Les1952

The bus off my shelf I think is actually a Hino of some description. It is lettered up in Japanese rather than Chinese. It is a Tomytec that was bundled together with a Setra coach of German origin on sale at Lincoln toyfair. I wanted the Setra for Furtwangen Ost and the other one didn't fit either that or Hawthorn Dene Colliery (too new). If it is unsuitable for Gresby it will be disposed of at some stage.... Les

Many thanks for that- it is actually the Worldwide Area Group. Like most NGS Area Groups they charge an extra subscription (basic £5, more if you want the newsletters by post rather than electronically). There is a website at www.ngauge-wwg.org.uk . Happy hunting. I'm going to explore it this evening. Les

Getting going. Still thinking about how I'm going to fit the landsale depot in, but not desperate as I've got a few weeks yet before the shed is completely available. Meanwhile, a Dean Sidings GWR 1701 tank will keep me busy- especially as I intend to give it an overall cab. I'll put up pictures as it progresses. Les

the other end of the train.. Another purchase from the AGM. It can alternate on the vintage train with the 4-4-0 and the Glaskastern, with the BR86 or the Prussian 4-6-4T as spare engine. Again from the AGM, this one did just under a lap and stopped dead with a nasty smell from inside. I'll strip it down tomorrow.

Three weeks off and... the layout got left standing on end in the workshop to allow Mr Simon unhindered access to Gresby. Now the N-gauge Society AGM is over it is time to get the dust sheets off and get ready for three days on show at Upton Hall. Disaster- it had been knocked. No pic but the gateway was hanging on by a small thread and the tram poles and people in front of it poleaxed. The poleaxed poles straightened easily, but the people and gate too a bit more getting into place. Much of the rest of the morning spent getting flowers into window boxes. 23 done so far, with about as many still to do. Also done, two shrub tubs. At the AGM I was able to raid the NGS shop for some more appropriate (and other) steam stock. At last I've found a pair of 3-axle Umbauwagen- why do people always seem to have them on sale as singletons when they ran (like GWR B-sets) as close-coupled pairs? Also joined the NGS Worldwide group. Next post- new engines and MAYBE pics of the window boxes.... Time to do something else, the workshop is now too hot to work in. Les

It is in the car, and the springs (just about) still bend the right way...... Les (the chauffeur) Just as well Cotgrave is only twelve miles from here.

Just unveiled or on sale? If the latter I'll bring some 2-part epoxy and a 21-tonner or two..... All the very best Les

I came to these after having used Kadee couplers on US- and Uk-outline stock in HO and OO respectively, and Microtrains on US-outline in N. To put some context to your list- 1. US-outline stock is weighted. I'm going to use the easi-shunt couplers on part of my new project Hawthorn Dene Colliery, but am not going to fit them to unweighted Farish wagons, just to the heavier Dapol and whitemetal ones. 2. The pin can be moved up and down in the coupling- both Kadee and Microtrains have height gauges and expect you to use them to adjust the trip pin height for best effect. Drooping couplers also happen on very long unsupported arms- I still haven't eradicated this one completely on Furtwangen Ost. 3- probably isn't just you- if there is ferrous metal in any quantity in the loco chassis the magnets will attract them and slow them down as they pass over. As an aside the biggest Kadee magnets can attract a Bachmann 8-plank wagon from a distance of three feet, which was one factor in my return to N-gauge........ This is due to ferrous axles. All the very best Les

Slight realignment imminent I've looked at the coal drops I have for the landsale yard- they are Lyddle End ones to be upgraded- and I've discovered they are the opposite hand to the plan. A new version incorporating this change will be made over the weekend- hopefully it will be posted on Monday. Meanwhile another prototype pic, Shotton Colliery not long before it closed. The modern additions are a little too modern for my colliery. However the general level of grot in the yard is going to be interesting to make. Behind me and on the opposite side of the road the railtops disappeared below the surface of the mud...... All the very best Les

That sounds brave- does that mean you have several acres available, or that you are only going to recreate a comparatively small part of it? All the very best Les

What an interesting topic for a layout. There is a book on the Skinningrove Ironworks and its loco fleet, which sod's law says I'm completely unable to lay my hand on. I seem to remember however that it had a trackplan and an OS map extract in it. When I find it I'll post the details (don't hold your breath). I also seem to recall pics in one of the magazines- try contacting Railway Bylines as the most obvious one. You haven't stated a scale so I presume it will be OO..... All the very best Les

Here's one I photographed earlier.... OK so it is the wrong side of the Tyne, and a prototype photo, but it shows the sort of building I'm looking to make for the screening house. This is Eccles Colliery at Backworth in 1973. I do have better pics of these screens but not taken by me . I am looking for this level of dilapidation. The loco is right for the NE- a Stephenson & Hawthorn "Thomas" class, now standing derelict in the open at Marley Hill, waiting a sugar daddy to pay for restoration. All I've got to do is manage to build it. Back to the marking- got to pay for it somehow......... Les

Many thanks for the compliment, Simon, even before I've started actually building it. Until Gresby makes its debut there just isn't room in the workshop to begin. Hence the unusually (for me) long planning period. Furtwangen Ost was conceived, built (less of the planned) and exhibited within a space of just over 6 months. This one is to be a 2-year build, or thereabouts. I'm hoping it will make the exhibition circuit at about the time Trevor Webster retires Stamford East and Whatton Parva. Furtwangen Ost will have done 2-3 seasons by then and local punters will be tired of it. Meanwhile there are hoppers to rebuild, a lot of stock from Farndon Road to dispose of, and I need to have a go at making a Hennebique screening house.... All the best Les

Thinking continues.. Still doing a lot of thinking- the pair of Farish headstocks I bought some time ago are both going onto eBay, they are just not good enough. There is a nice set of pics in the current Railway Modeller of Old Foston Mills in 7mm. The Hennebique style building is what I'm looking to make for the screening house- it won't be square as it hides the two roads passing through the backscene. Empties will be propelled past the screens up the hill to the empties sidings offscene, (then let down into the back of the screens by gravity but that is also offscene). Fulls emerge from both roads of the screens and are collected by the colliery pilot, weighed and either taken down the bank to the exchenge sidings, back up the bank to Hawthorn Cokeworks to the North West, or positioned over the coal drops for landsale. Meanwhile another appetite whetter- Again posed on Gresby- the J25 part-way through upgrading. The big LNER group Standard tender has been sold on eBay and replaced by a Midland type direct from Union Mills. I've extended the coal rails round the back of the tender to make it look more North Eastern. I've yet to glaze the cab or add crew. The prototype for separate handrails, a J26 that is currently without a tender at all, is currently in the workshop. I'm grinding and sanding the moulded-on handrails off when I feel i can be bothered. I have a feeling it will take some time..... Also in the workshop is a Mill lane sidings GWR open-cab saddletank kit to be built as a closed-can type. I'll get that started next week, though I'm coming into my main summer work period. All the best Les

Today's Videos White tram in action. Combino tram in action. Apologies for the hand-held quality of the videos. Ah well, back to the workshop. the tramway is still undergoing track cleaning- the trams run perfectly on the railway....... Les

New toys The white tram is a Waggon Union 4-axle tram, Tomix in origin, running on a Portram chassis. It tends to crab a little and has already had to have a replacement pantograph (off an Arnold Class 111 body) after losing half of one at Cotgrave- very careless of it... The big green one is a Hiroshima People Mover or 5-section Siemens Combino. Made by Hodl, it is a Bo-Bo-2 electrically. It is still mostly in the workshop to get pickups and other little problems sorted out. Sods law states it arrived the day after the Cotgrave show, of course. Videos to follow....

Many thanks, Simon. Fiddle yard speeds will be low as to advance trains too fast ends up piling wagons around the loco when they stop in the dead "short" section. Hence my note about matching motor speeds and types. The disadvantage we have on Parnhams is that the exit points are handraulic rather than trail-through. This means the operator has an incentive to send out both trains in each road one after the other, meaning that 4 consecutive freights with UM power is not uncommon. Using trailing points means no road-switching at the exit so the sequence would be 1-2-3-4-5 rather than 1-1-2-2-3 etc. The matched pair of locos (2 UMs or 2 Farish diesels etc) would be 5 trains apart in the sequence. To whet the appetite another shot posed on Gresby. "Cock O'the North" is handbuilt by Pro Models on a modified V2 chassis. When Farish bring out their Peppercorn A2 this will be the only survivor of my present A2 fleet. I'm not sure whether to use it on the express or the parcels yet, though it is lamped for Farndon Road's parcels train. Looking at that pic I'm going to have to re-do the tender side again- the original top lining was too low and my replacement is wonky. At least the other side is OK, though.... Same loco on Farndon Road (layout now sold) All the very best Les

Trevor Webster and the gang have been exhibiting "Parnhams" with this style of fiddle yard for two years or so now, and we have found that provided the short section is at least twice the length of the longest loco and tender it works well. In this case the longest loco and tender will be a pacific, so although the rule was never pilot a pacific with a pacific (except for one York-Doncaster train that saved a light-engine path) the minimum length is 2 pacifics or just over 12 inches. In practice it will be nearer 15 inches, leaving the long section as about 4 feet on the shortest road. This also allows for my "rebuilt" old-Farish Class 101 which has the power in the brake car at position 2 (as will its successor if I can bring myself to carve two new-type three-car sets to make a 4-car and a power twin.) There is also a section beyond the "short" to allow for clearances at the pointwork, and for the operator to see where the end of the short section is when a loco approaches it Meanwhile posed on Gresby, the sulphate train with a J39. This has the tender swapped for a low midland-type. I've actually found a pic of a J39 with an NER tender with coal rails that swooped down at each end. The next stage is to fit appropriate handrails and see how much of the flare at the rear has to come off- too much and it won't get done (the water filler isn't getting moved for the same reason). It also needs glazing and crew, and will get separate boiler handrails at some stage, together with a renumbering to the right engine! All the very best Les

One I don't have- I have quite a large and growing collection of books and videos- and am getting a little worried at the growing number of times I seem to appear in other peoples' pictures- the first was in the OPC Industrial Steam book in a picture at Derwenthaugh taken by E.C.Salthouse- and I hadn't even spotted he was carrying a camera on that day...... I think for variety I'm going to use the COVHOPs on the lime train, not least of all because I ordered 12 of them at Peterbrough show. I also have a rake of bogie sulphate wagons, and am looking for an excuse to run them (as empties), but need to think carefully whether they would be Northbound or Southbound. As expected I'm going to have to confine my fish train to the club layout. Some pics to follow if I can find a layout to pose them on... All the very best Les

Sunday Been to Homebase for chain to replace the cross-pieces on the trestles. Trevor's tomorrow to get the trestle tie bars strengthened and the chain installed properly. After that I should be able to work on getting the tramway track to perform perfectly with all trams before Upton Hall in June. I still need to work out why some trams run perfectly clockwise but not anticlockwise yet if the tram is then turned to run the other way it either runs perfectly both ways or neither......

Here it is- trackplan version 3.2 Third attempt at version 3, incorporating as many of the suggestions I've had so far as I can fit in or can remember... The colliery line rises steeply from crossing the road on the left to just before the points at the top of the landsale depot, which will be coal drops (Lyddle End detailed up). A colour light here would control access to the bank from the top. The line then bends round the back of the weighbridge and climbs again once past the shed road. The pithead is partly to obscure the fact that the screen roads are level rather than prototypically sloped- the line rising in front of the locoshed will help give the impression as trains are glimpsed exiting here. Screens are fed with full wagons from behind, and these are pushed forward. I'm planning to fit all the wagons on the colliery circuit with the Dapol magnetic couplers to allow them to be drawn off in ones and twos by the colliery pilot. I'm going to have to ignore the fact that the coal drops don't actually drop coal and switch wagons over while there is nobody looking ..... The ropeway loading house will have to be scratchbuilt to drop into place when the layout is assembled. The screens will also be scratchbuilt using some decent photos I have of Eccles colliery (which I know is in Northumberland...........). Others will be either scratchbuilt, Lyddle End or Farish, or heavily modified ditto. The signals on the main line- home or distant? I'm tempted to have the Southbound one (left) as a home, which would protect the entrance to the exchange sidings just offstage to the left. The Northbound a distant for the junction a mile on where the line into Dawdon Colliery turned off- or am I too far away from this by about a block section? As before, more suggestions would be helpful- it is unlikely I can start building this side of the summer- Gresby needs to go to its new home to clear the space. All the very best Les

