28XX

It usually does. PM me if you need any local knowledge. I've been a Worcester resident for 1/2 century.

Excuse my ignorance, but please explain??

Tony_S Welcome to Borsetshire!

Well that got a few tongues wagging! Suffice to say, The Railways of Borchester will feature 'Felpersham Castle' 'Ambridge Hall' and 'County of Borsetshire' as well as other hitherto undocumented engines, as determined by the demands of the traffic on the line.

Bracing walk with dog 'Poppy' at 05:35 today on Leopard Hill, Worcs, heavy dew and breath condensing in golden dawn light.

It has struck me that there is a significant disconnect between the behaviour of modellers towards rolling stock when compared with the places we model. Many people go to great lengths to ensure that every detail of their engines is historically correct, then cheerfully place them in a ficticious piece of geography. If we allow ourselves to create an imaginary world, then surely we should imagine also that the railway companies built additional stock to serve the line, because all the real vehicles were busy serving the real world. I am not necessarily advocating freelance designs but, rather as we adopt characteristic architectural styles and standard buildings, we could postulate extra members of real locomotive classes. If the traffic demands it, we could also propose variants or sub classes of real designs. Discuss....

milk cheese makers

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

Grughhhh!! am I going to stand out here for another half hour in case something interesting shows up or am I going to get a coffee?

Which reminds me of the keyhole surgeon who wallpapered his hall through the letter box.

and cheap cigarettes

sychophant!

I have followed The Archers since being introduced to it by my girlfriend, now my wife, over 25 years ago. For all its crazy plot lines it keeps a subtle foothold in real geography and relates to real world events in a way TV can never do. For the uninitiated, the action takes place in the imaginary county of Borsetshire. This occupies the physical area of East Worcestershire, West Warwickshire and North Gloucestershire, but in a different time-space continuum. There is even a map of the middle part of the county. One piece of the real world which appears regularly in the programme is the Oxford - Worcester railway line. Running East to West, the stations today are Felpersham and Hollerton Junction, which are the Borsetshire alternatives to Evesham and Pershore. The branch line which follows the River Am from Hollerton Jcn. is now preserved and called the Blackberry Line, whether it ever went any further than Croft is doubtful. My feeling is that it was built as a light railway from the outset, for agricultural traffic. Some farms in the Vale of Evesham had their own sidings, such as Spring Hill which connected with the OWW at Fladbury, perhaps the Blackberry Line was a larger version. There is also a line which turns South from the OWW between Hollerton and Felpersham. This leads to the Aymestry Forest coalfield in South Borsetshire, then on to Ashchurch on the Birmingham - Bristol main line. Aymestry is actually a hamlet 3 miles West of Worcester, scene of many childhood adventures. For the purposes of this fantasy, it is a bit like the Forest of Dean. Assuming the BBC map was drawn post-Beeching, I also postulate another GWR-owned line which left the OWW by a triangle junction at Netherbourne and followed the river Perch to Borchester. There is definately a Railway Hotel in Borchester which has been the scene of various secret assignations. A line linking the largest town (Felpersham) with the County Town (Borchester) would certainly be regarded as a necessity in the 19th century. This leads us on to the mysterious town of Stourhampton. Home to the industrial-scale Stourhampton Brewery, purveyor of Shires Ales, it featured in several stories in the early days but little is heard of it now. I like to think of it as being analogous to Redditch and being the next major station North of Borchester, the line continuing into Brum, not via Alvechurch, but on a direct route through Maypole and Kings Heath, eventually joining the Didcot-Chester line at Bordesley. I think the Midland would have wanted a piece of the action at Stourhampton too, so the line from Barnt Green goes there and then becomes the SA&MJ to Stratford. The Midland would have negotiated running powers to provide a service between Felpersham and Ashchurch via a curve, since lifted, and also between Barnt Green and Felpersham. The pre-Beeching map looks like this. Classical disclaimer: Other flights of fancy have been followed from this starting point. I have no wish to proseletize mine as being in any way superior to others.

beat South Africa

Teddy bears' picnic, John Inman (et.al)

I can recall seeing a special right-angled brush with a broom-length handle for this job which would paint the top and side of the copings simultaniously. Unfortunately the file in my brain is corrupted and won't tell me where. Dribbles down the face and on the ballast below, very definately. Use grey not white, there was no such thing as white as we know it today, until fluorescing optical whiteners were introduced in paints (and soap powder), probably in the 1960's. Yuletide greetings.

I thought that was the hedgehog ?

Any chance of a track plan? Apologies if there was one on the old site.

A Blog is a contraction of the two words, weB LOG. It is intended to be an on-line diary for you to share your railway modelling exploits with the rest of the community. Other forums an social networking web sites allow you to share other aspects of your life in a similar way. If you dont intend to do this pm Andy as he suggests.