Les1952

The Industrial Railway Society Existing Locomotives books (1979 to 1989 I have readliy available) only give two 4-wheel Rolls Royce Sentinels with the MOD- numbered 242 and 244. Whether 243 was a third one that disappeared before 1979 I don't know, BTW they were built by Rolls Royce after the Sentinel takeover. There were a much greater number of Vanguards. The two Sentinels were rebuilt by Barclay in the eighties. I'm not sure when they were disposed of. All the very best Les

Slightly out of focus- Describes how I was feeling early in the week having seen Status Quo live on Sunday evening- the ears stopped ringing on Tuesday. Also slightly out of focus this-- The ballasting has now extended as far as the shed, I took this just before starting the second spasm. The shed has to sit on a base of balsa to give enough headroom to actually get a loco inside. I've not yet decided whether to wire up the shed line on this baseboard or not. There is a large heap of ash etc to go between the shed and the running line here, and I'm going to put an egg-ended boiler somewhere near as a water tower, with a very rickety platform as a coaling stage. No pit, sheds this size often didn't have them. Meanwhile sticking ceiling tiles down as risers continues- getting an dhesive that sticks expanded polystyrene to expanded polystyrene is proving a nightmare- even polystyrene cenemt only sticks it occasionally............ Time to warm hands and do some more. Les

Many thanks, Steve. You definitely missed out on a bundle of fun plate of dingoes kidneys with this particular D49- it spent a lot of time in the "too hard to deal with" box before surfacing while I was waiting bits for HDC. I suspect I only realised that I had a workable solution when it occurred to me that the tub of Dapol B1 bits probably had something useable lurking inside it- there's certainly enough bits of NQP B1 sitting in there.... I've now stripped one cab side down to bare metal, and it is quite grim- I suspect I'll just spray and hope. A better way of holding the body on than the present blu-tack still hasn't occurred to me, either. Mr Simon might yet have ideas when he sees it at the weekend. No doubt he'll have something caustic to say about it. I'll ignore the extra valve gear bits that a Hunt had- the rest of the loco looks OK running - and it now runs well. Lined and weatherd it will pass normal inspection on a semi-fast train. Sod's law will dictate it just gets into service and Dapol Dave will decide he has enough bits in his armoury to make one r-t-r. Little progress on the layout this week so far- a short section of the upper line has had a first ballasting, and I've begun sticking down ceiling tiles as risers where the coal drops are to be and made a rough foundation for the engine shed- I'll try to remember to put up a pic of that as it si a little better looking than anything else that is progressing. All the very best Les

Very many thanks. The idea is that for exhibition use it is a roundy-roundy mainly with the shunting as a sideline. At home what happens will depend on the mood. I've spent much of today in the workshop with a pair of trains just running round while I worked on the Hunt and one or two other items on the workbench. Having said that I made a mistake when wiring up the new temporary connections on the colliery line (so can't play with the shunting aspect at the moment)- I've wired in a direct short instead of a link. I'm not taking the boards apart again until after Christmas- Mr Simon can help me lift the colliery board onto the workbench while he is back for the holidays. In the mean time I'll ballast the part of the colliery line on the underbridge board. There are no more droppers to install on this bit and I know it works. I'm also going to have to do some more eBay trading. I've got more passenger engines than I need and not enough reliable goods power. All the very best Les

If I'm wrong Dave will no doubt correct me here, but I suspect that the economic options may well come down to- all with balance weights (orig AND rebuilt) or all without...... The N-gauge market just doesn't generate enough sales to afford both, I fear. I HOPE I'm wrong but the gut says not....... All the very best Les

Another pair of vids. two new videos to show the effect of the backscene, even though not a lot is finished. First one with the camera at track level has an RCTS special (coaches have boards apart from the pullman and loco has an RCTS headboard) behind a hymek - definitely a rule 1 train as an excuse to keep my pair of hymeks. Passing it is a train of coal fulls behind J27 65860. Moving the camera into the well for the underbridge to get the lens nearer to track level, the WD on coal empties passes the J39/3 on a short heavy oil train (heavy oil therefore no barrier wagons) Hope these work. Les

