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NOVEMBER 2022 UPDATE
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KARL CROWTHER
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JONNY DUFFETT
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MIKE WHITCHURCH
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HYWEL THOMAS
On the right is the partly completed tool box. In later years some, if not
all, of this small batch seemed to have had these slightly modified.
This may have occurred when they were repainted into red and blue
livery at the end of 1974 (possibly as a result of the West Ealing
accident of 1973 when drop down battery compartment doors on a Western
caused a derailment with fatal results). Also visible are the blanked
windows. Initially I just painted the glazing but they didn’t look
quite right, so a sheet of thin card was sprayed with the grey mix and
these were fitted into the openings on top of the existing glazing.
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PETE JOHNSON
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KIER HARDY
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Progress this month has seen further work on the platforms at Kentside, all now a uniform
colour. With the station building in place, the scene is really starting to come alive.
The slight gap along the base will of course be dealt with when the building is finally
fitted into place.
And looking from the opposite direction…..
Looking north, an overall picture of the grouping of buildings at Kentside can now be
appreciated (but with the Down platform shelter still to be constructed). It’s a shame
that only the rear of the signal box will be on view, but the signalling dictated it
should be sited here, rather than on the Up platform. You should just be able to make
out another task that’s been developed over the last month; that of building
the various ground signals.
The goods shed and signal box temporarily in position – again spot the (yellow) ground signal.
The ground signals are mainly of the 1943 pattern, built up from the very nice Palatine
Models etches. The rear of both single and double types can be seen here. All are illuminated
and the majority are servo-operated. There are a couple of instances where baseboard framing
has made it impractical to use servos, so these are fixed, but with danger/clear being
indicated by the lighting (via fibre optics).
The same two ground signals as in the last photo, now viewed from the front. The single
yellow disc means the signal can be passed at danger for routes it doesn’t apply to
(the goods yard in this case).
LMS 1934 ground signal made up using the Wizard Models casting. There are a couple of
these and being solid castings, are again illuminated via fibre optics. Again both are
servo-operated and although having been constructed (9 out of the required 10 at any
rate), I still have to connect and set up the servos and lighting, next month perhaps….
Class 97 battery electric locomotives LDB 975407 & LDB 975408 (ex-Class 501 DMBS) haul a
short departmental freight at Hornsey Broadway, consisting of a pair of ex-Conflat L wagons
converted to cable drum carriers, and a brake van to the rear.
These wagons including the railings and framework are part of my latest 3D printing
ventures, which include a variety of Conflat L versions.
Showing some of the prints ready for assembly, along with some 2-character headcode boxes
for DMUs.
Showing (left) the later 1/068 design, and (right) the earlier 1/064 design. Transfers for
these wagons and containers are from CCT - sheet BL37.
Some Conflat L wagons went on to become runners or converter wagons as shown here.
Two Pig Iron wagons diagram 1/004 and 1/007. Both have the same bodywork, differences are
1/007 (left) has a deeper 10" solebar, 10ft wheelbase, isothermos axleboxes and self
contained buffers. 1/004 (right) has a 9ft wheelbase and independant brakegear.
A pair of 1/007 wagons converted to Coil C with the addition of internal cradle timbers.
As always these and my other designs are available for free download at
Thingiverse
Due to unforeseen circumstances my plan to have Wibdenshaw erected have been put
temporarily on hold, so here a few current workbench inhabitants starting off with these
21 ton mineral wagons - My initial disappointment with the Accurascale unfitted models in
the 'wheels & axles' department made the decision for me not to go down that route for the
fitted version, having converted 3 initially to find out the best way of overcoming the
manufacturers ineptitude, I decided a plan b was required. The Five 70/Chivers Finelines
kit versions were always on my horizon so an initial half dozen were purchased. Whilst not
as well detailed as the Accurascale model in the underframe department, it’s lack is not
as noticeable on a layout wagon, and the amount of effort trying to put in correct sized
wheels and axles on the rtr model defeats the object of having it there.
As ever, the kit is a joy to build, crisp and accurate mouldings, oh if only all plastic
kits were so good! These first 6 are finished off with a coat of red oxide primer rattle
can paint, brush painted gloss varnish panels where the transfers from CCT, Fox and Railtec
are applied, and await a coat of Ultra Matte varnish and final weathering.
Catfish - As is well known, this Cambrian kit is something of a trial to assemble square
and level, I gave up on this one many years ago, and retrieved it do battle again. I have
replaced the end handrail with brass wire and the handwheels with Stenson Models brass
versions due to the chunkiness of the plastic option. Again transfers from the same sources
as the 21 ton minerals and likewise awaits final weathering.
