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It was a nice hot day today, so all the doors and windows were open in the railway room, so that I could use the airbrush to tone down the ballast on Basford North. That's underfloor heating foam on the left in preparation for a raised bank. There is still plenty to do...

The down platform fence has now been completed..

That signal is tight for clearances - I shall have to check full size requirements...

Yes....

We had a scenery working day yesterday, and as well as ballasting, I thought I'd make a start on the arched retaining wall that hides the Bulwell Common Line on its way to the storage yard ( it should be heading off in completely the other direction! ).

The Brooklyn Road bridge is nearly complete, I just need to finish the pilaster caps and tidy up..

22 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Some driver comparisons...........

 

 

A DJH Austerity from a collection (builder/painter unknown). 

 

Prior to Markits introducing a proper Austerity wheel, DJH used to provide etched overlays to go over ordinary spoked wheels. Though robust and reliable, there was insufficient depth relief.

 

 

 

Weathering might have improved them, though they're still far too 'flat'.

 

The correct-looking alternative was......

 

 

 

The Gibson friction-fit Austerity driver. In appearance, very, very good-looking. 

 

Now, this one came from the same estate as the Finney A3 (built by DJH themselves), but it didn't run smoothly (it had lived all its life in a glass case). On investigation, under load, at least three of the drivers could move on their axles, causing the rods to bind. Two were quite loose (on different axles). Since a non-runner would see little return to a widow, I turned the loose drivers 'twixt finger and thumb until they were correctly-quartered. I then moved them ever so slightly wide of gauge, and applied some runny superglue on to the wheels' axle holes, swiftly pressing them back on to their axles to the correct gauge. It worked, but what a 'fraught with difficulty' procedure. Weird, since the model can hardly have run much. 

 

I also weathered it, and the new owner is very happy.

 

When Tony Geary first built his DJH Austerities, he used the overlays. However, dissatisfied with their appearance, once Markits had introduced the proper Austerity driver................

 

 

 

 

He substituted them, to great effect.

 

Being diligent (unlike me), he plugged the slots in the retaining nuts. 

 

Not being diligent (and even indolent)...............

 

 

 

When I built my own DJH Austerities, I left the slots (a future job).

 

Certainly, Tony's pair and my pair have run countless scale miles on Stoke Summit, Charwelton and now on Little Bytham, without the slightest fuss or failure. Real 'layout locos' I'd like to think of them as, unlike the one with friction-fit drivers (though it should be now). 

 

 

 

 

Just a little correction on the  history of the two Austerities - they were both built by Allen Hammett, one for me and the other for Roy Palmer. I acquired Roy's one when he changed scale. Both were built with Sharman wheels originally ( I thought the overlays looked awful ) but I also experienced the wheels shifting on the axles. So when the Markits wheel was introduced, I re-wheeled them both.

I never really got on with friction fit drivers either...  I was probably not diligent enough with their installation...

Regards

Tony

More O4/8 fun - I just found this 4mm and 7mm comparison. 63877 was from a Little Engines kit. It came back to me after it was sold for a new motor/gearbox. I never liked those visible Romford nuts, so filled them with Plastic padding. It could easily be dug out if necessary and was worth the effort to improve the appearance of the wheels.

We do like an O4/8 - Allen Hammett built this one in 7mm for me by combining B1  body etchings and O4/7 kit. So I paid Allen for building it, as I didn't have time, and he had already built one for someone else. So at least I can call myself a cheque book modeller!  It was a few years after that that I started building loco's for a living...  The loco is running on my Basford North, where the scenery is very much in progress. I need to concentrate on the endlessly running video box that pops up of 'Sir' demonstrating scenic work on Little Bytham! The iron ore tipplers  - all 20 of them are brass kits..  The layout is not a sole effort - the house behind was built by Peter Leyland, the platform faces are from York Modelmaking, and the bridge was designed and laser cut by Geoff Taylor - who also did the green stuff...

The DJH austerities:- 90299 was built by Allen for Roy Palmer, then it came to me. Allen also built 90040 for me, at the time, we thought they were wonderful, the only other option, was to scratchbuild or do I recall correctly a Cornard white metal body on a Joeff 141R chassis? Years later, I did buy a Bachmann one, and I thought it was pretty good. I personally don't mind having RTR stuff - it gives me time to build the stuff that is not available off the shelf. As long as we enjoy it, thats all that matters.

Today was our first pass at the backscene by Alisdair Macdonald, with a trial fitting. There are corrections and adjustments to make yet. There will also be a scenic break in front of it up to a couple of inches high with higher ground level and hedges and fences.

I think the bridge might have gone, but I'm not certain...

Once the brick sheets are added, it looks a bit more promising. I moved the buttresses out a little and added outer ribs on the cross beam. Some of my brick courses are not perfect, this bridge is located 4 feet back on the layout and will only be detailed on the viewing side. But I think the MekPak has had an adverse affect on me, I was quite ill last night...

Ballasting continues, as does work on the backscene.

In the meantime, workbench time has been devoted to the Brooklyn Road bridge that is on the link to Bulwell Common. its the first substantial structure I have built in plasticard.

Based on this bridge, though I have had to stretch and skew it. ( Photo by Hayden Reed )

I'm looking forward to my stint at Missenden in March - so Tony's observations were useful. Undoubtedly there will be guys that know more than me, but its the exchange of skills and ideas that is important. As Tony says, some people attend to get away from other distractions! Hopefully we'll all be able to take away something new from the weekend. Model making can be quite a solitary occupation, so it will be an enjoyable social occasion being with people in a creative atmosphere. 

How do you learn? Much of my learning was from sitting alongside friends and being shown what to do..

I'll be taking along my latest project as a demonstrator..

Cheers

Tony

More placement of signals - 75,72 & 68 for Bulwell Common, Nottingham Victoria and Colwick respectively. The LMS/BR splitter ( 57 & 58 ) on the left control exit from the bay - The Vic or Colwick. Experimenting with ground levels on the left. That raised area needs to be slightly lower than that...

Signal 43 takes shape, I'm not sure why it has two ladders, but the arm was low, to enable sightong under the GC main line bridge and I suspect the extra height was for guy wires between this signal and the adjacent splitting signal on the down line from Bagthorpe Junction.

Background work continues apace, the signal servos ( SG-90s ) have all been mounted up on my stainless laser cut brackets.
I still have a stock of these at £3 each, pm me if you are interested.

A while back we were talking about Gresley coaches with half compartments, I came across this D137 on John Turners collection on Flickr-

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/30965317078/in/photostream/

Now, that collection is a rabbit hole, there are some wonderful examples of rolling stock...I've spent hours browsing it!

Regards

Tony

A wonderful and inspiring collection of layouts Tony, thank you for posting them. Not forgetting Heyside of course, which won an award at the NEC:-

Thanks - thats interesting... food for thought.

Whilst I'm at the workbench, I thought I'd knock up more items for the layout. I know the Intentio platelayers hut is GC, but it's very similar to the GN one and will represent the one by the Vernon Road bridge. I cut the GWR emblems out of the Peco station seats and they are quite close to the ones that were on the station platform..