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CHELTENHAM GWR MODELLERS GROUP

MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION


SATURDAY 26 APRIL AND SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER 2013

  
 

 		    
  SPONSORED BY  
 

 

    
  Cheltenham Model Centre  
 

 

    
 

Click here for Introduction and future exhibition information

  
   

 

  
 

THE NEXT EXHIBITION WILL BE HELD ON

SATURDAY 25 AND SUNDAY 26 OCTOBER 2014

  
 

 		    
 

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A delightful Crimson Lake interloper into the mainly Brunswick Green scene was Midland Railway Compound 1000. The use of compound locomotives in Britain was never as widespread as it was in France and other European countries but in 1902 Samuel Waite Johnson introduced this 4-4-0 as the first of a class of Smith System compounds that would be built in successive batches for the next 30 years, 45 for the Midland Railway itself and 195 by the London Midland & Scottish Railway Railway after 1923. 1000 was rebuilt in 1914 and operated in normal traffic until 1951, being restored to its 1907 livery for working special trains in 1959. It has since been displayed at Clapham and York and is currently preserved in Scotland.

    
 

 

      
 

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images/CLIC 2013_Abbotswood Junction_cutting.jpg

    
 

 

      
 

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LAYOUT AND ATTRACTION REVIEW

  
 

 		    
  SYREFORD by Roger Brown

0-16.5 Gauge 7mm Scale

 
 

 		    
 

The Cheltenham & Cotswold Hills Railway Company was proposed in 1811 to carry the products of the Stone Pipe Company from Lower Guiting to a junction with the Leckhampton branch of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramway and via there to Gloucester Docks. The Act of Parliament for the 3' 6" gauge plateway failed at its third reading in May 1812 and the Stone Pipe Company also failed soon after when installed systems in London and Manchester would - literally - not hold water!

 
 

 		     
  The Cheltenham & Cotswold Hills Railway Company was proposed in 1811 to carry the products of the Stone Pipe Company from Lower Guiting to a junction with the Leckhampton branch of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramway and via there to Gloucester Docks. The Act of Parliament for the 3' 6" gauge plateway failed at its third reading in May 1812 and the Stone Pipe Company also failed soon after when installed systems in London and Manchester would - literally - not hold water!

Syreford Station represented the upper terminus of the viable part of the line, had it been built and survived the Stone Pipe Company's failure. The line was by now a 2' 4" gauge edge railway and was depicted in the early 1950s when tourism became a significant portion of remunerative traffic.

Track was hand built and buildings are scribed styrene sheet or textured DAS PRONTO on ply shells. Scenery was carved from polystyrene foam coated with Artex and covered with commercial scatter materials. The trees were twisted wire frames with Woodland Scenics foliage and the back scene was a view of Sandhurst Hill as seen from Sandhurst village, near Gloucester.

Locomotives and rolling stock were a mixture of scratch and kit built vehicles, some with modified proprietary components. Pictured above for example, is a model of the Kerr Stuart diesel mechanical locomotive which ran on the Welsh Highland Railway and was photographed at Dinas in 1928 by L.T.C. Rolt, who was then one of Kerr Stuart's Premium Apprentices following in the footsteps of Supermarine Spitfire aircraft designer Reginald Mitchell.

Founded in Glasgow in 1881, James Kerr and Company became Kerr, Stuart and Company in 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a partner. The business began as an agency ordering locomotives from established manufacturers such as Falcon of Loughborough, John Fowler of Leeds and Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning of Stoke on Trent. In 1892 Kerr, Stuart and Company bought Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning and moved into Stoke on Trent's California Works to begin building their own locomotives. The railway and tramway plant division of Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning was then sold to Dick, Kerr and Company in Preston.

As well as an illustrious output of steam locomotives and railcars for home and export use, Kerr Stuart introduced a range of roller chain driven diesel mechanical locomotives in the late 1920s. Available in a range of track gauges, their McLaren Benz prime movers were also supplied in 2 cylinder (30 bhp) 4 cylinder (60 bhp) and 6 cylinder (90bhp) formats.

However, Kerr, Stuart and Company entered receivership in 1930 with goodwill (design and spare parts) going to Hunslet of Leeds although many staff - including the Chief Draughtsman - joined Stafford based W.G.Bagnall who continued to manufacture Kerr Stuart steam locomotive designs.

  
 

 

    
 

Founded in Glasgow in 1881, James Kerr and Company became Kerr, Stuart and Company in 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a partner. The business began as an agency ordering locomotives from established manufacturers such as Falcon of Loughborough, John Fowler of Leeds and Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning of Stoke on Trent. In 1892 Kerr, Stuart and Company bought Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning and moved into Stoke on Trent's California Works to begin building their own locomotives. The railway and tramway plant division of Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning was then sold to Dick, Kerr and Company in Preston.

