Billy Flathead

Back on track with some scenic stuff. Made this barrow crossing from black plastic painted with acrylics, not glued down yet. I've built up the ground level round the back as far as the railway boundary, anything behind this will be built on the bench and dropped in. Feeling a bit pleased with myself, and the weather being nice, I brought the outside track from the garage. It didn't fit!!! When I repaired the front of the shed the relationship between the shed and fence changed, so I had to cut wood away from the side of the access hole and the track board then slew the track across right to the edge of the board. Its all running ok again, I took a couple of videos so when I work out how to do it I will post them. Cheers David

Hi Mick, l haven't seen any photos of Wath when it was open. The only reference to the signaling I have seen, and I am sure you will have too is C T Goode "the pair of very tall signals governing arriving trains, each on separate posts with subsidiary arms fixed lower down as repeaters because of the intervening Midland overbridge." He compares the station building with Moorhouse and Hickleton but does not describe the signal box Cheers David

Hi Mick, sorry I haven't replied but the computer has been down a couple of weeks. Thanks for the picture, I would like to build a D24 but its a fair way down an expanding list. Did anyone make a kit for one, it wouldn't fit in with my other stock so I would go for original condition. The shed is in better shape with part of the floor, framing, and cladding replaced, and sealer around the window. The air inside is a whole lot fresher without all the spores floating around, the wall behind the drawers was black with mould. The trestrol is about finished, the trestles are not fastened down yet and I need some fine chain to put in the well. I read a comment on this forum about how we should just build or buy ordinary everyday wagons and not things like trestrols. There is a picture in my Hull and Barnsley book of a trestrol on the front of a coal train, probably for Scunthorpe, so I'm having one. Saw this van body just up the road from where we stayed in Swaledale at the weekend. Love to have one for a shed, but this one may be a bit too far gone, the woods had it and the frame would need welding.

I will need more than a bit of scrap wood to repair the shed, 18in from the bottom of the wall and 12in of floor have been cut away, so I'll be off to Wickes later. Can't do anything on the layout or bench because I can't get at them, but I can take my files to work so I made the brake pull rods and cranks for the cross beam of the Crab tender. Cheers David

Hi Brian there's no damage to the layout, the water has come in around the window and run down the wall onto the floor. If I can get some scrap wood from work, the work bench and shelves can all come out without disturbing the layout, just needs a fine day to do it. Cheers David

Progress on the layout has stalled completely, there is water damage to one of the interior walls of the shed after all the rain this winter and it smells fusty. Everything needs to come out and the panels replacing. Some progress with the trestrol though, the trestles are together and primered, and its ready for lettering and weathering Cheers David

It is made by macgeordie an rmweb member, so you would need to send him a pm. He is doing an etch for a br coke hopper in kit and scratch building at the moment. David

You,re right there Mick, you can' t be too fussy with photos of that age. There's still plenty of detail, particularly the track in the for ground. Is that a signal box on the embankment on the right, I must get a map out when I get home. Thanks for the kind comments William, I try my best with limited time and money, progress has been better since joining this forum though. I usually only post photos when I have something new to show but I will try to post more. Currently parked overnight in a lay by cleaning solder off the trestrol while the daylight lasts. Cheers David

With doing jobs on the car to get it ready to go back on the road and a long weekend in the Dales there hasn't been much shed time. Now that a bulky part of the car has gone from the shed I will have a good tidy and hopefully get back in the mood for some scenic work. What I have done is start this Trestrol kit by macgeordie. Its gone together very well so far, the shackles were a bit fiddly but they are all on and they all move. It will go to work with me tomorrow where I will clean it all up Cheers David

I'm probably the last person to get tips off of Brian, you don't get to see the cursing and burnt fingers, or that I have taken it apart three times to get it to where it is. Anything you want to know just ask, but I'm a beginner really. No progress on the layout but crab tender chassis is on its wheels. Home made bearings slide in slots in the outside frames, with CSB wires from 12thou steel wire. Cheers David

Done a little bit since new year, the platform fencing pieces have been joined into continuous strips with new posts and painted. I've also done a bit of landscaping around the end of the platform and the loading dock. The crab tender is coming along slowly. I didn't use the side overlays with the half etched beading, instead the flat beading on the sides is strips of 5 thou brass, and along the top edges I've used some scrap brass from the fret, soldered on over size then filed down. Fitting the step back plates first was a mistake, there's only one left on. Its fell off the bench several times and I've slipped on wet decking and landed on it. There's a dent in the tender back from the fall but I can hopefully disguise it with a bit of filler. I've always been clumsy but its getting worse with age. Cheers David

Thanks Mick. I would be interested in photos of this end of the H&BR especially in BR days, just wish I had something to send you back in return. David

Hi Brian, I have hundreds of slides taken in the eighties, there's some of Cudworth and signal boxes at Worsbrough, no idea about dates, loco numbers or locations on most of them. I've tried a home made slide scanner but couldn't get it to work, I have enough trouble just scanning prints. Thanks Mick that's a great photo, is the coaling tower still being built? Love those spindly gas lamps. Cheers David

Thanks Brian we had a great time, hope you did too. This is what Father Christmas brought me, a Hornby ex LMS suburban composite to complete the pusha. Just needs some screw couplings and maybe paint the roof to match the trailer. Cheers David.

