Burkitt

The resemblance to the Western is no coincidence - apparently the class 59 cab styling followed the Western's at the request of Foster Yeoman, as the hydraulics had previously been used to haul their stone trains.

Or steam with blue and grey coaches in its very last days?

More of a future livery than an alternative one... Image by Paul Burkitt-Gray, based on a photo by Sunil Prasannan, published under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License. One of the new Stadler Variobahn trams ordered for Tramlink, as it might look on the proposed extension to the system. Crystal Palace hill can be seen in the background. Paul

Thermohaline Warts!

I made this O scale model of the Knight Bus for my sister, an ardent Harry Potter fan. It's based on a Corgi Guy Arab Utility, with the middle floor added from plasticard, and the door relocated to more accurately represent the description of the bus in the book. The interior has about twenty beds soldered up from brass rod, and is illuminated with LEDs. Paul

To start this year's results on a high note, my sister just got 3 A*s! Paul

All the tram clips appear to be from "The elephant will never forget", a short film about the end on London's trams which is freely available on the London Transport Museum website http://www.ltmcollection.org/films/film/film.html?IXfilm=FLO.0009&_IXSESSION_=oiElpSGBTwT Paul

Copenhagen Fields by The Model Railway Club features a Leslie Green features a tube station with a Leslie Green red-tiled building at street level and a cutaway platform below, with a Standard stock train shuttling back and forth. Pecorama has a cutaway tube station on one of it's layouts, using EFE stock. The London Transport Museum has a huge collection of models of tube trains, buses, trams, stations etc in a wide variety of scales at Covent Garden and Acton Depot.

Hornsey Broadway by Kier Hardy, currently under construction, will feature a tube station with EFE 1959 stock. There are some photos of the work in progress at http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/model_omwb40.html .

Here's a micro layout which I really like, The Brickworks by Arthur Budd http://arthurbudd.webs.com/thebrickworks.htm . There was a thread about it on the previous version of the forum http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7716 . And my own micro layout under construction, Claverton Engineering http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/3355-claverton-engineering-0-165-micro-layout/page__p__24433__fromsearch__1&do=findComment&comment=24433 . It's now got a website at http://clavertonengineering.wordpress.com/ which is a bot more ordered than the topic. Paul

I remember Avon Junction from East Grinstead, it's a very good model. Here's the video I took of it there, hope you don't mind me adding it to this thread. Paul

Kenton, I've started a topic on my tube train project over in the scratchbuilding area: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37685-n-scale-london-underground-1995-stock/. Paul

Kenton and Neil, many thanks for your help. If a tram can manage six Mk1s I'm hopeful its mechanism will cope with a tube train of the same length. Paul

I've got a Portram I'm hoping to use to power an N gauge tube train I'm building at the moment, and I've got a few of questions about the bogies that hopefully someone can answer for me. Firstly, are the brass tabs which stick out the top of the bogie part of the pickups from the wheels? Would they be a good place to attach wires from extra pickups on the unpowered bogies to feed into the motor? Secondly, can anyone recommend a good way to attach the bogie to the chassis so it rotates freely? Trying to recreate the tab system seems a bit tricky, and anyway it only allows fairly restricted movement, suitable for a short articulated tram but probably not a longer tube car. I'm wondering if maybe gluing a 12BA nut to the top of it, into which I would screw a bolt passing through a hole in the chassis, would work? Finally, just how much weight can a Portram bogie pull along the track? I expect a six car train would be too much for a pair of them but do you think they could manage a four car unit between them? Thanks for your help, Paul

Thanks Poggy1165. Building completely from scratch is pretty slow but it's pretty good fun. I'm finally getting somewhere close to finishing painting the railcar, though there's still quite a bit to do. I initially used colours which looked right in the tin but wrong on the model for both the red and the cream, so they've needed a lot of coats before looking right. They seem to look about right at last though. I'm really hoping that when I remove the masking from the windows it won't damage the paint too much. Paul

