LNER4479

Another '0rgy' of tracklaying today (oo-er missus), just leaving the entrance pointwork into the five 'Up' roads to do. Some initial wiring up is also happening, in anticipation of the 'sparky' (Andrew) visiting early next week but that's REALLY boring ... We want more trains! And coaches. Just discovered that the Keswick portion of the 'Lakes Express' requires TWO Stanier six compartment brake composites... What odds on the RTR boys doing such a vehicle any time soon?

Yes, I can provide a bit of an update. As well as Hartlepool, Peterborough and Glasgow (as per footer), I can confirm that we will also be at York with the layout over Easter 2020 (forms came through today). We also have a confirmed invite for Wigan, October 2020. That's more the right area of the country (shh - don't tell Apollo...) All a bit far from the Exe, though, I have to confess. HOWEVER, and at risk of getting you too excited, we have had an e-mail conversation re taking the layout to Taunton in October 2021. So, if you can wait two years... Yes I agree. That leading MkII does grate a bit, doesn't it ...

8th August 2019 Happy now, children? We have two locos to cover for any failures. Bit like the real thing (although to be fair they do run very nicely) Thanks to Barry O for adorning both locos with correct northbound headcode.

1971 ... I think. Accelerated timetable, following route improvements, as a prelude to the wire scrapers in 1973. No doubt someone who knows more about such things will correct me. I'm happier answering questions about hiss n p1ss locos...

Ahem... Sorry, Tony - couldn't resist! Open air worship... Incidentally, most of this train in the work of Iain '92220' who I know has visited you at Little Bytham. More details of his very welcome contribution to Shap here Graham

I can spell Altrincham - it's on my birth certificate! Love all the announcement stories Bien Sur. Talking of which, this tracklaying lark is all very well but how about this little trio to stir the soul of all red blooded LMR fans? Royal Scot 46146 'The Rifle Brigade' makes steady progress up the bank with a Birmingham-Glasgow express c.1958 46256 purrs past Shap Wells with the lightweight 'Caledonian' express (introduced in 1957) Can you hear it shouting to the surrounding moorlands? Patriot 45543 'Home Guard' makes some three cylinder music at the head of a Euston-Perth express I've said it before but isn't RMWeb a wonderful family? I've not wanted to make any presumptuous posts before now but I am now delighted to introduce another rolling stock contributor to the Shap project, Mr '92220' of this parish. Thanks to his generous offer of making some of his currently idle '1B Camden' stock available, we instantly have these three further expresses in the roster, each filling a sizeable gap in the late 1950s/early 1960s timeframe. As a result of this and Barry's visit on Tuesday, the fiddle yard is rapidly starting to fill up - and I haven't even laid all the tracks yet! The 'down', non-banked roads (right hand side) are starting to fill up quite nicely now. Starting over on the right hand side (Road 1), so far we have: Road 1 - Nine out of the 11 vehicles of the 1950's 'Royal Scot'. LMS train behind (stock just stabled there for now) Road 2 - Birmingham-Glasgow. Caledonian behind Road 3 - Empty (but not for long) Road 4 - Crewe-Carlisle parcels train Road 5 - 1967 Birmingham-Glasgow Road 6 - 1967 Royal Scot. Freightliner behind Last two trains are Barry's and it would be very remiss of me not to mention three further distinctive rolling stock contributions from the man himself (as recently seen on his kitbuilding thread). I'll ensure they get properly photographed at the weekend but they are two LMS Period 1 and one LMS Period 2 coaches, all kit built in blood n custard. One of them can be seen as the second vehicle of the 1950s Birmingham-Glasgow. More soon - if you will excuse me, I have some track to lay!

Oi! No swingers on here - this is a good clean website, is this Tell away - we're all ears... (PS - the disc did start out at approx. 1.5 inches. We didn't realise how much it was wearing until we changed it! That photo was towards the end of its usefulness)

