GWR/LMS OO Gauge DCC RR&Co

Good to hear from you John……..Granby needs you to keep me on the straight and narrow…….less is more:lol:

Best wishes

Detailing the station frontage is now more or less complete. There is still work to be done on the square (actually its a triangle) to lend some form of credibility to the traffic flow. In addition I still have to construct the buildings that will run at right angles to the station…..but more of that later.

I am quite pleased with the shot below. To my mind it goes some way towards capturing the look and feel of a bustling provincial station in the late forties.




Closer too, of course, it is clear there is no room for complacency.





Posting like this, particularly with cropped close ups, definitely highlights the flaws. Dodgy lamposts and fresh air under the portico are top of the to do list! 

I am afraid that, in these shots, the kerbstones look horribly overscale although in real lif they are not quite so bad.




Another newspaper seller this time from Langley…….this was one of the features I was determined to include. One of my lasting memories of Liverpool is walking to Exchange Station on a damp evening listening to the chorus from the newspaper boys:

"Exxie Echo!"  …….roughly translated from the scouse:

"Would you care to purchase a copy of the Evening Express or the Liverpool Echo? "






The Taxi queue attracts rather more affluent looking customers than the bus queue.





These figures are all from Monty's Models and are probably my favourites…….just look at the slightly corpulent, out of breath porter.

I think the city gent with brief case, rolled up newspaper and umbrella is equally good



Colonels dont worry about no parking signs. These two figures are from Modelscene…..they are plastic and do not have the detail of Monty's or even Airfix/Dapol but they do offer more varied poses.

To the left is an AA motor bike with side car…….Montys have just released an AA patrolman who hopefully will sit neatly astride it


Here is a wider angle shot……I deliberately didnt crop it so you can see the access port for the branch storage lines that run under the entire street.




I am thinking of putting a statue or memorial between the two buses to suggest some form of roundabout…..hence the traffic flow. Langley do a war memorial which looks quite good…..but I think a Victorian statesman might be more appropriate.

A Taxi and Post Office Van mark the site for the buildings (a General Post Office and Hotel) that will run at right angles to the Station and hide the view of Newyd shed.


This shot from the reverse angle shows the building site better.



I have a few things to do before I start on the General Post Office and Station Hotel (to be adapted from Scalescenes High Street Low Relief):

The detailing of the station interior has to be completed……more figures to be painted particularly for the benches that are on their way and I need to build the starter signals for the Main Up line (P4) and the bidirectional P6.

Hope you enjoyed this rather haphazard update.

Superb, John. And thanks for the welcome

"More" not less suits Granby

The images and sound scene ('Exxie Echo' and hustle and bustle play automatically in my head from the photos ) evocatively capture the life and vibrancy to transport me into a 1940s black and white film. That's great entertainment John and you use your skill and vision most effectively.

I spotted the AA combo and smiled again, as I too have the mounted Monty man winging his way towards me!

Good luck with the GPO and hotel building.

Cheers,

Bill :)


PS. I second John's above comment

The station is some mightily impressive structure, think this whole scene is fantastic.  Really can’t wait to get back to modelling now.

Thanks for the comments and encouragement guys…….I am afraid I do tend to go overboard on detail….hence my "Less is more" joke with John.

Quite the coincidence Bill us both going for the AA patrolman……do you have the Oxford bike as well or is he destined for another ride?

Its great if Granby has inspired you to start again Colin despite all the dutie and joys of parenthood….I always enjoyed following your layout thread.

Regular readers may wish to skip the rest of this post unless you are fascinated by the detail of GWR semaphore signalling circa 1947 :lol: and I am afraid the photos are not very good either.

I mentioned that some signals for the down line need to be constructed.  On another forum there is a there is a very knowledgeable guy (used to be in charge of  Signalling on the Western Region (ex GWR) of British Railways). He has  "volunteered" to keep me on the right track……so to  speak:)  This post is aimed primarily at him although any comments are welcome.  I wanted to keep the record of Granby's deveopment up to date on YMR……after all this is my very first ever layout thread.

The signals on Granby are all cosmetic/non working (apart from the the fixed distants:))  Nevertheless I do try and have the correct signals in place to control  the various traffic operations so that an expert will not be totally  aghast.

Here is a schematic showing the 4 signals that need to addressed at the  South end of the station. I have excluded the Bay Platforms 1-3 and  simplified the North end throat
 


These are the suggested signals

1  Up Advanced Starter with maybe a fixed distant below
Located between the Toad BV and the end of the wall.





This shot shows the Outer Home and Bracketed Inner Home controlling access to P5 Down Main and P6 Up/Down Relief

You can see the disc covering departure from the loco spur and one of  the ground discs covering the Xover…….the other is in for repair …..struck down by an UFO  

2 Up Starter with Calling Arm (Shunt ahead) below

I hope I have this right……the calling on arm (Red White Red  horizontal stripes) allows a loco to advance ahead of the starter up to  the advanced starter so that a relieved loco can move back over the  xover to eventually return to the shed



The signal to be located just in front of the pannier where the platform ends.

