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My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

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The_Train

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Haha - thanks very much :)


Again - thank you :D It's always really nice to read kind messages like this; I'm not trying to be one of these finescale modellers with everything correct and accurate, but I've tried at least a little bit.

=============
Seeing as the Oldmoor drama never ends, I thought I should update listeners with as to what's being going on...

Oldmoor's in a bit of a state at the moment. There's chaos everywhere - in the bakery, the price of iced buns has gone up from 50p to 86p per pair; in Mrs Miggins' shop, wool prices have forced her (that and her greedy tendencies) to put her prices up from an average £5 per ball of wool to £7.52. The biggest drama, however, has been at Oldmoor Junction station, where an outing full of care home residents are shocked to hear BR isn't around any more: many a cup of tea was spilled and at least one digestive biscuit was lost. The police have been called to the scene but, due to the lack of toilet facilities at the station, they've nothing to go on.

In the Crown & Anchor, Dave Hatley is busy organising a very special event indeed. Mr Miggins has organised a special candlelit supper for him and Mrs Miggins to celebrate their 74th wedding anniversary, and he's booked the whole pub. It's cost him a fortune, hence him celebrating their 74th anniversary: when Mrs Miggins finds out the cost of it all, Mr Miggins is going to be a very endangered person indeed!
Mr and Mrs Miggins arrive at the pub on time for their dinner. Dave has set everything out just as Mr Miggins had requested - just as at home, the pair are sitting in separate rooms and not talking as they eat. Mrs Miggins is less than impressed - so much so that she accidentally starts choking on a bourbon biscuit. Mr Miggins rushes over to save her from the inferior confectionary item in her throat and all is well. Mr Miggins has hated bourbons ever since an incident on the seafront at Whitby in 1964 - he won't tell anyone why, apart from the fact that the story involves a lighthouse, fish and chips, and a crayon.

As their special evening out draws to a close, Dave messes up. Instead of giving the bill to Mr Miggins, it gets sent to Mrs Miggins' table. Birds took to the skies throughout Oldmoorshire as the shrieking voice of Mrs Miggins calls out "Barry! HOW MUCH?!"


And that, dear viewers, is where we shall end this story. If we go any further, we might end up hearing of a pub brawl between two pensioners and that wouldn't be suitable before the watershed; false teeth may fall out and get lost.

-Peter ;)
Haha, you should send these scripts in to the writers of soap opera's - I'd be more inclined to watch if these were the storylines :D
 
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Peter C

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Haha, you should send these scripts in to the writers of soap opera's - I'd be more inclined to watch if these were the storylines :D
I've only watched bits of EastEnders but from what I've seen, I think Oldmoor's drama is much more realistic: iced buns are getting stolen all over the country but you never see that in Coronation Street.

-Peter ;)
 

Cowley

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You’re going to have to incorporate a villain at some point...
 

43055

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Just had a look online and that looks like a really decent model; but not worth £430.

===============

I've been inspired by @Cowley's excellent photos of his layout and decided to try and take some of my own - turns out zooming in makes a massive difference, as Cowley said in his thread. I've tried to make the photos seem more realistic (and believe me, they need as much help as they can get) by adding little stories into the captions. :)

View attachment 94876
So I started my day at Little Piddling, and got there just in time to see 1466 pass on a special Oldmoor Railway Centre charter. The train was formed of just 1466 and the one autocoach.

View attachment 94877
I then made a quick dash over to the Oldmoor Jn., which is next to the railway centre. Apologies for the poor quality on this one - it's an old slide I've just scanned in. The Class 33 is unidentified; any help in identifying it would be much appreciated!

View attachment 94878
Apologies for yet another unidentified spot, but this one just went past so quickly that I couldn't get a good enough sighting of the number. As with the above, any help would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 94879
This Class 09 was finishing some shunting in the railway centre, so I stopped to have a watch. The preservation group have definitely kept it in good condition - something which can't be said for the buffer-beam of the Battle of Britain!

