Charlie Strong Metals (and Watery Lane Sidings)

[Ruston]

Gauging trials.

 bought this second hand for the loft layout that has yet to materialise and have had it for a few years now. It has never run on any layout whilst in my ownership. I still can't run it as I don't have a decoder that will fit, so I have been coupling it to wagons and pushing it about, by hand. It seems as if it will go round the curve, and it also looks as if it can haul a train, despite the massive overhangs with the couplings being fixed to the body. It certainly won't be able to propel anything around the curve but then it won't need to. The only way to really test it is to buy a decoder. I may just take all the other locos off and disconnect the wires to the DCC unit, put a pair of wires to the track, via crocodile clips, and run it from an old Gaugemaster DC controller that I keep in the shed. If it all works as hoped I could then invest in a sound decoder. I do like a bit of baby Sulzer sound.

 

 

[Ruston]

[AlfaZagato]

I would have agonized for hours looking for a gap or way to hop that fence as a kid.

 

Fear of prosecution would deter me as an adult.  Slightly.

 

Great angle, though.

[F-UnitMad]

On 17/01/2023 at 18:10, Ruston said:

Gauging trials.

 

 

Gauging trials?? Has it not come in for scrapping..??!! 👍👍🤣😁😇

[Enterprisingwestern]

12 hours ago, Ruston said:

 

That has more than a hint of C F Booths about it.

 

Mike.

[Ruston]

17 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

I would have agonized for hours looking for a gap or way to hop that fence as a kid.

 

Fear of prosecution would deter me as an adult.  Slightly.

 

Great angle, though.

The reputation of the Shelbys, and the big dog in the yard, ought to be enough to deter anyone. 😄 But in the real world I wouldn't have dared to it when I was a kid. It wouldn't bother me now, but I'm no longer capable of hopping over a fence like that. 🤔

 

12 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

Gauging trials?? Has it not come in for scrapping..??!! 👍👍🤣😁😇

No. I'm going to use it, but of course if that will drive around under its own power, one of those old Hornby ones could be pulled. Take out the motor and replace the chunky wheels and I could have BR locos coming in for scrapping. Recreate the Vic Berry stack. ISTR a layout that was either in one of the magazines, or at exhibition, where there was a stack of dead Class 25s and 45s. Or am I just making that up?

 

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

That has more than a hint of C F Booths about it.

 

Mike.

The entire scrapyard is based on Booth's. I used to go to Booth's often and in the 80s you'd never know what you'd find at the next visit. Usually locos from closed pits. They would let you wander about back then and the gates, where the line crossed Millmoor Lane were always open. It all changed once they started scrapping ex-BR locomotives. Instead of the occasional industrial nut, they were plagued by gricers and so locked the gates and even plated over them.

 

 

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, Ruston said:

The reputation of the Shelbys, and the big dog in the yard, ought to be enough to deter anyone. 😄 But in the real world I wouldn't have dared to it when I was a kid. It wouldn't bother me now, but I'm no longer capable of hopping over a fence like that. 🤔

 

No. I'm going to use it, but of course if that will drive around under its own power, one of those old Hornby ones could be pulled. Take out the motor and replace the chunky wheels and I could have BR locos coming in for scrapping. Recreate the Vic Berry stack. ISTR a layout that was either in one of the magazines, or at exhibition, where there was a stack of dead Class 25s and 45s. Or am I just making that up?

 

The entire scrapyard is based on Booth's. I used to go to Booth's often and in the 80s you'd never know what you'd find at the next visit. Usually locos from closed pits. They would let you wander about back then and the gates, where the line crossed Millmoor Lane were always open. It all changed once they started scrapping ex-BR locomotives. Instead of the occasional industrial nut, they were plagued by gricers and so locked the gates and even plated over them.

 

 

 

 

 

Back in the 60's/70's, before scrapyards became "popular" Booths got through a prodigious number of ex BR shunters, not to mention buses, and if Colin and his V12 E Type were around a respectful request was always positively received.

 

Mike.

.

