BSC River Don Works

[Osgood]

First thing you'll have to do on your return is paint that ingot a very cold rust colour…………….

Edited June 24, 2014 by Osgood

[HSTFAN13]

Now, apparently, molten steel wouldn't be transferred like this as the teeming ladle would be moved from the electric arc furnace, by gantry crane within the same building, to the foundry. But my excuse is the buildings are seperated by the canal so I've used my modeller's licence to have molten steel transferred by rail.

River-Don-Works-015.jpg

The teeming ladle is freelance, based on general photos, and scratchbuilt from plasticard and a lid from some household goods or other and a thing that once contained Slaters 7mm couplings. The bogie is freelance but loosely based on one that carried a charging clam at Brown Bayley's works - again built from plasticard. The buffers are turned brass and were rescued from an old wagon. The ladle is, of course, removable from the bogie.

Saw this http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2006/11/10/a-ladle-on-a-bogey-on-its-way-to-british-steel-at/ thought you might be interested

HSTFAN13

Lee

[Ruston]

Saw this http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2006/11/10/a-ladle-on-a-bogey-on-its-way-to-british-steel-at/ thought you might be interested

HSTFAN13

Lee

Thanks for that. It does say iron and not steel though. Perhaps Arthur could comment?

[Arthur]

Hi Dave, hope you're well,

 

Yes, it's a traditional, open topped, hot metal (iron) ladle used to transfer iron from blast furnaces to the steel making plants, in the north east they'd be open hearth at that time. It'll be bound for one of the Dorman Long plants.

 

It doesn't have 'wings' so wouldn't serve a pig casting machine.

 

The reference in the caption to cupolas is wrong. Cupolas re melt pig iron for foundry use and generally produce only a few, or a few tens of tons, per cast. That ladle would take 70 tons or so.

 

Head Wrightson were UK agents for the U.S. Company Treadwell and it's one of their designs.

 

Steel ladles, rarely, if ever moved by rail, have a mechanism to allow the steel to flow out of the bottom. They are never lip poured in order to keep the floating slag out of the mould.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Somebody's searching for a steelworks layout thread. So I'll bump this in the hope that it's the right one.

[Ruston]

I didn't expect to see this back near the top of the page!

 

It's well over a year since I touched this and nothing has changed but as I've got wood and tools lying around I may get on and build the extensions (fiddle yard/trays, whatever...).

 

Apart from having the break from railway modelling (I have been doing lots of WW1 aircraft modelling instead) I was stalled on fitting up some sort of auto-uncoupling system. I tried electro-magnetic things and also made something with sub-baseboard cams but neither were satisfactory. They were done with the idea of working the layout from behind for possible exhibition but if I bin that idea and fit 3-links to all the stock and operate it from both sides I could get on with it again.

 

And the prospect of back-dating it with a Hornby Peckett and PO wagons would make things even more interesting...

[Arthur]

 

Hi Dave,

 

A dual era setting is now a real prospect RTR, what with the Hornby Sentinel and now it's rod drive cousin, and earlier with the proposed Peckett. A few changeable scenic details and away you go.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I didn't expect to see this back near the top of the page!

 

It's well over a year since I touched this and nothing has changed but as I've got wood and tools lying around I may get on and build the extensions (fiddle yard/trays, whatever...).

 

Apart from having the break from railway modelling (I have been doing lots of WW1 aircraft modelling instead) I was stalled on fitting up some sort of auto-uncoupling system. I tried electro-magnetic things and also made something with sub-baseboard cams but neither were satisfactory. They were done with the idea of working the layout from behind for possible exhibition but if I bin that idea and fit 3-links to all the stock and operate it from both sides I could get on with it again.

 

And the prospect of back-dating it with a Hornby Peckett and PO wagons would make things even more interesting...

 

For this style of layout, operation from the front can work very well.

[Allegheny1600]

Somebody's searching for a steelworks layout thread. So I'll bump this in the hope that it's the right one.

That sounds like me!

This wasn't the thread I had in mind but I'm awfully glad it came up, it's fascinating!

Brilliant work, Dave.

Cheers,

John E.

[toplink@()1989))((]

I have just caught up with this topic Dave, I must say it has inspired me to get on with my Wheeldon Mill layout, I have posted some photos of it but wasn,t looking at what I was doing and have put them up on the 7mm section, if there is some way of moving them to here on industrials could some one do it?

I hope you won,t mind but I am going to nick some of your ideas for mine  .

 

Cheers, Pete.  

[MarshLane]

I love the simple idea of this layout - talk about food for thought!  Despite being an O gauge modeller, this is wonderful.  Just shows what could be done in a small space with plenty of operating potential as well.   May have to consider something similar in the not too distant future Permission to nick ideas? Just think what a Minerva Peckett could do shuffling wagons around there!

 

Hope your interest returns to add more to it - really is superb.  Can't beat an industrial steelworks layout.

 

Rich

[Ruston]

I can't see my interest returning to it to be honest. It was built as something to keep me occupied at a time when I couldn't work on the shed but then WW1 aircraft modelling took over and now the O gauge shed layout (Royd Hall Drift) is the focus of my modelling time. It could be for sale, with or without rolling stock, if anyone's interested and makes a good enough offer...

