Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Annie]

7 hours ago, magmouse said:

Having one to run on your virtual layouts would be great, so if you are able to make that happen, we will all be cheering you on!

Well since I do have a Cornish layout with representations of the St. Ives and Helston branches it's looking like an increasingly good idea to have a model of No.34 and possibly No.35 as well.

 

6 hours ago, Mikkel said:

No. 34 was a regular Farthing loco for a while, built by the late Dave Perkins from the ex-Albion now Roxey Mouldings kit. He had somehow managed to get a very smooth and well-running mechanism - not straightforward with that wheel arrangement on a smallish loco. It now runs on someone's else layout.

 

 

See also: http://www.gwr.org.uk/galperkins1.html

Thanks Mikkel.  While searching for more information on Nos. 34 & 35 I'd discovered your Farthing photos as well as the photos on the GWR Society webpage.  The late Dave Perkins had certainly done a fine job of building his No.34. 

Having had a fair few problems with getting an 'O' gauge 14xx I scratchbuilt to sit properly on its wheels and behave itself I can very well appreciate what might have been needed to get a model of an engine like No.34 to be a good and useful loco.

[Annie]

It's prodded my ailing memory been brought to my attention that C.J.F. had published a North London 4-4-0T and coaches set of plans in the jolly old RM back in December 1971.  It's actually quite horrifying to think back to the young thing I was back then happily reading her 1971 Christmas issue of RM without a care in the world as to what was going to happen to her in the future.  Makes me want to grab the nearest time machine and go back and warn her not to grow up and stay as she is.

 

If anyone wants a copy of the drawings send me a PM.  Paulz Trainz did a NLR 4 wheel van for some reason so I've got one of those.  A set of the coaches would be brilliant as they ended up as second hand sales all over Britain's minor railways.  But the locomotive itself would be dead corker.

[Annie]

A ten ton wagon hoist for the Eastern Counties Railway.  This was being discussed a day or two ago, - or at least I was discussing it even if nobody else was.  Essential equipment for dealing with the subterranean goods yards of London that lurked under some of the major terminal stations.  

I pieced this out of the ruinous mess of a Google scan and fitted it together and enhanced the image.   Now I just need to find someone with the right kind of skills to make one for me.

 

 

[Compound2632]

  

On 04/05/2023 at 19:43, Edwardian said:

However the Wolverhampton livery was still to be seen as late as 1900.

 

Hum... Any information on what engines? Presumably those built or given heavy overhauls at Wolverhampton in the first half of the 1890s.

  

On 04/05/2023 at 19:43, Edwardian said:

* or backless cabs, but saying "half cabs" is more annoying for the Midland reader. Anything to oblige, me.

 

Noted.

[Annie]

54 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Hum... Any information on what engines? Presumably those built or given heavy overhauls at Wolverhampton in the first half of the 1890s.

Unless someone has access to surviving Wolverhampton records (if there are any!) I don't really know the answer to that.

[eheaps]

14 hours ago, Annie said:

It's prodded my ailing memory been brought to my attention that C.J.F. had published a North London 4-4-0T and coaches set of plans in the jolly old RM back in December 1971.  It's actually quite horrifying to think back to the young thing I was back then happily reading her 1971 Christmas issue of RM without a care in the world as to what was going to happen to her in the future.  Makes me want to grab the nearest time machine and go back and warn her not to grow up and stay as she is.

 

If anyone wants a copy of the drawings send me a PM.  Paulz Trainz did a NLR 4 wheel van for some reason so I've got one of those.  A set of the coaches would be brilliant as they ended up as second hand sales all over Britain's minor railways.  But the locomotive itself would be dead corker.

 

Yes please! I can't promise to do anything immediately, but a complete NLR train would be rather lovely in Trainz...

[Annie]

29 minutes ago, eheaps said:

 

Yes please! I can't promise to do anything immediately, but a complete NLR train would be rather lovely in Trainz...

And PM sent.  After your lovely Beyer-Peacock 'A' class engines for the MET, District Railway & etc a train for the NLR would be very good indeed and would help to fill in yet another missing part of London's pre-grouping era railways.  No pressure though and thanks for considering the possibility.

