Sasquatch

British Railways express passenger locomotive blue was only applied to a handful of engines and if anything I think it suited the A4 best of all. To my eye it even looks better than the garter blue livery of the LNER! A lot has gone into this model this past week. The wheels were sprayed, I used satin black over grey primer. Messing about with reviving the dried up presfix transfer lining took forever, I ended up cutting some of them out, floating the tiny micro thin slithers off of the backing in water and applying them with varnish. Even then some of the curved lining had to be painted freehand. There's still some work to do, touching up the gloss black and some more detailing but it is starting to look the part. I'm very happy with how it runs, better than could be expected of an old tender driven type that has been stripped down, blackened and rebuilt etc. More on this later when it's finished and on the layout. Squatch.

That meal is making my mouth water! Time to dig out the Indonesian cookbook! After about 7 months we have finally had two inches of rain. The grass is starting to grow green but now the trees are turning brown. Gwen's enjoying her new job guarding the chickens. regards Shaun

I do still need to look into it! The loco is almost brand new still for one thing. It will run really well and then just give up. One other point that makes a difference to some locos (such as Oxfords J27) is that I'm using Gaugemaster feedback controllers. There can sometimes be interference between both types of gadgetry! I have found that swapping out the controller fixes these issues but removal of the DCC interface gear is still necessary if I want locos to behave on all my inclines! The B12, a green one has run without problems on my other layout which has a regular DC controller. A lot of the time, obtaining a good runner depends on the assembly line. I've worked on and run assembly lines, some people do good work, others sloppy and some excellent. The more detailed and complex the loco gets, the more workers there are involved and thus the more chance there is of problems. As a devote analog guy I resent having to pay a higher price for the DCC interface blanking, something that only causes grief. There's an old tender drive Sir Nigel Gresley on the work bench (dining table 🤭) at present, so when I'm done with that, I'll do The B12. Incidentally, the A4 has developed a problem since I resprayed the wheels and reassembled the chassis. The sprung tender draw bar and pony mount need bypassing with a soldered hard wire from the brush retainer to the loco chassis block. Regards Shaun.

Reviving old threads seems to be a habit of mine. The old B12 was the first Hornby train I had as a kid. My dad had been out in Dubai working for two years and when he came home took me to Beaties. Naturally I ran it into the ground and was excited when the new one was announced. To be honest I found the price tag unbelievable and have never paid more for a train before or since. The other day I was struck with disbelief followed by anger when it kept failing. So, it needs looking at and from experience my first suspicions were that it might be the DCC Socket interface. Thanks for sharing your findings... Regards Shaun.

Remember that the model is set in a different era to the photos. About 30 years apart!

Hi Steve. Yes! We did. Quite interesting to see just how little is left. The more one looks into the Queensbury story, the more apparent it becomes what a sad loss it's been to British heritage. Most stations are unique but this one was different! There's still a chance to save the tunnel and turn it into a cycleway and foot path. In a day and age where we have become aware of our environment and health it's disgusting to think that it could just be filled in simply for someone's monetary gain. It could be a tourist attraction and a very handy route for cyclists in the future. Regards Shaun.

The confined nature of Queensbury station site required the platforms on the Bradford-Keighley line to be hung on the short viaduct! After closure to passenger traffic those brackets were left in place until the line was lifted! These two images date from Great Northern days. The narrow section of platform marks the start of the viaduct. You can also see the platform structure changes from stone to wood and then back to stone!! Photo John Alsop collection from http://disused-stations.org.uk/q/queensbury/index.shtml The viaduct can be seen here above the signal box in this view, (also from the disused stations website). The station name boards give away the fact that there are platforms there! Incidentally, it took me quite a few hours to work out what's what in this view. The steep rope worked coal tramway incline passes behind the signal box and under the girder bridge. The lattice walkway beyond that looks like it's part of the viaduct. During LNER days subways were built under both lines and the walkway lowered! It all makes Queensbury a very interesting and a challenging station to model! We're listening to Studio Brussels on Radio garden through the phone at present http://radio.garden/visit/brussels/rvVa25hx but when I get a few minutes I'll take a couple of pictures of the layout from the same vantage points. Regards Shaun.

Thank you, Adrian! Something I've put off for no less than 11 years! After watching a few Youtubers efforts who made it look easy I thought I'd give it a go myself. Since I tried the cheepo old school method, Mrs. Sasquatch reminded me that we have a Woodland Scenics water learning kit buried away somewhere. Found it at an estate sale a few years ago for a couple of bucks! Doctors here like prescribing drugs, something I keep telling them that I'm very sensitive to. If there are side effects, I always seem to suffer them. This tiny little 2mm pill has about a dozen, all of which just seem to turn me into a zombie. I don't see the point of having lower cholesterol if I feel too numb, tired, depressed, lethargic, and fogged up to get on with my life!!! My endocrinologist insists it's hereditary and I'm sure he'll try me on a new one when I see him next week! Hope you're well, Shaun.

Fantastic use of an old bit of furniture. Can I offer some advice about edging up chip board. Use nothing else other that two coats of contact adhesive on both surfaces and rub the two together with the back of a cabinet hammer or the rounded corner of a section of hard wood. You can file away all the overlap a few hours later. Good luck, Shaun.

