Worseter - update

[Killybegs]

The latest little project is the ground frame controlling the road crossing. This is based on Soudley No 1 Crossing on the GWR's Forest of Dean branch. I suppose I will have to knock up something to go inside before I put a roof on. As the prototype had horizontal sliding sash windows, the wall panels were made up of 6 layers of white and clear styrene, see my cutting notes below.

 

 

[Killybegs]

No sign of collision damage on the gates (yet). I bet the real ones took a hammering.........

 

Tony

 

The gates do not open/close across the road, so any collision with the gates would involve a loco/wagon and any such collision would probably prove fatal for the gates. However, as the crossing is protected by catch points it shouldn't happen. Vehicular traffic is controlled by signals and a man with a red flag.

[Killybegs]

Not been spending as much time as  would like on Worseter in the last week but at least the ground frame is now finished.

 

 

and a view you wouldn't normally see, unless you were in the warehouse. The track at this point is 'off stage' so is plain unballasted flexitrack!

 

[Dave Holt]

A wonderful little building, John. I must say I was a bit overwhelmed by your cutting notes in the previous posting. However, it has resulted in a nice ground frame cabin.

Dave.

[Killybegs]

Finally got around to painting and hanging the gates. I have also started on getting more of the embankment finished.

 

 

[JeffP]

Was that the crossing over the Tolladine Road? Where the track used to lead up in diesel days?

 

I'm really enjoying this as Worcester was a place I wish I'd got to in steam days, but finding photos of anything much except the shed, is pretty difficult.

[Killybegs]

Was that the crossing over the Tolladine Road? Where the track used to lead up in diesel days?

 

I'm really enjoying this as Worcester was a place I wish I'd got to in steam days, but finding photos of anything much except the shed, is pretty difficult.

 

The crossing is loosely based on the Shrub Hill Road Crossing on the Vinegar Branch in Worcester.

[NHY 581]

Morning John.

 

 

Can I ask how you made the signage for the ground frame ?

 

Rob

[Killybegs]

Morning John.

 

 

Can I ask how you made the signage for the ground frame ?

 

Rob

 

I did the artwork in Publisher (but I'm sure there are other suitable software packages). I used white lettering on a very dark grey background and printed it Epson Archival Matte photographic paper which is quite thick (I happen to have quite a large stock of it). It was then cut out leaving a white border around the dark back ground and secured in place with superglue.

[Killybegs]

Here's a little something I knocked up this morning. I'm not sure what it was used for originally but, looking at the photograph of the original, it seems to have ended up as a rubbish bin!

 

   

[barrowroad]

Here's a little something I knocked up this morning. I'm not sure what it was used for originally but, looking at the photograph of the original, it seems to have ended up as a rubbish bin!

 

Bunker 01s.jpg   Bunker 02.jpg

Nice model John, Looks like sand in there with the rubbish but as it is open to the elements wet sand would be of little use. Ash bin maybe? I have a photo of a similar receptacle made of concrete used for ash at Barrow Road.

Robin

[Dave Holt]

Here's a little something I knocked up this morning.

 

 

....as you do. Was that really the work of a morning? I would have thought the painting, alone, would have taken several days.

A very nice representation of the mysterious original all the same.

Dave.

[Killybegs]

....as you do. Was that really the work of a morning? I would have thought the painting, alone, would have taken several days.

A very nice representation of the mysterious original all the same.

Dave.

 

Actually, not a lot over two hours. Partly because rather than being painted, it has been treated with gun blue.

[Killybegs]

Nice model John, Looks like sand in there with the rubbish but as it is open to the elements wet sand would be of little use. Ash bin maybe? I have a photo of a similar receptacle made of concrete used for ash at Barrow Road.

Robin

 

It was next door to the dry sand store and furnace (both subsequently demolished), so it could have held wet sand waiting to be dried.

[Bulwell Hall]

Here's a little something I knocked up this morning. I'm not sure what it was used for originally but, looking at the photograph of the original, it seems to have ended up as a rubbish bin!

 

Bunker 01s.jpg   Bunker 02.jpg

 

Very nice work John and beautifully weathered - I seem to recall that such things were coated in tar for protection rather like some buffer stops and bridge girders. 

 

There was an iron bunker very similar to yours at Maiden Newton where it functioned as a coal bunker for the steam engine in the pump house which raised water from a well for the locomotive water supply.  I could bore for hours on the 'dodgy' locomotive water supply at MN but I won't!  Isn't there something similar still extant at Didcot - it's certainly something that was found elsewhere on the GWR and seemingly provided by the Locomotive Dept.  And don't you think your bunker looks to be related in some way to an 'Iron Mink' which probably dates it and indicates that it was made at Swindon?

 

Well done - a very characteristic GWR item!

