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NOVEMBER 2024 UPDATE
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STEVE HARROD
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HYWEL THOMAS
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ANDY LEE
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ALAN DEWEY
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MIKE WHITCHURCH
Right, that's your lot, you'll be happy to know, the rest of the last couple of months of
modelling have been primarily building a few kits and converting a few loco's and rolling
stock, and now I've got the lathe, progress has been somewhat accelerated, but as there are
others far better at it than me, I'll not embarrass myself.
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KARL CROWTHER
Thoughts turned to see if I could make a servo raise and lower a magnet
and the result is what you see here. I had to hand some tiny cylindrical magnets and found
a length of aluminium tube this just fitted into. I then also found a length of brass tube
that this first piece would easily slide in. With a servo linked to a MERG Ezypoints module
it seems to work as planned, so far so good….
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KIER HARDY
The customisation work, I find, is ugly and restrictive as it involves millions of bits
(the ones that haven't fallen off already) that don't look much like anything I'm familiar
with. OO modellers within the broad finescale framework are much happier with ready to run
models as they come and don't feel the same need we once had to rewheel, modify or rebuild
them. Or do anything much, really.
Accurascale deserve an award for trying to eliminate finescale modelling overnight, with
over complicated design and no thought towards the finer gauges such as EM & P4. When you
consider the relative ease of converting the models that came before the Class 31, this
is enough to make anyone stick with OO gauge! One of the best features of this model is
the non driven floating centre axle (as per the A1A-A1A prototype) - something that would
be welcome on all future Co-Co models for better performance and road holding, regardless
of the chosen gauge.
It's a mystery why the tolerances for these models are so tight, when the wheels are
thicker than the prototype anyway, and most OO gauge modellers wouldn't be put off by
having the brake blocks in line with the wheel face, and not into the crease of the
flange. Surely there's room in the design to accomodate gauge variations in 4mm scale....
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I have re-activated 83A and started the journey again, by removing the nameplates from some
Warships so that they are totally withdrawn, I will have two individual months I will model
in 1971, April and August, this gives me the opportunity to showcase my NBL Warships and
North Brits. So this winter to spring will be about getting the board made and track put
down and wired up.
I have removed some of the weathering on D861 Vigilant, as I had done her circa 1969 post
withdrawal, however I will keep D861 as an extra for possibly a 1970 time period. In weathering
D861 I accidentally washed away the BR Roundel with thinners. I had some from Fox transfers,
however im disappointed in that the circular white area is not central, I will have to see who
else does the roundels and get one that aligns properly.
The numbers and BR arrows on D836 have been removed and replaced by the correct size arrow and
numbers from the HMRS press fix range.
An exceptionally busy couple of months has seen little new work at
Morfa Bank but a new tool van has made an appearance, courtesy of one
of Jonny Duffett’s excellent 3D prints.
Built by the GWR to an enlarged iron mink-style design there were only
a handful of these diagram CC1 S&T workshop vans built. DW14999 was
actually allocated to nearby Neath but had gone by 1972, however,
DW15000, on paper working out of Reading, was a regular in South Wales
during the early 1970s (and wasn’t finally scrapped until February
1974 at Barry Wagon Yard). Here we see it parked out of the way on the line to the CCE tip.
This shows it from the other end. The print, intended as a CC2 Pooley
weighing machine contractor’s van, was modified with extra height to
the body, some additional detailing and a Churchward brake. By the
time it was scrapped it probably hadn’t had a repaint in 20 years so
was looking a bit tired by 1972. One of the bigger tool vans (also
courtesy of Jonny) is in the queue for winter projects.
Our photographer has wandered over to the row of lock ups alongside
the main yard and found an old LMS-built D2134 steel mineral wagon. It
once had bottom doors but these had been sealed. Sitting empty at the
end of the yard it could well be in need of repair. In the background
can be glimpsed some recently arrived hopper wagons, ahead of a
delivery of cider apples at the quay.
Here we see the wagons being shunted into the yard by Ebbw Junction’s
5180. Usually arriving through Newport Docks for cider maker Bulmer at
Hereford, if a coaster from France was backloading steel coil from
South Wales they would sometimes arrive at the river wharf near Morfa
Bank. Any available hopper was pressed into use for these occasional
moves and here we see a 21-ton hopper, a coke hopper and a 24.5-ton hopper.