View attachment 94880
Speaking of the Battle of Britain, here's a better shot of it - and the 'Hall' behind it in the siding. The 'Hall' hasn't moved in a while; I wonder if they're doing anything with it?

View attachment 94881
You can't go to Oldmoor Railway Centre without seeing their little Ruston. Here it is carrying a sheep (I don't know why) in the small siding they've got there. The wire going over the top of the house seems to be some sort of mains supply work.


I hope you liked those :)
Here's the one of the 33 with some added Photoshop work:
View attachment 94883

-Peter
Some nice pictures there Peter.
Haha - thanks very much :)


Again - thank you :D It's always really nice to read kind messages like this; I'm not trying to be one of these finescale modellers with everything correct and accurate, but I've tried at least a little bit.

=============
Seeing as the Oldmoor drama never ends, I thought I should update listeners with as to what's being going on...

Oldmoor's in a bit of a state at the moment. There's chaos everywhere - in the bakery, the price of iced buns has gone up from 50p to 86p per pair; in Mrs Miggins' shop, wool prices have forced her (that and her greedy tendencies) to put her prices up from an average £5 per ball of wool to £7.52. The biggest drama, however, has been at Oldmoor Junction station, where an outing full of care home residents are shocked to hear BR isn't around any more: many a cup of tea was spilled and at least one digestive biscuit was lost. The police have been called to the scene but, due to the lack of toilet facilities at the station, they've nothing to go on.

In the Crown & Anchor, Dave Hatley is busy organising a very special event indeed. Mr Miggins has organised a special candlelit supper for him and Mrs Miggins to celebrate their 74th wedding anniversary, and he's booked the whole pub. It's cost him a fortune, hence him celebrating their 74th anniversary: when Mrs Miggins finds out the cost of it all, Mr Miggins is going to be a very endangered person indeed!
Mr and Mrs Miggins arrive at the pub on time for their dinner. Dave has set everything out just as Mr Miggins had requested - just as at home, the pair are sitting in separate rooms and not talking as they eat. Mrs Miggins is less than impressed - so much so that she accidentally starts choking on a bourbon biscuit. Mr Miggins rushes over to save her from the inferior confectionary item in her throat and all is well. Mr Miggins has hated bourbons ever since an incident on the seafront at Whitby in 1964 - he won't tell anyone why, apart from the fact that the story involves a lighthouse, fish and chips, and a crayon.

As their special evening out draws to a close, Dave messes up. Instead of giving the bill to Mr Miggins, it gets sent to Mrs Miggins' table. Birds took to the skies throughout Oldmoorshire as the shrieking voice of Mrs Miggins calls out "Barry! HOW MUCH?!"


And that, dear viewers, is where we shall end this story. If we go any further, we might end up hearing of a pub brawl between two pensioners and that wouldn't be suitable before the watershed; false teeth may fall out and get lost.

-Peter ;)
haha another great story. Reminds me of people still thinking Virgin still runs Cross County. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mr and Mrs Miggins story ended up as an episode of Faulty Towers!
 

Peter C

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Some nice pictures there Peter.
Thanks very much :)

haha another great story. Reminds me of people still thinking Virgin still runs Cross County. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mr and Mrs Miggins story ended up as an episode of Faulty Towers!
Thanks again! I built the Railway Inn for Oldmoor-on-Sea last night and my plan is to get a little sign made in the style of the one outside Fawlty Towers with some mildly-rude phrase on it :D

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Thanks very much :)


Thanks again! I built the Railway Inn for Oldmoor-on-Sea last night and my plan is to get a little sign made in the style of the one outside Fawlty Towers with some mildly-rude phrase on it :D

-Peter

‘Flowery Tw....?
 

Peter C

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I thought I should make a quick post just to say that work on the layout is still progressing - but at a much slower rate than in the past month or so due to other things being more of a priority. I've not got anything done since I last posted really, apart from building the Railway Inn for Oldmoor-on-Sea:
Front.jpegBack.jpeg

I built it a few days ago now whilst watching Porridge and I'm quite happy with it. It's currently sat on the layout waiting for a proper sign and a proper platform to sit on. The door at the rear on the right has been blocked in because I forgot to put the door in properly - same for the door closest to the camera, but I managed to salvage something for that one. I'll cover up the blanked-out door with greenery of some description.

