UpDistant

My take on Reedsmouth - main line to Bellingham to the left, Wansbeck to the right. I've also managed to do Bellingham (far right side), and Woodburn (to the left). It's to EM gauge, and apart from the lines for the connecting loops at the far end, all the track is hand built, including all the weird things the NBR came up with.

Apparently it's branchlines100@btinternet.com

There are a few more photos of the viaduct in Ernie Brack's Flickr album - here. Incidently, if you are going to use the 25" to 1 mile OS map for your track plan, either directly or importing into Templot, there are errors in alignments of the lines in the engine shed yard and sidings opposite the Wansbeck platform. How do I know this? It's a Morecombe and Wise classic - it's the right number of lines, just not quite in the right place!

Yes, PM me your e-mail address as the scans exceed the file limit for the forum. The exploded diagram was printed on A3 paper and I haven't got an A3 scanner, but you should be able to piece the info together though.

And then after all that you will have the delights of switch blade filing, and more filing, and even more filing.

Having just re-read the instructions for the V jig I can see why it's confusing. It's probably best to ignore the "point rail" and "splice rail" bits. The way I've used the jig is as follows: 1 - Dress the rail end square then insert into the jig foot first so that the whole rail end is proud of the filing surface. File it flush. 2 - Remove and deburr if necessary. 3 - Using a small pair of smooth jaw pliers, bend the filed rail end so that the bit you've just filed is parallel to the rail. 4 - Put the rail back into the jig head first so that the rail head and foot are proud of the filing surface then file flush. If necessary you can move the rail to take a little bit more off, but you can't put it back! 5 - Remove, deburr and remove the thin, sometimes raggy end. 6 - Take your second piece of rail and repeat the process but put this one in the jig head first to start. When you have your 2 pieces of rail which should be a mirror image, put them both back in the jig foot first so that the tips come together. Decide whether you want LH or RH; for LH the point rail should be the one in the angled slot and protrude further than the splice rail in the straight slot. Adjust the positions of both rails until you have a nice smooth looking V. Tighten the clamp and solder together. I've used "ordinary" 60:40 solder and haven't had any problems. For a RH point, the point rail is in the straight slot, splice rail in the angled slot. Dress the nose of the V with a fine file to round off the front and top surfaces so that it's smooth to the touch and doesn't leave shards in your fingers. Purists might throw their hands up in horror but it works and it is "hidden" between the wing rails anyway. Incidently, I tried to pull the legs of a 1 in 5 apart - the soldered joint did not fail even though the surface area of the joint is the shortest in a 1 in 5. As you are trying a 1 in 5 V, any short bits of scrap rail will do to practice with - keep at it! Hope this helps.

Well it's coming up to the one year mark and there are so many circular arguments, it's almost unbelievable. Or not? J Douglas Smith did some experimenting for the EMGS when plastic chairs first appeared and bonded the chairs to ply sleepers using butanone (aka Methyl Ethyl Ketone, or butan-2-one) to find just how strong the bond was between the ply and the plastic chair. He held the sleeper vertically and added weights to the jaws of the chair until something "gave" - it wasn't the bond, the jaws of the chair failed, so the conclusion was that the bond was strong enough. There are only 4 components in this current scenario: Ply sleepers - can be either traditional Brook-Smith, or laser cut Plastic chairs - C&L or Exactoscale - very little difference, although the Exactos seem to soften more than the C&L Butanone - nothing else but! Get a litre off Ebay, it works A brush - currently using a number 6 - a loaded brushfull is sufficient for about 4 chairs - it needs to look wet I don't think you've said if your sleepers have been stained. If you have, what have you used? I have used the original spirit base Colron wood dye for thousands of sleepers - until I ran out and you can't get it any more. I read that the alternative water based dye does not penetrate the ply. This is easily observed by cutting vertically through a sleeper. As Hayfield has observed, it may have additives which provide a nice base for staining furniture and polishing to a wonderful finish. If that is the case, it's useless for our purposes. The alternative spirit based dye I'm using now is made by Rustins. I believe those made by Liberon are also water based. Do some experiments with unstained sleepers to see if there is any difference. Questions - Why are you wanting to twist the chairs? Are you threading your chairs onto your length of rail first and then sticking them down? Or, are you threading the rail onto chairs already stuck to the sleepers? If so, you are asking for trouble. I've just finished sticking down about 4000 stained sleepers in my fiddle yard and I don't expect any problems.

