Clayton

[Chuffer Davies]

October already, so much to do and so little time to do it!  I have just completed another stage in the saga of the J7 test build.  This time it is the replacement frames for the London Road Model's Type 'D' tender designed specifically to enable the motor to be mounted in the tender.  I must thank Chris Gibbon of High Level Gears for his help.  Not only did he provide some gears for me to experiment with, but he has also explained the maths needed to calculate the gear centres depending on the number of teeth on each of the gears being meshed.  As a result I have been able to design a vertical gear box to take the drive from the motor to a shaft running centrally along the frames set below the level of the fall plate.  Chris expressed particular concern regarding bearings for the drive shaft because it will rotate at the same speed as that of the motor's commutator.  After searching the Net I discovered some small ball bearings available from the 009 Society and so I have mounted the shaft in two of these.  The motor mount is bolted to the frames with 4x10BA bolts and includes the intermediate gear.

 

I came across the motor on Mike and Judith Edge's stand at York.  It is called a 'Cube' motor and measures 16mmx16mmx20mm.  These are 2nd hand motors recovered from I don't know what but are very powerful and free running, and yet are very inexpensive.  I am always very particular about the motors I use but am sufficiently impressed to risk giving this motor a go in my first J7.

 

The following photos illustrate the completed (with the exception of the draw bar) loco and tender frame combination.  The ball and socket universal joint (UJ) behind the gearbox in the locomotive is from Markits.  I have had to shorten it by 4mm to fit in the limited space available but there is still ample length remaining to ensure a reliable drive train. The UJ in the tender is an Exactoscale unit discovered in my spares box but I will need to find a different system for future builds as I'm guessing that these are no longer available.  

 

This first photo demonstrates that with the exception of the motor the drive train is fully contained below the level of the footplate. 

 

 

The next two photos illustrate all the different elements of the drive train.  From left to right these are the High Level Road Runner Compact+ gear box, Markits UJ, the 1.5mm drive shaft, an Exactoscale UJ, 1st ball race, the bespoke High Level vertical gear train, and finally the 2nd ball race.  There are a lot of components which will put many modellers off attempting such a solution but the challenges of the gradients on the Clayton layout have been the incentive to have a go at adopting this approach.

 

 

 

Finally a couple of shots of the tender's frames separated from the locomotive:

 

 

 

The inclusion of a spacer made from double sided copper clad at the front of the tender is because I use the American pick up system for current collection whereby the loco picks up current from the near side rail and the tender from the offside rail removing the need for wire pickups rubbing against the wheels.  The draw bar will carry current from the locomotive's frames to the copper clad spacer.  One of the leads from the motor will then be connected directly to this spacer and the other to the tender's frames. 

 

I can only finalise the length of the draw bar once I have the bodies of both the loco and the tender sufficiently assembled to be able to calculate the gap needed between the two to allow the loco to negotiate 3ft radius curves.  I will therefore put the frames to one side for now and start test assembling the etches for the J7's superstructure.

 

I can't see John Redrup ever selling my alternate tender frames as part of his London Road Model's range but it would be useful to hear from anyone who might be interested in purchasing a set of  frames directly from me to see if there would be any demand for this beyond the Clayton team.

 

Regards,

 

Frank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Michael Edge]

These motors do seem to get a bit warm in continuous use but performance remains good, I'm not going to get too worried about it. They are extremely powerful though (and very cheap!).

[Regularity]

What is their top speed, no load speed, and max current speed?

[Bulwell Hall]

October already, so much to do and so little time to do it!  I have just completed another stage in the saga of the J7 test build.  This time it is the replacement frames for the London Road Model's Type 'D' tender designed specifically to enable the motor to be mounted in the tender.  I must thank Chris Gibbon of High Level Gears for his help.  Not only did he provide some gears for me to experiment with, but he has also explained the maths needed to calculate the gear centres depending on the number of teeth on each of the gears being meshed.  As a result I have been able to design a vertical gear box to take the drive from the motor to a shaft running centrally along the frames set below the level of the fall plate.  Chris expressed particular concern regarding bearings for the drive shaft because it will rotate at the same speed as that of the motor's commutator.  After searching the Net I discovered some small ball bearings available from the 009 Society and so I have mounted the shaft in two of these.  The motor mount is bolted to the frames with 4x10BA bolts and includes the intermediate gear.

