A GWR journey through the 1920s and 30s

  With summer temperatures well and truly rising to glorious, if sometimes uncomfortable levels, focus is now on getting our gite business ready to welcome some favourite friends back soon, so hands-on modelling is taking a back seat.
 
However, research on the stables is moving forward, as well as the installation of new electricals to the railway room.
 
Recent completion with renovating a barn has meant I have been able to move stuff out of the workshop, so when I have some time to myself, I can build the railway room partition and move the branch baseboards into their permanent home.   
 
I’ve not found any etched louvre product on-line suitable for the stable roof vents, so will build the ridge mounted units in 5 thou styrene as a four sided fold up structure and very carefully cut the louvres with care and a new blade, following the style of Mikkel on RMWeb, but without the aid of a Stiletto cutter. I only need two units, so can afford to perfect the method to get the right result. When I have some spare time, I’ll get the drawing board out and get some plans drawn.
 
Speak soon, hopefully,
 
B

  Greetings from the back seat, or more appropriately for such a lovely summer’s day, a garden chair, enjoying the world with a cat at my side and a cooling breeze.
 
As at my previous post, no modelling activity has happened, but the gardens are finally looking as if someone likes them again, as some of the more deeply established jungle is reclaimed from the brambles, nettles, weeds and assorted triffidry. I’m bearing the scars of battles, but am happy and pleased with progress.
 
Some exciting news however, is the weekend chassis building course at Pendon is now just weeks away and I was just begining to mentally assemble my travelling tool chest and appropriate Metro tank chassis etches, motor, gearbox, wheelsets, etc, when Boris’ Bombshell last week, hit me for six. Apart from eliciting some unsavoury language, the announcement left me desolately speechless at not being able to attend Pendon for this course, at the third time of trying.
 
For all practical purposes, I cannot spend 10 days of self-isolation in England in order to spend two days learning the essentials of error free chassis building and I have little desire to express my true feelings on this latest foolery from the Westminster Fringe, save for expressing the thought that the PfzerBioNtech vaccine in my body was probably made in the same facility than that pumped into countless UK residents’ arms and that the army of wonderful French nurses who administered them, would have been trained at least as well as any English jabulator. Nuf said, rant over.
 
Now the good Samaritan bit.
 
My chum Brian, a long standing friend and engineering guru, voiced his concern for my lost opportunity and was thinking how to produce a cunning plan from the crisis. “I’ve got it” said he, I’ll go in your place and give you the course when we next meet either in England or in France. A calm and patient teacher and man who really can build and fix anything, Brian was so keen to learn how model railway engineers build 4mm chassis’ and transfer the skills to me, that I readily agreed and made the necessary arrangements. Fortunately, Brian has all the necessary tools, save perhaps for a crankpin driver and I’ll be sending him my care package very soon and with a note to watch Doug’s chassis building DVD to get him in the zone.
 
Phew, I’ve now retained my keen interest to soon build my first chassis. I’m thinking perhaps a 517 class.
 
Best,
 
Bill

You seem to be enjoying similar weather to us Bill - it would be hot but for that cooling breeze.  Meteo France tells us we'll see the latter half of the 30s C by Thursday.

I too was stunned by seeing France awarded the "amber +" rating the other day and wondered why.  I read somewhere that it is because La Reunion has high numbers of Variant Beta and is a part of France !!  I think the traffic light controllers in UK need a few geography lessons.  We all lost our winter fuel allowance some years back because the French caribbean territories were included in the winter temperature calculations………….

Delighted to hear you've got your Pendon course sorted, albeit second hand.  :thumbs

Peter,

Not surprising; even when I did 'O' level Geography at school in the '80's there was no coverage of that side of Geography; it was all about land mass forming, rivers, geology, etc. Recently I had to cancel an appointment and rang up the company number …… "press 7 for Cardiff covering South Wales; press 8 for Swindon covering the South West of England" - I'm in Devon, ENGLAND, so I pressed 8….. "Oh no Sir, you need to redial and choose Cardiff". Err……….

