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PGN

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  1. PGN

    Getting the cows right

    By PGN,

    Well, isn't it great to have an agricultural consultant for an uncle? It almost makes up for the fact that my father didn't follow my grandfather into dairy farming ...
     
    Anyway, my uncle tells me that cattle in Surrey in 1920 would "almost certainly have been dairy shorthorns".
     
    That's good enough for me. When I model that watermeadow scene, I'll put some dairy shorthorns in it.
     
    Now ... what does a dairy shorthorn look like? And how can I model it in N?
  2. PGN

    My first site survey visit

    By PGN,

    I intend to build my first Pre-Grouping layout to depict Shalford Junction in about 1920. All three of the major pre-grouping constituent companies of the Southern railway ran their trains over the same metals here, taking advantage of the narrow Wey valley to get through the North Downs just outside Guildford, and this makes it an ideal location for my purposes. So I went to Guildford last weekend, and I had a good wander around in the general area of the Junction to get the feel of the place and get an idea of the buildings and structures which would have to be included in my layout.
     
    The idea is to build it so you view the railway line across Shalford watermeadows. The SECR line from Redhill will enter front left of the viewing area, and the LSWR line from Portsmouth will enter back left of the viewing area, with the junction towards the centre of the viewing area (a little to the left, so that there is only the one pair of tracks to take across the baseboard join) with the line to Guildford exiting the viewing area centre right. Peasemarsh Junction, where the LBSC Horsham - Guildford branch meets the LSWR main line is a little way offstage to the left. The LBSC had running powers over the LSWR main line from Peasemarsh Junction to Guildford, so for the purposes of this layout the main line will be joint LSWR / LBSC from the left-hand scenic break to the junction, and joint LSWR / LBSC / SECR from the junction to the right-hand scenic break.
     
    The visible trackwork will be simplicity itself - just plain running line and a double track junction. The idea is for a watch-the-trains-go-by layout, to showcase N gauge pre-grouping locomotives and stock from the LSWR, SECR and LBSCR.
     
    The major scenic feature front-left will obviously need to be the SECR truss girder bridge over the River Wey:
     

     
    I shall need to alter the course of the Wey a little bit, in order to enable the end of the bridge to meet the endscene with a few large trees shielding the scenic break. This means I'll need to model a bend in the river that isn't really there; but if I combine this with the race to Riff Raff weir, it will hopefully not be too noticeable!
     
    Riff Raff weir is going to need more research, as it is clear that the present structure is rather more recent than 1920:
     

     
    Beside Riff Raff weir is the lock-keeper's cottage, and this will obviously have to be included. Pity I couldn't get a good squint from all angles; but hopefully the National Trust will be able to assist with some good archive photos.
     

     

     

     
    (I wonder how old this willow is, and what size it would have been 90 odd years ago??)
     

     

     
    Another important landscape feature will be St Catherine's Lock. If I place this pretty much centre-stage, I should be able to use it to take the river across the baseboard join.
     

     

     

     
    I think I shall probably wish to incorporate this scene, albeit with cattle which are of an appropriate type for Surrey in the 1920s:
     

     
    There are two underbridges which will need to be modelled, including this one where the line crosses the track down to St Catherine's lock:
     

     
    And although there are not that many buildings which will need to feature, I think Artington Manor is obviously going to have to appear, between the railway and the road (as I am planning to straighten the road a little, and run it just in front of the backscene with the far hedge providing the scenic break):
     

     

     

     
    Further field work is going to be necessary to get some pictures of the overbridge which will provide the left-hand scenic break for the LSWR main line, and to capture a few of the scenic features for the right-hand end of the layout. According to the old maps there used to be a ferry which has now been replaced by a bridge. I shall need to see whether the county archives can come up with any photos of the ferry. The track down to it crosses over the railway line, and I am thinking that this bridge will provide me with a suitable right-hand scenic break.
     
    The shape of this layout is definitely starting to come together in my mind; and preliminary sketches suggest that I should require six boards each of 4 foot by 2 foot, to produce a total layout which stands 12 by 4, (an 8 foot by 4 foot central block made up of 4 boards, with two end boards at 90 degrees to them) and a viewing area which is 8 foot long. The end boards can then have vertical end pieces on which I can display information about the prototype, the layout and the stock while hiding the return loops to the fiddle yard on the back boards.
     
    I'm starting to get some very positive vibes about this project ...
  3. PGN

    The story begins ...

    By PGN,

    A little while ago, when I was trying to figure out WHY I never got very far into any modelling project before stalling, I realised it was because my heart wasn't really in any of them. After nearly 30 years of pretending to be interested in all things LMS, it suddenly dawned on me that actually I WASN'T.
     
    What interested me was the pre-Grouping period; and the challenge of modelling it in N.
     
    Was it even POSSIBLE to model the pre-Grouping in N, I asked myself.
     
