Lower Thames Yard

Hi everyone,
Here in a wet and chilly Bedfordshire, where it seems like we have had all of April's showers (who is April??) in the last couple of days, I am still trying to get a round tuit, in terms of completing this week's modelling jobs.

Have managed to sketch version 2 of Lower Thames Goods Shed, and fiddle with a few points and bits of track to get rid of the worst howlers. Provided there are no violent objections, I will share that with you tomorrow?

Sorting through some old mags this morning in the continuing quest to reduce the weight on my shelves I found a 1961 pic, admittedly pretty dark, of a train I have been trying to sort the model of for a while now.
This is the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish and Parcels. Had the Local Parcels formation from the 1961 Carriage workings for some time, but nothing better than having a pic, which also gives me the loco used. Luckily the caption is pretty good so that makes up for the difficulty in making out the last 3 of the 6 vans!

Looks like the rain has stopped so I had better sign off now and dash to my Railway Room to get some bits into the house , so I have finished some modelling this week!

Stay safe,
Cheers
Paul

 

Hi All,
Reference the above train the details I have are as follows:-

Carriage Working Diagram:-
Formation
Item From To
Brake Van Oxford Slough
Vans Various Twyford to Slough
Formed with Traffic from 1840 York, 2150 Shrewsbury, 2055 Birkenhead, 2222 York.

The Photo:-
From page 56 of the January 2011 issue of Model Rail:-
0720 Reading to Slough Fish and Parcels photo on 2nd August 1961 with 6 vans

Loco : 4148 (I need to check where it was sheded?)
Stock:-
Item 1 ex LNER Fish van
Item 2 ex LNER Fish Van
Item 3 exSR Bogie B brake Van (grn)
Item 4 BR Mk1 BG (maroon)
Item 5 GWR or BR Syphon G (maroon)
item 6 ex LMS or GWR BG (maroon)

The above is all the information I have. The photo is quite dark, so I was not able to take a picture of it to post that showed any worthwhile detail!

Cheers
Paul

 

Good Afternoon everyone,

I thought I would round off the week by sharing the latest version of the Lower Thames Goods Shed Plan and (yet more) notes about the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish and Parcels train!

So the latest version of the Goods Shed Layout Plan, as I suggested a few posts back, has used the larger space to improve the radius of the scenic curves at the left hand side and add a couple of sidings.

I have also improved the usefulness of the fiddle yard sidings. Yet to be finalized are a couple of loco sidings shown in broken lines at each end of the fiddle yard.

I might possibly add two more loco sidings running off those, but following the curve of the fiddle yard lines.


My latest thoughts on the Fish train is that I need to try to locate where the photo I described in my earlier post was taken.

It looks to have been taken at ground level from the south side of the Main Lines with the train correctly on the Relief lines.. Unfortunately there is little showing of the background except that what appears to be part of a row of terraced houses at approx. rail level can be seen past the front of the loco. In the foreground is what appears to be grassed area on which the photographer is standing . There does not appear to be any fence between the grass and the track(!)

Now I don't know the lineside between Reading and Slough very well, but I can't think of anywhere where there is a row of terraced houses near the north side of the line, at line level.

If the location is between Taplow and Slough, this would explain why there are only two fish vans as others could have been dropped off at Twyford, Maidenhead, and Taplow?

If anyone remembers this area in the 60s and can help, I will be pleased to hear.

I have been in contact with Robert Carroll, who wrote the article, but he could not help with location details from his records, so I am going to email the Model Rail team and see if they can find anything from their archives.

Hope you are all well, safe, and keeping up with your modelling?
Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon to all,

For a change, here in Bedfordshire it is sunny with little wind, so we have spent the morning on spring cleaning the raised vegetable beds ready for the courgette plants from last years left over seed that are currently threatening to take over the greenhouse!

I am just deciding what this week's modelling saga on this thread will be after boring everyone last week with the saga of the 0720 Reading to Slough Fish train?

