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

[eheaps]

The number of adverts in old photos is astonishing. We think it's bad now, but I think it was probably worse 150 years ago. It's easy to see why they had to start surrounding the station name boards with giant red circles so passengers could actually see them, thus leading to today's familiar London Transport roundel logo...

 

For adding adverts in Trainz, look for the FMA random trademark assets. An easy way to plaster your walls with old fashioned adverts! This is one of the things I've been trying to add to my WIP London based layout below, one thing that's missing are the signs on the outside of the station proclaiming the cheap fairs and long list of destinations. These were often somewhat cobbled together with new signs being attached around the old ones every time a new extension opened and new destinations needed to be advertised.

 

I've also been flooding the streets with horse drawn vans and buses to get some sense of the chaos of Victorian London. Need to find some decent 19th Century people to go with them though...

 

   

 

 

[Annie]

1 hour ago, eheaps said:

The number of adverts in old photos is astonishing. We think it's bad now, but I think it was probably worse 150 years ago. It's easy to see why they had to start surrounding the station name boards with giant red circles so passengers could actually see them, thus leading to today's familiar London Transport roundel logo...

James (Edwardian) has sometimes posted pictures in his thread of pre-WW1 stations, bridges, warehouses and walls well covered with advertising signs.  Back then advertising posters were about the only way to thrust products before the eyes of the buying public so I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised at just how many there were.

 

I'll have a look for those FMA assets as they sound like they will be just the job for what I want.  I'm still messing around with my 3 rail 'O' gauge terminal stations, but they will do nicely for practice pieces before I return to working on the more finescale version of 'Minories' that's still a WIP.

 

1 hour ago, eheaps said:

......one thing that's missing are the signs on the outside of the station proclaiming the cheap fairs and long list of destinations. These were often somewhat cobbled together with new signs being attached around the old ones every time a new extension opened and new destinations needed to be advertised.

They sound like the kinds of signs that will have to be specially made for the purpose Ed.  I know there are a small number of blank re-skinnable sign boards on the DLS, but they lack the distinctive beaded edging of Victorian and Edwardian sign boards.

 

1 hour ago, eheaps said:

I've also been flooding the streets with horse drawn vans and buses to get some sense of the chaos of Victorian London. Need to find some decent 19th Century people to go with them though...

Thanks to Steve Flanders there's a good selection of horse drawn vehicles available, but as always it's people who are the difficulty.  Bob Sanders's Victorian people are well and truly showing their age now and I don't think he's doing much in the way of content creation these days due to his eyesight.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Annie
Um.........

[Annie]

Shoves 1910 advertising wall.  <kuid:225064:401319>  He only did this one, but his licence is friendly towards reskins and modifications.

 

[Hroth]

The other thing with the signs is that they will have to be ferociously weathered, they may start out brightly polychromatic, but a few weeks of steam and sulphurous smoke will soon tone them down.

 

Enamelled tin ones will just get streakily dirty!

 

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Hroth
What's a wek? Tippytappy tablets don't like double leters...

[Annie]

The FMA randomised tin adverts are a mix of eras and European countries as well as some British products.  They will do for now until it's possible to mod their advert libraries or perhaps devise something similar for the British pre-grouping era.  In the meantime I'm just going to say that in my created universe the channel tunnel was built pre-WW1 so that's why the advertising is the way it is.

 

[Annie]

BT20 Grand Station kit by Victorian.  Some definite possibilities there I think.

 

<kuid2:646395:100056:1> BT20 - Grand Station Canopy 01

<kuid2:646395:100086:1> BT20 - Grand Station Canopy 01 End

<kuid2:646395:100091:1> BT20 - Grand Station Lamp 01

<kuid2:646395:100084:1> BT20 - Grand Station Pillar 01

<kuid2:646395:100018:1> BT20 - Grand Station Wall 01

<kuid2:646395:100057:1> BT20 - Grand Station Wall 02

<kuid2:646395:100074:1> BT20 - Grand Station Wall 03

 

 

[Annie]

It involves a lot of careful faffing around and holding my mouth right, but it is possible to cover up the horrible steel 'H' section canopy roof supports with the brick arch spline.  I was starting to feel down in the dumps over trying to make the station look properly Victorian, but now I think I'm getting somewhere with it.

 

[Annie]

LNWR and Midland Beyer-Peacocks will be available very soon.

 

[Annie]

Evening Cheer Up Picture:  Metro-Land.  This is the cover of the 1932 edition of the booklet The Metropolitan Railway issued to promote the advantages of suburban living.

 

[Schooner]

Opening of the Chesham Extension Railway, Metropolitan Railway by William Coles, 15 May 1889

[Annie]

The Midland and LNWR Metropolitan engines are now available.  And lovely they are too.

 

[Tom Burnham]

3 hours ago, Schooner said:

 

Opening of the Chesham Extension Railway, Metropolitan Railway by William Coles, 15 May 1889

With a contractor's locomotive.

