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Chris Nevard

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Nevard

  1. Chris Nevard
    111114_beattieWT_IMG_1919_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    With the little Beattie Well Tank now in my possession I couldn't resist popping the little beauty on to Polbrock to see whether it fits in. On that note is 'it' a 'she' or 'he'? Presuming 'she' had a name, I think that 'Doris' would suit? That being the case, 'Doris' is all rather pristine and will in due course be given a little fake patina replicating a working engine rather than looking like a finalist in the X Factor. The trick with weathering is to create the effect of a working engine, but not make it look like it's been trashed and dropped in due-to-be-changed-cat litter - it's often a fine line. Maybe 'Kev' would be a better name for mucky engine?
     
    The 'set' is of course my latest micro Polbrock, which is far from complete, but finished enough to use it as a prop to photograph stock on. Recent work being to tidy up some of the static grass around and between the rails. During application I over-diluted the PVA glue a little too much making some of the grass fibres fall over through lack of support, over thinned glue being limp like a manager promoted beyond his or her capability. It was an easy enough job to rub the almost horizontal fibres off and re-apply with some less diluted PVA about 2 parts glue to 1 part water. Now the freshly applied fibres stand up boldly unlike limp management.
     
    Interestingly enough the grass fibres between the rails have no effect on running performance as long as they don't stray between the loco wheels and rail surface. A disposable razor run along the rail top is a good way to remove any stray fibres followed by a good vacuum and dusting of hair spray to keeping everything in place - you don't really want the little fibres getting in to engine mechanics.
     
    For the shot here, the camera was resting on the level crossing and the scene lit with natural window light. A large pale blue board and my rolling stock photo plinth thingamajig were then placed in the background to hide the lack of proper backscene and domestic furniture! Later in Photoshop I replaced the blue board with a de-focussed actual sky because the pale blue wall had some shadows on it. The smoke is the only other embellishment. I'm looking forward to sorting out the proper backscene which will have a fuzzy, misty Cornish inspired landscape which will negate the need to mess about with bits of board and computer editing too much.
    Bigger version of the above photo here.

  2. Chris Nevard
    nevard_120614_catcott_DSC_5845, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    I haven't typed a 'Billy ######' page for ages, so here goes a snippett of parallel universe 'faction'.......
    Click on the photo above if you think it's pretty and want to see a bigger one!
     
    In 1966 Eclipse Peat (Catcott) upgraded its loading facility with the ability to handle the loose product as well as bagged. In August 1969, diesel hydraulic No. D6313 is captured propelling wagons under the loading hopper. On loading days, the tractor seen in the shot, endlessly pottered to and fro with loaded trailers of peat from the works seen just behind the loco.
     
    Windy days, not that uncommon due to the proximity with the nearby Bristol Channel, would often create a peat storm, so loading frequently couldn't take place under such conditions, this making it unsuitable for rail transport with its rigid time table. In 1971 the rail transfer facility was withdrawn in favour of more flexible road haulage. The hopper here can still be seen; lorries now reversing under collect their load instead of railway wagons. Nowadays without the railway in the way, the hopper is fed by a 1500 yard continuous conveyor from the peat moor.
     
    The old SDJR 'Branch' which shut as a through line in March 1966, remained open as far as Catcott and was worked as a long siding from Highbridge. The lack of run-around facilities meant that loaded trains were propelled backwards as far as the creamery siding at Bason Bridge, where the loco then ran around its train to travel further afield.
     
    When rail transport from Catcott ceased in 1971, the railway was lifted back to Bason Bridge, which in turn shut in October 1972. One of the reasons for closure of the final section was the building of the M5 motorway which breached the line just east of the former Highbridge Locomotive Works.
     
    This shot is totally un-manipulated. I hope that the typeface appeals to MRJ readers
  3. Chris Nevard
    8104_stogursey_003_01, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    Combwich is a lot older than most people think, the baseboards and track dating back to 1980. It was originally called Churchstanton, then Stogursey and finally the present Combwich when I rebuilt it in 2001-present.
     
    The layout is still very active, in fact it's better now than it's ever been:
     
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/sets/72157630183211760/with/7397034112/
     
    Most of the stock seen here is still in regular use too over 30 years on. The signal box has moved 3 times, and some will spot the change of roof too!
     

    The track plan showing things are they are now, hopefully it will help place things.
     
    Seeing these pics, which are neg scans is like going down memory lane, especially because most of them were never printed. On a couple of them I have been able to digitally remove my teenage bedroom walls which were in the background, that's something I could only have dreamed of at the time!
  4. Chris Nevard
    
     
    43216 shunts a grain wagon with a hot box into the siding at Catcott, September 1959.
     
    When backing up files yesterday I picked out the photo of the culvert being tried out for size on the layout back in December 2007, it reminding me of many of the lightweight materials used for the scenic base with much of the cardboard here being from a huge flatscreen TV at the workplace. I remember at the time being far impressed by the cardboard than the TV because it was unusually stout, strong and light - the cardboard that is!
     
