Wright writes.....

[jwealleans]

Morning Phil,

 

I started from a photo on Paul Bartlett's website. That gave an idea of how to rope them on (there are BR manuals on the Barrowmore MRG website which give more information) and also the effect I eventually worked towards. The thread came from SWMBO, a fairly thick dark brown one. Once tied, I spot a little superglue on the back of knots and in some cases I have put dilute PVA over the thread, which shrinks slightly as it dries and pulls it taut. Most of them are genuinely roped down with no glue used at all.

 

You can judge how close to the PB photo I managed: this was taken at Folkestone last year. I must have been more carried away than I thought as I seem to have made 7, plus the augurs.

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by jwealleans

[edcayton]

@ Jonathan-what is an augur please?

 

Ed

[The Stationmaster]

@ Jonathan-what is an augur please?

 

Ed

An auger was available as an attachment to the hydraulic arms on the Fergy for digging holes for fenceposts etc.  Have a look on this page and scroll down, it shows many of the attachments which helped make the little Fergy an attractive alternative to large tractors  (my uncle has one which he restored and uses in ploughing matches).

 

http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/Ferguson_implements

[jwealleans]

Hi Ed,

 

This. Used for drilling holes for gateposts and the like. Fine in soft ground, but if you hit the slightest obstruction they shoot off sideways and make quite a mess.

 

I think they came from Springside in this case.

[petethemole]

What he said, or "Augur: (in ancient Rome) a religious official who observed natural signs, especially the behaviour of birds, interpreting these as an indication of divine approval or disapproval of a proposed action." A handy attachment for any tractor.

[PGC]

Morning Phil,

 

I started from a photo on Paul Bartlett's website. That gave an idea of how to rope them on (there are BR manuals on the Barrowmore MRG website which give more information) and also the effect I eventually worked towards. The thread came from SWMBO, a fairly thick dark brown one. Once tied, I spot a little superglue on the back of knots and in some cases I have put dilute PVA over the thread, which shrinks slightly as it dries and pulls it taut. Most of them are genuinely roped down with no glue used at all.

 

You can judge how close to the PB photo I managed: this was taken at Folkestone last year. I must have been more carried away than I thought as I seem to have made 7, plus the augurs.

 

 

You got very close indeed to the PB photo, Jonathan, except you didn't model the snow on the wagons!!! 

 

Thanks for the tips about how to use the thread - I've tried before with different threads and not done a particularly brilliant job, but I suspect your tip about the dilute PVA will help there.

 

Phil

[jwealleans]

 

you didn't model the snow on the wagons

I thought it might look a bit odd as it went past the half cut cornfield.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I thought it might look a bit odd as it went past the half cut cornfield.

 

P***ed again, our Jonathon

[gr.king]

Robert's your avuncular.

Of course, if one's mother liked to be "nice" to men one might have lots of avunculars, besides Robert. I fear this digression does not augur well for the main theme under discussion.

[edcayton]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did think an augur (sp?) was a kind of drill. Sorry for going OT Tony.

 

Ed

[Tony Wright]

Any chance it can be a stand alone layout DVD rather than mixed up with a lot of other stuff

Sorry for the delay in the reply, but I've been busy helping a friend build a replacement Comet chassis for a Bachmann 43XX. I didn't take a picture, but he'd never built a chassis before, but with help he did about 50%. With a High Level gearbox and can motor it was silky smooth indeed. 

 

As for a future Little Bytham DVD, I doubt if it'll be a stand alone one; just part of the normal mix. Since I'm no longer on Warners' staff, it's not up to me any more. Four years ago it was my decision to make a stand alone one - a pity it wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but there you go. Far too much of my waffle, not enough footage of moving trains and several archive shots missed out. 

[Ian Smeeton]

Augers drilled holes

 

Augurs were holy

 

Regards

 

Ian

[jwealleans]

Entirely correct.  Thread diversion over now, I think.

[Tony Wright]

Speaking of drilling holes, that's what I've been doing today.

 

 

Holes for the likes of this massive telegraph pole, adjacent to the 'box. Does anyone know why most of the insulators are fitted upside down?

 

 

This is what it looks like in situ, with appropriate steam-age passing trains.

Beware drilling holes in baseboards, underneath where point motors are situated! How have I learned this? I've now got to fix the frog polarity-changing switches so that I can set back into the lay-by, though the main running line still works. I don't think I repeated a profane word for over a minute!