[Annie]

3 hours ago, Schooner said:

Opening of the Chesham Extension Railway, Metropolitan Railway by William Coles, 15 May 1889

The leading guard's brake carriage is certainly of interest.

[Compound2632]

28 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

With a contractor's locomotive.

 

It does say, in red ink, "Departure of Special train to meet Directors" so perhaps it's not the first day of public service but a prior junket.

[Annie]

Still very WIP, but at least it's starting to look like what it's supposed to.

 

 

 

[Annie]

Some further work done.  I'm really feeling like I'm getting somewhere now.

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Annie
Um.........

[Annie]

That's enough for today.  Tired now and I need to sleep.

 

 

 

[Tom Burnham]

On 06/04/2023 at 16:11, Compound2632 said:

 

It does say, in red ink, "Departure of Special train to meet Directors" so perhaps it's not the first day of public service but a prior junket.

Apparently there was an inspection and informal opening day, when there was a train for local bigwigs from Chesham to Rickmansworth where they joined a through train from Baker Street carrying directors and such. That must have had a Met Rly loco, but evidently the contractor's loco was used for the local train.

[Edwardian]

Really superb station you've built there, Annie

[Annie]

1 minute ago, Edwardian said:

Really superb station you've built there, Annie

Thanks very much James.  It was finding those station wall parts that really made the difference.

[Edwardian]

1 minute ago, Annie said:

Thanks very much James.  It was finding those station wall parts that really made the difference.

 

Another of your virtual creations I'd love to have in physical form

[Annie]

1 minute ago, Edwardian said:

 

Another of your virtual creations I'd love to have in physical form

I must admit that it's all going a lot better than I thought it would.  My next project is putting together a backscene so that should be interesting.

I'm seriously thinking about taking a copy of Minories over to TRS22 once I have it completed so I can make use of Ed's marvellous Metropolitan 'A' class engines on this layout.

[Annie]

Some snaps I took while playing trains on my TRS22 Norfolk layout.  I didn't really do much today as I kept falling asleep all the time.  I did manage to write a couple of new passenger schedules that actually worked so that was something. 

 

MET 'A' class tanks in Norfolk might be pushing reality a bit, but I don't care as I was having fun.

 

 

Midland 1252 Class in M&GNR disguise seen at Bunbury and Moxbury.  I still need to sort out its lamps and couplings.  Otherwise it's a good steady runner.

 

 

A 'Sharpie' on motor train duties runs past Hopewood on Sea.

 

High resolution shadows might look wonderful under the glass canopy at Moxbury, but my aging CoolerMaster computer wasn't much impressed by them and ended up crashing to the desktop.

[Annie]

Still playing trains on my Norfolk layout in TRS22 because it cheers me up.

 

For some reason I've never taken any snaps of No.3 at work.  Like many 0-6-0T shunting and trip working engines No.3 tends to live an unsung existence working away in the background largely unnoticed.

 

Snaps taken while No.3 was working around Elgar Junction and the tramway exchange sidings.

 

 

 

Because I've been mostly setting up passenger schedules I've been following the 'Sharpies' and their motor train coaches around.  Their usual run is between Elgar Junction and Little Keldon at the south eastern end of the layout.  I want to include the large and important station at Brenton Wood  in the passenger run, but I haven't puzzled out how to do that yet.

 

Passing Nodding Keep Halt with H.T.Co. tram engine No.9 about to head off to Hopewood on Sea.

 

Approaching Bluebell Woods with the tramway yard and MPD in the right hand background.

 

At Bluebell Woods.  The station buildings are GCR-Met because of reasons I thought were a good idea at the time.

 

Passing Muddle Crossing.

 

Passing Metropolitan 'A' Class No.27 who was in a big hurry.

 

Little Keldon yard and goods shed.  I just happened to fancy having a carstone goods shed at Little Keldon.

 

And arrival at Little Keldon.  I've been doing some work at Little Keldon with the platforms yet to be changed for something more pre-grouping like.  'Oh please don't', cry out the time travelling passengers.  'These platforms remind us of home'.

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Annie
More words needed.

[Annie]

Local passenger train testing with 'Zanzibar' in charge.  'Zanzibar' could do with a bit of a polish up before she heads out again.

 

Heading towards Bunbury.

 

Bunbury.

 

Moxbury.

 

Heading away from Bluebell Magna.

 

Slight disagreement at Lodge.  'You gunna take the bleed'n thing or wot'.

 

A nice long pause for 'Zanzibar' at Benton Wood so she can rest her weary wheels.  I haven't written the last part of the schedule yet so I hope nobody is in a hurry.

 

'Jubilee' sneaked itself a nice clean and polish up at Moxbury shed.  If I'd known that it would have been 'Jubilee' out and about doing the schedule testing.  A new member of the creator group who understands the mysteries involved in writing engine specs has offered to write a new engine spec for my Beyer-Peacock singles, - so naturally enough I said, 'Yes please!'