john dew

Nice job with the breakdown crane guys.........something I have always been meaning to attempt.....just keeps edging down the list Spoke too soon about the weather....cold and wet but I guess cold is a relative term if you are enjoying -17o ..........in the rain forest 6o is considered cold! Kind Regards

Hi John Sorry for the late reply.....family festivities! Glad I brought back some memories. At school I had a pass from Formby to Waterloo (Lancs!) but I suspect it wouldnt have worked on the London train. After I was married I returned to Formby and used the train a few times......very civilised....10 minute walk to the station and then non stop to Euston......back home by the same route in time for the kids bathtime! I wonder if it still operates? Kind Regards

Hi William Good to hear from you. Glad you liked my choice of subject! I dont pretend to be super knowledgeable about the GWR but at least I have a reasonably sized reference library.......I even have a copy of the 1933 rule book (reprinted 1945) in a feeble attempt to keep on the right side of at least one of my followers but I am afraid my knowledge of LMS practice is very sketchy..........I could do with a copy the equivalent of the GWR Encyclopedia (assuming there is one). Allowing for my limited knowledge I do find the marked contrast in Company styles quite fascinating. Best wishes from a sunny West Coast

Quite a few of my New Years Resolutions have already taken a bit of a beating..........including regular updates with much improved photos........as I feverishly write this in an attempt to get my first post of the year in before the end of January. My modelling time in January has been spent on maintenance and trying to fine tune some of my automatic routines (read playing with the trains) and I always find it more difficult to post about this than when I am focussed on a tangible project. New Year......change of Company.....change of Colour........not a Pannier in sight. The Granby-Chester-Birkenhead line is of course jointly operated by GWR and LMS. 3205 3F 0-6-0 passing the GWR goods warehouse n its way from Stafford to Birkenhead Docks I think this is a superb model and its only defect is the absence of tender pick ups which results in occasional indifferent performance. Some two years after getting the model I finally added the pick ups in January..........you can unfortunately see part of one in this shot. I operate Granby with RR&Co computor control and am slowly building up a series of automatic routines which will eventually be linked together in a time table. One of the routines involves a suburban commutor service between Granby and Birkenhead (storage). I am definitely looking forward to the newly announced Hornby coaches but right now I have to make do with a set of 3 Bachmann corridor coaches and the a second set of Dapol (ex Airfix) non corridors Its quite a complicated routine involving a lot of coupling and uncoupling (Kadees and Magnets) at both terminii.......both of which are hidden.....the Roof at Granby and the Storage foreground at "Birkenhead" . There are four locos involved and its a bit like dealing with our Wheeton Terriers trying to get them all to behave properly. Here is an Ivatt 2-6-2T backing the corridor stock into the bay carriage siding One of the many reasons why Granby moved from 1947 to 1948....... only 6 were outshopped in LMS livery.......and by a happy chance 2 were sent to Granby! I guess this model is at least 15 years old......super runner.....weighs a ton.....split chassis......total pain to chip with all that valve gear The other loco involved couldnt be more different.........the Lanky Tank I think the detailing is superb .......I wanted the crew to match the interior and then when I made my mind up Monty's sold out of the pair I wanted.....high on my to do list. You can see the re numbering but it is far less obvious than on the second Ivatt Both locos bring back childhood memories.......there were a number of Lankies at Southport and I am pretty sure that the Ivatts were used to haul the the three through coaches from Southport to jine the Liverpool -Euston train.........the twice daily passage of a STEAM train used to cause much excitement to those brought up on a diet of Electric trains! I will finish with a bit more nostalgia

Perfect Rob thank you so much........details apart that ticks all the boxes and some.....when I lived on Merseyside we used to watch Broughton Park play Waterloo....rugby union.......and over here the Broughton archipelago is series of beautiful islands North of Desolation Sound.....by chance on our itinerary next summer I have a Grange that I renamed "Brockton Grange" using a similar scientific approach! Now all I want for Xmas is that magic email from Liverpool Again many thanks....hope you have a great Christmas

Oh dear........I hadn't realised that it was that limited.......one assumes Hornby didn't either.........fortunately I edged the layout forward to early 1948 to accommodate these issues ......even relabelled a collet with the very early British Railways logo.........so how about 1948 ?

