Wright writes.....

[JamieR4489]

Hi Tony,

Today I started on the white metal wagon you gave me. I've made good progress with just handrails, the rest of the brake gear and couplings to do.

I can see from the photos that a few bits need cleaning up or re positioning so I'll get those sorted before I go any further.

 

I don't see why this won't get finished before the Ely show so I'll bring it and show it to you then along with another GNR 6 wheel coach (hopefully).

 

Jamie 

Edited March 13, 2019 by JamieR4489

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, RBAGE said:

 

The Bachmann WD does have quite a few shortcoming. Not least is the chimney which I should have changes for something more convincing. Some of the DJH kits I've built suffer from far more significant errors so the expense of the kit, motor, gearbox, wheels and additional parts to rectify the designers mistakes doesn't always justify the kit route.

I generally build kits to fill gaps and buy RTR which are generally modified to match a specific loco.

This was one of Wakefield's finest. Hence the "O" on the cab side to signify a "bonus" engine. This loco was later allocated to Hartlepool for a short while which is the condition seen here.

Handrails, oil pipes, washout and fusible plug arrangement to match the "Doncaster" boiler. Washout plugs are made from wire and sequins (Ebay all the way from China). Lubrication pipework is a bundle of wires. Additional curved hand grab at the front of hand rail. Fire iron brackets fitted as prototype.

 

I don't have a finished layout (work in progress) so this spends most of it's time in a box so I haven't yet fitted crew, fall plate or lamps. I also intend to close the gap.

 

DCC sound fitted (also by myself) but I can't remember who's sound file. Anyway, I'm waiting for Locoman57 to finish waving his magic want when the decoder will be reblown or replaced.

 

That's the work I have done but the weathering is not by me. On the tender is "WHO'S SORRY NOW" as the prototype. I suppose it signifies the impending doom of this loco and most others.

 

That's certainly a very natural-looking Austerity.

 

I accept the DJH kit has faults, but it's the motion which lets down the Bachmann 'Dub Dee' the most, especially on the offside, where the return crank leans the wrong way. The thick plastic tender coal space sides and cabsides also militate in my view. 

 

That said, the late Dave Shakespeare was quite happy to use one on his first Tetley's Mills.

 

 

Heavily-weathered, it fitted in well with his West Riding scenario.

 

 

It came my way after Dave's death, and ran on LB for a while. I thought the weathering was a bit 'red', so toned it down somewhat. It now runs on a friend's layout, and he's thrilled to bits to have a memento of Dave. I have several of Dave's wagons to remember him by. 

 

 

Deep down, though, I still think Dave preferred to make his own, witnessed here by a DJH Austerity crossing the viaduct on the second Tetley's Mills (sadly never completed). 

 

I've had several Bachmann Austerities through my hands, but I never keep them, preferring, as expected, to make my own.

 

 

This one was just a renumbering job for a friend. 

 

 

One of the most-natural Austerities I've seen is this one, built/weathered by Geoff Kent in EM and running on his Black Lion Crossing. 

 

 

A couple of years ago, I photographed this O Gauge pair on John Emerson's Gifford Street. The one on the left should not have a Westinghouse pump. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

27 minutes ago, JamieR4489 said:

Hi Tony,

Today I started on the white metal wagon you gave me. I've made good progress with just handrails, the rest of the brake gear and couplings to do.

I can see from the photos that a few bits need cleaning up or re positioning so I'll get those sorted before I go any further.

 

I don't see why this won't get finished before the Ely show so I'll bring it and show it to you then along with another GNR 6 wheel coach (hopefully).

 

Jamie 

That's great progress, Jamie,

 

Thanks for showing us. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Woodcock29]

Who remembers Chis Crawley? He used to have a shop in Lordship Lane at Tottenham.

 

Then he moved to somewhere in Lincolnshire. Was it Spilsby?

 

I bought my first D&S wagon kits, including the fish vans mentioned above from Chris on my first trip back to the UK in 1981, as well as a number of RCTS greenies and a Craftsman A5.

 

Andrew

[mullie]

11 hours ago, Chamby said:

 

Tony, I wonder how many folks following this thread have stuff they have produced that will stand up to comparison with your own work?  

 

You may inhibit the feedback that you have asked for, if this is an expectation?

 

Phil

As someone who made the move from 00 to EM around a year ago, I have posted my ramblings on this site, they certainly do not stand alongside a lot of the work on this thread, responses have been positive and by following this thread I have learnt loads. and will continue to do so.