Eight days onwards.... I took the layout back to Trevor's yesterday and we put on the backscene and the raised sides and ends. The lids for the ends and the extra cross-bracing to keep it steady can wait until the spring. By that time the wiring will have been finished and the basic contours applied and coloured. Today back in the workshop- no calls and no visitors. I'd have said it was quiet but I was repelling them with Meatloaf and Status Quo at goodly volume (is there any other way to play Status Quo?) Much of the day spent on wiring up the first scart connector on the colliery board. This now has 20 of the 21 pins connected back to the tag strip behind it. Tomorrow I have to wire the same 20 pins from the second scart socket to the tag strip on the underbridge board. At that point I should be able to test that the droppers I'd already done now work through the interboard connection. Connection goes tag strip (to gather wires) to scart socket then by scart lead (plugged into both boards) to scart socket then to tag strip (to distribute the wires again. The scart sockets are a little fragile in the tab department. I wrecked the first one taking too long to solder a wire to it. Once in place under the boards they are protected- it is just soldering to them that is a bit hair raising....... The colliery board showing the backscene in place- there is a curve to fit into the corner using card. I've given it a rough coat of not-quite-white from a tester pot to seal the wood. There will be a Gaugemaster photographic backscene eventually- I'll put a piece of corrugated card next to the bottom to leave a slot for it to go into. Holes are two low ones for the wagon feed into the screens and a taller narrow one for the colliery line. The main line is in deep cutting here- no tunnel or bridge this end, I'll continue the cutting sides beyond the backscene. As the backscene is only 5 inches high (high enough for a 6-foot tall punter not to be able to see most of the fiddle yard given that the layout datum is 3'9 off the floor) it does restrict the height of the buildings a bit. If the colliery headstock doesn't materialise I'm going to just leave the site as a washery and screens handling household coal for a larger pit (Easington or Hawthorn Combined Mine) just up the line. Another view of the underbridge. I've been thinking about the brickwork for this. The general shape is the same as the Peco double-track tunnel mouth. I'm wondering if I can use this for the top of the arch both sides, cutting the parapet off one and sticking it back-to-back on the other side to make the intact side of the prototype bridge. As the things are cheap I'll look out for one and try it- a case for kitbashing to solve the difficult parts of a build. You can tell Mr Simon inherited his craft skills from his mum...... All the very best Les

Tuesday - still doing ugly bits... Music yesterday and today by Russ Conway (good at repelling visitors), Slade (ditto) and Eliza Doolittle (NOT good at repelling visitors.........) I've got the three points that I'd started connected to their levers and working. Run out of staples for the heavy gun so the fourth point has had its operating wire threaded through a similar route. As a result there are now four levers close together to the right of the screen feed tracks. These are all tested and working and the levers labelled. The other two points will have their levers to the left of the screen feed tracks. The switches for the colliery railway sections (probably only four needed) will be mounted in a very small box nearby. . This is one of the pair on Furtwangen Ost. Wires are brought in underneath and soldered to a tag board beneath the baseboard. All of this lot is within reach of the down (Northbound) line operator. This means if only two operators are available there will be a busy one and a quieter one who can field punter questions. Four tag bards have arrived from Brimal in Hartlepool and I'm expecting the SCART sockets for the inter-board wiring very shortly. The main line has had masking tape put along its sides ready for ballasting- this next task is slightly more exciting than waiting for glue to dry. No work tomorrow, Christmas shopping. Les

First colliery points connected I've thought about it overnight and realised that since there isn't enough space to turn the wires through 90 degrees in front of the backscene a little lateral thinking is required. The solution is to take them under the backscene and run them between the tracks of the high level fiddle sidings. I've raised the track of this which runs closest to the backscene by 1.5mm and supported that with balsa. The photo shows it in all its gory detail. The power connections to the track between the points are temporary and will be re-done in a tidier manner before ballasting. The balsa under the fiddle yard track is shaped to support the curve of the Mercontrol wire. The track pins are temporary while the glue holds- the original epoxy (black) didn't stick to the PTFE so I've used an impact adhesive. I'm also adding staples at intervals, pushed in to just hold the mercontrol in place without pinching it. Messy at the moment but a lot will be under the scenery and the rest behind the backscene. The wire does operate the points firmly, tomorrow's job is adding the levers to these three and starting the others. Les