Had a spare half hour this morning so made a bit of progress on the crab tender. The front and rear coal plates in the kit both have holes in the top corners, they are not on my drawing or in any pictures I have seen. Maybe they are for pulling the coal forward on tenders without coal doors. The front coal plate has enough meat on it to trim the top down. I have only fitted the tender top as far as the rear coal plate so had some spare brass the right width to make the new rear coal plate. Cheers David

The second platform is nearly finished but I'm not 100% happy with it. It makes the other platform look shorter and I can't match the colours of the platform edging. I might have to repaint both together, but I was very happy with the original, I'll try and match them one more time first though. I found a pack of Slaters platform fencing in the shed, so old the plastic is going yellow and brittle. Took it to work on in the cab. I cut away the moulded on posts and the part pieces of diagonal slats from the ends so that I can join them into continuous strips. The tender for the Crab is coming along better than expected, glad I bought the Wild Swan Horwich Moguls book because I would have no idea how the bits fit t together otherwise, there are no tabs or slots or other locating methods. Cheers David

Hi Mick, sorry I haven't replied, been working away all week. Lovely photos, I thought they were older than they are until I noticed the cars. One looks like a BMC 1100/1300 so I'd guess late 60s early 70s? There's still a single track in place and the building looks neat and tidy. I took the photos below about six years ago, it still looks sound but a bit neglected. Thanks David

Just noticed I've put the cross pieces on the bottom of the frame towards the front of the oval cut out instead of the back. It'll have to wait for next weekend. David

Had a good few hours in the shed with my big yellow work coat on. Wasn't going to have a second platform because the sharp curve would be more obvious with the gaps between the coach ends and the platform edge, but I changed my mind. The 12mm mdf has brick plastic card facing and 60 thou stones along the edge. I have glued thin card to the top so that the mounting board I will use for the platform surface will be flush with the edging stones. Started on the tender for the Crab. The frames were soldered together so I could shape the bottom edge, drill the hole for the brake shaft and cut out the slots for the axle bearings. L shaped spacers were cut and the whole lot soldered together. The vertical part of the spacers are supports for CSB wires. Haven't done it this way before, so just see how it goes. Cheers David

Thanks Brian, the O4 is 63656 from Barnsley. Might have to screw the corner of the building down through the toilet to close that gap around the bottom. Cheers David

The last thing I wanted to finish before starting something new is a loco that has been on my bench for what seems like years. Yesterday it had a coat of paint so the end is in sight, when its dry I will rub all the paint runs down and T cut it. I will post a picture when its done. Making a rod for my own back the next one will be a Jidenco Crab kit. How much of it will end up being used is anyones guess, time will tell, lots of time proberbly. From what I have heard about these kits it may end up being wanged out the shed door and chopped up by the lawnmower. It will be 42762 of Royston. The motor will be in the tender with a drive shaft between the firemans legs to a gear box in the loco. I was going to start a workbench thread in kit and scratch building but chickened out and put it here instead. Cheers David

Finished another of the jobs I wanted to do before started anything new. I have been scribing cobbles into a piece of mounting board for the station approach for months and have finally glued it down. Don't know if I am totally happy with the colour, they are sandstone blocks but look a bit too brown. They can always be toned down in the future. Sorry about the photos, there's not enough light in there. Cheers David

Hi Mick, nice photos, thanks. The shed is the one in the bottom photo. The only other photo I had seen of the station was the one in the Bellcode H&B book, I didn't realise the platforms had been reduced so much. If the shed is a reasonable size I was thinking of putting it on the loading dock as a goods store where the plastic box is below. The sides would have to be cut off at platform level though instead of going down to ground level. Cheers David

Hi Mick. Thanks but I'm not going to build these ones, I mentioned them in an earlier post and went to get a couple of photos as an excuse to get out on my bike. The car gets covered up for the winter and its the bike until April so I need to get into the swing of it. All I am looking to build in the near future is the signal box and a shed like the one on the platform at Hickleton. Was this a goods store. Cheers David