Blacker Lane D.P.

[Ruston]

How many limited edition Bachmann British Oak Jinties are running on layouts of, or based on, British Oak? Not many, I'll bet but this has to be the engine that most people associate with the site.

 

I have posted about this model before but it's finally got a proper home on Blacker Lane. I took the DCC sound gear out of a Hornby Peckett that I bought from a friend and fitted it into the Jinty. I'll get it reblown with the proper Jinty sound project in due course but at least it can now run on the layout.

 

Bachmann's effort lacks the little details and the livery is quite poor. I bought mine from ebay, where the seller actually had it listed as being black and gold! I repainted it to get rid of the so-called factory weathering and to give the orange a better shade. The details Bachmann left on that shouldn't be there are the vac pipes and the ejector, so I removed them. They left off the blue sand box, on one side only, that probably came from a Hudswell Clarke. I used a sand box from RailwayMania.

 

[Ruston]

The final scenic board is at last getting some scenery.

 

The idea of having a canal lock under a bridge has been abandoned. Space constraints mean that I couldn't get a satisfactory set up, so the lock will be kept for possible use on a future micro layout. Instead, I've gone for a sort of embankment/tunnel type set up for the canal.

A barge will be a permanent part of the scenery and will have a hole in the bottom for coal to fall through into a container. I still haven't settled on whether the wagons used will be hoppers or end-tippers.

[Ruston]

I've decided on hoppers for the staithe line, so have begun the concrete foundations, well, plasticard foundations, actually.

 

Signage.

 

 

[Ruston]

Staithe under construction.

[Ruston]

More wagons for BL.

 

I had two Hornby 21-ton minerals given to me, last year. Yesterday, I finally got around to doing something with them.

 

Another case of "it's only a wagon and not the Flying Scotsman, so it doesn't really matter", from Hornby. I'm sure these 'Felix Pole' PO wagons were never vac-fitted. In fact I'll bet that the numbers on them aren't even for this type of wagon. They must think we're daft.

 

I brushed on some Tamiya Hull Red and then applied Maskol, before giving them a blow-over with Freight Grey. I also changed the wheels for 3-hole discs simply because the flanges on the originals were quite a bit larger.

 

And a bit of dry brushing and weathering powders later...

 

 

 

[Mark Saunders]

The former Airfix RCH all steel 20 ton mineral does scrub up well!

[Ruston]

[Ruston]

An update to the list of engines known to have worked at British Oak...

 

On 17/02/2023 at 18:37, Ruston said:

Princess HE 572/1893 IC 0-6-0ST  https://www.flickr.com/photos/190924022@N03/51530998593 Plans to build this from a set of etches are in hand.

 

71442 HE 3206/1945 IC 0-6-0ST (Austerity)

 

92 PEPPER Nine Elms/1892 OC 0-4-0ST (B4) DONE

 

71507 RSH 7161/1944 IC 0-6-0ST (Austerity)

 

75173 PEPPER WB 2761/1944 IC 0-6-0ST (Austerity) https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/50206117007 DONE

 

Queen YE 1027/1910 OC 0-4-0ST

 

Hoyland YE 1026/1910 OC 0-4-0ST

 

R.O.F. 16 No.1 HC 1727/1941 OC 0-4-0ST (14-inch, same type and appearance as Elizabeth, from Esholt sewage works) Will be built using CSP kit with custom etched longer tank.

 

RISLEY YARD No.110 MED P 2020/1942 OC 0-4-0ST (unknown class) Now known to be W7 type. Will be built using body parts from Hornby B2 and custom cab etches.

 

47445 HE 1529/1927 IC 0-6-0T (The orange Jinty) DONE

 

D1/9513 0-6-0DH Swindon/1964 (Class 14) As below but not yet done.

 

D2/9531 0-6-0DH Swindon/1965 (Class 14) DONE using Heljan Class 14

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/4382833358

 

HE 5307/1958/1958 4wDM (Yardmaster type)

 

George Barber JF 4200038/1949 0-4-0DH (150HP type, same or similar to the Judith Edge kit). DONE

 

AB 387/1952 0-4-0DM (unknown type). Now known to be of a type where no kit exists.

 

03037 Swindon/1959 0-6-0DM (Class 03) DONE

Clearly out of use in 1981 but it was returned to full working order and repainted in a dark blue but retained the BR number and double arrows logo. https://www.flickr.com/photos/glevumblues/12191087343/

 

D2049 Doncaster/1958 0-6-0DM (Class 03) DONE

Recognisable from 03037 by the circular buffers. Here with 08016.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/95430950@N07/28550976445

 

08016 Derby/1953 0-6-0DE (Class 08) Like 03037 it was later repainted in a dark blue version of the BR livery. DONE

https://www.flickr.com/photos/masonphenix19/8192350262

 

12099 Derby/1953 0-6-0DE (Class 11) ON ORDER RTR Heljan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dodger5450/8444549795

 

12122 Derby/1952 0-6-0DE (Class 11)  I am not sure if this one ever actually worked here. All photos that I have seen of it show it in a right state but this is definitely at British Oak.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/glevumblues/12190808425

 

HE 7410/1976 0-6-0DH Shown in my previous post. THIS ONE WILL BE BUILT FROM THE JUDITH EDGE KIT

I don't know if I mentioned them before but there is also BR 08870 that was hired from BR in 1992 when the site had no locomotives of its own. That's a straightforward RTR 08 that needs only remumbering and a painted Tinsley unofficial name.  Ex-L&Y Class 25 52044, which is in a photo that was probably taken just after it was bought for preservation from BR. This one will be run as a BR engine and will be built from a London Road Models kit, which I have in the kit mountain.

[03060]

3 hours ago, Ruston said:

An update to the list of engines known to have worked at British Oak...

 

I don't know if I mentioned them before but there is also BR 08870 that was hired from BR in 1992 when the site had no locomotives of its own. That's a straightforward RTR 08 that needs only remumbering and a painted Tinsley unofficial name.  Ex-L&Y Class 25 52044, which is in a photo that was probably taken just after it was bought for preservation from BR. This one will be run as a BR engine and will be built from a London Road Models kit, which I have in the kit mountain.

Whilst I aware of Princess (and the 08) the picture is new to me (of Princess) and I don't recall ever seeing the L&Y loco photo either, do you know where it can be viewed please Dave ?

 

Regards, 
Ian.

[Barclay]

12 hours ago, Ruston said:

An update to the list of engines known to have worked at British Oak...

 

I don't know if I mentioned them before but there is also BR 08870 that was hired from BR in 1992 when the site had no locomotives of its own. That's a straightforward RTR 08 that needs only remumbering and a painted Tinsley unofficial name.  Ex-L&Y Class 25 52044, which is in a photo that was probably taken just after it was bought for preservation from BR. This one will be run as a BR engine and will be built from a London Road Models kit, which I have in the kit mountain.

I love these loco's - I hope the LRM kit is fun to build. I have this ancient Jamieson kit in my stash which I'm quite keen to get on with, it will be 12047. Narrow Planet make the Beyer Peacock works plates if yours still had them by then!

 

 

 

 

[5050]

That looks like hours of fun!  Keep us posted please.😁

[Ruston]

20 hours ago, 03060 said:

Whilst I aware of Princess (and the 08) the picture is new to me (of Princess) and I don't recall ever seeing the L&Y loco photo either, do you know where it can be viewed please Dave ?

 

Regards, 
Ian.

I found from a google search on the RCTS site but an attempt to find it again comes up with nothing. If you put RCTS 52044 into google it shows the thumbnail but going to "visit" the site that the photo is on takes you to a site called Pressreader, which shows absolutely nothing of the photo or anything about it. Google RCTS 52044 and instead of "visit", right click the image and it brings up this link, shown below as the image to which it is linked (I haven't copied it so no forum copyright rules broken):

That's obviously taken at British Oak but what is the engine doing there? It's not in steam, so hasn't worked a train in, but has a tender full of coal. 52044 was the last of the Barton Wright 0-6-0s in service and was sold by BR in August 1959, from Wakefield shed, so I guess this is immediately after sale. According to the K&WVR it was stored in Retford before moving to the Worth Valley in 1965. I wonder if it made its way to BO under its own steam and if it was steamed there before being moved to Retford?

 

 

[Ruston]

11 hours ago, Barclay said:

I love these loco's - I hope the LRM kit is fun to build. I have this ancient Jamieson kit in my stash which I'm quite keen to get on with, it will be 12047. Narrow Planet make the Beyer Peacock works plates if yours still had them by then!

 

 

From the linked photo in my previous post it would appear that it still had the plates at withdrwal. I'll have to order some. Thanks.

 

That kit looks like being quite a challenge!

[Ruston]

I've been trying to get the staithe/chute to work. The idea was to have the coal loads drop out of the hoppers, along the chute and into the waiting barge, as per prototype. I ought to have known that this would be nothing but trouble and that gravity doesn't scale down from previous experience with Harboro Stone.

 

The angle of the chute, as first made, was too shallow to get the material to flow, so it had to be steepened. It would then flow but when it came out of the end it went all over the place and not just through the hole in the baseboard. Narrowing the chute to give more control and direction worked to an extent but that was with trickling material through. When the working hopper doors open the load will all go instantly and so I replicated this by tipping in material from a wagon. The chute couldn't take so much so quickly and blocked.

 

I think the answer is to not have the material go into the barge at all. Instead, it will drop straight down, through a vertical chute that has a greater section than the hopper door, which should guarantee that it can take more volume than the hopper can deliver faster than the hopper can deliver it and so shouldn't block up. That's the theory, anyway. The chute into the barge will be a false one.

 

Vertical chute.

 

 

I'll try it. The other thing may be material spraying out from the hopper door and not going down the chute but instead landing on the deck. If it isn't much then I suppose this can be vacuumed off every now and again, but if it's too much then the entire thing will have to be scrapped and it's back to the drawing board to come up with something to use end-tippers. At least they will drop their loads completely clear of the rails and deck.

[Ruston]

It works - sort of. I don't have any suitable real coal or anything else of the size that will work, so I used Woodland Scenics ballast.

It's not without problems though. As with the chute, if the material isn't small enough it simply blocks the door and remains in the hopper, but if too small it leaves some hanging on the insides. This extremely light and small material bounces if it hits anything and you can see the spillage from this one wagon already.

 

The doors aren't 100% reliable in closing completely and so this remaining load can then drop all over the track on leaving the staithe. If I use real coal it's going to end up as coal dust all over the rail tops and the wagon wheels are going to spread it all over the layout. I don't know what I could use as an alternative either. I went to my local model shop and they had Woodland Scenics "lump coal", which looks to be about the right size but at £6.50 for a bag that would barely fill two hoppers, they can bloody well keep it! When you consider that every train is going to be loaded at the screens with the same stuff, and I'll be running up to 22 hoppers or wagons at any time, it would be very expensive to buy sufficient WS stuff. I've got an ice cream tub full of some of the last coal to come out of Kellingley and which cost me nowt.

End tippers won't be fussy about the size of lump and as the material won't touch the rails it won't get spread around if it does become dust, so I can use real coal. The other thing with end tippers is that lots of them had the tipper and mechanism completely enclosed in a tipper house, which means no stray load bouncing onto the canal and any mechanism I build that is way over scale can't be seen.

Edited September 30, 2023 by Ruston

[AY Mod]

Is it worth spraying some coal bits with matt varnish/sealer as a test to see if it reduces breakage and dust?

[doilum]

Back in the day, one brother used anthracite beans. The other had access at work to a grinding machine that could reduce any mineral to a size accurate to 0.1mm. It also washed and dried the sample. I was aiming for 7mm size coal but the principal is the same if you know anyone working in an industrial laboratory.

[Ruston]

2 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Is it worth spraying some coal bits with matt varnish/sealer as a test to see if it reduces breakage and dust?

I'm going to say no. I think that even if it did help it to hold together, which I doubt, the varnish would quickly abrade off from being loaded, unloaded and then being tipped back into the screens to go around again. The other problem, of course, is how the devil do you spray and evenly coat tens of thousands of tiny pieces of coal? They'll just blow away in the blast from an airbrush or aerosol and either be scattered all over or clump together with wet varnish. Even a test load of one wagon is many hundreds of pieces.

 

I really don't think that I can get it to work reliably and the fact that the hoppers are so finicky about the particle size and that it's going to get spread over the rails that are things I can't see a way around. It's going to have to be end tippers. I just need to work out how to make a tipper.

 

Having end tippers is still in keeping with British Oak. They didn't build the new staithe, for use with hoppers, until 1969 anyway.

[doilum]

Thinking back, my experiments in 7mm started with a 3H wagon chassis and an attempt to make a working hopper wagon. After much trial and error my brother and I gave up and went for the end door option. I still have the three scratch built wooden wagons built on Slaters underframes, and a random 3H wagon the a big square patch on the floor.

Older visitors to the Normanton show might remember the small working layout which also had a pop up appearance at the newly opened Ridings shopping centre. To the very end the late Norman Hughes was pulling my leg about the mess it made on their floor.

Happy days

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by doilum

[Ruston]

I don't know how this is going to work, but it's a start.

[doilum]

From memory, I had the pivot closer.to the rail end. I experimented with balance weights but ended up with a simple mechanical linkage to bring the empty wagon back to rail level . Even in 7 mm it is impossible ito scale down momentum.

 The spur on to the drops was on an incline allowing the empty wagon to call back under gravity. I still have a never finished second version of the layout in the garage rafters.......

[Ruston]

I have been digging in my box of gears. I found some Delrin chain and sprockets and these nylon gears.

The 1st motion shaft will go out of the baseboard front and be driven by a winding handle. It's far better to drive these things manually than electrically as you can feel what you're doing and not overwind anything. The small gear on that shaft is fixed and drives the large gear on the layshaft. The small gear on the layshaft is fixed and drives the larger gear on the 1st motion shaft,which is free to turn on that shaft. The final shaft has a fixed driven gear and on the other end will be a Delrin sprocket that connects by chain to a similar sprocket fixed on the rocking shaft attached to the wagon platform. I just need to make the box to hold it all together now. I reckon on about 3 full turns of the winding handle to get the wagon to tip fully. I have chosen just the two different sizes of gear so as to have the same distance between shafts and simplify marking out the centres.

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Ruston

[GWR57xx]

It’s a nice, simple engineering solution, but…

don’t you think you’ll quickly get fed up winding three revolutions up then three back down for each wagon? Did you say each train has 22 loaded wagons? How many trains a session? Seems like a lot of winding.

Wouldn’t something like a signal servo controller work? You could possibly drive the shaft directly off the servo shaft, or via a pushrod. The servo could be programmed to operate as slow as you want, and the signal bounce effect could be used at the end of the up stroke to rattle the last grains out. Then it would just be a single button press or flick of a switch for up and another for down for each wagon.

 

[doilum]

The prototype was beautifully simple. Perhaps this hydraulic solution could be modelled using two srynges and a bit of tube. I recall a mid 60s Blue Peter which featured a layout using this method of point control on third series Triang track.

[Nick C]

How about this stuff? https://www.eezyloads.co.uk/online-shop/artificial-coal-oo-ho-gauge/

 

No idea if it's any good, but it's a fraction of the price of the more well known brands...