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SeanNeedham

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  1. SeanNeedham
    Well, two of actually.
     
    One of the older gents who i speak to on a regular basis popped round earlier, and he does like to talk, to put it mildly; so I thought the evening was going to be totally unfruitful. The gent in question was a signaller on the old line that ran through the area, and worked out of the railway station in the village (I'll dig some of my personal photos out sometime). We were sat on the bench in front of the apartment, and he asked me if I was interested in the local railway, and what scale I was modelling to as he'd seen me wandering through the village with a bit of flexi under my arm a while back.
     
    So I told him that I was attempting to build a small representation of the line, and what gauge; and I've rarely seen the reaction that I got from him. He was off like a proverbial hare, and a few minutes later he reappeared with a small box. He passed it to me and said that he wanted the photos back after I'd had a look at them, but I could keep the other bits in there. In it, was a pair of 0-4-0 short wheelbase tank locos, of the type built by MTM in the same era and style what I'm working to. He proceeded to explain that he used to model railways, and he'd built a layout for his grandchildren, but they weren't interested in the old things, much preferring the noisy, brightly coloured 'new digital' things instead of the locomotives he'd presented me with.
    We sat there, with me looking at these locos, and they are superb in detail. I don't know where the bodies are from, or who made them, but they are very solid chunks of metal indeed; and they are built on top of, I think, Fleischmann chassis (not had a proper look yet, but they run beautifully).
     
    He said that he'd not got round to painting them up, as they were still in primer as he was going to do one each for the two grandkids but as they wanted digi-diesel... So I said what I'd do with them, and went indoors to pick up the one that was currently on the workbench. His first words on seeing it were "That looks too clean!", so it looks like some weathering and sun fading is going to be done on them, but he mentioned that not all the locos up this region carried the green/black, as a couple were just in black with white/grey lining, some in green/black and with silver lining, some in straight black and a couple more had the red running boards on a black loco.
     
    We sat for almost an hour, with me taking notes as he explained some of the workings that used to pass through; some of the incidents that he'd seen and also the operating practises of the region.
     
    When we'd finished and he was off for his dinner, I asked him how much he wanted for the locos, or what he'd take in payment (apart from the bottle of wine I gave him), and all he said was "Just make it look like the area, capture the essence don't worry about recreating it perfect, so the memory is still there" and as he walked away, he stopped for a moment and looked back. Then he said, with a smile, "Let me come and just run the trains for a bit."
     
    In all, it got me thinking about what people like this chap get out of what we do as modellers (at any skill level), and whether it is a form of remembrance, a tribute almost to what they did in what we do (whether completely prototypical or not); and also it got me thinking that when someone like this shares the advice, stories, and even though he had just given me two very fine locomotives, who got more out of that hour sat on the bench out front.
     
    I've a feeling, in all, it wasn't me.
  2. SeanNeedham
    The more things I post, there will be a recurring theme of other people's (namely family) involvement in what I do, and generally to the negative of what I'm trying to achieve. I thought it only involved things like high end camera systems and expensive hardware, but today, I realised that it also extends to the creative stuff that I do as well.
     
    After being in and out all morning doing bit jobs, and spending the intermediate time between runs painting a loco up, and also doing some board work, I popped out for the final run of the day... More political stuff. On returning back to the office, thinking "Up these photos, go to the bar, come back and talk English for 25€ an hour later on..." I wandered in to my office/studio/landfill.
     
    Lo and behold, we'd had a visit from the family, this was apparent to start with some chunks of ply on the floor and corresponding steel rule sized dents in the board I'd built and wired last night and painted up this morning... So the radar is on now, hunting... And I found the loco what I'd been painting up not where I'd left it and had finger marks in the smooth layer of varnish along the tanks... Yep, my nieces!
     
    I don't have any trouble with my adoptive family, but the family seem to have the biological failings of the eyes and the fingers being the one and the same thing.
     
    It also leaves me with a delay in the layout I was talking about this morning, as I've got to go in to town (next available day for that is Saturday), to get another section of ply for the top and this is where it becomes problematic. The more I leave stuff, the more I think about stuff, and the more I think about it, the plan changes and may end up completely different to what I had in mind.
     
