George Woodcock

Hello As well as the show at Peterborough another exhibition which may interest some people who are in the area of these two shows is a history of ironstone quarrying in the Scaldwell and Brixworth areas which will be on at the library in Spratton Road Brixworth from June 6th till June 27th. Well worth a visit and though I have seen it before I shall go again as my father worked at both of those sites. Seems like you could have a very busy and hopefully interesting day at these three events. Less than two weeks to go now. Cheers George

Hello That's why John will be there as he will be providing the soundtrack. As for remembering things I certainly can't remember Maidstone West Barracks, even further before my time. Can I see it on a re-run of Timeteam? Cheers George

Hello Really, really great modelling, can't wait to see it at Burton as I was far too young to see it when it was around originally. Inspirational. Cheers An avid fan

Hello Probably not Mick, though we can always supply a pencil and a sheet of paper for people who require them. Maybe the layout owners can provide them, or possibly not. Such a steep learning curve, this exhibition malarkey. Cheers George

Hello Having seen various reviews of these any-one any idea when they are likely to arrive? Cheers George

Hello However as Dave only lives a stones throw away from the venue and you are having withdrawal symptoms he will be only too willing to take you round there to show off little treasures. Hope to see some of you in June. Cheers George

Hello As mentioned earlier on this thread Towcester will be appearing at the show at Sutton Coldfield next weekend so if you are there please stop by and say hello. Cheers George

Hello John and I have finished fitting the point motors, as well as the connection plugs across the baseboards, fitted the controller socket and controller pocket on the end of 1 scenic boards. hopefully in few weeks we should have trains running on the layout when John has completed the control panel. The layout is powered the same as on our Towcester layout with DCC operation for the tracks while the points and signals are DC controlled. I have also built one of the platform shelters on the Wisbech bound platform, just need to glaze it and fit the roof on. Next job will be to build the platform shelter and parcels shed on the other platform. The shelters on each platform are different as they were built by two different companies. The one I have nearly completed is a GER type. Luckily the two on the other platform are still in situ at Middle Drove so I was able to measure and photograph them last year. Amazing that they are still there 50 years after closure..Back to work now. Cheers George

Hello Oh, oh dear, oh dear :scared: Cheers George

Hello Looks more like I'm about to be executed but in reality I was just soldering a wire onto a point motor. Hopefully it will work OK, after all I've had enough practise over the years; someday I may get it right. glad you like the East Anglian concept , as I said in the previous post it is a little homage to a by-gone age which possibly never existed as we remember it anyway. Cheers George

Hello It is indeed blue Clive, as were all the boxes in this part of East Anglia at the time of my layout. The green boxes seem to have been more in the east of the area. I don't know why this should be, I merely copied the one in the place I based the layout on. The blue I used is an aircraft colour from Precision Paints which is a perfect match for the faded colour so common on these branch lines that were about to close in such numbers. I am always glad that as a teenager I travelled on so many of them. If any-one wants to see these lines for real I can heartily recommend a series of DVDs published by TVP which feature so much of the demise of not only branchlines but also mainlines across East Anglia and Lincolnshire in the late 1960s and early 1970s.The two that formed the man part of my inspiration are 'Pick-up Freight' and 'Branch-line Journey' . The man who filmed most of the material on them was called George Pring who also wrote an extremely useful article on Middle Drove station for the GER Railway Society magazine in the early 1990s. Not only did I find the DVDs very useful but also they are a very moving testament of a long by-gone age. Cheers George

Hello Only two wires and a lot more to add yet. The grain store is based on the one at North Elmham which closed in 1989 and the one at Kennett which still exists today but is no longer rail connected. The majority is scratch built while the three large grain bins are from Walthers with scratchbuilt additions. The signal box is, as mentioned earlier, an adapted Wills kit with all the interior detail fitted which sadly is not very visible but at least we know it is there. The buffer stops are from the wonderful range of buffer stops made by Dave Franks of Lanarkshire Models. The road and level crossing are the only bits glued in place yet as they should survive us still tipping the layout upside down to complete the wiring. The station platforms are also complete though I still have a little more weathering to finish off and the platform shelters and a parcels hut also have to be added. As mentioned earlier we do have a blue Derby Lightweight; also a green one which will enable us to run in mixed livery rakes which were common in 1967. We also have a green Cl101 and a green Cravens Cl105. All of these units saw use in this area at the time. The locos comprise two Hornby Brush type 2s in different versions of green livery as well as a Sulzer type 2 and an EE type3 which are also in green. I would like a blue EE type 2 and am keeping an eye out for one with the correct body type. The freight traffic will consist mainly of various types of box vans mainly from the Parkside range plus a few opens with grain traffic in the Bachmann blue hoppers and the new BR wagons when they arrive. There is also a parcels train featured which ran with a variety of vans from Kings Lynn to Peterborough. Hopefully next weekend we will fit the last two point motors and some other bits of electrical gubbins while I tiddle away during the week on various bits of scratchbuilding. Cheers George