The controllers are probably thinking that a person could fly into France from La Reunion as an "Internal" flight and not be subject to restrictions, and move on to any other country…………:-

In 2003 I returned from Australia with my Parents visiting my Mum's brother in Adelaide. Because it was a late booking we couldn't get a direct flight home from Singapore to Heathrow and had to fly home via Frankfurt. As transit passengers at Frankfurt we did not pass through customs or passport control, and on arrival at Heathrow we were simply arriving from an EU country to the Domestic and EU terminal…… again no customs (cannot remember any  passport control!!!!)

I suppose you have a point regarding flights Alan but as far as I'm aware, most "foreign" travel was banned in France - including non-essential travel to and from the "Dom-Toms" (departements and territoires d'outre mer or, in English, departments and territories over seas) but I see how it could happen.

  Yes Peter, most hot here too and with visitors this weekend and mid-week next, the push in the gardens, including moving various temporary garden refuse piles to the composting area continues for a few days more. I also need to do a workshop tidy, as both couples' husbands are classic car restorers and fortunately old friends.
 
We also spotted the foolishness of including French Dom Toms for assessing English covid  controls for travel with metropolitan France. The current Westminster Fringe show writers should seriously consider alternative careers in comedy, where they'll still be laughed at, but generally cause less harm and hardship.
 
Onwards!
 
Bill

[user=1814]Longchap[/user] wrote:

 Hi John,
 
Yes, I have Part 2 of Stephen Williams excellent book concentrating on buildings, fittings and traffic operation and page 43 shows the three stall stable block I’ll be modelling and darn it, it will be the third building at Newton Regis to feature louvres! Perhaps one really can have too much of a good thing, so I may build the goods shed beforehand to give myself a louvre break.
 
I’ve also copied Mikkel’s excellent two part article into my buildings database……..
 
Bill

Hi Bill,

Do you by any chance have an e-Link to this article by Mikkel?

Colin

  Yes of course Colin, you can find them at:
   
  https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/18996-gwr-stables-1-towards-an-overview/&tab=comments#comment-56197
   
  https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/20092-gwr-park-royal-stable-block/&tab=comments#comment-58538

There's a great deal of very useful information there and the Janet Russell book is a must for those interested in Great Western Horsepower. ISBN 9780860934257

Bill

Thanks Bill,

The first link is interesting as it includes a substantial stable block at Weston-super-Mare, "a Station of Interest" as the plod are inclined to say!

I never knew of one there but it did have a very large goods sidings / yard area. Struggling though to justify one at a modest provincial BLT without heavy dollops of Rule 1 applied.

Fascinating history all the same but the build looks like a daunting task

  Glad you found the content interesting Colin. Horses were crucial to the running of the railways from their inception to mid-way through the 20^th century and horsepower was applied to the railway in many ways, such as shunting wagons in the yard after the local freight was dropped off, haulage of goods between depot and merchant/end user, passenger transport omnibuses and not forgetting the stationmaster’s rose and veg garden!
 
GWR standard stables design evolved over time and catered from a single horse to hundreds. If a station was so small that it couldn’t cater for its own beast, outsourcing was common and once a stable block became redundant due to increasing efficiency of motor haulage, they were frequently converted to motor garages, with vehicle doors installed in an end wall, so even with a 1930s or more modern layout, there is really no need to stretch Rule One in order to include one of these seldom modelled buildings.
 
There are certainly some challenging parts of the build, but challenges always invite solutions, so good luck if you go for a modest stable.
 
