pbkloss

Apologies - this seems very disjointed as it was written across a house move and as a result my plans had to adjust as the space the layout will go in is different, again. In the process I had to pack the layout to move it, and I decided to renew the boards as the old ones, with 40 year old chip board had distorted with time so that none of the joints were flat .... so this is a June 2022 edit / correction of what I wrote nearly a year ago before the move, forced by the rmweb catastrophe that wiped all the photos uploaded in the last year: A minor update since the last entry and a track plan of sorts as promised. The extra length I have allows the station throat to be stretched over 5 or 6 feet as opposed to being cramped within three feet as before - much smoother curves and hopefully a better alignment and running First a photo update showing more flexi track laid along the curve: now with the first cross over built And now a drawing of the projected layout of the main lines. I'm hopeful of adding a small goods yard off the single slip on the extended head shunt 'below' the running lines .... will actually map that out on the real boards when the main lines are done The fancy double curves are down to re-design forced by the move and the desire to re use as much of the previously built pointwork as possible, in particular the 3-way point in the up main to platforms 3, 4 and the central sidings as before If you are wondering about a trailing cross over from DM to UM that is off to the right, there is one, around the bend (!). thats it for now ....

Dear Phil, I realise that, and thats why I put them on, like you have, and I intend to do this for all my Mk1 rakes likewise. My little query was, are the Markits ones overlong for an extended buffer? It *seems* so to me but I'm willing to be wrong, the coach is packed away again and I forgot to actually measure it. Next time its out I will check

My last entry on this topic was in 2017!!! Just around my last house move had caused a huge hiatus in modelling well blow me down, I've moved again, the layout is all packed up still and I'm thinking, while waiting for my new railway room to emerge, what do I do? Answer: post an update on this very long running project (It's not the longest by any means) to try and complete *something* So here are some shots of that BCK's interior completed, and reassembled. In addition, I put Markit BR sprung buffers (which seem way too long) and a loop version of the Dingham coupling at the brake end. I've decided to trial Hunt magnetic couplings as intermediate couplings on my Mk1 rakes as these will only ever be re-formed in the fiddle yard ... Happy modelling ... This shows the compartment side body shell with toilet and guard's windows converted from 'white' to 'frosted' (which most were) and a cheat guard's desk, just an offcut of white polystyrene sheet behind the lower part of the guard's window - these are so visible on the real thing and these show the interior re-assembled and being worked on, seats painted, toilet and guards compartments in cream, toilet sinks and mirrors added as these will be visible through the frosted windows even without interior lighting, and the luggage compartment solid wall opened up with see-through mesh. A few other Mk1 interiors being painted behind (front to back, Bachmann TSO split (accidental damage) with added partitions, awaiting table tops; a Hachette SK interior and finally part of a LIMA CK interior ... And now a few shots from different angles of the reassembled coach. Yes the sprung buffers need blackening. I hope the little mods were worth the effort, interestingly the reading lights were a lot of work even for a flat impressionistic version, but are all but invisible ... (and as for those roof panel joints ...)

Oh and for the number list I'm sure I've seen a photo with 34105 Swanage (now on the MHR) on the S&D ... it was shedded at Bournemouth and ran on the S&D according to https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/34105-swanage/

