Long Line

Returning to something more akin to the topic heading: It was suggested this weekend that a manufacturer will be moving a new product currently in pre-order down their production schedule due to low response on pre order interest.. not orders, just interest. in the first few months since announcement. What and who is irrelevant.. what i find concerning is that we are decending into a position whereby nothings going to get built unless we all rush out and state interest on proposed projects that arent even off the drawing board yet let alone reached EP or the pre build spending stage that we can look at. What if folk just haven't heard of it yet? Not everyone sits glued to a screen awaiting updates or has a device pinging in their ear with updates hourly... they could be doing something else like modelling all the other stuff the rtr world don't do for example Is it me or is this all going too far one way now!

Do you plan to include the stables, cattle sheds and grain stores which survived til closure of the goods depot? I have struggled to find much pic wise of these areas, although i have achieved a general arrangement of the various structures , roads etc.

If you move your drawings forward 95 years you could as I'm always looking for materials/ info for my own Paddington project. 😊 I've included a pic of my luddite pencil plans lol.. these are 148th scale and looking from Lords Hill bridge to Praed st. I've since extended this back to Great Western Road but had to cut it into many peices as it became unmanageable lol. CAD etc wasn't an option for me but what your achieving would be invaluable to anyone building the BG period.

Those scouts did a Great job last year. A credit to the uniform. Studious polite and keen. The tea just kept coming which is always a welcome gesture. Looking forwards to this years one.

Really? Is this straight up? Born in 67 I've always been told i was a baby boomer? But what do i know: I've mostly dabbled in GWR, but as i now include surface rail on my Paddington project i guess I'm LPTB too 😆

My n gauge modelling demo is set up.. subject this weekend will be wagon fettling 😉 Always an enjoyable start to the modelling year at chapel. Cheers Mark

Its more manageable in N 😉 Looking towards the country end from London road in 1940s with a taxi running onto the arrivals side ramp for reference of scale.

This is a great mindset I'm going to introduce immediately.. So when they turn up at the pub for footy this afternoon..we can give them a dirty glass..they can clean and dry it, serve themselves then tidy the carpets and seats where they want to sit and put any firewood they've brought with them on the fire after they light it. Ill keep all the money, do nowt and a get some wagons built. If you don't have the required pump monies or want to do the work fine.. just don't get involved. But as long as you retain the right to the profits of such endeavours be they kudos or cash then you should accept the expenditure, work and responsibility it entails. Yes the support packages supplied to model railway exhibitors, stewards and the like may require some tweaking to see them remain fiscally sustainable. But let's try and use a little more whit shall we and come up with a more evolutionary than revolutionary solution. One thing is for certain, time will see this one out. Give it 3 years and we'll see if groups who adopt this mindset exist anymore. 🙈🙉🙊

The ngs mag has a new editor: approached me at Manchester on my demo stand stating he was hoping to move things forwards a bit. Maybe this is a naive first move? Re the ngs knowing the difference, most havn't worked out its 2.06mm not 2 yet so let's not get ahead of ourselves here 🙄 Mark

A major issue has been overome today in the next phase of the project. Namely somewhere flat dry and secure to test assemble the whole 110ft of the project for the first time. Then a year or so later to test run it in anger. This issue has plagued me for ages so its great to finally know we can put it all up on occasion. Couple of months-ish and we'll see if my measuring and geometry were close to right 😛 An older pic of the much altered plan (hanging to straighten out the creases on the wardrobe door) and a tape showing the centre line of the project on the hall floor proving it should fit ok.

Don't forget the single en-suite rooms inc Sunday and a little on the side to cover evening meals and a beer🤑

What they won't do is take unesascarilly chances to put out fires in empty property where no assessment of the risk can be made by the senior officer attending. You can improve the chances of them going in if you provide a fireman's manual at the entrance or affixed outside etc. There is lots of info on the web on how to create and maintain one of these. If in doubt ask your local brigade for advice.

