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Captain Kernow

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Blog Entries posted by Captain Kernow

  1. Captain Kernow
    With the RMWeb event at Coventry a mere three weeks away, it was time to get 'Bleakhouse Road' and put it up for testing, so that's what I did today. The layout last appeared in public at Weston-super-Mare in January 2013, which, for various personal reasons, was the most recent exhibition I've attended with one of my own layouts.
     
    The layout was put up, but I didn't bother with the buildings and trees that aren't fixed down, this was primarily about ensuring that the layout was still in full working order and to test some of the locos that I'll be bringing.
     
    All was well, and in fact it was the first time that 82044 had run on BHR.
     
    Here is the layout put up, with one of the fiddle yards attached. It will have another fiddle yard at the opposite end at Coventry, representing the South Polden Light Railway:

     
    Here are some of the locos I may be bringing, haven't decided on the final roster yet.
     
    'Plantagenet' masquerades as a NCB loco on 'Engine Wood', but on BHR she works the South Polden Light Railway. Here she is making a semi-legal movement on the main line:

     
    As times move on and in the unlikely timeline that I have modelled, the light railway invested in more modern motive power:

     
    Pannier 4634 (Templecombe) shunts a couple of 16t mineral wagons with coal for the local coal merchant:

     
    An alternative light railway diesel is 'Buntie', a scratchbuit 0-4-0 by Brian Clarke, and based on Barclay practice:

     
    One of the two Ivatt tanks available in the run round loop:

     
    A slightly less likely but nonetheless rather pleasant Stanier 2-6-4T:

     
    The S&D on the Somerset Levels in the early 1960s wouldn't be complete without a 22XX:

     
    What if the line had survived into the 1970s?

  2. Captain Kernow
    For the last 18 years, each time 'Engine Wood' has been set up, it's been necessary to align the track over the baseboard joints by eye, tightening up the bolts between the boards as you do so. Yes, there are some relatively primitive alignment aids but it generally involves kneeling down and carefully adjusting each baseboard joint by hand, whilst a friend watches the alignment of the rails from a different angle.
     
    I've got fed up with this and have decided to fit C&L alignment dowels between the three main scenic boards.
     
    Today I've fitted the 'female' halves to the two outer boards, and the centre board will have the 'male' halves fitted next weekend.
     
    I bought the two Draper trestles a few months ago, but only assembled them this morning, and they've proven to be very useful:
     

     

     
    Fitting the 'female' halves to the main station baseboard end:
     

     

     
    The same was then done to the station-end of the third board:
     

     

     
    I really don't want these to shift, so they are secured by the screws provided and a generous amount of epoxy.
     
    I'll be using some 30 minute epoxy when fitting the 'male' counterparts, to allow sufficient time to carefully line the baseboard joints up before clamping together. The plan is to glue the 'male' parts in their recesses, and when the glue has gone off, to drill and screw them as well.
  3. Captain Kernow
    A busy day last Thursday and also today, with the final preparations for the Hartlepool show nearly complete.
     
    I put the layout up on Thursday to test the new alignment dowels that Re6/6 and I fitted a fortnight ago, and I'm pleased to say that they are doing what it says on the tin and making the alignment of the three scenic boards easy, saving us a few minutes off the time it takes to set the layout up.
     
    John (Re6/6) has very kindly let me have a couple of his recent trees for the layout, so to ensure that they don't get damaged in transit (they are too large to stay on the layout when dismantled for transport), they had to have a 'Captain's box' built for them. First, here they are on the layout:
     

     

     
    The smaller one has replaced an early attempt of mine, which was built from Seafoam, attached to a twig that used to grow down one of our local lanes, and which will now be quietly retired (unless anyone wants it!). The larger one by the stream has replaced another original tree, which is still OK for use, and which has been moved to the other end of the layout.
     
    The box took a couple of evenings. In the end, I decided to use some Sellotape to help hold the Dalerboard together. In practice, this will last OK for a few years before needing replacing:
     

     

     

     

     
    Some time was also spent revamping the displays that go on the outside of the fiddle yard screens, including a completely new one based around the Hornby Magazine article from 2007, featuring Chris Nevard's excellent photos.
     
    Finally, the last bits of buffer beam detail were added to the Stanier 2-6-4T and some couplings to a Jinty, and the bodies taken out to the shed for the first stages of weathering. A coat of grime consisting of Humbrol Metalcote black, Tarmac 112 & Matt Leather 62 was applied, and then a second spray with a little bit more Leather was added from a lowish angle.
     
    The chassis of both locos had previously been weathered by brush, using the above colours plus some additional ones, including Railmatch 'Oily Steel'.
     
    More weathering, using dry brushing and some powders, will be applied tomorrow and early next week:
     

  4. Captain Kernow
    Having had part of 'Engine Wood' set up this afternoon to start the process of fitting baseboard alignment dowels, I took the opportunity to take a few more photos of the recently weathered RTR rolling stock that I did recently:
     
    The Gresley full brake:

     

     
    A Hawksworth full brake:

     
    Bachmann Mark 1 BG:

     
    Ex-GW horsebox:

     

     

     
    Two coach Hawksworth set:

     

     

     

     

     
    Finally, another photo of the bogie bolster taken last week:

  5. Captain Kernow
    I've temporarily suspended all work in P4 for the time being, including work on 'Callow Lane', in order to get a few things done in OO.
     
    'Engine Wood' is appearing at Railex this May, and there are a few loco and rolling stock projects I've been wanting to get done for a little while in time for the show.
     
    I also need to make a minor adjustment to the curve coming out of the main fiddle yard and into the tunnel. This may need a baseboard spacing piece of (say) 6" in width inserting between the fiddle yard board and the main scenic board, in order to ease the curve, although I am hoping that I can achieve the same result without having to do that.
     
    Currently on the workbench is a black Bachmann BR Standard Class 3 2-6-2T. I think it was 82019, but can't tell now, because some Microsol has helped me remove the bunker numbers and lining and the early BR crest from the tank sides. It will be renumbered as 82044, which from 1963 had a unique livery, in that the numbers were on the cab sides inside the cab/side tank lining, and the bunker sides were plain.
     
    My very grateful thanks to Tim Easter for the useful tip about how easy it is to get modern Bachmann and Hornby lining off by soaking the area concerned in Microsol for a short time.
     
    I've also replaced the Bachmann bogie wheels with Ultrascale equivilents and have thinned down the guard irons.
     
    Also waiting are some R-T-R coaches to be weathered - a pair of Bachmann Mark 1s in maroon and a pair of Hornby Maunsells in Southern Region green.
  6. Captain Kernow
    I'm very happy to say that we have now sorted out our problems with the size of the various websites that we have been having hosted by our ISP, and that http://www.enginewood.co.uk/ is now back on line!
     
