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Buckjumper

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  2. Buckjumper
    Twelve examples of the Great Western’s 13 ton AA7 brake vans were built between 1897 and 1898 to Lot 206 for working the company’s trains from Acton over the Metropolitan and (for a short stretch between Farringdon Street and Aldersgate Street) the Widened Lines to Smithfield – they were numbered in the series 56985-96. Essentially they were a short version of the AA3 vans with a 9ft wheelbase, measuring 16ft over headstocks with a proportionally smaller verandah than the larger vans.
     

     
    It has been suggested by various authors that the AA7s must have been the among the first fitted brake vans on the GW because of the Smithfield meat trains, which included fitted Micas, but in reality, the perceived volume of meat traffic to Smithfield has been blown out of all proportion, and careful study of the relevant WTTs show that in fact the meat trains made up only a very small percentage of the traffic over the route as Smithfield was also the main general merchandise goods depot for central London and the City. To put things in perspective; in 1912, out of sixteen daily goods trains only four were scheduled for meat traffic, and of these, three were mixed trains of meat and general merchandise. Quite surprisingly, only one single trip each day was solely reserved for the conveyance of meat. It’s worth remembering that Mica’s were vacuum braked to convey chilled and frozen meat between Birkenhead and London at passenger-rated speeds, and it would have been the brake vans on those trains which were first vacuum fitted. It wasn’t until later, maybe much later (post-Grouping?) that vacuum braked stock was required on the Smithfiled trips.
     
    The model is from Big Jim’s wonderful Connoisseur range, and the only major deviation I made was the addition of WEP compensation units rather than a solid chassis. GW paint from Precision, weathering from Humbrol and transfers from the HMRS. Glazing is 0.13mm glass, instanter couplings from CPL and sprung buffers from Slater’s.
     
    This example was built to commission, and is in 0 Finescale, but I have a pair to build for Basilica Fields where meat traffic not only shuttles between Acton and Smithfield, but east from Smithfield to St. Katherine Dock via Basilica Fields on the (Middle) Circle Extension.
     

     
    No photoshoppery…well, just a little to get rid of a couple of specks of dust, but the colours and lighting is au natural care of the fat old sun.
  3. Buckjumper
    Some 1600 ten ton open merchandise wagons to Diagram 03 were built by the Great Western Railway in four batches during the years 1904-5 and 1912. These wagons were a development of the Diagram 04 introduced three years earlier and incorporated a 4⅛†wider top plank bringing the internal height to 3’3″ which remained the basic standard for GW 10 & 12/13T opens in all future builds. At the same time the width was made wider by 6″ bringing the inside and outside dimensions to 7’7″ and 8′ respectively. Many, perhaps most, of the 03s were fitted with the Williams patent sheet supporter to aid the wagons sheets protect the merchandise when in transit.
     

     
    I recently completed a commission for an 03, built from a WEP kit and this was given a light weathering as if recently built. The running number suggests that it is one of the final batch, and as the wagon will fit into a c1912 scenario, I think the degree of weathering is appropriate.
     

  4. Buckjumper
    Mad houses, poor houses, work houses, whore houses, slums, hospitals, feculent rivers, churches and cemeteries have all succumbed to the steady onslaught of the coming of the railways to East London from the late 1830s to the present day. As the Eastern Counties Railways and its successor the Great Eastern Railway marched inexorably onwards towards the City, they cut a huge gash through the densely populated streets where pickpockets, housebreakers and prostitutes live in great numbers alongside destitute street sellers and home-based artisans in Sweater’s Hell, each struggling to survive through every waking minute of every day on meagre pay and little food of the poorest quality. Rookeries abound; compacted courtyards and wretched streets of ancient, rotting housing stock are linked by a network of dilapidated low-roofed subterranean corridors and passageways vastly overcrowded by second and third generation Londoners and more recent migrants. Newer housing invariably contravenes building regulations and are almost always without foundations, often with windowless cellars or wooden flooring laid directly onto bare earth where entire extended families live in a single low-roofed room sharing one damp bed. Exteriors of cheap timber and ash-adulterated clay brick are held together with billysweet (a by-product of soap making from local factories) instead of mortar which never dries out, resulting in sagging, unstable walls sometimes faced with blooming plaster upon which badly pitched leaking roofs sit, supported by mouldering rafters. Damp and mildew seeps through the very fabric of the buildings, disease and sickness abounds. Mortality is high and never more so than during times of contagion, the death toll is often twice that of other poor areas outside of the Rookeries.
     
    Fifty years ago viaducts constructed from millions of handmade bricks rose up and bisected foetid communities; the resultant archways were quickly leased out as housing, workshops, warehouses and even public houses. Goods depots, factories and granaries, each several stories high, have erupted from cleared slums and link with the railways at viaduct level. An array of hydraulic hoists delivers wagons of merchandise into the deep Stygian gloom beneath via a viper’s nest of street-level inset tracks, each one dragged, shoved or otherwise coerced by horse, rope, capstan and pinch-bars over of ranks of wagon turntables into small dark unloading bays. Every two hours dozens of fresh wagons of steam and domestic coals are lined up on rows of tracks with hatches astride and between, their contents hurled into the depths below to be weighed and bagged. Six hundred and twenty five thousand souls live within a few furlongs of the railway, between them burning some 937,000 tons annually; every day ten 300-ton trains of coal from Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire are brought into the capital via the GN&GE Joint Line satiating their household needs.
     
    As time passes, new depots arise and older sidings are ripped up, altered or allotted a new use. Here in the Angel Rookery, the old ECR Burial Street goods depot of 1840, built on the site of a disused cemetery, was largely swept away by the Great Eastern during widening of the viaduct and quadrupling of the line in 1891. The remaining few sidings at street level on the north side have been converted into a small locomotive servicing yard for engines shunting the nearby warehouses. The yard is accessed by way of a severe gradient from the main line, local crews bestowing upon it the grand epithet The Pipe to Hell. Some ancient squalid housing remains in Burial Street, a dirty, amputated stump of a road, no more than a shadow of its former self, their small rooms seething with damp, disease, death and worse…
     
    Less than a decade ago the streets of the Angel Rookery were within the stalking grounds of Jack the Ripper. Some residents worry that one day he will return, and in quiet, unguarded moments, one can see uncertainty mixed with the suspicion of strangers in their eyes, sometimes a flicker of fear traces across their careworn features. Fables abound, mostly generational folklore handed down from the Irish, Jewish, Romany and Huguenot migrants to frighten the children at bedtime, but adults confide to me that at least the relatives of Jack’s victims had remains to bury, whereas the victims of other psychotic murderers or phantasms have no such remains to mourn over. From various sources I have collected the names of dozens of local souls who have vanished in recent years, and at first I greeted such tales with no small degree of scepticism – stories of children and adults, sometimes one walking alone, sometimes one in a group, simply disappearing into thin air, never to be seen again. One of the strangest and most recent of these events concerned an old man, a lunatic in his seventh decade who turned up on the doorstep of a house in Burial Street and claimed he was the child of the occupant and his wife in their thirties whose eldest son, a boy of seven, had disappeared last year. The old man’s disclosure obviously upset the couple, they angrily refuted his claims which grew louder and more passionate until chased away by a clearly unnerved crowd of locals who had gathered around. Later that evening the old man stole onto railway property and threw himself into the path of an oncoming train. One might easily consider such stories to be fuelled by alcohol, or inventions woven to cover infanticide, fratricide, or even an accidental death as five sixths of all infant deaths in these Rookeries are by suffocation from overlaying due to overcrowding in family-shared beds. However, so consistent are the stories, and so earnestly are they told, that even a man grounded in scientific principles might begin to wonder if something dark and sinister is indeed abroad.
     
    Standing sentinel over the junction of Burial Street and Angel Lane is a lone remnant of the old cemetery rudely crushed beneath industrial progress. Myths surrounding it are legion; older children put the fear of God into their younger siblings who tremble at the stories, giving wide berth to the statue they are told moves and drags you silently into the ground to consume you alive. I am quietly amused yet nevertheless interested by these pagan fables, but sometimes a little less of the statue’s mournful face appears to be covered by raised hands. It is, of course, a trick of light and shadow created by the flickering of a spluttering gas lamp or from patterns swirling in the dense, greasy yellow-green fog of another pea-souper settling over the dismal East End. In the blink of an eye one can see that of course no such movement has taken place, but if the mind of a methodical scientist can be tricked, how much more so these poor, ignorant, uneducated souls?
     
    Tonight I heard the tanks of a locomotive being filled with water and the clanging of mineral upon metal plate as the bunker was filled from wicker baskets of coal stored on the timber staging. I stood by the wall adjoining the public house near the sub-surface lines and saw a small black engine standing in a siding. One of the crewmen exited the grounded carriage, trudging towards it through the accumulated slush and climbed into the cab. Words were exchanged, conversation drowned out by a short blast on the steam whistle and followed by a staccato bark from the chimney. The exhaust gave way to near silence, just the quiet clanking of rods and the thud of wheels passing over rail joints echoing down Burial Street, before disappearing under the iron bridge leading to the rest of the world. In the distance and high above, the muted, heavy labouring of a heavy mineral train punctuated the air, brakes squealing in protest as it slowed towards the coal depot located a quarter of a mile away. In the brick-lined cutting below, an aspirating train filled with passengers burst from the gloom of a long tunnel, a cloud of sulphurous exhaust roaring into the moonlit sky caught me unaware, causing my heart to suddenly race. I looked at my pocket watch; the hour was late, and before returning to the warmth of civilisation and society there was a long walk across London ahead of me. Laughter and song spilled out from the Weeping Angel public house, light from the front window bathing the flagstones in a soft yellow glow. I stood and watched through the etched glass before crossing the muddy street towards the sorrowful angel, and for the first time in all my visits here, as I glanced up, the gas lamps in the street flickered and for a moment I thought saw the horror of blank eyes staring back.
     
    Extract from the Journal of Doctor J. Smith, army surgeon (retired), entry dated 12th December 1901. Less than two months later the doctor himself disappeared, the last entry in his journal indicating that he believed he had solved the mystery of the vanishing residents of the Rookery.
     

  5. Buckjumper

    Tar Tank Wagon

    By Buckjumper,

    Over the weekend I was hunting down some photos on my computer and found a few of the tar tub tank wagon that I decorated about 18 months or so ago, but which haven't been posted on here. If memory recalls correctly, this was one of the last models I completed before having to drop model making for a while. The model was built by Graham and Peter Beare and briefly described by Graham in a thread at the time, and I gave a rather full description of my process of decorating it with a couple of photos posted alongside to illustrate. Having found the other photos I thought it would be of interest to post the whole set here for completeness, and as a lead-in for a future tar tank article that will appear on Basilica Fields which Graham has kindly offered to build. Don't hold your breath for the next tub though as Graham is very busy working though vast swathes of of track construction at the moment, but in the future I will be referencing back to this post. In a nutshell the wagon is a Slater's kit married to Exactoscale sprung axleboxes units and has replacement brake gear from both Ambis and Exactoscale plus a lot of extra detail. Graham is making a detailed photo-journal of the construction of the next tank as he builds it, showing all the areas he modifies. It will be a terrific read and should raise the bar of modelled tar-tubbery! In the meantime, here is a précis of the weathering process.
     

