Chuffer Davies

Hi Micheal, Thank you for that. I am pleased to say we received a number of similarly positive comments from visitors over the weekend. I obviously wish that the layout was further on after nearly 6 years in the making but projects of this size always take a long time. It was very satisfying to finally be running trains around the entire main line circuits. In fact Saturday morning was the first time we had run any of the trains that we are building for Clayton on the layout. Even though we had our Hungerford layout in the main hall down stairs, for me the highlight over the weekend was watching the trains run round Clayton even though the majority of the loco's and coaches are still in the brass. It was also very satisfying to at last be able to test whether putting the motor in the tender of my J7 would actually achieve the desired outcome. As you will no doubt have seen on your visit the J7 successfully hauled 23 wagons up the 1 in 50 gradient around the 4' 6" radius of the embankment without slipping, which is pretty much what the prototype would have been expected to haul. In fact the J7 now pulls significantly better than my Q2 which has its motor and gearbox in the firebox/boiler. I have therefore decided to modify the Q2 to have its motor in the tender and I can then fill the firebox and boiler rear with lead. The next month or so will see a hiatus on Clayton. I unfortunately have to turn my attention to performing remedial work on the fiddle yard of our Hungerford layout. A couple of weeks ago two of the boards were damaged when a water pipe started leaking in the room above where it was stored. Being chipboard the base boards have blown but we only discovered the damage when we attempted to erect it on Friday for the exhibition. It took two of us four hours to fudge a temporary repair sufficient to allow us to run trains but it was problematic to say the least. We will need to undertake a proper repair before we take Hungerford to the Gaydon exhibition in November. I still hope to finish wiring the rest of Clayton before the end of the year so its is going to be a very busy few months for the remainder to this year. Frank

As someone who has modelled Great Western up until 6 years ago I have first hand experience of the products of Messrs Mitchell and Finney and can only say how unlucky the world of LNER modellers are not to have had the benefit of products from these superb designers. For me visiting their stands at Expo EM (Bletchley) each year was the high light of my visit as I studied their latest product, but at the time there was no way I had the skill to build such models. It was therefore their kits that convinced me I needed to bite the bullet and acquire the necessary skills. It took a while to do so, and there were tears and swearing at times, but I have never regretted the time spent in persevering. Without exception I found their kits to go together perfectly every time. This is not to say that they were necessarily easy builds but only because of the level of detail provided. In particular it felt that you could never get to the end of Mr Finney's products because there was always yet another piece of detail to fit including such things as a separate padlock for the toolbox; but the satisfaction when the model was complete! I include as an example a Finney Hall beautifully painted by Mr Rathbone. Admittedly in this occasion I can only claim responsibility for its frames (chassis) and the tender the body having been built by Mr Edge for a customer in Lancashire. As Jol has mentioned I have recently dabbled in etched kit design to fill gaps in the LNER locomotive fleet needed for our Clayton project. These are gradually being added to the LRM product range. In doing so I have unashamedly borrowed construction techniques from Messrs M & M because I appreciated the benefit of these when building their GWR products. I am now learning to enjoy the products of Messrs Norton and Crawley et al who have designed several of the locomotives that we need for Clayton, so far their C12 and J3 kits. I am also having to learn from scratch about things GN/LNER in particular the world of the J's. How many different ways can you design an 0-6-0 goods engine? On the GWR in the period covered by our Hungerford layout we had a choice of Dean's Goods or Dean's Goods. Admittedly you could model inside frame or outside frame (we have one of each) but that is it. On Clayton we intend to have J1's / 2's / 3's / 6's and 7's only two of which are currently available in kit form. I'd better get back to the CAD software on my computer the J1 is calling. Happy modelling. Frank

Hi Mike, thanks for showing me your approach. What a beautiful model you’ve ended up with. If it’s agreeable with you I might discuss this further at Expo EM in a couple of weeks? Frank

Wow, I could never contemplate such a complex conversion(?). Well done for making it look so convincing. I think I’ll stick with plan A. Other than the usual books the only drawing I have uncovered is from the Isinglass range whereas for my previous attempts at etching I have had access to a General Arrangement drawing as a minimum. I am not looking forward to those curved frames. I need to look at how the other kit designers have approached these. Cheers, Frank

