John76

Darius Great work. I like the brackets you have made for the couplings. Just out of interest, what is the white tanker at the back with an orange stripe? Do it happen to be one of these? https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/eurlammonia John

Mike. The other two anchor posts were back towards Moor End Lane. I will have a go at drawing it out later. John.

For the avoidance of doubt, here is another still taking from the same YouTube video The concrete enclosure was there to provide protection against an embankment slip. It also looks like the HV cables come down in front of the stantion rather than go behind it. PS Just for info. There are still two similar concrete blocks like the ones the wire anchor stantion is sat on up at West Silkstone Junction. Once again, i have measured these up previously. John

Still from YouTube video mentioned above

Mike re the substation. i have got a full set dimensions for both Beeley Wood TSC and Wharncliffe Wood Sub Station. I have also measured out the concrete switchgear supports that are still in situ at Wharncliffe. From these dimensions, looking at lots of photos, maps and plans i am having a go at building Barnsley Junction Sub station. Its 90% complete. i will post a photo once its done. I know that Strafford Sub station wasn't as big as the one at Barnsley junction but if you want i can certainly share with you what i have. John

Mike The cut out used to have one of these in there. There used to be four of these in this area as it was where the wire runs changed over. There was also a timber track cabin on the down side just where the railway enters the cutting. Go on YouTube, search for Woodhead Cab Ride - Kendall Green to Barnsley Jct and have a look around 5:30 minutes in. There was also an LNER Concrete style platelayers hut on the upside further back towards Moorend Lane Bridge. John

Does anyone know what the local Levvy Tag PO Wagon livery was? it would be good to see one or two of them mixed in with the others.

Here is my first attempt at West Silkstone Junction Track Section Cabin. It’s not quite finished and a bit rough around the edges. Based on measurements taken at Beeley Wood and what I can glean from the few photos I have seen of it. Barnsley Junction Sub station next!!

Dan. Although this layout is no more, I am interested to learn more about how you put the sub station together. Is this an area you have some kind of technical understanding of or did you just build it based on various photographs? I am hoping to build a Woodhead style substation. I have worked out the size of the buildings, but any help you could offer with regards to the layout of the switchgear, or how you built yours would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. John

Mike Is this what your looking for? There are still lots of these on the line up to Deepcar. These are near the TSC in Beeley Wood which can be accessed from Oughtibridge if you fancy a walk. I have the dimensions for these somewhere if you need them. John

Mike, Good evening. Hope you are well? Have you seen this yet? Wath Yard, the Worsborough branch and Wentworth Junction (including SB diagram) feature with lots of photos I have never seen before. A shot of a Q4 and a brake van heading up the colliery branch and a V2 coming down the incline with empty coaching stock are just two examples. Worth checking out. John

I was in the NRM yesterday and noticed that 26020 has been moved. When I looked a bit closer, the pantographs were both down. Then I saw this...... A damaged pantograph. I can only assume it happened while they were moving it. Does anyone else else know what happened to it? John

James Great work. You asked about what i did to the underframes? not a great photo but here is a modified and unmodified one side by side. First thing i did was cut off the representations of the door stops that are in line with the brake mechanism bits and the plastic that is between the brake and door opening mechanisms. Then I built my own door stops with plastic card and strips. With the other mods, they do scrub up well. For info, the buffers i used were from Lanarkshire models BP03. As for the couplings, will be changing them from Kadees at both ends to fixed rakes of 5 or six wagons. My plan is to run them as a rake of 22 wagons. When i do my next lot I will do them empty with the strengthening bars across the hoppers. John

James Here are a couple of the old Hornby MGR wagons I detailed, repainted and weathered a few years ago. Ten done so far, many more to go! I used one of the new style MGR wagons as a template for the curve on top of the hopper. As well as the changes that have been described above, I also did a bit of work on the under frames to make them look a bit more respectable and replaced the buffers with ones from Lanarkshire Model Supplies. Ps. Where did you get the VBA etches from? John