    At least tomorrow, unless the rotation changes I'm going to spend some money, err... No, I'm on a run in Barcelona for a couple of hours early on, and a visit to Barcelona is very dangerous as I always end up with some ballast in the bottom of a lens case! And that in itself can be a bad thing, as I've been known to scrap a whole project for a new bit of shiny...
  3. SeanNeedham
    Since I'm not going to be able to get enough foam board in sufficient time to construct the layout that I was going to do for the local arts fair in November (though my other half's uncle is on the case as he works in construction and the next insulation job they do, he's ordering me a 5x5m area), I've had to revert to my plan B.
     
    In short this is going to be a build quick, temporary layout (so temporary, that I'm using old stocks of ply sheet fastened with double sided tape to the board, ditto on the track, so I can run the ham knife under them to pull them out), and everything is being built on top of that; but in a way I can just lift the scenics off, and the temporary boards and mount them to something more permanent if I decide to keep them on.
     
    I would show some photos of the street area what I'm looking at doing, but... I can't find any on line representing the era and I know of only three or four reference photos from the time showing the railway up the main street. And to make it a little more tricky, a lot of the older builds have been replaced by more modern (post railway closure) along the street, so I'm going to have to build generic building facias referencing other buildings of the time frame and amalgamating the ideas.
     
    Motive power wise, there are plenty of interesting little things that ran through here, and these photos I found (on Flickr of the area) show a few of the motive power units.
     
    the model of which is available RTR from Minitrix (minus air tanks on the cab roof), and also there is a Fleischmann that is close to the design with only needing a few modifications. And these can be found secondhand for less than the price of a new coach or wagon, because they were also in the 'initiation' sets, and the market is saturated.
    one of the local manufacturers do a RTR of these, albeit with a 'standard' buffer beam.
    Then there is this...
     
    There are a lot of other different things that can be added in to the area, as each company in the region (of which there were many) had their own locomotives, stock and 'oddities', and when the railway companies were amalgamated, a lot of different things came in from all areas.
     
    Scenic wise, the buildings across the back are going to be built in partial relief, with a quick 'box' made from 100mm x 5mm balsa sheet, reinforced with 3 x 5mm hardwood strip, and the fronts/sides/roof are going to be thick card based, textured, and glazed, using the box for the main support.
     
    I'm not going to post a track plan, as it's not hard to envisage, as there's a piece of flexi-track with a bit of set-track on each end to keep it level.
     
    If I don't have the mess around with a job I'm on later, I should be able to get the boards, basic scenic mounts, etc in and photographed (must remember to post photos!).
  4. SeanNeedham
    My Catalan project is on hold until further notice, sadly, as I can't get enough insulation foam to carve in to the correct rock formations, as expanded polystyrene (which is as common as horse s*** around these parts) being too loose for the height and carving required. I've already experimented with that, and it looks really poor, and wobbles easily making the plaster formed faces crack.
    So the locomotives, and already converted stock are in the 'MPD' until I get hold of enough blue foam to put myself in to a position to start carving it together.
     
    However, that leaves me with one slight problem... The other half has promised that I'd show a layout at the November arts fair in the area, and my main layout is too big scenically, and prototypically un-Catalan and they are the things that I've got to include.
     
    In the research folder, I've got plenty of small space ideas for something that would fit, but as most of them are fairly unique to certain parts of the region, it would mean buying stock up for that little area, converting it and without real emphasis on expansion, which to me is something I don't want to be getting in to.
     
    Also, my in laws have been giving me some stick about 'model railways should be round and round', which to me is not the case as the only railway that I've ever seen that goes round in circles was the bit of track that was on the turntable at Barrow Hill roundhouse. This has been compounded by my nieces who have been pestering the in laws, my other half, their grandparents to get me to make something that chases it's own tail-light. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, as I can get some more boards for five euros a pop, and some second radius curve, and just extend it through when the kids come round, and this has been offset some by the grandparents saying that they'd put some money up for me making a circuit of track for the kids to watch trains go by on.
     
    The only serious solution to this dilemma, now, is to break out the notebook and pencil, and go off down the bar for some thinking juice.
  5. SeanNeedham
    Recently, I've been getting hammer about building something for the local arts fair in November, seeing as I'd been entered; however, my 'saving grace' was the fact that my board was a foot over the allotted size, and the other thing is, my idea was not locally representative...
     
