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Dave John

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  1. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 3, chassis

    By Dave John,


    General
    Next step is to get on with some chassis building.
     
     
    Drummond designed these engines with a 7’6 + 8’9 wheelbase. This layout proved successful and was repeated on a number of subsequent designs. I therefore started with a set of Gibson milled frames for the 782 class, these are solid and of a heavier brass than normally found in etch kits.
     
     
    First things first. A set of coupling rods. These are the Gibson universal etch, soldered up so that the fluted parts go to the inside creating plain rods.
     

     
    Basic frames made up. The spacers are double sided copperclad, the strong glass fibre type. I didn’t include a vertical spacer, solder it all up vertical and it stays like that, one advantage of the thicker Gibson frames. The 323s were long at the rear, 8’ 8 3/4 “ from rear axle cl to buffer face.  These frames have been extended to suit, a bit more than needed so I can trim them to the rear of the buffer beam when the footplate is made up. Brake hangers are 1 mm od brass tube, makes the brakes an easier fit later.
     
    I have given it a coat of black, I know a lot will come off but so long as the areas behind the wheels stay on I’ll be happy.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    A running chassis. All very conventional with a simple compensation beam. The plunger pickups are 1mm brass rod in a brass tube with a 9 thou guitar string spring. I have had issues with the Gibson style plungers in the past and if they go wrong its a devil of a job getting at them. This way they can be removed and replaced easily. Carbon brushes might be better, if I could think of a way of making them. High level gearbox and a Chinese motor, final position to be worked out later.
     
     
     

     
     
    Of course the question is does it run? A bit of video of it scuttling back and forth through pointwork.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Footplate next.
  2. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 2 tank.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Whilst waiting for the gearbox to arrive I thought I would have a go at the saddle tank.
     
    I cut the templates on the silhouette and glues them to 10 thou brass. The notched ones are 3 layers soldered together, with a single layer for the front face.
     
     

     
     
     
    The frame soldered up. Flat board with some stripwood and various clips to hold it all .
     

     
     
     
    Wrapper annealed, cleaned and formed with various tubes and rods. The wee vice with the red bits of plastic from lidl worked a treat for holding it all tight for soldering.
     
     

     
     
     
     
    Given a good scrub and handrail knobs soldered in.  I’m quite pleased with that, not as difficult as I thought it might be to get it all the right shape and size.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    Gears and hornblocks have now arrived, so frames next.
     
  3. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 1 , wheels

    By Dave John,


    General
    One of the CR engines I have always fancied making is the 323 class, also known as the Jubilee Tanks, first built 1887. There is no kit, so they are rarely modelled, though Jim Watt has made a lovely example in 2 mm fs.
     
    A pic.
     

     
     
     
     
    The first issue is the wheels. As  built they had 4’ 6” 10 spoke T section wheels. Later rebuilds had plain spokes, but thats after my time period. Nobody makes them, nearest offering is Gibson 11 plain spoke, so I’m going to have a go at converting them.
     
    Some parts cut out with the silhouette.
     

     
     
    The rear face of the wheel is skimmed down very carefully on the lathe. Over the christmas period I fitted a new motor to the lathe, one of the sewing machine types with electronic speed control. I really don’t know how I managed with the old 1920s open frame motor it used to have. Thanks to snitzl for that tip.
     

     
     
     
    The silhouette cut parts are then glued to the wheels.
     
     

     
     
    The parts cleaned up, assembled and a spray of paint.
     
     

     
     
     
    I feel that they do look sufficiently like the prototype, certainly in terms of normal viewing distances on the layout. I know that there have been developments in printing custom wheel centres to fit manufacturers tyres, but for now I am content to have a go with the resources available to me.
     
     
  4. Dave John

    Christmas, but where are we now ?

    By Dave John,


    General
    Another year passes.
     
    I was running some trains and in my head as the carriages drew level with the platform I heard the guard shout,
     
    “ This is, er is ….. Um,  well dunno where we are really, but we have arrived……….”
     
    Yep, I have never got round to making any running in boards, so I though I had better address that pronto.
     
     
    There we go, now we know where we are.
     

