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Dave Holt

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  1. Dave Holt

    Caprotti valve gear

    By Dave Holt,

    In a recent blog, Tim has shown his developing model of an LMS Caprotti Class 5, and very good it looks too.
    Here are some photos of the gear I made for the similar BR Standard version. Also a sketch of how I represented the universal joints in the shafts. THe shafts and joints were made for various diameters of brass tube and rod and the return crank gear boxes were from the DJH cast brass gear I was replacing. For ease of assembly, painting, etc., I made the gear as a set of sub-assemblies held together by small 14 BA) screws. The photos were taken by Barry Norman, so I hope he doesn't mind me putting them on here. The original prints are much sharper but have lost something in the scanning!
     
     
    The assembled gear looks like this:

     
    The various sub-assemblies are:
    1) Cylinders with slide bars and connecting rods,

     
    2) Main drive shafts,

     
    3) Reversing shafts,

     
    These make up the overall assembly,

     
    The universal joints consist of a pair of interlocking "ears" filed onto the end of a length of 1.5 mm tube, mounted on a length of about 0.8 mm wire.

     
    Cheers,
     
    Dave.
  2. Dave Holt
    My Caprotti Black 5, 44741, of Longsight depot, is now finished. The last job was to add plain boiler bands to the firebox and some extra weathering to bring it more to the condition these locos seemed to exhibit in regular service, i.e. filthy. This work was done, as was the whole painting, lining and weathering, by good friend and fellow P4 modeller, David Clarke. I have to say, I'm extremely pleased with the finished loco, which I think really captures the rather ungainly appearance of these locos. a study into how to transform the rather elegant normal Black 5 into an ugly duckling!
    Here are three photos of the finished model.
    First a couple of shots taken on my short length of test rack in the modelling room:
     

     

     
    And here a photo by David Clarke during a recent visit, showing the loco standing near the signal box on "Holt":
     

     
    Dave.
  3. Dave Holt
    The Caprotti Black 5 has been making steady progress over the past few weeks. I started the chassis ages ago but only since (almost) finishing the Crab have I really concentrated on finishing off the Caprotti.
    The rear sand boxes and all the sand pipes are still to do, along with the front guard irons on the bogie.
    I joined the Leamingtom MR Society earlier this year and have been able to try the loco out on Clarendon (a bit out of place on an early 1900's LNWR layout!). This has shown up some issues regarding the front bogie wheels rubbing behind the cylinder drain cocks and motion brackets/front brake hangers on tightish curves and some points. I've filed various bits away to try yo solve this but only another running trial will tell if I've succeeded.
    Here a a few photos of the current state:
    A couple of overall views, side on and front three-quarters,
     

     

     
    Rhe front platform height on Stanier tenders was adjusted to suit the class of loco they were attached to. The Comet kit platform is too low to match the cab height of the loco, so a 1 mm thick piece of plastic card has been added to get somewhere nearer the correct arrangement.
     

     
    Dave.
  4. Dave Holt
    Not much progress with the layout - although I have now fixed the coal drop retaining walls and deck support pillars to the base-board.
     
    Last Saturday I helped (?) friend Dave Clarke and the regular team (Simon & Jim) with his Amlwch branch layout at the Derby show - as fiddle yard operator - I didn't trust myself to operate out front!
    The normal green/blue era diesel service was was disrupted from time to time by a typical Delph Donkey formation, consisting of Fowler 2-6-2 class 3 tank loco, number 40056, with an ex-LMS Period II open third non-driving trailer and ex-LNWR M15 driving trailer. Steam era trains to Amlwch were more generally Ivatt class 2 tanks with non-corridor push-pull coaches, I think - at least towards the end. Nevertheless, the Donkey train looked perfectly at home and it was nice to see it run on a finished layout. Loco needs finishing and the coaches weathering. Must do something about the acceleration inertia/starting voltage though - the controller could be set to full and the loco didn't move for about 10 seconds and then smoothly accelerated. Took a bit of judgement to stop in the right place too. Perhaps deceleration inertia is not such a good idea on terminal layouts!
     
    The following photos show the train simmering at the buffer stops following arrival (being a Fowler class 3, it was probably having to get it's breath back!!!) and also approaching the station area.
     

     
    40056 at the buffer stops.
     

     

     
    Approaching the station.
     
