RMweb Community Blog List

THE CIRCLE LINE - oo plans

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:34:00 +0000

evening all. I have a very large amount of oo stock steam and diesel and i love shunting. Seeing as this is abit hard in n gauge my brother and i have come up with a small plan for me to play about with not having alot of space the board will be 4ft long and 8inch wide witch means it can sit on a shelf in my room :) the track will be peco code 75 finescale i will try and upload a plan as soon as i can. I am also considdering dcc sound and would love to chip my bachmann br pannier but i need to email bachmann about my controller as it doesnt work anymore :( but the sound of a pannier chuffing up and down is very tempting so i will look into it :) I will try and have some pictures up next week when things take shape.
stuart

Dave Holt's Blog - Delph - Cosmetic chairs on first point

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:16:00 +0000

After what feels like a lifetime of back-aching effort, leaning over the board to focus my magnifying head set thingey, I have now completed fitting the cosmetic chairs to the point on the current board. Not only did thids involve cutting each chair in half to fit round the rivet, but also reguired lots of grinding of the rivet heads either side of the rails to enable a snug fit for the chair halves. On some, I didn't quite achive this, but the overall result is quite satisfying. I did consider only fitting chairs to the visible side of the rails, which would have halved the effort, but in the end I decided to fit both sides - must have too much time on my hands!!

I've also experienced some problem getting the point blades to throw over fully, especially on the diverging road. This was causing derailment of the loco front pony truck when travelling in the facing direction. This seems to have been solved by increasng the Tortoise throw to near maximum and an adjustment to the operating link to the TOU.
Photos show the completed point with BR Standard Cl2 tank being used to test the throw of the point. Also a close-up of the loco in its part completed condition.

Next to do on the track on this board is represent the rail joints by cutting through the rail head at the appropriate locations to represent 30 foot and 60 foot rail lengths. Intending to use a slitting disc on a flexible shaft drive for this. Then it's cosmetic fish plates.

Cheers for now,

Dave.

Tomorrow Balcombe - then the world! - Ambitious or just plain crazy?

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:45:00 +0000

John and I had been thinking about Balcombe as a modular end-to-end layout on which we could run full-length EMUs etc including a representation of the Ouse Viaduct. I then thought about the attraction of seeing these trains snake over some nice P4 trackwork, and Lewes floated into my head again, as it is wont to on occasions like this.

So, having Templotted Balcombe

(OS map is over 50 years old so out of copyright)

I then had a go at Lewes - 'just for a bit of fun' you understand

and thought wouldn't it be great to join this on to Balcombe and see those trains traverse the junctions from the London end to the Newhaven end and vice-versa? But then it would leave two stub ends and a possible lost opportunity to run trains on the route between the Oxted lines and Brighton. So, in a moment of inspiration/madness I came up with the following 'structure' which would enable all four lines at Lewes to be used.

The "Brighton" fiddle yard is double-ended, so that it can receive trains from the Oxted lines via Lewes, and also Brighton-bound trains on the main line which would 'disappear' after crossing the viaduct.

Still with us? People who know my background might guess what's coming next - instead of just having a fiddle yard for the Oxted lines, what about joining the Eridge layout on? And so I arrived at

Now to have all these joined together in an exhibition would be a fairly gargantuan affair, but we're quite serious at having a go at this (the Eridge team think we're mad, but haven't said no in principle - we'd use the Eridge stock in any case! ). Baseboards for Balcombe itself are being designed, and I'm planning on getting started on the trackwork in Lewes later this year just to get some momentum going.

Should all keep us busy for a while!

coachmann's carriage Blog - Carriages : LMS etc Suburbans

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:20:00 +0000

LMS & constituent 'Suburbans'.
A number of non-corridor 'suburban' coaches are being built for my layout based on Greenfield based in the early to mid 1950's.

LMS D1703 brake third. (LG etchings)
The D1703 LMS Period II suburban brake third also formed the basis of the D1790 push-pull driving trailer. I haven't built any for myself as yet, but this is how they looked when new.

This is one of a batch of five rebuilt by the LMS circa 1931 from non-corridor brake thirds and retaining the guards lookout ducket for a time. The second picture depicts one of the batch built new as driving trailers without duckets and in a revised livery.
[attachment=25110:WEB LMS push pull as built.jpg]

Completed one this weekend in a livery probably more familiar to older RMwebbers....BR lined maroon. Note the pipe colours on push-pull coaches in BR days.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
LNWR D333 suburban brake third (LGC etchings)
A number of these ex-LNWR brake third coaches lasted until the late 1950s, and as was quite common, it retains LMS maroon but with BR Gil Sans running number. I have now standardised on screw couplings and anti-bufferlock bars....

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

LMS D1685 Lavatory Brake Third (Comet sides)
One of the ex-Inter District coaches in somewhat weathered carmine red. The arm rest beside the lavatory door can just be seen through the second compartment window.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
LNWR D176 suburban composite (LGC)
This model is of the D176 coaches built from 1920 to 1924. The final batch never carried LNWR livery. Note the enforced reversion to smaller windows in third class compared with the D333 brake third (above). Also of note is the LNWR's move to heavy dual-action buffers. Livery is BR carimine red.

To be continued....

Isle of Skye Railway Blog - Short movie made during an exhibition in Kaarst

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:04:00 +0000

Last weekend,

we exhibited our layout at the Internationale Modellbahnausstellung in Kaarst near Cologne. During the exhibition I made some vidoes.
Here is the result.

Markus

barrowroad's Blog - Barrow Road Update 2

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:52:00 +0000

Following a visit by friends in the Scalefour Glevum Group here are some photograhs taken with some extra stock including a fabulous rake of coaches.

Johnson tank and Blood & Custard rake courtesy of Morgan
Maroon rake courtesy of Paul

leopard1299's Blog - recent crosti 9f builds

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:55:00 +0000

some of you may not have seen this one although it is on my youtube video`s!
anyway here`s the newer version of the hornby 9f from the railroad range! with a resin crosti body on this one is done as a rebuilt version!

so there you go an updated version!
this ones now running on bills layout 92026 was a birkenhead loco!in its last few years
my current one will be another birkenhead one 92020 but this currently has the older hornby triang chassis!
cheers ian.

RJRs Branch Lines - Guards van

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:46:00 +0000

Tonights update...

Well last night I started work on a guards van, but as it was all made from white plasticard I didnt bother posting any pictures as as always an all white model shows up very little detail in a photograph. Tonight I progressed it along far enough to give it a quick blast of cream paint so it is a bit more photographable ...
I also added a screenshot to the lap top (I sense a caption competition)
The white box van got a blast with the cream to as it had never been painted before.
And finally one of the best things about building a new layout is learning the best angles for photographs so a couple of pics from different angles ... just for fun.

John

Jamie's 1960s Southern Scotland - Wagons - van and general, (minor update).

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:45:00 +0000

Well a few things to note this week, in addition to Thursday's link additions.

