Wentworth Junction

[Michael Edge]

Next job was to paint the first section of OLE.

I couldn't see any way of painting it in situ so removed it all from the layout - it proved remarkably strong, the wire flops around a bit but no soldered joints broke. After spraying everything grey the catenary has to be painted green - it's all copper wire which turns a rather bright green when oxidised. I couldn't see any way to easily spray this so painted it by hand on the bench, didn't take too long for this short section.

Back on the layout, the posts are still just pushed into holes in the baseboard so height is still adjustable. I'll put the layout back together now to test it with all the locos under power, the next section of landscape can easily be done from the inside.

[John76]

Mike,

 

Excellent as ever. Can you clarify how the auxiliary catenary and contact wires are secured to the registration arms. Have you had to un-solder to paint everything or do they (wires) fit into tiny slots in your arm etch?

 

John

[Michael Edge]

They are just soldered to them, the registration arm has a notch etched in to locate the wire. It was all soldered up before painting and I’ve scraped clean areas where the down line wire will go. Tested with a loco under power today, all works well but the layout needs a clean before I can run it properly.

[Michael Edge]

Once the layout was all cleaned, re-graphited and operational again I had another idea....

There's just enough plain track out of this end of the fiddle yard to fit in a facing crossover which will give access from the up line to the inside of the yard and the kick back sidings, a little work with Templot showed that this was feasible without going down to minimum radius - it is a very long crossover though with 1 in 12 crossings.

This will make a difference for Herculaneum Dock as well, allowing direct access from the kick back sidings to the middle road at Brunswick and the MDHB lines.

[Barry O]

At last.. the other "missing link"!

 

Baz

[Michael Edge]

With all this preliminary work on the OLE I thought it was about time I got started on the EM1 fleet, the layout is going to need at least ten of them and the only one seen so far is only on loan.

I have acquired two of the DC kits mouldings and I already have the bogie etch so -

This is one bogie, Gibson wheels and .5 module plastic gears. The original design (fitted to 26044 seen in other pictures) was based on Mashima 14x26 motors and Romford gears, which is the reason for the large cut out in the centre - the Mitsui motors are much smaller but easily powerful enough, the motors are simply soldered to the inner frames.

The other difference can be seen here, these very long bogies really need some sort of compensation but this isn't easy to arrange with a simple double ended motor drive. The outer axles are held in our usual swinging arms, pivoted at the outer end of the bogie, they don't have to move up and down , just rock and this would normally be under a central knife edge. Instead the axle and gearwheel are held in an etched cradle hung on the motor shaft and so far it seems to work well. On the top of the bogie pivot plate two lengths of .45mm wire are soldered, this end is allowed to rock sideways - the other one has the wires across to allow it to rock lengthways.

The cradle can be seen clearly in this view from underneath, the brake gear is quite complicated as well, sandpipes not fitted yet.

The two bogies together with a simple two pin connector in the wires between them.

A simple frame is needed to connect them, this is a piece of .025" steel bent to go underneath the cab floors at each end with stiffening valances added from .012" steel. The multiplicity of fixing holes reflect the difficulty of access to them, I started with the inner ones but couldn't get the screw heads in and in the end I couldnt get to these either when it was all fitted together so it now has just two in the centre.

It looks like this from underneath, the bogies easily swing far enough - this is only for the DC kits moulding, the eventual kit will do it differently.

Two big chunks of Plastikard glued in to the body provide enough meat to tap 10BA for the fixing screws, the frame is a tight fit inside the body to counteract its tendency to warp inwards.

All together for testing on WJ, parked next to 26044 which I built in 2004 - presently on loan from its owner along with one of the two available Garratts and an EM2

I made the pattern for this moulding nearly 40 years ago and it's looking a bit dated, the main body is OK but there are a few errors in the cab - not to mention the moulded on handrails (I didn't want to put these on it but Charlie insisted). 26044 doesn't look too bad though with all the handrails replaced, proper glazing and our pantographs, however..

I now have test etches for the whole loco and some spare cabs so the idea is to cut the cabs off the mouldings and replace them with etched ones. These are seen from the inside with quite a lot of rivets to punch out.

