Some photos of the poles planted in their sockets. I managed to get the spacing fairly even at 60 - 65 yards, the preferred Caley distance. The camera is much harsher about verticals than the eye, particularly along the length of the layout. People used to Glasgow might be familiar with the effect, tenements do tend to lean back a bit. The time to panic is when they start leaning forwards.
Making all the poles and fitting sockets for them has kept me going for a few weeks. Chilly weather and bad light slow it all down a bit.
The poles are 3mm dia dowel sanded to about 2 mm dia at the top. I doubt I could drill a 3mm hole through the baseboard square enough to make the poles stand upright so I made some sockets from spare brass tube, 25 mm long with bits of wire soldered on. The bit across the bottom acts a stop but still lets any debris fall through.
Dead easy, several suppliers make plastic ones. Buy some and plant them ?
Well, no. These are not any old telegraph poles, these are the telegraph poles of the Caledonian railway. As with so many aspects of pre-grouping different railways did things in a different manner. “Signalling the Caledonian” by Jim Summers has an entire chapter on the subject giving many details and a couple of useful pictures of the L+D under construction so combined with photos from elsewhere I know what I’
These are made from the latest True Line Models resin body produced by the CRA. Many thanks to all involved.
The description pre-diagram means that they were built bfeore the introduction of the official diagram book and therefore don’t have a diagram number. More details here;
https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1479
I have built them in my usual way, copperclad sub chassis, rocking W irons, internal sprung buffers, all the bits from 51L
The body needed a fair amount of sorting out, a lot of bits fell off when it was being stripped. It isn’t the best paint job, but painting is not my favourite activity. As ever with the CR a lot of awkward brightwork but I have tried to tone it down a little to give a practical in use look. I also simplified the lining a bit.
The main reason for the rebuild was to improve running. So a bit of video showing 263 on a trip worki
Drummond built two of these small 0-4-2 tanks in 1885 for working the Killin branch. The design ran well and formed the basis for the Caley pug. Superseded by 0-4-4 tanks in 1895 they travelled the CR network before settling at Dawsholm shed where they worked the North Clyde industrial lines and the odd passenger working. So my period and location. Last one withdrawn 1947.
I made the model mid 1990s I think. Some of the body is the old Jidenco etch made originally
A bit of stock construction, always a joy to do . In this case a pair of CR Dia. 11A CCTS from the latest “True lines Models “ kit. Historical notes can be found in “ Caledonian Railway Wagons” by Mike Williams, many thanks to Tony Brenchley of the CRA for producing the kit. Ok, so preamble over, lets have a look at it all. A cast resin body, etches for the chassis and springs and castings in brass and whitemetal for details. The body tends to curve inwards at the top, seems resin does this
Bit by bit I am getting on with with the backscene. I think I have set myself a difficult task, trying to get a feel of depth and perspective in 2d. If I was a skilled artist it might be easier just to paint it, but I am not so the only thing I can do is the collage of photos method. I have played around with the panorama tools in Affinity. They work well with stitching a set of nice countryside photos together but can’t really cope with the complexity of a row of slightly different tenements.
Another go at a sheeted wagon. Fair criticism of the way my early attempts at roping sheets down led me to consider a more realistic way of doing things.
Looks a bit better in terms of roping, but I think I could improve the sit of the sheet itself.
The starting point is a CR D15 dropside whitemetal kit from 51L. This is made up in my normal fashion. However in order to tie the ropes down I ne
I managed to get things a bit further forward, the bridge is now sitting upside down on the bench. The general construction is 3mm foamboard, seems to have formed a reasonably light but stiff structure. Old sealed lead acid batteries of the type used in fire or burglar alarms make great flat sided weights.
The 1870 horsebox is now painted and in service. Once primed I liked the overall level of detail, the top hinges and the dog box end show a slight bowing out but not severe enough to merit a substantial alteration. I think it would be in plain coach brown by the 1900s, compartment interior off white and a simple bench seat added. Lettering is from the HMRS sheet. Some light weathering to bring out the details.
A couple of posed pictures.
The latest kit from True Line Models represents a horse box built by Metropolitan in 1870 for the CR. This is a different method for TLM being a resin print. I have used 3d printed parts but this is my first go at a complete 3d printed wagon.
Removing the body from the supports taught me just how brittle resin prints can be. Since I want a practical layout vehicle I decided to reinforce the steps and springs with 0.3 brass wire. Wheels are on MJT internal compensation irons soldered
I have had a couple of weeks sorting out a few problems on the layout. I have had some difficulty with the long crossover to the storage sidings which had decided to get themselves out of gauge a bit. Add to that a couple of other electrical problems and all in all it has taken a while to fix.
