steverabone
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Posts posted by steverabone
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Hi Clinton
Have you a link for the S Scale DR box cars? I can't find anything apart from HO
Stephen
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The Traction content is exactly the same in both the separate online content as in BRM both print and online version.
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I'm glad you enjoyed "Traction in BRM". I think you will find that the content of Traction will be staying much the same as far as the types of features we publish. We have a large number of interesting articles on a wide variety of subjects ready to roll out.
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The latest issue TRACTION in British Railway Modelling is now available. As usual we have a variety of articles written by railwaymen, historians and enthusiasts. In this issue we look at the problems of running the HSTs over the steep inclines in Devon, those often-neglected diesel shunters, diesel locos at work in South Yorkshire and an enthusiast’s journeys with his school’s railway club.
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All current Traction subscribers should get a letter in the next 7-10 days notifying them on how their subscription will change. Their new BRM/Traction subscription will take effect from the BRM April issue which subscribers will get around the middle of March.
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What a fantastic job you've gone on the J67. Do show us a photo when it's finished and painted.
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I've sent you a private message about this.
Stephen
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The print version price is £6.99. The digital and subscription prices are obviously lower.
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Welcome to this first issue of TRACTION in British Railway Modelling.
The image on the left shows the BRM cover that you need to look for on the bookstalls or your newsagent. The image on the right is TRACTION's cover, the pages of which you will find in the middle of our combined publication (Pages 81-111).
As regular readers of TRACTION will notice we have the usual wide variety of articles about the diesel and electric era of Britain’s railways. For new readers our content is written by enthusiasts, railway historians and railwaymen. This issue’s contents are:
East of Doncaster in the 1980s
The Train That Just Keeps Going – Even On One Engine (The HST!)
Class 60 livery variety
West Highland Centenary Celebrations-1994.
The Life and Times of D1746
From this issue TRACTION in BRM will appear thirteen times a year rather than as a bi-monthly publication which means we will be able to allow more space for each feature as we now have twice the number of pages during the year. From many comments we’ve had over the years this is exactly what many of our regular readers have been asking for!
As always we welcome contributions to TRACTION and if you have an idea for a future article or feature please get in touch.
Stephen Rabone
Editor
TRACTION contact:
email: steverabone@hotmail.com
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22 hours ago, Grampus said:
As a long-time Traction reader (I have all 280 issues to date) I am saddened by the impending demise of the magazine in its current, stand-alone form, albeit somewhat reassured to hear that the essential 'Traction' content will still be available, just in a different form. Nothing stays the same for ever: all things change, which doesn't have to be a negative thing. I admit, I do share the reservations of others regarding the prospect of merging a publication aimed specifically at diesel and electric enthusiasts with a railway modelling title which seeks to reach a much wider demographic, but I remain open-minded and will await the first such issue with interest.
I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you see the next issue of Traction in BRM. It will have much the same appearance and the same type of content.
If you look at many German and French magazines both prototype and model sections have co-existed in the same magazine quite happily for many years. Three examples being Eisenbahn Kurier, Modelleisenbahner and Eisenbahn Magazin.
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We intend to continue the series of articles about freight terminals. I'll pass your comments about steel loads on to the author of the steel terminals as I'm sure it will be of interest to modellers and those only interested in the real railway.
Stephen Rabone
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To answer the above questions:
1) Traction issue 280 should be available in printed format from next week in most WH Smiths branches (and other newsagents who normally stock it) as usual.
2) I anticipate the content of Traction in BRM being similar to what it has been over the last few years - mainly 1960s through to the early years of privatisation - all content will be British.
3) The normal number of pages in Traction devoted to the prototype railway after the model section and advertising has been deducted is about 30 pages. This is the number of ADDITIONAL pages that will be added to BRM. There will be no reduction in the number of pages or content of BRM's modelling content.
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Yes the Stainforth is the one near Doncaster. The headcode 8D01 shows that it is bound for a location in the Doncaster Division. The WTT shows that the train left the east Coast Main Line at Joan Croft Junction. Old maps and photos show that there were sidings at Stainforth & Hatfield station. My suspicion is that the train was staged at Stainforth before being worked further east.
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Traction 280 March/April 2024 is now out in digital format on Pocketmags and on the newstands from 22nd January.
AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR READERS OF TRACTION.