Somewhere, there's a track cleaning wagon with a destination of the OJMR. I ordered one from Rails of Sheffield earlier this year but I've not received any sort of of contact from them since, so I'll be chasing that one up. It was on back order, but it surely wouldn't take a couple of months to get to Rails and then to me? I also pre-ordered a wagon at the same time, so knowing my luck I won't get the whole order until the wagon's released in the Autumn. I really need this track cleaner to arrive because the track on the layout is in dire need of a clean and I just can't get round to it all with the track rubber.

Anyway - I'm really tired and can't think of much more to say, so I bid my listeners goodnight. :)

-Peter
 

Iskra

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I thought I should make a quick post just to say that work on the layout is still progressing - but at a much slower rate than in the past month or so due to other things being more of a priority. I've not got anything done since I last posted really, apart from building the Railway Inn for Oldmoor-on-Sea:
View attachment 95717View attachment 95718

I built it a few days ago now whilst watching Porridge and I'm quite happy with it. It's currently sat on the layout waiting for a proper sign and a proper platform to sit on. The door at the rear on the right has been blocked in because I forgot to put the door in properly - same for the door closest to the camera, but I managed to salvage something for that one. I'll cover up the blanked-out door with greenery of some description.

Somewhere, there's a track cleaning wagon with a destination of the OJMR. I ordered one from Rails of Sheffield earlier this year but I've not received any sort of of contact from them since, so I'll be chasing that one up. It was on back order, but it surely wouldn't take a couple of months to get to Rails and then to me? I also pre-ordered a wagon at the same time, so knowing my luck I won't get the whole order until the wagon's released in the Autumn. I really need this track cleaner to arrive because the track on the layout is in dire need of a clean and I just can't get round to it all with the track rubber.

Anyway - I'm really tired and can't think of much more to say, so I bid my listeners goodnight. :)

-Peter
That's a very nice looking building :)

I'm still waiting for stuff from Rails as far back as last March, so I wouldn't necessarily expect anything soon. Chasing it merely received an indifferent response. I now only order stuff it it's a pre-order or in stock.
 

Cowley

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Nice neat job with the building there Peter. All straight and no glue marks or anything. Very good.
I guess the doorway could’ve been an old door to the kitchen that’s been blocked off at some point? You often see things like that.
 

Peter C

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That's a very nice looking building :)
Thanks very much :)

I'm still waiting for stuff from Rails as far back as last March, so I wouldn't necessarily expect anything soon. Chasing it merely received an indifferent response. I now only order stuff it it's a pre-order or in stock.
I'll leave it a while then - I'm just hoping the two items aren't sent together!

Nice neat job with the building there Peter. All straight and no glue marks or anything. Very good.
I guess the doorway could’ve been an old door to the kitchen that’s been blocked off at some point? You often see things like that.
Thanks :D The reason why there aren't any glue marks on it is because all the glue went on me I think! I really like that idea for the rear doors - the one closest to the camera in the second photo is flush with the wall of the building, and my thinking is that it opens out onto the platform from a kitchen or a storage room, etc. The blocked off door to the kitchen could make for some interesting scenic details, maybe some old signage?

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Yes I like your thinking!
You should order a few things like balsa wood and Slaters stone plasticard off eBay and see if you can knock up an extension maybe?
Just order a lot of extra glue... ;)
 

Peter C

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Yes I like your thinking!
You should order a few things like balsa wood and Slaters stone plasticard off eBay and see if you can knock up an extension maybe?
Just order a lot of extra glue... ;)
Haha - I like it! :D I might try and do something like that: the Metcalfe kit comes with a small outbuilding but making something myself might be nice.

======

Readers may have heard of issues with GWR IETs today. I read about them when a friend told me and I immediately ran over (well, walked quickly - I'm not Usain Bolt) to Oldmoor Junction to see what was going on. Here are some of the photos I got.

