Ruston

Royd Hall No.1 on shed. I have painted the wheels and tank front with Railmatch Doncaster Green. it seems to be a good match. I also painted the rods.

Monofilament nylon thread. That's what I use anyway. Drilled and glued directly into the model on small scales, such as 1/72, but using metal eyelets and tubes to fix them to the model and to give the appreance of turnbuckles on 1/32nd scale, such as on this 1/32nd F.E2b that I built last year.

I'm not surprised at all. There was probably more than one colliery so named. Royd seems to be a word peculiar to the West Riding and, as far as I know, means a clearing in a wood, or forest.

Well spotted, Steve! There is one that comes with the Blacksmith but I have yet to paint him and the tank. This evening I had a friend over to have a look at, and play with, the railway. He's never had any experience of DCC before and the look on his face, when I lifted the Hudswell diesel off the track and it kept up the engine sound and the wheels kept on going round, was priceless! I'm completely sold on DCC sound and keep alives. The whole operating experience is so much better than without either one. Once the points on the fiddle yard are wired up I will be able to run and shunt trains fully and plans are afoot for making the screens building using custom-made laser-cut parts. From so many months (years?) of waffle and doing nothing I am now really into the build of this railway. So much that I haven't touched my partly-built aircraft projects for months.

History of Royd Hall Drift Mine (from The Industrial Railway Record No.30a of 1970)* The National Coal Board’s Royd Hall Drift Mine was near the site of early mine workings in the vicinity of High Hoyland, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. As early as 1815 a horse and gravity-worked tramway was in use taking coals from pits, on land owned by The Earl Of Scarborough, to the Barnsley branch of the Aire And Calder Navigation. By the 1850s the small pits were worked out and closed one by one with the tramway falling into disuse. In 1879 a new pit was sunk and connected to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway’s line that ran from Sheffield via Barnsley to Horbury Junction. Messrs. Stringer & Jaggar, a company with existing coal interests in the local area, operated this new pit, which they named Royd Hall. The owners not only had the mainline connection but also laid a railway to the canal, using the track bed of the old tramway. Vesting Day, the formation of the National Coal Board on the 1st of January 1947, saw Royd Hall’s shafts, winding gear and other equipment in a parlous state but with reserves of coal estimated to last another 30 years, and a still high demand in post-war Britain, a decision was taken to invest in the mine but instead of repairing the shafts, or sinking new ones, a drift was to be driven. The drift would allow the use of underground locomotives and new mine cars with a higher capacity than the mine tubs, which were worked by cable and horse haulage. A new coal washing plant and screens were also installed on the surface. Royd Hall Drift closed in 1982. Traffic over the NCB line currently consists of British Railways mineral wagons for coal traffic in and out, NCB internal use wagons to and from the canal and the occasional handling of tar tanks for the nearby Bury, Thorn & Sons tar distilling plant. Locomotives known to have worked at both the colliery and the drift are: Stringer & Jaggar No.4 Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Jervis Manning Wardle H-class 0-4-0ST Pellew Manning Wardle H-class 0-4-0ST Flockton Coal Co. No.3 Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST Royd Hall No.1 Peckett class E 0-4-0ST Royd Hall No.2 Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 14" 0-4-0ST NCB North Eastern Div. Area No.6 21 Hunslet 15" 0-6-0ST NCB North Eastern Div. Area No.6 23 Hunslet 15" 0-6-0ST Albert Ball V.C. Hudswell Clarke 204HP 0-6-0DM Plant No. 405/225 Sentinel 0-4-0DH * IRR No.30a was a very rare issue ;-)

National Coal Board Royd Hall engine shed.

More shed detailing. There is now a forge and tools (Phoenix castings) Other items includ a clocking on machine, inspired by the one at Marley Hill, which uses the clock face from the Severn models etches with the rest of the machine made from plasticard. The card rack is painted plasticard and pieces of paper. Paint pots are plastic rod suitably painted. The safety poster was found on the interweb as was the Factories Act 1961 poster.

I was not aware of electric lamps being provided. Mine must have been missing too.

The term "frog" is perfectly acceptable to manufacturers of permanent way. From Section A of the Robert Hudson catalogue 57.

