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pharrc20

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  1. pharrc20
    Hello, well I am still here lingering on RMWeb and following the Great Image Crash of 2022, I have finally got round to uploading and replacing the photos with the same originals. Me being me, I have multiple copies backed up and some years ago I made a copy of each Blog entry as a backup too including the images, so it was easy once found and opened the Word document to suss out what images needed replacing on which blog entry. Only two Blogs don't contain any images, number 4 and number 10, so these may appear out of sequence depending on how the forum lists the Blog entries (3 now as this one doesn't contain any images either).
     
    So, what has happened since Blog 11? Well, not much, to paraphrase the delightful Mr J Clarkson, diddly squat really. The layout is in the same position (resting place?) at my former home, my parents’ house, since it was brought back there from the Poynton Model Show at the end of 2015. Apart from a brief extraction to allow the supporting legs to be removed and a quick check over now and again, the layout is as it was then. Seven years and 3 months later I am still no further forward with continuing with the layout. I had hatched a plan in late 2019 to move all the modelling material and boxed up boxes around, so that I would be able to put up two folding tables that I had acquired for this purpose from Homebase. They were selling some nice plastic tables that had adjustable height fold-up metal legs with a thick braced plastic top. I purchased two and a third followed soon after once it was announced many of the Homebase stores were to close and I managed to obtain the third one from their Sandbach branch. So, two tables up in early 2020, plans made to shuffle things around and be able to work on two boards at time to make a start on the scenery proper, like the hills, dry-stone walling, fencing, small buildings, larger quarry buildings, and general detritus that can be seen in the real landscape. Lots of recycled Celotex type material pieces stashed away to make hills and thinner, smaller sheets of polystyrene to make the lower-lying landscapes too.
     
    Oh, then that bloomin' pandemic happened and all my plans went out of the window pretty much over a few days late in March as everyone knows too well. I had little choice in where I could work or live as had to consider my elderly and health vulnerable parents, ousted from the office and expected to try and work from home with a second/third-hand laptop that took an age to do my work, and so the only viable solution was to come to Northwich and live with my partner full-time as we would both be working from home full-time as of then. I know that sounds very woe me, woe me, but that is how it was. So that was the end of that idea. I had already got the larger quarry buildings and some stock to work on with me in Northwich prior to the pandemic, so I could at least be doing something. Strangely, although I started of doing modelling most weekends in 2020, it reduced in 2021 and further in 2022 until I wasn't doing any at all related to the layout. Yet, it is said that modelling interest increased during the first few lockdowns. Oh well!
     
    So, I did lots of wagon related projects like the Hatton's I.C.I. hoppers and have amassed a good fleet of those; plus was able to fettle up a rake of older Cambrian SPA steel open wagons, and build some new ones; likewise re-built some of the Cambrian Turbot open wagons replacing the original three-piece bogies with the newer one-piece strong mouldings; converted some Bachmann MEA box wagons into the SJA steel scrap wagons using the then Stenson Models conversion kit with a repaint of the wagon bodies too. Alongside these I was doing what I could to the layout quarry buildings, but hard to do much without being able to place them on the layout to judge how they looked.
     
    As I've mentioned by 2022, I hadn't done much modelling at all and it was only the fact that the club layout I founded and have helped to build and develop over the years up to 2019, was going to be attending the final Wigan FRM model railway exhibition in October, that spurred me on to get some wagon stock redone and some locos DCC chipped to enable them to operate. I started doing that work from around June onwards, so I had enough time finish off the wagons and locos. And a similar rush to get some newer items of rolling stock ready for Smethurst Junction's visit to Macclesfield last weekend 25/26th March. But nothing of note related to stock for Speedlow.
     