More fiddle yard progress, this time down t'other end. The final board to be constructed . This of course essential to have the rest of the layout up to ensure an accurate fit for a portable, roundy-roundy layout. Now with top boards being put in place. I've tried to set this out on as generous curves as possible to minimise any running problems (= minimise pregnant pauses round the front viewing side at exhibitions!) That just leaves one more board to fill the final gap, a 1 foot wide, 4 foot long piece for the south end of the 'Nottingham' lines. Milestone moment 1 - All boards in place. Final cork sheets being laid out. Meanwhile, Tom (LMS29) visited a few days ago, armed with his Dremel (that isn't really a Dremel, apparently). We soon got into a double act routine to attend to the baseboard joints that won't be sliding fishplates, me soldering and Tom slitting. Now working on the all-important connections on the south end link board. Existing tracks are in the process of being lifted and put into new positions. What you can see here on the right hand side are two exit roads from the 'down' (uphill) fiddle yard converging. On the right, is the link from the six, double roads (on the 'Nottingham' boards) for single headed trains not requiring banking. The left hand one is for trains out of the three, double length banked roads. The ideas is, as before, the fiddle yard operator draws the next train forward into position as soon as the preceding train has gone, including positioning the banking engine at the ar$e end; this new arrangement however should mean that the Shap operator always has TWO trains waiting rather than just the one. Milestone moment 2 - you'll have to trust me on this one but we now have a complete circuit again! It was the three banked roads that got connected first so here is a raft of 29 wagons (c. 30 SLUs) in position on the afore-mentioned banked train release position. There is room for a loco at the business end, clear of a train on the adjacent road, together with a banking engine at the rear, clear of the final point (which can just be seen extreme bottom left). This was one of the objects of the exercise. It looked good on paper but always reassuring to see it translated into practice. Here is a bit more stock! Enough track laid now to get it all out and start to see what we have to hand. Similar to Grantham, the Shap stock list is a combination of several people's collection. although in the case of Shap I'm providing a slightly higher percentage, approx. 30-40%. As always, not enough goods wagons ... but folks do like to see express trains. I'm on a roll now as I have designated this week as Shap work week with the aim of having all tracks laid by the end of the coming weekend, when the wiring up team are due to make a start.

Yes, I saw that. I'd otherwise not clocked that the L&C is 175 years old(!) 200th perhaps?(!)

Well, it's been a little while since the last update ... but work has been proceeding nonetheless. With the new boards made, modifications were required to the north end corner boards. These were made in 2017 to link up with the Grantham fiddle yard boards but this is not now of course required. The main alterations was to change the alignment of the rear raised boards; this required it to be removed and repositioned, as shown here. Here is a close up showing the work involved. One issue previously was a rather tight curvature even in combination with the curved points so I've taken the chance to ease things a little. Now with the new track formation starting to appear. A hangover from the use of the Grantham fiddle yard will be the rear section of the yard being raised (and no doubt forever known as the 'Nottingham roads'!). It does have the slight advantage of being slightly easier to reach across, being raised; hopefully however there should be no need to reach across as it will be fully automated. The arrangement shown here includes a 2 inch overlap so it's 2ft 10ins total width, six roads on these rear roads, 17 roads in total with space for 33 trains, most roads having two trains. Although my preferred arrangement of sliding fishplates is retained in certain places, the prospect of 17 times 2 for each joint along the straight run of the yard seemed worth avoiding if at all possible. Here I'm using copper clad sleepers, pinned to the board ends and laying the track straight across before soldering and cutting through. And here is more or less where we're up to at the moment. Tracks about half laid, with just the south end corner board to make. Need to pick up the pace a little though if this is all going to be ready for the forthcoming season. Talking of which, need to start getting the stock sorted for the 'new' 1950s trains. Here is the likely formation for the mid-1950s Liverpool-Glasgow/Edinburgh express. This train did not receive MkI stock till the end of the decade so will be a nice counterpoint to the all MkI 'Royal Scot'. The 12-wheel restaurant car needs lowering on its bogies. More soon.

Third and final instalment of our USA Big Boy / Golden Spike adventure: Having checked into a hotel in the locale for three nights, we made our way to Ogden's Union Station The 'Steam Meet' was set up to the south of the station, with #844 already in situ. UP CEO Lance Fritz was amongst those making speeches and called #4014 to come into the arena And here they are, in a homage to Promontory 1869 The inevitable cheesy photos (but not too much so) And then a prolonged photo opportunity, with crews on the front of the locos, Promontory style. We went for a walk around to let the crowds subside and the locos were duly able to be photo'd unhindered (similar, it appears, to Wendell1967). Today, had tickets for Promontory Huge crowds but great to be there under cloudless skies The re-enactment And then a stunning finale. Fireworks were set off (despite it being broad daylight) and - completely unexpected (to us at least) - a flight of four USAF F-35s to complete the picture. Quite a moment. Nice locos but very difficult to get many decent photos due to crowds. Hope you enjoyed the story of our visit. We're not hanging around to see the locos head back to Cheyenne so that's it ... for this visit, at least!

Some pictures of mine from Saturday - a first ever day spent chasing a train as a 'railfan' in the US. Here we are just a few miles outside Cheyenne, where the 1952 'Harriman Cut Off' route up Sherman Hill branches off from the original route (seen in the background). Train more or less on time at this point but that was not to last. Other than Harriman itself, there is only one other point on the 1952 route that is publicly accessible, fortunately the other side of the booked stop at Harriman so we managed to get past the train and bag this rather satisfying result in full sunshine. 4014 was clearly taking it easy (understandable in the circumstances) and you can see the ridiculous amount of head end power on tap but - hey - I've seen a Big Boy climbing Sherman Hill which was the main object of the exercise. An interesting experience to be part of a US chasing posse of cars - there was as many behind us as in front of us! Taken from the car window during the chase! To be honest, after the excitement of Sherman Hill, the vast plains of Wyoming offer few really great photo spots - but, hey, it was fun all the same. With all the attention of #4014, it would be easy to overlook No.844, which is a mighty impressive beast in its own right. For those unaware, this was the last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific (in 1944) and is remarkable for the fact that it has never been officially retired, remaining in active use (overhauls etc permitting) for publicity / promotional use, sometimes referred to as 'The Living Legend'. Saw her in the steam shops in Cheyenne five years ago undergoing repair so this was the first time I'd seen her in steam. Photo taken as the train rolled in for its stop at the location below. This was the final en route servicing stop of the day at Medicin Bow. The locals were all delighted to see the train, cheering and waving American flags as the train pulled in. This is a live, running railway, with humungous freight trains passing regularly on the other tracks but that didn't stop the crowds getting up close. There was a degree of policing but all generally good humoured and relaxed from what we could see. Final sighting of the day, train now a good two hours late. This it the small town of Hanna and, on this occasion, the sun didn't play 'ball', retreating behind a cloud as the train appeared, only to bathe the scene in brilliant early evening sunshine the moment it had passed. Not that it was a particularly photogenic spot in any case, so more 'for the record' - at least it's a reasonable broadside of the main item of interest. An amazing and at times surreal day. We've headed off elsewhere for a few days now (Jellystone to try and catch up with Yogi Bear and Boo-boo, to be precise) but we hope to catch up again with 4014 and 844 at Ogden on May 9th before heading to Promontory on May 10th. So, hopefully one further update shortly after that.

I'll be amazed if they don't do something like that with her at some point ... but right now I guess their focus is on having a successful next 14 days without any hitches so I imagine they'll be keeping it as simple as possible and treating her with the largest pair of kid gloves and the biggest bundle of cotton wool they can find. They certainly weren't taking any chances with her yesterday evening.

They've also left the cylinder covers off and not bothered with the cab window glazing - tut! (up against the clock working to a tight deadline - where have I heard that before?) (see what I did there? 'up against the clock...' ... 'U.P. against the clock'? U.P. ... Union Pacific? Oh forget it!)

Further update posted on the Big Boy thread. In case you can't been be bothered to look, here is the beast, looking rather splendiferous in the early evening Cheyenne sunshine.

Sure is - and we were there to see it. Firstly, continuing on from the previous instalment, we left St Louis headed for Omaha... ...where Big Boy #4023 is imaginatively and spectacularly displayed overlooking the Interstate entering the city. From there we pressed on to North Platte (Weds evening). There, I 'discovered' Challenger #3977 - had no idea is was there until we got there and I happened to see reference to it on a town map! This morning started with a visit to Bailey Yard in North Platte, the world's largest railroad yard at eight miles long. There you can go into the 'Golden Spike' tower ... ... for a panoramic view of the yard And so on to Cheyenne, where I joined with local railfans on the bridge overlooking the UP Steam Shops to see #4014 being worked on. Within 15 minutes, she moved off, setting back into the yard to get access to the mainline tracks. It was an age before any further movement, UP understandably running continuous checks on the loco before letting her loose on the mainline. Consequently, we contented ourselves with these views held on the running line In spite of a few final details still required (note lack of cab windows and cylinder covers), she looks a million dollars (probably several million of 'em in truth). We sticking around till Saturday to hopefully follow her out of town on the first leg of her journey to Ogden.

Whilst Grantham slumbers on pending a summer dust down, there's another travelogue broken out in another area of the forum. Not sure quite where this link will take you but, to save double posting, it's all in this linked 'Big Boy' thread and I just posted the first instalment. I'll keep you posted.

Well, we're over there, over-paid (perhaps not?) and definitely not the other 'over...'. Making our way steadily way out west to be there to hopefully see it all in the flesh and, in doing so, achieve a lifetime's ambition. Landed in Chicago in a snow blizzard (!) after an otherwise good flight. Managed a quick trip into the city centre on a Metra 'gallery car' train. Why Chicago? Read on... Weather so foul that only photography possible was in Union station. Been before but never fails to impress. And an appropriate starting place for a trip heading out west. But the weather sorted itself out for our drive along the first 300 miles of Route 66 on Sunday, this restored original gas station at Odell being the highlight. My road trip buddy's day was made when two Corvette's and a Mustang rolled up, three young lads on a trip out of their own. The middle one was the genuine 1950's article (apparently - sorry, I'm not much of a petrol head myself!) Of FAR more interest to me was our visit today (well, now yesterday) to St Louis's National Museum of Transportation and successfully hunting down our first 'quarry' - Big Boy #4006. Number 5 out of 8 (remaining examples), this was the first time my mate had clapped eyes on one and he was well-impressed. In reasonable nick, considering she's out in the open. This is the highest mileage Big Boy, if the info is correct. Of course, #4014 has the chance to wrestle that mantle at some point in the future, depending on how much use UP make of her. Great museum; very few folks visiting (although it was a week day). Pretty typical of US museums in my experience! A selection of other stuff that caught our eye: To recover from all that excitement, a stop at a legendary Route 66 institution on the way back to the hotel: Before a late afternoon trip into town and a look at the impressive St Louis Union station. A sort of St Pancras going on here as this is now a swanky hotel! More soon (subject to hotel WiFi ...)

