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Leeds trams 4mm layout and fleet

Entries in this blog

End of the road ?

Whilst nothing much has been happening with Grime Street......see previous entry about Sheffield Grimeside..... I've been giving some thought about its future, I'll be honest I like building stuff rather than operating and with pressure of work being another contributory factor taking it out was becoming less enjoyable than previously.   So serious thought time ensued the upshot being as it stands at the moment Grime St will be departing for pastures new most likely early in the new year.  

Red Devil

Red Devil

Grime Street takes a break....

Well work on it does, it's still out and about and more may well still happen but I'm currently messing with something similar but set a few miles south...   So if anyone is interested they'll find progress or lack of it here.....   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/122452-sheffield-grimeside/

Red Devil

Red Devil

More Faller Car System builds...

Couple more FCS builds done/near done   Done is an EFE AEC Hoover artic, my usual construction, Faller wheels, guide, motor mount, Nigel Lawton motor etc, scratchbuilt trailer chassis in plastic.       In build but nearly done, LBC cast resin AEC Regal III in West Riding livery, pretty much same build.        

Red Devil

Red Devil

Three wheels on my wagon....or a Fallerised Scammell Scarab....

One thing I've been messing about with lately is a Scammell Scarab for the Faller Car System, last night it reached the point of 'trial run'   Whilst it's long way off finished it's getting there, based on the Oxford version with DIY steering, Nigel Lawton motor etc   Very quick mobile video.  

Red Devil

Red Devil

A radio controlled Remploy van......

Finally got round to getting the Wiking Control87 vehicle up and running at Doncaster last weekend.....it will be a bit of a learning curve getting it to drive it well....but I'll get there.....hopefully!   The very first go on Grime St is shown bellow....yes it's not great!     So, as a DHL box van doesn't really go the plan is to build it into something like this.....   https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7496/15490092630_098d7fe14d_m.jpg   Probably use an RTI resin cab, married to a pa

Red Devil

Red Devil

Leeds 600 gets a rework.

Leeds 600 was one of my earliest FUD prints now approx 5 and a half years old, never been happy with either its performance or finish....   So a 19mm powered Bullant/dummy Bullant have been fitted into the Halling C mech chassis frame, definitely better so far, the drive unit on this is another 38.5:1 Belt drive unit and has 'plenty' to shift the 3d print body.   Th body had been primed and painted using aerosols and the question was how to strip this back, previously I've used Dettol and Is

Red Devil

Red Devil

Wiking Control87

Now being a sucker for moving road vehicles on the FCS and obviously the Magnorail cyclist I must admit I'm tempted to add a Wiking Control87 vehicle into the mix....   These being very much like the FCS vehicles but radio controlled....not a cheap item but one of the trucks altered to say a BRS wagon being reversed in and out of some of the factory yards on Grime St would create a bit of interest at exhibitions I think.   A gimmick? Yeah probably but I always view it that we're there to ent

Red Devil

Red Devil

Warley Woes.....

One or two of my regular readers (optimistic here!) may know that Grime Street was due to be at the Warley show very shortly.....   Unfortunately I've had to withdraw and we won't be attending, last week my van and approx £3k of tools were stolen from where I was working, yep Grime Street had it's own van to travel in.....it doesn't now.   Obviously this has impacted heavily on my available time to prep/work/exhibit, you name it...not easy trying to keep going when half your kit has disappea

Red Devil

Red Devil

A bit more on the Bullants.

I've managed to fit a number of Bullants to various trams....very happy with the running these have now done....superior in pretty much every way to anything that I'd tried before, overall this is definitely the way forward for the Grime St fleet.   A quick video of two Bullant powered reworked Horsfields. This was filmed yesterday at the Hazel Grove show.  

Red Devil

Red Devil

A bevy of Bullants.....

Most if not all of my fleet of trams run on Halling or Halling derived mechanisms, up till recently I've been fairly happy with their running yes slower would be nicer, I too hate 100mph, crash stop, 100mph, crash stop, 100mph running as seems to be the norm on some tram layouts, to a degree unless you're prepard to build your own the tram market is governed by what's available....and that's a whole lot less than the railway side of things!   As Grime Street has grown even the Hallings are get

Red Devil

Red Devil

Blatant self promotion time....

As per the last post we spent the weekend at the Halifax MRC show, well looked after and a really enjoyable weekend, it was also nice to be home with layout all down and packed in less than an hour!   The self promotion bit, well I was a bit shocked to be presented with the best layout trophy, previous winners including Barrowfleet and Liverpool Lime Street, so to be even considered pretty much made my day.....chuffed to bits as we say up here!   Me and a cup.....  

Red Devil

Red Devil

Halifax Show 25/5 September.....

After our recent run to Southwold, something little closer to home this weekend.....the run to Southwold took the best part of seven hours, I reckon I can do Halifax in about 20 minutes and that includes stopping off for a packet of fags!   Anyway....info here....   http://www.halifaxmrc.co.uk/   This marks the beginning of a good few exhibitions that we're attending, namely Halifax, Hazel Grove, Warley and then Manchester to round this year off....So if anyone'a attending 'who I don't kn

Red Devil

Red Devil

Messing about with Bullants

The majority of my fleet run on Halling or Halling derived drive units....increasingly I've become less happy about their performance, some of that due to wear in the engineering plastic bushes that the wheels run in....easily sorted with replacements, and more so to the overall gearing....I always feel that they're geared too high....   So having never tried the Bullant range as I was always a bit wary of their 'all motor' appearance I did in the end decided to order a pair and try them....th

Red Devil

Red Devil

A couple more Faller car system vehicles join the fleet.

