My Caprotti Black 5, 44741, of Longsight depot, is now finished. The last job was to add plain boiler bands to the firebox and some extra weathering to bring it more to the condition these locos seemed to exhibit in regular service, i.e. filthy. This work was done, as was the whole painting, lining and weathering, by good friend and fellow P4 modeller, David Clarke. I have to say, I'm extremely pleased with the finished loco, which I think really captures the rather ungainly appearance of these
Coachman's nightmare has come true - when a little known enthusiasts' special arrived at Delph (aka Holt) consisting of an 8 coach rake of southern region stock hauled by re-built West Country class, 34027, Taw Valley. Strangely, this rather unusual occasion was not well recorded at the time and no photos appeared in the railway press of the day. However, photos confirming the event have recently come to light and a selection is attached to this post.
The arrival of this train also answered
Have started to lay the track at long last - couldn't think of any more excuses to put it off any longer. Being my first ever layout I thought I'd dip my toe gentley in by starting with the main station throat pointwork! As can be seen, I used some mini jam jars full of "liquid lead" to hold the track down whilst the glue dried. The items were first laid dry, adjusted for position and long pins inserted at the ends of sleepers at key locations. The track was then lifted, PVA glue brushed onto th
I collected the superb station building, platform, goods shed building and signal box from Gravy Train on Saturday and couldn't wait to try them in situ. Thought I'd place an appropriate Donkey train in the platform for some of the shots.
Dave.
Unfortunately, I will be taking a forced break from modelling for a few weeks, having broken my right arm, just below the shoulder joint, when I tripped and fell heavily on concrete, on Tuesday. Never to be recommended, but this does seam to be a particularly bad time to be incapacitated, what with the build up to Christmas and New Year. Prior to my accident, I had progressed the Std 2 tank by fitting the cab glazing and adding coal to the bunker and had started to paint the [Modelu] crew member
By moving some of the furniture, I was able to assemble all four scenic boards for the first time, today. Still on the floor, naturally, as the support structure is not yet built.
The occasion for this event was a visit by Tim Venton (Tim V), of Clutton fame, following his visit to the Midland Model Engineering Show nearby. Tim kindly helped with the removals work and assembly of the layout.
Attached photos show the results - looks impressively long for a single line branch terminus.
Two o
Well, it's cooled down somewhat recently and I've finally got down to a bit more modelling after nearly two month hiatus. The final details still outstanding were the lamp irons and fixing the smokebox front. I actually did the latter a couple of weeks ago during the hot weather and failed to spot that some Araldite has squeezed out and covered some of the rivets round the top half of the wrapper. I have been worrying about what to do about this and had come to terms with leaving it for fear of
I've previously posted about my ex-LMS Crab model, which uses a Bachmann body on a much modified Comet chassis with a Comet tender. The previous photos showed it with the un-painted tender but it has now been painted and lined, the number changed and the whole thing weathered by good friend David Clarke. Here it is more-or-less complete.
Since the photo, the odd bend in the brake ejector pipe has been improved by correctly locating the vertical pipe through the hole in the running plate
Following on from the fitting crews and fire irons to various locos it's back to some rather more fiddly modelling in the form of the injectors for my Ivatt Class 2 tank. These injectors have quite a distinctive shape and I am not aware of any commercial source of realistic representations of these items. To overcome this lack, I decided to try and represent the injectors and their mountings using multiple layers of custom etchings, produced to my sketches by Rumney Models. I use the word "fiddl
The Caprotti Black 5 has been making steady progress over the past few weeks. I started the chassis ages ago but only since (almost) finishing the Crab have I really concentrated on finishing off the Caprotti. The rear sand boxes and all the sand pipes are still to do, along with the front guard irons on the bogie. I joined the Leamingtom MR Society earlier this year and have been able to try the loco out on Clarendon (a bit out of place on an early 1900's LNWR layout!). This has shown up some i
Well, crabs are generally said to scuttle, but that's sideways, so it's not unreasonable that forward progress is fairly slow.
Following the conversion work on the ex_GCR push-pull coaches, I thought I ought to try and finish off some part completed projects which have been sitting around for quite a while. One such is the ex-LMS Crab, which is a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis and a Comet brass tender, together with a Brassmasters detailing kit. The original idea, inspired by the demonstratio
After what feels like a lifetime of back-aching effort, leaning over the board to focus my magnifying head set thingey, I have now completed fitting the cosmetic chairs to the point on the current board. Not only did thids involve cutting each chair in half to fit round the rivet, but also reguired lots of grinding of the rivet heads either side of the rails to enable a snug fit for the chair halves. On some, I didn't quite achive this, but the overall result is quite satisfying. I did consider
In a recent blog, Tim has shown his developing model of an LMS Caprotti Class 5, and very good it looks too.
