Allan Downes

I know I'm a little behind the times, but I note with sadness the passing of model-maker extra-ordinaire, Allan Downes, in August (having only just noticed a passing mention now I've renewed my Railway Modeller subscription).

For both my dad and I, he was one of the main reasons to race to grab the copy of Railway Modeller when it turned up in the mid/late 70s. His scenery making talents were flat out unbelievable.

If you want a long read, here's a thread of him and almost equally gifted modeller Iain Robinson having a good-humoured 'model off' in RMWeb, that lasts right up to his passing, and is littered with utterly drool-worthy photos of their handiwork.

Hrm..., Marshbrook...

After a conversation on RMWeb, there's also this alternative....

Marshbrook, as it was in the '30s.

Yes, yes. I know. Make your %^&*()ing mind up, Mike :D

In other news,. just scored a Millholme Models LNWR 4-6-2T kit on eBay.

Locos on the Marches Line

Having had a bit of a trawl around various shed lists, photo archives etc, it's plain to be seen that there's a lot of potentially interesting locos to be seen... Here's a by no means complete list:

GWR:

• Shrewsbury shed
•   Saints
•   Stars
•   43xx (lots)
•   56xx
•   ROD 2-8-0
•   Dean Goods (lots)
•   1016, 2021, 57xx class Pannier
•   Bulldog
• Wellington/Wenlock sheds
•   2721 Pannier
•   58xx
•   517 class
• Hereford shed (in addition)
•   Aberdare

LMS:

• LNWR Webb coal tank
• LNWR Cauliflower
• LNWR Webb 0-6-0ST
• LNWR Prince of Wales
• LNWR Prince of Wales tank
• LNWR Super D/G1/G2
• 3F 0-6-0 (Johnson/Deeley)
• Fowler 2-6-4T

and I'd guess at LNWR Experiments, 17" Goods, Precursors, Claughtons, etc... not a lot of info on what of the LMS (Fowler, Hughes, early Stanier) classes were about. Bear in mind we're only 10 years from the grouping, and the likes of Cauliflowers still have a life ahead of them...

Bishop's Castle Railway

• No 1 (essentially a 517)
• No 2 (Kitson 0-6-0)

So, here's the current track plan

Subject to a bit of fiddling in the area of the passing loop, of course.

Designed for the new Peco code 75 bullhead, assuming they do eventually produce a single slip!

The master plan

Might as well get this down somewhere as plans start to solidify :D

After discussion with my likely partner in crime, we're shooting for the original (wow, how far back was that?) idea I had.

Onnybrook Junction will be set between Craven Arms and Marsh Farm Junction: it's a smallish through station on the LMS/GWR joint line from Hereford to Shrewsbury: the date is late summer 1934 (with a tiny bit of leeway to allow me to run a 4-4-0 County (all of which were scrapped by 1933). Track plan to follow (it's on the other computer) but basically it's typical of that line in that it's two through platforms, and then a refuge siding on one side, and a loop and some goods sidings on the other, and the classic crossover with single slip feeding the loop. We don't yet have space for a full oval, but we do have a lot of length, so currently it'll be about 15' with a fiddle yard either end.

Someday, I may yet have a go at Craven Arms and Stokesay, but, as they say, This Is Not That Day. 

Well, that took a bit longer than anticipated!

Largely, to be honest, because despite the supposed extra space that having the workshop converted and the spare garage turned into a storeroom generates, we still have Too Much Stuff, compounded by being in a band with all the attendant stuff that entails.

Still, after much juggling, changing jobs, and other fun, I now have a clear shelf onto which I can move all the model railway stuff out of the back of the storeroom, and have started doing so. (Apart from anything else, once I get the toys out of the big Really Useful Box in there, it can be used for storing the band lights that are cluttering up my workbench!)

Please tell me I'm not the only person who has this kind of problem?

Inspiration from YouTube

Been trawling YouTube a bit for inspiration: lovely to see how many folks are getting cameras on to their layouts and documenting the build process.

