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Captain Kernow

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Blog Entries posted by Captain Kernow

  1. Captain Kernow
    A bit more progress since the previous blog entry, nearly ready for the interior illumination and the roof...
     
    Bit more weathering of the boards on the exterior walkway, plus the handrails to be added:

     
    Just glued the two 'omnibus' circuit phones on the wall where the signalman is standing. A noticeboard also to be added above the Train Register desk:

     

     

     

  2. Captain Kernow
    No photos yet, sorry, but I’ve started to fit the windows to the structure of the signal box.
     
    Having established that the windows wouldn’t hamper the final fitting of the operating floor and internal detail, it was also clear that it would be much easier to install them without the internal detail getting in the way.
     
    The windows are etched products by Modelex (formerly Churchward Models), but have had to be filed to fit, as the window apertures of the Ratio components don’t quite match the etched windows. This wasn’t too much of a surprise, as the Modelex M.R. windows are not advertised as a replacement for the Ratio kit, unlike their other product for the Ratio McKenzie & Holland box.
     
    The small window to the locking room was particularly awkward, as there is only just enough room at the top and bottom of the window frame to avoid having a gap showing, which called for a bit of gentle juggling of position of the frame, with a tiny dab of epoxy holding the window in place until I was happy with it’s position with regard to the rest of the structure. Once the epoxy had gone off, it was enough to hold the window frame in place whilst I secured the rest of it.
     
    I’ve also polished the matt finish of the lino floor as best I can, with a cotton bud, to avoid damage to the levers. An old-fashioned radio is waiting a dab of paint before being fixed inside the box as well (the District Inspector is obviously not about!...)
  3. Captain Kernow
    I've gradually been painting the interior detail items for the signalbox over the last few days, here are some photos taken this afternoon, in all the cruel detail that only a digital enlargement can offer...
     
    Most of the furniture still isn't secured, and the floor is yet to be painted. I should finish painting the interior walls first, before much else is done...
     

     

     
    The fact that the floor isn't painted is very clear in this view, as are the brush marks on the lever frame, although that just won't be apparent when the windows are in. Also, painting of the floor will cover the untidy black around the grate area...

     

     
    Finally, details of the block shelf. I could add a few plungers along the front face of the block shelf, but these won't really be visible from normal viewing angles, so not sure at the moment...

     
    There is still some detail to be added, including a signalman, Train Register Book, a couple of 'box-to-box' phones on the wall above the bigger cupboard, a noticeboard and probably a couple of newspapers on the side...
  4. Captain Kernow
    Today I've been doing something I rather enjoy - playing around with various bits of plasticard and making stuff from them. Apart from the signalman's ancient 'comfy chair', the other items were measured from furniture in actual signalboxes, including the W.R. token instrument.
     
    The token instrument (which will apply to the single line section to Coalpit Heath West Junction), will have some representation of electric tokens added after it's been painted.
     

     

     

     
    Finally, as I was taking the photos, CTMK brought in something she's been making today, namely a woolley sheep for a window display in a bookshop. So, if the signalman does manage to have a nap in that 'comfy' chair, he'll have a bit of a shock when he wakes up!

  5. Captain Kernow
    Once Railex was over, I was planning to start work on 'Callow Lane' again, and so I've been doing a bit more work on the signalbox.
     
    The lever frame has been painted and the main structure of the box has been sprayed with a mixture of Humbrol and Precision cream colours. The box will represent one of those Midland examples that got repainted into Western Region chocolate & cream in the 1950s. I will be picking the main structural woodwork out in a chocolate colour in due course. My prototype example is the box at Painswick Road, Gloucester (on the now closed line from Tuffley Jct to Gloucester Eastgate).
     
    The levers are correctly coloured according to the signal diagram for the layout.

     

     

     
    Here is the box with the sub-roof assembly sitting on top (not yet attached). This consists of the guttering and a sub-assembly for the actual hipped roof to sit on. This had to be shortened, as the original Ratio version is for the longer 4-window box:

     
    I'd shortened the sub-roof assembly some time ago, but the spectre of having to shorten the actual moulded Ratio roof assembly was always looming.
     
