CXW1

Tony, Unfortunately much of what you mention still goes on. Fortunately I am in a position where I can play during the week when it is quiet and we can usually whizz round without any issues. Try and play in a Saturday competition or a Sunday afternoon and it can be a different matter though. I used to play lots of cricket at a decent level but my back/knees/ankles prevent me from doing so now (or at least to any reasonable standard). Golf has effectively become a substitute for cricket, but it is no direct replacement. What comes after golf? Bowls? I was just slightly surprised at the use of the word 'abhor'. I tend to use this in the same sentence as something like mindless vandalism or suchlike as opposed to a harmless game enjoyed by many. However, given your personal experiences I can see where you are coming from. Let's park this and get back to some modelling..... Thanks Chris

John Thanks for the link to the photos. I reckon I would have been just out of shot on the left of the picture of Prince Charles getting off the train on the white steps - I was stood with my Dad next to the photographers and TV crews. My memories of the day have faded but I do remember an old lady who I was stood next to asking Prince Charles 'how's the bairn, hinny?' (referring to the recently-born Prince William). Charles smiled politely but with a look on his face which said 'I don't have a clue what you have just said to me'. I also recall driving up to Consett and there being lots of people standing next to the line at Annfield Plain with their flags at the ready. However, the train was already parked up on the curve between East Castle and Leadgate by that time, so the good folk of Annfield Plain would have been disappointed. Apologies for interrupting the discussions with my trip down memory lane.... Chris

Hello John I grew up a few miles further up the line (at East Stanley) and the only thing I can remember apart from Class 37s is when a Class 31 brought Prince Charles on the Royal Train up to Consett. That must put me in the 'youngster' category . My dad took me to Consett to get a glimpse of the heir to the throne but I was more interested in the train. I can't exactly remember when that was but it was probably just after the steelworks had closed. Anyhow, I've always had a keen interest in the railway between Stella Gill and Consett and I think your layout is superb as it gives me a visual understanding of what used to be there but had long gone when I was a kid. I moved away from the area many years ago and looking at the layout reminds me of the area I still consider to be 'home'. The quality of modelling is great - one of the best layouts on here in my opinion. Cheers Chris

Hello Tony, Well, as you mentioned it, I would love to get you started on golf given that ‘abhor’ is a very strong word to describe something that I enjoy and play regularly (or at least I would if I were permitted to at the moment). You really must dislike golf to suggest it is abhorrent. Admittedly there are still probably some nasty old boys who frequent some stuffy ‘old school tie’ establishments, but not all golf clubs are like that. At least none of the golf clubs that allow the likes of me in are like that. Perhaps the game has a reputation which, in the main, is no longer accurate, just like magazines dating from before I was born? My other main interest is of course scratchbuilding 4mm scale ex-Hull and Barnsley Railway locomotives from bits of brass. Is this any less odd than hitting a small ball around a big field into 18 holes? As far as I am concerned both activities are rather strange and eccentric when you strip them down to their component parts, but I also view them as being as harmless as each other to wider society. Each to their own and all that…. All the best, Chris

To echo what Mick has said, I have also used a 52F chassis on a Dave Alexander tender and it makes a huge difference to the haulage capacity of the loco (which in my case is a J27). The 52F chassis runs in proper frame bearings and is far more free running than was the case when the tender had the old whitemetal sub-frame. I think the 52F chassis cost me around ten quid so not a huge outlay for improved performance. Cheers Chris

Ah, that looks a lot different to my home-made bodge. I'll be in touch Arthur....

Hi Duncan As someone who falls into the 'I haven't got enough room for a layout' category, I have always been drawn to layouts like Croft Depot because they prove that you don't necessarily needs loads of space to achieve something that is both realistic and believable. It certainly inspired me to have a go. I'm currently kicking some ideas around for a small EM layout, but whether the ideas result in something getting built remains to be seen. Thanks Chris

Looks good Paul. Is it one of Mr Alexander's kits?

Thanks Jon - I think your lubricator looks spot on. As I have just mentioned to Mick I don't think I'll bother with the pipes. My eyesight is pretty good but not that good!!