Pics as promised Music today by the Shadows and Status Quo- Tthe latter seems yesterday to have persuaded one of the hens in the run behind the workshop to lay her first egg! It didn't have a repeat effect today....... The colliery line runs- and after fettling one end so it didn't derail hoppers being pulled by the 0-4-0T or the J94, both of which have very short Rapidos, all of the locos intended for it run well. Herewith as promised a set of pictures that only really show uneven track and trains standing on the sites of bits yet to appear. The colliery fiddle yard- the loop is long enough to pass two eight-wagon trains. In practice six looks enough. The maroon 0-4-0ST is another Peco kit on Arnold chassis, retrieved from the "will it ever run?" box. Looking along the meandering line with a train of empties coming from the direction where the exchange sidings are offstage. The dead end at the shed road with the Hunslet 0-4-0T and another oddity from the box. This one is a Somerset & Dorset liveried saddletank, which looks enough like a Beyer Peacock to get a bit of treatment and possibly a better motor, though it is a runner. The Hunslet runs the opposite way to everything else with no obvious way of correcting it. The maroon 0-4-0ST shunts the site of the screens. The backscene will curve round over the sidings leaving a little over a wagon length for adding fulls to push out for collection. There will be a pair of Dapol magnets set into the track as soon as I have enough of the Mark4 screens made to work out exactly where. The Geisl austerity passes empties over the weighbridge site- the little building behind is going to be the weigh house. I made this at Leamington show a few years ago and it has been waiting a job ever since. The weigh plate will hide the third Dapol magnet. The Mercontrol bits arrived this morning and I've started to lay the wire in tube for the first point, the left hand end of the main loop (above the drops on the plan). I had left a space in the sleepers on the shed road for the PTFE tube to pass through. The next pair (shed entry and screens turnout from the running line) will be difficult as there isn't a logical path or really enough space for a 90 degree crank. Time to sit in front of the telly and think of a solution (or not). Les

Revised Trackplan Having looked at the alternatives I've made the following decisions regarding the colliery To use Peco track with 9" setrack at the ends. Because the colliery board is inaccessible from below to use GEM Mercontrol to switch the pointwork. This in turn will mean all colliery pointwork has to be on the colliery board. As I already have a supply of Code 80 medium radius points left over from an earlier layout the colliery will be laid in Code 80 Streamline, though a lot of this will be buried up to rail level. To continue the screening roads through the backscene. The landsale depot will be at a lower level than the colliery with the track extending onto the drops from the colliery. The shed building will be on the underbridge board. The track from the exchange sidings will weave across the underbridge board. This is now laid in apart from the run onto the top of the landsale drops. Hopefully I'll have the wire droppers done tomorrow and can start testing. On order at the moment are tag strips to solder the droppers to SCART sockets for the interboard connections. I'm expecting these early next week. Testing pics to follow. Les

Six Inches- not..... The Tomix 177mm radius curves arrived today and have been tested with a small oval set up. Result---- 1. The pannier goes round, as do Farish J94 and J52/J50 kits on farish chassis. 2. Hopper wagons buffer lock, as do the locos if they have to pull anything. So- solution to ends is that the curves on the colliery line will be 9" Peco Setrack. Points may yet be Tomix if I can get satisfactory joints between the two track types. The R177 curves will go on the next tramway layout whenever it is built (or on eBay.....) Time to play again...... Les

Possibly, except it has outside steampipes and the splashers look as if they've always been for a 4-4-0..... I've also resurrected another eBay purchase, a V3 2-6-2T on a minitrix chassis. With a strip down the loco is now running well, if noisily. Runs through the fiddle yard at passenger train speeds but stalls on the exit points. All the very best Les .

Update on the Hunt. So far it has shed its valve gear (rebuilt), lost a cab step (found and ready to stick back) then lost its bogie which was held on with double-sided tape! The latter is now superglued back onto its support. The piece de resistance was for the two halves of the motor to spring apart at the front as the securing screw wasn't long enough! Something tells me this loco doesn't want to be fettled. All that lot has been repaired and the tender top has been sprayed black. It is running well at last (until something else drops off). However the body is BRASS, so I've no idea of its origin at all. As tom identity it has plates for "The Middleton" which had a raved-out tender to start with and may have ended up with an NER one. There are only two other sets of plates available in N so its new identity will be 62758 THE CATTISTOCK as the only one available with the right tender. This one never got the late BR crest but could have worked Leeds-Harrogate-Stockton-Sunderland semifasts as it was a Starbeck engine. Next is to souce plates and get the number off the cab ready to start lining it out. Oh joy......... Les

First a pic and then a video..... I'm still soak testing the roundy-roundy and realising just how many crappo runners I still have. The result is I'm spending a lot of time fettling engines. First the pic. The edge of the fiddle yard showing the plastic edge strip. It may not look much but it is high enough to stop things diving onto the floor when they come off the track. The video shows a pair of test trains, the clockwise one with 92050 and the anticlockwise with the WD. Both have had surgery to improve running as follows- 92050 First batch Dapol 9F. Has done two exhibitions on Moorcock Junction (and is the one reviewed yonks ago in the N-Gauge Journal). However it has been track sensitive. It has had the free centring spring from Dapol but that didn't cure it. Has now had a pony wheelset from a weathered 9F and runs perfectly. The weathered 9F (which is the one shown on Gresby derailed) got the wheelset from 92050 and also runs perfectly- I don't know why..... WD. Its tribulations I described here on 17th November. Suffice to say one of my 3MT tanks has also shed its pony truck spring and runs better without it. I'm trying to work out why certain of my new-type Farish Mark1s don't stay coupled- eithetr to locos or each other. So far it seems that some have a banana-shaped rapido on the end and others don't. More investigation needed here.... Time flies. Les

Many thanks- it is a recurring problem, repetitive strain injury. Carpal tunnel part sorted out leaving something that is either tennis elbow or arthritis, and they're not entirely sure which (probably some of each). A bit of rest should see it well before the next examining season and all the heavy work on HDC is done for now. All trackwork on the main line part is complete. There are no points out front on the lower part. I'll ballast it this side of Christmas, a boring task but one with low physical stress. The colliery railway isn't started, and will in any case not be done until I've decided what sort of track I'm using. I want it to run well and look grotty, with wagons lurching about just as in the real thing. This probably means some form of setrack laid in short sections with lifts and angles at the rail joints, then infilled with colliery grot and weeds. I'm thinking of Tomix finetrack at the moment as it has a 6.5 inch curve available. I've got a circle of this ordered and have some straights and a power clip left over from the tramway on Furtwangen Ost. I'll do some extensive testing of this before I make a final decision. There is also an electric 3-way point with the motors embedded in the ballast, which sounds like a good handy item. If I take the Tomix route I'll need to talk nicely to Heiko at Modellbahn Union and see if I can get a decent price on an order. The backscene can't be done until the colliery line is laid as there are three holes to cut with positions determined by the exact route of the colliery line. All the best. Les

Very many thanks, gents, for the kind words. It helps having a cabinet maker construct the boards for me, though I did design them. WD is still too clean for a North Eastern one but will get its turn to be weathered as soon as it gets out of warranty. In the mean time it is finally behaving itself on trackwork. Saturday again.... Meatloaf and Status Quo still keeping vistors at bay so I can get on undisturbed...... By 11am yesterday the final siding was laid in the fiddleyard, and in the afternoon I got the protective L-shaped plastic strip on the side. Now I can run locos through the clockwise exit fan at speed without having to worry about them going off over the board edge if they derail. However, my right wrist is letting me know I've seriously overdone it this week, and is now in its splint for a coule of days, so I'm doing no building at all next week and concentrating on soak testing the main line circuit with any locos that might run on it. I've already found one fishplate that was under the rail it was supposed to be holding in place (only one so far ). I'll also make sure everything that is going to Warley with Stamford East gets a good run. First up is the 4-car DMU which now has corridoor connections. I tried tissue paper connectors and couldn't get them to behave, so these are made of layers of felt. Not so forgiving but I've also labelled each car on the underside to show what it should be coupled to at each end. It works OK with the power car pulling (fine for Hawthorn Dene). I've not yet tried it propelling, which it will need to do 50% of the time at Warley. One car is still to do. This one has lurked in the bottom of the loco box for some time. Originally I think it came from eBay, though it might have been a toyfair. It is a D49 on a Poole-built Farish Midland Compound chassis. It got put aside on acquisition as a lousy runner- due to having traction tyres and tender pickups that didn't pick up current. It originally had a Langley? tender top superglued to a Farish chassis, and set too far back. I thought originally the body was a shortened Langley B1 but now I'm not sure. it appears to be all one piece and is held to the chjassis with blu-tack (and sitting slightly too far back at the moment). So far I've taken off the original tender and failed totally to get to the pickup strips to bend them to touch the wheels. Plan B was then to see if I had a better tender. This one is off a Dapol B1 bought for £10 at Dapol's open day as a non-runner for spares. Its motor has already gone to another loco. I've run the original tender pickup wire to one side of the tender pickups and a new wire from the drawbar to the other side- not easy as there isn't a lot of wire from the pickups to the former motor. The drawbar also now has a joggle in it to get the height of the tender front down so it has its wheels on the rails. The tender has been filled with lead strip to keep it on the track. Currently it is on test and will toddle round the layout with eight mark 1s in tow with no pickup problems. I've got to check that the nameplates are correct for one of the Hunts of the final batch that DIDN'T give up its 4200 gallon flush-sided tender to a V2, and then repaint it all black and line it. I'm hoping it is one of the eight that got late crests (lion facing forwards both sides and never corrected). Its duties will be Middlesbrough to Newcastle semi-fasts. Time for bed... Les

