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Ian J.

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Blog Entries posted by Ian J.

  1. Ian J.
    Fitting the dowels to board number 11 for connection to board 5 has worked much better. Firstly, I drilled the recesses to 28mm rather than 26, meaning I had more wriggle room in the alignment on board 11. I used more quick set epoxy this time, so that edges were filled as well as back surface. This seems to have gripped the dowel much better. I used a thin piece of paper (an old Tescos receipt) between the connection to prevent them gluing together while the two boards were clamped together upside down on a flat kitchen floor. Letting them set in this way has meant the top surfaces are about as level with each other as they could be. Board 11 is an old 3 foot outer radius curve from a build for a test track I did long ago. It's top surface at that end wasn't entirely flat, so that will need sanding down to bring it level with board 5's top surface. It needs sanding down anyway as it has detritus on it from the previous test track usage.
     
    Some pics below show the finished position, and how the intermediate expansion board 9 has to be able to fit reliably between 11 and 5. I've yet to do the dowels on 9's 'B' end for connection to 11's 'A' end. The trickiest part of the whole fitting is making sure the pilot holes for the dowel screws are exactly dead centre in the dowel holes. If they aren't exactly centred, they stand a chance of pulling the dowel part out of position, glue or no glue.
     
    Now that I know my retro fitting 'system' works, I feel more confident of applying it to the rest of the boards, new and old
     

     

     

     

     

     
     
     
     
     
  2. Ian J.
    So the first dowel fitting didn't quite work well enough. I used small blobs of epoxy to try and hold the back sides of the dowel parts to the recess in the plywood end, but its hold on the metal is just to fragile. The parts moved and the end result is a 1mm error. I can use sheets of paper built up in layers to raise track on the 'lower' side for this join, but I need to have a different glue of some kind to hold the dowel parts properly for future joins. I'm now thinking of Original Gorilla Glue as that has a filling nature, though it needs moisture to activate. Alternatively, I'm wondering if 'No More Nails' could be put in and the dowel part pressed into it, filling the area around such that it stops any up/down/left/right movement, even if it doesn't grip the metal of the dowel properly. I will need to experiment.
     
    Forstner bit and drilled recesses in board 5:

     
    Dowel parts in board 9:

     
    Two boards together, held with clamp:

     
    'Top' of boards in position:

     
    Side of boards, showing alignment smooth with no error while exposy glue is hardening:

     
    Side of boards with dowels screwed into place, showing boards out of alignment (slight offset of camera):

     
    Side of boards with dowels screwed into place, showing boards out of alignment (camera exactly positioned for top surface):

     

     
  3. Ian J.
    The six main boards and the four add-ons/expanders are now structually complete. There's a bit of a bigger gap between number 5 and number 1 than I would like (approx 1mm more than I'd like) but I don't think I can lessen the gap within the boards. The thought has occurred to me to pad the gap, so that is probably what I will do when the time comes.
     

     
    The next job is fitting the pattern maker alignment dowels, which I'm not looking forward to despite having the necessary tools for the job (forstner bits and a powerful mains powered electric drill with variable speed)
     
    Then I have to work out how to set up legs for them to stand on...
  4. Ian J.

    A quick update

    By Ian J.,

    Boards numbered 5, 8, 1 and 4 are now structurally 'complete'. 1 really didn't want to go together properly, it just had loads of little issues that needed correcting. 4 has a significant amount of twist on initial screwing together. I'm hoping that having dissassembled for gluing and reassembling, then putting a fair amount of heavy weight on its corners and edges, it will set in place with less or no twisting apparent.
     
    No pics, I'm too tired now, but once all the fiddleyards boards are structurally put together, I'll post pics of them. There are two more main boards, then four smaller add-in/spacer boards.
  5. Ian J.
    The first board (numbered 5) is now assembled. The cutting of the holes was very 'splintery'. I need to come up with a way to reduce the sheer amount of splinters that come off the cut plywood (both for the holes and the edges). I'm wondering if varnishing now might not be a bad idea to help seal up the edges. Another idea is to put insulation tape on the straight edges. I don't know how I could do the sam with the hole edges though.
     

     

     

     

  6. Ian J.

    Some Assembly Required

    By Ian J.,

    The build begins. I've cut 'bolster' pieces of 2x1 for screwing the curved sections to, together with cutting a fair few (but not yet enough) stanchion pieces. The first board is now at the end of its initial build stage. There's crossbeams and diagonal strengtheners to go in to stop the board being able to twist (which it is doing ever so slightly), but it's pretty flat considering. There's also a bit of tidy up work on one corner where the outer curve is a couple millimetres too long. Otherwise, looking good
     
    Underside showing stanchions and bolsters:

     
    Topside:

     
    Topside with template:

     

     
  7. Ian J.

    Grooving the Route

    By Ian J.,

    The outer frame lengths have now had their grooves cut, completed without so much pain in my hands trying to use a saw, thanks to a routing attachment for my Dremel
     
    They are now easier to bend, but they'll still need some kind of supports inside the boards they attach to to hold the curves in place. So that's my next job, cutting a number of short lengths of 2x1 timber for those supports.
     

