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Florence Locomotive Works

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  1. Florence Locomotive Works

    Back from the depths

    By Florence Locomotive Works,


    starting again
    Hello all,
     
    Rotations around the sun were made. Lathes were bought. Watchmaker training was undergone. A new job was found. But all this has now put me in the position to come back to this blog, or at least the SE&CR. 
     
    Not long after the last entry in June 2021 I cancelled my order with Rails of Sheffield for a D class as I needed the money for other stuff, so the project stalled, and eventually all the engines were sold out. That was until Saturday morning when I opened my inbox to find to my shock that several of the Locomotion editions had been found in the dark passages of the Rails warehouse. And I thought to myself, well, there's no getting out of this! 
     
    Needless to say I placed an order.
     
     
    Now, I'm not planning on actually finishing this layout as between school and work I haven't got the time. However during my apprenticeship as a watch and clockmaker I learned the art of making very very small metal parts by hand, and to make them look really nice as well. So the intention is I'll do a post or maybe a few of fitting more detail to Ye Olde Wainwright. I'll be starting with remaking the linkage under the Westinghouse pump. This will be made from steel as the original would've been, and highly polished using abrasive stones and ruby's. 
     
     
    Here is the linkage in question, rather plastic looking in my opinion.
     

     
    The linkage will be colored to match the coupling rods as well, through a process called bluing. As these are small components I'll be bluing them using brass rather than oil quenching. I'll explain in much greater detail later when we get to that stage. Metal draw hooks are also to be made.
     
    updates are to follow soon.
     
     
    Douglas
  2. Florence Locomotive Works
    Hello all,
     
     
    I have in recent past been wondering how bad it was for the engines to be stood on these sometimes very inhospitable piers, which invariable at times had spray wafting over them. But that is not really the point of this post. The point is, what shall the passenger train terminating at West Drizzlington consist of?
     
    Due to the confines of the layout its operating potential would be severely impaired if two Bachmann SE&CR birdcages coaches were used as was recommended to me by @Edwardian, and the normal consist of three would not be usable. So the only remaining option then would either to have some funny arrangement where the the full set of three was used and the train was split once it entered the station, with the end carriage going in the long bay platform and the other two being shunted around the island, until the carriage in the bay had emptied. The loco could then draw this away and move in another coach.
     
    There is also another possible format.
     

     
    Above, SE&CR D class number 494, built by Dubs & Co as works number 4342 in April 1903 and rebuilt as class D1 in August 1921. 
    Seen on a boat train at Admiralty Pier, Dover on May 5th 1905.
    From Getty Images, Embedding Permitted.
     
     
    The above photo appears to show a consist of SE&CR six wheelers behind a D class, which would give me a excellent excuse to make a purchase of a set from Hattons. This would give more operational scope and fit the era in which I am modelling, which is pre lined dark lake. I think three six wheelers would be able to fit in the bay platform, and wouldn't look to short behind the engine. The thoughts of @Nearholmer and @Mikkel and any other pre grouping experts would be much appreciated on this matter. I also have a thread on coaches pulled behind the D class linked in the RSS feed.
     
     
    Progress has also been made on the layout, as the first engine ran upon it on Sunday. This engine was my Bachmann 3f, and it was used to test how much glue I had spilled on the rails. Not much it turned out, and now only the bottom set of frog contacts on the point going into the bay platform need cleaning, as I haven't gotten to those yet. A suitable piece of wood has also be found for the platform. Here's a video of a test run.
     
     
     
    Douglas
     
  3. Florence Locomotive Works
    Hello all,
     
     
    Over the past few days ballasting has been done, to a passable finish. I'm using some type of Woodland Scenics grey fine stone ballast, which comes out a bit "shiny" so I need to hunt around in the garage for my airbrush and its new needle, and then track weathering will start taking place. I think this should look much better than the brush method of painting track as the sleepers wont rub against the paint which gives me at last annoying brass streaks on my rusty rails. 
     

