5050

The point is, this should now spur you on to finish the layout which should turnout rather well.

Snap!

Yes, those are the ones. Thanks for this and for your comments. Trees are 'on order' from our local 'arboriculturalist', Charles. Nothing to big though. We've looked at photos from the locality and most of the general trees seem quite low in height. The 'plan' at the moment is to try and get at least the basic scenery in place for Halifax and then develop it over the following weeks.

I can't remember! I didn't buy them - but I'm sure GTi will remember. Won't he?

A couple of photos taken today showing some progress on the scenic side. First, an overhead view of the woodchip plant and what will be an agricultural merchants. The Berlin branch is the line nearer the outside of the board and is climbing slightly to give some differentiation with the main line. Next, the other 'White River Junction' end with the houses and dairy. Switchstands, crossing bucks etc. installed and some more 'wilder' shrubbery grown. My next job is painting the main depot building. GTi is finishing off an oil/fuel unloading point which will be placed between the agricultural merchants and the main building. I foresee some interesting switching moves!

And what would that be Steve? Oh - I like the buildings. Coming on nicely.

Not at all Marty. In fact, quite the opposite. Any constructive comments and helpful information will always be well received.

Right, I see what you mean. Even in photos of the 'old' building (pre '21) they are still single sided.

Thank you everyone for your kind comments. The only other signal we have spotted on photos was on the southern approach about half a mile or so from the depot. Not seen any other order boards at all although I have wondered how orders were passed to trains from the south that were continuing farther north. Perhaps they just HAD to stop at Woodsville before proceeding to Wells River or St Johnsbury. There may also have been signals for the junction of the Berlin Branch which in reality was a mile or two south of the station. However, as we have the branch diverging directly from the station area then this isn't really of concern to us. Thanks for the commment and for the offer Andy - but I think I've seen enough TO signals for the time being! The switchstands are based on photos in the Morning Sun B&M book that covers the Woodsville area. Geoff made a guesstimation of the heights etc. relative to people standing nearby etc. We're not sure if these are a dedicated B&M design but they are different to the ones at Wells River which are CV (I think ?).

My 'homework' the past week has been involved with the Train Order Signal that hangs from the station depot canopy. It is slightly unusual in that, although a 2 arm version, both the arms face the same direction. The left one was for the Berlin Branch and the right one for the continuation of the main line. We don't think they were used very often, especially in later years and, so far, no photos have appeared with them raised. Thanks to some good close-up photos I've found on the net I've been able to determine the shape of the spectacles and related balance weight and made the overall representation from 20 thou brass and 3 x 12BA and 1 x 14BA washers. An interesting excercise for my rusty soldering techniques! The overall rough shapes were cut from sheet brass with a piercing saw and soldered together. The centres for the spectacles, balance weight, operating wire and pivot point were marked and drilled. The 3 spectacle holes were then reamed out to be a close fit on some panel pins (themselves a close-ish fit in the 12 BA washers) which were tapped into a piece of wood through the holes and the heads snipped off. The 2 arms were separated and cleaned up and individually placed over the headless pin 'jig' and the washers sweated on. These holes were then reamed out to a suitable size for the 'glass'. The balance weight and pivot point holes were left at 0.5mm to clear Peco Pins. For the balance weight the pins (proper brass ones!) were superglued in and the excess removed from the rear. The head was then filed flush with the face of its surrounding washer 'frame'. The pivot point used the 14BA washer and the head of the pivot pin was reduced in diameter by filing. The posts are Evergreen 80 thou square with various small pieces of 10thou for reinforcing plates etc. The strengthening rods are Slater's plastic rodding. Along with added small plastic rod cubes to represent the threaded outer ends of the rods, these give a slightly more interesting 'feel' to the otherwise plain posts. When fully finished there will be a continuation of the lower angled rod that goes 'through' the canopy to brace against the main support post below. Lamps attached (I think correctly) to the tops of the posts are suitable diameter sprue with caps from 'mushroomed' Slater's rod and microstrip lenses. I have also made a couple of angle cranks to represent the operating system which will be fitted with fine wire - but not with the intention of having them working please note! First, a real B&M Train Order Signal arm. Now my parts. And in position - but not finished!

