Downendian

Good evening Phil,

As an aside to my catfish and Herring building I started work on a spare Heljan Hymek bodyshell today. Roof fan grille added and new horns, headboard clips removed and attention now to the door floor level grab handles. 
Although this thread nearly 3 years old I found this on the EMgauge 70s website from April 2019 (near bottom of the page)

http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/model_omwb154.html 
basically using plastruct strip and 0.3mm rod. I’ve sourced some 4x2mm rectangular sections too but not sure yet of the width of the plastic. Looks fiddly but nothing compared to Herring undergarments! 
hopefully see you soon. Plastruct ordered, I’m sure I can spare you a few strips.

Neil 

What a fantastic project. Well done indeed Patrick, I’ve accrued multiple Lima Power cars over the years, I may well be doing similar in the next few years. 
Neil 

On 08/02/2022 at 08:06, Rivercider said:

Nice photo.

 

The Thornbury branch re-opened as far as Tytherington Quarry in 1973, there were five or six trips each way over the branch by the late 1970s. It is interesting to speculate that had the stone traffic started just two or three years earlier then Warships would almost certainly have been used on them, as they were from the Mendip quarries.

 

cheers  

Hi Kevin

I’ve just received Colin Maggs excellent book “The Yate to Thornbury branch” and like you I’d thought that Tytherington trains restarted after relaying in 1973. It was in fact a year earlier, first train starting 3rd July 1972. The formal opening, attended by Richard Marsh was on 3rd September 1973, by which time 1000 trains had passed over the relaid line. So there is a chance that class 42 warships in their final months did operate at least some of  those stone trains.

Neil 

Outstanding service from Patrick this afternoon at Accurascale. I’ve ordered and paid for 5 triple packs of HOP-AB/HAA in freight brown. Two triple packs have already arrived, but the remainder were included in an order involving a single Siphon G van, which of course is yet to arrive. Within an hour of me making contact, the remainder of my HAAs have been dispatched. 
Many thanks guys.

Neil 

First swifts heard this afternoon whilst in the bedroom watching the Hornby magazine video review of the Accurascale deltics. 

Some observations from 1974/5, only two such movements noted but there were bound to be more.

Bristol Parkway  26/8/74 08 113/140 and 09 024 noted moving south. Assumed at the time (possibly incorrectly as 09024 was still in green) to be from Derby works as 09 024 had just been reallocated from Allerton to Bath road. There may have been other locos in the consist but unfortunately my notes have not recorded it.

Bristol Parkway 3/1/75 08 668/937 plus 25 274, 58 and 46 053 heading North in probably a service to Derby works.

I don’t recall any coupling rods being detached (not to say they weren’t) , but I think I would have remembered this. Both consists were memorable as foreign shunters in Bristol were only in transit on their final journey or for reallocation/works moves. Bath road 08s were a daily sight working the Stoke Gifford spoil tip.

I remind readers of this thread to the rather excellent ICRS publication “Shunter duties” which details all scheduled shunter trips etc. Geoff Woodley, a a fellow Parkway spotter and friend, was co-author of this publication, unfortunately he died a few years back.

Neil 

I know what you mean Mike, one of my Herrings suffered from the brittle plastic syndrome, snapped off one of the W-irons when inserting the wheels. They are a very tight fit, and the brake shoes and associated underframe gubbins  gives little room for manoeuvre. I fixed it fine, so much so I don’t know which wagon it was.
I like the look of the chassis jig a lot, a bit more to purchase from Mr Bedford. 
currently applying decals to all the Herrings and Catfish, obtained from CCT, model master, Fox and Railtec. Taking a huge amount of time to do this. 
Neil 

Hi Mike,

yes the more recent catfish kits are certainly made of a better quality grey plastic, the same type as Herring kits if you’ve built any of those. I had around 5-6 of the black “imperial leather” plastic you refer to ;). Getting the solebars square is of course the key to success, and the newer kits have locating “pips” to make this a bit easier, although a light tack with polystyrene cement with wheels in place and holding the chassis on a perfectly flat surface until the solvent cured  I found worked well with practice. A couple of my early attempts had to be broken down and reassembled because all was not square. The dogfish kits have an identical chassis.
The catfish kits were much easier to assemble than the mermaid, of which I have 7 more to do, that has been moved down the to do list due to this! 
Neil

On 27/04/2022 at 20:33, Flying Pig said:

If you can remember a call or song and want to ID it, https://xeno-canto.org is a useful collection of recordings arranged by species. 

