Timber

thank you everyone - much appreciated!

Hi - I am just starting to build a model of Fochriw Station on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway. As you will see from the attached signal plan the station had what appeared to be a sprung catch point on the main line..... Any clues as to the purpose of this?.....sorry I am not very savy on prototype matters. Given there was a goods shed on the single siding you would think that for shunting purposes engines would want to run in both directions through the passing loop.

yes - excellent book...and some great photos....but nothing on the goods shed (other than one distant distance of part of the front) or what the rear of the station looked like....I can guess on the station rear but the goods shed was a prominent structure and i need to get this right.

hello - sorry to jump in with a question but the title of this thread caught my eye. I am starting to build a model of Fochriw station, in B&M days. if anyone has any photos of the goods shed or back of the station then please can they let me know - happy to be contacted outside of thiis thread, either by direct message or on the post i have placed on Railways of Wales, rather then disrupt this flow. Thank you.

Hi sorry for the delayed response - unfortunately not....but thank you for replying. Sorry I should add that there is one picture in this book of Fochriw Goods Shed but not sufficient detail to build a model.

The second of the Sharp Stewart Small Saddle Tanks....number 11.

The Brecon and Merthyr Railway had two Number 11 engines. The model here replaced the original number 11 a Sharp Stewart 2-4-0 that was damaged after a derailment. Here are the two number 11 side by side.

Here is my latest Brecon and Merthyr Railway engine. Number 11 a Sharp Stewart Small Saddle Tank. A mix of etch and 3D prints painted in WW1 black livery

Hi, does anyone have any photos, sketches or plans of the goods shed at Fochriw?.......also any details of the back of the station building. If they are in a publication that I have missed then please point me in the right direction. Many thanks in advance.

This is great information - thank you. Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the "British Standards Institution’s specification that related to full size railway wheels" that was used behind the Manchester Profile.... Thank you to everyone for your help!!

I am having some tyres machined for my 3D printed wheels. It appears that pre-grouping the flange depth was 1 1/8". It also appeared that when the wheel became worn by more than 2" in diameter it was replaced. But given the wheel tyre must wear more than the flange would it be a correct assumption that on well used engines the flange depth would often be deeper than 1 1/8. Someone told me that the wheel would have to be re-profiled if the flange of depth became greater than 1 1/2" but I am not sure if that is based on any facts. Anyone who is more expert in prototype matters have a POV on this? Thanks in advance.

I used these guys... https://szdakunlun.en.alibaba.com/index.html?spm=a2700.shop_plgr.88.17 after postage and tax they came in at 30p each. If you look under their products they specialise in model railway wheels.....I did try them for tyres but they want very large quantities to get to a good price.... Proceed with caution, I have never had a bad experience on Alibaba but it is a more complex transaction than ebay.

Jim I have a load of 2mm (1.98mm to be precise) axles.....I got them made in China....I can post you some. But these are pin point so may not meet your requirements.... Maybe easier looking on Amazon and ebay for 2mm Dowel pins......you can get 100 2mm*45mm dowels for £11.00 (enough to make 50 wagons :-))

Cheers Steve - missed this as I have been distracted with some other activities. I find that this elegoo water washable shrinks at a consistant 1.1% so I just add that to my Lychee slicer. I also cure everything in water - it makes a very significant difference. I just drop the prints in a jam jar full of water and put under UV for 2 minutes. The saddle was printed at 15 um at a 45 degree angle - it took about 20 hours but it is very smooth. Photo was not great - my photography is not much better than my modelling. The wavy lines on the sddle are under the surface. I use a honeycomb technique to eradicate warping. I have the brass boiler fittings now but have decided to rework the etch so waiting on this now before I fit the motion....

Thanks Rosedale - Martin deserves the credit - it is amazing software. Given I have never built a proper layout and many people including yourself have built amazing layouts based on the wooden sleeper mechanism then that will probably always be a favourite. That said I have decided to build a proper layout, I am planning on making a model of Fochriw a small through station on the B&M. I started using Templot to plan the baseboards when I started looking at this system. I am going to give this system a go, it is still under development but it is going to be interesting. Hopefully I will have some more to show tomorrow....

Thank you Martin, will give this another go at the weekend. Your photos really help share the potential of this system. I think that if I just increase the chamfer a bit I will be good. The resin is what is on the printer - at the weekend I will swap to a grey resin.

The idea is that the chairs then drop into the sleepers. Mine nearly do. It is a brilliant system but I think that I may have two problems that should be easily overcome... Shrinkage in the sleeper base makes the chairs hard to seat, but I can scale up a little bit for that.... I selected the scale bullhead rail profile and it is too small for our code 87 so I need to try and work out the custom settings....my resin may also be too brittle.....have to see. Alot more playing around - this is a very smart system, it is still in development in Templot but very smart software from Martin.

I then re printed the chairs......this is a better screen shot.

Bit more playing around......here is the sleeper print. I printed this on my old Filament printer....

Inspired by our Zoom calls I have started to dable in Templot. There is some fantastic work being carried out on 3D printed track. After alot of asks for help and scratching of head I finally managed to create some STL files. I have printed the chairs and they seem very good (photo does not do them justice). I am now going to try making complete track. The chairs slot into the sleepers. Will give this a go one evening and see how far I get. Martin the developer of Templot is amazing.....all I have done is clicked a few buttons, how he does all this is beyond me.

Thanks Martin - this is an amazing piece of software..........

Sorry lots of questions that I cannot find answers to online. Any clues as to why the template shows the sleepers but not the rails?

Thank you for your help appreciated. Couple of new questions. To join the turnouts to the passing loop is it as simple as joining a piece of straight tracj and creating a curve. Some of my templates have two numbers assigned I think that I have copied them twice. Does this matter and if it does is there an easy way to clean up?

Hi any clues why I cannot insert another point into the inner circle. If you look the Turnout button is shaded. Introduced the first point without a problem. I have looked through significant quantity of training materiakl but not found an answer to this specific issue. Appreciate that I am doing something silly....

Brecon and Merthyr No8 starting to take shape. The wheels are Ultrascale EM. They spun me up some correct length axles. Going forward I may print my own wheels. The number of spokes is slightly wrong but given this is the first time I have made an OSF engine, I wanted to start with a system I know works. I will be using their outside cranks. Dome and safety valve off for casting in brass.