Hurstmonceux LB&SCR 1875 ± 5 years

[burgundy]

Having reached the point where the cosmetic bits of Roswell Mill were complete and the tuning, to get it to run properly, seemed to be endless, my thoughts began to stray in the direction of a new project.

Roswell Mill has been described as “esoteric” and, to be fair, 1860s Georgia, modelled in HOb5 is probably a minority taste. So, for this project, I thought that I would head back towards the mainstream. Hurstmonceux will be EM gauge, Sussex in 1875 ± 5 years. I mean, with Terriers, E tanks and Genesis/Hornby coaches now available, this is getting dangerously close to RTR territory!

First of all, the back story. Hurstmonceux (Hurst-mon-soo) is a village on the edge of the Pevensey Levels, which was, sadly, never reached by the LB&SCR. The name now appears to be spelled Herstmonceux, but, since Arthur Mee and William Stroudley (on the splasher of one of his G class locos) use the version with a “u”, I shall stick to that.

My deviation from history assumes that the Ouse Valley Railway was built before the effects of the financial crash of 1866.

In reality, the works on the Ouse Valley Railway never got beyond some limited engineering structures at the western end of the route, near Horsted Keynes and Sheffield Park, where the route would have cut across the subsequent alignment of the Bluebell Line. Together with a couple of other projects, the Brighton pulled the plug on the Ouse Valley and narrowly avoided going bankrupt, in the same way as the London Chatham and Dover. In my world, the project had progressed further, or the financial crash happened later, so that the Ouse Valley Railway was completed. The eastern end was completed on a shoestring, so the buildings are parsimonious and the route is single track (although the engineering works allow for doubling, like the Bluebell line).

The projected alignment beyond Hailsham/Hellingly seems never to have been resolved and I have seen two suggested routes. One goes inland and runs between Catsfield and Ninfield to St Leonards, which would have involved quite a lot of engineering. On the other hand, it would tap into two local “big houses”, Ashburnham and Normanhurst which was home of the Brassey family and would have been a win-win in that it would have upset the SER to a greater extent. The other option would have run around the back of Pevensey Levels and would probably have joined the coast line nearer to Bexhill. This is the option which allows me to provide Hurstmonceux with a railway station, although, to be honest, if money was tight, the obvious solution would be to join the Ouse Valley line onto the end of the Hailsham branch and not bother running parallel to the coast line for some miles.

As a name, Hurstmonceux is the most resonant – even if Normanhurst might have been a better bet financially and despite Ashburnham being celebrated by lending its name to a D tank

For the model, my aim is to create a roundy-roundy to let the trains go by. I want to operate some of my larger locos that look out of place on Vintners' Yard. The available space is 13ft x 9ft (less doorways) and I want to keep the minimum radius to 36”, using Peco EM points for most of the turnouts. I want to use a traverser to store a selection of trains, of which one will be a 20 wagon coal train going from Lillie Bridge to Hastings. For that, the traverser needs to be 6' long and the station loop and headshunt may also need to accommodate the nightly coal train if other services need to pass it.

With a date set in the early 1870s, it will reflect one of those transition periods with Stroudley locos and stock replacing those of Craven, with signalling adopting block sections and with the fitting of Westinghouse brakes. It will also see the growth in goods traffic that followed the opening of the West London Extension, allowing through coal traffic to the south coast. 

Best wishes 

Eric 

Edited March 16, 2021 by burgundy
link added

[burgundy]

Since we have been in varying degrees of lockdown throughout the construction phase, I have made it a challenge to use some of the materials that I have had stored in the garage “just in case”. These include a set of four tables with folding legs, built 40 years ago when I lived in Germany and a previous roundy roundy that was built with 6 MDF baseboards to form a circle. I spent a wet afternoon recycling two of the tables with folding legs, to mount the pair of 3 foot traversers.

