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

[Annie]

Afternoon Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture:  Brixham station in May 1892 immediately before conversion to the coal cart gauge.

 

 

Brixham station in 1916.  Narrowed Baulk Road track is still in place.

 

[Annie]

Truth be told I prefer the Steam Railmotor I have on 'Tristyn in Winter' because it's wearing a proper GWR livery.  It's also one of the longer ones and it has a trailer which the red Steam Railmotor in Train Simulator doesn't.

 

 

I did some investigating into the red Steam Railmotor,  it's made by Victory Works to a highly detailed standard for a 3D model and it was devised to function via three different control systems; - simple, standard and advanced.  In the advanced mode it's possible to enter the trailing driving cab (where the boiler isn't) and use bell codes to tell the passed fireman who is still at the boiler end what needs to be done to assist with driving the railmotor.  it's all quite amazing complicated and I'm sure makes for a highly immersive experience when driving the Steam Railmotor once the method of doing so has been mastered.

I watched a Youtube video today where the advanced controls for the Railmotor were in use and the first thing I noticed is that they didn't look like anything like what was available to drive the Railmotor in the latest 2024 version of Train Simulator.  All I have to use in the way of controls in the 2024 version is the simple and the standard versions of the control set.  I can use the small ejector key command in forward gear, but it has no effect at all in reverse gear,  - so the brakes don't work properly and I end up crashing into the buffers.

 

Not that I'm really much bothered about that at the moment as my daughter is back in hospital after being ill for most of Kings Birthday weekend after not being all that well for the previous week.  I hope they figure out what's wrong with her this time instead of just sending her back home with a different lot of pills to try.

 

[Mikkel]

Sorry to hear that Annie, best wishes for her recovery. It's so nerve wracking when they can't work out what it is.

 

 

On 02/06/2024 at 03:15, Annie said:

Brixham station in 1916.  Narrowed Baulk Road track is still in place.

 

 

Stylish. And I've always liked the mini semaphores.

 

[Annie]

8 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Sorry to hear that Annie, best wishes for her recovery. It's so nerve wracking when they can't work out what it is.

Thanks Mikkel.  My daughter is back home now, - and after having been blood tested, ultrasounded and x-rayed we can definitely cross a couple of things that were of some concern off the list.  There's an further examination we're going to have to wait a week or two for, but the medical team were able to give us some good advice on managing symptoms and any acute episodes in the meantime.  Due to having worked in hospitals alongside nursing staff and done first aid training when I was a social worker for the Adult Mental Health service I do make for a reasonable health care assistant, but it's all a bit more intense when it's my own child I'm caring for.

 

25 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Stylish. And I've always liked the mini semaphores.

That's a Broad Gauge era timber station building hiding behind that very nice added on platform canopy and I'd like to find out more about it.

My interest was captured by that mini semaphore ground signal as well.

[Mikkel]

15 minutes ago, Annie said:

My interest was captured by that mini semaphore ground signal as well.

 

There seem to have been 2 or 3 types. Here's one from the December 1913 GW Magazine. There was also one with a "proper" mini arm.

 

 

[Annie]

For those who have access to the Railway Modeller online digital archive an 'N' gauge model of Brixham by Kevin Cartwright and his wife Judith can be found in the November 2015 issue of RM.  Quite deservedly layout was Railway of the Month and the article covers eight pages with many stunning photos of the layout.

 

The Railway Modeller Sept-Oct issue for 1951 has an interesting article on Churston and the Brixham branch covering five pages.  The many photos aren't very clear and are lacking in detail which is fairly typical of 1950s railway magazines, but they certainly are better than a poke in the eye.

Edited June 5 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Annie]

Late Evening Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture:  GWR Saddle Tank No. 2093.  Formerly B&ER No.76.  Withdrawn December 1890.  (Picture courtesy of the Broad Gauge Society)

 

Edited June 6 by Annie
Um.........

[GWR57xx]

21 hours ago, Annie said:

Late Evening Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture:  GWR Saddle Tank No. 2093.  Formerly B&ER No.76.  Withdrawn December 1890.  (Picture courtesy of the Broad Gauge Society)

 

Is that not quite finished yet? Looks like one or two segments of saddle tank are missing?

Not the most attractive of engines 🫣 (IMO, other opinions are available!)

[Annie]

31 minutes ago, GWR57xx said:

Is that not quite finished yet? Looks like one or two segments of saddle tank are missing?

Not the most attractive of engines 🫣 (IMO, other opinions are available!)

No that's how it really was,  or at least at that point in its working life when the photo was taken.  From what I've been told No. 2093 was one of those engines that was rebuilt and added to several times over so that it was difficult to tell what it had originally looked like.

[Compound2632]

45 minutes ago, GWR57xx said:

Is that not quite finished yet? Looks like one or two segments of saddle tank are missing?

 

Presumably, like many BG engines, the firebox is wider and taller than the boiler, so the saddle tank would need to be a more complicated shape to fit over it.

[Miss Prism]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

Presumably, like many BG engines, the firebox is wider and taller than the boiler, so the saddle tank would need to be a more complicated shape to fit over it.