Hello As an added attraction we would like to announce that the celebrated Richard Dockerill will be appearing to talk about and show some of his wonderful O Gauge diesels an rolling stock. Cheers George

Hello I am watching this topic with renewed interest. Cheers George

Hello Thank-you very much for those plans. I do have the plans printed in Andrew Ingram;s book. 'Branch-lines Around Wisbech' and also from a copy of the GER Society magazine from the early 90s but yours shows the signals better. I hope you will come to see the layout sometime in the future when it is a show near to where you live. Again thanks for the interest. Cheers George

Hello The next layout is set in East Anglia in 1967 and is based on Middle Drove Station on the line from Kings Lynn to Wisbech. As it is not exactly the same the layout is call ed Fenchurch St Peter and there is a thread in the layout topics section of this Forum. The layout debuts at next year's Glasgow show.. Andrew look forward to seeing you in the West Midlands soon. Cheers George

Hello Thanks to all the nice folks who came to see us at Glasgow, and for the kind comments on here. the layout seems to be well received wherever we go even though some people have problems with pronouncing the name. That is why there ia picture of a 'Toaster' on the name board to provide a clue. Next outing is to Sutton Coldfield in April so hope to see people there. Cheers George

Hello Thank-you Pete, if only it was true. The raim clouds are gathering so it is obviously time to go and get the van.. Cheers George

Hello 'Towcester' will tomorrow be making the long haul up the M6 to Glasgow so that Richard, John and I can entertain people north of the border. As usual we are looking forward very much to Model Rail Scotland. Cheers George

Hello The signal box is now finished apart from weathering, the track is all painted and the back-scene boards, front fascias and the end board to the fiddle yard are now fitted. Also the first of three grain storage bins has been built. When we return from Glasgow we will hopefully get the points working and the power connections fitted to the back of the board so that we can make sure it all works OK before carrying on with the scenic work. Talking of Glasgow reminds me that I forgot to reply to Andy's query about shows. Up to yet it has eight bookings and debuts at Glasgow next year. Will post a few more photos the next time John comes over. Cheers George

Hello I hope they are an improvement on the Mermaid. Seems a shame when the Cambrian kit is so easy to build but then not every-one likes modelling do they. Cheers George

Hello Thanks for that Steve, just another of those many senior moments Cheers George

Hello Sadly Mr T is too busy at the moment Mike, I'm sure he will re-appear in the future. No problem Andy, we know who our friends are. Cheers George

Hello Here is the current line-up for this years little get together. Any additions will be posted as and when they are confirmed. TRADE Keith's Model RAilways New and secondhand RTR models. H&A Models Kits and Bits inc Parkside and Cambian Shawplan Detailing parts, Lazerglaze, etched nameplates. Booklaw Err, books I suppose SOCIETIES & DEMOS DEMU The society for D&E modelllers Robin Idle 3 mm modelling Tim Horn Laser cut buildings and baseboards Mick Bryan Anything that isn't yellow Paul Taylor & John Anderson Detailing RTR models LAYOUTS Infirmary Road Nick Goward OO 1970s Derbyshire DCC Rosneath Pete Johnson N 1970s West Highland Line branch Crossheath Steve Farmer N 1980s small terminus Cripple Sidings Richard Coleman OO Small wagon repair depot Scoreby Jeff Taylor EM 1970s North Yorkshire Welford Road Shaun Greet OO Oldshaw Alan Bevan EM 1970s West Midlands Sefton Yard Kelvin Barnes O 1960s Freight yard with a mix of early diesels. I hope this will be of interest to people we look forward to seeing you on the day. Admission is still £3 for adults, free for children. Refreshments available, car parking and wheelchair access. As in past shows this is as much a social event as an exhibition so you can chat to all the exhibitors and to each other. Cheers George

Hello Me, fall out with any-one, God forbid. Old codger indeed, what will they say next. I think that the first appearance of Towcester in it's lengthened version will be at Nottingham next year. This is due mainly to building the new layout and also having a social life as well. But it will be done as it is nearly all scenic with ver little wiring and the addition of one extra signal. All good things are worth waiting for. cheers George