West End Workbench

[Nelson Jackson]

WOW they look wonderful well done, the paint job and lining is excellent.

[Barry O]

Jonathan.. they look really nice.... when did they go out of service as I could be tempted in a set of Mr Brown's finest!! 

 

Baz

[Market65]

Hi. The teak finish, lining and lettering and numbering all combine to make the model look nice and 'wooden', instead of it being made out of brass. It really is a top quality model all round with excellent workmanship.

 

All the best,

 

Market65.

[jwealleans]

Thanks, Barry. The set was condemned in 1953 after a shunting accident. I don't know any more detail than that.

[Barry O]

Jonathan

 

thanks for that

 

Mm bit early even for me but... I will have a chat with Rupert!

 

Baz

[jwealleans]

Bit of a diversion in the last few days as we've been out to the Grantham Model Rail show with Thurston. This is one of the last shows we'll do with the layout so if you want to see it again you're running out of chances.

 

I took some pictures of newish stock and one or two locos we don't run very often also had a few hours in the sun. Thanks to LNER4479 (and Mrs 4479) for helping over lunchtime on the Saturday when we were a man short.

 

 

Bury shed turned out their other D16 on the Sunday morning. We only usually see 62566 on the layout.

 

 

This NER lav 3rd features on the bench a few pages back. It will be weathered when I've gathered up enough outstanding stock to do a batch.

 

 

Cambrian kit C107 - SR D 1375 open as supplied to the LNER during the war (LNER D 178). Also to be weathered. Another in Cambrian's ever improving range.

 

Finally, due to the presence of Mr. King of this parish, we had a guest loco on the Sunday morning for a few hours.

 

 

I suspect the headroom on that bridge might have reduced somewhat had this been sent over it in reality. Nonetheless a beautiful runner which we never dared turn up past 40% on the controller without posting 3 slips and a gully on the bends.

 

Edit - I must also thank Grantham Railway Society for looking after us so well, ROY@34F for taking the trouble to come and say hello and the good folk of Grantham for voting us their favourite layout in show. Look forward to seeing Roy again next year along with everyone else at the first outing of Grantham the Streamliner Years to a model railway show.

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans

[LNER4479]

Look forward to seeing Roy again next year along with everyone else at the first outing of Grantham the Streamliner Years to a model railway show.

             

[jwealleans]

Just in case anyone has missed it, the Quint was taken up to Grantham again last weekend. By kind permission of Tony Wright, a conscious recreation of the well known works photograph, but taken from the other side of the set.

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans

[Barry O]

That set is drop dead gorgeous! 

[jwealleans]

Thank you all for your kind words. The Quint has been put aside for the moment and I've been relaxing with some wagons, which you'll no doubt be able to admire in due course should I finish them. Tonight, though, I went back to something else we need lots of for Grantham and another of my favourite things on the railway - C1s. I haven't signed up for the forthcoming Bachmann one as I already have four and even for me that's quite a lot. So we'll be making do with what I have for the moment.

 

First across the bench is 4444, which featured in some of the buildup to Barrow Hill earlier this year and then failed on the day. Messrs King and Mears couldn't revive it at the show, so it's been in a box ever since. Last week it saw the light of day again. The captive nuts securing the chassis had both failed, so it couldn't be assembled, the tender drawbar fell off and the whole thing was a bit of a mess. I managed to introduce Araldite round the nuts to resecure them, and then started looking at the front bogie. I've never been happy with it or the underscale wheels K's used. To give you an idea:

 

 

On the right the correct size wheels from the DJH kit, on the left the K's ones. Testing with the correct wheels soon showed that they would not fit, there being an overlap with the front driving wheel flanges. Slightly smaller ones will be needed and I see that Alan Gibson do a 10 spoke 12.6mm wheel. As it happens, 12.6mm wheels are fairly easy to find:

 

 

So far so good but they'll get a thorough test at Ormesby tomorrow. I think they may be touching the frames through pointwork. I had intended to replace the bogie and a number of other components with Comet bits, but in the light of Geoff Brewin's tragic demise I think a lot of bits will have to be recycled.

