Brettell Road - Shuffling and testing

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Wed Jun 30, 2021 2:53 pm

Been busy doing the fiddly bits of track for Brettell Road part 2.

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Ok, this is just a B9 on a slight curve, not exactly fiddly.

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This is a bit more entertaining though. Ive tried a slightly different approach from my usual norm by using more copper clad and building more in situ than i usually do.  I normally build the crossing assembly away from the layout but decided this time to only assemble the vees themselves remotely. I think its a bit quicker and allows a little more wiggle room doing it this way.

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The view from the bridge.

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No matter how designed you think something is theres always some tweaks needed when you see the thing in the flesh.  I never noticed how the 2 vees had ended up virtually on top of each other.

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You can see here how the middle road has been realigned.  The original alignment showing through under the sleepers.

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Another tweak is the position of the signal box.  I don't think I fully took into account the curve and the sighting lines are worse than I thought they would be where I put it originally.

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By moving it to to the other platform and along to the left a bit the sighting lines are much better.

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So the signal box will go here instead. I will need to move the steps to the near end an I plan to fit deeper windows so that it more like a type 3 box.

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Andrew Ullyott
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Andrew Ullyott » Wed Jun 30, 2021 4:39 pm

looking very good Jim.
Is there a track plan for part 2?
Apologies if I've missed it!

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:30 pm

Thanks Andrew

Hopefully this will work but this is the track plan for the whole layout. The new boards are on the left.

Jim

brettell road complete track plan.jpg
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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Andrew Ullyott
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Andrew Ullyott » Thu Jul 01, 2021 8:40 pm

Reminds me of Tyseley for some reason.

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Fri Jul 16, 2021 8:29 pm

With the track and wiring done on Brettell Road part 2 thoughts have turned to the landscaping of the yard.

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Before I could start on the yard I needed to get the road in as this will need to be blended into the yard. The parts for this were cut out at Tim's but I did add a layer of 1mm balsa to the road and sanded a camber into it.   The thing with laser cutters is they are so neat.  By using 2mm mdf for the pavements i could carve away some of the slabs to make it all look a bit more scruffy.  I also cut a few of the slabs out completely on the laser so that I could add plasticard instead and do a couple of raised slabs. Brettell Road is set well before the 'where theres blame theres a claim' culture.  I guess people back then just looked where they were going or called themselves an idiot if they ended up on their backsides!

This is my nod to Brierley Hill's level street. Which if you've ever been there, is anything but level!  At the bottom is a now abandoned level crossing (the real Level street had 2 that were part of the Round Oak system). The line it was on now forms the back siding.  The road will need more work yet and weathering but this was far enough to let me move to the yard.

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I've never done inlaid track before and, added to the bright idea to have different levels, I figured the easiest way would be to infill the gaps with layers of balsa The top layer is 1mm thick and is glued to various different shapes underneath as I didn't want it to be all that flat. The infill in the track is 1.5mm balsa as I figured a half mill difference between the surface and the rail would aid track cleaning and wouldn't be noticeable.  I used track pins to hold it all together as well as PVA. Incidentally, I think this was the first time I've ever brought track pins!

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Despite my half mil' gap idea i was still a little concerned that track cleaning would result in patches of nice fresh wood showing through. So rather than paint I decided to stain the wood black.

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Time for another new (to me) product. I've used 2 colours of 'mud' from WWS Scenics. Peat and dark brown. These are like a very smooth liquidly filer.  I used the peat first with the dark brown over the top. Applied with a plastic spatular and then stippled with a large brush. Ive also added some tire marks and a light sprinkle of chinchilla dust while it was still wet.   More to do to it yet but I'm pleased with how it's coming along so far.  Lets just say the yard at Brettell Road was somewhat agricultural!
https://www.wwscenics.com/product/model-muds-100ml/

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Sat Jul 24, 2021 9:49 pm

This post kind of jumps around a little but lets start with a simple wagon as we've not had one of those for a while.
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LMS diagram 1973 mineral wagon. These were a little odd as they had no end doors just side ones. The model was created by splicing 2 sections of the Dapol (ex Airfix) mineral wagon body together and mating the result with a Parkside 12 ft wheelbase chassis. The W-irons are Bill Bedford, door springs Rumney models and buffers from Accurascale.

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Both the real Brettell Lane and Round Oak stations had central supports under the bridges.  As this will be right at the end of the layout, under a bridge and in the dark I didn't feel I had to go mad as a silhouette is pretty much all thats needed. The main pillars are actually nothing more than a couple of Hornby gradient supports spliced together.

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I mentioned in a recent post that i needed to reverse my signal box so the steps are at the opposite end.  Thats ticked off now and the results can be seen above.  To see the original build click here. https://p4newstreet.com/getting-the-most-from-older-models/

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Moving back to the layout itself the much modified Airfix crane has now been planted and the yard track has been ballasted and suitably 'neglected'.

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Overall view of the yard so far.
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Terry Bendall
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun Jul 25, 2021 9:43 am

A brilliant paint job on the signal box Jim. The peeling paint and stained roof capture the look of such things perfectly.

