Inspired by Brent June 1947

[The Fatadder]

A little more work this morning before heading to Didcot has the loading area platform walls installed ready for a coat of paint (maybe when I get home)

 

Then just need to add the surface, a mid of loose stone, grass and weeds from the looks of it.

It will be a plasticard base with detail applied.

 

I've also thought more about the platforms, I don't think the approach will work for the curved down platform. So I'm thinking about using either the peco or wills products, clad in slaters stone.

[The Fatadder]

So having returned from Didcot, the first job was to crack on with the brickwork on the loading area.

 

Working from photos, the brick used at Brent seemed to have quite an orange tint to it (working from 1960s colour photos), which has considerably darkened today.

My plan for modelling this is to start with Slaters embossed plasticard (moulded in orange brick), as previously mentioned this was previously glued to the wooden sub platform. The usual squadron white filler was used to blend in the corners (with bricks scribed into the ends of the plastic sheet).

 

The next step is to pick out bricks in 3 colours, here I have used LNER wheels crimson, LMS wagon bauxite and humbrol brick red. Usually I would also use a couple more shades, (LNER bauxite, NSE red and Railfreight Red), but I decided here given that very little of the platform is visible (and it will get some pretty heavy weathering) this was enough to give the desired effect. For the water tower, goods shed and up station building I think I will be colouring 4 or 5 times more bricks, although my intention is to give the coloured pencil method a try to speed things up.)

 

Once the bricks were dry, the next job was to paint the filler on the corners. As the red didn't match any shade I have available I decided to paint it with the brick red then apply a thin wash of Humbrol brick red to the whole area. This blended the rest of the brick into the repainted corners, but also served to tone down the bright shades of the highlighted bricks.

 

 

Tonight it will be the final steps:

The mortar: a dirty shade will be used (I think it is Phoenix weathered concrete), painted over the wall in about 3 inch sections then wiped off.

Once this is dry the process will be repeated with a very thin coat of dirty black (acrylic), again this is intended to blend it all it (along with giving an impression of age / the war years of neglect)

 

As an aside, why does the image uploader keep rotating photos to the wrong orientation when uploading from an iphone.

Edited August 3, 2017 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

The final job on the platform sides was to add a wash of dirty black paint,

 

With this dry it was time to get on with the platform top, I started by adding the edging from Slaters embossed sheet. This needs to be doubled up seeing as I have used 40thou for the platform too and the embossed sheet is 20thou, the edging could (should) have been added from 20thou with the embossed put on top...

 

The rest of the deck was cut from a large sheet of 40'thou, (circa 2007!)

 

So now to work on a platform surface, I'm thinking paint the end paving and then cover the top with very fine grey ballast finished off with the overgrown grass areas.

[The Fatadder]

Not a lot of time for modelling this evening, so rather than crack on with the loading dock I have tried to finish another project. 6027 has sat in parts for some time while I tried to work out why it wouldn't work, (the usual Hornby king poor quality control....). Previously I tracked it down to a broken wire between the plug and motor, however it still wouldn't work.

 

After removing the wire from the motor the issue was traced to a second break in the same wire (this time at the plug end). Rather than try and fix the poor quality connection, I removed that wire and hard wires one motor terminal straight to to 8 pin socket. After further checks to ensure all was correctly wired, a Lenz gold was fitted and the loco tested. It now runs perfectly, so is ready to re enter the works to be fitted with buffer beam numbers, the replacement of the great crest western with g crest w on one side and the removal of any remaining wiring.

 

This leaves one dcc fitted loco which is not in full service, a 3800 class from Hornby. Not sure what is wrong here as it works fine ru. I got on 2 rollers on the rolling road yet won't work (with 5 more pick up axles) when put on the track.

 

That will probably fall back down the queue however as tomorrow the plan is to finish off the platform edging and make a start on painting the top of the loading dock.

Edited August 3, 2017 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Another evening not being very productive

 

The 3800 is now driving me mad, it works some of the time on the rollers, yet refuses to move on the track. As far as I can tell it is getting power, lifting the body slightly shows signs of life. A full strip down beckons.....

