Silver Sidelines

Recapping from my last Post, some fifteen years ago when the layout was conceived there was a Mainline Terminus and a high level Branch Terminus, both constructed up against the plasterboard enclosure housing the Aga flue.  It was not long before the Mainline Terminus was converted to a through station with the running lines skirting the outside of the plasterboard enclosure.  This provided for a dumbbell shaped layout with reversing loops and storage sidings at both ends.  Most importantly it allowed continuous running.  I do like to watch trains running.  How could the single track branch line be made into a continuous run?   Life moves on, the Aga is now electric and the flu no longer carries hot gases.  I mused about a tunnel through the plaster board enclosure with a new connection back down to the through station (the Mainline Terminus that was).   The Plaster Board Box   The catalyst for this work was the appearance of some off cuts of...

The past couple of years have seen a number of exciting modifications to the railway that have so far passed unrecorded.    I was first alerted to the misuse of the initials GWR by George Behrend (Ref 1)1 in his 1966 book G one W ith R egret.  In his recollections of the G reat W estern R ailway he extols the virtues of G od’s W onderful R ailway and notes that opponents of GW methods would dismiss the company as the G reat W ay R ound.  (Something about Brunel’s original route to Bath and Bristol via Didcot and Swindon not being convenient for reaching Plymouth or Penzance.)   In the 1950s the Reverend Awdry’s railway books were almost compulsory reading for children, well probably just boys.  However there was another model railway cleric, the Scottish Presbyterian Minister the Reverend Edward Beal (Ref 2).  He wrote and published a series of modelling guides later to be bound as a compendium and published as ‘West Midland, a Railway in Miniature / ...

The summer weather has disappeared so an incentive to spend time on railway matters. This Post was initiated by the purchase of a Dapol Fruit D van.  One of Mr Dapol’s Fruit D vans   Over the last twelve months I have been imagining a Welsh themed layout. What better for inspiration but to follow Katerfelto’s pictures on Flickr https://flic.kr/ps/SokUv .  I was fascinated by one particular picture which featured an ex GWR Fruit D in the process of being shunted between passenger trains. Machynlleth by Katerfelto  https://flic.kr/p/2oAZyMc   Apparently a major source of the old GWR's parcels traffic was market garden produce. Small growers would take their fresh produce and load it into a van at the local station. The vans would then be moved speedily to market at the larger towns and cities. To cater for the fresh produce the GWR provided vans with additional ventilation slats in their sides to allow cool air to circulate. The vans could be attached to pas...