     
     
    The 670 Class leaves Kelvinbank yard in the winter gloom.
     

     
     
     
    The Grampian corridor stock on a christmas excursion.
     

     
     
     
     
    Some sepia, boding snow. No fun being a brakesman. 
     

     
     
     
    But the advertising is there to remind us of summer holidays. 
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
    I wish everyone the compliments of the season, I hope you al get some quality modelling time.
     
     
     
     

  5. Dave John
    There we go, a pair of D21 loco coal wagons now in service. Probably to be seen passing through on the way to perhaps Yoker or Dumbarton sheds.
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
    Passing Kelvinbank on a westbound working.
     
     

     
     
     
    These are the first wagons I have lettered with the alps type transfers now being sold by the CRA. Overall I am fairly happy with the results. I will have a go with different varnishes to see if I can get a better finish, I think the basic transfers are fine and that it is my technique which needs a bit of development.
     
  6. Dave John

    CR D21 Loco coal wagons, part 1

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have been relaxing a bit, doing some layout maintenance and just running trains. All is now running smoothly and I can sit back and watch…..
     
    Well that was the idea. One of the problems with having a real good clean up of the railway room is that you end up with a nice clear workbench. All the tools put away tidily, the materials stocked in the right drawers. Yes, well. They say nature abhors a vacuum. I think we should change that to plasticard abhors an empty workbench.
     
    So a read of the wagon book, a look at some diagrams. Diagram 21 Loco Coal wagons. All easy shapes to cut on the silhouette, stick them together. Add a few bits of wire and brass and I end up with a couple of wagons.
     
    A pic of them in the raw state ready for a spot of primer.
     

     
     
    Compared to a photo.
     
     
     

     
     
    In the last blog Mikkel noticed the old dumb buffered pig iron wagon sitting there as the GCS passed. It is a funny wee thing, pre diagram and based on a photo. It is a bit of a pet wagon, probably the first scratchbuilt EM wagon I made way back about 1990. It really does look like wood, because it is made of wood with brass bits stuck on. The bolt heads are just spots of epoxy. Rather crude perhaps, but I’m rather fond of it.
     

  7. Dave John
    It has taken me longer to build these than it took St Rollox. So, a few pictures and a bit of video of the rake in service.
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    A bit of video, they move quite well. 
     
     
     
    All things considered I have found this to be an interesting build. There have been challenges which meant that I had to develop techniques to overcome what I know to be my modelling weaknesses.  I use the phrase “messing about on the bench” quite a lot but that is the part of modelmaking that I really enjoy.
  8. Dave John
    It has often been said that the camera is the harshest critic. I tend to agree with that so I thought I would post a couple of photos of completed sides to see how they look in the context of the layout before going ahead with the other two.
     
    So, here we are.
     
    Diagram 96 all third, compartment side.
     

     
     
     
    Diagram 94 composite, corridor side.
     
     

     
     
    Those look reasonable to me, apart from the dust. Getting there.
     
     
  9. Dave John
    I have been making slow but steady progress. When I started I knew that it would take most of the summer, so I’m happy just pottering on with it all, learning as I go along.
     
    A few details. This is the luggage rack assembly, with the mirrored compartment wall. The brackets were a very fancy design, I have simplified them as they are less than 4 mm long. Not difficult in itself, but I have 64 of them to make.
     

     
     
     
     
    Seating is provided in the kit but it is basic and needs a bit of extra work. These are the first class seats. The silhouette cut the armrests and the wings, both trimmed in lace. How many antimacassers? Well, 78 of them.
     
     

     
     
    An internal view. The D96 is a nine compartment third. This photo was taken in dark conditions, I wanted to see how the level of lighting looked in practice.
     
     

     
     
     
    As I have mentioned in the past painting and lining is not my strong point. I gave a couple of sides a coat of rattle can, then left them for a few days to really dry. It is “Vauxhall Burgundy Red”. Now experts would tell me that I should be using an airbrush to spray a more accurate shade but there are limitations to what I can do in a flat.
     
