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APRIL 2022 UPDATE
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KARL CROWTHER
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STEVE CARTER
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HYWEL THOMAS
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KIER HARDY
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PETE JOHNSON
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The fiddleyard signals are now all installed onto the layout. In some situations they’ve
been angled from the normal orientation so they can be more clearly seen by the operators.
Overall this was a pretty straightforward task to get sorted and the overall effect is quite
convincing. No interlocking of course at present, which will keep the operators on their toes!
In places the signals still can’t clearly be seen and so repeater boards are being made up to
alleviate these issues, as here. Basically another construction from 60 thou Plastikard, with
the labelling designed in Coreldraw, then laminated and fixed in position on the face of the box.
Our local EMGS met over the last two evenings of March and here the fiddleyard is being set
up with trains for the operating sequence, with one more of the offstage LED signals also in view.
New to the fleet for this latest operation session was the Class 105 DMU (Bachmann), fitted
with a Zimo decoder running a Digitrains/Paul Chetter sound project (same as in the Class 108).
Currently in preparation are a Bachmann Derby Lightweight and a Hornby 3-car Class 101 DMU…….
Some of the other assembled motive power for the operating sessions (the ex-Midland 2F was
a visitor to the layout).
Another task this month was to make a start on installing the turntable at Kendal. In my
calculations I’d only factored in the length of the deck, whereas the whole unit was quite
a bit bigger in diameter. Hence I’ve had to remove a portion of the baseboard framing to fit
it in! An extra bit of scenery will be built in here to make allowance for this cock-up. A
start has also been made on making up the approach tracks, with the next task being to make
up the deck itself.
A closer view of the visiting ex-MR 2F (58283), along with the resident version – 58123
from the original Kentside layout. Although broadly similar (and Alan Gibson kits) they
are actually two different classes of loco – the main differences being in the wheel
diameter and the style of the cab fitted. Both have sound projects from Youchoos (their
4F actually) on Zimo decoders (an MX series in 58283 and one of the latest MS series in
58123). Both have a ‘baby boomer’ speaker in the tender, plus in 58123 I’ve managed
also to get a speaker into the boiler which helps to reduce the ‘chuffing tender’ effect.
Efforts have been concentrated on finishing the dc control system. All control electronics
are housed in a steel enclosure measuring 350 x 270 x 95mm into which will plug two hand
held controllers and the track outputs.
The front panel shows a meter on/off switch (1)
which feeds +5vdc to digital LED panel meter (3). LED (2) indicates when the enclosure
cooling fan has been activated whilst key switch (4) acts as an emergency stop, removing
track output voltages. Rotary switch (5) can select from six monitored voltages (Orange
Control Set Point, Orange Control Track Feed, Green Control Set Point, Green Control Track
Feed, +24vdc for relay control and +5vdc). Orange LED (6) indicates the orange controller
board is powered whilst LED (8) indicates that its current trip is active (green) or has
been triggered (red). If triggered then power is removed from the controller board
(extinguishing LED 6) and can only be cancelled by using push switch (9). The trip status
is also shown on the hand held controller which plugs into (7). The same functions for
the green circuit are provided by 10-13.
The rear panel carries a mains off switch (16), fuses for the two transformers (15) and a
12 way connector (14) to take the two track feeds, +24vdc and +5vdc to the base boards.
The internals of the control unit: Transformer (1) supplies two 12vac feeds for use by the
orange control board (5) and green control board (9) whilst Transformer (3) supplies 30vac
to the power supply board (2). This generates +24vdc for relay control and +5vdc for
ancillary functions. Heat sinks (4) and (8) are used to dissipate heat from the two
controller power output transistors and each has a NO (normally open) thermal switch
which will close should the temperature exceed +50 deg C and thus activate the cooling
fan. Relay (6) is turned on or off by the hand controller direction switch, providing
directional control for the orange controller whilst relay (7) is energised when a current
in excess of 1 amp is detected resulting in the ac feed to the control board being removed
(as a result the red LED on the control board is only lit briefly but aids in indicating
that short circuits are being detected). If a short circuit remains then relay (7) will
turn on and off, flashing the LED indicators for as long as the reset switch is depressed.
Relays (10) and (11) provide a similar function for the green control.
Activation of either of the two thermal switches (A) will switch on the cooling fan whilst
the two red LEDs (B) indicate that the board current trip sense is functioning - should
there be a current trip then they will be lit briefly before power to the board is removed.
The hand held controllers only house a minimum of four LEDs, a set point potentiometer and
the direction select switch. The small board carries current limiting resistors for the LEDs.
