Skinnylinny

Indeed - the three drawings I have all have different strapping, though they seem to have similar brakes (with two different types of brake lever - one style as shown above, the other with the more "standard" straightish lever sticking out along the solebar). All three are the products of the Gloucester Wagon Company (as was, later Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company). One has a slightly longer wheelbase, but does have side doors as well as the end doors. While the Locket & Marychurch wagon above was rated to carry 6 tons, the other two (John Glasbrook of Swansea, and Ynishir Steam Coal Co.) are rated to 7 and 8 tons respectively, with no one wagon having a tare weight of over 3t16cwt. The end door catches are also different on all three wagons. So much variety!

One can only imagine so! However, they seem to have been fairly prolific in the Welsh valleys - I have drawings for three such wagons with similar wheelbases, all with sprung buffers at the door end and dumb buffers at the non-door end. This was intended to be a "quick" project, and so, in less than 48 hours, the wagon is completed. Less detail than would go into a Rapido one by far, but also far less prototype information available, and a lot of modeller's license. However, it looks rather cute, in my opinion!

It's been a very busy month! Last weekend was spent at the Uckfield model railway exhibition, although for the first time I wasn't a steward, but manning the Rapido stand. It was really affirming to hear peoples' thoughts about our models. My own personal modelling has taken a bit of a back seat recently, but while I was down in the murky south, I collected a 3D print of the lead ore wagon from the previous page. It's come out beautifully (although the brake lever guide has snapped off, I must repair that!): Even the raised lettering on the axleboxes has come out legibly, which I certainly wasn't expecting! The wagon is now in the paint shop, gaining a livery of red oxide, as the actual colour worn by the wagon modelled is unknown. Based on the one photo I've been able to find, it doesn't appear to be black, so I've guessed it would either be red oxide or lead (grey) colour. Incidentally, what appears to be a bow in the solebar is in fact a camera artifact when taking close-up photographs, as looking along the bottom of the solebar on the unbraked side, it's dead straight. But yes, today's CAD project is a 6t open built by the Gloucester Wagon & Carriage Company for Locket & Marychurch in 1862. It's a dinky little thing, at only 10' over body, with a wheelbase of just 4'9"! Still remaining to do on this one are the axlebox springs and the brake gear. I think it quite unlikely that this would have either made it to Linton or lasted until 1910 in service, but it's such an adorable little beast I had to model it!

Would desk bells (of the sort that you get at receptions - think "Ring for service") be any use? They come in a variety of sizes and tones, and are usually either brass of chrome-plated steel. Alternatively, if appearance is less important than tone, brightly-coloured sets are sold as childrens' musical instruments, with several different pitches.

He's a member of the Old Locomotive Committee, and he is responsible for having produced technical drawings of the locomotive.

I'm afraid I don't have details of these carriages before conversion, but there were four similar sets converted in June 1914. The CAD file represents SECR sets 267 and 268. By changing the beading on the composite, it could also represent sets 269 and 270.

I had been considering putting one or two under The Knife, to make some freelance early bogie stock (for a layout set around the turn of the century), but I wondered if it might need Many Too Many, and I don't know what I'd do with the leftover chassis. I wouldn't want to end up Throwing it All Away! "This is an announcement for passengers in The Waiting Room. The train at platform two is the service to Seven Stones, which will be Calling All Stations."

And a good thing too - otherwise people might end up in a Land of Confusion, and end up In Too Deep. Still, I Know What I Like, and these I do like! I must pre-order a couple of those full brakes. I'll probably Keep It Dark though, rather than going for the lighting. With apologies to messrs. Collins, Rutherford, Banks et al. That's All with the bad jokes now!

I may be misunderstanding the render, but is it just me or is the end beading on the non-brake end of the brake third extremely heavy? It looks like the panelling is recessed by a good several inches! It doesn't look nearly so heavy on the all-third. The footboards look very heavy to me - I wonder if they would maintain most of their strength and straightness if they were still that same thickness on the inner face, but tapered thinner towards the outside edge. I've certainly found that 0.7mm thickness (while still being fairly chunky to scale) is usually quite happily printable, even when tapered (on the underside) to 0.5mm on the visible edge. That being said, I'm not familiar with the printer you'll be using. I also note the waist beading stops in line with the outer edge of the end quarterlights - I had been under the impression this would have continued further towards the end of the vehicle, as would the top quarter panel under the roofline.

I was lucky - "Betsy" was £50 including shipping, and is so far my most expensive piece of On30 stock. I have often seen them going at the sorts of prices you mention. Much of my On30 stock is repaints of the collectables - I believe my 2-6-0 started out as a Christmas one of some variety and set me back a horrifying £20, while the flatbed was a battered Thomas Kinkade gondola (with the sides and ends unclipped - £10) and two coaches and boxcars (also Kinkade, stripped of their garish printing with acetone (carefully!) and repainted - between £14 and £16 each) The trick appears to be finding listings where the seller has no idea what they have, and hoping!

