Turin 60

As threatened below should be some photo's of O gauge wagons I've been working on, or perhaps salvaging might be a better description, oh one small thing please don't expect anything truely fine scale or accurate to the nearest thou or so! A few years back I bought from a certain well known internet auction site a job lot of built O gauge wagons, now I knew from the photographs that they weren't that good and lets just say I was not disappointed! They were stashed away as "someday" projects, now that some day has arrived I have made a start. The first one tackled was a very short open wagon based on a cut-down Slaters open which had seen better days being missing its axle guards and a buffer, not to mention the brake gear! Well another wagon from the " job lot" donated a buffer while the bits box provided a source for W irons, V hangers, brake block and lever. Wheels came from my small stock as did the bearings, the body work is still being tarted up with microstrip bolt heads so there will be more to come when it is completed. P2260462 by Turin60, on Flickr You remember the buffer donor wagon, well it's missing a body end, brake gear and all the buffers now! So I removed the balance of the distorted remains of the body, cut a section out of the chassis & floor and re-joined these two to give another short wagon that now has a 1 plank body. The brake gear was robbed from a Duncan models 2 plank wagon, buffers from stock and other bits and bobs from the bits box. It has now received a full set of microstrip bolt heads and is nearly ready for painting. by Turin60, on Flickr P2260460 by Turin60, on Flickr Final item for now which might be a no hoper! It is a Triang Big Big train chassis (mineral wagon at a guess) which some one has extended. I have removed the remains of the brake gear and used some microstrip so the chassis looks more like a timber affair. I had thoughts of it becoming some sort of a double bolster wagon, but horror of horrors it sits much too high! P2260459 by Turin60, on Flickr P2260465 by Turin60, on Flickr Lets see what happens John.

Be careful, some Stephen Poole wheels had Aluminium tyres! Regards John Bruce.

Hi Mark, re the missing ply for the f/y, I have used a material called "Foamex", it is used by sign makers and is a fairly rigid PVC but in sheet form in various thicknesses. I bought mine from an E-bay seller although you might be able to scrounge some from a sign makers. It is stable, doesn't distort and apparently does not suffer from exposure to sunlight and the material is quite popular with the garden railway fraternity, also it can be glued with the glue used for plumbing. Hope this helps. John Bruce.

I haven't put anything on my blog for a long time so let's start again with a quick catch up. In the intervening time we have moved back into Andover, in the process lost a bedroom (the railway room), a bathroom and a garage (it's called "downsizing".....don't do it!). I now have in the garden a 3m x 3m cabin insulated and with electrics which must serve as both railway room and workshop (you should see how much "stuff" I've had to get rid of ), however there are the startings of 3 layouts in 3 different scale/gauge combinations sprouting around the walls,as usual I couldn't bring myself to concentrate on just one scale/gauge. I shall not trouble this forum with my narrow gauge efforts but solely the fine scale O gauge and the EM gauge layouts. The O gauge has baseboards built, track laid and wired, whilst the EM has had to make do with a modified 2nd hand board I bought a couple of years ago and promptly cut it into two parts lengthwise. Although nothing else has happened on the EM other than the construction and wiring of a sector plate for the fiddle yard, why? Because there might be something else EM wise in the wings possibly coming my way. I'm hoping to take some photographs tomorrow of some O gauge wagon salvage I've been working on, all will become clear. John Bruce.

Good job all the same. John.

You've got a superb finish on the body print, did you need to put a huge amount of work into it? John.

Hi Marc, glad to see Mojo restored! 1:1 on paper is a good way to go as paper is cheaper than ply and easier to work. Still interested in Ruyton though. Regards John Bruce.

Hi Ian, I'm fascinated by the beastie above, I can't quite make out its makers name, are you able to shed any light on its parentage? Regards John.

Just a thought Sir Douglas on your new single plank wagons. The wagons as originally built had the head stocks shaped to act as bump stops for the drop side doors, seeing as the sides are fixed you could perhaps get away with squaring up the ends of the head stocks. Regards John Bruce.

Jack, as promised a piccy of the new (to me) refurbished single bolsters sat at one end of my O gauge layout, not modular I'm afraid but quite small if not "micro". P1280443 by Turin60, on Flickr Regards John.

Hi Jack, was it the yellow salt wagon, I bought and built one myself many years back, I had to have one as it matched my original Hornby Dublo one, nostalgia writ large!! I have been renovating a pair of single bolsters bought from a certain internet auction site, of indeterminate origin, missing or damaged parts replaced, repainted and off to the Andover club for an O Gauge running night tomorrow evening. Hopefully a piccy in due course. John.

Stunning as usual, what more is there to be said? John.

To secure crank pin nuts I use ordinary PVA which does a good job of securing said nuts but which allows removal of the nuts after the application of a little water, so don't use waterproof PVA. John.

Help, has anyone out there built the old 4mm scale Impetus I Class Manning Wardle but has the wooden brake block etch left over as I've managed to loose some of mine! Thanks John..

They're a nice model, just needs some wing mirrors to finish. Looking forward to seeing how you get on. John.

I used it on an Impetus Sentinel some years ago, looked good on an industrial. John.

Photos of the buffer housings and W iron/axlebox assembly if this helps in the identification stakes. PA030425 by Turin60, on Flickr PA030424 by Turin60, on Flickr John.

I bought from a certain internet auction site a pair of O gauge single bolsters in need of a little tlc. The restoration has started but I wonder can anyone out there identify the manufacturer (they are white metal) and also what companies wagons the pair are meant to be, this latter point is not essential as they are for a light railway project. PA020423 by Turin60, on Flickr The item in question. John.

Hi Jack, glad you're still active? We've moved back into Andover and I am now quietly occupied in building a small O gauge layout in my new cabin in the garden (we're now a bedroom and garage down!). Light railway themed, uncertain though wether it will be West Sussex or Cornwall based, W/Sussex would make it easier to explain/justify my K&ESR Terrier (although remember rule 1 applies. Regards John.

I am so sorry to hear about the sad loss of Peter, I first met him at Wells some years ago when he was working on a drawing of a Wantage locomotive, and subsequently at many exhibitions in the South West. My thoughts go out to Ginny. John Bruce.

Nevile Kent of N Drive has taken over the Irish and contractors parts of the range with some of them being re-relased late this year or early next. John Bruce.

Hi Jack, are you still over in the "Far East" , how can you see the N gauge after the O?? I will confess now to owning a Terrier and more recently have bought a a MW H class to go with my MW K class, we have moved back into Andover and there is the possibility of a new O gauge layout . Regards John.

You could have warned us.....one of Mr Boultons I assume? John.

Possibly worth looking at is the clear Wills corrugated sheets, similar to the grey moulded sheets but much thinner. John.

Looking at the picture of Mawddwy, it looks more like an I class to me, haven't got access to my books to check at the moment. The rear axle looks closer to the center axle (bit of a spotting clue!) in the picture. Puts anorak away!! John.