Wright writes.....

[Wingman Mothergoose]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

No need to apologise Chris,

 

You're clearly a new 'recruit' to Wright Writes, because, about eight/nine weeks ago, I completed all the 32' of point rodding on Little Bytham, illustrating it all (goodness knows how many pages that was ago!).

 

I did experiment with some of the Wills rodding, but it's huge for 4mm - nearer 7mm, if anything. It's so 'fat', it won't squeeze underneath SMP plain track. 

 

What I used was MSE components - cast metal stools, nickel silver rodding (round and square) and etched cranks and compensators. Where the runs went under the rails, I used plastic section to obviate the risk of short circuits. All the metal bits were soldered together. Fiddly, time-consuming but really worth it.

 

These pictures were shown when it was finished....................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took these pictures at the end of March, and my apologies to those who think they're just repetition, but how far back it was on Wright Writes, I have no idea.

 

Some of the recently-featured V2s are shown.

 

I must admit to having developed a bit of a zeal regarding point rodding. I now consider it as essential as (working) signals, even though, in itself, it's really only dummy. Any layout without it now, I consider 'unfinished' (not that any layout is ever really completed) and lacking in essential detail. 

 

Mind you, I don't recommend making over 30' of the stuff in one go!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

Thank you for that Tony,

Your point rodding is extremely impressive, I may have to give the MSE stuff a try. These are my pitiful efforts with the Wills rodding, I was blissfully unaware of the MSE rodding at the time. 

I don’t think I did too badly, considering how fiddly the parts were and how difficult they were to glue. It was all laid down before the house move, when I only had space to have the turntable and loco shed on the opposite side of the line to the real Richmond, something that is now happily changed due to the increased space available! 
 

Chris

[zr2498]

OO gauge X 76.

Ee Bah Gum - thems were the days

 

 

[drmditch]

 

Thank you for the junction renewal link.

Times change don't they.

 

So - total lack of PPE, even in the foundry.

Handling pressure-creosoted timber without even gloves.

(I built a project with that in the early 70s, and had to throw away my overall afterwards.)

 

I suspect a date of 1936-38?

That's why retirement age was 65. I wonder how many of those men lived to see it? (Even allowing for WW2).

 

Lovely collection of machine tools and automation though.

 

One day I must get round to building my own track!

 

[t-b-g]

Browsing around the internet for something earlier, I came upon this most interesting collection on Flickr. 

 

I thought it deserved a wider audience, in case people haven't seen it. I am not familiar with the work of the photographer but he has some really superb colour  images of the last days of steam.

 

There are other albums covering other parts of the country too, plus more modern scenes in this country and abroad.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52467480@N08/albums/72157628288309427/page1

 

 

[dibateg]

That got me thinking about the 7mm Finney V2 I built  - 60886. I couldn't remember, but the lubricators are not in line! Phew!

 

I'm sure the splashers are there as I recall they were tricky to fit.

 

Magnificent engines aren't they?

 

Regards

Tony

 

 

[davidw]

The last of my GR King derived V2 kings cross allocated 60871

 

Please excuse the poor quality photo

Edited June 13, 2020 by davidw

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Wingman Mothergoose said:

Thank you for that Tony,

Your point rodding is extremely impressive, I may have to give the MSE stuff a try. These are my pitiful efforts with the Wills rodding, I was blissfully unaware of the MSE rodding at the time. 

I don’t think I did too badly, considering how fiddly the parts were and how difficult they were to glue. It was all laid down before the house move, when I only had space to have the turntable and loco shed on the opposite side of the line to the real Richmond, something that is now happily changed due to the increased space available! 
 

Chris

I don't think anything you've done is 'pitiful', Chris.

 

I think you'll find you'll be much better off with the MSE rodding.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, zr2498 said:

OO gauge X 76.

Ee Bah Gum - thems were the days

 

 

What a fantastic film!

 

The renewal has taken place exactly alongside where I used to trainspot in Chester. Just off Hoole Road, at the road entrance to the goods yard. 

