Pug Power

L&Y 'Pug Power', as the little beastie stands by the entrance to the colliery sidings whist performing a shunting move. Hold on, is that the Evercreech goods in the background? I hope it all doesn't end in tears!

The Hornby (ex Dapol) model still looks good with a little work despite its age. They run OK too, as long as the wheels and track are kept clean. For OO users widening out the wheel back to backs help a little too, setting this one up for 14.8mm to suit my track keeps the waddle to the minimum.

This is the view from the fiddle yard on Polbrook Gurney Colliery, and if you want to see this layout for real, it will be at the excellent Wycrail in High Wycombe on Saturday 2 November http://www.hwdmrs.org.uk/wycrail/

Wycrail 3 Nov '12

nevard_120708_BQ_DSC_6785, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

It's exhibition time again as Brewhouse Quay hits the road for the first time since last May at Railex.

Since the last outing I have added some working DCC Concept lanterns. Whilst you wouldn't normally see them burning in the daylight hours, on model railways we always do have them lit for some reason, but of course if the new hall is dark then all the better because I'll turn the layout lights off to help the effect.

On the subject of a new hall; this year Wycrail is being held at the location below which should hopefully help with any over crowding.

Cressex Community School

Cressex Road
High Wycombe
Bucks HP12 4UD

For more information follow this link.

Betty Blogsworth

nevard_110515_brewQ_IMG_9890_web, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

This is a 'reprint' from a deleted page posted last May..

Betty Blogsworth, who is sometimes known as a bit of the jobs worth at Her Majesty's Customs and Excise office at nearby Bristol Docks will shortly be marrying accountant and well known railway photographer Ivan Locksmith. Ivan as I'm sure you all know doesn't need any excuse to feature his pre-war Austin in his railway photographs, but now with his forthcoming marriage the car has to compete with Betty for exposure onto film.

As well as a new lady in his life, Ivan was keen to try out his new 135mm f4 Elmar on his Leica loaded with a roll of Kodachrome 8.

Friday Photo

nevard_110902_BQ_IMG_1108_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Looking across the Avon, ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 'Pug' No. 51202 is spotted shunting the Marriott, Dent & Foster Brewery sidings in Bath.

Much care was no doubt needed to avoid the ale casks ending up on the deck. It's is thought that this is an internal shunt between the cooperage and the cask cleaning area.

New view and a little digression....

nevard_110831_BQ_IMG_1073_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Here's a view of Brewhouse Quay which has only been possible for a day or two since the exit to the extra fiddle yard was created. A short telephoto effect makes an interesting slightly compressed view showing off the lightweight track and various ground textures between the rails and around the yard. As soon as one views 90 degrees to the light source, all sorts of interesting things start to happen texture-wise - the lighting here simply being the built in fluorescent tube that runs along the front.

Finding new angles is one of the aspects that interests me most about photographing model railways, and particularly so if it's a layout that has been well photographed for the popular press many times - finding that new angle that's never been captured before gives huge satisfaction.

Digressing slightly; I look forward to returning to Pendon at some stage to get some new and exciting angles. The various layouts there have hardly been touched in this respect, especially that the dinkiest of cameras can now give outstanding results that will blow up to double page spread, the small camera size allowing new vistas from all sorts of snug places. 

Really digressing - I'd love to shoot an HST in blue and grey blasting across the Vale Scene - it would be a sure hit and introduce a whole new generation to the delights of model railways!

Bigger version of the above

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/6098100035/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Brew-up at BQ

nevard_110821_BQ_IMG_0878, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

The Bull:
It's brew up time at Brewhouse Quay for Sentinel 'Mendip', ex-L&YR 'Pug' 51202, Planet 4WD 'Fleur' and 'Radstock' an Austerity tank recently purchased from the National Coal Board. The Ford Popular wasn't parked that well from a photographic point of view, but now 55 years on it adds to the scene.

The Model:
The Sentinel is a Model Rail/Dapol Sentinel which has had a change of identity, having been detailed up and is now in private ownership. The Pug a detailed, renumbered and repainted Hornby model  - it runs a dream too which is much to my surprise - widening out the back to backs to 14.7mm may have helped here. The Ford Popular in the forground is from Oxford Diecast and has been reglazed with Krystal Kleer liquid glazing, muckied up and finished off with Testor's Dullcote. The little green diesel is a Planet from a Roxey Mouldings kit, and finally the Austerity a fiddled with Hornby 'Harry'.

The photo:
Taken on a little Canon G9 shooting RAW under the layout's built in flu-lighting, 7 exposures were stacked and processed with Helicon Focus to increase the depth of field to match what the eye sees. The only CGI is the faint puff of smoke from the engines - which I like so there! The backscene is nice and high so, no need to mess about there.

• Brewhouse Quay will be at Model Rail Live for its very first outing on 17 & 18 September 2011

Eye Eye Capstan!

nevard_110731_BQ_IMG_0662_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

With Model Rail Live pending 17 & 18 September 2011, attention has gone back to Brewhouse Quay to get it ready with a little extra detail and such, and for once I'm not in a dreadful rush to complete this project in time.