[Compound2632]

9 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Hum... Any information on what engines? Presumably those built or given heavy overhauls at Wolverhampton in the first half of the 1890s.

 

8 hours ago, Annie said:

Unless someone has access to surviving Wolverhampton records (if there are any!) I don't really know the answer to that.

 

Since, as stated above, the first newly-built Wolverhampton engines to be given Swindon livery were the 0-4-2Ts of Lot C3, it would seem the Class 0-6-0STs Nos. 2009-2020 of Lot Z2 and 655 Class 0-6-0STs Nos. 655, 767 and 1741-1750 of Lot A3 and 1771-1790 of Lot B3 are logically contenders for the last new-built engines to be given Wolverhampton livery, and hence the best bet for retaining it until 1900...

 

[Wikipedia and references therein.]

[Annie]

47 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

 

Since, as stated above, the first newly-built Wolverhampton engines to be given Swindon livery were the 0-4-2Ts of Lot C3, it would seem the Class 0-6-0STs Nos. 2009-2020 of Lot Z2 and 655 Class 0-6-0STs Nos. 655, 767 and 1741-1750 of Lot A3 and 1771-1790 of Lot B3 are logically contenders for the last new-built engines to be given Wolverhampton livery, and hence the best bet for retaining it until 1900...

 

[Wikipedia and references therein.]

Thank you for reporting back with those references.  So it's looking like very few engines would have made it into the new century still wearing Wolverhampton green.

 

No doubt Steve will make up his own mind what he wants to do when it comes to the Wolverhampton livery, but it's looking like it's Swindon green for most of what I'll be wanting to use a '633' class for.

[Annie]

No.633 at Carbis Bay Halte on the St. Ives branch in TRS22.  I wanted to see how this intrepid little engine would handle the climb up from St. Ives.

 

 

 

St. Ives 25 inch to the mile OS map 1878.  If you haven't guessed yet I'm going to be making a start on rebuilding the St. Ives branch on my Penzance to Camborne and Branches layout fairly soon.

 

Public Domain photo. St Ives circa 1890 during the years of enlightenment when it was still a Broad Gauge branchline.  Comparing this image with modern error era photos of the same view not a lot has changed.

[Schooner]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

 

It really is a flawless model BLT prototype. Thanks for sharing the lovely pic, and good luck with the rebuild! Looking forward to updates :)

[Annie]

3 minutes ago, Schooner said:

 

It really is a flawless model BLT prototype. Thanks for sharing the lovely pic, and good luck with the rebuild! Looking forward to updates :)

Thanks Schooner.  I think it would be possible to lift the section between St. Ives and St. Erth out from the main layout and operate it as a stand alone layout in its own right.  It's an interesting and picturesque branchline which due to its gradients and traffic restrictions would be a lot of fun to operate.

 

A 1900s postcard of the Carbis Bay viaduct.

[Annie]

 

The St. Ives branch was opened on the 1st June 1877 and was the last new Broad Gauge passenger railway route constructed by the GWR.  The track was laid on transverse sleepers using 72lb Bullhead rail seated into 35lb cast iron chairs.

 

Edit:  I thought I had some good transverse sleepered Broad Gauge track, but the rail section has been done all wrong  😢

Edited May 8, 2023 by Annie
More words needed.

[eheaps]

A new pre-grouping loco in progress

 

 

[Annie]

2 hours ago, eheaps said:

A new pre-grouping loco in progress

Oh my word that's lovely.  Beautiful work as always Ed.  Suddenly the Premier Line has become more attractive than ever.

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, eheaps said:

A new pre-grouping loco in progress

 

 

 

A Webbs Wonder!

 

Very nice!

[Compound2632]

4 hours ago, eheaps said:

A new pre-grouping loco in progress

 

You'll have to do a complete set of 2 O'Clock Corridor carriages to go with that!

 

 

[Embedded link to Science Museum Group website, Crewe Collection.]

Edited May 8, 2023 by Compound2632

[Annie]

7 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

You'll have to do a complete set of 2 O'Clock Corridor carriages to go with that!

