Andy Ross

So I have slowly but surely been drawing parts for the Snowdon Diesel Loco. Frames are already made and can be seen in the photos above. Cab, radiator casing, fuel tank, cranks and coupling rods all drawn full size to be reduced down to 7mm scale and modified into etches. The single axle bogies are already done along with the bogie brake gear and these are on the the wheel shop structure waiting to go for etching. The gear box still needs starting along with some of the engine casing and the exhaust cover. This is from a 2005 visit the year before they started rebuilding the Summit building. No 9 was the first diesel - there are four in total. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a distraction today I have had a look at the original crane crab which as stated before needs modifying. This started to fail at our exhibition back in October with one of the issues being the pick ups starting to short - it was also noted that the crab structure starts to twist slightly with all the loads from the lifting which also impacts on the pickup on the wheels. Pete Kirmond suggested that it might be better to use a skate for the pickup and that he had some Marklin ones he would send to try. The first one he found was too long but he found a shorter version which looks like it might work. So the plan is to remove the phosphor bronze wire pick ups and to glue this to the copper clad already fitted. As you can see I have removed the rope ready for all the other modifications as listed below with the relevant parts. The original drum was made in one piece, this proved to be an issue as there are two ropes and for the block (hook) to sit level you had to get both ropes exactly the same length. The new ones are in two halves with grub screws to each side can be adjusted. The drums were turned by Pete Kirmond and although he thought he set the pitch for the new drums the same as the original it turned out a lot finer pitch which turned out to be one of those lucky accidents as this worked out to be so much better for the longer rope that also needs fitting. The etched drum end plates stop the ropes running off. The one with the hole in provides a proper anchor point for the rope. Also shown is the parts for the modified block now made from Tungsten to get as much weight into it as possible. Pete had come across this when making chassis for his 2mm fine scale locos. These etches are for mounting the motors in the main crane structure for the long travel. The original crane had the motors soldered onto some angles across the brass gearboxes. These were used on the second crane and worked well so while the crab is being sorted these will also be fitted. As and when I start he mods I will update with photos etc. All please have a good New Year and I hope to see you at exhibitions through the year. The first being Narrow Gauge North in March, followed by York at Easter.

He needs to build a couple of coaches first.

So Its taken a while but the next etch is ready to go to PPD. This will do one span of the lean too. It also has some detail bits on for the Snowden Diesel locomotive. I have also done most of the structure drawings for the Snowdon loco a while back so I might get these finished and laid out so I can send them both off together. When I get the Snowdon parts I might start a new thread for the loco as I am, as with the others, building it like the real thing with all the drive as the prototype with the only drive via the pinions with the wheels free rotating on the axles. the frame and pinions are shown below. The hub that goes on the axle is called a Pallet and when the pinion go on the keys it off sets the teeth so one is always engaged in the rack.

I am planning on making the crane the question will be is wether it will be a working one.. everything is so much smaller on this one so driving it could be an issue. On saying that the design of the crane running beam has allowed for insulating the rail if I need to so we will have to wait and see.

Its been quite a while since my last post and I have to be honest since our exhibition a few weeks ago I just stopped working on the layout for a while. I needed to stand back from it for a while, I even considered building something totally unrelated. But after a while I began to consider what the next target needed to be. What I did realised is that I needed to get into a position were I can design the baseboards so I can get these built and start getting the main structure assembled. Most of the steel work is made and ready to go. There is just one more lattice cross beam to solder up and I think two lengths of crane track beams to do as well. But before we sort the base board top which I intend to get laser cut I need to know were all the location are required for the wheel shop. I also need to finalise the design of the pit in the main workshop. On the original mock up the wheel shop was drawn and made as the original pitched roof structure which was made out of timbers but when you look at the photos from the late sixties onwards most of this was removed and replaced with a steel lean too type structure. Only one bay of the wooded structure remained. Although I have always said the time period will be woolly I have come to the conclusion that the lean too structure would be better for the model. This means yet more drawing to design the structure which is what I have be doing for the last week. Unlike the main structure I have no access to any original drawings and I have had to work of the photo below plus zooming in on other photos looking through from the erecting shop. See extract from the drawing below - I need to convert all the bit to etches. Once the etches are drawn I will update. Andy

Pete That has come together really well. I think it has totally worked. Andy

Since the show other than a bit of drawing I have to admit to not much in the way of progress. During the exhibition a fellow member was filming while we were attempting to wheel the MOD loco and to be fair he caught one of the more successful attempts. So I thought I would put it on here. As I said in the previous post there are a couple of ideas to improve this and all being well we have one of these proven and mocked up at the next exhibition. Andy