 

I came across the motor on Mike and Judith Edge's stand at York.  It is called a 'Cube' motor and measures 16mmx16mmx20mm.  These are 2nd hand motors recovered from I don't know what but are very powerful and free running, and yet are very inexpensive.  I am always very particular about the motors I use but am sufficiently impressed to risk giving this motor a go in my first J7.

 

The following photos illustrate the completed (with the exception of the draw bar) loco and tender frame combination.  The ball and socket universal joint (UJ) behind the gearbox in the locomotive is from Markits.  I have had to shorten it by 4mm to fit in the limited space available but there is still ample length remaining to ensure a reliable drive train. The UJ in the tender is an Exactoscale unit discovered in my spares box but I will need to find a different system for future builds as I'm guessing that these are no longer available.  

 

This first photo demonstrates that with the exception of the motor the drive train is fully contained below the level of the footplate. 

 

IMG_0837.JPG

 

The next two photos illustrate all the different elements of the drive train.  From left to right these are the High Level Road Runner Compact+ gear box, Markits UJ, the 1.5mm drive shaft, an Exactoscale UJ, 1st ball race, the bespoke High Level vertical gear train, and finally the 2nd ball race.  There are a lot of components which will put many modellers off attempting such a solution but the challenges of the gradients on the Clayton layout have been the incentive to have a go at adopting this approach.

 

IMG_0838.JPG

 

IMG_0839.JPG

 

Finally a couple of shots of the tender's frames separated from the locomotive:

 

IMG_0840.JPG

 

IMG_0842.JPG

 

The inclusion of a spacer made from double sided copper clad at the front of the tender is because I use the American pick up system for current collection whereby the loco picks up current from the near side rail and the tender from the offside rail removing the need for wire pickups rubbing against the wheels.  The draw bar will carry current from the locomotive's frames to the copper clad spacer.  One of the leads from the motor will then be connected directly to this spacer and the other to the tender's frames. 

 

I can only finalise the length of the draw bar once I have the bodies of both the loco and the tender sufficiently assembled to be able to calculate the gap needed between the two to allow the loco to negotiate 3ft radius curves.  I will therefore put the frames to one side for now and start test assembling the etches for the J7's superstructure.

 

I can't see John Redrup ever selling my alternate tender frames as part of his London Road Model's range but it would be useful to hear from anyone who might be interested in purchasing a set of  frames directly from me to see if there would be any demand for this beyond the Clayton team.

 

Regards,

 

Frank

 

Very nice work Frank.  This should be a lovely model of a very characterful loco - as a GWR modeller myself I had to google 'LNER J7 class' to see what it looked like and it is delightful.

 

Gerry

[Michael Edge]

What is their top speed, no load speed, and max current speed?

 

No idea, I've no way of measuring any of this, I have fitted them to a couple of locos with gearing to suit the maximum speed of the loco concerned.

[Regularity]

No idea, I've no way of measuring any of this, I have fitted them to a couple of locos with gearing to suit the maximum speed of the loco concerned.

OK, so what gear ratios were used for which locos?

[Michael Edge]

I could find out but I'm a long way from home at the moment.

[Regularity]

Just looking for rough guidance: the motors are a useful size, but that also depends partly on the required gear ratio.

[Chuffer Davies]

There is a well known saying: 'measure twice and cut once', never was this more true than in the test build of the J7.  I'll explain why shortly. 

 

The delay in reporting progress on the test build has been partly due to the complexity of building all the various options that I have provided for in the kit.  The J7 prototype went through a number of material changes over the life time of the locomotive.  The first batch of J7's (374 series) were built commencing 1883 and comprised 6' wide Stirling cabs and 4' 2 1/2" domeless boilers pitched at  7' 2".   By the time the 2nd batch were built they were turned out commencing 1896 the 2nd batch (1021 series) comprised 6' 8" wide Stirling cabs and 4' 5" domed boilers pitched at 7' 3 3/4".  As far as I can ascertain the external diameter of the cladding on both these boilers was the same so externally the locomotives were only differentiated by the pitch of their boilers as the early cabs of the 374 series were replaced with the wider Stirling cab.  

