Dave Holt

I'm getting there! All the track in the station area except that across the coal drops is now in place. Still to do is application of cosmetic chairs on the pointwork, but I'll leave that till after wiring and trial running - so some time off, yet. On the coal drops, the track support beams are made and I've mounted the functional supports at the cell devider pillars. These will be clad in brickwork and the three sides of the whole arrangement in coarse stone, prior to fixing the track structure in place. Well, that's the plan! Latest progress photos:-

Larry, Yes. I'm including the road along the front of the station area as it sweeps down from by the station masters house, past the goods shed and round past the drops. It then gets quite close to the railway with a high stone retaining wall/butress at the nearest point. Also the river tame at a lower level still comes in one a sharp bend and then off again at that location. As you say, this will hopefully give some width and depth and help put the railway in it's proper setting. The lowest part of the road is a scale 20 feet below the railway and the river 25 feet. (I got these elevations from a plan which I seem to have lost since.) I think I've mentioned before that I'm disguising the exit into the fiddle yard by moving a cottage group and back lane up and over the railway from Dobcross - as shown in your wonderful Delph book. Regards, Dave.

Track laying continues and I am now starting to work on the coal drops. No photos of these in full condition have come to light, so the model will be a bit generic. I know there were 6 cells with brick (with stone inserts here and there) dividing walls/support pillars but have no idea of how the track support structure looked like, so I'm basing mine on an open wooden structure with beams under the rails and angled bracing struts (as evidenced by recesses and stone bearing pads part way up the pillars. On the model, the structure is being made from 6 mm square and 6 x 3 mm obeche strip and 0.8 mm ply decking. The main beams which carry the rails have been prepared and trial fitted in place, as shown in the three photos below. Otherwise, track advances on various fronts, some of which is also visible in the photos. If anyone has any recollection or photos of the coal drops, I'd be only too pleased to hear, before i commit myself irrevocably to something wrong! Help! ] Dave.

No! Can't stand the originals - what have I said - bound to get well deserved abuse for such a provocative statement? Seriously, as a professional mechanical engineer, I have severe reservations about aspects of the Mr Bulleid's designs and am fully of the opinion that modification was the best solution - I understand that total scrapping was the alternative! Another reason is that I find the prospect of the inside valve gear and oil bath a bit daunting in 4 mm, as well. Dave.

For coupling rods and valve gear, you've mentioned the Bill B etch. I've got one of these etches with a view to converting a Hornby but haven't done anything yet (tried to talk Bill into doing a full etched chassis....maybe one of his easy fold up jobbies...?). Anyway, as Horsetan has said, Bulleids have quite narrow frames, so not too much packing on the outside of the Hornby unit. I've found the Comet etches very useful. They do a suitable front bogie and their WC valve gaer should contain useable parts as the actual valve gear is very similat indeed between the MN and light pacifics, except for the coupling rods and the expansion link support bracket - which is a cosmetic issue on a 4 mm model, I would suggest. Best of luck with it and keep us updated with progress as I've got both a MN and light pacific Hornby to P4, eventually - will need them both for Delph!!!!!! Regards, Dave.

Yes. it is rather sharpe. One or two people have questioned whether it is viable in P4, but it is as near scale as we (Tony Wilkins, actually) could get using Templot. I've successfully pushed my WD 2-8-0, tender first, propelling a couple of 16T minerals round by hand. No problems (there's gauge widening and continuous check rail to help) but it might be different under power. The Ivatt/BR class 2 tanks have a nice, short coupled wheelbase, so they might be OK. Lancky class 27 0-6-0's are probably what were used in real life? Dave.

The snail's pace addition of track continues. The main running line has reached the (country) end of the platform and the yard tracks progress slowly. Since these photos were taken this afternoon, I've extended the coal drop road as far as the drops and the mill siding as far as the connection to the buffer stop track.

Track laying continues, but progress is quite slow. I thought plain track would be quite easy, and I suppose it is technically, but it still takes an age. Progress is not really helped by my attempt to replicate the 60 ft and 30 ft track panels used on the real thing. It appears that only the main platform road was 60 ft, all the other being 30 ft. To achieve this, all the sleeper ties on the flexi-track have to be removed and sleepers moved along to the correct spacings. I've already marked the position of the rail joints as near as possible from the Templot track plan. All this cutting and sleeper moving takes time. Then there's a limit how many jar-weights I have to hold the track down whilst the glue dries and there's the ply sleepers with panel pins to be soldered at the board edges...... Anyway, I've now got most of the track in position on the station throat board - just the loop head shunt left to do. Meanwhile, a Delph motor train arrived, hauled by the Fowler Cl 3 2-6-2 tank and consisting of M45 driving trailer M3419M and M12 non-driving trailer M3425M - both beautifully modelled by Coachman. Thanks Coach!! Overall view of the station throat track-work. Lead filled jam jars on the coal drop road whilst glue dries. A taste of things to come. Typical 1950's motor train crosses the curved diamond which gives access to the mill siding. Dave.