    Thanks for the invite, Dave. I really enjoyed myself and I hope folks enjoyed the Donkey ride!
  5. Dave Holt
    Not much visible progress with the layout recently, so in view of some recent interest in Caprotti fitted locos on RMweb, I thought I'd post a few photos of my effort - BR Standard 5, number 73129 - intended to work my Wakes special (for the North Wales coast). I think it's fair to say that Caprotti fitted locos were not well liked by footplate crews during the BR era, being regarded as weak on banks but fast on the level and good coasters. The super performances by Duke of Gloucester in preservation have disproved this view which was probably due to lack of familiarity and a sharper exhaust than normal locos leading to working at too short a cut off. Not that these issues apply to our models.
    Anyway, Patricroft shed ended up with all the English allocation of these locos and one of these was the last BR steam loco I saw in everyday service - the west end (Horse Dock?) pilot at Manchester Exchange in 1968. I spent a pleasant half hour on the footplate chatting to the fireman whist waiting for my (Peak hauled) Newcastle bound train.
    Possibly for this reason, I've always had a love of these locos.
     
    The model is based on a DJH kit but using milled main frames from Alan Gibson. In fact, the only DJH bits on the whole chassis are the cylinder /steam pipe castings, the slide bars, brake hanger/brake block etches and the return crank gear box castings. The valve gear shafts, complete with representations of the universal joints were made from various diameters of brass rod and tube. The injector casting are Alan Gibson and the pipework, lubricator and valve gear support brackets, etc., all home made.
     
    The photos were taken by Barry Norman and i must apologise for the poor quality reproduction. This is due to way I've scanned them in and re-sized the files not any fault with the original photos.
     
    First some shots of the finished loco:
     

     

     

     
    Now some taken during construction:
    The front bogie frame, showing the hollow pivot tube which was later soldered into the chassis spacer between the cylinders. A pin passes down the pivot tube to transmit the weight from the bogie external compensating beams to the front compensating beam in the chassis. This arrangement allows full compensation of the front bogie wheels without the bogie frames moving vertically. The bogie slides sideways with rubbing pads on the bottom of the mainframes resting on the "ears" protruding either side of the bogie frames. Light springs resting on the bogie axles keep the frames pushed up onto the pads. Hairpin side control springs centralise the bogie on the pivot tube. A bit complicated, perhaps, but it works really well and is applied to all bogies on my locos.

     
    Now some shots showing how the cylinders and valve gear are made up from sub-assembles which are held together by small screws (14 BA, if I remember correctly).
    First the cylinders with slidebars and connecting rods:

     
    Next the main drive shafts. This unit fits on top of the cylinder unit. Part of the exhaust injector steam feed pipe is included - the "S" shaped piece of brass tube!:

     
    Then the reversing gearboxes and shafts. The long, separate shaft is from the cab to the valve gear:

     
    When it's all assembled to the top of the chassis, the valegear looks like this:

     

     
    At the rear end of the chassis, on the right hand side, there is the rather distinctive lubricator mounting and drive. The lubricator bracket is quite massive and has the steam feed from the blast pipe to the exhaust steam injector passing right through the bracket, or rather the lubricator bracket incorporates a tube which forms part of the exhaust steam supply pipe. On the model, sections of this pipe are attached to bits of the valve gear, as seen above, and some to the chassis mainframes. The injector castings are Alan Gibson. This shot has the brake gear removed. Also visible are the dummy springs, sand pipes/brackets, ash pan and hopper operating gear and the pick ups - all mounted to a removable keeper plate which retains the driving axles. The motor is a Portescap 1616 fitted with an MJT gearbox conversion. The electrical connection to the motor, via bits of gapped copper-clad sleeper strip glued to the gearbox side plates, has since been modified to include a DCC chip.

     

     
    The brake gear is made in two sections. The "herring bone" main section with the brake hangers, which clip onto the chassis mountings and is easily removeable to get the wheels out. The rear section with the operating lever is attached to the chassis by screws, below the cab:

     
    The complete chasis, unpainted, looks like this:
    From underneath

     
    and from above:

  6. Dave Holt
    Slow progress (all my progress seems to be slow!!) has been made with the control panel. The mimic diagram is complete, including lettering using Letraset transfers (applied by good friend, sign-writer, Phil Taylor - his work is much neater than I could achieve). The diagram was drawn using coloured permanent marker pens.
    Wiring of the lower part of the panel containing the various tag strips and a small circuit board with a couple of relays (extra switches for the diamond crossing polarity and some signal interlocking), diodes to generate half wave rectified supply to the Tortoise point motors and bridge rectifiers to provide nominally 12 v DC to power the relay change-overs and the panel LED's, is almost complete.
     
