Grimly Feendish

I really like the layout - the track plan is simple but very effective. I was building a "watch the trains go by" model of Twyford in N before a job change and country relocation put a stop to that.

I was wondering what track you used? It looks good.

Cheers,

John.

Very nice! I'm guessing the Farish Mk1's are the earlier Poole type?

The signal look very good, what make are they?

Thanks,

John.

Hi Mark,

unfortunately I've had to put this on hold for a while. We moved house and will be moving again in a few weeks,

It will be a while until I can get back to modelling

Cheers,

John.

Next installment...

Here is the end plug added and the roof and joints filled.

And here are the DMBS and TC getting ready for priming. The TC ends are masked because I want to keep the factory printing if I can.

At this point a couple of things were dawning on me.

First, I wasn't happy with the way the etched sides looked. Nothing to do with the etches themselves, everything to do with the way I stuck them on. You can see the huge gap between the etch and the roof. Also the way the etch was stuck to the side was not robust. The cyano could not tolerate any bending of the plastic side. So I removed the sides, rubbed them down again and reapplied, paying more attention to the fit and using a thinner cyano. This resulted in a better fit, but is still not robust. At least now I am careful in handling it and it's surviving so far. I know I have to do something with the roof of the TC too.

Second, on the DBMS I managed to get the roof profile reasonably acurate, but there is an unsightly gap between the two roof sections. I'm hoping that with judicious weathering it might not be too noticeable. You might get an idea from this photo, which shows the roof alongside the body after priming.

I decided on a different approach for converting the second 121. I would slice off the cab and put on an end plug as before, but would keep the roof in one piece and build up the profile at that end with filler, as shown below.

I am much happier with this approach. The two are shown together below.

Both have had a few rounds of filling and rubbing down since this shot. I don't have pics for that yet. 

I'm sure you have noticed that as it stands, I'll have 2 DMBSs and 0 DMS. Since I struggled with the etched sides I'm tempted to keep it that way. I think I would rather have an incorrect consist than risk the look of me bodging the etched DMS sides on. I am not convinced I can get the joint between the etched sides and the Dapol cab looking decent.

Anyhow, that brings us up to date. It'll be a while before I can get back to some modelling, but I'll post when I have something to show.

Cheers,

John.

11 hours ago, jamespetts said:

Interesting again. Had you considered 3d printing any part of this?

No I hadn't. It's certainly a thought. My CAD skills aren't great though.

I've 3d printed my own servo mounts for turnout control, which was fun. In the end I found it was more reliable to use proprietary ones, since they worked better.

10 hours ago, BernardTPM said:

When originally built they didn't have corridor connections.

Very true and I hoped I could use this to my advantage! But alas, by my time period - the 70's, they all seem to have been converted.

Clive, it was great to meet you. I always think of you as the man who builds the flat pack diesels. 

I liked pig lane. It's got me thinking that perhaps I should build something on that scale, that way I may have a chance of actually finishing something!

Cheers,

John.

5 hours ago, jamespetts said:

Interesting. May I ask how you plan to modify the end gangways on the middle carriage to the BS design used by the DMUs from the Pullman type used by the hauled carriages?

Good question, and one that has had me scratching my head for quite a while. I may not bother in the end, I'll see how the DMBS turns out and see how they look together.

The biggest difference might turn out to be that the DMU ends were flat whereas the Mk1 ends have a slight angle on them. If that is too noticeable the razor saw will come out again and the ends will be replaced by plasticard. The gangway ends might end up being scratch built too, but I did pick some up from B&H yesterday that might do the job.

Cheers,

John.

11 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

What's the advantage of doing it this way by comparison with the BH Enterprises kit?

A few things spring to mind...

- motorising is easier

- cab fronts look better

- Gazing is better because I can re-use a lot of the Dapol glazing

I can let you know how a comparison comes out, since I picked up a B&H one at Alley Palley yesterday. At this rate it's going to take me a few years to finish both though!

An update....

So it's been a while since I posted. There has been some modelling, I just haven't go round to posting.

First up, the DMBS. Attacking the Dapol 121 with a razor saw, saw a cab and cab roof removed.

I then made an end plug from plasticard. The idea is to fill the roof in with filler.

