Narrow Gauge Beginnings - getting started in HOn30 and H0e

[JZ]

Came across this in the Modellers guild group. Layout by Steve Austin.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

My thanks to @JZ for the inspirations - I’ve not come across the layout by Steve Austin but from this one shot it looks excellent.  Progress has been a bit ‘bitty’ lately, but I took this earlier to show what I’m up to:

 

 

The church has had two coats of white paint.  Solvent-free UHU seemed to be the most effective glue for sticking the plastic window frames in place.  As these frames have to be fitted from the outside, the stained glass glazing will be added from the inside later - I don’t want to do that until I have to as each piece is unique (and there are no spares).

 

Any ideas on what glue to use for sticking what are essentially frames from a film?  Deluxe Materials Glue ‘n’ Glaze is my guess?
 

The 009 Society wagon is just one I still had in the stash.  I ran some test runs with the other two I have, and while the log loads are nothing more than offcuts from last year’s lolly sticks, they do seem to add just enough weight to prevent derailments at the turnout.  Slow speed running is recommended, which is no problem on the CAL.  Keith.

___________________________________
 

Edit: additional picture of the near-completed wagon (at the front) on a test run:

 

and awaiting collection by the next train…

 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Keith Addenbrooke
Additional pictures 13th June and 23rd June

[JZ]

10 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

 

 

Any ideas on what glue to use for sticking what are essentially frames from a film?  Deluxe Materials Glue ‘n’ Glaze is my guess?

Yes, that's what I use. Also for holding plastic window frames into wood.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

This came in the post today - sold cheap as the box was opened and some pieces loose.  Caught my eye; while I can’t say I need yet another station kit I enjoy making them:

 

 

Checking the contents against photos I found of other kits, there does seem to be just one detail piece missing: the station clock.  All the major components are present, although I’d not been told a small start had been made on the kit, as some window frames have been glued in place (I prefer to paint them first).  A fun project for another day, Keith.

 

PS: I must find a better home for all the other stations though 😃:

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

A new project:
 

Today has been a free day for me.  After a couple of false starts over the past few weeks, one of which I described in my American HO thread, I’ve had some time to start work on some simple baseboards for a layout.  I’ll go into the hows and whys and wherefores in the next series of posts to my blog (and I’ll write up an ‘animated’ story version for NGRM), but here are the practical details:

 

I started with the pieces of 12mm ply in my outhouse left over from previous projects, several of which were shaped for the original H0e project on page 1 of this thread:

 

 

The original plan used four small baseboards because everything had to be carried up and down steep attic stairs.  While my layout(s) still need to be portable, I now only need to be able to manoeuvre boards around a spare bedroom when visitors come, so I’m going for a single board for a layout still 1.9m long (as with the original plan), with a scenic run round the back.

 

Bracing is the challenge - over time I’ve progressively used up or cut down all the longer pieces, but careful choosing meant I could put together an external frame devoid of large or countersunk holes, as long as I fastened joining sections from the inside:

 

 

 

(After the photo was taken I redid each pair of joining screws as diagonals for added stability).

 

I also realised it was easier to fasten each side piece to the next if I placed the joining section in place before adding the next side bar:

 

 

Although rain interrupted play from 3pm onwards, I was able to complete a basic frame, with the only outside screwholes I marked out and drilled being those at each end used to attach the sides:

 

 

Have a good weekend, Keith.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

How far did I get with the baseboard?  I managed to put together the basic structure, which fortunately is just the right size for carrying into and out of the outhouse:

 

 

 

 

Further bracing was still needed, for example where the two nearer sections of the scenic run sub-roadbed meet, as well as at some point across the lower part of the layout.  I became concerned that the additional bracing (including the extra bits of 12mm ply on the right) were starting to detract from the neatness of the concept, so rather than progress this further switched tack and completed the task using a similar approach to that of CAL1 for the scenic run side:

 

 

 

 

 

This should enable me to have a larger minimum radius than the 9” standard I was using when I made the original boards.  I may still add some more cosmetic bracing to neaten the underneath, but this seems to be quite rigid when carrying it.  Overall I’m pleased with my progress - painting the boards into a uniform colour is up next.  Keith.

