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drduncan

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  1. drduncan
    A while ago I posted some pictures of wagons that were being contructed for china clay traffic, both GWR and PO. Amongst the images were a pair of GWR O13 china clay wagons, painted, lettered, but not weathered.
     

     
    I dedcided that I would weather one (92971) quite lightly, the other (94100) more heavily. To weather wagons, I tned to dry brush and use acryilic paints.
     
    First, 'light rust' was lightly dry brished over the underframes using a mop headed soft brush.
     

     
    Then 92971 was lightly dry brushed with white paint, while 94100 had slightly heavier treatment, again using a soft mop headed brush.
     

     
    The it was time to swap to a much stiffer brush to apply heavy streaking to 94100; areas around doors, and the underframe beneath the side and end doors got especially heavy treatment.
     

     
    Then finally the interior of 92971 was dry brushed with a moderately heavy hand, and 94100 received a reasonably heavy wash of white to represnt the much havily staining it was supposed to have suffered in service.
  2. drduncan
    This Parkside kit has been slwloy moving from the errecting shop through to the paint shop and the signwriter has recently finsihed lettering it.
     

     
    The kit has been slightly modified, with representations of the brake rigging for the clasp brakes (ABS castings) have been added, as well as Coopercraft/Blacksmith ethced grills behind the windows.
     

     

     
    However, the CCT has not (yet) been compenstated - if running trials indicate compensation of this long-wheelbased vehicle will help, I will probably use the Shire Scenes/Dart/MJT inside bearing compenstation units for 3'7 inch wheels. The next job will be galzing, fitting the roof - and replaceing the inappropariate disc wheels with Maunsell wood centred wheels. Fitting the roof, however, may be delayed as at the moment I can find no information on the positioning of the rainstrips. Any suggestions?
  3. drduncan
    While a 28xx is probably a bit big for a china clay shunting layout - a viewpoint I struggle with - the Hornby model of the straight framed version looked lovely so I had to have one.
     
    The Hornby model is of 2812 in 1930s condition so not only will it need to be converted to EM gauge, but also back dated to 1912-ish. The early locos were builtg with short coned boilers, not the top feed fitted long cone of the Hornby model. However, the early locos started to receive D4 long cone boilers from about 1910, but top feed remainded a later addition. There also will need to be the small but distinctive Churchward ventilation 'port holes' added to the top of the spectacle plate above the firebox as well as sundry other details which can be seen (hopefully) in the picture of 2811 below.
     

     
    The observant will notice that 2811 has a different tender to the Hornby model - a Dean 3000 gallon tender (I think) rather than the Churchward version. This is going to be probably the hardest part of the conversion, as although Dean 3000 gallon tenders are available (Mainline Dean Goods, W & T Models etc), they are not that type of 3000 gallon tender as they have a scallop taken out of the leading edge of the fender lip around the tender top. I have considered using a Dapol City of Truro tender kit, but the amount of effort needed to turn that into a decent model means that scratch building a new tender body may be the easiest (!) way forward. Any bright ideas always welcome though...
     
    So to start.
     
    After a long time summoning up courage I attack the boiler. It was very carefully removed from the footplate and all the screws, boiler supports, handrails etc put safely to one side (I lost one handrail knob in the process though). The safety valve & top feed cover pulls off quite easily and then the top feed piping was filled back.
     

     
    I'm mulling over whether to source a replacement safety valve cover or cut away the top feed cover and reuse the Hornby one....
    Anyway the next job will be reinstating the boiler band.
  4. drduncan
    The crank pins have arrived and I've managed to escape to the workbrench for short periods over the last few days.
     
    The coupling rods have had Alan Gibson brass coulping rod bushes soldered in place to reduce the rather large holes in the Hornby coupling rods down to somthing appropriate for Alan Gibson crank pins. At the same time the chemical blackening was gently buffed away using a glass fibre brush.
     

     
    The rods were then put to one side while I worked on the driving wheels. First, a 1.5mm drill was turned very breifly in the hole for the crack pin in the rear of the wheel to give it a countersink and allow the pin to be screwed right home. Don't make the countersink too deep or you'll ruin the wheel.....
     
    I then removed the brass bearing bushes from the orginal Hornby wheels as these get used on the Alan Gibson replacement wheelsets.
     

     
    Ultrascale laser cut balance weights were added to the Alan Gibson wheels, and the non-driven axles and wheels were assembled, with the Hornby brass bearing bushes and quartered using the GW models wheel press and quatering jig. If you don't have one and want to use wheels other than Romfords, get one, it is quite simply the easiest way to quarter axles and worth every penny.
     

     
    The driven axle was dropped in place and the overhang on each side carefully equalised before the poistion of the gear wheel was marked using a felt pen. The axle was then removed, put on a cutting mat and with the edge of a file over the gear wheel mark, gently rolled along to knurl the axle to give the gear wheel something to grip. Unfortunatley, the gear wheel proved to be a loose fit so did not bite on the kurled area; it was secured with a small amount of superglue. The driven axle was then assembled. and test fitted along with the other 3 to see what sideplay there was and how many spacing wahsers might be needed. On the driven axle, 1x1mm spacer was fitted on each side. On the leading axle the plastic gubbins supporting the cylinders prevented full sideplay, so 0.75mm of spacers were added on each side to prevent it rubbing on the plastic. On axles 2 and 4 I'm going to try giving them full sideplay in the hope that it will allow 2811 to go round corners without chucking itself into the cess alongside the rails and waving its wheels in the air.
     

     
    The coupling rods were then test fitted on the wheels and a problem emgered. The Hornby coupling rods are much thinner than the crankpin bush, so there is huge amounts of side play.
     

     
    I think there are two possible solutions:
    1. Dress the bushes down with a file until they are the right length.
    2. Replace the rods with either Comet or Alan Gibson ones.
     