The baseboards were exactly the right width (16") for the traverser base units and I have used just the frames, scrapping the chipboard tops which were showing signs of damp. The traverser bases have been screwed to the baseboard frames, which are about 7' long, leaving about 6" spare at each end for ordinary trackwork. The decks of the traversers are now about 45" above the floor, which feels right for the layout.

At full stretch, the traverser sliding unit protrudes 12" over the front edge of the base unit. With nothing on it, it is stable, but, when it is loaded with trains, I am pretty sure that the centre of gravity will be outside the footprint of the baseboard legs.  I have therefore anchored the base unit/baseboard frame to the wall, which should prevent it tipping forwards. The sliding units themselves feel reassuringly solid and secure on their runners.

I have used PCB strip track for the traverser, with recycled rail soldered to it to create 8 parallel storage roads. 624 soldered joints later, it was complete! I have also split each road into three, so that it is possible to hold shorter length trains, with two sets of switches to link the different sections.

 

Before anyone gets too impressed by this apparently frenzied activity, these posts provide a catch up on several months progress.  Normal glacial service will follow, once a full set of baseboards are in place.

Best wishes 

Eric 

PS My apologies for the optical illusion on the final photo. The shadow of each line of rail gives a rather hideous blurred, "out of focus" effect.

Edited March 17, 2021 by burgundy
PS added

[burgundy]

With a datum height for the layout set, I have worked on around the room. Where I have used the old sets of legs, this has meant putting the track bed on risers above the table tops.

For the main station area, I have used three of the MDF units complete, but with one reversed so that they form a 3 section trapezium, screwed to the wall and with legs at the front. When we unlock, I may very well invest in some new, slightly more robust legs.

There is a doorway at either end of the room. For access to the loft space, I have built a removable section, since this is likely to need less frequent access.

For the other end of the room, for the main entrance, there is a lifting bridge.

The next decision is how to actuate turnouts (6) and signals (4). I still need to build one turnout, which is on a large radius curve, but have Peco EMGS turnouts for the others.

I have a couple of Tortoise motors and some H&Ms which have been salvaged from previous layouts. I could buy some more Tortoises or go for the nostalgic THWACK of the capacitor discharge unit firing the H&Ms. A third option, which has been suggested, is to use servos. My knowledge of electronics is limited and so I would be using the circuitry as a "black box" without knowing what goes on inside - whereas I can understand simple mechanical push rods! Maybe its time to have a dabble with the electronics?  Suggestions would be welcome. 

The signals will consists of a pair of double disc distants and a "station signal"  with two arms on the same slotted post.  These may sound a bit exotic, but the mechanical motion should be a simple push or pull.

As will be evident, I have been saving up this burst of posts until the basic infrastructure is complete. Posting will now become intermittent, to reflect the real pace of activity.

Best wishes 

Eric 

Edited March 19, 2021 by burgundy

[ikcdab]

Looking good. i would advocate servos every time. They are smooth, quiet, reliable and cost effective.

Suitable servos cost around £2 each. Then you need to mount them and drive them.

As for mounts, there are many options. Homemade is easy out you can buy for £1 or £2.

It seems you have two main options to find them. I am would recommend the megapoints driver. Very easy to set up. Give it a 12v supply, plug in the servos and then just use simple on/off switches. It is very easy and their 12 servo driver would serve your turnouts and signals. The bounce facility on the driver is excellent.

Polarity switching can be whatever you wish, I have just miniature relays. 

Highly recommended, I would never use solenoids ever again.

 

[burgundy]

9 months ago, when I last posted, I was trying to decide how best to actuate the signals and points.

Since the project will be set in the late Craven/early Stroudley period, I believe that signalling of a new line in the mid 1860s would not yet have adopted full block working. It will feature a double armed station signal, possibly protected by double disc signals at the extreme ends of the station limits. As well as a simple signal hut at the station, I believe that there will need to be positions for a signalman at each of the “distant” signals, both to operate the signal and to hold over the facing point in the absence of a facing point lock. If anyone can shed further light on operating practice in this period, I should be interested to hear.

