Wantage Road 1880 4mm Broad Gauge

[Charlie586]

 

Fair bit of tinkering, it's moving freer but still pings back from the diverging position. I'm pretty certain it is that the droppers haven't got enough room in their holes. There's so much junk, tools and stuff on the board that I need a good tidy up to get underneath. 

Don't know if I've said this before, it's a trailing point on the mainline London (left) to Bristle (right) so at it least it does default by fluke to the safe position. 

I'll lay the rest of track as tools are out and handy then sort the pinging when I do the underneath wiring. 

[Charlie586]

 

"When i were a lad, all this were fields," said the porter 

 

 

Not much of an update,  but I've sort of tidied up the board, which is quite a rare event. You can roughly see what track is left to lay now on this board. 

I'm going to need more rail soon, it's surprising how quickly I'm getting through it. I've got enough for now if I ignore the straight, up line (would be very bottom of picture going right to left), I haven't done it yet on previous board either. 

[Mikkel]

11 hours ago, Charlie586 said:

"When i were a lad, all this were fields,"

 

I find myself saying that a bit too often these days. Although sometimes the opposite applies: "When I was lad, there was a railway through that field". Not sure that's better!

 

You had better hurry and build the remaining track while you can see it 

 

 

 

 

[Charlie586]

4 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

I find myself saying that a bit too often these days. Although sometimes the opposite applies: "When I was lad, there was a railway through that field". Not sure that's better!

 

You had better hurry and build the remaining track while you can see it 

 

 

 

 

I find myself saying all sorts of old man rants nowadays. It seems to be one of the pleasures of getting old.

I get in a mess with keeping tools nearby to what I'm working on then not putting them away. I'll give it a week before it's a mess again. 

 

[PhilJ W]

5 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

I find myself saying that a bit too often these days. Although sometimes the opposite applies: "When I was lad, there was a railway through that field". Not sure that's better!

 

You had better hurry and build the remaining track while you can see it 

Like the EUR line from Great Chesterton to Six Mile Bottom (Closed in 1855). Apparently traces of the line are still visible, if you know where to look.

[Charlie586]

Done a bit more to track and turnout, but I'll save it until there's more progress. Here's something else I've been doing.

 

 

Small Metro. I've not used the 3d printer for a bit so chances are it won't print first time, but I'll find out in a few days. I'm hoping a back to front 14xx chassis will fit and the wheels can easily be swapped for p4 , but life's never that fair so I reckon I'll be making a chassis and all the related gubbins for it at some point.

It's a bit too late a condition really for my time period, it's from drawings and the many photos in the Russell book. I'll have to wip the cab off and do an earlier version with weathershield and condenser pipe and pretend it got a bit lost at Paddington.

[MrWolf]

Interesting stuff, oddly enough we were talking about printing Metro's and 517s on another GWR thread last night. I've got a 14XX partly hacked into a 517, I must get around to finishing it!

[Charlie586]

I did the basic bits and printed an early 517 saddle tank a few years ago, but it's well out of region for Wantage so I never went back to it. It was far too small for a 14xx chassis though. 

[ChrisN]

Charlie,

I have a resin kit for a Metro, and it is designed for the 14xx chassis so you should be alright.  I must get round to building it sometime.

[MrWolf]

Whatever happened to the whitemetal kits for Metro's et al?

[lezz01]

Charlie,

SE Finecast show the 517 class on their price list as of 07/2021.

Ref F212 for full kit £89.50.

Ref FC212 for chassis only (Etched Brass) £39.50.

They also do a wheel pack but the wheels are Markits and will be 00/EM. 

Gibson do the wheels for 00/EM and P4

I hope this helps.

Regards Lez.

 

[lezz01]

Wolfy,

Finecast also do the Metro.

F180 full kit £89.50.

FC180 chassis only £42.19.

Wheels as above post.

Regards Lez.

[lezz01]

You might also find this site useful.

http://www.gwr.org.uk/kits4locos.html

Regards Lez.

[Charlie586]

9 hours ago, ChrisN said:

Charlie,

I have a resin kit for a Metro, and it is designed for the 14xx chassis so you should be alright.  I must get round to building it sometime.

Thanks Chris.  I really should have measured it before starting. I'm not sure which box the 14xx is in either, probably the one under all the other boxes. 

[Charlie586]

8 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Charlie,

SE Finecast show the 517 class on their price list as of 07/2021.

Ref F212 for full kit £89.50.

Ref FC212 for chassis only (Etched Brass) £39.50.

They also do a wheel pack but the wheels are Markits and will be 00/EM. 

