Coulsdon Works

[31A]

I believe the first is ex Great Eastern (possibly with most of the beading replaced with flush panelling), and the second is an LNER Gresley Brake Third with push-pull driving cab.

[Darryl Tooley]

12 minutes ago, 31A said:

I believe the first is ex Great Eastern (possibly with most of the beading replaced with flush panelling)

That's what it looks like to me too.

 

As built, Great Eastern steel-panelled stock was indistinguishable from wooden-bodied stock.  However, they rusted badly, and latterly Stratford tended to adopt the simplified style of panelling seen here.

 

(Dennis Seabrook Collection/LNER Society)

 

D

[thegreenhowards]

41 minutes ago, Darryl Tooley said:

That's what it looks like to me too.

 

As built, Great Eastern steel-panelled stock was indistinguishable from wooden-bodied stock.  However, they rusted badly, and latterly Stratford tended to adopt the simplified style of panelling seen here.

 

(Dennis Seabrook Collection/LNER Society)

 

D

Thanks. Now the obvious question...does anyone do a kit of the GE vehicle?

[Darryl Tooley]

22 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

does anyone do a kit of the GE vehicle?

Not that I'm aware of.

 

D

[thegreenhowards]

Looking again at the photos in Yeadon vol 36 (p45 and 46) and the Middleton Press Ally Pally - Finsbury Park book (plate 23,26,36,38), some pictures have the same vehicle as in @65179's post. But others have a panelled vehicle which looks similar and which I think I'd previously identified as being of NE origin. If any coach experts have access to those books, I'd be grateful for a second opinion.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

A couple more O gauge wagons ready to go today.

 

One is the Slaters mineral wagon I showed a few days ago. This has been backdated to LNER livery. It seems likely that this would have been a PO wagon rather than a company one but it still looks convincing (to me at least) viewed from a distance and ‘PO’ing it was not really practical. I’ve added the missing hinge bar.

 

The other is a van bought off eBay described as ‘unknown kit of box van’. A bit of research showed it to be a Slaters MR 8 T box van and I dug out some photos from the MR wagon book to copy. So here it is in LMS livery.

 

Just need to get the club layout working now to run them on!

 

Andy

 

[thegreenhowards]

Well I’m pleased to report that @richard ihas taken on the challenging task of trying to make something out of the bits of the F2 that I rejected. He’s taken the remains of the Bachmann body and bits of SE Finecast N5 kit and the old kit chassis and is going to try to resurrect them - brave man! 
 

As he lives near my Mum who I’m ‘bubbled’ with, I dropped off the bits this afternoon. I think he will report back on here and/or his Dettingen GCR thread as and when he has any joy.

 

Andy

[richard i]

Have started looking at the drawings and pieces to get the cogs turning. I like to think on things for a short while in the background and then attack them when an idea crystallizes to solve the problems.

thank you for letting me have the pieces to play with. 
richard 

[richard i]

I got out the loco and don’t think that you were as far off from being able to pull it all together as you might have thought. I can see a way forward so these parts should be able to take shape as a loco.......soon hopefully. 
richard

[thegreenhowards]

1 hour ago, richard i said:

I got out the loco and don’t think that you were as far off from being able to pull it all together as you might have thought. I can see a way forward so these parts should be able to take shape as a loco.......soon hopefully. 
richard

That’s good to know Richard,

 

It was going well until the glue failed and it fell apart, creasing the brass overlays in the process. It then went in the too difficult pile for a while and got forgotten. I seem to remember there was a problem about the way the cab joined onto the sides/ boiler but I can’t now remember exactly what the problem was.

 

I will follow your attempts with interest.

 

I hope the pictures/ drawings are useful.

 

Andy

[jrg1]

On 18/02/2021 at 03:48, thegreenhowards said:

Progress on the F2. I tried moving the chassis back on the body but that looked very front heavy. So In looked again at the photos/ drawings that i have and realised that whoever fitted the springs on the original F1 kit did so in the wrong position. So I moved the springs forward by 2-3mm so they line up with the front wheels and raised them slightly to make them more prominent. I think it now looks OK.

 

On the push pull gear I decided that I wasn’t prepared to pay postage for one small part that isn’t even quite correct for LNER engines. So I dug around in my spares box and knocked one up out of half a Westinghouse pump and some bits and bobs. Here is the result. The push pull gear doesn’t bear close scrutiny but it gives an impression.

 

 

Any more comments before she enters the spray booth?

 

Andy

 

Looks miles better in the raw, after stripping the awful paint job.

[thegreenhowards]

9 hours ago, jrg1 said:

Looks miles better in the raw, after stripping the awful paint job.

Thanks John,

 

It looks even better now with some Halfords gloss black on.

 

 

It will get a coat of Dullcote tomorrow and then join the weathering queue.

