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Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Signalling the changes...


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Thank you - the horsebox is a shortened GWR one, on a standard wagon underframe. It really ought to have longer springs, I think, but it'll do as it is for now. Plenty more projects to keep going with! 

I'll admit, the Ilfracombe Goods is back in its box while I play around with non-soldering-requiring projects instead at the moment.

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5 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

All has been rather quiet on the modelling front over the last... goodness, two weeks. I've dug out some old HMRS carriage lettering sheets and had a go at some of the GSR carriage stock, making sure that I didn't use the same style of lettering as any stock that is likely to appear on the layout from another company. I have pinched LT&SR garter crests from the sheet, as well, on the basis hat they look much better than nothing, and they're small enough that I can't see them in enough detail to identify them without being about 6" from the models!

20200522_151915_004_01.jpg

I think the red-shaded gold letters look rather good on the dark blue of the GSR livery, although blowing up he photo shows that part of the left axleguard has disappeared somewhere. I'll have to hide that with a footstep. I would like to get that window out of the horsebox, as it shows battle scars from my vain attempts to remove it. I also now see that I need to adjust the filling to the left, but I really don't want to mess up the window any more.

The saloon and a brake third have also gained some lettering, although I am not convinced by at least one compartment of the brake third. We'll see if it's noticeable after a week when I've forgotten about it...

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Excellent, Linny.  The lettering really brings the stock to life.  That horsebox is a little gem.  

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Thanks, James. Ideally I'd like to have some beading on the horsebox - the completely-plain plated ends feel very modern - but I dare say I'll get around to using the design as a basis for something a little more period-appropriate. 

Today the postman put a little present through my door - four packets of whitemetal castings which I'd seen on a Facebook trading page, and immediately pounced on - LSWR Torpedo ventilators and gas lamps - 3 packs of 40 ventilators and a pack of 40 lamps. These were immediately fitted to one of my LSWR 42' thirds, which has since had its roof sprayed a nice dark grey. I really must get around to drawing up the 46' 1st/2nd composite and the luggage van to go with the 42' third and brake third, for lasering once the lockdown is eased somewhat. 

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Of course, a quick spray of dark grey on the roof, and black for the bogies (still not the right type - I'll get there!) makes a huge difference. 

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Next for these carriage will be some underframe detailing (including trussing and queenposts), gas tanks, vac cylinders, buffers and some couplings. Then I can get on with lettering and handrails. Not much more!

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So, last night, while catching up on the Oak Hill Youtube stream, I came across a website that offers free focus-stacking of photos.

Now, if you're not aware of focus stacking, a quick, not-too-detailed explanation follows. 

As many people who've taken photos of models are aware, it's practically impossible to get the whole model in focus, especially if it's not face-on to the camera - some bits of the model will be further from the focal length of the camera at the time of the photo. This leads to photos like this:

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The carriages (and in fact even the cab and tender!) getting more blurred is a big giveaway that the photo is of a model. But! With focus stacking, you take several photos (focussed on different points of the subject) from the same spot and some fancy software combines these photos to give a composite photograph that's much sharper overall. So, I uploaded five photographs, focussed on the front bufferbeam, the cab, the rear of the tender, about halfway down the train, and the rear vehicle, then clicked the "Stack" button on the website. To say I was amazed by the difference isn't doing it justice:

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I'm very much looking forward to playing around with this when the model railway club opens up again - there are some lovely scenes I can think of shooting, which wouldn't be possible with the depth of field limitations usually there with model photography.

[Edit: Forgot to link to the website! https://focusstackingonline.com/ ]

Edited by Skinnylinny
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Oh, I know that - most of the roof isn't level! My floor in my bedroom slopes enough that my layout boards are 2" further off the floor at one end than the other, and stock still rolls if too free-running and left unattended. My wardrobe and chest of drawers have offcuts of wood under the front legs to keep them vaguely level.

Unfortunately, being a rented property, there's not much I can do about it. 

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3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

You're brave there but I have to say your dado isn't very level.

Mining subsidence! 