When I get around to it my S&D unrebuilt will be 34043. Fated to be one of the first to be withdrawn in 1963, Bournemouth shed seemed to send it up the S&D when ever it could. Something to do with a modification done in the early 50s that impaired its steaming (!). It got the first cut down tender at the same time. I think it even features in the opening sequence of the Titfield Thunderbolt (!). I've been trying to find out when it got AWS fitted, and struck gold when the front cover of the recently published book of S&D photos by Derek Cross it appears in soot livery (in contrast to the coaches behind). I won't be able to bring myself to weather it like that. (the photo shows it AWS fitted and is dated in the summer of 1961). I have something of a strange affection for this unfortunate loco .... (So to make a point - if you are trying to model around a particular date there are four main changes to take into account: rebuilding (big change), for those left unrebuilt the tender type and when it got one with sides cut down, livery change from lion & wheel to totem with lining changes to cab side and tender, and finally AWS fitting, all happening at different times) Postscript: I thought of two the things that are visually obvious: 1. The cab windows that were small and 'flat' on the original cabs, but they were changed very early on to the 'sloped' or angled variety 2. In a top view of the unrebuilds, originally the boiler had a cluster of three safety valves forward of the dome. Later, during the rebuilding period they were changed for two safety valves rear of the dome. There is a great top view of 34043 in Ivo Peter's 'The Somerset and Dorset in the 1950s - Volume 2 1955-59' photo 29 taken in July 1955 where the triple safety valve cluster really stands out, as well as the cut down tender, small lion & wheel centred on the tender side and the number on the same level - lower than the unrebuilts with high tender sides. Unfortunately the lining can't be seen! PS my rebuilt will be 34028 Eddystone, having seen it and photographed it so many times on the Swanange Railway ...

One massive advantage of the new plan, without the facing and trailing crossovers crossing each other as in the old compact layout of the station throat, is that from an electrical point of view the wiring is much simpler. In the old, both crossovers could not be simultaneously reversed as it would cause a short at the diamond crossing, in effect I needed interlocking for electrical as well as operational reasons. Now, it will be just for operational / signalling reasons, much easier to wire. Avoiding DCC as yet, I plan to have the track feeds at the destination end, i.e. arriving trains will be fed by an 'arrivals' controller that can be switched to each platform end track, and departing trains from a controller at the fiddle yard end, I will still need to ensure by some means that the two controllers don't get inadvertently connected!

Having a couple of years with bits and pieces from my previous house assembled as a 'testing plank' pretending to be a layout I have decided at long last to attempt to bridge the gap from one side of my converted garage to the other to make something approaching a real layout - one where you go from one bit to another (!) in this case from the station on one side to the storage sidings on the other. Having bought a quantity of 12mm ply as tops for some new baseboards, and 18x44mm timber for the framing, construction of some new boards the has proceeded. These will fill the gaps between the old chipboard surfaced and partly scenicked (sp) boards inherited from the previous location. In case you are wondering 'this framing is too flimsy', you would be right except that all the boards are sitting on sub-frames that are much more substantial. This initial assembly (as shown in the photos below) is one end using a mix of old and new boards. at some stage I will make boards for other end to form a loop, that will be used mainly for test running as the layout is meant to be a terminus with a through line to another part of the system (a link from the S&D to WR used mainly for freight exchange). So here is current progress with boards assembled to check levels and flexi track laid out to try to work out the curves. This will involve unforeseen changes to the station throat pointwork, in fact a radical simplification which will be good in the end, caused by the fact that my garage is about 18" narrower than the room which previously housed the layout. The plus side is that I have much more length. Its only when putting it out in the flesh that all these issues really appear, so much of what I drew on paper doesn't really work! Part2 might actually have a drawn plan to help explain ... First a view from the inside, with one of the old boards that has some track work with preserving ... secondly a close up of the left side showing the new station throat board and lastly a view from the outside showing the sub-frame My previous attempts at realigning the station throat were just not good enough to give even a minimum radius of 3'6" (absolute minimum for P4) hence realigning the track to swing out nearer the station side wall of the garage .... I'm happy to say that the whole assembly is level and fits!. Just need a bridging piece to the traverser style storage sidings / fiddle yard. The boards are not in their final position, they will all move out towards the end wall, (behind me in the last photo) so I can increase the length of the station by 2-3 coaches with another new board fitted in between the existing old station boards. The really narrow board with the old station throat will also be replaced with yet another new plywood topped board - more to follow

