Tim Lewis

Another milestone reached!! A couple of weeks ago, several friends came round to help "Bridge the Gap" at the rear of the layout, and make a continuous loop (still just one track only). Here's the D11 doing it's thing with a train of 4 Gresley non-corridor coaches: Been watching the trains go round ever since! - must get back to some modelling!

Indeed they do, but it takes great care in assembling: some pictures (and recommendations) on my workbench if anyone is interested: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2050-on-tim-ls-p4-workbench-more-wagons/?p=14860

Dave Bradwell has been threatening a kit for a while, but not sure how far he's got with it.

Right. I don't know whether this is going to work or not, as I'm new to this YouTube lark. Hopefully this will link to a video: Not the most exciting video, but it does prove a point! Apologies for the dodgy camera work and the focus issues: still figuring out how best to take video on my DSLR. Cheers for now.

Hi Tom, Pretty sure no one does a kit. I scratch built a couple a few years back, see here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2050-on-tim-ls-p4-workbench-more-wagons/page-1&do=findComment&comment=31401 I got some hopper door castings from David Geen, the rest is basswood, plasticard, Ambis levers, Masokits W-irons etc. The buffers are wrong, but nobody does (to my knowledge) the correct ones ready sprung (and they're tricky to make): I had a go at modifying some loco ones, but they're still too long. I will correct it 'sometime'. Cheers for now.

"Take me to the bridge" as James Brown was fond of saying! A bit more progress. I've made a bridge deck for the 'gap' at the Kelso end of the station that also copes with the different alignments of the scenic and fiddle yard boards (there's one sleeper missing at the board join). This is fine for current purposes but will probably end up getting replaced at some point. I've also completed laying the down line throughout the scenic section (with the exception of the curved switch blades for the turnouts): With some wiring lash-up under the boards, this allowed me to run a train from here (note subtle product placement!): all the way to the bridge: This was a bit of a milestone, and I ended up running it backwards and forwards about 20 times! I took a video (not of all 20 trips), but I don't know how to upload it.

Ordered some baseboard alignment dowels and some other bits from Station Road Baseboards website on Thursday evening. Package arrived Saturday morning! Excellent service.

Willpower failure!! I should be trying to finish off the existing wagons in the pickup goods (which now "only" need roofs, underframe painting, sprung buffers and couplings), but the desire to start something new got the better of me. This is a Dave Bradwell LNER single bolster (Dia 197 I think). Quite an interesting build - you need to take your time as the fit of parts is very precise and there's little or no room for any stray solder. The bolster itself I found very fiddly, but got there in the end (although I'm not sure it would stand up to very close scrutiny). Here's another view: Just the shackles/chains and (wooden) floor to do. The problem with single bolsters of course is that one by itself is precious little use, so this will eventually be joined by 3 more to form a 'mini-rake', but with a single, long load. Will probably just do one more for now though, and leave the others for later.

Thanks all for the above comments. Ian, I'd love to take up your kind offer of visiting your layout, though I don't get up that way very often. Not too much to report on Coldstream really, but I have done a bit of "arranging". Way back in Scalefour News 148, issued in July 2006, Gavin Clark wrote an article about his layout Kerrin Basin, and the experience of exhibiting it at Scalefour North 2003. With regard to the fiddleyard he said this: "The fiddle-yard has proved to be partially successful, but one or two changes will be made before its next appearance. Most significantly, pointwork will be moved around to create far more through sidings than in the initial design. Its next appearance is likely to be supporting Tim Lewis’s Coldstream layout when that appears, so a few extensions will be built in, to accommodate this as well." At the time, my (obviously wildly optimistic) plan was to first exhibit Coldstream in around 2007 - ha! Only around 11 years late so far, and counting. Still, better late than never. I now have the curved sections of the old Kerrin Basin fiddleyard, and am in the process of beginning to attach them to the scenic bit of Coldstream, although nothing is fixed in place yet: Since the last lot of posts, I have raised Coldstream up by around 15", so that the track height is around 48". There is a small amount of tweaking to do to get the alignment sorted. Note that, in general, there are more tracks on the curved boards than I will need. However, the down headshunt (i.e. the fourth track that doesn't connect to anything) will need a length of plain track adding to the fiddleyard. This is a view along the layout from the Tweedmouth end (Christmas tree not to scale!): At the Kelso end, the alignment will be something like this: The gap is where the road (A697) passes underneath the tracks: haven't made the bridge yet. This is a longer view: At the Kelso end, the track doesn't cross the baseboard edge at right angles, so there'll be some fiddling necessary to make it fit (probably involving a temporary piece of track): This is an overall view of the layout from the Kelso end: This shows the long gap at the back, which will be bridged by some storage sidings (when I've built them). Precise formation yet to be determined, but the turnouts (to go from 2 tracks to 7 sidings) will probably end up being on the rear curved boards. First priority is to do something "simple" to get one loop all the way round (so I can play trains!). Plenty to do in 2018!

For those of you who found the articles interesting you may like to see some photographs of the Kerrinhead Signal Cabin and the L&Y platform seats in situ at Kerrinhead in this post: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118943-the-kerrin-branch/?p=2643675

Yes, it is. Following on from those two underframes, I've had a go at a tarpaulin bar fitted to a Parkside BR open. Partly due to inherent fiddliness, but mainly because of my soldering ineptitude, this took me a (very) long time. However, as with the underframes, it's a very clever design, and the end result is excellent. Some of the wagons in the pickup goods are beginning to take on their identities: here's the 1/230 fruit van: and the BR 1/208 ventilated van: Notice in the picture above that it has quite 'spaced out' numerals typical of some of the earlier builds of this diagram. However, photographic evidence (see for example a couple of pictures in Geoff Kent's 4mm Wagon Volume 2) shows that they tended to use a different font as well (not sure whether these were transfers or sign-written). Despite being built at Faverdale, to me the font looks more like that used by the LMS rather than LNER. So, on the other side of this van, I used some LMS transfers instead. This makes a nice change, and anyway is typical of the period I'm modelling (slight 'silvering' should disappear once varnished/weathered): The two Rumney underframes are pretty much complete now. I've temporarily 'de-sprung' the buffers awaiting priming. Van bodies have received their base colours: That's about it for now. It's surprising how long all this takes! I should really be doing more on the layout, but I do also want to finish this pickup. All good fun!

Those were my cattle wagons - glad you liked them! Here's a picture of one: I've done 5 of these (more pics on workbench thread if you're interested. I've got a few more Parkside kits in stock still to do but, in the light of more recent information, I need to re-assess the 'balance' between LNER and other types of cattle wagon in my cattle train). These were a fair amount of work, but a reasonable end result. These were of course done before the Oxford model came out. If I were starting again, I'm not sure whether I'd start with a Parkside kit or the Oxford model, as they're probably an equal amount of work to bring up to the spec./standard that I'm aiming for. The errors on the body are irritating, but the main issue with the Oxford model is that, as micklner said, they "made a poor choice" (perhaps because they had already released some 9' wagons and could somehow re-use some stuff?). In my book however, that doesn't really excuse releasing it in incompatible liveries though - you kind of expect manufacturers to do their research properly these days. Using a Bradwell underframe is not an especially pricey way of doing it - they are £15 for two which, if you're going to refine the underframe or add sprung W-irons anyway, isn't too bad - and they are wonderful etches. Incidentally, the picture above shows that, despite what has been said earlier in this thread, you can actually see the partition supports on both sides at once!