It's approx. 16' x 8' with a central operating well. We generally have a couple of 'hands on' sessions with the layout during the week but each of us tends to be working on something related to the layout on the other modelling days. Today Bob brought a list of the stock required to operate a typical list of daily prototype trains. He is currently servicing all his locos etc. to ensure they are all working correctly. The scenic side is moving on and there will soon be some more photos showing developments.

One of my latest scratchbuilt creations (seen already elsewhere on the forum - but I thought I'd show it here as well.) French metre gauge 'Tramways de Correze' station based on the one at Le Mortier. Built to HO scale from a Dennis Allenden plan. As pointed out elsewhere, the postbox should not be red. It will be repainted blue in due course!

Shouldn't the bike be kept in the bedroom??

Nice. Wasn't the Dukedog a Mallard kit?

Some more work has been done and it seems we are (slowly) 'getting there'. Main jobs currently are trees (mainly to disguise the exits to the fiddle yard), timber bridge, positioning buildings correctly (and finishing them! - especially the main depot), ground cover and blending ground cover colourings. The vast majority of the open areas have been 'grassed' with 'grass mat' to give a base for the eventual detailed work. The Woodchip Plant is fixed in place - Depot building has progressed - it now has a roof - The Dairy is attached and the Houses are positioned -

Wow! A genuine P4 Thomas layout! I've been waiting for one of these for years! I wonder what the original Protofour 'Founding Fathers' would think

Not seen these before, they look excellent. If I was starting again with a small layout I would seriously consider them.

Oh ye of little faith............................. Working on some element of it is all I seem to be doing at the moment! Thanks for the complement though

Thanks, datewise it's going to be early 50's-ish. Mostly 1st generation diesels but Bob also has some B&M steam locos which will hopefully be given an airing as well. Most of the locos will be B&M but there is an opportunity for a CP E8 for through passenger working, Budd RDC for the Berlin branch workings and a Barre and Chelsea RR GE 70 tonner on interchange connections. The dairy building (built by Bob, not me) is 90% complete already but thanks for the offer.

We can discuss it on the day this year. The 3 of us will be there.

I'm using Ratio N Scale roofing tiles. Still a little bit large and a bit regular but once they're painted I'm sure they'll be OK. Paul's shingles are very large in comparison.

It's fine. No grief will be experienced. If there was any grief to be had then it would already have been experienced. But thanks for pointing it out..................

Along with 2 friends I am currently involved in the construction of a new layout based on the old B&M station at Woodsville New Hampshire. As the other 2 builders, Bob and Geoff, had already built the baseboards, laid the track (PECO Code 83) and wired it up for DCC, I volunteered to make the main railway structures and assist in the scenic work. Bob is providing the stock and Geoff is carpenter-in-chief, painter etc. There is plenty of information about the real Woodsville available on-line, suffice it to say that our layout is based on the station with adaptations and additions to save space and allow for more operational interest. Personally I'm still not absolutely sure about the eventual operation but when I do, I'll let you know! We are already booked for Halifax and Wakefield shows later in the year so need to make progress! Here are some shots of how it looked this morning when we set up the front boards in Geoff's garage to view overall progress and make some decisions on how to tackle the scenic requirements. 1 - view down the length of the layout (approx. 16'). Nearest building is a (non-prototypical) woodchip plant for extra operational interest. 2 - from the other end. Blank rectangle is the site of a (again non-prototypical) dairy. 3 - the REA Depot I built, working from photographs. 4 - the main depot building (which is still in existence but modified) still under construction. 5 - another general view with some of the test stock. As we progress - I'll be back!

Isn't the Reading Rogersons the same company that made point motors and also other electrical stuff? And another premises somewhere on the South Coast? Plenty of adverts in Model Railway News of the early 50's and later.

Great set of photos. There's something quite appealing about 37's in that livery.