The last entry on this project to make a frankencoach from a Hachette coach chassis and roof combined with heavily modded sides and interior from an old Triang-Hornby Mk 1 CK was in October. Every so often I would pick up on this project and do a little more .... then a few weeks back I got the bit between the teeth and attempt the finish stretch. This covered: painting the sides (maroon), roof (grey). Painting the glazing bars a proper shade of maroon (Precision), lining with HMRS Presfix transfers and adding numbering and those extra little marks, adding the window transfers (first, no smoking), adding brass wire handrails and T door handles, then reassembling (which meant remaking locators for those three little screws in the interior), checking it all (i.e. taking apart, adjusting fit, reassembling), adding securing strips underneath to stop those pesky close coupling arms dropping off, finishing off the underframe (the dynamo and the light regulator had dropped off due to bad handling), and finally adding the filler pipes at the ends (more brass wire) and painting .... was it worth the effort? I think so and it compares reasonably with a Bachmann coach for layout use, separate handrails and door handles plus a matt roof (very light as if fresh from overhaul) are improvements from my point of view. What do you think, here it is .... Firstly the compartment side: numbered as M 15628 Then the corridor side: (numbered W 15783, not in the C&C livery list!)) and finally a few shots in a train, comparing with the Bachmann BCK 'next door': Additional comments: 1. I have scraped off the toilet window grey paint courtesy of Hachette and scratched a frosted look. The interior has rough representations of the toilet sinks as these are visible from outside. The numbers chosen are from batches built in 1954, so frosted glass applies; 2. My layout is built around a wall and coaches will only be seen from one side, hence different numbers on each side, the LMR one for my 'Pines' rake and the WR one for use in any WR express ..... and lastly the glazing recycled from the Hachette coach has quite thick edges (prismatic) but I'm happy this doesn't show too much in practice. I'm more bugged by the 'canopy glue' I've used to stick the glazing in not drying as transparent as it is meant too ...

Since my last entry on this topic soooo long ago I've now managed to add couplings and the hand rails. Still missing are the vac pipes, the vacuum pipe up the chimney side of the van, (I'll have to hack that one, its missing from my kit), the central lamp irons on the body ends and some writing on the sides (number, tare weight ....). Sadly after the event I found an article in the Scalefour news of a hero's previous efforts at building one of these kits and like me, he had an early production kit which sits almost 1mm too high - I wish I had read that before starting my build. The issue here was that the chassis was pre-built and so there would be a lot of adjustment to rebuild. Plus the plastic in my kit is amazingly brittle and I've had quite a few breakages during construction. So, it still sits high and I've tweaked the couplings to it does couple to my other freight ruling stock ... here is a photo to show progress:

Having got a decent enough test track to run things I've been adding to my freight stock. I need a couple of brake vans and in an exhibition a little while back (when we had them things) I bought a partly built Cambrian models SR brake van kit from a 'member sales' stand. The chassis had been assembled (as rigid) and the duckets had been glued to the mixed plank sides (great as that is the variety I'm modelling). Putting this together has been bit of a pain as the body interior is actually lower by 0.5 mm than the ends and fixing the doors should be done before attaching the roof (!) ... like I didn't and it shows. Also, being in P4 the long wheel base in a rigid chassis resulted in immediate derailment on my dodgiest bit of track. So I bodged a compensated axle using a Blacksmith internal compensation unit designed for compensating etched coach bogies . it worked a treat! Still a work in progress I need to attached the couplings (Dingham) and the steps and finish painting. Some photos of progress follows ... Firstly body assembled with ends, having packed the centre compartment sides to raise them to meet the roof (!) I was painting as I went along so the internal bits that would be hard to paint afterwards were done, but I wish I hadn't dome the sides ... This is the underside showing the weight and the compensation unit close up of compensation unit and a lot of fat hand / finger (Sorry) now with doors and buffers replaced with Bachmann sprung loco buffers which might be a bit too long and the other side

