UK Screenshots for Pre BR Blue. High resolution warning.

[HotshotJimmy]

Cheers Heinrich, the way I see it is the fireman gets a breather on the return leg down the line haha. No shovelling necessary

I knew I could count on you Border :wave: . I didn't realise it was that big. I'll edit the info to reflect the new figures.

 

[HotshotJimmy]

Slightly relevant to the topic so I thought i'd share it here;

 

[KotangaGirl]

What an excellent video. Thanks for posting it Jimmy. A nice glimpse of a 'Super D' there too. It was good to see a woman on the footplate as well who very plainly knows what she is about.

 

[borderreiver]

During the A4 pacific "Great Gathering" at the NRM York back in 2013, I had a footplate tour of "Union of South Africa" hosted by a female member of the crew.
She was especially valuable due to her petite stature, since she was the "go to" for wriggling through the firebox door to clean out the firebox!
This job was done "back in the day" by the youngest boy cleaners, probably aged 14 and was tough duty.
Even though the fire had been dropped the boiler was both hot and still full of hot water.

 

[HotshotJimmy]

During the A4 pacific "Great Gathering" at the NRM York back in 2013, I had a footplate tour of "Union of South Africa" hosted by a female member of the crew.
She was especially valuable due to her petite stature, since she was the "go to" for wriggling through the firebox door to clean out the firebox!
This job was done "back in the day" by the youngest boy cleaners, probably aged 14 and was tough duty.
Even though the fire had been dropped the boiler was both hot and still full of hot water.

One of Stanier's tricks while he was the chief at Swindon was to be able to climb into the firebox and back out without any marks on his suit. Considering how tall he was that was an impressive feat.

 

[KotangaGirl]

A Longridge 0-6-0 built 1848 on the Grimwold branch on my Norfolk layout. The Grimwold branch is mainly about mineral traffic and an interesting collection of elderly 0-6-0 tender engines work the branch.

A very different kind of engine to drive as while this old Longridge long boiler locomotive could steam for Britain it only has brakes on the tender, - so attempting to stop has to be planned out well in advance. All the brake vans on my Norfolk layout have espec scripted brakes which are essential when working loose coupled mineral wagons with old engines like the Longridge.
Longridge had an excellent reputation for building quality locomotives, but due to internal problems within the company didn't last in business for very long.

And arrival at Oakmarket yard.

 

[HotshotJimmy]

How do you interact with the brakes on the van then?

 

[KotangaGirl]

How do you interact with the brakes on the van then?

Via the train brake, - or whatever that slider with the red and white stripes on it is called. The independent brake just operates the brakes on the loco which in the case of most of my mid-19th century engines take a long time before they start to bite.

In DCC they'll just operate as a part of the normal braking.

These are the especs I use:

Pre 1900s 4 Wheel Brake Van E-spec <kuid2:404079:1029:1>

Pre 1900s 6 Wheel Brake Van E-spec <kuid2:404079:1030:2>

Both of these are by Azervich and they work in a believably realistic way. I use these especs on my mid-19th century engines' tenders as well. Before I did that some of my engines would coast for ages when the brakes were applied before they'd stop.

 

[KotangaGirl]

Longridge 0-6-0

When I drive the Longridge any information given on the HUD needs to be pretty much ignored when it comes to using the regulator and the reverser. It's all about finding the sweet spots. Starting off with a load needs a careful hand or she'll just sit with her wheels turning and going nowhere. Once under way she rolls along very sweetly and is easy to help along on gradients with small movements of the reverser and regular. My Norfolk layout is largely flat, but with the Grimwold branch supposedly being somewhere along the border with Lincolnshire it does have some up and down bits, but nothing startling.

 

[Tanker46]

More mid-19th century fun on the Minehead branch.

These South Eastern Railway Cramptons were the big engine of their day and were a modified version of the Crampton patent design. I do have nice clean SER Cramptons, but this mucky one is my favourite. Wallace has his strange girlfriend from the future with him again.

This is a smaller Cramption by E.B.Wilson built according to Crampton's original design. A pretty little thing and it can't climb hills for toffee. The E.B.Wilson 0-6-0WT playing the role of banking engine is the one doing most of the work.
Cramptons were briefly tried out in Britain, but were by and large a failure. In France though they were very successful due to travel distances being longer as well as the general lack of steep gradients on French railways.

Excellent screenshots Annie! It's always a joy to see your routes in action! Also, thanks for the history lesson regarding the Cramptons. I always believed that they were exclusively French locomotives but I had no idea that they were tried in the UK! Given Kent's proximity to France it makes sense that the SER would be one of the railway's to field test them.

Your SER Route is one of my favorites. The locomotives that James Stirling designed for the SER are extremely beautiful. I honestly wish they made more of his designs available in OO Gauge models. They would be a great addition to my SECR themed layout!

 

[KotangaGirl]

Thanks very much Tanker. The Minehead branch is ex-Bristol & Exeter Railway absorbed by the GWR in the 1870s and my version of it gets to see all kinds 19th century engines because it is such an excellent test track with its severe gradients. Unfortunately the Cramptons are my only SER engines, but I do have a LCDR Crampton as well. I should dig out some of Camscott's SER goods wagons even though the Cramptons weren't used on goods trains.

