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Fenwick Pit: a North East Colliery in 2mm


Geordie Exile
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Happened to pick up a rattle can of red oxide primer today, as I've a few wagons in the pipeline.  Saying that, the first batch are likely to be the 21t hoppers that only ever turn up on the photos as various shades of grey!

 

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@Caledonian, @doilum - I've just found a Flickr album with another 70 photos of the various rolling stock at Fenwick - here - and interestingly, the first two photos show the same loco (probably taken within minutes of each other looking at the location and the set it's pulling) as either green or blue! I'm obviously going to have to be careful.

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Dark blue was used for most of the South Northumberland locos. With the obvious exception of Backworth 49 any "green" ones are down to a combination of film stock/processing and light conditions.

 

The red wagons on the other hand I reckon are down to the cheaper paint slapped on to wooden wagons. You can tell that some of them are freshly painted in what appears to be a bright russet red, but I remember helping my Dad paint a boatyard in that very colour over 50 years. It didn't last, it faded very quickly and that was in a pretty clean environment. Add in pit-head muck... The point is, and the Backworth photies demonstrate it, that there's a tremendous variation. There's not much jumbling up individually, but the cuts are different with one lot of wagons looking bright and shiny, another less so and others decidedly shabby.

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Backworth actually had two No.49s, and their tenure overlapped.  Both were Austerities, the preserved green one and another, which may also have been green but a darker shade.  The second one was fitted with a mechanical stoker I believe, and was scrapped in the late sixties.

 

Right at the end of steam there were two No.48s. again both Austerities, and both blue, though the second one was so dirty you would never have known it.  The second one I never saw being used.  It seemed to lurk in the far end of the shed and may have been a parts source to keep the others going.  It was the only loco to be scrapped at the end of steam.

 

The DJModels WD in lined NCB Black (No.4) was a Backworth loco, and the USA tank by Model Rail/Bachmann in lined black also spent some time at Backworth.  No.16 was lined black when first transferred to Backworth but was repainted blue at the shed.  When it first arrived it was the same colour as twin No.38 at Tanfield (which finished its career at Shilbottle known as "thirty-eight and a half" due to two of their four engines having the same number, but that's another story....)

 

As a thought you could get away with one of the N Gauge Society's Hunslet diesels (no.503) as the North Eastern Area was formed before Backworth closed.  There were a few unrecorded loco transfers and loans, so you could make a convincing back story.  I took a photo of one of the Hunslets at Philadelphia which isn't recorded anywhere as a transfer or even a Lambton repair.

 

Keep up the good work

Les

 

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On 27/08/2020 at 21:22, Geordie Exile said:

@Caledonian, @doilum - I've just found a Flickr album with another 70 photos of the various rolling stock at Fenwick - here - and interestingly, the first two photos show the same loco (probably taken within minutes of each other looking at the location and the set it's pulling) as either green or blue! I'm obviously going to have to be careful.

Many thanks for the link. I thoroughly enjoyed this album. It confirms exactly what I remembered and was trying to describe, the variation from bauxite to crimson lake, and every shade in-between.

A really good mix of locos too including several Pecketts.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a while since I posted any progress. The buildings are pretty much unchanged, but I've been looking at a track plan, and at the most suitable way of building that track in 2mmFS. And while toying with the options, I've also doubled the rolling stock fleet.

 

From 1 to 2.

 

This is the beautifully detailed 21t hopper from Fencehouses: fiddly indeed for a beginner like me, but immensely satisfying to build, and actually prototypical for the pit.

 

Just need a hundred or so more, of various types. Including the signature wagon for which I guess the only real solution is learning how to use a CAD package and create an etch. Meantime, baby steps such as this...

 

 

20200911_205600.jpg

Edited by Geordie Exile
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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, I've done it. Our very nice Moderator has moved this thread into the 2mm FS forum.  When I first had a poke around the forum, I felt like a school kid sneaking into the staff room, except the grown-ups have been very welcoming rather than hurling blackboard rubbers at the cheeky wee interloper.

 

To celebrate, here's a photo of my first completed wagon, a 21t hopper from Bob Jones' stable.  (The mineral wagon taster kit doesn't count, as that was practising!)  I've four wooden-bodied hoppers in the paint shop, with the rattle-can red oxide still drying, but they're not complete until I figure out how to get the Fox Transfers lettering onto them.  From what I can see, many of the metal hoppers such as this one weren't badged as NCB, so this one's done.