    At the moment I'm leaning towards (1) becasue there is always a possbility that the replacment rods may be fractionally different to the honrby wheel base and poor running (if any running) will be the only result.
     
    I shall mull things over at ExpoEM tomorrow and perhaps someone there might have a bright idea....
     
     
    drduncan
  5. drduncan
    While mulling over the top feed issue, the tender issue, and summoning up the courage to start drilling holes in the spectacle plate - and above all because the laser cut plasticard side frames had arrived from Ultrascale - I have decided to make some progress with the chassis.
     
    Stripping the chassis was not as traumatic as I feared and the wheelsets, coupling rods, and cross heads gently slipped out of the chassis into a heap on the floor.
     

     

     

     
    The sandboxes were removed too, as was a small bit of rectangular plastic next to one of the sandboxes. I haven't a clue what this bit of plastic represents but it will be glued onto the Ultrascale frames along with the sandboxes in due course. Then the Ultrascale false side frames were offered up to see if they fitted (they did).
     

     
    The Ultrascale frames had the brake hangers (the tiny little point of metal on the Hornby chassis) marked off and holes drilled.
     

     
    The brake hangers were added using brass lace pins.
     

     
    Those little bits of metal representing the brake hangers were snipped off.
     

     
    The Hornby chassis then had pads of 40thou plasticard superglued to it, to give something to glue the side frames to and get them out to a more respectable distance (the article in MRJ 216 was a great help at this point). The Hornby chassis is 12mm wide, the Ultrascale frames 20 thou/0.5mm each and with a 40 thou sapcer on each side gives an overall wdith of 15mm. Or put it another way, 1.5mm of sideplay (0.75mm each side) on the standard EM bakc to back measure of 16.5mm. Hopefully this will be enough...
     

     
    Then the side frames were glued to the spacing pads using plasticweld.
     

     

     
    And thats as far as I've got. Time spent on the conversion so far: an hour on the body, 3 hours on the chassis, about 6 months plucking up courage to start....
     
    D
  6. drduncan
    There has, it must be admitted, been a hint of discord between the CME's and Operating Departments. The Operating department (Gareth), following Empire Mills recent foray to the nether regions of north London, had reproached the CME's department (Duncan) over the dross a certain Wagon and Carriage Inspector (again Duncan) had been passing as fit for use - apparently AJs were doing anything but uncouple at the time and place the operating department wanted, and his team were getting fractious as well as losing the will to live. The righteous indignation that resulted had to be heard to be believed and after the expostulations had come to a stop (due to lack of breath) it was pointed out that claims that they worked OK when tested on Hope under Dinmore were without value because of a lack of witnesses.
     
    In a spirit of reconciliation (and nothing to do with the fervent hope that the Operating Department would be proved wrong) the CME agreed that the wagons should again be inspected, this time on Empire Mills and, lo, sackcloth and ashes were found to be needed.
     
    The problem, it has to ruefully and publically admitted, had been predicted by that sage of Fareham and unwitting consultant to the CME's department, Mr Richard Butler (he of Westcliff fame). He had pointed out that using U shaped magnetic droppers ran the risk of them finding the steel axles more attractive than the electro-magnets, but his wise words had been laughingly dismissed by the CME as he had a deadline looming and needed something that was good enough rather than good. It seems the CME's solution was neither good nor even good enough and urgent rectification work was needed.
     
    So it was out side cutters, soldering iron, solder and brown label flux to solder one end of the U shaped dropper firmly to the AJ coupling and snip off the end of the other leg so that it could be bent into an inverted 'L' - with the added benefit that the wheel sets could now be removed without having to take off the coupling.
     

    (On the right can be seen one of the U shaped droppers, on the left one that has been 'modified'...)
    Most of the recalcitrant couplings responded to this treatment, but one or two still failed to work properly when the magnet was energised. Further surgery followed and the rather light gauge soft iron wire that had been used for the droppers was replaced with much thicker stuff and now even these troublesome trucks were behaving.
     
    The CME then fled the scene, wailing about all his GWR Edwardian period stock that would have to be redone....
  7. drduncan
    As I discovered I had run out of crank pins a pause has been forced in 2811's progress. So I decided to have a renewed crack at the Nucast Armstrong Standard Goods.
     
    Russell's locomotives of the GWR gives 2 nice pictures of 788 in pre 1906 livery - all glorious lining and indian red frames etc. Also 788 has a belpaire firebox which might give an extra mm to hide the motor and gearbox, always a problem with wasp waisted Victorian or Edwardian locos!
     

     

     
    The original Nucast kit had a massive, yet narrow gauge (ie OO) brass chassis, milled from a single block of metal, that I'm hoping the new Model Railway Museum project at Ashford will accept as an exhibit in due course. The replacement chassis has been constructed using Alan Gibson milled brass mainframes and MJT hornblocks to make a compensated chassis. The rear axle is fixed (I'm still not to happy with the idea of floating/compensated driving axle - although this is exactly what the Finney kits and High Level Dean Goods chassis do, so I'll have to get over my constructional fears at some point).

     
    Prior to yesterday evening, I had soldered up the running plate...
     

