rope runner

The sale of railway slides and negatives is big business, especially when copyright is attributed to the buyer as many of these are. There are well-heeled individuals with expansive collections and for traders it's a very cheap way to make £££ - buying job lots at auction and then advertising them with expansive descriptions individually on ebay. It's not unheard of for some choice industrial negatives to fetch well into three figures! Paul A.

Hi All, Much progress through the coronavirus "lockdown" AB2139/42 is now finished, pending weathering at a much later date. The shed has also gained a roof, photos to follow in due course. Cheers Paul A.

I don't know the history of this loco but HE2868/43 certainly had one fitted when preserved. She was rebuilt by Hunslets with a gas producer system in the early 60's, so possibly acquired it then. EDIT - It's the same loco, the re-allocated later works number and spurious name adding to the confusion... so yes, the fitting is original to this rebuilt loco Paul A.

Did you buy that off ebay Corbs? Seem to recall it was on fairly recently Paul A.

2'3'' wheels by Sharman are a bit of a headache - the question I'd ask is does anyone do a small enough final drive gear at a sensible ratio? Paul A.

While I sympathize with your minor inconvenience with these crank pins it's hardly worthy of a personal attack on the proprietor of the cottage industry who supplied them - a polite email requesting a replacement set is likely all that was required. The hobby would be all the poorer for it if suppliers such as this were to throw in the towel - something I'd think we can all agree on. Paul A.

Nice images but we probably shouldn't be posting them as they are copyrighted and then downloadable by others on this public forum. Links to the images (but not showing a thumbnail on the forum) are acceptable, I understand. Paul A.

I would also like a model of Sentinel 9615 of 1956 PHYLLIS. I have several useful photographs if anyone would like to use them for CAD references. Paul A.

It's not so much finding one which is the issue - it's finding one with defects and price reflecting this. I can't see much point in paying >£70 for a loco which I'll only use the body from... Paul A.

Hi all, If anyone has a DJ models Austerity body or poorly running cmplete model I would be very interested in giving it a new home. WIlling to go up to £50 depending on condition. I don't mind if handrails are damaged or other minor blemishes. It's destined for an etched chassis with finescale wheels etc. Please PM me if you can help Kind regards Paul

Yes, I think I've said before James that these go together easily enough but sadly they're not an accurate representation of the prototype. I've got two built as intended and one which has had lots of changes to bring it closer to the prototype, with limited success it has to be said. Paul A.

Not very, basically. Paul A.

I have never found the proprietor to be anything other than helpful and friendly, personally. It is a very busy time for cottage industry suppliers if testimony from Chris from High Level is anything to go by. Paul A.

This is looking brilliant, what era is it going to be set in? Paul A.

Hi All, Onto the primary building for the layout now which will be covered over a series of posts: Running shed Most quarry railways had locomotive accommodation which primarily served as somewhere safe to store the locomotives at night (many were not kept in steam for days on end as per mainline practice) and at weekends. There were more extensive facilities on larger systems as would be expected, notably at Gretton Brook where there was a much-photographed eight road shed which lasted into the 1980s. Gretton Brook shed with BSC "55" at Corby. The relative modern permanency of this shed is self evident. Not shown is a further 4 roads to the Right hand side... Gretton Brook was far from the norm however, and what appeared outwardly to be a "shed in a field" often clad in wriggly tin was much more typical. The work undertaken in an industrial loco running shed was often only routine or minor work although “jacking up” on sleepers for attention to springs or axle boxes was not uncommon. Locomotives were often sent away for serious overhauls/rebuilds via the mainline with their connecting rods removed to lessen wear. Even so, such overhauls were still conducted “in house” at places such as Holwell Ironworks, Corby Steelworks workshops and the Central Engineering Workshops (CEW) at Colsterworth. A medium/small size running shed more typical of most quarries, this example seen at Woolsthorpe. The shed was dismantled and erected at Cottesmore where it still preserved today. Note the later extension to the front section to house an additional locomotive. The model The model depicts a typical wriggly-tin clad shed constructed around the 1930's-1940's. The example I am taking inspiration from had a wooden frame which hung on metal supports which were secured into the ground with concrete. A closer shot of the Woolsthorpe shed. Wooden frame hung onto steel supports. Inspection pit also evident, a key requirement for oiling up and other routine inspections/duties. The model features a laser cut modular frame sandwiched between two brass U sections for strength. These are secured by the mounting frames on I beam which will locate into holes on the layout. Windows are from Mainly Trains etches and are of their large industrial type. I have been experimenting on how to effectively clad this shed. I have some Eastwell corrugated material for the roof but the sides will have to be in plastic. More details to follow soon Paul A.

