40 058

Brian, as nice as WR hydraulics are, id say give the electrics a go! I think you'll be suprised how easy it is to make catenery! That said, I do have a few Hydraulics, although they dont fit in with my MSW theme. Ive got a pair of the superb Heljan Hymeks, a Warship and am very tempted to get one (or three!) of the new Dapol Westerns. I think the Heljan Hymek is still one of my fav rtr models, even now, after more recent, finer models have come out. It still looks 'right' to me. Dutch, Ive just spotted that too!! Didnt even notice it on the layout! Funny, it looks quite bad but doesnt seem to affect running at all? The current permanent way staff have all been reprimanded and the issue will be sorted! And, yes, I do still need to do something about the pans. Id like to use the Judith Edge ones but making up as many of them as I need doesnt appeal much at the moment. Plus ive got loads of weathering to do. Just need to get some practice with my new airbrush set first.

First update of the year from me. Not a great deals been done again, mainly due to it being a bit cold out in the shed this winter. I also had a leak in the shed roof which dripped down onto the scenic side (typical!) so had to fix this aswell. Fortunatly I spotted it before too much water got to the scenics and put a bucket under it! Sorted now though. Firstly I got round to some scenic bits between the main lines, and near the diesel fuel area. Static grass, scatters and a couple of small huts sorted the bit between the tracks. The same again on the outer side near the diesel fuel point and a short length of security fencing. I also made a length of the 33kv feeder cable and associated pilot cables. These ran along most of the length of the MSW route, connecting all the substations and the Pennistone control centre to the rest of the power grid. They were made simply from brass section for the concrete supports, the 33kv cable is copper 240v flex, stripped of insulation and soldered on. The smaller pilot cables are 0.6mm MIG welding wire, again just soldered on. The solder 'blobs' were then filed to a rough shape and painted a rusty colour to look like the metal hook brackets that supported the cables. I have also (almost) finished my Blue, small yellow panel, non boiler EM1, 26002. This one started life as a blue, boiler fitted model. The boiler hatch being carved off as per the last one. Then it was stripped, the roof masked off, and primed. Then sprayed Railmatch BR blue/Warning yellow. Gloss varnish applied where the decals were to go. Fox transfers added and once dry given two coates of satin varnish. The only down side is I managed to lose one of the clear light pieces and one cab footstep! Should be easy to make some replacements though! Im pleased with how it came out, and its a bit different. I think its a livery that looks good on these locos. And finally a few pics of 26002 on the bend near the new feeder cables.

Yes, I got a letter aswell, 20% discount when ordered direct from them. Could buy another 31 I suppose!!

I thought it would end up just a replacement part and not a re-design. It should last ok, as long as the base metal isnt contaminated, as this was why they started to disintergrate/snap off. The cab ends are very thin and definatly a weak point but they should be able to stay in one piece easily enough unless its handled roughly or dropped. I have several Hornby 31s, some box fresh others modified and all are perfectly fine, apart from my 31 110 (my only one from 1st batch) which only snapped off because of contaminated metal.

Absolutely superb photos! Love the woodhead stuff, and the tommies going through their multiple working overhauls at crewe, dont think ive ever seen pics of them having the work done before. keep em coming!

I posted my damaged chassis back to them early December. So far I havent had it back or had any further comms with Hornby. I dont mind though, im confident they are doing it as quickly as they can given the spares availability and possible que for replacements etc. They seem to have been pretty good at resolving this issue. Im not in any rush anyway!

I have 'Electrics across the pennines' on dvd, definatly worth watching. The other two I have is 'The woodhead route' and 'woodhead remembered'. All very good, if your into DC electrics. There is some good footage on them of the em1s and none of them repeat each other either. I have the Foxline book, 'Woodhead: The electric railway' which again is well worth a look. Loads of information in there and photos of unusual things like the substations, overhead equiptment etc aswell as pics of it all being built. Netherwood sidings looks superb aswell, ive never actually seen it, only pics on this site. Very suprised its not had many show invites though.

Thanks guys. Yes, you should have kept the drawings, especially as BR were so rude as to close the line! I wonder if they are still around or if they ended up in the skip after it was all closed? I must say Deepcar was always a great inspiration for me, a classic layout! I didnt realise it was as old as it is though! I certainly hope there will be more Woodhead theme layouts around soon. The Heljan model, contraversial as it has been has certainly made things alot easier, even more so when Tommy and the EM2s come out. The major thing is still OHLE though! I cant see it being produced on a large scale by any rtr manufacturers. Hopefully ill be proven wrong!