John How did you make the upright supports? John

Mike What have you used to paint the track? John

Phil I have just taken delivery of some of these and on first sight they look really good. I went for a pack of No. 17s (19mm between NEM pockets) and I am planning to try them on a rake of kit built 16t and 21t mineral wagons. I will try and post an update when I get round to trialing them. If successful I plan to use them right across my fixed rakes of wagons. Please keep us updated with your own test results. John

If you can get out and not too far away, both Beeley Wood Track Section Cabin and Wharncliffe Wood sub station still exist. They are surrounded by trees and heavily graffitied. I have photos of them both which I will have to dig out. There are a couple of photos of Wharncliffe on the Wentworth Junction ‘Modelling Real Locations’ thread. John

@jessy1692 and @Gibbo675. Great work on your Freightliner wagons and Containers. I found your threads about a month ago. I would be interested in the ML and OCL artwork and have sent you a PM. @Kier HardyAs for Hornsey Broadway, I haven't seen it in the flesh yet but enjoy seeing the photos and updates. As @jessy1692 says above, a huge inspiration. Keep up the good work. John

Mike Does the S1 need to run over it? if so can the bogie be modified? John

The windows look good. Very impressed. What prep work did you do and how did you fix them? Do you have an original Heljan EM1 that you can sit at the side as a comparison? Mike. Is there any chance you may be doing some more ‘testing’? John

Looking good. Do you have any photos of the front? And any chance of a brief description of what you have done. Looks like you have replaced the original side grills, rounded off the cab corners and replaced the vents on the roof? John

If I get chance I will post more detail in future but for now here is a quick update. I have used Judith Edge pantographs in the past and may do again but these are Sommerfeldt 941 pantographs. They start out looking like this: - and after modification they would end up looking like the one you see on sat on top of the EM2. The only original bits left are the lower pan arms and the pantograph head. The lower arms are set wider apart and what is left of the base has code 75 BH rail soldered to the sides to make it look something like the real thing. I chose to keep the base to allow me to lock the pans down if needed. The upper arms arm fashioned out of 0.45mm wire, and the insulators have been trimmed down to fit onto a new frame made out of various sizes of square plastic rod. The hardest part is putting it back together without damaging the pantograph head. One final comment, it may be necessary to create a small grove in the roof of your EM1 to allow the pantograph to raise and lower unhindered. John

PS My Triang EM2 part way through its upgrade.

In a follow up to my post last week on what I have done to a couple of my EM1s, I thought I would try and offer up a bit more detail. I will do this over a couple of posts concentrating on different areas of the model each time. It’s probably about 4 or 5 years since I did this and when I went back and had a look, I have surprised myself at exactly how much work I had done. What has helped is that I came across another MU fitted EM1 partway through its upgrade. Please note that a lot of this work was copied from the individual who started the previously mentioned topic which was taken down so I can’t take credit for a lot of what I am about to describe here. The first areas I will describe are the bogies and the roof: - Bogies As you can see from these photos, I have relocated the back of the bogies to fill the gap between them. The linkage between the two bogies is represented by adding three pieces of square plastic rod, two in one bogie and one in the other, each one above the next. You may also be able to see that there are two ‘cables’ that come out of the rear of each bogie and go up towards the EM1 body. These are just bent pieces of very thin plastic rod, but they did exist on the real thing. To improve the look of the sand boxes on each bogie corner I have also added bent wire to represent the sanding pipes. Finally, I have also replaced the buffers as the originals are too small. In this case they are turned brass buffers from A1 models. Roof To improve the appearance of this part of the model, I have basically removed everything from the roof except the roof vents, the air horns and the cables / conduit linking the pantographs. The lifting eyes have been replaced with ones made from 60 thou x 10 thou plastic strip. The metalwork supporting the electrical switchgear has been completely rebuilt only retaining the insulators. I have also replaced the moulded rain strips above the cab doors with pieces of wire to make them more prominent. Next time I will try and cover the pantographs.