 

Instead tonight i moved back to the loading dock, the second layer of edge stones has now been fitted, along with the fence posts. The 3 boxes show the rough outlines of 3 buildings (a small hut, the water tower and a large tin shed which from a 1949 drawing I believe to be the coal office. These of course all need to be built....

 

I am a little unclear as to the colour of the edge stones, I know for passenger platforms they were all painted white during the war, but was the same applied to freight? For now they are painted weathered stone.

 

Hopefully will be able to make a start on the top tomorrow, or possibly the sub structure for the bridge (if I can remember where the wills sheet was put away...)

So this is what I am aiming for

The current state

[The Stationmaster]

Another evening not being very productive

 

The 3800 is now driving me mad, it works some of the time on the rollers, yet refuses to move on the track. As far as I can tell it is getting power, lifting the body slightly shows signs of life. A full strip down beckons.....

 

Instead tonight i moved back to the loading dock, the second layer of edge stones has now been fitted, along with the fence posts. The 3 boxes show the rough outlines of 3 buildings (a small hut, the water tower and a large tin shed which from a 1949 drawing I believe to be the coal office. These of course all need to be built....

 

I am a little unclear as to the colour of the edge stones, I know for passenger platforms they were all painted white during the war, but was the same applied to freight? For now they are painted weathered stone.

 

 

 

Definitely not painted white by the 1960s and I never saw any bearing any trace of old whitewash (although would it have survived that long anyway?).

[The Fatadder]

Thanks Mike, I think I will stick with the stone.

 

Today I have been driver training

 

Unfortunately the layout wasn't really playing ball, and a 3 year olds attention span is not really conducive to in service repairs...

 

I certainly have a couple of areas of focus for this evening, with derailments in the yard (double slips) with 4526 and a Hornby King which was wheel slipping like crazy with load 7

Edited August 4, 2017 by The Fatadder

[banburysaint]

How does the little bod cope with the dcc controller? My daughter is the same age and is quite happy with an analogue controller but is foxed by the digitrax controller as she can't easily recall the sequence of buttons to press. I wonder if a touch screen would be more friendly as she is happy using a tablet device to play education games.

[The Fatadder]

This evening has been a mixed bag, 

First up was an atempt at sorting out the King.  After a visual check of the loco on the rolling road it was clear that the tender was lifting up the rear driving wheel.  A few twists of the screwdriver on the loco - tender connecting pin to introduce a little slack into the system and the loco was back to hauling 8 coaches without any slipping.   It did highlight a second issue, while testing the King with an up express (5 colletts, a hawksworth and a couple of Bachmann sunshine thirds), it kept derailing on one point.  Closer inspection showed that there was a small lump of solder on the track, once removed running was perfect.

 

Which couldn't be said about the 3800...

 

 

How does the little bod cope with the dcc controller? My daughter is the same age and is quite happy with an analogue controller but is foxed by the digitrax controller as she can't easily recall the sequence of buttons to press. I wonder if a touch screen would be more friendly as she is happy using a tablet device to play education games.

 

So long as I enter the loco number, she is quite happy using the power cab to speed up and slow down (preferring the buttons for increasing and decreasing speed over the analogue thumb wheel).  She hasn't had to try changing direction yet, so cant comment on that front.

[banburysaint]

This evening has been a mixed bag,

First up was an atempt at sorting out the King. After a visual check of the loco on the rolling road it was clear that the tender was lifting up the rear driving wheel. A few twists of the screwdriver on the loco - tender connecting pin to introduce a little slack into the system and the loco was back to hauling 8 coaches without any slipping. It did highlight a second issue, while testing the King with an up express (5 colletts, a hawksworth and a couple of Bachmann sunshine thirds), it kept derailing on one point. Closer inspection showed that there was a small lump of solder on the track, once removed running was perfect.

 

Which couldn't be said about the 3800...

 

 

 

So long as I enter the loco number, she is quite happy using the power cab to speed up and slow down (preferring the buttons for increasing and decreasing speed over the analogue thumb wheel). She hasn't had to try changing direction yet, so cant comment on that front.