 

I don't think so. The 'exposed' firebox section had practical advantages, principally access to the washout plugs, plus being a convenient place for all the injector etc plumbing, and the valves, in that form, would be difficult to cover by a saddle. The 'short saddle' feature carried over to early standard gauge Wolverhampton output. Here's 1040, date unknown, but partially Swindonised and still with a Wolverhampton chimney. At Stafford Road, I think.

 

[Edwardian]

Something I also noted in relation to 517 development; I do find it a little hard to love those Wolverhampton chimneys. 

[Annie]

On 07/06/2024 at 23:00, Edwardian said:

Something I also noted in relation to 517 development; I do find it a little hard to love those Wolverhampton chimneys. 

I must confess that while I am an enthusiast for Wolverhampton engines I do find myself a little conflicted when it comes to a Wolverhampton chimney.

 

WIP render screenshot of the iron Tilt Wagon that Steve Flanders is presently working on.

 

 

Steve tells me that he's done some improvements to the texturing on the covered van, but I'm not entirely sure where it's been done.

 

Edited June 9 by Annie
Added a picture, wrote more words

[Jake The Rat]

The red brown car on the rear track almost looks like an American caboose, so I suppose it's a brake van, isn't it?

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Jake The Rat said:

The red brown car on the rear track almost looks like an American caboose, so I suppose it's a brake van, isn't it?

It's an ex-Bristol & Exeter Railway iron goods brake van.  As an ex-B&ER brake van it's absolutely perfect for the Minehead branch.

[Annie]

W.T.Co. Afternoon Cheer Up Picture:  Photo shamelessly borrowed from the Didcot Railway Centre.  I have a Trainz model of 'Jane' in green, but it doesn't get out much.  I really need to finish off the Wantage layout I started ages ago.

 

[Annie]

First look at the WIP Iron Tilt Wagons from Steven Flanders.  These are based on the drawings by Alan Prior.

 

 

[Annie]

Hot off the press further update on the Iron Tilt Wagons.  Some weathering to the paintwork and interior detailing.

Edit: A small mystery though as through the Broad Gauge Society Steve and I have several different Iron Tilt Wagon drawings, but none of them match up to Alan Prior's drawing.  Where he got his information from who can say.

 

Edited June 11 by Annie
More words needed.

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, Annie said:

Where he got his information from who can say.

 

The very question lurking in my mind.

[MikeOxon]

6 hours ago, Annie said:

Where he got his information from who can say.

I know that several of Alan Prior's drawings are derived from the OPC collection within the NRM archives. 

 

For example, this is where I found the original drawings for my models of the BG coal wagon and BG covered van - both of which are also in Alan Prior's book.

 

There is a list of OPC/BR drawings in the Broad Gauge Society Journal ‘Broadsheet’ No.8 (Jan.1983). These drawings cover the short period from 1852 to 1854/5 and include a group of wagons sharing a standard design of underframe with various types of body.  Alan Prior's tilt wagon may come this this source.  I obtained copies of some drawings I wanted through discussion with other BGS members.

 

Mike

[drduncan]

On 09/06/2024 at 06:23, Annie said:

It's an ex-Bristol & Exeter Railway iron goods brake van.  As an ex-B&ER brake van it's absolutely perfect for the Minehead branch.

Is that the one based on a drawing in the Alan Prior book? Only I’ve heard rumours it was narrow gauge in real life. Certainly I can’t find it in the wagon records for the B&E bg stock..,

D

[Annie]

12 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

The very question lurking in my mind.

 

7 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

I know that several of Alan Prior's drawings are derived from the OPC collection within the NRM archives. 

The OPC list you gave me Mike lists '4834 Tilt Wagons' -- so that might be it.   It might have been easier if I asked Steve to make a B&ER Tilt Wagon since I have the BGS PDF sheet for one of those.

 

7 hours ago, drduncan said:

Is that the one based on a drawing in the Alan Prior book? Only I’ve heard rumours it was narrow gauge in real life. Certainly I can’t find it in the wagon records for the B&E bg stock..,

D

Unfortunately I know next to nothing about the B&ER's narrow gauge habits so I couldn't really say.  The digital model I have was based on the drawing in Alan Prior's book and Steve Flanders made it almost 10 years ago now, - I do know that much.

[Annie]

Broad Gauge PO Wagon Picture, - with a question attached.

 

Was 'SULLY & Co No.21' fitted with single sided brake, - or was it fitted with no brakes at all?  My vote is for no brakes, but I'd be interested to see what others might say about it.

 

Edited June 12 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Compound2632]

The natural assumption is that the brake is on the far side. There is no evidence that it is unbraked.

 

Interesting stop-block!

[Compound2632]

The wagon itself is of interesting construction, in that it has no curb or side rail - the width over body is the width over solebars, i.e. journal centres plus about 5 in. What were the journal centres on BG stock? extrapolating from standard gauge, 6' 6" centres for 4' 8½" gauge, one would expect 8' 9¾". But that's using a standard gauge dimension that wasn't standardised, for PO wagons, until 1887, so I suspect a bit less - a with over solebars and body of about 9 ft seems likely.