Mantles Wood - Not finished yet!

[metroland]

Welcome Back! It’s been a while.

Unfortunately I had quite a disaster with scenery which dented my mojo a bit, followed by a lot of family illnesses which were a major call on my time – hence no updates for ages.

In the meantime, early 2017 was quite a good time for decent locos being available in the new year at reasonable prices and I had some time to tinker with loco weathering and detailing, working a few minutes at a time. A Hornby D16 was renumbered as 62584 which was a Cambridge loco and worked Cambridge-Oxford services 1954-57 so was a good candidate for a cross-country train being diverted due to weekend engineering.
rev 62584 800px front by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Also Hornby’s delightful J15 was renumbered as 65405, one of the handful that were allocated to Neasden for the Watlington branch
rev J15 c 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

I missed out on the SLW Class 24 D5000 first time around, but this loco did work Marylebone-Nottingham trains (albeit slightly later than my timeframe). A 2nd-hand one came available on that well known auction site that often drains me of my funds and although not cheap at £140 buy-it-now was too good to pass. This is the one that changed everything.
rev D5000 excursion 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

It turned out that the vendor was a lady selling off her late father’s estate of railwayana and models, and this had been in a wardrobe along with other models waiting for that last great project that was sadly never going to happen. Whatever my problems, at least I was alive and kicking, and had had a decent amount of track down since mid 2015, so if I don’t get on with it, when would I?

In the interim, I’d been mulling over whether to have a backscene, and whether to have an additional spur for a standby electric loco at the London end of the station. This would mean relaying the bay platform road and a complete rebuild of the station. In the event, I went for both. Not sure why, but the backscene seems to come out more lurid in pics than to the naked eye. Possibly this is due to the fact the garage his 8 fluorescent lights, and the fact the camera resolves this differently than the human eye.

New spur for electric loco
rev Ground Signals 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

New spur seen from above
rev IMAG0194 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

The photos are a mix of my camera and camera-phone. I’ve discovered I can squeeze my phone in places the camera won’t go, but depth of field is tricky. However this shot hopefully illustrates the long view from the steam loco spur siding.
rev IMAG0190 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

During the long layoff, I also discovered 3D printing. This is a real boon though does come at a price. It meant I could lay quite long lengths of lineside cabling quickly and without it looking too untidy. Also the advent of a cable gantry (albeit at a price) got me out of a real jam where I had to bypass the loco stabling point at the country end in order to continue cabling round to the turnback siding.
rev Gantry 28mm lens 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr
rev Gantry 50mm lens 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

A couple of pics of Q stock in areas which aren’t yet complete
rev IMAG0198 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr
rev IMAG0200 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

With the loco servicing area almost complete the railwaymen have found some time to tend to their allotment which is coming on well but needs further attention to blend it in completely
rev IMAG0188 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

I really don’t know when I’ll be able to do further updates but hopefully this catch up is of interest.

[metman]

Looking great! Hope all is well.

[theblackferret]

Thanks for sharing.

You do realize you are creating a work of art as well here-performance art when it's running too.

[metroland]

Thanks. You're very kind. Now where did I put my application form for the Turner prize?

[metroland]

Unfortunately early March 2018 saw the ‘Beast From The East’ roll in, and for the first time it was too cold to work in the garage for some days. Normally in winter the temperature drops to 4 deg C overnight (or more properly 39F for the period of this model). Occasionally it drops to 2C but in any case with good insulation, a couple of electric fires and a zipper jacket, it becomes bearable fairly quickly. Not so this winter! For the first time ever it was zero (or 32F) and with the cold winds, and just trying to walk a few steps from the house to the garage kept me out.

This was followed by some periods of family illnesses which rather put paid to further scenic work for a while as I couldn’t find enough long periods to be able to do the work I wanted. All was not lost as my mojo remained fairly intact. It did mean however, I was restricted to short spells of painting and weathering stock – grabbing a few minutes here and there. As a result this update is just ‘new’ items of stock.

Ex-LNWR G2a 49061 from Bletchley shed has been seen quite often recently wheezing her way around with coal trains.

rev 49061 front 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr
rev 49061 curve 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Our local carriage enthusiast has got quite excited with sightings of some cascaded Eastern Region stock including this Thompson Composite on an Oxford-Cambridge working.
rev Thompson Composite 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

This Gresley 8 compartment 3rd looks like it’s spent far too much time commuting to the smoke.
rev Gresley 8 compartment 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

I’d like to add some figures to the Hornby coaches but those footboards are just so delicate I can’t seem to get the bodies off without wrecking them so I guess they’ll have to spend their lives working ecs.