As you might be able to tell I'm having trouble getting back into it. There's probably not any one reason why just a lot of little things combined I suppose! One thing is a medicine I've been put on which I'm sure has a general debilitating side effect, it's also turned cold suddenly. Anyway, I did spend an afternoon sticking errant details back on rolling stock and ran some trains that evening. Yesterday, following complaints from the local authorities, railings have finally been fitted to Cow Wath Bank road bridge. These are made from the Ratio cattle dock fencing posts cut short and split down the middle with the Stanley Knife. Stout beading wire was threaded through all the holes. The whole assembly was super-glued up and when set painted black. The long missing weir on Goathland has finally received attention too. When the layout was built, I chose to move this feature of the layout back to the baseboard joint and to be honest I've never been brave enough to tackle it. This is just tissue soaked in a diluted PVA mix. Some stones were added either side as per prototype. If it doesn't work out, I'll rip it out and try a different method. The beck itself also straddles a baseboard joint between the old and new sections. The entire waterway will need redoing! Some trains... The Ivatt class 2 has been shunting and ended up having to take the coal hoppers down to Castle junction. J50 crosses Queensbury viaduct with just two wagons in tow. B1 A. Harold Bibby on mixed freight duty. Last but not least is a portrait of the trio Eastern region, mixed traffic steeds seen on Eller Beck bridge in the 1st & 2nd pics. From left to right... Hornby's excellent K1, glossy B1 "A. Harold Bibby" and railroad D49 "The Cotswold". The next little project has been sitting in my 'to do' pile for longer than I care to remember. Two reasons at least are the fact that I've acquired a loco driven Mallard to respray and after stripping down the chassis on this one I kind of gave up. I have found a set of HMRS LNER lining that I didn't know I had. These are dry but upon research have learnt they can still be used as "meth-fix" type. (gotta love the interweb!). The spray job is far from perfect and I can swap out the chassis from a Sir Ralf Wedgewood. My representation of Goathland has never been complete without a "Sir Nigel Gresley" has it? Too much waffle for one evening, it's almost bedtime!!! Squatch.

On my friend's Chris N's thread Traeth Mawr -Building the station, (mostly) here, we were discussing weigh bridges and coal transfer etc. It raised a few questions one of which was that "W M" on old maps marks the site of weighing machines. So, I looked up Queensbury and true enough at the top of the goods access road by the footbridge right at the bottom of station road is marked "W M". Trouble is there's not a single image of any facilities. Nothing on the layout either. Of interest also is the equipment at Goathland. The weigh bridge is still in-situ, and the office is a grand affair built in the same style as the station building. It was once a free-standing structure until the gents gained its roof and the stone rear wall. I found this image on page 8 of this thread. Clearly there's no roof on the gents, one wonders how they coped? (That class A8 gets the mojo's attention, there's a nice DJH kit in my kits box. I must get a motor for it). The model is of course a modified Skaledale one with a Wills bridge. Lastly a train. Ivatt class 2 looking quite impressive for a light engine. Squatch

Thanks for that information. I'm off to look for where the "WM" is on old maps of Queensbury! Very interesting reading all this Chris. You seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest! Regards Shaun

Father-in-law brought round two more trailerfuls of wood. One which had some oak flooring, enough for a bathroom or some such and some clear grain fir both of which he needs me to store for him. There was also many other bits-n-bobs most of which was twisted or just a couple of lone useless lengths all of which I've cut up for kindling. The other load was firewood which needs splitting. My neighbor wants me to store wood for him too. I don't know where they think I'm going to build the rest of the layout or the washroom cabinets. None of the wood is any good for layout construction but I was given some half sheets of quality ply which will make good legs. The last section of Grim-Up-North might make a good winter project The points have been obtained used to construct the big junction and I had the savvy to buy 50 yards of rail before the postal charges went up. I also purchased 3 8'x4' sheets of 6mm MDF and a sheet of 12mm ply. Everything else I have in my stores such as point motors, switches, wire, relays and many ready built structures and kits. I might still need ballast, track joiners, PVA glue and foam board. The plan is "L" shaped with a four-track sweeping curve that splits at a grand junction. The two separate lines then cross a canal basin on viaducts Dave Shakespear's Tetley Mills style. The front line that goes under Queensbury via the hidden loops will have a small station with the main station building straddling the line which will create the scenic break. The rear of the two lines will just emerge from/disappear behind a huge mill. The plan is based on the old Lostock Hall junction layout. It has been altered by the inclusion of a single slip which will allow switching of the anticlockwise lines from two separate roundy roundy's over to an inverted figure 8. The only challenge is to make a counter balanced lift up section for which I have procured a rowing exercise machine. I plan on mounting the track from it on the wall and mounting the square corner layout section on the traveling baring plates. The whole layout section will be slightly dovetailed to fit in just right. The mill town will have older architecture towards it's center and hopefully a tram that will work back and forth along a road that follows the railway. Nothing will be on the level and the town will have accents of Keighley, Halifax, Queensbury and the surrounding area. Regards Shaun

One thing to remember is that in rural areas horses would just be put out to pasture when not working. Horses are expensive to feed! Slaters do a nice horse and cart kit. It's a Midland Railway type which might be inaccurate, but I doubt anyone would notice if a dray is the correct model, I also doubt there's a book out there with drawings of different railway company horse drawn delivery equipment! Regards Shaun.