From the next issue we will become a section of our sister magazine BRITISH RAILWAY MODELLING. The number of pages devoted to the prototype railway will be similar but instead of TRACTION being bi-monthly TRACTION IN BRM will appear every four weeks. This increase in the number of issues is something many readers have asked for so we are please to be able to do this.
Existing subscribers will have their subscription transferred automatically.
In TRACTION 280 we start with an account of two photographic expeditions to the Coalville line in 1986 when the line was still busy with coal traffic.Bridgwater, in Somerset, was, by comparison, a minor freight centre but still had the ‘Bridgwater Tripper’.
We conclude the fascinating story of a railwayman’s experience when based at Bristol Bath Road depot.
We look at BR’s once extensive operation of special passenger trains over Bank Holiday weekends showing specials to the Lancashire coast in the Preston and Wigan areas.
Many enthusiasts have discovered that Tamworth is an excellent location to watch and photograph freight traffic as its location where the Birmingham to Derby line crosses the West Coast Main Line makes it a good vantage point and we have a major feature about this station.
We also take a glimpse at the ‘Other Blue Pullman’ that utilised repainted Mark 2 coaches and Class 47s.
In TRACTION MODELLING our featured layout is Aldergrove an N Gauge terminus.
Don't forget BRITISH RAILWAY MODELLING (with TRACTION in BRM) will be on sale on February 22nd 2024. See you there!
Stephen Rabone
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You are quite correct that I had a health problem at one stage that affected my modelling. I had pretty bad nerve damage in my right hand that for some months made serious model making (and even more importantly playing the piano!!) very difficult. Gradually the damage has largely repaired itself and I have for some years been able to make models (including valve gear on my Stanier locos) although my piano playing isn't quite back to the standard it was.
The plans for a DB electric layout are still very much in the thinking stage.
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Superb modelling for those two intriguing locos. It's an interesting concept for a layout being circular. What overall diameter is this going to be? How do you intend to operate the layout when it's finished?
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7 hours ago, C126 said:
Mr Rabone's article on 1971 York was a depressing list of 'What we have lost',
I prefer to concentrate on what we have now that we didn't have in 1970!! Far more and better passenger train service. An hourly train to Saltburn and Manchester Airport. Far more ECML expresses and Cross Country. Much more frequent local trains. Obviously far less freight although still some variety there. But would we really want to go back to the 1970s?
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The latest edition of TRACTION is now available online in digital format and should be on display in the shops by Friday 24th November.
Due to the publication dates of TRACTION the first issue of 2024 appears at the end of November 2023! Nevertheless all of us at TRACTION would like to wish our readers and advertisers a Happy Christmas and a successful 2024.
We start this issue with an article about one of the editor’s experiences in the early 1970s when he spent a night watching rail traffic through York. It’s difficult to realise nowadays just how busy the railway at this location was overnight, and almost all of the trains were loco hauled!
David Ratcliffe returns with another of his detailed articles about freight trains, this time looking at Freightliner container trains in the North West.
Whilst our railways in Britain have long been the safest way to travel, from time to time, there are terrible accidents. Colin Boocock revisits the events leading to the disaster at Colwich in 1986, with which he was heavily involved.
In the next of Paul Shannon’s series of articles about freight terminals, he looks at those involved with handling metal products.
Roy Kethro continues his fascinating and well received series of articles about his early railway career at Bristol Bath Road depot, revealing just went on behind the scenes at one of Britain’s major depots.
We have two photo features, the first concentrating on Southern Region electric multiple units in Berkshire and Surrey, whilst the second takes us to the Yorkshire Dales and the stone traffic from the quarry at Rylstone.
In TRACTION MODELLING our featured layout is ‘Splott’, a 1990s era P4 layout set in the Cardiff area. Is an atmospheric layout portraying heavy industry and the rail traffic that served it
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Continuing the story of building my BR140 electric.....
The two pantographs have been built so that one is raised and the other lowered. Modern DB electrics almost always ran with only one pantograph raised (but non functioning).
