Downendian

Superb stuff Patrick - really enjoyed reading your build.

Neil 

Kernow now have spares in stock for the D6XX models 

https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/c/1767/D600-Class-41-Spares 
Neil 

Clayliner rake taking shape nicely. After multiple rounds of weathering powder/acrylic paint applications it’s getting there now. Not satisfied with first applications, too grey/white; too clean/filthy finally getting to a state where each wagon has its own identity. Still odd jobs to do, tie bars need replacing on a couple (Parkside moulded tie bars are very flimsy); Hornby wheels too big (apparent in ride height), Instanter links need adding to a few still. Holding off the Matt varnish application until I’m fairly satisfied with the weathering (never going to be 100%) and they’ve had a test run - should be later this week. It’s also too cold- to risk varnishing - fishing was abandoned yesterday as the lake was totally frozen -8C when we arrived. It’s going to be too long to get all wagons into my passing loop, so some with incorrect solebars (what was I thinking when I did them years ago) will be relegated to needs attention pile. I’ve also put together 2 Parkside vans to go in the rake, they’re awaiting decals. I’ll get better photos with a Western up front.

Some weathering has started- still a way to go - but generally a transformation to ex-works wagon. Lead weight added this morning to all the Parkside wagons.

Neil 

Thanks Phil, if I take responsibility for the instanters and the rake behaves itself, I might seek a permissive working up to Abbotswood 2 and Norton junctions.

Neil 

Just off round mums for coffee. Completed the vac fitting and associated wires/rods and added Cambrian tie bars to the ex GW five plankers this morning plus painted buffers in primer and all underframe gear on all. Need a coat of grimy black and then on to the weathering once all traces of decalfix have dried. Another 4 Parkside wagons had vac rodding fitted too- all complete except needing to add roller bearings to one wagon- can’t find the box I put them in! 
 

im not the slightest bit worried re using talc, having spent my career handling some noxious chemicals with suitable precautions it’ll be fine. After all i’m only going to brush it on wagons, and not on my Crown Jewels. 
 

Neil 

Thanks John -  very useful information - I don’t want to mess up the wagons having put that amount of effort into it.

neil 

After a mammoth 2 day session fixing decals (I’m sure my close up vision and dexterity have increased), progress so far on the Clayliner rake. Six D1375s (Cambrian) on the far left, next six Hornby ex GWR/LMS 5 plank opens, with the rest being dia 1/039; 1/044 and 1/045s built from Parkside PC02As. In the process of fitting more Smiths instanters (assembled and fitted two this morning), and the Hornby wagons (which are darker I admit due to spraying over Hornby’s representation of bauxite) need buffers painting and tie bars and vac gear adding which will come from Cambrian bits and wire. Next big task is weathering which I’m going to take time and care over! Some test applications have already been made. Ignore the hunt coupling on one wagon - a test - it will be gone soon.

Decals were from CCT, Railtec and modelmaster and I’ve tried to mix up data panels/china clay only as to what would represent a mid 1970s rake. All Paul Bartlett’s photos are from the late 1970s early 1980s when they were on their last legs. Capturing images of how they looked from 1972-7 is a bit more challenging especially in colour.CCT transfers are 1960s style many of which still lingered on into the 1970s before TOPs classifications and data styles were applied en masse.

Trialling fitting weight to the PC02As- liquid lead underfloor and a 1M roll of lead flashing turned up yesterday - enough to use on every wagon I’m ever likely to build in five lifetimes. There’s probably far too many wagons for a single rake, and contemplating the sheet-fitted Northbound working 6M55 but will need renumbering to a different pool number and working out how best to fit the sheets. I need to recover from this lot first, and get a trial run with them done.

Great to see the forum image placement issues have been sorted!

Neil

6 minutes ago, 37403 said:

Fantastic progress on all the kits.

Do you experience any issues with the two solebars tightening over night as your liquid plastic sets causing the wheel sets to stiffen up?

It's a problem I have with kits quite a lot unfortunately 

Hi 37403,

thanks for looking in - no not really - there is normally sufficient  “slop” in the bearings for this not to happen, which has been mostly true of Parkside models- main issue is to make sure the bearings are fully bedded in. If the solebars are too tight, then application of more  polystyrene cement to their inner faces, leave to soften and then they can be encouraged to move to get free spinning wheels. Same trick can be applied to incorrectly bedded bearings. Of course everything must be completely square.

The catfish wagons have been the biggest headache - the hopper must be completely square on the chassis structure otherwise it pushes the chassis out of true. I’ve had to remedy three of them because of it.

The preformed Cambrian chassis should be perfect, but both on the Herrings and the D1375s on several one axle is slightly stiff, however this was resolved on the Herrings at least by running in.

