SRman

Just buy 16 and pretend one has already gone for scrap!

Hornby did a 'tie-up' deal with Oxford Diecast before taking over the Corgi ranges (including the Trackside range). What this means is that Hornby and Oxford Diecast can release the same models but with livery variations. The R-B face shovel in the Hornby catalogue is in green with large 'SR' markings in white. I had a feeling I saw an advertisement for Oxford in one of the magazines that showed the SR one as well as GWR and LNER variants (and LMS too??). EDIT: Autocoach was correct and these are from Corgi's Track side range. The ad I saw was in February Hornby magazine and the green crane was plain green but the others were in GWR and LNER liveries, while the Hornby catalogue shows the same three PLUS the SR darker green face shovel. Apologies for any misinformation or disinformation in my earlier post.

Oxford also have a Ruston Bucyrus face shovel or dragline (or some variant of the crane) showing for release in 2012 in SR green livery - I don't know how accurate this is but it looks nice! EDIT: The SR face shovel appears in the 2012 Hornby catalogue - not sure if this is in addition to a standard Oxford release or exclusive to Hornby. Either way, it still looks nice!!

I can't believe I missed this topic! Another member of the Blackburn South thread hijacking team here! So I'm another one in Melbourne, Victoria.

Back to the old Hornby Dublo signal box I started playing with a week ago: I have now glazed it. I found some printed glazing from Downes Glaze (I think) which had some windows well suited to the apertures on the ground floor locking room. The upper floor windows are done with plain glazing, to which I will add some microstrip bars in the next installment for this item. The first two pics show the railway side of the cabin while the other two are of the side that normally faces away from the trains. There are still a few spots that need the paint retouched (particularly the staircases and landings, also the door architraves). After the glazing has been properly completed, I will need to make up an interior which can be inserted from below, together with a track diagram to be pasted to the interior wall.

The Vollmer brick sheets have now arrived and I have completed the brick facings for each side of the platform, allowing me to continue with the platform surfaces properly. I decided to change to 40 thou plasticard for extra rigidity and neater joints so cut the new surfaces using the old card ones as templates. There may still be a little filing and trimming to do but I haven't tested yet with the widest and longest stock. I have also now reused the old surface card, cut into strips, as extra cross-bracing. It was all fairly crudely cut to interlock, then glued into place. And finally, the plasticard surface roughly painted (first coat only), but not glued down pending further clearance tests. Next stage: glue the surfaces down then add strips of the brick (two bricks high) as corbels under the edges of the platform overhangs. These will also hide any gaps, with luck!

I have no further work on the platforms to report at this stage but, while awaiting the arrival of the Vollmer brick sheets, I have not been entirely idle. I have decided to compromise a little further and reduce the radius of the siding curves to allow a little more length for train storage. The radius is still slightly over 2nd radius but less than 3rd - at its tightest it equals 2nd radius. While it looks a little tight for the 4CEP unit in the pics, it actually suits the shorter LT stock somewhat better. There is now room for a six car LT unit with room to spare. The second photo shows the new position for the buffer stop. I haven't fully tidied up yet - the track pins are not yet hammered fully down to allow me to adjust the alignment more easily if needed and there are still a few track pins floating loose beside the track. Buildings have been rearranged but this is still definitely not the final arrangement, even allowing for the fact that the whole lot will be on a rising slope towards the rear. I have slightly modified and repainted my Hornby Dublo signal box, inspired by a picture on Radley Models' site (http://www.radleymod...rack_side_items). Mine still requires glazing and some sort of interior. The pics show both sides of it. I have added a little Slaters brick plasticard to blank off some of the windows on the back of the cabin, just as Phil Radley has done for his model. I wasn't sure what colour to paint the doors; I chose a light blue for two of them and red for one that I thought might be entry to a restricted area.

Further progress with the third and fourth rail laying tests: I laid a second stretch of third and fourth rail on the adjacent track but this time used a template for the positioning of the centre rail made from a piece of scrap brass. It sits between the running rails on plain track with the edge aligned with the edge of the selected sleeper. I then dril lthe hole through the hole in the brass. The 'bent up bit' is a crude handle. I should add that I cannot use this with the track power on! The track on the right was laid using the template. That on the left has also had further work done to lower it slightly. This was achieved by simply drilling out the top part of the mounting hole to a size that matched the diameter of the third rail pot. The rails are still not quite level with each other but I am not far off achieving what I want, now. At this stage, everything is still just a firm push-fit. When I am satisfied I will glue it all down - after ballasting.

Hi Doug. I had to do just that with the couple of the ScaleFour end ramps I experimentally placed after taking the pics. It is a useful tip.

The Platforms are still on temporary hold, pending the arrival of more of the Vollmer brick sheets. However, I have now got hold of my code 60 rail for the third and fourth rails, courtesy of Brunel Models in Cheltenham (Melbourne). For the platforms, I have now decided to go for the plasticard top surfaces for more rigidity, so I bought some Evergreen 40 thou plasticard for the purpose. The centre section of the platform will have paving slabs, under the buildings and canopies but the rest will have a different texture. While in Brunel Models, I saw some textured spray paints that would give an effective bituminous finish to the platforms (or roads), which i may experiment with in the near future. I have laid a short test section of third and fourth rail using the Peco third rail chairs (pots). From this, I know I will have to countersink the bases of the pots slightly as the rails are slightly higher than the running rails. While this is correct for the prototype, I want to have them all level to ease track cleaning. For this section, I haven't glued anything down, nor have I created any end ramps. I have some ScaleFour castings for the end ramps and will be using those for the LT lines but I will only bend the ends of the third rail sections down slightly for the main lines to give a different appearance to the two sets of lines. I made a template out of card to drill the holes in the centre of each of the relevant sleepers. This worked well but is not very durable so, having proved the concept, I'll make a better one out of some brass strip. I already have a sore finger from sliding 44 of the pots on to the rails; I'm not sure how I'll cope with doing this for another 80ft of track (the code 60 rail comes in 2ft lengths and I have only done two of them here!!). Also in the pics, you can see my latest acquisition, the Bachmann Collectors' Club Network SouthEast liveried 2EPB unit.

