bobster Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Looking forward to following this - Very Interesting project. Cheers, Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 That pic of 56124 running round is great. I can't see any air pipes on that brake van which make me think thats going to be an unfitted train. 56s were air brake only. Cheers Peter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoover50008 Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 That pic of 56124 running round is great. I can't see any air pipes on that brake van which make me think thats going to be an unfitted train. 56s were air brake only. Cheers Peter. Agreed I can't see any air pipes on the van. I doubt it would have been unfitted, although if it was It would have been interesting trying to stop that lot, at least 15 loaded Sea Lions a Shark and a 20T van!! E Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Agreed I can't see any air pipes on the van. I doubt it would have been unfitted, although if it was It would have been interesting trying to stop that lot, at least 15 loaded Sea Lions a Shark and a 20T van!! E From the visible bogie on one of the hoppers, I would say the wagons are vacuum-only Walruses, so the train would have been completely unfitted.. 15 hoppers at 65t each is 975 tonnes, and another 40 tonnes for the two vans, giving a gross train weight of 1015 t. Not that heavy, provided there were no steep banks en-route; not because of problems going up, more the difficulty of stopping the train on the way down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoover50008 Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 From the visible bogie on one of the hoppers, I would say the wagons are vacuum-only Walruses, so the train would have been completely unfitted.. 15 hoppers at 65t each is 975 tonnes, and another 40 tonnes for the two vans, giving a gross train weight of 1015 t. Not that heavy, provided there were no steep banks en-route; not because of problems going up, more the difficulty of stopping the train on the way down. Yeah think you are right about the Walrus wagons taking a closer look. I hope they ran the brake vans round otherwise there would be nothing to stop them if they broke away. E Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 Thanks for the Blyth Cambois shots Alcanman.I visited the area a few times trying to catch mgr workings and the Alcans. My final visit being on a Sunday afternoon shortly before the shed closed. I'll have a look for the photos and post them sometime.Your mention of Palitoy 56s reminded me... their model was of 56079. My two earliest 56s were Palitoy and I (half) did the same as you with one of them. I often had different numbers on opposite sides of my blue diesels ...My blue 56 is Blyth Power on one side... and now I remember why the other side is 079! Found these two.... so I'll begin at the end. A bit depressing - Blyth Cambois and staiths taken early 1995. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 That pic of 56124 running round is great. I can't see any air pipes on that brake van which make me think thats going to be an unfitted train. 56s were air brake only. Cheers Peter. Hi Peter , Hoover50008 and Fat Controller Didn't realise the photo of 124 would be so interesting!.... but you're right, the van has no pipes and I hadn't noticed before. I tried enlarging the photo, as you folks have probably tried to do but the quality isn't good enough to show more detail....and there's not even a painted TOPs code - CAO ? on the 20t van. However unfitted pw workings with 56s were not unknown.... ...although 126 shouldn't have had much trouble with this load. Another amazing sight was a 56 with 30+ ZKVs+20t brake in tow. The noise from all the loose coupled wagons rattling along was incredible. Sadly, as is often the case when these things turn up, I didn't have a camera. To explain the 56s being attached to the brake vans in the two photos - The trains have run south from the Newcastle area, through Sunderland and into the loops at Ryhope Grange - brake vans at the rear. The locos have run round before heading down the 1.5 mile branch to South Dock. The branch is freight only but definitely down hill all the way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 Sunderland South Dock - Making a start Another quick post to catch up with "real time" modelling. Sunderland South Dock really did rise, phoenix like, from the ashes of North Dock. The photos date from late July and show the track layout gradually taking shape on the original boards. No templot here...I know nothng of Templot, or digital watches, or video recording machines...so it's just the OS map, a lot of old track, a ruler and a hacksaw! All the track is Peco but not sure if it's code 75 or 100? The points were all tested before being used and the position of isolation sections had been worked out to allow two or three locos to be held in the long sidings. The new track formation