The Calder Vale Mineral Railway

[Ruston]

It's the outside valve gear that's going to give me nightmares.   Anyway, it's going in the stash of kits to be built once I have got the layout itself done. The stash is growing and now includes a pair of 1850s NBR coaches and a pair of 1880s NER coaches. On the wagon stock front I have been given a couple kits for L&Y half box wagons, which will be used for traffic from the pipe works. One thing I need is a suitably old former mainline railway cast off brake van and an L&Y 'tin tab' brake van. Does anyone know of a kit for the latter?

Edited October 11, 2018 by Ruston

[Sandhole]

It's the outside valve gear that's going to give me nightmares.   Anyway, it's going in the stash of kits to be built once I have got the layout itself done. The stash is growing and now includes a pair of 1850s NBR coaches and a pair of 1880s NER coaches. On the wagon stock front I have been given a couple kits for L&Y half box wagons, which will be used for traffic from the pipe works. One thing I need is a suitably old former mainline railway cast off brake van and an L&Y 'tin tab' brake van. Does anyone know of a kit for the latter?

I think I have a D&S kit for the Tin Tab. I'm about to go to work ,but I'll check when I get back this afternoon.

                                                                                           Chris.

[Adam]

One thing I need is a suitably old former mainline railway cast off brake van and an L&Y 'tin tab' brake van. Does anyone know of a kit for the latter?

 

The D&S kit is now with London Road Models:

 

https://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/various/wagons/

 

Adam

[Sandhole]

It's the outside valve gear that's going to give me nightmares.   Anyway, it's going in the stash of kits to be built once I have got the layout itself done. The stash is growing and now includes a pair of 1850s NBR coaches and a pair of 1880s NER coaches. On the wagon stock front I have been given a couple kits for L&Y half box wagons, which will be used for traffic from the pipe works. One thing I need is a suitably old former mainline railway cast off brake van and an L&Y 'tin tab' brake van. Does anyone know of a kit for the latter?

The valve gear is horribly scale!!

I used pins 'cos I could find no rivets that would work and I would not have liked to try hammering rivets either!! Soldering pins was far safer.

My valvegear fell to pieces because of wear, pure and simple!!! It was unsaveable. I think that is why I was recommended to use the Blacksmith GWR railmotor stuff.

Mike Edge, being a far more indgenious modeller than me probably overcame that problem by an easy method that escaped me!!

The kit is buildable. Especially by a man of your ability!

I love mine to bits!! mike did the body 'Scabby!' Panels plated over, just about hanging on! She has and still does sterling service on Oldham Road and I wouldn't be without her!!

I apologise for the 2by4 scenery, but I'm not a fast scenery man. I just start playing trains!!!

Compared to Mikes version, she is rough and ready!! She is 35 years old, has worked on at least three layouts and as I have said, I love her to bits!!!!

                                                                                                                       Chris.

[Michael Edge]

I always use soldered pins for making up valve gear, however the Blacksmith GW railmotor etches are even skimpier than the Jidenco ones. The problem is really that there is far too little material round the holes and they break up very easily.

[Sandhole]

I always use soldered pins for making up valve gear, however the Blacksmith GW railmotor etches are even skimpier than the Jidenco ones. The problem is really that there is far too little material round the holes and they break up very easily.

Thanks for that Mike.

I'll stick to my spare Jidenco fret when the motion completely falls to bits and I have to repair it.

                                                                                                 Chris.

[Sandhole]

I think I have a D&S kit for the Tin Tab. I'm about to go to work ,but I'll check when I get back this afternoon.

                                                                                           Chris.

I've got the Tin Tab kit.

PM me if you want it and we'll sort a price. I'm not into stupid money by any means.

                                                                                  C.

[Ruston]

I decided to buy a couple of RT Models  contractors' wagon kits to see how they go on the bank. There are no couplings fitted yet but I will fit each end of a rake of 4 with Dinghams. The intermediate couplings will be chain links and an open hook, as per the real thing.

 

Sorry about the picture quality. The camera batteries are done for and won't work the flash anymore.

[Ruston]

I've got the Tin Tab kit.

PM me if you want it and we'll sort a price. I'm not into stupid money by any means.

                                                                                  C.

I also bought the brake van from Chris. It's in the pile of things to build, along with the railmotor and coaches. Thanks, Chris.

[Sandhole]

I also bought the brake van from Chris. It's in the pile of things to build, along with the railmotor and coaches. Thanks, Chris.

My pleasure!

Reminds me, I've got to cash the cheque!!!

I've got three of the RT contractors wagons to build. One to replace the large wagon that runs with the Lewin Engine for extra pickups.

Your two are very nice indeed. As for the Manning?

I'm just going to sit and look at it for a while.

Georgeous!!!!!!

                          C.

[Ruston]

I haven't done anything more toward building the layout but I have been bodging wagons.

 

The first is a freelance design of brake van, for the railway's own internal traffic. The chassis is a GWR shunter's truck that I had previously converted to a brake van on Nant-Y-Mynyddd by chopping down a GWR Toad body and fitting it to the chassis. This time the body is made from plastikard and plastruct and is loosely based on a type used on the GNR and some railways in South Wales.

The original buffer heads were quite large so I replaced them with spares that were left over from one of the Slaters 4-plank wagons that I converted to dumb buffers.

 

The other two wagons are still works in progress and are a pair of ancient Triang vans that I picked up for just £3 a piece. The bodies look rather like L&Y Dia. 3 vans so one will become just that, whilst the other will become an L&Y gunpowder van. They are slightly too tall and slightly too short but what do you want for three quid a piece?

 

One of the vans as bought.

 

The roofs are about 2mm too wide. The one on the left is as bought whilst the one on the right has been cut down in width.

