The Oak Hill Branch - LBSCR / SECR 1905ish - New layout starts on page 129

[BlueLightning]

It's livestream day! and tonight we will be fixing the electrics on the LB&SCR C2!! Joi us tonight to see how I get on, and if I can manage to get the loco running!!

 

See you there,

 

Gary

 

[BlueLightning]

We are LIVE!!

 

https://youtu.be/pFl_RGC0-0E

 

[BlueLightning]

It's livestream day! and tonight will be our 3rd anniversary livestream! (The actual livestream was Thursday, but we won't let that sour it!) and there will be an announcement during the livestream, bet you can't guess what it is!

 

See you tonight at 9pm (GMT)

 

Gary

 

 

[BlueLightning]

We are LIVE!!

 

https://youtu.be/x8oOPqFqa6c

 

[BlueLightning]

RMWeb is back YAY! and so is my livestream! (and I'll show off what I did while the forum was down through the week, there's some very exciting stuff)

 

As for right now, it is livestream day, and tonight we will be Tinkering with Terriers! So join us at 9pm (BST) and bring along suggestions of what Terrier you would like to see us tinker with!!

 

See you there!

 

Gary

 

 

[BlueLightning]

We are LIVE!!

 

https://youtu.be/T5H8h-kJTVA

 

[BlueLightning]

Well what a time it was while RMWeb was down, I had to actually do stuff instead of sitting reading about everyone else's modelling (quite a nice change actually, having been forced to sit and read recently after another bout of illness, and another hospital trip)

 

There hasn't been a huge amount of modelling not covered on my livestream, however the section of my living room that houses Oak Hill did get a bit of a revamp with some display cabinets, and some other bits

 

I am very happy with how it is looking (and consider myself rather lucky that I can do that to my living room without objection!)

 

I also built a rather large wooden model of Rocket, which I am now trying to find room for, and it's a lot bigger than I expected!

 

And to finish off this post, I promised that I had exciting news, and I hope I don't disappoint as I announce a brand new range of wagon kits which will soon be available under the Oak Hill Works brand

 

I intend on these kits including everything except the paint, but to achieve this I still need to draw up lots of transfers. The initial kits are all LBSCR and SECR in 4mm, although the plan is to extend this with other scales and companies as time goes on, I will soon be making available a small number of "test kits" for free for people to try out, and provide feedback. So watch this space to see how you can nab one!

 

Until next time,

 

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed,

 

Gary

[ChrisN]

9 hours ago, BlueLightning said:

Well what a time it was while RMWeb was down, I had to actually do stuff instead of sitting reading about everyone else's modelling (quite a nice change actually, having been forced to sit and read recently after another bout of illness, and another hospital trip)

 

There hasn't been a huge amount of modelling not covered on my livestream, however the section of my living room that houses Oak Hill did get a bit of a revamp with some display cabinets, and some other bits

 

I am very happy with how it is looking (and consider myself rather lucky that I can do that to my living room without objection!)

 

I also built a rather large wooden model of Rocket, which I am now trying to find room for, and it's a lot bigger than I expected!

 

And to finish off this post, I promised that I had exciting news, and I hope I don't disappoint as I announce a brand new range of wagon kits which will soon be available under the Oak Hill Works brand

 

I intend on these kits including everything except the paint, but to achieve this I still need to draw up lots of transfers. The initial kits are all LBSCR and SECR in 4mm, although the plan is to extend this with other scales and companies as time goes on, I will soon be making available a small number of "test kits" for free for people to try out, and provide feedback. So watch this space to see how you can nab one!

 

Until next time,

 

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed,

 

Gary

 

Gary,

Will any of these be ex LCDR?  Even if I never get around to building Faversham in 1880, Traeth Mawr Brewery will need to get its hops from somewhere, and they will probably come from Kent in sheeted wagons, or should that be waggons?

[BlueLightning]

Hi Chris,

 

At the moment unfortunately not, but in the future, almost certainly!