A ground disc to control entry to the loco spur would be at the base of the signal?

3 Two Ground Discs to control the Engine Shed Exit Line

All locos leaving the shed exit by this point either heading North on P6  to join Down trains on P5 or having cleared the point South on P6 to  eventually join Up trains leaving from P6 or P4

 Entry to the shed via the exit road is rare but I thought I would need  the two discs to indicate the road through the facing point?



The discs to be located just in front of the Pannier but because of the closeness of the platform on the "wrong side" ?

In the foreground is the siding signal controlling departure from the exit road

Leaving the best (or most difficult) to the last

4 P6 Down starter and Sidings Access

Trains both arrive and depart from P6

I am visualising a bracket signal with a conventional starter and a  calling on arm below (similar to 2) on the main post and a backing arm  on the subsidiary post (doll?) to control trains reversing from P6 on to  the sidings.

I am not at all sure where it should be located


 

To accommodate a departing up train of 4 coaches alongside P6 and  avoid fouling the point leading to the sidings, the loco must stop where  the Pannier is above.

The 'correct' location for the signal would seem to be be just in front of the platform ramp.

However, as this shot demonstrates, that will severely restrict visibility for approaching trains 




So I am thinking the best place might be on a gantry cantilevered off the side of the roof just in front of the pannier

Hope this isnt too confusing…….any suggestions will be much appreciated

ps One of the many omissions on Granby are catch points to protect  running lines from runaways from sidings……there is I believe a way  of retrofitting a cosmetic dummy…..they are on the list!

Yes John, I've got the Oxford Rail combo for Moto Monty to ride and despite preferring to build my road vehicles, I've also got the black combo (police I think, but not obvious), a Morris 8 tourer (needs some work) and the new Austin 7 saloon and Lipton's Tea delivery van. All will be toned down and weathered, so they fit in well with all the other kit built units and I still have some of the new John Day kits to build.

Happy signalling!

Bill :)

Thanks Bob

By sheer chance my AA man arrived today.

He sits astride the combo (?) quite well and the detail is superb



I am in two minds about the scale……..it doesnt look too obvious in the photo above but with the naked eye either the bike or the figure are slightly out……this next out of focus shot shows it better




Hopefully when its painted it will look less obvious……I think I will live with it

What do you think?

PS Any idea what the AA uniform colours were?  I know you wont remember from 1947 :lol:

PPS Thanks for the weathering reminder……I need to dig out the Dullcote rattlecan

Cheers

Hi John,

The motorcycle and sidecar combination, or motorcycle combination, often shortened to 'combo', proved a popular personal transport solution for young couples on a budget, as well as efficient tools to service mobile subscribers to motoring organisations and of course the police and could be seen throughout the 1940s into the 1960s. My research into uniform colours produced a multitude of unsurprisingly black and white images, although there are some colour images on the AA's historic Flickr gallery.   

Uniforms were military derived and khaki with black facings, as seen in the second link below. The first link is rather interesting and one notes that crash helmets were not always considered appropriate headgear for marketing photographs!

http://www.theaa.com/aboutaa/aa-history-between-the-wars.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/automobile-association/page2

The following link is weaker on accuracy, but nevertheless is of interest:

http://www.1900s.org.uk/1940s50s-aa-man.htm

I'm hopeful to receive my figures and turnouts today, yesterday being a public holiday here in France, when we all had a stroll around the village behind the band, army contingencies, fire brigade and the mayor, as armistice day was commemorated in most respectful fashion and fine style, not forgetting a 'friendship glass' in the town hall afterwards.

Hopefully, the patrolman can be encouraged to keep his hands on the handle bars while riding and I'm sure the whole combo will appear less out of scale when he's painted. Fingers crossed.

I'm off this morning to see my long awaited Citroen Type HY, finished at last following a leisurely 5 year restoration, so hopefully will knock some baseboards together later today.

Oh, I also noticed yesterday that my old Airfix RAF crash tender set has a couple of solo motorbikes which with some careful painting and detailing, should look good in this time period.

Enjoy the research and painting John, a bientôt,

Bob the Builder, aka Bill :)

That reminds me of the sixties when we has BeeSars (BSA 500's), and sidecars in the police.  We cadets were despatch riders.  We called them  "outfits."

Each police station had two despatch bags for correspondence - one at the station and one at headquarters and we had to change them over every evening.  There were several "runs" out into the metropolitan area.  Each run had a bunch of keys so we could let ourselves into the stations to change the bags over.

There were no helmets, just our caps - which we stashed in the "chair" or sidecar, so they wouldn't blow off.

Happy days.

Thanks for the links Bill……..I guess I should have thought of googling AA. :oops:  There were some great shots there…..very informative……my little man (well actually he is a bit of a long chap:lol:) will look splendid in Khaki with Black Facings. I may even give him a white cap cover.

The arm can reach the handlebar……it got dislodged when I was taking the shots…it will probably need a dab of super glue when painted.

