Fordworth Junction - A nod to my past.

Roger Pound

Roger Pound

Western Thunderer
What is he on about you may well ask. Well, one and all, once more personal circumstances have prevailed upon me in no uncertain manner to restirct further my abilitites. Rittersdorf - my current continental project remains on hold whilst I organise some assistance to get the wiring sorted. That could be some time :( !
However, as you may recall I intended to build a further KPEV branch as a separate entity and had perpared a board. However, it occurred to me that a change is as good as a rest, or so they say. Thus I decided to have a go at creating a reminder of my youth when I spent many hours lineside at the former GCR London Extension in Leicetershire. The locomotive variety was amazing and the running was usually outstanding. Certainly very impressive to say the least. I have many memories of personal and anecdotal tales of happenings and sightings and I thus considered, with the amount of N gauge material available, creating what would be just an impression of a bit of that line - the location is fictitious for the sake of Rule 1 - would be the refreshing change I was seeking.

The primary move is to lengthen the proposed board to 1500mm - no real problem but putting it at my person limit for handling. The width remains 300mm. The track plan is still on the 'Back of a fag packet' stage but track has been ordered in as has a locomotive. Exact design is yet to be finalised but simplicity will, I hope, prevail. We shall see.

So there you have it - the start of my nintieth year draws nigh - I'd better get cracking whilst there's time :eek:.

Cheers,

Roger.
 
Roger Pound

Roger Pound

Western Thunderer
James,

I wish you well for the time when you are able to start your London Extension project. It was a fine line most cruelly closed, and could IMHO have been HS2 with a little thought had it still existed. Never mind- we can recreate the good days of the London Extension in model form and enjoy the memories.

Roger.
 
Roger Pound

Roger Pound

Western Thunderer
Osgood said:
Nintieth? New layout?
Consider my hat well and truly tipped!
View attachment 263773

Youth - maybe 16, so circa 1952?
I wonder what was running then?
Click to expand...
Thank you kindly, Tony. There were numerous classes regularly seen although I missed out on the Jersy Lily Atlantics which had all gone by my spotting time. It was the era of A3's, B1's and V2's on the pricipal passenger workings boosted by A5's, L1's and J11on local passenger trains. Freight was in the hands of 01 and 04 in the main - the 9F's were yet to come. There was also a regular B16 working on freight too. K3's also appeared but less frequently. It was a great time for the loco enthusiast.
I hope that answers your question - my thanks for your interest.

Roger
 
Roger Pound

Roger Pound

Western Thunderer
Just to let you know that I'm not letting the grass grow.....! Today I sourced and cut the baseboard mainframe pieces. This is well seasoned timber, having been recovered after dismantling the former layout in my railway shed, which some of you may recall is no longer suitable as a site in which to model any more. It still serves for horticultural purposes, though ;)! Hopefully tomorrow should see the working surface in place following the assembly of the main frame. I must confess that it was nice to do a modest bit of carpentry once more - it's been a while due to health issues.

Roger :thumbs:.
 
Roger Pound

Roger Pound

Western Thunderer
A furthur update and a modest thread title adjustment to Fordworth. I am somewhat embarrassed to report that the board is not quite finished - life got in the way with a procession of medical appointments,plus a series of family gatherings etc - I'm sure you all recognise the picture. However, work continues today and the delivery of essental track units is expected tomorrow. I have been gathering stock and so far have a Sonic J50 and a Dapol B1. Some coaches are on the way with the previously mentioned track. The track layout will be quite simple and very loosely based on Culworth Junction. The time span is what is now known as era 4. As you may know, I am not a great 'Brass Bonnet Line' fan, but BR(W) region locos regularly worked through with reciprocal workings to the GC, usually no further north than Leicester but, yes, I know there were well publicised exceptions. This gives me the opportunity for at least a Hall, when I see one that is the right price! I know that 28xx 2-8-0's worked in to Woodford Halse but not normally any further north. I suppose I could accomodate one at a push............:rolleyes:! Just in case someone wishes to point out the GNR origin of the J50 design, one was allocated to Leicester for a time in the fifties, so finding them on the GCR is quite reasonable. There were apparently very few shunting classes of GC origin that survived into the grouping, never mind nationalisation.

The layout design has been finalised as a central scenic area with cassette operated fiddle yards at either side. Guess I'm going to be busy building several cassettes next....!! I have minimised buildings , thus doing away with the many problems that seem to occur in the construction of station buildings in particular. The very restricted space I have at my disposal would mean very little of a station would be visible anyway. I have seen that there is a rather nice ready made signal box which will be more than adequate and one is one my 'future purchases' list. This will probably be the major building on the scenic section.

So there we are for the present. I anticipate more speedy progress as the necessary materials come to hand and hope to have something to show next time, which I hope will not be too long.

Thanks for following my rambling,

Roger.
 
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