Thursday excitement - TRAINS RUNNING. Three days spent mostly in the workshop laying track with Meatloaf and Status Quo repelling visitors successfully. Most of the fiddle yard is now done- or in the case of the siding furthest from the board edge, re-done. Only the road nearest the front edge to lay and I've run out of track pins. I've run a pair of drop wires from each main line track on each board to my On-Tracks twin controller, and have used this to test for shorts- I got a nice puff of smoke from the fiddle yard on one track where there was some copper in the dust across a break I'd cut in the copperclad, but brushing that away solved the problem. Now power is in I can test my tracklaying with some of my more track-sensitive locos and stock. The G5 rebuilt from a Dapol M7 won't run on Stamford East at all. Apart from problems with taking three dead frog points in quick succession it has no major issues. Solution here will be to keep it on a straight road, probably sharing it with a J27 on hoppers. The WD derailed on the first point it came to- then its copper flat spring over the bogie appeared as I was lifting it upright again. Removing this altogether has stopped it derailing and climbing points. Siding length means the lonest mineral train is likely to be 20 hoppers, so it won't be outclassed by the smaller locos. Tomorrow should see Cock O'The North on test, and maybe the last bit of the lower circuit (the final fiddle yard road) laid in. The WD on a train of hoppers passes one of the A3s on a passenger at the site where the underbridge is going to be. All for now Les

Monday Blues Another frustrating day at the office workshop. No visitors to distract me, loud music from Status Quo then Sweet kept them away. On the positive side I've got both ends of the fiddle yard laid and put down the copperclad at the board joins. I've got the first two wires soldered in and hopefully will be able to test with a loco tomorrow. On the negative side one thickness of copperclad is adequate for the board join at the front but not enough for the code 80 in the fiddle yard. Two thicknesses are too much after smearing the glue on. I've had to add a thickness of balsa either side of the copperclad but have ended with a slight incline either side of the board join at the back. On the better side- checking clearances with the A3 results in these. Clearance is slightly more than with two coaches passing. The new cutout has given me the space for the coal drops as a landsale yard. It will be a little higher and the road will rise up past it. The track at the front is now stuck down for one metre from the right end swinging inland to the underbridge. Hopefully I'll get that bit laid tomorrow. Plenty yet to do. Les

Should be OK, the throw of one coach outwards against the overhang of another is critical- but I'll try an A3 on the inner against a coach overhang on the outer. 9F cylinders won't be a problem as there isn't a platform. Boards are now back and the upper level is cut back in width on the colliery board. Pics on Monday (Spalding show to buy bits tomorrow). All the best les

