wiggoforgold

For me, this is the modelling close season - the time when other activities take over for the summer months. The fact that summer is currently a bit of a hit and miss affair doesn't necessarily mean more time for modelling; rather it makes me even more desperate to get out when I can.

Anyway, there have been some modelling activities going on, so I've taken a few photographs this morning. I hope they are a bit better than recent effort of mine, I've paid a bit more attention to camera settings.

First up is a picture of a class 24. It was the first diesel on Diddington, and the first I had owned for a number of years, so I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of this model. The body isn't quite right I know, and I've looked with interest at the cut and shut ones done by grafting Hornby ends on to the Bachman body shell, but I haven't plucked up the courage to have a go myself yet.

Second are a couple of pics of the class 105 DMU, class 31 and 08 in Diddington Station. Mine is a 1960's green one, so I think that makes it a Sulzer type 2, rather than a class 24. Second are a couple of pics of the class 105 DMU, class 31 and 08 in Diddington Station. The DMU and 08 are Bachmann, the class 31 is an Airfix body on a Hornby chassis. The weathering on the class 31 isn't OTT, it's done from a photograph, albeit probably of the experimental livery in a state of final deterioration, before March cracked and repainted it Green. The water crane by the loco release is to set the period of the layout. It's set in the mid 1960s. The line has been dieselised, but a lot of the infrastructure of the steam railway has remained, and will do so until the line is closed in the early 1970's. The water crane is a Mikes Models cast one. I know it's a Midland version, but I can't get a GE one, and I had the Midland one to hand.

Finally, a picture of the excursion train departing from Diddington, and meeting an EE type 3 arriving with a parcels train. The construction of both the class 31 and the class 37 are described in more detail in my blog. The class 37 needs the cab front widows redoing. I've got the parts, but haven't got round to fitting them yet. Maybe this winter will see a class 37 refurbishing session.

That's all for now. A bit more on my recent modelling activities will follow later.

I like!!

I like it too, but you are right Alan, the last few pictures have been a bit dark. I tried to lighten them up this morning before I posted. My poor photograpy  I'm afraid - I need to work on the camera settings a bit more.

Thanks Rob. Norman Lockhart's mission sounds like some of my cycling trips, particularly the bit about seeking out new cafes.

It was Jonty's birthday today, 19 March 1964, so he decided to forsake his usual Juniper Hill haunts, and go down to Diddington to look at the trains. he was rewarded with a hive of activity

An excursion hauled by March based golden ochre D5579 was just arriving,

while the yard was being shunted by a 350 hp diesel shunter (08 for the younger generation), and the DMU for the regular passenger service was relegated to the bay.

When Jonty had finished, I though it might be interesting to take a few pictures around Diddington with out any trains in them. First up is a picture of Diddington taken from above Cow Lane Cossing, showing the crossing hut (Oakington), the stables (Ely) and part of the turntable pit (inspired by childhood memories of playing in the old one at Huntingdon East) The buildings are from card, with Scalescenes brick paper. Construction of them was described in the card modelling forum a while back.

Next is a view of the beginning of Church Walk, which is a foot path which runs alongside the river to the (off scene) church. The boathouse is scratchbuilt, being a model of the one that stood at Hemingford Grey and which was demolished in the mid 1970's. There's a cottage on the site now. The row of cottages opposite are from Scalescenes kits, which were ideal for the site. Again, all the buildings are card, except for part of the pantile roof on the boathouse, which is from Wills sheets.

That's all for now. I'm currently working on the legs for the extension, and refurbishing the Mill.

I started writing this piece a few weeks ago, while suffering from the cold/cough that has been

circulating these parts. Bored and listless, I fiddled with the broadband, and lost my internet

connection. Hence no posts for a while. I’m sorted now.

Here is a series of pictures of a typical pick up freight from the 1950’s entering Diddington station.

In the first picture the train is seen approaching Diddington over the wooden bridge over the river

Ouse.

The train is then seen entering the goods arrival road at Diddington station,

before commencing shunting operations to dispose of the train.

