Johndc120

Eddington adventures,

we had a lovely weekend at the Eddington show (SDJR trust), nice to be next to Rob (NHY 581) with his beautiful layout sheep dip.

we were running a layout called Quarry Lane which is a modern image EM gauge layout which did okay, no major issues with it and kept people entertained. 
 

one difficulty we had was trying to load the cassettes all the time, trying to put the stock into the cassettes and then railing them is not always easy as you can’t see the wheels. Also the stock doesn’t bump down the track on the sleepers if it’s off.

so this ended up being designed during the show on paper and drawn up in CAD then on Sunday night.

it’s a railing ramp which slots into the end of the cassettes so you can just run them in instead of placing stock in, hopefully this should make life easier

the design needs the corners filed off to get it to fit into the cassette further but already it works really well

Eddington adventures,

we had a lovely weekend at the Eddington show (SDJR trust), nice to be next to Rob (NHY 581) with his beautiful layout sheep dip.

we were running a layout called Quarry Lane which is a modern image EM gauge layout which did okay, no major issues with it and kept people entertained. 
 

one difficulty we had was trying to load the cassettes all the time, trying to put the stock into the cassettes and then railing them is not always easy as you can’t see the wheels. Also the stock doesn’t bump down the track on the sleepers if it’s off.

so this ended up being designed during the show on paper and drawn up in CAD then on Sunday night.

it’s a railing ramp which slots into the end of the cassettes so you can just run them in instead of placing stock in, hopefully this should make life easier

the design needs the corners filed off to get it to fit into the cassette further but already it works really well

23 minutes ago, Pannier Tank said:

I'd be interested to know what was involved in converting the 16xx to EM gauge.

I used the existing axles and wheels just pulled out to 16.5 back to back, they still fit within the splashers and breakgear, infact the breakgear helps reduce any side play.

the biggest issue was the pickups, they use a plunger pickup arrangement rather than a brass wiper like Bachmann. 
 

I replaced the pin on the plunger pickup with my own brass ones which I made up using some scrap brass. Something I think rapido should think about supplying for conversions. But then a lot of RTR manufacturers don’t bother

31 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

In the words of the Rolling Stones ... Paint it black.

 

Or perhaps plenty of muck having removed the GWR insignia.

 

If I was going to be utterly pedantic, I thought that the balls up was picture one. If it's 1955, the Bedford van in the background would have a split windscreen and a body coloured grille. That design was the upgrade introduced in September 1958. Or actually a step further looking at the rear wheel arches, March 1959...

 

Do I get this week's Golden Anorak Award?

 

 

your completely right although Shwt is actually based on 1965, so slightly later based layout. It just happened to be up and provided a good demo board for a photo

My Warley balls up!!

I’ve recently finished weathering a 56xx which is still sporting its old GWR livery, quite a typical thing to see in 1955 especially on goods locos. I particularly like this and it certainly adds a little bit colour as most of our other locos are br plain black!

seen here placed on Shwt

so…. At warley wondering round having a nose I come across the model rail stand! The 16xx has always interested me as Gloucester had several and at £130 I was very tempted!! 
 

snap choice out of several, I ended up thinking we could do the same as the 56xx! So I purchased this one

got it home and converted it to EM gauge and running happily enough. 

unfortunately I’ve subsequently found due to my own stupidity and lack of research, the 16xx only carried this livery in preservation. They were produced by BR and of course came straight out in BR black!! Doh!!!

so what to do with it now…..??

I could just dirty it down the same and test people’s knowledge, remove the GWR and leave it weathered green with no emblem or go for a complete repaint. It definitely can’t be left pristine like it is now

A loco which won’t come out with us at exhibition (as it’s a tad on the big side!!!) but I couldn’t resist having one for our own running days.

A 2884 class brings in the ballast train, this is made up of a ballast plough next to the loco, 9 herring hopper wagons and a Pway brake on the back. In 1955 these were the last few years left for this classic GWR pway train before catfish, dogfish and sharks came into use

Sorry Guys forgot to take any photos at the show! Too busy which is always a good thing!

please to report that after the shake down of the past few weeks the layout ran much better than at Doncaster. Much less issues with the couplings. Still some more things to iron out but generally much much better showing!!

febex next in Alton! Should be on for a good outing there!

Thanks to everyone who came to see us, and thank you for the lovely comments 

49 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

Is that a young helper?

Paul.

I don’t know about helper!! But yes this is my little lad! See how long he lasts before we have to go and entertain him somewhere 

And that’s it, all set up and ready for the morning!!

Well we pack Shwt into the car last night ready to set up this evening. It’s a tight squeeze to get it all in one but it does fit!!!

this is just a local 1 day show in Barry in South Wales but it’s nice to have the layout out again

Yes it’s done well to defeat gravity has that one!!

One of the interesting challenges of a 2’6 layout is how do you work on the layout without having to reach over all the time.
 

Our solution to fix snags which happen between shows is to lift the boards up on there sides and work on them when that are in front of you like this!!

it also provides an interesting view of the track plan of the layout!!!

On 28/10/2022 at 17:37, NHY 581 said:

Hi John, 

 

Great to see Shwt !!!

 

More updates perhaps ? 

 

Rob

Thanks Rob,

there’s a lot more testing to be done, run through a few trains so yeah I’ll get some more updates done 

John

Looking forward to it as well, Shwt was out of store yesterday for the first time since Doncaster 2020, it needs a good dust off but otherwise it's just as we left it

John

Bars added to the back of the location cases and now stuck in place dotted round the layout in appropriate places

Progress last night including the basic painting of all of our location case (signalling equipment cases) to be dotted around the layout, these are our own design and print as there’s nothing available of the right size or shape

A little bit of paint makes a huge difference, this time it’s the turn of the yard point levers which have had all but the handles painted white and the safety bars also all in white

Last night I had several modelling hour available so cracked on with the modified Hall. I’m adding the brassmasters detailing kit which focuses around the incorrect area infront of the smoke box saddle.
 

It’s not for the faint hearted as there’s a lot of cutting away of the running plate and also some on the chassis block. I think it looks the part though