David C

Politics aside (fascinating though it is), getting back to first few posts on this thread, the 82xxx class locos which were based briefly at Newton Abbott in the mid 1950s worked the Kingsbridge branch as well as the Moretonhampstead line. There's a not very good photo of two of them together on RMWeb somewhere or other ... Its the reason I acquired a 1:76 scale version for Woodstowe .... 82001 was built in 1952 and only a very few years old by the time of my chosen period (mid 1950s). I reckoned it would have been a bit dirty, but not that unkempt and that is how I weathered it. Whilst browsing in the Model Railway Club’s library one evening sometime later, I came across a photo of it on a goods train on the Moretonhamstead branch in about 1955/6. It was immaculate! David C

An amazing achievement by Andy York and Phil Parker and all the others responsible for organising this event. Some brilliant modelling - in some cases, I had difficulty working out whether the photos were of models or prototypes. Thanks to organisers and modellers alike. David C

Hi Nestor Good to hear from you, too. Long time, no see. Are you likely to make it to KH when it re-opens? Or Ally Pally, if we are fully out of lock down by August? Thanks for the compliment about my scenic work. The pics don't really show up the bald patches, just the horizontal fibres. The one thing modellers of a certain age have in common with their layouts is a tendency to develop baldness! The static grass on Woodstowe can be revived whereas my receding hairline can't be cured with a Flockit! I haven't started a new thread on Weidenstein (as my bit of Bavaria has been christened) largely because I suspect most members won't be terribly interested in any models which aren't set in this Sceptered Isle ... I will post more on Woodstowe fairly soon .... Regards David C

I haven’t posted anything on this thread for getting on for 3 years now, largely because there’s been nothing to report. A move out of London to Suffolk restricted modelling time so I have been concentrating on building my 1:87 bit of Bavaria. Woodstowe has spent almost all of the intervening period boxed up as exhibition invites had dried up, so there was no incentive to erect it. Apologies to Regularity who posted a comment on here in 2018. I simply didn’t spot the notification. Weidenstein is now almost complete, but I have been struggling with scratchbuilding the last structure for the layout, the loco shed and associated gubbins. One might imagine that such buildings were fairly simple – they are here in the UK, after all – but not in Bavaria. Having abandoned version 1, I got half way through version 2 when I decided it wasn’t good enough. The thought of starting version 3 was distinctly offputting, so I chose to put the project on hold, erect Woodstowe and play trains for a while. Woodstowe had not been forgotten whilst my patch of Bavaria was under construction. I had acquired some stock for it, but beyond replacing the tension locks with DG couplings and a bit of weathering, they had hardly turned a wheel. They were all RTR, so nothing out of the ordinary. The layout itself was still in good nick, although some of the scenery needs refreshing. Woodstowe was “greened” using mostly static grass applied with a home made tea strainer/fly swatter and the results were not brilliant. Even 8-9 years ago, the results were not brilliant with most of the fibres lying horizontally. For Weidenstein, on Andy Y’s recommendation, I purchased a Flockit from Greenscene and the results were much, much better. There are a few balding bits on Woodstowe as well, so before I put the layout away again, these will be dealt with. David C

Looking at photos of prototype goods yards, big urban ones often have cobbles or setts (at least in the steam era). Country ones tended to have compacted earth or ash. What are you modelling and when? I have only ever modelled rural branchlines in the days of steam. Usually, the track in sidings was hardly ballasted at all and the ground in goods yards was usually level with the tops of the sleepers. I use thick card to do this, then paint it with enamels to seal it. A lot of modellers use ballast or flock powder to represent the surfaces of goods yards, but to my eyes, this looks much too rough for compacted earth. The Chris Nevard method described by sb67 above is much more realistic. Hope this helps. David C

I doubt that PVA will stick DAS to styrene sheet if it does, it may not last too long. Dave Rowe, who introduced DAS to the model railway world many years ago, used to apply the DAS onto a styrene building carcass and then impress the stonework or brickwork whilst it was still wet. When it had dried thoroughly, he used to flood it thoroughly with solvent (Mek Pak, Plastic Weld etc). This soaked through to the styrene and secured it effectively. I've been using the same technique for years and had no failures at all. The big low relief maltings at the back of the layout behind the goods shed was constructed by this means at least 10 years ago . The goods shed and most of the other buildings were surfaced with Wills coarse stone. Incidentally, dampening the DAS a little makes it more workable. I've been using it instead of ballast to bring the groundwork up to the tops of the sleepers on the tracks leading to the loco shed on my current layout. This is intended to represent compacted ash as per Chris Nevard's suggestions in Model Rail. David C

