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After many hours in TurboCAD I've finally made some physical progress on the main station building for Clare. There has been much counting of bricks and much studying of an April 1986 copy of Practical Model Railways which features some drawings of Lavenham by Jas Millham. Clare was a 1865 'medium' design but I have been able to incorporate what I've learnt in my building of the platform 2 waiting shelter and, even further ago, my station based on the GERS drawing of Takeley, an 1865 'small' design. I've drawn the parts of the building in a single TurboCAD drawing with the base brick work on one layer and the raised quoins on a separate layer. This makes the drawing show things in context but makes it easy to just copy the base and the quoin overlays into different cutting files for the laser cutter. I managed to get almost all the parts on a single piece of 3mm MDF 500mm x 245mm from the Model Shop in London. As usual the Lasercut software got its estimate of cut time wildly out, estimating 24 minutes for a job which actually took nearer an hour! I think it can't cope with calculating hundreds of 1.1mm cuts. The little tabs and sockets which align the parts are hidden behind the quoins so should be invisible. They do ensure that all the parts fit together straight and square. I got as far as a dry assembly to see how the parts go together, apart from one tab which was 1mm too big which could be cut down easily, it all fitted well. This is the road side, there is a glass canopy over the middle section. The platform face has a brick built shelter in the centre section. The brick section is low and is topped with windows in the same way as the waiting shelter opposite. I tried the building in place and it looks pretty good. I'll let you know how it progresses. David

An overdue blog.... winter is upon us again.....actually winter has been on us for a while, however we once again run the gauntlet of maintenance that ends up being needed for a 60 year old machine....that should have been withdrawn 35 years ago!!! Observers of 26043 will know that at one end it started to develop a smile...this smile was caused by over-enthusiastic use of filler! that smile was getting bigger and bigger....and it would be long before a rough shunt would have knocked the whole thing out....and also since there was tell tale rust signs it was clear that things were not too good underneath. In addition to this water ingress into the cabs was becoming an increasing problem, so something had to be done.... After the "smile" was knocked off (it didn't take much this is what greeted us beneath…. 26043 after No2 end had been "attacked" A close up of the smile....after clean up... Actually its not that bad the metal although pitted is still strong, but what you cant see from this picture is the cause of the issue, to the top left and right of the "smile" you can see 2 circles this was the place of the headlights, when these headlights were welded up the welder put too much heat into the metal (trying to weld too much at once) and the result is the metal expands....and starts to bow inwards....to make up for this large depression (3/4") copious amounts of filler were used.....but wait....there's more...to try and cut down on the filler the area was "padded" out with random bit of steel plate...the problem then is that steel expands and cracks the filler....which exposes the metal underneath to air which causes the corrosion..... we cant have that.... What they should have done....is that cut it out and started again, you are looking directly into the locomotive connecting doors.....the bellows of which are still present...the air tank you see was added when the locomotive was dual braked, consideration was given to re-instating the headlights, but the presence of this tank prevents it. New steel welded in unfortunately that's not the extent of the rot...the centre windscreen has a significant amount of corrosion also...this is caused by the gutter leaking this too will be repaired... the filler above the windscreens isn't filler....its actually a fibreglass strip added sometime between when 26043 had its unique full yellow ends and civil engineers livery, clearly water ingress was an issue on 26s to try and resolve it scot-rail fibre glassed over the join seen below between the cab steel work and cab dome, all this however does is move the problem further up, if the gutter base starts to leak, water can get behind the fiberglass and lift It away, the water can then go where it likes, and in this case pool in the corner of the centre windscreen. close up showing the extent of the required repairs, all the filler and paint has been stripped back and the leaking portion of the gutter removed. the boiler room roof has also been removed to repair the seal beneath it. the area seen earlier now in green primer, the socket in the picture is for the fire alarm system. Work has also been taking place at No2 where similar horrors were found.... this is where we realised that at some point 26043 has had a "wallop" and doing a bit of research shows 26043 running around in the 70s with a very deformed front end, it was then we realised that No1 end of 26043 is nearly entirely double skinned instead of replacing the damaged metal, they put a new skin over it wrapping round underneath drivers cab side, its possible......the tablet recess still exists underneath, heavy corrosion is present as seen in the bottom right corner this is mostly caused by water pooling, which Scot-rail clearly saw as an issue as they tried to resolve the corrosion by cutting "drain holes" with an oxy torch in the cab base plate which is 3/4" thick. it didn't work..... the yellow ends will get a fresh coat of paint and new windscreen seals. Internally over 50 winter jobs have been completed some minor some major, one major job is the fitting of a new AVR. The AVR has one job, and