     
    The top coat is Precision enamel Red Oxide airbrushed over Games Workshop white acrylic primer which is perfect for translucent colours such as reds and blues as the primer adds depth to the finish which is emphasised when T-Cut is applied.
     
    Rather than go for a perfectly smooth finish which is the usual goal of painters, I increased the air-to-paint ratio and sprayed from an extra couple of inches away causing the paint to land in a semi-dry state and giving the finish a slightly gritty texture. After a couple of days I knocked this back with some 2000 grit wet & dry, working in between the rows of rivets on the tank sides and ends, but I wasn't too fastidious about it. I then applied T-cut using a cotton bud, polishing these areas to a shine. The remaining gritty texture around the rivets helps facilitate the appearance of erupting rust, but the sides need to represent sheet metal, and an underlying sheen with plenty of depth helps to trick the brain into thinking it's looking at just that, not injection moulded plastic. This surface also helps to bed transfers in, so it's a two-birds-with-one-stone process. Later on the shine can be knocked back by weathering - not matt varnish which is a sure-fire way of obliterating all of the nuances I've worked hard at creating. The tank top was left alone with the rough texture in place.
     
    The transfers supplied are for No.9 in the fleet, which is a slightly longer wagon than No.2 (Graham wanted a red tank, not a black one, hence the change), so I had an interesting morning chopping the numbers and letters up and re-spacing them until they matched the photograph. All the ironwork was then brush painted with Humbrol satin black.
     

     
     
    The model was then weathered with my base palette - a 70/30 mix of Humbrol 33 and 133 with the tiniest drop of 62 for brake dust accumulation on underframes and ends. This is applied very thinly with the merest of hazes wafted gently on and the patina slowly built up. Subtlety is the key to all weathering, even for those dirty great filthy WDs clanking around the country in the 60s; build up the weathering textures and colours slowly, just like the real thing. The tank sides and ends received a gentle dust of muck which was wiped away in a vertical motion with a moistened cotton bud, the grime remaining trapped in the textured patches around the rivets accentuating the texture of erupting rust, gunk and spillages. The tank top was given a waft of the sooty mixture and left alone.
     

     
    Graham didn't want too much tar spillage represented as he supposed that in the Edwardian period there might have been a little more care taken over getting the stuff into the tank compared to the laissez-faire state attitude apparent in later periods. The limited spillage was represented by a Metalcote gunmetal and grey 64 mix drybrushed on. The tank top was then scrubbed with a stiff brush to simulate scuffing and rubbing from boots, sleeves, hands and trouser knees from the men who scrambled all over it to fill 'er up. I used the same mix to simulate spills and seepage from the oil axleboxes.
     
    At this stage the amount of grime looks fine, and I see so many models weathered to this stage, but to my eye it's all a little flat, so time for some sleight of hand.
     

     
    I mixed 33, 62 and 64 in a ratio of about 4-1-1 and with a flat bush, and almost all of the mix wiped off, I brushed in an upward direction across all the rivets, along every edge on the tank, the frames, the ironwork, the running gear to give the impression of shadows. This takes some time and requires a lot of patience. I then mixed the same colours in a 4-1-1 mix in favour of the light grey, drybrushing all the same areas but in a downward motion which simulates light bouncing off these raised areas. it has to be done with extreme subtly or you get a caricature seen so often in some areas of military and fantasy painting - it sometimes works in those arenas, but not in ours. If you bodge it up, simply wipe away with thinners or knock it back with a mist of the general weathering mix. The highlights and shadows lift the murky running gear, the grittier areas and especially the tank rivets and the ownership plate which was one I had etched specially for the wagon.
     

     
    To finish it all off I added oily water runs on the tyre faces where the tank had been standing, and pushed tiny grains of rust weathering powders into the springs and axle guards. That's about it, except for the frippery, so here's an early colour photograph...
     

     
    ...and how we're used to seeing them in the old orthochromatic emulsions. Well, sort of...
     

  6. Buckjumper
    One of the wagons in the works is a lovely Highland Railway open fish truck from Lochgorm. It's one of those wagons you could find an excuse to build a layout around due to the volume of character it exudes, no doubt exacerbated by the sultry curves on the ends. Once I finally get my camera lens sorted I'll put a photo up, in the meantime for those of you completely in the dark, Pete Armstrong has built one for his Highland project (one of my favourite external blogs that). Anyway, I digress...
     
    An email dropped into my inbox over the weekend from my client; "...oh I think there was a folded HR tarp to go in the fish truck..."
     
    Now, it's not that I'd forgotten about the wagon sheet, it's just that I'd not been able to find out any information on the dratted things. Great Eastern, Great Northern, North Western, Midland, even Cambrian and Taff Vale I know about, but Highland...
     
    I wasn't even sure if the fish trucks were sheeted - in fact, I don't think anybody is. According to Andy Copp at Lochgorm and the HR Soc. it's not known for certain how they were loaded; were the fish in boxes or barrels? Were they sheeted or covered with turf or both? Blimey, they're not even 100% certain the colour the wagons were painted, and the running numbers don't really correlate with the build dates, and...
     
    The email continued, "...I am attaching a scan of the pattern I got sent by a Highland expert. I assume white lettering on black tarps. Hopefully it is of some use...." A crack in the lowering clouds at last, and indeed looking at another post by Pete I'm pretty certain the info came from the same place!
     
    On the computer I set up a typical wagon sheet-sized rectangle - yeah I know there was no definitive sheet size, but for my sins I used a Great Western one as a template, so slap me with a kipper...OK, don't do that really...I then set the sheet colour to a charcoal grey rather than black over which I will later weather, the charcoal giving a faded rather than as-new look for me to work with.
     
    I then started to push the lettering and numbers into place. When I was happy with the relative positions I fired one out of the printer on some standard 80gsm paper and bingo, it looked good. Tomorrow I'm going to get some professionally printed on some much thinner paper For this sheet I've not marked the five overlapping strips which go to make up one sheet, but I will score them in before folding it up inside the wagon.
     

     
    On the subject of folding sheets, this was done fairly soon after unloading, and there was a special way of folding them down to a very small stacking size to minimise the possibility of pin holes forming and rendering the sheet useless. Unfortunately once folded there's little so show the provenance of the sheet, so for this model we've decided to have it loosely folded in the wagon as if unloading has just taken place so at least some of the lettering and numbering remains visible. It will also give an excuse to model a couple of broken fish boxes and general detritus.
  7. Buckjumper
    This is a brand new blog and supersedes the old one which has now been deleted. Due to circumstances preventing me from modelling for much of the last couple of years, it was stillborn and essentially morribund. Much of the material had been transferred over from my workbench on the old site, so was hardly new content anyway, and any outstanding models will be documented on a new workbench thread which I'll link to as soon as I've set it up.
     
    For further reading I have another blog on here which details the research and building of an extensive (and intensive) ScaleSeven layout called Basilica Fields which set in East London c1890-1907 with trains of the GER, GNR, GWR, MetR, MDR, Midland, LBSCR, LCDR, SER and LNWR all vying for traffic. Posts to that blog are now fed in from my externally hosted journal.
     
    To see a selection of previous commissions please visit my website.
     
    I have retained the West Mersea RMWeblog, though it is long out of date as I've not attended for a long time, so when I do finally get back, there should be some big changes to report.
     
    Edited to update links.
  8. Buckjumper
    The West Mersea Branch - 1946 Essex in ScaleSeven
     
    by buckjumper
     
    original page on Old RMweb
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:59 pm
     
    Good to see I've drawn you out of the woodwork. I'd missed your earlier post until now - thanks to the link to your site, I'll keep an eye on it.
     


    Dave R wrote:
    Not sure if we could get away with one partly buried in the embankment allotments as the kit is only 1:48 scale; and the 830kg Amolite warhead caused a 600yd diameter blast zone in Lewisham which would wipe out most of the West Mersea station area!
    Perhaps we should exact that kind of damage on West Mersea - the track could then be relaid after running the plan through Templot....
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Pint of Adnams on Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:30 pm
     


    OgaugeJB wrote:
    Is Pint of Adnams on the regulars list yet ?
     
    JB.
    Hi Jonathan,
     
    As you can see the internet broadband pipe is now up and (mainly) running, and I'm getting back into the swing of things. I hope to make the November monthly meeting, all things being equal.
     
    BTW On reading your thread, I'm dismayed to note that you haven't built another 10 kits though - one for each week I've been in limbo .
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:34 pm
     
    Sorry to have let you down there pint, but I've had to do some real work for a bit.
     
    I'm trying to progress as far as possible with the K2 before the next meeting. It's going to start getting tricky soon!
     
    JB.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Dave R on Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:53 pm
     


    buckjumper wrote:
    Dave R wrote:
    Not sure if we could get away with one partly buried in the embankment allotments as the kit is only 1:48 scale (not quite ScaleSeven); and the 830kg Amolite warhead caused a 600yd diameter blast zone in Lewisham which would wipe out most of the West Mersea station area!

    Perhaps we should exact that kind of damage on West Mersea - the track could then be relaid after running the plan through Templot.... But I've just spent 6 weeks drawing what's already there in preparation for the point rodding design...
     
    From my survey last September it was drawn in Templot; redrawn after October's meeting and seeing some of your photos above. The idea was to get the stretcher bar positions and enough track to indicate where the rodding runs could go; not to get a proper plan of the layout. Apart from the turnouts leading to the end loading docks on the West side I'm now fairly happy with the arrangement although there will be a few more measurements needed in November. Then a lever-numbering scheme had to be devised; this drawing was finished late last Sunday evening. Now all that's needed is to export the Templot plan into AutoCad and get the rodding runs positioned with equal push and pull; and then count up the bits required to give us a shopping list.
     
    My 3-lever ground frame on Lumpy Sidings took me 2 months to "rod up"; I'll leave it to the reader to calculate how long the 60 lever frame of West Mersea will take...
     
    If I can get some time at my PC at home tonight I'll get the files printed to a PDF and try to get it published here; but don't hold your collective breaths, SWMBO has got me lined up for a decorating project scheduled for completion before Xmas

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by martin_wynne on Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:09 pm
     


    Dave R wrote:
    Now all that's needed is to export the Templot plan into AutoCad and get the rodding runs positioned with equal push and pull
    Hi Dave,
     
    You could do the rodding directly in Templot using dummy "centre-line only" templates (geometry > track centre-lines only). This makes it much easier to create the rodding runs parallel to the tracks, especially if they are gently curved. You can still export to CAD to add the compensator and crank detail.
     
    regards,
     
    Martin.

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Dave R on Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:01 pm
     

    martin_wynne wrote: Dave R wrote:
    Now all that's needed is to export the Templot plan into AutoCad and get the rodding runs positioned with equal push and pull
    You could do the rodding directly in Templot using dummy "centre-line only" templates (geometry > track centre-lines only). This makes it much easier to create the rodding runs parallel to the tracks, especially if they are gently curved. You can still export to CAD to add the compensator and crank detail. And I might be tempted to go that way if Templot's dxf export exported curves as curves rather than thousands of very short straights.
     
