West End Workbench

[JASd17]

Jonathan,

I have a copy of the old version of the GNRS Twins and Triplets book. I could bring it along this weekend, if you would like a look?

The photos are basic photocopies, but you get some idea of how things looked.

I shall be around tomorrow and Sunday.

John

[jwealleans]

I'd be very pleased to see it, John. The more information the better.

[jwealleans]

Well, entirely due to John's hard work, I think we've established that what these etches provide are two thirds of a D 218K triplet set. The missing element is a D147 luggage composite, not a vehicle which any current supplier seems to offer.

My thoughts then went to mixing and matching with other 6 wheelers which are available to see what we could cook up. As part of that exercise I retrieved from a drawer some etches by J & M Models, also for a GNR triplet. Lo and behold, it's the same one. I can only conclude that there were some drawings published somewhere in the 1970s.

The plan is therefore to use the composite body from the J & M kit to complete the set and then decide at a later date what to do with the rest.

[Woodcock29]

Hi Jonathon

I'm curious about the J&M etches. I was offered a set of etches for a GN triplet made up of former 6 wheelers five years ago, I even got them posted over from NSW to have a good look at them but decided not to buy them because they were only etched as two layered panelled stock and didn't look right. I couldn't see any easy way to make them look correct when close to other properly layered stock.

They were J&M and must be the same set you're talking about as they were a luggage lav comp, third and 3 compt bk third. I've even still got copies of the instructions and scan of the etches as they were emailed to me before I got them posted over.

Andrew

[jwealleans]

Well, you'll be able to see them before long, Andrew. Sage and sensible advice is to bin these etches, which is probably very sound. So, needless to say, I'll be pressing on with them as time permits, most likely after Warley. I plan to use the J & M composite with these two others to make the set up. As you say, the beading is really too flat and two dimensional, but they'll be consistent.

I then have two more of the J & M sets and another of these, but there was only one other D218K triplet, so I need a cunning plan for the remaining bodies, or just make them up as 6 wheelers.

[LNER4479]

I have a picture of a train in our era that is made up of a triplet, a twin and a 6w full brake.

Just sayin'...

[Atlantic 3279]

As you say, the beading is really too flat and two dimensional, but they'll be consistent.

Waste not, want not.

[jwealleans]

Been a bit under the weather since Warley, getting the last effects of my funny turn out of the system, but I'm feeling a bit more chipper today. I managed a couple of hours this evening, suitably armed with the fresh supplies I brought back (good job I wasn't planning to shop on Sunday, I'd have been scuppered).

This included more correct 8' Fox bogies for the triplet, which has also had the roof made and added to the 3rd. Ideally we'll be on to the Composite before long.



I've slotted the MJT articulation components so we can space these as closely together as possible allowing for some of the rather taxing pointwork on Grantham.

[Atso]

Sorry to hear that you've been unwell but glad to hear that you're on the road to recovery.

That triplet set is really starting to look the business and I'm looking forward to seeing you tackle the lower beading. I've got a hankering for some of these early Great Northern coaches and some old Farish 4 wheel coaches that could donate chassis (much as the ones on Copenhagen Fields). Articulation in N gauge could be interesting... Do you use any method of close coupling that can open out on curves?

[jwealleans]

Hi Steve,

You picked the right day to come and say hello, I had a really bad migraine on the Sunday, one of the worst i remember having in a long time. I was off the layout until after lunch and tbh I'm still a bit washed out now.

You can't adjust the MJT system on the fly as it uses the pressstuds to fix to the bogie. You might be able to use something along these lines which I used on a QuadArt a few years ago:





I'm sure you can see the principle. I can't claim any credit, it's copied from something Steve Banks did in a magazine article some years ago. It doesn't seem to be on his website. If you add a springing element to it rather than the adjusting screws then you might be able to get away with it. Tony Wright does something along those lines for his loco/tender connections, if I remember correctly.

[Atso]

Thanks for that Jonathan and glad I caught you on the good day! Those pictures give me some ideas on how to go about this.

[jwealleans]

The triplet has now been 'hybridised' with the addition of the J & M Models Luggage Composite to the set. The etches aren't too dissimilar, although the beading on this one is a raised flat etch, so it will have to be Evergreen strip rather than rod on the other two to match. The J & M designer also thought it was a good idea to etch sides and roof as a one piece unit - must have been a living nightmare to bend up - so they were snapped apart and my preferred method of construction followed with a separate roof to be added at the next session. Using brass angle for the solebars and steps has turned out to be a sound idea and once the strip is added along the top of the sides and the whole thing screwed together it's satisfyingly rigid.



I've used the trussing from the David Gray etch - there was none in the J & M - so that will also match. The whole thing rolls along through reverse curves and pointwork nicely.

[john coffin]

the J&M design replicates the idea that Rod Neep had, all those years ago, so maybe they got it from him.

Never did see how it would have been possible to create a proper Howlden roof in that way.

Nice work though Jonathan

[Atlantic 3279]

That's certainly going to have distinctly different character compared to the clones we're all used to seeing.

[jwealleans]

Pleased to say that the roof was fabricated relatively quickly this morning, so some detailing work has been begun. First, though, a chance to pose the set together with the major structure complete.



I've worked along the set fitting the underpinnings in preparation for a trial run round one of the Ormesby layouts tomorrow.



The trussing is what was on the David Gray etch, so it matches the other end. Gas tanks have been robbed from D & S NE Clerestories, because I had a few handy and I'll build them all with electric lighting. The brake fittings are all on the outer carriages - MJT, with Parkside cylinders (I seem to have pinched the MJT ones for another project at some time.



The central T looks quite sparse underneath. Trussing is .45 wire, queenposts from short lengths of tube with handrail knobs in the end, turnbuckle is just a length of small tube slipped over the wire.



The BT has had most work done: gas lamps and roof vents by Roxey (yes, one vent has fallen off). Gas pipe runs, roof lights (51L), vac pipe. The buffers are MJT early sprung ones; they're a bit short, but the right general shape and this set will have to negotiate some quite sharp curves in and out of the North Yard on Grantham. The heads will probably have to be filed to the quite distinctive shape although I have seen some round buffers on these vehicles.