THE RAMCHESTER CHRONICLES

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi TTG,

The motor felt quite firmly fixed before I unscrewed the clamp and the click was still there with the baseplate off so it can't be caused by the end of the worm hitting the baseplate. It occurs once per revolution of the gears meshing with the worm but I had all the gears out individually for a close look without seeing anything amiss.

Sounds like the gears then Rod?

 

Good luck with the Op - plenty of playing trains is required for good convalescence!

 

Kindest,

 

CME

[railwayrod]

Thanks CME for your good wishes. The op has been postponed until Sept 25th and they say that I will have to stay in hospital for about a week.

 

Howard and I have had a further session this afternoon and he has been working on the station roof (I gave him a rise!!!). I have been filing flush all the door hinges on the inside of the BG as I intend to fit an interior and they would look untidy. I have also cleaned up the etched window frames ready for fitting as well as removing the sprues from the bogie side frames which I inadvertently overlooked when I built the bogies. Quite a productive afternoon altogether.

 

Howard will post a picture of his work on the station roof later this evening.

[HSB]

I've stuck on a few more strips of slates:-

 

 

The postponement of Rod's op does mean he can now come to Telford with me. We are driving up on Friday and staying a couple of nights in a Wolverhampton hotel.

 

 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi Rod & Howard,

 

Sorry to hear the Op was postponed - Telford is an nice distraction though!

 

As you guys have been working on the LMS parcels stock (MTH and AnD kits etc.) I wondered if you might be able to answer a question about the bogies on such?

 

This is in regard to my 'bought in' Brake Tender and my two MTH BG coaches and the issue of riveted vs welded LMS 9' 0" bogies.

 

MTH have fitted bogies, which as we know, are not all that accurate (and at times bump along sleeper chairs - mine have been okay in this regard to date though) and they seem to be covered in bolts/rivet detail with flush mounted dual spring Bolsters?

 

I have built up a set of bogies from an ABS kit and very nice they are too - simple but effective - and these were to be fitted to the Brake Tender (with a few mods to the mounts) and all was well, until I came to fit some tension locks (Bachmann miniature type) and I discovered that I needed to mount them to the bogies (and not as planed to the body/underside), which would mean hacking the bogies about - which is not a good idea with the whitemetal end stretcher bars. "I know, I will fit the ABS bogies to one of my MTH BG's" (a little more cost - but nice results and the ride height looked nice and prototypical too).

 

So I purchased a set of 9' 0" welded bogies from those nice folk at EZB (I'd convinced myself I had a spare set already, couldnt find them though - doh!) - these are a nice little kit too. Putting them together I noticed that these had two Bolster springs per side-frame, so I have started to modify the Bolster to one spring.

 

Then I noticed - with your mods to MTH bogie side-frames - that the MTH BG's have two springs (it hadn't occurred when I had looked at my coaches) etc......so I then presumed (along with a little research of my own) that the 'welded' version must have two Bolster springs per side-frame and the 'riveted' has one Bolster spring per side-frame - BUT now I am not so sure as MTH have confused the issue in other ways too - as far as I can tell (although they could have gotten it wrong in all regards) - LOL!

 

Having said this in the photos I have of  ex LMS BG's (Stanier Period III all steel stock) they seem to be fitted with riveted 9' 0" bogies with single spring Bolsters (per bogie side-frame) - yet in most photos this aspect of the vehicle is nearly always in shade - so educated guess work is required by using several photos.

 

I believe that the Glos & Warks Rly have some pickled preserved Stanier stock, yet when I emailed them I didnt get a reply and when visiting in the summer no one there seemed to know anything about them?!

 

Both the ABS and the EZB bogies are nice kits and with a few - minor - tweaks can be 'lifted' slightly without going to the trouble of super-detailing/rivet counting and by and large in model form the 'rivetted' and 'welded' versions look almost identical (apart from the number of springs) and the difference in interpretation as modelIed by each manufacturer. 

 

I am totally confused now!

 

However my hunch is that my MTH stock and the Brake Tender should have 'riveted' bogies with single springs....

 

As you guys have built and fettled such stock have you any thoughts, ideas or advice?