  8. Ian J.

    Planks for the Memory

    By Ian J.,

    The strips of plywood have been cut to length for all the outer frame parts of the boards. There's some additional cutting to do for reinforcing the board ends so they can take alignment dowels. The ply is only 6mm thick, so not deep enough to drill for the dowel parts and still have something to put screws into. Also, cross members still need to be added, but I'm waiting till the outer frames are in place before sizing up and cutting those.
     

  9. Ian J.

    A Logo for the S&P

    By Ian J.,

    A bit of playing around in MS Word 2010 for a modern style logo. Imperfect, but then so is MS Word:
     

     
    I need to come up with a more traditional one, but they're somewhat complex to design so that might be a while, if ever.
     
    I've marked out the frames for the fiddleyard boards on a set of plywood strips that I had cut may years ago. I hope to cut them to their lengthwise sizes tomorrow.
  10. Ian J.

    The Project

    By Ian J.,

    The idea of the S&PR - The Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway - is for a series of related model railway boards that will utilize materials I already have but don't fit any particular prototype. As such, the model would represent a heritage line with some commercial freight operation on it. It is set in a fictional landscape and as such can't be directly linked to any existing lines or geography, but it gets pretty much all its ideas from the Hampshire - Dorset - Devon coastal area and as such is L&SWR / SR / BR(S) in operation, if not in construction.
     
    No actual modelling or construction work can happen at the moment due to life circumstances getting in the way. This blog is then a statement of intent, with a lot of high level thinking about what I hope to be able to do sometime in the future.
     
    The next posting will be a potted history of the line, followed by a summary of a run along it.
  11. Ian J.
    I've cleaned up and checked alignment (by eye) the six main boards for the fiddle yard throats left and right. The images here show them on the largest flattest area I have at the moment, my kitchen floor. The room where they will eventually be set up is a bit clogged with detritus at the moment:
     

     
    There is a little bit of warping visible in the left lower centre board, but that will be flattened out once the framing is done:

     
    There is the odd gap that looks worse in the images than in actual reality:

     

     

     
    The more noticeable gaps between upper and lower curves are not critical as no track will be running over them, and they're close enough to my eye to be OK:

     

     
    Again, the slight warping is visible here, but will go once framed:

     
    Overall I'm reasonably pleased at how they have turned out.
     

     
    Next I have to tidy up the four small spacer boards, then get everything framed up.
     
  12. Ian J.
    Today I have been mostly jigsawing - with the grateful help from a friend for somewhere to work where noise and mess aren't an issue, the six primary throat boards and the four small ancilliary boards for the fiddleyard have been cut. They need some cleaning up due to splintering and a not entirely accurate cut line, but that shouldn't be too difficult with my electric hand sander here at home. It'll still be noisy but nowhere near as much as using the jigsaw
  13. Ian J.
    Due to changes in the way I've interpreted landscape and geology, I've modified the line's route, so below is the new Run Along The Line:

    "From the large market town of Sayersbridge situated on the north-east bank of the River Stur, the main line to Exeter crosses the river by a low embankment to reach the south-west side where the line to Penmouth diverges to the south. It passes through the wooded area of Cold Holt before emerging onto low rolling arable farming land. Further south it reaches the shallow valley of Bere Dene and its halt, where the Arn Stream tributary starts its descent towards the coast. The line crosses by a small bridge to get to the east side of the vale, which it follows until reaching the station for the two villages of Arnford (East and West on either side of the stream). Afterwards the land starts becoming more hilly as we see the Step Ridge in the distance. The station at Dunstow follows, then the line runs through the old hunting forest of Frith before reaching West Frith Station. Shortly after, the branch to Knightonmore splits away to the east at Frith Junction, while the primary line continues south to Ceorfan, the gap in the Step Ridge where the Arn Stream joins the Freme River for its journey to the English Channel. Weytonwell Village follows on the south side of the Ridge, and then passes the quarry where Weyton Stone is extracted. The line descends the steep bank down to the Freme Inlet and Estuary, passing Stokestone station midway. A mile after the bottom of the bank is Stokeholme Halt where the old pottery wharf has become a yacht marina. The line then curves west over the stone sea wall across the inlet mouth, slowing for the swing bridge in the middle. Onwards the line runs along the Jurassic coastline to the west until it reaches the coastal halt of Sto Sands, situated between the beach and the cliffs, with the small village of Sto in the chine behind. Further west still and we reach the outskirts of the large town of Tynworth as the inland cliffs gently descend to sea level and to the centre of Tynworth. Here the passenger journey used to end and only freight continued, but now passengers can continue west to go past the sizable port of Penmouth, and afterwards reach the terminating halt for the popular tourist destination of the outcrop of land known as 'The Pen', accessed by an artifical causeway on foot.
     
    The Branch leaves the primary line at Frith Junction and passes to the north of Step Ridge, the chalk feature that splits the inland fertile land from the rocky coast to its south, first reaching Grange Knowle. Then it carries on to Steepleham Station, the town for which is situated on the Ridge above the line. It then meanders on eastwards to Knightonmore Station where the passenger services terminate. A more recent extension of the line carries on to Arnbrook to provide rail access to the recently established oil well site."
     