 

Over time those locomotives that survived acquired Ivatt cabs and some also received boilers of 4' 8" diameter similar to those carried by the J3 locomotives.  

 

All of these changes mean that there are effectively three different smokebox options, two different boiler/firebox options, and three cab options all of which have had to be test assembled.  To add injury to insult accommodating the three popular 4mm gauges requires three front splasher options, 2 front spring hanger options, and six different cab interiors (floor and splasher widths). Hence it has taken a few days to build and test fit everything.    

 

On the whole most of the components have been drawn up correctly but there are two glaring errors, one of which that has been replicated across both of the boiler etches.  The top of the Ivatt has an overhang that it shouldn't have and both boilers are (embarrassingly) 7mm too short.  I really don't know how the boiler errors have happened as I already had the correct lengths calculated on my working drawings but somehow in translating the working drawing into components on the fret I have lost 7mm as you can see in the following picture:

 

 

(N.B. I've borrowed the tender from my Q2 for the picture and have still to make a new tender for the J7)

 

On a positive note the width of the boiler cladding is spot on for both of the boiler options covered and therefore I have had only to correct their lengths in CAD.  Of course life is never simple in the world of kit design and such an increase in the size of two large components inevitably has a significant knock  on impact in the number of smaller components that must be re-positioned to create the necessary space.  It took about 2 hours to adjust the two boilers in CAD but about another 5 hours to reorganise the frets.  The artwork will now be dispatched to the etching company and hopefully I will then be able to complete the test build of this model using the corrected components.

 

Other news:  I have nearly completed the under board wiring of the first base board.  Worryingly this has taken about a month elapsed to do so I need to speed up a bit.  This is however one of the most complex boards and many of the boards have significantly less wiring to worry about.  I am currently thinking the whole layout could take me a year to wire unless I can delegate more of it to other members of the group so here's hoping.

 

Regards,

 

Frank

 

 

[chris p bacon]

That still looks very impressive Frank, even allowing for the boiler glitch.

 

I know exactly what you mean about the time taken to lay out a fret, I recently drew a small GN 4 wheel coach and noted the time taken, it then took me the same amount of time to lay it out for etching!

[Chuffer Davies]

That still looks very impressive Frank, even allowing for the boiler glitch.

 

I know exactly what you mean about the time taken to lay out a fret, I recently drew a small GN 4 wheel coach and noted the time taken, it then took me the same amount of time to lay it out for etching!

 

Thanks for your encouragement Dave,  Looking at the photo again and comparing it to the photo's of the prototype I am now also thinking the Ivatt cab looks squat as the top of the roof should be obviously higher than the coal rail on the tender.  Unfortunately I don't have any drawings of the J7 with an Ivatt cab and so I am going to have to project the height of the cab by importing a photo into CAD and I will then attempt to convert this into an isometric projection from which I can determine the correct measurement.

 

Wish me luck..

 

Frank 

[Chuffer Davies]

Seasons Greetings.

 

It has been some time since my last posting so I feel it is appropriate to give you an end of 2018 update on progress.  A lot of work continues to be done but there is not a lot of visible change worthy of reporting hence the apparent hiatus.

 

First things first - progress on the wiring front.  I have already reported that I now realise that the wiring will be a lengthy business and since starting it at the end of September I have managed to wire just three of the fiddle yard boards.  These are the most complicated because of the sheer volume of track and point  work on each and so once the fiddle yard boards are finished I should be able to pick up the pace somewhat.  My colleagues Andrew Hill and Chris Rogers are assisting as much as possible.  Andrew has been wiring the across board connections associated with the spiral with the intention that we will be able to test run trains up and down the spiral in the early new year.  This will allow us to determine how many wagons we can typically run on the spiral before our loco's lose traction.  Depending on results we may have to come up with a cunning plan to enable us to run prototypical length trains over the gradients on the layout. 

