SteveBedding

Glad to see Frankland is back Looks like you've been very busy in the interval and the wait for an update has been well worthwhile... ... though I do think the competitiveness in suburbia is going to come to blows if all the neighbours want the SS Jag (I'd have one in a heartbeat if I could, well maybe an XK120..... ) Please don't make us wait so long next time....

Most impressive - both in terms of execution an choice of subject. I've only seen a couple of similarly themed layouts (both 4mm) before, but this already appears to be setting a new standard. I'll watch this develop with great interest - crack on chaps! (PS - If 'Rupert' and 'Rodney' were 2 of the 3 original Officers of the 17th LROD, who was the third? )

I'm flabbergasted! Your attention to detail is absolutely amazing and your producing a beautiful masterpiece I watch your progress with undisguised admiration and envy!

Richard Many thanks for this - how the hell did you see that as a Wm Evans (Old Mills Colliery) wagon ?

"Smug mode (re-)engaged" After a slight detour / side-track / procrastination / anything to avoid thinking about the tie-bars, I thought I'd quickly (?) put down the simple pieces of track to the end of the board and sort out the joints using the previously made milled sleeper strip. All fairly simple until I actually got to the 'joint' whereby it became a major SNAFU! Plan 1 - Make joint crossing section by soldering chairs to sleeper strip, then solder rail to chairs, attach Easitrac section, cut main rail to length, and stick down - sounds simple doesn't it? Oh no! Snags encountered a) almost impossible to 'synchronise' timings of PVA on Easitrac sleepers with epoxy for milled strip, matching rail length from foot of point to 'pre-fabricated' joint crossing without excessive (leap of faith ) gaps..., and c) bl^&*y epoxy failed to fully cure properly!!! Plan 2 - Unsolder rails from joint crossing, slide everything up to close gaps (0.010") between rail ends, and resolder crossing rails. Looking good but see c) above!!! Plan 3 - 01:30, go to bed and try again in the morning Plan 4 - Plan 3 paid off! Plan 2 effectively worked. Now cut through rails and milled strip across joint (first having remembered to put 0.020" spacers along the joint - check). This is where the SNAFU gets worse! Made the cut beautifully... ...then realised that the 'magnifying headset' I'd been wearing caused a parallax error of about 2mm so the cut on the joint - wasn't!! Plan 5 - Unsolder everything, file/sand down one board, and pack the cut (oops) in the other, and build each side of the joint individually.... Et voila........ (looks OK from here... ...but ouch - my soldering does not stand up to too close scrutiny - fortunately a little bit of fettling will clean this up and when ballasted an painted it will may start to look a lot better ? (The apparent step-up from the plastic sleepers to the milled strip is an illusion caused by a slight misalignment in the sleeper edges at the transition ) Anyway, having delayed long enough, I decided to crack on with the tie-bars. I had decided that for simplicity, I was going to use a copper-clad/PCB sleeper - a technique I've seen used elsewhere and looked to be within my beginners skills. However, since by using the Easitrac system, the rail sits higher than simply soldered to the sleeper, I'd have to compensate for this. Very simply the tie bars were made from ordinary PCB sleepers (left), copper filed off (insulation) and pre-drilled to 0.55mm for Tortoise throw bar (centre), and finally 0.010" brass strip (0.060" wide) soldered over the remaining copper part of the sleeper (right). Once complete, the tips of the blades were soldered to the tie bar (more dodgy soldering... ...this close-up photography really does show the warts 'n all that the eye would not normally see ) Despite the minor snags that occurred, the trusty test wagon sailed through the points OK and so at the end I can smugly call this a success

Don & Ian, Thanks for the detailed information on GW points - joggles and blades - you learn something new every day I'll not retrofit the two points made so far (unless they go horribly wrong!) but I've another 12 to go and will ensure that these are more 'correct'.... (there is a potential 'cunning plan' to remake the current board at a later date for an 'extended' layout option and this will reflect the changes at that time). Richard, I have both the books titled The Calne Branch (Maggs & Tanner) and these include what appears to be a postcard image of around 1905 shot across the goods yard as you describe. However, they are quite grainy and I can't see the details of the wagons in them (assuming that this is the correct image ). Hopefully you'll be able to update this... Cheers Steve

Richard Which photo would that be? Could you post a copy (if permitted) or point me towards the source please? Cheers Steve

Don I have to put my hands up here and acknowledge my ignorance - I never realised that there was a difference in the way you would prepare a curved switch rail I have followed the practice you described (probably accidentally...) and although the 2mm reference suggests a taper of about 1:10, I thought this was a bit steep and have gone for about 1:20. As to the brass tags, these will secure the rails (prevent slippage in the chairs) and provide power connectivity, and I have got some Versaline cosmetic chairs to apply if possible. Happy New Year