Hi Paul To make the louvres I stuck a layer of styrene to the bonnet side piece in the area where the louvres were to be, and drew in their position with a ruler. I then used a small file to remove material at an angle down to the lower layer, producing the louvre shape. Running the file along the top and bottom of the louvres rounded them off on the correct way. This was done before the bonnet side piece was glued to the bonnet itself, to make it easier to work with and reduce the risk of damage to the railcar. Paul

Thanks Keefer. The railcar certainly does have a charm to it, with its vintage looks but having once been the height of progress. Here are the various bits following a few coats of primer. A van has also got it on the spraying session. Paul

The windows and roof hole are now masked off ready for painting. I have used masking fluid rather than tape for the windows as I will be brush painting it and tape tends to get paint leaking under it when I apply it with a brush. The fluid is meant for watercolour so hopefully it won't dissolve or anything with the enamel paint. Paul

Thanks Killybegs, I didn't realise Phoenix did CDR colours so that's very useful to know.

That's an excellent looking model. I'll be very happy if my CDR railcar ends up looking that neat. What shades of paint did you use for the red and cream? Paul

The railcar is now pretty much ready for painting. I've added the panel join seams using microstrip, sanded down to get a less prominent, more realistic profile. Paul

You're right about interior detailing Dave, I love spending ages on really intricate detail sometimes, but you really can see very little of it with the roof on, especially once things start moving. The railcar could be destined for Claverton Engineering, but really it's a bit too large for an industrial micro layout, and the massive overhangs would look a bit ridiculous on the very tight curves which use geometry meant for 14mm gauge. I started building the railcar without really thinking about where to run it, I liked the look of them ever since reading the RM article with the drawings years ago and have wanted to have a go at one for ages. I haven't really got space for a proper long NG railway though, I suppose it will have to wait for a future layout before it can stretch its legs. I'll look forward to giving it a run on Bridport though, I must admit to that and its preprocessor being among my favourite narrow gauge layouts so that would be a real treat. Got to finish it first though. The roof is now mostly done, it's made from several layers of 2mm styrene, covered in Milliput and sanded to the correct shape. I puzzled for a while over how best to secure the roof to the car body. I made a first attempt at the roof which had a lower layer which simply fitted snugly between the car walls to hold it in place, but I could not get it to lie completely flat and there was an unacceptable gap between the parts. Something was needed to hold it down tightly, but screws were ruled out because I didn't want them visible on the roof top. When I first bought a load of Greenwich couplings for Claverton Engineering, I got a packet of small neodymium magnets to fit beneath the track at locations where uncoupling was needed. After some experimentation I decided this was too inflexible and got a massive neodymium magnet which could be hand held beneath any position on the railway and uncouple the trains above. The small magnets have now found a use keeping the roof on in a secure but unobtrusive manner. One is glued inside each of the crosspieces on the body, and a corresponding one in a hole in the underside of the roof. Very thin styrene over the magnets prevents them popping out and makes it a bit easier to get the roof off. Nonetheless it is still held on very firmly. A bit of work is still needed to eliminate all gaps between the roof and body, but it's nearly there now. I have also made a start on adding the horizontal bodyside panel things beneath the windows, they are from microstrip and need a bit of sanding as they protrude a little too much. Paul Paul

Interior details in place. Seen through the windows. They aren't perfect but should look OK with the roof on. Paul

Thanks Dave. I'd love to try the railcar on Bridport town, but unfortunately I think Truro is a bit too far afield for me to visit for a show. Ian, I suspect you are correct about the running of the originals, and I expect the ride would have been pretty rough too. Today I've been making some details representing the driver's controls, as this area will be a little harder to get to once the support for the roof is on. Paul

This spring mechanism now keeps the pony truck centred. With that sorted I have made a first test run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvfAjLzTuGQ I'm relieved that the motor still runs smoothly after cutting a lot of metal off either end of it with a mini-drill slitting disc. Background sounds provided courtesy of BBC Radio 4. Paul