 

https://www.superstock.com/asset/teutonic-class-locomotive-number-jeanie-deans-passenger-train-wolverton-works/1895-24768

 

Some time ago Ken Green made a wonderful selection of LNWR carriages for Trainz.  He did definitely made a range of bogie coaches, but I'd need to go and look up their diagram numbers to tell you more about them.

[Annie]

Latest digital copy of RM has Pendon St. Mary as the Railway of the Month.  M&SWJR to the fore, - all very nice.  The following article is one in the Modelling the Pre-Grouping Railways series and as you might have guessed it's about the M&SWJR.

[Annie]

Why am I looking at Hatton's Dapol 'O' Gauge page?!  it's silly really I'd have to change the wheels to coarse scale and it would be an awful nuisance having to fit 3 rail pickups.

 

I did find half a dozen Lionel 3 rail 'O' gauge mechs while I was cleaning up the other day and that set me thinking.  They are rugged old things and pretty much indestructible.  No doubt they could be made to fit inside a British tank engine.  I used to enjoy making wagons from wood, but since Home of 'O' Gauge closed its doors I don't know where to get anything from anymore.  😢

 

This is my 14xx I scratchbuilt from galvanised flashing offcuts and tinplate.  Like a big idiot I sold it.

 

I sold the B4 I built as well.  Considering how little i got for the both of these locos I should have just kept them.

 

I've still got this one.  The boiler is jammed full of a robotics kit motor and gearbox and it can haul 20 tinplate open wagons and a brake van.

[Annie]

7 hours ago, Annie said:

Why am I looking at Hatton's Dapol 'O' Gauge page?!  it's silly really I'd have to change the wheels to coarse scale and it would be an awful nuisance having to fit 3 rail pickups.

 

I did find half a dozen Lionel 3 rail 'O' gauge mechs while I was cleaning up the other day and that set me thinking.  They are rugged old things and pretty much indestructible.  No doubt they could be made to fit inside a British tank engine.  I used to enjoy making wagons from wood, but since Home of 'O' Gauge closed its doors I don't know where to get anything from anymore.  😢

Sorry everyone I got an attack of the glums today.  Yesterday wasn't good as I had a scary catalepsy attack after not having anything like that for ages and yesterday's bad day sort of spilled over into today.  I know I can do simulated 3 rail 'O' Gauge as I've already built three layouts like that using the Trainz Model Railway format, but as nice as it is it would be good to have a real coarse scale layout again.

I looked at the 'O' Gauge Dapol models Hattons had, but I think they would just end up annoying me.  While I sold off a lot of my 'O' Gauge collection I still have a quite a few of boxes of bits and a large quantity of tinplate track.  The green 0-4-2T in my earlier post was born out of what I had in my bits boxes with the Gibson LSWR dome and chimney and four Carette whitemetal Gauge 1 buffers being the only items I had to specifically purchase for this project.  I think I've most probably got enough bits to make a second one like it should I want to.  An awful lot of old fashioned scratchbuilding can be done for the price of even the cheapest Dapol 'O' Gauge loco.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Annie
Um.........

[Schooner]

Cheer-up o'clock!

[Hroth]

13 minutes ago, Schooner said:

Cheer-up o'clock!

 

 

I've always been fascinated by the "oily rag" patterns on photographs of newly cleaned broad gauge engines!

 

[Caley Jim]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

I've always been fascinated by the "oily rag" patterns on photographs of newly cleaned broad gauge engines!

 

The Highland cleaners did the same sort of thing on flat surfaces. 

 

Jim 

[Annie]

8 hours ago, Hroth said:

I've always been fascinated by the "oily rag" patterns on photographs of newly cleaned broad gauge engines!

 

6 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

The Highland cleaners did the same sort of thing on flat surfaces. 

 

During the pre-grouping era the patterns cleaners would make when polishing express engines were a source of pride and often individual to a particular cleaner so a running shed foreman could readily tell which of the cleaning staff had cleaned a particular engine.

 

And now!  A Morning Cheer Up Painting:  It's been too long since I showed the blue around here.