best in show

Completely unexpected, we won best in show.

Let the show begin

The Basingstoke model railway show is about to start. And we are ready to go.

One for the Bus Anoraks

From what I understand Thornycroft was not a prolific bus manufacturer, unlike their lorries and vans. Nevertheless there are a couple of photos I have seen of bus chassis under test on the road.

These photos are quite rare and unusual among the plethora of lorry photos in that they depict the chassis loaded with 1 ton concrete test loads, representing a typical payload for the vehicle during road tests.

Seeking variety in the models I am making for our Thornycroft Sidings layout I choose to model the XC chassis as there is a detailed article about it in The Commercial Motor Archive.

The XC chassis was designed in 1931 to  meet the special requirements of Thornycroft's customer - The Eastern National Omnibus Co., Ltd. They wanted a very low frame that allowed for a easy step up onto the rear passenger entrance platform. In fact the height from ground to platform was only 11.75 inches.

Thornycroft supplied five chassis for use on bus routes in Essex. The bodywork, accommodating 51 passengers on two decks, was made by another company - Strachan  (Acton) Ltd.

The vehicles were not in service for long, being withdrawn one by one between 1941 and 1949.

Photo right is the model. A photo of the prototype on which it  is based is in the article linked above.

The chassis is being driven from the test load storage area between the Running Shed and Repair/Experimental workshops towards the main entrance where it will journey to the long, straight Buckskin Lane a mile or so away for brake testing.

Without colour photos I have assumed the chassis and engine cover were grey primer. A temporary body wrapped the chassis to contain the test loads. I assumed this was wooden. At the rear you can see the chassis jutting out. This is the rear platform supporting frame.

The model was designed in CAD and 3D printed as a kit of parts, except the mudguards are paper and the driver is made from wire and FIMO clay.

David

Exposure

Back in the Autumn of 2013 an article I wrote about our Cliddesden layout for the 'Your Model Railway Village' part work series was published in issue 8.

A guy on YouTube has reviewed every issue of the partwork and he has just (March 8th 2015)  got around to reviewing issue 8.

If you would like to hear what he had to say about my article then play his video from time mark 3.10 minutes. By the way, it is pronounced Clid-des-den.




It seems to be all happening this week as the layout is being exhibited on Saturday and Sunday.

Aldworth Science College, 

Basingstoke, RG22 6HA 

Saturday 14th March 10-5 and 

Sunday 15th March 10-4 

David

Cliddesden at BNHMRS Show March 2015

See Cliddesden in person at Basingstoke North Hampshire Model Railway Show:

Aldworth Science College, 

Basingstoke, RG22 6HA 

Saturday 14th March 10-5 and 

Sunday 15th March 10-4 

Stand 6L in the Gymnasium. Hope to see you there!

In the mean time to refresh your minds of the layout. Here is a video of the local goods train and passenger train arriving and departing from Cliddesden station.

Ed

There Are 9 Million Bicycles in Basingstoke

With apologies to Katie Melua, only 50 shown here.

These are the bike stands outside the Thornycroft running shed. Each bay accommodates 5 bicycles. They are fully populated and awaiting their owners collection towards the end of the working day.

50 bicycles is the limit for the third of the factory we are modelling and represents about 10% of the total bicycle storage capacity on site. To put this into context take a look at the movie on the Thorncroft Sidings page. Towards the end you'll see the swarm of cyclists leaving the factory.

The bicycles are plastic by Peco Model Scene (12 in a pack). Each one is about 10mm long. Wheel spokes are not included and the handle bars are too short but they are a crisp moulding. You don't really notice the omissions at this scale and especially as they are buried under cover here. We painted most black with a grey and red one in there somewhere.

David

Cliddesden at BNHMRS Show

See Cliddesden in person at: 

BNHMRS Show 

Aldworth Science College, 

Basingstoke, RG22 6HA 

Saturday 14th March 10-5 and 

Sunday 15th March 10-4 

Hope to see you there!

Picture from Farnham MRC expo

As this blog has focused recently on Thornycroft, We thought it would be good to refresh your minds on Cliddesden, so as a start take a look at the Cliddesden Photo Series and read the background/ introduction to the layout.

Ed