St. Mary Hoo - P4 Southern Region third rail

Simon Glidewell

Western Thunderer
Cover1.jpg Many of you will no doubt be familiar with this layout under it's usual name, St. Mary Hoo. However, as the project is now expanding I am going to concentrate on the first new extension - Cliffe Junction, which sits a short way west of SMH. For those that don't know about the layout, it is set on the Hoo Peninsula alongside the Thames estuary and although fictitious, the Hundred of Hoo Railway ran near the real St. Mary Hoo. The railway would have run from Gravesend, via SMH to Allhallows-on-Sea, but was closed east of SMH in the early 1970s. The layout has scale working third rail with locos and stock picking up additional electrical current from the conductor rail. The attached photo shows where the new scenic work and track laying will be taking place; beyond the typical SR concrete road bridge (the CEGB service road) on the bare baseboard area and beyond (this used to be part of the small fiddle yard and the third rail here is not supported on scale isolator pots but small pieces of wood as it was off the existing scenic area; this will all change of course). The new baseboards will fan out to the right and will include a rail served coal wharf for the nearby power station, and redundant WWII military installations, all surrounded by salt marsh and muddy estuary inlets. I will add new photos as I go along, but also some older and probably familiar pictures too.
 
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Simon Glidewell

Western Thunderer
S1.jpg The same CEGB works road bridge as seen in the previous photo. The track in near foreground is part of the CEGB complex; it will be extended to the left and pass sharply under the retaining wall via a low loading gauge bridge; the track will then dissect the BR mainline by means of a flat crossing (currently under construction).
 
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mickoo

Western Thunderer
Very nice attention to detail, it all fits very well together ;)

Look forward to more, especially the extensions which sound scenically challenging and interesting.
 

Simon Glidewell

Western Thunderer
S1.jpg On a misty day near the estuary (looking north east towards Southend and Tilbury, across the river) a CEGB Hunslet (an Impetus kit) moves back towards the power station complex. The points still need ballasting around the switch blades and stretcher bars adding. The white paint on the third rail ramps have since been weathered down.
 
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mickoo

Western Thunderer
On a misty day near the estuary (looking north east towards Southend and Tilbury, across the river) a CEGB Hunslet (an Impetus kit) moves back towards the power station complex. The points still need ballasting around the switch blades and stretcher bars adding. The white paint on the third rail ramps have since been weathered down.
I've been to Sheerness and Thamesport docks a few times, the scenery looks just like that!, it takes a special sort of person to live out there, there's certainly no way anyone could creep up on you :eek:
 

Simon Glidewell

Western Thunderer
Many thanks mickoo and Dan for your comments. Could you tell me how to make the uploaded photos bigger, rather than having thumbnails? I notice that some layout threads have thumbnails whilst others have full size pictures.

All the best
Simon
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
Many thanks mickoo and Dan for your comments. Could you tell me how to make the uploaded photos bigger, rather than having thumbnails? I notice that some layout threads have thumbnails whilst others have full size pictures.

Simon,

When you upload a picture file an entry appears at the bottom of the editing area with the file details. Under the details are two buttons - "Thumbnail" and "Full Image". If you press "Full Image", it inserts the picture full size into your text wherever your cursor is placed. So the usual way of inserting a picture is to upload the file, click your cursor in the text where you want the picture placed, then click on the "Full Picture" button.

Jim.
 

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
Hi Simon,

welcome to WT, your photos certainly portray the Grain/Sheppey neck of the woods off in all of its glory. I look forward to seeing more pictures soon - there is an option button when you upload your pictures - Thumbnail/full image - just click on the one that you want.

cheers

Mike
 

Dan Randall

Western Thunderer
Many thanks mickoo and Dan for your comments. Could you tell me how to make the uploaded photos bigger, rather than having thumbnails? I notice that some layout threads have thumbnails whilst others have full size pictures.

All the best
Simon

Hi Simon

When you're uploading your photos to your thread, you should see thumbnails of what you're going to upload. You should also see the words "Insert every image as as...." And be given the choice to select Thumbnail or Full Image. Select the Full Image option and hopefully, it should work.

You can go back and edit your thread to do this, but I think you need to go into "More Options" first. Hope that helps.


Regards

Dan

Edit - Mike beat me to it...! Also, you can have (I think), up to eight images per post.
 

Simon Glidewell

Western Thunderer
Hi Simon

When you're uploading your photos to your thread, you should see thumbnails of what you're going to upload. You should also see the words "Insert every image as as...." And be given the choice to select Thumbnail or Full Image. Select the Full Image option and hopefully, it should work.

You can go back and edit your thread to do this, but I think you need to go into "More Options" first. Hope that helps.


Regards

Dan

Edit - Mike beat me to it...!

Cheers Dan (and Mike again!). I've just had a go at it and it works.

All the best
Simon
 

Simon Glidewell

Western Thunderer
S1.jpg A small detail photo of the current retaining wall. This will be extended to the left down to rail level and the CEGB track in the foreground will curve sharply to the right and pass under it via a low bridge; the track might dip down a bit to maintain the gauge, as happened on the East Gloucestershire Railway. There will also be the remains of a redundant point by the bridge where the industrial line carried on curving to the left back into the power station complex.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
Thanks very much Jim for the information. Is it possible to make the four existing thumbnails into full sized pictures?

Simon,

From checking on one of my own messages with pictures, going into "EDIT" on your message with pictures, then selecting "More Options" brings up your text with the list of uploaded files at the bottom with the "Full Picture" and "Thumbnail Options". This allows you to insert your full picture where you want to and then save after the edit. I note that full pictures have now appeared on your opening message so I assume you've found out how to do it. :)

Jim.
 
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