    A couple of photos show the current state of play.
     

     
    An overall view of the control panel with the completed mimic diagram. The lever-frame amd track section switches previously shown have been removed from the lower section to facilitate application of the Letraset lettering.
     

     
    A view of the lower panel compartment showing the wiring - mainly on tag strips. Feeds to the layout are via multi-pin D plugs on the right hand side. Coming in on the left are 16 v AC (power to vitually everything!) and 18 v DC (for AJ uncoupling magnets) feeds and connectors for either DC or DCC controllers and the conection to the DCC power unit. Going off shot at the bottom is the bundle of wires which will conect to the switches and LED's on the panel facia.
    The coil of white wires are for the bell code ringer circuit.
    Top centre is one of a pair of 3 amp thermal trips in the feeds to the track sections (but not yet conected - hence the coils of blue wire adjacent). I've heard tales of major problems resulting from track short circuits recking controllers, melting loco wheels, etc., especially with DCC giving up to 10 amps, so hopefully these trips will help avoid that.
  7. Dave Holt
    Recent progress has been rather slow and has included cosmetic point stretcher bars on all the points forming the main station throat and a start on the point rodding in the same area. Of course, at the real place, there wasn't much point rodding because the signal box had been removed in the early 1900's and subsequently the points were operated by local levers. However, in my model I've reinstated the box and so rodding and signal wire runs are required. The rodding run connects the box to the two cross-overs and the facing point lock controlled by the signal man.
    I've opted to use MSE cast white metal rod stools which are a lot less fiddly than the fabricated etched brass type and actually represent the LNWR stools slightly better. Rodding is represented by 0.4 mm square section N/S wire, also from MSE. Some of the cranks and rod end eyes are from Ambis etches. I'll also be using Ambis stuff for the FPL and the point blade detector.
    I have temporarily fitted rodding into the stools in order to locate them for fixing down to their mountings to give a smooth run (as best I can).
    These photos show the progress so far:
     

     

     
    A couple of general views showing the rodding run, from where it passes under the track between diamond crossing and the mill siding point, to the king point and FPL. Also visible are the local point levers for those not controlled from the signal box.
     

     
    This is the attachment to the king point. The two extended sleepers are for the point blade and FPL detector.
     

     
    Here the connections to the double slip (cross-over formed with the king point) and the tandem point (cross-over with the mill siding point) pass under the running line to the loop. Each cross run has a rodding stool, partially sunk in the ballast in the running line 4 foot, just visible near the bottom of the photo.
     
    Dave.
  8. Dave Holt
    Like some sort of UFO, the goods shed has descended from space (the spare bedroom, actually) and landed in the prepared cut-out in the cork surface of the base-board. It's been there before, but I thought I'd re-fit it, just to complete the station scene.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  9. Dave Holt
    Some time ago, I purchased a couple of ex-GCR push-pull coaches from Coachman, following his change of interest from Greenfield to ex-GWR in North Wales. These coaches consist of a 12 wheeled driving trailer, which I believe may have been converted from a steam rail motor, and a brake composite non-driving trailer, which had been converted from a London suburban all first.
    This combination of coaches was used on Guidebridge to Oldham services in the 1950's and I must have seen it innumerable times as a child because I lived right next to the OA&GB line, although I can't honestly remember them. Of course, they are not strictly appropriate to Delph (nor Greenfield for that matter). However, they could physically have run to both places, either by extending the service from Oldham or, more plausibly, from Guidebridge via Stalybridge and Mossley. Anyway, I'm modelling Holt, not Delph, so anything can run that I fancy! And I do like the look of this train.
    Of course, Coach's models were "OO" and my layout is P4, so conversion has been necessary. This has caused some soul searching and a bit of compromise as I couldn't identify a source of GCR coach bogies, but overall, I'm happy with progress to date.
    The 12 wheeler should have bogies with 6'-0" + 6'-0" wheelbase. The only bogies I could find have 6'-3" + 6'-3" so a compromise was inevitable. I started assembling some Bill Bedford fully sprung bogies and intended to fit Exactoscale wheel sets with plain bearings. I was struggling a bit to control axle side play whilst keeping the spring carriers in their slots so I had a further look at the Comet LMS bogies I had bought for the cosmetic side frames and decided I rather like the functional etched bogie frames which could be built compensated (one fixed end axle, the other end axles rocking and the centre axle free to foat - lightly sprung in my case). This also eased the fitting of the cosmetic side frames as the pin-point bearing are fixed in the side frames and do not move up and down, as in a sprung arrangement. I originally bought the Comet bogies just fro the cosmetic side frames but decided to re-use the plastic bogie frames that Coachman had fitted. I'm not sure of their provenance but they look fairly reasonable and have the correct overall length, so they look right relative to the coach underframe headstocks. I have mounted them so that the centre axles are at the correct centres and arranged for one bogie to have side bearers to prevent rocking of the body whilst the other bogie is free to rock sideways.
    The other modification is to provide sprung buffers at the non-driving end as i want the coaches to have buffer contact but still go round curves. This is slightly complicated by them having oval heads. The buffers are standard round head sprung type with etched oval overlays. To prevent rotation, I fixed short lengths of brass tube to the buffer shanks, linked by a cross wire passing through holes drilled across the tubes.
    Here's a (not very good) shot of the coach.