    This is quite a nicely moulded slate roof, and I'd decided that it would probably be less work to carefully shorten that (by 24mm) to fit the 3-window box, as to scratchbuild a completely new hipped roof and cut new slates to fit etc. So, this afternoon I carefully cut one end of the standard moulded roof off, shortened the rest, and glued it back together. When the MekPak is dry, some filling will be required:

     
    The bluetak is to ensure the whole thing stays flat as the glue sets.
  7. Captain Kernow
    Last night at DRAG, we held the official 'opening' of TT2, with five trains running at the same time on each of the five circuits (4 x P4 and 1 x OO). With other stock lined up on the loops as well, the 'start line' looked most impressive!
     
    Getting ready:

     
    Some individual items running before the 'grand ceremony'...
     
    Dave Browne's J52:

     
    Nick Cann's 108:

     

     

     
    10800 & Re6/6's 11-CEP

     
    My Class 25 makes for unexpected motive power on the 'Dawlish Donkey' set:

     
    By happy coincidence, Mike Ainsworth, Secretary of the Scalefour Society, was visiting that evening, and watches the preparations on the other side of the test track, whilst 10800 tackles something on his Lion:

     
    The line-up starts to collect:

     

     

     
    And of course,
     

  8. Captain Kernow
    I've finally tackled one of those jobs that I've been putting off for a while - adjusting the sharpness of the curve into the main fiddle yard on 'Engine Wood'. Whilst generally around 2' 6"+ in radius, a very short section was inadvertantly laid rather sharper some years ago, which some of my locos didn't like.
     
    As a result, I've lifted the very sharp track, tidied up the board and re-laid it with new track and a re-aligned cassette 'docking station'. This took most of the afternoon, but I also took the opportunity to test the two new sets of coaches with their close coupling over the curves, plus a bit of track weathering in the station (also long-overdue).
     
    General view, showing a still-unweathered 82041 (built in 1995!) coupled to the Maunsell set, waiting to run over the newly-laid curve:

     

     
    A cruel close-up of the tunnel portal:

     
    D6318 in the fiddle yard, waiting to test the curve with the other new set of coaches, a pair of Bachmann Mark 1s:

     
    And is held at the home signal upon emerging from the tunnel:

     
    53804 is the next test subject:

     
    ...and is captured immediately prior to exiting the tunnel:

     
     
    With Railex only just over 3 weeks away, the priority now is to finish weathering the two sets of coaches, complete one or two minor repairs to other stock and put the full layout up for testing in a week or so.
     
    Unfortunately, I doubt that I will have time to finish 82044 in time for the show, so that will have to wait.
  9. Captain Kernow
    I've not had very much modelling time lately, for various reasons, and what time I have had, has been devoted to weathering the Bachmann chassis for 82044.
     
    Tonight, I thought I would give it a good running-in on my circle of Lima track, which I keep specially for the purpose.
     
    Prior to the start of running in, the chassis did exhibit signs of jerkiness, especially in one direction, but, ever the optimist, I hoped that this would improve with some running. However, after 90 minutes of continuous running in both directions, it hasn't improved one jot and after a while and with a bit of experience, you can start to tell which locos will improve with running in, and which won't.
     
    Unfortunately, this chassis falls into the latter category. I even test ran a couple of examples in the shop when I bought it and chose the better of the two. I do try to buy R-T-R locos from a local shop, for precisely that reason, but any proprietor's patience is going to wear thin if I make him go through a dozen boxed locos until I find one I'm satisfied with.
     
    This particular chassis will lollop along reasonably happily at a scale 40 - 50 mph, but when it comes to slower speeds, especially starting away or slowing to a stop, the jerkiness returns with a vengence.
     
    As it happens, I have another Bachmann Standard 3 tank, and the chassis on that does run marginally better, but it's still far from perfect.
     
    I had intended that 82044 would be a relatively quick loco to do, prior to some other jobs I want to do on 'Engine Wood' and it's rolling stock in time for Railex at Aylesbury this coming May.
     