[theblackferret]

Thanks for another update & great set of photos.

Vide your lack of passengers. This will sound fiddly, but might solve it, feel free to laugh if not---------can you cut the carriage windows away to be seamlessly glued back on after carriage entraining?

If so, could you then use tweezers to pass passengers through to seats, said passengers having suitably-gluespotted posteriors?

[metroland]

Thanks for the suggestion but I think 'seamlessly' is beyond my skill set!

[ducatisti]

lovely model!

[metroland]

It’s been an odd couple of months. Rampaging growth in the garden, a prolonged hot spell, and carer duties have conspired to stop me spending any long periods in the garage. However, I seem to have engineered quite a lot of 30-40 min sessions to work on stock and got quite a lot done. Additional scenery will have to wait until the autumn but here’s some new stuff.

I’d had a Heljan Sherlock Holmes for some time. It’s a great loco but of course the finish is ex-works. At over £100 I wasn’t keen to make a mess of it.
rev Sherlock Holmes 800 px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Recently Hattons have had George Romily for about £75 – whilst not exactly small change, given the price of new locos these days it’s by no means a bad price, so I took the plunge and had a go at converting her to Sir Ralph Verney in weathered condition. (Modelmaster have stopped doing Met BoBo nameplates so I snapped up 4 of them, though doubt I’ll have that big a fleet but it was another reason to ‘have a go’)
rev Sir Ralph Verney box 800 px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

A shot of No.3 in the stabling area awaiting her next turn.
rev Sir Ralph Verney shed c 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Many of you will be familiar with the series of pics on the ltmuseum web site of the final coal delivery to Chiltern Court (the building above Baker Street station). I can’t recreate it exactly so in my world, deliveries continued a while but of coke/coalite in hired-in BR wagons.
rev Sir Ralph Verney goods 800 px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Hornby’s Britannia is a great loco but they’ve been trying hard lately to turn it into more of a toylike appearance.
rev Thomas Hardy RHS 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

With a bit of work she can be made a lot more realistic. I wanted one with the revised WR smoke deflectors and what better choice than 70026 Polar Star which caused the change? I’ve found pics of 3 locos that have the revised deflectors and the earlier crest but decided to go with Polar Star – seen here on a Saturday poshex using the stock from the South Wales Pullman which would otherwise have been idle.
rev Polar Star 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

And finally…… I’ve found a way into the Hornby Gresley compartment stock without doing much damage, so managed to put a smattering of passengers in them so they’re not so bare, and don’t have to run ecs any more.
rev Gresley plus L1 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

[metroland]

My wife died shortly after the last update. Needless to say very little progress has taken place since then. However, she was always very encouraging and I intend to carry on this autumn. This update is therefore a bit unusual as it’s mostly about what I intend to do rather than what I have actually done.

I needed to construct a subway between the platforms. Stations such as Chorleywood and Chalfont and Latimer have these so it’s prototypical for the area. I’ve experimented with Archers rivets. From tutorials on Youtube etc they seemed to be a bit tricky and so it turned out. Carrier film is quite visible close up, though to be fair they do say these are meant to be applied before paint is added but I’d already painted these sheets battleship grey.

rev subway rivets a 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

With weathering and viewed from a more normal distance the carrier film mostly disappears. I probably need to attend to the weathering once ground cover is added and/or have another go as this was my first attempt.

rev subway rivets weathered 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Just before we moved here OO Works produced a run of about 200 LNER C13’s which were available in plain black, LNER black or BR black. At around £200 each I couldn’t be certain I’d have a layout here, or what area it would be, though my last layout was the same general area. It’s one of those decisions that even with hindsight you’re never sure if you did the right thing or not. Anyway, by the time I had something of a layout here and knew I could accommodate a C13 they were long sold out.

In 4 years down here this is only the 3rd I’ve seen come up on ebay and they’ve all been LNER ones. This time I bit the bullet and got this LNER one which shouldn’t be a difficult job to change to BR.

rev LNER C13 front 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr
I doubt I’ll ever have an Ashbury set but as I’m not specifically doing the Chesham branch, decided to pair her with an LNER push-pull set. The composite has now been replaced by an all 3rd (which is actually a downgraded all 1st).

rev wide view C13 propel 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr
rev ground view C13 leading 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

I’m quite happy with this set as it seems to fulfil a need for some rural connecting service towards the end of the Metropolitan Line.

