Leaderboard

A few of my reasons for modelling 1840s railways in HO: 1. I like microlayouts! In the early 1840s most trains were short (many mainline trains only had four carriages at this time, and even that could be a strain for some of the low-powered locos). And an HO layout takes up just three-quarters of the area of an equivalent OO layout, which helps as well. The photo for this post shows my attempt to answer that age-old question "Can you build a station on an A4-size baseboard?" The mock-up suggests the answer is yes, if the footprint is 23 x 4 inchs and you use a traverser at one end. So anyone with a 48 x 12 board can really let rip! 2. There's some stock available. In the photo I've used the Bachmann 4-2-0 Norris locos (the prototypes were used on the Birmingham & Gloucester, Aberdare and Taff Valley Railways and then sold on to collieries, contractors etc in the 1850s) to test clearances. The coaches are also by Bachmann (the "Prussia" coach from the Potsdam Railway: broadly similar to British coaches of the time, but if there's interest I'd add a post on how to Anglicise them). The figure are by Preiser, who also make nice horse-drawn carriages and carts for the period, 3. Track is easy, especially if you aren't a rivet counter. Most early railways used versions of flat-bottomed rail, so I've used Peco streamline points in my mock-up. Sleepers are likely to be completely hidden in this period as ballast was usually laid above the tops of the sleepers, which does open up new approaches to ballasting. Much to my initial surprise the short wheelbase Norris locos will run over a series of three small radius Streamline points in succession without a hiccup. 4. Early locos had low-slung boilers (due to the pioneer engineers' concerns about stability), and this gives them a rather "broad-gauge" appearance when viewed from the front. As a result OO models of early locos can look a bit top-heavy, even to someone with my coarse-scale eyesight. However HO has the advantage of true scale distance between the rails, so that the locos and coaches match the proportions seen in early lithographs and photos. 5. I like the challenge of modelling early railways (although there's actually a lot of info available if you're into historical research), and I like the challenge of modelling more modern British railways in HO as well. In both cases you need to use a bit of ingenuity and you will learn to appreciate anything that can be pressed into service. Combine the challenge of a minority scale (for British modellers) and a minority era, and you need never be bored again! And why am I trying to fit a station on a piece of foamcard 23 by 4 inches? I just fancied a station and fiddle yard that would fit on a desktop!

I have been slowly painting and lining the D1. It must be said painting and lining is something I have never been good at. I know how to do it but I just don’t seem to have the artistic flair for it. More than half an hour and my eyesight and hands become two entities with wills of their own, so it might be a while longer while I do the D1 bit by bit. Mind you, I have no shortage of crew ready to drive it. Figures by Andy Stadden, The close up pic shows me where I need to just correct the paintwork a bit.

NWR No. 700-703 NWR Name: Erin, Triumph, Vanguard, Powerful Wheel Arrangement 2-8-0/2-8-4T Builder Various Class ROD 2-8-0 (GCR 8K) History The first locos of this class were among those drafted in by the ROD to operate the newly-formed NWR during WW1. Upon cessation of hostilities, masses of these heavy goods locos were surplus to requirements and put up for sale. The embryonic company, faced with the withdrawal of government support, recognised that goods travelling via Tidmouth would be the lifeblood of its survival. It sought to purchase several of the ex-ROD locos then on the market. Of these, 4 made it past the grouping, the others were scrapped for their tenders or in the case of two, stripped of their vital components which were used in the Beyer-Garratt 'Revenge'. The best of the bunch were overhauled and given side-window cabs. They were named after great warships built by Vickers at Barrow-in Furness (the NWR clearly wanted to keep one of its biggest clients on-side). No. 702 'Vanguard' is pictured in this condition with original boiler. In 1926, one of the group was rebuilt into a 2-8-4 tank loco at Crovan's Gate. Train weights were increasing and delays in getting outbound trains up the sharply-inclined harbour line were worsening. No.700 'Erin' was thus allocated solely as Tidmouth Docks banker and spent most of its life on these duties. No. 700 'Erin' missing plates and whistle, fresh out of the paint shop. These brutes were the mainstay of NWR goods locos until the 1930s, when a purchase was made of several LMS designs, including several brand-new Stanier 8Fs. As the ROD boilers, which retained their steel fireboxes, came up for overhaul, they were rebuilt using new LMS type 3C boilers built under licence. This enabled standardisation of several components with the new locos. No.701 'Triumph' shown post-rebuild with 3C boiler. In this form they lived out the rest of their lives. One modification of note was the fitting of a Giesl Ejector to No.703 'Powerful' in the mid-1950s. This was an experiment to reduce fuel consumption. In the event, it was not fitted to any other members of the class although 703 retained the unusual chimney until withdrawal. No.703 'Powerful' with 3C boiler and Giesl Ejector. The Models More children of Hattons' 'sale of the century', I had long wanted to add some RODs to the fleet but this was a chance to acquire a few at bargain prices. The models are built from a mix of ex-GWR RODs and ex-LNER O4s, the GWR examples being rebuilt using second hand Hornby 8F bodies from the 1990s. The 2-8-4T uses another Hornby Fowler 4P body, Peters' Spares was selling a few new old stock plain bodies which have come in very handy. Between these and the cabs for the tender locos I am hoping to establish a 'house style' much like the neighbouring LMS. The extended tanks match the Woolworth 2-6-2Ts and No.301 quite nicely. Check out the build thread from this page for more!

as I have mentioned before, eventually I want to be able to run every train which ran through Brent in a 24 hour period. The most interesting of which ran in the early hours of the morning. There is the TPO which I will eventually get round to building, and the sleeper services on to Penzance. In 1947 there were 3 down services with a sleeper portion in the winter timetable, (I think there were more in the summer including an LMS sleeper.). In the winter 46 / spring 47 timetable these each contained one J12, (which were all combined into one working back to London.) The first of these that I am modelling is a newspaper train with a sleeper include. Formations: (the section I am modelling is in green, I have tried to model one section of the train in order to cut the length down. these were long services! the kit is a Phoenix model, with pressed aluminium sides and roof along with details. 6 wheel bogies still need to be sourced. The first job on a set of Phoenix sides is to scribe on the doors and drill holes for handrails etc. i decided to to go with evostick construction, and started off the build phase by fitting the sides to the ends. Along with drilling and fitting the vast quantity of roof vents. Once dry, the roof was glued into place the inner window frames were glued in position for the left hand pair of windows. next the chassis and detailing

My son bought me a little present for my birthday, a tiny video camera. It fits nicely on a flat wagon and conforms to British loading gauge in 4mm scale. The inevitable result has been a Youtube video showing a run through the station. It shows up my dodgy track building rather well and I need to get better with the video editing software to fix the colour balance a bit better. I did try the 'black and white old film' effect which is really rather fun but I thought I'd show you the original version! With Fen End Pit going to the March show on 2nd I'll have to work out how to strap the camera onto a 16mm narrow gauge wagon for a trip between the works and the pit! Hope you like it. David

I am getting close to completion on the model. I still need to add lots more plants, a mill worker waiting for the train, a second railway item (either some spare sleepers or a crashed wagon), some people and animals and more water for the water wheel