[Din]

To be honest, one could just ask the man and his dog nicely.

 

I know similar happened at John Knowles (Wooden Box Ltd) with the security guard Morris. He'd happily have you come up into his hut for a cuppa and to keep an eye on the crossing at the railway and watch the various goings on.

 

So long as the bosses dinna see, of course!

[Ruston]

The trial, under power, of the Class 25 Bo-Bo.

 

It will drive itself around the curves and can pull a train around the outer one, even with the massive overhang. It can propel through the Y-point at the end of the loop, but not all types of wagons. It can't do 16-ton minerals, but can do longer wheelbase wagons. It can't propel anything around the curves at all as the buffers swing out so far as to no longer make contact with the buffers on the wagon that it's attempting to propel.

 

It doesn't really need to shunt anything at all. It only needs to bring trains in and get out of the  way whilst the works locos do their thing and then haul its brake van, or another train, away. As for the actual gauging, the fan housing hits the top of the opening in the backscene, where the road bridge crosses the railway. That would need to be opened up.

 

All in all, it's not really worth investing in a sound decoder for a loco that is of very limited use. Back in the box and back on the shelf for the 25.

[Ruston]

This 48DS hasn't been seen on these pages since July 2020. The decoder went pop and when I eventually sent it for repair/replacement, I fitted it into something else when it came back. I recently acquired a second hand decoder that already had the Ruston sound project on and so have just finished fitting it to return the loco to service.

 

[Ruston]

And then there's this one that has featured in a couple of recent pics. I'm surprised that no-one's asked about it.

 

[Ramblin Rich]

18 minutes ago, Ruston said:

And then there's this one that has featured in a couple of recent pics. I'm surprised that no-one's asked about it.

 

Go on then, I'll ask. What is it...?

[Ruston]

21 minutes ago, Ramblin Rich said:

Go on then, I'll ask. What is it...?

Since you ask... 😁

 

It's a Motor Rail 14-ton 65/85HP diesel. They date to the late 1950s and perhaps only half a dozen were built, some as a 12-ton version. Powered by a Dorman 4DL.

 

The kit is a body-only, from Planet Industrials and runs on a Hornby 48DS chassis. It's all a bit fudged to tell the truth - the wheelbase of the Ruston is too short for the prototype Motor Rail Ruston 5ft. 3in. MR 5ft. 11in.) and to make the model body's wheelbase appear longer, only one of the axleboxes lines up with the axle on the chassis, but it does look the part. I made the mistake of fitting the LH side panel the wrong way up (there are no instructions with the kit) and so the engine compartment door should be next to the cab. The lights, horn and exhaust pipe are all my own additions as the kit doesn't come with any of that.

 

12-ton version, from a Motor Rail brochure.

 

MR w/n 5765 seen at Peak Rail, Buxton, 1987.

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by Ruston

[AlfaZagato]

I will point out that Planet Industrials makes their directions available online for download.   Part of a trend new kitmakers are moving towards.

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Ruston said:

Since you ask... 😁

 

It's a Motor Rail 14-ton 65/85HP diesel. They date to the late 1950s and perhaps only half a dozen were built, some as a 12-ton version. Powered by a Dorman 4DL.

 

The kit is a body-only, from Planet Industrials and runs on a Hornby 48DS chassis. It's all a bit fudged to tell the truth - the wheelbase of the Ruston is too short for the prototype Motor Rail Ruston 5ft. 3in. MR 5ft. 11in.) and to make the model body's wheelbase appear longer, only one of the axleboxes lines up with the axle on the chassis, but it does look the part. I made the mistake of fitting the LH side panel the wrong way up (there are no instructions with the kit) and so the engine compartment door should be next to the cab. The lights, horn and exhaust pipe are all my own additions as the kit doesn't come with any of that.

 

12-ton version, from a Motor Rail brochure.

 

MR w/n 5765 seen at Peak Rail, Buxton, 1987.

