Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hi again We have a fleet of green diesels running in HallBrooks, which hints of the days to come. Until about 1990, a lot of the steam era infrastructure was still in place on our national railway, signals, loops, short wheelbased goods vans & guards-vans, but there is very little of that now. I do like a hint of modernisation in HallBrooks so we might have a couple of colour lights for the new Longford Park. I made some for my grandson's railway. They are very easy to make out of plastic tube & box section, along with LED bulbs & a battery pack. The battery pack holds four AA, which after two years on his railway are still supplying power to his signals, without any hitch. If I do run out of things to do in this wet summer, I might (only might) drill out the painted lens spots of the Hornby arms & place a led to shine through. I did that years ago with grain of rice bulbs but they were too hot. I even tried optics but this LED tech is really good. We will see.

Hello Dutchman, Hi all, Please have a look at an introduction to some stories that I wrote, where our Holbrooks railway was the centre stage. I will also upload the map diagram that I included. Hope that you like. It gave me great pleasure writing some simple stories. I was informed that even in the last thirty years, consideration has been given to a number of schemes where Arley Tunnel could be bypassed because of very costly maintenance.

Very interesting Philip Your frame of reference is a bit earlier than mine. I never saw an LMS style guards van for instance, they were all Eastern Region types by the time I came here. No blood & custard coaches either, everything maroon.

Hi all. It is often the case that I realise an error when I look at my own photo. Spending time adding vegetation to the wet ledge on the viaduct this evening, I have realised that I have not put the drain pipes in. Railway civil engineers would have come down like a ton of bricks on the maintenance crews if the viaduct had that level of growth on the damp proof ledge. I was reminded of this quite recently when I saw weed killing tanks spraying the sides of Coton Arches. ps. Pam & I are still on the park bench! Also, a pic of class 47, waiting to return to Oxford, with the only loco-worked local passenger train in Hall Brooks. Sign of the times for the early to mid sixties. I saw a very sad sight near to Brinklow about 1964, when a train made up of old steam loco tenders, (some in green too) were being used as a weed spray train. About a dozen tenders & a Queen Anne break-van too. A long lens pic of the same train waiting to depart Hounds Hill for Oxford. A feather weight load for such a big engine, but the loco is returning to its home shed at Oxford, & would otherwise return light. The class 47 is rostered to work the down Banbury to Bescot freight on our railway. ps. We did love each other at one time!

Just found this page relating to 'Canley Gates' (more recently known as Canley Halt) from a link posted elsewhere by 'Chaingang' - Canley Gates Thought it might be of interest. PS. Philip, I would guess you to be about 17 in that photo? - Can you remember where it was taken? Post copied from topic Railways & Canals around Coventry (& Hall-Brooks) by Foxcote, 30th Jan 2014 2:46 pm

Hi Tony, It was August 1966 (I was 19) & we were in the Lake District, on our way to tour the coast line of Scotland. Up the west coast & down the east coast. I had a ten year old black Wolseley 6/80 which performed ace.

And still do. Love the photos Philip.

Hi & thank you both Canley Station came into existence in much the same way as Daimler Halt. There were binding rules that made the descriptive name given to a station, like 'Halt' which in this case relieved the railway company of commitments that it would have to to adhere to if it was called a station. Thank you for the link Tony. I tell you what, Tricia, I would not be alive now but for Pam. The fact is that the only worries that I have ever had in all of my married life are the worries that neither of us could do anything about. Anything else, we just did it! Love you too. Post copied from topic Railways & Canals around Coventry (& Hall-Brooks) by Foxcote, 30th Jan 2014 2:48 pm

Hi all, a nice thing! I was recently asked if a little boy (aged 6) could come & see our railway. To be honest, I was quite nervous about this because our railway is slow. It isn't a rabbit warren of tunnels with trains popping in & out in quick succession, which is what most children & adults like to see. Anyway, on Friday afternoon the little boy arrived along with his grandparents. I need not have worried. He has a small railway at his home & his grandad is currently building a live steam saddle tank loco. He took to our railway like a fish in water. I am now trying to sort a time where he can come when my grandson is here so that they can really get down to business. He wasn't just a yes child. It was a delight to hear him ask questions & make comments that showed his depth of understanding of our hobby. Bril, bril & bril! Drainage now added. By lightly brushing clear varnish next to the drain, I hope to have the effect of a leaking gutter. "It all makes work for the working man to do" so say Flanders & Swann in their song.

Ahh, love's young dream. I can remember when I was 19 as if it were yesterday. We became engaged when we were 19. Sorry, I have lost the plot of the railways but we travelled on many a steam train when we were 'courting' (if they still call it that) !!! Lovely pictures Philip & Pam.

Hi all Another 3F joins the fleet of small freight locomotives.

Nice weathering job on that one Philip

Hi all A HallBrooks Interlude Tomorrow, I am off to collect a West Country loco (Wadebridge) along with three 'Pullman' coaches, so last evening I got busy making my corridor connectors. I have put my construction method on my photo gallery. I am no artist & I recognise my own limitations with what I can do. My first encounter with a model railway that had corridor connectors was whilst on holiday in Bournemouth when aged about eight. I can't tell you much about the model except that it was Southern Region with lots of West Country locos. They were quite novel to me. Remember at that date the re-builds were still on the drawing board. The thing is though that what made the biggest impression on me was the corridor connectors between the coaches. We rarely see them on models even at exhibitions, but they make the train look real. So, even with my limitations of artwork, I can pretend that I am travelling on one of our own trains at HallBrooks. When made to the correct size & trimmed, they look better than a gap & the coaches ride better as they are not clonking around like trucks. Hope you liked that. 'Wilton', having brought a passenger train to HallBrooks from Oxford, is waiting with a short freight to run up to Tippers Hill, before running back to the Southern Region. Tippers Hill is our imaginary loco depot at the end of the branch, but how they service a West Country, heaven only knows. How I explain such a loco up here is anyone's guess, but there will soon be another. What a pip!!

You made a good job of those corridor connectors Philip, it makes all the difference (to a pedantic eye like mine) and more realistic, keep up the good work on the excellent layout

Hi all Until the eighties, many UK railway companies & subsequently 'British Rail', operated Pullman trains, many given specific names. For a time a diesel powered train, 'The Blue Pullman' ran from B'ham to London. The Southern Region had many, most with 'posh' names. The Pullman coaches on our railway have the name Devon Belle, Waterloo to Ilfracombe, which is totally inappropriate for HallBrooks. I shall print a new sign-board to mount onto the coaches in the photo. Have any of you suggestions of what we should or could call a Coventry Pullman? The 'Sky Blue' Pullman did come to mind. ps. Thanks to Dutchman, I have amended part of the text.