Stoke Courtenay

[57xx]

2 hours ago, gwrrob said:

 

To recap.

 

They are planning SIX types initially :

 

D56 Brake Third , both left and right versions.

 

C32 All Third

 

E98/103 Composite , both left and right versions.

 

And wait for it.....

 

K22 Full Brake.😇

 

 

That'll be one of each making my wallet groan then.

[BMacdermott]

13 hours ago, gwrrob said:

 

To recap.

 

They are planning SIX types initially :

 

D56 Brake Third , both left and right versions.

 

C32 All Third

 

E98/103 Composite , both left and right versions.

 

And wait for it.....

 

K22 Full Brake.😇

 

Optional later releases could include 

 

E95 Brake Composite

 

E88 Composite

 

These two would be panelled.

 

Hello Rob

 

Do you know if Dapol has made 'an official announcement' about production of the list?

 

I would very much like to 'claim them' on the Results of The 00 Wishlist Poll 2022 as they are all in The Top 50 (albeit that the coaches are listed 'generically' to save space).

 

Many thanks and I hope no-one thinks I am going slightly off topic.

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

[gwrrob]

1 hour ago, BMacdermott said:

 

Hello Rob

 

Do you know if Dapol has made 'an official announcement' about production of the list?

 

I would very much like to 'claim them' on the Results of The 00 Wishlist Poll 2022 as they are all in The Top 50 (albeit that the coaches are listed 'generically' to save space).

 

Many thanks and I hope no-one thinks I am going slightly off topic.

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

 

Morning Brian

 

These were the diagrams mooted by Richard Webster @coeurdelyon to me by pm after our chat at Warley 2022. I don't think they've been officially announced as the non-corridor versions haven't hit the shops yet. Neil at Dapol told me they were in the drawing/planning stage at the moment when I last saw him. I wouldn't 'claim' them for the results until they totally confirm them but I'm hopeful.

[checkrail]

13 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Where did you get the lost wax brass(?) underframe details?

 

The brass truss rods you can see are merely two Markits extra-long handrail knobs and a bit of handrail wire! The tanks and vac cylinder are cut from an old wrecked Hornby corridor clerestory underframe, as are the truss rods on the other side (below), only one set having survived removal.  The other side also has a brass V hanger and linkage from the spares box. (I think there should be a vac brake set-up on one side only on this coach, but i may be mis-reading the evidence.)

 

John.

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, checkrail said:

 

The brass truss rods you can see are merely two Markits extra-long handrail knobs and a bit of handrail wire! The tanks and vac cylinder are cut from an old wrecked Hornby corridor clerestory underframe, as are the truss rods on the other side (below), only one set having survived removal.  The other side also has a brass V hanger and linkage from the spares box. (I think there should be a vac brake set-up on one side only on this coach, but i may be mis-reading the evidence.)

 

John.

Thanks for that John…. My understanding about the V hangers is that they sit either side of a Dean style vacuum cylinder (based on the product I bought from Dart castings). https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/3909.php 

[checkrail]

30 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

My understanding about the V hangers is that they sit either side of a Dean style vacuum cylinder (based on the product I bought from Dart castings). https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/3909.php 

Good, because that's what I've done!  (Though not as detailed as the Dart Castings parts.). Thanks Neal

[MrWolf]

In clearing the Bench of Bodge to create an orderly queue of projects* I've unearthed my own attempt at a C10

 

It's yet to receive any underframe details ( Thanks must go to @Neal Ball for the link to the vacuum cylinder parts, I need half a dozen!) The roof isn't fixed yet as it needs glazing. The bogies are cut and shut Hornby clerestory ten foot items.

 

Hopefully your build might just restart mine in the not too distant future!

 

 

 

*Instead of a mountain of part assembled models...

[checkrail]

12 hours ago, MrWolf said:

In clearing the Bench of Bodge to create an orderly queue of projects* I've unearthed my own attempt at a C10

Looking good! Hope we get to see it again as work continues.

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, checkrail said:

Looking good! Hope we get to see it again as work continues.

 

Thanks, I've been sorting out my work bench into an orderly queue and I'll post it up on my thread once I get back to it.

[checkrail]

Brutal close-up from the weekend as work continues on the C10, with plenty of scars from removing the moulded end handrails and blanking out the roof clip retaining slot. The end steps on the Tri-ang clerestory were not just shallow but downright vestigial.  Some Microstrip has come to the rescue here but I think I need to correct the positioning of at least one step.  There's a wonky buffer too, and some holes to fill in.

 

Things are looking better now after a coat of Halford's grey primer.  I was pleasantly surprised how many of my sins it covered! The roof and end handrails are just plonked on temporarily for the photo as I still need to fit the compartment partitions, and of course to paint and glaze the vehicle, before the roof can go on.