I have another Wellington on order so I have a similar question. I am not at all knowledgeable about Castle variations.......could anyone suggest possible renames running as delivered out of the red box in 1947/8 ....... in the Chester area is by no means essential but would be icing on the cake Many thanks and best wishes from a cold but sunny Vancouver

Thanks Nick.....see my reply above......I was going to suggest I had it tattooed somewhere but realised that, even at my advanced age, it might be mis- interpreted! Have a great Christmas

Thanks John Even before I saw Nick's post above as I was dithering over the sausage shed I was constantly reminding myself of your sound advice........"Less is more" ! Best Wishes from a Crisp but Sunny Vancouver

Hi MIB Glad your Grange arrived safely......IMHO one of the best locos Hornby has produced......its a regular work horse on Granby......very reliable Have a great Christmas

This is what I believe is called the wrap on the Parcels Depot .......all done and dusted Its also a wrap on the modelling year 2014........so now seems a good time to wish all the members of RMWeb and particularly those who follow this meandering thread a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year First off a few more photos of last week's "mystery mongrel". It was indeed a Dukedog. Seen here huffing and puffing its way up Granby Viaduct to the refineries at Ellesmere Port Huffing and Puffing because like its prototype the model struggles to pull the skin off a rice pudding........despite all manner of added weight and coupling adjustment. Nevertheless it is a very attractive model It started off as BR early emblem but is now the first and currently only loco on Granby in GWR Wartime Black........I keep working on the time stamps! Dodgy G transfer which is probably why the train is diagrammed to run permanently on the Down Circuit The office is done Chimney and signs added plus............... Some people and trucks all from Monty's Models (Dart Castings) Monty's figures are so good that I try and avoid mixing them with other makes. The trucks and barrows are a delightful set and look as though they have been copied straight from Stephen William's book Fire point added......... Why LNER ?? The old GC warehouse was bombed which is why this depot is so busy and at the time you couldnt get GWR for love nor money.......and I have never seen LMS variants The GWR Bedford arrived just in time......absolutely right for this period but why it had pristine white bumbers and mudguards I know not.....all corrected plus a dash of dull cote How many guys do you need to hitch up a mechanical horse? Here is a long shot .........the next section will be a row of Scalescene terraced houses.....the first block of which can be seen below I built this block in October to check out the technique before embarking on the more ambitious phase 2.......glad I did.......I found it to be very challenging.....more about this in the New Year Despite allegedly careful measuring, the completed block was deeper than I expected and, in consequence, the Parcels yard became somewhat longer than I intended So I have finished up with this piece of space filling whimsy Whimsy because I dont believe sub depots like this ever existed....certainly I havent found any evidence of one. I did learn that Palethorpe's sausage vans had no connection with Cambridge or Wiltshire but came from Tipton in the Black Country.........one is always learning something new in this hobby! Its a modified Ratio Provender Store that I have dollied up......its actually one of the first models I ever made...nigh on 20 years old......so there is some sentimental attachment I am very undecided about it ........no prototypical basis.....perhaps it looks what it is.....a somewhat contrived space filler......if I remove it I can just park a few more trailers............on the other hand Oxford might announce a 1948 Morris Palethorpes van! Comments.....Advice...... Yea or Nay would be much appreciated Have a great Christmas!

Thank you for the likes Guys and particularly MIB for posting........I have to say your location is becoming increasingly obscure.....maybe thats the plan Thanks John.......as always you flatter me.......I have a long way to go to match your literary skills.....

