Northroader

Looking good. You know it makes sense! p.s. here’s some shorties helping to plan the new line. It’s long enough, but it’s too narrow!

FAIRBAIRN 2-2-2T. Well, the intention is to have “Irish days” and “Portuguese days”, swapping buildings, scenic, and trains. The Fairbairn 2-2-2T is a must, no home should be without one, in my opinion. I did build one, which I’ve given away before the move, so doing a replacement is fun. The last one was done from a side-on photograph, but you can download a diagram, from another preserved one. Brush up your Portuguese, here’s another rabbit hole to fall down: http://vfco.brazilia.jor.br/locomotivas/vapor-EFCB-Estrada-de-Ferro-Central-do-Brasil/pagina-01-locomotiva-Fairbairn-Sons-2-2-2-Baronesa-01-Maua.shtml another microlayout?

NEWS FROM SÃO LUCAS. Bom dia, meus amigos. Hoje é a festa de São Judas Tadeu. Regulars on this thread will know that there’s a sub-plot running with a 5’6” gauge line struggling to emerge, not at all successfully. Well, now I’ve settled in and looked round, I’ve identified a space for a small layout, and kill two birds with one stone, which isn’t really something you’re supposed to do these days. I also have a partiality to Irish lines, which are 5’3” gauge. So far I’ve modelled them as standard gauge, but in following some nice layouts over on the IRM web using the correct gauge, I’d like to try something wider as well. Consider, 4’8.5”, 5’3”, 5’6” ——- 32mm, 36.75mm*, 38.5mm. (* I’m afraid I’m not that keen on working out a gauge on a calculator, then using it with the implication that you’re modelling to a hundredth of a millimetre tolerance, which isn’t something I’m remotely capable of. Round up to 37mm, I would say.) Anyway, I feel the two non standard, wider gauges could be merged to one in a model layout, with not that much of a difference between them, but which is quite distinctive to standard gauge, and as Slaters do Irish gauge driving axles, I could use these rather than the arrangement with brass tubes I’ve described some time ago on here. A small lightweight board is being made, and then I’ll look at slightly slimming down the Estado Fairbairn frames that have appeared on here. If you go ‘Beyond Dover’, you’d need to go clockwise in a very large circle before you reach the Western Fringes of Europe, but see how we get on with that, as well as the standard gauge goings on. Acenda uma velo so padroiero das causas perdidas, e rogue a Nossa Senhora do Paraíso, que interceda por nos pecadores.

If you lift both ends of a wagon with jacks at the same time, the b***** thing shows a tendency to walk sideways.

Well, Don, it works out at about four and a half hours. I do enjoy train trips, so it was relaxing. The two previous days they’d had very heavy rain around Swindon, so the country was saturated, and trains from the West cancelled. Through the Goring Gap area this time of year with the trees turning colour is really enjoyable, then once past the North Downs the run through the Weald is lovely, nice country, and most of the old Brighton stations still standing. The Flying visit bit? Well, I got there late Saturday morning at the same time as everybody else. The venue isn’t as bad as the old Westminster Central Hall gigs, but besides a smallish main hall, there’s a lot of side rooms, corridors, stairs, council rooms, and so on, and the circulation is a bit restricted as a result. So I picked out the bits I wanted to see in the guide, a quick glimpse of the rest, and on past the trade stuff. (Thank goodness there is a very good model shop in Cheltenham, and I’m in town this week, so….)

Thanks, Jordan, actually I kept it down to a flying visit, so I was back for tea, and the prospect of being allowed out again. If anyone’s interested, here’s a link to David’s account of “Northport Quay” over on IRM: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/10740-northport-quay/#comment-164658

The lifting jack is in front of one of the gentlemen in the picture. More recent times you’d have a “stand”, like a sort of welded up goalpost to go under across the nearest end of the wagon. These folks are using a wheelset as a stand, there’s “scotches” (wedges) each side of the wheels underneath, and a “biscuit” (a thin slice of hardwood) on top of the tyre and under the headstock, so it’s fairly stable while you pick up the other end with the jack in the middle under the headstock.

