Steve Hewitt

Hi Paul, I'm afraid I can't help with regards to alternative suppliers of etches. Looking at your sketch, I would have thought you could make all the structure, as seen in the front view, from standard MSE etches. Look at S008/3 for the large bracket, and S0021 or S0024/2 should give you enough to cobble the arch structure. The main posts would be either S0020 if you want the taper, or Alan Gibson 4M62 if you want them parallel. Without a plan view I can't see what you would expect to find in terms of etches. Personally, I would expect to make all the walkways from Brass Strip for the supporting "Iron Work", with wood strip for the walking surfaces and Lace Pins for the handrail stanchions with 0.3mm N/S wire for the Handrail itself. Hope this helps. Steve Hewitt https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/59687-semaphore-signals-4mm-scale-mainly/ https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/177988-beattock-00-finescale/

Look what Les Green brought to the BELMRS Exhibition ................ This is Beattock station from Les's 3D Printer. There are some twenty-odd separate pieces which all dovetail together to give this wonderful assembly. The whole design took several weeks, first in 2D on Corel Draw, then in 3D on Autocad. An enormous time was then spent printing the various parts. The largest single part part was the main cruciform building which took some 80 hours to print! There is still a lot to do, including the canopy on the platform side of the building. You can see some of the windows have been glazed, with the rest to follow. Les's technique involves facing a sheet of clear acetate with self adhesive white paper on which he prints the window shapes in the correct colour. and at the edge of each window he prints the cutting guides. A sharp scalpel is the used to cut through the paper layer and the "glazed" panes removed, leaving only the complete frame stuck to the acetate. Les will have the station building with him at the show tomorrow should anyone wish to chat with him about the techniques he uses to build these fantastic structures for Beattock and also Liverpool Lime Street. See the exhibition details in the previous post. Steve.

See for yourself............. Progress on our layout continues, but it's not very photogenic. However, our annual exhibition is being held on December 2nd and 3rd. Admission is £5 for adults, accompanied children free, family ticket £8. This venue is on the ground floor of the Conference centre, and our Clubrooms are immediately above on the first floor. Throughout the weekend at approximately hourly intervals we will be offering accompanied visits of our clubrooms to any interested visitors. Why not come along and see Beattock for yourself as well as the other projects our Club has to offer. Steve

Adam, I hope the following will help: Leg components............... The components used in our legs are based on commercial handrail and barrier systems. The cast socket which is attached to the baseboard: From: Flocon C11.131 Wall Flange - Handrail Fitting C36F.173F Female End Swivel - Handrail Fitting�נ4 26.9 C35.173M Male Through Swivel - Handrail Fitting�נ10 26.9 These latter two are used to make cross bracings The legs are Aluminium from: Alloy Sales Ltd.: 1 1/8 in x 16 swg - Aluminium Round Tube 5000 mm £19.95 per unit All cut 940mm long plus offcut The adjustable feet are from: ZORO: GN6336.4-ST-40-M8-55 Star Knob; Polyamid; Bolt The captive nuts for the feet are from: Amazon: Threaded Insert M8 Screw-In Nut Zinc Alloy Hex Socket Nuts Screw-In Sleeves for Wooden Furniture All the above were ordered on-line, so you should be able to find them for yourself. The foot end of each leg was plugged by a turned piece of dowel into which the Insert nut is screwed. This was from a local timber supplier. Best of luck. Steve.

The Baseboards for Beattock........ Hi Adam, Thanks for the question. The Baseboards are mainly 9mm Plywood. i.e. Top and the two long sides. The ends are 18mm Plywood. The batton in the corner between the Top and Side is 20x20mm planed all round. The Tops are 2ft x 4ft, cutting three from an 8ft x 4ft sheet. The forth "2ft x 4ft" remnant (Undersize because of the saw cuts) is cut into 5in strips for the sides. The remaining strip is cut into approximate squares to use as reinforcing pads for the inside of the sides where dowels and/or captive nuts will be located. Assembly was performed using several Jigs and Drilling Guides to give consistency and squareness. Ends were always drilled in clamped pairs to ensure accurate alignment for the Dowels and Bolts. Similarly, adjoining sides were clamped together when the Pads were fixed and subsequently drilled for Dowels and Bolts. Note: The Dowels used to align boards in a North/South direction are conventional with a Male and Female pair. To align boards in an East/West direction, the Dowels consist of a pair of Females with a separate Dowel of 7mm Silver Steel inserted from either side. All the dowels are turned from 18mm dia mild steel bar. All joints were assembled with "Gorilla" glue and countersunk wood screws. At this stage there is no cross bracing under the boards. Where any is found necessary it will be introduced after all the "underground" equipment is in place - mainly servo motors for all the points and signals. Currently I would say the boards are "Lightweight" in that they can be handled by a single member. This will probably not be the case when they are complete. Two persons are required to assemble boards together, and three is ideal. The third person can be underneath dealing with the Bolts. Any more information I can give please just ask. Steve

