Dave John

Finely made. I remember kerbstones painted black and white like that, nice touch.

Cheers Mikkel. Somewhere in my head is the idea of inventing a small country on the Adriatic coast sandwiched between Montenegro and Albania. The area looks interesting, perhaps they have some useful ores to mine and move to a factory near a river or coastal port for export. Still very vague, but thats the idea of a freelance layout. The bench is currently full of bits of electronics. Time to overhaul my house audio systems and build a more energy efficient control / pre amp system which can switch amps in as needed. Taking longer than planned but it is forcing me to relearn analogue design skills so not a bad thing.

It has been a bit chilly for modelling but I have pushed on with the details and bodywork to the point that I reckon that is fit for service. Same livery as the first loco with a bit of light weathering. At some point it will need a number and stuff, but I still haven’t decided on that. Seems to be a solid if slow runner, I see it as a heavy shunter and perhaps short trip duties. Removal of the body for battery changes is straightforward, the cab can just slide back a bit on its magnets. The push button on/off switch can be operated with the body on using a cocktail stick pushed down the exhaust port. Some pictures; I rather like the look of it. Simple unfussy lines. I always liked single cab narrow hood diesels though the challenge here was to get the batteries, uncoupling servo and the electronics into a space just 30 mm wide. Then again the entire point of the 1/50 project is to challenge my abilities. Finally a posed picture of a bit of a train. Harsh against a white background, but I feel it does demonstrate what I am aiming for. For the record I reckon the materials to make that cost about £80. Add in various bits from stock, perhaps £100. Thats for about 10 weeks sitting at the bench actually modelmaking. I’ll let folk draw their own conclusions.

Nice weathering, a fine build. I'd agree with ravenser, compensation in the form of a rocking W iron at one end is a very good thing. Nothing is ever perfectly square or level, and even if built well things do distort a bit with age.

I would agree with most grains being carried in sacks early on sheeted opens and later vans. There was some bulk grain traffic early on, there are a couple of pre-grouping grain hopper wagons in the SRPS collection. Probably only used on a few specific routes where bulk handling equipment had been installed. http://www.srpsmuseum.org.uk/10099.htm

Very impressive, I think this is where 3d printing really makes a difference in modelmaking. I would agree that making it in brass, as Roy did, would take a good while. I like working brass but a quick think in my head is running to many hours of sitting at the bench. A couple of evenings to design seems to me very fast, I still have the 3d cad learning curve ahead of me. All very tempting.

They probably would be but the idea here is to create areas where figures could be placed at random rather than at specific spots. I'm thinking about a platform or loading bay with a large proportion of the surface having a tinplate layer under it. I'll play more.

The whole point of the 1/50 project is to mess about with ideas. Magnets have always fascinated me. When I was very young I had a home made toy, a fishing rod with a horseshoe magnet on a bit of string and some cardboard fish with a paper clip on the nose which could be caught in a bucket of shredded paper. These days I suspect 4 year olds would consider that a bit naff, but it kept me quiet for hours. So, as suggested by Mikkel this is a bit of an experiment to see whether using people with magnetic feet would be feasible in places other than loco cabs. One of those cheap 1/50 figures with 1mm dia 2mm long magnets glued into holes in the feet. A bit of ply with 2 strips of 0.25 mm tinplate from a paper fastener and matching card each side. to the rear is a drawing pin, actually steel though brass coloured. Some test surfaces. L to R 0.15 mm emery as tarmac, 0.25 embossed card setts, 1.25 cardboard flagstones and paper with some flock grass approx 0.3 thick. The drawing pin is covered with some fine sand. Tests show that with the emery , setts or the fine sand the figure is secure but will still move easily if knocked sideways by a hand. It resists small amounts of shaking of the board but a violent movement sideways will cause the figure to fall off. The magnetic effect is negligible through the flagstones, and about half that of the emery through the grass. Just for interest; I think that the force of attraction between a magnet and a magnetic material varies approximately with the inverse cube of the separation. I learned that a long time ago, subsequent internet searches suggests that is still so for the near field. Clearly distance is the key. For magnetic feet the distance between the feet and the tinplate substrate needs to be kept to a minimum, particularly for small magnets . Other improvements would be larger magnets in the legs if possible or burying a magnet in the board if only a few standing spots are needed. Naturally with bigger scales this would be easier. Overall I feel that I would incorporate something similar into any sort of 1/50 layout, if I ever find room for one.

Agreed, that photo of the ivory warehouse is remarkable. Must have been some sort of auction going on, Hale and Sons seem to have bought many lots.

Thanks Mikkel. I will have a play with the idea of magnetic figures for general use.

Some progress over the last couple of weeks. That is all the electrical equipment installed oh the frames. A bit tight but it can be got at and maintained if anything breaks. The connector on the right is for the lights at the cab end, the hood end will be hard wired. Power is switched from a small push button above the uncoupling servo positioned so that it is just under the exhaust pipe and can be controlled with a cocktail stick. The main body sections. All silhouette cut in 10 thou styrene and laminated. As ever I have made use of magnets to hold the major sections to the frame and attach the roof. The cab floor has some thin tinplate in with the laminations so the driver with magnetic feet can be moved about. A handy wooden box and a few components for the controller. Body detailing next.

Agreed, gutties. I think that comes from the soles originally being made from gutta percha.

