Downendian

Progress this week on the clayliner rake. Parkside PC02A  diag 1/039/044 in progress here x9 will form about half the rake, Cambrian diag D1375 of LMS/SR vintage and five Hornby ex GWR/LNER five plankers will make up the balance. All of which were part of authentic clayliner rakes of the 1970s, as Paul Bartlett’s excellent site confirms. The 1/044  wagons have been painted railmatch bauxite but will get a liberal covering of kaolin to match their mid 1970s condition. I’ve added the black data panels with a sharpie, and are awaiting gloss varnish and decals from Cambridge custom transfers. The rake will be hauled of course by a Western, or rarely a class 46, headcode 6V53 (empty) or 6M55 (loaded). I’m still undecided whether to fit tarps, will aid in hiding weight, but I’ll try and add liquid lead to the underside of the wagons first as I’d prefer the Southbound empty working as it’s the one I saw the most. The pool numbers will be added using yellow US Air Force decals which are the closest in font and size I can find. 8/9 Parkside wagons have had roller bearings (wizard models) added after  carving off the oil axle box covers, a bit of a faff but most clayliner wagons had these fitted due to the distance and speed of operation.

another project in the planning is an upgrade to my Lima siphon Gs (yes I know Accurascale  ones are imminent- I have many on order), but I can justify a few more as they were regularly in parcels trains of my youth. Plus I have seven excellent Blacksmiths etches to convert the siphons to O.62s, the Lima bogies will be replaced by suitably modified Mainline/Dapol bogies which are more accurate.

I was rather lucky to pick up the excellent HMRS volume by Jack Slinn and Bernard Clarke for just £14 recently and will be a significant aid in attempting to build these models.

Neil

Ah there’s a few more cock ups than that Mike, managed to get the floor upside down on one vanwide, thankfully the poly hadn’t cured and pulled apart easily. Still don’t know how that happened.

Yes noticed the two different solebars Phil, but only after fitting bearings to a couple. I guess the sprues are used for other kits as there are lots of spare brake levers too. I’d patiently read the instructions but still managed to muddle two of them up.
Hope that you Teri and the family have a lovely Xmas.

Neil

Nine more MSVs approaching completion. Railtec transfers applied over a gloss varnish finish and waiting for the decalfix to dry. Awaiting a third set of transfers to complete the final wagon. All of these need to be renumbered, I’ll use the Parkside transfers for this (not accurate, but don’t tell anyone). All will be in the diag 1/184 and 1/185 range, interestingly Parkside transfers provided with the kit include two from earlier diagrams that were 9’ wheelbase wagons - so incorrect. Will need stone loads adding next, hopefully giving sufficient weight to them. Rake of 24 will then be weathered and Matt varnish applied to seal the decals, but it needs to warm up a bit, otherwise I’ll need to move the spray booth from the garage workbench to the utility room for a day, but don’t tell the missus. Only one roller bearing and brake lever lost in the whole build- trying to source a spare Parkside sprue to rectify this but no response from Peco so far.
 

To break up the monotony of the MSV build, this week I put together five of the Parkside vanwides. Very easy assembly and the models need decals and weathering, currently waiting for it to be a bit warmer (-7C here in Bristol earlier) to spray with gloss varnish. Roofs are loosely placed in place, and are in grey primer and waiting a railmatch delivery to spray them.

The prototypes worked out of Avonmouth in the 1970s, I’m assuming on Rowntrees or Fisons fertilisers traffic, and were included in mixed rakes of vans, hauled by pairs or single 25s or 31s depending on their destinations, LMR or ER respectively. However, pairs of 20s sometimes put in an appearance although rare. As only 8 or so worked from Avonmouth, I now have 6, supplemented by a solo excellent Bachmann RTR version. However, these are much more cheaper - many have languished in the kit drawer for over a decade.  I’m yet to make a decision whether to fit separate door handles etc. The final rake will be a mixture of 1970s era vans to replicate those distinctive Avonmouth services.

2022 has been a good year for wagon builds - 20 Herring, 16 catfish, 24 MSVs, one mermaid, one BBA, one dogfish with a few more in prep. However the kit pile is still fairly large, but I have learnt a lot from these industrial scale builds. Xmas will see plenty of family time, but I still intend to get the layout running (some point motor repairs needed to access the lower deck fiddle yard) to test these rakes and have some fun with my two grandsons. Finally I hope to get one more fishing session in - before Xmas, I had a 20lb common carp from the lake I routinely fish a few weeks ago, however the lake currently has a lid on it.

Happy Xmas to readers of this thread!