Best,
 
Bill

  Hello, my name is Bill and I’m an addict. Okay, I know that’s why we all come here, for the help and support, but my situation has got out of control. Please believe me when I say I’m a straight down the middle steam only kind of addict and then only the green rusty ones, yet . . . and this in really hard to say, but . . . despite my solidarity to Great Western steam, I’ve now got . . . the hots for oil burners. This is my seventh and it came to haunt me yesterday:




It’s not even green! The voices in my head tell me to put my last 21 pin chip in it and custom tune the lighting options. This is too much, but I have a plan to save my soul and get back to the steam comfort zone. It has to work and save me from the smell of diesel fumes and the noise of old lorry engines!
 
Please hurry Kernow and deliver me from evil and preserve my soul through the salvation of your steam railmotor!
 
Bless you my fellow addicts for understanding and accepting my confession!

Bill

:shock:

Bill, I'm a die-hard steam man myself but not your shade of green …….

I too was persuaded to help avoid the collapse of several oil sheiks by purchasing a few smelly oil burners. 

I have 3 early DMUs, a Class 47 and, I'm sorry to say, a brace of Class 25s - all in the proper shade of green.   :roll:  

They were bought mainly so that I could listen to that throaty roar from their engines (I also like sound).  However, I really have to admit that their ability to collect amperes from badly cleaned track far exeeds that of my lovely kettles.

I will however, stick largely with my kettles from now on although the North Eastern region is badly served with the smaller tank engines by the RTR manufacturers.  My layout is now way too small to cope with those big Pacifics the manufacturers seem to favour.

Such locos from my old layout will probably have to be moved on when I can pluck up the courage to let them go ……but that's not yet.  :sad:

Bill

Normally the only brown and cream things I like are ice-cream flavours but I forgive you your digression.  After all, she is a pretty looking thing (even from a BR(NE)Region standpoint)

 

Barry

  Thank you for your understanding and forgiveness Peter and Barry. I suppose a GWR diesel railcar would make a cool ice cream van on a preserved line, choc ices a speciality!
   
  I’ve been collecting GWR railcars since the old Lima examples and I suppose just the Dapol and Heljan versions will see service now, so I’ve also some thinning out and moving on to do.
   
  Bill

  Various factors over the past few months kept me away from the baseboards and modelling bench. By November, I’m normally back in the railway room and now my most recent falling over injuries have finally responded to rest and drugs and I’ve had a splint removed from a finger, I intend to do some modelling next week. Yippee  :)

The layout needs to be stripped of everything which might fall off, then when inverted I’ll be sallying forth with soldering iron in hand to hook all the droppers up to the bus, install a PSX breaker, NCE panel, six point motors and associated wiring back to the control panel, which will be a temporary mock up until I’m happy with its configuration. There’s also a separate accessory bus to install for the point motors, the single signal and possible lighting. Exciting stuff and hopefully I’ll get it right without too much difficulty, but watch this space for the fun and games.
 
Looking further ahead, having just booked our covid booster shots in December, I’m planning a railway exhibition visit at the end of January to the UK and also to reclaim my loco chassis tools, books, CDs, etc, previously sent to my buddy who was going to attend a chassis building course for me, until it was cancelled. After investigating the safest way to fit loco wheels to axles, I’ve also acquired a wheel press/quartering jig and a wheel puller. These are beautifully machined and fabricated tools from G W Models and were delivered by our most apologetic postman this week, who was required to collect 19€ in customs charges from me before he could hand them over. Brexit has finally demanded hard cash from me! I knew Boris’ folly would cost me even more hard earned RLW tokens sooner or later!








I understand that a wheel press is advisable for fitting Gibson wheels and since the plastic centres could easily get chewed up without one and I’ve several loco kits in waiting, I consider this a prudent purchase, despite the Brexit tax.
 
Time for my evening hand exercises now to build up to full modelling strength, probably followed by gripping the wine glass to finish off the workout!
 
