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APRIL 2021 UPDATE
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PETE JOHNSON
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PAUL JAMES
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GREG BROOKES
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STEVE CARTER
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KIER HARDY
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HYWEL THOMAS
Not too much bracing was needed. I wanted the entire body to sit on the chassis without any
changes so made sure any reinforcement still cleared the motor casing. My other big gripe was the
incorrect ‘solebar’ so that was next.
The chassis had as much plastic removed as I could without it actually falling apart but the
result is worth it. Here we see the body back in place and what a difference the reduced
underpinnings make. It’s starting to look like the class 25s I remember now.
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KARL CROWTHER
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More images from the photo session on layout boards 1 to 3 turn the clock back to the 1970s this
month. The first views recall 1974 on the north side of the Mersey. One of the three remaining
Class 02 locos in the BR fleet is seen resting in the Canada Street yard. ‘02 003’ spent the
whole of its BR ownership working from depots in the Liverpool area, before being sold into
industrial use in the summer of 1975.
Allerton allocated Class 09 ’09 025’ is pictured standing in one of the upper level sidings in
the yard, having arrived with a local trip freight.
Still carrying the original green livery, the loco was renumbered into the TOPS system while in
Liverpool, but was to move south shortly afterwards during July of 1974. It was to become the
last 09 to remain in green, finally being repainted rail blue during 1977.
By early 1976 ‘09 025’ was allocated to Eastleigh near the south coast. This shed had looked
after the fleet of Ruston & Hornsby Class 07 once the small shed within nearby Southampton
Docks had closed, but in their closing days three of the survivors, including ‘07 010’, were
subject to a short-lived reallocation to Bournemouth in late 1975. Here it is pictured standing
by the old yard entrance with a Conflat and A-type container.
One of the original six English Electric ‘JA’ electro-diesels, ‘73 004’, is pictured arriving
at the yard under diesel power to collect a short train of vans from out of the docks. In the
era modelled the entire Class 73 fleet roamed the Southern Region from Stewarts Lane shed in
central London. But in a strange twist most of the 73/0s in their latter days moved north to
Birkenhead, on the south side of the Mersey, before final disposal.
With the viewing side of the layout widened out and some basic scenery added, it was time to turn
the baseboards around and start on the operating side. This also gave me the chance to look at how
the partially completed platform looked as well.
Widening the other side presented some problems, as the points were controlled from that side
using slide switches and mechanical operation, so the switches had to be repositioned.
The other problem to ponder was where to put and what kind of control panel was I going to use.
I originally had thought of building an add on control panel, as found on Hornsey Broadway,
Canada Street and Blowers Green, but as the layout is in the garage (which will still continue
to be used as a garage) I decided not to have anything sticking out from the layout, as I'm
clumsy enough to keep bumping into it. Built into the back of the layout, also providing a
convenient shelf to store coupling sticks and track cleaners.
Brush 4 - 1813 waits with the Murgatroyd tanks, as 228 passes through on a freightliner service.
Green Class 40 number D236 sits on the holding sidings whilst the rear of the freightliner
passes by. The flats are built from the Colin Craig kits fitted with some recently weathered
Bachmann containers.
Also recently into service at Shenston Road is this renumbered and weathered SLW Class 24 - 5096.
Detail work around the holding sidings continues, shown here with the application of some static
grass and a coupling stick alongside D4120.
1674 Samson passes through on the Gulf Tanks - repainted Bachman class A tanks and scratchbuilt
class B tanks on the rear.
1801 with a class 8 inter-regional freight to the Western Region (both Heljan Class 47s).
Wolverhampton bound Hymek 7093 with passenger service.
8064 & 815 pass through with a northbound coal working.
Work has belatedly continued (soldering iron failure!) with the Shell BP tank wagon fleet
focusing mainly on the chassis. For comparison and as seen from left to right: Original Oxford
Rail 10' 6" with saddle mount, Oxford Rail 10' 6" converted to cradle mount, Rumney Models 9'
1927 RCH converted to Home Office design c1894, and a Rumney Models 10' BR anchor mount.
The Oxford Rail chassis has been altered to a cradle mount type which necessitated two
longitudinal timber baulks made from Evergreen 2 x 2mm strip and end racking plates incorporating
the retaining plates which have been scratch built from brass. The coupling hook as provided by
OR is a simple plug fit device and is prone to becoming detached so has been replaced with an
etched brass version (Rumney Models B.94).
Rumney Model chassis kit B.71 caters for a BR 17' 6" x 10' 14T Anchor Mount vehicle and is
intended for upgrading Bachmann Anchor Mount wagons but Justin has cleverly provided replacement
parts to give variations on a theme; B.72 for a 14T vehicle with RCH axleguards, B.73 for a 20T
vehicle with BR Plate axleguards (typically those used for carrying Bitumen) and B.74 for a 20T
vehicle with RCH Heavy Duty axleguards. The latter option has been adopted and is seen with
scratch built anchor mounts as these are not provided for.
The ex Air Ministry vehicles converted from Class A to Class B usage saw the inclusion of
steam heat coils with the external manifold connection situated at one end of the tank. This has
been formed from soldering up various grades of brass tubing.
All five vehicles will require 4" bottom discharge pipes and seen here is that for the
Oxford Rail cradle mount vehicle. On vehicles with the operating mechanism sited within the top
tank dome it would appear that they are usually fitted diagonally across the width of the wagon
with the outlets been seen to the left of the brake 'V' hangers. This makes construction a little
bit more involved as the discharge outlet length is longer than the vehicle width. Also depicted
are two manual valves which would be used to open / close liquid flow depending on the requirements
of the receiving plant.