The immediate challenge is that the station signals would have been three position and servos seem to provide a method of actuation that will enable this. The picture above shows Bexhill in the early days, with a double armed signal. The second arm is completely concealed in the slot in the post and both signals would have a position at 45 degrees.  

This question led to a series of further questions about how other signals and turnouts were to be actuated. Discussion on Zoom with other members of the North West Somerset Area Group of the EM Gauge Society (or NWSEMGSAG for short) developing the idea of using servos. My initial attempt to buy a three position programme board from one of the online suppliers was a somewhat qualified success. They seem to have a unique approach to customer service, which involved telling me that all the problems were my fault. In one sense, this is probably true, but it is not a good way to talk a customer through a problem and I have no plans to try to buy anything else from them. Fortunately, my colleague in NWSEMGSAG who came up with the suggestion, Allan Jones, was able to help me through the process and built some boards to provide the necessary actuation. I therefore constructed a simple test rig, to allow me to play with the system and understand how it should work.

The results have been entirely encouraging and I shall be using servos for the majority of the other signals and turnouts.

Best wishes 

Eric 

[burgundy]

In parallel, track has been laid to complete a simple loop for which the wiring, including the traverser, has been completed. That single sentence summarised a lot of diversions. Switches have been installed on the traverser roads so that, in theory, each 6 foot road can hold 3 discrete short trains. Gaps have been added on the other rail, as the warmer days during the Summer demonstrated how a 6ft length of metal will try to expand. To get things running, quite a few of the soldered joints needed to be remade and the rail ends at each end of the traverser were reinforced – 8 tracks at each end plus the entry roads.

With Christmas looming, pressure began to build. The three grandsons who live locally have been following the project, when Covid restrictions have allowed them to visit. They were due to visit us for an early Christmas and the expectation had been growing that Grandad would have trains running. With a few short cuts, this deadline was achieved and the boys were able to see at least a nominal service of trains going round on a simple loop. Turnouts have been simply held in position, with the wiring rigged accordingly. Oldest grandson was able to mount his action camera on a flat wagon, for a (slightly sick-making) driver's eye view of the circuit.

This photo is taken about 8' from the train, to explore the vantage point from the end of the straight section through the future station. 

It has been quite therapeutic to see something actually running and it has also been useful to develop a “snagging list”. Some locos need a bit of tuning, both of balance and electrical pick up. There are a couple of spots which some rolling stock does not like. To my slight surprise, the lifting sections and the joints onto the traverser seem not to be a problem.

Couplings need to be rationalised, so that the current mix of AJ and 3 link reflects the set trains that I plan. I am also wondering whether it might not be better to replace the AJs, possibly with something like Dinghams. The plan is to operate mainly set trains, with working couplings at either end (e.g. passenger sets, the Hastings coal train). The exceptions will be some of the goods stock, which will provide vehicles for the pick-up goods, and loose NPCS vehicles which will also need working couplings.

The 20 wagon coal train has been tested, fits on the traverser and actually runs – no mean achievement when most of the wagons are built from white metal. It is currently running with slightly fewer vehicles, as I cannot yet muster 20 dumb buffer wagons and I have removed the modern image, sprung buffered ones. Given that dumb buffered stock was still being built 20 years after the period being modelled, I wonder if some of the dumb buffered wagons are not a bit too modern!

This one is also brutally foreshortened to give a view down the long straight section. The zoom does the tracklaying no favours! 

Best wishes 

Eric 

[burgundy]

I have also started to think about lighting for the layout, as the room lights are in exactly the wrong place for the model. After building a couple of cameos, I am conscious of the effect that the type of lighting will have on the colouring of scenery and the overall appearance. My current thought is to use LEDs and I have been looking at some which come in 5m strips. A strip would extend over the main visible section of the layout, which stands 3' 9” above the floor and is about 2' deep. My current plan is to hang the LEDs at about 6' above floor level, with a pelmet in front to contain the light onto the layout.

