Bethesda Sidings - Western Region in rural Mid-Wales

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, Re6/6 said:

The rebuilt height of the van was matched to normal '00' vans by adding depth to the sides and extending the 'T' shaped strapping. The body width should have been widened but the work involved (+1.5mm) would've been prohibitive! The buffer beams were replaced to give the correct buffer spacing. I think that I fitted new suitable Lanarkshire buffers.

John forgot to mention that he also fitted larger wheels as well.

 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Re6/6 said:

The rebuilt height of the van was matched to normal '00' vans by adding depth to the sides and extending the 'T' shaped strapping. The body width should have been widened but the work involved (+1.5mm) would've been prohibitive! The buffer beams were replaced to give the correct buffer spacing. I think that I fitted new suitable Lanarkshire buffers.

 

27 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

John forgot to mention that he also fitted larger wheels as well.

 

Thanks both. The buffers look much lower than those on the the loco though, hence my thinking.

[Captain Kernow]

17 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Thanks both. The buffers look much lower than those on the the loco though, hence my thinking.

You're not wrong, though!

 

The wagon is actually riding 'down on it's springs' a little at one end. The other end is at a more respectable height:

 

There are brass pin point bearings in the axle guards, so will have to think carefully what to do about that!

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Captain Kernow

[Captain Kernow]

Black & white version of photo posted in 'Realistic' thread:

 

[Oldddudders]

1 minute ago, Captain Kernow said:

You're not wrong, though!

 

The wagon is actually riding 'down on it's springs' a little at one end. The other end is at a more respectable height:

Uneven loading? As both CK and St E well know, not a good thing, especially if mixed w indifferent track and injudicious speed!

[St Enodoc]

13 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Uneven loading? As both CK and St E well know, not a good thing, especially if mixed w indifferent track and injudicious speed!

Especially if it's side-to-side not end-to-end...

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Uneven loading? As both CK and St E well know, not a good thing, especially if mixed w indifferent track and injudicious speed!

We seem to have had a lot of practice with that on stone trains on the Western - one signal box which always went up and done in one corner after its encounter with part of a wagon carrying stone.  Then there was the farmer near Lavington who had the free gift of about 5 wagon. loads at the bottom of an embankment by one of his fields.  The WR finished up installing an automatic wheel loading sensor - same sort of monitoring  idea as a Hot Box detector - on one of the faster stretches of the B&H Extension in order to detect any unevenly loaded suspect wagons.

[St Enodoc]

16 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

We seem to have had a lot of practice with that on stone trains on the Western - one signal box which always went up and done in one corner after its encounter with part of a wagon carrying stone.  Then there was the farmer near Lavington who had the free gift of about 5 wagon. loads at the bottom of an embankment by one of his fields.  The WR finished up installing an automatic wheel loading sensor - same sort of monitoring  idea as a Hot Box detector - on one of the faster stretches of the B&H Extension in order to detect any unevenly loaded suspect wagons.

About 30 years ago we had some problems with Seahorse wagons on the Meldon run. It turned out that if the wagons were loaded to the top of the sides they were about 50% too heavy, which resulted in overloaded and hence overheating axleboxes. It took a while to sort out, including learning about the density and angle of repose of granite ballast, but it did give me an excuse to visit Meldon Quarry, including a cab ride back to Riverside Yard on one occasion.

[Captain Kernow]

Well, at least I think I've worked out a solution to get the wagon to sit level - an internal bearing rocker unit, glued between the axle guards should sort that out. I was dreading having to dig out the brass bearings at that end and then try to re-position them.

 

[Captain Kernow]

Not appearing at Larkrail this time is Dean Goods 2538. This is due to the fact that the Oxford mechanism just isn't quite good enough, so it will be replaced by a Comet chassis and High Level gearbox etc. in due course:

 

[Siberian Snooper]

Not going the whole hog and fitting a High Level chassis, then?

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

39 minutes ago, Siberian Snooper said:

Not going the whole hog and fitting a High Level chassis, then?

 

 

No, not really.

 

I have the highest regard for High Level products and always use their gearboxes and have several of their locos and chassis in use.

 

I don't know, however, how much 'hacking about' may be required to fit any kind of commercially-available Dean Goods chassis kit to the Oxford body. I believe (assume) that the Comet one was designed for the Airfix, later Hornby body.

 

If I am going to be hacking the chassis about, better to do it with a Comet one, as I am less likely to compromise the fitting of subsequent detail parts.

 

I can't remember from memory whether the Oxford Dean Goods has a representation of inside valve gear. It may well do and all the better if it has.

 

The Comet one will be built with single beam compensation, with the drive on the rear axle, in the 'time-honoured tradition'. Nice and simple and proven (in my personal experience) to provide good running and electrical pick-up, which is the priority here.

 

Unless I am going to build a 'show case' model (unlikely, as I like all my locos to run on my layouts), I would normally default to a Perseverance or Comet chassis, purely because it is simpler and takes less time (this latter being a major factor as well).

 

Where there is no choice, I will happily build a High Level chassis, whether in OO or P4, as evidenced by my 74XX a couple of years ago. That has twin-beam compensation built in as part of the design and it's relatively straight forward to build, although it took a lot longer than a Comet or Perseverance 57XX chassis would have done.

 

[Captain Kernow]

John F (Re6/6) came over today for luncheon and some tuition in operating 'Bethesda Sidings', in preparation for LarkRail in a few days time.

 

Here we see ex-LNER J72 'Jennifer', a long-term mainstay of the Vale of Radnor Lt Rly shunting in the yard:

 

[Re6/6]

Indeed, I enjoyed a splendid visit with a fine luncheon to Kernow Towers to play with learn to drive B.S.!

 

Looking forward muchly to being at Larkrail.

 

 

 

[Re6/6]

 

[46444]

On 12/07/2022 at 14:57, Captain Kernow said:

Not appearing at Larkrail this time is Dean Goods 2538. This is due to the fact that the Oxford mechanism just isn't quite good enough, so it will be replaced by a Comet chassis and High Level gearbox etc. in due course:

 

 

Hi CK,

 

Although I appreciate your sentiments with regards to the running properties of the Dean Goods 'tis a lovely model and deserves to be seen. 

 

I for one would love to see it in action on BS...

 

Can we start a Dean Goods on BS at Larkrail vote please?

 

Looking forwards to seeing BS and having a grand day out from the West Riding.

 

Mark 

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Re6/6 said:

Indeed, I enjoyed a splendid visit with a fine luncheon to Kernow Towers to play with learn to drive B.S.!

 

Looking forward muchly to being at Larkrail.

 

 

 

Nice tandem.

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, 46444 said:

 

Hi CK,

 

Although I appreciate your sentiments with regards to the running properties of the Dean Goods 'tis a lovely model and deserves to be seen. 

 

I for one would love to see it in action on BS...

 

Can we start a Dean Goods on BS at Larkrail vote please?

 

Looking forwards to seeing BS and having a grand day out from the West Riding.

 

Mark 

BS at Larkrail?

 

Oh, I see...

[Captain Kernow]

 

[Captain Kernow]

A splendid day was had at Larkrail last Saturday, including some visiting motive power.

 

First of all was His Sheepfulness's No. 1197, a delightful and characterful ex-Cambrian(?) 2-4-0T, which I felt seemed right at home on the layout (this is Rob's own photo):

 

Then Mark Branson (46444) arrived with these two beauties:

 

 

Ironic, really as I recently disposed of my own versions of these models, despite them being pretty appropriate for a Mid-Wales setting, due to my preference for smaller motive power (a Dean Goods being just about the largest thing I feel comfortable running).

 

[saxokid]

8 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

A splendid day was had at Larkrail last Saturday, including some visiting motive power.

 

First of all was His Sheepfulness's No. 1197, a delightful and characterful ex-Cambrian(?) 2-4-0T, which I felt seemed right at home on the layout (this is Rob's own photo):

 

Then Mark Branson (46444) arrived with these two beauties:

 

 

Ironic, really as I recently disposed of my own versions of these models, despite them being pretty appropriate for a Mid-Wales setting, due to my preference for smaller motive power (a Dean Goods being just about the largest thing I feel comfortable running).

 

Some very nice modelling here👍

[MrWolf]

7 minutes ago, saxokid said:

Some very nice modelling here👍

 

Seconded and I do like the Standard 2-6-0 as well as the outside frame 4-4-0.  Like CK says, very appropriate to a Mid Wales setting.

[NHY 581]

Having now seen Bethesda in the flesh so to speak, it is a truly glorious little layout. Any one of a number of things stand out and to focus on any one aspect seems unfair but I was particularly struck by the quality of the trackwork.

 

I know the trouble that Tim goes to with laying, painting and ballasting his track. This is a fine example of how the final appearance truly repays the time spent getting it just so. 

 

Rob. 

[Captain Kernow]

9 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

Having now seen Bethesda in the flesh so to speak, it is a truly glorious little layout. Any one of a number of things stand out and to focus on any one aspect seems unfair but I was particularly struck by the quality of the trackwork.

 

I know the trouble that Tim goes to with laying, painting and ballasting his track. This is a fine example of how the final appearance truly repays the time spent getting it just so. 

 

Rob. 

Thank you very much, Rob, one of the kindest compliments I've ever been paid! I am very grateful for those kind words.

 

My philosophy these days is increasingly set around the notion that you can forgive much on any given model railway layout, but I remain consistently intolerant of things falling off on my own layouts.

 

That said, there were a small number of annoying derailments on Bethesda Sidings during Larkrail, whilst propelling. Most of them were subsequently traced to back-to-back issues on the wagons concerned, which have now been rectified.

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Captain Kernow

[Captain Kernow]

Anyway, here's another view of 1458, shunting the 'Kington Branch' Toad: