Broadoak

Sorry Rob I forgot to ask have you made any progress on your 1/32-1/35 scale project? Regards Peter M

Hi Rob, I am not sure really. I am toying with the idea of an industrial light green with a bauxite coloured skirts and ends, but in a well worn condition. Not a wreck but looking like it has really worked for a living. Peter M

I have given the body a spray coat of grey primer, it shows up if more work is needed on the wood effect. I have modified the cab interior to suit the driver figure who has been carved about and now looks as if he is wearing a boiler suit. Following your suggestion Rob, I have modified the exhaust pipe outlet. I thought an angle rather than vertical so as not to impede the flow of gases too much. Peter M

A few shots of my ex. DRGW Alco S2 end cab switcher in the yard at Benson. Peter M

Rob, I think you have a fair point with regard to the exhaust outlet. I will change it so that it discharges almost vertically. I am spoiling the driver really with doors and a roof, whatever next. That said in those far off days manufacturers though little about creature comforts. The first Fordson Major E1A's for example the exhaust pipe ended under the back axle directly below the driver's seat. They then had the pipe re-routed to discharge vertically, it was said to reduce the risk of fires with dry straw for instance. Peter M

Pipparooba, thanks for your interest, 1/32-1/35 ish is a nice size to work in. Grunty Fen Engineering have done a little more work on the wooden bodied shunter. I have managed to give it opening doors with the aid of some real bodging. The doors are hinged with a piece of rod passing through the top of the door frame and into the edge of the door itself. This was easy from the top with a small drill held in a pin vise. The bottom though could not be reached with the drill. So after a bit of a ponder I resorted to a hot dress maker's pin heated with a blow torch and held with a small pair of pliers. Crude but effective. I still have some controls in the cab and a roof to add. The driver faces outwards and can then see both ways without leaving his seat. The photographs were taken on my shunty plank testing layout. Peter M

I have been updating a thread with some photographs on another model railroad site so I thought I would share them on here. A blue box Athearn GP7 working in the yard at Benson. She is equipped with a train heating boiler so can be used on the occasional diner train. Peter M

I have started work on a project I have been thinking about for some time now. I was given a Con-Cor switcher with a view to using the chassis. It runs superbly so I had to try to think up a suitable body for it. In the end I decided to make a wooden bodied 2-4-2, cheating with the Bo-Bo chassis. The long side skirts will hide its real identity. The back story is the device was one of the original locomotives used on the farm but has lain derelict in a barn for many years and has been resurrected as a project for a couple of apprentices to get working again. I am making it up as I go along so am still not sure what it will look like when it is finished. I will try to have it in a presentable state for my next exhibition. The photographs show the progress I have made so far Peter M

As a matter of interest I have found a review of the Lima C420 in the January edition of Scale Model Trains. It retailed for £34.95 and came in the following liveries. Monon, Nickel Plate Road, Lehigh Valley, L&N and UP the latter being bogus. It gets a good review with regard to its running comparing it with Roco. Mine did not run very well so I put in a Mashima which does run very smoothly. The test example came from Victors, remember them. My example is seen lurking around Benson west yard. Peter M

Two Sister's Farm will be appearing at the following exhibition. Beacon-Rail 2015 Model Railway Exhibition Pitstone Memorial Hall Vicarage Road Pitstone LU7 9EY Near Tring Saturday 11th April 10.30 – 4.30 If you live near by come along and have a drive. With a big layout like mine I'm always glad of all the help I can get. Peter M

Being a relative newcomer on this site I have only just come across this little gem. I think it is superb, beautifully modelled in every respect. Peter M

I have found a few photographs I took when I first got the new camera and was testing it out. This shot taken outside the engine shed shows the wooden bodied Simplex ticking over. Over a period of time the exhaust has discoloured the canvas cab side which flaps about as the machine proceeds along the track. The oil drums are Tamiya 1/35 scale military items kit which came with Gerry cans, large drums and buckets. They are mounted on a stand made of balsa and wire. The Simplex is still idling and waiting for its next assignment, but now Tilly has arrived from doing a job repairing some damaged fencing. The Simplex sets off at last to collect some wagons that have been loaded the previous day. She is seen passing the small water tower made from odds and ends from the spares box and the balsa foreman's hut. The Simplex has disappeared under the bridge affording a better view of the no longer used horse drawn implement under the tree. This came from a German Army field kitchen set made by Tamiya. The owner's brother is seen admiring the crop of tomatoes growing in the long greenhouse. This cash crop makes a valuable addition the estate's finances and after harvesting the old plants are ploughed in as green manure. The figure is a 1/32 scale Airfix Track Officials and Spectators set of motor racing figures, now made by MRRC. Peter M