Regarding the Lancs steels wagons here is a photograph of them at a later time, hoses removed but vac cylinder still evident: https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/lancswagon/h27b559b4#h536a5440 I'll try to dig out the reference photographs I used for the BR tipplers, these being taken at Skillington Road sidings just before closure in the early 1970's. I'll have to post these via PM as I don't have copyright. There's a few freight stock grey wagons in this fitted rake here, one being an early high-bodied example: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf2009/5576501643 Another freight stock grey in this rake here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf2009/5537356587/in/album-72157626169910951/ Some of those which were later upgraded with roller bearings etc do not appear to have received a repaint. Paul A.

Hi All, A bit of signage for the layout now. Stanton Ironworks-type exchange sidings sign Stanton Ironworks-issued exchange sidings sign at Harston, 1970's Demarcation between the privately owned lines and the national network was usually marked by a cast iron simple “LNER/BR maintenance ends here” sign on the appropriate sleeper. Despite this, it was occasionally necessary for the BR locomotive to pull forward onto private metals to shunt wagons, effectively using the privately owned running line as a headshunt for the loops of the exchange area. An interesting sign which appears to have been a standard fitting on exchange sidings for systems operated by the Stanton Iron Company was this large board and warning lamp limiting the movements of BR locos to a particular section, and no further. The post was fitted with a lamp to warn loco crew in dreary conditions. The model The post is a cut-down white metal casting from MSE, as is the lamp. I wanted a fabricated thin ladder and in my search came across this offering from Stenson models with etched sides. This built up very nicely and can be supplied with a simple jig which makes makes things 10x easier on the eyes and finger tips… For rigidity the bottom rung is soldered to a length of wire from the signal post, this will be buried with scatter material/filler. The typeface itself is an approximation of the original, which I did as an etch filler on another project in nickel silver. The sign will be located facing the off-scene exchange sidings on the layout which means that it will be almost unreadable by the viewer, never mind! Thanks Paul A.

This loco hasn't been broken up and is in covered museum accommodation at Cottesmore, photograph taken at Rippingdale prior to arrival in the early 2000's. I would highly suspect these have come from cut-up class member AE1945. Paul A.

