Stoke Courtenay

[checkrail]

4 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Do Worsley Works pre-form the tumblehome?

No, but it's easy to do with three short lengths of timber, one of which should ideally be bullnose skirting board.  I think this might be in the 'Building coaches the Comet way' guide?  And the tumblehome on the clerestories is pretty minimal.

[checkrail]

A couple more of 'Launceston Castle' on its way to Plymouth.  The first one shows a recently replaced ground signal.  I'd long known that this should have two discs, as it controls movement back from the down main to both the up platform road (for re-attaching tail traffic from the little parcels bay) and the yard loop (for setting back goods trains arriving on the down main).  

This one's a white metal job from Dart Castings. I'd previously made one from Ratio kits but, sitting in the six-foot way (actually 6 foot 9 inches in my case), it kept being decapitated by the footsteps and footboards of passing trains, even with a ruling main line radius of 4 feet.  Only recently realised the answer - put it on the other side of the track. Doh!

 

 

John C.

 

[checkrail]

D33 continued:

The sides were then offered up to the Hornby carcass which was then marked out to show the bits that would need to be removed, leaving enough margin for droplights, glazing etc.  Here's where it gets ugly, as I carved, drilled and hacked away at the bodyside, using a mixture of Dremel slitting disc, hand-held mini-saws, and sometimes just sacrificing a drill bit by dragging it to join up drilled holes.  (I'm very wary of slitting discs - it's too easy for it to career into the cantrail or other areas where you don't want it.) 

 

Next job was to add the door hinges by my usual method.  Short lengths of microstrip, slightly too big to fit through the etched hinge holes, are chamfered at one end, dipped in cyano, and pushed through from the inside.  When all is set they're cut/filed flush at the back, and trimmed at the front to leave a representation of the hinge.  I no longer do the middle ones as they get in the way of subsequent waist lining.

 

The sides were then cleaned up with the glass fibre pencil.  Once I've checked and/or opened out the door furniture holes they'll be ready for degreasing and a coat of primer.

 

John C.

 

 

[The Fatadder]

Very nice.   A project for 2023 I think!

 

Particularly like the mix between panelled and plated over sides.  I have an all third body so will have a look. 

[checkrail]

The recent portrait of 'Launceston Castle' in the platform roads was well received, encouraging me to try a couple of similar shots of 6305 while having a break from coach building.

 

 

John C.

[checkrail]

D33 cont.

Had quite a productive day on Saturday fettling the underframe to represent the coach with electric lighting.  This involved removal of the footboards and gas cylinders and the addition of battery boxes, V hangers and dynamo. It's easy to damage the truss rods while doing all this hacking and carving (how do I know this?), but a bit of bodging makes good before the proverbial coat of paint.

The Shapeways bogies have been fitted with top hat bearings and end footsteps.  The latter are MJT/Frogmore items - I only had three left so will need to order more. One thing I've learnt with Shapeways Hornby-fit bogies is not to install them too early.  The material is not as resilient as the original plastic ones and when I tried to remove them on an earlier conversion the retaining bosses at the top of the bogie spigots just snapped off.  (So I now have a C16 which, when I remove it from the track, leaves its bogies behind, still coupled in the train!)  

 

I've also carved and filed the vents off the clerestory sides and covered over with plain 10 thou Plastkard. Mike@Coach bogie has confirmed that these were plated over at this period.  He's also re-sent me the original photo that piqued my interest in this diagram, but had been lost in the Great RMweb Crash. Perhaps he'll also post it on this thread for those interested in something a bit different?

 

John C.

 

[Siberian Snooper]

Does plating over imply plating over the mouldings, or does it mean replacing the glazing with sheet steel?

 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Siberian Snooper
clumsy fingers

[Coach bogie]

D33 in post 1929/30 condition.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[checkrail]

I don't know, but I'd guess that they'd take the glass out first.  They would certainly have had to remove the ventilators (as I did with the Hornby mouldings).

 

For the avoidance of doubt, by "clerestory sides" I mean the sides of the clerestory part of the roof, not the bodysides of the coaches.

 

 

[MrWolf]

Weren't the "lights" in the sides of the clerestory painted over as part of the blackout precautions late in the first world war and plated over afterwards. ISTR reading that you shouldn't be having glass in the clerestory after about 1916.

[checkrail]

8709 pulls into Stoke Courtenay with a trip goods working from Hackney Yard.  Its next move is to set its train back into the yard, once the Earlsbridge  branch train has departed and got out of the way.

 

Funny, but In close-up (below) 5557 looks much cleaner than it does from NVD.

 

Both trains going in the same direction - for now.  Some goods yard action to follow.

 

John C.

[Coach bogie]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

Weren't the "lights" in the sides of the clerestory painted over as part of the blackout precautions late in the first world war and plated over afterwards. ISTR reading that you shouldn't be having glass in the clerestory after about 1916.

Photo evidence shows the glazing was still in place on many clerestory both gas and electric, even post wwII. The same with the toplight glass. Some plated over, some not. I can add pictures later but not at present (sat in Brisbane airport).

 

Some images can be deceiving. Top glass looks painted over but in reality, just very dirty. Cleaners concentrated on sides, not so much the roof.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Coach bogie

[St Enodoc]

12 hours ago, checkrail said:

(So I now have a C16 which, when I remove it from the track, leaves its bogies behind, still coupled in the train!) 

I've got one or two like that. Solution: don't remove them from the track!

[MrWolf]

5 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

Photo evidence shows the glazing was still in place on many clerestory both gas and electric, even post wwII. The same with the toplight glass. Some plated over, some not. I can add pictures later but not at present (sat in Brisbane airport).

 

Some images can be deceiving. Top glass looks painted over but in reality, just very dirty. Cleaners concentrated on sides, not so much the roof.

 

Thanks, that's useful to know and saves a good amount of messing around with my own coaches.

[checkrail]

With the branch train now out of the way the trip goods sets back into the yard loop and, after dropping the brake van off in the headshunt, 8709 runs round the wagons via the branch platform.

 

 

 

The only downside of the pannier body swapping that went on in the process of top feed removal was that I lost the Beyer Peacock maker's plates on the front splashers, which were nicely represented on my original Bachmann version. I might get round to doing something about it eventually.

 

John C.

[KNP]

But regardless of your lost plates don’t they look better without a top feed….

Very nice set of pictures

[checkrail]

8709 and Toad as the pannier re-approaches the wagons from the other end.

 

'Aylburton Grange' drifts past with an up parcels as the 57xx begins to shunt the yard.

 

Some wagons.

 

John C.

[gwrrob]

You are spoiling us John.

[checkrail]

20 hours ago, gwrrob said:

You are spoiling us John.

It's not over yet!  But I'm glad you like them.  Here are some more wagons.

 

And in the next two pics 5975 'Winslow Hall' picks up from its station stop at Stoke C. and heads west.

 

 

John C.

[checkrail]

And there's more .... !  Now 6305 comes past on the down line with a freight bound for Tavistock Junction, while shunting continues at Stoke C..

 

 

 

John C.

[checkrail]

Another Castle takes centre stage in today's selection as 5041 'Tiverton Castle' hurries its train towards distant Paddington.

 

 

 

John C.

Edited January 13, 2023 by checkrail

[Neal Ball]

Lovely shots John, thank you

[KNP]

As Neal said, lovely shots.

More please.

[Neal Ball]

27 minutes ago, KNP said:

As Neal said, lovely shots.

More please.

Indeed, definitely more please John @checkrail. I always enjoy looking at your carriage formations, I enjoy the variety.

[Limpley Stoker]

Great pics !

 

I’ve never seen the goods yard so busy, but it still looks spacious.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Limpley Stoker