Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hi all Railway adverts were all so common, but not on an over-rail bridge where the sooty exhaust would render it unreadable within weeks. I remember the Shanks timber company had an advert on the station side of the Holbrook Lane bridge at Foleshill Station, but it was removed just a couple of months later for that reason. It reappeared on wooden frames on the north side embankment. British Rail had an advert on an over-bridge in Birmingham, which read "USE YOUR RAILWAY". Each letter filling a whole steel panel section & the letters were being constantly repainted, even with diesel exhaust. I was therefore not surprised to see the advert moved to a road over-bridge. Ferodo had a similar advert on a rail over bridge in Dudley, using a whole letter to fill a steel panel section. The only Ferodo advert in Coventry that I can recall was on the rail-over London Rd bridge near to Whitley. For me, that was so iconic, almost a landmark so much so that I am trying it out in Hall Brooks. I have weathered it, but I am still uncertain. I did try printing white lettering on dark grey as well as black on grey which is how I remember the advert in Dudley.

There used to be a bridge on the Isle of Wight which carried, in large letters, the wording 'TOO LOW BRIDGE FOR TOO HIGH BUSES'

Hi Midland Red, Thank you for that. Over-weathering almost looks silly, so I have done some "Word-Art" shading & come up with this. In the mean time, I will search print types to see if I can find a FERODO trade mark, if not, I will use a photo, similar to my Alvis bridge, which is a road over-bridge on our Hall Brooks railway.

Hi all Easter holidays engineering works at Hall Brooks. Home-made from signalling scraps & choc-bloc. The oversize choc-bloc will accommodate two diode bulbs.

A question as it's Easter. Won't the choc blocks melt when the diodes are swtched on?

Hi all Whilst my eyes are up to doing it, I have installed the lenses in the signals. I have used glass beads from an art d

Hi all Looks like a Miss Marple job, in Hall Brooks.

Hi all Memories are so much of what I enjoy with model railways, or playing trains if that is more accurate. In our fiction story of Hall Brooks, where the Southern region have taken over the suburban services from Bishops Heath to Curzon St, as well as pouring capital into the third rail electrification of that line, once the electrification was in, it wasn't long until the signalling went electric. In the next picture, the old Bishops Heath starting signal, now has an out of use cross on the arm, as each platform (the former Bishops Heath goods & parcels depot) has its own colour light signal, as does the main siding now, with a ground level starter light. Signals did not appear in isolation. The rest of our railway will retain its semaphore signals for the time being. When an area was having a signal upgrade, say from semaphore to colour lights, it was usually the distants that were modernised first, as they offered the greatest savings on maintenance costs. Some distants had up to half a mile of steel cable connecting them to the signal box, which was usually the first to fail.

Oh no !!

Hi all Removal of the water tower has meant that we have been able to tidy the whole of the old Bishops Heath platform, in keeping with the accelerated EMU services to Curzon St which is attracting more passengers. Two trains an hour, now.

Hi all One of the delights of this time of year for me is seeing the new growth in the hedgerows, grassland & even some of the trees. The bright greens that freshen every where up. When I come home from my out & about trips, I want the same fresh look to our railway scene. Most of our deciduous trees are made from a seaweed plant, sometimes called sea-foam. It's a remarkable plant, that retains its pliability for decades. My constant reaching over pushes the trees back, but when I put thin cardboard behind them that also acts as a mask as I am using spray-on-glue, which I follow up with leaf scatter material over them, it re-invigorates them like new. It is a huge task for the whole railway, so I do sections at a time, starting with what is seen as nearest. The trees in the picture here that are in front of the "boulevard" have had the treatment, the green scatter that has fallen off them is then mixed with a grass scatter material that re-invigorates the top of the embankment. The glue sets very quickly, so I make sure that all of the track work is well masked.

Hi all A Warwickshire colliery wagon, that was based at Foleshill goods yard. Seen here at Longford Wharf.

Hi all Hall Brooks now has its own fully inclusive canal holiday boat trains. In this picture, Southern luggage utility van is being shunted onto its train. Some holidaymakers arrived by a Black & White coach, which is seen empty, about to leave Bramble Lane station.

Hi all My disappointment of possibly missing a forum breakfast tomorrow, if it goes ahead, has sent me into our railway room. I like the way that Windows 10 handles pictures, so to cheer me up, here is a picture of Coventry's (Hall Brooks, anyway), own boat train. That's novel, hey! Having enjoyed several decades of canal boating, I am aware of the routines that hire operators have for their boat hire. Often, boaters get access after 3pm on a Saturday, to load their hired boat & depart. If on a seven day hire, they are required to return the boat by evening the following Friday, or first thing on the Saturday morning, so as to give the operator time to clean & prepare the boat for the next hirers who arrive on Saturday. In this picture, with my mind working wonders, we have our Friday evening returning boat train, which travels to Coventry, then south following the route of the Oxford Canal. This is because some operators have disembark agents at different canal locations so that hirers can avoid doing a return journey. Notice that the train is wrong platform working, so as to allow easier luggage transfer from the canal boats. Well, it's all in my mind, hey!

Wonderful Philip, there would be no Hall Brooks if it wasn't for your brilliant imagination. Always something new to see. Thank you.