 

 

With Ian Wilson's running-in boards in place, the railway is coming on.

 

 

There's an even larger pole on the Down side. Tomorrow's job?

 

The pole was made from brass rod as a post, erected in a jig borrowed from Cliff Parsons (of Gresley Beat fame), with the cross rails/insulators supplied as white metal castings by D&S. The whole lot was just soldered up together, and painted with acrylics. 

 

Many model railways just use the standard Ratio post, with its four cross rails (is that what they're called?). Fine, if your model is freelance. However, model a prototype location of any complexity in mechanical signalling days and you'll find examples like this - often many of them. 

[westerner]

I hope you are going to add the wires

[Tony Wright]

Comparing the prototype pictures with the model, my post might appear to be a bit thin.

[Tony Wright]

I hope you are going to add the wires

Thanks Alan!

 

Remember it's (almost) Halloween), not April 1st! 

[queensquare]

I hope you are going to add the wires

 

To be fair, if you look at the prototype photo in post 2872, the wires are barely visible.  I'd leave them off - unless you can find a well trained spider!

 

Jerry

[Tony Wright]

With regard to my previous posts with pictures, many thanks to whoever sorted out the jumble.

 

I should have also pointed out the trees in the side-on prototype picture of the 'box. As can be seen, they're a small field away but I've brought them forward on the model to act as a backdrop. Selective compression? They are, of course, ex-Tetleys Mills and I hope Dave would approve. 

 

As can be seen, the signal box is still just a mock-up but it does give a sense of scale. The A1 and the O2/2 are my kit-builds (60116 painted by Ian Rathbone and 63934 weathered by Tim Shackleton respectively) and the B1 the Tom Foster-weathered modified Hornby item. 

 

No need to kit-build an O2/2 in the not too distant future............

Edited October 30, 2014 by Tony Wright

[The Stationmaster]

I don't think the insulators are upside down - I think what you are seeing is the brackets, not the actual insulators.  Although the second photo is not so clear it looks even more as if it is the brackets which are showing and not the insulators themselves.

 

Look at this view of High Dyke 'box on John Tilly's site where the brackets show up more obviously

 

http://tillyweb.biz/abcw/highdyke1.jpg

Edited October 30, 2014 by The Stationmaster

[raymw]

If you drop the image into Irfan view or photoshop, zoom in to cross-arms, play with contrast, etc., you can clearly see the swan neck brackets holding the insulators. It looks as if most/maybe all lines are terminated on that pole by the box.

[LNER4479]

Yikes - I hope that last prototype picture in post #2872 was taken after the station was closed (looks like the platforms have gone). That signal in the background looks to be a replacement for the one I'm making and is of a different design!

 

The telegraph pole looks magnificent (if such a structure can possibly be given such an epithet?) and a timely reminder that proprietary products that should be approached with caution...

[gr.king]

Most of us probably realise that the addition of telegraph wires would create a number of ongoing problems, such as restricted access to track for cleaning and maintenance, regular damage to the wires and posts from attempts to get at the track, plus an infuriating tendency for the wires to gather dust and fluff or to be seen by spiders as an ideal framework from which to spin webs. Cleaning the wires themselves without damage would be mighty challenge.

[Clive Mortimore]

Alan (Westerner) added wires to his telegraph poles on Wencombe http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2386-wencombe-turntable/?p=1058123 and it does make a big difference.

[Tony Wright]

I don't think the insulators are upside down - I think what you are seeing is the brackets, not the actual insulators.  Although the second photo is not so clear it looks even more as if it is the brackets which are showing and not the insulators themselves.

 

Look at this view of High Dyke 'box on John Tilly's site where the brackets show up more obviously

 

http://tillyweb.biz/abcw/highdyke1.jpg

Thanks Mike,

 

You might well be right, but it's the visual 'effect' which I've tried to capture. If you look at the top bracket, there is nothing above it, and the bottom bracket definitely has insulators below. I agree, as observed elsewhere, that the insulators could well be on swan-necks (above or below the brackets?), but, though I admit to being a loony, I'm not going to make 40-odd of those on one post, especially when there are another dozen to consider. 

 

In the main picture, the insulators 'appear' to be upside down, as they do on the model. If I'd made it in the 'conventional' way, would it have looked 'right'? I doubt it.