Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.

[sir douglas]

currently working on 3F 3581

 

a railing on the front of the tender was coming loose which was taken apart and rebuilt, the ends of the coal railing had come loose and was soldered back on

3581 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

 

The rear loco buffer beam was also loose and a little bit bent whiuch again just needed soldering back on

3581 (3) by Sam, on Flickr

3581 (4) by Sam, on Flickr

 

a block with a curved cut out for the sand pot lid was missing from the firebox which was replicated with styrene and superglued in

3581 (6) by Sam, on Flickr

 

3581 (7) by Sam, on Flickr

Edited September 27, 2017 by sir douglas

[sir douglas]

next is Kirtley goods 2716

 

firstly the fall plate, i have no knowledge of what profile it should be but i dont like the look of the hinges of the old one which are falling apart and it barely covered the gap

2716 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

 

2716 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

 

replacement pipe on he left hand side

2716 (4) by Sam, on Flickr

 

the draw bar i bit thin for my liking but instead of replacing it like before i plyed it with a piece of nickel

2716 (5) by Sam, on Flickr

 

new tender hand rails

2716 (8) by Sam, on Flickr

 

new cab handrails

2716 (9) by Sam, on Flickr

 

2716 (10) by Sam, on Flickr

2716 (13) by Sam, on Flickr

2716 (11) by Sam, on Flickr

[jamie92208]

Evening all from the village.   A good evening at the club.  Not a lot of work done on the layout but This  some thinking done about the design of the Overhead.  I have been advised to try and make the intermediate wire from EZ line but have to work out how to joint it.  I may have to superglue some little wire hooks onto the ends of each piece.

 

Also the layout acquired some new stock.   Many years ago I bought the etch for an L & Y diagram 84 Brake Tri Composite, from Pete Waterman after he had bought the Chowbent range. This was an etch only with no instructions or other part but I managed to source some bogies from WayOh and did get the body and underframe built with the help of an article in the L&Y Society magazine that I was kindly given.   D84 was built to the restricted loading gauge of the Settle and Carlisle  and the plan was to run it on the back of the Scotch Express on Long Preston.   I never did get it finished but Keith Robinson volunteered to finish it for me and I picked it up today.

Here it is on the layout.  I think that Keith has done a great job and it runs well.

 

I have also stared to try and finish some of the batch of wagons that I bought at auction a year ago.  I've assembled most of the plastic ones but decided to do the LNWR van that I think was an ABS kit in white metal.   Here it is so far.

 

All bits of progress.

 

Jamie

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

More progress on wagons.   I've built another 2 Private Owners from POWsides/Slaters kits.  I've now started weighting them to my preferred weight of 4.5 to 5 ozs.  Rather than gluing little bit of sheet lead under the floor I have experimented with pouring liquid lead in until it's about 1/2 oz underweight.  This nicely covers the floor.  I've then added a spoonful of matt Ronseal varnish which covers the lead nicely and am now waiting for my two prototypes to dry out to see what it looks like.  I'll then paint the interior and weather it black.  If it works I'll do the rest of the batch like that.

 

Jamie

[bbishop]

I put the North Staffs van on the mantelpiece and realised it was way down at one end. I feared trying to take it apart , but had mixed a dud batch of araldite and the rocking base plate was held in place by suction. I will fit a spacer, it won't be perfect but adequate for a layout wagon trundling around on the Lancaster pick up.

 

I will revert to my standard way of building resin vans by gluing an length of plasticard inside each corner and welding them together. This gives an accurate (if weak) square, the strength is achieved by aralditing the square to the floor.

 

Bill

[jamie92208]

A quick update on the wagon weighting.   I've weighted 9 so far 6 of them have dried and this is what the interior looks like.

Then the matt black Acrylic was applied and this is what the interior looks like now.

So far 6 have been painted and another 3 are waiting for the varnish to dry.  I have had to use some pieces of microstrip to seal a few holes in the floor of the wagon but I'm very happy with the result.

 

Some of these will be left as empties and If I get chance I'll get loads made for some of them.   I'm also looking at converting some others that I haven't weighted into statics for the coal yard with part empty loads and one door open.  I've got one but reckon that I need at least 5 more.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

On a different tack completely does anyone out there have a sheet of the HMRS LNWR transfers which are unavailable at the moment.  I've 3 ABS kits for LNWR wagons that it would be nice to ahve running for Warley.  I'm quite happy to buy a sheet off anyone or pay for art of it.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Not much work got done at the club last night as most of the time was spent sorting out the exhibition floor plan. However a week ago I did take this shot of some of the newly completed or nearly finished wagons on the club test track. I now the spinner isn't an appropriate loco but it needed some test running as well after Sam had fettled it.

 

On Wednesday Mark, Mel and I spent the morning up at the chicken shed and tested and fettled most of the west end of the fiddle yard. I went up on my own today to sort out a relay that wasn't doing it's job and to replace a damaged switch on the control panel. I didn't get time to test the switch as the farmer needed the power turned off. However Mark and Mel are coming over again this coming Wednesday.

 

Today I finally plucked up courage to start painting the EMU's. Here are the motor coach and one trailer after they'd been sprayed with primer and then had some filling work done near the cabs with a bit of squadron putty.

I'm quite pleased with the result and may get them into maroon tomorrow. Then it will be time to try and add some detail, paint the interiors, glaze them and hopefully get a bit of lining done. I won't get chance to add any underframe detail before Warley.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Another day another dollar or in this case more progress on the EMU. This morning I gave the two EMU cars plus the converted steam stock trailer a 2nd coat of undercoat. This afternoon I managed to get two coats of Rover damask red and this was the result.

I'm pleased with the result and also managed to assemble a Midland 5 plank wagon in between other domestic duties.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[Nearholmer]

Jamie

 

I spotted in the other thread that you were building these cars.

 

There are photos in the Engineer article about the electrification in 1908 that make me wonder if the cars were in a two-colour paint scheme. It might be a trick of the light, though. I've seen the photo in the Siemens set in the NRM collection, and that looks uni-coloured.

 

What is your conclusion?

 

Kevin

[jamie92208]

Thanks for that Kevin. I've done a lot of research on these and all the sources say that they were in the same colour scheme as the steam rail motor which was the general carriage scheme of the time eg, Midland Red all over with gold and black lining. I have spoken to one old gent who rode on them before withdrawal in 1952 but all he could remember was the internal colour scheme and anyway they would have been in LMS maroon by then.

 

Thank for the interest though. I'm hoping to have it running as a three car set at Warley though still as a work in progress. I'm also working on a second set which will have two Midland trailer cars and a Siemens motor car with bow collectors.

 

Jamie

Edited October 15, 2017 by jamie92208

[Nearholmer]

I'm a serious student of the history of electric traction, and have always thought this scheme doesn't receive the attention it deserves, so I think it's marvellous that you're giving it exposure.

 

You do know about the wind-deflector on the roof of the Siemens car?

 

Kevin

[jamie92208]

I'm a serious student of the history of electric traction, and have always thought this scheme doesn't receive the attention it deserves, so I think it's marvellous that you're giving it exposure.

 

You do know about the wind-deflector on the roof of the Siemens car?

 

Kevin

I've got a drawing somewhere of the roof and bow collector assembly but would of course be interested in anything that you can provide. I know that there was a wind deflector that formed part of each of the bow collectors that went up as part of the mechanism. If you are interested I have a lot of primary source information about the scheme including the original engineering drawings for the overhead lines and supporting structures. I'm pleased to say that this will shortly be permanently housed at the Midland Railway Study Centre so that it is better preserved and publicly accessible.

 

Feel free to PM me for more info. I also give a talk to railway societies about the scheme using the material that I have collected.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Evening all from a rather breezy village. I managed to make a start on detailing the EMU's today. The drawings in Dow and Lacy do not have much of the detail of the various attachments at the front of each coach. These include the MU jumper sockets, various lamp irons and also the rather rudimentary means by which plates swing down to bridge the gap between coaches, presumably for the guards to cross. I spent the morning making a CAD drawing of the front of a unit and then sketched in the jumper socket and crossing plate from photos until the proportions looked OK. This afternoon I had a go at fabricating a jumper socket from brass and plasticard. I then installed it and then made the crossing plate from scrap brass and the supporting angle brackets from plasticard. The lamp irons come next when I've raided the scrap box for etched with lengths of riveting on them. I then had a go at painting one end and part of one side.

I'm quite pleased with the result but have another 5 ends to equip.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[sir douglas]

i already printed out the 2 engineer articles a few years ago and gave them to jamie

[jamie92208]

No pictures today but quite a bit of work has been done. Mel came up to the chicken shed yesterday and we completed the testing of the west end of the fiddle yard. We found that one section had never been wired up so that was fixed and more test trains run, a point frog was adjusted. In the evening we started to take some boards down and then tested a crossover that hadn't been working. I thought about that overnight.

 

Today I decided to see if I could do something about the underfloor detail for the motor car. I found some articles from 1908 magazines and eventually found a layout plan for the equipment under both the Siemens and Westinghouse cars, which were quite different. In the afternoon I nipped back to the chicken shed and started some serious testing on the lever frame that controls the errant crossover. Something must have pointed me in the right direction as I found a dry joint on a small circuit board. A tickle with the soldering iron and the point motors whirred into life.

 

This evening I sat down with all my bumph and the computer and now have a CAD drawing of the layout of the various equipment boxes that need to be made to go under the floor. I may not get them fully detailed but should be able to at least put the basic structures in place.

 

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[bbishop]

I've extracted, with some difficulty, some of my pre grouping wagons from their storage location.  They were built for an urban branch terminus and most of them are too frail for the rigours LGA.  Even the one's that I've re-acquired may be happier populating the yard or on the Castle Branch trip.  These include a GN open and two LNW opens that are pained but not lettered or illiterated; can I send these up to you, Jamie?

 

Then I'm working on a batch of resin kits.  These are hard work, but I hope to finish six vans in the next fortnight.  Should be suitable for the Heysham freight.

 

Bill

[jamie92208]

That's good news Bill, the wagons will certainly come in useful. All in all we should have over 20 more than we had last time out. I've even found a few vans so the goods yard should start to look busy. Also we've now got more than enough minerals to have a full and an empty plus some for the trips.

 

Anyway today a friend helped me load the greyhound Bridge boards into the car from the chicken shed. We also put the rest of the fiddle yard boards down, all I need to do is to go up and crate them along with minor tasks such as re-fixing some relays that are dangling under one board. This afternoon I did some work on the EMU's and fitted axleboxes to the motor bogie.

Deeley made Dalziel and Bain, use standard tender wheels to save the cost of a new pattern so the motorised axles were heavier than they needed to be thus the axle boxes were standard tender ones or so I thought. How naïve of me. The bogie frames are somewhat shallower than a tender frames so the castings that I had bought were far too big. I did have some smaller springs that look about right after I'd cut them down a bit. I then chopped the lower part off the axle box together with the two hangers and glued all four pieces in place over each bearing. It's not perfect but looks OK to me. All I need to do now is to fit the footboards. I also fitted 5 lamp brackets on the prototype driving cab.

 

 

This evening at the club Mark brought his NBR 0-6-0T for test running and Sam brought back 996 after fettling. They both ran well. I carried on with the EMU.I first made 16 more lamp brackets out of scrap riveted etch. Then I was going to have a go at some lining but realised that I had forgotten to add a strip of beading to the coach sides on both the trailer car and the motor car. I'm going to have to rub the panels down to the plastic to fit the beading, using wet and dry, then repaint the lower panels. You can probably just make out where the beading strip is missing here. I've also made the new lamp brackets a little shorter.

I couldn't buy any wet and dry at 9pm so after tea I spent my time assembling two Slater's screw couplings for the converted steam stock trailer that was used as a workmen's coach. I also fitted the truss rods and then two buffers.

I now need to work out where the steps on the end go which was different to normal as the staff no longer had to get on the roof. They actually just give access to the lamp brackets.

I even had time today to sort out some artwork for the windows and doors for the two buildings that Flavio is working on in Switzerland, hopefully they will arrive in time for Warley.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[bbishop]

I forgot to mention that I've also recovered my half cab.  Jamie will be aware of someone's views on "ownership"!  It might be suitable for the Castle Branch trip.

 

Bill

[sir douglas]

finished the 3P 996 and handed back over to jamie last night, thats one crate done (IIRC about 6-7 locos) and another to go

 

the tender pickups had to be completely rebuilt

996 (4) by Sam, on Flickr

 

a missing buffer and missing steps were replaced, the replacementis far side below not near

996 (3) by Sam, on Flickr

 

the inside of the cab was completewly barren and crimson, a coat of black and cream to improve it, the whitememtal backhead was in the box so i stuck that in, but since its not got anyfittings at all, ive only stuck it in with 2 blobs of glue either side so it can be easily freed to fit them, new hand rails soldered in and one of the tender column handles was bent

996 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

[jamie92208]

I'll have to get some coal for that Sam. It's looking good and ran well last night.

 

Jamie

[sir douglas]

No 736 is next, this one is generally in the best condition to start with than the others, no aesthetic damage like large flakes or scratches. A replacement pin for the tender pickup plug, sticking back on a loose buffer stock, soldering the loose fall plate on its hinge and soldering, soldering a loose join on the bufferbeams and followed by the same wheel cleaning

 

below shows the new pin and the new join between bufferbeam and the steps

736 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

 

repaired fall plate

736 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

 

done

736 (3) by Sam, on Flickr

[bbishop]

So what is my contribution to Warley?

 

Half cab no. 1838, which may need to be repolarised by Sir Douglas.

 

One LSWR van; one LSWR, one GER and three LBSC opens, all fully liveried. These were built for a suburban terminus so won't enjoy the rigours of the Heysham express freight. Then there are two LNWR opens, 2 plank and 4 plank, and a GNR 3 plank open - all painted but not lettered. These will all be on trip workings.

Then work in progress. I'm building a number of resin kits from Furness Wagons. There are 2 MR tariff vans, 2 NER perishable vans, a NSR van and a GER van and an unknown number of MR bunker coal wagons, all for the Heysham express freight, plus an FR open. There is an element of batch building, as the glue sets on one job, I'm prepping the next.

 

I should find some "MR" transfers, so will keep that company's wagons, but will post the rest up to the village next to Ikea, whereat Jamie will look out his stock of wagon transfers. Right, back to soldering the tariff vans' axleboxes.

 

Bill

[MarcD]

Bill,

 

I PM'ed you re the bunker coal wagons. I have attached a 3D mock up of the wagons in there new form.

 

Marc

[Dava]

It looks Like Leeds Holbeck [in the guise of Sir Douglas] has been very productive in giving light intermediate overhauls & repairs to the fleet of Midland locos!

 

Dava