 

I need to remotor (or motor at all) the others so an order has gone to High Level. The WSM version has already had the gubbins stripped out.

 

 

I will also start on the twin to 4444, almost 15 years after I bought them both.

 

 

3249 still has the K's wheels and mechanism and is still EM gauge. It has run very occasionally in my ownership but will now get the full overhaul and regauging it's always been intended to give it.

 

For anyone else who has one of these, this thread will tell you most of what you need to know.

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans

[ArthurK]

All my Ks motors of this style fell apart at the glued joints. That was a long time ago. Now they reside in a box of bits!

 

ArthurK

[MarkC]

All my Ks motors of this style fell apart at the glued joints. That was a long time ago. Now they reside in a box of bits!

 

ArthurK

I suspect you're not alone in this, Arthur. Having said that, somewhere at home (I'm away at sea at present)  I'm pretty sure I've got a couple of old Ks models waiting to be fettled to more modern standards, rather than the standards of a teenage MarkC from more years ago than I care to remember    which still ran, the last time I tested them...

[jwealleans]

It seems those motors were a bit of pot luck. There are engines running - I believe Mr King has at least one - with K's wheels, mechanisms and chassis. There seem to be a great many more which 'used' to have a K's motor. 4444 was the one of my pair which has had all the work done for no better reason than that the motor exploded in a puff of smoke while under test on the bench. The motor in 3249 still works and it has run on Peter Simmerson's Uppingham layout once or twice. (admittedly not terribly well).

 

Metropolitan, on one of his periodic bursts of activity on here, built a K's kit exactly as it came out of the packet and seemed to get it to work, motor and all.  I have to say I much prefer a Mashima can and a High Level; box.

[jwealleans]

Experimenting at Ormesby last night showed that the larger wheels still rubbed the chassis on curves. Some brutality has therefore been applied to the front end of the frames to allow the wheels to clear. I'm banking on the Hornby wheels having coarser flanges than the Gibsons so there should be more clearance when they are fitted.

 

 

I've had to file about two thirds of the way through that front spacer. Some of the other components of the chassis detached themselves in protest, so it's gone into the paint stripper before they're soldered back on.

 

While it was in bits, though, the chance to offer the drivetrain up to the WSM chassis and check it fitted.

 

 

I had to cut a section of baseplate away to allow the gearbox to protrude slightly below the driven axle. I also removed the lug at the rear intended for an X04, as that makes refitting the body easier. There's plenty of room in there and I hope to get a flywheel into each of them as well.

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans

[Jol Wilkinson]

P4 wheels might help. 

[great northern]

That takes me back Jonathan. I tried to put one of the WSM ones together a very long time ago. It was happy going in a straight line, but it didn't like curves at all. I rather wish I hadn't got rid of it now.

[jwealleans]

 

P4 wheels might help

If I mount them sloping inwards, so they're the right gauge at the bottom?

[Earlswood Nob]

G'day all

I had a problem with my Kay's Atlantic. It wouldn't reverse through points without derailing.

I solved it by mounting the trailing axle on a pivot to allow moving in a vertical direction only, so it became a sort of mixed size 4-6-0. This also improved adhesion as it allowed the chassis to rock back on the rear driver, rather than the trailing axle.

I really must put the Atlantic through the paint shop for a pic.

 

Earlswood nob

[jwealleans]

Wheels on the way from Alan Gibson Workshop and the WSM chassis moved under its own power last night.

 

 

To get over those long ladders of pointwork at Grantham, I've put pickups on the tender as well. I was contemplating a subframe and more modern chassis, but this is a simple test of it as it is. The upperworks will need a bit of detailing while we're on. I've been alerted to these handy looking loco to tender plugs to hang it all together.

