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Dave Holt

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  1. 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.
  2. Dave Holt
    Well, it's cooled down somewhat recently and I've finally got down to a bit more modelling after nearly two month hiatus. The final details still outstanding were the lamp irons and fixing the smokebox front.
    I actually did the latter a couple of weeks ago during the hot weather and failed to spot that some Araldite has squeezed out and covered some of the rivets round the top half of the wrapper. I have been worrying about what to do about this and had come to terms with leaving it for fear of damaging the white metal casting. To help this decision, I painted the local area matt black to see how it might look on the finished model. However, today, I tried a stiff fibre-glass brush to remove the paint and noticed the Araldite seamed to also partially rub off. I also noticed that the residue of adhesive in the mixing lid had set to a sort of rubbery consistency rather than hard as glass - perhaps i didn't use quite enough hardener? Anyway, this prompted me to try scraping it with the back of a scalpel blade which resulted in the excess peeling away, leaving the cast rivet detail unharmed. A bit of good fortune on my part.
    The lamp irons are another custom etch from Rumney Models, which fold up to represent the correct pattern of irons for the smokebox top and bunker rear. They're rather fiddly to do and have a tendency to ping off into the far corners of the room. I needed five but lost two to the carpet or somewhere. Luckily, Justin had etched seven irons in a set so I was just able to get all that were needed from one etch.
    After fitting the irons, I have reassembled the body and chassis so that the speedometer drive could be bent back into the correct shape, having been moved during handling.
    I'll leave it for a couple of days to let everything cure before cleaning up ready for it's trip to the painters.
    Here are a few shots of the assembled loco.
     

     

     

     
    And the other side, with the front plates and door handles temporarily fitted.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  3. Dave Holt
    Phew! Superb weather but rather too nice to be stuck indoors doing any modelling. Even now (ten past eight), my modelling room is uncomfortable as it gets the sun all afternoon and evening. So, I've been mainly out in the garden reading and having my meals al fresco. Looks like this might carry on for a few more days.
    However, I did make some further progress with the Standard 2 tank before it got so hot. Using the second batch of custom etched parts from Rumney Models, I've made the cab roof, lubricator drives and fire iron rests. Still got some lamp irons and the shed/SC plate mounting to go, then it's complete. The roof is just temporarily clipped in place and will not be fixed till after painting, glazing and fitting the crew. This latter is a bit of a dilemma. As a push-pull loco, it should have driver and fireman in the cab when loco first but only the fireman when pushing (as the driver is in the driving trailer coach). I'll probably go for the two on board.
    I took the loco body out into the garden and took a few shots showing the new parts, hence the strong shadows.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  4. Dave Holt
    Progress on my Standard Class 2 tank is at a temporary standstill, awaiting the final etched components. In the meantime, I've been fitting the injectors to a model Crab belonging to a good friend.
    What I anticipated being a very straight forward detailing exercise proved to require rather more tricky and extensive work to achieve the required outcome. The loco consists of a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis, built to P4 standards. Interestingly, its one of the rotary cam poppet valve fitted examples but I'm not sure whether it's the Lentz or Reidinger type.
    The original chassis construction is beautifully neat and rather better than I normally achieve, but lacked the injectors and any of the underneath piping which I normally include. Furthermore, when I got down to it, I found that the brake arm supports under the cab had been fitted as per the totally wrong Comet kit instructions (located just inboard of the main frames instead of close together near the centre line), which resulted in one of the brackets being just where the exhaust injector should fit. The pick-ups on the rear wheels are also rather close to the injector and piping positions but I managed to live with that.
    Anyway, the first thing was to move the brackets inboard to the correct spacing (whilst still leaving access to the rear body fixing screw). Easier said than done. The brackets were found to be "L" shaped and soldered into the chassis side frames and what appeared to be a frame spacer was just fitted between the brackets. As a result the whole assembly came away from the frames in three pieces upon unsoldering. Definitely not what i expected. So, a new, full width frame spacer had to be made and fitted, to which the slightly shortened brake support brackets could be fitted.
    Of various options available, I opted to use Brassmasters lost wax brass castings for the injectors.
    The exhaust injector, together with all its associated piping (various diameters of brass wire) was mounted on a removable base plate which is attached to the new frame spacer with a 14 BA screw.
    The live steam side was a bit more tricky as the injector and overflow are fixed behind the cab steps (part of the loco body), whereas the piping is attached to the frame spacer, again using a 14 BA screw. Unfortunately, the Brassmasters casting is the opposite hand to the type normally fitted to LMS locos, so the positions of the steam supply and overflow had to be reversed by cutting off the existing flanges and providing new parts on the other side of the body.
    Getting are the bits of wire bent to the right shapes and correctly located whilst soldering in position required quite a few abortive efforts before final success was achieved. Praise be to Blutak!
    Here are a few photos showing the end result.
     
