Firecracker

There’s a few more bits to do, shunting trials have shown two of the cranes wheel sets have a back-to-back measurement that isn’t quite right, it’s getting rerigged and gently weathered (the plan is not to touch the body or jib paintwork (it was built for a layout set in the 1960’s, the livery is being kept as a tribute, however the chassis is being repainted because half the paint has worn off). It (and the runner) also need ballasting. A spot of filler around the kaydee cutouts in the bufferbeams might be a good idea. But considering it was built in ‘02, the runner in 199~something and has been in storage ever since (in two different houses), it’s held up well. Owain

And now for something completely different, breathing on the Booth crane seen above. Made from the Dapol kit and as far as I can find, there’s next to nothing out there about it (there’s plenty on the rigid chassis version BR bought)! I’ve found one publicity image (found on Graces Guide, if you’ve got an interest in industrial history and haven’t found that site already, bung it into Google and wave goodbye to several hours) to show at least a prototype was produced, but apart from that, nothing. The only surviving Booth industrial crane I can find is the smaller 5 ton version, so if anyone knows anything else, shout up! First up, the publicity shot. Next, it needs a runner. This had to be a) available, b) long enough (so not a lowmac), c) ideally something that’s survived in preservation elsewhere d) easily fitted with kadees and e) satisfy my engineering sensibilities and look ‘right’. This GWR sleeper wagon fitted the bill nicely. It’ll get a full repaint, but it’s a start. Fitting kadees on the crane is easy, there’s already a slot moulded into the bufferbeams for a tension lock coupling. Enlarge it to take a No.5 drawbox. Add a pad of scrap styrene on the inside. Slap some more No.5 kadees onto the redundant tension lock mounts on the runner and shunting trials can commence (incidentally, that wiking HO tractor is seriously undersized, I must replace it and sort the missing buffer head). Finally, with some Evergreen styrene, a start is made on the jib cradle. Owain

A few more bits, the wagon group has been busy. First up, a few more additions to the pway fleet. Now, as far as I know, none of these have entered preservation. However, some have been scrapped and preserved railways with air braked pway stock exist. So, why not? There’s already an MTA loaded with concrete sleepers, so here’s a few more to keep it company. A steel open, discovered in an attic tidy (there’s a couple of 12t vans that’ll be joining it as well) Finally, for something different, a steelworks roll wagon. I believe Clarke kits (not sure if they’re still in production) and based on those used at Skinningrove. Idea is once I work out how those kadees are going to fit and add some buffers, it’s becoming a runner for the sentinel, to give the little beast some extra pickups. Also having read a book on Skinningrove, toying with renaming the loco as one of those based there. Owain

Right, either there’s nothing out there, or my google-fu has gone completely for a burton. What I’m looking for is any photos or information (or possible survivors) of the booth 15t crane as made by airfix/Dapol. However, it’s the bogie industrial with the shorter jib version I’m looking for, not the 8w rigid chassis longer jib version BR bought. To prove the prototype existed, I’ve found this on Graces Guide, but at the moment that’s the lot. Anyone? Owain

So yesterday featured an exciting session of sorting the attic! It’s something that’s needed doing for a while and I was concerned that it was going to herald its demand with the arrival of something heavy through the ceiling. Anyway, 3 large bags of crap and a defunct (and rather heavy, see above) CRT television later...... I reached the lower layers, stuff that arrived shortly after I bought the house over 10 years ago and hasn’t been touched since. Mixed in with this is various railway stuff, some of which is usable, some saleable and some is going to appear on the ‘free to a good home’ here before it gets a guided tour of the dustbin. Anyway, in the usable section we have: Possably PWays crane (built for a shunting puzzle designed to fit in uni accommodation, United Marine and Locomotive). Needs a runner, a facelift and kaydees, but I think it’s got legs. These brakevans, of unknown provenance. Some silver birch trees (ex Teeside Coil, the previous, incompleted P4 effort) And another addition to the pway fleet. Finally some tatty ratio signals. A mix of LMS and LNWR, they were made over 20 years ago for an earlier layout based on an fictional preserved railway. Need repairs, but they’ll do as pageholders. Owain

Following yesterday’s attic sorting, I’ve got one mint in box that could be surplus. PM us if you’re interested. Owain

Don’t know how I’ve missed this unti now, but such is life. Great to see another model of a preserved railway. Brilliant work, like the demic row of projects, particularly the peak (you’re giving me an idea). More power to your elbow, looking good! Owain