 

image.png.1de9b95491c560ca61492d5bf6d21590.png

 

I think I'll invest in some blackener, as the DGs aren't quite as loose now they're covered in paint, however lightly I tried to spray it.  Every day's a school day.

 

Richard

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Decisions, decisions.  The wooden hoppers are back from the paint shop (ok, my shed then my desk) and the lovely Fox Transfers applied, with less fuss that I anticipated.  I know all the wagons were numbered, with what appears to be a 5-digit number, but I can't make any out from the many photos I have.  I know if I hand-letter them, I'll spoil it, because at that size it's way beyond my fine motor skills.  If I cut up some numbers from the FT sheet, the individual numerals will look better, but is it possible to get five in a row all perfectly aligned?  And while the positioning will be prototypical the numbering won't (although this is less important to me than how they look - I know, a heresy!).  Do I risk spoiling the look of what I've done in the name of accuracy, or do I give them all a squirt of matt varnish and get on with the weathering?  #FirstWorldProblems

 

image.png.90b73dcc004bc4bef196043ea81b03a0.png

 

I've still got to attach the bodies to the chassis.  Each ended up being tailored (a gouge out of the body here, a file off the chassis there) so a specific body will fit a specific chassis, but my enthusiastic spraying obliterated the numbers I'd very carefully given them :jester:.  And I know the wheels ain't there.

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The coach numbers on these were individual digits from Fox Transfers. Apply on a gloss surface (use what used to be called Johnson's Klear, now called Pledge Multi-surface? it is a cheap way of buying what is actually acrylic varnish). I use a fine paintbrush and a cocktail stick to poke the transfers around. You can get special transfer slide and fix solutions (e.g. MicroSol and MicroSet) which might be of assistance. I completed numbering one side of all four coaches in a single evening. The wording was done on another evening, and was obviously simpler. Finish with a matt varnish spray.

 

Why, oh why, did they need to put the numbers on both ends of such short coaches?

 

IMG_20200828_195334.jpg.576641fa10e96f0ee2da1a3d9dc55372.jpg

Edited by Ian Morgan
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I think the numbers have to be there is some shape or form as they are one of those details which I would describe as 'significant by their absence', in other words the wagon would look 'bare' without it.  Whether they are accurate actual numbers is a moot point.  Is anyone going to be able to prove that you are wrong?

There is no register of CR wagons, so, other than photographs and those few from order numbers or other paperwork which has survived, it's a case of 'think of a number'.  The only thing we do know is the ranges of numbers that were used for mineral wagons and those of special wagons and brake vans, which had their own number series. 

 

Jim

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Add numbers to the wagons, they said. It'll be fun, they said.

 

Having identified that the wagons at the Backworth Colliery system carried (mostly) 4-digit numbering, I set about creating a mosaic of numbers that looked the right size and font and applying them to the wagons. All the while wondering if this was the 2mmSA equivalent of sending the newbie for a long weight or to fetch some elbow grease. 24 hours later, as recommended by Fox Transfers, I followed up with a spray of matt varnish. That went well enough until I got to the last wagon when a quick squirt sent 3 of the 4 digits flying into the nether areas of my shed.

 

So, depending on which side you look at it, wagon no 1897 is also wagon no 1096. As only Marty Feldman can see both sides at once, I've decided to live with it. He may also spot that I put one side of the same wagon on upside down, so it's proudly sporting a sole bar at the top. Let's keep that between ourselves. 

 

Anyway, here are the finished products. The photo makes the weathering look a bit heavy-handed, but while a couple are quite heavily caked in coal dust, it's more subtle than the camera suggests.

20201015_144827.jpg

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These look great, @Geordie Exile!   I'm sure you'll agree that having the numbers there makes all the difference.  Whether they are correct or, indeed, the same on both sides, is immaterial.  After all, we're not trying to make museum standard models (at least I'm not!).  It's creating the character that is important IMHO.

 

Jim

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I’m not overly familiar with these wagons but certainly those numbers make a huge difference.  Or perhaps it’s the wheels.
 

And at 2mm scale amazing work too.

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On 10/10/2020 at 21:15, Geordie Exile said:

Well, I've done it. Our very nice Moderator has moved this thread into the 2mm FS forum.  When I first had a poke around the forum, I felt like a school kid sneaking into the staff room, except the grown-ups have been very welcoming rather than hurling blackboard rubbers at the cheeky wee interloper.

