SteveBedding

No - my plan is to make the kids wash more often... ...seriously, until they invent a micro size dcc 'smell' chip, I think the aromatic atmosphere will be on hold On a different note, I see that you are located on the IoW - as a natural 'corkhead' myself, its great to see that fellow islanders are rail nuts.... Merry Christmas

A lovely idea and very simply achieved - the freight capacity must be equivalent to a schooner of sherry. Merry Christmas to you.

Thanks for the tip Bryn, I'll look into this in the new year ; I'll stick with etched plates for this section of track (as I've got the bits and have already started...) but your sugestion looks like a good way forward! I've looked on the site and found them (1-183 Easitrac Sprue of chairs - as 1-181 but cast in brass (to order only) £ ask each) - just as a matter of interest, what was the cost and the lead time?

And suddenly... ...nothing happened! Well, this is not strictly true, but it does seem that very little progress has been made over the past few weeks! The long awaited period of domestic upheaval has come at last (SWMBO managed to get her job transfer and has come home) and the much enjoyed period of uncontrolled 'playtime' has been curtailed. The permanent work bench (aka the dining table) and the dedicated 'playroom' (SWMBO seems to think that this should be a dining room!) have been cruelly sacrificed on the altar of domestic re-organisation - also critical 'working practices' such as using all of the sitting room chairs to lay out the essential reference works and keeping the laptop on the coffee table to rapidly access RMweb and other erudite web sources are now frowned upon! Oh such hardships we suffer for our art... ...but on the up-side, with the chef being at home, proper meals (with fresh vegetables...) have ceased to be a distant memory. (My commiserations to the local Chinese, Indian, Pizza, chippy, and kebab outlets, for the decrease in their turnover - sorry ). On the layout front, work has continued in making the crossing assemblies for the points - the Easitrac aluminium jig has continued to be challenging and numerous practice assemblies have been made. I have not yet achieved what I consider to be an acceptable standard yet, but this is probably more due to my ineptitude rather than using the Easitrac system. They do say that practice makes perfect, but I now realise that that old sage doesn't actually say how many 'practices' it really takes; on a scale of diabolical to excellent, I think I'm just about at mediocre and will have to put in a few more attempts to make acceptable. To keep the pathetic crossings in perspective, and to feel that I am actually moving forward (albeit at a lesser pace than Brian the snail!), I have completed the sleeper-work for the first two points and fitted the outside curved stock rails... ...this in itself was not difficult, but threading the individual chairs onto the rail was a real test of the eyesight. The PCB sleepers inter-spaced with the ABS plastic strips are to provide the power feeds to the rails. An etched brass chair plate will be slid between the PCB sleeper and the rail (filling the apparent gap) and soldered in place; power drops then can easily be taken to the sleeper. In theory this should be far easier than soldering the dropper cable directly to the rail... Well, I suspect my modelling time will now be curtailed in line with the festive season - just typical when I get back into the flow of things , but on a more positive note, I'm quietly confident that SWMBO has honoured her earlier promise and Santa will be bringing me some cattle wagons :D And on that note, many thanks to all of my friends on RMweb who have taken the time to contribute to this work - it has been through your help and encouragement that Smokey Bacon has progressed as it has done and that my 'mojo' has been constantly refreshed Happy Christmas & a Merry New Year

Like Bryn said, this really does deserve a real good look; but one question - should there be balance/counter weights on the driving wheels?

What can be said other than WOW!

Oh wow, the pics are super- I bet you're feeling smug with yourself now! The 52xx certainly looked the business when it was running on Wednesday, and the scenic pose certainly captures the essence of the loco. Keep up the great work & Merry Christmas

Hats off to you again Missy Yet another very neat and simple solution to an aggravating problem - we have come to expect no less ingenuity when you have been faced with these challenges! I think I can foresee a club night of fettling Farish bearings in the future

Glad you made the change to the layout thread - I had wondered what had happened to this layout. Although primarily a GW fan, the S&DJR has a nostalgic attraction as my first railway (shared with a younger brother ) was, according to my dad, the Stephen & Duncan Joint Railway... ...it was many years before I twigged to the deception ! I love the character of the layout, and am highly impressed by the way it gives the feel of the rural setting. Now you've got you mojo back, I look forward to seeing more...