    Last week, I'd got an 'urgent' to do in Barcelona, so my idea was in and out and then go over to the sheds in Martorell for an hour, and then have a wander across Montserrat to the rack railway museum, just to get some ideas for a long term probable, which I though would need all the stock scratch-building for.
    However, in my jaunts, I popped in to the model shop off Plaça Catalunya, to see if they'd got any 'modern-ish' freight haulers in, with the intention of ordering a 60/66 if not, just to have some heavy drag capability on the UK outline I'm slowly working through. And nearly walked out with a Kato EMD66 series.
     
    But with the moment of paying for the locomotive, I cast my eyes to the display case for the secondhand gubbins and then everything changed.
     
    In the case there was a pair of Fleischmann 0-6-0 overhead collection electric locos, and one had already been modified to represent the locomotives that run the engineering trains on the Vall de Nuria and Monsterrat rack railways (sure, it's not 100% accurate, and still needs things like the cab roof overhangs, warning bells removing, and the chassis/drive wheels painting the right colours), but it was 'there'. I mentioned this to the chap that was serving me in the shop, and he smiled and started bringing out some photos of his things, and also some of the prototype photos that were in the shop.
     
    My main excuse of not knocking anything local up was quickly disappearing, as I was justifying it to all that there wasn't any RTR models, however I was about to be proved wrong with a Fleischmann starter set, a photo which I actually took (and had on my iPod) and the photos of that were being shown to me.
     
    It turned out that all the locomotives that ran on the metre/standard gauge lines of Catalonia (as opposed to the 5' 6" Iberian lines) were mainly of Germanic/Swiss/Austrian construction or family lines, and... With a few hours in the 'workshop', a respray and renumbering, there are a lot of them in the Fleischmann catalogue; and the most 'common' one to run on the local rails is a very close build of the budget starter set locomotive, but with the lack of cabside windows, warning bells, air tanks on the roof of the cab and a different paint job. Then the rest are all represented in the Fleischmann and Arnold ranges, with just a bit of workshop time needed.
     
    In turn, from what started out as a jaunt for a freight machine, ended up with me saying to myself "ahh, nuts to it" and opening up on two fronts at once to build a small layout representative of the local area.
     
    In the research for some local materials, I've found some really interesting prototypical operations in the region (the tracks were up the main road for the most part, stations when scaled to N-gauge are no bigger than two ciggy packets footprint including goods shed, mixed passenger/freight, very strange coal loading stations, and a petrol mine...), and also with looking for some historical background, that has brought up some interesting things as well... The one that got me most excited is that there is a shed I walk past most weeks, a nondescript engineering unit of the type that can be found on most industrial estates up and down Europe, and... Inside are a stored Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2, a local tank locomotive, some other bits of stock, and the thing is, very, very few people know what this shed contains (so much so, to ask if you can go have a look, you've got to write to the FGC 'assets' manager in Barcelona to arrange a visit).
     
    So now where does it leave me? Buy more UK outline hardware, or start building a local based layout?
     
    And the answer, I'm off in to town now to buy another board, some blue insulation foam and another jar of Nescafe, as whilst there's the mess of layout building in the workshop, it kind of makes sense to dig in and build something else at the same time... Kind of.
  6. SeanNeedham

    Got so tempted...

    By SeanNeedham,

    After a suggestion by bcnPete the other day, I nearly did go down the easitrac route, but... At the moment, I'm just going to use up the 80 that I've knocking around, and get my skills back up to snuff before I dive in to anything else. I'm hoping that the other half doesn't realise that this one that's on the workbench at the moment is not the last one to be built. So much the temptation, I've already been lurking around in the 2mm Finescale and wondering "what if?"
     
    Another thing that didn't help adding to the 2mm temptation was the Bachman/Farish Class 04 what I took a few shots of the other day, and with the shots up and done, it looked a lot better than what I thought it did (and I wouldn't consider myself having particularly bad eyesight).
     

     
     
    Also, another temptation crossed my path yesterday, as I was out on the usual 'shoot and scoot' newspaper type stuff in the next village, and as I was on my rounds, I popped in to the bar that used to serve the railway station back before they pulled the railways out of here in the late 70's. And as an old bar that used to serve a railway station, it had all the obligatory photos on the wall. One of them showed what looked to be a close relation of the Class 20 drawing a mixed passenger/freight up the main street, and after a quick pace up and down the pavement between the road junctions in the photo, I think I could easily fit both running lines in to a 5' x 1.5' space with the shops behind... But that's on the 'list' of go back and have a look another day. And it's also a bigger excuse for me to go to the FGC railway museum in Martorell with the Nikon and the tape measure, and see what the locos were, and what linage they have.
     
    So all the temptation has been left for another day (apart from the aforementioned 04, which I acquired even though I don't have any idea what to do with it), and I'm going for what I planned the other night.
     
    Most of the buildings I am looking at doing, are going to have to be scratch built, and I'm looking at them, and the bridge that is going to be on the right hand side of the scenic and wondering the best way about this. At the moment, I'm swayed about using a couple of the packages I use for the day to day, and building the plans in Adobe Illustrator as scalable graphics, then 'skinning' the layers up in Photoshop, then printing off on to some good quality matte paper, backing to card and building as if they were a normal card kit. The buildings, I'm thinking of building as their own scenic diorama, on their own board (I've stacks of photo mount card lying around), and I'm experimenting with a power feed system so the buildings can take light straight off a common rail, and can also be swapped out for different regional/time period buildings without having to mess around by unscrewing power clips, and fastening the power clips to the building again.
     
    As for scenics, the general plan is to use cardboard (which is bountiful, living about 100 yards from the local recycling point), built up with papier-mache, and skinned with the stuff that we used when we replaced the ceilings. It's true about Spanish builders, in the apartment, they put in 100m2 of plasterboard type ceiling, and they 'forgot' to put in any supports, and just glued it to the walls. Replacing the ceilings in a year old build was something that made my blood boil, and we've still got the replacement of the floors to do, as they laid tiles on what I reckon was Chobam proving ground, and it's all crazy paving now. And the tiles were an end of line run, as the tile manufacturer was trying to shift them on the cheap, and recently they went to the dogs, so getting a new batch done isn't going to happen anytime soon.
    Rant about the Spanish construction industry over, this plaster mix stuff seems fairly flexible and is very light, and I think it would make an ideal grounding for the scenics. Also, as it's white, colouring it at use time I think would be quite easy, by just using the solid poster paint and grinding that off with an old file in to the plaster powder and then mixing it up until the right colour is made, then apply as normal plaster mix.
     
    I've made a start with the track laying, so in due course, photos should arrive...
  7. SeanNeedham
    After much umming and ahing about track plans, and location, I've finally come up with something... Which wasn't easy given the space I'd got and what my motive power pool currently is (mainly NSE branded diesels and a couple of multiple units).
     
    The idea is a bit real world, but a lot of artistic license involved, and whilst the plan below had plenty of settrack pieces, most of the straights are going to be put together using lengths of flexi-track.
     
     

     
    After thinking through where would be an ideal area to operate, I came across the Southampton and Dorchester Railway, and started thinking 'Thomas Hardy'... (Possibly Casterbridge South, but I'm not decided yet).
     
    As I'm planning this to be in some form of cutting, from the right hand side, I'm planning on using an over-bridge as a scenic break, with a station building on the over-bridge, serving an island platform, then dropping down to single track, passing behind a signal box and disappearing in to a cutting to exit stage left. The pointwork top centre has been put in to hold a 'ready' locomotive (33/73 sized), to take TCs, on from here through the single track when there's a diversion in play, whilst not blocking the through line for freight workings.
     
    On the right hand side, I've planned it with enough scenic to hold a two car multiple unit underneath, and rolling that in to the platform to simulate a terminating service, the left hand side is going to be just wide enough to accommodate a 90 curve in the back scene in case I ever decide to extend further up the office wall with it. Currently, all the marshalling of stock is planned to use cassettes; and if the extension goes ahead, that would continue on a single track with a halt for possible MU workings, with a fiddle yard behind, and the right hand side is also planned to be extendible as well, but still cassette served for the short term.
     
    The main 'background' so to speak of this station, is that it is based on an approximation of the aforementioned Southampton and Dorchester railway, primarily served by local services from Reading via Salisbury, Portsmouth via Southampton, etc, worked by mainly multiple units, with the occasional through passenger continuing down the single track towards Weymouth and Poole (either Multiple Unit as before or a TC drag/push by 33/73 stock). Also, with having the through line to Weymouth/Poole, having the possibility of operating through freight, parcels, etc, without having to go through the Southampton Central tunnel bottleneck and also potential diversions in place from engineering in the New Forest area so bringing the Poole originating sleeper service through.
     