    It's been put back up largely in it's original format, and whilst I still plan to change the appearance and update some of the pages, it is at least back. My thanks to CTMK (Captain The Mrs Kernow ) for sorting it all out!
  7. Captain Kernow

    'Sir Harry'

    By Captain Kernow,


    'Sir Harry'
    Recently, I decided to treat myself.
     
    When the Hornby W4 Peckett came out, like some of us, I went a little mad and ended up buying four examples, over a period of time. Not all at once, you understand, that really would be silly.
     
    I thought that at least one could be converted to P4, seeings as I model in both OO and P4. One I would fit scale couplings to, weather and allocate to one of the outrageously improbable OO light railways that I'm rather fond of modelling.
     
    One eventually got sold, leaving three. One of those got weathered and put into service as 'Brynllefrith' of the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, seen here in Bethesda Yard:

     
    That left two, one of which is still awaiting the excellent Gordon Ashton etched chassis, which will be built in P4.
     
    So, just 'Dodo' remained. This was always a good runner, but the thought of a second W4 on an already outrageously improbable light railway just seemed unlikely, even for me.
     
    Late last year I was looking through the Planet Industrials website and was reminded of their two conversion kits for the W4 Peckett - available from Light Railway Stores here - https://www.lightrailwaystores.co.uk/collections/locomotives
     
    At the same time, I decided to contact @James Hilton and enquire about a commission to convert 'Dodo' into something slightly more interesting, namely a 'Greenhithe' sub-class. This type of Peckett, with its low-slung cab, was originally designed for use in industrial settings with low clearances. James accepted the commission and 'Dodo' was duly posted off to Wales.
     
    He recently completed the work and posted the loco back to me a few days ago. I had some spare plates from 247 Developments for 'Sir Harry', which I had also sent him.
     
    James has done an outstanding job on the conversion and I am very, very pleased with the result, so many thanks, James!
     
    And now, the guff....
     
    It’s early summer in 1962 and the Vale of Radnor Light Railway has taken delivery of a new loco. Well, new for it but the loco itself isn’t new.
     
    ‘Sir Harry’ is a ‘Greenhithe’ type of Peckett and was originally delivered new in 1947 to a gas works in the West Midlands and carried the name ‘Wednesbury Park No.3’. Apparently, the nameplates only just fitted the saddle tanks.
     
    After the closure of the gas works in 1959, the loco was sold to the Cuthbertson Chocolate Company for use in their Callow Lane works, in South Gloucestershire. It was here that it acquired its new name ‘Sir Harry’, in recognition of the long-standing nickname given by the workers to the works Chairman, the Hon. Tarquin Ffitch-Cuthbertson. The Hon. Tarquin was evidently a man of large bulk and was said to walk with a pronounced waddling gait, not unlike the motion of the Peckett along the works track.
     
    The works staff did not get on with the Peckett and it was eventually laid aside in favour of a small Ruston diesel, purchased in 1961 from a local civil engineering contractor.
     
    A few short weeks later, ‘Sir Harry’ was spotted by wealthy railway enthusiast P.B. Greenhouse, who had arrived at Callow Lane on a rail tour. He contacted the chocolate factory and arranged to purchase the Peckett on behalf of the Association of Independent Light Railways, of which he was a director. He also paid for the loco to have a light overhaul at BRs Oswestry works, following which it was transferred down to Capel Bethesda by way of local goods services, to fill in for one of the resident locos on the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, which was having an overhaul.
     
    Here we see 'Sir Harry' arriving on the local goods service from Leominster, hauled by 1458:

     
    The loco was shunted and left in the yard for the Light Railway to send something to haul it back up the valley to Llanddewi:

     
    Eventually, the Light Railway's 'Planet' diesel wheezed into the yard with an ancient brake van and formed up a train:

     

     
    Once up at the Light Railway's depot, the loco will be checked over by the fitter and will then enter service. Given the amount of traffic remaining on the Vale of Radnor Light Railway by then, 'Sir Harry' will have plenty of leisure time...
     
  8. Captain Kernow

    'The Other House'

    By Captain Kernow,


    Stone cottage
    This cottage in Parkend is, I believe, known these days as 'The Nook'. Certainly this is the name given to it by John Stretton in 'The Dean Forest Railway, a Past & Present Companion', Volume 2 (Silver Link Publishing).

     
    This cottage, plus the house to it's left (the former Police House and Police Station for Parkend and currently known as 'Hazledene') are very close to the end of the Marsh branch at Parkend, which is the subject of Re6/6's current P4 project - 
    However, for the purposes of this blog and all subsequent entries, I will be referring to it as 'The Other House'.
     
    Both cottages are required for John's layout, although the Police House will need to be cut down slightly, to fit with the backscene and the rear edge of the layout.
     
    I agreed to build both cottages for John and am hoping to get them finished in time for the 'mini-Scaleforum local show for local people' type event that is taking place at our Area Group's (aka 'D.R.A.G.') normal venue near Teignmouth on the Saturday of what would have been the Scaleforum weekend (25th September coming).
     
    There aren't a whole lot of published photos of either cottage, although the Police House does admittedly feature in rather more photos than 'The Other House'.
     
    We know that the Police House had a rendered cement-coloured finish for much of it's life (and certainly during the period that the layout is set in). Apart from modern Google-type photos of The Other House, there is hardly anything published. What would have been a good view in the above John Stretton book, taken in the 1960s, is mostly hidden by a rather inconsiderate pannier tank.
     
    As such, the best we can do is to decide that The Other House was built of local stone, in a style that more or less matches other stone dwellings further up the Marsh branch, opposite The Fountain Inn, including the famous 'half house' that does feature in a number of contemporary photos.
     
    I was then given a free hand to decide on the exact materials to use and the colour scheme.
     
    Being a fan of the Scalescenes range of downloadable printed brick papers and building kits, I decided to use their 'TX48' sheet 'Squared Rubble' for The Other House - https://scalescenes.com/product/tx48-squared-rubble/
     
    The first thing was to produce a scale drawing to 4mm scale. As this was started when pandemic restrictions were still in place, the dimensions had to be estimated from what photographic evidence was to hand. A drawing was produced and a few copies taken. One of the copies was used to cut out the main wall elevations and lightly tape to a piece of Dalerboard (stout card, coloured on one side and 1.5mm thick):

     

     
    A 4mm 'plinth' was left, so that the building could be slightly sunk into the ground.
     
    The outline of the elevations and the window and door apertures were then carefully drawn around with a sharp pencil:

     
    The five wall sections (including the end wall of the 'lean to' were then cut out.
     
    At this point, I forgot to take any photos for a while.
     
    I had the stone paper printed off by a local printer on his fancy laser jet, not trusting my aged ink jet to produce the kind of quality I was looking for.
     
    The stone paper was then cut approximately to size and glued to the respective Dalerboard components and the resulting wall sections placed together for a photo:

     
    The stone paper is overlapping at the corners and would be carefully trimmed back and coloured with a soft pencil, once the wall sections were glued together.
     