    Now, if I've got this forum thingy sussed, there should be a PDF file attached:
     
    West Mersea Signal Diagram pdf
     
    Page 1 assumes that only passenger lines had facing point locks and that the GER were fairly mean with their ground signals (I am assuming that you've read the previous 100+ posts and have studied Ade's photos meticulously so that you know where everything is or, more to the point, isn't because it hasn't been built yet!).
     
    Page 2 is a tabular description of of page 1 and will be expanded with the "shopping list" as the rodding design progresses.
     
    Page 3 is my survey (blue diamonds with a central cross show measured positions of stretcher bars) overlaid with a Templot approximation of the track -- it's an approximation because for this task that's all that was needed. Note that the numbering on this page is still v3 whereas the previous 2 are v4 so you'll have to use the {curly numbers} to cross-refer.
     
    Any queries I'll try and answer at lunchtimes from work; I've now got the hall, stairs and landing to rub down and paint before the new carpet is delivered...
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:31 pm
     
    The plan looks so much simpler when it is on paper compared to seeing it in the flesh as it were..
     
    Good work there Dave, that's one heel of a job you were delegated
     
    JB.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Dave R on Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:08 pm
     

    OgaugeJB wrote:
    The plan looks so much simpler when it is on paper compared to seeing it in the flesh as it were.  
    It all depends on your point of view (literally). Next time you're there duck-under to the far side of the layout and climb up onto the "plank and milk crate" working platform. The layout appears to be totally different from the increased height; the sort of view that a V1 might have had as it plummeted into the embankment?
     

    OgaugeJB wrote:
    Good work there Dave, that's one heel of a job you were delegated  
    Peter doesn't delegate jobs; he volunteers people. So far (and I've only attended 6 meetings) I've been volunteered for (1) wagon building (he eventually wants 1500 of them to populate the full project; but only 150 in the short term); (2) point rodding design; and (3) producing casting patterns for crossing nose A chairs. I must learn how to say "no" to him; how do the rest of you manage?
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:12 pm
     
    I hide behind the sandwiches and cups of tea...
     
    Oh and pretend to be making loco kits too
     
    JB.
    _______________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:40 pm



    Dave R wrote:
    I must learn how to say "no" to him; how do the rest of you manage?
     
    Oh I waffle on about some obscure but mildly interesting nugget of information pertaining to GER practice then turn turn the conversation around to "Chuffs" which sends Pete off on one of his funny stories about Iain Rice when he worked in Pete's shop as a yoof.
     
    Thanks for the pdfs - very interesting.
     
    _____________________________________

    Comment posted by Dave R on Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:09 pm
     


    buckjumper wrote:
     
    Dave R wrote:
    I must learn how to say "no" to him; how do the rest of you manage?
     

    Oh I waffle on about some obscure but mildly interesting nugget of information pertaining to GER practice..
    But I don't even need to be in Sudbury to get volunteered! A letter was attached to the last newsletter asking if I could Templot
     
    WM goods yard, loco shed, carriage sidings, junction, East Mersea, and all the intermediate stations along the branch up to and including Marks Tey.
     
    So please waffle away on the intricacies and history of GER track design as I don't actually have much clue as to what they did.
    For example:
    - Did the GER use CCL and CCR chairs on their check rails? Photos seem to show a short sharp curve at the check rail ends which might have been achieved between adjacent chairs; but does anybody have some clear evidence one way or the other?
    - When did interlaced turnouts get phased out? Do we need to include a few somewhere in the project?
    - Likewise wider timbers at rail joints and larger joint chairs?
    - Rail lengths? Sleeper spacings?
    - Rail weights? Does Peter need to get some 85 lb/yd rail drawn, and plastic mouldings for 85lb chairs (probably worn 85 lb/yd rail for the sidings etc, or even lighter rail depending on the history of the line).
    - One Templot .box file for the whole project (9?? miles to Marks Tey; that's over 350 metres of model) or one file per station? Peter will, of course, want it overlaid on an aerial photograph which has been distorted onto a 3D contour map like what Time Team do...
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:28 pm
     


    Dave R wrote:
    But I don't even need to be in Sudbury to get volunteered! A letter was attached to the last newsletter asking if I could Templot WM goods yard, loco shed, carriage sidings, junction, East Mersea, and all the intermediate stations along the branch up to and including Marks Tey.

     


    So please waffle away on the intricacies and history of GER track design as I don't actually have much clue as to what they did.
    For example:
    - Did the GER use CCL and CCR chairs on their check rails? Photos seem to show a short sharp curve at the check rail ends which might have been achieved between adjacent chairs; but does anybody have some clear evidence one way or the other?
    Dunno; I shall enquire.
     


    - When did interlaced turnouts get phased out? Do we need to include a few somewhere in the project?
    I don't know if the GE used them post-War, if so it would have been the LNER which phased them out during the 20s. I don't remember having seen any, even in remote Company sidings post-1930s.
     
    However, I wonder if, for example, the gasworks had paid the GE to relay it's private sidings in the early 1900s, interlaced turnouts could remain in situ in that location. I'll dig a little to see if the GE was up for that sort of thing.
     


    Likewise wider timbers at rail joints and larger joint chairs?
    Yes, 12" instead of 10" timbers and special joint chairs were employed.
     
    These next questions have lots of answers, period and place dependent. Branch lines appear to have received second-hand rail, chairs and sleepers, taken from the main lines in the District.
     


    Rail lengths?
    In 1946 you would find only 45' and 60' sections on the running lines - the rail would be up in the 90lbs series. 90, 93 and 95lbs according to records of rail recovered from branch lines.
     


    Sleeper spacings?
    I've only got the GER 30' panel sleeper spacings which you can use in some of the less frequented sidings such as those in green in your pdf above, or possibly the carriage/cattle/end dock sidings:
     
    13", 22", 26", 29", 6x30", 29", 26", 22", 13"
     
    Peter ought to have the info for the LNER 45' and 60' panels.
     


    Rail weights? Does Peter need to get some 85 lb/yd rail drawn, and plastic mouldings for 85lb chairs (probably worn 85 lb/yd rail for the sidings etc, or even lighter rail depending on the history of the line)
    Just for context, the Buntingford branch (not in any way comparable to WM) was found to have examples of 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 89, 90, 92 and 93lb rail at close of play in 1965. I know it had also been laid with 30' 87lb rail sections at the turn of the century. It may have missed out on hand-me-downGE mainline 95lb rail due to the War, but some 95lb was laid in 1939. BTW the 89, 92 and 93lbs rail above was BS laid post-1950, so out of period.
     
    I've got a GE 2-bolt chair from 1879 here that keeps my workshop door open in summer. IIRC that's for 85lb rail...
     


    One Templot .box file for the whole project (9??????‚?? miles to Marks Tey; that's over 350 metres of model) or one file per station? Peter will, of course, want it overlaid on an aerial photograph which has been distorted onto a 3D contour map like what Time Team do...
    ...and printed off and pasted on the hoardings across the road in time for the christmas party
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by glo41f on Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:51 pm
     
    Hi Adrian
     
    I live not a million miles from Sudbury, though not a S7 type we do have some in our local O scal group. I am about to embark on my own large (ish) 7mm line and have taken great interest in what you are doing with Peter. I have a small layout called West Mersea too which is postulated on an extension from Colchester Hythe (renamed Barrack Street) via Hythe Quay, Rowhedge, Abberton over the Strood on a junction split to East and West Mersea. We have an Act of Parliament too! The layouts were seen at Guildex some years ago.
     
    I would love the chance to see progress so far. Would this be possible please?
     
    Regards
     
    Martin Long
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Dave R on Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:00 pm
     

    buckjumper wrote: Dave R wrote:
    One Templot .box file for the whole project (9?? miles to Marks Tey; that's over 350 metres of model) or one file per station? Peter will, of course, want it overlaid on an aerial photograph which has been distorted onto a 3D contour map like what Time Team do...
    ...and printed off and pasted on the hoardings across the road in time for the christmas party But not this year as I'm still on decorating duties until the carpet gets installed on 6th December which only leaves me a week or so thereafter during which I'm planning to sort out a rodding run or two. The weekend after next's meeting will have to do with prints of the PDFs which were attached above.
     
    As for the track; the required approach seems to be to write a history for each and every siding, turnout, length of rail, fishplate bolt etc (but only up until 1946, so it shouldn't be too onerous a task for you Ade ) so that the correct info can be entered into the Templot file for subsequent manufacture by John and Colin.
     
    I have investigated the "Time Team" virtual model idea previously. But as the highest points on Mersea Island are only 21m above sea level there aren't very many 10m contour lines available to describe the 3D shape. Even adding in the spot heights marked on the OS map doesn't help much. Anybody know a surveyor with a GPS system who fancies spending an afternoon walking around West Mersea for us?
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:33 pm
     
    Hi Martin
     


    glo41f wrote:
    I would love the chance to see progress so far. Would this be possible please?
    Peter would be delighted to see you. Shall contact you off forum.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:41 pm
     


    Dave R wrote:
    As for the track; the required approach seems to be to write a history for each and every siding, turnout, length of rail, fishplate bolt etc (but only up until 1946, so it shouldn't be too onerous a task for you Ade )
     
    Arf, arf! That's the Christmas Party taken up then.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:15 am
     
    A few videos were taken from today's meeting of Peter's J69, Colin's J68, and my newly built K2.
     
    A very enjoyable day had by all I think, except I think I ate far too many sausages..
     
    http://uk.youtube.co...stMerseaRailway
     
    Regards,
    JB.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:54 pm
     
    Sausages - ah - I missed those. Had half a cup of coffee and a scone though
     
    The K2/2 performed beautifully - I think everyone was quite rightly impressed
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:01 pm
     
    Cheers Adrian...!
     
    You never know, I might have 3 painted engines by next month... what are the chances eh ??
     
    JB.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:34 pm
     
    Hello all, just thought I would update this thread a little as it hasn't had any postings for a while..
     
    I popped down to WMHQ for one of the mid-month wednesday meets yesterday which turned out to be quite a good day. One of the other members was there doing a little work on the Pway, and my engines were used to check running through some of the turnouts, and the single slip which has apparently caused a few tears in the past, but now seems to be working pretty much perfectly... which is nice..
     
    Whilst I was there Peter Hunt mentioned his woes of lacking a brake van for the goods workings, so I bought the slaters 20T LNER brake van kit, which seems to be very high quality with plenty of very nice cast handrails and footboard brackets. I also got the Slaters sprung 'W' irons, and the S7 wheels to suit. I could pop up a few pictures of the build if you would like...?
     
    Just a few shots of the engines...
     

     

     

     
    and a few videos....
     

     

    (note the working reversing gear, and the westo pump errrrr, pumping, on Peter's J67 in the background) 

    (this video didn't work as planned unfortunately..) 
    Regards,
     
    JB.
    __________________________________________
  9. Buckjumper
    The West Mersea Branch - 1946 Essex in ScaleSeven
     
    by buckjumper
     
    original page on Old RMweb
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:28 am
     
    Sorry, another point I missed - those aren't beach huts but businesses which thrive off the railway - cobblers, estate agent, coal merchants etc.
     
