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

[Skinnylinny]

It lives!

Still a while to go yet (another two hours I think! but it looks to be printing OK - no failure yet! The print will not look as crisp as the finished one above, because it's still coated in liquid resin, but the shape appears OK and the supports haven't broken, so I'm hopeful! Now I just have to sort out the axleguard, axlebox and spring component to print overnight, and hopefully tomorrow I can start a test assembly.

 

[jwealleans]

Cattle wagons might run in passenger trains, but it's more likely they'd be at the head of a fitted (or part fitted) freight where the pipe would be essential.

 

It's a fallacy, btw, that loaded cattle wagons always had to be behind the engine.  The instruction was that they be placed where they would have to be shunted least.  This was generally just behind the loco, but not always.

 

Taking an interest in this as I might be after a couple, if you're making them available.

[Skinnylinny]

So the cattle wagon body has come out nicely... but the axleguards are resisting all attempts to print them. I'll have another go tomorrow on my day off.



It's definitely getting there!

Another thing that's having progress made on it is the 0-4-4 tank. A large amount of Dremelling (it took nearly 3 hours to get through the mazak chassis block of the Hornby Jinty!) was required, but:



The rear bogie's not attached yet, and I feel like something's off with the wheel positions, but...
 

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Skinnylinny

[Corbs]

Yay! You know how much I love the GSR locos.

I had the same issue with tough mazak, I resorted to removing everything from the chassis, leaving only the block, then clamping it in the vice and chomping through it with a hacksaw.

[Skinnylinny]

Ooof, I tried with a junior hacksaw (all I had) and found that it was much easier and about as fast with the Dremel, but much less tiring!

I still love these Jinty chassis for bodging purposes, though!

[Skinnylinny]

Still having printer troubles, so no progress on the cattle wagon, but instead a return to hand tools! Thanks to a donation from @Killian keane of Triang clerestory coaches, the GSR has gained another cut-and-shut full third, which was painted blue last night at club:

 

 

Then, being sleepless when I got home, one side ended up having its panelling done in white, meaning I could take this photo of the GSR's "Mainline" stock:

 

 

I also laid my hands on an old Hornby 4-plank wagon, picked up many years ago at a show in a very nice but very non-local private owner livery. It may not  be accurate at all for an LSWR wagon but until I can make something more appropriate, it does fill in a gap. So, out with the Wagon Purple Brown ! 

 

 

It's certainly much more proportionate to expected traffic than the huge Cambrian Kits 8 planker! 

 

[Skinnylinny]

With a flat inspection looming this afternoon (my first in years! The joy of rented property...), I decided to leave the 3D printer alone until the weekend. My day off work (I work 4 days a week at the moment) has so far been spent painting up the two South Eastern Finecast single bolsters I bought at the Uckfield show last year. Having soldered them together at the club months ago, I finally got around to getting the spray paints out today. 

Each bolster in the kit was cast in whitemetal with integral whitemetal stakes which, predictably, were very fragile. Having an old, unbuilt Ratio GWR Bogie Bolster kit, I pinched two of the bolsters from that, which, being plastic, are a little more robust. I'm currently pondering if I could build up part of the remains of the kit into a slightly longer 4-wheel double-bolster wagon. 

For now though, a few places to touch up the grey paint but they're definitely starting to get there!

[Skinnylinny]

So in answer to the question of whether I could make use of the other parts of the Ratio bogie bolster... the answer is "yes"!

 

A nice, short, 4-wheel bolster wagon. I'm not quite sure why the solebars are so far outwards on this wagon, but to move those inwards would require some major surgery, so I'll leave it as it is for now - something awkward and slightly weird.

I feel like forestry/woodworking/a sawmill might have to become a major industry in or about Linton...

[phil_sutters]

On 28/02/2020 at 07:55, Skinnylinny said:

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been playing host to the black dog again. 

 

Another sleepless night found me dragging out the LSWR cattle van CAD again. Small details have been gradually getting added and with any luck I will get a chance to finish it and try a test print over the weekend. 

 

Presented for your delectation/constructive criticism:

 

This looks as if this is a similar design to one used by the S&DJR, logical as LSWR was a part owner.

This is my 50 year-old scratchbuilt offering. I often failed to get as far as doing the angle plates and strapping. The rust is the real thing!

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by phil_sutters
Added second photo

[Skinnylinny]

There is definitely a similar style of cattle wagon that was built by the LSWR for the SDJR, although there are a few differences - I believe the one you've modelled very nicely there is a Large rather than Medium cattle wagon. I think An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol. 1 has the drawings, and I'll have a look to compare when I get home from club.

 

A quick coat of a few colours of paint have brought the double bolster wagon to a point where all it needs is lettering. I'm going to need more transfer sheets at this rate!

 

I never realised that Linton had a sawmill, but based on all these bolster wagons...

[Skinnylinny]

It begins...

Track is not laid properly at the moment, but cork underlay is being glued down. Use of Peco flat-bottom medium radius points and single slip is mainly due to the not-yet-released-ness of the Bullhead ones. I'm going to be leaving them unballasted with enough space for the rail joiners to be slid onto the Bullhead track, to allow the points to be lifted once the correct ones are available, but at least I can have the layout set up and play around with it.

And yet!

