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Dave Holt

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  1. Dave Holt
    The part finished ex-LMS D2008 vestibule brake 3rd has been completed to partner the D1916 version already done. As before, the bulk of the work was done by Coachman, leaving me to make the interior and finish off. The D2008 is a bit unusual because it has only 51/2 seating bays but an even smaller brake compartment than the D1916, which has 6 bays. This must have resulted in very generous leg room for excursion passengerd who chose to sit in this type of coach.
    Here's a shot of the complete coach and also a closer view showing the brake compartment and half seating bay.
     

     

     
    Here the two coaches are seen together for comparison.
     

     
    Dave.
  2. 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.
     
    .
  3. Dave Holt
    Gosh, nearly 6 months since the last entry!
    Not a great deal of progress with the layout - although I have applied a base coat of colour to the trackwork on two of the boards and started to contemplate wiring up on the third board, That's the one with the main station throat pointwork, so represents more of a challenge than the two dealt with so far. There's nothing like thinking about a job to avoid actually having to do it!!!
    Anyway, I have been doing some modelling over the intervening period - some of it "cheque-book" modelling and some physical modelling! Inspired by the photo of a Greenfield to Llandudno holiday train on page 101of Larry Goddard's Delph to Oldham book (Foxline), I wanted to represent it on Delph as if it had in fact started it's journey on the branch. Larry has produced a rake of 6 coaches, the first four of which are the same diagrams as visible in the photo and the last two types of his choice. I've built the bogies as larry doesn't work in P4 and as a result the whole thing is still work-in-progress. The bogies are a mix of Dave Bradwell sprung units, where AJ couplings are required, and the new Brassmaster/Jim Smith-Wright compensated units (very quick and easy to assemble, I must say) for the remainder. Cosmetic side-frames are 247 Developments for welded type and MJT/Dart Castings for the rivetted version. I haven't made and fitted the AJ's, yet but the coach to coach couplings are Masokits types, which allow coupling by just pushing the vehicles together and which are very easily adjusted for length so the (sprung) buffer heads just touch.
    Painting of bogies and weathering still to do.
    The photos below show the assembled train (in the correct sequence per the photos) with my partially completed Crab at the head - again, as per the photo. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, but lighting conditions are not the best and the use of flash seems to make them to stark and too much contrast.
     
    First, the re-creation of the published photo
     

     
    More detailed views of the various coaches
     

     

     

     
    Finally, a view fron the rear as the train departs Delph on its way to the sea-side.
     

     
    Dave.
  4. Dave Holt
    My painted and weathered Crab was returned home this afternoon and very nice it looks to me. The apparent strange angle of the front steps in the last photo I posted which raised comment was, happily, an optical illusion or due to barreling of the camera lens.
    Here are some shots of it parked in front of the Jubilee.
     

     

     

     
    Now to fit the DCC chip and front AJ coupling. I'll have to try to source the correct shed plate - Farnley Junction, 55C.
     
    Dave.
  5. Dave Holt
    Today I had a visit by friend Dave Clarke, who has weathered some coaches for me and we took the opportunity to assemble the whole scenic section of the layout, using the plastic trestles I bought recently. This allowed all the boards and control panel to be connected up and an attempt at running for the first time. A number of unexpected issues were found so the outcome was rather mixed. Part of the run-round loop and three sidings were completely dead on two boards, despite previous careful checking for continuity. I fear that a period of fault finding lies ahead.
     
    Still, we managed to run some locos and stock over part of the layout, so all was not lost.
     
    After moving some furniture and assembling the boards, the first job was to scrape the paint off the rail heads on the main station board prior to trying to run anything. The following photos show Dave doing the scraping and an overall view of the assembly.
     

     

     
    Dave had brought a sound fitted Class 24 and this is seen near the coal drops and also at the head of an arriving excursion train. This is made up of some of the coaches Dave has weathered. He's done a nice job and I'm very pleased with the results - mainly ends, underframes and bobies. The body sides were kept fairly clean on this type of stock.
     

     

     

     

     
    Then it was the turn of my Stanier 2-6-4 tank, No. 42551, to haul the train. A bit more in period!
     

