steverabone

Those of you who have followed my S Scale adventures, starting with Halifax Midland, may remember that I  built a Midland 1P 0-4-4T many years ago. It used a set of Alan Gibson milled frames, A.G. wheels and a Portescap motor. The footplate was from a spare A.G. MR 990 class etching. The body was made almost entirely from plastic card with a boiler from a length of plastic central heating tube which has exactly the correct outside diameter. The chimney was a modified S Scale casting intended, I think, for a Great Eastern Y7. It's performed well for many years. The photos below shows No. 1356 which was allocated to Bradford Manningham in the early 1920s. Given that I have re-written the Midland Railway map of the West Riding of Yorkshire I think this could well have pulled Bradford to Halifax Midland Railway locals.

However, as I like to operate the layout rather than just display models, there is one big disadvantage. The 0-4-4T is a devil to re-rail in the fiddle yard. That bogie (hidden behind the brake rod gear) is difficult to put on the rails.  The engine is used solely for local trains (mainly a rake of of six wheeled coaches) and it needs to be removed from the track in the fiddle yard after every run. 

I reasoned that having a second loco of the same type would allow me to couple the second loco (after it had run light engine from the loco shed)  onto the end of the train and, after that had departed, the first loco would run light engine to the loco shed.

I should perhaps explain that this is the method I use for changing locos in the fiddle yard. It's totally unrealistic but I have half the locos facing one way and the other half facing the opposite direction. In effect the scenic part of the layout with the shed on it is an extension of the fiddle yard.

Anyway, hidden away in my modelling cupboard, were all the parts I needed to build another 0-4-4T so a few weeks ago, with nothing much planned for the end of July and August I decided to start on the second loco. This time I decided to use card instead of plastic card. I'd also obtained a correct MR chimney casting. Instead of a Portescap motor I used a Mashima motor and Markits gearbox. After a few problems with the chassis - not allowing enough slack in the coupling rod holes - it actually runs better than the Portescap fitted loco.

The photo below shows No. 1278 which was also allocated to Bradford Manningham in the early 1920s.

Have I any conclusions about this experiment building the same model with different materials. I think the plastic card perhaps gives sharper edges than the card and is easier to finish with smooth surfaces but overall there is little difference in the final result.

As usual the photos are very unforgiving of my model making. Neither are particular well built but have been great fun to construct and hopefully will do the task required of them on Halifax Midland.

I'd really like to change the chimney on the first loco to the correct MR version as seen on No. 1278 but until I find one it will have to do.

The digital version of TRACTION in BRM is now available and the print version will be in the shops very soon.

With the dramatic decline in coal traffic on Britain’s rail network it seems an appropriate time to look at how things used to be. In the first of a two-part series Paul Shannon looks at coal loading terminals.

Phil Barnes recorded on film the unusual visit of London Transport’s ‘Sarah Siddons’ visit to Windsor in 1989.

It’s now over a quarter of a century since the Class 66 started work hauling freight trains in the UK so they must surely now qualify as one of our ‘Classic Locos’. David Ratcliffe looks at the ‘Colourful Class 66s’ showing just what a wide variety of liveries they have carried.

Going further back in time J. Crosse recalls the ‘Whistlers’, or Class 40s, at work on the London Midland Region.

Finally, David Clayton remembers photographing freight trains in South Manchester around Skelton and Northenden Junctions.

Stephen Rabone

Editor TRACTION

TRACTION issue 287 is now available in the September issue of BRM.

We start this issue with an article about the unglamorous, but essential, task of driving Class 08 diesel shunters in North London.

We head north for our photo feature about the Inverness to Aberdeen single track main line.

Those marvellous, but now long past, summer Saturdays are recalled when we visit Norwich to see Class 25s on trains to Great Yarmouth.

For wagon enthusiasts our feature about the Transfesa two-axle vans will bring back memories when these ‘ exotic’ wagons appeared in locations across the country.

The West Coast Main Line may have been dominated in the 1980s by electrically hauled trains but there was much else to see on the route as our article ‘West Coast Variety’ shows.

Stephen Rabone

Superb work here Timber. I'll look forward to watching progress. What about a film of your loco running slowly?

Welcome to the July issue of TRACTION which is now available on Pocket Mags and will soon be in the shops.

We start with an article about the history of the Class 50s to coincide with the imminent release of the Accurascale model.

Next is a photo feature about the fortunes of the line from Shipley to Bradford Forster Square. It’s a story of decline and renaissance.

The West Coast Main Line’s electric locomotives never attracted the enthusiasts’ attention in the way that many diesel locomotives did. Our feature ‘Everyday Yesterday’ attempts to redress this situation.

We spend a lunchtime at the busy station of Deansgate in Manchester and take a tour of some of the loco depots in the North East.

Following our articles about HST operations in the West Country some fascinating photos have come to light in the Plymouth area showing HSTs in trouble.

Stephen Rabone editor

"That's a bit modern" - a quarter of a century ago. It's a question I've asked myself over the years I've been editor. At what stage is something eligible to be included in Traction? Given that the chances of seeing 67s on scheduled passenger services are almost certainly past I think there's a place for them in Traction's pages.

By the way I'm just back from a trip on the West Highland Oban line - Class 156s on full power, windows open and jointed track - what a auditory experience. I guess another few years and they'll be replaced with battery multiple units. Perhaps the 156s will be mourned by enthusiast after they're gone!

There have definitely been no Traction annuals since 2011 when I became editor.

17 hours ago, rob D2 said:

I’m glad traction merged , as I feared for its future . Not because it wasn’t good but like fossil fuels there must only be so much unseen blue diesel nostalgia left to tap into after all these years .

I can assure there is plenty of unseen and untapped material out there and you will see more in  the forthcoming issues in Traction. By the way it doesn't have to be blue diesels (and electrics). What about the sectorisation and privatised eras? These are every bit as much "history" as the 1970s and 1980s.

Remember we are always on the look out for features about something slightly different whether it is written by railwaymen, enthusiasts or historians. Anything about the diesel and electric railway that isn't there nowadays has a place in Traction.

We start this issue of TRACTION with a look back to the days of the ‘Warships’ on the Western Region.

Our next feature covers the summer of 2004 when, just for one season, the Class 67s hauled some of the summer Saturday trains to the West Country.

A former driver gives us a fascinating insight into driving Class 47s on empty coaching stock workings in the North West of England.

Most enthusiasts will have spent some time on Crewe station and would, no doubt, like to return to days of locomotive haulage as seen in the feature about an October day in 1989.

Finally, we look at one of those small but important loco stabling points that could once be seen all over the country; here we visit Newport Godfrey Road.

Stephen Rabone

As you may know bus and rail services are often more coordinated in countries like Germany, Switzerland and Austria and it was (and is) common to see a bus outside a German branch line station.

I needed something to fill up the large empty space at the far end of the station on my Niederwangen layout. It's really a cobbled area for unloading freight wagons but it was often the sort of place where buses could be found between trips.

There are numerous websites devoted to Deutsche Bundespost (yellow livery) and Deutsche Bundesbahn (maroon livery)  buses on the internet. I found some scale drawings of a Mercedes Benz O317 which was built from about 1967 onwards so would be suitable for the end of steam and early diesel years.

http://www.bahnbus-bildarchive.de

has lots of good photos

http://www.omnibusgrafiken.de

has excellent side elevations

I selected the Mercedes Benz O317 accepting that I would have to make compromises in the body shape due to the difficulty of building the model in card. The principal compromise is that the body side does not slope in at the top but remains vertical. Other buses of this era did have vertical sides, although they also had other features that make modelling them in card difficult, so I'm happy to have the model as a representation of a typical vehicle rather than a totally accurate model.

The side images were copied and cropped and resized to S Scale. A computer program was then used top insert a blank area where the roof will be. This was then printed out on card....

.....and the windows were very cut out. The roof edge was scored several times with a biro and the card then bent  to give the basic body shell. Small pieces of card were added at the front and rear of the body and the card was given a couple of coats of pale yellow paint. The structure is of course extremely fragile.

To strengthen the body strips of 1mm clear plastic were glued inside the side window areas. Additional strengthening was added using thick mounting card under the roof and the lower body sides.

Glazing at the front an rear of the body uses small pieces of thin plastic glazing.

This is the almost completed model - it just needs a few roof ventilators adding. The interior is model on a floor base of mounting board with seats fabricated from strips of card. The base has to be cut into two to be inserted in the body and is held in place with further strips of mounting board and adhesive.

The steering wheel is a circle of nickel silver wire soldered to a steering column of brass wire. The wheels are about a millimetre slightly too small in diameter but are based on some steel washers I had available. Mounting card layers were glued to the washer and cut and filed to a circular shape. The windscreen divider is a 1mm wide strip of nickel silver etching. All the other details on the cab front are microstrip plastic or circles of card painted to represent headlights.

There are many faults with the model but it overall captures the feel of a late 1960s bus and gives a focus of interest on part of the layout that needed it.

Welcome to this issue of TRACTION in British Railway Modelling. The digital edition is now available on line and will be on the news stands shortly.
We have a variety of articles ranging from features about grain and timber terminals and a photographic visit to the Wichnor Junction area in 1986.
There’s also an article about Stirling station, both in the past and today, as well as a look at the Class 67s that are being sold by DB Cargo.
Finally, we look at the curious Western Region re-signalling scheme concrete train.

Stephen Rabone

Hi Clinton

Have you a link for the S Scale DR box cars? I can't find anything apart from HO

Stephen

The Traction content is exactly the same in both the separate online content as in BRM both print and online version.

I'm glad you enjoyed "Traction in BRM". I think you will find that the content of Traction will be staying much the same as far as the types of features we publish. We have a large number of interesting articles on a wide variety of subjects ready to roll out.

The latest issue TRACTION in British Railway Modelling is now available. As usual we have a variety of articles written by railwaymen, historians and enthusiasts. In this issue we look at the problems of running the HSTs over the steep inclines in Devon, those often-neglected diesel shunters, diesel locos at work in South Yorkshire and an enthusiast’s journeys with his school’s railway club. 

All current Traction subscribers should get a letter in the next 7-10 days notifying them on how their subscription will change. Their new BRM/Traction subscription will take effect from the BRM April issue which subscribers will get around the middle of March.

What a fantastic job you've gone on the J67. Do show us a photo when it's finished and painted. 

I've sent you a private message about this.

Stephen

The print version price is £6.99. The digital and subscription prices are obviously lower.

Welcome to this first issue of TRACTION in British Railway Modelling.

The image on the left shows the BRM cover that you need to look for on the bookstalls or your newsagent. The image on the right is TRACTION's cover, the pages of  which you will find in the middle of our combined publication (Pages 81-111).

As regular readers of TRACTION will notice we have the usual wide variety of articles about the diesel and electric era of Britain’s railways. For new readers our content is written by enthusiasts, railway historians and railwaymen. This issue’s contents are:

East of Doncaster in the 1980s

The Train That Just Keeps Going – Even On One Engine (The HST!)

Class 60 livery variety

West Highland Centenary Celebrations-1994.

The Life and Times of D1746

From this issue TRACTION in BRM will appear thirteen times a year rather than as a bi-monthly publication which means we will be able to allow more space for each feature as we now have twice the number of pages during the year. From many comments we’ve had over the years this is exactly what many of our regular readers have been asking for!

As always we welcome contributions to TRACTION and if you have an idea for a future article or feature please get in touch.

Stephen Rabone

Editor

TRACTION contact:

email: steverabone@hotmail.com

22 hours ago, Grampus said:

As a long-time Traction reader (I have all 280 issues to date) I am saddened by the impending demise of the magazine in its current, stand-alone form, albeit somewhat reassured to hear that the essential 'Traction' content will still be available, just in a different form. Nothing stays the same for ever: all things change, which doesn't have to be a negative thing. I admit, I do share the reservations of others regarding the prospect of merging a publication aimed specifically  at diesel and electric enthusiasts with a railway modelling title which seeks to reach a much wider demographic, but I remain open-minded and will await the first such issue with interest.

 

 

I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you see the next issue of Traction in BRM. It will have much the same appearance and the same type of content.

If you look at many German and French magazines both prototype and model sections have co-existed in the same magazine quite happily for many years. Three examples being Eisenbahn Kurier, Modelleisenbahner and Eisenbahn Magazin.

We intend to continue the series of articles about freight terminals. I'll pass your comments about steel loads on to  the author of the steel terminals as I'm sure it will be of interest to modellers and those only interested in the real railway.

Stephen Rabone

To answer the above questions:

1) Traction issue 280 should be available in printed format from next week in most WH Smiths branches (and other newsagents who normally stock it) as usual.

2) I anticipate the content of Traction in BRM being similar to what it has been over the last few years - mainly 1960s through to the early years of privatisation - all content will be British.

3) The normal number of pages in Traction devoted to the prototype railway after the model section and advertising has been deducted is about 30 pages. This is the number of ADDITIONAL pages that will be added to BRM. There will be no reduction in the number of pages or content of BRM's modelling content.

Yes the Stainforth is the one near Doncaster. The headcode 8D01 shows that it is bound for a location in the Doncaster Division. The WTT shows that the train left the east Coast Main Line at Joan Croft Junction. Old maps and photos show that there were sidings at Stainforth & Hatfield station. My suspicion is that the train was staged at Stainforth before being worked further east.