  
 

 

    
  COMBE ABBOT by Alan Postlethwaite

00 Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

This branch terminus was joint GWR/ LSWR and became part of the SR at the 1923 Grouping. Set in Wiltshire around 1950, liveries were a mix of GWR, SR and early BR. Trains ran to Westbury (BR-W) and to Salisbury (BR-S). The latter included 3-coach sets which attach to Exeter-Waterloo services. There were also push-pull trains - as hauled by long wheelbase M7 0-4-4T 51, above, and an equivalent GWR 0-6-0PT, seen with Schools 4-4-0 907 "Dulwich", below - local goods, a weed-killing train and Army tank traffic to a sub-branch on Salisbury Plain. Built originally by Keith Blake from Bromsgrove, Combe Abbot was refurbished during 2010-12 and features a fiddle yard with eight train cassettes. Track on the 17' x 3' layout was SMP with wire-in-tube point operation and there were two Gaugemaster Combi controllers.

  
 

 

    
  This branch terminus was joint GWR/ LSWR and became part of the SR at the 1923 Grouping. Set in Wiltshire around 1950, liveries were a mix of GWR, SR and early BR. Trains ran to Westbury (BR-W) and to Salisbury (BR-S). The latter included 3-coach sets which attach to Exeter-Waterloo services. There were also push-pull trains - as hauled by long wheelbase M7 0-4-4T 51, above, and  an equivalent GWR 0-6-0PT, seen with Schools 4-4-0 907 "Dulwich", below -  local goods, a weed-killing train and Army tank traffic to a sub-branch on Salisbury Plain. Built originally by Keith Blake from Bromsgrove, Combe Abbot was refurbished during 2010-12 and features a fiddle yard with eight train cassettes. Track on the 17' x 3' layout was SMP with wire-in-tube point operation and there were two Gaugemaster Combi controllers - on e for the trains and one for the turntable surrounded by foxes!  The ARP signalbox was also scratchbuilt and the four baseboard sections were G-clamped together on five new trestles.  
 

 

    
 

This branch terminus was joint GWR/ LSWR and became part of the SR at the 1923 Grouping. Set in Wiltshire around 1950, liveries were a mix of GWR, SR and early BR. Trains ran to Westbury (BR-W) and to Salisbury (BR-S). The latter included 3-coach sets which attach to Exeter-Waterloo services. There were also push-pull trains - as hauled by long wheelbase M7 0-4-4T 51, above, and an equivalent GWR 0-6-0PT, seen with Schools 4-4-0 907 "Dulwich", below - local goods, a weed-killing train and Army tank traffic to a sub-branch on Salisbury Plain. Built originally by Keith Blake from Bromsgrove, Combe Abbot was refurbished during 2010-12 and features a fiddle yard with eight train cassettes. Track on the 17' x 3' layout was SMP with wire-in-tube point operation and there were two Gaugemaster Combi controllers.

  
 

 

    
  CONDICOTE by Bob Vaughan

00 Gauge 4mm Scale

 
 

 

    
 

As exhibited, Condicote - named after the location in John Masefield's novel "The Hawbucks" - represented a branch line terminal somewhere in the Worcestershire area either in the late 1930's under Great Western Control, or in the 1950s under the auspices of British Railways Midland or even Southern Region.

  
 

 

    
  As exhibited, Condicote - named after the location in John Masefield's novel "The Hawbucks" - represented a branch line terminal somewhere in the Worcestershire area either in the late 1930's under Great Western Control, or in the 1950s  under the auspices of British Railways Midland or even Southern Region.

The kit built or ready to run rolling stock was fitted with Sprat and Winkle couplings (available from Andrew Hartshorne at Wizard Models), thereby freeing Condicote from the "hand of God" effect and maximising viewer attention on the work-stained appearance of the 6'4" x 11" layout, weathering having been created with acrylic paint, brown ink and matt varnish.

  
 

 

    
 

The kit built or ready to run rolling stock was fitted with Sprat and Winkle couplings (available from Andrew Hartshorne at Wizard Models), thereby freeing Condicote from the "hand of God" effect and maximising viewer attention on the work-stained appearance of the 6'4" x 11" layout, weathering having been created with acrylic paint, brown ink and matt varnish.

  
 

 

    
  EARL'S COURT by Terence Tew

00 Gauge 4mm Scale

 
 

 

    
 

Carrying the B2 headcode nearest the camera was W56297, one of nine Driving Trailer Seconds built in July 1958 by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company for use with its Class 122 "Bubblecars" - such as W55016 seen behind it - and the Pressed Steel Class 121s on high density outer London commuter work. Despite its cab being styled to match Gloucester's Class 122 railcars and Class 119 Diesel Multiple Units however, the 29 ton W56297 - and W56298 seen in GRCW official photo 5423 above - featured 95 seats in a non gangwayed saloon only accessible via side doors. Terence's model of W56297 - which later bacame part of Class 150 under TOPS - was built by heavily modifying a Lima Class 121. 

  
 

 

    
  Until 3 October 1940, the LNWR and then the LMS had run an electric passenger service from Willesden Junction to Earl's Court.  Many other railway companies had also, at various times, operated services over the West London Line, some of which continued to Earl's Court.

This layout - set in the early 1960s -  assumed that the LMS and GWR had built their own joint station at Earl's Court, enabling them to divert some of their commuter and local passenger trains away from Euston and Paddington.  Also at the joint station was a small parcels depot and sidings for a nearby dairy - seen below being used by a train headed by Class 22 diesel hydraulic B-B D6356

At St Margaret's Hall, Terence Tew and I were able to co-operate with my Heljan Class 128 Diesel Parcels Unit W55992 appearing as guest motive power on one of the analogue tracks running into Earl's Court and then being photographed as part of the Gloucester RCW diesel railcar line up above.

