Captain Kernow

Er, bit of both, you could say - Scalescenes brickpaper, that has been additionally weathered, plus plasticard etc.

She would, too! I'll sort some more photos soon, folks - I was just thinking earlier today of putting all the completed buildings on the layout and taking some more photos...

The small rail-served factory unit for Callow Lane is now more or less complete: The building is a branch premises of the small engineering firm Taffson Evans, which had a long history of occasional locomotive building back into the 19th century, although the Callow Lane premises was only ever responsible for the production of smaller, individual components. When it was first founded, the firm was known as Taffson, Evans & Jenkins and they were responsible for the small fleet of 15" gauge 0-4-0STs for the Vowchurch Slate Tramway in Herefordshire: More information on these diminutive locomotives and the narrow gauge railway that they served can be found in the book 'The Slate Railway to Churchwater' by Brian Clarke and published by Merlin Locomotive Works in 1977. Subsequent locomotive construction was not well recorded, but the company dropped the 'Jenkins' part of their name in the early 1950s and began to develop a standard small industrial diesel, which they hoped to sell to industry and the MoD, an example of which is depicted here: Not many were constructed in the event, and the company's trading position began to look increasingly precarious as the 1960s wore on. A management buy-out in 1970 saw the name change again to Taffson Engineering, with the company diversifying into components for domestic appliances and industrial switching gear. It was at this time that the Callow Lane factory was closed and production concentrated in the Rhondda Valley. Finally it was saved from the brink of receivership in the late 1990s by another takeover, this time by a Japanese company, who moved the company to an industrial estate near Peterborough and are now manufacturing cardboard office removals 'storage solutions' and trading as 'Pretentia'.... With apologies to those who may have read this rhubarb on the previous version of the forum... The next structure is a more basic 'view blocker', to partially hide where the two running lines disappear into the fiddle yard. This is also meant to be some kind of anonymous industrial premises and is the structure behind the 08 (the photo was taken from the operators side):

Does this new layout have a name, Chris - and will it be finished before the colliery layout?

Vindication! A colleague at work has informed me that he saw D5396 at Bristol TM in December 1968 on a Christmas parcels train!

The lighting and mood of this photo makes it one of the most realistic I've ever seen - really excellent stuff!

Thanks for posting that again, Ben - a timely reminder of how to make a really convincing job of it!

Well, the deal's been done - an over-enthusiastic order of these locos by The Model Shop in Exeter resulted in him selling his stock off at a reasonable price, so that was my consolation prize for him not having any 7Fs in stock yet....

Interesting how views change over the years, Mike - current steam operators seem to like using St Blazey a whole lot more - especially as it avoids a long run tender-first to Plymouth to turn - a very important consideration if the train is running to/from Penzance.... This brings to mind the problems we had turning Bittern (I think it was) earlier this summer - the safety railing around the edge of the turntable pit was fouled by the A4 and had to be oxy-acetelyned off before we could complete turning the loco - a small delay ensued to the departing train (which was starting back from Par on that occasion).

Sorry, duplicate posting.

I agree with Ian, these are definitely worthwhile improvements. I often use a bit of Eileens brass strip of the correct width to form new safety straps, and solder a bit of brass rod on the top rear, which is then glued into a hole drilled in the solebar, which should give it a bit more strength. You could go further, of course, and substitute etched brake gear etc., but this is a personal choice and what you've done will certainly improve things, and for 'layout wagons', they'll look fine when painted and weathered up, no doubt.

Stunning! They should market that as a kit (I'd buy one!)

Well, let's move the goalposts slightly and say that they wouldn't have had to have gone all the way to Bristol, just as far as Westerleigh Yard on a favour to the Gloucester shedmaster (in my day at Preston, Saltley men were known as 'Martini Men' - any time, any place, any where...). Once at Westerleigh Yard, a further small favour would have seen them nip up to Callow Lane on a transfer trip, with a local pilot driver, due to the booked Hymek having been purloined for something else....

Thanks for posting that, Mike - if they got as far as Gloucester, I wonder if they might occasionally have gotten as far as Bristol?.... You're giving me ideas, you are!

This is the model of a passenger train of the South Polden Light Railway, seen here visiting Combwich at the High Wycombe show a few weeks ago (photo by Chris Nevard): The moribund coaches and Peckett normally work occasional services between Burrowbridge and Bleakhouse Road... Then, the other day, I found this ensemble at Buckfastleigh: Clearly, someone felt the SPLR was worth preserving!!

I think a suitable description for 'Hursley' could be 'pinnacle of modelling'. Despite having been 20 years ago (and that in itself is no reason for a model not to be of superlative quality), it remains one of my favourites. Apart from the MRJ article, there are a few photos of it and it's stock in Martyn's book 'The Art of Weathering'.

Hi Julia, The walls of the corrugated iron building are built from Wills plastic sheets. The roof features a piece of ordinary 30 thou Slaters plasticard, on to which was glued a piece of Wills transparent corrugated plastic sheeting - but glued with Devcon epoxy to prevent any risk of the plastic sections warping. The roof of the overhanging canopy was done the same way. The brick paper on the main building is from Scalescenes. Will post some more photos soon, as the ironwork and canopy have had their base coat of 'factory blue' - to match the Scalescenes sliding wooden door, but I want to do a bit of weathering first...

Make that the Kernow D600s, and we're practically there!

Superb! Just looked at the link at the bottom of your signature, Rich - is that your modelling - the Swedish narrow gauge? Some mighty fine work being done there, by the looks of it!

Thanks Matt, very nice job you've made of the 'C' class lining as well!

Well done - that's a lovely job you've done there, I enjoyed reading about the project and the video was great fun too - the layout seems to run very well. What is the origin of the SE&CR 0-6-0 tender loco, by the way, please?

If you boys only signed the road north of Abbotswood Jct, you'd no doubt see it regularly!

I do like this one - it has a real 'Titfield Thunderbolt' feel to it! Always a pleasure to see photos of your work, Geoff, and I can only echo what others have said about those superb effects on the milk tankers!

You've been busy, Chris - lovely structures modelling, as ever. What prototype is the beam engine house based on, and was there an example of this kind of structure at somewhere like Kilmersdon or Writhlington?

Hi Doug - the basis for the canopy is some old Slaters valancing that I had. The rest is plasticard, scribed for the outer sides and the top section has some Wills clear corrugated plastic epoxied to the 30 thou sheet - the idea being to give it a bit of stability and to try to stop it warping, had I used a solvent type glue on it. It has been sprayed with grey primer so far. It is attached to the building by three spigots of brass, themselves glued to the inside of the canopy and which fit into small holes drilled into the main building. I will epoxy the canopy to the main building in due course.