Hawthorn Dene

[R Marshall]

A long day in the workshop.

 

but not the best of days overall....

 

I did get some groundwork done on No Place, so there will be pictures on that thread shortly.

 

More work done on locos.  I've found a tin with some chips inside, and have been using some of these to move a couple of locos temporarily from the Rise Park fleet. One of these, the ex-LMS 0-6-0 diesel, can move to the Hawthorn Dene Colliery roster.

 

12011.jpg

 

The loco in question.  It is a ?Parkwood? resin kit on a Fleischmann chassis.   I've looked at the speed curve for this and it now starts more cleanly than it did before.  However this idiot programmed in address 3011 instead of 2011.  I'll change it tomorrow.

 

blue pannier.jpg

 

The blue pannier tank- an eBay purchase.  I'm slowly getting a set of good reliable runners for the colliery, so I should be able to indulge in a spot more shunting when I've sorted out the odd intermittent short circuit. 

 

bongo back.jpg

 

Back in the Hawthorn Dene fleet is 61005 Bongo.  I hadn't noticed the number on the side is crooked, despite it being about 4 years since I renumbered it.  I'm not going to correct it- life is too short.  As it is a Great Eastern Section loco I'm going to leave it clean- when used on HD or Croft Spa it can be "running in after overhaul at Darlington works".

 

black five.jpg

 

The last of the additions, which at some time in the future will be renumbered as I think Geoff has one with the same number on Rise Park is the Black 5.  It didn't want to run at first and took a couple of laps to settle down.  Even now it is a little hesitant on dead frog points.  I'll find one that was photographed working North of York on the Red Bank newspapers and renumber it appropriately.  How dirty it becomes will depend on what is in the photograph.

 

 Mid-afternoon I noticed that one piece of track on the Northbound anticlockwise circuit had lost a couple of sleeper ends- this is the first sign that it is about to disintegrate.  How do I know?  the other three bends on the main line, and both ends of Furtwangen Ost including two Setrack points have already done so.  Reason- Track Magic.  I used it extensively at first, following the guidance to put some on a cloth and rubbing it on the rails in the fiddle yard and letting the trains carry it round the layout.  HOWEVER it reacts with the plastic of Setrack and rots it.  Streamline is unaffected by it, thankfully, being a different plastic.  Naturally as soon as I realised what was causing it I consigned the rest of the track cleaning solvents into the bottle of assorted paint stripper.

 

I have spare curves of all three Setrack radii, so I thought I'd lift the two affected lengths and put new ones in.  However the straights at either end of the curve disintegrated, as did the two curves.  Have I any spare Setrack straights in the box? Of course not.   The pics show the damage.

 

broken rails again.jpgbroken track yetagain.jpg

 

Of course it has to be Bank Holiday weekend, so there won't be anyone open until Tuesday.  I'll call in at Access Models on the way home from the club on Tuesday, and lay in a supply of Setrack short straights and extra curves of each radius.  I'll use any spares when I build Croft Spa later in the year.

 

Les

 

Les,

 

I use wine bottle corks for cleaning - non-abrasive and very effective. I realise it might be a bit labour intensive on a layout of this size, however!

 

Regards,

 

Roy

[Les1952]

I use Peco track rubbers on the lower level and backstage, and wooden stirring sticks or Dapol cream box inserts for the colliery where the conductive bits that rub off the Peco rubber cause a problem by getting into insulation gaps.

 

I've also found a picture of 45204 heading North into Darlington, so the Black Five will gain that identity (and quite an amount of grot).  The forthcoming BR 5MT will be 73158.  I've got to contact those nice Fox people to get hold of smokebox numbers for them.

 

Les

[Les1952]

Another frustrating day.....