 

The Black Five was heading into platforms 13 and 14 of the General.

 

Many thanks.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Willie Whizz]

13 hours ago, Clem said:

Hi Matthew, 

It's nice to see another of Colwick's locos, and a very nice model too, albeit later than my rendition of 68629 (see below) which came to Colwick in late 1955. Mine was a Connoisseur kit and very enjoyable to make. Tony's version of your choice of engine is presumably when it was at Grantham, where I think it was for some time in the late 1950s. It always brings back memories of passing London Road Low Level Goods in the late 1950s on a DMU trainspotting expedition to Lincoln or more likely, Newark. It was just as difficult (if not more so) to get the numbers if you were on the high level, on a train to Grantham. There'd always be at least a couple of Colwick's shunting tanks there. Usually, a J69 and a J50. But sometimes 2 J69s, sometimes all J50s. They were always situated behind a wagon so you couldn't get the numbers but 68927, on the left,  was one of Colwick's - at Annesley during my layout era. Of course, by the time I was travelling, the J52s at Colwick had pretty well gone.

 

The choice trainspotting spot in this area of Nottingham was the footbridge over Meadow Lane, adjacent to Sneinton Junction on the LMR Derby-Lincoln line.  I was there!!!! (although only about 9 or 10 at the time).  You could see no less than SIX pre-Grouping railways from this point:

• The Midland route to Lincoln
• The original GN line from Grantham and Colwick to London Road Low Level station and goods yard
• The later GN line branching from Trent Lane Junction to Nottingham Victoria via London Road High Level
• The LNWR Goods Branch which left the GN line at Trent Lane Junction for a half-mile or so run to their own goods depot on Manvers Street (I swear it had the biggest pair of lower-quadrant semaphore signals you've ever seen in your life!) 
• In the middle-distance, the Midland route from Nottingham to London via Melton Mowbray, crossing the Trent by what is now Lady Bay (road) Bridge - mainly by then noteable only for the passing of "The Waverley" express
• In the further distance, the remains of the now-defunct Nottingham Suburban Railway, curving away from the GN Grantham line around the eastern outskirts of the City

I do well recall the J69s  creeping constantly back and forth up the slope from Low Level Goods with rakes of vans and parcels carriages.  Later - I can't recall the exact date but it must have been a year or so either side of 1961 - they were replaced by 0-6-0  Drewry diesel shunters, and I recall becoming very excited to finfdthat the brand-new Airfix model kit contained transfers for the very engines I was seeing practically every day, D2300 and 01.  But I still preferred the J69s ....

[Wingman Mothergoose]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I don't think anything you've done is 'pitiful', Chris.

 

I think you'll find you'll be much better off with the MSE rodding.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I think you could be right Tony,

I’ll certainly have a look at their rodding and buy a sample to see how I get on with it. It might be a good way to try and improve my soldering skills, which apart from a half decent attempt at an etched nickel silver GCR signalbox kit in 2mm scale several years ago, have been limited to wiring up my layouts. 
 

Chris

[Headstock]

15 hours ago, Clem said:

Hi Matthew, 

It's nice to see another of Colwick's locos, and a very nice model too, albeit later than my rendition of 68629 (see below) which came to Colwick in late 1955. Mine was a Connoisseur kit and very enjoyable to make. Tony's version of your choice of engine is presumably when it was at Grantham, where I think it was for some time in the late 1950s. It always brings back memories of passing London Road Low Level Goods in the late 1950s on a DMU trainspotting expedition to Lincoln or more likely, Newark. It was just as difficult (if not more so) to get the numbers if you were on the high level, on a train to Grantham. There'd always be at least a couple of Colwick's shunting tanks there. Usually, a J69 and a J50. But sometimes 2 J69s, sometimes all J50s. They were always situated behind a wagon so you couldn't get the numbers but 68927, on the left,  was one of Colwick's - at Annesley during my layout era. Of course, by the time I was travelling, the J52s at Colwick had pretty well gone.