Gibson do the wheels for 00/EM and P4

I hope this helps.

Regards Lez.

 

Thanks Lez, it's handy to have all the information in one place. 

I've got a very old chassis and wheels (markits I think) that did fit the 517, i think there will be a photo somewhere on this thread. The chassis and wheels are oo though so can't use on this layout.

 

I think I said a few years ago, but I am planning a little oo layout, just a small circle and siding really, for when my granddaughter is a bit older. And so I can run all the old locos I've got in boxes too. Possibly Culm Valley inspired, but still a few years off as we've only just got started on brio. 

 

[ChrisN]

1 hour ago, Charlie586 said:

Thanks Lez, it's handy to have all the information in one place. 

I've got a very old chassis and wheels (markits I think) that did fit the 517, i think there will be a photo somewhere on this thread. The chassis and wheels are oo though so can't use on this layout.

 

I think I said a few years ago, but I am planning a little oo layout, just a small circle and siding really, for when my granddaughter is a bit older. And so I can run all the old locos I've got in boxes too. Possibly Culm Valley inspired, but still a few years off as we've only just got started on brio. 

 

 

Charlie,

It is never too early to have a layout that they can watch.  The one year old is not kept interested very long but his older sister, (4), is and as long as 'James' runs she is happy.  (It is a red engine with a face I have put on.)  They run on Traeth Mawr so there are two types of running, real railways for Grand dad, and train set for grandchildren. Sorry, I know you have enough on your modelling plate.

[Charlie586]

33 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

 

Charlie,

It is never too early to have a layout that they can watch.  The one year old is not kept interested very long but his older sister, (4), is and as long as 'James' runs she is happy.  (It is a red engine with a face I have put on.)  They run on Traeth Mawr so there are two types of running, real railways for Grand dad, and train set for grandchildren. Sorry, I know you have enough on your modelling plate.

Thanks Chris, 

Nearly 2 years have flown by already so I guess I should get started with something or at least have a rough plan. I've got the track, locos and wagons/carriages, although the locos will need a bit of fiddling with as they've been gathering dust or in boxes for years. I just need to get some track on a board to start with.

It's a shame I can't combine something with the broad gauge, I did think about setting the up line, not yet laid, as oo temporarily. It would just be a straight line though at the moment though. 

[Charlie586]

Apologies, but this may be a long post.

 

On the subject of signal boxes,  point levers etc, you may remember this recent photo 

 

 

A makeshift lever as modelled by George the gaffer/foreman. What I had the plan of doing is operating the points via overscale levers from the edge of the board. 

The signal box will be roughly where the photo is taken from. Unfortunately, it will face away from normal viewing. Rather than just look at the back of the box I thought why not leave the back off and put the overscale levers inside. The points will be worked from under the baseboard, not on top, but if I can get the levers to work it would be sort of fitting. 

 

Then I wondered just how small a scale one one would be. The broad gauge society do an etch but it's out of stock, so I dug out the data sheets and started scratch building 

 

I switched to 0.6mm brass for the lever at this point as it's not as flimsy.

 

Around about this point, Annie posted a photo of one on her thread 

 

 

 

This has a weight that the drawing doesn't. It seems to hold / lock it in place.

 

anyway,  I cracked on

 

 

Around about this point (no pun intended) I had a message off a friend, more on this later.

 

 

 

Nearly finished today, again modelled by the foreman. Part of it still needs sticking to the wood, and a coat or two of black paint (I think it would be black).

I won't lie, it was fiddly and caused a lot of swearing, especially putting the little pieces of wire in. It moves back and forward, but I haven't connected it to a point yet. I think it'll be too flimsy to work from signal box to point. So next step is to work out how big the signal box is (luckily Nick Gough kindly found most of the information a while ago), and how big to make the overscale ones.

As for this one, I'm pretty certain most of the yard was hand lever operated in my era with the signal box doing the main lines. So it will be a dummy one in the yard when I get to those boards (a few years yet).

 

Finally,  the message I got three quarters of the way through. 

 

https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/853/sbm4083-gwr-point-lever-kit-old-pattern/broad-gauge-2-/

 

Roxey Mouldings sell an etch as well as the bgs. Theirs has the weight as well. And it's in stock. I know you could buy half a sheet of brass for 3.60 and all that, but it would have saved a week and a bit of early morning cutting out.

 

I've soldered more track as and when too, I'll update on that next time.

 

[ChrisN]

That is great!  A nice piece of modelling.  You now have the satisfaction of knowing you have built one, and that you are only going to use Roxey Mouldings ones as they save time, and why not?

