Maiden Newton in EM

[Gerry Beale]

Thanks for the two lovely photos of 7780 on the Tramway - very atmospheric. These were taken at exactly the time that I first experienced the 'Tram' and somewhere I have some snaps - taken on my childhood Brownie 127 - of 7780 running light engine in Commercial Rd. just where these two photos were taken. 7780 was very much a local engine and around the same time as these photos I saw her on a goods train going to Portland and later, on one of the very last goods trains to run to Bridport West Bay. She met her end - in 1963 I think - in a shunting accident at Weymouth locomotive shed when she came off worse in a collision with a Standard Class 5.

Work on Maiden Newton has been progressing but has primarily been on track and there has been little that I can show. Both up and down main lines are now complete and I am about to start wiring up the recently finished up main line - I will then be able to run trains in both directions. With this work complete all of the track 'south' of Maiden Newton station is done. To the 'north' both main lines are done but the Bridport branch has not yet been started - other then the point work leading to it - and that will be the next job.

As each section of track is completed I try out various locomotives and trains and new photographic opportunities open up. The photo below was taken just yesterday and shows 4988 Bulwell Hall on an up passenger train entering Maiden Newton. Most of the train is standing on track that didn't exist just last week - and please just gloss over the wrong head code on the loco!





Recently I had a short break from the tedium of threading chairs on to rails and made a few wagons as light relief. A friend gave me an ABS white metal kit for the GWR 1 1/2 ton hand crane wagon and match truck and when I opened the tube that it came in - price £2.16p - I found that the kit was completely untouched. The castings were still in their plastic packing dating from circa 1976 and I couldn't resist starting it! A few substitutions were made - etched brass brake levers and lever guards, Lanarkshire Model Supplies sprung buffers and I altered the axle boxes on the crane wagon from grease to OK type oil boxes. The result is shown below where it is standing against the buffer stop of the 'Bridport' siding where I guess it will normally repose. Although I have no evidence that such vehicles were to be found at Maiden Newton I guess that something similar would be seen from time to time. There was a sawmill at Toller on the Bridport branch which regularly received timber on bogie bolsters - or 'bogie flats' as railwaymen sometimes termed them. There was no yard crane at Toller - and only a single goods siding - so something like this must have been employed for unloading - I'd love to see a photo to prove me right!

 

[john lewsey]

What lovely models they have made

 

[Vectispete]

Thanks for the two lovely photos of 7780 on the Tramway - very atmospheric. These were taken at exactly the time that I first experienced the 'Tram' and somewhere I have some snaps - taken on my childhood Brownie 127 - of 7780 running light engine in Commercial Rd. just where these two photos were taken. 7780 was very much a local engine and around the same time as these photos I saw her on a goods train going to Portland and later, on one of the very last goods trains to run to Bridport West Bay. She met her end - in 1963 I think - in a shunting accident at Weymouth locomotive shed when she came off worse in a collision with a Standard Class 5.

Work on Maiden Newton has been progressing but has primarily been on track and there has been little that I can show. Both up and down main lines are now complete and I am about to start wiring up the recently finished up main line - I will then be able to run trains in both directions. With this work complete all of the track 'south' of Maiden Newton station is done. To the 'north' both main lines are done but the Bridport branch has not yet been started - other then the point work leading to it - and that will be the next job.

As each section of track is completed I try out various locomotives and trains and new photographic opportunities open up. The photo below was taken just yesterday and shows 4988 Bulwell Hall on an up passenger train entering Maiden Newton. Most of the train is standing on track that didn't exist just last week - and please just gloss over the wrong head code on the loco!


View attachment 145596


Recently I had a short break from the tedium of threading chairs on to rails and made a few wagons as light relief. A friend gave me an ABS white metal kit for the GWR 1 1/2 ton hand crane wagon and match truck and when I opened the tube that it came in I found that the kit was completely untouched. The castings were still in their plastic packing dating from circa 1976 and I couldn't resist starting it! A few substitutions were made - etched brass brake levers and lever guards, Lanarkshire Model Supplies sprung buffers and I converted the axle boxes on the crane wagon from grease to OK type oil boxes. The result is shown below where it is standing against the buffer stop of the 'Bridport' siding where I guess it will normally repose. Although I have no evidence that such vehicles were to be found at Maiden Newton I guess that something similar would be seen from time to time. There was a sawmill at Toller on the Bridport branch which regularly received timber on bogie bolsters - or 'bogie flats' as railwaymen sometimes termed them. There was no yard crane at Toller - there was only a single goods siding - so something like this must have been employed for unloading - I'd love to see a photo to prove me right!

View attachment 145597

More Beale brilliance!

On one hand it whet’s the appetite then on the other it puts us off producing anything as the standard will never match.
Excellent track work too and once a little greenery has been laid I can see this being up there as one of the best layouts around.

