Chris Chewter

Another week, and a bit more work on the buildings. The engine shed is nearly complete. I'm leaving off the ladder, handrails, and guttering until the layout is progressed further. I've just noticed that the tank cover is flapping, so looks like I'm going to have to glue it down again! In the early 1960's, the chimneys on the main roof reduced from three to one plain stack. The replacement stack was also unfinished timber, so that's how I've reproduced the model here. With the help of some sanky scenic signs, the interior has been decorated. The light patch on the doors is where these were repaired in the 1960's. Now onto the cattle dock!

After all that time under the layout, coupled with a two year old who insists on waking up at 5am every single morning, railway progress has been a little slow recently, hence why there has been no update for a while. However I got fed up of looking at the unfinished station buildings and thought I'd better get going again, albeit at a slightly slower rate than I'd like. There is now a roof on the shed and half the tiles have been glued. The other half is yet to be done, but after gluing tiles until 10:30pm, I decided to call it a night! Looking back through Randolphs book, I notice that the top of the water tank is wrong in the Timbetracks kit. It appears to be corrugated sheet, which is probably something you cannot easily provide as part of a timber kit. Nothing a Wills building sheet cannot solve! I've also decided to reuse the platforms from the old railway. They just need to be cut and shaped to the subtle bend of the station. I've got a sheet of Slaters brick plasticard which I'm thinking of fixing over the oversize blocks on the Ratio kit, but the lazy portion of my mind questions whether anyone would actually notice! Unfortunately modelling on the layout has to be done whilst the kids are in bed which limits my time. I tried to make a start on the landscaping yesterday, but they insisted on playing trains which is understandable. I've found that they need careful monitoring to make sure a pannier tank doesn't plummet to the floor! My eldest daughter is quite proficient, however my son only understands warp speed! Its useful to find out which parts of the track are not quite right, with a raised joint and a point motor that needs adjustment before the ballasting commences, hopefully soon!

Another two and a half hours under the baseboard, thankfully another milestone reached. This time its the point motors wired in and working. After the first took 30 mins before I worked out there was debris in the hole, I finally managed to get each down to a fine art of around five minutes each. I then decided that after two days of laying on the floor in uncomfortable positions, I didn't want to see the underside of the baseboard for a good long while! So I also put in the connections for the frog juicers. All I now need is the frog juicer boards! Thankfully, when I built the old layout, I decided that I wanted the flexibility to replace one point motor with the minimal amount of fuss, so I put a loom on with a choc block on the end. This would prevent the need to do any awkward fiddly soldering under the baseboard (Trust me, its bad enough trying to screw the SEEPS onto the boards!) You'll notice in the photo there are five connections, these SEEPS have the accessory connection which are the black and red. The green and blue are the point control, with the yellow being the common return. (Since I've been introduced to Frog Juicers, the accessory connections are somewhat redundant!) The eagle eyed may wonder why the common return isn't part of the choc block. Well that's simply because the choc blocks purchased worked in even multiples. I decided that unsoldering one cable from the common return bus would be acceptable, and today it seemed to have worked! I'm not quite finished under the board. I now need to wire between the choc blocks and the control board, but that's a relatively easy job. I also need to put in the frog juicer boards (when I've got the cash to buy them), but they are slightly lower on my list of priorities. The wiring also needs to be clipped tidily into place, and I've run out of clips, so a trip to the local DIY store seems to be in order! However after spending a total of five hours sniffing solder under the boards, I'm going to leave it at least a few days before I venture under there again!

Well without sounding too much like Victor Frankenstein, its alive! I decided that I needed the layout to be operable sooner rather than later, so put the buildings temporarily on hold whilst I got busy with the soldering iron! As a result, I've spent the last few evenings contorting myself under the layout, soldering track feeds, fitting the DCC bus. Its been tested and all sections of track work! I also had time to wire up the point by the station building with its SEEP motor and frog juicer, so very happy at the moment. Its good to see things running on the layout once again. I would post photos, but images of wiring is fairly boring stuff! Its also currently untidy until I can get it clipped up to the baseboard. I acknowledge that DCC is probably overkill for a layout where only one engine in steam normally worked. Basically, the original layout was designed to be worked by DCC, so I have the system already in my possession. It does however give me the flexibility to use lights, sound, and other effects on the locos. I need to install the remaining point motors and raise the fiddle yard up so I can give the layout a thorough test before the scenics can start, but its great to see things running once again!