 

Chris has been installing the point motors and uncoupling magnets ahead of me wiring up a board.  One of the challenges is that some of the points are too close to the edge of the base board requiring the point motors to be offset from their normal location directly under the tie bar of the point.  The solution we have come up with is to use a length of 1/8th inch brass rod running in a couple of screw eyes to offset the operating wire to the tie bar.  The following hopefully illustrates this.

 

  

 

The following picture is a typical under board view during the early stages of wiring. The four sockets to the right of the board purely connect the rail ends across the board joint.  The two holes in the same mounting board are for the two wiring looms that extend around the entire layout (with the exception of the spiral).  One loom comprises the feed from each of the three controllers (up, down and yard) plus the +12v 0v -12v supply for point motors and uncoupling magnets.  The other loom comprises a smoothed 12v supply for the micro processor boards, relays (magnets only),  and servo motors, and the CanBUS twisted pair that allows the control panels to talk to the rest of the layout.  

 

The open relay panel illustrates our approach to controlling accessories such as points and isolating sections on the layout.  Each panel will have one or more micro processor boards fitted to operate the control relays and servos (if any) on the board.  For points the relays switch between +12v and -12v which is then fed to the Tortoise point motors to change their direction.  For isolating sections the relays connect track power (feed and return) from the appropriate controller supply in the wiring loom to the required track section.  

 

 

Our resident electronics engineer - Bill Wyatt-Millington - continues to sort out the software for the micro processors and reports that he is currently performing what he expects to be the final testing of the software needed for the control panels and the majority of the layout.  This will leave him still to write the software for controlling servo motors (signals and retarders) and the indexing of the turn table.  The following picture shows Bill studying the insides of the station yard control panel.  Incidentally Bill is the current chairman of the EM Gauge Society.

 

 

Whilst on the subject of retarders we have a picture of a retarder mechanism that has been installed in the siding at the bottom of the spiral.  The purpose of the retarder is to prevent stock running away under gravity on the gradients when it is no longer attached to a locomotive.  A pin is raised by a servo motor against the leading axle of the wagon about to be uncoupled from the locomotive.  The pin has to be co-located beside the uncoupling magnet which makes it all rather tricky to fit.  Another challenge overcome by our ingenious Russell Whitwam.

 

 

 

 

Above the layout John (right) and Barry (left) continue to tera form the landscape and they have turned their attention to the Queensbury end and in particular the portal to Clayton Tunnel.

 

 

The line between Clayton and Queensbury was almost completely straight (especially the tunnel itself) but because of the constraints imposed by building an exhibition layout we have had to introduce a 90 deg' curve between the entrance to Clayton's goods yard and the tunnel mouth.  This has really messed with the contours of the cutting approaching the tunnel and it has taken John and Barry some time to resolve.  The following picture shows how they are getting on (with apologies for the Mainline GW coaches which we use for testing).  

 

 

The somersault signal is the product of a friend of the Clayton project - Karl Crowther who has kindly volunteered to make all the signals for Clayton.  It is temporarily placed on the layout so that we can determine how much further back we need to cut the walls of the cutting to make room for the signal.  The bottom half the sides of the cutting need to represent strata of Yorkshire stone and for this we are considering using pieces of torn tree bark glued on top of each other to gain the required height.  We were concerned that the cutting would obstruct the view of the trains but now we have the basis of the cutting in place we realise that it is only the area immediately in front of the viewer where their view is partially obstructed but looking left and right provides an unobstructed view of any train passing by so it is not the problem we first thought it might be.

 

John (Smart) has started to experiment with methods of weathering down the ash ballast.  So far the ash is resisting his attempts to weather down effectively but this is not something to rush as it will be very difficult to undo if it goes wrong.  No pressure John!

 

Finally an update on the construction of rolling stock.  Russell Whitwam brought down this model of a Howldon BCL coach on Tuesday to test run it through some point work in order to check clearances between the rear of the bogies and the vacuum cylinders.  Whilst he still has some way to go, worthy of note is the attention to detail he has taken in modelling the tiny brackets that anchor the gas pipes to the top of the roof.  Exquisite is the only word I can use to describe them.

