Paul's workbench

[Atlantic 3279]

I'm extremely interested (and surprised) by those expected (or proven?) haulage figures up a 1 in 50 rise on that sort of radius. I was once invited to test the feasibility of using some fairly well weighted kit-built and scratch built / modified locos on a local layout that was in the process of being equipped with spirals to connect it to a low level fiddle yard. The weight should have given the locos plenty of grip, although the radius was rather tighter than yours and the gradient therefore steeper still, the chief of layout planning having decided that the double track spiral had to fit within 4 feet overall width! The results were just hopeless...

[JASd17]

The Clayton project has a spiral at one end to resolve the height difference due to prototypical gradients of 1 in 50 being used on the scenic section.

The radii are very generous, more than double those of nzpaul, but we are still unsure just how much stock it will be possible to haul up the spiral.

A section on the Shipley MRS layout can be found on rmweb.

Fortunately, in the case of Clayton most of the passenger trains on the Queensbury lines had a maximum of 5 articulated carriages, most only 4. Goods services were equally, very restricted as to numbers of wagons, without the use of a banker. The locos are mostly N1 tanks for the passenger trains and 0-6-0s on the goods.

John

[drmditch]

My 'new' railway has inter-level gradients of 1 in 42. The 'old' version was steeper than this and most of my RTR locomotives and all of own built ones seemed to manage.

In about two weeks I hope to be able to unpack more stock, and test performance.

[nzpaul]

The proving ground for haulage testing is a curve on the club layout that has an arc of over 180deg, maybe more like 200deg, laid at 900mm radius and 1/45 grade acording to the plans. My pacifics all manage 9 up this but only the lighter shorty Hornby type, the new ones or Bachann mk1s and more like 7 before they start looking uncomfortabe. The P1 has taken 36 wagons part way around quite happily until the accidental torque limiting device kicked in (tender fell over)
Of coarse most of our membership model US or European prototype so their locos sickeningly walk away with 30 or 40 wagons or cars as they say in the US, and 15 coach trains without any sign of stress.
My testing doesn't really prove anyting conclusively on my helix/ spiral (which term are we supposed to use again?) but gives me an idea of what to expect. Fingers crossed as usual.

Cheers
Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Had an urge to work on the P2 over the last couple of days so I've assembled the tender and made up a few parts for the loco. The tender kit was a complete contrast to the loco, all parts being near perfect so assembly was easy. I can't quite believe that the same people were responsible for the loco and tender castings, not complaining mind you. As the photo's show, I'll need to lower the tender on its chassis as the running plate should really be in line with that on the loco, shouldn't be too difficult to achieve.
I've added brakes to the loco chassis using nothing more sophisticated than plastic strip and brass rod, I'd used this idea on the U.S outline "kitbashes" that I built a while ago and was happy enough with the result to use it on the P2. Also fitted the hand rails, ejector pipe and valve gear reversing link under the left side running plate.
Nearly time for painting but will have to wait until the weather warms up a little bit.

Cheers
Paul

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Paul, that P2's looking good.

manna

[earlswood nob]

Good day to all LNER fans especially Gresleyites

The P2 is looking good, but a small point is that the cab cut-outs on the the original Earl Marischal were of the full length type. The reduced height cut-outs were only fitted after it had been converted to the Bugatti nose verson.

I have the Nu-Cast kit and spotted this when preparing the castings.

I shall attempt to fit replacement A3 sides available from SE Finecast.

Keep up the interesting work

Earlswood Nob

[nzpaul]

Thanks Manna and EN....so it does:

Earl Marischal_1.jpg (24.07 KiB) Viewed 7401 times

Oh........damn n blast
Better fix that before I paint it I guess. Thanks for the heads up btw, I'm glad you said something before I got any further, that glaring error had slipped past me completely.

Cheers
Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Tender lowering (racing suspension???)success for the P2, looks much better too. Also took some brave pills and enlarged the cab cutouts using a piercing saw and then 10amp fuse wire soldered on to replace the beading, a little bit of a heart in mouth exercise but needed to be done. Steam pipe shrouds made up from plastic rod.