I've resolved the bogie mounting details of the 101, bit heath-robinson but will be fine. More on that later, 'cos it's a bit slow and repetitive and I've not had time to do more than the prototype trial bogie yet.

Using bits bought at the SECC I've finally got an LMS van in the wagon fleet. Need about half a dozen more to address the balance and may be pressed either to use evil-bay or buy new to get more.

£3 from the 'used and abused' section of a stand at the show, the chassis didn't make it out the hall before being binned (one remaining buffer and one tension lock had ensured the low price). Replace with a Parkside LMS fitted underframe (in this case the non-J hanger version, mainly cos I had one) and replace the roof vents and I'm very pleased with the general look of it. The BR van got the weathering reworked as it had been left pretty half-assed tbh. OK, it still is, but not as bad!

More wagonry on the horizon, with three vans, high and low fits and a Parkside mineral. I recall having a mini-rant last time I attempted one of the latter kits. Can't imagine why, it fell together in about 20min this time - I must be learning. These are all in the early days of being painted, and I'll note here when these appear in the gallery section.

While I'm on, have a shifty at Robert Carroll's flickr pages. Upcoming (OMWB) 45161 is seen here without the shiny smokebox. There's also suburban Glaswegian treats for the likes of Bob 65B: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/3872095342/

update:

meh, the incorrect chassis doesn't bother me...
doesn't bother me...
doesn't bother me...
doesn't bother me...
ahh dammit:

Sorted

Andel's Blog - Station Building

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:41:00 +0000

I have a bit of a problem in that I want a modern looking building but with very few buildings being available outside of engine sheds or "print yourself", I've made this:

The idea is simple - a 3 sided box with a lid, a window and set of glass doors. I've also added some supporting girders and some taller girders for a sloped roof that I'll be putting on top later this week.

The last thing will be I'll paint the roof a dark black and perhaps a second grey coat on the walls.

leopard1299's Blog - 9f up date & garrett & z class!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:36:00 +0000

well folks its been busy here again no news on the garrett yet as its sat in the box awaitting work! and the Z class is currently a chassis only while I wait for chris at golden arrow to work his magic dark art of casting!
although ive been building or I should say repairing a rebuilt crosti 9f that i got from chris! anyway its nearly there so took a quick pic!
more news soon.
cheers all
ian.

Redgate's Modelling - Golden Arrow Crosti - Dr. Dirt Strikes!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:49:00 +0000

Got the Crosti back from Roomey of this parish last night

It's fithy

RJRs Branch Lines - Guards van

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:42:00 +0000

No pictures I am afraid, but last night I started a new guards van. Based on the design of the 2 box vans I all ready have, but with a veranda at one end.

Perhaps someone can help me out and enlighten me as to which side a red warning lamp should be displayed. Would it be on the left / right or in the middle ?

John

Leyton Road Mk2 - The Begining

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:35:00 +0000

Having failed to complete Leyton Road Mk1 I decide i needed to set myself a deadline to complete and one I can't change, so I decided to enter Leyton Road Mk2 in the 2010 competition. I have decided that the best way for me to talk about my layout is to present it in blog form so for those of you who haven't seen the short topic in the 2010 area here is the basic idea of the layout.

The concept

History of station

Leyton road was a station on a short link line from Stratford station to the Gospel Oak to Barking line, however the line was hardly used and it was singled in 1915 and the second track taken and used for trench railway in France. Use of the line continued to drop during the next few years up to world war 2, during the second war the line just north of Leyton Road was hit by a bomb and was never repaired and so Leyton Road became the Terminus of the line, the stations goods area was adoped as a small fueling point for diesels from strarford and temple mill yards but is now very little used.

The layout

The layout is set on a single track branch linking two cross London roots, passenger service is provided by DMU into the remaining platform, the other having had its track removed. There is also a small goods yard located next to the station which will be operated as a shunting puzzle to provide greater operational interest.

The layout is set in the late 1980's and early to mid 1990's, with passenger trains provided by Network Southeast

Track Dimensions and plans

Scale - 00
Location - North East London
Period - 1980's
Length - 9 foot
width at widest - 1 foot 5 inches

Board 1 - scenic area
17 inches x 60 inches
area - 1020 square inches

Board 2 - Fiddle Yard
12 inches x 48 inches
area - 576 square inches

Total area - 1596 square inches

So with the boards and 4 of the 6 legs i needed being already available I went out and bought the material for the 2 legs and the blots that will hold it all together. The layout will be semi-collapsible as in I will be able to take it apart but not very quickly or easily, this is due to the lack of money to buy suitable hinges.

Hopefully the bords will be constructed when I have the time on Saturday and then the track-work can begin.

Gloucester Road's Blog - New street - Flats

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:01:00 +0000

Decided to go with the Scalescene Low Relief Flats to fill in the hole above New Street. Feels more urban altready

The empty hole

streets and flats

Cut windows and pavement

Roughed in walls and elevators

compare these two pictures and it does seem a bit more urban

vs

Adventures in N-gauge - IHA progress

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:10:00 +0000

Yes, just ten short weeks have passed since I started this blog and already I've made some progress! Go Me! High fives all round!

In truth, I did virtually no modelling at all for the first half of that period. Real life came crashing in in the shape of a family bereavement which took up all my time and didn't really leave me in the mood for wresting with tiny shards of styrene in what little spare time I did have. In the last few weeks, though, things have been getting back to normal and I've been (by my standards) quite productive.

The plan was to construct four IHA steel coil wagons. Moria pointed out that there is actually a kit available for these wagons from Ian Stoate. I hadn't realised that, but I've decided to press on down the scratchbuilt route. If it doesn't work out as I'm hoping, I might fall back on the kit; but for now I'm still committed to building my own.

I'm building a single prototype model so that I can iron out the build sequence, note any pitfalls etc. Once that's completed to my satisfaction I'll build the other three as a batch. I expect to make mistakes with the first wagon, so there'll probably be a fair bit of fiddling with the design as I go along. For a start, the original underframe needed beefing up considerably with a hefty stiffener of 40-thou sheet.

Here it is in its current state:

The mass of filler is the result of trying to build the body section straight on to the underframe without taking proper measurements. In the batch-built models I'm going to assemble the body separately and then attach it to the underframe when it's done. That should be a lot easier than the way I've done it here. Above the bogie on the left, you can just see where I damaged the flange at the bottom of the underframe while I was trying to get the roof to sit down properly. This was more difficult than it needed to be because I made the roof too thick. On this wagon it's 30-thou, but it'll be 20-thou on the production batch. The end platform will go on the left end of the wagon. You can just see that the underframe extends beyond the end of the body to form a shelf which the platform will rest on.

The idea is to lay 20-thou rod up the sides and across the roof at the points where the hood supports go; then fill between them with filler, which will be sanded back to create a degree of sag between the supports. The hood will extend as far down as the lower edge of the strip that runs along the side of the underframe. After that, there's detailing to be added to the ends, various lettering panels on the sides (those on the body will be attached to mounting pads set into the filler), the hooks that secure each end of the hood (also attached to pads), ferry fittings, buffers and a few other bits and bobs. In this photo the wagon is just placed on top of the bogies: I use acrylic rod to mount ATM bogies, because I've never found anything else which is quite the right size. Short lengths will be superglued into 4.5mm holes already drilled in the bogie bolsters.