Just had a quick look online.. (jan timetable admitably) tp2 sat only service Matlock to buxton takes 1hr 7mins for app £8.70.. know doubt that if you looked further especially in the summer they'll be more services similar too?

Possibly but there's a good train and bus service from the Peaks surrounding towns, so it'll be fine I'm sure. Provided their in work of course?

Welcome to our 24 show entry. As ever our website at: railexbuxton.co.uk which alongside our facebook page contains all pertinent information for visitors and ill be leaking a few juicy bits of news on here nearer the time. One thing for those considering staying over the weekend for this and next years shows! You'd be best booking asap as its also festival weekend in Buxton. Which means loads more evening events and entertainments inc the fair in hightown, but does mean the hotels are booked up well before. Cheers

Taken from L W Pomroy's book on the Teign Valley Railway, Oxford Publishing Company. The map attached shows the route via a bold solid line built by the South Devon Railway Company as exists today. Also a line from Exeter to Plymouth going West of Heathfield to Ashburton then Buckfast and via Brent onto Plymouth via a more Southerly route below Ivybridge. This was the second of the proposals presented to Parliament in 1845 but not acted upon. The plan also shows the route of 1897 describe by my model. Shown as the lighter dashed line and being further up hill from both Ashburton and Buckfastleigh. This fits with the piece published in the newspapers in my previous post. For me this is the only sensible route as all others require steep inclines into Ashburton and Buckfast which negates the very idea of a South Devon Banks avoidance route. The mid Devon is a much smoother affair at 14.3miles long with no greater than 1:150 required. Naturally you'd need to get to Heathfield from Exeter first. But i disregard this as the Teign Valley route has Longdon Bank and the Dawlish option Teignmouth Bank. Which in effect cancel each other out over the first half of the route through South Devon. The raisen-detre to the Mid Devon proposal was for freight traffic to avoid the banks south of Newton Abbot as well as the bottleneck it often was. The plan also shows a short line connecting my route to Ashburton and the Dart Valley Railway. Although just off my model i have looked into this, but have my doubts as it would require a gradient of approx 1:45!

My research on the proposed route of the Mid Devon Railway has been ongoing for years as my understanding of why, how and where the line might have been built improved. The only plans deposited in Devon records office were for the The Brent, Ashburton and Heathfiled Railway of 1897. This suggested 2 lines connecting Heathfield and Ashburton, then Buckfastleigh to Brent. Such would utilize the existing section of the Dart Valley Railway between Ashburton and Buckfastleigh. But these were not that of the Mid Devon Railway which would have been one line between Heathfield and Brent and further north east than those. There were several pieces published in the newspapers of the day which suggested a few key anchor points around which the route may be worked out. Nameley: Exeter Flying Post 22nd November 1897. "A new railway has been proposed from Heathfield Junction to Brent. The route would go through woods to Liverton, through a tunnel below the Jolly Sailor Inn and would go in front of Wood Place. A station is proposed between Headborough and Rew. At Buckfast there would be a 100ft viaduct over the River Dart" This gave me enough anchor points to work out the route in brief and the topography of the region sorted the rest. As trains don't like hills and tunnels are expensive! And whenever possible companies build railways for profit, so they go through somewhere commercially important or provide the cheapest solution to both construction and operation as possible. Part of the route laid out on the desk whilst designing the model, you can just make out the route snaking across the top portion of the plan. The bottom picture shows the area covered in the model as seen to date including the river dart viaduct to the left with its easily recognizable island. The station area and quarry to its rear and to the right the location of the small hamlet.

