Red's Fumbling Bench

[RedGemAlchemist]

9 minutes ago, RAWRlab said:

Huh...I'd been following this thread and didn't realise it was you when I commented on Reddit. It's all coming together now! Great work, the fleet is looking top notch. 
(And I hope you get that reddit karma, although it seems to me that its exclusively American Railroading over there. Apart from that one guy who just seems to post images of his generic Hornby fleet 1 by 1 for the upvotes).  

Thanks, man. Glad you like my stuff, I put a lot of time and effort into it. May I ask what your username over there is?
(For those who are curious, my username on Reddit is also RedGemAlchemist... well, RedGemAlchemis, I mis-spelled it when I signed up and now can't correct it.)

[RedGemAlchemist]

The Deltic cometh.

Resplendent in KLR green, yellow ends of course, and a white roof with some black sections like on my Metro-Vick Norfolk Rebel. The Warship will likely be in the same livery.

[TangoOscarMike]

I've only just noticed (perhaps you did it a while ago) but I'm glad that you've dropped "of failure" from this thread title. I really didn't agree, but I didn't want to make a fuss about it.

 

I won't quarrel with "fumbling". We're all fumbling, one way or another, in some sense!

[sem34090]

58 minutes ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

The Deltic cometh.

Resplendent in KLR green, yellow ends of course, and a white roof with some black sections like on my Metro-Vick Norfolk Rebel. The Warship will likely be in the same livery.

Hate to be a spoilsport, but it isn't a Deltic I'm afraid - EE Type 3/Class 37.

[RedGemAlchemist]

7 hours ago, TangoOscarMike said:

I've only just noticed (perhaps you did it a while ago) but I'm glad that you've dropped "of failure" from this thread title. I really didn't agree, but I didn't want to make a fuss about it.

 

I won't quarrel with "fumbling". We're all fumbling, one way or another, in some sense!

Sorry to say, but I actually made that change over a year ago!

 

7 hours ago, sem34090 said:

Hate to be a spoilsport, but it isn't a Deltic I'm afraid - EE Type 3/Class 37.

Oh. Well I never claimed to be an expert on BR diesels. Either way, I felt it disingenuous for a preservation railway the likes of the KLR to not have a diesel of this type as they do seem to be absurdly prolific and a railway with the mentality of "we take what we can get and never turn down something that's salvageable" would undoubtedly have picked up at least one over the years. I hope the name is still OK, I wanted this and the Warship to match the naming conventions of the class while still fitting the East Anglia theme.

Edited March 30, 2020 by RedGemAlchemist

[Corbs]

The 37 makes more sense than a Deltic as they lasted longer and there were many more of them  Good versatile maids of all work.

[RedGemAlchemist]

3 hours ago, Corbs said:

The 37 makes more sense than a Deltic as they lasted longer and there were many more of them  Good versatile maids of all work.

Exactly. I knew what I wanted and had (my local heritage line the Mid Norfolk has one which is their most commonly used locomotive bar maybe their Austerity tank), just couldn't remember what nickname went with what and got the two classes confused as they do happen to look rather similar.

Edited March 30, 2020 by RedGemAlchemist

[sem34090]

4 hours ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

(...) got the two classes confused as they do happen to look rather similar.

It's easily done when all you have to go on is a box and a varying number of wheels to go on...

 

[OliverRowley]

Rather late to this party, but I love the thread!

Such creativity!

[RedGemAlchemist]

On 31/03/2020 at 02:48, sem34090 said:

It's easily done when all you have to go on is a box and a varying number of wheels to go on...

Well, you can say that about most diesels. 

 

On 01/04/2020 at 15:31, OliverRowley said:

Rather late to this party, but I love the thread!

Such creativity!

Thank you! Always nice to see new faces, and always nice to be appreciated! 

 

The Fleischmann tank is finally getting worked on. Introducing KLR No.19 Mary Read, the E. Borrows & Son well tank, named after the just notable victim of the King's Lynn witch trials. 

[OliverRowley]

On 03/04/2020 at 09:17, RedGemAlchemist said:

Well, you can say that about most diesels. 

 

Thank you! Always nice to see new faces, and always nice to be appreciated! 

 

The Fleischmann tank is finally getting worked on. Introducing KLR No.19 Mary Read, the E. Borrows & Son well tank, named after the just notable victim of the King's Lynn witch trials. 

Looking good!

How well does it run?

Fancy chopping one about myself

[RedGemAlchemist]

2 hours ago, OliverRowley said:

Looking good!

How well does it run?

Fancy chopping one about myself

From what I've been told they're lovely runners. However mine is a non-runner at this exact moment as I accidentally broke a small wire on it when working on it earlier, as I think I mentioned in an earlier post on this topic.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Phew. Been a while since I posted on my bench topic. 

First thing in this short update is this WIP suburban coach made from two of the KLR brown four-wheelers to go with the brown brake coach from WAAAAAY back near the start of the thread. Bogies are from a broken Triang blood-and-custard, as is the underframe, bufferbeams from a Bachmann (I think) DMU I got from @sem34090, idea from @TangoOscarMike's thread.

