Henley-on-Thames - GWR in the 1930's

[Neal Ball]

I’ve just noticed the loading gauge is wonky - thankfully it’s not fixed yet.

 

I need to use wire to support the arms, rather than the fishing cord supplied with the kit. It needs to show its being held up by the supports, whereas the fishing cord makes it look flimsy!

[Neal Ball]

The final photo this evening shews a bit of tidying up at the station forecourt. The fences all need painting and fixing into the ground.

 

I then need to crack on and finish the station building and overall roof.

 

[Neal Ball]

After a bit of shunting and track cleaning, I set too with the soldering iron to wire up the lamps in the Yard.

 

I've only managed 3 lamps before getting diverted and started to wire up the lamps in the town as well.

 

Theres a bit more to do to get all the lights working and the 'photos will follow in the next day or so.

[Neal Ball]

Shunting this morning:

 

[Neal Ball]

After the comments on Little Muddle and Stoke Courtney, I’m going to back date a Bachmann Pannier tank and remove the top feed. It will then appear in the correct livery for the 1930’s Henley (shirt button or Great Western).

 

At the same time, it will be permanently fixed to either a Toad brake van or as hunters truck. Extra pick ups will be added and a stay alive capacitor.

 

Before I start, I will finish off the lamps that I’m in the middle of wiring up first.

[Neal Ball]

The project: To backdate these three Panniers and repaint into a more authentic livery for my 1930’s period.

 

 

From front to back: 32-200A 8750 Pannier no 6752 this one will be first;

32-215 57xx no 5775

31-635 64xx 6407

 

unless of course Hornby announce a new 1930’s Pannier with no top feed for 2020, although I think this is unlikely as the 61xx has yet to appear.

 

 

[KNP]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

The project: To backdate these three Panniers and repaint into a more authentic livery for my 1930’s period.

 

 

From front to back: 32-200A 8750 Pannier no 6752 this one will be first;

32-215 57xx no 5775

31-635 64xx 6407

 

unless of course Hornby announce a new 1930’s Pannier with no top feed for 2020, although I think this is unlikely as the 61xx has yet to appear.

 

 

 

I will follow with interest, once I finish renovating the newly acquired Hall I will be backdating both of my Panniers...

[john dew]

11 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

After the comments on Little Muddle and Stoke Courtney, I’m going to back date a Bachmann Pannier tank and remove the top feed. It will then appear in the correct livery for the 1930’s Henley (shirt button or Great Western).

 

At the same time, it will be permanently fixed to either a Toad brake van or as hunters truck. Extra pick ups will be added and a stay alive capacitor.

 

Before I start, I will finish off the lamps that I’m in the middle of wiring up first.

 

Hi Neal

 

I recently added a TCS stayalive  to my 64xx.......everything fitted inside the body and it performs brilliantly....there is a video on my thread. You may not need extra pick ups and a permanent hook up.

 

I am just about to change the decoder in a 57xx to a Zemo with Youchoos supercap.....I will let you know how I get on

 

Regards

 

John

[Neal Ball]

19 hours ago, KNP said:

 

I will follow with interest, once I finish renovating the newly acquired Hall I will be backdating both of my Panniers...

 

12 hours ago, john dew said:

 

Hi Neal

 

I recently added a TCS stayalive  to my 64xx.......everything fitted inside the body and it performs brilliantly....there is a video on my thread. You may not need extra pick ups and a permanent hook up.

 

I am just about to change the decoder in a 57xx to a Zemo with Youchoos supercap.....I will let you know how I get on

 

Regards

 

John

Thank you both for the comments. I’m spurred on by all the comments about the Pannier tanks at the moment.

 

John: thank you for the details about your 64xx, my experience of stay alive s hasn’t been as positive, but I will reassess having watched your video.

[Neal Ball]

Yesterday was spent wiring up the last of the yard lamps. A couple of which needed modifications as in transit / packing after the move I managed to break the very thin wires.

 

Its all done now, but I ran out of time before going out to lunch.... and got back home too late to wield the soldering iron!

 

Today I just need to wire the last set, up to the control board and then add power and that phase is all done.

 

i spoke a couple of days ago about the town lights and that area is also being worked on. But it’s not at a stage to show off just yet. The buildings are out of their boxes, but the streets have only been laid out and are not made up yet. Overall it will be a compressed high street, similar to the section I had at Henley when we were back in the UK. The centre piece remains the old Regal cinema.

 

Im hoping I can start the Pannier project this weekend. 

[Neal Ball]

All the lights are now done and for a moment I was pleased with the result. They’ve since stopped working!

 

It will be straight forward I’m sure! 


 

 

 

and then a first view of the town area: 

 

 

As can be seen, it’s very early stages in this area?

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2019 by Neal Ball

[Neal Ball]

Now as a means of a diversion, I’m starting on the Pannier project. This is the first loco, which is DCC hard wired rather than using a socket.

 

[Neal Ball]

Pannier update: Sunday 27th October 2019

 

I've had a very productive morning in the railway room - but it turned into one of those projects "I wasn't expecting that" - Oh! I haven't knocked off a rivet, despite my comment on Little Muddle :-)

 

Gathering my tools together - the first thing was to tidy up the work bench. Everything was cleaned away, with a pot reserved for all the screws / odd bits that will need to be taken off.