Ive got quite a few 31s. Some of them dont get much use so every few months I get them out and give them a quick check over for this. I thought id got away with it but I opened R2421 31110 this afternoon. At first glance it looked fine, no cracks in the body corners, no obvious chassis problems. Then I noticed a fine hairline crack going right across the roof just behind the cab and down one side to one of the grills! Its very faint but definatly there. Ive removed the chassis to stop any further damage to the body, which was extremely tight to get off, so theres definatly something wrong with it. After removing the body the crack closed up and is hardly visable now. Best contact them then I suppose!

Thanks for the comments. Not much progress (again!) but just a few shots of the new portal and some pics of 76001 progress. The big A frame portal is about finished, and painted. This is about where it will be going. Im pleased with how it looks and, if nothing else has certainly tought me a bit about soldering! Next, is 76001, now with its numbers and BR arrows applied. The blue strip has been touched in along the bottom of the cab fronts, with Railmatch BR blue. Numbers and arrows are from Modelmasters transfers and data panels from Fox. Just a bit of varnish needed to seal them in once its all dried. Then reassembly. Heres a loco that is probably a bit far from its Stratford home to be on MSW metals but ive always liked the 31 0's. Ive never seen any pics of one on the MSW route anyway... 31008, converted from a weathered Hornby 31111. Repainted with Railmatch paints. New front doors added and etched discs. Thats all for now, more soon hopefully. Dan.

Theres not a great deal in this update but here goes anyway. Firstly, my conversion of a boiler fitted vac brake only 76 into a vac brake non boiler 76 is progressing. The blue paint is on and its starting to look a bit better now! Ive changed my mind on the prototype, it will now become class pioneer 76001, which almost made it to the end, being withdrawn in November 1980. Clearly a bit more work needed but its getting there. The next one for the same treetment will become 26002 in small panel blue, for my 1960s era. Like this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/dodger5450/7611959402/ Next, an exercise in brass! I have started to make one of the large A frame lattice style portals to replace one of the standard types across the end of the station platforms. For me, these structures really set the Woodhead route theme, and so far I havent attempted this style yet. This one from near Pennistone is the type im going for, just a little bit wider. It certainly takes some doing! Everything is made from individual sections of brass L profile, flat strip and C channel. Its a pretty big structure too. One thing worth noting when making all these overhead structures, is that there is a huge amount of variation in the prototypes, something ive learnt alot about when making this layout, even though on the face of it they all look the same. Aswell as the length and width of the cross span, some have the V reinforcing section facing the opposite way to how mine are, some have a taller cross span to accomodate a colour light signal, A posts vary in their shape (some are flat on one side and sloping on the other) some very large ones use much thicker C channel uprights than others, theres a mix of catenery hangers with taller structures using the Y type hangers wheras others simply use a round bar underneath the cross span to hold the wires... always worth using photos from the same sort of prototype location as where your modelling. These things were all built to a standard design but each one was assembled specifically for a certain location, hence the differances. It looks good in bare brass and solder, but will eventually be sprayed in Halfords grey primer, the same as all the others. Again, im no expert in soldering or working in brass, but if anyone is contemplating going 'overhead' either DC or AC but think its too hard to get OHLE this is proof that any idiot can do it! Just give it a go on some scraps first! Hopefully more updates as it gets close to being finished. Dan

Could I add my Woodhead electrics, MSW route layout please. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/59840-woodhead-electrics/ Its based on the famous line around the end of its existance in 1980/81. Although I also change to green mixed with blue for a late 60s era running! Its still not finished yet and has lots of details etc to add. Some fantastic layouts on here too!

Thanks, no its all scratchbuilt. Building is wills brick sheets and spare plasticard off cuts. Transformers and other 'grey things' are all scratchbuilt from plasticard and styrene sections. The busbars are all made from stripped copper 240v flex soldered together and the supports again are plasticard. All the insulators are spare sommerfeldt ones left over from the ohle and there are a fair few of them! Painting it all was a pain as theres not alot of room for the brush!