In addition to the Norris 4-2-0, Bachmann produced models of two other early US locomotives, the De Witt Clinton and the John Bull. Unlike the Norris loco, both these models have tender drives. Second-hand models frequently turn up at affordable prices on eBay (affordable, of course, if you don't have to use the US postal service ). The De Witt Clinton was built by New York's West Point Foundry, running intermittently on the Mohawk and Hudson Rail Road during 1831-32 before it was broken up as a failure. I can only assume Bachmann decided to model it because it was the first locomotive to work in New York state. Despite the prototype's shortcomings, the model itself is decidedly cute. Small and primitive in design, it is ideal for any 1820s/1830s industrial setting (quarry, coal mine, early gasworks, canal feeder, etc) or a freelance local line. Personally I think the De Witt Clinton is worth buying just for its powered tender, which is the smallest 16.5 mm gauge power unit I've ever seen. (Actually Bachmann's Gandy Dancer is even smaller, and it was used by Andy Young as the tender drive for his model of Locomotion. But its tiny disc wheels make it less suitable for conversions.) The distinctive yellow Clinton tender body is plastic and it can be easily prised from its metal chassis with a small screwdriver, revealing a four-wheel power unit that is just 25 mms long with a wheelbase of 16 mms. Malcolm Carlsson realised this wheelbase exactly matches the tender from Dapol's OO Rocket kit. He trimmed the tender down to HO proportions (but failed to give any details; I suspect he merely filed homeopathic quantities of plastic from the top of the tender to salve his conscience), extended the chimney slightly and added buffers before writing up the conversion for the July 1983 issue of Scale Trains. The photos below illustrate my take on his tender conversion. I used Blutack to temporarily hold the body in place for the photos; this worked okay, and I suspect this could even be a long-term fix if you take a bit more care than I did to place the blobs where they won't show. You could also cover the sides with paper to produce the smooth tender sides that became fashionable a few years later, or simply build a flat-sided tender from plastic card or cardboard. The photos below show the loco and Dapol tender with a couple of cut-down Smallbrook Studios cauldron waggons, perfect for any layout where the train can trundle across a bleak Northern or Cornish moor. Peter Seviour's Pockerley Wagon Way shows early scenic layouts don't have to be large to be attractive! -------- The John Bull locomotive was built by Robert Stephenson at Newcastle in 1831 for the Camden & Amboy Railroad. He didn't include a tender so the local engineers built their own, which was basically a shed on wheels to carry wood and water. (New England didn't have much coal, but it did have an awful lot of trees and a hunger for newly-cleared land.) The leading bogie with its prominent cow-catcher was added the following year to help the loco navigate the railroad's sharp curves. Later in its life it also received a cab and a large smoke-stack chimney. Removing the bogie and other American features such as the large headlamp and the bell produces a loco similar to Stephenson's “Samson” class goods locomotive, and it could also be converted to a Stephenson “Planet” 2-2-0 by replacing the front wheelset. But John Bull's haystack firebox is not typical of the locos that Stephenson built for British railways - it could be replaced fairly easily with a more traditional firebox top made from card or thin plasticard. The tender can't be converted to an Anglicised version without an incredible amount of work, because the motor fills the complete tender up to roof level. It would be much easier to build a replacement British-style tender (perhaps using the Dapol kit?) and then convert the John Bull's tender to a primitive van that can run immediately behind the replacement tender. In fact, turning the tender through 180 degrees makes it look rather like an early brake van (although that over-hanging bit of roof, now at the rear, will still have to go). The tender is sitting a bit high in the photo below because I used the OO wheels supplied with the Dapol kit, instead of using smaller 10.5 mm diameter HO wheels. BTW the train in the photos below, including the 5 and 9 Models wagons behind the van, is exactly 12 inches / 30 cms long. Or I guess you could always model the St Etienne and Lyon Railway, where at least one of the locos had a similar tender... For more information on all the prototypes modelled by Bachmann plus other fascinating early American locos, I recommend Smith H Oliver's The First Quarter-Century of Steam Locomotives in North America, free to read or download at www.gutenberg.org/files/51976/51976-h/51976-h.htm Special thanks to Nigel Hill for drawing my attention to Malcolm Carlsson's article, and for all his support and advice. And for Nigel's own suggestions on the John Bull tender see this blog entry. Update 3/4/18: the Bachmann webpage that held service sheets for these locos doesn't seem to be working properly. As a result I have copied the diagrams from these two sheets below for reference so that modellers can see how the parts fit together:

Apologies, I realise this is quite a long post! And it doesn't finish here, either: there's a second part that I will post in a week or so. But I thought I would try and give as much info as I could about my attempts to use the Bachmann Prussia coach to produce a more representative British carriage of the early 1840s. 1) What are we working with? The Prussia coach is a nice model moulded in green plastic with yellow window frames and brown door panels printed (I think) onto the body. If you dislike the sheen to the plastic, it can easily be toned down with a coat of matt varnish (or a weathering wash, I suppose, although early carriages seem to have been kept pretty clean from all accounts). If you decide to paint the body another colour, I include a few tips on painting later in the post. The length of the body is 58 mm. In 1/87 scale this represents 16 feet 7 inches, a typical length for coaches of the early 1840s. (The length over the buffers is 66 mm.) The width of the body at the widest point (over the windows) is 28 mm. This scales out at 8 feet in HO, which makes it rather wider than an average coach of the time. Loading gauges varied considerably at this time, but most British railways used carriages between 6 feet 6 inches and 8 feet wide. In addition there is quite a significant curve to the sides of the coach, with the sides tapering inwards below the windows. Edited 13/2/22: In fact they look rather like the Grand Junction Railway's First and Mail carriages in Francis Whishaw's 1840 The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland (available as a free downlaod on Google Books): It would be possible to narrow down the model by removing a vertical strip of plastic from each end of the body (which would mean you would also need to trim the seating unit inside). Achieving flat sides would involve a degree of scratch building: not impossible, but you might as well scratch-build an entire new coach to suit your own requirements. Personally I’m happy to leave the width and the tapering sides as they are, since the south-eastern railways of the early 1840s tended to have generous loading gauges and rather characterful little coaches. In addition I like the slightly broad-gauge appearance of these low, wide coaches and I think it adds to their charm. However, if I was modelling the London and Birmingham or the Liverpool and Manchester in the 1830s I think I might decide it was too much effort to turn them into the narrow flat-edged coaches common in these very early years, and I might decide to use a different model as a base. (Of course, if you are modelling in 4mm scale the width is a bit of a bonus: unlike most HO rolling stock, the Prussia coach won’t seem too thin! At just 38 mm high from rail tops to the lamps on the roof it might seem a bit low for 4mm, but some early railways did have some coaches that seem incredibly low by modern standards (and there are several visual tricks to increase apparent height such as placing baggage on the roof.) The ideas below are simply my own suggestions. You don’t need to follow any of them unless they appeal to you. The coaches are very nice, attractive models as they are and they will give a delightful period flavour to a layout. But they do provide such a convenient base for adaptations and tweaks that they almost call out to be bashed to meet modellers’ individual tastes and requirements. 2) Dismantling the coach body Most of my suggestions, such as fitting new running boards, do not require any dismantling of the model. In fact it is really only necessary to take the model apart if you want to repaint the window frames (because dismantling the coach lets you remove the glazing inside) or you want to change the roof. It is easy to dismantle the coaches. There are two small crosshead screws on the underside of the model, visible near the wheel sets on the left-hand coach in the photograph below. Removing them separates the body (including the steps) from the chassis. The roof is a separate moulding from the rest of the coach body. It is glued fairly lightly onto the top of the body, and in every model I have seen it is easy to find a gap between roof and coach side large enough to insert a small jeweller’s screwdriver. Then gently start loosening the roof and the coach body, working around the roof much as one would gradually prise up a floorboard with a crowbar. I hope the photo above gives some indication of the approach I use. If you do encounter a point where the glue is so strong that it resists a screwdriver, a modelling knife with a sturdy blade will quickly free it. Prising off the roof allows you to remove the seating unit and the two strips of stiff transparent plastic that slot into the coach sides to provide the glazing. At this point you might consider whether to paint the seats to tone down their glossy shine (bear in mind that second class seats would probably have been bare wood, not upholstery) and possibly paint the inside of the carriage. And that’s all there is to dismantling the coach body! 3) Tweak 1: adding flat ends to the coach body The most noticeable thing about the coach sides are the curved gaps (the tumblehomes, I suppose) at the bottom of the coach’s ends. It is visually interesting and it adds character, but almost all British coaches of the period had flat ends rather than tapered or curved ones. To be honest at most normal viewing angles (i.e. from above) this feature is not especially noticeable. But if you like to run models nearer to eye level or you want to reproduce a specific railway rather than freelance, you might decide to fill in the gaps at the ends of the coach to make the model more representative. I used Humbrol filler, pressing it into the gaps between the coach body and the top of the chassis until both gaps were completely filled. Of course other fillers would work just as well: Milliput, plaster of Paris, probably DAS or fine PolyFilla as well. All that really matters is that the filler is relatively easy to sand down when it has dried. If you have decided not to dismantle the coach, I suggest putting a bit of tape over the top of the chassis that is visible below the end of the coach before you start adding the filler. This means you don’t end up with the body and chassis permanently fixed together. Sellotape, masking tape, a bit of printer label: all work fine, and probably so would a small piece of cling film, kitchen foil or similar wrapped over the top of the chassis. Afterwards, when you have sanded down the filler, you can trim off any exposed tape. When the filler has set hard (probably 2-4 hours in most cases, but I waited 24 hours to be on the safe side), sand it down to get the correct profile. I wrapped a strip of very fine 400 grade wet-and-dry paper around a thin block of wood and found I could easily sand each end and the adjacent sides down to a reasonable profile in less than 5 minutes. I definitely recommend a dust mask (and if you have sensitive eyes, some eye protection as well), ideally some good ventilation and a work area that is easy to vacuum or brush afterwards. Sanding Humbrol filler is very quick and easy, but it does produce a fine dust that is light enough to hang around in the air for some time and IMO tastes pretty nasty! I found it was worth taking the filler to the top of the coach ends (rather than halfway up the side, as I did in the photo above) to prevent the visible joint that I managed to achieve on my first attempt, and which I only noticed after painting: 4) Tweak 2: painting the body If you have filled in the ends, you will definitely want to paint the body because of the harlequin patchwork of colours that you now have on your model. Even if you are happy with the original shape, you may still want to repaint it in a different livery or tone down the plastic sheen of the model with a coat of matt varnish. Personally I prefer hand-brushing with Humbrol enamels, and most of these paints only come in matt and/or gloss finishes. When I was painting the coach I found that the matt enamels were too flat and boring and they didn’t seem to reflect any light, while gloss paints looked too brash and toy like. However, a coat of gloss paint covered by a thin coat of Humbrol’s matt varnish did seem to provide the right sort of finish – at least to my mind. The photo below shows the general effect: In this period railways often still painted the top section of the carriage sides black in imitation of the road coaches that they were putting out of business. This can add to the period charm, although anyone modelling an actual railway will probably want to carry out a bit of research to check whether there is any record of the chosen railway’s actual colour scheme. The Birmingham and Gloucester coaches were buff with black at the top, but I chose to paint my model in the blue of the London and Croydon railway. I am afraid I can’t offer any useful advice on using acrylic paints on the coaches, although I am practicing with them on scenery and buildings. But I will end this section with one comforting thought for other coarse modellers: remember that no one really knows the exact shade or finish on most early carriages! 5) Tweak 3: fitting running boards below the coach The coaches have steps moulded beneath each compartment to allow passengers to climb down to the low platforms of the period. Steps like this were used by some early British railways in the 1830s, but the style was already going out of fashion by 1840 with most new coaches (and having just opened, most railways had nothing but new coaches) having running boards stretching along the full length of the coach. I made the running boards out of a piece of T-section plastic strip 2.4 x 2.4 mm, trimming off one of the arms of the “T” so that I was left with a “L” section 1.2 x 2.4 mm across. The 2.4 mm part of the L becomes the flat running board for the passenger to step on, while the 1.2 mm side is glued vertically to the axle boxes to fix the board in place. The axle boxes have a bit of detail on them, so I filled this off with a needle file and carried on filing back the axle boxes below the coach springs for about half a millimetre before super-gluing the narrower side of the L strip onto these flat surfaces. Fixing the L strip to the axle boxes provides all the structural support that is needed. But I also wanted to model the hangers that drop from the underside of the chassis to the running boards. Small pieces of plastic rod or stiff wire would be fine, but I used the very small (Size 25) staples sold for pocket staplers such as the Rexel “Bambi” stapler. I straightened out one of the arms of a strip of staples using a pair of pliers, separated them into individual staples and then superglued the long arms of the resulting L shapes to the underside of the coach chassis and the ends of the short arm to the back of the running board. (The advantage of staples over bent wire is that staples have flat sides, making it easier to fix them in place.) I found a map pin extremely useful in tweaking the staples while the glue was setting. It is important to allow plenty of time for the glue holding the four staples on one side to set firm before starting on the other running board. The photo below shows the staples in place on one side of the coach before painting. I hope some of these ideas will be useful, or even better that they will inspire readers to find other ways of converting the model. If anyone has stuck with me this far, I will certainly be very interested in any questions, ideas or comments you have! In the next post I’ll look at ways to alter the roof (and the lamp covers on the roof), change to finer scale wheels (plus some ideas on how to camouflage the deep flanges on the existing wheels), add weight (the model only weighs 20 grams) and also discuss some ideas on suitable couplers.