 

I got the Black Five renumbered to 45204 but still being unhappy with the way it runs I tried changing the chip.  The replacement chip wouldn't even let me read the CVs.  Tried this chip in a loco known to be good (Evening Star which is remaining analogue for now) and it programmed quite happily.  Two other chips the same- work fine in other locos but can't read the CVs in the Black Five.  I think the loco pickups aren't all that good. Either that or it has a dodgy interface inside.  It seems to run OK on analogue.  I'll take it to the club tomorrow and try it on Rise Park since we have a running and testing morning.  If it is doubtful it can go on eBay, otherwise it will be a permanent member of the Rise Park fleet.  Finding another Black Five isn't a priority.

 

Running other locos to give a little track time was OK until I put 60124 on the short passenger.  After half a lap it slowed and started to emit the sort of noise you get when a worm gear either chews the teeth of the gear it is connected to or goes out of mesh.  Trying the tender on its own it can't even pull itself along.  It is now in its box waiting for post to BR Lines in the morning.  So now BOTH A1s are away at the same time.

 

On the other hand I did get a little more done on No Place including working out which fencing I need for the platform.  I'll see if Steve has it in stock when I call in for track tomorrow.  Otherwise a trip to Sherwood Models on Thursday might be in order.

 

Edit from yesterday- the BR 5MT starts off as 73158 but will become 73168 as that was repaired at Darlington.

 

Les

Edited May 2, 2016 by Les1952

[Les1952]

Club day today so all the work done was on Rise Park.

 

However, I did get to test the Black Five on Rise Park, and it ran well without stalling anywhere.  As a result I've come to the conclusion that either the pickups are good enough for analogue but not good enough for a decoder to cope with, or the 6-pin interface board has a problem.  Either way I'll weather it as a permanent member of the Rise Park fleet.

 

I called in at Access Models on the way home and got a goodly number of short Setrack pieces and another half-circle of Radius 2.  That should cover me for any future self-destructing Setrack.  Shed day tomorrow while the car has one of its fold-down seats mended.  I'll get the repairs done, and a bit more Scenic work done on No Place.

 

Les

[Les1952]

More degradation.

 

I thought I'd have a good look under the cover at the Colliery End while I was doing rebuilds.  Just as well I did as the last two pieces of Curved Setrack before the line switches to Streamline for the front were both showing signs of plastic failure.  They came up in pieces.

 

 

The dead track from both ends is now in the bin.  You can see the extent to which the sleeper base has fallen apart.  I'm not sure whether it was the Track Magic or the Slaters Track Cleaner that caused the problem.  Talking to club members the opinion is that the Slaters might be the issue as it is much stronger than the Track Magic.  It could also be the combination of one followed by the other.  The other question is why doesn't it attack Streamline?

 

 

The Southbound line relaid.

 

However, I've bought a Setrack curved point for trial before making Croft Spa.  This is a right-hand so unsuitable for here (there isn't room on the Northbound circuit to install it).  I had a day out yesterday and called in at Sherwood Models.  Ian had a left-hand curved point and a couple of short make-up curves available.  I'm going to try extending line 5 of the fiddle yard (the shortest Southbound one) to a point actually on the exit curve. The current point will be left in place just in case the new one derails trains. 

 

Shed day looming- time to get the thing laid.

 

Les

 

 

 

 

[Les1952]

Frustrating afternoon but progress made...

 

I hate Draper's lead free solder.  It doesn't want to melt where and when I want it to.  I DID have a reel of leaded solder originating in Poland- wonderful stuff.  However that went AWOL in the clubroom.  A replacement reel of Chinese leaded solder proved to be watchmaker's solder, about half a millimetre wide in the strand, so it was back to the Drapers stuff this afternoon.  My temper wasn't improved by it.  Rant over (until I have to use it again...)

 

 

First a view of the relaid track at the Hawthorn end of the layout, ready for the lid to go back on.  There is a not-very-nice rail joint just under the overbridge ( onstage by about 6 inches) but it will have to stay as the scenery there is a bit too delicate to remove and replace.  At normal operating speeds nothing derails but everything rattles a bit.

 

A trip into town this morning (going in earlier for the weekly shopping trip) netted two yards of new Code 80 Streamline, and another Setrack curved point.  I'd decided that if I used both then I could extend the two shortest Southbound roads to take longer trains.  Indeed the pair of trains that can be held in here now are both too long for the V2, A2s or WDs....   