Fiddleyard Schematic Hopefully this diagram will explain how the fiddleyard works. I've only drawn two of the roads- there will be five in each direction (a development from Trevor Webster's "Parnhams"). Nominal capacity is ten trains each way, though one long train a road here and there would reduce this. Top Valley & Rise Park is the Newark Group of Bingham MRC's project to replace Farndon Road. This and Hawthorn Dene will have similar fiddle yards for the roundy-roundies, though TV&RP will have a goods yard over one end. The diagram shows how two similar length trains would occupy one road and a long and a short could occupy another road in either order- the "short" section being two locos long. One road in each direction has a (on) - off - on biased DPDT switch to allow continuous running. Trackplan version 3 to follow, I've nearly drawn it..... Les

Hello again. Many thanks Steven for the note about the second pithead- for reasons of space I'll put it on the backscene- (and at £52 or so for the kit and I would imaging £100 to get it built I can't afford two!). I did buy two of the Farish pitheads but they are very crude by comparison. The etched one is so much better, even if it will hit me in the wallet- my right hand is getting worse despite exercise and support so building it myself is no longer an option. Thanks also, Brian, for the suggestion about the White Steps. It sounds just what is going to be needed to give some interest to the cutting at the colliery end. I wonder if they are still there- I'll look on Google Maps to see. I've been talking baseboards with Trevor Webster (why build my own when a trained cabinet maker has voulnteered to do them?...) and the slope to the beach is definitely on- dropping the baseboards to make it won't be an issue. We also looked at how to get the ropeway in, and it will probably run from a loading building at or near the centre join along just in front of the backscene on the left hand board to pass into the backscene as it sweeps round at the left-hand end. If I can work out a way to invert buckets it might be possible to make it work using Brawa parts, but I think it is more likely to consist of towers made from Brawa parts customised using Scale Link pylon etches with buckets stationary- they didn't run all the time. The loading building will need to be connected to the screens by a covered conveyor I think. Hopefully version 3 of the trackplan isn't far from gestatiing..... All the best Les

Hello 60091. All I've found so far for limestone traffic is covhops from the quarries near Ferryhill to ICI or British Steel. These appear to have been rakes of about 12 pulled by a WD. The only problem with using 21T hoppers for them is that the wagons used for the coal traffic were largely 21 tonners also, making the trains more boring. The roundy-roundy bit will be operated from the back. I've not yet decided where to put the control panel for this. I'm toying with having the colliery operable from front or back (two DIN plugs for hand-held), providing I can sort out changing points when running from the front- I'm not happy about using motors on these as access to them won't be easy. Points at each end of the fiddleyard will be code 80 Peco, with small wire loops from the stock rails to the point blades to keep them live all the time- that then allows the blades on the exit ends to be cut short and soldered rigid. The sections within the fiddleyard are then isolated both rail shortly beyond each point. This means the two point fans are always live to the running tracks. Within each loop are two sections (Furtwangen Ost has one section per loop on the railway). At the exit end the section is just two locos long, ie long enough to isolate a double-header or a DMU with the power car at position 2. The rest of the loop forms the other section. A train is selected simply by switching on the short section of the fiddle siding. This moves off round the layout. The one behind is advanced by switching on the long. It moves forward until its loco(s) are over the short and stops/is stopped. by switching off the short. When the train going round returns it is run into the loop and is stopped behind its partner. The only problem is that the two locos in each loop of the fiddle yard need to be reasonably well matched for speed- if a Farish diesel is crawling around the front a Union Millls in the same siding will race forwards and stop dead with its train in a heap on top of it. I have that particular T-shirt too many times.......... Hope this helps. I'll try to draw a diagram and update the colliery drawing before too long. Time for sleep- it has been a long weekend followed by a short but intensive break. Les

First Exhibition completed!!! Got to Cotgrave with no major problems other than a broken trestle, sorted with a phillips screwdriver borrowed from another exhibitor. Well received by punters (thank goodness). Plenty of kids enjoyed counting nuns and looking for Dr Who. Railway ran well all weekend apart from needing two extra screws to stop a point tubing moving sideways. Tramway not so hot- some trams ran better than others- track needs another going over. Main feeedback from a punter was to add window boxes to more of the town. Still short of operators for Upton Hall. To top off the weekend the new tram arrived on Monday. Pictures to follow but first the trestles need working at before the layout is erected again.