Andrew Barclay 2139 of 1942 "Salmon" Yours truly on the footplate! To keep the thread variety up I will give now give an overview of one of the more interesting prototypical locos I have been working on. History and Background By the first half of the twentieth century, Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. had a reputation for building cheap and robust industrial steam locomotives at their Kilmarnock works during the first half of the twentieth century. Indeed, the company had started producing steam locomotives in a meaningful way in the last quarter of the previous century, though the locomotives did not have the same rigorous design standardization that was prevalent in their later products. Andrew Barclay “Salmon” (wks no. 2139, built in 1942) was one of a pair sourced for the East Midlands ironstone industry, obtained through the Ministry of Supply. "Salmon" along with sister loco "Swordfish" (wks no. 2138 of the same year) were named after Royal Naval submarines lost at sea in 1940. AB2139 in "as delivered" condition "Salmon" was delivered new to Harlaxton Quarries (South Lincs.) and later to Woolsthorpe Quarries in Leicestershire, where the line had recently been upgraded from a 3ft narrow gauge system to a standard gauge setup. The quarries were operated by the Stanton Ironworks Company at this time, and later Stewarts and Lloyds. At Woolsthorpe, several of the locomotives wore the heavy-duty fabricated buffers typical of Stanton locomotives. Additionally, water treatment was required for the locos due to the high mineral content of the local water, the chemicals required to soften this being loaded into tubes which fed into the front of the saddle tank. After several years of work "Salmon" was rebuilt at Holwell works over a two year period, during which time she received a new chimney, ross pop safety valves and replacement footsteps. She was sold out of industry and moved to various preservation sites including NYMR, Rutland Railway Museum, Swindon and Cricklade, Beamish Museum and now Royal Deeside. "Salmon" at the head of a demonstration hopper rake at Cottesmore in the 1990's. Note the water softener tube "Salmon" as she ran for a short time at Scunthorpe steelworks in the 1990's. Of additional interest, sister loco “Swordfish” which worked at Glendon Quarries is also preserved, having survived into the 1980’s in a scrapyard before being rescued. She is currently operational on the Swindon and Cricklade, though not in original configuration. The Model The base for the model is the now discontinued DJH “starter” for the 0-4-0 kit, with additional etches from my own artwork. Owing to the aforementioned standardization adopted by Barclays the saddle tank, boiler and cylinders/motion/fittings are common between the 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 14’’ types (though not the larger 15'' design). It is for this reason that the 0-6-0 has an unequal wheelbase, and the rear driving wheel are positioned directly under the cab with a requirement for a split ash pan. The boiler does sit higher in the six coupled version as a result and accordingly the cab windows are angular as opposed to the more typical porthole used by Barclays at this time. The model in its various sub-assemblies and lacking cab details for now The DJH kit employs a motor mounted vertically in the cab, a compromise I am happy with but in the case of this build the rear axle does not allow reuse of the original gearbox (which is integral with the original frames). The axle position also means that there is not room for my usual choice of rear-axle mounted High Level gearbox. As the centre axle is set so far back, owing to the unequal wheelbase, I have managed to drive this with a High Level RR compact+ with motor located upright in the cab where the backhead should be. It will be further obscured with crew, reversing lever etc. Drive from the centre axle using a flipped over High Level gearbox. Motor is a Mashima 1020 owing to the cab height The distinctive buffers are from RT models, coupling hooks from Brassmasters and driving wheels/whistle from Markits. Handrail knobs of the original kit have been replaced with the finer Alan Gibson equivalent. The water treatment tube was constructed from brass tube, measurements being taken from another former Woolsthorpe Quarries loco Andrew Barclay wks no. 2350 “Belvoir” of 1954, the only loco which has retained this Stanton-pattern fitting in preservation. Front view of the model. The mechanical lubricator wheel will be fitted after painting and the front grab handles are "long" hand rail knobs with holes filled. The model is based on "Salmon" post-rebuild with ross pop safety valves Rear view of the model. The rear cab window protective mesh will be added after painting. The lamp irons are the typical Andrew Barclay double sided type The model will be painted once I can find a good match for the shade green. Transfers will be required for the name, as these were painted on. I'll post another pic once complete, hopefully later in the summer. Paul A.

Hi All, For completeness I will now detail the short rake of steel-bodied private owner tipplers for the layout and some prototype background. The phasing out of wooden mineral wagons for ironstone began in earnest in the 1940's owing to the earlier successes of privately owned steel bodied hopper wagons and comparatively labour-intensive upkeep of wooden-framed designs. This issue was all the more pressing during this period as the large numbers of Ministry of Munitions ore wagons constructed during the first world war were coming towards their useful working lives for mainline use. One company facing this problem post-war was the Lancashire Steel Corporation at Irlam who required large volumes of iron ore to bolster their manufacturing in the mid twentieth century. Their needs were such that even ore quarried over a hundred miles away in the East Midlands was to be bought in to supplement their own ore streams. This ore would then be brought through in block rakes from the Midland mainline due West, sometimes via the Woodhead route (or so it is documented and photographed). A small variety of steel bodied tipplers were offered from private wagon manufacturers. One such design offered by several builders was a 20 ton capacity unfitted tippler which featured outside I-beam bracing and angled floor sides for the handling of wet aggregate. A brief discussion of this design and thoughts on replicating these in model form is offered here. Lancashire steel had a small fleet of these wagons which were still in operation during the late 1960's. With the move towards vacuum fitted stock during the early/mid 1960's further wagons were built for the Lancashire Steel Corporation to the same design as the 26 ton BR diagram 1/185 10ft wheelbase tippler wagons by the Central Wagon Co. It is believed that these were ordered in greater numbers than the 20 ton design although livery details were unchanged. Bachmann do offer a tippler RTR in this livery, but it ought really be the correct 26 ton lower-bodied design with 10ft wheelbase. I've chosen to model a short rake of both the earlier 20 ton and later 26 ton designs. While these wagons appear to have often run in block trains of the same type wagon (20 or 26 ton respectively) it was common to see short rakes of assorted types (tipplers and hoppers) moving in trip workings to the quarry for loading. These would then be reformed into rakes of their respective types in the exchange sidings prior to the arrival of the BR loco. Lancashire Steel Corporation private owner tipplers. 26 ton design closest to the camera is a Parkside kit with Oleo buffers and vac hoses from Lanarkshire Model Supplies. The 20 ton design is scratch built from plasticard and evergreen strip on a cut and shut Parkside 21 ton hopper chassis, giving the correct solebar depth. Lettering was custom printed for these wagons based on photographs. Happy Easter All. Paul A.

That was quick Corbs, I'd just gone to edit it after double checking! Paul A.

Yes, the 50550 had a greater tractive effort owing to the smaller driving wheels, despite the austerity class actually being heavier. It must be remembered that this design was not a step backwards and the earlier classes had recurring difficulties with their backhead mounted injectors. The austerity class was capable of a greater turn of speed and increased range from the enlarged bunker, something which was a key consideration when it was believed that the majority would handle the first two years of secondary route traffic in post-war Western Europe. I'm afraid that is not entirely accurate. The Hunslet Engine Company had far more success with their excellent 15'' and 16'' inside cylinder designs which were produced in much greater numbers across several decades, the aforementioned 18'' design build numbers totaled 24 locos (8x50550, 16x48150). The use of the 48150 class was confined to steelworks only. The entirety of the 50550 class were originally ordered as trip working quarry railway locos and it was only owing to wartime and economic pressures that the order by Stewarts and LLoyds was cancelled and the locos dispersed. Corbs has had a go at the 48150 class here: There is also a kit available from Mercian models in 4mm and 7mm. Paul A.

I think you'll find they are one and the same... Do you mean one of the more minor Hunslet classes such as 50550 or 48150? Paul A.

Hi Corbs, Not in the same sense, no. Many systems employed "direct loading" whereby the BR wagons were run up to the quarry face and these same wagons would be worked across the network to the steelworks. Internal user mineral wagons in the ironstone industry were typically purpose-built for the movement of the quarried material and not intended to run on BR metals in revenue-earning service. Regarding internal user mineral wagons, in the early days wooden-frames side tipping wagons were the norm, often referred to as "ship canal wagons". This later progressed to steel-bodied dump car wagons and skip wagons. The purpose of these designs was to load the crusher (where applicable) or to transfer the ore to an intermediary location for calcining. I'll cover on-site calcining and associated operations in a later post, but here's an example of an internal user mineral wagon alluded to above: A 3-skip internal user wagon built by G.R. Turner during WW2, preserved at Cottesmore. This example had a hard life being latterly used at Corby Steelworks for restoring landslips and moving bulk chemicals/materials around the plant. Examples of these were seen at several quarries in Northamptonshire including Cranford, Nassington and Pitsford . Paul A.

Hi All, This post will detail the subject of BR steel bodied "tippler" mineral wagons for the layout. To the uninitiated it may appear that the typical British Railways Iron Ore Tippler wagon is a fairly flat subject with little area for interest - in essence a box on wheels. But let's take a closer look... An atmospheric shot of Andrew Barclay "No.19" works number 2101 of 1940 at Storefield Quarries, Northants. The tipplers are of varying heights, the second closest to the camera is fitted with roller bearings and the vehicle at the back of the rake appears to have no tie bars. First to the typical high-bodied 27 ton tippler with oil axle boxes. These have been the subject of two (serious, not including first gen efforts) RTR models in recent times by Hornby and Bachmann. Unfortunately, neither succeeds entirely in capturing the accurate dimensions and features of the prototype. The Bachmann model is fitted with a 16-ton mineral chassis which lacks the tie bars, correct spring type and brake lever arrangement. The Hornby chassis is much improved and is a good representation. Unfortunately the body height isn't quite right and the triangular supports under the top capping have been rendered with a curved profile instead of straight. My solution is a pastiche of the two RTR models. There are several of these completed for the layout all with slightly differing script for the central body patch, the wagons being out shopped with a great variety of scripts, sizes and positioning height. 27 ton high-sided tippler diagram 1/180. This makes use of the Hornby chassis and the Bachmann body from their RTR offerings. The wagon is 9ft WB and unfitted. Moving on now to the Parkside kit and the outlook here is much better. These kits come with optional roller bearing or "heavy duty" axle boxes and build up without issue. Note that this represents the later 10ft wheelbase design and features clasp brakes, the tie bars having been done away with by this time. 26 ton lower-sided tippler diagram 1/184. This is the Parkside kit and the only modifications are the addition of BR self contained buffers from the Lanarkshire Models range. This example is vac-fitted. Now to some oddities for some prototypical variety. The forerunner to the BR 27 ton diagram 1/180 was the LMS 2153 iron ore tippler. These were fitted with bodyside doors similar to a 16-ton mineral with the chassis designed to carry 27 tons with tie bars and springing to suit this. In model form this is merely a Bachmann 16 ton mineral on Hornby 27 ton chassis, which gives a fair representation. I need to change the bodyside lettering on this one, I have since come across a photograph of one of these wagons with a large patch with "Iron Ore Tippler" above the running number. If anyone would like to see it to further their modelling pursuits please PM me as I do not have copyright of the slide. 27 ton LMS diagram 2153 tippler. A mixture of Hornby and Bachmann parts, as above. None of this wagon diagram were preserved sadly, and although there are photographs of them with roller bearings fitted it would seem unlikely there were any vac-fitted examples. An intermediate design was the BR diagram 1/183 which had the 9ft wheelbase of the earlier 1/180 diagram with a lower body height to prevent overloading. Iron ore is a particularly dense aggregate, particularly when water logged, so overloading was a consideration on later designs. In model form this is achieved by paring the Hornby chassis with an independently constructed Parkside body, gluing them together with five-minute expoxy once painted. 26 ton lower-sided tippler diagram 1/183. The chassis is the Hornby 9ft wheelbase type with a Parkside body, it is through-piped. This model represents a wagon which has been overhauled with the original axle boxes removed and roller bearings added. Similar to the above wagon I have also completed a rebuilt diagram 1/180 which is through-piped. 27 ton high-sided tippler diagram 1/180 which has been rebuilt by BR with roller bearings. These started to appear around the late 1960's. Component details as per the first wagon shown. There are plasticard stretchers added inside to prevent the bodies from bowing inwards slightly (if anything, they should bow outwards slightly!), something which the Bachmann plastic bodies have a tendency to do. The "empty" rake is mostly made up from diagram 1/183 and 1/184 tipplers as these do not suffer from the bowing sides. The "fulls" for the layout are fitted with permanent loads of real Rutland ironstone. The colour of this material varies greatly according to the area in which it has been mined and the local geology. That from the "Northamptonshire sand" strata is noticeably paler. You will note the oversize and "lumpy" nature of the iron ore loads. This is prototypical as these wagons depict those "direct loaded" by an excavator at the quarry face. Imported ore or that from quarries fitted with a crusher, such as Wroxton on Easton, would of course have finer material. Some of the running numbers on the wagons may not be 100% either, but the weights are right and that's good enough for me at this point... Thanks to all for the encouragement and "likes" so far. Paul A.