 

I'm currently building a High Level Kits gearbox, to replace a Comet one I am not happy with, couldn't have seen myself doing this a few years ago. I have never belonged to a club either so work solo.

 

Martyn

[Doncaster]

48 minutes ago, Woodcock29 said:

Who remembers Chis Crawley? He used to have a shop in Lordship Lane at Tottenham.

 

Then he moved to somewhere in Lincolnshire. Was it Spilsby?

 

I bought my first D&S wagon kits, including the fish vans mentioned above from Chris on my first trip back to the UK in 1981, as well as a number of RCTS greenies and a Craftsman A5.

 

Andrew

Andrew,

I think I remember Chris Crawley having a shop on Humberside.  Goxhill or somewhere close.  Mind you, memory ain't what it was!

Vernon

[jamie92208]

I haven't yet criticised Tony's work to my knowledge apart from the odd dig about the slow progress of the bridge repair gang however as that is about structures I'll show something I did. 

 

The station buildings on Green Ayre were built by a good friend of mine, John Patrick.  However the platform awnings are mainly my own work.   I did struggle to get accurate prototype information but had great stroke of luck when I got custody of the original engineering drawings for the overhead equipment that was erected in 1907.   How I got them is a story in itself but they are now safely with the Midland Railway Society at Derby.   Anyway in the background of one of the drawings the draughtsman had actually detailed some of the down platform buildings and a piece of the awning structure.

Among the 1907 drawings was the original drawing for the construction of the station footbridge in 1889.

I got these in 2010 as I was starting to build the layout.  The drawings spurred me into learning 2D CAD as I couldn't afford to let this treasure trove if information be turned into a model by anyone else.  My first etch was for the warren trusses that held up the awnings and the spandrels that supported them.

I also pondered long and hard as to how to produce the actual awnings and eventually had them laser cut in Romark by York Modelmaking. This meant learning another new set of design protocols but both Grainge and Hodder for the Etches and York Modelmaking were very helpful to a raw beginner.

Here's the first set of awnings assembled.

To cut a long story short a friend made a master for the columns from hexagonal brass pieces and John Patrick, in his mid 80's, taught himself resin casting and cast the columns.  I asked him to put lengths of M2 threaded rod through them so that they could be bolted through the baseboard.  The finials were modified from Signal finials from Wizard's MSE range.  I then made a frame of 3mm ply that everything could be mounted on before assembling it all upside down on a jig produced from the Templot track plan.  More etchings were bent and soldered together to form the gutters. 

By now it was 2015 and it was starting to look OK.   The above was at Telford in 2015.   This rather nice interior shot was taken with ne of the rear walls of the station left off.

For transport the station board travels on it's own with the assembly jig as the top of the crate, though that is now a display board at the end of the layout.

8 years on I still need to fully finish and adjust the awnings to get them correct but I am happy with what I have managed to make.  The satisfaction of seeing something emerge from a drawing, to some parts and finally to seeing a semi finished structure.  It's even better when the thing that you make even moves under it's own power.   I'd never attempted anything like this when I started back in 2010 but as the information emerged there was no other way.  There were long pauses while I pondered how to sort snags out and what to do next but it has definitely been worth the effort.   I do need to sort out the catenary supports between the canopies and to get them all properly upright but I now have the layout up all the time and hopefully will have the time to do the alterations. I don't like doing buildings and structures but have enjoyed seeing this come along.

 

Jamie

[Tony Wright]

8 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I haven't yet criticised Tony's work to my knowledge apart from the odd dig about the slow progress of the bridge repair gang however as that is about structures I'll show something I did. 

 

The station buildings on Green Ayre were built by a good friend of mine, John Patrick.  However the platform awnings are mainly my own work.   I did struggle to get accurate prototype information but had great stroke of luck when I got custody of the original engineering drawings for the overhead equipment that was erected in 1907.   How I got them is a story in itself but they are now safely with the Midland Railway Society at Derby.   Anyway in the background of one of the drawings the draughtsman had actually detailed some of the down platform buildings and a piece of the awning structure.

Among the 1907 drawings was the original drawing for the construction of the station footbridge in 1889.

I got these in 2010 as I was starting to build the layout.  The drawings spurred me into learning 2D CAD as I couldn't afford to let this treasure trove if information be turned into a model by anyone else.  My first etch was for the warren trusses that held up the awnings and the spandrels that supported them.

