Castle Aching

[sem34090]

Hmm, yes. A much better suggestion, but still flawed as you suggest! And offering free relocation is hardly a sound suggestion either...

[St Enodoc]

51 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

The same dilemma afflicts many SG preserved railways, although some individual stations do retain a bit of atmosphere, and Horsted Keynes has regained some since it ceased to be the terminus of the Bluebell; between trains it is almost possible to believe.

'Twas always so mid-week. 15 minutes of leisurely activity and 45 minutes of nothing - with an extra hour of nothing at lunchtime. Lovely.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

7 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Plaid Cymru MP 

 

As a matter of interest just what is the pattern of the Plaid Cymru plaid .........

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

3 hours ago, sem34090 said:

 

 

 

 

You expect me to believe that the reason you are not carrying your season ticket is that the dog ate it ........... 

[Edwardian]

Hoping everyone is well.

 

I don't like Mondays (no need to tell me why).

 

 

Yesterday was a good day, the weather relented and I had a cracking walk with the dogs and children, so I'll live in that moment for preference. 

 

 

Modelling has been the victim, for many weeks, of many distractions and of my somewhat withdrawn state.  No 'mojo', as they say. The only 'modelling' I'm sorry to say, has been of the chequebook variety, with the new Terrier arriving and prospective locos on order from OO Works, and, for an eventual Barnstaple Town, a couple of kit-build commissions.  

 

This, I am sure, is my perverse reaction to the economic impact on my practice of the Plague; I ruefully have in mind Nancy Mitford's "Uncle Matt", who, IIRC, responded to every financial crisis in his affairs by buying a brand new motorcar.  

 

Speaking of Mitfords, I see a (literally stark staring mad) Nazi has appeared on these pages.  A reminder of the depths of depravity to which it is always possible to reach if once we set off down the wrong path. I'll say no more!

 

Actually picked up a model railway mag briefly at the weekend (I have allowed three months' worth to accumulate unread), so, perhaps, the first flickerings of my dampened fires of enthusiasm?

 

Let's hope so. 

 

[Annie]

Now that is a landscape that invites a cracking good walk James.  May you return to it as often as is needed.

[Edwardian]

31 minutes ago, Annie said:

Now that is a landscape that invites a cracking good walk James.  May you return to it as often as is needed.

 

Yes, it did, and down in that valley it all felt a bit Middle Earthy.  A certain atmosphere that no doubt the camera cannot capture. There are just some places ...

 

Still. all good Nature Notes for modellers, too!

 

 

 

 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

Actually picked up a model railway mag briefly at the weekend (I have allowed three months' worth to accumulate unread), so, perhaps, the first flickerings of my dampened fires of enthusiasm?

 

Hope the ones at the bottom haven't turned into mulch with all the rain...

 

39 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Yes, it did, and down in that valley it all felt a bit Middle Earthy. 

 

 

 

Is that a Hobbit in the distance?

 

36 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Still. all good Nature Notes for modellers, too!

 

Part n. "How to make a realistic tree"

Part n+1. "How to make a realistic stream"

 

Etc.....

 

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

This, I am sure, is my perverse reaction to the economic impact on my practice of the Plague; I ruefully have in mind Nancy Mitford's "Uncle Matt", who, IIRC, responded to every financial crisis in his affairs by buying a brand new motorcar.  

 

You're not the only one.  Retail therapy is all very well until you've clicked the "Buy" button*. 

 

* Or woken in the Cold Light Of Day...

 

 

[wagonman]

42 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

You're not the only one.  Retail therapy is all very well until you've clicked the "Buy" button*. 

 

* Or woken in the Cold Light Of Day...

 

 

 

Retail Therapy so often ends with Buyers' Remorse. Hasn't happened yet with these two, the motive power of the Cwmtowy Mineral Railway...

 

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by wagonman

[Annie]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Yes, it did, and down in that valley it all felt a bit Middle Earthy.  A certain atmosphere that no doubt the camera cannot capture. There are just some places ...