    Lightweight materials extend beyond the scenic base, I also used corrugated card and foamboard in addition of the more usual ply and stripwood for the main carcase, all of which has resulted in a very light layout indeed! And whilst I wouldn't recommend such an approach for a large club layout that gets thrown about, stood on, leant on and packed away every Tuesday night at 10pm in a huge rush, it's perfect for a personal lightweight portable layout which will be treated with reasonable of care. For key areas like the outer shell, backscene and ends plywood has still been used because it's far better at taking impacts. 5 years on, and the layout still looks fresh, both the outside and inside and I don't break by back popping it in and out of the car or packing it up at home or on the road after playing trains.
     
    I think this confirms that foamboard is ok for a layout which is treated carefully and doesn't get exposed to excessive temperatures or moisture, but if it's to be used for anything bigger than a tea tray it must be mixed with more traditional materials. But now for the crunch; would I use such for a layout the size of Catcott again (5 foot scenic)? Probably not, if only for the fact that I occasionally catch one of the foam board cross members underneath from time to time and invariably need to replace them.
     

     
    More about CATCOTT BURTLE
  5. Chris Nevard

    Combwich 1960

    By Chris Nevard,

    Here we are back at Combwich looking south into the midday sun, it looking like a windy day judging by those clouds. A little flare from the sun has been captured unfortunately across the smokebox door of 44417, the result of not using a lens hood.
     
    The loco has just arrived with the morning goods from Evercreech Junction, but because it's a couple of hours until the next passenger train and the shunter is having lunch, the engine will probably be taken along to the shed for a pit stop before shunting its bounty out of the platform road into the goods yard.
     
    Scenes like this were once every day 50 or so years ago, and era when life was probably alot slower and simpler than it is today, or so my parents tell me who are from those times. I'm sure that there are few who wouldn't jump into a time machine for a few hours or even days to sample this little slice of lost Britain. But I wonder how many of us under the age of 50 would be able to cope with pre decimal currency when the landlord asked you for one shilling and thrupence and the local shop keeper 9d for a Mars Bar? Personally I'd put on a strange accent and act foreign to get around this issue. Clever people would simply take a pensioner with them or swat up before hand of course!
     
    Finescale modellers will I hope notice my nod to the Model Railway Journal with the typeface used here - I think quite suitable for this post.
  6. Chris Nevard
    nevard_120612_catcott_DSC_5788, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    Templecombe's 43216 is captured pottering about the sidings at Catcott Burtle on a bright but blustery day in magnificent summer of 1959. Click on the photo to get a bigger view.
     
    '59 was very similar to the summer of 2006, with hot temperatures and wall to wall sunshine running well into the autumn. This is probably one of the reasons why there are so many colour photographs from that year, colour films from that era being generally very slow and totally unsuitable for photography of moving trains unless the sun was out. Cameras in the 1950's compared to today where very expensive, especially if you wanted something with a lens faster than f2.8 which would have been needed to get a high enough shutter speed to stop a fast moving train on the mainline, even with the sun out much of the time.
     
    Catcott has been wrapped up since last autumn in a cat proof cocoon of black dustbin liners, mostly to stop Saffy our British Short Har from chewing the tops off signal posts. This she has done this twice, I'm not really sure of the attraction of etched brass and white metal, it's not as if she's teething and the vet gave her a clean bill of health just the other day at great expense. Why is it that cats always go for the bit that cost the most in time and skills?
     
    Cats aside, keeping the layout wrapped up has also kept it nice and fresh, dust being one of the main things that make a layout look tired, that and direct sunlight. Some think that dust makes a layout more realistic, the problem is that good lighting and a camera show it for what it is, 12 inch to the foot fluff and dead skin, mostly the latter I hasten to add! Tip: 'economy' black dustbin liners, split down either side make great lightweight layout covers that won't damage what's underneath.
     
    Since doing up the Bachmann Midland 3F I haven't had a chance to show it off on my rose-tinted portrayal of 'The Branch' (the home of the real engine for many years), so this was one of the reasons to get the layout out, as well as trying out a new 35mm f2 Nikkor which focuses extraordinarily close for such a lens, the result being the above. It will make a good partner to my 55mm Micro-Nikkor.
     
    This is an extract from my regular blog at www.nevardmedia.blogspot.com
  7. Chris Nevard
    nevard_120529_Bristol-LS_DSC_5233, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    At RAILEX over the weekend an hour or so before the show ended I finally got around to having my tour of inspection and came across this rather nice diecast EFE Bristol L.S in Southern National green livery on the hosting club's secondhand stall. The clincher being the Devenish Draught advert which sadly now promotes that long gone well loved Weymouth brewery.
     
