Lapford station in N gauge.

[Cowley]

Thanks for sharing the link - I'd completely forgotten about that style of signal (the way it operates/the way it's wired, not the sempahore bit ). I'd been thinking about getting one of these style: http://www.train-tech.com/index.php/signalling/sensor-signals-fully-automatic-signalling but the one you've linked to seems much easier to fit. Only issue being that I can't exactly drill into my board as it's on top of a table!

-Peter

(I approve of the fact that there's a lower-quadrant signal involved: proper GWR equipment that)

Wow that’s rather nice!

 

[Peter C]

Wow that’s rather nice!

They're clever little things from the looks of it. Best bit is that you can just slide them into the gaps on the track on DCC and they don't need extra wiring (hence why I've been looking into them) - the nature of my layout means I can't run wires underneath and my electrical skills are nowhere near good enough to wire all sorts of switches and wires together!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Here we go. Managed to plant a few trees this afternoon once I’d got a few jobs done around the house.

 

[Peter C]

Here we go. Managed to plant a few trees this afternoon once I’d got a few jobs done around the house.

View attachment 94694View attachment 94695

They really add to the scene, don't they? I think you'll be in the Guinness Book of Records soon for 'most N gauge trees made in one year'...

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

They really add to the scene, don't they? I think you'll be in the Guinness Book of Records soon for 'most N gauge trees made in one year'...

-Peter

You might be right. I’ve got to make more too and I’ve got some on the go for a friend.
Argh!

 

[Iskra]

Excellent work. The speed with which you've gone from something that looked very basic to something that looks very real is astonishing!

 

[reddragon]

Hmm, maybe I can't afford a forest time or money wise!

 

[Cowley]

Hmm, maybe I can't afford a forest time or money wise!

Yes I’ve just been out to my friends planting his winter trees and it instantly swallowed up 35 of the damn things!


I’ve ordered yet more wire.
Managed to plant the ones for mine as well so at least that’s done.

 

[Peter C]

Yes I’ve just been out to my friends planting his winter trees and it instantly swallowed up 35 of the damn things!
View attachment 95238

I’ve ordered yet more wire.
Managed to plant the ones for mine as well so at least that’s done.

View attachment 95237

Those trees have really added to the scene. Have you got much more done on the layout recently @Cowley? I've not heard stories of Devon being overrun by small trees so I assume the production line has stopped?

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Those trees have really added to the scene. Have you got much more done on the layout recently @Cowley? I've not heard stories of Devon being overrun by small trees so I assume the production line has stopped?

-Peter

Thanks Peter.

Yes I’ve been doing a few things (and actually some new wire arrived today so that I can make a few more trees for Paul ).
Hmm. I’m going to have to have a look back through this thread to see where I’d got to last time. Hang on a minute...

Right yes, I see.

Last night Mrs C was doing a rare night shift and I had to pick one of the girls up from babysitting at 11 so I decided to devote the evening to wiring up the lights for Eggishford station. It was er, complicated...
I got it done though.
This included a light in the signalbox and the station building plus 6 platform lights which are on a different circuit to the ones in the various buildings on the layout.

I also spent this morning hoovering and dusting the entire layout (including the stock) which took ages but made a massive difference to how it all looks.
I hadn’t run anything for a good few weeks either so I’ve been over all of the track giving it a clean so that I could give Western McWesternface a proper run.

And here is the beast ready to depart Lapford...



And rolling into Eggishford:



I’m really pleased with it actually. God I love Westerns so much!
(don’t tell anyone that it shouldn’t really be there. I have seen photos of them on the line and there was a loco shortage that day...)



You can see some of lights in that last photo. The real Eggesford had 6 in the same places that I’ve put these.
What else have I done? I weathered a couple of vans that I bought for my mail train the other day (the rake that’s behind the Western) and I covered the point motor that’s inside the hill back over once it had proved itself to be problem free:



After:



That’s it for the moment. I’ve got a few plans for little things I want to do next, I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks all.

 

[Gloster]

Don’t overdo the brightness in the signal box. Most signalmen tended to make do with a light over the booking desk and, maybe, one other. The fitting of strip lights did make this a bit difficult as it often was All On or All Off.

 

[Cowley]

Don’t overdo the brightness in the signal box. Most signalmen tended to make do with a light over the booking desk and, maybe, one other. The fitting of strip lights did make this a bit difficult as it often was All On or All Off.