 

Please forgive the minor hijack and going back over old ground - hopefully this may help other modellers too.

 

I will post my progress on my Thread and any mods to the EZB bogies on their site - when I have the right answers.

 

Kind regards, with thanks,

 

CME

Edited September 4, 2014 by CME and Bottlewasher

[HSB]

The drawings in 'Historic Carriage Drawings Volume 2' show the riveted bogies with one large spring and the welded ones with two smaller springs. As regards to which vehicles had which version I would assume that coaches from earlier batches had riveted bogies while later builds had welded but they probably got swapped around during servicing.

At the end of the day, when they are on your layout I doubt if many people will notice the difference anyway!

Edited September 4, 2014 by HSB

[railwayrod]

Hi CME.

Howard has just lost his router and is awaiting a new one from Sky so he is without "the net" for a few days. I am not sure myself about the questions you pose so can I humbly suggest a series of books which might be of help. There is a series of books called An Illustrated History of the LMS Coach" by David Jenkinson and Bob Essery, which were publishes by OPC. Vol I (ISBN 086093-450-0) deals with non passenger coaching stock, but vol 2 (ISBN 86093-451-9) and vol 3 (ISBN 86093-452-7) may also be useful. A further book by the same authors called "The LMS Coach" (7110-0094-3) might also contain the info that you require an Ian Allan publication in 1969. I am off to Telford early tomorrow so I have not had time to scour these books to try to find the info you needed but with a bit of luck you might be able to gain access to these through the inter library lending service.

 

Hope this is useful to you

 

railwayrod

[HSB]

As you can see from post #430 my router is now working again. It suddenly stopped working just after lunchtime and appeared to be dead. After contacting Sky I ended up ordering a new one but I thought I'd try plugging it in again an hour or so ago and to my surprise it came on and started working again! Argh!!!! 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

The drawings in 'Historic Carriage Drawings Volume 2' show the riveted bogies with one large spring and the welded ones with two smaller springs. As regards to which vehicles had which version I would assume that coaches from earlier batches had riveted bogies while later builds had welded but they probably got swapped around during servicing.

At the end of the day, when they are on your layout I doubt if many people will notice the difference anyway!

Thanks Howard I will have a seek out of that book.

 

I think then that my first assumption was right in that the riveted version has one spring and the welded version has two.

 

Your scenario is more than likely correct too.

 

With the Brake Tenders they all seemed to use riveted type - so I will have to mod the EZB bogies - that's because the Brake Tenders used a range of older parts from LMS and LNER sources.

 

The MTH coaches should also have riveted type as every photo I can find of those vehicles into BR days had the single spring riveted type, yet I suspect that you are right they would have the the welded swapped in and out from time to time as required.

 

 

Hi CME.

Howard has just lost his router and is awaiting a new one from Sky so he is without "the net" for a few days. I am not sure myself about the questions you pose so can I humbly suggest a series of books which might be of help. There is a series of books called An Illustrated History of the LMS Coach" by David Jenkinson and Bob Essery, which were publishes by OPC. Vol I (ISBN 086093-450-0) deals with non passenger coaching stock, but vol 2 (ISBN 86093-451-9) and vol 3 (ISBN 86093-452-7) may also be useful. A further book by the same authors called "The LMS Coach" (7110-0094-3) might also contain the info that you require an Ian Allan publication in 1969. I am off to Telford early tomorrow so I have not had time to scour these books to try to find the info you needed but with a bit of luck you might be able to gain access to these through the inter library lending service.

 

Hope this is useful to you

 

railwayrod

Hi Rod,

 

Yes the book list is useful and I shall keep a look out for those and/order from the library too.

 

I often find though, that as good as the Essery and Jenkinson books are they dont cover the stock in the BR era (1965-76).

 

Enjoy Telford one and all.

 

Kindest regards, with many thanks for all of the help.

