South Pelaw Junction

[johndon]

I may not be able to access the layout but the loco fleet expanded this morning.  Thanks to the very nice Mr Sutton of SLW, these two beauties arrived this morning.  They represent the locos after a visit to Glasgow Works in the early 1970s which resulted in the nose doors being removed and the centre headcode discs mounted centrally.  With a very small amount of work, they are perfect for the Tyne Dock 24s after TOPS numbering as shown here:

 

24105_ore-empties by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

 

The original versions of the SLW 24s were superb but these are even better with improved detailing and flusher cab windows, I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves:

 

 

 

 

 

and the whole fleet, another 6 and I'll have as many as BR allocated to the iron ore trains

 

 

I've also painted the latest signal which just needs the operating wire for the signal arm attaching and the colour light head on the lower platform:

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

Got the distant colour light head fitted to the lower platform, still need to hide the wires going through the base.  I'm not sure why but the photos of the weathering on the tubular post make it look like it is badly pitted but, in reality, it is a smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom...

 

 

 

 

And it works

 

[johndon]

Having just, via a YouTube video, discovered the drawing program Inkscape, I've been developing the track diagram that will eventually form part of the control panel and below is the start of the first draft. 

 

Light grey circles are turnouts, dark grey are signals and red are ground signals, the numbers equate to the relevant lever in the frame although quite a few are missing at the minute.  The drawing is based on the signalling diagram from 1963 so some of the tracks won't be on the model and will be removed from the drawing before it is printed...

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

On 19/02/2021 at 09:43, Portchullin Tatty said:

Jon, can I make a suggestion.

 

On your signal ladders, run a piece of 0.3/0.4mm rod front and back of each of the two side rails and then file the outside face flat so that the two piece of rod and the etch sandwiched between appear as one piece.

 

In addition to looking a lot more prototypical, it stops the tendency for a flat etch to pick up waves and curves that look terrible!

 

It doesn't take long.

 

Seeing as we're getting suggestive, here's mine;

 

https://www.stensonmodels.co.uk/product/ladders-etched-ladder-kit-cc04d/

 

Mike.

[Dave Holt]

On 25/02/2021 at 20:36, johndon said:

I'm not sure why but the photos of the weathering on the tubular post make it look like it is badly pitted but, in reality, it is a smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom...

 

And there's me thinking what a wonderful, realistic effect you'd achieved!

Wonderful looking model.

Dave.

[johndon]

Bit of a disaster yesterday when the part of the signal arm that takes the operating wire snapped off but I managed to solder a tiny 1mm washer to the end of the remains to recover:

 

 

Operating wires and servo installed:

 

 

I've never done any work with components that use enamelled wire before so I have no idea how robust it is. I didn't therefore, want to take any chances with it so, to connect the colour light head to the electrics, I made up a small board with all the connections underneath which keeps the enamelled wire out of the way with no chance of anyone catching it under the board once the signal has been installed:

 

 

And the driver can proceed with caution:

 

 

Still some small details, like the crank, to add, touching up to do and to try and get the wires hidden in one of the corners of the base support and it'll be complete...

 

John

 

[johndon]

Today's easing of lockdown allowed the first visit to the layout in months and surprisingly, it ran perfectly without even having to clean the track...

 

Class 24 and 17 pass - while Claytons did run on the line, they were all green at the time so this one is due a repaint:

 

 

First signal, number 9 on the Up Branch is in although it needs to sit a little lower:

 

 

And one of my new 24s got a short run on the Up Main with a coal train:

 

 

[johndon]

The final turnout on the down main has been built.  At the moment, it is fully wired but has no tie bar so blades are chocked for testing:

 

 

Almost completed last night was a diamond on the up main which just leaves one more turnout to be built and the up main will also be complete along the initial 18' scenic section of the layout:

 

 

Check rails on the K crossings yet to be fitted but I prefer to make sure that I can run rolling stock through without them first.

 

Once that final turnout is built, the next job will be the mechanical connections to get the turnouts working on both mains.

 

John

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by johndon

[johndon]

The first train to make it all the way through the junction has made it's journey tonight from one temporary fiddle yard to the other...

 

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by johndon

[johndon]

Progress on South Pelaw came to a grinding halt over the summer as I completely lost interest in it. 

 

It's space in the room I have has been taken over, for now at least, by it's big sister, the EM gauge version of South Pelaw which I am also involved with.

 

Tonight, however, I have erected two of the three scenic boards so I'm hoping that work can begin again in due course.  I did quickly connect it all up and was pleased to see it works as it did.  The plan now is to get the trackwork on these two boards complete and then move on to the next board.

 

[johndon]

As previously mentioned motivation has been lacking recently but I'm finally back and working on the layout.