 

Andy

[thegreenhowards]

Well that was an enjoyable and busy weekend. I enjoyed two virtual courses with Missenden Modellers and watched some Gauge O Guild virtual show videos. This gave me plenty of time to do some modelling while I watched. In the main, that’s meant getting on with my second O gauge twin, a Gresley F-T from a Kirk kit. I’m now on the home straight as I hope the photos below show.

 

 

 

 

I still have the following jobs to do:

• Painting the ends, roof and underframe;
• Connecting the V hangers and gas cylinder;
• Decals;
• Couplings; and
• Step board on underframe and bogies.

If anyone can spot anything else I’ve missed or got wrong then please let me know.

 

Andy

[John Tomlinson]

Hi Andy,

 

I can't see the trussing in your pictures, but it may not be visible. You'll recall it should be of the length for a 61'6' coach, not a shorty.

 

You may also recall that some while ago we did go through the whole rigmarole of whether there were battery boxes both sides or not on these, some having a regulator box on one side instead. I seem to remember that the earlier ones we thought had battery boxes both sides, and so if you did turnbuckle trussing it would be fine as is.

 

As MJT is 4mm only, could you please remind me how you've done the door grab handles, as these look very good indeed, as does the whole thing in fact.

 

John.

[thegreenhowards]

27 minutes ago, John Tomlinson said:

Hi Andy,

 

I can't see the trussing in your pictures, but it may not be visible. You'll recall it should be of the length for a 61'6' coach, not a shorty.

 

You may also recall that some while ago we did go through the whole rigmarole of whether there were battery boxes both sides or not on these, some having a regulator box on one side instead. I seem to remember that the earlier ones we thought had battery boxes both sides, and so if you did turnbuckle trussing it would be fine as is.

 

As MJT is 4mm only, could you please remind me how you've done the door grab handles, as these look very good indeed, as does the whole thing in fact.

 

John.

John,

 

How could I forget the trussing - Just as well someone’s on the ball! I did know about it and it will be turnbuckle (made from 0.7mm brass wire and without the turnbuckles themselves) but I’ve managed to paint the underframe this morning without putting it on first - drat.

 

I believe it’s the later longer twins which had the regulator boxes. I think these had battery boxes both sides but I’m not 100% sure on that. These were built in 1929.

 

The door grab handles are just 0.45mm wire bent to shape in a jig I built by drilling a couple of holes in a piece of wood. You’ve reminded me that I need to paint the plastic door handles.

 

Andy

 

 

[John Tomlinson]

Hi Andy,

 

Glad to be of help!

 

I think the conclusion we reached was that the regulator boxes did appear on later builds of these "short" artics as well as the 55' ones. It appears to be something done on later builds only when they realised that two sets of batteries, and their carrying weight, wasn't needed. So you'll be quite correct with both boxes and the earlier style trussing.

 

The door handles have come out well, and a much more practical answer than the lost wax ones available from Laurie Griffin at no small cost. I think lost wax brass is horrible to work with anyway, as it is very, very hard and difficult to clean up.

 

John.

Edited March 8, 2021 by John Tomlinson
typo

[thegreenhowards]

I've been working on my 0 gauge N1 over the last few days. I bought this as a rather tired BR liveried example at The Peterborough show in Dec 2019 - my first bit of O gauge rolling stock. Here it is as bought.

 

 

It was in reasonable condition overall but I'm modelling the LNER era and wanted a KX suburban example with condensing pipes so there was work to be done. I managed to source the condensing pipes from Slaters who were very helpful. The ones they supplied weren't quite long enough as they were from their N2 kit, so I had a spare pipe from them and let in some lengthening sections. It came out all right as I hope this picture shows. You can just see the join between the second and third boiler bands if you look closely.

 

 

Next was the respray into LNER livery. I'm basing this on a photo of 4586 on p34 of Yeadon vol 25. It still needs tidying from my overspray of buffer beams and coal etc. and then matting down. But before I do that, can anyone spot any errors in the lining (apart from my wonkiness!). i.e. have I missed anything which should be lined or got anything wrong? The photos of this era are all in black and white and we know that red does not show up well in 1930s photos so it's quite difficult to tell. I'm sorry to admit that I've relied partly on a Hornby N2 to guide me!

 

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Andy

[thegreenhowards]

A nice oblong parcel arrived from eBay yesterday. Earlier in the sequence on Gresley Jn,  I was told in no uncertain terms that I needed a B2 and who am I to argue about buying another loco. My original intention was to follow @45568’s example and merge a Hornby B1 and B17 to create one, but then I saw this on eBay.

 

It’s 61639, Norwich City with a NER tender built from a DMR kit. It was misdescribed as a B17/6 which I think may have helped keep the price down, so for just over £100 I have a pretty nice brass B2. It’s powered by an open frame Mashima which seems smooth and quiet. It was very light so I’ve added some weight and chipped it yesterday plus repaired a couple of bits which were loose. It works very well - very smooth although I suspect it’s still too light to pull anything very long.

 

Those who know their football will appreciate that as a QPR fan I couldn’t possibly have ‘Norwich City’ running on my layout - it’s a grudge which goes back to them denying us the First Division championship with three games to go in 1976! I have some Castle Hedingham plates in stock, so it will be renamed shortly.

