WD Fuel depot

A small fuel depot

In the '30-40s numerous stategically placed depots for both dry and liquids were built in the UK, many were major establishments such as Micheldever or West Moors whilst there were numerous small RAF and RASC fuel depots, usually tucked away in quiet locations in the UK, often just a couple of discharge sidings and another for storage. 

 

Information source

The actual depot normally consisted of nothing more than an admin building and a small maintenance building.  

The unloading was simply a long pipe with flexible hoses to attach to the bottom discharge valve on the tank wagon, the storage tanks were remote from the discharge sidings. 

 

Finally, the entrance to the storage tanks under the hill, the entrance is located in West Dorset

 

Buildings

The two large buildings are exUS Army Quonset Huts, the models are a Rix Product and the larger is a Roco Minitanks version.

Below, an example of an exUS Army Quonset having been given a generous coat of bitumen paint.

It is an opportunity to experiment with weathering, especially green mould, lichens and rust. Currently the semi-complete shell of the Quonset hut is drying after a coat of green mould weathering.

The Rix Quonset is a basic shelter for maintenance 

The gantry is a cheap accessory from Auhagen, the chain is 30links per 25mm

The much larger Roco Minitanks accommodation Quonset

 Just weathered, it still needs a couple of other details

Building the Layout

The track is laid and the electrics are installed, it is a standard Roco Multimaus DCC system, testing was successful. The roadway is recyled picture mounting card, here they are after cutting, a set of French curves was essential.

 

 

The gubbins

Under the board

 

 The depot has a perimeter fence and gates, it has been recyled from a previous layout. The fence is adjacent to the long siding and gently curves its full length.

Some of the short grass has been laid inside the compound

 

Unfortunately the Woodland Scenics grass that was attached with Woodland Scenics Static-Tac has become detached and all will have to be removed and replaced. I began to recover some of the disaster, below is the method and results. By tipping it up, the excess static grass is captured by the fence.

The darker grass is Heki attached with builders store bought PVA, the light patch in the bottom left corner has just been laid.

A closer look at the fence, this is Heki static grass, again attached with builders PVA. Nothing has fallen off, all perfectly attached. Exactly the same tools and method used for the awful Woodland Scenics products.

Pipe work

The depot will need pipework to transfer fuel from/to the tank wagons

The first and second bays are in place, not at all easy and very fragile. All the hoses and other gubbins need to be installed. The corrugated shed contains the pump controls.

 

 

Black cinders seem to be fairly common under the discharge pipes, here the cinders have just been laid and grass applied either side.

 

 

The discharge equipment was sourced from Goodwood Scenics and it simply superb. Each siding is capable of accomodating two Air Ministry 14t wagons consequently this four point pipe will be reduced in length. 

Pipework at Fort William

The images courtesy of Softvark and Ben Alder WT

A loco for the layout

In the ‘34 English Electric built some diesel 0-4-0DM shunters for the Drewry company that were sold to the LMS. For six years 7050 was used for dock shunting at Salford before being loaned to the Air Ministry in '40. 

 

 

7050. Drewry 2047 with an Allen 8‑cylinder 180hp engine, hydraulic coupling, and Wilson four speed pre‑selective epicyclic gearbox. Actually built by the English Electric Co Ltd, works number 847.
 

It was withdrawn from LMS stock in March '43 and sold to the War Department (WD) which numbered it 224. Subsequent renumberings by the WD, and later the Army, saw it carry numbers 70224 (in '44), 846 ('52) and 240 ('68). At some point it was rebuilt with a Gardner engine and was used at the Royal Navy base at Botley, Hampshire. It was used at a number of locations in the West Country, including the oil depot at West Moors '72 (the first image) and the rest are at Warminster. 

 

 

 

In preservation, it is in residence at the NRM wearing a bogus LMS livery.

 

The Judith Edge model

Signage and other stuff

One feature that is proving difficult to research is signage of the '60s, especially safety warnings and instructions. 

So far, just one camp main gate sign.