    Well, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it!
     
    Actually, the layout was planned around something a bit different than an operational prototype; more to have an open space that I could take pictures of stock on more than anything. With my day job of photography and design, every so often, I get a box full of stock from the local model shop to photograph for their website, and up to now, this has all been done on a light table, and it looked a bit too clinical. Whilst they'd got a HO gauge layout, they hadn't got an N-gague, so I saw an opportunity to get back to what I used to enjoy doing, and also the other half's arguments would be mooted because I am primarily writing this off as a work asset, even though I'm paying for it out my 'pocket money' so to speak.
     
    I could have run the baseboard bigger, to give it more scenic or to give myself more wiggle room with bits and pieces, but taking in to account that I want this to fit in to the back seat of the car, and also have enough room to work around it with lighting and a camera, I kept it at this to start with.
     
    At present, I'm thinking of wiring it for DCC control, but keeping it as DC for the time being, as I've not really seen or looked at enough DCC to be comfortable with hacking old Farish locos to bits to add in decoders.
     
    So, now I'm going to leave the plan overnight, to stay in the head whilst I sleep on it and if I still like the idea or the excuse for operations in the morning, it's out with the double sided tape to hold the track in place with.
     
    Any suggestions, hints or comments greatly received.
  8. SeanNeedham

    Starting again...

    By SeanNeedham,

    Since life hasn't been stable for me over the last ten years or more with university and work, there hasn't really been a way to put down a permanent layout, what with moving from one end of the UK to the other, and then finally to Spain. But now things have settled down, and I've enough room in my office for a small layout. I could have gone bigger, but as I've been away from modelling for so long, and also having trouble finding things (more on that later), a 4 x 1.5' plan was devised just to keep me focused and get the skills back together.
     
    However, being an ex-pat armed with a box full of UK N-gauge diesel (and electro-diesel) locomotives and multiple units hasn't made it as easy as I remember. For one, in Spain, railway modelling seems to be a very, very niche category, and the local model shop (I say local, as it's a two and a half hour round trip) seems to stock a handful of bits that are not really worth calling a 'model railway' section. The nearest place that does do anything that could be remotely similar to what we see in the UK as a 'proper' rail-modelling shop is nearly a five hour round trip to either central Barcelona or Lleida.
     
    With this, the layout that I had planned was on computer, using parts that I knew I could get in town quite easily, but when it came to the rub, the track plan didn't feel 'right' when it was down on the board, ready to start being placed properly; and the last thing I want to do is to build up some form of locomotive maintenance depot, I want my motive power to do things other than trundle from fuelling point to wash point and then away somewhere... In the turn of scrapping the idea, it means the ideas for scenics, and for focal points has gone straight out the window, and here I am now scratching my head to what to do.
     
    It also gave me a chance to reduce the amount of points in the layout, as the other thing I'd found was the price of point motors here is astronomical, and adding in the two out and backs for them as they are special order to the shop which is slightly cheaper than delivery, a new loco could be added to the pool for the price of two of them. The thing that has caught my eye, though, is radio control stuff is very, very cheap, and I'm wondering whether it is possible to use the servos from radio controlled aircraft to throw points and move signals. If not, it's going to be the plain old tube in wire until I can get my head (or bank balance) around some point switching equipment.
     
    So, all in all, what with the unwanted assistance from the father-in-law, who thinks I should put in a massive tail-chasing layout with trains that 'he used to see' in his village, I'm back to square one with the plans, the ideas and a deadline to keep with this... When swmbo said that I was building a model railway to someone she knew, it got booked for the local craft showcase at the village festival in November.
  9. SeanNeedham
    The more the temptation is taking hold to do something based on the old railway through the valley.
     
    After being out on a job yesterday, and taking a couple of shots of the old track area that ran through the middle of the farm I was working on, and out across a bridge, I'm staring at the local history pages and mumbling to myself (not a good sign, as when mumbles happen, so do crazy projects). And when the photos come off the camera like the one attached below, it doesn't sway the mind against in the slightest...
     

     
     
    Add in to the mix, the explosive combination of some of the things that used to run up here being available in RTR and kit, then I'm seriously trying not to tempt myself with it...
     
