Oak Road - 2013 to present (a fictitious place somewhere in Somerset) - Raising Money for Meningitis Research

[Revolution Mike B]

Merry Christmas everyone, and if you don’t do Christmas, have a good day anyway.

 

I’m having a little break from the train set to spend time catching up with the family and friends. The modelling shenanigans will resume in the New Year.

 

Cheers

Mike

[Revolution Mike B]

Well, I’m certainly feeling very humbled as I’ve been nominated for best RMWeb modeller of the year category!

 

Just to be mentioned alongside Allan, Kevin, James and Tom is as good as winning the award for me!!

 

Thank you to everyone that put my name forward - it means a lot.

[DJTrains]

Well,   Mike only bloody made it onto the shortlist for RMWeb Modeller of the year,  in the British Model Railway Awards...    see the main RMWeb page for the link to vote.     Well Done Mate.....   some pretty tough competition there,  but all the best....   

[Revolution Mike B]

Right, 2019 is here and I've got a lot to do before Steve Flint can come down and take some photos. The Christmas break wasn't very productive on the layout front and there's still some track work issues that I'd really like to get sorted and the fiddle yard point motors need to be modified, or swapped out too.

 

What I did manage to do was get the airbrush out and weather some more of the stock....

 

 

 

I've done all 10 of these....

 

 

and these little beauties...

 

 

....and there's still loads more to do!

[Midnight-Freight]

Seeing as I've taken a lot of inspiration (read that as copied ideas) from this layout I know where my vote will be going.

[ba14eagle]

Hi Mike

Have you any plans to populate your coaches?

[pantrogla]

Seeing as I've taken a lot of inspiration (read that as copied ideas) from this layout I know where my vote will be going.

 

Likewise - the deed is already done - least I can for my unashamed plagiarism of ideas!

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Mike

Have you any plans to populate your coaches?

I’ve started doing a few Iain but they take ages. I reckon I need a few hundred for the charter sets. The Dogbox has a few people in it along with a driver.

[Revolution Mike B]

Thank you everyone that’s voted for me.... it’s really appreciated.

[Revolution Mike B]

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that I'd be using Oak Road to raise money for Meningitis Now, so if anyone would like to donate some money, no matter how little it is, please head over to my Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mike-buick and help me raise money for Meningitis Research.

 

Thank you  

Edited January 10, 2019 by scoobyra

[Iron Horse]

The Dogbox has a few people in it along with a driver.

 

Happy New Year Mike,

 

As you mentioned your dogbox, do you have any problems with it shorting across frogs..............although as I type this I'm guessing your electrofrog anyway? So probably and irrelevant question? It's just mine shorts all the time especially on my medium and curved points, almost like the tyre width is too wide!!!!!!

[Revolution Mike B]

Happy New Year Mike,

 

As you mentioned your dogbox, do you have any problems with it shorting across frogs..............although as I type this I'm guessing your electrofrog anyway? So probably and irrelevant question? It's just mine shorts all the time especially on my medium and curved points, almost like the tyre width is too wide!!!!!!

 

Happy New Year to you to Adrian.

 

The only issue I've had with the 153 is that it ran like a pile of pants until I put a Zimo chip in it and changed the CV settings. Other than that, and sometimes the lights, it's great

[Revolution Mike B]

£160 has been donated towards my Just Giving page! That's just amazing and thank you everyone that's helped out. I've had confirmation this morning that Meningitis Now will be invited to attend RailExNE in 2020 which is great news and thank you Lee Davies for sorting this out.

 

Back to the modelling and I did a bit of work on 37403 at the weekend as I've never been happy with the roof, so I've dirtied it up a bit....

 

 

I'm still not 100% competent with an airbrush but as they say, practice makes perfect. To be fair, I actually prefer this ViTrains Tractor to my Bachmann ones because it's very solid on the rails and doesn't want to fall off every time it gets to a less than perfect piece of track!

 

Also in the spray box (I can hardly call it a spray booth!) this weekend was an old Heljan Virgin 47 that I'd had kicking around for a few years. I've been after a WCR 47/8 to sit on the back end of the charter trains so this seemed like an ideal donor, apart from the fact it has the dreaded Mazak rot! I could've just bought another loco but I'm trying to recycle the stuff I already have and save some money. The cab end hand rails need replacing but here's the progress so far...

 

 

The chassis is absolutely dead so I've filed 1mm of each end - the body still won't go back on so there'll be more filing this evening! The plan is to remove the motor and gears so it's free rolling, and then fit a flashing tail lamp to one end, with the headlights and tails lights fully functioning at the opposite end, along with a sound chip. This will give me three options, a can tow it around on idle, or under power (with the normal tail lights), or stick it on the front of the train under power while being propelled from the rear.

 

I've not really been in the workshop since the beginning of the New Year but hopefully I'll get the chance to do some more scenic modelling when we get back from Chatham at the weekend with Tidworth (if you're up that way, pop over and say hello to Ian, myself and Graham...and possibly Graham's brother and Rhys) but in the meantime, here's a view I'm particularly proud of - even if the grass is a bit dodgy!

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by scoobyra

[Temeraire]

Chatham at the weekend with Tidworth

 

Me and the layout will be in Canterbury feel free to join us!.

[Revolution Mike B]

Me and the layout will be in Canterbury feel free to join us!.

 

What was I thinking?? Yep, we'll be at Canterbury, not Chatham - that was a while ago! 

