kingrail

After a summer lull construction works have been ongoing for the last few months. A start has been made on the trackwork A lot of time learning from the great 2mm TRACK book. The question is why did I choose a prototype with so many points! Anyway soldering skills improving and very happy with my first handmade complete turnout. Question now is whether on 0-6-0 will get around that radius!?

2mm conversion Back at real work the last few weeks so progress has slowed but now starting out on what I think may be the most challenging part of the project. I have modelled in N before but not 2mm The aim is to try and get a 2mm representation of a standard gauge Barclay 0-4-0 Thought about an old Fleischmann chassis but in the end I’m trying a Bachmann Percy conversion. (Poor old Percy ☹️) The Barclay 3D print is not mine but is available on Shapeways. It’s pretty close to the gasworks prototype. Unfortunately not a match made in heaven so already a lot of hacking involved. I have invested in a Quartering wheel jig from the 2mm shop and making the wheelsets has not been too bad. Some more hacking needed on the chassis though as the shop wheelmuffs were a bit too big to fit . Hopefully will be able to have an update some time soon with a running model soon if lucky!

Just before someone points this out, the clockface surround is different from the present day real one. I have yet to find a picture of the clock from the last century (it would have to have been taken from the works itself). However pictures from 20 yrs ago show my design. (Actually 2005 ) , although I don't know for sure this is the original. There was subsequently storm damage to the real thing leading to the present day white surround.

FUNCTIONAL CLOCK-FACE The previous watch picture is what is called a ring watch. Its face is the right size for a 2mm scale clock tower. Glass removed. Edges filled down Existing face scratched off as of too modern design. However clock face transfers ‘without hands’ are hard to find. I eventually found this nail art set bought from Australia! News transfer added and a coat of varnish Stuck to the back of the 3D printed clock tower with tacky wax at present which actually holds quite well.

Jim assuming you might be referring to the clock on the station building? Not been past in recently to confirm if the clock still reads correct time or not. There have been intermittent plans to reuse the station building (and the gas holder) that are both listed. The most recent involves it being a social square centre piece near tram station, so hopefully a useful future for it.

Starting point for the next bit of the project from ebay?

Updated pics of internal platform wall Just completed the internal wall tonight. The tiling is actually redulux 3D brick paper painted over. Again shame this wont be seen. Maybe have to have to install a platform cam

This is the inside station portion of the platform. Some pics from previous site visit. Again 3D printed base with etched windows. Window frames need a bit of a tidy and the walls will have tiles added. The curved roof is an unusual feature. I think this shows the benefits of 3D printing. Shame is that when constructed most of this will not be easy to see!

Thanks Mark Bought a pair of those a while back. Cant recall if they were for metal etches or plastic sprues. In any case I was’t impressed and they now linger somewhere in the depths of the toolbox. I don’t have a carpet yet still manage to loose the bits!

Thanks Jim I actually have to confess that I have moved from this stage. Although no previous design experience I had a shot at CAD and went for a photo etch. A bit of a learning curve as some frames I made a little too delicate which made them near impossible to file down to size without distorting. The larger windows pictured worked better. So a few frames are a little distorted but I am generally happy with the results.

Front and side with brick paper and painted Only problem now is how to do the windows....

STATION Cont Station building is still work in progress 3D printed in parts on my anycubic. Used a textured brick paper by redutex which I further painted/detailed

THE STATION The station had no direct road access and was designed purely for workers trains. The building is listed and still stands along with the original gas holder. All other buildings have been demolished. I was lucky enough for Scottish gas to allow me a site visit a few years ago so I have a good selection of photos. There has however been some modification over the years. Using the photos for measurement I managed to make some basic scale plans and subsequently replicated on Tinkercad , 3D CAD.

Narrow gauge Barclay Not quite the first part of the project attempted but always going to be a challenge was some form of reproduction of the narrow gauge system. The locos were low height on 2ft gauge. Luckily a plan of a very similar Barclay engine was available online. This saved a near impossible trip to Glasgow to browse over Barclay archives (I say luckily because this would be a challenge in lockdown period). This plan and photos were used to make 3D plan of the loco using a simple free program called Tinkercad. I have no design experience but actually quite enjoyed playing around with this programme (maybe start with something simpler than an engine). My kids tell me the programme is for kids so it cant be that hard, so I would encourage others to give it a go. I have an anycubic printer which was used for tests but because this was to be a small detailed model the final versions were printed off by Shapeways. Two of these locos survive for real in preservation. No 5 Esme, pictured is one of the originals Note the not quite prototypical gentleman driver! At present locos are wheel-less and static. The plan will be to try and motorise probably using T gauge mechanisms?

The aim will be to model the pre grouping era 1910-1920. However apart from some minor track alignment alterations little changed over the next 50 years so it will probably possible to model a later era simply with stock change. The gas complex had its own standard gauge railway and a narrow gauge one. The majority of the companies locos were bought directly from Barclay and make great modelling projects in themselves