Dave John

They look the part . I have never mastered lining either, but that is pretty good in 2mm.

I too saw it at the SECC. Impressive vistas with realistic train lengths. A happy session watching the trains go by.

They were a hefty engine Mikkel, the all over ROD black is a very basic livery. Westinghouse pumps were already fitted for overseas work so the Caley could have used them on the odd passenger service, though I have never seen a photo of that. I do trim the odd chair down, and several years on from tracklaying I spot a bump and trace it to a spot of flash I missed in the past. Mind you that is a fairly heavy model, a few hours of running it might just wear them down.

All things considered the modifications to the body were straightforward. It all comes apart easily and the plastic seems to work well. The list of things which need to be altered to make a Caledonian version are as follows; Replace buffers with continental style ones. ( these are from shapeways) Fit westinghouse pump, smokebox rhs. Remove safety valve cover, fit ross pop valves. Square off and slightly reduce chimney height. Reposition and fit single whistle. Remove boiler topfeed and pipework. Remove smokebox door handle, fit handwheel type Remove smokebox door number plate. Fit plate type smokebox hinge. Add lamp irons to cabside and tender rear top. Add safety chains to bufferbeams. Add header discharge valve, smokebox lhs. Add air brake reservoirs under rear footplate. Add brake pipes. Add 3 number plates. Cabsides and tender rear. Add NBL build plate. (I have some, can’t find them atm) There should also be a piston rod cover on the front of the cylinders, but since it would foul the front wheels I left it off. Jacks are another issue, some of the CR engines seem to have had them, others didn’t so mine hasn’t. One thing that the rtr manufacturers seem to do very well these days is backhead details. I wish they would sell all the bits as a separate pack for use in other models. Anyway, a simple paint job followed by a bit of a light weathering to bring out some of the detail. I need to wotk the weathering in a bit when the light is better. So how does it run? Well the honest answer is acceptably but not wonderfully smooth. It rides hard over some pointwork and the flanges hit the inner tops of the chairs in some places. The fact that I had to limit the sideplay of the front drivers so tightly means that it fishtails a bit on curves. That said it hauls 25 wagons happily and gets round most of the layout without falling off. I am not going to try to turn the wheels down, they are diecast from something a bit soft and I doubt I could do a good job of it. If this was going to be a mainstay of my loco fleet I would get frames and a full wheel set from agw and build a compensated chassis, I still have the option to do so if I feel I want to run more post war stock. However the point of the exercise was to see what I could do with a 50 quid bargain and I’m happy with the result for the amount I have spent.

Hmm, it is an odd word. I have in the past heard the the expression "to be in thirl " used , as in to owe or be obliged to. Sorry Edwardian, I seem to have wandered off topic a bit . I might mention the CR vehicles allocated to Waddell's sausages, but I won't. Until that is I have made one....

I often pop by this thread, always good to see people actually making things. Cab doors are one of those things that niggles at me a bit. Not a perfect solution, but this is how I got round the problem.

Out of interest there was a third class of wagon alongside PO and company owned wagons. These were known as "Thirled" wagons, owned by the railway company but for the exclusive use of a particular company and only to be hauled by the particular railway company that supplied them. The company name was usually added to the wagon in addition to the railway company lettering. Both the NB and CR had such arrangements between 1887 and 1911. Here is an example of a CR D22 thirled to John Watson Ltd. A good chapter on the subject in "Caledonian Railway wagons" by Mike Williams.

The plastic tender frames are just wide enough to let the EM wheels go in if you remove the splashers and file back the rear of the axleboxes so they are flush, but maybe the N class frames are narrower. There would be a bit more of a clearance if agw wheels were used. Maybe its me but I have had disasters in the past trying to prise axleboxes apart to get pinpoint wheelsets in, never mind trying it with those square ended things. Making a simple chassis allows a bit of compensation and gives somewhere to solder the aj to. Glad you are enjoying it Alistair. I am pleased that many people take one look and identify the area, the whole look of the layout is something I have tried hard to achieve.

Following WW1 the Caledonian, like many other railways, were short of locomotives. They therefore hired 53 surplus Robinson ROD 2-8-0 s from the large pool available locally at NBL . They ran 1919 to 1921. A comprehensive thread is available on the CRA forums Really it is a decade out of my time period, but Hattons were selling them at low prices so I bought one ( BR, ex GWR version ) just to see what I could do with it. First off loco chassis. I could buy all the stuff and make a proper EM version, but lets see what I could do with the Bachmann one. On examination the axles are 3mm with splined ends reduced to 2mm. These go into a plastic bush press fitted into a cast wheel. I dug about and found some perspex rod just over 3mm. Cut 4 bits , in the lathe, drill 2mm and superglue to the original axle at one end . When set put the axle back in the lathe and finish the perspex to the axle diameter. There followed a session of assembly adjustment and messing about. I made spacers so the front drivers have no sideplay. Even so the slide bars needed a bit of tweaking for the crossheads to clear the crankpins. The thing ran like a lemon first time, a fault traced to the second axle bearing being low. Well, when I say bearing I just mean the square slot in the chassis casting where it sits being low, so stripped down again and a bit of filing. It took a whole evening but eventually I got it running well enough. The bare chassis running round the layout and not derailing though riding a bit roughly through some pointwork. I could turn down all the flanges a bit but I’ll leave it for now. You would think that the tender would now be a simple job. Er, nope. The wheels have the same plastic bush and press onto 3mm axles with 2mm ends. These are a snap fit into the tender frames. Not going to go in if they are set for EM. Second problem, the outer faces of the wheels foul those internal “splashers”. Ok, chop those out. Well, I don’t like axles running in plastic anyway. So I might just as well make a proper tender chassis and bolt it on. It has the added bonus that I can make a set of pickups while I’m at it. Body next .