A controller in situ; the uppermost orange LED shows that the controller is powering the orange
output whilst the two LEDs either side of the direction toggle switch indicate the same (these
would be lit green if used for control of the green output). The direction toggle switch can be
set to ON-OFF-ON so that when in the central (OFF) position, no track voltage will be supplied.
The red LED will be lit should the short circuit protection system be activated.
An overview of the system in operation. The orange controller is showing an illuminated red LED
which means that a short circuit has been detected, a situation mirrored by the front panel
showing an extinguished orange and illuminated red aspect LEDS. The panel meter is showing the
+24vdc voltage whilst the bottom left red LED indicates the cooling fan is active. The green
controller is showing that no track voltage is being supplied and that the current trip has
not been activated. Incidentally when selected to show orange / green track voltages, the
panel meter will change from a positive to a negative value depending on which direction has
been selected and thus validating that the control relay is functioning correctly.
The vast majority of my wagon fleet are plastic – either RTR, kit built or made from
scratch – so it was with some trepidation that I started work on an etched nickel silver
kit for a Palbrick. I had recently purchased a temperature controlled soldering iron so
this was the ideal opportunity to try it out. The Palbrick kit came from Ian MacDonald
('Macgeordie' on RMWeb) and, I must say, was superbly designed and a joy to put together
using his comprehensive instructions. Although very different, and rather more fiddly,
than using plastic the instant strength of the joints made a pleasant change from
waiting for solvent to go off. Not needing a standard Palbrick this one became a Coil P.
The large fleet of Coil Ps were a simple conversion from the large number of redundant
Palbricks littering the country as road transport took over the movement of bricks. The
only modifications were the removal of the sides, a cut out in both ends to accommodate
lifting hooks and the wood baulk coil cradle. The additional bits were added using
plastic, scribed to represent wood grain.
After cleaning up, a blast of primer, and a coat of BR freight red the wagon was ready
for traffic. Here we see it parked out of the way on the spoil tip branch, perhaps red-carded.
Adding yet another coil conversion to the extensive fleet inspired me to revisit some
of the very early wagons I had built. Three purpose built Bogie Coil V wagons had joined
the Morfa Bank fleet several decades ago when the layout was originally set in 1964. Two
had been built with the twin hoods that were then being added to the design but the third
remained in as-built diagram 1/404 condition with open cradles. It would never have been
seen in that condition by 1972 and had languished at the back of the to-do pile ever since.
Now back on the workbench a start has been made removing the centre section of the open
cradle and preparing the hood formers.
The hood formers are coming along nicely. Coil wagon hoods were very rarely neatly
folded and so the supports for the hoops were positioned to replicate this rather untidy
look. The floor ends have been cleaned up ready to fit the substantial supports for the
hood supports. All three wagons use modified Ratio bogies, which are not quite correct,
but back in the late 1980s the correct design wasn’t available. As they are robustly
attached to the floors I was in no mood to change them and damage the chassis.
Here we can see a start made on the hoods themselves. The initial covering used cheap
wet wipes coated with diluted PVA glue. Once dry these were covered with a finer-grained
tissue paper. The new ends, of course, had been added at this stage made from various
widths of Evergreen strip.
As I was working on hoods it seemed a good opportunity to dig out the box of Accurascale
Coil As. These are superbly detailed wagons, if rather light and fragile, but really
capture the nature of these distinctive pieces of rolling stock using etches and mouldings.
Fitting EM wheels wasn’t easy. The axles are 25.5mm long and 1.5mm diameter and the wheels
themselves are slightly small. It was out with the H&A Models axle drill initially
followed by the removal of a small circular moulding around the bearing hole. With the
new wheels revolving freely the supplied EM/P4 brakegear was fitted after cutting out
the centre section to clear the now 2mm axle diameter. They have made a very acceptable
job of the hoods given the limitations of moulding but as these were certainly not
uniform on the real things it was time to experiment. This was the first example and
used the supplied (very bendy) cosmetic hoops substantially braced to take the new
tissue paper hoods.
For the third of the Coil As I wanted the hood to represent a fairly new example and
so used the original moulding as a basis. To clear the delicate ends the hoods are
slightly too long and so they were reduced in length as seen here.
Evergreen rod was added along the fold lines and a new end built to sit inboard of the
hood supports. More rod was used to represent the ends of the hoops, often very visible
beneath the nylon hoods. A layer of tissue paper has just been added, in this case using
a military modelling product called Paper Shaper from Polish company VMS. Two more, one
as seen above and the other using the original hoops and a wet-wipe/tissue paper
combination can be seen in the background.