[P.C.M]

Hi Mike, 

I noticed you mentioned your Bachmann class 37s tend to fall of the track a bit. A common problem with the model is that the centre wheel set does sit a tad lower than the outer wheels sets which makes the bogie rock a bit. I remove the middle wheel set and file out the slot so the wheels sit lower in the moulding which stops the rocking and improves the running. It might not solve your problem but could be worth a go.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Mike, 

I noticed you mentioned your Bachmann class 37s tend to fall of the track a bit. A common problem with the model is that the centre wheel set does sit a tad lower than the outer wheels sets which makes the bogie rock a bit. I remove the middle wheel set and file out the slot so the wheels sit lower in the moulding which stops the rocking and improves the running. It might not solve your problem but could be worth a go.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

Hi Peter

 

I've done that to both of them and it helped a bit but not as much as I'd like. It's a shame I can't convert them to two axle drive like the ViTrains one which I have no issues with at all.

 

Cheers

Mike

[MarshLane]

Hi Mike,

Great to watch you progress with the layout. Enjoy the modern day railway in real life, but not a fan of it in model wise, never sure why. But despite that, Oak Road is one I continually watch and enjoy! Contribution to your very worth meningitis fundraiser done too. If everyone just dropped £1 in it’s a worthy amount I am sure!

 

Really nice idea using the layout to promote that cause. Well done.

Rich

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Mike,

Great to watch you progress with the layout. Enjoy the modern day railway in real life, but not a fan of it in model wise, never sure why. But despite that, Oak Road is one I continually watch and enjoy! Contribution to your very worth meningitis fundraiser done too. If everyone just dropped £1 in it’s a worthy amount I am sure!

 

Really nice idea using the layout to promote that cause. Well done.

Rich

 

Many thanks Rich, it's really appreciated.

[Revolution Mike B]

Well the fund raising has taken off far better than I ever imagined, the Meningitis Now charity have written something for their blog, and I've done an interview for a modelling website, and with the help of the model railway community, it's up to £250 already!! 

 

So, back to the modelling with some other updates from the Christmas break. As previously mentioned, one of the guys from the South Hants club made a buffer stop light for me, which I've now installed, along with a modified buffer stop from Lanarkshire Models. Excuse the blurry iPhone picture...

 

 

I've put it in wonky on purpose as the one I'd seen was leaning to one side, but I'm not sure as it looks like I've not bothered to straighten it up    There's still a bit of work to do on this little area but I'll get around to it eventually.

 

Something else that had been pretty annoying throughout the last year was the track alignment on the up line through the station barrow crossing. As with the down line, I took the sleepers up and realigned the whole lot....

 

 

...no more clonking over the board joint now! I'll put the ballast back in shortly.

 

The point leading in to the headshunt at the end of the stone sidings has been fixed so I can actually run a loco over it now and the final thing I need to do here is alter the alignment of the switch rails...

 

 

The WCR 47 chassis is completely dead so I've taken the chassis out of a LLB one that I got from Rhys and now we have wheels...

 

 

Although I really wanted a LLB 47, this really throws the dummy loco scenario out of the window, so, I'm going to canibalise the two and make one decent loco, I'll be pinching the cab front handrails next to finish it off. Interestingly enough, 804 has plated over jumper lead mounts and no ploughs....but I'm going to ignore my OCD and leave it as it is. 

 

The serious work will start next week in preparation for Railway Modeller....which lead me to this.............

 

 

It's in serious need of some litter, toilet roll, more weeds and some oil stains!! I've already started picking the brains of my talented modelling mates so hopefully I'll be able to make this look as real as I can. Just one thing though (sorry Simon), that AWS ramp still looks too big against the code 75 track!   

Edited January 17, 2019 by scoobyra

[St. Simon]

The serious work will start next week in preparation for Railway Modeller....which lead me to this.............

 

Mainline.jpg

 

It's in serious need of some litter, toilet roll, more weeds and some oil stains!! I've already started picking the brains of my talented modelling mates so hopefully I'll be able to make this look as real as I can. Just one thing though (sorry Simon), that AWS ramp still looks too big against the code 75 track!   

 

Hi Mike,

 

You're right, whilst they are to scale for 4mm:ft scale, they are technically too tall for Code 75 track (real rail height is more like Code 82, so PECOs track is too short) and the fact that 'OO' track is too narrow makes them look too wide!

 

I did have discussions with a work colleague on whether to make them to scale or make them proportional with 'OO' track, but making them to scale seemed more sensible. I might redo them at some point and have too models, one for 'EM' / 'P4' and one for 'OO'.

 

Simon

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Mike,

 

You're right, whilst they are to scale for 4mm:ft scale, they are technically too tall for Code 75 track (real rail height is more like Code 82, so PECOs track is too short) and the fact that 'OO' track is too narrow makes them look too wide!

 

I did have discussions with a work colleague on whether to make them to scale or make them proportional with 'OO' track, but making them to scale seemed more sensible. I might redo them at some point and have too models, one for 'EM' / 'P4' and one for 'OO'.

 

Simon

 

They don't really notice to the naked eye, only to the camera of death. I guess they'd need to be made to HO scale?

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter

 

I've done that to both of them and it helped a bit but not as much as I'd like. It's a shame I can't convert them to two axle drive like the ViTrains one which I have no issues with at all.

 

Cheers

Mike

Hi Mike.

I think the early Bachmann class 37 were two axle drive I think thats why the EM and P4 boys like them over the later Bachmann models.

 

Cheers Peter.

[The Fatadder]

Hi Mike.

I think the early Bachmann class 37 were two axle drive I think thats why the EM and P4 boys like them over the later Bachmann models.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

The mk1 Bachmann 37 was indeed 2 axle drive per bogie, using a truly awful Bo 1 1 Bo design rather than the very good running A1A A1A designs used by Vi Trains and Heljan. 

[Revolution Mike B]

The mk1 Bachmann 37 was indeed 2 axle drive per bogie, using a truly awful Bo 1 1 Bo design rather than the very good running A1A A1A designs used by Vi Trains and Heljan. 

 

There's a lot to be said for just having the outer axles driven Rich.....