Today is the 175th anniversary of the station building in Cirencester, and was a rare opportunity to look inside the old railway station on the sister branch to the Tetbury line. The station, normally locked up and inaccessible, was today temporarily opened with exhibits. Inside were all manner of artefacts, but for me the real gem was the model of Cirencester station. I think they were having some operational difficulties hence why the cattle wagons are in the car park, but most importantly they were having fun, and it was fun to watch. It kept my kids amused for a good while! Apparently they had to compress the sidings by 50m (Or 2ft in 1:76) My measurements from Google Earth suggest that the model made to scale would be 20ft approx. in length, which also demonstrates how a branch line terminus is actually fairly huge!

Over the last few days, I've been busy putting a lid on the goods shed. It now has a roof on it! Hurrah! The tiles themselves took several hours to glue into place! Hopefully if I get time tonight, I can get a coat of paint across it. The instructions suggest gluing the tiles in strips of 6, but I decided to do it in rows. As long as you keep the glue down, it seems to work fairly well! You can also see that I've started on the canopy. Just the valance and some paint to go. You can also see I've put some crates in there and the crane has been glued into position. From constructing the station building, the chimneys take ages to glue together, so I decided that now was a good time to start the next, and last, major building. The Engine shed! The basic shell didn't take long to fit together. After the experience of the goods shed, I'm aware that the inside brickwork needs to be painted and glazing put into place before the roof goes on. So I'll probably get on and paint that up. The photo on p60 of Randolphs book suggests it was painted white as per the goods shed. As previously mentioned, trying to get colour images of the station seems to be a rarity. Thankfully colour footage does exist. The following still used with permission from B&R Videos Gloucestershire Byways shows the different brick colours used. The change in colour is also apparent in the black and white images in Randolphs book. I'll be using the same shade as I've painted the good shed to the lower portion, and using the same shade as the station buildings for the water tank extension. Looks like I better get the brushes ready!

The cattle dock has been really irritating me, so I spent a bit of time on the layout this evening. I've slewed the track to align it with the outline on the plan. I also took the opportunity to see how the Timbertracks cattle dock compared with the Ratio kit. I was surprised to find out that it was fractionally larger, however as you can see above, it fits perfectly with the outline on the plan, so I can't complain there. The realignment didn't take as long as I expected, so I spent some time running coaches along the track to try to iron out issues such as gradients in sidings that are un-perceivable to the eye. I also decided to put the pannier on the track to see how it looked. I just need a bit of time to wire it all up, I'm looking forward to seeing the wheels turn on that pannier!

I managed to get a couple of hours to finish off the track work this afternoon, a rarity in itself with a young family! All trackwork laid with the exception of the engine shed, which needs the inspection pit cut out into the baseboard. In getting the model to fit the confines of the Peco pointwork, the cattle dock doesn't work in its correct position. At the moment I've shown it too close to the Goods Shed. In fact, it needs to be put on a different alignment. I now have the Timbertracks cattle dock which I need to make up to see how big it is compared to the Ratio model. Another job on the "to do" list!

After nearly being seduced by the idea of a cheap and probably hideously unreliable sports car, I decided that I better get started on some trackwork before something unwelcome landed on the driveway! Being a surveyor, one thing I know is ordnance survey maps can be wrong. Either that or Peco streamline points are not always a match to the points used in reality. Eitherway, trying to get the pointwork to match the track plan and photographs as closely as possible is a challenge, but its coming together! I have also been busy with the station building. I particularly wanted to ensure that the old Great Western sign on the building end was replicated, and a look through the Sankey Scenics website found one. I also thought it would be worthwhile bringing the station building to life with some adverts. In all the photos I've found of the station building, its always well adorned with BR posters, and I feel its given the building some life to it. I still need to put some matt cote across the roof to take away the shine to it. I'll put that on the "to do" list! The goods shed is also coming along. Now the mortar courses have been put onto the model, I now need to put a roof on it! Anyway, looks like next week shall be the goods shed and some more track laying, although I might put the engine shed shell together to try it out for size!

After a couple of evenings kitbashing, building, taking apart, and gluing back together again, I've got a representation of the crane, but its proven to be a pain to get it to fit below the trusses. The flywheel is still a tad too high, and I need to decide whether it needs to be lowered a little more. However, when its in place, it does look right, so I might just leave it. I think I might sleep on it and decide in the morning.

