Blueball Summit

[jonas]

Thanks for the mention of my class 37 lowering mod. Delighted I could help (in a small way!) with such a spectacular layout!

[andy stroud]

 

I have recently built a couple of wagons out of sheet brass. Pictured above is my model of a 21ton vacuum braked mineral wagon. The N gauge Society do a plastic kit for an unfitted wagon but this one has a different door arrangement and of course the brake gear is totally different. There is also an etched kit available but I simply fancied having a go at building my own. These particular wagons often ran in long block trains in places like South Wales but photographs suggest that individual ones often made it to Devon and Cornwall as part of short coal trains and pick-up freights. Overall, I am fairly pleased with the way it has turned out although some of the door details are a bit crude and overscale especially if examined close-up!

 

 

 

 

The main body is made up from 0.25mm brass sheet and 0.65mm square section. The end door section is made from 0.10mm brass. I built up the smaller detail by soldering on bigger pieces as these are easier to hold and then subsequently cut and filed down to required size.  An example of this is in the picture below and shows the ribbed section above the end door being assembled.

 

 

 

I also made a plate wagon, pictured below, having the brake gear added. Both wagons have buffers and brake gear, W irons, etc from the 2mm Association.

 

 

The plate wagon was the first of the two and during contruction I have managed to make the underframe too deep. However, I like to think that I have gained some useful experience in building these two wagons.

 

 

Many thanks

Andrew

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by andy stroud
pictures

[andy stroud]

 

Here are a few pictures which I had previously shown in another part of the forum a few months ago. The first two show a class 50 hauled coal train passing through the station at Blueball Summit.  In the goods loop behind the signal box, an empty clay train waits for a clear path. Some evidence of activity from the civil engineers can be glimped on the far left as a track machine and wickham trolly are stabled. An upstairs window in that cottage would make a great vantage point to just sit there and watch the trains go by.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by andy stroud
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[andy stroud]

 

The next two pictures show a green class 37 on an engineers ballast train. In the picture above, the train has just emerged from the depths of Blueball Tunnel and is seen passing over the viaduct which carries the railway high above the village.  In the second picture below, the engine is seen again a few minutes later after having reversed its train into the refuge or engineers siding near the station at Blueball.  This second picture gives the impression of a busy four track main line, however the two outer tracks are goods loop and sidings.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by andy stroud
pictures

[Rivercider]

Great work as always Andy. I think you have captured the appearance of the two wagon types well.

It is a shame about the underframe of the plate wagon, but the general appearance especially of the 

bodywork is nicely done.

Plate wagons often appeared in the West Country, with occasional consignments of steel plate to Barnstaple for Appledore Shipyard in blocks of six or more, also singly conveying things like machinery or vehicles - I think the MOD received some traffic in them. The 21t minerals appeared in ones or twos with domestic coal for Ponsandane and St Austell coal depots. Fitted MDVs still ran down there until about 1983.

 

cheers   

[Windjabbers]

Always good to see an update on your work Andy, Do you have any plans for future exhibitions? Would love to see this one in person?

 

Best Wishes

 

David

 

[andy stroud]

6 hours ago, Rivercider said:

Great work as always Andy. I think you have captured the appearance of the two wagon types well.

It is a shame about the underframe of the plate wagon, but the general appearance especially of the 

bodywork is nicely done.

Plate wagons often appeared in the West Country, with occasional consignments of steel plate to Barnstaple for Appledore Shipyard in blocks of six or more, also singly conveying things like machinery or vehicles - I think the MOD received some traffic in them. The 21t minerals appeared in ones or twos with domestic coal for Ponsandane and St Austell coal depots. Fitted MDVs still ran down there until about 1983.

 

cheers   

Hi Kevin.  Many thanks for your message. I must admit that I wasn't too sure if plate wagons worked much in the West Country.  I built it simply because I liked the look of them and I thought the low level of the bodywork would look good as part of a mixed freight.  As usual your information is most useful.

[andy stroud]

53 minutes ago, Windjabbers said:

Always good to see an update on your work Andy, Do you have any plans for future exhibitions? Would love to see this one in person?

 

Best Wishes

 

David

 

Hi David,

Thankyou for your kind message. I dont currently have any plans for exhibitions but these are unusual times. 

[Rivercider]

39 minutes ago, andy stroud said:

Hi Kevin.  Many thanks for your message. I must admit that I wasn't too sure if plate wagons worked much in the West Country.  I built it simply because I liked the look of them and I thought the low level of the bodywork would look good as part of a mixed freight.  As usual your information is most useful.

Their main use was for steel plate, so not so often seen in the West Country except going to Barnstaple. By the mid 1970s unfitted plates (TOPS code SPO) were becoming rare. I started in Bristol TOPS in 1978 and the steel plate traffic for Appledore was in vacuum fitted SPVs by then. Traffic levels obviously depended on what the shipyard was building, but my memory says that a consignment of perhaps 15-20 wagons would arrive over two or three days. Once the new build air braked SPAs were available they took over.

My memory suggests plate wagons might have also conveyed crated goods to or from the MOD at Ernesettle or Devonport. By the 1970s the civil engineering wagon fleet included some also.

 

Another similar wagon was the lowfit, which I think was commonly used to covey things like agricultural machinery. Were they also used to load the compressors manufactured by Holman Brothers at Camborne which were sometimes loaded to rail at Drump Lane?