A higher view on a different day shows the yard busy with a variety of
stock. In the back siding a pair of Enparts vans have arrived from
Landore via Briton Ferry Yard. They had then joined a local trip to
Morfa Bank before leaving on the regular working to Margam Yard. From
there they would move forward on the 6B62 freight to Swindon.
The next siding has a rake of empty opens from the nearby steelworks.
They will be moved down to Knill’s scrap yard and, when loaded,
collected from the main yard by a BSC loco. In front of them a short
rake of BR ore tipplers, with a bed of old ballast in each, carry new
ingot moulds from the foundry, probably destined for Ebbw Vale.
Before the empty BSC opens get loaded one of the Aberavon Wharf &
Tramway shunters will have to clear the rake of their own empty
internal use coil carriers from the yard. These are used down at the
quay to move stockpiled coil from the warehouse to the quay for
export. The very mixed fleet features some ancient examples of
wagonry, which would no doubt keep any wagon enthusiasts happy for hours.
Across the running line from Knill’s yard is a stabling siding
alongside the maintenance lock and river. Often to be found here is
the AW&T’s shunting truck. The wagon has a practical purpose on the
layout as it features a longer coupling at one end and is used to help
shunt some of the longer coil wagons down to the quay past the sharp curve from the main yard.
Returning to the BR yard we find a rake of wagons that has recently
come up from the tramway and are now parked up on the bridge over the
maintenance canal locks. The two tankers have been to the Mechema
plant not far from the quay while the coil wagons have unloaded coil
from Llanwern for export. Part of Port Talbot steelworks can be glimpsed in the background.
We finish our brief tour around the yard with a view of an unusual
beast that has been parked at the back of the yard. The old LMS brake
van had been converted to a gauging van on the LMR but had been
transferred to the WR and could be found anywhere on the region. It
will no doubt head out, along with the engineer’s van, for some work over the coming weekend.
I have 6 of these 16 ton coal wagons (Dia 108) which are resin 3D printed with Morton brakes
and no top flaps, by T&S models from ebay. The one-piece printing is superb and I think the
details look amazing. I primed most of these with Supadec grey primer as a base colour, and
two of them with Tamiya fine surface primer to give some variation in tones.
The underframes are painted with Archive X engine black, and the wagons finished off with
Smiths couplings and Gibson wheels. Decals by Model Master.
I've also added two 16 ton wagons with top flaps from Parkside kits using the same techniques.
Two more Iron Ore tipplers join the fleet, again using different tones of grey so they don't
all look the same in a rake.
The baseboards for the layout have been built by cousin Steve. Unlike me he's and expert
at woodworking. 9mm plywood tops and sides with diagonal bracing. Now the fun starts with track laying.
On the Whitley workbench this month is a second W & M Railbus conversion to EM. Again the
procedure follows the Scalefour Society Forum correspondence on the web. The ready axle
shown here is of the Black Beetle 12mm double insulated wheels from Branchlines, with the
pinpoints filed off. An Ultrascale Final Drive Gear is fitted flanked by only 2 original
washers. Spacing is achieved by 1mm wide pieces of Biro tube. I also fitted a replacement
brass Ultrascale idler gear in the drive.
With the axles dropped in and now on test, E79960 runs into Whitley towards Haverhill. Its
final diagram will be to Audley End and thence Cambridge Depot for maintenance and a wash!
A small amount of track has been obtained so there are now 5 lines, as the old goods loop
has been reinstated and this has allowed the connection into one of the goods yards. The
layout's old goods yard has been split in two by the Spanish rebuilding,
hence the need for a new inlet track.
All 5 tracks are now in use, the new line being somewhat incongruously inspected by the
Southern Region District Engineer!
As can be seen the other yard will be fed from the existing pointwork and will lead up to
a low relief goods warehouse based on something like the ones at Huddersfield, Warrington,
Burton etc, with the parcels / mail depot on the right hand side.
Advancing decrepitude made it necessary to rethink the under baseboard storage yard idea due
to limited access, and also from a practicality point of view, if maintenance of the main
lines was required. Plan B, whilst continuing with the spirelix, has involved redirecting
the storage yard tracks to run along the front edge of the layout.
