Gallows Close Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hello All, Thanks for all the positive feedback Chris, Would you enlighten us as to how you made the winding sheaves please? They look very effective. The sheaves were the stumbling block for the whole project, and took quite a lot of research. They are a shade over 80mm in diameter to represent the 21ft sheaves, and finding wheels of that size was a challenge. I looked at motorcycle kits - no go because the spokes on a wheel interlace. Then thought I'd found someone in Aberdeen who made an etching for colliery sheaves - but he did not reply to my messages. Then a chance conversation led me off down the path of large scale locomotive wheels. I tried Slaters and Alan Gibson - again with no success. Finally I found an engineering company in Walsall who made very large driving wheels in gauge one. They agreed to cast and machine four wheels for me to make the sheaves you see. I'm very happy with them. For those interested in stats I have used a total of around 12 meters of 'H' profile plastic so far (with the second headgear and converyors etc.to build). The cost alone has prohibited the use of brass for this, which is a great shame. .....a much more fetching shade… a bit like Manchester City sky blue! Man City? It's supposed to be British Coal blue! Thanks again, Chris. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hello All, The sheaves were the stumbling block for the whole project, and took quite a lot of research....... Thanks again, Chris. Thanks Chris. They're the stumbling block for me not finishing some pit-head gear too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Hi Western, Do you have a thread showing your pit-head gear? They're the stumbling block for me not finishing some pit-head gear too. PM me if you need tthe details of the supplier I used. Cheers, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimleygrid Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Hi Chris, cracking photos. The pit head looks superb and really blends into the background. Love the Grid, 113 looks superb. Why have Hornby not done a Large Logo liveried version of their new model 56?!! Come on! How good did they look in that livery?! I was watching Railfreight Today number 8? Wales last night and saw a pair of coal 37s passing Taff Merthyr, seeing that made me think of your new project. Looking forward to more Grids in action at Kinsley! B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted February 15, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 15, 2011 One thing I must comment on is how good the OHLE equipment looks, especially as its hard to achieve the correct 'thinness' (if thats the right word) of all the wiring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hello Guys, I was watching Railfreight Today number 8? Wales last night and saw a pair of coal 37s passing Taff Merthyr, I've been meaning to get a copy of that one, does Taff Merthyr feature a lot? Or are there only a few general views? I believe Deep Navigation is on that DVD too. What I'm after is some footage of trains loading at Taff. I do have Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon's 'Freight Only: 3' which features these mines, and the photos are quite poignant - almost everything in that book from Wales is gone! One thing I must comment on is how good the OHLE equipment looks, especially as its hard to achieve the correct 'thinness' (if thats the right word) of all the wiring Thanks for the compliment Phil, but there are people on here who can make better OLE than me . I must sort out the tension in the catenary wire, and add some droppers and the return current wire. For this I plan to use fine elastic to achieve the 'sag' between masts. Cheers, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimleygrid Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hi Chris, unfortunately Taff Merthyr does not feature much at all. Although they mention it a few times near the start the only footage is of a pair of 37s passing by. It is a good DVD though! The North East one is very good, lots of Grids on MGRs!B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6Y99 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Have you tried the Railfreight since 1968 books by Paul Shannon the Coal one is a great read along with all the others 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ants Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Looking good I like the Colliery tower did it take long to build? Do you have a track plan? Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 Hello All, Been busy this week, but alas not with collieries Hi Chris, unfortunately Taff Merthyr does not feature much at all. Although they mention it a few times near the start the only footage is of a pair of 37s passing by. It is a good DVD though! The North East one is very good, lots of Grids on MGRs!B) That is a great shame. I'm beginning to think that TM was almost the forgotten colliery. At that time (early 1990's) almost all the mines had gone, with only Tower's future secure. I do have some photographs from the National Monuments Record of Wales showing a shale train being loaded up by excavator with a nice class 37 at the head - but alas nothing under the rapid loader. I think I'll still try to get a copy of the DVD though..... Sounds like it may be just the ticket. Have you tried the Railfreight since 1968 books by Paul Shannon the Coal one is a great read along with all the others No, not yet. Thanks for the tip - I'll get on to ABE Books and see what I can find. Paul Shannon, together with Michael Rhodes and John Hooson seem to be the most prolific photographers from the late '80's and early '90's in South Wales - so I'll need to see what else is out there from these chaps. Thanks again. Looking good I like the Colliery tower did it take long to build? Do you have a track plan? Thanks Ant, I'll cobble together a track plan and post it up. It is a really simple layout though, just a junction and two sidings. The headgear took probably around 8 hours to actually build so far, with quite a few hours spent on research. I also made a scale drawing and a little jig to build it on, as I have two to build it should more than pay off spending this extra time upfront. Thanks again for all the comments, Cheers, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Flynn Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 hi coming along nicely keep up the good work. PS - I remember spending a few days at Kinsley mine taking anything i wanted, for Prince of wales colliery. Then the week after all gone? hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Hello Hugh, Thanks for your comments. That must have been around 1983 when the NCB decided to shut the mine. Do you recall if all of the face machinery was salvaged at Kinsley Drift, or did it go the way of many others which closed after The Strike with millions of pounds worth of equipment abandoned below ground? Interesting to note that some stuff went to PoW - do you recall what? The reason I ask is that I'm planning a stock yard on surface, and would like to know what equipment was used at Kinsley. The NCM at Caphouse Colliery have been fantastic in getting drawings of powered supports for me, and now its shearers, Doscos and the like I'm curious about. Cheers, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Hello RM Webbers, Now that the weather has perked up I have had more enthusiasm for modelling. Thoughts have turned to creating a little scenery. In the Doncaster area the coal measures are overlain by Magnesian Limestone, and so I decided to try and reacreate a limestone cutting at the north end of the layout. The Magnesian Limestone forms a narrow north/south oriented strip of undulating land on the eastern edge of the Pennines overlooking the Vale of York - The rocks are of Permian age. Outcrops of Magnesian Limestone can be seen for example in the Don Gorge near Doncaster. Just for interest's sake the depth to the Barnsley coal seam in the Doncaster area is some 680 meters. Anyway, that's the geology lesson over, now to the model. I decided to recreate the rock wall with ceramic tile adhesive. This was spread on to the cardboard framework and smoothed in to place. Whilst it was drying I scribed the beds of limestone on to the adhesive with a section of cut down draught excluder. The rock face then looked like this... A bit more work, and it now looks like this... I think there is a small amount of weathering to be done to highlight some of the craggier features, but I hope that it looks something like. Whilst the boards were out I took advantage to test run my Airfix/Mainline(!) now DCC class 56 in banger blue to put the layout in to '80's mode. Enjoy! Thanks for looking in, and please give your feedback on the cutting... Cheers, Chris. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 Hello RM Webbers, A quiet day in the week allowed me to get out the Meccano. After a bit of trial and error, and a couple of prototypes I have made a winding engine to power the first set of headgear. It was quite satifying seeing the colliery wheels turning for the first time. It uses a small gear box, Meccano motor and is run from a Gaugemaster controller. Click thephotograph below to see the video of the headgear in action - can't work out how else to do it at the moment. This weekend I have also managed to finish off my little relay room. This sits along side the signal box to handle the extra interlocking installed when the line was resignalled and electrified. The air-con is made up from a few bits from the scrap box, and the warning signs have been printed off on the colour printer. Cheers, & thanks for looking in, Chris. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d winpenny Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 keep up the good work david Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hello RM Webbers, A bit more progress to share at Kinsley today. I have largely completed the upcast shaft and installed it alongside the downcast shaft. The upcast headgear was airtight to stop the powerful ventilation fans from short-circuiting the air supply - instead circulating it down the opposte shaft and through the workings. This is why it is enclosed. The pit bank building will fill the bit below the cladding. In the coming days I will receive a set of etches to enable me to make the steps up to the winding sheaves, and the handrails to go around the inspection platforms. It should look good. I have also made progress on the building you see inbetween the two headgears. This I'm lead to believe was a water tower. I'll post more on this interesting building in due course. Once the headgears are complete I can start to focus on the engine house. I have decided that this building will be built around a wooden frame for extra durability. This building will be a biggie at 27" long. Also arriving at Kinsley this week was a trio of 37/7's. One of the three sits below. With the sun out, it would be rude not to play, so here goes.... Thanks for looking in. Chris. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Pix Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hi Chris. Looking very nice great attention to detail keep up the good work Jez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimleygrid Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 The two headgears look absolutely superb, excellent modelling. That is going to be rather impressive, especially with a nice 56 on MGRs arriving! The Inter-City swallow HST looks good, can just imagine being on board looking out as it went passed to see if there was anything at the colliery! Look forward to seeing more progress. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Stil looking good!! like your ballast laying....... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d winpenny Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 brilliant work fella keep it up david 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard60098 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Hi Chris, All looking stunning bud luv the vid of the wheel turning thou it sounds like a class 60 ticking over only joking there is one somewre near by thou keep up the good work an more pics please. Cheers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 Hello Chaps, Thanks for the comments and feedback. ....thou it sounds like a class 60 ticking over only joking there is one somewre near by thou I think there was a class 60 ticking over in the sidings that day! I'll dig out some more photos, and post them up. Thanks again, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Hello RM Webbers, Today a rather nice packet of shiney brass parts arrived at Kinsley. These will enable me to make the steps to the winding sheave inspection platforms - hopefully this weekend I'll get chance to install them, but for now here are two of the etches. You can see the steps on the bottom etch and the handrails on the upper etch. Kinsley is intended to be set during the British Coal era - meaning 1987 to 1994. This gives me lots of scope to run my late BR era stock - but sometimes this is not enough, and I give in to more modern temptations. Below you can see the first visit of a class 70 at Kinsley. 70006 runs north from Kinsley back to Midland Road. Hey ho it's all fun at the end of the day, Thanks for looking in, Chris. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee m22 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Fantastic work! Really does get me thinking for my large n guage layout plans...you've put a spanner in the works because now I want a coal mine with 56's n MGR's! As if it wasn't bad enough that I'm off for a weekend at the pontypool and blaenavon railway this weekend, which I'm sure will lead me to the Big pit for some photos. Thanks for reminding me how much I love coal mines! Will be following your progress for sure! Regards Lee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallows Close Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Thanks Chaps! I'm really sorry Ants, but I have overlooked replying to your message. I hope I can make amends. Looking good I like the Colliery tower did it take long to build? Do you have a track plan? Below is a sketch of what I'm trying to achieve. The board with the rapid loader on is an aspiration at the moment, but the rest will be built during phase one. The headgears have taken around ten hours each to build I reckon. ...you've put a spanner in the works because now I want a coal mine with 56's n MGR's! As if it wasn't bad enough that I'm off for a weekend at the pontypool and blaenavon railway this weekend, which I'm sure will lead me to the Big pit for some photos. Thanks for your message Lee. If you do get to Big Pit I'd be delighted if you would post some photos of your visit - especially any photos of the mining equipment. Best regards, Chris. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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