Chuffnell Regis

[Graham T]

10 hours ago, John Besley said:

That's going to work as a store for loco oil, cotton waste, lighting up wood etc. 

 

Just one consideration, these would normally arrive from the works on s welltroll with their running gear cut off and be craned into place within reach of the track.... If you place this too far away how did the body get to that location? 

 

Might be better off alongside the shed ... Is the track from the turntable going to be extended out in the direction of the river simply as a place to park some stores wagons 

 

Morning John.  I hadn't thought about how the old horse box would get to the location (obviously!)  There isn't really room for it at "the business end" of the shed, so I think it will have to go in the area mentioned, with a bit of Rule 1 applied.  I'm not planning to add any other tracks coming off the t***table.

[Graham T]

10 hours ago, GWR57xx said:

Maybe the enginemen had some allotments here?

If you bring the railway boundary in a bit like Neal suggested, maybe the neighbouring field has a few sheep?

 

Ah yes, allotments - thanks for the reminder, I had considered that before.  I like that idea.

[Graham T]

I could put the lamp hut over here?  Closer to the coal and water facilities, so probably makes more sense do you think?

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[Harlequin]

I don't think any of the stations in the combined edition of "Great Western Branch Line Termini" show a lamp hut devoted to their engine sheds. They are often at the country end of the platform, sometimes in positions halfway between the shed and the station building. I guess they dealt with all the lamps for the station, platform lamps (where they were still oil-based) signal lamps, hand lamps and engine lamps.

 

How about a tall yard lamp somewhere in the shed area to allow the enginemen to see what they're doing on a cold dark winter's morning? They are more common at sheds with working TTs, as far as I can tell.

 

Where is your permanent way hut going to be? You probably need one somewhere where the line enters the station area. Lots of opportunity for piles of stuff lying around near that.

 

P.S. None of the stations in the above book have sand driers either...

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Harlequin

[BroadLeaves]

Just realised - you have a water crane, but no water tower that I can see. Where is that going to go (if you're having one at all)?  

That would be an ideal use for the area next to the engine shed. Maybe also have a small pump house to pump water from that handy nearby stream to keep it topped up?

[Graham T]

On 15/03/2022 at 11:25, Harlequin said:

I don't think any of the stations in the combined edition of "Great Western Branch Line Termini" show a lamp hut devoted to their engine sheds. They are often at the country end of the platform, sometimes in positions halfway between the shed and the station building. I guess they dealt with all the lamps for the station, platform lamps (where they were still oil-based) signal lamps, hand lamps and engine lamps.

 

That's funny Phil, as one of my earlier ideas for the lamp hut was to put it at the end of the platform, as shown in the photo below.  Perhaps that is the best place for it then...

 

On 15/03/2022 at 11:25, Harlequin said:

How about a tall yard lamp somewhere in the shed area to allow the enginemen to see what they're doing on a cold dark winter's morning? They are more common at sheds with working TTs, as far as I can tell.

 

 

I've got some lamps on order, in fact.  I wanted to get some of the Gaugemaster ones, but they don't seem to be available anywhere now.

 

On 15/03/2022 at 11:25, Harlequin said:

Where is your permanent way hut going to be? You probably need one somewhere where the line enters the station area. Lots of opportunity for piles of stuff lying around near that.

 

 

Again, see the pic below.  This is (probably!) where the PW hut will end up, next to the signal box (indicated by the piece of white card).

 

On 15/03/2022 at 11:25, Harlequin said:

P.S. None of the stations in the above book have sand driers either...

 

 

Yes, from what I've read a shed this small wouldn't have one, just the odd sack of sand brought in as required.

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

On 15/03/2022 at 11:47, BroadLeaves said:

Just realised - you have a water crane, but no water tower that I can see. Where is that going to go (if you're having one at all)?  

That would be an ideal use for the area next to the engine shed. Maybe also have a small pump house to pump water from that handy nearby stream to keep it topped up?

 

Thanks for the reminder - that was something else I'd considered for this corner of the layout, perhaps something like this tank at Witney (but brick built)

 

 

 

There will also be a typical GW water column at the other end of the layout, between the tracks at the end of the platform - a la Lambourn.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[Neal Ball]

14 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Thanks for the reminder - that was something else I'd considered for this corner of the layout, perhaps something like this tank at Witney (but brick built)

 

 

There will also be a typical GW water column at the other end of the layout, between the tracks at the end of the platform - a la Lambourn.

 

I wonder if a tank / crane combo might be more prototypical for the location?

[MrWolf]

The combined pumphouse and tank at Savernake is worth a look if you want a brick one. There's drawings of it in the 1983 Model Railway Constructor annual. There's usually plenty of cheap copies on eBay.

[BroadLeaves]

27 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

The combined pumphouse and tank at Savernake

This one?

http://www.swindonsotherrailway.co.uk/rj138.html

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

 

I wonder if a tank / crane combo might be more prototypical for the location?

 

Quite possibly yes, but I don't think I can make it fit anywhere near the tracks around the shed...

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

The combined pumphouse and tank at Savernake is worth a look if you want a brick one. There's drawings of it in the 1983 Model Railway Constructor annual. There's usually plenty of cheap copies on eBay.

 

Thanks Mr W, interesting building.  If it's the one that @BroadLeaves has linked, then it looks a fair bit bigger than the structure at Witney?  I'll probably do a card mock-up of the Witney version and see how that looks in situ.  From the photo I have I'm estimating that it wouldn't be more than about 20 ft high, so shouldn't be too overpowering?

 

35 minutes ago, BroadLeaves said:

http://www.swindonsotherrailway.co.uk/rj138.html

 

[Gopher]

6 hours ago, Graham T said:

I've got some lamps on order, in fact.  I wanted to get some of the Gaugemaster ones, but they don't seem to be available anywhere now.

Graham - have a look here,.  They sell a range of lamps very similar to the Gaugemaster/DCC Concepts lamps

 

 https://www.layouts4u.net

[Graham T]

Thanks Clive - that's where I ordered from

[Andrew P]

8 hours ago, Graham T said:

 

Ah yes, allotments - thanks for the reminder, I had considered that before.  I like that idea.

Nice idea, this was seen at the Basingstoke Show, I know its a Garden and not an Allotment, but loads of detail in it.

[MrWolf]

4 hours ago, Graham T said:

 

Thanks Mr W, interesting building.  If it's the one that @BroadLeaves has linked, then it looks a fair bit bigger than the structure at Witney?  I'll probably do a card mock-up of the Witney version and see how that looks in situ.  From the photo I have I'm estimating that it wouldn't be more than about 20 ft high, so shouldn't be too overpowering?

 

 

 

IIRC, the footprint of Savernake pumphouse in 4mm scale is about 80mm x 50mm.

A model of that building was my first attempt at scratch building in plastic, which is why it came to mind.

I think that the Witney example would probably scale out at about 10mm shorter.

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, Andrew P said:

Nice idea, this was seen at the Basingstoke Show, I know its a Garden and not an Allotment, but loads of detail in it.

 

Very nice little scene Andy - love that thatched roof too!

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

IIRC, the footprint of Savernake pumphouse in 4mm scale is about 80mm x 50mm.

A model of that building was my first attempt at scratch building in plastic, which is why it came to mind.

I think that the Witney example would probably scale out at about 10mm shorter.

 

Thanks, that's very handy Rob.  My first attempt at scaling it from the photo came out a bit smaller - and looked too small once in place on the layout (the water tank would have held a large bucketful, at a guess...)

 

So I'm having another go at a mock-up in the region of 70 x 40 mm.

[Graham T]

I also did a bit of what's more in my skill range - slapping paint about.  I didn't think this open space would be ballasted, as that would be needless expense for the company, so I've tried to make it look like packed earth.  A coat of chinchilla dust, sanded down, and then daubed with a mix of black, brown, and white acrylics.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

So, I took a few minutes to knock up the mock-up (haha) of the water tank.  Don't really like it though, to be honest.  It looks a bit too imposing I think, and also the pitched roof doesn't look right.  I think I'll drop the pitch to 30 degrees, which of course will make the building less tall, and see how it looks then.  The window may need to be a little smaller too, do you think?

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[MrWolf]

I found a couple of other pics of Witney and Savernake, compare them to the signal box for size, that would have been about 14' long.

 

 

 

It looks like British Railways never repainted the tank, this was 1973

 

 

Witney appears to have a.much bigger tank.

 

 

[MrWolf]

If you assume that door on Witney tank s 6'6" X 2'9" (26x11mm) you should be able to make something that is in proportion.

[BroadLeaves]

I'd agree - the roof is too steep. For the window, if the intention is to have a single storey area beneath the tank, then the top of the window would be at the same height as the door lintel. 

If you went with a Savernake-style tank, with a curved roof, rather than a Witney-style one woth a flat roof, you can have shorter vertical walls and so reduce the impression of height, but still retain the same actual overall height.

 

[Graham T]

Strange, the Savernake tank looks smaller in that photo, I think, than the one that was posted earlier.  Anyway... 

 

Surgery has been carried out on the Witney/Chuffnell Regis version.  A 30 degree roof pitch looks much better.  The window definitely needs to be quite a bit smaller, and I think I can also reduce the height of the tank.  Looking at your photo of the Witney tank, @MrWolf, the height of the tank looks to be about 2/3 the height of the building below it, I'd say.  So the tank on the mock-up should only be about 3/4 the height that it actually is.  That will also make it a bit less imposing, so I think overall it might work!

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[BroadLeaves]

That looks much better. In isolation, the first mockup didn't look that bad, but compared to the second one, it's clear that the first one is too tall.