 

We had a holiday house in Fife where not only were the floors uneven but the walls were neither flat nor straight, as I discovered when I tried to wallpaper one of the bedrooms! :cry:

 

Jim 

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Mining subsidence in Niddrie? Seems unlikely

Goes away, Googles "Coal Mine Niddrie"

...ah. Well, they weren't within a mile of here - this row of tenements is on the land of a brewery, so while it's possible there's mining subsidence, it seems unlikely. It all depends how far they dug. 

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17 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

Mining subsidence in Niddrie? Seems unlikely

Goes away, Googles "Coal Mine Niddrie"

...ah. Well, they weren't within a mile of here - this row of tenements is on the land of a brewery, so while it's possible there's mining subsidece, it seems unlikely. It all depends how far they dug. 

 

There were considerable problems with the foundations of several buildings in the vicinity of Ansell's Brewery in Aston as the water table rose after its closure. 

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4 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

Mining subsidence in Niddrie? Seems unlikely

Goes away, Googles "Coal Mine Niddrie"

...ah. Well, they weren't within a mile of here - this row of tenements is on the land of a brewery, so while it's possible there's mining subsidece, it seems unlikely. It all depends how far they dug. 

Mining activities could extend a long way underground.  My father was the headmaster of a primary school in a mining village.  Some of the miners walked from a neighbouring village a couple of miles away, went down the pit and then as far again to the coal face and were working under their own village!

 

Jim

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On 24/04/2020 at 19:52, Skinnylinny said:

Not much of a modelling update today, but rather a preparation. When I was down south for the Uckfield show (which feels like many, many moons ago already, but only six months ago (!)), Gary @BlueLightning and I did a trade - me offering some LBSC wagons, in exchange for some "resin wagon kits, I think they're LSWR".

I was presented with many resin parts, carefully wrapped in tissue, which unfortunately had gone very brittle and "tacky" and removing them from the tissue turned out to be difficult - I broke three wagon ends just trying to get them out of the tissue. They turned out to be Maple Models kits.
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Well, today I was feeling brave... or foolhardy. Could go either way. I've decided to have a go at the Panter brake van. As lovely and crisp and detailed as the castings are, the brittleness means I can't drill holes for handrails, so this will decidedly end up as a layout wagon. There are a few bits that need some filling (notably the corner nearest the camera) and some very cautious sanding. 
 

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The eagle-eyed will spot two compromises immediately:
1) I've used some plastruct strip instead of wire for the handrails, as mentioned above.
2) I haven't built up the chassis from etched axleguards, cast springs etc as expected in the kit instructions. I've bodged a Hornby wagon chassis (which is not quite right in wheelbase, and is way out in terms of brake gear, but I'm slowly carving that away) as a temporary underframe, as I intend to split it and correct the wheelbase.

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Well, good news.

A few weeks back, a friend from the model railway club shared a job advert with me, for an opening in his company (some new upstart company called Network Rail, I've never heard of them. Are they some sort of managing committee like the SE&CR?). Well, with nothing to lose during furlough, I tidied up my CV and sent in an application. 

Today's the interview. Well, except that in These Trying Times it's a sort of virtual interview. I receive pre-recorded questions, and have to give an answer on video from home, but with no visual feedback from the listener. I know I've complained in the past that it feels like job-hunting is becoming more and more depersonalised, but an interview without an interviewer actually being there? 

Anyway, speaking of Network Rail, I was reminded of the book Railtrack and other Letters, which is available online for free at https://www.brokenmind.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/railtrack.pdf

The introduction is as follows:

Until reaching financial difficulty in 2002, much of Britainʼs railway infrastructure was operated by Railtrack plc. The company was sold to Network Rail. The removal of ʻRailtrackʼ from the Companies House register allowed John Hein to register Railtrack Ltd as a company in Scotland, and so Railtrack Ltd was born in May 2003.

 

Those looking up the company would note that the Registered Office is that of an Edinburgh tenement and that the company has remained dormant since incorporation. The rebirth of Railtrack has caused confused solicitors, debt collectors and private individuals to address correspondence to Railtrack Ltd, and in turn, to receive entertaining replies. Only replies to correspondence are shown. The original letters are not reproduced, but the nature of the original letter is inferred.