Neil

Thanks Mike 

here’s the original thread 

Neil 

D7052 is a very complex weathering project, faded blue and patches of primer showing through, it was in quite a state . It also carried the D prefix until the end, Grahame Wareham’s excellent photos are the best source (Grahame’s Flickr photo below, linked to Flickr) Heljan have not appeared to have  done any chassis weathering and the floor level door handle modification, present on all blue and some late in green locos is still missing. I was hoping to see this on the new tooling. I can’t tell from the RoS photos if they have done the distinctive roof fan and grille  I’ll be detailing my existing fleet instead I think if it’s missing. 

And my source for the headcodes, Geoff Woodley and Ian Jones’ excellent pocket handbook for 1979 workings in the Bristol Parkway-Filton-Patchway triangle. As I modelling five years earlier I’m hoping the codes didn’t change. Diagrammed then for two class 37s, 47 and 46 locos, in 1974 it was very Western dominated. In fact my first recorded Western D1016 was seen shunting a rake into the down sidings in July 1974. Those middle of the night workings I could hear were Western hauled when lying in bed- an incredible sound as we lived just over a mile away from the ex GW mainline through Winterbourne.

Neil

Progress on the MSV rake. Bulk now have the excellent railtec transfers applied, all wagons pool 7671 which was a Tytherington flow back in the 1970s. I will need to find an authentic headcode for a loaded working, as these will be weighted by Tytheringon shade stone which is the next job. I’ve got six more wagon kits  to do, three of which lurking in the background will be sprayed today. Three are yet to arrive by post. These will be operated by my fleet of Westerns plus Bath road allocated 47s, although peaks and I have photographic proof that a pair of 25s and 37s were used.

some weathering still needs applying and tiny details such as touching up the wagon buffer shank silvering and brake lever handles being painted white need to be done on the whole rake. All are fitted with instanters with the extra link to give more flexibility as I discussed earlier. The wagon internals will be weathered before the stone loads are applied, a “stone dust” look is what I’m after. 

I have four Bachmann RTR “Ore-MSVs” to add to the rake - they are certainly not MSVs as Bachmann have used the unfitted MSO chassis on them. They need to be rebranded and renumbered before adding, again another railtec order. The rake will be of almost prototypical size, although the biggest trains operating through Stoke Gifford comprised up to 35 wagons. I’m not sure how unfitted wagons were dispersed in the rake - randomly or at the head/tail if anyone knows that will help!

As this project is reaching a conclusion, thoughts now turn to the next one. I’m relishing the butchery required to generate  a centre car for my 2H DEMU, which will become 1101 or 1102 both of which were seen at Bristol Parkway when they operated the shuttle service from Stapleton road when the Badminton route was shut for HST upgrades in 1975. All components for this conversion can now be obtained from the Bachmann spares site, which I’m awaiting a delivery to get this going.

1 hour ago, Phil Bullock said:

Anyone looking for evidence of TCVs off the ECML just type Warship Newton Abbot in to a Facebook search … there are at least two pictures with them in the background, off the Stirling train. 
 

@Downendian may have more…

Indeed Phil - we had a discussion about this earlier. I had no idea they worked onto the WR. May consider a purchase. Classic traction at NA with a TCV just making a background appearance. My excuse is I was distracted by the foreground.

Neil 

Hi Ross/Ashley

I’ve only just seen this thread so my apologies for not responding sooner but glad you’ve got things sorted. My layout turnouts are all controlled by switchpilot servos both 3 (4 servos) and 4 (8 servos), and I have over 50 points. I also have an ECoS so appreciate the issues you’ve been discussing. I programmed them all in directly from the switchpilot controller having assigned the turnout number there- the ECoS picked them up with no problems once the switchpilot was in programming mode as you say. The switchpilot 4 servo is much easier to use I found - but initially I had to use Google translate to convert a German manual to English!  I’m rather glad that I’ve placed the decoders in accessible positions as occasionally they need accessing.
if you have any issues re turnout control drop me a line by PM, I’m no expert but I like you was on a learning curve but eventually got things sorted. The only issue I have had is the servo motor itself somehow forgetting its right position and needs reprogramming- I have three to do again at the moment. I’ve yet to use it for accessories but I will do so for colour light signals in the future.

Neil 

More work on the growing MSV rake over the past few days. All the bits had turned up for my Hornby/Parkside PC63 hybrid. Not as straightforward as I would have liked, but getting there now after a few hours work today. Bufferbeams were added using evergreen L-section and steel buffer/drawhook back plates added using 2.5mm evergreen strip. The solebars were then attached to the sprayed Hornby body, and alignment was done manually (not easy I add) to get square and wheels running true. if I was doing more of these I’d fabricate a jig, but I’m loathe to do any more as they take twice as long to put together than the Wild type PC63 kit. However from normal viewing distance the two wagons look identical- the old Hornby body looks indistinguishable from Parkside.
 