    Three shots from underneath, showing the two injectors, pipes and representation of the water hoses from the tender,
     

     

     

     
    And a side-on shot of the fireman's side, showing the exhast injector.
     

     
    Thoughts now turning to completion of my Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2 tank, also a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis. These locos were the basis for the later BR Standard versions, so lots of similarity to the loco recently featured. Plenty to do on it to keep me off the streets and out of pubs - well, some of the time, anyhow!
     
    Dave.
  5. Dave Holt
    Yes, I have made some progress with the Standard 2 tank, but it seems to be at a glacial rate. Various details have been added but it has also involved re-fitting bits I've managed to knock off (probably not very well attached in the first place) or having to move existing parts that interfered with new, additional items and in a couple of cases, removing new bits because they prevented re-assembly of the whole thing. Definitely a case of two steps forward and one and a half back!
    Some of the newly added parts are custom etchings very nicely made by Justin Newitt of Rumney Models, based on my fairly rudimentary sketches. Thanks Justin - they fitted beautifully. There are still some more parts to come, including a replacement cab roof, but the ones fitted so far are the wheel balance weights, brackets which support the push-pull vacuum actuators and the tank support straps.
    The push-pull apparatus is now completed, as best I can, including most of the associated piping and a representation of the electrical jumper cables, front and back. The only parts of the original kit which have survived are the vertical leg of the outside steam pipes and the vacuum diaphragm actuators mounted on the smokebox sides.
    Parts still to do are the top, front and the bunker mounted lamp irons, fire-iron holders, lubricator drives and the cab roof. The smokebox dart, number and shed plate will be fitted after painting (by David Clarke). I might need to do a bit of filling and sanding on the drop sections of the footplate at the front.
    Here are a few photos of the current state of the loco. I also need to re-fit the speedometer drive which I managed to break off during handling of the body.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  6. 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.
  7. Dave Holt
    I'm slowly working through the remaining details needed to finish the body on this model. The current work has been on the push-pull vacuum control valves and steam pipes and the vacuum brake ejector. On these locos, these items are quite distinctive and are a major visual feature. Unfortunately, the items provided in the kit leave much to be desired, needing a lot of fiddly work to get anywhere near the right look.
    The cast steam pipes and push-pull valves were grossly out of proportion. The only useable portion was the vertical steam pipe cover and even that was a millimetre too short - hence the 40 thou plastic packer. The horizontal portion was too long and the valve body just massive. A replacement valve body was fitted and the gap filled with low melt solder. Various drain pipes and the actual vacuum controls remain to be fitted.
    BR standard locos were fitted with a Gresham & Craven SSJ brake ejector mounted on the LHS of the smokebox. This was quite different in appearance to previous ejectors fitted to LMS and GWR locos and, again, the kit item just wasn't right. In fact, I'm not aware that anyone supplies a good representation of this item and this is the third I've scratch built so far. In total, there are 22 component parts in the ejector assembly so it would have been more sensible to use the first as a pattern and have castings made! Anyway, another ejector has been made. On this loco, there is the added complication of the discharge pipe having a 90 degree bend to avoid the steam pipe cover.
    Initially, I tried to make the pipes out of tube so I could have joints aligned with brass wire but I found the tube just kinked and flattened at the bends and in the end I had to use a single length of solid wire. This made getting the two right angle bends the right distance apart rather difficult.
    A great deal of adjustment, fiddling and not a little cursing was involved to get it all assembled into position. Despite the struggle, I'm fairly pleased with the result. The steam supply pipes (and blower pipe), which run along the top of the side tank are still to be done.
    A couple of photos illustrate the parts described.
     

     

     
    Dave.
  8. 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.
  9. Dave Holt
    In anticipation of a visit on Monday (tomorrow) by some friends to view and play with the layout, I've had each board out and set up on trestles to clean the track. To my slight surprise, I discovered that on two of the boards, the rail heads still had paint on - Halfords grey primer and rust coloured enamel. I'd completely forgotten that I had never cleaned the paint off after ballasting and re-doing the rails. Just shows how long it is since these particular boards have been out. Boy, did it take some scraping off after that amount of time. Fairly back breaking too, as the trestles don't really put the track at a comfortable height to extended work like that. Anyway, all done now and, hopefully, decent running will be obtained.
    Having the boards up did provide the opportunity to pose a loco for some photos, so my Crab and ex_LMS period II coach in carmine and cream were posed, emerging for the scenic break over bridge/short tunnel.
     
    Here it is arriving, tender first, with the empty stock for a wakes special.
     

     
    And here with the return working a week later.
     

     
    Looks like the crew forgot the lamps on both turns. Funny that no signalmen stopped the train as a result!
     
    Dave.
  10. Dave Holt
    Following a request, and for those who are interested in such detail, here a some further photos of the chassis components.
     
    First, the frames. Nothing particular to note really. Suspension is a centre rocking point for the front axle and twin beams for the centre and rear. Horn blocks are London Road Models cast items. Pickups bearing on the tops of the wheel treads, hidden behind the tanks and the valve gear.
     

     
    Three views of the keeper plate. This has now become permanently entangled with the brake gear since the front brake stretcher passes between the front sand pipes and their support brackets. Besides retaining the driving axle boxes in their horn guides, the keeper also carries the dummy springs, ash-pan and sand pipes. The four hair pin shaped wire thingies are the pony truck side control springs. It's fixed to the frames by a number of 14 BA screws.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  11. Dave Holt
    Having recently completed three larger types - a Crab, Jubilee and Stanier Caprotti 5, all potential holiday excursion locos but not really true to prototype, my thoughts have shifted to the next project. I have two part built Class 2, 2-6-2 tanks, one Ivatt and a BR standard type. In real life, these were used on the regular push-pull passenger trains in the last years of operation, in the mid 1950's.
    Both are in running condition but incomplete. A state they've been in for umpteen years whilst I've messed around with larger, generally inappropriate locos. . in terms of detail, so I've decided they really must be finished off before I start anything new.
    Each is in a different state of completion but on balance, I decided to work on the BR standard version first. Work has now started - given a boost by being housebound by the recent snow and freezing weather.
     
    The loco consists of a modified DJH body mounted on a Comet chassis. Initial work has been to finish off the chassis by adding the dummy driving axle springs and mountings, the brake gear, ash-pan and hopper operating gear and the sand pipes. The valve gear assembly and the two pony trucks were already completed, so only the body remains to finish off. The main issue with this item is that the kit is 2 mm too short in the cab area. Unfortunately, the loss of length (why do they make that sort of mistake?) is distributed in front of the cab windows, in the cab opening and also behind the cab opening. Correcting this accurately was just too over-facing, so I opted to cheat by simply stretching the cab opening to give the correct overall length. Of course, that means the cab roof no longer fits - Oh hum!
     
    The photos below show the current state of the major component parts, as described above.
     
    First, the chassis. Since the body kit is designed to include the front and rear sections of the main-frames, I opted to keep this arrangement, so the main chassis finishes at the front of the cylinders and under the cab, behind the steps and sand boxes. To permit assembly, the brake gear is split into two sections and is removable to give access to the pony truck pivots. There is a removable keeper plate which incorporates the dummy springs and sand pipes (the rear sand boxes are part of the body). I deliberately fitted the dummy springs inside-out as they are etched with a small number of very course leaves whereas the real things had 12 or 14 fine leaves which probably can't be seen in the gloom and at normal viewing distances, unlike the crude etched lines.
     

     

     

     
    Next we have the body, which is in two parts - the footplate, tanks and cab section and the boiler. A certain amount of detailing has already been done, especially below the tank and cab sides, but these parts now represent all the work needed to finish the loco off. This includes the push-pull gear, front end pipework, lamp irons, tank fillers and restraining bars and that dratted cab roof.
    First the footplate/tanks/cab assembly:
     

     

     
    and the boiler:
     

     

     
    Next we have the completed cylinder and valve gear assembly, which also includes the motor torque reaction links to stop the motor/gearbox trying to rotate round the axle. Also in this shot are the pony trucks:
     

     
    The pony trucks were made from Brassmasters etches. However, on the 2-6-2 tanks, one of the trucks (the rear one on the standards, but generally the front one on the Ivatts) was of the swing link side control type rather than the spring side control type represented by the Brassmasters etch. This was done by modifications of some of the etched parts and some scratch built parts. The difference in appearance of the two is shown in the final photo:
     

     
    Hope that lot is of some interest.
    There will be a short break from this project to get the track cleaned on the layout, ready for a visit by a group of friends next week.
     
    Dave.
  12. Dave Holt
    My Caprotti Black 5 has gone for some finishing details and David Clarke has kindly sent me some rather enlarged views of the loco, prior to the work. Overall, I think the model stands up quite well to these larger than full size photos, although there are a few blemishes and omissions apparent.
     

     

     

     
    Best wishes for Christmas and New Year,
     
    Dave.
  13. Dave Holt

    Delph - Locos on tour

    By Dave Holt,

    I took my three latest completed locos to pose on Clarenden at the Leamington Club, last night. Here they are being serviced in the loco shed after arriving with excursion trains from the North and also seen departing for home with a return working. Hopefully, they look better here than on the shelf in my modelling room!
     
    Here they're seen on shed in various poses:
     

     

     

     

     
    44741 and 45701 are seen double heading a return working past Scrubbs Lane West Box:
     

     

     
    Dave.
  14. Dave Holt

    Delph - Loco progress

    By Dave Holt,

    I've made some reasonable progress in the past couple of weeks with the various locos under construction. First the Crab had a front AJ coupling added and a shed plate, which I had somehow overlooked, a crew in the cab and coal in the tender. Since then, I've almost finished the Jubilee, the latest jobs being coal in the tender, cab glazing and fixing the roof after adding a crew. Just waiting for the glue to fully dry in the tender before reconnecting loco and tender.
    The Caprotti Black 5 (loco and tender bodies) was collected at the Warley show after painting. Today, I've fitted the buffer heads, AJ couplings, number and shed plates, glazed the cab and re-assembled the bodies and chassis. There will need to be some adjustments to the chassis and body weathering to blend them together and there is still the crew and coal to fit.
    The Caprotti and Jubilee are shown in these photos. It's clear that the Jubilee loco and tender are not connected. Neither is the Caprotti, but that pushed together to the proper positions, unlike the Jub.
     
    First, the Caprotti, with the Jub peeping in:
     

     
    Then the JUb. with the Caprotti tender:
     

     
    And finally, a front three quarters showing both:
     

     
    Dave.
  15. Dave Holt
    The replacement side has now been affixed to the tender using Araldite Rapid. I'm pleased to say that the new side is completely flat, with no visible ripples or indentations. In fact, it's better than the other side, so should paint up nicely. Phew! That was all a lot easier and quicker to put right than I had feared.
    The new side is shown below:
     

     
    side on, and
     

     
    at an angle, hopefully showing the side completely flat.
     
    Dave.
  16. Dave Holt
    A problem has been identified with the right hand side of the tender for my Caprotti Black 5. The whole kit is a Comet product and the tender sides for this part welded type are very thin and rather flimsy, due to being half etched to provide the rivet pattern. During assembly of the second (RH) side, I pressed a bit too firmly to hold it against the internal structure for soldering. The result was a rippled effect where the lines of the framework showed through. Considerable time was spent trying to rectify this by "panel beating",so to speak, and the result didn't look too bad in raw metal. I thought I could live with the remaining marks, especially as the loco is to be heavily weathered.
    However, once the tender was painted with a gloss finish (to help seat the lining transfers), it looked absolutely awful.
     
    .
     