 
 

 

    
 

Carrying the B2 headcode nearest the camera was W56297, one of nine Driving Trailer Seconds built in July 1958 by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company for use with its Class 122 "Bubblecars" - such as W55016 seen behind it - and the Pressed Steel Class 121s on high density outer London commuter work. Despite its cab being styled to match Gloucester's Class 122 railcars and Class 119 Diesel Multiple Units however, the 29 ton W56297 - and W56298 seen in GRCW official photo 5423 above - featured 95 seats in a non gangwayed saloon only accessible via side doors. Terence's model of W56297 - which later bacame part of Class 150 under TOPS - was built by heavily modifying a Lima Class 121. 

  
 

 

    
 

Carrying the B2 headcode nearest the camera was W56297, one of nine Driving Trailer Seconds built in July 1958 by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company for use with its Class 122 "Bubblecars" - such as W55016 seen behind it - and the Pressed Steel Class 121s on high density outer London commuter work.  Despite its cab being styled to match Gloucester's Class 122 railcars and Class 119 Diesel Multiple Units however, the 29 ton  W56297 - and W56298 seen in GRCW official photo  5423 above - featured 95 seats in a non gangwayed saloon only accessible via side doors. Terence's model of W56297 - which later bacame part of Class 150 under TOPS -  was built by heavily modifying a Lima Class 121. 

  
 

 

    
 

Earl's Court - set in the early 1960s - assumed that the LMS and GWR had built their own joint station at Earl's Court, enabling them to divert some of their commuter and local passenger trains away from Euston and Paddington. Also at the joint station was a small parcels depot and sidings for a nearby dairy - seen below being used by a train headed by Class 22 diesel hydraulic B-B D6356

  
 

 

    
  EASTGATE TMD by Les Williams

00 Gauge 4mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

Eastgate was a typical 1970s London Midland Region motive power depot servicing locomotives from nearby marshalling yards - and even the odd visiting Deltic! The layout was built around Peco Code 100 Streamline track, a fully lit Peco motive power shed, Dapol figures and Knightwing fuelling point. Of particular interest were the yellow British Rail van and lubricating oil tank wagon - seen next to 46 053 below - and 08 402 propelling NDV M84281 toward the pair of Class 20s in the picture above. Notice that both the English Electric 350 bhp 0-6-0 and the 1957 vintage Pressed Steel Gangwayed Brake Van have doors opened inward!

  
 

 

    
  Eastgate was a typical 1970s London Midland Region motive power depot servicing locomotives from nearby marshalling yards - and even the odd visiting Deltic! The layout was built around Peco Code 100 Streamline track, a fully lit Peco motive power shed, Dapol figures and Knightwing fuelling point.  Of particular interest were the yellow British Rail van and lubricating oil tank wagon - seen next to 46 053 below - and 08 402 propelling NDV M84281 toward the pair of Class 20s in the picture above.  Notice that both the English Electric  350 bhp 0-6-0 and the 1957 vintage Pressed Steel Gangwayed Brake Van have doors opened inward!  
 

 

    
 

Eastgate was a typical 1970s London Midland Region motive power depot servicing locomotives from nearby marshalling yards - and even the odd visiting Deltic! The layout was built around Peco Code 100 Streamline track, a fully lit Peco motive power shed, Dapol figures and Knightwing fuelling point. Of particular interest were the yellow British Rail van and lubricating oil tank wagon - seen next to 46 053 below - and 08 402 propelling NDV M84281 toward the pair of Class 20s in the picture above. Notice that both the English Electric 350 bhp 0-6-0 and the 1957 vintage Pressed Steel Gangwayed Brake Van have doors opened inward!

  
 

 

    
  LONDON ROAD LOCOMOTIVE SIDINGS by Adrian Full

00 Gauge 4mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

London Road Locomotive Sidings lay at the northern end of Westonmouth Central station, and provided a location for locomotives to stable between trips on passenger trains to and from all points on the Western Region. Diesel hydraulic types mingled with their diesel electric brothers providing constant interest and movement for the local spotters.

  
 

 

    
  London Road Locomotive Sidings lay at the northern end of Westonmouth Central station, and provided a location for locomotives to stable between trips on passenger trains to and from all points on the Western Region.  Diesel hydraulic types mingled with their diesel electric brothers providing constant interest and movement for the local spotters.

Inspired by photographs of the cramped sidings at London Liverpool Street, the ready supply of information available on the internet produced plenty of data to design and build the 6' x 1' layout which sits on some low book cases at home.

  
 

 

    
 

n fact the 25 July 1976 picture above shows 37 034 in the company of 37 026 and 47 038 at the country end of Liverpool Street with the shunter's cabin and first floor crew messroom visible under the girder bridge carrying Pindar Street EC2A. The sidings, girder bridge and taxi ramp to the right have all since disappeared during redevelopment of the station, now served by electric multiple units rather than locomotive hauled trains.