    IIRC (and I could be wrong!) I believe they are replicas of businesses located in sheds which were once by the side of the railway somewhere like Gospel Oak or Gordon's Hill (though don't quote me) near to where Peter lived as a child. He showed me a photo of them many months ago and they looked so odd they just had to be included.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:32 am
     


    nevardmedia wrote:
    Not sure many would get away with taking over the whole living room like you appear to have - good man if so!!
    I certainly wouldn't get away with it either!
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by nobby on Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:54 am
     


    buckjumper wrote:
     
    Just to clear up a small point - there is a Mersea Avenue on the island - but in a wobbly moment it's not the one I said.
    Sorry Adrian, my mistake, i should have known i have walked down it enough times...! I suppose I was thinking that the line was terminating near the esplanade side of town.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Bar Side on Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:13 pm
     
    I must adit I had always imagined the station to be roughly where the car park is behind Victoria Esplanade, running out through the Seaview caravan park. This would then head round East Mersea & out alongside the Strood.
     
    I suppose the west side route didn't occur as the line would have to cross Colchester Road or the Strood at some point to head up by the Colne.
     
    I would love to read Peter's history of the line!
     
    Got to be my favourite thread on the layout section.
     
    Ivan
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:38 pm
     
    The December meeting was brought forward due to the Christmas period, and WMHQ was heaving with bodies yesterday, all stuffing down vast quantities of turkey, chocolates, pork pies, mince pies, mulled and ginger wine. As you can imagine, no work was done so this month's snaps are limited, but I did catch Colin Dowling's 4MT. Last month I mentioned it was a two cylinder example, but Colin turned the loco upside down and showed me the third inside cylinder, inside motion and crank axle which he's scratchbuilt. This really is a superb model - Colin's even hinged the doors, the windows all slide as they should, and most impressive is that the gear can be put into forward, mid or reverse gear. Colin's intending to make the reverser in the cab turn to select the gear position, and we discussed the viability of putting a second motor in so this feature could be controlled by DCC.

     
    Colin's B12 at the end of the line.

     
    Ignoring the illuminated Santas bedecked across the front of the baseboards (and one discarded festive hat on the bank) one new addition is the mock up of the signal box down the far end.

     
    Mocked up by Peter using official drawings, this is based on the one at Kelvedon (though some 18" taller). The GER type 7 boxes were built between 1885 and 1920 by several manufacturers, and over 90% were of timber construction.
     

     
    The Box has eight window bays and will eventually house more than 60 levers.

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Pint of Adnams on Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:24 pm
     
    Must be time for another visit when I'm next down that way
     
    The SB might benefit from a set of windows in the back wall, to view the 2 roads behind it
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:55 pm
     


    Pint of Adnams wrote:
    Must be time for another visit when I'm next down that way
    I should think so!
     


    The SB might benefit from a set of windows in the back wall, to view the 2 roads behind it:?:
    I did think about this. IIRC Buntingford had a tiny single pane window at the rear so the loco stabling point could be seen. However Hertford East station box had a siding running behind with no rear window. Presumably the signalman could see all he needed to out of the end windows.
     
    I did mention that a ducket in the far right front window (similar to Buntingford) might be needed to sight around the water tower and through the bridge.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:29 pm
     
    So busy I forgot to post January's developments.
     
    The loco sidings now have the mock-up buildings in place. Here are the platelayers and enginemen's mess, coalmen's bothy, toilets (with the lantern roof) and a walloping GER timber bufferstop to stop runaways demolishing the nearest shed. All wooden buildings here are based on those at Woolwich Pier.
     

     

     
    View from the loading dock across the loco and cattle sidings. The mock-up cluster of buildings have really put the GER stamp on area. The coal stage is based on the one at Buntingford and water tower from Framlingham, and the Type 7 signal box now has stairs(!).
     

     
    The mock-up station buildings are complete - now with GPO staff room and toilets (with glasshouse ventilator) from Loughton. The Engineman's Arms watering hole is on the right.
     

     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Sat Feb 23, 2008 7:51 am
     
    That station is going to look very impressive when it is finished
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:09 am
     
    Wowee...!!
     
    Can I come and visit some time?
     
    Regards,
     
    Jonathan.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:23 pm
     
    Glad you're enjoying it Jonathan. I'll PM you some details soon.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by mines a pint on Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:02 am
     
    Truly Impressive. (nomination for understatement of the year?)
    I'd deliberately not viewed this thread as I've had the notion to try out 7mm for some time, and I knew viewing this would push me over the edge!
     
    The size and enormity of the layout and the standards being achieved - I'd like to pick out a favourite bit but I can't cause it looks so good in every aspect, track, buildings, stock etc etc
     
    It and your posts in my 'should I go 7mm' - given the amount of effort that needs to go into even simple 7mm project, you might as well have the track looking this good- even if you cant manage some of the other aspects as well as these guys!- like buildings and stock?
     
    I hope the house you are building in is adequately insured, looks to be about a million quids worth of locos and coaches kits there , not to mention the 'knocked through' walls!
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 3 link on Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:58 pm
     
    Come on Adrian we need our fix , any chance of some more pic's pretty please . Regards Martyn.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:19 pm
     
    Sorry Martyn, no more pics until later this month - I missed last weekend's meeting because my wife was about to go into labour.
     
    As the tracks have been wired up I'll look into getting a bit of video content uploaded too.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by jazz on Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:36 pm
     
    Blimey Adrian, I did not know about that layout. It's wonderful. Very interesting to see the rapid growth in stock on the layout as the pictures progress.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by dwhite4dcc on Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:37 pm
     


    westrerner wrote:
    Knowing the area reasonably well having sailed the R Blackwater and Mersea Quarters and the R Colne for many years
    SNAP

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 3 link on Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:52 pm
     
    Congratulations on the new arrival Adrian , I have an 11 month old son and this does seem to curtail the modelling to some extent . Regards Martyn.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by PhilM on Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:05 pm
     
    Just found this - it looks fantastic - even the mock ups look suitably Great Eastern. Just a minor point - east anglian coast 1946 - are there going to be a few defences eg pill box, blacker bombard position or tank traps?
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:16 am
     


    jazz wrote:
    Very interesting to see the rapid growth in stock on the layout as the pictures progress
    Most of what's been seen so far is member's own stock which comes in for a run every month, but won't appear on the layout when we put our serious hats on. Not that we've actually got serious hats you understand...
     
    There is a proper stock building program apparently, only locos and stock which would have been found in the locality at this time will feature.
     


    3 link wrote:
    Congratulations on the new arrival Adrian , I have an 11 month old son and this does seem to curtail the modelling to some extent
    Thanks Martyn - I know what you mean! This arrival makes three so I've been used to late night modelling sessions surrounded by baby monitors for a few years. It turns soldering or aralditing into seat-of-your pants modelling, but airbrushing or lining is a no-go zone during these times.
     


    PhilM wrote:
    Just found this - it looks fantastic - even the mock ups look suitably Great Eastern. Just a minor point - east anglian coast 1946 - are there going to be a few defences eg pill box, blacker bombard position or tank traps?
     
    Thanks Phil. Defences are something we've discussed. IIRC there were no pill boxes at this point on the island, but such a railhead would indeed need to be protected. Whether they'll be on the layout or off-scene is something still under discussion - personally I'm up for a pill box or two, and I think there are a couple of obvious placements.
     
    BTW - just received some unreproducible pics (photocopied, sorry) of some more of Peter's building mockups which extend from the pub all the way down the parcels platform - a couple of brick built offices for staff working on the loading docks, two old buildings - one of which is an old weatherboard barn converted into storage warehouses, GER brick stables converted to storage, c1865 offices for the yard foreman and parcels in & out, later stables and cart sheds for the Company delivery vehicles, the pub now has a high brick wall with cart sheds in the yard.
     
    It's stunning, even in the horrible black and white and makes for a spectacular scene. I can't wait to photograph it.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Bernard Lamb on Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:58 am
     


    buckjumper wrote:
    IIRC there were no pill boxes at this point on the island, but such a railhead would indeed need to be protected. Whether they'll be on the layout or off-scene is something still under discussion - personally I'm up for a pill box or two, and I think there are a couple of obvious placements.
     
    Congratulations on the new arrival.
    If you are building a railway that was never there then I would think that you need to consider the infrastructure that wasn't there as well. Tollesbury Pier was guarded by a pill box so it would seem to be a requirement. Bring the date a bit later and model it like the Tollesbury one after it had toppled into the sea. That would baffle 'the experts'.
    Bernard
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:50 pm
     
    Yep - I agree entirely Bernard. Coincidentally I was browsing in the local Waterstone's a few days ago and there's a photo of a toppled pill box on the beach at East Mersea in a book called Essex Moods or somesuch.
     
    Anyway - last week I popped along to Sudbury and spent a couple of hours building the embankment beyond the Mersea Avenue road bridge, but enough of the boring waffle - here are the new card mockups for the buildings clustered on parcels and loading docks and wot a difference they make!
     
    The small group of brick buildings nearest the camera are for staff working the loading docks, the red (signifying pantiled roofs?) weatherboard building and barn beyond have been converted into storage warehouses,
     

     
    One of the storage barns on the left with the brick GER 1865 buildings on the right now in use by the yard foreman.
     

     
    More of the yard foreman's offices.
     

     
    Looking across the main platform and bay - the front of the yard foreman's office with a stables block to the left with cart sheds for horse drawn delivery vehicles.
     

     
    The storage barns from the railway side.
     

     
    I hope someone's got a plan in mind to fix the disparity in platform heights
     

     
    The backside of the delivery cart sheds and stables. the ground here will fall dramatically towards the camera as evidenced by the placement of the two gates.
     

     
    The new mockups make a pleasing scene and effective backdrop from the far side of the layout. Pity the poor shunter who's got to fiddle with three, instanter and ###### link couplings
     

     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by pirouets on Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:08 pm
     
    I have a couple of questions for you.
     
    1. Earlier in the thread it talked about some sections being permanent, and some being exhibitable. Is the station to be exhibitable, or just the next section that you talked about? I was not 100% sure from you 29 Nov posting.
    2. Do you all take jobs away between working parties such as building the mock-ups?
     
    If there is one thing this thread reminds me, is be patient. When it mentioned a section slated in for 2010, It reminded me to finish my own layout rather than worry about the next one.
     
    Thanks for the update.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 3 link on Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:51 pm
     
    Hi Adrian, just a quick question I model in 0 gauge fs and up to now have been using C&L for my sleepers. Where do you buy your plywood sleepers and are they cheap, and I know theres hardly any difference but do they sell them in 0 gauge. Regards Martyn.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:57 pm
     


    pirouets wrote:
    1. Earlier in the thread it talked about some sections being permenant, and some being exhibitable. Is the station to be exhibitable, or just the next section that you talked about? I was not 100% sure from you 29 Nov posting.
    2. Do you all take jobs away between working parties such as building the mock-ups?
     
    If there is one thing this thread reminds me, is be patient. When it mentioned a section slated in for 2010, It reminded me to finish my own layout rather than worry about the next one.
    1. Sorry for any confusion - this whole section won't be exhibitable. The boards were constructed prior to my involvement, and are made from hernia-inducing MDF. They're solid, that's for sure, and have withstood a few soakings when the part of the roof collapsed in a storm, but them's are goin' nowhere.
     
