DOCJACOB

Finally got to Ludborough this weekend as I had been busy helping my youngest daughter organise herself for her Duke of Edinburgh overnight hike. Arrived to find she had moved onto the main line while some major shunting was undertaken for the the new carriage shed. This was a big bonus as the end I got to work on is normally tight against a BR GUV and it is a real juggling act to to do any work. The other bonus was we were much nearer some electrical power. The side you see today is normally facing away from the public and is usually awkward to get at, having to clamber over bits of track, brambles and nettles. Firstly an urgent job as I had to point out the hand rail was only held in with 2 bottom bolts (not me honestly) and a heavy shunt could have some unpleasant consequences. Then as the chaps had a sedate lunch it was a chance to crack on with the steps. Not sure 100% on the positions as the published line drawings I've seen differ from the real thing on another siding. However passing comments were favourable so must have got it pretty much right. Each step has a metal support plate on the inside and the steps on the outside are held in place with x3 M12 bolts 60mm long.

Not much to report on but I did go on a scrounge and confirmed a rumour that in the dim amd distant past some replacement steps had been laser cut. I found 10 with backing plates. I also found a support block for the handle at the wagon end. It appears on closer visual inspection someone (not me) had bolted the handle in place but omitted to place the mounting block. I have a funny feeling they didnt bolt it in place on the roof either. At least I know about it now rather than finding myself swinging off it later! I then gave myself a real treat and did some oiling of the axleboxes of some wagons that had already been moved from the headshunt. If we had thought a bit more maybe the order of events was wrong? 3 wagons 15 litres of oil! I enclose images of the one of the CCT axleboxes. This one was in a reasonable state to start with! Image 4 shows the state of the pad and wick on removal. 6 and 7 show topping up the reservoir after first fill and replacement of the front cover. A truely vile afternoons work!

Been a bit busy decorating a room at home so today was first chance to get back to the grain wagon. Arrived to find we had squatters in the shape of a pair of swallows. They had chosen the to enter via the ventilator hood so were rather surprised when the door swung open. This meant I was limited in what I could do so stuck to outside jobs; mainly putting on both the handles for the corner steps. I then headed off to see the other 2 wagons in the hope of finding some fittings to use to secure the door shut. As you can see on wagon 1 they may well beyond saving, wagon 2 completely AWOL including all the door and frame. By now had been working for about 5 hours so as the rail was starting headed home

As far as I'm aware (and I do not consider myself a GWR expert) the nearest GWR type may be number 42239 a Dia V20 Lot 1006 convertable van at Didcot. I say nearest as the 3 at Ludborough are non-convertible from 1937. Strangely I understand the LNER persisted in building wooden bodied grain wagons. As regards seeing one in Bristol a bit of the beaten track but a 3 were in Grimsby area in 1972 not impossible I suspect.

At last a good clear day. My triathlete mate made the frame and initial fit last week width was out by 1/4 inch, rest was perfect. Returned it to him and shaved 1/8th off each side. Got busy with the paint brush and transported the frame to Ludborough this AM. Initial trial fit was perfect. Rustled up a couple of helpers and it was out with the drills, spanners and some rather large bolts. To hold hinges, frame and steel section on wagon needed 4 1/2 inch bolts, I plan to replace them with 5 inch bolts ASAP. 3 1/2 inch coach bolts to hold door frame to wagon. first image shows frame positioned and lightly secured at the top with a large piece of wood underneath to wedge it safely in position initially. Last two show the door in position on the wagon. And before anyone comments I know the lower strap is missing a bolt, for reasons i cant remember its in my tool bag instead of on the wagon. God knows why. Next job is door fixings to keep it shut.

Finally managed to get back on line after major computor hardware failure. Also wife managed to find a few little jobs for me like taking some tiles off a wall, they came off nicely along with large chunks of plaster! Funny how a little job becomes a total disaster. Not much to report other than some very good quality castings from 62c Models arrived and were loosly fitted. Plan to do a bit more now having sorted the plastering!

Not seen this one in the thread

I personally find resin OK to work with, bit messy when filing but nothing horrendous. Also not had any surprise problems ambushing me during the build. I enclose 2 images of Port Wynstay GNSR 10 O/F van. I think they had a moulding problem initially so they were a bit short! They generously replaced the relevant bits but I'nm sure a picture I saw once did prove they existed in short format. I think it was LNER Wagons Cheona??? The replacement sides are as per Tatlow LNER Wagons book. At least 3 survive at Strathspey Railway though when I last saw them in 80's they were clad in silver painted sheet steel. I also show an NBR 1 plank from Furness Model Company. They do a quite a few resin kits and this was a pleasant weekends work. May be not as detailed as some but I guess quite OK from normal viewing distance. Currently working on the GNSR Cattle wagon and its an interesting diversion with a cunning build technique with some "fretting out" of the resin required but nothing too traumatic. Makes a nice change as its a wagon with coach sized wheels so looks a bit different. The last is a real horror from I know not where, must have aquired it in the past during a moment of weakness! Needs to meet a fish pan full of boiling water to soften and straighten it out. The buffer beams are more suited to Gauge 1 and need a trim. Reasonably sortable and not in the league of the other nightmare!