I might go for the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels, which is made up of parcels vans that went up the High Wycombe Branch on the 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough parcels after it reversed at Maidenhead, then return singly down the branch on the afternoon passenger trains.

Hopefully then by the end of the week I should have finished a few jobs on that set of stock and the Fish train set of stock so I can put up pics of both next weekend!

So, I had better get on with things!

Stay safe, well and happy modelling,
Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon one and all,

This week I am starting with the vehicles of the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels as detailed in the 1961 Carriage Working book, as well as details of the vans that I intend to use to portray this working.

The basic working comprised 4 vans:-

a) The first van is a GUV. This starts its day according to the carriage Working Book from Paddington on the 0533 parcels to Oxford. There is a problem with this as the van is to be detached at Maidenhead to join the 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough Parcels to get to High Wycombe. The problem is that the 0533 is timed by the WTT to pass Maidenhead at 0620, which is the time the 0540 Parcels is due to leave Maidenhead from the branch platform!

So in my model world the van leaves Paddington on the 0430 Paddington to Westbury News due to stop at Maidenhead on the relief line from 0515 to 0520.
The Carriage Working Book says this van should be a GUV or similar type end door vehicle. (I assume this is to cater for loading at an end dock at High Wycombe?)
The van returns to Maidenhead from High Wycombe attached to the 1850 High Wycombe to Maidenhead Passenger.
The ultimate destination of this GUV is Crewe. It leaves Reading on the 2030 Greenford to Parcels which shunts in Reading from 2019 to 2115.
I have yet to work out how this van gets back from Crewe to Paddington. I guess there were two of them on a two day cycle?
I will use a Lima or a Lima/Hornby GUV to model this.

b) The next van is a "van" which started its day at Paddington attached to the 1138 Paddington to Didcot parcels which dropped it at Maidenhead when it stopped from 1207 to 1212. It was then put in the East Siding until being picked up around 1400 by a class 121, and deposited in the branch platform while the 121 took a trip to Bourne end at 1412 before leaving with the van for Aylesbury at 1506. The van returned on the 1825 Aylesbury to Maidenhead. Once back at Reading, it reached Didcot on the 2030 Greenford to Birkenhead Parcels. I have yet to sort out how the van got back from Didcot to Paddington, or whether it started its day early at Didcot?
I might use a Dapol Fruit D or a Bachmann BR CCT to model this.

c) Then there is a Brake Van which started its day at Reading on the 0540 Reading Parcels , joining the Van (b) above at Aylesbury, and stayed coupled to it for the rest of the day until they both got to Reading in the evening.
I have yet to decide whether to use a Hornby Hawksworth, or a Bachmann, BG to model this.

d) Finally there was a van (probably a Syphon G), which had started its day at Chippenham full of milk in churns destined for Aylesbury, before joining the 0540 Reading Parcels, but was emptied more quickly at Aylesbury so returned empty to Maidenhead on the 1642 Aylesbury to Maidenhead Passenger. This van then started its journey back to Chippenham from Reading on the 2230 Paddington to Penzance Parcels which stopped in Reading from 1133 to 12 Midnight.
I will use either a Lima or an Airfix Syphon G to model this.

As you can see, these four vans had distinctive and separate daily or two daily working cycles.
This shows us that we should be careful about running our parcels vans in simple out and back cycles!

Best regards
Paul

 

Good Evening folks,
Following on from yesterday's post I decided this morning to pull together the set of vans that I would use for the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels in Lower Thames Yard, (or in the smaller Lower Thames Goods Shed currently under construction it will be the 2010 Maidenhead to Southall Parcels).

This may sound an easy 5 minute job, but my model parcel vans are not all in one place! Some have been unloaded from their large transit boxes used in our house move, others are in fruit boxes from being stored in the garage I rented over out move period, and others are loose in drawers in a cabinet that stores unboxed stock!

So while doing this I reviewed my parcels stock and got it all together in one place, divided into categories, to make it easier to allocate stock eventually to the other parcels trains on Lower Thames Yard.

