Rebuilding a Railway

[drmditch]

Somehow, we have got to the dark days of November, but there are only six weeks or so before the days start getting longer again!

My lack of energy this year has not been just owing to laziness but has now been identified as something quite nasty. 

The treatment is quite nasty as well.

 

However, at least I know what it is, and I can stop blaming myself.

There has been a little progress on the 2-2-4T which MarkC mentioned above, but not enough to talk about yet!

 

Back in April, I did some work on the top-level Coaling Stage, which for some reason I didn't post on here.

 

This building is based on drawings in 'North Eastern Record' Volume 1, which are in turn based on the coaling stage at Heaton.
Mine is adapted so that it has only one 'shoot' (that is what the NER called them).
Actually, in my research there was only one single-shoot stage, and that was at Haverton Hill.

The basic structure of this building was made before the 'great move', and it was originally positioned in a more confined space. Had I started from scratch it might have had two shoots! It is also highly compromised in regard to track height/shoot height/and wagon and tender heights. It does not really work with LNER standard tenders, and large engines with eight-wheel tenders will just have to have plenty of coal when they arrive! Like most of my recent projects, there seems to be quite an amount of complexity with this building.
It would have been easier if I had provided more protection to the coal men, and 'boxed it in' with corrugated sheeting. However, I think it looks more interesting with the interior detail on view, and my excuse is that there will not be much wind on this particular point on my railway.

The shoot mechanism with counterweights demanded pulley sheeves. I could not find any to buy, so the pulley wheels are made up from plastic, and the sheeves are soldered up from brass.

 

 

Two sizes of chain are indicated on several pictures, and the weights had to be soldered up from brass tube with an infill of solder.

 

 

 

The handrails are soldered up from brass, except for the access steps which are plastic.
(Yes there is a length of handrail missing. This will need to be added when locating screws are permanently fastened down.)

 

 

The 'gallows' structure and the properly robust end-buffer stocks are made from my stock of rocket sticks and coffee stirrers.
The roof beams are plastic, but the roof itself is re-cycled cardboard, with laser-cut paper slates from Stoneybridge Structures.

.... link here....
 (I have no connection with this company, other than being a satisfied user.) These are not expensive,  and give a better result than my own printed and scalpel-cut slates that I have used previously.

Having coped with the shoot mechanism, I then had the complex gutter and downpipe shapes to manufacture. The gutter is filed down plastic rod, and the downpipes are copper wire from mains electrical wiring offcuts. These form quite a distinctive shape, so I feel it was worth the effort.

 

 

 

f the latest NERA publication on this subject ('North Eastern Railway Engine Sheds') been available when I made the basic structure, I would have allowed an end-shoot specifically for tank engines, but I was using the earlier NERA publication of LNER NE Area Locomotive Shed diagrams which are not quite as detailed.

In addition to the books mentioned above, NERA's 'Servicing the North Eastern Railway's Locomotives', Paul Bolger's volume of BR Steam Motive Power Depots - NER, and Ken Hoole's book on the same subject have useful pictures.

So - yet to make are some of the coaling barrows. Does anyone know how to obtain some 6 spoke wheels 2'10" in diameter?

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by drmditch

[drmditch]

I know I should work a bit faster, but I quite like buildings that I can see inside!

 

(Or at least a properly positioned camera can see inside!

 

The above pictures were all taken earlier in the year in the sunshine in my conservatory, which is good for my poor photographic abilities.

The whole building is now located in place, with the approach ramp completed. If there is sunshine tomorrow, I will try to take some pictures inside the Railway Room.

 

At last, I have managed to get back to working on the railway, even if it has only so far been on some Diagram 14 Covered Vans.

However, if I can work on the railway then I know I must be feeling a bit better!

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by drmditch

[drmditch]

Nearly a year on since my last post on here. Very slow progress on the railway. Chemotherapy and other procedures leave hands and eyes a bit wobbly.
I have been working on some more D14 unfitted vans in different guises. Drilling and fitting .5mm bolts can be a bit expensive with the aforesaid wobbly hands!