HST Oldmoor Junction 1.jpeg
GWR seem to have got a couple of HST sets in use, and this is one of them. Where they've got this blue and grey power car from, I don't know - it's definitely not 43002. Here it is stopped at Oldmoor Junction with a service to London Paddington: from what I've heard, it got a nice clear run into the capital because there were so many other cancelled services.

HST Oldmoor Junction 2.jpeg
These power cars are so rare down this area that I just had to get another shot of them. Reminds me of the old HSTs of years ago - 2019 to be precise.

HST Oldmoor Rly Ctr.jpeg
I went down to Oldmoor Railway Centre to see what was going on there, and got this nice photo. If the 50 was in BR Blue, it could easily be a scene straight from the 1980s! From various 'gen' sites online, I gather that 50007 has been prepared for service in case another set needs replacing with loco haulage.

HST Pair.jpegHST Pair 2.jpeg
This was completely unexpected - it didn't show up on RTT for sure. It was a pair of UID 43s, heading up to OOC I assume, where there might be a couple of Mk3s to be used. These look like the power cars used on the LNER HST Farewell Railtour, but I'm not sure.

-Peter :D
 

Cowley

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Now this makes perfect sense to me. Get every stored power car out, plus a few mainline registered old locos and let’s just crack on.
I mean how hard can it be!
Perhaps the replacement stock could be formed into a new TOC? Maybe it could be called Britain’s Railways or something similar...
 

Peter C

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Now this makes perfect sense to me. Get every stored power car out, plus a few mainline registered old locos and let’s just crack on.
I mean how hard can it be!
If it were up to me, we'd be opening the sheds at Didcot too - and Kidderminster... ;)

Perhaps the replacement stock could be formed into a new TOC? Maybe it could be called Britain’s Railways or something similar...
There's probably enough stock lying around to do that. Would the name "TOC we keep around just in case anything else gets cocked up" work?

-Peter
 

Cowley

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If it were up to me, we'd be opening the sheds at Didcot too - and Kidderminster... ;)


There's probably enough stock lying around to do that. Would the name "TOC we keep around just in case anything else gets cocked up" work?

-Peter

We’re on to something here. This is a bit wordy, but what about just having the initials to this stencilled on the side of the locomotives?

‘Strategic Hired In Traction Solutions’

Ah no, hang on a minute...
 

Peter C

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We’re on to something here. This is a bit wordy, but what about just having the initials to this stencilled on the side of the locomotives?

‘Strategic Hired In Traction Solutions’

Ah no, hang on a minute...
:lol: :lol:
And then on the toilet doors, it would be the "Sh*t Sh*t"...

-Peter
 

Peter C

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Aren't the toilet seats on 800's softer than first class seats? More legroom too!
I don't doubt that. Can I appeal to the members of these forums for funding to test out an IET in First Class? London-Penzance maybe? ;)

-Peter
 

43055

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I thought I should make a quick post just to say that work on the layout is still progressing - but at a much slower rate than in the past month or so due to other things being more of a priority. I've not got anything done since I last posted really, apart from building the Railway Inn for Oldmoor-on-Sea:
View attachment 95717View attachment 95718

I built it a few days ago now whilst watching Porridge and I'm quite happy with it. It's currently sat on the layout waiting for a proper sign and a proper platform to sit on. The door at the rear on the right has been blocked in because I forgot to put the door in properly - same for the door closest to the camera, but I managed to salvage something for that one. I'll cover up the blanked-out door with greenery of some description.

Somewhere, there's a track cleaning wagon with a destination of the OJMR. I ordered one from Rails of Sheffield earlier this year but I've not received any sort of of contact from them since, so I'll be chasing that one up. It was on back order, but it surely wouldn't take a couple of months to get to Rails and then to me? I also pre-ordered a wagon at the same time, so knowing my luck I won't get the whole order until the wagon's released in the Autumn. I really need this track cleaner to arrive because the track on the layout is in dire need of a clean and I just can't get round to it all with the track rubber.

