barrowroad

Some pre-formed guttering arrived from Eileen's Emporium yesterday so I decided to sort out the the roof. This guttering is very good and having filed down tube for the loco shed on my Sheep Pasture layout I don't mind taking short cuts this time. Having initally fixed the fascia board using 2.5mm x 1mm plasticard I decided it was oversize and removed it, replacing it with 2mm x 2mm brass L angle strip. This is more acceptable and nearer to scale. The top edge of each of the 4 pieces of fascia was cut at 45deg and soldered together to form a rectangle around the roof. Three sides were made up on the bench, fitted around the roof and then the final forth piece soldered into place. The brass guttering was made up in a similar fashion before spot soldering it to the L angle. Two 0.5mm pieces of brass tube were fixed into drilled holes to give fixing points for the 2 downpipes at a later stage. The box appears to have two stoves to keep the signalmen warm - hence there are two stovepipe chimneys in the roof. After I scaled the size from two photos I fabricated them from 2mm brass tube plus a drilled out piece of larger tube. Finally the roof has been measured up for the tiles and my home made jig prepared for cutting the 5thou plasticard tiles......the next job. A Merry Christmas to all readers of my blog.... I may take a break in the festivities and start the tiles.... then again......

I have spent most of the day painting the second coat on the four elevations of the signal box - a bit fiddly in places as there are three main colours and rather a lot of 'colour joints' which required a lot of tidying to achieve a reasonable finish. I have also painted the floor a linoleum colour and the interior white. On reflection I think the lower wood panels of the interior should be a dark brown - can anyone confirm this? The box nameplates are particularly pleasing being laser etched by Chris of York Modelmaking - an order for the shed STOP board has just been placed. These were given a base coat of red oxide primer followed by a coat of humbrol acrylic red/crimson . The paint was then carefully scraped off to reveal the Lawrencce Hill Junc lettering.Here are some photos of the results. I shall be modelling the interior and have 45 etched levers from Masokits to assemble together with various items from the Dart Castings range for the remainder of the interior fixtures. Now for the roof tiles..............................

Further progress has been made with the signal box over the past few days with the steps now completed and painted. I had to do a few modifications to the handrails and the platform as my drawing did not match the latest prototype photos. The roof shell has been fitted with it's Rowmark plastic to form the surface onto which the tiles will be added. I am toying with the idea of using individual tiles cut from 5thou plasticard. I have used this method on the stationary winding house of Sheep Pasture with some success so will probably repeat the exercise on this box. With the sides all now assembled I decided it was time for a test fit, so here are some photos. Please remember the panels are not glued at this stage and therefore there are some gaps at the joints. I have been experimenting with some Humbrol Paints and have made a start on the panels - Here is a taster...... that's your lot for now....more will follow.

As mentioned in my earlier blog I now have a Bachmann 7F 53809 to add to the locos available for the shed. Of course it will now take it's place in the queue for conversion to P4 but for now here are some photos taken on shed the other night. I wonder if Ultrascale will do a wheel conversion set. I should have removed the Bachmann couplings - sorry.

Since compiling the set of drawings for the box guess what - yes I have found a better photo of the front of the box and yes there are a few differences. First the lower windows are higher up and second the toilet is bigger - must have had large signalmen Thanks to Paul for pointing this out as it's better to know before rather than after. The new toilet is scratch built using the internal formers provided by York Modelmaking. A few hours work and the modifications are now complete with a redesigned front and a new shaped toilet..... I'm flushed with success I have also completed the rear elevation. My Bachmann 7F has been delivered - 53809 - what a lovely model.......watch out for some photos on shed.

Hi Jim, The box is a three panel 30ft long one with 45 levers and is the only one on the layout. The other boxes in the vicinity where Kingswood Junction to the north and Engine Shed Siding on th eother side of Days Road bridge at the rear of the shed. Barrow Lane box controlled St Phillips station and goods depot and was situated at the near the other end of Barrow Road arches. Of the latter three boxes only Engine Shed Sidings is a possible future build when I extend into Temple Meads Cheers, Robin

Thank you all for your kind comments. I have spoken to Chris of York Modelmaking about the possiblity of marketing a parts for a Midland Signal box - the 10ft standard panels and a variety of windows for the different period boxes would greatly assist anyone interested and would also keep the price down. If people are interested ca I suggest they contact Chris and let him know - I'm sure he could be persuaded. Regards, Robin

After a call out this morning to sort out my son's car, I managed to do some more on the box this afternoon. Both ends are now assembled and have been test fitted against the front elevation. The corners interlock very well with the front elevation and are a stepped design to form an overlap with the four laminated layers of each piece. Next the rear elevation......

This afternoon, at long last, I made a start on the model of Lawrence Hill Junction Signal Box. The basis of the model is another stunning kit of parts commissioned from York Modelmaking which arrived last week. The kit consists of a shell formed from interlocked peices of 2mm mdf onto which will be fixed the walls of the box made from laminations of Rowmark plastic. Each of the four walls consists of four layers of the plastic onto which is fixed a further layer on rustic cladding. So far this today I have assembled the mdf shell and most of the front elevation of the box. It will be noted that some of the windows are modelled in the open position as requested. The following sequence of photos shows the kit of parts and the build so far. I am particularly pleased with the fineness of the window frames and the glazing the latter will be fixed following painting. More updates to follow..........