Model Rail Live

The shot above which has a big nod to the late great micro layout genius Carl Arendt illustrates the bedding in of the base and capstan for rope shunting using a smudge of Das modelling clay and a spot of Super Glue. 

The capstan manufactured from turned brass, was purchased from the very useful Cornwall Model Boats and is lurking here in primer with a plastic card base. It of course will be painted before some clever dick who has a mother with 'lovely hands' tells me it's the wrong colour.

The capstan is to aid rope shunting, which was one of the various ways that wagons were moved around in small yards like this - see this old post for more info on rope shunting and wagon turntables.  

You'll be able to read more about Brewhouse Quay with a plethora of unpublished photos in Model Rail very shortly.

Brewhouse Quay: 5 Months On

For want of a BLOG post, rather than dwell on pretty photos and blarney, this one is about the journey so far, for Brewhouse Quay has to be one of the quickest layouts I've been able to get together. There is quite a bit more to do, but I think that layout at a push has reached the stage where I'd be happy to take it to a show. That however won't be until September at Model Rail Live in Barrow Hill Roundhouse. Any spare time over the next few weeks will be taken up tweaking Combwich for RAILEX, for that layout is 30 years old now and is a bit like running a classic MG or having a high maintenance wife - constant TLC required!

I digress.....

Whilst the track is handbuilt, the buildings are 50/50 ready to plop/scratchbuilt, that definitely is has a speed advantage. Whether I'd use such a large ratio in the future is debatable - I prefer a more individual approach. However I was offered the brewery buildings as a freebee, and with these latest Scenecraft releases being extraordinarily good and above an beyond what I could achieve with the time I have available (model making is only a small fraction of my involvement within the hobby).

Click on the images to enlarge....

December: planning




January: woodwork and soldering!


February: wiring, the running of the first train


March: groundwork


April: colouring


May: enjoying

Busy Quayside

nevard_110416_brewhouseQ_IMG_9722_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Brewhouse Quay: Bristol Barrow Road's 'Pug' 51202 propels a few casks along the brewery quay.

For the sceptics who think this malarkey is all cgi - the only addition is the fake smoke.

Tuesday's Old Bull..

nevard_110411_brewhouseQ_IMG_9681_postcard_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Last night quick dig through Ian Locksmith's print collection revealed another photo of Brewhouse Quay on the edge of Bath.

Judging by the angle, this one appears to have been taken from another canal boat and from the time around 1952 when the brewery had a major rebuild to get rid of the wartime damage - the barge to the left being used as a water-born skip.

Note the wharf side crane, I bet nobody at the time had the faintest idea that there would be a future plastic kit based on it!

Our intrepid photographer also took a rather nice Kodachrome slide at the same time, you can see it here.

Corner Filler

nevard_110409_brewhouseQ_IMG_9660_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Brewhouse Quay: I was a little unsure about the corner between the grainstore, the cooperage and the use of a hacked up Hornby Skaledale pithead building. So to address this I decided to link the two together a sort of with a structure to supports a watertank. I'm unsure of its real use, though I imagine one can never have enough water tanks in an industrial complex. Let's just say it's the water supply for the cask sterilising plant, or maybe water to cool the iron in the smithy - the iron rings being forged to hold the wooden casks together.

Modelling time? 2 hours from start to painting.

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. 

---

_{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.}

The Monday Managment Tour

nevard_110404_brewhouseQ_IMG_9560_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Brewhouse Quay Project: The brewery management (Foster, Dent, Marriott & Jones Celebrated Ales) are captured there having their bi-monthly tour of inspection in their recently purchased ex-LSWR brake van that was found on the Isle of Wight. Well actually, they're in the brewery tap on the right so that's why they're not in shot.

The real reason for this snap is to show off the new aerial walkway and associated building knocked up from the plastic card and foam board. It's been primarily built to serve as an additional scenic break. I've used different material to the brewery buildings because there's no way that I'll be able to match what Messrs Bachmann and Co. and the skilled Chinese workers have produced. Obviously it still needs to be painted.

It's also a chance to show off the lightweight looking hand built track using code 55 flat bottomed rail and DAS (modelling clay) used to replicated ash ballast and cobbles.

The Caboose Hobbies actual working ground throw is showcased nicely here and much much bigger than it is in real life. With hindsight I maybe should have chosen to use the N gauge ones as recommended by Mr Burkin in April 2010 Model Rail instead of the HO scale one here. I'm not going to lose any sleep over that, and in any case not every operator will have tiny fingers.

Brewhouse Quay gets a Grainstore

nevard_110331_brewhQ_store_IMG_9494_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Brewhouse Quay Project: Whilst everything else has been going on, I've been working on a grainstore or something like that. This one is totally built from scratch unlike the other buildings. Anyway, whatever it is, it's now had a slap of paint. The stonework will be a little lighter and more honey coloured in due course. I tend to leave the final colouring to later when the groundwork is complete and also coloured. 