I have just found this blog and am highly impressed with the layout - I just wish I'd found it earlier. I love the character of the station and its surrounds, it just captures the whole feel of a rural GWR BLT . The detail that you have out into the background story/history, and the timetable is very impressive and must give a lot of fun in operation. I'll admit to being somewhat biassed towards the region and scale but what you have achieved is highly worth of praise. (...as to a comment by Missy in an earlier posting questioning your loyalties to the GWR, as a proud 'cork-head' I can fully support any diverting interests in the railways of the Isle of Wight... )

More WOW and STUNNING ! It's looking absolutely fantastic, I can't wait to see how Elvis runs

Looking good - and even better in 2FS! Keep the updates and pictures flowing please

It's lovely! (But aren't the barrels a little bit too clean?) I've been diligently watching this thread develop and you have my utmost respect and admiration in the way you have brought this layout to life :good_mini:

I think I'm with Kris on this one. The 'overlap' is a definite improvement in being quite subtle, but individual panels would be better - either as true separate panels or pre-scored on the strips... BTW, thanks for the pointer on the Evergreen cladding - it looks like it could be exactly what I'm after, but could you let me know which version it is? What's the distance between the 'peaks' and 'troughs'? Cheers

Outstanding! :good_mini: This has just got to be the basis for the layout stock boxes!!!!

John, thanks for the offer - I'd love to see a photo of the Harris box - I can feel another cunning plan for dedicated stock boxes coming on... I'll be going to the Calne Model Rail Show in January next year to see Chris Hewitt's EM gauge model of Calne to see how much I can learn from that one, if you happen to get to that show it would be a pleasure to meet up. Ian Thanks for the suggestion and pointers. I actually live about 10 miles from the 'Wilts & Swindon Record Office' in Chippenham and with an enforced period of 'working from home' over the next month (..evicted while the office relocates across the road...), I am actually intending to spend some of my diligently working time in that fine establishment . (It's an added bonus that the cornish pasty shop is just round the corner... ) Trevor, Thank you for your very kind words, its nice to know that my ramblings are of interest. I've just read your blog on 'Chipping & Much Binding' and I am mightily impressed with the model of the model; its going to be a cracker when it's done! Would I be right in guessing that the smaller terminus is missing "in-the-marsh" from its name...? As to the research, it's more about procrastination really and the carpentry is about the only area that isn't new to me - the finescale modelling concept is still very daunting

The Farthing Layouts are just fabulous and I always enjoy your posts. The Siphon C is a particular favourite of mine - though the one you have modelled (1503 - Lot 1162 built March 1909 condemned May 1948) may well have operated by "C & J Harris of Calne" by 1927 and would have had roof boards "HARRIS BACON AND WILTSHIRE SAUSAGES, CALNE AND BRISTOL" and a panel between the centre and right hand doors stating "TO WORK BETWEEN CALNE AND BRISTOL TEMPLE MEADS" (as at March '29 from GW Siphons by Slinn). This may seem a little picky, but I do take my sausages seriously...

Thanks John It's coming back to me - as a child, I used to live in Hilmarton from '71-'73 and these views of Calne are dimly familiar. We didn't go to Calne very often (because of the 'ambient aroma...') but I can recall the town from that time, and these photo's are bringing it all back . It certainly looks (and smells) a lot different now...

John, Your photo's are not causing problems - please keep them coming! Anything else you find, especially anything that shows the factory buildings, would be of great benefit to me. For my benefit, the 'Calne-gate' saga has had the advantage of giving me a nice prototype to include within the bounds of the cattle market/yard; that the precise location is 'under review' just shows how useful RMweb can be in tapping into first-hand local knowledge (thanks Geoff & MIB). Could I ask anyone else out there who has any photo's of Calne Station, the Harris factory area, or the cattle yard & market, if you would kindly post them up on this thread - all details or overall perceptions will help to enhance the overall layout. Many thanks in anticipation

I must be barking mad - sitting here in a caravan in Henley reading RMweb over a moibile broadband link - it's absolutely piggin' freezing !!! Only 1 more week before SWMBO finishes this job and comes home - then we can keep the camping for when it's warm B) ! Anyway, it appears the illustrious photo has developed a life of its own!!! As Pete noted, it's great that there are people out there who know the area in detail and are willing toi contribute to the debate - many thanks to MIB and Geoff I loved your recollectioins of school days - in a similar vein I used to wait to meet a cetain 'miss madam' ( ) when her bus passed through the village where I was at school, just to see what the results of the days HE were, thankfully she ended up as the 'first ex-wife' As to the position of the old car and the Harris Printworks, these were only approximations from your descriptions - I was trying to give a rough indication from your description, but as they both fall outside of the boundary of the layout I'll park the correction. If I had another foot all round for the layout I'd love to include such details but I'm afraid that falls under the compromise of space limitations Thanks for the correction - my fault in not reading the wiki summary right . I left the area in '73 and didn't return until '01and didn't see the changes first hand. I have a more recent perspective on the 'names' of the schools - my 3 children all went to the new Fynamore (a primary school on the NW side of Calne), and my eldest did spend a few months at the 'new' John Bentley secondary school between moves. This recent 'knowledge' as much as anything probably skewed my perceptions when looking at the map and trying to place the photo. The confusion probably comes from placing the photo (circa '86 I beleive) on the 1936 OS Map - there were probably quite a few new buildings in the interveneing 50 years I think MIB is right on this one... ...the distance from the gate to the school buldings is far to close for Station Road and the slope/height of the hill does not match. Either the road behind the gate is the route upto Wenhill farm (Wenhill Lane) and this shows the southern boundary of the cattle yard, or, the depth of field is desceptive and Wenhill Lane passes behid the slight rise in front of the buildings which would put this gate somewhere in the middle of the cattle yard. I suspect the former. I drove round the estate this morning trying to reconcile the '86 photo and MIBs description (once I'd got my head around the siting of the old school buildings...) with the lay of land but I have to confess that I couldn't get a clear understanding because of all of the 'little boxes' that have contaminated the site...