At the moment the plan is to concentrate on filling the foreground at the ‘London’ end of the layout to produce some better ‘train in the landscape’ photo opps.

rev wide view scenic space 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

[bassmike]

Sorry to hear about your wife. (same thing happened to me last Dec:) Just keep going. Mike Durell.

[metman]

Sorry to hear the news. I’m glad she was supportive so it’s pleasing to see more progress.

Love the C13. I’d love a Robinson A5 for my Harrow layout but they are hard to get hold of.

Keep up the great work and keep your chin up (I know it’s easy to say).

[metroland]

Happy New Year 1959 style!

rev Q stock allotment by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

I was hoping to have the next module finished by now, and I can say hand on heart that it nearly is. I have several pics to process but having seen the first ones have noticed a few bits that need attention. Late 50’s and early 60’s still saw plenty of allotments close to the railways, and one of our local crew is grabbing a few minutes to tend to some fruit and veg.

In the past I’ve built some modules to place behind the running tracks so I’m not continually leaning over and dislodging things. I thought I’d have a go at building a module for the front embankment as it meant I could make much more mess on the workbench. Here’s a snapshot of earlier progress, before it was installed.

rev Front Module b 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Hopefully not too long before I can show how that white area has been filled.

[metroland]

1st January 1959 is a normal working day in England, though the lunchtime news on the wireless has reported large amounts of absenteeism across manufacturing industry. My dad no longer cycles to work but has a 2nd hand Ford Popular, a sign that car ownership is on the rise and public transport is in decline. (Dr) Richard Beeching is a technical director with ICI, of whom most people have no knowledge.

The tending of allotments close to railway lines is still widespread but there are signs of decline and change in the air. Only a couple of years ago Harold MacMillan berated us ingrates over the fact we’ve never had it so good. What more could we want? The entrance to the sub-station had lovely wrought iron railings pre-war, but they were cut down as part of the war effort, only to be replaced by awful concrete and wire mesh affairs which have already lasted a decade and half. Surely we could afford to replace it with proper fencing now?

There’s been a decline in moral standards since ITV started broadcasting. Some people are saying the adverts are the best thing on the telly. 'You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent'. Coronation Street is still 18 months away so Emergency Ward 10 is the biggest soap on the telly. At least there’s National Service to sort out the young tearaways. Many people think the 60's will usher in an era of change. And yet, scenes like these feel like they will continue for ever......


rev D5537 aerial view lower angle 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

rev fencing 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

rev L99 through trees 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

rev Q27 ground level 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

rev track level mobile phone shot 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

(I need to add a brick retaining wall at the far end of the embankment and have yet to build road/embankment lead to the LH side of overbridge)

[metroland]

Ooops! Before anyone notices, D5537 seems to have arrived here 6 months before entering service. I thought it was on a peak hour working from Broad St but it must be on some protracted proving runs.... Actually my timeframe is normally a bit fluid 1956-61 but by creating a back story for 1st Jan 1959 I overlooked this. 1st Jan 1959 was a Thursday and not Sat/Sun so would have been a working day.

[metman]

Really looking superb!

[theblackferret]

Hope you can find room for a Scammell Mechanical Horse in there-see Corgi Toys do a reproduction one in BR Maroon livery.

Really is very good already!!


If you add audio, here's the chart for 1.1.59 ready for the jukebox:


TwitConway

[metroland]

I have a Scammell somewhere, maybe it'll make a cameo appearance sometime!

[metroland]

The 3rd February 1959 was The Day The Music Died. On the night of 2nd Feb Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper gave what was to be their last concert at Clear Lake Iowa. In the early hours of 3rd Feb they took off from nearby Mason City Iowa, a flight which ended in tragedy. Back in 2005 my late wife and I visited the area, and took the opportunity to film the ancient electric locos of Iowa Traction Railway.
rev Mason City IATR 60 trestle July05 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Meanwhile back in Merrie Englande life continued much as it had done in the post-war era. Sir Ralph Verney approaches Mantles Wood with a train for Aylesbury.
rev Sir Ralph Verney approach shot 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

At the north end of the station Neasden’s 4MT 80147 has just attached to the Dreadnoughts. A stray WW2 bomb blew the roof off at this end but the superstructure still stands, rusting quietly.
rev skeleton 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

After the passenger working had departed, a mixed goods follows. Old George has finished his early shift and is waiting for a lift – maybe he’s contemplating the gold watch he’s due to receive shortly?
rev waiting for lift 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

After the ‘main line’ activity Mantles Wood returns to its bucolic self. Perhaps the Scammell driver will offer George a lift? In those far off days no-one bothered themselves about the possible insurance issues of such actions.
rev L92 bunker shot 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

[metroland]

While we were away Russ Conway spent 4 weeks at Number 1 with Side Saddle. Coral records were pressing vinyl for all they were worth during this period and 03May 1959 Buddy Holly came in at Number 1 for 3 weeks with It Doesn’t Matter Any More – making it the UK’s first posthumous Number 1 record.