    There are two 'next sections'. The first is the outside line to the fiddleyard in an adjacent workshop, and the second is the true next portion of line which will indeed be exhibitable and made from ply if I've got any say in the matter.
     
    2. No, so far the only job taken away was one particularly fearsome bit of pointwork which was built in one go by Colin Dowling IIRC. Peter has built all the mockups on site himself.
     
    Patience is indeed needed for this project and some months nothing seems to happen. Nevertheless, the scenic side is soon to begin - maybe even later this month - and I'm looking forward to that.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:03 pm
     


    3 link wrote:
    Hi Adrian, just a quick question I model in 0 gauge fs and up to now have been using C&L for my sleepers. Where do you buy your plywood sleepers and are they cheap, and I know theres hardly any difference but do they sell them in 0 gauge.
    Peter Hunt sells wooden sleepers suitable for both 0F and S7 price 5p per sleeper for 10"x8'6", 10"x9', 12"x8'6" or 12"x9'.
     
    12" and 14" turnout timbers are 75p per 3' length or pre-cut to your turnout spec - prices start at ??????‚??3.50.
     
    Peter Hunt - Perfect Miniatures - 01787 375 884.
    __________________________________________
  10. Buckjumper
    The West Mersea Branch - 1946 Essex in ScaleSeven
     
    by buckjumper
     
    original page on Old RMweb
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:30 pm
     
    This thread began way back on RMWeb2 and was migrated to later incarnations. As the layout is still under construction I thought it worthwhile to dump it over here to the all-singing, all-dancing RMweb X.0.1.
     
    Here's a pr?©cis of the story so far.
     
    The project is the brainchild of Peter Hunt, proprietor of Perfect Miniatures, and the layout is built in 7mm to ScaleSeven standards. The layout is being built during regular meetings on the last Sunday of each month with couple of Wednesday meetings for good measure. Although working to S7, there have been a goodly number of 0F modellers turning up regularly to help out.
     
    The project is ambitious. The first meeting was in Jan 05, and after a few brainstorming meetings, the first 12" of track went live in that September after 30' x 4' of boards had been constructed. These are entirely in MDF, and have been soaked (with no ill effects) on more than one occasion thanks to a dodgy roof.
     
    The railway is set in June 1946 - which gives some interesting choices for locos in both pre-War and wartime liveries.
     
    Trackwork is hand built using pine and lime sleepers/timbers, steel rail with C&L and Exactoscale plastic chairs. The steel rail is subject to entropy thanks to the potent combination of steel flux and the aforementioned sieve-like roof but running hasn't been marred by this, and is also unaffected by the wheel cleaning regimen which appears to be an anathema to Peter and therefore non-existent! Electrical feed is via one brass chair on each electrical section with a dropper wire soldered to the underside (no unsightly blobs of solder here!) which is wired to a bus running under the layout, each rail end is placed in a jig and two holes drilled through. Our own two-piece brass fishplate castings are then slotted through and soldered together. This gives the desired expansion gap, and the fishplate works the same as the prototype. Currently point tie bars are temporary PCB, but we're working on a system of cast cranked rods as per prototype which which will slot through holes drilled in the switch blades. Yes, there will be an electrically dead section on the bars.
     
    Much of the trackwork has been laid by Colin Dowling, John Watson (of the Mid-Suffolk Light P4 layout 'Kenton' fame), David Whitaker and Peter, and everyone else has been employed on drilling fishplate holes, soldering droppers to brass chairs and threading plastic chairs onto rails, wiring etc.
     
    I just turn up, drink coffee, eat cake and devour Peter's vast library of railway books - after all, I model all week long!
     
    Control is by DCC and currently a Gaugemaster Prodigy is being used.
     
    We're going through a track testing phase - checking gauge, check rail clearance, electrics etc, and I've been messing about with all manner of electrostatic grass fibres, fake fur, hanging basket liner, hair and wotnots to try and achieve a scythed grass bank which looks right - I'm desperate to get rid of the lurid grass mats Peter's put down pro tem just 'to give us an idea...' Scenic treatment begins next month!
     
    So what's in the photo (taken yesterday)?
     

     
    Well, apart from the typical detritus, the photo is taken from Mersea Avenue bridge - which leads to the next part of the project. The left hand track is the headshunt with the down and up running lines next on the right. The brass locos are sitting in the pilot loco siding (current incumbents are a Southern somethingorother [why?!?!], a C13 and a J17), then there's the carriage siding and cattle dock. The block of wood nearest the camera indicates the position of a bothy and between this and the mockup of the watertower will be an assortment of PW huts, mess rooms, and all manner of rat-infested huts, van bodies, ladidah. Between the water tower and signal box will be a large GE-style wooden coaling pier.
     
    In the distance is the main platform with some coaches occupying the road, there's a bay to the right, and a parcels and end loading platforms beyond which both have stock in. The run round loop to the left of the main platform road has a milk dock next door, and there's also a builder's merchant's warehouse beyond that.
     
    Peter has been to measure up Framlingham station buildings and West Mersea will be based on them but in an extended format. The water tower will probably be based on the Framlingham one too, and the signal box will be one of the later GE types, big enough to accommodate a 60-70 lever frame...there are plans to make the levers in the 'box move when points are thrown...
     
    What you see is only half the intended width, and the left-hand points on the headshunt nearest the camera will lead eventually to another next set of boards which will incorporate a gas works, a maltings, a goods shed, timber sheds and coal sidings.
     
    According to Peter's timetable we'll be starting the next phase late 2008 - this some 18' of double track plus the headshunt in a cutting bounded by the Mersea Avenue and Firs Road bridges. This section will be exhibitable. Beyond that phase will eventually be the loco shed, a turntable, engineer's sidings, carriage sidings, and the junction to the East Mersea branch, and beyond that the junction to the Rowhedge branch.
     
    The whole kiboodle is anticipated to exceed 120' in length in it's current format (however, as usual, Peter has more plans...)
     
    I said it was ambitious!
     
    I'll see if I can find some of the older photos of things in progress.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Colin on Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:47 pm
     
    Blimey, that's some layout on the way!
    I'd always envisaged any potential line to West Mersea as a light railway in the style of the Kelvedon-Tiptree-Tollesbury line - J15s on 2-coach trains of ancient stock crossing a long timber trestle over the Strood, that sort of thing.
    Was the line ever actually planned, or even started? The countryside south of Colchester rolls a fair bit, there could be some interesting scenic features!
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:01 pm
     
    I don't know of any serious plans for a line to Mersea - I'll have to check with Peter, but the East Mersea and Rowhedge branches certainly will be in best rickety GE style.
     
    The background is that West Mersea had a bit of a late Victorian boom similar to other East Anglian seaside resorts after the line was opened in the mid- 1860s - hence the '1865' architecture of the station building, but with the later 1880/90s additions. The signalling will have been upgraded at this date, and that will also be reflected in the style of the box.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by nobby on Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:23 pm
     
    My wife comes from and my mother-in-law still lives in West Mersea so i shall look forward to watching the progress of this with interest.
     
    Am i correct in thinking that i have seen another layout elsewhere which was also an "imaginary" view of the line in OO gauge.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:45 pm
     
    IIRC there was one called West Mersea at one time Nobby.
     
    OK - so going back in time to September 05 - baseboards have been built, and the first sleepers in the bay and parcels road have been laid. Chairs have been threaded onto rails, power hooked up to the dropper from each brass chair in this length, Peter's attached one of his J69s which is under construction and she rolls forward first time to smiles all round.
     

     

     
    Came the evening and a GE sandwagon was attached - our first little shunt.
     

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by westrerner on Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:05 pm
     
    It looks as though it will be a stonkingly good layout. Knowing the area reasonably well having sailed the R Blackwater and Mersea Quarters and the R Colne for many years, I will follow the layouts progress with interest.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by L49 on Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:00 pm
     
    Bloody Hell...
     
    That's about all I can say. It looks like it's going to be a superb layout. I agree with Colin, I always imagined that any line onto the island would be a bit lighter, bu this really looks like it will be good.
     
    Are there any plans for an intermediate station on the way out of town? I suspect the formation woul;d have to curve away quite sharply from the St Botolphs branch, and pass under Magdalen Street, before heading off into barracks land. There is a gorgeous little building behind the bus garage which I have always wanted to model as a station, it has the perfect facade... That's another one of those 'future' jobs. Maybe a station at Monkwick or Middlewick, within the council estates established there from the 30's to the 50's, or is that a bit modern?
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:41 pm
     
    I'm not sure what plans Peter has as the line heads towards Colchester - in one sense we daren't ask..!
     
    I do know he has written a full history of the line from conception to present day... plus all the technical bits of info. I ought to get him to publish it online in the style of a Peter Paye line history
     
    Anyway, I thought this might be of use - we're working on everything below the red line atm. Everything above will be tackled in the future. I'll post the trackplan beyond A-A later - so you can see the exhibitable bit.
     

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Ralf on Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:57 pm
     


    buckjumper wrote:
    Oh yes - the lever frame. We've plans to make the levers in the 'box move when points are thrown...
    It's all stunningly impressive but wow, this bit in particular caught my eye!!!!
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Bar Side on Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:16 pm
     
    Adrian
     
    Do I recall you saying on the last thread that this is being built somewhere near Stowmarket?
     
    Ivan
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:26 pm
     
    Sudbury.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Bar Side on Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:05 pm
     
    Stunning looking already so I shall be watching updates with interest. This was one of the layouts from earlier RMWebs that had me thinking about what had happened to it.
    B12s over the strood? Not sure that brave is the right word.... Would have made a fabulous sight though - not unlike the run from Manningtree in to Brantham. Plenty of mud & high tides. Got stuck on Mersea island on fathers day this year by the exceptional high tide. I hadn't checked the tide times before heading off.
     
    Ivan
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:26 pm
     
    I shall try to remember to update the thread each month once I've run out of older photos. Getting stuck on Mersea island sounds like fun
     
    In November a pile of rails had been cut to size, drilled for fishplate fixing bolts and labelled to match Peter's seemingly mad schematic. However, it did mean we could ID any bit of rail, know where it was going to go and what power was going to be needed. Sleepers and point timbers were laid in the platform areas and the rails roughly placed on top.
     

     
    One of the great things about the project is that even though we're working to ScaleSeven standards there are many 0F modellers involved too - everyone's made very welcome and then given a job to do based on what they feel capable or comfortable doing. This attitude has firmly laid to rest the idea that those of us working in the true-to-scale gauges are inhabiting ivory towers or up our own backsides, and the proof in the pudding is that there are often more 0 gaugers present at a meeting than S7 bods.
     
    One of our talented 0 gaugers, David Whitaker scratchbuilds most of his stock as he models c1890. Here a scratchbuilt GER Little Sharpie is buffered up to one of my GER Special Cattle Boxes.
     

     
    By Christmas 2005 a number of tracks were laid at the country end of the station, and were invariably clogged up by visiting locos in the buff
     

     
    Colin Dowling's brassy J68 shunts my ancient GER Special Cattle Box - I'd obviously done zero work on it in the intervening month whereas David's Little Sharpie was probably painted and in service...
     

    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:03 pm
     
    Hooking out some more photos from the development we come to Feb 06. Colin painted and weathered his J68...
     