     

     
    Obviously there is still a lot of cleaning up to do, and in the above photo is a good example of how the ballast looks to new. I have also used track pins rather than glue, this was needed as some of the foam unglued itself from the middle of the baseboard creating a rebellious hill that refused to be flattened, as did the track that goes over it. Parts of baseboard also need painting green probably, or I will just cover the area in dirt from outside, glued down with my PVA mix. 
     

     
    I also put the long platform and station building in for a test, just to see how it all looked. The result I think is good, but obviously the second one needs adding! The long platform also has the remnants of its paper brick coverings upon it, which will be scraped off soon. Part, well actually most of the station building needs weathering still, I did this with a pretty heavy black acrylic wash applied in ludicrous amounts everywhere and then lightly wiped with a cloth. I think it gives quite a good affect, and leaves lots of "soot" on the horizontal surfaces. The interior has yet to be sorted, but I'm thinking just putting black paper inside to stop it glowing, and hope the viewers attention is drawn more to the tracks than the building. 
     
    Today some running might be done with my Bachmann 3f to test how clean the track is.
     
     
    Douglas
     
     
  4. Florence Locomotive Works
    Edwin Beard Budding was among other things, the inventor of the lawnmower. Oh and the adjustable spanner. However the first of those two would have been of greater use to me tonight as tonight the vast majority of the Woodland Scenics grass was scrapped of the board, creating a smaller than predicted mess. Most of it has been saved and will be reused. 
     
    I am not entirely sure how useful a lawnmower in such small a scale would be at removing said grass,  but it was something to think about.
     
    Below we see the station area with a small clump that still needs cleaning. And some cheeky Daleks.
     

     
     
    Various excavations in the hill have also bee done, one of them quite major. This big one will probably have a plasticard retaining wall built around it.  The strawberry load platform will go in a bit further east. The second much smaller excavation was made to level out the up line approach to the tunnel, as it was really rather wonky. 
     

     
     
    Station and Building plans:
     
    The current platform consists of a wooden board which is profiled to look like a platform, and covered in brick paper. Not a great solution, as it peels very easily and the grains int he wood are visible through the paint atop the board. So I intend to, at least once I've scavenged the second platform, sand both down to a more acceptable look, and they will then probably be covered in modelling putty. Does anybody know if the SE&CR ever covered the bricks of its platforms in plaster ( @Edwardian, Honorable Mayor, your assistance would be much appreciated with such matters). The station as you see has some very large windows in it which let in not insignificant amounts of light into its cavernous interior, so these will need blocking over with curtains of something, which I will probably have to draw and get one of my friends who's good at art to color. Part of the station is also totally unsupported, and steps need adding from the street into it. 
     
    As for the street, I'm working on a plan. It will certainly be of the hard compacted paved looking pale dirt type, with street lights on the edge of the board, and people walking along with a delivery carriage passing by. The carriage and horse I already have, both are from Dart Castings. People I have yet to acquire, and I need practice painting figures, but when the time comes I hope to get them from Andrew Stadden. Not thought has yet been given to the provision of horse droppings in the street. 
     
    Douglas
     
     
     
     
  5. Florence Locomotive Works
    ...or something to that affect.
     
    Hello all,
     
     
    While I was not whitewashing anything recently, I have done a good but of track painting. Or I was until I ran out of brown paint, and as it’s Memorial Day today none was to be had. However the results so far are looking quite good, especially as this is only the second time I have ever painted track. Although I know now that it should really be done once the track is glued or pinned down permanently.
     

     
    A cutting has also been made in the hill for the street to pass through. This was done using my Japanese pull saw that I got for Christmas, it’s one of the few times I’ve had the chance to use it, and it made an excellent cut. That area along with the area behind the soon to be retaining wall have been lightly brushed in a red earthy color, to make the hill look less like a giant piece of chalk. 
     

     
    Ballasting and adding of greenery was due to be done today, I typically do this outside as I find ballasting in particular to be an extremely messy business. However it ended up raining today, so that will be out off until Thursday probably, after the area under the tracks has been painted.
     
