Tewkesbury Shed and Quay Branch Exhibition Layout in EM Gauge.

[KeithHC]

Looking forward to seeing the progression. Any news on your other layout seeing as I live close to Nailsworth. 
 

Keith just about to become a trainee track builder in EM

 

 

 

[lezz01]

9 hours ago, KeithHC said:

Looking forward to seeing the progression. Any news on your other layout seeing as I live close to Nailsworth. 
 

Keith just about to become a trainee track builder in EM

 

 

 

Well Keith the only thing certain atm is that it will be Dudbridge junction. Whether it will also be Nailsworth or Stroud is another matter. I really want to do Nailsworth but Stroud will fit my space easier. The only fly in that ointment will be the scissors in the goods yard the rest is easy as it's basically two tandems and two simple turnouts but that scissors is a little intimidating. I'm planning to dismantle the 00 gauge layout and build the additional base boards in the new year and will be flogging all of the 00 gauge stuff off here and on ebay. I will be keeping some of the stock and converting it to EM as I intend to have a "what if" scenario where the branch stayed open to passengers into the BR green/pre tops blue period but I won't need a lot of stock for that. Stay tuned as they say as there will be progress soon. I've just treated myself to an early birthday present in the form of a mini circular saw and all of the Crimbo prezzies that were in the way of my work bench have now been wrapped and delivered or placed under the tree so I can get on with finishing the new EM deck for my test track. Then I can get on with building my stash of loco kits that I've acquired over the past 12 months. If you need any advice with track building just get in touch as I'm happy to help in anyway I can.

Regards Lez.   

[lezz01]

Hi guys.

Firstly it's good to have RMweb back up and running again. It's a shame that all the data for the photos has been lost but as I still have all of my photos I plan to re-upload them to the thread. I will try to get photos others have uploaded to the thread replaced but this is out of my control and can only happen if those contributors still have them.

There has been no work done on Tewkesbury due to work commitments and an ongoing reworking of my railway room. This has included new storage and toolboxes. As you can appreciate this is taking quite a lot of time given that I'm in my 60's and I have amassed quite a lot of both tools and components over the years. The vast majority of this work is now done although I'm left with a large amount of bit's and bobs and fixings that I'm in the prosses of sorting into draws and labelling the said draws. This will take quite a bit of time as the quantity of these items is quite daunting but it is not an impossible task and I'm making quite good progress. I will then start to sell off all my 00 gauge stock that I'm not going to convert to EM and dismantling the 00 layout and replacing/converting the base boards to build my new home layout. Tewkesbury will however take priority over the new home layout but I need working space first so that's what will happen so that I can start to make progress.

Lez. 

[lezz01]

Ok so I've replaced all my photos on page one. I'll work my way through the rest of the thread as and when I get some time between all the other things I'm doing.

Lez.

[lezz01]

The photos on pages 1 to 3 have now been replaced with one or two exceptions that I don't seem to be able to find. I'll continue with the replacement later today enjoy.

Lez.

[lezz01]

Well guys I've replaced all the missing photos that I can it's been a total faff as the new server didn't like the original aspect ratios of my photos and kept loading them in the wrong orientation so I had to change them all before it would play ball. Still it's all done now and you can enjoy the thread as intended.

Enjoy.

Lez. 

[MJI]

I will need to follow this as i grew up between Gloucester and Tewkesbury.

 

I have been to DRPS. Also finding the site of the station.

 

My BR layout is supposed to be lickey route.

 

 

[lezz01]

I hope to start posting again soon and making some progress. I still have a lot of sorting out to do as I'm very limited in space but there is light at the end of the tunnel that isn't the tunnel on fire.

Regards Lez.

[KeithHC]

Looking forward to this layout progressing again.

 

Keith

[MJI]

I have a few books of the area, plus I have been past bits of the branch before, late 70s I found the station site, early 80s I went north and found the embankment over the Avon. About 30 years ago Ripple station and M50 bridge (now gone).

 

https://lightmoor.co.uk/books/gloucester-midland-lines-part-1-north/L8184

 

This book has a few colour pictures of the area, including the shed, and near Healings Mill, also the junction of the quay branch.

 

Most pictures appear to be of 41900, or 58071.

 

 

[lezz01]

Thanks Martin I have that book. I can recommend "Tewkesbury's two lost railways" it's by a local historian who doesn't know his 3Fs from his Jintys but its still a good read. It's available from the Tewkesbury Historical society's website.