 

No. 63060.

Sometime the year before last, I picked up from a traders 'cheap box' a couple of LNER vans which have been lurking on a back siding ever since.
The grey painted unfitted but nicely lettered vehicle that is the subject of this post seemed, at first glance, to be quite useful! Closer examination however revealed some rather odd construction. I suspect that it was built from a Parkside kit (or possible another brand) for a ventilated van, and had been rather hacked about to produce what was meant to be a Dia14 covered van from the early series. Consequently, it took rather more work to rectify than I was expecting. The ends, in particular, were very 'bodged', and I have not managed to completely correct them. Crude holes had been cut to represent the internal end shutters. The 9' wheelbase was/is accurate, but the Morton clutch representation was not! The doors had a central horizontal plank. It did run nicely though.

After investigation and research (mostly in Tatlow Vol 4a), here is my nearly finished vehicle.

 

The cranked corner plates indicate a Darlington build, and in 1926 the end shutters were external. (This allowed me to cover up the ugly holes.)
The doors were modified to remove the central plank, and the handles were built from my favourite copper wire attacked with hammers, pliers, and small drill bits. (I'm still not well sometimes, so shaky hands broke two bits!) The nice lettering of course had to go!
I left the plastic buffer stocks but drilled them to take steel buffer heads. The roof was not removeable, so I added small blocks of lead in between the moulded ribs of the underframe.

I'm not sure of the provenance of the spoked wheel sets, but the axle length seems longer than any of my stock of three-hole wheels. I carefully chose a vehicle number that used second hand wheel sets. The completed van runs nicely down my gradients and through pointwork.

I have done a couple of these 'recoveries' now, and they take a lot longer than building a fresh kit. On the other hand, the first cost is less, and can  provide me with some motivation to move on to more significant projects.

 

No.43365

Also Darlington built but with internal shutters.
Revised from a Parkside kit I built several years ago.

 

 

The revised version runs a lot better then its previous  incarnation!

 

No. 150337

Charles Roberts built, and with the external shutters again. This has the 'Doncaster style' corner plates.
The model was based on a new 'Parkside by Peco' kit no. PC61 for a Dia.94 fitted vehicle, (although the cover picture shows a vehicle in grey!)
The mouldings were very clean and went together very well.

 

 

The solebars were replaced with modified items from my 'spares' box, so as to provide the 9' wheelbase.
The modifications to the corner brackets and headstocks were where shaking hands were a real nuisance.

 

 

 

All these models required the central support plank on the doors to be removed. The brake gear used up my reserve stock of plastic parts. 150337 used new brass etchings from 51L/Wizard models.

Th weathering will need re-working, and although I waited for a sunny day the (mobile phone) photographs didn't work out that well.

Also in my list of necessary re-work was a steel-ended van to Dia.171 No. 254837 (built Darlington 1942). I only spent a little time on this one, and the lettering is still a size to large. However, at least it runs better than it's 30 year old first construction!

Also years ago, I was planning to scratch build an ex-GER 10 ton van, based on the original 632802 at Pickering station.
Then Oxford produced their RTR version, which only needed a little modification to the brake gear and an easy change to the number to keep me happy!
I have seen criticism elsewhere as regards the position of the wooden end vents. However, the model matches the pictures I took of the original very well.
 

 

 

 

 

637802 is not yet weathered, and judging by the standards shown above that may be as well.

 

Many thanks to Mr Tatlow  for keeping me distracted and amused.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by drmditch

[Chas Levin]

On 13/10/2023 at 16:57, drmditch said:

Nearly a year on since my last post on here. Very slow progress on the railway. Chemotherapy and other procedures leave hands and eyes a bit wobbly.
I have been working on some more D14 unfitted vans in different guises. Drilling and fitting .5mm bolts can be a bit expensive with the aforesaid wobbly hands!