 

 

While I'm posting, the Bachmann conversion of the WD is now finished but the DJH still awaits weathering...

 

I'm just working on a Dave Bradwell J39 chassis at the moment. Having done one for EM before and struggled with it to get the frames narrow enough, I found that this time, being aware of the pitfalls/likely problems later, has made it a much better prospect. Having said that,  my previous EM effort runs perfectly OK now. It did require a fair amount of work after finishing to make sure there was sufficient clearances between chassis frames and wheels. I must emphasise that he designs kits with P4 in mind and for that gauge, they are lovely kits and really work very well indeed. Dave Bradwell does think of everything when designing his kits, but they can be very fiddly in places. He does a WD....   yikes!

 

Good evening Clem,

 

a microscopically small niggle keeps coming up about the mugs on your locomotives. The rear smokebox door handle on the dart, should be at six O'clock, otherwise you can't shut and lock the door properly.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Headstock
REMOVE SPACE

[DougN]

17 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Many thanks,

 

One picture also shows the off-set nature of the lubricators. Apart from the forthcoming Bachmann V2, all the others I've seen (and built) have the lubricators in line (incorrectly?). 

 

I wonder whether the Finney kit accommodates this off-set feature? Perhaps Doug will tell us. 

 

The pictures also show the tiny, 'internal' splashers. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 Yes it does here is the photo of top down before a boiler spoils the shot. Pretty clear the slots in the footplate are off set. 

 

[DougN]

11 hours ago, dibateg said:

That got me thinking about the 7mm Finney V2 I built  - 60886. I couldn't remember, but the lubricators are not in line! Phew!

 

I'm sure the splashers are there as I recall they were tricky to fit.

 

Magnificent engines aren't they?

 

Regards

Tony

 

 

Tony, i am confident that the splashers are there as I think the Finney 7mm and 4mm are very closely related! 

 

Infact you have done something I am going to Ben doing and that is trimming back the reverser cover in front of the firebox! otherwise the cab tilts backwards. 

 

 

[Woodcock29]

22 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

If anyone remembers the J10 I was working on, here it is now with a repaint and paired with a Bachmann 4,000gal tender. Just need to run the wires to the tender pick ups. Once weathered the colour difference between tender and loco will be disguised. 

Hi Jesse

A comment or two if I may. I presume your J10 came with its original DJH rivetted 4000 gallon tender? If so that tender is a better tender to use. It looks like you've paired it with a Bachmann J11 tender fitted with water pick-up. As far as I can determine I don't think any J10s had water pick-up.

Also few if any 4000 gallon tenders coupled to J10s had flared ends to their goal guards. I think most were the simple straight ended version.

Andrew

 

Further to my posting of this Jesse I've checked back on your Brighton Junction thread and see it did come with DJH tender but I note it was built by the builder without the optional straight ended coal guards. My suggestion would be that you make some straight ended coal guards and then use that tender.

It's also worth noting that J10s ran with a variety of tenders smaller than the 4000 gallon tender and you need to look closely at photos sometimes to tell the difference.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Woodcock29
Added further comments

[Clem]

8 hours ago, Headstock said:

Good evening Clem,

 

a microscopically small niggle keeps coming up about the mugs on your locomotives. The rear smokebox door handle on the dart, should be at six O'clock, otherwise you can't shut and lock the door properly.

Good morning Andrew,

Very good point. And one I must admit I wasn't aware of. (Not being in the habit of opening/closing smokebox doors). But having just done a visual inspection of my locos, I am pleased to say that all but two comply with that and those two will be remedied as soon as is practicable.

This thread is so brilliant for the finer points of railway knowledge. Thanks Andrew. Once again, I have learnt something very useful from a modelling perspective. It's important when attempting to emulate reality (as was) that the models have to be credible in every way possible. BTW, looking at photos of trains in action,  I have noticed that the six o' clock is very slightly variable either side of vertical on some photos.