     
    And the boiler (although the smoke box was still loose) and tender too (although the tender picture refuses to load in line and appears as a thumbnail at the end)
     

     
    So yesterday as the SHMRC I got busy with the cab, and then fixed it and the boiler/smoke box etc to the running plate
     

     
    The intention - when I next get a moment (I'm hoping the postman will deliver the crankpins for the 28xx today, to that will got back to the top of the list if they do arrive) - is to move onto the chassis and fit the wheels and motor for testing, and check the fit of the body, before looking at making the tender leading and middle axle float and thus transfer the tenders rather appreciable weight onto the draw bar - oh and somehow fit a large speaker for a sound chip in the tender too.... Anyone know a supplier for those natty 4 way connectors that Hornby and Bachman use to provide electrical connections between loco and tender? I might need some...
  8. drduncan
    I blame Gareth. This, I can assure you, is a default position - but a very good one - derived from long experience of shifting the blame. Admittedly I had been mulling over doing a 'what's on my workbench and how I've managed create a masterpiece/complete pigs ear' for a while, but lets be clear - this is all Gareth's fault. Why? Well he has volunteered the EMpire Project to appear at the MRC's March 2015 Alexandra Palace show. Well so what? It’s already done that, so why blame Gareth? Because, gentle reader, there was a tiny little caveat... with completely new stock to portray [wait for it] a GWR china clay branch in the Edwardian period. And as the number of GWR pre-grouping modellers, who do EM gauge, are active [!] modellers, involved in Empire Mills, who could nominally supply stock for a china clay branch is, and are members of the MRC is, you've guessed it, just 1 - me. Hence what was going to be a leisurely production of stock has now gone into overdrive - and I'm also supposed to be progressing my own layout too.
     
    So this blog will attempt to keep up with the frantic efforts to produce at least half a dozen EM gauge locos (DCC to boot and hopefully sound chipped too) and associated rolling stock that could, if viewed in a gentle light, be imagined to frequent a GWR Cornish china clay branch as well as the stock that may one day see the light of day on my own layout (or more likely the way my layout is going) on the South Hant's MRC's Hope under Dinmore - maybe...
     
    Now I've already managed to shift some of the work back on to the all too deserving shoulders of Gareth; kits of a 517, a part built 1076 pannier tank and an even worse part built 850 saddle tank were chucked at Gareth and he was invited to get cracking. However, he's clearly been slacking as it's been over a week and he hasn't finished any of them. He has, however, explained at length my errors in putting them together - probably fairly, it has to be admitted. And I'm sure he will delight in pointing out my rubbish soldering and dodgy kit building, either on this blog or his own.
     
    So what can we look forward to?
    Loco wise and in no particular order there is a:
    Nu-cast/cotswold 42xx in original condition
    Alan Gibson 1076 saddle tank
    SE Finecast 1854 saddle tank
    Dean Goods (Belpaire boiler) on a High Level Kits chassis
    Martin Finney Dean Goods
    Nu-cast/cotswold 2021 saddle tank
    Hornby 28xx in 1911/1912 condition (superheated, D4 boiler, no top feed, Dean 3000 gallon tender etc etc)
    Roxey no 34 0-4-4T
    Nu-cast/cotswold Armstrong Standard Goods.
    Modelex 45xx

    And then there are the other locos waiting to be converted/built for my own layout..
    Bachman City (to be fair this one is done, sans DCC chip, but I owe Mr Butler and have to convert his one for his 'Westcliff' in return for him making me a stock box or 2...)
    Craftsman 36xx
    Finney Stella class
    K's Dean single
    M & L Dean single (I like Dean singles...)
    I'd also like to get my hands on a 44xx, a steam railmotor, a straight framed 29xx and a Scott Atlantic...

    Wagon and carriage wise we can expect:
    More GWR and PO china clay wagons than is healthy.
    PO Coal wagons
    Brake vans

    And when that is out of the way...
    GWR NPCS like Pythons...
    4 and 6 wheel siphons
    Fish wagons
    Assorted GWR open and closed vans
    4 and 6 wheel coaches
    Dean clerestories
    And probably some sexy Dreadnoughts, Concertinas, or Toplights for the City to pull...

    So not a lot at all!
  9. drduncan
    Prior to starting this blog, I had been working on a number of wagons for my own, as yet unborn, GWR Cornish branch line. Last night I took some of them along to SHMRC and posed them on Hope-under-Dinmore.
     
    Many of the chain clay private owner wagons were from the POW sides (pre-printed on salters/coopercraft bodies) - and very nice they are too. Very helpfully, POW sides will also change the running numbers for you, so you don't have duplicates - inevitably I only realised this after it was too late for one wagon - hence there are two no 4s for the North Cornwall China Clay Company - but hopefully the weathering is so heavy that at least one of the numbers is indecipherable.
     

    Below you can see the NCCC wagons arrayed on the SHMRC's 'Hope-under-Dinmore' (which I admit is a long way from being a Cornish GWR branch line, but is a very pretty layout and a perfect backdrop for photography). Yes, I know they need tarpaulins - its on the to-do list.
     

     
    The Toyne Carter wagons and the solitary (so far) John Lovering one...
     

     
    I really need far more wagons belonging to wagon hiring companies. The NCCC wagons are perfect for my own project (it's set near Wenford Bridge, to the dismay of the LSWR - see another blog, 'the De Lank Chronicles', for more details - just don't hold your breath for the blog to be published, something about getting stock for Empire Mills next outing is getting in the way - I still blame Gareth....), but for the Empire Mills china clay option, something less geographically specific is needed - hence the attractiveness of using wagons owned by the wagon hiring companies based in and around the china clay region.
     
    Weathering was using white acrylic paint dry-brushed over the outside of the body, with a weak wash of white applied to the inside of the body.
     
    The GWR also made great use of its own wagons for moving china clay - either in loose form using specialist end-door wagons, or ordinary opens carrying high quality chain clay in casks (the jute sacks same into use during WW1 and so are a bit out of period for me). Below you can see a motely collection of GWR opens from the period 1900 to 1914. Most are from the Coopercraft stable, but the O13s (specialist china clay wagons) and the O11/15s are Parkside Dundas. Almost all of them have had their brake gear replaced using ABS parts to better present the DC1/2/3 variations, some of the O5s have also had grease axle-boxes added in place of the later oil type.
     