     
    ...and loads of half finished bits of stock began to populate every square inch of laid track...
     

     
    ...more stock. The finished van on the left is also by Colin whereas mine is incomplete and on the right. Pennine intercepted my van early in it's build and suggested the rainstrips on the Slater's model were perhaps somewhat less than accurate. He posted one or two suggestions and I plumped for the ones you see here. Mere minutes with a scalpel and replacement strip, and it's visually worth a million bucks (if you'll pardon the pun). Four photos of the completed van can be found here
     

     
    Then there's a bit of a gap in my photographic record - though Peter's got loads of photos himself.
     
    So come July 06 and quite a lot of work has been done. There's also a lot of visiting stock this month. Geoff Stenner brought his scratchbuilt SER O Class. This has the the smoothest, quietest loco mech I have ever seen. Entirely scratchbuilt with ballraces throughout and a Sid Stubbs motor/box, like all of Geoff's locos, even at a crawl the loco travels several times it's own length when the power is switched off.
     

     
    Visiting B17 Somerleyton Hall with Peter's brassy J69 and Colin's J68 behind.
     

     
    Colin built B12 8579 in 32mm gauge, so it won't be starring on West Mersea. However he has got about half a dozen to build for the line - all with his own design of crank axle for working inside motion.
     

     
    The Thompson D328 is one I built for a customer and is out of period here. Any Thompson coaches on West Mersea will be finished in the ersatz teak livery. Eight photos of the completed coach can be found starting here
     

     
    We worked through many types of grass mats, fur fabric, bleaches, dyes, and were unhappy with everything. we want grass to look like grass, not a teddy bear or underlay. Al the rejects seemed to get piled on the embankment and left there for months. We now know what we're going to use - but that's for another instalment. The chap on the right is the genius behind the whole crazy idea - Peter Hunt. Older members may remember one of his earlier business ventures - he was one half of Chuffs.
     

     
    Patience is a virtue. These scratchbuilt SER coaches took Geoff 9 years to build...
     

     
    By August there was some interesting progression. A visiting A4 goes head to head with the B12 and Colin's J68 has undergone a minor transformation. Another transformation is the grass bank. Over the top of one of the grass mats I used Heki fibres puffed from a Noch bottle. This gave the best result so far - certainly the colour is better(!), but still I wasn't happy.
     

     
    Also visiting this month was this Princess.
     

     
    A study of the mocked-up station buildings. Those along the platform are in the 1865 style when the branch was opened. The L shaped one at the end is a later addition to help cope with the booming resort traffic in the 1890s, and is based on Framlingham.
     

     
    Colin's transformed J68. This was handed to me for some weathering and a round dozen photos of the model can be found here
     

     
    Next: into the new year.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:22 pm
     
    Jan 07: Came the New Year, came David Whitaker's GER 4-2-2 P43 Class Single to visit.
     

     
    Scratchbuilt except for a handful of castings David said it had been on the backburner for a while. Ostensibly designed by James Holden, Fred Russell -Chief Draughtsman did most of the work, much as he did throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ensuring a continuation of the in-house style over several Locomotive Superintendents.
     

     
    However, I'm sure Holden did have much input as not only does it hark back to the style of SW Johnstone (in charge at Stratford before moving to Derby), and lends much to his Midland no 1 & no 2 classes, but there are shades of the Dean Singles in there too; Holden was Dean's Principal Assistant at Swindon before being lured to Stratford. The P43s were a small part of the Indian summer of the Singles at the turn of the century, but were replaced from the crack expresses within two years as the Claud Hamilton class were released to traffic, and only lasted 10 years.
     

     
    By now the mocked-up warehouse and sidings opposite the station were in situ.
     

    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:00 pm
     
    Another gap in my photographic record but by April some temporary wire-in-tube bits and bobs had begun to be fitted to the points. These are attached to temporary PCB stretcher bars until the cast ones based on the prototypes arrive. Once they're in place we'll begin to look at the proper mechanical bits and pieces which will drive both these and the signals. Part finished wagons continue to clog up the lines as do the Kirk Gresley's.
     

     
    Peter has often dug up bits of trackwork between meetings, the plan evolving much like the real thing did over many years. In the top left the trackwork has been lifted and slewed to make for a smoother transition. A fearsomely complex bit of pointwork was going to be built off the layout and inserted off picture to the left, but the chap was unable to complete the task for a couple of (very good) reasons. This was no problem and instead it was built in situ. IIRC some changes to the crossing angles prompted the ripping up of rail and sleeper and relaying.
     

     
    Happily I've managed to avoid all of the tracklaying malarky by drinking copious amounts of coffee and eating cake while discussing important things like the styles of buffer stops which would be extant, the types of wild flower in bloom in June (June 1946 remember!), styles of GE and LNER railway fencing, whether some 9' sleepers would still be in the sidings and other scenic curiosities.
     
    The unfinished tank wagon in the distance ended up looking like this
     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Dan Randall on Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:18 pm
     
    Adrian
     
    That's a pretty impressive train set and I look forward to future updates.
     
    Regards
     
    Dan
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by onslaught832 on Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:28 pm
     
    That's one hell of a project, thanks for posting it. Is the platform MDF too I will look forward to your updates, It has been a fascinating read so far
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:10 pm
     


    onslaught832 wrote:
    That's one hell of a project, Thanks for posting it. Is the platform MDF too
    Yep - MDF it is.
     
    A couple more instalments to come to bring it all up to date.
     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Sarcodelic on Sun Sep 02, 2007 12:23 pm
     
    That's very nice.
     


    ...and it's visually worth a million bucks (if you'll pardon the pun).
    I never realised that J69s were legal tender in the U.S. before
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:48 pm
     
    Aha! The only legal tender bucks were J67s 68492 and 68511, both on the Lauder branch in Scotland
     

     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Sarcodelic on Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:52 pm
     
     
    Why didn't I see something like that coming? I'm outpunned!
    __________________________________________
  11. Buckjumper
    The West Mersea Branch - 1946 Essex in ScaleSeven
     
    by buckjumper
     
    original page on Old RMweb
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Mon Oct 08, 2007 8:04 am
     
    A bump any updates or new pictures?
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:57 pm
     
    Oops - yep. I didn't take my camera along for a couple of months, and by August the layout was looking like this.
     
    The door to the garden was opened for (apparently) the first time in years and allowed this viewpoint. It revealed some alignment errors and a dogleg in the running lines partway down which will need ironing out.
     
    While more wiring was underway, I ripped out all the temporary grass mats, binned them, built some new embankments from balsa strip and a hot glue gun and covered the lot in Modroc and Polyfilla.
     

     
    The spaciousness of the station environs now becomes apparent. It's not often a rake of 7mm coaches gets lost in while sitting at a platform.

     
    An influx of interloping tanks reveals one member's penchant for the LT&SR.

     
    The loco in brass is being built by Colin Dowling for a customer. It is based on the JLTRT ex-Chowbent Stanier 2 Cylinder 4MT, but is being converted to the 3 cylinder type. It has working inside motion with a scratchbuilt crank axle.

     
    Colin also built the Jinty and B12 in the background (both based on Connoisseur kits) and both have working inside motion. The Jinty utilises Laurie Griffin's castings.

     
    A J68 and B12. How East Anglian!

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Pete-Harvey on Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:00 am
     
    This is all very impressive and very tidy.
    Nice to see the progress.
     
    Pete
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Tue Oct 09, 2007 12:44 pm
     
    Thanks for the update!
    That trackwork looks fantastic I do think S7 is the way to go in 7mm, i have been dithering for the last year but this is convincing me.
    do you have any 4-6-0's running? do they give any problems?
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:34 pm
     
    Thanks guys, but I've really had little input on the track side of things.
     
    As far as 4-6-0s go - the majority of the expresses will be hauled by B12s (I can't remember if it's five or seven examples needed) and I suspect some B1s and (you'll be pleased to hear) B17s will put in appearances too. Tests have shown all the pointwork on the main lines are fine for these locos - some of the sidings will be out of bounds though!
     
    I think S7 is worth the extra effort. There are some advantages: more room between the frames for bigger motors, easier to fit inside motion etc.
     
    Yes, more care is needed to set the stock up properly as well as laying laying the track, but the fact that you'll always have the correct alignment of frames above and below the footplate, the finer flanges on the wheels, the silky smooth running of stock through pointwork, etc is worth it.
     
    I dithered for about six years - but I'm glad I took the plunge.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:29 pm
     


    buckjumper wrote:
     
    I dithered for about six years - but I'm glad I took the plunge.
    Well I have to make my mind up soon as I have a shelf of stock waiting for wheels!!
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:06 pm
     
    Yesterday morning I popped along to Sudbury to get some castings and swap some wheels for a job. I took along a couple of emulsion match pots purporting to be Oak Leaf Green or somesuch nonsense which cost about a pound or so each in Wilco's. Nevertheless it's turned out to be quite a good base colour for the next stage of scenic treatment and I was very surprised just how much of the embankment I was able to paint - about 15' in length.
     
    A couple of other members of the group were there - all the tracks are now electrified, and they were busy adding checkrails to the pointwork.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:23 am
     
    Missed these last week It looks good, and i'm loving the trackwork
    How long do you think it will be untill it's finished?
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Easterner on Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:37 am
     


    28ten wrote:
    How long do you think it will be untill it's finished?
    Isn't that one of the questions you just don't ask - like a lady's age?
     
    Haven't commented on this thread before - I think it goes without saying that I love it
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:01 am
     


    Easterner wrote:
    28ten wrote:
    How long do you think it will be untill it's finished?

    Isn't that one of the questions you just don't ask - like a lady's age?
     
    Haven't commented on this thread before - I think it goes without saying that I love it I guess so but it seems to be making rapid progress it could be all over by christmas
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:08 pm
     


    28ten wrote:
    it seems to be making rapid progress it could be all over by christmas
    You're kidding We only meet on the last Sunday of each month with small working party (one or two people) on a couple of Wednesdays in between. IIRC next month will only be the 34th time we've met together.
     
    For this section work will progress on the scenery, buildings, ballasting and weathering through next year, though I suspect ballasting will be held off until the cast stretcher bars can be added to the turnouts. We'll then rip out the temporary ones and the wire-in-tube controls for the points and install the lever frame, rods and cranks.
     
    The current plan is to then have the group split into two working parties so some can continue on here while the others work on both versions of the next section. I guess this will start sometime next year. The semi-permanent Section II will go through a hole in the wall and via a long enclosed curve outside will burst through a workshop into a fiddleyard. A second version of this section will be the exhibitable part of the layout which will be about 20' of double tracked line in a cutting and on an embankment with the long headshunt terminating part way down against a backdrop of housing with a fiddle yard each end.
     
    IIRC Section III, is now slated for 2010/1...
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:41 am
     
    November's update.
     
    Edit: Sorry the photos are a little dark - they seemed OK in photoshop but appear much gloomier here. I'll see if I can lighten them a little later.
     
    The edge of the road far right is IIRC Mersea Avenue, the roadway decending towards the camera leads to the cattle dock. The tracks rising on the right lead to the same. Thirty feet away there is a three coach set in the main platform and for some reason another set in the builder's warehouse siding.

