Timara

Thanks James! It's been worth the effort getting it to this stage, I feel! The end is in sight.....

I've realised it's been quite a while since I last updated this thread; lots been happening, but I've either not felt able to post up stuff or just forgotten to take pics... Anyway, progress, finally, on my first 4CEP, which has somehow taken me almost 3 years to get to this stage, having bought it not long after taking the layout on. I've still got the other two cars to finish, but I've long run out of the specific superglue I used for the window frames and my attention diverted to other things (my attention span can often resemble that of a hummingbird on crack, trust me!). Anyway, photos.... It's a little laborious and indeed tedious having to carefully remove paint off the frames, taking care not to lose all of it, but it's worth it in the end! I decided they looked better doing it this way, rather than paint the entire unit and then carefully fixing the frames on afterwards. I didn't want to risk getting glue where I didn't want it to be! Couple of side-on pics of the two vehicles done so far; DMSO(A) and TBCK. The unit modelled is 1562, which was the first CEP I caught on camera; seems to have had an interesting life too, having started out as mostly a BEP and with two very different trailer cars inserted during its lifetime, the TSO being a late-ish phase 2 with different roof vents from the other three cars. I'll cover that in a future post once the rest of the unit is painted up. I'm hoping to have the rest of it ready for painting within the next week or few, so that I can have the whole unit more or less finished by mid-late July. I do, however, have three major concerts to prepare for and give in the meantime, so time is indeed at a premium!

To add to what Gilbert has said about the latest returnees, here are a couple of photos of Curlew, which I hope illustrate some of the minor changes she's had during her sojourn in "works". I have a feeling this is one of the earliest A1s on the layout, but Gilbert will hopefully be able to correct me on that! The original finish was more or less a lightly dusted-over factory finish, with the numberplate having been removed from above the door straps to on top of the original. This area needed tidying up and you'd now never know it had once been like that. The tender crests were changed as well, because they weren't quite in the right place, never mind the right hand one needing to be the "incorrect" forward facing type. I didn't need to bother with changing the cabside numbers, thankfully! There's something deeply satisfying about seeing an A1 in a reasonably clean condition, though not entirely spotless. Even more so in rear 3/4 view such as the image below. Both images taken using my tablet, incidentally. I've shown Gilbert how to use his new phone to do similar, so fingers crossed! With regard to 60046, seeing the original "finish" fall off after application of Isopropyl alcohol was very satisfying indeed. I don't know what the original medium was, but it was not pleasant to look at! At least I know that it's removable without much ado, saving many hours of elbow grease! The tender crests didn't survive, alas, so they were replaced, but the numbers were carefully retained (HMRS on both locos), saving a full renumber. With my stock of numbers now at a premium, anything I can save changing is very much appreciated!

Detail wise, quite a bit better. However, I won't deny the moulded lines all over the boiler and smokebox spoil it somewhat for me. That said, it's certainly less brittle and runs absolutely sweetly, hauling a decent length loaded mineral train with ease, at a snail's pace. Whilst cleaning one of the Bachmann 9Fs today, I set 92195 on a slow crawl around the layout, taking easily 10-15 minutes; absolutely gorgeous runner and faultless in that respect. She will doubtless feature quite a lot during the course of the sequence, but certainly looks like a 9F to me, my thoughts above notwithstanding. Could I justify one myself? I'm honestly not sure......

I'm certainly up for that challenge! Regarding 60007, I do recall all it had done to it, some ten years ago, was just a coat or two of Klear on the bodywork and that was it. Mallard falls into the same category, though the third I did back then has since been properly done; I refer of course to 60013.

Hi David (and everyone else who will find this useful!), Yes, the base model was 60505. Modifications required included new sandbox fillers (not apparent in the photo above, as it's on the driver's side; spare came from the model of 60501), moving the steam collector back to dia.118 position, smokebox numberplate re-sited to the upper door strap (the bolt heads from the original position replicated with 0.4mm wire) and the handrail moved down just a tad. The obvious change is the full repaint and re-line into a more pleasing shade of BR green, though it's not overly apparent on account of the weathering. That's basically it! Cheers, Timara

Really sad news (I wasn't in a fit state last night to digest the news properly when I heard), especially having known him on a personal level for very nearly 30 years. It won't be known too much, but he was very much an honorary uncle figure to me and we did quite a lot of things together, especially with joint modelling projects and our shared interests in real ale and music. Rest in peace, dear friend 😢

Progress on the shed..... The two sides are more or less built, though I'm still deciding upon the final position of the side door on the public viewing side, hence the wider gap in the brickwork under the cladding; the extra brickwork links in with the existing shed. I elected to retain the position Hornby provided on the other side, as it was in what I regarded as a sensible place. I have, however, set it in by 60 thou, instead of flush with the cladding. I realised it was far easier to replace the end with a new one, instead of cutting the existing one about. The opening is 5mm higher, but that means I'll be able to get my hand inside easier to clean the track or retrieve anything derailed in the far depths. Fitting said end in place wasn't as easy as it might sound, but it's gone in without much fuss. I'll cross the bridge of painting when I've done the rest of it. I included a photo with a VGA in place to illustrate the difference in height above. The long siding to the right is due to be extended by a couple of feet, when the new boards are sorted, which will allow electrical continuity along the full length of it for the first time ever. Currently, the last foot or so is dead.....

With my extension plans now starting to gather pace, my attention has turned to the warehouse/shed next to the station. The original one Malcolm built used a pair of heavily modified Hornby HST maintenance sheds, built end to end. Here's a view from two years ago, with my now-weathered 37170 posed with a Cargowaggon. I may yet rebuild this end slightly, to lose the plain frontage above the tracks, which feels a little out of place. I was lucky to be able purchase a brand new one (via a good friend) from a swap-meet for just under a tenner, which is remarkable; these kits are most of 30 years old now and this still had the cellophane on the box! There will be a load of handy spares from this, which I can use on another building I've got planned for the former wasteground by the carriage sidings, but I digress..... The main parts I'll be using are these below, plus some other bits from the roof sections, which I won't be needing as per the original kit construction. Some of that is likely to replace the outer end, as mentioned above. Note that I've already removed the central pillar from the end; it'll need reducing in width as well, in order to match the existing shed. Thanks to using my phone's front camera plonked on the tracks, I worked out that the roof on the existing shed is made from 2 packs of Wills corrugated sheeting. This extension will just need another pack of the same, with associated bracing from plasticard strip, cut to match what's there. This view from a couple of years ago helps to give an idea of all that, plus also putting it in context with the rest of the layout. I may keep it in the current bright blue, but part of me fancies a full repaint....maybe! I'll document the assembly of it all, plus the replacement office building that will go on the non-railway end of it. I'm still pondering what to have, but it won't be the Pikestuff add-on that's currently there. I am open to ideas and inspirations though! Cheers for now.....

A good day out today. Usual thing of spending more than I'd anticipated, but Situation Normal there.... A personal highlight was seeing @St. Simon's layout 'Collingwood' on its first public showing. Thanks very much due to Simon for allowing me to run my sandite unit on there for a while as well, where it certainly looked at home. A photo of said beast in the platform.... As ever, great to see various people I haven't seen in ages, being like the good old social events of the past.

I've managed to find a little bit of time to get on with changing the bogies on my second 4-CEP unit (I have three at present). Rather than doing my usual of just blitzing the lot and showing merely the end result, I thought I'd do a bit of a step-by-step instead, especially as it might potentially be of use to others. This method is also applicable to the original bogies, for anyone who wishes to convert any of the SR EMUs to EM gauge. It may also be useful to those modelling a refurbished CEP in 00, for that matter.... My start point are Bachmann Commonwealth bogies, available as spares from most stockists. As they come, they're designed to go directly under the mk1 loco-hauled coaches in their range, instead of EMUs. First thing I do is drill out the slots to accept the pickup strips, which are modified from their original state (bearing cups snipped off and then the remainder bent back 90º) so that I can use standard length axles (26mm) from the DCC Concepts range, thereby retaining the ability to collect current. I also lightly drill the bearing insides, as the axles can sometimes be a little tight overwise. As can be seen above, I mark out the centreline and slot positions, drill two holes (1.4mm) and join them together. Note the corners of the bogie frames have been rounded off, as per prototype. The next job is to cut some pickup mounts from 80 thou plasticard and bogie pivot hole reducing sleeve from 3/16" OD/1/8" ID Evergreen (226) tube. There needs to be a little gap between the block and the inside edge of the bogie, so that everything fits nice and flat inside. I then take a small segment of the tube out, thread the spacer over a tapered reamer and fix it inside the hole with butanone, adjusting the position of the reamer to make sure it fixes tightly in place. The reason I use this instead of a wooden spike or old paintbrush handle is because the butanone tends to stick to the wood and/or paint and the slightly melted plastic comes off the stainless steel without any issues once fully set. Once all that is nicely set, I trim back the spacer a little more to match the hole in the top of the bogie, drop the modified pickups in place, drill a 0.9mm hole in the block for the little screw to go back in and drop the wheelsets in place. The tail of the pickup spring is slightly trimmed so that it pokes into one of the holes and is soldered in place very quickly, so as not to melt the bogie frame in the process! As can be seen, I blacken the wheel faces with Birchwood Casey's gun blue, using a cotton bud to minimise the chance of it getting on the tread. So, there we have the running gear sorted out. The same method is used for the dummy motor bogie. I'll explain how I do the motor bogie in future post, using the same wheels.

I may well do that.... It's not a major priority though, so by the time one perhaps becomes available, the printing technology ought to be even better than the huge improvements over the last few years!

Quite.... For what was meant to be a "standard" unit, they were anything but! Still, the model is mostly there when it comes to the 466, other than being completely gutless! The mechanism I've put in my Scottish class 324 (fictional) is the same as what is going in the first of my two 465/2s and is more than powerful enough to shift the other three cars along. I'm almost tempted by an unpowered 466 for when I don't want to have a pair of 465s running, but being able to split two units off is more useful and works for the planned sequence. Annoyingly, no. I'd be having enough to do an 8 car in a shot, never mind the 465/0 and /1......

They're quite a different animal from the Met-Cam 465/2s, not least in their body shape, doors and especially windows. I'd be more inclined to 3D print one in kit form, than heavily modify the Hornby model (which isn't perfect in itself!). I'll be honest, I wouldn't mind a couple of 365s myself, as well as a pair of the ABB/BREL 465s. I've got enough on my plate for now though! Hope that helps 💁🏽‍♀️

Indeed I have! Your suggestion of Medway East was exactly what I wanted. It also has a gentle nod to the original name, in having both a point of the compass and a geographical location. I'll be updating the topic in the fullness of time though; I've got work to sort out first!

Thanks Darren! Glad to know some more of his stock has found a further use with you as well. I'll drop Malcolm an email at some point once there's something further to report; might be once I've got the 465 running and indeed the new signs in place. Timara

Good point.... I'm not sure, to be honest. I found a GA earlier today on the SEMG site, as a PDF, but not really what one would want to use for a model basis. The doors would need to be done anew too, as they're quite different. However, there is a guy who's building a 1/32 model of one of these, though I forget whether it's on here or WT....

Thanks Richard! You know, I had this thought in the back of my mind that we'd once discussed this a very long time ago, but couldn't remember if you'd got any further with it. Getting hold of a pair of K class Hornby cars isn't hard, so I'll be very interested to see how your one turns out! I wonder, is there any merit in doing just the window section and having it drop into a parlour car donor? It'd save a full repaint (just the cream to do) and then mean they match the other Hornby cars. Also, saves the hassle of a complete lining job (really not something I want to do if I can help it!). I've done a few cars like this, where you'd never even see the join, so it can potentially be done....

Way back in my teens, it was always nice to see the VSOE on the odd occasion it was running. Invariably it would have the ubiquitous RES 47/7 on the front, but occasionally Clan Line. Back then, it was only really possible to model the 1928 cars in the rake, with the others being rather harder or even downright impossible. Fast forward a couple of decades.... I've been very lucky to acquire the first 6 cars of the train I'd like to model, all of which at highly advantageous prices (roughly £25 each). The last two I'd like to do are likely to be the hardest, given nobody does a kit and least of all in the condition they're now in; the 1951 U type cars. Anyway, the six I've currently got, from oldest to newest: Minerva; 1927 parlour first. The three recently produced 1928 Queen of Scots cars; Ione, Lucille and Zena. Finally, the two (at the time) 1932 ex-Brighton Belle kitchen firsts; Gwen (to become Audrey) and Mona (to become Vera). All six require new bogies and a lot of changes to the underframes, notably truss rods on the 1928 cars as well as battery boxes and other kitchen equipment on the Belle cars; correct pattern buffers and gangways are also required, amongst everything else. All need ETH and air-braking details too. Having completed three rakes of Pullmans for Gilbert Barnatt of 'Peterborough North' fame, it was only natural I'd eventually want to do one for myself; the bug bit me hard, one might say! There will doubtless be more on these as I manage to find time to work on them, but other things are rather more a priority!

Thanks Mark! There's a chance I probably saw you at a show or few when it was on the road; as it happens, I'm never getting rid of the old sequence cards, as it's part of the history of the layout. They're going to assist me in devising the new one, to a degree. It was be different having a continuous run, for sure, but I've decided one or two of the operational "headaches" will stay as they are, because one has to keep operators on their toes.... Cheers, Timara

Don't worry, such a thing won't happen! I'm not a football person as it is..... 💁🏽‍♀️

It's a tricky one, as you say. Thing is, given it was the old name for the station, but not for at least the past 100 years, it does work, rather. Brompton East is another thought, though I still like your original one of Medway East.... Hadn't thought of those! That said, I'm very much not a football fan, so I'd probably not go for Priestfield..... One thing is for certain, I won't be using any of the hilarious, but dreadfully smutty names @James Makin came up with (privately) 😂. I'd never be able to take it to a show...!!

I didn't know it had a previous name! Thanks for that. Oh so tempted by "New Brompton".... Choices, choices.....

I'm definitely sticking with the Kent coast mainline as the new location, with a hefty nod towards Gillingham. There's far more scope for stock and modelling, plus the all-important operational side. The intention is to have as busy a sequence as the one Malcolm ran on the original layout; I have that myself, so it'll be interesting to compare the two once it's all up and running as a continuous run layout. Thanks Mike! Wasn't sure how close the arches were to the village itself, but it was only a (very silly!) thought on my part, given the proximity of the (rather larger) town in Bedfordshire to where I currently live....! Seeing some other name suggestions has given me a few ideas, but I do rather like the one you came up with too. Since first seeing it 20 years ago, it's always been one I admired, especially being EM. I didn't expect that one day I'd be the custodian of it! Seeing a sea of NSE and post-privatisation freight liveries on it is bringing back so many fond memories of my late teenage years, it has to be said... I'll be popping up some freight-related developments anon.

Hence why I decided against it! Even if I put (Kent) next to it, it still wouldn't work..... Have to say I'm warming to Mike's suggestion above of "Medway East".... Still plenty of thought to be had!