    All starry eyed, I donned that dirty gabardine raincoat, greasy hair with comb-over, NHS specs, National Express holdall from 1970, an old bus timetable entwined in with my snotty hanky and broke into the £4 pocket money that mother had some kindly given to me along with corned beef and salad cream sandwiches - job done, and here it is posed on the nearest I have to a street scene on my various trainsets.
     
    In the latter half of the 1970's I lived in Dorset and recall the school bus was occasionally one of these, it was very clapped out and would often stall going up a 1 in 6 hill which was part of its windy route through the hills. The stalling would usually happen during an uphill gear change, and on one occasional we all had to disembark to make the coach lighter in an attempt to help the driving get it going into second gear. With the bus finally going at walking pace we all then got back on. Of course in today's world such would almost certainly involve death of nearly all involved, sacking of the driver and a very expensive televised inquest. The two surviving school children would then go in Britain's Got Talent or the X-factor and win with a sympathy vote. The school bus route would then be disbanded because it would be deemed far to dangerous and road deaths in the area would rocket due to 4 x 4 accidents from drivers on the school run.
     
    It's a very pretty bus though I'm sure you'll agree, and perfect for my Somerset based layouts. In due course it might become a superdetail/Workbench project, but not today because again the weather is far too nice, so a day in the garden beckons.
  8. Chris Nevard
    120527_railex12_DSC_5164, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    The annual Railex in Aylesbury on the weekend of 26th and 27th of May cued the beginning of summer like it so often does. I’m sat here in the garden with laptop taking advantage of the weather, our rather limp-wristed wi-fi just about giving me a signal strong enough to allow me to reflect on a fabulous weekend away from the more usual camera, sofa or modelling bench.
     
    Railex as always is in a very well lit supersized tin shed built for some Olympic thing a couple of decades ago, and excluding my poor effort hosted some of the best talent around in the toy chuffer world without disappointment. The Princes Risborough club have this knack of packing out the floor space with all sorts of gems from both modellers displaying what if added up must be hundreds of years of workmanship along with those sought after retailers (those all important men in sheds mostly) selling wonderful goodies no longer found in high street model shops – even if you have one that is!
     
    As an exhibitor, this was to be my 5th Railex, for some reason they wanted me to bring Brewhouse Quay http://nevardmedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Brewhouse%20Quay along, I’m not sure why, but I’m guessing it’s a good example of a quick ready to plop bodge in model making and how not to do it which isn’t really what the show is all about – it’s a show for better than that.
     
    For 4 years out of 5 I have been in the corner furthest from the door, which frequently is a quadrant of 1/76 scale layouts which this year consisted of the forever growing Bron Hebrog (OO) http://bronhebog.blogspot.co.uk/ , Albion Yard (OO) http://albionyard.wordpress.com/ , Canada Road (EM) http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/layout_canada.html , Diesels in the Duchy http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/12234-diesels-in-the-duchy-aka-st-blazey-dcc-em/ - all great company I’m sure you’ll agree!
     
    Of course there were many other equally fantastic layouts which can be found listed here http://www.railex.org.uk/railex2012l.html with reviews popping up on the various toy chuffer forums. Best Layout deservedly went to the lovely pre-grouping Penlan http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/1432-penlan-lnwr-in-south-wales-1910-em-gauge/ - a very worthy winner all the way from Cornwall depicting a lush part of the LNWR in Wales a little north of Swansea.
     
    Within 30 minutes of the doors opening curiously beer started to arrive, totally out of the blue some lovely Loose Canon Brewery http://www.lcbeers.co.uk/ draft ale from 7mm scale modeller and altogether top chap John Atkinson was passed over the fiddle yard. Before the smiles had faded Samuel Bennett – another altogether top chap and eager snapper I hasten to add, handed over 2 bottles of ale, one from Ascot Ales and another from the Windsor and Eton Brewery. Because I know that you chaps read my twaddle here, you be delighted to know that the *beer has now all gone* (jobsworths, please read the disclaimer at the bottom of this page) – the hot weather making it even more tasty – so CHEERS to you! The hoppy malty aroma of the ales helped the atmosphere of the brewery themed layout all too well. I might have to install handpumps next time the layout goes out!
     
    Despite felling a little squiffy from all the ale (more likely the heat), Brewhouse Quay worked well, with only one point switch-blade parting company from the copper clad tiebar – easily fixed with a dab of the soldering iron luckily. The Caboose Hobbies manual ground throws caused interest or irritation depending on whether you’re a ‘hand of god’ type of person or not. BQ uses 3 link coupling because they look good in photos mainly, so ‘hand of god’ to operate the points is only a little more intrusion.
     
    Thanks must go to the Railex team who as always do their best to make the show go well behind the scenes as well as ‘front of house’ ensuring a good experience for all.
     
    Finally my BIGGEST thank you must go to Graham Muspratt who gave up his whole weekend when he could have been enjoying BBQs and such, but instead helped operate Brewhouse Quay in a far more professional manner than I ever can.
     