Of course getting it all sorted meant running a few trains to test it all. Which led me to improve the traverser control panel a bit. I haven’t really mentioned the traverser much, its not the
Once I had the frame painted and assembled I made up a mounting plate from 3 mm ply. All the connections are via a 37 way connector from the spares box so that the whole module can be easily removed from the layout to the bench if maintenance is needed.
It was a bit of ply from Eileens, some brass sections arrived taped to it so I’m glad it got used for something constructive.
A front view. I have followed the Caledonian practice of fitting a des
Some progress.
The nine levers have been cut from 2mm brass. The other parts are fabricated from tube and section. I used a pair of buffer springs to assist gravity on the stop block to give a positive feel to the action.
The frame made up from silhouette cut styrene, 3 ply. It will become stiffer as more is added but tests show that it is heading in the right direction. I chose a spacing of 15 mm for the levers. That gives about 28 mm as a gap for movi
I have never been entirely happy with the control of points and signals on Kelvinbank. Three way switches allow a signal to be set to on, off or auto. Switches set the points, in auto mode they also control the signals via short timers. It is vaguely interlocked, but not perfectly. All workable but somehow not in keeping with the period feel of things.
So. Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire section of the CR during the Edwardian era. Built in the 1890s. Boxes would have a Stevens & S
Right, back to some modelling. I have said painting is not my forte, add full size painting to that too. Anyway, a scotch derrick. I made this a long time ago for the previous layout, but I haven’t got round to fitting it since its a bit vulnerable as it is towards the front of the layout.
Scotch derricks are a simple crane, they were used in large numbers throughout the railways and industry in general. Drawings of the size preferred by the CR were published in “The true line “ and
These two are wagons built by Pickerings of Wishaw. The bodies are in resin from True LIne Models, available through the CRA. A straightforward build, my usual copperclad sub frame with compensation, mainly 51L parts, the buffers are correct RCH pattern in brass from Gibson.
I have good ex works photos of two suitable candidates, Wilsons and Clyde 2329 in a brown livery and Oakbank OIl Co. No 132 which looks to me to be a varnished wood finish. Could well be a yellow pine so some s
There we go, a pair of D21 loco coal wagons now in service. Probably to be seen passing through on the way to perhaps Yoker or Dumbarton sheds.
Passing Kelvinbank on a westbound working.
These are the first wagons I have lettered with the alps type transfers now being sold by the CRA. Overall I am fairly happy with the results. I will have a go with different varnishes to see if I
The Diagram 6 brake vans are now in service. I tried to give them the look of vans approaching 20 years in service, used but still kept in decent running order.
The Caledonian often allocated brake vans to a particular branch or section and lettered them accordingly, several examples are shown in the wagon book. I have lettered one for the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire section which is the line I model. Although I cannot be sure that is correct there are pictures of other vans lette
The latest kit from True Line Models is for the CR Diagram 6 brake van. Build dates range from 1883 to 1889 and cover three known body styles across possibly 55 vans. Kits are available for two body styles, the narrow and wide panelled builds.
So a pic of the bare etch.
You might think that these look very like the NB D33 vans. Well, the link is that man Drummond again. So since NBR developments do an etch for that it seems sensible that TLM asked them to d
Some photos of the brake wagons. Both have a rather rough appearance, but I doubt they were high up the list for maintenance.
I have made a few guesses about the final finishing.
Firstly, I’m not sure about the running numbers. I know that No. 185 was of this type so I have just used a couple of close low numbers. Being built on early wagon frames they might just have been painted on rather than having number plates.
Secondly,
I have pushed on a bit with the brake wagons, just about ready for some primer. They are small, but I have managed to get enough weight in there for them to run smoothly enough and keep the compensation working properly.
Here’s a harsh picture of the underside, nothing particularly special but the use of a copperclad sub chassis does give decent fixings for W irons, ajs and the buffer springs and allowed me to get a slab of 1mm brass in as a spacer. Brake gear is a chopped up etch fr
This is a 51 L whitemetal kit which I bought very cheaply from Pastimes in Glasgow as it was closing down. I am busy with a lot of non railway stuff at the moment but I do need to have something on the bench so I thought I would have a go at this as a simple relaxing build.
And so it proved to be. Sharp whitemetal castings with minimal flash, steel head buffers and etched brass frets for the W irons and brakegear. Even includes styrene for the floor and roof and wire for the horse sh
Following the excellent discussion on the storage of lamp oil I have built a combined lampmans hut and coal store.
A dimensioned sketch of the type favoured by the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire ( and other CR lines built later on ) can be found in "Signalling the Caledonian" by Jim Summers. A very common feature in many stations and yards, clearly having a separate small building for maintaining signal and general lamps would minimise damage by fire should an accident occur.