    I really wasn’t happy about the idea of painting all those panels. Hmm, so I decided to have a go at making lined transfers on white transfer paper. Design was not difficult, but repetitive. I had some “Crafty” brand paper, first print, awful. Ink smeared all over. Second print, worse. So I learned that transfer paper degrades over time.
     
    New white transfer paper ordered, “Mister decal paper” brand. Printed well, transfers made and applied to a paint test card. Not bad but I still felt that the white part had too much of a pink tinge from the coach purple underneath. The answer would be to paint the panel white before applying the transfer, but that was what I was trying to avoid.
     
    I sat and had a think, what if I just put an identical transfer over the first? I tried it and it worked perfectly, nice white panel with the line round it showing up well. So here is a D 94 composite side as a first example.
     
     

     
     
     
     
    I am quite pleased with that. I wouldn’t claim that it is as fine as that produced by an expert painter with considerable skill with a lining pen. However I am not one and this method looks the part from normal viewing distances. It is also very fault tolerant. Make a mistake cutting round the transfer, bin it, next one. Realise that a panel is a bit squint, drop of water, adjust it.
     
    Having got the techniques sorted out I can push on and do the rest, still a fair amount to do though.
     
  10. Dave John
    A bit of progress. Four bodies are now on frames and I have been playing on the layout to iron out any running issues.
     
    I wanted to try and get it to look as if the coaches are properly coupled. Even with springs I found that screw couplings didn’t really keep the buffers together on curves, and I wanted the buffers to compress to take up and rattle.
     
    I came up with this. Essentially half an aj on a diamond spring it is stiffer then the buffer springs but can be extended to couple the coaches. Making it bogie pivot to bogie pivot also gets round the tendency for a screw coupling to be very tight at an angle when the coaches enter a curve or on reverse curves. It is also reversible, coaches can be turned round. 
     
     
     

     
     
    A lot of time has been spent messing about with corridor connections. Tried all sorts including magnets but none got round the problem of getting the faces of the corridor connections to actually line up particularly on a reverse curve or the side forces on the ends of the coach caused running issues.
     
     
    Well, I was watching a bit of real train video and it dawned on me. What the eye notices is the faces of corridor connections, not the part where they meet the coach. Conveniently the end of the coach has a slot in it, actually the window of the corridor connection internal door.
     
    A bit more lateral thinking. Three bits of foam, medium stiffness but fairly flexible. This is just a proof of concept, needs some rework to tidy it all up.
     

     
     
     
    So thats how they sit between coaches, and how they sit on a curve.
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    A bit of a heath robinson solution perhaps, but does it work when a train is running on the layout ?
     
    A bit of rough video, comments welcome. The big pug stretching its legs.
     
     
     
     
     
    I think that gives me the confidence to move on to the next stage, paintwork and interior details.
     
    Er , how many antimacassars ?
     
     
     
     
  11. Dave John
    A blog in several parts, due to photo size.
     
    The kit is designed so that the body folds up from the floor in two halves jointed at the floor centreline, with quite large gaps to be filled with card. The corridor wall is then soldered in. I thought about this and decided it worried me. The sides fold inwards about 5 mm at cantrail height narrowing the aperture to get in and do the interior. I made coaches this way in the past and it was a real hassle getting in to add details and glaze the windows. That was with full compartment stock, I don’t know how folk manage to paint the corridor side.
     
    So, a bit of lateral thinking.
     
    Firstly the roof and ends. Some delicate forming of the roof section, then the support structure and ends. I worked off a board with it all clamped down to keep it square. Lighting is in place, lamps are central to the compartments. Note the little tabs soldered to the support structure at cantrail height. They line up with compartment partitions. A coat of white primer on the inside.
     

     

     
     
     
     
    One of the features of these coaches was that the body sat on a set of rubber blocks. I haven’t quite gone that far, but here is the floor cut from 10 thou brass, studs to fix it to the frames and the corridor etch soldered in. Again, note the little tabs soldered to the floor.
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
    I spent a fair time thinking about lighting. I tried latching reeds a long time ago, temperamental and delicate.So I needed a switch, but where to put it? The obvious answer was battery in one toilet and switch in the other, but how to operate the switch? It dawned on me, there are four small holes in the roof for the toilet tank fillers. Made from 1.5 mm tube, three dummies and one leading down to the switch. Just push a bit of wire down to turn the lights on and off.
     