 

 

Rather excellent site- one I identified from this weekend - Cetti’s warbler 

Fishing trip complete 3 nights - some massive carp caught, my biggest 31lb 7oz but that’s for another thread/forum.

But for the birds, two that stood out, plenty of Bitterns calling as predicted (Somerset levels between Glastonbury and Meare) and a cuckoo, which I haven’t heard for years. It kept calling throughout the night, started at 2am one day. Again lots of unknown calls, will look into this more, but several willow warblers identified.

Neil

Did look at that app Phil, but thought I’d get my Collins field guide to bird calls out (free dvd) instead. I couldn’t also pick out a clear call on its own without background chiff-chaff/robin/wren/blackcap warbling. I’ve been through the finches and UK warblers without success. 
This forthcoming weekend fishing a lake on the Somerset levels which is Bittern HQ, Somerset branch. I’m sure we’ll hear plenty of them, but elusive to see.

Fishing again today and the reed buntings made an appearance- lovely little bird. I must do a refresher course on bird calls, several I didn’t recognise in the woods behind me.

Dapol spares at DCC supplies may supply the errant bits- I’m unfamiliar with the mechanics of Dapol’s hymek but a range are available from chassis block, clips and side frames. The generic spares may also be a good place to look too. I can’t see any spare gear sets unfortunately. Service is superb (satisfied customer for their OO bits).

https://www.dccsupplies.com/product-category/Dapol-spares/n-gauge-spares/n-gauge-diesel-spares/class-35-hymek-n-gauge/ 
Neil 

My fishing trips always inevitably result in a bit of amateur ornithology, as the periods of inaction between the carp are long. In the last couple of weeks the following seen

Robins (always appear first after free bait), great crested grebes(nesting), Canada geese, moorhens, coots, mallards, chiffchaffs, willow warblers, blackbirds, magpies, cormorants, blackcaps, house martens, a lone buzzard, a pheasant, long tailed, blue and great tits, wrens, goldcrests (heard but not seen), chaffinches, carrion crows, the occasional red kite, dunnocks. I’m sure I heard a yellowhammer in the distance as skylarks, many song thrushes and I think a type of unidentified bunting (probably a corn bunting which I’ve seen here before). The highlight though was a treecreeper which was in a tree not 10 feet away, I could not move fast or stealthily enough to get a photo -they’re really shy. Unfortunately I’m loathe to take my dSLR as I lost one into the lake about 10 years ago, recovered but never worked again!

The summer visitors are yet to arrive in earnest, but looking forward to reed and sedge warblers, plus some reed buntings seen last year, and a spotted flycatcher the year before that. There is a pair of kingfishers too, but not seen in the last few weeks.

Neil

15 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Cheers Mike suspect Mr Downendian Will like that too….

Indeed Phil - Westerns were regular performers on the 4E70 Danygraig-Stratford and return. Headcodes already in place with some of my fleet. Lovely to see progress and looking forward to more action.

The Catfish fleet of 15 wagons  are approaching completion. A mixture of gulf red, black and engineers olive and lightly weathered. Awaiting transfers for most of the fleet, and I wasn’t happy with the brake hand wheels that came with the kit, so etched replacements ordered from wizard models after removing the kit versions.  Once I’m happy with the weathering they will get varnished and ready for running trials. The rake of 18 Herrings are close behind, again will be full ballast loads to weigh the wagon down. I just couldn’t get enough weight in the catfish hoppers so used liquid lead and ballast - hopefully will run OK. I’m sure some will need tweaking but I won’t know until after the run. 
Although I’ve built many kits before, but not on this scale, and the batch method I think is good because you quickly learn the foibles of the kit and correct errors along the way. Some photos I’ve seen of the gulf red livery include red solebars, so yet may need some more painting for the 5 in this livery.

Neil 

I heard the first Chiff-Chaff of the year yesterday whilst fishing. Lovely day it was too.

