The Great Bear

So, with the layout construction on the last lap, my attention is turning toward the trains. One of the skills I need to acquire is weathering - anything weathered so far was bought from Ebay thus - so here's my first attempts, starting with some old wagons... Old indeed, the Coke wagon is 70s era from childhoold trainset and then enough courage to try a loco, albeit a non-runner... I don't have an airbrush, something which fills me with fear, so the weathering's just some dry brushing of enamels and a diluted black wash. Most of the books and articles, seem to rely on use of airbrushes, even after saying they're not essential. The loco I followed some techniques given by Chris Nevard in a Model Rail article a few years back. What I've done to date is following generic guidelines, rather than follow a specific prototype photo. For that, finding the right photo is a challenge - for my modelling period (immediately post WW2) colour photos will be rare and I don't yet have the imagination to see the colour in a black and white photo. Apropos, for instance, I have the Martin Welch Art of Weathering which has lots of detailed photos, of course all in black and white. As it's something I'm new to I'm not sure about my results. Not a complete disaster, I hope and it's a first go and I should improve with practise. Any comments, suggestions, sources of reference (books, links) or techniques would be welcomed. Thanks Jon

A couple more shots of the same goods train

Hi there, I was wondering in renumbering the Austerity did you have to remove a smokebox number plate? If so, how did you go about it, any tips - have one to do at some stage. By the way, thanks for bring Narrow Planet to my attention - looks a good way of getting number plates especially for those not available off the shelf from other suppliers - something I'll follow up I'm sure when I've worked out my timetable and locos required. Thanks, Jon

Some interesting modelling in thread, nice to see someone having a go. The tarpaulin over the van roof is a nice touch, as is the wartime Collett - I think I may try the same, but start with one of the old Hornby ones first! All the best Jon

Recently, I've been addressing some running issues with the layouts, points and signals not working as they should and a few problem areas with derailments. I'm getting there with this, though the signals don't work quite as well as I'd like some are inconsistent in their movement, something to explore further in due course. I've also made a bit more progress on the point rodding, the run from the box in the 6' up to the bridge now completed. I think this is getting easier with practise - just as well as the big one, with up to 11 rods is next... So here's the recently added rodding and a freight train. The rodding has managed by itself to acquire a somewhat weathered look, something reacting with the gun blue I used to blacken it. If only the stock and locos could weather themselves - acquiring that skill is moving up the to-do list, along with re-numbering and changing liveries to my chosen post-war period. Thanks for the interest shown Jon

The last two are a nice change of angle, Rob

To the same end, I'm tempted to give these removable mounts a go next time to reduce potential for damage and save crawling under baseboards whilst setting the servos up

If only that approach would work for my signals...

yummy yummy

Thanks, easy to become obsessed with details. Having a train running helps take the eye away from these niggles:

A bit more progress with the point rodding. Firstly, a more or less completed bit: The rollers for the runs under the track are cast MSE ones, pushed into the foam. So, far so good. The plain runs are relatively simple with the rollers threaded onto the wire. What I am struggling with is the connections to the cranks and the compensators, accurately cutting and bending the wire down to meet the cranks and also joining up wires. Trying to get two ends of quite a long bit of wire cut accurately and bent in the right direction consistently is proving a problem. In the photo above the longitudinal wires aren't connected to the cranks. Here I tried cutting the wire on the left and then adding short bit with the bend, not great and damaged the roller. I also haven't tried to fix the wire into the hole in the crank, sometimes a blob of glue or just leave it. It's a cruel close up so with a dab of paint might not look so bad. I suppose the overall effect is the main thing, which the first photo does show.

The mundane makes a nice change from all the glamour of your named expresses.

The B17 image is in Oxford-Birmingham Portrait of a Famous Route by Bob Pixton (pg 14)and is simply captioned as late 1940s. From quick scan of my library, other pictures of NE locos south of Banbury are a C1 at Oxford in 1932 in the daytime with the Sunday 9.15am Sheffield to Swansea (GWRJ 85 pg 262) and the D9 photo already referred to, captioned as circa 1930 in The Heart of the Great Western by Adrian Vauughan (pg 165) Having said that most of the evidence does point to the night mail being the only regular NE working. There's information in GWRJ84 and 85 that states workings for 1937/8 as follows: 10am York to Bournemouth hauled Banbury to Oxford by a Banbury turn (stated as being a 51xx and indeed picture of such in 1931) 11.02am Bournemouth to Newcastle from Oxford to Banbury being an Oxford turn (likely a Hall) 5.20pm Westbury to York to Banbury being a Swindon turn (a Saint or a Hall) 6.25pm York to Swindon from Banbury to Swindon being a Swindon turn (a Saint or a Hall) 10.13pm York to Bristol from Leicester to Swindon being a Leicester turn (a B17) 9.5pm Swindon to York being a Leicester turn (a B17) There's also some bits in BRJ18 about these trains (especially the formations).