     

     
     

    So here it is on the frames. Plenty of access to fit the compartments and seating. Easy battery change.
     
     

     
    And the next bit ... 
     
  12. Dave John
    I have now made all four underframes. Perhaps not in itself blogworthy, but I thought I’d share a bit of silly video. No couplings so I can’t pull them round, but with bit of tape to stop the buffer bodies locking I can do a push test. I’m happy with the way they move, the bogies do seem to follow the rail well.
     
     
    The buffers are made up, but a few tests needed to ensure I get them just where they can spring correctly.
     

     
    Electric lighting for railway coaches was very new in 1905. Seems a shame not to have a go at some realistic lighting on the models too. There are commercial modules available, but none have the leds spaced to suit either the first or third compartments of this stock. No choice but to make up individual compartment lights. This is what I have come up with, they illuminate a compartment without being over bright from a 3V cell. Just a chip , a 1k 1/8 w resistor in a but of U channel styrene then potted with cyano. Current consumption is 0.5 mA
     

     
    I have made the first roof up. Effectively half etched brass, so it was gently pressed to shape with various round bars. I am having a hassle with the roof vs the sides length and I have some odd ideas about how I’m going to fix it all together.
  13. Dave John
    A bit of progress on the project.
     
    The first underframe. Relatively straightforward though I fixed it down to a flat board when soldering to prevent distortion. The kit provides for a variety of the brake systems fitted during the life of these coaches but for my period the simple westinghouse arrangement is correct.
     
    Some slight removal of the lower edge to clear the wheels on a curve, but that can’t be seen from the side.
     

     
     
    A row of bogies ready and waiting.
     

     
     
    An underframe in position, it pushes round the layout and through pointwork quite smoothly.
     

     
     
    Some more underframes then bodies.
     
     
  14. Dave John
    Over the last couple of years I have made a fair number of wagons, still not enough but I can now run fairly representative goods services. However folk may have noticed that the passengers are poorly served by just two rakes of coaches, and both of those are a bit shorter than they ought to be. So time for a bit of coachbuilding.
     
    The Grampian Corridor Stock, built 1905 was really the CRs finest. Large proportions, very comfortable with great attention to ride and insulation, electrically lit and with corridor connections. A successful design, and as more were built their use was extended to other parts of the CR network. I think that allows me to run a rake of them, and anyway I fancy a go at building some.
     
    Caley coaches do kits for several diagrams. I bought these a few years back, so now is the time to get on with it.
     
    Ok, so bogies first. These are in four sections folded up and fitted with some very nice brass castings.
     
     

     
     
    The three parts of the frames sit on tabs on a sub frame assembly like so. The tabs fold back in line when it is painted and the wheels are in. You could solder it all up solid, but the idea is to allow compensation with the two halves rocking on the longitudinal axis, and the other part rocking laterally .
     
     

     
     
     
    The assembly looks like this from above. Press studs for bogie mounting are provided in the kit, but I’m probably going for a more conventional nut and bolt arrangement.
     
     
     

     
     
    Here is the first assembled with a coat of paint. It runs very smoothly and the compensation seems to work a treat.
     
     

     
     
     
    Not the best of photos, but it gives an idea. Right, so off to build the rest.
  15. Dave John

    Yet more sheeted wagons

    By Dave John,


    General
    The bench has been occupied by some non-railway stuff, but back to wagons now. Sheeted wagons tend to be modelled in far fewer numbers than period photos indicate that they were used, so I’m slowly trying to nudge the proportions in the right general direction.
     
    I am still trying to get sheeted wagons to look reasonably right. Having proper tie down cleats and roping from the edge helps, but the sheets themselves really need to look like Caledonian sheets with individual numbers. I have been messing about trying to achieve that, improvement of earlier attempts.
     
    These were created in “Sketchbook” though many similar drawing packages are out there. The use of layers allows me to easily change the sheet number.  I spent quite a while messing about with colours and print densities when used with a variety of substrates. The issue is getting something which can be made to conform to the load and still allows a reasonably sharp print, In the end I found that a medium weight matte photo paper gives a reasonable result when treated with photo sealant. It is still fairly still in use, perhaps representing a sheet in new condition.
     
