Richard Mawer

STATION BOARD UPDATE Work is just starting on this board too. The platform is in and track cleaning started.

CANAL BOARD UPDATE Starting to look like a layout. Signals in and working (bases need blending in). Tipper mechanisms in and working (in the shed by the cut out for the canal to drop in). Track cleaned and working (1 point needs adjusting). Gate in and working (operates as you change polarity of the diamond crossing). Water column in but not yet working. The final low relief building is being finished and then they will all go along the backscene on the left. I can then mount the switches behind them in holes in the backscene. Then I can build the rail and canal bridges at the far end which lead to the fiddle yard. The ground needs touching up and a few weeds and grass in limited places. In case you are wondering, the transport ends and front board are in place. Still to go on this board are:- shed, lorry, coal stage, oil tank, ash pit, fencing, people and assorted goods/loads.

Ha ha! Welcome on board Cam

CHIPS AND LIVE CHASSIS Here is the offending article. It’s finally dawned on me that this loco has a live chassis and in cleaning the wheels whilst making them turn I must have shorted it out. What a fool. Anyway, a replacement is on order.

FRIED CHIP Highly annoyed. I’ve somehow blown the decoder in Jane. A puff of smoke and then no response. And all I was trying to do was clean the track and the wheels. Lesson? Turn the track power off first. Hmmmm

It’s been a busy day today at Buckingham West, but not a single train has run. At long last I have cleared away the rubbish from the area where the ironstone quarry will be. For those who know the layout, that was a big job! That’s Evenley village being set out in the background. The lines in the foreground will be underground when the scenery is made. I also found and resolved 2 wiring issues at Charlton junction, and replaced the dodgy Servo4 board so the Charlton Up Distant now works again. Finally I installed the last 2 TOTIs on the undercover dumbbell line. There are 3 green LEDs which light in succession to indicate the trains progress whilst unseen. I was able to use a MERG light sensitive resistor model for number 2 because of the LED illumination for similar TOTIs for the loops. Number 3 was (like number 1) a Block Signalling . Com infrared unit. The Banbury panel is now complete. Rich

WEATHERED Today I have added the handrails, safety valves and whistle to Jane. I’ve also added nameplates to Jane and Linda and weathered them. Crew and coal still needed for Jane. Oh and couplings of course. Over to Michael for those.

Its been a while, but here is the early morning Swindon to Buckingham freight followed by the Evenley to Woodford Halse.

I seem to favour the same small group of locos, which I need to change to give a bit more variety... You need to write a timetable/schedule so they all get a look in!

Very true!

LOCK DOWN There’s a canal based pun in there somewhere. The last two days have been spent making the banks of the canal and finishing the barges. And of course these are working models. Rich

Neal I have highlighted all the joints I see which might be worth checking/ redoing. Its hard to see from a photo, but some look less than 100% coverage and some are dull, which could be an issue. Worth a go. Check that the break in bottom left corner is fully broken - I assume its meant to be. Rich

I’ve been there too! If you have trimmed the legs off the components then its almost impossible to remove and start again, so first check the obvious: have you got the inputs the right way round? I see you have a diode and jumper rather than the bridge rectifier. Check correct voltage after that. Then its a case of magnifying glass around every solder point for dry joints or bridges. Looking at the circuit diagram and with the -ve of your meter on the 0v input, follow the circuit round each component if you can. Good luck. I’ve got one Servo 4 from a few years back where I can’t find the fault. I keep trying!

TO DO OR DIE...SEL Linda now has a tank for her diesel.

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE Stonethwaite station has a water tower adjacent to the headshunt. Well now it does. Hopefully you will have noticed that in the 3rd picture, the spout is at a different angle. It is actually moved by a servo which is driven by a MERG variable controller. This has a pot on the rear of the layout which controls the ‘swing’ and allows the operator to bring the spout down as far as necessary onto the tank filler on the loco. Clockwise brings it up and anti-clockwise lowers it. I’m quite pleased with this simple scratch build.