    Next was to fit windows and doors. We had planned to use York Modelmaking products, but we couldn't find anything that matched the necessary window and door dimensions, so I made up window frames and sash units in the same way that I have for the Callow Lane cottages, namely individual strips of painted plasticard, which are glued in place behind the window openings and individual sash sections, with the glazing bars applied using a Bob Moore lining pen and enamel paints.
     
    Some flat sections of plastic strip were primed and sprayed with a dark green:

     
    A front door and also a side door to the 'lean to' were made up from plasticard:

     
    In reality, the 'lean to' of 'The Nook' these days appears to function as a garage, with an entrance slightly lower than the front door, but for the sake of a quiet life, I have kept everything on the same level and assumed that in the 1950s and 1960s, the 'lean to' was simply a store of some kind.
     
    Window frames and front door in place:

     
    Sash window sections being prepared:

     
    Windows and doors now glued in place. Front wall is still not attached to the rest of the building at this time, to aid fitting the windows and doors:

     
    Now it's all glued together:

     

     

     
    Next, a 'false roof' was glued between the various wall sections. At 1.5mm thick, Dalerboard is really too thick to stand proud of the walls:

     
    Top roof sections were then cut out of much thinner card ('postcard' thickness) and parallel lines drawn on, 5mm apart:

     
    Scalescenes individual slate strips (from one of their terraced cottages kits, which I already had) were cut out, the edges coloured with a grey felt tip pen and glued in place, using Prittstick, one at a time. When each roof section had all it's slate strips in place, they were placed between two sheets of clean paper and left overnight under a pile of heavy Ian Allen railway photo albums (other publishers will also do):

     

     
    The finished roof sections are then turned upside down and the slate strips trimmed very carefully along the edges, using a very sharp scalpel and are then glued to the 'false roof' sections using Evostick Impact adhesive:

     

     
    Guttering was made up from Wills half down pipes (finer section than their actual guttering) and spigots of 0.5mm brass rod epoxied in place. Also chimney pots were made up from Wills components and left overnight to harden off:

     
    Down pipes were then made up from 0.8mm brass rod, with fuse wire wrapped around in a couple of places and soldered on. This and the guttering was sprayed the same green and holes drilled in the Dalerboard to match the spacing of the respective spigots and the whole lot then epoxied in place:

     
    At this stage, I popped over to John's and posed the cottage in it's planned location on the layout:

     

     

     
    John then posed some of the resin walling that he's going to use, in front of the cottage:

     
    I then took the cottage back home to finish the roof flashing. The building then had the windows and the front door blanked off and the whole thing was given a light waft-over with Humbrol Matt Acrylic varnish, to take the printer's sheen off the stone paper.
     
    I then posed the building for some arty shots in the garden:

     

     

     

     

     
    It's just about done now, a little light weathering with some powders will be done in due course, particularly around the chimneys, but it's now time to think about making a start on the Police House.
     
  9. Captain Kernow

    16XX (P4) running in

    By Captain Kernow,


    Running in P4 16XX pannier
    Having been granted a further day to keep the P4 circuit in place, I've been making the most of it, with further running in activity taking place. This time, it's the turn of my P4 16XX pannier, 1650. Here's a rather wobbly panned photo:

     
    This loco was built as a commission for me several years ago, when I thought that I would have a completed P4 layout to take to shows, so it was a means of saving me some modelling time, as I needed to work on the layout itself ('Callow Lane').
     
    As things turned out, the layout still isn't finished, but I do hope to start work on it again soon.
     
    The loco features modified milled Alan Gibson 64XX frames (same wheelbase), with Gibson wheels, the usual High Level and Mashima drive and a whitemetal Cotswold body.
     
    Unfortunately, the slow running qualities of this loco never came up to scratch as far as I was concerned.
     
    These days, I would do things differently. For a start, I'd almost certainly make the loco myself now and I'd obviously use the lovely NuCast Partners 16XX chassis kit, designed by Justin Newitt, which was exactly what I did when I built one of these in OO a few months ago.
     
    I had put the loco away for a while and was contemplating building a completely new chassis for it, especially once said NuCast Partners chassis became available in recent times.
     
    However, I decided to put it on the rolling road for some extended running-in and was pleased to note, a year or so ago, that the running did seem to have improved somewhat. As such, I am going to try to give it a lot more running in, in order to improve it sufficiently, so that I don't have to build another chassis for it.
     
    Here is some footage of 1650 running on the highly sophisticated Kernow test facility this afternoon:
     
  10. Captain Kernow

    56XX chassis repairs in P4

    By Captain Kernow,


    56XX chassis repairs in P4
    A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to buy a Mainline 56XX at a show, that had been converted to P4 by a well-known professional modelmaker, from the man himself. The loco features a scratchbuilt chassis (with single rocker compensation), Ultrascale wheels and a Portescap motor.
     
    When I first bought it, it ran really smoothly. The chassis needed a little paint re-touching and the body has been waiting for a few additional details, but it is essentially a nice and useful loco.
     
    When I last ran it, prior to the current lockdown on Re6/6's Marsh Sidings layout, I noticed that it had developed a slight hesitation, so I put it to one side, intending to investigate and hopefully rectify the problem.
     
    Having looked at it recently, the hesitation was still there, albeit only in reverse direction.
     
    I decided to give it a spell on the rolling road, but that made matters significantly worse.
     
    It was time to dismantle the chassis and find out exactly what had happened.
     
    Well, the nature of the problem soon became evident, although dismantling the chassis turned out to be a little harder than I had anticipated.
     
    The problem was due to the amount of lubrication (applied by the previous owner) had evidently managed to affect the grip that the Ultrascale driving wheels had on the axles, as the driven set of drivers appeared to have gone out of quarter.
     
    The loco is driven on the rear axle and I wanted to drop the leading and middle drivers out, for cleaning and inspection. To do this, I wanted to remove the coupling rods, but turned out to be a bit more challenging. Ultrascale use a round nut to secure the rods, which had evidently been glued in position on the 14BA thread of the crankpin. Each time I gripped the round nut in a pair of pliers and turned, the whole crankpin turned with it.
     
    Eventually, the driving wheel that had gone out of quarter, just fell off the axle! At least that made it easier to get at the screw head for the crankpins behind the driving wheels.
     

     
    I subsequently managed to get the remaining rods from the other wheels off, although a driving wheel from the leading wheel set also came loose.
     
    I think I am going to have to completely re-secure and re-quarter the lot, before I re-assemble the chassis.
     
  11. Captain Kernow
    I've been diverted slightly from the construction of 'Bethesda Sidings' by the desire to get my 7mm test track up and running. I could easily have gone out and bought a yard of Peco track, but I wanted to build some myself, using some copper clad sleepers that I had.
     