The next step forward came through the building of a small 1/76th scale winter 1944 diorama. I did this as i wanted an excuse to build a model tank which i'd not done since a teenager and as i wanted to learn winter modelling. Long Line is supposed to be late February 1942 and historical met office data told me that during a 3 month period encompassing my models date there were only 10 or so clear days, the rest being hindered by fog, snow, frost or freezing mist. I didn't want to cover the layout in thick snow but a feeling of a very cold and icy morning was desirable. But as with many of our models long Line is covered with lush green scenery, a result of the products chosen and available at the time mostly. It was of key concern to me that if the layout were to appear again it must be 'period correct' so to speak. Companies such as Crycell produce products in small quantities suitable for winterizing small scale models but the costs of using such over an entire layout of many hundred square feet was clearly implausible. Accordingly i did some experimenting and devised a solution using domestic acrylic primer undercoat diluted with acrylic spraying thinners. Both could be purchased by the litre so making it far cheaper to create and unsparingly use. The effect was a success, as the thinners dried they retracted the solution into puddles leaving areas of dried paint which was a good representation of ice and frost in my view? With the use of varying opacities of mix it was credible to suggest that differing depths and translucence of ice or snow might be created.

Various Long Line models on display at Manchester MRE in 2016. Working upon the stock and individual models proved sufficiently enthralling and enough modelling to sate my appetite during this period which also involved a house and business changes. After all those hundreds and hundreds of wagons weren't going to build themselves and as was proving plainly evident, it was fruitless to assume that the RTR manufacturers were ever going to sufficiently supply my models in N gauge anyway.

The state of play in the workshop on the Monday evening after our return from Ally Pally. Cases of boards and lots of pieces without cases, stand alongside associated bits of equipment awaiting a new way and place in which to keep the now much increased volume of stuff all safe, which needed to be sourced asap due to pressures of work in the machine shop! After 3 weeks continuous work on the layout, it at had all gone out the doors 4 days prior and was now safely back. By this point i was truly shattered lol.

The remodeled baseboard M1 with its canted right end which now bent the layout at this point both giving much needed stability and representing the area modeled more closely. Ether side can be seen the existing boards which it mated to, left being the village area and right the station. Including the adaptations on the original layout Castle Hill, as one of the earliest boards being built in 2002, this was the 4th and final version of this particular section! The road over bridge is the 3rd model to stand in this area, being re-used from the previously straight version. The corner pub and adjoining house clearly having now traveled West somewhat. I will need to fill in the new gap with more Devon cottages, ideally with thatched roofs which have proved difficult to realistically create in 148th scale so far.

Quickly built from scrap in the tool box and added Friday evening prior by a couple of the chaps operating these temporary white signals were added to show the electrical isolation sections to the operators and assist the public in understanding why trains were stopping in critical areas as they awaited the train in front to clear the next section. Several times over the weekend we witnessed the audience discussing the sight of distant trains delaying following ones up and explaining among themselves the why and how such was needed and done. This was a very pleasing situation as one of the things i wanted to do with the project was show how a real railway works and would influence ideas and changes to the model in years to come.

Ally Pally 2015 again and even as doors opened the issues of keeping the audience entertained with trains began to appear, i was frantically making up more for the guys to work across the model as by now we had 4 trains in motion at once ( 2 in each direction) with 7 or more parked in the goods loop, WD sidings, station yard and waiting for a path off the goods line. By 10am we had 27 trains in use which was proving insufficient already. Accordingly I dashed about the show in search off more 'new model' brake vans to buy which were in scarce supply back then, so i could build yet more trains. I took to splitting freights into 2 or 3 new trains, incorporating full brakes on fitted freights and re -using locos on other ones. We even run single and multiple light engine movements and as many passenger services with additional vehicles tacked on to create new ones as plausible. In the end there was around 50 different trains crossing the model all weekend, and all far to often too!

A rearward view from Ally Pally 2015. Looking in the Up direction this was taken early on Saturday morning as we warmed up the loco's and ourselves for what would become a very busy weekend walking too and fro with trains. You can also see one of the 65ft long controller leads which return to the transformer box located in the layout centre under board M5 (station platforms). To stop the leads become twisted and knitted into a knot in the middle as the guys walked up and down the model some simple rules were devised. With the lowest number controller always passing nearest to the layout and you must not turn around at the end with the controller in your hand, i.e. always keeping it besides the layout.