Very interesting, Chris. BOCM used one of this type of Fowler at Selby. The radiator end was more like that on the Ixion model than the loco in the photos you linked to. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/28530-industrial-locomotives-in-the-late-80s-to-mid-90s/?p=305644 I always thought the whole thing was larger but it may be an illusion. Your rebuild certainly looks the part.

I look forward to seeing it, Pete. Back to the other end of the layout. The dry stone walls are now weathered to give the appearance of green algae (or whatever it is) that tends to grow on the stone walls round these parts. Hedgerows have popped up and long grass and ballast at track level. The house now has a garden, with flowers, and the Fiat 500 was considered too exotic so has been traded in for an Austin A35. Testing the lighting in the engine shed.

A question for folks who are running these Sentinels with sound http://digitrains.co.uk/ecommerce/search/zs01d-sentinel-class-soundfile-zimo.aspx - Does the sound include the noise of the drive chains? I'm wondering because, obviously, that's no good for the rod-drive version.

Osgod - The walls were just supposed to be painted but you're right, they do look like glazed tiles. Wagonbasher - The benches are scratch-built from card with plasticard drawer fronts and brass wire handles. I have some of those Severn Models etched tools. One of the spanners is from Severn and I have the toolbox, step ladder and sweeping brush to add. The other items are all things that I have stored away since beginning to build my last 7mm layout and I can't remember the sources.

NCB Royd Hall Drift, 1963. Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST Flockton Coal Co. No.3

Benches and clutter for the inside of the locomotive shed. Benches based on those at Marley Hill shed on the Tanfield Railway. This is the part of building a layout that I really like and why 7mm scores over the smaller scales.

I've made a start. Pictures to follow later. I've been warned that there are problems with this kit and I've already run into two straight away...

Corrugated iron workshop added to the loco shed area, plus other details. The water tank now has a bag and operating mechanism. The mechanism consists of a couple of cast whitemetal valves, an etched brass spoked wheel and a chain. The coaling facilities consist of a gaffer with a shovel and some buckets. Water tap and hose made from a piece of wood, a cast whitemetal tap and a length of insulated wire.

Unidentified 15" Hunslet at Royd Hall Drift (NCB North Eastern Division Area No.6) sometime in 1963.

Further progress on the grounds of the house. Greenery. Small trees, made from grape vines with Woodland Scenics foliage, static grass and rock outcrops. Dry stone walling as a retaining wall. Made by rolling DAS clay into sausages, rolling lengths flat, breaking off individual pieces and gluing them to make a wall. Painted with Tamiya Desert Yellow and weathered by dry-brushing matt black on. Shed end. Some grass and a narrow gauge line from the drift mine, including 100HP Hudswell Clarke flameproof locomotive and Robert Hudson mine car. All shed doors now made, painted, weathered and fitted. Diesel oil tank made and placed (not fixed down yet).

This evening I intended to do some more work on the loco shed but ended up playing trains now that the Hudswell Clarke diesel is finished and both it and the Peckett are now sound-fitted. The sound decoders and speakers came from Digitrains - that for the Peckett being just what it says on the tin, and the one for the Hudswell being intended for a BR class 03/04. As the Hudswell and 03/04 both used Gardner 8-cylinder engines and similar self-changing gearboxes I reckoned it was near enough the same sound. The Hudswell is finished excepting the name plate, ALBERT BALL V.C, which is on order, and the Peckett will have the weathering finished after being named ROYD HALL No.1

He was never what you'd call quick even when O gauge was the main product so who knows how long between placing an order and receiving it now?

Reviiving a topic from the dead... I read this from Agenoria, today, on Facebook. It's from the 1st of January this year: So they haven't been sold off and are all still available; but only when he can be bothered.

Roof slates going on, doors painted, second pair of doors made and water tank/tower constructed from plastic section and a Slaters tank that I picked up for just £4. Back at the other end. The laser-cut MDF cottage, from Petite Properties and named 'Parsnip Cottage' in their range, is being Yorkshireized and will be named 'Rhubarb Cottage'. :-) The MDF shell has been given a coat of polyfilla and I have scribed the stone courses in before painting.

Progress is being made on the locoshed.