Just adding an updated photo pf the LT pannier tank with paint now touched up below the footplate and sprung buffers added. I have been able to dispense with the BR van with longer couplings acting as a spacer.

After putting it off for a long time, I decided to resurrect my old Bachmann London Transport 0-6-0 pannier tank. Now this model was one of the old split chassis types so converting it to DCC required hard-wiring a decoder and creating a way for the chassis halves to connect to the decoder red and black wires. Pulling it apart was quite easy, as even the chassis halves are only held together with two screws and two spacers. There were no bits that needed grinding off as the motor brushes simply pressed against each of the chassis halves and relied on the pressure for contact. I chose a 9 pin connector that accepts several different types of decoder and cut off the white, yellow, blue and purple wires and shortened the red, black, grey and orange ones (there are never going to be any lights fitted to this model!). Soldering the grey and orange wires to the brushes was straightforward, remembering to include a little heat-shrink tubing to slide over the brush connections to insulate them from the chassis completely. I drilled a couple of holes, one each to the rear of each chassis half, sized to accept a 12BA brass screw. These screws were to allow me to solder the red and black wires to the chassis halves (one wire per chassis half). One of the screws was a little tight and actually sheared off but that was OK too, as I was still able to solder the wire to the brass stub. Before soldering the red and black wires, I reassembled the motor and chassis. This was a bit fiddly as the spacers kept shifting before I could tighten the screws but I eventually managed to get it all together. I then soldered the red and black wires to those screws (or stubs!) mentioned earlier. This is where the 9 pin connector comes in. I tested the set up with an old Digitrax DH123 decoder that has burnt out its lighting functions but still works for driving a motor. This decoder is expendable, as far as I am concerned! Anyway, it all worked perfectly first go. I tested on the programming track first and all seemed well, then tested using low voltage DC current and the wheels went round, so then I placed it on the main lines and ran it back and forth. Having established that all was well, I swapped the decoder for a newer Train$ave budget decoder which also uses the 9 pin connector. While a little larger than i would like, it *just* fitted into the pannier's cab. Being black it is well hidden - there was little cab detail to see anyway as the motor/chassis block intrude well into the cab to start with. I had to grind away a little of the wheel splasher mouding in the cab floor to allow my solder connections on the sides of the chassis to clear them but all wnet together smoothly after that. It is trundling happily around the layout even as I type this. It always had a bit of a rocking motion, in spite of my trying several different wheel sets quite some time ago. I settled on the best combination of wheels I could find, hence the appearance in the phot with the centre wheels having their rims painted out but the newer replacement wheels still having polished rims. All of that took place last night. My final tasks this morning were to replace the solid buffers as the fairly close couplings were causing derailments on tighter curves due to the buffers coming into contact. I replaced them with some standard Bachmann round sprung buffers. I had to drill out the holes a little to allow fitment. A touch of glue, some red paint on the shanks, and a bit of matt black on those shiny wheel rims and it is now complete ... until I do a little more weathering on it. The photo shows it before I painted the wheel rims and replaced the buffers. The BR van was a stop-gap to prevent the buffer problem untill I replaced them on the engine.

Not yet. Too hot at the moment to do anything but sit around and melt! 40 degrees C today in Melbourne.

Official weather bureau figure for Melbourne (city) was 39.5 at 5:50pm so - I have no doubt it is slightly cooler where you guys are (near the bay) but still too hot to go outside if you don't have to.

Being DCC I can move all trains on the lower level to wherever I need them to clear space to work. As for the upper level, I had to remove all the stock and track while I used the jigsaw to trim the upper board. The tracks on the upper level are only approximately in the right positions. I need to get a router or something else that will cut holes for the point motors on the upper level as the method I used lower down was a bit too course. Doug is correct in his assertion that I don't have enough off-layout storage!

The tops are just card - easier to trim and adjust. With proper support, card can be very strong. The photos don't show all of the extra cross supports I have been adding under the card surfaces. Even so, I did consider using plasticard for the tops. If I change my mind (it's not too late!) I will use the card ones as templates.

I'll drink to that. Cheeeeershh!

... and that's coming from one of the other great layout owners!!! :

I wonder what my three were powering! Before I took that photo I actually had 11diesels perched similarly weighing down the platform while the glue set. Happy New Year to you and all the other RMwebbers and any BRMA members here too. I'll look forward to seeing and hearing your G2A soon , I hope.

' Thanks, Mark. For the record, the diesels are a Heljan class 33 with modified cab roof profile, a Horn by class 73 electro-diesel with a detailed and repainted Lima body and Howes' sound, and a Heljan Hymek, also with Howes' sound. The great hand in the sky had some small part to play in their positioning! A Happy New Year to you and your family. Jeff.

Happy New Year to you, Rick and Sharon. Keep running and improving Penhayle Bay for our pleasure through 2012 and beyond - it is one of the highlights (among quite few others) of RMweb. Cheers, Jeff.

For an "attempt" that looks pretty good to me!

Thanks Peter. A Happy New Year to you and Mrs PCM and PCM minor too.

Ha ha! Not short of stock, just short of track space!