  
 

 

    
  In fact the 25 July 1976 picture above shows 37 034 in the company of 37 026 and 47 038 at the country end of Liverpool Street with the shunter's cabin and first floor crew messroom visible under the girder bridge carrying Pindar Street EC2A.  The sidings, girder bridge and taxi ramp to the right have all since disappeared during redevelopment of the station, now served by electric multiple units rather than locomotive hauled trains.  
 

 

    
 

D402 was given the Vulcan Works number 3771/D1142 before introduction in December 1967 - a year ahead of D449 - and so was only five months old when pictured at the head of 1S61 passing the building site that would eventually become the M6 motorway. It was also the first of the class not to be fitted from new with multiple unit jumper cables, although as can be seen from the model these had been retrofitted to the cab ends by 1975, when four digit train descriptions ceased to be displayed on the front of locomotives.

  
 

 

    
  In the earlier and cleaner times of April 1968,  English Electric locomotive D402 - modelled above as 402 - was photographed approaching Shap Summit  with a Euston-Glasgow express.  As recounted on other pages on this website, the fifty Class 50 Co-Cos were first leased to British Rail to cover the 1966-1974 electrification gap between Crewe and Glasgow before moving to Western Region to replace the Class 52 "Western" diesel hydraulics.   After the introduction of InterCity 125 trains to Brunel's billiard table, the Newton-le-Willows built Type 4s moved again to the former London and South Western Railway line to Exeter and finally on to engineering trains before withdrawal. 

D402 was given the Vulcan Works number 3771/D1142 before introduction in December 1967 - a year ahead of D449 - and so was only five months old when pictured at the head of 1S61 passing the building site that would eventually become the M6 motorway. It was also the first of the class not to be fitted from new with multiple unit jumper cables, although as can be seen from the model these had been retrofitted to the cab ends by 1975, when four digit train descriptions ceased to be displayed on the front of locomotives.

D402 was renumbered 50 002 in April 1974, named "Superb" in March 1978 and is now preserved on the South Devon Railway.

  
 

 

    
  PHITWELL END by Abingdon and District Model Railway Club

00 Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

Phitwell End represented a small yet busy secondary terminus in a large town with the main station in the town centre. Space restrictions in the centre allowed only basic servicing facilities so the motive power depot was built near this suburban station and on a higher level.

  
 

 

    
  Phitwell End represented a small yet busy secondary terminus in a large town with the main station in the town centre.  Space restrictions in the centre allowed only basic servicing facilities so the motive power depot was built near this suburban station and on a higher level.

Consequently, in between passenger and parcels services, larger locomotives from the main station arrived at and departed from the shed along with locomotive coal for the MPD.

18' 6" x 1' 6" Phitwell End, which was operated on a sequence card system, could have represented any era from Grouping to the 1970s and was traditionally built with plywood running surfaces and end panels on softwood frames.  The PECO trackwork was loose ballasted and fixed with white glue and buildings were either scratchbuilt or modified from kits while greenery was constructed from carved polystyrene blocks, covered with nappy liner and finished off with Woodland Scenics scatter and foliage material.  Trees were made from wire skeletons, covered in modelling clay and foliated by Woodland Scenics.

In contrast to former LMS 45532 "Illustrious", pictured above and a member of a sub class of Fowler's "Patriots" upgraded by Ivatt in 1946 with larger taper boilers, new cylinders and double chimneys, D5512 was one of the 20 pilot scheme Brush Type 2s from 1957 originally fitted with 1 250 bhp Mirrlees JVS12T engines and Red Circle electro-magnetic multiple unit control.  Due to crank case and bedplate fractures, these powerplants were replaced by English Electric 12SVT units and the rest of the 225 strong class continued to be built with more widely used Blue Star electro-pneumatic control gear.

  
 

 

    
 

In contrast to former LMS 45532 "Illustrious", pictured above and a member of a sub class of Fowler's "Patriots" upgraded by Ivatt in 1946 with larger taper boilers, new cylinders and double chimneys, D5512 was one of the 20 pilot scheme Brush Type 2s from 1957 originally fitted with 1 250 bhp Mirrlees JVS12T engines and Red Circle electro-magnetic multiple unit control. Due to crank case and bedplate fractures, these powerplants were replaced by English Electric 12SVT units and the rest of the 225 strong class continued to be built with more widely used Blue Star electro-pneumatic control gear.

  
 

 

    
  SNUG END by Graham Gatehouse

00 Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 		     
 

Micro Layout Snug End - which made its debut at Cheltenham - was inspired by a competition in the Hornby Magazine to build a diorama in 3 square feet (432 square inches) The baseboard was 45.4" x 9.5" but the upper railbus level can be extended at both ends and a third main line extension allowed trains to be changed.

  
 

 		    
  Micro Layout Snug End  - which made its debut at Cheltenham - was inspired by a competition in the Hornby Magazine to build a diorama in 3 square feet (432 square inches)  The baseboard was 45.4" x 9.5" but the upper railbus level can be extended at both ends and a third main line extension allowed trains to be changed.

The design - controlled by DCC or analog systems - was based on an Inglenook Shunting Puzzle and carefully design to allow the use of a Class 20 or Class 25 diesel.  The track was hand built using SMP parts with wye points of differing radii mounted on timber offcuts which only cost £ 9.00.  Two sets of mostly Bachmann rolling stock were used, one with modified hands-free couplings and the other with 3mm finescale Sprat and Winkle couplings.