    So, where do I go from here? Do I persist and hope that something, somewhere will change to allow me to finally work on the 20ft Speedlow layout? Do I keep it in store still? Or do I cut my loses and sell it on? I have given a lot of thought to developing other layouts that would be smaller and a lot more portable. I did investigate using the Hatton's baseboards system when they were first announced, but sadly we all know how that ended unfortunately. A shame as the different size options was very appealing and well-thought out, I thought. Another option that came up towards the end of 2021, was the Scale Model Scenery competition that they were starting called 'Operation Shunt-It' based around their layout-in-a-box laser-cut baseboard kits. Although I didn't enter it (I was very tempted to do so) it did give me some ideas around a small industrial shunting layout based on a real location that existed until the late 1990s and would allow a good range of shunting movements if the track plan was carefully designed. Several versions of this exist in my copy of AnyRail software. However, I have done a 1:1 plan on good old wallpaper backing paper as I just get a better feel for the flow of the trackwork seeing the Peco point templates track lines drawn on. Will I build it? - I would like to yes. Will it replace Speedlow? - no, in a way it would complement it. Will I buy the necessary SMS baseboard kits and the Really Useful Boxes - that is my intention. However, I still have the issue of storage even with the baseboard stored inside the RUB 77litre boxes. Sigh. No wonder my modelling mojo is well down. Yet I still enjoy going to model railway exhibitions, or being an exhibitor, and buying models whether for Speedlow 1980s/90s type stock or early 2000s stock for Smethurst Junction.
     
    So, if you have read all this right to the end, then well done. I might write a follow-up and post some photos of things I have done related to Speedlow stock and buildings.
     
    Cheers Paul
  2. pharrc20

    Issue 11 Speedlow

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Some more ramblings from Speedlow. Whilst I have not been doing much with the layout boards I have been slowly planning and developing the quarry buildings that will be a distinctive part of the appearance firmly setting it in the limestone area of the Peak District. My original plan was to build customised versions of real buildings that I come across on my travels. But I soon realised this would be rather costly and potentially time consuming to do. Whilst I pondered what to do Christmas 2014 brought a copy of the Hornby Magazine yearbook featuring the layout they had built that included a cement works. And there was my answer - the Walthers Valley Cement kit. Plus being a plastic kit leant itself to being bashed and altered to suit. And that is what I did with that kit plus the Glacier Gravel kit as well plus another full kit plus further bits.
     
    I hope the following images show you what I have been up to. I will dig out some of the other ones using the Valley Cement kit.
     
    The buildings shown are from both kits plus the white plasticard building you see in the background is scratch built to suit the location on the layout.
     
    Cheers Paul
     
     
     
     

     

     

     

     
    Edited: 2nd April 2023 missing images restored.
  3. pharrc20

    Issue 9 Speedlow

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hi folks, you will have noticed a lack of updates on this blog. Towards the end of 2015 I had two outings with the incomplete Speedlow layout. Firstly, to my home show the Hazel Grove & District MRS show at the end of October and that was really its first proper public showing. The weekend went well and no major problems except for a dry joint on one of the point feeds that I soon got sorted out on the Saturday morning. Although the layout was only the bare boards with track and ballast laid down plus the part completed quarry buildings it was well received and I spent a lot of time explaining to the visitors what it was the layout was aiming to achieve. Following Hazel Grove I received an invite by email from Mark Henshaw aka TheLongLine inviting me to take the layout to the two day The Model Show at Poynton in December. Another good weekend and the layout was well received. Although I don't have all of the correct freight stock ready for the layout yet I was able to keep an operational interest by running substitute locomotives and wagons to try and illustrate how the layout would work.
     
    I had a good audience at Poynton by the esteemed line up of Wigan & Wirral Finescale Modellers immediately opposite the layout for the weekend and when I had a chance on Sunday afternoon I received some good comments as to how the layout had been operated and the potential once it was fully finished. So that was good to hear!
     
    Having laid the track and wired all of the boards together and some more testing done it was time to crack on with the weathering and ballasting work. To make life easier I decided to just buy a load of Humbrol spray cans and used the Matt 29 brown shade which looked well. Fortunately, the flat I lived in at the time in Bolton had a covered balcony so I could take the boards out there to be sprayed and leave them to dry off knowing they wouldn't get wet if it decided to rain. For the ballast I used two different grades; a very fine almost silt grade that I had brought some years previously and used on the Hazel Grove club layout Smethurst Junction. A slightly coarser grade would be used on the main running lines and sidings with the finer grade used in the two quarry areas.
     
    I was originally going to use Johnson's Klear to stick the ballast down with as per an article that Andy Y wrote on how to improve the appearance of the Peco code 75 track but in the end I just stuck with the tried and tested dilute PVA method of sticking the ballast down.

    Board 1A and 1 at the ballasting stage and being left overnight for the PVA to set.

     
    The two grades of ballast the coarser darker grey for the main running lines/sidings and head shunt and the finer lighter grey stone in the quarry area.

     
    A taste of things to come with a pair of Buxton Limby 37s showing the sprayed track work awaiting ballasting.

     
    Fresh ballast laid down and awaiting the PVA.

     
    Part way through an evenings work of applying the dilute PVA onto the ballast.

     
    At the time I was fortunate to have the use of a spare second bedroom that I could work on the layout in. But as is often the case in life things change not always for the better and it was with sadness that I took the decision to move back home and so the ballasting work was completed and the layout packed up awaiting the day when I moved home.

     
    Once I was back home I switched to working on trying to get the layout buildings planned and built so they at least would be ready for the Hazel Grove show at the end of October. I had originally considered building totally scratch-built buildings based on examples at Dove Holes and Dowlow quarries to at least have some authentic buildings on the layout. However, having received the Hornby Magazine year book at Christmas 2014 and seen the construction of the cement works layout gave me inspiration to consider the Walthers HO range of kits as a quicker alternative to making the buildings. Plus the plastic kits lend themselves very well to being adapted as was shown in the HM articles. And so it was this route I decided to take to create the quarry buildings I needed with the advantage of being able to adapt them.
     
    Cheers until next time
    Paul
    Edited: 2nd April 2023 missing images restored.
  4. pharrc20

    Issue 8 Speedlow

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hello again, following on from the track-laying in Issue 7 now it was time to start wiring up the layout for DCC operations. Early on I had decided to incorporate several power districts into the design of the wiring so as to try eliminate any whole layout shorts should a loco be operated against a point for example. It happens, yes we have all seen it happen at exhibitions and often rendering the entire layout dead until the controller has been reset. So I decided to split the layout into four power districts these being; the fiddle yard; the first quarry located in front of the fiddle yard on the scenic section; the main line leading from the fiddle yard into the reception loops and beyond into the long neck and finally the second quarry area.
     
    This of course means a bit of extra wiring to put in the extra pair of feed wires leading from the power district module to each area of the boards. So most board joints will take two districts across underneath and for this I had a look around at the various types of connectors that would be reasonably heavy duty and robust and in the end settled on the four way Molex power connectors, the sort that you find inside your PC tower case supplying power to the devices like Hard Drives and CD-ROM drives. Having decided on simple red and black for the colour of my main power district feeds you will no doubt be thinking hang on the Molex connectors have two black wires, one red and one yellow... well I just made the yellow wire the honorary red wire for my layout lol. The power district feeds having got to the right part of the board then terminate in long strips of copper-clad strips - I think mine were 0 gauge sleeper sized stock. These are positioned on the underside of the board and then simply super-glued on end held down whilst the glue sets. From these bus-bars the smaller feed wires would be then added to feed the track and points as appropriate. Careful planning of the wire runs away from critical areas largely ensured that the wiring stage went pretty smoothly.
     
