Old Railway Bridge

On holiday last year we walked down part of an old railway line and I took a photo of a bridge.  The brickwork seems in very good condition considering it's 40 years since the line closed, but I expect it has had some maintenance to keep the bridge safe for walkers.  Looking at this bridge I can't help imagining the wooden railings being removed and a small narrow gauge steam train running across it.  Walking down the line I realised that all the trees must have grown since the line was closed, probably most of them in the first few years.  It's interesting to see how quickly nature recolonises.

Linkdump Summer 2011

This was in my draft and still had the title "Linkdump Autumn 2010".  It's better on the web where I can find it more easily so I've added a couple more recent links and updated the title.

Modified C-Rail Tanktainers

How to build a hipped roof

Narrow gauge airbraked wagons, built by Julien Webb from 3mm scale kits

Lineside Industries (via Si from ngrm-online)

Modern 1:76 Scale Colour Light Signals

Plants and flowers by Will Vale on RMWeb

Ouse Viaduct/Balcombe/Lewes project an ambitious project to build a P4 recreation of the Ouse Valley Viaduct, Balcombe station, and Lewes Station using a Fremo style modular approach. They are going to build some generic scenery sections to link the main boards together. Their first baseboard is built and they've laid out the viaduct, and are making good progress.

The Elly James & Keith Light Railway - I've always admired James' modelling and his garden railway looks great fun.

Devil's Dyke Railway -  I've still not got round to watching this video of an old railway line that I've walked more than once.  I remember there being a good apple tree next to the track bed.

Hayling Seaside Railway

I've been rather busy recently and haven't done much modelling, but I am still here and I've not forgotten about the blog.

At the end of last summer we went to Hayling Seaside Railway for one of their steam weekends. Emmet was the visiting locomotive.  It's just over a mile long according to Wikipedia and the scenery isn't that varied, but I've always had a soft spot for railways on beaches.  We started out from Eastoke Corner and took the train to the main station at Beachlands.  When we arrived at Beachlands it was starting to rain but as part of the station is under cover we got out and watched Emmet being prepared for the return run.  By the time Emmet was running round the train the rain had got fairly heavy so I took a couple of quick photos and got back in the dry.  The rain had stopped by the time we got back to Eastoke,so we had a play on the adiZone outdoor gym went for a short walk before heading home.

The station and sheds would scale at around 100x30cm in 009, so a micro layout could be built without any compression.  Google maps shows the size of the station and this photo shows compact shed area.  It would be good to include a representation of the line across the beach, but to keep space down this could be kept quite narrow.  If the fiddleyard exit was to be hidden then the scene would have to be modified, a building could be used, or the amusement park could be moved to the hide the exit.  The other option would be a cassette fiddleyard in plain view.  beach.  Operation would be fairly limited, as the line can only have two trains running at a time - either two passenger trains, or a passenger train and a demonstration freight train, but modellers license could be used to make operation slightly more interesting.

More photos on Flickr