 

cheers

  

[TrevorP1]

7 hours ago, Rivercider said:

 

Plate wagons often appeared in the West Country, with occasional consignments of steel plate to Barnstaple for Appledore Shipyard in blocks of six or more, also singly conveying things like machinery or vehicles - I think the MOD received some traffic in them.

 

Plate wagons also worked through to Falmouth Docks carrying steel plate for ship repairs.

[Siberian Snooper]

14 hours ago, Rivercider said:

Great work as always Andy. I think you have captured the appearance of the two wagon types well.

It is a shame about the underframe of the plate wagon, but the general appearance especially of the 

bodywork is nicely done.

Plate wagons often appeared in the West Country, with occasional consignments of steel plate to Barnstaple for Appledore Shipyard in blocks of six or more, also singly conveying things like machinery or vehicles - I think the MOD received some traffic in them. The 21t minerals appeared in ones or twos with domestic coal for Ponsandane and St Austell coal depots. Fitted MDVs still ran down there until about 1983.

 

cheers   

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Devonport Dockyard,  didn't have steel plate deliveries into the late 70s or early 80s, we (boilermakers) got through a fair bit of 1/4 (6mm) plus plate and no doubt shipwrights did as well. Demarcation lines were not the same as civilian shipyards.

 

 

[andy stroud]

 

I have been working on a model of a later bodied class 25. It is built from 0.1mm and 0.25mm brass sheet.  The picture above shows progress so far. This evening i am working on representing the marker lights at the bottom of the cab front which is proving rather fiddly. After this some more detail needs to be added in plasticard around the headcode/ horn areas. Then lots of filler! around the cab roofs/headcode areas as well as a few other places and then finally work can start on the chassis. I am considering various options for motorising it however i am fairly certain I will be using Farish bogie sideframes as these are very nice

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by andy stroud
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[37114]

Very impressive work Andy, nice to see some traditional scratch building going on.

[DavidMcKenzie]

Outstanding Andy, a real credit to your modelling skill. Looking forward to seeing it progress further. 

 

All the best,

Dave 

[acg5324]

Looking forward to seeing this in the flesh at Doncaster next month.

[andy stroud]

 

 

My new class 25 has finally taken to the rails and  is seen here outside the signal box (above) and also emerging from the tunnel (below).

 

 

 

 

The body and chassis are brass construction but the bogies and drive gear are Farish. Below is a picture taken just before painting.

 

 

 

 

I found a way of fixing the top of the Farish bogie gear towers into my chassis my means of very crudely clamping them into place using pins (1mm brass rod) locating into 1.6mm brass tube. I also used the same method of clamping to hold the motor in place and height alignment was achieved simply by packing with shim (brass sheet and plasticard). By using this method the pick-ups were all taken care of, all I had to do was solder wires to the top of the bogie towers.  Here is my very crude chassis. I have since installed a decoder and it runs very nicely.

 

 

 

Another picture showing early stages of body construction.

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by andy stroud
pictures

[DavidMcKenzie]

That's a model to be proud of! Outstanding stuff. Looks at home out running on the layout. 

 

All the best,

Dave

[andy stroud]

12 minutes ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

That's a model to be proud of! Outstanding stuff. Looks at home out running on the layout. 

 

All the best,

Dave

Thankyou Dave thats very kind of you.

[Andy_C]

Hi Andy. I’m new to the forum, and came to your layout via a search for N Gauge and looking for viaducts. I’m considering modelling a layout broadly on Mansfield’s station in the 50’s/60’s (with some artistic licence). 
 

You viaduct is noticeably similar in many aspects, but a main difference is no water, and more industrial and shops near to the one in Mansfield. 
 

I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to get near your scratch building and weathering skills, but a thought I had was to get hold of some pre-loved stock to practice on. 
 

The other thing that caused me to pause for further planning thought was the comment you and Duncan, from the Shirebrook model, mentioned re modelling below track level. 
 

Thank you for posting your layout updates, and also sharing some of the techniques you use. I’d best start getting some modelling kit together!

[Davexoc]

So we now know what Bachmann will announce next week!

The later version of the class 25, or it will be the class 117 DMU, as I'm working on that at the moment....

[andy stroud]

1 hour ago, Davexoc said:

So we now know what Bachmann will announce next week!

The later version of the class 25, or it will be the class 117 DMU, as I'm working on that at the moment....

Yes, great news everybody,  Farish are about to announce a later bodied class 25.

[Phil Bullock]

But yours certainly looks the dogs whatsists Andy…

[acg5324]

Superb work. I cheated with my 25/3 car body by modelling one of the four boiler fitted examples which meant I could use the existing Farish chassis and just alter the 25/2 body.

[andy stroud]

3 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Superb work. I cheated with my 25/3 car body by modelling one of the four boiler fitted examples which meant I could use the existing Farish chassis and just alter the 25/2 body.

 

Well I cheated with mine as well.  The Farish mechanism works so well and I have transplanted it into my own chassis.

 

Here is is short 30 second clip of the loco running. Taken on the first evening of running before its glazing had properly dried.

 

 

[Cowley 47521]

Hi Andy.

 

I’ve kept this page open for a couple of days and read through it from the beginning to the end now. It’s been really interesting reading all of it and having only properly got into N gauge about three years ago I appreciate threads like this because it shows what can be done with this scale.

It reminds me of my very early childhood in Cornwall in the 1970s I must say.

Thanks for explaining your methods, I might come back and ask some questions at some point!

 

Nick