Merry Christmas to you all, fill up your life with love, compassion, tolerance, peace, happiness and perhaps hopefully some time for modelling.
Who knows what the next few weeks or even months might continue to bring, please make the time to contact your friends and family, especially those whom might be alone, and not able to be in the company of others during these still most unusual of times. It is good and OK to simply ask “Are you OK?” and likewise it is “OK not to be OK” and reach out for assistance. The one good thing, if anything, this past 18 months has been the kindness and generosity of others to help and support each other, and long may this continue.
As the festive season and New Year break is upon us, I just wanted to say many thanks to all of you whom have taken the time to read my ramblings over the past 12 months. I hope you have found such ramblings interesting and informative. I have always enjoyed corresponding with many of you that have made contact me via email or the comments field on my various posts. I look forward to corresponding with you again in the New Year and maybe, hopefully, in person at an exhibition…
A further flurry of activity will be taking place at the start of the new year with Hornby (January 10th) announcing its 2022 range followed a few weeks later, at the beginning of February, by Bachmann making the next of their now quarterly range announcements. I will as always bring you all the Southern Railway / Southern Region related news on here as soon as their announcements are made.
Seasons greetings, whatever your faith or beliefs, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (or Nadelik Lowen ha Blydhen Nowydh Da! from the boss’ side of the Tamar) to you all!
It is about time that I formally introduced you to Westhill Road there has been a teaser page on here for quite some time, as with many plans timing has slipped somewhat from the original intention of it being a post-Christmas last year winter project. However with much of the items needed for its construction already purchased I plan to hopefully start building in earnest during these forthcoming winter months.
Whilst I still have plans for larger layouts, perhaps maybe for the future, space at this time is still a limiting factor. The plans still include Hawkhurst in Kent, the Colonel Stevens SR branch line terminus, but ultimately Lydford Junction in Devon on the edge of Dartmoor.
Most of my rolling stock building has always been with these two layouts in mind, and believe it or not Fisherton Sarum was my first ever layout build and initially only to be a stop gap measure…
Some of the buildings that I have already built for these future layouts will actually make a temporary appearance on Westhill Road. Having already built Canute Road Quay as a 4′ x 12″ shunting layout, that has already provided endless entertainment and enjoyment in both its building an operation, I saw the opportunity for another small layout/diorama that has more of a scenic countryside than the dockside setting of Canute Road Quay.
So I will introduce Westhill Road over the next few posts that will will answer the usual questions of what, why, how and when…
Firstly, the what and a little of the why…
Westhill Road will be different from Canute Road Quay as it’s more of a diorama than a shunting layout as such, but mainly a chance to enjoy the more scenic side of constructing a layout.
A hint of what is to come…
Westhill Road signal diagram
The Tim Horn baseboard will still be 4ft wide but will be 6″ deeper Canute Road Quay to help, along with some perspective modelling, to further create the illusion of space and depth. It will only comprise of a single track line passing from left-hand rear corner, through a small SR Concrete wayside halt, a single goods siding and a level crossing before exiting through to the front right hand corner. Careful placement of trees will assist to hide the entrance and exit points.
The layout will include working, servo operated SR rail built signals and level crossing gates, all interlocked with each other and the co-acting siding turnout and trap point, see the signal diagram left.
A future post will provide more details of the intended scenic side of things.
Now a bit of the why, starting with why Westhill Road? Fisherton Sarum has a huge nod to my grandfather who worked as a ganger at Salisbury where my father was also bought up. Westhill Road is a nod to my Mothers side of the family where I spent some of my formative years in Torquay at my grandparents who lived on Westhill Road.
Westhill Road therefore has no real railway connection or real setting; it could be somewhere west of Dartmoor; you could equally be somewhere on the Isle of Wight railway network or perhaps even somewhere in Kent. So yes an imaginary location and initially it will be a diorama, although ultimately I do intend to have simple fiddle yards at each end but these won’t be part of phase one. The initial purpose it to build something that has scenery at its forefront and allow me to test and experiment with different scenic techniques, perspective to create depth and the, new to me, use of servo motors.
It will also give me a a different scenic setting for photographing locomotives and rolling stock; and much of the placement of buildings and the many planned trees will be with allowing view points in mind, as you look into and through the layout.
Future posts will cover much more of the what and some of the when; and will of course also document the progress of Westhill Road as I go along, so watch this space…
I am pleased to advise that Canute Road Quay makes an appearance in the April 2021 issue of BRM Magazine available now for digital subscribers and next Thursday 25th March for the printed version.
I open the article by discussing; how although I usually model the 1946 to 1949 Southern Railway time period but to allow for additional interest and how I have purposely built Canute Road Quay without having any fixed item that dates the period modelled or really identifies the area modelled.
This allows a wider range of rolling stock to be used giving a range of different locomotive traction, classes and livery choices that would be still be applicable to such a quayside location. I then continue to describe the layout itself.
The article, similar to some of my “Making Quay Changes” posts, covers time periods from the mid 1920s through to the 1960s starting with Southampton Docks liveried Adams B4 0-4-0t through to the USA 0-6-0 Tanks, industrial locomotives and the Class 07 diesels.