 

 

[great northern]

40 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

A nice oblong parcel arrived from eBay yesterday. Earlier in the sequence on Gresley Jn,  I was told in no uncertain terms that I needed a B2 and who am I to argue about buying another loco. My original intention was to follow @45568’s example and merge a Hornby B1 and B17 to create one, but then I saw this on eBay.

 

It’s 61639, Norwich City with a NER tender built from a DMR kit. It was misdescribed as a B17/6 which I think may have helped keep the price down, so for just over £100 I have a pretty nice brass B2. It’s powered by an open frame Mashima which seems smooth and quiet. It was very light so I’ve added some weight and chipped it yesterday plus repaired a couple of bits which were loose. It works very well - very smooth although I suspect it’s still too light to pull anything very long.

 

Those who know their football will appreciate that as a QPR fan I couldn’t possibly have ‘Norwich City’ running on my layout - it’s a grudge which goes back to them denying us the First Division championship with three games to go in 1976! I have some Castle Hedingham plates in stock, so it will be renamed shortly.

 

 

Having had a quick look at Yeadon, I would say that tender is more suited to Castle Hedingham anyway. Lucky for you that you saw it before I did.

[thegreenhowards]

20 minutes ago, great northern said:

Having had a quick look at Yeadon, I would say that tender is more suited to Castle Hedingham anyway. Lucky for you that you saw it before I did.

Thanks for pointing that out - You’re half right about my foresight. I had spotted that it had the right tender for Castle Hedingham which I’d already worked out when I was thinking of building one from a Nucast kit. I hadn’t realised it was wrong for Norwich City though.

 

For those less well versed in the intricacies of B2 tenders, there were at least four different types in a class of 10 locos. Mine wasn’t well focussed before so I’ll show another shot.

 

This is the ex NER Atlantic type with full length coal rails which four of the class, including Castle Hedingham, carried. Three, including Norwich City, carried similar tenders with the coal rails cut off at the rear of the coal space and ending vertically. Two had the unique ex P2 tenders and one, Royal Sovereign, kept its original group standard tender. What a modeller’s nightmare!

 

 

[John Tomlinson]

3 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

A nice oblong parcel arrived from eBay yesterday. Earlier in the sequence on Gresley Jn,  I was told in no uncertain terms that I needed a B2 and who am I to argue about buying another loco. My original intention was to follow @45568’s example and merge a Hornby B1 and B17 to create one, but then I saw this on eBay.

 

It’s 61639, Norwich City with a NER tender built from a DMR kit. It was misdescribed as a B17/6 which I think may have helped keep the price down, so for just over £100 I have a pretty nice brass B2. It’s powered by an open frame Mashima which seems smooth and quiet. It was very light so I’ve added some weight and chipped it yesterday plus repaired a couple of bits which were loose. It works very well - very smooth although I suspect it’s still too light to pull anything very long.

 

Those who know their football will appreciate that as a QPR fan I couldn’t possibly have ‘Norwich City’ running on my layout - it’s a grudge which goes back to them denying us the First Division championship with three games to go in 1976! I have some Castle Hedingham plates in stock, so it will be renamed shortly.

 

 

That looks like an excellent purchase.

 

Staggering to think what you paid for it, given the cost of wheels, motor, gearbox and the kit itself. Plus what looks like a very decent paint job.

 

John.

Edited March 18, 2021 by John Tomlinson
typo

[Tony Teague]

Are you certain that Castle Hedingham Academicals didn't beat QPR at some point?

(Most teams have....).

[thegreenhowards]

27 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

Are you certain that Castle Hedingham Academicals didn't beat QPR at some point?

(Most teams have....).

You’re probably right, although losing to Dagenham and Redbridge is the lowest point I can remember! We don’t bear grudges against every team that beats us...just ones that deny us the only chance we’ll ever have of winning the top tier title.

[thegreenhowards]

At the same time as buying the B2 off eBay I also succumbed to another WD as £70 seemed too good to be true for a mint condition model. When it arrived it was still in all its tissue paper, so genuinely mint.  It was 90274, but I’ve renumbered her to 90559, a New England regular, based on a picture in Brian Morrison’s ‘Steam Around London’. Although I prefer an air brush for light weathering, I find heavy weathering is easy to do with brushes so I got on with this one. Here she is.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m pleased with the way she’s come out but would welcome any ‘areas for improvement’ that people can spot.

 

It’s the older Bachmann model, so not DCC ready and I forgot how little room there is inside for a hard wired decoder but I managed to fit my standard LAIS DCC decoder above the motor. She will be entering service on Gresley Jn shortly.

 

Andy

Edited March 22, 2021 by thegreenhowards

[jwealleans]

Are you going to put the fire iron rack on, Andy?   It's about the only thing I know about these new locos, but having done one for a club colleague I always notice it when it's not there.   247 do an etched one or they're easy enough to make.