nickwood

I'm fairly confident he is a Monty's Models signalman. MSV58 I really enjoy seeing your work Rob

Thank you kind sir.

Much Murkle will be at the Sutton Coldfield exhibition on the 26th & 27th April. Details of the event can be found http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/ click on events and scroll down the list. Should be worth a visit and please say hello if you do.

Paul and Andrew arrived this morning for a baseboard building session in my garage. After a cup of coffee and a quick project meeting we set to. The first job was to cut the trackbed. Using the full sized Templot track design as a template, Andrew had already marked up the baseboard tops so all that we had to do was cut them with a jigsaw. The photo shows the tops cut for the first two boards. The first board takes shape, just needs the intermediate bearers to be fixed under the trackbed. Progress as the first two boards get joined together All four boards constructed and bolted together for the first time. Note that the two intermediate suports for each board are not all evenly spaced, some have to be adjusted to avoid point motors. We have a good idea as to how we see the scenic development but some detail still has to be worked out. All baseboard joints are just screwed at present so that they can be taken apart to cut the intermediate supports to shape more easily once we have finalised our thoughts on the scenic developement. They will then finally be glued and screwed. These four boards totaling 12ft in length form the scenic section of the layout. Still to be built are the fiddle yard boards which will be either cassette based or traversers, we haven't decided which yet although traversers are the favourite at the moment. Andrew has taken the trackbed tops away to start laying the track and Paul has taken the rest of the boards to give them a sealing coat of matt varnish.

Great tree Jim. I would concur that you are better off keeping everything to do with Hemyock on this thread. I made the mistake on the first forum that I joined (YMR) of having seperate threads for buildings,stock etc and I wish I hadn't as MM's build details are all over the place and lost in the depths of the forum. I love how the view from behind the tree is developing by the way, just about all photos you see of Hemyock model or real, are from across the river, makes a nice change to see a different perspective.

Thanks Jim, although I'm not sure anything is ever complete, I still seem to make small changes and improvements to MM every now and them but I know what you mean. I'm really looking forward to this project now that we have made a start on the real work.

Last week, our Club Chairman, Mike who has a pillar drill took the end panels for each board which are to be a double skin of 9mm ply to glue and screw them together, drill and place the pattern makers dowels and drill for the bolts and T-nut connecters. I took the the rest of the cut ply down to the club last night to do a dry run. It is difficult getting good shots on the phone inside during the evening but here's one of how one board will look (there are 4 of these making up the scenic section). The ends and cross bearers will eventually be trimmed down at an angle to the lower level of the front frame. The track bed will sit on top of the cross bearers. There are three bolt fixings which can be seen on the end board. One end of each board has T-nuts with the thread drilled out and the corresponding end of the next board has T-nuts with the threads left in. All the cross bearers have three wiring holes one each for power, points and other electrics. Just a shot to show how the boards locate together. C+L pattern makers dowels. Everything is cut to very tight tolerances and fits together beautifully. I have to say that Mike has done a superb job. The baseboard tops are not shown as these will be cut to follow the track bed. Andrew has taken them away to mark up using the templot template before cutting. Whilst we have good reason for wanting to make the boards out of 9mm ply for durability when transporting and to cope with the storage conditions available to the club there is a downside in that they are going to be quite heavy, particularly as the boards will be bolted together as pairs when transported and stored. A few of us are getting together on Monday to put the boards together, more photos after that.

Andrew has taken delivery of the track components and I now have the pre-cut ply so we are ready to make a start. Club AGM on Wednesday so not much will get done this week though.

Thanks for the interest guys I'm very pleased that Andrew didn't think to take some photos of me on my knees playing 'cardboard' trains. What he didn't say is that we are developing a back story to this layout. Andrew interest lies with the LNER and it's constituents whereas my loyalties lie with the GWR. Other club members have GWR stock as well. Hence the need for a junction or joint line, but where to set it? We finally decided that the area to the west of Stafford could fit the bill. The London North Western line ran from Stafford to Wellington and onto Shrewsbury and also of course through Stafford and on to Crewe. The GWR had a line running from Wellington through Market Drayton to join the LNWR just before Crewe. Therefor there is a large triangle formed from Stafford to Market Drayton in the North West and Wellington in the South West passing through the Staffordshire and Shropshire border area where no line existed. The Great Northern actually bought the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway which provided them with a route through to Shrewsbury via the LNWR from Stafford into mid Wales. This was as far as we can tell the furthest west that the Great Northern achieved. We are assuming that the GNR wanted to push out to the North Wales coast from Stafford through Wrexham to exploit not only the coastal resorts but also the salt and coal deposits. The line would take a route through High Offley to Market Drayton, Whitchurch to meet the LNWR line from Whitchurch to Wrexham. At the same time the GWR were also looking at the possibility of another line to exploit the Staffordshire coal field trade and proposed a line following the Shropshire Union Canal from Wolverhampton to meet their existing line at Market Drayton. Coal and salt traffic on the branch would be significant and the line could also be used for diversions for the LNWR and GWR north-south main routes The two companies entered into negotiation and proposed a junction at High Offley with joint running rights from the junction north as far as Market Drayton. The Great Northern would be responsible for building the line between Stafford and Market Drayton, and the GWR for their own line south to Wolverhampton. Both lines would be single track. The line was built but only as far as High Offley before the Great Northern abandoned plans for going beyond Market Drayton. Following grouping (the period we will be modelling), it is assumed that ownership of the line from Wolverhampton to Market Drayton passed into the hands of the GWR with the former GN line from High Offley to Stafford passing into LNER ownership. The exchange sidings to the east of the station were laid to facilitate the movement of coal and salt traffic bound for Stafford and beyond via the LNER. Oh! Did you guess that the layout will now be called HIGH OFFLEY

