Andy Ross

Set up today in Leeds Industrial Museum for a train event tomorrow Saturday 27th. 11:00 to 4:00

Colin I am not aware of any of these locos being delivered in Yellow. To add to the confusion see photos below. I think this is a rebuild which must of be done in the early 90's. The temporary track was laid here as the old multi-gauge had been dug up when half the site was turned over to Hunslet TPL to build the 323's. By this time we were operating out of the old forge area and repair shop. I have no idea why the name plate was put on straight. If I find anything else out I will let you know. Andy

Another busy weekend on the layout. I have made the last two roof supports and I have assembled all the crane track beams - just two more sets of uprights to assemble. I placed the first four uprights in place - the roof supports go the other way to how I laid them out. I have also built another crude jig, this one is for the North lights that still need making. The plan is to do all the assembly in the middle section and move the assembly to either side for each end. I need to make six of these each three bays long. I have also spent some time in the garage tidying up the temp wiring that connects the crane tracks to the DCC. There is now a multi pin plug and socket and the cable has been extended so the main DCC unit can go at either end or side of the layout. With the DCC connected and it being several weeks since the last outing at York over Easter I thought it would be a good time to test the cranes. I also wanted to see if I could connect the lifting equipment to the Scunthorpe Bo - Bo Frames. I went through the box of lifting shackles etc and found four brass shackles - these come from military modellers suppliers and model boat suppliers. I think most came from a supplier in Poland. I do need to get some more. The shackles fit through holes in the top of the buffers beams and although the orientation is 90 degrees out the hooks on the lifting beams do go in - either a big link or another shackle will sort this out. As you can see from the photos these frames look good on the cranes and there is potential with a more complete loco for a set up to lower the structure onto the bogies. I also took the opportunity to see if I could get some decent phots of the structure using some foam board to remove the garage background. I am at a one day event next Saturday at Leeds industrial Museum see link below:- https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/events/leeds-industrial-museum/trains-trains-trains/?occurrence=2023-05-27. As well as the event next weekend in Leeds, I will also be traveling South with the main board for LarkRail on the 15th July. Andy

See below picture when these loco s were new - the name plate was designed to be at and angle so they must of been moved at some point.

Hi John So the plan is as follows 1. Get all the structure finished before the end of the summer. 2. Separate the removable section of the boiler shop pitched roof. 3. Make the wheel shop roof structure removable. 4. Mask up the baseboard top with polythene sheet. 5. Set up gazebo in garden to use as paint booth. 6. Using model bead blaster clean all parts in place as well as I can - Baseboard will be repositioned to get all faces (hopefully) 7. With baseboard almost upside down spay structure with water to remove dust. 8. Remove masking with any debris etc. 9. Remask for painting. 10. Etch prime with aerosol primer. 11. Mask up for the three different colours in turn and spray with airbrush. All this sounds a bit scary but I think this is the only way to do this. On a positive note the bottom 5mm of all the uprights will be buried in the floor so this will make masking the board top a bit easier. I am also open to any other ideas that might help. Obviously when I start with this I will update on here. Andy

Since the last post I have done a bit more on the structure, particularly the roof. After completing all the trusses I have finished assembling the boiler shop roof. What was clear was that the original assembly I had done was not perfect with some of the trusses out of line. This was more obvious as I had the baseboard higher on the trestles. I was also concerned the spacing was not as even as it needed to be. So I made some setting tools from some small square section wood, each with groves cut in. The groves were marked in from a drawing of the set out. So I effectively started again, releasing all the trusses to reset the spacing before adding the new ones. I also had to move a couple over to get them in line when you looked down the shop through them. The first three trusses from the boiler shop end are fixed in place and this helps stiffen up the structure. The remaining section is removable I just need to decide were to cut the longitude beams. So with the trusses finished I have now taken the jig to bits and rebuilt it crudely for the four wheel shop roof supports. I have put one together today. You can see this held in position with the uprights. These may be in place for the event at Armley Mills on the 27th. Andy

This weekend I have assembled the last four trusses for the boiler shop roof section. I have just positioned them for the photos and they will be fitted properly next weekend. There are three standard ones nearest the camera and I had to do a slightly different one for the far end that buts ups against the North light roof section. As a reminder I have included a picture of the jig I made quite a while ago when I made the original trusses. Andy