Here's the model alongside a Farish BYA. This really illustrates just how dumpy these wagons are:

More on this as things progress.

Jim

buffalo's layouts - Two steps backwards

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:55:00 +0000

Little to report on Loose Ends other than problems. The warping that was apparent when track laying began on the embankment module has become worse, so I will have to cut out the trackbed and replace it. Looking at the station yard module, which has sat on the shelf since the cork trackbed was glued down, reveals the source of the problem:

Cork + PVA + foam board doesn't work. Though all appeared well after initial drying of the PVA, subsequent curing of the glue and/or contraction of the cork has had disastrous results. Both of the affected boards will need the cork section cutting out so I'm leaving this until I feel brave enough and have worked out how to ensure that the two modules will line up correctly with the bridge section. Without the cork they will be 3mm lower. Do I raise the bed on these two modules or lower the bridge by 3mm? It may just be easier to lower the bridge.

bmthtrains' N gauge projects - Class 350 - version 3!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Not finished yet (some alignment work to do, and some filling on the corridor connection), and the decals are only temporary ones, but this gives an idea of how version 3 of the Desiro is coming along!

David

TomE's N Gauge Modelling - More Illumination

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:44:00 +0000

Just another shot of the working street lights.

Cheers,

Tom.

Somercombe - More beer please !

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:41:00 +0000

Rest day today and some more work done to the brewery.
The main structure now has floors and windows. Decided to add a few bits and pieces to the outside of the buildings.

As you can see from the second picture, I have bricked up a few windows to add a little more interest to it.

Another little job done today was to finish this.

Bashed from a Bachmann Junior loco. New chimney, safety valves, handrails and buffers. Originally I bought this to test decoders prior to cutting the plug off for fitting to non-socket fitted lococ's. But I decided it could have a better life than that and it will now be used on my next planned layout, which will feature a colliery. It will be weathered a bit and I would like to fit front and rear headlights to it.

shanks522's Blog - Slow progress.

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:10:00 +0000

Evening all, Having little or no time to work on the layout at moment is getting quite frustrating and when i do eventually get to do some i seem to get absolutely nowhere, however, last few days i have managed to do some small jobs. First off was the ballasting on the Lower main lines with associated greenery, all that remains to do is weather the track and sort the over head wires, (think i'l wait till i'm feeling more patient).
Second job was to ballast the inside of the mail terminal and lay the platform surface which was done with pollyfilla, rubbed down and painted grey, Again i need to weather the track inside, also need to get trolleys, people etc.
Other progress has been on the wiring side, fitting more wire in tube and Peco point motors.

On a little bit of down side, in my haste to push things forward i forgot to drill out holes for the signal and point motor(photo below),so to rectify the problem i've either got to drill an over sized hole from above and make good or remove a section from beneath, not to sure which way to go yet?

Graham.

DRAG TT2 progress - The golden spike (a bit rusty)

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:28:00 +0000

At DRAG last night we were able to see the full track laid for the first time, thanks to excellent work by John (Re6/6), and Pete had done some of the wiring looms so we could dispense with some of the twisty wires. Only one P4 and the 00 track powered up as yet, but we did have a kind of golden spike ceremony - on the left is an old Trix Standard 5 converted to P4 by the late Nigel Hunt, and on the right some GWR thing (whose pony truck seems to have run over the golden spike and fallen off ):

We did manage a static line up across six tracks, heavily D&E oriented - 8CEP on the 00 track to the left, then four P4 running lines and the M7 on the loop to the right.

Overall view with no gaps in the track

And a chance to give my 8CEP a run out on the 00 track

http://www.youtube.com/user/video10800?gl=GB&hl=en-GB

Redgate's Modelling - Project 2010 - The Frames

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:14:00 +0000

Thanks to Ramrig for the loan of a tender drive brit (so the frames I make will fit the Hornby body) I now have a "comic" for the 2-8-2 frames.

It's a hybrid of 3 different sources, the Hornby Brit chassis, the original cox drawing of the 2-8-2 and Comet's Brit frames for the better front end and cylinder mountings.

Plan is to tidy it up and glue a copy to some PCB material and cut out 3 sets, drilling the pilot holes for the axles in one go to provide a jig (the 3rd copy) for the coupling rods. Spacers should be interesting as my calculations say they need to be 8.5mm wide.

Looks like I'm actually going to make something soon

coachmann's carriage Blog - Carriages : LMS Corridor coaches

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0000

4mm Scale Corridor Carriages

As well as detailing the ex-LMS coaches being built for 'Greenfield', it is a potted history of LMS coach types. I hope it will be of interest. Most will be finished in 1950-56 Carmine & cream (blood & custard).

LMS CORRIDOR COACHES
Commencing with the Stanier corridor brake third, this vehicle came in several variants. The very first to D1851 were characterised by the shallow sliding window vents, a single guards door and torpedo roof vents. I purchased Bill Bedford sides and soldered them to my underframes/ends. (A new diagram D1853 was issued later when two pairs of double doors were fitted at the van end whilst retaning shallow window vents).

The next Stanier brake third was built to D1905. Note the lavatory still remained at the guards end, which entailed running the water filler pipes along half the length of the roof. However, deeper sliding vents were fitted and were to remain more or less a standard fitting until the late 1940's. D1905 is the prototype of excellent Hornby's model. Etched brass sides were purchased from Comet Models and again soldered to my chassis/end parts...

Stanier Brake Thirds from D1698 onwards had their sides welded to the floor and could be identified by the bodyside dropping lower than the top of the bufferbeam. (Wolverton examples continued to use rivetted underframes and 'normal' height sides). The close up picture should show what I mean. Note the sides come down lower than the top of the buffer beam and almost touch the foot boards....

When it came to building the postwar 'Porthole' brake third, I never realized there was such a significant differences between these and the prewar variant........ The compartments had been reduced from 6ft 6ins to 6ft 3ins for no apparent reason after the war. I used Comet Models sides, which were given added detail such as lower door hinges, then they were soldered to my etched floor/ends. Solebars are rivetless to represent welded construction.

Finished in the familiar blood & custard, the coach is ready to enter traffic on the crack Liverpool-Newcastle expresses! BR built 'Porthole' coaches were amongst the most modern on the LMR and it was some time before the BR Mk.I coaches started to appear on these workings.

A weakness of cast sideframes lies in the tie-rod between the axleboxes, so I had these etched on 22 thou brass (visible on the 'brass' coach above. The fold up brass 'innards' will take 00 to P4 wheels, but for my own use I have a narrower '00' etching that takes Gibson 'Lima' 24.5mm axles.
[attachment=4518:Etched bogie type WEB.jpg]

Amongst the D1968 brake thirds was a batch built at Wolverton. These were of rivetted construction and had normal depth sides. Needless to say I couldn't resist building one by removing just over a millimeter from the cantrail before soldering the sides to the floor/ends.