Some more progress on the pickup goods. Having got slightly frustrated with the Masokits sub-frames for anything other than Parkside kits, I tried my hand at a Rumney Models underframe (the new 17'6" RCH one (B32) for 9' wheelbase). First time I've built a Rumney one (there are several in the drawer): it is marvellous! Everything fits exactly where it's supposed to with a very minimum of cleaning up of etches required. The design is brilliant: helpful ways of aligning components are 'built-in'. Very enjoyable to build. I elected to leave some of the solebar detailing and spring stops until the end (will superglue on), as my soldering can be a bit ham-fisted. Also used the very neat buffer springing etch - much easier to get softer springing than with my usual methods. This is what it looks like: and with the body loosely fitted (Cambrian LMS un-ventilated van): I was having so much fun I started another, this time the 10' equivalent. I found that this one needed more care in folding up the headstocks, as it can also be built for shock-absorbing wagons, and consequently some of the underframe detail can be visible: this looks great, but is vulnerable to bending when you fold the headstock if you're not careful. Still, a minor thing really. This is what it looks like so far (with a Ratio van body plonked on): These are such excellent products: I will definitely be building more of them.

Woo hoo!!! Finally....finally...finally..... Coldstream has a home of its' own. The cabin in the garden is pretty much complete, and a start has been made in getting the layout set up in there. Here's the room before I moved the boards in (you can click to enlarge on all the pictures if you want): and here are the boards set up. Space for luxuries such as furniture and seating is nice to have, but will diminish as the layout expands: I haven't done any more trackwork for a few years now, so it's still as it was: lots of sleepers laid, but only a few lengths of track, and only about 4ft of it is wired up (albeit temporarily). You can get some idea from this picture: Despite the lack of track, I couldn't resist placing some stock on the layout to give an idea of what it will eventually look like: Some close ups, firstly the coal drop area: D11/2 in the up platform with an Edinburgh-Newcastle via Galashiels and Kelso passenger, goods yard and cattle dock beyond: Then, a J39 arriving on a diverted ECML freight, whilst a J25 prepares a pickup goods: A view from the (double-sided) cattle dock across towards the station. The rake of 3 wagons (open-van-open) towards the right is standing in where the goods shed will be: and a more distant view (sorry about the lack of depth of field). The plate wagon to the left of the LMS brake van is in the end-loading dock. This gives some idea of the width of the layout at the western end: So, still a massive amount of work to do, but at least I now have space in which to do it. In other news, I retired from full-time work a few weeks back (might still do a bit of consultancy - we'll see), so in theory I also have the time as well as the space (although most of my retired friends say that they have less time now they've retired than when they were working). I seem to have now run out of excuses for making progress, so better get on with it!

Lovely loco, but way too early for me. I must get on with those D20s that I bought last winter!

Finally, some progress to report. I've been making an effort to try and finish off various things that have been lurking part-finished on the 'windowsill of shame' (to borrow a rather wonderful phrase from Dave Bradwell) for far too long. Way back in post 19 over 7 years ago , I said I'd made some Masokits wagon sub-frames. These were intended to sit under wagons forming one of the pick-up goods for Coldstream, a combination of Parkside, Cambrian, Ratio and some very old 3H kits. Well, at last, some of the wagons are approaching completion, but not all of them used the sub-frames. I found that the solebar mouldings on the 3H kits and (some) Cambrian ones were too thick: filing them thinner resulted in the moulded W-irons disappearing, and as the sub-frames only include 'pedestal' shapes rather than proper W-irons, this causes a problem and means the sub-frames can't be used. To be fair, Mike Clark does say in the instructions that the sub-frames are primarily designed for Parkside kits. I also didn't use them on the Ratio kits either, primarily because of the way the kits are designed: the solebar moulding includes part of the floor and I couldn't be bothered figuring out how to approach this, so decided to use a different method for those wagons (full Rumney underframes, not yet done). The other irritating thing about the sub-frames is that only a GWR-style brake lever guide is provided, so I used some spare Bradwell ones instead. Anyway, here's some pictures of progress to date: At the rear is the NER brake van (see earlier posts) and 2 LNER unfitted vans. These are old 3H kits which I've fitted with 'normal' Masokits W-irons, brake push rods from Bill Bedford, Bradwell level guide etc. Then there's a Cambrian LMS unfitted D1832A van and a Parkside BR 1/208: Then a Parkside BR 1/230 fruit van and 1/213 plywood van: Next is another D1832A and a BR 5-plank open (which will have a tarpaulin bar): And here's what the train looks like behind my J25: Obviously still lots of bits to do, as well as painting, weathering etc., but it's getting somewhere.