Thanks to Rob and Sandy for the helpful hints, this kits hasn't driven me to drink yet but its a close run thing! Nice job on your NBR Empty Cask Wagon Rob, you mentioned the Port Wynstay resin version and here is my rather shoddy offering of the same. Shows her age as dont see the solid NBR buffers anymore? Parkside Dundas for the underframe, few scratch bits of brass and M+M compensation unit.

I'm aware I've been quiet recently, partly due to a Care Quality Comission visit to my work place but also because I've been given jobs to do by her ladyship. I strongly suspect this was retaliation for taking the micky as I wanted pieces of brass rod 2mm and 3mm diameter, since I didn't fancy a visit to town I gave her the shopping list and it was interpreted as x2 pieces of 3mm brass rod. That aside I'm still a tad irritated for buggering up the brake gear on the cattle wagon! Anyway back to the kit clearances; eventually plumped for 60 thou spacers as the locomotive sits at a sensible hight. As you see this just about does the trick but the coupling rods either need thinning or its scratch build time again. I'm divided on this one as thinning them to a more prototype shape is sensible but then they are brass coloured not steel colour as per the real think. The boiler has now got a lot less due material to generous "hacking" for motor clearance. Next job will be to get the same width (draw parallel line along the underside of the footplate?)on the front driver splasher to clear the coupling rod knuckle.

A slightly more up to date image. Today was to be a door frame measuring day but my triathlete friend who was supposed to be helping me doing this had a slight cycling accident.

Progress, if we can say this, is painfully slow. OK I did do something else but it really is a slog. Made a selection of plastic spacers as the instructions suggested. Made these in 40, 60 and 80 thou for starters. Then assemble locomotive without motor and one set of spacers and then marry up to a wagon to check height. Current cunning plan is to use the biggest spacer that gives a sensible ride height and then attack the footplate and remove some more metal. Obviously thats 3 assemble/re-assemble cycles for starters! I enclose the image of the rear cab splasher for amusement. It is an exercise in non-parallel curves and would be funny if it hadn't to be sorted. I think a lot of the likely gaps will be hidden by the boiler backhead casting (too wide incidentally to fit between the splashers) that will need trimming. There is a white-metal casting that I think is meant to be the gear lever and that may hide a bit as well. The coal bunker will need some sorting to (hopefully relatively painless) as there is no middle and I'll need to fake up a coal hole as that's missing too. Images this time a) Loco, chassis and 40 thou spacers, B) cab splashers c) something that builds what it says on the box! Just got to fix the roof down. Two 60 thou washers awaiting trial fitting Thanks to Rannoch for the idea about the brakes. In the origional they were wood and nothing really looks more like wood than wood? (Apologies to fans of scumbled LNER coaches) The other advantage is its an electrically dead material and I'm probably going to have enough clearance/shorting problems without adding in brake blocks. As an addendum to this I'm going to try an idea for the electrical pick ups I saw somewhere once that suggests fine wire resting on the flanges. Still no images of one built from this kit, is that a hint?

I'll be honest for Rannoch Moor, I'm still thinking about the clearances. The cab floor went in and that did nothing for my sanity as I find it doesn't match other bits in any way shape or form. The curve of the cab splasher doesn't match the splasher formed by the cab floor which doesn't match the bit that needed to be hacked away to allow the trailing wheel flange to clear the tank end. I think I could/should have guessed this was coming. The chassis needs to go back together but I decided to play instead with something that "does what says on the box" A Parkside Dundas LNER unfitted cattle van. Minimal "tweaks" required; microstrip for the roof and change of couplings, and more helpfully A fits B quite well. The ride height and thus clearance looks to be solvable how ever and in fairness that is next weeks work. I'm trying to be logical as this is only my 3rd 7mm locomotive kit; chassis runs, details like guard irons sorted, fit chassis to body and ensure clearance, check still runs, fit pick-ups and in between all of this work out what to do about brake blocks. Current guess is whittle a block of hard wood and cut 6 pieces out.