Very true Jim, and I would add that the railways provided the food of the working poor, fish and chips. The railways got fish from ports to the big industrial centres quickly, they transported the potatoes and the coal to cook them . Don't start me on the fact that a fish supper is now 10 quid, 2 quid at least of which goes straight into the duck houses and moat cleaning fund. As for the dark ages if the price of energy keeps going up we might be entering a new one. Anyway , thats my last political rant of 2023. Half an hour and I can start the political rants of 2024. Happy new year all ...

Depends on the date you are building the model to Jazz. Originally (1906) it would have just the smokebox lamp iron and I think just an air front pipe to the rhs of the coupling. The lower lamp irons seem to have been added a bit later. They were rebuilt 1911/12 with superheaters. The cab sides were altered and I think the vac brake may date from then. AB Macleod notes that "905 was fitted by Pickersgill with two large pop valves in place of the original four columns", a bit later than the superheating.

Me too Compound. I know of some built for service in hot countries but I have never come across any built for UK service. So if there were any I would be interested to see them. That model is different, there are bits of a second hand DJH kit in it, but it is mainly scratchbuilt. Oddly it runs really well given it is powered by a cd drawer motor. Like the original it has two westinghouse pumps, one for brake air and the other as a direct feedwater injector.

Thanks all. I don’t have a plan for Kelvinbank Middlepeak. The track layout involved old wallpaper on the floor followed by traditional methods of bits of wood and string to lay the track itself. It is simple really, just two lines through the station and some sidings. Research into tunnel signals yielded few results Mikkel. Certainly they were installed on other underground railways but there are very few pictures of early mechanical ones. Those I did find were either miniature arms or just a moving spectacle plate similar to that though I don’t know how many other railways used the Stevens & Sons type. I will add the pics to the blog post later. Cheers Caledonian, I have acquired a better tripod, cleaned the camera and messed about with settings. I still really can’t see the screen on it but compensate by taking a lot of photos and selecting the good ones. The backscene is a photo collage Legend. This and the subsequent blogs explain the method; https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/21428-i-could-just-buy-a-backscene-but/ Several folk have copies of all the files and source material, so similar backscenes might turn up elsewhere.

Another year passes. At a first glance it might seem progress at Kelvinbank has been slow, a few wagons made and an old loco refurbished. However from the perspective of me enjoying the layout the major step forward has been the building of a lever frame and sorting out the signalling system. So some pictures on that theme. 1 class No. 2 heads east towards Kelvinbank. The home is off if a correct route is set out of the storage yard and the section switches are set properly. The distant is cleared if the signal protecting the crossover at Kelvinbank is off. The platform home, No.6 is on as the preceding train is still occupying the next section. A condensing jumbo, No. 283 is held by the signal at Kelvinbank. Looking at photos the condensing pipes were kept well polished. The preceding train has now cleared. ( Actually just correctly stabled in the west sidings) So lever No. 6 can be pulled off. Using the duster of course. No. 283 can then proceed westwards. The signal under the bridge is an odd one. The real Partick Central had a signal at the east end of the platform about 20 yards the other side of the bridge. I can’t put one there so I made a Stevens and Sons tunnel signal which the Caley used elsewhere on the underground lines. 29 class No. 203 is held there, The signal is controlled from the lever frame but will not clear until the traverser is properly set and locked. No. 263 heads west with a short goods. The distant is cleared only when the signal into the west storage sidings is clear. Archibald McGregor hopes it is going to be clear all the way . Building and installing the lever frame has increased my enjoyment of operating the layout considerably. It is something I have been swithering about for a long time, but all the available solutions were either too small and fiddly or too large and would be visually overpowering in that location. Of course none were cheap. I think the decision to scratchbuild was the right one, the frame just feels to be the right size and the action is smooth and positive. My compliments of the season to everyone, I hope you get some solid modelmaking time.

Wonderful stuff. All the best for 2024.

I think that some of the use of specific loco coal wagons, particularly prior to the grouping, is about accountancy and the way coal was taxed. We have discussed this before , but I can't find the link.

Going back a few pictures I note the wheeled stepladders. Perhaps rarely photographed or modelled but thinking about it all stations must have had a similar solution for maintaining and lighting all those gas lamps. A fiddly but fun scratchbuild over christmas for Kelvinbank I think.

Excellent as ever Mikkel, a lot of work in a building that size. Your nomenclature is correct . Finials at the top, the linear stonework would be described as string courses and the supports below the stonework as corbels. I also use the silhouette to scribe the rear of embossed styrene, makes cutting through with a scalpel very accurate.

I used 3mm cork. Add a mm of ballast or so on top gave me a ballast shoulder of about a scale foot above the cess with C+L thin plastic sleepers. That seemed about right looking at period photos of Caley track.

There is also the satisfaction of having made something rather than buying something.

I think advertising signage adds a lot to a period feel. I looked at the detail in the signs, simpler ones might well be enamel and the more complex ones printed and fitted on boards. The roof ironwork is wonderful at Carlisle. Not sure I would know how to model it though.

I'm in the bit of wire camp too. Over the years I have used Contacta a lot, I do a lot of styrene laminating. Contacta isn't instant which gives a couple of seconds adjustment time and when used to laminate gives very strong structures when allowed to dry, usually overnight. An example of 5 ply laminate body construction ; It is worth getting used to its characteristics.