you are south of the river and I may be able to see it in person and run some of my stock on it one day. Cheers

Plugging along at the moment waiting on some bits for the layout before more progress is made. I have devised a simple close coupling arrangement for the stroudley set (which I tested on the sharpest curve they'll run on) and am slowly lining the all third with fox transfers. While this is going on im also muddling my way through my first brass kit with very slow progress- no prizes for what island vehicle it is.

Thanks for that, I on the other hand wish I was working on the layout more. The display part is roughly 2.8m with two boards but it will need a 1m fiddleyard board either side which I will fit when needed for running. For the wagon numbering im using photos from a few books; ilustrated history of southern wagons vol 2 being the main aswell as rails in the isle of wight by macleod, the oakwood books on the IWR and IWCR and the two drummond books 'southern rails on the isle of wight. I have a few more but southern wagons gives you the running number series and im using the others for photos and piecing together dates ect. If you message me im happy to share what ive found out about any specific wagon type. Regards, David

Well after 25 days I finally have a 90% complete train running, W12 Ventnor with a short goods train for Bembridge. Brake lamps, headcodes and connecting hoses to follow as well as the coal loads waiting to dry. After my previous post I decided to give Ventnor a more appropriate chimney. I had a spare beyer peacock chimney to hand which after reducing the height, sanding smooth and turning the top looks enough of the part for me to be happy. Below is a comparison with a non mutilated cowes. I am also debating painting the white name plate lining thinner from the inside to a more realistic width.

Thanks Ray, I haven't been recently before starting this project- for now im relying on maps and pictures, however I will look to visit before the finalising of platform positions ect because I agree I am a bit spoilt with having a lot of the infrastructure intact and measurable. Thank you very much- I am watching your layout grow at a much faster rate of knots than mine with a lot of interest aswell- hopefully you'll be able to spot any of the rolling stock mistakes that I miss!

Update on a few bits today- im now about 20 days into this project and am dangerously close to having a short goods train ready, even if it would look more at home on the merstone branch due to the two pieces of IWCR rolling stock. Ex IWCR, Ex Midland, Brake van and 8 Ton van. The Brake van has been what has occuped the most time due to fitting brass handrails, brass lamp irons and handcut glazing (all to varying degrees of success as the closeup will show)- it is just waiting for some sidelamps to be fitted and it will be finished although I imagine when I have a few Brake vans in future this will have few outings. The 8 Ton van has one issue which is that the tare weight is about a ton out at the moment but i'll change that next time im messing around with transfers. Finally a Hornby terrier slowly starting to transform into W12 Ventnor. So next up is finishing Ventnors tranformation with some transfers and etched brass plates. One piece of advice I could use is how I could achieve a slightly rougher look on the chimmney as Ventnor retained its locally cast one during my time period and at 4mm the only difference I think would be seen is the noticably rougher cast. After that its time to start lining, glazing and fitting handrails to the first stroudley coach which is otherwise finished and to actually finish setting up the baseboards to start running trains.

Short update today. I always knew building this all from scratch would be slow and I was not wrong about that. Considering that almost every piece of rolling stock on this layout will be kit built I am switching between kitbuilding and the layout to keep the variety. I have nearly finished 3 10T opens but the tare weight transfers are a massive time consumer due to none of the numbers being appropriate. As can be seen behind those I have an iwcr brake van awaiting brass handrails, a lbscr bolster awaiting brass fixing loops, an iwcr goods van needing a lick more paint and a stroudley third awaiting lining.

Hi All, Ive just returned from an 8 month stint of work and now find myself in a very different uk with three months leave, so like many others I decided now was the perfect time to jump back in with railway modelling, my previous experiences being of the fairly trainset like roundy roundy layout with an eclectic mix of LNER stock. As the title suggests I am going to be building an 00 layout of Brading during early southern steam days. Im going to set out a few of my goals/ aims in this first post as well as the limited progress to date. I decided on this layout for few reasons, chiefly I like the look of glossy maunsell olive and the Isle of Wight allows me to run fairly well looked after stock and the location of Brading adds operational interest as it allows for 'mainline' working from Ryde to Ventnor aswell as the Bembridge branchline. Additionally, I would like to try my hand at making something of an exhibition style layout and my first choice for this (Wroxall) has already been done by a very nice layout indeed. Finally, the timeframe allows the railway in transition from pregrouping to Southern to be captured; both with some of the Islands existing stock living out the last of its years, but also with the new allocations from the mainland being comprised of refurbished pre grouping stock. My chief goal is to try and recreate this transitional period as faithfully as possible, and I have spent many an hour with my nose in books to draw up a prototypical loco/ rolling stock roster to represent this (this will be covered in later posts as I build/ redetail said stock). I will also try for scenic accuracy, although this will be my weaker side, for now I am content that I have cut boards to the scale size of the Brading passing loop and that with much playing around with peco flexi track I will be able to largely capture the lengths and curveture of the prototypical station/ sidings (if enough peco turnouts can be sourced in a timely manner). So the progress to date; I have already built the business end of the baseboards out of 9mm ply and some pallet offcuts for bracing, the fiddle yards will follow in due course after the main track has been laid and Im happy with where the entrances to the fiddle yards will be. As can be seen I am partway through painting 3 ex LBSCR coal wagons newly transferred from the mainland and 1 ex IWCR, former Midland 8T van. I am also partway through a smallbrook studios stroudley coach and am messing around with transfers for the 02s and Terriers to providing the lining around the etched brass nameplates which will be applied in due course. I hope someone enjoys following this as much as I will enjoy creating this layout.