 

CME

Edited September 5, 2014 by CME and Bottlewasher

[HSB]

We are now back from a very enjoyable weekend at Telford with a lot of time spent yapping with various people! We stayed in a hotel in Wolverhampton and travelled to Telford by train on Saturday. On Sunday I drove there and was completely thrown by all the roadworks! Although I found the place without any trouble last year this time I got completely lost and ended up heading west along the M54 out of Telford but we eventually found our way back to the venue car park. I didn't spend much money there but Rod came back with an addition to the non-passenger coaching stock for Ramchester.

Edited September 7, 2014 by HSB

[railwayrod]

What a gorgeous day it has been here in Torbay. Maggie and I did a lovely walk of about 5 miles and then had a pleasant sit on our decking sipping a glass or two of wine and enjoying the sunshine.

 

As Howard indicated above we have returned from a lovely weekend in Telford and spent two days enjoying the show. As usual I spent too much money but I am well pleased with my purchases.The first of which was a MBW DB van which I purchased from DCC Supplies. This is a lovely model with sliding openable doors and is for epoch 3. The second is a Stove R in BR maroon livery which I purchased RTR from a CRT kit.

 

 

 

[ianwales]

The second is a Stove R in BR maroon livery which I purchased RTR from a CRT kit.

Hi Rod

 

It could be a case of snap because look what I bought at Telford off the bring and buy stand

 

 

Ian

[railwayrod]

Hello Ian

 

Snap it is! I looked on the bring and buy stand but did not see this or I may have snapped it up. Perhaps you were there before me but every time I went passed the stand it was several people deep! Still I am very happy with my purchases and enjoyed the show very much.

[ianwales]

Hi Rod

 

it was on the front under the clear perspex unless you were there on Sunday by which time it was home, apparently according to the label it hsd come from the MRC's Happisborough layout.

 

Ian

[HSB]

We were there both days but, as Rod said, it was hard to get near the B&B on Saturday morning! All I bought this year was a set of Slaters wagon wheels and a couple of price-lists but I still seemed to come back with a lot less cash than I went with although Wetherspoons did quite well out of us over the weekend!

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi Rod

 

it was on the front under the clear perspex unless you were there on Sunday by which time it was home, apparently according to the label it hsd come from the MRC's Happisborough layout.

 

Ian

Hi Ian,

 

Snap again! My Brake Tender came from MRC's Happisborough too - I am adding better bogies to it at the mo (third set as I am modifying the auto-couplings)!

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/77273-down-ampney/page-3

 

ATVB

 

CME

Edited September 16, 2014 by CME and Bottlewasher

[HSB]

A few more strips of slates are now in place.

 

Edited September 10, 2014 by HSB

[railwayrod]

We had a session yesterday afternoon and Howard stuck on a few more strips of tiles on the station roof. He is now about ½ way up the extreme left hand side (as viewed in his photo above) but still has the rear of the roof to complete. He then needs to start adding downpipes etc before final weathering and planting. So still a way to go yet before it is finished but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

After the joys of Telford I got to work on my BG. The instructions suggest that the door stops should be made from 1mm microrod and project out from the side no more than 1mm. I started this but after fitting a couple I decided that 0.75mm (30thou) looked better and I made mine project about 0.25mm. I am pleased to say that both sides are now fully fitted with door stops and I have made a start on fitting the etched brass window frames. 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

We had a session yesterday afternoon and Howard stuck on a few more strips of tiles on the station roof. He is now about ½ way up the extreme left hand side (as viewed in his photo above) but still has the rear of the roof to complete. He then needs to start adding downpipes etc before final weathering and planting. So still a way to go yet before it is finished but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

After the joys of Telford I got to work on my BG. The instructions suggest that the door stops should be made from 1mm microrod and project out from the side no more than 1mm. I started this but after fitting a couple I decided that 0.75mm (30thou) looked better and I made mine project about 0.25mm. I am pleased to say that both sides are now fully fitted with door stops and I have made a start on fitting the etched brass window frames. 

Hi Rod,

 

Sounds great - could we have some photos of your progress with the BG please?

 

Kindest,

 

CME

[HSB]

We had another session this afternoon and I stuck on a few more strips of slates before running out. I will print off another couple of sheets before next week.

 

 

We got some laser-cut LNWR station fencing from Poppy's Wood Tech at Telford and I have now begun assembling it. It's going to be quite a long process but should look more appropriate than the Slaters plastic fencing we have up at the moment.

