Wheeltapper

Someone said to me in an exchange of opinions over the interweb recently that no-one did any proper railway modelling anymore as the standard of the ready to run stuff you could buy was so high these days all you needed to make a cracking good model was a healthy bank balance. Interesting point of view but not one I personally go along with as there is so much more to the hobby than having good looking models . However when I put the wagon castings from Woodham Wagon Works on to ebay I must admit I did wonder if there would be much interest as not only were they from early and quite obscure prototypes but also they were more a scratchbuilding aid than a kit . Were there, I wondered, be people happy to source bits and pieces such as wheels and couplings , to assemble a model and paint it accurately or did they all just want to take it out the box and plonk it on the layout. I need not have worried . There has been lots of interest and views and some healthy competitive bidding . Conclusion : Railway Modelling is Alive and Well ! However one surprise did not come from the wagons but from listing some railway postcards I had lying around . These were some modern reproduction cards of old photographs of railway subjects which I thought might make 50p or so each if I was lucky. Predictably several which were pictures taken during the filming of the Titfield Thunderbolt Film in 1952 generated quite a lot of interest but the star was one of Weymouth Harbour Railway in the 1920's which went for nearly TWENTY TIMES my estimate . Even more of a surprise was the buyer - a very well known railway author . Is there a new book on Dorset Railways in preparation ? Time will Tell !

Well its taken me long enough . I have been buying on ebay for several years but never felt confident enough about my computer skills to try any selling. Anyway since I started the Cancer Charity Wagon Project I needed to find a good way of marketing and although selling through the forums I belong to has been good I could not reach as big a target audience as I would like . I felt that as people were being kind enough to give their wagons to the project I should make every effort to maximise their potential income . I have spent quite a lot of time this week getting the hang of the ebay system . Its not easy as the side effects of my treatment severely limit the use of my hands which makes keyboard work difficult to say the least and some of the pictures I have taken with my point and shoot look as though I had the shakes or was roaring drunk at the time I took the photo . Unfortunately the latter wasnt the case. Listing has been sucessfull which is great as I have managed to put some of the Finescale Wagon Kits on the auction site that were donated by the owner of the firm that used to make them . A great pity that Woodham Wagon Works is not still producing these as some of the prototypes are very unusual and causing a lot of interest as they are very early pregrouping wagons . The description for them as more Scratch Building Aids than kits is very apt and I think makes them even more appealing. I am very grateful to Eric for donating them and supporting the project and am so pleased that his wifes cancer experience seems to be coming to a successfull conclusion.Its always great to hear of some GOOD Cancer News.

I have been unable to do any modelling for 18 months which is the amount of time surprisingly I have been travelling to the hospital at Dudley upto four times a week for cancer treatment . However things are now starting to look brighter and I am thinking about which project to restart first . I had a lot sort of started a year and a half ago and although I have not been able to do any modelling I have done lots of reading and internet research. Currently the following projects have been researched and in most cases some work done on stock or buildings Portishead in 4mm - A possible exhibition layout - A substantial part of the station building completed Camerton - A small GWR BLT. All research done , smaller buildings completed Llanynys Terminus - An 0-16.5 freelance Narrow Gauge terminus . Everything built or aquired just needs assembling into a layout instead of all being stored in boxes. Tealham Moor - A Micro 009 Roundy Roundy inspired by the Avalon Brickworks Layout . Under construction and quite a lot done. Oakhill Brewery Railway - All Research completed A Black Country Tramway - inspired by the Kinver Light railway , research completed and some construction or adaptation of trams done. Will have to decide and this time stick to one project to completion rather than bits here and there although to be that organised is rather alien to me. .

The subject of engine sheds is both complicated and fascinating at Bristol and would benefit from some in depth research. Originally an Engine Shed was located at the Bath Road end of the Brunel Building. The structure for that must now be located inside the section used as the Brunel Exhibition Centre as it was right at the end of the platforms 12 and 15 . Those numbers being in use when I used the station a lot in the 1960's . The platform numbering changed to be as shown in the quoted post at a later date when the station was reduced in operational size. The Bristol and Exeter Company had engine sheds on two or maybe three different areas of the station at different times and their works on the later Bath Road Site. Bath Road Steam Shed was part of the 1930's rebuilding programme and was replaced in the 1960's by the Diesel Depot. So thats at least seven different engine sheds that have been at Temple Meads and then you still have St Phillips Marsh , Barrow Road and possibly the Avonside Company Locomotive Works at Avonside Wharf to add into the equation.

Lets just say that as far as that establishment is concerned that comes as absolutely no surprise at all !

Normally the day after the treatment at the cancer clinic the side effects start to hit me and then really kick in after 36 hours. However this time today has been quite good - not perfect but better than usual so perhaps if I keep everything crossed the next few days will be tolerable. I have never seen the Cancer Clinic so busy - all fifteen of the Units treatment booths were in use , both waiting rooms were full and in the large reception area newly arrived patients were crammed in as though it was rush hour on the Piccadilly Line. That is a worrying trend as most were newly diagnosed patients. Still today has been quite good and I have put it to good use by listing on ebay some of the N Gauge Wagons that have been given to my Charity Wagon Project the aim of which is to raise some funds for the Cancer Unit as a way of saying thanks for all their treatment and support . The idea is to use the money for the smaller things that can make a difference to both patients and staff . For example a team of volunteers bring around trollies of tea, coffee ,soft drinks and biscuits for the patients undergoing treatment ,waiting for treatment or to see the consultants . The volunteers never have enough mugs or cups for everyone so one of the first things I want to do is to get them a set of probably 100 plus mugs which will make quite a difference to both them and the patients.