  
 

 

    
 

The design - controlled by DCC or analog systems - was based on an Inglenook Shunting Puzzle and carefully design to allow the use of a Class 20 or Class 25 diesel. The track was hand built using SMP parts with wye points of differing radii mounted on timber offcuts which only cost £ 9.00. Two sets of mostly Bachmann rolling stock were used, one with modified hands-free couplings and the other with 3mm finescale Sprat and Winkle couplings.

  
 

 		     
  THOMAS by Cheltenham GWR Modellers 00 Gauge 4mm Scale   
 

 

    
  TOUCAN PARK by Alan Drewett and Roger and Robert Webb

00 Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

Saturday saw Robert's 1980s diesels - including the now-preserved 50 007 "Sir Edward Elgar", pictured below - taking over while on Sunday Class 22 D6320 ran along side my own British Thomson-Houston D8233, which last appeared on Universal Works in Nearly Feltham. Roger's other North British Type 2 - D6313 - made an appearance last year alongside my Steam Superpower display and - before and after working to Earl's Court - DPU W55992 also made an appearance, as did the Regent tank wagon last seen in the window of Cheltenham Model Centre.

  
 

 

    
  The Park Royal Guinness Brewery opened in 1937 and Toucan Park - named after the famous Guinness advertisement - supposes that the rail connection to the Brewery was continued to meet the West Coast Main Line at Wembley as a Depression era job creation scheme, a diversionary route against future aerial bombardment ( Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe having been officially announced in 1935 in defiance of the 1919 Versailles Treaty ) and as a possible first section of a London Orbital Railway

A locomotive depot was added in 1938 to supplement nearby Old Oak Common and Willesden and this stayed open as usual throughout the Blitz until taking a direct hit from a V2 rocket in 1944, after which it was more open than usual.  Following the introduction of Freightliner traffic in the mid 1960s, a two road diesel depot was built on the ruins of the old roundhouse with washing and refuelling plant at the rear of the workshops.

I am indebted to Roger Webb and his son Robert not only for looking after Toucan Park on the Saturday of the show and for solving some electrical issues during the layout's second ever exhibition appearance but also for the loan of their splendid locomotive collections. 

Saturday saw Robert's 1980s diesels - including the now-preserved 50 007 "Sir Edward Elgar", pictured below - taking over while on Sunday Class 22 D6320 - among other diesel hydraulics - ran along side my own British Thomson-Houston D8233, which last appeared on Universal Works in Nearly Feltham.  Roger's other North British Type 2 - D6313 - made an appearance last year alongside my Steam Superpower display and - before and after working to Earl's Court - DPU W55992 also made an appearance, as did the Regent tank wagon last seen in the window of Cheltenham Model Centre.

  
 

 

    
 

Saturday saw Robert's 1980s diesels - including the now-preserved 50 007 "Sir Edward Elgar", pictured below - taking over while on Sunday Class 22 D6320 ran along side my own British Thomson-Houston D8233, which last appeared on Universal Works in Nearly Feltham. Roger's other North British Type 2 - D6313 - made an appearance last year alongside my Steam Superpower display and - before and after working to Earl's Court - DPU W55992 also made an appearance, as did the Regent tank wagon last seen in the window of Cheltenham Model Centre.

  
 

 		    
  YARD SHUNTER by Ray Norwood

00 Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 		    
 

Set in Devon between 1948 and early 1960s and separated from a fictional station - really a fiddle yard - by a bridge, 8' x 2' Yard Shunter saw train engines being released by the eponymous fixed wheelbase locomotives - ranging from a sound fitted BR 08 to a Beattie Well Tank - and the wagons destined for a private timber merchant, goods shed, coal merchants and cattle pen being re-arranged. Points on the C&L hand built wooden sleeper track were worked by under-board servo point operation controlled ultimately via MERG servo 4 and accessory decoder. Meanwhile NCE PowerCab DCC also controlled ex Southern Railway N and Q1 Class locomotives as well as a Standard 4MT 2-6-4T.

  
 

 

    
  Set in Devon between 1948 and early 1960s and separated from a fictional station - really a fiddle yard - by a bridge, 8' x 2' Yard Shunter saw train engines being released by the eponymous fixed wheelbase locomotives - ranging from a sound fitted BR 08 to a Beattie Well Tank 30587 - and the wagons destined for a private timber merchant, goods shed, coal merchants and cattle pen being re-arranged.  Points on the C&L hand built wooden sleeper track were worked by under-board servo point operation controlled ultimately via MERG servo 4 and accessory decoder.  Meanwhile NCE PowerCab DCC also controlled ex Southern Railway N and Q1 Class locomotives as well as a Standard 4MT 2-6-4T.  
 

 

    
 

Set in Devon between 1948 and early 1960s and separated from a fictional station - really a fiddle yard - by a bridge, 8' x 2' Yard Shunter saw train engines being released by the eponymous fixed wheelbase locomotives - ranging from a sound fitted BR 08 to a Beattie Well Tank - and the wagons destined for a private timber merchant, goods shed, coal merchants and cattle pen being re-arranged. Points on the C&L hand built wooden sleeper track were worked by under-board servo point operation controlled ultimately via MERG servo 4 and accessory decoder. Meanwhile NCE PowerCab DCC also controlled ex Southern Railway N and Q1 Class locomotives as well as a Standard 4MT 2-6-4T.