I also pondered long and hard as to how to produce the actual awnings and eventually had them laser cut in Romark by York Modelmaking. This meant learning another new set of design protocols but both Grainge and Hodder for the Etches and York Modelmaking were very helpful to a raw beginner.

Here's the first set of awnings assembled.

To cut a long story short a friend made a master for the columns from hexagonal brass pieces and John Patrick, in his mid 80's, taught himself resin casting and cast the columns.  I asked him to put lengths of M2 threaded rod through them so that they could be bolted through the baseboard.  The finials were modified from Signal finials from Wizard's MSE range.  I then made a frame of 3mm ply that everything could be mounted on before assembling it all upside down on a jig produced from the Templot track plan.  More etchings were bent and soldered together to form the gutters. 

By now it was 2015 and it was starting to look OK.   The above was at Telford in 2015.   This rather nice interior shot was taken with ne of the rear walls of the station left off.

For transport the station board travels on it's own with the assembly jig as the top of the crate, though that is now a display board at the end of the layout.

8 years on I still need to fully finish and adjust the awnings to get them correct but I am happy with what I have managed to make.  The satisfaction of seeing something emerge from a drawing, to some parts and finally to seeing a semi finished structure.  It's even better when the thing that you make even moves under it's own power.   I'd never attempted anything like this when I started back in 2010 but as the information emerged there was no other way.  There were long pauses while I pondered how to sort snags out and what to do next but it has definitely been worth the effort.   I do need to sort out the catenary supports between the canopies and to get them all properly upright but I now have the layout up all the time and hopefully will have the time to do the alterations. I don't like doing buildings and structures but have enjoyed seeing this come along.

 

Jamie

Apologies for not being able to remove your pictures from my response, but this is exciting stuff, Jamie.

 

Apologies also for not quite starting on the bridge. I've removed a few pieces from the fret!

 

What I've decided to do is get organised. This is a strange situation for me, I know, but it's my intention to complete the current loco projects first. These comprise of a DJH C2 (for Jesse Sim), an Alan Gibson GWR 517 Class in EM (for Geoff Haynes as a sub-contract), that ancient Atco 4F (for myself) and the DJH Semi (for myself). Easter is the target date for these, which will mean the bridge project delayed by one Christian holiday. I'll post pictures of the progress...................

 

Geoff currently has six of my locos for painting, but it shouldn't take me long to put those back together, glaze the cabs, fit crews and add coal once they're done. I'll also post pictures of these when they're complete. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

[Bucoops]

Fantastic!

[Enterprisingwestern]

12 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

Who remembers Chis Crawley? He used to have a shop in Lordship Lane at Tottenham.

 

Then he moved to somewhere in Lincolnshire. Was it Spilsby?

 

I bought my first D&S wagon kits, including the fish vans mentioned above from Chris on my first trip back to the UK in 1981, as well as a number of RCTS greenies and a Craftsman A5.

 

Andrew

 

11 hours ago, Doncaster said:

Andrew,

I think I remember Chris Crawley having a shop on Humberside.  Goxhill or somewhere close.  Mind you, memory ain't what it was!

Vernon,

 

Chris indeed moved to Goxhill, into the station house. if likewise my memory is correct! I visited him whilst working for the local gas board and obviously spent more time talking trains than the real reason for my visit. I was offered the kitchen table, stamped LNER on the underside, but regrettably there wasn't a place for it at home, I hope it went to a good home.

 

Mike.

 

 

[Dave John]

I often pop by this thread, always good to see people actually making things. 

 

Cab doors are one of those things that niggles at me a bit. Not a perfect solution, but this is how I got round the problem.

 

 

[Lightning]

15 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

One of the most-natural Austerities I've seen is this one, built/weathered by Geoff Kent in EM and running on his Black Lion Crossing. 

 

Actually built by Roy Jackson, and he's here holding a shotgun to my head forcing me to type this.

 

DJH kit with a shortened boiler, scale frames and Westernised.

 

Major Clanger

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Lightning said:

Actually built by Roy Jackson, and he's here holding a shotgun to my head forcing me to type this.

 

DJH kit with a shortened boiler, scale frames and Westernised.

 

Major Clanger

My apologies, Major,

 

However, the pedigree is still impeccable! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Atso]

Good evening Tony,

 

I've still not laid a single piece of track yet but I have now put on a veneer layer that covers the bulk of the fiddle yard to bring the height of my copper clad track to the same level as the Finetrax plastic sleeper bases. A swap with Jerry got me another four meters of Finetrax sleepers which will probably cover the track for the scenic section and the areas of the fiddle yard that are not covered by the veneer.