I made one for my current layout. It works well enough, might help with some ideas.

I too have done panels like Jim. Very thin paint, let the surface tension do the work, several coats. Hmm, might be me but paint just isn't what it used to be. ( A good number of threads about saying just that. ) I now find that all enamels need several well thinned coats and with things like red or yellow four or five coats. Drying times seem longer too. Mind you it does lead to a paint job taking a month. ( As an aside you would have laughed if you had seen me at the SECC kneeling down at the 2mm stand with my nose about four inches from Jims models so I could get them in focus. )

I watch all these newer methods with interest, that seems promising for a first go.

Mikkels stories always lead us into meandering thoughts, which is no bad thing . Though really it should read one dug .....

Ok, have a look at these : and I would never suggest that this is the best way of doing it , but it works for me . Electromagnets run hot , a swinging permanent magnet is simple and cheap.

Thanks all. The front of cab lining was tricky , but I think adds to the whole thing Compound. I must polish the edges of the hornguides at some point. Well, full drawing are available from the CRA Knuckles. The cost of a scratchbuild like that is actually less than a comparable RTR these days . The coaches are all from etches by John Boyle. Still serviceable , but now showing a patina of age. with a bit of varnish yellowing. Mind you, the real ones did too. Not sure if my tracklaying is particularly good Mikkel though I do think a well compensated or sprung chassis makes a huge difference to the apparent stability of a model. I have a couple of old rigid chassis engines and they do jump about far more. Thanks Wenlock, I intend to replace the one labelled "signal box " with a proper lever frame type. One of these days. It wasn't going very fast in the video, give it 12 Volts and it flies along . Trouble is you then can't video it .....

Wouldn't the slug still need intake grills for traction motor blowers ?

Hi Blandford. I cut curved brass strip using a pair compasses with a sharpened point replacing the lead . The roof was curved by rolling with a bar and a soft cloth, then tie wrapped to a jar that was conveniently the right diameter. ( beetroot I think ) . The 3 bits of curved brass were then soldered on and when removed from the jar cut to length so the side strips could be attached. Technically the roof supports should be L section, but thats a bit too fiddly for me .

Glorious stuff. Winding the tale round the characters and period setting, very cleverly done .

Well, it has taken a while but there it is. Number 729 is running and in service. As I have said I find painting and lining difficult but it does look reasonable from normal viewing distances. I am pleased with the way it runs, smooth and with quite sufficient tractive effort for my needs. Watching it in motion I think that the closed doors do make a difference, if I make another tender engine I will repeat that bit. Anyway a few pictures . A bit of video, rough but best I can manage. Hello to everyone I met at the SECC on Friday, interesting exhibition.

Looks rather nice in lined blue. Very neat job with the lining transfers corbs. Sadly the 53 ( yes 53 of them !! ) ROD 2-8-0 s hired by the Caledonian from 1919 to 1921 ran in unlined black.

Heh , well a long time ago it would have been a bed recess. When I bought the flat the board for the servant bells was still there . Ok, there is actually a book called "the bridges of the kelvin " My favourite has to be the councillors bridge. Plan A is to be at the SECC on friday, I might be about the CRA stand . Look back in the blog , there are a few pics of the traverser in the bed recess.

Hmm, I'd tend to agree with Compound, a tower there does look a bit too tight and blocks the vista over the fields to the abbey. As you suggest the full facilities would be the other side of the bridge. Well, might be cheeky of me , but I look forward to seeing a couple more boards between the bridge and the fiddle yard.......

I count 10 rabbits. Wonderful as ever. The backscene join is hard to spot, I had to zoom right in on it to see it. The joint across the trackbed is more visible but that is a very neat one. Only thing I can think of is to blend in a bit of loose ballast when the boards are joined and keep replacing it when they divide. Wouldn't be a large amount.

Interesting. I have been looking at printed stuff and it is the finish that puts me off at the moment. The folk that make the printers are aware of this and are trying to solve it, we shall see. That looks ok in a wood finish, but I'd hesitate at shapeways prices if I wanted a fully lined version of similar panelled coaches.

Hmm, define a huge amount of money 96701? The way I look at is this ; What is your house and contents including all those hand built model railway items worth ? What is your families safety worth ? If you live in a block of flats as I do what is the safety of your friends and neighbours worth ? All of a sudden it might not seem such a huge amount. If you had a dangerous gas appliance would you baulk at the cost of getting it fixed ? I have been involved with fire investigations and have seen the devastation it all causes. Upgrading the electrical installation is always money well spent.