Pete

 

[Gerry Beale]

Belated thanks for your comments chaps. I really hope that you are not put off by my efforts Pete. If you know what you want to achieve just keep at it - I wasn't always able to build models like this and its taken years of practice. Regarding trackwork, it is something I have always had a bit of an obsession with and the ready availability of Exactoscale components has made it possible for me to make track to the standard I require. If there is one feature that makes a difference to the appearance it is that the Exactoscale chairs have the keys properly moulded and this is a feature not found on plastic sleepered flexible track. The other important feature is thick sleepers - track with thin sleepers just looks too flat!

 

[Vectispete]

Hi Gerry

You mention that the trackwork is now done on the main lines and may I say looks excellent and perfectly weathered - some layouts have track that looks too 'rusty' - but may I ask how you will go about wiring now all the track is complete and in situ? Will you solder wiring to the underside through pre-drilled holes or just to the outside of the tracks which surely will lessen the realism effect?

Pete

 

[Gerry Beale]

I should have mentioned that track laying is complete and the wiring is to be done next. I solder the droppers to the base of the rail after it has been laid - a little tricky but not impossible. After the wiring is done I then add dummy rail joints - I lay the rails in long lengths and add rail joints later by cutting nicks in the rails and adding cosmetic fishplates. Only then is the track painted and lightly weathered and as you can see from the photo the track in the siding is not yet fully painted. I hope this helps.

 

[Alvis]

Gerry,

I am a newbie to the Forum,so you probably already have this,but on Ebay is a copy of a Maiden Newton article/plans from an old MRC.

The seller is: bob19670_3

Alastair.

 

[Vectispete]

Gerry - when did Bulwell Hall get a visit to the works and go back in time to GWR livery! You kept that bit of news quiet. It does look so much better than in her BR guise.

Pete

 

[Gerry Beale]

Bulwell Hall has been in GW livery for a couple of years now. I re-wheeled her with Ultrascale wheels which coincided with a decision to back date Maiden Newton to the pre-nationalisation era. As well as re-wheeling her, as part of the repaint I also removed the original moulded boiler bands and replaced them with bands from Magictape which is less intrusive and considerably improved the appearance of the engine.

I had been considering the move back to GWR for a while and the decision was eventually made when I was confronted with the need to have some coaches in BR crimson and cream livery - I just couldn't do it as the GWR coach livery is just so much more attractive! Once the decision was made there followed a period of altering models until now nearly all trace of BR influence has been removed. Only my 8F remains in BR livery at present as it requires a few alterations - when they are done she too will revert to LMS livery to represent one of the Swindon built 84xx 8Fs which were regularly seen at Maiden Newton.

 

[Gerry Beale]

Two postings in one day! Having been away in Devon for a few days, on my return home I have been doing more on the railway. Mostly this has involved tweaking the recently laid and wired track and running a few trains - for testing purposes of course! Yesterday, for the first time, I was able to run two trains at the same time which were up and down goods trains - although in the absence of a second throttle for the time being, once set in motion one of the trains was uncontrolled. I did however manage to create and run a train that has long appealed to me - the 'up Jersey'. This was a C class express goods that left Weymouth at 6.35 pm and ran to Paddington Goods, arriving sometime in the small hours. It was usually a 49xx turn although 68xx and Moguls were sometimes used. The attached photo shows 4927 Farnborough Hall - a Westbury engine in 1947 - with the train arriving at Maiden Newton. I have enjoyed allowing the train to just run - and fitted freights make a lot of noise - but in reality the 'up Jersey' stopped for ten minutes to collect traffic from the Bridport branch.

I have also today run for the first time my version of the 12.30 pm Paddington - Weymouth A class passenger which was the main train of the day from London. This called at Maiden Newton around 4.10 pm and comprised five corridors and sometimes a strengthener or two - my version consists of six vehicles. Three of the coaches are finished but the other three are still work in progress although they are now able to run as a train. Due to the unfinished state there are no photos yet but I have enjoyed being able to have it running at long last - and I now have even more incentive to get it finished.

 

[Gerry Beale]

It's me again! Although I said that I wouldn't post photos of the 12.30 pm Paddington due to the unfinished coaches I do have the attached photo which may be of interest. Showing 4927 Farnborough Hall on the train as it pauses at Maiden Newton the photo is inspired by a lovely Ted West photo of the same train in the same position taken a few years later when the engine was 4080 Powderham Castle. 4080 was a regular on the train for some considerable time in early BR days and who knows - one day I may even manage a model of a Castle to work the train although it will be in GW livery!

As may be gathered from the double appearance of 4927 she is something of a 'new toy'! Although she was completed during lockdown last year it is only recently that she has been chipped and commissioned into service - mostly because there wasn't much track until recently. She is beautifully built from a Finney kit - not by me - and has a Mitchell 4000 gallon tender. She is powered by a Mashima motor and has a Zimo chip and a 'stay alive'. She runs like a dream and I am delighted with her.

