Peasevern Yard - 7mm BR Blue shunting layout

[Nick G]

Looking forward to seeing it at Crewe.

[37114]

10 minutes ago, Nick G said:

Looking forward to seeing it at Crewe.

Thanks Nick, look forward to meeting you,  Dyserth Road was one of my fave layouts at the time and I remember doing the mods to the Bachmann 08 pick ups having read it on your website 

[sf315]

5 hours ago, 37114 said:

Playtime today as it is less than 3 months to the next outing at Crewe. I wanted to test the layout now that the platform extension is complete as is the CCT.

 

The Platform extension; this looks better but will get a few tweaks to improve the join:

The new CCT, now weathered:

37029 was the initial loco of choice,  especially as I had to do some minor bogie repairs after Westbury 

 

 

This shot was a new angle, it basically required my phone to be placed in the canal...

The CCT looks great. It’s a lovely model must get round to weathering mine. 

Unfortunately will miss the Crewe show although very local to where I live I’ll be at another show in Macclesfield with my N gauge. Hope to get to see the layout sometime though.  

[37114]

3 hours ago, sf315 said:

The CCT looks great. It’s a lovely model must get round to weathering mine. 

Unfortunately will miss the Crewe show although very local to where I live I’ll be at another show in Macclesfield with my N gauge. Hope to get to see the layout sometime though.  

Thanks, enjoy the Macclesfield show. Crewe is a bit of an outlier geography wise for me as I don't normally get that far North but I am going to keep this layout for quite a while so there maybe other opportunities.

[Rob Curnow]

A debate has been taking place on another forum as to how 03121 came to be fitted with a bell high up on the cab front. Circumstantial evidence suggests it might have been acquired while based at Swansea for use in the docks but was retained when it came to Bristol.  While trying to source photos, I suddenly remembered seeing your layout at Larkrail last year including Bath Road's other loco 03382.  Great layout by the way!

 

Looking at photos of your models, I see 121 does not have the bell which was located just under the single air horn.  Something else I noticed is that your model of 382 appears to have twin horns whereas photos of the prototype only show one.  Granted your model is just a representation of the location where these locos worked but I'm intrigued as to why both models are different with this detail.

 

Roy 

[37114]

4 hours ago, Rob Curnow said:

A debate has been taking place on another forum as to how 03121 came to be fitted with a bell high up on the cab front. Circumstantial evidence suggests it might have been acquired while based at Swansea for use in the docks but was retained when it came to Bristol.  While trying to source photos, I suddenly remembered seeing your layout at Larkrail last year including Bath Road's other loco 03382.  Great layout by the way!

 

Looking at photos of your models, I see 121 does not have the bell which was located just under the single air horn.  Something else I noticed is that your model of 382 appears to have twin horns whereas photos of the prototype only show one.  Granted your model is just a representation of the location where these locos worked but I'm intrigued as to why both models are different with this detail.

 

Roy 

Hi Roy,

 

Great attention to detail! 03121 is awaiting fitment of a bell, I got as far as removing one horn but I haven't found a suitable bell yet is the main reason it is missing. When I modelled 03121 in 4mm I used a top hat bearing but wasn't comfortable it would work in 7mm. 03121 also had a  car number plate at the cab end for a while but it appears this was after 1978 so too late for my layout. 

 

I hadn't noticed about 03382's horn, I will have a look later this week. There are a couple of other bits not quite correct on it which I should fix, namely the bufferbeam handrails and the overhead warning plates so it is due some works attention!

[Rob Curnow]

Pleased to hear you're on the case Rob.  I was the Technical Officer at Bath Road late 70s but had little to do with this pair of shunters. We did once have to use a ship's chandlery to get hold of a Bowden cable which I think was part of the throttle assembly.  Now that you mention the car number plate, that vaguely rings a bell.  No idea why it was there but I suspect it might have come from a scrap car maybe having been picked up by one of the crew. 

 

The photo of 382 I referred to is in the Railphotoprints catalogue. A good shot looking down from either the old Midland bridge or Easton Road bridge by Lawrence Hill.  Nice clean blue livery but somebody went a bit mad with the overhead warning flashes.  I seem to recall that the runner wagons these locos ran with to assist with track circuit operation were either a 13 ton steel open or possibly a Conflat.

 

Roy 

[37114]

1 hour ago, Rob Curnow said:

Pleased to hear you're on the case Rob.  I was the Technical Officer at Bath Road late 70s but had little to do with this pair of shunters. We did once have to use a ship's chandlery to get hold of a Bowden cable which I think was part of the throttle assembly.  Now that you mention the car number plate, that vaguely rings a bell.  No idea why it was there but I suspect it might have come from a scrap car maybe having been picked up by one of the crew. 