Early railway companies were usually launched in a mood of heady optimism, only for the disgruntled shareholders to learn that building the damn thing was going to take a lot longer than anyone had expected. You may have noticed that the Middenshire & Fiddleyard Trunk Railway continues this venerable tradition. Even so, taking 18 months to ballast two foot of track did rather play on my conscience. I decided to tackle the problem with sheets of Poundland sandpaper. Early railways completely covered their sleepers with ballast, so I figured I might as well use paper inserts and have done with it. I don't expect my layout will get too many knocks and all my locos moved out of warranty more than forty years ago, so I'm prepared to try this idea out - but at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious I guess I should point out that delicate precision mechanisms and abrasive flakes of grit may not be the best combination for prized locos. This is an experiment to test whether it really is possible to seal the surface of the sandpaper so it's not a risk to stock (nor a constant source of tidying up). The sheets of sandpaper come in an assortment of grades, and I used the fine sheets for this project. I'll explain this choice and discuss whether I should have used a larger, coarser grade in my next post. The sheets have thin backing paper, making them easy to score, easy to cut – and also quite easy to tear. I shook them and vacuumed them to get any loose grains of sand off the paper, then sprayed glue over the sheets to try and fix all the remaining grains in place. (Matt vanish works as well, but I had a spare can of spray mount glue to use up.) Here's my recipe for anyone reckless enough or desperate enough to consider sandpaper inserts: Place the sandpaper face up over the trackwork, and holding the sheet firmly in place rub a suitable object over the top of the rails so that they are embossed through the paper. I used the rounded handle of a disposable knife to do this, but a coin would do just as well. It’s basically brass-rubbing for modellers. For sections where the rails are straight, it's best to move the now-embossed piece of sandpaper to a cutting board and use a steel ruler to produce a perfectly straight edge. Given the rough surface you'll be cutting and the thin backing paper's propensity to tear, make sure the ruler is positioned so that any slips or tears are on the outside of the insert. When working over curved rails or pointwork it's probably easiest to just cut the paper in situ using the inside of the rail as a cutting guide. The best way to do this is to make shallow cuts with just the tip of the blade, running it along the inside face of the rail just below its head, using the web as a guide. (I'll very happy to admit it: I'd never even heard these terms until I visited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_profile ) Don't cut deeply enough to hit the chairs or sleepers, or you won't get a smooth edge that fits snugly against the inside of the rail afterwards. Cutting through gritty, abrasive material does your knife blade no good at all. Change it frequently to avoid tearing the backing paper as it gets blunted. Actually, make that very frequently – I found one of those cheap tear-off-the-blunt-length-of-blade-with-pliers DIY knives is much more convenient for this work than a Stanley knife. Once the inserts are in place, push a wagon (ideally with the deepest flanges you can find) over the rails a few times to press down the inserts where they fit up against the rails. Very small blobs of blutack on the sleepers at strategic intervals will keep the inserts in place, while still allowing them to be easily removed for track repairs. Here's my first attempt, warts and all. And since all the materials cost me less than a pound, and the inserts are only held in place with Blutack, it'll be quick enough and cheap enough to do it all over again properly now I've had a bit of practice! I'm not sure any railway did have ballast this colour, so my next blog will describe my attempts to paint it a more realistic colour.