     

     
    Finally, having run round its train (we had to cheat with a bit of finger power over the dead section), the train departs, passing WD 2-8-0, No. 90671, which is standing on the coal drop road, held by the miniature semaphore ground signal.
     

     
    Good fun playing trains for the first time, but a bit frustrating with the problems.
     
    Dave.
  6. Dave Holt
    Hope you all had a good Christmas and are ready to celebrate New Year in whatever way suits you!
     
    I recently collected the platform sections and other Delph (well, Holt, actually) related buildings from Gravytrain, following some minor repairs, additions and modifications. Peter was very keen that I fix the platform sections down to the boards to avoid any further warping of these long, thin plastic card structures - so I have. I'm a little concerned at their vulnerability, especially the lamp standards, during handling and storage for the remainder of the build process. However, too late now!
    I used Evo-stik contact adhesive, allowing it to fully dry, especially on the underside of the platform to minimize the risk of damage from solvent fumes, before positioning the platform sections and weighting them down with substantial steel weights borrowed from the P&O (35006) restoration project I'm also involved in.
    I'm quite happy with the horizontal and vertical alignment of the two sections (split at the base-board joint), but have ended up with a slight gap at the joint - certainly not as tight as the dry run - but it was quite hard to get the exact position and once the glue surfaces touched they grabbed hard and no adjustment was possible. Anyway, it's not too bad.
    The following photos (not the best quality, unfortunately. Also, please excuse the Christmas card background!) show the fixed platform with the station building and signal box placed loosely in position. They won't be fixed till much later.
     
    First, some overall views which also show that the point rodding and stretcher bars, local to the platform, have been painted.
     

     

     

     
    Here's the platform joint mentioned above.
     

     
    Finally, the signal box. The wall at the rear of the platform extends to the box and actually carries on as far as the mill coal unloading bay - yet to be built.
    Recently, I've been having some more detailed thoughts about the mill and it's relationship to the station and the gateway in the platform wall. This has revealed that the track plan is not as close to scale as I originally thought. Seems that a few inches have been lost somewhere along the line (sic). As a result, the unloading bay is too close to the end of the platform. With my original plan to replace the mill with something much more aesthetically pleasing, this didn't matter; but now I've decided to stick to a representation of the actual Bailley's mill, it means some further adjustments will be required. The opening in the platform wall aligns with a doorway in the mill and this will now have to be in a different place along the mill wall than it should be. Still, it's not Delph - see the station name board - so I suppose I'm free to make the necessary changes without altering the overall impression of the place.
     

     
    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
    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.
  9. 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:
     

     

     

  10. 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.
  11. Dave Holt
    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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. Dave Holt
    After departure of the visiting West Country and its train of enthusiasts, it's back to the slow progress with layout construction. I must say, without the station and goods shed in place, it does look to have taken several steps backwards!
     
    Since my last post, back in December '10, I have been working on the station board. All the track is now wired (except final connections to the Tortoise moters and AJ uncoupling magnets), cosmetic chairs fitted to the points and cosmetic fishplates fitted to all the track. Next job is to make & fit the jumper cables which connect to the control panel, located at the end of the board near the buffer stops.
    This choice of location for the panel, at the opposite end of the layout to most of the point-work, means that many of the wires have to run the whole length of the layout - making the wiring look worse than it is!
     
    With regards to the cosmetic chairs and fishplates, after some deliberation, i decided to only fit them to the visible side of the rails - cheating, I know, but it saves quite a bit of work and the back side of the track will never be seen, even by the operator, so why bother?
     
    Here's a few photos to illustrate progress to date:
     
    First, a couple of views of the platform release cross-over, now with chairs and fishplates.
     

     

     
    Second, some views of the wiring underneath. In some of these, the board is connected to the adjacent board via the jumpers as it was easier to identify the connecting wires from the tag boards than by trying to identify the plug/socket pins.
     

     

     

     

     
    I've also been having some further thoughts about the rodding from the ground frame (near the buffers) to the cross-over. As far as I can see from photos, there were no compensators fitted to the real thing, which had me a bit puzzled. Closer examination of the photos shows that the rodding from the frame extended beyond the toes of the nearer point and the rodding crossed from the six foot to adjacent to the platform face under the switch blades, enabling approximately the same length of rodding pushing as pulling, thus avoiding the need for compensators. (Hope I've got this right!)
     
