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bigd

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  1. bigd

    Off we go!

    By bigd,

    The model is to be based upon Bickershaw Colliery in the 1970s.
    This appears to be an attempt by me, to recapture my youth, riding the austerity tanks between the colliery and the exchange sidings.
     
    The layout is to contain: a canal, roads, screens, locomotive shed, conveyors.
    This is to fit in a six foot by two foot area.
     
    I want to gravity shunt wagons into, and out of the screens.
     
    .
    I have a little helper.
     

    The track laid.
    Starting from the bottom, the first line will be hidden behind a scenic break.
    The next line will be in front of the break.
    They slope to allow gravity to do its stuff.
    There is a cross over, so empty wagons can appear to go into the screens and full ones to come out.
    Then there are connections to the main line to allow shunting of the wagons.
    Then we have a run round loop.
    Finally there is a link to the loco shed.
  2. bigd
    After an 18 month gap I have picked tthis project up again - but I am beginning to wish I had not.
     
    I have purchased a new soldering iron, rated at 60w, and some flux.
     
    Laminating the cab floor went well, and after opning up some holes was soon bolted to the footplate and chassis.
     
    I then waxed the underside of the cab, and tried to solder the front of the cab to it.
    I did not manage to solder it on. I do not know what the problem was. Did I forget the flux? Was the wax migrating into the joint?
     
    So I decided to build the cab off the engine.
    I quickly got the cab front on, only to realise that I had put it on the wrong way round!
    So I desoldered it, and cleaned it up, ready for attempt no2.
     
    My second go, seemed to go better, putting the cab sides and bunker front on.
    I then found that the cab back would not fit!
    I went back to a photograph of the prototype: Hunslet Bickershaw, where I could see that the back was not flat, but instead was sloped.
    It was about this time that i realised:
    1, That some of the screws I had previously soldered to the cab base had migrated out of position. I now understand why Michael recommends building the cab with the base bolted to the footplate.
    2, That for the second time, I have managed to solder the cab front on the wrong way round. Doh!.
    I am in two minds how to recover the situation,
    Do I desolder it, clean it up, and try again? I am not confident I could clean it up so that it is smooth, and the rivets and seams are clean.
    Or do I live with it, scribe on the seam, repunch the rivets, and drill replacement holes as appropriate.
     
    I really do not feel I am doing this kit as it deserves, and am not confident that I can produce a competent result.
  3. bigd
    After a long stressful January, punctuated by Snow, Colds, Virus, friends and relatives in hospital, minding granndson for a week at a time, I have finally made a start on the build.
     
    Michael Edge, quickly supplied the missing bushes. Thank you.
    I also took his advice to build a rigid frame.
     
    I decided to make a tool to punch rivets, from odd bits hanging around.

    Its just a bit of threaded bar, a few bolts, a screw, and half a dozen larger diameter bolts for the weight.
    It managed to produce rivet impressions, of consistent size, but not a clearly defined as I would like.
     

     
    My attempts at soldering the chassis are very much on a learning curve.
    I tried heating the joints dry, and then feeding in the solder, with the result that there is a lot of excess solder around each joint.
    I think I will try tinning the pieces before mating them together, to see if this will produce a neater soldered joint.
     
    I managed to drop solder into one of the axle bushes (my own clumsy fault).
    I thought I had managed to remove it, but this wheel now revolves less freely than the other two.
     
    I also failed to check the squareness of the chassis (as per instructions - so my fault again), after tacking in the first two cross braces, with the result that I had to 'persuade' the chassis back into alignment.
     
    So, after a slow start, I hope I can move faster with the next stages.
  4. bigd

    Open the white box

    By bigd,

    Well I bought the kit from Judith Edge Kits at the Wigan Model Railway Exhibition.
    The white box arrived a few days later in the post.
    My wife then wrapped it for opening on Christmas Day.
     
    Upon opening on Christmas Day I found it contained:


     
    5 pages of instructions.
    Three brass sheets.
    A bag of nuts bolts etc.
    A bag of moulded plastic components.
    Five lengths of wire


     
    Whilst at the Wigan show I also purchased from Alan Gibson:


     
    3 sets of driving wheels.
    A set of crankpins.

     
    Now, as this is my first attempt at a brass loco kit, I then took my time to identify the components on the etch.
    This was helped by most parts on the fret being numbered, and a supplied parts list.
     
    If I have understood the instructions correctly, the first thing I should be doing, is to punch out the rivets from the back.
    Michaels instructions say that you can use a special tool, or just tap them with an hammer and pin.
    I see that Kenton used a special tool when building a similar kit, with good results.OK_WB - North British 225hp 0-4-0DH
    Do I really need to buy a tool like this, or can good results be made, using the pin approach?
    I would appreciate any feedback on this.
     
    Again looking at Kentons blog, I see that he has placed bushes on the frames, and swinging links.
    Should this have been included in the kit?
    Where can I buy them from?
    I can see bushes listed on the Alan Gibson site, but I have no idea which I need.Alan Gibson Model Products
     
    The frame can be built rigid or partly compensated (it says in the instructions).
    For rigid I place bushes in each axle hole in the frame.
    For compensated i am a little confused.
    I think there are two sets of swinging arms in the kit.
    One appears to connect the front two sets of wheels, in a see-saw arrangement.
    There is a hole for the pivot on one frame etch but not on the other!
    There is also another swinging arm that appears to fit on the rear axle.
    I dont yet see how this would work, as it would need a method of springing to work, and if this is the driven axle from a vertically mounted motor, surely this would push the axle about?
     
    I think to start with I will test punching out the rivets, with an hammer and pin, on some scrap brass, and see if I can get a feel for it.
  5. bigd

    Prototype

    By bigd,

    Its one of the three 15" Hunslets that worked at Bickershaw colliery in the 1950s.
    So thats:
    BICKERSHAW (HE1699)
    LYON (HE1809)
    BILL (HE1901)
     
    They were built 1933-1938 and stayed at Bickershaw colliery until 1956-1959.
     
    I do not think they have survived to this day but others have.
    Here is one at Embsay, on a foggy November morning.

     
    Photo References:
    The industrial railways of the Wigan coalfield, Part 2, North and East of Wigan by C.H.A Townley, F.D. Smith, J.A. Peden ISBN 1-870754-23-9 - BILL (D L Chatfield) on page 483.
    A Lancashire Triangle, Part 2 by D.J. Sweeney ISBN 0-952-9333-22 - BICKERSHAW (B Roberts) on page 299.
     
    Any further information on these locos, especially photographs, would be welcome.
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