I certainly found it good for a laugh, although there is some rather coarse language involved. 

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1 hour ago, Skinnylinny said:

an interview without an interviewer actually being there? 

Bit like a railway company without a customer-servicing train...?

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1 hour ago, Regularity said:

Bit like a railway company without a customer-servicing train...?

Or the episode in 'Yes Prime Minister' where he visited a new hospital which was running extremely smoothly and efficiently - but had no patients!

 

Good luck, Linny!

 

Jim

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Thank you all for the kind wishes. The interview is over. Four very generic questions, and a message that "We'll be in touch shortly". I don't expect to hear back until after the deadline for the video interview submission next week, but until then, all appropriate appendages are crossed. 

In other news, several keys on my laptop keyboard have died suddenly (meaning my top row of keys now gives QETYOP and nothing more) so posts will be somewhat less frequent until I can repair it.

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2 hours ago, jamespetts said:

Best wishes with the interview! But how did you spell "frequent" without the R key?

On my mobile phone! Although typing on here is rather a pain, hence why I won't be updating too much. 

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5 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

In other news, several keys on my laptop keyboard have died suddenly (meaning my top row of keys now gives QETYOP and nothing more) so posts will be somewhat less frequent until I can repair it.

 

Best cure for this is a dirt-cheap USB keyboard, a lot less hassle then having to open them up.

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Having now finally found instructions on how to dismantle the laptop in order to get to the keyboard, I have to agree with you! I work with repairing electronics so I'm happy enough undoing ribbon cables and working with PCBs, but the point at which I had to get the heat pipe off the processor was the point at which I said "enough's enough". 

Anyway, the weather here in Edinburgh is gorgeous (19 degrees just before 9am!), so I'm going to try to go out for my walk before the huge crowds begin. Then I might do something less nerve-racking, like having a go at some brake gear for the LSWR brake van.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, the sun has been out, and I have managed to gain access to the Hacklab laser cutter (having had to make sure nobody else was going to be around, and taking many precautions). Technically it was classed as "going to work" as I was cutting some bits for sale for an order placed months ago. However, a few other kits may have accidentally fallen into the "to be lasered" pile. 

The two Stroudley 6-wheel full brakes for my fixed rake have now had corrected bodies cut, and one is already
looking decidedly carriage-shaped:

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Lurking in the background can also be seen an LSWR 1st/2nd composite which gives some much-needed non-third-class accommodation to my LSWR carriage stock:

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And finally, something which popped up on my Twitter feed, and which I feel would be appreciated by you 'orrible reprobates! 
 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not much to report this week. More painting (first coat of mahogany on the Stroudley 6-wheel brake, being left to harden before the next coat tomorrow, and the chocolate on the LSWR composite), plus some lettering. I think I'm starting to get the hang of making running numbers up out of these pressfix transfers - it's the few seconds of mobility you have when the transfer's wet but the paper hasn't come off yet that's the real clincher. So, the LSWR 42' third has a running number (343), and lettering. This one will be lettered "L&SWR" as compared to "LSWR" for the 42' brake third (which was a later rebuild of the 42' third type, so wouldn't have seen L&SWR lettering). Until I can get around to proper underframe detailing, the Triang clerestory underframe moulding actually doesn't look too bad. Sure, the queenposts are about a foot too close together, and the gas tanks are on the wrong diagonal, but they fill up the gap between the bogies nicely.

A parcel arrived today from H&A Models with some Markits buffers (which look close enough to LSWR carriage buffers for me!) and some 40 pairs of 14mm Mansell wheels - eagle-eyed viewers will note that I've borrowed some Bachmann 14mm wheels for one of the bogies on this third, so they'll be getting changed out in the morning!

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Still to do on this carriage: Pick out the droplights on the other side, then letter up and glaze. Add door handles and grab rails (yay!), vac pipes, end handrails and try to find some suitable footsteps for the ends. I'd rather do these in etched metal than card for strength - does anyone know where I could get an etch of just footsteps, or should I get some strip and bend up my own?

Edited by Skinnylinny
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