Neal Catching up. Its looking good! All is not lost on the signals. I had similar problems. Far too fiddly, so I simplified matters. I changed the back of the signal arm and just connected the wire from that to the servo under the baseboard. With brackets I adopted someone else’s idea (sorry forgot who, but I’m grateful) and made a rocking arm under the gantry floor, connected a wire from this to the arm and another down the post to the servo. They all work and are quiet robust. They get a lot of use. They don’t look amazing or detailed, but they fit the bill. I have photos on the Buckingham West thread. Rich

So today the plan was to do some more scenery. But I just got into operating again - and built some signals for the other project - see the link below.

I was planning one for the next board!

SIGNALS Part of the back story for the line is that as the mineral traffic grew and the villages along the line also grew, the company decided to run a passenger service. The Board of Trade insisted on signals. Being strapped for cash, the company bought second gear from other railways. Amongst other signals up the line they installed two at Stonethwaite wharf. A home signal protecting the platform and a starter to protect the single line beyond the bridge. They never got round to shunt signals or interlocking, but it didn’t matter as the Board of Trade never returned. The Home signal is a disc and crossbar type. At danger. At all clear. There is more painting and detailing to done, and working red lamps. The picture quality is rubbish too. Sorry. The Starter is an early slotted post type - before the introduction of the white stripe. At danger (almost). All clear. Rich

DEE TOOO IN THE BIG BROTHER HOOSE So I’ve had to close the office down because of the virus and am facing at least 3 weeks of house arrest (apart from walking the dog) just like everyone else. So plenty of modelling time not only on Stonethwaite and Bainrigg, but also on Buckingham West. I decided to have a running session on Buckingham before doing anything else. I checked where I was on the timetable from the log book and couldn’t believe it. The last running session was 29th December 2019!!! After checking everything, I just have one servo to swap out. Everything else worked well. I’d almost forgotten how much fun the layout is. Once this is all over I can’t wait to get the teams back for operating sessions. In the meantime there is scenery to make. Keep safe and stay at home. Rich

Hope you are ok out there Neal!

COVERING GROUND Following on from creating the cobbles, Dave has been infilling the track with cork. I have had the paints out. Using "wet and wipe", dry brushing and ragging, we got this far as a first stage. The masking tape is still over the points frogs and blades. The concrete will have joints scribed and these will have grass growing in them. Other grass and debris still needs to go too. The sky is a little too stormy!!!!! But it is Yorkshire!! :-) The platform is still to arrive in the foreground. We are very pleased with the cobbles. They are still too green though. They need dry brushing with some more weathered stone. Less by the canal though as the water will have some effect. I need to add more sleeper grime and general grunge along the running lines, soot and oil where locos stand and rust along the sidings, but that is stage two with the air brush and rattle cans. With the lock-down no doubt coming, it is time to ensure continuity between the boards and then split them up between us for further work. Unfortunately our first exhibition has been cancelled, but at least it gives us some more time to get stuff done. Stay safe guys!

MEANWHILE THE LOCO WORKS HAVE OUT-SHOPPED LINDA. She still needs an exhaust pipe, name, number and final weathering. She is a 3D printed body kit on a scratch frame with a Hornby Class 92 bogie. She is our only sop to the internal combustion engine on the rails.

A LOAD OF OLD COBBLES Dave has spent a few hours cutting hardboard and so the basic ground cover has been applied. Cork will be cut and glued between the rails in due course. The surface will be a mixture of cobbles, built up dirt and concrete. To make the cobbles we decided to try a 3d printed textured roller bought off the internet. First we mixed up some filler, black paint and pva into various consistencies and experimented on cut offs with different drying times. After quite a bit of mess we end up with a combination of quite a stiff mixture, about 10 minutes drying time and then rolling. Critically it only works if the roller is wet! When painted and weathered I think they will look good.

Excellent!