Good to get an update at last, we’ve missed you. Lots of good stuff to be seen as always so thank you. I am interested in the background of the J2 as we can justify a couple on our forthcoming Clayton layout. As far as I am aware there isn’t a kit available so I am expecting to have to draw up my own etches as I have already done for other items. Can I ask is this a scratch build or is (was) there actually a kit available? All the best, Frank

41st Annual Exhibition: September 14/15 2019 Venue: Baildon Recreation Centre Green Lane, Shipley BD17 5JH Opening Times: Saturday 10:00 to 17:00 Sunday 10:00 to 16:00 Admission: Adults £7.00. Children free (maximum of 3). No Concessions Refreshments Free Parking Link to list of layouts and traders, etc. https://www.shipleymrs.co.uk/exhibition

Hi Tony, You might like to try my technique for the same situation. I cut a small square of kitchen foil and having used a pin to just start a hole I then push the foil over the crank pin and the crank pin nut on top of that. The foil seems to make a perfect seal preventing any solder passing through it and of course the aluminium won’t attach to the solder. The foil can then be torn away afterwards. I’ve had 100% success with this technique so far. Frank

Hi Tony, You are currently unable to receive PMs. Can you drop me a PM with your email address so that I can contact you that way please? Thanks, Frank

Looks like a clear candidate for Tony’s clinic. Nice shade of green though. Frank

Hi John, its good to hear from you. As you will be aware there was a significant amount of surplus crushed ash after we finished ballasting Clayton so the tub of unused ash has been passed on to Geoff to use on Dewsbury GN. I heard that you had volunteered to help with the ballasting, you must be a glutton for punishment after all the time you spent ballasting Clayton. As you will be aware Dewsbury was only a few miles away from the Queensbury lines and I believe had some through passenger traffic from Clayton. Its a shame that we are working to different gauges and periods otherwise we could share stock for exhibitions. I am delighted that Geoff has bought one of my spare J7 test etches for Dewsbury. I'm looking forward to seeing it built in the earlier form with a Stirling cab and painted in lined green. We are hoping that you can man the Clayton exhibit over the exhibition weekend in September with other members of the team dropping in and out as we switch operating teams on Hungerford in the main hall. Andrew and I have been reinstating the temporary wiring under the scenic boards so that we can run trains on the main line during the exhibition weekend. If all goes to plan we will be able to run trains all the way round the layout for the first time. Although we still have limited stock to run it will give a flavour of what we are attempting to achieve with the layout. Hope to see you at the Shipley club rooms soon. We need to sort out some jobs for you to undertake on the layout so that you can get back to work and get things moving again. Frank

I continue to follow this topic with considerable interest. This approach has enormous potential for those of us either designing our own kits or scratch building models for which the correct wheels are unavailable. A problem I have experienced with the larger diameter AG wheels at times is that the spokes have sheared when trying to remove the wheel by twisting and pulling after previously installing it on an axle. Have you had any issues with the materials you have used and which plastics have you tried? Keep up the good work - please. Frank

I have just checked and it was early April when I last posted an update on progress on the Clayton project. We have not been idle but as you will have gathered already the wiring of the layout is a very long winded affair and a picture of the underneath of one base board looks very much like a picture of the next. I am pleased to report that the fiddle yard is now fully wired and I have now worked my way round to the front (scenic) side of the layout. There are still something like 11 boards still to wire which will likely take me the rest of the year, but the progress achieved does mean that about a month ago we were at last able to start test running the fiddle yard in order to prove the operating system that we have designed for Clayton and to check out all the wiring. The fiddle yard is not yet fully operational but we have done enough testing to know that the operating system will work when the remaining bugs are ironed out. Inevitably there were some errors in my wiring: reversed track feeds, point motors, and cross board connections but very few when you consider the thousands of solder joints under the base boards, so I feeling fairly happy with my work. More impressive to me is the operation of the micro processor panels that Bill has designed, produced, and programmed. Here again we have uncovered some software bugs that Bill has needed to fix but they are already working sufficiently well for us to be confident that we haven't made an enormous mistake in developing our bespoke solution. On Tuesday we were at last able to carry out the first test runs up and down the spiral one of which I videoed to mark the occasion so that I could share it with you. As explained before the rolling stock being used is old stock from my early Great Western days as the GN/LNER stock we are building for Clayton is too valuable to be used for test purposes, but I hope shortly to start test running goods trains up the spiral so we can determine whether we will be able to run prototypical long trains without some kind of assist on the gradient. John and Barry continue to work on the landscape. The rocky sides to the cutting are proving particularly difficult to reproduce in model form but after several false starts they have come up with a convincing method to achieve this and are slowly working their way between the tunnel mouth and the Station Road Bridge several feet away. More photos will follow in due course. Clayton will be on view in the club rooms during our exhibition weekend September 14/15 in the Baildon Recreation Centre, Shipley. By then I hope we can run demonstration trains around the entire layout even though most of the wiring on the scenic side of the layout will still be jerry-rigged. Most of the team working on Clayton will be helping me to exhibit the Hungerford layout in the main hall so over the exhibition weekend we will be splitting our time between the Hungerford and Clayton layouts. I hope some of you may come and say hello and see progress in the flesh so to speak. Frank

