Firecracker

Just found this, absolutely brilliant work and a superb tribute to the series! I’m now wondering if a Shelby group loco survived into preservation? Owain

Well, thank you very much! There’s still a lot of little bits to do, (platforms to tidy, point rodding to finish, some more figures on the rear platform (and that’s just what the photos show)), the absence of a back scene needs addressing and there’s a few more mechanical bugs to beat out (on the other hand, ran passenger services in and out 2 dozen times with running round, with no issues or derailments) but I’m getting happier with it (hence, getting the twitch about an extension). Not a bad comeback, if I say so myself. Owain

And a bit more, the PWay department has come out to play. So first, some moving pictures. Then, some closeups of the wagons and the loco. Owain

A return visit to Sedbergh, where the class 15 and the DMU were doing the honours. Owain

Right, the latest activity has been a testing and development session, beating out bugs in the rolling stock, tweaking the new fiddle yard track and playing with a new phone camera. Here’s some of the results (and a proper backscene, rather than a chunk of expanded polystyrene is creeping up the agenda). Owain

Right, the latest progress, this time it’s the southbound fiddle yard. Regular readers of this nonsense may remember that the original plan was to use a cassette system. However, as is the way with plans it didn’t survive contact with the enemy, due to how unwealdy a cassette with loco and 4-5 carriages is. Also, the limited space in the garage and the angled approach didn’t help. Whilst up in the attic duff-hunting, the last fragment of an earlier layout, Backbarrow, was unearthed. Now it was decided to scrap this, due to the lack of structural integrity of the remains and it really wasn’t in a decent state. However, this yielded an assortment of track, which was thrown down on the fiddle yard board to see what stuck. Incidentally, due to various factors, mainly the straight approach and the fact that the northbound section sees less variety of traffic, at the moment it’s likely the northbound fiddle yard (on the rare occasions it’s connected) will retain the cassettes. Slowly, ideas started to solidify, with two fixed roads at the front for the shed headshunt and a 2 car siding at the back for the DMU. The two remaining roads will run onto a lifting hinged section, capable of taking a 5 car rake plus loco. The idea of that it being hinged is that it can be easily folded away at the end of a running session, yet should be solid enough to support the weight with no issues. Two cassettes were used to mock up this, (the drill box and tape is there purely as a counter weight whilst the photo is being taken). When out of use, the idea is it’ll fold on top of the baseboard. Some shunting trials showed the idea had legs, so it started to be translated into reality. Because it’s a non-scenic board all the wiring can be on top and the hinges show the approximate location of the lifting section. Apropriately, the jinty and the inspection saloon formed the first train, along with the diner rake. Finally, as part of the trials, the janus trundles southwards with the vac braked ballast hoppers and the queen Mary brake. For those who wonder how this fits with the extension mooted earlier, there is a plan (honest!). It goes roughly as follows. The extension should still happen, however it’s become three boards rather than two. The third board serves as a transition between the extension and the existing layout (minus the southbound fiddleyard), however the idea is that it’ll be possible to operate the station and the shed as two physically separate setups as well. Owain

And here’s the rather beaten up 47361, as loaned to the L,S&IRCo., following the failure of 31452 (wheelset and bogie issues or in reality, I got sick of its back-to-back measurements causing shorting in the points). Materials used are MIg washes, games workshop rust paints, humbrol matt yellow and a fibreglass brush. The effect on the cab sides is based on a photo of the loco where the yellow is coming through the grey. The RFD logos are attacked with a fibreglass brush then gently dry brushed with yellow to loose the white base colour that appeared in the red diamonds. The scratches on the other side are entirely fictional, I just wanted to have a play with some effects (I assumed under the grey was BR blue, so added some Hoeth blue paint chips). I’ve also just realised that nameplate isn’t level either. Such is life. 47792 has started to deteriorate as well... Owain

And a brief Duff update! There’s three, ‘361 (RFD), ‘792 (EWS) and ‘298 (DRS). Of these, ‘361 has now been overhauled, pickups/wheels cleaned and is ready for a chip to be fitted (probably the elderly lenz silver that was in ‘792). ‘298 will be next after it’s chassis block has been skimmed (I’ve measured it up and I think it’s just a very tight fit in the body shell). ‘792 is probably, in the absence of a new chassis block, becoming a spares donor, having already given up a drive gear to ‘361, also pickups and headlight fittings to ‘298. On the plus side, by some small miracle, I’ve found it’s original wheels, so it may get rebuilt as a motorless towable demic (which would be somehow appropriate, because it was the last (then) EWS 47 I saw in traffic. Owain

