Stoke Courtenay

[checkrail]

10 minutes ago, KNP said:

So I hope you don't mind but I messed about with one using tone mapping....

Lovely stuff Kevin - looks like an old-fashioned greetings card.  You're having a lot of fun with Affinity aren't you? 

[checkrail]

52 minutes ago, Ponthir28 said:

I do like a Grange. A proper all rounder.

Indeed - they're great engines and were, I believe, very popular with footplate crews.  And the Hornby model i one of their really good ones.  Let's see how it stands up against the Accurascale Manor.

 

John C. 

[geoff]

That is absolutely stunning, brilliant.

Geoff

[checkrail]

Full marks to Steve at Railtech for great service.  Transfers for GWR RA discs and sundry other items only ordered a couple of days ago and arrived today.   So I deferred my plan to go to Chester Cathedral to see Pete Waterman's latest marvel and spent a quiet afternoon applying RA spots including power classifications.  I still can't properly see the latter very well even with varifocals, magnifying glasses, Rotacraft desk lamp etc. but that's my problem. Unfortunately therefore I don't think I've got the letters exactly vertical.  But I'll never need to know.

 

 

 

While I was doing them I realised that for some reason 6305 didn't have a RA indicator on its left cabside.  It has now.

 

The cab roof of 4117 is still not a perfect fit and needs yet more fettling, but apart from that all I'm waiting for are the number plates from Modelmaster.  Come on chaps, get a move on!

 

John C.  

Edited August 25, 2022 by checkrail
typo

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, checkrail said:

Full marks to Steve at Railtech for great service.  Transfers for GWR RA discs and sundry other items only ordered a couple of days ago and arrived today.   So I deferred my plan to go to Chester Cathedral to see Pete Waterman's latest marvel and spent a quiet afternoon applying RA spots including power classifications.  I still can't properly see the latter very well even with varifocals, magnifying glasses, Rotacraft desk lamp etc. but that's my problem. Unfortunately therefore I don't think I've got the letters exactly vertical.  But I'll never need to know.

 

 

 

While I was doing them I realised that for some reason 6305 didn't have a RA indicator on its left cabside.  It has now.

 

The cab roof of 4117 is still not a perfect fit and needs yet more fettling, but apart from that all I'm waiting for are the number plates from Modelmaster.  Come on chaps, get a move on!

 

John C.  

I gave up with modelmaster ages ago…. Too many excuses.

 

Good luck with your order John.

[Stephen Freeman]

On 22/08/2022 at 22:55, BWsTrains said:

 

Thanks.

 

I already knew about chinchilla dust but you can't get that here! Not a popular breed it seems.

 

Local option required, I need to do some research. We mine enough stuff out of the ground it can't be that hard to find something suitable!

 

Colin

Not sure where "here" is but I have sourced Chinchilla Dust in both UK and France so should be available in most parts of Europe, another possibility if you want a black finish is the volcanic sand they sell for reptiles etc

[BWsTrains]

2 hours ago, Stephen Freeman said:

Not sure where "here" is but I have sourced Chinchilla Dust in both UK and France so should be available in most parts of Europe, another possibility if you want a black finish is the volcanic sand they sell for reptiles etc

 

Sorry. I live in the SE corner of a pleasant but rather large island 12000km from the UK, former penal colony etc. etc.

 

Many items taken for granted in Europe are hard to access or very expensive or banned by quarantine rules (Sea Foam being notable). It seems Chinchillas are rare here and  very fine sand is sold for aquarium use at eye watering prices! Pet Owners are considered "fair game" it seems, as my daughter will confirm. I'm regularly called to find a low cost solution in lieu of some over priced rubbish from the pet shop they're trying to sell her.

 

M. Button resting on half a case, his new step into the hutch, quality stuff too, 1996 Pomerol, no rubbish here!

(apologies John for this rather frivolous intrusion to your otherwise carefully maintained Topic. Pic now removed. My excuse is I thought the quote was related to something I'd said elsewhere 😧) 

 

No matter! It makes us creative and I have my own home grown solution for the fine fill problem. R&D ongoing but results should be available soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by BWsTrains

[St Enodoc]

2 minutes ago, BWsTrains said:

 

Sorry. I live in the SE corner of a pleasant but rather large island 12000km from the UK, former penal colony etc. etc.

 

Many items taken for granted in Europe are hard to access or very expensive or banned by quarantine rules (Sea Foam being notable). It seems Chinchillas are rare here and  very fine sand is sold for aquarium use at eye watering prices! Pet Owners are considered "fair game" it seems, as my daughter will confirm. I'm regularly called to find a low cost solution in lieu of some over priced rubbish from the pet shop they're trying to sell her.