 

I was wondering if MR5765 survives, as many industrial shunters from the early days of preservation were acquired free and treated as disposable.  It looks like it no longer exists, but 5763 does, on the Strathspey, as an example of one of these little oddities.  The photo is from nearly ten years ago and suggests it needs a little work.:

http://ukprsl.uk/final-results.asp?action=display&Id=1798

 

[Ruston]

21 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

I will point out that Planet Industrials makes their directions available online for download.   Part of a trend new kitmakers are moving towards.

They do actually provide a printed version of the pdf download, so when I said there are no instructions, that wasn't quite right. It's just that they are very general and there is nothing specific about the fitting of the side panels. I should have looked at the photo, so there's really no one to blame by myself.

 

The instructions say that it should be assembled using superglue and this is what I used, but I wouldn't recommend it. Even with the gel types, that give a little time to adjust the fit, they still go off quickly. If I had used epoxy I would have had time to remove and refit the panels. I noticed that I'd done it wrong within a couple of minutes, but by then it was too late with the superglue.

 

21 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I was wondering if MR5765 survives, as many industrial shunters from the early days of preservation were acquired free and treated as disposable.  It looks like it no longer exists, but 5763 does, on the Strathspey, as an example of one of these little oddities.  The photo is from nearly ten years ago and suggests it needs a little work.:

http://ukprsl.uk/final-results.asp?action=display&Id=1798

 

I have been wondering about 5765 too. I don't remember seeing it after Peak Rail moved to their present location, so I guess it was sold for scrap as I've never seen or heard anything of it since. 5763 has moved to the Bon Accord Locomotive Society in the last week or so and is to be restored.

[SteveyDee68]

On 25/01/2023 at 20:04, Ruston said:

12-ton version, from a Motor Rail brochure.

 

MR w/n 5765 seen at Peak Rail, Buxton, 1987.

 

Is it me, or are those Motor Rail locos ugly little beggars?!

 

Having said that, there is something strangely appealing about their almost totally utilitarian looks.

 

And having said that, give me a Ruston 48DS or 88DS any day for their looks/design.

 

Stangely enough, I think that holds for the two companies’ respective narrow gauge offerings, too! Of course, just my opinion.

 

As far as @Ruston’s models are concerned, I’d be thrilled to have anything to those standards of finish, incorrect door panel or not.

 

Looking forward to seeing what next emerges from the cabinet, sir! Feels like the title of a book or film … Ruston’s Cabinet of Curiosities

 

Steve S

[Ruston]

On 27/01/2023 at 00:49, SteveyDee68 said:

Looking forward to seeing what next emerges from the cabinet, sir! Feels like the title of a book or film … Ruston’s Cabinet of Curiosities

😄

 

From the Cabinet of Curiosities, today, is the Brush-Beyer Peacock 200HP diesel-electric.

I don't know how many of these kits have been sold, but I've only ever seen two others on the pages of RMweb and one of those I built! It's a really good kit of a really interesting prototype and deserves more attention.

[Michael Edge]

It’s been selling steadily and we’ve seen quite a few built - not always the case.

[AlfaZagato]

Looks like B-P had SW cabs for some reason, decided to make a shunter.

[sir douglas]

 

[Rich_F]

On 28/01/2023 at 19:07, Ruston said:

😄

 

From the Cabinet of Curiosities, today, is the Brush-Beyer Peacock 200HP diesel-electric.

I don't know how many of these kits have been sold, but I've only ever seen two others on the pages of RMweb and one of those I built! It's a really good kit of a really interesting prototype and deserves more attention.

 

That's a wonderful loco. I'm only just catching up the this entire thread. Is this a kitbuilt or RTR loco? 

[cctransuk]

1 minute ago, Weeny Works said:

 

That's a wonderful loco. I'm only just catching up the this entire thread. Is this a kitbuilt or RTR loco? 

 

Ruston's post of 27th makes it clear that it is a kit, and subsequent posts point to the fact that it is a Judith Edge kit.

 

CJI.

[Michael Edge]

We do have the kit in stock at the moment.....

[Ruston]

A BR Commer FC van.