Downendian

Ah good point Mike - I have it somewhere!

Finishing touches on the pair of Mackerel ballast hoppers today. Final transfer application, weathering and ballast loads. Annoyingly one tiny 17T decal went adrift during the weathering, never to be seen again. I only had four on the transfer sheet so no spares grrr. Test running next phase, ballast still drying so a bit white in places. Neil

Indeed Martin, Iron Mink on Thingiverse - amazing designs. I wouldn’t know where to start buying a 3D printer, for a start my laptop is past its sell by date and that will need replacing first! Neil

The anhydrous ammonia rake is still being worked on, the tanks taking a lot of work with 5-6 coats of white going on each. Filler and adhesive blemishes the main cause of this slow progress, but it’s getting there. The tanks will then be gloss varnished then decals, then I can put together the complete wagons. in the meantime between paint drying sessions, put together two diag 1/583 Mackerel ballast wagons obtained from scale model innovations (on eBay) as a 3D print. It will add a bit of variety to my catfish/dogfish/trout rakes. The 3D print is not the golden bullet it may first seem, a lot of time was spent removing the feeds from the model, and despite great care still managed to dislodge a footstep and two handrail supports on the end platforms. The brake shoes disintegrated on removing from the feed sprue, so I used some Parkside spares I had. The hopper and brake handwheels will probably be replaced with 51L (where’s my dishing jig got to!) brass equivalents (as on the catfish fleet), but overall a lovely little model of a prototype not ever likely to be seen RTR or kit form. They also produce Gannets and Herrings (the BR design not ex-GWR), so maybe these will be added at some point to my fleet. The Mackerel are not currently listed on eBay, but I guess direct contact with Scale Model Innovations via their Facebook page is the way to go. The .stl file is however freely downloadable if you have the luxury of your own 3D printer. I feel myself being drawn towards this area of modelling in the future. transfers applied one side this morning as were instanters , although still to add overhead wire flashes, 17.5T markings and data panel, then to weather and add ballast load to give more weight. The model is not as free running as I’d like, despite taking great care fitting waisted bearings- the width between the axle boxes could be 0.5mm larger may help. Only running will tell if this needs more attention. Photo shows the two Mackerel in question plus one of my Cambrian catfish for comparison. Neil

Hope all is safely back in Churchdown Phil. I had a great time, still learning the routes but I think mastered the unpacking all the boards. Thanks for letting me run my rakes, hope they will be faultless next time. It was a veritable SLW Sulzer-fest this time- what wonderful locos they are. I know a little bit of what Phil and his son Jim do behind the scenes - a huge undertaking, and one they do with great enthusiasm. Phil has a little red notebook where all faults all logged, and I can guarantee all will be sorted before the layout hits the road again. Thanks for the brief stay, the beer, pancakes, star burger, millionaires shortbread and as always the huge amount of expertise in everything model railway and great company. Neil

Hmm I’ve converted it to mp4 so should work? I can see it on my iPad ok. 2nd version uploaded Neil

Strange - I can see it Mike I’ll try a different video format

Abbotswood 2 was at Winchcombe on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire railway this weekend. I was helping out Thursday until Saturday. It gave me a chance to stretch the legs of a couple of my rakes, the empty stone 21T hoppers and the clayliner (again). The stones mostly behaved although one wagon on the naughty step. The clayliner rake needs a better connection loco/wagon 1 and some extra weight. I hope you agree it’s a stunning layout, and really captures the rolling landscape around Abbotswood and Norton junctions. More will be posted when Phil gets home in his dedicated thread. D1048 does the honours- a great few days out and thanks to Phil and Teri for giving two nights lodgings IMG_2419.mp4 Neil

Progress on the Anhydrous ammonia rake. Ten chassis put together this week, currently on the tanks which need a fair bit of work, filling, sanding, priming and repeat. This one is sat with another batch of filler applied waiting to dry- minor blemishes really but as the prototypes were always quite clean, I’m keen the tanks look good. Once I’m happy then it’s onto the yellow body side stripe and then spraying the chassis and bogies. All will be numbered as TCAs from the Eurolease batch and will be branded Fisons fertilizers, the way I remembered them - they were almost brand new when I first saw them. I’ll probably have to put together my own Fison’s transfers though. Strictly a Brush 4 diagram with relevant barrier wagons and brake van. Ten might be a tad excessive (they’re heavy wagons) and will struggle up my helix, but very much hope they will run on Abbotswood in the near future. The scale studio models kit is a joy to build, and the service I have received from Des has been exemplary. Neil

Indeed a superb resource. I’ve used the photo gallery many many times when detailing my brush 4 fleet. It would be a big shame for it to go. Neil

Cleaned up the workbench this morning, and on to the next project- the Severnside- Haverton Hill/Immingham liquified ammonia tankers. Fauvet-Girel built these from 1972/4 for STS and the flows I remember well were all branded “Fisons fertilisers” and ran daily. A real signature train from my spotting days and always headed by a Thornaby or Immingham based brush 4 (although peaks have been known). I bought ten tanks in 2016 from Scale Studio models (Ireland) and are based on the Irish Fauvet-Girel prototype from as far as I can make out after hours of study (not much info out there unfortunately on 50 year old tanks) are more or less identical to the TC008A batch operated on BR. The only difference I can see is that the tank has six sections (British) compared to five (Eire). The wagons are indeed the same length, so any minor differences I can live with. i put together the tanks several years ago, and the project was put on the backburner. This morning I folded together ten chassis brass etches and made a start on cleaning up the white metal parts. Hopefully another rake will emerge over the next month or so. So far seems straightforward enough, and I’m wondering why it’s taken me so long to get around to it.