Unfortunately the camera on the phone makes it look really bright which it actually isn’t when you see it in the flesh as I’ve got all the building lights on a dimmer switch and I keep them turned down low.
It’d be good to take some photos with a proper camera at some point (and preferably with someone who knows what they’re doing).

On another note @Gloster, do you recall any Western workings on that line in the 1970s?
I’ve got a photo of a fairly clean one on a rake of 8 mk1s at Barnstaple somewhere on this phone and I’ve also seen a photo of one near Barnstaple on a p-way train but they certainly weren’t too common north of Coleford Junction.

 

[Gloster]

On another note @Gloster, do you recall any Western workings on that line in the 1970s?
I’ve got a photo of a fairly clean one on a rake of 8 mk1s at Barnstaple somewhere on this phone and I’ve also seen a photo of one near Barnstaple on a p-way train but they certainly weren’t too common north of Coleford Junction.

Sorry, I didn’t move down there until 1980.

 

[Cowley]

Sorry, I didn’t move down there until 1980.

That’s when we moved to Exeter. We lived in Cornwall for a few years before that and I’m sure I must have seen the odd one when I was little but I don’t remember them.

 

[Peter C]

Thanks Peter.

Yes I’ve been doing a few things (and actually some new wire arrived today so that I can make a few more trees for Paul ).
Hmm. I’m going to have to have a look back through this thread to see where I’d got to last time. Hang on a minute...

Right yes, I see.

Last night Mrs C was doing a rare night shift and I had to pick one of the girls up from babysitting at 11 so I decided to devote the evening to wiring up the lights for Eggishford station. It was er, complicated...
I got it done though.
This included a light in the signalbox and the station building plus 6 platform lights which are on a different circuit to the ones in the various buildings on the layout.

I also spent this morning hoovering and dusting the entire layout (including the stock) which took ages but made a massive difference to how it all looks.
I hadn’t run anything for a good few weeks either so I’ve been over all of the track giving it a clean so that I could give Western McWesternface a proper run.

And here is the beast ready to depart Lapford...

View attachment 95787

And rolling into Eggishford:

View attachment 95789

I’m really pleased with it actually. God I love Westerns so much!
(don’t tell anyone that it shouldn’t really be there. I have seen photos of them on the line and there was a loco shortage that day...)

View attachment 95786

You can see some of lights in that last photo. The real Eggesford had 6 in the same places that I’ve put these.
What else have I done? I weathered a couple of vans that I bought for my mail train the other day (the rake that’s behind the Western) and I covered the point motor that’s inside the hill back over once it had proved itself to be problem free:

View attachment 95791

After:

View attachment 95788

That’s it for the moment. I’ve got a few plans for little things I want to do next, I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks all.

Those lights do look impressive. I can't begin to even think of how you'd start something like wiring those up! That Western really is nice. Makes me want to run mine more - that, or get a new one in BR Blue...
Good work hiding the point motor there too. If you hadn't have said that it had been uncovered and then recovered, I wouldn't have known.

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Well hello again friends.
I had a great running session yesterday after cleaning all of the wheels on my locos and cleaning all the track and points thoroughly. Everything was running like a dream by the afternoon and I was a very happy boy until...
I saw a potential problem that could cause a stoppage and potential closure of the branch!

This:



What kind of damn fool builds a railway so obviously close to a river with soft banks? Clearly this is going to cause enormous problems if it isn’t dealt with soon, so the only solution I could think of was to build some gabions filled with ballast to strengthen it.
So that’s what I did.



Looks pretty fiddly...


It was pretty fiddly...


Eyes are hurting now...

That’s four done and I’d run out of mesh (but definitely not ballast) so it’ll have to do...



There. Panic over, no trains cancelled, no rail replacement bus, no soggy equipment box.
Phew.

 

[hexagon789]

Well hello again friends.
I had a great running session yesterday after cleaning all of the wheels on my locos and cleaning all the track and points thoroughly. Everything was running like a dream by the afternoon and I was a very happy boy until...
I saw a potential problem that could cause a stoppage and potential closure of the branch!

This:

View attachment 95967

What kind of damn fool builds a railway so obviously close to a river with soft banks? Clearly this is going to cause enormous problems if it isn’t dealt with soon, so the only solution I could think of was to build some gabions filled with ballast to strengthen it.
So that’s what I did.

View attachment 95968

Looks pretty fiddly...
View attachment 95969

It was pretty fiddly...
View attachment 95970

Eyes are hurting now...View attachment 95971

That’s four done and I’d run out of mesh (but definitely not ballast) so it’ll have to do...