I am getting near the end of the Parcels Depot segment. In fact I just have to add some figures and detailing and hopefully I can be shunting parcels vans by Christmas Too many photos for one post so today I will focus on the old Stable building. You may recall I intended to base this on the photos in Stephen William's excellent book "Great Western Branch Line Modelling" . It was clear from this that ,like many GWR structures, their stables were built to a very precise standard plan I got a lot of help from both Doug (Chubber) and Marty. who emailed me copies of the original drawings for Abingdon, Park Royal (which was enormous!) and Castle Cary which was very compact Here is the drawing that Doug posted in another forum dooferdog wrote: Come to think of it, I have permission from Trevor Booth, a very nice man and illustrator of the Silver Link book on GWR modelling to post his illustrayions from the book, is this what you have in mind shown on a stables building? If so it won't be too difficult, I'm sure. Doug I only have a very confined space....about 25 scale feet long as opposed to the 46' above.......A friend accused me of attempting to design a battery stable! Fortunately Castle Cary fitted the bill......25' long with one window either side of the door. It didnt have any roof ventilators but I really wanted to include at least one because they are such an iconic feature....... The model is too small for a station as busy as Granby but it only serves the Parcels Depot..........but there are other stables under the main goods warehouse......unfortunately they cant be seen Here is a cruel close up of my broad brush version There are a couple of departures from the standard design......the stables were almost invariably built with bricks with blue engineers bricks used for trim but I wanted the building to look part of the complex so I kept with the stone. The other departure, which I now regret, was to pitch the roof higher than the drawing. I did this because the mock up looked too small in relation to the Parcels Depot.......the problem is that now I feel the building is somewhat out of proportion......whatever we are where we are ......and hindsight is a wonderful thing. Lots of detail from the drawings which I enjoyed modelling.....the vertical panels above the door and below the windows are "Hit and Miss" ventilators......the description carefully enscribed on the drawing in victorian copper plate......something I had never heard of, yet when I googled Hit and Miss I got a load of hits (sorry) from sites try to sell me such ventilators in 2014 Here is an even crueller close up of one the sluices and a tap for the now removed horse trough......set into the wall exactly as specified! There is a later shot where I have sorted the Scalescene grids and added a trace of the trough supports This has always been a warts and all thread so here are a few shots of the roof vent construction........geometry has never been a strong point.......the offset vent is definitely not as specified! With the arrival of the internal combustion engine the redundant stables became stores or the gable wall was knocked through, doors added and the building was converted to a garage The protective rail around the Petrol Pump appears to have been a specified safety precaution.....you can see it on two of Stephen Williams illustrations It would seem to be a worthwhile precaution bearing in mind the dented and scratched state of this example Hope the post wasnt too long and you enjoyed my tale of the stables as much as I did making it. No room for many loco shots but I will leave you with a Christmas puzzle If the Star that I last featured could be described as a Greyhound this must be something of a mongrel?

Greetings from the Rain Forest where we are currently enduring a major storm as a load of warm wet cloud straight from Hawai dumps on us! I left you with this mock up of the stable building Since then Slaters 2mm random stone bonded to the card base and door and windows openings cut out. Ratio window arches added along with quoins to conceal the corner joint Similar treatment for the office plus a door step from plastic strip. Ratio industrial windows plus glazing added. Lots of trim being prepped in the background Steps for the office from 2mm card clad with Scalescenes paper. Technically, I believe, one shouldnt mix media but with a little weathering it should look ok Totally unrelated to the current topic...... here are some shots of another iconic GWR locomotive class Star Class "Knight of the Grand Cross" rolls down the incline from Granby Viaduct with the 4.17pm from Exeter and Bristol. Unfortunately its not a Saturday so I cant show you the through coach from Hintock.......the SO service that connects with the GWR hotel at Port Bredy (Hope I got that right John!) I guess there is a tenuous link with the current topic......thats the new south end loco spur, new point motor and station building foundation!. Hopefully the real BC coal,fire irons and rather nice Monty's Models crew draw attention away from the fall plate and dusy cab roof........until I mentioned it of course I know Hornby are not the flavour of the month for all manner of reasons and personally I think twice before pre-ordering their models from my regular retailer (in Liverpool). However this is a purchase I do not regret

Hi John You never need to apologise for posting here. My apologies to Nell for inadvertently making her redundant. Open or closed it was your lovely photo of the stable (Nell was absent at the time.... out working no doubt) that inspired me! Kind Regards