The pantographs were built in a simple jig with four holes drilled through a piece of chipboard. Lengths of 1mm brass wire were placed in the holes and joined together at the top with strips of thin brass. Four cross pieces of 1mm wire were soldered between the strips as temporary spacers and the rods at the bottom of the pantograph arms that are used to raise or lower them. Once in place on the roof the two outer crosswires were removed as they were only intended to help maintain rigidity during construction
The lower legs of the pantograph were bent to shape from 0,9mm nickel silver wire whilst the upper legs and cross bracing were from 0.7mm wire. The contact strips were bent from 0.7mm nickel silver to give the distinctive open shape with curved ends that drop down at the ends. A piece of wire was soldered to a length of brass tube to represent the pantograph raising mechanism. Coils of solder were used to represent the insulators under the frame.
The views above show the pantographs temporarily installed. The frame "legs" slot into holes drilled in the roof. I've also added the smaller raised area on the roof as well as some details on the bogie frames.
In this photo and the one below a lot of detailing work has been added out of card, plastic strip and nickel silver and brass wire.
The body and undeframe of the model have been painted and the paint over the plastic strip along the bottom of the body has been scraped away to reveal a well defined band.
The completed model with transfers from Modellbahn Decals. There are numerous faults - cardboard modelling is both easy and difficult to use as a material! As usual photographs reveal problems not immediately obvious.
The cab windows were made from clear plastic held in place with 'glue and glaze'. This doesn't dry completely clear so tends to leave a slight smearing on the glazing. The cab handrails have to bridge the gap between the body and underframe. The nickel silver wires are secured at the top to the body with epoxy inside the body and at the bottom they simply pop into holes drilled in the frame sides.
It hardly needs saying that the photos show up numerous faults but at least I now have a representation of the largest DB electric class. I really will have to find a space for a layout with overhead wires!
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It's been a while since I've posted anything on this forum as I've been working on another of my card models.
This time it is a model of one of the Einheits (standard) DB electric locos built in vast quantities from the mid 1950s until the early 1970s. Two very similar Bo-Bos were built which were virtually identical externally. The BR110s, were express locos and were painted blue and black whilst the mixed traffic (but principally freight locos) was the BR140. The earlier BR110s and the BR140s shared an almost identical appearance. The later BR110s had a more streamlined appearance. Thus the model I'm building could be either a BR110 or BR140. I've decided to build it as a BR140 as it will be useful for hauling any type of train. There were 879 BR140s built and in my travels in Germany I saw 712 of them so they are one of my favourite German locos.
140.425 is on a passenger service to Nürnberg at Bamberg on 22nd July 1971.
The photo shows how I remember them from my early visits to Germany in the 1970s with the rain strip running around the roof. Later these were removed and altered the locomotives' appearance somewhat. The model will be built entirely from plans and without any help from the pdf kits I've used before for diesel and electric locomotives. The major difficulty I foresee is making the cab fronts, with their subtle curves, in cardboard.
As usual I've used the text from my website which recorded what I did and also what I intended to do later. I've not changed the wording for this report as I feel it gives a better feeling of the construction process.
Construction starts in a similar manner to my BR144 using Airfix/ Hornby tender drive units from a Fowler 4F 0-6-0. The plastic wheels with their integral gears are removed from their axles and S Scale axles substituted. Some Alan Gibson S Scale 4'3" tender wheels are the mounted on the ends of the axles.
A bracket from a length of brass strip is bent into an inverted U shape and then each leg is bent outwards to form an L shape. Holes are drilled in the strip to allow the brass to be secured to the tender drive unit using the self tapping screws that secured the weight. A brass bolt is passed through a hole at the top of the bracket to act as a pivot.
The original gears are therefore used although I have cut away most of the plastic from the centre wheels to improve the appearance of the bogies when complete.
In the photo above the bogies have been secured to a temporary strip of card for testing putposes.
As the BR140 had disc wheels, unlike the BR144, I'll add discs of card to the face of the wheels before building the bogie sideframes.
Diagrams for the BR140 were found on the Internet and resized to S Scale.
These were printed out on good quality card and the lower part of the body - the main frame was cut out.
I've now completed the frame. The flat top was cut from a piece of thick mounting card. I cut this slightly narrower than the width of the loco to allow for the multiple layers of the frame sides. Holes were cut in the top to accommodate the motor bogies.
The ends of the frame sides were wrapped around the ends and numerous strips of mounting board were glued inside the frames to ensure that everything was at right angles or curved in the correct way. Before continuing the whole framework was given several coatings of wood hardener.