    The 4 plank O5s
     

     
     
    .
    A 7 plank O10 and 5 palnk O11 fresh out of the paint shops and needing weathering
     

     
    Here are two O13 China Clay wagons, again awaiting weathering. You can see on the left hand one it has the Parkisde brake gear, while the right hand one has ABS cast whitemetal brake gear which I think is a great improvement.
     

    Weathering for these wagons has been varied - some were just dry brushed with varying amounts of underframe dirt, rust and mud colours, while others also had a weak wash of dirty black. Some wagons will be in ex-works condition too.
     
    What's next from the W & C works? There are some more GWR open general merchandise wagons to be finished off (couplings, lettering, weathering, that sort of thing), some PO coal wagons and hopefully rather more interesing, the construction some scratch-built ex Cornwall minerals railway iron bodied tippler wagons. Watch this space....
    drduncan
  10. drduncan
    For those who have been following my now rather sporadic workbench blog I will be demonstrating wagon bashing at the Great Western Study Group's Member's Day on Saturday 3 June.
     
    Despite the 'Member's Day' bit, the event is open to all comers, although the AGM at the very end of the day is members only. Besides me (if that isn't enough of an attraction) there will be at least the following:
    The P4 layout Lower Exbury running in BR (W) guise.
    The Sage of Fareham (aka Richard Butler of Westcliff fame) demonstrating how to photoshop backscences.
    Dick Hewins (of Rowington by Shrewley fame, appearing at this years SHMRC show in Nov in Portsmouth) showing off his absolutely beautiful stock.
    Peter Squib demonstrating signal construction
    A lecture at 1430 by Roger Davies on 'Constructing the Severn Tunnel.'
    A Member's sales stand.
    The GWSG sales stand.
     
    The Member's Day is in the Ladymead Room, Didcot civic hall, Brittwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN. Day opens at 1100.
     
    If you are remotely interested in the GWR and are within striking distance, I hope to see you there.
     
    Duncan
  11. drduncan
    While I confess time has been limited, I have also made some significant progress with 2811.
     
    Assiduous followers of this blog will remember that this has not been a happy tale to date. I now have a rolling chassis - well almost. The slide bars are too long and as a result the connecting rod strikes them jamming everything up nicely. This should be cured very soon with snips and a file.
     
    The Comet chassis 'kit' has failed to impress. I think the best way of describing it is a number of standard or generic components being passed off as sub-assemblies of the kit, but that are not actually designed as a complete kit. The result is that for every one step forward there seem to be two back.
     
    To get the chassis in the correct position under the body (remember its designed for the Hornby china made body) massive amounts of the cylinder stretcher had to be filled away.
     
    The motion bracket is laughable in its design - just the G shaped slide bar brackets which are soldered to the slide bars, but there are no location marks or any way of ensuring that they are in the right position and holding them them there; a perseverence motion bracket type design is clearly needed as advocated as the basic minimum for chassis kit designers by the great Iain Rice many, many years ago.
     
    The pony truck is generic and therefore again does not sit well under the chassis - in fact its a pig to get in the right position and solder a locating washer to it unless you are prepared to keep making adjustments to the washer position, each time removing the chassis from the body and the pony truck from the chassis, unsolder the washer, move it, resolder and try again. Repeat until you lose the will to live.
     
    The chassis frames and spacers are devoid of the normal tab and slot design making getting everything square a fun event (I used the Poppy models loco cradle in the end).
     
    The only compensation designed in is individual sprung axles. If you want a flexichas or csb set up get your ruler, scribe, drills and piercing saws out. While you might say that csb is too much to expect, I think that the other design issues make the 'kit' inferior to say a Ron Neep/Perseverence design standard of the early 1980s.
     
    Chris Gibbon, a 28XX chassis kit please!!! (or on second thoughts don't, I've nearly got this one done and a High Level kits version would just depress me...)
     
    D
  12. drduncan
    I haven't posted for a while - this doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything we have - well I haven't but the team has. However, with an exhibition looming we have had a burst of activity that quite frankly puts our gentle summer progress to shame.
     
    The show - its all about the show after all - is the South Hants MRC's exhibition in Portsmouth on 21 November 2015 at the Admiral Lord Nelson school. It look like there will be some excellent layouts there - the sage of Fareham's beautiful 'Westcliff' which won the best of the best in show winners at Expo EM 2015 and 'Plumpton Green', which was deservedly best in show at Scaleforum a few weeks ago. I think 'Brighton East' will also be there - a wonderful piece of modelling by Dave Smith of this parish. Oh yes, and of course that brilliantly designed and executed (certainly someone will be for the chop if we fall flat on our faces) Empire Mills.
     
    Portsmouth exhibition flyer.pdf
     
    [i've just been sent the flyer (above) - Jol Wilkinson's London Road, AND Chris Lamercraft's Hemyock too...I must ask if its too late to change our minds about going!]
     
    So when the full horror of the list of things we wanted to get done between our last outing at Ally Pally and our visit to Portsmouth became clear, loud were the lamentations; hair pulled, ashes purchased to rub into sack cloth, etc etc. However, in a burst of camaraderie in adversity Gareth and I did not engage in our default method of dealing with problems - blaming each other and hoping someone else will sort it.
     
    First - well 2 weeks ago - we spent a day making the transport boards that will allow us to easily crate the layout for transport. Please don't ask how we managed to get the layout to two shows at Ally Pally without them - the whole thing is something we'd prefer to forget, lets just say it involved massive lorries and a lot of brute for and ignorance, as well as some very careful driving.
     
    While I was still basking in the reflected glory of Gareth's woodworking skills - it seems that any idiot can't saw timber in a straight line, despite my prognostications on the subject, Gareth then had to spoil the mood by mentioning 'wiring'.
     