 

To celebrate, here's a photo of my first completed wagon, a 21t hopper from Bob Jones' stable.  (The mineral wagon taster kit doesn't count, as that was practising!)  I've four wooden-bodied hoppers in the paint shop, with the rattle-can red oxide still drying, but they're not complete until I figure out how to get the Fox Transfers lettering onto them.  From what I can see, many of the metal hoppers such as this one weren't badged as NCB, so this one's done.

 

image.png.1de9b95491c560ca61492d5bf6d21590.png

 

I think I'll invest in some blackener, as the DGs aren't quite as loose now they're covered in paint, however lightly I tried to spray it.  Every day's a school day.

 

Richard

 

Hi Richard,

 

Some nice work on the 21T hopper but I have a small recommendation. For handrails it would be worth trying 0.2mm nickel silver wire as, even when the paint is thinly applied, it always contrives to make the handrails appear much thicker.

The Albion Alloys product is excellent as it is straight and, being nickel, it solders well. In a shameless plug for my 2mm colleague Ed Sissling it can be found here:

https://www.acsissling.com/?i=332639&f=332647

 

David

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On 16/10/2020 at 09:10, DavidLong said:

 

Hi Richard,

 

Some nice work on the 21T hopper but I have a small recommendation. For handrails it would be worth trying 0.2mm nickel silver wire as, even when the paint is thinly applied, it always contrives to make the handrails appear much thicker.

The Albion Alloys product is excellent as it is straight and, being nickel, it solders well. In a shameless plug for my 2mm colleague Ed Sissling it can be found here:

https://www.acsissling.com/?i=332639&f=332647

 

David

 

I see what you mean, and the white paint highlighted every tiny blob of solder and associated modelling mank that I hadn't cleared off.  As they're such a complicated arrangement, I stuck with the etch - it was already testing my skills just to complete the model.  I've added grab rails to the ends of the wooden hoppers in 0.3mm ns wire, as they were a simple extended U-shape.  To make them more robust they're drilled through and superglued in.  I bottled adding any more (the sides should have two each according to the Dave Bartlett photos I've been able to find) but I wasn't sure I could produce 16 of such uniformity that they would add to the look rather than detract from it.  In hindsight, a simple jig would probably have done it - and still might - but I think producing a jig for the 21T is still beyond my skill level.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, and I've some more 21T ordered so I might give it a go.  The worst that could happen is that I go back to the etched piece when my attempts go to pot.  And a final thought - I don't think I've found a photo of the 21T where the handrails aren't bent to b*ggery anyway, so there's my prototype!

 

Richard

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19 hours ago, Geordie Exile said:

 

I see what you mean, and the white paint highlighted every tiny blob of solder and associated modelling mank that I hadn't cleared off.  As they're such a complicated arrangement, I stuck with the etch - it was already testing my skills just to complete the model.  I've added grab rails to the ends of the wooden hoppers in 0.3mm ns wire, as they were a simple extended U-shape.  To make them more robust they're drilled through and superglued in.  I bottled adding any more (the sides should have two each according to the Dave Bartlett photos I've been able to find) but I wasn't sure I could produce 16 of such uniformity that they would add to the look rather than detract from it.  In hindsight, a simple jig would probably have done it - and still might - but I think producing a jig for the 21T is still beyond my skill level.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, and I've some more 21T ordered so I might give it a go.  The worst that could happen is that I go back to the etched piece when my attempts go to pot.  And a final thought - I don't think I've found a photo of the 21T where the handrails aren't bent to b*ggery anyway, so there's my prototype!

 

Richard

Hi Richard,

 

What you need is a N Brass handrail jig:

https://www.nbrasslocos.co.uk/kitimages/fitbr/n23284handrailjigweb.gif

 

David

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  • 1 month later...

I've finally got a full train. Sort of. The J94 is an out-of-the-box Farish, so needs re-wheeling and a lot of detailing. At the other end is my latest kit, an association Toad E, awaiting its DGs and some weathering. It looks as though the brake vans were added at the exchange sidings as they don't appear in any pictures of the colliery system. And they're all sitting on 500mm of Easitrac.  Progress feels glacial, but I don't have a deadline, so who cares?

 

20201122_204807.jpg

20201122_205023.jpg

 

Edit: ooft, that close-up is cruel!!!

Edited by Geordie Exile
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2 hours ago, Geordie Exile said:

Edit: ooft, that close-up is cruel!!!

Close up photos always are!

 

Nice work, Richard.  Progress may be slow, but there's nothing to be gained by rushing things.  I once had a poster on my study wall which said 'Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of travelling'.

 

Jim

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