Outstanding - I'm on a roll !!!! Having got the crossing assemblies and the main parts of the points successfully completed, I felt brave enough to try the blades! After much unsuccessful 'Googling' to look for guidance I finally found a useful chapter in 'The Beginner's Guide to 2mm Finescale Modelling' - why I didn't think to look there first is beyond me - I suppose it's like reading the instructions with any new toy / device / tool / kite etc So, after finding a piece of aluminium angle section (convenient off-cut from cassettes) and some double-sided sticky tape (here I express my gratitude to the office stationary cupboard for the useful items it stocks - at my request... ) the careful use of assorted files and fine wet & dry produced four very acceptable blades in quite a short time. This was another task I was not looking forward to and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how easy it really was! Thanks to Kris' timely and pertinent advice I managed this with only drawing blood once... The 2 blades (switch rails) fitted very comfortably and produced a nice flowing curve... Having found the necessary reference work, it appeared that 'perceived wisdom' indicated that joggles were not necessary - if the blades were suitably filed to a 'wafer' thin end. Firstly apologies for the photo! This close up it really does show all the warts; thankfully (hopefully?) painting and ballasting will cover this... Bearing in mind that the rail is approximately 0.5mm wide, the tip of the blade tapers to a thickness of less than 0.1mm! I have one elongated chair plate to replace and still got to come up with the details of how the stretcher / tie-bar is going to be done. but I have remembered to drill through the baseboard for the throwing mechanism from the tortoise motor. I know this sound obvious but........ Lastly, the trusty test wagon came out to play, and now can freely roll a grand distance of 35cm !!! Now that's done, I can sit back and enjoy a well earned drink and see in the New Year with the feeling that progress is being made :D

Chris Found the reference. Look at the top of Page 30 of 'The Beginner's Guide to 2mm Finescale Modelling' (I'm guessing you have this ?) ; this covers the alignment / staggering of the point rail (I got that right) and the splice rail (OK not the spur rail...) Hope this helps, Happy New Year

Thanks for the vote of confidence - I'm still sticking to the 2020 target, though I'm gradually beginning to believe that 2011 may be possible for the track-work... ...but don't let SWMBO know of the revised time-scales

Hi Chris Although I can't find the reference at the moment, the 'overlapping' of the rails is correct. The 'point rail' (excuse the terminology errors) of the main direction leads spur rail (divergent track); I had a long chat with some people on the P4 stand at Warley (it was easier to see this in the larger scale ) and even their demonstration display had half of the points incorrectly made (but they did acknowledge the fact). One thing I did find with using the filing jig for soldering the 'Nose' was that great care had to be taken in ensuring that the rails were sitting true in the grooves; because of the offset clamping effect, it was usual for one or other of the rails to naturally sit at a slight tilt and if not spotted would completely bu$%^& up the assembly Thanks for the concern Trevor I confess to not being brave enough to risk the wrath of SWMBO in using her iron; I did considerately purchase my own (for purely modelling purposes) from that big green butt-slapping supermarket for the princely sum of £3.84 (less the 10% staff discount of course) and even she cant accuse me of being extravagant at that price Kris I found it wasn't necessary to adjust the sleepers in any way. The chairs lift the rail slightly more than 0.010" above the sleeper and by using 10 thou brass strip I found that it sat nicely on the sleepers. I did remember to fill down any excess solder on the underside of the strip before fitting the assemblies. Thanks for the tip on filing the blades - I'll make sure the First Aid kit is on hand before I start!

Ahhh - that's probably why I couldn't find it on the map - best I read the layout descriptions more carefully in future... ...and yes please to the Highbury transfers; I'll be at the Calne show with Mark (and maybe SWMBO) in the Saturday and will no doubt see you there. Thanks for the top-tip Kris - I get in the doo-doo often enough already without adding any more causes Anyway, back to the layout. Several weeks ago, I started to try and make the crossing assemblies for the points using the 2mm Association Easitrac filing and soldering jigs, and have found that this process, whilst theoretically simple, became quite a challenge. After a lot of practising, I have finally achieved what I consider to be an acceptable standard and feel I can move forward again . As I suspected, the difficulties were all due to the operator (ie Me), rather than the equipment and the concept! The obvious approach (well I thought it was ) to soldering the metal strips across the rails in the soldering jig was to use my trusty resin-cored solder and normal iron, and hey-presto, everything would work out just fine! WRONG! Subsequent experimentation with differing solder types, putting the aluminium jig on the iron to minimise the heat-sink effect, and even using a blow torch all proved to be interesting but ultimately it came down to using 145 solder, with the rails and brass strip pre-tinned, and (surprisingly) only a minimum amount of flux! ...I've had the old 100W solder 'gun' since the early '80s for fixing the electrics on an '69 Austin 1100 MkII and wouldn't normally consider using it for modelling purposes . (A side benefit of this experimentation is that we now have a 'spare' iron, and I've suggested that SWMBO may like the the larger blow-lamp to make crème brulée). Previously (after building the first assembly) I had considered that the suggested positions for the cross bracing of the crossing was not going to provide the most robust solution, and following further discussion had considered an alternative... ...in practice, when the cross braces were properly soldered, I found that the 4 positions could 'closed-up' with no loss of rigidity - this had the benefit of allowing additional chairs to be used thus better structurally and cosmetically. Coincidently, the easiest 'scrap' etch/brass strip to hand was 0.010" x 0.060" which could be 'lost' if aligned with the sleepers. The most significant change was to put one of the cross-braces directly under the 'knuckle' of the wing-rails; this prevented compression and distortion when the crossing assembly was fixed down... ...depending on how this works out, I may consider putting in a 5th brace (under the nose) on later iterations. The picture below shows the completed crossing, and how the cross braces are 'lost' over the sleepers. Using the usual range of gauges, the main elements of the two points have been completed... ...other than the threading of the various chairs (Top-Tip: It really is essential to put the effort in to properly dressing the ends of the rails; any sharp edges will break the chairs!) the actual construction of the point at this stage is very straight-forward, and after the frustrations of soldering the crossings, and real feeling of progress and achievement. :dance_mini: And lastly, just prove that it all worked (to this stage at least), the first 'train' ran on the railway! Well OK, an old test chassis rolled all of 145mm when the board was on a slope but the thought was there... Now, I need to learn how to file the blades and make the stretcher/tie-bar, but, since SWMBO has poured me a G&T that would stop a charging rhino at 50 paces, I think my concentration could get impaired

