Creating the London Underground (Overground?)
Entry posted by anroar53
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My quest to build some Underground stock started off as a gimmick, one un-motorised set between some match wagons being hauled round by a 47. It didn't stay a gimmick for long when the set was motorised by a couple of Arnold N Kof shunting locos, made into a simple chassis.
A once timeless scene, a 1938 Tube set sits in the Up 'New Line' Platform at Harrow, about to set off for Elephant & Castle. By carefully looking at the front of the set you might see that it has Northern Line type Destination panels. The first set I made was intended for a small layout based on Mill Hill the Hale, a section of the uncompleted Northern Line. Although it was just about finished on two boards of 3 feet by 2 feet it was overtaken by my more ambitious WCML adventure.
The tube sets started life as just a moulded coach roof which were scratchbuilding items from Ultima and B H Enterprises. The sides were made from 1mm plasticard, and the ends in 2mm plasticard. These were assembled as a solid box shape glued to the roof section. The windows and doors had all been marked out in pencil. I spent a lot of time carefully drilling out the windows with a very small drill, and needle filing them to finish. This was a very delicate job as it was very easy to split the plasticard if you weren't steady of hand. I did do a few sides and cut the windows out with a sharp knife, but found that the windows were more prone to splitting round the edges, so I reverted to the drill and file method.
A rather poor image of the tube bodies under construction. I'm afraid the original images have been lost and I had to scan a hard copy I had available. This one was a 1938 set. At the cab ends the coach roof had been removed before fitting. A small piece of plasticard was fitted flat across the cab end bodysides, then body filler added over this, so that the sloping roof over the cab could be sanded to shape later. The door sections were cut out of the bodyside and into the roof with a fine edge slitting disc. (Steady hand required again.) A piece of 1mm plasticard, just slightly wider than the door opening was cut out. The end which was required to bend into the roofline was warmed on a radiator and then carefully rolled round a small paintbrush handle. After the doors had been glued in place, and left for a while, the windows in the doors were drilled out.
This shows how the bogies were fitted. The actual bogies were old Lima ones which I hadn't disposed of (I am a consummate hoarder who throws nothing away, always saying that 'It might come in handy one day') These had about 2mm cut from round the top of the frames. They were fixed by putting a cross member of plasticard at each end of the body with a hole drilled centrally so the bogies just clip in. The non motorised coaches had the sides re-enforced with some clear plastic sheet at the doorways.
An almost finished non motorised coach. The windows were all glazed with Humbrol 'Clearfix'. A small screwdriver dipped into the jar and then run round the window edges quickly and withdraw the screwdriver. Leave to dry, and windows done.
Although the 'Kof' units gave many years of service on other layouts I have begun a programme of replacing them with Tomytec units. The seven coach sets have the middle coach as the motorised unit, and will quite happily pull and push the three coaches at each end without any problem.
One of the last sets to be built was the 1972 set, seen here sitting in platform 1 at the Junction waiting to leave for Central London.
The 1972 set under construction. Similar methods employed as with the other stock, just needed a bit more profiling to get the shape right.
1938 and 1972 set at the Junction. A 501 in platform 4 ready for a local service to Euston, and two main line services pass on the Fast Lines.
In my reality the Croxley Link had gone ahead in the 1960s, and as a result the Metropolitan Line has been diverted into the Junction. As a result an A60 set is seen departing for Baker Street. These sets were built from early Farish 101 DMUs. These had the early style removable window strips. These were replaced with solid plasticard, and then the windows and doors marked out and made in the same way as the other Tube sets.
The A60 under construction, showing the replacement ends to the Farish 101 DMU bodyshells made from thick plasticard.
From a different angle showing the bodyshell almost finished.
Between Harrow and Headstone Lane. Two 1938 sets pass on the DC Lines, while the Widnes to North Wembley BOC tankers head south along the Up Slow Line.
At the south end of Watford a 1938 set sits in the DC Siding awaiting a platform for its next trip. This set has 10306 in it, the 'Porthole' or 'Sunshine' car as it was sometimes known.
Close up of 10306. An experiment to make station signs more visible to standing passengers. I remember travelling in this vehicle while it was on the Northern Line. The rain strips over the doors are bits of fine fuse wire.
Showing the last of the five Tube sets, in this case a 1959 set, similar in construction to the 1938 ones, but slightly easier to build with a flat front end.
Sarah Siddons on Railtour duty. This loco came about as I had acquired a Swiss Loco chassis that was too short for an AC Loco, so I cobbled together No.12 instead!
This probably went on a lot longer than I intended, so I hope I didn't bore too many of you. Will be digging out the EMU folder next with the 304, 310, 501, and even a Clacton 309! Will post that when I have had a break for a bit.
Andy.
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