Yesterday, I was allowed to have a day out for the first time since my operation, so after a rigorous briefing from my wife and daughter, and promising as to how I should conduct myself, at the crack of dawn I was loaded on to the first train out of town. The journey took me to Uckfield in East Sussex, where the Uckfield M.R.C. were having their annual show. I’ve been there once before, and knew that it would be worth attending. This time it was “small and simple” which really caught my attention, although the club are very careful to have a wide spectrum of layouts on display, differing scales, eras, and sizes. First off then was Richard Barton’s “Arcadia”, a Colonel Stephens type terminus. I’ve found that if there’s a S scale layout at a show, it’s always a good one, and Arcadia proves the point. Richard is a stalwart of the Brighton modelling circle, and has been extremely helpful with helping my model slimming down exercise this summer. The Brighton line is very modellable, the Digest is most useful, and I’m finding what a great bunch of folks are modelling it, so maybe just perhaps a little bit more LBSC could appear at Washbourne one day? Back on the pages of this thread you’ll find accounts of some of the few times I’ve been to Ireland, and I’m quite taken by the country, the folks, and their railways. So next must see was David Holman’s “Northport Quay”, set out on the West Coast, done in 7mm scale and to the proper 5’3” gauge. First full show it’s been to, replacing his previous lines with something a bit more compact for putting in a car, and to my mind becoming more space friendly in the process. Next layout up is Rob Gunstone’s “Ewe”, a very neat 00 layout inspired by the Wisbech and Upwell tramway. First thing to notice is track placement, gentle curves not parallel with the front edge of the baseboard, then very skilful weathering of the mainly RTR locos and rolling stock, careful and thorough scenic work, and the whole lot operating at a gentle unhurried pace. The Uckfield club must have done a lot of string pulling to get their special feature for this year together, bringing together some of the late Iain Rice’s layouts, a real treat. Two of these I really enjoyed, again small and simple, firstly “Hepton Wharf”, a L&Y P4 layout set in the Pennines. I first saw this a long time back at a Manchester Co-Op show, and since then it’s been extended to the right over a level crossing into a second fiddle yard, and a small passenger platform added. The buildings and scenery combine to give a very good feel of “place”. The other small line of Iain’s which I really liked was “Trerice”, another P4 layout. Generally I’m not that bothered by single purpose layouts centred on a single industry, but this one is quite special, Cornwall, china clay, a Beattie tank engine? Well, that’s about it, there were other noteworthy layouts there, I assure you, but that’s the ones that really stood out for me. My thanks to the Uckfield gang for laying on such a good show. I came home empty handed, mainly because the trade stands were biased towards 4mm, also because I was told I must finish what I’ve started before getting anything else, a job which will be honoured more in principle than practice, I fear.

Presumably the prototype would be in cast iron, and used as support like that, they would be in tension. That’s a no-no, best placed under the platform, then they’re in compression.

Where’s me calculator gone in the move.? 3/16” x 6’ is, er, an inch and an eighth, which is, durh, about 28mm, so that means you got proper size figures for S scale? Although that’s supposed to be 1:64 scale, and this ere war games is 1:55? and then you go round a model show, and if there’s an S scale job there, it hits you that it’s just perfection, think, ooh, er,.. http://www.s-scale.org.uk/gallery.htm so really, you’re on a winner, me old mate.

The bars are pinned, not fixed, at each end. This allows the two curved rubbing faces to maintain contact on a curve. If you had a central drawbar, I think you’d need to allow a gap when the wagons are in a straight line, or the faces would jam on a curve.

Yes, just a small amount of heat applied to the staple is all that’s needed, you’ll soon get the hang of it. You can just keep your head back from over it, so you’re not breathing any wisp of fumes, but the amount that’s produced is very low, you have a hard job to spifflicate yourself.

Glad to see some creative jobs starting to appear again in your life, good luck with the way it’s going.

With grab irons on plastic car sides, why don’t you make them from brass rod shaped into a staple, position them on the side with a coffee stirrer underneath at right angles, then apply a hot soldering iron. They just sink down into the side, and the stirrer stops them before they go too far. There may be just a little bubble of melted plastic round the base of each one to trim off, but I find it’s quite a good way to do it.

I was looking at some early tracklaying just now: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=297524898087001

Time for a bit of modelling at last. To plan the new line, I need to work the tracks into a space around a station building, which I don’t have. So to cut a few corners, I’ve got a kit from Pop Up Designs. They’re a Scottish firm, and offer a good range of small stations for all the popular Scottish companies, even the Caley. They’re also made in all the major scales, which has to be a good thing. The kit comes as a flat pack in laser cut ply, and which you can just ease the parts out, and glue them together. I chose Longmorn, quite a straightforward building, the prototype being wood tongue and groove boarding, and a slate roof. You can see the saving in modelling time when you examine how the laser has chased out all the fretwork in the upper windows, cutting it out by hand as neatly would be a major job. I'm modifying things as I progress, first off the planking is only lightly marked out by the laser, when I paint the building, this will all disappear, so I have scored along the lines with a craft knife. The kit was designed in 4mm scale originally, I gather, then scaled up or down as needs be. The makers are apologetic in that the ply thickness used didn’t raise in proportion for an 0 scale building, but I think it’s quite adequate for layout use, if it went to Tiny Teds Playgroup, it would get the sh*t kicked out of it, no doubt. The discrepancy in thicknesses shows with the fit of the locating slots, these quite obtrusive, and need to be smoothed level,, and a lot require slips of 2mm ply packing to fill spaces. I’ve added reinforcing fillets inside the corners, and plan to add a thicker ply floor inside, partly for extra strength, partly to fit locating dowels in the base. You'll see in this picture another job in progress, the ends and some strengthening ribs hook over the sides, which leaves very prominent ribs sticking out of what should be a flush side. Now the glue has hardened, I’m working along the side trimming these off, and also the floor projection, starting at the nearest end, and about halfway along now. Then glue some 2mm ply strip capping over the sawn portions, which should look more like the prototype. There’s toilet outhouses at each end in need of filling and smoothing. Still, I’m quite pleased with how it’s going.