S'finished! Or at least I exhausted the more obvious details that are worth adding. She is to be depicted in late 1930's condition. After a careful trawl of pictures and data it was agreed to depict loco with mechanical lubricator and single associated wiggly pipe along the boiler (atomiser supply?). Locos had had cab windshields fitted by then so those have been added (glass to add once painted. Cab seats have been fitted and there is a reverser in the cab on the driver's side. Also on the driver's side, at the front is the ash ejector (long type). Never come across one of those before but they all seem to have had them. Remembered, after I'd taken these pictures, that I'd forgotten to fit the balance weights to the wheels - now fitted. She is now en route to Mr Rathbone's paintshop so likely to be a few months before the final effect will be seen. Meanwhile the workbench will be tidied up for another LNER loco build project.

Not it would appear on this occasion. Picture alert. Some actual modelling involved (allegedly...) After due attention to said naughty point, we transferred across to t'other side to do some skeenery structure work, using a version of chicken wire (chick wire, perhaps?). Whilst I am comfortable with knocking Peco pins into plywood formers then bending the tops over to secure, between us we invented a different way of affixing chick wire to polystyrene formers, using 1 inch (-ish) screws and a hot glue gun. Worked surprisingly well. Patent application pending. From a slightly more elevated viewpoint, what you can't really see here is that the foam in the top right hand corner is attached to a plywood tray, masking the fiddle yard roads (but easily removable in case of disaster). This allows the cutting side to continue into the expanse and should be quite effective at depicting the deep cutting of the prototype at this location. No caterpillars were harmed during the making of these slopes.

Morning All, With the permission of our glorious leader, here are some pictures of a PN project being worked on in the background. Whilst the clutch of signals at the north end continue to grace many a picture of the layout, one or two of them do not bear too close inspection. I am delighted therefore to have been asked to do something about it. First to be tackled is one of three more or less identical bracket signals, being that controlling movements off the down goods line, seen here (on the left) in a cropped camfone image from one of Glibert's reference books (hope that doesn't violate too many copyright laws?). Alongside (taken from the other side) is the current equivalent signal on the layout. As you can see, it has a few 'issues', not least the aftermath of something heavy having been dropped on it in times past (note the mangled main post latticework two thirds of the way up!). Another of its issues is that is that the lattice bracket work, although similar, is not the right shape. Unfortunately, although there is a 'double' bracket in the ex-MSE range, it is not the right shape either. Having failed in an attempt to get one etched for me, I took the plunge and decided to make one up to my own drawing, using the smallest (0.8mm) flat brass bar available. Here are the completed brackets, alongside the main post. This (the post) is a standard Wizard item - however, I have reinforced it with fine brass angle up all four edges. As well as being more realistic, this will help make it more knock-proof ... just in case. From here on, the work should be more straightforward, if a little fiddly. Standard Wizard parts again can be used for the dolls. And here is where I'm up to as of last night. Basic signal structure complete and with landing ready to be affixed. More to follow in due course. And, in more positive news, I have now found a willing volunteer to do the etches for the other two signals(!) so they should be a little more straightforward when their turn comes.

Hi there, I think you'd be struggling with that. The point flexing is only really suitable for slight tweaks to turn a dead straight into a sweeping curve. The two slips that were tweaked at the north end on Grantham are within a six foot radius curve. By contrast, your suggestion is trying to turn the straight into the inner radius of the Peco curved point. That's about three foot radius (slightly less in parts as it's not a constant radius) so that's a lot more than a tweak. I'd also be worrying about the left hand (inner) radius that you'd be ending up with there. You're probably down to set-track radii by the time you've put that amount of tweaking in. The real problem is that you can't tweak the slip points evenly throughout their whole length as you have to leave well alone in the central section where the switch blades are. You get away with that on a gradual curve only. Hope that's not too disappointing for you!

In addition to our Antipodean correspondent's helpful link, this may also help:

Well I'm up for that... Below is a 2015 Pickering shot I seem to have taken from a remarkably similar viewpoint to your 1975 picture ...