 

See (below) the corrected J69. 

 

[Headstock]

45 minutes ago, Clem said:

Good morning Andrew,

Very good point. And one I must admit I wasn't aware of. (Not being in the habit of opening/closing smokebox doors). But having just done a visual inspection of my locos, I am pleased to say that all but two comply with that and those two will be remedied as soon as is practicable.

This thread is so brilliant for the finer points of railway knowledge. Thanks Andrew. Once again, I have learnt something very useful from a modelling perspective. It's important when attempting to emulate reality (as was) that the models have to be credible in every way possible. BTW, looking at photos of trains in action,  I have noticed that the six o' clock is very slightly variable either side of vertical on some photos.

 

See (below) the corrected J69. 

 

 

Good morning Clem,

 

on the flip side of the coin, I was thinking how true to life your BR bauxite looks. More often than not, the rendition in model form looks to be closer to LNER red oxide. I have query about your BR 16 ton mineral wagons. The pale grey livery always looks effective in model form, but wasn't it a 1960s livery? I'm not an expert on BR 16 ton mineral wagons, so I would be interested to know, as it is so often depicted. Many many years ago, and for purely aesthetic reasons, I used it myself on a batch of kit built wagons, but I've always queried its authenticity due to the time period involved.

 

Re smokebox darts, 6 O' clock is a 'natural angle of repose' if you like. It takes a fair amount of effort to deliberately have it slightly off kilter. I'm glad it was only two locomotives though.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Headstock
Clarify a point.

[Clem]

6 minutes ago, Headstock said:

The pale grey livery always looks effective in model form, but wasn't it a 1960s livery? I'm not an expert on BR 16 ton mineral wagons, so I would be interested to know, as it is so often depicted.

Hi Andrew,

For a long time I was uneasy about the shade of grey used by the paint suppliers for BR early freight grey. I look at photos alot to try to get the right feel for a colour. It seems to be a very controversial subject, but I'm happy with the shade I now use. I have purposely gone a shade lighter than the so-called official colour because the amount of light reflected on a model is so much smaller that it has the effect of darkening it to the eye. On the real thing, the expanse of area lightens the colour to the eye. On top of this, out of doors in the sun, paint fades with time, and again, in photos I think this shows up. I suppose these things are personal decisions, but I'm happy with their present shade. It works to my eye.

[Headstock]

7 minutes ago, Clem said:

Hi Andrew,

For a long time I was uneasy about the shade of grey used by the paint suppliers for BR early freight grey. I look at photos alot to try to get the right feel for a colour. It seems to be a very controversial subject, but I'm happy with the shade I now use. I have purposely gone a shade lighter than the so-called official colour because the amount of light reflected on a model is so much smaller that it has the effect of darkening it to the eye. On the real thing, the expanse of area lightens the colour to the eye. On top of this, out of doors in the sun, paint fades with time, and again, in photos I think this shows up. I suppose these things are personal decisions, but I'm happy with their present shade. It works to my eye.

 

Good morning Clem,

 

not a criticism, you can paint things whatever colour you like. I tend to think of you as bang on with your observations. I know there was a change from a darker to a lighter colour on the real thing, but its not my era of interest. I thought that you might know when this occurred.

[Tony Wright]

33 minutes ago, Clem said:

Good morning Andrew,

Very good point. And one I must admit I wasn't aware of. (Not being in the habit of opening/closing smokebox doors). But having just done a visual inspection of my locos, I am pleased to say that all but two comply with that and those two will be remedied as soon as is practicable.

This thread is so brilliant for the finer points of railway knowledge. Thanks Andrew. Once again, I have learnt something very useful from a modelling perspective. It's important when attempting to emulate reality (as was) that the models have to be credible in every way possible. BTW, looking at photos of trains in action,  I have noticed that the six o' clock is very slightly variable either side of vertical on some photos.

 

See (below) the corrected J69. 

