A small country halt somewhere west of Middlesex

[D6356]

I have followed with much interest having laid 2 foot gauge track , including a 3 way stub point and helped plant rodding in both 2 foot, 71/4" and 1/32 in a garden. The 2mm gang have a book on rodding and how it works which is great reading. So I really have enjoyed your creation of locks etc. Satisfying in the end, one off the occasions when it is better to arrive than travel.
Re trees - certainly good to frame the scene, I guess the front tree will not inhibit the 12" to foot interface with the model, but a big bush might survive while still blocking the view under the bridge.

Finally while mulling over the plan I guess the right hand scene is another private twiglet route - might the slightly bigger twig management want a gate to divide ownership - and it might just stop any errant wagon appearing in the dirt next to the platform! Given the parsimonious nature of the organisation having a facing point lock would have been most of the signalling budget in one go but Major Bomblast the DOT inspector might want some form of protection of runaway from the twiglet - the cost of a trap prohibitive I am sure but perhaps some form of derailer on top of the rail head or a pivoted block with a lock released by the staff might gain favour? - give more lever frame building joy? Perhaps a cameo of a deceased wagon as a hint of why, rotting in the long grass.
Have loads of fun and thanks for sharing
Robert

 

[michael mott]

Finally while mulling over the plan I guess the right hand scene is another private twiglet route - might the slightly bigger twig management want a gate to divide ownership - and it might just stop any errant wagon appearing in the dirt next to the platform! Given the parsimonious nature of the organisation having a facing point lock would have been most of the signalling budget in one go but Major Bomblast the DOT inspector might want some form of protection of runaway from the twiglet

Hmm Robert you are now responsible for my expenditure of way too much energy today.

I hauled out my old Macton loco works gate and realized there really was not enough room to do much at the south end of the layout so by juggling the furniture in the workshop (again) I have found and extra Five and a half feet x 30 inches wide.

First the top of the pine cabinet was detached, it is solid wood and quite heavy so had to take it easy.



then removed the old cabinet that was above the soldering area along with the shelves because they will need to be shortened

I used the car jack to lift the shelf once I got it humped over to the opposite side of the room.



After getting it fixed to the wall put the top back on and rebuilt the soldering station.


so now I need to make a baseboard to fill the extra length over the top of the lower half of the pine cabinet.









Now I should be able to do something decent with the south end. After I have squirreled away all the stuff that has been displaced by the move and is now cluttering up the floor. This will have to be the limit or else I will need to be removing stuff from the room.
My Grandson's hockey tournament is proving to be challenging for his team 2 losses so far hopefully tomorrow will be a winner.

Michael

 

[Alan]

What scale is the boat, it looks big enough to sit in and sail as a single hander.

 

[michael mott]

Hi Alan the boat on the layout is a Herreshoff Buzzards bay 14 The big boat is a generic Bristol Pilot Cutter both models are 1/8th scale.

 

[Alan]

So someone small could sail the pilot cutter, rather like those miniature 12 metre yachts

 

[D6356]

Micheal,
Unreserveded apologies !! for being the source of such fun, I hope I had just scratched an itch but seem to have started a right upset.. The gate is quite amazing, I had in mind a wooden affair. Long ago at Cosford loops on the up line there was a tamper siding and all that kept any errant machine was a decaying wooden gate and a cross rail head wooden block on a padlock - key with signalman. The working of the siding appearing in the sectional appendix of the Midland region and seemed a common question of inspectors and interview panels! Your gate is a real Narnia production and I am sure that with just a little more rail it will lead to some ramshackle buildings of an earlier age in their last years, Peter Barnfield`s Portsbrooke light railway style.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/350084571020315921/

Please enjoy a big glass of something relaxing, and if I feel any stabbing pains I know who has been out with a long pin!
Robert

 

[michael mott]

After searching for some time for the answer to the south end wanting to keep it relatively simple I went back to the September 2004 Railway Bylines and the article "Prairie Tales at Liskeard" with photographs by Peter Barnfield The full page photograph on page 457 has been a favorite of mine for a long time and so using it as inspiration I needed to mirror the centre of that picture to get a sense of the south end.

Mirrored Detail of photograph by Peter Barnfield September 2004 issue Railway bylines for Illustration Purposes

So the corner will get the sloping road down to an unmarked level crossing

The single road engine shed will act as a visual block for the end of the line which in the real world was the old Liskeard and Caradon Railway in the article and the track lifted sometime after 1917

There will be lots of trees and ground cover and all sorts of opportunity for some creative backscene between the north and south ends of the layout, which should keep me off the streets for some time to come.





