lien backwards
New Member
Interesting video of a trip down the line from Halesworth, where I used to live. As you can see quite a lot of the original route is still visible. The Halesworth to Southwold Narrow Guage Railway society produce a newsletter - Headshunt - with lots of information with a small museum at the station.
halesworthtosouthwoldrailway.co.uk
The Halesworth to Southwold Narrow Gauge Railway Society | Southwold Railway – Ghost Train – YouTube
PaulR
Western Thunderer
In some ways this is the boring bit of layout building but it has to be got over with, and some unexpected free time has enabled me to crack on with the baseboards. A curved front has been fashioned and I'm going to try Gordon Gravett's idea of vinyl blind material for the backscene, so a removable frame has been constructed. I'm quite pleased with the way it has turned out.
I still have to design the fascia and a frame for the lights - and I haven't started on the fiddle yard yet.
I've also created base for the raised track bed with small pieces of ply glued down in such a way that it doesn't inhibit access to the point switches and electrics. The track bed board will be screwed down so that I can lift it if necessary while soldering it all up. It looks in the photos as if the curve is wonky but that's actually an optical illusion - honestly it's lovely and even!
I still have to design the fascia and a frame for the lights - and I haven't started on the fiddle yard yet.
I've also created base for the raised track bed with small pieces of ply glued down in such a way that it doesn't inhibit access to the point switches and electrics. The track bed board will be screwed down so that I can lift it if necessary while soldering it all up. It looks in the photos as if the curve is wonky but that's actually an optical illusion - honestly it's lovely and even!
PaulR
Western Thunderer
Family responsibilities mean there has been no layout progress for a week or two but I thought I'd write a little about my plans for the stock on Wolsey's Creek. At the moment I have two working locos, a Rapido J70 converted to EM (it was mine that was described by Graham Hudson in the latest EMGS Digest Sheet) and a GER Class 209 coffeepot, a High Level Kit which I built in lockdown. Both have Zimo decoders in but not with sound.
I also have a kit for a GER E22 (J65). I'm currently working on a High Level Kit Black Hawthorn which is in what I would describe as the 'boiled sweet' stage, i.e. with a gloss varnish before a second satin coat and weathering. The frames are finished but setting it all up is fiddly and I haven't succeeded with that yet. The red is my own choice and I have a nameplate for it, 'Siriol', which is my wife's middle name.
There are also kits for a Manning Wardle 'Old Class I', a Ford Railbus, and I've got my eye on the Rapido Manning Wardle Class L too. I have a nice selection of Eveleigh 4 and 6 wheel GER coach kits to choose from and also plenty of wagons, some of which can be re-gauged from Old Parrock. Here's my GER brake van from a D&S whitemetal kit, sitting companionably and unweathered alongside my Brighton brake van.
The idea is that the GER runs passenger trains and also drops off wagons which the harbour company then shunts up and down in a pleasingly aimless fashion. So, although the setting is Suffolk and the River Blyth, the railway part of it is perhaps more akin to Colonel Stephens and The Selsey Tramway. I'm just enjoying myself really!
I'm hoping to get on with the trackbed later this week.
I also have a kit for a GER E22 (J65). I'm currently working on a High Level Kit Black Hawthorn which is in what I would describe as the 'boiled sweet' stage, i.e. with a gloss varnish before a second satin coat and weathering. The frames are finished but setting it all up is fiddly and I haven't succeeded with that yet. The red is my own choice and I have a nameplate for it, 'Siriol', which is my wife's middle name.
There are also kits for a Manning Wardle 'Old Class I', a Ford Railbus, and I've got my eye on the Rapido Manning Wardle Class L too. I have a nice selection of Eveleigh 4 and 6 wheel GER coach kits to choose from and also plenty of wagons, some of which can be re-gauged from Old Parrock. Here's my GER brake van from a D&S whitemetal kit, sitting companionably and unweathered alongside my Brighton brake van.
The idea is that the GER runs passenger trains and also drops off wagons which the harbour company then shunts up and down in a pleasingly aimless fashion. So, although the setting is Suffolk and the River Blyth, the railway part of it is perhaps more akin to Colonel Stephens and The Selsey Tramway. I'm just enjoying myself really!
I'm hoping to get on with the trackbed later this week.
PaulR
Western Thunderer
Family life has brought actual modelling to a halt for a few weeks but it can't stop the thinking and planning. We've just moved my aged in-laws (in their nineties) 75 miles nearer and into our community. It's a big step for them but will make life a lot more straightforward and secure for everyone.
What I have realised with Wolsey's Creek is that a Thames Barge will be too big will unbalance the scene, so I'm going to have just one boat. It's a Lowestoft Herring Drifter of 1898 which comes out at 39 tons and was 64 ft long, a healthy 25 cm as opposed to 36 cm with the Thames Barge. I've got good drawings for this and the challenge is on! I made a start on it some time ago.
I think it will look quite dramatic on the front of the layout.
It's my big challenge and if it doesn't work please don't comment if Wolsey's Creek surreptitiously moves ten miles inland - I'm sticking my neck out here.
What I have realised with Wolsey's Creek is that a Thames Barge will be too big will unbalance the scene, so I'm going to have just one boat. It's a Lowestoft Herring Drifter of 1898 which comes out at 39 tons and was 64 ft long, a healthy 25 cm as opposed to 36 cm with the Thames Barge. I've got good drawings for this and the challenge is on! I made a start on it some time ago.
I think it will look quite dramatic on the front of the layout.
It's my big challenge and if it doesn't work please don't comment if Wolsey's Creek surreptitiously moves ten miles inland - I'm sticking my neck out here.