MIB Many thanks for your further information - you're shedding new light that I wasn't aware of and leading to new directions of study (damn, sidetracked again... ). I reckon you must be right that the photo from Bartb has been transposed - if this is the case, then it should look like this: My hasty assumption that the school in the background was John Bentley appears to be correct in name only - I somehow lost track of the various school mergers, renaming, and even relocation of the school... In glaringly obvious 20-20 hindsight, there is no way that this could have been the 'current' school Doh! After much scratching of the head, and with the great tips in your comments, I have come up with the plan below... ...on the 1936 Map, I suspect that the gate falls somewhere along the north side of the road that ran along the southern edge of the cattle market (now known as Wenhill lane), probably more likely towards the western end of this stretch? In real terms it's precise position will have minimal effect on the layout, there is only a small part of Wenhill Lane being depicted on the frontage of the layout and I think it will not be unreasonable to use this design of gate for the one or two entrances to the cattle yard that will be modelled. That said, if you (or anyone else), has any more information of this area of the layout, I'd be delighted to hear about it . As to your question of how the cattle got to the abattoir, I can't answer this specifically, but I have seen a photo from the early 1900's of pigs being herded directly from the station to the town centre along Station Road! (PS I used to know the Jenny Wren well... )

Pete, The second attempt is certainly better (though the first wasn’t too bad). I have a 'hangar' to build for which I will now use a similar technique – I’ll steal anybodies good ideas A couple of questions: - What make is the corrugated plasticard sheeting? - What size does it come in – and what is the thickness? - What size sheets/planks are you representing – I would have thought they would have been 8’ x 4’ with the corrugations running along the length; yours look like they are approx 8’ square? My only observation on the dries building is that the overhang from one layer to the one below does look quite significant in the photos – 10 thou is the equivalent of 3”… …perhaps a strip of 80 or 160 gsm paper may be thinner? All that said, it is still looking quite super and is coming along very quickly - at this rate you'll have completed this, and boards 4, 5 & 6 in the next 12 months and be looking for options for 7, 8, & 9... EDIT: It so long to put up this post on the works system, the previous 2 posts snook in before I'd finished

MIB Thanks for you comments, glad you're enjoying it Now that you raised the question of Bartb's photo, I've gone back and had another really good look at it - and with doubt in my mind, I find that I cannot place it at all . I had hastily assumed that the buildings in the background were the John Bentley School but in hindsight this cannot be right... ...I had initially just looked at the construction of the gate, not it's location! Referencing the Police Station helps a bit... OK now I'm stumped! (But it is still a nice gate... ) As to the housing estate, sad to say this is still growing - even the industrial units that were built on the old station site (still there according to Google), have been demolished for yet more housing, even though this may have stalled... On the subject of the Siphons, I reckon I would need about 20+ C's (4 wheeled) and 4 F's' (40" bogie) if I was to do all of the permutations (Newcastle, Southampton, Reading, Crewe, Paddington...et al) but reality (space and cost) means that I'll probably have to cut it down to 6 + 2. Unless I get the hang of this etching business and do it myself... ...but that's a cunning plan for another day . And lastly thanks for the gem about Harris' print works - I never knew about this feature. I'd love to incorporate such features but unfortunately it is just off the area being covered. It's a good job I've not yet started the scenery, I wouldn't want to include too many glaring errors... ...but I'd better get my act together with getting the track work progressed before I can worry too much about that

No matter how many bunches of flowers / box of chocolates / trips to the spa (not Spar!) / World Cruises it'll cost you to get the revised plans through the domestic approvals authority, it will certainly be worth it! I really enjoy watching your progress with CJ and want to see more, so please keep the pictures coming – of both the progress and the design rationales… …it may even give me the plausible excuses / justification for the ‘future’ expansion of Smokey Bacon.