Summer of '69

120429_4-track_DSC_4245, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

During the long hazy summer of '69, D6313 is captured near Great Wishford on the Wylye Valley route with a Westbury bound goods.

The highly regarded Dapol Class 22 certainly looks the part on a secondary mainline with just a few wagons in tow. The unkempt finish and hazy light I think capturing the feel of the era which is now getting on for half a century ago. This is of course the era of free love, outdoor concerts and drug induced popular culture. Well, for a few dozen rich kids in Chelsea and Bath who could afford not to work and do very much as they wanted. For most, the 1960's was simply a little more plentiful and colourful than the 1950's, your normal working man still wore suits or overalls and had a short back and sides. These people are now all pensioners, which is quite scary to think, not because they're pensioners of course, just that it's now an awful long time ago.

Talking of a more colourful world, colour TV kicked off in 1967 on the BBC, with ITV following a couple of years later. Most people didn't have colour sets until 1972, this being due to the Olympics being broadcast in colour for the first time, and I gather the Yen was also rather weak which helped. I do remember a 'posh lady' down the road had a colour set to watch the few programmes broadcast in colour, the thing I most remember was that she had the colour saturation wound up so high that skin tones were bright red. I imagine she wanted to make the most of her telly which in today's money would be several thousand pounds, that and of course the more expensive TV license.

Back to the photo; you probably already know that this is the new(ish) Dapol Class 22 after a bit of weathering. I had thought of renumbering it, but I've never really been a number fanatic unless the former SDJR is involved, so for this reason it has remained as D6313. There so many variations between different locos, and because I'm in to atmosphere rather than number-crunching accuracy, I'd be opening myself up for a tirade of hate mail if I got the number wrong for the way the loco is detailed. But I get wound up about model railway bits that probably don't worry others, so each to to our own I guess (low pointless backscenes are my pet hate if you're asking).

• More pics of the Dapol Class 22 here.

The Grotty 1960's

D6333 rumbles through Dawlish Warren with an inspection saloon,
22 July 1966. This loco survived to be one of the last 4 in service,
 it being withdrawn in 1972 and in due course was repainted in
BR (Rail) Blue. Photo: Richard Lewis, posted here with permission.

Compared to the present day, Britain's railways were a mucky place 45 years ago, the rest of country wasn't much different then either. Whilst it's easy to mock the grotty 1960's developments, it's easy to see why people were keen to get rid of a scruffy run down past and replace it with a shiny looking space-age landscape.

The state of D6333 in this shot rather reflects the state of grottyness which was frequently the norm. It's not easy to imagine that when the photo was taken the loco was well under 10 years old. At the time, it wiould be comparable in age to a Freightliner Class 66 now. Scary.



D6313 after an initial weathering, captured here running
around its train on the author's Combwich layout.



When I started to weather mine the other day, there was some quite valid suggestion that maybe I went too far, but after looking at a few examples in Richard Lewis' wonderful archive since, I'm beginning to think that mine isn't tatty enough. However my scenario depicts the railway as it was a few years prior, so I may well tidy mine up a little and work a little of the grime off around the cabsides to give a used sheen and to reduce the overly dusty look.

Looking at Richard's photo, flaking paint appears to be a feature of the time and probably the result of cellulose paint being rubbed off with a carriage washing plant. Modern paints are alot better in this respect and anyone who remembers polishing a cellulose finished car will know just how much paint used to end up on the polishing cloth!

It's quite trendy these days to create marks on the windscreen showing where the wipers have kept the glass clean. I had a go using a little cloth to selectively remove the weathering pigment, but after further looking at Class 22 prototype photos, this feature is rarely ever seen, and whilst the engines were often in a right old state, the glazing was generally spotless and probably wiped clean daily. I would appear that I have fallen into the easy trap of modelling a model!



Weathering, stage one.....

nevard_120131_class22_IMG_2328, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

D6313 plods in to Combwich with a goods from Bridgwater, August 1964.