We're absolutely cream-crackered this morning after the weekend yard sale. It did go well having sold 16 boxfuls of junk, surplus gardening supplies and contracting stuff. It did take from 3;30 till about 8pm to clear everything away including about 60 feet of makeshift display tables. All we have left to do is decide what to spend the big bundle of cash on. Rogue Valley Train show have invited me to exhibit over the Thanksgiving weekend again this year but I'll have to decline due to Covid still posing a serious threat. I hope they understand that as a type one diabetic with damaged lungs from pneumonia it's simply out of the question. It was nerve racking trying to keep my distance from folk outside over the weekend. Regards Shaun.

For some reason I have visions of this going pear-shaped and HH landing awkwardly on a fence or something performing some sort of numbing blank-firing procedure. Shaun.

I'm glad yard sale weekend is over. Shouldn't complain though, we have nearly $800 and shifted at least 20 boxfuls of stuff. We'll shift another car load at the good-will store hopefully in the morning. Trouble is our house still looks more like a warehouse inside with 16 boxfuls of junk and books piled up. (Again, I blame cell phones, we only sold a couple of books and 1 DVD!!!). Looks like I could use some climbing gear myself, certainly feels like I'm buried under an ever-growing pile of stuff. Most of it belongs to the In-laws who are in the process of moving to Lake Michigan. It's been very stressful and heartbreaking for Mrs. Squatch. After seeing what people deem worth part with cash for (Like hoses, canning jars, fire extinguishers and dog toys,) it might be worth starting a business selling stuff that would come in handy after an apocalypse. I'm not joking, we sold every last dog toy, 9 fire extinguishers, over 100 canning jars and about a dozen hoses. Interesting! Anyway, sorry for blathering away off topic. When I've stacked away all the wood we've been given in my barn I should be free to model my arse off for the rest of the year!

Quite! All the others are full up with ongoing projects I needed another surface to work on!! 🤨

Today we celebrate the life of acting legend Mr. Robbie Coltrane. One of my favorite actors, he was also responsible for helping inspire the layout. Rest in peace Robbie.

The modeling mojo seems to have been aroused. This weekend is our yard sale, for you boys back home that's where we fill our yard with tables full of all manner of unwanted goods (new and used) and sell it for hard cash dollar by dollar. So far so good, we have a big bundle of dosh and have found some of mother-in-laws unwanted stuff which I nabbed, such as this handy drafting table. Already having put it to use over the past couple of evenings finishing up Queensbury's platforms. (Scribed thin card paving stuck down with that crafters glue). No Yorkshire scene would be complete wi'out t' flock o sheep. I found these old Airfix ones from the sixties at a swapmeet. Appropriately, they have been painted in an unbleached wool color. The Shepperd is a Dapol axe man and should be leaning on the wall! maybe I'll just paint a wristwatch on his arm. Trains have also been running... Q6 on an up passenger service about to depart Goathland. J50 has been shuffling wagons about for most of the week. Much fun indeed, thoroughly recommended. Hopefully the last section of platform paving will get done tomorrow and some acrylics might get sploshed about. Squatch

Did you splash on some latex primer first? Very important that.

The flower class design was based on a whaler and prone to pitching and rolling, a small ship to be out on in the north Atlantic. We were on a Dunkirk-Dover ferry in a force 5 once. It wasn't too bad until the ferry turned around the sand banks. All the furniture was up against the starboard windows, all the passengers and crew were nowhere to be seen and Mrs. Squatch vowed never to get on a ferry ever again. I seemed to be the only one enjoying it, sitting in the middle of the boat not letting my mind wander from where the horizon was, which kept rising in and out of view from port to starboard! What made things worse was they couldn't get into Dover and we arrived 5 hours late. 🤢

The in-laws move to Wisconsin is still on going and yesterday he showed up with a trailer full of wood again. My store needed restacking and much reorganizing ensued before the trailer could be unloaded. After that I increased the height of his trailer by 2 feet with framing lumber and ply. Needless to say, that we're all knackered. Today I need to increase my storage rack capacity and move all the wood they unloaded because SHMBO didn't listen to a word I said and it all got stacked in front of my plywood which I now can't get to. The next new baseboard for the layout is never going to get done at this rate. This weekend it's the big yard sale, so I doubt there will be any time for much else over the course of the next week. Way too busy. Luckily I couldn't sleep (too much on my mind) so was able to check in here. It might be worth mentioning that the chap that lived opposite where I grew up served on a Flower class corvette. He said the only thing required was a strong stomach and those that didn't have one spent their time in the navy throwing up! Regards Shaun.

You get a round of applause WB, for putting your foot well and truly in it! For I too had a very serious accident with a saw. Regards Shaun.