The TC with etched sides over a Farish shell came out needing some filler to cover the gap between coach side and the overlay at the roof line.

Really capturing the atmosphere of Shrewsbury. Very nice!

Good luck to Simon. I've really enjoyed his work in REx over the last many years, not least his product reviews.

Congratulations to Hattons, a smart move.

John.

Gents the house shapes are laminated to form the gutter lines & cab shapes that go between the top of the cab etches, the body sides and the roof.

 

Best regards

Craig

Thanks Craig. That had been my guess, although I didn't realise they should be laminated.

I'm intending to use the Dapol cabs, but may try making these up just to see what they're like.

Cheers,

John.

A little progress...

Self-etching primer on the brass

Cutting and filing the Mk 1 body, ready for etched sides

Some CA and some courage resulted in this.

I'm not sure whats next. Perhaps taking a razor saw to the 121!

Cheers,

John.

Peter,

thanks for your thoughts.

It's good to know about the fragility of the Dapol unit, I will certainly bear it in mind.

For the TC roof I'm thinking of taking a mold from the Dapol roof and trying to make a resin one. Maybe I'll just try to pickup a spare unpowered unit, but it can be a bit of a pain getting stuff on this side of the pond.

Cheers,

John.

Hi 

 

Looking at doing this very project with the aim of creating the GWR 150 chocolate and cream 117, with similar components.

 

Initial thoughts are:

 

1. The weak point of the whole project as I see it is that the Dapol 121/122 really doesn't like being taken apart and is extremely fragile and frail.

The impression I've got is one false move and £100 goes down the drain..

If you're happy taking it apart and getting to go back together with all the lights and the motor working then fair enough.

 

When I do this, I'm tempted to leave the bogies on both vehicles and glue each vehicle into a cradle like device so that the bogies dangle below

but the body  is clamped tight and can be worked on. I've found that the brass contacts which the bogies match up with, if you've removed the bogies

bend very easily out of true, at the least I would recommend protecting them in some way (sellotape?) or if you are confident in taking them off

and putting then back on, then at least it keeps them out of harm's way. 

 

2. I would be tempted to sand down the sides on the Dapol bodyshells and glue the side etches over them,

and also paint them before gluing them on (and re-use what Dapol glazing you can). The handrail at the front would hide the join and mask the slight overlap.

 

3. The 121 cab cuts off easily enough (I've dissected a non-power 122). The cab end fits nicely onto the Farish mark one, but the side height of the mark 1

is half to a full millimeter too high for the 1950's 116-119 style DMU's sides. Sand it down carefully and with the Worsley sides glued over it

would work fine.

 

4. You could even get away with using three Farish mark ones with the painted removed with brake/clutch fluid/Brasso, with the Worsley sides and the

Dapol ends glued on if things got tricky with the Dapol bodyshells. This would also solve the issue of glazing.

 

5. The Dapol roof fits the Farish mark one like a glove.The profile of the Dapol roofs seem different to the Farish ones.I think they can be adapted

but would need very careful sanding to do so.

 

I am only using Dapol roofs on the 116/117/119 DMU's I'm building even if I'm using Farish Mark ones as the centre trailers.

 

The 120 is going to be entirely Farish mark one based with BHE Ends and Electra Graphics vinyl sides.

 

6. I would recommend looking at purchasing a spare unpowered 122/121 as this would provide additional spare bodysides and also bespoke Dapol roofing

to the correct profile.

 

7. I am using my spare 122 bodyshell in the 117 project. I would cut around half an inch off, and cut a little off what would become the corridor end and

do a small cut and shut, just to get the body profile - gluing the sides over would remove the obvious join.I would use the Worsley Work Brass Inner Ends.

Might have to retain the the three sided buffer beam.Have you considered BH Enterprises as they sell the inner exhaust pipes and corridor connections?

 

7. The centre trailer - would work fine as a Farish Mark 1 with Worsley Sides, however, the Mark 1 roof needs work to match the Dapol profile.

 

I'm also looking at doing the 119 and 116 using the various dummy and powered 121/122's I've hidden behind the book cupboard but have yet to pluck up the courage!.

 

Wishing you the very best of luck with this one, and will watch your progress with interest.