Michael

 

[Richard Gawler]

Michael I like this idea but in your photos the curve at the foot of the gradient looks very tight. A car could suffer brake fade on the descent ("keep in low gear" on a road sign I expect) and might not make it round the corner. Maybe you could model only half of the width of the road and hide the subterfuge behind a hedge? This would let you ease the curve.

 

[Tim Watson]

Looking at the prototype photo, I think it is a footpath that crosses the line, so any curve there is easily accommodated. The road carries on a slight curve, effectively into the back scene.

Tim

 

[michael mott]

Tim I like the idea of a footpath, people are going to be much easier to make than 1/32nd vehicles and more opportunities for fencing and growing stuff. It’s also going to be easier to blend into the landscape and back scene. Perhaps it was a footpath to the old clay works before the place closed down, but it is still convenient for the engine driver to get up to the village pub on the other side of the hill on his way home.

 

[michael mott]

Michael I like this idea but in your photos the curve at the foot of the gradient looks very tight. A car could suffer brake fade on the descent ("keep in low gear" on a road sign I expect) and might not make it round the corner. Maybe you could model only half of the width of the road and hide the subterfuge behind a hedge? This would let you ease the curve.

Yes it is a bit too much for a vehicle so I think it’s better as a footpath. It’s more likely that when the clay works closed it fell into disrepair anyway. It would have been more of a cart track than a road in the early days. I’m
Michael

 

[Simon]

The track was definitely in use by road vehicles in later years, it was used as access to the clay dries earlier on, I think.

As you say, you have the Peter Barnfield print reversed, which is what makes it look strange to me!

A great layout idea however you execute it.

Here's the "real" image, Peter's shot of the area, taken on August 7th 1961 from Moorswater Viaduct.

This and other pictures and words appear in "Memories of West Country Railway Journeys 1960-1962, published by Wild Swan in 2017. Image copyright estate of Peter Barnfield.


Simon

 

[michael mott]

Thank you Simon It is a fantastic photograph, I had to mirror it to suit my layout and space. If I were to be modelling in a smaller scale I would be able to make it much more like the real place. There are so many wonderful landscape Ideas going on in this photograph. At the larger scale it is so tight on the baseboard that the footpath Idea works better in the fictitious county west of Middlesex.

Michael

 

[Simon]

Thank you Simon It is a fantastic photograph, I had to mirror it to suit my layout and space. If I were to be modelling in a smaller scale I would be able to make it much more like the real place. There are so many wonderful landscape Ideas going on in this photograph. At the larger scale it is so tight on the baseboard that the footpath Idea works better in the fictitious county west of Middlesex.

Michael

Absolutely, I work in 1/32 scale and it does require a less "landscape" approach (hence the garden!)

I really like what you are doing here and seeing it “unfold” as you go along.

Simon

 

[michael mott]

Pulled a few of the trees out of storage to see how the south end will shape up also narrowed the "road to a path.







It will be fun doing the foliage on this end of the layout.

Michael

 

[Richard Gawler]

I think the path looks a lot more natural. How about splitting the difference between road and path and doing a bridleway? I am thinking, 1:32 vehicles are difficult but it's a popular scale for toy farm animals. So a horse and rider should be possible.

 

[simond]

Britains used to do a variety of farm vehicles and animals. I’m sure there must be a few Land Rovers around. I think all their vehicles were 60’s - 70’s. The sheep too, perhaps…

 

[Simon]

Blimey, talk about getting derailed by the detail police!

I would go with your instincts, which are clearly pretty impeccable.

Personally I think your original mock up had more visual punch than the watered down pathway, which as a visual feature is slightly so-what ish. As regards road gradient etc, well around here we have much worse and it all gets coped with, qv Frankley Buildings and the phenomenal curve and gradient of the road where I used to live by the canal in Avoncliff.

Just sayin’

 

[SimonT]

I'm a bit with Simon about the original mock up but if it was my train set I would be tempted to include the stub siding where the loco coal wagon sat. It would pull the eye away from the corner. Either way I'm enjoying your fun.
Another Simon

 

[Roger Pound]

It was that car jack! I borrowed a similar item from my friendly garage owner who looks after my car, when I needed to replace the hardwood supports and/or damp course material (roofing felt strips ) under the railway shed. The ideal tool for lifting up to allow the necessary work to be done!

Great layout shaping up very nicely Micheal, do you expect to use your 2P thereon, as and when? Whatever, I look forward to further news in due time.

Roger .