    The history has been tweaked as well, but is substantially the same as previously:
     
    "In 1860, the port of Penmouth was a smallish port on the Wessex coast, with only turnpikes to get goods in from and out to the country. The port commissioners, seeing the 'success' of the London and South Western Railway's routes to the West Country, consulted with the town council of Tynworth and other nearby local landowners on the building of a railway to connect with the nearest main line. The route decided on a connection at Sayersbridge, and construction commenced in 1861. Completion of the route was in 1863, with opening on Monday, 4th of May that year. The line was owned independently by the Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway Company Limited (the S&PR for short, but known as 'the Sap' colloquially) but was operated by the London & South Western Railway until 1868, when the financial troubles of 1866 finally caught up with the owners and they sold out to the L&SWR.
     
    The port of Penmouth and its town of Tynworth flourished once the railway was running, and became quite significant both for trade and population. Most of the route served small village and farming populations, and private landowners, with the only intermediate settlement of any size between Sayersbridge and Tynworth being the split town of East and West Arnford.
     
    The earthworks of the line were for most of its length built with double track in mind, but as a cost saving measure many of the bridges were single track only, and of somewhat light construction. The plan had been to replace these once the prominence of the port increased, but with the 1866 financial crisis and the ensuing buyout by the L&SWR in 1868 and an insufficient improvement in traffic, these were never upgraded to double and the line has stayed single for its entire life. It was always mainly a freight line, but its passenger service was adequate to the modest local needs. No direct trains to London were ever run regularly, although occasionally attempts were made to do so, particularly in the 1950s when post-war holidays could be taken and visits to Sto Sands were popular. The line survived the Beeching cuts of 1963/4 due to its freight usage, but with the construction of a dual carriageway direct to Penmouth in the late 60s, the freight disappeared from the line and the remaining passenger usage was simply not enough to keep it running. In 1974 the line was closed, despite an inevitable campaign to retain it.
     
    The campaign to keep it open morphed into a preservation movement, and enough support was gained to prevent the wholesale selling off of the trackbed. From that point on the S&PR Preservation Society managed to slowly reopen the line, with the only track formation obstacles being a few private residence ingresses and the removal of a number of the lightweight bridges. These had been in a poor state and had been dismantled for safety. The opportunity was taken to replace them with double track bridges as each one was arrived at during the 22 years it took to get from Tynworth to Sayersbridge. This meant that by 1996 the line's infrastructure was finally capable of double track throughout, something the line had never achieved while in national ownership. The line was still single track but it became feasible to put in a second line if traffic levels demanded it. After privatisation of the national network in the early 1990s and the reconnection with the national network in 1996, the prospect of commercial freight using the line raised its head. One of the first private freight arrangements was an extension of the branch line to Arnbrook for rail access to the oil well there. An arrangement for regular stone traffic from Weytonwell Quarry was started in 2000, to be followed by some occasional traffic of exports and imports of bulk freight to and from the port. This has allowed the line to improve its infrastructure to allow running speeds of 50 mph when non-heritage services are running. The heritage services use stock not now considered safe enough for such speed, so they are still restricted to the 25 mph limit. A commercial passenger service for commuting has been proposed that will use modern stock and only run in the mornings and evenings, but this would mean the heritage services would have to be stopped slightly earlier on such days. With the freight traffic, consideration for doubling the line has been given, but the freight movements as at time of writing are not thought sufficient to do so and there is no benefit to the heritage operation to implement a second track throughout.
     
    Additional to the loss of some of the bridges after closure, a number of the stations were demolished along with most of the original railway buildings such as goods sheds and signal boxes. These have been replaced either with imported non-S&P originals from various locations around the country, or new builds where no suitable pre-existing replacements could be sourced.  
     
    The colours of the buildings of the original S&PR were dark blue and cream. The stock was the same, with locomotives in plain dark blue, but these were repainted in L&SWR colours after the sale to that company. In SR days the station colours changed to green and cream. The preservation movement became a limited company in the early 2000s, with a rebranding exercise giving the operation the name 'Wessex Rail'. Some of the locomotives and stock have been repainted in Prussian Blue with double gold lining, the livery having been 'borrowed' from the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The buildings have taken the original S&P dark blue and cream.
     
    The line now flourishes in three ways: firstly, it's a heritage line running steam and diesel trains for visitors; secondly, it has commercial freight traffic adding a useful cashflow; thirdly, and not lastly, it will likely run a scheduled service between Tynworth and Sayersbridge using a couple of leased 'modern' units for commuters."
     
    Next I'm going to work out what would be the best places for the 'vignettes' that could be constructed to show different aspects of the line. There are of course the stations:
     
    Primary Line: Sayersbridge, Cold Holt, Bere Dene, Arnford, Dunstow, West Frith, Weytonwell, Stokestone, Stokeholme, Sto Sands, Tynworth, Penmouth (for The Pen)
    Branch: Grange Knowle, Steepleham, Knightonmore
     
    Apart from the stations themselves, I have some ideas for others already:
     
    Sayersbridge Embankment
    Frith Junction
    Arnbrook Oil Depot
    Arnbrook Clay Pit
    Ceorfan Viaduct
    Weytonwell Quarry
    Stoke Sea Wall Swing Bridge
     
    I'm thinking of having MoD land somewhere, but I don't know which station would be its railhead as I haven't planned that far ahead yet.
     
