coachmann's 4mm loco & coach W.B.

[Enterprisingwestern]

Hi Baz,

 

In 1989 I went over to Accuflex acrylic paint imported from the USA by Sharp's of Sheffield. Quick drying with no brushmarks, it was ideal for brush painting running plates and splasher tops etc. Eventually some department or other made sure it couldn't be imported so it was a case of back to Humbrol satin black. I am currently on the lookout for a good quality acrylic (Revell Accucolor isn't bad) but I have kicked enamel into touch after wasting yet another day.

 

Have a try at Games Workshop paints, not a railway range per se, but some useful paints and finishes in the range, weathering colours and washes especially so.

IMHO their Skull White and Chaos Black in rattle cans cannot be beaten.

 

Mike.

[coachmann]

Really useful assistance there guys. Where might one obtain Tamiya,  Vallejo and  Games Workshop paints?  If by mail order, do they arrive by courier of Royal Mail?  Thanks.

[grob1234]

Tamiya and Vallejo from here: www.luckymodel.com

 

They come from HK, but I believe you'll get free delivery. Just make sure you only order paints that are currently in stock, otherwise it can be a long wait. Always get the stuff in the end though. They are my local model shop here in HK effectively!

 

For games workshop the best thing to do is pop into one of their stores. Their paint range is pretty extensive, but the guys there are usually knowledgeable and helpful.

Edited April 7, 2017 by grob1234

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Hobbycraft stock the Tamiya range. For diluting there is a Tamiya thinners which from the smell is based on methoxypropanol

a water missile solvent. They do a matt and gloss black so for a satin you could combine them.

[Guy Rixon]

Hobbycraft stores stock Tamiya paints.

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Hobbycraft stock the Tamiya range. For diluting there is a Tamiya thinners which from the smell is based on methoxypropanol

a water missile solvent. They do a matt and gloss black so for a satin you could combine them.

[chris p bacon]

Hobbycraft stock the Tamiya range. For diluting there is a Tamiya thinners which from the smell is based on methoxypropanol

a water missile solvent. They do a matt and gloss black so for a satin you could combine them.

 

 

Hobbycraft stock the Tamiya range. For diluting there is a Tamiya thinners which from the smell is based on methoxypropanol

a water missile solvent. They do a matt and gloss black so for a satin you could combine them.

Do they stock it twice....

[coachmann]

In case anyone is wondering why I have fully detailed the front end of my 00 gauge locos, it is a carryover from a brief spell in 0 gauge. The Llangollen route, which I aim to model, is endowed with a turntable at one end (Ruabon) and a triangle at the other (Barmouth Junction) and so locos would be turned before returning. I might do this in the fiddle yard, but it is more likely I will have a different engine facing the correct way for return workings.

 

The only locos likely to have tension lock couplings both ends will be the locos for local goods working tha will need to shunt the yard at Carrog. A wire loop has been fitted to one 'shunter' so see how it performs.

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

 

If you have a Boyes store near you then they stock the Games Workshop paints.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

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And Everything Airbrush in Poole stock Vallejo.

 

https://www.everythingairbrush.com

 

Hopefully only posted once this time.

[BWsTrains]

Hobbycraft stock the Tamiya range. For diluting there is a Tamiya thinners which from the smell is based on methoxypropanol

a water missile solvent. They do a matt and gloss black so for a satin you could combine them.

Sounds lethal, I think that you mean "miscible" here 

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Predictive text!

[PGH]

I aim to run a train from a smallish quarry to a steel works in the late 1950's. Wagons seen in a video look something like the Hornby wagon below. Although labelled Iron Ore, would some be used for quarry stone? Dapol also produce something similar...

Hornby Hopper Wagon..jpg

 

You're bending the geology of the area a bit there Larry.  Quarried stone for use in a steelworks would be limestone, which was quarried east of Llangollen.  West of Llangollen it was slate.  There were two quarries north of Corwen on the line to Ruthin but they quarried granite.

[Norton961]

Everyone has remarked on the very pale washed out green that Hornby use and the excellent linning. The comparisons Coachman did between the various manufacturers was interesting and reminded me that there is a solution for the Hornby locos.

I experimented with one of Hornbys excellent re built Patriots (in this case fitted with a Brassmasters chimmney) by giving the model a coat of Klear with suprising results. The green has become deeper and much closer to the prototype colour, so Coachman if you want to do the comparison again, try coating one of the Hornby models in Klear.

 

David

[coachmann]

You're bending the geology of the area a bit there Larry.  Quarried stone for use in a steelworks would be limestone, which was quarried east of Llangollen.  West of Llangollen it was slate.  There were two quarries north of Corwen on the line to Ruthin but they quarried granite.

This is why I posted the question, so thanks Philip.  I was looking for a traffic flow that could serve John Summers and Brymbo Steel. So it looks like slate (from Carrog quarry) in open wagons is the only flow left unless I look in the opposite direction to see what could be got out of the several industries around Trevor. I don't know what the weight restriction was on the Corwen-Ruthin line, but it could be the LMR equivalent of a red-route in fiction and provide a job for my Stanier 2-6-0! I have considered brick traffic to Ruthin, but there are also brickworks at Buckley. How's about slate for making tough engineering bricks?

[cctransuk]

This is why I posted the question, so thanks Philip.  I was looking for a traffic flow that could serve John Summers and Brymbo Steel. So it looks like slate (from Carrog quarry) in open wagons is the only flow left unless I look in the opposite direction to see what could be got out of the several industries around Trevor. I don't know what the weight restriction was on the Corwen-Ruthin line, but it could be the LMR equivalent of a red-route in fiction and provide a job for my Stanier 2-6-0! I have considered brick traffic to Ruthin, but there are also brickworks at Buckley. How's about slate for making tough engineering bricks?

 

I don't know the area well, but is granite ballast in DOGFISH, CATFISH, TROUT etc. wagons a realistic traffic?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Focalplane]

I am not an expert on brick making but typically bricks are made from clays, marls and mudstones rather than slate.  The former are all much softer, having been subjected to less subterranean heat and pressure.  Engineering bricks are made from the likes of Etruria Marl (Staffordshire) which are simply fired at a higher temperature than ordinary bricks.

 

I would suggest that aggregate was as important as coal back in your era, Larry.  Today, of course, aggregate is by far the most common bulk product being moved by rail (evidence seen on Great Western from Mendip Quarries to the South East).  There are granite quarries in many parts of Wales (the one near Porthmadog operated by Tarmac is a present day example) and there were many more back in the 1950s.

[Norton961]

Re the traffic to Brymbo steel works there was an regular train from Banbury ( with iron ore from Northants area) via Shrewsbury and Wrexham. I am not sure if there was any other iron ore traffic from other sources. I have seen photos of 2-8-2 tanks (Ex GWR), County 4-6-0s and on one occasion a B1 was seen heading towards Welllington. I don't know if there was a change of loco at Wrexham.

[coachmann]

Obviously I can only model trains that pass through Carrog on the Llangollen line. Granite quarries on the ex.LMS Ruthin-Corwen line is an idea worth pursuing, as they could originate track ballast workings to the Western Region. John Isherwood also touched on this. If there was a grandfather ban on GWR locos on the LMS section, Mold Junction shed could supply locos for the ballast workings. Enter stage right Stanier 2-6-0! On the other hand, a 5MT is rather extravagant from trip working to Ruabon sidings and so a 3F or 4F would be more likely.

 

I prefer to find a bock train working if possible (I had a chemical train on the Oswestry layout) that would require something like a 5MT or 8F.

Edited April 7, 2017 by coachmann

[PenrithBeacon]

Everyone has remarked on the very pale washed out green that Hornby use and the excellent linning. The comparisons Coachman did between the various manufacturers was interesting and reminded me that there is a solution for the Hornby locos. Hornby Patriot with Klear polish applied..jpg

I experimented with one of Hornbys excellent re built Patriots (in this case fitted with a Brassmasters chimmney) by giving the model a coat of Klear with suprising results. The green has become deeper and much closer to the prototype colour, so Coachman if you want to do the comparison again, try coating one of the Hornby models in Klear.

 

David

I do like that photo! Super weathering.

 

Regards

[Hal Nail]

If there was a grandfather ban on GWR locos on the LMS section

What is a grandfather ban - I've never heard that...

[coachmann]

What is a grandfather ban - I've never heard that...

I dreame't it up!  

Edited April 8, 2017 by coachmann

[PGH]

Obviously I can only model trains that pass through Carrog on the Llangollen line. Granite quarries on the ex.LMS Ruthin-Corwen line is an idea worth pursuing, as they could originate track ballast workings to the Western Region. John Isherwood also touched on this. If there was a grandfather ban on GWR locos on the LMS section, Mold Junction shed could supply locos for the ballast workings. Enter stage right Stanier 2-6-0! On the other hand, a 5MT is rather extravagant from trip working to Ruabon sidings and so a 3F or 4F would be more likely.

 

I prefer to find a bock train working if possible (I had a chemical train on the Oswestry layout) that would require something like a 5MT or 8F.

 

With regard to the two quarries on the Corwen - Ruthin line, the first (from Corwen) was the Wern Ddu Quarry of the Dee Clwyd Granite Quarries Ltd.  This had only two sidings, provided under an agreement of 1891 with the connection facing Ruthin.  It had a 2'-6" gauge internal system in use in 1954, but removed c1956.  Whether that latter date marked the closure of the quarry or not I don't know but it was certainly closed by 1967.  It was a fairly small quarry so unlikely to have the facilities to provide track ballast in any quantity.

 

The next quarry, Craig Lelo, had more extensive sidings provided in 1924 and worked by a Motorail Simplex loco.  However rail traffic from the quarry ceased in June 1954 and the loco lay derelict until sold to the contractors lifting the Ruthin to Denbigh line in 1966.  Its possible that they could have supplied railway ballast in your required period, they had the facilities even if they actually lay unused.

 

There was a limestone quarry just north of Ruthin with a lengthy branch to the Ruthin - Denbigh line worked latterly by a similar Simplex loco to the Craig Lelo one, and earlier by a Sentinel steam loco.  However this again was a fairly small quarry and most of the product would probably have gone locally for agricultural use.

 

One quarry that definitely did supply track ballast was the Arenig Granite Quarry on the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch.  Some sources say that the majority of the quarry output was for railway ballast.  However unfortunately this doesn't give a reason for using an ex LMS loco on those workings.  

Edited April 16, 2017 by PGH

[Captain Kernow]

Obviously I can only model trains that pass through Carrog on the Llangollen line. Granite quarries on the ex.LMS Ruthin-Corwen line is an idea worth pursuing, as they could originate track ballast workings to the Western Region. John Isherwood also touched on this. If there was a grandfather ban on GWR locos on the LMS section, Mold Junction shed could supply locos for the ballast workings. Enter stage right Stanier 2-6-0! On the other hand, a 5MT is rather extravagant from trip working to Ruabon sidings and so a 3F or 4F would be more likely.

 

I prefer to find a bock train working if possible (I had a chemical train on the Oswestry layout) that would require something like a 5MT or 8F.

So presumably that train would have to run-round in Corwen if it is to pass through Carrog?

 

If there was such a working, would the GW have provided their own loco from Corwen eastwards?

 

I like the idea of ballast trains from Arenig, but don't recall seeing photos of such trains in the books, gives me an excuse to have another look!

[Focalplane]

Putting on my geologist's hat, I should comment that most "granites" are not granites!  All those kitchen counter tops that are described as granite are anything but!  However, there are real granite quarries in North Wales even today though there were many more in the 1950s.  Today the scale of a quarry has become much larger in order to be economic, so Meldon and Mendip have survived in the West Country while many smaller ones have not.

 

I can recommend the "app" iGeology by the British Geological Survey.  This is the cheapest way to look at 1:50,000 scale maps of the entire UK but it has the (dis)advantage of also including the surface geology.  In taking a quick look at the Dee Valley around Carrog the rock formations are mostly described as mudstone which is, at best, a poor form of slate, not particularly useful for quality roofing material.  It simply has not had the impact of high pressure to form the slate cleavage (the ease of splitting into thin sheets).

 

So "granite" remains the obvious choice.