 

Kind regards

 

Peter

I'm building an N Gauge layout based on Twyford in the 1970's, so I need a class 117 DMU (probably a few of them in reality). Life's too short to wait for Bachmann to decide if they are going to produce a version in N gauge, so I've been pondering routes to creating one. So far I've assembled the following kit of bits...

Worsley Works Class 117 etched sides

Dapol Class 121 - Powered

Dapol Class 121 - Dummy

Farish Mk1 BSK

I will use the Mk1 as the basis for the Trailer Composite. I intend to rub down the sides of the Farish Mk1 and remove the windows. I'll then overlay the etched sides. I'm still pondering what to do about the glazing, I have some microscope slides which I might use.

For the DMBS, I'm thinking I'll hack off a cab of a 121 and will rebuild that end, perhaps using the etched sides. The roof end I'm not quite sure of yet.

The DMS will be similar.

Not sure yet to model the corridor or non-corridor version. The non-corridor version would be simpler, but I'm not sure would be accurate for '70s west London.

Has anyone else done anything similar? Any advice?

BTW, progress won't be quick. It's taken me several months to get this far!

John.

Wayne's posted on the NGF here to say that tooling has commenced on concrete sleeper FB Finetrax, with samples being available in c 8 weeks. He's also got a new supplier for bases, so they should be closer in colour to the 2mm SA ones, previously there was a suggestion they'd be much darker.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately a little late for me, but good to know.

John.

P4 would need to be separate then, EM?

Not quite sure I understand the question, but 00 wouldn't run on EM having the same problems as on P4.

Hi Peter,

I'm building a layout with the same idea. As others have said, N gauge wheels won't run through 2mmFS points and crossings. Finetrax looks nearly as good as 2mmFS but doesn't offer flat bottom rail or concrete sleepers. So fo my layout I'm using...

- Finetrax points

- 2mm Society flat bottom rail and concrete sleepers

- Peco Code 55 points and track in the fiddle yard. It's quick to lay and reliable.

John.

Another question re mineral wagon markings. What was the significance (if an) of the the white diagonal stripe on the side of the wagons?

From memory, probably 1d.

 

Jim

There is a fleeting, almost subliminal, shot of one of the machines in this film  at about 7:06. It wes indeed 1d. This machine is in green.

https://youtu.be/gs0Vzg7nE_A

John.

The signalling was altered in 1961 - when the East and West 'boxes went and colour lights signals were provided on the Main and Relief Lines and again in 1972 when the 'plywood wonder' 1961 'box went and the whole lot was put onto Reading panel with colour light signals also provided on the branch at the Twyford end.

 

You'll find the 1972 signalling notice here and it shows the dock siding (which had also been the branch runround loop) and Up Refuge Siding still surviving although all the other sidings had gone by then, there was a further alteration later in the 1970s when the remaining sidings went and a new trailing crossover was provided west of the station but I don't recall the date of that.  Signal UM30 was also resited west of the Up main platform and to be honest I thought that had happened before 1972 as I knew the chap who had it moved and he had probably retired by then.  I've got close up pictures of all the colour light signals on the platforms which is what you would need for the 1970s.

 

http://www.signallingnotices.org.uk/scans/74/1972%20-%20IXO%20124%20Reading%20Eastern%20Ex.pdf

 

You'll find various of my 1960s pictures at Twyford in Posts 1, 18, 32, & 33 of this thread -

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66924-the-stationmaster-goes-train-spotting-part-1/

 

My pictures then jump forwards several decades although much of the station was unchanged apart from the paint scheme, the change of use of several rooms, and the demolition of the original footbridge and the building of the present one.  Oh and I have got one or two pictures which show bits of the canopy roofs from above - taken in recent times but in reality little had changed.  Basically in teh 1970s the appearance was litle changed from the '60s.

Thanks very much Mike, the signaling notice is going to be really helpful. I wasn't aware the refuge siding still existed at that time.

These are probably dumb questions, but do you know what the dock siding and refuge sidings would have been used for in the 70's?

Thanks again,

John.

Yeah, the 40s did go to Twyford occasionally.

Sounds like an excuse to tell my wife I "have" to get a Farish 40 

Didcot 1 1:2 hours.xlsx This is the sketchy chart he drew, made into an Excel spreadsheet

Thanks Ed, very interesting. Didn't know 40's made it to Twyford.

John.