Hi David, Glad to see you've made a start to the shed - it's looking good. As it is all Rowmark you may find that the use of coloured crayons/pencils is not too successful. They are fine on primed mdf but less so on plastics. I see from the coloured photos attached the inside of the shed is dirty white with the lower 6ft black. I used Halfords white primer and a mix of 'black' acrylics to do the inside of Barrow Road. I note you have used Plastiweld with success to join the sections of Rowmark. As I had no need to join plastic to plastic on BR I shall try it on my latest offering from York Modelmaking - the signal box. Keep up the good work. Robin

Hi Jim, Lifting off the roof of Birmingham New Street is an interesting propect as is removing the roof from the roundhouse on my layout. Before getting to this point several things can be done to obviate the need to do it or at least minimise the need. First I have gone for a turntable mechanism that operates using a stepper motor and will only connect power to the relevant turntable road once it is aligned correctly. This should minimise derailments inside the shed. Before adding the roof the turntable and all the trackwork will be thoroughly tested. This also applies to all locos and stock. However as we all know stock is bound to derail at some point and this means the hand in the sky will be required to rectify the problem. This means that some method of access is required. With Barrow Road I have sectioned the side of the shed away from the main line. This gives access to to full length of this side of the shed - the access height being 13cm. This coincides with the edge of the board and has a detachable 3mm thick clear acrylic sheet fixed to the board. This should be visible in the photos. This serves two purposes - 1.to enable a good view inside the shed and 2.to give access to all turntable roads on that side of the shed by removal of the acrylic sheet. View of Acrylic Sheet Any problem with locos on the other roads will require a different solution. If one or two locos on that side gives a problem during a show I always have the option to leave them where they are with a 'not to be moved' sign attached' The last resort will be the remove all or a section of the roof. I have not finalised how I am going to achieve this but as there are three pitches I suspect I will build the roof so each pitch can be removed seperately. Birmingham New Street with an overall roof poses more of a problem the my roundhouse not least because you have coaching stock and locos whereas I just have the latter. If any of stock of a train in BNS derails I can see no solution other than some method of roof removal or part thereof. I suspect you have already worked this out. How long is the station roof and is there any logical way of dividing it into 'obvious' sections? Keep in touch - I keep a regular watch on your progress with a superb layout., Cheers, Robin

At long last I have completed building all of the various pits; those inside the roundhouse, the engine sidings, the preparation pits and the ash disposal pits, a grand total of 33 not including those inside the workshop. The brasswork of the ash disposal pits has now been sprayed with halfords grey primer which makes it possible to photograph them without the glare from the metallic surface. I have added a number of track rivits to the surface of the brass especially near the board joints in order to give a secure attachment for the track at these positions. The final task before track laying is to spray the other outside pits with primer and the weather them. I will prime them in the morning. Here are some photos taken this evening. You can see the position of the Barrow Road arches which cross over the shed end of both ash pits. Now I must take a look at the signal box!

A package form York Modelmaking dropped through the letter box yesterday containing the laser cut parts for Lawrence Hill Signal Junc signal box which stands at the entrance to the shed yard. I need to familiarise myself with the kit of parts but hope to start the build over the next week. The box opened in 1908 and a replacement 45 levr frame was put in in 1938 at the time the shed was modernised with the installation of the coaling plant and ash tower. To wet your appetite here are a couple of photos of the box which have been cropped from originals given to me by Cedric Catt.

Quite right ...get on with your revising

I have been unable to attach any photos to my blog for the past few days - hence the lack of any recent update. It appears to have reverted to the original attachment format so I shall take the opportunity to add some photos of the latest progress. These photos show my chosen method of fixing the panels to the top surface of the pit walls using brass screws. I am pleased with the result. Here are a few shots of the panels in position in relation to the shed building. I now have just two panels to make in order to complete both ash disposal pits. Once all are in place I intend to solder a number of track rivits into the top surface at the board joints to give additional strength to the trackwork at these vunerable positions. P4 Track Company L1 Bridge Chairs and M1 Small Chairs will be used together with the rivits to fix the track onto the panels after which the brasswork will need to be painted.

Time for an update on the slow progress with the two ash disposal pits. Unlike the other outside pits, which were all updated and in some cases elongated using concrete, these two pits remained with their original brick structure and 5ft cast iron panels to support the track. Having made 7 of the 10 lengths of iron panels [ fabricated from brass section] I decided I needed a break and started on the pits themselves. The pit under the ash plant itself is 220ft long and is curved. The shorter pit alongside is 130ft and is also curved. This fact meant I could not used my straight jig to glue and assemble the pits. Instead I had to fabricate each pit by cutting the pit bases into a series of short straight sections in order to form the curve. After this the side walls were glued to follow the curve. I have yet to attach the cast iron [brass] panels to the top of the pit walls - a bit more work is required before this happens - but plan to fix them using 1mm brass screws fixed into pre drilled holes in the side walls of the pit. A few additional photos:- In order to fix the brass cast iron panels to the top of the pit side walls I have decided to use 16mm long 12BA cheese head screws which I have to hand. These will be self tapped into the mdf side walls and have the advantage that they can also be used as electrical connectors as they protrude through the bottom of the pit.