 

I've loosely placed most of the copper clad track that I've built to date to start to gain a feel for how the fiddle yard will look. I estimate that I've now built around one quarter of the fiddle yard track and assembled around half of the Finetrax bases. Sorry for yet another poor quality camera phone photograph...

 

[dibateg]

In 7mm, you have to build 'em. I've done three WDs now - you can't have too many! 90383 at Heyside in it's natural grimy state....

[Jesse Sim]

13 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Apologies for not being able to remove your pictures from my response, but this is exciting stuff, Jamie.

 

Apologies also for not quite starting on the bridge. I've removed a few pieces from the fret!

 

What I've decided to do is get organised. This is a strange situation for me, I know, but it's my intention to complete the current loco projects first. These comprise of a DJH C2 (for Jesse Sim), an Alan Gibson GWR 517 Class in EM (for Geoff Haynes as a sub-contract), that ancient Atco 4F (for myself) and the DJH Semi (for myself). Easter is the target date for these, which will mean the bridge project delayed by one Christian holiday. I'll post pictures of the progress...................

 

Geoff currently has six of my locos for painting, but it shouldn't take me long to put those back together, glaze the cabs, fit crews and add coal once they're done. I'll also post pictures of these when they're complete. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

You’ve obviously been procrastinating too much, sounds like me in high school..... 

 

Easter you say, I better save some money up. To be honest I totally forgot about the C2 

 

Many thanks Tony for the build, it will be nice to say in 50 years time to my grandkids, “some grumpy old bloke from England made that for me”. 

 

Gee, I’ll be a grumpy old bloke by then. 

[St Enodoc]

2 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

You’ve obviously been procrastinating too much, sounds like me in high school..... 

 

Easter you say, I better save some money up. To be honest I totally forgot about the C2 

 

Many thanks Tony for the build, it will be nice to say in 50 years time to my grandkids, “some grumpy old bloke from England made that for me”. 

 

Gee, I’ll be a grumpy old bloke by then. 

Don't forget that your local grumpy old blokes have a running session tomorrow...

[Tony Wright]

50 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

You’ve obviously been procrastinating too much, sounds like me in high school..... 

 

Easter you say, I better save some money up. To be honest I totally forgot about the C2 

 

Many thanks Tony for the build, it will be nice to say in 50 years time to my grandkids, “some grumpy old bloke from England made that for me”. 

 

Gee, I’ll be a grumpy old bloke by then. 

Don't worry yet, Jesse,

 

The plan is to have the C2 ready and painted for you by the time you come over here in the autumn. 

 

Regards,

 

A (very) grumpy old bloke.....................

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, dibateg said:

In 7mm, you have to build 'em. I've done three WDs now - you can't have too many! 90383 at Heyside in it's natural grimy state....

This one knocks everything shown before into a cocked hat, Tony,

 

Fantastic work. 

 

It's great to see it in its natural grimy state (note the uses of 'it's' and 'its', please!)

 

Do you still have the 7mm one I photographed years ago on Woden Road? I've still got the two you made for Stoke Summit and Charwelton.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, dibateg said:

In 7mm, you have to build 'em. I've done three WDs now - you can't have too many! 90383 at Heyside in it's natural grimy state....

Lovely model there but dare I ask, does it clank....

 

Jamie

[Woodcock29]

15 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

 

Chris indeed moved to Goxhill, into the station house. if likewise my memory is correct! I visited him whilst working for the local gas board and obviously spent more time talking trains than the real reason for my visit. I was offered the kitchen table, stamped LNER on the underside, but regrettably there wasn't a place for it at home, I hope it went to a good home.

 

Mike.

 

 

Thanks for these replies.

 

Andrew

[dibateg]

Jamie - yes it does clank!

 

Tony - yes 90674 is still around. It was built over 25 years ago from an Oakville kit. A knife and fork kit, as Jim Harris said in the instructions: 'This is not a kit where you rattle the box and produce and instant scale model' ! I reworked it a few years ago to improve some of the detail  - roof vent, coal space beading etc. as well as new wheels. It holds up well against it's Snow Hill and JLTRT contemporaries. It could do with some attention from the airbrush to blend in the weathering.

