Pine Quarry

[SR71]

Cleared enough space on the bench to dig out the airfix shed again and since the last posts I've picked up a Y point for paper aided thinking out loud this afternoon;

 

 

Most critical will be the depth of the backscene so when it stops raining I think I need to rough out the board structure.

[SR71]

The above was enough to confirm what I wanted to do with the shed so i have made a start on adapting it to give the smaller entrance;

 

 

This is the normally blank end with the new opening cut in. As it may have noticed in the previous post the shed has spawned a sibling while in storage. This means I don't have to use the regular open end with the excessive (for industrials) opening.

Edited December 30, 2020 by SR71

[SR71]

Before work starts again a bit more progress. At the risk of being accused of gilding the lilly I've prepared one side using fretcetera window etches. Currently the side is only resting on them as I won't fix them until the building has been painted.

 

 

The right hand window does line up but my phone camera has significant parallax error. The other side is to be done but I need to be careful to block the view straight through off the board.

[SR71]

So I may have gotten distracted from building the shed... but I have been working on an interior.

 

As mentioned previously  with the tiny size of industrial engines compaired to mainline ones I can fit in some workshop machinery down one side.

 

So this weekend I've spent an inordinate amount of time making a forge. I'm not sure why I decided the shed should have one but I did and now it does. It's based loosly on the ones in the National Slate Museum and would have been used for making tools, wagon repairs and heating parts during general maintenance for the quarry.

 

 

The drill and lathe are from the Wills kit now marketed by Peco. Final positions tbc, at the moment the hood is just tacked in place. 

 

[Ralf]

3 hours ago, SR71 said:

So this weekend I've spent an inordinate amount of time making a forge.

 

It looks great, well worth it. 

 

Ralf

[SR71]

So I've been working more on loco's since the last post but over Easter I've been doing a few bits on this again and it is now the project ceases to be pointless.

 

 

Having got some points I realised that I didn't quite have enough headshunt room so I have frankenpointed them together getting rid of the sleepers with cut backs for the fishplates and sliding rails from one point into the chairs for the next. wiring this is going to be interesting! 2 of the 3 were cheap off ebay, although seemingly new, and yet cutting them up was nerve racking despite the fact I happily tear into new RTR loco's without a concern.

 

I need to do more to the board first but I also need to work out the best way of removing the molded interlocks as they won't look right in an industrial shed.

[Phil Traxson]

On 24/01/2021 at 16:04, SR71 said:

So I may have gotten distracted from building the shed... but I have been working on an interior.

 

As mentioned previously  with the tiny size of industrial engines compaired to mainline ones I can fit in some workshop machinery down one side.

 

So this weekend I've spent an inordinate amount of time making a forge. I'm not sure why I decided the shed should have one but I did and now it does. It's based loosly on the ones in the National Slate Museum and would have been used for making tools, wagon repairs and heating parts during general maintenance for the quarry.

 

 

The drill and lathe are from the Wills kit now marketed by Peco. Final positions tbc, at the moment the hood is just tacked in place. 

 

Now all that needs is a big old electric motor on the floor driving a line shaft fixed high on the wall with flat belts down the machines and to a fan alongside the forge to provide draught for it and it will resemble the forge that my Dad served his apprenticeship and then worked in until it closed when I was about 15 years old!

Phil T.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Phil Traxson

[SR71]

13 hours ago, Phil Traxson said:

Now all that needs is a big old electric motor on the floor driving a line shaft fixed high on the wall with flat belts down the machines and to a fan alongside the forge to provide draught for it and it will resemble the forge that my Dad served his apprenticeship and then worked in until it closed when I was about 15 years old!

Phil T.

 

Interesting - appart from the fan I have all of those to go in. Do you know when he would have been doing his appreticeship? I have been reluctant to include the motor as it felt too new and I was going to run the shaft through the wall off scene.

Edited April 6, 2021 by SR71

[SR71]

I've finished the frame to support the ply base from which everything will be built up. Currently I've started adding ply but that is still clamped up and drying.

 

[Phil Traxson]

4 hours ago, SR71 said:

 

Intereating - appart from the fan I have all of those to go in. Do you know when he would have been doing his appreticeship? I have been reluctant to include the motor as it felt too new and I was going to run the shaft through the wall off scene.

Around the end of WW2,it was interrupted by National Service and he was de-mobbed in 1946. The motor was a pre-war device that lasted until the forge closed around 1962, it stood on the floor but was around waist high only a few feet away from the forge, not very powerful for all its size. You could see all the works inside it through the large vents in the cast ends, it also had a big star/delta starter box on a cast column alongside it. There were two semi circular brick built forges about 10 ft diameter with rails full of different shaped tongs, often custom made for specific jobs and forged by the 'smith, around the front of them and several anvils and swage blocks plus a couple of fly presses, at times there had apparently been 4 'smiths working at them but I only ever remember Dad and the owner working the one that was in use in the 1950's. The heat and the smell and watching Dad make proper wrought iron gates (not ornamental steel!) made a big impression on a sub-teenager as you can no doubt tell as some of  these memories are now 60+ years ago.

Phil T.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Phil Traxson

[SR71]

Thanks Phil, I'm going to have to re-think my plan then

 

Board glued, but not sanded yet, and I couldn't resist laying out the track and buildings again to see how it looks. Wanting to keep visual interest I've stepped the track from front to back, It also will (hopefully) help when displaying models as this is still the primary function. That very little of it is level has made some of the gradiants look alarmingly steep but all appear less than seen in some spots on the video of the 'proper' railways I've linked at the bottom so I'm not too worried. It is supposed to be a works/shed area so hauling ability up the grades isn't really a consideration. The center point will need packing underneith as there is only so many ways you can bend ply before it protests.