Since construction started on the station extension baseboard in November 2020, most
of the attention has been concentrated on the running tracks and their immediate surroundings. Although
there's a lot of finishing detail to be added, such as passengers and the surface of the platforms, the
time has come to finish the baseboard frame and insert the scenic parts.
With the end stretchers and their alignment dowels already in place, the rest of the baseboard is
seen here during construction, using nothing more than wood glue and clamping for 24 hours.
A rare view of this side of the underground section, which has been tidied up in preparation for
fitting into place.
The module had an embankment on the station side, constructed to accomodate the Down Slow
track joining the Down Fast just prior to the station, but now that pointwork is accomodated over
4 feet away, the triangular parcel of land has become a prime building site.
The shell of this building is made from 2mm plastic sheet, clad with South Eastern embossed brickwork,
and utilising chopped up windows from a Tri-ang Arkitex kit. Being close to the front of the layout,
it will no doubt require some internal detail. Its subframe is now bonded in place and the fencing
installed, whilst the building is removable for working at the bench.
With the props department raided for a backdrop, it means the branch line is out of use, but gives a
few ideas of size and orientation of structures which will live around the station area.
Of my two Bachmann class 25s, one was still on 00 wheels after 15 years and the other, a
later bodied example with EM wheels fitted, has had very little done to it. All that had
to change when it started running badly and needed a strip down. A broken solder joint and
re-tweaked pick-ups later it was fine but I thought I’d tackle the rather poor ‘solebar’
they come with. One thing led to another and before long the original with grills was on the
workbench along with an old Hornby body!
I know there have been lots of articles on very extensive modifications to class 25s but I
wanted something quicker and simpler. I know the ‘face’ of both Bachmann and Hornby is a bit
off but I was less worried about that. But I don’t like the Bachmann grilles, which seem to
better represent the very early class members. Hornby, I think, have done a better job. So,
having very carefully cut out the sides of both (the Hornby side is shorter but has a flattened
front so will fit with care inside the more curved Bachmann cab front), this was the result with
the older body slotting into the Bachmann sides.
The other change I needed to do was to the cab front as my chosen example still had the doors
fitted. As it was from the batch 5179-82 it also needed alterations to the roof as those few
engines, originally Gateshead machines but by 1972 in South Wales, never had boilers.
Here we see the two of them, with 5180 having been primed and painted BR blue to suit the 1972
period. 7515 is a few stages behind and here we see the plastic strip added to the bottom of the
side to replicate that rather unfinished look of the class 25.
And finally here’s 5180 almost complete. It still needs side windows and the wheel rims painted
but I think looks a bit more class 25 like than the original Bachmann example. The least said
the better about how it will compare with the forthcoming SLW models but it’s a step in the right
direction and a less time-consuming and complex, if less accurate, conversion than some others.
But it will do me!
Model Railway Journal issue number 282 features both a trip to Morfa Bank Sidings in 1972, and
an introduction to Kentside.
After three months of building, the track panels for Kendal Castle are now substantially complete.
There was a bit of trimming to do (I’d deliberately left the rails over-length to allow for this),
but it all now lines up quite nicely, as this ‘dry run’ shows. I had carefully pre-marked all of
the baseboard joins onto the Templot printouts – or at least I thought. One joint had been
overlooked and it lined up with the stretcher bar of one of the points. I managed to ‘drift’
this section slightly to resolve the issue, fortunately!
On the left are platforms 1 & 2 and their release crossover (which should just be long enough to
accommodate a Class 40). Next to these is platform 3, which provides access to the goods yard, the
goods shed road being to the right of this. The two long sidings immediately to the right will
include a yard crane and the coal depot. Next in the distance will be the cattle dock, while the
siding most distant at the extreme right is intended to link with the canal basin (though for my
period it’s planned to house a camping coach). The turnouts are generally 1:8, but with 1:7 for
the release crossover and a few others in the goods yard.
Kendal station track layout seen from the opposite, station throat end of the formation. The
Jinty is stood on the goods run-round loop; the turnout nearest the camera will lead to a
headshunt that extends offstage into the fiddle yard area. I’ve probably said before, but the
visible track uses scale depth (1.6mm) plywood sleepers/timbers and Exactoscale functional chairs.
Rivets and bits of copperclad strip have been placed at strategic locations across the pointwork
and at rail ends etc. (hence the need to mark the location of baseboard joins onto the templates).
Looking back across the station throat pointwork towards the fiddle yard. The copperclad junction
(offstage in the distance) is Natland, where the single line to the Marthwaite Branch begins. Once
I’ve got the cork fixed down, fixing the track for good can hopefully commence. Must remember the
slots for the wire in tube and the uncoupling magnets!
With the track lifted off, attention could then turn to the Lancaster Canal (compare this with photo
3). The canal would have been in very close proximity to the railway and I really wanted to include
a small part of it at least. However, I calculated that the width required to model the full extent
of the channel was not feasible on what remained of the baseboard space. Also it would have meant
cutting the canal across a baseboard join, with all the modifications to the woodwork that would
require. In the end I’ve gone for just a representation of the edge of the canal basin, which will
occupy just this one board. For obvious reasons I wanted to get the surgery completed before the
track was in place!