    ( @Edwardian, Honorable Mayor, what would be the best color for the area not covered in ballast in an medium sized SECR station?)
     
    Douglas
  6. Florence Locomotive Works
    Hello all,
     
    After nearly two years of messing about with coarse scale O gauge, I finally saw the light last night and ordered a SECR D class from Rails of Sheffield.
     
    But of course, it needs a layout!
     
     
    The layout is set in a big town along the SECR, or at least one large enough to warrant a D class. The town is situated near Toad Hall, so often gets some unusual motorcars arriving via LNWR motorcar carrying vans from Liverpool, with their contents destined for the Hall. 
     
    I decided to base the layout here as Wind in the Willows is what initially got me into British railways and away from German ones. But that's all the backstory for now, onto some real work.
     
     
     
    Trackplan:
     
    The image below shows the current arrangement, which I think is the one I will stick with. It is a bit strange looking, but I couldn't afford to buy more track so here we are. Some will see that the baseboard is my old Broad Gauge diorama, which ended up not happening. However it is now being put to good use.
     

     
    It is thought that another platform will be added up the middle, so a "branch" train can dock there.
     
     
    Scenery:
     
    On the left of the layout is a twin track tunnel portal, which forms the scenic break no that side. The other side is the station, a Vollmer "werkstatt" I bought off eBay some years ago. It doesn't quite fill up the entire length of the board, so something similar to what @Mikkel has done with The Farthing Layouts, in terms of a street outside the station. On the other side of the tunnel is also about 8 inches of unused length which will probably form some sort of fiddle yard.
     

     
     
    As the time period is 1907, market gardens would still have been plying there trade, so I'm thinking of building a wooden platform into the hillside from whence strawberry's and other such things can be loaded into an express van for London. Some suitable farming folk would also be placed here. As I'm brand new to SECR modelling, I don't know very much about what their stations looked like, so if this building is totally out of line then I apologize. I'm also not sure what color the area under the track should be painted, but I'm guessing gray is probably pretty likely, but if anybody knows please say so.
     
    Obviously the station needs a wash applied on one side as well I see now. It like this as it was on a previous micro layout were those parts were covered or not viewed by anyone. Who new German bricks were so yellow though!
     
     
    Rolling Stock/Motive Power
     
    Coaching stock will hopefully consist of some nice SECR bogie coaches from Bachmann, as I grew up seeing these in the Railway Children movie. Actually quite a lot of the railway stuff seen in that is from the SECR, probably why I'm now modelling it.
     
    Goods stock will consist of my modest collection of private owner wagons and vans, although I hope to add some SECR ones, and maybe a milk tanker.
     
    Motive power will be the D class, as I can't afford anything else.
     
     
    That's all for this entry, I now leave you with this shot looking towards the station.
     

     
     
     
    Douglas
  7. Florence Locomotive Works
    Greetings one and all,
     
    After nearly a years absence, I have returned to this blog. The layout has been many things in the past year. 
     
    1. A urban midland railway terminus.
     
    2. A large piece of clutter on the breakfast room table. 
     
    It was supposed to be that layout on which my MR Kirtley Goods would run upon, but for various reasons that won’t be happening.
     
    So the plan is to go back to the Liverpool & Manchester.
     
    What all needs doing?
     
    The track ripping up for a start. Then some plaster can be filled in up to sleeper height. A proper powered sector plate also needs making. 
     
    And rolling stock needs acquiring. 
     
    The John Bull, or as she is now, Atlas needs a proper Stephenson tender, and the motor needs to go elsewhere. Or is it possible to get the motor from another era 1 Bachman engine and stuff it inside a 3d printed shell? 
     

     
    Atlas without tender.
     

     
    The left side of the layout.
     

     
    The right side.
     
    But I hear the masses cry, what all, if anything, has been done in the past 11 months?! 
     
    Well, virtually everything got some much needed weathering, including the station. 
     

     
    A wagon turntable for the pleasure of Cyril the shunting horse is also being constructed in the Florence Ave Locomotive Works. 
     