 

 

Just as well I lifted this part of the corner as the two pieces of Setrack here were also on the point of disintegrating.  The main problem with this corner was putting an additional feed in beyond where the new points meet the main line. That is where the Drapers solder got me annoyed- not helped by this being in the end box and therefore not easy to reach even with the lid removed.  Moral- Croft Spa will have droppers from (almost) every rail.

 

 

The new points don't look too bad now they are laid in, and the difference in length for these two sidings is wonderful.  One downside is that the points aren't in numerical order any more, which will confuse operators a bit until they get used to them.  Manchester show will decide how much of a difference that makes.  The team is Jim (who is reluctant to drive but does the PR bit very well), Chris (a competent regular), Eric (who has never worked the layout before but is very competent) and myself.

 

Time to feed the cat.

Les

 

 

 

 

 

[MrSimon]

Great news, I've been building wagons do now they have somewhere to go!

 

[Les1952]

A better day today.

 

The new sequence on the Southbound side is a little harder to operate- while Chris and I will be up to speed with it by Quorn show I can expect grumbles from Mr Simon, even though the new sidings hold about 20 more wagons than the old ones.

 

I've had to fettle a couple of fishplates but the exit points are working well.  Only one A4 so far doesn't like the bend (so it will just be barred from these two roads).  The heavier trains are defeating the A2s and WDs, so it looks like mainly A3s and Union Mills on the heavy stuff.  Pic shows an A4 chosen at random (I think it is 60006) negotiating the new exit points.

 

 

While a succession of locos have been loosening up I've turned my attention to two new arrivals.  One is a new Standard 5MT from Rails bargain basement.  I gave it a running-in on Rise Park on Thursday night so it has just been chipped and renumbered today.  Pic shows it off for a spin before renumbering.

 

 

It is now 73168 which had a works overhaul at Darlington in 1963.  I'll probably give it full pre-works grot so it can work a parcels Northbound on Croft Spa - working to Darlington from its West Riding home.  After it was overhauled it was quickly transferred away to the Southern.

 

Also acquired is another A3, this time a non-runner. It had a lower chassis problem, looking as if it had been dismantled for oiling and not put back together correctly.  It needed one screw from the "dead NQP A3s" box to get it fixed.  Also run-in on Rise Park on Thursday evening I took it apart again today and swapped the boiler and tender top with one of the withdrawn NQPs.  As a result HD now has 60088 Book Law back in service.

 

 

Time for a cuppa...

Les

Edited May 7, 2016 by Les1952

[MrSimon]

Harder's ok - I'll have my box of extra wagons with me for the 9F hauled mixed frieght we ran at Doncaster

Edited May 7, 2016 by MrSimon

[Les1952]

Harder's ok - I'll have my box of extra wagons with me for the 9F hauled mixed frieght we ran at Doncaster

 

Not too many- the sidings hold about eight to ten wagons more than they did, but they have a sharper turn than they did (R2 rather than R3 which is why one A4 won't cope) so resistance is higher. BRONZINO will only take five bogies out of the new sidings rather than the six out of the old ones.  Weedy weakling that A2....

 

The 9F can go on the straight road and the passenger in front can move, maybe onto one of the new roads and become a bit longer.  I've tested the A4s and A3s with eight coaches rather than seven.

[Les1952]

With both A1s away for repair I've located a secondhand one and bought it.

 

Third time lucky?

 

Les

[Les1952]

Not a lot done today.

 

I now know what is wrong with 45204, the interface is incorrectly wired. I had replaced the blanking plate (the original one from the loco when new) the correct way up according to the markings and it ran. Trying it out on Rise Park this morning it runs backwards (ie the opposite way to every other DC loco in the Rise Park fleet). Putting the blanking plate in UPSIDE DOWN cured it. This could explain why no chip would work in it, no matter which way up it is...