  
 

 

    
  HILLSIDE WORKS by Dave Griffin

009 Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

Constructed using Peco 009 proprietary track and a large amount of modeller's licence, the portable yet entertaining layout depicting fictional Hillside Works was set on the Welsh Borders during autumn in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, long term plans are to bring it up to date as a preserved railway - Hillside Works Heritage Centre - complete with working vintage machinery, and tourist cafe.

 
 

 

    
  Constructed using Peco 009 proprietary track and a large amount of modeller's licence, the portable yet entertaining layout depicting fictional Hillside Works was set on the Welsh Borders during autumn in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, long term plans are to bring it up to date as a preserved railway - Hillside Works Heritage Centre - complete with working vintage machinery, and tourist cafe.

For now though, rolling stock was a mixture of kit built and converted ready to run items mainly from RICO and Parkside Dundas with buildings both kit and scratch built using Ratio and Wills materials. Scatters were from Woodland Scenics and Greenscene with bare deciduous trees made from soldered wire frame covered in plaster mix. Locomotives were operated by handheld DC cab controllers with AC derived from an electrically isolated 15v transformer. Another hand built transformer supplied the capacitor discharge unit while the point motors were a mixture of older SEEP and more modern PECO types. Custom built working lamp posts and coloured light signals were also featured.

  
 

 

    
 

For now though, rolling stock was a mixture of kit built and converted ready to run items mainly from RICO and Parkside Dundas with buildings both kit and scratch built using Ratio and Wills materials. Scatters were from Woodland Scenics and Greenscene with bare deciduous trees made from soldered wire frame covered in plaster mix. Locomotives were operated by handheld DC cab controllers with AC derived from an electrically isolated 15v transformer. Another hand built transformer supplied the capacitor discharge unit while the point motors were a mixture of older SEEP and more modern PECO types. Custom built working lamp posts and coloured light signals were also featured.

  
 

 

    
  HOBBS ROW HALT by Bob Vaughan

009 Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

Hobbs Row Halt was a classic English country micro-layout, complete with thatched cottage and "chocolate box" garden. It started out as a simple circular piece of track on an MDF wobble board, obtained from a local charity shop, used for running in new locomotives before some surplus buildings from Bob's Tansey Bank layout were added to check on coach clearances. The cottage was from the Bachmann Pendon Little Chapel Cottage resin model while the trees were from the Realistic Modelling Materials range of ready to plant foliage. Hobbs Row Halt, complete with tram engine "Lawrence" below, featured in the August 2013 edition of Hornby Magazine.

  
 

 

    
  Hobbs Row Halt was a classic English country micro-layout, complete with thatched cottage and "chocolate box" garden.  It started out as a simple circular piece of track on an MDF wobble board, obtained from a local charity shop, used for running in new locomotives before some surplus buildings from Bob's Tansey Bank layout were added to check on coach clearances.  The cottage was from the Bachmann Pendon Little Chapel Cottage resin model while the trees were from the Realistic Modelling Materials range of ready to plant foliage.  Hobbs Row Halt, complete with tram engine "Lawrence" below, featured in the August 2013 edition of Hornby Magazine.  
 

 

    
 

Hobbs Row Halt was a classic English country micro-layout, complete with thatched cottage and "chocolate box" garden. It started out as a simple circular piece of track on an MDF wobble board, obtained from a local charity shop, used for running in new locomotives before some surplus buildings from Bob's Tansey Bank layout were added to check on coach clearances. The cottage was from the Bachmann Pendon Little Chapel Cottage resin model while the trees were from the Realistic Modelling Materials range of ready to plant foliage. Hobbs Row Halt, complete with tram engine "Lawrence" below, featured in the August 2013 edition of Hornby Magazine.

  
 

 

    
  As such, Hobbs Row Halt made an interesting comparison with the quarry inspired "lunchbox" layout accompanying Snug End, seen below.  
 

 

    
 

As such, Hobbs Row Halt made an interesting comparison with the quarry inspired "lunchbox" layout accompanying Snug End, seen below.

  
 

 

    
  ST FRAZAL DE VOLAVENT by Simon Newitt

Nm Gauge 2mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

France once had over 12 500 km of metre gauge lines and St Frazalet De Volavent - measuring 6' x 2' - represented the 30 mile long Cfd Lozere narrow gauge system in the heavily forested Massif Central during the 1956-1967 era - using 6.5mm Z gauge track to represent the metre gauge in French N (1:160) scale. Waiting behind the station was a beige example of the iconic Citroen DS, whose ability to run on flat tyres once saved the life of President Charles De Gaulle.

  
 

 

    
  France once had over 12 500 km of metre gauge lines and St Frazalet De Volavent - measuring 6' x 2' - represented the 30 mile long Cfd Lozere narrow gauge system in the heavily forested Massif Central during the 1956-1967 era - using 6.5mm Z gauge track to represent the metre gauge in French N (1:160) scale. Waiting behind the station was a beige example of the iconic Citroen DS, whose ability to run on flat tyres once saved the life of President Charles De Gaulle.