     
    The big overall plan for the future is to super detail the layout to a reasonable standard. Eventually some Prussian coaches probably will be acquired, along with possibly a Patentee, but for now I’m happy with Atlas. 
     
    Douglas
  8. Florence Locomotive Works
    So here is the entry where I explain in excruciatingly boring detail, how I plan to do this. There are three main winches:
    1. Most forward, controls the movement of the “crab”, forwards.
    2. Middle, controls the vertical movement of the load, and will be the one being powered in this build.
    3. Rear most, controls the backwards movement of the crab.
     
    The middle winch is driven from a shaft below the large gear. On one end of this shaft, I have placed a large pulley, with a band drive going down to the engine room subfloor to another pulley on a crank, to demonstrate to the investors (or the part of me that thinks I’m insane for doing this) that it works. This crank in time will be replaced with a shaft and another pulley connected to the engine. As for the engine it’s currently in the custody of Royal Mail. It needs a new flywheel, and I have to order a new globe valve so I can regulate the speed. Both of these are coming from Stuart Models. Unfortunately the inlet and outlet ports are threaded 1/4-32 tpi which isn’t exactly the most common ME thread, and Stuart’s are of course the only people who make anything in that size. So I had to cave to there rather high price. The engine seen the picture is a Microcosm Q1, which I’m think about selling. Oh and if anyone wants to know about the book on the canal comment below and I’ll put everything about it in the next entry, probably tomorrow. 
     
    stay healthy,
    Douglas



  9. Florence Locomotive Works
    Around this time last year, I was wandering through a huge used bookstore in Spokane, Washington (state, not D.C.), when I came upon a souvenir book from the opening of the Panama Canal. It’s one of the most interesting finds I’ve ever made, and has served me well whenever I want to know about how to combat yellow fever and the like. It’s exceptionally well illustrated, and one of the pictures that caught my eye was of the these things known as “Chamber Cranes.” These where placed inside what would become Mira-Flores Locks and would lift the large concrete blocks to build them. I found these things to be quite interesting, and very Meccano-esk. 
     
    Since I was about seven, I have amassed a very large collection of Meccano sets and a few Dinky Toys. I’d made a few big things before, notably a large howitzer. But these didn’t really do much. I wanted to do something with moving parts, and remembered the Chamber Cranes in my book. 
     
    So in September I began construction on my Chamber Crane. It’s not a 100 percent accurate model, but is sizable. It’s about 3 1/2 ft tall and nearly 4 ft long. So two months later it was finished. It then sat languishing around the house until February, when I found an excuse to use it for a school project. So it went to school, and was promptly impounded for two months because of quarantine. The school refused to let me retrieve it, even though others were allowed to retrieve that which they had left inside, I was most annoyed, but I have it back now. (I’m a student, not a teacher)
     
    I always had ambitions to motorise it, and even tried a few times, but I found that the modernish Meccano electric motors that I had where underpowered, so for the time I gave up. Then I was then sent a private offer on eBay for a Stuart Models S.T. Oscillating Engine, essentially a single cylinder live steam engine, only two and a half inches tall. These were first made in about 1924, I think, and where sold by both Stuart Models and Bassett-Lowke. They were almost always advertised as either marine engines, or for powering Meccano Models.
    So I went ahead and bought it, yesterday, actually. I then got the idea for using live steam on the crane, and began building a base for the engine and boiler. Boiler is off a Wilesco d6, and the engine seen there is an MSM Avon twin oscillating engine. I’ll describe my plans for it the next entry, as this one is quite long already.  
     
    Stay healthy,
    Douglas
    *I called it this after the “Titan” cranes at multiple British shipyards.



  10. Florence Locomotive Works
    REPOST
    image issues
     
     
    As I said in my last entry, I wasn’t very happy with the screw, or propeller, whichever you prefer. So after a few hours bumbling around on Shapeways, I concluded that it would take to long for them to print one. As I would have to ask the designer to scale down those design to my requirements, and then this would have to be put in the system. So I decided to make do with what I had.
     