Some guttering and downpipes will be added in due course - thought I'd better get that bit in before the adenoidal armchair brigade point that out. 

A Load of Old Cobbles

nevard_110327_brewhQ_track_IMG_9467_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

I wasn't totally happy with yesterday morning's depiction of sets or cobbles, the effect was too coarse and somewhat over scale. At least though if ever I model O gauge it's a techniques that can be used there.

By chance I was trying to find a pen to take a message from a caller, and after I put the phone down had one of those eureka moments using the ball point pen with the writing bit removed to stamp the little stones into the squidgy DAS modelling clay - the shot above showing of the revised effect.

Having done the whole front, I'm now working towards the rear of the layout. The natural window light is very acute here giving a somewhat over-accentuated effect that will not be seen to such a degree under the layout's own built in lighting.

Painting in due course will kick off with a mix of black, grey and red aerosol primers, the stones will then be drying brushed using matt enamel, selecting beiges and greys as used on this stone building here. I prefer to start dark in colour and dry bush on the lighter tones rather than flooding dull paint washes over light colours which frequently lacks control and gives unpredictable results.

Brewhouse Quay: First Running Loco

Wiring has commenced on Brewhouse Quay, working from right to left, the first 2 points are operational as this video demonstrates. The performance is very smooth, any jerkiness here being the YouTube compression, processing and should not be an indication of actually running qualities.

I'm not using under layout point motors this time, but using Caboose Hobbies Ground Throws as seen here in the short video. Whilst they are American in style, they weren't unfamiliar in UK industrial locations. Frog polarity switching is under the baseboard using a simple switch from 0.75 brass wire extending from the turnout blade tie which I'll cover in due course.To find out more about the manual point throws, read Nigel Burkin's excellent feature in the April 2010 Model Rail Mag.

Next, I'll be tackling the diamond crossing......

Brewhouse Quay: Monday 14 Feb '11

nevard_110213_brewhouseQ_IMG_9207_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Most of Sunday was spent cracking on with the trackwork on Brewhouse Quay. Once you get going this form of track contruction can be remarkably speedy.

The most tricky bit of track is now complete apart from the hidden staging yard bits, the siding in the distance, and gapping sleepers and rails so it actually works. Most of the area in the foreground will be cobbled, it forming part of the canal wharf - hence all the additional check rails.

Brewery Project Approved by the Cat!

As a brief diversion from my Mendip Colliery project, and because I have a spare freshly made 4ft x 2ft baseboard kicking about as well as a keen magazine editor hungry for stuff like this, I've decided to do a quickie in the form of a brewery based around the excellent Bachmann Scenecraft Oak Hill Brewery buildings.

Interestingly enough, the Oakhill Brewery did really exist, and in the early part of the 20th century was served by a 2ft 6 inch gauge railway from the standard gauge S&DJR at nearby Binegar. Sadly the brewery closed its doors for good in 2004 when its owner retired. The real buildings have however since been converted into private dwellings.


My project will be standard gauge, and whilst I have yet to design a trackplan, it's likely to be a simple run-around loop with a couple of sidings coming off it to allow a little shunting with smaller locomotives like a Pug and the forthcoming Model Rail/Dapol Sentinel. 


Why the cat? Well she (Fleur) made a pretty picture I'm sure you'll agree, and obviously she approves of the baseboard and buildings dotted about on this fledgeling project.

 

Mock up of possible brewery layout, with all trains entering and leaving via a tight alleyway between the brewery buildings.

 

A sneak preview of the Model Rail/Dapol sentinels. See George Dent's BLOG for more photos

 

Sweet Running Hornby Pug

nevard_101128_cementQ_IMG_8459_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

A tiny ex Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Pug is captured shunting wagons through the loading screen at Cement Quay.

This little loco I picked up on Ebay just over a year ago, it has since had a repaint, a renumber to one of Radstock's shunters, a little extra detail and a dose weathering.

After completing the above and being an 0-4-0 I wasn't expecting the best performance, with some sticking, wobble and jerkiness due to just 4 wheels. But, after a good run in and widening the wheels to the non-OO spec back to back of 14.7mm it runs a dream through all sorts of track from Peco to handbuilt C & L. I'm sure the widening is the key because the reduced side to to side play has improved electrical pick up. I notice too that this little loco is again part of Hornby's 2011 range. All we need now is one of the keen cottage etchers to produce a replacment cab, the plastic one looking rather too thick, just cabside overlays would do - any takers?

Pic of the day

nevard_100502_combwich_by_IMG_6741_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

An ex Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 'Pug' No 51202 shunts the wharf sidings at Combwich in early October 1955.

The loco is a repainted a detailed up Hornby, the van a Chivers Finelines LNER Dia 120 4W BY Pigeon Brake Van kit.

The photograph is 3 identically composed shots, but focussed on different key points. The images were then combined with 'Helicon Focus' to extend the depth of field. Natural window light was used. The sky has been added as an extra layer to hide the spare bedroom wall.