Also on display was an impressive selection of rolling stock and a slideshow of French metre gauge railways as they once were.

  
 

 

    
 

Also on display was an impressive selection of rolling stock and a slideshow of French metre gauge railways as they once were.

  
 

 

    
  NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ROAD TRANSPORT MODELLERS

represented by David and Paul Mellor 4mm Scale

  
 

 		    
 

 
 

 		    
  The Mellor Brother's well loved and ever changing display of road transport on this occasion included an ERF A Series 4x2 cab unit along with a matching flatbed trailer in the markings of Marshalls of Evesham.  The load of crated vegetables was moulded in resin by Frank Waller and painted by Paul and David to represent enough of both Brussel sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli to fulfil anyone's five portions a day!

Another resin load on a flatbed trailer, this time an unfinished one of sheeted goods, was meanwhile applied to another vintage 4x2 cab - this time a Seddon Mark V Pennine in the carmine and cream of Thornhills of Slimbridge circa 1964.  The model was based on a Road Transport Images resin kit with added detail.

More pictures of and discussions about Paul and David's models can be found on Trucknet

  
 

 		    
 

   
 

 		     
  TRAVEL 2000 LTD by Andy Peckham 4mm Scale ( Sunday only )  
 

 		    
 

Meanwhile, school was back in for VU 02 PKY, an ex Dublin Bus Eirrean Dennis Dart with Plaxton Mini Pointer bodywork, still bearing the red roof stripes of its former owner. Such markings are often retained by secondary and tertiary owners as modern Health and Safety protocols make bus roof painting expensive and difficult.

  
 

 		    
  Meanwhile, school was back in for VU 02 PKY, an ex Dublin Bus Eirrean Dennis Dart with Plaxton Mini Pointer bodywork, still bearing the red roof stripes of its former owner.  Such markings are often retained by secondary and tertiary owners as modern Health and Safety protocols make bus roof painting expensive and difficult.

Also ready to accept 70 seated scholars was R4 MHL, another example of a Guildford built Dennis chassis - this time a Javelin - but with a UVG body.

  
 

 

    
 

Also ready to accept 70 seated scholars was R4 MHL, another example of a Guildford built Dennis chassis - this time a Javelin - but with a UVG body.

  
 

 

    
  ROBERT WYNN AND SONS

4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

 
 

 

    
 
A bonus feature for this exhibition was a display of heavy haulage vehicles in the colours of Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd.

Robert Wynn, from whom the company takes its name, was only fifteen when he inherited the already successful haulage business his father, Thomas, had founded in 1863, the year of Robert's birth.

Thomas had been a carriage cleaner, who had recognised that the traditional transport of heavy loads by canal was being replaced by the developing railway system.

Robert was one of ten children and it was said of him that he was too small to harness the teams of several dozen shire horses that regularly transported flour from the mills in Newport, Wales and had to be aided by his elder sister Emma.

But he expanded the business rapidly, buying his late father-in-law's timber haulage business and intensifying his own operation to meet demand from the increasing number of steel mills in the area. Robert invested heavily, in 1890 building the first boiler wagon capable of carrying 40 tons and in 1902 moving his entire operation, including over two hundred horses, to premises in Shaftsbury Street, Newport.

It was from here in 1923 that he incorporated the firm as Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd.  Robert Wynn died in the November of that year but he left behind five sons who ran an increasingly strong family business that continued into the 1980s, when successive amalgamations saw the name gradually disappear

 

In those sixty years, Robert Wynn and Sons made a reputation for finding new and innovative solutions to the specific problems posed by the transport of difficult and indivisible loads. Not only did they have a permanent place in the Guinness Book of Records, but they pioneered huge developments in the field of heavy transport and achieved many 'firsts'. Wynns Limited, founded by Robert's great-great grandson Peter Wynn, has continued this pioneering transport tradition.

150 years ago Thomas Wynn's first vision and mission was to compete with the railways and the canals. Now, following the restoration of Robert Wynn and Sons in 2000 as a subsidiary company responsible for the delivery and - where none previously exists - the creation of specialist equipment to make best use of the nation's waterway network, the wheel has come full circle.

  
 

 

    
   SECOND WORLD WAR DIORAMAS by Mike Bradley, IPMS Avon Branch.

4mm scale

  
 

 		     
 

Among Mike's splendid dioramas newly presented at St Margaret's Hall were scenes of movement in the deserts of North Africa and the opposed amphibious assault on the Normandy beaches in 1944. I particularly liked the waterspouts thrown up by German shells among the American landing craft, while still pushing back Rommel's Afrika Korps were an A15 Crusader tank leading one of the Chevrolet trucks of the Long Range Desert Patrol Group around a 25 pounder gun under the watchful gaze of a Lend-Leased Grant with a hull-mounted 75mm gun.

  
 

 		     
  Among Mike's splendid dioramas newly presented at St Margaret's Hall were scenes of movement in the deserts of North Africa and the opposed amphibious assault on the Normandy beaches in 1944.  I particularly liked the waterspouts thrown up by German shells among the American landing craft, while still pushing back Rommel's Afrika Korps were an A15 Crusader tank leading one of the Chevrolet trucks of the Long Range Desert Patrol Group around a 25 pounder gun under the watchful gaze of a Lend-Leased Grant with a hull-mounted 75mm gun.  
 

