Nick Gough

This is Snowball who, with the assistance of Horace the milkman, was delivering our milk until the mid/late 1960s, in South Harrow:

This was for an independent, local dairy - Hall & Sons (Dairy Farmers) Ltd, in nearby Pinner - there still being a small rural enclave in this urban part of Metroland.

1 hour ago, Mike_Walker said:

 

 

Sadly, fifty years on we've not been able to mark the 150th in a similar manner but l am doing a presentation to the Marlow & District Railway Society tomorrow on the history of the branch.

 

That should be an interesting evening Mike.

I remember, on that day, walking to a foot crossing, near the bridge under the Marlow bypass, and filming 1450 with its two autotrailers - in the pouring rain.

Adjacent to the upper terminus is the original winding house:

Which housed the winding machinery used until the 1970s. It now houses the Cable Car museum.

The winding gear, originally steam powered, electrified in the 1930s:

One of the original cars:

Originally the cable car was powered by a continuous cable. In a similar system to the San Francisco cable cars, each car had a 'Gripman':

The 'gripman' of the descending car operated a lever which gripped the cable, causing it to descend. A second cable connected the two cars together, so that the descending car also pulled the other to the top:

There was also a third 'Fell' rail, between the running rails, for emergency braking:

Also the line had double track for its entire length.

In the current system the two cars are permanently connected to a single cable, operated by a motorised pulley at the top, which stops and starts to control the system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Cable_Car

8 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Assuming that the train is heading towards Cholsey, I believe it is impossible to take a photo from that viewpoint now. The whole piece of land is full of trees with no obvious means of access. I tried to find a way on to there a couple of years ago when we first ran Polar Express (as the "North Pole" was in the field between the Bunk line and the church) but without success,

From my photo of that area, from 18 years ago (on the right):

It was quite heavily wooded as is the area near the main line junction.

Quite different from the open views, and pasture land, of half a century ago:

17 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

At which exact juncture some of us were very firmly ensconced in the pubup the road from Cholsey station.  (I hasten to add that I was not on BR duty but had spent the previous night with another GWS member getting 6998 to actually steam which had not been achieved on the previous attempt a week earlier).

I wish I had been able to visit the branch that day though, at 10 years old, I didn't know anything about event.

I did make up for it, a bit, five years later when I travelled behind 6998, 6106 & 1450 on the truncated Bourne End and Marlow branches for the 100th anniversary of the latter.

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

But adding the cow muck and horse hair to the mixture will incur the wrath of the environmental campaigners due to cattle f@rting the planet to death and probably the animal rights campaigners over the use of horse hair...

 

You can't win.

There's always caves to live in I suppose.

Mind you, when I were a lad, there were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

On 13/06/2023 at 01:39, Coach bogie said:

Totally agree. I have several Lima's all with revised underframe detail and bogies. It even lends itself to convert to a Siphon J. I made my J over 40 years ago when the Lima G first came out in the late 1970's. 

 

I take it the 'J' has new sides and ends over the Lima 'G' body?

47 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

Sadly you can't ride on anything like this there anymore.......

 

Nice. When were they withdrawn?

I can remember riding on one of the last London trolleybuses just before they went.

On the main shopping street in Wellington there is another interesting sign:

Walk a short distance along Cable Car Lane and you find the lower terminus for the Wellington Cable Car:

The line is a metre-gauge single track funicular, 628 metres long, with a central passing loop for the two cars:

The driver's cabin:

Nearing the summit of the climb:

13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Tight clearances!

It is tight - though most of my locos and stock run through there without any problem. My Bachmann Hall doesn't like the first radius part of the curve, but the Hornby Hall runs through there quite happily! Normally I'm not going to run anything bigger than an 0-6-0 or an autocoach though. This section of line is 'off stage' as well so doesn't have to look pretty.

When I first constructed that board I hadn't worked out what path the branch line would take (or at what level), hence the later 'surgery'. 

The width of the railway room dictated the use of a short (90 degree) radius curve, to fit inside the existing trackwork. I debated, for a while, whether or not to have the branch descend away from the main line (as per the prototype). It would have been easier to keep it on the same level, though it wouldn't have eased the clearances on the outside of the curve.

I will probably use the odd, bare semi-circular piece of board, in the foreground, to park spare locos and stock.

Church Road bridge with 1466 in 1968:

The DCC sleepers have been fixed in place and soldered to the rails, with the rails cut through between the two boards:

A short section of track fixed in place, to complete the curve, and aligned with the setrack to enter the fiddle yard:

Three pieces of setrack glued in place, in the branch line 'channel' in the fiddle yard:

With trains at a lower level than the main line tracks:

The entrance to the fiddle yard will be disguised by a model of Church Road bridge:

A glimpse of the future:

(The branch line train is yet to be upgraded!)

1 hour ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Unfortunately Nick,

Family commitments mean there is no way I can get to Silver Fox on the 19th August!!

Your branch starts to look the part.

Cheers

Paul

Thanks Paul.

Inside the booking hall:

At the road entrance is a very nice sign:

I'm sure that I've seen that shape of loco somewhere before?

Earlier in the day, during a tour of the city, we had gone to the viewpoint at the summit of Mount Victoria:

Looking across the harbour the railway station can be seen, behind the ship, just a short distance from the harbourside and ferries to the South Island.

The following day was the opportunity to re-visit the, impressive, Wellington station in daylight:

(Sorry about the focus!)

At last!

The first length of track laid on the Wallingford branch curve:

As this is a removable board a gap in the sleepers at the joint:

For DCC concepts sleepers to be soldered at the joint:

1 minute ago, BMacdermott said:

And me!

 

Brian

Perhaps see you again then.

19 hours ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Nick

 

A great pleasure to meet up with you, too!

 

All the best and I look forward to following your progress.

 

Brian

Thanks Brian.

20 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Welcome back Nick, sounds like you had a great time down under!

I had intended going to  the MK show, but like you other things are somewhat getting in the way of the modelling at the moment!

I would have enjoyed talking to you and Brian in the flesh.

Never mind, there will, hopefully be another opportunity, maybe at the Great Electric Show in October?

Cheers for now,

Paul

Thanks Paul.

GETS is a possibility. I also plan to go to the SilverFox show, at Milton Keynes, on 19th August.

What thickness plastikard were you trying to cut Chris?

Unfortunately modelling has taken rather a back seat at the moment due to other commitments.

However, I did enjoy a few hours today at the Milton Keynes show. I also had the pleasure of meeting Brian McDermott for the first time, there, having only corresponded previously via the interweb.

3 hours ago, MrWolf said:

That's the same place I got my information from. 

 

If we look at these two PW wagons, they were both painted black. But don't look very black now!

 

SVR wiki

 

Gloucester Warwickshire Railways 

 

This is going to take some thinking about, especially as the CC7 would be around thirty years old by 1938.

Looks like green is correct after all.

Since starting to use my Silhouette I have also drawn up the rectangles with four lines because I had previously heard that this was a problem. I understand that the problem is that the cutter does one continuous cut for the whole shape, changing direction at the corners, so doesn't do this neatly.

I had thought that the rounded rectangle shape would avoid this and have just started trying to draw up toplight coach sides using them. I will have to rethink this in view of your unfortunate experience.

Journeys end at the buffer stops at Wellington's terminus station, just after 7pm:

One of Wellington's suburban trains can be seen in the background:

The open-air viewing carriage:

The coach we had travelled in:

Then it was collect the luggage and off to our hotel - which was only one block away from the station.