    I’ve been asked about next year’s Railex but I do have a few overdue layout-operational debts to pay to other layout owners, I am also planning a modern themed 12 footer with DCC sound and actual mineral loading, but that’s another story….
     
    * Note for jobworths: The beer was drunk at home later, being drunk in charge of a model railway in a public place would be very irresponsible of course, driving over a layout spider would not be good.We did sample two bottles in our respective meal breaks for research purposes, and placed the empty bottle on the side of the layout to help with the atmosphere.
  9. Chris Nevard
    nevard_110921_leamington_DSC_3796_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    Posted in my external BLOG, hence slightly generic non-rail-nutter angle.
     
    The real world is full of things that don't quite conform to preconception, with us model makers often being the worst offenders (I'm really bad at this and have to kick myself from time to time), for this reason it’s so important to look at the real world. Luckily railways have always been well explored by camera lenses, so often research is only a key board away, or failing that the book shelf, the local library or heaven forbid the real thing.
     
    This bedazzled buffer stop Leamington Spa Station is something you’d never expect, and if you modelled it like in this photo here people would be queuing up to ask you when you’re going to finish it. I imagine with this one here this is as far as finishing will ever get, the ravages of time will take care of that aspect in due course.
     
    Leamington is a nice station to spend an hour of two, with great little touches like the flowering train here. There is a good variety of trains to photograph and the station staff don’t treat railway nutters with suspicion – how refreshing!
     

  10. Chris Nevard

    Car Train

    By Chris Nevard,

    120503_4-track_DSC_4363, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    As an alternative to a long wait for the Aust Car Ferry or a long drive via Gloucester, the 4.40pm Severn Tunnel Junction to Pilning car train is captured speeding up the 1/100 grade towards its destination on a dull summer day in 1958.
     
    The opening of the Severn Bridge saw the end of this service aimed at the more affluent car owner. The new bridge also saw the end to the quirky Aust Car Ferry, however those that wish a trip down memory lane can visit the derelict terminal, but beware it is on private property. For the train, well you'll just have to gloat at the toy chuffer here sadly.
     
    BIGGER version HERE!
  11. Chris Nevard
    120502_arnewharf_DSC_4315, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    You may have sen this photo in the photo-feed at the top of the index page, here's a little more about it......
     
    To those not familiar with some of my layouts, over the next few postings I'm going to have a look at some of the layouts I've built, starting off with Arne Wharf.
     
    Back in 2003 I'd only been back in the hobby for a year or so, and wanted to build something small and compact which could be taken to shows. Since the mid 1980's when previously in the hobby, scenic products and techniques had moved on in leaps an bounds, so Arne Wharf would also be a chance to try out some new products and techniques as well as having a bit of fun chopping up a Walthers Glacier Gravel Co kit.
     

    When at a show it's 4ft off the ground unlike here!
     
    Arne Wharf is modelled in 009 (representing 2'3" gauge) and totally contained within 3' x 2'. My interpretation is based on a fictitious line running from Arne to Wareham via Ridge & Stoborough on the Purbeck Peninsular. The line was built to transport ball clay, lime stone, salt and oysters in addition to general merchandise. One of the delights of this scale/gauge combination is that almost anything goes - making for enjoyable escapism free from the hobby's more serious element.
     
    The whole layout fits in a scenic footprint of 3ft x 2ft with and extra foot for a fiddle yard.
     
    I'm hoping to take this little layout along with Polbrock to Model Rail Live at Barrow Hill on the weekend of 22 & 23 September 2012.
  12. Chris Nevard

    Summer of '69

    By Chris Nevard,

    120429_4-track_DSC_4245, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    During the long hazy summer of '69, D6313 is captured near Great Wishford on the Wylye Valley route with a Westbury bound goods.
     
    The highly regarded Dapol Class 22 certainly looks the part on a secondary mainline with just a few wagons in tow. The unkempt finish and hazy light I think capturing the feel of the era which is now getting on for half a century ago. This is of course the era of free love, outdoor concerts and drug induced popular culture. Well, for a few dozen rich kids in Chelsea and Bath who could afford not to work and do very much as they wanted. For most, the 1960's was simply a little more plentiful and colourful than the 1950's, your normal working man still wore suits or overalls and had a short back and sides. These people are now all pensioners, which is quite scary to think, not because they're pensioners of course, just that it's now an awful long time ago.
     
    Talking of a more colourful world, colour TV kicked off in 1967 on the BBC, with ITV following a couple of years later. Most people didn't have colour sets until 1972, this being due to the Olympics being broadcast in colour for the first time, and I gather the Yen was also rather weak which helped. I do remember a 'posh lady' down the road had a colour set to watch the few programmes broadcast in colour, the thing I most remember was that she had the colour saturation wound up so high that skin tones were bright red. I imagine she wanted to make the most of her telly which in today's money would be several thousand pounds, that and of course the more expensive TV license.
     