 

I'm determined that the track is thoroughly tested and any necessary modifications made before it is ballasted.  To this end, I've been testing tonight both with some locos and by propelling some wagons, at a much higher speed that they'd ever run on the layout, through the turnouts.  Here is a short clip with a couple of wagons running through four turnouts and a baseboard join,  The wagons are fitted with Alan Gibson wheels but are otherwise unmodified and are not sprung or compensated - who says P4 requires rolling stock to have suspension

 

 

[johndon]

Progress on the layout continues although, when you are hand building track, it never seems to be fast progress  At the club tonight, got two more servos wired up, another semaphore signal working from the lever frame and a little track laid. Track is now complete along half the length of the layout and a coupe of hours work should see it complete along two thirds.

A few photos of the current state of the layout:

 

 

 

 

 

And the lever frame.  The levers with numbers are fully operational:

 

 

John

[Peterkern23]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I’m working on something of interest to your layout.....Carr house signal box, which has no layout to live on!

[johndon]

1 hour ago, Peterkern23 said:

Sorry to hijack the thread but I’m working on something of interest to your layout.....Carr house signal box, which has no layout to live on!

 

No apology needed, that’s a lovely looking model. 

[johndon]

A few more wagons ready for the layout.  Bachmann 16T wagons with new wheels and couplings fitted, weathered with oils and pastels.

 

 

 

 

 

John

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by johndon

[lezz01]

Loving those wagons John. Very nice weathering job.

Regards Lez.

[johndon]

Trackwork continues...

 

 

 

 

In the last photo, you can see the join between the left and centre boards of the three board scenic section so once that diamond and the track at the bottom are finished I'll have completed the trackwork on 2/3rd of the scenic section.  Only downside is that the last board has more turnouts on it than the other two boards put together

 

[johndon]

Some time ago I managed to purchase a set of nine Dave Bradwell iron ore wagons that had been well built and painted, the only issue was they they had been built for OO.  As the bogie frames are brass and white metal they have no give at all so a conversion to P4 wasn't going to be as easy as simply dropping out the old wheels and putting new ones in.

 

I've procrastinated for ages over how to do the conversion but, with some advice from the Scalefour Society forum, I took the plunge and converted the first wagon tonight.

 

The only way to get the OO wheels out was to use a piercing saw to cut the axles in half:

 

 

My original plan for the P4 wheels was to cut those axles in half to be able to get the in and then slide brass tube over the join and then glue in place but it was suggested that, using a triangular file, it should be possible to file a slot from the bottom of the axle box in to the bottom of the brass bearing to get the wheels in.  I tried and it worked perfectly allowing the wheels to be pushed in but not come out again although I think I'll need to widen the brakes which the kit does allow for.

 

 

And, after just a few minutes work, my first P4 iron ore wagon, eight to go...

 

 

John

 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by johndon

[RichardClayton]

I like the triangular notch trick -- it might come in useful for Dave Bradwell loco kits where fitting and removing wheelsets from the tender can be somewhat anxiety inducing.

 

I also really like the coupling arrangement. If it works going round corners then I wonder if we should think about it for the ore hoppers on the EM version of South Pelaw. At the moment the ore hoppers look a bit weird with disconnected pipework between wagons. It would make coupling up a lot easier too -- fishing around for a three link in the gloom with loads of pipes can be a bit of a nightmare.

 

Richard

--

[johndon]

7 hours ago, RichardClayton said:

I like the triangular notch trick -- it might come in useful for Dave Bradwell loco kits where fitting and removing wheelsets from the tender can be somewhat anxiety inducing.

 

I also really like the coupling arrangement. If it works going round corners then I wonder if we should think about it for the ore hoppers on the EM version of South Pelaw. At the moment the ore hoppers look a bit weird with disconnected pipework between wagons. It would make coupling up a lot easier too -- fishing around for a three link in the gloom with loads of pipes can be a bit of a nightmare.

 

Richard

--

Cheers Richard,

 

No reason why the couplings would have a problem with the curves they have quite a lot of play in them. 
 

Dead easy to couple, I could do a full rake in the time it takes to couple two together on SP. 

[johndon]

A look down the layout as it stands, unfortunately the depth of field on the iPhone isn't great..

 

Of the 18' length of this section of the layout, trackwork is now complete along 12' and about 20% complete on the remaining 6'.  One day I'll count how many chairs I've had to thread on the rail but not for a long time

 

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by johndon

[johndon]

A quick test of the first two P4 converted iron ore wagons:

 

 

 

[billywhizz]

Looking (and sounding) great John!

[johndon]

Quite a bit of progress over Christmas, the conversion of the iron ore wagons is complete:

 

 

 

Spent a good few hours making up track components ready to be laid so I've effectively got a kit of parts for the remaining track work:

 

 

 

And, finally, a shot of a Clayton moves off having just got the signal to proceed towards Ouston Junction with a loaded steel train as an iron ore train heads towards Consett:

 

 

John

 

 

[johndon]

For no other reason than I’ve never built a coupled chassis before, I’ve also started on a High Level Models Class 03 chassis kit…