Hmmmm - this looks to perfect to be true! Seriously, that is some exceptional soldering there - or have you just sprayed the finished body with brass paint? With results like this, it looks like an RSU could find its way onto my wish list (typical that it is 2 days AFTER Christmas!) - I wonder if SWMBO would like one as a birthday or anniversary present . Do you have any contact details for the Swanage Model Company (I cant find them through Google) ?

Jerry I can't for definite say that some of Highbury's coal made it to Calne - but conversely, I can't say that it didn't! On that basis I would expect to see a Highbury coal wagon mysteriously appearing on Smokey Bacon eventually If subsequently proven to be not 100% prototypical, we can just put it down to advertising and a PR stunt for your layout

Merry Xmas MIB I think Robbie will do 00 transfers if you ask him (see Jerry's post above) - its certainly worth asking the question. Otherwise, Powsides do the transfers for Neates in 4mm for £3.80 (but they don't do the Pinniger scheme) . The also do 4mm kits for that real feel of achievement / challenge / frustration...

Merry Christmas Don, I wholly agree with you in liking the wagons and my observation was a reflection on the differences between N and 2mm scales (not a criticism at all ). I think the Neate (and Pinniger) PO Wagon transfers could be from Robbies Rolling Stock and are aimed at the RTR Peco/Farish 5-plank wagons; for 2mm ones (especially the 1887 RCH 5 plank open wagon) it may be more appropriate to print your own (as Mitziblue has done on Witney Euston) to get the correct overall size and proportions. Other representations I have seen for the Pinniger and Neate wagons are... ...these are the ones from Robbies, and below is one from Powsides... ...all this leads to another 'project' that I'll get round to eventually

Sadly not yet This is on two counts 1) It looks too good to eat, and 2) still too stuffed replete after the large intake of croissants/pastries, turkey etc, nibbles, more turkey (cold cuts this time), cheese platter, with all those pesky little gaps filled with copious quantities of sherry (?!) , G&T, vino, and vintage port... . The body finally decided that the cake may be the Xmas equivalent of Mr Creosotes 'wafer thin mint' and at last the brain over-ruled the eyes and said ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Why can't Santa bring Gaviscon / Alka-Seltzer instead of socks and Old Spice )

Best wishes of the season Mikkel Looking forward to seeing the further developments in 2011 Steve

"If success can be measured by the size of the smiles then it's been a triumph" - the look on your daughter's face says it all - it looks to have been an outstanding success Although my main interests are in 2mm, I also have a 'collection' of LGB in the loft (acquired for SWMBO pending the day we stop moving around the country and settle down ) and can fully agree that a lot of fun can be had when 'playing trains' with this scale. Having looked at your track plans (especially the fallen over P), I can see some plagiarism coming on . Merry Christmas

... and in keeping with the festive season, the ultimate cake from that large green butt-slapping supermarket... Many thanks and all the best to everyone.

It must be a 2mm thing to have stuffed animals on the layout . Merry Christmas (sounds like it is already... ) and best wishes for 2011

Hi MIB & Merry Christmas to you . Thanks for the interesting pointer, I've found the 'Harris Vans' you refer to and they do look rather interesting... However, I've no records of Harris' ever having their own 4-wheel box vans - all my information points towards leased GW Siphons (4 wheeled Siphon D Siphon C and 40' bogie Siphon F) and even these were not specifically marked as 'Harris' until the 1930's. I'd be very interested to learn where B&D MRC got their 'inspiration' for the prototype? The Pinniger coal wagon further down the page is a valid representation of a PO wagon - another PO wagon of interest is the W E Neate on the left... Though this model does show how 'N' transfers are too big for 2FS bodies... EDIT - 23 February 11: Corrected 'typo'; Siphon D should have read Siphon C - oops.

Merry Xmas Mickey, My vote would to be to focus on the 2FS, but then I'm biased . I'd love to have the capacity for such a diverse range of projects and we'll wait with eager anticipation to see their progress.