    To get it creased each sheet was scrunched up, then unfolded and folded back up in the correct manner for an unused sheet. Several foldings and unfoldings seem to be required. following that ezline sheet tie loops were added round the edges.
     
    Anyway, thats how they came out. Loads underneath are just softwood hewn to shape, the wagons are a D15 and a D24 made up in my usual way.
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    Even caught a bit of evening sun in this one.
     
     
     

     
    Ok, next project.
  16. Dave John

    CR Diagram 2 Fresh Meat Van

    By Dave John,


    General
    Way back in the 1980s I made one of these from a John Boyle etch ( it is labelled Decent Models No 74 ). I used standard CR parts and it made up into a nice van, but back then I lacked information so a lot of the basics were just wrong. It has been stored a long time but I was having a sort out, rediscovered it and decided to have a go at bringing it up to standard. A day in the brake fluid followed by an attack with the flame torch and I had a new kit to make.
     
    So what exactly is it ? I wasn’t sure for a long while, but discussions on the CRA forums led me to discover that there is a drawing for the first body style of the D2 vans with the panelling style of the Drummond coaches, built 1885. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a photo, the later builds had planked sides. What I do know is that these were effectively npcs built to run with passenger trains.
     
    This is what I have ended up with now fitted with oil boxes, the correct brake gear, safety chains, air pipes and screw couplings. Trumpet vents are shown on the diagram drawing so I have added those. There doesn’t seem to be a casting available for them so I made them up from laminated styrene.
     
    Being fully panelled I think that would be in the npc livery. Possibly they would be lettered “Fresh Meat Traffic” but without a photo I don’t know where or what size, so I have left that off for now.
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
    This is how I think they would generally be used, running at the head of a passenger service, shunted off en route as required.
     
     
     
     

     
  17. Dave John
    Some photos of the poles planted in their sockets. I managed to get the spacing fairly even at 60 - 65 yards, the preferred Caley distance.   The camera is much harsher about verticals than the eye, particularly along the length of the layout. People used to Glasgow might be familiar with the effect, tenements do tend to lean back a bit. The time to panic is when they start leaning forwards.
     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
    I’m happy with the overall effect, I think the effort to make them Caledonian rather than generic ones was worth the effort.
  18. Dave John
    Making all the poles and fitting sockets for them has kept me going for a few weeks. Chilly weather and bad light slow it all down a bit.
     
    The poles are 3mm dia dowel sanded to about 2 mm dia at the top. I doubt I could drill a 3mm hole through the baseboard square enough to make the poles stand upright so I made some sockets from spare brass tube, 25 mm long with bits of wire soldered on. The bit across the bottom acts a stop but still lets any debris fall through.
     
     
     
     

     
    That lets me use a bit of greased dowel to set the socket upright, once happy its sitting square some glue can be dribbled down the sides to secure it. When set a bit of ground cover round it and the pole looks like its embedded, but can easily be removed if needs be.
     
     

    A photo of the poles ready for a coat of primer. You may well laugh at the finial on the one that will go by the station building. Well, I did say these are not any old telegraph poles, these are the telegraph poles of the Caledonian railway. The Caley did put finials on telegraph poles that were in obvious public view.
     
     

     
     
    Painting them all next.
  19. Dave John
    Dead easy, several suppliers make plastic ones. Buy some and plant them ?
     
    Well, no. These are not any old telegraph poles, these are the telegraph poles of the Caledonian railway. As with so many aspects of pre-grouping different railways did things in a different manner. “Signalling the Caledonian” by Jim Summers has an entire chapter on the subject giving many details and a couple of useful pictures of the L+D under construction so combined with photos from elsewhere I know what I’m trying to build.
     
    So, for my location and period big A frame poles where possible, though single poles if space is limited. Alternate long / short crossarms with two insulators. The original shackle type insulators were replaced very early on, so Cordeaux style insulators on J hangers.
     