It’s three nights on the trot, but nuts, I’m rather taken with this. First up, a little gardening and pointing (noch plants as above, valejo concrete grey for the pointing and capping slabs. The view from the other side,showing the platform for the vans and a bit of foam core board that shouldn’t be visible. A quick testing and development session with the DMU, to prove the crossing on both lines. The extemporised backscene is nothing more than a bit of scrap white hardboard, balanced on top of the electrical boxes with the aid of a block of aluminium. Owain

And a few little bits more. First up, the flower bed has got some brick coloured paints, plus some soil (Games Workshop, Stirland Mud) added. Just the mortar and the concrete capping strip to do. The express dairy van has been mocked up, to see how the spacing will work out. There’s a bit of creative work next, because those vans are getting an access dock/platform between them and the passenger platform. The scenics at the far side of the crossing have been breathed on. One of the platform lines has been ballasted. Before the rest of the ballast goes down the point rodding in the 6 foot needs sorting. A base for the last section of platform emerged from an offcut as well. Owain

Playing devils advocate, they’ll have to do a derelict one as well! Seriously, I’ll admit to watching that project with interest. If they’re nice, I can see something in either LNWR (appropriate for the line) or L&Y (family connections) livery joining the fleet. For a prototype, just look at the stately trains operation at E&BAR, running alongside Mk1’s. Owain

With 2kw of oil-filled goodness doing its stuff, it’s come a bit further on the barrow crossing. A bit of paint and some fencing, plus the stub behind the goods shed has gained a raised flowerbed/bufferstop. The fencing is entirely temporary, yes, I know it’s not vertical. The idea with the gates is based on Goathland, white gates are locked as a train approaches (also why it’s at this end of the platform, under the window of the box), there’s a refuge on either side, the gate to the car park is staff access. When finished, the flower bed is getting some of these Noch goodies planted in there. On the vans, they are just there as page holders. They’re being replaced (when I build them) with a pallvan in an appropriate but definitely non-authentic livery and this, on a new chassis (probably a suitable parkside dundas effort, when I work out which one’s right. It’s got to be better than the original). The idea is that they’re stores for the shop/cafe in the goods shed, so won’t be shunted. Owain

Thanks a lot, your first sentence is exactly what I set out to achieve. Stay tuned, there’s a lot more to come (the work rate recently has picked up due to investing the princely sum of £10 in a 2kw oil filled radiator (from an Age Concern shop) and a new Bluetooth speaker). Owain

There’s nothing wrong with a Bulleid Pacific that can’t be cured with a set of gas cutting gear. Only joking, they are fascinating pieces of engineering. I just want to know how (or why) they were signed off for production at a time of materials shortages and I'm ready to bet whoever designed that oil bath never had to change a driving spring on one. All I can say is that I’ve spent a lot of time from childhood visiting preserved railways and always preferred the grotty yard and shed areas to the tidy public areas. So I suppose there’s no surprise what I want to model. Owain

And just a few more little bedtime tidbits of inspiration. First up, at the north end, a barrow crossing has gone in. Needs painting, weathering and a gate or two. Plus the point rodding to lay and that silver blob of solder wants getting rid of. A few more gates and fences... The Langley foden got a bit of weathering (made over 20 years ago, so it’s held up well), it’s going to get the tarmac weathered around it, to suggest it hasn’t moved for a while. Also two random thoughts, first I discovered that VW camper is actually LHD, so I have a crazy urge to fit it with German plates (yes, I know there’s far bigger fish to fry...) and second, gawd, that carama mini looks crude alongside Oxford’s offerings. It’s being replaced.... Finally, whilst rummaging a bits box for some buffers, found two sets of mini diesel snowploughs. A bit of rust and three pallets later, they’re parked up on top of one of the containers. Owain

Well thanks! One’s ModelU, the other Bachman. Mr B on the right is probably going to get redeployed in the future and replaced with a second ModelU example, I’m very taken with them. On the subject of this thread, I realised I haven’t answered the question. No, I don’t know why preserved railways aren’t modelled as much. My first two layouts were both preserved railways, I then went onto a 1960’s industrial shunting puzzle set in either the NE or South Wales, this was followed by two fictional modern image efforts, the second in P4. I then took a 10 year break from the hobby, returning with Sedbergh. To me, as much effort and research can go into it as any historic model, so where’s the difference? For instance, you’re loading a wagon with concrete sleepers. If you’ve got my need to get it right,you end up researching the load capacity of the wagon, the weight of concrete sleepers and working out how many can be loaded as a result (where’s the difference for hunting for details on how the Midland loaded carboys into wagons in 1900?). You spend several hours researching the point rodding arrangements at Goathland, to get your prototype right. You're researching how to handle cable drums with a set of pallet forks, for a scene in the pway yard. Colours of 205l drums from UK oil suppliers. Just some of the things I’ve been looking into in the last month or so. To me, I want this layout to feel like somewhere you’ve visited. There’s a bit of KWVR, NYMR, L&HR and E&BAR in there so far. It’s also been compared to lines I’ve never visited, so I must be getting something right. Owain