Just prior to Stanier's debut on the LMS, the company had produced a smallish range of 'Period II' coaches, some of which were built by outside contractors wither fully or on LMS-built underframes. They were all to D1730, and did not have conventional under trussing, but merely a frame to hold the batterbox and regulator box. These strongly built carriages were often martialed at the head of trains. Also illustrated in original LMS panelled liveries. There were different style of lining out on the three batched by Met-Camm/Derby, Met-Camm/Wolverton, and all Met-Camm.

The LMS 'standard' brake third from grouping to 1930 was the D1696. Again I no longer have one.

The LMS brake composite here was built to D1755. An earlier version had first class at the other end of the coach.

Third class and composite's follow next, some built for Greenfield (in blood & custard) and some for customers. Those starting with D12XX were Midland Railway designs that paved the way for LMS Period I stock. The rest were LMS Diagrams, sometimes to MR designs with recessed door handles.

D1694 was an LMS Period I design composite.

D1695 was an LMS design corridor third. Illustrated is the Wolverton variant with hemispherical roof vents...
[attachment=4721:Coach WEB6 D1695 third.jpg]
D1747 was the matching Period I corridor first. It shared the same corridor side with the corridor third, such was the standardisation that Reid brought to LMS carriage building.

D1756 was really an Midland design with recessed door handles built by the LMS as their D1756.

D1782 introduced the LMS Period II designs with deep windows. This was a palatial 60ft coach. It is illustrated in blood & custard (corridor side), and full panelled LMS livery (compartment side.

I've always wanted a couple of the very early Stanier coaches to D1860/1899 with shallow window vents. Here is a corridor third to D1860 of 1933. The coach sides were from Bill Bedford, and sadly the door windows are set too high.

D1899 was the standard prewar corridor third class coach. In 1939 shell vents were also put over the corridor, and this became standard postwar.

D2119 was the postwar variant with two extra doors in the corridor. In the rush to get them into traffic, some were turned out minus sliding window vents in the corridor.

The final corridor third was the 'Porthole' variant, all of which were built in 1950 by British Railways. Note the later pattern of window slider and return to hemispherical roof vents.

Here we have the Stanier corridor composite, always built to 60ft. D1859 was another pioneer Period III type with shallow sliding window vents. One carry-over from the previous Period II coaches had been the provision of 4ft wide windows in third class and 4ft 6ins wide windows in first class (and along the whole length of the corridor). Bill Bedford offered these coach sides but I soldered on new doors before starting to build the coach...

The difference in window sizes can be seen in the compartment side view. Note the corridor handrail is very visible. When deeper sliding vents were introduced the corridor handrail was raised slightly and so was not visible from outside the coach.

The version with deep sliding window vents followed to D1926/1969 showing the standardisation of the smaller 4ft wide windows for first and third class. Mine is the version in blood and custard. Also illustrated is a compo in LMS 1937 livery with black ends and yellow insignia.

There follows some LMS Stanier third class coaches showing detail minutia that makes modelling so absorbing...... Well to me anyway! The pre-war Third (LEFT) is from an early batch with torpedo roof vents, two doors on the corridor side, drop-back window vents in the lavatories and rivetted bogies. The post-war Third (RIGHT) is from the 1946 batch with shell roof vents, four doors on the corridor side, solid lavatory windows. It has welded underframe and bogies. Note the two centre corridor doors have curly grab handles and there are three additional roof vents on the corridor side (the latter came in during 1939).Both coaches have prewar style sliding windows.

LMS OPEN COACHES

Back in 2007 I started building a rake of LMS open coaches for excursion traffic and for "Railway Society specials". The first coach was an LMS D1913 open brake third using Comet etched sides. Bottom door hinges were added and a Bachmann LMS moulded interior inserted. An 'open' corridor conection was put on the brake end off an Hornby Dining Car. The prototypes were built by R. Y. Pickering & Co. for the LMS in 1934.

The next open coach was a D1904 open third with lavatories at each end outside the vestibules. As before, I used Comet Models sides. Passenger door bonnets were often removed in early BR days. A Bachmann plastic interior was fitted.

Next came a D1715 open third using Comet sides. These vehicles differed in having both lavatories located at one end. This left room for a half-bay making it a 7?? bay saloon. Placing a Bachmann interior in the coach caused some consternation when the tables did not line up with the windows. LMS interior dimensions had been constant since the early 2-window stock (only the D1999 open thirds differed with longer seating bays), so what had gone wrong? I was left with no option but to make an interior using Southern Pride seats. The first view shows the half-bay nearest the camera.

The above view shows the new shorter interior above the accurate Bachmann interior.

A recent addition to the excursion rake has been a 2-window D1692 open third, this time from my own parts. They were occasionally used as dining vehicles in the 1920's, although they were outmoded when Period II designs arrived on the LMS scene. Blood & custard, and LMS original livery is depicted below.
[attachment=5044:An open interior WEB.jpg]

The matching D1693 open brake third was to have been released next. I built and painted this one in LMS full panelled livery for colour leaflets but I've since decided to hold back these coaches for a while.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

After several weeks of adding ex-LNER Gresley coaches to the fleet by fitting etched brass sides to Hornby roofs and chassis, it seemed like a good idea to make use of one of the surplus LNER Buffet Car interiors by building an LMS Stanier Buffet Car. Once again, Comet sides were used and were soldered to my floor/end and chassis etchings. Extras included lower door hinges.

The Hornby Gresley Buffet Car interior was cut to fit inside the 57' LMS Buffet. This entailed taking 16mm out of the counter (the chrome counter handrail was removed before sawing began and put back after shortening.

The tables, while fine for the LNER coach, are too high for Stanier windows but I could not face trying to lower them. Table lamps were made as Comet suggest by soldering 14BA nuts to .45 handrail wire then bending to shape. They were glued into holes in the talbe tops using Loctite.

Livery is the usual BR blood & custard.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

D1746 Leeds Forge Co. 'All-Steel' open Brake Third
The excursion set I started in 2007 was finally finished this afternoon with the completion of an 'All-Steel' Open Brake Third. I always intended the final vehicle to be steel rather than wooden, and so the sides were purchased from Comet. I hadn't reckoned on separate droplights to solder in place and no less than 36 peices of glazing to fit, but the jobs done now! The first thing I did was block up the windows where the Stones Vents go. This is because I intended fitting my own in nickel silver....

Of note are the rounded corners where the sides meet the ends, and the lack of conventional trussrods.
......just two batterybox holders.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Just completed for the layout is the last of my etchings for an LMS Period I D19695 corridor third in blood & custard, and slightly weathered. Spot the gooof...... I forgot to paint the lav windows.....

To be continued

Tigh Charrann - Tigh Charrann - I fell in Love.