All fishplates will be purely cosmetic and I plan to add them later, It looks like if the Exacto one are cut in half thet can be fitted where there are rail gaps. Otherwise I think etched brass ones soldered or glued in place should do. Dave.

Not often seen at Delph, but Ijust happen to like modified Bulleid pacifics! This is my effort at Taw Valley. Based on a Model Loco Co (DJH under a different name) kit. It is in P4, with full floating compensated chassis using hand sawn frames, Gibson wheels and valve gear from kit, Comet and some bits left over from a Brassmasters black 5! What can't be seen is the crank axle, inside con rod and full valvegear - but it is all there. Lined and numbered by Ian Rathbone. Photo at Scvaleforum by Phil Hall.

No-one's commented on the red hatched areas visible on the underlay. In case you're wondering - they mark the position of obstructions under the boards (Tortoise motor mounting plates, etc.) to be avoided when fitting droppers to the track. Dave.

Good point. According to my measurements there's a 0.1 mm difference in height, with the flexi-track being the higher. You may notice the strips of masking tape across the formation in some places. This is where ply pointwork meets plastic plain track and by chance is 0.1 mm thick. Hopefully this will overcome the problem and result in a nice smooth transition. (I've checked with some loose track and it does appear to work.) Dave.

Coach, I also use them for paint, but I'll see if there's a few spare!

Have started to lay the track at long last - couldn't think of any more excuses to put it off any longer. Being my first ever layout I thought I'd dip my toe gentley in by starting with the main station throat pointwork! As can be seen, I used some mini jam jars full of "liquid lead" to hold the track down whilst the glue dried. The items were first laid dry, adjusted for position and long pins inserted at the ends of sleepers at key locations. The track was then lifted, PVA glue brushed onto the underlay and the track replaced, being automatically realigned by the pins, pressed down and the weights added. I think it's all gone well so far. Just the platform release cross-over and one turnout for the goods yard to go. Then it's the plain (flexi)track to join it all up. Dave.

I see Coachman has started this subject in his coach blog. Not to be outdone, here's a couple of photos of an ex-LNWR push-pull diagram M15 driving trailer with a BR conversion of an ex-LMS Period II open third and a Lees breadvan (Fowler 3MT 2-6-2 tank) in charge. By all accounts, the coaches might have done better on their own! The prototype photo is by H Casserley and the model photo by me. Can you spot which is which? The M15 is one of a series made for me by Coachman (and without which a realistic model of Delph would be virtually impossible), the Period II is by me from a modified Comet kit. Both beautifully painted by Coachman. Loco from a heavily modified Gibson kit, built by me and painted/lined by Ian Rathbone.

Peter, Really looking good, thanks. Look forward to further views. Dave.

Peter, All superb work and a pleasure to see. It's a good job there isn't the need for a coaling plant at Delph! I'm intigued to see you have modelled Spratton (small village in Northamptonshire) signal box - hardly the centre of the universe - although it's the centre of MY universe, 'cause that's where I met and married mywife. Look forward to more stunning architectural models. Keep 'em coming. Dave.

Hi, Gravy! Welcome to the new version of RMweb. Look forward to following this blog as you add more content. Are you going to put Delph stuff on here rather than on Coach's forum thread? Cheers, Dave.

Still no actual track laid, but I am edging slowly towards it! To provide some strength to the track at board joints, and hopefully prevent rail end damage during assembly and disassembly of the layout, I'm fitting a couple pf ply sleepers where each track reaches the end of a board with brass panel pins driven into the board top rather than the usual rivets. This is now complete except for one end of one board. After that, I need to partially cover the turnout operating unit holes to just leave a slot for the actuating wires to pass through, locate the TOU's under the boards and then track laying can start. Here's 3 photos of recent progress. Dave.

Hope this works - continuing the story of my layout and workbench. On the old RMweb thread (which I no longer appear to be able to access), I had posted regarding the setback experienced when the paper track plan which I had stuck to the cork underlay and on which I had intended to lay the track, wringled up very badly with the recent damp weather. The following photos show the trial fitting of the station throat pointwork on the track plan. Fortunately, the wrinkled paper came away quite well and did not damage the surface of the underlay, although it did reveal a few areas where the cork was not well adhered to the base-board top. Following removal, I have had to mark the track position directly on the cork and this stage is shown below.