Gareth-Ingram

Another modelling implication is no need for chairs, DIY track can be made with solder-to-pcb which is a nice option. Not dealing with hundreds of little chairs has it’s own benefits.

2 hours ago, StubbyJunior said:

Hi all, son of Stubby47 here. Just thought I would drop in to add some context behind the initial prompt of this thread. 

Now I cannot claim to be a huge model rail enthusiast, I've never had the creative expertise or technical knowhow to even know where to begin; instead finding a rather niche interest in worldbuilding, map making, and just generally being a nerd for most things historical. And it was with one of my latest sessions of procrastination that I learned about the mythical land of Lyonesse which supposedly lies of the coast of Cornwall between Lands End and the Isles of Scilly. 

 

I decided that I wanted to create a map of such a place, and taking inspiration from another map online, have been creating this (I've hit upload but I've no idea where that picture is going to appear).

My main line of questioning to father about this was as follows: Had the island followed in the footsteps of the West Cornwall Railway and had been 7ft wide (Perhaps also designed by Brunel or the like), following the WCR being bought out by the Great Western Railway, would it have become standard gauge, and if not, what the rolling stock look like if it still existed today.

 

To my understanding, the line between Penzance and Truro was broad gauge whilst Truro to Plymouth was Standard, meaning that passengers would have to change trains to continue their journey. Given that anyone traveling from my town of Carncreag or Gwermouth would have had to exchange at Kerlew regardless of the gauge, does this mean that the gauge would have remained untouched despite the GWR potentially taking over.

I know there are many factors to play here; would there have even been a standard railway on the island in the first place, would it all have been narrow gauge or axed by Beeching in the 60s; all that and more, but I'd be curious to hear anyones thoughts on the subject. 

Finally, please understand that I am not an expert on railways, and so anything I have said here might be incredibly wrong or narrowminded, so be gentle with me.

Thank you!
 

Is it you that I need to contact to file a claim for a Gale on that island? :-)

Yup, things would’ve been different. Maybe S scale would now be more popular, instead of O.

A key difference would have been enough space inside models for electric motors and we would never have had the OO modelling scale distortions, perhaps there would have been only HO ?

On 11/03/2019 at 02:23, Charlie586 said:

 

Thanks

Im ashamed to say I don't have a copy of Great Western Way. Does it have a date? 5" would be approx matchstick size so I guess that's why others have used them.

Just ordered a copy, thanks for the tip!

Charlie, I never saw nothin’!

The station closed when I was around 6mo old, and at that time I was living in Didcot. As a kid I went with my mates to play on the disused trackbed of a line that ran near our house but I’m just too young to have been part of steam. I was at High School / college age when my parents lived in Hanney, a lovely place. I remember getting milk and stuff from the shop in Grove.

It’s nice to see some BG modelling. I’ve yet to get my hands dirty, it’s going to be a case of getting back to the hobby since giving it up as a lost cause when I was a just about teenager. And BG has caught my interest, somehow it seems to be the ‘gentlemans’ gauge, and the road less travelled.

I am glad I came across this thread, it has opened my eyes to the possibilities enabled by this Stepcraft kit!

Superb thread. As I saw this I realized that it was a station just down the road from East Hanney, where I lived at my parents house as a young man. The modelling in this thread is quite honestly intimidating, although I'd love to jump in and do something like this the level of care and effort seems beyond what I could do.

I looked on the 'net at some old maps, and found that the station in question is smack dang on the corner of 4 intersecting sheets.

Roads are simply better than rail for almost everything because of their reach. The public road system will change forever in the coming decades when it becomes mostly an automated system. The chaos we see today will be looked back on as the great era of personal freedom. Eventually cars will talk with each other electronically, talk with roadside furniture and traffic flows will be managed by AI computers as a necessity for improving flow, optimizing the usage (e.g. pushing freight to night hours), managing disruption (e.g. from repairs), minimizing costs and greatly reducing accidents. Think of it as British Road instead of British Rail. There will be road trains, coupled virtually by computer. You will enter your destination into your GPS and the road system will direct you there, managing all the traffic. In this future roads rule and Beeching can hardly be criticized for realizing that rail was not the solution for many of our future needs.

Technologically, physical rail is superior for an ability to convey huge weights at low cost over large distances. Rail will prosper only when and where it plays to this specific advantage. 

Wonderful project! Could be a ‘lifetime’ layout.

hope you will be offering bed & breakfast and an operating session when this is finished, you can put me on the guest list!!!

Never heard of this railway before finding this thread today, simply fantastic!

12 minutes ago, dan_the_v8man said:

Flangeway are producing their snowplough in O gauge, I've already registered interest in a pair of them 

This is going go look good!

Looks great. I hope you are planning to make a proper snow plough for the coming winter season!

Maybe it isn’t a luxury…

It could be that we are hardwired to make and invent. We are a tool making species after all, always busy in our thoughts trying to advance our position in the world, understand our world and developing culture for social adhesion etc. Maybe we always have to be doing something. What we now call a hobby is a reflection that we would always be trying our hands at something, whether recording the past on the cave wall, carving likenesses or figurines whilst sitting around the hearth, telling stories, making maps, refining tools etc… we are compelled.

My dad lives in Weston, after I showed him this photo he made a quick watercolour of it!

I thought I’d found this old photo of the Weston-Under-Penyard halt on this forum but a search turned up nothing like it

I figure that I may own a rivet and if I’m nice it will be a rivet up front all nice and painted, if not they’ll assign me a rivet somewhere underneath where the clinker poops out !

Anyhow, I’ve measured up and I got up to 20 feet along a basement wall for something in 7mm scale and quite possibly involving Marsh Sidings. Whilst I think about that I’m enjoying seeing this P4 layout, somewhat above my non existent skill level!

There’s no excuse for a lack of a reply. Well, perhaps a different engine, different people.

On 14/08/2021 at 20:19, Paul H Vigor said:

You and me both! Autumn holidays to the FoD back in the 1970s always involved happy visits to Parkend and Marsh Wharf. I too climbed all over this loco! I know the FoDR boyos have worked wonders, but I do miss the old Parkend.

Maybe you should join the 4150 ‘club’…

I’m now officially a part owner of this engine and encourage others to join in to get it back on the rails and sustain it.

Armchair modeller myself. After seeing this thread however, I feel an urge to buy a couple of 7mm locos just so I can have a go at making them look like Paul’s! Really impressive. If Paul has any Youtube video’s demonstrating these techniques I’d love to see a link posted.

Edit: found him! On Youtube Paul is MrOlliesP

And it seems this engine avoided the scrap yard

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/4150-2/

wow, it’s even got a fan club!

http://www.4150.org.uk

1 hour ago, Tim V said:

Here is probably what you saw!

Bloody marvellous, never thought the mystery would be solved! Thanks very much Tim. I spent many an hour on that engine when I was a kid, probably responsible for my love of railways and the F o D and may be the trigger for me to finally take up the greatest hobby in the world.

Ha! I had the exact same thought, they do look like concrete but I’ve been unable to find confirmation of this.

Any idea what the first carriage behind the engine is?

On 19/05/2017 at 06:44, dibber25 said:

…

Weston-under-Penyard Halt on the Gloucester-Hereford line - the first railway photo I took without a train in it.

…

 

 

 

I found another photo of this Halt. It’s of interest because my parents live in a house built close to this spot, the line having run near the end of their garden. In the black and white photo I’ve attached I’d be very interested to know what anybody can tell me were the colours used on the actual ‘hut’, platform, signage and loco.

thx.

On 21/06/2020 at 10:34, Tim V said:

Last of my pictures. Very poor shot April 1976.  Then from 1977 engine was 4150, but I've included this one as it shows the lack of buffer stop at the end of the siding. I have a few other pictures of the engine, but not relevant to the OP's topic.

 

Tim,

You may have solved a 40 year old mystery for me. As a kid I remember my parents taking me on holiday to stay at Whitemead Park and during visits spread over a couple or three years my sister and I discovered an old gutted steam engine on the sidings nearby which provided hours of fascination. I’ve tried a few times to find out what engine it was but to no avail. It now looks likely that your 1977 photo was the engine in question. Thanks !