Pen Green Workshops in 4mm

[Osgood]

Jim  -  the Constructor used a Bedford cab (without the wheel arch cutaway, front lower doors), which you should be able to source from the Road Transport Images.

 

O Type Cab:  http://www.roadtransportimages.com/online-shop/item/83-bedford-o-type-cab-intro-1939-1945-52

Edited May 7, 2017 by Osgood

[RANGERS]

The late, lamented BW Models range had a kit for the Constructor, never seen one built but their kits were generally decent enough to make a passable representation of the prototypes.

 

They're long out of production but they do turn up on ebay regularly so worth keeping an eye out for.

[Jim15B]

Osgood - Thank you for the info regarding the Bedford O cab, I may be able to make something from one of those;

 

Rangers - I'll keep an eye out for the BW Models kit;

 

Paul A - Just been looking at your 16" MW thread - looking good.  I think I need a trip to Cottesmore as I haven't been over for a few years - I will be including the engineers vans on the model (and the hospital ven from Glendon too).

 

 

Apologies if I've breached your Copyright!  That underframe looks old.

 

Thanks to all for your interest and comments.

 

Jim

[rope runner]

Apologies if I've breached your Copyright!  That underframe looks old.

 

 

Jim

No problem at all Jim. 

 

The van is thought to have been converted from an old Ministry of Munition ore hopper wagon. 

 

Below is some more shots, which will hopefully be of interest to you and others

 

 

 

Also tool vans, similarly converted. Note the split spoke wheels. The roof height is markedly lower than a standard BR 12 ton van, and Cottesmore have one of these from Corby too. 

 

 

 

I had thought about doing a basic etch for the plate layers van body (with windows) on my next set of etching artwork. But this will likely be next year now. If you're interested, PM me. 

 

All the best

 

Paul A. 

[Guius]

Looks like an interesting old van, wooden sole bars and side chains and yes a bit of age with it. When you think every middling town had a wagon works making/repairing hundreds of thousands of this type of vehicle.

 

Guy 

[Jim15B]

Paul, thanks for the extra photos. I'll definitely need one for the layout - I'll pm you once I've worked out how.

 

Guy, there was a wagon works at Kettering ("Barnett's for Wagons") which was going to be my original Inglenook scheme, but will be number 3 now!

Edited May 8, 2017 by Jim15B

[Guius]

 

The good thing about your layout planning is you've still got some tangible assets to peruse. Unlike my layout planning were not one brick stands upon another to record or reproduce in model form apart from this street sign (pride of place in my forge). Now, If only I could think of a of a catchy layout name ... ... ...

 

Guy

[Jim15B]

Over the weekend I have managed to sort through some boxes and locate all volumes of Tonks, along with the attached image which shows the sidings behind the workshops site.  On the original the roof of the large building (Vayland) is visible in the background.  This murky atmosphere is what I want to recreate on the layout.

 

 

The track is interesting here - the points under the first wagon give access to tracks to bypass the weighbridge.  Presumable the line is a running line as well as a weigh line.  I might have to incorpoate this feature if I ever finish and then extend the current plan.

 

Buying materials for working on the house this week so hopefully I'll be able to sneak in the timber for the baseboard.  Having cut the previous piece to 18" wide I now have a spare board.  Just right for the next project.....

[Guius]

Sounds like you're getting your creative juices flowing with the help of Mr Tonks Jim. Just looking at the photo above and it looks like the back side of the cabin has been rebuilt at some point, wonder if it got knocked out in a 'rough shunt'. I've never seen anything like that arrangement of track for a weighbridge, good selection of clutter as well to replicate. Some of these works had enormous fans of sidings covering many acres, my granddad often told a tale of a van containing  pigeon corn consigned in error to the ironworks being 'lost' in the sidings until empty( bait box full at a time no doubt ) many months later, easily done considering the many miles of storage then at the site.

 

Regards

Guy

[RANGERS]

Over the weekend I have managed to sort through some boxes and locate all volumes of Tonks, along with the attached image which shows the sidings behind the workshops site. On the original the roof of the large building (Vayland) is visible in the background. This murky atmosphere is what I want to recreate on the layout.

 

Scan_20170517 (2).jpg

 

The track is interesting here - the points under the first wagon give access to tracks to bypass the weighbridge. Presumable the line is a running line as well as a weigh line. I might have to incorpoate this feature if I ever finish and then extend the current plan.

 

Buying materials for working on the house this week so hopefully I'll be able to sneak in the timber for the baseboard. Having cut the previous piece to 18" wide I now have a spare board. Just right for the next project.....

The line curving away to the right in the distance is the link to Lloyds Sidings, all incoming coal and ore came in this way. In steam days, train engines tripped their own trains but from the 60s, a BR 08 did the honours. Ore transfers were always the preserve of S&L/ BSC Minerals engines.

 

The weighbridge arrangement was common where they were situated on running lines, an identical arrangement existed in Weldon Rd sidings where traffic between Corby Sidings and BSC would have passed.

 

I might have mentioned it before but a trip around Scunthorpe on the AFRPS tours would yield a wealth of encouragement for this project.