takes shape amid the remains of the scenery from North Dock. The points are mostly medium radius and although I don't like using short radius, there are two on the layout to save space. All are electrofrog except one, because I didn't have an old right hand electrofrog one. Remember... this is a minimum cost layout so no money for new track! Looks like that scenery is going to have to go... and those base boards are going to have to extended to fit the long sidings curving around to the left... This is the scientific method of calculating how far to extend the baseboard Extention safely and firmly attached... more Sundela, but there's a lot of 2"x1" bracing those baseboards. The problem now is how to get the curve of the sidings looking ok.... and.. time to confess - it's not possible using Peco - and a curved point doesn't work either. Hand built track would definitely make a huge improvement to allow the alignment to "flow". The curved sidings are down, although the final alignment is a compromise. Now to attach a few wires. Time to start soldering.... Soldering - 'tis the work of the devil..!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Another great pic of a class 56 on unfitted freight. I would imagine 56's was all they had for such work although I would have thought there would have been a few 37s about. I would think they would have been local workings and would have had to have permission. The layout is looking good. I think I would have those two long sidings slightly curved rather that straight. Cheers Peter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Nice to see you are making good progress with the layout. Thanks for posting the 2 pics of Cambois. The first pic is interesting, the tank wagon and brake van are stabled in the sidings which were used for wagon repairs. A similar photo appeared in an article in 'Rail Express' last year regarding small wagon repair facilities. I'm hoping to incorporate something similar in my next layout project. Sorry to go a bit off topic. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 24, 2014 Author Share Posted August 24, 2014 Nice to see you are making good progress with the layout. Thanks for posting the 2 pics of Cambois. The first pic is interesting, the tank wagon and brake van are stabled in the sidings which were used for wagon repairs. A similar photo appeared in an article in 'Rail Express' last year regarding small wagon repair facilities. I'm hoping to incorporate something similar in my next layout project. Sorry to go a bit off topic. Mal No problem going off topic ... happy to chat about Blyth, 56s, NE, and 1980s-90s rail stuff in general. A couple more photos.. and a mystery wagon. I was going to post asking for info in the "prototype questions" Thought you might know its purpose? It did turn up at South Dock for a while, IIRC, after Blyth closed. I'm thinking about building it from a spare OCA. Tonight I've also posted more shots of local 56s (Coal Sector livery), in the "prototype discussions" section including one of Cambois taken in 1994. Two more of Cambois 1994. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 24, 2014 Author Share Posted August 24, 2014 The layout is looking good. I think I would have those two long sidings slightly curved rather that straight. Hi Peter you are right about the sidings... there's a lot of thought - and indecision gone into the position of the three sidings. If I'd had the space to add the "missing" 1ft to the two longest sidings, I think curved track might have worked. Although the layout is slightly further advanced than the posts, I am tempted to take another look at curving them...however, the problems are... 1 Running a continuous curve off/following the PECO pointwork gives a much too tight a radius and looks very unrealistic 2 Even with a gentler curve, locos, and especially larger ones - Peaks and 40s etc, look wrong stabled on curved track. Bank Holiday here tomorrow so I've got a full day to work on the layout...might unpin the sidings and see what happens - I'll let you know! On second thoughts....This did look very out of place. It filled siding with only four YGB Seacows and a Shark in tow! 45012 standing on some very dodgy track. Taken in 1987 - the only time I saw a Peak in the sidings. Sorry - the front of the loco was cut off when the slide was copied. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 24, 2014 Author Share Posted August 24, 2014 Nothing to do with Sunderland South but possibly planning ahead... or just another impulse buy? Couldn't resist this, bought 2nd hand, a couple of days ago. For the next layout? - North East 1960s-80s, so it will probably end up painted green to go with a new Class 24 I bought a few months ago. The plan is to test, rebuild/refurbish as many of my old locos as possible but one class which has been condemned are the old Hornby 25s. Two others were sold a long time ago to help fund the N gauge layout and these are the remains - four bodies and two motorised chassis. I've read it is possible to graft Hornby bodies onto Bachmann chassis??, so I might keep two bodies and rebuild a couple in BR blue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 No problem going off topic ... happy to chat about Blyth, 56s, NE, and 1980s-90s rail stuff in general. A couple more photos.. and a mystery wagon. I was going to post asking for info in the "prototype questions" Thought you might know its purpose? It did turn up at South Dock for a while, IIRC, after Blyth closed. I'm thinking about building it from a spare OCA. Tonight I've also posted more shots of local 56s (Coal Sector livery), in the "prototype discussions" section including one of Cambois taken in 1994. 1994 1.JPG 1994 3.JPG Two more of Cambois 1994. 1994 5.JPG The 'mystery wagon' looks very much as though it started life as an 'SPA' plate wagon (the number series was 460xxx, IIRC), though it's obviously been modified for some special job. Cambrian do a kit, which might be more economic than hacking up a Bachmann OCA ( http://www.cambrianmodels.co.uk/brabw2.html ). The photos of Cambois remind me of clambering over Alumina wagons in the sidings, whilst measuring them for posterity. It was supposed to be mid-summer, but it was freezing.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 The 'mystery wagon' looks very much as though it started life as an 'SPA' plate wagon (the number series was 460xxx, IIRC), though it's obviously been modified for some special job. Cambrian do a kit, which might be more economic than hacking up a Bachmann OCA ( http://www.cambrianmodels.co.uk/brabw2.html ). The photos of Cambois remind me of clambering over Alumina wagons in the sidings, whilst measuring them for posterity. It was supposed to be mid-summer, but it was freezing.. Hello Fat Controller ...you're right, it's an SPA. No problem if I decide to build one as I've got plenty of suitable Cambrian wagons for the conversion. My stock dates from a time when Cambrian kits were the only choice if you wanted air braked freight wagons... with the exception of a not too accurate Hornby VDA. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Wiring...making a start - but not finishing Nothing fancy, just a simple DC layout. As it's "one engine in steam" there are only two main power feeds, most of the wiring being to the sidings to create isolation sections. Hopefully these can be seen in the plan above. Most sidings have one or two isolation sections to allow several locos to be stabled and moved around the layout. There are also three short isolated sections. Two hidden in the tunnel and one under where the station building will be located. These serve as a mini fiddle yards, each section only long enough to hold one loco. Main power feed...wires successfully attached. On a good day I can solder... on a bad day I could end up in hospital with severe burns...! Next - attaching wires to the isolation sections which will then be fed to the switches. I've created the isolation sections my traditional way, cutting through the line furthest away from the control panel and inserting Peco plastic track joiners. ...and with the help of an old Duette controller and a new 08, the track and pointwork are tested - and it all works. Now it should be time to wire in the switches and finish off the wiring - but I got distracted. The reason was, I started panicking about how to go about building a very important feature on the layout - the large, curved, multi storey car park. I ended up giving a lot of thought about how to build this and decided to start work on it. The solution was, to give it it's shape and strength, a piece of thin ply with wood blocks glued along the bottom edge on one side. These were then screwed down into the baseboard at points where the screws went through the Sundela board into the main timber frame. Despite the pressure on the timber, the ply was held very securely and the shape was maintained. I also took the opportunity to start building more scenery. Retaining walls along the side of the layout opposite the car park, the tunnel mouth and the complicated area above the tunnel and down to the loading dock - all built up from offcuts of Sundela. It might have a bad reputation but it's a great material to work with. Easy to cut, shape and glue into place. By this time I'd forgotten all about finishing the wiring. I don't enjoy wiring up layouts, but I do enjoy making buildings and doing the scenic work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Starting to take shape nicely... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Hi Alan, I think you will have to get yourself a Peak, thats a great pic. The wagon behind the 45 looks like a Whale. I put a couple of Hornby bodies on a Bachmann chassis so let me know if you want to do one and I will take some more pics of mine. The layout is coming on well. Cheers Peter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Starting to take shape nicely... Hi class"66" The actual layout is progressing a little ahead of the posts and overall I am pleased with the way it's developing. The unusual L shape, dominated by the curve of the car park makes it slightly different to other layouts I've built, although building everything on one board does mean it's getting a bit heavy and cumbersome to move. One more post describing progress on the layout, and I should have caught with the work I'm doing now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Hi Alan, I think you will have to get yourself a Peak, thats a great pic. The wagon behind the 45 looks like a Whale. I put a couple of Hornby bodies on a Bachmann chassis so let me know if you want to do one and I will take some more pics of mine. The layout is coming on well. Cheers Peter. Hi Peter I remember it was your work on the 25s which made hang on to two Hornby bodies. They're not a priority to build at the moment as they were never a regular sight in the north east during the late 80s-early 90s. However I would like a couple of blue 25s, and I'll let you know if/when work starts on them.... vague plans for a layout - 1979-80, NW England, ex L&Y territory. ....so many plans....so little time ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 There's a good on-line copy of a DEMU article available. Many thanks for the article Simon. I hadn't looked too closely but hadn't realised there were so many error with the Bachmann body... and I must admit to never having heard of the Silver Fox later style resin body. Many years ago I tried to produce the later style from a Hornby body using an article by Nigel Burkin in the Railway Modeller from the late 1980s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Hi Alan, I think you will have to get yourself a Peak, Hello Peter These are my Peaks.. both early 80s Palitoy models and both featuring some of my earliest attempts to improve/detail RTR models. The most noticeable improvement was the removal of the buffer beams from the body and attaching them to the bogies. The 46 also start life as a split headcode box 45 before having a full front end rebuild. Later they both had A1 Models fans and grills added. Back then, like many other "modern image" modellers, I found the Monty Wells articles in Railway Modeller were a great inspiration. As with all my diesels, painted underneath were individual loco details to ensure hey worked the correct types of train. The 45 spent many years as 048, Royal Marines, which was the Palitoy model, before being renumbered 020. By modern standards the results are very crude, however if both still run ok there's a chance they'll be extensively rebuilt again to run on the new layout. One will probably be renumbered as a late 45xxx survivor and the other as a departmental 97xxx 97410 at Ryhope Grange, Sunderland, about to run down to South Dock Shed. 1988 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Hello Peter These are my Peaks.. both early 80s Palitoy models and both featuring some of my earliest attempts to improve/detail RTR models. The most noticeable improvement was the removal of the buffer beams from the body and attaching them to the bogies. The 46 also start life as a split headcode box 45 before having a full front end rebuild. Later they both had A1 Models fans and grills added. Back then, like many other "modern image" modellers, I found the Monty Wells articles in Railway Modeller were a great inspiration. As with all my diesels, painted underneath were individual loco details to ensure hey worked the correct types of train. The 45 spent many years as 048, Royal Marines, which was the Palitoy model, before being renumbered 020. IMG_1029.JPG IMG_1032.JPG IMG_1031.JPG By modern standards the results are very crude, however if both still run ok there's a chance they'll be extensively rebuilt again to run on the new layout. One will probably be renumbered as a late 45xxx survivor and the other as a departmental 97xxx PICT0100.JPG 97410 at Ryhope Grange, Sunderland, about to run down to South Dock Shed. 1988 Hi Alan, Great to see that a Peak will be appearing on the new layout, they are a bit of a favourite of mine. I recognise 97410 as being 45029 with the yellow paint missing on the nose. 45029 was one of my last Peaks for haulage back in 88. All of Llanbourne's Peaks run on the old Bachmann chassis, 3 bodies are the old mainline ones with mods to the headcodes and bufferbeams like yours. We must be of a similar vintage because I still have a few Monty Wells articles the 33 40 45 were very good to a young modeller wanting to improve his diesels. I remember going to my local club one night and one of the older members (Ian) who would have about 17 had a Mainline Peak that he had picked up for 4.95. He said he was going back the next day to get some more so I asked if he could get me one. The next week at club I handed over my paperound money and got my first Peak. Ian showed me what he had done to two of his. Both had been repainted