that job is to keep the out put supplied to the battery charging circuits and the auxiliary machines, and control circuits to 110v regardless of auxiliary generator load and engine speed, in the event of either of those two changing the AVR will automatically adjust the auxiliary generators field to maintain 110v. 26043 like all Sulzer type 2s was built and withdrawn with the ABB moving coil AVR. there is the face of it as you would see it with its glass door open in the locomotive, its a big beast about the size of a dustbin, and towards the rear are a load of resistors. How does it work.....well im glad you asked.... BLACK MAGIC!!! Effectively 2 coils magnetically oppose each other until 110v is seen, when that happens the arms seen in the picture place resistances in the auxiliary generator circuit to change its voltage. Other the only thing I know is that the man who invented in ABB wasn't paid enough, the whole thing is as complicated as a swiss watch. 26043s is still in working condition and is for sale for anyone who wants a spare however the issue with these AVRs is as follows 1,) Its a mechanical device so it has consumables in terms of carbon tracks and bearings and springs 2,) it has no over-volts protection 3,) If it breaks no one in this country knows how to repair them! 4,) they are incredibly difficult to adjust sensibly 5,) they are incredibly sensitive to vibration 6,) most common failure mode is resistor failure in the back of the unit, and the resistors are quite unique. The biggest issue with this AVR is if there is a problem it will quite happily carry on cooking the batteries and the auxiliary machines in your locomotive, its also very slow to react. so what do you do.... you contact a very nice man called Noel. Noel used to work for British rail, namely at Tinsley depot for rail freight distribution, noel came up with a new type AVR fitted then to class 47s to greatly improve reliability over the carbon pile AVR they had when they were built, the AVR you see above is a modern version of it. It is custom tweaked to every type of locomotive, and 26043 is the only 26 to date fitted with this AVR, but lots of other locomotive classes use noels expertise. Noel is in 70s but still offers his services to locomotive owners. The AVR above is a major investment at over £2000 all this work needs to be complete by mid-February as the locomotive is due to visit the Somerset and Dorset Railway, everything is on track, and this will be the first mainline locomotive they had at the railway. Thanks for reading...…..

Due to a senior moment, I forgot that I'd ordered one of these some time ago from Model Railways Direct. I duly ordered one from Kernow so imagine my surprise when two finally arrived. Hey ho. As has been documented elsewhere, the colour of these vans looks a little on the light side. As I never saw one in service prior to 1923, I'm not qualified to say whether the LSWR brown is the wrong shade. The general opinion is that it is. Having a second model meant that I was prepared to have a go at doing something about it. The chassis unscrews with 4 screws and drops away. The false floor then comes away without difficulty. I simply pushed it out by poking a small screwdriver through the veranda opening to tap it out. The tricky bit is the glazing. Despite my original assumptions, the door ends are not part of the glazing shell and can be removed carefully. The guards look out duckets are part of the glazing shell. Working carefully with a blade, the glue seal can be broken and the glazing can be prised inwards. I found it helpful to snap off the two retaining lugs fitted to the underside of the roof. All in all it took about half an hour to disassemble. The lettering was removed by gentle rubbing with a scratch brush, as my usual method of IPA and cotton buds didn't seem to want to work. I then brush painted the sides and removed duckets with Vallejo Acrylic Chocolate Brown 70.872 and was able to work around the existing handrails etc. I have no idea how accurate this is but it seems a fair representation. Refer to earlier point about qualifications. I did paint over the tare lettering on the lower plank. The body was then given a couple of coats of Klear before transfers were applied from an old PC Models set (sheet 13). A couple more coats of Klear to seal and it was time to reassemble. I cut away the nicely moulded stove and handrail from the cabin interior as you can't see it and I wanted to add some lead for additional weight. Taking it a step further, I fitted P4 wheels after first removing the brake gear (this pushes out after breaking the glue join) and cutting a small recess to allow it to go up against the thinned down W irons. These have to have about half a mil taken off for the axles to fit nicely in the new brass bearings. All reassembled, just waiting couplings.

The beginnings of a little something in recycled tinplate. Well, at least the body will be recycled. Other stuff has been to hand for sometime including the now rather depleted collection of Golden Syrup tinplate. Trouble is that I stopped taking it with my porridge to help keep the weight down.... It gets complicated this purchase, use, reuse/recycle .... did I need the Golden Syrup in the first place? The Golden Syrup tin does not render a plate quite wide enough for the 100mm required for the footplate so it has been made from two pieces of a biscuit tin lid. Both GS and Fox's use 0.3 mm plate, although the GS possible has more paint on it as it is actually 0.31mm. Cutting out for the motor and the battery tray. Same of the printing has been removed to allow the side valance and strengthening plates to be soldered in place. All the electrical stuff will be mounted on the running gear - batteries in the tray, radio chip on the bracket with the aerial up a plastic exhaust pipe and the on/off switch in a hole drilled in front lefthand corner of the Roundhouse frames.

Right, back to some modelling. I have said painting is not my forte, add full size painting to that too. Anyway, a scotch derrick. I made this a long time ago for the previous layout, but I haven’t got round to fitting it since its a bit vulnerable as it is towards the front of the layout. Scotch derricks are a simple crane, they were used in large numbers throughout the railways and industry in general. Drawings of the size preferred by the CR were published in “The true line “ and mine is scaled closely to those. It’s a basic model, the wood bits are mahogany, the iron bits are brass. The gears are from all sorts of stuff, anything with likely usable bits never gets thrown away without salvaging the gubbins. Well that looks ok to me. But, why not make it all work. Er, a controller ….. A bit of video of it in action. I have rebuilt the top end which had gummed up over the years, the drive system needed tidying up, but I’m fairly happy with that. Somewhere I have some lacing cord to replace that hairy cotton. The ball on the hook is a bit overscale too, but anything smaller lacks the mass to make the hook go down.

I have a thing for GWR stable blocks. The subject isn't systematically covered in the literature, so in a previous post I tried to obtain a tentative overview of the major types and styles. Since then I’ve been searching Britain from Above, Google street view and old online maps looking for past and present traces of stable blocks. It's all a bit esoteric, but for what it's worth here is a selection of my favourite 'finds'. Westbury It's 1929 and a plane soars over Westbury, capturing the photo above. The small stable block with the distinctive roof vents can be seen at the entry to the goods yard, a common and logical location for them (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). The stable block at Westbury can be seen in this 1901 map. The station and goods area was later extensively rebuilt, as can be seen in the photos below and in this map. The stables here were built in 1899, with capacity for three horses. Many of the standard stable blocks on the GWR were built around the turn of the century, when the GWR decided to rely less on agents and do more of its own cartage (National Library of Scotland, Creative Commons). A grainy close-up, showing also the cattle dock. There must have been a lovely whiff in this part of the yard! (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). Toboldlygo of this parish has modelled Westbury stables, using the 4mm Timbertracks kit. Note the manure pit, a standard feature. Thanks to Toboldlygo for allowing use of the photos, there's more about the build in his thread. So, does anything remain of the Westbury stable block today? A look on Google maps suggests that there is in fact a building more or less in the location where the stables were situated! (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). But alas, it is only the signal box that was built later. Nothing seems to remain of the stable block (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). Basingstoke The stable block at Basingstsoke has had a happier fate. Well, sort of. Lost in a sea of cars, it is seen here on Google Maps in the guise of - appropriately - a car wash. Thanks to Western Star for the tip (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). This 1949-68 series map shows how the stables at Basingstoke were originally located at the perimeter of the goods yard, near the road. The structure does not appear in pre-1914 maps (National Library of Scotland, Creative Commons). The Basingstoke stable block in Google street view. Looks like the car park has been covered since the first photo was taken (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). Details of the roof vents on the Basingstoke block, which appear to be in original condition (though not the colour!). The vents are often a useful distinguishing feature when looking for stable blocks in aerial photos etc (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). Chipping Norton The stable block at Chipping Norton was built in in 1904. In 1929 it was converted - like a number of other stables - to a garage for GWR motor buses (National Library of Scotland, Creative Commons). Alan Lewis' excellent photo of the Chipping Norton stable block in 1983 (Copyright and courtesy Alan Lewis). The stable block at Chipping Norton lives on today, the only remaining building of that station (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). There's a Royal Mail facility next to it, so the delivery theme hasn't entirely gone (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). The stable block itself seems to be on private property now. It isn't much to look at from the road, but think of all the stories it could tell ! (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). Slough Moving on to the larger types, this is the stable block at Slough in 1928, again conveniently situated between road and yard (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). The Slough stable block was a fairly large example of what I call the "Archetype" design. The large variants of this design were simply "stretched" versions of the smaller versions. Note the horse drawn vehicles outside. I wonder if they were parked there overnight (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). Like most stable blocks of the standard designs, the one at Slough had no windows at the back, presumably to keep things quiet for the horses. Prairies on the line! (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). Today’s, er, view. The stable block was approx. where blue container/lorry is (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). Park Royal An aircraft passes over modern day London NW. The red line below shows the extent of what used to be the main GWR goods yard at Park Royal (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). Back in the heyday of the GWR, Park Royal had a 12-stall stable block (National Library of Scotland, Creative Commons). The stable block at Park Royal was almost identical to the one at Slough, but had an extra door and room for fodder. It is seen here in 1930, illustrating how substantial these buildings were (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). Here is the Park Royal stable block again in the 1950s, now a good deal shorter! Part of the building has been torn down and has been turned into a garage or similar (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). My 4mm model of the Park Royal stable block. Details here. Handsworth & Smethwick Multi-storey stable blocks were