No, but I may adopt a grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat. Excellent, that’s what this is all about. Owain

OK, I’ll throw my hat into the ring. It’s pissing down and due to waiting on glue or paint drying, I’m having a brew and browsing RM web. The current effort, Sedbergh. Based on a real prototype, closed in ‘68 and remains shut. But what if? Suppose it had reopened, what might it look like (without that ivatt 2-6-2, because DCC’ing a split chassis is something I haven’t tackled yet). Before i I set off (and I’ve wittered on about this in the actual thread) I set a rule. It had to be believable. So no blue Pullman, dean single or turbomotive. Recently, I was reading one of the comics, featuring a model of a fictional preserved railway. Superb work, lovely locos and rolling stock. However, they lost me with the rake of pre nationalisation cattle wagons. Seriously? How many cattle wagons, period, survive? Locos had to be either ex Barry, ones that escaped preservation (44781, 76080?), industrials or believable survivors (I spent a worrying amount of time producing a believable scenario in which an ex Tebay standard 4 could survive). I broke this rule once, with a Park Royal railbus. Then produced a suggestion of how, suppose they were more reliable? Sure, passenger services for them disappeared, but supposed Derby RTC wanted one as an inspection vehicle? That could prolong its life a bit more and then it could pass into preservation. PO wagons, sure, why not, but they had to be local (this got broadened to NW England). I then realised that these were solely Bachmann of two different designs, so I rationalised this with the railway having acquired an internal fleet from a works somewhere, then repainting them in liveries they liked. But an ex industrial diesel, two tatty pway wagons surrounded by the clutter of a working yard, with smart mk1’s and a DMU on the public side of the fence? Before anyone says anything about the mini van,that’s based on one a friend and colleague bombed around Cumbria in, c.1999-2005. Modern tatty portacabin and containers, surviving provendor store and stone goods shed. The 16t wagon full of pallets is based on one I saw at either Keighley or Bury, can’t remember which. And for anyone who says everything and every engine is immaculate on a preserved railway, here’s a genuinely ex works preserved loco. Look at the rust on those rods.... Owain

The loco fleet has expanded again - one of the Oxford Janus shunters (which I’ve been eyeing up for a while) in ICI livery has entered preservation. Fitted with a Zimo decoder, it poses for its ex. works photo. On a pway working. Stabled with wagons, a bit of light skip rummaging and the results of a spot of demolition has been loaded into one of the 16 tonners, to become lighting up material. Discussions at wagon group HQ on the new arrival. Owain

Ooh, you’re making me blush.....glad you like it, if it inspires people to try something and have a go I’m well capped! Owain

A bit more work, some scenics have started to appear on the latest board. The layout is set June-ish, so I fancied modelling something appropriate to that time in the fields around the line. Something I’ve never seen modelled before is a hayfield after it’s been mowed and baled, with the short stubble and long grass round the edges where the mower can’t reach. With the modern timeframe, plus the time of year, I decided it was more likely to be silage in round bales rather than hay in the traditional smaller square bales. As mentioned on my blog, this gave a justifiable reason to model a bit of my youth, shifting bales from field to wrapper, so the Oxford MF135 that I’ve blogged about makes its appearance. The field is 2mm woodland scenics straw static grass, the cutting side is a base layer of ground foam. In the yard, the containers have been sat on concrete sleepers (a tiny detail I like, in the real world it’s done to give ventilation under the floor and prevent it rotting). Around the signal box and the car park fence have also been breathed on. Finally, the PO wagon I picked up at Shipley has been painted internally, again a small detail that I feel makes a real difference to an empty wagon (one of these days, I’ll do a step by step blog on my method, it’s basically a light tan, dry brushed with greys and browns in in the direction of the grain, then a grey wash with the excess removed with a cotton bud). Owain

