Ooh look, that Corky bloke is looking pleased about something...Hellfire!
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| Another 15 minutes of fame! |
Hello everybody and welcome to the next thrilling instalment of my Corkscrew-Lines saga. I have loads of news for you this time regarding my new arrivals, progress on the construction of the Helix-House and a selection of images from the "Digital Decades" vault. You'll no doubt be relieved to hear that this update will concentrate on model railways and real railways and not be a poorly concealed attempt to share my holiday snaps with you all like last time!
Being the clever bunch I know you all are, you will have probably already guessed from the opening photo that I have once again been fortunate enough to have an article published in Hornby Magazine. A 4-page step by step guide can be found on page 40 of the August edition of my favourite magazine which details my system for fitting metal shelving around the walls and then adapting baseboards to fit on them. It is nothing that hasn't been covered in the blog updates but astonishing as it sounds, not everybody in the model railway world actually reads my blog - incredible...surely not! If you have found the blog after reading the article then welcome to my world and consider yourself an honorary Corkette!
Helix-House...Considerations & Conclusions
In the last update I confirmed to you all that work would be starting in early August on the structure to contain the all important helix for the layout. The "Helix-House" has caused me more head scratching and deliberation than any other aspect of the Corkscrew-Lines project. The choice between a small and purely functional structure which is only there to house the helix (the garden shed option if you like) or the building regulations compliant extension constructed of brick under a tiled roof (the bunker) argument has been a difficult one to reconcile and bring to a conclusion.
I had eventually come down on the side of a large timber framed and wooden clad structure which would butt up to the garage and then be knocked through so the tracks could flow between the two spaces. The building would be large - 18ft x 9ft and would also include all the functions of a workshop and a garden shed. Cladding would be painted weatherboarding and a saw-tooth design fascia on an extending canopy would add the final platform waiting room look to it all. Sounds great doesn't it?
As the weeks went by I realised I was having second thoughts about the size of the proposed building. It's primary function after all was to house the helix in a temperature stable and secure location with easy access but it had grown like topsy and now was probably much larger than it actually needed to be. It was time to look again at the size of the building in relation to the size of the garden whilst I still had time and hopefully be more pragmatic regarding my choices. The conclusion of my reconsideration is the Helix-House is still going to be constructed in early August but it will be a far leaner, low fat version with most of the thrills stripped off but with the essential top quality build, fully insulated and easily accessible core remaining.
The revised design loses the overhanging canopy, the fancy fascia and has slimmed down to a far more modest 12ft x 8ft which will allow it to sit far more comfortably in the garden. Hopefully the building will still be attractive as it will still be clad in weatherboard and will be painted in cream with perhaps the adornment of a few railway signs to help maintain the railway theme. There has of course been a substantial saving in monetary terms but that was not the primary reason for the changes. If in the future we decide to sell up and move on then the structure can realistically perform the role of garden room or office for any new owner whilst still leaving a reasonably sized (at least for a new developer home) garden. I took a similar route with the garage conversion ensuring it could if necessary very easily be stripped of the layout and then presented during viewings as a future games room, office, music room, gym etc so it made sense to do a similar thing with the new structure. As the addition of the garage conversion and the outbuilding will add value to the property in the long term it could almost be argued that the Corkscrew-Lines is an investment!
Work is scheduled to begin in early August and should be completed in a little over a week so fingers crossed I can give you a guided tour of the Helix-House in the next update. Once I have painted it, decorated it and laid a laminate floor then it will be time to start constructing the helix and actually getting some trains running - hoorah! Incidentally, I have added a new page to the blog which shows some images taken during the conversion of the double garage and the intention is to also include shots from the construction of the Helix-House. Hopefully these may be of use to anybody contemplating a similar process themselves.
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| The garage sits waiting for the Helix-House to be added |
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| Baseboards removed ready for the knock through to the Helix-House |
New Arrivals on the Corkscrew-Lines
I predicted in the last update that July was probably going to be a very expensive month - and so it has proven to be. Now don't get me wrong...I have a lovely selection of new goodies for the layout and some of them I have literally been waiting years for so they were eagerly anticipated. That doesn't however change the fact that my credit card is on it's knees and begging for mercy so I just have to hope that this has been an exceptional month - a perfect storm if you like for pre-orders. Oops! I just remembered the Bachmann class 43 Warships and the Dapol class 73s which are almost certainly in a container on the high seas as we speak...Hellfire!