  14. Ian J.
    A little update. I've tweaked the plan for the fiddleyard to get it to work with the 15 feet 4 inches room it could be set up in, such that I can work on 8 foot vignettes. Previously it had been measuring 15 feet 7 inches in length and that of course wasn't going to fit. The tweaks on the throats have brought it to 15 feet 2.5 inches, allowing a little bit of leeway:
     

     
    I've printed out the throat boards, sellotaped them together and cut them out so I have full size templates. Those have been outlined onto existing plywood boards I have ready for cutting whenever I can find a suitable place/time to do so.
     
    I've also ordered the first few of the turnouts so that I can check them against the templates before any cutting takes place, and also to check that trains can run through them smoothly. I've read that with so many facing points in a line that might cause issues, so I want to be reasonably sure they are suitable.
  15. Ian J.
    Hi all,
     
    So, after some help here with arranging the throat parts of a fiddleyard, below is a picture (from Anyrail) of the arrangement I'm likely to settle on for the common fiddleyard parts that I hope to use for various 'vignettes' of the S&P's line. It's designed on the principle of 'adaptable modularity', so that different lengths and widths of arrangement, and different track exit positions on the scenic sections, can be made and the fiddleyard parts should always be able to be connected to them.
     

     
    I have used Peco Code 83 for the side 'throat' and curve sections. I have a fair bit of old Peco Code 75 that I intend to use for the straight yard boards. For the scenic sections (in mauve) my intention is to use something like C&L or Exactoscale components. The wiring will be DCC only, with multiple buses (track power+signal; 12v acc power; 16v acc power; lighting power) using circuit breakers for each point board and/or related boards so that wrong running into points set against won't stop being able to change the point's position.
     
    I'm hoping to be able to build my own MERG point accessory decoders to power already acquired Tortoises, Fulgurex and Peco Solenoid motors.
     
    The curve boards already exist from part of an old test track layout from where I used to live in London. Minimum curve is therefore approx 32in/812mm. Stock will have back to backs adjusted to improved running, and check rails on the Code 83 pointwork may need adjusting, but as they are metal, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a problem.
     
    I've learnt a bit more about how to align the boards using pattern makers alignment dowels, particularly how to retrofit them to my existing boards of my own construction. I'm hoping that means I can reuse them rather than dismantle and discard (for recycling, if I have to).
     
    As I work through ideas in my head, Sayersbridge (the S in S&P) is turning out to be something of an analogue for Salisbury. However, it's very important to realize it isn't Salisbury as in my fictional geography it sits somewhere between Salisbury and Exeter. As such it's taking on a significant flavour of Salisbury, but with more than a dash of Templecombe and Yeovil thrown in, together with some unique elements. There are a number of differences to how it would look (nothing like Salisbury from a buildings point of view), and a few differences as to what would be running through it and terminating at it. I hope that goes some way to explaining some of my question threads regarding what services ran on the Waterloo - Exeter services.
     
    Sayersbridge, however, is too big for me to tackle at the moment. So my focus will be on the 'vignettes' of sections and stations on the S&P line proper. I think that's more manageable for now.
     
     
  16. Ian J.

    Further Thought

    By Ian J.,

    Recently I've been thinking through the geography for the line, and I believe I've come up with a slightly tighter version than that in the last posting.
     
    The town of Sayersbridge is on the North East bank of a wide-ish river flood plain, flowing from the North West to the South East. The main Southern Region station in Sayersbridge is situated towards the South East edge of the town, and the main line through it travels East North East to West South West. This means the flood plain embankment is of double track width construction with two tracks in place for the main line, and not one for the Penmouth branch as I originally had in mind.
     
    The Penmouth branch diverges after the main line reaches the South West bank of the flood plain. It travels up gently rising countryside scenery until it gets to a point where it begins a steep descent to a different river's coastal inlet that runs approximately North-South. Once down that incline it travels the Eastern bank of that inlet on the level for a couple of miles or so until it reaches the inlet mouth where it makes a fairly tight right curve to cross the inlet's mouth via a substantial breakwater construction. This is where the 'need' for a swing bridge came in so that boats have access to the inlet from the English Channel, and why I recently asked a question about moveable bridge speed limits here on RMweb. Once past the inlet's West edge corner with the coast, the line follows the coast for a few miles of sandy beaches until it reaches Tyneworth, and following that the port of Penmouth.
     
    One thing that has gone is the idea for a diversion earlier on in the line for a landowner's benefit. That's now a simple branch, with a connection in the direction of Penmouth somewhere before the descent down the bank to the inlet. That branch, in modern times, has a connection at the very end to an oil well head (not unlike Furzebrook, but terminating with no additional line like the Swanage branch has). So there is an idea for running oil trains out, but to be realistic these wouldn't run while steam is active on the 'preserved' line so would likely be night runners at the weekend, or be delayed for weekday running when steam isn't active (except in the Summer period).
     