Following on from the TE20, I’ve picked up one of Oxfords efforts at the ‘big brother’, the MF 135. Produced between 1964-75, after Ferguson and Massey-Harris had amalgamated into Massey Ferguson, the 45hp 135 was a very sucesfull tractor. Still in use on a lot of farms as a reserve machine, I felt I could get away with it in the present day (plus I spent some of my teens driving one turning hay and worked on several in a summer job). Onto the model, and it’s rather damned nice. The only area of issue is the front axle, it needs similar work to the TE20, however the drop arms for the stub axles are decidedly over scale. Short of major surgery, I can’t see how this can be rectified, so for the moment it’s being left. The other mod I’m making is on the cab. It’s the factory cab, and yes, as built, they did have a canvas sheet down the back. However, I’ve only seen these on tractors on a rally field. In the real world, they got tattered and in the way, so soon disappeared. Before... And after. Why hide that lovely detail? And an implement. The layout it’s going on is set June-ish, so I’ve decided to model something I’ve never seen done, a field that’s been mowed and baled for silage. This beast is on bale-shifting duty, from the field to wherever the wrapper is based, did this as well in my youth, but with a MF575, (c’mon Oxford, make one, then I can completely model my teens). So it needs a bale spike, a few scraps of styrene plus a tack yield something about right. Just needs a spot of weathering and it’s there! Owain

And a few more, dragging the wagons out to test couplings and show off a few new weathering jobs. Really like the grey 12t open, pleased with the effect (yes, I know unfitted wagons should be next to the brakevan. It’s a preserved railway, they’re through piped). Drums in steel open are painted in Morris oils colours. Used to think that Dapol (nee airfix) brakevan stood up well, now, not so much (the yellowing transfers don’t help). Must add chains to those containers as well. Owain

Nice idea, I look forward to seeing it develop. I do like the preserved line as a prototype, it’s easily visitable and getting the smart/scruffy balance right is an interesting challenge. More power to your elbow! With Sedbergh, I ended up spending a surprising amount of time thinking about the fictional history, how would the line have been rebuilt? If you look at Sedbergh station today there’s a house on top of one of the platforms, the station is a holiday cottage, but the goods shed, provendor store, bothy and weighbridge are pretty much as they were when the line closed (outside the goods shed there’s a short section of track still in situ). So in my fiction, I assumed the station site was acquired before the offending house was built. However, the road bridge immediately south of the station had already been removed by the local authorityfor road improvements. Also further to the south at Barbon a housing development blocked the original line before the railway could secure the track bed. So the railway initially built north in the direction of lowgill. Then, as momentum gathers, they gain a bridge span and build south. However, they run into the roadblock at Barbon, so this leads to a period of consolidation. A new MPD is built, so the loco dept vacates the goods yard, this gets a slight tidy, the goods shed becomes a cafe and shop. But (in my fictional world) wheels grind on, people talk to other people and slowly with agreement from a wide variety of people (including the church) a deviation line at Barbon appears, along with a new station. So the extension of the line southwards resumes. However, remember this is rural south Lakeland, with roads designed for a (small) horse and cart, rather than an 8 wheel tipper lorry of ballast. Hence, the yard at Sedbergh finds itself being used as a railhead. Locos and rolling stock I’ve touched on. Theres a theory on how an ex Tebay standard 4 could have entered preservation, or maybe Dai Woodham got slightly more 16t mineral wagons, so he didn’t put men onto cutting up locos instead. Mark 1 coaches came when BR was selling them off en masse, other wagons came from BR and also post privatisation (hence the BDA and Mainline Seacow for the PWay dept., justified by the railway replacing earlier, life expired wagons). There’s another idea in the pot, to raise funds the railway leases Middleton yard to an engineering company who focuses on spot hire locos. The railway has a mainline connection at Lowgill. Hence there’s movements of locos over the line on and off hire, plus a planned convoy of demics (for either spares or repairs) inbound. Anyway, keep up the good work. As above, I look forward to seeing what you develop. Owain

Well thank’ee, too kind! Glad you like it and I’m capped with having provided inspiration. Feel free to share your plans. This project (and my return to the hobby after a 10 year gap) has just passed its first anniversary. I’ve learned an incredible amount, discovered how much fun it is when you’ve got the funds to buy the toys you fancy (I’ve been yearning after a decent airbrush since my teens). It’s nowhere near finished, so there’s a lot more to come, so stay tuned! Owain

A few more bits. The track on the new board has been weathered a bit more and ballasted. The running lines are due more black crud, due to having dirty steam engines run over them on a regular basis. Gaps in the ballast on the running lines are for point rodding runs and the barrow crossing. The sparse ballast on the siding will get the gaps filled in with static grass, particularly around the demic toad. Whilst the airbrush was out, a little rust was blown over the roofs of the containers and on any flat surfaces water can gather on. Finally, a testing and development session with the rail bus and the DMU, to verify the points have survived being doused in ballast and glue. Owain