    It was obviously pointless proceeding with full painting and lining, as no amount of weathering could possibly hide that amount of damage. So, David Clarke has stripped the paint from that side and returned the tender to me for rectification. To be honest, once stripped back to bare brass, it didn't look nearly so bad but a replacement side is to be fitted anyway. I'm not sure if Comet can supply replacement sides, but I bought a whole tender body kit as the easiest option.
    The original intention was to trim away the damaged side close to the bulkheads, fire iron tunnel and front piece and then file off any remaining raised rivet or beading detail. However, on closer inspection and the discovery that the side was not well attached is certain areas, I change tack and decided to try and remove the existing, damaged side entirely. This proved not too difficult although it got quite hot whilst unsoldering some of the joints and asbestos fingers would have been an advantage. Once the side was off, the underlying structure was filed flat and any remaining bobbles of solder removed. Here is the resulting tender body with the now totally destroyed side lying in front.
     

     
    Since the photo was taken this lunch time, I've prepared the new replacement side and fixed the two hand rails, ready for reattachment. The new side will be glued to the body, possibly with a few solder tacks for added security of attachment. Hopefully, I'll get this done later in the week so it can go back for painting sooner rather than later. Oh well........
     
    Dave.
     
    .
  17. Dave Holt
    My Jubilee, 45701, Conqueror, has now been weathered by friend, David Clarke, ready for me to finish off. Cab glazing, crew and DCC chip to be fitted, the tender coaled up and the cab roof fixed. For some reason I haven't yet identified, it has developed an intermittent short when running forward which it didn't have previously. A quick check of loco brakes and sand pipes hasn't shown anything out of place, so some further investigation will be necessary.
    Here she is in her current state:
     

     
    Dave.
  18. Dave Holt
    Further to my last posting, the motor has now been fitted and the DZ126 chip fitted and all wired up. Pleasingly, the loco ran the correct way, so there was no need to change CV29. After changing the chip address to 4741 (loco number 44741) I've set the acceleration to 20 (out of 31) and deceleration to 3 (out of 31). This enables a fairly smooth acceleration whilst retaining good control over slowing and stopping. Experience has shown that excessive deceleration values makes fine control on a dead-end layout rather hazardous!
    In the photo, the chip is attached to the rear of the motor body by a thin layer of Bluetac(?) and the wires well tucked in to fit withing the loco firebox. The tin of paint balanced on the front of the chassis is simply ballast to compress the light springs within the front bogie, to avoid short circuits via the brake blocks. Normally, this function is performed by the loco body.
     

     
    Dave.
  19. Dave Holt
    The chassis for my Caprotti Black 5 has now been painted and re-assembled, apart from fitting the motor and DCC chip. The latter will be a Digitrax DZ126, a tiny, fully encapsulated item, which will be held to the motor with some Bluetack.
    A couple of similar looking shots of the painted chassis are shown below:
     

     

     
    Close examination reveals one of the twin rear equalising beams and the single front one extending from the front coupled axle to the centre of the front bogie. The gearbox is an extended High Level driving the centre axle and prevented from rotating round the axle by the loose anchor point behind the rear axle. Various pipes can be seen between the frames, which match up with continuations either under the chassis or under the boiler/footplate unit.
    The cetre crank pin retainer on the side seen has not been painted as the lubricator drive return crank screws on, outboard of it.
    The body/footplate unit and tender body are off the be painted and lined next week, so it's all coming along quite well.
     
    Dave.
  20. Dave Holt
    I recently had a near disaster with the Caprotti Black 5 when I accidentally knocked off and nearly lost part of the rather delicate lubricator drive mechanism at my local club meeting. Fortunately, a colleague spotted the missing parts under a table - I was convinced it had come off at home whilst packing the body up, otherwise quite a bit of extra work would have been necessary. Anyway, it turned out not to be as hard to put right as I had feared and, indeed, the repaired drive is both stronger and actually more realistic than before, as I have added an internal stiffening rib missing from my original effort. Silver linings and all that.
     
    Buoyed up by the success with the lubricator drive repair, the chassis has been completely disassembled and given a coat of Precision Paints single pack grey etch primer. The instructions stress the need to be sparing with it, but the paint in the (brand new) tin has the consistency of syrup, so constant dipping of the brush in thinners was necessary to get a thin coating. Here are all the bits, except the motor and screws, laid out after priming. Mating surfaces and parts invisible on the finished loco have been left unpainted.
     