Terry Bendall

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Noel
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Noel » Sun Jul 25, 2021 10:16 am

jim s-w wrote:LMS diagram 1973 mineral wagon. These were a little odd as they had no end doors just side ones.


That's because they were built as loco coal wagons. At some point they would have gone into general traffic and lost the branding, presumably during the1960s. The side stanchions were tapered at both top and bottom, and between the tapers were "H" shaped. There was also an external "L" angle on the lower half of the corners, apparently attached to the ends but spaced off the sides. Later vehicles were built like this; the earlier ones were altered to match soon after construction. The only photographs I have of them in BR days**, from 1962 and 1971, with one other dated as post 1968, show the modified stanchions and corner bracing still present. Presumably the original design was regarded as being insufficiently robust.

**LMS Wagons Vol. 1, R J Essery, p163-4 and Pre-Nationalisation Freight Wagons on British Railways, D Larkin, p11 (some are actually D1974, but the diagrams are identical, apart from the use of copper bearing steel for D1973 and wrought iron for D1974).
Regards
Noel

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Sun Jul 25, 2021 5:56 pm

Thanks both

I probably should look at getting a new copy of LMS wagons vol 1 as mines falling to bits! :?
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:11 pm

Ive been a bit busy. All the track is not ballasted and the first stage of weathering in complete. I have also put the platforms in.

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The sides and tops were cut when I was over at Tims.  The brick platform edges are something Tim developed and they do look really smart.

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Overview from the Stourbridge end.

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And from the Dudley end

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Co-Bo lurks in the weeds.

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Up until now i have resisted the urge to plonk the building in place but my resistance has now caved.

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View from under the bridge. This gives a good idea of the elevation changes in the yard.  And before anyone says anything, doing the point rodding was probably a bit of a pointless exercise if I'm honest!

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

David Knight
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby David Knight » Fri Aug 06, 2021 11:31 pm

"And before anyone says anything, doing the point rodding was probably a bit of a pointless exercise if I'm honest!"

Ah, but YOU know it's there. :thumb Well, along with anyone else who looks carefully...

Cheers,

David

Terry Bendall
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Terry Bendall » Sat Aug 07, 2021 8:06 am

David Knight wrote:"And before anyone says anything, doing the point rodding was probably a bit of a pointless exercise if I'm honest!"

Ah, but YOU know it's there.


Exactly so. And all looking very good.

Terry Bendall

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Mon Aug 09, 2021 11:07 am

David Knight wrote:Ah, but YOU know it's there. :thumb Well, along with anyone else who looks carefully...


Indeed, they will have to look really carefully, as it’s the none viewing side of the platform and in the dark! :D :D
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Tue Aug 17, 2021 2:08 pm

I've reached the stage where all the significant greenery is pretty much done and I can move on to some titivating of parts of the layout.

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I've made a basic wooden fence to block off the line that crossed the road originally.  The rudimentary gate (which looks like it hasn't been actually used for years) is simply a few bits of 1x1mm brass soldered together.

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Proverbially walking up the road a little we come to the station signs.  These are based on a photo I found somewhere.  The fading on the signs themselves was actually an accident. The result of me handling the printout a little too early.

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Continuing our walk we come to this.  What can be more of a model railway cliché than the good old bus on a bridge?  Well since I am not going to be doing any buses for this layout I have gone for a midlands style bus stop instead. The main column was something I had in my spares box.   The rain on the layout is always going to be going left to right as you look at it, so it makes sense that the autumn leaves and litter do the same.  The top of the bridge is particularity known by the locals as being a bit blustery. (Theres actually a real location nearby known locally as 'windy corner')

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Peering over the bridge we see the lower end of the station footpath. The Midland style fencing and wire fencing posts both come from Scale Model Scenery as does the little beware of trains sign.

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Looking back at the bridge we just walked over. The girder is 2 of my previously designed etches combined together.  I still need to add the top capping to the sloping walls yet.

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Overview looking towards Stourbridge.  The 2 buildings are still just loosely placed at this stage.

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... and towards Dudley.  You'll have to use your imagination for the moment for fill in the bridge and the wall on the left.

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Old warning sign from Ambis Engineering

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A train!  Remember those?

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

David Thorpe

Re: Brettell Road

Postby David Thorpe » Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:27 pm

That really is exceptionally good.

DT

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Sat Sep 04, 2021 3:34 pm

Thanks David
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Sat Sep 04, 2021 3:39 pm

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With the Stourbridge end of the layout looking half decent attention has turned to the Dudley end of the new boards or the middle of the layout. Theres a few things that jarred about this scene now that it's more open.  Before you couldn't really see them.  The pavement doesn't flow properly and there are big gaps at the end of the bridge girder. Also the lower part wasn't finished.  When I designed the bridge I did have the foresight to include a half etch to allow the rivets on this side to be punched through.  However when I built it i didn't bother! Ive already pulled up the road.

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So the road and pavements have been redone. I made an overlay for the bridge from paper.  The pub sign is from Model scenics and features our much missed cat Moo.   The figures are from Modelu.