    There will be a lull in layout work now, as I need to check my locos over, ready for a run out on Dewsbury at Scalefour North (with a test session beforehand).
     
    Dave.
  15. Dave Holt
    Complete, that is, except for the signal control units and their local 12v DC power supply units, which I haven't got, yet.
     
    After months of putting it off, I finally knuckled down to wiring up the station throat board with its numerous turnouts and diamond crossing - by far the most complex in terms of electrics. Photos below show the under board wiring on this board.
     

     

     
    However, methodical work and constant continuity testing seems to have paid off as only very minor re-work was required. One heart stopping moment occurred when, having more-or-less finished, I realised I'd run a great bundle of wires right over the space reserved for a signal sevo motor, despite having remembered to keep the area free from electrical track droppers. Fortunately, I was able to divert the offending wires by cutting a slot in part of the base-board support rib, as shown below. It looks a bit odd, but the prospect of having to modify the whole bundle of wires was just over facing! Originally, the wires just ran along the bottom of the member with the lightening holes.
     

     
    Once completed, I checked track feed continuity with a small meter and then conected the power feed from the control panel. In order to do this, all the boards have to be connected as the panel feeds into the station end board and the track power is passed alonf the boards to the oposite end where it connects to the track. Initial power up showed that some of the point position LED's and several point motors needed their polarity swapping - a simple job. Otherwise, my methodical approach seems to have paid off as everything works as intended. This was confirmed by running locos over all tracks on the throad board in both DC and DCC modes from both the main panel and yard controller sockets. I did find that on DC, the loco ran the opposite direction to the switch on y hand-held Pentroller, so the track feeds from the panel and facia sockets have been reversed.
     
    The test session is shown below. A general view of the boards connected together, two standing on edge and the station throat board flat so locos can be run and a shot of the control panel with the point LED's illuminated.
     

     

     
    These tests also confirmed that the sharply curved route into the mill siding can be negotiated by a variety of locos, without any shorting. My Stanier 2-6-4 tank and WD 2-8-0 are seen on the board. The WD is on the curved siding link.
     

     

     
    Not everything was perfect and a few minor (I hope) issues need to be resolved.
    1) Both my Ivatt and BR Cl 2 2-6-2 tanks derailed their rear trucks on the point blades when reversing out of the mill siding. With the cross-over reversed, the trucks went up the head shunt whilst the driving wheels took the correct route over the cross-over. Might havr too strong side control springs on the trucks.
    2)Neither end of the double slip is thowing over properly. The springy operating wire on the Tortoise motors isn't stiff enough to move two sets of blades with the required travel. Hopefully, this can be solved with some thicker steel wire. I believe that 7 mm modellers do this with Tortoises, so if anyone knows the details. I'd be very pleased to receive advice.
  16. Dave Holt
    I'm having a weekend away frome the layout and thoughts of further ballasting!
    Yesterday, I got fairly damp helping spruce up 35006, P&O (304.8 mm/ft scale) ready for the GWR Gala, where it's on display out in the car park (on the loading/unloading track, not the tarmac!). The weather wasn't too kind to say the least. My main job was cleaning up the valve gear and coupling rods and blessing them with Shell Ensis de-watering oil. Hope it worked - I'll find out tomorrow when I'm on footplate guide duties.
    Today, I've been to Railex at Aylesbury. A really good show, in my opinion. My favorite layout was Blackgill (sometimes featured in the layout thread section on here). I must say the standard of modelling, the detailing and keen obsrevation of railway features is outstanding. I just hope I can get somewhere near with Delph. That would be a major and most satisfying result. There were plenty of other good layouts as well, but Blackgill was the star for me.
    Back to the layout next week.
     
