Nick Gough

Pearce & Crump at it again?

I painted my vinyl slates with Humbrol enamel directly - no primer. After one coat: It still looks okay over 18 months later: The individual slates are not as clearly defined as before painting, but still visible. You may recall I made the roof from two sheets of 3mm MDF: Over that I stuck a layer of 10 thou/.25mm plastikard, to complete the apex over the gap between the MDF sheets, and to extend the roof down to gutter level. This also helped with drawing on pencil guidelines for laying the strips of vinyl: An added advantage was that the self-adhesive vinyl stuck to the plastikard much better than the MDF.

The site closed in 1994, though I don't know whether it was rail served until the end. I remember being on a steam special, from Didcot, in the mid-1980s. The down train stopped and reversed through the crossover, in front of the signal box, onto the up line. The train then ran 'wrong' line, towards Leamington, due to weekend engineering. I bet that wouldn't happen now!

I don't remember seeing any wagons when I went there, but I've found this on Flickr:

Greaves siding, Harbury, between Banbury and Leamington, 1989/90: The rear, with the cement works it served, on the other side of the line:

Don't forget Paul, you will have to cover everything in white powder! Greaves' siding, Harbury, 1989/90: And from the other side, with the cement factory (now a housing estate) behind:

Congratulations on joining those of us that are retired. Funny how there still never seems to be enough time though!

What's the difference between a Buffalo and a Bison? You can't wash your hands in a Buffalo!

Also the one in NZ, that I visited in May, where there is some desire to change the name.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum_tube_station Also featured in last week's episode of 'Secrets of the London Underground ' - Yesterday channel.

Perhaps there is a connection to Sir Thomas Picton (Lt General) who died at Waterloo? Not in favour these days because he was a slave owner in the West Indies.

Yes, according to part 14 - Locomotives of the GWR (RCTS).

Thank you very much for these, Mike. There's some very useful details in those. In particular there is a view of the tiny weighbridge hut in the fourth photo - just above the '20' sign. I haven't found a photo of the front of this before - It looks like there is a window in the middle - would it shew up any clearer with a higher res scan of this bit? In the fifth photo I can see the ramp leading up to the end/side loading dock, left of the goods shed. According to a Railway World article, "The goods/end loading dock possessed sleeper walls and a gravel/black grit surface." Looking at your photo, the construction looks very much like the platform for the branch line halt at Didcot: It's interesting that the lamp hut must have been turned round at some point. In 'The Wallingford Branch' (Wild Swan) there is a 1927 photo which shews it turned 90 degrees, with the door facing the end of the platform ramp. Did you ever get to go inside the signal box, Mike?

The old plan of Cholsey station shews that there appeared to be a large solid object behind the stop block at the end of the back siding (at the top of this extract): I presume that, whatever it was, it was there to prevent anything running through the stop block, down the embankment and onto the adjacent road. During last week's visit I had a look to see whether there are any remains. Part of the goods yard is now a car park. This is looking back to the entrance road, the station and the bridge over the road: Slightly further to the right is the embankment down towards the road: And then... The parked car and the adjacent meeting point of the two guard rails is, where I reckon, the stop block was - I wonder what it was constructed from? The rest of the goods yard, through a gated entrance, is still used as a coal yard by the (original) local coal merchant: Though for how much longer?

I have glued a small piece of stripwood, vertically to the end of the branch bay line: It is meant to represent the vertical brick column in the corner between the bay and the station building: It needs to be clad with embossed brick and attached to a wing wall - please ignore the lump of blue tac! I have glued another piece horizontally to the trackbed to represent the concrete at the end of the building: I need to form some stone blocks to go on top. I shaped the cut-out sections using the brick wall to determine the correct position. However, this is off centre and doesn't line up with with the centre line of the track:

The signal box please.

Certainly did. Plus a walk to Thunder Creek Falls:

Those sound very useful. I would be very interested to see them please, if it's not too much trouble.

Looks interesting. Unfortunately we didn't get that far along the lake.

Just to confuse everything - I've just taken this taken this screenshot from a Youtube video of the last day in 1959:

Whoops! In my defence, I went on the glacier walk the following day: To the permitted limit of the trail: These were the viewing conditions:

Thanks very much for posting these Mike. Despite your views on their quality, that's the best and most useful photo, I have seen, of the Down Main building in its original condition. It clearly shews the section that's now removed. I guess that the small black object, about half way up the side of the right hand van, in the other photo, must be the lamp attached to the end of the fence? To me that definitely indicates that the stop block was nearer the building then. I don't suppose you have any more Cholsey photos?

Nice work Chris!

After Franz Josef our next destination was Queenstown, for four nights. This is a popular resort town on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. There never was a railway here but there is a strong railway connection - TSS Earnslaw is based here: A triple expansion, twin-screwed steam ship, used by NZ Railways, to connect Queenstown with the railway terminus at Kingston at the south end of the lake (approximately 46 kilometres by road):

Despite the bad weather, in Franz Josef, we had the opportunity to meet a couple of real Kiwis (the feathered variety), at the wildlife centre: No photos since they were in a nocturnal habitat enclosure. This one at the Haast Visitor Centre wasn't quite so lively: