Make do and Mend - Keeping going

[drmditch]

Another picture from Ormesby Hall, this one taken by Craig who is a Proper Pilmoor Person.
The J21 looks very much at home in the refuge siding, but I'll bet the farmer hopes he gets that field fully harvested before the elderly engine starts throwing any sparks!

[Tom F]

Another picture from Ormesby Hall, this one taken by Craig who is a Proper Pilmoor Person.
The J21 looks very much at home in the refuge siding, but I'll bet the farmer hopes he gets that field fully harvested before the elderly engine starts throwing any sparks!

Post_02_CT.jpg

That's lovely DRM. Certainly hope to recreate such a scene with Thirsk. What is the train made up of?

[earlswood nob]

Looks goo, but I'm not sure I can see the inside motion, DRM.

Is the J21 waiting for an Atlantic to pass by on a passenger train?

Earlswood nob

[drmditch]

That's lovely DRM. Certainly hope to recreate such a scene with Thirsk. What is the train made up of?

Thank you, it is a nice picture isn't it! The credit is due to the Ormesby Hall Group for building such a lovely railway, but I have to say I'm quite pleased with the way my stock appears running on it.

The train is just some of my recently constructed vehicles, as described higher up this thread.:-
J21 (customised NuCast - with what other people have been pleased to call the 'waggly bits'!)
Long wheelbase CCT (Parkside)
AVB fitted LMS three-plank dropside (Bachmann/Parkside)
Ex-GNR 8 Ton Van (Mostly scratchbuilt)
Ex-NBR 15 Ton six-wheel Van (scratchbuilt)
Ex-GCR three-plank dropside (scratchbuilt)
Three more LMS dropside wagons, not AVB fitted. (Modified Mainline/Bachmann)
Ex NER V4 Brake Van (Modified Mainline - but other people have done these much better than I have!)

My railway will have to be dismantled soon. So I'm trying to sort out some reasonable pictures of it. Nowhere near as good as Pilmoor I'm afraid.

[drmditch]

Looks goo, but I'm not sure I can see the inside motion, DRM.

Is the J21 waiting for an Atlantic to pass by on a passenger train?

Earlswood nob

Don't be silly! This was on Monday evening, and the Atlantic wasn't announced until Tuesday lunchtime!

It was shunted for a local Passenger Train to pass - when - lo and behold - two turned up at once!
Unfortunately the only picture of that event is the rather low-quality one from my mobile, Craig's battery having run out!
That's just as well - the Operating Authorities might not approve of two A8s running in parallel - one of then running Up on the Down line!

(You need good vision to see the inside motion moving - but I know it's there!!!)

[drmditch]

Since I have to move house shortly, my existing railway will be to be dismantled. It will in due course be reconstructed in an improved and slightly larger version, but since it has taken twenty-five years to get to it's current level of non-completion I thought it would be a good idea to make a record in pictures.

First, here are some from my camera centred on the branch line station of Broompark. (NER - fictional)

It's a sunny day one hundred years ago.

Wagons to take more steel from Consett for the warships being built on the Tyne.
(This train is usually longer than this, but I wanted to show off the brake van)

Of course, this County Durham, so there is always coal to move on the dense network of tracks.
(The same comment applies, this train is normally longer, and heavier!)

Thirty-odd years later, the motive power is even stronger, but somehow the station appears quite unchanged!

[drmditch]

I didn't realise that cab window was leaning inwards - must remember in future to take pictures as a modelling tool!
There is a lot to apologise for in these pictures, especially about the rather crude trackwork. The re-born railway will be better!
Actually, I included this one because it shows the stonework, cattle-wagon(Parkside) and the water crane (Mike's Models) rather nicely

Although my railway is not based on a particular location, I do try to re-create some of the features that used to typify where I now live. Where else could this be but County Durham? (Alright, well one or two lines in Yorkshire also had station buildings of this Thomas Prosser design.)

[drmditch]

Craig took some much better pictures, and while they do show the level of 'lack-of-completion', they do also show something of what I'm trying to achieve.

I do rather like making buildings and structures. The trees on the skyline should be a forest! I will have to ask nice people to make me some more!

This signal cabin is based on Hexham (East). There is still a lot of detail that needs to be added, and perhaps it shouldn't be quite so clean!
(Although the roof is obviously quite dusty!)

This is part of my junction station - Dean and Chapter Junction (NER - Fictional). The stone building is actually half of Alston. The footbridge is D&S. 9870 seems intent on getting into every picture!

The island platform structure is based on a number of prototypes (especially Hexham/Selby/Church Fenton). Under the roofing are a series of Vierendeel trusses.
(Still a lot to do to this building)

[Tom F]

Lovely looking layout DRM and I hope the railway will also have a new home at your new place.
How big is it?

[drmditch]

Craig was really clever with this picture.

There should be buckets hanging up inside - perhaps someone has used them and not put them back!
You can just see the fire. I use red party glitter to represent fires. This building and all the signal cabins have fires to keep people warm. You can see them if you look very hard.

Terminus station water tower, and some of the attempt at putting relief onto backscenes. The tank panels were made individually, and took some time. That was some years ago, and I haven't dared check them to the latest NERA publications.

My house move has been pending for a while, which is why this coaling stage has only got halfway built. The lever frame is one of those which control the terminal station (Durham St Margaret's - LNER Fictional) - Yes, Durham had three stations, but none of them quite fitted my railway room!) You can just see a part of the big signal cabin, based on Alnwick.

It's that J21 again!!! The reason for including this picture is the signal cabin, which I quite like. NER cabins take an age to make, and (if you look through the windows you can see the levers, and registers, and fires! I haven't managed to make to clocks work though! Strange that this railway has three (and half) signal cabins but only one signal!

This fault will be rectified on the new railway!

[drmditch]

Lovely looking layout DRM and I hope the railway will also have a new home at your new place.
How big is it?

The existing room is 13'6" long, and 8'6" wide at one end, but only 6'6" at the other, hence the rather tight curves. I'm planning to keep the same basic concept but to open it out a bit more.

There are continuous runs on two levels, and then a third level rising to the terminus. It's based on an old idea from David Jenkinson. The storage sidings (a.k.a Darlington and Everywhere Else) are on the bottom level. Of course, there isn't enough storage (on or off line), and that will be improved as well.

The only way I can bear to take everything apart is to concentrate on the prospect of the new railway-to-be!

[drmditch]

Some details you can only see close up:-

These windows really ought to be kept cleaner!

Fortunately, unlike my other signal cabins, with this one the roof is a plug fit!

I'd better keep the same track layout in the new railway - otherwise I'll have to change that signalling diagram!

[drmditch]

Last train over the viaduct.

Was Mallard the last A4 in black (with LNER on the tender)?

[drmditch]

The railway room looks very sad at the moment. Much of the railway is coming apart the way it was intended to 25 years ago!

However there is a whole end where the low level was built as one unit. Fortunately, in that area most of the track is un-ballasted and can be taken up where needed.
There are ever so many boxes of stock and buildings, all carefully marked 'FRAGILE' and with an arrow to indicate the right way up!

Perhaps people who built layouts intending them to be exhibited know a thing or two!

[drmditch]

While my railway re-construction is still waiting on several other more domestic construction projects to be completed, this little project is taxing my modelling skills. (Although hopefully not beyond their limits!)

In packing up my stock I found an old Hornby J52 that I had nearly forgotten about. Since Mainly Trains produce an etched chassis for the J52 and have announced their planned closure of their business, it seemed sensible to order a chassis kits for the J52. (And the J71 and J72 but that is another story.)

I did have the temerity to suggest to LNER4479 that a J52 might be useful for Grantham, few Doncaster designed shunting engines having made it to the North Eastern Area. It emerged however, that both of us thought a J54 might make a nicer model, even if none of them actually survived into the Streamliner era.

So, here is my attempt so far.

The Hornby model dismantles fairly easily. The parts being retained are:-
Footplate (although heavily modified - see below)
Cab front and integral backhead detail (modified)
Saddle tank (with the dome and filler cap removed)
Smokebox (with the chimney removed)
The smokebox door (heavily reworked)

The pictures show most of what has been done to date

My major concern initially was the boiler (and thus the smokebox) diameter, and the double-curve section of the Stirling(?) smokebox door.
The latter was obtained by drilling the Hornby original and turning it by hand (or rather finger) against a number of curved knife blades.
Removing the smokebox was a bit messy, but essential to represent the lower boiler pitch.
The Hornby plastic in the firebox area was cut down and re-secured 2mm lower for the same reason.

The cab front was re-profiled and re-secured in a lower position.
The remaining footplate structure is heavily reinforced and the central splasher (out of position because of the Hornby 8' by 8'6" wheelbase) moved forwards. A new partial rear splasher was fitted against the cab front and new firebox sides.

Next steps are the bunker flare and the new cab roof. If it works as intended the central height of the cab will look correct. This is the part which worries me most at the moment.

The major compromise with the finished model will be the boiler diameter, and this means that the tank is also too wide. I hope the 'face' will look better when it's all in black rather than the obtrusive red colour.

Isinglass do not have a J54 drawing, and my library does not have much GNR content. So sources used are:-
RCTS Part 8A
An additional photograph from LNER4479.
An article in MRJ No 35 by Allan Sibley on upgrading the Hornby model J52.
Some pictures of J15 (GNR) models by Jim Harrison in RM August 2008.

I used the J52 detail to prepare a spreadsheet with comparative dimensions between the Hornby mouldings, a J52, and the J54.

I also used the broadside picture on this Forum ...here.... Putting this into an MSWord(TM) document allows one to re-size it using the wheelbase as a reference, and then to use the Word drawing tools to make measurements.
I just insert rectangles, move them where required, and read off the dimensions. (Divided by two in this case.)

(Illustration included in case it helps anybody else.)

I hope this approach doesn't upset anybody with a greater knowledge of the GNR!