Putting together some info on the ex-NER horse boxes from various sources: D67 built from 1890 to 1911 after which the design was superceded by D196. Tatlow has a sample list of D67s which "survived" long enough to be taken into LNER stock. From that, and the fact that they were relatively short and being replaced by longer vehicles, it must be concluded that none reached BR - the youngest would have been 37 years old. Although Longworth doesn't have D196 listed, there were at least 6 in BR stock (8, 39, 61, 391, 395, and 592). The horse box between the BR standard Horse Box and the SR style van in the photo from Neil Caplans book is to (LNER) Diagram 9, built 1952 onwards. (LNER) Diagram 9 was also (LMS) Diagram 2181 (because they were built at Earlestown).

Michael, How have you managed the "transitions" from level to 1 in 40 up or down? Have you put a series of parallel cuts on the underside of the plywood, or have you just packed it to give the correct gradient, given that it's 9mm? How long is the transition? Thanks

Instructions etc available as a pdf at https://www.scalefour.org/resources/downloads.. They are suitable for both EM and P4, but sale is to Scalefour Society members only, so you either join or wait to buy them at one of the Society exhibitions where your entrance fee gives you day membership. HTH

You have beaten me to it with your reply. The Kemilway kit is indeed an LNER design, Dia 67 (turnbuckle u/f, Fox bogies, no ducket), Dia 129 (early - turnbuckle u/f, Fox bogies, ducket; late - truss u/f, Gresley bogies, ducket), Dia 284 (as late Dia 129). Alternative kits or sides available from Comet, Bill Bedford, Kirk. Regarding ex-NER NPCCS, Dan Pinnock had a few listed previously mostly the six wheelers NE171 (DS174), NE185 (DS185), NE215 (DS180), but also "listed" were bogie NE159 (DS241) which was a BG with bow ends and domed roof ends, and NE169 (DS199) Newspaper Van (elliptical roof). If you are after some NPCCS oddities for the late LNER / early BR period then Diagram NE261 to NE267 might be a good challenge. All started their lives as Brake Composites (some with lavatories) and were converted to Ambulance coaches, then to non-gangwayed Brake Vans around 1944. All had clerestory roofs apart from NE266 (arc roof), and most were 52'0" over headstocks except NE263 (45'0") and NE266 (49'0"). As usual with this type of conversion, two extra sets of double doors were inserted into the sides and any remaining single doors sealed shut. Having said that, sourcing a suitable donor vehicle might be a bit of a problem!

There appears to be a bit of confusion over the last couple of pages concerning the 387s in East Anglia. These are not Greater Anglia units but Great Northern/(Thameslink). These have, for the most part, replaced the 365s on Peterborough and Kings Lynn services from Kings Cross and provide the majority of services to Kings Lynn. Kings Lynn is also served by a few Greater Anglia services to Liverpool Street but in terms of competition (both time and cost) is inferior to the GN service to KGX.

Michael What thickness of plywood are you using for your framing and track bed? Any reason why, given the open framework, you haven't used the "Barry Norman sandwich beam" approach and have gone for a single thickness? John

I believe that etched sides for the rebuilt D167 are available from Bill Bedford (Mousa Models).

I haven't seen any mention of it in your thread, but have you got a copy of Ken Hoole's North Eastern Branch Line Termini (ISBN 0-86093-219-2, OPC 1985)? Amazon currently has a few for sale, but I have seen them at exhibitions. It has a whole chapter devoted to Whitby, including locomotive and train working, Whitby loco allocations, dated photographs, drawings of the station, signal box, warehouse, goods shed, engine shed and, finally, a scaled track plan, although it is, unfortunately, undated.