Anyway - I'm really tired and can't think of much more to say, so I bid my listeners goodnight. :)

-Peter
Some very neat work. I always seem to get the glue on the windows!

Haha - I like it! :D I might try and do something like that: the Metcalfe kit comes with a small outbuilding but making something myself might be nice.

======

Readers may have heard of issues with GWR IETs today. I read about them when a friend told me and I immediately ran over (well, walked quickly - I'm not Usain Bolt) to Oldmoor Junction to see what was going on. Here are some of the photos I got.

View attachment 95772
GWR seem to have got a couple of HST sets in use, and this is one of them. Where they've got this blue and grey power car from, I don't know - it's definitely not 43002. Here it is stopped at Oldmoor Junction with a service to London Paddington: from what I've heard, it got a nice clear run into the capital because there were so many other cancelled services.

View attachment 95773
These power cars are so rare down this area that I just had to get another shot of them. Reminds me of the old HSTs of years ago - 2019 to be precise.

View attachment 95774
I went down to Oldmoor Railway Centre to see what was going on there, and got this nice photo. If the 50 was in BR Blue, it could easily be a scene straight from the 1980s! From various 'gen' sites online, I gather that 50007 has been prepared for service in case another set needs replacing with loco haulage.

View attachment 95776View attachment 95775
This was completely unexpected - it didn't show up on RTT for sure. It was a pair of UID 43s, heading up to OOC I assume, where there might be a couple of Mk3s to be used. These look like the power cars used on the LNER HST Farewell Railtour, but I'm not sure.

-Peter :D
Love it! Might be some more HST's next week coming out of Leeds.
 

Peter C

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Some very neat work. I always seem to get the glue on the windows!
Thanks :) I must admit to being a bit childish and simple in just using a Pritt stick, which does the job and doesn't get glue everywhere (well, most of the time).

Love it! Might be some more HST's next week coming out of Leeds.
Thanks again! I've spoken to the Fat Controller and he says these HSTs might be coming via Oldmoor, so I'll share photos if that happens (and I can get to the station in time).

=========

In other news, I've been running a train around the layout today, just to have something going on. It's the tiny Ruston 48DS from Hornby, with a small goods working:

Ruston 48DS.jpeg
It's a lovely little engine, and it works really well. I've not built up the confidence to try removing the conflat wagon yet - I do know how to do it, it's just that my track isn't clean enough to give the tiny thing a chance by itself!
The wagons it's pulling are a mix of things I've got in a wagon box. The grey box van is a GWR 'Mogo' from @reddragon, and is a quirky little thing with doors at each end for cars to be (un)loaded at stations. My plan is to include some form of facility for this at Oldmoor Junction, or maybe even Oldmoor Railway Centre, to give the wagon a bit of purpose. :)


Speaking of car-loading facilities at Oldmoor Railway Centre, I've got an idea for a platform there. Here it is, just plonked on the layout for a test:

Railway Centre One.jpeg
My original thought for this platform would be a sort-of interchange between the railway centre and the mainline, with the platform going between the siding the Mk1s are in to the inner loop of the layout, where the Mk4 is. However, after having spent some time looking at this, I thought it would be best to have the platform act solely as a railway centre piece. If I decide to put this platform in permanently, there would be a wall on the Mk4 side.
To make up for the lost space, I'd thought about putting a siding where the Bulleid is now:
Railway Centre Two.jpeg
So I'd lose some track space, but not loads.

Another idea I've just had for this platform is that it could be a station for mainline use (like the old Oldmoor Town, if anyone remembers that - the station in the loop next to the old TMD, where the railway centre now is). If I went down this route, I'd still lose part of the railway centre's outermost siding, and said siding would probably be dedicated to the storage of mainline stock - but I'm not sure yet.

Thanks for reading :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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It looks so much better with ballast now.
I had a couple of thoughts after seeing those photos but I really need to get to bed! I’ll reply properly tomorrow Peter.
 