A Day of Progress (in both directions) I've been looking at copperclad sleeper strip for the board joins, and something 5mm wide or bigger will be best. Packs of 10 are enough for this layout AND Rise Park, so I'll source a pack for that. I picked up the two packs of Code 80 track, and a replacement point for the one I couldn't find (I'd used it on Furtwangen Ost), together with rail joiners (12 packs for the two layouts). Todays jobs done are fiddleyard jobs. There is less end clearance on the colliery board than on the bridge board for the turn, so I've laid in the end first. 12" radius Strack for the outer and 10.5 inch for the inner. As already explained the fiddleyard has to be two fans of sidings running in the same direction rather than them both fanning out from the middle. Checking clearances at the tightest point- there is actually almost 3mm between coaches as they pass- I've used Mark 1s as they are the longest planned for the layout- I'll cross-check later with a Class 156 and a Class 153 in case Mr Simon gets big ideas Showing how the entry and exit open out from each other at each end. Mark 1s are a mixture of ancient Farish, new Farish and MTK. I also laid in the front point fan and curve at the other end- the front one goes in first as it then sets the boundaries for the one behind it- I felt it was easier to lose a road from the inside if I'd miscalculated. A temporary length of track has allowed me to confirm the length of the shortest siding- a 4-car DMU plus an eight-wagon mineral train or equivalent. An express plus an inspection saloon will also fit. Pannier still awaiting conversion to open cab saddletank. The backwards step When I marked out the edges of the upper level at the front I marked the lower edge rather than the upper, but have got the edges of the upper level made at the lines.... As a result there are too many cliff edges! Tomorrow the colliery board is going back to Trevors for the front edge of the upper level to be cut back to a new line further back. This will restore the planned gradient to the road, and allow space for the landsale yard to sit below the colliery level. This will effectively give the following levels - main line at datum, colliery at +1.5 inch, road under bridge at -1.5 inch and landsale yard at +0.5 inch. There may yet be more above the colliery level, but they will be minor.

First track now laid. The curve at the North End of the fiddle yard on the main line clockwise has now been laid, together with the final point of the exit fan (only four track pieces but it is a start). I've also got another four ventilators done on the push-pull brake roof (only four more of these to go) and have finished the underside between the bogies and applied a first coat of paint to it. Tomorrow I've got to pick up a box of Code 80 from Access Models for the fiddle yard, and look out for some OO gauge copperclad sleeper strip for use at the board edges. I'll hopefully get these at Spalding show on Sunday, together with 4 reels of wire for the electricals. And so to bed.. Les

The 66000 is a "sercondhand" addition to the Bregtalbahn fleet, hence the Dapol couplers for freight duties, which it shares with the MaK diesel and the 0-8-0 with the flashing lamp. The only two items giving coupler problems on a regular basis were the stake wagon which caught its dropper on the checkrail of the point by the shed when being propelled and the bogie tanker which likes the uncoupler by the platform too much. Not a lot to sort out rolling stock wise before next September (the next exhibition for it), thank goodness. The 66000 did a spell at braunstone with no problems other than an occasional stutter on the new point where the track wasn't quite clean enough by the dead frog for a loco that still needs a bit of running in. In the meantime it is all systems go for Hawthorn dene Colliery for a couple of months. All the very best Les

Going into hibernation. I'd thought there might just be enough space in the workshop for FO and Hawthorn Dene Colliery both to be worked on. WRONG. I can fit both in lengthways but can't get round. So FO will sit on its end for a month or two while I get HDC's trackwork done. One thing I did finally get done was the point indicators. They'll not get any white as they don't rotate. Adding wires to the point tensioner can wait until spring when FO comes out of hibernation again. All the very best Les

Boards are back again The boards are now fitted with their legs and the upper level for the colliery is built- there is less room between it and track level than I'd planned so I'll have to think carefully about gradients of edges etc- it might be a little more clifflike in places than the real thing... With Furtwangen Ost in place there isn't all that much space in the workshop- so as FO isn't due out again for several months it has gone on end to allow more access to HDC. By putting it at an angle the full 10' by 2'9 fits in the workshop so I can use the door, get round the end, sit at my workbench AND reach both sides of the layout- in a space of 16' X 10. That's part of Gresby under the workbench on the right- Mr Simon still hasn't got the go-ahead for its new home move. Looking the other way showing FO on end. Top level being used to store bits while tracklaying takes place on the lower circuit (the main line) The front of the layout is get-attable. Shows the dip, and the steepness that will have to be put on the road upwards to reach the top level. More new stock- or what I've been up to- an LNER driving trailer for push-pull services- an Etched Pixels Ultima kit. Must get on. Hopefully things to report will now happen a bit more frequently. Les