Thanks for the replys. Its been a while since any updates but things have been done! The factorys are now gone and replaced by the substation, which is now more or less complete. The bus bars being particularly annoying to make and paint! I think it looks much better than the old factorys and fits in well with the woodhead theme - plus its a bit of an unusual feature. I bought some more sections and made a few more masts to space the inner curves wires a bit better, now they follow the tracks properly in straight lines. I may do the same on the outer curves too, but they arent as sharp so wont need as much alteration. And finally I have started modifying one of my vac brake 76s into a vac brake non boiler 76. This one will be staying in standard blue but becoming 76 003, which was one of the non MU fitted ones that lasted to the very end. I plan to do at least one more after this for my 1960s era set, not sure on the number yet but it will be in BR blue with the small yellow panels! The substation in place of the factorys, the space available was a bit cramped but I think it looks the part. Just got to tidy the joint around the base and then make a feeder mast for feeding power to the overhead wires. An over view of the whole end of the layout showing the straightened wires on the inner curves and the substation in situ. This is the stripped down shell about to have its boiler panel carved off and smoothed out to become 76 003. The moulding is gone and in the process of being sanded smooth. If your planning on doing this mod you can do it this way by starting with the vac brake boiler fitted loco or start with the MU fitted version which although the cab fronts/handrails will need modifying is probably the eisier option. As I bought this loco specifically to convert I decided to carry on instead! This was briefly touched on in another thread. As it is the boiler panel moulding isnt that difficult to carve away but the loco will need a full bodyside respray afterwards. Using a new blade and being very very careful it comes away without destroying any of the surrounding rivit detail that needs to stay. Its just a bit daunting before you start as your taking a knife to an expensive model! Just a few random pics to finish off. A 37 with a vac braked coal train. 40 058 with its one off nose job. The doors were sealed up with a sheet of steel rivited over the top on one end only. One of my favorite 40s (hence my name!) and one I had to model.

Cheers guys! JeffP, yes, this whole line and the trains on it came to a very sad end. It seems such a short sighted and wastefull thing for BR to do at the time. The EM1 had alot more life left in them yet, im sure they would have long gone by now either way but why they didnt just convert to 25kv ac I dont know? It would certainly of helped out given the new rail plans nowadays. And the EM2s proved to be a very good investment for the Netherlands! IMHO, Tommy should have made it to the national collection given its importance to the countrys engineering and very early electric traction background. I guess at the time people were more concerned with saving steam from the scrap yard and not diesels or electrics. bri.s, passenger trains depend on the time frame im running, but for the last years of the route is mainly local services in the form of class 108 or 110 DMUs with the odd diversion thrown in for interest. In the green pre 1970 days, its EM1s with blue/grey and maroon mk1s, along with (when they are released!) Tommy and EM2s on the same (they are on order!), along with green DMUs. Im sure I was told there were some SR green mk1s used over the line at that time but im not sure if they did or not? It would make a nice varied train with all 3 colours of stock! The trouble is space in the storage roads, I have far too much stock for it to handle!

Yes the pans are metal with springs to keep them out at max height. Ill give this a go then if you think itll be ok. I have some spare wires so will use these to make a nice gentle slope in/out, i will bend the ends over to a curve too just incase anything snags. The wires do have a slight stagger built in anyway, but I suppose the model pans are just as likely to wear as real ones when rubbing the contact wire. The new rake of HAA hoppers arrived today too! Now I can run loaded and empty trains in each direction!

A quick update, I have made a start on the new substation. The building is done, very easy as its just a simple square box with a lid! Its made from wills brick sheets, scraps of plastic card for the concrete roof and concrete door weather shield and the door is an old one salvaged from my bits box, I think from a Hornby HST shed. The two transformers are scratch built, again from scraps of plastic card and odd bits from the bits box - never throw anything away! The radiator fins are made from layers of plastic strips, each layer has a thin, narrow strip inbetween to give the affect of a gap between each fin but still being strong enough to handle. The oil conservator (header) tank is made from an old ratio chimney pipe, left over from a kit years ago, again from the bits box! This is how the transformers and switch building will go. The white plastic in the wall behind the transformers will be painted concrete colour, as the transformer feeds pass through insulators on the wall and into the building. This is one of the transformers, the two 'boxes' behind are the two 33kv earthing transformers which sit on a brick plinth with connections to the 33kv busbars. Some parkside HTV/HTO wagons on the bench. These are fairly involving to build but look good when they are done. And finally, a track plan for anyone interested. Once these are done its back to the catenery masts and wires!