Next steps.............. We intend to purchase all the point kits we require for the front (scenic) part of the layout as a single order. We are now using some old, and some not so old, track to plot the precise location and configuration of the point work. It is clear that some points will need to be handbuilt, and to that end we are producing tracings of the areas affected. To be continued...... Steve

Hi Ian, Thanks for your kind comments. I use 0.5mm dia Fibre purchased from All Components. It's the 'end lighting' type, not the 'side lighting'. Steve.

Cork to the left us, cork to the right of us............... The South end. Cork laid and track being positioned to determine point configurations. We're using photo copied templates from various sources prior to ordering. We like very much the British Finescale kits, and hope to use them where possible. The new Peco "Unifrog" also very good, but considerably more expensive. It is likely that we will have to construct some ourselves where commercial offerings are not available. Our ever increasing collection of photos is very helpful, particularly where it shows inaccuracies in published track plans, diagrams etc. The North end where everything curves round towards the fiddle yard. More soon.......... Steve

Another step on what will be a long journey................ The N gauge layout which has been occupying the space in our clubroom where our Fiddle Yard will go has been temporarily dismantled and stored. A smaller layout is now in that space as it is prepared for exhibition at our annual show on December 2nd and 3rd. This has allowed us to erect the first two boards of the Fiddle Yard. Cork laying is making good progress at the South end - photos next time. Steve.

Some more progress............. We're still refining the baseboard design to improve the aesthetics and access for operators. The corner boards have all been modified to give a 45 degree "chamfer". We have also reduced the depth at the north end of the layout from 4ft to 2ft by removing one board completely and inserting two 45 degree inner corners. The North end of the layout. The Moffat Branch will end here and the fiddle yard starts. At the South end we've started plotting out the track and laying the 2mm cork. We are using Copydex as the adhesive in the hope of reducing noise. We intend to use Peco Bullhead code 75 flexitrack with points from British Finescale's range of kits. Where there are very tight curves in the Engine Shed/Yard we may need to hand build one or two or use Peco Small Radius Electrofrog points. We have printed templates for the various options available which we are using to define the actual layout as we progress. More soon....... Steve

The wanderers return......... Or Miracles do happen............. First an apology for not posting this earlier, but you will understand the Police have been involved and we didn’t want to disturb their enquiries in any way. A few weeks ago the Lime Street Crew received this message from John: "Hi Chaps. Well look what came home tonight ! I can hardly believe it. Late this afternoon I received an Email. All it said was “Good evening please could you call me. “ Apart from this he gave me his phone number. At first I wasn’t sure if it was a scam, however I phoned him. Turns out he is a trader in second hand Model trains and toy cars. He lives at XXXXX near XXXXXXXXX and bought all the locos at a car boot sale at Bilsborrow near Garstang about two months ago. He found that they would not stay on the track (00), so wondered if they were stolen. Apparently he was able to trace our theft and somehow managed to find my phone number. He offered to come over this evening to check if the models were indeed ours. Guess what, they are all ours !! When I get over the shock I’ll have to rethink our way forward. Onwards & Upwards, John." As you can imagine, the whole team are over the moon. A couple of the returned engines have already been chipped and others will follow.......... Steve.

Thanks Jon, I found your bus at the Showground, but couldn't find you! Steve.

The assembled signal.............. Fitting the servos will be next.......... Steve

Another step on the road to recovery........... John has just completed the conversion of another loco as we rebuild the fleet ready for regular running once again. This Fairburn 2-6-4T has been converted to EM gauge, completed running trials under DC control, weathered by Rob and then converted to DCC with sound by John. We will shortly have sufficient locos to run our previous schedule and we can all learn to use our version of DCC control. Some of us are getting impatient! Steve

Progress on the Up Starter............... A few work in progress shots: Most of the main structure has been completed. Handrails and Dolls still to fit. The foundations. 5/8th inch tube to locate everything in the baseboard. 4mm square tube to fit inside the "Welded Stem". Surplus holes for operating wires, free to a good home. Standing up for itself. The signal uses Rocking Shafts to transfer the pull of the operating wires horizontally from the main Welded Stem to each of the Dolls. I use 7mm scale "medium handrail knobs" as the bearings. The Rocking Shafts will be brass tube or Nickel Silver wire. After a good scrape and clean and a ride in the dishwasher followed by a bath in Cellulose Thinners it will be time for the paintshop prior to final assembly. To be continued........... Steve.

