garethashenden

I have returned to working on the locomotive body and got it to a point where it looks like a Jumbo. I used the kit's etched boiler. At first I tried to use a piece of tube, but cutting it for wheel clearance was proving problematic, along with shaping the firebox. I annealed the etched boiler and rolled it to shape. Unfortunately its now quite soft and delicate as a result. But still, it works. I fits properly into the body, but is hitting some part of the chassis, so it looks off in the pictures. I'll figure out where its not fitting, fix it, and then work out how to attach the body to the chassis. Probably one screw at the front, into the smokebox. I received a bunch of castings from N Brass yesterday, for both this and the Coal Tank. So I dug out the Coal Tank to see where exactly things had been left off. They are pictured together. I need to tidy up the workbench. The useable space has been decreasing recently...

IT Runs!!! Needs more weight though

I’ve been working away at this but not posting regular updates. I now have a tender! The body is not yet mounted to the chassis, but it looks the part at least. Once I have it mounted I’ll figure out a drawbar etc. not too far off from seeing it run potentially.

At first I was thinking its a tank, water or oil, something like that. But where would it go? Then I was thinking about what's being worked on, I think its the tube tunnel. I think this is a master that tunnel lining sections can be formed on.

I think the Chris Higgs chassis would be easier to build. It was designed for 2mm Association parts and a split chassis electrical pickup from the start, where as the LRM one wasn't.

Before I get much further with the locomotive I want to start on the tender. I think it would be good to get the locomotive and tender running together, before I do something with the locomotive that would later need to be undone with the tender. When looking at the tender etch, one could be forgiven for thinking it was a tender body etch as the chassis bits are few and far between. There are six trapezoidal pieces that are supposed to attach to the underside of the tender floor, and two solebar etches. That's about it for the tender chassis. This does mimic the prototype, which had a very open tender chassis, but doesn't help if I want standard 2mm chassis construction. I went back to my phosphor bronze sheet and cut two more strips. These were sweated together and then marked out. I laid out the 6'6"+6' spacing and drilled the axle holes. Then sawed around them mimicking the shape of the etched parts. The two frames are sill soldered together, but will come apart soon. I'm going to pull out my bag of motors and see what looks promising. There's not a lot of height available, and I need to plan for a decoder in there somewhere. Not sure I really fancy trying to cram in a sound decoder, but I may give it a few moments thought. I also need to decide if I want to build the tender as its own thing, or hang it off the back of the locomotive. The latter can transfer some weight to the rear driving wheels, but I'm not sure the best way of accomplishing it.

It can probably be flexible, ‘27-‘32 or thereabouts.

That looks good to me! I haven't thought too much about the lining. I need to pick a prototype at some point soon. I'm not sure how quickly LMS repainted them, I know a few made it into red, which is tempting. Most of them were gone by 1930, so I need to be somewhat careful with my choice.

Looks like the chassis needs to come apart already! I went to push the wheels all the way in, so I can see just how bad the splasher problem is. When the wheels are tight against the frames, the back to back is 8.8mm. Should be 8.5. They turn, but not exactly freely. So I need to thin the spacers a bit more. Guess I hadn't quite done the math correctly. Right at 8.0mm over the frames now, should be closer to 7.8mm.

Well when I get my time machine working Mr Webb and I are going to have a little talk about clearances. He was very inconsiderate of the needs of future modellers when he designed these splashers…

That would be great! I saw they were listed on the 3d CAD exchange. I'll send you an email.

Up to now I have dabbled in 2mmFS without a cohesive plan. I've been tempted over the years in various directions and have some finished wagons to show for it, but without a layout to use them on they're all languishing in a box. I now intend to build a layout and construct rolling stock to suit. As may be surmised from the thread's title it will be LNWR themed, but post grouping. I have no objection to modelling in multiple scales, but I try very hard to avoid overlap. So with the goal of avoiding duplicating my P4 North London c.1903 efforts this layout will be c.1930 and rural. I have ideas of what the layout will be, bust first the rolling stock! I started building a Coal Tank a few years ago, as did many people. The reduced etch was produced along with a separate chassis kit. I need to dig it out and finish the fittings. Haven't done much with it since early 2020. A couple of weeks ago I wanted to do something in 2mm, which is a feeling I get sometimes. I went into my gloat box and came up with an etch for a LNWR 2-4-0 Jumbo and the appropriate wheels. This seems like a good place for me to try out the Association's new 30:1 gearbox. I have struggled in the past with gearboxes, so I ordered 3 when they were first released. I started with the body, a questionable idea but what I wanted to do. The footplate, splashers, and cab all went together pretty easily. Then it was time for the chassis. The 0.005" brass that the etch was made from didn't seem like the sturdiest thing to make a chassis from, but I'm afraid I have overcompensated. I found a source a few months ago for phosphor bronze sheet, and instead of ordering 0.020" I ordered 0.032". Should give plenty of bearing area, but its too thick for my shear. Well, it can cut it, but not without warping it. So I used a saw instead to cut two strips, sweated them together, then added one of the etched chassis sides on top. Using that as a guide I drilled the axle holes and cut the frames to shape. The rods were drilled at the same time, so they should match, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I assembled the frames with pcb narrowed down to 6.3mm, then assembled the gearbox. It went pretty well, but I had to try a few muffs to get one that was a good fit. Some were smaller than the hole in the gear. I decided to include "Simpson springs" in this chassis, which is the first time I've used them. Every bit of extra pickup helps...