[Charlie586]

9 hours ago, ChrisN said:

That is great!  A nice piece of modelling.  You now have the satisfaction of knowing you have built one, and that you are only going to use Roxey Mouldings ones as they save time, and why not?

Thanks Chris. I do like fiddling with bits of metal but it can be time consuming. I think it may have been quicker to make the base from plasticard, but I'll get the Roxey etch for future ones. 

[Charlie586]

Track progress 

 

 

Still a bit slow going. The mess has reappeared as well. Some of the track joins have small bumps, some as much as a mm which is enough to upset the wheels. I think it's a combination of the cork, baulks and rail being a tiny bit out depth wise in places  and it's compounded in some spots. I'll need to adjust a few bits.

 

In other news, had another look at the signal box.

 

Did a drawing based on the photo of Steventon from Nick Gough and the photo I have of the original Wantage Road one, which is grainy and was taken a few hundred yards away. It's a completely brick building and I was hoping to reuse parts of the old ratio one I built 20 or however many years ago, but it's just not the right size in any way. I might be able to use the stairs and chimney I suppose. 

This one is sort of similar to what I need in terms of a completely brick one, Williton.

(Image is embedded link)

from the old signal box site, where I have spent many hours recently. 

https://old.signalbox.org/gallery/w/williton.php

 

I'm assuming brick interior so I'll sandwich a sheet of plasticard between brick plasticard. I best get cracking and build it then.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Charlie586
Pics

[Nick Gough]

Definitely a likeness with Steventon box there Charlie, even though Williton was built by the Bristol & Exeter.

 

At least you won't have to create those fancy bargeboards for Wantage Road!

[Charlie586]

Thanks Nick. The bargeboards are a bit of a modellers nightmare. As you say, luckily Wantage Road's are just plain. 

I was trying to work out if both windows would slide or just one part of them. I can't work it out from the photo.

[Nick Gough]

1 hour ago, Charlie586 said:

I was trying to work out if both windows would slide or just one part of them. I can't work it out from the photo.

I couldn't say for certain but would guess yes.

 

Looking at photos of other boxes with similar windows there are horizontal safety bars across each outer pair of windows, suggesting to me that both could open. In these photos though only the outer window is actually shewn open - probably because they were easier to access around the sides of the lever frame?

 

Of course, in the Steventon photo, there don't appear to be any safety bars to confirm my guess!

 

I would agree that the interior walls would be plain brick. In "GWR Signalling Practice" the author states, "In all but the latest boxes the walls were constructed in 9in-thickness solid brickwork... except where the lowest courses of brickwork were thickened to 14in and externally formed a 2 1/4in projecting plinth surmounted by a course of splayed plinth bricks."

 

 Also, contemporary with Steventon, he says, "Among the Type 1 boxes from this period the last to survive was Bullo Pill East on the SWML west of Gloucester, built in 1873 and closed in 1969... It was a 20-lever structure measuring 17ft x 11ft outside, with the operating floor 5ft above rail level... A grate, with a brick chimney, was built into the back wall."  

I would guess that Steventon wasn't far off these dimensions.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Charlie586]

3 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

I couldn't say for certain but would guess yes.

 

Looking at photos of other boxes with similar windows there are horizontal safety bars across each outer pair of windows, suggesting to me that both could open. In these photos though only the outer window is actually shewn open - probably because they were easier to access around the sides of the lever frame?

 

Of course, in the Steventon photo, there don't appear to be any safety bars to confirm my guess!

 

I would agree that the interior walls would be plain brick. In "GWR Signalling Practice" the author states, "In all but the latest boxes the walls were constructed in 9in-thickness solid brickwork... except where the lowest courses of brickwork were thickened to 14in and externally formed a 2 1/4in projecting plinth surmounted by a course of splayed plinth bricks."

 

 Also, contemporary with Steventon, he says, "Among the Type 1 boxes from this period the last to survive was Bullo Pill East on the SWML west of Gloucester, built in 1873 and closed in 1969... It was a 20-lever structure measuring 17ft x 11ft outside, with the operating floor 5ft above rail level... A grate, with a brick chimney, was built into the back wall."  

I would guess that Steventon wasn't far off these dimensions.

Thanks Nick, very helpful. That's yet another book I haven't got. I estimated 64.6 x 44 mm from brick courses so I wasn't too far out. I'll have a look for photos of the Bullo pill one, hopefully as it's fairly recent there should be some. 

I'll probably 3d print the windows, just need to adapt the artwork for the station ones I've already done.