The Westwood & Loscoe Light Railway

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:20 pm

Codnor Castle halt, ready for the re-opening of the new alignment to passenger traffic:-

and the reference:-
(or, if you prefer, the building on its original site "somewhere in Wales" before being dismantled and moved by the W&LLR preservationists

)

Sir haydn · Post by **Sir haydn** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:56 pm

Very nice Greg!

Just needs some passengers....and a timetabled train!

DolwyddelanLightRail · Post by **DolwyddelanLightRail** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:02 pm

Very nice!

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:30 pm

....and a timetabled train!

The line's still under possession between Codnor and Riddings and the Civil Engineering Department reckon it's too cold for laying Rowlands Mix ballast.
(The BoT inspector, Captain Slogg, would never approve the condition of the trackbed for the traffic at the moment

)

Pendo Pilot · Post by **Pendo Pilot** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:04 pm

Gregs got a GWR bench!! Flippity flip I'm shocked, thought you would have some wonky midland jobby there. BTW, where did you get it from..

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:15 am

A couple of "new recruits" for the W&LLR footplate crews (not as exotic as the CVLR drivers though

)

I've been after P&J's driver with oil can and driver drinking tea for ages, managed to get this one recently...

The kit comes as white metal head, arms, oil can and body with legs. Probably because of the age of the mould, it needed quite a lot of fettling before assembly, but the effort is worth it for a nicely detailed figure with loads of character.

Next up is a new driver for the Mamod. Ogwen is due back soon from DLR Dan's workshop (Looking great Dan!

) and I decided to try a 'G scale' figure because of the loco's proportions.
I managed to get hold of an old Phoenix Miniatures british driver whitemetal kit.(these are currently available from Jims Models)...

Excellent clean, crisp castings with just seperate arms to assemble, undercoat and paint!

I've tried a different (easy) technique for the denim - just a Regal Blue wash over the grey undercoat

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:53 pm

Not long now!.......................

the new section of track has now been ballasted, and the new signal is installed at Westwood,

and Codnor Crossing has been re-instated.

Just about ready for the BoT inspection!

Here's one of the new spotters vantage points;

Sir haydn · Post by **Sir haydn** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:36 pm

Looks excellent.

Nearly time for a visit

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:28 am

Sir haydn:66549 wrote:Nearly time for a visit ;)

You Betcha!

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:59 pm

No.11 Codnor Castle - seen here on shed at Brinsley Lodge worked the final scheduled P.Way train for the deviation today.

New running boards fitted (nice idea Shane!

) and a bit of light weathering.

The new Starter has been installed at Westwood during the final works phase - it highlights how run-down the station area has become over the winter closure :roll:

Note To Self; Really MUST get that spruced up before the BoT Inspector arrives!

METHSSNIFFER · Post by **METHSSNIFFER** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 10:42 pm

You really need to get the weedkiller out! Only joking its coming on leaps and bounds signal looks excellent as well

Pendo Pilot · Post by **Pendo Pilot** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 10:57 pm

Narrow Minded:66610 wrote:

That looks bloody brilliant mate, a shame our track doesnt adopt a rusty hue as that would look so real!

It does look like it's coming on really well now.

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:09 am

Looks absolutely grand!

One rivet counters question - when are you putting in AWS? IIRC, the diamond on the signal indicates the presence of AWS on that section of track. The usual way of dealing with this when one recycled signal posts was to use a dirty great Edinburgh socket set* and bash the ends of the diamond together so they could not be seen!

You can thump me later

Peter in AZ

* - That's a hammer in case you are wondering....

Pendo Pilot · Post by **Pendo Pilot** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:49 am

Diamond is an indication of track circuits not AWS Peter.

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:29 am

Cheers, Mate, it has been a very long time since I signalled a layout to something approaching British mainline standards, and the old memory is not what it used to be! The last "standard" gauge layout I did was a CIE branch line set in the 1970s long before the days of the mini-CTC schemes. That layout was lower quadrant semaphores, but no track circuits or CAWS/ATC/AWS, so it must be 20-25 years since I last did a UK mainline standard gauge layout!

Peter in AZ

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:51 pm

Well, the big day finally arrived and the BoT Inspector Captain Slogg drove over from Derby and parked up on Station Road.

The coach prepared for the visit waits at Westwood..

... while the Captain inspected the signalling arrangements.

Lady Marilyn was rostered for the day and buffers-up to the coach.

Nervousness mounts as the train gets the "right away"......

... and makes its way through "The Alley".

Then easing open the regulator, the train negotiates the new formation...

... making good time arriving at Riddings Halt.

Captain Slogg alighted at several locations to carry out his inspection,

before rejoining the train to continue along the line.

The Inspector spent quite a time at the new bridge,

and by the time the train reached Codnor Castle....

..... the tension was becoming unbearable!

It was with some degree of relief that the train finally arrived at Loscoe.

Nerves were eased a little when the Inspector paused to share a "Bunny" joke with the Loscoe Station Master..

.. while the loco ran around in preparation for the return journey.

After arrival back at Westwood, the Inspector went to the managers office to discuss his report.....

.... before leaving for his drive back to Derby.

But, the question is, how had we done

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:06 pm

You'll pass with flying colours. Looked to me like The good Captain
was 'suffering the effects of a long lunch' in The Flag & Whistle!

Pendo Pilot · Post by **Pendo Pilot** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:57 pm

I'm still pissed off with the fact you have managed to grow 16mm scale grass in your 2- 9" foot.

Cause it looks so good & I hate you now..Bah!

P.S. Lovely pics, no earth faults so should be fine. Bloody lazy signalman though letting his box get that messy. I was never allowed to let my boxes get like that, old school would of killed me.

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:37 am

Sorry on both counts Shane

The Inspector wasn't too pleased with the state of the box either and mentioned it - it'll be cleaned "dreckly"

As for the moss, it's a double edged sword

It can look great for a time but it really takes a hold of the ballast and weakens it - the Blackbirds then pull it out in great swathes looking for insects (even though SWMBO puts out so much birdfood, they need never scavenge again!). Still, it keeps Emma Bankment and the rest of the P.Way gang busy!!

Narrow Minded · Post by **Narrow Minded** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:29 pm

Especially for Mr Bond, who wanted to know "where everything is" -

and for all the pedants, it's deliberately grainy to look old and there's music on it because of the extraneous noise and I was only using a battery powered loco

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