This was the ‘as-new’ hood looking very similar to one I photographed in Newport Docks
back in the early 1980s. Using the original moulding as a basis provided useful strength
but I think some further work with the mini-drill will be needed on the next batch to
create more folds. I’ve yet to tackle any weathering and rust on the wagons themselves
– that’s next on the list!
This shows the other two of the first batch, one with a hood very close to collapse
and the other in more typical everyday condition. The next of the fleet will be modified
to represent the slightly different, and more numerous, Coil Bs. One change I did make to
the Accurascale models was to add some glue to the rear of the sprung buffers up as I
found they often worked loose. Whilst a nice feature I felt I didn’t really need the springing.
Here we see a general yard view with a recently arrived train of hooded coil stock
prominent in the foreground. All the Bogie Coil Vs have also gained a full set of transfers.
Nothing suitable was available when they were built but I did create my own set for them
several years later and these have been used along with other from Railtec and Modelmaster.
The rather untidy look of a typical 1970s coil train is obvious.
A close up of the new hoods as two wagons, also red-carded, have been shunted out of the
way to await repairs. The complex nature of the cradle structure on the Bogie Coil V
shows up well here.
And finally, with all the recently added wagons, I felt I needed to allocate a few more
drawers to wagon storage. I also took the opportunity to add some mounting board strips
that sit between the wheels of the stored wagons to keep them in neat rows and save the
occasional damage from buffer locking as the drawers were opened and closed. Each row is
separated from each other using foam board strips. There are a lot of wagons to store!
The spell of good weather and other outside activities has resulted in very little happening
on my work bench recently, but regular running sessions have provided the opportunity to
capture some of the passing traffic on the layout. Starting off with Brush 4 - 1790 heading
the 6E43 empty MGR service back to The Midlands from Northfleet cement works. 1790 was one
of a small handful of Class 47/3 freight loco's to be fitted with sand boxes.
BRCW type 3 number 6572 is seen at the head of a southbound troop train, with a couple of
green liveried mark 1 coaches in the rake.
Sticking with the Southern theme, a 4-TC set is seen on a charter service being propelled
by English Electric built Electro-Diesel E6018.
Next on the list is a small selection of visiting Western Region diesel hydraulic motive
power from Greg's Shenston Road fleet, with BR Swindon built diesel hydraulic D9535 on
a trip working.
Beyer Peacock Hymek D7005 with diesel brake tender at the head of a Coke train.
Another BR Swindon built loco, maroon liveried D815 Druid held at the signals with an
inter-regional Acton to Temple Mills mixed freight.....
.... and heading the opposite direction we see D7007 and D826 Jupiter with another mixed freight.
Jumping forward into the TOPS era is a selection of motive power from Paul's Eastwell fleet.
Here Class 50 number 50034, a single motored Lima model capable of hauling 22 Cemflo
wagons up the 1:80 gradient.
31101 is another single motored Lima model with strategically placed lead weights to improve
its performance.
47369 is an early Bachmann Class 47 that first appeared on Wibdenshaw, converted to EM gauge
using the original reprofiled wheels and some heavy weathering from a photograph taken during
its days as a freight engine. Alongside is 31117, another single motored Lima model.
31409 has been modified with twin Hornby Railroad motor bogies and has been featured previously
on the website
showing the conversion. Paul worked on this loco while at Kings Cross
as a secondman.
Class 37 37087 was originally one of Greg's locos, which has since been modified with double
Lima motor bogies, seen here with the Cemflos.
31272 started life as a detailed and EM converted Airfix model but it never ran very well, so it
was modified to fit on a Lima single motored chassis, then later converted with twin motors.
Showing a selection of stills taken from some recent video footage which will appear in due course.
Finally for this selection of snaps is 26038 in Railfreight red stripe livery. A repainted and
detailed Heljan model to represent the loco in the condition it attended the Hereford Rail Open
Day on the 5th May 1991.
The past month has seen the four poster-board Blue Grains finished, ready for the first
post-Covid showing of Canada Street at the end of April. Haig 5839 has been finished
lightly weathered for the mid-60s.
5877 King George IV is the new poster brand for the fleet.
VAT 69, 5827, adds another example of this bold poster to the string.
A new four-blade, 8 foot diameter, ship’s propeller on a transport frame has been put together
as a drop-in wagon load, made using a cast-brass product intended for radio control models.
Following last month’s class 25/1 for the late ‘70s, a further example is underway using
more parts from the stock shelf. D7577 wore this livery from 1968 to 1972, and moved from
the Midland to the Western region during the same period. It is hoped to have the model
finished in time to be part of an all-day Western region sequence, covering the years
from the early ‘60s to the late ‘70s, during the Friday and Saturday at the
forthcoming Thornbury show.
