Dewchurch 3

[Gopher]

A view of the other platform taken from the over bridge 

 

[Gopher]

Guard still heading to the Goods Office for a cup of tea 

 

[St Enodoc]

43 minutes ago, Gopher said:

Guard still heading to the Goods Office for a cup of tea 

 

It'll be stewed by now.

[franciswilliamwebb]

30 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

It'll be stewed by now.

 

Get some more brewing and creosote the fences with the old stuff😉

[lmsforever]

1 hour ago, franciswilliamwebb said:

 

2 hours ago, Gopher said:

Guard still heading to the Goods Office for a cup of tea 

 

Get some more brewing and creosote the fences with the old stuff😉

You have to admire his determination hes been there for weeks!

[Gopher]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

It'll be stewed by now.

He loves strong tea (and beer come to that)

1 hour ago, franciswilliamwebb said:

 

Get some more brewing and creosote the fences with the old stuff😉

Great idea, I'll have chat with the head ganger

32 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

You have to admire his determination hes been there for weeks!

Probably months (years) - he does not walk very quickly, either that or he is on his hundredth trip to cadge a cuppa, and I've not noticed 

[Gopher]

Another impulse purchase.  Dapol top light  mainline and city brake coach.  Lovely little coach.  I came across a photo in one of my railway books yesterday, of these coaches being used on an SLS Special in the early 1960s in South Wales.  I knew they were used as rolling stock on some miners trains in the South Wales Valleys, did not realise they were also used on special trains.  Not sure they ever reached the Welsh Marches, but who cares.  I only have one of them so will use it as part of a mixed rake local passenger, or on a workman's train.

 

I lightly weathered it - not really obvious from the photos.  I fitted a Dapol decoder, and had quite a problem changing the CVs to alter the light functions.  I wanted to dim the carriage lights and have the tail light and carriage light switched on/off independently.  I also wanted the tail light and carriage lights to remain lit in both directions.  

 

Anyway with the decoder installed in the carriage - neither of my DCC controllers were able to programme the decoder.  Which is really quite strange.  I simply could not change any CV settings.  I ended up installing the decoder in my decoder tester and programming it from there.  I also found that when the decoder (Imperium) was fitted in the coach, it prevented the roof from clipping back on properly.  Bit strange as this is a Dapol decoder in a Dapol coach.  So a bit of surgery around the decoder socket, allows the decoder and the roof to be fitted properly.  It is possible I bought the wrong size decoder (Dapol Imperium 4), but don't think so.  It was simply a bit too long to fit into the recess underneath the roof. 

 

Be interesting to see how the Dapol toplight corridor coaches turn out.  The non corridor versions really are beautifully detailed.  I am becoming a big fan of Dapol, and despite some criticisms, think the Manor, Mogul and large Prairie are excellent, and run superbly.    

 

 

[Gopher]

Old meets new on the Welsh Marches.  Class 122 DMU, and 16xx Pannier on a short local passenger 

 

[GWR57xx]

I think your issue with being unable to program the decoder in the coach is because the controllers don’t see a big enough electrical “load”, which is usually provided by the motor in a loco. So not a faulty decoder. Glad you managed to sort it.

[Gopher]

3 hours ago, GWR57xx said:

I think your issue with being unable to program the decoder in the coach is because the controllers don’t see a big enough electrical “load”, which is usually provided by the motor in a loco. So not a faulty decoder. Glad you managed to sort it.

Ah thanks for that,  I'd not considered the lack of electrical load.  Got it sorted after a bit of head scratching.  😄 

[Gopher]

Got two new Rapido wagons which needed weathering.  So photos below show my three phase weathering process (other and better weathering processes are available)

 

First phase  - I paint odd planks in various shades of wood brown.  All looks pretty awful at this stage.  I've also applied a MIG dark wash to the van roof, and then removed most of it with a tissue (not terribly evident from the photo below).  I have not touched the underframe at this stage.  

 

 

Phase 2 - I then use a calligraphy pen to apply a diluted Tamiya Nato Black to all the panel/plank lines, and edges of the metal supporting struts, plus the drip bars on the van roof.  This simply gives more definition to the wood work and any other raised areas on the wagon/van bodies   

 

 

 

Edited March 8 by Gopher

[Gopher]

Phase 3  - Airbrush time.  I airbrush diluted NATO black on the van roof, and underframes of the wagons.  Whilst the underframe is still wet, I airbrush (one at a time) diluted Lifecolour Track Dirt, Frame dirt, sleeper grime.  So quite a mixture.  I also mist frame dirt and/or track dirt on the wagon bodies to tone down the whole thing.  I let the paint dry and then see if I am happy with the effect.  If not I repeat, but possibly use more of one colour.  It is all trial and error.  When that is dry, I may have to use the calligraphy pen again to make sure the planks/raised areas are defined.  I then dry brush a very light grey onto some of the woodwork and chassis - to represent water staining, start of rot on the woodwork etc.  I applied a matt acrylic varnish to these wagons because the original paint scheme had a satin finish, which was still evident in places.  A bit of gun metal, or other metallic colour on the buffer heads to represent grease stains - and job done.  Well done until I look at it the following day, and decide whether I am still happy with my efforts      

 

Edited March 8 by Gopher

[RobAllen]

Looks good to me! Nicely done.

[Gopher]

2 minutes ago, RobAllen said:

Looks good to me! Nicely done.

Thanks Rob.  I have to say that I do not always get consistent results, even though I must have weathered loads of rolling stock and locos over the years using this technique.  These wagons turned out pretty well.

 

Clive    

[St Enodoc]

13 hours ago, Gopher said:

Thanks Rob.  I have to say that I do not always get consistent results, even though I must have weathered loads of rolling stock and locos over the years using this technique.  These wagons turned out pretty well.

 

Clive    

Consistent results wouldn't look right!

Edited March 9 by St Enodoc
speling

[Gopher]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Consistent results wouldn't look right!

Very true , and just as well looking at my results😃

[Gopher]

Auto train about to leave Harewood Halt

 

[Gopher]

Ex LNWR G2 heads towards Dewchurch with  a fitted van train

 

 

[Gopher]

 

 

 

Mogul arrives at Platform 1 with a local passenger train

 

 

Edited March 13 by Gopher

[Gopher]

Pannier shunting in the goods yard.

 

 

[Gopher]

Time for a chat before hitting the road

[Nevermakeit]

On 14/03/2024 at 08:07, Gopher said:

Pannier shunting in the goods yard.

 

 

That black and white photo looks really great! Very atmospheric.

[Gopher]

Deltic on an inter regional passenger train.

 

 

[Gopher]

 

 

Large Prairie with a very short local passenger train, pauses at Harewood Halt 

 

 

 

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Gopher said:

 

 

Large Prairie with a very short local passenger train, pauses at Harewood Halt 

 

 

 

In no way is this a criticism of you, Clive, but those photos just highlight for me how far we have gone backwards with tension-lock couplings on RTR trains. That gap between the loco and coach buffers must be about a scale three feet. Even in the good old bad old days of Tri-ang, things were better than that (all the couplings were the same height as each other, too - and they never drooped...).