 

Still. all good Nature Notes for modellers, too!

 

 

 

 

Beautiful pictures James.  Thank you for sharing them.  There are similar landscapes here in the Waikato,- not that I'm able to get out and about in them anymore which is disappointing to say the least.

[Edwardian]

Sailed the Bay of Fleas this evening and landed a catch.

 

Not without issues, but I think it might be the basis of a Y14 for Castle Aching.  

 

I'm aiming for two Y14s ultimately. One would be one of the 5 dual-fitted 'blue goods' of 1899, so it can work both GER and WNR passenger/fitted stock. 

 

The other, probably an earlier series 1880s loco, would be for goods.  Unfortunately, at our period (1905) goods engines on the GE were black and unlined, but the passenger engines were lined ultramarine, and you can't have everything in life! 

 

Anyway, the Bay of Fleas presented a candidate for the latter, black, loco.

 

Second-hand kit-built locos are a nightmare, as there are almost always errors. This one was built by someone who, I think, got it mainly right. As such, it's a reasonable good basis for back-dating to GE condition. I should add in fairness to the builder, the LNER details are correct for the condition portrayed, but obviously not for the condition I want. Fox do the GE transfers, I think.

 

The photograph below I have annotated so that it pretty much sums up the pros and cons so far as I can tell. The difficulties I foresee will be removing the smokebox door and altering the shape of the tender frame cut-outs.  Any suggestions on technique gratefully received.

 

[Buhar]

Hmm.  For the cut-outs maybe make a plasticard template for the hole sealed with sellotape or cling film, fix inside hole at the desired location (little dab of superglue so it can be removed later).  Stick more plasticard behind the frames to make a solid base behind the holes and then use filler to build up level before removing the template which should,'t stick to the filler.  Bit like filling windows on plastic coach conversions.  Rub down with sanding sticks.

 

If the smokebox door can't be levered or pushed out (and that model looks well constructed, probably with solder) you might have to lose it by pushing a soldering iron through the centre and then nibbling and filing away to the edge you want.

 

Alan 

 

 

[wagonman]

Presumably the backs of the coupling rods are plain so you just need to swap them over L>R. No?

 

 

[Edwardian]

4 hours ago, wagonman said:

Presumably the backs of the coupling rods are plain so you just need to swap them over L>R. No?

 

 

 

I would hope so.

 

Not quite sure how the crank pins are fixed, removed and re-attached, but it should be possible.

 

Likewise, altering the smokebox handrails is fiddly but straightforward. 

 

Hence it's the tender frame, which I suspect is etched, and prising off that smokebox door that bothers me ....  

 

I almost did not bid, actually withdraw the bid at one point, because of the two hard-to-fix issues, tender frame and smokebox door.  I then reflected that the Hornby model, where you have more work to do and start with the additional joy of non-radial boiler handrails, was likely to prove a mare to correct and back-date! 

 

EDIT: It looked to me that the wheels lacked balance weights, which would also be correct for a Worsdell series Y14.  As I say, pros and cons, but virtually all J15 models out there, where RTR or kit-built, are late LNER or BR condition, so, really, the best thing to do is find an unbuilt kit if you can. I, on the other hand, am unskilled, time-pressed and enjoy the hunt for old models.

Edited October 6, 2020 by Edwardian

[Nearholmer]

8 hours ago, Buhar said:

If the smokebox door can't be levered or pushed out (and that model looks well constructed, probably with solder) you might have to lose it by pushing a soldering iron through the centre and then nibbling and filing away to the edge you want.

Aaaaaagh!!!

 

Talk about medieval barbarity!

 

I winced as I read that.

 

Engines have feeling too, you know?

[Edwardian]

Of course, I then have to find, or make, or have printed, a dished smokebox boor. That is a challenge in itself.

 

On dished doors ... nothing, to my mind, looks better on a Victorian locomotive, and nothing ruins the face of one like the protruding replacements successor CMEs insisted on foisting on them. Churchward did it to Dean locos, but the worst offender was surely Deeley, who really had to have hated Johnson to do what he did to the front of his locos!