 

 

I knew I had some suitable brass buffers in stock, and after a search I found all three of them! What to do? Well, I dug out that old wrecked Hornby corridor clerestory underframe again, sawed the buffer beam off, complete with plastic buffers, and glued to to the C10.  This will be the inner end when it's running in a train.

 

John C.

[MrWolf]

I was going to ask where you had sourced the buffers from! 

I've been lazy and kept the brass Triang jobs for now.

I did the same thing with the steps, paring off the step and just leaving the bracket on the panel. 

 

[A Murphy]

That looks very good John. The primer will show up the alignment (etc) and that looks spot on to me. 👍

[chris45lsw]

Brilliant, John.  Have you noticed you've lost a hinge from compartment five (presumably under the join).

 

Having seen your C10 I'm inspired to try and find the 50ft E40 Brake Compo I started more years ago than I care to remember, and actually finish it!

 

Chris KT

[checkrail]

11 hours ago, chris45lsw said:

Have you noticed you've lost a hinge from compartment five (presumably under the join).

Whoops!  Many thanks for pointing this out Chris. You're right - it's along the line of the saw cut.

 

Just had half an hour's fun trying to fit a new one. A tiny piece of brass wire stuck on with cyano seemed to do the trick, until it fell off. I'd already sprayed the coach brown and didn't want to risk spoiling the side by overdoing it with the superglue.  So I ended up with a sliver of thin Plastikard applied with a tiny touch of Revel Contacta plastic adhesive. It's proving a bit resistant to brown paint at the mo but once it's all set solid I'll have another go.

 

 

The aforesaid saw cut is just about the only doorline that can readily be seen - I must have been a little overenthusiastic with the Halford's primer and the Railmatch rattle can. But If I tried to score them in again I know I'd ruin it!  I'll let it be a sleeping dog.

 

John C.

[John Besley]

You're also got a settlement crack between the end and the coach side... float in some plastic putty with diluted with adhesive should cure it...

[checkrail]

1 hour ago, John Besley said:

You're also got a settlement crack between the end and the coach side...

Thanks John.  I assume you mean the one at the R hand end, upper body/side? There are also some other minor misalignments resulting from taking off and re-fitting the ends, but a coat of paint will have to cover those.

 

 

[checkrail]

A quiet time home alone last week while my wife was in Sweden visiting her daughter, so I had more time than usual in the loft, cracking on with the C10 clerestory conversion which is finally ready for service. Here are the 'official' photos.

 

The first shows the best side, which will face the viewer. In retrospect cutting off the coach ends and shortening the sides beyond the outermost windows was probably a step too far. Although it did btring the overall length down to just one foot over prototype it also gave this bodger the opportunity to get sides, ends and roof all a bit out of alignment when put back together. But after painting, and at NVD it's not so noticeable.

 

 

This end will normally be coupled to the rest of the branch train and retains the Tri-ang representation of the train alarm gear. It also has the plastic buffers from an old Hornby corridor clerestory.

 

The other 'outer' end has beefed up steps and end handrails. Recent discussion on other threads suggest that people have trouble in bending these up from wire in a consistent way. Yeah, I'm in that club too. After a few attempts I think these two are at least quite similar if not identical.

 

You won't be surprised to hear that painting and lining took nearly as long as building the coach. I didn't help myself in this respect by choosing to finish it in the 1928 - 34 livery with class branding on all doors, but I thought it would look nice. Railmatch brown and cream, Lifecolor roof dirt and Revel matt black were used, with the latter overpainted with Lifecolor weathered black. Now it just needs a bit of dry-brushing with frame dirt. Transfers are a mixture of Fox and Railtec. 

 

I'd decided early on that slicing off all the door and grab handles and drilling for wire replacements was an accident waiting to happen with potential damage to the panelling. First attempts to paint the moulded ones with a fine brush were messily unsuccessful, but using  cocktail sticks instead of brushes gave pleasing results. 

 

But the biggest painting challenge was the beading on the compartment side windows.  They're actually recesses rather than bolections on the Tri-ang moulding, but all photographic evidence showed that whatever they are they should be painted.  It was fun for one side, but you can have enough of a good thing, so I painted the other, less photogenic, side in all-over brown with a shirtbutton and no door brandings. Equally prototypical, just in a different year!  And no-one will see it.

 

John C.

[Neal Ball]

2 hours ago, checkrail said:

A quiet time home alone last week while my wife was in Sweden visiting her daughter, so I had more time than usual in the loft, cracking on with the C10 clerestory conversion which is finally ready for service. Here are the 'official' photos.