 

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Thank you for the encouraging responses to my baseboard build posts above.  With a spare hour or so this evening and the motivation not to waste it, I’ve made a start on a trio of scratchaid boxcar kits from the stash.  I quite liked the ‘weathered red’ I initially painted my Bagnall Steam Tram loco No. 12 in (see page 6), but it really needed to be black with a silver smokebox to pass as American.  Nothing goes to waste though, and I’ve decided to go for the same weathered red for these boxcars too.  First task, an all over red undercoat:

 

 

The fiddly challenge with these kits will be adding the grab iron steps - something like 24 on the ends and sides of each of the three cars.  Key thing for me will be to take as much time as I would over a building kit.  Nice to get started, Keith.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Having decided on a ‘weathered red’ livery for the boxcars, it made sense (to me at least) to add some simple weathering before assembly:

 

 

 

I wouldn’t yet have the confidence (and may never) to deliberately dirty a ready-to-run item I may one day want to trade onwards, but for kits that will have no resale value, why not?  All done very simply - just a few minutes with some white spirit, a gentle touch with an old brush, and some Humbrol No. 32 grey (a standard colour I have in stock).  The nearest boxcar is intentionally more heavily weathered than the others.  This will now be left to dry thoroughly for a couple of days.  Have a good weekend, Keith.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

After a round of family chores, I’ve made a start on the church roof this afternoon:

 

 

The kit includes several marked pieces of card, which are cut out and then layers of shingles are added from the long roll included in the kit.  This piece took about forty minutes.  The instructions say the roll comes ready gummed for sticking, but it’s probably been in the box for thirty years or longer, so I wasn’t surprised it had dried out - UHU to the rescue.  This piece will now be left to dry under weight overnight.  I think it’s one of those jobs best tackled bit by bit.  I may be a while…Keith.

[JZ]

Where did you get the boxcars from @Keith Addenbrooke and what size are they?

[Keith Addenbrooke]

20 minutes ago, JZ said:

Where did you get the boxcars from @Keith Addenbrooke and what size are they?

Hi there.  I bought them at an 009 Society Group meeting, where they were being sold off by a member.  I understand they were made in Australia as “Puffing Billy” kits, which are no longer made.  I believe the 009 Society has acquired some tooling to a make kits like these, but there aren’t any showing on the website as available at present (NB: sales are Members only).

 

I’ve not yet assembled one, but dimensions for the side and end pieces are approximately 84mm long x 25mm wide x 24mm high (plus roof profile and roof walk boards).  This means they’ll only be about 24’ long to scale.  I’ll be using Peco GR-106 bogies which come with the integral bogie mounted standard H0e couplings I’m using for HOn30 as well (for convenience).

 

For my largely freelance purposes they look ideal but, rather like my MinitrainS passenger cars, may be representative rather than accurate.  Hope that helps, Keith.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

An update on the past week’s progress with the scratch-aid HOn30 boxcars.  I glued three sides of the first one together to check the dimensions for the floor I’d need, then marked out and cut my chassis pieces from .040” styrene sheets to fit:

 

 

 

I’m using a simple approach to the chassis design I was taught by @BernardTPM a couple of years ago for use with Peco wagon bogies - drilling a 4mm hole through the bolster piece and a 4.5mm hole through the floor before they are glued together.  Key lesson - even with thin sheets, a pilot hole is advisable.  A close up of 5mm fillets to strengthen the corners:

 

 

The ends have cutaways for body mounted couplers, which I’ve filled with styrene pieces (I’ll probably paint them black):

 

 

I don’t plan to fasten on the roofs until detailing is finished, as it’s easier to hold the models from the inside when working on them.  Treating all three as a batch is proving efficient.  A photo showing where I’m up to now with two of them:

 

 

There’s still a lot to do.  Recognising the benefit of batch building, it seemed a good time to use three other pairs of wagon bogies I had in stock as well.  I also had a sheet of pre-scribed corrugated sheet (only .010” thick) ideal for open car floors (I actually made these first, as I’m rather out of practice):

 

 

 

The shortie car was measured using the time honoured technique of “how much of the strip is left over.”  The two longer cars scale to the same length as one I scratchbuilt a couple of years back, but I trimmed the bases on these to make them the same width as the box cars.  These also have a lot to do to complete.

 

Has there been any progress on the Church?  I’m going to need to motivate myself to work on that roof, but I’ve put together the rather nicely detailed bell included in the kit:

 

 

And that’s all for this week.  I hope everyone is well, Keith.