 

Good news is that Dapol have finally processed my club membership and the pannier tank I ordered at club silly discount has arrived. I don't really want one in GWR Green with BRITISH RAILWAYS on the side, but it runs well and will be relettered NCB in due course. The NCB line is becoming Pannier Land (one green, one blue and one black). I only need a red one to complete the set!

 

More loco testing tomorrow as I set up the trains for the new sequence.

 

Les

[Les1952]

A day sorting locos and trains.

 

I've now got a full yard of trains, apart from leaving a little space for Mr Simon's wagons on the semi-fitted.  A  couple of locos needed some weathering adding, and one or two extra lamps have been added.  I still need a couple of packs of Springside tail lamps to finish the job.  I might be able to pick some up at Lutterworth on Saturday.

 

 

65726 has had some more grot attached, including a little rust on the cab roof.  I'll try to find a crew for it before it goes into its box.

 

 

The cheapo pannier tank from Dapol is chipped (using the one from 60124) and has been running-in on the colliery line.  I'm still not sure whether or not to reletter the tank sides or just weather it.

 

 

I've been able to lengthen the Up fitted goods.  It now has about 25 brown vehicles behind the loco, which will need to be one of the A3s or the Britannia.  I haven't a Farish loco strong enough to pull it.  It runs from Track 8, which is the shortest remaining siding in the Up yard.  The other occupant of this track is the diesel with two brake vans. 

 

 

Looking the other way, this train is quite effective.  The two longest roads in the Up yard now have goods trains on them.  

 

I've read an article in Gresley Observer about Train No.39, the Tyneside to London empty stock via Sunderland, West Hartlepool Stockton and Northallerton.  It usually had a Gateshead pacific on it to Stockton where it gained a pilot over the hilly section to Northallerton. The pilot had worked in from Neville Hill and could also be a pacific, usually an A3 if it was. The load from Stockton to Northallerton was heavy enough to justify two locos.  After Northallerton it split with the Gateshead loco going to York and the Nevile Hill loco to Leeds via Ripon.   It was given a new reporting number and mostly diverted via Darlington in the late fifties, but there was a portion ran round the coast for a good many years, still normally with a Gateshead A2 on the front.   I now have a prototype for the Southbound A2-hauled parcels train......

 

Cat sitting on table tapping wrist with paw.  Time to stop and feed her.

Les

 

[Two_sugars]

I've also noticed that about my Farish locos. . My Dapol B1s both pull better than they do.. .BUT!!!! for sheer pulling power, It's got to be any of my UM 0-6-0 s.

 

 

John

[Les1952]

Secondhand A1 arrived this morning, as did a pair of new maroon CCTs.

 

CCTs both weathered, though one will need another layer, and the A1 checked over, chipped and renumbered. Now 60115 MEG MERRILEES, a Gateshead loco until 1960 when it moved to Copley Hill.

 

Not entirely out of the woods as far as getting a good A1 is concerned. It is missing a vertical handrail from one side, and the right-hand smoke deflector is detatched and decidedly grotty. However it will glue back. It seems to run well, though I've not checked its haulage. At least unlike the last secondhand A1 it has one wheelset with traction tyres.

 

Photos once the deflector has been put back and a little weathering applied, probably Sunday as it is Lutterworth show tomorrow.

Les

[Les1952]

A good morning out to Lutterworth Show today

 

then back into the shed to get a bit more done.  One purchase of stock at Lutterworth, a secondhand unboxed Farish suburban, which is now partnered with the LNER push-pull coach behind the G5.  

 

I got home to find a box from Etched Pixels with an LNER Suburban coach of the same type as the push-pull brake.  Now the question is, do I start it and get to the stage where it needs Mr Simon's magic to sort it out (like the brake), or do I just admit defeat and pass it straight to Mr Simon to make?

 

Work today has involved putting the deflector back onto MEG MERRILEES, sorting out its front numberplate, varnishing the cabsides to keep the new numbers in place, and giving it a bit of a spin.  As promised, pics.