I need to get back to my K&ESR layout too since the K&ESR had junction connections to the SECR. Things are certainly better than they were for the SECR which is a good thing.

Wadebridge and the Padstow-Wadebridge-Bodmin section of the Nth Cornwall Railway are mostly occupying my time at the moment with the whole section undergoing a major rebuild.

 

[Tanker46]

That's understandable. I used to operate the North Cornwall Route way back in TS12 as one of my main routes. This was before I had done proper SR era research so the coach rakes would look pretty odd behind Skipper1945's locos! :hehe: I'm sure your updated rework of the route will look incredible and do justice to the original.

The SECR is by far the most unknown contender in my library of Southern knowledge. I spent all my time researching the LSWR and LBSCR so anything regarding the Kentish Railway is a bit of a mystery to me.

The reason why my OO Gauge Layout is SECR themed is that it is a small modular project due to lack of space and also because of the large amount of SECR RTR locos available. I was extremely surprised to find out how many SECR prototypes were available for modeling. I already own the C Class, H Class, P Class and I have a pre order down for Dapol's new Wainwright D Class that will be released next year. If there was a new E1 Class made then the route would be perfect!

Eventually I will make it to the SECR portion of the route I am working on and I'm looking forward to all the research I will get to do for the SECR!

 

[KotangaGirl]

A still very much WIP screenshot of Wadebridge. The original builder of the North Cornwall layout had this strange notion that the land inside a railway boundary fence is way more fertile than the surrounding landscape and that railway staff don't mind having to fight their way through five foot tall clumps of weeds in order to carry out their duties. He also seemed to think that laying out stations, goods yards and major junctions didn't involve having to level the ground first. But don't mind me, - I can be quite obsessive when I'm building up a layout.

A snap taken along the line to Bodmin at Boscarne Junction; - also WIP. I'm using OS maps as a general guide, but I'm not being all super fastidious about it since my intention is to tidy up the layout as it stands without going into major upheavals of the landscape.

 

[HotshotJimmy]

Looking good there =D

 

[robd]

...The original builder of the North Cornwall layout had this strange notion that the land inside a railway boundary fence is way more fertile than the surrounding landscape and that railway staff don't mind having to fight their way through five foot tall clumps of weeds in order to carry out their duties. He also seemed to think that laying out stations, goods yards and major junctions didn't involve having to level the ground first. But don't mind me, - I can be quite obsessive when I'm building up a layout...

Interesting to see Wadebridge station as was; it's now the John Betjeman centre and no problems with weeds!


https://www.google.com/maps/@50.515...136.16368&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192

Rob.

 

[KotangaGirl]

Thanks Rob. It's a bit like making a silk purse out of sow's ear, but I'm trying my best to get the Padstow-Wadebridge-Bodmin section looking something like what it's supposed to look like. The original layout goes all the way to Okehampton and Bude, but I cut it off at Port Isaac Road station because the whole thing is a mess. The landscaping and scenic work is nice, but all the trackwork and stations are a disaster.

It's good that the station building and goods shed have survived and are being looked after, but it would be nicer if there was still a railway at Wadebridge. The housing estate looks like the usual collection of tacky clones that seem to get planted on railway land

 

[KotangaGirl]

L&Y Class 27

Test running on Wathdale with my L&Y Class 27. Train load 175 tons of coal. I couldn't do a steam test this time around because the Class 27 had the good DCC engine spec I use on Middlevales installed and it's no good as a steam espec unfortunately. After a quick trip to the works I'll try again.

 

[HotshotJimmy]

Two images I turned into LMS posters based on the original "The Day Begins" from 1946.

 

[robd]

... The housing estate looks like the usual collection of tacky clones that seem to get planted on railway land

Providing much needed housing for local families as a lot of the housing in Cornwall is bought up by rich out of county types as second homes or holiday lets thus depriving the local population of homes!

I have just recently found my copy of Paulz L&Y Class 27 on a CD that I thought was lost! I have re-installed it and am in the process of beautifying it!

Rob.

 

[KotangaGirl]

Providing much needed housing for local families as a lot of the housing in Cornwall is bought up by rich out of county types as second homes or holiday lets thus depriving the local population of homes!

I have just recently found my copy of Paulz L&Y Class 27 on a CD that I thought was lost! I have re-installed it and am in the process of beautifying it!

Rob.

Yes I must agree about the problem with rich people buying up houses in rural districts as second homes. We have it here in New Zealand where people who have lived for generations in coastal communities are being squeezed out by wealthy folk wanting a second home in an attractive location. Except with changes in weather patterns and sea level rise due to global warming these rich types are suddenly discovering that the insurance companies don't want to have anything to do with insuring their expensive house by the sea.

I haven't really done anything with my own L&Y Class 27. Paul gave it to me when I purchased a pair of Class 27's in early BR livery for my early period BR layout. I did fettle those two a bit, - not that a lot can be done with two grubby black engines, but they did get some detailing including proper LMS Horwich rebuild plates.