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:12:00 +0000

Well if you haven't cottoned on by now, I have a new love in my life. I couldn't help myself.

This is the story anyway. I was helping out at Churchrail on Saturday, and after a really enjoyable stint operating Summat Colliery, and then relieving the gentleman of Highley Unlikely for a while, the guys at Castle Trains had bought with them a Shiny New Bachmann Blue Grey 4CEP. To say I was seduced is an understatement, before I knew I had whipped out the Debit Card, and purchased the unit. After a short run on Hythe Parkway, she was boxed up and returned to Stourbridge, where a brief run on my layout she looks right at home.

Time to rethink a building or two, and also the history and location of the layout. Dungeness way may be an idea to make use of the FNA being brought out by Bachmann.

I have done some more work on the layout, which I will update the blog later today with piccies.

As always any suggestions, critism, or advice welcome.

Summat Colliery - Churchrail Report

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:49:00 +0000

Well, the first exhibition of the season went really well. Thanks to Mark and crew for an excellent show which raised a good sum for the school so I'm told.

Summat behaved itself really well considering it hadn't come out from under the desk since Wycrail last year. Had the odd electrical gremlin (interboard jumper wire loose in choclate block connector) and one point microswitch was a bit reluctant to throw fully resulting in a couple of shorts in running.

Harry and #49 performed really well, the same cannot be said for my WD Austerity which despite being tested at home following an excellent weathering job by Roomey persisted in provising a dead short to the track on the day

Here's a quick pic of the new wagon doing it's job on the day

Roll on Nottingham!

The British Railway Series - Updates - Um...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:07:00 +0000

Okay, so in essence I have planned a lot of updates (see last post) but very little has been done. In fact I am still making my way through fixing the posts in this blog which were damaged in the site move (typing has gone wacko in some posts). That said, I am hugely grateful the majority of it is still in one piece, so kudos to Andy and the Mods for a job well done - if the least I have to do is re-type a few words in each article, I am a happy bunny indeed!

I have a dissertation due at the end of April, so updates of the pictorial kind may not be forthcoming until after then.

I am planning on updating the box of contents to the right, mind, to make it all a little more readable and up to date - I still have the halloween episode as the main pic, for crying out loud!

Until next time!

The Saltney Railway - Saltney, Walls,signals, and other bits.

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:42:00 +0000

In our banker siding, Steve has provided a little coaling facility to feed the bunkers and tenders of the busy bank engines.

Another ex Talacre signal has been re-furbed and positioned at the LM jc; this is now the home signal coming off the incline from the GW station.

More retaining wall has had its lumpy stone added ready for painting and the yard at the LM station now has a cobbled area. Steve has left a space that might as well have a big arrow with flashing lights that says "The goods shed goes here.....Jon...when you're ready....in your own time..."

An old signal from Talacre (Which I was never really happy with) has been re-built with some new dolls, extended, turned round and generally bashed into shape to suit it's new role as the LM jc main diverging signal. It will now be a gantry (of sorts) and have 4 working arms which hopefully will be worked by servos. This will of course be subject to me being able to successfully assemble the required control kit from MERG! More of this signal is shown further down

Mike Evans brought his Bachmann 03 for a run out and very nice it looks too. (well I thought so..)
. Yes I know its a diseasle Steve but at least it has a chimney and coupling rods.............

The gantry was then tried in position and (thankfully) fitted and there is a nice clear area under the baseboards to fit the working "gubbins". As the use of servos is new technology to me, when I eventually start on the mechanics and electrical side of this I'll start a thread rather than a blog so you can all watch and probably laugh as I struggle. Meanwhile, a number of trains were run underneath it to check for clearance on the curves. Among them, Les's visiting standard 4 2-6-0 looked grand as it trundled a fitted freight round.

Copley Hill Works - Storm in a teacup!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:37:00 +0000

The above model was my first airbrushing attempt, way back in the November of 2008, on the old RMweb. A few comments were made from an Equine member regarding the thickness and I made no attempt to disguise the fact it was a little...thick.

Okay, a LOT thick. However that being said, I had done a lot of modifications to the model, and mixed the paint colour myself. Transfers were applied, and I even detailed the cab interior and the tender. It was my first real conversion, first air brushing attempt, first bash in many ways...therefore it was never going to be perfect.

I will defend my right to - ah - "ruin" my models as I see fit - and will post up the results for the collective amusement at every given opportunity Suffice to say the people who matter are those who encourage the interest to grow, and the skills to develop regardless of how poor the initial attempts are. I therefore do my modelling, not just for myself, but for people like Max Stafford, The Penguin of Doom, and many others who have helped with their kind and thoughtful comments over the last few years. To those who deride - pah!

That said, I have decided that the time has come to strip this model and repaint it entirely. I have a "proper" one after all, and this A1 can of course be restored to another named example. I have not decided on the name/number combination yet, but it will be Brunswick green, and it will also be a Darlington variant (as I removed the rivets to make Tornado!), complete with a late BR crest.

Any suggestions suitable for 56C welcome!

Until next time - J11 on the finishing straight is the next post - good night!

RJRs Branch Lines - Painting people

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:23:00 +0000

the people are feeling a lot less "off colour" after a painting session last night

John

Meadow Lane, MSC Railway in P4 - Exciting parcels and burnt fingers!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

After placing an order about a month ago a lovely little white box was waiting for me when I got home today.

Yes at last my Judith Edge 230hp Sentinel kit has arrived. 4 weeks seems a long time, but not when you consider Charlie at DC Kits kindly ordered a P4 Black Beetle especially for me for this project.

So after pulling out the etches, the Black Beetle and the instructions I was itching to start - but reigned in my enthusiasm. First things first I checked the contents (good job as one or two things missing - buffers and nuts) and the operation of the Black Beetle (it works!).

The bogie really is tiny - 26mm axlebase. Seen here posed with a standard Conflat A wagon from Bachmann (something I've been letting my daughter play with on her Harry the Hauler trainset - great for putting cars on!).

And here you can see what I'm hoping to put together! The Rolls Royce Sentinel. Good written instructions from Judith Edge - and a nice arrangement drawing and parts list.

I was planning on reading everything before diving in but enthusiasm got the better of me and out came the snips, files, vice, soldering iron, 145deg solder and flux... and after 10 years I soldered my first kit! Cutting the parts out carefully, cleaning up the tabs lightly with a file, checking how bits fitted together and I was ready! The first thing to do is bend the sand box covers in to the frames - which I achieved with the flat face of a screw driver pressing against the edge of a vice (to small for the hold and fold). Then I was ready for solder... After an initial struggle with not having three hands I got myself sorted and wow what a difference having 145 degree solder makes. Admittedly if I started again things would be neater (and probably squarer) but the confidence I gained in soldering these 5 pieces of brass together has set me up for the rest of the kit.

You might well laugh but I'm one proud man - my first etched brass kit (proper) and first soldering of a kit for 10 years. It's solid, square(ish) and looks great.