 

 

The side with the better deflector and the missing cabside stanchion.  It may be replaced, or I may just run without as the average punter isn't likely to spot it.   Haulage seems to be seven coaches round HD in either direction.  Seven plus the new horsebox just defeat it.  No extra tyred wheelset of course, being secondhand.

 

 

The horsebox running in the Southbound express before I transferred it to the local passenger (which has grown to four coaches plus the horsebox, with the D20 on the front and the 3MT tank as reserve).  Must weather the ends.....

 

 

"Typical, Barry.  First time we get two namers in the same day and they have to come together so we can't read what the other one is......"  60115 before weathering passes York's very grotty 60526.  I'm not going to wearher 60115 quite so much, the pics I have show a reasonable state of cleanliness, and Gateshead looked after their A1s a bit better than their A4s.

 

Time to go and vegetate in front of Eurovision.

Les

 

[millerhillboy]

The missing cabside grab rail can be made from N-brass wire and knobs. I had to make one on my auld reekie and it looks identical

[Les1952]

The missing cabside grab rail can be made from N-brass wire and knobs. I had to make one on my auld reekie and it looks identical

Many thanks for that. I've got handrail wire but no N-gauge handrail knobs in stock. I also have to put new boiler handrails on the G5 which has suffered M7 handrail disease (wrong plastic used which has given up with age and warm showcase)

 

I've got plates for Auld Reekie. Rather relieved I didn't use them (also got Silurian and Wilson Worsdell plates available for any future A1s).

 

Les

[Les1952]

60115 done and trains sorted.

 

 

That is as much as 60115 is getting.  I've added it to the passenger roster as it is happy to take seven coaches anti-clockwise.  For some reason it slows down just going offscene if I run it clockwise, but I really should have an A1 running.  It may be that the loco to tender connections want tweaking a little and that it is losing some contacts when turning right.  Seven bogies is OK as a load, seven plus the horsebox no chance.  All I need to do is to get its tender coupling to behave itself.

 

I've also located another Dapol B1, claims to be new.  At the price I paid it should be OK.  I've only one chip available at present, a blue Bachmann one, so it might have to wait until after Manchester for fettling.  We'll see when it turns up.

 

The other thing I've done is to create a 4-car DMU set by putting an old Farish centre trailer into the 3-car 108 set.  It looks mildly more convincing than the 5-car 108 made up of a 3-car and a 2-car.  What I really need is for Farish to make the centre trailers separately available.

 

The coal fulls have now become 20 wagons behind a J27 rather than 18 as the DMU sharing its siding has shrunk.  Tomorrow I'll start boxing thre trains in the right order, which will clear siding space to give one or two locos a run round.

 

Les

 

edited as ever for typos I didn't spot in preview....

Edited May 15, 2016 by Les1952

[Barry O]

Les

 

the Met Cam sets had a buffet car in them when I travelled to Darlington on one (from West Hartlepool)

Not sure how long the Buffet cars lasted in the North East but I did catch up with one on the Keighley and

Worth Valley many years later.

 

Baz

[Les1952]

Les

 

the Met Cam sets had a buffet car in them when I travelled to Darlington on one (from West Hartlepool)

Not sure how long the Buffet cars lasted in the North East but I did catch up with one on the Keighley and

Worth Valley many years later.

 

Baz

There were ( think)six buffet sets, all allocated to the North East. Six 4-car sets with buffets and others without came at about the same time. They were supposed initially to work as part of eight-car sets on Newcastle to Carlisle and Newcastle to Middlesbrough. The buffet cars didn't last that long in service, presumably because each only served half a train..... The survivor is E59575, which went from the Worth Valley to the Manchester Museum and is now fully restored on the Great Central, running as part of a 3-car set for the time being at least. Hopefully they will get a TSL to go with it.

 

I might actually manage a ride at this year's GCR gala as they will be running it between Loughbrough and Quorn (they did last year but I couldn't get away from the layout for long enough).