For what scale and gauge? Do you want automatic couplings or are manual ones ok? The most inconspicuous ones in 4mm are probably Alex Jacksons. They're made from guitar string and as a result are quite thin and in-obtrusive. The downside of this is that they are somewhat delicate and can be damaged by derailments or handling. I haven't used them in OO, but they work reliably, once set up and tuned, in EM and P4. The best looking couplings are 3 links/screw links/instanters because they are the correct prototypical couplers. Fiddly at best to couple and uncouple. The most reliable in terms of coming together and staying together is probably the tension lock. There's a reason why they're the RTR coupler, although they are really ugly. The other options, Kadees, Sprat & Winkle, DG, etc all fall somewhere in the middle of the range for ease of use and appearance. They all have advantages and disadvantages.

To make the trackwork more complicated, it’s actually a single slip followed by a double slip. I’ve got Easitrac turnout bases and chairs, I’ll try making a point with them for practice. I had some pcb sleepers too, but I may have used them elsewhere.

I have found a couple of places near each other that are close enough to what I was thinking of to pursue a little further. On the LNWR line from Coventry to Nuneaton there is the station of Bedworth. Double track secondary line, small goods yard, brickworks behind the goods yard with its own sidings. Great! But nothing is so perfect that it can't be improved by cutting and pasting pieces of the local geography. With that in mind, we are going to relocate the Coventry canal to the down end of the layout. Give an excuse for a nice bridge, and who doesn't like a canal? The up end should be in a cutting with a bridge over the track, that could work but I'm not opposed to a level crossing either. Probably a few buildings near the station and a lane leading back to the brickworks. It occurred to me this afternoon that I can model an LNWR line and run as many LSWR trains as I like on it. No ones going to know if I don't tell them. The topography isn't final, but here's what I'm thinking at the moment.

I think the specific locomotives are kind of irrelevant to the question I’m trying to ask. There’s a continuum from Inglenook to Copenhagen Fields, I don’t want to be at either end of that really. I think something along the lines of Modbury would be where I’d like to be, but I wanted the opinions of the people who had gone before before I just dive in. Beyond a length of EasyTrack I haven’t built any 2mm track, but I’ve built working track in both P4 and American N, so it should be manageable.

I’ve got the stock for the proposed railways and era. Not the full amount needed, but enough to start. I’ve got a Jinty with a new chassis, as well as a running Coal Tank and M7. I need somewhere to run them and somewhere where I can work on my scenery skills.

Yes, grouping but early enough that most of the infrastructure and locomotives hadn’t changed.

I've been thinking about building a layout in 2mmFS. I've been thinking about it on and off for a while but other things have been the priorities before. I'm interested in opinions of what would make a good first layout. I don't want something overly ambitious, but I don't want something too simple either. I'm not a huge fan of shunting, but a little bit would be welcome. I've got 6 feet, plus 24"-30" either side for fiddleyards, and I feel this should be enough to get a nice scene. Kinda thinking of a double track secondary route, small goods yard, maybe a siding for another industry. Something rural I think, maybe outer suburbs. Bit torn between LNWR and LSWR, too bad they didn't have any joint lines, but about 1930 with either. But is that the best approach? Would I be better off with a branch line terminus of some sort and do the through station as a second layout? I'm not afraid of the work needed, but I'd rather not waste time and effort on something that doesn't suit either.

With the Broad gauge Buffalo essentially finished, aside from paint, its time to find a new project. The paint will have to wait for warmer weather. After about five years of procrastination I decided it was time to tackle the outside cylinders on the Park Tank. I had initially procrastinated over the lack of clearance between the piston and the front crankpin. I replaced the front crankpin bush with a little bit of brass tube, and turned the crank pin nut around so that it would sit as flush as possible. But this wasn't enough. The kit comes with two cylinder options, an OO/EM one and a P4 one. The P4 ones are shorter, so that the overall width stays correct. In theory. In practice I decided to use the OO cylinders and even with them there is barely clearance between the rods and the piston. I have also decided against the printed boiler and smokebox and set about making them from 0.020" nickel silver. The front and back were sweated together and fretted out. Then I cut a strip of nickel silver the width of the smokebox minus the front and back. When cut to the correct width it was attached to one of the ends. Then a vertical piece was attached, then the other end. I cut a strip of 0.010" brass the width of the smokebox, plus a little just for safety. This has been rolled to shape and will be trimmed to length once it has been attached to the smokebox.