What did railway ballast look like in 1840? Obviously it depended on local geology and the tastes and budgets of the individual companies, but there were some common features that mark it out from later methods. We know that on most early railways the ballast completely covered the sleepers, hiding them from view (a feature that continued throughout most of the 19th century) . Lithographs that include track beds show a smooth plain surface, suggesting individual pieces of ballast were very small. Coloured prints of early railways around London often show the ballast with a fairly bland yellowy-orangey-buffy-creamy tint. It usually wasn't the large grey chunks of crushed stone so common on today's railways. For example the London and Croydon company rushed completion of its line in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid a shareholders’ revolt. Francis Whishaw described the resulting ballast as a mishmash of “broken stones, brick-rubbish, and gravel”. Sadly Woodland Scenics doesn’t include that one in its range. In other areas convenient materials such as sand and ash were used as ballast. So there's plenty of scope for painting up the sandpaper to suit personal tastes. My first attempt to paint the inserts that I had produced in part 1 using acrylic paints gave too uniform a shade - although I'm sure those more familiar with acrylics would have made a decent job of it. Rather than persevere and learn something new, I went back to my usual-default-in-a-crisis Humbrol enamels. Humbrol 129 is called Pale Stone, and ballast is only pale stone, I thought ... I preferred working with the enamel paint, but I still felt the ballast needed more variety than just a single uniform colour. In addition, I found cutting out individual inserts then painting each one of them in turn was a bit of a hassle. I started to wonder whether it would be easier to paint up whole sheets of sandpaper, perhaps with a base colour dabbled over with splotches in other colours, and then cut out the painted track inserts. Experiments showed that it was as easy to paint sandpaper with household emulsion paint as it was with acrylics or enamels. So I visited the local DIY store and came back with some small match pots of Dulux paints that were on special offer at a pound each. Looking at the colour charts I decided to experiment with Coastal Grey, Jurassic Stone and Muddy Puddle for my base coat. The three paint colours, brushed directly onto the sandpaper, are shown below for comparison: In the end I settled for Muddy Puddle, for no better reason than it was the colour that I liked best. I applied the emulsion in the same way that I used for the enamel paints: a thin coat that covered the gritty surface rather than hiding it, using an old brush with reasonably soft bristles. When the emulsion had dried, I started dabbling splotches of Humbrol enamel Pale Stone over the surface to add a bit of variation. I used a technique that I can only describe as “rather damp dry-brushing” to apply the enamel paint: dipping an old paintbrush gently into the pot, dabbing a small blob of paint gently on the surface of the paper and then spreading the dab of paint outwards across the surface with a gentle scrubbing action for a centimetre or two in all directions before repeating the process a few centimetres away. This was actually rather quicker than it sounds – and it was quite empowering to find an area of modelling where my haphazard brushwork and patchy coats of paint were actually a bonus for once. The final effect looked like this. Since I'm colour-blind, I'll be grateful rather than outraged if you tell me I've got the colours wrong: Cutting out the inserts was a bit easier second time around, and I estimate that I'll become quite proficient by my fifth or sixth attempt. This doesn't discourage me, as the materials are cheap and it doesn't take long to prepare the sheets and cut out the inserts. If you do make a slight mistake and leave a gap, the thinness of the paper means it's easy to paste a small patch of ballast sheet over the flaw to hide it. Overall, I'm quite happy with what I've done at the moment. At least it looks as if I've made an effort. The fiddliest part using this methods is filling in the narrow spaces between ends of the point blades and the rails. It is possible to put narrow slivers of sandpaper in these spaces, but at the moment I've left them empty. This is still an experiment and I'm happy to progress slowly, testing how each part of the process works before going on the next task. The colours I used are a bit too bright and clean, even for freshly laid ballast on a newly-constructed railway. The best solution would probably a gentle coating of darker acrylics or weathering powders to tone the finish down. Perhaps a dirty wash of acrylic browns brushed lightly over the inserts would work, provided the surface doesn't get sopping wet - it is only paper, after all, and while slight warping might look natural, drenching the paper will create long unnatural-looking ridges. All I've done so far is rub over the inserts with the plastic handle of a knife, which darkens the grains a bit: This is just work in progress, but I think the method does have potential. It's great for plain track. It's a bit more fiddly for pointwork, but that gets easier with practice. It's a cheap process, made up of a series of quick little jobs that can be done in a few minutes while listening to the radio, and it doesn't require any special tools or skills, nor much outlay on materials. It may not produce the most realistic ballast I've ever seen - but then I've never seen 1840s ballast anyway. Overall I'm quite happy with the initial results, now I've dry-brushed a bit of Humbrol Leather paint over it to give a bit more colour. But now I've done it, I'm already wondering whether it wouldn't be easier just to make up an A4 JPG of a bed of gravel and then print ballast sheets out on a colour printer ...

Inspired by Jim Smith-Wright’s creations on his New Street layout, I decided to try my hand at scratch building my own overhead line mast. The first baseboard on Romford contains three such masts; one four-track span and two double-track spans located on the main overbridges. I decided to start with the more complex four track span. Fortunately, the Mark 1 Great Eastern masts are a lot simpler construction than the WCML versions on New Street. I started off by reviewing archive photographs found on the internet; notably Flickr. This research was hugely important, as it was apparent that the mast in question had undergone a number of structural changes over the years and I wanted to recreate its condition in the mid-1970s. Using the archive photographs and drawings found on RMweb, I drew up a scale template using Microsoft Visio software. The template drawing was printed off and stuck on to piece of ply wood. The main cross beam and columns were constructed from 2.5mm brass ‘H’ section purchased from Eileen’s Emporium. The columns and beams were cut to length, fixed to the template using pins and soldered together. The columns were soldered to brass bolts which would eventually protrude through the baseboard. 4No. ‘Y’ hangers are suspended from the main beam. These were constructed from 1mm brass angle configured back to back to reflect the prototype. To these, I soldered 0.5mm diameter brass rod to reflect the conductor arm. Weismann insulators were cut in length to reflect the 6.25kV variety, threaded on to the rod and glued into position. Each ‘Y’ hanger unit was then soldered to the main cross beam. The brackets which will eventually support the catenary wire and the return conductors were fashioned into a square loops using 0.5mm wire. 2No. insulators were threaded onto each loop which was then soldered to the main cross beam. Secondary brackets which in practise support the ‘Y’ hangers and catenary brackets were also constructed from 0.5mm wire which was threaded around the main cross beam and soldered/glued into position. In hindsight, any brackets which were to be supported from the main cross beam should have been fixed prior to fitting the columns to aid assembly. Final details such as the triangular fillet between the beam and columns (0.5mm brass sheet) and the main cross beam splice plates (0.5mm Plasticard) were glued into position. The splice plates were detailed using Archer rivet transfers. The concrete mast bases were reproduced with 1mm Plasticard. Milliput filler was used to mask the Plasticard joints and to form a benching between the base and the column. The entire model was sprayed with Halfords grey primer, followed by a light dusting with Halfords matt black. Finally a mix of rust and dark grey enamel was dry brushed around the structure. The final detail was the reference plates. These were constructed from 0.5mm Plasticard, painted BR(E) blue and affixed with Fox number transfers.

In my imagination at the other side of the road bridge lies Sherton Abbas's engine shed, turntable, water tower and ash pit. Road Bridge However the Station Building would need a water supply and in 1904 it probably wouldn't have been connected to a mains supply. I've also thought that it would have been more convenient for locomotives requiring water to be able to access a supply near the platform rather than having to go to the engine shed. I'd appreciate any thoughts on all this! I thought that a water tower situated at the end of the run round loop might be suitable, here's a picture of that end of the layout . Stop block end of the layout. Before committing myself to anything permanent I thought a quick mock up in card would be sensible. As the station building is based on Abbotsbury, I thought the water tower from the same station would be a suitable prototype. The card mock up was made, but when positioned on the layout looks enormous and to my eye detracts rather than adds to the scene! Once again your thoughts would be much appreciated! Water tower mock up I probably should leave well alone, but still quite like the idea of a water tower. Something smaller might fit the bill, again any suggestions most welcome! All part of the fun!:-) Best wishes Dave

There's not a lot of progress to report on the layout this week, although the wiring is now in place (except for the traverser: at my current rate of progress I will probably write about that in a couple of weeks). The underside of the baseboard is now taking on rather a Heath Robinson-ish appearance with wires running over the point rods and held in place with blutack. So I thought I'd bulk up this post with a few notes on the Bachmann Norris locomotive. Actually Bachmann made two versions of the model, and either would suit a Birmingham & Gloucester layout: Lafayette (1837) is in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad livery of green boiler with black chimney, cylinders, wheels and firebox. It comes with a typical early US chimney with spark catcher. Watch out if you get a chance to buy the Lafayette train set, as it often comes with US-style bogie coaches that don't suit British practice. (In addition buying the train set version can mean you are paying for track and a 120 volt transformer / controller as well). Prussia (1838) is in Berlin-Potsdam Railway colours: red and green boiler and lots of brass-coloured fittings. The matching Prussia coaches are the ones that can be seen in earlier posts. The small motor is in the haystack firebox, powering the driving axle below. All six wheels on the locomotive pick up current from the rails, with wires running beneath the boiler from the bogie to the motor. Despite the short wheelbase I’ve found the unmodified model can run reasonably slowly over a run of three adjacent short radius Peco Electrofrog points without any problems at all. But the model's light weight (only 64 grams, including the tender) can lead to wheel slipping and loss of traction. I’ve added weight to the bogie to improve the leading wheels’ contact with the rails, and the hollow boiler and tender can also be used to add weight if desired. Personally I like the loco's slight tendency to wheel slip when starting off with a rack of coaches; it gives the impression the loco really is struggling to overcome inertia. The prototype had an interesting story. At a time when railways around the world were buying locomotives from British manufacturers like Stephenson and Sharp Roberts, the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway stood out as the only English railway to import locos from abroad. While the BGR really did need three of Norris's powerful locos to bank the Lickey Incline, the unscrupulous builder also manoveured the BGR's naïve directors into buying eleven less powerful engines as well. Designed for American conditions, the heavy British rails quickly damaged the locomotives’ cast iron wheels while their fireboxes, built for burning wood rather than coke, also caused problems. The B&G's inexperienced enginemen put several out of action during their first few months in service, and the situation only improved when James McConnell became loco foreman at Bromsgrove in July 1841. Most of these smaller locos were sold to smaller railways, collieries and contractors in the mid-1840s, although the bankers remained in service until the mid-1850s. The full story of the locos, including the one-sided negotiations with Norris, is given in Peter Long and Wilber Awdry’s 1979 book The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway.