Nearly all the photos of this class of loco show them in a right old state, even though they were fairly new. My depiction here, shortly after its initial weathering shows faded paintwork and a liberal coating of brake block dust. This is only the first stage, weathering for me taking 2 or 3 sessions, adding and removing the effect until I'm happy with the result, though probably more removal in this case. There is much standing back and appraising what's going on, the camera being a very useful tool in the process and far better at picking faults than the naked eye.

It's not April the 1st, but...

nevard_120130_combwich_IMG_2324, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Photo: 30587 departs Combwich with the 2pm service to Stogursey.

...but in the ethos of populist journalism for the masses, today I'm not going to let historical accuracy get in the way of a good yarn!

Until 1955, a light railway served the small town of Stogursey up in the Quantocks. This railway was part of a grand scheme to link the port town of Combwich with Watchet, but sadly the railway company owned by Sir Henry Nythe of Nether Stowey ran out of money only halfway into the line's construction in 1901.

The lightly built railway, whist it never got to the GWR at Watchet, served numerous stone quarries on route and supported the local agricultural industry to a lessor degree. Passenger traffic, as with most of these railways was very light, with the sharp curves necessitating the use of short wheel base locomotives and rolling stock. The ex-GWR coach here being the last outpost of this 4 wheeled design. The Beattie Well Tank, whilst mainly known for their use on the Wenford Bridge line in Cornwall, were also used on the Stogursey line from 1952 to 1955, making this little known railway a popular destination for railway enthusiasts.

For those readers living in the real Combwich and who keep emailing wanting more information about the railway, or to those living there who think that they know where the station used to be - the above is complete twaddle of course!

For those who'd like to see a bigger version of the above photo, click HERE!

Fresh in from Kernow

nevard_120125_class22_IMG_2312, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Yesterday morning I opened the door to the porch to find this rather well packed parcel from Kernow Model Rail Centre sitting there in the form of the much awaited Dapol Class 22 - a very useful small loco, especially for those that model railways half a century ago anywhere west of Heathrow.

I have yet to look at it properly, but was able to find a few moments to grab this snap of the compact little beast. Obviously the detail pack needs to be added along with separate panels that clip in below the body.

I may well renumber this loco, though I know that there were many variations so I could be heading straight for a huge web of nit-pickers  - even more than usual if I get that wrong with the number-obsessives. I did try collecting trains numbers once, it lasted for 1 about hour at Eastleigh station in the spring of 1981 before I got totally bored of what to me is a pointless activity - still, each to their own I guess! I have some good friends that collect loco numbers, so at least I now know that not everyone who does this is a nutter, but 30 mins at Tamworth Upper Level Station is enough to realise these good gentlemen are a rarity, but on the other hand, odd is interesting and cool - so, so what!

The Class 22, or North British Type 2 Bo-Bo were mixed traffic locos, but lack of reliability meant that they tended to find work on less important services and were frequently seen on demolition trains on closed railways, where if they failed apart from the crew becoming marooned, were unlikely to mess up any schedule resulting in irate passengers! These locos in real life were pretty unreliable and generally unloved, so they mostly appear in photos looking more than a little worse for wear frequently with tatty worn paint - a weatherer's dream to recreate! For me it's a great choice, being ideal for the sort of backwaters I enjoy making, its compact size not over-powering the the small layouts.

Whilst they only ever appeared on the SDJR after closure on demolition trains, one did briefly make an appearance at Glastonbury in 1964 on an inspection train - see this link. Something like that would make an interesting short train in miniature. Personally I can also see this loco being used on Cement Quay on the odd occasion I decide to back date the operation and of course it will fit in perfectly on Polbrock. All in all, a good buy! Well done Kernow and Dapol!

Dirty Minky

nevard_110719_MinkD_DSC_2976, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

From a Parkside Dundas kit; a GWR Mink D used for stores and local movements around Bath seen here on Brewhouse Quay being pulled along the wharf road with a tractor. The driver has probably gone for a jar by the way...

Rather than go for 1950's carmine which was rather pushing history, I decided to turn it into the local stores runabout in grey (Halfords primer). Numbering still needs to be toned down a little  and I need to replace the rods between the brake levers at either end with some brass as I have already have between the V hanger wotsits in the middle - the supplied styrene rod is not really tough enough even for normal handling.

