Owd Bob

The grille has been sprayed up using Halfords Vauxhall mustard yellow and the satin black for the wasp stripes was added after masking it up but only after giving the yellow a few days to fully dry out. The alloy sheet for the side skirts has been cut to size and drilled ready for spraying up, i added a side step to one side for show only, and i'll be fitting these two pieces this week when the rain finally stops. A framework to attach the cab and body sides/bonnet will be made from 12mm square section and angle iron, i'm just weighing it all up now and working out the cab panel sizes now that i have enough 1.2.mm. steel sheet to make it. It is all getting heavy to move in one piece, so by making each body section as separate units which can easily be bolted on and removed from the chassis frame. Soon it will all have to be kept outside under cover.

Thanks David. I must be strange not clever! Because i don't see things as i should at first glance, the first question i always ask myself is what can that be made into or used for!

Some nice bright pics' today, the couplings arrived and were fitted on Friday, then the whole frame has been yellow filler primed, not that it's the filler bit i want, its really the yellow colour i want to act as undercoat for a future gloss yellow top coat on the ends and front panel. The front grille panel was made up using a 1mm think off cut sheet of aluminium, i cut it to shape with the tin snips and the top and bottom edges were bent over in the vice using a block of wood. The slatted grille seems the right type/style for these loco's and was originally a cheap metal boot scraper door mat, made to fit length wise with a few inches cut off it. The last pic' makes it look bigger than it is...stupid wide angle lens at work again!

A lot of Council tenants these days are a bit dodgy to say the least, so lets hope they put a real nice family in here...Not! Six kids all with tourettes and with an off road motorbike each and all with drum kits will suit me fine. An ex' copper neighbour who i've had hardly any contact with at all over the past 30 years recently told me he'd break my legs to make me stay before he'd let me leave here, i blew him a sarcastic kiss and said "i did'nt know you cared" you best order the crutches now then! At the end of the day it's only because he's spent thousands on buying and renovating his own ex' council house, and one now that he'll never get a penny in profit off if more scum bags move into the cul de bag.....Oh! Dear, how sad! Never Mind! The way of the World now...it's feck you Jack i'm alright...until it affects them in the pocket! Edit. Forgot to say Mike that the extra tubing is for strengthening the couplings.

Just abandoned full stop Paul, Hopefully i can take it all and my new found knowledge elsewhere and use it to help others.

A few days on and despite the rain, i've put some strengthening tube/ brackets on behind both the buffer beams, they are made from the pre bent top half of the legs off an old steel tubular legged chair we had hanging around. I squeezed the ends flat in the vice and the drilled the fixing holes. They are bolted onto either side rail using the existing corner strengthening bracket bolts, the coupling brackets will be fixed onto the buffer beam with fixing bolts which will go straight through the buffer plate and then through the old legs. Rubber bushed steel sleeved spacers were added. Both sets of bolts and the bushes are fixed on in these pics' I've sprayed a layer of etch primer all over it this morning, after i'd given it all a good clean and wash down in thinners and a scrub with 120 grade grit paper, i'm holding my breath that the rain stays away for the rest of today whilst it dries. It's nice that unlike all my plastic models i've ever made, the bolt heads on this are real and are actually used and doing something. Hopefully the coupling brackets will arrive soon, then i can get on with the next bit!

I was making it up as i went along.... but now i've an idea for a Baguley Drewery ex RN 0-4-0 diesel, the 70hp shorter version with the two side bonnet/door panels. I've made a few in plasticard to 16mm scale so i've a rough idea in my head how things should look, it won't be spot on to scale but hopefully it'll give the impression of one. The bogies will be well hidden by the plated in side skirts, although it's not the correct wheel arrangement it might be better for the tighter curves. Being a back street bodger i'll be measuring the body panels by dividing the body length into thirds, one third being the cab section, the other two thirds will be the full bonnet length section, the height of the bonnet and height of the cab roof will be equally split in half when measured from the chassis rails. The length of the loco' is 130cm. and the width is 60cm. A cardboard template has been made for the grille panel and it's 60cm high, and 50cm wide, this will make the full cab height to around a metre but the extra 10cm. in height at 120cm. might be needed for the headroom. I plan to have the cab top half hinged and removable at bonnet height so as to be able to lift it open and then close it all up once inside....just like the old motorbike sidecars used to do. I should have all the materials to make the complete grille panel by the end of this week.