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Keith Addenbrooke

[Keith Addenbrooke]

With no meetings this evening, I’ve had the opportunity to tackle the other side of the Church roof while listening to a podcast:

 

 

My plan is to brace them with coffee stirrers before painting, as warping seems almost inevitable.  There are several more, smaller pieces to do, around the belfry and for the Church spire.

 

A couple of photos that may be of use to @JZ for sizing - one of the HOn30 boxcars next to a Standard Gauge 40’ boxcar:

 

 

 

(It made sense to test the bogies move freely before proceeding to the detailing stage).

 

Compared to prototype photos, the boxcar proportions look a little bit small in terms of height and width, but not excessively so for a nominally 2’ gauge model.  Have a good week, Keith.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Of course it was only when I looked more closely at the final photo in the post above that I spotted the walkway was out of centre on the roof of the HOn30 boxcar.  Checking confirmed the other 5 ends were all OK, so there’d only been a 1 in 6 chance I’d have picked the only off one to show!  Now fixed, Keith:

 

[JZ]

16 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

With no meetings this evening, I’ve had the opportunity to tackle the other side of the Church roof while listening to a podcast:

 

 

My plan is to brace them with coffee stirrers before painting, as warping seems almost inevitable.  There are several more, smaller pieces to do, around the belfry and for the Church spire.

 

A couple of photos that may be of use to @JZ for sizing - one of the HOn30 boxcars next to a Standard Gauge 40’ boxcar:

 

 

 

(It made sense to test the bogies move freely before proceeding to the detailing stage).

 

Compared to prototype photos, the boxcar proportions look a little bit small in terms of height and width, but not excessively so for a nominally 2’ gauge model.  Have a good week, Keith.

Too small I reckon. 24' boxcars were gone by the end of the 1890s. This is a standard gauge 40' against a narrow gauge(3') 30' car.

And on the D&RGW these could be mixed.

 

[Northroader]

Then there’s the Maine two footers

[Keith Addenbrooke]

7 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Then there’s the Maine two footers

 

That’s the picture I’ve been looking at.  I’ve seen it so often in different places I just refer to it as “the photo” - shows the grab irons I need to add to the ends of the box cars very well (and the high brake wheels).

[Keith Addenbrooke]

1 hour ago, JZ said:

Too small I reckon. 24' boxcars were gone by the end of the 1890s. This is a standard gauge 40' against a narrow gauge(3') 30' car.

And on the D&RGW these could be mixed.

 

Really useful photos, thank you.  The MinitrainS passenger cars I also use are known to be a bit under-sized too, so for my freelance purposes they can be seen together, but I’d best not model an interchange - as it would give it away, Keith.

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Other commitments mean I’ve had limited modelling time this week, and that has been mainly spent sorting out items now surplus to requirements I can trade to raise funds (I’ve put some standard gauge HO ÖBB items up for sale via RMweb classifieds in case anyone is interested; narrow gauge H0e items will be going to the 009 Society Sales team).  Anyway, I’ve made a start adding the stained glass windows to the church:

 

 

 

The best way to secure each piece in place seems to be with additional wooden battens cut from coffee stirrers.  I didn’t fancy trying to trim each window pane to fit the plastic inserted window frames, as my cutting isn’t that accurate and the risk of glue marks seeping to the outside was too high for me.  It means it will take longer, but should look OK from the outside.

 

I’ve also made a start on the underframes for the six freight cars in production.  Using a card template drawn drawn from the dimensions of a freight car I scratchbuilt a while back should ensure the bogies can rotate freely (I leave 32mm from each end, with bogie fixings 15mm in).  For the two longer open cars I’ve gone for solid fillets for the underframes this time for a change, while the shortie car will have a box underframe due to lack of space.  My plan for the three boxcars is to add wires, with a single central crosswise fillet for them to pass over:

 

 

 

Have a good week, Keith. 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

 

Not much of a modelling update this week, although it looks like the shorter wagon under construction could become the wine carrying tank car the line needs (one of my favourite US standard gauge shortlines is the Bath and Hammondsport, whose main industry was servicing wine producing businesses).

