Les1952

Layout boxed. Pic as promised to show the two halves of the layout boxed together for transport. Cropped a bit close because the image had to be cut small enough to upload. I've fitted the two UTP sockets I have, and the NTP? socket. The latter is daisychained to the first of the UTP sockets as a permanent connection. The third and fourth sockets are on the bridge board (master and first UTP are on the colliery board. I've also acquired some matt black paint to do the insides of the ends before the lids are attached. The ends are quite open so no access holes will need to be cut in the end panels. I'll do that tomorrow once the wind drops enough for me to be sure I'm not going to get a shed full of apple tree. Loco developments. 65726 has come back from Wickness models having been chipped with 65860 the next to go. I've started to renumber the Farish J39/2 as 64843 which was a Sunderland engine in its final two years and which did get a late crest (unlike the Farish model of 64838 which had its last repaint 8 months before the first late lions appeared.....) Plernty still to do, hatches to batten down etc. All the very best Les

Thanks for that- I'd figured the colliery sidings but didn't know about the allotments. As Hawthorn Dene is a ficticious colliery in the area I'm going to put allotments on the flat area at the front right and at the top of the bank to the left, with a row of four houses facing the backscene. The pigeon lofts (probably about half-a-dozen including the van conversion will mostly be along here also. The layout now has its end boards fitted for transport (photo to follow) and I've fitted the UTP sockets for the Powercab (or at least two of them- the third I'll get when I pick up the two 0-6-0STs from Digitrains. These two- sadly there isn't anywhere to put decoders in either of the 0-4-0s. A pair of WD saddletanks from DJ Models will fill the colliery roster. These will be able to shunt the screens without a runner wagon to convert the couplers. Time to go and get on with wiring adjustments. All the very best Les

Very many thanks for that. No intention of applying modeller's licence to put Penshaw Hill in the background if it isn't there- though it would have been a different matter if it WAS visible. The photos I have looking inland don't show a lot of detail I can't add either from photos or generically- there didn't seem to be a lot that was too distinctive, thank goodness. Anything I do add will be on a layer of backscene about 1mm in front of the sky. the layout is now waiting transport to Trevor Webster's tomorrow to have slots cut in the frame for the controllers and a pair of ends making to hold the halves together for transport. Then home again for a little adjustment to the wiring and scenic detailing can begin in earnets- (earnest even..........) All the very best Les

Just to show the effect of replacing the UM tender on the D20 and J25 with the smaller UM Midland tender then adding coal rails (in my case not very well as I'm ham-fisted). Posed on Furtwangen Ost. The lower picture was taken on my Hawthorn Dene layout (under construction). The J25 is off for chipping. All the very best Les

Quick question Hopefully someone will know the answer and save me a 250-mile round trip to check.. Can Penshaw Hill be seen from Easington Colliery or is the hill in the way? This is on the basis that if it can be seen it has to be on the backscene somewhere..... All the very best Les

First layer of grass. Small jar of diluted PVA and paintbrush at the ready, and with Gaugemaster puffer bottle filled with scatter it was with trepidation I tackled a trial area of the bank yesterday. The results are seen in the photos. The difference between the left side of the bridge cutting, which is done, and the right side which I've yet to start, is quite something. It still needs a lot of detail adding but the signs aren't bad so far. I was surprised to find some black bits in the scatter- ballast picked up with the minivac and returned to the mixing box. I like the effect and will add a lot more to the slopes below the washery and landsale yard. A trip to the BRM show at Peterborough today was fruitful. Three Bachmann decoders to do more locos, and a trio of backscenes from Gaugemaster- two plain cloudy sky and an open country field to do the front layer. I'll stand the middle ground (from some photos of the real area) off the sky by about half a millimetre and put the open fields another half millimetre in front- rather like I did on Furtwangen Ost, but hopefully without the mistakes. Talking to PD Marsh their conveyor kit is to be released at Warley- and the first parts to be ready are the ones I need, so the holes at the North End of the backscene can be plugged by the end of the year. The loco in Picture 2 was previously LNER 2000 used on Trevor Webster's Parnhams. Now he is selling the layout this J25, plus a K3 and a D20 have gone into BR black, with a J26 and a pair of J27s on decision- I already have BR versions of these. One Union Mills J39 is now chipped, and other UM lopcos will go off as I can afford them. Digitrains will get the Geisl Austerity tank to do sometime next week. Must finish now- cat feeding time.... Les

