Argos

Over the Christmas break I managed to tackle a job I've been putting off for a while. A few years ago I bought a watchmakers lathe in need of a bit of TLC. Over time I've got it properly set up and working and have gradually invested in various parts (you can spend eye-watering sums on these if you are not careful!). All my turning to date has been done with hand gravers, and whilst I have produced some loco domes and chimneys in this manner it is a slow process and difficult to make repeatable, multiple components. I did invest in a cross-slide going (relatively) cheaply (also on need of some TLC) and whilst I'd got this working satisfactorily I couldn't find a tool holder that fitted. So, over the holidays I set too and turned and filed down one I had until it fitted, then with some shims found I could use some 3.5mm lath tools available commercially (this saves grinding your own, difficult when you don't possess a grinder!). For practice I turned up a couple of button gauges for 5'3" Irish gauge (10.5mm). My attempts are shown here. The ones at the back were early attempts turned using hand gravers, at the time I only had some very cheap Vernier callipers and managed to leave them way over-size rendering them quite useless. The ones on the foreground were turned using the cross slide and are much nicer, however one is just (0.05mm, 2 thou!) too thin so will need to be re-done. I'm quite happy for a first attempt though!

No......it's a precursor to better things.....

That's 3 Caley engines in quick succession Jazz , are you being turned north of the border?

I hunted for about six months before finally getting my copy at a reasonable price, some book stores were trying to charge eye-watering amounts, but I guess that's supply and demand for you! I blame Adam Smith and his pin factory...... Also of use, and also by Tavender is "Railway Equipment Drawings" it is sub-titled "Rolling Stock - 7m scale - sourced GWR-LMS-LNER-SR etc" but contains a lot of pre-grouping goodies including PO wagons. Airnimal who posts elsewhere on the forum put me onto these books in conversation at an exhibition where he was manning a demonstration stand. I know some of his builds are based on the details in these books. Another book in my collection is "Specialist Booklet No11 Private-Owner wagons by Peter Mathews. It is only a slim volume but deals with the construction details of the various RCH standards as well as being littered with examples to model.

Superb views! Very inspirational, I particularly like the "dusk" shot (2nd down) with the lights just coming on. It must have been quite hard to capture.

Lovely views. I've enjoyed following the developments via your blog so great to see the layout on RMweb also.

Hi Mike, thoughts are with you and hoping for a speedy recovery!

Hi Doilum, I'm pretty sure they are not, all the photos show a clean curve and the earlier tanks were rivetted so there would be a line of rivets on these. They are only small engines so the sheet required for the tank is not large. one piece fabrication for the sides and top would make it cheaper to produce otherwise I would have thought a square edged tank would have been used.

Hi Richard, The structure is lightly glued together so comes apart with some gentle pressure. The biggest challenge to back dating is whether to change the wheels and coupling rods, these were a relatively late change and the Ixion model represents the later version. I chose not to attack them for fear of messing up a sweet running loco. It does mean that mine will be a hybrid of new and old but hopefully will look the part at a passing glance.

Duplicate post removed, the site seemed to crash as I uploaded.

I did start just such a conversion a while ago but got distracted by other projects. No doubt it will resurface at some point. The MRJ article mentioned above is worth getting as it delves into the history and provides a good drawing. a mixture of Archers and Micromark resign rivet decals were used, as a cautionary note the extra money for the Archers product is well worth spend as they are easier to apply and look better (to the point that I've since thrown the Micromark ones away).

It's interesting to see that in the wargaming/fantasy world buying and trading print files seems to be the norm and implies widespread printer ownership, or at least access to one. There seems to be several firms offering print files for sale on a commercial basis. I can't help thinking the Shapeways business model will rapidly become outmoded (thankfully!).

Welcome Martin! It's always good to see some 2mm Caley models. I'll look forward to seeing more.

I've been a bit quiet of late on the modelling front, just dabbling with bits since my last post in July, however with a free weekend thanks to the weather and some Irish 3d printed vans landing in the middle of the week a couple of afternoons at the workbench had them up and running The prints were designed around the Associations 13.7mm axles and these drop in with a bit of fettling, I'm not sure about the longevity of having the steel axles run in a 3d plastic bearing but I can always retro fit some brass pin-point bearings if they wear out. The corrugated rooves were made from some thinned down corrugated plastic sheet and formed around a wooden handle and dunked in boiling water(my razor saw was just the right diameter). The brass bars on the cattle van are easy enough to install as the designer (KMCE on Irishrailwaymodeller.com if you are interested in some) had printed locating dimples on all the uprights to guide the drill. A couple of afternoon's work yielded five vans (there is another cattle van but I've run out of wheels) which gives my Irish stock a much need boost. I still need to add some detailing and work out how to model the canvas centre sections on the convertible vans. I've previously used a technique described by Gordon Gravett in an edition of MRJ a few years back for some 7mm scale wagon tarps, I'm just struggling to lay my hands on the copy. I was worried this might feel a bit too much like "open the box" modelling, but there was enough to do to make it interesting. I'm definitely sold on 3d printing now (even if does mean re-learning CAD), I just need to save my pennies.

These wee gems landed during the week, they are Irish wagons designed and printed by KMCE over on the Irishrailwaymodeller forum. He had designed them for 4mm scale but reduced them to 2mm and altered the design so the Association 13.7mm axles drop straight in, which after a quick play shows that with a bit of tweaking they do just that. The quality is superb and I'm now defiantly sold on the idea of getting a printer, even if I means I have to re-learn CAD. Currently thinking of an Elegoo Mars but we'll see.

Thanks Izzy, Looking at the prices commanded it would an expensive way to source the bogies. I'll have a go at fabricating them from plastic. That way they will come into stock on the Bachmann spares site as soon as in finish!

Does anyone know of a source for Commonwealth Bogie frames? I believe Ultima did some back in the day but these have been unavailable for some time. Thanks

Ah! But are you sure it's the right blue though Jim?

I'm loving these tour description Northroader, they are really bringing the Irish rail scene of the time to life. Thanks for sharing.

Good to see you up and posting Bluestag! I like the look of the layout, looking forward to seeing more.

Hope all goes well Ian. Uckfield always looks like a great show. Unfortunately just too far for us northerners to travel to! Very jealous.

The Tilbury tanks did work in the Buxton area but not until after grouping. The Rowsley shed had an allocation to work local passanger trains in the late 20s early 30s. The engines were not well liked and soon moved away. Again another option to tweak history. It depends on how historically accurate you wish to be.

Co-location was forced by local authorities in some areas, New Street being one example and to some degree Buxton, however a degree of pragmatism did exist prior to 1908. The joint shunt arrangement at Buxton bears witness to this. Each company took turns to shunt the yards by the station on a 6 month rotation. We are after all twisting history to fit the scenario given.

One option that hasn't appeared in the discussion is Ingleton. The Midland and LNWR formed an end on junction here. The rivalry meant they operated their own stations in the village, but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch of the imagination to see them working a joint station.

Hi Northroader, Presumably you've seen the new "Rails through Connemara" book? A copy is gracing my bedside table at present, well recommended.