Southwich

Managed to finish the main work on 37114 today, which is now ready for finishing and painting. Given this needs a full respray from the Bachmann 37043 large logo donors, I wanted to push myself to try and get as close to the ultimate 37 in 4mm as I could, I don’t think there’s much extra I can do! A full list of the mods/work I’ve done are as follows: Bodyshell: Shawplan roof grille fitted. I’ve soldered this together which gives a really nice low profile finish vs the original. Shawplan reinforced central window frame. This seems to be a mod to certain EWS 37s, which 114 was one of. Shawplan etched nose grilles. The holes were drilled out, moulding removed and the etch added over the top. Replacement handrails from .33mm and .2mm all round on the nose. Replica railways high intensity headlight added, car headlight removed and filled with plasticard and super glue. Rivet strips on the roof removed. This will be tidied up with filler during priming. Pete Harvey etched lamp brackets added using wire, and secured with super glue. Additional roof pods added. Again these will be tidied up when I prime the loco. Underframe: Rewheeled to P4 using Exactoscale 14mm wheels. Etched Penbits brake gear around the wider wheelsets - much easier over thinning the plastic brake gear and looks much finer Pete Harvey etched ploughs - the only option here. The old ones go straight in the bin, with the new ones making a nice representation of the real ones with their nice thin profile. Fuel tank mods - no steps on the second tank so this has been removed with a blade and will be cleaned up after a layer of primer Pete Harvey steps - these have been corrected and secured with hot glue to the side frames. A lot of work but well worth it over the normal steps IMO. Dingham couplings with a cosmetic screw coupling has been added to the bufferbeam. Nice and discreet for automatic uncoupling! Time to start on the next EWS split box tractor to get them ready for batch painting… Kind regards, Will

Just to correct any misunderstanding here - the 56 (and last majority of projects) haven’t been “crowdfunded”. These have been undertaken completely independently of customer orders (e.g. the 56 tooling was started before any announcement was even made). The PGA/BBA/TEA were undertaken with deposits (as are the large majority of projects in this industry and others, whether it’s called out as crowdfunding or not), and all have been delivered with regular updates provided. We operate very differently to the aforementioned defunct individual, with all of the cadwork complete prior to announcement, and usually the tooling has started as well. We of course appreciate any concerns modellers may have - however we feel that the products talk for themselves; so if you’re attending either Model Rail Scotland, Ally Pally, or DEMU later in the year, please visit our stand and we’d be happy to chat to you and show the livery samples - we think they speak for themselves. At the end of the day the final decision on the product is down to the customer, but with 5 delivered wagon projects (all of which have pushed boundaries across a variety of areas in this industry), we feel that the 56 is really going to be superb! On top of this, we wanted to give back to retailers that have supported us since day one, so in your case this adds an additional layer of security/peace of mind. Regarding what I’m assuming was with the BBAs - we haven’t had any reported running issues across the two batches, so if there are any issues please get your friend to get in contact as we’re very keen to ensure that these are resolved asap. Apologies for the slight diversion - Back to the topic at hand! Hope that helps to alleviate any concerns, hopefully we can catch up at a show in the next few months! Will

Thanks Rob much appreciated. Still quite a bit of work to do on the nose ends and roof, as you say that handrail needs removing but I think I’ll replace all of them with finer wire and I need to think about sorting the lamp brackets too! Kind regards, Will

Thanks Mark incredibly helpful! I best get some bits ordered… Will

Funny you say that Chris: A bit of work on one of Bachmann’s new tractors this afternoon. Destined to be 37114 in late EWS days, base model was 37043 in Large Logo. Modifications so far have included; removing and filling the car headlight, Shawplan etched horn grilles, Shawplan etched roof grille, high intensity headlight, reinforced central windows and etched snowploughs from Pete Harvey. Quite a bit to go but good to be back doing some modelling Kind regards, Will

Not posted anything on here for a little while, but over Christmas I have been working away on a few wagon projects. TTA - I'm modelling PR58256 using the Stenson models parts. I have replaced the underframe, walkways, springs, couplings, filler cap (this needs modding to match the prototype) and converted to P4 (Branchline wheels). Left to do on this is: Add lamp brackets, underframe piping, brake actuator, handrails/additional end pipe, solebar plate, solebar dividers/solebar rivets, brake shoes & yokes, brake pipes and swap over the buffers to LMS ones when they arrive. As soon as this is done I can go over the model with a dash of filler and prepare it for painting. ZCA - thanks to @The Fatadder for this donation to model 200543. I have converted to P4 using the suspension units and Gibson wheels which I had in stock, and I'm awaiting buffers from LMS to add to this. Has anyone modelled a VCA under frame that they could post photos of? I'm thinking a level of scratch building will be required here, but any pointers would be much appreciated! SPA - I had a spare SPA kit in the stash, so I have knocked this up and converted it to P4 again using Stenson suspension units. This has used the new under frame kit, which I will supplement with additional wire/scratchbuilding per James Wells' efforts. Number TBC on this one as it was a bit unexpected! I've also got a rake of Seacows on the bench for conversion (5 sets of Y27s and 2 Gloucester sets) so will post about these once I've finished the bogies for the rake. I’m heading to DEFine at the weekend in Risley, so if people are attending please come and say hello! Kind regards, Will