As a mate of mine would have put it ’Another flat battery in the car park of life’. Earlier this year I gave the attic a vigorous tidying, one object of which was to find the locos from two earlier modern image layouts, Backbarrow (2002-06) and Teeside Coil (2006-9(ish)) (incidentally, the baseboard frames of Backbarrow survive under Sedbergh). The locos concerned amounted to two 66’s, a 60, a 37 and a trio of Heljan 47’s. As mentioned earlier, an idea is that the railway leases space at Middleton to a spot hire company, so with a mainline connection at Lowgill they can bring locos in off the mainline network and it was wondered if these locos could stand in. Unfortunately, the dreaded mazac rot has attacked the Duffs, with one with a chassis block that’s got a 4mm bend in it one way, a 2mm dip where the belly tanks go, a lot of cracking (so I suspect if I try to straighten it, it’ll disintegrate) and one nose split off the body shell. Another (the DRS example) had a body shell that was nigh on impossible to get off the chassis, however apart from that it seems OK, there’s no major distortion of the chassis, so the idea is to skim the chassis block in the mill (yes, I know that doesn’t stop the rot, but apart from the bodyshell being seriously tight there’s no sign of other issues, and since when I bought it (sometime around 2005) I was DC only and it never saw service on the DCC Teeside Coil (Unlike the banana shaped ‘792, which also wants rewheeling from P4. God knows where the original wheels have gone in the meantime) I don’t know if it’s ever actually had the body shell off in the last 15 years) and then make one decent Duff out of two duff Duffs (sorry, I couldn’t resist...). The third (and the oldest) the RFD example seems fine, so that’s being overhauled and chipped. Owain

That sounds about right, Steamtown was certainly shut by ‘98 (because that’s when I learned to drive and post test I did pass plus, ending up in Carnforth after a spin down the M6 and discovered it shut then). I reckon it was post ‘91 the shop closed, because I remember discovering it had shut on a jolly out with the old man after he retired (we went for fish and chips instead). Owain

Whilst having a furtle in the attic, found this bit of history. One GMR siphon, purchased 30(?) years ago. When did the shop at steamtown close? Owain

A bit more, first up two vehicles have been weathered, a corgi Bedford OB finished in a local livery (when I worked in Bowness, if I was really lucky, I’d end up following this from Ings to Staveley (or Kendal if I hit the jackpot) at 30mph on the way home) and a carama Ford transit, (with a tribute to a colleague and friend in the muck on the back doors). Next up, a nice and easy conversion, fitting the red panda under frame to the Bachmann conflat. And until I looked at it, I hadn’t realised the Bachmann underframe has the cylinder and the Morton clutch the wrong way round. Owain

And the last one for today, I promise! The goods shed has been glued down and the trench round it filled in with modelling clay (this also shows how the door slot added earlier works) The gaps around the end doors were made up with ballast. Then the tarmac was retouched to loose the clay and also create a bit of shading over the whole area. The provendor store was also secured down, the jungle of weeds underneath added with foliage and grass tufts. Other grass tufts were added where weed growth could appear. Rather pleased with how this has come out. Owain

On the goods shed, an interior of sorts has been fitted, using pictures from the adverts section of a copy of model rail and an issue of Moorsline (mucho ta to Digitrains for putting up the photos of the interior of their shop in their advert!) (incidentally, if you know the gaffer in the picture back right and the gent using a burning torch behind the gadgie explaining something to a traffic warden, then feel smug) mounted on offcuts of foam core board. Also a spare wagon (slaters?) and various spare second rate figures are added. The pencil lines in the floor are representations of the rails. Then, whilst looking through the adverts, I found one with small versions of the manufactures logos, so these were added above the doors. Also the sliding door gained a bottom track (this is to make filling in round the building easier) and two tiny signs timetables. Finally, here’s the result on the layout (photos taken with the roof off to get some light). Owain