The old and the new can be seen at Mantles Wood. Neasden’s C13’s were normally in a filthy state as we can see from 67420 entering the bay with the push-pull set.

rev C13 arrival 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Meanwhile the future has arrived in the shape of D601 Ark Royal which has escaped from her normal workings to the West Country to perform on a Paddington-Wolverhampton Low Level express.

rev D601 Ark Royal 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

[class411]

Wonderful!

Clearly a work of art.

[metroland]

Back in May/June 1959 Elvis spent 5 weeks at number 1 with A Fool Such As I/I Need Your Love Tonight – presumably not much competition at the time. In fact the top of the hit parade was quite slow moving. Russ Conway had 2 weeks with Roulette and then from the end of June to almost the end of July Bobby Darin was number 1 with Dream Lover – destined to become a classic.

Elsewhere, the space race was hotting up with the Russians chalking up firsts or attempted firsts. Luna E-1A was launched in June attempting to make the first moon landing (Luna 1 had exited earth orbit in January). Unfortunately Luna E-1A was aborted after 153 seconds but Luna E-2 in Sept would become the first man-made item to intentionally land there. Dunno what the Americans are doing but they seem pretty angry.

Meanwhile back on Mantles Wood life plods on regardless. I’ve been working on the disused goods yard where facilities were withdrawn at the outbreak of hostilities. The staff had quickly grabbed part of the plot to dig for victory, and 14 years after the end of the war, allotments are still a big part in the lives of many.

A ramp had been built at the station end some years back and an unofficial parcels entrance had been created. Not much sign of a space race here as C13 67420 awaits her next local trip.

rev C13 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

A rake of Q stock arrives from the city.

rev Q stock 900px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Later on, we see what was to become the Class 128 DPU had been introduced in 1959. Let’s hope it spurs a revival in parcels traffic in the area.

rev Class 128 a 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

rev Class 128 b 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

[theblackferret]

Spot on with the proliferation of allotments-I saw a lot of them that summer on the way to the family's two weeks away, whether by rail from Liverpool Street, or in Dad's works van via the East End & under the trolleybus wires, to Walton-on-the-Naze. The runner-bean wigwams would also remain de riguer for many more years.

1959 was also the year of the Indian Summer and one in which the top ten usually had at least three entries, often more, in it on the London American label.

Bobby Darin that year went top again with Mack The Knife, following one-hit wonder Jerry Keller Here Comes Summer, all on London American, as was the first new #1 that year, Jane Morgan & The Day The Rains Came, which had her version of the French original on the B-side, this being written by Gilbert Becaud-Le Jour Ou La Pluie Viendra. Not only probably the only #1 with a different language version on each side, but probably also the only one with a change of tense, too.

Anyway, you've captured the scene of that summer very well, not just the surroundings, but the railway and its' associated infrastructure-it seems to me to be like a photo-montage on 1959 in England, or at least how my 7-years' old eyes saw it.

[metman]

Looking good sir. Are we going to see a brand new silver A stock on test in a year or two?

[class411]

More wonderful shots.

This brings back so many memories, of my extreme childhood, the way the railways were then, and having a train set. The arrival of the latest Triang catalogue was eagerly awaited each year.

Back then our house in Ealing backed onto a set of allotments. Not as oversubscribed as they are now. My father had one officially and used another two that no one had rented. The next human artefact after passing through the allotments was Castle Bar Park Halt railway station. All that land is schools now.

[metroland]

Thanks for your kind comments guys. Afraid it's just like the real thing - any chance of A stock in service is stretching further and further into the future

[westville13]

Thank you metroland for all this wonderful modeling and particularly for reminding me of runner bean wigwams. My father had a battered set of bamboo sticks which were brought out each year and tied together with red tape (the real thing). Don't forget the black fly on the broad beans and the cabbage white butterflies...….

[littlejohn]

I have just come back from watering my broad bean wigwams at my allotment. Runner beans are on the usual long, tent-like structure.