    So, what to do about it? I don't want to just pack it all up and 'walk away', because I really don't like leaving anything unfinished. I suppose I could dismantle the errant chassis and try to find the source of the tight spot or jerky running.
     
    Alternatively I could use the chassis from the other example (which is destined to have a P4 chassis at some stage, anyway), but would have to start with the weathering all over again, and I can't guarantee at the moment that this one won't bed in to my satisfaction either.
     
    On the other hand, I do have a Comet 76XXX chassis, plus a suitable motor and gearbox in stock, plus the right wheels, so I am now sorely tempted to build and modify that to fit the 82XXX.
     
    I almost can't face dismantling the Bachmann R-T-R chassis. I know others have done it, but I feel that I would be better off spending the time building the brass chassis for the loco instead. I'll have to have a think about it.
     
    I do wonder, though, why it is that so many of the Bachmann steam-outline R-T-R locos that I've bought in recent years are such indifferent runners, even after an attempt at running-in. I know we've had discussions like this on RMWeb before, yet it's just so frustrating when it happens again...
  10. 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....
  11. 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.
  12. Captain Kernow
    Here are a couple of photos of the new M.R. style lever frame, which I decided I ought to build, following some discussion last night on whether the GWR-style frame was really appropriate for the Midland box at Callow Lane.
     
    In short, it was not appropriate, so I built the basics of the lever frame base from plasticard last night, and added some modified etched Smiths levers today.
     
    The levers are set at 6" centres, which is how earlier M.R. frames were arranged. My thanks to Keith Norgrove for helping with some very useful data on the Scalefour Society forum.
     
    Once I've painted the main base of the frame black, the individual levers will get painted in accordance with the signalling diagram.
     
    Here's the prototype photo I took a few years ago in Settle Jct box:

     

     

     
    Due to the levers now being at 6" centres (as opposed to 4.5" centres on the GWR-style frame), the overall lever frame is a bit longer, but still (just) fits in the space between the door and the gate wheel.
     
    However, to my mind, the effect is a little cramped, so I'm minded to move the gate wheel assembly back a few millimetres. Due to it effectively being part of the floor assembly, this will mean cutting it out and re-positioning it, and using spare plasticard and filler to make the floor area good.
  13. Captain Kernow
    Well, as I mentioned in the comments section of the previous blog entry, I was getting uneasy about the size of the box, as compared with the smaller size of the lever frame. Even with the gate wheel, I decided that the box was too big for the location, and I started thinking about how I could re-build it to a smaller size.
     
    In the meantime, I constructed the 18 lever frame (from Smiths etched components) and placed it in the original box...

     

     

     
    As you can see, it left rather a large area for the dance floor, which reminded me a little too much of boxes that have had their frames cut down, following track rationalisation. That argument wasn't going to work at Callow Lane, so I decided to get the piercing saw out and re-build the box to a smaller design.
     
    It would have been nice to have done a small, cute 2-window box (a bit like Selside), but the lever frame, coupled with the gate wheel, would require just a little bit too much room, so I opted to copy the box that had provided me with my original inspiration - Painswick Road LC on the former Tuffley Jct - Gloucester Eastgate line, and re-build Callow Lane's box as a 3-window box.
     
    I've also built and installed the gate wheel. The lever frame isn't permanently attached, however, as it will need to be carefully painted to correspond with the signalling diagram that Dave 'Beast' Skipsey has kindly worked out for me.
     

     

     

     

     
    Once I had carefully cut the two side walls off, the front and back walls required complete re-building, which has now made this structure less of a modified Ratio kit, and more of a scratchbuild, using some Ratio (and other) components.
     
     
    Additional comments - Sunday evening 02/01/11
     
    Here is my own photo of the interior of Settle Jct signalbox, to prove that I am aware of what a Midland Railway lever frame looks like - the only problem is - how to reproduce that in 4mm scale when you don't have access to any fancy etching capabilities or C.A.D. etc.

  14. Captain Kernow
    Just prior to Christmas I started work on the signalbox for Callow Lane.
     
    I had been planning to build the Modelex (ex-Churchward Models) etched brass kit, but was put off by the effect of the brass slates, so had already decided to do my own roof.
     