I'm not posting as much or as often from now on, but i will keep you updated on the progress on my garden build stuff and a couple of other topics. I fitted two buffer plates over the weekend, they are 4mm. thick steel plate off cuts, came at just the right pre-cut size and bought off e-bay for less than a tenner inc' postage, i've to take the sharp corners off yet as my shins will bare witness I clamped them into place, drilled through them and into the chassis frame with a 7mm drill bit, the fixing holes were then tapped out to a 8mm. No need for welding these on just yet or if ever at all as i've more fittings and the couplings to put on. Apologies to proper engineers, i'm more a back street bodger but i do try my best with the limited tools available to me, and if i've not got the tools or expertise then i will look to find someone who has! I have a lot of parts and bits ordered now, it's just a case of waiting for them to arrive and for the weather to dry up!

13-7-'20. 2.20pm. Thought i'd seen a ghost today. 142 068 +150 146. Crow Nest Junc' Hindley.

A few of my latest and last finds.

8-7-'20. 2.43pm. Cemetary Rd. Wigan. passing SP depot 88009. Also posted in the AC electrics section but i've played about with this one a bit.

These have all gone as of yesterday i could see none. 8-7-'20.

Traveled all the way to Ayr from the Manchester area behind 40 019 on a Sunday Merrymaker trip. Seen here stabled on the depot waiting for our return home. no exact date only it was 1980. A cross eyed 40 comes down the bank into Man' Vic' in Dec' 1981

Bad pic' but someone once asked about the old Red Coach. It had 'Mess Van' written on the sides, seen on the scrap line at SP depot as 08744 passes. 6-11-83. Was an early Sunday morning, the day after bonfire night, hence the foggy atmosphere!

47 177. 22-12-'82. Coming off the branch from Bickershaw Colliery at Springs Branch Wigan with a coal train to Fiddlers Ferry Power station .

Thanks 4630! Great!... three kops for the price of one, usually there's a stone train and only one 66 sat right there at two p.m. This silently cruised through.

Thanks Talk about rattle, sounded like an old Mini when the timing chain was slack .

Thanks Jack! Brill 560..another kop! only 200 to go!

8-7-'20. A bit blurred as i was caught out looking t'other way over Taylors Ln. bridge at Ince, Wigan at 2.05pm when these three silently sneaked up. 66531 at the front and 66416 at the rear, middle one is anybodies guess...unless anyone knows other wise? Realtime trains says it was 628Z.

8-7-'20. Saw my first 70 today...cough! splutter! 70 803 was a noisy rattly thing that was sat under Taylors Ln. bridge at Springs Branch Wigan for a good half hour belching out blue smoke. Awkward place to get my first pic's of one between all the wires and posts.

8-7-'20. Cemetary Rd. Ince. WCML 88 009. 2.40pm.

Also has grilles down the body sides/middle unlike a 87, so i think you are right with 86/3.

Thanks, i much prefer those colours on 'Mentor' than the yellow, i always liked the 24 and 45 in the same liv'. Rough guess is it dates from 1980-81.

Looking very neat and tidy CME, you've got clay shifts, and ive got coal shafts Both take it easy and do'nt over do it. Only God knows how much in sixpences i've had to spend since i turned 50 and how many Horses have bolted.

They are olive green and some sort of test or departmental coaches. Cheers! please make the most of these i'm finished on here at the end of the week for a good long while.