[metroland]

Summer and autumn 1959 has been marked by having a number of No.1 hits staying quite some time at the top. Since we were last here, Bobby Darin spent 4 weeks with Dream Lover, Cliff Richard and the Shadows 6 weeks with Living Doll, Craig Douglas 4 weeks with Only Sixteen, Jerry Keller just one week with Here Comes Summer and Bobby Darin 2 weeks with Mack The Knife. Cliff and the Shadows are about to embark on 5 weeks’ residence with Travelling Light. All these are pretty much seen as classics and get a lot of plays to this day. I won’t be around in 2069 but would lay odds 2019’s selection won’t be this well remembered.

On the news front quite a lot has been happening.
Jul 4 America's new 49-star flag honouring Alaska statehood unfurled
Jul 17 Tibet abolishes serfdom
Jul22 Plan 9 from Outer Space premiered
Jul 25 SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours.
Jul 28 – UK postcodes are introduced for the first time, as an experiment, in the city of Norwich
Aug 4 – Barclays become the first UK bank to install a computer.
Aug 21 Hawaii becomes the 50th US state, making the 49-star US flag rather short lived
Aug 26 – BMC launches the Mini
Sep 14 Soviet Union's Luna-2 is 1st spacecraft to land on the Moon
Sep 19 Nikita Khrushchev is denied access to Disneyland
Oct 4 USSR Luna 3 sent back 1st photos of Moon's far side


Meanwhile back at Mantles Wood not so much has been happening. Life’s rather got in the way this summer and autumn and no work has been done on the scenic side. However, as and when I had a few mins, I’ve been working on several items of rolling stock.

I took the plunge and bought a couple of the resin bodied Dreadnoughts. I haven’t done a step by step set of pics. These of course are somewhat lighter than the white metal ones though still quite sturdy. The mounting of the bogies and their running is a much better arrangement. I checked the back to back measurements on the wheels supplied and they were a touch too narrow for my liking (though nothing like how narrow Hornby wheelset often are). Opening the wheelsets out before mounting was easy enough and I’ve had no trouble with the running on Code 100 rails.

I still find the roofs a challenge. On the declassified 1st this wasn’t too bad. On the 9 compartment 3rd I’m working on - it could be some time as Capt Oates would say.

Herewith the ex 1st class 7 compartment coach. The roof still needs dirtying, otherwise it’s pretty much done.

rev Dreadnought 1st 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

Work in progress on the 9 cmpt 3rd.

rev Dreadnought 3rd 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

I also bought one of the LT flat wagons, not realising RT models do a bogie casting for this. It comes with a couple of Bachmann Y25 bogies but I couldn’t see how to get them to work without fouling the lower body sides. Not knowing about the RT Models product I butchered some bogies I had for replacing EFE tube car bogies.
www.shapeways.com/product/VKTZLGR57/trailer-bogies-for-efe-1959-tube-stock?optionId=19725617&li=ostatus

Recent changes to the value of the £ and changes to Shapeways pricing mean these are somewhat pricier now than when I bought them a couple of years ago, especially as you still have to source wheelsets (and bearings, but these are quite cheap).

I chopped about 2mm off the central tower and drilled through the middle of the bogie (and of course the wagon floor) to take an 8BA bolt and nut. Despite this butchery it seems to have worked ok and the wagon is a free runner and negotiates my curves.

rev flat wagon 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr


The brake van in the above picture was an old Bachmann one with horrible moulded handrails in BR livery, so I decided to try and tart it up a bit. This pic doesn’t show it in a good light but parked in a far away siding adds a bit more LT stock to add interest (though in fact it’s actually a bit late for my layout – they entered service 1962)

Whilst on the subject of tarting things up I had a spare unpainted Bachmann 3 plank wagon so gave that a bit of LT treatment – it’s the nearer of the 2 in this pic, the further one having been done some years earlier. Speaking of doing things earlier, Blue Peter’s been going a year now – wonder if it will last?
rev 3 plank wagon 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

And finally some non-LT stock. I intend to have a Summer Saturday set for working eg Margate/Ramsgate to The Black Country to add some interest (and green coaches hauled by ex GWR locos). Back in the early 90’s Bachmann (there’s a lot of Bachmann in this upate isn’t there) introduced some Bulleid’s which were the bee’s knees back then. After years of producing glossy carriages it became the new norm to knock out carriages in matt.
rev Bulleid original 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr
The trouble is that although things got a lot of grime, carriages still went through the washer and weren’t totally matt. Here’s one I’ve buffed up a bit: New glazing, passengers, light weathering and added a bit of a sheen to the paintwork.

rev Bulleid weathered etc 800px by Sarah S1ddons, on Flickr

[theblackferret]

Thanks for the update-really is quite brilliant and I'd love to know how you avoided the temptation to commemorate Plan 9;must have been difficult not to have Eros & Tanner manning the Scammell.