Edited May 18, 2017 by RANGERS

[Jim15B]

Thanks Rangers; I'll have to try to persuade SWMBO and the Minions that Scunthorpe would be a good holiday destination this year.  I've just had a look on Google Earth to see if the Weldon Road weighbridge is still there but the quality isn't good enough.  I went into the site a few times 15 - 20 years ago but never in circumstances in which I could properly examine anything.  Does the site still see steel arrive and depart by rail?  I have yet another plan in mind for a Minories-type layout set in the steelworks rather than the usual terminus station.  That'll be next if I find space and time (considering I'm struggling to develop one small layout, don't hold your breath).

 

When I found the above photo I also found these that I took of Corby South signal box, probably as a teenager in the early '90s (I don't remember taking them but I must have cycled over to Corby especially to do it).  The box burnt down in the mid-90s.  I wish now that I had made more use of my wanton traspassing and had taken a few more pictures of the remaining sidings and infrastructure.  I suspect I wasn't brave enough to be there too long.

 

 

 

 

[Jim15B]

To return to my plans themselves, this is going to be a shunting puzzle layout.  With the impending purchase of timber I have set my mind to how I'm going to lay the track and site the point motors.  This has also raised the question of couplings.  I don't want tension lock and suspect that 3-links may be a bit fiddly in 4mm in a shunting format.  I have narrowed the field to Spratt & Winkle and Kaydee but have used neither before and am unsure as to where the uncoupling magnets should be placed, how many there should be and what type are best.  If I use electromagnets I presume I'll have to drill the board for them to be sited, but that the flat S&W ones will be able to sit in the cork underlay.  Any advice would be gratefully received.  I will try to add a track plan shortly once I've finished working.

[RANGERS]

Thanks Rangers; I'll have to try to persuade SWMBO and the Minions that Scunthorpe would be a good holiday destination this year.  I've just had a look on Google Earth to see if the Weldon Road weighbridge is still there but the quality isn't good enough.  I went into the site a few times 15 - 20 years ago but never in circumstances in which I could properly examine anything.  Does the site still see steel arrive and depart by rail?  I have yet another plan in mind for a Minories-type layout set in the steelworks rather than the usual terminus station.  That'll be next if I find space and time (considering I'm struggling to develop one small layout, don't hold your breath).

 

When I found the above photo I also found these that I took of Corby South signal box, probably as a teenager in the early '90s (I don't remember taking them but I must have cycled over to Corby especially to do it).  The box burnt down in the mid-90s.  I wish now that I had made more use of my wanton traspassing and had taken a few more pictures of the remaining sidings and infrastructure.  I suspect I wasn't brave enough to be there too long.

 

Scan_20170519 (2).jpg

 

Scan_20170519.jpg

I'll have a look at Weldon Rd but I'm pretty sure the weighbridge was swept away when the area was remodelled in 1981, although I seem to think the weigh hut survived a little longer. The line into the Slitting Plant reception was relaid when BR adopted it and although a couple of sidings survived east of the tubeworks no2 gate overbridge, the weighbridge was on the line which BR took.

 

The signal box pictured is Corby North, just to the South of the station, but at the North end if Corby Sidings. There was a Corby South at the other end of the yard but that closed in the 60s or 70s.

[Jim15B]

Yes, my typing error - north it is. I remember occasionally travelling through Corby as a child, always trying to catch a glimpse of it from the Oakley Road. Occasionally we'd be lucky enough to see a 37 or two on the bridge as well.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Jim15B

[Jim15B]

Sounds like you're getting your creative juices flowing with the help of Mr Tonks Jim. Just looking at the photo above and it looks like the back side of the cabin has been rebuilt at some point, wonder if it got knocked out in a 'rough shunt'. I've never seen anything like that arrangement of track for a weighbridge, good selection of clutter as well to replicate. Some of these works had enormous fans of sidings covering many acres, my granddad often told a tale of a van containing  pigeon corn consigned in error to the ironworks being 'lost' in the sidings until empty( bait box full at a time no doubt ) many months later, easily done considering the many miles of storage then at the site.

 

Regards

Guy

Looking at the asymmetric end wall I wondered if the siding immediately behind was a later addition, the rear of the weigh house having been removed to allow space for it. It's certainly an unusual building and it would be interesting (to those of us who are interested in such things) to see the other side.

[RANGERS]

There's a few sources of information on the web which relate to the area.

 

This one is a rare shot of the BSC Minerals loco tripping the ore from Lloyds Sidings towards the North Bank or Wood Sidings, this would run past Pen Green workshops at the top of the bank and over the weigh bridge pictured in the previous post. The ore would have began its journey at Glendon Quarries, tripped by BR as 9T27 between Glendon East and Lloyds North.

 

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw044697

 

An aerial shot of the area shows the general layout of the area and the relationship of the BR lines with S&L and the rest of the area, Pen Green is lower left of centre.