 

The photo of 382 I referred to is in the Railphotoprints catalogue. A good shot looking down from either the old Midland bridge or Easton Road bridge by Lawrence Hill.  Nice clean blue livery but somebody went a bit mad with the overhead warning flashes.  I seem to recall that the runner wagons these locos ran with to assist with track circuit operation were either a 13 ton steel open or possibly a Conflat.

 

Roy 

Thanks Roy, the photos I have seen show 13t opens and HYBARs being used as well as conflate, the former 2 both being used on the layout.

[Rob Curnow]

Regarding the source of a bell, I wonder if something suitable might be available from the model boating fraternity.  Have a look at www.maritime-models.co.uk and put bell in the search box.  I'm sure there will be other suppliers of these sorts of details.  Failing that I suppose it's a case of turning one up in the lathe or even in the power drill just as you would a dome for a steam loco.

 

Roy   

[Sitham Yard]

1 hour ago, Rob Curnow said:

Regarding the source of a bell, I wonder if something suitable might be available from the model boating fraternity.  Have a look at www.maritime-models.co.uk and put bell in the search box.  I'm sure there will be other suppliers of these sorts of details.  Failing that I suppose it's a case of turning one up in the lathe or even in the power drill just as you would a dome for a steam loco.

 

Roy   

Cornwall Model Boats have various size bells in stock.

Andrew

[37114]

4 hours ago, Rob Curnow said:

Regarding the source of a bell, I wonder if something suitable might be available from the model boating fraternity.  Have a look at www.maritime-models.co.uk and put bell in the search box.  I'm sure there will be other suppliers of these sorts of details.  Failing that I suppose it's a case of turning one up in the lathe or even in the power drill just as you would a dome for a steam loco.

 

Roy   

 

2 hours ago, Sitham Yard said:

Cornwall Model Boats have various size bells in stock.

Andrew

Thanks Guys, I had a quick look on ebay last night and have found a bell that looks like it will do the job for a couple of pounds, hard to judge the size but if dosen't look quite right then I will at least have something to scale to then look at one of the above links.

[daifly]

I needed some bells for some Swansea Harbour Trust (SHT) locos and got them from Andy Beaton (Ragstone Models). They are the ones supplied with the Agenoria kits of SHT Pecketts etc.. I can't find them on his parts list but he will supply them.

Dave

[37114]

Thanks for all the suggestions on the bell, hopefully this will be sorted soon. While waiting for the bell to arrive I have made a start on the cement silo for the extension which will be the biggest structure on the layout;

http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/File:Avon_Street13.jpg

I have drawn some rough dimensions based on the drawings shared by @bazjones1711 on the top of page 18.

 

 

I was lucky to get some of the raw materials from Frome the other week which was Plaststruct lengths while some 4mm scale cladding was purchased on line. I went for 4mm as it looked a better match for the structure in the picture.

 

Firstly I built the end frames. One end had a door way in the cladding which I scaled based on a figure

 

 

The next stage was to make the side cladding which comes further down the sides to make the box structure which is 250mm high. 

 

Some head scratching is going on to as to what to make the drum part. A funnel is favourite for the lower part, a length of below ground drainage for the main body and not a clue for the top.

[37114]

03121 now has a bell, thanks to @Rob Curnow for the prompt, I have been meaning to fit a bell for for while but the post spurred me into action. My cheapo ebay bell has done the job perfectly and came with a tail which just required a hole to be drilled in the bonnet. The bell was silver so I got some bronze paint and gave it a quick coat, it now looks the part.

 

 

I took the opportunity to study more closely pictures of the actual 03s and there are quite a few differences between the Heljan 03 and my models, more than I initially thought. I will wait until after the summer to decide what I do as some are easier to fix than others and I don't have lots of spare time between now and Crewe & Calne.

[Ruston]

On 19/01/2023 at 21:56, 37114 said:

Some head scratching is going on to as to what to make the drum part. A funnel is favourite for the lower part, a length of below ground drainage for the main body and not a clue for the top.

Is the top conical, or at least partly so? I made a cone from Plastikard for my colliery washer. The same method would work for this.

[37114]

41 minutes ago, Ruston said:

Is the top conical, or at least partly so? I made a cone from Plastikard for my colliery washer. The same method would work for this.

Yes it is Dave, I am having similar thoughts, was going to make the bottom and middle part if it first then go from there. My good lady is out tonight so the funnels in the Kitchen need to watch out...