 

No matter! It makes us creative and I have my own home grown solution for the fine fill problem. R&D ongoing but results should be available soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to mention Railmatch or Precision paints...

[Dragonboy]

23 hours ago, Stephen Freeman said:

Not sure where "here" is but I have sourced Chinchilla Dust in both UK and France so should be available in most parts of Europe, another possibility if you want a black finish is the volcanic sand they sell for reptiles etc

I bought a small bag for use as ballast on code 40 N track as conventional fine ballasts seemed too course.
 

Like most things I’m pretty sure mine came from Amazon.

 

Brian

[BWsTrains]

On 22/08/2022 at 22:17, checkrail said:

Hi Colin

I can't quite remember to be honest.  I think it was probably the same Carr's 'ash ballast' that I used to ballast the goods yard sidings but painted a paler colour.  Whatever it was it was a fine powder on the sheet cork yard base, brushed (once dried hard) with various washes of grey and brown acrylics.  The key word is 'fine' - road and yard surfaces on models can sometimes look too coarse and your 4mm scale people would have a rough time walking or driving on it.  Chinchilla dust or Treemendous earth powder are other possibilities. 

John.

 

John,

 

having exhausted ideas for commercial supplies in Australia for reasons already covered, I've started my own trials for something practical, cheap and available to make Yard Dirt. First results are up on my topic for anyone interested.

 

 

 

[checkrail]

On 01/09/2022 at 03:37, BWsTrains said:

having exhausted ideas for commercial supplies in Australia for reasons already covered, I've started my own trials for something practical, cheap and available to make Yard Dirt. First results are up on my topic for anyone interested.

Yep, have checked it out and it's looking good.  And if the biggest pieces are 0.5mm that makes them 1 1/2 inches.  Similar to a gravel drive perhaps, so fine for both pedestrians and wheeled vehicles.

[checkrail]

While waiting for the plates for 4117 there's been a bit of s & t work going on around Stoke C.  My signal wire pulley posts (MSE) have been in place a long time but for years had no actual wires.  Some months ago I added one token wire (EZ Line) to each run but it didn't really cut the mustard in relation to the number of signals (including implied offstage distants).  So I dug up all the single posts, replaced them with doubles, and ran two lines of wire along them.  Here's the work in progress before the wires were added.

 

 

 

It's still not a full representation (by implication some runs should have three or more wires, and that's excluding ground signals!) but two wires give a bit more 'busyness' to the general look of things. And they're the most that my fine detail skills allow.  The single wire just drew attention to what wasn't there.  As ever my modelling is impressionistic!

 

Wires are now in place and I'm just in the process of painting and finishing off.

 

John C.

Edited September 2, 2022 by checkrail
iffy laptop key

[Neal Ball]

39 minutes ago, checkrail said:

While waiting for the plates for 4117 there's been a bit of s & t work going on around Stoke C.  My signal wire pulley posts (MSE) have been in place a long time but for years had no actual wires.  Some months ago I added one token wire (EZ Line) to each run but it didn't really cut the mustard in relation to the number of signals (including implied offstage distants.  So I dug up all the single posts, replaced them with doubles, and ran two lines of wire along them.  Here' the work in progress before the wires were added.

 

 

 

It's still not a full representation (by implication some runs should have three or more wires, and that's excluding ground signals!) but two wires give a bit more 'busyness' to the general look of things. And they're the most that my fine detail skills allow.  The single wire just drew attention to what wasn't there.  As ever my modelling is impressionistic!

 

Wires are now in place and I'm just in the process of painting and finishing off.

 

John C.

Oh no! Another railway on RMWeb adding signal cables…. Will Point rodding be next?

 

As part of my procrastination I looked at Stoke Courtney and ANTB and decided it could wait / might not happen as neither railways have them….. My arguments are being diluted 🤣🤣

 

Stoke Courtney, looks as good as ever John and those “stools” add to the overall feel.

[Graham T]

45 minutes ago, checkrail said:

While waiting for the plates for 4117 there's been a bit of s & t work going on around Stoke C.  My signal wire pulley posts (MSE) have been in place a long time but for years had no actual wires.  Some months ago I added one token wire (EZ Line) to each run but it didn't really cut the mustard in relation to the number of signals (including implied offstage distants.  So I dug up all the single posts, replaced them with doubles, and ran two lines of wire along them.  Here' the work in progress before the wires were added.

 

 

 

It's still not a full representation (by implication some runs should have three or more wires, and that's excluding ground signals!) but two wires give a bit more 'busyness' to the general look of things. And they're the most that my fine detail skills allow.  The single wire just drew attention to what wasn't there.  As ever my modelling is impressionistic!