I was very sad to here that Mal had passed away, I was only talking to Paul Windle at the weekend at the Leeds exhibition on how Mal was getting on. I have known Mall for at least 35 years and our paths crossed several times a year during normal times at various shows. Many evenings spent in hotel bars will be among the fond memories I will share spent at shows all over the country but mainly the hotels at York each Easter. As with so many we have lost recently Mall will leave a big hole to fill in the Model Railway world and he will be greatly missed. On behalf of myself and the members of the Leeds Model Railway Society (CIO) I send my condolences to his family and friends. RIP Mal. Andy Ross Chairman Leeds MRS

It was good to get the display out to an exhibition and the positive feed back was very welcome. The new side door display worked perfectly all weekend and the cranes performed most of the time. The Crab on the original crane did start acting up with a strange short that kept appearing. There were several improvements made when I built the second one and I have been delaying stripping the original to include these but the time has come to get on with it. We did manage to wheel the MOD loco a few times over the weekend and by having some friends there watching how it is done we have come up with a few ideas that could make this more reliable. Once I have these drawn up I will put on here for comment. Thanks to everyone who stopped to chat. Andy

All set up for the Leeds Model Railways Society Exhibition this weekend at the Grammar School. The door display works and after a couple of hick ups the cranes are both working. (I forgot how to work some of the DCC). Lots of other things to see at the show - got to this page for more details https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/101-area-groups-clubs-societies-exhibitions-social/ If you have been following please say hello. Andy Ross

Thank you for the comments. Don is the president of our society and I can confirm that he is still on with his next book on Hunslet Diesels. We have not seen him for a while but we are hoping he will attend our exhibition the weekend after next. If he does I will ask for an update. Andy

Based on the comment above see below a closer photo of the louvers. As I said above the doors were drawn full size including the lovers as drawn. You will see from the drawing below they are punched out by a special tool in the sheet metal shop and are drawn with the bottom line only. When I scale these down I added a top line and and put a small gap between each louver. The whole door is then set up to be half etched except the louvers and the boss for the door handles - handles to be fitted after painting.

The weekend has been spent on the working version of the MOD loco. As I have still to get over not having engines and compressors etc to fit I thought I would fit all the casing doors. This proved to be painful as it is all well and good making all these separately to go on pallets etc around a loco in build, putting them all together was very fiddly. In addition as I have drawn everything full size from the original drawings and then scaled them down some of the overlaps were so small they did not work. In future I will draw two versions of the doors, separate and all closed. On saying all that it does not look too bad as seen below. I am really please with the exhaust cowling. There is still plenty to do but it will be ok like this for our exhibition. The next job is to sort out the door display. I collected the temp board on Friday and will start transferring the mechanism parts tomorrow. But I am still waiting for new etches so it may be a bit touch and go. Andy

So a little bit of progress on the second MOD loco that will be the working one. I have removed the wheel sets so I can solder more parts on. The side valances are now fitted and I haves soldered on the checker plate panels. I am really please with how these have come out. The engine casing is next. On another note my friend Ken has built the new temp baseboard for the doors which I am collecting tomorrow, So I will transfer the structure and get as far as I can without the new etched parts that I hope will turn up next week. This should give me enough time to assemble the new door mechanism before our exhibition on the 23rd and 24th of October. More updates to follow. Andy

They could be. I did several different types. I remember doing a lot ok Peak frames for certain.

Lofty it’s making me feel old too. When I was still at school I used to go round to Mikes and did moulding for him for his kits. I only did the bogie parts. Whilst waiting for the resin to go off I used to run trains around the Garden. That must of been about 44 years ago.

Just a reminder of what it needs to look like when it is finished. © Hunslet Engine Company Does anyone know were I can get 7mm scale German buffers from. Thanks Andy

More progress over the weekend with the structure for the working MOD loco. The roof is rolled to shape first and then I form the corners around some 3mm rod held in small vice. The joins with the cab sides are in the same place as the real Hunslet cab. The roof is held in place and I tacked with the Iron at the corners then soldered up. Once it is all soldered up the positioning tabs are filed off and it is all cleaned up. Also put the rear casing, radiator casing and the fuel tank together. I have not fitted the bottom plate on the fuel tank for this one as the motor will fit up into this. And finally I have made the gearbox torque arm bracket and torque arm from it own little etch that will fit on the frames. More updates to follow.

So while I am waiting for parts for the modified doors I have got on with some other bits. Built up three of my stillage kits and a set of lifting brackets for the second MOD loco (the one that is going to work - there is some video of the underframe above). this is the cab for the same loco coming together - it all slots together to solder and then you file off the excess that formed the slots - soldered form the outside so it leaves a very fine bead of solder on the inside joints and it easy then to remove the excess on the out side - the corners will have the small radius filled on. Don't forget if you want to see the display including the working cranes, loco projects, Hunslet photo display etc., please come along to the Leeds Model Railway Society CIO exhibition at Leeds Grammar School 23rd and 24th October. Andy

Just a quick update. Just placed order for new etches. This includes the re designed inner two doors and all the mechanism brackets to accommodate the additional guide bar and bearing blocks. With a bit of luck I should have all the parts to rebuild the complete door assembly in time for our show (Leeds grammar school 23rd, 24th October) along with the rest of the display. Andy