 

  

 

Meanwhile I am pleased to be able to report that I have now successfully bridged the gap between the boiler and the smokebox on my J7 on all three boiler options.  I have also sorted out the height of the Ivatt cab but I am now unhappy with its width which I have concluded is still a scale 6" too narrow.  So it is back to the drawing board for one more change and then I can hopefully finish building the prototype model.

 

 

Well that's about it for now.   As the building that houses the layout will be closed over Christmas I will be focusing on the corrections to the CAD artwork for the Ivatt cab of the J7 and will continue the build of its LRM type D tender.    I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I trust that you will get plenty of time to progress your own modelling projects over the Christmas period.

 

Frank

   

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Fantastic work work going on at 'Clayton'.

 

Merry Christmas to you all.

 

manna.

[Chuffer Davies]

Its been a couple of months since we last posted any progress updates.  You wont be surprised to hear that we are still pressing on with the wiring of the boards.  What a faff!  There are still 2 more fiddle yard boards to wire which will take a couple more months at least, but once done we will at last be able to fully test the operation of the micro processor control system designed and programmed by Bill (Wyatt Millington).  He had a break through last week when we were able to successfully test the operation of the Station Yard's control panel albeit in isolation,   All the correct LED's light up and go out when the different sidings are selected and the LED's are controlled by the same CanBUS solution as will control the point motors and section relays under the base boards, so all the signs are encouraging.

 

I'm pleased to say that I have at last completed the test build of the first of my J7 locomotives.  I have had to make some minor tweaks to the model and these are still to be reflected in the production artwork for the kit, but all in all I'm really pleased with the outcome.  There are still a couple of additional London Road Model castings to acquire and fit but all the etched components have assembled successfully. 

 

I have again borrowed the tender from my Q2 for this photo as I still have to finish the new tender.

 

The next step for me will be to make corrections to the art work and send off for fresh etches so that I can test build the 2nd (J7) model needed on Clayton.  This will have the larger (4' 8" diam) boiler as used on the J3 locomotives.  Meanwhile, whilst I wait for the etches to arrive, I will finish off the new tender for this model at which point I will be able to 'final fit' the drive train in the tender and test run the model for the first time.

 

Frank

 

    

 

 

[Clem]

Beautiful work, Frank. Absolutely top class. Also a lovely prototype. I wish they had lasted into my modelling era.

 

Best Wishes

 

Clem

[Woodcock29]

Frank  the J7 looks terrific. One comment if I may, the smoke box door handles should be plain and not have the 'knobs' on the end. Possibly these are all you had in stock at the time.

 

I guess this is going to be 4027 which was not withdrawn until 1936 and was the only member to receive Ross pop valves.  My period is roughly from 1934 to 1939 so?

 

However, I think a J5 would be more appropriate, but I must build my J1 first, which will be some time after I build a D3, another C12 and a J6, all of which are destined to run on a joint exhibition layout based on Spilsby in Lincolnshire - the layout itself being built by Gavin Thrum who visited Shipley with me in 2017.

 

Regards

 

Andrew 

 

 

[Chuffer Davies]

On 06/03/2019 at 23:36, Woodcock29 said:

Frank  the J7 looks terrific. One comment if I may, the smoke box door handles should be plain and not have the 'knobs' on the end. Possibly these are all you had in stock at the time.

 

I guess this is going to be 4027 which was not withdrawn until 1936 and was the only member to receive Ross pop valves.  My period is roughly from 1934 to 1939 so?

 

However, I think a J5 would be more appropriate, but I must build my J1 first, which will be some time after I build a D3, another C12 and a J6, all of which are destined to run on a joint exhibition layout based on Spilsby in Lincolnshire - the layout itself being built by Gavin Thrum who visited Shipley with me in 2017.

 

Regards

 

Andrew 

 

 

Hi Andrew,

Its good to hear from you.  Thanks for the heads up on the smokebox dart, you are correct that this pattern was all I had in stock but it will be changed when I get the correct pattern from Alan Gibson’s stand at Scalefour North in April.  

If I have done my research correctly then my etches will enable all variants of the J7s to be modelled from their initial build by GNR through to their withdrawal including alternate cabs, boilers, safety valves, domes and chimneys.  