    Back to the photo; you probably already know that this is the new(ish) Dapol Class 22 after a bit of weathering. I had thought of renumbering it, but I've never really been a number fanatic unless the former SDJR is involved, so for this reason it has remained as D6313. There so many variations between different locos, and because I'm in to atmosphere rather than number-crunching accuracy, I'd be opening myself up for a tirade of hate mail if I got the number wrong for the way the loco is detailed. But I get wound up about model railway bits that probably don't worry others, so each to to our own I guess (low pointless backscenes are my pet hate if you're asking).
    More pics of the Dapol Class 22 here.

  13. Chris Nevard

    Sunday Smog

    By Chris Nevard,

    120428_4-track_DSC_4215_BW, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    Sunday morning's bit of silliness is the replication of a stretch of mainline in South Wales with an ex-GWR pannier tank in possession of a rake of empties just having left the mainline. The 9F flying along behind has a load of freshly filled wagons heading for somewhere distant or maybe just Cardiff Docks.
     
    Sunlight has just started to penetrate the fog and pollution – also known as smog it was a typical feature of industrial Britain in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In those days everyone used to smoke, mostly because the nicotine filled air of the cigarette or pipe was probably less life threatening than the atmosphere around! In the western world we no longer have smog because we exported it to China and other far east manufacturing nations, they now do the dirty work that we used to perform because we became too expensive to make toy chuffers at the price we want to pay.
     
    Back to the photo above, this little set piece is just a table bound mock-up using various rolling stock track photo thingies and a few of the coal industry buildings I have been building up over the last couple of years. The smog is of course Photoshop because I have no means generating smoke indoors unless I burn the toast, smoke a big cigar or hire one of those threatre fog making machines.
  14. Chris Nevard

    The Old Days!

    By Chris Nevard,

    8404_smrs_expo_019, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    Earlier today I decided to upload a few 35mm negative scans of toy chuffers taken between 1981 and 1984. Many of them were taken down the long gone Southampton Model Railway Society clubrooms at Sholing Railway Station which housed Newhampton, a huge OO gauge out and back and duck under Southampton Terminus inspired layout. I remember that the standard of modelling at the time was generally a cut above the norm, with the miniature portrayal of the real Southampton Terminus buildings being quite stunning. I believe this layout still exists in private ownership, but would love to know if it is still operational. Newhampton's legacy lives on with Romsey which is built to a similar standard, and only recently retired from the exhibition circuit.
     
    Another nice little SMRS layout featured is Overcombe, a ficticious OO gauge 'could have been' branchline terminus up in the hills above Weymouth, I recall it even had a ball clay working. This layout I gather still exists too, and I wonder if the ball clay transfer shed is still in one piece that I built all those years ago? In those days I used kitchen foil that had been textured with a ball point pen in close parallel lines to create the effect of corrugated iron.
     
    Most of the other photos were taken at various railway exhibitions in the south-east, with the pinnacle seeing Chiltern Green & Luton Hoo in N gauge & 2 mm scale by The Model Railway Club at the IMREX event at Wembley in 1984. This layout really was impressive, and it was the first time I ever saw handbuilt 9mm gauge finescale track which looked incredibly fine and delicate. I've no idea if this layout still exists, but I believe this showing at IMREX was its last.
     
    If anyone can add anything to the captions feel free, you can reply here, or if a Flickr member comment on the photograps directly. Some of the captions I admit are a bit of guesswork, and of course traditional film doesn't contain EXIF data like a digital photo for dating purposes!
    Click here for the photographs

  15. Chris Nevard
    nevard_120130_combwich_IMG_2324, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    Photo: 30587 departs Combwich with the 2pm service to Stogursey.
     
    ...but in the ethos of populist journalism for the masses, today I'm not going to let historical accuracy get in the way of a good yarn!
     
    Until 1955, a light railway served the small town of Stogursey up in the Quantocks. This railway was part of a grand scheme to link the port town of Combwich with Watchet, but sadly the railway company owned by Sir Henry Nythe of Nether Stowey ran out of money only halfway into the line's construction in 1901.
     
    The lightly built railway, whist it never got to the GWR at Watchet, served numerous stone quarries on route and supported the local agricultural industry to a lessor degree. Passenger traffic, as with most of these railways was very light, with the sharp curves necessitating the use of short wheel base locomotives and rolling stock. The ex-GWR coach here being the last outpost of this 4 wheeled design. The Beattie Well Tank, whilst mainly known for their use on the Wenford Bridge line in Cornwall, were also used on the Stogursey line from 1952 to 1955, making this little known railway a popular destination for railway enthusiasts.
     
    For those readers living in the real Combwich and who keep emailing wanting more information about the railway, or to those living there who think that they know where the station used to be - the above is complete twaddle of course!
     
