Ruston

A hazy day at the Small Heath Metal Box factory sidings. Charlie Strong's Peckett, affectionately known as Mae, and a BR 350HP shunter.

I think that, in reality, they'd set fire to them to get rid of all the woodwork, but I think I'll pass on that bit. 😁 This evening's shunt included the restored No.1 Ruston and some more condemned vehicles, plus some strip coil action.

Inside Pecketts Atlas Works. Pi dropped footplate cab kits, assembled and primed. Bodies with the footplates chopped. Motors out and the boiler lower parts removed for de-greasing and painting. The chassis on the left has had the reverse curve filed from the cylinders; the other chassis will receive the same treatment.

A Fowler 4wDM and a Ruston 88DS 4wDM.

Working on locomotives for a layout that doesn't yet exist probably isn't the best way of going about things, but there you go... Hattons RTR 14-inch Barclays with Planet Industrials cabs and new paint jobs. They're not finished yet and need replacement clacks as the flimsy plastic ones all broke off getting the bodies on and off. One also needs couplings and both need decoders. They may yet have their buffers replaced with large block buffers. They'll be going to work on Sevastopol Works,when it's done, where they will be joined by some modified Pecketts.

I've had these condemned vans sitting on the back siding for months. Yesterday's shunt moved them into the scrapping area. The hand of god will spirit them away to the shelf.

Certainly. There was the Courtalds works, at Holywell, that used a Peckett, known as the Flying Bufferbeam, that I think was even lower then the Par Bagnalls. It worked a line that passed under the Chester to Holyhead line so the low bridge at Port Of Par wasn't unique and this sort of set up could be applied to all sorts of fictional layouts.

I've never seen a photo of the reason for the low height of these engines before but I guess this bridge is it. I've seen photos of them shunting vans, but not any wagons low enough to pass under the bridge. What wagons did they take that fitted under the bridge and what load did they carry? I think I'll buy one of the plain, unlined, green ones.

The Motor Rail has come out to play, this evening.

The FY, such as it is, is to the left of the low-relief buildings. It's designed so that no separate boards are required. I've always found portable layouts to be a pain in the backside when they have bits that need to be bolted on, so extra fiddlesticks are out. I'm using standard Peco Code 75 trackwork. The slips would be too long and look out of place in this compact industrial scene and the angle would mean making the entry to the upper RH building wider, which wouldn't look as good. How the thing looks is important. Slips are also very expensive. The loop can take up to 4 short wheelbase wagons. The headshunt for the loop is only long enough to accommodate a locomotive because it doesn't need to be any longer. The lower LH track is the rest of the world; trains enter on this track, cross the road and enter the loop, depending on where the wagons need to go. If back across the road to the part of the works (upper LH track then the loco simply propels the train. If it needs to go to the lower RH building then it has to run round. The train can be no longer than 3 wagons, which will be picked at random by cards, and each has a specific destination: Pig iron to the electric arc furnace (lower RH building). Scrap metal as above. 13-ton High to the upper RH building RH side (to be loaded with finished products). Vent van to a loading dock at the side of the upper RH building (van placed in the headshunt). Tube wagon to the kick back siding from the upper RH building. Sand to the foundry (upper LH FY track). At some point they have to be rounded up to be made into a train to go back to the FY. And then there are internal movements of hot metal from the furnace to the foundry across the road, plus others of castings from the foundry to the area in front of the furnace building, for transfer to road transport. It all has a reason for being there and having to shuffle randomised wagons into specific positions is where the operational interest is. It's a sort of shunting puzzle but with purpose and without rigid rules.

This plan is not dead, but sleeping. I recently had another think about it and decided that the trackplan looked too cluttered and contrived. This is the latest version. The dimensions are now 135cm x 40cm (get me using foreign measurements!) and the latest idea is that a second, almost a mirror image, board is to be built by a friend. The two layouts can join together occasionally to form a large layout that will use our separate loco fleets but all locos used will be in the same company livery. It will be DCC but won't use sound. This is to allow me to build some of my stash of kits that I know don't have enough space to get sound gear in. We'll be cutting the first sod plywood next Spring.

Cut down Peckett, shunting the Metal Box sidings at Watery Lane. The Shocvans contain tinplate from Ebbw Vale.

You think more of those rotten old cars than you do of me! By the way, does my bum look big in this?

Some "errors" have come to light in the scrapyard accounts. The management have decided to come down and find out what's been going on for themselves.

It's been months since I had a shunt with CY/WL. I took this Peckett out of the cabinet for a play.

I'll be getting rid of that water tank too. It seemed like a good idea at the time!

I started to build the engine shed. Wills corrugated asbestos sheeting and laser-cut roof trusses. I had bought the laser-cut MDF roof trusses at an exhibition and so made the shed to fit these but the proportions looked all wrong. Too tall and too wide. So I started again, from literally from scratch, using a sheet of Plastikard. I think that will look much better. It will be clad in corrugated aluminium sheet. There were no doors on the shed at British Oak and the roof trusses were very visible as there was no sheeting at all across the front, so this will be more prototypical.

Apologies for the rubbish photos, taken on mobile phone. This would be my dream home. No neighbours, dogs free to roam, a drive full of knackered classic cars and and industrial railway right on the doorstep. 😁

Back on page 6 I showed some pictures of the car hoarder's house, with a laser-cut wooden fence kit atop the retaining wall. I decided that it looked far too neat, orderly and probably expensive to construct. I mean why would you spend good money on a fancy fence when you could buy more knackered motors with the cash instead? The new idea is to have the fence made of old house doors and corrugated iron panels. I was going to buy a pack or two of Wills doors and window frames but my local model shop is out of stock, so I have made my own. They'll look alright with a bit of paint slapped on.

They are still running freely and the axleguards haven't turned in - yet. Although 5 is the maximum number of wagons that can be accommodated in the siding next to the staithe I am thinking of having some more internal user wagons. They may or may not have working end doors but the idea behind running them is that there is a landsale yard or coal stocking area off-scene. They will just run to and from the FY, as with all the main line trains. There was no separate landsale yard at British Oak, so this is a bit of modeller's licence being used as an excuse to run some different wagons. Meanwhile... I think this Peckett looks right at home here, so it will be transferred from the Charlie Strong scrapyard fleet. I would like to put some PEPPER lettering on the tank but my usual printer of decals can no longer print them.

Yes and yes. I think it's a result of putting them together using MEK. They were alright when built but the axleguards seem to be turning inward and putting pressure on the axle ends. I've bent them outward with extreme violence and now they are all running freely but for long is anyone's guess. I should have used ordinary polystyrene cement to fit the axleguards.

I only asked why no one from Hornby visits this forum. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition. 😬 Have a look at an 88DS instead.

I was thinking that those wagons in the above photo just needed numbers and lettering to complete, after I had got the door release catches fitted and working to all five. And then I did a test run with them loaded with coal. I knew that they weren't as free-running as a RTR mineral wagon but loading them with coal and attempting to propel them from that area where the screens are yet to be built to the staithe showed that some of the smaller engines literally could not move the train on the curves and gradients. I'll have to buy some Bachmann wagons and use the doors from the kit-built ones because I simply cannot get the kit-built ones to run freely enough. I'm getting cheesed off with this staithe and its wagons now.

That looks a proper job. How did you do the lining? I don't think you've mentioned it anywhere, unless I missed it?