Thanks for the comments guys. Ive not done much for the last few days, ive been re-building the braking system on my mk2 Ford transit van after its been sat unused all year! Bodging sorry, fixing rusty old Fords is another of my hobbies! Sutton Junction, The ohle isnt that hard to make to be honest. I thought the same, but the best way to do it is just to get some brass and an iron and practice, lots of reference pics from books, flickr etc help too. These are my first real efforts at soldering this sort of thing and mine came out alright! Im no expert when it comes to soldering kits etc so if I can do it anyone can! The standard type masts are really easy to make up, I had a little production line on the go for these. The only differance being the width depending on where they are for and how many tracks go under them. The bigger style ones are a bit more involving but its still very simple to do. Dutch_Master, Most of the lines are over the tracks in straight lines, but I still need to build some more masts for the bends so some of the lines are curved slightly just to get the wires up for the time being until I can make the extra masts. Then once these are installed I will straighten the lines, cut them to size and get them hung straight. Gronk, I may well try to get the pans to touch the wires, it seems a shame not to. It would look so much better too. My only reservation is the pantos themselves dont look all that strong. Im not sure that even with a run in/out section they might bend backwards or snap as they start going down under the wires? Does anyone have any experiance of this with electrics? Since making the masts and wires is getting a bit boring I decided to have a change and do something about the low relief factorys. I havent ever really liked them, but they filled the gap well. So instead of making a factory or similar I decided to go for something a bit differant but that most electric layouts should have - A substation! The MSW had loads of these with smaller TSC (track section cabins) inbetween them. I will eventually make some 33kv cable and comms cables to run around the tracks, which will then come up in the substation. It is based loosly on the substation that was at Hadfield, although they were all pretty similar, and has a building, 2 transformers, 2 earthing transformers, 2 oil filled circuit breakers and the 33kv cables and busbars. There arent many photos of these sites, unsuprisingly photographers were there to see the trains not the lineside gubbins. But this is all pretty easy for me to make and work out whats needed as the equiptment is very similar to what I work on in my job as power distribution maintenance fitter! A few pics and a track diagram will follow soon when I get time.

Thanks guys! Ill try to get a pic of the track plan up sometime soon. Another shot of the wires and one of the larger style portals, made from brass section and modified somerfeldt parts. The mgr train again! Ive just ordered another rake of the HAA hoppers to make a loaded and an empty train! along with more 16 tonners to make a short scrap metal train. The mgr train isnt actually scale length however! I have roughly half size mgr sets, just enough to make a good representation. I will try to get some more pics this weekend, hopefully with a better camera this time!

Thanks for the replys! Dave, good to see someone else going electric! Put up some pics of your ole. Id be interested to see it. John, interesting idea with the fishing line. Ill definatly look into this. I want to do it in such a way that the pantos arent permanantly soldered or glued in position, this sounds just the job! A couple more pics! A brand new 56 moves off the diesel fuel point, ready for its next turn of duty. Another pair of 76s, this time with a train of domestic coal. I think ill have to get these weathered up soon, they look far to clean!

