Ruston

I've dug the POWSIDES 14t anchor-mounted wagon kit out again and have had a go at making my own tank. On the left is the tank that comes with the kit, filled, filed and primed but still egg-shaped at one end and with a diameter that varies by as much as 4mm along its length. In the middle is a piece of drain pipe that I have used to make the tank on the right. The original tank should be about 46mm dia. but the pipe is 41mm so my tank will become a chemical tank that should have a dia. of 42mm. I'll get the extra milimetre by layering it with plasticard. I've glued two layers of thick plasticard to both ends and cut and sanded to shape. For HMRS Paul - length of kit frame over headstocks as built up = 123mm. Width = 48.5mm

I'll go back and edit my posts accordingly, shall I? I forgot to say that I used the same polyfilla mix to cast the steps into a mould made of plasticard offcuts. I then pulled the mould apart. The steps were then superglued to the floor and some dried up mix was crushed to powder and used to fill the gap. Pete - yes it is PECO bullhead except for the inset track, which is PECO flat bottom rail only.

I meant which details? If you mean the oil drums:

Thanks, chaps. Not bad for a pic taken on a mobile phone, eh? And I see I've got a popular star for it too!

Which ones?

The Ruston 44/48HP diesel shunter of Bury, Thorn & Sons Ltd. backs onto a tar tank next to the loading dock.

It's growing on me. It doesn't look too bad with a few chemical drums lying about and now I've put a few more details to the building too. It's now got a door, steps and handrail on the steps. There's also a loco shed appeared too! The shed needs a bit of weathering on the roof and some gutters and downpipes. I bought the unpainted drums at Guildex, Telford. They're from Invertrain and Skytrex. I may design some sort ot BT&S lettering for them in the future.

The loading shed track has been infilled. It's not pretty. I used polyfilla, mixed with black acrylic and burnt umber poster paints, mixed to a pourable consistency and literally poured on. After a day it's workable enough to be able to clean the rails and scrape the stuff out of the gap between the running rail and the check rail. Unfortunately it didn't pour evenly and further messing about has damaged some of the surface. So it's not the pristine concrete that I wanted but rather weathered instead. I'll see what I can do to tweak it with damage, puddles and weeds perhaps. The building now has a couple of windows and awaits a door and steps up to it. The wagon entrance will have an outer box fitted that will contain the roller door. That's why there's no lintel. The concrete may not look very good but at least the locos still run on the track.

I've had a go with the tanks and they still need more work but no matter what I do I'll not be able to get them properly round. I'll persevere with them and see what they look like once they have a coat of paint on. I've started on the construction of the frames now that I have this little beauty in my mitts. A 'hold and fold' from Eileens. There's no way I could have folded the solebars without it. OK so some smart alec will tell me that I could if I faffed about with bits of metal and a vice etc. but I couldn't have done them so easily and quickly. So I now have this: Which was a PITA because the instructions are virtually non-existent. I had to guess on the positioning of some of the frame parts and guessed it wrong and had to unsolder and re-solder them so that the running gear and brake rigging would fit where it ought to. Trial fitting the axle guards etc. And I've also done a bit more on the building. Coming soon... Would you like chips with that? An idiot's guide to starting in DCC

Cheers, chaps. I've done a little more on the building but then I got side-tracked with this: I bought two and they're going to be for the outgoing products (creosote in bulk and benzole). They're about as modern as it will get, being a design that was still being constructed into the mid 1950s, in contrast to the older style of tank that I'll be using for more tar tanks and for acid transport. This is what's in the box: It all looks straightforward enough... But then you get this... thing. That's the resin tank and one end held in position. There's a seam along the length, the tank isn't properly round and, as you can see, there's a bloody great gap that you could drive a 48DS through! I'm not impressed. I wouldn't mind so much if it were a case of getting what you pay for but it's more expensive than a Slaters or Parkside kit so I'd expect quality equal to those at the very least. Somehow I think I'm going to run out of swear words before this... thing looks anything like a railway tank wagon. Anyhow I've fixed the ends on to the tube and await the glue hardening before I tackle the filling and filing/sanding/swearing.

That's terrible original soldering on the Ruston there! What idiot did that?

Yes, after the rust-coloured undercoat I slapped Maskol on the parts that I wanted to remain rusty. Once that had dried I painted the green all over and left it to dry overnight. I then peeled the Maskol off to leave an edge with a peeling paint effect. Rust stains on the green paint were done by thinned-down orange paint and once that was dry a wash of dirty thinners slapped over the whole lot so that no fully clean paintwork remained. The thinners did take off some of the undercoat so I touched up those spots with a differing shade of rust mix to give a variation in tone as rust is always varied. I'm quite happy with it. The wall also needs some down pipes but I'll not fit those until the 'concrete' in front of the wall and around the rails has been poured as they'll get in the way of spreading and smoothing it out.

