Caley 439

TPE 68s are used on some passenger services, from experience the Manchester Victoria to Scarborough services - hope this is of some help

What @Buhar said, there's a few of the other kits which have been done by the association previously on pg.1 - it was the diagram 22 which first got my attention at Perth a few years ago. Well the Dapol 9' wheelbase chassis arrived today, so began making parts for a second cattle wagon to go on one chassis, and cut the ends for a North British brake van. Cattle wagon ends made, just to finish off this side then make the other side; I intend on fitting some internal framing to this for some extra strength

Some more Caley association kits arrived yesterday - the rerun of the cattle wagon, and the new pre-diagram (i.e. pre-Drummond I think?) wagon. Painting began today. Just one of each kit, the sides of the cattle wagon are very fragile. Have some Dapol chassis on the way too, so might build another cattle wagon on one of them from plastic strip

Having had a quick look (I knew that there were calico printing works around Glasgow), and found that the CPA did have a works at Bonhill (near Balloch) which lasted into the timeframe of the wagon. Could be one travelling between different works (at a bit of a push)?

That looks like a line that actually goes to and from somewhere (judging by the plan). The picture of the Hunslet with the slate wagons also gives the atmosphere of having a destination and purpose, really like that.

Looks like Oxford Rail have added a few more liveries to this wagon (unless I missed it being announced somewhere?) - Mountsorrel granite, and Calico Printer's Association. A bit of a distance away from these wagon's home turf, but maybe a picture will turn up (bought 2nd hand from the NB or LNER?)

Lining on the tender going nicely, though on the frames it will be greatly reduced from how it appears on the prototype. Cabside wise, well , the bits of the HMRS LNER lining which are curved come out as a thick black line with a thin white strip on one side only, so no good. Ended up going for the standard bits of lining, not the neatest but a small bit of touching up should improve the appearance

Lining started, only done part though as I've realised that another coat of paint is needed on most of the tender body before any more is applied.

Dome and smokebox door drawn tonight - bit limited with abilities and capabilities on Fusion, so no hinges for the smokebox door - I think I'll fabricate this out of thin card or plastic card. Just to draw up the safety valve and buffers and then I'll send the files off to get a test print done. Late night edit - Safety valve as built/as on Gordon Highlander drawn up too. Time for bed now I think!

Thanks Phil, yep that is a D40 (one of the 1920/21 superheated batch, would still have been a fairly new engine at the time of the picture) - a very nice nearly side on view

That looks a little better

Modified the cab windows today as they were a little far forward and when viewed from the side it didn't look quite right. Overall a bit more recognisable as a D40, especially with the upper bit of the cab roof. Drew the chimney separate, then inserted into place to see how it looked - bad, but not too bad (to my eyes) was the answer. Chimneys can be a difficult thing to draw normally, but the with the taper to it the GNSR style is even more difficult. At school I made a CAD model of No 123 for a folio project, and the chimney was probably the most awkward part to get right - yes it could have been simpler, but as John Thomas said in The Springburn Story "a chimney is to a locomotive is what a hat is to a woman". This chimney has the height right which is good, and the taper, just a little chunky so easy enough to redraw. The dome and safety should be simpler (famous last words!)

I've got a Caley styled 4-6-0 somewhere Compoind2632 (picked up 2nd hand, think of it as a Frankenstein loco...) which is bluer than this! Looking through some pictures taken in the old Glasgow transport museum, this shade of blue does sort of match with No123. Managed to find the sheet of Pressfix LNER lining so lining can go ahead - I'll practise on the tender first so if it doesn't look great with this blue at least it shouldn't be too bad to have to redo it Coupling rods are now in place and holes drilled so the chassis can in theory be fitted to the body, found that the two fixing points on the chassis aren't 8BA (or 10BA), which makes sense with the 700 being a modern loco I guess - I'm just familiar with the Triang and older Hornby locos where it generally was said thread (with 6BA I think too?). An 8BA tap sorted it out anyway….

Rather than start right from the beginning again, I've utilised a version of the above file from before I did the boiler and smokebox for it - that boiler is probably too short by a good 10mm or so! Today's progress with new firebox, boiler and smokebox drawn in - quite content even if some dimensions have had to be bodged by eye (I remember one article in Garden Rail saying "don't worry if you have to bodge it by eye, that's what people will use to look at it with") Tomorrow's job (or whenever I next do some work on this) will be to draw in the fancy upper part of the roof, and the chimney - this, the safety valve and the dome will be getting drawn as separate pieces, intended to be printed separately.