The J 15 is from Hornby, and the wagons come from various sources. I think these days wagons give the

greatest scope for modelling, and I get great satisfaction seeing what can be made from existing parts,

rather than using the latest state of the art productions – some of which exert a strong temptation,

and appear at Diddington from time to time. I like to think that they fit in well and compliment my

own efforts.

The different wagons in the train are indicative of this approach. The conflat B with container is an

old Airfix model, the container having been completely repainted, and the wagon having had additional

detailing to the underframe in the form of a new vacuum cylinder (a Kenline casting I think) and new

tie bars from brass strip. The LNER steel open started out as an Ian Kirk model. It’s got a Ratio

underframe, and has been backdated by the replacement of the steel doors with wooden ones. The cable

drum load is from the set of cable drums, packing cases etc that has been produced by various

manufacturers over the years. It was Knightwing when I got mine.

The 5 plank open is an old Airfix one. I was particularly pleased with this one, as it illustrates

my approach to things. The basic Airfix wagon (in ICI livery) was obtained in a damaged state for 50p

from a trade stand at a show. One of the sides was damaged, and it had been fitted with a gravel

load on a cardboard base. It was stripped down, and the moulded brake rigging was removed and

replaced with cast parts. The buffers, one of which was broken, were also replaced. Brake safety

loops were added from bent staples. The damaged side was disguised by the addition of the wagon

sheet, which came from the Smith’s printed sheet. I distress these before installation, by screwing

them into a ball and making them wet, before unfolding them. Once dry, they are fitted to the wagon

and dry brushed with grey or dark earth to bring out the texture. Lengths of cotton, painted dark

earth, are glued to the corners and in the centre of the sides as tie ropes.

The NE open with timber load is an old 3H model, and the BR 20 ton brake van is from Airfix. I think

this is one of the best wagon models around. The moulds must be 50 years old, and it has really never

been bettered. The roof is a bit thick, and the chimney and ventilators are the wrong way round. I

believe the ducket height may be slightly wrong, but not enough to make a change essential, and

plenty of people (including me) leave it as is.

This reminds me so much of Ken Payne's Castle Coombe and Tyling. Great looking layout.

I started sketching out my plan for the extension today, and the first draft is attached. The aim of the extension is threefold

- To give a better arrangement for the storage/fiddle sidings

- To give a longer scenic run

- To provide an additional source of traffic in the from of a line side industry.

Extension plan 1.1.17#2.pdf

As predicted, roving photographer Jonty Chambers has been busy at Diddington. He drove over from Juniper Hill. Alighting from his car, the first thing he saw was a class 15 drifting down the yard to pick up wagons in the van road.

The class 15 is a Heljan model, lightly weathered, but otherwise out of the box

Further down the line he came across a Sulzer type 2 (class 24) waiting in the shed road.

This is a Bachmann model, weathered and with new couplings, but otherwise as out of the box. I have read a number of articles which refer to the shortcomings of the ends, and describing a cut and shut operation to fit Hornby ends to the Bachman body. The results look very effective, but I haven't been tempted to try it on mine yet.

Waiting by the Signal Box, Jonty was able to capture the arrival of an EE type 3 (class37) with a parcels train.

The class 37 is a heavily modified Lima body, on a Bachmann chassis. The first van is a modified Lima Siphon G, running on GWR bogies from a Mainline (formerly Airfix) Siphon G. The second van in the train is the Airfix Siphon G, detailed and fitted with MJT bogies.

after the parcels train has passed, a Brush type 2 (Class 31) appeared with a train of vans for the Mill at Diddington.

This model is a Hornby one, I've also go another one in Golden Ochre livery, made from an Airfix body on a Hornby chassis, the ends on the Airfix body being better than those on the Hornby body I think.

Walking back to his car, Jonty found a 350hp diesel shunter (class 08) on the loco release.

This model is a heavily weathered Bachmann model, which was described in more detail earlier in this thread.

I did a few photographs of Diddington last night. First up, here's some pictures of some of Juniper Hill's stock in Diddington yard. Juniper Hill is living with me at the moment, and is in service as the terminus of the agricultural tramway from Diddington. There's a bit of a geographical jump from the fens to the East Midlands, but we are ignoring that. Anyway, here's a couple of  pictures of "Cranford" and some wagons in Diddington yard, about to travel down the tramway to Juniper Hill.