Baby Steps! I am delighted to report that I have at last been able to test run the J7 albeit only on 30" of straight track. The good weather last week allowed me to spray the tender's frames, a task I needed to do before I could permanently fit the ball races to support the drive shaft in the tender. I could then assemble the end to end drive train and power it up for the first time. It was immediately obvious that the 40:1 gear ratio selected was far to high for the chosen motor (a 16x16x20 Cube motor) and so this has been replaced with a 30:1 ratio instead. The video below is of the loco's inaugural run. It will be a couple of weeks before I can run it on a layout to see if it will go round corners and through point work as successfully. The model has not been lubricated (or run in) as yet and so I am delighted at how well its running. You may recall that this model has CSB suspension and uses the American system for picking up current. I'll have it with me at Scalefour North in Wakefield on Sunday if anyone would like to see it in the flesh, after that it will be fully dismantled prior to being sent off for painting. Other news: Nothing of note other than to report that I am about to commence wiring the last fiddle yard board which should mean that we can fully erect the fiddle yard and power it up for testing around the end of April. Regards, Frank

Hi Michael, I have some experience of what you've described. You may be aware from my earlier posts to this blog that I never fit pickups preferring to build tank engines with split axles and frames, and tender engines using the American system - loco picks up on the nearside and tender the offside. At one time I had a couple of models that started to run erratically and eventually the problem was tracked down to the make of oil I was using which was acting as an electrical insulator in the horn blocks. The two models were stripped down, cleaned, and when reassembled an alternate lubricant was used (purchased from Eileen's Emporium). This cured the offending locos and I have not experienced the problem again. I did start using Peco's Electrolube which would seem to be the ideal lubricant for my approach to picking up current, but I have subsequently been warned off using it by other modellers because I am advised that it damages ABS plastic centred wheels such as those supplied by Alan Gibson. I'm hoping that this is untrue because all my models have plastic centred wheels and several could therefore be destined to fail in due course, but I have stopped using it for this reason despite so far not having experienced any problems myself. You should be fine with Markit wheels but Electrolube is very expensive compared to normal lubricants and care must be taken not to get it anywhere where it can bridge across an isolation gap because it will short out the gap. Regards, Frank

Hi Andrew, Its good to hear from you. Thanks for the heads up on the smokebox dart, you are correct that this pattern was all I had in stock but it will be changed when I get the correct pattern from Alan Gibson’s stand at Scalefour North in April. If I have done my research correctly then my etches will enable all variants of the J7s to be modelled from their initial build by GNR through to their withdrawal including alternate cabs, boilers, safety valves, domes and chimneys. Hopefully there will eventually be a few takers for the kit although I realise that the prototype has limited geographical appeal. Regards, Frank

