Train spotting at Finsbury Square

[31A]

I've been thinking about point rodding for a long time and the last couple of days have been doing something about it.

 

I'd bought some Brassmasters etches for rodding rollers, but couldn't get on with them, and also had some cast whitemetal rollers from Model Signal Engineering but to my mind these put the rods too far apart.  So I came up with a solution that I hoped might be reasonably quick and easy to carry out, and robust whilst not overscale.  I wanted to portray the way 'square' (U channel) looks, with the runs very close to each other and forming a flat surface across the top.  So I've used the 0.45mm square nickel silver wire Wizard Models sell for the purpose, and cranks from Brassmasters.  The rollers are lengths of 0.9mm wire (under the rods) and 0.45mm wire across the top, soldered onto sections of copper clad sleeper material to represent the stools that the rollers are fixed to.

 

I made up a run to go between Platforms 3 and 4 as a trial, made up as a unit away from the layout.  I used a piece of thin aluminium as a spacer, but the biggest difficulty was stopping the solder from running down between the rods and filling the gaps between them.

 

The first picture shows the made up unit, which has been sprayed with Halfords grey etching primer.

 

 

This shows it installed on the layout.  The crank pivots are pins which have been cut short; they were just pressed into the cork underlay, with the stools glued down with Evo Stik.  This rodding is to drive the points and point locks at the end of Platforms 3 and 4.

 

 

Then later, I added the drive to the points on the left, with cranks and rodding leading to its facing point lock, and also short lengths to represent where the rodding passes under the Platform 3 line and under the wooden platform.  I've also added a cover for the Facing Point Lock at the points at the end of Platform 3.  I won't do the rest after there's been some running, in case its causes problems with dangling couplings etc.  Then I've put a bit of ballast / ground cover in the six foot between the two lines.  It's a bit darker than the area was before, but it does make the rodding more visible!

 

[saxokid]

2 hours ago, 31A said:

I've been thinking about point rodding for a long time and the last couple of days have been doing something about it.

 

I'd bought some Brassmasters etches for rodding rollers, but couldn't get on with them, and also had some cast whitemetal rollers from Model Signal Engineering but to my mind these put the rods too far apart.  So I came up with a solution that I hoped might be reasonably quick and easy to carry out, and robust whilst not overscale.  I wanted to portray the way 'square' (U channel) looks, with the runs very close to each other and forming a flat surface across the top.  So I've used the 0.45mm square nickel silver wire Wizard Models sell for the purpose, and cranks from Brassmasters.  The rollers are lengths of 0.9mm wire (under the rods) and 0.45mm wire across the top, soldered onto sections of copper clad sleeper material to represent the stools that the rollers are fixed to.

 

I made up a run to go between Platforms 3 and 4 as a trial, made up as a unit away from the layout.  I used a piece of thin aluminium as a spacer, but the biggest difficulty was stopping the solder from running down between the rods and filling the gaps between them.

 

The first picture shows the made up unit, which has been sprayed with Halfords grey etching primer.

 

 

This shows it installed on the layout.  The crank pivots are pins which have been cut short; they were just pressed into the cork underlay, with the stools glued down with Evo Stik.  This rodding is to drive the points and point locks at the end of Platforms 3 and 4.

 

 

Then later, I added the drive to the points on the left, with cranks and rodding leading to its facing point lock, and also short lengths to represent where the rodding passes under the Platform 3 line and under the wooden platform.  I've also added a cover for the Facing Point Lock at the points at the end of Platform 3.  I won't do the rest after there's been some running, in case its causes problems with dangling couplings etc.  Then I've put a bit of ballast / ground cover in the six foot between the two lines.  It's a bit darker than the area was before, but it does make the rodding more visible!

 

Very nice work again Steve...

[lezz01]

Nice Steve. It looks the business mate.

Regards Lez.

[31A]

I've moved on from rodding now, and doing cabling instead.

 

Cable runs on the sides of retaining walls seem to be such a typical sight, but quite fiddly to do.  Luckily somebody pointed out to me the "Lineside Cable Hangers" which Scale Model Scenery produce (LX281-00) - they're neatly laser cut in plastic and come in packs of 20 - I got hold of 5 packs!  These are to go on the Hornby Skaledale retaining wall sections across the main line from the loco yard - they can be seen in some of the earlier pictures.  The retaining walls are in two sections, attached to thin plywood, and for now can be lifted off the layout which made the job much easier.

 

I'd intended to put one hanger on each 'pillar' (between the arches) but pictures of real cabling shows the hangers are usually quite close together, so I had to buy more and have mounted extra ones in the centre of the arches.  I fixed these extra ones to 'battens' of Evergreen 80 x 100 thou styrene, which brings them out level with the ones on the pillars.