Today a bit of loco action- a long term resident on the workbench - my hybrid Bachmann-Hornby class 24/1 which has been test fit to a new generation Bachmann 24 chassis- some mods needed but good progress I think. I hope to post on this in the next few days. It started life well before the Bachmann model ever saw the light of day. It will be in green full yellow, a much neglected livery in my opinion.
 

Meanwhile the chore of fitting decals to the clayliner rake continues - about 2/3 the way through - takes an age especially lining up the pool numbers. The Hornby ex GWR/LMS 5 plankers have now all been fitted with Lanarkshire buffers as have all the Cambrian D1375s. Some weathering also happening to this rake.

Neil 

Very nice coil Js Phil

Strange - I watched it on my virgin catch up TV, just after it was scheduled to finish on Monday. I tuned in on my bedroom TV which has a free view aerial to find it had been cancelled, but watched the first episode  downstairs. Don’t ask me re content as I wouldn’t want to spoil your enjoyment next week. There must have been a glitch in the system which I somehow bypassed.

Neil

I was unhappy with the D1375 buffers as supplied with the Cambrian kit, they look far too long and will undoubtedly give running problems when coupling with instanters. Whilst having to cope with door springs pinging off and brake hand levers whilst handling the wagon to fit, I’ve decided to fit Lanarkshire buffers of BR pattern to all six having done one this morning as a test. A much better result  I think, waiting for glue to cure then they will be painted. I’ll use Smiths Instanters on these wagons, slightly oversize but again the paranoia with running issues is the boss here. S1013 should be S7013! 
Brake rigging onto the remaining  1/039 Parksides (x12) this morning too, plus tax return done so busy!
 

Order placed with LMS for more buffers- I had 3 sets in stock, their additional weight will be a bonus of course.
Neil

And here’s an extreme weathering of the clayliner, D1070 on 6/8/76 on 6V53 originally posted in the dedicated clayliner thread. What an excellent photo by Suthensofty  on Flickr 

edit : I was at Winterbourne /Bristol Parkway all afternoon and evening that day- I must have missed it  in the morning.

edit edit - this image is my endearing memory of this  classic BR working, but perhaps on reflection the ghostly appearance of the wagons was extreme. The summer of 1976 was of course extremely dry- It hadn’t rained for 3 months. In our normal rainy climate  the wagons don’t appear quite so white in prototype photos with at least some of the original livery showing through, I hope to reflect this in my weathering.

 
Neil 
 

An old topic, but I’ve eventually got round to my clayliner rake. It is a mix of Cambrian D1375 10’ wb opens ex SR and LNER , and a number of Parkside 1/039; 1/044 opens. Plus a few Hornby/airfix ex GWR/LMS 5 plankers. The build is on my workbench thread and should be complete in a couple of weeks.

Here’s one of the D1375s awaiting china clay weathering powders 

Neil 

58 minutes ago, Phil Bullock said:

Looking great Neil. You will have the definitive clay liner train. Must have been raining, that wagon looks pretty clean! 

Thanks, Still waiting for weathering powders Phil - hopefully early next week.

Getting there - a fair few hours spent today applying decals and finishing the D1375 ex SR/LNER clayliners. Railtec bespoke numbers arrived mid-morning and were on six wagons within a couple of hours. US army Gothic yellow numerals was used for pool numbers (slightly too large, but smaller typeface on order), CCT transfers the rest although I’ve used some more 1970s data panels of other wagons from modelmaster to give a bit of variety. The railtec transfers from Steve - what an excellent service - ordered Thursday here this morning - 12 bespoke wagon numbers- will be using this again for sure. With hydraulic confusion creeping in plus ordering Siphon G numerals I made a mistake with one number, should have been S7013 - I ordered S1013.

Awaiting weathering powders, and a coat of Matt varnish - it’s amazing grabbing a cruel close up photo reveals some blemishes identified to be rectified tomorrow. Sorry for the rushed photo - under tungsten light and edited using my iPad software so the real thing doesn’t look quite so garish.  I’ve got all sets of door springs fitted, despite three pinging off into the carpet and search/rescue finding all OK. I’d prefer to fit finer buffers, but for 20 odd opens in this rake costs need to be kept down. There maybe no choice here however to put shorter buffers on to prevent buffer lock on the helix, a compromise I’ll have to accept, couplings yet to be fitted. Just one wagon shown here for clarity but all six at a similar stage.

Terrific Brian thanks - the axle box situation is something I’m keen to model, all of these Cambrian wagons have had wizard models roller bearing axle boxes added as per photos of the period. These prototypical observations are like proverbial gold dust. 
Neil 

Hi Phil, yes the Southbound working which was always late I seem to remember!

There was a fair bit of room on the floor of the Cambrian wagons to get 10g of lead underneath, they’re around 22g in weight - a bit on the light side but only running will tell if OK. I may consider the northbound loaded working at some point, but I’m increasingly getting the feeling that there’s more to railway modelling than building wagon kits!