 

Headstocks, made from plastikard.

 

Various bits of plastic have been added to the roof and sides and a piece of tissue paper covers the planked opening section of the roof. The solebars and brake gear are from a Ratio underframe kit. The stanchions on the ends of the body are too short so I have added some short lengths of plastic to extend them onto the headstocks. These need some coach bolt heads fitting yet. The buffers aren't L&Y pattern; they are RCH but so what?

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston

[Ruston]

I'm calling it finished. It should have running numbers on the ends but life's too short to be fiddling about with microscopic single numbers to make up a 5-figure running number.

It's too tall, too short and too wide for an L&Y Diagram 3 van. The V-hanger on one side should actually be U-shaped and there should be crown plates on the solebars but only Lanky experts are going to know all of that anyway and you wouldn't notice riding by on a galloping horse.

 

I already had the transfers so not including those it's £3 for the body, £3 for the wheels, £3.50 for the buffers and£2 for the frame parts. I won't count the plastic bits but it's not too bad for a couple of evenings entertainment. You'd pay that for opening a RTR box and then you'd have to spend two evenings filming the box opening video.

 

Now I want an old Hornby 'Prime Pork' van to turn into a Hull & Barnsley van.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston

[Corbs]

Looks vantacular, you wouldn't be able to guess the origins. Nice work.

[Poor Old Bruce]

It's too tall, too short and too wide for an L&Y Diagram 3 van. 

 

Be fair Ruston, it is actually the correct length  .

[Ruston]

Be fair Ruston, it is actually the correct length  .

The David Geen kit is too long then because that's what I compared this to as I don't have a drawing.

[Barclay]

The diagram book by Noel Coates says a Diagram 3 van is 16' long over the body, 7' 6 1/2" wide, and 10' 8" high to the top of the roof.

 

Great looking model, whatever the dimensions !

[Ruston]

Today's wagon project was a contractor's tipping wagon.

All plastic, except the ironwork, which is brass shim. It has taken 6 hours to build it but there was a lot of working out how to do things in that time, so the next one should be a lot quicker to build.

 

The attachment of the axles is a bodge. Lengths of brass tube, glued to the frames and bolstered by wedges of plastic to strengthen the joint. Next time I will make plummer blocks from brass, which will be glued and pinned to the frames. In fact the frames themselves may be made from brass as this whole wagon weighs just 9g. What I want is something between this and the heavyweight RT Models cast whitemetal contractor's wagons.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston

[ian@stenochs]

Today's wagon project was a contractor's tipping wagon

 

Contractor's wagon-2.jpg

The attachment of the axles is a bodge. Lengths of brass tube, glued to the frames and bolstered by wedges of plastic to strengthen the joint. Next time I will make plummer blocks from brass, which will be glued and pinned to the frames. In fact the frames themselves may be made from brass as this whole wagon weighs just 9g. What I want is something between this and the heavyweight RT Models cast whitemetal contractor's wagons.

Agh! Boadicea axles fair cuts the legs of the workmen!

 

Merry legless Christmas,

 

Ian

[Ruston]

I made another chassis from plastic, yesterday, so I may as well finish that one but I am going to use it as a test bed for the new axle fixings.

 

I made a 36x reduction master to make 4 sub-masters at 6x reduction. These were used to make the actual parts. It's the first time I have used this technique. It's useful for when you need to make a lot of one part as it reduces the number of stylus and tool changes, and the the number of times the cutting bed has to be moved.

 

Obviously, laser cutting has overtaken all of this old school technology but I wouldn't know where to start with driving the computer to make that work, so I'll stick to my 1950s stuff.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston

[Ruston]

One down, ten to go...

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston

[Ruston]

This time I have gone for an all-plastic construction. The strapping is 5 thou, plastikard with 20 thou. plastic rod inserted into drilled holes. I think it looks better than the brass shim, with dimpled bolt heads and is going to be more robust. Brass, when superglued to plastic never seems to mix well.

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston

[Ruston]

I said that the Triang van conversion is too tall. Well, it is and it isn't. The body as close as makes no difference but the problem is that I stuck the headstocks and solebars under the body without realising that the body includes the curb rail. On the prototype this covers part of the solebar and the top of the headstocks are in line with the top of the curb rail. So, I should have made cut outs in the body to place the headstocks in, instead of simply placing them under the body. The new solebars will have to be thinned down to match. Get it?

 

Right, so here's the second body after a few strokes of a razor saw.

 

I can't leave the other van as it is but I'll have to destroy the underframe in the process as everything is welded together with MEK. Shame really because it rolls so well. But on the bright side it means I may as well fit the proper brake gear and make new solebars that have crown plates. I'm becoming a wagon anorak now. Sad, isn't it?

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston

[Regularity]

I'm becoming a wagon anorak now. Sad, isn't it?

No, it isn’t sad. This is one of the great ways to enjoy the hobby, especially as the fundamental original purpose of railways was to move goods from one place to another.

 

But a “wagon anorak”? Surely a “wagon tarpaulin” or “wagon sheet” is a more apposite term?

 

Happy New Year,

[Ruston]

No, it isn’t sad. This is one of the great ways to enjoy the hobby, especially as the fundamental original purpose of railways was to move goods from one place to another.

 

But a “wagon anorak”? Surely a “wagon tarpaulin” or “wagon sheet” is a more apposite term?

 

Happy New Year,

It could be a new fashion trend. Rain Coats lettered and numbered in the style of your favourite railway company's wagon sheets. Anyone got the number for Dragons' Den?

[Ruston]

Another work in progress.

North British Railway van. Scratchbuilt on a Ratio underframe. It looks a bit rough but it'll be right enough after a coat of paint and a touch of weathering.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Ruston