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by Skinnylinny

[Compound2632]

All looks Board of Trade-friendly so far! What double line track centre are you going to use? Peco's 2", for ease of replacing the flatbottom pointwork, or 44.67 mm, with trimming of the points?

[Skinnylinny]

I'm currently planning on using the Peco 50mm spacing, partly for ease of replacing the flatbottom pointwork (if I have to trim them, I can't recoup anything by selling them on eBay once I get the bullhead ones), and partly to give a bit more space for getting in for re-railing (hopefully uncommon, but never assume you won't need it!)/uncoupling etc. I might disguise the extra width by running point rodding or similar down the middle of the platform roads.

I will probably have a go at tweaking the Peco point end sleepers (on the bullhead points) before laying them to try to remove the strange, single diagonal sleeper (I don't think it's a timber by this point, if it only supports two rails?) on the crossovers, but we'll have to see how that goes.

I thought the trap point wouldn't go un-noticed! 

[Skinnylinny]

And there is movement! Admittedly from a 9V battery which looks to be mostly flat, but still. Nice and smooooooth.
 

 

[Skinnylinny]

Well, droppers have been soldered to the station throat and the platform roads, and things seem to be running smoothly. The Peco bullhead track is a little fragile, but I hope that once firmly glued down that'll be less of an issue. Before I can go much further (or, indeed, glue down the track!), I'll need to get some alignment dowels on the go.

[Skinnylinny]

So the alignment dowels arrived on Monday, just in time for the lockdown. I even borrowed a power drill from work. However, my inability to drill a straight hole has appeared again. The lack of clamps probably isn't helping, and I can't easily go out and get any. Layout work has gone on hold for the moment until I can get the motivation to try again with the dowels. However, some more Triang clerestories have been hacksawed about and the GSR has gained a new bogie luggage van and a 4-wheel (might become a 6-wheeler, not sure yet) third, shown here with my older 4-wheel luggage van:



Still a lot of work to do on tidying up the panelling, and the bogies need some attention - they're old Farish ones, and they don't grip the pinpoints of the wheels very well. I'm considering filing off the pinpoints and fashioning some inside bearings to hold the wheels in place, as there isn't enough material to fit proper pinpoint bearings, as far as I can see. They'll also want brake shoes fitting at some point!

[Skinnylinny]

And on my first proper day off of the lockdown (I've been working at home, which is far more exhausting than going to the office!) I again noticed something that's been bugging me for a while - the colour difference between my Hornby LSWR Drummond-liveried M7 (no. 245) and my repainted Adams radial (487) which used Phoenix paints. I got the two locos together again and... I don't know, I just couldn't live with it any longer.

So, some very careful masking of the front tank, and some very very careful hand painting of the splasher and sandbox, and I've managed to retain the Hornby lining and brown edging (which is a smidge too light, but nowhere near as noticeable as the near-Apple Green livery colour Hornby have used!

 

You can hopefully see the colour variation between the side tank and the boiler and bunker. All I'll need to do is put some HMRS LSWR transfers on the tank, and number the bunker rear (I was wanting to renumber the loco anyway to suit the layout...) and boom. Now, I need to figure out masking those boiler bands, and then the lined cab front. In this instance I'm glad to be using enamels rather than acrylics, as I can use the "brush moistened in white spirit" trick to correct any slight over-runs in the paint which might affect the lining. 

 

[sem34090]

I'd blame the NRM for the colour problem.

[Skinnylinny]

Indeed - the model is accurate, colour-wise... because it's a model of 245, in the National Collection, which has been painted in the wrong colour!

[Skinnylinny]

Well, one side looks ok, although there's a tiny bit of touching up needed on the lining at the front of the bunker. I'd like to get inside the cab to paint the floor (why on Earth did Hornby do it in bright green?!) but it seems solidly glued and I don't want to break anything.

 

I'm going to leave everything to harden off for a few days before I start working on the other side. Then the transfers will go on and a nice coat of varnish to finish up. I'm already pondering doing similar to my new-model Hornby Terrier, the colour of which is also... not quite right. Oh dear...

[Skinnylinny]

And now I have to say a big thank you to @Corbs, who's made this lovely poster for the Great Southern Railway, advertising the morning 'paper train service from London. The loco will then be coaled, watered, turned, and used for the express service to London, the commuter special.



What makes it even more impressive is that the model loco which was photographed and which he created this photo from is far from finished, having no splashers, being a hotchpotch of colours, and no bogie! 

[Annie]

What a brilliant poster.  Corbs has made a lovely job of the graphics so it really does look like a period poster.

[Corbs]

Thank you  Linny and I did some more collaboration this evening and came up with another poster, this time advertising the GSR's convenient goods services they bring to the citizens of Linton and elsewhere. Linny set up a cameo complete with lighting, which made for a suitable mood and a nice contrast to the previous one.

 

 

(edited version above - previously said 'All brought quick and fresh by the...')

Edited March 31, 2020 by Corbs

[Andy Hayter]

Lovely poster, but did the compositor fail his English exams?

 

Should be "all brought quickly..."

 

Pedants hat off - but I rather think the General Manager of the GSR would not have been amused.

[Skinnylinny]

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

I did consider "quickly" but it felt less... urgent? Also, fresh being an adjective, I went with the adjectival form quick to match, but... I don't know. The goods are definitely not being brought freshly. Is there such a word?

Someone in the marketing division publicity department will be having a meeting with the General Manager soon!