only found in the major urban areas, where space was in high demand. So far the smallest multi-storey block I have come across is the one at Handsworth & Smethwick, as seen on the Warwickshire Railways site. The two storey stable block is seen at the bottom of this map, showing one of the yards at Handsworth & Smethwick. A single storey stable block was located next to it, and can be seen to the right in the photo above (National Library of Scotland, Creative Commons). I was intrigued to find that the lower sidings of the yard can still be seen on Google maps at the time of writing, now apparently a scrap yard (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). It's hard to be certain, but I wonder if the yellow structure top center in this view is in fact the cut-down and shortened remains of the old two-storey stable block? The location and door/window relationship fits - though one window on the left side is missing (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). Paddington Mint Lastly, a look at the big one - Paddington Mint stables. (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted.) The original stables here were built in 1878, but expanded and rebuilt several time since then. I've often thought that the interior yard and ramps would make an interesting diorama. There's good info and drawings in Janet Russel's "Great Western Horsepower" (Getty Images, embedding perimitted). A modern day view of the Mint stables (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). The stables now house St Mary's Hospital (Google Maps, Map data ©2019 Google, Google Fair Use principles). I found a 1922 view of Paddington Mint on Britian from Above, and zoomed in. Two horses can be seen on the upper level, bringing life to the scene (Britain from Above. Embedding permitted). I tried to zoom in further to see the horses better. But it's a funny thing, the past: When you try to pin it down... ....it slips through your fingers. Edit: If the images re-appear following the Dediserve failure, see the following in the discussion below: * Tim V's excellent photos of the stable blocks at Witney, Shrewsbury, Westbury, Shipston and Abingdon * Methusaleh's find of the remaining stable block at Birmingham Hockley * Ian Major's views of the stable block at Littleton & Badsey

Ever wanted to make your own worm and gear wheel ?. Here's how to make a simple 30:1 worm and gear along with a home made gear cutter, both lathe and milling machine were used in the process. Snitzl.

Continues with the development of an analog Pentroller type. This blog brings to an end the development of an analog Pentroller type controller with a couple of versions that have turned out rather well. The blog also includes a shuttle circuit that is designed to be used in combination with the controller in a future fun type layout with automatic trains, automated chimney sweep brushes, people waving, light flashing and whatever else that springs to mind. So, while browsing the rmweb DCC section of the forums, I discovered Arduino, the fact that I've only just discoverd Arduino when its been around for donkeys years, shows that I've lived in blissful ignorance. Snitzl.

I find it much easier to paint coach sides "in the flat" rather than when the coach is fully assembled. This is obviously impossible with etched brass kits, soldering painted sides would be a challenge, however with plastic kits it's not a problem. The Slater's sides come in two halves which have to be joined, fortunately the Guard's ducket helps hide any join line. I think it looks more realistic if coaches have a few windows open, so micro strip was used to represent the top of the droplights in the doors. Sides joined and droplight height adjusted The sides were then painted with gloss Phoenix Precision GWR coach cream https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/, using my airbush. I used gloss paint, which once dry gives a hard smooth surface to apply the lining to. Unfortunately the paint has dried with an "orange peel" finish, which hopefully won't be too apparent after a coat of satin varnish has been applied, once the coach is completed! Cream application Once the cream paint had dried for a couple of days, low tack masking tape https://www.amazon.co.uk/FrogTape-Painters-Masking-Multisurface-41-1m/dp/B004QXKFBQ/ref=asc_df_B004QXKFBQ/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=223237768057&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6166215919130271044&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045352&hvtargid=pla-357994525169&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 was applied on top of the raised panel beading. Masking tape in position Phoenix Precision GWR coach brown was then applied to the sides, once again using my airbrush. The join between the cream and brown paint occurs on the raised moulding, which will be painted black later, so consequently doesn't need to be perfectly straight Brown Application The bolections and droplights were then brush painted using Phoenix Precision Indian Red. Indian Red The raised panel moulding was then painted black using a fine tipped brush, fortunately the junction between the black and the body colour will be hidden by the lining. Black panel moulding The next stage of the process is to apply the lining and for this I use a Bob Moore lining pen. https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/products/lining-and-sundries/moore The pen comprises of a handle, paint reservoir and fine needle like tubes of assorted diameters. I've got the Craftsman Plus set, which includes 3 different heads, one each of 0.008” Fine, 0.012”Standard & 0.020” Standard Plus Heads I've found that In order to get a successful result using these pens two things must be right. The paint consistency must be correct, so that it flows properly and the pen must be held at the right angle. A bit of practice is useful on a scrap of plasticard and is useful to check that the paint is flowing adequately before applying it to the model! Bob Moore lining pen I start the lining by going around each of the cream panels with brown paint using the "Standard Plus Head" giving a line about 0.5 mm wide. Brown lining Once the brown lining is dry, I go around each panel again but this time using gold paint applied using the "Standard Head" which gives a line about 0.3 mm wide. This means that each cream panel is edged in a 0.3 mm gold line, which is then edged with a 0.2 mm brown line. The brown panels are simply lined with gold paint using the "Standard Head" giving a 0.3 mm line. Gold Lining applied Lettering was applied using CPL products https://www.cplproducts.net/transfers.html ,along with numbering using transfers from HMRS https://hmrs.org.uk/transfers.html Lettering & Numbering The sides now need the application of some clear satin varnish to protect the transfers and to tone down the high gloss finish, but I'll probably do this once the coach has been further assembled onto it's under frame and ends which will have to wait until the next bog entry All in all a rather long winded process which makes the advent of Slater's pre-printed sides look very attractive, although there is some satisfaction in having a go yourself! Until next time ...... Best wishes Dave

