wiggoforgold

Yelverton, summer 1958. It didn’t rain today, but puddles in the lane behind the station suggest it rained yesterday. The oddly shaped station building emerges from the undergrowth. The line will be open for another four and a half years, but the building is falling out of use now.

A couple more

Well there we are. Clear covid test done, Blackrat appreciation society shirt donned. Looking forward to having a nice chat about LNER modelling with CK later. Alex.

Looking forward to seeing this today. See you soon. Alex

Thank you. It’s been a very interesting thread from which I have gleaned much in the way of inspiration and ideas. I hope you are back and I for one will be following with interest. I’ve attahched a picture of a cart I made. I hope you don’t mind, the insulation came from your thread. Alex

One of the first locomotives built for Diddington was an Ivatt 2mt from a Comet kit. Then the Bachman one came along…. The kit built one is still with us, but was in need of a repaint, so here it is, outshopped as 46465 in plain black.

Hi Mikkel I'm very pleased with the turntable. I haven't properly wired it up yet, as I'm going to wire it in to the board. It doesn't have any indexing, that has to be done by eye, but I'm using an old trainset controller on very slow speed, which allows me to line it up. The model is actually for 3.5mm scale - it's a 65' one for Durango I think, but in my 4mm world it's a 50' one. Cheers Alex

Not off to a show yet. It was just a test fit. It was a bit tight to get it all in last time, so I redesigned the legs and was making sure it all fitted, so there will be no nasty surprises when I'm going out. Next show booked reorganised Edington in July.

Double checking it all goes in the car

Double checking it all goes in the car

Took a trip to the South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh yesterday doing research for the milk train for Yelverton. We took a few pictures. Liz got the prize for the best one. Alex

Progress on the loco yard. The old shed has been removed, the holes filled with card, and the ground is being built up with Das. The new shed, modelled on Huntingdon East, is temporarily in place to check clearances. The old turntable pit has been removed, and a new section of baseboard cut from 6mm ply, left over from the original construction. The new, working, turntable is a laser cut kit from Kitwood Hill models. Alex

This weekend has been a busy one for Diddington. The new substructure for Diddington mark 2 has been completed. The old Diddington was never intended to be portable: however, it was made in sections to allow it to be moved from the garage where it was built, to the railway room. The fact that it could be dismantled in to sections allowed it to be taken to a couple of shows, though that was never the intention. Diddington mark 2 is unequivocally a permanent layout. The boards will be laid on a rigid substructure to keep everything level. The removable legs of the original version have been done away with. The boards simply sit on the substructure, so that they can be easily moved around for construction and maintenance. There are adjusters at the foot of each leg, to allow for fine adjustment when the boards are in place. The spacings of the legs have been influenced by the need to store various items of musical equipment under the layout. The new substructure has been built off the wall of the railway room. The main component is a pair of longitundinal “L” girders, glued and screwed from 18X69 pse, which run the full length of the layout. The ends of the substructure are screwed and rawl plugged to the walls. The longitudinals are screwed inside the ends. Blocks were fitted to the L girders at strategic places, such as the ends, to provide a location for screwing the girders together. Care was taken at every step to make sure everything was square and level. The centre pair of legs are bolted to the layout, rather than screwed, so that they can be removable to allow for items to be moved under the layout for storage. I need to complete the painting of the end wall of the railway room. After that, completion of the new loco shed area, which is currently a scene of devastation as I had to forcibly remove the old turntable pit as a first step to installing a new, working one. Alex

Sadly I won't be able to make it as I shall be otherwise engaged. Alex

The water looks great Rob. I shall be requesting further and better particulars at Taunton. Alex

Which reminds me of a cycling friend of my son who once confused embrocation for chamois cream and applied the emrocation where the chamois cream should go.

The parts of the Fergie looked good as I will be at Taunton. See you there. Alex

Back after the endorced absence. The layout is presently in sections while I work on the scenery. This is the lane behind the station. The figures are from the Monty’s range, the tractor is from Springside (built by 46444 of this parish) and the trailer is from Dart Castings, modified as per Adam’s thread on here. Alex

I had four attempts at getting the notice right: 1. Got accidentally stuck to the cutting mat. 2. Trimmed the edge of he sign too close when cutting it out. 3. Lost it. Alex

I think the building that is still there is the station master's house. There is a high wooden fence round the site which you can't see through. I was on a bike on the cycle path and couldn't see over the fence. Alex

Today I cycled the whole route of the line from Tavistock to Marsh Mills (except for the bit round Yelverton which is on private land). Sad that the stations, particularly Bickliegh and Horrabrige are no more and it has to be said Gem Bridge is a shadow of the former Walkham viaduct. This is the entrance to station road at Yelverton today.

They are from a company called "Model Scene" I found them by Googling "4mm scale ferns, which led me to a suitable supplier. A number of firms do them, and I,d use a different make next time simply for variety. They are laser cut from green paper. Alex

That looks like a very early Lincoln and are those actually Lancasters on the hard standing behind, with a Grumman Widgeon of all things in front of them? Look carefully at the early airfield scenes of "The Dambusters" and spot the Lincolns on the hardstanding in the background.

PS Keith- I'd go for the 109 squadron version as Wyton was my local airfield growing up. Alex