    As far as I know, there are only two ways of mounting a propeller to the lower stern. The first and most common, is for the screw to be mounted on the very end of the prop shaft, with the outermost bearing inside the hull taking the majority of the screws weight. The second and less common method, is for there to be two bearings.
     
    This method is most commonly used when the rudder shaft and the outermost bearing are part of the same casting of forging, ill put a photo in a comment (it refused to be put in the blog itself) of what this piece looks like.  So instead of just the one bearing, there are two taking the weight. But that is not my reason for the this. Since this model is designed to float, the screw mounting needed to be very durable, and I think I’ve achieved that. 
     
    I thought about actually hollowing out the hull and making a nonfunctional cosmetic interior, but decided against it for a few reasons. Chiefly I don’t currently own a morticing drill, and the only other way I know of hollowing out wood uses a the fire method, which I can’t say I wanted to try. I also looked at using a clockwork motor in it, but all mine are designed to drive vehicles, so the output shaft is on the wrong axis. I even measured my smallest one, and it’s just millimeters to tall, but I would have had to hollow out the hull, see above reason. So all that’s left to do is a few cost of polyurethane varnish, to stop it sinking. 
     
    Stay healthy, 
     
    Douglas


  11. Florence Locomotive Works
    I called this entry a decapitated cobra because that’s the best way I’ve found to explain to people what a cowl ventilator looks like. In other words the castings have finally arrived from Ontario, and they aren’t the greatest ever, few holes here and there. But they’ll do, even if the best way I’ve found of attaching them to the deck is with super glue. From the bow heading aft towards the stern, there are two just in front of the bow winches, then two larger ones just forward of the funnel, and then the same size in front of the aft winches, and a single one on the stern island. The propellor has also arrived, and is mildly undersized, so I’m thinking about getting one printed in brass off shapeways. Portholes in the form of peco track pins have also been added, in the same rough layout as shown on the Bassett-Lowke model. I based mine off there’s and what I think the dimensions are. So as of now it’s completed, but there is still the issue of varnishing and ballast. Also in the yard is a Mersey Docks and Harbor Board steam bucket dredger, which is almost finished. 
     
    Stay healthy,
    Douglas





  12. Florence Locomotive Works
    If this doesn’t fit in with the forum, sorry, I can delete it if needed.
     
    I’ve always liked steamships, specifically cargo ships from the turn of the century. And I’ve scratch built my fare share of ships, mostly none than 3 inches long. Then a year ago I made a half hull model of a the first Blue Funnel ship, Agamemnon of 1865.
    It was all wood and brass, but I still wanted to do a full hull model. Something very much like the Bassett-Lowke ship pictured below. So today I began that endeavor, and two and 1/2 hours in, here we are. The hull has been shaped, but is to tall, this will hopefully be rectified by the removal of the raised bits on the bow and stern, (called islands) and then the shaded area will be cut away, lowering the appearance, and some more material will come off the keel. I’m open to suggestions as to what shipping line to paint it. It will be completely made from wood and metal, no plastic allowed. 

     


  13. Florence Locomotive Works
    The ship is now 85 percent complete. Next it will be moved to the fitting out berth. After it has arrived there, many ancillary detail items will be added, these include: windlasses, winches, anchors and chain, cowl ventilators (photo below), and a propeller. Since this model can also float, ballast will have to be added, I’ve already started this long and lesions process however. Also in the yard is the hull for a tug boat, but I made a fearful mess of cutting the hull so that is currently, err, undecided? The ship is painted in the colors of Brocklebank Line, which whom my grandfather sailed during 1962-63, at the very end of the good times in shipping. A photo of his ship will be below, it photographed on its way to the breakers yard in Turkey, summer 1967. 
     
