After various struggles with decoder settings and the realisation that I should never use the momentum button on my NCE Powercab as it over-writes decoder settings, my new Mogul is running pretty well now, though I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the occasional jerky movement, some of which you might see in this video. When it first arrived with me there was a loose buffer, an under-gauge front pony truck (both easily sorted) and a definite clash in the crosshead and crankpin area, whic
Here's a video I made recently explaining the backstory for my layout The location is somewhere to the North of Aberllefeni and South of Brithdir on the Dolgellau to Barmouth GW line. The idea is that the Corris Railway was taken over by the Cambrian as per the 19th century act of Parliament that really happened. The line was built as a through route to the GW at Brithdir from Machynlleth, more or less following the Corris Railway route to Aberllefeni, then plunging through the hills to em
I'm completely baffled by the interface of this website these days. Navigation seems like a challenge game.
Anyway, here is some progress on the engine shed I'm building for my O.16.5 engine. It's modelled loosely on the shed at Maespoeth on the Corris Railway. Painting the stone blocks is a slow process and it'll take a while before I can move on to building the roof.
I haven't posted anything here for a while so, here are a couple of pics to be going on with; looking towards the tunnel mouth, and looking out from it.
There is actually quite a lot of work going on to the left of the broken viaduct arch in the first picture. A slate works will appear in the background along with some rocky scenic developments around the short narrow gauge section. Pictures soon.
Here's view of my new cottages. To the left you can see the start of a derelict narrow gauge viaduct which (in my world) lead to an abandoned slate quarry on the other side of the valley. I'm in two minds about whether to restore the arch across the standard gauge line; at the moment it's not immediately obvious to people what it's meant to be! However it will have a lot more work done on it whether or not the arch gets restored. You can see some cottages that I'm about to paint, on a flat piece
There are developments going on in the village, but I'm keeping them under wraps for a little longer. Meanwhile I've been tinkering with the little Kerr Stuart style 0-4-0 and here it is in action again. It now has a crew, glazing (Krystal Kleer) , coal, some basic weathering (more to come), some rivets applied as decals and the big pipe running from smokebox to cab, which I'm hoping someone will explain to me. (I don't know what it does, but it's there on the 0-4-2 Corris version).
Here's the new little loco making it's way up the steep gradient next to the standard gauge station. There's still quite a lot to do it; I have started adding some decal rivets, which is very fiddly but it does seem to work. Some are due to appear on the buffer beams (if that's what you call them when there are no buffers). The sound is from the 14xx simmering behind the autocoach. The little NG engine will stay silent as it runs on DC. I did notice that the Kerr Stuart engine on the Sitting
I've done a bit more on the little 0-4-0 ... if you haven't seen any of my previous posts it's based on a heavily chopped up Hornby "Smokey Joe" body.
I wanted to use a livery which bore some connection with the Corris Railway, even though in my version of History the Corris "main line" would have been replaced by standard gauge. The idea is that my little loco is working one of the remnants of the lines feeding the "main" line with the products of the few remaining slate quarries north
My little Kerr Stuartish 0-4-0 has now had a coat of primer, probably before it was really ready, but I couldn't hold myself back. It has enabled me to see the worst gaps and blemishes, which I'm now busily filling with Milliput. I used Halfords Etching primer and it does warn you not to use it in humid conditions; I did, and the result is a bit orange-peelish, but I'm not too concerned about that as it will get a rub down with very fine wet and dry paper before I go any further. For those of yo
I've been meddling with loco building. My loco building skills are pretty rudimentary but I did once (25 years ago, when my eyes were better) scratch build a compensated EM gauge chassis for my Hornby 4-4-0 County and it worked pretty well.
Those of you have been kind enough to follow my scenic developments will know that my railway is set in Mid-Wales and there was always the intention of squeezing a bit of narrow gauge in somewhere. The track is now laid, using Peco 00 gauge track with the
Here's another picture from the area around my new bridge across the main street. The grass is stuck down with B&Q's Cocoa Bean Non-Drip Gloss - really smelly while it's drying, but it does the trick.
Lumps of rock are quite gratifying to make; they happen quickly and have quite a dramatic effect on the landscape. I shall do some more work on them to refine the colours and textures a bit.
I'm quite pleased with the way my grass is coming on - the model grass on the layout - not my real lawn, which is sadly neglected. For a long time I've been using an old tin of sticky brown paint to sprinkle it into. The tin ran out and I was concerned that I wouldn't find a match, but B&Q's Cocoa Be
I've started making good the abutments on my bridge over the main street. Although the original stonework was done with 4mm scale Wills Scenic Sheets I had lying about, all the modifications have been done using DAS clay, which I am growing to like more and more.
I've now got a bit further with the bridge over the main street. The bridge has its handrails in place. I soldered up the rails from brass wire fixed into brass angle from Eileen's Emporium, realising again the limits of my soldering skills I have a decent temperature controlled iron but, like a lot of people, I struggle to keep the tip of the bit in perfect clean condition. Anyway, it looks ok to me, and I shall claim that any wonky bits of handrail are due to clumsy plate layers knocking them
I have realised in the last few days how little I know about bridges and their design and how much there is to learn! After some fairly rudimentary research I realised I was trying to build what I think is referred to as a "half-through" bridge where the top girder flanges are above rail level and the bottom ones are well below track level to support the beams that in turn support the ballast/track etc. I hadn't previously spotted that the webbing stiffeners on this type of girder would norma
Sunny weather and grandchildren have kept me away from the layout to some extent but here is a picture of the new cottages in the main street and their embryonic gardens. It can also be seen that I'm finally starting to build the details on the plate girder bridge of the road.
I use Spratt and Winkle autocouplers and electromagnets (from SEEP I think) on my layout, modified a bit as per this photograph which I put on old thread on the site. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50279-o-gauge-auto-couplings/page-6
Since posting the photographs, I've changed my method slightly: although my layout is end to end I can't really used "handed" rolling stock, ie - hook at one end, loop at the other, because I use a train turntable off stage. In the quest for 1
I'm very excited and mildly daunted by having a new Lionheart "B" set on my line. Excited because it looks great, the quality A1 etc. Daunted, because I have some scary work to do on it a) I'm going to fit my version of Spratt and Winkle Autocouplers in the limited space twixt bogie and underframe. b) at some point I would like to reduce the brightness of the interior lighting - I'm not sure how it works yet - I assume that if it is LED's providing the light, I can't just put a resistor in serie
Further to my last post I've fitted my ex-Percy chassis with crossheads/piston rods and slidebars, and put the cut down Smallbrook studio cylinders at a raked angle, as per
He is quite right; 14BA nuts and bolts are seriously fiddly, but with a bit of care and thought about how to hold each bit, it's not all that difficult.
Here it is running:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG_Fv97OBPI&feature=youtu.be
Further to my last entry, I have removed the Hornby cylinder blocks from my "Percy" chassis ready for the re-positioned and altered Smallbrook Studio cylinders. The photos show, how I cut these away from the running plate casting, doing both at the same time to help with a square cut. I have reduced their length to 13mm - still larger than scale for the cylinders on Corris No3, but more in keeping than their massive size as supplied. I figured that the cylinders only need to be slightly longer t