Those are absolutely stunning!

Sadly not... And also, what are solid tanks on the Adams Radial are not solid on the 380, but continued side sheets which only form a box part of the way up their sides (and are also shorter in length than the tanks on the Radial): Image source: http://1920slocomotives.blogspot.com/2014/04/213-225-victorian-engineering.html

986 rivets on the tender alone, and counting (but who's counting?)... Still need to add the toolboxes, which have plenty, and to form the top of the water tank, which also has plenty... And so far, 384 on the locomotive, with many many more to go... So much for "Pre-grouping locos used flush-headed rivets"! *mutter, grumble* Still, it's at times like this that I'm very glad I'm not embossing each and every one by hand in sheet brass!

Well, either way, a print of the tender would save you having to form all these rivets... I've not yet finished, but so far there are 384 rivets on this tender side alone!

I rather suspect those big cast weights either side of the motor would need to go (they aren't present on the Oxford model) as there aren't side tanks to hide them on the 380.

I imagine so, and indeed I have been looking at getting the coupling and connecting rods plus slidebar and crosshead from Hornby or Oxford parts, but designing a gearbox around existing gears when I don't know the dimensions of them is unlikely to be fun... plus I've had poor experiences of Oxford Adams Radial locos with very slow motors, and the spare chassis I have is one of those - it barely turns over at 9 volts! Also, the Oxford model uses some very non-standard dimensions - 2mm driving wheel axles (in 1/8" o/d bearings!) and 1.5mm bogie axles!

I did look long and hard at the Oxford Radial chassis I have here and concluded that, if I can make the chassis similarly to how I made the A12 chassis, it would probably be easier than trying to cut through the cast mazak chassis just behind the driving wheels. I don't know about the Hornby one, but the Oxford one is held together by dozens and dozens of tiny screws, with lots of bits having sprung electrical contacts rather than soldered joints.

I'm sure a tender print could be arranged! Then again, what are your plans for the conversion? I'm aware the driving wheel size and spacing is the same as an Adams Radial, although the cylinders are different (angled on the 380 for a start!). I'm also working out how to do the front bogie wheels (10mm diameter discs (with one hole) - I'm thinking I'll probably re-axle some Gibson 10.5mm Lowmac wheels (and fill in one of the wheels) and call it close enough, unless anyone can recommend somewhere else to go? (Polite answers only!)

A comment from @J-Mo Arts made me worry about the size of the Adams 380 class - will it fit in my loco release road? I did a quick comparison with the Adams A12 and, lo and behold, the 4-4-0 is shorter than the 0-4-2! The difference in length appears to come from the tender, as the locomotives themselves are near enough the same length. Not at all the expected result.

It's only just starting to come together, but should be a *very* pretty locomotive once finished... Mr Adams certainly could design some lovely looking things!

...well, the lead ore wagon is now ready to print. Now I can get on with what I was supposed to be working on!

Well, I had decided that my next CAD project was going to be an Adams 380 class 4-4-0... but then fate brought me some drawings of some lovely pre-1887 private-owner wagons. Nearly finished is this covered lead ore wagon owned by J. B. Balcombe of Blaencaelan [sic] (I can only assume an anglicised spelling of Blaen Ceulan). Build to carry 8 tons, it is adorably tiny! The drawings also included several short-wheelbase coal wagons, and a D-shaped tank wagon built in 1881 for C. Kurtz & Son of Liverpool. Neither of these are easy to justify on the layout, they're more being done as part of the "weird and wonderful wagons" collection.

I suspect the end mould faces may be re-used, with differing sides, but this is pure conjecture based on my (limited, but rapidly growing!) knowledge of how model railway vehicles are manufactured.

Forgive me, but while the ends might be common in design, I don't think the carriages have separate ends and sides. Another photograph, this time of an unpainted engineering sample, suggests that the body is one piece, comprising floor, walls and ends. This is further borne out by Jenny Kirk's video:

An interesting comment - is this referring to the Hornby or Hattons carriages? Having done some carving on one of the Hornby ones, I can assure you that apart from the guard's ends (with the windows) which are moulded in clear plastic, the Hornby carriages definitely have one-piece sides, ends and roof. As for the Hattons ones, the roofs I believe are separate, but I've yet to see anything that suggests they have separate roofs and ends. The duckets, however, do seem to be a separate part. This photo of one of the decorated samples of the Hattons carriages strongly suggests to me that the body is one piece... but it *does* include representations of the bolection mouldings! Edited to add: Are the "Mess" markings to show the intended use of these compartments, or a comment on their general state? 😄