So here we are - the slippery slope. Already my mind is wandering and dreams of fully sprung 0-6-0 outside framed Sentinels falling together easily on my workbench are flooding my mind. Reality is this will probably progress slowly! That's it though, progress has been made - and the days of out of the box RTR may be one step further behind me.

Rose Hill, Marple in P4 - First signs of spring as progress thaws?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:48:00 +0000

Progress may well have slowed, but it has not stopped.

With cold weather stopping me from working on the baseboard or spraying the Pacer work has dramatically slowed on my Rose Hill project. There are some signs of life though as the station building has begun to change from primer grey to weathered brick.

I'm pleased so far - and hope to be able to show you more in a few weeks. The plan is to finish the basic colouring before adding the building fine detail - that way the brick colour continues behind rather than around notice boards, drain pipes etc.

Comments questions and general encouragement welcome! I need something to keep me going - let me know it's worth it so far! It might get me to re-start the mindless window cutting and detailed pub building!

The Grime Street Blog - One million setts later....................

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:26:00 +0000

Nearly finished scribing setts and flags, heartily sick of them now!

With a Yorkshire Woolen TS8 making an appearance. Colour is built up from acrylic paint washes.

Suppose I'd better crack on and turn it into a layout now..................

Will J's Random Adventures in N Gauge - Toplights nearly there, and a thought on an LMS rake.

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:24:00 +0000

Confession time...

I'm finding working at such a small scale quite a steep learning curve, but hey, that all part of the fun!

The toplight carriages, since their last appearance, have been torn apart and reassembled, and I am much happier with the way they look now. I now just need to lasercut window frames for the saloon brake, and add details such as handrails, buffers etc..

And repaint the roof!

Another brief diversion into the full size Severn Valley Railway, this weekend saw the line runnning at full length again, and a superb 'reunion' gala reuniting locomotives that have worked on the line in the last 40 years...

..Panniers at speed

..and at rest

These two were kept busy on the Saturday with the SVR's unique full set of LMS carriages. These are a must for my Victoria Bridge diorama..

Partly, it will involve some wallet surgery to get a handful of Graham Farish's finest, but some, like this 60' chassis 'porthole' example, will need some ingenuity.

(Luckily, I have some lovely old Cavendish kits, they even come in different lengths, which will do nicely.. if you ever find some of these for sale, snap them up, they are a joy to build!)

(The shorter one will become a 57' buffet car... which I think is a post preservation conversion, so unlikely to appear as a RTR model)

...note to self... must finish that 1500 Pannier tank.

Comments, constructive or otherwise always welcome, I need lots of people to bully me into finishing some of these projects

TomE's N Gauge Modelling - Let there be light!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:45:00 +0000

This is Missy's fault. I wasn't going to bother with working lights but after seeing what was achievable I decided to give it a go. A few of the rooms in the flats will also receive illumination once some white miniature surface mount LED's arrive.

Cheers!

Tom.

Highclere - 2mm Finescale - Stuff wot I have been upto this weekend

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:19:00 +0000

Hello

Thought I should put a post together to show what I got upto this weekend just gone.

Firstly there was of course the Abingdon show organised by the Abingdon and District Model Railway Club which as I am a member I kinda went along with a few bits of mine from Highclere.

As it is the 50th Anniversary of the 2mm Scale Association we all made an extra special effort this year with lots of 2mm FS stuff going on. As I was taking the photos thankfully I am not in them but you get the idea.

At the show I made a start on another one of my many tank wagon kits like the one on my old postings but as expected I didnt get much done, so this weekend I also tried out a bit of batch building and the results are below.

I have loads more of them to make but its a start.

Missy

Gloucester Road's Blog - Gloucester Road - House building

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:27:00 +0000

Have been building some more of the Scalescene low relief houses, ran out of glue so the roofs will have to wait. Also test fitted some above the retaining wall on New Street, I think they will look good here too, but maybe as store fronts at the end of a road. Might also put the new low relief flats here instead, havent made up my mind yet. With the new corner shop and shop fronts some of the old Farish store fronts on Gloucester Road will also be replaced

Ran out of glue

workers have gone for the day

from station platform looking up

these ones still to go

test fit for potential shop fronts or flats on New Street, not sure which.

Lukasz's Modern-ish Blog - Weather and the radio(pod that is).

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:54:00 +0000

I've got a bug, not an illness, although it's probably incurable, and it's giving me so much happiness.
It's the weathering bug and I have been well and truly bitten.

Today I had some spare time and I got up nice and early to spend a day weathering and progressing with some projects on the go at the moment. Although it arose that I had a little less time I've manged to get a bit done.

First of my model of 37057 is progressing further with nameplates and a bit more detailing ordered from shawplan.
The loco has now had both tanks filed down ready for a thin piece of plasticard to go over the top. All the bufferbeam detailing has been fitted in readiness for work on the bogies. I'm pretty relcuctant to lower the loco as for some reason that I may of just instilled in my head the prototype looks pretty high due to the lack of snowploughs. Any excuse not to ruin it I suppose. Now with less handling of the loco I have started weathering the body and roof and front ends. It's nowhere near to the stage where I'm happy and is probably at the 40% mark.

So far washes and powders from the tamiya range have been used with a few grimy washes on the bufferbeam followed by a soot colour to dull. The buffers have been treated to a rather solid grimy mix of soot powder wetted down a little and then dabbed on. The buffers on the prototype have a little red on them maybe from a paint spillage and this has been faithfully reproduced. There is also a large rounded chip on the bonnet and this has been recreated with a wet powder painted on. The lamp brackets have also been painted white. The loco will need some handlebars and then the end is effectively done.

A cardboard mock up of the radio port has been made and I am going to order some brass to make this as it will give a better raised detail and a nice finish. The mock up has made me see the finish line as such and I like what I see.

I've used hornby air pipes and have bashed around the bachmann vacuum pipe to fit instead of using guitar wire.
The MU cable has been taken off and replaced with USB wire and the socket has been filed to try and slim it down. A touch of paint and hey presto it's done. The other MU cable on the No. 2 end had a mishap when I lost the smaller of the two sockets but luckily used the escess plastic removed from the bachmann vac pipe instead. If anything it's a bit better;)

uploads/1267986253/gallery_8060_615_51253.gif
I was very excited last week when I got home to find a parcel on the kitchen table. A class 09 from hornby. 09012 Dick Hardy. I'm tempted to keep this as it is and not renumber it as I prefer the black around the windows. I'm not going to give a review and list pros and cons between it and the bachy gronk because you can search google or the site for that but I will give you what appealed to me. Straight out of the box it has a wealth of detail and really captures the protoype well with opening doors, roof vent and a nicely made slim handles. Although I prefer the bachmann model this loco has really made me think hard. It's probably equal with the bachmann gronk although I feel that the hornby model rides higher with the solebar being a little higher. The loco comes with a lot of detail which has gone onto my class 37 fleet in fact which desperately need it. It'll have to wait til a shawplan order arrives.

