lash

I acquired this old Hornby box about 18 months ago at the Isle of Wight show for a couple of quid . I liked the post war look ( LMS/ early BR?) and it’s toylike low profile which would suit a crowded narrow baseboard well and could be easily disguised . I dismantled it washed and primed it and the mouldings look pretty good so this week I’ll have a go at making it presentable and finding an excuse for a Southern Region paint scheme.

OK so this is Melville Street my next layout after Milton Quay . MQ still has minor finishing work to be done but is currently packed up and about 200 miles away. I think its a great little layout and I have learnt so much from it and Melville Street is aimed at being another opportunity to progress my modelling skills and help me sort out a few priorities . MQ will be finished and played with when I get hold of it again. These were my objectives for MQ: Lightweight and transportable No more than six foot in total and individual boards no more than four feet long Quickish to build ( six months ) Simple structures and landscape and not too much of it Simple electrics Southern around 1960 An opportunity to run passenger, parcels and goods For Melville Street this what I have in mind : Lightweight ,robust ,transportable and easily stored Using commercially made boards and compact but not quite micro Quickish to build ( I wouldn’t be so naive as to put a period on it now) Urban structures and buildings preferably with some height Effective DC electrics to give operating interest Southern early 60s to early 70s Third rail electric short EMUs and parcels with opportunity for goods and shunting in a second phase. Planning has started and I'll be back soon

Milton Quay is in store for the duration so final bits and bobs will have to wait. I've decided to put a hold on the Portsea Town revamp for the moment. It will be part of a gig railway room tail chaser one day but not yet. My next project will be Melville Street, a very grubby urban third rail terminus probably something like Iain Futers Haymarket in a cutting with late green and early blue emus in mind. Like MQ it will be micro-ish but probably slightly on the large side so I’ll start the thread in layout topics. Keep your distance and keep well modelling chums everywhere.

Lovely idea and go for it ,perfect size to start and maybe even finish a layout . Not sure about the kick back siding, will you be able to shunt any wagons into it if this is a terminus

It’s just as well Adrian isn’t evil because we’d have a true evil genius in our midst. I doff my hat, am lost in admiration and will wear my superhero pants over my tights, this is just superb modelling.

Really nicely done . Great example of not giving up and using work you’ve already partly completed . We’ve all probably got enough stuff stashed for at least one layout .So let’s stop stashing and start building and running .

Been working on the Dogfish, oh goodness it’s a tricky fiddly build . Fun though even if I hadn’t twigged that Heljan make a Dogfish model . Why does that happen ? I’ve got a Ratio Van B kit and a DC kits 2H stashed both overtaken by wonderful ready to run models .

Have a look at my old Portsea Town topic ,soon to be reborn as Vernon Square. Very similar and Futersesque. Possibly disguise the plan with sidings going out of site as a false two line plan for more visual interest . How about an urban branch or secondary city terminus with emus and/or dmus and parcels

Obviously nicking from RN stores was a sport in 50s and 60s Pompey so that has to be a possibility but the shade here is a tadge light. Joe was never in the Navy but would I suspect have fitted in well at Whale Island as a gunnery instructor .

Good point Adrian . He’s a bit fit isn’t he . Not too surprising ,he played centre half for Pompey in the 50s . Pay was less than the £20 a week salary cap as he was never a first team regular . The caravan was bought with the proceeds of a testimonial and it looks like he got hold of some paint from the Fratton Park stores as well .

Had a bit of time this evening after first day back at work so worked on Joe’s. Nearly done and Joe himself is installed spreading worldly wisdom , doubtful refreshment and mild salmonella . a bit of tidying to do ,wheels and urn to be attached and some weathering to achieve a suitably gritty look.

The Lash household was a little unusual in our 1950s diet ,dad was in the navy and had spent time in the Far East and Hong Kong and mum bought up around the Mediterranean . I was fed curry and other delights from whenever I can remember . We were however regarded as a bit strange . I do recall spotting a brownish loaf in Campions as a boy but that was too outlandish even for us . I’m pretty certain the bread in Joe,s would be white pale and devoid of any nutritional benefit with no stage between textureless and unpleasantly moist and curly edged cardboard stiff . Happy days and bring on the rockcakes , iced buns and very dodgy sausage rolls .