    Stay healthy,
    Douglas




  14. Florence Locomotive Works
    A few months ago I bought an old Keyser GWR Beyer goods, and it was pretty awful. So I in my infinite wisdom decided to make it even more awful. I hacked it up into a London Chatham & Dover Railway small Scotchman. And I was quite happy with it. Then it got in a rather bad accident, mostly wrecking it. So I began the process of reassembly, and promptly got bored and stopped. So it been languishing in a corner for a few months. It doesn’t have many redeeming qualities in terms of scale, but I did splash and buy some Gibson wheels, which was an excellent decision. The last photo is just after it was completed (I haven’t a clue why it uploads upside down)  and the others are after the crash. The quartering is a bit err, unusual, and if anybody knows the manufacturer of some outside cranks I would be very interested.
     
    Stay healthy,
    Douglas



  15. Florence Locomotive Works
    It’s finally finished, even though it didn’t take that long. The side batches have been added, sometimes these have been substituted in museums for heavy duty glass, so that the public can see inside. The generator side is all done and painted, now a small box is needed for the switches. All that is left now is to find a suitable spot in the mill  and plumb it in to the steam lines, I’ll post a picture in the next entry, which will hopefully be when the motive power comes wandering in courtesy of USPS. Actually I’m not even sure if it’s left Europe, so that will be interesting!
     
    stay healthy,
    Douglas


  16. Florence Locomotive Works
    I decided on using a sheet of brass for the stator housing, even though it’s probably too thick. I might add some more detail around it to break up the monotony. As for the engine, it’s been painted, but there will be a few more hatches that need to added, and will be painted in a different color. The pieces sticking up at the end of the base are supposed to be pickup brushes, and yes they look awful so will they shall be sacked for something more accurate. 
     
    Stay healthy,
    Douglas



  17. Florence Locomotive Works
    After watching many videos of mills in and around Gula Java, I have become jealous of their high speed fully enclosed steam engines driving generators, so I decided to make one for myself.  These engines were designed for 24hr high speed running at high rpm. So they are fully enclosed with a pressurized oil system. A small number of hospitals in the UK used them into the 90s, maybe even today. A few companies made them, the most prominent being Bellis & Morcom of Redditch, and W.H. Allen of London. Bellis seems to have made most of the engines in java, so mine will be of that maker, but Allen’s did make the generators for the Titanic, so you choose. The engine itself is scratch-built from wood on a styrene base. The black thing at the top is the steam inlet valve, unfortunately hiding most of the cylinder. The generator is an old armature out of an Gilbert Erector electric motor,
    the stator housing will be in part two, I need some advice as to how to make it. I’m still waiting for the motive power, which as I understand, is still locked in a DHL warehouse in Austria, or Chicago, possibly London, not sure. Also, I think I’ll get rid of the derrick on the right end of the layout, I’ve walked into twice today.
     



  18. Florence Locomotive Works
    More work has been completed, the puzzle of the cane in loaders has been solved. The first photo is of the unloading shed at Luabo, (found it on Grace’s Guide) and it baffles me. From my observation I could not possibly fathom how that thing could unload sugar cane. Then I found the second photo by chance, (of a mill in Cuba I think) and it made sense. It appears to have been patented by an American light railway company (Greggs), and used a lot in Cuba and Hawaii. The conveyor suspended from the roof throws the cane off the car and on to another conveyer, very simple actually, but probably extremely messy. I also added a scratch built Derrick, might add a donkey engine to it later. The third photo is my crude representation of the machine in its stored position. (I think the photos might be in order backwards, it won’t fix itself so my apologies about that)




  19. Florence Locomotive Works
    I’ve always been interested in African railways, and sugar mills, so this seemed like a pretty good compromise. It will eventually be a representation of the Sena Sugar Estates Luabo mill, located in the Zambezi delta of Mozambique. I decided on using HOe scale track for it, 
    and the motive power will be a Roco Henschel hf 110, disguises to look like a 2 foot gauge Fowler. The main long grey building is scratch built out of card and long bbq matches. The interior is, from left to right, The crushing bay, then going upstairs to the distilling room. Below the distilling room is the generator and boiler room.   The other buildings are mostly Kibri. On the end there is a portable engine based off one in a real photo which I can’t show here unfortunately, but I can link the Flickr account that has it. (It’s not my account).  The third photo is of the crushing mill.
     
    stay healthy,
    Douglas



  20. Florence Locomotive Works
    I've found a bit more information on the mill from the recent past, as there are few period photos of it. The first video is this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Nn3Lo8QdTE , produced by the revolutionary group RENAMO, showing one of there prominent members inspecting the now destroyed mill?  At 0:19, what I"m guessing is a Fowler heavy duty water cart, and at 0:27, there are a load of diesel shunters, Hunslett or Bagnall's? Then they go into the mill itself, and you can see the remains of a crushing engine, and a vacuum pump, all most likely made by Mirlees Watson & Co, Glasgow. The second video is this one, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIJPnwXFPpg&t=571s, skip to around 3:13 and you can see a Fowler Balance plough, which I'm guessing  wasn't taken when the Steam Plough Club came and repatriated most of the ploughing gear sometime in the 80's I think. As for my model, it had some scenery work done, and a bit more painting. The motive power is stuck in Germany right now do to global events, so there won't be much action until it arrives.
     
    Stay Healthy,
    Douglas
     
    (photo below is of a Fowler 0-4-2 and a Ploughing engine at Marromeu mill)
     
     

  21. Florence Locomotive Works
    As I’m stuck at home right now, and school doesn’t have much for me to do at the moment, I am moving on much faster than I anticipated. I suppose I should post an overall view of the “layout” (if it’s worthy of that title) to show what I’m working with. I have four of these rather lovely “cast iron” brackets, but I I’ve nothing to use them on, so I’m looking for suggestions. Probably not a canopy tho, as I think it would look wrong in such a small setting, but maybe not. I’ve also installed some hopefully temporary L&MR signaling, which I have no intention of making function. The station has been installed, I might convert it to a flat roof however. The building on the other end is half a tenement block I made from card and scrap ho window frames.
     
    Stay healthy,
     
    -Douglas



  22. Florence Locomotive Works
    The first picture is of my only current L&MR locomotive, Atlas. It started off life as a Bachmann John Bull (one of the first locos in the USA), which meant it had a cow catcher and headlamp the size of a stage light. These I removed within near minutes of acquisition, and they’re absence greatly improved the engine. I managed to find what appears to be a drawing made around 1896 of the John Bull when it first arrived. The dome was moved to over the inspection hole, and the inspection while moved over the firebox. Original York was the other way round. So I moved it back, and added an attempt at a salter spring safety valve. The tender need a lot more work, as it looks like a genuine garden shed when first acquired. After much deliberation I cut it in half, put black card around the top, and added coal dust. So now it’s not dragging around a shed, but the coal looks like it was made by the company who makes spam (the food).

  23. Florence Locomotive Works
    The cast iron brackets have found a home, above a workshop in the retaining wall. This area is based off the warehouse behind the L&MR’s Liverpool Road Station, and since it had many wagon turntables, one will eventually be added where the horse shunting is. At the other end of the yard a pipe has been installed from the  chimney of the stationary engine going into the annex of the station, where one assumes it is directed into the giant chimney-stack on top of said annex. So it probably now has a very fierce draft!
     
    Stay healthy, 
     
    -Douglas   


  24. Florence Locomotive Works
    The station has been puzzling me for a while now. Originality it was the building in pic 1, which I made out of card and wood around two years ago. (Canopy brackets are from Alexander models). I was just slightly obsessed with the GWR back then, hence why it might resemble that. I haven’t been able to find very much about L&MR stations at all, other than the one that’s a museum in Manchester. I did see an illustration of Liverpool Crown St., which I will probably use as the inspiration for this station. In pic 2 I have just set what I will probably use as the main building in place, and old Vollmer factory. Any advice on building it would be great though.  The red thing is a unpowered sector plate, which I’m to lazy to wire up, and it has an old Langley portable engine powering it.
     
     
    -Douglas
     
     
     


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