To mount the motor bogies I've built a cuboid box out of thick mounting card. The bottom of the box has been left open whilst there are two holes in the top of the box to accept the pivot bolts. The box was then glued to the locos frame. Careful measurement using a simple card jig ensures that the top of the frame is the correct height above the rail head. To strengthen the pivot holes small piece of brass with a hole drilled through will be glued to both sides of the top of the box.
The spoked wheels have been covered with small discs of card glued to the face of the wheel and painted black.
Before starting work on the body I decided that I needed to find a way to attach the bogie side frames. A piece of sheet brass was secured to the underside of the motor bogies using teh screws that hold the bogie keeper plate. Sheets of brass were cut roughly to the outline of the bogie sides and soldered the brass sheet with lengths of nickel silver wire as can be seen in the photos. The brass sides were also strengthened and joined together at one end using a length of wire bent into a |_| shape. The end of the bogie closest to the ends of the loco can't have cross wires because of tight clearances.
The card print out of the bogie sides was glued to the brass sides of the bogie. This will later have all the necessary details added to it.
The loco's body will be a separate and removeable part. In the photo the baseplate for this had been cut out from a sheet of mounting board at the same time as I prepared the loco frame so it is identical. The body will drop over the "box" that hides the motor bogies and will be held to the frames with nuts and bolts. Holes were drilled thrrough the ends and at the mid point of the sides to allow bolts to be passed through the frames. At this stage the body base is very flimsy but it will soon be strengthened
The baseplate of the body is now in place showing how its is a fairly tight fit around the "box". The securing nuts are soldered to small pieces of brass which are superglued to the base of the body
The first bodyside has been added to the baseplate. The doors on the real loco are slightly recessed so This has been replicated by adding layers behind the main central section of the bodyside. The side was then reinforced with several layers of mounting card.
Both sides of the body have now been added. Reinforcement strips of mounting card have been added on the insides and inverted U shaped strengthening pieces have been added to the ends of the main body section to ensure that the sides are vertical.
A piece of mounting board has been cut to fit snuggly inside the sides. Note the ends have had a section of the card removed as the ends above the cab will have a piece of brass cut to match the tops of the windows. The brass will be secured to the card.
The brass sheet which will form the strengthening piece above the cab windows has been cut the correct shape and secured to the top of the body.
The drawing of the front of the loco was printed out several times of thin card ready for assembly.
I've now added the lower half of the cab fronts. It's not obvious from the photo but the card slopes correctly inwards at the top very slightly.
I've decided that the cab windows will not have glazing in the normal way but will have a card backing onto which I will add "glue and glaze" to give the impression of windows. The reason for this is that the box hiding the power bogies comes too far forward in the body and in any case the windows are very close to the edges of the card and will lack strength. (see later for an amendment to this)
To make the top half of the cab stronger I've added two short lengths of brass tube at each corner to give some support for the card which will have the windows in. The zig-zag flaps will support the card at the joint between the top and lower halves of the cab front. A similar flap was also added to the underside of the brass roof extension.
The next stage was to add a strip of thin card wrapped around the upper part of the cab front.
The outer layer was then added with the windows cut out very carefully. I used super glue as an adhesive as it leaves no trace when applied carefully and also strengthens the card itself.
As can be seen the card is bent around the ends and also angles backwards to give a reasonably good impression of the actual cab. I used a template cut from the diagram to check this. Note that there are several printed lines in unusual places at the ends - this is a result of using the original diagram printouts.
I've built the roof using my usual method of layers of mounting card of reducing width covered with two layers of photocopying paper (see the BR V160 and BR E44 for more details) . The dome ends are built similarly but the card is then covered with filer shaped and filed to the correct profile. The upper headlight is a length of brass tubed inserted in a hole drilled in the front of the roof.
The buffer beams are from two layers of card slightly recessed into the front of the main frame. The ends of the bufferbeams are folded and glued the curved ends of the frame. The resulting triangular shaped gap has been filled with two part epoxy.
A thin strip of micostrip plasticard has been used to form the rainstrip around the joint between the roof and bodysides.
Another strip of microstrip plastic has been added around the lower part of the body. Once the body is painted the plastic will be scraped to give the white line that eunds all aorund the loco.
Buffers are cast metal BR heavy duty ones which will later be given larger heads made from sheet metal.
I've now added the unusually shaped raised area on the roof. The sides and ends slope at various angles and there are cut outs at both ends. The outer layout is supported with multiple layers of card to give a solid structure on which various pieces of electrical gear will be mounted.