Hope the full scale Citroen turns out ok…..looking forward to the pictures :thumbs

Talking of pictures……how about one of you Max as a dashing Police Cadet:pedal

It's not an issue John, as I'd researched AA patrol uniforms a little while ago, so had the information to hand and was happy to help.

The Citroen is indeed looking well and I've posted some photographs.

Still awaiting turnouts, but have a load of little people to paint and have knocked up some baseboards.

Cheers,

Bill :)

That might take some finding, John.

I'll have a rummage.  :lol:

.I am very patient Max:lol:


So this was signals week

A rare glimpse inside the Granby Division Signals Workshop



Three down …..two to go……..bracket signals take a lot more time because of the walk way rails

The straight up and down starters are almost straight out of the box……I guess I have been building non working signals from Ratio kits for at least 15 years. I have a huge box of accumulated  bits and bobs but as usual was missing a few essentials so I had to order two new kits. Its interesting to compare the differences…..the new kits are much easier to assemble with a number of minor but useful improvements. The prepainted signal arms with proper spectacle lenses are so much better than the ones I used to paint (see the small siding signal far right)

So here they are in place

Up Main Advanced Starter



The only difference from out of the box is the addition of a "Shunt ahead" signal…….the lowest signal with an S. This allows locos involved in shunting to move ahead of the stop signal in order to completely clear the xover points you can see below




View from the rear…….adding a third arm meant I had to fiddle around with a third service platform. You can see how effective the lens are.
 
Up Main Starter

I had originally intended to have the normal stop arm plus a calling on arm…….my signalling friend tactfully suggested that the Granby signalling Dept had mislaid the 1920 instruction discontinuing their use on starters:oops:…….so here it is in its solitary glory!






I had originally planned for it go just where the platform ends…….but realised that a combination of the curving track and roof glazing would, as you can see, make visibilty a major issue. So it was relocated on the "wrong" side a little further back. Problem solved and I believe quite prototypically.

Black and white works quite well




Signals are essential……..but they are only there to support the trains!

Here is an overall shot showing 5033 Broughton Castle heading the 2.10 pm Birkenhead-Paddington Express. On the down line 1029 County of Worcester rolls down towards Granby with the 7.30 am from Exeter St Davids.




Once the plywood building site has its Post Office and Hotel I suspect this will be one of my favourite photo locations


Heres a close up of County of Worcester




and finally Broughton Castle passing the Advanced Starter





Hoped you liked the photos…….the bracket signals will be finished shortly but probably not this week…… on Thursday we fly to Mexico to escape the rain…albeit just for 7 days.:lol:

Hi John. I havn't visited Granby for a while, so its nice to see how its coming along. Signals make such a difference to a layout in my view and your's look very good.

Bob

Well done John,
The railway is looking terrific…….it`s inspirational actually……I`ll have to check out Montys models…..they look really good in the little scenes you have created.
:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs

:cheers  Gormo

John,
Fantastic progress on your Railway Empire.   I am curious on how you will do the catch points, something that needs to be done on the Bickley Central.
William

brill shots of the layout John,getting betterer and betterer each time :pathead
:thumbs;-):cool:
Owen

I have been a bit slack with my replies I am afraid

We got back from Mexico late Thursday…….we had a great time but I am not totally convinced about the merits of moving, as we did, from zero degrees to thirty and then back to zero in the space of seven days…..plus 2 x 4 hour flights:shock:  I guess I am just becoming an old curmudgeon;-).

Bob K wrote:

Hi  John. I havn't visited Granby for a while, so its nice to see how its  coming along. Signals make such a difference to a layout in my view and  your's look very good.

Bob

Thanks Bob…….I do agree with you about the importance of signals on any layout……..it just doesnt look right without them and I do enjoy the research in trying to get it done corectly…..even if they dont work:oops:

Congratulations on your retirement and the name change……although I never believed the latter:lol:


gormo wrote:

Well done John,
The railway is looking terrific…….it`s inspirational  actually……I`ll have to check out Montys models…..they look really  good in the little scenes you have created.
:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs

:cheers  Gormo
 

Thanks Gormo……glad you like it. As I have said I have no connection with Montys Models but I do think they are the best available for my period……they are invariably very life like and easy to paint…….no flash at all……strongly recommend them

bickybtrains wrote:

John,
Fantastic progress on your Railway Empire.   I am curious on how you  will do the catch points, something that needs to be done on the Bickley  Central.
William

Hi William…….its been a while……hope you are keeping well? I havent worked out exactly how to do the catch/trap points yet:oops: I saw a description on RMWeb somewhere where you can create them cosmetically with a bit of scrap rail. When I find the thread I will let you know

Silver Fox wrote:

brill shots of the layout John,getting betterer and betterer each time :pathead
:thumbs;-):cool:
Owen

You are too kind Owen…….as the layout nears completion I find the to do list inexorably increasing in length.Sometimes progress seems awful slow…….I guess I spend more time running trains now:lol:


Kind regards to all from a sunny but very cold Vancouver

Thanks John,

I`ll chase them up eventually….lots to do in the meantime.

:cheers  gormo