Peter C

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It looks so much better with ballast now.
I had a couple of thoughts after seeing those photos but I really need to get to bed! I’ll reply properly tomorrow Peter.
Thanks :)
What kind of things were you thinking of? I've got a couple of ideas too.

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I was thinking about the link between the Severn Valley and Network Rail at Kidderminster. Quite often you’ll see a mainline registered loco waiting there either going to or from the railway. Back in the 1980s and 90s mainline steam specials had Intercity or blue and grey mk1 stock. Perhaps your railway centre could supply steam locos for railtours? You could have a servicing area for that.
 

Peter C

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I was thinking about the link between the Severn Valley and Network Rail at Kidderminster. Quite often you’ll see a mainline registered loco waiting there either going to or from the railway. Back in the 1980s and 90s mainline steam specials had Intercity or blue and grey mk1 stock. Perhaps your railway centre could supply steam locos for railtours? You could have a servicing area for that.
That was one of the ideas I had funnily enough :)
I've been trying to work out what I want to do with a bit of the railway centre today, and one of the things I realised the area didn't have was a proper engine shed, or otherwise some form of servicing area. Yes, there's the goods shed which is repurposed as a makeshift station thanks to the platform inside, but it's not really ideal for engine storage as it can only fit one large engine.
I really like the idea of building up a little collection of engines which are actually mainline-registered on the real railway and then rotating them around on a rolling thing to make it even more realistic.

Having said all that, I've just tested a Hornby engine shed on a couple of the sidings and this was the result:
Rly Ctr Shed.jpeg
It doesn't work amazingly well, so I think the answer here is probably to scratchbuild some sort of single-road engine shed/servicing area for visiting locos at the end of the longest siding - after all, we can't have mainline engines sat out in the open, can we?


Eagle-eyed readers may notice the buildings in the background have changed. This is part of a change to the railway centre I've been working on; specifically, that little siding which was going to run down the back of those terraced houses.
This layout is essentially a compilation of places which are vaguely-like places I've been to or seen and liked. One of these such places is the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR), in Suffolk, unsurprisingly. It's a tiny little place when compared with larger heritage lines such as the GWSR or SVR, but has a lot of charm. I've tried to recreate this sort-of railway on the layout, and this is the plan:
Overview.jpeg

It's a small thing designed to fit in a small area and designed to be worked by small locos. The idea behind it is that the preservation group which owns the railway centre owns not only the land for the main bit, as shown in the first photo, but also this smaller section. This smaller section is used by another, smaller, preservation group, which leases the site from the larger group - if that makes sense. This smaller group focuses on light railways, and has turned this part of the railway centre into its own operation focusing on smaller lines and stations.
For those well-versed in GWR traction, the siding with the 14xx in is supposed to be based on the siding leading to the shed on the aforementioned MSLR - which explains why it's done in a kickback sort-of design. This is going to have a small scratchbuilt engine shed over it, like the real thing on the MSLR which is absolutely tiny and only large enough for one engine.

The little platform is based vaguely on Brockford station on the MSLR, with a grounded coach body used as a station building. The bit where the BR van is sat, next to the platform, is going to be where a grounded box van will sit (there's a kit in a few pieces which I need to put together and paint): along with the coach, that would make a nice little heritage station if the van worked as a gift shop or a second-hand shop.


So - that's that. Thanks for reading! :) If anyone has any ideas, please do let me know.

-Peter
 

Cowley

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The MSLR is an interesting little operation and would be quite good for inspiration in some ways actually. I haven’t visited it but it looks nice whenever you see a photo of it.
 

Peter C

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The MSLR is an interesting little operation and would be quite good for inspiration in some ways actually. I haven’t visited it but it looks nice whenever you see a photo of it.
It is quite an interesting setup, definitely. I've actually changed what I was planning to do with that bit - it didn't feel like it worked with the rest of the layout for some reason (the rest is 'conventional' railway on a large(ish) scale, and having all that in a small space felt a bit odd). I've not come up with another idea for it yet, but I might take it down to just a single siding. All up in the air at the moment though.


