Andy Ross

No Roger was around until Telfos took us over a few years after the first two were built.

Hi Thank you for the comments. The next booked outing at the moment is York at Easter. May have a proper baseboard with most of the structure erected. Andy

Had a little break from Baseboard design. For the MoD loco I use for wheeling I did the etch for the control desk when I did the rest of the design - there is one in the loco but it has non of the controls fitted. As usually the problem of building part built locos means I needed all the valves etc. that go in the desk. As you can see I have been 3D printing engines and other big lumps needed. A few weeks ago my Friend Peter Kirmond asked if I could print some brake blocks for his 1/48 Big Boy locomotives he uses on his Laramie layout. So when I finished drawing these I set about and did the drawings for the valves etc for the desk and had a printing session. Despite it being much cooler than recommended in my garage for printing, everything came out fine. Brake blocks for Peter Kirmond. Laramie will be at our Leeds Exhibition at the Grammar School o the 22nd and 23rd October. Compared to the brake blocks some of the parts for the desk were tiny and subsequently quite fragile but in the main all the bits fitted. In the centre of the desk is the handbrake column, to the left under the nearest cross shaft is the drivers brake valve. In the real world this is operated by the outer levers. the inner levers on this shaft should be on a tube over the shaft and operate the throttle. There is a stop on the desk and there would be a cable to the fuel pump. The other shaft has the forward and reverse shaft. On these locos this is five position with a neutral position and two speeds forward and reverse. If I remember correctly they were Clarke Power-shifts. On the right hand side of the desk you can just see a small right angle drive and an electric selector switch. At the other end of the shaft is a location plate. You can see on this view the lower part of the hand break column with the trunnion that runs up and down on the lead screw. With the desk fitted to the frames two pull rods fit to this and connect to a crank and linkage the pulls on the main brake shaft. There is still a gap in the desk for the Train brake valve but I am struggling to locate enough information to draw this up. If you want to see samples of the printed parts or anymore of the display it will all be there to see at the Leeds Exhibition.

After a successful show in Swindon in two weeks time it is our own club show in Leeds. I will have all the display including the working cranes and doors for the erecting shop. So please come along to the Grammar School on the 22nd and 23rd October and say hello. Since Swindon I have got on with the baseboard design and this is getting very close to cutting wood. As some of you know joinery is not my forte so I am working with Peter Kirmond and we are targeting getting these built for the end of the year. I hope this gives you an idea how things will look.

I think I know we’re it might come in.

Swindon Exhibition at the Steam museum went very well. I had a few issues with dirt on the long travel of the cranes on Saturday but after a bit of persuasion I used a graphite stick on the track and all the issues went away. The wheeling worked well and we went through the sequence several times each day. Unfortunately it is not that easy to photograph at exhibitions but hopefully you can see what is going on. What has dawned on me that we are in the Swindon works and this is the first time that a locomotive has been wheeled on this site with overhead cranes since the works closed. With all the positive comments it has given me the impitence to get on with baseboards. Most of the structure is already made and ready to assemble. it was also good to meet some followers of the blog and have a chat about the project. All in all a good weekend. Andy

For anyone interested in the Hunslet Diesels, I am building a model of them in various stages of build for my Hunslet works project - see link below and a few of photos. If you want to see any of the bits, we will be at the Steam Museum Swindon - Model Railway Festival this weekend 10th & 11 September.

So in the build up to Swindon I wanted to get some benefit from all the effort working out what could and could not be done with the 3d printer. As commented in earlier post I had found some engines to download and one looks like it is a Cummins NT. the problem is that it comes with a truck transmission on the back which is totally different to what is used in locos. However I discovered a tool in Fashion were you can create a plane and use this to cut the downloaded STL image. The other problem I had was getting the rear engine mounts onto the engine in the right place. I had already accepted that I would have to come up the the transmission drawing to I decided to include the bell housing and the engine mounts in the transmission drawing. I then cropped the original transmission of the engine along with the bell housing. The original file with the transmission. Transmission removed along with bell housing. My transmission drawing. With all this done and several attempts at printing the files I now have these fitted to the MOD loco used for the double lift. See original video at the start of the thread. The fan is very delicate and I have lost some on several print attempts. However I have managed to trim this one so if fitted in the radiator cowling. I have also managed to do a drawing of the oil coolers scaled of the outlines on a piping drawing. I am pleased with the outcome but it is still the wrong engine and I am currently searching for a drawing of a Rolls Royce C6 for both this and the Snowdon locos. If anyone has one please let me know. On saying that it looks a lot better for wheeling than it did a few weeks ago. I know I have already said this but if you can, come along to Steam in Swindon at the weekend and say hello. Andy

The preparations for Swindon are nearly there. The most important job was to modify the second crane crab by fitting the pickup skates. this went well and I also managed to do this without having to remove the hoist rope which is always a pain. By manually winding the block right up it wedged itself under the drum and none of the ropes came off any of the pulleys. I also added the weight needed to counteract the force of the skate springs. These are already fitted to the original crab and make the cross travel far more realiable. I also took the opportunity to fit the wooden walkways on the main structure. After all this whilst I was testing the crab cross travel I also managed to drive the block back down and get the complete unit back into is transport frame still without disturbing the ropes. I have also been priming up some more figures, stillages and trestles for my wife to paint and weather while we are there. If anyone is attending Steam in Swindon over the weekend of the 10th and 11th September please come along and have a chat and all being well I will be demonstrating the double lift and wheeling of the MOD loco.

Yes you are right, I am getting to that stage now so I need to get the drawings for the boards finished and to start putting the main structure together. Once we get back from Swindon I will get back on it. (I have some mods to do to one of the cranes between now and Swindon).

So the new 3D printer is still taking over all my time but it is producing items to fill space at the boiler shop end of the layout which will be a big area to fill. Although I have etches for more Snowdon Loco frames I thought I would have a go printing one. It has taken a couple of goes so far and there are some minor issues. Despite this, they have come out well enough to use as a frame being welded in the fabrication (boiler) shop. The same goes for the cab although these have come out far better. I am having one more go for now at both the frame and the cab to try and sort the issues.For thought interested this is what they look like set up for printing and it it is mid way through the print as I type this. Resin Printing is a slow process and this wi take 6 hours to do. I will see if I can print a cab at some point with windows frames and doors fitted etc. I will have to find way to have separate roof though so I can fit the desk, seat and glazing. The other option would be to have an etch cab and just print the roof. All of these are distractions from building the layout and I need to decide which should take priority. Does anyone else have a similar delema? Either way it is all progress. Andy

Following on from the post above. see below one of the axle boxes I have printed. Parts like this will be used to fill areas of the workshop. Although you can see some lines on the print, you can not see these when looked at normally. I have also come across a 3d drawing of the Hunslet Snowdon cab on the server at work. I knew it would not print as it was as the 6mm plate would be like paper when printed. I doubled the thickness of the the plates and thought I would see what happened. It did come out but still far too thin. However it looks better than I expected and I am going to redraw with some stiffness and add the doors to see how it looks. On saying that I dropped it on the etched frame and put the axle units shown in an earlier post and the loco is starting to come together. Next weekend the plan is to paint some of the prints so that will be another learning curve to go through. If anyone is in Swindon over the weekend of the 10th and 11th September please come along to the Festival of Model Railways at the Steam museum and see the progress with the project. Regards Andy