Not much to show for what seems an inordinate amount of work. Started fettling the footplate but the minidrill I owned effectively died. Yes it really is that bad. Another cup of coffee required! I tackled the rear guard irons. These I knew already to be pants but as the chassis was working now seemed a good time to sort them out. I built from scratch fairly easily. They do fit flush to the main frames so needed wire behind to strengthen and keep them in position. Also needed to use different melting point solder to avoid them falling apart. First image should be self explanatory White metal castings, or more correctly "blobs" were then assaulted. To ensure we got a reasonably close fit to the boiler shape a length of green aluminium oxide abrasive paper was stuck onto a brass tube of the appropriate diameter. Large amounts needed to be removed as can be seen from the first image and the chimney. The next image shows the dome dry fitted to the boiler. At least it isn't a million miles away. I think I deserve a couple of beers now as the next jobs are a) to cut a hole in the boiler and allow the motor to fit. b) finish fettling the footplate. Finally has anyone got a finished image of one of these kits built? I did ask on the Gauge O Guild forum but never got a reply? Or more worryingly may be I've answered my own question!

Its been a few days since an update, mostly thinking rather than doing. The list of issues grows: the chimmney flare is too wide for the smokebox wrapper, the rear guard irons are a joke and while I've been trial running the chassis with the fly wheel you see it will not actually fit in the boiler space of the locomotive. The brakeblocks are a total figment, they certainly don't match the earlier image and I almost forgot the boiler backhead for the cab is too wide to fit between the cab splashers. At least I've got a running chassis, I will now admit to a total horror/cheat. I would like to use the bushes provided with the slaters wheels but that would mean new coupling rods and almost certainly a worsening of the issue regarding inside clearance. I've thus used the 12BA bolts provided but not shortened them till 100% happy with the chassis running. I hope to get away with this as the loading through the cranks should be light and I'm not planning on her covering massive long runs, more a gentle end-end trundle. Couple more images and still a bit of cleaning to do and then the fettling of the footplate for clearance. I did build the water tanks and boiler before further fettling to ensure we didn't get holes in visible places and also because of the strength/rigidity imparted to the footplate that was becoming increasingly flimsy.

That was sort of the plan courtesy of some "thinking time" I may solder up the boiler and tanks and then fettle and trim from the inside. Probably making it a bit more tricky for myself but want to avoid holes to fill/cover as much as possible.

Thanks to all who have posted in reply. You are correct there are some small splashers for the coupling rod knuckles in the etch. There are 2 cresent shaped bits of brass that are sweated together. (2 for each side) needless to say this results in a solid item and given my previous comments I guess about as useful as a fart in a spacesuit. I fear a visit to the scrap etch box will be required. Also to be noted the feed water condenser pipes are cast in whitemetal but given the image from Euan Cameron shows them to be brass so another visit to the bits box will be required! Finally the Dummond 0-4-2 are mentioned in North British Study Group Journal No 107 covering the 130th anniversary of the Tay Bridge Disaster. The official train across the bridge on opening day was No 314 Lochee. 224 (aka the Diver) was rostered to pull the fateful train on 28/12/1897 as the Drummond Tank was having a boiler washout. Remarkably after being fished out of the drink in April 1880 224 had a further long and eventful life being rebuilt as a Nisbet Compound in 1885 and a another rebuilding in 1897. She was final scrapped around 1917 though her boiler may have alledgedly lasted longer in stationary use.

As a newcomer and currently battling with a NBR 0-4-2 kit in 7mm i mentioned that I may get to Ludborough (weather permitting) today to play with some full size bits. There are 3 of these wagons at Ludborough and there removal from an isolated stretch of track near Louth North signal box is documented on a website: just "google" Daves Railpics of Lincolnshire. I also understand they are unique and the only surviving examples. For the record they are 203834, 187994 and 203814 though dont ask which is which! I think one was chosen for preservation work by the Tuesday working party and very gradually over many years things progressed. I volunteered back in 2011 and fortunate to be allowed to do some work on the wagon while on warfarin for my DVT. Things have progressed further and bits were removed, taken to my garage, cleaned up, painted and returned. I regretably dont have images of all of the breakgear laid out on my garage floor! Currently we await the frame for the door hatch and then it really is pretty much the final leg. I'll try and post some more recent images when I visit

Thanks for the encouragement Sandy. Never scatchbuilt a locomotive but beginning to wish I had! Surely designing a kit "right" is easier than "wrong" But then I'm probably showing my ignorance. As regards the other request 3 LNER grain wagons were rescued from a length of track adjacent to Louth North signalbox a number of years ago. First scan shows what we're aiming for. The second picture shows the sort of state they arrived. Third scan is one was started I think nearly 10 years ago but work had been intermittant. I'm a "newbie" at the full size preservation thing but got involved as I like trains, it was near me and I needed something different to triathlon as part of my recuparation from serious illness in 8/2011. I had started training as a fireman till another setback occured, I got a DVT in my arm (honestly, a pretty rare occurance apparantly) The option was do nothing, worse still work in catering coach or adopt the grain wagon. I chose the grain wagon and since the latest image; the underframe has been painted, bolts ground off, door repaired and painted (currently in my garage) body undercoated and painted. Next job is the make the door frame and I've lined up a mate to do this. Weather forcast is bad for W/E but I'll see what I can manage on picture front.