 

For the cables themselves, I used some thin white linen thread that I happened to have a reel of - 25 gms it says on the label.  I glued the thread to the hangers with cyano, then painted the thread with dilute PVA which makes them more rigid and also to some extent makes them look smoother, although some old lineside cable seems to have been wrapped in a fabric type of material, not unlike the look of the thread.  Then the hangers and cable are painted dark grey.  In this picture the further section is still to be painted.

 

 

When I've finished the cabling, I'll be weathering the retaining walls quite heavily, although I'd like them still to look like red brick.  It's too long a section to do uniformly by brush really, so on a spare bit I've experimented using Railmatch Roof Dirt and Sleeper Grime aerosols, then added a few highlights etc. by hand - the finished job might look something like this, which I think is quite a big improvement to the 'ready to plonk' wall sections:

 

 

 

[great northern]

28 minutes ago, 31A said:

I've moved on from rodding now, and doing cabling instead.

 

Cable runs on the sides of retaining walls seem to be such a typical sight, but quite fiddly to do.  Luckily somebody pointed out to me the "Lineside Cable Hangers" which Scale Model Scenery produce (LX281-00) - they're neatly laser cut in plastic and come in packs of 20 - I got hold of 5 packs!  These are to go on the Hornby Skaledale retaining wall sections across the main line from the loco yard - they can be seen in some of the earlier pictures.  The retaining walls are in two sections, attached to thin plywood, and for now can be lifted off the layout which made the job much easier.

 

I'd intended to put one hanger on each 'pillar' (between the arches) but pictures of real cabling shows the hangers are usually quite close together, so I had to buy more and have mounted extra ones in the centre of the arches.  I fixed these extra ones to 'battens' of Evergreen 80 x 100 thou styrene, which brings them out level with the ones on the pillars.

 

For the cables themselves, I used some thin white linen thread that I happened to have a reel of - 25 gms it says on the label.  I glued the thread to the hangers with cyano, then painted the thread with dilute PVA which makes them more rigid and also to some extent makes them look smoother, although some old lineside cable seems to have been wrapped in a fabric type of material, not unlike the look of the thread.  Then the hangers and cable are painted dark grey.  In this picture the further section is still to be painted.

 

 

When I've finished the cabling, I'll be weathering the retaining walls quite heavily, although I'd like them still to look like red brick.  It's too long a section to do uniformly by brush really, so on a spare bit I've experimented using Railmatch Roof Dirt and Sleeper Grime aerosols, then added a few highlights etc. by hand - the finished job might look something like this, which I think is quite a big improvement to the 'ready to plonk' wall sections:

 

 

 

Patience of a saint, Steve. Worth it though, as it does look very impressive.

[Mallard60022]

Impressive Steve. Great stickability in several ways matey.

Phil

[danstercivicman]

2 hours ago, 31A said:

I've moved on from rodding now, and doing cabling instead.

 

Cable runs on the sides of retaining walls seem to be such a typical sight, but quite fiddly to do.  Luckily somebody pointed out to me the "Lineside Cable Hangers" which Scale Model Scenery produce (LX281-00) - they're neatly laser cut in plastic and come in packs of 20 - I got hold of 5 packs!  These are to go on the Hornby Skaledale retaining wall sections across the main line from the loco yard - they can be seen in some of the earlier pictures.  The retaining walls are in two sections, attached to thin plywood, and for now can be lifted off the layout which made the job much easier.

 

I'd intended to put one hanger on each 'pillar' (between the arches) but pictures of real cabling shows the hangers are usually quite close together, so I had to buy more and have mounted extra ones in the centre of the arches.  I fixed these extra ones to 'battens' of Evergreen 80 x 100 thou styrene, which brings them out level with the ones on the pillars.

 

For the cables themselves, I used some thin white linen thread that I happened to have a reel of - 25 gms it says on the label.  I glued the thread to the hangers with cyano, then painted the thread with dilute PVA which makes them more rigid and also to some extent makes them look smoother, although some old lineside cable seems to have been wrapped in a fabric type of material, not unlike the look of the thread.  Then the hangers and cable are painted dark grey.  In this picture the further section is still to be painted.

 

 

When I've finished the cabling, I'll be weathering the retaining walls quite heavily, although I'd like them still to look like red brick.  It's too long a section to do uniformly by brush really, so on a spare bit I've experimented using Railmatch Roof Dirt and Sleeper Grime aerosols, then added a few highlights etc. by hand - the finished job might look something like this, which I think is quite a big improvement to the 'ready to plonk' wall sections:

 

 

 

 

Wow!! 