 

[Pencarrow]

Morning Gerry. GWR outline isn't my thing but even without any green stuff I can tell that this layout is going to be a real cracker. All the elements so far just look 'right' in their placement and implementation. Smashing.

Edit...

Having said that GWR isn't my thing, here's a signal box I made for a friend's layout:



(Photo by Andy York, BRM)

 

[Gerry Beale]

Thanks for posting the photo of your GW signal box - is it St Blazey? Your model certainly captures the character of these boxes in the later post- steam era very well - I made several trips visiting the remaining boxes in Cornwall on various holidays in the 80s and 90s.

And whilst you mention that GW is not your thing - I can only say that were I not so committed to modelling the GWR in Dorset I would most certainly be modelling somewhere on the LSWR/SR in Dorset. My commitment to the GWR is taking just about all my resources at the moment but I have always admired the LSWR/SR and would love to model something on the Southampton and Dorchester Rly - the Castleman's Corkscrew. I have always thought that the LSW/SR station at Dorchester would make a superb model - I hesitate to call it Dorchester South as that's a BR thing! With its original all-over roof, locomotive shed and the curious elevated signal box it would make a fabulous setting for those lovely T9s, Urie Arthurs and O2s etc. all in the gorgeous pre-war Maunsell livery.

 

[Pencarrow]

Hi Gerry, yes it's St Blazey which, when you look closely, is a very non-standard standard GWR box. The windows at the left-hand front are different to the rest of the front. This was explained by an old photo which showed that originally the left-hand end and first bay of the front had double height windows.



Good to hear that you have an interest in the LSWR, I'm also rather partial to a T9 although my main interest is in the North Cornwall Railway and the lines around Bodmin. Hopefully we'll see Dorchester (South) being reproduced in model form at some point.

 

[Vectispete]

It's me again! Although I said that I wouldn't post photos of the 12.30 pm Paddington due to the unfinished coaches I do have the attached photo which may be of interest. Showing 4927 Farnborough Hall on the train as it pauses at Maiden Newton the photo is inspired by a lovely Ted West photo of the same train in the same position taken a few years later when the engine was 4080 Powderham Castle. 4080 was a regular on the train for some considerable time in early BR days and who knows - one day I may even manage a model of a Castle to work the train although it will be in GW livery!

As may be gathered from the double appearance of 4927 she is something of a 'new toy'! Although she was completed during lockdown last year it is only recently that she has been chipped and commissioned into service - mostly because there wasn't much track until recently. She is beautifully built from a Finney kit - not by me - and has a Mitchell 4000 gallon tender. She is powered by a Mashima motor and has a Zimo chip and a 'stay alive'. She runs like a dream and I am delighted with her.

View attachment 147420

She looks lovely Gerry, the patina you have given both her and her tender makes her look so realistic.

What is a 'stay alive' ?

Care to divulge who built her?

Pete

 

[adrian]

What is a 'stay alive' ?

It's an optional feature on many DCC decoders where you can wire in a few capacitors to store a charge of power. Think of it as a short term battery - so when the loco is running if there is any intermittent loss of electrical contact with the rails it uses the battery power. It basically smooths out the running of the loco over points and uneven track. There was a useful article in MRJ recently about building your own.

 

[Gerry Beale]

An excellent description Adrian - from my analogue perspective I think of them as 'electronic flywheels'! So far only two of my engines have been converted to DCC and both have 'stay alives' - both are now lovely smooth and steady runners. I am certainly sold on DCC although I shall not be going for sound. Apart from the extra cost I am yet to hear really effective 'on board' sound for 4mm scale steam locomotives and in any case my trains seem to make quite a lot of noise as it is - the fitted freight especially seems to 'roar' through the station.

 

[Vectispete]

I, like you Gerry, was not a convert to DCC and, being a lone modeller, didn't see the need for it as I will only be able to 'keep me eyes' on 2 trains at a time, however the thought of fitting DCC to locos to have that facility of being able to run smooth non-jerky trains very much appeals.

How easy has it been to obtain the types of trains, both passenger and goods, that would have stopped/passed through MN? I know you have written a book on the branch line to Bridport but would guess that the traffic on the branch was quite limited compared to the mainline.

 

[adrian]

from my analogue perspective I think of them as 'electronic flywheels'!

I like that analogy - a Dyna-Drive replacement for those who remember Chris Pendleton's Hal o' the Wynd.

 

[Gilbert]

I know Gerry won't be going for sound with his DCC - but if you do a stay-alive is a massive improvement as poor running is really emphasised with poor continuity...especially useful on short wheelbase locos on small shunting layouts..
Chris H