    First of all, the copper clad sleepers (spare 4mm ones) were cut to length and laid out on a piece of flat board, with a straight line drawn on to help things:

     
    As this is only a test length of track, I didn't go for standard sleeper spacings, but rather spaced them according to how many sleepers I could get out of a given number of lengths of copper clad sleepers. This worked out at a spacing of 24mm. Each sleeper was lightly glued to the flat piece of board with some PVA (which would enable easy removal once the track was completed):

     
    I'd managed to misplace my proper (C&L) 7mm track gauges, so as this is only a test track, I made some up out of bits of Dalerboard to the correct gauge (32mm in this case). Here, the rails are just laid loose on the sleepers:

     
    With a yard-long steel rule to keep the rail straight, the first rail is gradually soldered to the sleepers. The rail is Peco code 124 flat-bottom rail:

     
    The second rail was then soldered in place, using the cardboard gauges:

     
    Here we have the completed length of track:

     
    The sleepers were then gapped and temporarily laid on the wooden plinth that I made for it:

     
    The piece of track was then sprayed with Halfords undercoat and then Halfords Matt Black, the rail tops cleaned and wires soldered on at one end. Here it is in place on the 'test track shelf':

     
    Control is simple DC, of course, using a Gaugemaster controller, which I have now wired so that I can switch it easily between the 7mm test track, the OO/P4 one, the OO/P4 rolling road or a 12v DC output on the workbench:

     
    And finally, a Peckett obliges with a test run:

  12. Captain Kernow
    I've not had a lot of time for modelling over the last few weeks, for one reason or another, but I've been doing a bit on 82044 here and there, and having got the running sorted out, I finally got the airbrush out last weekend to weather it.
     
    To recap on the story of this loco, a couple of years ago I thought to detail, re-number and weather a Bachmann R-T-R 82XXX in time for Railex at Aylesbury in May 2011, when I took 'Engine Wood' to the show. Problems with a poor-running Bachmann chassis led to it getting dismantled and a replacement chassis started. This took the form of a Comet 76XXX 2-6-0 chassis kit, which was modified to form one for an 82XXX.
     
    Once it became clear, however, that the new chassis wouldn't be ready in time for the show, I stopped work on it and put it all away until earlier this year. Back in 2011, I had thought that I'd got the new chassis running smoothly before being put away, but a change of motor and gearbox, plus my overlooking of some basic chassis construction principles, led to a period of frustration, due to it not running smoothly any longer.
     
    After a lot of tinkering, tea and bad language, I managed to get the loco running satisfactorily, and then completed the detailing and weathering of it.
     
    I had already re-numbered it to 82044 back in 2011, together with the unusual (for an 82XXX) livery scheme, whereby the bunker sides are not lined and the number is carried on the cab side (82044 was the only one thus treated, and - by the early 1960s - one of the few 82XXXs still running in BR mixed traffic black livery).
     
    One of the final tasks remaining is to fit a speedo.
     
    She will then get boxed up and put on the operational roster for 'Engine Wood' and 'Bleakhouse Road'.
     

     

     

  13. Captain Kernow
    As part of the on-going work to get some new/different stock ready for use on 'Engine Wood' at Railex in May, I've started work on 82044, which started life as 82029.
     
    There were only 2 or 3 black Standard Class 3 tank locos left on the Western, once Swindon had painted the rest of the Region's allocation green, and 82044 was one of them.
     
    Allocated to various sheds in the early 1960s such as Barrow Road/Taunton/Exmouth Jct/Horton Road, she was given a unique livery from 1963, in that the bunker was not lined and the numbers were shown on the cab side.
     
    82044 appeared on the S&D now and then, so that's good enough excuse for me to have a black 'un on 'Engine Wood'.
     
    Work is in the early stages, I have replaced the Bachmann bogie wheels with Ultrascales and thinned the guard irons down a bit. Renumbering was done using Pressfix transfers (Modelmaster for the smokebox door).
     
    I also glued the pesky opening smokebox door up shut!
     
    Next tasks are to fit all the detailing, replace the lamp irons with W.R. ones and weather it.
     
    After finishing the renumbering, I realised that the '8' on the side photographed was upside down, so it has since been re-done.
     
    Sorry about the red reflection in the first photo!

     

     

     
     
    I'm hoping to use some Testors Dullcote to seal the transfers in, and (having never used their aerosol cans before), have selected an innocent Bachmann 12t box van for experimentation....
  14. Captain Kernow
    It's been a busy week and today I've had the first chance since last weekend to do a bit more on the new chassis for 82044.
     
    To re-cap, it's a Bachmann body, but the chassis just wouldn't run smoothly until I dismantled all the valve gear. Having seen how essentially loose and apparently wobbly the valve gear was, I decided to build a replacement chassis, based on a Comet kit for a 76XXX 2-6-0.
     
    The Comet side frames needed a lot of alteration to fit the Bachmann body, and they also needed to be extended at the rear, due to the fact that this was now going on a 2-6-2T and not a 2-6-0.
     
    Today I fitted the driving wheels, having first taken a tad off the flanges to give a slightly more satisfactory appearance. Yes, I'm using Romfords, despite there not being the correct number of spokes. This project is all about using up some of the stuff I've had in the Nutkin Store for years...
     
    And anyway, no one has thus far tried to count the number of spokes on my other 82XXX at exhibitions...
     
    Having soldered up the coupling rod overlays, these were fitted, together with the crankpins and retaining washers on the outer wheels and the whole thing directly wired into the motor and given a test on the bench. To my relief, it all worked nice and smoothly first time. Having said that, I'd have been slightly disappointed if it hadn't, given the very basic, uncompensated chassis...
     

     
    Rear chassis extension:

  15. Captain Kernow
    Greetings all,
     
    I'm afraid that there's still no modelling to report on, but by way of an update, here are some images taken on the Harz narrow gauge system last weekend, on the occasion of a holiday in that part of Germany. We had a trip on the section of line on the Brocken (the highest mountain in northern Germany). The whole narrow gauge scene there in the Harz Mountains is quite superb.
     
    Waiting departure from Drei Annen Hohne:

     
    Old fashioned railcar forming a regular service train, waiting to cross a steam service at Drei Annen Hohne:

     
    Our loco running round at Drei Annen Hohne:

     
    Watering activity:

     
    On the way up the Brocken. These 2-10-2Ts are superb locos. The gradient is unremitting and it coped with the load of 8 coaches effortlessly:

     
    There's a conventionally laid-out crossing loop at Schierke, about 1/3 of the way up the line, but the next crossing place further up consists of a refuge siding, controlled by a manned ground frame (the line is also signalled with colour lights). The method of working here is for the train running down the mountain to run straight into the refuge siding and wait the passage of the up train, which runs by non-stop. Once the up train has cleared a certain point, the ground frame operator/signalman changes the points and authorises the down train to reverse out of the refuge siding, and proceed on down the mountain. Here we are on the up journey, passing a down train waiting in the refuge siding:

     
    By the time we had got to the top of the mountain, the weather was very different. It was very cold with a lot of snow still lying on the ground:

     
    Back down at Drei Annen Hohne, I found a vintage train in the bay platform, with this rather nice Mallett loco at the head of it:

     
    All in all, a very interesting time. The whole network is operated as a commercial operation by the company HSB (Harz Schmalspur Bahnen - Harz Narrow Gauge Railways - http://www.hsb-wr.de/startseite/ ), and the total network (consisting of three separate, but connected lines) is 140 km in length. It certainly merits a return visit!
     