Interesting trip to the MRC yesterday from Ipswich and back. On arrival at the station, there were no less than 3 FLIRTS waiting to depart to Felixstowe, Peterborough and Lowestoft, but when the 16.09 appeared, it consisted of two 321 units. At least, they worked, although arrival was late at Liverpool St due to the signallers letting a 66 hauled tanker train go ahead. The return journey was the 23.30 and surprise, surprise there was a FLIRT waiting on platform 9. I make this journey regularly and had only ever travelled on one once before several months ago. The last train of the day always seemed to be a 90 plus mark 3s, presumably because they were more reliable. I was told that railway operators always try to run the last service whatever the circumstances, otherwise it could get expensive. As it was, the journey was uneventful and fast as we arrived ahead of time at several stations en route. This is not always the case, given that the last service of the day usually carries a higher proportion of drunks than normal and they can cause delays to the more sober of us passengers. There weren't any last night: indeed, there weren't that many passengers on the train at all. The FLIRTS themselves: comfortable and fast, although the ride was a bit rough at times. I may have been sitting above or near one of the articulated bogies, which may have made a difference. My only criticism would be that the lighting was a bit harsh, which certainly wouldn't flatter the drunks - or me - for that matter. Mind you, they usually get off at Chelmsford ....... David C

Hope your trip to the Netherlands goes well. I'd love to see an HO range from Modelu. As a British modeller of German railways in era III (as well as 4mm BR(W)), what's available from Preiser is OK and some of the figures are very characterful as well as being quite realistic. The problem is that an awful lot of them are in "action" poses which I don't personally find convincing. I'd rather have figures standing and not doing anything very much as you'd normally see in 1:1 scale for most of the time. German modellers seem to prefer such action poses and populate their layouts with "action" scenes. Incidentally, Modelu and your scanning opportunities have been mentioned on a German forum - https://www.stummiforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=102018. The thread is called Austria 1955 - The Goertschtiztalbahn. Its a beautiful piece of modelling representing an Austrian line in the 1950s! David C

I think I've seen pictures of that layout in a book on railway modelling from the 70's, whilst in a second-hand book shop in Settle. Can't remember the title of the book, but it was a general introduction to modelling in the smaller scales. Was the layout N gauge? Ben B: Yes. It was mainly yellow in colour representing desert country in the USA. For many years, there was an American 0-6-0 switcher sitting on the track. It never moved, at least when I was there and being in a glass case, never got dusty either! Must have finally gone to landfill by now. RIP Norwood Junction Models! David C

Joseph Pestell and Nearholmer: glad Alex Bowie and Modelmania are still remembered by some.! I think that the baby boomers amongst us are right in that there was a golden age of model shops in the 60s and 70s. I also remember Norwood Junction Models which is only ceased trading about 5 or 6 years ago. It was my nearest model shop when I lived in Penge (well someone had to!) and later Sydenham. How it survived for so long, I have no idea - there was hardly anyone ever in there in its later years and it had hardly changed since we moved to the Croydon area in 1961. There was a very small layout in a glass case at one end of the centre isle with a crag in the middle of it with an Indian head carved into it. It was there in 1961 and was still there when it closed. I also remember Hobbytime of West Wickham, but the Croydon area had a plethora of model railway emporia! I can just about recall the one at West Croydon, but I only think I went in there once when very young. There were two very close to my secondary school at Scarbrook Road, the nearest of which used to sell Welkut track. The other was about half a mile further away along the Brighton Road Another opened at some time at South Croydon (Passmore Models?) whilst there were two more in Crystal Palace, one of which bought all my old Hornby Dublo 3 rail stuff when I decided to go 2 rail. Further afield, when I used to work in the City* during the summer holidays, I bought my first 2 rail track (Peco!) from ABC models under the arches of London Bridge station with all the Charing Cross traffic rumbling directly overhead. All gone now, of course: unaffordable and extortionate rents and declining numbers interested in model railways are the probable causes, but there are some shops which seem to be hanging on enough for some people to earn a living. When I lived in Bromley, Kent Garden Railways was my nearest and had a good selection of odds and sods. Now I've moved to Suffolk, the Ipswich Model Railway Centre is within walking distance (just!) and is excellent, along with DCC coastal and Scograil (for European models). I hope that they survive and thrive long enough for the next generation of old codgers like me and the other contributors to this thread to reminisce about! David C * This implies I was "something important in the City" - I was merely a temporary office boy earning something like 4 quid a week! Riches, which I spent on model railways! I would have spent some of wine, women and song, but my parents were teatotal, I was too shy to talk to the women and couldn't sing!

Anyone remember Alex Bowie's Modelmania on Norbury station approach in South London? It was a tiny lock up shop which was stuffed with all sorts of useful model railway bits and pieces - and two big Alsations. If more than 1 customer was in the shop, the dogs were booted out. Not unnaturally, they were usually very reluctant to go outside in bad weather and objected loudly, but always did as they were told. Alex Bowie (for those who haven't heard of him) was a modeller himself and had been Editor of Model Railway Constructor and been involved with the Meccanno Magazine when it had some model railway content. He usually produced layout plans with sketches of how the result would look when complete, along with drawings of possible buildings and scenic treatments. He was a good writer, certainly as entertaining and as lively as Cyril Freezer. A visit to Modelmania usually entailed allowing at least half an hour. Although you could be pretty sure you would come out with whatever you needed, Alex could talk for England. He was a great eccentric and full of interesting stories. After so long (he died in the 1970s, I think), I can't remember any of them, although I do recall he told me he used to build baseboards out of balsa at the end of the War because no other timber was available. David C