 

Second is that I turned Saint Julian of Norwich into a 2-8-0... that I still have no idea what to do with. Can't use it for freight workings as it can't move around corners well due to the rigid wheelbase and Tom Hickathrift will totally supplant it in every way when I get it (and even without it Norfolk Rebel is far better suited to the KLR's freight workings than this) and I can't use it as a banker as, if @Lancaster622 is still willing, that'll be what the 0-6-4T he was going to give me would do. So what I'd do with this beast I have no idea. Still, more interesting IMHO than a rather generic Pacific.

[RedGemAlchemist]

The open wagon I won from @BlueLightning's giveaway has arrived. Very nice indeed.

(Apologies for the paint on my fingers, I've just popped home from work to get lunch.) 

Thanks a bunch Gary. This'll definitely be hidden somewhere in my usual stock circulation, so keep an eye out for that! 

Edited May 20, 2020 by RedGemAlchemist

[BlueLightning]

Excellent! Glad to see it has arrived safely!

[RedGemAlchemist]

Update for you. After some discussions on the matter with @Annie, @sem34090 and @BlueLightning, I've now repainted Edward Bradleigh I, Sergeant Gordon Cash and the now somewhat ironically named Jack-in-the-Green into the new third KLR livery of mixed-traffic lined bronze.

The colour is a 4 to 5 mix of Vallejo Model Colour 70.911 Light Orange and Vallejo Model Air 71.035 Cam. Light Brown (the latter you may recognise as the colour I use on much of my coaching stock.)

[RedGemAlchemist]

Also introducing the new No.20, name pending. Small Smokey Joe bash with a metal kit built chassis, a new cab and new boiler gubbins. 

Not sure what manufacturer it looks like the work of yet, and it needs some minor paintwork (running board in grey, chrome brass on the whistle and safety valve etc.) Looks a bit like one of the Swindonised saddle tanks tbh. But it runs alright, it was relatively cheap, and I love the look of it, the KLR can't have enough tank engines personally. 

Edited May 30, 2020 by RedGemAlchemist

[sem34090]

For a manufacturer, how about Neilson's?

[RedGemAlchemist]

9 minutes ago, sem34090 said:

For a manufacturer, how about Neilson's?

Hmm. Does look a bit Neilson's. Also could be Peckett or Black Hawthorn.

[Justang]

19 hours ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

Hmm. Does look a bit Neilson's. Also could be Peckett or Black Hawthorn.

 Smokey Joe's basis is the Caledonian 264 which was a Neilson design. Neilson made similar engines for the North British and some for industrial railways. With a larger cab over the firebox, it could look more avonside

Edited May 31, 2020 by Justang
Typo

[RedGemAlchemist]

Neilson it is then.

[sem34090]

3 hours ago, Justang said:

 Smokey Joe's basis is the Caledonian 264 which was a Neilson design. Neilson made similar engines for the North British and some for industrial railways. With a larger can over the firebox, it could look more avonside

Precisely - As far as I was concerned it wasn't open to very much question as for once -as RTR models go- the loco had a prototype from an industrial loco builder!

3 hours ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

Neilson it is then.

Good choice.

 

[RedGemAlchemist]

Mr. Alchemist, what have I told you about remembering to keep your work up to date?!

 

Apologies for the long gap, I just keep forgetting to show my working as it were. All the rubbish going on at the moment makes it very easy to lose track. There will be a sister post on my buildings thread showing my work on that front too.

 

Let's start off with the 9F, No.15 Tom Hickathrift, as its the loco I've been wanting to add to the roster for longest. The smoke deflectors have been removed and the gaps filled in, and more weight has been added to the tender but other than that nothing has really changed. It goes look very smart in KLR unlined black with copper fittings though. Really like how the copper cap turned out. This thing is, in terms of haulage, an absolute MONSTER. When I was testing it it pulled the entirety of my coaching stock at once! 

 

Next up is the little Neilson tank, No.20 Lynn Witch. It... actually needed no modifications, and all the black is the same as original. All I did was paint the running board grey and the fittings brass and add the gold lettering. It runs like a dream (clearly the motor has been geared down by the previous owner) and is actually very powerful for its size. 

 

And finally No.19, the Warship Boadicea. Same paint scheme as the Class 37, which I can't remember the name of but I know is named after Grandad's old Regiment to act as a pair with No.16. Connecting new couplings was a nightmare, and while they are a bit low thankfully its not so much as to cause an issue, though I did have to remove the extended tabs at the bottom of them to stop them clipping the sleepers. Runs OK but chugs a bit. 

 

No.18 has also had a rename, as Jack-in-the-Green doesn't fit any more seeing as it's no longer green. So now it's called Thomas Paine, because it's another good Norfolk name, though I was originally saving that for a possible American loco. 

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

18 hours ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

Mr. Alchemist, what have I told you about remembering to keep your work up to date?!

 

Apologies for the long gap, I just keep forgetting to show my working as it were. All the rubbish going on at the moment makes it very easy to lose track.

 

So are we to expect some images of a derailment?  

[RedGemAlchemist]

Ok, just picked up an Airfix Pug kit, half built, from a junk shop down the road. Anyone have any ideas a) what I can do with it, and b) how to motorise it if I do?