Middlepeak

I've had a bit of a break from things Danish, largely because of the need to redesign some parts for the Litra N, but with the arrival of the new etch from PPD just before Christmas, there was no longer any excuse. First stage was to add cab doors and handrails to the footplate / cab unit. I used 2mm handrail knobs this time, which have a less conspicuous profile than the 4mm ones. At the front end I've now fitted the raised and curved profile to the footplate, which also overlaps the buffer beam slightly. Tank fillers have also been added and a hinged lid on the left hand tank, which could be the access to a small coal bunker. All these bits of detail emerged from the photos received from Denmark in October. Next some improvements to the boiler unit, which has to be detachable to slide over the motor and flywheel. At the front end we have a handrail and smokebox door hinge, together with two lamp brackets. Behind those, there's a clack valve either side of the boiler and a handrail. Finally there are two spindly safety valves just behind the dome. These will be trimmed down later when the dome is fitted. Put the two units together and it starts to look more like an engine. One of the critical things at this stage is to plan ahead. For each unit I need to do all the fittings that require soldering first. With those done, I can then move on to the 3D printed items and one or two small plasticard bits that will give added detail. The boiler unit is just about ready for those now, but there's still some more soldering to do on the footplate unit. And as for the chassis ........ !!

Final picture for now, showing the middle axle and hornblocks in place, held by the spring and the rods. Repeat the dose to secure the front hornblocks relative to the middle ones. As they say, there will now be a short break in transmission while the second chassis catches up! Season's Greetings to all! G

Jay, London Road Models do a set of three jigs in stainless steel for £4.50. The only difference is that the reduced diameter projections are conical, rather than parallel. They don't include springs, but those can be sourced from elsewhere. If you use these, I would recommend that you cut some short lengths of wire insulation which you can push on to the ends to trap the rods in place. You'll see what I mean in the next instalment. Meanwhile here's a pic from the LRM website. G

That's a very good question Jay. I got mine from Mike Sharman sometime in the last century and have used them ever since. I'll have an online search. Can anyone else help? G

For the North London Tanks, the drive will be onto the rear axle with the motor running forward confined to the area within the side tanks. It's therefore important to get this axle properly centred and square. I use a shouldered axle for fitting hornblocks, with the shoulders turned down to 1.5mm to accept coupling rods at the next stage. For now though it's just a question of lining the axle up on both sides, using the markers on the plan below and a small square. Don't forget to ensure that the horn guide etch is also truly vertical. The spring holds the two hornblocks against the inside of the frames, allowing easy access with the soldering iron. G

The next stage is to prepare the chassis for the fixing of hornblocks. The important thing here is to ensure that everything is square, so I like to secure the frames to a suitable piece of flat 18mm thick MDF, leaving plenty of space on either side to slide in a set square if needed. Before screwing it down, I've laid a print of the chassis artwork onto the surface. The blue lines mark the centreline of the axles. Again, another aid to getting things square. G

Jay, The wire used to set the CSB pivots is 0.4mm brass wire, which is a fairly tight fit in the handrail knobs and helps to get them lined up properly. Ultimately the CSB wire will be spring steel and a more sloppy fit. Thickness depends on final weight of the loco and ride height, but we're nowhere near that stage yet! G

A hefty dose of the winter "lurgy" has kept me indoors for a couple of days, but at least I could keep warm huddled over the soldering iron. The mainframes for the two North London Tanks have now been assembled. Quite a straightforward job, which consists of first adding the external detail such as guard irons and then soldering in the handrail knobs that act as CSB pivots on the inside faces of the frames. With all these parts in place, the mainframe etch could then be bent up into an inverted U, checking at each stage that the folds were square. The frame spacers at front and rear then slid into half-etched slots on the inside faces of the frames. Final job for this stage was to fit the motion bracket, which sits perilously close to one of the CSB pivots. In the end I had to open out the holes in the motion bracket for the CSBs a bit more, but now everything fits snugly. It's nice to feel some progress. Next stage is to assemble the coupling rods and set the hornblocks. G

