Upbech St Mary, Upbech Drove and Pott Row a journey through 00 and then into EM and 009.

[mullie]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

Martyn

 

I have just been given a book titled "Branchline To Upwell" I look forward to understanding the line as I know very little

The book is great,  it is a fascinating line, enjoy. 

[mullie]

The layout is back together and a number of small issues dealt with. 

 

Meanwhile a tram runs across the Quay on a passenger service. 

 

[Dunalastair]

I visited the Wisbech museum this morning. They had a small display of photographs of the tramway, and also of buildings in some of the neighbouring villages. Your version captures the atmosphere nicely. 

[mullie]

I'm new to exhibiting so lessons learnt were as follows:

 

The baseboards connect perfectly at home, at the exhibition, there was a very small but perceptible lump in the track where the boards met. I expect good running so that needs looking into. I use luggage connectors with dowels, one of the connectors might need to make a tighter connection.

 

A dry joint I assume, on one of the turnouts meant the alignment where the point blade met the closure rail was out. The J39 tender decided to object to this despite being a very reliable performer normally. The problem was identified by someone watching the layout who kindly pointed it out. I didn't have any track gauges with me. Most locos ran through the track just fine so I got away with it.

 

I had been having problems with the tender draw bar on the Claud, it is my own drawbar not Hornby and the loco is close coupled. I have high standards and it wasn't reliable enough reversing through the point work so again was sidelined. This was easily solved once home.

 

The J15, J70s and J72 ran up to expectations so so there were plenty of locos for such a small layout.  Another J15 would be good, really need to get on with converting the second one I bought over a year ago. An E4 kit is on my shopping list for next year.

 

Despite very careful packing some of the S&W couplings went out of alignment, the gauge would have been helpful so will be packed for future shows. Overall the layout performed well and was well received with interest in future bookings. 

 

With everything being modified sometimes heavily and a lot of kits, the layout is not as robust as some meaning I don't intend to take the layout out more than a few times each year if invited. Preparing for the show reminded me of my gigging days, that one day may return, making sure everything necessary was checked,  packed and rehearsed with provision for dealing with anything unforeseen once there. 

 

A cover was built for the fiddle yard so when I needed to leave the layout, locos could be hidden from view. The team operating the layout next to me kindly kept an eye on things, a big thank you to them. The N gauge layout was a model of a long closed station in Ramsgate, very interesting, I had seen photos of the prototype, the layout assumed the station made it into BR days, 

 

I was spoken to about some two day shows, in the back of my mind I have an idea to run the layout as steam one day and dieselised the second for variety. The diesel stock will need enlarging, plans are afoot for that.

 

A long and enjoyable day, loads of lessons learnt.

[mullie]

Number two daughter has now moved to London.  We went to see her for the first time last weekend. After some boring stuff we decided to head to Central London for food and a wander. 

 

Her local station is Norwood Junction,  even on a Sunday afternoon she didn't bother looking up times as 12 coach trains are every 15 minutes. London seems so much busier than when I lived there during my uni years.  We passed through Brockley and New Cross Gate on the way in, my old stops. Here is Norwood Junction. 

 

 

 

 

London Bridge has changed out of all recognition and stock wise is nowhere near as interesting in my view. The view from platform 5 has certainly changed. 

 

[Oldddudders]

Like you, some London places look a little different from my days. In your first pic, I think that dead end on the Up side was, in 1974, the final resting place of a runaway train. It had escaped unmanned - and un-passengered! - from Caterham, after being prepared for morning service. It gathered speed downhill and rattled through Purley. A newspaper report said it was doing a good 25 mph by the time it reached East Croydon, so despite plenty of staff there "Volunteers to board it were not significant". The chaps at Norwood Junction box diverted it into, I believe, that dead end. No-one was hurt, but I suspect a member of Caterham traincrew had a few questions to answer. 

[mullie]

On 25/10/2023 at 20:22, Oldddudders said:

Like you, some London places look a little different from my days. In your first pic, I think that dead end on the Up side was, in 1974, the final resting place of a runaway train. It had escaped unmanned - and un-passengered! - from Caterham, after being prepared for morning service. It gathered speed downhill and rattled through Purley. A newspaper report said it was doing a good 25 mph by the time it reached East Croydon, so despite plenty of staff there "Volunteers to board it were not significant". The chaps at Norwood Junction box diverted it into, I believe, that dead end. No-one was hurt, but I suspect a member of Caterham traincrew had a few questions to answer. 

I think the dead end you refer to is now a through road.