Well thank’ee very much! I’ll have to start sticking up some of the bits I’m not quite happy with and aren’t as good, before I start getting a reputation! Anyway, the goods shed, continued. The skylight openings had pieces of acetate inserted and glued in, then framing and glazing bars were added in evergreen styrene sections. The chopper proved invaluable for cutting the glazing bars. Then, the main doorway was tackled. As earlier mentioned, I see the goods shed being used as a shop/cafe, so as part of that I added (using acetate, more evergreen sections and a modern door from a set from Peco) a secondary door and glazed the remained of the main door opening. So, with some barge boards and an initial weathering session (an upcoming job, as soon as the weathering’s finished and the building shell is bedded down, is filling the trench around the walls) here’s a couple of shots of it on the layout. Finally, I’ve fancied one of these Hornby trout ballast hoppers and following an idle google session, found that Model Junction of Bury St. Edmunds (recommended, excellent service) had one remaining in stock, so I splashed out. The first job when it arrived was to correct the angle of the operating handwheels (an irritating little detail that let down an otherwise nice model). However it was still far too clean, so as is my wont it got attacked with washes and the usual games workshop rust paints (Typhus corrosion and Ryza rust). Here it is, coupled to the dogfish (and until it arrived, I didn’t know the trout hoppers were unfitted). Owain

Yes, that’s the exact look I’m after! Glad you like it. On that note, the ideas for an extension have come on a bit. It’s still not 100% and the geometry is in best guess territory, because this is being laid out with a set of Hornby 1/4 scale track planning symbols, but here it is. Mid green is the running line, dark brown hidden tracks. Olive green is the shed lines. Black shows where the back scene will sit roughly and light brown is preliminary outlines of buildings. The scenic break will be provided by a semi low relief single track carriage shed built on the unused formation alongside the running line, the bulk of the runnng shed and various other small/temporary buildings (containers, portacabin etc). For anyone who wants to work out where this is, that overbridge is the A683, the area is the field to the west of the formation. Beyond the running shed, the buildings are (front to back) main heavy workshop, carriage shop and boiler/heavy fabrication shop. The siding in front of the workshop is somewhere for the crane to live. In terms of style, the running shed will be a very close relation of the one at Grosmont, the workshop based off a Hornby diesel depot (with an overhead crane in the roof and the ends filled in with corrugated tin, but retaining the side windows, because I want to have fun with the contents), inspired by George Dent’s use of this structure on a couple of dioramas. The rest will be semi low relief corrugated tin, the road into the carriage shed will accommodate a single coach, the boiler shop depends on how the final geometry works out, because the three way point is best described as a guess and that bit of paper needs to be 28mm longer. Now, because this will just (with about 12” to spare) fit in the garage when it’s all set up, the idea is that these two boards will also be a ‘stand alone’ setup, capable of being run on their own. This is something I’ve fancied modelling from the off, so watch this space. Owain

Just rediscovered this and I think, in the workshops of the Lowgill, Sedbergh and Ingleton Railway company a few hard working staff and volunteers are putting the finishing touches to one (or more) of these, to be launched in LNWR livery as the railway’s vintage rake (to run with a LNWR bogie all 3rd that’s also under restoration). I can see an L&Y example following. Lovely. Owain

One of the last obvious outstanding jobs has been the goods shed roof. So, the foam core base had suitable wills sheets fitted, with cutouts for the skylights. Then, following a lot of filling, sanding and scribing slates, the joints start to disapear. Finally, following painting (various mid-dark grey Vallejo acrylics stippled on with a sponge over the grey primer, followed by a wash of Arthonian Camoshade from games workshop), it’s offered up to the buildings. Bargeboards and skylight glazing to follow (the joints in the roof stand out a bit more in this shot, it’s due to a reflection I hope a coat of varnish will dull down). The two 12t vans poses for their ex works shot. It’s intended these are going to be pretty clean, suggesting they’ve been overhauled recently and create a contrast with some of the rattier stock. This also shows my approach to wagon numbers. The ply sided is based on an actual van, which starred in a BTF film about the usage of TOPS on wagonload freight. The marge van is from the correct number sequence according to Roland, however it’s also a habit of mine, on wagons where it’s not based on a actual individual wagon I have the last three digits as a well known RAF squadron (which is how the 21t mineral got ‘617’). Finally, a couple of shots taken of the goods yard area, showing how it’s starting to come together. Rather pleased with this. Owain