    I then remembered that Ratio do a standard 4-window M.R. signalbox, and after a bit of agonising re the size the box should be (in order to justify not having to undertake either a major kit-bash or a complete scratchbuild), I opted to go for a standard 4-window pattern box. I'm comfortable working in brass and/or plastic, but somehow just a little more comfortable with plastic for buildings...
     
    The lever frame will have 16 levers, so on the face of it, the box is a little bit big for the frame, but then again, there is also the gate wheel and associated levers, which will take up a bit more space inside, so I finally felt comfortable with the 4-window choice.
     
    Clearly, if modelling an actual location, I'd have had that decision made for me, but such is the joy of making up railway history for yourself!
     
    To improve the appearance of the Ratio kit, I've used some (seperately sold) Modelex etched brass M.R. windows, and have also got an etched brass set of signalbox steps to assemble in due course.
     
    I've had to change the kit in other was as well, in that the way it is configured, the steps would have been on the left hand side of the box, when looking at it from the front, whereas I wanted them at the other end.
     
    This is the end wall at the opposite end from the steps and entrance. The kit features two windows on the ground floor, whereas I wanted a plain wall, so some Slaters embossed plasticard was substituted for the kit planked inlay. The Modelex windows are shown temporarily in situ (waiting painting and glazing):

     
    Note the two holes in the base of the front of the box, for point rodding runs to emerge:

     
    The modified steps end, which required the door aperture to be moved over by one panel's worth and the removed red Ratio plastic replaced with Evergreen strip:

     
    The larger windows were a very good fit for the Ratio window apertures, but the smaller window next to the door needed a bit of fettling on each side to make it fit:

  15. Captain Kernow
    A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Noble Realm of SWAG to all in RMWeb Land!
     
    Some specific Christmas wishes:
     
    - May we all contain ourselves successfully until one minute past Midnight tonight!
    - May we all eat and drink as much as we need and perhaps even want over the Festive Season!
    - May the weather front coming in on Sunday night bring rain, not more snow!!!
     
     
    And as the flag of Swagonia bravely flutters on the top of Mount Snyeg outside Kernow Towers...


     
    ...my thoughts turn to what modelling I may get done over the holidays...
     
     
    Well, there's just a little bit more work to do, to finish the lineside 'view-blocker' half-relief factory building (the more simple one, not the one with the awning), then there's the Midland Railway pattern signalbox, also for Callow Lane.
     
    I doubt very much that 53806 will get weathered and put into service just yet, but I may put part of 'Engine Wood' up over the holidays, in order to measure up for a fiddle yard adaptor board that needs to be put on, before Railex in Aylesbury next May.
     
    Of course, that may give me the chance for a bit of photography with a certain 7F!
     
    Have a great Christmas, everyone!
  16. Captain Kernow
    CTMK is a budding writer and blogger, and has composed this piece in connection with a weekly blogging competition, the theme of which was 'Pasttimes, passions, hobbies and entertainment'.
     
    I'm not much of a poet myself, but I thought this one of hers was rather good (with a doffing of the cap to WH Auden... )
     

  17. Captain Kernow
    The small rail-served factory unit for Callow Lane is now more or less complete:
     

     

     

     
     

     
    The building is a branch premises of the small engineering firm Taffson Evans, which had a long history of occasional locomotive building back into the 19th century, although the Callow Lane premises was only ever responsible for the production of smaller, individual components.
     
    When it was first founded, the firm was known as Taffson, Evans & Jenkins and they were responsible for the small fleet of 15" gauge 0-4-0STs for the Vowchurch Slate Tramway in Herefordshire:
     

     
    More information on these diminutive locomotives and the narrow gauge railway that they served can be found in the book 'The Slate Railway to Churchwater' by Brian Clarke and published by Merlin Locomotive Works in 1977.
     
