Ruston

The wagon door being released by a lever on a shaft running under the wagon wasn't working too well. It worked but in practice was awkward to use and required a very steady hand so as not to derail the wagon. The catch sticking up at the end of the wagon didn't look good either, so I had a rethink and have now come up with a semi-automatic catch that is fitted to the non viewed side. As the wagon tips, the length of wire that sticks out of the side of the lever hits a fixed catch inside the building and the lever stays in position whilst the rest of the wagon tips, thus releasing the door. I say that it's semi automatic because the lever drops before the door closes and so must be lifted manually to once again hold the door closed. There is a short piece of iron wire glued to the lever, so it can be lifted by the magnet on the uncoupling pole. Lifting the lever allows the door to close fully and the magnet is pulled away to allow the lever to fall and lock the door. All that can be seen of the lever from the operating side is the very end that locks over the wire that is fitted in the side of the door.

And looking in the opposite direction... In reality, at British Oak, you'd have been looking across the canal at some fields and then across the river Calder, where you would see in the distance Horbury Junction (the place, not the railway junction itself), Charles Roberts wagon works and the sewage works. I would like to have had a photo backscene of all of that but things would look so different now, even if I could get up onto the viaduct and take a photo. Not that anyone can get on the viaduct these days what with all of the Safety Nazis fencing everything off. Instead, I've brought British Jeffrey Diamond further out from Wakefield and across the railway, river and canal. For those that don't know, BJD made coal cutters and other mining machinery. My mother used to work in the offices there. There will be a chain link fence added and some trees to help hide the hole in the backscene before its finished.

That's interesting. What time period would this be? Do you have any photos of them there?

Sounds like something I could be interested in but who or what is OO works? I've never heard of it. Can you give some more information, please?

Here's how it looks at the moment.

Why do you doubt that I wouldn't want that "abuse"? It would be water off a duck's back to me. Besides, it's not the individual "taking it on the chin", is it? If this person existed, no one would be criticising them personally. They would be doing the job that they're paid to do; representing the company that pays their wages. There are far worse jobs to have I can tell you. You're probably correct but that don't care attitude doesn't take into account that customers like to know what's happening so they can budget for their models and plan ahead.

Which autumn though ? Any year this century? Why does no one from Hornby ever come on this forum to keep us informed? They need to take a leaf out of the books of newer companies, who know how to engage with their customers.

@Accurascale Are you aware that on the pre order page of your webiste, the image with the sound-fitted version of the WMJEA loco is that of the Rowntree loco? I was looking at the pictures, rather than the description, and it took me ages to find the sound-fitted WMJEA one.

The wagon tipper on the navigation, and the spoil tip, at Blacker Lane.

What do you mean by Ruston plain green? These are Rustons; they were the Rolls Royce of the industrial shunting world, they weren't any old junk. The standard livery was lined with light green and cream. The pattern on various panels did alter over time but even the late ones were being turned out with lining. The only completely plain green ones that I know of were wartime production when things such as lining were stopped as an economy measure.

Hi Ian, I have built a tippler for a previous layout and I think it may have been someone on here that suggested one for Blacker Lane. I didn't go for it because it would be getting too far away from the British Oak basis and because the track being at 90 degrees to the canal, with the available space, doesn't lend itself for the placement of a tippler. If I didn't have these problems then a rotary tippler is what I would go for as you make the tippler and that's that. You don't need to faff around with altering the wagons that run on it and if you're going to build a mechanism for an end tipper then you may as well build it for a tippler. But, as you say, a tippler may be too much for a small concern so end-tipping may be better suited. I was already stuck with the situation of the layout and had already set it all up for a staithe with hoppers but if I had a clean sheet and could build a tipper with no restrictions then I wouldn't build one like I have. There was a recent issue of Industrial Railway Record (249) that showed Waller hydraulic tippers where a ram raised between the rails and pushed the wagon end up by engaging with an axle - this is the sort I would build and instead of real hydraulic power I would use a screw thread and electric motor/gearbox. I think it would be far easier to build than what I have done.