    Though, on to other things first. I've got a load of track down, and doodles on the board for scenic areas on the current one, and I really must crack in to that now I've a free weekend (unless something bad kicks off, and my Nikon is required 'out there'), and the other half breathing down my neck asking "why isn't it finished yet?"
     
    The answer to why it hasn't progressed much in a few days, well, that's down to a pair of 1980's Poole-era Farish, and both of them having a full strip and rebuild, which was a waste of time in my eyes, because they don't run or sound any better. Are my rose tinted glasses not working as they used to, or were they really that poor in running capabilities and with the noise they kick out?
     
    Enough of the mumbles, grumbles and generally boring prattle (sorry!), and time to go and buy a new printer as the accounts department decided in it's infinite wisdom cheap cartridges were the way forward...
  10. SeanNeedham
    After a bit of a scratch about with Anyrail on the other half's PC, and then a bit of a quick doodle in Photoshop, this is the first bit of the local project...
    It's not going to be that big, just a 2x1' area, with a small train (either loco + coach, or loco + 2 or 3 wagons) scuttling in from the L/H side to the station/goods (black blocks on the right), and then disappearing out the way it came with the loco at the back to propel 'up the mountain' (as they used to on the local rack railways here).
     

     
    The light grey is the bounds of the board, with the large chunk of dark grey being the 'rock', the blue being a drainage culvert to deflect water from the top of the tunnel with an overbridge (well, not really a bridge, just a drain tube under the tracks), and the brown is just going to be a vehicle point for road...
    I suppose this could be more of a running diorama than anything, but under 'guidance' of the other half, it is going to be build in a way that it can be extended both left and right, and with having a look at some of the operations in the area, it could also be used as part of a through line for all sorts of traffic (including 37's on engineering!), with the line up the mountain going off on what would be on the other side of the left tunnel.
    The actual trackplan, if you could call it that, is a small permanent way yard that was just north of Monistrol de Montserrat when they were building the new rack railway back in 2003, and the station and goods shed is based on a place called Cal Vidal (which is handy, as it's only half hour on Shank's Pony to get there for doing measures and things), a photo on Panoramio can be found here. To the left side of the picture is the main station building/waiting room and platform, to the centre, is the station master's cottage, and the thing on the right side of that, which looks like a pallet is the loco crew platform. In total, the site is no longer than 35 metres in length (that was including goods siding to the rear!).
     
    Construction wise, it's going to be carved insulation sheet on a floating shelf, with stud wall rendering to create the stone effect, and painted up in water based paints to get the streaks of the rock (still don't know whether I'm going to go with the grey volcanic of the mountain of Montserrat, or the bright pink that is more common down in the river valley), with the buildings and bridge facias being card built, the bridge base being RC aircraft ply, and the overhead catenary scratch built out of plasticard.
     
    Any ideas or comments greatly appreciated!
  11. SeanNeedham
    I've left my macro lens in the office, and won't be going back for it tonight!
     
    On my 'local' (Catalan project), I've made a start on the boards, and started converting some stock to fit in with the generalisation (painting wagons in their base coats, painting one of the locomotive underframes). At present, the stock collection consists of a pair of these (Link), though one is on a track cleaner chassis at present; though that is no great problem, as when I can find another non-digital one on the secondhand market, then the track cleaner is going to get the mod for something else (I'm thinking snowblower).
     
    This is one of the locomotives that was at the Vall De Nuria, but is now a museum piece at Montserrat, and has different pantographs, changes in running gear to a couple of the units that are still in service.
     

     

     
    I'm not going to attempt to make the loco look totally prototypical, as it would mean removing 2mm from each end of the chassis, and also the subframe, then cutting 4mm out of the body in slices, also removing the roof and cutting that, and the electrics down in a couple of slices as well, so it's staying as it is in terms of length. Though one of the actual locomotives the model was derived from was tested by B, B & C on the Vall de Nuria (as far as can be told, as there is a picture of one that looks very similar up there on trials).
     
    The cab overhangs are going to get the chop, and also the lights are going to be changed to match this version, and maybe I will convert the cab windows to the three window set when I get round to it (visiting the UK and getting some plasticard, if my supplier can't get any!), but on three of the locomotives out of the four electrics in the fleet, the number 2 end had twin windows instead of three (whilst the number 1 end, which was the one that was usually not coupled had the three). Also the side vents are going to get changed and filled, then the vents are going to go on to the lower side as per prototype. As there were changes done on some of the fleet, during refits and at build time, so across the four that were built, there is no two that are the same.
     