Its time we had a picture of a pannier! Over a 20 year period many, many panniers have run (and sometimes stalled) on the three different versions of Granby. Right now I have 8 or 9 doing regular turns including a very ancient split chassis.....No 7768. 5773 .....renumbered from the issue 5771, is a couple of years old and, like her sisters, is an absolutely superb performer.....she shares the duties of shuttling a B Set back and forth between Granby and the low level storage siding where she will shortly have to complete a regular unsupervised run around .......she has to be a superb performer! This, I guess, is a relatively smooth segue into my progress with one of the buildings that will be covering the storage siding. Here is one of my infamous blue shots of the original Parcel Depot This was built at least 12 years ago as a Goods Shed for Granby II......... long before I discovered Scalescenes. I had moved on, somewhat, from using exclusively kits or Wills sheets. Its made of Slaters stone sheets bonded to a card shell with assorted internal wood supports. Its pretty sturdy but suffered a lot of ancillary damage/cannabilisation as I "borrowed" assorted Ratio add ons for other projects. So now the windows have been replaced and re-glazed, new window arches added, doors rehung and I have added quoins to the corners......one of Ratios most useful innovations for broad brush bodgers like me: The drainage and gutter arrangements dont warrant close examination......very broad brush! I have added a few signs.....the entire strip is so narrow that the street leading from the station will have to be One Way and I have set that thought up in the Depot yard with a suggestion of a separate entrance and exit. There is a lot of weathering required on the new signage but first I need to complete a couple of ancillary buildings Here is a mock up of the office And at the far end, overlooking Brewery Lane, a very crude mock up of a converted stable block This is something of a hobby horse of mine! I often think that modellers of the 30s,40s and 50s tend to neglect the significance of Horse power in operating the railways and indeed many other aspects of everyday life in the preceding decades. As a boy living in a suburb of Liverpool, I can recall that our milk was delivered in a churn on a pony and trap. The refuse collectors (we called them dustbin men) tipped the waste from bins into a wagon drawn by a cart horse. The GWR, like the other railway companies , used horses throughout their operation....collecting and delivering freight and hauling wagons for shunting. All these horses had to be looked after. There was a hospital for 400 horses in London. Special wagons to deliver provender and remove (for sale) manure. The horses had to be housed. Larger depots had multi floor stables while small branch stations had purpose built stables to a standard GWR design. With the advent of the internal combustion engines the horses were steadily replaced and the stables became redundant. However, they were rarely demolished immediately, rather they were converted to stores or more often than not converted to become a garage for the new fangled lorries. Ever since seeing a converted stable on John Flann's iconic "Hintock" I have been determined to create a stable for "Granby". ..........so now is my opportunity. The model will be loosely basedl on the GWR standard design illustrated in Stephen Williams "Great Western Branch Line Modelling" Part 2

Thanks MIB .............glad you like the goods warehouse. I used a glass fibre pen and the back of a scalpel blade.......it took a surprisingly long time and in closeup there was a polished area but it seems to have weathered away now. I dont get too hung up about dates but I try and get the varying logos in roughly the right proportion for post WWII and the idea of an early British Railways rather appealed to me Regards

The first part of this post shows how I inserted the point for the second parcels siding......I had some doubts about writing it up....teaching my grandmother to suck eggs etc........but on the other hand it might be of use to some.....after all I learned this technique some years ago, from a similar post by Gwiwer. Iif you are bored and particularly if you have lovely hand laid track I suggest you quickly scroll halfway down. There you will find, for a change, a few not bad loco shots The first cut is the deepest! I use a square and masking tape to mark the cut line and then use the square again as a guide when cutting On the second cut I tend to undercut slightly and file the ends back to minimise gaps. The siding was laid on foamboard so it was quite easy to scalpel up the top sheet complete with ballast and debris. Note the cleaned ends on the cut siding rail and insulated joiners ready on the new point One sleeper is removed from the toe end and metal joiners, opened up lightly, are slid on to the rail leaving only the tip exposed. The insulated joiners are quite flexible......insert them into the rail at a slight angle....lower the point to the track bed and using pliers slide the metal joiners along to connect with the points.......simples....... honest! Once satisfied I have a good fit, I remove the point and solder dropper wires before drilling holes and reinserting the point. These Peco surface mounted solenoids may not look very prototypical but they are definitely ideal for retro fitting. They are very reliable you just have to make sure they are mounted level and square. The downside, of course, is the inability to change frog polarity. In some previous retrofits I have been reluctantly obliged to insert insulfrog points However for this exercise I discovered this little gizmo Its a twin output DCC Concepts solenoid decoder. It throws the point motor, switches the frog polarity and has connections for push buttons and LEDS on a switchboard (albeit redundant in my case as I use RR&Co). Its very easy to connect up (no soldering) and very simple to programme. I have not been a great fan of DCC Concepts in the past but this is a well priced useful piece of equipment . Here is the siding done and dusted......ballasted and rails/sleepers weathered Long shot before starting work on the removeable cover I am using Scalescene printed setts for the Parcels depot yard (more on this later) and, in the foreground, the foundations and walls for the first terraced houses are in place In the background, you can see I have repaired/replaced the wall over the cutting that leads into the low level storage siding. As I was preparing this post, it occurred to me that I sometimes get too focused on reporting the project in hand. I forget that other areas, which I see every day, are rarely shown or repeated in this forum. So here is a little diversion. The next few shots have little to do with the current project but are of areas that I probably havent written about for 3 or 4 years Bit out of focus but a linking overall view of the top left hand corner of the railway room The Autotrain, which you lost saw at Canal Street approaches Brewery Lane Halt. I am eagerly looking forward to a new 14xx (or two)......... next year ??? Finally a close up of Collet 2259....lamped up as the Station Pilot with coal, fire irons and lots of lead.....so much so that I am struggling to find a place for the crew! This is the loco we discussed at the end of my last post To justify the Hawksworths etc the layout has to be based just a few months after nationalisation.....early 1948.........so here is one of my time stamp attempts .....the initial temporary British Railways Logo. On the prototype, in1948, the war time GWR logo was removed and the temporary "British Railways" applied......In 2014 it was roles reversed.... I had to painstakingly remove the the BR early crest that the model came with!