Couldn’t find a thread for them, so if I’ve missed one, apologies. Anyway, Model Junction (https://www.model-junction.co.uk/) of Bury St. Edmunds. I was on the hunt for one of the trout hoppers Hornby released in the NCB livery and according to Google, they had one. Ordered Friday (2nd), order despatched Monday (5th), delivered today (6th) very well packaged. What else can you ask for? Excellent service, would recommend and will use again. Owain

A bit more. First, during a bumper airbrush cleaning session, my 10 year old Aldi special ultrasonic bath decided to expire (first the timer became a random number generator, then the buzzing changed pitch quite impressively, it gave a sizzling noise and then sprung a terminal smoke leak). It’s paid for itself many times over and is a very useful bit of kit, so amazon obliged with a replacement. Which is a bit bigger, but rather nice and damned eff3ctive. Next up, the vans seen above have been primed, airbrushed with Valejo’s cavalry Brown, roofs/underframes brush painted and have started to gain their transfers. Next, the restoration of the Airfix/Dapol meat van. This was built 30-odd years ago in a collaboration between me and my father (I built it and did the transfers, he painted it), so it’s gained replacement doors (parkside spares) which have touched up beautifully. Beyond fitting Kadees, touching up the underframe and a coat of varnish, I don’t plan to do much more to it. Finally, a bit of planning. Might happen, might not, but an idea for an extension over two boards, with a new fiddle yard and partly low relief Sedbergh MPD. Don’t start with the negative waves about will it fit in the garage... Owain

Something that really amuses me is that during the lockdown/furlough I got customer service ranging from excellent to stunning (I’ve got no other words to describe one man bands who get bits to me in under 24 hours, let’s hear it for Railtec and Chivers/Five79) from all the various traders and manufactures I ordered bits from for my hobby (also the delivery services who kept the job moving). On the other hand, larger operations failed to compete, such as the complete apathy I got from my (now ex.) insurance company when attempting to renew the house insurance. The less said about the major UK company who attempt to supply my broadband connection and their pandemic customer service, the better. I’ll admit to spending more than I usually would in my local once they reopened (big hand for Monk Bar models please, you’re doing a grand job!). I justified it as the money I would have otherwise spent on fuel and I decided they were in greater need of it than BP (besides which, that Bachmann Ransomes and Rapier crane is gorgeous). Thanks for the initial post, when this eases up a bit and I’m next in your neck of the woods, I’ll pop in and spend some money. Owain

Wasn’t one of the Deltics damaged in preservation when the fire brigade dumped a load of foam into the exhaust to deal with an exhaust fire? Owain

I can tell a tale along those lines - workshop compressor many years ago stops having any reservoir capacity. But nothing comes out of the drain. Boss suggests to my oppo who's attacking it that the drain might be blocked and suggests a welding rod held in a set of mole grips may offer a solution. No one checks what pressure the tanks at. I didn’t see the episode, I was out at the time, but I returned to a looney tunes-esque stencilled outline of someone’s lower body on the wall in bright orange, an orange floor, my oppo had gone home to get changed and the boss had gone for a sit down until he got his breath back and he stopped laughing. Owain

Personally, my favourite was seeing into the engine room of a class 26, with its rotten internal guttering. The fact it was originally unpainted was a lovely finishing touch. On a related note, I’ve recently watched a video from Bovington tank museum, where they’re recovering some chieftain-based vehicles (bridgelayers and AVRE’s) from a range. Some of these have literally filled with rainwater because your average tank (which is basically a large steel box) has drain plugs in the bottom (a good idea to put these in if you’re fording a river, but you can also need to let water out) and when these were parked on the range, the drain plugs were left in. There’s some impressive cascades of water released in the process of releasing the final drives so they can be towed. Owain

I’d agree with what everyone else has said and lob another into the mix - the airfix (now Dapol) wagon kits (also the kitmaster loco kits, how many of those are still about?). They’ve outlived the 12”-1’ prototypes in service by at least 35 years (when did the last 16 tonners disappear?) and how many of us have them on our layouts? Certainly there’s a presflo and a meat van (although the second is a miniature restoration project) on mine. Also the JCB3c, it’s either one of them or an Oxford diecast effort I see. I’d also agree with the mainline range, both their wagons and the RB. Also don’t forget the airfix GMR range, the wagons and coaches are still in production pretty much unchanged. More recent - the Bachmann standard 4MT tank for me. Can’t find an exact initial release date, but I’m sure I bought mine late 90’s. Owain