As is the way with these things I have found some pictures in a file I had forgotten I had. They are of a UP SD480 ACE which belongs to my old buddy Andy Knott, it was 1st prize in a raffle at an exhibition we attended some years ago. This was the models first running on my layout Benson which was in the throes of being updated at the time. Peter M

Hi Christopher, I know exactly what you mean, both liveries are very attractive. Both liveries even look good in black and white photographs as well I think. The SD9 in the Burlington black and grey car body and red and yellow sills look fine, the colours seem to suit the shape somehow. Then the SD24 in the red and grey look very good as well. It was the colours as much as anything that first attracted me to the American scene. Regards Peter M

Here is an example of a BN SW1500 #307 wearing the cascade green and black, probably more practical but not so attractive as the old GN colours. She is seen arriving at Benson with a minimal train in tow. An Athearn blue box job with added details and work stained. Peter M

When the flats are loaded the SW7 switcher pulls the cut back into the main loop and uncouples. The GP30 backs onto the pulpwood cars with the two outbound covered hoppers and departs for Hope. Peter M

#3016 spots the empty pulpwood flats in the loop and uncouples the GM&O covered hopper which it propels to the Farmers Co-op elevator in the east yard. It removes an empty Cotton Belt hopper and waits in the yard for the yard goat an GN SW7 #145 to pick up the empty flats and propel them to the pulpwood loading track. While the flats are being loaded the GP30 runs to the west yard and collects an empty Burlington covered hopper from the Continental Grain Elevator. Peter M

A Great Northern EMD GP30 #3016 still wearing a coat of Omaha orange and Pullman green, and looking very pretty to my eye arrives at Benson with a small train. I know the GP30 shape is not attractive to all but I rather like their Humpty Dumpty appearance. On March 2 1970 GN became part of the Burlington Northern the result of a merger with Burlington, Northern Pacific, and Spokane, Portland and Seattle. Many locomotives still carried the old livery until they went into the shops later and emerged wearing a coat of Cascade green and black. Peter M

Thanks Steve, mine was the central motor with two flywheels, it really looked the business but ran like a Triang X04, so I replaced it. It wasn't very expensive though about twenty odd pounds if I remember rightly. Peter M

Thinking about it I am perhaps being a little unfair. The Lima model I bought well over twenty years ago and in that time things have moved on. Models today are far more delicate and need careful handling. The blue box jobs were sort of bomb proof really, but not so detailed of course. I was given a second hand Lima C420 in Iowa Central colours and that has the original motor in it but that one runs very well. Peter M

I would say Atlas are better. I have re-motored mine as the motor it came with was awful. Mine runs well with a Mashima in it. The body is not a bad moulding but is spoilt by the front windows, be better if it was flush glazed. Peter M

An Alco Century C420 I&W #30 an ex L&N locomotive whose engineer has just collected his train orders from the west yard yardmaster. She is seen rolling past the minimal servicing facilities in the Flour mill headshunt. The model is a re-motored Lima. I must admit I rather like the graceful lines of this loco. Peter M

I have found a rather poor picture of the cut down cement loading shed in its original position. It had to be cut down to fit the small amount of room available. It was situated on the joining section between CC and Benson and painted brown. [/url A few shots of A rock Island SW9 yard switcher working in the yard at Benson. Peter M

Yes Mike I think you are right. I did it some 10 years ago to suit the site available at the time. I have some rather poor photographs I took at the time, when it was painted brown. It was on the corner of the joining section where Colonel's Crossing joined Benson. Peter M

A view looking down on the generic powdery material loading/unloading device. Useful if pushed for space. The two tracks at the back form the on view fiddle yard which works surprisingly well, it just looks like tracks in the yard. A close up of details in the small yard at the service station. Close up of assorted junk at the right hand side of Flour mill Details at foot of Midas Cement silos with site office. The cement bagging hut. On thinking about this and looking at photos taken long ago, I think the hut came with the Walther's elevator kit. Assorted junk deposited next to Midas Cement Silos. Peter M