Thanks Mike I thought it would have to be fairly immediate but hadnt realised that they recycled the plates although, on reflection, it makes sense. I have pre ordered 4807 in wartime black with the intention of renumbering it to 1407. I guess I will have to make sure that I dont leave the old plates lying around Granby Shed! One other livery question related to this release . 5801 is listed as being in "unlined BR green with GWR lettering" . The more I think about this the more confused I become......I thought BR Green and GWR Green (of that period) were almost identical but in any event how could a loco be repainted in BR Green and then have GWR lettering applied............unless I suppose it is in preservation.....which wouldnt suit me.

As promised I emailed Hattons regarding the 58xx in BR Black lined livery asking if it would be suitable for my 1947-48 layout Within 5 minutes I received this reply Hi John Thanks for the email. We have evidence of the loco in question (5816) carrying BR lined black with British Railways lettering but the dates it was repainted takes a bit of delving and presumption. The earliest we can see it would have been repainted was during a Heavy Casual repair on 11/2/49 and then it looks as though it will have carried it until 15/1/53 when it went into Stafford Road Factory for a Heavy Intermediate overhaul and should have been repainted to show the BR early crest. With it being withdrawn in 2/7/57 it is highly unlikely to have had the Late Crest applied. So to answer your question unfortunately the loco is not going to fit into your 1947-1948 time frame. The best loco's for you would be: H1402 H1406 H1407 H1411 Of these H1411 (5801) is in GWR livery with Smokebox door number and 89C Machynlleth shed code and was in this condition 1948-1958 so would cover your period and (almost) your area of modelling. I hope this helps. Kind regards, Dave Mylett Research & Development I have no connection with Hattons other than as a very satisfied customer for 20+ years........even by their standards this is pretty impressive customer service. Dave Mylett is clearly an ace at research.....my email never mentioned Granby is based in North Wales! Now off to get my pre orders in

Thanks Karhedron......clear tangible evidence! I felt pretty confident that Hattons/DJM must have done their due diligence, but I do agree with you that it is "rather unusual" for the class. I wonder when and why it was applied. I have taken Dave's advice and asked Hattons......I will report back Regards

Thanks for those links......I am afraid they didnt provide any real evidence for or against. This site http://www.gwr.org.uk/liveriesloco1948.html while not being explicit does imply that this livery (ie lined out) is probably unlikely for 1948 . On balance it is beginning to sound like GWR green for Granby although I might be tempted by 4807 in GWR war time black and renumber it to 1407 ......now that would be authentic! Nevertheless I am intrigued why the livery was selected....hopefully, once recovered from Warley, Dave Jones will be able to enlighten me.

Thanks Nick that is very helpful and narrows the choice for me........sounds like another (but much more accurate ) 1420 for Granby. One further question if I may: I am assuming that "British Railways" (sans serif) is the initial temporary logo applied immediately after nationalisation............so in that sense 5816 would be quite appropriate for my layout...........but I am less sure about the red lining......it seems rather extravagant for those dark days. I do appreciate your advice.....I am something of a novice in this area Regards

As I understand it the 48xx were renumbered to 14xx in 1946 I know that livery changes did not happen overnight......I believe shirt buttons and even the occasional Great Western could be seen in 1947 and GWR into the fifties. However I would have thought a class renumbering, although not instantaneous, would have to be more immediate. My question, therefore, is how unrealistic/unlikely would a 48xx loco be on my 1947/1948 layout. Any comments about how renumbering took place would be much appreciated

Well you definitely got that right ! IMG_20141121_151545.jpg I do agree with you regarding the Dean Goods.......I think they are such an iconic GWR loco and I find their war service quite fascinating I am afraid I have given up on my attempts to get either of my two Hornby Models to run satisfactorily (tender drive traction tyres .....ugh!!) I dont normally get involved in wish lists but in this case......I really do wish Hornby would do an upgrade......mind you if I am in wish mode an upgraded mogul from Bachmann wouldnt come amiss!