Does anyone have experience of something similar? I am thinking of using 3 rows of LEDs, probably in a warm white/daylight colour. Does it need that much illumination in a 2' depth or is it better to provide too much light and use a dimmer? The spec. describes the current draw as 450mA per meter, so, at 12v, that is a little over 80W? Helpfully, nothing about lumens!

Any advice gratefully received!

Best wishes 

Eric 

[burgundy]

More test running. 

A South London set, which evidently took the wrong turning at Peckham Rye and ended up in darkest Sussex. The Terrier is by GW Models and it handles an 8 coach train of (rather modified) K's whitemetal 4 wheelers quite comfortably. 

Best wishes 

Eric  

Edited January 9, 2022 by burgundy
link added

[Mikkel]

I watched that three times just for the pleasure of it!

 

Clearly something special is in the making here. Again. I look forward to seeing it develop. 

[burgundy]

13 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Clearly something special is in the making here. Again. I look forward to seeing it develop. 

Mikkel 

Thank you. 

More test running!

Also a good way to put off starting work on the wiring and control panel! Product placement of a certain kind of glue is accidental. 

The train currently includes a few modern image vehicles with sprung buffers which I need to replace. 

Best wishes 

Eric 

[burgundy]

Progress since the last update was intended to be about completing the wiring. The reality is that a little bit of wiring has been done – and a lot of wiring avoidance activities.

 

Control panel

I suppose a control panel counts as part of the wiring so I can claim one brownie point. The switches are in place and allow me to see roughly where everything will go. It also created the opportunity to fit out a small recess as a test bench and wheel cleaning station. The space was not really going to fit in with the scenery, so it has been put to good use!

Wagons

This really is a red herring, but watching the coal train trundle round, I thought that the sprung buffered wagons looked a bit too modern. Obviously, the solution is to build some of the kits that have been maturing for years although, on reflection, I should have thrown in a couple of coke wagons. I guess that in 1870, there would still have been some coke burning locos around? 8 dumb buffered opens have been assembled and sprayed with the base colour, so further painting, lettering and weathering will be on hand as a future distraction. No MR D299 opens were inconvenienced in the exercise.

Lighting

With a couple of cameo layouts under my belt, I have always intended that Hurstmonceux should have some kind of set around it. I have not worked out how the sides of the “stage” will work, but there will be a pelmet over the front concealing a lighting rig behind. I have put together a light wooden frame, that hangs from the ceiling, and have draped some LED light strings from it in roughly the position that I have in mind. It is not permanent and the LEDs are currently just held in place with cable ties but it does give an idea of how it might work. To be honest, I am slightly disappointed that the illumination is less bright than I had expected – wet Sunday in February, rather than Sussex tourist department approved sunshine. Does anyone have any suggestions how it might be beefed up please?

 

Best wishes

Eric

[burgundy]

It is not very often that I come out of B and Q more cheerful than I went in. 

While looking for something completely different, I noticed piano wire, which I need to connect the servos to the turnouts.  Looking on line, I had found prices of about £5 or £6 for a couple of metres,  plus postage.   

There on the shelf in front of me was a packet containing 12.3 metres for £2-47. My only problem now is what to do with the spare 11 metres. 

Needless to say, I did not find what I was meant to be looking for. 

Best wishes 

Eric 

[Northroader]

Buy an old piano?

[Jack P]

On 23/02/2022 at 09:08, burgundy said:

Does anyone have any suggestions how it might be beefed up please?

 

You could try and find some of the strip LED's with the diffusion cover:

 

 

You could then run some lengths of this around the framing you'd already built.

Obviously it depends if you wanted to keep the lighting you've already got or not!

 

[Worsdell forever]

11 hours ago, Northroader said:

Buy an old piano?

 

Yeah, but old pianos can be out of tune, train could end up going the wrong way... 

[burgundy]

Anyone else having problems with their welded rail soldered track in the heat?