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The bridge from track level.  Ive added the retaining walls with some nifty top capping that Tim kindly cut for me.

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Turning around we see an overview of the somewhat neglected platforms.

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An overview of progress so far.

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I've added a scattering of people from Modelu and Airfix.  I thought the lady with the umbrella was particularly suitable.  I still need to do more work to bed this end of the building in.  Considering this is the rush hour theres not many people about.

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The station has 2 cats. The sensible one is Shadow while the mischievous one who wants to play is comet  They are more interested in chasing each other than the local rat population!

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On the other platform a couple of elder ladies discuss the immanent closure of the station with the station master.

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A gent waits for the bus.  It's late as usual!

Now that the some of the lighting is in place a few evening shots.

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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barrowroad
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby barrowroad » Sat Sep 04, 2021 5:40 pm

Looks fabulous and really captures the atmosphere of a run down railway.

Robin

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Noel
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Noel » Sat Sep 04, 2021 9:10 pm

barrowroad wrote:Looks fabulous and really captures the atmosphere of a run down railway.


Very much so. A run down railway in a run down area, doubtless soon to be redeveloped.

I like the twin steer dray too, but the draymen probably don't, with the high loadbed. I have been trying to estimate whether what is on that loadbed are 36 gallon Barrels, 54 gallon Hogsheads [both about 3ft high, max diameter about 24ins or 27 ins] or 108 gallon butts [just over 4ft high, max diameter about 36 ins]. Even taking the smallest of these you are looking at a weight of about 360 lbs just for the contents, plus the weight of the container.

Having long ago, in pre-decimal, pre-plastics days, worked in off-licences, drays usually carried a mixture of much smaller casks, such as Pins or Firkins, plus wooden crates of pint and half-pint bottles in dozens and quart bottles in sixes, plus, possibly, spirits and cases of mixers, all of which could be handled manually; drays normally had a sack-truck for heavier items, or moving stacks of cases, and possibly barrel ramps, but that was all. All of these containers and cases were returnable, and so were most of the bottles, so a dray would start loaded and return with empties, outwardly looking little different.

Wooden cases and casks started with varnished exteriors and gradually lost the varnish, turning a dull darkish brown, while the banding on casks would probably start rusting. Barrels which carried liquids had to be watertight, so would usually be condemned before going grey. Ones containing nuts and bolts or other hardware were a different matter.
Regards
Noel

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Sat Sep 04, 2021 10:07 pm

Thanks both

There’s a barrel ramp and a sack truck in the scene (just the other side obviously). As for the size, I dunno. I just followed my usual method of find a pic and model what I see, not what I think I know (which when it comes to beer, or any kind of alcohol is absolutely nothing! :D )
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Terry Bendall
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun Sep 05, 2021 8:24 am

All very good Jim and the model captures the atmosphere perfectly.

jim s-w wrote: I just followed my usual method of find a pic and model what I see, not what I think I know


Always a good way of doing things which I also try to follow.

Terry Bendall

Andrew Ullyott
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Andrew Ullyott » Sun Sep 05, 2021 10:13 am

Wonderfully atmospheric stuff Jim!

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Noel
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Noel » Sun Sep 05, 2021 11:05 am

Terry Bendall wrote: jim s-w wrote:
I just followed my usual method of find a pic and model what I see, not what I think I know

Always a good way of doing things which I also try to follow.


Me too, but even contemporary photographs can mislead if you don't know the context. My experience was with off-licences in the mid-1970s, so no true draught beer in barrels or otherwise, but apart from that very similar, although with some additions because tastes were changing by then. Added to this were occasional conversations with my godmother in the 1960s when I visited Swindon [I lived elsewhere, but have family there]; she and her husband owned a pub there at the time, not too far from the Works, and she once commented in answer to a question that a significant part of their sales were off-sales, i.e. for consumption elsewhere, usually at home, and therefore in bottles.

For comparison [from Wikipedia] the current standard UK steel beer keg is 11 gallons [about 21 ins high, the sort you see being rolled off drays onto a cushion on the floor], although smaller sizes do exist. There are also 18 gallon and 22 gallon kegs, which are seen by some as difficult to handle, and 36 gallon kegs, which require assistance to handle and are only used for bars with very high volume sales.

I don't like beer.
Regards
Noel

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jim s-w
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby jim s-w » Sun Sep 05, 2021 11:41 am

Perhaps a lot may have changed between the mid 50s and the mid 70s Noel. :thumb

It’s always a good thing when a layout gets someone reminiscing. Tends to happen more with New Street though as it’s a real place ;)
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Terry Bendall
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Re: Brettell Road

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Sep 06, 2021 8:18 am

jim s-w wrote:It’s always a good thing when a layout gets someone reminiscing. Tends to happen more with New Street though as it’s a real place


Many years ago, when the mid-Sussex group's layout West Chiltington was on the exhibition circuit, at one exhibition an elderly couple were reminiscing about standing on the bridge over the line when they were courting. West Chiltington is a real place in West Sussex and the bridge on the layout was also modelled on a real bridge but there was never a railway at the village itself. We decided that we would not correct their memories. :)

Terry Bendall


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