Neil 

Progress on the Clayliner rake today - brake rigging added to the  six (I found another lurking in the kit box) Cambrian dia 1375 13T opens - tested my sanity somewhat - but got there. The etched bits and wire need a coat of black paint, which is the next job, but will be hand painted. I often wonder if the huge amount of work put in beneath the floor is worth it- on balance I think yes, it captures the prototype much better than many RTR wagons. I had a go at weathering the wagon internals with kaolin - ok ish but a bit “gritty” for my liking, and still not enough - the prototype wagon internals looked almost whitewashed, and I’ve ordered some china clay weathering powders so see how they look before attacking the wagon bodies. 
I’d raided my now scrapped fleet of Hornby MSVs for wheels, however they are a smidgen oversize and foul the brake rigging so more will need to be ordered which are of a much finer appearance anyway. Buffers need adding plus the door bangs which are again a pig to fit but compared to the brake rigging is a relative cinch. Having built 20 Herrings and 6 of these from the Cambrian stable, I’ve concluded I’m not a fan of the preformed solebar/floor. The resultant running qualities are variable and I’d rather adjust using individually attached solebars the conventional kit building way.

The Parkside 1/039 and 1/044s are almost done just vac cylinders and pipe work to add on these. Then the fun of adding decals and weathering in earnest to take place, plus blackening random planks in addition to the data panels  and then 6V53 will live again. I can hopefully rekindle part of my youth seeing this train snake around my layout, and was a daily working we looked forward to as it almost always was a Western (or seemed so, rise tinted etc). I will need to make sure my Western/46/47 fleet is suitably headcoded for this working.

Neil 

First new year action - I had a dose of covid between Xmas and the new year, now negative but the wife is still positive and off work. Just mild cold like symptoms, but the pain was losing my sense of smell and taste, and as I enjoy cooking and we have a lot of fine wine and cheese from Xmas a minor inconvenience. However it is coming back.

six vanwides now near enough complete, more weathering to roofs needed (I’m not sure if I like those tide marks) and a coat or two of Matt varnish but they’ve come out rather well- must get the SLR out for these shots for better resolution, but will do so when they are on the layout. Transfers for these were taken from the Parkside kits and from modelmaster.

 

whilst wagons were in the spray booth I quickly put together a Parkside ex LNER plate wagon - if anyone is contemplating a go at kit building this one was really simple and was largely done between jobs in a day. Longest waits were for paint to dry. This will not be vac braked, so will need to run in an unfitted/part fitted rake which there were a few still about in the mid 1970s. Weathering was a bit more heavy on this one to represent an end of life wagon in this time period. I’ve yet to add rust spots and then Matt varnish. The deck probably needs more filth to be honest. Weighted with black sprayed tyre weights under the floor which are virtually invisible.

The final wagons of the clayliner rake have been started yesterday, five Cambrian dia D1375 five plankers which will all get S and E prefixes - numbers taken from Paul Bartlett’s site and railtec transfers ordered for bespoke wagon numbers. It will be a rake of 22 opens but with a couple of vans added. A near disaster yesterday evening when I spilt a near full pot (18ml) of poly cement when assembling the body of the first of these, but seems to have recovered the glue marks quite well with brush painted bauxite. I’ll try not to be such a clumsy git in future.

happy new year!

Neil 

Lovely stuff on Highbridge Phil, browsing it now. As discussed before with you both my maternal grandparents grew up there and I have fond memories of Highbridge in the 1960s.

Neil 

There are plenty of steam era photos on the wonderful Railscot website, many of which are identified as Queen St Waverley workings 

https://www.railscot.co.uk/companies/E/Edinburgh_and_Glasgow_Railway/ 
Neil 

Of course the Queen street - Waverley Swindon inter city units were not class 123s which were delivered to the WR, but the earlier 79XXX numbered Series 

nice history here

https://www.railcar.co.uk/type/swindon-79xxx/operations 

I remember lines of them scrapped at Swindon works in 1975

Neil

Indeed Phil, Rapido have been churning out the ex SR wagons recently, but alas not the D1375, Anyhow the Cambrian kits are far cheaper - and I’ve become a bit of a kit building addict, plus I get to customise, chose running numbers etc. However time to pack things away in the dining room ready for Xmas!

Noted  re tarp/sheets I had seen that before, plus I hope to include a couple of Parkside box vans in the rake.  I also need to get the final wagons in these rakes fitted with working tail lamps.

Neil 

Hi Martin. The ratio (now Parkside kit) is I think for the BR built  9’ wheelbase china clay tippler which saw use mainly in Cornwall, although I’ve seen photos of them at Stoke Gifford in Clayliner rakes. I’ve got plenty of the Bachmann version of this wagon, but wanted an authentic clayliner rake which were mainly 1/044 and D1375 wagons, with a small number of ex big 4 5-plank wagons too. All these were 10 foot wheelbase. The GWR builds of 1911 or so were long gone by the 1970s.

Neil