I lost the will to live painting P.D. Marsh pushbikes for Furtwangen Ost, but a couple resting against the parapet of the overbridge at the South end, with sacks over the crossbars and a pair of shady characters mopping their brows, that I like.......... All the very best Les

Further North than I managed on my field trip - the persistent mizzle and not taking a coat with me did for that- it was warm and sunny when I set off from Newark...... You can make out something when looking at the area on Google Earth. I'm aiming for an impression rather than reality (which I just haven't room for), so there will be steps down the bank below the landsale drops, but it isn't a full cutting at that point. At the other end I've had to invent an overbridge to hide the fiddle yard exit, though it will be about 4 inches in from the backscene holes and there will be a double row of hawthorn trees to hide the hole. The overbridge will just carry a track (rather like the one just North of the underbridge by the colliery site. All the very best Les

The tipper wagons I've got are American in origin, so one will be full of sea coal heading up the track under the bridge- with the cab away from the punter so you can't make out it isn't a Bedford QL....... All the very best Les

Now that sounds like a good idea for a different cree. Time to look through the box of dead wagons for a suitable body..... many thanks for the idea. All the very best. Les

8th October- still doing panel wiring. At least with the new clubroom we can work on more than one job at the same time. With me sorting wires and tags, and keeping an overview of the plan, Jim and Alf have been doing the upleads to the panel from below the board, working on both sides at once. Meanwhile Geoff has started installing the point motors for the three points at the front of the board. Trevor is cruising the Black Sea with SAGA. A closer look at the wiring going on top and bottom of the board simultaneously- achieved by using a screw eye on the outside of the back wall of the bench and a luggage cord taken fron there and wrapped round the legs to keep it upright. Meanwhile having taken the cable labels home for use on Hawthorn Dene, I forgot to bring them back this week. Luckily Jim had these in his toolbox. We now have 2 point motors installed and wired back to the tag strips, and both panels wired to their tag strips with the first set of switch jumpers done, again on both panels. Hopefully next week the panels will be completely wired for power, and Trevor will be back just in time to cut the underboard webbing for the third point motor.... He will also need to bring his thing-for-drilling-big-holes so we can wire in the main power cable and the hand-helds. All the very best Les

Coupling rod pin was off, as I found out when I applied power. I'll lamp it finally when I know what train on Top Valley/Rise Park it is to work. It won't be chipped as it isn't for Hawthorn Dene. Cab glazing is also still to do. All the best

Decision Made (or gone over to the dark side) I've bought a PowerCab for the layout, and got as far as chipping five of the locos. I really couldn't face the six weeks or so wiring it up. All going DCC has meant was to common up the sections under the board- I will need to separate some places where the two polarities come too close together, but the layout now runs DC as a complete single section. Trackwork cleaning is going on, together with a little smoothing of a couple of bumpy bits in the fiddle yard. 5 locos chipped so far (all 6-pin NEM)- 60045 Lemberg with a Zimo 61018 Gnu with a Lenz Silver Mini the pannier with a small CT Elektronik chip the class 24 with a Bachmann, and the WD, also with a Bachmann. In addition the Class 24 will come back from DCC Supplies after warranty repair chipped, and one J25 has gone to DCC Supplies for chipping. All the very best Les

