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kingfisher24

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  1. kingfisher24
    at the club tonight we put the whole layout up as it is going to the the dundee show in july, so i took the oppertunity to play and take some more pics at the same time.
     
    carrick knowe halt enamel station sign
     

     
    two views of the halt looking toward the road bridge which carries the road that leads to the brewery.
     


     
    a view of the cattle bridge at the entrance to the main station part of the layout, with a cloud on legs crossing.
     

     
    a general view of the approach to glendevon station.
     

     
    the main signal gantry, all the signal work and are interlocked with the points etc.
     

     
    the two cottages next to the line belong to railway workers. with the off duty shunter tending to his garden, that fence will need some repairing on his day off.
     

     
    j88 68834 has run up the line to perform the days shunting and is waiting for the signal to proceed into the good yard, meanwhile the fireman as changed the lamp on the bufferbeam.
     


     
    time for a brew up before the first freight arrives.
     

     
    the first freight of the day has arrived behind a preserved caley 0-4-4 tank.
     

     

     
    some more views of the brewery siding at carrik knowe.
     

     

     

     
    and some snaps taken this afternoon with the club door open to let in some natural light.
     
    the lineside cottages.

     

     
    two views of the station from north and south.
     

     

  2. kingfisher24
    i have recently been working on a conversion of an old Mianline J72 body into a reasonable model of a J88 mainly by simply shortening the body and re-shaping the chimney and, i am now working on the cab.
     
    i finally managed to obtain a terrier chassis to fit underneath this conversion as this is the only chassis i can think of that is both rtr and anywhere near the wheelbase of the J88. photos to follow.
     
    to make the body i tok the mainline J72 body and lengthened the tanks by approx 5mm, shortened the front end by 4mm. i also extended teh height of the tanks by 3mm using plastikard sheet and then sanded the edge to a curve as per the prototype. for the chimney i kept the original J72 chimney and filed the underside of the lip, i did consider making it into a stovepipe chimney but these looked unsightly and so, i decided to stick with the lipped chimney as these looked a lot better.
     

     
    to make the cyliners and motion. i had a set of old mainline jubilee cylinders lying in my spares box, these were cut in half and the top edge filed round. these were then fitted to the underside of the running plate with the front of the cylinders in line with the smoke-box.
     
    for the motion i took an old set of Hornby A3 valve gear to see what i could do. i found that i could use the slidebars and the connecting rods as this method would cost nothing and use up some bits and pieces that were lying around my spares box. i cut the slide bars in half and used only the bottom half and kept a lip at the rear end to stop the piston rod coming adrift. this was then securely fitted to the cylinders and at an angle as per the real thing.
    as for the piston rod i did not want to use the square rod of the Hornby valvegear to i took some stiff brass rod and trimmed it to length and soldered this to the rear of the crosshead. this was trial fitted and fitted and worked first time which doesnt happen to often.
    the connecting rods are also made from the Hornby valve gear. i took the A3 connecting rods and cut these short using a bit of guesstimation, drilled out a small hole for the fitting to the centre wheels and again it worked - surprisingly. the motion is over-scale compared to the Dapol coupling rods, the connecting rod will be filed down thinner at a leter date.
     

     

     
    the body was fitted with handrails and dumb buffers and chain shakles as the J88 didnt have hooks. i have yet to fit lamp irons etc, they are on the to do list. i also have to decide what i am goin to do about the cab cut-out as this is wrong for the J88, the J72 has the same shape cut but it isnt in the centre where it is on the NB loco. i am in two mind what to do here, do i leave it as is knowing that it isnt right or, do i take the plunge and modify it risking the integrity of the model. i shall see.
     

     

     

     
    apologies for the fuzzy photos i couldnt keep me hand still
  3. kingfisher24
    At the cupar show a couple of weeks ago i too the oppertunity of getting some snaps of my latest completed project. i took these snaps early on the sunday morning before the show opened, and in natural light. as the sun was filtering nicely through the corn exchange windows.
     
    the first shot is of the loco preparing to depart glendevon.

     
    coming under the road bridge before passing the brewery.

     
    and then coming into the platform before coming to a halt to pick up the few passengers.

     
    departing for thornton jctn. passing the brewey siding.

     
    and rounding the curve towards the occupation brigde.