Since we're talking about Raven A2's on another thread I thought I'd share this "what doesn't work effort".
I picked up a GBL Director cheap and I thought the chimney looked like it might suffice, so I extracted it and tried it on the A2.......errrrrrr nope

Back to the drawing board.

Cheers
Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Serious modelers might want to look away now.....
After building the twin set a while ago, I decided I'd use the left over pieces as a basis for experimenting with livery application. The coach parts were glued together creating a shorty Gresley style coach body. Not wanting to waste the end result, I've delved into the imaginarium and come up with this fairly questionable...errr.....thing.

The reason for existence:
Perhaps the Rock,n,Roll era began 20 years earlier and the mega famous groups needed a form of transport consummate with their importance to the cultural scene....a tour bus would be no good, road vehicles were too unrefined....Commercial Aircraft still too small to carry all of the equipment, so it's been left to the railways (of course). So for the Beatles or Queen, Led Zep....or whomever you like who has arrived decades early, I have built this one of a kind super luxury Tour Coach.
Model:
The 6 wheel chassis must have some kind of shock absorbing suspension, actually just Comet RCH w irons with NBR grease axle boxes. I though about squeezing something under there to represent an innovative technology but not much room left. It must be fitted with disc brakes... I didn't have any other brake shoes to fit. Air conditioning, inspired by the roof mounted units found on old American caravans is just a plastic box with bent wire to represent ducting. Everything else is made up from bits of brass wire and strip. The teaking was the test for the Twin set using orange in the mix and I think it looks better than my old method.

I hope you enjoyed the story...I think it's a good example of a rule 1 model

Cheers
Paul

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Love it, gotta have a sense of humour

manna

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Thanks Manna, despite the fairy-tale nature of the thing, I tried to maintain a decent level of model making so that when I do run it in a train it will blend in and look normal, to the untrained eye at least.
Moving on to something decidedly less imaginary, but no less fun to build. I purchased the streamlined B17 kit from Hatton's a few weeks ago (sorry if I beat you to it, you'll be pleased to know it's not all there, missing the cab interior part ) I haven't started on the loco but I have made a start on the first coach for the "East Anglian"set. This afternoons work consisting of cutting up the Hornby coach and fitting the Comet brass sides for the open 3rd brake. Just how "too short" the old Hornby coaches are is clear, I have a fairly large chunk of new roof to build.

I had suggested to Graeme L that this Comet/Hornby combination would be the way to go when he asked me about building the Restaurant Triplet set...without having built one myself. I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth is and prove that it can work successfully. Thankfully it has gone rather well so far, meaning I'll have some first hand ideas to share during his next visit....in a couple of weeks I believe.

Cheers
Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

I'd definitely go for the idea of using the Margate or Railroad type coaches as the carrier for new sides, every time, rather than the much more expensive newer versions. Just think, if you hadn't built the fantasy tour coach, you might have enough roof...

The chassis is easy to extend. Cut in the middle, let in about 15mm in layers of plasticard and use decent glue plus the original steel weight to brace the joint. The tedious bit comes if you want correct trussing and fittings, as its a case of strip the lot off and fit new, probably MJT or home-made.

[nzpaul]

Just think, if you hadn't built the fantasy tour coach,

It cuts so deep......when you say those hurtful things...
But anyway....I've found the 3 roofs that were cut away to make the ckerestory coaches so I have plenty of donor roof section to complete the set of 6 for the East Anglian, so the Tour coach will not need to be sacrificed...haha.
One question I do need answered...does the kitchen 3rd resemble a kitchen 1st? According to what reaserch I have done the coaches were fairly standard but I can't find any pictures of kitchen 3rd and doesn't seem to be in the Comet or MJT range...any ideas on where I might find a picture?

Cheers
Paul

[jwealleans]

They do look very similar. There's a drawing in Harris LNER Standard Gresley Coaches if you can get a look.