HillsideDepot

Have they said yet what time we all have to meet up on site, on Saturday, with our Peco track rubbers ready to polish the rails?

Strange you should say that, as I've just looked at the NR website which has been updated today with this weekend's work plan: Hullavington - Westerleigh Jn Saturday 27th August 2016 02.00am - 11.00am 2.00pm - 11.00pm Local Authority: Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire Sunday 28th August 2016 02.00am - 11.00am 2.00pm - 11.00pm Local Authority: Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire I might pop out for a look, although I have also just visited the Met Office website too!

He'll be stringing wires up next, and running trains with coat hangers on the roof! . . . . Although, watching the progress being made with the GWML "knitting", Abbotswood should be safe for many years yet...

I hadn't thought about the Old Oak station before, but seeing the visualisations linked to above it could (will?) be a major change for the GWML. I assume from the plans that all inter-city trains will call there, and with connections onto Cross-Rail, Heathrow, HS2, maybe the WCML and Chiltern line (Underground & Overground should be within travelator/dedicated monorail type link distance too) why wouldn't they, meaning that Paddington will almost become a carriage siding with public access! A London version of Malago Vale or Goodrington. It's taking a while to get my mind around that!

Some interesting footage of 16 tonners in their "natural habitat" in this film - http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-review-33rd-year-no-10-1980/ (and plenty of scenes of the new fangled Merry-Go-Round hoppers which usurped them).

I don't think so as the doors, window frames and coach ends are all different on HSDT. The interior layouts were the same as the production sets, although the central partitions were solid on HSDT and glazed on the production versions. I'm not sure about the idea of using 1 sound chip to work both power cars as I assume they work the same way as the production cars inasmuch as they don't respond exactly together and the rear one provides ETH (I stand to be corrected on that as I know trailer power provision is something which changed between prototype and production).

If any one is looking at likely workings, the thought occurs that new 1 x 9-car unit on the "mainline" could potentially release 2 previously ordered 5-car units for use elsewhere on the network (assuming the 2 x 5s work together sufficiently to allow a 1 x 9 to take their place and that the "shorties" don't split and join all over the diagrams).

Postie's just brought the latest Traction magazine, with Peafore Yard featured. The layout looks great, Rob. I'm saving the text for later, but a photographic wander round '70's Bristol was a great way to spend my lunch break.

As you say, were are two... ...soon will be two again! (Maybe not that soon, given how long this has been on and near my workbench)

How about G105 BUS ? One of my local operators, Coachstyle (who also work into Cirencester), use C5__ BUS series registrations to represent "Coach Style __ Bus", while Faresaver has X31 BUS and X34 BUS which sometimes actually get used on their X31 and X34 routes along with BU51 TOY and YE52 BUS (plus probably others I can't now remember!).

You might find that it's best to keep the WiFi on during school/college runs too. One of the big group bus operators here in Wiltshire says that since their fleet has been fitted vandalism has significantly decreased as the students are distracted. That's a good looking repaint, very nicely done.

On the day Dapol announce that they have nearly cracked the complicated class 68 compass livery DRS reveal a further challenge on the class 88 livery! You'd almost think it's deliberate.

I think that the 'horn cover' is actually a mounting for GPS equipment and is only at one end.