A few more steps, mainly forward......... We have decided to install the proper legs under all the baseboards. Our system of legs is based on a standard aluminium tube of 1-1/16th inch dia some 940mm long. The upper end of each will locate in a cast socket and be retained buy a grub screw. The lower end has a wooden bung with an M8 captive nut in it. Into this is screwed a M8-55 Star Knob; Polyamid; Bolt. We have standardised on these bolts for joining the baseboards together and as adjustable feet. Starting erecting the boards on their tubular legs. Our clubroom floor has a significant gradient which requires extra packing in places where the adjustment provided by the screws is insufficient. More boards with their legs awaiting assembly. More to come as we progress......... Steve

In a word - Yes. However I won't be adding the colour light signal. I'll be leaving that for Mike Edge to do. Steve

Try Hobby Holidays . Great range of materials.

Signals for Hest Bank..... Whilst spending most of my modelling time on the Club's Beattock project, I'm still making some slow progress on the signals for Hest Bank. The first two completed are the Branch starter and the Up Home. The third - work in progress - is the Up Starter. This welded stem bracket will carry three arms: Up Main starter with Distant below and the Main to Branch starter to the right. All the signals will be servo operated using GF Controls and lit by LED/Fibre Optic. More to come when progress is made....... Steve.

The next steps................ All 30 baseboards are complete and sealed with two coats of Teak Oil, except for their top surfaces - of which more later. We have re-erected the boards for the scenic section, stacking those for the fiddle yard out of the way for the time being. Starting at the North end of the layout the boards have been assembled, still on the temporary supports, but carefully checked for being Level and Flat using a combination of spirit levels and a Laser. The prototype was essentially straight through the station and we are maintaining that in the model. We have to compromise at each end by curving the main line to access the fiddle yard. We have established a five foot nominal radius for each end. Starting at the South end we have begun to lay out the track plan using printed templates for the points. We have made the first draft of the area controlled from the Beattock South signal box. To be continued................. Steve

That's exactly what I do. Steve

Here's a quick photo tour of the rest of the clubroom: Starting with the missing tea mugs. The committee table, with mugs Adjacent is the Library, used for reference and loan. We have well over a thousand volumes in addition most of the railway magazines. Organised chaos! The secretary is currently re-cataloging all the books to make searching easier. Across from the above we have one of our N gauge layouts under development whilst stacked in the corner is another N gauge "Rishton", awaiting its next trip out to an exhibition. Adjacent to that and hiding under dust sheets is our American N gauge "Cajon Pass" Next is another N gauge layout, currently being re-modelled to represent a fictitious junction off the West Coast Main Line somewhere near Crewe, and in the pre-electrification days. Adjacent, and competing for floor space is our Beattock layout. Continuing anti-clockwise we come to our 00 gauge layout, based heavily on set-track standards, it incorporates a quite sophisticated road system based on Faller technology. Finally, down the centre of the clubroom is our "Bankfield" 00 DCC layout, which has its own topic here on RMweb https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/98704-bankfield-son-of-blackmill-it-lives/?do=getNewComment I hope this tour hasn't been too boring. If it raises any questions, don't hesitate to ask them. Steve.

We've now completed the basic construction of all 30 boards. All the boards are now being sealed with at least two coats of Teak Oil. As this takes 24hrs to dry it will take quite some time to complete. In this shot, the six boards stacked in the distance have had two coats on their undersides and outer edges. They will have to be turned over for their top surfaces to be dealt with. You will see the boards are currently standing on old supports , salvaged from "Oxenholme" when it was scrapped. They will eventually stand on a series of individual adjustable legs constructed from aluminium tube with cast sockets fixed under each board. The boards do not yet have any cross-bracing, the need for which has to be determined. The location of the legs and bracing (if required) will be determined when the track plan has been drawn out full size on the boards. Each precise location will be determined to minimise interference with point mechanisms, signals etc. More soon I hope...... Steve

Those are really superb signals Jon. Well done, Steve.

Time passes................ It's now more than twelve months since I had to write the post quoted above. Here are a couple of photos to remind everyone of the sort of treasures that are still missing. Please keep your eyes peeled for anything you might see at an auction or the second hand stall at exhibitions etc. Thanks for all the support we have received over the last year as we continue to re-build our stock and look forward to regular operating sessions again. Steve.