    As before, my life is still 'in recovery', so everything is slow progress.
  17. Ian J.
    Finally, after struggling with living at a friend's in a tiny room and then ending up getting work, only to end up moving to a place on my own again in August 2018, my mind is slowly starting to get something of its previous self back together. I'm not 'all there yet', but I'm a few steps further down the road.
     
    One subject that is getting some 'neural energy' is my fictional railway line idea. I have been thinking about geography, geology, and the like, and have thought that my original line route was a little off. So I'm making some adjustments.
     
    The town of Sayersbridge will be on a flood plain, with the Penmouth line making its way southwards via an embankment across the plain and the river's channels, to meet the gently rising edge of the river valley. Then it will follow another, smaller river's route as it makes its way up and through the uphills that occur before the coast. To get back to sea level there will be a bank to travel down, then a 'sharp' right turn to align with the coast, before ending up at Penmouth.
     
    I will need to do a basic track route and gradient diagram to suit, so I can confirm that I'm happy with the idea.
     
    I've thought more of Sayersbridge itself, and that would be far to big a station to model in a modest space, so that will have to wait for another time. So I think my first actual 'layout' would be a very simple affair with two four foot by two foot boards, level, representing the flood plain south of Sayersbridge, with an embankment for the line. A few simple details like a bridge for the line over a river channel, a few anglers, a small boat or two, not much else, other than pasture land, reed embankments on the river channel, and the river channel water itself. Plenty to practice and learn in constructing. I have existing boards that will probably serve quite well, but they will need clearing of my last abortive attempt to make a layout first.
     
    There won't be much progress at first as I still need to clear space in the room where the build will occur and that's a more detailed and time consuming set of tasks than I thought they would be. But thoughts and ideas are heading in the right direction (touch wood that nothing comes up that scuppers everything, as has had a tendency to happen in the past).
  18. Ian J.

    A Potted History (Fictional)

    By Ian J.,

    In 1860, the port of Penmouth was a smallish port on the Wessex coast, with only turnpikes to get goods in from and out to the country. The port commissioners, seeing the 'success' of the London and South Western Railway's routes to the West Country, consulted with the town council of Tyneworth and other nearby local landowners on the building of a railway to connect with the nearest main line. The route decided on a connection at Sayersbridge, and construction commenced in 1861. Completion of the twenty-nine mile route was in 1863, with opening on Monday the 4th of May that year. The line was owned independently by the Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway Company Limited (the S&PR for short, but known as 'the Sap' colloquially) but was operated by the London & South Western Railway until 1868, when the financial troubles of 1866 finally caught up with the owners and they sold out to the L&SWR.
     
    The port of Penmouth and its town of Tyneworth flourished once the railway was running, and became quite significant both for trade and population. Most of the route served small rural village and farming populations, and private landowners, with the only intermediate settlement of any size between Sayersbridge and Tyneworth being the town of Arneford.
     
    The earthworks of the line were for most of its length built with double track in mind, but as a cost saving measure many of the bridges were single track only, and of somewhat light construction. The plan had been to replace these once the prominence of the port increased, but with the 1866 financial crisis and the ensuing buyout by the L&SWR in 1868 and an insufficient improvement in traffic, these were never upgraded to double and the line has stayed single for its entire life. It was always mainly a freight line, but its passenger service was adequate to the modest local needs. No direct trains to London were ever run regularly, although occasionally attempts were made to do so, particularly in the 1950s when post-war holidays could be taken and visits to Sto Sands were popular. The line survived the Beeching cuts of 1963/4 due to its freight usage, but with the construction of a dual carriageway direct to Penmouth in the late 60s, the freight disappeared from the line and the remaining passenger usage was simply not enough to keep it running. So in 1974 the line was closed, despite a campaign to retain it.
     
    The campaign to keep it open morphed into a preservation movement, and enough support was gained to prevent the wholesale selling off of the trackbed. From that point on the S&PR Preservation Society managed to slowly reopen the line, with the only track formation obstacles being a few private residence ingresses and the removal of a number of the lightweight bridges. These had been in a poor state and had been dismantled for safety. The opportunity was taken to replace them with double track bridges as each one was arrived at during the 22 years it took to get from Tyneworth to Sayersbridge. This meant that by 1996 the line's infrastructure was finally capable of double track throughout, something the line had never achieved while in national ownership! The line is currently still single track but it is now feasible to put in a second if traffic levels demand it. After privatisation of the national network in the early '90s and the reconnection with the national network in '96, the prospect of commercial freight using the line raised its head. An arrangement for regular stone traffic from Weytonwell Quarry was started in 2000, to be followed by some occasional traffic of exports and imports of bulk freight to and from the port. This has allowed the line to improve its infrastructure to allow running speeds of 50 mph. Not all stock is considered suitable for that so some services are still restricted to the 25 mph limit. With the freight traffic, consideration for doubling the line has been given, but the freight movements as at time of writing are not thought sufficient to do so and there is no benefit to the heritage operation to implement a second track throughout. There are plans to put in double track in a [couple of places] to ease operation in the Summer when both the freight and heritage operations are running simultaneously.
     