To DCC or not to DCC, that is the question. The layout is now on its back- one half on the workbench, while the other half is on Furtwangen Ost's trestles, held vertical by bungee cords wrapped round the roof trusses in the workshop. Next job is finishing the wiring, but I'm not sure whether to make it analogue or DCC- the latter would involve chipping twenty-odd locos and a bit more expense on controllers. However- to remain DC the following jobs need doing.- three SCART plugs on each board to carry the wires across. forty extra pairs of drop wires to install in the fiddle yard three panels to make and wire in about 4 extra reels of wire to install. three new hand-helds to buy from Modelex. I'm not sure whether the time this will take can't be better spent on the scenics. Ideas? Les

A little wiring.. We've started wiring up from the tag strips to the bottom of the control panels- doing the runs up to the switches in two stages- Underboard tag strip to panel tag strip first, then tag strip to switch inside the panel. First- a shot of the tag strips in the base of the control panel. At the time Trevor bought the boxes he hadn't realised that we were planning tag strips inside them, and the boxes are polythene. The tag strips are held clear of the bottom of the box by strips of Evergreen plastic glued on the underside to create an air gap. The middle board has been placed on the new workbench vertically with the underside pointing into the main work space and the panels at the top. This allows the panels to be opened and hooked over the bench backboard to steady the board. It has the disadvantage of whoever connects the panel end of the wire needs to hike 20 feet to get to the other side, but with a two-person team on it isn't that much of a problem. The little tags on the wires help identify which is which- less necessary when the wire is entirely under the board, as even droppers have the number marked on the underside of the board, and the tag strips under the board are labelled. However these wires go up what will be a tunnel on the outside of the board - we abandoned the slots as wiggle in the wires when the panel is tilted would derail trains underneath. These are the tags in the box- Radio Spares ones many years old- the number 1 is running a bit low... Wires are done one at a time, and kept tight as the panel in open position is slightly further from the tag strip under the board than the panel closed. More shortly. Les

After Grantham... A good weekend at Grantham Railshow. Lots of people looking at the layout. Two more enquiries, and a possible futher booking for next year- this could give four outings next year if they all bear fruit. Also one enquiry for Hawthorn Dene, so here's hoping..... Only casualty is one of the lamps on the signal on the platform- it displays two greens but one amber has gone out. I've taken a look under the layout and there's a wire come adrift- that will have to be sorted. Trams are running better than they have been- I might at last have got most of the tiny dirt/glue spots removed from places where I can neither see nor get to it. View along the layout from behind the tower. John Catling operating the layout. Next stop Newark Showground for Model Rail Live.... All the very best Les

Control Panels going in The two control panels are now made- not from the black box originally thought- these started as polythene paper boxes. Trevor has built a frame for each of them. The wires will now come up the baseboard edge and enter near the lower end of the panel. The panels are hinged at the front so we can reach behind them when someone rear-ends another train in the fiddle yard. They are also hinged at the back to allow access to the wiring inside. More details on them as we get wires going up into them. They will be fastened with clips for transit etc. All the very best Les

More testing and some physical changes. After a thoughtful three weeks checking for, finding and fixing short- circuits (the last one was due to my having crossed over the wrong pair of wires in one of the SCART sockets) we now have trains running in both directions at once. First a pair of videos, then the first post with new PICTURES- this with the first details of the control panels. Hopefully this one is an A4 going anticlockwise passing a Dapol Voyager I got cheaply as a non-runner (one soldered joint detatched). These were the first trains after Thomas the Test Engine had done his job. Again assuming it works, one of my Dapol 9Fs on hoppers passes Green Arrow going the other way on a short train. Hopefully one of the vids also shows that Geoff and Alf have sprayed the trackbed with track colour. Lastly for this post Jim's blue A4 on a shortish train of teaks. Did anyone say members of the group are rather keen on A4s? All the very best Les