Best wishes 

Eric  

[burgundy]

A warm summer and the opportunity to catch up with friends and relations has put the railway on the back burner for some months (apart from soldering track back into gauge). However, a couple of wet days have caused me to have another go at the wiring, which had been a source of  frustration.

Firstly, I had been hoping to get several hours undisturbed to sort it all out, but that time never happened. In the event, I managed to pick at it for an hour or so at a time on several occasions and, although there was no sudden “hallelujah” moment, it has eventually come right. The problem turned out to be a couple of jumper leads, that had been installed last Christmas in order to get something running for the visit of the grandchildren. I had forgotten about them (the leads, not the grandchildren) but their removal simplified the issue. Progressive tagging of the wires has helped, as I rediscovered what they did (should have done it at the outset) and the addition of a second switch to one of the turnout servos has resulted in the electrics behaving as intended. I still have a couple of turnouts and some signals to install but I now have confidence that I know how to do those.

The design of the station is the next issue to consider. The photo shows the general layout of the station area. The building has been recycled from Cardinal's Wharf and is for illustration but may or may not provide a suitable long term solution. Note - the spaghetti hanging from above is LED strip which, I hope, will provide illumination of the station area.

The two lines to the left are the main running lines, which form a loop through the station; the platforms should fit an 8 coach train. At the far end, the right hand of the two is a headshunt from which the yard is accessed. The aim is for the headshunt to be long enough to accommodate the 20 wagon coal train. The sidings should be appropriate for a small rural Sussex village with at least one local “big house”. On this basis, I think the left hand siding will be a dock which might be used for unloading carriage trucks or horses, the middle one would be for general goods with a lock up goods shed and the right hand one would be a coal road with wharfs for local traders. How would livestock have been handled and should there be cattle or sheep pens? I need to have a look at some typical Brighton rural stations for ideas. I will also need to look at views of stations which retained low platforms to see how the height of loading docks fitted in.

Progress at last!

Best wishes

Eric

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Ooh nice! I've done reenactment at Herstmonceux Castle so I'll follow this with interest 

[burgundy]

For some reason, I tend to focus on getting things running when I know that there will be a tour of inspection be grandchildren in the near future.  The simple task of getting trains to run again flushed out a number of problems, most of which seemed to be the result of sprung solder joints - mainly on the traverser.  I am beginning to wonder whether there is more to it than just that I made a crap job of the initial soldering. I have already tried to deal with heat expansion (and it has not been a problem for the last few weeks), there may be an issue with slight twisting between the two traverser sections or I may need to use higher temperature solder in future. Anyway, for the moment, things move - usually as intended. 

I have also been trying to get clear in my mind how the station will be laid out. I have swapped things around a couple of times to try to get a workable arrangement, with the necessary facilities. When I started, there seemed to be loads of room, but, as soon as I started putting in place-holder buildings, it seemed to get crowded rather quickly. At the moment, I have moved the main station building to the opposite side of the tracks, away from the goods yard, which gives a bit more space in the yard. The platform backing onto the yard will just have a simple shelter. The current arrangement has the goods shed on the road nearest the wall and quite far along the siding so that there is a reasonable amount of space for horse drawn vehicles to move around. If the road immediately behind the platform is to have an end loading dock, it might also have space for side loading of livestock, although I am not sure whether that combination would be prototypical. Sheep, who might be the main customers, can be quite nimble and could probably manage quite well on a temporary ramp on one of the other sidings. By default, the middle road becomes the home for a coal merchant, as it will also access onto the carriageway in the centre of the yard, but it will have to be a bit shorter if there is to be a livestock dock next to it. As the photos show, it should be possible to unload 4 coal wagons on one siding and two cattle vans on the other. On reflection, 4 six ton coal wagons, delivering 24 tons of coal, seems overgenerous for a village the size of Hurstmonceux! 

Any suggestions, as always, would be welcome. 

Best wishes 

Eric   

   

[Schooner]

15 hours ago, burgundy said:

suggestions, as always, would be welcome. 

Tricky problem, piqued my interest. Not a suggestion, but my only thought is that the use of only RH turnouts in the yard throat might limit the useable space in the yard. Are they up for debate?

 

I know little of the area or the period, so apologies if this is an accidental egg-sucking lesson, but I note a distinctive LBSCR goods yard formation for the smaller stations in that region eg:

Heathfield

 

and Horeham Road

...showing an equidistant loading bay/dock, shed/side loading, plain siding thing going on (I'm ignoring the end-loading stub - too tricky!) which the yard layout resembles. First turnout from the headshunt for the back siding, the next for the centre and dock roads. 1897 OS maps, not sure if that'd be correct for c.1875?

 

This might be beyond the scope of suggestions you were after, but is the pointwork for the yard already fixed? If not, trying Y or even LH turnouts off the headshunt might give you a little more useable space. A very quick trial in SCARM with PECO turnouts suggests that the reverse curves aren't too savage (>4' radius on the shed road), and it would help manage the lack of depth by increasing useable length to allow the features you want to be a little less cramped:

Not sure the labels show up. The circles are 85mm dia, to indicate c.20' horse cart turning circle. Snug, but doable...although looking at the photos again, I'm not sure you've got 24" width to work with. Anyway, just a thought.

 

15 hours ago, burgundy said:

as soon as I started putting in place-holder buildings, it seemed to get crowded rather quickly.

How much do you really need a goods shed?!

 

Vinters' Yard is an all-time favourite, great to see progress at Hurstmonceux :)

[Gareth Collier]

Having built a model of Waldron and Horeham Road on the Cuckoo Line these small rural stations were often rather sparse affairs with this and Hellingly not having goods sheds. Indeed they didn't even have yard cranes or cattle  pens, animals were led onto a loading dock where temporary fencing could be erected. Furthermore there was very little coal traffic at Waldron probably because the lack of any real population nearby. What Waldron did have though was 2 signal boxes!

Leaving these off your layout may give the more prototypical openness of a LBSCR rural station. 

[burgundy]

Gareth, Schooner

Thank you for your suggestions. 

First, the turnouts are Peco EM and have been motorised with servos, so I am a bit reluctant to move them. Access below the baseboard involves clearing a bookshelf, poking around upside down and a lot of profanity. The baseboard is 24" wide, but I am not sure that swapping to left hand turnouts would create greater space. Length of the sidings is probably adequate as it is but, with hindsight, a bit more width would have been a good idea. However, I think that would only have been possible by putting the station at the other end of the straight section, as the photos above are actually taken from the doorway, which already has slightly reduced access. Playing with a ruler, I think there is just about space for a 20' turning circle for a horse and wagon if the middle siding is cut short to where the coal wagons stand in the photo.

I have managed to solve one question for myself. Consulting Simon Turner's brilliant book on PO wagons and the coal trade on the LBSCR, besides listing the typical coal traders in small stations, he also quotes the actual figures for Sheffield Park and Cranleigh. Sheffield Park is probably a bit like Hurstmonceux, essentially servicing a big house with not much around it but farms. Sheffield Park seemed to handle about three wagon loads of coal per fortnight through the winter months, which suggests that, on average there would not be more than one wagon at a time. However, Simon has pointed out that the different types of coal being shipped mean that shipments would not be steady, but might end up with several wagons at the same time. On this basis, space for four still seems more than adequate.  It would be interesting to find out whether coal might have been handled in tip carts in this sort of environment, rather than the more urban dray?   

Deleting the goods shed appeals to my laziness since it saves having to build one. The original plan envisaged a simple lock up, but I then discovered that these did not start to appear until the late 1890s. What happened to goods that arrived if there was no shed for storage? Presumably, it could not always be delivered or collected immediately?   

Again, many thanks for the suggestions. 

Best wishes 

Eric 

[burgundy]

Two photos to show that progress on Hurstmonceux continues at its usual breakneck pace.

First, in line with @Jack P’s suggestion (of only a year ago), the lighting has been tidied up. Aluminium channel, with a diffuser strip has been attached to the wooden framing. Connectors allowed me to split the strips up and join them at right angles. The process is fiddly, but, once I got the hang of it, quite quick. I am pleased with the effect.

The large bottle of Klear is temporarily anchoring the platform in place. Some idiot decided that it would look good to have a slight curve at the end – without thinking about the clearance that would be required even on short 4 wheelers. Because platforms are still at about 2’ above rail height, carriages have footboards, and so clearances are being checked by trial and error. Cranks on outside framed locos will not be very different.

Best wishes

Eric

Edited May 7, 2023 by burgundy

[burgundy]

Progress on Hurstmonceux has been non-existent following the decision to replace the velux windows in the ceiling of the room. This had become unavoidable as heavy rain resulted in an occasional drip, which was becoming a serious nuisance. We reached the top of the queue with our local builder and a discussion made it clear that sections of the layout would need to be moved out of the way. Mention of “wrecking bars” in close proximity to a layout can be unnerving. Unpicking baseboards and moving everything around has made things pretty inaccessible and so I started work on “distraction 3” (distractions 1 and 2 both need access to the loft space!).

 

Earlier in the thread, I mentioned that one of my aims is to run a 20 wagon coal train, to reflect the change in distribution patterns resulting from the opening of the West London Extension Railway. My understanding is that this marked the beginning of significant through mineral traffic and a corresponding increase in the number of dedicated goods engines on the Brighton. I could muster 20 PO wagons (the maximum on the traverser) but some are a bit “modern image” with these new fangled sprung buffers (and I suspect that some of the lettering may be too modern in style). I therefore raided the unmade kit mountain and dug out eight likely looking wagons of appropriate antiquity.

 

At this point, I must acknowledge the contributions of @5&9Models and of Simon Turner, whose book on LBSC PO wagons is a “must have” piece of reading for Brighton modellers.

 

The first photo shows the initial stage, with basic paintwork complete. For red oxide, I use Holts red primer and the grey is Holts grey primer. I had not really thought about a more balanced mix of colours, but, on reading the instructions, the majority were red oxide, so, so be it. I have other grey and black vehicles in the train.

FIrst a coat of floor polish to give a gloss surface and then lettering followed, using the waterslide transfers that come with the kits, all bedded down with Micro-Sol and Micro-Set.

And then some weathering to make them look like coal wagons.

Taking slightly more close-up views shows up all the blemishes and I may need to resort to weathering powders to make them less obvious.

First, a pair of colliery wagons. Turner has an end door and Clay Cross is a one door wagon (on the other side); obviously there were plenty of wagon turntables around.

A less successful transfer application – I blame the sign writer, who felt the need to show off by writing all the way across the strapping! Lots of Micro-Sol and Micro-Set went onto these – but obviously not enough. It is really not that obvious at normal size and without the sun glinting on it, but I think I need to have another go at it. The company were London coal factors (something like wholesalers) so their wagons were seen around the south.

TS&C Parry – another London coal factor, whose wagons appeared widely. These two are a pair of four planks – but note that the one on the left has uneven planking, hence the need to align the lettering differently.

Two more Parrys, this time both with three planks.

I think I may try adding some weathering powder to increase the coal effects on a couple of the red wagons to give a bit more variety. The photos also make the overspray of the paint onto the wheels glaringly obvious, so that is another job to do. Since the builders have still to finish off the inside frames around the windows a month after the main part of the job was finished, I probably have time to do a bit more on these. Either that or see whether I can make progress on Distractions 1 or 2 as a “tray on lap” job downstairs.

 

Note that no D299s were inconvenienced in the construction of this rake.

 

Best wishes

Eric

[Schooner]

17 minutes ago, burgundy said:

Note that no D299s were inconvenienced in the construction of this rake.

Oh well, better luck next time!

 

Top stuff :)