The rust effect seems to be alright. I've made a small office/toilet block building for the corner. It still needs guttering and an external pipe. Everything's scratch built, even the window frames and the slates are all individual, cut from plasticard. I've no idea what to use for the gutter though... I did get rather bored whilst fitting the slates on the office roof so I'm not looking forward to the roof of the loading bay...

I've started. Not strictly a building as it's part of the backscene that hides the traverser but when viewed from the side it will appear so. The backing is 3.5mm ply and the covering is corrugated plasticard, cut into indivdual pieces and stuck on. I've covered it all with a rusty-coloured mix and once dry I'll slap some Maskol over certain areas so that it can be peeled off after the topcoat and, hopefully, give the effect of peeling paint on corrugated iron. Fingers crossed...

AT LAST! The tedious, horrible business of wiring, woodwork and tracklaying is complete. Now I can get on with the interesting stuff - scenics, buildings, wagon construction etc. Actually there is a little more wiring to do. That of fitting decoders into the locos (something I'm dreading, to be honest) and wiring the DCC controller but the big stuff is out of the way now.

This is simply brilliant! It's also a real eye-opener as to what's available to make this sort of thing work. I expect this sort of radio control could be applied to a loco and small industrial shunting layout - properly rusty and rickety track, even on the rail tops...

I've just been wiring the track up and thought I'd put up a pic of how I've tackled the problem of getting power to the traverser tracks. Wires are soldered on to a pair of brass channels that are fixed to what will become the backscene and each rail has a length of nickel silver wire soldered on to it. Current will always be supplied to both tracks all the time, no matter what the position of the traverser. There are no section switches as this is layout going to be run using DCC. I've tested it with DC and it works. I still need to fit some stops so that there is no overrun and therefore no messing about to line the traverser up with the entry/exit track.

Yes, fun to make but satisfying to know that I've saved some money in doing so. I am a Yorkshireman so that sort of thing appeals to me. Well, I made some progress over the weekend and I now have half of the trackwork laid. The boards have been painted in order that wood won't show in the event that any ballast etc. doesn't cover 100% or gets damaged at some time. The track on the left is rail only. Four rails - two as running rails and two as check rails as this siding is to be infilled and will appear as running in concrete into the loading shed. I've placed a Land Rover on to get an idea of the size of road vehicles and have placed an N gauge van just for fun as a comparison of scales. The Land Rover needs some work to bring it up to scratch and will form a project in itself later on. The van nearest is the conversion project. I'll take some better pictures as soon as I've finished the weathering and I can be bothered getting my proper camera out instead of using my mobile phone.

Thanks, Bill, but I'm definitely not buying any more of those. They're expensive, noisy and I've found an alternative at half the price. I'm using SEEP solenoid. They're similar to the PECO type but mount directly to the baseboard without that rubbishy lump pf plastic that makes the motor wobble about after a while, and they have an inbuilt switch for the frog polarity. I guess some people like the slow action of Fulgurex but it's not realistic to have a slow-action point on a railway like mine, where all points are changed by hand lever so it's no loss to me. I really don't like the huge hump that PECO see fit to put on their points in order to hold the over-centre spring in place so I've set about it with a stanley knife... And have also cut channels in some of the timbers so that wires can be run from the stock rails to the tongue rails. This is so that there is a guaranteed circuit and I don't have to rely on the loose-fitting rail joiner connections. This does mean that the wire that connects the frog to the tongue rails must be removed... So this is what's left of where the hump was. I'll make up the gaps with some plastic strip or suitably formed milliput once the turnout is in place. I'll then add a small cover from strip wood, just to hide the tie bar centre. It won't be as good as hand made stuff but it'll be a lot better and life's too short to spend days and days on the tedious process of making my own track. But how will you make the points lock in either direction with the over-centre spring removed or a postive locking point motor? I hear you cry! (honest, I do). Well this is the bit that's so easy it makes we wonder why PECO fit that damned silly hump. I sliced a bit from the bottom of the locating hole area where the spring fits. It now sits flush and underneath the whole assembly. I've since fitted the turnout to the baseboard and the over-centre works. I'll get a photo next time. Back to the van conversion... I looked at those Laurie Griffin brake pipes and decided that £6.50 for a pair of pipes was too much. So I made some myself. Here's a pic of one. I used stuff that was lying around my workbench. Brass rod, some springy wiry stuff, some plastic rod, strip and paper. The springy bit is soldered on to the brass and has a length of thin brass wire to give it a curve.