View attachment 95972

There. Panic over, no trains cancelled, no rail replacement bus, no soggy equipment box.
Phew.

I like the wee story behind the latest addition, a small touch I doubt many would think of - adding gabions.

Are the gabions a sort of stabilisation thing? I've seen them but didn't know the name. They act to hold the bank in place or something I assume?

 

[Cowley]

I like the wee story behind the latest addition, a small touch I doubt many would think of - adding gabions.

Are the gabions a sort of stabilisation thing? I've seen them but didn't know the name. They act to hold the bank in place or something I assume?

Yes they’re often used to stabilise things (I think they used lots and lots of the things on The Borders line reopening actually). Eventually stuff grows through them and knits them together as well.
We’ve actually got a bit of a running joke going at work about them because Pidge who I work with had been calling them Gambians until last week (the people that inhabit a small African country surrounded by Senegal )...

Anyway it’s nice to get to the point of adding little details like this. I’ve never really got this far with a railway before and I keep thinking of details that I see around me that’ll be fun to make at some point.

 

[reddragon]

Well hello again friends.
I had a great running session yesterday after cleaning all of the wheels on my locos and cleaning all the track and points thoroughly. Everything was running like a dream by the afternoon and I was a very happy boy until...
I saw a potential problem that could cause a stoppage and potential closure of the branch!

This:

View attachment 95967

What kind of damn fool builds a railway so obviously close to a river with soft banks? Clearly this is going to cause enormous problems if it isn’t dealt with soon, so the only solution I could think of was to build some gabions filled with ballast to strengthen it.
So that’s what I did.

View attachment 95968

Looks pretty fiddly...
View attachment 95969

It was pretty fiddly...
View attachment 95970

Eyes are hurting now...View attachment 95971

That’s four done and I’d run out of mesh (but definitely not ballast) so it’ll have to do...

View attachment 95972

There. Panic over, no trains cancelled, no rail replacement bus, no soggy equipment box.
Phew.

A bit like Cowley Junction really!! Maybe you need to raise the box too in later planned works before the next flood?

Do you have any historic photos of flooding at this point?

 

[Cowley]

A bit like Cowley Junction really!! Maybe you need to raise the box too in later planned works before the next flood?

Do you have any historic photos of flooding at this point?

No I’ve never been able to find anything, but that box was a replacement for the original one when it and half of the platform on that side were washed away during floods in the 1960s.

 

[reddragon]

No I’ve never been able to find anything, but that box was a replacement for the original one when it and half of the platform on that side were washed away during floods in the 1960s.

Does flooding soften your scenery or cause shorts on your tracks?

 

[hexagon789]

Yes they’re often used to stabilise things (I think they used lots and lots of the things on The Borders line reopening actually). Eventually stuff grows through them and knits them together as well.
We’ve actually got a bit of a running joke going at work about them because Pidge who I work with had been calling them Gambians until last week (the people that inhabit a small African country surrounded by Senegal )...

Anyway it’s nice to get to the point of adding little details like this. I’ve never really got this far with a railway before and I keep thinking of details that I see around me that’ll be fun to make at some point.

It's the little things that make the big picture

 

[Iskra]

Great work with the lighting and weathering, the parcels stock looks very good

Those gabions are amazing too, a very realistic addition! Perhaps a quick light spray with the Mig stuff however?

 

[Cowley]

Great work with the lighting and weathering, the parcels stock looks very good

Those gabions are amazing too, a very realistic addition! Perhaps a quick light spray with the Mig stuff however?

Yeah you’re right. I think I’ll just water some paint down and tone it down with a brush tomorrow evening. Sometimes it takes someone to point things out that you haven’t noticed at times but that’s helpful and constructive.

I ordered a BR blue 31 from Colletts Models in Exmouth today as he had them at a good price (£119 without a chip). I’ll be weathering it myself and it’s my birthday present to myself.
Blue 31s were as synonymous with the line in those days as 33s, usually hauling mixed freight or four/five mk1s on a Saturday service.
It’ll be a very useful addition to the fleet which will be up to eight locos and the DMU by the weekend.

 

[Peter C]

Well hello again friends.
I had a great running session yesterday after cleaning all of the wheels on my locos and cleaning all the track and points thoroughly. Everything was running like a dream by the afternoon and I was a very happy boy until...
I saw a potential problem that could cause a stoppage and potential closure of the branch!