    They also ride a little higher than the prototype (about a scale foot), but with the way the models are built, it would be nigh on impossible taking that 2mm out of them with the construction.
     
    At the moment, the plan of the layout is still sticking to the general adhesion line, so that would give opportunity to run some other things on there, instead of just these and trying to build some of the multiple units (though I may have to for the daily passenger services through the valley), and I'm also on the look out for something that resembles an GM SW1001 (the switcher that is used by Foster Yeoman) in N-gauge as the Renfe 310 was based on this locomotive (of which I can only find an HO kit), and that was converted in to the FGC class 353 that tops and tails short freight between Martorell (SEAT) and the port in Barcelona.
  12. SeanNeedham
    I was in Sabadell earlier (G-maps is your friend) on a photography gig... All was going well until my hearing aid packs in, right in the middle of a discussion; thank heavens for being able to lip read in not just English, but also in Catalan as well...
     
    After that disaster, two hours were spent trawling "The Manchester of Catalonia" (I think they call it that, because every time I've ever been there, I get wet through... Just like in the real Manchester) for a set of hearing aid batteries, some tea was in order.
     
    On the trawl to find somewhere that actually sold tea (took me a 4km hike to find somewhere that sold something that didn't resemble chopped grass), I passed a little junk shop, and being a bit of a magpie, I went in to see if they'd got any antique Nikon lenses just for the fun of it.
     
    They hadn't, but they'd got this little fella...
     

     
    Yep, it's a DB something or other, I don't know the class, but at 20€, it seemed tempting enough to any magpie with some N-scale track, but even more tempting when a quick recall from the 'loco list' stored on the iPod Touch of old local engines to find that there were at least four of this near on design on Martorell shed near Barcelona and they used to haul light freight/passenger up the local metals. And as I've got the paint in stock anyway, I thought it would just make a nice bit of practise giving it a paint job... As for 20€, it could have sat at the back of a layout and not done anything, apart from be a test bed for the painting techniques that need to be brought out of retirement.
     
    Got it home, took the above photo of it (couldn't be bothered to do it properly, so it's a quick snap), and then dropped it on the English layout (still got to post photos!), thinking that it is going to be one seriously rough dog... Nope, smooth as anything, absolutely glided across very quietly indeed.
     
    It didn't even get point hang like a similar length wheelbase from a certain (ex) UK manufacturer.
     
    The more I find of these little locomotives from German manufacturers, and the more I find about the local lines around here, the more I'm tempted to put all my English stuff back in storage and just concentrate locally; especially with some of the old industrial settings and stations, meaning that a very interesting and involving layout can be had in a 3x1' space or less.
  13. SeanNeedham
    Doing a bit more looking around at the local places, so I went a mooch round earlier, with the camera, just to get a few snaps of the local station. I'm going to go back when the weather is a bit better to get a few more (it was mixing over bright, with thunderstorms this after, so I didn't fancy setting the camera up on mounts and going busy with a yardstick).
    However, if anyone is interested in pinching them (the roof does bow like that), the edge of the platform is 18" from bed, the distance from platform edge to building is 6' exact, and the bottom of the door frames to get a measurement line is 4'.
     
    I'll be going back when the weather is more stable to get some better ones, so these are only temporary images!
     
    This first is the north end of the station, where the twin line would have gone through (passenger/freight passing loop), and latterly a spur running behind to the old factory that is off to the left hand side about a kilometre away.
     
     

     
    Just a view of the north end elevation.
     
     

     
    South end elevation showing the goods loading bay (where the park is now).
     
     

     
     
    General front elevation. The rear elevation had the same window pattern, but the outer pairs of doors were replaced by windows of the same dimension that run along the top floor.
     

     
     
    And this place is one of the two little goods stores that were on the back to the old factory. With a scaling meausrement across the bottom of the door frame at 3.5'. I didn't manage to get a good image of the other store, as with the distortion from the ultra wide angle lens I was using, and the bowing of the structure, it just didn't look right!
     

     
    As I said before, if anyone is interested in nicking the images, feel free to do so, but please do not link them directly off my server.
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