There we are , a completed signal box. I am happy with the way it turned out, a fair amount of modelling involved. So some shots of the box in general. I have tried to make the inside reasonably detailed. All those windows make it very visible and I think it was worth the effort. I may have got some of the details wrong, but given the information I have it looks the part. I also found a photo of a locking frame and put it a yard or so in from the front in the locking room, probably not all that accurate but it gives the impression of something being there . The lighting module connects to contacts in the locking room. Oh, and one at night. It is a bit of a reach to install it and I think I might want to have the board out a bit so I don't slip while drilling holes.

Not a lot to report on 26043...its making a few funny noises but nothing really of interest since the last update, things might get a little more interesting towards the winter when we start taking roof panels off.... In the meantime..... I took a help for request from the Llangollen diesel boys, owners of 26010.... 26010 was in a sport of bother in that it had damaged a commutator on the traction motor. long and short of it deal arranged for 26010 to visit Toddington to have this sorted out and the chance for a bit of nostalgic thrash for a pair of 26s in there 60th year. 26010 arriving at todd, sporting a fantastic "economy green" paint job, but she's hiding some very dark secrets... 26043 sat in the rain at broadway with the last departure of the day so 26010 has suffered a partial collapse of the commutator bearing in traction motor number 2, the original job was to get one of 26043s "spare" traction motors overhauled shoe horn it in to 26010, and the rest is history...... so whats the plan then....firstly we need to get the traction motor overhauled..... if we jump back in time to the dark days of a number of years ago we see errant traction motor no2 being extracted from 26043 in the very same car park as the one which 26010 is being unloaded, 3 months prior 26043 decided that it didn't like traction motors no2 and no3 and flashed them both over. in the case of these 2 motors it was an interpole failure, which meant a winding failed in one of the interpole coils and those nasty volts got their wish and got to earth, blowing a 3cm hole in the interpole in the process. Principally this is caused by a break down in the varnish insulation, mostly due to age or possibly moisture contamination.....26043 was withdrawn after a power earth fault while on snowplough duties....so you can assume moisture had a big part to play. The motor itself is quite easy to extract, in fact in a rainy car park yours truly (pictured with my back nearest facing the camera. and a number of other fellow workers extracted 3 motors in less than 24 hours (we had to send a bogie away for a tyre turn and due to the depot crane limit it couldn't be more than 10 tons, all successful many years of thrash right up to the present day.... those 2 motors went into storage....until 3 months ago they were then sent along with a suitcase full of money to a specialist contractor to be overhauled although you cant really see from the photo inside that motor is black filthy and full of "soot" externally its covered in grime and oil after last being overhauled in 1986! So as I said a lot of money and a specialist contractor and you get this..... yes that's the very same motor you saw being extracted earlier, 47105 basks in the background having a very extensive overhaul. ok looks shiny but its the inside that counts right? Here you see all of the brush gear overhauled the coils removed and re-taped, the armature baked and varnished and the commutator turned on a lathe and undercut, and new brushes fitted.....the brushes alone are £1200 Ok great all good to go get it in 26010 and the Llangollen lads are good to go right..... sadly not as I said 26010 was hiding some dark secrets.... 26010 inside the shed at Toddington over an internal pit for inspection with 26043 for company (the first time a pair have been together for quite a few years) When 26010 was delivered as I was the responsible person for her It was myself that gingerly shunted her into the yard with our trusty 04 shunter, whilst moving her I could hear a deep rumbling sound coming from axle 4.....if I heard it from axle 2 I wouldn't have been bothered as axle 2 was the motor due to replacement..... A quick chat with the owners who said they heard the same noise and thought it some incorrectly fitted brushes which had been fitted the day before.... as such I decided to put 26010 over a pit the following weekend and have a look to see if this was the issue..... sadly....it wasn't.... What you see here is another case of the bearing collapsing on the commutator side of the motor if you look carefully the first picture you see the right hand side of the brush box clear the commutator but as you advance to the left that gap is slowly being taken up and eventually it strikes the commutator on the far left causing serious damage to the commutator and possibly writing it off. Note also how dirty and black everything is compared to the refurbished motor. Close ups of the offending brush box which has caused all of the damage, the brush box is still fully serviceable and only needs minor work to No1 brush cavity to be serviceable again. after inspection I recommended to the owners that all 3 remaining motors would best be overhauled, and in a flash the repair bill for the owners went north of 22k! So after expecting to only have to replace 1 motor....we are now removing and overhauling all 4! None of us are being paid for this work, and by working together 26043 is left with an overhauled spare traction motor and 26010 is restored to working order after so far 12 months out of traffic, after repairs and period of running at the GWR, she will return home to wales, and hopefully after all this work run for many more years to come!

Ever wondered how easy keeping a model running to the real thing? Some of you may remember the appeal i launched in the preserved forum on rmweb where i neededto raise funds to keep 26043 running in 2017, that appeal was very successful but it never stops on one thing. This blog isnt an appeal its just an insight into the life of a preserved locomotive. 26043 has had a very successful year its visited no less than 5 preserved railways and taken part in 7 diesel galas as well as a driver experience course and scheduled running at its home railway. This year 26043 visited in order.... Swanage Railway West Somerset Railway Ecclesborne Railway Great Central Railway Epping to Ongar Railway Covering over 2,500miles trouble free.....well not totally trouble free a pipe did fracture at ecclesborne The end of the running season is now here and being non antifreezed locomotive 26043 enters hibernation at the end of the season where as some locomotives run throughout the winter. But more on this later. 26043 was built in 1959 and entered service that year, being a series 2 class 26 it went straight to scotland where it would spend the rest of its mainline working life, this makes 26043 58 years old, older than some steam locomotives and being withdrawn in 1993 has a working life of 34 years something only a few class 47s and other class 26s have surpassed. The class 26s like most type 2s were designed with a maximum service life of 25 years, which means that in 1984 26043 should have been withdrawn as life expired. However a massive investment program by scotrail which included an overhaul with a rewire saw a life extension of the class with the final examples being withdrawn not long after 26043 was withdrawn in 1993. By this time the class 26 were the only 6 cylinder sulzers running on british rail, the 24s and 25s and 27s all being withdrawn before the final demise of the class. So to give you a bit of an idea about how a preserved loco is financed here is a bit about the running contract 26043 runs under. on a preserved railway you have a running agreement with your host railway, this is a legally binding contract on what your obligations are as a locomotive owning group and what the railways obligations are to you, but the basics of the agreement as as follows... you the owning group will provide a maintained and operational locomotive which has passed the required fit to run exams and is deemed fit to haul passenger trains. In recompense in the case of 26043 the host railway provides the following.... £3.02 per mile ran in service Fuel Oil Anti Freeze (if applicable) Brake Blocks Filters (fuel and air) so basically if 26043 doesent run it doesent get paid.... now when you get a preserved locomotive running it doesent end there it requires constant maintenance, the complexity and frequency of this maintenance depends on the work its had to return it to service on your preserved railway..... 26043 has not been restored.....its been beaten back into life. As 26043 had major investment in the twilight of its life the restoration to service was a much simpler task than required by some locomotives which have simply been driven into the ground, 26043 on the other hand had comparitively low engine hours and as mentioned before benefited from a complete rewire. However we need to touch on the fact that 26s like most type 2s had a 25 year design life, BR had to invest significantly to exceed that by 8 years, its now 2017 and we have exceeded that design life by 32 years. And this manifests itself in a number of ways. You will see at the start of the blog i mentioned a very successful year with a number of visits after we purchased a fresh set of batters (the result of our appeal) at a cost of £4,800 i as secretary of the CMDG and co-ordinator of 26043 started signing contracts to bring in much needed extra revenue with other railways. my last conversation before the first drama of the new season was with the Engineering manager of the swanage railway "i dont want to sign the contract for the gala just yet if much rather make sure it behaves itself after its winter break". As i have touched on in my threads in preservation 1 thing locomotives really really dont like is sitting there doing nothing, and every winter each preserved loco does just that, early february arrived and the day my phone call with the engineering manager of swanage i proceeded to fill 26043 with coolant prior to waking it up for the 1st time of the season. I connected the hose and walked off to make a tea.....when i walked into the engine room to check the gauges of the two settling tanks to check the progress of the filling, i could hear a whoosing sound.....when i looked down at the base of one the two settlement tanks i could see a large hole with water seeping out of it....the settling tank had failed...... that was repaired and as we already know the locomotive completed a very successful season.....but i will outline what goes on with such a repair as now at the tail end of the season we are now repairing the second settling tank.....and just to be annoying the locomotive on its last day threw a curve ball...which is the title picture of this blog.... What is a settling tank? the settling tanks sit below the radiators, and there function is 2 fold. 1,) to allow the water to drain from the radiators after the water pump has stopped (which protects them from frost damage, and has the advanatage allowing you to change the radiator elements without draining the locomotive of coolant) 2,) to provide a large head of water for the triple pump to prevent cavitation because the water doesent drain quickly enough through the radiators to keep up with the flow provided by the pump, cavities can cause the crane seal on the triple pump to fail which means locomotive downtime and is a particularly expensive (for a seal) to replace. the settling tanks would have been replaced (or inspected and repaired) at 26043s last overhaul in the mid 80s meaning when the 1st tank failed at the start of the year they would have been 35 years old they are of simple galvanised steel construction, seam welded and have a steel thickness (when new) of about 3mm. The cause of the failure was simply corrosion, and its the removal of the tank and whats involved i will outline in this blog post. The first tank was removed found to be generally ok despite severe pitting on the base of the tank and around the leak site, so this was welded after the tank was shot blast, the pits refilled with chemical metal and the tank given 3 coats of phengaurd which is an anti corrosion paint normally used in ships ballast tanks. As the tanks were in sound condition apart from small areas of the base, the descision was made to repair rather than replace. So fast forward to last weekend the second tank which despite not leaking isnt likely to last much longer without treatment as they are both the same age. The locomotive has two tanks as there are two banks of radiators.... So whats involved.....first of all the radiator frame has to be removed after you have removed the cowling surrounding it internally and all of the radiator elements themselves. you see here the frame being hoisted out of the locomotive, the base of the frame is about halfway up the picture wth the authors foot in the background on the ladder, you can also get an indication of the actual radiator elements themselves which are bolted to the studs either side of the holes, at the bottom of the picture is the top of the settling tank itself. The two fluted pipes at the bottom of the frame is what drains the water from the radiators into the tank during operation and after the pump has stopped. Here you see the frame in all its glory, its just been extracted via the shoulder of the locomotive the frame itself is a 4 man lift and is roughly 6 feet tall by about 4 feet wide. The frame will be shotblasted and repainted before re-installation. And here is the tank itself that as been removed via the engine room door and then via the cab door at the side of this picture, as its too big to come out of the same hole the frame came out of earlier, this is a 3 man lift. And here we have several views of the interior of the tank iself, you see the baffles and the drain pipe and also the corse strainer which stop large particles enter the pipe which then runs to the triple pump, large particles could foul the impeller of the tripple pump damaging it. You can see despite being drained of coolant that about an inch or so of water remains, also note the brown coating on everything.....this is essentially the engine block which is being desolved by the water and deposited throughout the cooling system, its this sludge which builds up and causes the corrosion to speed up dramatically while the locomotive is drained, despite being galvanised the presence of this sludge causes bimetallic corrosion eventually this eats its way through the tank and a hole appears. The "hammer" looking object is actually a float for the water gauge which indicates how much water is in that tank. we havent yet got a hole so we are cleaning the tank and then treating it so a hole wont appear for atleast 10 years....that means 26043 earns money and this pays the bills because fixing things on full size locomotives costs a lot of money. I mentioned earlier the locomotive threw a curve ball, the above was planned maintenance well on its last day of service 26043 threw us a curveball. you see above a nice jet of water coming out of the heat exchanger of the engine, the heat exchanger is a vital part of the locomotive and it ensures that the oil temperature is kept at a safe level, this is because of two reasons. 1,) The hotter the oil gets the thinner the oil gets and the thinner the oil the lower the oil pressure, low oil pressure means accelerated wear of vital engine components 2,) the oil is used to cool the pistons, if the pistons are allowed the get too hot the chances of catastrophic engine failure are increased exponentially. the big blue pipe is the water inlet of the heat exchanger, this has just come from the radiators via the triple pump and its the lowest temperature before it makes its way to the water jacket and also the turbo charger, so the the water flows in to cool the oil the part you can see leaking is the end cap of the heat exchanger. We see here the heat exchanger in its entire form,the two salmon pink pipes are the oil feed and outlet at the far end the oil feed comes directly from the sump and the oil outlet returns the cooled oil to the sump, the object connecting the pipes together is a pressure limiting valve which ensures the oil pressure never exceeds 65psi, the reason for this is to make sure that the crankshaft oil seals are not damaged which would cause excess oil to leak from the engine. you see here the heat exchanger with the cap removed, note the same brown sludge as the settling tanks, however the core of the heat exchanger is copper and brass so is not affected by corrosion. The heat exchanger works in the opposite to a steam locomotive boiler....which is the easiest way to describe it, water flows through the tubes which the oil surrounds and as a result the oil gives up its heat to the water which is then returned to the radiators, which then cool the water and the cycle repeats. Note 4 of the the tubes have been blanked off, this is where water has frozen in the tubes and ruptured them causing water to leak into the oil and vice versa these then need to be capped off with bolts to seal them and take them out of service, you are as a rule of thumb allowed to "blank off" 10% of the tubes without compromising the coolant needs of the oil, more than 10% risks premature damage to the engine and would require a very very expensive repair or replacement of the heat exchanger. a close up of the otherside of the leaking end cap you can clearly see a number of pits including a "shiny one" (the big round one on the right isnt a pit its a drain plug) the shiny one is the hole, the mild steel (about 15mm thick) has corroded away to reveal the galvanised outer coating (about 1/3 of a mm thick) which has leaked because its unable to withstand the pressure of the water behind it, you can also see several other "pits" which is how this hole started, the pits are a result of the same bimetallic corrosion that attacks the settling tanks. so you can see one aspect of keeping a locomotive running.....3 weeks ago 26043 was hauling trains its now the end of the season and time to make good the wear and tear of the years running, a bit like our models but on a much grander scale, please ask any questions and let me know your views and that will decide if i continue these blogs which i will if there is sufficient interest and the MODs dont mind. Finally The hole left behind while the radiators are out of the locomotive you can see the fan in the roof and the opposite bank of radiators with there fibreglass cowling (all removed last year for treatment of the tank below that one)

Since the last update, some progress has been made, albeit at a slower pace than I'd planned! The point rodding is now a rather fetching vermilion colour, it will need a little judicious weathering as its a bit "in your face" at the moment! I've also made a start on the ballasting and installed one of two ground signals. Ballasting is one of those tedious jobs that I find you have to be in the right mood for! This is my first 7mm scale layout and I definitely found ballasting this scale far more enjoyable than on my previous 4mm layouts. I'm not a fan of using real stone for ballasting, it always seems to take on a greenish tinge once I apply PVA glue to hold it in position. Woodland Scenics ballast is made from ground up nut shells and to my eye looks pretty convincing and doesn't appear to change colour with the application of glue. I want to have a visual contrast between the main running lines and the sidings, so differing materials will be used for each. The main and loop will be ballasted in a representation of stone ballast, but the sidings will be laid in ash. I want the private siding to look fairly poorly maintained with grass and weeds growing liberally through the ballast. The scenic part of the layout splits into 3 sections, so initially I thought i would need to separate the boards and ballast each one individually. In past layouts this has lead to a very visible join in the ballast at each board junction which was hard to hide. This time I simply opened the gap between the boards by a couple of millimetres and slid in a sheet of 10 thou Slaters Plastikard. Once the sheet was in position the base boards were tightened back together clamping the plastic card in situ. As PVA glue only works on porous surfaces, I reasoned that once the glue used to hold the ballast in position had set I could simply prise the boards apart and get a perfectly crisp junction. Ballast was poured around the sleepers in the usual manner and then teased into position using a small paint brush. Water was then misted over the surface of the ballast and trackwork to ensure that when the glue was applied it would penetrate by capillary action throughout the ballast. The usual PVA/Water/drop of washing up liqiud mix was applied to the ballast using a eyedropper. Plasticard barrier in position, ballast flooded in PVA/Water mix Once the glue had fully set I used a wide bladed screw driver to lever the boards apart. I'm pleased and a little relieved to say that the plasticard formed a perfect barrier and the boards separated easily with a nice straight line! Overall view of ballasted main and loop View up the line towards the road bridge View to end of terminus Close up of crossing Rotating point indicator at end of loop Chief Ganger Albert Cruickshank and his team posing alongside the freshly ballasted mainline Ballasting the sidings is the next big project and then the installation of the last ground signal. I'm hoping to find some decent buffer stops at Telford in September, which should see the trackwork more or less complete. A bit of weathering and blending is needed to tone down the colours, which I'll do using my airbrush. Once that's been achieved I can finally make a start on the scenery, which if I'm honest is the bit of modelling I enjoy the most :-) Best wishes Dave