The loco has so far had white washes to the one side and roof and this has been followed by a darker wash to pick out detail. The cab roof has had brown acryclic washed onto it and then dry brushed white to lighten. Then I have rewet certain areas of raised detail and stippled rust powders onto it. This creates darker patches of more serious rust and then streaks of lighter thinner rust.
The exhaust port and main roof have had rust stippled onto the raised detail and onto the whole of the port. More work is needed on these parts.

And finally on the wagon front I have a couple of MFA's weathered and a ZKA that's half way there with the inside and one side and end done.

Comments and criticsm welcome,
Lukasz

Fen End Pit's Blog - J39 - progress

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:48:00 +0000

One of the things about writing a blog, as opposed to an article for a magazine, is that you tend to write as you model and put up pictures of 'work in progress'. As such it is probably common to publish something, possibly making it sound like 'the solution' only to then change it a few days later!

It has been like this with the drive for this loco. The gearbox ran very smoothly, but my attempts to get a decent drive from the tender located motor caused no end of problems. I tried putting in a spur gear drive to increase the gear ratio and also allow me to put the get the drive low in the tender without having to cut large holes in the tender chassis to fit the motor low down. Ultimately this didn't work because the spur gears were way to noisy and made the overall speed too slow.

In the end I rebuild the chassis with a plate soldered between the frames to mount the motor as low as I could. The result is much better and also should give space for a flywheel on the other end of the shaft.

The (thankfully) cosmetic valve gear is now coming on and really fills the gap under the boiler nicely.

I've also started making some changes to the body. The tender coal has been repositioned and the rear cab footsteps have gone. I've also taken quite a bit off the boiler bands which were rather over emphasized. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice we have a BR liveried loco with an LNER tender. The planned repaint will sort that out later.

David

ewsjo's Blog - Skipping along - the models

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:41:00 +0000

Ok, so some shots of the starting points of this project.

Overview and proof of the concept

The detailing bits as supplied by Dapol. On what's a 95 quid model, I'm disappointed that details don't particularly match a 67 - there's no knuckle coupler or cut lever, and the air pipes don't match the prototype. I know it sounds like a tiny niggle, but surely on a model this expensive it should be right? So on the dummy on the rear, the knuckle coupler will be nicked from a Farish 66 and the cut lever and pipes made up by hand

67026 before any work has been done on adding details

Farish Mk2 BSO fitted with wire handrails and lamp irons, together with TPM etched gangway and RCH jumpers, together with BHE brass buffers. All corridor doors have been repainted from rail red to black - on the inner coaches this stops a bright red patch appearing each time the train corners, and at the outer ends an etched brass door (part of the TPM set) will be fitted, painted cream.
~~Time to carry on, more later~~
Righto, quick sit-rep. CDL lights have been painted onto the mk2s in a dark orangey brown, baffle plate mods and ETH fitment are done, along with the knuckle cut lever. They just need fixing onto the loco. I have a 66 ready, unaware it's going to donate it's knuckle coupler during the next session. I'm undecided as to whether to model the GPS mount on the cab at the cooler group end. I may see if I can, given this is the end of the loco I'm fully detailing. Targets for next time (which more than likely won't be done!) are to mod the vents on the BSO roof, start painting the coach roofs and get the details stuck onto the skip.

Neb from downunder N gauge Blog - Shopping and Van

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:32:00 +0000

Well I managed to save some money at the train show, so a new soldering iron was purchased. Temperature controlled and a ceramic heating element, hopefully this will help me to improve my skills with the hot wand. The wooden pegs as suggested in previous comments is a great tip, apart from the fact all the pegs in our peg bag are plastic! Looks like I'm off to the shops, again.

Managed to do some more on the luggage van today. Both solebars are fitted now, even after I put the frame on upside down on the first attempt. I've added the other set of strapping and the sliding doors and a few more of the vertical ribs, all with the new iron. I did misplace one of the buffers and spent a good 10 minutes looking for it, this turned out to be a good thing as I found some coupling springs and drill bits which had escaped the workbench.

Back onto the topic of Laser cutting, I picked a couple of kits at the show. One was for a VicRail permanent way good shed. This will fit in quite well as the gangers trolley shed situated next the signal box at Sturminster. Only 6 parts, it went together really easy.

The second was for a VicRail AE 1^st class passenger car on 6 wheel bogies. It looks pretty straight forward; I just forgot to get the paint for it at the time. The wood panel detail is pretty good. Both of these kits are produced by Spirit Design based here down under. They do custom work, so I will be contacting them about some little jobs i'd like done.

Hythe Parkway Blog - Hythe Parkway - Last one of the year (we think!)

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:01:00 +0000

Hi Guys,

Right, the last exhibition of this year (unless we get the Reading invite for september), Churhrail, has just passed.

It was yet another good day, with more almost perfect running. To be honest I thought it might be a disaster because we have such good luck over the past 2 exhibtions! There were some minor troubles, the track aglinment on the cassettes wasn't good again (after I had got it perfect for Ris-ex! ). We found that none of our stock could exit platform 3 without derailing, despite being able to enter it! . So we set it up with the tamper and some ballast wagons to look like engineering works!

All the stock ran well again, the class 395 can go back to it's home now! Mark brought along his detailed Chiltern Railways Class 121 Bubble Car, so that worked 'on hire to Southwest Trains' as route learning duties! Nearer the end day Wollaston Blue test ran his recently brought Blue & Grey 4-CEP, so that joined my green 4-CEP on the layout for a few minutes.

A good day was had by all, up until about 4:30 when I began to demolish the hall with my head! You see, there was a white board positioned on the wall behind us, that protruded a couple of inches off the wall. I was packing stock away when I dropped some packing foam, I stood up (with the same accleration rate of a small car!) and smashed my head againest the white board . The whole hall went silent and I resisted the urge to shout a swear word! I was a bit shaken but I'm alright!

Here a few pictures from the day:

A view looking along the layout:

Cotswold rail Class 08 No. 08847 brings some Ballast Wagons into Platform 3:

Battle of Britain 4-6-2 No. 34062 '17 Squardron' waits for it's next Duty:

Chiltern Railways Class 121 Bubble Car (owned by Mark Miller), on hire to Southweast Trains, waits in platform 1 on route learning duties:

Southeastern Class 466 No. 466023 waits at Platform 4 with a service to London Bridge:

Another View along the layout:

Southern's other Hertiage 4-CEP in Blue & Grey (Owned by Wollaston Blue) waits in Platfrom 2 with a service to London Victoria, standing in for a failed Elecrostar:

The 2 guests stand side by side:

Comments Welcome!

Simon

On the Intercity Workbench - 7mm Barclay Class 06 - Chassis

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:57:00 +0000

I was initially planning on building the chassis rigid, but pickup from a short wheelbase 0-4-0 chassis will never be the best so I decided to fit Slaters sprung hornblocks.

I was just about to solder these to the frames when I saw the Chassis Alignment tool produced by Metalsmith on Christian's A3 thread. "Just the very thing!" I thought and the alignment axles arrived shortly afterwards.