Well, there's egg and bacon Egg sausage and bacon Egg and spam Egg, bacon and spam Egg, bacon, sausage and spam Spam, bacon, sausage and spam Spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam Spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam tomato and spam Spam, spam, spam, egg and spam Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam Or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce Served in a Provençale manner with shallots and aubergines Garnished with truffle pâté, brandy and a fried egg on top and Spam

I have managed a bit of modelling over Christmas . I've liked the idea of a small permanent way train for a while and have acquired a few suitable Cambrian kits including a Dogfish hopper . It’s been fun to build so far . Fettling the hooper body to the chassis is quite tricky so I wouldn’t recommend this as a first time kit but I’d encourage anyone to have a go at a simpler van or open wagon as a first step in building your own stock ,don’t forget to buy wheels and bearings . The second kit is a Wills 1950/60s tea kiosk . not for MQ this one but it will appear on the revamped Portsea Town/ Vernon Square where I’m planning a bit more scenic modelling and cameos . Love the kit and evocation of the smell of stewed tea and cheap instant coffee powder and the sight of a gently curling ham sandwich and a roll with cheese sweating as the day goes on waiting for an unsuspecting customer .

No prob. It’s a standard Wills kit (based on a LSWR canopy I believe ) using single columns and the station building for support and sorting that and not being too wonky is the trickiest bit . I’ve added some standard SR style electric lights from a Ratio SR concrete lamp kit , they come double sided but MQ only uses one side of the lamps on the platform so I had the necessary spares . I’m sure Westerham Adrian would have made the lamps out of Christmas chocolate wrappers ,tailor’s pins and the blunt end of a coffee stirrer ..... but I lack his genius and am an inveterate kit basher . Happy new year all from the foggy IOW .

Pertwee has not been seen on Milton Quay for some months , the local constabulary apparently had an interest in his activities and he was last seen dodging the Naval Provost before volunteering for a posting east of Suez. Wouldn’t be surprised if he pitched up in Devonport though promoting his new oriental import business .

At the same show last year l bought a very old Horny signal box for about three quid. i think it’s based on an early 50s box in turn based on a postwar LMS box. It’s a bit narrow and I’ll need to fabricate some handrails for the stairs ( no not health and safety gone mad even 1/72 plastic people deserve a safe workplace) but it will be up against a resting wall which will disguise the lack of depth and if Portsea lost its lovely LSWR type 3a box to incendiaries in the war I’m sure this type of box can be justified . Anyway it’s my train set , it’s just the right size and after a scrub and a spray of grey acrylic primer it looks to me the basis of a half decent model and better and cheaper than a plaster plonk it down alternative not to mention re-using a bit of plastic !Oh and yes one day I will scratch build but in the meantime it’s good fun for this less than average modeller.

Sometimes I get ideas above by station . So when I found this gem at the Newport IOW show at the weekend I couldn’t resist for a tenner . I have been aware of this old Hornby kit for a while and have noted it’s architectural similarity to Portsmouth and Southsea station . It’s a bit bashed and in need of tlc but as project or even a carve up really I couldn’t resist . A bit grand for Portsea maybe but who knows I may model a larger station one day .....

Oh clang.

Nice one yes A pint ! Why ,that’s very nearly an armful .

Keith glad you enjoyed the reference and love your embellishments. I think I could get into a few cameos with the characters from 60s and 70s radio comedy on the layout ) Maybe Binky Beaumont and Dame Celia Molestrangler and their take on Brief Encounter ( no refreshment room at MQ but maybe a stolen pot of tea and a rock cake at the local Black Cat Cafe ) or Jules and Sandy escaping the drudgery of the Balls Pond Road for a bona day out at the seaside. If there are any young people out there who don’t understand a word of this ......welcome to my world!!

The idea is to complete a few jobs on MQ and then take it to our house in the Isle of Wight to thoroughly test ( ok play with ) with a variety of stock from the mid 50s to early 70s over Christmas and the New Year. So Jobs to do. Final fix for the canopy . Starter and distant signal. Paint touch up . Second cassette. Signal box interior , may end up a Christmas project though. Platform furniture and manholes. Foliage here and there. Odds sods and detritus around the dock. Once out of the railway room there will be room for my planned revamp of Portsea Town ....

Thanks Adrian your encouragement is as ever much appreciated The cunning plan is developing in my head and will involve some fun kitbashing .

I’ve been pondering what comes next after Milton Quay ,my small dockside terminus . I’m thinking urban , with more structural modelling ( I have accumulated quite a few kits and second hand buildings for construction and bashing) but not too complex and a more conventional approach to baseboards and point control. Maybe a variation on the Ian Futers Haymarket theme using track and other components I already have with a view to keeping costs down. Then I looked in the corner of the room and stacked against the wall was Portsea Town looking a bit dusty but undamaged and with some nice trackwork and decent electrics all wired and working when last tested . A cunning plan maybe to remove a platform , a bridge here ,new retaining walls there. A new fiddle yard would be required but no big problem there or maybe even share with the slidy cassettes at Milton Quay . So watch this space ..........I might just have a cunning plan .

Worked on the home and distant signal this evening then track cleaning and playing trains. It’s October 1965 , and a busy late afternoon at Milton Quay.