Cheers. Clearly your layout is not signalled for bi di working

 

This evening has been a mixed bag,

First up was an atempt at sorting out the King. After a visual check of the loco on the rolling road it was clear that the tender was lifting up the rear driving wheel. A few twists of the screwdriver on the loco - tender connecting pin to introduce a little slack into the system and the loco was back to hauling 8 coaches without any slipping. It did highlight a second issue, while testing the King with an up express (5 colletts, a hawksworth and a couple of Bachmann sunshine thirds), it kept derailing on one point. Closer inspection showed that there was a small lump of solder on the track, once removed running was perfect.

 

Which couldn't be said about the 3800...

 

 

 

So long as I enter the loco number, she is quite happy using the power cab to speed up and slow down (preferring the buttons for increasing and decreasing speed over the analogue thumb wheel). She hasn't had to try changing direction yet, so cant comment on that front.

Cheers. Clearly your layout is not signalled for bi di working

 

This evening has been a mixed bag,

First up was an atempt at sorting out the King. After a visual check of the loco on the rolling road it was clear that the tender was lifting up the rear driving wheel. A few twists of the screwdriver on the loco - tender connecting pin to introduce a little slack into the system and the loco was back to hauling 8 coaches without any slipping. It did highlight a second issue, while testing the King with an up express (5 colletts, a hawksworth and a couple of Bachmann sunshine thirds), it kept derailing on one point. Closer inspection showed that there was a small lump of solder on the track, once removed running was perfect.

 

Which couldn't be said about the 3800...

 

 

 

So long as I enter the loco number, she is quite happy using the power cab to speed up and slow down (preferring the buttons for increasing and decreasing speed over the analogue thumb wheel). She hasn't had to try changing direction yet, so cant comment on that front.

Cheers. Clearly your layout is not signalled for bi di working

 

Mind due reverse for a full rake over the junction is a good test of track work I have found.

 

Great layout keep up the good work

[The Fatadder]

More a case that the Kingsbridfe branch fiddleyard hasn't been laid, and the double slips at either side of the station still need significant amounts of fettling to get the dammed things working. Net result is the branch not being particularly conducive to a 3 year olds driving style...

 

On a similar line there are no switch blades on any of down fiddleyard points, so the only driving she can do at the moment is around the up mainline

 

(And yes I agree about the reversing a full rake being fantastic testing), one of my top tests st the moment is running a full rake in reverse through the crossover between up and down main, and 5 coaches from Kingsbridge through the slip). Have yet to try the worst case, propelling through a point into single slip into double slip. If I can get that to work all is well!

Edited August 5, 2017 by The Fatadder

[Guest 7007GreatWestern]

Another evening not being very productive

 

The 3800 is now driving me mad, it works some of the time on the rollers, yet refuses to move on the track. As far as I can tell it is getting power, lifting the body slightly shows signs of life. A full strip down beckons.....

 

 

 Dear Mr. Fatadder,

 

Are you still having problems with you Hornby 2800/2884? I have had significant electrical problems with two of these locos (I own six) and have had to completely strip them down and re-wire. On another one I had to replace the driven wheel set as the gear teeth had become damaged.

 

You don't specify the nature of the problem. Is the loco shorting (i.e. is your Powercab periodically re-booting) or going intermittently open circuit? Or is the problem mechanical? Have you tried dropping the coupling and connecting rods and running it 'driven axle only' on your rolling road?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Andy (aka 7007 GreatWestern)

[The Fatadder]

 Dear Mr. Fatadder,

 

Are you still having problems with you Hornby 2800/2884? I have had significant electrical problems with two of these locos (I own six) and have had to completely strip them down and re-wire. On another one I had to replace the driven wheel set as the gear teeth had become damaged.

 

You don't specify the nature of the problem. Is the loco shorting (i.e. is your Powercab periodically re-booting) or going intermittently open circuit? Or is the problem mechanical? Have you tried dropping the coupling and connecting rods and running it 'driven axle only' on your rolling road?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Andy (aka 7007 GreatWestern)

I am fairly sure it is a mechanical issue, 

when on the rolling road it runs perfectly, I have given the whole loco a thorough check with the multi meter to try and identify the usual Hornby poor wiring (but everything is confirmed as ok)  Likewise there is no sign of any shorts impacting the powercab. 

 

Last night I gave it a long running in session on the rollers without the body on (half an hour on high speed, half an hour on mid speed and half an hour on low speed), and it was running beautifully.  

 

Lifting off and placing on the same section of track it jerks forward and then refuses to move.

 

I think the issue is either down to the mechanism (perhaps a lack of lubrication or damage to the gears), alternatively the loco is ridiculously sensitive to track cleanliness.   The next step will be some track cleaning before retesting, and then its time to strip down the motor / gearbox.

[Guest 7007GreatWestern]

I am fairly sure it is a mechanical issue, 

when on the rolling road it runs perfectly, I have given the whole loco a thorough check with the multi meter to try and identify the usual Hornby poor wiring (but everything is confirmed as ok)  Likewise there is no sign of any shorts impacting the powercab. 

 

Last night I gave it a long running in session on the rollers without the body on (half an hour on high speed, half an hour on mid speed and half an hour on low speed), and it was running beautifully.  

 

Lifting off and placing on the same section of track it jerks forward and then refuses to move.

 

I think the issue is either down to the mechanism (perhaps a lack of lubrication or damage to the gears), alternatively the loco is ridiculously sensitive to track cleanliness.   The next step will be some track cleaning before retesting, and then its time to strip down the motor / gearbox.

 

Hmmmm......

 

Here's some thoughts intended to be helpful ;-)

 

I'll be surprised if the problem is track cleanliness given that the loco picks up off seven axles. You may want to lie the loco on its back and apply the dcc feed to the coupled wheels and the tender wheels from the Powercab directly to test wether the solder joints between the pickup wires and the phosphor bronze pickup strips on either have failed. It could be you're getting pickup from ONLY the loco or ONLY the tender and feeding from the track or rolling road is masking that.  Also I think it's unlikely your gears are the problem as it would run like a dog on the rolling road as well.

 

I have had a similar strange problems with this model. A 28xx would happily run in both directions on a rolling road but almost immediately short out the Powercab when run in reverse on track. It would however run happily forward on track. In that case the problem turned out to be the motor feed wires in the locomotive (not tender). The feed wires enter the loco chassis via a small gap at the rear of the chassis underkeep. Almost immediately they then run upwards through a channel linking the underside and topside of the chassis in order to reach the motor brushes. Very helpfully Hornby designed the lower opening of the channel to have a sharp edge around it, so if the underkeep presses the feed wires against the sharp edge, it cuts through the insulation and exposes the conductor to the chassis causing it to short! As well a replacing the compromised wires I filed down the sharp edge to prevent it cutting the insulation in future.

 

This is a particularly difficult loco to work on. There is very little clearance between the inner faces of the firebox and the motor. Often when you try to remove the body the suppression capacitor and/or the motor feed wires want to come with it! The wire Hornby chose to use is exceptionally fine and brittle and easily damaged. You have my sympathies. Keep us updated!

 

PS I you want some photos of the work I did on mine I will happily PM them to you.

 

Andy.

[The Fatadder]

Thanks, I have already rewired one 2800 (complete failure of three wires in the loco to the plug) and starting to think the same is going to be required here.  I also have a partially converted P4 example which could temporarily donate some parts if it is an issue with the gearing.  I know what you mean re the pain reassembling, the King I dismantled the other day was a nightmare to get the motor wires back into their channel without the motor housing pressing down on them (which was the cause of one of the original failed wires in the first place!

 

I will completely strip down the motor this evening / tomorrow and see if that resolves it.  There is some squealing under power, which does suggest to me a lubrication issue.  Rather embarrassingly I don't think I actually have any grease to re lubricate it with... 

[The Fatadder]

Having tried and failed to get to grips with the free cad programme I had installed on the new laptop (QCad), I think I will look again to see if I can get my old 2006 copy of autocad working on windows 8 instead as I haven't he time or inclination to relearn from scratch.

Net result is that the planned drawing up of the water tower and coal office didn't happen, nor the work on the bridge.

Instead I worked on some different projects out in the garage,

 

At the moment all of the main tasks facing me are major jobs, either with the fiddle yard points, the track testing required before I can even think about paint or ballast, or major structural jobs like the embankments and bridges.  All of which really could do with more than an hour's modelling session, instead I decided to crack on with some much needed loco finishing.