As its not reckoned to be safe for me to drive any distance I have to go to the hospital for my appointments by ambulance or the hospital car service . This used to be staffed by volunteers but is now a commercial service and although the staff are great you wouldnt actually call it a service . They seem to operate to a completely different timezone to the hospital or the patients . Consequently the Clinic tells them I have an appointment at say 8.30am but by the time that is passed to the driver the appointment time has been changed to 10am so it fits in better with the ambulance service workload but the ambulance service dont bother to tell the clinic or the patient what they have done . They operate on a 4 hour window as well so if your appointment is for 10am they may pick you up anytime from 8am to 12 noon and its the same coming back with a 20 minute journey allowing for waiting time taking anything up to six hours. Everyone has given up complaining about the situation and now just accept if you use the service you will expect to be tied up all day and probably well into the evening as well . Personally I have left home at 0745 for a 20 minute trip to the hospital and a 15 minute appointment to see the consultant but not got home until 2200 that evening. Still it does save me paying the exorbitant hospital car park fees . I reckon if I was taking my own car my fees for parking would pay for a new ward on their own On the plus side all this waiting around does give plenty of time to sit and cogitate on the next layout plan so I often have a notebook in my pocket to put down ideas or sketch possible track layouts and the day does not get completely wasted as far as I am concerned.

I made a start on layouts of both Burnham and Edington Junction but changes of circumstances stopped both projects getting very far . I always liked the idea of Highbridge Works as a Depot layout but the one station I do want to do if I ever have the time , space and money is Wells (Priory Road) as the track plan would be great from the operating point of view especially if you had a GW Operator and a S & D Operator and programmed in plenty of S & D shunting moves that could potentially block the GW through route as happened in real life.

I think they did that at other shows as I certainly remember standing by Berrow for sometime awaiting the return of the operators to restart proceedings. There was a much more relaxed attitude to exhibiting back then , even to the extent that some layouts had a cardboard clockface they would put on the layout when the operators went for a break saying something like " Next Performance at .......or Next Train Departs at .............." with the clock hands showing the time. No-one seemed to even consider as a remote possibility then that if a layout was left unattended anyone would attempt to steal any of the stock. How things have changed.

Some of the shots taken around the level crossing have to be the most realistic bit of scenery I have seen for many a year . Outstanding Work - more photos please.

Three weeks has come around very quickly and its off to the Cancer Treatment Clinic today again for my next dose of injections - still at least this new treatment seems to be starting to work well and after 18 months of purgatory with the Chemo we are actually getting some good results. If only I could get more use of my hands back to normal I could get some modelling done as the time it is taking for the nerve damage caused by the chemotheraphy to repair itself seems to be taking for ever. I wonder which of the other patients it is that keeps leaving their copy of the Railway Modeller in the Clinic Waiting Room ?

Thats one that had slipped my mind . In addition I know there have been layouts of Burnham on Sea, Midford ,Writhlington , Midsomer Norton,. Chilcompton and Evercreech New but I dont think I have ever heard of ones of Templecombe , Highbridge , Bridgwater or Glastonbury and I know nothing of ones from south of Templecombe though I know there are some.

Over the years there have been many S & D actual or inspired layouts. Probably the most iconic was Mac Pyrkes Berrow Branch which I first encountered at a Model Railway Club 's exhibition at Central Hall Westminster and then which featured in Railway Modeller on a number of occasions. Going through some old Railway Modellers I came on a new one ( to me anyway) in the July 1999 RM called Broad Sidlinch - a large permanent S & D Layout which had some interesting scenic features . It goes without saying that there are several awe inspiring S & D layouts around today including some by contributors to this Forum but I would be interested to know what others stand out in peoples memories ?

I think the steam shed was replaced in about 1962 give or take a couple of years . It had occupied virtually exactly the same site and area the new diesel shed was built on and had a very similar track layout . AFAIK that Steam shed was built in the mid 1930's when Temple Meads was massively modernised and expanded, before that there had been a Round House with 4 turntables on the site which originally was part of the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company's Locomotive Works ( the B & E version of Swindon) which built broad gauge engines . Surprised you have not seen any pictures of the shed as there are hundreds that have been published , most books on railways in Bristol or about the GWR seem to have a fair few as one of the station platforms being longer than the others provided an ideal vantage point for spotters or photographers to watch the comings and goings in the shed yard by being right next to it.

I hate to think how many decades ago it was that I was last around there but from memory the TM avoiding line that also gave access to the Marsh Shed ran along the back of Bath Road Shed at right angles to it and there was a turntable there as well . I dont know if or when that line was removed in which case from your description of the" bridge position" it could have been the Bath Road Bridge over the St Phillips Marsh line we are talking about or its remotely possible it may have been something that dated back much further when the steam shed was built on the site of the Bristol & Exeter Railway Company Locomotive Works and Running Shed in about 1935. It is however your rendition of the clock that screams Bath Road to me . How we hated that clock when it was first put up as it represented the fact that horrible new diesel depot had replaced the steam shed we grew up with.