Here are some photos of the gear I made for the similar BR Standard version. Also a sketch of how I represented the universal joints in the shafts. THe shafts and joints were made for various diameters of brass tube and rod and the return crank gear boxes were from the DJH cast brass gear I was replacing. For ease of assembly, painting, etc., I made the gear as a set of sub-assemblies he
Like some sort of UFO, the goods shed has descended from space (the spare bedroom, actually) and landed in the prepared cut-out in the cork surface of the base-board. It's been there before, but I thought I'd re-fit it, just to complete the station scene.
Dave.
It's been quite a while since I last posted anything about Delph (or should I say "Holt"). This is mainly because there's been precious little progress in recent weeks, partly due to the warm weather making work on the layout an unattractive proposition but mainly because I've been shying away from what seemed like a difficult and fiddly task. Needless to say, when I actually knuckled down to it, it proved much less of a problem than I had anticipated.
Anyway, a concerted effort over the past w
Yesterday was just one of those days. A little progress with the Jubillee but a series of set-backs, sufficient to make me want a few days away from it! The progress was in successfully cutting back the rear edge of the cab footplate to clear the front of the tender, fitting the fall plates and some guide pins that hold the pivoted tender doors in place whilst allowing movement on curves. I also fitted the whistle to the cab front, although that bit leads into one of the set-backs.
In antici
Powered up the wiring of the first board using various jump leads to connect 16 V AC, a hand-held Pentroller and a second controller to swith the point motor. Ran my part finished Ivatt Cl 2, 2-6-2 tank up and down the platform road, then transferred everything to the loop road. This has a point giving access to the siding which runs along the side of the goods shed. Was able to switch the point using the second cpntroller and found that by chance, I'd wired the route indicating LED's correctly
I left the Class 40 with the bogies wheeled and the loco test pushed through some of the yard throat point work. Since then, pick-ups have been added and the loco rendered operational, though not without some trials and tribulations. My clever plan for the pick-ups proved a bit too clever for its own good. The mounting bus-bars were just fine as were the simple phosphor-bronze wire pick-ups for the inner wheel sets but those for the outer driven axles gave lots of problems with shorting out on t
Hope this works - continuing the story of my layout and workbench. On the old RMweb thread (which I no longer appear to be able to access), I had posted regarding the setback experienced when the paper track plan which I had stuck to the cork underlay and on which I had intended to lay the track, wringled up very badly with the recent damp weather. The following photos show the trial fitting of the station throat pointwork on the track plan.
Fortunately, the wrinkled paper cam
The signals made for me by Steve Hewitt (of Liverpool Lime Street fame) were collected last week and have been trial fitted to the layout and the operating mechanisms and contol units fitted and wired. Steve has made a wonderful job, as seen in his semaphore signals thread in the forum section of this site.
The following photos show the signals in situ and the operating bits fitted. The signals have since been removed and refitted into their carrying frames for safety during further layout cons
Following on from my last entry, I've started work on the over-bridge which forms part of the scenic break between the station and the fiddle yard.
The bridge is based on Bridge No. 4 which was (is) actually located in Dobcross, a mile or so along the branch from Delph, but which, together with the nearby group of cottages, forms an effective scenic break. A photo of the real thing appears on page 23 of Larry Goddard's excellent Delph book. The bridge - at about 81 feet long, more a short tunne
Not much visible progress with the layout recently, so in view of some recent interest in Caprotti fitted locos on RMweb, I thought I'd post a few photos of my effort - BR Standard 5, number 73129 - intended to work my Wakes special (for the North Wales coast). I think it's fair to say that Caprotti fitted locos were not well liked by footplate crews during the BR era, being regarded as weak on banks but fast on the level and good coasters. The super performances by Duke of Gloucester in preserv
Now I've got all three boards with track laid at home, I was able to assemble the three together for the first time on the lounge/diner floor - after moving a bit of furniture and a rug! The three sections together are just over 12 feet long, with another scenic board (as yet without track) to take the line off to the fiddle yard (at the far end, in the photos). Current work includes fitting the point motors, TOU's and Alex Jackson uncoupling magnets under the boards, together with trimming som
My painted and weathered Crab was returned home this afternoon and very nice it looks to me. The apparent strange angle of the front steps in the last photo I posted which raised comment was, happily, an optical illusion or due to barreling of the camera lens. Here are some shots of it parked in front of the Jubilee.
Now to fit the DCC chip and front AJ coupling. I'll have to try to source the correct shed plate - Farnley Junction, 55C.
Dave.
Having brought the coal drop board home from the workshop, I've been able to make better progress with the stone retaining walls, in comfort! The brick pillars and stone retaining wall sections in between and at the ends are now ready to be coloured (not sure if to paint or try the crayon technique being used by Barrow Road on his excellent loco shed buildings). Anyway, had a trial fit of all the bits which are on this board (the RH wing wall is on the next - station - board). Couldn't resist pl