Hi everyone. This is my thread to show my layout and modelling efforts. It is, as yet unnamed, but is a oo gauge layout of approx 11' x 8' (ish) and built into a garden shed. The shed is fully insulated with loft type insulation and plystyrene panels on the ceiling and carpeted floors and is quite comfortable to use all year round. This is still a 'work in progress' and is nowhere near finished yet! The layout: The basic frame is conventional 2x1 softwood frames with 12mm ply screwed and glued on top - nothing special! Trackwork is all Peco stramline code 100, I always try to use the biggest radius points possible on the scenic side but its not always possible. Points are operated by standard Peco solenoid point motors and control is all by 'old fashioned' analogue using Gaugemaster controls. I had thought to go DCC but I have alot of locos so the cost put me off, aswell as being a bit scared about how to use it! Prehaps in the future. I have for some time now wanted to build a model railway based on the famous Woodhead route. I have been interested in this line for a long time and find the unique 1500v electrics used on it fasinating. When it comes to building a model there are numerous problems however, like the lack of ohle, no rtr locomotives and the fact that so much of the line is now long gone along with most of its permanent way, structures etc. I attempted a model some years ago but all he above meant it quickly went out the window in favour of something more easily acheivable. Then when Olivias trains announced ther intention to do the class 76 and 77 this was the head start needed, as now it was only ohle and other details that needed to be scratch built as apposed to almost everything! This was fine, but I had never really done any scratch building of the sort needed to get the overheads, only a bit of plastic work to make buildings etc. The best solution to this, for me, was to buy a soldering iron and some brass and just go fo it! Bearing in mind the most soldering I had ever done was soldering power feeds to rails, it was actully pretty easy to do! I found it suprisingly easy to make a sound joint with minimal solder. With the success of this I went about looking for suitable materials to start building the masts and catenery wires. I settled on using sommerfeldt insulators and small details, H section masts and I also decided to use their catenery wires. The wires come in lengths, all ready assembled and just sit/hang from the masts. Although not the most realistic it does look pretty good still and is far far easier than trying to make it all from scratch, tensioning it all etc. It also means it is all fully removable without de soldering joints and having to cause any damage - perfect for sorting any derailments and cleaning rails etc. I also used several differant brass channels and strips from eileens to make certain parts. The Y hangers were made from sommerfeldt Belgian hangers, these were cut down in length and thinned out before being soldered onto the masts. They arent perfect but, in my opinion still look ok and are pretty quick to make up in bulk. Once these were well on the way in terms of construction they were installed on the layout, which was when I found out how hard it is to make model ohle go around corners! I thought my curves were pretty generous but once the straight wires go up it can be pretty hard to keep the wires over the tracks. I had to admit defeat in some places as it just couldnt be done right so a slight curve was bent into the wires to subtly follow the curve, again not perfect but an accaptable compromise. I could just reduce the mast spacing but this too gets to the point of looking a bit odd if they are too close together. I decided not to make the overheads live, just for ease of construction and will run electrics with the pans just below the conductor wires. I still need to get the 76s to have their pantos posed part way up but havent started on this yet. I have a lot of diesels aswell as the DC electrics, so the model is assumed to be towards one end of the electric system allowing me to use both diesels and electrics together. I still have ambitious plans to model somewhere like Guide bridge but space makes this rather difficult at the moment!! Maybe one day! I change things around a bit depending on weather its the Manchester end or Sheffield end. class 40, 47, 25 and 76 dominate the Manchester side, class 31, 47, 40, 56 and 76 for Sheffield! aswell as other things as and when! I also have some BR green era stock to turn back the clocks when it suits too, for the very end of passenger trains over woodhead, roll on the em2s and Tommy! Freight stock is a mix of rtr from most makes and kits, again from a variety of sources. The parkside HTV/HTO being particularly usefull and several of these are being put together at the moment. This is all still 'in hand' and I have a lot of weathering, detailing and renumbering to do yet! Anyway, pics are always more interesting so heres a few to start with. I should say im no photographer and the camera used wasnt exactly great either so I apologise in advance for my poor pics! This is a view of some of the ohle, I tried to do a few differant types and styles but so far havent tried any of the gantry types, not yet anyway. Some of the buildings will be replaced soon with something better, probably scratch built as opposed to ready to plant. Bachmann 40 129 under the wires. 76022 and 76014 on an mgr run. Must sort out the pantographs! And a backscene!! Another 76 with the tanks and a HAA barrier wagon. Part of the storage sidings. Hopefully the pics have worked ok and you like my work so far. Any opinions/comments/tips/ or anything are appreciated! Cheers Dan.

Like many others, for me, its the era and livery I remember best. I remember sitting at places like Doncaster when I was young and watching all the blue trains. I used to live in Bessacarr near Doncaster and could see blue 47s etc going by at the end of the road. I really can not see why anyone could think it was the boring era at all, if anything the boring era is now! The blue era allows many differant classes and types of diesels and electrics, classic multiple units and the trains themselves are made up of a huge variety of old steam era rolling stock mixed in with newer air braked wagons. I remember seeing grubby class 40s on heavy freights, class 56s, 47s and pairs of 20s on MGR runs, the woodhead electrics were still going strong, down south still had its classic slam door electric units, the (at the time) new intercity 125s were like nothing else, class 55s still roaring up and down the ecml... Even the livery itself was far from boring, granted its not anywhere near as extreme as it is nowadays but there was BR blue, large logo, and all the differant variations like stratford silver/grey roofs etc. Theres really nothing today that can even come close to it for sheer variety and interest. That being said, I do have a soft spot for the sectorised era too, alot of the 'classic' diesels and electrics were still just about hanging on but the new class 58s and 60s were turning up more and more and then there were the second gen dmus, after the railfreight sector era ended, for me was when I started losing interest in going out 'spotting'.