Its been a couple of months since we last posted any progress updates. You wont be surprised to hear that we are still pressing on with the wiring of the boards. What a faff! There are still 2 more fiddle yard boards to wire which will take a couple more months at least, but once done we will at last be able to fully test the operation of the micro processor control system designed and programmed by Bill (Wyatt Millington). He had a break through last week when we were able to successfully test the operation of the Station Yard's control panel albeit in isolation, All the correct LED's light up and go out when the different sidings are selected and the LED's are controlled by the same CanBUS solution as will control the point motors and section relays under the base boards, so all the signs are encouraging. I'm pleased to say that I have at last completed the test build of the first of my J7 locomotives. I have had to make some minor tweaks to the model and these are still to be reflected in the production artwork for the kit, but all in all I'm really pleased with the outcome. There are still a couple of additional London Road Model castings to acquire and fit but all the etched components have assembled successfully. I have again borrowed the tender from my Q2 for this photo as I still have to finish the new tender. The next step for me will be to make corrections to the art work and send off for fresh etches so that I can test build the 2nd (J7) model needed on Clayton. This will have the larger (4' 8" diam) boiler as used on the J3 locomotives. Meanwhile, whilst I wait for the etches to arrive, I will finish off the new tender for this model at which point I will be able to 'final fit' the drive train in the tender and test run the model for the first time. Frank

Richard, thank you for referencing Max Williams, I had tried and tried to remember the name of this shop without success until now. As I remember Bristol had several excellent shops in the sixties. The nearest to me was Model Highways on the Gloucester Road. As a young teenager, My two favourite shops for ready to run items were Hobbies and Salinson’s both on Fairfax Street in Broadmead. As my modelling developed I discovered Max Williams which was probably the best shop for fine scale modellers because if they didn’t have what you needed they could order it in for you. Finally there was a shop on Colston Street (whose name still escapes me) that specialised in remote control boats and planes, this was a good source of scratch building materials. All in all railway modellers in Bristol were really well supported. Thanks for the memories, Frank

For me the biggest disappointment is that this is yet another instance of the identical class of Large Prairie. Would it have been just as feasible for either Dapol or Hornby to model the larger and earlier 31xx and/or its derivatives with the standard 4 boiler? This loco was first built in 1908 and therefore would be suitable for a wider time period than the later 51xx with is standard 2 boiler. In this way the two manufacturers would not be in such direct competition with each other. It just feels like a missed opportunity to me. Frank

Hi David,I’ve used the link to look at your Manning Wardle wheel centres, they look very respectable and compare well with the AG wheels. Have you fitted a full set to a working model yet? I’m wondering whether you have had any issues with the plastic breaking either under use on a loco or fitting and removing them from the axle multiple times? Such a good idea of yours! Frank

Very impressive David. I imagine the software behind this took a lot of work to perfect. Are you planning to get any wheels actually printed in the near future? I would be very interested in seeing close up photos of the printed wheel centres. I am fortunate in that I have a lathe and should be able to turn up my own tyres if your wheel centres prove to be of sufficient quality and strength in 4mm scale and so I am very keen to see how these turn out. Congratulations, Frank

Seasons Greetings. It has been some time since my last posting so I feel it is appropriate to give you an end of 2018 update on progress. A lot of work continues to be done but there is not a lot of visible change worthy of reporting hence the apparent hiatus. First things first - progress on the wiring front. I have already reported that I now realise that the wiring will be a lengthy business and since starting it at the end of September I have managed to wire just three of the fiddle yard boards. These are the most complicated because of the sheer volume of track and point work on each and so once the fiddle yard boards are finished I should be able to pick up the pace somewhat. My colleagues Andrew Hill and Chris Rogers are assisting as much as possible. Andrew has been wiring the across board connections associated with the spiral with the intention that we will be able to test run trains up and down the spiral in the early new year. This will allow us to determine how many wagons we can typically run on the spiral before our loco's lose traction. Depending on results we may have to come up with a cunning plan to enable us to run prototypical length trains over the gradients on the layout. Chris has been installing the point motors and uncoupling magnets ahead of me wiring up a board. One of the challenges is that some of the points are too close to the edge of the base board requiring the point motors to be offset from their normal location directly under the tie bar of the point. The solution we have come up with is to use a length of 1/8th inch brass rod running in a couple of screw eyes to offset the operating wire to the tie bar. The following hopefully illustrates this. The following picture is a typical under board view during the early stages of wiring. The four sockets to the right of the board purely connect the rail ends across the board joint. The two holes in the same mounting board are for the two wiring looms that extend around the entire layout (with the exception of the spiral). One loom comprises the feed from each of the three controllers (up, down and yard) plus the +12v 0v -12v supply for point motors and uncoupling magnets. The other loom comprises a smoothed 12v supply for the micro processor boards, relays (magnets only), and servo motors, and the CanBUS twisted pair that allows the control panels to talk to the rest of the layout. The open relay panel illustrates our approach to controlling accessories such as points and isolating sections on the layout. Each panel will have one or more micro processor boards fitted to operate the control relays and servos (if any) on the board. For points the relays switch between +12v and -12v which is then fed to the Tortoise point motors to change their direction. For isolating sections the relays connect track power (feed and return) from the appropriate controller supply in the wiring loom to the required track section. Our resident electronics engineer - Bill Wyatt-Millington - continues to sort out the software for the micro processors and reports that he is currently performing what he expects to be the final testing of the software needed for the control panels and the majority of the layout. This will leave him still to write the software for controlling servo motors (signals and retarders) and the indexing of the turn table. The following picture shows Bill studying the insides of the station yard control panel. Incidentally Bill is the current chairman of the EM Gauge Society. Whilst on the subject of retarders we have a picture of a retarder mechanism that has been installed in the siding at the bottom of the spiral. The purpose of the retarder is to prevent stock running away under gravity on the gradients when it is no longer attached to a locomotive. A pin is raised by a servo motor against the leading axle of the wagon about to be uncoupled from the locomotive. The pin has to be co-located beside the uncoupling magnet which makes it all rather tricky to fit. Another challenge overcome by our ingenious Russell Whitwam. Above the layout John (right) and Barry (left) continue to tera form the landscape and they have turned their attention to the Queensbury end and in particular the portal to Clayton Tunnel. The line between Clayton and Queensbury was almost completely straight (especially the tunnel itself) but because of the constraints imposed by building an exhibition layout we have had to introduce a 90 deg' curve between the entrance to Clayton's goods yard and the tunnel mouth. This has really messed with the contours of the cutting approaching the tunnel and it has taken John and Barry some time to resolve. The following picture shows how they are getting on (with apologies for the Mainline GW coaches which we use for testing). The somersault signal is the product of a friend of the Clayton project - Karl Crowther who has kindly volunteered to make all the signals for Clayton. It is temporarily placed on the layout so that we can determine how much further back we need to cut the walls of the cutting to make room for the signal. The bottom half the sides of the cutting need to represent strata of Yorkshire stone and for this we are considering using pieces of torn tree bark glued on top of each other to gain the required height. We were concerned that the cutting would obstruct the view of the trains but now we have the basis of the cutting in place we realise that it is only the area immediately in front of the viewer where their view is partially obstructed but looking left and right provides an unobstructed view of any train passing by so it is not the problem we first thought it might be. John (Smart) has started to experiment with methods of weathering down the ash ballast. So far the ash is resisting his attempts to weather down effectively but this is not something to rush as it will be very difficult to undo if it goes wrong. No pressure John! Finally an update on the construction of rolling stock. Russell Whitwam brought down this model of a Howldon BCL coach on Tuesday to test run it through some point work in order to check clearances between the rear of the bogies and the vacuum cylinders. Whilst he still has some way to go, worthy of note is the attention to detail he has taken in modelling the tiny brackets that anchor the gas pipes to the top of the roof. Exquisite is the only word I can use to describe them. Meanwhile I am pleased to be able to report that I have now successfully bridged the gap between the boiler and the smokebox on my J7 on all three boiler options. I have also sorted out the height of the Ivatt cab but I am now unhappy with its width which I have concluded is still a scale 6" too narrow. So it is back to the drawing board for one more change and then I can hopefully finish building the prototype model. Well that's about it for now. As the building that houses the layout will be closed over Christmas I will be focusing on the corrections to the CAD artwork for the Ivatt cab of the J7 and will continue the build of its LRM type D tender. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I trust that you will get plenty of time to progress your own modelling projects over the Christmas period. Frank

They are marketed by Gaugemaster. Try this link: http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=VN4551&style=&strType=&Mcode=Viessmann+4551 Frank

It’s possible the iron is still too hot. If the temperature at the tip is correct It should be ok. Frank

And so say all of us! Well said Tim. Frank