Thanks John I did enjoy it. It was good to have a team of guys experienced at running exhibition layouts to take over much of the operating leaving me to attend to front of house and chat to those who showed an interest in Much Murkle

Much Murkle had a successful outing at Newbury. We had a few problems with cassettes due to the very warm school hall causing some expansion in the connectors but other than that nothing else of any consequence. The first couple of photos were taken early morning before the doors opened to the public. The sun was streaming in making the hall even hotter for a while, hence the harsh light. It wasn't long though before the clouds became greyer and the rain deluge started again (when is it ever going to stop raining?) Mike and Andrew, two of my operating team doing early morning running tests Once the doors opened this level of interest lasted well into the day. All very serious stuff!!! An unusual visitor to the branch. Coming from the North East, it must have got seriously lost to be seen in Herefordshire. It belongs to one of the team and I insisted that if it was run it had to use the cattle dock to dispense it's occupants

Thanks to you all for the suggestions, likes and comments it is appreciated. Much Murkle will be at the Newbury MRC exhibition this coming Saturday. Please say hello if you are visiting.

I use these 65mm deep stackable Euro boxes and sheets of pluck foam. A google search will find many suppliers. Cheaper than the Really Useful boxes but doesn't have a clip top.

Good to see some progress Jim. Terrific modelling, very inspirational.

One of the difficulties of modelling things from days gone by is it is very difficult to find colour photos particularly of mundane objects like drainage pipes. Even if you could it is unlikely that the colour rendition would be correct. We all have different opinions on how things may have looked and it is useful to be able to get views from those who have some real life experience. Notwithstanding that the lighting conditions and macro shots of my photos do not show the colouration of the pipes in the same way that you would view it from normal distances. They are much darker than the photos suggest and the silvery looking paint is dry brushed onto black and is actually gun metal which is a dark steel finish. I have taken note of the opinions of John and Doug and tried to take both into account although they were slightly conflicting. The pipes now look right to my eyes and will have to do. I searched long and hard for some suitable plastic piping and this was all that I could find that would do the job. Yes they are probably too long for the purpose that I have suggested that they would be used for but as "tube" wagons were built at that length then surely they would have carried tubes or pipes to the same length or why would the railway have built them?? They might also be too large in diameter although main sewer pipes can be quite large. Agreed cast iron is very heavy and I would have thought that a crane might well have to be used in such circumstances. They are laid in a timber cradle which can be seen, those in the wagon are the same although this can't be seen. I take your point John about the straw packing and I did consider this but haven't had the time so far to come up with a satisfactory way of reproducing it on a removeable load.

I've been away at a conference since Monday and just got home. I did take the pipes with me and managed to paint them in between sessions ending and the evening bar / dinner / bar routine. The finish is to represent slight surface rusting on cast iron. A close up of the stack which will be placed in the goods yard. and a close up of the wagon load

A couple of pages back post no 504 I posted this link which gives all Dukedog first and last shed allocations together with some other usefull info. Seems to have got missed in the earlier general discussion so worthg repeating. http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_440_dukedog1.htm

Hi Jules You've made a very good job of those wagon kits. I especially like the Mica and didn't realise that Parkside did those. There could be a new addition to Much murkle's roster soon afetr seeing yours. As far as wagon weighting goes I managed to acquire some lead sheet left over from a building job and use that in small pieces glued under the floor wherever I can find the space. I aim to achieve a weight of 16-18 gram per axle both for kits and rtr wagons.

That's worth an awful lot Doug, Many thanks.

Thanks John, Blackish grey it will be then. No results can be posted until late in the week though as I'm away at a conference until Thursday.

Thanks John The painting is a bit of a dilema I must admit. It is intended that they are cast iron so I think black or red oxide would be most appropriate as a factory finish. I can imagine that both colours would be used or possibly not protected at all but I'm open to any advice as I'm not really sure which is most likely.

Darren and anyone else looking for shed allocations, have a look here http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_440_dukedog1.htm

I didn't think something so mundane would create such interest, thanks everyone for the replies and the likes, it is appreciated. The Open C tube wagon is the Ratio kit. One I had in store for a good few years before finally making it. I'm not surprised that Ratio dropped it as I recall it being a bit of a pig to build. The floor came in two parts making it very difficult to keep the assembly square during construction. Can't remember now how I got over the problem but it probably had an interesting soundtrack.

Whilst getting MM ready for the Newbury show I thought some more of my wagons could do with a load. Particularly the Open C tube wagon shown in this photo. As Much Murkle is set in the 1930's it is feasible that around this time the settlement would have been connected to a mains drainage system and a large amount of pipes of varying sizes would have been required. I liked the idea of large diameter drainage pipes being delivered and have been looking unsuccesfully for some to buy for quite a while. Not having found anything suitable thoughts turned to making my own but they would have to be more convincing than just a plain pipe. They would have to have a representation of the connecting collar at one end and here is how I've gone about making the pipes. First take two slaters styrene pipes of different diameters. They do need to be a push fit. Cut the smaller pipe into suitable lengths But how to make the collar? You could do it by just cutting a small length of the larger pipe and slipping it over the end, but that is too easy and not the Woody way. If you look at a pipe collar it tapers towards the end but how to replicate that ? This is how Then cut a small length off and slip it on the end of the pipe and secure with a small amount of MEK I had two small lengths of the smaller tube left over so thought it would be fun to make a Y junction as well There is even play value to all of this as the components clip together I've made enough to load the Open C Tube wagon and have a small stack in the goods yard. Painting next.

Thanks Artizen, I'm truly flattered.