     
    The non-driving trailer has 8'-0" bogies which have unusually long springs, long side frames and diagonal bracing rods to the outboard ends. Quite distinctive and not commercially available any longer as far as I could establish. Following a question on RMweb, a manufacturer did offer to produce suitable but has failed to deliver so far. I had noted that the axlebox/spring castings supplied for the 6 wheel bogies were a fair representation of those used, so I decided to make my own cosmetic frames using these castings. The frames were cut from N/S with flanges, bracing rods and tie-rods from brass wire and N/S strip. The axlebox/spring casting proved to be rather fragile with the end damper/shock absorber blocks tending to break off. Some were already broken when supplied and I manged to break quite a few in cleaning up the casting. Here's some of the debris - funny that it's the RH end that has broken on every one!

     
    In the end, I managed to get eight whole ones fixed to the frames, with the vulnerable bits reinforced with a dab of epoxy on the back. Not perfect scale model bogies, but a fair representation and better than anything currently available commercially, I think.
    Other modifications are fitting of sprung buffers all round and a rigid coupling bar to the driving coach. This is a cast item with under-slung pipes. I modified it to have swan neck type high level vacuum pipes (one for the brakes, the other for the push-pull control gear) and retained one low level pipe for the steam heat.
    Here's an even worse quality photo of the coach.

     
    Now Christmas has been put back in the garage for a year and the visitors have gone home, I might get back to working on the layout again. Obviously some painting to do on the two coaches. Oh yes, and there's the slight matter of a C13 tank to pull/push them!
    Dave.
  10. Dave Holt
    Well, as best I can tell prior to functional testing, the wiring is complete. I've tried to be methodical and careful, but even so, I had to undo various cable ties and the spiral sheaving a couple of times to add extra wires which I'd missed first time. Testing under power will start shortly - probably next week, after a two day visit to the Wells show over the week-end. I just hope it all functions as intended as I don't really fancy fault finding or any re-wiring!
     
    Here are some photos of the completed panel:
     
    First, the external view showing the finished mimic panel, lever frame switches and DC track selection switches.
     

     
    Second, a view of the panel base unit and the inside of the two sections of the front panel, showing the wiring arrangements.
     

     
    Finally, here's the power supply unit which supplies 16 v AC to the panel, and then to the base-boards. Inside are two Guagemaster transformers wired in parallel. Both the mains side and output side of each transformer is protected by fuses. The track power feed from the panel are each providied with a thermal trip in case of a short circuit across the track going un-noticed.
     

     
    Dave.
  11. Dave Holt
    Coachman's nightmare has come true - when a little known enthusiasts' special arrived at Delph (aka Holt) consisting of an 8 coach rake of southern region stock hauled by re-built West Country class, 34027, Taw Valley. Strangely, this rather unusual occasion was not well recorded at the time and no photos appeared in the railway press of the day. However, photos confirming the event have recently come to light and a selection is attached to this post.
     
    The arrival of this train also answered an outstanding question as to the length of the run-round loop at the station. On this occasion, 8 BR Mk1's were safely accommodated in the loop. Normally, the operating department limited holiday excursions to 6 coaches, generally of 57' ex-LMS stock, but made a special concession for this Southern train.
     

    The train has arrived and pulled up to the buffers to allow passengers to de-train from the 5 coaches which fit in the platform. Those in the rear 3 will have to walk forward to alight.
     

    Taw Valley simmers quietly in the platform.
     

