2016 Summary ~ Trackwork Complete

  End of the year already !  Can't be,  can it ?   It's been a very busy couple of months,  but our track gangers have worked miracles and all the track has now been laid !  Of course there is a lot of cosmetic work to be done,  additional sleepers,  touch ups,  rail / sleeper painting & weathering,  and then the fun task of ballasting !   Very happy with the progress so far,  it has gone quicker then originally feared !   Also looking forward to wiring,  and getting to some scenery.    Those will be the goals for 2017,  ballasting,  wiring,  some basic scenery,  & a couple structures.   Happy New Year !

Christmas Came Early

Morning All,
Well Christmas came a little early here in Oregon.
I received my Minerva Models  Kerr Stuart 0-6-0T Victory class locomotive,  and what a little beauty !   But I'll let you see it for yourself in action,  here is the first in hopefully a montly video report on the Boxer Bay Railway -  Enjoy !

Opening Day ! :))

Announcement for Boxer Bay & Surrounding Area Residents !

The Railway is now open for business. December 8th, 1916 marked the ribbon cutting ceremony. 

The Railway was officially opened by the Mayor of Boxer Bay, & Col. Stephens, who constructed the line of 32 miles. The Colonel admitted there is still work to be done ~~ just a few things like platforms, station buildings, signal boxes, signals, ballast, wiring, making the bridge structurally sound, loco facilities, tunnels, finishing track installation, building the docks, oh, and coaches for the passengers ! 

"All in Good Time" the Col. was quoted as saying. But at least we can now offer services from nowhere to nowhere !  It is fun to see a train run, even if the, uh, stock formation is a little odd !  Note the authentic Band that was engaged for this historic occasion !  Time to start painting up the Omen Figures I think ! 

Opening Ceremony ~ Complete with Authentic Band !

~ Nothing Dangerous about this  !  ~

Under Construction - To Be Finished in 10 Years ~ Give Or Take a Few

Wagon With A Story

Hello Everyone,

  This post will have a bit of story attached to it.  How did a Yank with no family connections to the UK and of such young years become so fascinated with the Golden Steam Age of England ?

  Well,  it starts off with what else,  our yearly Summer family vacation.  Which without fail was always spent North of the Border in Beautiful British Columbia,  chasing SD40-2 diesels through the Thompson canyon,  followed by a visit to Vancouver.  Always a must visit for Dad & I was a special little shop called "Railway World",  in Gastown.   Owner & Proprietor was Mr. Arthur Darlington & his lovely wife Pat,  who were English.  That Hobby Shop (Sadly Long Gone 1973-2004)  is one major reason.  Looking through all the British magazines including Steam Days,  Back Track,  Railway Modeller,  Railway Bylines,  to name a few.   Display cases filled with Hornby Dublo,  and Arthur with his stories of the "Good Old'ays !"

Who needed the Internet !

 Arthur had inherited a collection of scratchbuilt O wagons from a friend who passed on,  Arthur & Pat saved these and gave them to me last year as I was getting into British 7mm.   These wagons were built by a VIA Rail Conductor,  during the 1970's,  while on the train between Vancouver & Montreal,  during his breaks !   Sadly he never got the chance to build his railway.  They are very nicely made for their time,  mostly wood and card to scale plans out of old Model Railway News magazines,  and of special meaning to me.  I've decided to do as little work as possible to bring them up to standard for my railway.   Mainly changing out wooden wheels for new Peco finescale metal ones,  adding a little weight,  and minor touch up repairs.  He even dated each wagon upon completion,  I've decided although unprototypical,  to leave it as a tribute to his work.  This particular LBSC  wagon was built in September 1977 ! 

It's taken 40 years for this wagon to finally get "put into service !"

~ Wheels out,  weight being added,  and buffers to be repainted ~

~ Finished Wagon fitted with Peco wheels ~

Date of Construction -  

Onboard a Train between Vancouver & Montreal !

What a Difference the Wheels Make !

Track Work - Finally !