"Twywell" also came out for a run (she's going well Mark), and here's a picture in Diddington yard.

A little while ago we discussed doing some shed scenes with the J15, I took some last night, but this rather turned in to a portrait session for the J15. I brought a Gibson kit for this years ago, and had every intention of making it. Then Hornby brought out thiers. Mine has been weathered, had real coal in the tender, and a crew fitted. It still needs couplings. First picture is with a weathered Bachmann Ivatt in Diddington headshunt. Typical Kettering-Cambridge motive power.

Finally, a couple of portraits of the J15 on shed.

Do I recognise Huntingdon Hosiery Mill in the third pic down?

 

Chris

It is and it isn,t Chris. The mill is a hybrid of the ones at Huntingon/ Godmanchester and St Ives. The access/loading arrangements are from Huntingdon/Godmanchester. The picture reminds me I need to refit the canopy over the loading bay!

I understand that MRJ 250 includes a bit about "Lakebank", a 3mm 14.2mm gauge created by Iain Rice and a number of others. I was one of those others, "Diddington" is in many ways the heir to "Lakebank".  As I haven't yet had a chance to see the article, I.m going to do something I should never do, and comment on an article I haven't read. I thought there may be some interest in the connections between "Diddington" and "Lakebank".

Construction of "Diddington" started while "Lakebank" was under construction, and many of the ideas and techniques tried on that layout, were used on "Diddington". One example is the high back scene at the rear of the layout, made from thin MDF. Diddington's back scene is a direct crib. They both use  similar methods of baseboard construction, because I learned the techniques while working on "Lakebank". Both have an Iain Rice track plan - "Diddington" is based on "Downingham" in issue No1 of the now defunct "Modelling Railways Illustrated".

There are other connections - the large hotel at the front of "Lakebank" was the work of Dave Measey, who also built the mill for "Diddington". The scenery construction methods I used on "Diddington" were first used on "Lakebank". I've developed the ideas since, but "Lakebank" gave me the confidence to try the ideas on a larger scale. The thing that wasn't around back then, was static grass, which would have greatly enhanced the scenic treatment of "Lakebank".

I think I can safely say that without the experience of working on "Lakebank" "Diddington " wouldn't exist in the from it does today.

I can just about get a 4' radius curve on the curved section. I could make it tighter at the ends, and ease it in the middle, or vice versa. .I'm not sure which would look better. What ever I do, the intention would be to make a "less is more" approach to the scenery, to keep the open nature of the layout.

Its been a while since I updated this thread, I,ve been off cycling round the countryside, but is getting a bit cold for that now. I have been doing some modelling though,and some pictures of the latest bits will follow when the camera is up and running, and i get round to taking some photographs.

The next job (not a photogenic one) is to replace some of the wiring at the base board connectors to the Middle Fen section, where there has been a breakdown of electrical continuity. I'm hoping to resume normal service there by the end of the week.

I'm planning an extension to Diddington. The storage section would be replaced by  a curved scenic section with the line coming on scene under a bridge. passing  along an embankment before exiting the scene under another bridge. I want to keep the scenery fairly simple, with little more than a single line of track passing along a grassy embankment. There may be a few bushes, but not a lot in the way of trees, as I want to keep the open nature of the existing scenery. I may put yet another river bridge at one end. I like river bridges, and i can justify several on the basis that there is a myriad of backwaters running in to the main river.  This time I'm thinking of a plate girder, and where the line exits the scenic section for the storage sidings, I'm thinking of running it across a shortened Dapol box girder bridge, so the bridge itself acts as a scenic break. The line will then enter a fan of storage sidings. In front of the storage sidings there will be a a small yard along the lines of Welney depot in this month's Railway Modeller, possibly serving a mill (an excuse to run some grain hoppers) or a fen drainage engine like the one at Stretham. I've sketched out some ideas which I'll put on here a couple of days.

Good morning all!

Its been a while since I posted her - its the time of year when other activities start to intervene. There has been some modelling going on though, and I've got some ideas for developments, more of which will follow in a later post.