Sidings as such were not all that common at such small stations up to the 1960s on minor lines, when a certain amount of rationalisation took place. A more frequent arrangement was a loop, which ran in front of the station building and served the adjoining goods shed. What sidings there were were usually short spurs off this goods loop leading to a loading dock or even an industry of somekind. . With regard to your plan above, you can simply extend your siding (the long one) and add another point to turn it into a loop. German passengers were used to stepping over such goods only loops to get to the trains - so were Austrian ones, come to that. There were usually timber crossings to save them walking over the ballast. Platforms in those days simply consisted of gravel banked up by about a foot or so against a concrete or stone block. http://www.kbaystb.de/kbaystb-kbaystb/kbaystb-bahnhoefe/kbaystb-bahnhoefe_fahrenberg-furth/kbaystb-bahnhoefe-fladungen/kbaystb-bahnhoefe-fladungen.html This website is very useful as it has photos of a great many Bavarian stations, but from memory, stations in Baden Wurttemmburg were not that different. David C

There are drawings by Pat English of all the buildings at Helston (plus some from Praze and Nancegollen) in the Oakwood Press book on the line. They were of a similar design to the structures on the St Ives branch (same architect, I believe), so even if they were of a different design, you could use the proportions of the Helston drawings as a basis. David C

I meant 16xx locos of course .... 61xx's would have been just a touch on the heavy side for the Cardigan line ...... The Login site also includes pics of the Talyllyn plus cute hedgehogs, flowers, bouquets and people who have had their birthday parties having tea .... but you can skip those. David C

I drove to Birmingham rather than go by train because of the exorbitant charges of Greater Anglia at weekends and the strike action. Rather than pay the even more exorbitant parking charges at the NEC, I found somewhere to park in a side road off Coventry Road about a mile or so away and then got an X1 bus there for free (I've got an Old Fart's Bus Pass). Near where I parked was a Morrisons and a Tesco (both huge) where meal deals for £3/3.50 were available. It saved me being ripped off by the NEC catering. David C Professional Skinflint

GWJ: Have you seen the Login Station Tea Rooms site? https://www.facebook.com/pg/AfternoonTeaAtTheStation/photos/?ref=page_internal Loads and loads of photos of the Cardigan branch, including plenty of 61xxs which worked the line post war (along with small praires of course). David C

Thank you all for your suggestions. That's very helpful - I do have a bus pass, so will check that route out. All the best David C

Any West Midlanders have any suggestions of where to park on the Sunday? A rail station between Snow Hill or New Street and Birmingham Airport would be ideal, but I could easily drive to Hampton in Arden or any of the others towards Coventry. Any suggestions would be appreciated. David C Carrot crunching, straw chewing Suffolk resident

Julia: I'll bet you're an S4 (or possibly S7) modeller. I think I'm going to stick with 00 AND I'm going to model turnips ready to harvest even though I've decided to set my layout in July which is ONE WHOLE month earlier than they should even be planted according to some of the info other members have kindly posted above. Counting rivets on locomotives is a whole lot easier than this agricultural stuff .... Thanks for the posts and the humour! David C

The main problem with your suggestion of using a big arse lamp is that I will have to co-ordinate the timetable with walking east to west. Clearly, when the morning trains arrive/depart, the lamp will have to be at the east end of the layout. For mid morning trains, the lamp should be somewhere between the east and the exact middle of the layout where it will need to be for services around noon. Obviously, the lamp will continue westwards in the same fashion until the last train of the day. In order to make this work, there will have to be some kind of pulley system running the entire length of the layout. I did think of motorising this, but think a hamster or mouse or similar creature in an exercise wheel could provide the power. When it was time to run the 4.30pm, I could simply jam a pencil in the wheel when the lamp was about 3/4 of the way to the west. I really think I should have built the layout to S4 standards. David C

Once again, thanks to all those RMweb-ers who responded to my original request for information. You've all given me enough food (!!!!) for thought. I now have to decide whether the fiddle yard or the buffer stops are north, south, east or west! Anyone any ideas how to reproduce the passage of the sun from east to west during the course of the day? David C

Looks as though it will be an interesting project. The signals looks good - but as one who hasn't progressed beyond the Dapol ones, that'snot that much of a compliment!!! I assume this is an exhibition layout. If the squares on the plan are 1 foot, then your scenic section must be 16 foot length plus fiddle yard. I look forward to seeing progress. Regards David C

Again, thank you gentlemen for your replies. The White Rabbit's photos are spot on - some inspiring modelling there. David C

Thanks again to GWR_Modeller and Nick Holliday. All very useful stuff. I'm thinking of two fields, one of spuds or cabbages and one fallow at the front of the layout, with another of livestock (sheep or cattle) at the rear. Contents of allotments (of which there are two planned) yet to be decided. Best wishes David C

Wow! That's a very impressive and speedy response from members on what must be a pretty esoteric query. Many thanks to you all for some very useful information. Now all I need do is work out how to reproduce 'em in model form. David C Ex rivet counter Now a cabbage/sprout/potato counter!!!!