Dock Green

[chaz]

Martyn

 

You can save your pennies if you wish.

 

An alternative usingfret waste:- http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79052-porth-dinllaen-in-0/?p=2593507

 

Best

Simon

 

Well now, sanding down coffee stirrers? Sometimes its just worth the cost of buying wood section in the sizes you need as a way of buying time....

 

Incidentally can you explain the attraction of coffee stirrers, sanded or plain? I don't get it.

 

Chaz

[keefr2]

Talking of not getting things, & I know it'll be blindingly obvious Chaz, but I can't get DHYB...? (post 4552)

 

Keith

[daifly]

Talking of not getting things, & I know it'll be blindingly obvious Chaz, but I can't get DHYB...? (post 4552)

 

Keith

 

 

Don't hold your breath!

Dave

[chaz]

Don't hold your breath!

Dave

 

 

Yes, what you said!   

[Simond]

Doctor, my friends think I'm odd, because I find coffee stirrers attractive

 

Oh, I shouldn't worry, I think coffee stirrers are very handy, you get the odd one that's no good but most of them a straight, reasonably fine-grained, hard wood - it's quite alright

 

Doctor, you like them too - you must come and see my collection, I've got thousands!!!

[meil]

Chaz,

 

Can't put my hand on the book at the moment to confirm, but there is a "right way round" such that the shunter faces the loco for safety reasons primarily (iirc) when it's facing into the turnout.

 

Best

Simon

When you pull the lever the common crossing is behind you.

[chaz]

When you pull the lever the common crossing is behind you.

 

 

That sounds right - but I can't see a safety aspect - the movement can be in the facing or the trailing direction, can't it?

[Siberian Snooper]

That sounds right - but I can't see a safety aspect - the movement can be in the facing or the trailing direction, can't it?

It's possible to run through a trailing turnout, not recommended especially for flat bottom switches, but it happened quite a lot in yards, as there are no locks. Whereas in the facing direction the train should only take the road the turnout is set for. The switch levers that you have only pull in one direction, when you return the lever to its resting place the next time you pull it, it will set the switches for the other road.

[chaz]

"Details around Dock Green" is more or less finished, although if you want me to include one I haven't done yet just post.

 

Coming soon....I have two further series in mind, "Wagons and Vans on Dock Green" and "Behind the Scenes" which will deal with aspects of the layout that are hidden 'round the back'.

 

Chaz

[Adams442T]

Yes, please keep them coming Chaz!  Inspirational modelling in a simple framework, carefully done, is the hallmark of the best layouts!

[chaz]

Yes, please keep them coming Chaz!  Inspirational modelling in a simple framework, carefully done, is the hallmark of the best layouts!

 

 

You say the nicest things!

 

Seriously, I have come to the end of my list of details to feature. So, unless you have one in mind, I will move on to the rolling stock.

 

Chaz

[Adams442T]

Rolling stock will be great Chaz!

[sb67]

Love to see more, Rolling stock would be fine.

Steve.

[sb67]

Got a question about point levers. I'm puting some on my layout and was wondering is there a right or wrong side of the point to put them on? 

Thanks.

Steve.

[Simond]

I don't think there is a "right side", apart from "away from running lines and not between lines if at all possible".  As noted above, if the lever is a "pull-pull" type, it will be set so that the shunter has his back to the crossing when pulling.

 

HTH

Simon

[Siberian Snooper]

I don't think there is a "right side", apart from "away from running lines and not between lines if at all possible".  As noted above, if the lever is a "pull-pull" type, it will be set so that the shunter has his back to the crossing when pulling.

 

HTH

Simon

To add to that as far as possible all on one side, to avoid crossing the 4ft during shunting operations, if there should be a need the previous turnout should be set so that the wagons etc. pass down opposite road to the one that needs to be crossed.

[chaz]

I don't think there is a "right side", apart from "away from running lines and not between lines if at all possible".  As noted above, if the lever is a "pull-pull" type, it will be set so that the shunter has his back to the crossing when pulling.

 

HTH

Simon

 

 

To add to that as far as possible all on one side, to avoid crossing the 4ft during shunting operations, if there should be a need the previous turnout should be set so that the wagons etc. pass down opposite road to the one that needs to be crossed.

 

Both the above comments are quite right I think. In practice on a model whether the lever goes on the straight side or the curved side is going to depend to some extent on where there is space. In a tangle of lines it may not be possible to put the lever adjacent to the points and it may have to go on the other side of an adjacent track, with the operating rod passing through between the sleepers - as the rodding would on its way to a signal box.

 

Chaz

Edited September 4, 2017 by chaz

[chaz]

Wagons and Vans on Dock Green 1

 

P21493 is a model of an eight plank goods wagon, originally built for a private owner. The lack of an end door doesn't mean that it is not a mineral wagon and it runs on Dock Green as part of the coal train (thanks to SS for spotting my mistake, which I have cunningly edited out). Obviously BR don’t much care about it - they certainly don’t care enough to paint it.

 

 

I made the wagon from a Slater’s kit, Cat. No 7046 I think. A nice plastic kit that includes some brass parts in the brake gear and also has compensation - not essential for finescale O gauge unless your track is particularly ropey, but nice to have.

 

Western Star asked for a “masterclass in painting and finishing”. This gives me a problem as the only photos I have of this wagon are of it in the finished state. I could pass the buck by referring him to Martyn Welch’s excellent “The Art of Weathering” which was my guiding light when I started weathering my models. However I will give a few pointers with the usual rider - these were my working methods, there are others, some may be better and it’s usually best if you come to your own recipes as I did as I progressed.

 

• The underframe, that is everything below and including the solebars but not the headstocks, is easily dealt with. It was first airbrushed dirty black with Humbrol enamel.
• Once that had dried it was dry-brushed with a dirt colour concocted from a mixture of matte leather and matte black and here and there traces of rust. 
• I wanted the body to look neglected - whatever paint it had is long gone with the wood looking bare and the metalwork rusting. BR will replace it with a sixteen tonner soon. 
• The body was brush painted with Humbrol enamel “natural wood”, but this has only a passing resemblance to bare wood. Making it more convincing needs a little work.
• Mixing varying small amounts of black, white and brown with natural wood allows some planks to be picked out.
• I used a scriber on a few planks to suggest wood grain.
• Railmatch do a light rust and a dark rust. I used both of these, allowing them to mix as I applied them to paint the ironwork.
• Dropping talc onto the rust colours while the paint is still wet and gently blowing it across the surface adds the gritty texture that rust often has.
• Last step was more grime dry-brushed in patches around the metalwork and in traces of vertical streaks.
• Should the final effect need toning down I would use an airbrush to drift a very light haze of dirt colour over the whole thing.

 

The coal train arrives in Dock Green yard behind 68973, with P21493 nearest the camera.

 

Chaz

Edited September 5, 2017 by chaz

[sb67]

Great stuff Chaz, love the unpainted effect. Cant wait to see more! 

Steve.

[Siberian Snooper]

It's definitely a mineral wagon, the top planks go right through, whereas a general merchandise wagon would have a drop door the full height of the side to allow access.

[chaz]

It's definitely a mineral wagon, the top planks go right through, whereas a general merchandise wagon would have a drop door the full height of the side to allow access.

 

 

Ah, yes, quite right. I'm suitably chastened....

 

Chaz

[wessy]

It's definitely a mineral wagon, the top planks go right through, whereas a general merchandise wagon would have a drop door the full height of the side to allow access.

Congratulations of producing yet another lovely model!

 

I think that it was probably originally a coal merchant or trader's wagon. The lack of an end door seems to have been favoured by them, as they had no means of tipping the wagon to empty it in the yards used for land sales, unlike colliery-owned or coal factor-owned wagons used for industrial purposes. Those seemed to have end and possibly floor doors for tipping or discharge into hoppers.

[N15class]

Looks good Chaz. I really like the paintwork.

[chaz]

Wagons and Vans on Dock Green 2

 

A brake van next - E178705 is a LNER “Green Arrow” brake van. In the twenties there were complaints from guards about the rough riding of the 10’ 6” WB brake vans on fast fitted freights. Doncaster borrowed a long wheelbase van from the GWR and after tests designed a van on a 16’ WB. 

 

 

I made my model using the excellent Connoisseur etched-brass kit for the BR van. I like the rugged quality of a brass model soldered together for brake vans, which have lots of fiddly bits, easily knocked off on an exhibition layout.

 

 

I cut a piece of tinplate which would fit between the solebars and carry the WEP compensator units and the brake gear. Later the three sub-assemblies were fastened together with two screws into captive nuts soldered into the base of the body.

 

 

A spot-the-difference snap of two vans, the LNER and the BR version, both built from the Connoisseur kit. The differences are in the details. The fixed lamp on the side of the cabin and the small handrail on the roof are brass castings from the Slater’s kit, which can built as either the BR or LNER van. Both vintages of the van were built at Faverdale and there was a step by step evolution from the earlier shorter WB LNER van, itself based on a NER design, through to the BR standard.

 

 

I do know that the rain-strips are wrong but then Slater’s got ‘em wrong in their kit too. I have heard the blame laid at Aifix’s door! No matter, I can live with the error.

 

 

The van pictured on Dock Green, sitting on the canal bridge. The BR van lurks in the background.

 

Chaz

 

[chaz]

Golly!  "Sarah Siddons" has just trundled passed my bedroom window.