Ballasting (3)

"What type of ballast are you going to use?" was a question asked and to be honest, though I have several published colour photos of the branch, due to potential colour casts in reproduction I was still unsure to type and colour.

After posting a thread on RMWeb I've been informed that the likely source for the ballast during S.R. days would be Meldon Quarry on the edge of Dartmoor. If anyone else in interested the three links below offer a reasonable background information about this quarry and include photos.

http://www.devon.gov.uk/meldon_summary.pdf
http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/sheet_3c-b.pdf
http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/sheet_3b-b.pdf

If there was any ballasting completed after being transferred to WR, Stoneycombe quarry would possibly have been used.

I'm still trying to track down if any of the branch was re-ballasted during the 1950's and 1960's but I am now more confident about the colour of two photos on this website taken in 1986. To me this looks like ballast from Meldon. But I do believe ColourRail have a number of slides of this branch which I am also going to try and purchase as reference.

The thread on RMWeb is still running so more information may well surface.

Brake Vans

After posting a thread on RMWeb, I've gleaned information on types of Brake Vans that might/were seen on the Wenford Branch and in the area.

It looks like it was a N.E. Toad E Van that was regularly used on the Wenford Branch not an LMS one as I first thought. But in saying that I could justify a 20T LMS van, a SR 25 ton van and the Standard BR van. Interestingly there is a case to justify a Queen Mary van in the early 1960s. One would be added to the goods train if there was a paying passenger. The train would then have two brake vans. That I have to model so it can be included as an option.

Track - First effort

Spent this evening watching Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible) with a drop of Laphroaig to keep me company. Then looked down at my workbench and discovered I'd finished my first bit of track. Just a short 14 inch length to get me started but it looks OK. There is always room for improvement, some of the chairs are at a jaunty angle and I need to work out the correct rust colour for track and chairs. Tried pre-painting the chairs using acrylics and they have taken some colour but not happy as I'm after a dusty colour.

Think I read recently that P4 Track Company's wooden sleepers are thicker than those supplied by the EMGS, which would certainly help with ballasting. I do like the texture and overall effect of the wooden sleepers so will have to give these thicker ones a try.

So far the chairs seem firmly bonded to the wooden sleepers. Will the bond reduce in time? Will the bond be strong enough to construct points? Questions I hope to be asking this weekend at ScaleFour North. Also need to purchase a point kit to see if I have the skills needed. It will be good to try plastic sleepers just to see how they turn out......Try my hand at swimming with the current before continuing swimming upstream again.