     
    From the overbridge the station throat pointwork. Wiring this up, even for DCC has been fun (so I'm told, for I've shied away from that side of things entirely). Some of yesterday was spent tracking various shorts. When the sparkies got out of the way I continued painting the embankments with the base green paint - Oak Leaf emulsion from Wilko's.

     
    Two views of a new little scene mocked up in card by Peter. The builder's warehouse is on the right with the station extension behind, the little parade of tradesmans' shops/sheds is will get most trade from the railway workmen. There's a coal merchant, an estate agent, a cobblers, a laundry, and one or two other's I've forgotten, based, IIRC on a little scene somewhere like Gospel Oak.

     

     
    From the station.

     
    From the parcel's dock.

     
    Dave Whitaker's delightful little GER 209 class (note the track join under the loco buffer plank drilled and awaiting the fishplates)...

     
    ...and his equally gorgeous 8T brake, upgraded from 6T when first built in the 1870s. These were further upgraded to 10T before withdrawal. In the early years these (and the loco tenders) were often the only vehicles with brakes - even the locos themselves were without brake shoes - and at only 6T it must have been a hair raising experience as a goods guard.

     
    At the other end of tank loco design from the 209 is Colin Dowling's Stanier 2 cylinder 4MT. Based on the JLTRT ex-Chowbent kit, Colin has scratchbuilt inside motion and a crank axle.

     
    The small loco servicing facilities include a water tower and coal stage. The loco shed itself is a few hundred yards up the line and will be built at a later date. The homegrown J17 is on shed, but what that ex-GCR C13 is doing here is debatable.

    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:43 pm
     
    Nice to see it coming along, the thing that really strikes me is the trackwork it has totally convinced me that S7 is the only way to go
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Easterner on Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:57 pm
     


    28ten wrote:
    it has totally convinced me that S7 is the only way to go
    Yes, that's the trouble y
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:38 pm
     


    Easterner wrote:
    28ten wrote:
    it has totally convinced me that S7 is the only way to go

    Yes, that's the trouble That's the idea!
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 28ten on Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:08 am
     


    buckjumper wrote:
    Easterner wrote:
    28ten wrote:
    it has totally convinced me that S7 is the only way to go

    Yes, that's the trouble
    That's the idea! Well it's worked
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Jamie on Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:57 pm
     


    ..drilled and awaiting fishplates
    You don't actually bolt them with tiny tiny bolts surely
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:52 pm
     
    We may be mad Jamie - but not that mad
     
    One of the group designed the fishplates (to the relevant GA) and they are cast in brass in two halves. One half has a representation of the bolts which pass through the slightly over-large holes in the rail (which had been drilled in a jig prior to laying). The second half of the fishplate is offered up, the bolts pass through the representation of the nuts and are soldered together with a quick dab of the iron. The slightly over large holes allow expansion and contraction of the rail. I'm sure I've some photos somewhere which I'll dig out and post.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Jamie on Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:14 pm
     
    I did wonder
     
    An ingenious approach to come up with all the same. So much of the layout leaves me dumbstruck even at a relatively early stage - the mockup buildings for example: done with such care rather than just a rough box sat in place. However, you might want to think about that tree, might need setting into the baseboard as the pot's a bit out of scale
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Brian D on Wed Nov 28, 2007 7:47 pm
     


    buckjumper wrote:
    28ten wrote:
    it seems to be making rapid progress it could be all over by christmas

    A second version of this section will be the exhibitable part of the layout which will be about 20' of double tracked line in a cutting and on an embankment with the long headshunt terminating part way down against a backdrop of housing with a fiddle yard each end.
     
    IIRC Section III, is now slated for 2010/1... Living not a million miles away from Mersey Island, me and my wife visited last summer and took the old folding bikes. It is very flat here and ideal biking territory for us old 'uns! Your proposal therefore for cuttings and embankments sounds a bit amiss. Can I therefore suggest a causeway like that the only road on to the island takes. Alternatively a low viaduct would be appropriate.
    In all other respects I am greatly envious of the layout and the space to model it in.
    Best wishes with you future efforts.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by nobby on Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:39 pm
     


    Brian D wrote:
    buckjumper wrote:
    28ten wrote:
    it seems to be making rapid progress it could be all over by christmas

    A second version of this section will be the exhibitable part of the layout which will be about 20' of double tracked line in a cutting and on an embankment with the long headshunt terminating part way down against a backdrop of housing with a fiddle yard each end.
     
    IIRC Section III, is now slated for 2010/1...
    Living not a million miles away from Mersey Island, me and my wife visited last summer and took the old folding bikes. It is very flat here and ideal biking territory for us old 'uns! Your proposal therefore for cuttings and embankments sounds a bit amiss. Can I therefore suggest a causeway like that the only road on to the island takes. Alternatively a low viaduct would be appropriate.
    In all other respects I am greatly envious of the layout and the space to model it in.
    Best wishes with you future efforts. Not as flat as you may think, my mother-in-law still lives there, i was married there to a girl who comes from West Mersea. The climb from The Strood ( The causeway if you are not a local ) to the start of High Street North is well over 75ft and all up-hill. It then begins to descend to the beach at Coast Road.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:26 pm
     
    Thanks Brian & Nobby for your comments.
     
    The cutting on the next board isn't particularly deep, neither is the embankment high, just minor earthworks really, which will undulate around the trackwork.
     
    There have been several survey field trips made by Peter (the madcap behind the project) noting all the physical features. He's also pored over the OS maps for hours on end, so there'll be nothing too incongruous with the topography of the proposed route.
     
    Apparently he's also written a complete history of the line from inception to present day charting the various services, the expansion in the 1880s following the tourist boom and the rundown post-Beeching. Dunno if it's supposed to be a SLT these days though...
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by nevardmedia on Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:30 pm
     
    This is stunning - a major project...WOW! Love the end with the beach huts
     
    Not sure many would get away with taking over the whole living room like you appear to have - good man if so!!
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by nobby on Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:18 am
     
    Hi Adrian
     
    Great to see this layout taking place, in fact even my mother-in-law who still lives on the island is interested.
     
    Just a small detail to mention that there is no Mersea Avenue on the island, and as most of the beach huts are on Victoria Esplanade i have attached a link to a map of the island for you.
     
    http://www.mersea-is...merseamap01.jpg
     
    Be careful where you put the line as you may put it straight through my brother-in-laws house and garden
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:21 am
     
    Hi Nobby
     
    I'll let Peter know there is local interest!
     
    Just to clear up a small point - there is a Mersea Avenue on the island - but in a wobbly moment it's not the one I said. The long road down the side of the layout is infact St. Peter's Road (is that a coincidence? Hmmm...)
     
    Mersea Avenue infact links the High Street and St Peter's Road and is the road over the bridge at the end of Module on in the photos above. See the Google map in the link below (I've made it a tinyurl as the link was 245 characters long!)
     
    http://tinyurl.com/2u43yt
     
    As you can see, a lot of more modern housing was never built in our alternate universe; Captains Road and New Captains Road, Churchfields and The Seedlings have been swept away (I suspect they weren't there in the 1850s anyway).
     
    The next section which will be exhibitable spans between Mersea Avenue and Firs Road - though we've realigned Mersea Avenue a little further south so that the section of the layout will be about 18 feet in length. As you and Brian can see, the ground doesn't undulate very much here, but the railway is below the road level so both Firs Rd. and Mersea Ave. bridge the line - hence the cutting, and looking at it I can't see that there can be an embankment, so it's likely I've got the wrong end of the stick with that!
     
    With the railway in situ housing would have developed quite differently with holiday housing for the Victorian middle classes developing in the aread bounded by the High Street North, Mearsea Avenue and Firs Road and it is these and their gardens which will form the backdrop of the exhibitable section.
     
    From there the line passes west of the cemetary where there is now housing on Woodfield Drive, Cypress Mews, Spruce Close and Whittaker Way, and into the big field beyond where our loco shed, and assorted PW and carriage sidings will be.
    __________________________________________
  12. Buckjumper
    The West Mersea Branch - 1946 Essex in ScaleSeven
     
    by buckjumper
     
    original page on Old RMweb
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 3 link on Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:14 pm
     
    Thanks for that info Adrian , that's got the old brain ticking ( could be expensive ).
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by flubrush on Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:18 am
     


    3 link wrote:
    I model in 0 gauge fs and up to now have been using C&L for my sleepers. Where do you buy your plywood sleepers and are they cheap, and I know there's hardly any difference but do they sell them in 0 gauge.
    It's quite easy to make them yourself and it doesn't take too long to amass a small pile. I use 1.5mm ply sheet and use a carpenter's marking gauge to score a sleeper width strip down the edge of the sheet, then follow up with a Stanley knife along the score line to cut off the strip. The strip can then be cut to the sleeper lengths.
     
    If you are doing 8' 6" or 9' 0" sleepers, you can score heavily across the sheet with the Stanley knife using the length of your sleepers as the measure. Then when you score and cut off along the sheet, it's just a matter of breaking off the sleepers from the strip at the score lines.
     
    I think I remember making about 1000 sleepers in a morning and the cost of the ply sheet and the marking gauge was much less than the cost of the ready made product.
     
    You have to watch out for cumulative errors using the marking gauge which start to give you an edge that looks like a roller coaster. If this starts to happen, then it's quite easy to remake the straight edge with a long rule and the Stanley knife. I found that with a bit of experience you can avoid this problem happening. It is usually caused by a not too clean edge left when you cut off a strip and you soon learn to notice when this happens, and clean up the edge before marking off.
     
    Jim.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by invercloy on Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:15 am
     
    That's a beautiful layout! I don't think I've seen a 7mm one which looks so spacious before.
     
    Can't afford S7, don't have the space or time to do that as well as 009. Maybe when I'm older. But still...
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by 3 link on Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:14 am
     


    flubrush wrote:
     
    It's quite easy to make them yourself and it doesn't take too long to amass a small pile. I use 1.5mm ply sheet and use a carpenter's marking gauge to score a sleeper width strip down the edge of the sheet, then follow up with a Stanley knife along the score line to cut off the strip. The strip can then be cut to the sleeper lengths.
     
    If you are doing 8' 6" or 9' 0" sleepers, you can score heavily across the sheet with the Stanley knife using the length of your sleepers as the measure. Then when you score and cut off along the sheet, it's just a matter of breaking off the sleepers from the strip at the score lines.
     
    I think I remember making about 1000 sleepers in a morning and the cost of the ply sheet and the marking gauge was much less than the cost of the ready made product.
     
    You have to watch out for cumulative errors using the marking gauge which start to give you an edge that looks like a roller coaster. If this starts to happen, then it's quite easy to remake the straight edge with a long rule and the Stanley knife. I found that with a bit of experience you can avoid this problem happening. It is usually caused by a not too clean edge left when you cut off a strip and you soon learn to notice when this happens, and clean up the edge before marking off.
     
