Some progress has been made, a few more wagons are now in rakes with magnetic ajs and I have been generally fixing some of the minor details. Of course all this photography is like going over the layout with a magnifying glass, you see all sorts wrong that you thought were ok. However none of that is really interesting to the observer. Far more fun to have a session of playing trains and take a few pics of that. So here we are , just a few snaps of the faithful pug doing a bit of shunting. It
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 .
A useful week, both chassis up and running so on to the bodies. My first concern was the buffers. The whitemetal ones supplied are ok, but they are solid and they don’t have a footstep. Magnifying the best available picture of the D11a I am sure that they did have a welded on footstep. So I opted to use a L+Y buffer which is very close in shape to the CR one and solder a footstep to it. More solid than the whitemetal one, and of course it will give me working buffers. Here is one in progress.
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
Time for a bit of playing. I have been working on getting couplings sorted out but it does strain the eyes so a bit of scenic messing about around the viaduct makes a pleasant change. Taking pics doesn’t half show up all the rough bits that need a second or third going over. Its also a bit difficult to get a picture of, really how do you get nine feet of track in focus? Not joking, really if you know how then tell me. Anyway , here they are with a few bits added to make a scene.
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.
With hindsight it would have been an idea to cut the holes for the uncoupling magnets before laying the track. I am making slow but useful progress cutting them all from underneath. Good job I put all those boards on hinges. So drill through from above 1mm, cut the hole to just leave a bit of cork underlay from underneath with a forstner bit, superglue in a disc of 10 thou styrene. ( guess how I cut all those )
Here is a pic of the uncouplers at the end of the storage sidings. The ext
Much has been said about couplings over the years. I like the Alex Jackson coupling, simple, unobtrusive, cheap and reasonably reliable. Yes they get out of alignment and sometimes get bent beyond repair, but what coupling doesn’t. The hassle with couplings in general isn’t coupling them, its uncoupling them. I have been thinking about this. My layout is traverser to storage yard, and I want to run around at each end. then some sidings , and a shunting back move off the main line. Thats 32 pla
I popped into my local modelshop for some supplies. ( Pastimes, Glasgow. All sorts of interesting stuff, lots of secondhand. ) Pottering about I noticed that oxford had added a Newbattle PO livery to the NB Jubilee wagon, so I bought one. Well here it is out of the box. Nice crisp printing. Ok, perhaps not perfectly to the original drawings, but bearing in mind that many wagons were built to this general diagram by an assortment of builders for various customers there were bound to be variatio
Having had a relaxing time building a wagon its time to get back to building a layout. So, next step, getting a spot of paint on that viaduct. Well, more than a spot really, it ended up at 9 foot long so no way would tiny tins or small tubes cover it all up. Musing on this I thought about tester pots. Over the years I have accumulated a boxful, picked up very cheap as last years colours and that sort of thing. Several dozen of them in fact, so I dug them out and had a play. Most were matt emuls
Here we are, a diagram 24 wagon painted, lightly weathered and in service. The sheep spars were removable so that these wagons could be used in general use, but I don’t know to what extent that was done.
I don’t know what happened to the sheep, but the Caledonian pup is asleep under the viaduct, from which direction comes a slight aroma of mint sauce……..
Nearly 4000 Caledonian diagram 24 wagon were built, so a common sight in general use all over the CR network and often far beyond. I have built several from the 51 L models kits, a good starting point for anyone interested in the CR. Of course there were build differences over time, and the brakes were improved during the service lives of many. This time I have opted for a slightly unusual version, a wagon modified for the carriage of sheep. The main changes were a set of spars (a bit like coke
Ok, so heres a few pics with blinds open.
I'm still not sure , but it doesn't have the verticals of the blinds upsetting the overall shape.
I really did clean those windows, but they get grubby fast in a city centre.
I'll ponder on it while wagon building.
Ever had one of those projects which just take on a life all of it's own? You know, the kind of project which you just start thinking how about a bit of a mockup might be? You then squint at it and decide to carve up some foam board and tack that in place to see how it looks. Next thing you know some new styrene sheet has arrived in the post, oh well let's just put a bit of that on to see how it feels. Weeks go by and you realise that the concrete monstrosity has taken on a life of its own. Rea
I have been pottering on with the viaduct. Most of the formwork is in place so I have begun to work on the details and cladding. The original had lines cast into the concrete to simulate stone courses, these were at just over a foot spacing. My initial thought was to scribe these but whilst digging in the bits of plasticard box I found some slaters 4mm planking slaters. This is not specifically 4mmm sclae, it is planking 4mmm wide. I stuck a bit on and squinted at it from various angles, yep it
I had a rather mad idea. I could make all the formworks for the viaduct and bridge from stuff, and then fill it with a casting plaster, effectively the same mass concrete method pioneered by Concrete Bob. Then I realised that it would weigh far too much, sanity clicked in and the decision was made to go for a foamboard structure clad in scribed plasticard. Why foamboard? It is light, strong and by a stroke of luck, free. Anyone dismantling it in the future could have many happy hours working out
So its a model railway site, why blog about research? Well, research is half the fun of building a model and while doing it you find out about all sorts of interesting things. Even if you don’t end up building the model it is still an important part of the hobby as a whole. Anyway, I mentioned last week that I fancied building the elevated section across the window based on the L&D at Bowling Harbour. Research starts with maps, drawings, photos and descriptions. But if possible nothing bea
Well, I got a bit diverted again this week. A friend was in looking at the layout and asking what I was going to do with the curved bits across the window. I had thought about just doing a curved embankment, but my friend suggested that with a bit of geographic bending I could have a go at the mouth of the Kelvin. Back in the later CR days there were shipyards capable of building sizeable ships served by lines from the CR and NB, but there were quays and moorings of a more modest size before the
It has been good pup walking weather, but I have done a bit of modelling. The CR used a variety of point levers at different times and in different places, but in one photo of the area I think I can vaguely see a lever which I vaguely think is a McNee's pattern one. All a bit, er, vague, but sometimes period modelling is for want of a better word, vague. As it happens Southwark Bridge Models do an etch, though they label it Macnees point levers. Close enough given the passage of time. They are
I was asked about No. 583 , so it seems like a good opportunity for some thorough cleaning and maintenance. It started life as a couple of secondhand DJH models bought second in a box of half built “parts” . Some of the tender and detail parts were usable, the rest is in effect a scratchbuild. So stripped down. The motor is from a cd player drawer mechanism, motor mount is bits of brass, I can’t remember where the worm and gear came from. Wheels and coupling rods are gibson, sprung hornblocks
The layout is now back in one piece with a full set of plugin signals. A bit of evening sunshine tempted me to play about with the camera. An artist might call it atmospheric.....
I was asked for a description of the drive board shown for the tunnel signal, which I also use for ground signals. So I might as well put it on here. ( Sorry, bit of a rough sketch) It really is simple, it doesn't have any fancy speed or bounce settings. Nothing into the relay it sits at one position, 12V in, it sits at the other. The bi colour LED would change from red to green if needed. The two 5k pots adjust the positions. If you need to the relay 0v could be separate from the signal 0v , th
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
I haven't done a lot this week, busy with work and today was fine so I took the pup for a long walk up the Kelvin to examine the remains of the CR.
However, I did note that when removing a plug in signal there is the potential for the lamp supply contact to touch the chassis, thus creating a momentary short circuit. Simple way round it, make a power supply that can withstand indefinite short circuits by limiting the current available.
Here is the circuit diagram . Conventional enough, bu