Well, as someone whose layout is set between Oxford and Banbury this discussion on inter-company/region workings is of great interest. Having a fair few books covering the area a lot of the images Melmerby refers to I think I've seen too - the picture of B17 Helmingham Hall heading north out of Oxford being particularly intriguing but I fear this may have been a Saturday or summer special working. There are also, though, pictures captioned as locos being changed at Banbury for instance a B18 (ex GCR B1) being captioned as coming off a train. All a bit confusing. The only train I'm sure that was NE powered in the post war period was the night mail as above. I have a feeling this was worked alternate years by Western and NE locos? As I have 3 NE locos, though, and they would be in the dark a bit of creativity is probably in order when I get around to working out how to run my trainset. That C1 is too nice not to be seen. The new Collett coaches are very nice, by the way! Jon

Oops...something to add to my to do list

Sure, no worries - the track plan was done in XTrackCAD, not the easiest program to learn but pretty powerful when one gets the hang of it. One function I liked was being able to set up items for your stock - which was useful for planning the staging tracks - and actually run them around the layout if you so wished. XtrackCAD can export a DXF file (which is a standard drawing interchange file lots of software can deal with) which I then brought into and added to in AutoCAD (which I have access to via work). Standard components like the cranks are created as "blocks" which I can insert as I like. I'd expect other lower cost or free draughting packages can do the same. When I laid the track I didn't say as others do with handbuilt track (like Gordon S on Eastwood Town) print lots of full size templates, I just took lots of dimensions of key points from the walls. Hence why the construction doesn't quite match the plan but good enough for me.

Thank you, very clear, again. As for modelling these...hmm. One more question, if I may, is there anything wrong with the adjuster crank for the runs across from the main run in the 6' being in the 6'. The diagram below might explain better. (On the model the green lock bar I think can be on the top rail, not as shown, there's a bit more distance between the two points.)

Thank you, Mike, those photos are very clear. (I've belatedly realised I've seen that picture before of course, just hadn't spotted the smaller rollers. Thanks, Alan, let me have a think.

Thanks, I'm assuming you mean something like what is explained around 1/3 of the way down here http://www.roscalen.com/signals/Shrewsbury/CreweJunction.htm If so, I suspect that's too fiddly. I don't know if there are etches for such gubbins, though something impressionistic I guess could be done with a few strips of styrene... Trouble is, modelling that will then lead to me thinking about the signal wires and questions (eg does the wire from the detector go to the box or to the signal). It's a slippery slope...

I'm also assuming I will need a roller or two in the 10' between the down main and the branch. Not something I've seen photos of, the rod would need to bend down under the rails?

In another thread I've been learning about facing point locks and the associated lock bars that prevent the points being unlocked and moved with a train on them. Since these affect the point rodding runs, the rod to the FPL going to the far end of the lock bar I'm having a go at modelling this. Here's some work in progress This is the far end of the lock bar with the rod back to the signal box linking to it. The rodding in the 6' needs to be changed to accommodate this. Oops, but it was a test. Would the adjuster crank go over there? I was also unsure what colour to paint the lock bar, but photos don't show it being shiny like the rail so some more Sleeper Grime is in order. The FPL cover need a bit of work, this was mock up to size up. I had thought the lock bar looked like a check rail but looking at photos the Stationmaster took at Bourne End, the difference looks subtle, just the level it is set at. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58228-the-stationmaster-looks-at-bourne-end-the-one-on-the-wycombe-branch/ The arrangement of rodding to drive the point is made more complex by the accommodation bridge pier being in the way - that's the hole in the ballast. At the point tie bar, as I have retained the Peco one albeit cut I don't think there's anything more I can do than stop at the crank? Thanks for looking Jon

Simply stunning photos in the last week, Alan. What an excellent layout you have combined with a nice variety of trains. The subtle weathering of the stock is something to aspire to. I really like the variety of viewpoints and composition and the exposure and lighting is spot on, the result being very un-model like.

Thank you, I think I set them at 24mm (ish - I used the spacing of the sleepers in the C+L track), which equates to 6' - got that from a previous thread on here, Callow Lane I think - so matches your findings: good!

As mentioned above I have been looking at alternative ideas for the point rodding rollers. I received some samples of 3d printed ones from Alan at Modelu. And here's them in a test on the layout You can see the supports for the rodding are bits of card, glued on top of the ballast - this seemed an easy way of doing it and the card more or less looks like concrete! Having done this and got the spacing fixed quite simple to fix the rodding and the rollers to these with a small dollop of superglue. Cranks, same construction idea as previous post, the runs across the track to follow I'm pleasantly surprised at how this gone. The cruel close up of the photos reveal a bit more care is needed, I got a bit carried away with the ease of progress - some stools and rollers a bit adrift, more care and consistency in cutting the rollers and the card - the worst ones not shown in these photos. But, a good start and I am going to order some more bits to give this more of a go. Thanks for the interest shown Jon

I really do like these recent close up shots, of the Pannier and the platform scenes, Rob. They really show of the overall quality of the miniature reality created.