  4. kingfisher24
    I decided tonight to take some snaps of various locos on the layout and while i was at it some photos of the rest of the layout.
     
    this layout is older than i am and still wins awards. the track plan is based on moffat but, as the name suggests the layout is meant to be in the fife area served by trains from thornton or maybe perth. when i run it i use mainly a perth based black 5 on a two coah passenger set, as was the case on many scottish branches as the black 5 had the coal/water capacity to enable operation away from the depot for relatively long periods.
     

     

     
    the station building.
     

     
    the goods shed and yard. this layout is always a pleasure to operate, ofcourse in real life a station of this type would probably only be served once or twice a week by freight with perhaps two or three passenger trains per day. at a show the station is always bery busy with freight.
     


     
    the coal siding that is served every other day.
     

     
    and away from the railway there is the local pond which has some pretty white residents.
     

     
    some people need to learn to walk straight. i wonder if the marry man will notice the binn that he's about to trip over. if they make it to the station they probably won't be allood on the train. 'get ye aff my train' i can hear the guard saying.
     


     
    its nice and peaceful along the street.
     

     
    carstairs based black 5 45011 has been borrowed by perth shed for working the mid-day train, about to take water in the bay platform. winter is approaching so the loco has been fitted with a small plough.


     
    on another day the usual black 5 was replaced by fairburn tank 42272. these type of loco were not really suited for this type of long distance work due to thier limited coal supply, a black 5 or even a b1 would be the normal motive power.
     


     
    dropping off a single wagon at murray's, the loco will have propelled the wagon up from glendevon village. and on another day an N15 0-6-2 drops off a LGW wagon. Murrays being the only brewery in the area to be served by these wagons from leith.
     


     
    the shape of things to some. its a pitty that Br didnt put more into the railbus, the were a good idea to try and keep costs down and lines open.
     

     
    a colourful visitor. the caley 123 is one of the r-t-r locos that i improved last year by shortening the front end and making frames etc under the running plate to give a better looking loco.
     

     
    St margarets B1 No 61347 running past the station platform and then around the yard.
     



     
    more pics to follow and, i am planning a station masters house that the layout has never had, it has always been assumed that this was somewhere in the village but, this would be too far from the station so. ill have to do some research into this.
     
    old meets new.
     

     
    the pond near the station (one of the swans must have flown into a hill as it has a rather fat flat beek!)
     

     
    the koos must be waiting for the farmer to return - or theyre sunbathing!
     

     
    a big visitor.
     

     
    the coal office with a customers van ootside.
     

     
    little and even more little.
     

  5. kingfisher24
    my J88 conversion is progressing steadilly, the loco is complete now and has been painted and numbered etc. i decided the other nyte that the cab needed to be altered, i knew it would not be right if i had left is as it was so took the plunge and had a go and, it turned out well. although looking at the pics from this evening, it does need a bit more finishing off.
     

     
    the other little job was to finish off the roof, i had deliberately left this till last as i was not quite sure about the roof, i then used a bit of guesstimation again and used brass dowel which was soldered up into a square shape for the main strips around the roof sheet an, a single piece for the centre strip, this again needs some finishing off but looks not too bad.
     

     
    i have had the loco running on Glendevon tonight and it really looks good when it is running, it even has the wobble that i am told the real loco's had. i did look through quite a number of books until i found a loco that had the correct boiler, dome and safety valve combination as some of the class had an earlier type where the safety valves were mounted on the dome and others had them above the firebox.
     

     
    all i have to do now is weather the loco as it is far far too clean, although i am told that the Haymarket shed pilots and some other were kept reasonably clean. back to the books for me i think.
    th pic below came out well although these locos wouldnt be seen together. not with a class twenty with yellow ends i dont think.
     

     
    at rest.
     

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