I should also explain that Lower Thames Goods Shed will have only this one set of vans which cover the am down Southall to Princes Risborough (will be 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough on Lower Thames Yard), attachments to up branch afternoon passengers, and the 2010 Parcels. Otherwise there will just be a couple of Fish vans and a couple of loose Parcels vans attached to various trains!

So will post more on these vans and the work I need to do on them later in the week!

Cheers
Paul

 

Good Afternoon All,
Just three quick notes for today:-

Firstly, a correction to my discussion two days ago about the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels.

I said that van from this for Crewe was attached to the 2030 Greenford to (Birkenhead, omitted in original posting!) Parcels at Reading. This is correct, But I got its timings at Reading wrong, I should have said 2219 to 2315, not two hours earlier which would have been before it left Greenford!

Also, when in the above posting and in yesterday's posting I talked about the vans for the 0540 and 2010 parcels trains I had said that the van that ended up at Crewe started from Paddington on an early morning parcels. This will not quite work for Lower Thames Goods Shed as there is no room for a long distance parcels train.

However, I have since realised that by 1962 this van reached maidenhead behind a class 128 parcels diesel. This is very doable on Lower Thames Goods shed, apart from the fact that the only 128 I have is currently in blue, and has a lima chassis that needs an overhaul and converting to DCC!

So initially I may use my Lima/Hornby AEC Car 34, which is DCC Sound fitted.

The Class 128 left Paddington at 0430 and returned from Maidenhead at 0525.

Finally, I have succeeded in doing a long outstanding repair!

I have an Airfix tank wagon in United Molasses livery, which a number of years ago shed the support wires from one side. Now I knew I had the wagon, wher I was not quite sure, but I knew the wire was separated from it.

A few weeks ago I came across the wire in a box of bits, and put it safely on a shelf with some models in our display cases, awating the location of the wagon, which I found this morning!

So now wagon and wire are reunited, which is good because I want to use this lwb tanker with its swb United Molasses companion as a shipment from the Manchester area to Mars in Slough, passing on Lower Thames Goods Shed down the High Wycombe Branch,

I have no idea if this is at all factual, but I like the wagons as a change from oil tanks, so will apply rule 1.

Once Lower Thames Yard is operational I might transfer them to a freight on the relief lines rather than the branch!

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is staying safe, well, and moving forward with their models?
Best regards
Paul

 

Hope you are all having a good Holiday Weekend?

As a result of yesterday's VE anniversary, little modelling got done, the day being taken up with Zooming and Wats Apping between our family groups, plus neighbourhood happenings (all under social distancing)!

Looks like Lockdown is more or less staying the same, for the next three weeks, although I suspect a walk to our local Garden Centre will be programmed in, but no coffee and cake in the café, just have to take our own!

So I will be putting my best foot forward to get Lower Thames Goods Shed up and running. Have been playing with track for the scenic side and the fiddle yard, hope by Monday to get the two halves joined together.

I have fixed up temporary extensions to the main board, which I will adjust if necessary as I play with the track, then attach permanently once I am happy with the track plan. Also this morning, I solved the problem of locating the controls:-
While the board was just a test track the controls, which was just my NCE PowerCab and its Power Panel, sat on the surface and both the mains cable and the track connections ran over the board.

For a layout, even a temporary one, I wanted to clear the area they occupied for a bit of scenic development as the goods yard. I was stumped as I didn't want to do any more woodwork (not one of my strong points!) than was already going to be necessary to permanently extend the size of the board.

I had the idea of making use of the middle drawer in the desk that the main board sits on.
So what I have done is made up two short boards that I had to hand of the right length, strengthened with crossmembers, that sit against the drawer sides that sit across the open second drawer. the boards resting between the back of the front panel of the second drawer and the outside of the front panel of the top drawer. This I am calling the "shelf".

The controls will sit on this "shelf", and just a track feed will run over the front edge of the scenic area. A second track feed will run round the side of the desk and over the back edge of the layout to a connection somewhere in the fiddle yard.