 

No. 63060.

Sometime the year before last, I picked up from a traders 'cheap box' a couple of LNER vans which have been lurking on a back siding ever since.
The grey painted unfitted but nicely lettered vehicle that is the subject of this post seemed, at first glance, to be quite useful! Closer examination however revealed some rather odd construction. I suspect that it was built from a Parkside kit (or possible another brand) for a ventilated van, and had been rather hacked about to produce what was meant to be a Dia14 covered van from the early series. Consequently, it took rather more work to rectify than I was expecting. The ends, in particular, were very 'bodged', and I have not managed to completely correct them. Crude holes had been cut to represent the internal end shutters. The 9' wheelbase was/is accurate, but the Morton clutch representation was not! The doors had a central horizontal plank. It did run nicely though.

After investigation and research (mostly in Tatlow Vol 4a), here is my nearly finished vehicle.

 

The cranked corner plates indicate a Darlington build, and in 1926 the end shutters were external. (This allowed me to cover up the ugly holes.)
The doors were modified to remove the central plank, and the handles were built from my favourite copper wire attacked with hammers, pliers, and small drill bits. (I'm still not well sometimes, so shaky hands broke two bits!) The nice lettering of course had to go!
I left the plastic buffer stocks but drilled them to take steel buffer heads. The roof was not removeable, so I added small blocks of lead in between the moulded ribs of the underframe.

I'm not sure of the provenance of the spoked wheel sets, but the axle length seems longer than any of my stock of three-hole wheels. I carefully chose a vehicle number that used second hand wheel sets. The completed van runs nicely down my gradients and through pointwork.

I have done a couple of these 'recoveries' now, and they take a lot longer than building a fresh kit. On the other hand, the first cost is less, and can  provide me with some motivation to move on to more significant projects.

 

No.43365

Also Darlington built but with internal shutters.
Revised from a Parkside kit I built several years ago.

 

 

The revised version runs a lot better then its previous  incarnation!

 

No. 150337

Charles Roberts built, and with the external shutters again. This has the 'Doncaster style' corner plates.
The model was based on a new 'Parkside by Peco' kit no. PC61 for a Dia.94 fitted vehicle, (although the cover picture shows a vehicle in grey!)
The mouldings were very clean and went together very well.

 

 

The solebars were replaced with modified items from my 'spares' box, so as to provide the 9' wheelbase.
The modifications to the corner brackets and headstocks were where shaking hands were a real nuisance.

 

 

 

All these models required the central support plank on the doors to be removed. The brake gear used up my reserve stock of plastic parts. 150337 used new brass etchings from 51L/Wizard models.

Th weathering will need re-working, and although I waited for a sunny day the (mobile phone) photographs didn't work out that well.

Also in my list of necessary re-work was a steel-ended van to Dia.171 No. 254837 (built Darlington 1942). I only spent a little time on this one, and the lettering is still a size to large. However, at least it runs better than it's 30 year old first construction!

Also years ago, I was planning to scratch build an ex-GER 10 ton van, based on the original 632802 at Pickering station.
Then Oxford produced their RTR version, which only needed a little modification to the brake gear and an easy change to the number to keep me happy!
I have seen criticism elsewhere as regards the position of the wooden end vents. However, the model matches the pictures I took of the original very well.
 

 

 

 

 

637802 is not yet weathered, and judging by the standards shown above that may be as well.

 

Many thanks to Mr Tatlow  for keeping me distracted and amused.

 

Very nice work on them all and your photos are nothing to apologise for: many of mine are far worse!

 

Sorry to hear that health issues interfere. I also have various age related deteriorations and try to ignore them too, though much more minor and I suspect I may have a few years on you, but time flies and I don't take a moment for granted. It's inspiring and reassuring to know that you're doing such excellent work with unsteady hands: thank you for posting 😀.