 

Gary

[PatC]

Really interested to read of this development Gary. With an interest in things LBSC and in minor independent light railways I've been slowly assembling a collection of suitable pre-group wagons for some years. Looking forward to seeing what you have planned that might mix it up a bit. Good luck 

[BlueLightning]

Thanks Pat,

 

The current LBSC range has 4 types of Open A and some dumb buffered ballast wagons (That managed to stay in service until 1933!) gotta get some Open Ds added next, and then work on brake vans I think, perhaps a Stroudley covered goods van as well, should be able to make up some interesting trains then!

 

Gary

[webbcompound]

Looks interesting. Will there be a website, or will you be selling through e-bay?

[BlueLightning]

27 minutes ago, webbcompound said:

Looks interesting. Will there be a website, or will you be selling through e-bay?

 

There will be a website, possibly even 2, and my brick and mortar shop. As I part own Train Times Model Shop in Eastbourne https://www.traintimesmodelshop.co.uk/ I wouldn't be surprised if I also end up putting them on eBay, as this is something the shop's website is in theory capable of doing on it's own.

 

Still a few weeks away from launch at least, depending on how much time I get to draw up transfers and send them off for printing.

 

Gary

[wainwright1]

Hi Gary.

 

I will be interested in some of these for my Hawkhurst layout which is set in the SE & CR period.

Look forward to seeing your ordering information.

I do not do Ebay.

 

I think that there is a fair range of transfers available on the HMRS Pressfix/Methix Southern wagons sheet. Probably just things like the LB & SCR illiterate symbols and small garters required, the later for coaches if they get added..

 

All the best

Ray

(I hope that they do not come at a Snails pace).

[BlueLightning]

26 minutes ago, wainwright1 said:

Look forward to seeing your ordering information.

I do not do Ebay.

 

Hi ray,

 

eBay definitely won't be a requirement, the first place they will become available easily will be the shops website.

 

I have thought about making them available without transfers, but I am trying to go for an approach that will mean as little "extra" needing buying as possible, and the sooner the better, I'm knee deep in axle bearings, wheels, and NEM couplers!

 

Transfers are all that is left to sort of the initial launch range, so hopefully it won't take long to get them made, but I need to get drawing first! The "initial" wagon, well the one that kickstarted this idea, is an LBSC ballast wagon, which I can't get transfers for at the moment, which is what made me think adding transfers would be a good idea, it also means there will never be a situation that my wagons are being made, but you can't get the right transfers for them.

 

Gary

[Compound2632]

Interesting. I think I'm good on Open As but the SER brake and covered goods wagon look very tempting, biscuit-wise. I already have transfers for the former, from Fox I think...

 

Which diagram is the covered goods wagon?

[RedGemAlchemist]

On 08/04/2022 at 23:50, BlueLightning said:

Well what a time it was while RMWeb was down, I had to actually do stuff instead of sitting reading about everyone else's modelling (quite a nice change actually, having been forced to sit and read recently after another bout of illness, and another hospital trip)

 

There hasn't been a huge amount of modelling not covered on my livestream, however the section of my living room that houses Oak Hill did get a bit of a revamp with some display cabinets, and some other bits

 

I am very happy with how it is looking (and consider myself rather lucky that I can do that to my living room without objection!)

 

I also built a rather large wooden model of Rocket, which I am now trying to find room for, and it's a lot bigger than I expected!

 

And to finish off this post, I promised that I had exciting news, and I hope I don't disappoint as I announce a brand new range of wagon kits which will soon be available under the Oak Hill Works brand

 

I intend on these kits including everything except the paint, but to achieve this I still need to draw up lots of transfers. The initial kits are all LBSCR and SECR in 4mm, although the plan is to extend this with other scales and companies as time goes on, I will soon be making available a small number of "test kits" for free for people to try out, and provide feedback. So watch this space to see how you can nab one!

 

Until next time,

 

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed,

 

Gary

Interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on your progress with this side-project, Gary. If you do any particularly unusual wagon types let me know.

[BlueLightning]

Well I've been a bit quiet lately haven't I, sorry about that, the shop has been filling a lot of time recently, all in good ways, and I can now reveal that we have an exclusive limited edition SE&CR brake van being made for us by Rapido!