 

Happy to say that the time spent on selling stock now deemed surplus has been very successful (and quick, which I like).  I now have some funds in the bank - not a huge amount, but enough.  It’s always a challenge for me to resist the temptation presented by the vast array of shiny things available on the internet, as I do get very easily distracted.  In terms of what I need for a CAL2 layout, I’ve slimmed down my H0e collection due to the increasing focus on HOn30 (which was my original NG intention).  Much as I’ve enjoyed running bigger bogie coaches and the class 2095 diesel on CAL1, smaller locomotives and shorter, 4-wheel coaches do work better in my space - room for another small loco still though, methinks:

 

 

With the final push to complete the builds planned for this “Getting Started” thread in sight, I gathered the collection for a motivational photo to keep me on track.  The state of play looks like this (other US buildings are available from my stock):

 

 

Proposed track plan for CAL2 is still simple - a continuous run with a double ended siding is what I’ve settled on.  While I’ve bought a number of Electrofrog points over the past year, I’ve not got round to wiring them, which for me will be a first.  Keeping it simple could therefore be wise.

 

And that’s about it for now.  If I’d had any focus of course this thread would be much shorter and far less distracted - but this is Narrow Gauge modelling, so I’m not in a hurry, and meandering is all part of the journey.  Have a good weekend, Keith.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Small steps - a bit more progress:

 

I built up a body for the first open wagon using 10mm strips cut from the pre-scribed styrene sheet for the supports:

 

 

Sides are from coffee stirrers for that “real wood” effect:

 

 

 

At this point I’m not sure if this MkII freight car is much of an improvement over the original 2021 MkI, to be honest:

 

 

I also realised I’d cut up the carefully measured sides I’d prepared for the second freight car to make the sides of this first one - but I have plenty more coffee stirrers where these came from and some new ones were quickly made.

 

Progress on the boxcar underframes, starting with the two missing steps I needed to replace:

 

 

I used some .75mm section styrene strips for the cables, extending each one by 10mm either end for easier gluing:

 

 

 

Some broken OO gauge platform trolleys have been dug out from the accessories box to make brake wheels:

 

 

They’re not quite the right type of wheels, but they’ll do.  Once the glue had dried, underframes were painted black:

 

 

With School holidays now upon us, the next update may not be for a while.  In other news, I continue to hope for a change in the weather so I can go into the garden and finish the baseboards for CAL2.  In the meantime I’ve drawn up the track plan to check I’m happy with it:

 

 

Not the most original of plans, but within the space I have anything else started to look too crowded to me for what I want to achieve (this thinking may change of course).  Have a good weekend, Keith.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

The past month has been taken up with other things (some of which - railway related - I’ll be writing up as a blog post).  This is something different.  As someone whose favourite locomotive colours are red and green, being a bit red-green colour blind means I don’t see the colours as others do.  I’ve always thought these Liliput coaches were red:

 

 

But I’ve now acquired a couple of the brand new ones through the 009 Society Sales shop, which are definitely red (right):

 

 

But for me the colour of the older wagon (left) has changed to brown / bauxite.  I now see it differently - and it doesn’t change back if I look at it without the new one for reference!  Have a good weekend, Keith.

 

 

[Hobby]

They are different in real life Keith. The older stuff was brown which i think was across the board in Austria, but the newer livery used by the Ziller is definitely much redder.

 

Look at photos of the Austrian coaches on the Welshpool and then look at the current livery on the Ziller and you'll see it.

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

 

Yesterday I went to the 009 Society 50th Anniversary Exhibition at Statfold Barn.  A lot of effort had been put into this special occasion, as has been acknowledged elsewhere.  I also wanted to pay tribute here to everyone whose care and dedication resulted in what I’ve seen several seasoned modellers already refer to as the best exhibition they’ve attended.  I’d agree.

 

 

Alongside more than fifty layouts, there were obviously loads of narrow gauge goodies for sale.  Other than a Xuron track cutter (“Finally!” the audience cries), I managed to restrict myself to just one Liliput coach - a ZB composite (AB) to provide some first class accommodation for my passenger(s) after all.  Means I can recreate the train that first got me into Narrow Gauge modelling in 2011, and again in 2021, even if my CAL1 layout is currently packed away:

 

 

Does Society membership provide the encouragement and inspiration a sloth modeller like me needs? Definitely.  Certainly worth the rather nominal annual membership fee (currently less than £2 per month).  Well done all, Keith.

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Keith Addenbrooke

[Keith Addenbrooke]

As a PS: while I had the loco out I took off the body and realigned the front lights circuit board - it was at a slight angle, resulting in the bottom left light (as you look at it) being quite a bit dimmer than the other two.  Now fixed! Keith.

 

(It’s not actually any brighter than the other two - just a lucky camera angle 😃)

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Keith Addenbrooke