     
    Dave.
  21. Dave Holt
    Now that the Jubilee has gone off to be weathered, I've started to prepare my Stanier Caprotti Black 5 for painting. This entails stripping it down for degreasing and to give access for painting. The disassembly is quite complicated and has to be done in a specific sequence to get access to various fixing screws. Due to the short cab sides and exposed, open type steps, the pipework under the cab has had to be split between the footplate unit, the chassis mainframes and a separate carrier plate at the rear end. In order to dismantle the loco, first the tender is disconnected, then the pipe carrier plate is removed to reveal the screw which hold the footplate to the chassis. As built, the boiler can then be removed from the footplate as it was fixed by two screws under the saddle and by a pin engaging in the cab front at the firebox end.
     
    Here are the main components after separation. The chassis will be broken down into its component parts for me to paint shortly.
     

     
    The separate pipe carrier also has the rear section of the brake rigging attached. The brake pull rod and the exhaust steam injector pipe plug into their mating parts on the chassis brake rigging and keeper plate, respectively.
     

     
    Here's the footplate unit. You can just about make out the Caprotti drive shaft sloping up towards the saddle area. Also visible, with the circular spiral on the end is the valve actuating pipe running from the dome to the cylinders. In a previous post, I explained the thinking behind fixing the cylinders and slide bars to the footplate, rather than to the chassis, as one might expect.
     

     
    My friend, David Clarke, who is going to paint and line the body, has advised that he would prefer the boiler and footplate to be supplied as a single unit so I have now fixed them together with Araldite, which is curing as I write. Once set sufficiently, I'll trim off the excess which has squeezed out and fill any remaining gaps.
     
    Dave.
  22. Dave Holt
    The sea-side holiday excursion which departed Delph (Holt) last week behind Jubilee 45701 returned today with its load of happy holiday makers, refreshed and ready for the mills to restart next Monday. On this occasion, the train was hauled by ex-LMS 2-6-0 Crab, No. 42713. The train has run almost to the buffer stop to get the maximum number of coaches alongside the platform. Once all the passengers have got off, the loco will push the stock back, clear of the cross-over, run round its train and depart empty stock, as recorded in these photos:
     

     

     

  23. Dave Holt
    Not too much progress with the layout or locos recently, although I have painted the cobbled area in the goods yard. I've been putting this off, fearing I'd wreck all the effort of hand scribing the setts. The initial results confirmed my fears had been well founded, but a couple more washes with very diluted black have blended the patches in a bit. I'm still not completely happy but hope it doesn't look too bad to others.
    In the lull, I've posed my Jubilee on the part of the layout currently erected, to illustrate a future operation. In the photos below, the Newton Heath shedded loco, in unusually clean condition, has arrive running tender first, with the stock for a sea-side excursion train and is seen in the process of running round its train, prior to departure......
     

     

     

     

     
    The loco will be going off to be weathered shortly.
     
    Dave.
  24. Dave Holt
    My Brassmasters Jubilee, 45701, Conqueror, has been painted and lined by good friend, David Clarke. It's now come back to me to be re-assembled and various smaller items attached before it goes back to David to be weathered.
    The attached, very poor quality, photos show the re-assembled loco ready for some test running prior to the weathering.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  25. Dave Holt
    Wow! It looks like I haven't posted anything since last December. I suppose that's because there hasn't been much to share of late. I finally finished the construction of my Jubilee, which is now away being painted and I have also recently finished off the Caprotti Black 5. The last items on this one being the sand pipes and their support brackets. This loco is now ready for painting and is shown below.
     

     
    As for the layout, sadly there's been almost no progress since I completed embossing the cobble stones in the goods yard and coal drops. However, a friend and colleague in the 35006 P&O restoration team has kindly turned two alternative mill chimneys in wood. You may recall that my original intention was to replace the actual mill at Delph with a much more aesthetically pleasing (in my opinion) mirror image of the Regent Mill at Failsworth; one of the reasons for changing the layout name to Holt. I subsequently decided to revert to the original mill, at least for the initial presentation. As I will be placing the mill and other rear scenic features on separate "hang on" boards, there remains the possibility to have alternative versions of mill. The attached photo shows the huge difference in size and style between the two mill chimneys. The larger, tall one is for the Regent and is a scale 210 feet tall (quaintly, the original architects drawing specifies this as "70 yards"), and the much smaller one is for the actual mill, reflecting the difference is boiler plant for the vastly different sizes and power of engines provided. Obviously, both will need to be covered in brick and stone/brick paper, respectively, in due course.
     

     
    Dave.
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