    Additional to the loss of some of the bridges after closure, a number of the stations were demolished along with most of the original railway buildings such as goods sheds and signal boxes. These have been replaced either with imported non-S&P originals from various locations around the country, or new builds where no suitable pre-existing replacements could be sourced.
     
    The colours of the buildings of the original S&PR were dark blue and cream. The stock was the same, with locomotives in plain dark blue, but these were repainted in L&SWR colours after the sale to that company. In SR days the station colours changed to green and cream. The preservation movement became a limited company in the early 2000s, with a rebranding exercise giving the operation the name 'Wessex Rail'. Some of the locomotives and stock have been repainted in Prussian Blue with double gold lining, the livery having been 'lifted' from the S&DJR's colours. The buildings have taken the original S&P dark blue and cream.
     
    The line now flourishes in three ways: firstly, it's a heritage line running steam and diesel trains for visitors; secondly, it has commercial freight traffic adding a useful cashflow; thirdly, and not lastly, it now runs a scheduled service between Tyneworth and Sayersbridge using a couple of leased 'modern' units for commuter and shopping passengers.
  19. Ian J.
    I've been working on reworking some javascript code I found online to produce a gradient profile using the Canvas element from HTML5. This is my initial gradient profile for the S&PR:
     

     
    Any feedback gratefully accepted. I would prefer to make corrections and modifications to the gradients sooner rather than later to save hassle, even though the generator can handle the data independently of the drawing better than the original code could
     
    Edit: profile replaced with an updated one with the incorrect level at Arneford fixed.
  20. Ian J.

    I forgot I had a blog...

    By Ian J.,

    Wow, I forgot I had this blog, such is the kicking to my life I've had over the last half-decade.
     
    Well, since the last entry I've even managed to lose the independent roof over my head and I'm having to rent a piddling little room in a friend's home as a lodger while all my stuff sits languishing in a container at a storage site, so all modelling has come to a complete stop. It's not fun for so many reasons
     
    However, from time to time I still think about modelling and building a model railway, in the hope that one day I will have somewhere to do such. Consequently I've been thinking about something without any specific known history in order to just 'use what I have' rather than try to build to a known history or geography.
     
    I've come up with a reasonable length (20+ miles) fictional heritage line that would be somewhere on the 'Wessex' coast, but it wouldn't be in the specific geography that actually exists, though it would be inspired by that. This allows me the freedom to create locations as I see fit.
     
    As a heritage line I can get away with stations closed having been demolished. These could consequently have been replaced either with imported buildings from other parts of the country, or 'new builds'. It would also allow me to run what stock I want (it's not intended to entirely reflect any known heritage running practice). This will allow me to use buildings and other items 'willy nilly'. Perhaps that's not to many people's tastes, but it uses up existing resources rather than either leaving that stuff in boxes or selling it off at a loss.
     
    I do want to do something different though, which is to have some 'commercial' freight traffic on it. I don't know of any heritage line that was closed, reopened as private preservation, then added commercial operations (with the possible exception of the GCR that does some testing). There are lines that have been freight only but then added heritage operation, but that's not the same thing. For the 'Wessex' coast, I think stone (think Purbeck and Portland) and clay are most suited. Oil and/or gas (think Wytch Farm) was a thought, but I don't think a heritage operation with steam could ever combine with that safely, so I'm not putting that into the mix. I put a port at one end, so some kind of occasional import/export traffic could run too. The other end would connect to the national network, allowing some kind of non-heritage scene to be modelled as well. I don't have a specific time period for what that might be, but it could vary from 1980s blue/grey, through a bit of NSE and Regional Railways in the 90s, to early/mid 2000s.
     
    This is all high level thinking at the moment as I can't do much else, but at least it keeps my mind occupied with something other than the vicious circle of worry, depression and anxiety that otherwise dominate my current everyday life.
     
    Ian
  21. Ian J.

    A Run Along the Line

    By Ian J.,

    From the large market town of Sayersbridge, the line diverges from the national network southwards, keeping to the level of the plain and with a straight run through the town's suburbs. Once through Steepleham station we leave the town behind us and the line drops lazily down along the West side of the Arne Valley, past the old hill farming area of Dunstow before emerging at the base of Knowle Hill and the station for the Grange. It crosses the Arne here to the East side and parts with the Arne Valley to take a route along the Vale of Bere. The small hamlet of Bere Dene follows, then the line passes the wood of Cold Holt before cutting through the private estate of Knightonmore and alongside the old hunting forest of East Frith. With the forest behind it the line curves back to return to following the the River Arne and reaches the town of Arneford, the only intermediate town on the route. We then snake through the now shallow valley, crossing it three times before reaching Weytonwell, and on past the quarry, the rock from which is known for its luscious sandy stone that is used in buildings the world over. We can now smell the sea as we emerge onto the Arne River's short flood plain and begin the curve to the right for the coast. Stokeholme is passed on the curve and then we're running by the English Channel between sandy beaches to our left and Jurassic cliffs to our right. We pass the halt at Sto Sands where the cliffs dip down as we push through the coastal suburbs to the terminus at Tyneworth. While we as passengers stop here, the line carries on past to Penmouth for the export and import of freight at the port, overlooked by the headland of The Pen.
  22. Ian J.
    In amongst the cull of my model railway stock (now slowly coming to its end) I've been thinking about suitable stations to model within my two core areas of interest. A recap, they are both geographically the same, based around the Bournemouth area and its lines, but two distinct periods, 1961-ish, and 1985-ish.
     