renumbered wire handrails bufferbeam fixed to the bogie and the class 46 had sealed beam lights fitted. He had picked up another 4, he showed me how to improve mine and that was it I was hooked. I also put a sticker on the bottom of my locos for a while with the same details plus withdrawal date. Pic below, Two Mainline bodies, 45111 has had replacement nose grilles, not sure if it looks that good to be honest. I know the main fault with these bodies is that the nose is a bit too low but I still like them. Cheers Peter. Cheers Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 More work on the car park and scenery Having formed the basic curved shape with a piece of ply wood it's time to raise the building to the 1st floor. It was also necessary, at an early stage to cover the lower lower wall with brick paper as this would quickly become very difficult to reach once the overhanging 1st floor was built. I'm not a big fan of brick paper being more used to working with embossed plastic card... however I've had this paper lying around for 30 years and it's a good colour match to the brickwork of the car park and the Civic Centre on the opposite side of the site. I've no idea who Bells' were, or if they're still around producing brick papers..? Small blocks of Sundela cut to form the 1st floor and overhang. All the blocks in position and held in place with tape overnight until the PVA glue dried. A card strip is attached to the blocks forming the 1st floor wall. ....seen from track level. More general scenic work... I've forgotten the order in which all this work was done, although typical of my style of layout building, I was moving from one area to another, ensuring that, at this stage, everywhere progresses at the same rate. The photos of the car park should probably come after the other scenic work!! Only the platform ends are being built as the area to the left will be covered. An old Lima 372266 is on clearance tests. At the opposite end of the layout the tunnel is built along with the loading dock and the access ramp. The tunnel provides hidden storage (a mini fiddle yard ) for 2 locos and therefore part of the scenery can be removed for access. As always there's extensive use being made of Sundela. The surface of the loading dock and ramp are added. This is made from thin plastic backed foam board. The overbridge facia is added. This bridge carries the road which will run in front of the station building. The station itself will also be built on a removable access panel. Two views of progress from (almost ) track level. A piece of ply wood forms the road. The uncovered area to the left will be the site occupied by the station building . I've also started building up the landscape with polystyrene foam which will later be given a thin covering of polyfilla. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60091 Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 Hi Alan, Great to see that a Peak will be appearing on the new layout, they are a bit of a favourite of mine. I remember going to my local club one night and one of the older members (Ian) who would have about 17 had a Mainline Peak that he had picked up for 4.95. I also put a sticker on the bottom of my locos for a while with the same details plus withdrawal date. Pic below, Two Mainline bodies, 45111 has had replacement nose grilles, not sure if it looks that good to be honest. I know the main fault with these bodies is that the nose is a bit too low but I still like them. Cheers Peter. Hi Peter Thanks for the photo. I remember seeing them on Llanbourne and planned to have another look when I started work on them. The 46 has run on the layout and seems ok. Unfortunately I don't have the funds to replace all my old diesels but if I become unhappy with their running I'll hang on to the bodies and hopefully some day buy a couple of new Bachmanns. Your replacement grills look fine and I hadn't realised, until you mentioned it, that the nose is slightly low. That's not something I'd worry about as, overall they look ok to me. I don't ever remember seeing the small M and E (regional?) letters above the numbers. What I do remember were the Toton snails! Newcastle 1987. Couldn't believe... a Peak for £4.95. If I'd seen them at that price I would have ended up with more than just two. Mine were early 80s so I probably didn't pay more than £10 but at the time I was either unemployed or working and earning very little. I remember even having to save up to buy a favourite book of mine.. D Allens - Diesels in the North East at £7.95! Peaks were a favourite class of mine...along with the Deltics, because of the regimental names although often, by the 1980s, all that remained was a patch on the body side where the plate had been.... cue another Peak photo...! Doncaster 1985 The 45/0s were also rare for haulage although I was able to pick them up by chasing them around Yorkshire on summer Saturdays in the mid 80s. Regards Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.