It was on the first wagon I found out that the weight on the Hornby wagon which I had wanted to retain, fouled the wheels so off they came. I wish I knew what adhesive Hornby used as they took a lot of effort to shift! I then added Accurascale 13 inch oleo wagon buffers, which some of the prototypes appear to have ran with (courtesy of the obligatory visit to the relevant Paul Bartlett gallery), plus their instanters and draw hooks. These look rather lovely and somewhat show up the Parkside originals (photo shows Parkside on left Hornby/Parkside on rights). Maybe replace the whole rake? I’m tempted but not at the moment.

ignore the apparent difference in bauxite tone, it appears to be an artefact with my phone camera, perhaps due to the Parkside wagon being in gloss varnish now awaiting decals. Hopefully the first fifteen will be complete tomorrow and the hybrids need gloss varnish before I can proceed further, after touching up some areas of the paintwork - mustn't handle wagons with  superglue on fingers (not that I knew it at the time of course). The eagle eyed May spot I’ve added an extra link to the instanters, not prototypical of course but coupling with them was so close there was no way the rake could negotiate my helix. So a compromise was needed to achieve their route availability. After decals they will be suitably weathered and stone loads/ weight added.

Finally I submitted today an academic paper, although retired it was nice to write an invited review for a relatively new journal which is publishing a special edition on rare Rh variants (I’ll leave it there). 

Neil
 

Great stuff Phil. “Operators inadvertently exiting sidings without selecting correct route” I’m guilty of that one for sure on Abbotswood I! Can’t wait to see the full set up.

Neil 

S-kits released 4 products for class 47 boiler ports, Spanner, Clayton, Universal blanking plate 47/3 and Stones. I’ve collected a few for a rainy day, but rather foolishly gave some away. They maybe still in business as I may need to replenish the stock pile 

skitsinfo@btinternet.com 
I think Shawplan have only ever done the blanking plate. Plus I also thought the Limby 47 had the blanked off Universal port (not one to hand to check)

Neil

Just three I can think of 

The smell of freshly brewed courage beer wafting across Temple meads from the nearby brewery. Alas long gone.

The sulphurous smell in the atmosphere in the Industrial North, I first noticed this as a Southerner travelling through the Rotherham/Sheffield steelworks  in 1974, something again long gone.

Lastly and very fondly, the warm vaporised oily smell emanating from D1015 on my last visit to the SVR. A smell I’d forgotten about when up close to hydraulics, diesel electrics don’t smell the same way somehow.

Neil 

Hi Martin.

I guess it’s far more complex a job matching pool and running numbers - I’m not too fussed re running numbers and will use what’s on the 4mm MSV sheet, carefully adding the 7671 pool number.  Drop Steve a line and see if he can change one of the pool numbers on the new sheet to what you need?

Meanwhile the next batch of Parkside MSVs were given solebars and wheels this morning. Underframe garments hopefully later today.

Five Hornby MSVs were given bufferbeams also, fabricated from suitably sized Evergreen L section and cemented to the wagon floor. Buffer shanks will be made from evergreen tube sections, but I’ve been on the rummage for thin plasticard to represent steel plates behind the draw hook and buffer shanks. Then they’ll get the primer/ railmatch bauxite treatment.

Neil  

Terrific service from Steve at Railtec. I dropped him a line this morning regarding transfers for MSV pool numbers, and this was his response this evening - a new product. You can’t get better service than that.

https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=8083 
thanks again Steve, pool number 7671 used on a Tytherington flow will be on my wagons, incidentally five more were in the paint shops today,

Neil 

A beautiful tribute at the Plymouth cenotaph and naval memorial where Remembrance Day is hard etched into my  former adopted city. A wave of poppies - stunning.

Not much modelling today - but the PWM gang have been out working on the helix that links the upper scenic part of my layout and the fiddle yards underneath. I’d bought a secondhand Dapol track cleaner many moons ago to maintain the helix which is inaccessible for much of the time as it’s a useful place to put storage boxes. The secondhand cleaner I found out a few days ago was minus its vacuum fan, so suitable spares were purchased. I was amazed how effective the vacuum is - look at the detritus it picked up which is impossible to get to with my layout Shark mini-vac. Oh also found out the track cleaner paintwork doesn’t like IPA - so my deft pipetting hand (accrued through many years of dropping blood into centrifuge tubes/blood smears etc as a blood scientist) came in handy. On the plus side a DCC chip was already in the cleaner.
 