Coke Hoppers - Whilst I am part way through a varied rake of Ian Mcdonald’s etched kits,
Hattons occasionally have the Hornby rtr version at a very good price, so no better reason
for a Yorkshireman to dive in! There is not a lot to do to these wagons, just the obvious
re-wheeling, (drop in AG’s if any certain other manufacturers are watching!), one wagon
has had the buffers and coupling hook replaced with LMS versions, requiring the filing
off of all the relevant bufferbeam detail, the other just had the old plastic coupling hook
drilled out and replaced with an Ambis, (or Annie if you are Model Railway Journal number
284!), and backdating the transfers from the usual suspects. Yet again they await my
bête noir of weathering !
Lowfit - Ever since seeing a David Larkin picture of an Invacar on a flat wagon in his
softback book many years ago, I’ve always fancied modelling one, but it’s always been a
distant thought until Oxford’s recent release of the model. Searching around in my stash I
found a couple , well, quite a few actually, Mainline Lowfits in the roundtuit pile. The
chassis was despatched, and a couple of suitable Parkside underframes were obtained from
my 'stores', 7 shillings and sixpence they were, isn’t modelling getting expensive?, and
a straight replacement ensued.
The sacks were made from the finest weave hessian I could find, and the string is one strand
of a piece of suitably coloured fine cord with the deck lashing rings replaced with wire
versions.
Once again, modelling time has been in short supply this month. One
task that has moved forward is Version 3 of the Morfa Bank operating
system. After using the predecessors for many months, with each
tweaked in light of experience, I’ve arrived at the (hopefully!)
definitive version. Firstly the ‘Day Card’ is turned over, this
listing any regular traffic that runs on that particular day. The
system is based on dice throws and these can be seen in their little
cubby hole below.
Once I know what day it is, attention shifts to these 27 drop down
cards, most of which detail up to two different traffic requirements
with the last few relating to the off-scene goods yard at Aberavon and
the working timetable. To determine whether the traffic in question
runs that day one dice is thrown. If it’s a regular flow then, for
example, a throw of 1-5 would confirm it is running whereas a 6 would
signify it’s cancelled that day. Depending on traffic one or two dice
are thrown again to determine the number of wagons that will be
arriving that day.
These are the traffic cards (now slightly tweaked for Version 3). The
first row lists the customer and commodity, the next two tell me how
many wagons are due, based on the earlier dice throw and the last two
tell me how many wagons have arrived (and if any traffic is to be held
over until the following day). The blue cards list each individual
movement from the working timetable.
Each card fits into a rack beneath the fiddle yard. Here we can see
the state of play at the end of a typical day. As you can see there
are several wagons that will be arriving the following day but most
customers have the wagons they required. The blue timetable cards fit
into the same rack, just to the right.
Here we see a point during that day with BSC Alco 803 shunting some
empty scrap wagons it has just delivered from the steelworks. These
will be shunted down to the AW&T line by the pilot later in the day
and their shunter will take them across to Knill’s yard for loading.
One small project I’d been meaning to get out of the way for a while
was a representation of the Margam breakdown crane. The layout is set
after Margam depot had lost its crane so only two vans remained for
dealing with small-scale derailments, both the staff van and the tool
van being former Mk1 BSKs. This was in the years before the rather
attractive RTC-style livery was in use and photos of that era are few
and far between. The vans were only converted at the start of 1971,
Cathays modifying a batch of vans for Newport Ebbw Junction; Cardiff
Canton; Margam and Swansea Landore, and they were repainted from
blue/grey at the end of the summer of 1974.
The most obvious change to both vans was the loss of the corridor
connections. Once the Bachmann donors had been stripped down this was
an easy item to remove, along with the steps and other end details
appropriate to the time period. New blanking plates and lamp irons
were fitted and then masked up for a spray of Army Painter yellow
primer.
The only other change for the staff van was to the roof above the
former guard’s area. I assume they are some kind of fillers, perhaps
for kitchen facilities added during conversion. The inset of the real
Canton staff van shows these features, along with the rather grimy
windows obscuring any internal modifications from view.
The biggest changes were to the BSK that would become the tool van.
Many of the windows were plated up although unlike the later BTU vans
these were not flush plates but merely replaced the glass. The other
obvious change was to the underframe, which gained a large tool box
for re-railing equipment and packing. Matching the grey on the coach
sides proved quite a challenge but ended up as a useful exercise in
paint mixing!
Here we see the completed van on a very rare visit to Morfa Bank in
order to sort out a rake of derailed wagons. They were certainly not a
pair of vehicles I was in desperate need for but with two secondhand
BSKs going spare, and not much chance to run any coaching stock it was
an opportunity too good to miss!
And this is the pair looking the other way with the staff van in the
foreground. This van eventually moved to Laira in the 1980s while the
tool van didn’t move so far and ended up migrating to Swansea but was
soon out of use, and, of course, the blue/grey livery was long gone by
then.