 

 

You can pre-order from the shops website here

[BlueLightning]

What's this? An update from Gary? Has he done some modelling for himself? Can't be! Oh but it is!! Remember when I used to post in this thread once a week? Me too, those were good times!

 

So a reminder of where we are! I am starting on rebuilding the layout, we have a framework built, and some nice display cabinets, but I still need to buy the ply for the baseboard top.

 

And we made a track plan, with input from here to help make it better, and I am quite happy with it now, a full size print out has sat on the framework since it was built, the track plan is below as I'm sure you have all forgotten it by now!

 

 

The plan is to build the layout with Peco code 75 bullhead, and I have been buying it from my shop (Shameless plug, don't forget I own a model shop!) and this seems like a great idea, until you notice the 3-way point, which Peco haven't gotten around to announcing yet! So there was only one thing for it! I needed to take all those Full Time Professional Railway Modeller™ skills, and build one, despite having never built a set of points before in my life!

 

Thanks to a donation of C&L parts from @Skinnylinny I was able to try doing just that. I started by printing out a plan for the Peco code 75 3 way point, and stuck some sleepers on it at the correct spacing, and cut them to length.

 

 

This was quickly followed up with the first rail being put down along one side, and the chairs glued. This was done by threading the chairs onto the rail, and using Butanone to glue them in place, firstly at the ends, then from the middle while holding the correct curve in the rail by hand

 

 

With the aid of some roller gauges rails started going down reasonably quickly (actually 2 days after the last picture)

 

 

and just to be sure, one of the ballast wagons I designed (still coming soon, life is full of distractions!), fitted with some Gibson wheels was used to test everything as well

 

 

And just like that (OK another 2 days later) all the fixed rails were in place, and it was time to start the scary part, making the switch rails

 

 

OK that was easier than I thought! (only a 3 hour time jump this time)

 

 

With that done, it seemed like a good time to see how it fit on the layout with the Peco track

 

 

I was very, very happy looking at this, and so it was time to get it finished first by adding the tie bars

 

 

and then the check rails

 

 

With that done, all that was left was to add some dropper wires to the frogs and get ready to lay the track.

 

 

I suppose I had best buy some ply so that I can actually get the layout built now! because that is all the track ready to go!

 

In the meantime I'll go back to doing everyone else's modelling 😛 and keeping myself busy at the shop. For those that haven't seen it posted elsewhere, we are doing another commission through Rapido, this time the LB&SCR E1 in LBSC lined black! The first time this livery has been done RTR. To paraphrase a thread title, black is the new umber! 😛 There's 2 different locos, and only 150 of each, they are already selling well, so just a gentle nudge to pre-order if you want one! (and there are less than 10 of the SECR brake vans left for pre-order!)

 

https://www.traintimesmodelshop.co.uk/collections/the-train-times-collection

 

Until next time,

 

Thanks for looking, and I hope you have enjoyed,

 

Gary

[Caley Jim]

There you go, Gary, building turnouts, even tandems, isn't as scary as it first appears! Well done! 👋

 

Jim 

[BlueLightning]

Thanks Jim,

 

It was quite a scary thing to attempt, and probably not the correct way of starting out with point building, but it went reasonably well, and I feel like I can do more if they are ever needed for anything else!

 

Gary

[Caley Jim]

On 25/11/2022 at 11:43, BlueLightning said:

It was quite a scary thing to attempt, and probably not the correct way of starting out with point building, but it went reasonably well, and I feel like I can do more if they are ever needed for anything else!

As with all turnout construction, the important thing is to make sure that each stage is perfectly correct before you move on to the next.

 

Jim

[BlueLightning]

Yes, there was a lot of testing with my wagon at every stage of the build, and even more "testing" once it was finished!

[MartinM]

Gary you will be doing P4 modeling soon..... 

[BlueLightning]

3 hours ago, MartinM said:

Gary you will be doing P4 modeling soon..... 

 

Only at club 😛 (speaking of, I've just taken something off the 3D printer for you!)