Dave Holt Posted August 20, 2018 Share Posted August 20, 2018 Given a choice on a 1950's hot summer day of being beamed down to Greenfield or Ruabon, it's a no-brainer for me. Besides, it would be drizzling in Greenfeld and it goes dark at 7pm! Yes, but that's real life. In our model world it can be summer sunshine all year round. Even the stonework can have stayed clean.... I got a shock on a visit to Oldham, after years away, to fine the town hall and other major buildings were actually made from lovely pale stone rather than the lumps of coal of my childhood! Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 (edited) I have not seen the town hall cleaned up. I remember it black like the population. Said to be the most deprived town in Britain, it felt that way when we moved there in 1947! Everyone was poor. I'd go in a new girlfriends house and look at the ceiling for the purple circle..........The stain left by the jerry. When a pal of mine took his posh girlfriend from daan saath on the No.8 tram to Shaw just before the war, he told her get two tickets to Four Lane Ends. She asked the conductor for two tickets to Four Laying Hens. She thought it was a pub! He was in the building trade and built like a boulder. She was slim and prim and didn't like him drinking to excess at weekend. I greeted him one Saturday afternoon and he came at me with a raised hand shouting I was spying on him for his missus. Northerners can be funny, but the north is no joke. Edited August 20, 2018 by coachmann 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Focalplane Posted August 20, 2018 Share Posted August 20, 2018 Just spent an hour with my oldest living friend here in Borth y Gest. We are both from Birmingham families though there is also a Stourbridge connection. Our fathers were business partners caught up in the war effort in 1939 and strove day in night out to keep the factory in the Jewellery Quarter up and running, finishing* parts for the war effort. To do this they had cots in the factory so that incendary bombs could be picked up at night and thown in buckets of sand. Both had deteriorating health and my father’s partner semi-retired to Borth y Gest. My best friend of the late 1950s decided she wanted to be an actress while I went to university to study geology. One day we met up in a luvvies’ digs in Southampton while she performed a role in local rep. That would have been around 1965. We had each endured both our first weddings by then. The next time we met was back in Borth y Gest in 2016, a magnet obviously as many people who know the village keep returning. No wonder North West Wales has many friends. We now live four doors away! Paul *finishing means metal finishing in the protective rather than decorative sense. It kept Spitfires flying longer. I hope this is not too far off topic. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted August 20, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 20, 2018 Larry, the other loco in addition to KING GEORGE V was CLAN LINE and the date 26th April 1975 - both seen here at Ruabon my dad has a picture of me taken on gresford bank that day with my mum, he's always said that king george V was the first steam loco i saw, i would have been 2 months and 3 days old at the time! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 (edited) I hope this is not too far off topic. Don't worry ...... Borth-Y-Gest is closer to Ruabon than Oldham is haha... I will start a Ruabon thread once things start moving, but at the moment this thread is only a discussion to hopefully flesh out more information and the all-important photos. A Peco Code 75 single slip and a short diamond will help me see how some of the track plan works out in reality, but seeing as I am back earning a crust, not much hobbying will be done anyway. Hope the weather is better for you over on the Cambrian Coast. LG Edited August 20, 2018 by coachmann 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 22, 2018 Author Share Posted August 22, 2018 (edited) I am extraordinary lucky to have such kind and generous friends, as two of Hornby's new SR Maunsell D2651 Restaurant Cars of 1927 arrived today out of the blue. Both carry BR livery numbers S 7861 S. These coaches have been well covered in another thread. They will be used on Paddington-Birkenhead workings once Ruabon has been built. I cannot fault these coaches, as they carry all the detail we have come to expect from the two big proprietary RTR manufacturers. Originally, they carries four roof rain strips, but some coaches lost their upper rainstrips in BR days. The model has two rain strips. When I mentioned the model carrying Southern Railway olive green livery should have been lined out, the RTR fraternity vehemently supported Hornby' plain Olive Green finish. I wouldn't expect anything else! However, if Hornby have really produced a faithful copy of No. 7869 as photographed in March 1940, it should have four roof rainstrips! I'll say no more! Seeing as I have been sent two diners, I would like a little variation in livery. Unless the coaches that remained as restaurant cars carried re-varnished SR malachite up until the mid 1950's, there may be a case for blood & custard livery. Pictured straight out of box..... Edited August 22, 2018 by coachmann 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 A visit to Halfords this afternoon produced nothing in the way of a suitable scpraycan of green for BR(S) coaching stock. This is one of the diners after I fitted an extra rain strip and gave the body a light coat of Halfords plastic primer. Masking tape protected the ends.... In the absence of green, I opted for blood & custard... 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 (edited) The window bolections are moulded on the body with some windows but are moulded on the glazing of the 'passenger' windows. The Diner's appearance is much improved if the bolections are picked out in body colour..... Only the gutter was painted carmine on high window stock... Two dropights are moulded on the kitchen windows but picking them out in cream is not entirely successful. The glass was also painted grey.... The transfer for Restaurant Car moved and has secured itself to the paint before I had time to adjust it. The paint was soft and i had no option but to leave things be. The roof was sprayed matt black and then lightly sprayed over with my weathering 'grime' along with the underframe and bogies. Edited August 26, 2018 by coachmann 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted August 26, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 26, 2018 Much more cheerful-looking than that that rather dowdy green! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 Much more cheerful-looking than that that rather dowdy green! I dun one of them too.... As bought.... Picked out the window bolections and droplights at the kitchen end as before..... Roof and chassis weathered as well to give me another inexpensive layout coach ready for mainline services through Ruabon... 