Black Notley - BR Eastern

[pwr]

Sorry about the lack of posts lately but I have been making and detailing gutters.

 

On a different tack, despite having had it two years I have just noticed the air horns are missing from both ends. Any idea where I can get replacements?

 

Paul R

[muddys-blues]

Hi Paul what have you had for the last 2 years ? The Hymek ? ask Laurie @ JLTRT for the air horns, and buffers and buffer detailing, see Steve Fay's threads, well worth the money

 

Best regards

Craig

[RandyWales]

Hi Paul what have you had for the last 2 years ? The Hymek ? ask Laurie @ JLTRT for the air horns, and buffers and buffer detailing, see Steve Fay's threads, well worth the money

Best regards

Craig

Or these....I have both and they are good too...

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/119854-precision-labels-3d-printed-class-37-finescale-air-horns/

[pwr]

Yes sorry the Hymek. Thanks both for the links

 

Paul R

[pwr]

Hello All

 

Sorry about the lack of posts. Not much happening of late. 

 

I realised I had so many unfinished projects on the go I had better sort them out before starting anything new. So this morning I have replaced all the broken pieces on the 37 and adjusted the couplings - Why are Heljan couplings so poor? I also reattached the frost screens that had fallen off and its as good as new now and testing revealed no more split gears.

 

Then on to the Hymek where I have now installed the JLTRT horns.

 

 

There must be something wrong with the colours here - these are painted grey. Excellent castings and a straight replacement for the missing Heljan versions that were missing when I  bought it. I need another steam heat pipe to finish this off - on order. The gears are also holding out on this one which is good as I only have 3 replacements in stock and Howes still have none. I still can't stop the very loud fan motor though and I am seriously thinking of disconnecting it.

 

The signal boxes progress slowly and the gutters are done with the downpipes. I fitted some cooper wire in so that the roof joins through the down pipe. I only need now to put door knobs on the door in the same manner as Mr Klein of this parish - see Tonfanou Camp. Anyhow the pictures will show you where I am at. Other than a couple more bits of the interior to add I can now paint these and have the necessary colours in stock.

 

 

 

 

 

After that I have the Lowmac to finish and some other mostly built Parksides  and the Mark 1 and I can get on with something new. Frustratingly I lost one of the springs for the Lowmac but it turned up several weeks later only to find I have now lost one of the buffers! That will teach me not to finish one thing before I start something else.

 

Probably next on the bench will be a J68 plus the station building. I have the drawings for the latter all sized up.

 

New stock wise I have take delivery of the Dapol meat van which together with the Insulted Van and the Planked version means the available freight stock is now at a respectable level.

 

All for now

 

Paul R

Edited February 1, 2019 by pwr
photos missing

[BrushType4]

Those signal boxes are nice.

[pwr]

Believe it or not I started these in 2014! I must try harder

 

Paul R

[pwr]

Well I suddenly realised its been 10 months since I posted anything. Progress remains slow but there is progress!  The wife has taken the daughter to the Caribbean for a week so I have the place to myself and have all the boards on Notley up bar one and I have been having a bit of time to work on it. After such a long time without being used I am running into issues with poor contact on point blades but otherwise it all works. I had to change out a switch that had got damaged but other than that its all in one piece apart from a set of buffers which has been knocked flat so I will be fixing that too.

 

Anyhow I still have to process the photos but I have taken some video and leave a taster here

 

 

 

I'll post more over the weekend

 

Paul R

[pwr]

Here a Class 15 departs on a short passenger to Bishops Stortford.

 

 

It must be summer because a class 15 is in use and it has no train heating. In fact Class 15's were pretty rare on passenger workings because of that reason.

 

The train is only single carriage because that's all I have that are currently finished. I have a Gresley shorty half built and a Mk1 although that's going into Blue and Grey.

 

Don't forget in my world the line through from Braintree to Bishops Stortford was not closed so would have retained a passenger service of at least 4 trains a day, more on a Saturday. And then there are those that run between terminating at Braintree.

 

More to follow

 

Paul R

[pwr]

I got out the DMU

 

 

The model is a Westdale kit although I didn't build it. I think it came off Bob Moore's stand at a show over 25 years ago. You can see the way the hobby has advanced when you compare the Class 15. Sorry about the Royal headcode by the way.

 

Incidentally does anyone know why RTR diesels seem to go backward. What I mean is that I was always taught the principle of right hand rail positive when building kits. All my locos I built are like this. The DMU is like this and it wasn't built by me. However when you place an RTR diesel on the layout the loco moves in the opposite way when the controller is set to what I have designated forward. Anyone know why this is?

 

Paul R

[pwr]

The Claude has been out again

 

 

The next photo shows my representation of the North Elmham milk train as portrayed by Frank Church in those wonderful East Anglian Photo Albums he published. Ever since I saw that I wanted to model it and here it is.

 

 

As an alternative I could use a J15 but I need to  build one first.

 

Another purchase this year was this green Falcon when Hattons knocked the price down.  I am now in the dubious position of owning more than BR did as I have a blue one also. Its one of my all time favourite engines so I can justify one for the 1960's period and the 1970's. Falcon was trialed on the Norwich main line but not in either of these liveries. I am not getting another one!

 

 

More follows

 

Paul R

[pwr]

More from Notley. 

 

Time has moved on into the 1970's and blue diesels have replaced steam and green diesels.  A class 31 is stabled whilst an inter-regional oil train is hauled up to Braintree by a blue Warship. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason the milk is not running today and the stock is stabled at Black Notley, the dairy having no room! 

 

And here is a video of same

 

 

Still having problems with poor contact on the points. Going to try some Peco Power lube and further adjustments. One of the motors is not throwing the blades in one direction so that needs looking at or changing out.  I think I have a spare. One of the things this week has taught me is that the layout needs to be used, not stuck away gathering dust. 

 

The wife has also said I can leave the layout up for a bit longer after she gets back so I don't need any encouragement

 

More later

 

 

Paul R

[pwr]

A class 40 has been spotted at Black Notley. I think its brought in the daily Speedlink from Stratford to Braintree, which drops off a van at Black Notley.

 

I have been gathering a small selection of air braked stock. I now have a VAA, OAA, VGA and OCA as well as a Heljan Ferrywagon. I have some further kits that include some air braked household coal hoppers and some tanks as well as a bogie bolster so I will be able to have some variety on the seventies era.

 

In the foreground of this shot is the lowmac which I have nearly finished. Having problem getting the transfers to stay on. I have given the black panels a coat of gloss varnish and will carry on from there.

 

Getting to spend some more time at home as I had a small stroke at the weekend so I have some enforced time off work. Slight scare as I woke up with doubt vision and could not walk as I had lost all sense of balance so I thought it was a problem with my central nervous system. Hospital diagnosed minor stroke following an MRI but they don't know why I had it as I am not at high risk so I have to have some follow up out-patients appointments.

 

 

Anyhow all for now

 

Paul R

[muddys-blues]

Looks nice Paul, hope all goes well on the health scare.

 

Best regards

Craig

[pwr]

Thanks Craig.

 

I am hoping to go back to work next week although I may do much more working at home at least initially.

 

In the meantime my enforced absence from work has allowed me to undertake more modelling and with the wife allowing me to keep Notley up for now I am making the most of it.

 

I am going to convert the fiddle yard at the station end into a new scenic board and build a new  (bigger) fiddle yard which will be about 5 or 6 feet long. The running sessions I have had have shown the need for more stock holding space and longer trains. 

 

I also feel I need a little bit more siding space and have plans to extend what was the dairy siding at the rear of the layout by about 6 inches and the yard siding across the board joint by about 12 inches. This track will be embedded into the yard tarmac and thus I am using soldered track as I will be able to add the check rails. The photo shows the start of the works

 

 

I am thinking of moving the dairy to the front of the layout as there will be more room for a dairy building whereas had I left it at the rear it would need to be low relief and the milk tankers would be in the way of shunting the parcels bay. That siding will this become a head shunt and loco holding facility. Still thinking this through, If I move in that direction I think I may well install a 9 inch extension to what will become the new dairy siding. The lengths of track are not great but should make all the difference.

 

I will post pictures as I go

 

All for now Paul R

[pwr]

As my sick leave comes to an end - I am intending to go back to work next week, I am using the time to motor on with the siding extension.

 

This first photo shows the screws in place to protect the track ends.

 

 

The eagle eyed will notice that there are no screws under the existing siding end. This was it was always intended to be a dead end with an end loading dock. I am not going to retrofit as this would mean disturbing the ballast. 

 

The second picture shows the track soldered together

 

 

I have not soldered all the sleepers at both ends as the installation of the check rails will attend to that. I cant find my track gauges so I am going have to rely on eye. A trial on the bit down so far with a four wheel wagon was fine.

 

I need to drill and solder a couple of wires for power and run one through the board connector but that's it. I did think to leave it dead but I figured I could end up with a four wheel wagon down and needing to retrieve it with an 0-6-0 which would then be problematic! 

 

Next job will be to solder in the check rails. Hopefully an update on that tomorrow.

 

Paul R

[pwr]

This afternoon has seen me sort out the gauge tightness in the siding. It seems Heljan wheels kept riding up the rail. I initially thought it was the check rail too close but after having slept on the problem overnight I figured it must be tight to gauge at the derailment point caused by the fact I cant find my gauges! A sizing with the digital calipers confirmed this and a few tweaks with the soldering iron sort that problem. I was also able to wire the siding every easily as the board was wired with expansion in mind. Only 3 wires between existing choc block connectors and bingo it was done. I haven't tested it yet mind although I have run the slitting disc down the PCB sleepers to prevent a short.

 

The picture shows the track ready for testing but before I slit the sleepers.

 

 

I have also finished the Lowmac which is sen here with a 1958 Fordson tractor being delivered to one of the local farms. This is an old MAK K GER kit produced by D and S models and is about 25 years old. I didn't realise that BR continued to produce them after nationalisation. By way of interlude this is the prototype for the old Airfix kit which is still available under the Dapol brand. However when Airfix introduced its RTR product a different prototype was chosen.

 

 

OK now for testing and then infilling

 

All for now

 

Paul R

[pwr]

Testing the siding

 

 

These Dapol motors run like a dream

[pwr]

OK so I have used a Polyfilla infill down the middle of the siding. This should dry fairly quickly in the heat of the conservatory. Then some minor dips to finish and finish embedding the buffers.

 

 

I will probably use card for the surface of the rest of the yard along the lines of Gordon Gravett in a recent issue of MRJ.

 

As an amusing aside, I drove the 08 down the siding and forgot it had a flywheel. The buffers were not fitted at that stage and it went off the track into the bus shelter. I wonder how many times that would have happened in real life had this been a real location!

 

More later

 

Paul R

[pwr]

 A bit of progress on the yard.

 

I have been sticking down sheets of card for what will be the yard surface. Its slightly higher than the adjoining siding but that.s prototypical. I'll fill the gap with ballast and static grass.

 

The white holes are for puddles which will be made from microscope slides using the same method as described by Gordon Gravett for Arun Quay in MRJ 262.

 

 

All for now 

 

Paul R

[pwr]

A little bit more progress on the yard. I have the road surface on the rear of the siding now in and need to put some more ballast in place to bring up the height.

 

In the meantime I have been digging puddles as per Gordon Gravett. The microscope slides and the base of the hole have been coloured gray. They look a bit light but I think that is the photo rather than the colour. These will now be stick into the holes and the top layer of card added - with holes!

 

More soon

 

 

 

 

Paul R

[pwr]

I have now put some extra ballast in between the original siding and the new inset siding. Its still wet at the moment and I am expecting the grey card - which is the top surface - will dry out. I will then come along once I have finished the rest of the yard with the static grass and glass clumps. In the latter days the siding would have become overgrown through little use but back in 1958 when the layout is supposed to be set(!) the siding would be in full use. 

 

I have also had these nagging thoughts about building a 7mm roadrailer system. These were tested on the Braintree branch and indeed there was a depot at one of the stations on the Dunmow side. My thinking is that in the initial days Black Notley was selected as an initial prototype but they simply ran out of space when full sized trains were tried and it moved down the branch.

 

I love rewriting history!

 

 

 

Paul R

[pwr]

Brief update. Not done very much but I have now put some filler round the puddles - the photos show where we are. I have used pollyfilla rather than air drying clay as per Gordon Gravett. I think the result should be similar.

 

 

 

Because the yard is now at a higher level I have had to start building up the ramp from the road.

 

 

I have also been doing some work on the signal boxes and have used Chris Klein's handrail knob idea for the door knobs. I am not that far from finishing these after 4 years!

 

No pictures yet but I will post some soon

 

Paul R

[SDuhig]

Enjoying following your superb modelling as ever.. Steven.

[pwr]

Enjoying following your superb modelling as ever.. Steven.

 

 

Thanks Steven

 

I need to get back up there. Not touched it in three weeks. I work for a student housing accommodation company so the last two weekends have been spent at varying sites round the country welcoming our new students and their anxious parents!

 

The wife is out tomorrow afternoon so I am hoping to make some progress. I've done some more work to the signal boxes and these are now nearly done.

 

Paul R