[Sludger]

I can't see my interest returning to it to be honest. It was built as something to keep me occupied at a time when I couldn't work on the shed but then WW1 aircraft modelling took over and now the O gauge shed layout (Royd Hall Drift) is the focus of my modelling time. It could be for sale, with or without rolling stock, if anyone's interested and makes a good enough offer...

Hi Dave,

 

if it is for sale i would be interested in making an offer with the stock.

 

Could you PM me with a list of the stock that is available with the layout

and i can work out an offer.

 

Trev.

[steggy1990]

Really like this .i have a new love for light railways and yours hunters are great

[Ruston]

I've decided that I won't be selling this after all. It's tucked away in the shed so isn't in the way of anything and I've just ordered one of Hornby's Pecketts.

 

The original plan of keeping the stock with tension lock couplings will probably be abandoned as the attempts at automatic uncoupling were unsuccesful. I'll probably replace them with something that not only works better but looks better too.

 

The Peckett is supposedly DCC ready and if sound can be fitted I will convert the layout to DCC as I already have the equipment that can be borrowed from Royd Hall.

 

It will need a dusting and the rails cleaning and then we're back in the steel business...

[9FEd]

Really inspirational layout done to a great standard - I'm in the process of starting something similar in concept and will be very glad if it looks this good! Can I ask how the inset track/concrete apron was done? 

[Ruston]

The only bit of truly inset track is that going into the main building and that's a bit of a bodge, which doesn't stand close scrutiny. Between the rails is just polyfilla, rubbed into the sleeper gaps using a finger. The concrete outside the rails is card and plasticard that has been cut to match the curves and straights and is painted in shades of concrete-like colours.

[Ruston]

The Dodo has landed! It is straight out of the box  and obviously unweathered as yet. I'm just posting these in the hope this little layout inspires some of the many who have bought Hornby's latest offering to build an industrial railway. I'm always banging on about how there isn't enough industrial modelling so I hope this excellent little loco kick-starts new projects and doesn't simply end up on a shelf, or trundling round an existing main line layout.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by Ruston

[5050]

That looks nice - could be tempted!

[Ruston]

I have dragged this layout from its resting place and have literally dusted it off. Work is now under way to complete the ballasting and as I have some 9mm plywood I will also make the bolt-on fiddle yard/tray.

 

 

And the reason for the renewed interest in this little shunting plank?

 

 

The hideous tension lock couplers have already gone and will be replaced by Dinghams; the holes in the bufferbeams will be filled. My other OO layouts already use these couplings and some of the stock for River Don Works has already been converted and is used on White peak Limestone & Tarmacadam, so the rest will follow and the unsuccesful remote uncoupling system that I fitted to this layout will be scrapped and replaced with electromagnets.

 

The Janus will also recieve a repaint into the all-over wasp stripes livery that was used on BSC and UES locos around the Rotherham area. The hand rails may also have to be replaced by home-made brass versions as they are a bit wobbly and the flexible plastic that they are made for isn't really suitable for painting. Other details will include etched brass YORKSHIRE plates and either BTH or The Yorkshire Grey plates, depending on whether I can find good enough pictures to show the Yorkshire Grey plates of the prototype.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Ruston

[Narrow Gauge Jordan]

I have dragged this layout from its resting place and have literally dusted it off. Work is now under way to complete the ballasting and as I have some 9mm plywood I will also make the bolt-on fiddle yard/tray.

 

RiverDonWorks-003.jpg

 

And the reason for the renewed interest in this little shunting plank?

 

RiverDonWorks-005.jpg

 

The hideous tension lock couplers have already gone and will be replaced by Dinghams; the holes in the bufferbeams will be filled. My other OO layouts already use these couplings and some of the stock for River Don Works has already been converted and is used on White peak Limestone & Tarmacadam, so the rest will follow and the unsuccesful remote uncoupling system that I fitted to this layout will be scrapped and replaced with electromagnets.

 

The Janus will also recieve a repaint into the all-over wasp stripes livery that was used on BSC and UES locos around the Rotherham area. The hand rails may also have to be replaced by home-made brass versions as they are a bit wobbly and the flexible plastic that they are made for isn't really suitable for painting. Other details will include etched brass YORKSHIRE plates and either BTH or The Yorkshire Grey plates, depending on whether I can find good enough pictures to show the Yorkshire Grey plates of the prototype.

Hi Dave,

 

RE the Etched plates, Narrow Planet have the design for the Yorkshire as my friend Gpplumy (On this forum) got some made for his 0 gauge Janus, im not sure about the Yorkshire Grey or the BTH plates though although I can get close up pictures of them for you as I'm at foxfield this weekend with the IDRPG.

 

Jordan

Edited July 14, 2017 by Narrow Gauge Jordan

[Ruston]

The latest work on this is the fitting of some pipework to the front of the main building, point levers and a water tank, all of which are visible in these shots of the Janus.

 

Thanks to Arthur for providing the lettering and logos for the Janus. Plates for it are on order from Narrow Planet and once they arrive and are fitted I can finish the loco by weathering it.

[Ruston]

With the ballasting complete I have finally put something in the space at the front of the baseboard. In the original plan there was to be a gantry crane but this ended up being alongside the old brick building but I felt another gantry crane would fill the space as a place for scrap to be stockpiled and then transferred to internal use wagons to feed the furnaces.

The next thing will be to make a scrap pile.

 

I have also begun the fiddle yard extension.

[Ruston]

I laid track on the fiddle yard and wired it up, cleaned the track and was all ready to have a test run. Then I found that nothing would run over the three-way point and nothing would run up one of the fiddle yard lines. Huge amounts of head scratching and messing about with a continuity tester revealed that something has gone wrong in the period since i last tested this layout and I have had to fit microswitches to help the in-built switches in the point solenoids on the three-way and have also had to solder wires from the frogs to the point rails. The fault on the point to the non-working fiddle yard track was found to be that a wire had come out of a choc block under the baseboard.

 

There are problems with the three-way that seem to be more than purely electrical. The Hornby Sentinel will run over it perfectly facing but stops when trailing, as does the 200HP Brush. The Janus runs perfectly both ways and although this is probably due to its overall longer wheelbase, howver, the 0-4-0ST Barclay also runs perfectly both ways and the wheelbase on that is shorter than the other two, The other locos have no trouble across any of the other points, either on this layout or on White Peak, so I'm at a loss how to solve this.

 

Not that it matters with the Brush because it is out of gauge for this layout anyway. Where the track curves into the foundry shop, under the overhang of the main forge building, there is minimal clearance and the caps on the driving rods foul the wall, so it can't run on that line and so with that and the inability to cross the three-way, I can't use it on this layout, which is a shame because I bought it with the intention of using it on here.

 

Another problem that has come to light is that the headshunt was designed to take the Hornby Sentinel and two short wheelbase wagons but only one wagon and the Janus can fit, which looks too silly.

 

And, as if all the other stuff isn't bad enough, the curves into the buildings were designed with the use of the original tension lock couplers in mind and now I have gone to Dinghams (successfully on my other two layouts) I have found that the short wheelbase ingot bogie wagons cannot go around the curves when coupled to a loco, which rather makes operation impossible.

[Ruston]

It's all sorted now, apart from the Brush being out of loading gauge but there's nothing I can do about that short of completely rebuilding the main building, and/or relaying the track.

 

I found out why the locos were stopping on the 3-way point when i noticed the light on the controller dimmed. When i picked up one side of the loco the light brightened and so I reckoned there was a short circuit. Rolling a wagon wheelet through the points showed that the wheels were touching the stock rails and point rails if pushed right over. This was with a wheelset with a back to back of 14.5mm so I checked the locos and the Hornby Sentinel, which was the worst culprit, measured just 14.3mm and the Barclay 14.75mm, which would explain why it was not so bad but still stopped occasionally on test after my previous post.

 

If you compare the gaps on the 3-way to those on the standard points they are narrower and I think it is down to the very short wheelbase of the locos and the fact that they have only four wheels that allows them to swing and the wheels to short. Regauging every loco to a wider gauge is not practical (and as most of them have the correct back-to-back anyway, I didn't want to in case it has other negative effects) so I have had to do some creative bodgery and have applied superglue to the sides of the point rails, where they join and where the little kink in them is. This seems to have worked and every loco now runs fine through the 3-way

 

Another mysterious running problem was with the Fowler. It would run OK over the level crossing in one diection but would stall every time in the other. It has Romford wheels and so has deeper flanges than the other locos and I wondered if there was some ballast caught but no. After watching it run very slowly over the crossing several times until the point that it stalled, I pushed it down onto the track and pushed it back and forth. A line started to appear in the plasticard of the crossing infill and although it had looked flat to me there was a slight rise at one end that was probably no more than a fag paper's thickness but just enough to lift that large Romford gear and cause a pair of wheels to cease to make contact with the rail tops. Shaving the rise with a razor blade seems to have done the trick.

 

The problem of propelling in and hauling out the bogie ingot wagons around the tight curve has also been solved. Both wagons are scratchbuilt and I had used some heavy duty cast whitemetal buffers,which stood out quite some way from the headstocks. I went to my local model shop (for local people, we'll have no trouble here!) yesterday and bought a pack of eight Bachmann sprung buffers. With these set further into the headstocks, and some extra play introduced thanks to the springs, everything is fine now and there is no coupling lock or derailment.

 

 I have been adding some detail to the yard in the form of skips, a fork lift, a packing case and a finished roll that is ready for delivery.

 

And finally... The scrap stockpile. Still a work-in-progress, this is formed using aluminium mesh that has been covered with papier mache, drizzled with superglue and had swarf from my lathe dumped on it. After shaking off the excess the whole was given a coat of brown paint and then all sorts of bits and pieces and plasticard offcuts were glued on. It needs to be expanded and more scrap added to blend it into the ground before it is painted and given a large dose of rust-coloured weathering powders.

Edited August 20, 2017 by Ruston