Chuffnell Regis

[Graham T]

Yep, it's getting closer to the right proportions now.

[MrWolf]

At a guess (cue someone posting a drawing!) I'd say Witney tank is about nine to ten feet square, seven to eight feet high, on top of an eleven foot tall tower, based on the door sizes.

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by MrWolf

[Graham T]

A drawing would be very helpful!

[MrWolf]

Only one I have a drawing for is Abbottsbury, which basically looks like the Wills' stone base water tower kit, but with four braithwaite panels to the tank instead of three. I've seen that rebuilt with a brick base and an arched window in the side on a couple of occasions

[Fishplate]

11 hours ago, Graham T said:

12 hours ago, 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.

 

Hi @Graham T

 

Ref quotes above, you might be able to put a lamp on the corner of the coaling stage, as shown red in the snip below? That would light one side of the turntable as well as the coaling stage.

 

I've also suggested one diametrically opposite in the bottom snip. That would illuminate the far side of the turntable, the buffer stop and the circular path that the driver/ fireman would take when turning a loco in the dark.

 

Another near (or part way along the wall of) the Engine shed would combine with both the above to light the area you are pondering about. 

 

Hope that is of interest.

 

   

Edited March 15, 2022 by Fishplate
Spuling :-)

[Thorness]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

At a guess (cue someone posting a drawing!) I'd say Witney tank is about nine to ten feet square, seven to eight feet high, on top of an eleven foot tall tower, based on the door sizes.

 

 

 

Doesn't the bottom of the tank need to be higher than the top of the water crane?

This https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/misc/misc_equip193.htm#watercrane would suggest that 11' might not be enough.

[MrWolf]

47 minutes ago, Thorness said:

Doesn't the bottom of the tank need to be higher than the top of the water crane?

This https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/misc/misc_equip193.htm#watercrane would suggest that 11' might not be enough.

 

Not if it's acting as a header tank to supply a separate water crane.

 

Witney appears to have been similar to the original setup at Fairford, with a tank and pump house set up over a well. That seems to have been replaced with a standard GWR tank, possibly with the arrival of mains water.

Savernake, is much taller, because that tank, as you point out, has a water crane exiting the bottom of the tank.

I've never seen a pre closure picture of Savernake, but there must have been some kind of flexible joint to swing the hose over the track originally.

 

 

At Witney, the water column was on the platform on the other side of the bridge here. If we assume that the door is a regular 6'6" high, the tower isn't double door height and the window is about 2/3 door height.

 

 

If Graham does decide to put in a remote water tank to supply the loco shed crane, there's no reason why it couldn't supply one of the short platform mounted cranes too, which saves time when running locos round their trains for return trips.

 

This is Witney water crane.

 

 

Well spotted on the tank height, it wasn't something that I had considered until I thought about the ground mounted water crane outside the loco shed.

Edited March 16, 2022 by MrWolf
Picture no load!

[Neal Ball]

8 hours ago, Graham T said:

A drawing would be very helpful!

It’s a different style, but Ive sent a PM with a drawing for a tank.

[MrWolf]

9 hours ago, Thorness said:

Doesn't the bottom of the tank need to be higher than the top of the water crane?

This https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/misc/misc_equip193.htm#watercrane would suggest that 11' might not be enough.

 

Something else that is interesting about that article is the explanation for why the fire devil is seen placed nearer to the end of the filler pipe than the tank, especially as the pipe is normally empty except when in use. It's to stop the leather bag from freezing up, rather than the contents of the tank, which makes sense given that the leather would fracture if frozen.

It's often been mentioned on this site that fire devils are in the "wrong" place on commercial models. It would appear that they're in the right place after all.

[Graham T]

10 hours ago, MrWolf said:

At a guess (cue someone posting a drawing!) I'd say Witney tank is about nine to ten feet square, seven to eight feet high, on top of an eleven foot tall tower, based on the door sizes.

 

 

 

 

My mock-up (now that I reduced the depth of the tank a little) comes in at about ten foot square tank, six feet deep, on top of an approx. ten foot tower.  I think you win another cigar!

 

I will probably make the tank a tad deeper as well, seven feet I think.