I have constructed a new crank axle. It’s much sturdier and the mechanism runs well. I also replaced the gearbox. 54:1 is now 120:1 with the expected improvement in slow speed performance. I have reworked the brakes in a way that allows them to be installed or removed as a unit, an idea I borrowed from Will L. on the Scalefour forum. The handrails have been added, although not photographed. The final thing for this update, that I’m feeling rather pleased with, is the injector. I haven’t been able to find anything like it commercially, so I had to fabricate it. The first attempt was about 50% too big. This one looks about right though. I’m using some London Road castings for the bit that goes into the boiler up front. Just need to make the other side now…

I did some minimum radius testing. The tightest spot is through a turnout which Templot says is 18". This is probably only for a short length, but still 18" is tight. So I made a curve in Templot with a 17" radius. Its almost a 90 degree curve with two straight bits at the ends. Quickly constructed from pcb sleepers and reclaimed steel rail. I used DD Wheelwrights 3 point gauges which added a lot of gauge widening, as expected. Maybe too much. I tried 5 vehicles though the curve. A GWR 3 plank, 9' wheelbase; LNWR D32 Van, 9' wb; LNWR D14 Deal Wagon, 16' wb; GWR Crocodile well wagon, 37.5' wb; and a NLR Park Tank 0-6-0, 11.5' wb. Everything went through the curve fine on its own. A couple things came off occasionally, but that could be put down to how hard I shoved them just as much as the tight radius. They can go through, even if they don't always. The problem area is buffer locking. The two 9' wheelbase wagons and the Park tank are fine, as might be expected. I can push two of them at fairly high speed repeatedly. Any individual vehicle can be propelled safely by the Park tank. I can also put a 9' wb wagon between the Park tank and one of the longer vehicles and have everything be fine. What doesn't work is having a short wb wagon beyond a long wb wagon. Park tank - D14 - Crocodile works. Park tank - Crocodile - D14 works. Park tank - D14 - D32 does not work. The D14's buffer slips inside the buffer of the D32 and then the D14 derails. This is why industrial locomotives have such large buffer heads. So, not a resounding success, but not a complete failure either. My next step will be to print out the relevant portion of the Templot plan and lay track over the tightest curve. I'll do it as plain track, but following the outline of the turnout. This should give me a close approximation of the final geometry. https://youtu.be/kBg9mrIQlAk

I'm back with another trackplan. This time based on the station and goods yard at Old Ford, between Victoria Park Junction and Bow. I had overlooked it, but I think it has most of the things I'm looking for. With a little bit of compression and a good deal of curving, I have got it to fit in the available space. I'm not sure if I'll model any portion of Wick Lane Works. They did have their own siding which is not yet on the plan but could be added if I feel the need.

I’ve had a few iterations of layout ideas covered in a thread on the Scalefour Forum: https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7893 They all have problems, the radius being the biggest one. The other furniture in the room limit the available space in front of the track, something like 40” is the biggest it can feasibly be. That shouldn’t be an issue with the intended stock, but it is tight by normal P4 standard. I’m also now considering having exchange sidings for the gasworks with the actual works off scene. Still get the traffic, don’t need the massive buildings. I’m thinking the coal came from Poplar in NLR hopper wagons. They get dropped off, the empties get taken away, then the gasworks’ shunter comes and exchanges empties for loads. The ideal layout would also have a local goods and coal yard and a station of some sort. I do like the junction idea, but that takes space that probably doesn’t really exist.

I've become dissatisfied with my layout Queensbridge. It seemed like a good idea when I started, but it no longer fits my desires for a layout, from either an operational or realism point of view. I have found the space to make an L shaped layout with a double track mainline with fiddleyards at either end, 8'x5' scenic area. The basic idea and what I want out of the layout are as follows. North London Railway between 1900 and 1905 modeled in P4. A double track line capable of running passenger service, complete with signaling. A goods yard, maybe just a coal yard, but goods traffic would be nice too. Part of a station at one end. What I have done so far is to take the signaling diagram for Hampstead Heath and curve it to fit the available space. This has the advantage over something I made up of probably being correct! The downside is that it leaves the back corner of the layout needing a lot of terraced houses. Here is that plan: The other option is to fill the back corner of the layout with a gasworks. That would give me an online industry and a place for 0-4-0s to play. I need some help with the track plan of this though. I'm picturing an exchange siding, somewhere coal gets unloaded, somewhere coke gets loaded, maybe a tiny engine shed if I'm lucky. Some of this has been sketched in pencil on the Hampstead track plan. I'm ok with one track going into the fiddleyard, but I want to limit it to that. I think most of the actual gasworks would be low relief or on the backscene. Here is what I have so far: