Ruston

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.

Yes, Willy, it is the kit you mention. I've not made any progress on it recently with real life getting in the way, mostly. The other thing that's holding me back is axleboxes for said wagon. The kit comes with the type that split horizontally but all the wagons of the type I'm altering it to seem to have the type of axlebox that has a cover across the front. The Slaters 12t BR van kit comes with a spare set of these but I used them on my GWR van so I'm wondering if they are available as a spare part? Or if anyone who has recently built a Slaters 12t van and used the split type 'boxes could let me have the spare, ones with the covers? (I hope I've made some sense of describing the types)

As a break from wood I'm now playing with plastic. It's a conversion project that came about due to ignorance of LMS wagon liveries. I went to the O gauge exhibition at Halifax on Saturday and bought a Parkside kit for an LMS van, which said on the box that LMS and BR transfers were included. The picture on the box showed the van with LMS lettering and in a bauxite sort of livery. So I assumed it that the LMS painted it's wagons as BR did and that it was vac-fitted. Fail! It turns out to be an unfitted type. I scoured Paul Bartlett's site in the hope I would find one that was vac-fitted but otherwise identical but I couldn't find one. I did however find something with a similar body but a different wheelbase and different suspension. So I have begun to convert a Diagram 1832 ( http://gallery6801.f.../p44090749.html ) to a Diagram 1830 ( http://gallery6801.f.../p44090675.html ). This has invloved removing some outside strapping and recutting planks on the body and the cutting away of the W irons and springs on the solebars in order to change the wheelbase from 9 to 10ft. The nice people at Slaters provide extra parts with their BR 12t van kit so I've used the suspension from that. I'll have to scratch build the brake rigging and brake cylinder and will have to find a pair of vac pipes from somewhere. And the BR van I built earlier

A whole day at it has resulted in 4 boards ready for legs. I laid them out in the place they will reside and as I laid the last board it wouldn't fit! Then I realised I'd left a large gap between the first board and the far wall - panic over! Some more wood today:

I'm afraid you can't buy a 44/48HP shunter. I wanted a 48DS, which is very similar, but no kit was in production at the time (I don't think one is available now either) so I scratchbuilt the 44/48 as something slightly different. The bodywork is plasticard and plastruct, the buffers were turned in a lathe, as were the wheels, and the chassis itself was milled from brass. A small Mashima motor drives through a 45:1 worm and wheel, which is further geared down 2:1 by delrin chain and sprockets. The chain arrangement is more or less like the real thing but the chains are overscale. This doesn't really matter as the only way they can be seen is from the side and so the depth isn't an issue from that viewpoint.

Well whatever it is I still hate woodwork! Just to prove it's not all hot air and that something is actually being done here is a photo. Some wood today. I can't do anymore until I have more pieces to assemble but whenever I get some time to work on it the rain starts again and I can't go outside to cut any more wood.

Not thinners but Plastic Weld, daubed on with a brush until the paint crinkles but not so much as it completely penetrates the paint and melts the plastic underneath! I've since added a thin wash of black to the tank, just to tone down the decals and take a little of the shine off the thick streams of 'spilt tar'. More wood cut and some glued and nailed together. It's not worth putting up any pics yet though. By the way, the layout is going to be about 10mm shorter than planned so far... Ever heard the phrase "measure twice, cut once"? Well mine is "Measure twice, mark it out all wrong and cut once".

Was that a guess or did you work it out? I was going to crack on with the baseboards today but it's rained non-stop so I haven't been able to get outside to cut any wood. Instead I went out and bought a LH PECO bullhead rail medium turnout (why do they call it medium when it's the smallest one they make?) and painted it. It takes some painting with all those chairs and keys does an O gauge turnout! I also did some work on a Parkside GWR van kit. I had the N gauge running around the loft while I was working and yes, the physical size difference is huge but so is the price! I could have bought 4 N gauge turnouts for the price of one O gauge or 7 van kits for the price of one.

For about 12 months now I've been dabbling in O gauge. I've built a few locos and wagons so it's time to build a railway for them. Scene: Part of the internal railway system of a tar distillers/chemical works, somewhere in the West Riding, mid 1960s. A BR connection and more of the works is off-scene. Traffic/Rolling stock: Goods in - unspecified goods in covered vans, tar from NCB coke ovens in rectangular tanks. Goods out - chemicals to industrial users in cylindrical tanks, smaller consigments and household chemicals to retailers in covered vans. Locomotives: Ruston & Hornsby 44/48HP type diesel shunter, Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. 14" 0-4-0ST and a Hudswell Clarke 14" 0-4-0ST. Track Plan Locos There's nothing of the layout itself to see yet but I've begun cutting wood for the baseboards, which is a hateful business so I thought I'd start a topic about the layout in the hope that the good people of RMweb will spur me on to doing something more about it. By the way, Bury, Thorn & Sons is an anagram of something...

That's far better for being made with a proper chassis. The axleboxes and radius rods are a nice touch too! The next challenge is to paint it and line it in the ex-works Ruston livery.

If you mean 305306 at Chasewater, it's been removed at some point in it's life in preservation. If you've got Adrian Booth's 'A pictorial survey of standard gauge industrial diesels around Britain' (D. Bradford Barton 1977(?) then page 53 shows W/n 305306 at Tarmac's Buxton quarry and the strip is visible. I've looked through my collection of official RH photos and out of two dozen only one is taken from a high enough vantage point to show it. I don't have a scanner so I can't copy it for you.

On the real thing the side panels are hinged and the very bottom of the lower section of each side is rolled. When the bonnet side panels are opened to allow access to the engine they are folded back and the rolled part rests in a shallow channel on the top of the bonnet so that they stay open and don't fall on thehead of anyone working on the engine. I'm not sure that I have a picture and I can't post one in here (see, I told you forums have the advantage over blogs ;-) anyway. In this scale you'd get away with a length of thin strip brass or microstrip. It needs to fit fore and aft between the etched lines where the bonnet mid section goes between the radiator cowl and the fuel tank, if you get my drift?