Whilst looking through Randolphs book, on P67, there is a very rare glimpse into the goodshed showing the crane within. As I'm building the goodshed at the moment, it got me thinking that a crane needs to be obtained. A quick google on goodshed cranes showed that the one installed at Tetbury is a non-standard design, with a curved arm and an overhead fly wheel. After a bit of searching, I decided that the Ratio goods yard crane was the closest match. If I drop the main shaft a little, plus remove some of the gubbins on the top, I think I can get a fairly close representation. I also found the Peco LK-35 is fairly close to the yard crane at Tetbury. The exception being the jib arm which is wrong. Mikes Models make a crane with the correct jib, but I understand that its been discontinued for a very long time. I also got thinking about the lamps at Tetbury. They are fairly distinctive and finding an off the shelf product is a bit tricky. The closest off the shelf product are made by DCC Concepts. Perhaps with a little bit of cutting and some wire, I could make a fairly acceptable representation... Hopefully.

This week consisted mainly of finishing the interior of the goods shed plus building the weighbridge extension. I decided that whilst I could weather the interior with mixtures of green and black washes, I concluded that no one is really going to see it very clearly, so a black wash was applied to take away the starkness of the white walls. The shed doors were painted WR brown and glued into their runners. Exterior plinths were also added. These were a little bit time consuming, but worth it for the effect. The windows need to be painted and glazed before the roof goes on! With the main shed ready for the roof to be fitted, I turned my attention to the weighbridge extension. This bit is unusual as it has a solid base. The other kits suggest leaving the glazing to the very end, but if the roof goes on, and with a solid base, there is no access to glaze this part! I've had to loosely fit the roof, and shall have to paint the windows and glaze before the roof goes on. (I'll probably do the main windows at the same time.) The other oddity is that there are no internal doors between the main shed and the weighbridge. The instructions indicate that no doors exist on the real building between the main shed and the weighbridge office, but surley there would be one for the waybill store immediately above? Luckily I had a spare door from the station building kit. It'll probably never be seen, but it cuts out any excessive light through this part of the structure which could suggest that there is no intermediate floor! Technically the steps from the weighbridge office were remodelled due to the installation of a replacement weighbridge, however the steps provided were too good not to use, and anyway the brick plinth is specifically cut for this option only, so to depart from the instructions would be a bit of a pain! With the station building, I'm not too sure what the chimney pot are made out of, but its fairly hard stuff! Looks like it needs some action from the Dremel! Looks like painting windows, glazing, and roof work should keep me busy for the next week at least!

When trying to fit modelling around a young family and a busy professional life, I always feel jealous of those who have more time! Things have moved at a slower pace than I would have liked with the station building. It was also hindered by family visits and my loco firing assessment last weekend. Enough of the excuses. With only pots, glazing, guttering and noticeboards to go, its nearly complete. Unfortunately I shall have to admit defeat with the signage. Timbertacks provide some very nice hanging signs. However try as I might, I cannot paint them well enough. I've tried several techniques including dry brushing, but they all look rubbish! I've also turned my attention to the goods shed. The main building shell and roof structure has been made. Photographs of the real building from http://www.tetburyraillands.com/ show that the bricks internally are whitewashed, so I thought I'd better get this done before the roof goes on! Lets see if better progress can be made this week!

Well progress has been made but Easter has slowed things up at the moment. I've been busy painting up the station building, but I've hit a slight snag with the brick colour. For those of you who don't know the history of the station, here's a brief history of the sites development. Site is built in 1889 and comprises of the Goodshed, Engine Shed, a timber station building and signal box. The timber station building becomes dilapidated and a new brick built building is constructed in 1916. The timber signal box is dismantled and removed in 1926. The tank to the engine shed is raised, although the date of this is unrecorded. A mis-match of brick is used. This is where things get interesting. The colour of the brick used for the water tank extension, is the same or very similar to the station building and adjacent store, but this causes a slight issue regarding matching the colour, simply because existing examples of this lighter colour of brick is missing from site! In addition, I cannot find any colour photos of Tetbury station, so I have had to make do with DVD stills. I'm just awaiting a copyright request to use them on this thread. I've been experimenting with colours against the photographs of the good shed. The brick colour that I've used is basically too dark. Humbrol 70 matches the good shed nicely, but I need a lighter shade for station building. Railmatch 424 (Oddly called "Dark brick") seems to look about right, but even Railmatch 423 could work. The Good Shed - Note the use of blue brick in bands! That'll be a pain to paint! Humbrol 70 - seems to be a good match for the goods shed. Railmatch 424 - Seems to be a good match for the station building, but you'll have to take my word for it! So, the station building shall need to be repainted. Never mind, I need to exercise a bit of filler on the chimneys and awning anyway! As an aside, I was doing some of my volunteering duties and found this in the steam depts mess! Whilst the photograph doesn't declare its location, its unmistakably Tetbury!

Getting this thread away from eBay, some bloke from UPS has just handed me a big brown box. Lets hope there's an APT in it!

Hi Keith. The O/S that I'm working on is the same 1921 plan that I downloaded from old-maps.co.uk, but it not as clean as the NLS copy! Thanks for that!

Progress has been a little bit slower this week. Certainly starting on the store was a good idea, as the station building is far more complex. One things I've learnt is that less glue for the roof tiles is the way forward! Since the last photos were taken, I've found that the application of detail to the awning and roof tiles have been very time consuming. Awning details has taken about an hour, with the rolled joints another hour, and the roof tiles an additional hour to that! Lets hope it looks just as good when painted! Tiles to the hips and ridges still to go, and some prep before painting, but its looking like Tetbury station!

Tetbury store practically complete. I decided to start on the smallest building to iron out any issues from the larger and more expensive kits. Just the downpipes left to do.

Second day of operation use-up-annual-leave. Redundant wiring stripped and raised baseboards formed. I've also been busy during the week. The station store is nearly complete, and the station building is well underway. I however had a brief panic earlier today when planning the shape of the trackbed by the station building. I laid the scale plans out and thought the station building looked a bit small. I then wondered whether all the plans were plotted incorrectly. I quickly grabbed the station building and thankfully it fits the outline perfectly. Phew!

Hopefully a vision of things to come: AC Railcar W79977 heads towards Tetbury

Well, its nearly the end of the financial year, and any excess annual leave at work has to be taken or lost. So I decided to take the opportunity to make a start on Tetbury! In preparation, using a bit of AuoCAD knowledge, the site plans have been plotted off at a scale of 1/76 to check that the layout will work. I also couldn't resist trying out a few trains for size. How about a Westonbirt Schools special: Also, no layout of Tetbury would be complete without an AC Railcar, and this little Heljan beauty arrived in the post earlier today. Sadly one of the dumb buffers came away in transit, but its still in the box and looks like its simply come adrift. Nothing a spot of glue cant fix! I'll try to get some better photographs on my diorama later today. The old layout has now been lifted and I was surprised how quickly it came away. Thank goodness I stopped the old layout before I started the scenics! Next job is to remove the redundant wiring to allow the baseboard tops to be raised up a scale 2 metres above "The Splash". Something tells me that'll take a bit more time, but here's hoping it'll be as quick as lifting the track!

Well, I've decided to take the plunge and build Tetbury. The lure of building a real location is too good to miss. Redundant models on eBay and these arrived in the post! That'll keep me busy for a bit!

Unfortunately its always obscured in those photos. I probably need to go back to site again, with the book if necessary, and take a few photos with the concrete block in context with its surroundings. To be honest, its probably irrelevant in the scheme of things, but it is curious.

I'm planning to model the railway in the 1960's period, so it give me the option to spin the clock forward slightly to run one of the Heljan railcars if I feel inclined. My research shows that from the late 1950s onwards there is a greater variation of panniers, prairies and 14xx's, so it gives more variety. With regards to the concrete base, it sits towards the top of the site, the metal pins sit perpendicular to the old mainline track. Its location is obscured in the historic photographs I can find, so its a bit of a mystery. Its beyond the mile marker in Karaus book, and is shown as a triangle in Randolphs 1909 plan. After thinking about it, I think its either a gradient post, or perhaps something S&T orientated. You're correct about the signal box! Randolphs book confirms that it was dismantled in 1926 and moves to Tormead House. I now understand its been moved again and ironically owned by non other than Stephen Randolph himself, and now resides at his house in Derbyshire! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316901/Railway-fanatic-dismantles-signal-box--transport-150-miles-rebuilt-garden.html