[31A]

I've weathered the long run of retaining wall now, and the short bit at the corner.  In trying to avoid 'highlights' (missed by the aerosol) I seem to have gone a bit heavy with the spraying!  The grey thing on the left is the roof of the loco coal men's shack.  The main lines need ballasting but I have an unresolved issue with them; I could at least paint the rail sides, though.  When I get the motivation!

 

 

Anyway for a bit of light relief from that, I've been detailing the corner of the layout where the wall meets the overbridge.  Nothing looks more like a wooden fence than a wooden fence (I hope); some fun with a bit of 1.5mm plywood.

 

 

The green shack behind it is a nondescript building to fill in an awkwardly-shaped vacant space.  Really only the back of it will be visible, but this is what the front looks like:

 

 

A quick lash up from three Ratio Lineside Hut kits, two of which had been in the drawer for years and the third was a freebie with the Railway Modeller a little while back.  As I said, only the back will be visible really, but I filed flat the rustic stone plinth to make it look more like breeze blocks or something and less rural.  Just waiting for the paint to dry properly, then I'll 'rough it up' a bit.

 

 

 

[lezz01]

Love the shack Steve.

Regards Lez.

[Calidore]

Fantastic work on the rodding and cabling, Steve. Both have really added another layer to the great texture and atmosphere you already have on the model. The rodding method is quite the innovation too, looks like a successful experiment to me.

 

PS was just re-reading your 31A S&T thread as well, admiring the signals but also the townhouses which sneak into the background of many pics! Wonderful.

 

Adam

[Tony Wright]

On 12/04/2020 at 19:48, 31A said:

I've moved on from rodding now, and doing cabling instead.

 

Cable runs on the sides of retaining walls seem to be such a typical sight, but quite fiddly to do.  Luckily somebody pointed out to me the "Lineside Cable Hangers" which Scale Model Scenery produce (LX281-00) - they're neatly laser cut in plastic and come in packs of 20 - I got hold of 5 packs!  These are to go on the Hornby Skaledale retaining wall sections across the main line from the loco yard - they can be seen in some of the earlier pictures.  The retaining walls are in two sections, attached to thin plywood, and for now can be lifted off the layout which made the job much easier.

 

I'd intended to put one hanger on each 'pillar' (between the arches) but pictures of real cabling shows the hangers are usually quite close together, so I had to buy more and have mounted extra ones in the centre of the arches.  I fixed these extra ones to 'battens' of Evergreen 80 x 100 thou styrene, which brings them out level with the ones on the pillars.

 

For the cables themselves, I used some thin white linen thread that I happened to have a reel of - 25 gms it says on the label.  I glued the thread to the hangers with cyano, then painted the thread with dilute PVA which makes them more rigid and also to some extent makes them look smoother, although some old lineside cable seems to have been wrapped in a fabric type of material, not unlike the look of the thread.  Then the hangers and cable are painted dark grey.  In this picture the further section is still to be painted.

 

 

When I've finished the cabling, I'll be weathering the retaining walls quite heavily, although I'd like them still to look like red brick.  It's too long a section to do uniformly by brush really, so on a spare bit I've experimented using Railmatch Roof Dirt and Sleeper Grime aerosols, then added a few highlights etc. by hand - the finished job might look something like this, which I think is quite a big improvement to the 'ready to plonk' wall sections:

 

 

 

Wonderfully-effective Steve,

 

My compliments.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[31A]

There's been some more work on the retaining walls etc., but as a bit of light relief also some running sessions.  Here 65445 is busy sorting out the loco coal and oil wagons; all the coal wagons are empty so no wonder it's confusing, and there's a job for another day.  On 3 Road some men with big hammers seem to be taking an interest in 60821; well it does look a bit rough.

 

 

Some people post links to music they've been listening to; well here's what's been on my turntable recently:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIDJBoEhrKQ&list=UUZhYb7u_yRjeoZ4k3IGF9Aw&index=1

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mallard60022]

Steve, if you have a celebrity tune on your Turntable, might you give us some info about it, maybe say where it has come from and what it might be due to do next (if the Foreman has rostered it?)

That run of tall walling looks very good indeed mate.

P

[31A]

1 minute ago, Mallard60022 said:

Steve, if you have a celebrity tune on your Turntable, might you give us some info about it, maybe say where it has come from and what it might be due to do next (if the Foreman has rostered it?)

That run of tall walling looks very good indeed mate.

P

Thank you, Phil.