    For small, simpler layouts, the best candidates seem to be the likes of Parkstone for 1961 and Moreton and Holton Heath for 1985.
     
    Parkstone is very short, even today not even capable of holding an entire 8TC, perhaps holding six Mk1s and a loco at best (I forget the actual length of the platforms). In 1961 there was a reasonable goods yard for a station of that size, not least due to the presence of an industrial potteries line to Parkstone Bay. That particularly adds colour for what is otherwise a simple through station. If designed carefully, the Parkstone Bank sections before and after could be extensions for a somewhat long and probably quite impressive layout for the exhibition circuit, but the main station is less that twelve feet!
     
    In 1985, Moreton was (and I believe still is) again a somewhat short station with little of interest. The main buildings were out of use at that point, so it was basically a halt. The simplicity appeals as the only trains running through would be 33/1s and 4 or 8TC formations and the odd summer Saturday inter-regional from Weymouth.
     
    Holton Heath is long enough for an 8TC, very straight if my memory serves me right. While again like Moreton there was little variety in the traffic through it, some details in the scenery are more of interest as it was the station for the Cordite factory nearby and in 1985 there was still a military facility there.
     
    For longer more elaborate layouts, I'd pick the likes of Poole and Bournemouth Central for 1985, as they had the most operational interest at that time. For 1961, there can really be only one choice, Bournemouth West to Branksome, including the triangle out to Gasworks Junction. But such a long layout would only be possible in the most well heeled of times, which most certainly is not now.
     
    Bearing in mind I have virtually no space to do any significant construction or modelling, these are just pipe dreams at the moment.
  23. Ian J.
    As some here will have noticed, I'm having a cull of my stock collection. What's going out are almost all items that don't fit within two themes. In order to help me with making sure I don't sell something relevant to the themes and to help focus future purchases, I thought I'd ask here for input on what stock (locos, carriages, wagons and departmentals) was known to run within them. The two themes are related as they are the same geographically, but differ in period. Note that I'm not planning a model of the entire geographic area! It's just a way of defining my stock list.
     
    The area and time periods are pretty much absolute, the intention being to restrict stock and not to find excuses to include stock! There are, however, a few items in my collection that don't fit, but they will stay for sentimental reasons.
     
    The two periods are 1961 and 1985, and cover a specific area of the Southern Region.
    1961 has a leeway of a couple of years either way, so from 1959 to 1963. This allows some examples of locos and stock that would otherwise have disappeared by 1961.
    1985 has more leeway earlier than after, so from 1983 to 1986, but not including the advent of Network SouthEast. Also, the geography differs in that lines that were closed by that time obviously have no prototype to work to.

    The geographic extent is centered around the Poole - Bournemouth corridor, with the following extents:
    To the West, just short of Dorchester Junction on the Southampton & Dorchester line, so that the GWR main line from Weymouth to Castle Cary and all the Western Region stock associated with it is avoided.
    To the East, up to and including Brockenhurst, but not as such beyond.
    To the North, just short of Alderbury Junction on the Salisbury & Dorset Junction line. This avoids the stock from the Southampton - Salisbury line, and from the Waterloo - Exeter main line, even though I have a liking for the class 50s!
    Additionally, anything that ran on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway proper is also in scope. However the junctions at Bath, Highbridge, Radstock, Templecombe, etc are not included, but the Southern end at Broadstone and to Bournemouth West is.

    I already know a fair amount of the stock, so I've made a list of what I already know below. Some of it may be inaccurate as I could be including things that didn't appear within those time frames (particularly the 1985 one as my memories are strong for the late 80s and early 90s). I suppose what I'm trying to find are the less obvious locos and rolling stock items that made occasional visits, and also a few of the one off appearances that may not have been covered in general information in books and the like about the area.
     
    I'll be doing my own research and will add to the blog as and when, I'm not expecting others to go off and actively research for me. I'm also not expecting anyone to reply quickly, this is really intended as a slow running posting to help build up the list as and when other members here remember.
     