    On a different note, I retire today from Network Rail.
  16. Captain Kernow

    A Dean Goods

    By Captain Kernow,

    Whilst the 14XX 0-4-2 is more closely associated with the last years of goods services to Kington and Presteigne, Dean Goods locos did once work through from Rhayader to Leominster, when the through route via Capel Bethesda, New Radnor and Kington was open. It seemed appropriate, therefore, to have an example on the roster for 'Bethesda Sidings', working the occasional goods train from Leominster and back.
     
    I am aware that much has been written about the Oxford Rail model, not all of it good and in truth, I probably wouldn't have bothered with a Dean Goods, had this RTR model not been available, but I had the opportunity to acquire one as a birthday present last year, so I thought I would.

    Whilst an etched kit or even a thorough upgrade of the old Mainline body might have 'put right' the various faults that some have pointed out, I decided that the model passed the Captain's 'Black 5' test (if it looks like a Black 5, then it must be a Black 5).
     
    I was fortunate to end up with a decent-running example in BR black and am happy to report that the gaps in my knowledge about the class mean that I am content enough to give it house room on the layout.
     
    I decided that my Dean Goods would be one of the last ones in BR service, namely 2538, which was allocated to 89A Oswestry prior to withdrawal on 31st May 1957. Although that date falls within my somewhat flexible operating period on 'Bethesda Sidings', I might perhaps pretend that it's usefulness on the Bethesda goods allowed it to survive a little longer.
     
    The loco is, of course, far too clean and needs weathering, before it can be put into service. Although I am normally happy to weather my own locos and stock, I decided that I would ask Tom Foster - https://tomfosterweathering.wordpress.com/ - to weather 2538, which would save me a lot of time and hopefully enable 2538 to be used on the layout at it's first booked show next year. I really like Tom's work and would recommend him to anyone wanting a good weathering job done.
     
    Before the loco could go off to Tom, though, I needed to do a small number of little jobs, namely make up and attach screw link couplings, fit the smokebox door plate and remove the moulded plastic cabside number plates and fit replacement brass ones, with the correct number on. Why do manufacturers think that it's clever to mould a number plate onto a cab side, by the way?
     
    The plates were supplied by the ever-helpful Brian Moseby at 247 developments:

     
    I attached the smokebox door number first. I wanted to try to see if I could have it standing slightly 'proud' of the smokebox door, as they do in reality, rather than gluing the number plate directly to the front of the loco, so I soldered a couple of 0.5mm p/b spigots to the back of the plate and glued them into some corresponding holes, drilled in the smokebox door, working from a photograph to ensure that it went at exactly the correct height (see photo below).
     
    I then had to remove the moulded cabside plates. This is the original (apologies for being slightly out of focus):

     
    I considered just gluing the new plate on top of the old one, but I felt it didn't lie flat enough:

     
    So, it was out with a curved scalpel blade (a brand new, very sharp one is required) and the old plates were carefully pared away:

     
    The new plates were then glued in place. Full marks to 247 Developments for getting the correct brown background colour, too:

     
    I had already made up the screw couplings (mainly Smiths, with a home-made brass 'dangling shackle' and Exactoscale steel end links. I use the overscale Smiths hooks, because they are much easier to use under exhibition conditions.
     
    The loco was finally reassembled and tested on the layout again. I had to remove one of the tender wheel sets, which had a back-to-back of 15mm (the rest of the wheels were the correct 14.5mm) and re-set the back-to-back.
     
    Here is the loco posing on 'Bethesda Sidings', before being sent off to Tom for weathering:

     

     
     
     
  17. Captain Kernow
    Background
     
    Having completed my first new loco for several years, namely the 'Planet' diesel, which will form the 'modern image' motive power for the Vale of Radnor Light Railway and still not being in a position to build the baseboards for 'Bethesda Sidings', my thoughts have turned to providing one of the steam locos for this outrageously improbable light railway.
     
    All the locos of the VoRLR are authorised by the Western Region Sectional Appendix to run into the BR yard at Bethesda Sidings, for the purpose of exchanging traffic with the light railway.
     
    Although I have other OO industrials, I do like building locos and rather like the idea of providing all-new motive power for this particular layout, hence this next project.
     
    I should make one thing clear from the outset, though. The Captain doesn't normally 'do' the LNER. I don't know that much about it and normally stay in the security of my GW/MR/S&DJR comfort zone, and don't go anywhere near the products of the eastern side of the country.
     
    However, there are exceptions. I'd do almost anything to help any B12 that was lost on a dark and stormy night in the West Country, having owned at least two Triang/ Triang Hornby ones in my youth. Also some locos that look a bit like B12s might also find sanctuary in Kernow Towers, such as a Claude Hamilton, if the price down in Camborne is right.
     
    I was also rather taken by the recent Hornby J15, but was a bit put off by the handrail knob 'issue'.
     
    The other exception is the rather cute little J72. I got introduced to the old Mainline one many years ago, shortly after they first came out, when I bought one on behalf of a friend in Germany, who liked to have a few English locos on his vast Fleischmann/Marklin layout, so I was charged with bringing one back after a break in Blighty, when I was working over there as a student.
     
    A few years later, and I eventually ended up with two of the coves myself, one was black and I don't recall the original colour of the other one. They were both Mainline examples, of course, as Bachmann UK was still some years away, and they both had the horrible old split chassis system. Apart from that, though, I thought they were fab.
     
    Notwithstanding the fact that I very much liked these Eastern engines, neither was destined to remain in BR (E) or LNER liveries for long. In fact, one of the reasons I like them, is that they seem ideally suited to being sold out of service for further use in industry and/or light railways.
     
    The black J72 was the first to be given the ‘treatment’, and was heavily weathered, named ‘Charlotte’ and re-lettered as a loco sold to the National Coal Board. She then went back in her box for several years, until I had need of an NCB loco, when ‘Engine Wood’ made its first exhibition appearance in 1994.
     
    Although ‘Charlotte’ initially ran on ‘Engine Wood’ with the old Mainline split chassis, that eventually gave up and was replaced by a Perseverence chassis, which (despite the loco being in OO), I fitted compensation to, for improved electrical pick-up.
     

