apl31

There's been nothing posted here for a while, so I have attached a few things Ive been working on over the winter/ spring. I'm just waiting for warmer weather to print, so could be months yet! I am a member of the Cumbrian Railway Assoc. and obtained some interesting early carriage drawings from their Archives. The first is a Whitehaven, Cleator & Egremont brake third. I believe this was a standard Metropolitan Carriage Company design used by several companies. The mirrored handrail holes were intentional one set will be filled. Ive also designed a five comp third, which uses one halve of this design then mirrored. The second carriage is a Furness brake composite, with the unusual brake arrangement on the end through bevel gears. There is a nice photo of one of these carriages c1880 in an early two tone livery possibly white and lake. This and other two carriages will go nicely with my FR 2-2-2 WT which is nearing completion. Other designs on computer include a WC&ER composite, another (earlier) NER luggage van and a NER (ex S&D) coke wagon. I also need to print the S&D smoking carriage mentioned in an earlier post. I even have small LNWR or WC&ER station building (Bridgefoot) and signal box to print So plenty of work ahead.

Excellent work. What material are they printed with?

Rob, Thats either very modest statement or you’ll have teach me your design method, I must be doing something wrong, it takes me weeks to produce a model 😉

I was admiring the finish on your brass dome. I assume from earlier photos it is resin painted brass, Do you have a particular method ? what make of paint did you use? When Ive tried I didnt seem to achieve that realistic finish . Thanks. Aidan

The chairs appear to be in 2 halves bolted together through the rail but it could be later repair . Ive shown both sides. Each side of the chairs were 9" long 3-4" wide and finally the rail section. I seem to remember the Darlington railway museum currently closed for refurbishment had some of these blocks fitted with fishbelly rail, again I may be wrong Please note all sizes given are approx

The chairs are probably as originally fitted to the blocks as they seemed to fit the shape cut in block, which is surprising if the have been outside for ~200 years. The fixing hole centres were ~7" along rail and ~6" across rail.

As luck would have it my wife wanted to visit my son in Darlington today. So took a detour to the very large and well kept South Park. One of the oldest public parks in UK apparently . I took a few photos and measurements before my wife become too twitchy. The first shows a plaque confirming they were ex S&D railway. I measured 3 stones 24x25x10 inch 21x21x10 24x25x10 The height was approx. not sure if there was more beneath the mud. Ill send others separately

While mentioning small parts. If anybody is looking to fabricate small parts, its always worth examining electronic components. I was trying to make a fiddly lever from scrap the other day and decided to push out the pins of an IC socket. When unfolded it was very close to what I needed. I think they are nickel plated which solders well but I think needs good ventilation. I assume these parts are stamped out but they are very intricate shapes with slots which would be difficult to make by hand. Other useful parts may be 0.1" pin headers straight and bent and crimp connections. Its well worth looking if faced with small intricate parts. While the pins are within plastic bases in my experience they easily push out

These ones are assumed to be from original S&D railway. They are in South Park in Darlington. If of interest I can measure them next time Im down there,

Regarding NER signals this is part of a photo of an accident in Co Durham dated 1892. The Signal on right appears to have a notch and a "+" on the back. The one on left appears to have round on front. Although neither is clear.

That reference to brown and buff was interesting I had never heard of that. Probably not applicable to a horsebox, but for information, I believe first class carriages were lake and cream in 1870s-80s. There is a photo of such a carriage at Coniston c1870.

However there was a nice article in CRA journal August 2022 on M&C carriages. The illustration drawings of teak stock show black underframes. The later green carriages are shown with green underframes.

That Hamilton Ellis print shows teak (or something like it) with ironwork painted black. The image I was looking at has a reference 1953 which I assume is date he painted it. So it may still be a guess.

Timber, Thanks for the resin suggestion that looks very interesting. Its probably staring me in the face, but what are internal dimensions of ultrasonic tank. The only size mentioned is 1cm cube, which I assume is not it.

Another unusual subject a NER (ex S&D) smoking saloon of 1870s. Look forward to making interior - button backed chesterfield type seats.