    Now Empire Mill's wiring was best described as functional (mostly) and it certainly wasn't pretty, having been done at the rush in order to get the bare boards working for a demo at a show (Ally Pally 2 years ago or more). Yes, there does seem to be a theme here. As a DCC layout we had always intended to include DC operation as several members of the group had not yet seen the DCC light. Clearly, with just over a month to a show, now was the perfect time to do it. Well, actually it was, Gareth (superb chap) works well under pressure, so last Sunday he girded his loins (I hope he washed his hands afterwards), wrapped himself in layout wire and with all sorts of gung ho North Americanisms - lots of 'yeahs', 'hoo rahs', 'wooos' and 'hut huts' - charged into the fray, soldering iron in hand.
     
    The results are so far much prettier than what went before, especially as I was doing everything I could to get in the way:

     

     
    Meanwhile, I wasn't to be left out. Empire Mills has always been supported on trestles. I've always thought they were an accident waiting to happen and several more things to be left behind when heading to a show. So aided by Patrick, I made and fitted integral legs to the boards. The legs, which can be seen shyly peeking out of the corners of the top picture, fold up under the boards for transport, and thanks to an excessive number of captive nuts, should not need any bolts to be removed - I just have to make the new wing nut headed bolts so we don't need a spanner to collapse the legs... so as one thing gets crossed off the to do list so another gets added.
     
    Patrick also rashly volunteered to string the wire on the boundary fence at the front of the layout over the next few Thursday evenings at the MRC. I was delighted by this as I'd done just one strand and it had reduced me to not so silent fury.
     
    Away from the club, Ivan is producing a number of boxes to transport the large china clay dry, the lighting rig and hold the large amounts of Commonly Required Accessories & Parts (CRAP for short) that are a feature of exhibiting. He is also producing one of these boxes with a dual purpose - one of them will be a 'step up box' to make reaching across the fiddle yard much easier, an idea I borrowed, well stole actually, from the sage of Fareham.
     
    So all in all, a busy few weeks and a busy few still to come. I'll be shortly disappearing behind a pile of locos and stock to make sure they all work as they should - I'll also be frantically trying to increase the number of steam locos available too, so watch drduncan's workbench blog for updates (if I get time).
  13. drduncan
    Last Sunday the team met up to continue to work on Empire Mills.
     
    The first job was to remove one of the lift out sections so it would be easier to work on the new loading bank area. To get the lift out section out, however, required lots of swearing, several broken knife blades, and a great deal of straining in order to break the seal of the glue and paint that had seeped down between the baseboard joints.
     

     
    With the lift out section removed, Les was able to work on adjusting the position of the loading bank platform edge.
     

     
    Meanwhile, Gareth and I were hard at work trying to ensure that the Edwardian china clay option that we are due to exhibit at the MRC's Alexandra Palace show in March had at least two working locos. In other words I was building a Dean Goods chassis and he was finishing off his 850 class pannier tank and test running my 1076 Buffalo pannier tank around the MRC's test tracks (Gareth has rebuilt its chassis as a split axle one). Ivan was busy finishing off a china clay wagon and a couple of coal wagons which I had started the day before at the South Hants MRC show as a demonstration, but due to too much chatting (although I suppose that is the purpose of demonstrating after all), I hadn't finished them. Once he had finished adjusting the loading dock Les joined the rolling stock party and he and Ivan were soon hard at it building Slaters NER hopper wagons for phase 2 of the EMpire project - Empire Mill Pit.
     

     
    Above you can see Les closest the camera and Ivan furthest away
     

     
    Here Gareth can be seen wondering what has happened to the sloder he was using (Answer - I had taken it)
     
    The final member of the team, Chris was engrossed for much of the day painting the large clay dry - not quite the same as painting the Forth Rail Bridge, but I think he would disagree.
     

     
    The EMpire project team meet every 2nd and last Sunday - if you live near or in London, and are either an EM modeller or fancy giving it a try to broaden your skills, or just try soemthing different, do think about joing the MRC and becoming part of our team.
     
    drduncan
  14. drduncan

    A busy Sunday

    By drduncan,

    The Empire Mills team have had a busy day.
     
    Les has been hard at work first replacing the highly temporary loading platform that Gareth had to cobble together to show the BBC - who then cancelled the day before the shoot.
     

     
    The new loading platform will be stonefaced toward the track, with the ground falling away gently on the platform side.
     

     
    While the papiermache was drying Les then had a crack at placing the cosmetic chairs - a job that everyone had been working very hard to avoid doing over the last few months.
     

     

     
    Meanwhile, Chris was working on the platform that sits in front of the very large china clay dry. This involved cutting lots of sections of ply to face the platform before covering it in randomm stone plasticard. The inset sections in the platform face will have ladders fitted in them in due course.
     

     

     

     
    Gareth wasn't idle either; he was busy working on his boggy bit at the front of the layout.
     

     
    The unkind (and unhelpfully observent) will notice I haven't said what I was doing....well I was busy making wagons for the layouts outing at Alexandra place in 2015 (which isn't that far away now - glup.) the progress of which can be seen on drduuncan's workbench.
     
    We also had an opportunity to start thinking about the next phase of the layout - the production of the coal mine option. To this end Les had brough in a couple of his Loco's to test priot to them being EM'd at some point in the future.
     

     
    As they are not the correct shade of green, I profess total ignorance about what they are! But Les says black is the new green, apparently - or at least it will be on the coal mine option!
     
    drduncan
  15. drduncan
    Gareth has been pointing out for a while that a loading dock was a good idea. I had been resisting this on the grounds I didn't think one was needed what with two china clay dries on the layout. However, Gareth unfairly used both logic and prototype knowledge to undermine my case for glorious inactivity.
     
