Kier Hardy

Hello readers, I hope you're all keeping safe and warm. It's been a while since I last posted here, so thought the thread needed a bit of an update. November, December and January were spent mostly on the new station extension baseboard, further details of which can be found on the emgauge70s website monthly updates. Here's a pic of progress so far. The canopies have just been completed, so now I can turn my attention to lamp posts, 3rd rail, litter and passengers. With the lack of social interaction of late, I've spent a bit of time putting together some videos on YouTube. The first two are of a recent running session (already posted in the Media section of RMweb) and the latest one this week is a virtual tour of the railway room. I hope you enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Yjcv20Zqs&t=434s Stay safe.... all the best, Kier

The answer is to avoid having curves on your train set! On a more practical note, I've got a few close coupling thingamajigs that I've removed from my coaches, so you're more than welcome to them if it helps.

Well spotted Grahame - they're conspicuous by their absence. Deep in the depths of the Hornsey workshops are several Lima Class 31s awaiting reconstructive surgery, as is the case at the Eastwell workshops, so the outer suburban services are in the hands of Baby Deltics for the time being. With all the duplications happening in the model world, you can choose from 5 different Class 47s, nearly as many Class 37s, but not much in the way of Class 31s. The latest Hornby one is hard to come by in the right configuration, and in blue looks awful due to the lack of banding on the bodyside. The Lima one is a better starting point, but requires back-dating to get the front end right, with all those grab handles on the roof to make your eyes go funny. So unless someone produces a new RTR headcode box Class 31 suitable for the 1970s period, we'll just have to wait until those ancient Lima bodies make their way onto the work bench (with the enthusiasm to tackle the job). With scenic work on the layout, as well as a whole host of other loco customisations to get through, it might be a long wait!

With no exhibitions on the calendar, and no chance to catch up socially, virtual running sessions are just so 2021. I've put 2 videos together capturing the rolling stock and locomotives on the layout in January 2021. It's been fun putting them together, and I hope you enjoy them. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7hlpaxWN6dDntpsc_GYbwA Take care and stay safe, Kier

FTFY An excellent book.... still thumbing through my copy and getting a few ideas for future projects to boost my departmental wagon fleet. Thanks Simon for posting the Dace pic on this thread - I've screen captured / printed, and put it in the book.

Called a couple of weeks ago and left a message, but all calls this week result in a message saying service is full, perhaps indicating they haven't been accessed recently. I hope all's well at C&L Towers.

Alastair, Did you get your order delivered after all? I've also placed an order and have heard nothing.... maybe still on holiday, so I'll give it a bit longer. Cheers, Kier

These last 3 months have flown by, with not a great deal of output from the workshops at Hornsey Broadway. Things are starting to pick up again from a modelling point of view now that the dark evenings are starting to draw in. As well as a couple of new Brush 4s for the layout (which hopefully will be finished this month) several small projects have been coming together - full details on the latest emgauge70s update page. A batch of 3 one-ended flat containers have been constructed and loaded with Accurascale kegs, painted slightly different colours to show a mix of old and new kegs stacked together. Millinery sinamay has been used to represent the distinctive netting , then finished off with securing ropes, to give the freightliner train some added variety.

Without wishing to get into 'that' age old debate regarding track gauge, and concentrating on the OPs question, this information may be of help (from the emgauge70s September 2013 update page) http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/model_omwb88.html A lathe can make things easier by reprofiling the flanges to something less chunky, without the need to remove the wheels from the axles, which also reduces the amount you need to spread them, using a pin punch afterwards. The original Heljan wheels have been pushed out on the existing axles, and although they will just fit, the bogie frames have been packed out with shims made from 0.5mm plasticard for better clearance.

No3 ? The only number 3 I'm aware of is an electric loco with a pantograph. (catalogue number 1007 / P16) Plenty of Egger-Bahn items are available through online auction sites.

You mean something like this, as seen at Shenston Road, captured by Paul James.

Really Phil? I can't help thinking you're jesting about those suggestions. I'm sure you haven't overlooked that Parkside (Peco) do a 21 ton hopper, so all you need to add is a vacuum cylinder and a pipe along the solebar. There are 2 variants of the MGR wagons available on the market, and the CBA doesn't involve too much model making to arrive at one.

I've seen one at Hornsey Broadway Here's one by Brian Daniels taken at Old Oak The Class 74 didn't have a great deal in common with the Class 71, apart from the latter being a donor. From the information I've gathered over the years, there was very little left of the original Class 71 when they emerged from Crewe Works.

Hi Lloyd, It's a Silver Fox mid-body section with Hornby Class 71 cabs and heavily modified bogies and chassis. I cut off the Silver Fox cabs, as they didn't capture the shape quite right..... the A pillar appears too thick and the front curve to the cabs was too flat. probably a lot more work than intended, but the Hornby Class 71 cabs provided the best result, plus they already had good glazing to fit back in.