A scissors crossing has been incorporated to allow track changing as this will temporarily
be a 4 track dead end storage yard, with a matching yard on the other side of the layout,
at some stage they will be connected as a loop although this will have to run under the
layout and is not a perfect answer, it's about the only option available currently.
Not everything this month has been directly railway related. The baseboard which covers the
door I need to get through to do the messy bits, like wood work has been re-engineered to give
easier rolling lockable wheels with an inbuilt adjusting mechanism and has surpassed all expectations!
It’s amazing just how quickly the new month comes around! With the clocks changing and the
garden going dormant for the winter months, hopefully good progress can be made. This time
I’ve been working on a magnetic uncoupler for Kendal platform 2. A permanent magnet was
considered undesirable as it might have inadvertently uncoupled vehicles parked there.
Some form of remote uncoupling is however going to be essential as this area will be under
an overall roof!
Here you see the module upper surface with the protruding tube that the magnet carrier
slides in. The contraption then simply screws onto the underside of the baseboard surface.
Here we see the surface side of the arrangement with the magnet in the raised
position. With Sprat & Winkle couplings this would not work with two vehicles thus fitted
as the magnetic field would not be strong enough to act on both couplings. But to couple a
coach from a loco where just the one coupling is involved, tests suggest it should just
work – only time will tell, I guess. The train guard standing on the platform serves to
indicate the position of the magnet.
While at Kendal, it seems to make sense to continue work on ballasting this scenic area so
that task can be ticked off for the whole layout.
Over now to Kentside and I’ve installed the barrow crossing at the northern end of the
platforms. That baseboard joint will need some serious attention…
By way of further contrast, this is a Hornby Black 5 ‘experimentally’ converted to EM for
a friend by doing a simple ‘wheel pull’. Seems to negotiate the layout successfully…
And even more different, this LNER J1 class I’ve been building for a client. Just a few
more bits (e.g. mud hole covers in the firebox) before it’s ready to paint…..
The loco itself is a kit designed by Frank Davies to go on the Shipley Club’s ‘Clayton’
project and is available from London Road Models - a joy to build! A separate tender is
also required, here being a GNR ‘horseshoe’ type, also from London Road Models, but in
fact was originally a George Norton kit.
It's been nearly 40 years since my first venture into EM gauge.... after all, I'd previously
been constructing my own permanent way in OO gauge to overcome the restrictive geometry and
overscale appearance of proprietry track. Consistent wheel standards on my rolling stock
improved the running qualities no end, and also brought about compatibility with other
modellers and friends following the same EM standards.
I've always enjoyed converting and customising models to produce something unique, despite
facing some of the challenges posed by today's ready-to-run models. The way they're built
and designed makes them infinitely less amenable to modification and rebuilding, a fate for
which they were never intended of course. Nor were they intended to be taken apart, which
complicates matters no end.
So this is where we're at in 2024 - Accurascale's Class 31 showing what is required just to
get the wheels out! It's a complete nightmare departure from the previous Class 37 design,
now with extended split-axles that are supported in metal pressings incorporated into the bogie
sideframes which also act as electrical pick-ups. Unfortunately the sideframes are secured
onto the central gear tower with 4 screws which can only be accessed when the bogie is
removed from the chassis, bringing with it the drive shafts and worm gear. The cab interiors
need to be removed to access the bogie top retaining clip, and the bufferbeam / cowling
assemblies require removal to be able to discard the kinetic NEM coupling mount.
After spending much time cleaning the wheelsets and removing copious amounts of lubrication
which was dripping from the gear tower assemblies, attention turned to the EM gauge conversion.
The wheelsets are reprofiled by reducing the RP25 flanges to 0.5mm wide without removing the
wheels from the axle, and polishing smooth when the other wheel is in the collet being machined.
Out of the box, the Accurascale wheels measure nearly 20mm between the wheel faces. Although not
techically OO gauge anymore, the wheels are pressed out by 0.5mm on each stub axle to EM gauge,
still allowing enough room within the sideframes.