Although I said I should not get to engrossed with the new 3d printer and I should get on with base board design, I failed. With this initial success I continued to do more design work and to see if I could find some suitable 3d down loads of Diesel engines. The design of the RE4 Hunslet Gearbox has advance and I am very pleased with how these have come out. I have found a few engines on several different sites, unfortunately as you would expect most of them are all a bit modern. For two of the locos I have in build for the layout I really need a Rolls Royce C6. But these are very old and there are no 3d models for these. I am trying to track down some drawings to see if I can draw one up myself, but that could be quite a big job. In the meantime I am going to have use what I can find. It is also obvious that these have not been drawn to be reduced to 7mm scale, so they do have some issues when printed. On saying that, parts of them have come out with incredible levels of detail. This is listed as a Cummins engine and I think it is the small 6B engine and is the best one for printing with very few issues. What I cannot get my head round is how it prints such fine detail - note the loop on the top of the dipstick tube. This is one option for the loco builds if I can fudge the size to make it fit. This is also listed as a Cummins and looks like the NT Big Cam engines which is the alternative to the C6 and was fitted to lots of locos over the years. The print is for a larger scale truck Aplication and the transmission on the back will need to come off. As it was meant to be printed at a larger scale it does have areas that fail. It has the fan on but everyone has detached when printed. This is A a Caterpillar 3306 - This is an engine that went into a Hunslet locomotive. The 150hp mines Rack Adhesion locomotives. It will need the Turbo removing and the manifold altering but it is a good stating point. Again I don't think this had been designed for printing as there are very fine details. I have only had the printer for a few weeks and there is still much to learn but I am getting there. I will follow this with some more bits but I have maxed out on the photos for this post. Andy

As suggested above I have got round to prepping and printing some Snowdon Diesel Locomotive parts. I have to say the assembly shown as a 3d drawing the previous page, has come out far better than I expected. These will add to the scene for the assembly of the locomotive I the shop. The loose parts will fill stillages int the shop. I also printed some more parts for the MOD brake gear. I am also learning the best way to set things out on the printer as I am still having the odd distorted parts. Apart from a couple of re- prints I have done all the parts drawn to date so I need to go back on to the 3d Cad as I have a few ideas that I want to try. I must also not forget to get on with the base board drawings. Andy

Continuing on from previous page last post. Good job we never said we would take this to a show since I changed the V70 to an XC60. It did all go in but I had to use the front seat and there would be no room for bags, stock boxes and a spare operator. The new layout is still planned to go into the next new car. But moving this and having three trips to the tip with the car full has crated the space to move forward and set up the 3d printer. I have to say it is very easy to use and so is the software to convert the files ones you have a bit of guidance from a friend. I wanted to start with something simple so after doing the pre program test part I drew up some parts for the brake gear for the MOD loco. Some of the parts above. With my first attempt at printing below. I have learnt a lot from this and some of the parts have come out ok for use so filling stillages with parts for the shop has just got very easy. I am hoping to have another go this weekend with some of the Snowdon parts and some mods to the brake gear parts. So it is a bit haphazard but progress is again being made. Andy

Having got around the 3d cad there have been further developments. I have developed my skill to know include assemblies. This is the axle assembly for the Snowdon Loco. Obviously if I use this it will be at the side of the loco during build. However some of the bits will be printed separately and used around the real axles and etched pinions such as the frame which will have brass bearings fitted. As well as drawing parts I have also started drawing the the baseboards for the layout. The plan is to have these laser cut out once I find a suitable supplier. There are a lot of holes in the base board top which need to be accurate and I also need to make sure and stiffeners etc. do not fowl fasteners or door mechanisms. When this is finished it will have all the facias and lighting beams drawn on before we start. It will also produce a finished board drawing all ready to go. There is still a long way to go but we are getting there but there has been a further distraction. I have very recently purchased a Resin 3d printer. This prompted another step towards getting on with the layout. For months have been putting of sorting the garage which would mean letting the last bit of the tram layout go. Fortunately the last section, Headingley Depot has got a new home with a member of the Leeds Historical transport Society and it is hoped it will re appear at some point at exhibitions. So two weekends ago It went into the back of the car and taken across Leeds. More to follow.