I haven't been happy about not having the front windows glazed properly so I've now carefully cut out the layers of card.
There's obviously a lot more work to do on this model but I feel that, for me at least, the boundaries of card modelling have been pushed a little bit further. Quite how fast progress will be to completion will depend on my mood!!
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The digital version of TRACTION issue 278 is now available on the Pocketmags website. The print version will be in the shops from 29th September.
We start this issue of TRACTION with a visit to Lancaster station in 1992. John Dedman spent several hours there recording on film the wide variety of motive power that passed through on passenger, mail and freight services.
Roy Kethro continues the story of his railway career at Bristol Bath Road depot in the late 1970s and early1980s during a period of great change.
Gavin Morrison takes a look at the Skipton to Grassington line with photos of passenger specials at Grassington before the terminus there closed, as well as more recent trains to the quarry at Rylstone.
Another branch line is the subject of Michael Welch’s article about the line from Haltwhistle to Alston.
Colin Boocock recalls one of his more difficult experiences when, as a railway consultant, he had the task of giving recommendations about the introduction of tilting trains.
Paul Shannon continues his series of articles about freight train terminals, this time looking at those dealing with household refuse from some of Britain’s large cities.
We have two features featuring locomotives. J. Crosse looks at the life of English Electric Type 3 D6803 and the many changes that the locomotive experienced over the years.
Andrew Hoseason returns with the continuing story of the attempt to recreate No.10000, the first main line Co-Co diesel built by the LMS.
In TRACTION MODELLING... Our featured layout is ‘Tamcester’, an N Gauge layout inspired by the West Coast Main Line.
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TRACTION 277 will be available in digital format on Pocket Mags on July 21st and paper copies should be in the shops on 28th July.
We start this issue with Martin Axford’s account of a week spent travelling around East Anglia by train in summer 1985 when he photographed the railway with DMUs and loco hauled trains still operating on what was still a largely steam era infrastructure.
Roy Kethro continues his fascinating account of his early railway career at Bristol Bath Road depot as his experience widens.
The colourful Kent Coast EMUs are the subject of Michael Welch’s feature of these often ignored trains operating on this busy part of Britain’s railway network.
Paul Shannon takes a detailed look at some of the many cement terminals that were found all over the network with much information useful for the modeller.
J. Crosse looks at one particular Brush Type 2 locomotive, D5654 (later 31224 and 31454) following the many changes in liveries over its career since 1960.
Richard Giles examines some of the level crossings in the Avonmouth area and the traffic that operated there.
Gavin Morrison takes us back to the Great Eastern Main Line to Norwich in the years when Class 86s were the main motive power on both passenger and freightliner trains.
Our featured layout in TRACTION MODELLING is the inspirational Southgate Park which is based in South London in Network SouthEast days.
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On 04/06/2023 at 08:46, C126 said:
Thanks again to all concerned. Got my copy at last after a week away with no decent newsagent's to patronise. Enough in it to please this Southern Region wallah, and some interesting 'peripheral' articles and useful photographs to supplement.
I think there might be a transposition of photograph captions on p.13: Photos 4 and 5. I do love the perfect silhouette of photo 6.
You are correct about the transposition of the captions. Sorry about that!
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Some of you German outline modellers may be interested in these two scratch built German electric locos that I've recently built, largely from card. They are nowhere near as good as RTR models but much more fun to build, rather than paying for one by credit card!
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/179642-another-s-scale-german-electric-loco/#comment-5190580
https://www.steverabone.com/sscalewebsite/building_a_db_br169_electric_loc.html
There are also a lot of steam and early diesel era models built in a similar way here.
https://www.steverabone.com/sscalewebsite/modelling_the_d_b.htm
Stephen
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The body and undeframe of the model have been painted and the paint over the plastic strip along the bottom of the body has been scraped away to reveal a well defined band.
TRACTION 283 in May 2024 BRM
in Traction Magazine
Posted
Welcome to this issue of TRACTION in British Railway Modelling. The digital edition is now available on line and will be on the news stands shortly.
We have a variety of articles ranging from features about grain and timber terminals and a photographic visit to the Wichnor Junction area in 1986.
There’s also an article about Stirling station, both in the past and today, as well as a look at the Class 67s that are being sold by DB Cargo.
Finally, we look at the curious Western Region re-signalling scheme concrete train.
Stephen Rabone