Hello All,   
Finally got the Track Gangers to work with fresh supplies from Peco,  "Albert" & "Cedric"  were hard at it from sunrise to sunset,  with some good progress.  The Mayor is hoping to have the ribbon cutting ceremony before Christmas,  the Colonel thinks we might just make it !   The only snag is lack of coaching stock,  so we will have to improvise !  Watch this space !

Parkside North British Van

One more wagon finished off,  another Parkside kit.  This time a North British 8 ton van.  Pretty happy with the result,  although I now think I went a little too far with the weathering of the body.  I do like the color I painted the chassis - W Irons,  an improvement on the NE open wagon.   Now time to get back to work on the railway itself,  my turnouts should be here any day !!  :)

Rolling Stock underway

  Finally  !   I finished & completed my first wagon,  a Parkside NE 12 ton 6 plank open wagon.  A very nice kit as expected,  no problems and a joy to build !  Learned a few tips along the way that I won't forget in the future.  I added some weight under the floor to make the wagon heavier,  which will help with smooth rolling.  Model was brush painted with Tamiya acrylics,  and weathered with washes and chalk powders.  This is the nice thing about O scale,  even just a single wagon can be impressive.  1 done,  39 to go.

Stage One - Benchwork

 With benchwork complete,  work has now turned to roadbed and track laying !   Sadly I don't have all the turnouts I need to really get going,  but there is plenty to do until that package arrives !   This is the current state of the railway,  with the one half of the continuous run installed,  with minor super elevation.

Background Info

So,  here is a little summary of the idea behind this model railway.  Not being a native of England,  I have no special connection with any area or railway company.  I do find the time period of about 1900 to 1930 particularly fascinating,  and have a great love of the Victorian era Steam locomotive. I really like the elements of many different railway companies,  including the Col. Stephens light railways, so I've decided to model a fictional line,  allowing me to model exactly what I like !  

Location :  Somewhere along the coast in Somerset !
Time Period :   1920 - 1935
Railway  :   Boxer Bay Railway (B.B.R.)
Length of Line :  Approx.  25 Miles
Type of Line :  Coast Harbour to inland connections with GWR &  S&DJR 
Traffic :  Coal / Peat Moss / Hancock's Beverage Co. (Ale) / Fish / Farming Equipment / Fruit & Dairy
Locomotives :    A1  Terrier 0-6-0T  /   '02'  0-4-4T  /  1F 0-6-0T  /  Peckett 0-4-0T  + Anyothers I can get  :)

What's in a name ?   Don't go looking for the seaside town of Boxer Bay,  it doesn't exist.   The name comes from my fondness of the Boxer breed of canine,  of which I've had 4 in my life so far,  and my interest of the seaside and all things maritime.  The town is supposedly based in Somerset along the coast of the Bristol Channel,  somewhere South of Highbridge,  where it connects with the Somerset & Dorset Railway,  and Great Western Railway.  I wanted this connection to the "rest of the world" as I'm also an S&D enthusiast,  in fact I owe my interest in railways in large part to Ivo Peters and his photography.

The Plan !

Hello and welcome to my new and hopefully last model railway !  I've changed prototypes and scales so many times I can't keep track of all the times I've switched out one project / scale for another.  I hope this is my last great project,  and look forward to spending my life building it !

 Onto the plan.  I deliberately chose not to fill my entire 20' x 14' room with trains in all directions,  I simply don't have the energy,  time,  and most importantly,  money to do it !!  Also faced with the prospect of moving house in the near future,  I have incorporated into the plan the need to easily move this project to my next home,  so it breaks apart in 10 smaller,  fairly equal sections.  Not knowing how much room I'll have in the future,  I decided to keep it more modest.  I also feel more comfortable with this size of layout,  I'm confident I can manage to build something this size.  The layout works out to 14' x  9'6",  which allows for 4' minimum radius curves which will be sufficient for anything I intend to operate,  the Pines Express will not being passing through on this layout !    Track will all be Peco Bullhead Code 125,  and power is simple DC block control.  More details to follow.