It was gloomy yesterday so I turned the layout lights on and tried running a few trains in the dark. Daft, but oddly fun.
Anyway, a few random pics of variable quality. The station in general, I need to lightproof the roof more next time it is off.
This is a lucky pic. I cant really see the from of the station building so its just done by point the cam
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
There are times when I can see the appeal of BR unlined black. About half way through decorating the No. 252 was one such occasion. However bit by bit it all came together. The final result is a bit bright, but the brass does tend to develop a patina of its own over time. As ever close photos show errors the eye misses and it needs some builders plates as well.
A few pics ;
Or
An odd title you make think, but I shall explain.
Firstly the real one. The CR had large numbers of pig iron wagons, in practice used whenever a low sided wagon was needed. Another of those general types you can never have enough of. This example is built from the 51L kit, though I have used my usual method of a copperclad sub chassis for the W irons and sprung buffers.
Ok, the imaginary wagon. I mentioned that I cut some extra bits when I made
For various reasons this one has taken a while to finish. I had a bit of a fight with the lettering, harsh closeups show my errors.
I wanted to weather it as photographed in the wagon book with the lime getting well into the grain of the timber. That was done with rotring white ink and powders, my lack of weathering skills shows up, but it gives the right overall impression I think.
A few pictures in the on the layout;
Well, my name is Dave and I am building my second layout themed on the Caledonian Railway in the Edwardian era. The first was called Kelvinbank, and since I live 200 yards from the river kelvin which flows through the west end of Glasgow I think I shall stick to the name.
You may well ask, if he has built one already why is he building another? Simply put, the sky fell in. Not the real sky, but to the 4mm scale figures on the layout half a ton of victorian lime plaster falling from a
All things considered the modifications to the body were straightforward. It all comes apart easily and the plastic seems to work well. The list of things which need to be altered to make a Caledonian version are as follows;
Replace buffers with continental style ones. ( these are from shapeways)
Fit westinghouse pump, smokebox rhs.
Remove safety valve cover, fit ross pop valves.
Square off and slightly reduce chimney height.
Reposition and fit single whistle.
Following WW1 the Caledonian, like many other railways, were short of locomotives. They therefore hired 53 surplus Robinson ROD 2-8-0 s from the large pool available locally at NBL . They ran 1919 to 1921. A comprehensive thread is available on the CRA forums
Really it is a decade out of my time period, but Hattons were selling them at low prices so I bought one ( BR, ex GWR version ) just to see what I could do with it.
First off loco chassis. I could buy all the stuff a
The bench has been occupied by some non-railway stuff, but back to wagons now. Sheeted wagons tend to be modelled in far fewer numbers than period photos indicate that they were used, so I’m slowly trying to nudge the proportions in the right general direction.
I am still trying to get sheeted wagons to look reasonably right. Having proper tie down cleats and roping from the edge helps, but the sheets themselves really need to look like Caledonian sheets with individual numbers. I ha
I made up most of the tender body and then spent a while getting things level. Set the buffer heights and shim the compensation beams so the footplates are lined through. Then place the loco and tender on the tightest curve I have ( about 48 inch radius ) and that gives me the minimum length for the tender - loco drawbar. The Caley coaches tender kit includes these, but the size I needed was between the two. Easily adjusted. I put the whole thing together and ran it up and down for a while. Tend
As I mentioned in the last blog I have been building some CR ballast wagons.
These were built using my usual methods, styrene bodies, copperclad sub chassis to take the W irons. The outer pair are from the 1890 drawing, the middle one is a pre-diagram version from the photo. The drawing makes no mention of canvass covers for the axleboxes and without a reference photo I can’t tell whether they were so fitted. I added them to the pre -diagram wagon which did have them. I suppose if a
Having built all the signals it seems like a good idea to install them. The first step in the process is the baseboard waltz. Way back I was asked about my baseboard construction, and I said I would post some pics when I shifted it all about. Much has been said about baseboard building over the years but it basically boils down to designing them to suit the type of layout you want to build in the space available. So firstly, castors. All the boards and for that matter the workbench and various
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
I consider myself to be a very lucky man. 2020 hasn’t been the best of years for me but it has been a damn sight worse for a large proportion of the worlds population. The lockdowns mean that I have been able to spend more time modelmaking, perhaps the upside of it all.
A year most of us will be glad to see the back of, so I thought I would do a few photos of the back of trains.
A late afternoon train vanishes under the bridge.
Tail end of a mixed
Another year passes.
I was running some trains and in my head as the carriages drew level with the platform I heard the guard shout,
“ This is, er is ….. Um, well dunno where we are really, but we have arrived……….”
Yep, I have never got round to making any running in boards, so I though I had better address that pronto.
There we go, now we know where we are.
The 670 Class leaves Kelvinbank yard in the winter g
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
Now that I have fitted the uncoupling magnets it is time for a bit of real world playing, er, testing. Sorry about the rather rough video but it shows what I am trying to be able to do without the magic hand appearing. I think I’m slowly getting there, but all that pushing stuff about really shows up any errors in track or stock. Anyway, hope its all vaguely watchable.
Well there we are, No. 203 in service. It looks all right from a distance, but harsh close ups show my lining inabilities. I did try some of the 2 part Fox transfers where you overlay black on a red/white line, but I just couldn’t get them to look right. The CR red/black/white was subtle with fine lines, hopefully one day a transfer maker will take pity on us.
Then again what matters is how it runs
I have been reading “Operating the Caledonian Railway”, volume one, by Jim Summers. It is an excellent book, explaining many of the technical, economic and social reasons that led the railway to operate in the way that it did, and I have learned a lot from it.
Let me give you an example. Here is a picture of a goods train passing through Kelvinbank. It might be argued that it is a bit on the short side and that there should be a few more sheeted opens, but generally the stock and the
Now things have settled a bit on here I am going to add a few blogs.
It has taken some time to get this painted and finished. A fair bit of messing about with transfers again, I do wish someone would do CR goods lining. All looks a bit rough close up, but passable from a distance I think.
A couple of posed pics, the side on official portrait.
At rest in the yard.
They
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 been making slow but steady progress. When I started I knew that it would take most of the summer, so I’m happy just pottering on with it all, learning as I go along.
A few details. This is the luggage rack assembly, with the mirrored compartment wall. The brackets were a very fancy design, I have simplified them as they are less than 4 mm long. Not difficult in itself, but I have 64 of them to make.
Seating is provided in the kit b
A bit of progress. Four bodies are now on frames and I have been playing on the layout to iron out any running issues.
I wanted to try and get it to look as if the coaches are properly coupled. Even with springs I found that screw couplings didn’t really keep the buffers together on curves, and I wanted the buffers to compress to take up and rattle.
I came up with this. Essentially half an aj on a diamond spring it is stiffer then the buffer springs but can be extended to
Well, there they are, painted and in service. Firstly a couple of photos in harsh artificial light, the colours may look a bit more natural in real daylight. Overall I’m happy with them, though the spring suspension system doesn’t seem to hold the track as well as I’d like. A bit of running and it might bed in a bit. I haven’t added any weight, lets wait and see if it is needed.
A couple of shots of them in a train .
Way back in the 1980s I made one of these from a John Boyle etch ( it is labelled Decent Models No 74 ). I used standard CR parts and it made up into a nice van, but back then I lacked information so a lot of the basics were just wrong. It has been stored a long time but I was having a sort out, rediscovered it and decided to have a go at bringing it up to standard. A day in the brake fluid followed by an attack with the flame torch and I had a new kit to make.
So what exactly is it