 

The work-bench tools: No 11 scalpel blade (new, just for this task); small needle file; brush (Its a large nylon brush from the £1 shop, being used here, to wipe away the shavings); desk mounted magnifier with light. For this sort of work I look through this all the time. The only thing I added later is some very fine wet and dry paper.

 

 

The different stages of the work:

 

 

 

Dust and bits get everywhere, hence the need for the brush, to wipe everything away.

 

The "Oh I wasnt expecting that moment" - To find the Top feed is hollow. I need to find the filler and work it into the hole. The problem is in that area is possibly the most awkward to sand down - not that any area is easy - hopefully I haven't knocked anything off!

 

 

The final two shots, shew the (almost) complete work. It needs a bit more sanding yet before I will be happy with it.

 

 

 

 

[Neal Ball]

Since taking the 'photos, I have tried to straighten the handrail with a pair of pliers - didn't quite work the way I wanted to. 

 

It went off at an odd angle! I'm sure it will be fine once I get back to it tomorrow.

[KNP]

Oh yes, seeing this excellent work is making me feel I need to get on with mine, but I've got the Hall to finish first....!

Can't end up with to many things underway at the same time

 

Can we?

Edited October 27, 2019 by KNP

[Neal Ball]

Loads of unfinished projects Kevin  

 

Hopefully I can finish this one though - not going to start the next Pannier before finishing this one!

 

I'm about to order new numberplate from Fox.

 

The 'photo below is a general photo of the layout whilst I was working on the Pannier:

 

 

Pannier Papers open at the relevant page for reference.

 

[chuffinghell]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

Loads of unfinished projects Kevin  

 

Hopefully I can finish this one though - not going to start the next Pannier before finishing this one!

 

I'm about to order new numberplate from Fox.

 

The 'photo below is a general photo of the layout whilst I was working on the Pannier:

 

 

Pannier Papers open at the relevant page for reference.

 

superb! I like the attention to detail in your allotment

 

My only criticism is the water cranes look a bit too close together  

 

Chris

 

[Neal Ball]

Didn’t realise they were there!

 

They are in the painting queue! Not meant to be in the field. They will be removed 

[chuffinghell]

Nothing wrong with having a flock of cranes on a layout 

[Neal Ball]

17 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

superb! I like the attention to detail in your allotment

 

.....

 

Chris

 

The allotments need a bit more work to fill up some of the beds, but it’s very fiddly to say the least.

 

Its a Busch kit (allotments and separate kit for Tomato) that I’m using, which is very good for what I need.

 

 

All housed in last years Celebrations sweet box for safe storage!

 

Edited October 28, 2019 by Neal Ball
photos added

[Neal Ball]

Pannier project update: 

 

This loco will be 8771 which was an OOC allocated loco from Jan 1934 until May 1936 when the allocation changed to RDG -  I'm not sure how I will do the RDG on the footsteps! Interestingly, none of the Bachmann Panniers have the shed codes printed on the steps!

 

This mornings photo:

 

 

Yesterday, I struggled the get the handrails off. Today a little bit more effort and they are now on the side!

 

I'm waiting for the filler to dry before sanding down that area. Everything else is now ready to paint. 

[chuffinghell]

3 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

Pannier project update: 

 

This loco will be 8771 which was an OOC allocated loco from Jan 1934 until May 1936 when the allocation changed to RDG -  I'm not sure how I will do the RDG on the footsteps! Interestingly, none of the Bachmann Panniers have the shed codes printed on the steps!

 

This mornings photo:

 

 

Yesterday, I struggled the get the handrails off. Today a little bit more effort and they are now on the side!

 

I'm waiting for the filler to dry before sanding down that area. Everything else is now ready to paint. 

 

Did you manage to get the handrails off without damaging them?..............I've tried before and failed

[Neal Ball]

15 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

Nothing wrong with having a flock of cranes on a layout 

 

They have now been painted and are no longer resident with the sheep 

 

The bases and water bags have been painted with Vallejo Black / Grey. At the same time, I have painted the roof of a Toad brake van... this is the first of my roofs that have been treated with Vallejo - all of the carriages are destined to have a coat of one degree or another. (way in the  future!)

 

It looks a bit too dark for me, but that can easily be adjusted with another thin coat. I need to get some weathering powders for the hand rails and planks in general. At the same time, I will change not from Rogerstone to Reading.

 

[Neal Ball]

3 minutes ago, chuffinghell said:

 

Did you manage to get the handrails off without damaging them?..............I've tried before and failed

 

They were only glued at one point on each side, so made it easy to do!

[Neal Ball]

Pannier upgrade - Day 2:

 

At the end of the second day, the loco has been painted with some rail match Brunswick Green and is currently dust free (hopefully) to dry off.

 

I have also been looking at the chassis, which doesn't run as smoothly as I would like. I have changed the decoder for one with a plug and socket; added a stay alive; adjusted the pick-ups and now hard-wired it to a brake van. The chassis now runs better - I'm not convinced that the stay alive is doing anything. I've wired it into the socket, I wonder of it would be better wired straight into the pick-up connectors.

 

More progress tomorrow and the finished body.