This is the latest version of the bogie etch but without the gear cradle - I only had two of these and built them both. The drawing shows a the left another idea I drew up  with a chain of spur gears connecting the axles, these would have to go slightly off centre to allow for a knife edge rocker but I've not tried this idea yet.

Finally I soon realised that I would have to remove the register arms from the down line otherwise nothing could run there with pans up. I can't arrange a sufficient ramp under the proper OLE to get the pans under - that will be at the other end of the layout under Gilroyd Lane bridge.

Layout all back working again now, the next few boards' scenery can be done from the inside without any dismantling.

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

The other difference can be seen here, these very long bogies really need some sort of compensation but this isn't easy to arrange with a simple double ended motor drive. The outer axles are held in our usual swinging arms, pivoted at the outer end of the bogie, they don't have to move up and down , just rock and this would normally be under a central knife edge. Instead the axle and gearwheel are held in an etched cradle hung on the motor shaft and so far it seems to work well. On the top of the bogie pivot plate two lengths of .45mm wire are soldered, this end is allowed to rock sideways - the other one has the wires across to allow it to rock lengthways.

Are you going to connect the two bogies together?

 

3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I now have test etches for the whole loco and some spare cabs so the idea is to cut the cabs off the mouldings and replace them with etched ones. These are seen from the inside with quite a lot of rivets to punch out.

If you find that you have a couple of those headcode discs spare, I think they would look very nice on my Rails/Heljan 18000...

 

3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Finally I soon realised that I would have to remove the register arms from the down line otherwise nothing could run there with pans up.

Presumably that's only temporary until the Down line knitting is finished?

[Michael Edge]

I'm not really sure how the coupling between the bogies works, presumably it has some sort of springing in there - it can't always stay the same length on curves and ours are a lot sharper than the full size ones had to get round.

I've got plenty of headcode discs, I would have put some in with your Christmas card if I'd known...

That's all the OLE I'm doing for now, it was just a test of techniques, the register arms will go back in when all the rest of it is done but I'll have to start the down line wiring from the bridge at the other end anyway - I'll probably build the bridge next to make sure I can get the pans to go down under it.

[St Enodoc]

5 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

I'm not really sure how the coupling between the bogies works

Nor am I but a diagonal linkage might work, a bit like cross-braced self-steering freight wagon bogies. Perhaps @charliepetty knows more?

 

6 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

I've got plenty of headcode discs, I would have put some in with your Christmas card if I'd known...

Thanks. It's the little ones where the electric lamp shines through the middle I'm referring to. I can wait another year, or @Barry O might find space in his luggage...

 

7 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

the register arms will go back in when all the rest of it is done

I thought that's what you meant!

[Michael Edge]

This is part of the GA of showing the bogie coupling.

This is what it looks like from the outside.

This is part of the GA of the NER locos which were in large part the basis of the EM1 design - clearly shows springs.

It would be nice to have the bogies coupled but don't forget that the full size locos were notoriously rough riding - to the extent of having to provide the drivers with sprung seats. I don't know about the NER locos, their drivers had to stand anyway...

[Enterprisingwestern]

15 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

With all this preliminary work on the OLE I thought it was about time I got started on the EM1 fleet, the layout is going to need at least ten of them and the only one seen so far is only on loan.

I have acquired two of the DC kits mouldings and I already have the bogie etch so -

This is one bogie, Gibson wheels and .5 module plastic gears. The original design (fitted to 26044 seen in other pictures) was based on Mashima 14x26 motors and Romford gears, which is the reason for the large cut out in the centre - the Mitsui motors are much smaller but easily powerful enough, the motors are simply soldered to the inner frames.

The other difference can be seen here, these very long bogies really need some sort of compensation but this isn't easy to arrange with a simple double ended motor drive. The outer axles are held in our usual swinging arms, pivoted at the outer end of the bogie, they don't have to move up and down , just rock and this would normally be under a central knife edge. Instead the axle and gearwheel are held in an etched cradle hung on the motor shaft and so far it seems to work well. On the top of the bogie pivot plate two lengths of .45mm wire are soldered, this end is allowed to rock sideways - the other one has the wires across to allow it to rock lengthways.

The cradle can be seen clearly in this view from underneath, the brake gear is quite complicated as well, sandpipes not fitted yet.

The two bogies together with a simple two pin connector in the wires between them.

A simple frame is needed to connect them, this is a piece of .025" steel bent to go underneath the cab floors at each end with stiffening valances added from .012" steel. The multiplicity of fixing holes reflect the difficulty of access to them, I started with the inner ones but couldn't get the screw heads in and in the end I couldnt get to these either when it was all fitted together so it now has just two in the centre.

It looks like this from underneath, the bogies easily swing far enough - this is only for the DC kits moulding, the eventual kit will do it differently.

Two big chunks of Plastikard glued in to the body provide enough meat to tap 10BA for the fixing screws, the frame is a tight fit inside the body to counteract its tendency to warp inwards.

All together for testing on WJ, parked next to 26044 which I built in 2004 - presently on loan from its owner along with one of the two available Garratts and an EM2

I made the pattern for this moulding nearly 40 years ago and it's looking a bit dated, the main body is OK but there are a few errors in the cab - not to mention the moulded on handrails (I didn't want to put these on it but Charlie insisted). 26044 doesn't look too bad though with all the handrails replaced, proper glazing and our pantographs, however..

I now have test etches for the whole loco and some spare cabs so the idea is to cut the cabs off the mouldings and replace them with etched ones. These are seen from the inside with quite a lot of rivets to punch out.

This is the latest version of the bogie etch but without the gear cradle - I only had two of these and built them both. The drawing shows a the left another idea I drew up  with a chain of spur gears connecting the axles, these would have to go slightly off centre to allow for a knife edge rocker but I've not tried this idea yet.

Finally I soon realised that I would have to remove the register arms from the down line otherwise nothing could run there with pans up. I can't arrange a sufficient ramp under the proper OLE to get the pans under - that will be at the other end of the layout under Gilroyd Lane bridge.

Layout all back working again now, the next few boards' scenery can be done from the inside without any dismantling.

 

Be still my beating heart.

Wibdenshaw might gain some knitting at this rate!

 

Mike.

[Michael Edge]

I was going to suggest that Mike....

[Barry O]

While Mike is busy doing "knitting" and EM1 building I am doing the simple things..

 

A while ago on a visit to Australia @St Enodoc had a couple of RCH mineral open kits doing nothing. While they have been built, painted, decaled and weathered. Todays task has been to fit some pit props for the Colliery Branch. 

 

 

These are blackberry canes cut to size, then the bark is peeled off. Only one more to go!

 

I aso picked up (cheaply) two Hornby Coke Wagons. These have been repainted (they arrived in a very late light grey livery)  and weathered as "gently  rusty"

 

 

I have found a complete 3H Kit which may be built and two others which need resurrecting but I think that is enough for the Coke Wagon Fleet!

 

Baz

 

 

[Michael Edge]

Back to the EM1 last weekend.

The EM1 test etch included some extra cabs, four of these are being built to fit on to the two resin moulded bodies I have. This is a partly built one perched on the end of the inner frame seen before in the moulded body - it will actually fit lower than this. With the addition of quite a bit of lead this now runs very well, plenty of power in the two Mitsumi motors - and room for more weight if necessary.

Two cabs finished, the marker light mouldings are from our EB1 kit, handrails in n/s as the early locos often had them polished bright along with the front window frames. Plan is to now saw the cabs off the moulding and fit the etched ones, with luck the cab roof can then be removed and fitted to the etch, this will be a resin moulding in the future kit anyway. The side windows in the main body aren't too difficult to glaze properly but the cab ones are, not to mention the necessity to remove and replace the moulded handrails. This etch doesn't include the small square recesses in the top of the cab sides, these appeared on EM1s later but may necessitate two additional cab side etchings. The front handrails changed position when the locos were fitted for MU operation and air brakes but the solution to this will be to not etch these two holes right through and mark the two higher ones as well. At the moment for WJ I only need early vacuum brake only locos and they will all be black.

[John76]

Mike

 

Given that you have said the resin EM1s were made 5% larger to accommodate shrinkage that never occurred, will that cause you any issues when you offer up the new cabs?

 

John

[Michael Edge]

It looks OK so far but I won't know until I saw the cabs off, there won't be much of a problem at the sides but I can't be sure about the roof yet. I was originally going to do these two as moulded just for speed - and then didn't much like the idea of glazing them. I've done it before, see 26044 on the layout at the moment, but it's not easy.

