Sithlord75

Avid readers (of which there are many) of Dr @Nick Mitchell's Wagonologie thread will be aware that he built a Stephen Harris Catfish and wrote about it last year. See here. Those with longer memories than I will possibly remember I said the said post would be handy as I have 11 examples of same and would at some point find they would swim to the top of the to-do pile. They aren't all for me - 6 are for @Anthony Ashley who is building the North Wales line (most of it anyway) in his garden shed in N gauge (have a look at his thread here but do make sure you've a bit of time - he's been at it for 9 years at least), the rest for me (we actually ordered 10 but Stephen thought we might need a spare - very nice of him). Anthony came over last Wednesday for our knitting club meeting (a kind of forced visit - I'd been to visit him on Monday last and left my glasses behind!) and we took a look at the kit. I'd mis-placed my instructions (Stephen kindly emailed replacements although they arrived after knitting but showed we'd been mostly correct in our guesses and told me where the bits I could identify had to go) so we spent a good portion of the evening looking at pictures in a book I have on civil engineering wagons, and searching the internet - RMweb was for most of the time returning a 503 error and the only one showing up wasn't Nick's. It re-appeared the next morning, along with the instructions. On Wednesday I got most of one hopper done and sort of looked at the chassis. At the ZAG meeting I got another hopper done - Anthony feeling that as he hadn't built any etched rolling stock yet, these may not be the best place to start! My current start of play is below. The reputation Stephen has (and which I was reminded of at the ZAG) of being a first class designer who's kits whilst on the surface are fiddly but go together with ease so long as you take your time, is well deserved. It's a shame 6 of them will be on N Gauge (for those who didn't read Anthony's blog, he is modelling, other than Conway and the castle, Penmaemawr which had a quarry. A number of Catfish were lettered "Return empty to Penmaemawr". The ones I'm having a out of period for St Alban's but there is always Rule 1 - although why the St Albans branch used ballast from North Wales is anyones guess!).

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday (25th MRCH) from 0930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. As always, all are welcome to join in as and when the opportunity arises to talk about or work on their modelling projects, seek advice or dispense pearls of wisdom (!). The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

Its not just the blue that's wrong - it's a Mk3... But would you expect knowledge of such things from an SDJR Man?

G'day all, The next meeting is this Saturday (11 March) from 1930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. As always, all are welcome to drop in for a short time or a long time and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

I’d be interested in any photos you’ve got Simon - even the possibly at St Albans City Cinzano tanker (my mum used to drink Cinzano - not in the tanker load mind!).

Not strictly on my workbench but considering the most famous locomotive in the world turns 100, I spent sometime this evening hunting around for these photos - back when photos were on film and relatively expensive to develop. It was April 1989, I had either just turned or was about to turn 14 and 4472 (together with NSWGR C38 class 3801) were in Brisbane preparing for a day trip to Casino in northern New South Wales. I should have been at school but as luck would have it... And then I got to cab it at Casino loco, be on the footplate as it was turned and get a ride back to the platform. (The next loco I got a cab ride on was "Beatrice" at the B&ER.) 7 trips to the UK and this is the only time I've seen it!

eSun Geoff - I got it from Jaycar when they didn't have any of the Anycubic Black I normally use. Needs longer curing than the Anycubic but seems to be better for thinner parts. Jury still out on it.

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday (25th February) from 0930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. As always, all are welcome to join in. In a slight departure from what has been the accustomed practice we are having a presentation at this meeting by Chris Bentley. Chris has managed to win a couple of awards at the AMMCs recently for various gizmos he's been dreaming up to make his modelling easier and, fresh from his barn-storming performance at the NMAG meeting, he is going to give a talk about the crossing nose etches he's designed, and which are available to members from Shop 1. As such a timely arrival for those interested in hearing from Chris is requested. Once Chris is ready to begin, we'll ask everyone to mute themselves until he has finished at which point questions can be asked. Obviously if you feel a question maybe more useful whilst Chris is presenting, then there will be a means to ask - arrangements will be explained more fully at the meeting. Once Chris has finished, the normal actives of the ZAG will recommence and everyone will be able to share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

In the end I set the pieces up on my resin printer at home - although the large pieces for the platform elevation and the base plate didn't work out, the rest came up quite well - I suspect better than on a PLA printer given the window arches. I'll have to think about how I'll replicate the windows - possible etched, possibly printed and plugged in. Easier to paint if not part of the print. Aussie 5c coin for scale - I couldn't find any pence. It's just under 10 scale feet... I also took the opportunity to test print the train shed support column. The resin I've used is a harder resin than normal and I'm hoping that it will be robust enough but I think a suitable diameter length of brass with potentially 3DP tops and bottoms might be a better option.

Set the parts for the building kit up for printing today - now just to await a slot for printing them! (Or spend time sorting out mine at home....) It's pretty easy to see how the building breaks down into the "kit". The big piece at the bottom is the floor piece. I'll build the rest around it - but probably won't glue this bit in - rather I'll use it to plot out where the building goes on the platform to allow it to "sink" into the surface.

'tis a thing of beauty Nick. Every time I look at one of your builds the Rule 1 Siren sounds (well except for the Coal Tank - the Totally Justified Claxon goes off then!). I really should persevere with a loco.

I spent some time today whilst my Year 12s were doing their thing (Friday is self-directed study for Year 12 at my school - how much actual study does vary from student to student!) drawing up the St Albans station building from plans published in the July 1984 Railway Modeller. The ten parts can be seen by the lines on the top of them - the spaces for the doors and windows are oversize to allow for models of each to be made (possibly on the resin printer) and then plugged in. Essentially I am using the 3D Printer technology to make a kit - 10 wall pieces, 4 doors, 8x type one window, 2x type two, 2x type three and 2x type four. There are square blocks at each end of the building which were the gents and a lamp store (I think) which I haven't put on here yet. You can see the left hand end one here - the elevation facing you in the drawing is the platform side.

I have given it a go on a freelance good shed which was a bit smaller than the St A one but drawing the bricks is a very time consuming exercise - and then it would have to be printed on the resin printer rather than the PLA one. The volume of resin required renders the whole exercise as uneconomic compared with the alternative. The PLA print is a much sturdier and less prone to warping etc than the resin.

I had a couple of design classes today so showed them how to use the fancy CAD program we have (Autodesk Inventor 2023). They can use any of the free ones - Fusion 360 is a good one, but there are others depending on what your looking for or comfortable using. Naturally, as it was just a "this is how it works" lesson - 5-10 mins of me doing stuff before letting them go and play - I took the opportunity to do some stuff for me. The good shed file - I've sent this to the Master of the Printers so we shall see how long before it comes back to me. This is the file for the columns which hold up the train shed - there are 9 between the "mainline" and the return track and another 4 on the platform (which I don't have a diagram for nor decent pictures to see how different they are - I am presuming they are merely shortened to allow for the platform height). This is the track side version. I've put a 1/8" spigot on the bottom to allow a hole to be drilled in the board to glue it in. I'll print this on the resin printer. The square block ends up with the top of it being at the same height as the bottom of the rail (at least that's what it looks like in the pictures). A bit above the sleepers anyway. This may need adjusting in thickness to allow for it to rest on the ply baseboard and then be ballasted in. Another class tomorrow - I'll make a start on the Station Building then I think.

I got mine from the US of A David, simply because it was more economical! My local hobby shop didn't stock the sheets - although it does stock other Plastruct products. When I enquired about getting some in, the price quoted was ridiculous, and when I looked at interstate shops for mail order it became apparent that it was going to be just as quick, and cheaper, to get it from the US. There was a trader at the DJ Expo last year who stocked either Plastruct or similar - opposite Freshwater. I'm sure someone will be able to remember which it was (I should, I purchased stuff from them!).

The 2mm Association has been having discussions to obtain parts of the range - not sure which parts - which it is felt is most useful to their members. Exactly what state those discussions are in I'm not sure.

A Tale of Two Goods Sheds. St Albans doesn't have two I hasten to add (well the LNWR station doesn't although it would be reasonable to argue the City did given three stations!). However I have had three versions of the Goods Shed over the journey from 1999 until now - but I've only built two. The first one I had was given to me by a 7mm modeller who built it out of card from some plans he had found. It was a bit over-scale being more akin to the Lima Deltic than the more recent Bachfar offering and didn't actually fit where it was supposed to go on the layout. Still, I appreciated the effort Roger had gone to. I used a Peco one for years as a placeholder and it wasn't until 2016 that I finally had a go myself. The reason was I obtained in 2016 the Jack Nelson book "The LNWR Portrayed" (Peco Publications) and it has a plan for the St Albans shed - I presume this was the book Roger had although he was definately an LMS modeller rather than a pre-grouping one. Utilising my CAD skills and the new fangled 3D printer I had (PLA not resin) I drew up the carcess and printed it, covering it was Scalescenes yellow brick (which turns out to be too dark now that I've seen some colour pictures of the station before demolishing - I presume the goods shed would have been the same colour as I haven't read anything to suggest it was built using a different type of brick or a different supplier). I was never really happy with it - I know that brick work at 2mm scale is for all intents and purposes 2D not 3D but my eye always wants to "see" the mortar lines and so this one wasn't really good enough for me. A few years later, I decided to redo it using Plastruct brick sheet. I can't remember when I did it, but I'd guess 2019 as I'd by this stage seen Ross Balderson's architectural building work for Newcastle (NSW) and he'd used these sheets. Very subtle 3D brickwork and a heck of a lot easier to work with than the Peco sheets. However, when building it, I didn't pay as careful attention as I might have, and managed to get a section of bricks running vertical, not horizontal. Now I suspect once painted, it wouldn't be noticed unless I pointed it out - afterall I managed to miss it and I was building it! However, having noticed it, I said some words which I am sure Andy York wouldn't like on RMWeb and the model was consigned to a box. This evening the box rose to the surface again... It would appear, that not only has it go bricks running the wrong way, but it has also developed some bowing where I'd rather there wasn't any. In any case, I think Mk 3 is likely to be forthcoming - I need to do something to fill in the time until a) the piggy bank refills from the more recent purchases and b) I can order from Shop 1 again. I think I'll be back with the 3DP version, but put the Plastruct sheeting on it - this worked very well for my buildings on Ale Dock (the DJLC I brought to Derby last year) and besides, my Head of Department at work wants to see the 3D PLA printers being used - even for my train stuff he said. Be rude not to - might do the Station Building while I'm at it, and the LNWR Stable Block.

He even admitted to same on the ZAG this evening/morning (delete as timezone requires!)

It's a brand I got from my local Jaycar (electronics store down here - sells wire, plugs, switches and stuff for 3D printers) called Esun - the website is www.esun3d.net I purchased on a whim because they didn't have my preferred Anycubic resin in stock when I called in. It was little bit cheaper than the Anycubic black which I normally get and it was there so I thought I'd give it a go. Ends up being a little more sticky and thus needs a little more cleaning with the cream cleaner and half a minute longer in the sun to harden than the black. I suspect if similar circumstances apply in future I'll probably get some more, but on balance I'll get my normal resin if its available.

G'day all, The next meeting is this Saturday (11 February) from 1930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. Hopefully after missing the last two (first due to my wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary - the second due to a kamikaze possum which shorted out the local substation and plunged everything into darkness for a few hours whilst they found a crew to come and remove it and reset everything) I shall be able to join in! As always, all are welcome and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 A heads up for the Fourth Saturday meeting - Chris Bentley will be giving a talk on his crossing nose etches. I believe he has already done it live for the NMAGers (Someone will correct me if I am in error I am sure) so if you weren't able to get to that or would like to have a second viewing so to speak, put a note in your diary for 0930GMT for the 25th of Feburary. Cheers Kevin

The return to school following the summer holidays (and the heat wave which arrived to welcome us back to work) has spiked the guns a bit but now that the initial flurry of activity has subsided I have managed to get a few things finished. The last of the Finetrax points I have have been built - so that's enough to finish the platform area and begin on the yard. With the resumption of mail to outside of the UK I can order the next batch. I have also built another LNWR bufferstop to put in the yard and made a start on the next one. I put a bit of wood as the buffing area on the principle that wood looks more like wood than etched metal does, no matter how I paint it. The blue wagon body is an experiment in a different resin to help with the structural integrity of opens - particularly when they have almost scale thickness sides. So far, the jury is still out. Seems to be ok however so I shall persevere. This is likely to end up as an Empire lettered wagon.

G'day all, The next ZAG meeting is this coming Saturday (28 January) from 0930GMT. Please adjust according to your location. As always, all are welcome to join in, and share what they have been building, ask for advice (and share their favourite tips for success) and generally have a chat about their projects. The link below should take you straight there or the ID and passcode. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83287616944?pwd=WGRnQkprN1IwcitVRm56OThtMUFVUT09 Meeting ID: 832 8761 6944 Passcode: 222372 Cheers Kevin

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Well, sometime in the late 1990s and in Australia (so it might as well be a galaxy far, far away really) I came across an article in the April 1988 Railway Modeller (I think at either the barber's or the dentist - either way, in keeping with the magazines in those establishments, it was well out of date and well read!) about the Ilford & West Essex Model Railway Club's N gauge layout of St Albans Abbey. At the time I was looking for inspiration for an exhibition layout with the track plan having to fit a space of 4000 x 800 mm. This was to include a 180d curve to the back. The track plan looked feasible albeit with some modifications (double track through station rather than single track terminus) but the GNR bay, the yard and the main source of revenue, the gasworks were all placed where they should have been. As an N gauge layout, St Alban's Priory made it to quite a few exhibitions from 2000-2008 when I moved to Longreach, Central Queensland, for work and the layout was stored. When I got back to South-East Queensland in 2012, SAP was taken out of storage and cleaned up with a view to seeing about taking it back on the very small circuit Down Here. I think it may have made it to one or two more shows before my modelling standards had increased to the point where it no longer satisfied me and I was left with either rebuilding it as an N gauge roundy roundy (with some changes more in keeping with the prototype) or doing it "properly" - that is, with finescale track, handbuilt points and minimal compromises with the track layout (so a terminus with only two platforms for example!). I procrastinated about making a decision for some time - I purchased the necessary Peco points to do the revamped N gauge version, but generally felt a 2mm finescale version would be more satisfying in the long run. All the while - from 1997 onwards - I kept researching and finding out bits and pieces about St Albans LNWR station (the Abbey bit was added by the LMS post grouping - there were once three stations in St Albans - the LNWR/GNR junction terminus which I am interested in, the Midland Railway one which became St Ablans City (and is still the main station in the city) and St Albans London Road, which was the GNR station first on the line out of the terminus and the original end of the GNR branch from Hatfield) its surrounds and the traffic which travelled on the branch. One of the reasons the original layout was eventually consigned to the scrap heap was the more I knew about the prototype, the more I realised I had compromised on the model. But equally the more I knew, the more I felt I didn't know which contributed to the lack of progress in replacing the model. Eventually a number of events cojoined to get me to do something... Firstly, my wife demanded I stopped building wagons and built something to run them on. I have at it happens, three N gauge layouts in various states of completeness. One needs the turnouts and turntable sorting, one needs the backscene sorting and one needs the last bit of track laid, the wiring completed and... And then there is the 2mm layouts - both started at various points in my 2mm journey, one never beyond laying some hand-built track and finding I wasn't as good with the soldering iron as I thought and one which served it's purpose when it made it to Derby in June 2022. The amount of 2mm wagons I have far outstripes the track to put them on. Secondly, I received a lot of gentle encouragement from the NMAG group (and some fairly robust encouragement too!). This prompted me to, perhaps rashly, say at the last NMAG Zoom meeting of 2022, that I would build a baseboard, lay some track and have a loco running by the first one this year... That was this morning Brisbane time. So... I said to my wife, that weather permitting, I would do something about a layout to put the wagons on, and would build said layout during the Boxing Day Test. With this in mind, I obtained some 70mm steel channel, typically used for stud framing houses where you don't want termites to have a buffet lunch. This is nice and strong and unlike what passes for quality pine timber, doesn't decided to revert to wood when the humidity is too high. I also obtained some 7mm ply to go on the frame I proposed to make out of the steel channel. However, a couple of issues presented themselves. I didn't know the geometry of the curve for the platform well enough to be confident in getting it "right" and I also wasn't entirely sure where all the turnouts would go. Enter Bruce Cook (@VRBroadgauge) who volunteered to sort this out for me. Fortunately I had found a Watford to St Albans branch group in Facebook which had as some of its members ex-BR staff who'd worked the branch and a question about the curve of the platform at St Albans resulted in the response that it hasn't changed since at least the 1960s. On the basis this meant it hadn't changed at all, Bruce was able to combine OS maps with photos to come up with a decent plan of the whole area: The grid is printed on A3 paper, which is trimmed to the margin and then taped together to give a full size 1:152.4mm drawing. I printed 1A-6A, 1B-6B and trimmed and taped and this was enough to make me decided that the track contained therein would do for Stage 1. And because I didn't want to have a base board join going through the turnouts in 4-6, nor through the platform (which incidentally I found out after Bruce did his drawings was 508ft long for the LNWR side and 345ft for the GNR face - Bruce's drawings were spot on) I resolved on a single board which is just on 7' long and 15" wide. As my daughter was redecorating her room, I used up some of the ceiling paint to seal the ply and give me a blank canvas to start plotting out track positions. Due to some inclement weather I was permitted to use the dining room table - it seats 10 (handy when we have 5 kids!) but a blanket had to be put down first. Here you can see the station building, trainshed and platform have been plotted. The OS map suggested the loco release was suitable only for small tank engines - at some point it was extended but obviously the Royal Engineers didn't see the point in doing all the work to add some extra track. So the buffer stop was placed far enough down for an 0-6-0 tender loco to comfortably clear the turnout without hitting said buffers. Some 3mm dress ply was rescued from the skip at work at the end of the school year and cut down to 20mm wide strips to provide track beds. The yard is generally all at the same height but this way some subtle dips and drains can be introduced between the lines - something which wouldn't be possible if the flat earth view prevailed. The strip was able to be bent to match the plotted curve - the straight bit at the far end has been changed to a curve - I had thought about coming off centrally to a fiddle yard but on reflection decided to keep the curve going where it should - Stage 2 will require it to be curved so any short-term fiddle yard solution will have to fit the right geometry. . The shadows make it look like its embossed rather than added but this is the passenger side of it all, more or less standing where the home signals would be. The GNR bay to the right, the LNWR platform and run around loop. Access was made to the yard both from the far end of the run around loop and from a crossover just out of view at the bottom of the picture. The black dots are holes drilled for the wires to the tie bars on the turnouts. The state of play as it currently stands - looking from the same position as the previous photo. All track is Easitrac with Finetrax B7 points. These are very easy to build - I suspect had they been around 10 years ago, I wouldn't be just starting now! They don't always work for the prototype - I know the point which is missing on the LNWR run around side (left of the coaches) has some catch points entwined within it, but I am not yet at the point where I'm willing to give that a go. The idea behind doing what I have done is to get something started. As my skills develop and what compromises I'll tolerate change I will revisit things - that point is on the list, but a fair way down! I have three more B7s to build - they'll fill in the gaps on both sides of the platform and get me started at the far end of the yard. After that, the crossing which takes arriving goods trains into the yard at the bottom of the photo needs to be looked at and then the yard - with two tandems very much in evidence in the photos. I haven't managed to get the track wired yet - that'll be next once the last couple of turnouts are constructed and built. I've a working Jinty plus a Class 24 to use as test locos but so far, the few wagons I rolled around have all tracked nicely though the turnouts and haven't derailed at rail joins. Once this lot is working happily, I'll paint the rails, get it back working properly, ballast it, then get it back working properly (!) and then doing something about the platform, the station building and the trainshed which Bruce has had etched for me.

Now to try and find out how to watch it Down Here.

A LNWR Loco Coal Wagon could be "loaned" quite easily should you require! I'll include a painted and lettered body in the parcel which is almost ready to send over. WD Barnett can be arranged too if there is a clear photo of one of their wagons. Cheers Kevin