Signaller69

The DMBS has been soldered up and work on the roof is progressing; as with the DTCL this is cut and shut from a Lima Class 117 with a Hornby 110 Cab roof dome and Craftsman Derby Lightweight rear dome. The headcode box and roof vents will be filed away and sanded, and the ends profiled to match the DTCL. The chassis needs a slight modification at the corners so the body will fit snuggly, hence it is just plonked on top of the chassis in the photo.

I have added the small 20" fiddle yard area following a succesful raid on the outhouse. All the wood used is recycled from previous efforts so it doesn't look very pretty currently. It cantilevers off the main board frame via extended frames which locate inside the main board frame and is secured with coach bolts, which avoids the need for additional support. This involved cutting slots in the end main board crossmember; naturally a screw holding the baseboard to the crossmember was found to be in the wrong place so had to be removed, worse it was under the polystyrene raised track at the rear! So the track (as yet unballasted, thankfully) had to be lifted and the polystyrene base removed at the board end, destroying it in the process; this turned out to be a blessing though, as it meant that once the errant screw was removed, some 20mm deep timber could be inserted instead as the track base to give a level transition onto same in the fiddle yard. Now to see if I have a few spare offcuts of track to add to it, along with enough hardboard to make the rest of the facias, place your bets....

The roof has had a primer blow over to show up rough areas and Lanarkshire buffers have been fitted over Plastruct "stools"; the triangular topped protrusions (supports for lamp irons) are thin plasticard plates fitted between the two. The roof underside has had a 40thou plasticard ceiling added which is shaped to fit snuggly inside the bodyshell; this can just be seen below: Rather than doing the small details, I have made a start on the motorised DMBS chassis alterations, viz removing the boxy underframe details, 6mm frame lengthening and then filling the resulting floor space, followed by cutting away the angled bufferbeams (3mm each end) and fitting new flat bufferbeams and stools. The floor area will need weighting to compensate for the removed Hornby weight, and new underfloor gubbins fabricated. I hope to solder up the DMBS body over the next day or two.

Thanks. Admittedly I have not taken the easiest route. Using a Bachmann Derby Lightweight as a donor, with the Worseley sides and ends would, I feel, be a much simpler proposition, as the underframe and roof are better suited. If I had been able to find a cheap one I may well have used that instead of an assemblage of left over bits, though doing so has been enjoyable so far. The worst bit for me has been forming the turn-under; it is a pity Worseley don't offer a pre-forming service for this aspect, but I guess we are lucky they do at least do the sides and ends.

Whilst looking in my bits box I found not only the scrap 117 bodies, but the 110 cab ends removed during the 107 conversion. The roof section of these cabs will be used to form the 100 cab end domes (as I find plastic easier to work with than cast metal; the latter will now be used at the inner ends). The Lima 117 roofs have the advantage that they have screw fixing points via the chassis too. The cab end done, just needs final sanding after butchery to remove the headcode box and new rainstrips fitting: As can be seen below, I remembered I had a spare Hornby 110 Trailer chassis which is being used here; this has been stretched by 6mm and the bufferbeams cut away and replaced with new flat ones from plasticard. Some further remedial work is needed, the Photo also shows the turnunder to good effect: Next will come the detailing stage, body fittings, buffers etc.

Thanks Paul, that is very enlightening. Particularly the video of the Hornby Ruston with sound and stay alive running on DC power! Many thanks, Martyn.

If you have time that would be great, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would find it helpful. Martyn.

Thanks for that, most informative. Martyn.

Out of interest (as a non DCC modeller) does it go through the whole engine start up each time you apply power? Horns sound? Presumably the sound dies instantly once power is turned off? Thanks.

The Trailer sides and ends have been soldered together, first test fit (to check width) on the as yet unmodified Hornby chassis: The Craftsman cab roofs will need a bit of work to be a decent fit. I thought they were from a 104 but now believe them to be from a Derby Lightweight conversion. I have a couple of Lima cabless 117 bodies left over from the 107 project, which may be able to donate their roofs to this project, rather than destroying the 110 bodies.

This interesting short clip popped up on Facebook, Banff is featured briefly at the end with Standard Class 2 2-6-0 78045 propelling 2 coaches out of the train shed platform (about 3min 40s). https://www.facebook.com/groups/395149113834140/permalink/1131679593514418/ Apologies if you have already seen it. Regards, Martyn.

Hi David, Very nice to see photos of your layout again, looking super as always. I particularly like the Class 24/1, long a favourite of mine. Martyn.

Overlaying one of the sides onto the Hornby 110 donor highlights a couple of issues. The sides are about 3mm longer at each end than the chassis, the class 100 having much flatter ends than the 110 of course, with straight buffer beams rather than the angled 110 type. The second issue is the correct bogie spacing for a 100 (and 110 come to that) is 40' (so 160mm) according to the Barrowmore Diagram book, but the model works out at 38'6" (154mm)..... So by happy coincidence, the first issue is cancelled out by correcting the second, ie, if the chassis is lengthened. This will also allow the angled Hornby bufferbeams to be cut away and replaced with flatter ones with correct buffers. As the underframes will be reworked anyway, this shouldn't be a particular issue. The Hornby interiors will probably be reused as they are, other than a lick of paint. The main issues still to be resolved are how to strengthen the bodysides (probably a plasticard strip subframe) and how to attach the body to the chassis - but that can wait for now.

Take the bull by the horns, they say. So I decided to attempt the turn-under on the Etched Worseley Works Class 100 sides, having pondered and put it off for several months. Having no bending bars or any substantial vice, I quickly found that various clamps, steel rules and bits of wood were of no use when trying to hold and bend about 2mm of coach edge. Annealing the sides was suggested a while back but having never tried this I decided against it. The eventual solution was to score a reasonable groove inside the bend location, whilst pressing the side down on a mouse mat, which gave a very slight crease, and then use flat ended pliers, working gradually along to bend the lower edge firstly to around 20° and then a second pass to make the angle about 45°. Not a solution I recommend, but it seemed to produce the desired outcome. A little tidying is still required. Having scored a groove along the inside lower edge: Lower edge bent approx 45° (pencil line from an earlier marking exercise): Voila, 4 sides done. The light catching the edges makes imperfections appear worse than they are.......Next job is to form the ends (which helpfully do have etched fold lines). I plan to solder the sides and ends together via a couple of Craftsman cast metal DMU cab roofs, and then add roof sections from the Hornby 110 donor, before working out how to fit bodies to chassis'. I'm happy that that job is done!

Thanks for the ideas, much appreciated. I think a low wall will probably be included as per your suggestion. I'm not too worried about the "ends" of the shed as they would only be visible when viewed from the very end of the layout; as my plan is to use the lighting pelmet from "Dunnington", this will more or less eliminate such a viewpoint. Perhaps of more importance, I don't currently have any storage space for any add on boards (even including the planned small fiddle yard!). So I'm limited to cropping photos, or painting, to show a few tracks (possibly with coaching stock) with the road bridge wing wall behind that, on the backscene. Thankfully it's only a small area that is involved! Thanks, Martyn.

Far North used them in the early 70s for sure - the Wick portion regularly seemed to be BCK, RMB (& BG as often as not). Some photos show the Thurso portion between the BCK/RMB and the BG on arrival at Georgemas Jct, which led to extra moves there; I have no idea why. (Other photos show the BG in the centre of the train, presumably to avoid this). The West Highland Steam service certainly used a BCK in the green/cream colours and many 60s, 70s and early 80s photos show BCK's in regular train formations on the WHL. I think when the Mk.2s came in there was a tendency to run a BFK with TSO's.

Hi Mike, Yes that is pretty much what I'm thinking. The area involved is only about 6" or so long, so it won't need anything too extravagant thankfully, just a few tracks with a retaining wall or embankment, from an appropriate angle. Just need to find a suitable photo...! Although the general idea is that coaches/DMUs will largely hide the rail level anyway. Martyn.

Today I have cut out a fairly low hardboard backscene and the back wall for the cosmetic "carriage shed", which itself forms a major part of the backscene. The latter has had Wills corrugated sheets and Evergreen 'C' section uprights added; once these have been painted, the lower brickwork can be added. I decided not to make the shed the full length of the layout between the bridges, feeling it would look too contrived, so I am going to have to provide some sort of "across the tracks" depth to the backscene at the fuelling point end in particular, which could be fun.....

Apologies, could have sworn I'd seen a 25/0 conversion on "Strachur", it must have been on another layout topic I follow. Must admit a 40 or 2 are on the radar at some point!

Aha, give that man a prize! It is certainly at the forefront of my thinking, having seen your post on this very subject, it is a strong possibility.....let's just say research is ongoing! As most (if not all) the 25/0's ended up at either Eastfield or Haymarket in 1971/2, it would seem an ideal prospect. Many ended up with a later (winged headcode box) cab at one end at least, but such conversions mainly seem to be after this point and it's something I have no intention of replicating. Technically it means the undeframe boiler water tanks would need removing too which equally doesn't thrill me at this point! Also I would need to confirm which were blue when new to the area, the Derby Sulzers website is proving quite useful for this. The other option is to keep it as a Midland based 24/1 which has worked up from Carlisle perhaps. Either way I won't be hacking it into a Highland 24/1!

Thanks Lez. That sounds a good haul, quite lucky to find the 1P in this day and age I imagine. I have used a few Craftsman Detailing/ conversion kits in the past and always found them to have rather good etches and castings. All the best, Martyn.

Happy new year all. The layout has been retrieved from the loft and the fuel pumps added, along with some cosmetic point levers. I knew the signing on office would be a fairly tight fit at the front of the layout, but fit it does, with just enough play that it can be parallel to the loading platform/ layout edge or to the curving track behind. The Armco barrier is to stop any staff vehicles parking a little too close to the running line! The grounded container on the platform might be replaced by a small flat roofed office leftover from whatever company once ran it, jury is out on that one currently.... My good Lady bought me a new toy for Christmas too.... It's "not allowed to be dirty like the other engines"........ ........nothing was said about renumbering or modifying it though!

Martin, Not sure if this is any help but the (Trix Mk.1) windows on my class 126 are 15mm x 12.5mm, which visually gives a good relationship of window size to pillars compared to photos of the real things. Triang Mk.1 windows at 16mm x 14mm give pillars between them that are too narrow. I'm sure Swindon windows aren't as deep as a Mk.1 either but I could be wrong. Martyn.

More leftover bits, plastic tube, sprue etc along with electrical wire have been used to make a couple of fuel pumps for the fuelling point, again I based them on a photo of the one at Grangemouth.

A nice change of eras there Gibbo. These may be of use, although "Locomotion" rather than Sans Pareil, for working out the valve gear and associated gubbins. Martyn.