Dave John

A wonderful documentary, first time I have seen that. Interesting that the Copyright was held by the BBC , I wonder if it was shown on tv at the time given JBs criticism of road transport. Oh, and did anyone else spot the parcel being unloaded at Highbridge ? I'd be interested to know ho that slipped past editing......

Hmm, interesting. I have had a few plays with garageband , but I'm worse at music than I am at lining...... Not thats it is entirely relevant but I did see Tangerine Dream live. Kinda dates me a bit.

I like the scenic effects you have created over on Much Murkle so I will be watching the techniques you use with interest. Scenic stuff is not my strong point, if indeed I do have a strong point.

Well, its getting better each time I try it Compound. I estimated a spacing of about 18" for eyelets based on the one period photo of a CR sheet I have, so that would agree with the 16 eyelets per side. One idea would be to strengthen the inside edge of the sheet to enable the line to be threaded through with a very fine needle. Cling film might be an idea Mikkel, though wrapping it round to make a paper based sheet tight to the wagon would mean it would take ages to dry. Anyway, part of ongoing experiments. Since the cleats are soft it would be easy to remove that sheet and have another go.

Another go at a sheeted wagon. Fair criticism of the way my early attempts at roping sheets down led me to consider a more realistic way of doing things. Looks a bit better in terms of roping, but I think I could improve the sit of the sheet itself. The starting point is a CR D15 dropside whitemetal kit from 51L. This is made up in my normal fashion. However in order to tie the ropes down I needed to fit cleats to the solebar right in the corner where it meets the bottom edge of the curb rail. A bit of study suggested that these were a basic hook on the D15, some wagons had a T shaped fitment. As far as I can tell there were 4 on the sides and 2 on the ends. I drilled through at about 45 deg , 0.3 mm. Brass wire was inserted through these holes and superglued from the floor side. I say brass, but I’m not sure what it actually is. You know those fizzy wines where you get a net of brassy looking wire round the cork, well its that stuff. Much softer and easier to bend than brass rod, almost like 5 A fuse wire. The sheet is I think an old exactoscale one. Basically wet it with water and a tiny spot of pva, mould it round the wagon and foam load. When dry ease it off. Ropes of elastic EZline superglued on to form loops. Thats a fiddly job….. Well, hmm. It does look better than bits of cotton tied round the whole thing. I am still thinking about a way of reinforcing the lower sheet edge and having the rope pass through holes ( doubt I could manage a scale eyelet ) Given the prevalence of sheeted wagons in trains it is something I want to keep nibbling away at, but thats for next time.

Nice work. The oxford jubilee wagons are a good base for an inexpensive wagon which can be knocked into shape relatively easily. The D22 looks good, you can never have too many of those.

Well, the CR ones all had wood jibs. A bit of history. The wood parts of that derrick are mahogany, It is the same timber that forms my front room floor, "recovered" from a building that was being demolished about 25 years ago. I think it would have been laid about 1860, so it's actually very old. Probably started growing a century before that. The main advantage of it is that it just needs a wash of dilute white paint and it really does look like wood.

Thanks, 40 lpi might be ok, I'll get some and play about. The difficulty is that the jib is very light and any drag means that it doesn't drop. Worth a try though.

Well, that is excellent in 2mm, close up pics are harsh. Observations suggest the jib was usually on a chain and the hook on a rope. That must be a very fine chain. I have another crane I have been messing with which does use chain. The problem is that it doesn't scale well in a dynamic situation though like yours it looks good in a static situation. I think to be on scale I need a chain that is about 50 link/inch. hmm.....

Good idea. I had the same issue with electromagnets and much prefer the moving magnet method.

Very nice , great to see some more TLM kits being built. For couplings I use the smiths ones and file them down a bit. I had a go at the big 50 ton one a long time back.

Hmm, I went for ready made d type for all the control stuff and Click 4 pole lighting connectors wired with 1.5 4 core flex for the 2 dc power busses https://www.ebay.com/p/Famous-Original-Male-to-Female-25-Pin-Parallel-Db25-Printer-Cable-2-7m-M5g4/1070134147?iid=252471965711&rt=nc

Very nice scenic work.

I suppose someone could do an etch for the parts, the rest is just stock sections of tube. All those coach bolts on mine are just ordinary pins, drill through the wood and solder them to the brass. I looked at a lot of pics at the time, what struck me was that they were all similar but slightly different. In construction use they were regularly taken down and moved from site to site so if it looks like it would work it is probably right. Jib lengths varied, somewhere I have a pic of one with what must be a 60 foot jib. Back when trees grew that high......

They look very sharp as a set of prints. I will watch the build, my concern would be mass, but I may be proved wrong. Interesting modelling anyway.

Hmm, it is rather good fun.

Well, the layout is wired to be operated by several people if they are about Mikkel. Long term some sort of operating schedule will help this idea. Getting there slowly.

Well, its a rather rough thing. The gearmotors are I think for model boats, the rest is bits box. It must be about 20 years old, I might have a go at a new one with some of these good gearmotors from china. The hollow pivot shaft of the derrick is the bit of brass just protruding from the black gear.

Right, back to some modelling. I have said painting is not my forte, add full size painting to that too. Anyway, a scotch derrick. I made this a long time ago for the previous layout, but I haven’t got round to fitting it since its a bit vulnerable as it is towards the front of the layout. Scotch derricks are a simple crane, they were used in large numbers throughout the railways and industry in general. Drawings of the size preferred by the CR were published in “The true line “ and mine is scaled closely to those. It’s a basic model, the wood bits are mahogany, the iron bits are brass. The gears are from all sorts of stuff, anything with likely usable bits never gets thrown away without salvaging the gubbins. Well that looks ok to me. But, why not make it all work. Er, a controller ….. A bit of video of it in action. I have rebuilt the top end which had gummed up over the years, the drive system needed tidying up, but I’m fairly happy with that. Somewhere I have some lacing cord to replace that hairy cotton. The ball on the hook is a bit overscale too, but anything smaller lacks the mass to make the hook go down.

Magnets. Really I have a layout held together by magnets. Nudge stuff it moves. Nudge it back, no damage.

Well, if you want enough 7/02 to last a lifetime buy a drum of 8 core alarm cable. less than 20 quid for 100 m drums, as an electrical contractor I get it for half that. I'd also agree with junctionmad . its easy to solder discreetly to the bottom of the rail. spot the droppers ........

Yes but they whistle three times in every sentence Nearholmer. This is due to having learned English by listening the the world service on short wave wirelesses.

Just a thought Ruston, how about a bit of 3 mm acrylic mirror ? Only a few pounds for an A4 sized bit and you can cut it to a curve with a fine blade coping saw .

Hmm, some interesting pics . Now, I am looking at the pic posted by Killian keane. So why would there be an intermediate lamp left on the end of what seems to be a brake coach ? Now, it may be a very localised shunting move that does not pass a signal box, but even so I'm a bit confused. Even if it was something done on the nod in that location why would the crew not have taken it off for a photo? And yes , I must get the damn decorating done and get back to modelling before I get far too pedantic for my own good.....

Well, The SECR crane tank was the basis for this one. I do have my daft moments....