Credit to Trevithick with coming up with a transition from the use of steam and atmospheric pressure for water pumping at mines, to demonstrating a neat, compact arrangement for using steam in other ways. Real genius.

Looks like Jack the Ripper territory. Annie, dear soul, going back to your search for GER signal box colours, it crossed my mind that I used to have a book about it, which I flogged off when slimming down for my house move. Since searching for a related matter as I pick up my threads, and I find the author has put it all on a most useful website. https://www.stationcolours.info/london-north-eastern-railway/ click on it and wait, the illustrations take a while to come through, unless you got one of those super megabit thingys, oh, yes, of course, you would….

Well, the move to Cheltenham has gone OK, and I’m reunited with the models I sent on in advance. One job which needed doing was trying to replace some of the pictures lost in the Great Picture Crash, as a lot of the goings on lose any meaning without backup illustrations (if it all had any meaning to start with, you’ll say) I’ve concentrated on the more recent stuff, where the plague of the shortys struck the thread, as a lot of the previous items are no longer with me. As a result the Grand Easter Parade (p.16) is back, and various train makeups for different roads, which should prove most useful for future operations. These will centre on the board I showed a few posts back, some time ago I was looking at a one board fits all policy, and this is now become essential in the space available. So a single track layout for 0 gauge items, with buildings and scenery able to swap round, running American, British, and Continental items as required.

On a technicality, are the tides in the Med. likely to be that critical to fishing boat movements?

Being a former native of the area, I took great pride that the first railway locomotive in the world was done at Coalbrookdale. I used to own a very scholarly book “A history of railway locomotives down to the end of the year 1831”, by C.F. Dendy Marshall. This was the sort of work where there’s more footnotes than text, and quite limited illustrations. He brings out that information on this engine is very shadowy, and early on in its life the boiler failed, leading to casualties and a magistrates court case, which killed the project off. I’ve never come across more detail than this. There used to be a “replica” outside Telford Central station, which was given to a local school some time ago. Would this be the same job which is now at Blists Hill, or are there two? It would seem the creation was done by backtracking from what is known about the better known Pen-y-Darren loco. Just down the river there was Raistricks Hazeldine Foundry, at Bridgnorth, which Trevithick used for castings on further locomotive work.

Well, regular visitors to this thread will have noticed that I have been kicking the can down the road since March. We’ve visited interesting places, and set up links to useful websites, but there hasn’t been much actual modelling output carried out. The good news is I’ve now moved to a smaller house, and am setting up a bit of a workbench and a shelf for a layout. Hopefully I can continue touring the Continent, and do a bit more modelling as well.

Well, I’ve just been reunited with all my modelling junk, so here’s a couple of pictures of my adaptation of the Japanese “Kawaii” model railways, to take a slightly larger scale: There’s an 18” /455mm square outer frame, made out of around inch and a half by three quarters wood (roughly 38 x 20mm), with a corner diagonal brace to keep it square, and a support across the middle. It’s a sort of composite construction, not having a piece of ply I used a piece of 5mm foamboard for a top, glued down to the frame with pva adhesive. I wanted a “water feature” so there’s a square of 2mm ply let into one corner, and the edge of the foamboard is chamfered into it. I then made a circle of track, which is around 14.5” /370mm diameter, using some ancient TT rail about code 80, and soldering this down to some 6mm copper clad sleeper strip from Marcways. The sleeper length is about 33mm, and I used a couple of brass 16.5mm gauge blocks I’d made. The track was used to mark out a track bed on some sticky back cork tiles, which were laid and a shoulder on each side trimmed off. The track was then laid on the bed with impact adhesive. Nice and simple wiring, and a successful test run. This makes the foundation for a lot of scenic work, trying to keep up with the Japanese examples.

Actually, Jim, I can’t praise the removal guys enough, there were just two of them, and they worked their b-lls off. 8:30 am, I’m lying on my back on the bedroom floor, covered in sweat, just detaching a bed head we’d just used for the last night, and succeeding in pulling one of the uprights screws off, and in they come, like the proverbial white tornado. It’s roughly 45 miles trip, and they were done before 3:00pm, and I found one of them had fixed the bed head. I thought quite a reasonable quote, too. But no, we’re still looking for things carefully hidden away.

well, it’s finally happened, we’ve managed to move to Cheltenham, downsizing to a smaller place near my daughters, and without the help of the family it would never have happened, moving is always going to be very fraught, and in old age I’ve found especially so. Actually, we moved a week ago, and I’ve only got my internet today, thanks to technical problems. There’s still boxes everywhere, so getting back to modelling will be a slow old job, but I’m starting to identify possibilities… You’ll be glad to hear that Hilda is getting used to the idea of being a Cheese Roller, instead of a Moon Raker.