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MAY 2022 UPDATE
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HYWEL THOMAS
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PETE JOHNSON
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KIER HARDY
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KARL CROWTHER
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PAUL JAMES
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As mentioned last month some of my Accurascale Coil As were to modified to represent the
slightly different, and more numerous Coil Bs. The main difference from the A type was a
slightly wider and deeper coil well, designed to carry larger diameter coils. The extra
width wasn’t particularly visible from trackside but the angled ends of the well supports
were an obvious difference. The hood also sat seven inches higher and the end bar supports
were also a slightly different angle. Here we see the additional sheet plastic parts added
to the cradle supports.
I chose to ignore the bar support changes as once the hood was fitted they would be barely
visible but would involve a lot of extra work to change them. Here the modified original
hood has been fitted but the tissue covering is yet to be added. The hoods were raised by
adding a small plastic fillet to the base of each of the four moulded supporting legs inside.
And the finished result being shunted into one of the sidings. The first and third wagons
are Coil Bs sandwiching an original Coil A.
A view from the other end. The higher set hood and the angled well support brackets show up
nicely here. Although rather fiddly to do it’s worth it for that extra variety. The base model
from Accurascale is excellent so there was a certain amount of trepidation before cutting bits
off such a nice rendition but the end result was, I think, worth it.
A return to the departmental field for the next project. I first came across this unusual
conversion in Penarth Curve Sidings on an early 80s Christmas Day jaunt! It started life as
a standard ex-LMS unfitted plate wagon but had been converted by the WR to carry locomotive
wheels. At that time it had been delivering class 08 wheels to Canton but I have seen it
loaded with a Western bogie at Laira, so it was well travelled around the region. Base
model was an already built Parkside kit that was still set up for 00 gauge and had languished
for years in the to-do drawer while the nicely printed class 08 wheels were courtesy of
West Hill Wagon Works.
On of the peculiarities of the conversion was the addition of vacuum braking. Most plate
wagons that gained power brakes, and they were BR or LNE varieties, were given new clasp
brakegear but this example used the original push gear. It had also gained Hybox axle boxes
at that same time. With these fitted I then added new sides along with the additional
instruction plate from plastic strip, along with shackling points made from soft brass wire.
The axle on the wheelsets required stretching out to EM gauge, although to be fair the extra
1.5mm was hardly noticeable when finished and I could have saved myself some time and effort.
The cradles were built from strip. On the original one support on each could be moved to suit
the wheel diameter of the load. Given their use at some time for carrying Western bogies I
guess the wheelbase of the supports was set correctly for them from new but they may be
moveable lengthways too.
The wheel supports and the floor planks were painted quite early on to save some fiddly
painting around the support structure later. The floor, incidentally, had to be heavily
sanded down to lose the battens moulded onto the original floor. It would have been easier
to make a new floor but as the kit had already been assembled I didn’t want to risk breaking
the chassis side mouldings.
The wheels have been painted now with black for most of the surfaces and light rust for the
treads and brass for the bearings. The rather complex job of chaining them in place was about
half done at this stage using fine chain and some etched shackles, I think from Roxey Mouldings
and bought many years ago. The wagon has also been painted and lettered in a slightly cleaner
version of the olive green I found it in that Christmas day. Transfers were created on the
computer to replicate the GW script style original.
And here’s the completed wagon alongside a Denparts wagon working back to Swindon via a
circuitous route from Cardiff having arrived at Morfa Bank on the 9O86 Penarth Curve Sidings
to Morfa Bank Tip spoil working. It will head back to Margam Yard on the local trip before
joining the 6B62 Margam to Swindon freight. The load should most probably be sheeted but
having spent so long on the detailing I didn’t want to cover it all up with a big tarpaulin
so these are probably unserviceable wheelsets heading back to Swindon for overhaul!
The end of April saw the layout appear at the Bristol (Thornbury) exhibition, with Friday and
Saturday featuring an extended 1960s/70s western region diesel sequence. This provided a chance
for some rarely shown models to run. Class 22 D6333 is seen as it departs the Canada Street yard.
Stealing attention from the trains was the radio control Leyland crewbus expertly driven by
Craig. The bus is shown squeezing through the gap between the toilet block and a parked lorry.
The green crewbus is shown again as it arrives by the permanent way store van.
Later in the day the crewbus starts across the crossing, now in the yellow livery.
Green class 08, 3298, shunts back with some empty coal wagons, including a BR 13 ton hopper.
Late on the Friday a rare visitor to the yard was 1200 Falcon on a steel coil trip.
Coil J fleet number 42 was amongst the consist.
A number of loco projects were completed in time for the show. Class 31 5828 is pictured after weathering.
Class 25 D7577 ready to join the fleet.
Late 1970s 25 047 has been lightly weathered.
