Chris-GNR

bonzo dog eggs

Again a couple more pics of what'll be on display at our annual show in a few weeks time. This time Glaisden - EM Cheers Chris

Evening John Yes I thought it was about time now that we have the track & ballast down. Your right, the ballast looks great in the pics. Worth all the pain staking time & effort. Loverly to see your Horsebox amongst those few bits of my stock. I'm sure i've at least one if not two of those to build. I'm demoing at expoEM Autumn (EM North) Sep 9th /10th & will be continuing my work on the test build for the Q1 Frank has created & will also have the Q2 he has built on display with all its loverly working inside motion. Cheers Chris

Here is a pic of the diagram D146 ex-GNR 8 wheeler built by Russell Whitwam from the test etches created by Frank. Also here is a link to my work bench where i'm covering the test build of the Q1. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/88522-chris-gnr-workbench/?p=2770450 Cheers Chris

Evening everyone, Progress has been continuing on the Q1, the chassis in now more or less complete & tomorrow should hopefully see me making a start on the body. In other news I'm honoured to have been asked to be one of the demonstrators at next months expoEM Autumn (EM North) in Partington Manchester Sep 9th & 10th. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/125531-expoem-autumn-2017/&do=findComment&comment=2834567 I'll be focusing on loco construction & will have the Q1 with me to continuing working on, although I imagine in reality most of the weekend will be spent chatting with folk & checking the members sales stand for bargains. I'll have a few other locos with me on display some complete & some under construction. So if you are at the show please be sure to pass by & say hello. Here is the new layout thread for Clayton the layout which most of the things covered on my workbench thread are intended for. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/125725-clayton/ Cheers for now... Chris

Good afternoon all, I though it about time I started a thread showing the development of Shipley Model Railway Societies current EM gauge layout, Clayton. Being built by members from Shipley Model Railway Society, Clayton is an EM gauge layout depicting the station area, marshaling roads & goods yard at Clayton, a modest sized station but with quite large goods facilities. Clayton was a station on The Queensbury Lines in the West Riding of Yorkshire, which via ‘The Queensbury Triangle’ linked Bradford Exchange, Halifax North Bridge & Keighley. Clayton station closed to passengers in May 1955 & completely in April 1961. Our model is set during the lines time under L.N.E.R ownership & we are focusing on the years 1928-1935, this period allows for a good variety of rolling stock & locos to be represented. Mid way through 2013 the idea to model part of The Queensbury Lines was brewing between a couple of the clubs members & after weighing up the practicalities & advantages/disadvantages of modeling the various stations along the line Clayton was settled upon. Clayton like most of the other stations considered has some great features that make for what we hope will be an interesting layout both visually & operationally. The line through Clayton arrives from the Bradford direction up a 1:50 gradient transitioning to 1:100 through the station area. We have faithfully represented these gradients & this gives a dramatic look displaying the landscape as it was in the period. This is also offering an additional challenge for the loco builders amongst the group to build locos capable of hauling heavy goods trains up the gradients. As the line climbs in the Queensbury direction so does the landscape with the earth works supporting & around the line being quite varied. Heading in the Queensbury direction from Bradford the line in on a fairly large embankment flattening off through the station but still on a gradient of 1:100. Continuing on in the direction of Queensbury the line enters a very deep cutting leading to Clayton Tunnel the next station being Queensbury itself. The only level scenic part of the layout is the goods yard. Basic track plan Work on building the baseboards began in January 2014. The scenic part of the layout is made up of 16 2ft 6in x 4ft boards with an additional of one at 5ft x 2ft 6in. All the boards are of an open frame lightweight construction with the track bed being elevated on various uprights & risers to help achieve the gradients. All the turnouts & plain track have been constructed using C&L chairs on ply sleepers with all the turnouts, crossovers & slips built away from the layout using templates generated via Templot & then laid in place on the layout. The throat of the goods yard & the slips that cross the main line where built as one & laid in as a single unit. For the plain track we laid all the sleepers first using flexible plastic templates created by Frank Davies the driving force behind the team. Once the sleepers were down ballasting could start. The line was all ash ballast in the period we are modeling so a quantity of loco ash & clinker was gathered from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, this we had crushed to a fine grade. Laying the ballast has been a real labor of love, after trying various methods we settled on applying a layer of clear satin polyurethane varnish in-between & around the sleepers & sprinkling the ash on to this leaving that to dry then removing any excess with a small handheld vacuum cleaner. The process had to be repeated two or three times to get the desired look, that being to have the ballast flush with the tops of the sleepers. The rail has then been laid using EM track gauges & butanone for fixing the chairs to the sleepers. On display at SMRS exhibition 2015 Rolling stock & locos for the layout will be almost entirely kit built with some of the kits being designed by one of the group, Frank Davies. Currently etches for two loco classes have been created a LNER Q1 & LNER Q2. It is likely there will be a few more locos done to fill gaps where no kit currently exists. Also etches for some coaching stock has been done an ex-GNR Howldon Brake 3rd ridged 8 wheeler (diagram D146) that can be built as this but it is also able to be built as an articulated vehicle to go along with the existing ex-GNR articulated stock from D&S to create the articulated quint sets that ran over the line. Also a Luggage Lavatory Composite ex-GNR 6 wheeler (diagram D134) has been done again this can be built either ridged or to fit in as part of an articulated set. Other coaching stock includes various articulated twin, triplet & quad sets all being made up from varying ex-GNR 6 wheelers again from the D&S range. There will also be coaching stock representing excursion & possible diverted trains research is ongoing into what these would be made up of. Here are two photos taken recently by Derek Shore of the group, N5 5173 waits with a short goods train as a J3 heads toward bradford with a mixed rake. N5 5173 still waiting is passed by N1 4593 heading in the Queensbury direction. The layout is still very much under construction with only some of the initial scenic work under way at the Bradford end. The layout will be a hybrid combination of DC & DCC allowing full operation with either system, i'm not the right person to give details on this but there are one or two of the group on RMweb that may be able to chip in on that if not i'll get details & share them on here. The layout is 'jerry rigged' currently using DC for testing of the track work also so we can run a basic service at the exhibition next month. There is an introductory article on the layout penned & due to be published in the next addition of MRJ 257. The layout will be on display at the ShipleyMRS 2017 Exhibition next month Sep 16th & 17th. http://www.shipleymrs.org.uk Here is a link to Clayton on the SMRS website which has a selection of photos showing construction of the layout. http://www.shipleymrs.org.uk/gallery-cl.php Thanks for now. Chris

I Must Be In Love - The Rutles

Afternoon. A few more photos of attending layouts, The Mill - EM gauge industrial FARINGDON - P4 GWR Cheers Chris

Hear My Train A Comin - Jimi hendrix

Evening all... A couple more pics of some of the layout s attending the exhibition next month, First up St James & second Private Owner Wagons . Cheers Chris

Rock & Roll Woman - Buffalo Springfield

Keep On Running - Spencer Davis Group

It looks like your having a cracking day! Huge congratulations to you both.

Treetop Flyer - Stephen Stills

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Crossing The Road Beatles

New York City Cops - The Strokes

Evening all, A few photos to give a little taster of the layouts appearing at next months exhibition. Dettingen Low Wharf Canalside Ironworks Milnsbridge Cheers Chris

Don't Let Me Down - Rooftop Beatles

Evening Barry Your possibly right on the quicker aspect but as this is a test build to help prove the design of the kit is sound it's not really for me to stray to far from the use of the intended components. I think also as a personal preference i'm happy to invest the time in making parts like this from nickle silver or brass soldered up over a plastic or resin alternative as a way to help give good strength on potentially delicate areas such as brake gear. A casting for the springs could work but you wouldn't get the open structure of the hangers like that with the etched assembly. In addition to that I'm still not convinced the 3D printed option is quite there yet, while I'm impressed by the possibilities I've not yet seen anything that looks better or as good as well but together etched equivalent. Cheers Chris

Evening all... More progress on the Q1 chassis. I've now made up all the brake shoes & the pull rod assembly. The hangers & shoes are made up of a triple layer of full thickness etch, like the springs this gives a nice prototypical depth to the parts. The method of assembly is great because the three layers once cut free from the fret have half etch tags joining them together that allow you with ease to fold them up to create a triple layer brake shoe. Then by inserting a short length of 0.5mm wire through the shoe & through the hanger ensuring the angle of the shoe to the hanger is right I flooded the assembly with flux & with a generous amount of solder applied to the curved face of the brake shoe this runs through all three layers & the joint between the shoe & hanger. The generous amount of solder on the face of the shoe gives you something to clean up creating the effect of a solid piece. The short bit of 0.5mm wire is cut back & cleaned up to represent a fixing pin/bolt. Showing the design of the brake shoe etch & mid assembly, the pile of completed brake shoes & pull rod assembly, and finally the chassis with wheels dropped back in & motor attached just to test running under its own steam, well 12v DC. the gearbox above is not what will end up in the loco as the kit provides a set of custom etched sides deigned to utilise the gears, shafts & motor from the Portescap unit. I'm glad to say it ran very nicely up & down the 2ft length of track on my bench. I'm hoping to get a couple of hours more work in on the Q1 later. Cheers for now Chris

Afternoon Mark Thank you, to kind. Yes, I've been toying with ideas for doing just that. With this being a test build I don't want to deviate to far from how it's indented to be built, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Cheers

Morning all. Progress continues on the Q1 Chassis. The side frame overlays are now fitted plus all the wires for brake hangers & spring hangers in place. The springs & hangers are a very nice three layer assembly resulting in a nice detailed part with prototypical depth. I have all eight made up & ready to fit but I'm going to leave them off until it's time to paint because once they are fitted I'll not be able to drop the wheels in & out so readily. Here is a pic of one about to be assembled & one in position to illustrate what they look like & how they fit. Cheers Chris

New York City Cops - The Strokes

All Together Now - The Beatles