Since York I have been doing some tweaks to the structure - during the show the structure moved and some of the crane track went out of gauge. This was not too much of an issue as the area between the loco stands and were I did the wheeling was still ok but it was a bit annoying if I tried to run the cranes down the full length of the shop. Last weekend I set it all up higher on the trestles and pulled and pushed it all back into gauge - I also had only put half the bolts in the bases incase I needed to take it all off for painting, but I have decided it can be painted in place and all the missing fixings are now fitted. Finishing the structure will also help keep it rigid. I also still had some issues with the doors which I have now sorted - the fix was to reduce the height of the top guides that run in the track. This weekend I put another set of the wheel shop columns together from the etch below. There are two types - short outer ones with diagonal bracing and the tall ones with channels top and bottom which go unto the main structure columns. The etch is designed with sacrificial elements to enable all the components to be soldered up and maintain position. There are half etch lines at the side of the main parts and the outer section is folded until it comes off - the edges are then filled flush. There are also tabs for positioning the flanges that are also filed off. I have to say these are a bit of a pain t o assemble but there is only four of each in total so half way there. If you want to see the display the next outing is a one day Train event at Leeds Industrial Museum on the 27th May. Details below. Other outing details coming soon.

Stephen Thank you for your comments - I should have put it on the Guild site long before when I did a I am a member of the Guild but thought it not mainstream enough for the Guild FB page. Andy

A few more pictures

Well it all over now, but we had a very good weekend at York. It was good to be back and good to be given the opportunity to show all the progress on the project. With this being such a big long term project it is really good that the show managers allow me to display the layout as a work in progress at several shows round the UK. I am also very pleased with the ongoing progress between shows - there is always some additional feature - the Bo-Bo frame for example did fill a big space in the boiler shop along with the fuel tank. I also 3d printed some wheel sets for the wheel shop. All the positive comments were also very much appreciated and helps motivate me to keep going. The next job is to finish all the structure - I was able to stock up with 2mm angle at the show so I can finish the roof trusses and North light frames. I also need to build the structure for the wheel shop and the section that comes from the boiler shop that would go to the machine shop. It is hoped this is all done so I can get the structure painted during the summer in the warmer weather. There are a few more photos on the next post. Roll on York next year. Swindon and Leeds later this year. Andy

No it’s not the works taken over by Sulzer. The engine Works was further down Jack Lane. Some of the office buildings are still there but most of the works were flattened and rebuilt by Schneider electrical.

I have just finished the fuel tank for the Scunthorpe Bo - Bo. I have to say, some of the design was not as good on this as it was on the frame assembly. Despite having the original drawings I still managed to get the main baffle plate to big. I almost abandoned this but Jill reminded me I was a fitter by trade (a long time ago) so surely I should be able make them fit. So I set too with some files and eventually got it to go together. There were also some slots missing that meant some tabs had to be removed. Regardless of all the problems I think it looks ok . I dropped it onto the frame and it really looks the part. This was the last target I set myself before we go to York Show at the weekend. If you are going to York please come and say hello on stand S48 on the first floor mezzanine. Andy

Today I have finished soldering up and adding some printed parts to the Scunthorpe Bo Bo frame. Every piece of plate that is in the real frame is included. That's the problem when you are modelling locomotive in build, there is very little you can leave out. To get the plate thickness close to reality all the main parts are made up of two layers of 0.4 nickel silver - the buffer beams are made from six layers. The drag box is fully detailed. The bogie centre is 3d printed and glued in place. This will be a good addition to the boiler shop area of the workshop. The next thing to try and get done before setting of for York next Friday is the fuel tank assemble which was on the same etch. Andy

Hi Most of the structure was soldered up with a 80w Antex Iron. I also have a 100w but there were only a few sections that I needed this for. The solder is standard electrical solder that I have had for years. The door panels proved to be a problem but that was due to the expansion in the nickel silver in the different layers, especially on the outer ones which had large areas half etched. I abandoned soldering these and the layers are all held together with double sided adhesive sheets. Hope this helps. Andy

With less than a week to go to York Show I have been back in the garage today to sort the workshop doors. During the the week I had printed new motor brackets as the etched one I had made were slightly out with the vertical position - I had designed some adjustable ones but there was not enough time to get then etched. Original etched bracket. Printed version. After a lot of messing and tweaking I have managed to get them working well enough for next weekends show. I have also got on with the Bo Bo under frame and hopefully this will be finished tomorrow - pics to follow. Andy