Preparing for shows Not a huge number of things to report- getting the layout clean and running for two shows in the next month. Grantham looms. However following an enquiry for next Summer I've had to try to get an accurate trackplan. I hit upon the idea of taking an overhead view instead, largely because my curve drawing isn't up to it these days. Herewith a track plan.... Still plenty to do. Les

Mostly taken off at York, but have been photographed both at Tees yard/Thornaby shed, and crossing Durham viaduct - which I would take as working through to Tyne yard. The local class 27s seem to have interworked with class 25/0. The Thornaby 27s in any case had smaller fuel tanks I understand, so would have been kept on fairly local duties. Hope this helps. Les

Two more railcars Two railcars in two days, with a third in the pipeline. Photos suffering from an excess of light in the workshop today. This is the second attempt at one of these battery railcars- the first one is in bits in its box. If this one starts to exhibit the same problems as the first (total lack of adhesion as the wheels wore smooth) I'll transfer the mechanism form the other into the unpowered end of this- or get a dealer to do it for me... Looking and feeling more like a workhorse a prewar diesel railcar, quite a brute. Vintage Minitrix model. Both of these will take their turn on the vintage service, sharing a fiddle yard siding. The VT98 set will share a siding with the low floor set, and the third siding will have either a goods train or the vintage steam train- if the latter the goods can be assembled ad hoc. The set in the pipeline is an East German 4-wheel railbus set, which can change about with the VT98 set. Still adding small improvements, and sorting out stock for Hawthorn Dene and Top Valley/Rise park. All the very best Les

Videos at last! Troubleshooting last night got us to the stage that we can run trains right round anticlockwise, though each of the two roads we are using has a problem to fix next week, and the first train was duly run. This is alos the first train to run on any layout in Bingham MRC's new clubroom. Loco is Jim's Dapol Andrew K McCosh Trevor also dug out the platforms and station buildings. We then ran all the other LNER locos we had with us- my Dapol Papyrus and Jim's Minitrix Scotsman. The teaks were exchanged for a long rake of 21-tonners and more trains were run. Final train of the evening was hauled by one of my J39s-the one with an NER tender. Only problematic loco onn the clockwise circuit was the ROD, which isn't happy with 10.5 inch curves. This one will be tested on the 12 inch curves of the outer circuit when we've finished troubleshooting that. All the best Les

Some Stock Pics Pics posed on Furtwangen Ost. Partly to answer Steve O, two locos that have been on my workbench for a week or two and which are going down for testing on the layout tonight. 42769 is the Crab that has been on Mr Simon's workbench about a year ago- he has described swapping the tender and fitting boiler handrails etc to it. What he didn't say was the Gem 4F tender was professionally solder-assembled by David Temple of Darlington. This week I've lined out the tender (a job Mr Simon didn't fancy) and it now waits weathering in a day or two. 63824 is an O4/7 hand-built by Pro Models on a Farish 8F chassis. Like the other three of my Pro Models loco it has needed a degree of fettling to improve its running. Again it is waiting for weathering. All the very best Les

Coo- four months since an update. Little to report- a trip to New York, exam marking and preparing Furtwangen Ost for two exhibitions in September have put paid to that for now. The layout is still standing on its end waiting for me to start to finish the wiring, so any stock done has to be posed on Furtwangen Ost at the moment . 62395 was the last D20 in service, withdrawn 1957, a little too early but I've also got a G5 which was withdrawn the same year. The D20 has been running on Trevor Webster's Parnhams as LNER 711, making it a veteran of Taunton and Warley shows amongst others. It is basically a simple repaint back into BR black, though the tender isn't the original. This tender was my first attempt at converting a small UM Midland type into something nearer an NER type. The rear is a little too flared but it looks OK when moving on a train. Maybe it won't be another 4 months before the next update.... All the best Les

Just to prove Simon's dad does actually work on his own locos from time to time. The Crab tender lined out (fox transfers) and awaiting weathering. It is now in the queue for soak testing on Top Valley & Rise Park. Les