Thanks, Willy, I followed that link and he has just the thing. The screw couplings are by Slaters and I bought them from Wakefield Model & Craft https://vault1.secur...odel/index.html

I've now laid the first bit of trackwork proper, the Y turnout next to the traverser. I bought a Fulgurex motor to got with it and to evaluate it as I've always used the PECO solenoids on my N gauge stuff. I'm really not impressed. I fitted it under the baseboard as per the instructions but the throw wasn't enough to move the tongue rails right across in both directions. The inbuilt switch kept cutting off to soon so I shaved a bit off both sides of the carriage on the Fulgurex with a stanley knife. It would then move full travel but when installed the throw still wasn't enough. I tried moving the unit and altering the bent wire so the travel of the carriage gave a greater ratio of movement at the business end but that still didn't work. In the end I stuck it on top of the baseboard and made up an omega wire to operate the turnout direct as this particular one will be hidden inside a building. Not only is the thing very difficult to fit (I daresay other people make them work as intended) but it's so damn noisy! I'll not be buying any more, that's for sure. Anyhow I'm so annoyed at it that I haven't taken any pictures. But I have taken a picture of the van conversion. Additional work done since the previous picture includes extending parts of the brake gear using plastic section in order to suit the longer wheelbase and making a brake cylinder by turning a short length of brass bar. All it needs now is the door handles, some vac pipes, paint on the roof and weathering and lettering. I've even splashed out on a pair of screw couplings! Does anyone know where I can get some ready made vac pipes, the type that have a steel pipe fixed to the end of the van body with the flexible part curving over (if that makes any sense)? Edit: pipe arrangement as in this photo http://gallery6801.f.../p44090675.html

They don't need to turn around. I'll uncouple the loco and couple another one on the other end to bring the train back out. I guess I'll have to commandeer a table to put the extra stock on when the railway is in use but there should really only be three trains - one of vans, one of tar tanks and one of tanks of finished products. There is space for two trains on the railway, one in the hidden bit and one road free in the hidden bit. I'd like a couple of 16 ton minerals but as there's no room for any kind of coal siding they'll have to come on, the loco run round and then haul them off again as if part of some manouvre to get them into an off-scene siding elsewhere in the works. F-unit - I have some drawer runners exactly like yours lying around but it looked like a lot more hassle with bracing under the baseboard and trying to line things up to get them to work reliably so I went for the ballbearing type. They weren't too expensive at £7.49 ea. from Screwfix and lining them up was simply a matter of putting a square against the timber rail of the baseboard so it was worth it to a complete woodwork dunce like me.

Yeah, I know it's a bit boring - lumps of unpainted wood and all that, but I'm amazed that it seems to work because it's made of wood and I built it! The traverser is almost done so I can progress to real tracklaying now. All it needs is some elavated handle between the tracks so I can push it back and forth when both tracks are full. The solution to the warped ply was to buy a slightly better and thinner bit. I must have gone through a dozen sheets of the stuff in B&Q before I found one that was any good. I have also araldited two lengths of aluminium angle to it to prevent any future warping. It may seem wasteful buying an entire 1200x600mm sheet simply to make the traverser deck but the rest will be used for the backscene, eventually.

I've fitted the runners to the well with screws so that they can be adjusted for squareness. A short piece of plywood connects the two but I had then fitted the top surface proper. This was meant to be on a level with the fixed part of the board so that track could be laid. It didn't go to plan though as I'd also made the top from ply, which resulted in the far end being level but the near, and critical, end was about 3mm too high because it turned out that the ply was warped. I'm going to have to have a think on this. Something made of metal is in order, I guess.

Thanks, Alan, I haven't enquired. I'll be buying another van kit at some point so I'll use the spare axleboxes from that. I'm still doing a bit now and again but it's a matter of the heat, rather than the rain now. It seemed like a good idea to build a railway in the conservatory back in March but with 30+ deg. C, temperatures it's not so much fun. In fact I'm beginning to worry about how scenery will stand up to the heat and prolonged sunlight over the long term. My previous railways have always lived in the loft so while heat is an issue it's no quite so hot as here and light isn't a problem at all. Anyway, three of the boards have legs and are bolted together now. The last one is the hidden traverser board, which should be in a pic below. I've made a well for the traverser, which will run on a pair of cut down drawer runners. Getting the alignment right will be the difficult part... This board goes at the far end and is is the wrong way round as shown.