Note the Sentinel in the background - that is a modified Model Rail/Dapol Sentinel and this is a tease for a forthcoming article 'wot oi wrote' for the printed page. 

Now you've got to the bottom of today's drivel, be sure to check out George Dent's blog - and by pure chance he has made up a cracking selection of stores van including a Minkypoos...
http://georgedentmodelmaker.blogspot.com/2011/07/ncb-stores-vans.html

• Bigger version http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/5951905761/sizes/l/in/photostream/

10 inches in 2 Minutes

Model Rail Magazine's Sentinel, taking around 2  minutes to traverse a mere 10 inches (that 25cm in new money) in the sidings at Combwich.

• Order now http://www.modelrailoffers.co.uk/
• See this loco running 28/29 May at Railex!

Something for the Weekend - LBSCR 8 Ton Van

nevard_110511_LBSCR-8-tons-van-DSC_2157_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

I've had this kit of a LBSCR 8 Ton Van in the 'kits to be done one day before I die box' since ExpoNG 2010, having bought it direct from the manufacturer Smallbrook Studios who are more well known for delightful resin based narrow gauge kits. However, in addition to their more well known items, they also produce a small range of ex-LSWR and LBSCR prototypes in 4mm scale designed around the Dapol 10ft wheel base ready to run chassis, the kit prototypes being wagons that ended up on the Isle of Wight in their later years.

Without going into too much detail, after all that's what the supplied instruction are for, here is the completed wagon after an afternoon's work. My depiction here, is a 'what if' should one of these wagons ended back on the main land in private ownership after finally running out of puff in the engineering section of the Southern Region.


The numbering might horrify the purists, but they were simply home printed out onto self-adhesive label and stuck on rather than messing about with transfers (what is all this 'decal thing'? I'm English so 'transfers' it is - so there!). In real life, which will not be nearly as big as you see on your screen here, the paper numbering looks quite respectable. For the neurotics which I'm sure there are plenty, I'll just tell them that the wood was so rotten that some plywood was used as a base for the numbering.


The wagon here is in quite a heavily weathered state, after its last overhaul it would have been pale grey or possibly even bare wood with the white numbering on black. A few colour washes and much dry-brushing has produced the excessive exposed to the elements look I wanted.

Update 10 May

Here could be a shot of the van a few years later, shortly before the brewery owners decided to use the wagon and a fire lighter for the boiling coppers http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pic2/wagons/lbsc_box2.html

Something I didn't mention is the roof, some some time I've been soaking a single sheet of bog-roll with polystyrene solvent and bonding it to the plastic roof. Once painted and dry-brushed the effect is quite nice. There 1024 res version of the snap at the top of this page might show it off a little better http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/5696088317/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Old Postcard

nevard_110404_brewhouseQ_IMG_9582_BW_postcard, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

I was shifting through an Ebay purchase of some 10x8 black and white prints recently, and found this shot taken on the real Brewhouse Quay (it's on the Kennet and Avon on the edge Bath by the way). I gather the photo was taken in 1949 by all accounts.

As you can see, it's a very tidy place with little in the way of much going on. Still, 1949 was very much like the present time with everything run down and the country on the verge of bankruptcy, truly austere times indeed - still, the unusual track layout makes a nice shot. The photographer is believed to be Ivan Locksmith (the key being the little Austin which appeared in many of his shots), and as we all know he had an excellent eye!

He also took a Kodachrome slide too. 

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_{Disclamer:  The layout is far from finished and is subject to  further work and alteration (mainly 100's of casks everywhere).. The sky  has NOT been  Photoshopped, but the clag from the Pug has. It does actually run, and is likely to have  its first  proper public outing at Model Rail Live 17/18 Sept 2011 at  'roll out  the' Barrow Hill Roundhouse where it will be used to showcase  the Model Rail/Dapol Sentinel or whatever else I fancy running. No, it's not DCC, but I might build in a set of hand pumps to dispense ale.}