Caley Jim

Or how to lose friends and alienate people! Jim

At a recent meeting of our local Probus Club (Poor Old Boys, Unfit for Service) we had a talk entitled 'Secrets of the Film Casablanca' in which several interesting facts were revealed. For example, the Dakota in the background of the final scene was a scaled down cardboard cut-out and the ground crew working around it were all midgets! To be properly up to date His Lordship requires to follow the example of Joseph Monteith of Carstairs house and install an electric tramway. Jim (on behalf of Anderson and Munro, Electrical Engineers, 136 Bothwell Street, Glasgow.)

I like the different styles of lettering. Presumably wagons from different orders (or different builders)? It wasn't unusual to see this. Jim

I've just checked out the thickness of newspaper and find that 10 sheets = 0.6mm, i.e.a sheet is 0.06mm thick. This falls neatly between the scale 0.083mm of a ½" thick slate and the 0.0415mm of a ¼" thick one. I've successfully printed out the 'grid' I use from which to cut the strips, so that's what I'll use! Jim

Thanks for that Bécasse. I have some slates as edgings in the garden and they measure between just over ½" and just over ¼" thick. In 2mm ½" is 0.083mm. I plan to use 80gsm paper which is cc0.1mm thick (10sheets + 1mm). I've allowed for 2x this thickness in the design of the etch, so I'm committed. I've already used this paper for the slates on the warehouse building . I tried using tissue paper for the slates on the weighbridge office, but felt they were too 'flat'. Sometimes I find things look better if they are very slightly overscale. Thanks also for the tip on the varnish. I only stick the strips to the roof, and not to one another. This lets you 'lift' the odd slate or two slightly and give more texture to the roof. Jim

Progress will be slow this week due to life getting in the way of more important things. Lengths of wire have been added along the ridges to help shape the ridge leading later; the gutters have been added in 20thou styrene and the down-pipes fitted. You can just about see the levers sitting in place. The support for the stairs is not leaning, that's just an illusion created by the camera. Both the box and the support are dead vertical to the base - I've checked with an engineer's tri-square! Next up will be to paint the tops of the gutters black (well, dirty grey) and then glue a layer of paper to the roof slopes with Evostik onto which the strips of paper slates can be attached with PVA. I don't trust PVA to stick to metal and gluing on the strips of slates with Evostik will be messy. I've consulted with the Guru on CR signal boxes and the consensus is that handrails across the window mullions would probably not have been fitted until late in the companies history. Jim

Judging from the corner plate I'd say that the end elevation certainly refers to the wagon at the top (compare the left hand end of the side elevation with the right hand side of the end elevation). It does say that the door arrangement is 'regional', so it wouldn't be unreasonable to make it the same. Jim

Where's the 'hmmph' button when you need it! I've enough bother finding space for a decoder in a 2mm loco, let alone a receiver and batteries!! Jim

The Caledonian bought the Forth and Clyde Canal, but that was so that they could get hold of Grangemouth Docks, which they developed as a port on the East Coast. I don't think they were at all bothered about competition from the canal. Jim

There's no such thing as bad weather Only the wrong clothes! Jim

Bits for the interior. L-R instrument shelf and lever ID board; lever frame; desk and chair. I have to confess that the way of producing the levers and the artwork for the desk have been blatantly copied from David Eveleigh. I've still to work out the lever sequence, not only to get the colours correct, but also to have those which operate FPL's in the 'set' position. Jim

Thanks john (and Northroader). They're nothing special. Taken on my phone in ambient light as a wider shot, downloaded on to the PC, colour corrected with MS Picture Manager (I always include some white in the background) and cropped. Jim

Here in what constitutes The Far North to you lot ( I prefer to call it the southern edge of civilisation) we've had only an occasional dust of snow and some slight frost (-5°). Barely winter at all! Still almost T-shirt and shorts weather! Jim

Mainly, I imagine, because that was the only way they knew how to make a bridge of that design. Back then the first of anything was based on what had gone before. Look at the first coaches for the Liverpool and Manchester, basically stage coaches on rail wheels! Jim

The stairs have now been completed, tidied up and cleaned. (I popped the windows back in for these photos.) I couldn't resist the temptation to try it in situ on the layout. When I was designing the etch, it was taking me so long that I began to question my sanity (no comment from you at the back please!) in going down the etch route as I began to think I would have been quicker just building it from scratch in styrene. I now have no regrets as, among other aspects, the stairs and railings have turned out not only much neater and finer than I could have made in styrene, but much, much stronger. It would take some serious effort to distort them, even slightly. In styrene they would be very delicate. On now to some interior detail, lever frame, instrument shelf and furniture (well, desk and chair). Once again thanks for all the kind ratings. Jim

That's a job for an etch if ever I saw one! (But then I would say that, wouldn't I!) Jim (finishing soldering up the stairs for Kirkallanmuir signal box)

Who's to say some weren't built with narrower planks than shown on the drawing? The wagon shop foreman would use whatever was available as long as the overall length was the same. There are examples of wagons with a different number of side planks than shown on the GA. As Richard says, put a substantial load on it and no-one will will see it and if you don't tell anyone, neither will I! Sometimes you have to live with your mistakes! (Been there, done that...) That wagon is too good to scrap!!! Jim

Thanks, Jerry. I take that as high praise coming from you. Thanks to my time spent as a teenager 'working' a box close to our then home I am rather fond of them myself! Jim

Middle flight of stairs added along with the brackets under the second landing down. A lot of cleaning up to do once the other flight is added. Fitting the steps in the jig takes a wee bit of time as all traces of etch tag have to be removed from each long edge before they will slide through the slots, but it ensures everything is dead square. Jim

To ensure that the stair sections all line up properly I need to have the support for the lower landing in its proper relationship to the box. I've printed out a plan with the outline of the box, the four pillars of the support and the position of the bottom of the steps and attached it to a piece of hardboard to form a base. A second printout is ready to fit on the layout. Two strips of hardboard, which are a neat fit in the ends of the box, have been glued to the base to accurately locate it and holes drilled for two pegs which will project from diagonally opposite legs of the support. The latter has been soldered up and fitted in place. I've removed the locking room windows as they kept popping out when trying to fit the landing support brackets and I don't want them getting lost! One has already had a sojourn under my desk! The top flight of steps are held in place here with some Pritt Stick. Jim

Thanks. According to Jim Summers' book, facilities were not always provided especially if there were some nearby, such as when the box was near or on a station. In the case of Kirkallanmuir, there will be a toilet in the adjacent weighbridge office. Jim

Apologies for the hiatus in updates, but I was laid low yesterday by a bug that's doing the rounds up here. Blinding headache, iffy tummy and generally feeling yuck! Feeling much better today, so more progress. On Sunday evening I got the chimney fitted and the roof fixed. The latter only needed a little filed off the lower edge of the opening to fit round the chimney. Work has now started on the stairs. I etched a little jig to help with the assembly. The slots along the bttom on one side are wide enough to take the depth of the treads, while the corresponding ones on the other side fit the tabs on the ends of the treads. The jig is big enough to take the longest flight of steps. The treads are threaded into the lower slots with their tabs engaged inthe small slots. One side rail of the flight is then placed over the projecting tabs, making sure the correct face is outwards (in this case the inner rail for the upper flight). (Sorry some of these shots are a bit fuzzy, they are crops from larger shots. Bear in mind that this flight of steps is only c2cm x 2cm)) Once that is soldered to all the steps it is removed and located into the open slots on the edge of the jig. A slot at the end allows the landing to be properly aligned. The second side rail is then placed over the tabs and soldered on. I'll be giving the jig a smear of vaseline before I do the other two flights. Why...? Use your imagination!! The completed flight of steps. And finally the flight sitting on the side of the box with the heavy timber brackets supporting the top landing soldered to it. I intend that the full set of stairs will be removable to make painting easier, being glued in place at the end. Getting the brackets fitted in the correct place with only two small tabs holding the steps in place took several attempts, eventually resulting in the generous use of Blu-tac ! Jim

Thanks, Argos. Surprisingly, I only lost one bracket to the carpet monster and that was one of the crawling board ones which shot off into the wide blue yonder when I cut the tab between it and its neighbour without putting my finger on it! I did, of course, put plenty spares on the etch! Jim

Well, I told you there were a lot of them (32 to be precise) ! It's starting to look like a Caley box now! Especially when the roof is added. At this point the roof and it's internal supports/locators are just sitting in place as I need to check that the chimney will fit correctly before soldering them up. The gap between the roof and the base is to allow me to fit in strips of styrene whose outer edges will be grooved and contoured to form the gutters. The roof will be removable, but it's a tight fit and a faff to get back on, so it won't be coming off very often! when I built the model of Haughhead junction box for 'Connerburn' c1970 I had to solder up the crawling board brackets from 5amp fuse wire and cut the roof ones from styrene sheet. Much more accurate and consistent with etching! I won't get much more done until Sunday evening now as we have a lot on this week end. Hope this is not boring folk and thanks for all the kind comments and ratings. Jim

Not much modelling time yesterday, but I got the locking room windows made up. They are multilayered to give the depth,incorporate the sill and have 'pockets' for the glazing. They plug into the apertures from the inside. They are just sitting in place as they are another item which will be glued in once they are painted and glazed. Roof next, which involves soldering over 30 wee brackets to the underside! Jim