 

Gerry

[Killybegs]

Since my last posting, I have been doing a bit of work in the shed area. The rather large ash pile of ash has been replicated (see pic in previous post) and planted along with a more modest pile of recent ash between the two shed tracks. All I need to do now is build the shed (technically, the Grange is sitting inside it). I have also been doing a lot more planting on the embankment and on the waste ground behind the shed. Day by day the layout is beginning to get a little less bare.

 

 

I'm off to the UK tomorrow, Scalefour North on Saturday and Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway on Sunday. I will be picking up a test etch for a Brit tender chassis (courtesy of Mike G) while I am over, so my first job when I get back will be to see how it goes together. With various other trips coming up and the garden beginning to show signs of life, it could be a while before I get back to working on Worseter,

Edited April 11, 2018 by Killybegs

[Killybegs]

You may be thinking that, as I haven't posted anything for nearly four months, I haven't been doing much modelling. You would be quite ride. What with several trips to the UK, attending to the garden and entertaining grandchildren, I haven't had a lot of spare time. However, over the last couple of years I have been building a few van kits on rainy days when away in the motorhome. When the number reached 16 on the last trip, I thought it was about time I got around to applying a some paint. My method, which I may have discussed before, is to spray everything with Halford's red primer before applying two to three brush coats of very watered down acrylic frame dirt (Railmatch). These coats are removed almost immediately with a cotton cloth to give a variety of shades to different vans and a trace of dirt left in the corners. Frames are painted with frame dirt and roofs with roof dirt, again, acrylics from Railmatch. That was a month or so ago and this week I finally got around to fitting sprung buffers and couplings. With 16 vans you can get a bit of a production line going. I use Alan Gibson buffer heads, springs and bushes. The bushes are fitted to the rear of the buffer beams prior to assembling the vans. The buffer heads (that's 64 for 16 wagons) were tidied up with a file and fine emery paper before being chemically blackened. Next came 32 sets of 3 link couplings. I use Exactoscale components but I do find that the draw hooks need easing with a file and broach to take the slightly over thick links. Once completed the 32 assemblies spent a couple of minutes in the ultrasonic bath before being dried on top of the range. Then, while still warm, they were dropped into chemical blackening solution and left for a while after having been given a good stir. When I came back from walking the dog, they were fished out of the solution and rinsed a couple of times in water and left to dry. Cleaning them up can be a bit fiddly so I devised a new technique (for me) to speed things up. I taped a square of soft cotton cloth (that's what old shirts are for) to the work bench, and held the couplings on that while attacking them with an old toothbrush. This is what they look like afterwards:

 

 

I now have 37 vans and, although the new vans still have to be numbered, I couldn't resist making up a long freight behind Toddington Grange. 

 

 

 

 

[Killybegs]

Thirty seven is not a very round figure at which to stop van production for a while, so I decided to put together three more, giving a nice round forty. Sad! I needed a few more ex LMS vans and, fortuitously, I had a couple of Ratio Southern 12 Ton van kits in my box of goodies. The Southern built some of these for the LMS during the war so would fit the bill. I also had one remaining GWR 12 Ton V23 van kit, so that made up the three. I still have loads of BR 12 Ton vans to build along with a rather large number of ex LNER ones, some of which may go to bring and buy.

 

It didn't take long to finish them as it has been raining a lot lately. Here they are at the head of a fitted freight hauled by 92006.

 

 

I now have no excuse for not getting the Grampuses painted and lettered.

[Dave Holt]

John,

Looking very nice behind the 9F. Sounds like you still have a lot to do to populate the layout. Good luck with it.

Dave.

[Re6/6]

John, what is your preferred 'undercarriage' for your wagons?

 

We have a large quantity of wagons to build and the decision is yet to be made whether to go fixed, compensated or sprung chassis or maybe a combination!

[Killybegs]

John, what is your preferred 'undercarriage' for your wagons?

 

We have a large quantity of wagons to build and the decision is yet to be made whether to go fixed, compensated or sprung chassis or maybe a combination!

 

I use the chassis that comes with the kit. I have never been a great believer in suspension on short wheelbase wagons, so I use Alan Gibson waisted pin point bearings with Exactoscale wheel sets. I do 'tidy up' the plastic brake gear which can be a bit chunky. As most of my stock will be viewed on the move from a distance, I am happy with this arrangement. I have used Rumney Models chassis on wagons that lurk at the front of the layout - see earlier posts on this thread.

[TerrySVR]

A classic piece of modelling captures the essence of Worcester very well, an enjoyable.

[Horsetan]

….Looking very nice behind the 9F....

 

Probably still the only 9F in P4 which is running on the correct pattern wheels. The rest of us wait in hope that there might be a correct wheel one day that doesn't need too much re-engineering.....!

[Porcy Mane]

Probably still the only 9F in P4 which is running on the correct pattern wheels. The rest of us wait in hope that there might be a correct wheel one day that doesn't need too much re-engineering.....!

 

Or re-mortgage the house?

[Enterprisingwestern]

Or re-mortgage the house?

 

Nah, he's a southerner, only needs to re-mortgage the coalhouse.

 

Mike.