    Subsequent locomotive construction was not well recorded, but the company dropped the 'Jenkins' part of their name in the early 1950s and began to develop a standard small industrial diesel, which they hoped to sell to industry and the MoD, an example of which is depicted here:
     

     
    Not many were constructed in the event, and the company's trading position began to look increasingly precarious as the 1960s wore on. A management buy-out in 1970 saw the name change again to Taffson Engineering, with the company diversifying into components for domestic appliances and industrial switching gear. It was at this time that the Callow Lane factory was closed and production concentrated in the Rhondda Valley. Finally it was saved from the brink of receivership in the late 1990s by another takeover, this time by a Japanese company, who moved the company to an industrial estate near Peterborough and are now manufacturing cardboard office removals 'storage solutions' and trading as 'Pretentia'....
     
    With apologies to those who may have read this rhubarb on the previous version of the forum...
     
    The next structure is a more basic 'view blocker', to partially hide where the two running lines disappear into the fiddle yard. This is also meant to be some kind of anonymous industrial premises and is the structure behind the 08 (the photo was taken from the operators side):
     

     

     

     

     

  18. Captain Kernow
    There are one or two places along the backscene side of 'Callow Lane' that call for a half-relief building or two. Due to the semi-urban setting of the layout, I decided a while ago that I would put a half-relief factory or warehouse between the end of one of the retaining walls and the level crossing.
     
    The basis for this structure is the ever-useful Scalescenes range. They do a free download warehouse kit, which I am using as the basis for this structure.
     
    Because it's right next to the railway, I decided that I couldn't really put the opening doors in place, but this left a rather blank area of brickwork. The answer was to convert it to a rail-served factory, with a small wooden loading platform and a large sliding door behind that.
     
    It's all a bit basic at the moment, but the following photos give a flavour of what it will look like. Please excuse the large gaps underneath the structures shown - all have yet to be glued down! The large sliding door isn't on the building yet, because it's currently being pressed down by several heavy railway books and a Gaugemaster controller, whilst the glue holding the printed paper to the backing card sets!
     

     

     

     

     
    A bit more work has been done on the basic structure:
     

     

     
     
    I also decided that an awning over the rail loading platform would add to the appearance (apart from primer it's not yet painted nor finally fixed in position):
     

     

     
    I also decided to extend it at both ends with corrugated iron type structures, so far I've made a start at one end:
     

     

     
    28/11/10
     
    A bit more done now - the corrugated iron extensions at either end have been painted, as has the canopy over the loading platform:
     

     

     

     

     

     

  19. 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!
  20. Captain Kernow
    This coming Saturday (6th November 2010) sees the High Wycombe model railway exhibition at John Hampden School, High Wycombe. 'Bleakhouse Road' will be there, and should be located right next to Chris Nevard's lovely 'Combwich'.
     
    Chris and I have been discussing how we may effect some kind of 'through running' between the two layouts. Due to the time constraints and logistics, however, a permanent link during the show was ruled out quite early on. The solution, hopefully is a 'Transfer Cassette', enabling trains to be run onto the transfer cassette in my fiddle yard, and then lifted out and carried over to the Combwich fiddle yard for it's onward journey.
     
    Chris gave me the dimensions of his fiddle yard, which has a sector plate/turntable. Fortunately, this can be moved completely to one side, to enable the transfer cassette to be put in place and butted up to the layout track of Combwich.
     
    The exit from the fiddle yard on Combwich is at an angle, due to the way the sector plate works, so the transfer cassette had to have this replicated at one end. The other end is a normal 90 degree join, where it will abut the cassette docking station on the BHR fiddle yard.
     
    First of all, I drew up the following very basic plan:

     
    The depth of the transfer cassette could not be more than 6mm (not including track), due to the dimensions on Combwich, but over the weekend I quickly found that I didn't have any ply of that thickness, nor did I really have the time to go to the timber merchant to get some.
     
    What I did find, however, was some 5mm foamboard! By laminating that with some 1mm stiff card, I could get the required 6mm depth. Despite some initial warping caused by the PVA, the cassette was straightened and held down with some heavy weights when I came to glue the track on it. The sides were also formed of the same 1mm card, glued on with PVA and pinned in place with brass lacemaking pins.
     