Likewise, ordered a couple of things late on Friday, got a shipping notification Saturday and they arrived in Monday's post. Very good service.

According to the Green Book/Yeadon, twelve J77s were vacuum fitted, from dates between November 1945 and March 1949.

A few more pictures of Kerrinhead for your delectation..... Some passengers have appeared, sitting on some rather fine L&Y seats: A lorry (sorry, I don't know what type) has also appeared, and a horse (don't know what type that is either): This must be the train those passengers are waiting for: The regular 3F has arrived with the branch goods: The goods yard looks busy: Shunting..... Finally (!!!), the Lanky terminus is visited by a Lanky engine (!!!) with an excursion formed of LMS stock: (further Lanky-fication will have to wait for now...) Excursion stock is waiting for the radial tank to run round: ..which it is in the process of doing: Later, an LNWR 2-4-2T arrives with a through train formed of Midland clerestories: Another picture of the 3F shunting the branch goods: And finally for now, a view over the goods yard wall, as both the branch passenger and branch goods trains wait to depart: That's all for now. Remember, Kerrinhead is at the Keighley show this coming weekend, 11/12 March, so if you can make it, why not come and say hello! Cheers for now.

Kerrinhead will be at the Keighley show on March 11/12. It probably won't go out again for a while, say a year or so (but that's up to Gavin not me!)

Only just caught up with this, having been away on holiday for a while. I'm certainly potentially interested in a B16/1, so very interested to see how this works out, and the more construction pictures the better!

I don't have a track plan I'm afraid, but I'll ask Gavin (whose layout it is). However, Gavin's not much of a forum browser/poster (he prefers to spend his time doing some actual modelling ), so it may be a few days before it appears. Thanks for your interest!

A few more pictures.. The 3F is now swapping incoming and outgoing van traffic at the mill: and needs to get out of the way of a Branch Passenger train formed of LNWR stock, about to leave behind a Cauliflower 0-6-0: A bit later, another Through Passenger train arrives: Later still, an LNWR G1 has arrived with empties for the colliery, and will swap these for the full wagons left by the Sentinel earlier (see previous post): One of the mill workers on the top floor must have had his camera with him: Another view over the goods yard wall: Ready for the off: That's all the photos I have for now: may get a chance to take a few more, but possibly not for a few weeks. Hope some of you have enjoyed them, and if anyone is at Keighley (11/12 March) come and say hello.

Here's a few more shots of Kerrinhead... A through passenger train has arrived with an empty horsebox, which is now being shunted to the dock: After this, the branch goods engine heads off with a trip freight to the (off-scene) gasworks, but will be back later... Shortly afterwards, an LMS Sentinel has arrived from the (also off-scene) colliery with the second short rake of loaded coal wagons of the day, and has added these to the first rake left in the exchange sidings earlier (yes, I know they're not all full - we don't have enough coal loads yet!). The Sentinel is preparing to return back to the colliery with the brake van: Some nice terraced housing near the station: The gentle curve approaching the station looks good even without any trains: The station is not quiet for long however, as the 3F returns with the gasworks trip: That's all for now, I'll post a few more either later or in the next day or two.

A few more photos as promised. As it's not my layout, I can wax lyrical about it: I really do think this is developing into something special: why not come and see it at Keighley? A view from the coal drops towards the mill. A 3F is shunting the branch pickup goods (brake van obviously not finished!): There are some great views to be had between the trees over the goods yard wall: ..and again.. There's an interesting shunting manoeuvre where the loco ends up with wagons attached at both ends: Another view from the coal drops: That's all for now. I'll post a few more hopefully tomorrow.