The new PECO/Parkside kit of the BR 13 ton coal hopper has provided an opportunity to add
another wagon type to the layout. The model has been finished as Dia 1/142 B400035 in a
typical rust freckled condition.
It's been over 2 years since the layout attended the Glasgow 2020 exhibition, so a deep clean
of the layout, track and stock was carried out during April. With the rolling stock
removed from the storage yards and parked up on the scenic sections, all the trackwork was
cleaned, polished and vacuumed ready for their return. At this stage everything's quarantined
so that only the cleaned and inspected stock is reformed in the yard. Every locomotive, wagon
and coach wheel was inspected and cleaned/scraped by hand, dusted off and checked for condition.
Once the mammoth task of cleaning the rolling stock had been completed, each baseboard was turned
to give access to the tunnel sections, rails polished and the scenic sections dusted and vacuumed.
Loose items were glued back in place and the opportunity was taken to finish off some of the scenic
work in places that are normally hard to reach. A big thank you to the 'black thumb gang' Greg,
Paul & Jonny for their help with the deep clean.
Running trains has now resumed and it's a pleasure not to have to prod and poke things to get them
moving. The accumulation of 2 years worth of dust particles had started to make the operation
of the layout erratic, despite regular cleaning of locomotive wheels. Regular running does help
keep the track clean, but if nothing's been run for a couple of weeks the Dapol track service
vehicle is propelled around to suck up any dust and wipe the rails as it passes.
A 4-car Cravens DMU leaves platform 1 past the newly installed wall mounted signal. During the
recent cleaning work, both of the colour light signals at the south end of the station were
commissioned, making it much easier to install whilst the baseboards were on their sides. The
backscene buildings are easily removable for finishing off at the work bench.
Having pondered over the large area of undeveloped land at the front of the layout, combined
with some recent model bus detail work, a start has been made on a concrete parking area which
will form part of the bus depot. These views show the changes to the boundary wall of the car
lot, along with a footpath running behind the bus depot.
A selection of London Transport buses parked up at the bus depot. The concrete surface is
made from sections of sandpaper glued down and awaits weathering.
These EFE model buses have been given some extra detail and the destination blinds changed
to reflect the area of North London modelled. The three Routemasters have been given mirrors
and registration plates to match their RM fleet numbers. The single deck RF and double deck
XA have also been detailed with side indicators and mirrors.
KGY 4D is the unique front entrance, rear engined Routemaster FRM 1, this resin bodied
model being produced by TTC Diecast. The bus was built in 1966 and had forced air
ventilation (hence the lack of window vents) but after an unfortunate fire in the engine
compartment, it was rebuilt with opening windows. This view shows the bus as it was
in the late 1960s working the route 76 between The City and Tottenham. It's always been
a favourite of mine from the days when I regularly saw it on the 284 Potters Bar
circular later in its service life.
Now back to some watching the trains go by, with these last couple of pictures taken by Paul.
D337 from the Shenston Road fleet passes nothbound with a rake of 21 ton hopper wagons, and yes,
the wheels were checked and cleaned before it was put into service!
With the garden coming to life, progress has slowed a little this time. The main thing has been
to get the Kendal platform edgings installed. As at Kentside these comprise a laser-cut ‘backing’
in 2mm MDF (courtesy of John Elliott), faced in this case with brick or stone embossed Plastikard.
Taking inspiration from Lakeside, there are notable differences between the sections within and
outside the train shed.
Quite an amount of time was spent painting & weathering the edgings (in enamels), prior to fitting.
To glue them in place (PVA), a series of plastic spacing jigs were made to get them (hopefully!)
the correct distance from the running rails.
This view shows that more bufferstops have also been made up and fitted. For the most part these
represent ex-Furness Railway types, made up using the Lanarkshire Models, Lancashire & Yorkshire
buffer as a starting point. The main difference is that the FR type has two ‘uprights’ whereas
the L&Y pattern has three. Other than that, they are very similar in form. For a bit of variety,
a standard LMS/BR pattern has also been included (on the right).
Here it can be seen that the ‘outer’ portions of Platforms 2 & 3 have been done in stone, as
opposed to brick, again in Plastikard and to reflect the situation at Lakeside.
This final view looks toward the station end across part of Platforms 2 & 3 within the trainshed
– here done in brick once again. Maybe for next month I’ll have some of the platform surfaces
completed, or maybe not!
With all the trackwork commissioned and tested, my attention has now turned to the point
rodding installation and painting of the sleepers prior to ballasting. Here we see 24047
at rest between duties.
Wills plastic point rodding and a lever frame is seen here installed at the end of the
sidings, along with a couple of 3D printed cabinets. The painting and weathering on the
road overbridge has commenced and still awaits further washes.
Showing progress to date at the end of the sidings, with the BR branch line coming in on
the left and the industrial line curving away in the centre of the picture. The buffer
stop kits are from the Lanarkshire Models and Supplies range.