 

 

At present the works contains:

Saint - which is in need of a chassis build, along with a chimney.  Currently behind the County in the chassis build queue and more likely than not to be a winter project.

County - needs wheels, either finding the missing set of Romfords or ordering a set of Gibsons.  Until I find them the build is on hold (and as per the above, lots of time soldering is more suited to winter.)

51xx - Requires new cylinders (as the guides for the slide bar are missing).  Based upon the extortionate price of Hornby spares for this part, my intention is to fabricate from brass bar.

2800 - needs tender wheels (if anyone has a set of OO Hornby GWR 3500gl Churchward tender wheels going spare from a rewheeling please let me know....

Nunney Castle - Tender still has Great crest Western branding on one side which needs removing, along with the tender lower lining

Berkeley Castle - really needs a set of Star frames, though I suspect that may be a long time coming.  The footplate lining needs removing on the loco.

 

And then onto the two locos I picked to work on

First up was King Richard I - as per Nunney Castle this was only half finished when I last worked on the tender (and the frames lining had not been removed).   I started by removing the tender logo with Phoenix enamel thinners, once dry a HMRS G crest W logo was applied before giving the whole tender a quick coat of Halfords satin varnish to blend it all in (and get rid of the gloss area caused by the removal of the old logo.)

The loco lining was a lot more difficult to shift, and a repaint of the black areas is going to be necessary to finish the loco off.  

 

Unsurprisingly given the previous posts the other loco to be worked on was the 3800, before dismantling I decided to give it one final chance to start working.  Amazingly 24 hours sat on the layout with the body off following last nights running has cured the problem.   With the body reunited with the chassis it was tested further, it still is not 100% reliable (and every so often needs a little prod to get it moving) but is very smooth once it is moving.  The final job was to sort out the tender, which was carrying the awful shirt button logo.  A quick application of some thinners to shift the original, followed by another HMRS G W R and the end result is much more fitting for 1947.   

 

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2017 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

All things permitting hopefully progress on the layout will soon start to pick up again now that the locomotive to do pile is reducing...

 

This morning while looking for some parts in order to get 2846 running, in other words a set of tender wheels.  While I was looking for the right wheels on Peter's Spares website, I also came across a few other parts of interest.  Namely a 3500gl tender chassis (for the princely sum of £2.40), keeper plate (3 times the price of the chassis!) and buffers.  This along with the unpainted Churchward 3500gl tender top which was originally with 2846 means I now have a complete 3500gl tender.  This could now be used to give a tender for my P4 38xx which originally donated its tender to 2846, but alternatively allows me to replace the cast metal lump which is intended to work with my Saint.   (It will almost certainly be the latter...)

 

So how does this mean the layout progress will also pick up?

 

Peter's Spares also stock the South East Finecast range of embossed plastic sheet....

So on top of my order of Hornby Spares I have also been able to order a sheet of random stone (needed to finish the Avon bridge / retaining walls), a sheet of dressed stone (more as a trial to see how it compares with the Slaters offering.  It will be used initially for the bridge at the Plymouth end which is the next structure on the to do list, but if suitable I will also use for the platform facing.)  Finally a sheet of English bond brick, for which there are lots of buildings to be getting on with.  But given the current area of construction the water tower or the up station building would both be good choices.

 

To go with this I also ended up with a handful of sheets of 10thou and 40thou plasticard, the former intended to finally fire up the silhouette to cut the laminations required for the main beams on the road bridge.  The latter as a core for some of those buildings which need working on.

 

So lots to be getting on with once the order arrives. In the mean time, the plan for the weekend (other than going to RailWells) is that I want to get a minimum of 3 pairs of switch rails filed and installed in order to start getting the down  fiddle yard operational.  A down fiddleyard control panel is also becoming a real priority! 

[The Fatadder]

Here goes attempt number three at posting this, BT internet just doesnt seem to want to work this evening.