If the combination doesn't work I'll just have to build the rest of the etch.....

[Michael Edge]

More on the EM1 test.

Cabs sawn off the moulding, razor saw did the job quite easily, etched cabs balanced roughly in place.

Some brass wires and strips soldered to the back of the cab in preparation for fixing in place.

Cabs fitted with superglue and Plastic Padding, held with bulldog clips while it all cures.

The moulded cabs were further dismembered to remove the roof, one of these used to produce a mould. These are the moulded cab roofs fitted with Plastic Padding, just the pantographs to build now.

Cutting up the moulded body revealed a few faults in my pattern making from nearly 40 years ago, the worst one being that the roof profile isn't the same at each end, No1 end being a bit too flat. The angle of the front windows was a bit too steep as well, I didn't have access to the GA drawing in 1984, so the moulded roof needed to be shortened a little. I've left the moulded horns on for now but they may get replaced later. The steps below the cab doors are correctly set in but this does restrict the bogie swing a bit too much, although the loco runs happily round WJ and the fiddle yard. Still to do are the lower steps on the bogies, these may eventually be lost wax castings, along with vacuum pipes.

This will be one of the early locos in lined black livery with polished cab handrails and window frames.

[John76]

Mike 

 

These are looking great. i'm guessing the size of the resin body hasn't been an issue in the end. Did you ever consider doing an overlay etch for the lower body sides to get that distinctive dip in the centre?

 

John

[Michael Edge]

No, these are only a quick job to get at least some EM1s available. The rest of the loco is etched so the third one will be the final test etch for a kit. 

[cheesysmith]

https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=4284

 

Found this on facebook. If I done it right, a link to the accident report at wentworth jcn.

[Michael Edge]

Very interesting, I knew about the crash but hadn't seen the report. It was the reason why trains off the branch changed from going to Barnsley Junction and instead headed up towards Wath before reversing to head west, as far as I know the Worsbrough line remained permissive block though.

[cheesysmith]

I like how the maneuver was done. The diesel pulls the loaded out, then the elective take over to pull it onto the main, where another electric goes on the other end (now the front) and they then proceed to penistone. The diesel then take the empties the electric brought and propelled them up the branch.

 

Permissive working, I think it is now extinct on NR. It tended to be used where freight trains got bunched up to maintain line capacity. In this case whilst the trains were getting the banker at the rear. I don't remember the wosborough line, but do remember permissive working on the approaches to tinsley and the goods lines past chesterfield approaching clay cross junction for trains going into toton.

[Michael Edge]

The MGR trains needed four EM1s to get up the hill. Permissive block was common on goods lines, drivers were supposed to proceed slowly and be ready to stop before hitting the brake van of the train in front. There was another well known accident on the Carlisle goods avoiding line involving a Britannia - Arrow.

[5BarVT]

6 hours ago, cheesysmith said:

Permissive working, I think it is now extinct on NR.

Plenty of permissive working left in colour light areas.  Don’t often see it used for freight as there isn’t as much traffic as there used to be, but the facilities are still there in many places.

Paul.

[Michael Edge]

I've read through the accident report now, it makes very interesting reading, detailing exactly how the branch was operated in the early 70s. I had seen photos of the crash and the derailment of 26009 but didn't realise they were at the same time, it all makes sense now.

The earlier practice had been to use the pair of banking locos to pull the MGR off the branch on to the down main, outside the home signal (29), the diesel parked in what I have called the colliery siding. Two more locos had arrived from Barnsley Junction with the empties which they propelled on to the colliery branch - it was wired just far enough to do this. They then had to get to the front of the loaded train via the facing slip connection (23) to the down main, which is where 26009 came to grief.

Previous information suggested that operation was changed to drawing the full trains on to the up main before reversing to head west but I can't see how this could have been done if the empty train was still on the up main - unless the diesel was then used to shunt the empties from there up to the pit after the loaded train had left?

The accident report more or less says that the drivers of the following train were probably colluding in a partly fictional account of what happened! The Kendall Green signalman was held responsible for not making sure the drivers knew about the block being occupied though. Incidentally there is much mention of the train and banker drivers exchanging horn signals, I was under the impression that the EM1s were fitted with a telephone system via the OLE to talk to each other but there is no mention of this at all.