Ruston

Small update... The shed has finally been wired to the mains, properly, armoured cable and all! A sparky friend did it for £180, including 4 sockets, 2 strip lights. Oh and he said there was nothing wrong with the existing consumer unit and that it did have spare capacity! And... [drumroll, please] I have cut wood for the baseboard frames. The colliery layout may be back on but it won't be operated prototypically in that wagons will be shunted under the screens and hauled out the same way that the went in, instead of going under and being pulled (or rolling by gravity) out of the other side. This will mean I can make more of the available space. See you in another 9 months.

Will you be doing that in 7mm? If so, I may put down my plastic aeroplanes and be tempted to fire up the resistance soldering equipment once again.

Good to see you managed to make transfers from the BTS signage that I emailed. The Fowler is looking good and almost makes me want to get out in the shed and build a railway for my own Fowler (and the rest).

OMG, a Sherpa van! A French engine, you say? Does that mean you need to learn to swear at it en Français?

Yes, the pics aren't bad at all, considering I took them on an old Sony Ericsson phone and a Fuji Finepix S800 that is getting on a bit and is the survivor of many a mine-exploring trip.

It's gone to the deep south - uncharted territory. I delivered it today and the experience of taking it down and transporting it was nerve-wracking. It made it with minimal damage but I'm glad I never took up any of the exhibition invites that I recieved! What a faff...

Since the last picture of the shed nothing much had changed until yesterday. I made a huge effort. And soon some cash from the sale of BT&S to start filling the shed with baseboard and track. I think making the colliery screens with all the complex trackwork is too ambitious so I'm scaling back but it'll still be based on the same locale and the NCB. Less is more...

Sold!

Hi Daniel, I have done nothing since the last update and I haven't run it either. I've done nothing with the OO layout - other interests, lack of time etc. I'm thinking of selling Bury, Thorn & Sons. Some of the locomotives and stock may be for sale too but I'll be keeping the majority for when (if) I get round to building the shed layout. If anyone's interested in buying it, send me a message with a serious offer before I change my mind and cut it down to install it in the shed. If I don't reply immediately it's not that I'm ignoring you. it's that I rarely log in here at the moment and I may have just forgotten to look.

Thanks for that. It does say iron and not steel though. Perhaps Arthur could comment?

Interesting first post ^^ I think the tandem unit was built by Thomas Hill.

Er.. Nope. I haven't done anything with it since my last post. I've not been on here for weeks either. Sporadic interweb connection, computer problems, work, blah blah blah... The snail is correct, I have become distracted modelling WW1 aeroplanes but I'll get back to this at some point. The biggest turn-off is that more woodwork is required to make the fiddle area and my stocks of arsedness are too low to attempt hacking lumps of wood about at the moment.

They are Agenoria kits, the names and numbers are by Narrow Planet and I find the kits go together quite easily with mimimum fuss. Unlike some others.

The finished ingot wagon, complete with load. Works signage at the entry.

That thing is seriously impressive but would be far too long for this little layout. It wouldn't fit in the headshunt for one thing. It does however provide the inspiration for this work in progress:

Shame that Hornby don't do a green one in non-weathered condition.

Thanks, Brian.

Go ahead. Not that I could stop you anyway. I don't think anyone's patented a model railway yet. Just because I haven't posted anything recently doesn't mean I haven't done anything. I've been painting some figures and weathering a few road vehicles. Ballasting is underway and almost done too. A few pics... Overall view. The Sentinel with a BR Dia. 2/001 40-ton armour plate wagon. Who says my layouts never have greenery? A selection of period vehicles - Ford Cortina Mk3 XL, Vauxhall HB Viva, Bedford HA van, Austin A35 and I'm not at all sure what the other one is. I bought it second hand without a box and I don't recognise the type. Lorries - LAD-cabbed Leyland and a Scammel Highwayman.

A few pics taken in March 1973 at British Steel Corporation's River Don Works.

It's been a long time since I added to this topic but I've found a few more. None of them are particularly good or interesting photos but I'll add them anyway and hope I haven't already posted them. Hunlset 0-4-0DH 7425 at Blue Circle Cement's Dewsbury rail terminal. The loco wasn't used here but was owned by RMS Locotec, a loco hire and repair company, who had workshops on the site. Loccotec later moved to Calder Vale Road in Wakefield. I don't know if they're still a going concern or where they're located if they are. The Hunslet was from Steetley Magnesite in Hartlepool. PBA40 (RR10219) seen at Thomas Hill's Kilnhurst works in April 88. This loco still carried the livery and number of its original owner - the Port of Bristol Authority. HC D1340 at Booth's Rotherham yard, Feb. 88. I can't remember where this one came from but may have been from the same place as the little Thomas Hill loco parked next to it - Stella North power station. HC D1341 is somewhat better known than it's sister in the pic above. Named 'Sprite', this loco was (perhaps still is?) the works shunter at Brush Traction in Loughborough. Seen here in May 96.

I made this gadget to make crown plates out of plasticard for use in scratchbuilding O gauge wooden-framed wagons. The hole is punched using an office hole punch and one part of the gadget is put in the hole. The other part is placed at the other side and the excess plastic cut away whilst the two parts are held together. When released a perfect circle of plasticard to the correct depth is left. This is then cut in half and trimmed to suit.

Not that I know of. Industrial locos were operated and painted according to their owning companies rules so just about anything went regarding paint. Right up to the 1990s I saw red bufferbeams and the usual yellow/black but also white/blue, yellow/blue, red/yellow chevrons, both with the ^ at the top or bottom. Plenty of Sentinels in here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/28530-industrial-locomotives-in-the-late-80s-to-mid-90s/ Here's my own repainted Hornby Sentinel.

Signage. And here's the ingot painted. I'm going to repaint it using Arthur and Debs technique. It's sat on a short inernal use inly bogie wagon that I've based on a wagon at Tennets Whifflet foundry and a BR Dia. 2/001 40-ton armour plate truck. I've used the chain fastenings style from the Tennents wagons and the dimesions of the BR wagon but the Tennents wagons appear to have a shorter distance from the bogie centre to the headstock so the next one I build will be altered. Of course I've given it a steel deck because BR's wooden planked deck would instantly go up n flames with a hot ingot upon it.

The logo is a waterslide transfer so I suppose I could do that if I first mounted it onto a backing but, as it happens, I've applied it to the building anyway. It looked too good to not use it and, IMHO, it looks better applied straight on the corugated iron. If I do backdate the layout I'll cover it up. In addition to the transfer I've made other lettering from Slaters plastic letters. One set, that reads "BRITISH STEEL CORPORATION" is removable, whilst "RIVER DON WORKS" is permanently glued on. Pics tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Skytrex low-relief building arrived earlier in the week and it's now painted, lettered and ready to plant. The real Gregory Fenton's Beehive Works is down the road from the Eye-Witness works that Mickey posted earlier in this page. And... waste not, want not - the scratchbuilt structure that I wasn't happy with (you can see it in original form in post #93 on the previous page) and that has been replaced by the one pictured above has been cut down by a storey and looks better for it. It will now sit partly over the river, mounted on some hefty old ironwork.

This is the inspiration for the signage http://sportregeneration.com/images/Regeneration%20Sport%205%20A.jpg And this is the real George Barnsley's http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/industrial-sites/81975-george-barnsley-sons-sheffield-june-13-a.html Beautiful, isn't it? I knew about this place because I do a bit of that urban exploration stuff myself, although stick to the much safer environment of abandoned mines - less pigeon sh1t or security men and big dogs