 

    
 

Among Mike's splendid dioramas newly presented at St Margaret's Hall were scenes of movement in the deserts of North Africa and the opposed amphibious assault on the Normandy beaches in 1944. I particularly liked the waterspouts thrown up by German shells among the American landing craft, while still pushing back Rommel's Afrika Korps were an A15 Crusader tank leading one of the Chevrolet trucks of the Long Range Desert Patrol Group around a 25 pounder gun under the watchful gaze of a Lend-Leased Grant with a hull-mounted 75mm gun.

  
 

 

    
  MODELLING DISPLAYS

by Trevor Hale, Steve Harrod, Andi Dell and Mark Begley

  
 

 

    
 

With the ready to run Dapol 00 Class 22 B-B finding homes on a number of layouts at St Margaret's Hall it was interesting to see a much larger scale version as part of the traditional modelling demonstration alongside its antecedent, the D600 series "Warship". While both North British Locomotive diesel hydraulics will require more work to be layout ready though, Presflo cement wagon B888581 was ready to roll and a "Clayton" Class 17 was not far behind.

  
 

 

    
 

With the ready to run Dapol 00 Class 22 B-B finding homes on a number of layouts at St Margaret's Hall it was interesting to see a much larger scale version as part of the traditional modelling demonstration alongside its  antecedent, the D600 series "Warship".  While both North British Locomotive diesel hydraulics will require more work to be layout ready though, Presflo cement wagon B888581 was ready to roll and a "Clayton" Class 17 was not far behind.

117 68-ton Bo-Bo Claytons were introduced from September 1962 as a prospective Type 1 standard.  Unlike BTH and NBLs 800 horsepower Classes 15 and 16 and their 1 000 bhp English Electric counterparts, excellent all round vision was pivotal to the Class 17 design.  This was achieved by housing two 450 horsepower Paxman engines - originally developed for railcar use - under low bonnets at either end of a central cab.  Either one of the six cylindered 6ZHXL diesels could move the locomotive on its own, making each of the GEC traction motored units a thrifty proposition when running light engine between jobs.

The BR Design Panel and Allen Barnes Bowden Ltd also gave the new freight machines a pleasant yet functional appearance.  Exhausts were grouped between the windscreens which themselves extended at the outside bottom corners so that the driver could see the buffer beams while shunting,  The cabs were also a distinctive feature of the class; running almost a third of the superstructure length and feeling more like the bridge of a ship than the cockpit-style footplate of a Hymek.

A T-shaped recess was also provided under the sliding cabside windows to house tablet exchange apparatus indicating that the class were meant for single lines in rural areas.  Like the medium sized trains and local goods yards that the Class 17s were also scheduled to work with, these were under threat from Dr Beeching's Axe in the mid 1960s.  Just as the Class 14 centre cab diesel hydraulic 0-6-0s were made obsolete almost as soon as they had been outshopped from Swindon Works, so the D85xx series found themselves in danger on Scottish Region - but not before they had been in a few scrapes of their own making!

D8500 to D8585 were built by the Clayton Equipment Company of Hatton, Derby, up to February 1964 while the 13 months between March 1964 and April 1965 saw D8588 to D8616 constructed by Beyer Peacock with Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment. D8586 to D8587 meanwhile left Derby in December 1964 and February 1965 respectively powered by twin 8 cylinder Rolls Royce Type D prime movers of 450 bhp apiece.

However, these alternative diesels fared little better in service than the standard Paxman engines.  The Class 17s were soon so beset by oil leaks, camshaft failures and fractured crankcases that availability plummeted to 50%.

When coupled in mulitple (using either Red Diamond wiring, or Blue Star in the case of the Gorton-built locomotives)  the Claytons could haul heavier trains but in doing so lost the advantage of their central cabs and were outpowered by pairs of Class 20s.  Withdrawals began in 1968 and the whole class had disappeared from capital stock by 1971 despite the repainting of some members in blue livery.  It was only thanks to the Ribble Cement Company purchase of D8568 and its subsequent restoration by the Diesel Traction Group that one example survives today.

  
 

 		    
 

117 68-ton Bo-Bo Claytons were introduced from September 1962 as a prospective Type 1 standard. Unlike BTH and NBLs 800 horsepower Classes 15 and 16 and their 1 000 bhp English Electric counterparts, excellent all round vision was pivotal to the Class 17 design. This was achieved by housing two 450 horsepower Paxman engines - originally developed for railcar use - under low bonnets at either end of a central cab. Either one of the six cylindered 6ZHXL diesels could move the locomotive on its own, making each of the GEC traction motored units a thrifty proposition when running light engine between jobs.

  
 

 		    
  Also in attendance were Cheltenham Model Centre (Saturday) ,Martyn Parry Pre-Owned Model Railways, Castle Trains (Sunday) Stewart Blencowe railway books, timetables and photographs, Iron Horse Videos and DVDs (Sunday) Penduke Models and Robbie's Rolling Stock (Saturday).

DVDs of the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibitions from 2006 onward are now available from Richard Pretious of Iron Horse Video Productions based at 77 Tilney Close, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 2BG.