Dave Holt's Blog - Delph - 2-6-2 tank trucks

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:26:00 +0000

Philbax was asking about the Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2 tanks which appeared in some recent photos.

The Ivatt is an as yet unmodified Bachman body on a chassis based on the Comet kit, with some additional detail and the valvegear modelled in forward rather than mid gear. The chassis is compensated as an 0-6-0 using twin beams on the rear two axles and a central rocking support on the front. Drive is a 1616 Portescap on the (floating) centre axle. The trucks are sprung.
On this loco, the pony trucks are scratch built and sprung using hair-pin springs made from 0.33 brass wire. These are just visible through the frames of the truck, but not too obtrusive on this rather open, bar framed truck design. The two trucks are quite different in appearance as one has spring side control and the other swing link side control (the difference was to avoid the risk of hunting caused by having the same natural frequency at both ends if two identical trucks had been used). On the Ivatt, the swing link truck was usually at the front.
The BR Standard loco is a stretched DJH body on a cut-down Comet based chassis. On this loco, thetrucks are the Brassmasters etches, suitably modified to represent the swing linkat one end. On these locos, the swing link truck was always at the rear.

The two photos try to illustrate the differences in appearance. (Sorry for the slightly out-of-focus on the front shot.)

Dave.

Somercombe - A few details about Somercombe

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:10:00 +0000

I just thought I would add a few details about the location of Somercombe to give a clue, or excuse, for the traffic that can be seen going through.

Somercombe is between Yeovil Junction and Chard on the LSWR mainline, in Somerset and close to the Dorset border. It's location give me an excuse for a wide range of traffic flows. As well as the named trains, ACE and Devon Belle (in the '60s . Oh well, it's my railway)and other fast and semi-fast services to and from the Great Wem(Wm Cobbett, Rural Rides) there is a stopping service from Salisbury which terminates here and a local from Yeovil Pen Mill, this usually operated by a 14Xx and auto coach. Other passenger services are Saturday excursion traffic from the Midlands and North coming off the S&DJR to places like Seaton, Sidmouth and Exmouth. There is also the occaisional diversion from the WR mainline via Casle Cary and Yeovil. Freight traffic is from a variety of sources. Coal from the Somerset coalfield to Exeter and Plymouth will be seen passing through. Pick-up goods between Exeter and Salisbury, Westbury and Somercombe and also from Bath GP, also gives an excuse for a wide variety of motive power.
So there you have it, a scanario that gives me an excuse to run pretty much anything that ever ran in the South and West of England. Though I must add that there are a few anomalies. I have a Clayton, an EE type 4, a Peak, Kestrel and a Super D that stretch things a bit, but as I said earlier, it's my railway.

Doveston Works - Engine Detailing

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:16:00 +0000

Evening,

While the O Gauge scenery was drying and the 2251 was cooling after soldering work to the pickups, I got on with updating the headcodes on my engines. On the southern, there is a very different system where the headcode doesn't mean what type of train it is, but where it is going. For my line, and to pay my own little tribute to my Favourate Standard Gauge railway, all my engines that will work day to day on doveston now carry the same headcode. This isn't unknown for different areas to be carrying similar codes (A emample of this is the Swanage railway in purbeck which used to share a route headcode with the Steying line in sussex).

I also added headcodes, or in some cases reattached them, to a number of other engines mainly ones which where approiate for that type of engines work.

Until Next time,

Jon

ewsjo's Blog - Skipping along - introduction

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:11:00 +0000

On Thursday I took a trip to East Somerset Models to collect my dummy 67026. I also picked up four blue-grey mk2s and some seating strips too, allowing me to throw together a representation of the Cardiff - Taunton (or Paignton) service operated by FGW. The 67s that I have (006 and 026) haven't worked together on this working (indeed 026 hasn't at all IIRC) and the mk2s aren't the right variant of aircon, but it's as near a representation as I'll get with RTR stock, and I wanted it to be a quickie project.

Having not had a chance to get out to the garage and spray the crane due to it being full of the old kitchen, work started today on detailing up the mk2s and 67. The loco end of the BSO and one of the TSOs have/will have wire handrails and lampirons, TPM gangway and BHE brass buffers fitted to improve their appearance. I'm not bothering with the inner connections, as it's less noticable without the gap by the loco. BR Lines seating inserts have been painted up (blue seats) and look good inside the coach. The real thing still has Virgin XC seats, but through the tinted windows, and in the darkness of an N gauge carriage, the colour looks fine. The BSO has had a bulkead added at the midpoint of the coach. Now need to dig out the plastic people!
The next stage is to get the roofs looking a bit like these mk1s and add the cantrail stripe

I'm trying to got to town with the end of 67026 - it'll be getting a tail lamp, full body mounted baffle plate, swing head coupler and cut lever and full ETH gubbins on the baffle plate. Basically, the ETH recepticle is a small piece of plastic strip, and the cable is the Dapol head, fitted with a piece of wire going through a hole in the baffle plate, just like the real ones! All these details can be seen in this shot of Royal 67006 at Pilning

I'll stick some photos of the models up once we have daylight so I can take them, hopefully tomorrow

Doveston Works - O Gauge - More Scenery Work

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Evening all,

The main purpose of today was to do some more work on the main scenery of the O Gauge Shelf. Got a fair bit done as you may be able to see with only the backscene left to do and painting the stock before Its relatively ready until I can afford to get a engine anyway :(

Until Next Time,

Jon

Doveston Works - Overhaul - Bachmann Collet 2251 and Post DCC Conversion Photos

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:42:00 +0000

Evening

Did a fair bit of work today on both my O gauge and OO (documented later) with some surprising results:

One of the jobs I got done was the Mechcanical Overhaul of my Bachmann 2251 Tender Engine. Its nearly 10 years old and about 3 years ago started to run roughly and basically stopped working a year later. Today, I stripped it all down to see what was up with it and after cleaning 10 years worth of scum and muck off the picups and inner works, its now a completely different engine :) It runs brilliently :D It also reminded me that I haven't taken any photos of the layout since the DCC Conversion. My BAD!

Until Next Time,

Jon

halfwit's fantastic workbench! - OOn3 Ruston 48DS - chassis part 2.

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:14:00 +0000

I made up the frame spacers for the n.g. chassis today. These were made 7.5mm wide so the gearbox will just fit in. The overall width of the frames is 8.9mm. Wheels will be set to 10.3mm back to back. I've had to work all the dimensions out myself so it could all be completely wrong...
To compensate the front axle I soldered a piece of brass between the frames for the axle to pivot on, most people use a piece of rod for this. The brass was cut deliberatly to tall so I could file it down until an axle just touched it, to set the ride height. Then the axle holes (no bearings remember) were slotted using a needle file to give the required travel. If this sounds like a bodge, well it probably is. However the locos will only ever see light use, unless I go mad and build a layout...
Anyway, a photo. Narrow gauge chassis on the right.

It might work, it might not. Next job will be fitting the motor and gearbox.