 

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by Edwardian
spelling!

[Hroth]

As far as the fluted rods are concerned, perhaps a bit of delicate filing/sanding could take off the outer edges, if that wouldn't thin the rods too much. Otherwise fill the flutes in with the filler of choice, sand down, seal, rust and weather to change the appearance?

 

[Compound2632]

Alan Gibson rods, if the wheelbase is correct? (possibly storing up trouble with binding putting new rods on an old engine.) Are they currently on the right way round, joint leading?

 

It would, I think, be quite an achievement to solder the smokebox door on neatly from the inside so I'm willing to bet it's glued.

 

Proof of the pudding...

[Edwardian]

More on GER locos....

 

Remember the 134 Class? 

 

We had a bit of a chat about GER 0-4-4Ts last autumn.  There were several iterations, starting with the Johnson 134 Class in 1872.

 

To recap, the 134s, originally suburban tanks,  had larger (5'3"-5'4") coupled wheels than their successors, and this, and the wheelbase, favoured another hack from the Dapol-Hornby 14XX. 

 

It  seemed worth considering this because, though they started to be withdrawn from 1902, the last did not go until 1912 and they had been put out to pasture in Norfolk.  They were at work in east of the county, working Norwich-Lowestoft, but the existence of the WNR might give them services to run in the west on local connecting services.

 

I entered a 134 on the list of GER motive power for CA and purchased the monograph on GER 0-4-4Ts by Geoffrey Pember.  Me, being me, I have let almost a year go by without giving the matter another thought.

 

As a result of my idleness, I have been rewarded.  I finally got round to opening the latest GERS Journal and found a detailed article devoted to the class. So, at least I will not be short of information, photographs and drawings. 

 

 

  

[Compound2632]

I don't think it'll be feasible to backdate a Bachmann 1532 Class for this!

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

It would, I think, be quite an achievement to solder the smokebox door on neatly from the inside so I'm willing to bet it's glued.

 

Proof of the pudding...

 

Or even proof of the prodding?

 

Saunters off, whistling....

 

 

[Edwardian]

17 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

I don't think it'll be feasible to backdate a Bachmann 1532 Class for this!

 

No!

 

A quite unnecessarily expensive option, too.

 

BTW, I thought of you when I found the article this morning; if you want a scan to add to your store of SW Johnson lore, just let me know.  The 134s utilised a bogie design by W Adams, who, of course, then succeeded Johnson on the GE. There is some discussion in the article of how it offered an improvement on the Bissel Bogie. 

 

Turning to the Bachmann Midland 0-4-4T, I have not kept up with this, but saw a small colour picture of the MR livery version in a retailer's listing over the weekend.  May I ask if you have reached any conclusions about the merits of the model and what condition it represents? Is there a Deeley front end, and, if so, does that need dealing with?

 

I realise that it is not a match for the 0-4-4Ts swapped with the MGN, and that was from 1906 in any case, and CA is nominally 1905, but there is always the possibility of MR engines working through to CA and I like to support pukka pre-Grouping releases, pour encourager les autres. 

 

Returning to the Johnson Class 134, its genesis was in the GER extensions in London, including the new inner-city Liverpool Street terminus. To fulfill this need, Johnson looked to his T7 0-4-2T, a sort of branch line engine, and decided just to make a bigger version.  As has IIRC been mentioned here before, that led to the 134s being the first side tank 0-4-4Ts in the country (previously back tanks (i.e. combined with the bunker) had been favoured).

 

Now the Colne Valley Neilson was essentially to T7 drawings, and that is the basis for WNR No.1, currently being slowly hacked out of a Dapol-Hornby 14XX. 

 

So, you can see how we get to the possibility of hacking a 134 out of same 14XX model. 

[Compound2632]

17 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

BTW, I thought of you when I found the article this morning; if you want a scan to add to your store of SW Johnson lore, just let me know.  The 134s utilised a bogie design by W Adams, who, of course, then succeeded Johnson on the GE. There is some discussion in the article of how it offered an improvement on the Bissel Bogie. 