The up lines are now operational and possession by PWM was given back this evening- some trackwork needs repairing on the down lines and almost ready to roll. The helix is now becoming critical for running as my Freightliner rake, Herrings, Catfish Rakes and eventually the MSVs are all coupled with Bachmann couplers (liners) and instanters. They can only be moved to storage via the helix. I must get around to starting a thread on the layout but it’s not ready for public viewing yet.

Neil 

Not tried one of those Mike,  but one Cambrian mermaid was enough for me. I’ve still got 6 more to build though, has moved well down the list and I’ll put up with my flangeway versions for now.

Neil 

Ah so you’ve obtained some Forest of Dean ballast then Phil!

A 117 in standard all over BR blue would suit me fine. I’m somewhat puzzled that this has never been done seeing as it was the predominant 1960s/1970s livery. I’d buy one as soon as they are available - now if a class 120 were to be announced then that would take priority over anything else.

Neil 

Not often you get an unexpected freebie from a manufacturer. I’d made a start on the next batch of MSVs and collected together the chassis subframe sprues to spray with primer and black. The first five needed for the Parkside bodies are now drying in the spray booth after the final coat of black. I normally spray chassis parts and bodies separately as I can’t face masking up 20 plus wagons.
 

I was surprised and delighted to find that the five kits I obtained all had an extra chassis sprue! Not one to waste them, I looked at my retired Hornby MSVs to see if they can be used there instead of the unprototypical chassis they are mounted on. They look a relatively straightforward fit, although it will need buffer beams and headstocks fabricating which annoyingly aren’t part of the Hornby body. The Hornby MSV body is not too bad, dimensionally almost identical to the Parkside model, and the five reworked Hornby body/Parkside chassis will look fine mid rake of around 20-25 wagons. The Hornby bodies will be resprayed as their shade of bauxite is not a good match for the others. I can even use the Hornby wheels of course plus I have a box full of bearings. All wagons will be fitted with Accurascale instanters which I know will turn up soon. I will need to bodge something up for the underframe vacuum cylinders and connections but that’s a compromise I’ll take any day if it means saving ££.

Test fit in progress shown in photo showing what a good fit the solebar is to the Hornby body.

Neil

Well I’ve just been commissioned to build my grandsons a small layout for their bedroom. I had been accumulating bits and pieces of N-gauge stock for them, but this gauge seems ideal for the space available. I may well buy them an 08 as part of their Xmas presents. They will get my old trusty Lenz system too. They’ll be getting one of the Hornby sets from their parents.

Although I realise a different scale, I remember a tri-ang TT gauge 3mm/foot railway layout on display at Exmouth when we were on holiday in the 1960s, and always thought it looked the perfect size.

Neil

Running trials yesterday and today with D7026/9 and 31 309. Some minor glitches (including the schoolboy error of fitting the chip in D7029 the wrong way round) but the Heljan hymek chassis were bomb proof and smooth and silky as always. One was second hand, fitted with new wheels and one bought brand new a few years ago now. Not so for 31 309, hesitant and some clear indication that the pick ups are inadequate. It got progressively better with running in, but not acceptable to me, so it’s looking like a rewheeling job plus extra pick ups to the centre axles. Those traction tyres just have to go. Soldering iron had to come out too to reattach wires that had come loose. However I won’t give up on the repowering my old Lima models this way if 31 309 turns out well finally.

Meanwhile a scenic interlude and built six pine trees (loosely spruce or larch), planted in a row behind the signal box. This I’ve read, mirrors GWR practise where rows of pines were planted near stations. My South Gloucestershire woodland scenic will get a conifer addition or two. Followed the Boulder railroad creek method from you tube. Briefly balsa dowel with wire branches embedded, followed by woodland scenics turf for bark, then 8mm and 4mm static grass for branches and foliage. I’m rather fond of them. Scenic work started in this section - work in progress.

Also completed the first batch of 5 MSVs, just awaiting decals and weathering now. I’ll wait until I’ve built batch 2 before adding decals. I’ll have a pleading word with Steve at railtec to see if I can get a set made with the same pool numbers that  saw use at Tytherington back in the 1970s.

Neil 

Lovely Phil, I haven’t unboxed my D15 yet. Noticed from your photos that they’ve omitted the front door hinges too. It does look like it needs some weathering to enhance the door boundaries. I think the hinges would enhance them too.

Neil