    Dave.
  17. Dave Holt
    Contrary to my last blog entry, the sand pipes proved not to be the only outstanding work. I realised that I had not represented the drive to the mechanical lubricators. On the Caprottis, this takes the form of a triangular swing link driven by a return crank on the RH driving wheel. Whilst I had provided the mounting bracket under the foot plate, I hadn't really thought out how to represent the mechanism or how to actually fix it to the loco structure. This proved to be rather more testing than I would have wished! Unfortunately, the parts provided by the kit didn't replicate the full size version accurately enough for me, so whilst I did use the drive rod (which I had to lengthen), all the rest was scratch built.
    As with my BR Standard Caprotti, I made no attempt to make the final drive to the lubricators work, just the lower part of the swing link.
    My initial attempts were quite successful and I had the pivot mounting soldered to the loco bracket and the swing ling made up and pivoted in the mounting. The drive rod was stretched (by combining sections of two of the kit parts. Then things went horribly wrong and I nearly gave up.
    In trying to open out the bottom holes in the link, the whole assembly came adrift from the loco. So much for my soldering quality! Well, access for the iron tip was very restricted.
    Next, when trying to solder the pivot pin for the rod in the bottom of the swing link, I managed to not only solder the whole lot solid, but the swing link itself partially came apart. Half an hour cooling off was needed before I could face trying to rectify it all and recover the parts.
    Needless to say, I was rather more careful the second time.
    Anyway, after all that, I have managed to get it all on and working, giving a satisfying waggle of the link as the wheels go round.
    Here's a photo of the finished arrangement. If you look closely, you can just make out the splice in the drive rod near the swing link end.
     

     
    Still got those sand pipes to do. Then it's ready for painting, I think.
     
    Dave.
  18. Dave Holt
    Four of the coaches making up the set have now had their bogies painted, as illustrated below. Two more to go!
    At some future stage, I'm going to have to pluck up the courage to carry out some weathering on the superb paint finish Coachman achieves. Probably not much on the sides, but roofs, ends and under-frames got fairly grubby in steam days and were never cleaned between shoppings.
     
    Anyway, here's the job so far - bogies painted, AJ couplings on the outer end coaches and also the brake 3rd (it will be an end coach in a different formation using some of the same coaches plus another (as yet not built) brake - a D1916/1946 open 3rd), corner steps added to the Period III's, Masokits couplings between coaches - and of course, Coach's superb build and paint quality.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  19. Dave Holt
    Except for the buffer heads and final finishing, my Brassmasters Jubilee in now structurally complete, ready for painting, except......
    More problems have arisen, so it's currently a series of ups and downs.
    Final assembly and attachment to the tender has confirmed that the fall plate(s) will have to be omitted or heavily modified. As modelled, they probably work fine with the Stanier 4000 gallon tender, but with the Fowler 3500 they are too wide and long. This results in them jamming under the cab doors and contacting the filler plates that surround the brake and water scoop columns, preventing any angular movement of the tender relative to the loco to follow curves. I could trim the fall plates to miss the filler plates, but that would still leave the cab door issue. I'll have to see about that.
    I've previously mentioned the DCC chip problems and partial recovery and I confidently expected coupling of the tender pick up wires to the loco would help improve the loco response, but it hasn't really improved matters, so, presumably, it's not just a pick up issue. What is worse, is that now everything is connected, electrically, I seem to have introduced a dead short in the reverse direction only. Since it shorts one way but not the other, the short must be due to some movement withing the pick up arrangements, possibly due to the loco suspension. There doesn't seam to be a mechanism for the problem to be with the tender pick up arrangements, so I'll have to investigate the loco. At present, the motor is only constrained from movement by the (quite stiff) connecting wires and I've noticed that the front brake blocks are perilously close to the wheels, so they will be my first bits to check out. There isn't a lot of clearance between the brake hangers and the rear wheels of the bogie, so any stretching of the front brake pull rod will have to be done very carefully, so as not to transfer the problem!
    The other area to look at is contact of the wheels inside the splashers. Perhaps when the loco pushes the tender, the draw-bar forces tend to push the rear of the loco slightly to one side, causing the drivers to touch inside the splasher. Mind you, for that to cause a dead short, something on the other side would also have to be touching at the same time.
    Isn't fault finding so much more of a challenge that building in the first place?
    Anyway, here are three shots of the loco before it comes apart to investigate the above issues. I've even temporarily fitted the front number plate (45701) and shed plate (26A - Newton Heath). Unusually, my chosen loco remained at this shed for nearly its whole working life, returning after works visits.
     