Thanks Mick - looking at the prototype in the photo I don't think you will see the pipes modelled in 4mm scale by me either!! The dome is one of Arthur's and I think it looks OK to the naked eye. I'm not changing it. Cheers Chris

The J71 has had its chassis repainted, brakes re-fitted and I've covered up the 'Romford' wheel nuts with some little brass thingies from Comet. It is still way too cold to think about painting the D22 although I can't decide if it is too cold for the paint or just too cold for me - probably both. Here is a final picture of the D22 prior to painting. Last night I fitted brakes to both the loco and the tender. The lubricator on the footplate was made from scrap brass and a spare handwheel. I assume that the lubricator would have had some pipework attached to it but I can't find and photographs that are clear or detailed enough to tell. Any ideas what should be there? I'm quite pleased with the D22 given that it was a bit of an afterthought to use up some spare driving wheels.... Cheers Chris

The D22 and F8 are ready for painting but I need the weather to improve considerably before this will happen. I had a few spare hours today and turned my attention to a couple of things that have been loitering at the back of my workbench for some months. Back on page 4 or 5 I posted a picture of a Mainline/Mainly Trains J71 that I have been fiddling with off and on for a few years. I mentioned that I had improved the running by fitting some new pickups but, in all honesty, it still ran like a bag of old nails despite many hours of tinkering. I had built this as a rigid chassis in the days before I had discovered and understood hornblocks. So, I have stripped off the paint, fitted hornblocks on the front two axles with a very simple single compensation beam, and it drives off a fixed rear axle with the original 1024 motor and 54:1 gearbox. The running is now much better - problem solved. The 'fun' part was getting the gearbox out of the frames without taking the chassis to bits (it was necessary to get the gearbox out to have a starting point for aligning the Hornblocks by using the coupling rods in LRM axle jigs). The gearbox is one of the older High Level designs where the final drive gear was glued to the axle with Loctite 603 which had set solid. I loosened the gear by heating it up with a soldering iron. Tip - if you do this make sure you get out the way of the fumes given off by the glue..... Here is the J71 sitting on its new compensated chassis. An acceptable model given the limitations of the old Mainline body. Also back on pages 4 and 5 I rambled on about restoring an old K's Y8. This resulted in an unused replacement boiler which got turned into the basis for a new loco. I put this to one side with the intention of getting round to it at some point. Today I managed to get a rolling chassis and fit a few detail bits like handrails and castings. The wheels are too big and are just some old Romfords that I am using at the building stage before fitting the correct size Gibsons. The chassis will drive off a fixed rear axle. The front axle is in hornblocks and can rock on a fixed beam. I think it already looks better than the old Ks job despite the temporary oversize wheels. It is very small for a 4mm scale loco - it is 70mm in length over the buffers. Cheers Chris

Its been a while since this thread was last updated. My dad built the body of a High Level Armstrong Whitworth shunter about 12 months ago and gave it to me to build the chassis and make it work. Thanks!! The loco has been finished as No. 2 as preserved at Tanfield (minus the lining) and hopefully it won't be too long before it can be delivered to its native North East to keep the model of Twizell company. I ended up half-making my own chassis after struggling with the chassis in the kit. Like all High Level stuff the chassis is superbly designed but it is designed to take 2mm axles. I assume that these would have been available at some point (Sharman, perhaps?) I initially used Alan Gibson L&Y Pug wheels which are designed to be used with a standard 1/8th inch axle. Alan Gibson supply bushes which reduce the axle bore from 1/8th inch to 2mm but unfortunately I couldn't get on with these and the thing wobbled all over the place. This is entirely down to my ham-fistedness rather than any issues with the kit. To cut a very long story short I ended up damaging the original chassis and using some of it (jackshaft, connecting rods, motor etc) and using the original frames as a template to make new frames which can accommodate 1/8th axles and Markits wheels. On the new 'home brewed' chassis the jackshaft is quartered and connected to the front driving wheels (as on the prototype) rather than using the 'illusodrive' system in the kit. With the benefit of hindsight it may have been better to just ream out the axle holes on the original chassis to accept 1/8th bearings in the first place before starting to build it. The main thing is that it has turned out OK in the end and it runs well (and apologies to Chris G for making a right old mess of his kit)!! Cheers Chris

1068 Class 'Gamecock' One of my earlier attempts at scratchbuilding was a North Eastern Railway '1068' class. The prototypes were originally built in 1875 for the NER Central Division and became known as 'Gamecocks' due to the plucky way they tackled the hilly stretches of line adjacent to the Yorkshire Moors. Well, at least that what it says in 'Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway' by John S. Maclean. The book contains some wonderful pictures and drawings of early locomotives. The NER had some nice 2-4-0 locomotives such as classes 1068, 40 & 686, plus the more familiar 901 and Tennant engines. A look in my spares box suggested that I had some old wheels the correct size to have a go at making a 1068. The class was built in 1875 and most were scrapped in the early 1900s and I've not been able to find many photographs. The few pictures that I have been able to find suggest that all 6 members of the class had subtle differences and were probably all re-built in some way during their existence. My '1068' is based on a photograph of No. 1050 which by that time had received some modifications and a newer boiler and fittings. I originally painted the model in NER lined black, but in reality they probably didn't carry that livery. Here is a picture of the '1068' as built trying to pull some carriages out of Buckingham station - I think that Tony Gee took the picture and I'm sure he won't mind me showing it here. This was a couple of years ago and my memory suggests it struggled and needed banking assistance. To be fair, the loco's small size means that it doesn't weigh much and it only has a Mashima 1015 motor, and Buckingham's carriages are pretty heavy. Over the past few weeks I have been plodding away giving the '1068' a repaint into something more in line with the photograph in the Maclean book. It still isn't 100% accurate because I don't have the required painting skills to give it the full 'pre-Worsdell' NER livery. However, it looks a bit better than it did in lined black and it is OK from normal viewing distance, and it makes a change from the late '20s/early '30s LNER stuff that I make. It needs a coat of varnish to seal-in the transfers, then some cab glazing and the crew sticking back in the cab. Then it will probably go back into its box for a while. Now, back to the D22 and F8...... Cheers Chris