I hope you're all well and managing to get on with a few modelling projects during these strange times. Probably well overdue an update...... so here it is. The Class 74 and Class 501 unit (#2) have finally been completed, as well as D3989 which has been sat in the works for some considerable time. A picture paints a thousand words, so here's three thousand's worth in one go! All the best. Kier

With E6107 having been sat in the workshops at Hornsey for a few months, with the foreman (and workforce) unsure as how to proceed with them there grills, I'm pleased to announce that the Class 74 project is now complete. There's been a couple of hours testing and running under its belt, so it's now into service and making regular appearances at Hornsey Broadway on inter-regional freights and the occasional excursion. There were a few initial issues with the drive train gearing within the bogies, but this has now been rectified and the loco runs smoothly. I have to say at this point that the Hornby Class 71 bogie is over-complicated and over-engineered in comparison to other contemporary model loco designs. I've managed to produce a slight blemish to the bodyside behind the drivers position, but am happy to live with it rather than potentially make it worse. Right...... on to the next project

By and large I think what you've achieved here with HLJ is absolutely amazing.... I really do take my hat off to you and think this is one impressive piece of railway modelling, particularly on a scale that many of us could only dream about. I keep looking in on this thread and find it inspiring, so a big thank you to you for that. I'm really looking forward to seeing it when the opportunity comes around. I've thought long and hard about this post, so please don't take it as criticism for the sake of it. With your eye for detail, I'm sure you may appreciate some feedback, no matter how pedantic it sounds. The one thing that makes any model railway stand out is the attention to detail, but I have noticed you've fallen for the usual trap when it comes to fence posts and the way the tensioning wires are fixed. The link below shows how these wires are fixed to the posts, normally with loops which pass through the holes. So many times I've seen the tension wires pass through the posts on model railways, and to me it doesn't observe the real thing, and besides any fencing contractor wouldn't want to spend hours threading the wire through each post hole. https://www.clarkesofwalsham.co.uk/fencing/chain-link-fence-supplies.html Someone else mentioned the glass in your mini - superb bit of modelling, but would be better for having no glass at all. As I said, it's never easy offering any constructive criticism and I hope you take these points in the way they're meant. I look forward to the next update on this superb project..... without a doubt it takes me back to a place and time with fondness.

Yes I started to glaze over a bit myself, especially as it's after lunchtime, so with the prospect of looking at the inside of my eyelids for an hour, it will be on the list of things to do this afternoon. I also made out the name Clive in her singing, but definitely not the words lovely or is.

Here's a couple more at Queen St, before heading to Eastfield and Glasgow Works.

I've enjoyed looking through the last few pages, reminding me of a time when other things in life started to become more important. One last bash to Scotland, then taking in the east side of England on the way back. These snaps were taken in June 1988, starting off with Motherwell. And then on to Queen St

Your BG is a lovely addition to the end of a bay platform. As well as the end steps which require hacking off (except the bottom one), the BG didn't have water filler pipes as portrayed on the model, so this can be easily converted to an end grab handle as shown here. Also remove the grab handle off the roof. Brilliant inspirational stuff Here's a link to John Turner's Flickr site of a blue BG. https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/36092835152/in/album-72157604142594351/ You could go one step further and remove the step above the corridor connector, to leave just 2 brackets, but I've never attempted that yet as it may affect how the coach is held together.

FTFY

It's not just the chaff and repeated images created by lazy people, it's also the pointless comments such as "I agree with you" when there's an agree button in the previous post.

Well I like them and think you've done a great job. When you get the next batch out of their boxes, you can use some different colours and mix them up with the ones you've done already. That should suit the pedantic amongst us. I'd be happy to run them on my layout, although I suspect they wouldn't do the sleepers much good (if they make it to the end).

Looking back over the last few weeks, we were lucky to have taken part in Model Rail Scotland, especially as parts of the world were starting to close down already. Here's a link to the freightliner page on emgauge70s, showing the 17 vehicle rake, with additional details on the containers themselves. Credit must go to Pete Johnson (Canada Street) who modified and built the containers to go on 10 of the Hornby flats. Transferred from Shenston Road to Hornsey Broadway came an additional 7 empty flats, all heavily modified and rebuilt by Greg Brookes. The last couple of wagons in this rake have been decorated with a 10ft freightliner container and 3 Manchester Liners containers. http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/project_freightliner.html I drew up this artwork on my computer and printed it out on glossy photo paper, then applied to the side of some shaved down Hornby 20ft boxes. I see that @jessy1692 has also recently produced some Manchester Liners containers on this thread, although I have my doubts that nothing other than 20ft boxes were used by the company. Worth a look anyway, as he's used transfers to achieve the end result. I hope this is of help.