I built the Parkside kit up and got the end door to work but I couldn't come up with a way of automating a catch, so it has a length of brass rod running under it. At one end it is bent up to form a stop to the door. At the other end the bend becomes a lever that can be operated using the same pole used for the 3-link couplings. The fixed end of the wagon doesn't go right into the building, so this can be operated when the wagon is on the tipper. The hinges are a bit rough, but it was all a bit experimental and now that I know what I'm doing I can improve on that for the batch build. These will all be painted in NCB internal use black. It seems a shame to get rid of the ready painted liveries but I found it impossible to obtain any more unpainted kits. Every shop in the country appears to be out of stock of PC69, so I had to go on ebay to find even these few.

I did. Sort of but then I did have some inside information. 😉 You Accurascale chaps are bad, bad, people. I kicked the habit of O gauge and got down to modelling just one scale and now you do this to me. More Ruston 88DS here -

Just minutes ago I slapped some shiny stuff onto the canal surface.

The old Hornby 'Prime Pork' van, from page 6. I didn't give it a corrugated iron roof but I did think the plastic roof looked too pristine for something that may have spent decades in the elements since it was in service and received works attention, so it's had new roof felt at some time since it was grounded. It looks rough deliberately. I filed off the moulded roof vents and cut a rectangle of tissue and dabbed at it with a paintbrush and MEKpak, until it become welded into the roof.

Yes but this isn't really the place to be asking. Perhaps start a new thread in the Standard Gauge Industrial section?

I'll just leave this here...

Tipper now fixed in place. Coal chute added. Work is still to be done to enclose the gearbox and to generally bed the building into the terrain. There will be a ladder fitted to the wall, in front of the grounded van body. Operating handle. It only needs about a third of a turn and has stops built in, both ways. I need to get on with the Parkside wagon now.

Manning Wardle classes are about the size and power of the engine, rather than simply using a letter of the alphabet for every new design. If you compare the cylinder size and tractive effort of all the standard classes, they become greater as the class letter goes along in the alphabet. Classes D and E predate A and B. M and N predate L. H predates F. The odd one out is Old Class I, which predates them all but is more powerful than all up to F.

Not forgetting the tipper house itself. It's not quite finished and isn't fixed in place yet. It isn't based at all on the one that was at British Oak as that one was open-ended and constructed from wood. I suppose it's generic and based on various such buildings that I have seen in photographs. I didn't want one with an open end as this would mean modelling the complicated stuff inside and would also give stray coal the opportunity to go where I don't want it to go e.g. the canal. With an enclosed building it can't go anywhere that it shouldn't. The railings need finish painting and weathering, before being permanently fixed in place. The dog clutch that allows the building to be removed and refitted. Once it's all sorted the building will be glued down anyway.

The first of the wagons for the tipper is under construction. I was pleased to find that the Parkside PC69 is designed in such a way that the sides are full length and the door end fits between them instead of the end being full width and with chamfered edges, as on the opposite end. This meant all I had to do to get a complete door was to separate it from the headstock. The headstock is now fixed to the rest of the wagon and so next comes the er... "fun" part of trying to get the door to work.

I found this old colour slide of an ex-L&Y 3F waiting for the flag man at Blacker Lane. I got it scanned.

Gearbox. I could install it as is but working on the tipper house in situ will be a right PITA. I'll cut the shaft short and make a spring-loaded dog clutch, which will allow the shaft and operating handle to be installed in the baseboard yet allow the gearbox and tipper house to be removed until it's proven to work and is also finished cosmetically. That gearbox is better than fancy electronics. Where would your fancy electronics get you if you fell down 'ole? Stuck down 'ole. In the FOG. In the middle of the NIGHT. With an OWL? It could happen.

The problem with any of this stuff is that you have no idea what it's made from. All it says is that it's mineral-based and non flammable. If it's got iron in it, like some black sands, shotblasting material and even aquarium gravel, then it's not something I want on my layout. If that stuff gets loose in a derailment it could play havoc with motors and DCC speakers. It wouldn't be any use in the hoppers either as they and the staithe use magnets to operate the doors. Not that it matters now anyway. The end-tippers can use real coal because it won't get spread on the rails. The 22 wagons are two trains that are loaded for the main run. There will be only 4 or 5 internal users running to and from the staithe, which isn't a lot of winding. I got the maths with the gearing wrong and also forgot that the tipper doesn't even do a single rotation. It only moves through 45 degrees, which is enough to completely empty a wagon, and so the manual input is only around a third of a revolution. I can probably get away with a lever and not a winding handle at all.