47465 is my Bath GP shaded Jinty which was a Bachmann Jinty P4 conversion (that was the basis for the EMGS conversion data sheet). Since that sheet was created a long long time ago, poor 47465 had an unfortunate accident, being sent flying from the layout to the floor (!). The result was that the front LHS wheel acquired a loose tyre (the only damage!!). It took a while for me to get around to fixing the tyre (super glue) and it then ran fine. However, in the process of investigating the damage I had to cut off the brake gear which in any case was a bodge fix of the original Bachmann shoes and pull rods. So the loco ran 'naked' for a while (actually a few years). Now in lock down I've got around to replacing the brake gear, which has been 'stolen' from a static model (!) the 'Great British Locomotives' collection Jinty that I got from Ebay. (This was an experimental purchase to see if these static models were any good or usable as a cheap source of replacement loco bodies - it seems so!). The brake gear part of the GBL Jinty needed a little hacking about to reduce the size of the brake shoes but the plastic is remarkably strong so I had only one breakage disaster. So here are some photos of the model .... I should point out that the body has replacement steps (Mainy Trains) and has had the cab floor cut so it can sit on a Perseverance chassis that is waiting in the wings for it .... incidentally with a bit of lubrication it runs quite well and can creep with a PWM controller (Gaugemaster in my case)

Having done my first RTR wagon conversion I was overtaken by the urge to assemble what ever rolling stock I could that needed minimal work to run. The attraction was that I could assemble realistic train formations long enough to test any future track work. In the limited testing I had already done I realised that constructing track and not immediately testing it was a really bad idea. Right now I'm working with a layout that has taken 30 years plus of very slow construction and almost zero testing with the kind of workings I was dreaming of, and the consequences are, you guessed it, almost everything falls off the rails very quickly - boo! Interestingly enough the worst performers should be the best - my coaches running on compensated (MJT) bogies - somehow I have failed to build them flexible enough and they run no better than uncompensated stock, e.g. my converted Bachmann Mk1s. So I thought, lets P4 convert as much of my RTR stock as possible so I can assemble four to nine car rakes, and (purists look away) even leave on the tension lock couplings within the rakes. If I can get these uncompensated rakes to stay on my new track then I have really succeeded! Then I can build really proper (compensated and 'real' inter car couplings that won't result in a sharp intake of breath) at my leisure, knowing that they will run better (hopefully) .... And amazingly I can get these to roll almost without falling off - If I attended to the joins between my RTR flexi track, especially at base board joins then it would be even better, as these are now the source of most derailments. But actually half the source of these problems are 30 year old sagging base boards, that are lined up to be replaced by new ones made from 12mm ply ... So some pictures: So in platform 1 (nearest) stands a mixed express formation with Mk1 coaches supplemented with LMS catering cars, Mk1 BCK (Bachmann), LMS Period II RCO (Hornby ex Airfix), LMS Period III Dia 1999 SO (Mainline), Mk 1 SK (Hachette) and nearest Mk 1 BSK (Bachmann). With the addition of a CK and another SK that becomes a short 'Pines express' rake. One day I'll build the LMS Period III RS (dia 1902) and RCO to make the catering cars that ran in th ePines until the summer of 1961. In platform 2 is a mixed ex LMS and GWR rake typical of the S&D semi fasts that ran in the 60s, from the front a Hawkesworth BSK (Hornby), a Collett SK (Mainline), and two Airfix Staniers, CK and BSK. The stock siding has my BR freight train rake in the course of conversion, (wheels done, couplings in progress) and then in Platform 3 my two coach ex LMS local set (Airfix lavatory non corridors). All rakes have tension lock in between, Dingham at the ends. Now looking the other way, but now the mixed LMS / GWR rake has been changed to an all LMS 3 coach rake, all ex Airfix Staniers as worked both S&D and Bristol-Gloucester semi fasts, the Collett coaches are now in the bay now the above looking the other way .... now to get some more locos running .....

These photos are of my first RTR wagon conversion, a Bachmann LNER box van in BR livery. Re wheeled to P4 and Dingham couplings added. Running in original bearings so doesn't roll that well, but a very happy result for just a couple of hours work. Rather too clean but I like it. (I had scratch built some GWR wagons many years ago but as my layout was very cramped with no room for a goods yard I had ignored wagons until recently when a house move has given me a large railway room and now space to add freight!!). PS I'd be very happy to build from scratch something this good. I'll post some of my early scratch build wagons later, they are going to get dusted down for my late 1920s freight train ... One side ... and the other (!) in the platform 1 road for test running Having a test run with ex SPM Pannier 3650 (now preserved at Didcot) Now in the formation of the 14:00 WSM (S&D) to Templecombe carrying urgent spares for Templecombe loco from Barrow Road

The story continues ... you may have noticed from the pictures that 'new' straight board that I built to replace the dodgy curve is aligned at an angle to the wall sticking into the railway room. This is a result of the 'old' station boards being designed to fit in the living room of my previous house. The main station boards were fitted in between two chimney breasts and the exit line had to be angled to avoid one of these chimney breasts. Now in the 'new' railway room has no chimney breast and is about 30cm narrower (my overall width has gone down from 11ft / 3.3m to 10ft / 3.04m) and as I'm modelling in P4 I want to change the layout to maximise the curve radius. So I've set about cutting about the side station and throat boards so the angled exit becomes parallel with the wall and in that way I will gain 30cm in radius for the curve that will go around the ends of the room. Having the station throat realigned means that the station end of the boards sticks out into the room instead. However, that is going to be 'fixed' by inserting a new board in-between the two station platform boards to make the platforms longer and with a curve to realign the end board to be parallel with the wall again - better explained in pictures: Firstly the 'old' alignment from above: Now having separated the station boards to cut the part nearer the throat at an angle so the track is parallel with the wall, I'm drawing the rough position of the curves in yellow. The intermediate board will be two to three Mk1 coach lengths so I can have nine Mk1s and loco in the platforms ... temporarily I've joined the station boards back together sticking out at an angle until I've made the intermediate board: Now viewed from the other end before attached the new straight board: now with the new straight board attached as the temporary 'fiddle board': the point of all this is I now have the boards roughly aligned for constructing the curved boards at the ends and the new intermediate station platform board. but meanwhile I have some working track to test run any stock I get around to building! Keep safe everyone!

Having got to the happy situation that I could actually run stock without something falling off the rails all the time, I can turn my attention to building or rebuilding items of stock to run, knowing if they stay on the rails with the current set up, they should (!) run nicely on any successor set of baseboards (!!) So I turned my attention to my trusty (very) old Triang-Hornby Hymek, subject of a much earlier blog entry. The prototype I remember with much affection having travelled many miles behind them when student at Oxford on Worcester line trains in the early 70s, then replaced by seriously underpowered class 31s .... The model has a great emotional attachment for me as it was bought originally when I was a youngster, almost 60 years ago, miraculously surviving my growing up, moving away from home, then surviving my parents care for a while and then sitting round my home not doing much until a few years back when I rebuilt the underworks with a Lima mechanism re-wheeled for P4 and super detailed the body (see previous entry). Well a few months back I fancied trying to replace the motor with one of the various CD replacements offered on eBay, but then sat on it not really wanting to squirt lots of hot glue into the motor housing to fix it. Then I saw an item for sale by the guy at 'Strathpeffer Junction', a 3D printed cage to hold a CD motor within the Lima motor housing and an order was dispatched immediately -no glue! However, when I dismantled the Hymek to fit the replacement motor, disaster struck when the chassis frame cracked and fell apart where it has been cut to fit the Lima chassis section that the motor bogie sits in, see where the arrow points in this photo: so much supergluing and reinforcement later, the photo shows the bogie after fitting the CD motor (really easy) before securing with the bogie frame (right) with extra pickups. I also soldered up a little pcb with voltage dropping diodes as the motor is rated 4-9V. The pickup wires were fed into a chocolate block in case I needed to reverse motor polarity but in the end it does move in the right direction! Here is the chassis assembly with pcb: I also took the opportunity to fix new buffers, sold by Peters spares as Class 31 buffers (see top photo for the packet view) as my modified GWR loco buffers just did not work, the stuck on elliptical heads kept rotating despite a Heath Robinson mechanism to stop that happening (!). so reassembled, here it is: Still needs the numbers sticking on, I have a Shawplan etch at the ready and for fun, hauling a short Taunton to Bristol semi-fast, due to an accident at the sidings only two ex GWR coaches available (!!) nice to be able to run something I must say. Thank you for reading and stay safe everybody!