Hello Paul I would echo what others have said about using a 52F chassis. I have a 52F chassis on my old Nu Cast G5 and it is excellent. It makes a huge difference to both the running and appearance of what was at best an OK model. I don't have any knowledge of 52F's J21 kit but, assuming it follows the same design principle as the G5 chassis, it may include a gearbox which is integral to the chassis (thus avoiding the need to spend money on a separate gearbox). Don't be put off by how fiddly the 52F stuff looks - it is really well designed and the instructions are very comprehensive with lots of diagrams. Good luck with which ever option you choose. Always good to see another NER modeller on here.... Cheers Chris

Tony, under normal circumstances I don't think I would have been so prolific. In reality, if it wasn't for the restrictions on daily life, things like the J79 and Y8 wouldn't have seen the light of day for many years. Work and other real life events have been challenging to say the least in the past 9 months, and sitting down and making things has been a welcome release. I've just remembered that I also made a LRM Hull & Barnsley Railway horsebox. Looking at the above pictures I reckon that I've fitted a Westinghouse pipe to the D22 buffer beam rather than a Vacuum pipe. I'll change it tomorrow. I should have also mentioned that the D22 tender is an Arthur K kit - only the loco is scratchbuilt.

Evening All, here is a round-up of what I have managed to produce in 2020. I have always 'made stuff' but most of this has been under the radar. After some gentle arm twisting I finally took the plunge and started posting pictures of my work on RMWeb. This couldn't have come at a better time as it has been the source of much interaction during a period when it has been in short supply. I started off 2020 by finishing off a scratchbuilt J78 crane tank which had been kicking around the back of my workbench for a couple of years. This was followed by a scratchbuilt N12. Restoration of an old Connoisseur Models J79. I originally built this a few years ago - the body was OK but I made a right hash of the chassis. A new scratchbuilt chassis was made and it now runs a lot better. A 2mm finescale tar wagon for Laurie Adams. This is a 3-D printed body on a 2mm Association underframe. In an ideal world this would have been delivered to Laurie many months ago but it is unfortunately still in my possession. Another restoration job - this is an old Ks Y8 that my late grandfather made 40+ years ago. It never ran very well so I made a new chassis and fitted it with a small High Level gearbox and motor, and it is now much better. It isn't the best model but it has some sentimental value. A scratchbuilt LNER D24..... was followed by a scratchbuilt LNER A7.... and a 2mm scale house. My current scratchbuild projects are a D22... and F8.... I'm not a regular contributor to Wright Writes so I hope you don't mind me posting my 2020 pictures here. One thing is clear though - I think I need to get out more..... Cheers Chris

Just to add to the conversation about tenders, I have made some progress with a North Eastern Kits tender for the D22. I know that Arthur looks at this thread periodically so I'm happy to be corrected by the kit designer himself if I've managed to make a pigs ear of it. In all honesty the tender is so well designed that it is probably harder to get it wrong than get it right. I haven't built the chassis that was supplied with the kit yet because I'm waiting for some bearings and wheels from Alan Gibson. The tender is currently plonked on top of a 52F chassis that my Dave Alexander J27 tender usually sits on - I think the tender in the picture below is sitting slightly too high but that will get sorted when I build the chassis that came with the kit. As an aside, the 52F tender chassis greatly improves the running qualities of the J27 compared to the 'whitemetal lump' chassis that was supplied in Dave's kits - far less weight and drag for the loco to deal with. Anyhow, I think I said in my last posting about the D22 that my next job was going to be loco brakes and cab handrails. Clearly I haven't done any of that, but I've knocked up a tender body for the D22 and 75% of an F8 instead, so I haven't exactly been idle. I have also decided that the D22 will be a model of No. 1542 because I thought it looked better with tapered NER buffers rather than the LNER group standard buffers that were fitted to No. 663 in the period being modelled, plus there is handy side-on photo in the RCTS book to refer to. No. 1542 had Ross Pop safety valves which has allowed me to nick the the brass trumpet for the F8. Just noticed that one of the front buffers is wonky and a couple of the castings need a small amount of work to straighten them up before they are stuck down. Getting there though....