Two I'm particularly taken by:

Everard Junction: entirely NOT my period (1980s Network South-East) but some beautiful, and detail-obsessed scenic work;
Lakeside: again, not quite my period, but he demonstrates (especially in the village) how every little piece of scenery is placed and thought about and detailed, and tells a story.

A little bit of shopping this week produced some more PO coal wagons on eBay, a metre of flexitrack and a point, both in Peco's new code 75 bullhead, and some spare wheels and couplings for the 'make everything run on fine scale track' project.

Aiming to get a board for Longville built as soon as I get my bit of the workshop back next month.

2018 announcements, planning

*sigh*

No love for the GWR this year from Bachmann or Hornby, and Dapol are releasing their own versions of things that already exist and I already have (61xx, Churchward Mogul).

Ah well, still got some catching up to do on LMS stock - the Webb coal tank from Bachmann is lovely, new since I took a break and ubiquitous on the area I like. Now if someone would make a Cauliflower....

Picked up an online PDF of the GWR 1936 working timetable for the Shrewsbury/Hereford area, which is fascinating reading (very distracting from what I'm supposed to be doing!).

I have drawn up the Five Year Plan (aka what happens when the tenant in the workshop gets to the point where they need more space and moves out), and the short term part of it is to go back to my original plan of building Longville on the Wenlock Branch, only on an 8'x2' (so plenty of room for scenery). I've been reading John de Frayssinet's "Scenic Modelling: A Guide for Railway Modellers", which is very inspiring, as it talks about the Pendon-esque approach of making the railway a part of the landscape. Recommended reading.

2018

Yes, that does mean I last posted 7 years ago. :D

Railway modelling has been a bit on hold for a number of reasons - first off, I'm also a wargamer, and have been quite (publicly) active in the hobby which has been taking up a fair amount of my time. Secondly, due to that and being in a couple of bands, available space for a layout has dropped to almost nothing. And thirdly, James is now 18, and has other interests (including a drum kit)

That said, the itch won't go away. We have just had the workshop floor relaid, which has entailed a massive clearout as well as getting one of our garages converted to a storeroom for all the accumulated junk. Unfortunately, there are other uses planned in the short term for the workshop, but that doesn't preclude some advance planning, and reverting to one of my older plans for a layout, namely Longville on the Wenlock branch, as a first step that can go elsewhere in the house.

I'll try and post again before another 7 years pass! (Apart from anything else, I'll be retired by then!)

2011

Haven't gone away, honest!

Christmas saw some more track purchases for James' half of the layout, as well as some Woodland Scenics foam risers and trackbed. I need to scare up an 8'x4' sheet of foamboard from one of the DIY sheds, and then I think we'll start serious tracklaying.

Also note with some joy that Hornby have resurrected a few very useable things in the Railroad range, namely the Fowler 2P and 4F, and the 4-4-0 County and Collet coaches.

A good day's work

Not that I got anything done that actually involved railway building, but...

The back corner of the music room is now cleared to the point where I can get at the workbench, which has light, heat and power. Also sorted out a batch of donated tools, including corner clamps, clamps, a metal set-square and loads of sandpaper.

Scored some replacement batteries and a sander/jigsaw/screwdriver set to go with my Black and Decker Versapak drill - also discovered batteries are still available in the US.

Scored all three volumes of "Great Western Branch Line Modelling" on eBay for £40 the lot.

Still haven't found my craft knife/cutting board set. Reduced to using Anne's scalpels.

Deeping model railway exhibition and fiddle yards

Went to the excellent small show in Deeping St. James (just up the road) last week. Several nice layouts, including Woodcroft. which was using aluminium-angle based cassettes in its fiddle yards.

I've just acquired, from a friend who's clearing out, a couple of 5'x18" or so papering tables. which are a touch wobbly to lay track on, but DO look as though they could be reasonable supports for cassette-based fiddle yards.

Hrm. Must think about that :D

An afternoon's woodwork

Finally got James' piece of 8'x4' down from upstairs, with much cursing and wondering how we ever got it up there in the first place.