Hopefully there will eventually be a few takers for the kit although I realise that the prototype has limited geographical appeal.  

 

Regards,

 

Frank

 

 

[Chuffer Davies]

Baby Steps!

 

I am delighted to report that I have at last been able to test run the J7  albeit only on 30" of straight track.   The good weather last week allowed me to spray the tender's frames, a task I needed to do before I could permanently fit the ball races to support the drive shaft in the tender.  I could then assemble the end to end drive train and power it up for the first time.  It was immediately obvious that the 40:1 gear ratio selected was far to high for the chosen motor (a 16x16x20 Cube motor) and so this has been replaced with a 30:1 ratio instead.  The video below is of the loco's inaugural run.  It will be a couple of weeks before I can run it on a layout to see if it will go round corners and through point work as successfully.  

 

 

The model has not been lubricated (or run in) as yet and so I am delighted at how well its running.  You may recall that this model has CSB suspension and uses the American system for picking up current.  I'll have it with me at Scalefour North in Wakefield on Sunday if anyone would like to see it in the flesh, after that it will be fully dismantled prior to being sent off for painting.

 

Other news:  Nothing of note other than to report that I am about to commence wiring the last fiddle yard board which should mean that we can fully erect the fiddle yard and power it up for testing around the end of April.

 

Regards,

Frank

 

   

[Clem]

That's a beauty, Frank. You've captured the feeling of mass and momentum of the prototype in its running - not always easy on a smaller loco. Looking forward to seeing it working on Clayton before too long. 

 

Best Wishes

 

Clem

[Chuffer Davies]

I have just checked and it was early April when I last posted an update on progress on the Clayton project.  We have not been idle but as you will have gathered already the wiring of the layout is a very long winded affair and a picture of the underneath of one base board looks very much like a picture of the next.  I am pleased to report that the fiddle yard is now fully wired and I have now worked my way round to the front (scenic) side of the layout.  There are still something like 11 boards still to wire which will likely take me the rest of the year, but the progress achieved does mean that about a month ago we were at last able to start test running the fiddle yard in order to prove the operating system that we have designed for Clayton and to check out all the wiring.  

 

The fiddle yard is not yet fully operational but we have done enough testing to know that the operating system will work when the remaining bugs are ironed out.  Inevitably there were some errors in my wiring: reversed track feeds, point motors, and cross board connections but very few when you consider the thousands of solder joints under the base boards, so I feeling fairly happy with my work.  More impressive to me is the operation of the micro processor panels that Bill has designed, produced, and programmed.  Here again we have uncovered some software bugs that Bill has needed to fix but they are already working sufficiently well for us to be confident that we haven't made an enormous mistake in developing our bespoke solution. 

 

On Tuesday we were at last able to carry out the first test runs up and down the spiral one of which I videoed to mark the occasion so that I could share it with you.

As explained before the rolling stock being used is old stock from my early Great Western days as the GN/LNER stock we are building for Clayton is too valuable to be used for test purposes, but I hope shortly to start test running goods trains up the spiral so we can determine whether we will be able to run prototypical long trains without some kind of assist on the gradient.   

 

John and Barry continue to work on the landscape.  The rocky sides to the cutting are proving particularly difficult to reproduce in model form but after several false starts they have come up with a convincing method to achieve this and are slowly working their way between the tunnel mouth and the Station Road Bridge several feet away.  More photos will follow in due course.

 

Clayton will be on view in the club rooms during our exhibition weekend September 14/15 in the Baildon Recreation Centre, Shipley.  By then I hope we can run demonstration trains around the entire layout even though most of the wiring on the scenic side of the layout will still be jerry-rigged.  Most of the team working on Clayton will be helping me to exhibit the Hungerford layout in the main hall so over the exhibition weekend we will be splitting our time between the Hungerford and Clayton layouts.  I hope some of you may come and say hello and see progress in the flesh so to speak.

 

Frank

[John Smart]

Hi Frank,

 

That looks great. I shall have to get over to the club rooms soon. Perhaps I can do some Clayton operating, whilst Hungerford is operated by the best team?

