Red Devil Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 As it's now 2010, I suppose I'd better get my finger out and submit an entry. I had thought of doing an extension to my Leeds Tram layout 'Grime Street', but whilst having a look on the Tramway Museum Societies picture archive, I stumbled across these and they shout 'model me' in my opinion http://www.tramway.c.../photo/?id=4413 http://www.tramway.c.../photo/?id=4444 http://www.tramway.c.../photo/?id=7494 http://www.tramway.c.../photo/?id=8588 http://www.tramway.c...photo/?id=14651 I'd always thought the Grimsby and Immingham a fascinating subject, and a rarely if ever modelled subject, so a plan was formulated, a smaller depot area along the lines of the one at Pyewipe Jn, which appears to have been a tin shed capable of holding 3 cars for repair work with 'mainline' BR lines to the foreground, probably in the form of a smallish yard area, perhaps using an N5 (scratch built on a jinty chassis?) or an O4/WD (Foxhunter kit) as motive power. Now for the trams, the ex Gateshead cars I always thought resemblled the Bachmann Brill, so a quick run down the road yesterday and the purchase of one results in these dimensions prototype model length 42' 8'' 85mm saloon length 30'8'' 61mm Close enough for a base for hacking about. The original cars will be scratch on a kato/tomix/Bachmann chassis as will the ex Newcastle cars. So currently the plan is Overall size to be decided trackplan to be decided control dc Right, off to the merchants to buy some wood, contact Tery Russell for tram drawings, purchase the 'Passing of Pyewipe DVD' for information and inspiration, could be a bit of a learning curve this one, how to model the North lincs flatlands convincingly in 'N'....................! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Thought I'd update this with a progress report, so, progress? Erm what progress? Since posting this I've mainly been messing about with Easy Street track from Proto 87(see http://www.rmweb.co....blog&blogid=172& ) However quite bit of research has been done, the book mentioned above is still available from the LRTA at the princely sum of ??6.60 inc post, bargain. So, if this project was to get anywhere I'd definately need some of the trams, so I'll get a couple of those done before anything else, at least I'll have something to run. As I said in the previous post the Bachmann Brill is close enough to hack about into something passable, the major difference being the side windows an the cabs. One problem I have found is the Bachmann plastic doesn't seem to bond well with any ofthe solvents I've tried (mek, daywat and plastic weld) so cyno gel is used for bonding the styrene to it and then solvent for styrene to styrene joints, bit of lateral thinking required to get the strongest bond in places but seems to have worked ok. the major alteration is to the cab area as on the ex Gateshead cars it was narrower than the main body, to do this you also need to hack a fair lump off the Bachmann chassis, easily done with a hacksaw and file, although you will lose the front lights it does have the advantage that you can put a cab floor in attached to the body which will be useful for fitting foot steps/lifeguards etc. It's progressed a little further than the pics now, windows pillars are all in, doors are next, I may try cutting some dornaplas doors down for the paneled effect. Must say it's been 10 years plus since I did anything in N gauge, so this could be a bit of a learning curve. The one thing I'm not sure about is what track to use as I really like the look of the 2mm Easitrac, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted January 26, 2010 Author Share Posted January 26, 2010 First one pretty much done, obviously needs painting but I'm struggling to find a rattle can of Jaguar british racing green ( supposed nearest 'Halfords match'). Thoughts on its completion? I'd forgotten just how fiddly working in 'n' can be, I found doing the lifeguards and steps quite hard (soldered up metal bits for longevity), perhaps though I just need to 'get used' to it all again. Next up, one of the GCR cars, possibly the short one that lasted as an enginering car, the long ones may involve 2 Bachmann bodies and a kato chassis. Current thinking for the layout involves the carsheds and the Grisby and district light railway running alongside the trams. when's the Dapol B1 due out? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Quck update, Ex Gateshead car is now green, awaiting transfers and roof painting, I've no idea what to do about a trolley pole yet. I've also ordered a Kato shorty chassis, this should fit ok allowing glazing etc instead of the large cast Bachmann block with passenger silhouettes. Work has started on one of the GCR cars, here's a very rough and unforgiving picture of progress, it will look better when done (he says!) I've also got a chassis coming for this, a Tomix 15m job, for anyone needing one of these have a look on ebay there are quite a few at bargain prices. When these are somewhere near done I'll start cutting some timber for baseboards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forward! Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Oh I feel really guilty now. I have always fancied modelling the Grimsby-Immingham line/ tramway running next to each other, butwas put off the project using the arguments that scratchbuilding the tram cars would be too tricky (the 'lights' in the windows of the GCR trams particularly scared me, as did the clerestory) It was always a pipe dream to commission an etched body one day....! Sources above-mentioned are excellent- and a few good pictures are also included in 'Railways around Grimsby', and 'Immingham and the Great Central Railway' Are modelling a run-through or one of the passing places. I forget where I saw it now, but drawings do survive for the overhead poles and the substation buildings. I'll have to try and remember where they are now. I suspect National Railway Museum. I am a big North lincs GCR fan, and I try and model it in N gauge. It's not easy! You do at least have a rtr option in the Union Mills J11, which is an altogether quite nice model. I have also used a N gauge American mogul to represent a GCR Baldwin type. Rolling stock is the real problem I have found. Bill Bedford is the saviour there. Modelling the BR era goes a VERY long way to solving all these problems- GCR stock survived right though the LNER era but was rapidly replaced in the late 40s. I have N5 drawings if you need them. I tried to convince Worsley Works to design an etch, but I doubt there was the interest required. Good luck with this. I only hope I can complete my own GCR North Lincs model (t'other side of Immingham actually= based on Killingholme Admiralty halt during WWI) in the same time frame. I have found the N.Lincs landscape quite tricky to replicate in N scale. Sometimes a model landscape somehow just looks 'unfinished' if you know what I mean!! Will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Hi Will, thanks for your comments and info, at the moment, I'm edging to doing a bit of a modular theme, with the first module based on No8 passing place. I'd love to do either Immingham dock or the car sheds at Pyewipe, but if I do the dock it rules out the Grimsby and district section and if I set off with the shed area it may never really get anywhere near completion due to the number of cars required to make it look right. I had thought about casting he ex GC cars, don't know yet, need to research that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forward! Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Number 8 is a classic place for the photographers, so it must be a good place to base a model! I imagine you've seen all the published photos of it that I have too, but if you ever get stuck don't hesitate to drop me a line. I might be able to help. will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 Bit of progress on the Great Central car, still neads a fair bit of work, but looking less rough now. I really must investigate how you cast in resin, anyone got any pointers? Quarter lights were a bit of a pain, they're all from 30 thou square plastruct section, beading is probably way overscale but looks reasonably ok to the naked eye. Clerestory roof still needs finishing, original roof was a Bachmann plus Pennsylvania RR coach roof, narrowed and re-profiled. Doors need making out of 10 thou plasticard to overlay the door area, fenders and steps from plasticard, lifeguards are made up from brass wire ready to fit. Pictures still pretty 'cruel' but does highlight where work is needed, anyway it's at least half as big again on my screen as in reality so it doesn't look quite 'that' bad in reality. Hopefully if this turns out ok work on the layout may commence soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forward! Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Nice! The proportions look great. Does it scale out against the drawings or did you have to compromise to fit the intended chassis? It looks very close to scale from here! Are you sure I couldn't tempt you to go for the varnished teak lined gold and raised brass lettering....?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Cheers, I've tried to keep it close to scale size, there are a couple of minor compromises, it's a fraction wide, this was to fit the chassis, which is still on it's way here, it may still end up with some surgery to make it fit. Varnished teak..........................................? Sorry you spoke too late! Seriously though, I will be doing a couple of cars in different liveries, I'd like to do short/engineeering car 5, one of the Newcastle cars and GC car 12 in brown, and one of the Gateshead cars in original Gateshead red/white. Big decision to make, I got a sample of the 2mm easitrac at the Rochdale show today and I'm very impressed with its apearance and was giving it serious consideration, there are pros and cons to using it, but at the moment I'm thinking of not using it as I don't know how easy it will be to sort the wheels out for the Kato and Tomix chassis, and if I do use it with the original wheels (which I understand is possible) then it's plaintrack only which limits what I want to build, I know you can build 'n gauge points' to use with the easitrac, but to be honest, I don't know if I can be bothered. Anyway, looks like a layout is in the offing now I've sussed out how to build the trams, first section will probably be passing place 5, which may lend itself to the layouts name, got to get a 5 reference in somewhere. Better finish the roof off and get it painted, still pondering trolley poles/overhead etc, there may be some compromises here! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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