Best,
 
Bill

[user=1814]Longchap[/user] wrote:

 Hello, my name is Bill and I’m an addict. Okay, I know that’s why we all come here, for the help and support, but my situation has got out of control. Please believe me when I say I’m a straight down the middle steam only kind of addict and then only the green rusty ones, yet . . . and this in really hard to say, but . . . despite my solidarity to Great Western steam, I’ve now got . . . the hots for oil burners. This is my seventh and it came to haunt me yesterday:




It’s not even green! The voices in my head tell me to put my last 21 pin chip in it and custom tune the lighting options. This is too much, but I have a plan to save my soul and get back to the steam comfort zone. It has to work and save me from the smell of diesel fumes and the noise of old lorry engines!
 
Please hurry Kernow and deliver me from evil and preserve my soul through the salvation of your steam railmotor!
 
Bless you my fellow addicts for understanding and accepting my confession!

Bill

:shock:

Hi Bill

I guess I missed this during my “sabbatical” ……..hilarious……I dont normally fall about laughing before breakfast…..the dog got quite confused.

It is a super model I have spent hours playing testing mine!

I hadnt realised you had also been on sick leave I do hope you are fully recovered and finished with any other diversions. It will be nice to read about Newton Regis again.

The wheel puller/quaterer looks a very interesting piece of kit. I hope you will post a full review?

Best wishes

  Hi John, I don’t think many got the analogy, so I’m glad it made you laugh and so early in the day! I too, am impressed by No29, the detail and finish are superb and since it was designed to run best with the Lokpilot chip, I'll be putting in an order.
 
I’ve now made a clean sweep of the baseboards, with all buildings safely packed away and I’m just about to clear the table to prep the Tortoise motors. I’m taking it slowly though, as my left hand still gets stiff and painful if I overuse it, as I was reminded today when I cleared a still flowering climber off the laundry room roof. Unfortunately, the bride has even banned me from scrambling up the scaffold just erected to join the stonemasons to repair and repoint the rear wall of the barn ☹
 
Gentle modelling it is then!
 
Best,
 
Bill

  In which a lesson well learned, is passed forward
  
Thanks to well-remembered advice from this forum, of not ballasting track before extensive testing (thank you John), my trackwork was still temporarily fixed to the boards with just track pins, so when I needed to rectify the tight curve to the livestock siding, it was a task of just minutes to lift the point and track clear of the layout for repositioning a few scale yards to create an easier curve, more harmonious with other trackwork.



  
The gap in the track above is where the point was moved from and up a few inches to facilitate a more manageable curve into the livestock dock. As soon as I relocate that short piece of track and droppers into the new gap, I can get on with more exciting work under the baseboards.
   
  I’m happy to pass on this gratefully received lesson to further help others avoid messy and stressful lifting of ballasted and weathered track, so please thoroughly play with and test all parts of your trackwork before ballasting.
   
  Best,
   
  Bill
  

[user=1814]Longchap[/user] wrote:

 In which a lesson well learned, is passed forward

Thanks to well-remembered advice from this forum, of not ballasting track before extensive testing (thank you John), my trackwork was still temporarily fixed to the boards with just track pins, so when I needed to rectify the tight curve to the livestock siding, it was a task of just minutes to lift the point and track clear of the layout for repositioning a few scale yards to create an easier curve, more harmonious with other trackwork.




The gap in the track above is where the point was moved from and up a few inches to facilitate a more manageable curve into the livestock dock. As soon as I relocate that short piece of track and droppers into the new gap, I can get on with more exciting work under the baseboards.
 
I’m happy to pass on this gratefully received lesson to further help others avoid messy and stressful lifting of ballasted and weathered track, so please thoroughly play with and test all parts of your trackwork before ballasting.
 
Best,
 
Bill

Glad to be of help Bill…………..I sure wish someone had told me that in 2008! :shock:

I've seen layouts waiting years for ballast……………… :roll:

It is indeed, excellent advice.  For me, ballast is the very last thing to be done other than some slight "weathering" of the ballast once it's all dried.  When that's completed, I mark that section down as "done" and move on. 

Currently, there are no "done" sections on Maxmill and that situation won't change for some time yet …………….