eastwestdivide

Thanks Steve - Chris of this here parish (Eastwestdivide) who sent the original pic of Paddock Wood and the idea for the layout has threatened to journey down to see it/ help operate for the day...so I need to ensure that the layout doesn't disappoint in case he asks for a refund from his rail ticket! ...

Ticket already booked. Well, the long stretch from "the north" to "the south", if not the hop over to Sussex, but I'm visiting family anyway. No pressure!

As for helping to operate it, my driving licence only covers cars and vans, so I'll print off some 2mm 'L' plates. 

Good luck!

Yes, the third pic looks pretty good for "neglected" brickwork, i.e. needs a bit of repointing. Which reminds me, our garden wall is in need of some attention... be right back...

Nice. Prototype photos with livery variations in a PM shortly.

Like the horse-shaped pantograph in the 2nd picture!

And do you reckon the German scrappies dredge the Rhine for the keys to those padlocks that people must throw away?

Spot on! (pun intended)

<quote>the Bachmann 108 DMU, while a lovely model, has quite faint interior lighting <quote>

Pretty much like the real thing then.

Good luck with the commuting, and may all your bosses be good ones.

Definitely needs a seagull or two.

Very atmospheric, as in my other half's favourite retort: "yes, hurry up, it's going to be atmospheric-ing it down in a minute"

You mean there is a team researching this?

 

Well not so much a team, as my 76-year-old mother (who incidentally rode the footplate of a "Spamcan" when she used to date a driver from Ramsgate - well before my time)

[smiley face with permed grey hair shovelling coal]

Back to the canopy, if you look in your copy of Bygone Kent Volume 3 No.2 published 1982, Meresborough Books, there's a pic of Paddock Wood station, in an article all about Kentish station valances by Mike Fenton. The canopy is the 'tulip' pattern. It also shows a train arriving from Strood with the head code '02' on platform 3. Apparently this pattern is also seen at Maidstone West, Yalding, and Tunbridge Wells Central.

Can't scan it (or even see it) as it's back in Kent, and I'm not, but I did vaguely remember that article, and got my research assistant's assistant to dig it out. Hit the jackpot with PW being one of the featured ones.

or order a copy! search for "valance" on this page http://bygonekent.org.uk/index/r

Current views of the station on National Rail (hover around and click for photos):

http://www.nationalr...p/PDW/plan.html

with the Strood platform direct link here, showing the pattern of valance/awning/whatever you call it:

http://www.nationalr...714-0000127.jpg

And I expect you already found Kent Rail

http://www.kentrail.org.uk/paddock%20wood.htm

The relatively low height of the third rail is seen here, along with another challenge for 2mm, flying bits of "diced carrot" and snow on the head of the rail being displaced by the passing shoe.

For a while, Paddock Wood received the AB vans with a white-painted roof for chocolate traffic.

And as for the livery on the parcels van, well just bury it in peat for a few years and it'll be close enough.

For a real challenge, get your belt sander out and make the 33/0 a 33/2 - just under a foot narrower, so 1mm off each side should do it?!

Signed,

the research assistant.

When's the exhibition? Must put the date in my diary... no pressure!

The website - does what it says on the tin, no scrolling, obvious where to click, no nasty surprises - all good, as is the content, which nearly went without saying.

Having said that, I'm not sure about the font used (Play?) in this instance. It's a bit squarish and tries to be "futuristic" in a 70s kind of stylee, which doesn't necessarily match the subject matter (for me anyway).

Try writing "Starship Enterprise" in that font!

All the best, ewd

It's the DDR equivalent of the BR Woodhead electrics (class 76) - a chunky box with pantographs!

Fascinating background information. Do the former DDR locos work right across Germany now, or do they tend to keep to the areas where they started out, maybe for reasons of crew familiarity/maintenance expertise etc?

I wouldn't worry too much about the window bars. It took me about three years of seeing real ones daily until I realised they even had windows, they were so filthy.

On appearance alone, it has to be that suspicious-looking cove Longbottom. You can just see him twirling that moustache in a Terry Thomas style, "me, dear boy, surely you jest"

Modelling 2mm scale sarnies wit accurate fillings.That is dedication to the cause!

To pinch a joke from someone else on here, you've got to have a roll model

Needs a seagull or two on the bonnet.

Tut tut, insider dealing. The Jockey Club will not be amused.

Print a small section (A4) of each version on a normal printer as a cheap proof? Then look at them in position through a small opening (e.g. through a gap in your hands).

Should be close to the desired result, although output will differ from one printer to another, as printing companies are fond of telling us.

Those with "l33t photoshop skillz" might be able to fade the far background more than the middle ground, which would be closer to the real-life drizzle effect.

Caption for the porters with the case between them:

"No, after you"

"No, after you"

etc

etc

Thanks for the credits. It was just an idle moment when you asked the original question.

Like the idea of cardboard layouts - saves all that tedious detail work. Just fill in the details in your head, which we all do to a certain extent anyway.

Watch this space for more prototype photos, when I get time to rummage and send them on.

If you haven't got room for the entire 30+ wagons of the Allington ARC hoppers, you could have just one detached as a cripple. Would have to be loaded though, as the empties went back via Strood.

TTFNEWD

Excellent!

And whose version of the Pink Panther was that?