     
    The other J72 was re-sprayed in GW green in the early 1980s (Brunswick Green, yes, I know, great, isn’t it?) and given the name ‘Jennifer’. She adopted the guise of a loco sold to an unspecified light railway and which eventually ended up in the care of the Herefordshire Railway Society at their preservation base at Lower Vowchurch. When that group eventually disbanded and vacated the site, ‘Jennifer’ was removed to a private location, where she is probably still resident today.
     
    The 4mm version of ‘Jennifer’ also retained her old Mainline split chassis and never even had a layout to run on, as she wasn’t really suitable for ‘Engine Wood’. By the time that I built ‘Bleakhouse Road’, her old split chassis had also given up, and so she wasn’t going to be usable on the South Polden Light Railway. As such, she just stayed in her box for many more years.
     
    I even bought a completed etched chassis from a friend some years ago, with the intention of getting ‘Jennifer’ running again, but the chassis never worked very well and turns out to have been for a J71 with larger wheels and was eventually disposed of.
     
    Fast forward again to the decision to build ‘Bethesda Sidings’ and the subsequent announcement of the Cameo Layout Competition. Here now was an ideal scenario to run ‘Jennifer’ and I got quite energised at the thought of putting a new etched chassis under her.
     
    First thing was to get her out of the box and pose for some photos:
     

     
    I then went about getting the necessary parts to get her running again, principally a Perseverence chassis kit, some Markits 4’ driving wheels and a spare High Level gearbox from my Spare Gearboxes box.
     
    More to follow.
  18. Captain Kernow
    So now to the details of the chassis build.
     
    This blog is essentially about putting a replacement etched chassis kit under an existing RTR body, but it's also about me finally realising a desire to get this long-standing loco running properly.
     
    I do like Perseverence chassis kits. They are pretty straightforward and simple to build, they have helpful tabs and slots for the frame spacers (should you choose to use the manufacturers recommended configuration) and are, in my view, entirely adequate for a 'layout loco' that's going to spend more time running on a layout than being closely inspected by the unforgiving macro lens of digital cameras.
     
    I know that High Level do a chassis kit for the J72, and indeed I have one or two of Chris Gibbon's chassis kits under some of my other RTR bodies, and I would imagine that his kit is probably the best and most detailed/comprehensive for a J72 in 4mm scale.
     
    I have used one of High Level's excellent gearboxes, however.
     
    The chassis kit instructions are pretty straightforward, with diagrams and plenty of description. I think that these kits were unavailable for a while, but they are most definitely back on the market now. More information can be found on their website here - http://www.perseverancekits.co.uk/
     
    One of the first things I did, after removing the J72 body from the old Mainline split chassis, was to glue in new chassis fixing points at the front and rear. The front fixing is (as per the kit instructions) one of the frame spacers, with an 8BA nut soldered in place. The rear fixing point is made up of plasticard and has another 8BA nut glued in place and 'trapped' by being closely surrounded by more plasticard, plus a piece on top of the nut. You will need to ensure that the 8BA bolt is cut to exactly the right length for this one.
     
    The rear fixing point also functions as a shelf for the body to sit on the rear of the chassis, so it's important to get the position of this exactly right, relative to the rest of the body:

     
    As I was building this chassis with single beam compensation, the leading and middle axle holes were cut out for the hornblocks:

     
    I then turned to the motor and gearbox. I had a Loadhauler gearbox left over from another project a few years ago, where I decided to change the gearbox. I cleaned this up and attached a Mashima 1220 motor to it and ran it in for a few hours, with the motor sitting on a bit of bluetack and wires directly soldered to it. All seemed to be well.
     

     
    It was at this juncture that I realised that I ought to check that the motor and gearbox would actually fit in this rather small loco. It didn't, the Loadhauler is too tall for a J72.

     
    I then got out my acetate print-off from the High Level website, that shows the actual size of the gearboxes. I worked out that a Humpshunter was the one I wanted, so I e-mailed Chris at High Level and asked for the price of a 90:1 example. I got a really quick response from Chris, together with a gearbox in the post extremely quickly, so many, many thanks to Chris for his usual excellent level of service.
     
    While I was waiting for the new gearbox, I put the hornblocks together and laid the essential chassis components out:

     
    Although I do have a chassis building jig (the Hobby Holidays one), I didn't really need it to solder the frames together, but instead used these Comet jigs:

     
    Here is the soldered up chassis, albeit with the hornblocks and some other detail still to be added:

     
    Next thing was to get the chassis rolling. I had bought Markits wheels for the J72, and set about fettling the wheels to take the squared off axle ends. I don't know if many of you have had this problem, but 'as bought', it's often difficult to get a Markits wheel to fit the axle end, without a bit of careful fettling to the square hole in the wheel. Fortunately I had a small, square section file that was exactly the right size:

     
    Around this time, the new gearbox arrived, so I made that up and attached a Mashima 1020 motor to it. The smaller motor is necessary, because on the J72 it will need to sit between the frames slightly, where the distance is just under 11mm:

     
    I tested the gearbox and motor combination, having first run the motor in for a while on a bit of bluetack. The slow and smooth motion as the driving wheel revolves so very slowly is just a joy to behold. Chris has refined the construction of his gearboxes in the few years since I last assembled one, and they are just fantastic.
     
    The next task, having soldered the hornblocks to the chassis, using the Hobby Holidays jig and the coupling rods as a guide to the precise correct location, was to get the wheels in the chassis and the coupling rods on. They are temporarily held in place by small bits of plastic wire insulation. Fortunately the chassis rolled really smoothly, as I propelled it in either direction with my Peckett 'Plantagenet':

     
    Similar view but with the J72's body on the chassis:

     
    I hadn't got the rear body fixing point quite right, in that the body was sittling a fraction of a mm too high at the back:

     
    Fortunately there was some metal on the rear of the frames that could be removed to give the correct rear buffer height.
     
    So this is the current state of play:

     

     
    I did need to add an additional frame spacer just under the motor, so that it wouldn't fall down into the frames and foul the compensation beam:

     
    The next jobs are to test the chassis under power, and once I'm happy with that, fit the brake gear and pick ups. There will then need to be some weight added to the loco body and I can then paint and weather the chassis and give the loco body a little gentle weathering as well.
  19. Captain Kernow
    It's been a while since the previous blog entry covering the refurbishment of this loco and in fact, the remaining work was completed fairly soon after the previous blog entry, but I've just not got around to posting the remaining photos.
     
    'Jennifer' portrays an ex-LNER J72 that was sold-out-of-service to the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, which is an outrageously improbable line that ran to Capel Bethesda station on the line between New Radnor and Rhayader in Mid-Wales, near the English border. The light railway has running powers into the goods yard, which forms the basis for my 'Bethesda Sidings' cameo layout.
     