    Using the Peco code 75 points and wanting live frog operation meant using some form of polarity switching and I initially looked at using Peco's own PL-11 slide switches but after some trials quickly came to the conclusion that it was going to be a nightmare ensuring these would stay aligned and be reliable enough for exhibition operation. After a question on here I was directed to try some micro-switches supplied by Rapid Electronics and so after I had ordered some plus a few spares tried these. I should at this point say that the points are manually operated by roding and so linked to the micro-switch acting on the lever arm thus changing the polarity supplied to the frog.
     
    Once I had Board 1A and 1 wired up and I was happy with the action of the micro-switches then there was no excuse to try adding some power via a temporary connection to my borrowed Gaugemaster Prodigy 2 controller and see if it all worked... and it did lol!
     
    So far so good.. and yes the loco was stopped with lights on and not about to run off edge of board lol. The loco is reasonably appropriate for a Buxton layout this being 37688, which was once upon a time based at Buxton and now in use with DRS and a limited edition model was done by Bachmann some years ago for Rail Express magazine and I was given the loco for a very nice pocket friendly price by a good friend :-)
     

     

     
    So after a bit of testing and fettling of the first two board to prove the wiring and the micro-switches operation I was happy enough to continue to wire up the remaining boards. By June 2014 the wiring was pretty much complete but I had an offer to show the boards and layout at my local club open day and so I took it round to the church hall and for the first proper time had the layout up in one piece. Although only static and no power it still got people interested. One thing that was apparent was the overall height of the boards from the floor to the top of the baseboards as to me this looked on the low side. The supporting legs were designed to fold up inside the board for transportation but this might well be something I will change if I am to increase the base board height to make it easier to operate but still be at a good viewing height for the public.
     

     

     

     
    So having the layout up and nearly completed gave me more of an incentive to push on and complete the wiring to test it further and then go onto the ballasting stage.
     
    Cheers Paul
    Edited: 2nd April 2023 missing images restored.
  5. pharrc20

    Issue 7 Speedlow

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hello again, in this issue I will continue describing how the Speedlow layout track was laid and finalised.
     
    Once most of the track was laid down and glued with the Copydex I could then have a bit of a play to with some stock just to get a feel of what the layout would look like. So it was out with the stock I had to hand to put them into the fiddle yard.
     

     

     

    These were taken in January 2013
     
    Following some stock testing I quickly decided that it would be beneficial to add a second head shunt line next to the one already laid on Boards 4 and 4A in front of the fiddle yard as doing it now before the track was finalised, wired up and ballasted would make things a lot easier. So a further short left-hand point and a new yard of flexi-track was purchased from the SMTF shop. The only variation I made was to lay the track onto medium thickness black finished cardboard and thus making this line sit slightly lower than the front line.
     

     

     
    More soon after some sleep!
    Cheers Paul
    Edited: 1st April 2023 missing images restored.
  6. pharrc20

    Issue 6 Speedlow

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hello again, in this issue I will continue describing how the Speedlow layout came about and how I wanted to build and operate the layout.
     
    Right from the start it was always envisaged that Speedlow would be DCC operated and I tried to plan for that accordingly when it came to planning the track plan. The layout boards as previously described in Issue 5 were built for me by Black Cat Baseboards in 2011 to the design I specified. There are 4 boards each 4 foot long and two additional outer 2 foot long boards added on at each end. As I had specified that I wanted supporting legs that would fold up underneath the boards themselves, this did of course restrict the maximum length of the legs as the had to clear the angled corner that formed the wedge shape of the baseboards. To the visitor viewing the layout Board 1 would be to the left followed by 2, 3 and 4 in order. The smaller 2 foot extension board purchased at the start became Board 4A off to the right-hand side. Board 3 has a short section of the board that curves and descends towards the fiddle yard that would take up the rear portion of Board 4 and 4A, with a scenic section taking up the remaining baseboard space at the front. The line linking the main sidings and the fiddle yard and supposed link to Buxton drops away down 1 inch gradient. The 2 foot board purchased later became Board 1A off to the left of Board 1. So in all Speedlow is 20 feet long and the maximum depth across all the boards front to back is 33 inches.
     
    Once the track plan had been sorted I then started to lay down the cork bed and glued this down with Copydex. Then work could start on preparing and laying the Peco code 75 track and points making sure that holes were in place to take the point control rod that would be installed.
     

     
     

     
     

     
    Progress on track work was slow given that I could not take the boards to the flat I was living in at the time as there simply wasn't the room and so I just had to work on the boards when I went back home to house sit for my parents. So by January 2013 all of the main track was laid down with the Copydex.
     

     
    Meanwhile the code 100 track forming the fiddle yard was still being tweaked to get the best positions for the proposed 5 lines but once I had put the two 3-way points down and added the short piece of track between them it became apparent that I could in fact get 7 sidings with a mix of long, medium and short roads.
     

     
    More to follow soon!
    Cheers Paul
    Edited: 1st April 2023 missing images restored.
  7. pharrc20

    Issue 5 - Speedlow Layout

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hello RMWeb members, time for another long overdue update!
     
    This time rather than looking at my non-existent Workbench I will write about my layout that I am slowly building and am at the point now where most of the big hurdles have been jumped.
     
    Speedlow started life as most layouts do as an idea on paper, mainly doodles in between my workload waiting for the next batch of documents to land in my in-tray. Little scraps of paper here and there, doodles of track plans based on places I knew of around the Buxton area that I had visited like Peak Forest, Great Rocks, Tunstead and the Hindlow branch. I didn't want a continuous run layout nor did I want a layout with the seemingly mandatory station on it. No in true Number Six fashion I wanted to rebel and go a different direction. Maybe not quite running across the beach in The Village (still need to do that sometime LOL!) and venting anger at the Village.... What I wanted was a layout based on the railway things that I remember the most that being the Railfreight scene around the Buxton area in the late 1980s into the early 1990s up until the end of Speedlink operations. For me this was the best time as you still had a great mix of diesel traction being used on freight services around the Buxton area with several liveries present with scope to include pairs of blue 20's right up to brand new class 60's with a good wedge of Buxton class 37/5's in between. I had modelled a good chunk of the Buxton 37/5's long ago either using the Lima 37 model or the later Bachmann 37/5 model and had re-painted and re-liveried models to suit.
     
    As you may have seen from previous issues my main modelling passion is wagons especially those that have a connection to the Buxton area and there are plenty of those to go at. Some are simply re-worked models from Hornby, Bachmann and Lima whereas others may just re-parts like the chassis to form the basis of an as yet un-modelled variety of PGA hopper wagon known to have worked from the Peak District quarries. This was my other inspiration to create a layout where these wagons could be modelled and used. And so the idea of having two quarries linked by a common exchange yard came about and thus incorporated into the doodles...
     
    And so from the doodles a rough idea for a layout track plan came about with regular revisions until I was happy. Then it was time to put the proposed track plan to the test by drawing it out onto good old wallpaper backing paper rolls. I started doing this around April 2010 and had the idea of having some custom shaped baseboards built for me. It wasn't until the October that year that I found just the person to make my boards for me and that was Colin from Black Cat Baseboards from Hull who was coincidently positioned opposite the club layout I was helping to operate. So I bit the bullet and had a chat with Colin as to my requirements and sure he would be able to make them for me and as they weren't needed urgently and could wait until the new year of 2011 I placed an order for the main 4 baseboards each 4 foot long with a maximum depth of 21 inches at one end and narrowing down from the 2 foot mid point of the 4 foot length to a 9 inch depth. This meant that the once the boards were positioned the track layout would form a natural curved alignment.
     
    This was the initial track plan idea as drawn up on the backing paper using photocopied Peco point templates
     

     
    As all modellers know even once a plan is drawn up and you think that is that changes often occur at the track-laying stage that don't always seem possible when it is planned on the paper version. This will become apparent later on as the layout progresses. The key to these additions is IMHO to enhance operation capability and allow flexibility not to cram in extra unnecessary sidings that clutter the layout up. In effect you have to justify each extra point and length of flexi-track.
     