It now has some 3/4" x 1 1/2" underframing, from which I have learned several things:

• the problem with 8'x4' baseboards is they're 8'x4' :D
• 8' lengths of 1 1/2" x 3/4" have a lot of flex about the thinner axis
• Liquid Nails is no substitute for a drill and a bunch of woodscrews
• that baseboard is never going back upstairs

On the good side, it's now sitting on two B&Q trestles in the playroom, where I suspect it'll stay for a while, and has been given a coat of spray mud-brown.

In other news, scored an Airfix autocoach on eBay. Rarer than I realised.

Back from York...

...and my feet are killing me.

High spots: definitely Long Line (67' of GWR branch line in N - even better (and longer) than when we saw it at St. Albans) - James' favourite too, which shows I must be doing something right.

Also got to chat with Aidan Campbell, who makes and paints some really nice figures. Figures on railway layouts always intrigue me - it seems that a lot of folks just plonk down something pre-painted, and you don't (that I can tell) see as much effort go into detailing and shading as wargamers do - not even the quick and easy dip method. Aidan was therefore something of a breath of fresh air in this regard.

James got to do a bit of modelling in the kids' modelling area (with the wife, who is actually a dab hand at detail work - comes of being a vet), and came away with a completed (Peco?) small signal box/ground frame hut which he was very proud of. We'll paint it later (rather regretting letting him stick the base/levers in, so we can't paint those!).

Purchases: not a lot - some Parkside Dundas wagon loads, a bottle of PlasticWeld and some Railmatch GWR Stock Grey (Trains4U having sold out).

A few achievements today...

...helped by having no broadband, and having to be in home for the solar heating engineers.

I’ve removed the original Bachmann “G W R” lettering from the tank sides of my 56xx, with a cotton bud, some enamel thinners and the end of a cocktail stick, and replaced it with HRMS Pressfix “GREAT WESTERN” lettering. For a moment or two it looked as if one side was going to read “GREA|- WESTERN” due to not pressing down on ALL the letters!

I also took delivery of a MicroScale ‘Truck Tuner’ from wizardmodels.co.uk, which is a very handy little widget (pointed out to me by the folks on RMWeb) for opening out wheel bearings on (in my case) Lima wagons, which tend to have horribly out of scale (and in at least one case out of round) wheels.

Also did a lot of thinking and planning, and I think the current aim is to:

• settle on a track plan for James’ 8’x4’ board, and use that as practice for track laying, ballast and scenery. I suspect this is going to wind up as a derivative of one of CJF’s ‘double track junction plus high level branch’ plans from 60 Plans For Small Locations, and will make James’ happy ‘cause it’ll have a tunnel! This will, I think be ‘Onnybrook Junction’ and I might try and squeeze Longville’s track plan in as the upper level station. What I do hope to do, though, is try and avoid CJF’s penchant for retaining walls, perhaps by adopting the approach from the Peco Settrack plans book of having a double sided scenic break.


• slowly start building baseboards for Much Wenlock. It looks like this is 3 4’x2’ board plus a 4’x1’ fiddle yard either end. The interesting gotchas are that the whole thing isn’t flat, and there’s at least one road that has to go from over to under the railway in about 7’. I think I understand how, though.

Hallelujah!

My copy of "The Wenlock Branch" finally showed up, tucked between two veterinary medicine books (I blame the wife) on the bottom shelf in the library.

Lots of useful pics and a full 1928 WTT, as well as lots of operational detail. This should be fun. Initial useful discoveries are that there are nice scene-breaking bridges at both ends of Much Wenlock station (only requiring a little tweaking in one case, and none in the other).

Also had a play with designing Longville in XTrakCAD, which does give me the advantage of being able to 'play trains' and see how much space there is in the various sidings. Hopefully I can do the same with Much Wenlock later on in the week.

Or.... (what, me? indecisive)

... I wonder if I could fit Much Wenlock in 10' or 12' of scenic baseboard?

The main problem is it would restrict the number of rooms in this house I could built it in. Longville would fit along one wall of one of the (several) 12'x12' rooms here including its fiddle yards. Much Wenlock is markedly longer - it's actually two stations separated by a couple of hundred yards, for all practical purposes, as the old one became the goods yard when the new one was built.