Jay, A couple of shots of the 0-4-2 chassis. To keep the boiler intact I went for the motor going backwards into the firebox. It just about protrudes jntj the cab, but you don't notice it. Looking from the underside, the tube across the chassis between the drivers is the pivot for the two equalising beams, which bear down on the top of the axle bearings. These in turn run in etched horn guides (Perseverance I think), soldered to the chassis frames. All looks a bit prehistoric now! Makes me cringe a bit to look at it! G

Jay, I've just looked up my model of 7861 that I had running on Middlepeak in the '90s. The motor was a DS10 (!) driving onto the rear coupled axle, with the motor projecting backwards towards the firebox. Three point suspension was used with a single pivot point on the middle of the trailing axle and two equalising beams spanning the two coupled axles and pivoted at their centres to provide the other two points. Running was reasonable, but I dare say that were I to rebuild it, sprung axles would be used. You will also need to be careful about the spread of weight along the loco, as the castings provide more weight behind the rear drivers than you actually need, so this has to be balanced at the front. I'm not sure how the idea of equalising beams would work in 00. In P4, you've got another 2mm or more spaces between the frames, which makes them feasible. I could take some photos tomorrow if that would help. Poor thing - it looks a bit sorry for itself now! G

With an enforced break in my p87 activities looming, I thought I should spend some time building the chassis for my two North London Tanks that will power the High Peak trains on the 1950s sequence for Friden. The locos are being constructed from Mallard / Blacksmith kits, and from the names alone you will guess that these are 'heritage' products. In fact the first kit was acquired in 1976 and when completed saw sterling service on my Rise End Quarry and Middlepeak layouts right through to 2003 when the latter was retired. As is always the case, technology in kit production and chassis construction has moved on a pace since then, so at the start of this year I sat down to design a new chassis for these locos, using the drawings and various photographs I had in my collection. Thankfully there is still one of the prototypes in existence on the Bluebell Railway, although not currently in working order. A plea for help through a 'friend of a friend' produced some very helpful detailed photographs, which have contributed to a more 21st century design. Thank you Bluebell! The new chassis is etched in 0.4mm nickel silver and is designed specifically for P4. Frames and spacers are all one piece, which folds up to form an inverted U shape. This ensures that the hornguides are exactly opposite. Hornblocks will be High Level products, which allow a continuous spring to run the length of the chassis. Motors will be Mashima 1224s with High Level gearboxes. Wheels are Sharmans. More updates to follow as I start to remove parts from the etch tomorrow! G

A variety of reasons I suppose. I wanted something that was immediately applicable to a P4 loco. The 'bend-up' chassis ensures everything is square from the start. It suits the motor and gearbox chosen and provides for springing on all axles. Finally, although less important, it's actually cheaper when you need two of them! G

No, I'm using my own etched chassis. More anon when I get started. G

Jay, Totally agree with this course of action. Presumably these are the Gibson milled brass frames, which means you'll need frame spacers and hornblocks in due course. Good to start off with a four coupled chassis too. PM me if you get stuck and we can talk through the process. I'm hopefully about to start the chassis for the NLT and will post progress on the Friden thread in due course. Good luck! G

Jay, No they didn't, hence the trip to darkest Essex with camera and tape measure. First stage will be to produce a CAD drawing to work from. Here's a couple of pictures of the preserved beast, which I believe came from some dockyard or other, which might explain the bauxite livery. I'm not taking that as gospel at this stage. If you compare that with an original LNWR photo, you'll see that the glazing panels at the open end have been removed. Sadly the pics I have of the van at Longcliffe and Friden are all taken from the closed end! G

Yes, that's the one. I got it from the LNWRS. G

Absolutely nothing I'm afraid Jay. A bit early for me and for most photographers I fear. By the early 1950s the Middleton brake van was often an ex-LNWR 'Crystal Palace' van. I've got a drawing for one and have found a preserved version in darkest Essex, so ....... one day! G

Glad you enjoyed the show and I hope your flexible friend didn't melt in the excitement. It would have been too much for me! I'm worried about this 7mm "itch" though. Think you'll have to buy the house next door to get Middleton Top modelled in that scale! Might you be going to the Manchester show jn a couple if weeks? Thinking about it, if EMR behave themselves! G

In the end I didn't have to resort to Templot, as it was possible to amend the TurboCAD drawing - just about! One of the problems when you transfer a Templot output to CAD as a .dxf file is that all the smooth curves end up as a multitude of tiny straight sections. You don't notice this normally, but if you miss one or two as you're editing, the language gets more and more extreme! Anyway, by moving the west end factory turnout slightly further round the loop I've end up with an extra 150mm on the length of the factory, albeit with a rather tight 900mm radius curve out of the building itself. Shouldn't be a problem for 4-wheel wagons running dead slow though. It also gives me a nice curve into the long straight section, which avoids track running parallel to a straight baseboard edge. This section will run along the top of bookshelves and should be quite an attractive stretch to see trains arrive and depart. This picture shows the before (left) and after (right) designs. Next step is probably to design the next baseboard and get it cut. G

Hopefully this picture makes things a little clearer, without you having to turn your screen (or yourself) through 90°. The wagon is standing on the loading bay road inside the works, about half way along. As originally designed, the works would be totally contained within the limits of this baseboard, but I just feel it needs to be a bit longer. Templot and CAD beckon!

A view looking the other way this time, with more work done on the 'main line' and the start of the siding into the works. I say siding, but it was in fact a loop, which presumably allowed empties to go in at one end and fulls to come out at the other. My problem here is that the works buildings have had to be severely reduced in length and are also arranged around the outside of a curve instead of being straight. Before I go any further with the works siding, I'm going to revisit the design of the next baseboard to see if I can lengthen the building but still include the exit road. Track is the usual plywood sleepers and bullhead rail held in C&L chairs. Whereas these are excellent products, easy to use and satisfying to look at, their one down side is their light brown colour - an almost perfect camouflage against the Cork base and the workshop carpet!! G

A little bit of activity at Friden over the weekend, prompted by a number of things. Firstly a last minute trip up to Derbyshire to view what's left of the real thing, which always helps. Secondly a great day spent with @barrowroad to visit his wonderful creation, with running rights granted to my little Peckett, which I'm pleased to say didn't disgrace itself. Finally, the recognition that it was time to dismantle the boards and put them into storage pending the big refit of the train room, which I hope will take place next Spring. So out came the track building kit and I managed to finish the turnout that gives access to the works. An awkward one this, as Templot has created a left hand turnout with a shallow right hand curve in it, all across a baseboard joint. Awkward, but by no means impossible! With this completed, I can now focus on the trackwork on the next board, without needing to have its neighbour coupled up to it.

One of the advantages of exhibiting is that hopefully people come along and take nice photos of your train set from different angles and are happy to share them with you afterwards. So it's thanks to Phil Sutton for the following photo of the new Frichs diesel grumbling away as it waits in the loop with the PW train. Great picture, Phil. Thank you! While we're talking about pictures, a nice surprise email yesterday from my good friend Jens Bruun-Petersen in Denmark with an attachment of 72 detailed photos of the remaining Litra N in preservation at the Danske Jernbane Klub facility at Marslev. Previous requests direct to the DJK for photos of the two rod tunnels either side of the boiler had not met with any success, so Jens and his colleagues from the Ribe club offered to have an outing to Marslev some time this autumn. The results are fascinating and I will need to spend quite some time looking through the photos to determine what level of detail can and should be incorporated into the model. No excuses now! G

Peter, Are they Dutch or Danish? I'm guessing the former from the quality of the scenery. When we exhibited at Rail 2016 I remember having a long conversation with a couple of guys who were then building a Swedish layout. Maybe the same group? Geraint

Interesting! Looks to be set a bit earlier than Obbekær (1940s?) and in Sjælland rather than Jylland. Excellent scenic details though. G