    Fast-forward slightly to the stage in September 2012 when having slowly laid the cork using Copydex and acquired a good quantity of new and used Peco code 75 track from the collection of the late Graham Neve, who was one of the co-founders of Hazel Grove & District MRS back in the 1960s. I was fortunate to acquire an entire box of new wooden flexi-track along with a good quantity of short left and right hand points from Graham's model collection at a very good price indeed thus saving myself a considerable sum of money buying new track. The only new items I needed to buy were the two catch points, the asymmetric 3-way point plus the code 100 3-way points and short left and right points that would be used in the fiddle yard. I also ordered an extra 2 foot extension board from Colin to be added to the end of board 1 to permit a slight increase in the quarry track works.
     
    The start of track laying in September 2012 with Inspector Lucy keeping a beady eye on the works :-)
     

     
    More to follow soon!
    Cheers Paul
    Edited: 1st April 2023 missing images restored.
  8. pharrc20

    Issue 2 - OMWB

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hi folks, slightly later than planned due to one thing and another and a break away.
     
    So a quick rundown what was recently OMWB:
     
    Set of six modified Bachmann bauxite liveried Covhops plus one unfitted grey one weathered. I have renumbered the six bauxite ones using the Cambridge Custom Transfer sheet BL35h suitable for wagons in the Tunstead to Northwich limestone pool. All the existing panels and printed markings were removed with thinners and cotton buds. I used five of the 38-500 plain bauxite models and one of the BIS 38-502 version. The BIS one will take a lot more effort to remove the markings but at the time it was the only version I was able to buy. The six bauxite wagons have had all the unwanted underframe detail removed as per Alan Monks recent article on the unfitted through vacuum piped wagons in Rail Express Modeller. I just need to finish off the brake rigging and add the push brake shoe parts using the Parkside parts.
     
    I wanted to have the seven wagons running in time at the recent Hazel Grove MRS exhibition and managed to finish them bar weathering up the six bauxite wagons. They looked good running round and being shunted on the yard on the clubs Hazel Valley layout. Quite a few punters looking and pointing at them.
     
    This photo shows the six wagons before the existing printing had been removed but the underframe mods completed. Lurking in the background on the right are a partially complete Parkside open wagon, Bachmann 27ton conversion and a Chivers 21ton coal open. Above is one of the old Ian Stoate Models ICI hopper wagons in N gauge I picked up at a model show and have undercoated.
     

     
    Next photo shows the sole grey Covhop alongside my Hornby Sentinel which is in the process of receiving faded ICI Mond orange, grey and white livery. Behind the ex Bachmann TTA Mobil tank body there are a pair of Bachmann HEAs awaiting repainting into Sector grey with RF Distribution logos special one off livery that a pair carried. To the right are two of my Hornby HAA to CBA covered lime hopper conversions.
     

     
    Final photo of the fiddle yard part of my Speedlow layout with my test DCC loco 37688 appropriate Buxton number but wrong livery lol! Along with some recently purchased Bachmann PCA Metalair tankers. These are lovely wagons. I have a small part to play in getting these produced by Bachmann following a suggestion made to them a long time ago 2008 or so I think. Oh well at least they eventually got produced. In the background are six of the old High Peak Casters kit models of the ICI hoppers I managed to find and purchase at a recent Bolton Reebok sorry Macron toy fair swapmeet. They need a lot of fettling up and work doing on them...
     

     
    Cheers Paul
    Edited: 1st April 2023 missing images restored.
  9. pharrc20

    Issue 1 - OMWB

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hello, welcome to my blog in which I will hopefully be able to share some of the things that I am modelling when time allows.
     
    I tend to have several projects on the boil at once and this often means I swap around doing different models as time and resources allow. My workbench at present has several different modelling projects on the go and the active ones are as follows:
    #Hornby Sentinel shunter - to be repainted into ICI Mond Orange, grey and white livery as per real shunters that wore this livery when working at ICI Tunstead quarry.
    #Bachmann Covhops - using the vacuum disk-braked bauxite version of the model I am converting these to through vac piped bauxite liveried wagons as per the recent article in Rail Express Modeller
    #Lima PCAs - some long-overdue repaints and renumbers for some friends. These have been stripped and repainted and need numbers, data panels etc. applying to them and new small size couplings replacing the original Lima big D couplings.
     
    Other projects in boxes include some Hornby HAA conversions to CBA lime hoppers; Hornby KFAs weathered up ready to become Greater Manchester binliner train with WildBoarModels excellent binliner containers; a pair of Bachmann HEA hoppers being repainted into a one off Railfreight General sector livery; kit wagons from Parkside and Chivers to be used as static abandoned wagons on my layout Speedlow; plus some resin and brass kits of ICI hoppers; plus a few more!
     
    My other modelling is related to my own layout that I have slowly been building for the past couple of years and is based on Railfreight operations in the Buxton area around 1989 to 1991 and will therefore feature lots of lovely private owner air-braked wagons plus lots of lovely Buxton allocated 37/5s plus visiting locos from 20s, 31s and 47s as appropriate. The layout is now at the stage where all the track has been laid and wired for DCC and tested for the first time to make sure it all worked correctly. The next stage will be to start ballasting the track then onto the scenic.
     
    So a wide variety of stuff on the go for me!
    Cheers Paul
    Edited: 1st April 2023 missing images restored.
  10. pharrc20

    Issue 3 - OMWB

    By pharrc20,


    OMWB
    Hi All, following on from Issue 2 and the photo of the six bauxite Covhops that I was in the middle of converting and renumbering I have now taken a photo of the six as below. Just need to get some of the Parkside parts or have a look at home in Stockport to see if I have any filed away somewhere that I can use. I have weathered up the underframes and just need to do the same for the bodywork to make them all lime stained as per the real wagons.
     

     
    A closer look at the CCT transfers they certainly look the part
     

     
    Lurking in another box is this pair of lovely Buxton allocated 37/5s 37677 in Railfreight Red Stripe livery along with 37682 in Railfreight Construction. These are Lima bodyshells mounted on Hornby Railroad 37 chassis to allow an upgrade from the old Lima pancake motors and as the HR 37 is DCC ready I have chipped them both. I just need to weather the chassis and bogies and put some Kadee couplings on and then these will be ready. I know they don't stand up to the more modern Bachmann 37s but it seemed a shame to waste the Lima bodyshells when I had gone to all the trouble of repainting and renumbering them all those years ago. I have three more the same just need to get some chips for them and they will soon be up and running
     

     
    Aside from doing more work on my Speedlow layout I need to try and get on with some of my wagon projects so I will have at least something to run on the layout.
     
    Cheers Paul
    Edited: 1st April 2023 missing images restored.
  11. pharrc20

    Issue 4 - OMWB

    By pharrc20,

    Hi folks, I know it has been a while since my last issue but life and work got in the way.
     
    Quick update on the Bachmann Covhops I now have my rake of 12 wagons thanks to the timely re-release by Bachmann of their models and my 40th birthday money which allowed me to purchase the extra 6 from local model railway shops SMTF and Arcadia. These will be converted with new transfers as per the first batch of six using the remainder of the CCT sheet. I made a trip down to Somerset just after my birthday and popped into the Bristol Thornbury show on the Sunday afternoon and managed to purchase some replacement whitemetal self-contained buffers for the Covhops. I am in the process of removing the Bachmann buffers ready for the new whitemetal buffers to be added once the old plastic buffer shanks have been snipped off and pared back. The new buffers will just need a quick clean-up of any flash then they will be ready for affixing to the headstocks.
     
    Back in February I went to Glasgow show and picked up some Parkside PA07 unfitted Morton underframe packs. I have removed a set of the brake rigging as per Alan Monk's article in the June 2014 issue of Rail Express Modeller and I am modifiying them to fit as per Alan's notes and secure them to the brake lever cross shaft.
     
    Once that is done I will look at fitting some whitemetal vacuum-brake pipes on the headstocks to represent those forming the through vacuum pipes. Then lots of limestone wash weathering ought to make them look the part behind a grimy 8F with a fitted brake van on the end.
     
    On the Speedlow layout front all of the ballasting was completed. Now the layout is back home I need to create some space so that I can make a start on the scenery and work towards the Hazel Grove Exhibition at the end of October where the layout will be shown for the first time as an operational work in progress layout or however advanced it is by then! Still lots of stock locos and wagons to work on so the dining table will have to do for now when I am doing such work.
     
    Cheers Paul
  12. pharrc20

    Issue 10 Speedlow

    By pharrc20,

    Another long overdue update and to be honest not a great deal has happened with the layout itself it remains in store at home. I did get round to removing the legs and intended to rework these to make them longer by adding extention pieces to raise the overall height of the layout nearer to the 40 inch mark. Just need to make that trip to the local wood shop...
     
    I have been fortunate to have inherited an old kitchen table to use as a workbench that my partner wants me to use. This has allowed me to do more work on the existing buildings and newly acquired Walthers kits to expand the quarry structures as needed and bash the kit parts around. So progress has been made on that front.. photos to follow.
     
    On the rolling stock front I made a decision to standardise on Bachmann 37s and to this end have acquired some additional models to enable me to model all of the Buxton allocated 37/5 fleet with some visiting classmates. I still need to source a sector grey Hornby 60 to enable 60011 to be modelled in Construction livery. Sadly some of my Hornby 31s have perished due to that damm mazak rot $#!+ grrr!! I've said it on the thread surely some 3d whizz could knock up a replacement chassis so you could swop them over??
     
    Although freight stock dominates the layout I have managed to acquire a Bachmann BR blue grey class 101 to run with my class 108 on a proposed railtour rambler... oh and a Dapol 122 bubblecar for route learning. A short railtour rake of Mk1s and 2s will follow..
     
    As for the wagons.. still no progress on doing my PGAs need to get going on the Portrait cutter for those to make the bodies.
     
    The Hatton's/Oxford Rail I.C.I. Hoppers have been well received and I have a happy quantity of these for use on the layout. I am tinkering with these to add in missing detail on them to make them suitable for my 1989-1991 time period. They seem to have had a lot of stick over the weathered versions and yes it wasn't what had been shown but me being me I have put my money where my mouth is and brought a good quantity of them. I don't know what will happen next given that the last 2 models of the planned 20 were cancelled/not produced and no proper explanation from Hatton's on that which is a shame. I have a hunch that OR will release them again at a higher price soon. Having waited a long time since the old solid resin models for a decent model to be produced there was no way I was going to let these pass.
     
    I have a liking for oddball wagons so have some MEAs to backdate to the trio of SJAs.. yes I know they never made it to the real Buxton area but it is my layout so rule one and all that. I am mulling over getting a pair of Kernow PRA models again for a what if scenario once they had finished in clay traffic a pair were trialled in lime traffic..
    Likewise the Accurascale PCAs are very tempting as well.. especially the STS grey ones they would look rather nice under the powdered cement silo loader I have built..
     
    So lots to do. Yes my modelling mojo isn't quite on full throttle so I will just have to do what I can. If anyone knows of a secure rent free well lit dust free workshop in Hazel Grove or Northwich let me know min 20 ft long lol. No planned outings for the layout it needs a lot more scenic work doing on it to get it anywhere exhibition standards.
     
    Cheers for now Paul
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