If I get as far as electrifying the fiddle yard points then I will find or make up a box to hold the switches and sit on the "shelf" beside the controller connection box.
I must take a photo of the "shelf" to include in a later post as my explanation above is probably not very clear?

Later today I intend to set up for photographs, the possible consists for the 2010 Parcels, the Morning Fish train, and if I have time, the afternoon goods that I have discussed in this thread.
So hopefully I will have several photos to show you over the next few days.

Stay safe, enjoy your modelling,
Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon Everyone from a windy and chilly South Bedfordshire,

Today, as promised I have a few photos for you:-
The first, is of the Shelf arrangement to hold the controls for the small temporary Lower Thames Goods Shed Layout that I described to you in yesterday's posting:-

I may well improve the looks of this area as well as bringing it slightly higher by fixing a piece of white faced board on top of the dark brown shelf.
You will notice that the layout board at the top of the photo does not have a supporting frame.
This will be sorted once I have finalized the size of the layout.

Next, there is a set of pictures of the 2010 Parcels train. On the Goods Shed layout this will run round to the right being a Maidenhead to Slogh Parcels, but on the larger Yard layout it will correctly run off to the left on the down relief line running to Reading.
This photo shows a heavily weathered Fruit D and a lightly weathered CCT. The CCT needs its wheels weathering!

This photo shows a Hawksworth BG (Hornby), and a Syphon G (Lima). Neither are weathered yet, and the BG needs the corridor end covers fitting.
This photo shows my weathered 56xx on the front of the 2010 Parcels. Neither the loco or the BG have yet had lamps fitted.
Lastly, we have a view of the morning Fish Train, the details will be on tomorrows post,
so take care, be safe,
Regards
Paul
This has three fish vans and two parcels vans, the BY acting as the Breakvan:-

 

Good Afternoon Everyone from a Windy, Cold, and Wet, South Bedfordshire,
This posting will be shorter than I intended, as I think the last version I had composed was too large, it just disappeared when I pressed the Post button!!
Here as promised are some photos, more details and further pics during the week.
Firstly, a distant view of the departing Fish Train (I know the track stops in front of the Loco!):-

Then, a couple of shots of the 2010 Parcels Train:-



None of the Locos or end vans yet have lamps fitted.
Thats all until tomorrow.
Take care, stay safe,
Regards
Paul
PS:- Nearly forgot!-Lastly, a photo to explain the "shelf" I talked about in my last posting:-

 

Sorry for the duplication, not at all sure what happened there!!
Definitely couldn't find first version before starting the second??
Regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Today, I am going to give you some details of the Fish train which I showed in the second photo in yesterday's posting. In real life this train ran from Oxford or Reading to Slough as a Fish and Parcels Class 3. On my smaller "Goods Shed" layout it will run from the right (Slough), drop two fish vans and return in the direction it came from. Eventually on the larger "Yard" layout it will run prototypically along the up relief from the left (Reading) , drop two fish vans, and proceed on the Up relief to the right (to Slough).

So I have three pictures of parts of the train:-

The first photo shows the loco which is a standard Bachmann Pannier tank, and the first wagon a Parkside LNER Fish Van.

You may notice that I have swapped the first and second fish vans since taking the long shot of the whole train. This was because I thought the two white(!) vans looked better separated than together!

The Pannier is straight out of the box except for having a DCC chip fitted. It currently has the as supplied tension locks front and back but these will be replaced by Kadees. The loco may get a light weathering, and needs lamps for this Class 3 Train on the front.

The van which was painted and weathered by my friend Malcolm, currently has no couplings, but will get a Kadee on the front and a slim tension lock on the back as it will be semi permanently coupled to the next fish van.



The next photo shows two fish vans. The first one is a standard Bachmann weathered fish van, and will get a slim tension lock coupling on the front and a Kadee on the back.

The second fish van is similar two the one in photo 1 except it has the interior doors of the refrigerated version of the van. It will get a Kadee on the front and a slim tension lock on the rear as it will be semi permanently coupled to the BY in the third photo.

The third photo shows a Southern Region BY Guards Van and an ex LMS Parcels vanfit.