One final project for the month was some weathering on a rake of
Bachmann fuel oil tankers. These were needed for the Llandarcy to BSC
Aberavon traffic and all had been sitting in their boxes for several
years. A bogie tanker was also destined for this traffic and so all of
them headed to the workbench for the first stages in a spot of
weathering.
The unloading siding for the works is alongside the yard headshunt and
can’t be reached from the edge of the layout. A Bachmann Margam
Junction shunter’s truck was modified as a reach wagon to shunt the
siding. A simple drop loop at both ends allows the pilot to collect it
from the end of the loading dock siding where it usually resides, as
we see here, and then collect the rake of five tankers from the
unloading point.
After remotely coupling to the rake all five are drawn out ready for
collection, while the shunt truck will be propelled back to its lair
to await the next arrival of this weekly traffic.
This month there are a few photos from the layout’s appearance at the Aldershot
exhibition in October. From the Sunday morning, the Hunslet tram heads along the dockside
with some grain hoppers.
The second sequence on the Saturday found blue Class 04 D2294 resting in the dockside siding.
Class 03 2135 and a string of BRT grain hoppers are pictured snaking towards the Canada Street sidings.
Parcels stock is something of a rarity on the layout, but Sunday afternoon saw a freshly painted
SPV van visiting the yard. Many thanks to Tim and Carole for their help with the layout at this show.
The closing sequence on Sunday found 08 767 working the exchange sidings shunt. The layout
is out again this month at the Newcastle & District MRS show at Jesmond Park Academy on
November 12th & 13th. A Scottish Region medley is planned for the Saturday, with a Tyneside
selection appearing on the Sunday.
A quick project underway on the bench at the moment is this conversion of a Parkside FM type container
into the ventilated BM version. Vent mouldings taken from an Airfix meat van kit have been used.
New into the fleet is Birmingham RCW type 3 number 6527 (later Class 33/1 - 33110), at
rest on the depot in the company of other Southern Region locos. Built in
October 1960, it was allocated to Eastleigh and regularly used on the Bournemouth to
Weymouth trains with TC sets, and will almost be exclusively be used to propell the
8-car Trailer Control set as a charter service on the layout. 6572 and E6107 are more
likely to be in the North London area after working inter-regional freight.
There's a bit more to report on the Class 125, showing the recently painted DMS E51005
with a small yellow warning panel. From a few photographs of E51005, the blue appeared
lighter with a matt finish in contrast to the other vehicles.
DMBS E51173. As with the DMS, all the underframe apparatus has been removed and the
3-car unit tested for a few circuits in both directions.
Trailer Second E59466 after cutting and splicing body sections to get the right window
and door configuration. There's very little to be done on the chassis apart from fixing
the seating unit down, adding new footboards where the lavatory used to be, and finish off
with some underframe weathering.
Another project which has been on the backburner for a while is the addition of a centre
car for the Bachmann Class 205 DEMU. This method uses a Replica 64ft body with 2 X 5 open
seating bays, sitting on a recovered EPB trailer chassis. Resprayed with a Railmatch
aerosol can and fitted with the 'no longer available' Replica plug in glazing. It is seen
here on the layout but still requires couplings, detail work on the coach ends / weathering.
I've had to renumber the unit - in this case from a colour photograph of 1106 (S60105
S60655 S60805) as Bachmann's 1122 stayed as a 2 car unit until 1979 when it was in blue &
grey livery with a 2-EPB driving trailer added.
As with all model powered bogies, the original OO gauge wheelsets (Bachmann in this case)
are faced off 0.4mm and the flange polished smooth. Without the need to remove gears
or bearings, each wheel is tapped out on the axle by approximately 0.6mm to EM gauge.
This method is particularly useful when converting models with coupled wheels, as the
quartering isn't disturbed, and the 0.6mm shift is less than a quarter of the wheel width.
To avoid any reliability problems, the electrical path through the bearing is bypassed,
by bending the busbar tabs upwards and outwards to contact gently on the back of the wheels.
The trailing bogie split axle arrangement is replaced with Jackson Romford 14mm disc wheels
and brass wire pickups soldered to the existing busbar arrangement.
Now time for a couple of snaps taken at the lineside, starting off with Brush prototype 0280
Falcon passing through with a mixed freight. After its visit to Swindon Works in 1970, it
emerged in blue livery fitted with air brake only. This Heljan model is from Greg's Shenston
Road fleet and the tall lamp is scratchbuilt by Paul James.
Class 33/1 - 6527 propells an 8-car TC set into platform 2 at Hornsey Broadway.
A pair of Shenston Road Brush 2s performing suburban duties, 5557 heading for Kings Cross with
a rake of non corridor stock, whilst sister loco heads north with the Cambridge Buffet.