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

It’s a different style, but Ive sent a PM with a drawing for a tank.

 

Thanks for that Neal.

[Graham T]

10 hours ago, Fishplate said:

 

Hi @Graham T

 

Ref quotes above, you might be able to put a lamp on the corner of the coaling stage, as shown red in the snip below? That would light one side of the turntable as well as the coaling stage.

 

I've also suggested one diametrically opposite in the bottom snip. That would illuminate the far side of the turntable, the buffer stop and the circular path that the driver/ fireman would take when turning a loco in the dark.

 

Another near (or part way along the wall of) the Engine shed would combine with both the above to light the area you are pondering about. 

 

Hope that is of interest.

 

   

 

Thanks for that FP, I will be adding at least one lamp in the shed area, although I'm not sure where yet.  As you might have noticed, I don't like making decisions!

[Harlequin]

I wonder if these small tanks are quite appropriate for a BLT with an engine shed? They look out of proportion to me next to the substantial brick shed building.

 

Neither Witney nor Savernake had engine sheds - they were stopping stations where you might, or might not, need a top up.

 

[MrWolf]

That's an interesting point, although as I mentioned earlier, Fairford lost its water tank and made do with a standard pillar tank. Pontrilas was another example.

 

[Neal Ball]

42 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Thanks for that FP, I will be adding at least one lamp in the shed area, although I'm not sure where yet.  As you might have noticed, I don't like making decisions!

Strangely at Henley there was only 1 lamp in the whole of the TT / engine shed area… so again, less is more.

 

Did you manage to source GWR style platform lamps Graham?

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

I wonder if these small tanks are quite appropriate for a BLT with an engine shed? They look out of proportion to me next to the substantial brick shed building.

 

Neither Witney nor Savernake had engine sheds - they were stopping stations where you might, or might not, need a top up.

 

 

You could well be right Phil.  I'll probably build the tank anyway, and then see how I feel about it.  I also have the grounded horsebox to think about.  Once I've got both I'll play about with different positioning of them until I (eventually!) decide what to do...

[Graham T]

43 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

Strangely at Henley there was only 1 lamp in the whole of the TT / engine shed area… so again, less is more.

 

Did you manage to source GWR style platform lamps Graham?

 

Morning Neal.  Yes I've got some lamps on order:  https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts/item-code-lhm611-oo-scale-lampposts-pack-of-3

 

Only one for the shed area though, methinks

[Neal Ball]

9 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Morning Neal.  Yes I've got some lamps on order:  https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts/item-code-lhm611-oo-scale-lampposts-pack-of-3

 

Only one for the shed area though, methinks

 

They look very good and possibly cheaper than the old Gaugemaster ones!

[Graham T]

I'll let you know what they're like as soon as I get them.

[Graham T]

I made a start on the water tank this morning.  Easy bit done so far, I think the tank itself will be a bit more of a fiddle somehow...

 

I've modelled it with the window at the back bricked up - don't ask me why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[GWR57xx]

As mentioned earlier by @Thorness, I think the tank needs to be higher.

Since water is gravity fed to the water cranes, the bottom of the tank needs to be higher than the top of the tallest crane.

e.g. Tetbury had its tank integral to the engine shed, and at some point in its life the tank was raised from its original position. I’ve “borrowed” this image from Intentio’s website to illustrate:

 

Edited February 11 by GWR57xx
restore images

[MrWolf]

Pressure does increase with volume though, even if the tank is at almost ground level. It also depends on what you have in the pump house resupplying the tank. IIRC the bottom of a GWR pillar tank is 20' from the ground, Tetbury's tank is at least that, but the little tank at Witney seems to have done the job, otherwise I'm sure that the GWR would have binned it.

[Graham T]

Well it's a long way towards being built now, in any case!  I've now added the window sills and door frame, a lintel, and made a start on the tank itself.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T

[Fishplate]

16 hours ago, Graham T said:

I've modelled it with the window at the back bricked up - don't ask me why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

Subconscious application of Rule 1 !

[Graham T]

 

Now with the door added from scribed plasticard - still awaiting a track pin doorknob a la @longchap, and some more detail added to the tank.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Graham T