The first significant arrival was the absolutely gorgeous Hornby Drummond 700 0-6-0 steam loco. This fabulous model purred around the test track and is so exquisitely detailed that once again I am astonished at how far our hobby has progressed in such a relatively short time. The design has cleverly managed to hide the motor and gearbox completely allowing the frames below the boiler to be visible. Although there seems to be some angst on the internet forums about the handrail knobs not being positioned or angled correctly I will court controversy by saying I really don't care. As I have never seen a real "Black Motor" and unless one is recreated I never will, I am perfectly happy with the model and congratulate Hornby on another fantastic steam loco release. Interestingly DJ-Models have a few steam loco releases pending which are promising to raise the bar in terms of performance, detail and features so I say it again - we have never had it so good - Hellfire!
Taking advantage of the bargain section on Hattons website I decided to purchase another must have Southern steam loco for the Corkscrew-Lines. I already have a Bachmann N Class Mogul which was my first steam loco purchase when I returned to the hobby about 10 years ago. The latest arrival is a N Class in a weathered finish which gives me another bread and butter loco for use on almost any sort of train and is a typical careworn mixed traffic loco to offset all those lovely shiny Bullied Pacifics. Placing the Bachmann N alongside the Hornby 700 makes for an interesting comparison. The latest Hornby offering has the edge in almost every regard but that doesn't make the Mogul a poor model. Indeed, far from it. Despite it's age it more than holds it's own and certainly won't be embarrassed on the layout. The weathering is not too bad for a factory finished spray but will of course need to be worked on at the spray booth in due course. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two locos is the sounds they produce. The 700 is almost silent whilst the N Class wheezes and clanks as it trundles along in, I have to admit, a quite realistic manner!
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| Ex South Western steamers pose in the Ned-Cave |
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| Exquisite detailing, paint finish and mechanical finesse - Oh My Lords! |
We now turn away from the traditional, labour intensive and dirty steam traction of the 1960s to the exciting cutting edge traction of the future...the cheap to run and maintain diesel powered railbus which will secure the future of all those bucolic branch-lines scattered around the country. If only that was how things actually transpired 60 years ago instead of the whole railbus experiment being best forgotten in BR managements eyes.
The railbus is the perfect solution for railway modellers with a small layout looking to provide a realistic passenger service in a very modest space. I do not have to worry about the necessity of running small trains as the Corkscrew-Lines could never be described as a micro-layout. I do however love the idea of having a collection of these buses mounted on railway wheels because they are so charming and so much fun. I will whip out my modellers license and claim that an example of each type of railbus was sent to the Corkscrew-Lines so effective comparisons and analysis could be made of all types operating the same diagrams and routes. Works for me!
Anyway, enough of my ramblings because the latest Heljan railbus - the Park Royal bodied version has arrived at Jones-Towers. When Heljan announced they were producing the W&M, AC Cars and Park Royal railbuses I just had to have one of each and now I have all 3 I desperately want Heljan to announce they will go on and complete the set by producing the Wickham and ECW versions. That's for the future...what about the latest arrival? In a word - excellent. It looks right and it runs right. I am more than happy with it and I can see a line up of railbuses being a must have scene on the layout when I eventually pull my finger out and lay some track of course!
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| Don't you just love it? |
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| Wonderful detail and silky smooth mechanicals. |
I am like a sailor to a siren with regard to the bargain packs of Bachmann wagons available from Hattons. This time I picked up some 13T High sided opens at about £5.50 each which compares very favourably with the latest releases at well over double that price. You can never have too many mundane run of the mill wagons to populate yards or place in long mixed freights. You will also notice from the shot below that I have been collecting die-cast vehicles again. Another Fire engine model and a lovely Citroen DS which will probably be the only example on the layout. They were quite rare but I will find an affluent family somewhere on the layout who were bold enough to drive one. Finally, some relay boxes to sit outside a signal box on the layout and a signal box interior kit to sit inside a signal box on the layout...talk about stating the bleedin' obvious! The lever frame and furniture looks excellent and I am looking forward to recreating the feel of Farnham signal box where I was a signaller a few years ago. Unless I am very much mistaken, Ratio appear to have made a glaring omission - where is the box cat, curled up on the bench at the back of the box?
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| New goodies! |
Long term readers of this blog will already know I have a soft spot for parcels stock. Over the last few years I have collected quite a mix of non passenger and parcels stock including the ubiquitous ex Southern 4 wheel vans, bogie vans and even a couple of 6 wheel examples. However the ultimate parcels stock has to be the Royal Mail postal stock. I have a handful of these vehicles in the gorgeous deep red livery and another has just been added to the rake. The latest Bachmann example with collection nets on one side is a beautiful model and the Corkscrew-Lines postal should be a fantastic sight when it starts running.
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| Check out those window grills |
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| First Class |
A few weeks ago I had to travel to Ashford International in connection with my work. I decided to travel there via the high speed line from St Pancras International and as I had a few minutes to spare before my Javelin unit departed I thought I would take a few photos of the scene at the buffer stops. It dawned on me that only a few weeks earlier I had scanned some Kodachrome slides taken at St Pancras in 1981 so a fascinating comparison could be made. The slide was particularly poor as a combination of slow speed film and gloomy lighting under the overall roof meant a very poor image resulted. However I remember well the moment in time when I took the photo as I had up to that point never seen so many Peaks in one place. It goes without saying I much preferred the traction to be seen in the 1980s St Pancras area although I must confess to being impressed yet again by the acceleration from the Javelin unit as we entered the first section of tunnel just a minute after departing the station.
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| Three Javelin units at the buffer stops at St Pancras International |
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Peak power at St Pancras in 1981 - how things change!
It is also interesting to note how the mundane and ordinary from previous decades now appears extraordinary and fascinating. As a boy I would watch the trains roll by in Hampshire and Berkshire and take photographs of the trains which seemed a little more interesting than the others. Now of course when I look back at the images I am struck by how much of the railway scene has changed and allow myself to wallow in nostalgia and memories of my spotting youth. I thought I would share just a few winter images of everyday trains in the early 80s which would cause extraordinary excitement and frothing if running on the network today.
These are more examples of my 5 minute scans via the D-SLR and the Adobe Lightroom software as I described in previous updates. I can see me in a few years time spending much of my retirement scanning, sorting and indexing my archive of images but for now I will try to just pick out some of the more relevant or interesting images for the blog.
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| Crompton pairing approaches Reading with tanks for Fawley. 33 003 & 33 006 - 14.11.81 |
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| 33 023 & 33 018 heading for Fawley brighten a miserable day and pass Battledown Flyover - 23.01.82 |
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| Oakley foot crossing is the location for a class 47 powering south towards Poole with an inter-regional working - 23.01.82 |
The Coastway Crawler
Thanks to the generosity of my great mate Rooster, I was offered the opportunity last Saturday to join him aboard the Coastway Crawler charter train as it headed along the Sussex coast. Rooster is one of the hard working contracts managers at GBRf (as I was a few years ago) and as such not only arranges the traction, traincrew and paths for customers (UK Railtours in this instance) but also lends a hand as a guard for the day. The itinerary for the Sussex part of the tour included a trip from Brighton to the now semi derelict Newhaven Marine station and then after another trip into Brighton and a reversal at Preston Park, it was off along the West Coastway to Littlehampton where semaphores still survive. Traction for the day was a pair of the GBRf Class 73 locos and stock was a magnificent rake of mk1 stock with a solitary mk2. After commuting on the rock hard slabs fitted to Class 387 units for the last year it was a revelation to sink once again into the plushly upholstered seats of mk1 stock. So much for progress! Anyway, I hope you enjoy a few snaps taken during the trip. I have a long term plan to feature a maritime terminus on the Corkscrew-Lines but it will certainly not be based on Newhaven Marine in it's current state! There will however be 1:76 scale class 73 action with a pair of the new Dapol models due any time now...Dreadful!
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| Time for some little ED action...Hellfire! |
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| Corky and Rooster at Brighton |
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| 73 137 looks good with blood & custard mk1s |
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| What remains of Newhaven Marine station |
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| Rusting awnings and semaphore signals |
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| 73 201 "Broadlands" at Littlehampton |
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| More Sussex semaphores |
Looking at these photos reminded me of a similar Southern region based railtour from August 2010 called the Ness Monster which trundled around the south eastern lines including a visit to Sheerness. I thought I would include a shot of the train prior to departure from the Central side of London Bridge station which is barely recognisable compared to today. Also of interest is the very early construction stage of the now all conquering Shard Tower. Little did we know just how much the Shard would come to dominate and define the London Bridge area. I certainly use it as a skyline beacon whenever I get myself lost in the south London residential streets. Just keep heading roughly for the Shard and you'll soon be back at the "Bridge".
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| 73 204 at the old London Bridge with an embryonic Shard - 21.08.10 |
Rooftops!
A few weeks ago Mrs Corky and I visited the historic castle and adjacent town museum in beautiful Lewes. Some old friends from the Fens were staying with us for a few days so we thought it would make for a pleasant day out in the sunshine - and so it did. This was my first visit to the museum and castle despite being a fairly regular visitor to Lewes for the last 30 years. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a near complete model of the town in the museum including a model of the long since closed and much missed railway line to Uckfield and ultimately London in N-gauge...fascinating stuff! Incidentally, I couldn't help wonder how much N-gauge I could fit on 4 levels of a double garage after seeing the town model! I must resist...I must resist!
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| Lewes Castle and Museum |
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| The viaduct and goods sheds on the Uckfield route |
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| Model really helps you to imagine how things once were |
Once out of the museum we mustered and then attacked the ramparts and assaulted the Keep and Towers of the castle - with a few rest breaks on a bench in the sun...as you do. The castle is a real gem and I would recommend a visit to anybody whether you have a historical bent or not. I of course wanted to reach the very top of the Towers to enjoy the far reaching views over the rolling Sussex countryside. What I hadn't expected was the extraordinary variety of rooftop styles, materials, finishes and colours that were visible from the lofty vantage point. The modeller in me immediately started dreaming about incorporating models of some of the buildings into the Corkscrew-Lines with there fascinating placements, heights and finishes on display. Some form of stacked town backscene with perhaps forced perspective with ever reducing structures to the rear made sense and could I am sure be incorporated. The moral of the story is to seek out the high vantage points and then study the details laid out below you.
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| Wonderful details on the building backs |
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| Different finishes, colours and positions - all worth modelling |
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| Interesting rooftops and chimneys |
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| Lewes Railway Station in the centre with class 377 unit visible |
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| Don't look down! |
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| Fascinating finishes and materials on rooftops |
I thought you may be interested in a few shots of trains at Lewes station which is a very interesting place with a very unusual track layout forming 2 sides of a triangle with an enormous central platform section bisected by a long ramp from the booking office area. With a tunnel on a sharp curve at the northern end of the platforms and still retaining a traditional signal box, I thoroughly recommend a visit if you are in the area - it is an absolute gem.
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| Coastway class 313 units await departure |
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| Victorian splendour in the architecture |
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| Class 171 & 377 units meet on the Brighton line |
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| An endangered species - the traditional signal box |
Chalk Pits Museum - Amberley
About a month ago we met up with our mates Jo & Neil and visited the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum for the "Emergency Services" weekend with much expectation of classic 1960s Police cars, Ambulances and Fire Engines. Unfortunately the vehicles on display were predominantly of more modern vintage and even included a few vehicles currently in front line service provided by Sussex Fire Service. A little disappointing then from my perspective to be honest but luckily the museum itself is always an interesting place to go so despite the lack of suitable vehicles to float my particular boat, there were other gems to be found.
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| I have a soft spot for Land Rovers having owned a couple |
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| Wonderful Series 2 Landie was a real cracker |
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| 1960s vehicles in the short lived experimental yellow livery |
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| Resident Green Goddess and driver ready to scramble! |
You will know by now that I am a self confessed classic bus crank as well as being a railway nutter. A couple of delights were discovered in the pit at the top of the Amberley site which just had to be included here. A new addition to the Amberley omnibus fleet is the handsome Bristol RESL6L with relatively unusual Marshall Camagna bodywork. This machine certainly qualifies for the "Beast" moniker but it was the structure in the background of the shot that had a more personal significance.
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| There's just something right about Bristol RE's with Marshall bodywork |
About 25 years ago Mrs Corky worked in a variety of railway ticket offices in Sussex including the small office at Billingshurst on the Arun Valley Line. I would occasionally collect her in the car and whilst waiting for her to finish her shift I would admire the 1876 vintage platform mounted signal box. Fast forward a decade or so and I am now employed by Connex (remember them?) as a train guard and whilst sporting my extremely dashing bright yellow waistcoat - oh dear, I would carry out platform despatch duties at Billingshurst on my slam door stock unit before giving 2 bells to the driver and departing south for Barnham. Whilst departing I would wave at the Signaller pulling the levers in Billingshurst box and wonder what it would be like to work a manual absolute box. I found out of course about 3 years ago when I worked as a signaller at Farnham. So you can see I have many happy memories of the signal box at Billingshusrt so I was delighted to discover it once again in the chalk pit at Amberley awaiting restoration...Absolutely Hellfire!
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| Looking sad and in need of some love |
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| The story of the relocation |
Reverting back to buses, another treat at the top pit was the rebuilt Storrington bus garage which is just crying out to be modelled on the Corkscrew-Lines. I need a Southdown outpost to house my growing collection of coaches and this simple but elegant structure is ideal. The Amberley site is full of fascinating gems like this and certainly worth a visit by anybody interested in transport or social history.
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| Storrington "Dormy" bus Shed |
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| The history for the Storrington shed |
So there we have it my friends - another update finished. I hope you enjoyed my random ramblings and I would really like to thank you if you are a regular reader because the page hits total for the blog has just reached 20,000 which is astonishing - well I think so anyway!
The really big news of course is the construction of the Helix-House which should commence in under a weeks time. My plan is to present a fully finished building to you all in the next update and then to discuss my plans for the all important helix. This is a very exciting period for the Corkscrew-Lines so make sure you come along for the ride.
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| Jo simply can't hide her excitement re the Helix-House! Absolutely Dreadful! |
That's all for now Folks...
Corky!