Busy day today on the Hunslet project I have been in the garage and I think I have managed to free the second door off now. I have also tried to print some new motor mount but they need tweaking and re printing. Hopefully tomorrow this will sort the doors out The main effort today has been on the Scunthorpe Bo Bo frames. I am really pleased with the etching - I have had to remove a couple of lugs off two of the cross members and a couple of slots around the drag box needed extending but that is all. . What I am really pleased with is that it is all holding itself together. Non of this has been near a soldering iron yet. I have also printed some of the detailed parts such as the bolster centre. Once it is all soldered up I will post some more photos. Andy

Last weekend was Narrow Gauge North and we had a successful exhibition with the latest progress going down well. Jill was painting figures and some 3d printed detail parts. The tricky bit was loading the car, as the street was covered in frozen snow. We like this show as it is the closest show we do being only two miles from home. With it being so much warmer this weekend it was back into the garage to start fitting the doors to the guide bars and lead screws already fitted. It's fair to say I had not made enough allowance to get the doors in when I did the board drawings for Pete so there has been a lot of carving out on the cross members. But they go in now. I also needed to make some packers for the blocks as The baseboard top is thiner than the one on the mock up. I also transferred the motors and brackets and these also need remaking as they are slightly out vertically which is making them noisy. By the end of Sunday all the doors are back on and one end is working fine but the other end is still jamming in a couple of areas - I will sort this next weekend. Please note we will be at York for the Easter show stand S48 on the first floor mezzanine. If you come along please say hello. Andy

Let’s not get too giddy. We don’t know if they will go together yet. Only time will tell

With the erecting of the main building section and taking it out for the first time it is obvious that we need a lot more stuff to fill the space, especially at the boiler shop end. A while back I started drawing the frame for the big Scunthorpe Bo- Bo's. As can bee seen in the photo below this will be a good space filler. Photos copyright Hunslet Engine Company. In time I will make the rotary manipulator that can be seen further down the shop. Since I got back from the Warley open day I have been finishing the drawings and produced the etching layout below to send off to PPD. As well as the frames it will also produce the fuel tanks. it will take two etches to make one frame and one tank. As well as the etching some of the more complex sections will now be 3D printed. It is hoped that I get this back in time so I have this built up before the York Show. In the meantime don't forget that we will be at Narrow Gauge North on the 11th March. Andy

Hi Not so sure - we might of painted it but it is so long ago I can not be sure - If I remember I will dig out the box of trams and have a look. Andy

I also did an article on the Headingley Depot section of the layout in the Railway Modeller - October 2007. Hear a few photos as well. As I have said before we still have most of the trams but there is no current plans to build another layout while I am on with the Hunslet project. But it is good to look back at the pictures. Andy

The first outing for the main structure board was at the Warley Model Railway Club open day last Sunday. This was an excellent day with lots of interest from the club members and visitors. It. was also the first chance I had to test the new fixture for the wheeling operation which I have to say was successful - I think I can make it a little bit better by adding a bit more clearance in a couple of areas. It was a busy day but I did manage to get a short video done just before we started packing up. Sorry about the flickering but I assume this is down to the phone not being happy with the florescent lighting. The phone also moved. I have also included some general photos of how the new display looks. . If you want to see the cranes etc the same display will be at Narrow Gauge North on the 11th March and York over Easter. Andy

True, I was going to list later shows after Easter.

After two goes I managed to print the new fixture. As the drawings above I worked to the wrong rails for the body so it did not fit in the pit. But with a re draw and new print it now works as planned. The four posts go under the axle box and keeps them square. This works better than I expected. The photo below shows how the axles assemblies sit on the fixture. With this dropped into the pit the wheels sit on the rails as well. When painted black and with the layout planned to be quite high, this should not be too visible. I have lowered the loco on by hand and it appears to work fine. The boards will be at the Warley open day on Sunday (19th) and I will try it with the cranes there. I have also done all I can with the building structure before the weekend and the video shows both crane structures running full length. As well as the Warley Club open day, the display with the new board will be at the following events. Narrow Gauge North 11th March - Pudsey Civic Hall, see - narrowgaugenorth.org.uk York Model Railway Show - Easter Sat, Sun, Mon see - yorkshow.org.uk/layouts-2023/ Andy