The Bigbee Line

In a bag (slaters I think) were varied bits of brass rod and styrene section. The thin bits looked ideal for window bars. I printed off a 25.5% version of the window which looked better proportioned. Here is my “Mr No Patience” version....

In defence of the Darstead coaches, I have some Corridor Coaches and a Suburban. I thought the brass sides were nice and the have the mass to run nicely. The magnetic corridor connections and Kadee couplings turn a few coaches into a cohesive rake, flowing through the curves. I thought the paint finish of the Southern Region versions was just right. Yes they are a couple of mm too tall, and understand how that happened. To be honest as I'm not going to mix them with other coaches, they look OK. On my layout they will run with Terrier tanks that look quite diminutive anyway. Detal where coaches join... A view showing the roof detail... I like the fact that the roof panels do not have exaggerated weld seams. For me the roof is the bit I see most and when I get time I will titivate the water tank feed pipes and repaint to give a more weathered appearance. I find the Darstead, Dapol, Heljan debate quite interesting. Hopefully the Dapol coaches will live up to the expectations. I don't really need any more Mark 1 Corridor Coached. Just need a Maunsell Push Pull Driving Brake and a Bulleid Brake,, Plus of course a few 64' BR Suburbans. Now if these were produced in Crimsom and Green liveries, I could bet one of each and swap the sides...,

i created my window pattern by making a pdf of the end on picture, then printed at various percentages, until it looked right. These windows look ever so slightly large, the were 27%, I might try a 26% tomorrow... I also want to find some pieces of metal to act as spacers when setting out the window bars to keep them square.

I’ve tried a couple of dry runs.... They were tried in one side... Then the end....

I would say wagon brown for wagons and blue for the BY derived fourgons.

Tonight was window night. I printed off a window of the required size. Sellotape to a piece of scrap card. Then tape some plastic sheet over the top. The sheet needs to be solvent proof...... A couple of guide lines were drawn on. Then some 40 thou x 40 thou and some 40 thou x 60 thou evergreen cut to form the outer frame. I cut some thin strips to form the window bars. All bonded with Tamika Extra Thin Cement. Has a very nice thin brush. Here is the first attempt. Then with a brother... Here sitting in position. Tomorrow morning I’ll ping them off the clear sheet and trip the outside corners. I had a test run sitting the frames while still on the plastic sheet. Look good on the box.

The roof is now done, length has been trimmed and painting will commence. I want to try the windows today. Using a jig to make the 3 sets the same.

Just a couple of pictures First a barge board base in position Then a view of the underside. Showing the slot formed to take the walls

Today Matthew. Barge boards. First shape thick card as base layer Cutting to width in position some thick PVA to bond to the roof. A business card facia to be cut next.

Guy you forgot to mention the wheelbase. Heinz 57........

Darryl The variety of detail on what at first seems a standard van is immense. My main interest is to look the part, proportionately correct with the right levers etc. Some points I have to ignore, life is too short. But maybe later another model can be more accurate. with the LNER vans I like the Roberts built versions with a 2 block Morton brake.....

Darryl I’d want to know. When your really close to something and maybe concentrating on something else it’s easy to miss such things.

Just a bit of fun. These were drawn up for my “panel” and printed off a miniature version for the levers.

Hoping to finish the signal cabin this weekend. I’ve been adding the final roof surface to the card core. Two layers of business card. I’ve cut the width, now need to cut the length. I’ll cut the barge boards from ready painted card. The will be assembled onto the roof,,,

I found a 1 amp regulated supply and tested the 4 motors I had in my secret store (secret because I could not find them...) So I found a suitable thickness piece of ply. Cut the ply into a square and screwed the motor on with a piece of card as a filler as the base of the motor is not quite flat. I needed a switch for testing and found a maplins 4 pole changeover switch. 2 poles were used to create a changeover switch. 2 of the 4 motors were fine, the other 2 moved a little when powered up. However once wired up, I cycled the motor and once it started moving it improved with every cycle.. I will use this switch to operate the 2 sets of points that are the connection to the goods yard incorporating the trap point. Fine tuning the position is required, so I'll make some slots to allow adjustment to the sub-base.. Here is the current mounting

Here is the “sub-roadbase”. With 5 countersunk holes for wires. The countersink gives a little wiggle room. Plus a nice big hole for the operating wire. There are a couple of wires to the blades. Soldered under the fishplate that acts as the hinge. The wires run down the various holes.

John, Thanks for the information. I was planning a fabricated 'slot guard' of dark plastic, made from scrap, to provide a smooth surface for the hole. I've stripped one point to get the blade ends fettled, the peco square box removed and some wires soldered to the bottom of the fish plates that form the hinge. I will be using the gaugemaster DCC switches to set the polarity of the frog, that will stop shorts when driving the wrong way against points... More progress later...

I have some cobalts to fit. What size holes have people used? I have 20mm of base to go through. thanks in advance.

Tonight I fettled the board joints and got the widened board secured in position. here you can see the new alignment... The points need droppers from the switches and point motors fitted. There is plenty of room underneath..

Just for a bit of light relief.... The windows are a picture of the real thing ...

Steve My workshop always looks like a bombsite...... WARNING - Anyone with any carpentry skills, look away now. My initial thoughts were to make the layout as compact as possible, the boards needed to be curved to get the look of the prototype and avoid looking like just another train set. I managed to get 4 tracks into the 2 foot width, not modelling the goods shed and associated siding. Then recently I started thinking about the Signal Cabin, platform and buildings. The signal cabin has been a lot of fun and a huge learning experience. But comments from a colleague about a train going over the edge if derailed, and a desire to include the Mess Room had lead to the increase in width.. So here we go, and remove the front face.... Next was to create the area for the Mess Room that would govern the additional width.. Nothing lightweight here, something smaller at the other end... Then a timber to join the two ends and give better support.... You can see two of struts to support the track base. They were needed as there was up to 5 mm of sag.... Here are a couple of pictures with the extra width.. Roughly trimmed. I will add some struts from the main timber out to the fimal front alignment. Here is a view from the other end.

Ready to lift out showing the edge to be extended.... Lifted out....

As part of the widening process I've up-cycled some Ikea Ivar legs for board supports. An improvement over the Jury Rigged apparitions previously used. Here is the first in position... The second one has an additional diagonal brace (must be the Delux version)... Just need to get all the crap out from under the boards and get it into position...

I've been busy with various things. Mainly in the garden, before the cold snap comes. But have been researching the line as usual... One thing that popped into my head, were memories of technical drawing lessons at Secondary school. The teacher was Mr Longley and I am very grateful for those lessons, remembering quite a few of the techniques... Over 50 years ago... I'd forgotten that the drawing board was square and a Tee Square would draw right angles when used on the side and top. I can do the same with a square, re-inventing the wheel.... I've bee looking for the squarest pictures of the various buildings.. Here is the mess room... I've cruelly enlarged the John Law Flickr image. I've also drawn on the diagonals to get the windows to the right proportions.. Originally I did not have enough room to site the structure and did think of putting it on the east side of the line.. Just not right, so the boards are getting a westward extension to take them out to the SR Concrete Post and 8 wire fence.... More on that later...

I currently try and focus on the main projects and not to get diverted.... This post caught my attention. I wondered if the chassis had any possible UK uses... What size wheels are fitted and what sort of wheelbase, last question.. would the motor fit in the typical UK boiler... Thanks in advance. p.s. I've already trawled ebay, saw some reasonably priced WM 2-8-0's, have you come across those... maybe for a Z'ish 0-8-0 tank...