In the meantime I've been experimenting with my layout photography to try and improve the depth of field in some atf the pictures. Here, a recent effort, which shows the 350hp shunter (08 to the younger generation) shunting some wagons in Diddington yard. It gives an overall clear view of the station which I have been trying to set up for a while.

 

 

 

The 4mm Northamptonshire ironstone line would be interesting and easy to do.  With the Model Rail Sentinel, Hornby Sentinel and the forthcoming Hornby Peckett and DJModels Hudswell Clarke there's suitable loco's available.

 

Food for thought - have a look at this:

What about 4mm ironstone, or 7mm NG on the East Midlands Ironstone lines?

I've been having some problems uploading from the camera, so I haven't been able to post any pictures for a few days. While experimenting with camera settings, I took a few pictures of the K1 shunting, inspired by a picture of a K1 shunting at Chatteris in EH Sawford's book "The last days of Steam in Cambridgeshire".

The K1 model is  from a Replica B1 body on a Bachmann K3 chassis. The brake van started out as a Parkside kit, and has scratchbuilt sides with duckets from a Dapol BR 16t brake van kit.

Happy Christmas everyone.  I trust Santa will be good to you all. The picture's an old one, but worth another outing I hope.

Alex

I've been following this thread since it started, and thought I should add a comment. Rob asked what we thought was Hornby's best ever model, and many of their post 2001 offerings have been praised, either for their fidelity to prototype or their running quality. Over this period I have liked the Rebuilt MN (not the best by present standards, but the one that really set the ball rolling); the Gresley pacifics and the 08.  However, I suggest that we should go back much further to find Hornby's best ever model. It was  nowhere near present standards of accuracy or running quality, but it showed what might be possible in an era of steamroller wheels and X04 motors. when Hornby Dublo was held up as the running standard to aspire to.  I'm thinking of the original "Evening Star" model, with its pancake tender drive motor, built to show that the haulage and running qualities of the Fleishmann BR52 were possible in a British outline model. It showed the then Triang-Hornby what might be possible, and, although there were retrograde steps and times when they rested on their laurels, the breed started to improve over the years. The standards of today seemed unobtainable back then.

Cambridge allocated J15's regularly used on the Cambridge-Kettering Line included:

65390; 65451; 65474;  65475.

65474 and 65451 definitely had the Westinghouse brake. I'm not sure about the other two. I suspect 65390 did.

Alex

Thanks for posting the picture. It gives another take on the scenes a Diddington. I really like seeing other people's interpretation of the layout, such as the different pictures taken at last year's RM web members day. It's always exciting to see what others see in the layout, sometime things I miss through familiarity.

It's always nice to see a small horde of the same class too. Next time we must do some J15 pics.

46444 visited yesterday, so we took a few photographs of Diddington back in the 1950,s.

First up a picture of a B17 on a passenger train preparing to leave Diddington.

The formation  is supposed to be typical of March/St Ives/Cambridge trains in the 1950’s.

Moving into the yard gave the opportunity of another shot of the B17, this time from the rear.

The locomotive, by 46444, is a detailed Hornby model, and more about it can be found in his blog.  The horse box is from Parkside, and the Gresley coaches are from Ian Kirk.

Diddington in the 1950’s was a bit of a haunt for Ivatt class 2s, often having a day off from duties on the Kettering – Cambridge line.  Today, 46444 was shunting in Diddington yard, where she was briefly joined by another Ivatt. An unusually busy day!

After the Ivatts had finished shunting, a glimpse of the future was afforded by the sight of a 350hp diesel shunter, pushing some wagons into place for onward travel on the agricultural tramway crossing the fens from Diddington.

The trains having all departed gave an opportunity for an overall shot of Diddington yard.

  Although the space for the station model is relatively large, I’ve tried to keep the track plan simple, and the buildings small, to give an impression of space. I replaced the original brick goods shed with a couple of smaller sheds, a goods shed from Wills, and a Ratio provender store.  The station building behind is a model of Thaxted, and the open bicycle shed stood at St Ives.  The porters hut is typical GE, built from plans published in Railway Modeller in about 1968 or so.  The grounded van body is from Ian Kirk.

