dasatcopthorne

Thank for you wishes, Guys.

We had a very good 2 days with only one minor problem with point blade clearance. (or the lack of enough).

So the shake down went very well and Falcon Road is ready for exhibiting.

We're already booked for Worthing in September, so we're now looking for to that.

Cheers to everyone who has commented throughout this thread.

Dave

Hi Guys.

Well, we're already for the layouts first public showing, albeit a very small affair.

It's always a odd feeling taking a new layout out for the first time.

Cross fingers there are no major problems.

Cheers

Dave

More impressive modeling!! luv your old buildings,are they scratch built??

 

cheers neil..

Thanks for that, Neil.

I guess you men the north light style factories along the rear if the yard.

They are Skytrex. A hell to paint.

Dave

Our little debut is fast approaching and I have been adding small touches here and there.

Some additional bufferstop lights in Oil Drum Lane yard as well as soldering up some small Veroboards with variable resistors to try and bring the brightness down on our Absolute Aspects colour lights.

Won't know if it works until I get to test them at our Club on Monday.

Dave

Hi Guys

Falcon Road is soon to have its Exhibition Debut.

A small affair but just right to give it a shake down before appearing at a bigger show in Worthing, September 2014.

The layout is going to have a two day testing in June at a small 'do' in Carshalton near Sutton, Surrey.

A local museum known as Honeywood House is having a 'railway weekend'. It's free and besides Falcon Road, there will be 4 or 5 other layouts from the Croydon and Wimbledon Clubs.

Everyone's welcome, of course, but don't expect a full blown model railway exhibition.

If you are thinking of changing to DCC, want to learn more about it or just want to enjoy a few layouts, come along a have a look.

Cheers

Dave Smith

Carshalton & Sutton MRC.

Hi Guys.

A few new members' wagons arrived in Oil Drum Lane yard this week.

Cheers

Dave

Hey Colin,...

 

You're getting me flummoxed !

 

I had to 'double take' hat initial b&w roof picture !...I was so sure it was one of Dave's (dasatcopthorne's) photos of the prototype !.....Talk about perfection.

 

.

My thoughts exactly.

I thought at first Colin had used one of my shots without permission. :-)))))

Only joking, but Colin, fantastic work as usual.

Dave

Hi Dave lovely pics, nice atmosphere, really good stuff.

 

Well done :locomotive: :locomotive:

Andy. Thanks for your comments.

I while back I was looking for a small layout to build for home so that I could move locos around and shunt a few wagons etc.

I was much impressed with Loch Leven and at one stage decided to copy it. Never got started though, as the space I was going to use never materialised,

That was a great layout.

Dave

.

Nice work as always Dave,

Is that a modified Bachmann clue 47 I see a bit earlier ?

If so I'd love to know how you got the dominoes corrected.

Hi Rob.

I think you must mean the Class 47 next to the triple grey 56.

If so, it's 47035. A straight Bachmann model.

Not sure what you mean about the dominoes.

Dave

Here's the latest batch of piccies.

Dave.

Hi Guys.

I've been thinking about this since the subject started.

I worked on the Holmethorpe Industrial estate in 1989 and 1990 and remember seeing wagons in the sidings.

I'm sure I took a couple of photos of them but cannot find them at the moment.

However, I have come across these below.

First two are from 8th July 1989

The second two are from 2nd Nov 1989.

Hope they help

Dave

Very nice update Dave  great work as always...

 

cheers neil..

Cheers for that, Neil.

More soon.

Dave

Apologies for the picture quality - I should maybe have taken these tomorrow morning in better light. 80% of the third rail is in place and has had a little light dusting of track colour, mainly to tone down the brightness of the insulator pots. No flaking from the chemical blackening which is good news... in fact I deliberately attacked a spare section of conductor rail with no ill effects. I'd certainly use this method again. Threading on the individual pots, I can certainly imagine that if I'd painted the conductor rail, it would have chipped and flaked.

 

waddon_028.JPG

waddon_029.JPG

waddon_030.JPG

 

Hi LBM.

 

My recollection of the Limby Class 73 & Peco pots is that the loco won't run over the 3rd rail it as the pots are too high.

 

Have you tried it. Hope its OK.

 

Dave

very  impressed Dave great work as ever and hints and tips for all.

look forward to more pictures.

Thanks Hammer73.

I fully believe that this medium is only really useful if it is used to pass on ideas and help to others. This best way of doing this is in pictures and diagrams.

I have learnt so much from other peoples' posting!

Glad to be of help.

Dave

Having recently threatened to have a go at blackening some Code 60 bullhead conductor rail, the results are shown below. Really rather pleased with the result. As stated, I don't ever remember the 3rd rail to be shiny, rusty or dirt brown - it always had an oily black appearance.

Using Carr's Metal Black for Nickel Silver, a first attempt was made at blackening the rail by using a cotton bud. Very patchy result and not at all what I was hoping for - the rail discoloured in places and in other places took on an almost blue sheen.

Thinking immersion might achieve a better result, I hit upon a problem... a 24" length of bullhead rail is not like a 3 link coupling and cannot simply be dipped using tweezers. After a little head-scratching, I found a short length of 15mm BPEX barrier pipe left over from our recent house renovation. This is the flexible pipe used to connect hot and cold water supplies using special push-fit plumbing fittings. A snug fitting cap was pushed over the end of the pipe and sealed with many layers of insulating tape. A quick test using tap water confirmed that the end was water tight. The entire 50ml bottle of Metal Black was poured into the pipe, filling it to just over halfway. Six lengths of bullhead were then placed in the pipe, agitated slightly and then left alone for 5 minutes. Using tweezers, the rail was then removed and put back in the pipe the other way round. After another 5 minutes, the rail was removed and left to air-dry. The fluid was carefully put back into the container for future use.

The result is a chemical satin-black finish for the entire length of the rail, and unlike painting, shouldn't chip or flake over time.

If I had painted the conductor rail, no doubt some paint would have been removed when threading the insulators over the rail. I'm pleased with the result and I thought this method may be of some use to others, so I might start a "how-to" post for it. Pete.

 

waddon_027.jpg

LBM.

Been doing this for a few years now on running rail in handuilt track.

Dave

A running session yesterday has given us the opportunity for another photo shoot.

Here's the first batch. They're self explanatory and in no particular order.

More later.

Cheers

Dave

Always nice to see some workers working...    they must be on time n half ££

Hell!

They're out all over Easter weekend as well.

That's going to cost us.

Dave

Hi Colin.

 

I hope he doesn't mind, but zooming in on one of Dasatcopthorne's photos (p#8 of your earlier 2-HAP build) my eyes are telling me that it looks very much like a 1 Ton limit.

post-509-128112928954_thumb (2).jpg

 

What say you ?

 

All the best.

 Frank.

No problem with the photo Frank.

My understanding is that all SR EMUs had 1 ton capability other than those with larger guards comps.

Dave

Dave. I thought all those of BL you kindly put up for me on the Croydon Power Station forum were yours. Until I know of the taker I have them down as of your collection then!!! Thanks, Colin.

I'm really sorry, Colin.

Yes that is my photo.

I hadn't looked back at them after your posting on Semg.

Go ahead and put it up.

Cheers

Dave

Anthony, thanks for owning up to being a guard on the WC-W! I attach one of the photographs that our notorious Dave took in 1972 of the Mitcham Junction end of Beddington Lane Halt. Can you recall the purpose of the concrete structure at the end of the platform, please? It looks like an Exmouth Junction Works product. It has no door to the platform nor on the facing side. From photos taken in the 1950's it appears to be in the station house garden. Its presence continued through to the last remodelling of the station between the platform end and the 'fibreglass' building then erected at that end.I am wanting to model it and thought it may have been a lamp room similar to that at Coulsdon North. But with the lack of seeing all of the other side let alone the other end, I am thinking it was originally constructed as a garden shed!

 

I know the Guard was usually busy with passengers (my experience from 2-WIM and early 2-EPB days) and at the signal box end of the platform but do you have any recollections of it and its possible use, please? Kind regards, Colin.

I don't think that's one of mine!

Dave (Smith)

The track gang are out in force in Oil Drum sidings in a big 'tidy-up'.

Dave

Nick,

Hello, my name is spelt: "McDiarmid" !!!

 

Uh in the 1970's I went over to modelling German outline in N scale. I joined the German Railway Society and for my pains they elected me Editor. (My German exhibition layout was "Zweibrucken" named after the town in Germany where I lived when working for the US Military.)

 

After a stint working in the Pacific, I returned to the UK and began modelling Japanese outline in the 1980's. I had two successive Japanese N layouts that featured in "Continental Modeller" that did the exhibition circuit. They were "Keio Shinjuke" and "Shin Izu". The former was based on a Tokyo city central area, featuring both the National Railway and the Private "Keio" railways, while "Shin Izu" featured a Japanese National Railway coastal line around 50 miles south of Tokyo. From these layouts I generated sufficient interest to start the Japanese Railway Society (JRS), and I filled the post of Editor for this Society for its first 5 years or so. At the time I was working for BR as a Driver first at Exeter, and later at Guildford. When BR was privatised, I left the railway and started JR Models based in the old Great Western Railway Carpenters shop alongside Taunton Station. I eventually sold JR Models, and moved into Property Development, which brought me to Germany.

 

As Hornby and Co have finally started making decent modles, I've been building a large OO scale layout based on Basingstoke for the period 1958-67. You should find a blog site "Basingstoke in OO" on the web if you look, which will give you loads of pics and explanations of many of my techniques, including handbuilt track. You can thank David Smith (who's keeping an eye on us I think) who was my "Mentor" for some of the skills I learnt when a member of the Catrshalton & Sutton MRC, all those years ago.

 

So what's your story? You were another Biker nut from the Railway Tavern Purley. I think they demolished the place some years ago.

Haven't been back that way for many years.

 

As for the Wimbledon - West Croydon line, can't say I'd model it, although I was a BR Guard in the late 1970's who worked over the line. I like mainline layouts (hence Basingstoke) with full length trains, having grown up not far from the Brighton line, and then of course been totally brainwashed by Dave, and his beautiful handbuilt SR EMU'.

 

Anthony.

Oi.

Watch what you say. :-))))))))

I'm listening!

Dave

Thanks for your kind words, mate.

Nice layout.

 

and

 

Nice use of straws there, the other ones to use are Capri Sun straws they are orange and are great they fit nicely between the sleepers for the orange pipes that are often seen under the track.

 

 

Cheers

Steve

Steve.

Thanks for your comments.

I'd love to get the orange tubing but there's too much sugar in the bloody Crappy Sun.

Dave

Thanks, robD2.

Much appreciated

Dave

Three new arrivals at Falcon Road TMD are 20 128, 31 174 and Shirley (yes, Shirley) who has the job of maintaining the rather old fueling equipment.

Dave