LMS Bess

A broad view of the ship, and also something I picked up from Alexandra Palace. I suspect I've probably got not quite the right Pullman car but for eight quid and all the fun of changing the name from Ursula to Zena (my researches suggest that's the right beast) I'm quite chuffed.

Well, the first cross channel ferry has arrived at Folkestone. It's TS Biarritz, entre deux guerres. She was commandeered in both wars. My painting is half finished, I ran out of blue as you can see and her aft needs improving (but then, look who's talking). Here we see what I can proudly say is a 100% prototypical scene of someone's fancy Jag being loaded out of a utility van and put on a cradle to be hoisted aboard the ship. I copied this from a snatch of period film footage I found on YouTube. Also, some huddled masses! For the crowd of passengers I've used Slater's styrene figures rather than the nicer but pricier Monty's I used for station staff. There need to be at least twice as many passengers to really make it work, but for now ...

Decided despite the lack of any photo evidence that there ought to be brake vans at my end of the pier. Makes a certain sense as we've got chains of loaded wagons rolling around. I made this ex SER 6 wheel number out of a generic Grafar brake van by chopping bits off and sticking bits on and repainting it. Fairly crude but it'll do whilst I very slowly make a Cambrian kit. And it's cheaper than the very nice but pricey Dapol offering coming soon.

So, at some point who knows when, I'll move on to passenger services. I've built up a set of Maunsell carriages after careful consultation of the book SR Passenger Stock and have something vaguely accurate, although some need repainting and the horrors of lining. I'll need to fit hook/chain couplers to these - I've been using Smith's LP4s on my freight stock, but, is there a more accurate type to use for carriages or are there any problems with using the Smith's couplers on them?

And here we are. Summer was too hot to work in. Here are August's labours: my rendition of the Cambrian SR 10 ton wagon kit, which is very nice to put together, I found, some railings, and a backdrop painting, which is currently just clipped in place hence the weird bulge but you get the idea. The ship will be a low relief flat.

So. Today I connected power, tested all the lines, and ran the R1 chassis up and down them successfully, including over points. I pinched myself, and appeared not to be in a dream. Once I've added track bumpers at one end, and staging area at the other, I'll attempt to run an actual train. Coming up next, which I shall try to document, is making the track look embedded in tarmac (which it looks like it was by 1938). Then there are some railings along the back, which will be fun and fiddly to figure out, then a backdrop and of course interchangeable ships.

Also I managed to close my gap by sawing another length. It's now down to 1mm. There's also another possibly gnarly gap I found but that can be done later. I found it easier than I thought it would be to slot the new length in to place. And I've also started soldering the wires underneath.

Indeed. It was from a charity shop and also I do American N simultaneously but yes, had I attempted to sort out the R1 and do some British OO stuff without you lot, I'm almost certain I'd have appeared on crimewatch, walking the streets, barking at people 'What is link and pin? Who is Flex Track? Aaargh!'

So. Some tracklaying has happened. It's actually gone quite smoothly. However, I have a question. I find I'm able to saw the flex track to near enough the right lengths, but, I've ended up with a case where there is a slight gap between sections - maybe 4mm, and the rails, and the gap, sit within the joiner. I hooked up some power and ran the locomotive chassis over this gap to see if the gap caused a problem. The chassis was not in a good mood generally and kept cutting out even on a powered, non gapped bit of rail. Probably needs cleaning and running in. I did manage to get it to run, when it was running, over the gap. Does that I mean I can leave the gap or should I endeavour to close it by cutting a bit of flex more precisely? The problem is I'm not sure I can cut it any more precisely ...

Now then - I'm getting towards the point of purchasing and laying track. This is an area where I could use some advice. I've decided to use flex track because it's needed to do one particular curve, so I might as well use it throughout. Also better conductivity. Also, as with the soldering, I'm gonna have to tackle it at some point. This will be the first time I've used it, I've used Kato sectional track on all previous projects. I've redrawn the plan using flex track and it looks like anyrail can print this out at 1:1 scale to use as a guide. Q1. I'm going to get one of those Peco tracksetta templates to make sure the curve is correct radius - needs to be 91.4mm to match the turnouts to accommodate my three link couplers. Unless you don't need the track setta and there's an easier way? Q2. Cutting the stuff. I was thinking of those Xuron track cutters but, I read an article saying it's better to have some of the track pinned down flat and cut it with a Dremel (so it can only move side to side). Is one way better than the other here? How's best to mark the cut before cutting? This was the article in question and I've read Stu's thread on here: https://modelrailwayengineer.com/laying-flexitrack-how-to/amp/ It's looking like a razor saw might be the best option for cutting. Q3. I bet my cuts are not going to be perfect and that there'll be a gap of some mm between sections where they join. That being the case, how big of a gap can I get away with?

The covered wagon is now what I'd call finished - the Micro Scale micro set helped, after some getting used to it, and considering how bad I am at decals plus each line of writing was a separate decal ...

And this Ratio covered wagon kit is coming along quite nicely. Read a book on kit building by a Mr Grant iirc who suggests some chemicals to help applying decals - I'll investigate.

Another tarpaulin added to an open wagon. I keep getting intrigued by the idea of a tarpaulin removable during operations - but I don't think it's doable really, the ropework is too fiddly. Might put together a rake of covered opens. I'm happy with the way these tarpaulins turned out and I think with some ultra close attention paid to the smaller writing (like the tarpaulin number along the side there) I can get them looking quite good.

Tarpaulin attached to dodgy cattle wagon and SR branding on wagon obliterated with weathering - now it's a plausible looking 'something' to fill up a rake:

Also I decided to study this tome and yes indeed, three or four carriage Maunsell sets would be seen. Sometimes a boat train proper would consist of several sets and they might split them up for the trip to the harbour from the junction.

And some tarpaulins. Tracing these out of the reference book. Since this was taken I've painted them. Surprisingly happy results. These are to go on that Hornby cattle wagon that has no SR prototype and is for 'fruit traffic'.

Some more action today.

Here's some gold: Folkestone Harbour footage from about the 5:30 mark. I note: A P class and a Z class turn up at some point. I must NOT be led into temptation. Luggage vans brought separately from their carriages. Nice! I found evidence of three carriage boat trains on the SREMG database and so, a three carriage train, or a couple of vans, are just about manageable in the space I have. Maunsell carriages, I think. I have some of these from an eBay splurge when I didn't realise how cheap they were (I have some of the not exactly prototypical Triang and early Hornby ones ... I think. I'm aware of some much nicer more recent Hornby ones. We'll see.) A car on a palette of some kind being lifted off what must have been a flat wagon. A nice little modelling project there. I think I also glimpsed a mixture of carriages and goods stock being shunted up from the end of the harbour.

Especially this pose I like. He'll start shifting that lot after his cuppa, not before.

Staff. Monty's Miniatures. These are great castings and paint up nicely.

Hook attached. Possibly too big, may remake, but concept holds. And some wagons! The livestock wagon will be getting tarpaulins to represent an ad hoc fruit wagon.