    Having pushed back the stock, clear of the run-round points, Taw Valley has drawn forward again, ready to run round. The sun has come out to briefly bathe the loco in brightness.
     

    An overall view of the scene, taken from a hillside across the road and river.
     
    What did I say in the previous post about fantasy?......
     
    Dave.
  12. Dave Holt

    Delph - Coal drops latest

    By Dave Holt,

    Due to personal reasons, I haven't done much modelling in the past 7 months, but some slight progress (and a bit of regress) has been made with the coal drops. The latter was caused by my dropping the deck unit onto a quarry tiled floor, causing it to disintegrate such that the two longitudinals carrying the rails are now separate items which will have to be fixed to the supports individually.
    The progress has been to make the hand-rails for the deck and do the basic painting prior to fixing. On balance, I think it's probably a bit too dark as heavily weathered wood seems to be a silvery grey colour but I have no idea what the actual Delph drops looked like in this respect.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  13. Dave Holt
    All the rail-built buffers in the goods yard area are now in place and all sleepers and cosmetic chairs fitted. This leaves the timber buffer stop in the yard and the two head shunt (mill siding and run-round loop) rail-built units still to do. These last two are on the station throat board which I haven't progressed beyond the track laying stage, yet.
    I've scaled the timber stop from a photo of the back of it, drawn it out, selected suitable (plastic) material and am about to start construction. Drawing the thing full size lead me to conclude that the siding track stopped a bit short of where it should, so a short additional length of plain track has been added to bring it to about the right place. Hopefully, this won't be too visible once everything is painted and weathered.
     
    One of the goods yard stops, positioned in front of the goods shed, is on the station board, but the siding is entirely on the adjacent board, so it's been necessary to re-connect the two boards, temporarily, to locate the buffer.
     
    The photos below show the buffers in place.
     

     
    View from near the coal drops (with deck removed).
     

     
    View from beyond the end of the station platform (not in situ).
     
    Dave.
  14. Dave Holt
    Having been putting this off for some time, I finally knuckled down and have fixed the coal drop deck and sloping wing wall in position. Some minor adjustment to the end of the track on the adjacent board was required to align the rails, mainly to correct a slight difference in height. This was done by re-soldering the rail attachment at the end sleeper, where it is soldered to the head of brass nails which pass through the rivet holes in the ply sleeper. After a couple of goes, as satisfactory result was achieved, as checked by rolling a 13 ton steel open wagon (visible in the photos) over the joint. Actually, there wont be much stock movement over this section of track, but it's best to have the alignment to a good standard.
    Fixing the deck wasn't quite a straight forward as it might have been due to a slight degree of warping and bowing of the deck timbers. A general purpose glue (similar to UHU), a pile of weights at each end and a final dose of super runny cyno appear to have done the trick. Time will tell......
     
    Photos show the deck and wing wall in situ, after fixing. Also a more general view over the station area with the deck in place.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  15. Dave Holt
    My Caprotti Black 5 is now complete except for the sand pipes, which are awaiting so custom etched support brackets. So, whist I wait for them, and inspired by a recent discussion on RMweb about Jubilees, I thought it would be a good idea to dig out my partially completed Brassmasters version. I started this loco at least 15 years ago and put it to one side when I reached a minor sticking point with a cosmetic detail. Up till that point, I had a strict policy of not starting a new model till the current one was complete but broke my rule and started something different - a BR 9F, I think; although it's so long ago I can't really be sure. Ant way, numerous locos have been built since but the Jubilee never came back out of the box till the last week or two.
    I was pleasantly surprised how far I had actually got and the loco has now been completed except for the builders, number, shed code and name plates - 45701 Conqueror. The tender, a Fowler 3500 gallon type, is less advanced, being the basic structure. It also had a slightly low ride height issue with the continuous springy beam suspension - probably caused by a modification I had made to the kit design - and which I am currently working to correct.
    Here are a few shots of the loco as it stands. The resin cast boiler has turned a much darker shade over the years, ot it's the result of lots of handling with grubby fingers.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  16. Dave Holt
    Have made a bit of progress with the coal drops, recently. The stone retaining walls and brick support pillars have been painted and are almost ready to be fixed in position. I've also added the deck to the top of the structure - hand rails still to go and also some support beams and other bits underneath the deck.
     
    First set of photos show the parts painted in as-built condition. The pillars are brick with ashlar stone bearing pad inserts. These all look a bit garish but were later toned down to a sootly/coal black. Think I might have overplayed the engineering blue bricks on the corners of the pillars i the paint swatch on the tin lid looked much more like the colour on a photo I took of the real thing, before it was demolished.
     

     

     

     

     
    The walls and pillars were then heavily weathered using a process kindly suggested by Peter Leyland, as used on the marvellous building he's built for the layout. Basically, the base colour is allowed to dry really thoroughly, then the whole surface is painted matt black and this is wiped off before it has dryed. Unfortunately, the photos have come out a bit dark, but give some idea of how they look. Maybe a hint of green moss round the steps, later?
     

     

     

     

     
    Cheers,
     
    Dave.
  17. Dave Holt
    Since my first post on this new loco, I've made some progress with the cylinders, lubricators and associated pipework.
    The Comet kit design incorporates the top part of the cylinders into the running plate etch with the cam boxes and reversing links mounted above. It is intended that the cylinders are attached to the chassis in the normal way. However, completed examples of the model I have seen have struggled to disguise the join line between the cylinders and cam boxes which does not exist in the real thing.
    I couldn't see why the whole cylinder/slide-bar assembly couldn't be permanently attached to the running plate mounting plate and become part of the body, providing the connecting rods can be removed from the crank-pins to facilitate spliting the chassis and body. That way, the joint line can be as unobtrusive as possible. This arrangement did present some cylinder alignment issues but I overcame these with a couple of simple jigs to ensure that the projected cylinder centre line passed through the axle centre of the driving wheels.
    Whilst access is fairly easy, I decided to fit the lubricators and complete their associated oil distribution and steam heater pipework at this stage. Normally, I wouldn't start to add this type of detail till much later in the build and after I've got the loco running but it's done now.
     
    Here we see three views of the lubricators and oil pipework. I use 0.2 mm wire for these. Still overscale but a lot finer than many people seem to use. The pipes to the left-hand cylinder and slide bar cross along the top of the frame spacer. On some of these locos, the pipes were clipped to the outside face of the front splasher. That would make lining of the splasher very tricky, so I found a suitable example (44741, a Longsight engine) which had them on the top, curved surface after it's 1952 overhaul.
    These shots also clearly show how the cylinders have been fixed to the running plate rather than the chassis.
     

     

     

     
    The cylinder lubricator (the forward one) has a steam heating supply to thin the sticky steam oil for ease of pumping. On these locos, this supply was taken from the steam lance cock on the RHS of the smoke-box. It can be seen making its way down and along the top edge of the saddle, then aling the footplate and over the splasher top to the front lubricator. To allow the boiler to be removed (for painting and lining), the pipe is split at the front of the reversing shaft bracket on the running plate.
     

     
    Finally, an overall loco shot showing my sketch diagram for the lubricator pipework. The routing was mainly gleaned from photos in the Wils Swan loco profile book for these locos. An invaluable source of information including copies of some of the key drawings.
     

     
    Dave.
  18. Dave Holt
    The signals made for me by Steve Hewitt (of Liverpool Lime Street fame) were collected last week and have been trial fitted to the layout and the operating mechanisms and contol units fitted and wired. Steve has made a wonderful job, as seen in his semaphore signals thread in the forum section of this site.
    The following photos show the signals in situ and the operating bits fitted. The signals have since been removed and refitted into their carrying frames for safety during further layout construction.
     
    First, we see the signals in their layout locations, starting (appropriately) with the starter signal.
     

     
    Next the miniature semaphore ground signal controling the exit from the loop& yard into the running line.
     

     
    Coming in the other direction, we have the home signal. This is a two doll bracket controling entry into the platform road or into the loop/yard. This signal is seen from both sides.
     

     

     
    Now some shots of the under-board operating mechanisms and control units. The operating mechanisms are servo motors and the contol boards are made by GF Controls. I believe they are based on those developed for Lime Street and they each control two servos and incorporate a switchable bounce facility and simple adjustment of the on and off arm positions. The bracket signal unit incorporates two servos to operate the two arms. The others have one each.
    Here's the arrangement for the bracket signal.
     

     
    As I explained previously, space for the yard ground signal mechanism is very tight and I had to re-route a wiring bundle to make room for it. This shot shows just how tight it is. The original route for the wiring was straight through the two redundant wiring clips (fixtures visible either side of the mechanism, as is the re-routed wiring).
     

     
    In contrast, the started signal servo has loads of room!
     

     
    Finally, heres the control board for the starter and yard exit signals. Both controllers have been located so the arm postion adjuster pots can be reached easily from the base-board edge - a very sound suggestion from Steve.
     

  19. Dave Holt
    It's been quite a while since I last posted anything about Delph (or should I say "Holt"). This is mainly because there's been precious little progress in recent weeks, partly due to the warm weather making work on the layout an unattractive proposition but mainly because I've been shying away from what seemed like a difficult and fiddly task. Needless to say, when I actually knuckled down to it, it proved much less of a problem than I had anticipated.
    Anyway, a concerted effort over the past week has seen good progress and it now only remains to do the facing point lock (which straddles two base-boards) and the cranks outside the signal box.
    Here are some shots showing the main rodding run, complete with compensators, and the arrangements to get the rods across the entrance to the mill siding.
    First, the main rodding runs. In the second photo, the hole in the base-board is for the starter signal to plug in.
     

     

     
    And here, the rods pass under the track into the mill siding, seen from each side. An Alex Jackson uncoupling magnet can be seen under the middle rod.
     

     

  20. Dave Holt
    I've now completed the modifications to the two coaches (apart from the AJ coupling at the loco end) and have painted the new bogies and also the coach underframes. Probably at bit of weathering on the sides, ends and roofs, when I set up my airbrush - warmer weather allowing work outside or in the garage, I think.
    Here are the coaches in their current state.
    First, the brake composite non-driving trailer:
     

     
    and the 12 wheel driving trailer:
     

     
    Dave.
  21. Dave Holt
    It's bee a while since my last post, mainly due to lack of photogenic progress - and that hasn't changed really. However, I have made some steady progress with the wiring of the station board (board No. 4 in my scheme of things). This is now complete with the jumper cables, plug/socket for connection to the control panel, which will be mounted at the end of this board. Due to the position of the panel relative to the bulk of the pointwork and signals, lots of the wires just run from one end to the other but makes the wiring look more complex than it is. Nevertheless, there's certainly plenty of it under this board! I've tried to keep it all as neat as possible.
    There are two jumpers to the panel, one terminating in a 25 pin plug, the other in a 25 pin socket - not that there are 50 wires, just more than the biggest plug i could obtain (37 pins). The following under-board shots show the tag strips with wires attached to the outer ends from the board and the inner ends to the jumper cables. The cables can be seen clipped in their transport positions, tucked out of harms way.
    There may need to be a separate ribbon type wiring and plugs to carry the loco number describer info from the cassette fiddle yard to the main panel display - I think you need something like this when driving DCC locos from hidden sidings (loco address and forward/backward info)
     

     

     
    In order to gather some scenic information, I visited the remains of Delph station yesterday to measure up the roadside retaining walls and try to get a feel for the types of trees/bushes, leaf colours, etc., as i intend to set the layout in April/May time. It's sad to say that the whole station area, with the exception of the station building, has been decimated since my initial visits. I was fully aware that a housing estate had been built on part of the goods yard and in the coal drops area, but I hadn't appreciated just how much collateral damage had been done to the old infrastructure. All quite sad. Still, some very useful information and photos were obtained, which will be a help later in the project.
     
    Cheers,
     
    Dave.
  22. Dave Holt
    In the 6 weeks or so since my last entry, I've been plugging steadily away at ballasting the track, which I finally finished yesterday. It proved nowhere near as difficult as I had feared but certainly was laborious and back breaking work.
    My original intention was to use a latex based carpet adhesive to allow a bit of sound deadening but just couldn't get on with it on a couple of test panels. In the end, I used diluted PVA applied with various sized brushes, small(ish) areas at a time, then vacuuming up the excess ballast for re-use. I used C&L 2mm ballast for the running line and run-round loop and their ash ballast for the goods yard and sidings. Areas to be covered with cobbles/setts have generally been left clear.
    I'm pleased with the results so far, but it all looks a bit too neat and even, so there will be quite a bit of weathering needed to create some variations in tone and texture.
    I've also had a go at representing what appears to be some home made steps made from piled up stone blocks with concrete capping behind the running line buffer stop. I imaging these were built to ease access between the platform and the ground frame which operated the run-round poins and was located in the 6 ft, beteen the buffer stops. Parts of this structure appear in various photos of Delph in the 1950's but no clear overall view. I originally thought it was just a pile of surplus stones, like under some of the other buffers in the yard, till a friend suggested they might be steps. Some further photos accquired more recently appear to confirm the step suggestion but my interpretation may well not be very accurate. This hasn't been helped by my leaving too big a gap between the buffers and the lorry loading bank which was added to the end of the platform at some time or other. Again, it doesn't really show up too well in the photos I've got but probably covered part of the buffer stop rails, whereas on the model it's immediately behind the bottom end of the rails forming the stop. No doubt someone will point out my error if it ever makes it to an exhibition.
    Although I tried to be careful with the gluing, ballasting and vacuuming, sad to say the platorm lamps, already fitted, took a bit of a battering from inadvertant bumps. The damage ranged from simple bending, which I've corrected, to completely snapping one off at the base. This will eventually be re-attached with a brass wire peg to support the joint.
    Here are some photos of the final board to be completed, including to location of the snapped off lamp and the steps mentioned above.
     