    He noted that post WW1 sack traffic if moved by closed van (as was wont to happen in the BR period) couldn't be loaded as the dries platforms would be too high to allow the doors to on many closed vans to open. It was also pointed out that there was a great deal of photographic evidence for cask traffic to be loaded from a loading dock (although casks could also be loaded from some dries).
     
    As can be seen in the picture of the Blackpool dries, casks are in the loading doors awaiting shipment.
     
    If this wasn't enough, Gareth also pointed out a loading dock would also be useful for inwards stores for the China clay works - and maybe a lock-up for some description.
     
    Clearly Gareth had been preparing well for his offensive. Clearly all I could do was give ground and try not to let the sulking be too obvious. Anyway, having granted Gareth permission to sing the 'I was right song'. We then had to decide how high the loading dock should be - the photographic evidence showing a large variation. In the end, after consulting many books (as a historian this is my default setting) the need for closed vans to be loaded or unloaded won out and we decided on sole bar height.
     
    The area for the new dock was marked out and then carefully cut with a Stanley knife. After repeated attempts to get the Stanley knife through the scenery (God knows what we did to it when we put it down, the bloody stuff was almost bullet proof) we resorted to first a small chisel and gentle taps of the hammer, to a bigger chisel that was smote mightily with the hammer. Eventually we got down to bare baseboards and then started filling the whole back in with foam board to make the carcase of the new platform and ground contours.
     
    Hopefully at the next work session we'll be able to finish roughing out the platform and get it fixed in place ready for painting and reinstating the scenery.
  16. drduncan
    Having forgot to pack the weathered O13s when I headed off to the club yesterday evening, I thought I'd best photograph something I did have in the stock box - some POs that have just had their final coat of varnish.
     

     

     
    One of the problems with modelling PO wagons in Cornwall (and pre-1914 to boot) is the lack of photographic evidence. So, in order to keep the Empire Mills china clay dries and the industries on my own slowly gestating layout supplied with coal, I have made a few assumptions which I hope are logical. First use wagons from companies for which photographic evidence exists - like the Renwick Wilton wagon which was photographed at Bodmin. Second, use wagons from coal merchants/factors who are based in Cornwall or west Devon who would be likely to be found in Cornwall - like the Plymouth Coal Company. Third, china clay dries used a lot of coal, so I think it is reasonable to assume that the china clay companies would buy in bulk from collieries to get the best price. To this end I will be making short rakes from a variety of collieries which can then be used on the layout(s). As to which collieries? Well I'm assuming that those in Somerset, the Forrest of Dean, South Wales and Severn Valley would have the lowest transport costs within their total price and thus might have a lower price overall than those from the coalfields in the Midlands and further north.
     
    Of course, if anyone knows different and has information on the merchant/factor/colliery wagons seen in Cornwall pre-1914, liveries (and dates), running numbers and which company built the wagons (and a drawing too would be perfect) I'd be delighted to hear from them...
  17. drduncan
    The open day went very well and we got a great deal of interest, so hopefully in the next few weeks we'll see some new members at the MRC and some new members of the Empire Mills team.
     
    Last Sunday we had our first work session since the open day and one on which I had hoped to make progress with more cassettes for the fiddle yard. However, on starting the trusty Volvo there was a clattering noise as a bolt holding the alternator and steering pump failed and the cam belt disintegrated. The AA was summoned and a garage job was pronounced. This meant that Gareth was unfortunately left to work on the layout by himself. Over to you, Gareth.....
     
     
    So. Having expected something on the order of six people I was surprised that an hour past our designated start point I was still the only one there. No matter, I was able to get a fair bit done on my own. In March I had added a few point levers to the layout. On Sunday I got back to these, installing the remainder, adding the planking around the base and painting them. So far they are painted "as new" and will need significant weathering, but that is yet to come.


    I continued work on the edge of the pond but I'm not really happy with how it came out. I may have gotten slightly carried away with the gloss varnish, probably too many puddles. Better luck next time.

    After that I added more brambles to the hills in the back, but there aren't any pictures of that.
     
    Admittedly not the most productive session we have every had, but more progress has been made.
  18. drduncan
    I converted this loco a few months ago - actually it was done behind Westcliff at the Watford show and took about 3 hours or so for the basic conversion, so it was running on Westcliff, thanks to Richard Butler's indulgence, towards the end of the Sunday of the show. The only problem (not that its really a problem, the conversion was so easy) was I sort of promised to do one for Richard when he manages to find the correct wheels in amongst his bits and pieces cache in exchange for a stock box!
     
    I used the Alan Gibson conversion kit and the conversion guide that can be downloaded from the Alan Gibson website. The instructions were easy to follow with no problems carrying out the conversion. In fact the only thing I did differently was the number of spacing washers I needed was smaller than that suggested in the Alan Gibson instructions - no special reason for this, I just couldn't get 2mm of spacing washers on each side of the chassis block, 1.5mm each side was all I could manage.
     
    The most difficult part of the whole conversion was getting the front bogie back in place without the spring catapulting itself across the room, followed closely by getting the axle tie bars in place.
     
    On the thumbnails below you can see that the rear AJ coupling has been mounted using the retaining screw for the NEM coupler socket on the tender, and the spacing washers. Subsequently I have painted the wheel rims black which was a great improvement and 3433 has galloped happily round Hope-under-Dinmore. I just need to buy and fit the sound chip and experiment with one of the chuff cams... I shall keep you posted!
     
    l have also noticed that the tender is exactly the type I need for 2811 - I wonder if Bachmann will supply a tender by itself?
  19. drduncan
    Empire Mills - the final name for the layout 'collective' that is the MRC's EMpire project, has just finished its first outing as something rather more than the bare boards state it was seen at Ally Pally in 2013. For the 2014 Ally Pally bonanza we had scenery and buildings! Yes, I admit, it isn’t finished, but you should have seen the layout at Christmas – it’s come on in leaps and bounds (more in a later post).
     