 

If people like it I will put some more turntable videos up and  will give some commentary on what's going on, but I must admit the one in that clip was a cheat.  I didn't think any of the locos on shed at the time were elegant enough to be filmed, so I grabbed '1139 from the fiddle yard!  It's actual turn was a couple of days previously (see pic of Bosses, further up).

 

I think I'd better concentrate on getting the foreground better in focus before I publish any more videoing, though!

 

[Oldddudders]

11 hours ago, 31A said:

 

Some people post links to music they've been listening to; well here's what's been on my turntable recently:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIDJBoEhrKQ&list=UUZhYb7u_yRjeoZ4k3IGF9Aw&index=1

Frankly, the sound of your TT at work is infinitely nicer than the 'music' some people feel must accompany their railway vids!

 

That big (48-sheet?) billboard behind the TT seems, in some pictures, to be so bright as to be back-lit, which was unthinkable then. I'm not sure why it appears thus, but it does leap out sometimes, to the detriment of the rest of the composition, sadly. Perhaps it needs a coat of something to dull it a little? 

 

Spelling!

Edited April 19, 2020 by Oldddudders

[31A]

6 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Frankly, the sound of your TT at work is infinitely nicer than the 'music' some people feel must accompany their railway vids!

 

That big (48-sheet?) billboard behind the TT seems, in some pictures, to be so bright as to be back-lit, which was unthinkable then. I'm not sure why it appears thus, but it does leap out sometimes, to the detriment of the rest of the composition, sadly. Perhaps it needs a coat of something to dull it a little? 

 

Spelling!

 

Interesting you should mention the billboard; it's a bit of an embarrassment if I'm honest.  It isn't back lit but I agree it is very bright.

 

A while back I got a bit carried away with them; there's a similar one on the other side of the bridge which doesn't really get into the photos.  I thought that looked good, so I did the one you see above as well, before I'd really thought of developing this area as a loco depot.  When I did, I thought I ought to take it off as I don't think there'd be a billboard above a loco turnable in reality.  They'd get filthy, and it would be almost impossible to change them.  So I tried to take it off, but must have glued it on very solidly as it refuses to budge!

 

I might try again to get it off; something may break but could be mended or disguised I expect.  Having said that, pre-War there were adverts above the loco turntable at King's Cross station, on the end of Gasworks Tunnel, but they were large metal enamelled signs.

 

[31A]

A few train spotters could hardly believe their eyes this evening, as V1 67664 was seen leaving on an inner suburban train.  The Locospotters Book shows it as 65A Eastfield!  One of them managed to grab a quick shot.

 

 

In reality, it's a very old Bachmann model.  I unearthed its box whilst rummaging around for something else.  It's not at all suitable for Finsbury Square really, it hasn't run since the Hornby L1s were released.  As a model it looks a bit dated by today's standards.  I gave it some oil and it runs smoothly enough, albeit with some knocking noises from somewhere in the valve gear; probably not entirely unprototypical.

 

[CUTLER2579]

On 19/04/2020 at 09:53, Oldddudders said:

Frankly, the sound of your TT at work is infinitely nicer than the 'music' some people feel must accompany their railway vids!

 

That big (48-sheet?) billboard behind the TT seems, in some pictures, to be so bright as to be back-lit, which was unthinkable then. I'm not sure why it appears thus, but it does leap out sometimes, to the detriment of the rest of the composition, sadly. Perhaps it needs a coat of something to dull it a little? 

 

Spelling!

 

Dullcote, maybe.

[31A]

2 hours ago, CUTLER2579 said:

 

Dullcote, maybe.

 

Yes, that's a thought - thank you.

[Toftwood]

On 12 April 2020 at 19:48, 31A said:

I've moved on from rodding now, and doing cabling instead.

 

Cable runs on the sides of retaining walls seem to be such a typical sight, but quite fiddly to do.  Luckily somebody pointed out to me the "Lineside Cable Hangers" which Scale Model Scenery produce (LX281-00) - they're neatly laser cut in plastic and come in packs of 20 - I got hold of 5 packs!  These are to go on the Hornby Skaledale retaining wall sections across the main line from the loco yard - they can be seen in some of the earlier pictures.  The retaining walls are in two sections, attached to thin plywood, and for now can be lifted off the layout which made the job much easier.

 

I'd intended to put one hanger on each 'pillar' (between the arches) but pictures of real cabling shows the hangers are usually quite close together, so I had to buy more and have mounted extra ones in the centre of the arches.  I fixed these extra ones to 'battens' of Evergreen 80 x 100 thou styrene, which brings them out level with the ones on the pillars.