Neil 

More kit building - this time the turn of the Catfish ballast hopper rake. Just one more chassis to put together, the fiddly bit and all needs to be square to ensure good running of course. I found that cementing the chassis components and then holding the structure securely on a flat surface (a thick chopping board) whilst the glue cured was the key to success. I will have a rake of 16 in total, one of which is already complete. Liveries will be a mix of gulf red, black and olive green, well weathered. A few experiments in adding weight as I want this rake to run as empties, lead added to the bottom and underneath the hopper, and I’m awaiting the delivery of more liquid lead. I may try some tungsten putty (nicked from my carp tackle box) but that isn’t cheap, just more easy to add under the hopper than liquid lead. Hoppers placed on some to weigh the lead additions, and some have been prepainted many years ago. The vintage (black plastic) kits had a price label of £3.52 which shows how long ago I bought them.

Catfish were not common on the WR, mostly found on the LMR, but my Midland around Bristol theme would justify them.

Must sort a date for Heaton Lodge too Phil- my turn to drive!

1 hour ago, Phil Bullock said:

Great progress Neil! This retirement malarkey is good fun….

And thanks for all your help, advice and bits and pieces to help the shoal of Herrings along its way Phil.

Neil

New Years resolution - too many incomplete projects, and reduce the kit mountain.

it’s had a bit of a bashing over the last month or so, 18 Cambrian Herrings just completed and now wafting their fumes into my dining room ready for the paint shops. A long task, a lot learnt along the way and I’m now an expert on handrail bending using the Bill Bedford jig. Wagons then will be weighted and all carry ballast loads so I wasn’t too worried about glue residues inside the hopper when fixing the handrails. Transfers obtained courtesy of my good friend and our colleague Lord Bullock of Abbotswood. 
To break the monotony I completed a Cambrian mermaid and a BBA. The BAA and BBA steel carriers just scrape in my time frame of mid 1970s, will complete a rake of 8-10 wagons. Many a rewarding,  although not swear free hour spent on these, which ones next? But the layout needs attention as do those Lima rebuilds started last year. The Mermaid rightly retains its reputation of being a challenging build, you need four pairs of hands when putting the chassis together.

Rakes to work on 10’ wb clayliner train, catfish ballast, red panda- Dapol banana vans, or the huge pile of 21T hoppers. 

Neil

9 hours ago, Covkid said:

The 31/4s did a surprising amount of work around Bristol. There used to be a 2Bxx 1739ish Bristol-Worcester which i did on at least three occasions that was a 31/4. They also popped up on the Cardiff-Bristol legs of the "pompeys" both /1 and /4 varieties.

Indeed - and this working indicates that probably Canton had borrowed one of Bath roads 31/4s

4/7/77 Bristol Parkway

20 172/177 to Avonmouth light engine, returning later with an unknown service 

31 420/47 241 Radyr to Didcot MGR, known colloquially as the “hopper special” banked as a double header for the climb from the Severn tunnel.

sorry to include the 20s, but was highly unusual in North Bristol.

Neil

On 26/02/2022 at 10:02, NFWEM57 said:

How did it go? Did you fit the dummy car with a power bogie?  Any issues with bunching?

Two years later and still on the to do pile i’m afraid. Plenty of modelling done in the meantime but this is a low priority project. 

Inevitable really wasn’t it - final throes of an extensive Lima rebuild in progress here at Downend works. Superb though Accurascale, essential traction for my WR Bristol themed layout, regular performers on the Pompey-Cardiffs back in the mid late 1970s, and Bath road had a healthy allocation. Fond memories of the class with much haulage on the Birmingham-Norwich services, plus Kings cross and Liverpool Street always had one or two rumbling away somewhere. I’m glad to see the 31/0 and early disc headcode 31/1 have been tooled for later release. ER allocated 31s (MR IM SF) were also a common sight in Bristol working to Avonmouth on various chemical trains.  I’ve preordered the GFYE example, something Hornby never did, but I’m sure more to follow in due course.
nice video of the preproduction samples including the disc headcode versions from Hornby magazine

As this rather excellent 1973 shot of D1015 attests, 1C63. Paul Townsend on Flickr 

A really evocative reminder to me of my spotting days, but the Tytherington stone trains were even more spectacular  departures from Stoke Gifford yard with a 52 on the front.