For further views of the hoist and tower at Carnforth - virtually identical to Barrow Road - see these earlier photos courtesy of 'Free at last'. These were taken in the 90's and give unobstructed views when compared to mine - the tower had three rakes of West Coast Railways Mk1 & 2 coaches positioned under and alongside the tower. Carnforth Coaling Tower

Good to hear from you Dave. Peter's model is excellent. When it was built I supplied a copy of the only drawing of a type 2 coaler I could find, which was of the plant at Accrington - photo and drawing in LMS Engine Sheds Vol 1. Peter used this as a guide when building the model. My spec to him was for a detachable winding house at the top of the tower to enable me to position a future winding mechanism and motor. This he has done. Peter was not keen on providing an operating tower and I agreed that this was something I would do in the future. Peter based the hoist mechanism on this drawing. Unfortunately I have discovered that the Barrow Road mechanism is different and does not have the pair of balance weights, which drop to the ground, in the Accrington version. I will need to re-engineer the hoist for the model and probably reposition the two guide rail girders further out towards the edge of the tower with the curve at the top. The hoist carrying cradle is also wider than in the model - I will post a further photo to show this. Peter has used the two unpainted brass sections to represent the balance weight guides down the face of the tower. Hope this makes sense. Robin

Since receiving the model of the Coaling Tower from Peter Leyland I have been collecting research material on the operation of the tower with the intention of making the coaler operational. Whether this results in full operation, with the wagon tipper operational, or whether the wagon hoist is just raised under the hood, remains to be seen. Recently I obtained permission from West Coast Railways to visit their Carnforth Site in order to photograph the Coal & Ash Plants as part of this research. The most difficult part of the research was to identify the tipping mechanism of the plant which is obscured by the 'hood' at the top of the hoist. For those officionados of mechanical coaling plants here are a few close up photos taken with a telephoto lens. Unfortunately the plant has concrete cancer and for the usual health & safety reasons [ I did ask] I was not able to climb the plant [ sounds like Jack i the Beanstalk]. The other reason being the bottom 20ft of the access ladder had been cut off! I have other photos of details on both the Coal & Ash plants if anyone is interested. West Coast Railways kindly gave me a guided tour of the site where amongst other locos present I saw Scots Guardsman and the completed chassis of Jubilee 'Galatea'. A pleasure to see another former Barrow Road loco in the process of restoration. A trip down to the East Lancs followed with the sighting of another ex Barrow Road Jubilee 'Leander' and a trip behind her to Rawtenstall & return. Today I visited the History Centre at Chippenham where I found the 1937 GA drawing of Bristol LMS - Locomotive Coaling Plant - Ref 2515/409/0719ms. Excellent drawings of the end and front elevation with the 'hood' removed.This drawing has eluded me on previous visits not least because it is not with the other Barrow Road material - it was with the GWR Bath Road shed material - now I do'nt recall that railway having modern coaling facilities! In the meantime I am pressing on with the 'very long' ash disposal pits. An update will follow in the next few days.

This morning I passed Westerleigh on my way to to the Swindon & Wiltshire History Centre at Chippenham - to do some research for my Barrow Road layout - and noticed one 60 and a 66 in the yard so vowed to do a detour on my return. I arrived to find 60063 at the entrance to the yard, with the Murco tanks and 60015 'Bow Fell' coupled to 66137 outside the compound. Not sure whether there was a problem with 15 as the Lindsay returns have normally gone by this time.

I have just spent an enjoyable weekend at the Blackburn Show with the Glevum Group exhibiting the group layout Brinkley where we won an award for the signaling on the layout. Here are a few photos taken at the show. Brinkley at Blackburn Next weekend I am exhibiting my other layout Sheep Pasture - Cromford & High Peak - at the Cardiff Show at UWIC in Llandaff. Please come and have a chat if you are able to attend.

Following the show last weekend at Cirencester I am looking after the Brinkley 60 foot turntable bridge and couldn't resist placing it in position inside the roundhouse. It looks rather good... maybe I should keep hold of it;) Meanwhile back to the ash disposal pits...........

Hi Steve, That would explain why Manchester Records Office could not provide the drawings. Despite listing one for the hydraulic wheel drop at Rose Grove all they could find was the plan for the foundations. Regards, Robin

The Glevum S4 Society Area group, of which I am a member, took the group layout Brinkley to this show at the weekend - hence the lack of progress on Barrow Road. This show was at Deer Park School, a very pleasant venue and a very friendly atmosphere. Here are a few photos I took of Brinkley on Saturday. Cirencester Show

I thought we'd agreed; you and Paul build the coaching stock and I'll be happy to have a large fiddle yard;) Have a good trip Robin