That is looking really good and you cannot tell which beams I put together. Andy

This is all true. But the good news is a lot of people did know it was Liverpool. It is still surprising the number of people who can still remember riding the overhead railway. Andy

So its bee a while since I posted anything and the loss off all the photos is very disappointing. I tried to up load a few, but it will take for ever so that is not going to happen. Let's hope they manage to restore them all. One of the the reasons there has been little physical advancement in the layout is that I have been learning how to use 3D Cad. I have tried in the past and not managed to get my head around it. I have this time got a lot further as you can see from the short video below. This is a D & M Brake Cylinder for the Snowdon locos. There is a photo below of the real thing on the loco, just below the cab. I am going to continue with a few more items for this loco and arrange for a fellow club member to do some prints and see how they come out. Andy

Just a reminder - If you want to see the cranes etc, I will be at Narrow Gauge North Next weekend. See poster below - if you do follow me on here please say hello, I would like to put faces to the names.

I have now got enough controllers for all the crane functions. Using a two modified Really Useful Boxes I now have a control box for each crane. I know this looks expensive, but all but one of the these have come of eBay. The idea of the box is to get rid of all the lose cables that comes with the controllers. The photo below shows this and you will see there is a Digital board that three controllers are plugged into and this leaves just one cable per crane going back to the main unit. The white board is a bit of foam board stuck on the the top of the Digitrack board to protect the components on the printed circuit board. This makes driving the cranes much easier as you are not continuingly changing channels. The controllers are held on with Velcro so when they are not in use or when going to shows the controllers come off and then go in the box for transportation. Again I have to say this was Jills idea - I was trying to find a way to fix the controllers onto a false top recessed into the box and not use the lids at all. As I was trying to work out how to do this she came up with just putting them on the lids. As the box is plastic, the cables do not appear to be getting trapped too tightly. I think I was trying to be too clever. I have also modified the track that holds the wheels in location for the wheeling. As you can just see in the picture below there are now some small pegs in the rail - these line up with holes drilled in the wheels and keep them more ridged and less likely to move while wheeling. I have tried it today and it is far better than just r elying on the original locators next to the rails. This still needs a bit more development but it is getting better. Andy

So as planned I have, with a bit of help from my better half manged to rope up the drum and block. This is getting easier each time I do it. On saying that I still think i need to build the spare crab in case we are caught with an issues in the middle of a show. To test it all properly I need to get some weight on the hook. So tomorrow I will get the test structure out and give it a proper test. Andy

So the weights Pete sorted for me turned up today. See video below of it now working. Only job left to do now is to rope it up which will be done at the weekend. Its not 100% reliable but it is very close and a lot better than it was before. I will update when the ropes are on. Andy

So good progress today on rebuilding the crab - the new drum is fitted. I thought I was missing a replacement sprocket for the one I had cut out stripping it down. I even ordered some replacements. But an hour later I found a bag buried on my bench. this then prompted a tidy up of the bench. I also put the new block together. The machined centre was turned up and milled for me by Pete Kirmond. To get as much weight on to the rope as we can these are made from Copper Tungsten. Pete uses this for his 2mm fine scale loco chassis. The hook is laminated from etches and filed to shape. All that is left to do is to add some weight as mentioned in the previous posts. the drawing below shows were it is going to go and again Pete is going to sort me out with some copper tungsten. This should be more than enough. then there is just the roping up to do which is a lot easier now the drum is split. All being well I will get it all finished next weekend.

So after weeks of inactivity on the layout I have finally made a start with sorting the crab out from the original crane. The first thing to do was to remove the original drum. This had been pinned to the shaft and when i started pulling on the pin the end broke off so that was the end of that. The pin through the gear had similar issues so I had to resort to getting the piercing saw out . I had to cut the shaft to release the drum and then through the dummy gearbox to get the sprocket out. You can see all the bits below. As I had said in the last post the pick up on the wheel on the crab is problematic. This is due to the crab twisting due to all the loads that act on it when lifting. Due to it being open framed I can not stop this from happening. I am now experimenting with Marklin skates as these should stay in contact with the rail no matter what happens. These have been fitted and can be seen below. Eclectically these do work but at the moment I have to put some weight on to make it move. The skate spring does not lift the wheels off the track but they might be unloading them a little bit. I am going to put the new drum in next as this will help and then try and work out how much more weight I need to add. I need to get this sorted as I want two working cranes for Narrow Gauge North in a few weeks time. Andy