    Side on
     

     
    traditional front three quarters view
     

     
    and, finally, a rear three quarters view.
     

     
    Dave.
  20. Dave Holt
    After the more than slight disappointment of the electrical issues described in my previous blog entry, I am pleased to say the the problems proved not too difficult to sort out. One or two of the comments suggested it didn't sound too bad, so you were right, thanks!
    The dead sections of track were due to me not having connected them to the jumper cable to the next board! I thought I'd been very careful and systematic with the wiring, checking as I went, but obviously not as thoroughly as it should have been. Anyway, three additional wires solve it.
    I couldn't actually find a fault with the platform release corss-over and I have concluded that it is a minor operational restriction due to the way I've powered the track from the crossing units of the points. This appears to cause a problem if the cross-overs at both ends of the run-round loop are reversed at the same time. In practice, this shouldn't cause a problem and just requires the operator to make sure the platform cross-over is returned to normal before completing the run round process. Since this cross-over is operated by a local ground frame (released from the signal box), any engine using it would have to wait, once clear, for the fireman to return the crossing to normal and lock it, then walk back to the loco and climb on board. This pause gives sufficient time for the signalman to change the other end of the loop before the loco moves off to complete the run-round.
    I still can't get the signals to operate, so a bit more investigation of the switching arrangements will be required.
    At least all the track is now powered and all sections accessible. Phew!
    During test running today, I was pleasantly surprised that my ex-LMS Crab 2-6-0 was able to successfully negotiate the very tightly curved mill siding - which is more than can be said for the BR Standard Class 2, 2-6-2 tank, whick derailed the pony trucks. Too striong side control springs, i think.
     
    Dave.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. Dave Holt
    I recently retrieved the final scenic base-board from my friend's workshop, primarily to check the space for the home/loop bracket signal and if there were any under board obstructions which might get in the way of the operating mechanism. Actually, there's loads of space, unlike some of the other signal locations on the next (station throat) board.
    I've taken the opportunity of having the board at home to lay the first section of the single track approach to the station. I'm happy with the alignment across the base-board joint and smooth curve achieved. Here's a couple of photos of the track in situ, one in each direction.
     
    First, looking towards the station throat point-work
     

     
    Then looking towards the rest of the world (or Greefield, at least)!
     

     
    The strange sloping structures are the foundations for a sloping lane which climbs up and crosses the track (actually located in Dobcross) and a connecting foot-path. The space between these features is filled with an interesting group of stone-built cottages. This arrangement is meant to hide the exit into the fiddle yard.
     
    Dave.
  24. Dave Holt
    A further trial run took place on Green Street, prior to an operator training session. This showed that the mods I'd made had not really solved the problems with the front bogie, which still derailed on some pointwork and reverse curves.
    To try to effect a cure, fairly drastic tweaks have been carried out. The front end of the cylinder drain cocks has been bent outwards slightly and the support brackets filed to wafer thin. To give clearance to the rear truck wheels, the slide-bar supports have been cut away using a small slitting disc in a mini-drill. I'm not really sure why this has proved necessary since the prototype wasn't similarly cut away, but it appears to have solved the bogie problem and isn't too obvious unless you look for it. I also found that one of the pickups was touching the ash pan intermittently, so some coats of super-glue were applied to both components and allowed to dry to a hard film (making sure the pickup wasn't fixed to the ash pan!
    Following these mods, the loco was free wheeled trough various bit of point-work on Holt, including the tight track leading into the mill siding, without any derailment of the bogie wheels stopping rotating. So far, so good.
    Today, yet another trial run on Green Street confirmed that the latest mods appear to have solved the problem. There was a derailment issue on a particularly severe reverse curve through a double slip where sometimes the front bogie axle took the wrong road and other times it didn't. Perhaps some lubrication of the bogie side bearing pads (after painting) would enable the bogie to slide sideways more easily.
    Anyway, I'm sufficiently encouraged to carry on with the remaining details now the running has been proved.
    Dave.
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