Geordie Exile

3 hours ago, Trewisin said:

Hi Richard nice to see your back in the land of locos .It looks like you bought a railway room with a house or did your other half have eyes on it as well.

I take it you have now retired and this will be your next line of work ?

Look forward to your adventure with Fenwick ,rgds Ray

Not retired yet Ray - a couple of years to go at least.  But no longer having a croft gives us both a huge amount more spare time.  Move date set for two weeks from today.  Unboxing of toys will be some time after that, as the room itself needs a fair bit of prep, and I imagine the rest of the house will take at least some of my time!

@drmditch @nick_bastable Well spotted, both. Its the first thing on my to-do list (but I might make it a flat cover that slots in, to make it easier to get bulky stuff up there).

Wise words, Jim. I have promised myself that it'll start out as little more than a shunting plank with room for growth.

Fenwick Pit will be coming out of enforced hibernation this year. We've sold the croft, and bought a new train room that also comes with a house, which is handy. I guess it'll be another couple of months before I unbox everything, but in the meantime, I can plan. 

And it is the perfect train room. 

48 minutes ago, queensquare said:

I didnt take many DJLC pictures either but here is Port Jubilee which I particularly liked. I intend to shamelessly rob ideas from this one - and move it several hundred miles south!!

 

Jerry

 

This one was still in its box when I was there: it's a thing of beauty.  It does encourage me to make a much smaller layout than I originally planned before moving on to bigger things.  If I remember rightly this was in the same room as CF, although my aspirations are more towards this end of the spectrum.

Excellent event. Thank you to the organisers and exhibitors. Not sure what Derby Conference Centre has against traditional DC, though...

Gosh, I hadn't realised how long it is since I packed up the nascent Fenwick Pit as we put the house/croft on the market.  And in those boxes it still lies, along with my modelling mojo.  Seriously considering a visit to Derby to see if I can regain said mojo by osmosis.  And there are so many RMWeb things to catch up on too.  Well, it's officially summer in the Highlands, so that'll guarantee rain for some time, which'll give me the opportunity I crave...

Looking fab, Jim. And you don't have to cross out "play"  

On 26/09/2021 at 10:53, Trewisin said:

Hi Richard, i hope all is well as we have not heard from you for a while.

Have you gone into hibernation up there in the far isles of Scotland or are you back to work in the normal sence as the pandemic restrictions are lifting. Look forward to hearing some moe on Fenwick soon . All the best regards Ray.

 

Hi Ray

I'm afraid the demands of the 12-inches-to-the-foot life have got in the way over the summer.  Things should quieten down soon (not much crofting gets done in the dark) so I'm hoping to get back into the 2mm-to-the-foot stuff soon!

Richard

On 17/07/2021 at 12:04, Trewisin said:

Hi Richard, hows it going I had a look at Google Earth the other day to see what was left of Backworth and Fenwick Pits.

Not a lot as Paul Daniels would say. I could make out the base lines of Maude pit winding House the Entrance gateway, the Blacksmiths shop and the General office building. The Pit baths and the Hotspur brick works were flat and reland scaped.

You could just make out the junction for the railway line at Backworth Road/Shiremoore crossing where the line heads towards Fenwick and Earsden. Earsden nothing could be seen completely reland scaped, As for Fenwick just a few foundations and one building ? im not shure what it was.

Regards Ray.

Hi Ray.  The last remaining building is the winding house (or winder house, depends who you ask!).  It forms the central feature of an 'executive development' that's in the pipeline.

This is the 15.4m of 2x1 that I bought to start framing up a baseboard...

This is what I used it for...

And these are the red deer that were watching me do it!

No wonder I'm not making any progress. 

21 hours ago, Trewisin said:

Hi Richard ,hows things going all seems quiet on the Western Front. Or should i say Fenwick.

 

Regards Ray. 

Hi Ray

Progress has stuttered to a halt as real life intervenes. I've now got plenty of wagons, enough buildings to form the core of the colliery element of the layout, and a couple of turnouts built, but I'm at the stage where I have to draw everything together and actually make some decisions. Specifically: track plan, turnout operation, baseboard construction and overall layout 'geography'. I've also got to make the amendments to the RCH hopper, and I think I've decided to redo the coal processing plant (the tall 'office-block' building) after finding a side view that shows I've got the dimensions all wrong. It's a frustration after the hours spent building the first one.

So, lots of stuff to make decisions on, and I'm happy to let my subconscious mull them over while the rest of me gets on with 12-inches-to-the-foot stuff!

Richard

9 hours ago, DavidBird said:

Backworth No 9, as seen at Aviemore 7th May 2021. My photo.

It's in the queue for restoration, behind 5025 and 46464.

 

Do you want to borrow a 2mmSA quartering tool?  And I understand there's a pretty good detailing etch available too 

21 hours ago, DavidBird said:

For those of you that have FB...