 

Good morning Clem,

 

I wonder if the inner handle was ever set at '12 o'clock', which, presumably, meant the door was locked? I certainly can't find a picture showing it.  

 

The actual 'dart' is at the inner end of the central spindle, and it passes horizontally through a horizontal slot in a horizontal bar attached just behind the smokebox's front ring (this bar can be removed for smokebox cleaning). By twisting the inner handle, the dart turns through 90 degrees, and 'locks' the smokebox door in place. The outer handle is then turned so the whole assemble is then 'pinched-up'. The outer handle can point to any number on the clock face.

 

'BTW, looking at photos of trains in action,  I have noticed that the six o' clock is very slightly variable either side of vertical on some photos.'

 

Most definitely......................

 

 

 

 

 

 

Occasionally, one handle might get lost....................

 

 

Under repair?

 

 

On shed, they could be at any angle.

 

Which is better - wheel or handle?

 

 

Presumably, two handles were preferred (the ex-GC types lost their smokebox locking wheels in BR days, in many cases earlier). 

 

Two handles, I assume, were more-efficient than umpteen 'dog' clips around the smokebox door ring - Midland practice, for instance? Or, if not sure, why not use both handles and clips? SR H16s, for instance. 

[Jesse Sim]

1 hour ago, Woodcock29 said:

Hi Jesse

A comment or two if I may. I presume your J10 came with its original DJH rivetted 4000 gallon tender? If so that tender is a better tender to use. It looks like you've paired it with a Bachmann J11 tender fitted with water pick-up. As far as I can determine I don't think any J10s had water pick-up.

Also few if any 4000 gallon tenders coupled to J10s had flared ends to their goal guards. I think most were the simple straight ended version.

Andrew

 

Further to my posting of this Jesse I've checked back on your Brighton Junction thread and see it did come with DJH tender but I note it was built by the builder without the optional straight ended coal guards. My suggestion would be that you make some straight ended coal guards and then use that tender.

It's also worth noting that J10s ran with a variety of tenders smaller than the 4000 gallon tender and you need to look closely at photos sometimes to tell the difference.

Hey Andrew,

 

I’ve looked at several photos and they all look like a J11 4,000gal tender. The water pick up I could just remove, but I’ve looked and looked and they all seem to be very close to one similar to a J11. 

[jwealleans]

Not a particular area of expertise of mine, Jesse, but this looks like the tender you've used:

 

 

These look more like what Andrew describes:

 

 

 

Pictures from Neil Dimmer's collection on SmugMug (click on images to link to the collection).

 

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by jwealleans

[Clem]

30 minutes ago, Headstock said:

I know there was a change from a darker to a lighter colour on the real thing, but its not my era of interest. 

Not exactly sure when it went lighter but around time of the introduction of the new style of numbering. Probably around 1965-7? My minerals haven't in the main been properly weathered yet. But to some extent it is due to the date of  my layout (1954-5) when new steel minerals were coming on stream, many still pretty new, so the weathering has to be more subtle. In this period, a majority of the coal going into Colwick yards would have been in wooden 13Ts but by 1956-7 the position was reversing quite rapidly and from then onwards steel minerals start to predominate.

[dibateg]

Andrew - Clem - I also think the commercial freight greys seem a bit dark. So these days I usually mix in some white when I'm painting them. We all see colours differently, but maybe the real thing faded quickly in use. Even so, apart from the one on the right, these tipplers from an early batch of mine still seem too dark:-

Regards

Tony

 

[Headstock]

22 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Clem,

 

I wonder if the inner handle was ever set at '12 o'clock', which, presumably, meant the door was locked? I certainly can't find a picture showing it.  

 

 

I can tell you haven't shut many smokebox doors. Why would you even do that, unless you were daft. 

[jwealleans]

Quote

there was a change from a darker to a lighter colour on the real thing

 

David Larkin's Freight Wagons of the Early British Railways Era shows a darker grey replaced by an almost white shade on new wagons and he reckons to cover 1948-54 in that volume.