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AUGUST 2021 UPDATE
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KIER HARDY
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HYWEL THOMAS
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KARL CROWTHER
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PETE JOHNSON
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PAUL JAMES
Once the wheelsets had been removed from the chassis they were then taken apart with the
bearings and coupling rods being retained for further use The axles I had were 1/8" inch
diameter, whereas the Hornby bearings are for a 3 mm dia axle. So before the original
bearings could be used they were reamed out to 1/8". After making sure the bearings were
a loose fit, it was time to fit the wheels. The wheels I had for this conversion were GWR
28XX, 18mm 14 spoke, the nearest I could get to the right size when the project was first
mooted. The correct Class 08 wheel can now obtained from Markits. Although the 28XX wheel
has a crankpin as part of the wheel, it does help in quartering the outside cranks, and if
you fill the crankpin hole with a bit of black plastercine it is hardly noticable once
behind the outside frames.
Further test running showed that although the outside cranks are locked in place by the
10BA nut, they were capable of moving under heavy load, so the cranks were also soldered to
the axle just to be extra sure. This has turned out to be a bit of a long term project, but
does mean I now have a method that will allow me to used up the stocks of Markits wheels,
axles and outside cranks I have in the spares box.
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GREG BROOKES
A view looking up Bridge Street with no shortage of buses to take you around the Metropolis,
whilst the trains rumble down below. The early 20th Century Theatre was being used as a discount
warehouse until recently, so now the owners are no doubt looking for a new tenant to try and
stave off the demolition gang for a bit longer. There's plenty of colour variations on the side
of the building, highlighting its many changes of use in the past.
The Bridge Street module has now been firmly planted 4' 6" away from its original position, with
the areas to the front and back rebuilt and blended in. Due to the tracks being straight instead
of curved at the platform ends, its orientation has also slightly moved, bringing about a change
in the road junction geometry at the back.
New sections of pavement have been made to accomodate the changes, resulting in the FineFare
building sitting further to the left. A paper print of a block of flats has been fixed onto the
wall to fill the gap between the shops and the theatre. All the buildings along this rear section
of the layout will be easily removable, so as to give access the branch line behind the retaining
wall, their bases sitting on a large ledge whilst resting against the wall.
Utilising parts of a Walthers Cornerstone HO Milwaukee Beer & Ale kit, along with the side section
of a City Classics building, this represents an early 20th Century cimema / theatre which has seen
better days and many recent occupiers, ranging from bingo to bargain basement operations.
Built by Paul James, Swindon Inter-city Class 123 DMU is seen at Hornsey Broadway, presumably on
a charter service being so far from home. This shows the extent of the works on the retaining wall
and back scene buildings.
There's been a couple of unfitted bogie bolster C wagons running on the layout with only half
the work carried out on them many moons ago, so they have now been into the works for finishing
and fitting the correct brakegear.
Other recent projects have involved painting and detailing some of Jonny Duffett's 3D prints.
This is progress so far with the Matisa/Neptune track recording machine, whilst 3 armoured Pigs
have been painted and await number plates and lights. Top inset shows Jonny's finished Panzer
wagon and armoured Pig. The free downloads can be found here on
Thingyverse
A parting shot from Hornsey, as the Class 123 DMU is seen leaving the Up Fast and heading to
East London. It's known that the Branch Line Society like to travel along all the tracks if possible!
Last month saw the completion of the sand silos and the start of the wharf walls in this
corner. Before starting the rather time consuming painting (of which there was going to be
a lot), I thought I’d better connect up the conveyor to the foundry, which by then was just
hanging in mid air!
The basic structure was constructed from 5mm foam board and 1.5mm mounting board. This view
shows the walls after the addition of some corrugated sheet, a set of steps (left over from
the Faller silos) and some pipework. Another section passes though the backscene, blocking
the view of the fiddle yard.
Here we see the structure after priming. The transformer will be slightly modified before
fixing in place once painting has been completed. Directly behind the long wall section is
the tramway fiddle yard.
With some further detail weathering still to do here’s the now painted structure.
With the foundry extension complete attention turned to the wooden staging at the end of the
quay. This was simply constructed from balsa wood strip glued with CA adhesive to fit around
the end wall with its sloping base.
The balsa wood was distressed before details were added with plastic strip, along with a
mooring bollard and some ladders. The whole structure was then given a liberal coat of primer.
Painting the quay wall was next. I was keen to show several stages of rebuilds and repairs so
parts are in rendered stonework, other sections are in brick and yet more in plain stone. The
later additions are steel piling to shore up some of the older walls. The ‘wood’ posts are yet
to be painted but you can see how various washes have toned down the piling.
The walls are held in place by the top capping, itself secured using the bollards that slot
into the baseboard surface. Once all the painting and weathering is complete this can all be
stuck firmly in place. More weathering has been added and the holes for mooring rings prepared.
A view along the length of the quay, which is where the dredger will eventually be moored. The
tide goes out a fair way in Port Talbot, with the 50-plus foot tidal range being the second
highest in the world, so plenty of mud will be in order here!
The finished wood staging is seen here and only needs to be fixed in place once the level of the
surrounding mud has been decided. The parts that are below the high water mark have been given
the tea leaf treatment to represent sea weed on the tidal river.
And finally a completed section of the quay wall. Only some gloss varnish needs to be added to
the sea weed and a few old tyres hung in front of the piling and it will be ready to glue in
place. The lower card section, beneath the bottom of the piles, will be completely covered by
the mud of the river channel.
Apologies for absence of news last month – due to lack of anything of note to report, on account
of still wiring up Kendal. At last that’s now completed and the boards are now all back together.
I still have to fault find and commission the parts just wired up, but at least I can run round
the complete circuit once again.
I’ve also taken delivery of the block instruments and got those at Kentside installed. Eventually
there will be a Scalefour Society lever frame here, but that’s a way down the road as yet……
The remaining block instruments and one of the block bells. These are of the same design as those
used on John Elliott’s Leeds City North. I have to thank John for cutting the parts for the cases
on his laser, and Richard Challis for building them up with the electronics. I can’t wait to get
them connected up and operational…..
Seen in an earlier photo, Kendal’s switch panel now in situ. This can be located on either side
of the baseboard depending on whether it’s just me tinkering with the layout on my own, or inside
the Kendal operating well, for running sessions proper. Again this is intended as an interim
measure until the proper lever frame appears. I’m currently designing the ‘pull plates’ to go
below the switches, so it should look a bit more complete when you see it next. The three
separate switches to the right are for some of the hand-operated points in Kendal goods yard.
I’d intended to have a 60ft turntable at Kendal and an internet search came up with Greenwood
Model Railway Products, an outfit I’d not previously heard of. Their kits are laser-cut and I was
impressed with what I saw and decided to invest in what was described in a Cowans Sheldon pattern.
When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see the turntable well already assembled. Not
knowing much about these pieces of railway infrastructure, a bit of research will be needed before
I start on building up the rest, but I have high hopes that this will produce a fantastic model.
Although the roots of my modelling are firmly in the 1970s, Canada Road and later Canada
Street have brought moves into the preceding decade to model the wide range of shunting
types to be found. This month features a couple of excursions into the beginning of the
1960s. On the north side of the Mersey the Lancashire & Yorkshire 0-4-0 saddle tanks are
busy around Liverpool docks. 51237 is seen shunting a riveted 16 ton mineral fitted with
slash marks indicating it has bottom drop doors.
51237 is seen at work again with the coal traffic that was so widespread at the time.
Although the design dated back to the 1890s, 51237 was actually built during 1906.
A side-on view shows the pleasing proportions of the Aspinall L&Y Pug.
Fowler 4F 44455 is pictured arriving at the yard. The origins of this type date back to 1911,
but they were still in daily use 50 years later. This particular example lasted until 1963 –
the same year that brought the end for 51237.
51237 is shown again with a BR Diagram 1/251 insulated van. The moveable smoke deflector
plate on the loco can be seen - a feature added for working the lines beneath the Liverpool
Overhead Railway which ran right along the back of the dockside at that time, but is now long
gone leaving barely a trace.
Moving south to the East London area in the same year finds a diesel replacement for the Pug
type locos. D2954 was one of a small batch of four Andrew Barclay 0-4-0s that were used by BR.
D5016 is an early example of the BR-built type 2 general purpose engine. Joining the fleet at
Crewe in 1959, D5016 had moved south to the London area by 1961.
A portrait view of D2954, which had been delivered new in 1956 as 11504, and had recently been
renumbered into the diesel sequence. It was destined to later become the foundation stone of
the TOPS numbering system adopted in 1973, becoming 01 001, but by then was at the isolated
Holyhead Breakwater line in North Wales being used as a source of spares.
Beginning in 1957, British Railways’ own design for a small 0-6-0 shunter joined the private
company types in the fleet. D2019 was an early example and is shown in the original livery for
the type. Although many remained in use into the 1980s, D2019 was not so lucky and was withdrawn
in 1971 having never carried a TOPS number. It was sold into industry and exported to Italy
during 1972 for further use.
Four new BR Dia 1/208 PECO/Parkside plank vans are underway to give a more representative mix
of 12 ton vans on the layout. Modelled with reference to Paul Bartlett photos from the 1970s,
minor variations in axle box type, rainstrip length and chalking boards have been copied.
Converting a Hornby Class 08 to EM gauge using Markits wheelsets - this image showing the
original Hornby set up for the Class 08 chassis. It isn't the easiest loco to convert and my
previous efforts using the original wheelsets proved to be a complicated and fiddly process.
So for this model I decided to use some Markits wheels, axles and outside cranks I had in stock.
One of the biggest problems I have found with the Hornby Class 08 chassis is it is almost
impossible to take the wheels out (especially the middle one) without causing damage to the
pick-ups, or to get any slack on the wires. I decided to get rid of the whole Hornby pick-up
assembly and keeper plate, and made up a new one from single sided copperclad strip, also
making it easier to remove the wheels.
The new wheelsets. The next task was to set the outside cranks up. The crankpin holes in
the wheels gave me the quartering, but the positioning along the extended axle at the right
distance, so as not to have the coupling rods sticking out beyond the running plate, was not
so easy. After a bit of trial and error I finally worked out the correct position. Next was
how ensure the outside cranks didn't move. For this I decided to fix a 10BA nut onto the
extended axle at a predetermined distance from the end, and then run the outside crank
up to it. Once I was happy with the quartering, I locked the nut against the ouside crank.
This can be seen in the photo above and the drawing below.
New pick-ups on the wheels - Having decided to do away with the Hornby pick-ups, I soldered
some new steel wire ones onto the copperclad strip.
New wiring route from pick-ups to motor - As I had also done away with the original wiring to
the motor, I had to find a new route to the pick-ups. I found there was a possible route by
drilling a small hole just at the front of the cab. It doesn't interfere with fitting the
body. As I don't run DCC, I decided to remove the plug and make a much simplified arrangement
on which to connect the wires.
With the wheels and pickups in place, it was time to add the coupling rods. The original
Hornby coupling rods will fit the Markits crankpins supplied with the outside cranks, but it
is wise to just run a broach through the holes just to be sure. The original removable
sections with the brake shoes and lifeguards can be refitted, although I first shaved a bit
of plastic off the brakeshoes to make sure they didn't catch the wheels, and also removed
the section that fills in the gap below the axles on the chassis to prevent catching on the
wheels (shown by red arrow).
Meanwhile on Wood End Sidings I've been finishing off the contours of the scenery, so
hopefully this will be the last shot of it looking like a snow scene. The first (and curved)
off-scene board has also been constructed, which will give access to the fiddle yard on the
other side of the room.
A snapshot of Brush type 4 - 1813 at the head of the southbound Murgatroyd tank train.
As well as the continued detailing work on the layout and customising rolling stock, I've been
finishing and painting some more of Jonny Duffett's 3D prints.
This is a trio of prints painted and weathered, representing different variants of the LMS
20 ton iron ore hopper with a 10'6" wheelbase. M691576 is the standard pattern height, with
a shorter LMS modified version in the middle.
The third variant has additional raves added, and this type were widely found in use with
the NCB and the steel industry.
For internal use only - BSC 14. The bodies and chassis for this wagon type are produced as
separate prints. The free downloads can be found here on
Thingyverse
A closer view of a test print for the JYV 42 ton (dia 1/403) bogie strip coil wagon with its
distinctive floor, and features plug-together bogie sideframes. When Jonny's happy with the
final tweaks to the software, they'll eventually be available on one of the many 3d download
sharing sites.
Next on the list is a BR 25.5 ton iron ore hopper wagon, shown here next to my scratchbuilt
version. The image further up the page also shows the 30 ton iron ore hopper, and the 33 ton
Scottish variant which were later allocated to the Newport Docks - Llanwern iron ore trains.
Last but not least for this month shows a pair of ingot carrying wagons, AKA Panzers.