 

 

London Bridge just wasn't the same without 33s including slim Jim's, DEMUs and the occasional class 73 though it was a lot cleaner. Smoking was allowed on trains in those days and a lot of London still hadn't been cleaned. I think there may have even been WWII bomb damage around Ludgate Hill? I was younger then!

[mullie]

The 1960s passenger service has been thrown a lifeline, a W&M Railbus is being trialled in Norfolk. Here it is at Upbech St Mary.

 

 

And on its return to Drove station.

 

 

 

I picked this up 'spares and repair' for around £50, a fraction of what a fully working example would have cost. The motor works but does not drive the wheels, online research suggests it could be a common fault of split gears. As it needs a certain amount of dismantling to convert to EM it seems like a reasonable punt. I have some Gibson DMU wheels which might be the right size, failing that Branchlines might be able to provide something suitable, and according to a thread on here, replacement gears are available from a few sources, might not be too difficult to repair. I have been after one of these for a long time but they fetch a lot of money secondhand, more than I was willing to pay and I don't mind rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in. After two months or more of etched carriage construction shouldn't seem too daunting.

 

As you can imagine, being still 'narrow gauge' it is posed on the layout, there is a bag of bits with the unit including horns and I need to check for the missing buffer, all easily fixed.

 

[hayfield]

Mullie

 

A great buy there, as you say you need to re-wheel it anyway. Lets hope changing the wheels is easy

[mullie]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

Mullie

 

A great buy there, as you say you need to re-wheel it anyway. Lets hope changing the wheels is easy

With some time to kill I took it apart earlier. Seems the problem might be that the gear wheels are simply spinning on their axles so I might need only to remove them to put on some new EM axles and wheels, very strange. It will need a decoder and the wiring needs re channeling so it can't be seen and there is a loose wire that needs a home. Then it will need detailing and weathering. Might make a nice project for a dark night.

[5BarVT]

On 25/10/2023 at 20:22, Oldddudders said:

Like you, some London places look a little different from my days. In your first pic, I think that dead end on the Up side was, in 1974, the final resting place of a runaway train. It had escaped unmanned - and un-passengered! - from Caterham, after being prepared for morning service. It gathered speed downhill and rattled through Purley. A newspaper report said it was doing a good 25 mph by the time it reached East Croydon, so despite plenty of staff there "Volunteers to board it were not significant". The chaps at Norwood Junction box diverted it into, I believe, that dead end. No-one was hurt, but I suspect a member of Caterham traincrew had a few questions to answer. 

Did that one run away ‘wrong road’?

“Caterham Locking” was the result of an accident and is having the trailing crossover lying in the crossover position when normal, and restored to that position after every move, so I assume that was the accident that resulted in the Three Bridges interlocking being designed that way.

Paul.

[mullie]

Nothing worth photographing yet but a landmark nevertheless. Having finished the bodies of the six wheelers a few weeks ago the two chassis were finished this afternoon after many hours work. Next job is to sort out fitting body to chassis, give it all a good scrub, order buffers from Alan Gibson and prime. A Eureka moment was ordering a GE Journal back number that had a good side view of the middle axle box arrangement, I don't keep all mine due to space. The Society Emporium is excellently run, I emailed a query about type 5 carriages and was told exactly what journal number I needed to order and it arrived via download very quickly once paid for.

 

It has been a challenging build, probably the most challenging thing I've done. Recently I have been putting in some extra hours as I  I wanted to get it the build completed before the garage gets too cold. The joys of no longer being a full time member of staff in a school is that I have my evenings free and the current songwriting and recording project I'm working on has hit a lull.

[mullie]

A pause while parts are being ordered to finish the six wheelers. Modelling has largely moved inside for the winter and this is the first project.  Under the grime the car still has a glossy finish,  coated with Klear.  The Fenland roads were poor and even now subject to subsidence so it is no coincidence the car has picked up some autumn mud. It belongs to a local farmer who is in the pub and doesn't feel he needs a newer car. 

 

 

 

[mullie]

Well, look what turned up at Upbech Drove today!

 

 

This DMU originally ran on my West London Rickett Street layout, the thread of which has now been removed as all the photos had disappeared and I can't find the originals.

 

I found it in a box last weekend, it was an early EM conversion, the wheels were simply pulled out on their axles and new pick ups made, it has a real growl so generates its own sound. It is the Hornby version and I had owned it for a few years at this point. Around 2018 when I first decided to try EM the plan was to use Rickett Street as a test bed, set in the mid to late 60s post steam with Kadee couplings. However, when I realised Bullant bogie wheels could also be pulled out on their axles, two J70s appeared and the rest is history.