    Stripwood and dowel from Cornwall model boats, insulators from Express models. I had a play about on the bench. Hmm. It didn’t take long to realise that in order to make a consistent set of parts and assemble the posts in an accurate manner the first part of the exercise would be to manufacture a set of jigs.
     
    This is what I have come up with. This photo shows the three crossarm jigs, a bit of square brass tube with holes in and a catch as an end stop in two sizes.  Wood in, drill holes, lift catch, slide out.  The lower one has the catch tube in two parts forming a place to bend the J hangers. The one on the left is to hold the crossarm while superglueing the J hangers in.
     
     

     
     
     
    A photo of an assembly jig laminated up from bits cut on the silhouette.
     
     

     
    That’s the method, should keep me busy for a bit.
  20. Dave John

    The back of trains and 2020........

    By Dave John,


    General
    I consider myself to be a very lucky man. 2020 hasn’t been the best of years for me but it has been a damn sight worse for a large proportion of the worlds population. The lockdowns mean that I have been able to spend more time modelmaking, perhaps the upside of it all.
     
    A year most of us will be glad to see the back of, so I thought I would do a few photos of the back of trains.
     
    A late afternoon train vanishes under the bridge.
     

     
    Tail end of a mixed goods heading east.
     
     

     
    Mineral traffic heading west.
     

     
     
    A snug looking signal cabin.
     
     

     
     
    I can well imagine what Archibald McGregor is thinking about being behind that weight. However since it is in Glaswegian it will have to remain imagined.
     
     

     
     
    Thank you all for taking an interest in the activities at Kelvinbank. I wish you all the best for next year whatever it may bring.
  21. Dave John

    Fixing a traverser

    By Dave John,


    General
    Way back I made a blog about the traverser. I’m the first to admit that traversers are not the ideal storage solution, but space dictated the use of one. At the time I used some heavy duty drawer slides, smooth movement but I always had some problems with backlash when running round a train. To add to the problem they had some sideplay, only a mm or so, but that turned out to be an issue.
     
    Anyway, couple of weeks back I turned the layout on to run a couple of early evening trains while my tea was in the oven. Traverser unlocked, drive engaged to run it across to line 6. Turn round to check my tea, and as the traverser moves across there are a couple of very loud cracks. Yep the whole thing had shifted enough for the rail ends to catch. Result, some rather bent rails and services at Kelvinbank suspended for the day.
     
    So I hit the internet. Proper linear ball slides used to be very expensive, but the price has dropped a lot in recent years. I ordered a pair of 600 mm slides and a ball screw, 80 quid. At that price I did wonder if I was being sold a pup, but when they arrived I was well impressed. Nice smooth linear movement, and no lateral movement that I could feel. Proper ball bearing housings for the lead screw too. Fixed a strap to the slides and clamped the thing the bench, my old dial gauge showed much less than a thou error across the whole length.
     
    Rebuilding the traverser with the new slides proved to be less of a problem than I imagined, though of course having got it all running parallel I then had to go over all the track ends and realign them. Rail ends are now gapped to 0.5 mm.
     
    A couple of photos, shows the general arrangement.

     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    No engineering solution lasts forever, I will be interested to see how precise the whole thing stays over time.
     
    I might do something more interesting with the  two run round tracks at the lh end at some point. It has occurred to me that converting them to cassettes might be a flexible use of the space.
  22. Dave John

    CR D38 Glass wagon part 3

    By Dave John,


    General
    The D38 glass well wagon has given me a challenge but I’m reasonably happy with the overall result.
     
    The support frame has a slight lean, but it is only really noticeable in closeup and square on photos. As specials I think the wagon would be in good condition for the Edwardian era, it is in its first decade in service. I therefore just gave it some very light weathering.
     
    If someone has any transfers a scale 1” high that say “OIL” then I’ll buy some. those 3 dots above the axleboxes will have to do for now.
     
     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
    I don’t usually go in for helicopter shots, but this shows the interior detail and the size of the well in context. The screw jacks holding the crate are peco trackpins, which I have found over the years to be very useful for everything apart from pinning track down.  I have improvised the tie down rings, I assume something like that was fitted.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
    Those interested in Caley wagons will note the mysterious mark on the rh end of the solebar. Clearly seen on the original so I aded one. We might find out what it means one day.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  23. Dave John

    CR D38 Glass wagon part 2

    By Dave John,


    General
    The main assemblies for the wagon are now largely complete.
     
    Frame has been detailed, spring castings should have more leaves but those look ok to my eye.
     

     
    Body has the sides fitted. and the floor is planked. Note the holes in the body sides. I think these were to enable the screw clamps to be tightened up when used at a lower level, together with a pair of clamps at the bottom of the well.
     

     
    The fiddly bit was making the support frames. This has taken me three attempts to get the proportions right and find a method for glueing all the bits together. I will cut away the part between the bottoms of the uprights after painting, for now its useful for strength and ease of handling.
     
     

     
     
    A photo of it all sat together. It looks the part, but I wish I had some better idea of the design of the interior parts. However I suspect that such info has now long vanished.
     
     

     
     
     
    A coat of primer and bolthead detailing next.
     
     
     
     
     
  24. Dave John

    CR D38 Glass wagon part 1

    By Dave John,


    General
    I seem to be in a wagon building mood these days. Dunno whether I’m locked down, locked up or or which tier of the cake I’m on, so wagon building is a cheap and time consuming activity.
     
    Now it might be argued that I’m getting my ratios wrong again, too many unusual wagons and not enough of the bread and butter diagrams. I’d agree, but the fun is in the odd stuff. I therefore decided to have a shot at one of the 1896 built D38 glass well wagons. Decent pics in the wagon books and a diagram for the basic dimensions.
     
     
    The wagon was built on a steel channel frame. Plastic channel has too thick a web to my eye so I soldered this up with brass channel sections from Eileens Emporium. The 19’4” wb makes it a long and awkward thing so I made a jig up on a bit of scrap wood. The W irons on this wagon were straight edged with no knee so I cut them from 0.3 mm brass sheet.
     

     
     
    The floor and well are from 10 thou styrene, cut on the silhouette and laminated. The bottom edge isn't as grubby as that, odd how the pic came out.
     

     
     
     
    The well itself is a tight fit between the wheels, the original being 3’ 11 1/2 “ wide. EM back to back is 16.5 mm, so it just fits.
     
     

     
     
    I think I’ll keep the frame and the body as two assemblies as long as possible. Difficult to paint if I jump the gun and glue the two together, but that gives an idea of how it will look.
     

     
     
    Sides next. 
     
     
     
     
  25. Dave John

    Wagons, real and imaginary.

    By Dave John,


    General
    An odd title you make think, but I shall explain.
     
    Firstly the real one. The CR had large numbers of pig iron wagons, in practice used whenever a low sided wagon was needed. Another of those general types you can never have enough of. This example is built from the 51L kit, though I have used my usual method of a copperclad sub chassis for the W irons and sprung buffers.
     
     

     
     
    Ok, the imaginary wagon. I mentioned that I cut some extra bits when I made the Lime wagon, and that it was basically a D22 with fixed ends. So I stuck them together and made a wagon in the style of a D22 with fixed ends.There were plenty made for private owners by the likes of Hurst-Nelson and Pickerings, details such as axleboxes varied but they were readily acceptable to the CR. Colliery owned ones tended to have end doors, but traders wouldn’t need them making the wagon more robust and a tad cheaper.
     
    I now had a reasonable traders wagon in the style of a D22, but which trader? I had a vague memory that I had seen a wagon owned by a Charles Brennan for the area, but I couldn’t find the reference. Anyway, a trawl through the Glasgow post office directories for the period gave me this snippet. ( All the po directories are online at the NLS website, very useful place that)
     
     

     
     
    Digging about I found a sheet of waterslide lettering, half used but I worked out that there were enough bits left to do this. It was a bit of a heavy typeface so I added drop shadows in ink with a rotring. Not brilliantly, but it looks ok from a distance.
     
     

     
     
    Imaginary it may be, but I think it’s plausible and adds a bit of local history. Of course now I have done it a photo of the real ones might come to light.
     
     
    The chap in the background looks a bit shady too. Dunno what he is doing up here………
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