Still looking for: No Smoking, and the large warning sign at the entrance to most hazardous site that states: No matches, lighters etc.

 

 Fire alarm bell

 

 

 

Firepoint

 

 

 

The firepoint will contain:-

 

Sacks of Speedi-Dri for spillages

Fire extinguishers 

 

There will be a few more details to be made:-

A large block of Jerry cans, these are the US-pattern

Easy guide to the Multimaus

 An idiots’s guide to the ‘MultiMaus’.

Switch on 

To set a loco identity 

If you want to set CV1=89 then hold the MENU button down for 5 secs (or press SHIFT and MENU together) Your display will now show one of the Menu headings and its menu number

Either press the direction keys to move to PROGR or press the function key 2 > Press OK

CV MO > Press OK

Enter 1 > Press OK

Enter 89 >Press OK

Press Menu

Then flick through your entered locos to NEW ?

Press Ok

Enter the chosen name or number for the loco

Press Ok

 Enter 89

 Press Ok

Speed steps

55 28 Change to 128 for your speed steps if desired

Press Ok

Run the loco

Handset  Codes

V AE indicates that its still set in German.

Err 2 indicates no confirmation was received from the decoder.

 Hold the MENU button down for 5 secs (or press SHIFT and MENU together) Your display will now show one of the Menu headings and its menu number

 Press the function key 3 > If the screen shows EINST and not SETTI then it is in German. If it shows SETTI I would return it to the supplier as it seems to got into a mess.

To get out of German Press OK to EINST, you should then get DISPL, right key gives you BEDIE. Press OK gives SPRACHE, press OK and use the arrow keys to get to ENGLI. Press OK then press MENU

Then try changing the CV

 If you still get err 2, what decoder are you trying to programme? There is an issue with the high voltage output of the Roco power supply which prevents TCS decoders from programming. I put a string of 12 diodes in one direction and 12 in the other direction in one wire of the track feed. This dropped the voltage from 20.5v to 13.8v, measured from the blue and white outputs of a decoder

 To Delete

 1. Switch the power to the Multimaus off its already on then switch the power back on

 2. Hold the shift key down and press MENU

 3. You need to get the display showing LOCO - try the direction arrows if it does not, if that does not work press STOP as you must be in submenu, then if still not showing try the direction arrows again

 4. OK

 5. The display will now show NEW

 6. Press the right direction arrow twice to get DELETE

 7. OK

 8. Press the direction arrows to get to the loco you want to delete.

 

One last thing

 

If the Multimaus seems to work but it is currently in the so-called address mode, ie direct display of the DCC address. You can switch this in the locomotive menu to library mode, where you can assign a name of up to 5 characters:

Shift+MENU

OK

6x right button, then the MODE menu appears

OK

then switch

With STOP you get one level higher (return).

If you need to read the firmware version, it can be found under the Settings menu.

YouTube Tutorial for the MultiMaus

 

NAAFI van

For those of a certain age and background, the NAAFI or YMCA tea wagon* was an essential, working remote from the canteen required that they 'came' to you.

 

* For me it was the Aggie Weston van, wonderful baked bean pies. Unfortunately, too many stand easies were spent at similar vehicles in the bitingly cold wind, hoping that there was still a bacon sandwich. The fact that our dispersal was at the far end of the airfield meant that a cold cheese sarnie was all too often a poor substitute.  

Andy has made this for the layout from a Bull Models kit

And these are the customers from Milcast, all forming an orderly queue for a cuppa and wedge.

Road Transport

Land Rover 88 Series1 REME

 

The MoD site manager's car

 

Rail Vehicles

The short line to the camp from the mainline was operated by the Army with local civilian crews. There was a single loco shed in the camp and an extension from the goods shed to the fuel discharge point. 

 Dapol Air Ministry 14t wagons

 

 

 Bachmann 14t wagon

 

 

There is a ‘spare’ loco, appropriately green. 

Oil depots

Rail served oil depots come in all sizes, sometimes just a couple of sidings, others were much more complex.

 

 

Goodwood Scenics offer some incredibly realistic items