Thanks Jules much appreciated. Due to a house move and then out to Australia with work early next year I don’t know how much further this is going to progress very quickly, however I am hoping to have the points wired up over the Christmas period then I can start testing. The layout is now temporarily in storage but will be back out shortly to set up in my parents garage all being well. A few shots of the state of play before it went into storage: Conscious I’ve never shown off the fiddle yard - one of Tim’s rather nice traversers. This needs a bit of TLC as the cold cabin has meant a few dry solder joints have occurred, but nothing a short modelling session can’t fix. There are 9 roads, 3 groups of 3 based on the configuration of the inbound roads on the scenic boards. They are then wired by tubes and wires to avoid any mid operation - thanks to @newbryford for that tip! I can also isolate each line with the toggle switches as needed. Hopefully a bit more progress on this before I head down under in April! Kind regards, Will

We’re hoping to have some EM/P4 wheelsets by then as well so hopefully we’ll be able to run them! Kind regards, Will

That 31 is superb Peter! Really nice photos as always. Kind regards, Will

That’s stunning work John! Really impressive Kind regards, Will

Really nice that Mark! Will

Thanks Mark - likewise with Bloxwich but that was never going to happen for me given your superb model! Having seen the traction articles on the area it was the operational interest that drew me to it (and having seen the original Fryers Lane at Showcase 2018!) Looking forward to seeing the layout develop and how you go about blending it all together. Kind regards, Will

What Class of loco is a CLS? That sounds like a pre tops diesel 🤣

Looks great Mark - really looking forward to this! Era neutral is a great idea - mid 2000s stock would look rather superb on your layout 😉 Looking forward to seeing this develop further as the original really inspired me to have a go at P4. Kind regards, Will

A few clips of 37422 moving around the yard as the first train to run: Finally the first loco to run the full length of the layout & the fiddle yard: Kind regards, Will

Thanks! All far too clean but run nicely so once the trackwork is done properly I will ensure the stock is sorted as well. 37401 is also joining the fleet so nice to have another mid 2000s tractor to add to the roster. Kind regards, Will

A shot of the initial testing yesterday - all three locos performed very well Kind regards, Will

I’ve done some initial testing and everything seems to work well and there don’t seem to be any tight spots yet. Need to get the blades out the way of the wheels then I can test the points properly

Thanks John! Testing now so we’ll see how the track fares - I’m sure there will need to be some fettling. Thanks! 4 days off work tends to help! Kind regards, Will

Are you suggesting I should be adding another piece of CLS to ensure it doesn’t bow? 🤣 Kind regards, Will

Plenty of progress the past four days that I’ve been off - the layout has gone from not having much competed with no wiring, to having the entire layout wired and all of the track laid minus the back short siding. A few photos of the work: Overall view of the layout: The front sidings and headshunt: Looming at the right hand end of the layout where the road bridge will be/where the fiddle yard transition is: Another thing I had to do this weekend was raise the back sidings by 3mm to replicate the raised track on the prototype: Out with the jigsaw to cut the boards, and then braced with CLS timber. Two shots of the fiddle yard join inspired by various layouts at Scaleforum in September: The brass sheet will be ballasted over and painted black under the bridge so this won’t be seen, but I wanted this to be as bullet proof as possible! Hopefully the check rails will assist with the stock going over the joins. Finally an overall view looking down the layout: There are a few dead spots to fix which I’ll sort over the next few days. The main next steps on the layout are sorting the fiddle yard track and the point motors. Planning on having a few days break on the layout to ensure I don’t burn myself out, but then will look at tackling these few tasks before I can test it properly. Kind regards, Will

Love it Dave - especially atmospheric as usual! The faded 20 looks particularly nice. Looking forward to more photos Will

Correct ish - they also have two screws on the bottom of the bogie frames which need removing before you can unclip them. Kind regards, Will

Yep I’ve done one to rewheel it to P4. Just pull them out as they push into the end of the brake cylinder under the steps. A pair of pliers around the chains and holding the cylinder in place in your hand would be my advice - no glue just a push fit. Hope that helps. Will

Great work Ian - layout looks great! Kind regards, Will