Regards Lez.    

[MJI]

22 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

Thanks Martin I have that book. I can recommend "Tewkesbury's two lost railways" it's by a local historian who doesn't know his 3Fs from his Jintys but its still a good read. It's available from the Tewkesbury Historical society's website.

Regards Lez.    

 

 

Hmm 25 for a PDF, said 15 on the page for paper.

 

May ask them about that.

[lezz01]

Hi everyone.

Firstly sorry it's been so long since there has been a proper update.

So after doing not a lot for the past year I have finally got my modelling room into a place where I can actually do some modelling.

As I have quite a few locos to convert and kits to build the first thing I needed to do was have somewhere to test them. As my rolling road testbed is built for 00 gauge I need to either rebuild it with a new EM gauge deck or build another testbed that can be fitted to the test track module at a later date. 

So this is what an hour in the railway room produced.

Yes I know it's only a bit of straight track with two buffers and a couple of lengths of wire soldered to the track but it is none the less progress. Other progress has been  to finally set up my cross slide table onto my Dremel workstation. I've been dragging my feet a bit with this but once I started and I had gathered all the bits required it all went together surprisingly easily. I will post a photo of it nest time I have it out on the bench with the Dremel fitted. I do need to lube it up and adjust the slack out of it but that's not really a problem it's just an Alan key and a locknut adjustment job. It shouldn't take me long...famous last words.   

My plan is now to get something to run as quickly as possible so as I have a couple of conversion packs in stock for the Bachmann 3F and 4F locos I'm planning to make a start on one of those first just to have something to run through the point work once I start laying trackwork on plywood. I also have one of Dave Basford's chassis kits for my 1F and a High level 3F Jinty chassis for a Bachmann body I picked up at a very reasonable price on eBay plus all the wheels, motors and gearboxes for all of the above so Tally Ho chaps!  

Stay tuned for more updates very soon.

Regards Lez.

[KeithHC]

Looking forward to this I have missed the updates so I can now again salivate over this. Could you post a bit of a blow by blow of one of your conversions. I want to build as much knowledge as I can for a couple of locos I already have for my planned layout.

 

Keith

[lezz01]

3 hours ago, KeithHC said:

Looking forward to this I have missed the updates so I can now again salivate over this. Could you post a bit of a blow by blow of one of your conversions. I want to build as much knowledge as I can for a couple of locos I already have for my planned layout.

 

Keith

Thanks Keith I'll do my best. The conversions will be following the Gibson notes that you can download from them. I don't propose to veer away from them unless I run into a problem although I won't be using the Bachmann coupling rods as I have some very nice Lanarkshire Models ones that have proper joints.

Regards Lez.

[lezz01]

So first disaster.....a couple of months ago I brought what was advertised on eBay as 5 lengths of SMP EM gauge track. This is what I used for my new test plank yesterday. It's a real shame I didn't check it first with my EM van because it's not EM it's 00. To say I'm furious is an understatement. I'm trying to get hold of the vendor but not having very much success. Now I can either build a few lengths or I can order some from somewhere either way the 3F conversion is on hold for a few days until I rectify the situation.

Regards Lez.  

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 hours ago, lezz01 said:

So first disaster.....a couple of months ago I brought what was advertised on eBay as 5 lengths of SMP EM gauge track. This is what I used for my new test plank yesterday. It's a real shame I didn't check it first with my EM van because it's not EM it's 00. To say I'm furious is an understatement. I'm trying to get hold of the vendor but not having very much success. Now I can either build a few lengths or I can order some from somewhere either way the 3F conversion is on hold for a few days until I rectify the situation.

Regards Lez.  

 

Depending on how much you paid for it, you might be just as well writing it off, stripping the rail out and using to build turnouts with or whatever.

 

Mike.

[KeithHC]

Or as I am trying cut down the middle use gauges and fix to the base with glue etc. May not look right but should work.

 

Keith

[JeffP]

3 hours ago, lezz01 said:

So first disaster.....a couple of months ago I brought what was advertised on eBay as 5 lengths of SMP EM gauge track. This is what I used for my new test plank yesterday. It's a real shame I didn't check it first with my EM van because it's not EM it's 00. To say I'm furious is an understatement. I'm trying to get hold of the vendor but not having very much success. Now I can either build a few lengths or I can order some from somewhere either way the 3F conversion is on hold for a few days until I rectify the situation.

Regards Lez.  