    Buffer stops with steps added.
     

    General view from the end of the layout.
     

    Looking the other way. The location of the goods shed and extent of the cobbled road-ways can be seen.
     

    Overall view looking towards the buffer stops.
  23. Dave Holt
    Friend, David Clarke, has weathered two more of my locos. These have been built some time and were painted and lined by Ian Rathbone but never weathered. As passenger locos and, in the case of the Fowler tank, something of a pet at Lees shed, they have been give only a lightish dusting so as not to obscure the hand lining (with cream line!). I now have no excuse not to complete the Fowler by cab glazing, coal and a crew. Oh, and fixing the cab roof on a bit better than two blobs of bluetac. The Standard 5 Caprotti is already finished. It makes an interesting contrast to the ex-LMS Ivatt type recently shown on some previous posts.
    The photos were taken by Mr Clarke.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  24. Dave Holt
    Philbax was asking about the Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2 tanks which appeared in some recent photos.
     
    The Ivatt is an as yet unmodified Bachman body on a chassis based on the Comet kit, with some additional detail and the valvegear modelled in forward rather than mid gear. The chassis is compensated as an 0-6-0 using twin beams on the rear two axles and a central rocking support on the front. Drive is a 1616 Portescap on the (floating) centre axle. The trucks are sprung.
    On this loco, the pony trucks are scratch built and sprung using hair-pin springs made from 0.33 brass wire. These are just visible through the frames of the truck, but not too obtrusive on this rather open, bar framed truck design. The two trucks are quite different in appearance as one has spring side control and the other swing link side control (the difference was to avoid the risk of hunting caused by having the same natural frequency at both ends if two identical trucks had been used). On the Ivatt, the swing link truck was usually at the front.
    The BR Standard loco is a stretched DJH body on a cut-down Comet based chassis. On this loco, thetrucks are the Brassmasters etches, suitably modified to represent the swing linkat one end. On these locos, the swing link truck was always at the rear.
     
    The two photos try to illustrate the differences in appearance. (Sorry for the slightly out-of-focus on the front shot.)
     

     

     
    Dave.
  25. Dave Holt
    It's been a little while since my last entry about the BR Standard Class 2 2-6-2 tank. This has now been painted and lined and is in the process of being weathered by my good friend David Clarke.
     
    Whilst this is underway, I've been doing a few slightly different things, for me, anyway.
    First, I've assembled a Lanakshire Models tender sprung chassis and fitted it to a Brassmasters outer frames and footplate unit to go under a Bachmann ex-LMS Fowler 3500 gallon tender, destined for a Crab.
     

     
    Secondly, I've fitted injectors and associated pipework to a part built (by someone else) ex-LMS Stanier 8F. This is a Hornby body on a Comet chassis.
     

     

     
    I also finished off and fitted the front pony truck, which has a sprung axle and fixed rubbing plates, as per the prototype.
     

     

     

     
    Having completed this work, I decided to start my own next project which is a fully sprung Penbits chassis for the Bachmann EE Type 4 (Class 40) diesel. So far, I've assembled the two bogie frames, complete with the axle carriers, and the front truck frames. The kit is fairly complex but very well thought out and produced. Everything has fitted well with no adjustments except to get smooth movement of the bearings in their frame slots.
    Of course, with two bogies to build, everything is doubled up compared with a steam loco chassis, so I'm trying to progress both, one step at a time, and trying not to mix up the bits between them!
    Here are the two bogie frames and pony trucks, set out in their correct relative positions.
     

     
    One of them has the bearing carriers located in the frame slots which, unusually, open to the top of the frame sides.
     

     
    and the other without.
     

     
    Dave.
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