 

The first shows the best side, which will face the viewer. In retrospect cutting off the coach ends and shortening the sides beyond the outermost windows was probably a step too far. Although it did btring the overall length down to just one foot over prototype it also gave this bodger the opportunity to get sides, ends and roof all a bit out of alignment when put back together. But after painting, and at NVD it's not so noticeable.

 

 

This end will normally be coupled to the rest of the branch train and retains the Tri-ang representation of the train alarm gear. It also has the plastic buffers from an old Hornby corridor clerestory.

 

The other 'outer' end has beefed up steps and end handrails. Recent discussion on other threads suggest that people have trouble in bending these up from wire in a consistent way. Yeah, I'm in that club too. After a few attempts I think these two are at least quite similar if not identical.

 

You won't be surprised to hear that painting and lining took nearly as long as building the coach. I didn't help myself in this respect by choosing to finish it in the 1928 - 34 livery with class branding on all doors, but I thought it would look nice. Railmatch brown and cream, Lifecolor roof dirt and Revel matt black were used, with the latter overpainted with Lifecolor weathered black. Now it just needs a bit of dry-brushing with frame dirt. Transfers are a mixture of Fox and Railtec. 

 

I'd decided early on that slicing off all the door and grab handles and drilling for wire replacements was an accident waiting to happen with potential damage to the panelling. First attempts to paint the moulded ones with a fine brush were messily unsuccessful, but using  cocktail sticks instead of brushes gave pleasing results. 

 

But the biggest painting challenge was the beading on the compartment side windows.  They're actually recesses rather than bolections on the Tri-ang moulding, but all photographic evidence showed that whatever they are they should be painted.  It was fun for one side, but you can have enough of a good thing, so I painted the other, less photogenic, side in all-over brown with a shirtbutton and no door brandings. Equally prototypical, just in a different year!  And no-one will see it.

 

John C.

That’s a lovely carriage John, you’ve made a good job of it.

 

Strangely I looked at my fleet of carriages needing a spray today, but despite it being warm outside, the carriages were still cold to the touch in the railway room. Spraying will wait for another day!

[Hal Nail]

15 hours ago, checkrail said:

so I painted the other, less photogenic, side in all-over brown with a shirtbutton and no door brandings.

A number of my coaches are different on either side. I resprayed one side of my B set so that can be reversed and I have some Lionheart mk1s where the sides detach, so bought in two liveries and swapped sides around to get two rakes! These can fairly easily be swapped back.

 

Oddly I can't quite bring myself to do the same with wagons, for which there is no logic whatsoever!

[checkrail]

Here are some pics of the new/old clerestory coach in service. It may be January here but at Stoke C it's the start of the holiday season and the Earlsbridge branch train has acquired an old C10 strengthener for the duration.

 

 

One thing I used to struggle with when doing my earlier Hornby corridor clerestory conversions was the trial and error involved in getting the replacement bogies to rotate without fouling the floor or underframe while maintaining correct buffer height. (Older Hornby coaches were often a little 'tall' to start with.) But Alan Gibson do 12mm dia. Mansell wheels (same dia. as Hornby used) which solves the problem. It immediately loses 1mm from the overall height and gives 1mm of extra sub-frame clearance. 

 

 

(Only just noticed -the down branch starter is off - aargh!)

 

John C.

Edited January 26 by checkrail
missed word

[checkrail]

5557 has run round its train and the signal is 'off' for the return to Earlsbridge.

 

 

 

As the train pulls out we see that it's also conveying the daily through coach from Paddington. 

 

 

 

I've noticed quite a few pics of scenes like this in the photo albums, with a B-set as the core of the train but sundry other vehicles attached fore and aft.

 

John C.

[AlfaZagato]

That's an informative concept.  How wild is the variety?

[Neal Ball]

It must be market day in Earlsbridge.

[Hal Nail]

9 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

How wild is the variety?

Related, and perhaps might help answer that question, where did strengtheners come from?

 

B sets were often/usually allocated to the specific branch but could you justify having 1 or 2 spare coaches sat there permanently but only used infrequently, or did they run them down from the nearest carriage sidings for busy days?

 

Edit: actually was use of strengtheners ad hoc, eg when a bus load of Japanese tourists arrived at Brent, or scheduled, eg an extra coach every Saturday?

Edited January 26 by Hal Nail

[checkrail]

1 hour ago, Hal Nail said:

actually was use of strengtheners ad hoc, eg when a bus load of Japanese tourists arrived at Brent, or scheduled, eg an extra coach every Saturday?

These questions have crossed my mind too. I'd love to know. And am I right in saying that GWR men referred to strengthening coaches as 'swingers'?