    Well, there was only one way to find out ... and that was to jolly well give it a go. After all, Grafar had produced three pre-Grouping RTR locomotives (OK, so two of them were the 4P in thoroughly unprototypical Caledonian and Somerset & Dorset liveries, and the other had the original can motor and pizza cutter wheels ... but all the same!) and then there were a number of kits that I knew of which were clearly pre-Grouping types (LYR railmotor and Aspinall 0-6-0 saddletank; LNWR "Prince of Wales tank" 2-6-4T). And N Brass Locomotives had, at one time, produced a RTR "coal tank" 0-6-2T. So there were certainly SOME locomotives. And the NGS produced a kit for a MR box van; Peco produced a Midland brake van; and Farish had produced a North Eastern bogie van. Then there were all those Dapol gunpowder vans (including LNWR, LSWR and NB). So it certainly looked as though SOMETHING ought to be possible.
     
    And so the fateful decision was made ... I would sell ALL my Big 4 and British Railways stock, and turn my attention EXCLUSIVELY to the pre-Grouping period.
  4. PGN

    What's on shed?

    By PGN,

    At the moment I'm building up my collection of stock before I start on my first dedicated pre-Grouping layout (which will depict Shalford Junction in 1921: LSWR, LBSC and SECR all running their trains over the same metals - and mud in the eye to all those whingers who bleat "the trade doesn't do enough for those of us who want to model the Southern in N"!) and, perhaps inevitably, I'm initially focussing rather more on locomotives than on wagons and coaches.
     
    I'm putting more emphasis on acquiring the locomotives I shall need for Shalford Junction than on other pre-Grouping companies; but I have a number of other ambitious ideas to explore, so I am generally collecting anything pre-Grouping in N even if I don't have a current use for it.
     
    This is my current roster of locomotives available for immediate service:
     
    CR 4P 4-4-0 no. 375 (Graham Farish RTR; not a correct livery for this prototype)
     
    another of the same (awaiting renumbering)
     
    GCR "Improved Director" 4-4-0 no. 506 "Butler Henderson" (Graham Hughes kit, built and painted by an unknown hand)
     
    GER "Buckjumper" 0-6-0T no. 87 (Graham Farish RTR, renumbered for me by Carl Peplow)
     
    GER "Buckjumper" 0-6-0T no. 372 (Graham Farish RTR)
     
    GNR "Ragtimer" 2-6-0 no. 1003 (Highfield RTR)
     
    GNR 0-6-0 no. 1135 (Highfield long-boilered 0-6-0 kit, built, "Northernised" and painted by an unknown hand)
     
    GWR 0-6-0 no. T47 (Highfield long-boilered 0-6-0 kit, built and painted by an unknown hand)
     
    HR "banking tank" 0-6-4T no. 42 (ABS Beaver kit, built by an unknown hand and painted by myself)
     
    LBSCR A1 "Terrier" 0-6-0T in Stroudley livery no. 53 "Ashtead" (Dapol RTR)
     
    LBSCR A1 "Terrier" 0-6-0T in Stroudley livery no. 54 "Waddon" (Dapol RTR)
     
    LBSCR A1 "Terrier" 0-6-0T in Stroudley livery no. 82 "Boxhill" (Dapol RTR)
     
    LBSCR A1 "Terrier" 0-6-0T in Stroudley livery no. 84 "Crowborough" (Dapol RTR)
     
    LBSCR D3 0-4-4T in Marsh livery no. 366 (kit-bash by an unknown hand, painted by myself)
     
    LBSCR E5 0-6-2T in Marsh livery no. 571 (Langley kit built by an unknown hand and painted by myself; used as my avatar picture)
     
    LSWR M7 0-4-4T no. 245 (Dapol RTR)
     
    LSWR M7 0-4-4T no. 676 (Dapol RTR, re-numbered for me by Carl Peplow)
     
    NER freelance 0-6-0T (Highfield Models RTR - the first ever British-outline RTR in N)
     
    NER R class 4-4-0 no. 592 (Union MIlls RTR; special edition of 50 models)
     
    another of the same (awaiting super-detailing)
     
    NER R class 4-4-0 no. 725 (Union Mills RTR)
     
    another of the same (awaiting super-detailing)
     
    NER (ex-S&D) long boilered 0-6-0 no. 3541 (Highfield kit, built and painted by a unknown hand; the number is incorrect, as the kit is obviously based on the "1001 class", and I intend to renumber it either 1255 or 1275)
     
    NSR "New L" class 0-6-2T no. 51 (Planit Engineering kit, built and painted by myself)
     
    RR P class 0-6-2T no. 5 (Langley conversion kit, built and painted by an unknown hand)
     
    SDJR 3F 0-6-0 no. 66 (Union MIlls RTR)
     
    SDJR 4P 4-4-0 no. 67 (Graham Farish RTR; not a correct livery for this prototype)
     
    Additionally, I have about a dozen locomotives in my paint shops in various states, and another four away with professional painters (Peco kit-built B4 to receive LSWR livery; Dapol RTR LSWR M7 for renumbering; Union Mills RTR SDJR 2P for lining and renumbering; and Minitrix kit-built J63 to receive GCR livery). Then there's a number of kits awaiting construction or partially completed, and the usual vast array of "projects".
     
    But for the time being, Shalford Junction is giving me my focus, and locomotives of the Southern constituent companies have a clear priority. The next two locomotives to emerge from my paint shop will therefore be a K class mogul and an A1X "Terrier", both in Marsh livery.
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