This:

View attachment 95967

What kind of damn fool builds a railway so obviously close to a river with soft banks? Clearly this is going to cause enormous problems if it isn’t dealt with soon, so the only solution I could think of was to build some gabions filled with ballast to strengthen it.
So that’s what I did.

View attachment 95968

Looks pretty fiddly...
View attachment 95969

It was pretty fiddly...
View attachment 95970

Eyes are hurting now...View attachment 95971

That’s four done and I’d run out of mesh (but definitely not ballast) so it’ll have to do...

View attachment 95972

There. Panic over, no trains cancelled, no rail replacement bus, no soggy equipment box.
Phew.

Those little boxes look really cool. I might make some for my layout, even if they are just in storage. The way you've worked them into the scenery is brilliant.

-Peter

 

[Gloster]

Recollection is that the Class 25 worked goods and some passenger trains on the Barnstaple line until the late summer/autumn of 1980, after which the Class 31 took over until the 33 appeared. There may have been a period before the 25 disappeared when a 31 could appear, probably for traction familiarisation.

I am fairly sure that there were both morning and evening loco-hauled workings. I think that the morning one went out as a freight or parcels and returned, if necessary, as a mixed: I saw it once as Class 25, two Mark 1s (a BCK and an all second (TSO, SO or SK)), four or five BR design CCT and a line of ball clay wagons. The evening was, I think, usually four Mark 1. The Saturday London working was around eight Mark 1 double-headed by two Class 31 from Paddington to Exeter and back: I think that they took the train to and from Barnstaple (but am not sure).

It is possible that for a period the 33 worked the passenger trains due to the appearance of eth stock, but freight was still in the hands of 31. The small number of eth fitted 31 were in demand elsewhere.

(All from memory and I was only in Exeter for two years.)

 

[Cowley]

Recollection is that the Class 25 worked goods and some passenger trains on the Barnstaple line until the late summer/autumn of 1980, after which the Class 31 took over until the 33 appeared. There may have been a period before the 25 disappeared when a 31 could appear, probably for traction familiarisation.

I am fairly sure that there were both morning and evening loco-hauled workings. I think that the morning one went out as a freight or parcels and returned, if necessary, as a mixed: I saw it once as Class 25, two Mark 1s (a BCK and an all second (TSO, SO or SK)), four or five BR design CCT and a line of ball clay wagons. The evening was, I think, usually four Mark 1. The Saturday London working was around eight Mark 1 double-headed by two Class 31 from Paddington to Exeter and back: I think that they took the train to and from Barnstaple (but am not sure).

It is possible that for a period the 33 worked the passenger trains due to the appearance of eth stock, but freight was still in the hands of 31. The small number of eth fitted 31 were in demand elsewhere.

(All from memory and I was only in Exeter for two years.)

Wonderfull stuff @Gloster. When I get a chance tomorrow I’ll dig out some photo links that I’ve got that describe exactly what you remember about those days.
I will hopefully get a class 25 at some point. I had half an eye on one on eBay a few days ago but it went for ridiculous money.
They’re a little earlier than what I planned originally but they just look like they belong on the line.

In other news, D1009 had a trip out onto the wilds of North Dartmoor this evening.
Normally this would run via the coast but there were storms and, well you know what happens...
Non stop through Moors, steam heating on full, signals are off. Open her up!

 

[Gloster]

Two websites that you probably know about that have a lot of detail:

Exeter & beyond in the West Country Memories on the derbysulzers.com site.

An Indian Summer in the West Country (two parts) on the Articles page (under More) on the Railscot site. This is rather more about Barnstaple than the line in general, but there are some useful nuggets in there.

(I am in a somewhat dilatory fashion looking at a long term plan to build a line from South Molton Road to South Molton. One of my many plausible (well, technically possible, just) ideas for north Devon.)

 

[Cowley]

Two websites that you probably know about that have a lot of detail:

Exeter & beyond in the West Country Memories on the derbysulzers.com site.

An Indian Summer in the West Country (two parts) on the Articles page (under More) on the Railscot site. This is rather more about Barnstaple than the line in general, but there are some useful nuggets in there.

(I am in a somewhat dilatory fashion looking at a long term plan to build a line from South Molton Road to South Molton. One of my many plausible (well, technically possible, just) ideas for north Devon.)

This was one of the sites that gave me quite a bit of background on the line where there were bits I didn’t remember:

Barnstaple Tarka North Devon Railway Line

I like the idea you mentioned, it’s definitely a plausible route (hilly though I think).

 

[Peter C]

Have your cool little box things worked @Cowley? Have trains been blocked due to excess flooding?

-Peter