 

Wires are now in place and I'm just in the process of painting and finishing off.

 

John C.

 

Impressive.  That's something I need to think about doing as well.  But then I'm immediately wondering about running the EZ line to the signals themselves to, because it would look strange just ending at the pulleys...  Aagh!

[checkrail]

Wires now installed.  (And the chap at Modelmaster says that no. plates for 4117 should be despatched Monday or Tuesday.)

 

 

 

John C.

[MrWolf]

Neat job, and as I have installed point rodding on my layout, I've no excuse for not having signal wires. Especially now I have seen how good those look.

 

Thanks for the inspiration! 

 

Maybe...

 

I think....😀

[checkrail]

I needed to get behind and under the layout to pull the EZ line through the road overbridge where the branch line goes offstage en route to the fiddleyard.  While sitting crouched under the eaves and behind the purlins with tweezers, cutters and superglue in hand I suddenly got a new view through to the goods yard.

 

Here's the result ....

 

.... and here's the original before it was cropped and rotated.  I had to wedge the camera into the aperture upside down.

 

Incidentally, this part of the branch is out of reach of any track cleaning tool I have, so has never been cleaned.  But I've never had a problem with any loco stalling on it or failing to respond in the 10 years it's been there. 

 

John C.

 

 

[BWsTrains]

9 hours ago, checkrail said:

My signal wire pulley posts (MSE)

 

A quick check showed the current MSE product (LS008) has a single pulley on a post. How did you arrange your multiple pulleys?

 

You'd have thought that supplying them with 2 or 3 pulleys which could have excess nipped off would make more sense. Here I'm assuming they are stacked one above another. I imagine a single pulley is needed just on the run to the boundary of the Box's signal control zone.

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, checkrail said:

Wires now installed.  (And the chap at Modelmaster says that no. plates for 4117 should be despatched Monday or Tuesday.)

 

 

 

John C.

Nice but I'll pass, thanks.

[checkrail]

20 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Will Point rodding be next?

 

As part of my procrastination I looked at Stoke Courtney and ANTB and decided it could wait / might not happen as neither railways have them….. My arguments are being diluted 🤣🤣

Actually Stoke Courtenay does have point rodding, as the pictures below will show.  But like the signal wires it's a sketchy, impressionistic attempt - a nod to rodding if you like.

 

 

 

 

I realised too late that if you want complete and accurate point and signal linkage you need to incorporate its design and positioning at the layout planning and tracklaying stages.  And definitely before you put platforms in place (which is why none of mine can be seen crossing under the track and why the main run takes an unlikely route around the unseen back of the island platform rather than along through the up or down main platforms!)

Edited September 3, 2022 by checkrail
missed word

[The Stationmaster]

11 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

 

A quick check showed the current MSE product (LS008) has a single pulley on a post. How did you arrange your multiple pulleys?

 

You'd have thought that supplying them with 2 or 3 pulleys which could have excess nipped off would make more sense. Here I'm assuming they are stacked one above another. I imagine a single pulley is needed just on the run to the boundary of the Box's signal control zone.

Here's a view of the real thing - on a heritage railway but installed by a BR S&T chap so it's done just as it would be on 'the big railway' -

 

[checkrail]

13 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

A quick check showed the current MSE product (LS008) has a single pulley on a post. How did you arrange your multiple pulleys?

 

You'd have thought that supplying them with 2 or 3 pulleys which could have excess nipped off would make more sense.

Looking back at the packets they came in I see that LS008/2 is single pulleys, while LS008/1 is described as "multiple pulleys, displaced vertically" but actually have just two pulleys.  Not sure how you'd arrange for more than that number as the whole caboodle might start looking a bit too overscale and conspicuous.  But see Mike @The Stationmaster's very useful photo in his post above. 

[checkrail]

Enough wires for now.  Let's have some trains, up and down expresses hauled by 6019 'King Henry V' and 4908 'Broome Hall' respectively.  (Though you can see bits of signal wire and point rodding in most of these shots!)

 

 

 

And here's a cropped version of the first pic.  Think this one perhaps looks a bit better.

 

John C.

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by checkrail

[Coach bogie]

At Greenford they are stacked on the far side of the line and separate singles on the near side. Image take in February this year.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

 

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, checkrail said:

 

 

 

John, your second and third photos there helped me work out what didn't quite look right to me, hence my earlier rather cryptic comment. I think it's that the signal wires and their posts look  more conspicuous than the point rodding runs, rather than the other way round. Not a criticism, just an observation.