 

 

[railwayrod]

Just thought I would put up a couple of pics of the progress on my BG. As you will see the two sides have been fitted with door stops and the etched windows have been super glued in place.

 

 

 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Just thought I would put up a couple of pics of the progress on my BG. As you will see the two sides have been fitted with door stops and the etched windows have been super glued in place.

Hi Rod,

 

Nice, neat, careful work.

 

With the EZB window surrounds for MK1's I find that a slight curve (pencil over etch on a mouse mat) is often required - how have you found them?

 

Keep up the good work - that's going to be a cracking model.

 

Kindest,

 

CME

[railwayrod]

Hi CME.

 

The instructions say that you should glue in the top of the etch and when set, glue in the bottom, finishing with the insertion of some glue down the sides. I found that by very gently curving the etch between the fingers before gluing into place was sufficient to do the job. I then used a fibre glass pencil to clean any surplus glue off the inside of the window openings in readiness for fitting the actual windows themselves. This task will be done after the sides have been painted.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi CME.

 

The instructions say that you should glue in the top of the etch and when set, glue in the bottom, finishing with the insertion of some glue down the sides. I found that by very gently curving the etch between the fingers before gluing into place was sufficient to do the job. I then used a fibre glass pencil to clean any surplus glue off the inside of the window openings in readiness for fitting the actual windows themselves. This task will be done after the sides have been painted.

Hi Rod,

 

Almost the same way as my method. I cant remember having any instructions with my window etches - but they were purchased as aftermarket windows for my Limas.

 

I gentle bend the frames to shape - easier after each window as you learn how far to bend them so as to get them just right - then super-glue them straight in, which is easy because the window frame already fits/follows the contours of the coach side. Any surplus glue is cleaned up afterwards with a nail file and/or fibre glass brush etc.

 

Keep up the good work Rod - the Easy Build MK1's are really nice with a few added details.

 

Kindest,

 

CME

[railwayrod]

I will fit the door handles and grab rails etc after I have painted the sides for obvious reasons. The next job is to tackle the roof which will need a bit of rubbing down in order to remove a bad scratch. Then I will have to mark out the position of the vents etc. This may be a little difficult as I find that my eyesight is not goof enough to do this accurately so I may have to enlist Howard's help on this task.

 

So far I am very pleased with this kit and when it is finished I will purchase another Mark 1 coach, then another (in time) with a view to forming a complete train.

Edited September 15, 2014 by railwayrod

[CME and Bottlewasher]

I will fit the door handles and grab rails etc after I have painted the sides for obvious reasons. The next job is to tackle the roof which will need a bit of rubbing down in order to remove a bad scratch. Then I will have to mark out the position of the vents etc. This may be a little difficult as I find that my eyesight is not goof enough to do this accurately so I may have to enlist Howard's help on this task.

 

So far I am very pleased with this kit and when it is finished I will purchase another Mark 1 coach, then another (in time) with a view to forming a complete train.

Hi Rod,

 

Sounds like a good plan.

 

Will you paint the sides as separate - unattached - items, then add the door furniture (I have used this ruse before)?

 

You could always fit the door furniture and then mask - with Maskol or similar - this maybe less fraught than keeping glue off of fresh paintwork?

 

Hope I am not teaching anyone to suck eggs LO!. The easiest way to add the roof vents is to find the roof centre and mark a lightly scribed line down the entire length, then this will aid the positioning of the vents when marking two - equidistant - parallel lines to the correct spacing either side of the centre line, then with these two lines mark off with lines from left to right where the individual vents need to be (consult with the bible on such by K. Parkin et al.) then this will give an accurate 'cross' marker for drilling the holes - hope that helps a little.

 

If you want to represent the 'weld seams' I use Letraline et al which looks about right and is nice a thin - the weld seems, werent in effect raised on the MK1's so the thinner the tape the better - the Letraline also doesnt come away when over-painted. I would add this lining after drilling the holes but before adding the vents and overflows etc. Then paint to suit.

 

I am sure that you and Howard will make a cracking job of it all.

 

Kindest,

 

CME