ManofKent

Lady Godiva's Operation - Velvet Underground

I could be so Lucky - Kylie Minogue

Dead End Street - The Kinks

Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams

Over Christmas I spent a lot of time browsing the Middleton Press books on Kent's branchlines, and after much playing around, and sketching I decided to go with a small private siding off a small rural branch line. The main building will be low relief with a hut or porch to one side and a shed on a loading platform to the other. The intention is to try and create something that looks rural, bucolic and Kentish - set some time between 1930-1950. Construction is going to be of the Col. Stephen's approach - cheap but hopefully functional, using odds and ends spare/left over from building my main layout. I've got plenty of foam left, various bits of wood and I think I've got a piece of foamex I acquired as an off-cut that I can use for a baseboard. I realised composition is particularly important in such a small space - and hopefully this rough plan will work.

With my first layout in 35 yrs barely started what better idea is there than undertaking a second project Since the challenge was announced various ambitious schemes entered my head, but I confess I'm still hopeless at thinking in scale... I ordered a couple of cake boxes from that dodgy auction site and my first thought was "I hadn't realised how small 8 inches was" (as the actress said to the bishop).

Thanks Karl, Much appreciated - they are reasonably close, but I've decided to scratch build. I've had an attempt at the front panel, and whilst I'm not happy with it proportion and finesse wise, I'm reasonably satisfied that I've learnt enough from it to get it reasonable with another attempt or two!

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes - Crosby Stills & Nash

High Time We Went - Joe Cocker

It's certainly possible they came from multiple sources. The site is a veritable mix of old boats, containers, vehicles etc. I think with the sidings that the boatyard now occupy holding a significant number of disused wagons for several years prior to closure that the likelihood of at least a number of the vans coming from there is fairly high, but with the closure being 55 years ago I doubt anyone working there today is likely to remember.

No full chassis, but some appear to have the solebars still attached. I've honestly no idea whether chassis removal could have easily be done on site or whether it's more likely to have been done in the Faversham wagon repair shed (off the main line near where the branch started). Both the Wagon repair shed and Engine shed stopped being used around the same time the quay section of the branch was closed. The quay side of the branch line was little used in the early 60's - the photos in the Middleton Press book show it was mainly used for wagon storage prior to that part of the line being taken up. The sidings were reasonably extensive. The rest of the branch wasn't removed until the 1980's and was effectively a separate goods yard off the main line (there's a road separating the two halves).

Thanks (please forgive glaring inaccuracies as it progresses ). There are only a handful of photos of the line as it appeared in the late 1890's, and not that many from it's LMS days. Confirming vegetation would be appreciated - photos of the period suggest to me the trees along the line near the station were mixed deciduous, mainly birch, but with the odd oak and ash - does that sound about right?

I don't know about all of them - some may have arrived later from somewhere like Hoo, but there were certainly abandoned wagons sitting on the sidings in the mid-late 60's prior to the branch sidings being taken up. The main part of the quay branch was taken up in the late 60's, but the remaining stub from the mainlines wasn't removed until the 80's, there may have been vans parked up there - as far as I know it was disused (was on the edge of an industrial estate (now housing, with the victorian goods shed offices)).

There definitely were abandoned wagons when the line was lifted - there's at least one photo showing the sidings shortly before closure in the Middleton press book https://www.middletonpress.co.uk/books/railways/southern-main-lines/faversham-to-dover.html . Whether they were just left behind or sold off I've no idea, but they weren't brought in to the site, they were already there. The boatyard was already in existence and adjoined the sidings, although it was much smaller when the line closed.

A few more. I lost count of how many there are, but there's a good number and all seem to be the same type (no expert on vans - but presumably these were considered out of date when the line closed in the late 60's):

A few from a morning wander along Iron Wharf - previously the Faversham Quay branch.

Slow progress this last couple of weeks, but I've got mid level foam glued and the marsh/loch areas cut out. The gradients down will need some refining once the foam hot-wire cutter arrives. Track laying started, but I'd forgotten Peco points don't come with track joiners so had to order those and some cutters for the flex track. I'm going to lay the track before I build the hills at the rear to hopefully make it easier to create a 'cut into the landscape' look.

One night in Bangkok - Murray Head

River Deep Mountain High - Tina Turner

Just a feeling - Bad Manners

Help me Make it through the night - Glen Campbell

California Girls - Beach Boys

I Wanna be like you - Louis Prima

Assuming we're allowed out after tonight (and it stops raining) , I'll pop round and take some photos.

A few isolated ones too. I'm no expert on wagons, but they're mostly wooden sided with steel ends and vents.