 

 

JASd17 and I have been discussing the finer points of C1 detailing this week. Reading Yeadon, I found that 4412 was one of those which never had a smokebox saddle. I was all set to look at renumbering until I checked the model and found that it doesn't have one. think Phil must have removed it when he built it, unless anyone knows if the kit was supplied like that? The Ramsbottom casting has been removed to be replaced with Ross Pops and the anticarbonising device will be replaced with finer wire.

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans

[Jol Wilkinson]

Jonathan,

 

it may be photographic distortion but are the tender axles skewed? I always found w/m kits where the outside bearings were in the frames very difficult to get accurately set up. Despite the slightly greater drag from inside bearings, an etched sub chassis is much easier to set up square.

 

Jol

[jwealleans]

You're not the first to spot that, Jol.  I think the camera has exaggerated it - I didn't spot it when I was putting the pickups in, it runs ok (not fantastically, but it doesn't drag) and we haven't had any problem with it derailing. That leading wheel does look cockeyed on the axle though.

 

As it happens I was on to AGW yesterday and an etched subframe will be on the way to me soon so there is a Plan B in hand.  I expected at least one of these tenders to be beyond saving and this is the most likely candidate.

[jwealleans]

Awaiting bits from different places, so this afternoon 3249 went into the dismantling shop. This is what it reduced to:

 

 

I had to break the tender sideframe off to remove the old wheelsets. Although just putting brass bearings into the frames left the wheels too tight to turn, by countersinking them with a 3mm drill I've managed to get them fairly free running and soldered the frame back on.

 

If anyone would like the Ks motor, gear, axles and wheels they are free to a home, good or otherwise. The carpet fairy seems to have eaten one of the wheel securing screws, however.

 

I've made up the other two gearboxes this evening so they're ready for use and the chassis from 3249 has gone into the paint stripper.

 

Something else I've been tinkering with: Thurston goes out to Spalding next month and I like to take something new each time I go, so here are some Bachmann Private Owners, along with a Cambrian open I've been finishing off.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Bit of a hiatus coming up, but I'm pleased to say that 3249 has had the chassis stripped, new wheels and drive train and has also now moved under her own power, even with no coupling rods. It's starting to look like Doncaster Works in there:

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans

[Nelson Jackson]

Those wagons are beautiful models, nicely finished

[jwealleans]

Back at the bench this afternoon after a week working away. No delivery from AGW as yet, so the first job was to look at loco/tender connections.

 

My man at Peter's Spares came up with these handy things (RD005)

 

 

Cut off as required and wire up. They make a rather neat connection, once soldered and protected with heatshrink.

 

 

That was about all I could do to the current crop of locos, though, so attention turned to the fourth of the batch.

 

 

I picked this up at an Ely show. Although I don't generally like starting too many things at once, I do intend to use this, a much more modern kit, to look at how some of the issues with the older ones have been tackled and maybe pinch some ideas. It ought to make a much better loco, but we'll see. I am aware of issues with the rear axle, but for the moment it's being built as per the instructions (although maybe not quite in that order).

 

Anyway it was out with the Masterchassis after lunch and off we went.

 

 

People ask whether these jigs are worth it. Well, we managed without them for years so they're clearly not a necessity. For me, though, they make getting a square, free chassis a much easier and quicker process and give more consistent results. An hour later I had this:

 

 

The frames are quite thick which means the internal space is quite narrow. I have a RoadRunner Plus made up which I was going to use in this loco, but the extra width on the lowest section means that it won't quite fit. I'll swap that onto the WSM one and use a HighFlyer in here. The ratios are the same so performance should be identical

 

With this kit the cab, boiler and firebox are single castings so once you start they just need fettling up and fitting together. Another hour and I had this:

 

 

We slowed down a little after that. but by the time I brought it down for washing it looked like this:

 

 

The cab/boiler/smokebox assembly is only attached at the front; I couldn't quite figure out what is supposed to happen under the cab? A self tapping screw? There isn't one in the box.

 

Edit - spelling.

Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans