Wordless Wednesday

Strange goings on at Herstmonceux

Wordless Wednesday… Railex

Going Home..

This weekend sees Herstmonceux making its way to Railex which is regarded as one of the best shows in the country. As I said in my post back in April, Herstmonceux hasn’t been out since last July so much of last weekend was spent cleaning the layout and tidying up bits that needed attention. Rolling stock was checked, fixed where needed and packed away ready.
Yesterday it was the turn of the locos to get a good clean and repair any damage. I usually give them a good run and oil as most of them haven’t been used for a while. Wheels are cleaned with a cotton bud and IPA, surprisingly most of the wheels were fairly clean.

Why “Going home”? Well I was born in Aylesbury and grew up going to Railex with Dads trade stand, back when it was in the Civic Centre. One highlight was being lucky enough as 10 yr old to operate Jas Millham’s Yaxbury for the whole weekend, must be why I have an urge to build something in S gauge! So this weekend is rather special now that i’m getting to take one of my layouts to my home town show. All thats left is to make sure I’ve got everything and pack the van tomorrow.

 

 

 

Summer is here

One of the trains in Herstmonceux’s timetable is a Summer Special. Various inter-regional specials ran in the summer months. Some bringing holiday makers down to the Sussex coast and others taking people to different holiday destinations like Birkenhead or Blackpool. These usually had a SR Schools or Mogul replacing the loco that had brought the train in from another region although sometimes the loco from the other regions made it onto SR metals like Black 5’s, B1’s and even the odd 8F!

The idea for the one on Herstmonceux is it is on its way down to Hastings after being split at Three Bridges with the other part going to Brighton. The four coach train is made up of a couple of ex LNER Thompson’s, a Gresley and ex LMS Porthole and motive power is usually a Schools, K class or Black 5 if someone brings one along.
I had been looking to get a loco just for this train for a while but didn’t want to spend too much as it only runs a few times over a show weekend. So I recently picked up an older Bachmann B1 model for a good price. Being the older model it maybe doesn’t have as much detail as newer models but then I didn’t pay half as much as what the new ones cost and it gave me a chance to do a bit of modelling.
This was kept fairly simple, the plastic coal in the tender was cut out and a new inner made then some real coal added, new brake rigging made, loco crew added and some light weathering.

I may add a bit more weathering but for less than £30 i’m pretty pleased.

Wordless Wednesday.. The Future?!

Wordless Wednesday

Waiting for the train… Take 2.

Waiting for the train at Herstmonceux

Wordless Wednesday

Back to building buildings

Well Herstmonceux is now packed away in the shed again after its trip to Devon. Before the show I managed to get both the LBSCR Pull Push set and Birdcage set finished enough to use in the new timetable.  Barring a couple of odd coaches still in the “to do” pile I’m rather pleased to have all the coach sets done for the layout.
We had a good time at the show and even picked up the “Pete Lindsay Shield” for best layout voted for by the other exhibitors. The new timetable ran ok but needs a few tweaks in places before the layouts next outing in 2018

Although there was a small disaster just before the show when one of my operators favourite biscuits was out of stock in Aldi. Keeping operators happy is a hard task at the best of times so a plan was hatched to put things right…

So with Exeter out the way my focus is back on Tarring Neville and getting it finished for October. The last building I was working on is nearly finished. I just need to add a couple more small details and then it can be bedded into the layout. (and yes that is a Wampa and Stormtrooper in the background) 

The last building I need to make is based on a real building at Tarring Neville. I am only going to make the long large barn and will make a few slight changes to it so it fits the space I have.

And this is where i have got with it so far…