The order of spares hasnt arrived in time, so my planned work has been delayed until early next week. Instead the first order of work was to fix a long standing issue with the up main as it passes over the lifting section. The problem is that expansion and contraction of the timber sub structure is particularly apperent at this point (given the free moving nature at the lifting end). The original design used a plywood spacer to hold the flap in the correct position, my revised design replaced this spacer with a 10mm screw head. The idea is that this will give a degree of adjustment, ensuring that it is always in the correct positon. There is sill a little slop on the far side (about 8 inches past the track), I still need to rectify this but I think the soloution is a short length of 2 by 1 with another adjustment screw attached to the far end of the baseboard.

A little testing then followed, with no derailments on either the Up of Down mainlines, so I think this issue is now fully resolved.


Moving on, the other priority job is to get on with finishing the down fiddle yard. There are two reasons for this, the first is that I need to be able to test the down main fully (and right now that is not viable due to no fiddleyard.) The other reason is that I need to determine how much rail / sleepers I have remaining. There are 4 points needed for the Kingsbridge fiddleyard. Plan A was that I would just use Peco large radius points to save time, however to save money I am now debating building myself. But, this will likely only be the case if I have enough raw materials to build it without needing to purchase additional track.

 

I managed to get one pair of blades filed and soldered into position, along with some unpowered testing.  After accidently filing two of the same sides blade, the next points blades have a good head start for tomorrow's work...

Edited August 12, 2017 by The Fatadder

[St Enodoc]

After accidently filing two of the same sides blade, the next points blades have a good head start for tomorrow's work...

Been there, done that.

[The Fatadder]

While I have had very limited outside modelling time this evening, due to it being the wife's evening out. I have so far managed to get another set of switch blades installed before she went out (although I did run out of time to fit the tie bar.) While I have well and truly missed my original target of finishing the down fiddleyard over the weekend, my aim now is to have it complete (and running) by the end of August.

 

At present that leaves 3 and a half pairs of switch blades to fabricate and 4 pairs to install ​(I found another blade that I had previously made by mistake...) ​

 

This will be followed by the installation of 6 more Tortoise motors and finally the building and wiring of the fiddleyard control panel. The latter is still somewhat up in the air as to what I will do (and more importantly where I will locate it).

I have 4 potential options:

1. A large central panel located in the middle of the fiddleyard opposite the scenic control panel

2. Have the fiddle yard control panel next to the scenic panel (so facing the scenic section)

3. Two small panels on top of the baseboard at either end of the fiddleyard, one controlling the Exeter end, the other the Plymouth end.

4. One panel fitted into the top of the baseboard in the centre of the fiddleyard controlling both ends.

 

Definitely need to make a decision soon, as the Up fiddleyard has been wired ready to go for some time but I am still manually changing points...

 

Before coming inside I paused to take this photo of the heavy freight fleet which is the first to be complete. ​ (Although while the loco fleet is complete I still rather fancy a ROD, an oil burning 28xx would also be a nice addition, and one day I would love to build a Finney Aberdare)

 

 

The rest of the evening was spent working on loco stock, the first job was an attempt to sort out 5108. I fabricated new slide bars, but the linkage etch I had found was too small and fouls the cross head. It now needs to be unsoldered before I have another go (not to mention needing to find a more suitable bracket.) So I moved onto a completely useless project. Back in the mid 2000s I bought the then new Hornby A3 in the NRM edition LNER green post 1998, I then started to make an effort to convert it to P4 without really knowing what I was doing. Fortunately I am a bit of a parts hoarder, and upon stumbling over the original wheels a few weeks ago I have dug out all of the parts to convert it back to OO. Absolutely no use on Brent, but I am in two minds as to whether or not I adapt the model into 1947 condition (if this is even possible), More likely than not it will stay as it is. It is now something of a jigsaw, trying to work out what goes where. I have all ready been thrown by the fact it has 3 wheels with long crank pins and 3 with short...

I also seem to be missing two tender wheels and one from the bogie, along with the lead con rod from the right hand side. The wheels are likely in the same stock box (in Devon) which contained the other axles, but the con rod could be anywhere.....

Edited August 14, 2017 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Having now found the missing con rod and bogie wheel, 4472 now has a complete chassis other than the pickups which fell off and didn't want to be refitted.