    The ends of the rails were soldered to copper clad sleepers, epoxied in place. Finally, some sections of brass were epoxied in place on the ends of the side sections and electrically connected to the rails. This at least matches my fiddle yard cassette connecting system, and hopefully Chris will have some wander-leads with crocodile clips or similar at his end!
     

     

     
    Cruel close-up of the 'Combwich end':

     

     

  21. 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.
  22. Captain Kernow
    It's well known my many on here that I have a habit of making up fictitious railway histories and palming them off on an unsuspecting public as if it were 'fact'.
     
    My OO layout 'Bleakhouse Road' is one such case in point. It's modelled on a real area, albeit one that never had a railway in that particular location, and the name is completely made up.
     
    Imagine our surprise, then, when we took the layout to the recent Blackburn show. We were sitting in the Wetherspoons in Burnley having our breakfast one morning (why Wetherspoons for breakfast - long story - don't ask! ), when a bus came by, that purported to be going from Lancashire to the Somerset Levels!....
     

  23. Captain Kernow
    One of the 'great things' about this hobby (unless you are incredibly clever in the Forward Planning Department) is that you learn lessons as you go along. Once you've made something, you find that you've left something else off it, or perhaps you should have built it in a different sequence or added some part earlier...
     
    Thus it was with the cosmetic tiebars for Callow Lane. I had originally planned to use a Scalefour Society etch but this turned out to be designed for older-type flat bottom pointwork, and not really suitable for bullhead track at all.
     
    I know that Masokits do a delicate etch, and Craigwelsh kindly showed me an example he had built up last weekend at Blackburn.
     
    But, in the end, I decided to scratchbuild them from brass strip.
     
    Having already built, laid, painted and ballasted the points, I found that adding the cosmetic tie bars would have been much easier at the construction phase, when the points were still easily worked on, on my workbench.
     
    The actual operation of the five point ends on 'Callow Lane' is via under-board tie-bars, which connect to the blades above via nickel silver droppers. These are firmly soldered to the blades (don't want any coming adrift at exhibitions... ) and under the board, they slot into brass tubes, which in turn are epoxied into robust plastic tiebars made by the P4 Track Co. The whole lot is operated by Tortoise point motors.
     
    Anyway, having previously spent some time setting the point blades up so that the motors threw them 'just so', I didn't want to have to undo that work again, so I opted to solder the cosmetic tie bars to the droppers. Or rather, to one individual dropper, so as not to set up any unnecessary strains when the points moved. The resulting soldered joint on one side only is perfectly adequate to hold the whole cosmetic tie bar in place. Not totally prototypical, but better than nothing and at 'normal viewing distances' you can at least see that 'there's something there'...
     

     

     
    On this particular set of points, you can also see the balsa wood sleeper extensions that I've put on, to take the hand lever. I wonder if there's a market for the likes of the P4 Track Co to market longer bearers where handpoints are involved?
  24. Captain Kernow
    Having used Johnsons 'Klear' (original formula) for fixing virtually all of the ballast on Callow Lane, I've been having mild doubts about it's suitability in the long term to hold everything in place.
     
    Whenever I've done any work in the vicinity of any ballast, I've often found bits of ballast coming loose, and the overall impression I've got is that the body of ballast is slightly brittle and fragile.
     
    I'm keen that I don't get ballast coming loose for a pastime, when the layout starts to get moved around to and from shows, so I've taken the plunge and am currently about half-way through depositing diluted PVA (together with the obligatory drop of washing up liquid) on all the sections ballasted with 'Klear'.
     
    The bits that have dried out from yesterday already seem firmer, so I'm happy at the moment that this is the right way to go. The good thing is that with the ballast already held in place by the 'Klear', the depositing of dilute PVA doesn't displace any of it!
  25. Captain Kernow
    I've virtually completed the point rodding on the layout now, having applied primer to the brass rodding last night and painted it today. The only parts left to fit are the rods to the cosmetic point tie bars (which themselves haven't yet been fitted) and the sections of rodding that cross the baseboard joint (these will probably be lift-out sections, as per Bleakhouse Road).
     
    This is where the rodding will emerge from underneath the signalbox:

     

     

     

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