    For those who'd like to see a bigger version of the above photo, click HERE!
  16. Chris Nevard
    nevard_120125_class22_IMG_2312, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    Yesterday morning I opened the door to the porch to find this rather well packed parcel from Kernow Model Rail Centre sitting there in the form of the much awaited Dapol Class 22 - a very useful item, especially for those that model railways half a century ago anywhere west of Heathrow.
     
    I have yet to look at it properly, but was able to find a few moments to grab this snap of the compact little beast. Obviously the detail pack needs to be added along with separate panels that clip in below the body.
     
    I may well renumber this loco, though I know that there were many variations so I could be heading straight for a huge web of nit-pickers - even more than usual if I get that wrong with the number-obsessives. I did try collecting trains numbers once, it lasted for 1 about hour at Eastleigh station in the spring of 1981 before I got totally bored of what to me is a pointless activity - still, each to their own I guess! I have some good friends that collect loco numbers, so at least I now know that not everyone who does this is a nutter, but 30 mins at Tamworth Upper Level Station is enough to realise these good gentlemen are a rarity, but on the other hand, odd is interesting and cool - so, so what!
     
    The Class 22, or North British Type 2 Bo-Bo were mixed traffic locos, but lack of reliability meant that they tended to find work on less important services and were frequently seen on demolition trains on closed railways, where if they failed apart from the crew becoming marooned, were unlikely to mess up any schedule resulting in irate passengers! These locos in real life were pretty unreliable and generally unloved, so they mostly appear in photos looking more than a little worse for wear frequently with tatty worn paint - a weatherer's dream to recreate! For me it's a great choice, being ideal for the sort of backwaters I enjoy making, its compact size not over-powering the the small layouts.
     
    Whilst they only ever appeared on the SDJR after closure on demolition trains, one did briefly make an appearance at Glastonbury in 1964 on an inspection train - see this link. Something like that would make an interesting short train in miniature. Personally I can also see this loco being used on Cement Quay on the odd occasion I decide to back date the operation and of course it will fit in perfectly on Polbrock. All in all, a good buy! Well done Kernow and Dapol!
  17. Chris Nevard
    nevard_120123_45xx_DSC_1208, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    As mentioned in previous blog posts, the Astolat Model Railway Circle 2012 Expo in Guildford was to be Combwich's last outing for a while pending a total re-wire to take some of the lottery as to whether the layout will perform or not. Luckily, and much to my surprise the old girl, which has now turned 30, presented very few problems other than a dickie frog polarity switch under one of the run around crossover points. On the odd occasion it played up, a little kerfingerkerpoken (to paraphrase CK) under the baseboard adressed the issue, with most viewers probably not noticing the workaround.
     
    Curiously, Combwich's baseboard alignment was the best it's been since the early 1980's, ever seen since then, despite the layout living in dry domestic atmosphere, the baseboard join which splits station area in half always leaves the most distant siding behind the goods shed with anything up to a 1mm drop at rail height when all other roads are in perfect alignment. This isn't really a problem because it's more of less hidden from view and very few trains ever venture that far down the siding. My theory is that the environment at the Guildford show must similar to where the layout was orginally built; I always remember my parent's house being rather hot - actually it still is, and will no doubt get hotter as they get older which will be in harmony with the television getting louder!
     
    The photo above is of the latest newcomer, in the form of an ex-GWR 45xx. I've already blogged about this loco which will in due course be renumbered, but this photo shows the sort of landscape that suits it best. The Bridgwater service provided good reason for its inclusion on Saturday, with it really looking at home trundling in and out of Combwich with a B-Set or pick-up goods. The photo was taken with north facing natural window light, its low angle highlighting many the textures in the scene and soft warm colouring that I like to get into my model making.

    For photos of Combwich at the exhibition - click here.
    For a bigger version of the above photo - click here.
    Combwich.mov shot by Fungus McBogle at the Astolat Show last weekend:
    via @youtube

  18. Chris Nevard
    nevard_120119_combwich_DSC_1024, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    43216 arrives at at Combwich with the 2.15pm service from Evercreech Junction, August 1961
     
    Yesterday afternoon, Combwich was assembled for an up and under prior to this weekend's show in Guildford. Much to my surprise, it ran pretty well first off, apart from a slight problem with a Peco polarity switch being a tad lazy - next job will be to dismantle the layout and ship it down to the show which is just a couple of miles away. Fingers crossed it will behave itself upon reassembly. We shall see!
     
    The layout has for the last few months been stored vertically with the boards facing each other. I thought I'd stopped the cats getting in, but one of them has obviously managed to get inside, and in trying to escape pulled some of the Silfor grass matting adrift, a little PVA sorted that out. Luckily none of the buildings were damaged by the little darlings.
     
    Here is a bigger version of the above photo.
  19. Chris Nevard
    nevard_101106_wycrail_IMG_8340_web, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
    Wycrail, 6 November 2010. Note the cast of 'Last of the Summer Wine' in th foreground.
     
    Combwich hits the road again on Saturday 21 January at the Astolat Model Railway Circle annual show in Guildford.
     
    Combwich is 30 years old now, and whilst the layout has been contantly updated to give the impression of being far more youthful than it appears, the wiring dates right back to the early 1980's and is very overdue for a full replacement. For this reason, the show will most likely be the layout's last outing for the time being until that gastly job takes place.
     
    Fingers crossed everything will hold out for this one day show, it's rather like running an old English sports car with Lucas electrics, TLC being the best tool in the bag. However, if you see a lack of activity and hear rude language from under the baseboard, that will be me cursing some failed solder joint or wire!
    More about the Astolat Show here.
    More about Combwich here.

  20. Chris Nevard

    Old Sox

    By Chris Nevard,

    111216_rydes-hill_DSC_0157_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    This post isn't strictly about model railways, but an interest and understanding of the real world I think helps to make us better model makers. Lights like this are a doddle to make of course.
     
    As a model maker of mostly historical scenarios, I'm always on the look out for bits of 'olde England' to record for posterity to aid model making. Currently in Surrey, older street lighting is being updated with new low energy systems which can be controlled and monitored from a central remote point, the outcome being that power will be saved and failed lighting easily pin-pointed.
     
    In residential areas like the above in Guildford the familiar rich orange coloured low pressure sodium lights (known by lighting aficionados as SOX) are being replaced with white flourescent lamps, and on busier roads, pink high pressure sodium lamps (SON) are rapidly taking over due to a longer life and a slightly less overpowering monochromatic effect on colours.
     
    Sadly though it's not just a case of replacing the bulbs and control gear because many of the columns are suffering from internal corrosion and could be a danger hazard. This means that lights like the above are repidly becoming a thing of the past, with Rydes Hill in Guildford being one of the few roads left with these 1960's Stewart & Lloyd lights as I type this.
     
    When the above Corby manufactured lights were new, they would have probably had mercury vapour lamps emitting that familiar blue-green glow which would have been replaced with the 35w sodium lamps seen here in more recent times. Whilst it's sad to see these lights go, environmentally the newer 'white' lighting in residential areas does make for a more pleasant experience, like many I've never liked that sodium glow that works past any gaps in the bedroom curtains. As the orange sodium-polluted sky gets replaced with a soft whitish-green hue in the side roads, in a funny kind of way the effect is quite retro and must be more like those night-skies of the 1950's when mercury and tungsten mostly lit the way.
    More photos of older lighting here:

  21. Chris Nevard

    50's in the 80's

    By Chris Nevard,

    8405_barford_50020_p, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    50020 powers through Barford St Martin a few miles west of Salisbury with a Waterloo bound service during a rather splendid April day in 1984.
     
    It's incredible just how the railways have changed over just a couple of decades, for back in the 1980's the majority of long distance trains were loco-hauled. As a photography student in Salisbury during the mid-1980's, this meant that I was perfectly positioned to capture English Electric Class 50's on the Waterloo to Exeter service weather permitting.
     
    Luckily though, it is still possible to travel behind one of these powerful locos from time to time on the main line, albeit as stuffed tigers, but they do occasionally get hired out to TOCs for use on normal service trains from time to time.
     
    For a whole load more Class 50 photos like the above follow this link
     
     
    And if you'd like to see some Class 33's follow this link
  22. Chris Nevard

    Bachmann 3F

    By Chris Nevard,

    nevard111228_bachmann3F_DSC_0671b_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
     
    The new Bachmann 3F you may recall from before Christmas, has now received its final session of weathering after a renumbering to Templecombe's 43216. I tend to weather engines in stages, breaking for a day to two to appraise the effect under the layout's lighting and how it looks in relation to the layout and other stock. I like to get a uniform but not necessarily totally even look between engines and other items of rolling stock so nothing stands out too much.
     
    After looking at several colour photographs of this particular engine on the former SDJR I noticed that the smokebox area was frequently rusty, probably due to excessive heat effecting the paint. Apart from that, they had a slightly oily sticky appearance which would have attracted soot and grime. "Imagine Christmas Pudding smeared all over the engine rather than Barry Scrapyard" I recall somebody many years ago saying down a railway club.
     
    This is a good looking engine, especially now a bit of fake patina really highlights the fine detail. But one thing I hadn't really noticed until last night when weathering the tender frames, was the crazy positioning of the tender brake shoes, despite reading about them but obviously not taking on board the recent excellent Model Rail review on this very subject.
     