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Brinkly Posted August 26, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 26, 2018 Very nice work Coach. Kind regards, Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingsignalman Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 Hi Larry. I think the building you mention was the station master's house. It looks to be withing the railway boundary and the caption to a photo (in Ruabon to Barmouth by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Middleton Press) refers to the (then) footbridge giving access to the residents of Plas Newydd and the station master. Best wishes with the new layout. You'll be back to Greenfield soon! Dave. I was told the building was a refreshment room. When I took some photos in late 1970s it was in use as a BR Staff Association Club room. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 One thing I forgot to mention is the matt finish. I have no need to build coaches for the Southern Region formations when the RTR stuff is so good, so I finished the blood & custard Diner in matt to match. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingsignalman Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 Here are some photos I took in 1977 or 1978 of Ruabon. Up side buildings Down side canopy and BRSA club. There had been waiting rooms etc. under the canopy but they had been replaced by a bus shelter type building. Footbridge from the disused bay. Footbridge from the disused bay. Ruabon (Middle) box. Shunters(?) accommodation in Down sidings area. Down side canopy showing BR shelter underneath. Up side building from Approach. Up side building from Approach. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingsignalman Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 I don't know if you've seen these; they are pages I re-typed or traced from the GWR Chester Division 1925 report. Finally 2 photos of Ruabon Middle box taken in 1980. The frame had been reduced from 53 (I think) levers to 29 at some time. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 (edited) Flyingsignalman, I cannot thank you enough for this information and especially the pictures. They are invaluable and fill in a lot of gaps in my knowledge of the station. My original intention was to re-use the Carrog building and fit a canopy as a 'quickie'. But the more I learn, the more inclined I am towards building a proper station. This project has a lot of long-term potential. Edited August 26, 2018 by coachmann 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Flyingsignalman, I cannot thank you enough for this information and especially the pictures. They are invaluable and fill in a lot of gaps in my knowledge of the station. My original intention was to re-use the Carrog building and fit a canopy as a 'quickie'. But the more I learn, the more inclined I am towards building a proper station. This project has a lot of long-term potential. Can you define LONG TERM in Larry language, please Larry? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Can you define LONG TERM in Larry language, please Larry? It's not like you to be funny......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I have been looking in each day, but almost frighted to comment. BUT. It certainly looks an interesting project Larry, and will have some nice traffic flows I would think. Good luck and enjoy, that's what it's all about. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Holt Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 In steam days, the foot bridge was covered with a hipped roof above rather shallow windows. The lattice steelwork looks unaltered in the 1970's photos. Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) Ruabon has an interesting track layout that lends itself to simplification by reducing the number of marshalling roads to keep baseboard width manageable. So track-laying and hitching points up to Mercontrol will keep me busy for a while. Then there are buildings to construct and relatively simple scenery. I have alreadsy chosen a suitable backscene. Within the two overbridges, which is what I will be modelling, there is a Down lay-bye to allow freight to be overtaken by passenger. Goods off the Dolgelley line will be remarshalled and transferred over to the Up yard as necessary and vice-versa. Freight traffic potential is enormous with block oil, block brick, ballast, general merchandise and parcels. Passenger brings in coaching stock from all the Big Four companies. Some Dee Valley trains local terminate in Ruabon while others, including auto-trains go on to Wrexham. Summer extras bring in traffic from all over. It is on the mainline to Paddington and so motive power can be just about anything ex.GWR. LMS locos were also to be seen even before 1963. I foresee it keeping me interested for some years to come. If Carrog could have been developed further, it would have been, but at the end of the day, Barmouth Bridge always restricted development. So I'll see what I can do with something bigger. Diggle Junction, which was similar, never went beyond my shed walls and so it was basically an untested diorama. Edited August 27, 2018 by coachmann 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandc_au Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I foresee it keeping me interested for some years to come. Years!.... I'd like to see that :no: :no: :no: You no sooner start and it is finished :sungum: Khris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Focalplane Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I know this sounds daft, but the other day I thought "why doesn't Larry look at the photos of Ruabon on the Warwickshire Railways site?" Then I remembered that Ruabon isn't in Warwickshire! It's such a shame that no other county (afaik) has such an excellent online resource available. Referring back to the question of the building on the west wide of the station, could it be that it was originally the stationmaster's house but later reverted to "refreshment" use (and was the refreshment for staff, passengers or both?) Any coal mines featuring in the backdrop? When I was at school we were supposed to go down one of the mines but it never happened. We were told about the disaster at Gresford in 1934 so I suppose this may have been a reason for not making the trip. I will be following Ruabon with great interest, Larry, I think you have uncovered a gem of a location to model. Paul 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 There wont be any coal mine grot on my horizon. I had my fill of that oop north. I'll bet 'the house at the back' will not be on the layout because it would cast a shadow on the backscene. Based on Ruabon is the keyword here though naturally I hope it will resemble Ruabon at the end of the day. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) I will be going with this trackplan showing a single slip from the bay to the mainline. Interestingly, the slip was replaced by a ladder at some time, maybe during the late 1920's remodelling, but a ladder would use up too much space on my baseboard. The slip was probably getting too much of a hammering.... Courtesy the flyingsignalman Edited August 27, 2018 by coachmann 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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