    I tested the chassis under power (with wires from the controller temporarily soldered directly to the motor) and was happy with the way it ran. Pick-ups were then added and the loco again tested 'under it's own power. Again, I'm happy to report that it ran nice and smoothly and is capable of a very slow speed crawl if required (not necessarily prototypical, however).
     
    The Perseverence chassis kit doesn't provide sandboxes and I scratchbuilt a pair of these from plasticard.
     
    All that remained was to paint the chassis and weather it and the loco body.
     
    These days I tend to brush-paint a red oxide primer straight onto the chassis and also to spray the wheels with the same colour, having masked the treads off first.
     
    I then mix up a dirty, gungy 'weathered chassis' mix of enamels and brush-paint both chassis and wheels. Other colours are then added to portray lighter rust, grease and other types of dirt.
     
    When the paint on the wheels is fully hardened, I remove the masking from the treads and tidy up the border between the metal tread and the painted sides, by putting each wheel on an axle in turn and putting them one at a time in an electric drill and using some cotton buds dipped in cellulose thinners to get the unwanted paint off the edges of the treads. If it goes well, you should be left with a nice neat separation between wheel tread and wheel side.
     
    The chassis is then put back together, pick-up ends checked to ensure they are clean, backs of wheels cleaned and the chassis tested again under it's own power on the test track.
     
    The loco body is next to be weathered. I wanted 'Jennifer' to be slightly grubby above the footplate, so I airbrushed a weathering mix of enamels as described by Martyn Welch in his book 'The Art of Weathering' and let it get touch-dry for a few hours.
     
    Much of the weathering is then wiped off the loco body (particularly the dark green livery areas) with cotton buds dampened with enamel thinners.
     
    Additional weathering effects are then added with a brush and/or powders and a second overall misting of the weathering mix is done with the airbrush again.
     
    Once I am happy with the overall effect, I leave the loco for several days to fully harden off.
     
    I then re-unite the body with the chassis and give the loco a further test on the test track under power.
     
    The last job (apart from providing a crew, which is actually still to be done) is to make up one of my standard loco boxes from Dalerboard.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    If I was starting from scratch with another ex-Mainline J72, I would probably replace the smokebox/boiler handrails and provide additional detailing, but the point of this project was to re-use an existing loco that I had initially finished some 30 years ago, without changing it too much.
  20. Captain Kernow

    A new-old pannier for Bethesda Sidings

    By Captain Kernow,


    A new-old pannier for Bethesda Sidings
    Some folk may be aware that I recently bought two whitemetal kit panniers from @Tony Wright, which he was selling on behalf of the builder and previous owner, Peter Lawson. I understand that the ex-GW locos listed on Tony's thread are only a small selection from a much larger collection, most of which (if not all?) I gather are to be sold, due to the unfortunate ill health of the owner.
     
    Anyway, the two panniers arrived here at Kernow Towers a few weeks ago and were posed on the layout:

     
    I understand that the right-hand loco was built from a K's kit, albeit with more a more modern etched chassis, a decent (open frame Anchorage) motor and Gibson wheels. The left-hand pannier was built from a NuCast kit (which was probably derived from the original K's moulds, I think) and also has an etched and compensated chassis, Romford wheels and another Anchorage motor.
     
    Both locos were numbered as examples of panniers that were allocated to South Wales sheds at the time that Bethesda is set in, so I decided to renumber them. The K's one was to become 9629, allocated to Oswestry for a while (Pannier Papers) and the NuCast one will become 9741, allocated for a short time to Shrewsbury (Pannier Papers).
     
    I have also decided to add a small amount of extra detail, such as lamp irons, sand pipes and injector overflow pipes, which were not originally featured on either loco. 
     
    Both locos were also single manned at the time they arrived here, both with a fireman, clearly awaiting the driver to turn up from the mess room, so a driver from the ModelU agency has also taken up duty on the footplate.
     
    Both locos are extremely well built and run well. Peter Lawson certainly knows how to build a loco kit properly.
     
    It is my intention, however, not to alter Peter's work any more that I need to and importantly, to retain the original character of the locos.
     
    So far, I have worked on the K's one, which has now become 9269. I am extremely pleased with the result and the loco is now officially listed on the roster for Bethesda Sidings.
     

     

     

     
    I've also uploaded a short piece of footage of 9629 working in Bethesda yard today:
     
    These locos are probably around 50 years old and whilst it is true to say that they don't have quite the level of detail that their more modern RTR counterparts have, I do think they still stand up very well. What they certainly have is a definite presence (they are heavy when compared to a Bachmann one, especially one of my Bachmann bodied panniers with an etched chassis) and loads of character.
     
  21. Captain Kernow
    I've started work on scratchbuilding a model of a small brick farm access underbridge, which is located on the north (London) side of the Ouse Valley Viaduct. I will be assisting Rod (10800), John (Re6/6) and a couple of Rod's colleagues from the Eridge project at Scaleforum in a couple of weeks time, demonstrating on the theme of B.R. Southern Region. My contribution to all of this, besides helping run trains up and down the viaduct, (no doubt), will be to continue construction of this farm bridge, which will be incorporated in the first part of this huge project, the viaduct itself. I may also be working on one of the smaller buildings on the platform at Balcombe station, depending on time etc.
     
    After getting to a 'natural break' with Callow Lane goods shed, I started work on the farm bridge today, so that I would have something to start demonstrating on at Scaleforum.
     
    Here is the prototype:
     

     

     
    Here is the limited progress I've made so far - both elevations of the arch cut out, and the four course of edging bricks attached (Slaters brick cut into strips):

     
    I plan to have more done before we go up to Scaleforum.
  22. Captain Kernow
    I've had a rolling road for some time, but have always preferred to run locos in on a circle of track, in both OO and P4 gauges.
     
    My 16XX (built from the old Cotswold kit, now available again from SE Finecast) was constructed a few years ago, but I've never been completely happy with the running.
     
    I had given it what I considered to be a 'good running in' (several hours, all told) on my circle of P4 track, which has to be laid out on newspapers on the floor, but that didn't improve the quality of the running to the extent that I had hoped. The loco has a heavy whitemetal body, on a pair of Gibson 64XX milled frames (the wheelbase is the same as the 16XX, but the frames need to be slightly lengthened at one end and shortened at the other by the same amount to get the relationship between the axle centres and the splashers on the body right). It is driven by a Mashima motor via a High Level gearbox.
     
    I've tinkered with the quartering and the side rods, but never quite managed to get the level of smooth running that I wanted.
     
    A few months ago, however, when I was doing more work at my workbench and could keep an eye on proceedings, I decided that I had nothing to lose by putting the loco on the Bachrus rolling road and giving it a significant spell of running forwards and backwards.
     

     
    At the end of that process, given the running on the rolling road under the control of my Gaugemaster (DC) controller, I was still sceptical, but I hadn't tried it on a piece of track and under the control of my slow speed hand-held controller until this afternoon.
     