    If you click on the link below to bring up a bigger photo, it's very obvious that the brake shoes are flush with the tender frame sides and nowhere near the wheels. They're so far out that I'm sure sure even if it was regauged to Irish broad gauge they wouldn't be anywhere near!
    Bigger version http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/6588011739/sizes/l/in/set-72157625418433737/

    As yet I haven't done anything about this, but now the weathering tends to highlight the flaw even more so, in due I'll be ordering some bits from one of the plethora of men-in-shed-suppliers to address what I'm hoping will just be a matter of cutting the shoes away and replacing with some brass or white metal bits.
     
    Anyway, above we have the usual pretty photo, today's one being of the grubby little fella complete with my usual load of old bull;
     
    'After working the empty return trip from Bath Green Park Goods down to the sidings at Brewhouse Quay, we see Templecombe's 43216 resting before the fully loaded return trip. This trip, the last of the day was always popular with certain crews if near the end of shift (Drivers mainly!) because it left at 7.15pm which allowed for a few pints in the nearby brewery tap bar; the fireman was then given the dubious honour of driving the loco back to Bath Goods!
  23. Chris Nevard

    Dirty Beattie!

    By Chris Nevard,

    Beattie Well Tank No. 30587 trundles through the open crossing at Polbrook with a freight from Wenfordbridge to Wadebridge on a sultry summer day in 1957.
    111204_polbrock_IMG_2088_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    "She smells a bit but has a heart of gold", as coined by John Cleese when introducing his slightly less than fresh wife at a drinks party on a well known Monty Python sketch.
     
    Here though I'm writing about Kernow Model Rail Centre's recently released Beattie Well Tank. The model supplied is quite delightful in pristine shiny black, any weathering being left to the modeller. Locos in service were generally a little grubby and had an acrid smell of hot oil, steam and soot - this aroma being perfume to steam fanciers
     
    My method is to brush on a sludge of water based black acrylic and weathering powders, then wipe most of it of. These locos were generally quite well kept, so to reflect much use of an oily rag to give a nice sheen, Humbrol Metalcote was drybrushed on here and there to give a metallic oily look. To complete the effect, three link couplings have also been added, though I have still to remove the socket under the buffer beam used for the supplied tension lock couplings. I have also added one of the supplied distinctive Southern Railway route disks that sits just in front of the chimney.
    Bigger version of the above photo HERE!

  24. Chris Nevard
    111205_polbrock_IMG_2125_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.
     
    The Pedant &Armchair is now fully open and is complete with appropriate signage on the front. The nearby railway also has warnings to warn of its presence, but of the course the clientele would never dream of wandering onto the line because they almost certainly read government health and safety guides before going to bed. They are also unlikely to be drunk, 'mother' would never allow it.
     
    I just need to think of a suitable name for the licensee to post above the door, thoughts?
     
    Thanks to Troels Kirk for the inspiration.
  25. Chris Nevard
    Train nuts aren't known for having the most positive outlook on life, here are a few comments I've picked up over recent times, many on internet forums sadly.
     
    Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg, but I'm sure you can add some real corkers (don't be too rude though, this is not my website)....
    Didn't buy that mag because it was plastic bagged
    Hope they do it in N gauge soon
    Why do I have to pay for it?
    There's nothing in it for me
    Photography, these days it's all Photoshop!
    Not enough modern image
    Not enough steam
    Not enough Z gauge
    Too expensive
    Help me, I don't know what to model
    Which scale is right for me?
    Armchair
    You don't want to do it like that, you want to do it like this!
    That question has been answered many times before, why didn't you think of using the search function?
    Not enough time to make a layout because I don't know how to turn the computer off!
    I hate television
    Grrr, the X-factor!
    Don't like gurls
    The car parking is dreadful at that show
    Lima class 50s look much better than Hornby ones
    Female
    Mother has lovely hands
    They never reply to my emails
    Said engine
    Said poster
    S&D means Stockton and Darlington not the Somerset & Dorset!
    My mate said he saw a Deltic on the SDJR in 1961
    Giving up and taking up stamp collecting
    They don't do the number I want
    They don't do the colour I want
    Warley parking is far too expensive
    Prototype or fiction?
    Prototype is better!
    Fiction is better!
    I want mummy
    Don't like colour
    Don't like B&W
    Giving up
    I don't smell
    I stink because I wash in beer once a year!
    My rucksack is bigger than yours
    I ordered a Bachmann 3F 3 years ago and I'm still waiting
    Ex-pat; why don't I get the same deal as UK readers?
    It's not fair 'cos I can't afford it
    Too many adverts
    Help!
    Can I get Waterloo onto a sheet of 4 x 2 in O gauge?
    Mummy!
    Why don't manufacturers make that loco?
    P4 is better than S4
    It's my trainset
    Bad grammar
    Youth of today
    Why don't magazines employ proof reader?
    That feature on the Class 87 was all wrong, they should have asked here first!
    In my day...
    Divorced
    Off to put the kettle on
    Just dropped onto the doormat
    Can't wait, mine was posted today!
    Lost my modelling mojo
    Why don't gurls like me?

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