[Nick G]

2 hours ago, 37114 said:

Yes it is Dave, I am having similar thoughts, was going to make the bottom and middle part if it first then go from there. My good lady is out tonight so the funnels in the Kitchen need to watch out...

 

Are you talking about a conical exhaust? I thought 03121 had a flower pot exhaust.

 

[37114]

21 minutes ago, Nick G said:

 

Are you talking about a conical exhaust? I thought 03121 had a flower pot exhaust.

 

Hi Nick, no the cement silo, apologies for the confusion.  03121 does indeed have a flower pot exhaust 

[Nick G]

1 minute ago, 37114 said:

Hi Nick, no the cement silo, apologies for the confusion.  03121 does indeed have a flower pot exhaust 

 

The confusion was my doing, I should read properly!

[37114]

It has been a good day for the progress on the silo as I have found a solution for 2 of the 3 parts of the silo body. 

 

For the middle vertical part I needed a tube around 144mm wide which was proving elusive. My wife came to the rescue and provided a massive glass vase of the right diameter. I decided that the best way was to make 2 discs of plastic card by drawing around the vase which would become the top and bottom of the vertical middle part of the silo. I would then make vertical formers mounted between the discs around which I would wrap plastic card. While the idea seemed sound I was worried about the strength of the arrangement and getting it vertical. The solution was to involve an old tin of Hammerite;

 

I then added my vertical formers to fix the plasticard to;

 

 

I left it at that for the evening and will put the cladding on tomorrow and then raided the kitchen drawer for the aforementioned funnel. The good news is a suitable funnel was found that can be cut down and glued to the bottom of the middle part, I just need to secure a replacement so it can be let out of the Kitchen.

 

 

[37114]

More progress today, I successfully negotiated the release of the funnel from the kitchen drawer so this was cut down to the right height. I also needed to cut the indent at the top of the cladding (as per the real silo) for the funnel. The funnel is not very visible in the photo below but is there and looks more prominent in the flesh. There will be a lot of detail to add to the silo body and I am exploring the idea of Rivet transfers which is something I have never tried before 

[37114]

More progress on the cement silo today in that I have made the conical part at the top of the silo. There was no real option other than to scratch build this bit using formers and plasticard cut to the right shape. To anchor the formers to I used the top a Varnish spray can then cut triangular formers which were glued around the outside.

 

Now people cleverer than me would no doubt be able to work out the correct shape for the plasticard to fit over the former which needs to cut into a horseshoe shape. I resorted to trial and error with paper first to get the right shape template after which I then drew onto plasticard. Due to the size of the structure I needed 2 pieces but got there in the end. I resorted to sellotape to hold it all in place while the glue went off. I need to fill a couple of gaps but will put an extra layer of card on top in smaller panels to represent the individual panels of the real hopper which will hid most of any discrepancies.

[37114]

The silo has progressed further, I have started to add the cladding to the roof and also the support strapping on the vertical section of the body. Making the cone part was hard work to get right but at least the basic structure is complete and I can add the cladding and detail parts which I enjoy more.

 

[37114]

Latest wagon purchase is this LMS 20T brake van which is in need of some TLC (bargain price of £20!) but is perfect for my needs as it will undergo a drastic transformation... 

 

 

Many years ago while demonstrating at a show I built a 00 gauge Airfix 20t brake van but modelled it with the body burnt out, a picture of it appears in the first post of this thread. It was a nice model and often attracted comment on both Pallet Lane and Peafore Yard, before being sold on when I sold off my 4mm wagons. Ever since I started operating this layout and realised the scrap siding had some unused space I thought about building a 7mm version but struggled to overcome a mental barrier of spending £50+ on a wagon  to then destroy 60% of it. My preference was also for a plastic kit rather than a ready to run version to make the conversion easier.

 

The van looks to have been dropped at some point with some damage to the brake gear and a missing step board as well as bent lamp irons. The 3 tail lamps will be removed for use on my other brake vans. I have a few pictures to go off from a similar van sadly damaged in preservation to work out where the framing will go. Plan is to start work when the silo is finished as I don't like having too many projects on the go.

[37114]

It is just over a month until Peasevern Yard's next outing way up North (by my standards) in Crewe and with a day off I took the opportunity to set up the layout for a test run. I was also keen to try out the "Graphite trick" of applying Graphite to the rail tops as suggested by @Ruston. It apparently aids slow speed running by helping conductivity between the loco and track. I haven't noticed a massive difference but to be fair the layout has always run well.

 

03121 did most of the running to check all was good.

 

One of my favourite wagons is this Parkside Grampus which turned out really well

 

I still need to sort some replacement lamp irons to replace the incredibly flimsy originals which have long disappeared