 

All the very best

Les

[Les1952]

A couple of quick pics from the Manchester Transport Museum show- more to follow (hopefully)

 

Having arrived home safely from the show the layout was left in the workshop.  The following morning, with re-packed bag and laptop to hand it was off on the train to ..... Manchester for five days at the exam board.  I'm now up to my neck in online marking so little progress, though I did leave the K3 with Simon Howard for chipping.  Hopefully this will be back and running at the GCR.

 

 

We were set up at the rear of the Museum, with Stamford east beside us to the right.  It was nice to see Robin with this layout, as when Trevor Webster owned it I provided a lot of the stock.  Indeed B1s Bongo and Gnu, together with the three DMUs, were all Stamford East stock.  On the left Jim and to the right in the green shirt is Chris Burch from Leicester.  He and Eric Beech came to the rescue when I couldn't get enough operators from Bingham Club.

 

 

Chris concentrating.  A casualty of the weekend was the tethered goat- I didn't know 2mm sized goats could chew through their tethers and run off but it has gone.  there is a new pack of animals on order.  Any spares will go to Croft Spa.

 

Time for bed. 

 

Les

Edited June 1, 2016 by Les1952

[Les1952]

Another invite.

 

Hawthorn Dene will be at the Manchester MRS show in December 2017.

 

Les

[Les1952]

Two more pics from Manchester

 

 

A view of the colliery yard.  No.8 remained there for the whole show, largely because I didn't make time before the start to make sure we could run into/out of this siding without causing a short.  For the same reason we didn't shunt the coal drops, though the screens managed to get shunted a whole three times over the weekend of the show.

 

 

The fiddle yard, as messy as usual- just because I've lengthened two of the sidings doesn't mean I have to keep things tidier!    Note the coal fulls with the trusty J27, now lengthened from 18 to 20 wagons.  Behind is the 4- car class 108 - a three-car set strengthened with an old Farish TS pending "loose" trailers being made.  The other long siding has the 9F hauled semi-fitted train that Mr Simon is threatening new wagons for.  Behind it is empty as the sheeted opens with Type 2 and brake tender are creeping round the corner at the far end.

 

Note the "boards" on the backscene which give the numbers and DCC addresses of each loco in the yard- you can't read the cabsides when trains are packed so tightly.  The amber one visible is (90)344 which is sound-fitted.   The ones facing are the spares, that bleong belong to the locos sitting off the track.  these are ready for quick substitution if there is a problem.  I keep one express, one fitted freight and one local freight loco spare at each end of the layout- though a diesel can substitute for the freights if necessary.  I try to keep a loco with the right lamps at the head of each train- notice the A3 on track 10 is lamped for an express while the B1 off the track is lamped for parcels and the 9F for semi-fitted.  The A3 on track 10 is Firdaussi, notable as being devoid of blinkers, which the prototype didn't have.  The spare A3 facing away is Spearmint with its LNER high-sided tender.

 

The gradient on the floor was too great to compensate for with shims- the G5 struggled with a single coach so I replaced it with the 3MT, and two of the three A2s couldn't manage their trains and had to be taken off, as did the V2.  Thank goodness for Dapol A3s and B1s, which walked away with anything they were asked to pull.

 

Pack with replacement goat arrived this morning.  Must remember to take goat and superglue to the GCR.

 

Les

Edited June 3, 2016 by Les1952

[Les1952]

Replacement goat has arrived, and an A3 arrived from Hattons and departed again after I discovered something they apparently hadn't spotted- it had no motor, circuitboard or gear tower.  It could have been the deco sample of Flying Fox.

 

Another Britannia is on its way from eBay- attacked by a family cat and came off worst.  I should have enough spares, and the price was low enough for a DCC Supplies repair if necessary.

 

Also coming is ANOTHER A3, this time a new one from Dapol, who seem to have found some boxes of single chimneyed ones.  It will gain a double chimney and blinks when run it - I'll swap its boiler over and give it a new identity, either as Gladiateur again or possibly Papyrus.  It cost less new than the Hattons secondhand one with no motor....

 

Les