 

The weathering when I took it out of the box was too heavy handed for my current thinking so this photo shows it after most of it had been removed. It wasn't particularly overdone, just not how I would do things now.

 

I don't really know what to do with it as I don't currently have plans for another urban layout. I also found a Bachmann Thompson full brake in BR blue, is this even a decent model?

 

[mullie]

The six wheelers have reached the primer stage after just over three months effort. Here are the bodies,  hope to start the top coat next week. A job that can be done indoors. 

 

 

[mullie]

Day off on Friday, we had worked extra hours to earn it through the term. With SWMBO at work the dining room table was taken over for painting. This is a scene during the white heat of painting. Tear off pallet in the middle with various artists colours; black, white, grey, brown to form a base coat Grey was the predominant colour by the way. The take away tub has ground chalks in it that will add colour and texture to the roof.

 

 

These are the roofs after painting. The bodies are given a base coat of Tamiya red brown that provides a good base for weathering, I have used this colour for years and is also base colour for track work.  Some roof colour has got on the sides, I see this as an opportunity!

 

 

The chassis have also been painted and given a basic highlighting with watered down inks. At the moment everything is still component parts, there are units for each of the wheel sets one of which will be allowed to float. The middle axle is a simple assembly. I hope to assemble the chassis next week. Here are the coaches in bits.

 

 

Numbering is now in progress.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by mullie

[mullie]

Some things change,  others stay the same.  East Anglia can still appear timeless. 

 

 

 

 

Bit arty really,  nothing new to report though six wheelers should be completed this week. 

[mullie]

I have been working on these since the end of August, now I think they are ready to take their place on the layout. They are of an older type than survived to nationalisation but in the absence of the right type they are nice models of real GE carriages.

 

 

 

 

 

They are Eveleigh kits, well designed but requiring the following additional items:

 

EM Society axleboxes

MJT axle box springs

Gibson or Wizard wheels (can't remember which)

Silver Tay lamp brackets

Wizard gas lamp fittings and Westinghouse hoses

Cheap temperature controlled soldering iron, one day when it breaks down I'll buy a better one.

Multi core, low melt soldier and flux

Endless patience

Large vocabulary of bad language

Good sounds and blue tooth speaker

Garage at useable temperature, now expired

 

The primed bodies were pre shaded with black ink and then lightly sprayed with Tamiya red brown so the black showed under the finish. A coat of Klear followed as photos suggest they were not of a matt finish, followed up by washes of more ink in the crevices and dry brushing a combination of brown and yellow ochre. Carriages on the Kelvedon and Tollesbury, in a rare colour photo seem to be of a lighter colour than dark Stratford brown.

Edited December 13, 2023 by mullie

[lezz01]

They look very nice mullie. The paint job is outstanding.

Regards Lez.

[sb67]

They really look the part Mullie, well done 👍

[Fair Oak Junction]

Those are wonderful, fantastic work!

[robert17649]

wow truly good stuff

[Strathwood]

14 hours ago, mullie said:

I have been working on these since the end of August, now I think they are ready to take their place on the layout. They are of an older type than survived to nationalisation but in the absence of the right type they are nice models of real GE carriages.

 

 

 

 

 

They are Eveleigh kits, well designed but requiring the following additional items:

 

EM Society axleboxes

MJT axle box springs

Gibson or Wizard wheels (can't remember which)

Silver Tay lamp brackets

Wizard gas lamp fittings and Westinghouse hoses

Cheap temperature controlled soldering iron, one day when it breaks down I'll buy a better one.

Multi core, low melt soldier and flux

Endless patience

Large vocabulary of bad language

Good sounds and blue tooth speaker

Garage at useable temperature, now expired

 

The primed bodies were pre shaded with black ink and then lightly sprayed with Tamiya red brown so the black showed under the finish. A coat of Klear followed as photos suggest they were not of a matt finish, followed up by washes of more ink in the crevices and dry brushing a combination of brown and yellow ochre. Carriages on the Kelvedon and Tollesbury, in a rare colour photo seem to be of a lighter colour than dark Stratford brown.

 All very nice, will need extra supplies of these can you recommend a supplier?

 

Endless patience

Large vocabulary of bad language

Good sounds and blue tooth speaker

Garage at useable temperature, now expired

 

The latter is seldom available here in Inverness.

 

Kevin

[MrWolf]

Excellent job Mullie, I do like disreputable carriages and they really look the part.

[Schooner]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

...disreputable...

 

You can take the coach out of Essex, but...