Being only a small layout, the scenic section is only 4ft x 1ft, in this issue of BRM Magazine it joins two other ‘compact’ layouts which is the theme for the issue.
Due to the current Covid restrictions rather than being able to enjoy the company and a new pair of eyes photographing layout, I provided all the photographs myself to go alongside my text.
I have used my Canon G7x camera along with my set of studio lights and spent some time one weekend in January utilising the camaras ability to automatically take a series of ‘Focus Bracketed’ images, i.e. multiple shots from the same position but with slightly different focus point, and then combining them in post processing into one image to give an increased depth of field. Hopefully you will enjoy the article and the accompanying photographs.
As a surprise bonus the April edition of BRM TV that is available for digital subscribers of the BRM magazine this month has Fisherton Sarum as its main layout feature (remind me to teach Howard how to pronounce Sarum..).
It includes video footage, that to be honest I had forgotten had been recorded, from the appearance of Fisherton Sarum at the Doncaster Festival of British Railway Modelling way back in 2012 and also includes another look at some of the images that accompanied the article about the layout in the February 2021 issue of BRM Magazine.
The ’00’ Works have produced a number of small batches of hand built Ready to Run locomotives including a variety of Southern classes, including most recently the LSWR 0330 class, ex London and South Western Drummond K10 4-4-0 and ex LSWR Drummond D15 4-4-0 and also ex London Brighton and South Coast Railway Marsh I3 4-4-2 Tanks and They also produced, before Hornby, a brass Devon Belle Observation car which graces Fisherton Sarum. The ’00’works have announced that they are to produce three versions of the ex London and South Western Railway Adams A12 class of 0-4-2 locomotives. There were eventually 90 members of the A12 class built in two batches, the first thirty between 1887 and 1889 at Nine Elms works had screw reversers, with a further 60, with lever reversers, between 1892 and 1895 with 40 being built by the contractors Neilson & Co. They were known as Adams “Jubilees” as the first built in 1887 being the 50th year Jubilee of the Queen Victoria’s reign.
There were a number of details differences, as well the reverser between members of the class that included sanding arrangements, chimney’s (two types of stove pipe and later cast Drummond type) and tenders (small or large 3,000 gallon or 3,300 gallon). They were based at Nine Elms, Guildford, Basingstoke, Yeovil, Exmouth Junction, Strawberry Hill, Salisbury, Wadebridge and Plymouth, they proved successful and popular. Despite the great success of these 90 engines they were the only ones of 0-4-2 wheel arrangement that were ever built by or for the LSWR.
Withdrawals started in 1928 but four of the Neilson engines 618, 627, 629 & 636 survived into British Railways ownership but only just! One of these, 629, was one of seven locomotives withdrawn in January 1939 but reprieved in October of that year due to the increased demand for locomotives following the outbreak of war in September 1939. None of these four survivors carried a British Railways number. There was one other to exist longer in departmental use supplying steam to Eastleigh boiler yard as DS3191 (Ex No. 612) until November 1951.
The initial CAD 3D render published by 00 Works.
A12 No. 528 in SR Olive Green livery is turned on shed at Fisherton Sarum. She is built from a Nu-Cast kit
A12 No. 652 works a local stopping passenger on Fisherton Sarum
LSWR Holly Green Lined No. 361, although the class would have been in LSWR passenger green liveries (Holly green was an LSWR Goods loco livery), that she would have carried until March 1925 when she gained SR Olive Green livery.
SR Olive Green No. 598 as she ran between between May 1925 and July 1934 if she has the ‘E’ prefix or between July 1934 and c1941 if without ‘E’ prefix (not confirmed at time of writing)
SR/BR Black [Sunshine] No. 629 as she carried c1941 and withdrawal in December 1948 (she had originally been withdrawn in January 1939 but reinstated in October the same year).
The will no doubt follow the earlier releases and will comprise of an all Metal cast body and fitted with a Coreless motor. The A12 will also come fitted with slimline Bachmann/Hornby type couplings which can be unscrewed to replace if required. Delivery is expected Summer 2021.
Previously the A12 was only available as a Nu-Cast white metal kit and a I have couple that could often be seen on Fisherton Sarum.
Past Southern locomotive produced by the ’00’ Works, some of which have since been produced or announced by the major manufacturers, has in addition to the 0330, K10,D15 and I3 mentioned above, included: N15, 700, C, H, E4 and Adams Radial classes. The level of detail of these models has steadily improved over time, although is still not as high as we seem from the likes of Hornby or Bachmann, they have in the past filled gaps in the market and they should be applauded for taking on another LSWR / Southern prototype.
Drummond M7 0-4-4t passes my Grandfather in model form leaning on his ballast fork during a break, when he was a ganger for the Southern Railway based at Salisbury. The M7 is South Eastern Finecast white metal kit.
All images in this blog are copyright myself and or The Kernow Model Rail Centre / Chris Nevard / Mike Wild / Paul Bason / Andy York / Hornby Magazine / Model Rail / BRM Magazine (see links above) posted here with their kind express permission, unless otherwise credited.
This Web Site and any of its contents may not be copied, translated or distributed in any manner (electronic, web or printed) without the prior written consent of Graham R Muspratt.