Well Faller car system like....both use Faller front axles, steering guide, motor mount and wheels but the rest from other suppliers. The motor is 12v rated mini motor from Nigel Lawton, this fits directly into a 10mm Faller motor mount, battery is a 3v rated half AA. that coupled with a diode drops the speed to something acceptable, even better I called into Tesco today to find all their half AA Duracells were on half price sale!   One is the previously seen YWD Leyland Olympic the other a B

Red Devil

Red Devil

The rebuilt section makes its debut..

The reworked original section made its debut at the Southwold show this last weekend....lots really still to do but passable....anyway a couple of pre show pics showing the new 'opened out' extreme right hand end..........    

Red Devil

Red Devil

The original Grime Street is no more.

Well sort of........   I suppose like everyone else I'm never happy with some stuff so as the 'new' railway section on Grime St has really begun to take shape (3 road fiddle yard built on one board and a cantilevered one in progress for the other end) I decided that a revamp of the original board was due, so large blunt instruments were brought into play.....resulting in this mess....     I've decided to add in another loop and a better (more depth) side street on the original board, by d

Red Devil

Red Devil

Railway section expands.

Well I was right, the newly working railway section (the previously scenic background) is extremely boring to operate! So in between exhibitions I did a you do, take a saw to it all to fit a 3 road fiddle yard at one end, this is at a higher level (obviously) to the trams and has been made removable for ease of access and because I intend to carve the original board about a bit more after the next exhibition (Perth Green, Jarrow, this weekend coming). I want to add another side street to allow a

Red Devil

Red Devil

The most boring model railway exhibition layout breaks cover....

A frequently asked question at exhibitions was/is 'does the railway work?' My answer to that was no it's just my version of the bus on the bridge....   Anyway I thought why not? Seeing as it was built to look ok, it didn't take much to get it running, initially it'll be very limited, but it should add a bit more operational interest, there are plan to extend it into a hidden fiddle yard so a variety of stock can be run (eventually) but at the moment it's a very simple up and down the line, so

Red Devil

Red Devil

Tomytec N gauge bus 4mm Base Toys truck first 'road trial'

The Tomytec bus trial has progressed a little, a Base Toys Albion has been selected as donor body and the cab modified and fitted, the rest of the chassis and flatbed are currently being chopped about.   So does it run? Short answer yes, it ran pretty successfully from word go, more so than some Faller based ones. The Tomytec chassis has a 'slow down' option triggered from a magnet, so as I preferred this running speed a small magnet was glued to the chassis to keep this activated (note yello

Red Devil

Red Devil

Tomytec 4mm Faller Car System type chassis test.

A very quick video of the first test of the 're gauged' Tomytec N gauge bus chassis. Faller truck steering axle and rear wheels fitted.   Speed looks fast in video but in reality it's ok, penny is for weight over steering axle, looks like it might work, I'll stick a guide arm on tonight and test on layout.  

Red Devil

Red Devil

Tomytec n gauge bus for 4mm truck.....

My latest madcap idea for more moving road vehicles is to see if I can alter the n gauge Tomytec bus to power a 4mm truck, the Tomytec bus is on examination almost a Faller copy to a degree, the front axle whilst not the same is similar using 1mm brass pins for the wheel attachment, five minutes after opening the box the rear axle was out and swapped for a Faller one with larger wheels.   As far as I know the Tomytec operates exactly the same as a Faller vehicle, in so much as the reed switch

Red Devil

Red Devil

We are the Mods, we are the Mods......

Not quite as the Mod era is a bit late for the Grime Street period, so here's 'Bert' taking his newly purchased Lambretta LD125 for a quick spin.   Or in reality the old Airfix scooter and rider messed about with to run on the Magnorail circuit, needs a little bit of fine tuning but getting there.   Now does anyone do a 'Bubble Car' in 4mm?  

Red Devil

Red Devil

Another Faller type bus....

I have a number of resin bus kits to work through to add a bit of variety to the Grime Street road vehicle fleet, next up is something quite 'modern' looking (well for 1951!) a Leyland Olympic to be finished as one of the ten that Yorkshire Woollen purchased and by all accounts were seen fairly often in Leeds.   Built from an LBC kit it follows my usual method of build with a KKPMO motor, faller axles and wheels married to the LBC resin chassis into which the simple on/off and reed switch circ

Red Devil

Red Devil

Some video of Grime Street taken this last weekend at Peterborough.

The Grime Street team had an outing to Peterborough this weekend to exhibit at the Festival of Railway Modelling, we had a very enjoyable if busy weekend, the layout seemed to go down well and I was fairly busy answering questions, mainly about the cyclist....   We were well looked after and had a thoroughly great time and it was great to chat to several RMweb members from the boss down.....!   I'll be honest and say I didn't really get to see as much of the show as I'd have liked but that's

Red Devil

Red Devil

Lower Road depot, or Grime Street board 4 starts......

Prior to the festival of model trams in July there was a rapid period of building to add a 'jointing board' to Andy Burrow's Florin Street layout, the two Leeds tram layouts live 250 miles apart so construction to join the two for inter running had a few minor difficulties but we did manage it and it will happen again (and better) in the future where the two layouts are in attendance. This involved building a double junction off the original layout (to the right hand end) and a small board to jo

Red Devil

Red Devil

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