Well here it is; nearly 2 days work and the footplate looks like a lump of swiss cheese now the holes are enlarged. At the very least it is level! I also have to be honest bending the guard irons is the least of the issues currently. The dry "mock up" was to ensure that I didn't cut away so much metal to free the wheels that I caused holes/gaps being visible to the naked eye. The instructions said a 1mm packing was needed but that's another "porkie" as the buffers are at the right height when pushed up against my GNR wagon seen earlier. This may mean another problem is on the horizon as I have a funny feeling the coupling rods will short out on the underside of the footplate when we progress further. Strangely though the water tank issue was a breeze to sort, folded up nice and easy, scrap soldered on the inside to blank off the unnecessary holes and turn them round 180 degrees so the smooth face was facing the front. The filled in areas will be covered by a westinghouse pump on one side when I get that far! The tanks will still need a tiny bit of prunning though as the inside of the ends foul the trailing wheel flanges. Having got this far with the tanks I've not really considered where the balance pipe should go, guess on the front of the tank similar to LNER N15 class? The issue with the combined splasher and sand box at the front is now blatantly obvious, and next to challenge the grey cells. However I've rewarded myself with a day playing with full size stuff at Ludborough. I hope to have a bit more done to the LNER grain wagon, the image is from earlier this year after starting on the painting. Its actually a lot further on and the door hatch is the next item on the agenda.

I finished the boiler and seam soldered the front of the smoke box on. Here it started to unfold as when I dry fitted the splasher/sandbox items i find they are each about 1.5mm too wide. That wasn't the only stressors as the water tanks have holes for a footstep and a vertical handrail that bears virtually no relevance to the locomotive; built or re-built. We should also add: The footsteps provided are nice but 100% the wrong shape. The radius of the spashers on the cab sides appear different to that on the footplate. The hinge strap on the smoke box door is too long. After this I had another strong coffee and dug my GNR Pulley Wagon out for finishing. I'll wait till warmer weather before painting. I feel a night in front of the TV is called for and in the words/classification of Mr D Jenkinson this is a "2 bottle problem" and I'll need to get seriously thinking.

In answer to Burgandy "yes" though in comparison the LBSCR versions were lighter by about 7 tons. 4 of this represents the weight on the trailing axle and may explain the re-building by NBR Anyway on with the build; I took stock on the "fettling" needed to get the footplate to fit the chassis and had a very strong coffee. I decided instead to fit the moulding to the cab sides and the brass trim to the spectacle plates. Shaping the trim was tricky due to the thickness hence the white profile template to bend the brass trim to fit inside cabside edge. The spectacle trims were a bit easier but very flimsy so needed gentle handling to get in place.

Just for the record what it should look like.

Managed to play a bit more. The instructions mentioned building the footplae, valances and buffer beams with the cab front and then match to the chassis for clearance purpose. In this case the white metal buffers provided were grim so pinched a set from mt NBR N15 kit (easily replaced from 62c models) I also finished the seam on the boiler, using wire to hold in place prior to soldering. The good news is the gap will be hidden. Oddly enough the boiler is correct diameter and if I really should have replaced the wrappers in the kit. Life is just too short! I also used the coupling rods provided but not 100% convinced and guess they may be scrapped for some milled ones.

Life does have some strange coincidences. I'd done a swap with a fellow Gauge 0 Guild member and included in the deal was an ancient MEGA kit for a NBR 0-4-2. These were not a resounding sucess for the NBR and were rebuilt as 0-4-4 within a few years. Despite this they still lasted till the mid 20's Then the North British Study Group Journal 117 had an extensive article on them so time to dust the box off. By modern standards this kit is a bit of a dog but we have to remember it must have first seen the light of day about 25 years ago! Not being one to shirk a new challenge (I'm the sort of idiot who swims the Humber Estuary for amusement or runs a 65 ultra marathon for charity- you get the idea) off we go! The only saving grace in this swap was it included pick-ups, motor, gear, wheels, flywheel. Some of the white metal castings need a bit of work but it was possible to buy better quality brass fittings from 62C models. That aside the chassis was built on my JPL jig, and I got a chance to play with my new riviting tool, here is where we are at so far