    1985:
    Locos:
    08
    09
    20 (20 901 and 20 904, weedkilling train)
    33/0
    33/1
    33/2
    47/0
    47/3
    47/4
    47/8
    73/0
    73/1
    73/2

    Carriages (predominantly on the Inter-Regional services from Poole to the North):
    Mk 1
    Mk 2 a/b/c/d/e/f
    Mk 3a Sleepers? (can't remember when these services started)

    Units:
    4REP
    4TC
    4VEP

    Wagons:
    100T Bogie Oil Tanks
    4 Wheel LPG Tanks

    1961:
     
    Locos:
    Southern:
    700
    B4
    E1 4-4-0 (mentioned in 'Rails to Poole Harbour' working out of Salisbury in 1959)
    G6
    H15
    L (Wainwright SECR)?
    LN Lord Nelson
    M7
    MN Merchant Navy (Rebuilt)
    N
    N15 King Arthur
    O2 (only to 1956 at Bournemouth, but I like them and Kernow are doing them so worth having )
    Q
    Q1
    S15
    T9
    U
    V Schools
    WC/BB West Country/Battle of Britain (both original and rebuilt)

    Western (both on and from the S&DJR, and from Dorchester and Basingstoke to Bournemouth):
    2251 0-6-0
    43xx Mogul
    57xx Pannier Tank
    8750 Pannier Tank?
    Hall
    Modified Hall
    Grange (6815 in 1965, not sure if they appeared before that)

    Midland:
    2MT Prairie Tank (Ivatt)
    2P 4-4-0
    3MT Prairie (Stanier) (mentioned in 'Rails to Poole Harbour' off the S&DJR in 1960)
    3F Jinty
    3F 0-6-0
    4F 0-6-0
    4MT Mogul (Ivatt) (Not sure these ran during the '59 - '63 period)
    5MT 4-6-0 (LMS)
    7F 2-8-0 (S&DJR)
    8F 2-8-0 (Stanier)
    L&Y Pug
    Sentinels (47190 and 47191, at Radstock)
    S&D 0-4-4T (58086 lasted to 1959)

    Eastern:
    A3 (60112 St Simon, on a railtour in 1963)

    BR Standards:
    2MT Prairie Tank
    3MT Prairie Tank
    3MT Mogul (too late?)
    4MT Tank
    4MT Mogul
    4MT 4-6-0
    5MT 4-6-0
    9F 2-10-0

    Diesels (using TOPS classifications):
    04
    33/0
    47/0
    73/0

    Other:
    Peckett 0-4-0 ('George Jennings', Parkstone)
    RS&H 0-4-0 ('Bonnie Prince Charlie' and 'Western Pride', Poole Docks)

    Carriages:
     
    Pretty much any of the following:
    Mk 1s
    Bulleids
    Maunsells

    plus:
    Gresleys (an Articulated Twin noted in particular)
    Thompsons
    Staniers

    Wagons:
     
    Too many to mention!
     
    Books checked:
    Branch Lines Around Wimborne (Middleton Press)
    Southern Steam in the South and West (OPC)
    Celebration of Steam - Hampshire & Dorset (Ian Allan)
    The Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway (Kestrel Railway Books)
    The Changing Railway Scene - Southern Region (Ian Allan)
    Rails to Poole Harbour (Oakwood Press)
    Steam Around The Hampshire & Dorset Coast (Ian Allan)
    The Last Days of Steam in Dorset and Bournemouth (Alan Sutton Publishing)
    Glory Days: Steam in Dorset (Ian Allan)
    Dorset Steam (Capital Transport)
    British Railways Past and Present: Dorset (Gough & Mitchell)
    Steam Days in Dorset (Waterfront)
    More Southern Steam - South and West (Bradford Barton)
    Southern Railways in the Latter Days of Steam (Book Law)
    Southampton to Bournemouth (Middleton Press)
    Bournemouth to Weymouth (Middleton Press)
    Bournemouth to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Burnham to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Bath to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Somerset & Dorset Steam Finale (Runpast Publishing)
    The Somerset & Dorset Line (Ian Allan)
    The Somerset & Dorset Remembered Part 2 - Highbridge to Bournemouth (Book Law)
    The Somerset & Dorset Remembered Part 1 - Bath to Evercreech Junction (Book Law)
    The Somerset & Dorset in Colour (OPC)

  24. Ian J.
    Well, I've decided to start a new blog for my model railway interests. It won't be regularly updated and the content will be varied, ranging from occasional model building stuff to ideas and dreams for the future. Apart from this very sentence, it will avoid covering any issues in my life re unemployment trials and tribulations, writing and publishing etc. It will just be for model (and occasionally real) railway stuff.
     
    To start with, I'm thinking at the moment of what I can do with a number of model railway items that I've collected over the years that haven't otherwise been used. They include buildings, details, cars, lineside items, etc. I will put together a list of them and then see what I can come up with.
     
    In the meantime, I will need some simple but flexible track planning software to be able to visualize a layout with said items on it. I'll use Templot for the final track design work, but I want something quick and straightforward and preferably free, if possible with a basic 3D viewing capability. If anyone's got any recommendations for such software, please leave a comment to let me know about it.
     

  25. Ian J.

    Gradient Profile - v2.0

    By Ian J.,

    After doing a bit of sketching of possible geography and a rail route through such, I've revised the gradient profile to better reflect what I was intending when I wrote the posting for the run along the line. Attached is version 2 of the profile, now somewhat modified from version 1. I've put in marks on the profile itself for the mileposts, with their heights in brackets. The beauty of the way I've set up the code is that I can add and remove such markings for features just by modifying a variable!
     

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