It is more than a few days since the last update due to nothing more than frustration. In a nutshell with the current drive arrangement as it is, it will not work. As sold the kit includes two guide rods with one guide bearing block per rod. As I needed bearing guides for two frames I thought I could get away with using just one guide bar and it would help with the overall weight of the layout. This was fine with the plastic trial doors but the weight of the etched doors just tip it over the edge from being smooth. The second problem is the free door that is pushed and pulled by the driven door sags on the bearing clearance and this leads to it crabbing and sticking. When I bought these I could not find the rod guide blocks separately on eBay but I have now, so I have more than enough on order so I can re do the mock up with more support. Yes I will need another temp base board to prove this but I need to be sure I get this working before we move on. I am also going to pull it all closer together. this will reduce the size of all the brackets and could help with rigidity. You can see how the free door sags in the pic below. On the positive side the have come out better than I thought when put in position so once they are sorted drive wise I will be very please. If you look at some of the photos of the real door earlier in the thread I they look like the real ones. Same goes for the inside shots, see below. One thing that has come out ok is the motor mounting bracket assembly - see below. The next task now is to draw the new set up under the baseboard and ask a friend to make a new board and at the same time redraw the brackets and all being well by the time our exhibition come around in October it will be all back together again this time working. You might wonder why I would show the problems on here and not just wait until it is all resolved before posting. The thing is that this is such a big project and we are doing things with this that I don't believe have been done before and I think it is important to show all the learning processes we are going through which could help others with unusual projects. Andy R

The next job on the doors was to assemble the upper track guide. In real life this appears to be bracketed off a beam across the door that you can see in the photo below with the pipe running across it. Below the beam is some sort of weather cover which I still need to make for both inside and out - I have the triangular brackets some ware in a box to fit. So on the outside I thought as I was drawing it that rather than use some beam section it would be better to combine it all together and that way the top of the beam could be extended to include the top of the two tracks. See the photos below. In the end this has all come out ok but it was a bit of pain as it it the longest single etched assembly I have put together. It is not that easy to photo put you can just see the tracks and the brackets from the track to the bottom of the beam in the shots below. Before I put any of the stiffeners on I am going to build up the mechanism brackets that connect to the lead screws to the doors. these support the bottom of the doors and if it all works out right the top of the doors should go into the track and everything will be in line. I have discovered another issue with the doors which means the inner two doors need the top bracket moving over one etched sheet thickness as they will clash at them moment as I did not allow for the rivet head that I punched through and I am not filing them off as it will spoil how they look. More to follow in a few days.

Thank you for this. But the one I need to get apart is the soldered one and the heat this will take will just distort the half etched strips even more and make them even more unusable. Based on the success of the taped ones I think I have no option other than starting from scratch.

The week has been a bit hectic including trips to Sites in Scotland and Somerset and one night away. But I did get chance during the week to get the 100w Iron out and have a go putting the 5 layers that make up each door together. I have to say the first door was nothing more than a disaster as can be seen below - the big Iron is all well and good for getting the solder to flow when there are so many layers and mass of material but that amount of heat is also going to start distorting everything especially thin half etched strips and once they have gone they will never go back. What is annoying is I should of know better from the 10 Years I spent in a fabrication company working with stainless which also does not like lots of heat when welded and if not restrained in jigs and fixtures would set off in all directions. The other issue is also soldering it all together as the layers are added there are too many strips of material to solder down. A resistance Iron might work but I don't have one and it is still going to generate too much heat to do so many layers. So were to go from here. As I was ranting at my frustration of how to do this my better half pointed out that sometimes you just cannot solder everything together - why don't I use super glue. This set me thinking - that might work but how do I make sure i get it under all the areas especially on the vertical thin strips. the next thought was double sided Sellotape but would it be strong and permanent enough. I cut a couple of scrap of Nickle Silver and stuck them together with some tape. It appears to work. This was all well and good but I did not want to mess about with stripes of tape so I obtained some A5 double sided sheets from Hobbycraft and using these I stuck all the layers together. Only using this on the door areas as I will still need to solder the very bottom of the bottom section onto the lead screw cross beam brackets. As you can see it has worked. The other two doors will be put together in the same way. I can not see a way to recover the first one so will have to have another set of parts etched next time I have some parts to go to PPD. I will use it as it is to do the set up and prove the doors work with the new upper track, yet to be put together and fitted to the structure. Andy

Sorry for not posting any updates for a while. I have been busy soldering up roof beams for Peter Kirmond's York station project. So today i have started on the parts for the erecting shop side sliding door assemblies. The etches arrived several weeks ago but they had to be put to one side. I have spent today cutting all the parts out, cleaning of tabs and riviting. There are five layers in each door panel. All being well if I get back from Grangemouth refinery early enough tomorrow I will be getting my 100w Iron out to make a start. With pictures to follow. Andy