Sounds fun

Probably a bit late if you are going to go with the LRM trucks, but here is a picture of the Gibson frames. Unfortunately you can't see a great deal of the frames with the wheels/motor/gears in the way. Front axle is in Gibson sprung hormblocks with 2mm axle bore and a bit of side play. Rear axle is in a home brewed pony truck. In the absence of being able to see anything I have drawn a basic outline of the frames below. Something to be aware of is the fact the frames have a very high profile above the driving wheels - possibly prototypical but unnecessary for a 4mm scale model.

I would try the LRM radial trucks in the existing frames in the first instance, especially if the issue is with the front and rear axles rather than the driving wheels. I only used the Gibson frames because I had them to hand.

Thanks for the information. I don't have any of the North Eastern Record books for reference but I agree that the cab cut out on the Railway Modeller drawing doesn't look quite right when compared to photographs of F8s. I can't put my finger on what the issue is - is it too large, or is it something to do with the radius of the corners? I tend not to use drawings that much although if I can get my hands on a fairly accurate drawing I will use it. I usually start out by doing my own drawing, using the RCTS books for the key measurements like wheelbase, size of wheels, length over buffers etc, and then scale the rest from photographs.

Mick, the side tanks are approximately 16mm. I have used a drawing which was published in the September 1972 Railway Modeller magazine. I don't have the magazine but Peco charged me a few quid for a photocopy of the drawing - worth having for what it costs. I assume the drawing is accurate.... According to the RM drawing the cab sides are approx. 26mm, and the measurement from footplate to the highest point of the cab front (i.e. in between the 2 cab spectacles) is approx. 30mm. I'll take a picture of the frames this evening but please be aware of the point I made earlier about the loco sitting too high on Gibson frames if you were thinking about getting some. The other issue with the Gibson frames is the fact they are made from very thick brass, so you might have to use slightly thinner spacers if you want the loco to go round tight curves, or somehow narrow the frames at the front and rear.

Not much progress to report with the D22. I will hopefully make a start on the tender shortly. I have bought a tender from Arthur/North Eastern Kits as I don't see the point in making my own when an excellent kit is available. A few years ago (probably more) I built a F8 2-4-2 tank. The body was scratchbuilt but I used Alan Gibson frames. The chassis never really ran as well as I would have liked for several reasons. I originally used Gibson sprung hornblocks which I found had too much 'slop' within the horn guides. I ended up ditching the Gibson frames and making my own. There is a picture of the F8 sitting on its home made frames earlier on in this thread (I think on page 2 or 3). The result was of course that I had a spare set of Alan Gibson F8 frames which I kept looking at thinking that I really ought to make use of. The original frames had cut-outs for sprung hornblocks on all 4 axles. I have found over time that I prefer to have the motor/gearbox attached to a fixed axle, so I've blanked off the rear driving axle cut-outs and fitted rigid frame bearings. The front driving axle is now in my preferred High Level hornblocks with a beam for a little bit of compensation. The rear axle uses the pony truck dodge that I described a couple of pages ago. The chassis is basically a 0-6-2 but without the front wheels coupled to the middle wheels. I also thought that the Alan Gibson frames as supplied made the original F8 body sit 1mm to high, so they had this much shaved off the top before being soldered back together. Everything else that you see below was stuff that I found in my spares box including the wheels, motor and gears. The gears are a single stage 50:1 Branchlines motor mount - slightly 'old school' compared to a High Level gearbox - but it runs well enough after sticking lots of lead in the tanks and boiler. The driving wheels were also out of the spares box and eagle-eyed North Eastern Railway aficionados might notice they have a couple too many spokes but this is barely noticeable, especially when it is moving. So, here is the 'Spares Box Special F8' which has effectively cost nowt to build up to this point. Admittedly I would have bought the parts that I've used at some point but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I haven't bought anything specifically for this model this time around. I am going to have to spend a few quid to buy some castings to finish it off though..... Cheers Chris

I have made a bit of progress with the D22 in the past week. The bogie and front frames have been fitted although they still need some detailing. The main development is the fact it now works. I have gone for a High Level Roadunner Compact Plus gearbox and one of Chris's cheaper 1020 motors. The small gearbox allows the motor to sit low down in the splashers which gives plenty of room for lead in the boiler and some much needed weight. I have decided to stick with the whitemetal roof shown in the previous picture. At the end of the day it is a good fit and adds additional weight, but I have filed off the detail and made it into something more appropriate for the LNER period. The 'spares box' LNER group standard buffers of unknown origin in the previous picture have been replaced with some better looking ones from Lanarkshire Models. I have decided that the loco will be based on No. 663 which had GS buffers and a polished brass safety valve trumpet in the period being modelled. Cab handrails and brakes next.