This from Aviemore Engine Shed has a few photos of the ongoing restortation of Strathspey No 9, RSH Austerity 0-6-0 Works no 7097, formerly of Backworth Colliery

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=944938852997535&id=417847319040027

Cheers, David.  It's quite sad to see her in bits like that, especially the rusting hulk outdoors, but at least she's getting some attention.

56 minutes ago, andreas said:

You probably won't believe it, but the photos were taken after my attempts at cleaning the etch. I used DCCconcepts Sapphire No-Clean flux, which according to their website can be cleaned with "a simple wipe over with cloth or cotton bud dipped in Isopropyl alcohol or even methylated spirits". Well, the results in the photo are after a prolonged bath in IPA and a good scrub with an old toothbrush. That did at least take off the layer of copper oxide that had formed. I will try again with cream cleaner. Out of curiosity, what flux is everyone using? The DCConcepts flux worked well enough (not that I have anything to compare it to) even if it is not intended for brass work.

Nice first attempt, Andreas, and certainly better than my first!  

I 'invested' (although I can't see me ever getting my money back!) in an ultrasonic bath, and I pop the etch in for its default three minutes every time I switch off the soldering iron (so bearings, clean, laminating solebars, clean, adding solebars, clean etc) then a longer zap at the end of a session.  It has made an immeasurable difference, and it's much easier to find the wee bits that fall off 

3 hours ago, kingrail said:

Shame is that when constructed most of this will not be easy to see!

But you'll know it's there!

4 hours ago, Trewisin said:

Hi Richard. It must be a day of modelling today. FANTASTIC  what else can i say The photo s do you proud. Yes the wagons had F.C onthe sides prior to Nationalisation as also B.C. for Backworth.and on release from RCH they had the special livery of BACKWORTH COLLERIES IN full painted on their sides I think that the numbering was in 1400's??.

 Ray.

They were originally numbered 1400-1600 according to Elliott & Charlton, but the three I can make out in the photo above say "1174", "1226" & "1527".  The two photos I've seen of them in original Backworth livery show "1101" & "1417" so it could be - dare I suggest it - that E&C are mistaken!  I've just gone for a 4-digit number, to be honest.  

And as you can see from the picture, some but not all have "Backworth Colliery" (Not "Collieries", my mistake), some but not all have a tare, and all have "Internal Use Only".  Take your pick!

And no doubt I'll have posted this view of Fenwick before, but it does show how busy the site was.  A fairly eclectic mix of wagons, but the majority are the Chas Roberts 15 tonners, which is why I couldn't leave them out!

Just realised I haven't put up any pics of the painted wagon. Can't say I'm a massive fan of the asymmetric lettering, but it's prototypical so who am I to argue?

Lots of the wagons also have "Backworth Collieries" on their sides. I don't think I'll attempt to replicate that!

9 minutes ago, Trewisin said:

Morning Richard. You have been busy this week,Yes they do look great I think you may have got something there.

Can i have a set of sheaves as well as about 10 wagons when you go into production. If the hand rails come on the etch that 

will be a bonus.I hadnt realised that you  were going into a fell production run ,i thought it was supposed to be just  a tesr run.

I also like what Caley Jim said .Ray.

Hi Ray

I'll message you once I'm happy that the next test etch works (which I haven't sent yet, because I haven't drawn it yet!)

R

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

Only comment - those etched railings really show up the ones round the top!  

Yeah, yeah, I know! I'll correct (well, amend!) the hopper artwork and resubmit, so some replacement railings may well be added! The washery has similar railings which I might replace too. Mick's after some sheaves, so they'll be on the next one as well. Oh, and there's no access from ground level to the first set of ladders on the headstock... I'm going to end up with an A3 sheet just full of stuff to improve what I've already built. 

As for the origami, I'm pretty happy with how tightly one hopper's squeezed now, so working out the final (ha!) production run is just a question of tesselating rectangles. 

R

Gosh, I got me a rake.  There's no escaping it, I need to start laying track.

As part of the hopper test etch, I added some sheaves and walkways to enhance (I hoped) the heapstead.  The previous sheaves were 3D-printed from Shapeways which were certainly finer than anything I could manage, but the etched versions are much more delicate again. The spindle needs a lick of paint, and I'll add some spacers between the sheaves:

I also etched some safety rails for the steps up to the sheaves, and a ladder and roof walkway to access those steps.  Possible the most delicate thing I've ever had to solder, and I'm now terrified that I'll squish them, but they've come out quite nicely:

...and once again the close-up shows the worst as well as the best!  A squirt of matt varnish should take the shine off that rendered wall.

Richard

Fiddly maybe, but it brings the building to life.

2 hours ago, justin1985 said:

Tumultuous is a word that I feel is not used anywhere enough in finescale modelling 

Whereas "variable shrinkage" can describe many of my attempts!