    Jim.
    Hi Jim,
    That sounds a good way to go, and also you are not kept waiting for your orders either. What does help is Squires shop is about a mile from were I live , so I know where I'll be heading later.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by invercloy on Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:54 pm
     
    I've read this thread about 3 times today, and i have to keep stopping myself from drooling
     
    I'm going to have to try and do some mock buildings like those for my next layout ,i'll have quite a few to build, and they really give you a great idea of what the finished product will look like overall.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:41 pm
     
    Some You Tube footage this month. I've already posted these on OgaugeJB's workbench thread, but thought a bit of cross-posting wouldn't harm. I've some photos of Colin's finished, and rather magnificent Stanier tank to edit before posting - perhaps tomorrow.
     
    http://uk.youtube.co...h?v=VI4uiiLfGBg
     
    http://uk.youtube.co...h?v=qFGASR6I5vY
     
    http://uk.youtube.co...h?v=Fyfjri6yE6E
     
    The quality is awful due to the horrible YT compression. Any advice on compression codecs to use to use before uploading would be useful.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by jazz on Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:18 pm
     
    Hey Adrian. Just looked at the posting. Wonderful stuff!!!
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:35 pm
     
    I cant wait to get the 20ft extension in.... can we bring it forward a year ?
     
    Did I hear correctly that West Mersea will eventually be joined up with someone else's East Mersea layout ?
     
    Jonathan.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by invercloy on Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:46 pm
     
    Still drooling
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by pirouets on Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:44 am
     
    Can somebody please pass Invercloy some paper towels to mop up the drool puddles he is leaving in this thread
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by invercloy on Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:02 am
     
    Sorry...
    ________________________________________
    Comment posted by Pigs on Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:16 pm
     


    OgaugeJB wrote:
    I cant wait to get the 20ft extension in.... can we bring it forward a year ?
     
    Did I hear correctly that West Mersea will eventually be joined up with someone else's East Mersea layout ?
     
    Jonathan.
    Will that be via some kind of bridge, or will it be a.... (wait for it)
     
    Ferry across the Mersea?
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:33 pm
     
    Oooh...groaner! I wonder if I can chuck rotten fruits from here to Rutland?
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by westrerner on Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:41 pm
     
    Not seen any updates lately. Is the project still going or like me have things stopped for the sailing season.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:43 pm
     
    I missed a couple of the meetings since the last update, and since then there have been some wiring (and re-wiring) sessions with little visible change, though some undergrowth has sprouted on the embankments and some of the sleepers/rail has had it's first taste of colouring. The foul-smelling brew clogged up the points and the temporary wire-in-tube (it wasn't me!) so some remedial work and much muttering has been the order of the day since.
     
    There's a meeting on Sunday so should be trotting along and I'll take the camera so I can make an update.
    _________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:56 am
     
    A few photos of progress on West Mersea.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:29 am
     
    The layout looks so much better from this side. I think we should spin it around next month. The extension will just have to go to Marks Tey through the front window!
     
    JB.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:46 am
     


    OgaugeJB wrote:
    The layout looks so much better from this side. I think we should spin it around next month.
    After you...
     
    Also at the meeting was David Rayner's layout "Lumpy Sidings" for wagons and critters. It's a self contained 7mm test track with some killer pointwork all in about 10' x 18"-ish (that'll get you posting on here if I'm wrong David ) and folds up in a rather ingenious manner, legs an' all, with it's own skateboard for transport to fits into a Clio sized car.
     
    Bob Essery came along with Don (but without Dempster the dog who, according to Peter, is partial to the iced buns). I don't remember having met Bob before, though he thought we had. He was just leaving as I turned up - I'd have like to have talked a little more with him about matters Midland. Next time, hopefully.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by westrerner on Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:58 pm
     
    Thanks for the new pix.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:23 pm
     
    Oh I saw Lumpy sidings a few months back when it was in the shop. An awesome bit of kit that's for sure...! Be good to have a play with it sometime, and exactly what I would like in S7.
     
    Is Bob Essery any relation to Terry Essery ? He (Terry) was a fireman on the Link from around the early 50's onwards. He wrote a book that I am reading at the moment. He mentions his brother who was also a fireman who worked on the link too.
     
    I can't put the damn thing down...!! Seriously!!
     
    Link to Volume 2 of 'Saltley firing days' http://www.nostalgia...ection.com/page ... gdays2.php
     
    JB.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:46 pm
     
    Just checked the book, and Terry does have "...brother Bob".
     
    Be great to meet him, a real living hero !
     
    JB.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Dave R on Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:11 pm
     


    ...David Rayner's layout "Lumpy Sidings" for wagons and critters. It's a self contained 7mm test track with some killer pointwork all in about 10' x 18"-ish (that'll get you posting on here if I'm wrong David ) and folds up in a rather ingenious manner, legs an' all, with it's own skateboard for transport to fits into a Clio sized car.
    Just for you Ade...
     
    LS is actually 2400 by 600 French units (that's not quite 8 by 2 in British numbers!) and made use of spare timber that was available at the time.
     
    See http://homepages.tes...umpy/index.html for some of the thinking behind the project. Must find some time to upload more pictures and words to bring the site a bit more up-to-date -- when I've finished trying to design the point rodding runs for West Mersea.
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Dave R on Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:20 pm
     
    Ade,
     
    So how many of these http://www.modelhobb...052-p-6582.html do we need to hang from the ceiling at the Xmas bash in Sudbury?
     
    Not sure if we could get away with one partly buried in the embankment allotments as the kit is only 1:48 scale; and the 830kg Amolite warhead caused a 600yd diameter blast zone in Lewisham which would wipe out most of the West Mersea station area!
     
    Dave
    __________________________________________
  13. Buckjumper

    There and back again.

    By Buckjumper,

    This entry should signify the start of me putting some productive contribution back into RMWeb after what has been a very long and fallow time for me in modelling terms of at least 24 months or so. The last four months or so I've been playing catchup with a big backlog of commissions (I'm astonished that some people were prepared to wait until I was ready to start again!) and it's been a very hectic but thoroughly enjoyable time getting back to doing some modelling done again. Almost like coming home.
     
    The next few weeks leading into Christmas will see all the current backlog completely cleared so I can start afresh in the New Year with what is already looking like an interesting selection of models to build, including a batch-build of one of my favourite classes.
     
    As I'm temporarily camera-less until later in the week, I'll kick off with a few photos of part-builds taken some time ago just before I had to stop modelling. All of these are commissions which were put on hold and have now been picked up again. All are much further advanced than you see, so I'll create separate posts for each one of them once I can take some more up to date photos.
     
    This is a Great Western O3 5-plank open from a WEP kit and will be finished c1910 with the 25" lettering. The sheet rail can be moved to any position.
     

     
    An AA7 Toad from a Connoisseur kit. Again to be finished in a c1910 condition. The roof is loosely laid in place.
     

     
    A Great Western X2 Mica B from a WEP kit. Again, this will be finished c1910 with the big red lettering.
     

     
    Finally, a Highland Railway Fish open. This from a Lochgorm kit, there seems to be some debate whether they were finished in red or green. I suppose it depends whether they were considered NPCS or goods stock - different companies had different ideas. I think it will look good in green. This after the first coat has been rubbed down. The brakes are on the other side. I say brakes, I mean brake, singular. One brake block bearing on one wheel only. I love the juxtaposition of that rudimentary brake and the Westo & vac through pipes...
     
    I've made the long brake handrail work a working feature.
     

     
    So there we are, more updates and there you will see quite a big jump in their condition, once I can take some fresh photos.
  14. Buckjumper

    100 Not Out!

    By Buckjumper,

    OK, I've eased you into Basilica Fields nice and gently, now here comes the hardcore stuff. This is the latest post from the external blog, and is the first on here to be truncated with an external link. As I mentioned in a previous post there are genuine reasons for the linked content, and I hope the teaser is enough to make you want to follow it through.
     
    With this entry the Basilica Fields journal is one hundred posts old. Not only that, but in the last week it passed the 30,000 views mark. I am all astonishment; twenty one months of waffle, a little progress and lots of fantastic feedback. All in what is, to be honest, a very niche subject.
     
    I wanted to mark this milestone with something a little bit special so I looked up all the possible prototype locos of the various companies which might have worked the Basilica Fields lines with a running number of 100. Two locos presented themselves, both Great Eastern tanks, and they ran consecutively – although there was, strictly speaking, a few months of overlap. The earliest of the two, an E10 class 0-4-4T, worked throughout the whole period covered by this project, whereas the latter, an M15 2-4-2T, appeared right at the end of the timeframe, therefore I’ve no expectation of it appearing on the layout.
     
    Shortly after Massey Bromley took the post of Locomotive Superintendent at Stratford the E10 0-4-4T class appeared. The design was obviously that of his predecessor William Adams, essentially being an elongated version of his K9 class and very closely related to his 61 class. Sixty of the new locos were built between 1878 and 1883, the final twenty being fitted with the Westinghouse brake from new and the rest of the class fitted retrospectively shortly after.
     
    Number 100 was the eighty-third locomotive to be built at Stratford Works, and was constructed under Order R10. The loco was ex-works on the 18th June 1879 and released to traffic two days later in the then standard Great Eastern livery of black, lined red – the class being the first to benefit from Bromley’s widened lining style compared to that applied by Adams. It had 8″ yellow numerals hand-painted on the buffer beams, and was fitted with a pair of Bromley’s new-style cast iron elliptical number plates on the side tanks.
     
    In November 1894 No.100 was rebuilt with a new boiler pressed to 140psi, fitted with larger diameter cylinders and standard Holden-pattern boiler fittings. A new round-spectacle front weatherboard replaced the Adams-style square window type, and for the first time a matching rear weatherboard was fitted, finally enclosing the cab. It was painted in the then standard ultramarine blue livery (probably for the second time) with Holden’s enlarged ‘GER’ transfers on the side tanks, and fitted with Worsdell-style brass number plates cast with the legend ‘Rebuilt 1894′ on the bunker sides...
     
    This is an extract of the latest entry on my Basilica Field journal. Click here to read the full entry.
     
    Click here to access the full journal
  15. Buckjumper
    Until the mid-1880s, the general merchandise wagons of the Great Eastern Railway had high rounded ends (‘half-moons’ in GE parlance) intended to help support sheets to protect goods in transit from inclement weather. Several thousand examples were built fr0m the 1850s (under the antecedent Eastern Counties Railways) onwards , and by 1878 accounted for 58% of stock owned by the GER.
     
    Over the years new batches were given progressively modern features which then cascaded down to earlier builds as they came into works for examination or repair. All were built with side doors, most had outside timber framing, and individual angle irons held the corners together. Later builds had conventional corner plates with the wooden timber framing, but the final batches incorporated outside iron diagonal bracing and knees to which the sides were secured. Early examples had no brakes until the 1870s when single-side wooden brakes with one lever acting on two wheels were introduced. These were gradually replaced from the mid-1880s onwards with iron brake blocks . During the 1870s self-contained sprung buffers gradually replaced dead buffers, but from the early 1880s standard short buffer guides were fitted to new builds. Both of these types were bolted to square wooden packing pieces to increase their length to 1? 7?. From the early 1880s running efficiency was improved by fitting Worsdell’s Type A grease axleboxes.
     
    The livery was standard Great Eastern slate grey (Humbrol 67 or Phoenix Precision P.505 for modellers). Lettering was hand painted in white but stencilled on older wagons as per the photographs...
     
    [This is an extract of the latest entry on my external Basilica Field journal. Click here to read the full entry.]
     
    Click here to access the full journal
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