Longville has two problems:

• It's positively dead in terms of traffic and loco availability - 3 passenger trains a day! 
• It slopes the wrong way! If you look at the diagram in the previous post, the terrain actually slopes down from bottom to top (being as how it's on Wenlock Edge!). Which would mean that ideally you'd want to view the layout from the top... which means the buildings block line of sight on half the track.

However, on the plus side:

• It's only four points, and is nice and small.

As far as Much Wenlock goes, on the other hand:

• Much more traffic
• No real slope, although the south/west bound line to Presthope is usefully at the back of the layout and raised a little.
• Has a proper engine shed and goods shed.

But

• It looks like it really needs 12', which restricts me to the outbuildings or the library, by the time I've added 3' of fiddleyard either end.

New arrivals and a track plan

Today’s post brought James’ Bachmann 4575 small Prairie, which went straight to Trains4U for chipping - nice purchase, seems to be pretty much brand new except for a missing set of cabside steps, which doesn’t look as if it should be beyond me to knock up in plasticard. It also brought a couple of books from Transport Diversions, specifically the Country Railway Routes book on the Wenlock branch and the District Controller’s View series book on the Severn Valley Railway (also covering the Wenlock branch in passing).

I’m now even more desperate to find my Wenlock Branch book! Some very nice photos of several of the stations on the Wenlock branch, especially Longville (which benefits from the station building being still intact and well photographed).

Starting to be very tempted by Longville on a 6’x18” or so board with a pair of 3’ fiddle yards either end - it’d be pretty simple to build and allow me to concentrate on scenery etc.

My only wonder is whether James would object to something that’s not a roundy-roundy and has a very simple track plan.

On 00 R-T-R pre-nationalisation releases generally

An interesting few contrasts this year between the Bachmann and Hornby new releases, at least from my point of view.

Hornby are ‘celebrating’ the GWR 175: one reworking of the 28xx, ditto for 61xx (in shirtbutton livery only), and a set of Hawkesworth coaches that actually (as far as I can tell) never actually ran on the GWR qua GWR. To be fair, I will be buying the 28xx, but... by contrast, let’s look at Bachmann...

Brand-new S&DJR 7F 2-8-0. Brand-new Johnson 3F 0-6-0 (if you’re being really uncharitable, there was a R-T-R 3F back in the 60s by Triang, but short of a complete rebuild below the footplate, I don’t think it counts). City of Truro. No coaches. Now, the latter is a shame, but given that Hornby’s Hawkesworth’s are pre-nationalisation in name only (and they’re only producing them in maroon and blood-and-custard), that’s pretty much a draw on the coach front. (Some Toplights next year, maybe?)

To me? Bachman win hands down by daring to produce new stuff, and moreover they are (as I commented on RMWeb) very much actively encouraging pre-nationalisation modelling: in fact, they seem intent on turning modelling the S&DJR into this decade’s GWR branch terminus. And they’re not afraid to produce unglamorous workhorses like the 3F, the kind of thing that’s as common as muck and usually covered in it. More power to them.

It is, as I’m sure I’ve said before in this blog, perfectly possible to produce R-T-R Big Four (or even pre-grouping) stock that’ll attract the BR Steam Era modeller - in fact, if I were one, I’m sure I’d be delighted at the chance for something unusual to offset the dreary procession of Standard Class engines and Mark I coaches. Custom paint jobs aren’t THAT pricey - witness the number of custom finished modern era locals and MUs that are produced for various model shops. Putting out a shortish run of something in a GWR or LMS livery isn’t going to break the bank. I don’t believe that the cries of ‘there’s no demand’ are true. There’s no demand because you aren’t making the stock!

So, I say more power to Bachmann for daring to produce genuinely new Big Four locos and actively trying to create a demand, even if it’s for the S&DJR! Keep it up.

Bachmann's new announcements?

• Johnson 3F 0-60? Yes please, I'll probably take 2. Now if Hornby would re-tool the 4F....
• S&DJR 7F 2-8-0? Tempting, but I shall probably resist.

Some of the new scenery items look cool. A little disappointed there are no new non-BR coaches.