 

[Tony Wright]

35 minutes ago, dibateg said:

Jamie - yes it does clank!

 

Tony - yes 90674 is still around. It was built over 25 years ago from an Oakville kit. A knife and fork kit, as Jim Harris said in the instructions: 'This is not a kit where you rattle the box and produce and instant scale model' ! I reworked it a few years ago to improve some of the detail  - roof vent, coal space beading etc. as well as new wheels. It holds up well against it's Snow Hill and JLTRT contemporaries. It could do with some attention from the airbrush to blend in the weathering.

 

Very natural, as always, Tony,

 

Many thanks....................

 

 

Just to prove that your OO Gauge 'Dub Dees' have found a good home, here's one of them trundling south through LB, passing a 'knife & fork' K3 of mine. This picture was the header in the LB article in the MRJ.

 

 

And, just to prove that I can't remember what I've done in the past (or even yesterday!), here's my DJH Austerity shunting at LB. I thought (and posted so) that I'd put the 'incorrect', right-facing lion on the offside when I built/painted this nearly a decade ago, but, no. It's the 'correct' one, meaning this is only right for 1959 onward, when 90146 would (probably) have received a modified firebox.. Oh, dear. My 'striving' for 'historical accuracy' has fallen well-short. Sackcloth and ashes, I'm afraid! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

 

 

[Tony Wright]

In between finding out the errors on that Austerity I built and processing some more pictures, I've done some more on that ancient Acro 4F.

 

 

Beading and strapping has been added, and I've plotted the positions for the horizontal handrails (three tries!)

 

 

And, a bit more done. The gubbins on this side is a spare part from SE Finecast, as will be several others.

 

 

When complete, it won't be in the same league as this pair. I built/painted the nearer one using a complete SE Finecast kit, and the one approaching I modified from the Bachmann product. 

 

In a way, though, that doesn't matter. Though not generally sentimental, I do occasionally take pity on old models and see what I can produce from them. 

 

 

Speaking of old models (and taking pity on them), this is another from the recent collection I've found new homes for on behalf of a bereaved family. In this case, its new home will be LB. The chassis didn't run very well, so that's been attended to, and I'll complete the bodywork. It's from a Branchlines conversion kit for a Kitmaster/Airfix/Dapol 76XXX on top of an etched chassis, using a Branchlines 'box and a Mashima motor. The running now is beautiful. 

 

 

Will it be as good as this when completed? A Bachmann BRM/Lrd Edition from some time ago. Probably not, but, again, that's not the point. I'll be completing something unique; something started by a late modeller, which will eventually run in service - the product of two modellers, not just purchasing-power. 

 

Though certainly not common on the ECML in Lincs, these attractive Moguls were the last steam locos built at Doncaster Plant. As such, when brand-new, they were run-in from the Works/36A on light duties, including pick-ups as far as Peterborough. 

Edited March 15, 2019 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Tony Wright]

I've just spent a lovely day in the company of an old friend.

 

He brought a couple of poor-running locos along (kit-built, builder unknown), and, after some little time he was very happy. Happy because they both now run really well. His donation to CRUK was most-generous.

 

Why am I telling you this? Because with one of the locos, even though it had Romford drivers, the builder had sealed the locating nuts with a very strong filler/glue. Though this is cosmetically-acceptable (real drivers don't have a great big slotted nut in the middle of their axles), removal of the wheels proved impossible. I, thus, had to adjust the motor/gear mesh without being able to remove the gear mount. The problem was exacerbated by the builder arranging the motor-fixing screw as to be almost impossible to access. Eventually, after much-muttering, I was able to fix the thing. 

 

Why do some builders build like this? Built so that future access/adjustment to the mechanism is all but impossible. I make sure with my builds that everything can be taken apart with (relative) ease, should a future situation arise where adjustment is necessary, especially if a motor needs replacement.

 

It's getting that way with some more-recent RTR offerings, where access to the inside of the things is incredibly difficult and complex. Why? Do manufacturers expect their products to last forever, never needing any maintenance? Would that that were true.

 

Finally, and in a subsequent explosion of righteous indignation, I've just opened an email to do with a major forthcoming show. In it, the author tells me that he'll be there and suggests that 'Another person (I've not named him) and myself will be present, so come and have a chat', or words to that effect. Myself will be there? Me will be there? Why has 'myself' become an acceptable alternative to 'I'? 

 

I give in!!!!

Edited March 15, 2019 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point