Yes my friends, your prayers have been answered.....Corky is back...hoorah!
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| What could possibly be better than a Warship on Prestflo's?..... and a cuppa? |
So what do I have in store for you this time my Corkette lovelies? Well, we will enjoy some magnificent classic traction on the Nene Valley Railway, I'll show you the latest arrivals for the Corkscrew-Lines, I'll show you where I spend most of my working hours and I'll tell you all about the latest Corkette to join the ranks and how imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...Oh My Lords - Hellfire!...Buckle Up!
Corkscrew Lines Progress
I must have spent about 5 hours yesterday sorting out the layout room and removing all of those bits and pieces that seem to accumulate and find themselves stashed in every nook and cranny. Empty boxes, odd tools (rather than normal tools!), piles of magazines, offcuts of wood etc etc were all removed and I tidied everything up and the room is transformed. It's probably all part of my latent OCD but I do find I am more productive and better motivated if I am working in an organised environment.
Having spent the last few months suffering with modelling withdrawal symptoms whilst being away in Hampshire, I decided it was time to do something about it. Although the bedroom in the flat I rent in Alton is not huge, there is a space in front of the window for a small table to be placed so I can do some small projects of Corkscrew-Lines modelling. I can build kits, paint models, plan buildings and track formations and even scan some of my slide and negative archive. I have ordered a fold up examination style desk and a plastic chair which I will hopefully soon be able to take down to Hampshire so those long, dark autumnal evenings will become productive. I'll show you the set up when it's installed.
I also had an extended train running session yesterday and a procession of diesel hauled freight and steam hauled passenger, pullman and parcels trains all trundled around the layout without incident. I mentioned last time that I am a huge fan of Lenz DCC decoders. My faith in this brand was once again vindicated when I decided to try and solve some issues of erratic running with a Dapol NBL Type 2 diesel hydraulic. The loco was fitted with a TCS decoder (part of a DCC decoder trial I carried out earlier in the year) but was very difficult to control smoothly and was becoming very temperamental. I whipped the body off and swapped the chip for a Lenz Silver 21+ which is a direct fit. Immediately the loco was controllable down to a crawl and ran quieter and smoothly. Don't let anybody tell you one DCC chip is just like any other...it's a myth!
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| Test running of NBL Type 2 following it's DCC chip replacement. That's much better! |
New arrivals on the Corkscrew-Lines
No major investments this month, just an accumulation of bits and pieces. I have once again indulged my signal box infatuation and the Bachmann model of Shillingstone box from the S&DJR has arrived. It's diminutive dimensions mean I will probably use it on one the the planned branch-lines for the layout.
I want to start a program of upgrading my entire loco fleet including the fitting of headcodes, kadee couplers, improved DCC chips, DCC sound chips and adding traincrew. Well, to kick things off, I have bought a couple of packs of drivers and secondmen appropriate for the 1960s from Monty's Models and I'll be batch painting them and getting them ready to be passed out when I'm set up for painting in Alton.
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| Wooden signal box, Twenty metal men and a lumbering Centurion Tank - Dreadful! |
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| Pill-Box brake van even adds to the military theme! |
The only item of new rolling stock is yet another brake van! This time it's the recently released Bachmann Pill-Box model in BR Bauxite livery. The real vans were produced at Lancing wagon works in Sussex and I include a shot of the real thing below.
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| Now wouldn't one of these make a fantastic summerhouse at the bottom of the garden? |
Full Sized Railway Adventures - Nene Valley Railway
A couple of weeks ago I joined up with my great mate Wibble and we headed for the delights of the Nene Valley Railway Autumn Diesel Gala 2012. This is my local preserved railway and thankfully it is a major player when it comes to classic diesel traction and this is normally a great day out for anybody that likes to breathe in diesel fumes all day and be deafened by loud metal monsters whilst being covered in clag....that'll be me then - Oh My Lords!
Before I share some images of the day with you I thought I'd mention a couple of things that I find strange and a little disappointing. Firstly, why oh why would you couple a pair of class 56 locos together and run them on a 5 coach train? I remember well seeing pairs of class 56 heading through Newport with iron ore trains and hearing them scream as they struggled to dead start fully loaded MGR rakes on rising gradients. But they would hardly be breaking into a sweat with 5 passenger coaches so therefore don't have to do much to make progress and therefore don't impress on a flat railway like the NVR. The single class 14 and then the single class 25 that Wibble and I sampled however were spectacular in their clag production and aural remonstrations and far more fun and impressive as a result. The trains were half empty too because everybody was travelling behind a pair of near silent Grids...strange!
There is only one disappointment for me with the NVR. The continental rake of rolling stock which is used year in year out for the Gala which just looks plain wrong. A rake of maroon mk1 stock or even a rake of Blood n Custard coaches would look great behind the vast majority of the classic diesels doing the circuit. If you can get a rake of blue/Grey coaches for the banger blue diesels then even better but my heart always sinks when I see a perfectly preserved loco in classic heritage livery hauling something that looks totally alien behind every diesel let alone those trundling through Cambridgeshire. Apart from that, the day was fantastic - Hellfire!
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| Fabulous "Rat" with continental rake approaches Wansford |
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| Deltic on the turntable at Wansford |
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| Duff in Undercoat - Dreadful! |
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| Actually, it's not the worse diesel livery I've seen! Nice rake of Mk1s too! |
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| Wibble gets over-excited as usual - Oh My Lords! |
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| Orton Mere and the token is exchanged |
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| The top part of the Box appears to have shrunk! Cute eh? |
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| Clanking, growling, diesel-hydraulic beastie at Yarwell |
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| Crowds gather to witness some Hoovering action at Peterborough - Hellfire! |
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| Gorgeous loco in outstanding condition. Pity about the stock - Grrrr! |
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| You've got how many model brake vans ????!!!!???? |
Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's off to work I go!
I recently passed the final exams and assessments before going live on my own in the signal box at Farnham. I'm already learning Ash Vale which will be the next signal box I will be available to cover as a relief signaller on the Alton line. Anyway, I though you Corkettes may like to see me at work in the office as it were!
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| Important equipment to note - fridge for milk for cups of tea and chair for use whilst drinking them! |
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| Lever frame, NX panel for single line, level crossing controls and block instruments - Oh My Lords! |
That's all I have for you this time. Next time I hope to have my little modelling workstation set up and I can then start ploughing through all those kits I've accumulated over the last 10 years or so. I'll show you what's on my workbench and tell you how it's all going.
Finally I need to tell you all about our latest Corkette - Steve Copley from Poole in Dorset. Steve found this blog and saw the articles on the Corkscrew-Lines in Hornby Magazine and realised he wanted to do something very similar himself. He contacted me via the editor and we've now exchanged a few ideas and hopefully we can continue to help each other out as we progress down the long and winding road that is the multi-level model railway! Steve has a blog of his own which I would recommend at...
www.Dymewood.blogspot.co.uk
If you look at the Dymewood Project 2 - Modular Railway page you may see some images that look very familiar if you've been along on the Corkscrew-Lines ride from the beginning. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I'm suitably flattered. Welcome aboard Steve!
Until next time my friends,
Corky