Martin a mix of woodland scenics fine and medium grey ballast with a sprinkling of green scenes N gauge ballast (GS408) as a topping! Neil

Hi Martin and thanks, yes I’ve put Lanarkshire buffers on a fair few but not all. I’ve put a 4th link on the Instanters as the buffer approach is too close with 3 even with shorter Lanarkshire buffers. I’ve found buffer lock to be an issue whilst running on the 21T hopper rakes. Neil

This week was the turn of the MSV 26T stone opens (all Parkside kits, PC63 ex 1/185 iron ore tipplers). All 26 received weathering, instanters, adjustment to brakes etc and stone loads - a messy job. I probably still will do a bit of further weathering based on photos of examples of Paul Bartlett’s site, I’ll do this when I fit the vac pipes. All pool numbers TOPS panels were from railtec including STONE logo. I have four RTR Bachmann examples, but wish I hadn’t bought them - wrong chassis and ride higher than the excellent Parkside kit. The tail wagon is awaiting lamp fitment - a removable load has been made using one of the Bachmann inserts, suitably coated with the same mix as the rest of the rake. They look much better in the flesh- photography is a challenge in the garden room. Excuse the foreground mess a clean up is imminent. I’m still tinkering with Hornby HM7000 Bluetooth sound chips - all have been fitted to Bachmann 20s, 3 so far with 2 more to do. The Hornby app does not yet allow consisting (essential for class 20s) so I’ve tried to program them on my ECoS using the switch to DCC control in the Hornby app. I’ve failed to do this, and despite 20 177 working on the ECoS temporarily it dropped out and was unresponsive. I’ve trawled the web for a solution and it seems to be CV settings on the Bluetooth app I will get there eventually. If Hornby can sort the consist issue out then I’d happily use their app to control my 20 fleet. My first generation Bachmann 47s will be chipped next using HM7000 when all the glitches are sorted. If Hornby were to add hydraulics to their sound profiles (after all they have made models of them in the past), then they may play a central role in running my layout. I’ve test run the up Acton rake which comprises 21T, 24T minerals and 21T hoppers including the Stratford built “square” brake tender. All runs well with only minor tweaks needed to naughty step wagons. I’m adding Accurascale MDVs and MDOs to this rake which are a joy to weather as no bits fall off. The rake and its return working were a right mixture, and I’ll add some weird and wonderful wagons to it when I identify what they are from prototypical photos. Neil

Sunday 4th June 1978 Day trip to Humberside. Organised by the Inter city Railway society, we departed from Bristol Parkway on a Merrymaker excursion to Cleethorpes. It was a special treat to relieve the monotony of weeks of revising for O levels which were happening over the next 2-3 weeks. ICRS in the 70s offered excellent trips for us spotters - I went on at least 20 of them. The Avon branch in particular were very well organised. This trip offered my one and only visit to the depots of Immingham and Frodingham Anyhow the numbers Bristol Parkway 37 296, 47 497 (haulage) Longbridge 25 305 Birmingham New St 25 221/263, 47 103 Curzon St 08 134, 47 103 Duddeston carriage sidings 47 169/187, 85 023, 86 026/224/260, 87 014 Burton on Trent 08 046/087, 20 163 Burton MGR 08 014, 25 136 Derby Etches park 08 178/455/456/622, 20 173, 37 124, 40 070 Derby station 08 333/899 en route Derby Chesterfield 20 045/047 Chesterfield 20 088, 25 269 Barrow Hill 20 208 Masborough 08 219/266/861 Mexborough 37 122, 47 312 Doncaster 08 420/444/459 /876, 31 218/293, 37 202, 47 441 Scunthorpe station 08 392 Frodingham 08 391, 47 379 Barnetby 08 093 Cleethorpes 31 156, 47 547 Immingham 08 242/357/434/508/537/861, 37 024/055/140/171/172/174, 47 039/041/044/181/205/216/221/222/223/263/265/368 Immingham docks 08 076/436/478/743 Frodingham Steel 20 026 Frodingham depot 08 210/225, 20 025/029/031/051/052/054/129/144/145/157/194, 31 102/217/234/235/238/303/324, 40 111, 47 379, ADB968012 Grimsby docks 08 386/439/751 Scunthorpe 08 404 Doncaster station 37 223, 47 491 Mexborough 37 129 Rotherham 47 339 Brightside 08 223/543 Sheffield Midland 08 539/749/877, 45 036/135 Saltley 25 074/126/277, 45 071, 47 095/215 with 46 021 passing Neil