 

Turning to the Bachmann Midland 0-4-4T, I have not kept up with this, but saw a small colour picture of the MR livery version in a retailer's listing over the weekend.  May I ask if you have reached any conclusions about the merits of the model and what condition it represents? Is there a Deeley front end, and, if so, does that need dealing with?

 

I realise that it is not a match for the 0-4-4Ts swapped with the MGN, and that was from 1906 in any case, and CA is nominally 1905, but there is always the possibility of MR engines working through to CA and I like to support pukka pre-Grouping releases, pour encourager les autres. 

 

 

Thanks - that would be very interesting. Perhaps it will spur me on: I never did get round to writing up the 0-4-4Ts in my topic on the influence of Johnson's GER designs on the engines built early on in his superintendency at Derby - that topic Snowballed off in a different direction! 

As far as the Bachmann model goes, it looks to me as if it should only need its early Deeley flat smokebox door replacing with the Johnson type and possibly a Johnson 3'7" chimney, depending on what actually appears - there is a difference between the photos we've been shown of the non-sound and sound-fitted versions. I have the non-sound version on pre-order from our friends in South Yorkshire. (As a non-DCC person, I'm quite happy making my own noises, even if it worries the rest of the family. Toot! Toot!)

 

The three engines loaned to the M&GN were 6 Class Nos. 142-4 - the first of Johnson's Midland 0-4-4Ts; they had smaller water and coal capacity than the 1532 Class which I think means that the tanks and bunker were not as tall - that would be the principal handicap in converting the Bachmann model. The bogie was different too, being 5'0" wheelbase with 2'9" wheels; 3'0" wheels were used on the next class, 1252 Class - the odd ones out, with 5'6" drivers - then the wheelbase was increased to 5'6" for the 1532 Class. There's a bit of a story there, which I'll reserve for the other topic.

[Edwardian]

Someone on the radio commented today that it is 100 days since the first local lockdowns here in the UK.  The infection rate is still climbing, though perhaps the rate of increase is slowing. The position is, perhaps, a little unclear. It would help if Government had an up-to-date version of Excel that did not crash and lose the data. 

 

Looking back at all that has been achieved in the last 100 or so days, I reflect that it is testament to what can be brought about by the iron will, organisational brilliance and dynamic leadership of a single Great Man.

 

After all, given a similar span of time, all Napoleon Bonaparte managed to fit in was the, more or less, single-handed invasion of a major European nation, the seizing of the reigns of power, forming a government, organising mass conscription and building, training and equipping an army, marching into Belgium and winning a victory to  separate his enemies before the Congress Powers could co-ordinate an attack on France, fought and lost a major battle, retreated to Paris, abdicated and caught a lift from the Royal Navy.  

 

A Trump supporter on World at One today has articulated the idea that the President's infection was a deliberate attack. The equation Idiot + Vote = Trump holds good, it seems. Anyway, I for one am glad that he's out of hospital and apparently much improved, if only in health. I hope he makes a full recovery, though with the 10-day lag before the virus hits its victims with renewed fury, depending upon when the Donald came down with it, he could be in for an interesting weekend.

 

Anyway, enough of that as there is far more important news today .... apparently shoulder pads are back!

 

 

 

Although I am not rushing to insert them into my Zoom shirts (of which I have none), I'm pretty sanguine.  Eighties revivals I can cope with .... anything that isn't flares  or platform heels...

[Nearholmer]

6 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

A Trump supporter on World at One today has articulated the idea that the President's infection was a deliberate attack.

 

I thought that the best part of that was the BBC interviewer's response. She was so utterly flabbergasted by what the chap was saying that her flabbergasted hesitation said "What are you talking about, you completely deluded lunatic?" more clearly than any words.

 

(BTW, see my post of several days ago forecasting that particular conspiracy theory)

 

Edited October 7, 2020 by Nearholmer