Class 42 'Highflyer' on freight duties passes through Hewish Gates.
View the cover here.
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Wednesday, 1 August 2018
Saturday, 23 June 2018
An Unexpected Find
Blue Pool on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset is a privately owned tranquil landscape open to the public by admission charge. The main feature is a man made lake resulting from clay quarrying. The water takes on hues of green or blue whatever the weather condition, hence the name. The effect is due to light refracted by suspended clay particles in the water.
On the face of it there is not much else there to attract tourists. Not true because there are lovely woodland walks, a tea room, shop, a quirky display of teddy bears set in dioramas and a small museum displaying wildlife and artifacts created from the processing of clay, for which this area is renowned.
Imagine my surprise when I entered the museum to find a model railway display. Quite unexpected although had I visited their website before attending I would have known about it. It is not of the typical displays found at resorts that tend to be fictitious locations full of track and trains whizzing about to entertain tourists. It is a 4mm scale model of The Pike Brothers Furzebrook clay workings and in particular the narrow gauge railways that once served the area.
I was enthralled by the attention to detail of the modeller, R. Dyson. It took him about 10 years of free time to research and construct. It resided in a spare bedroom of his home. When the time came to reclaim the bedroom for other purposes it was donated(or sold?) to the museum.
Today it is a static corner diorama about 2m by 2m. The layout includes a section of the Swanage Branch line with siding to the works. On the branch line is an M7 locomotive pulling two coaches.
The Swanage heritage railway is well known and a visit to it is essential for enthusiasts when in the area. I have visited several times before. This visit was spent admiring the architecture of Corfe and Swanage stations for real, having recently modelled Corfe station building and goods shed from only plans and photographs. Not much attention was paid to the locomotives and rolling stock, apart from a privileged interior viewing of a Maunsell open 3rd carriage undergoing restoration.
On duty this day was a Class 33 diesel and Class 4MT tank engine, both to be found on the line in British Railway days. This aerial view of Corfe Station (with class 33) is often photographed. I assumed they were taken from a plane or drone but no, I snapped this one from the ramparts of Corfe Castle (scary height)!
On the face of it there is not much else there to attract tourists. Not true because there are lovely woodland walks, a tea room, shop, a quirky display of teddy bears set in dioramas and a small museum displaying wildlife and artifacts created from the processing of clay, for which this area is renowned.
Imagine my surprise when I entered the museum to find a model railway display. Quite unexpected although had I visited their website before attending I would have known about it. It is not of the typical displays found at resorts that tend to be fictitious locations full of track and trains whizzing about to entertain tourists. It is a 4mm scale model of The Pike Brothers Furzebrook clay workings and in particular the narrow gauge railways that once served the area.
On duty this day was a Class 33 diesel and Class 4MT tank engine, both to be found on the line in British Railway days. This aerial view of Corfe Station (with class 33) is often photographed. I assumed they were taken from a plane or drone but no, I snapped this one from the ramparts of Corfe Castle (scary height)!
Class 4MT 80104 approaching Corfe from Norden.
Friday, 4 May 2018
LSWR No. 1 Goods Shed - 5
The Galbraith North Cornwall drawing shows a shed crane position at the opposite end of
the shed to the office. I assumed Corfe Castle Goods Shed would be the same. I was wrong!
There is a cross beam arrangement between the two rafters either side of the doors, giving the appearance of an 'A' frame that went wrong. It looked a little odd to me but I assumed it was for strengthening purposes. That was until my research into LSWR shed cranes revealed they were held in place by pivots in the floor and in the roof beams. Looking carefully at the Corfe building today the location of a pivot plate can clearly be seen at the centre of the cross beam, although the crane itself is missing. This places the crane at the office end of the building.
Having created a detailed interior for the model it would be amiss if a crane was not included so, here it is. It is a static model except it swivels 360 degrees arcing over the lorry loading bay and over the railway track.
I said in an earlier posting that the canopies and beams would be built into a removable roof. Having installed the crane I can see that it might be difficult to locate it in the pivot hole with a large roof getting in the way. To ease this I decided to keep the canopies and beams assembly separate and removable in their own right.
The crane is a 3D printed plastic kit I designed against actual photographs of LSWR cranes. Only 3 printed parts are needed plus some wire. Clearly this cannot be supplied with the Goods Shed downloadable card kit but, I will include a schematic. Hand built Goods Sheds supplied by me will include the crane model.
Unique to the Corfe building is a lean-to annex. In 1965/66 the wooden annex was rebuilt with what looks like breeze block, totally out of keeping with the goods shed style. I prefer to model the original wooden structure but photographic evidence of it has proved elusive so, it will not be included, which is no bad thing as it is in keeping with the original Galbraith North Cornwall design.
To Part 1.
There is a cross beam arrangement between the two rafters either side of the doors, giving the appearance of an 'A' frame that went wrong. It looked a little odd to me but I assumed it was for strengthening purposes. That was until my research into LSWR shed cranes revealed they were held in place by pivots in the floor and in the roof beams. Looking carefully at the Corfe building today the location of a pivot plate can clearly be seen at the centre of the cross beam, although the crane itself is missing. This places the crane at the office end of the building.
I said in an earlier posting that the canopies and beams would be built into a removable roof. Having installed the crane I can see that it might be difficult to locate it in the pivot hole with a large roof getting in the way. To ease this I decided to keep the canopies and beams assembly separate and removable in their own right.
Unique to the Corfe building is a lean-to annex. In 1965/66 the wooden annex was rebuilt with what looks like breeze block, totally out of keeping with the goods shed style. I prefer to model the original wooden structure but photographic evidence of it has proved elusive so, it will not be included, which is no bad thing as it is in keeping with the original Galbraith North Cornwall design.
Click an image for a larger view.
Lorry for illustrative purposes only.
END.To Part 1.
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