 

I don't like the half live chassis so debating redoing the pickups with wire

[Siberian Snooper]

Laira had a ROD allocation, whether they still had them in '47 I can't remember off the top of my head.

[The Fatadder]

My plan last night had been to take a break from the fiddleyard and to finish off the up platform. The only problem is that I am still not sure what plastic I will face the platforms with, as the SE Finecast stuff I purchased last week seems to have a fair few errors where it hasn’t moulded properly. I am now thinking the SEF sheet will be used for the retaining walls for the bridge at the Plymouth end (which is mostly obscured by buildings), and I will stick with my original plan to use the Slaters product on the platforms. Of course this means I cant make any more progress on the platform as it needs to have the plasticard edging glued on and painted before I screw down the softwood strip onto the baseboard.

 

The Down platform remains more problematic, the loading bay and the up platform are built from softwood strip (the height matches the Wills product, while the thickness is circa 12mm if I remember rightly). This is brilliant for making straight lines, but awful for anything with more than a gentle curve. I now need to find an alternative for the Down platform as the Kingsbridge platform is curved for pretty much its entire length.

 

Instead attention has turned to buildings, a critical job at the moment is to design the station buildings ready to start construction. My intention is a wood core, covered in SE Finecast English Bond bricks, with windows cut on the Silhouette cutter from a couple of sheets of 10thou plasticard. The tricky bit is to get all of the interfaces between buildings correctly modelled, the footbridge needs to fit under the platform canopy on both platforms. Likewise the alignment between the end of the footbridge steps needs to align with the station building / down waiting room.

 

In the long term I have been watching Mark Humphries’ etched GWR footbridge kit with a lot of interest, given how incredibly detailed it is. However even if it became available tomorrow I would still want to get a couple more loco builds under my belt before starting something so complex. So in the short term I have been adapting the old Hornby kit to represent the later design of foot bridge.

 

I started with a small test build, I wasn’t happy with the huge over hangs on the roof and wanted to see if it was possible to move the valance out towards the edge. The aim being to get both a more prototypical gap between valance and roof edge, but also to get the missing gap that should be between the valance and the structure. After proving that it worked as desired, work could start on the main build. The intention is to build two sub-assemblies; the roof and the core structure, they will be joined after painting (in order to get access to the inside and to fit the windows on the Plymouth side).

 

The first step was the outer sides for the steps, I started by removing the complete valance from each moulding. The remains of the original uprights were carefully removed from the back of the valance to aid reassembly later.

 

 

The next job was to prep the side, Initially I decided to completely chop out the whole existing detail and replace with Evergreen planked sheet. After completing the first side I realised the same effect could be had just fitting the evergreen sheet on top of the existing detail, saving a lot of effort.

A piece of 20thou sheet was also cut to size to thicken up the replacement part to match up with the thickness of the original. The replacement insert was then glued into place in the whole in the side.

 

 

The final major side job was to add the panelling for the end, this was again made from a sheet of the Evergreen planking along with a reinforcing section of 40thou plasticard for the upper half (matching the thickness of the Hornby moulding) With this glued into position the assembly was put to one side while the process was repeated on the other 3 sides. They now just need the final raised detail adding to complete.

 

 

Moving on to the main span, the first job was the removal of the valancing. I then used the silhouette to cut a number of infill pieces to plate over the inset ironwork, it worked well on the 14mm by 13mm rectangular sections, but the triangular plates were less effective. Instead I took the decision to replace the whole span with plasticard, this was cut out using the Hornby moulding as a guide. Detail was then added from various grades of Evergreen strip (it still needs some more 10thou details adding around the inside of all the ribs). Again the boxed in area at the top of the steps was added from the same Evergreen planked sheet. The process now needs to be repeated to build the Exeter side of the span, at which point the actual construction can start.

[81C]

Laira had a ROD allocation, whether they still had them in '47 I can't remember off the top of my head.

The Rowledge shed allocations book doesn't list any that time or any other south west sheds it might have something to do with not having vacuum brakes and steep inclines. 

[Stephen Freeman]

For the platforms, if you are making the core from softwood, why not fit some bolts though it and the baseboard, so that you work on it off site and then fit and secure with wing-nuts, you can always remove for maintenance etc.