I chose the Southern BY as I wanted a short Passenger Rated Guards Van for this train. This follows prototype in that the only photo I have of this train in real life includes a Southern BG in the consist. While I do have a model of this, I thing the shorter BY sits better in this train of short vans than the longer bogie B in the real photo. The BY is a standard out of the box Hornby model which I think looks ok without weathering, although this might happen in the future. The BY will retain its slim tension locks at both ends.

The last van in the train is an ex LMS vanfit labeled for ICI Fertilizer. This is a standard Bachmann weathered model with a slim tension lock on the front and a Kadee on the rear.



I hope these are of interest?
Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon fellow RMWeb watchers,

I had intended today to show you photos of and describe my stock for the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels, but I decided that I was not happy with the photos, probably because household things occupied more of the morning than I hyad anticipated, so I was hurrying over taking the pictures!
I will try again tomorrow when time will be easier.

So, I will just give an update on a few of my recent modelling bits an pieces.

I have been getting together the stock for the third train that I intend to tell you about which is the 1042 Taplow to Thomas & Green's paper mill pick up goods. This got back to Maidenhead at 1432, where it swapprd its loco for that which had been shunting at Maidenhead since 0930. The train conveyed empty vans to be loaded with boxed writing paper, tarpaulined opens loaded with imported grass, china clay, and a variety of other consumables and spares for the mill.
More on this train later in the week!

Along the way a few minor stock repairs have been completed.

This morning the latest Bachmann Times arrived, tempting me with a BG converted to laboratory 23 for my 1990s version of Lower Thames Yard. However the updates on upcoming releases also reminded me that while my modelling spend has been less than planned over the last 3 months, there is a lot of preorders likely to arrive over the next couple of months. So I need to investigate the real railway's use of Lab 23 to see if it is vital for my layout, or just nice to have!

I hope all your modelling is making progress?
Best regards
Paul

 

Afternoon All,
Welcome to a sunny but chilly afternoon in South Bedfordshire,
Today, I have recovered from yesterdays photographic hiccups, so can provide pics and text on the 2010 Parcels Train.

This train in real life ran from Maidenhead, where it gathered four vans that had come down the High Wycombe Branch on the afternoon passenger trains, to Reading.
I can model this on Lower Thames Yard which has the Relief lines , but not on Lower Thames Goods Shed which only has the branch. So for the moment this train will leave eastwards for Slough, rather than westwards for Reading! The movement of the vans singly means they must have Kadees at both ends.

In real life it is probable that this train, like so many in the area was hauled by a 2-6-2 tank. However, on my layouts , to give variety it is hauled by a 56xx 0-6-2, as can be seen in my first photo. Like all my locos at present this lacks lamps. It could do with a bit of weathering and needs Kadees on both ends.
In contrast this is accompanied by a Dapol Fruit D in fairly filthy condition!


The next photo shows a weathered Lima CCT. This van should be a GUV, but in order to shorten the train for the "Goods Shed" layout I have used a CCT. The CCT does share with the GUV the end doors which the Carriage Working Book says this van should have, presumably for use in conjunction with an end dock somewhere? Once "Yard" is up and running I will change this for a GUV, but I don't yet have one weathered.
Next to the CCT is a Lima Syphon G. This travelled six days a week, from Chippenham to Aylesbury with milk in churns, so is returning empty on the 2010 Parcels. The bogies are lightly weathered, but may be swapped for more accurate ones which will be fully weathered. The body may well get a light weathering at the same time.


The last Photo is of a Hawkesworth BG which travelled from Reading to Aylesbury and back daily. This , apart from gaining Kadees, will remain in original finish. It is such a fine model, I don't think I want to weather it!


One difficulty I have with this train is that I don't have a photo of it or its opposite number the early morning parcels to Princes Risborough from Reading (O540). I suspect this is because these trains ran at times photographers were absent from the railway!

Later in the week I will show some pics of my model of the morning Thomas and Green's Paper Mill pick up goods.

Meanwhile, stay safe,
Best regards
Paul