 

 

 

http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/imagingcentre/view/345318

Edited May 20, 2017 by RANGERS

[5050]

To return to my plans themselves, this is going to be a shunting puzzle layout.  With the impending purchase of timber I have set my mind to how I'm going to lay the track and site the point motors.  This has also raised the question of couplings.  I don't want tension lock and suspect that 3-links may be a bit fiddly in 4mm in a shunting format.  I have narrowed the field to Spratt & Winkle and Kaydee but have used neither before and am unsure as to where the uncoupling magnets should be placed, how many there should be and what type are best.  If I use electromagnets I presume I'll have to drill the board for them to be sited, but that the flat S&W ones will be able to sit in the cork underlay.  Any advice would be gratefully received.  I will try to add a track plan shortly once I've finished working.

Seen this?

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/120488-auto-couplings-inexpensive-and-work/

 

Cost coppers to make and bertiedog seems to be able to achieve good operation with them.  I'm tempted myself!

Edited May 23, 2017 by 5050

[Osgood]

Now then - this is another Scammell drill rig, this time a Reich drill set up for shallow drilling and in use production drilling on an ironstone bench.  Probably another S&L machine.

 

Edited July 5, 2017 by Osgood

[Jim15B]

I've just realised thet it was May that I last posted.  Unfortunately I've had a busy few weeks working and house rennovating so everything else has had to take a bit of a back seat.  The baseboard has been sneaked in with building materials but other than that there has been no progress whatsoever.  This is the first chance I've had to get onto RM Web for quite some time, but hopefully I'll have something to report soon.  I haven't even had the chance to consider couplings, which is an issue I'd hoped to have made a decision on before now.

[RANGERS]

Now then - this is another Scammell drill rig, this time a Reich drill set up for shallow drilling and in use production drilling on an ironstone bench.  Probably another S&L machine.

 

S&L Drill Rig.jpg

Pretty certain its an S&L machine, the Northants reg number is a give away.

[Jim15B]

There's a few sources of information on the web which relate to the area.

 

This one is a rare shot of the BSC Minerals loco tripping the ore from Lloyds Sidings towards the North Bank or Wood Sidings, this would run past Pen Green workshops at the top of the bank and over the weigh bridge pictured in the previous post. The ore would have began its journey at Glendon Quarries, tripped by BR as 9T27 between Glendon East and Lloyds North.

 

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw044697

 

An aerial shot of the area shows the general layout of the area and the relationship of the BR lines with S&L and the rest of the area, Pen Green is lower left of centre.

 

 

 

http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/imagingcentre/view/345318

Thanks very much Rangers.  The aerial photo of the works is excellent, and one that I haven't seen before.  I need to get signed up to the site to zoom in (on the list for today), but it puts the Pen Green Workshops nicely n context with the rest of the works.  I need to get this enlarged and have a good study of it in close up.  Also a lovely picture of the 14 with ore train.  Both picutres help visualise the movement of ore from quarry to furnace via the mind-boggling complex of sidings.  It must have taken some management to keep the process flowing.

 

Thanks again for posting, and apologies for not having acknowledged you sooner.

[Jim15B]

Now then - this is another Scammell drill rig, this time a Reich drill set up for shallow drilling and in use production drilling on an ironstone bench.  Probably another S&L machine.

 

S&L Drill Rig.jpg

Thanks Osgood - that should help when (definately when, not if) I build one of these for the site.  Another great picture.

[Jim15B]

Thanks to 1whitemoor I've got side-tracked again.  Discussion regarding the pair of MW 0-6-0Ts sourced from the Elan Valley Reservoir works (MW1316 and 1317) caused me to dig out my 7mm scratchbuilt and incomplete model.  Working into the early hours re-living my youth (mostly spent crawling around on the floor looking for errant tiny etchings and nuts) I managed to get it's over-engineered components together (most of them anyway).  This is the result.  It did run once about twenty years ago but has been stored as a jigsaw puzzle since then:

 

 

I also found my small fleet of 7mm ironstone locomotives - the main point to note is that I never actually finish anything I start.  I appear to have built a recreation of Cohen's Scrap Yard on the old Loddington branch.

 

 

Locos are MW1316 (as above), Barclay 16" (Storefield, Mercian kit), Avonside (Kettering Furnaces 11, Agenoria kit), Bagnall (Cranford, Agenoria kit) and Peckett (Oxfordshire Ironstone, Mercian Kit/scratchbuilt - I made two and can't remember which this is).  The odd missing roof is in another box awaiting discovery.

 

Good news for the current project, and subject of this forum - the piece of ply in the backgound is the baseboard, which my time may have been better spent assembling.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Jim15B

[rope runner]

Thanks to 1whitemoor I've got side-tracked again.  Discussion regarding the pair of MW 0-6-0Ts sourced from the Elan Valley Reservoir works (MW1316 and 1317) caused me to dig out my 7mm scratchbuilt and incomplete model.  

 

It's an excellent model though, very clean lines. 

 

Looking forward to having a go myself when time allows. Currently building the test etch for a Cranford-type Bagnall, albeit in 4mm scale. 

 

Paul A. 

[Guius]

There's some very nice modelling gone on there Jim, especially the scratch built job. Very impressed.

 

Best

 

Guy