There comes a point where the thinking and faffing around has to stop and work needs to start. I've been thinking for far too long about how some of the elements of the extension should fit together and how best to model them. Part of my problem has been deciding how to surface the yard between the stop blocks and the offices. I had a grand idea of paving next to the building and cobbles for road vehicles, but this didn't match the few photos of Chippenham I've found, nor did it match anything I could find on the web. Photos on-line (and there seem to be precious few of them) suggest that the surface should be various grades of ballast/stone/gravel with very little properly surfaced. I was happy to go with that vague idea, until this superb photo http://www.hondawanderer.com/Kingham_Station_1983.htm appeared and illustrated exactly what I was trying to piece together. So with the extension board removed from the main layout (it's too high and wide to work comfortably at the back of the board in-situ) I painted the stone wall, fixed down the base of the water tank and filled two of the staithes with coal. One thing which I remember from Mortimore's coal yard was that many of the staithes were constructed from concrete blocks rather than the modeller's favourite old sleepers, so I have replicated that here. Having got that far I then started on the ground contours down into the yard from the new footpath through the industrial area. Having found that my Polyfilla "toothpaste tube" had gone solid I was pleased to find that a tub of filler was still useable so several lunchtime this week (a benefit of working from home) have been spent gradually building up the layers until getting to this stage. The office building needs to move right a bit, once that landscape former has been removed. The idea is certainly coming together, and I think all the bits I wasn't sure of are working out OK. There are some more coal staithes along the cutting at the end of the layout, a mix of horizontal sleepers (C&L) and concrete blocks. The black mark on the board isn't where I spilt paint, its the beginnings (possibly) of an oily puddle; whether that idea will survive remains to be seen. A comment somewhere on RMWeb mentioned that coal staithes shouldn't be placed with their backs to the line as it wasn't permitted to use the wagon door as a ramp for unloading. Guilty as charged, I'm afraid, so out came the old staithes and ideas were re-thought. As there isn't too much space in the coal yard I decided that part of the siding will become disused and where the wagons used to stand to be unloaded direct into sacks for distribution I'd model a few staithes and a bagging hopper. I still have plenty of space for 16t minerals to stand and be unloaded, I could even move them along once unloaded to stand out of the way behind the staithes, but I rather like the idea that Mortimore's no longer need all their siding capacity as home heating methods change. The final design won't be reached until the extension is back in place and I can see the whole area at one, but this quick "grab" shot shows where my thinking is going.

Depends when Crewe Works sends one out on test (hint!!)

I'll let you into a secret! He has to park on the pavement there are the layout isn't wide enough otherwise - the rest of the road is Photoshopped (but you won't tell anyone, will you?) You're correct though, I don't think they would have parked on the pavement in the '70s. We perhaps didn't think it at the time, I think it was a more considerate world back then, although today's children will probably look back on now in a similar way...

"Make someone happy with a phone call" - Buzby

It was an interesting few weeks, Clive, that's for sure. Its a long time ago now, but I think a strike had been called for late afternoon so they could take the children home from school, but in the event they walked out at lunch time leaving people stranded. Had the drivers stopped work at the agreed time most of us wouldn't have gone to help. As it was I was newly employed in the offices at Badgerline, the company which had been buying up other bus businesses including Eastern National and had built a strong loyalty to the badger. There were some drivers there, but it was mainly inspectors, engineers, office staff and the like so it was as much a novelty for us as it was for the passengers who never knew if they'd be greeted by a Cornish, Devonian, Brizzle, Somerset or Yorkshire accent as they boarded. A number of passengers also commented how friendly we all were compared to the local staff, but that was partly because we were enjoying ourselves, partly as it was the more enthusiastic who volunteered, and if I'm honest, the thought that I might need the passengers' help if confronted with a junction on a housing estate where each direction looks the same and my mind had gone blank! I liked the old Chelmsford bus station, although it was getting a bit past its sell-by date. It was clearly a Tilling Group design and had similarities with Bath where I worked, although the view from Chelmsford's canteen of passing trains was better than at Bath which had frosted glass. As visiting staff returned home for weekly rests they visited their own depots and when they returned they brought fleet names and logos which soon covered the canteen wall. Strikes are never nice, not for anyone involved, but looking back those few weeks were a good experience early in my career, although it might have been better to have done it as a sort of "exchange visit" rather than in the circumstances we did.

They're Knightwing ones http://www.knightwing.co.uk/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?cart_id=1468955621.671&product=OO-HO_Lineside_Kits&pid=103 which they call "car park lamps", but they are like a few near where I grew up which had replaced the more ornate design which the builders had installed when the estate was built.

“..And none will hear the postman’s knock Without a quickening of the heart. For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?..” W.H. Auden - Night Mail

Hi Peter, thanks. The 08 really needs more weathering to match the photo of it at Wapping Wharf, but maybe I'll keep it like that. The lines on the bridge show the width of the marked height, so tall vehicles have to get between them http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-5204-0-42561800-1430516216.jpg . Many years ago I was called to Chelmsford to drive buses during an unofficial strike, and there is a low bridge right next to the bus station. It has a fairly flat arch, and double deckers have to be in the middle of the road to get under. I learnt various minibus routes including the 45 (IIRC) and happily went under the bridge numerous times each shift. However one of my colleagues, an Inspector from Bath who had gone up on day 1 of the replacement service, had decided that he would do 45s all the time, as long as he could drive a Bristol VR (double decker). I was always worried when I was on 45s that I would relieve him and merrily drive off in the VR forgetting the need to take up position in the centre of the road, with disastrous consequences. The biggest I drove in Chelmsford though was a Leyland National, but that's another story... Edit: to amend photo link

Thanks Rob, that's a huge compliment! I saw it on Friday when you posted it, and was rather stunned by it, then I was away all weekend at a Scout Network camp, so other priorities crowded in, but I had it come back to it now. The layout was built purely for my own indulgence, although it was always built with exhibitions in mind, and therefore needed to be something which would appeal to show visitors, but it was really just what I wanted to do, built the way I wanted it, to the best of my abilities. I'm happy with it, and yes it does seem a real place to me, especially as I have "researched" (invented!) so much of the surrounding area, drawn maps and written working timetables so that any given wagon doesn't leave the fiddle yard, get shunted a bit and get returned to another road in the fiddle yard - for me it is a wagon delivering goods, or going to collect something. Someone has made the commodities in the load, someone else has ordered it, and now it is in the process of delivery. All these people unseen, producers, customers, railwaymen, with a load which in many cases can't even be seen as it inside a van, a tank, or a covered hopper. The residents of Langley Road don't notice the trains, so used are they to the sounds of shunting. But there it is, for me to see, and to share with people on RMWeb. Hopefully I have captured the "normal", the boring and mundane. Where now would you find photos on Mortimore's Yard in books? OK, I expect Paul Bartlett visited at least once, but who else? All the enthusiasts would be over at Hillside Depot, or down at Westonmouth Central noting the big, exciting engines. Back at Mortimore's Yard the staff are relaxing outside each with a mug of tea, while the class 08 burbles nearby. The drone of the dust extractor at the neighbouring joinery factory is as present as ever, but Mortimore's mechanical shovel is at rest, the coalmen seeking shade after a hot morning's work clearing the last 16t mineral, knowing that they are expecting a new delivery tomorrow. A cat stalks birds in the long grass behind the lamp hut, but with no great enthusiasm as the sun beats down. The 'phone rings in the Supervisor's office, it's the signalman to say the afternoon trip is approaching. Reluctantly the yard staff know that their break is over, and return to their posts, hoping that there won't be too many incoming wagons to shunt....

The first photo in post #2840 really is superb (amongst a whole series of superb images). The graininess above the train suggests the heat haze coming off the 56 which has been working hard but (in my mind) is now coasting towards an adverse signal. Powerful stuff! It's what model railways are all about, what we all want to achieve, but which so few manage.

Have a good Yay day! I've double booked myself with a Scout Network event all weekend so will be missing LarkRail this year; poor planning on my part.

It seems that Bath Road has had a shuffle round of the class 08 shunters out-based at Westonmouth as a different one has been noted at Mortimore's Yard recently. This is 08891, and it rather stands out with its double arrow on the cab-side under the number. With no other space available the data panel has to be positioned on the other side of the cab door, where it only just fits. I'd previously mentioned that I felt my class 08 fleet was a bit light on examples with the forward mounted boxes on both sides, so when Hornby announced that they were doing First Great Western 08882 in this condition I kept an eye out. Thanks to the Bargains thread hereabouts I managed to source two at a very good price, the first of which has become 08891. I need to remove a couple of the additional lamp brackets the model carries, but after a quick removal of the printing fGW blue/purple was very easily covered by "proper" Blue - especially as the loco is fairly heavily weather. While I was researching my other 08s I came across a photo of 08891 shunting HTVs (or HOP 21s as they probably were still) at Wapping Wharf and with it's unusual (early style?) of arrows it immediately went on the "to do" list. A quick Google produced a shot of the other side in the same livery (but at Longsight, and rather cleaner) which was helpful. So there we are, another shunter on the roster and yet another on the shelf looking for an identity to assume.