    Empire Mills is a shunting layout; it is the end of a freight only branch line, presumably a short distance from a main line. To encompass a range of modelling interests it will have a number of different options. The current plan (which of course is a basis for change) is
    A china clay works (the current option under development)
    A coal mine, maybe in Somerset, or the North East, or the Midlands
    An exchange siding with a narrow gauge line
    An exchange siding with a War Department depot

    They way we will ring all these changes of industry and even location is to use lift out sections that plug into the main run-around loop and siding. The ‘industry’ is reached by a kick back siding that leads onto the lift out sections, and as long as you meet the geometry of the track at the join to the lift out section, what you do is up to you. Also, to make things a bit different, the layout will be set after a fall of snow – it will also help reduce the number of geographically identifiable features on the permanent part of the layout – at least that is the plan.
     
    Incidentally, if you live in or around London, are an EM modeller, or want to give it a try, or are a 4mm narrow gauge modeller and fancy taking on the narrow gauge bit of one of the options, come along to the MRC's HQ at Keen House, Calshot Street (it’s about 10 minutes from King’s Cross station) any Thursday evening between 7.30pm and 9pm and say ‘Hello’.
  20. drduncan
    Well, the MRC open day was a success!!!!!
     
    It was, in fact a very enjoyable day - if hard work - and many people stopped by to chat about the wider layout project, Empire Mills as currently displayed, or AJ couplings (must do a post about these sometime soon as it the thing that got the most interest on the day).
     
    In fact it has to be said that any problems that were seen on the day were down to one of two problems:
     
    1) finger trouble - ie the pressing of the wrong uncoupling magnet switch, followed by repeated shuffling of a cut of wagons over the correct magnet whilst wondering loudly and with increasing recourse to vernacular expressions why the couplings aren't working, followed by a realisation of the error and a sheepish expression, or a determined attempt to brazen away one's mistake. Another variation on this theme is the operation of the wrong point lever with the resulting derailment, shorting out of the DCC system, and yet more vernacular language.
     
    2) Brain trouble - this had by far and away the most serious operating impact on the layout. The operator, who shall remain nameless (but in honour of the clear traditions of this blog, Gareth must be blamed), forgets that having designed the layout does not actually mean he can shunt it effectively, resulting in baffled expressions, some quite horrendous shunting snarl-ups, and extremely circuitous methods of carrying out the outwardly simple task of exchanging full wagons for empty ones (or vice versa). In turn, this leads to some patronising, if well meaning, but certainly heartfelt, comments by the exhibition-hardened members of the team, who were showing off their shunting abilities on the neighbouring 2mm F/S 'Caledonian Road Goods Yard', about a certain layout group co-leader's skills levels and operating abilities etc etc etc.
     

    The nameless operator (and he who designed the track plan) winning his dunce hat.
     
    Anyway, back to day dreaming about getting to ExpoEM this Saturday, rolling stock production, or blaming Gareth - it's a toss up between the three as to which is more fun..
     
    drduncan
  21. drduncan
    Come see Empire Mills in something approaching glorious Technicolor and almost Dolby stereo quality sound at the Model Railway Club's open day on Sunday 11 May, 11am to 4pm!
     
    We will be running (hopefully) Western Region diesel hydraulics (and Gareth's class 25 interloper as well as my 08 if the wasp stripes are done), BR china clay and mineral wagons.
     
    If that's not enough to tempt you to come along, also on show at the open day are:
    Lacey Dale, the MRC's new N gauge layout.
    Happisburgh Goods (O gauge).
    Caledonian Road Goods (part of the Copenhagen Fields 2mm F/S layout).

    And... 'Minories'; Tom Cunnington's EM tribute to the late C J Freezer's famous urban minimum space terminus scheme.
     
    More information and directions on the MRC's website: http://www.themodelrailwayclub.org/
     
    See you there and do stop by for a chat.
     
    drduncan
  22. drduncan
    Ultrascale drop in wheel sets are simply superb. They make converting loco's to EM gauge an absolute doddle - at least in theory...
     
    Foxhound is one of Bachmann's creations and very nice it looked to, even if it was, to put it bluntly, narrow gauge. However, the loco's transition from OO narrow gauge ugly duckling to EM standard gauge swan was just a matter of throwing an acceptable sum of money at the problem and waiting the required half a lifetime for the wheels to arrive (I freely admit that patience is a virtue I venerate in others...).
     
    Still, the Ultrascale drop in wheel sets eventually arrived and the keeper plates on the bogies removed and the OO wheels thrown across the attic with expressions of disgust and revulsion. The drop in wheel set were, well, dropped in and the keeper plates offered up. At this point the conversion became a little less simple than say the Heljan Hymek Class 35 - a conversion so simple with the Ultrascale drop in wheels that its not even worth writing about, it was over in less than 5 minutes...
     
    Anyway, Foxhound's narrow gauge origins now came to the fore; the nicely moulded brake gear on each side of the bogie was too close together to allow the keeper plate to be pressed home over the EM wheel sets.
     
    So it was out razor saw and off with the brake gear. A piece of 20 thou plasticard was stuck on each side of the bogie and the brak gear and spring unit reattached.
     

    (The plastic spacer can be seen, and Imust remember to refit the last bits of the brake gear...)
     
    With the keeper plates now fitting over the wheels it was a quick test and then detailing, weathering and couplings. It was only after all this was done that a noticed that in the photo I had of Foxhound with 6318, Foxhound a full yellow ends, not the small yellow panels of the model - back to the paint shop we will have to go.
     

