HillsideDepot

A fascinating variation on the theme, albeit with one very long platform along side the turnback sidings, was Bournemouth. A TC and REP combination would arrive from London. A class 33/1 came from turnback siding on to the front and took the TC on to Weymouth. The REP cars then go to turnback sidings before going to the up platform shortly before the next TC & 33/1 arrive from Weymouth. The TC couples to REP, the 33/1 uncouples and runs to the siding while the train continues to London. Repeat all day! Seen here in later days when class 73s replaced the REP power cars which were donating their motors to the Wessex Electrics then in build.

Hopefully not too far off topic, as the examples I've found aren't conveyed in Siphon G's, but the BR WR Marshalling and Loading Instructions Parcels Trains and Freight Trains Conveying Parcels Vans book commencing 5 May 1969 (available on the BR Coaching Stock IO Group) has a couple of mentions of churn traffic. The footnotes here mention cream traffic, in a GUV and the churns appear to return in a BG here Whilst empty milk churns are mentioned here Overall the Marshalling and Loading book is a fascinating document, if a few years too early for my layout researches. It gives a great insight into the scope of items carried in "parcel vans" and opens a window on a very different way of railway life. And now back to the Siphons.

The Passenger Train Working books for Paddington, several of which are available on Robert Carroll's BR Coaching Stock IO Group, list the individual vehicles which were allocated to the various newspaper trains. The RCTS Coaching Stock of British Railways books note those which are allocated to newspaper traffic (steam heating rather than just a through steam pipe seems to be the difference), so I cross-referenced the two publications for 1974 and came up with this table. Several of the vans take more than 24 hours to make the full round trip, hence the note "alternates with". Those serving destinations closer to Paddington work the trip daily, so I've shown them as "1 day circuit". The RCTS book lists more vehicles than the Working Book calls for, but conversely there are a number of SG (as the Working Book codes them) listed in the workings which don't have a particular vehicle assigned. Three of these are on the Postal rather than News trains, so presumably are "normal" vans. As the book only details Down trains, the West of England vans are likely require to the equivalent number on the Up workings to balance things out so are, in effect, two vans each. The Bristol and Didcot vans should get back in a day, so probably account for single vehicles. On Sundays (or very late on Saturday night for the Penzance train) only the Swansea used SG on the Cheltenham portion. The rest were GUVs as noted at the foot of the table. I like the note on the Oxford train showing which company's staff used that vehicle. I'm guessing that on the longer runs staff weren't needed all the way so boarded en-route, and such detail wasn't relevant to staff at Paddington. As ever with this type of research, it throws up as many questions as it answers. What were the other vehicles noted as "Newspaper" by RCTS used for? Where there other flows that didn't start from Paddington? And what else were the "normal" SG vans used for? Did they have their own workings, just not from Paddington? Anyway, I hope the table is of interest.

I agree that it is Shrivenham. Unusual to see a photo from this side of the line, though. More usually photographers seem to favour the opposite side as here http://www.hondawanderer.com/43148_Shrivenham_1992.htm

Than you Ian for another great issue. As a subscriber I've already been able to read the latest one several times over, and have drawn inspiration from its contents, and dusted off the micro I've been [not] building for too long. Micros let me try something different, something which doesn't fit with my main layout, and with an every increasing stock of ideas saved from The Dispatch, from RMWeb and other sources I know I'll never get them all built! That said, I'm in the early stages of planning a "round the room" layout, which while not a micro in itself, has several elements which could be micros, just they link to each other rather than straight to a fiddle yard. Whilst there are still things to glean from the current issue, I'm looking forward to the next; I might even get sufficiently organised to contribute something!

56019's trip to the coast certainly sticks in my mind as it thundered around the curve at Didcot. I decided to stay on at Didcot for the return, my customary homebound fish & chips would have to wait that week. And I'm glad I did. The train wasn't booked via Reading on the way back as the shunter had finished by then, so it was Basingstoke to Oxford non-stop. But it did stop, for about 10 minutes, in the far distance at Moreton Cutting, before coming at us on the Down Relief, flat out, swaying over the connection and around the curve, that mighty Ruston pounding, turbos screaming, as only a 56 could, and still ahead of booked time!

37057 was the first loco painted in the livery, so had the original font with EW&S lettering rather than the later EWS. It didn't have the "three beasties" logo which also came later. I remember it very clearly as it stopped in front of me for about 10 minutes waiting for the road at Didcot just after it was painted, and one of my photos was published in Railway Modeller shortly after.

Sadly it's not there any more. That parcel of the land is now the access road to a new housing estate. West Wilts Youth Sailing Association now have a new slipway and clubhouse further along the station approach road nearer the station entrance. I'm told, by one of the club members, that parts of the box were removed to a private location and reassembled again. Although much loved and enjoyed by club members (hardly any of whom knew its history) it was apparently showing its age.