 

Wading through LNER Society stuff here. And helping Geoff at Dewsbury GN with ballasting.

 

John

Edited July 12, 2019 by John Smart
update

[Chuffer Davies]

On 12/07/2019 at 22:36, John Smart said:

Hi Frank,

 

That looks great. I shall have to get over to the club rooms soon. Perhaps I can do some Clayton operating, whilst Hungerford is operated by the best team?

 

Wading through LNER Society stuff here. And helping Geoff at Dewsbury GN with ballasting.

 

John

Hi John,

its good to hear from you.  As you will be aware there was a significant amount of surplus crushed ash after we finished ballasting Clayton so the tub of unused ash has been passed on to Geoff to use on Dewsbury GN.  I heard that you had volunteered to help with the ballasting, you must be a glutton for punishment after all the time you spent ballasting Clayton. 

 

As you will be aware Dewsbury was only a few miles away from the Queensbury lines and I believe had some through passenger traffic from Clayton.  Its a shame that we are working to different gauges and periods otherwise we could share stock for exhibitions.  I am delighted that Geoff has bought one of my spare J7 test etches for Dewsbury.  I'm looking forward to seeing it built in the earlier form with a Stirling cab and painted in lined green.

 

We are hoping that you can man the Clayton exhibit over the exhibition weekend in September with other members of the team dropping in and out as we switch operating teams on Hungerford in the main hall.  Andrew and I have been reinstating the temporary wiring under the scenic boards so that we can run trains on the main line during the exhibition weekend.  If all goes to plan we will be able to run trains all the way round the layout for the first time.  Although we still have limited stock to run it will give a flavour of what we are attempting to achieve with the layout.

 

Hope to see you at the Shipley club rooms soon.  We need to sort out some jobs for you to undertake on the layout  so that you can get back to work and get things moving again.  

 

Frank 

[John Smart]

Hi Frank,

 

Good to see how things have progressed last Thursday. It was great to see and operate trains running round the layout.

 

Nice to know there is still track painting to do...…..

 

John

Edited August 30, 2019 by John Smart
update

[Michael Delamar]

I really enjoyed watching the layout at the Shipley show.

 

Looking forward to seeing it again in the future.

[Chuffer Davies]

10 hours ago, Michael Delamar said:

I really enjoyed watching the layout at the Shipley show.

 

Looking forward to seeing it again in the future.

Hi Micheal,

Thank you for that.  I am pleased to say we received a number of similarly positive comments from visitors over the weekend.  I obviously wish that the layout was further on after nearly 6 years in the making but projects of this size always take a long time.  It was very satisfying to finally be running trains around the entire main line circuits.  In fact Saturday morning was the first time we had run any of the trains that we are building for Clayton on the layout. 

 

Even though we had our Hungerford layout in the main hall down stairs, for me the highlight over the weekend was watching the trains run round Clayton even though the majority of the loco's and coaches are still in the brass.  

 

It was also very satisfying to at last be able to test whether putting the motor in the tender of my J7 would actually achieve the desired outcome.  As you will no doubt have seen on your visit the J7 successfully hauled 23 wagons up the 1 in 50 gradient around the 4' 6" radius of the embankment without slipping, which is pretty much what the prototype would have been expected to haul. 

 

 

In fact the J7 now pulls significantly better than my Q2 which has its motor and gearbox in the firebox/boiler.  I have therefore decided to modify the Q2 to have its motor in the tender and I can then fill the firebox and boiler rear with lead.

 

The next month or so will see a hiatus on Clayton. I unfortunately have to turn my attention to performing remedial work on the fiddle yard of our Hungerford layout.  A couple of weeks ago two of the boards were damaged when a water pipe started leaking in the room above where it was stored.  Being chipboard the base boards have blown but we only discovered the damage when we attempted to erect it on Friday for the exhibition.  It took two of us four hours to fudge a temporary repair sufficient to allow us to run trains but it was problematic to say the least.  We will need to undertake a proper repair before we take Hungerford to the Gaydon exhibition in November.

 

I still hope to finish wiring the rest of Clayton before the end of the year so its is going to be a very busy few months for the remainder to this year.

 

Frank