  23. drduncan
    The plan was just to pull out the wheels and file away the backs of the bogies to provide clearance. A rather course file was introduced to the bogies and just over 1 mm removed from each side of the bogie. I used a (borrowed) GW Models wheel puller - I really must get one of these things - to deal with the wheels and with a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing between wheel puller and back to back gauge all was sorted. The wheel sets were tested through various point work and there appeared to be no problem with flange width or depth. The wheels were dropped back in the bogies, the decoder installed, body replaced and the loco placed back on the track and I sat back to bask in the glory of the class 22 as it growled around a china clay siding on the club's new (so new its still being built) EM layout.
     

     

    Only it didn't quite work out like that....
     
    Instead of growling to life the loco stayed silent and the short protection gubbins on the NCE system kicked in.
     
    The loco was removed, heads were scratched; wires were checked, all possible metal to metal surfaces that might be causing a short were examined and covered in insulating tape - and still it wouldn't work and kept shorting out. Head scratching was upgraded to bad language and other dcc users consulted with, shoulders were cried on and electrical gods pleaded with over a period of days.
     
    The problem was traced first to an short on the wheel sets, which resulted in them all being carefully checked for any signs of flaws, back to backs re-set, reassembled and for a brief glorious nano-second the loco crawled into life - and then shorted out again. The wheels were again removed and checked and this time it seemed that only one axle was shorting out. The axles are a split axle design and I wondered if the insulation between the stub axles was at fault. The stub axles were pulled out, reset in their respective wheels and then put back in the plastic insulation tube and the back to back reset: no short. The axles were put back in the loco: no short. The body was replaced: no short. The loud celebrations caused the domestic authorities to query what was going on in the loft.
     
    What caused the problem? I can't be sure, however, I think that the wheel puller not only pulled the wheels, but also pushed a stub axle in, closing up the insulation gap - hence the short.
     
    With the short fixed it was on to detailing, weathering and of course fitting the AJ couplings. Fortunately, renumbering wasn't needed as I found a picture of 6318 and Foxhound coming off the Newquay branch with a clay working.



  24. drduncan
    Those happy few, that band of brothers (and sisters) who have seen Empire Mills in action will not have seen the projects' most shy and retiring inhabitant, the class 52 western hydraulic no 1067, Western Druid. The reason for this was simple; the line contoller (aka Gareth) had regretfully withdrawn it from the 1st XV (well 1st IV) due to antisocial tendencies: to whit pulling wagons off the rails on corners.
     
    1067's history has been, it has to be admitted, rather problematic. One of messers Heljan's creations, it seemed that it would be a straightforward conversion to EM gauge, thanks to Ultrascale drop in wheel sets. After the obligatory wait of several months for the wheel sets to arrive, it was a work of minutes to lift out the old sets, drop in the new ones and adjust the pickups - simples.
     
    It was then on to the dcc sound chip. This involed cutting a large hole in the plastic moulding that is fitted beneath diecast chassis for the speaker. Again not a problem, but feeding the speaker wiring through the diecast frame required taking the motor out. When the motor went back it the sound worked fine but the loco didn't. Instead, it moved in arthritic jerks and couldn't pull anything. Much head scratching then followed until eventually it was discovered that the motor has a right way and a wrong way round. With the motor turned round it ran well and sounded lovely.
     
    Then the next heartache was over the extra details Heljan included. For reasons that defy all understanding and comprehension it seems the Heljan have perfected a plastic that is impervious to solvents and cannot be gripped by superglue or impact adhesives which made fitting of the little plastic pipes difficult, a task made much harder by the fact that the holes in which they were supposed to fit being too small or the wrong shape... After much swearing white metal ones were substituted.
     
    Then came the brake gear saga.
     
    Hejan have produced some beautiful brake gear mouldings, unfortunately from the same glue repelling material as the buffer beam detail, and with the same attention to getting a reasonably easy push fit. After much more swearing and copious refitting of brake parts that had catapulted themselves out of their fitting points such was the pressure exerted on them once pushed into the location sockets, the brake gear was finally in place only for it to be proven beyond doubt that the brake gear prevented the bogies form turning AT ALL. Now Empire Mills is reasonably curve free, or at least has very gentle curves but even these defeated the Western, and as for trying to persuade it to get round the curves in Hope under Dinmore without chucking itself into the cess.... So the brake gear was removed with some force and cast unto the darkness.
     
    So what next? Well I'm toying with trying the Brassmasters bits to see if brake gear and corners can be made compatible and the AJ coupling will be moved from the buffer beam to the bogies via a slot in the buffer beam which should allow the bogies to swing and the coupling to cause less chaos with the rest of the rolling stock. I'll keep you posted!
  25. drduncan

    Ally Pally 2014

    By drduncan,

    At Ally Pally, Empire Mills operated with its china clay works option (to be fair, it’s the only option we have at the moment), using BR WR diesel hydraulics (a class 22, class 35, class 42 and class 52) and a solitary class 25 diesel-electric. I’m told (I wasn’t there – arrival of first born got in the way) that we didn’t disgrace ourselves. But for the next few week – if not months, there is a lot of work to do.
     
    First we (I) need to persuade the Class 52 western to go round corners while coupled to anything. We have a niggling problem with one of the points to sort out. The large china clay dry needs finishing, the layout detailing added, scenery finished and then the whole lot covered in snow. The CME also has been directed to pay more attention to the setting up of Alex Jackson couplings as my bleat of ‘they worked fine on Hope under Dinmore’ apparently was not helpful and provoked a certain amount of incredulity by those in the group who did get to play trains at Ally Pally... Finally, although we ran as DCC, we need to re-wire the layout so that it can be used for both DCC and DC stock. So not a lot to do then. I’m sure Gareth and I will keep the posts coming...
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