Chassis all running, body still sitting a little high, but I can live with that (won't be too bad, especially when running with a mix of Triang, Hornby and kit/scratch built stock) . Coupling rods still to be fitted, and a drawbar made up. Colour wise, still to see about - 828 did wear a lighter blue in the 1990s, more akin to the shade that 123 is in.

The start of a Great North of Scotland Railway V/F class (LNER D40) - something I've been toying with building for a while, especially having got a copy of the GA drawings in September. Having ordered an 812 body off @Knuckles (progress on this to be updated) I figured it might be an idea to draw the D40 body in autocad instead of scratchbuilding from plastic card. Downloaded the free version of Inventor Fusion, and started away - not thinking about the issue of different widths between 00 and true scale (EM etc) gauges! Back to starting it again, but happy enough how it looks at this stage - trying to get the sweep of the splashers was one thing that required a few goes to get right. Hopefully once things get back to normal I'll give this a test print and draw up frames to be cut in acrylic. Failing that I have a spare B12 chassis to hack up into a 4-4-0. If all goes well I can see myself visiting the archives again for more pre-grouping plans....Jones Big Goods, a NBR 4-4-2 or 0-6-2,tank... Or at least parts to aid with building The most I've drawn and printed to date is 16mm scale WW1 accessories, and a few add ons for 4mm locos

I usually find they are when I try to navigate my way from North Pier tram stop to the station on a Friday evening or coming back the way on a Sunday night. Maybe that's just where they spend their weekends though?

Might be good for the home holiday industry though, once things ease a little and people can travel around the country they might realise that there are places around the UK that are good for holidaying. I'm sure that places like Blackpool will bounce back one way or another anyway.

My 812 saga is currently on hold until I get a chassis sorted to bring the bufferbeam height down (no chance of getting access to the laser cutter like I had originally planned either with the current situation). That's said, I do have a fair few other projects I can get on with: Have found a working soldering iron in the garage, so can tinker with Glen Douglas's electrics a little bit. A package also arrived this morning, containing silver solder and flux so I can continue work on a 16mm scale Brazil I've been building (a 16mm scale Quarry Hunslet has also sprouted up from some laser cut parts in the last few days, maybe if I pot it now it'll have grown into a full sized one by the end of this lockdown ). Have been working on some 3ft gauge models, pictures might make it onto here later...

I ended up not converting any rtr wagons to a smaller size, instead designing a basic kit that could be laser cut for an older style mineral wagon, and have cut a spare chassis to build a tender on in future - these wagons are about the size of the Diagram 22, though also take inspiration from some of the pre-grouping wagons in the museum at Bo'ness Of these generic older style wagons, the wheelbase is about 28mm in 4mm scale, and overall length (to the end of the buffers) is 65mm. Can't find the Diagram 22 at the moment. Hope this helps, feel free to ask any more questions or even drop a message if that's any easier

I have thought about the 34 class, and the advantage is that the boiler is pitched high enough to fit in the mechanism too (why a scratchbuilt Jumbo wasn't opted for). A few designs from the auld enemy were also pondered (J35 & J37)

Northern are pretty poor at times though at other times trains arrive on time and all is well, in my experience. Staff on trains (and most of the time at stations too but not always) have been great with giving help and advice when there's been cancellations such as alternative trains which my tickets can be used on or at least when the next train should arrive - sometimes they don't appear to have been told what is happening either.

Think I spoke to soon on monday; new (planked) floor made for inside the cab, and part of the old floor cut out to clear the gear on the rear axle. Unfortunately whilst this has sorted out the problem of the gear being in contact with the body, there just doesn't seem to be the necessary clearance inside the rear splashers for the wheels! As a result, when compared to the buffer heights of the 700 class, Caley association and Oxford Rail wagons the buffers are still too high I think the lesson here is..........wait until Easter where I will hopefully have access to a laser cutter and do a set of acrylic frames with a set of Romford wheels (maybe get them a tad undersized too?) - will have a search around the stands at Doncaster in February to see if there's some. The hacked about 700 chassis won't go to waste though - just to think what to build with it.

I meant the slippery slope as a bit of humour (I hadn't expected to be building X-many Caledonian tenders) I've been having a good browse through your thread on cranes Gibbo (might be the one "What is on the bench was previously in my head"?), and the scratchbuilding of the parts on them is amazing - I think I'd go a bit mad with so many small parts I think a future scratchbuild of mine could be a Highland 4 or 6 wheel coach (to help counteract the Caley you know) as I have suitable buffer and axlebox castings, though I'll probably put that idea on the back burner for a little longer....

Sorry Davy, somehow missed this - it's a Cowlairs saddle tank, link below https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/134921-caley-439s-workbench/