Contact eBay and open a dispute.

You should get your money back...but don't leave it too long or they won't uphold your claim.

[lezz01]

Yes well the vendor is nowhere to be found on eBay so I've contacted them to see what I can do. Tbh I'm not that fussed about the money as I can just sell it on and get my money back that way it's the wasted time and delay to starting on the loco conversions that it really annoying me. I've ordered a pack of track bases from the EMGS and I've also found a 10 yard box on eBay that I might bid on as well. Worst case scenario is I make some myself. The problem with that is my jig for plain track is for S4 and while I can use it for EM it's not as simple as you might think. It will need altering a bit which isn't as easy as it sounds but is doable, I will have to sacrifice a length of rail which is annoying although I'm sure I can find a couple of suitable lengths in the off cuts box so shouldn't have to use a fresh length. I will need to move the two posts that I fitted to push a 12" steel rule up against to locate the rail against before soldering. It's not a big deal but it is a faff that I can do without. 

Regards Lez.  

[NHY 581]

11 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Yes well the vendor is nowhere to be found on eBay so I've contacted them to see what I can do. Tbh I'm not that fussed about the money as I can just sell it on and get my money back that way it's the wasted time and delay to starting on the loco conversions that it really annoying me. I've ordered a pack of track bases from the EMGS and I've also found a 10 yard box on eBay that I might bid on as well. Worst case scenario is I make some myself. The problem with that is my jig for plain track is for S4 and while I can use it for EM it's not as simple as you might think. It will need altering a bit which isn't as easy as it sounds but is doable, I will have to sacrifice a length of rail which is annoying although I'm sure I can find a couple of suitable lengths in the off cuts box so shouldn't have to use a fresh length. I will need to move the two posts that I fitted to push a 12" steel rule up against to locate the rail against before soldering. It's not a big deal but it is a faff that I can do without. 

Regards Lez.  

 

 

Lez, 

 

Have you tried going into your purchases ? You should be able to message the vendor once you locate the original transaction.

 

Rob

 

 

[lezz01]

Well I've spent an hour or so at the bench modifying my plain track jig. It can now build both EM and S4 gauge track. I didn't want to put new location posts in so instead I adjusted the spacer. This is an old 12" rule that is so stained and dirty that it's no longer much good for measuring. To do this I filed two groves in one side that correspond to the position of the posts 0.3mm deep which moved the first rail soldering position the same distance towards the centre of the jig for EM gauge and if I turn it around so the slots are facing towards me it is now in it's original position for P4 gauge. Happy days!!! I'm still going to bid for the EM gauge I found on eBay as the vendor has assured me that it is defiantly EM gauge and I'm not going to make plain track for either the fiddle yard and rat run on Tewkesbury or the home layout.

This is the spacer in position for P4.

      And for EM.

These are the slots in the edge.

The next two are the measurements of the spacer across the full width and across the slots.

 

So the jobs a good un and I'll be making a length of track later for the testbed.

So I've only lost a couple of days and I can get on with things.

Regards Lez. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

I've got some buckshee kosher Brook Smith rivets and ply sleepers if you're interested?

 

Mike.

[lezz01]

5 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I've got some buckshee kosher Brook Smith rivets and ply sleepers if you're interested?

 

Mike.

Nice thanks mike I'll PM you.

Regards Lez. 

[lezz01]

Hi Guys.

So after much cussing I have finished rebuilding my EM gauge test track plank.

Even though I've ordered some track bases from the soc. I decided to go with some hand built plane track for the test bed. After spending a few hours rebuilding my track jig to build both EM and P4 track it seemed silly not to.

Jig ready to go.

 

Track "spine" complete.

  

 

Adding the second rail.

 

Test bed finished and ready to go.

 

I may well "dress" it with chairs and ballast. I haven't decided yet but I did order a pot of 2mm scale ballast and dressing it will be good practice for the actual layouts as I haven't done this for over 20 years so I will be a bit rusty.

The next thing to do will be adding a coupling rod assembly jig to my multi purpose track filing jig. I'll post a photo when I've added it. It'll only be for 8' 8'6" to start with but I have enough room on the MP jig for other wheelbases as needed eg. 1Fs and 4 coupled locos as I build them. 

The only thing to do now is to decide which loco to convert first. So which is it to be the 3F or the 4F?

Both are Bachmann locos and I have all the parts necessary what do you guys think? Comments appreciated indeed asked for.

Lez.