Sorry this second instalment has taken so long to appear! Just one reminder before I continue my suggestions for the Bachmann Prussia coach: this post and its predecessor are meant to be a menu of ideas, not a recipe to be followed to the letter. Please use or modify the bits that you like and don’t feel that you have to do everything that I did! 6) Tweak 4: replacing the buffers The Prussia coach has dumb buffers, a very early feature. By 1840 almost all new British coaches had.the more familiar sprung buffers fitted. So I decided to update the buffers on my model. Using a sturdy blade or a razor saw, I cut off the heads of the buffers just in front of the first moulded band. Using a razor saw was a bit quicker than a knife blade, the knife blade seemed to give a cleaner cut, but both methods were fine. (Hint: if you are thinking about adding lamp covers to the coach roof, try to save a couple of the pieces of buffer that you saw off. As we’ll see, the buffer ends can be recycled as tops for the lamp covers.) When I was working with the razor saw I used a very fine-toothed blade and simply pulled it slowly back across the plastic, letting the teeth do all the work, rather than hack sawing furiously in both directions. For the knife experiment I used a lightweight DIY knife with a disposable blade, and here I did need to hack through the plastic with a vigorous to-and-fro sawing motion. This last technique may make more talented modellers wince, but in my own modelling I’ve found I use a Stanley knife ten times more frequently than I use a craft knife. I then drilled a hole in what I fondly imagined to be the centre of the buffer stump using a pin vice (this is one of the few specialist modelling tools that I do use a lot) and a 1 mm drill bit. I found that (a) I couldn’t get a hole drilled at a true right angle very easily and (b) the fit for the replacement buffer was a bit tight, but using a map pin with a tapered point as a makeshift reamer to open out the hole solved both problems. I spent quite a lot of time searching hardware stores for nails and pins that might act as replacement buffer heads, but in the end I gave up: I discovered even the smallest nails have shanks that are too thick for a buffer, while all the pins I found had heads that were too small and led to buffer locking. So I used 51L’s HO buffer heads (£3 for a dozen steel buffer heads and shanks, available from www.wizardmodels.co.uk – the reference number is LOC3512). Alternatively you could use small 4mm buffer heads. A drop of superglue keeps the buffer head firmly in place inside the hole in the buffer stump, although I had to learn the hard way to make sure the buffer shank was in line from the side as well as above before I let the glue set. (But don’t worry if the buffer isn’t quite in line, a bit of gentle bending with needle nose pliers when the superglue has set will sort things out.) 7) Tweak 5: fitting lamp covers on the roof By modern standards early railway carriages weren’t just cramped and uncomfortable, they were poorly lit as well. (In fairness to the early railway companies, in all these areas they were still a considerable improvement on the road coaches that they replaced. In a stagecoach there was normally no light at all inside the carriage, unless a traveller had brought their own lantern.) Early coaches usually had just two oil lamps shared between the three compartments (so that the middle compartment received light from each lamp), and these lamps were dropped down into the carriages through recesses in the roof. The rape oil in the lamps only provided a weak and flickering light, but domestic lighting wasn’t much better at the time and early travellers seem to have been quite happy to strain their eyesight reading on the train. The Bachmann Prussia coach has two lamp tops nicely moulded on the roof, although they are painted a garish yellow. (Was this meant to represent brass? If so, it was a total failure.) The quickest and simplest tweak is simply to paint or felt tip these lamp tops a dark colour to match or blend in with the rest of the roof. Better still, paint the roof at the same time! As I experimented, I felt that dark colours suited the roof best. Old favourites like Slate Grey all seemed too light, and in the end I settled on Humbrol Matt Black for the finished coach. However, early British coaches usually had rather prominent lamp covers that staff would fit on the roof over the lamps after they had been dropped down into the compartments. Designs varied in detail between the companies, but all the drawings I have seen show large, round metal tubes surrounding the lamp tops, rather like a large inverted tin can topped with a flat or more often a slightly domed top, resting on the roof of the carriage. The best way to make the round tubes is probably to cut thin plastic tube into portions around 3 mm long (i.e. just under a foot in scale length). Thin drinking straws could be used (e.g. the ones from small, individual boxes of juice), or discarded ball point pen refills, or I guess bits of parcel tape could be wrapped around a nail to build a cylinder of the right diameter, or cut-down N gauge barrels … whatever comes to hand is worth a try. I used the hollow handle from a cotton bud, cutting it into 3 mm lengths with a Stanley knife and then sanding the ends flat as my cutting proved a bit cack-handed. The top of the cylinder could be covered with a small disc of plastic or thin card, or one of the buffer heads mentioned earlier could be inserted to cap the tube. I decided to recycle the sawn-off ends of the dumb buffers to produce what I hoped would be a rather extravagant top to the covers, although I have to admit it looks a bit too prominent and in future I’ll be using flat tops instead. 8) Tweak 6: Replacing the roof The Bachmann roof has a rather unusual profile: the usual curve across the coach finishes with a flat strip along each side above the doors. It’s a very unusual feature that I’ve never seen on British coach roofs, so I decided to replace it with a more orthodox convex card roof. It was quite easy to make the new roof. I used a sheet of fairly thick but flexible card and cut an oblong 60 x 31 mm, which is enough to allow an overhang of around half a millimetre on all sides of the body. Thin plastic would be flexible enough and it might take enamel paint a bit better than card, but I wanted to find a use for some of the flyers that keep landing on my doormat. Because the Bachmann roof is flat at its sides, so is the top of the coach that it sits on. I spent a couple of minutes rubbing each edge along a strip of very fine sandpaper (grit size 400) to bring the profile in line with the curve across the rest of the coach. I flexed the card between my fingers a few times to approximate the convex curve of the roof, gave it an initial coat of enamel paint and then glued it onto the top of the coach body using UHU. Normally I would use superglue, but in this case I wanted an adhesive that would allow me to prise the roof off easily with my fingers if I ever need to do so. The big problem with UHU, at least when I use it, it that it always leaves a fine string of glue between the nozzle and the surface I am working on. To get round this problem I now squirt a dollop of the glue onto a plastic card and brush it unto the surface with a retired paint brush. (Then I wipe the excess glue off the bristles with kitchen towel and clean the brush in hot soapy water, because a good retired paint brush is a valuable tool to have!) After the glue dried I gave the card roof a second coat of matt black enamel, added a couple of lamp covers on the roof over the compartment partitions – and that was the job done! 9) Tweak 7: Adding extra weight The basic coach weighs 20 grams and none of the modifications I have described, even packing the ends of the coach with filler, adds significantly to the weight. The NMRA’s RP-20 Car Weight policy (http://www.nmra.org/beginner/weight ) recommends a weight of 2.5 ounces / 70 grams for a vehicle three inches long, but I didn’t want to overtax the small motors used in Bachmann’s early locos with too much weight. In addition early coaches were relatively light (and certainly not built to the US loading gauge used in the NMRA’s formula). I decided to compromise and aim for a modest increase to around 30 grams. I used the golfers’ lead tape again (I had previously used it to add weight to the traverser), but lead shot or any other heavy ballast would do as well. There is quite a deep recess in the chassis between the wheels, and this can be filled with extra weights as long as provision is made for the two small retaining screws that hold the seating unit in place within the coach. I used four strips of lead tape to fill this pit completely, then I tried putting the seating unit back in place and realised that the lugs on the base of the seating unit are designed to sit flush on the bottom of the recess! Luckily I was able to cut out a couple of slots in the soft lead tape fairly easily, but the moral is to leave enough room for the two lugs when you are adding your chosen material. I also put more strips of lead tape underneath the seats, as the seating unit has quite a bit of free space beneath the seats. The final weight of the reassembled coach with all this lead tape in place is around 27 grams. So a train of four coaches will weigh in at approximately 100 grams, or around three-and-a half ounces. After I had glued the new roof onto the coach, I realised I could have added extra weight by using some of Andrew Stadden’s seated figures as passengers. They are made of heavy pewter, they are beautifully cast with amazing detail and lifelike poses and if the paint isn’t too garish their Edwardian dresses and hats won’t be too obvious inside a glazed 1840s coach. (The HO figures are available at http://www.acstadden.co.uk/Pages/aaa.aspx, and he also produces similar period figures in 4 mm, 7 mm and a couple of sets of Edwardian passengers in 2 mm.) 10) Tweak 8: Painting the wheels My first impression was that the shiny silver Bachmann wheels are too bright and toy-like. As I worked through the model I realised it was largely the back of the wheels that were causing the problem. (The front of the wheel has a red plastic hub and spokes, so that only the rims and flanges are silver. In addition the axle boxes hide most of the front of the wheels.) Since the Prussia coach doesn’t have any brake gear under the body, it’s easy to see the solid silver backs of the wheels under the body when viewing it at eye level. Adding running boards does lessen the effect, but I still thought I would try to reduce it further. I think the best approach is simply to paint the back of the wheels, and also the bright silver axles, with matt or satin black or brown paint - or you can use Humbrol metallic black enamel, if you want to keep a toned-down shine. Actually, now I realise how easy it is easy to mix enamel gloss and matt paints together, I use a mix of 1 part Humbrol metallic black to 2.5 parts Humbrol matt black. There is no need to remove the wheel sets from the axle boxes to do this, but it is easy to gently prise out an axle box by a millimetre or so with a finger tip to ease out the wheel set if you want to work on them. Or`rather it's easy if you do this before you add the running boards and all those fiddly bent staples [see Part 1 for details of this work], as I found out to my cost! It is difficult to replace the Bachmann wheel sets with alternatives from other manufacturers because the axle length is only 22.6 mm. The only spoked wheels I found that have suitable axles were from KB Scale (http://kbscale.com/wheels.html ): I used the 10.5 mm diameter 8 spoke wheels with 23 mm axles, which meant I had to open out the depressions in the axle boxes a tad with a pin vice and drill bit. This works after a fashion, and despite really being designed for 7 mm narrow gauge the wheels do look very good; but the replacement wheel sets still aren’t as free running as Bachmann’s own. I think in future I will keep the Bachmann wheel sets but visually tone them down as much as possible. 11) Couplers The coaches were designed to be part of a tail-chasing train set and the default coupler is simply a rigid plastic bar linking the carriage with its neighbour. This works pretty well as long as you don’t want to couple or uncouple coaches. I will retain the coupling bars for fixed rakes of coaches, but I need working couplers at each end of the rake so that I can uncouple locos, add extra coaches and carriage wagons, etc. The buffer beams of the Bachmann models are too low for most (I suspect all) 4 mm couplers, so that all of these couplers tend to foul point blades. I think 3 mm and 2 mm couplers offer the best solution; PECO OOn9 couplers would probably also work well. I’m currently experimenting with D.G. 2 mm magnetic couplers (thankfully Wizard Models sell them ready-made – they look pretty fiddly to build from the etches!), and I’ll give an update when I’ve had a bit more experience with them. 12) Conclusions Was it worth it? Well, it was a satisfying and enjoyable project that gave me a chance to try out several new ideas, so it was definitely worth it for me. But was it worth it in terms of the model? I’m probably a bit too close to the project to judge how much difference the individual tweaks really do make, but I think repainting the body and roof makes the greatest difference. So simply putting in 25% of the work would probably have produced 75% of the overall effect. I don’t claim any of the tweaks are essential, as the Prussia coach is a nice model in its own right, and I’m not sure the average person would notice most of the changes I made. But I rather like the finished product (despite my clumsy painting). Cost of the conversion? I used materials I already had in stock, so it cost £1 for the new buffers and probably another pound for the L-shaped plastic strip that I used for the running boards. I already had the paint and tools, and I think the amount of lead tape I used probably cost around 50p. Allowing for the cost of paint, glue etc, I’d guesstimate the cost of my conversion at around £3.50 a coach. (I'm excluding the cost of the KB wheels because I don't think they are necessary.) Time spent? Probably three hours (excluding the time trying out ideas that I later rejected), mainly quick little jobs that were spread over several evenings to allow time for paint, filler and glue to set, etc. Setting up a production line by working on a number of coaches at the same time would be the most efficient way to go, but I’d still suggest working on a single coach first to gain confidence and find out what works for you. There’s a lot more that could be done to the coach so I’ll end with a few ideas, most of which I will try myself: (a) Fit luggage rails (and luggage) to the roof to add visual interest. The best way to do this would probably be with loco handrail knobs and silver-coloured wire. (b) Replace the deep glazing sheets with flush glazing, probably using a clear resin compound. (I may try Krystal Klear when I do this, but I can’t recommend it as I haven’t used it yet.) (c) Add a seat on the roof for a guard and steps on the end of the coach allowing access. (d) Change the class: fill in the side windows (the “quarter lights”) with filler to make a second-class coach, or leave them open for the central compartment to make a composite (2nd-1st-2nd) carriage. Perhaps cut off the top off the coach completely at the bottom of the windows to make an open, seated third class coach. (There are a lot of possible variations here: for example some second class coaches had roofs and ends but they had open sides above the door.)