I've also spent some time looking at Oldmoor-on-Sea, and wondering if there are any ways of improving it. Having spent some time looking through some threads on the forums, and other bits of the information superhighway, having a seaside station with three platforms, but only having enough room for four coaches absolute maximum, wouldn't happen on the real thing and really quite an odd design. Now, I'm not going to go full 'everything must be 100% prototypical' here, but I would like the layout to have at least some sort of realism to it.

I had thought about converting the area to a TMD of some description - which I think was suggested by @Cowley at some point: that would require not a lot of changes to the trackwork, and could free up loads of space in the main bit of the board for some much-needed scenic space. The main thing making me think that wouldn't be the best idea, though, is the fact that it would mean trains going to and from Little Piddling would have to reverse in the depot, and not at a station as I originally intended. A way of getting around this would be to have something like at Coombe Junction Halt where, from my research (i.e. looking at Google Images for a bit), the train seem to clear a junction, the conductor then changes the points, and the train then proceeds down the other track. I could have something like this on the curve around to where Oldmoor-on-Sea is now, like in the professional artist's impression below:1622060268541.png
Having some more space for scenery on the layout whilst keeping the depot - and giving the latter a proper area of its own - would be lovely. I'll trial-fit the buildings tomorrow and report back.

==========

We've not heard much from Oldmoor recently - apparently the town's only got the one landline and it's been broken for weeks now. They're waiting on BT but they might as well be waiting for the return of BR.
Anyway - let's have another episode of East Oldmoor-ders...


Will Mrs Miggins find her library card? Where did Dave Hatley leave his passport? Why hasn't Oldmoor got a bus service yet?

[quiet scene - Miggins household. Mr and Mrs Miggins are eating breakfast; Mr Miggins has a boiled egg and toast, and Mrs Miggins is eating a piece of concrete]

"Well, Maureen," says Mr Miggins. He's just read in the paper that the price of wool on the stock exchange has taken a dive, putting the wool shop owned by his wife in a perilous position. "I've just learned that wool prices on the stock exchange having tumbled - which leaves your wool shop in a jolly difficult situation."
"Honestly, Barry," replies Mrs Miggins, "This has happened a million times before. Don't you remember the great wool crisis of 1996?" She continues eating her breakfast - which she's just realised is part of the M25.
Mr Miggins sits there, remembering the great wool crisis of 1996. He's got lots of memories from that time.

[change of scene to the Crown & Anchor Pub. Dave Hatley is cleaning glasses]

Dave Hatley has just hired a new member of staff - Beryl - to act as a cleaner in the pub. He hopes this will mean he doesn't have to clean glasses each episode, but he's not sure. Beryl is currently cleaning a table near the front window, and she notices a strange figure standing by the level crossing.
"Dave," she calls, "there's a strange bloke by t' level crossing!" (she's from oop North, you see)
"He's always there," Dave replies, "he's our local trainspotter. He comes in here from time to time - and he never talks about anything apart from bloody Caprotti valve gear and Stephenson link motion!"
Beryl has an interest in late-19th century industry. Being from Yorkshire, this is to be expected. She stops listening to Dave's rant, and stares out at the trainspotter. In the end, the thought of finding someone with whom she can talk at great length about Class 47s, 'Whistlers', and 'Choppers' is overwhelming and she runs out to speak to him. Being a (stereotypical, for comedic effect) trainspotter, though, he doesn't say much, smells, and is muttering something about British Rail and 'why can't they get that project done in just three days? It only needs £10 million...' before walking off. Beryl is left alone, and walks back into the pub. Following her one true love walking away from her, she's decided to give up with dating for good. "I'm going to become a nun," she says to Dave, "I was never interested in him anyway."

Back at the Miggins household, a man enters the house, complete with anorak, notebook, and mutterings about armchair nonsense - Mrs Miggins greets him as he comes in. "Hello Barry," she says.

[East Enders end drumbeats play - the end]

-Peter ;)
 
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