 

For the cables themselves, I used some thin white linen thread that I happened to have a reel of - 25 gms it says on the label.  I glued the thread to the hangers with cyano, then painted the thread with dilute PVA which makes them more rigid and also to some extent makes them look smoother, although some old lineside cable seems to have been wrapped in a fabric type of material, not unlike the look of the thread.  Then the hangers and cable are painted dark grey.  In this picture the further section is still to be painted.

 

 

When I've finished the cabling, I'll be weathering the retaining walls quite heavily, although I'd like them still to look like red brick.  It's too long a section to do uniformly by brush really, so on a spare bit I've experimented using Railmatch Roof Dirt and Sleeper Grime aerosols, then added a few highlights etc. by hand - the finished job might look something like this, which I think is quite a big improvement to the 'ready to plonk' wall sections:

 

 

 

Love the weathering on the retaining walls. the cabling was also very prevalent up in the North East around Newcastle. 

 

Pete

[31A]

I've not updated this page for a while; not that I haven't been doing anything, in fact I've been doing quite a lot!  I like to wait until a project is finished before I post about it, in case to doesn't get finished.

 

One of the things I've been doing, which is nearly finished, is making a new signal box to go next to the girder bridge.  There have been a couple of 'place markers' in this area over the years but neither really suited.  I was looking at the Wills wooden signal box kit, which is quite good model of a Great Eastern box, and was struck by its similarity with some Great Northern boxes.  So I got one a few weeks ago (thanks to Monk Bar Model Shop in lockdown) and have been modifying it.

 

I've made it up to resemble one of the boxes that had the lower storey reinforced by brickwork as a World War 2 air raid precaution.  A prototype I had in mind was Belle Isle Up box outside King's Cross:

 

https://rail-books.co.uk/collections/magazines/products/london-railway-record-number-51-99990510

 

There are several differences to the Wills kit, some obvious, others less so.  Apart from the brickwork, possibly the most obvious is that the doors on both floors are in the middle of the end rather than towards the left hand side.  So I modified the left hand end accordingly:

 

 

 

Less obvious is the way the roof overhangs more than shown in the kit, both at front and rear and at the ends; to allow for this I reduced the height of the sides and ends above the windows.  I also altered the pitch of the roof whilst cutting down the ends.  This picture shows how much I took off the front, compared to the unmodified rear side.  In order that the staircase would still fit, I made up the difference by adding height at the bottom when I did the brickwork.

 

 

Another obvious difference is that there is a lavatory on the balcony; I made this from Plastikard:

 

 

Then putting it all together, encased the base in brickwork.  The rather quirky plumbing is based on the photo of the real box; mostly made up from single core electrical cable of different sizes.  The new roof is made from Wills moulded slate sheets.  The window cleaning platform (which seems to have been no more than a single plank in this case) is from etch scrap with brackets from brass wire.

 

 

A few pictures of the finished model.  I've used a Wills signal box interior kit to detail the interior; most of this won't be visible but I've modelled one of the front windows open to allow at least some view of the inside!  Not sure about the nameboards; in the past I've used the  smallest size of Slater's moulded alphabets for this, but didn't have enough of the right characters left so I've printed these on the computer.  I might replace them if I can get some more Slater's letters.  I suppose I'll have to weather it eventually, but for the moment can't bring myself to!

 

 

 

 

 

[lezz01]

Love the brickwork Steve.

Regards Lez.

[31A]

9 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

Love the brickwork Steve.

Regards Lez.

 

Thank you, I was quite pleased with it.  I suppose I ought to weather it really!

 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Splendid work... you've made a much better job of yours than I did with mine.

 

What do you paint the brick work with?  I've got miles of walls and bridge parapets to paint soon

[31A]

47 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

Splendid work... you've made a much better job of yours than I did with mine.

 

What do you paint the brick work with?  I've got miles of walls and bridge parapets to paint soon

 

Thanks Doc!

 

I'm not sure it's a method I'd want to use to paint miles!

 

I've tried to make it look as though it's relatively new (WW2) brickwork probably using cheap bricks and put up in a hurry.  I think they just built brick walls round the existing bases of wooden signal boxes.  So the basic colour is a (quite random) mixture of Humbrol Matt Brick Red 70 and Matt Orange Lining 82.  Then before that had dried I went over it picking out individual bricks with the two colours on their own and also using Matt Flesh 61.  When that was dry I ran very thin Matt Pale Stone 121 into the mortar lines and let it flow down through the mortar lines over the whole wall.  Then when that was nearly dry rubbed over the top of the bricks with cotton buds to remove the mortar colour from the top of the bricks and leave it in the mortar lines.

 

I was quite pleased with the result and it was OK for a small building but I don't think I'd have the patience to do it over a large area!