Evening all, A debrief from the excellent Stafford show of last weekend. I did draft up the post last week but as I was getting used to the new software I managed to delete the entry just as I was about to post it Start again, fresh eyes... As previous entries have described, I decided to replace the two turnouts to try and improve running as they were built almost 10 years ago. This turned out to include other remedials and more than I had anticipated in the last few months. The two turnouts were laid, tested, painted and ballasted. I had removed the front fascia to make access easier and the backscene, ramp and bridge was also removed as part of the upgrade. I had printed three backscenes originally so had two spare - the previous one was removed to reveal the curved vinyl sheet I had found in our studio - I had forgotten it had a gold outer side so it made for an interesting in progress shot I then applied the backscene and the two new fascia pieces laser previously cut from 3mm plywood. Whilst I was at it, I decided to upgrade and simplify the operators side fascia. This has removed the redundant switches from the DC operation and now has just the two turnouts and the five uncoupling slots. The fascia was cut from 1mm veneer and the trackplan and slots formed using a sharp scalpel, changing the blade regularly. To achieve the red effect it is mounted onto a sheet of stout red card from our studio. Finally the fascia was repainted and the lettering reapplied. So all all set to go but the weekend before revealed some inconsistencies with the two turnouts which was still there Friday morning 3 hours before I was due to leave for Stafford My thanks are due to Mark F (2mm Mark of this Parish) who kindly came to help resolve it...By various tests with my meter and probing Mark found the station turnout had a dead frog feed and both switches to operate the turnouts were dead Knowing was there little time to replace them we set upon a temporary lash up to get me through the weekend, with two new switches hanging out the backscene to change polarity and the old switches disconnected but used for changing the point throw only. Shortly after I was on my way to Stafford, arriving to set up the Friday evening - have never been to a show where you can back up your car virtually to your exhibition space Was also extremely honoured that Kylie (as Mr Yorke refered to it ) was depicted on the front of the show catalogue - many thanks Colin. The layout performed well at the show, bar some loco failures (prompting a bit of an overlap between time periods) and I have a few things for the to do list. I received a lot of nice comments on the layout, a lot of people surprised how small it was...one commented the picture on the catalogue was bigger My thanks are due to Bryn, Andy H and David L all of this parish for helping out some periods allowing me to get some breaks as well as see the show. A lot of nice layouts, it was great to see some old faces and meet some new ones. I also trialled the new Kylie T-shirt (when temps changed from early morning cold to very busy hot) which Mark B (46444) joked that I should produce...it has the current Kylie tour dates on the back...the layout just needs some roadies now Here are a few pictures showing some progress as well as the layout at the show. As always, comments are welcome... Pete

After being a bit ill the last few days a bit of a catch up was in order yesterday. So building D was completed and the backscene added. This is a departure from the kit being an image of Linby Colliery gleaned from the internet, suitably sized and washed out in Photoshop to push it into the distance. It's a bit blurred but I think that helps with the false perspective too

On to the task I have been dreading, rolling the boiler and smokbox. i was very pleased with how the rolling came out, though the soldering was some of the hardest so far. I have a lot lot of solder to clean up on the joint between boiler and firebox. The chimney was glued into place prior to fitting to assist with boiler alignment.

I am currently working on a new 009 loco that I will be able to 3d print once we get the printers working again. Now this engine may be familiar and if it is then I have done a good job, If it isn't then there isn't much I can do. Anyway the loco is Douglas from the Talyllyn railway. It still isn't done but I am getting close.

A few more wagons for the layout. The 2 Cambrain wqagons are Cambrian Models kits. I think the grey I have used is a little to dark, but I had painted them a lighter shade but putting on some Klear to reduce the shadow of the waterlside transfer has darkened the colour. The LNWR Ballast wagons are Ratio.

After an enjoyable trip to the Biggleswade show on Saturday I spent yesterday making a start on the basic land forms for my model of Clare station. I had saved a load of 1/2 inch polystyrene which had been used a packing material for some 'up-market' glass white boards we had taken delivery of at work. I hadn't thought the landscape around Clare was particularly hilly but was still surprised by how much polystyrene was required. Sometime ago I purchased a hot wire cutter and this was my first chance to give it a go. It has proved very useful for cutting up the sheets and making nice angled cuts on the edges though I think it would have been nicer to have one that had a longer cutting wire. I've started by trying to make the hill at the Cavendish end of the station where there is a cutting with the small over-bridge. The cutting was wide enough for a third line which was originally used for loading. The white painted panel on the bridge was for sighting the advanced starter signal. From the opposite direction you can see the end of the lay-by and the single line towards Marks Tey. On this side of the bridge is the home signal and I'm toying with the idea that this might be sighted 'on the wrong side' of the track to make sighting easier around the curve. Going back to the station side there was a track down from the lane over the bridge down the hill which gave access to the now-removed siding. The siding was taken out in ~1955 and replaced by the simple coal siding. I'm guessing that in my time-scale it would still be easy to see where it had been. All that is left now is a hump which appears to be in the right place for a loading dock. I don't have any photographic evidence though of whether there was originally any kind of edge (timber shoring?). The picture on disused stations http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/clare/clare(1950s)old4.jpg shows the raised flat area but no kind of edging. I've not yet stuck any of this down and I'm trying now to work out how the land forms the edge of the river but it is nice to see something other than just flat ply for a change. David

Here is a design for a portable folding fiddle yard to complement the "Minories in Streamline OO" design that I recently updated. It's presented as a PDF so that you can see it in high resolution, zoom in and out and turn the various layers on and off. The two parts, Minories and Fiddle yard, fold up into small, equally-sized boxes that could be easily transported and set up almost anywhere. Minories Folding Fiddle Yard 20.pdf

Picking up where I left off the first task on the list was to get the cab roof fitted. I starting off with the beading around the edge, slowly soldering into position as it was formed to shape. The rear roof support was soldered in place between the cab sides, before fitting the roof etch into position. the next step was to add the box onto which the screw reversed fits, it would have been easier to fit this before adding the roof. This was followed by the cab handrails (both on the cab sides and the ends, and fabricating the reverser cover (good practice for forming the curves on the firebox. with this in place the reverser leaver was next on the hit list, soldering the parts together off model before soldering into place. The next task involves adding the sandbox covers and snifter valves, (I don’t know what the latter does but it’s a great name!). This means identifying the castings, a tricky task when there are no photos (just a list of names) and I am missing a good number of parts....) the above photo shows what I do have (including a PDK chimney) and what appears to be the brass master for the steam pipes) This selection (bar the chimney) was the last bits that Malcom had available when he cleared out his 4mm scale bits. I always ment to do a cross check against the list and contact Dave Geen to buy spares but of course left it too late. I am now now trying to work out what is missing to place an order with Brassmasters for the Finney equivalents... Today’s aim is to finish the footplate details and build a firebox.

Got up this morning and found this He'd set it all up without me and was running trains. Think I built it well

Whilst the sheets for building B are waiting for the glue to dry I finished off building A. I've also fitted two sets of led lights to the underside of the roof, one by the window and one by the open sliding doors

No, this is a not a post about my financial situation - though it could have been! This is about building and painting wagons for my goods depot layout , which is set in the period ca 1900-1908. For wagons this was a real transition period, with a diversity of styles, technical developments and liveries. So I’ve started a wagon building programme which tries to capture some of that variety. Here are some photos of developments so far. First off was this 3 planker, which I built some time ago from a David Geen kit. It has those nice “old world” round ends. Many were later rebuilt to straight ends, but photos suggest that a few still had those enticing curves in the 1900s. The livery is the pre-1894 version, ie with the small 5inch “GWR” on the left side. It seems this livery could still be seen here and there into the 1900s. In 1894 the “GWR” was moved to the right hand side of wagons. I wonder why – did someone at Swindon wake up one morning and exclaim “I’ve had a vision! Bring out the paint brushes!”. The non-standard tare numbers seen here are copied from a photo of the real no. 64493. Others had the numbers in the normal italics. The 4-plankers were the dominant type among GWR Opens in 1900. This model is a Coopercraft kit but with the oil axleboxes substituted for (David Geen) grease boxes, which still featured on the majority of wagons at the turn of the century. Nick, I forgot to add the vertical hanger, will see to it shortly! It's been fun experimenting with the shade of red. Contemporary sources indicate a fairly bright (some say light) red. In my opinion, pristine bright red doesn’t work well on layouts, so I’ve gone for a toned down look but with a bit of variety from wagon to wagon. The photo above shows an Iron Mink in the the base coat, which is a mix of bright red and orange. This was then later toned down with dry-brushing, mostly more orange and pale sand. Here is the finished Iron Mink in the post-1894 red livery. I couldn’t fit “To carry 9 tons” in the panel on the left. The GWR painters had the same problem and some photos show use of smaller letters to fit it all in. So I'll order some 2mm transfers and do the same. The iron minks were numerous in the 1900s. This old ABS kit was in fact a Barry Railway version that I had lying about, which I modified to GWR style. I only now see that the doors have issues in one corner. Mutter, groan, grumble! Then it was crunch time. There comes a time in every man’s life when he has to decide exactly when he thinks GWR wagon grey was introduced! For my part, I've been torn between 1898 and 1904.Until recently I was leaning towards 1898, which was the year when the GWR introduced cast number plates as standard on new wagon builds. If that was the case, then new wagons built between 1898 and 1904 would have looked something like the 4-planker above, which I built and painted quite some time ago. The cast number plates seem only to have been applied to new builds (see notes below). If GWR grey was introduced in 1898, then older wagons that were repainted between 1898 and 1904 would presumably have looked something like this 3-planker, which I initially painted in the grey livery. Then I changed my mind! I went through the sources and debates one more time (summarized here), and began to see the logic of 1904 as the year when the grey livery was introduced. So I decided to adopt this as the assumption on “The depot”. The implications are interesting. For one thing, it means that wagons with cast plates would generally have been red. This 4-planker is the same as the one shown in grey above, but now in red. Quite a different animal to look at! (but where's the V-hanger, must have broken off while taking the photo - back to the workbench!). Another implication of the 1904 cutting-off point is that older wagons repainted during 1898-1904 would have carried the 5inch right hand side red livery right up to 1904. This 3-planker is another David Geen kit, but built to represent a 1900s version with straight ends and retro-fitted with oil axleboxes. The tare numbers are again a deliberate deviation from the norm, reflecting that these numbers were often painted on after the main lettering job. Whether or not the underframes on these wagons were in fact also red is a separate discussion! And then, at last, came the good old "GW" livery, which was applied from 1904. Together with the Iron Minks, these pre-diagram outside-framed wooden wagons were the standard vans at the turn of the century, until the "new generation" of wooden V5 vans began appearing in 1902. Finally a few of my own notes on cast plates, based on the info and photos I could find in my books. Plates experimented with from 1894, standardized from around 1898 (sometimes 1897 is mentioned), and in principle applied until 1904 Photos suggest that number plates were only applied to new builds during this period, not retro-fitted to older wagons Photos also indicate that cast no. plates were always seen in combination with oil axle-boxes, which makes sense as wagons built during this time would have been fitted with oil axleboxes A small number of wagons seem to have carried a transition livery after 1904 which had the cast no. plate and the large “GW” letters (but not the cast “GWR”). There are examples of an Iron Mink and (oddly) a 7-plank 02 in this livery. Photos suggest that wagons with cast plates were greatly outnumbered by wagons with painted numbers. Regarding the latter point, see eg the very interesting photos from Reading Kings Meadow yard around 1905-06, in GWR Goods Services Part 2A, pages 16 and 18-19. These show many wagons with pre-1904 small GWR lettering, together with wagons carrying “GW”. Only 1 or 2 wagons with cast no. plates can be seen.

Last night I finally made a start on a job that has been awaiting attention for far too long, painting the roofs of coaches. At last count I currently have 7 Centenaries, a H26, a H33, a Large Window first, 5 Mainline sunshine stock and 8 Hornby Colletts that all need the roofs painting grey. The centenaries etc. painted earlier in the summer being the most pressing (which also need the ends painting black and lining / windows added.) So I have started with the roofs, it has taken me a while to standardise on a paint for use on the roofs, but I think I am finally there. Vallejo Black Grey (the same colour that is the main basis of my weathering mix for smokebox doors, diesel loco roof grey and GWR wagon grey.) So far I have painted up both the H26 and H33 diners (both of which being the key stock to enable me to run some realistic formations), with the centenaries next up. I am quite pleased with the resulting colour, while the little bit of texture that is added through the paint looks (in my mind) to be a good start point for weathering. I don’t want a roof to be a consistent colour the whole way along… I have ordered a pot of Vallejo black to use on the ends, so will see if that gives as good a brush finish and avoid having to wait to spray them (given all the detail on the ends a spray can black would probably need touching up anyway.) I was particularly impressed with the coverage of the Vallejo paint, at least equal to that of enamels if not better, I just wish someone would commission a range of railway colours from them! Still, I have some good matches to try and will have a go spraying them in the new year…

A little more progress on this long term incumbent of the workbench, I have now built and fitted the bogies. So the coach is now ready to be painted it might be about time I bought a tin of LMS coach maroon... Eventually the coach will be included in this formation http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/126782-coach-identification-1947/

I thought I would post this blog for those that would like to see the steps in making a metal kit. - More photos than talk. After seeing Tetley’s Mills in a magazine with a rusty WD Austerity front and center, I just had to make one, so a saved search in ebay eventually brought a McGowans kit up which I won. For those who don’t know, this is a white metal body kit for which you have to make or find a chassis, and I say find because this kit was designed to take a French Jouef chassis, and due to the ‘highly’ limited supply of all things modeling in Australia I headed for this option rather than trying to locate the unusual wheels she has. The Jouef saved ebay search "Jouef" found a low cost candidate after a few weeks in ebay France, well two candidates actually, that I bid on, and don’t tell my wife, but I won them both. Oh well, feast and famine. einy meeny miney mo Once I had these I could start cleaning up the kit parts, this is done with a brass brush on a dremel, brings white metal up a treat. This is where you find all the bits that didnt come out of the casting process as well as desired, dings, holes, and other nasties. Eg. here you see the smoke box door after a lot of filing as there was a gouge from to top bottom due to the casting and the boiler bands dont quite line up, and there was a lot of filing to do as the body was quite rough in places. here is the firebox end, and you will notice that the pre drilled holes are large enough for a scale frying pan to fit through, notice the blemish that has to be cleaned up But it cleans up nicely as seen here from the top I was further blessed with instructions that came with the kit, but not a diagram of which part was what, so put part 3 with part 4 ensuring they are square and not interfering with 12 was, well, not very helpful. But most parts are easy to identify and as Tony Wright says, get the wheels turning first. This is the Jouef frame, side cutters take off the unwanted bits so that the kit body will fit on it. You will also notice there are too many wheels, this comes as a 2-8-2, so remove the rear pony. This in hindsight is the only thing I would change, the entire kit sits on this thin piece of white metal that no mater how careful you are and diligent, it just bends, and you are forever trying to flatten it. Next time I will use it to cut a piece of brass And check with the body on, make sure the motion still works and nothing hangs down to surprise you. ALWAYS keep checking for square at this stage. The strange shape here is the lead weight from the tender, you will see that soon. It gets annoying when the parts are not the correct shape like the saddle for the smokebox shown here. A very big file is the best you can do here, as long as you dont loose too much before the shapes align Also you should start to think how this will be taken apart in the future for servicing, once again Tony Wrights excellent tip, use a cocktail stick to mount a 8ba nut You can see here that the screw will poke upwards into the cavity of the smoke box. Now for a hard part, the pistons, why hard ? because the motion is part of the Jouef chassis and we dont want their pistion, they need to be replaced with the kits white metal parts, I thought for a while that I should take some brass tube and make a sleeve inside the piston housing for the motion, but I didnt and persevered in trying to get the piston to move smoothly inside the cavity, although it is tricky to align I decided to make a brass frame to locate them and this makes it easy to align the pistons so that the motion is not entering the casing and then hitting the sides, this initially caused the motion to bind up and took a lot of tweeks to get right, but now I can remove them if that ever becomes necessary. You really have to get this part right, are the pistons at the right height (dont trust the castings) are they too far forward, back, etc. This shows the solder tack for the two halves and the screw to hold the chassis to the body. Check it turns freely, turn it over do it again, put it on the track and do it, do it while you watch tv, do it tomorrow, and keep doing it. This shows the underside of the Jouef chassis, no gear here, the motor is in the tender. and that it fits to the body That d**ned saddle, I would have to file it so much to fit there would be nothing left.... Still where there is solder, there is a way. Unscrewing the bottom of the Jouef frame releases the wheels and you can lift the rear pony out, but the back end now is loose, so it will require a bit of padding And now for its first pose with the poor unloved tender which I will show soon. BITS THAT BREAK Over several night, you roll her around in your hands, looking for little things to do, and like this example, bits break off, you put them back on, they come off some other night, and after a while you realise, this item does now want to be part of the project, so it was with the reversing rod. Made of white metal and positioned where you fingers just love to be I was forever getting the plyers to straighten it, until it just never looks straight no matter what. This bit breaks This bit dosent take a small lenght of brass tube that fits into a section of square brass tube and with a grinding wheel take a little off the end so that it can be soldered to the white metal stand without ugly solder. leave the end with a bit of round tube sticking out of the square tube so that its easy to poke into the cab There was a white metal pipe that came from the cab to the smoke box and just looked so daggy, but it was simple to make a brass one. This is a brass tube, bent at right angles at the end. I took some very thin sheet brass, drilled a small hole, then enlarged that to the diameter of the brass tube, then made it an egg shape with nail clippers. This slipped onto the end of the brass tube, and a dab of solder. The brass tube is held onto the boiler side with bands, dead easy, take some very thin brass or copper sheet and with sissors cut a long piece off the sheet not quite as thick as a match stick, this is easily bent with the fingers, and you can wrap it around the tube, repeat as many as you need. The other end, and note this is the same proceedure to do the water pipes. I used copper here as its dead easy to bend into complex shapes, and its was copper on the real one. I used 10 or 12 ba nuts on the end of the copper tube to give the appearance of a fitting. FIDDLY BITS consume endless nights..... Drain cocks, well handrail standoffs looked a good idea until I checked a photo of the real thing and saw they should be smaller, still, try and then fix it up, or you get nowhere. Note, when dealing with small parts, try to make something to mount them on, like this short length of brass I drilled mounting holes into, then soldered the brass to the piston housing. And a bit of wire makes it easy to line them up. Top Feed Well I couldnt see anything in the bucket of parts that looked like a top feed, so I made one. Some small white metal parts soldered together, brass tube drilled through and 10ba nuts on the ends. It looked good when mounted. The McGowan didnt have this rod that I saw in photos of 90733, and what a God send she has been for me. The other end of the rod, what to do ? When stuck I think of what the original builders would have done and improvise. Note, when doing these bits, always drill the hole first and then bend and grind it to shape. If you like Fiddly Bits then how about the pipes that connected to the lubricators. In hindsight this is a bad idea as they are not seen after painting. Oh well, try it and learn from it. This is four lubricators laid out (white metal), then four strands of wire laid on top of them and superglue added, as I couldnt control solder on this small a part, might end up melting them. Fiddly bits continue Well, if you are going to put copper tubes along the side of the boiler, do you make them just long enough and glue the ends to the cab front? When I looked at photos of 90733 I saw gaping big holes where the tubes passed through into the cab. OK I spent ages trying to make a scale lubricator, and when I realised it would maybe never get seen, I didnt bother trying to make sight tubes in it. Here is the first pipe being threaded through. The pipes have small chairs to hold them down This view shows the pipes passing through the cab, and a view of the water pipes underneath Pipes done Another view of the cab, with the pipes attached to the lubricator on the right. When I show the tender, you will see that it has a very small footprint to pick up power, so I put some phospher bronze pickups on the last four wheels. Getting close, the port side and starboard TENDER Well this is an education, firstly the motor is in the tender, it looks like an old triang motor, and it passes its rotation to a capstan that is mounted vertically onto the front bogie of the tender via some gears. Weird. Anyway, thats not a problem, what is a problem is the length, its not the same as the tender used in the UK, the French bogies are further apart, so to make your model more acceptable, you need to saw the tender frame to remove a short length in the middle. And cut some from the front, and the end, and just follow the instructions that thankfully I got with the kit. Better still is the fact that the tender weighs a ton thanks to carefully molded lead that will unfortunately no longer fit the UK tender body. BUT you really need it all or there is no adhesion to the track ! ! ! All this leads to the reason why God invented the Dremel. First, four views of the Jouef Tender before the chainsaw massacre. 1 - shows its the wrong shape 2 - this shows the longer wheelbase 3 - the capstan / motor drive 4 - even the space between the bogies is filled with lead. This shows the tender with the white metal sides next to it, you can see how the chassis must be shortened. Also another problem is these sides, they are much tighter than the French tender, you will notice that the Jouef model has plastic moulded sides on the bogies, springs and stuff. This has to be cut off to allow the bogies to turn in the confines of the UK tender on curves. These frames are live with track voltage and the kit is metal.... She has a tight skirt Cut as much away as you can Then you get to glue the poor thing back together again A sea of Araldite The mini Dremel is a dream, but even with the most careful cutting the frame started to form cracks in unexpected places, fortunately warm glue flows well and finds them The body is easy, just keep checking for square. Then fill EVERY little space with lead. These pieces came from the original tender, cut into pieces to fit... Just leave some space for the motor to vent heat. I elected to cut the top of the tender off where the coal should have gone, mainly because with so much lead in the body there was nowhere to put the DCC chip. Just make sure its well insulated, I put a sheet of very thin plastic under the chip, and plastic sides to keep the chip isolated. This is how I prototype parts, making things from copper shim that I can cut with scissors, it makes for fast consruction of complex parts in a few minutes. When done you can use it as a template to make a brass one. This will cover the dcc chip and hold at least some coal Near finished, wires handing out te back still, next is connecting wires to the loco Does anyone know how to remove these 2 thumbnails that have somehow attached themselves ? Kevin