Showing the 4 screws which secure the sideframes onto the gear tower. Refitting the screws
from the underside allows the sideframes to be easily removed without having to dismantle
the whole model. Right hand image showing the bogie reassembled, with enough space between
the wheel face and the sideframe. The keep-plate no longer holds the axles in place (like
previous models), so is nothing more than a dust cover, but still a headache to remove. The
8 tabs put up a fight when trying to remove the keep-plate and are easily broken, although
it's still capable of being held in place with fewer tabs anyway.
Two out of four bogie assemblies were found to have a diagonal rock of 0.75mm with the
potential to cause derailments, no doubt as a result of poor manufacturing tolerances in
relation to the metal pressings located in the bogie sideframes. Some remedial work to the
mounting tabs was required out to get the bogie to sit flat.
The PCB needs to be lifted clear of the chassis to aid the fitting of the drive shafts and
top securing clip, resulting in every screw on the model having been removed during the
conversion process. It's well worth checking that the wiring to the hall sensors is clear
of the flywheel to avoid chaffing.
Dual braked and tripcock fitted 5595 is a Finsbury Park allocated Brush type 2. After the
fitting of bufferbeam pipework and weathered to a photograph circa 1970, she's ready for
service and is captured here at Hornsey Road depot. It's great to have these two new model
locomotives in the fleet, especially with Hornsey Broadway being a North London based layout
featuring stock that would have been seen regularly at Kings Cross in the early 1970s.
Here's one for the album - disc headcode 5552 seen sandwiched between 5656 and 5595. Double
motored 5552 is a Lima model and has been in the Wibdenshaw and Hornsey Broadway fleet for
over 20 years now. I'll have a word with the depot foreman about getting the numbers
refitted on the depot building above roads 2 & 3.
Looking down on 5656 at the head of the Cambridge Buffet service. The loco is dual braked
and ETH equiped, and is one of a batch of 17 locomotives (D5545, D5655-70) that
had uprated 1600hp engines from new, easily identified by an additional cover plate on
the other side of the roof adjacent to the main radiator fan, used for maintenance
access on the additional coolant header tank.
5595 heads a northbound outer-suburban service consisting of SLO-SLO-BS-CL-CL-SLO. These
coaches (also by Accurascale) complete the last piece of the Hornsey Broadway rolling
stock jigsaw, complementing my existing inner-suburban rake (Bachmann) consisting of
S-S-S-BS-S-S heading the other way behind a Brush type 4.
Tooling and production costs may be the reason why the ends steps and top platform are
included on the blue SLO & CL, as they were removed on all mark 1 coaches early on in
their lives. Fortunately they're just pegged in place and easy enough to remove with a
craft knife, then plugging the holes (if required) before brushing over with some solvent.
The wheels on the coaches have been reprofiled using the same method as the Class 31s,
retaining the split axle electrical pick-up for the onboard lighting. The brake rigging
is very tight to the wheels in OO gauge, sometimes causing the brake blocks to rub, so
it's near impossible to retain them for the extra width for EM gauge (only 1mm difference
in this case). Replacement rigging has been drawn and 3D printed to overcome this, but
may take a while to fit them as they're hardly visible from most angles. The obligatory
weathering has been carried out on the coach ends, and some slight variations added to
the roof colours with an airbrush.
That's another award(?) on its way!
Perhaps a free vacuum cleaning wagon should be supplied to tag behind each model and
sweep up all the bits that fall off onto the track! Credit where credit's due, the
backup support is excellent, and missing parts have been dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Inner and outer suburban sets go about their business, both behind Baby Deltics in this view.
Photo taken just after conversion to EM and before the weathering was applied (and before my
Brush 2s had entered service).
Finishing off this month's update, here are a few snaps taken by the lineside, starting off
with North British Class 16s D8406 & D8402 passing Class 40 D365 from the Shenston Road fleet.
A rare visitor to these parts is Greg's maroon Warship D838 Rapid on an excursion, passing an
English Electric type 3 hauling carflats....
.... about to pass a Class 31 on the 1B66 Cambridge Buffet service.
A video short showing the suburban services going about their business.
Various video clips from recent running sessions at Hornsey Broadway (2024), featuring a
large selection of multiple units. Please click on the above image to view the latest videos.