The adventures of Jonty Chambers – Part 2

When Jonty left us yesterday, he was making his way back to his lodgings from Diddington, having decided to visit the station again the following day.  He drove there, and parked his car by the crossing at Cow Lane. As he got out of his car he heard what he thought was a familiar sound, but not in a place he expected to find it. Pushing through the gap in the hedge he came  face to face (or, more precisely, nose to coupling rod) with Juniper Hill’s J94 Cranford, which had just brought a freight along the tramway from Juniper Hill, and was now resting in the Diddington headshunt. Jonty got busy with his camera.

This unexpected appearance of an old friend caused him to think about what other delights he might find in the area, and he resolved to make the line one of his regular haunts.

“Cranford” is a J94, built by 46444 of this parish from the Hornby/Dapol model. More details of how it was done can be found in his blog.

What will Jonty find next?

The Adventures of Jonty Chambers, Part 1

Jonty had a win on the pools last week. To celebrate, he decided to spend his winnings by having a few days away, photographing trains. He found a room in a pub near St Ives. Last night, he sampled a few pints of Greene King’s finest in the Axe and Compass, and next morning decided to take a trip to Diddington to see what was there.  Walking up the lane he heard a sound unfamiliar to Diddington regulars. He pushed through a hole in the hedge by the headshunt, and found this.

A photograph was called for. It appeared that March depot, in their quest to find appropriate motive power for the Diddington branch, were experimenting with a diesel shunter.  From the external appearance of the locomotive, Jonty concluded that March had not rushed to provide one of their newest examples. Anyway, it appeared to work, and rumbled away quite happily while Jonty took a picture.

The model:

The model is a Bachman 08. It’s one of the first examples, which has the wrong combination of cab door, window and bodyside hinges. I started modifying it many years ago, and it sat on a shelf for many years while I was busy with other activities. I always liked Tim Shackleton’s 08 in the Model Railways Illustrated preview issue, and started to modify an old Hornby Dublo 08 to look like his. When the Bachmann model came out I studied the review in MRJ124, and made a few small modifications to my model. I replaced the lifting eyes on the roof, with etched eyes from the PC models screw coupling etch. I made up new, more substantial air cylinders under the front bufferbeam from brass tube, leaving a cut out in the base to give access to the front body fixing screws. I replaced the couplings with my usual etched couplings. Finally, I modified the handrails round the front steps.

Most of the work was in the painting and finishing.  Because I wanted to get the effect of engrained dirt in the bodyside panels, and because I wanted to portray a fairly grubby locomotive, I first sprayed it with an overall mix of Humbrol Gunmetal, matt black and dark earth, which was allowed to dry thoroughly. The body was then sprayed with Railmatch Green and transfers applied. It was then given a coat of matt varnish. When the varnish was dry, a very thin mix (lots of thinners) of Tamiya NATO black, dark grey and dark brown was painted over the body, particularly into the gaps between the bodyside panels. This was immediately wiped off the centre of the panels, when dry, the relatively clean panels gave the impression of a locomotive which had been ineffectually cleaned by wiping the middle of the panels with an oily rag. The effect was enhanced by working over the centre of the panels with T-cut on a cotton bud.  More weathering was built up by spraying. Looking at pictures of the prototype, there appears to be a build up of oil and grime round the cooling grilles on the body sides. After spraying, a small amount of Tamiya semi-gloss black was dry brushed on the give the impression of fresh oil.  The roof was oversprayed with various shades of brown/grey and black, building up the black round the engine exhaust.

The chassis was painted separately. I toyed with the idea of removing the plastic frame for painting, but as this would have involved dismantling the brake rigging, I left well alone, and just masked off the motor and coupling rods. The frames were initially sprayed with the gunmetal/black/earth mix, before being overcoated with a black/grey/earth mix. Additional  weathering was applied from weathering powder mixed with thinned matt varnish, and brushed on. The coupling rods were repainted with Tamiya red, let down with a little white, and then drybrushed with a gunmetal/black/earth mix.

The crew came from the spares box. The driver was a civilianised driver from the Airfix RAF emergency set, and the shunter was a figure from their trackside workers set.

Having photographed the shunter, Jonty returned to his lodgings, intent on returning the next day to see what else he would find.