The model is coming on nicely, Rob. I guess the National is like the HST to me (and not just for the ribbed roof, noisy engine and raucous cooling fan!) not "favourites" in their own right but such a part of my childhood they are something special. So, whilst this bus is very different to the dual door city bus you're modelling, the sound track is spot on, including the slightly different noise which the original style fish-tail exhaust pipe gives. It sounds great through headphones

Yes, the shelters are supported by one of the walls of the former shed. The other wall is behind the 50 and tamper, with the chimneys of the adjoining offices, mess rooms etc peeping over the top. This arrangement inspired my Hillside Depot layout, a good few years ago now.

The fuelling shelters are shown here, to the left of the 2 DMUs: (Photo by Scott Rathbone on Flickr)

I think 1 is most likely. 2 is popular with London Transport preservationists, but probably because London buses for many years always carried adverts in every position, even if that was an advert for LT rather than a 3rd party. There are also the classics like "Shop at Binns" which was a permanent feature of a number of north eastern fleets which tend to get replicated. There are a few people about who specialise in reproducing bus interior adverts, not that those are relevant to a model, but those were often for the bus company, and being smaller are less costly to produce. When I was involved with the Western National Preservation Group a local self-employed (ex-company) sign writer painted two of the group's buses at no cost and he was offered the rear advert spaces for his own use, in a period style. He declined as it wouldn't have been authentic. 4 sometimes happens, but is rare. I know someone who has a Bristol VR which has a deep, plain white, band around the bus between the windows as it carried several "unibus" style adverts there. Two of the companies who had the original adverts are still in business and were offered the space. Neither even replied to decline the offer. The two Dennis Darts I have a long term involvement with didn't carry adverts when new, so the question doesn't arise, however we have used the template for the interior passenger information posters which advised of service changes to show the vehicle history. Bus advertising, especially outside the big national campaigns, is a great social history record in it's own right with many local and regional companies being big users of bus campaigns over many years.

Agreed, and the BR(W) lettered version would be a good variation for those of us modelling later (and even current day) operations.

Interesting project, Rob. I've just noticed that you've got the bench seats at the front on the wrong side in the photo above. The 4 seater goes behind the cab, which isn't as long as the door. The 3-part cab window is actually two for the driver and one in the saloon. One other thing, which might be a detail too far, is that the 4 pairs of seats over the rear wheels are slightly higher than those further back, on slightly raised floors, giving a sunken gangway there. I'm not sure why, as there is still a wheel arch "bump" there, although it less than it would otherwise be.

I usually travel by bus to this show (all the way from Chippenham!) as it makes a good day out. The bus from the town centre calls at the railway station and drops off at the end of the road to the hall. It then goes off on a big loop of the houses, so to return to town its much quicker to walk up to the stop on Alma Road and catch the bus in front of the one you would have caught at the alighting stop.

This came up on my Facebook this afternoon. [Image was screenshot of Peco job vacancy advert] Of course there are many, many products in their range, but engaging new production workers can only be a good thing, and hopefully good news for the bullhead range.

Just to show that things are still progressing, albeit very slowly, a couple of quick snaps to show the current state of play. The baseboard is built, and the dairy sidings are laid. The track for the station hasn't been laid yet as that needs to be raised up, so better to do work on the sidings without that getting in the way. And, I've only just got enough flexi track for the passenger line, so that's another reason for not laying that just yet. As it is in the foreground I might use Peco bullhead there, where it will be more clearly seen, and as I have enough in stock. Wiring next... The speed of progress of this project reminds me of two of the milkmen in Chippenham in my childhood. One had a big, flash American car and was known as the "fastest milkman in the west" (after the song) while another used a battered old Bedford HA pick-up which rarely seemed to move much before midday. Inevitably, he was known as the "slowest milkman in the west".

The 1 May 1972 - 6 May 1973 Section A WTT shows 1V34 07:45 Kensington Olympia to St Austell as Timing Column Reference G2 but I can't find an explanation of what that means. The 14 May 1979 - 11 May 1980 Section PA WTT shows 1V34 07:45 (public) 07:50 (WTT) Kensington Olympia to St Austell as D560.

Two more gems there @Rivercider , to add to my knowledge base. Thank you.

Rather than simply working out a way to produce a document that looks like a TOPS report I wanted something a little bit interesting. But first, what is a TOPS report like? What does it include? Fortunately, there are a few examples on-line, via Flickr and there are two British Transport Films productions which include shots of various reports. From 1974 comes "What's TOPS" which is on one of the British Film Institute DVDs while "Using TOPS" (1978) is available to view on BFI Player https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-using-tops-1978-online What comes apparent is that there are several different reports, and that things seem to have changed over time. And, whilst I could work out what some columns of figures were telling me, I couldn't decipher some of the others. Given this incomplete knowledge I decided that rather than try to replicate any one report I'd instead construct something that would look like a TOPS report but which would have the data I want when running Mortimore's Yard. The 1974 BTF film describes the file structure of TOPS And I opted to construct something similar. Rather than using Microsoft Word as on the Seaboard Central Rail Road I opted for Microsoft Excel as I didn't want to type everything from scratch each time, but can copy and paste various data fields. Just like TOPS I have a Wagon File (OK, it's a tab within the spreadsheet) A Locomotive File A Location File based on a STANOX list found on line- albeit not as old as I'd like, so with lots of closed places missing - with my own locations added (and colour coded by Region to help finding places) Rather than a Wagon Distribution File I have a Traffic Origin and Destination file. This includes the actual loaded flows and the return empties (which may not go back to where the loads originate from) And finally my Train File where I construct the actual report by copying and pasting formulas (to preserve the cell formatting elements) There are some elements within the Train File which are calculated off other cells, such as the train length and counting the loaded and empty wagons. Each train has its own template within the spreadsheet tab, which I can then populate with the necessary details. My idea is that I will populate several days' worth of train lists, print them out and then work through them over a number of operating sessions. I'm sure that there are better ways of doing what I have here, and no doubt someone will be able to automatically generate the traffic rather than manually deciding "two of this, one of that, and three of the other", while some think the whole think is already over engineered when I could scribble things on scraps of paper but, for me, it adds something to running the layout.

I've been researching van traffic in and out of Penzance for a possible layout (not really Penzance, but certainly inspired by it) albeit in the 1970s. Based on photos I came up with the following table, to see if there are any patterns. As it covers a number of years it is difficult to decide what has changed due to long-term changing traffic and what is just "random" (as in peak time for perishable traffic). The sample is probably too small to find any patterns, but there are some, such as the first vehicle on 4M05 was usually a BG, and the 4th was regularly a 4 wheeler. Likewise the empty "News vans" on 4A13, mid train until 1975, then at the front. It might be a bit simplistic, but I came to the view that the "early morning" vans conveyed traffic for the west, but the "mid morning Plymouth" probably provided whatever extra capacity Penzance/Cornwall needed for its outbound traffic which couldn't be met by the vans on hand. The other thing the table helps show is the variety of stock in my chosen era and has helped me refine my van fleet. Perhaps all it contributes to this discussion is that in the previous decade things didn't appear to be run to fixed diagrams, but were run to meet demand. But I'm eager for any more info, even if I'm using reality to inform the imaginary! It's all part of the fun

Although I have, at exhibitions, happily spent two days at a time shuffling wagons around randomly I have always wanted to have a bit more order to proceedings, and to that end have spent quite a lot of time developing a working timetable for the layout. OK, such a yard wouldn't really feature in the pages of the actual Working Time Table, but would be covered by the Local Movements and Shunting Locomotive Notice. Kevin Redwood @Rivercider has generously posted pages of these documents in several topics, including this page from the Bristol area But, these trip workings need to link into long distance services, which I have based on reality so my wagons can reach various destinations, whether loaded or returning empty. So, that's the train service, but what about the actual wagons? Each flow was tabulated, and likely traffic levels decided. That, however, is where things have got a little stuck. I have looked at flow Wagonflow software, which seems to do what I want, but looks a little complex to set-up, and I am probably overthinking it by trying to convert its steam era nomenclature to TOPS type codes. Although I know little about American Railroading, I came across the Seaboard Central on YouTube and liked what I saw. In many ways it is similar to what I'm trying to achieve on Mortimore's Yard, but with more space than I could even dream of. Tim Garland the layout owner is an Engineer (Driver) on Norfolk Southern, so uses prototypical paperwork to run his trains, in particular Switch Lists. In response to comments under his videos Tim has said that he simply uses Microsoft Word to create his paperwork. That got me thinking...

Something I've been playing with over the last few days... Not an exact replica, as I want different information (customer and commodity) compared to a railwayman (brake force, etc), and still a few tweaks to do, but hopefully it has the right "feel" to it.

Yes Terry, it s, but slowly. I've built the baseboards, including the dropped section at the rear and was about to start track laying. But realising some of the dimensions will be tight I wanted to complete the section of station canopy and platform at the front before committing myself to positions. And then I got myself immersed into reproducing some TOPS style lists for my Mortimore's Yard layout, and that rather took over (replicating the green stripes on alternate lines of the old continuous fold computer paper is probably taking it too far, but hey, why not?). I'm afraid I'm like that, lots of projects on the go, each of which tends to go in fits and starts with generous helpings of pondering and thinking in between!

The Gunnells converted from PGA hoppers had INTERCITY branding in silver on a maroon background, I used to have an unused sticker acquired at an open day, but don't have it any more. Photos of the branding don't come up readily in in-line searches. INTERCITY branding was also applied to some track machines. Going from memory (dangerous!) I think they funded some dynamic track stabilisers which allowed newly re-laid/ballasted track to be handed back at a higher speed limit than was previously possibly by simulating a weeks worth of traffic. I'm not sure that this is a stabiliser, but it has the branding. https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/tamper/e55814c4c Photo by Paul Bartlett