    Whilst still not quite 'perfect', I was pleased to see that the running was better than I had expected, so rather than rush into building a Branchlines chassis for it (the parts for which I obtained earlier this year), I will persevere with another spell on the rolling road and see how that goes.
  23. Captain Kernow

    Bleakhouse Road

    By Captain Kernow,

    Tuesday 27/10/09
     
    Here are a few photos taken on Bleakhouse Road last weekend at the Cheltenham show. These two were taken during 'happy hour' towards the end of the Saturday, allowing Re6/6 to run his new Bachmann 150 and give us a glimpse of what BHR might have been like, had it survived to the modern day...

     

     
    Re6/6 has charge of the shunting at this time...

     
    I'll add to this particular blog as and when, but more information on this and my other layouts can be found at www.enginewood.co.uk
  24. Captain Kernow
    I don't really like having to re-visit work I've already completed, and when things on exisiting 'operational' layouts need fixing, I tend to grit my teeth and resign myself to getting the repair done asap, even if it's something quite small.
     
    Last weekend, we took Bleakhouse Road to Blackburn and had a super show, thanks to the hospitality of the Blackburn & East Lancs club. Unfortunately when removing the (very lightweight) dust covers on Sunday morning (at least, that's when Captain 'Clouseau' Kernow thinks it was done), the cover snagged on the bracket signal next to the signalbox and the finial on the main doll - that carrying the signal arm - got broken off (albeit we didn't notice until much later).
     
    The signals on BHR are made from Model Signal Engineering (MSE) components representing Stevens signals. The finials are lovely, delicate whitemetal castings like this:
     

     
    The signal prior to the damage looked like this on the Saturday (I've taken the liberty of copying one of Worsdell Forever's excellent photos):
     

     
    The original casting was firmly epoxied into the etched lattice doll, so I didn't fancy trying to remove it, as this would probably have caused even more damage, so I elected to make and glue a replacement finial on top of the original finial. The break had occurred where the top white bit meets the four red curved sections...
     
    I drilled a 0.3mm hole in the top of the remaining casting, to take the new finial.
     
    The new finial was made up of a piece of 0.3mm N/S wire, around which some epoxy had been 'blobbed' and allowed to set hard:
     

     
    This was then turned down in a pin chuck mounted in an electric drill (haven't got my lathe yet!), and then glued into the hole in the existing casting and painted:
     

     

     
    And so that's it, the signal was replaced onto the layout and tested OK. It's not quite as delicate as the original casting, but that was so slim that I couldn't have drilled it's base even 0.3mm to take a spigot, hence adopting this solution instead.
     
    Why not just shrug it off and pretend that the real thing had gotten broken sometime in it's life - that would have been much easier and it did happen. Somehow, though, I couldn't just leave it, and I'm glad it's all done now. I also took the opportunity to do a couple of other minor repairs to the scenery and the layout should now be ready for High Wycombe in a couple of weeks time.
  25. Captain Kernow

    Box vans

    By Captain Kernow,

    I've realised that I don't have enough P4 box vans for Callow Lane, so I've diverted my attentions from buildings and crumbling platforms to building 8 - 10 box vans to bolster the wagon fleet.
     
    I'm using a variety of recent Bachmann items, purchased over the last couple of years as semi-impulse buys, plus some Parkside Dundas kits.
     
    Currently on the workbench are a Bachmann planked BR 12t box van, which is having to have a virtually complete chassis rebuild, once I found that there was no easy way to make the brake shoe assembly line up with the P4 wheel sets. Hopefully, though, it will look better for it.
     
    The other item on the workbench is a Parkside Dundas BR 12t plywood van, which is being sprung with Bill Bedford springing units.
     
    This will probably be followed by a Parkside LNER fruit van and a couple of Bachmann BR 12t plywood bodied vans, which will be built as 8-shoe clasp brake varieties, using Red Panda chassis as the basis (but probably Bill Bedforded as well)..
     
    After that, a few more Bachmann vans beckon, including a couple of insulated vans. I think I will try to do something with the Bachmann chassis on one of them, to see how much of it I can retain.
     
    There is also a recent Parkside LNER mineral lurking in the pile, which will probably be followed by a couple of Chivers 21t minerals.
     
    After that, probably have to get back to the layout...
     
     
    Update 03/4/10
     
    Here are some photos of the first two vans, the Bachmann planked one and the Parkside ply-sided one:
     

     

     

     

     

     

     
     
    Update 04/4/10
     
    Here's the start of work on the next pair of vans - a couple of Bachmann BR 12t ply-sided vans. The complete Bachmann chassis have been removed and a Red Panda 8-shoe clasp braked chassis will be put under each van. The first van will have internal rocker compensation, the other one will have external rocker compensation or springing.
     
    Lead weights have been epoxied to the insides of the van floors, ready for glueing the floors permanently to the bodies.
     

     
     
    Update 08/4/10
     
    More progress on the two ply-sided vans - now virtually complete, bar the painting and weathering:
     

     

     

     

     

     
     
    Update 13/4/10
     
    Here are the next two vans under construction - both Parkside kits - a BR 'Vanwide' and an LNER Fruit van. Both will be sprung using Bill Bedford springing units:
     

     
    I was also informed the other day that I had put the wrong W irons on the BR ply-sided van that I build a couple of weeks ago. If you look at the photo further up the thread, you will see the RCH type W irons, which were wrong for this kind of van. I really didn't want to remove the brass W irons, because they are epoxied in good and proper, so I ended up making up 05 thou plasticard overlays, which now give the appearance of the later BR axleguard:
     

     
     
    Update 01/5/10
     
    Not done much over the last couple of weeks, unfortunately, partly due to work and being extremely knackered thereafter on most weekday evenings, and then last weekend there was the RMWeb Members Day at Taunton. Then another week of general exhaustion after work (catching up with the weekend!), and this weekend I am redecorating the bathroom... ho hum!...
     
    I have, however, managed to glue the springs and axleboxes to both vans, and have made a start with the brake gear on the Vanwide.
     
     
    Update 07/5/10
     
    My thanks to everyone who responded to my request for information on the LNER van chassis configuration. I now have enough information to complete it, and in fact did more work on it last night. Photos will follow.
     
     
    Update 09/5/10
     
    I've now complete the construction of vans 5 & 6 - the LNER van and a Vanwide:
     

     

     
    I've replaced the Parkside brake lever on the LNER van with a modified Ambis one, together with a Bill Bedford ratchet. The brake lever for the Vanwide was a slightly more unusual shape, so I chickened out and used the Parkside plastic one, albeit thinned down and attached to the solebar by means of a bit of 0.3mm brass rod glued through both the lever and the chassis.
     
    The next two vans will probably be conversions of R-T-R Bachmann meat vans, one in white and one in blue livery. Both will get a lot of weathering when done...
     
    Of course, at some stage, I'm going to have to paint and weather all these vans!...
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