West End Workbench

[jwealleans]

Yes indeed. Axles in the bogie with the single beam can rock side to side, those in the one with twin beams can rock longitudinally. It does what it's supposed to, but I'm not convinced it's required.

[mick b]

JW

Never seen anything like it before !. It looks like it will be a pig to paint and do any maintance to as well .

The Plastic CCT is that from the same person who did the Ballast Plough Van? . I gave up with the plastic roof on my one, and rolled a Brass Roof on mine. It look like it has a huge overhang on the sides ?, nice models.

Lovely Riley !!

Mick

[Hatfield Shed]

... Axles in the bogie with the single beam can rock side to side, those in the one with twin beams can rock longitudinally. It does what it's supposed to, but I'm not convinced it's required.

And if it was required, why not use internal functional sideframes to provide this movement, and have no incremental friction? Poor concept, fit only for the scrap heap.

[kimballthurlow]

The old Trix Twin models (1950ish) had a similar centre beam between side-frames making it almost impossible to remove bogies.
But they had an excuse - a frame on which to mount the sliding pickups for lighting and their "proprietary" two-trains-on-one-track system.

Kimball

[jwealleans]

I've had a very kind offer of replacement conventional bogies for the D18, so they have been removed. If anyone would like them please let me know.

In the meantime I fabricated a roof yesterday. The body had developed quite an alarming twist which was even distorting the floorpan slightly, but adding the roof has allowed it to be straightened and made it satisfyingly rigid.



The clerestory sits on top and is screwed up through the roof using a pair of captive bolts. This is how I always do these but it's been a while since I showed one. The nut can be seen below. The only thing to be careful of is not putting the bolt directly above a partition. I'll probably use part of the supplied plastic roof to cover the clerestory section as it's only cosmetic.

[jwealleans]

Bit of an interlude while work goes on in the carriage shops....

York's K3, 17, has been pinched by New England for a short trip across the Fens. Here it sits in the loop at Ramsey awaiting whatever's currently occupying the single line.



Bachmann body and tender with Tony Wright frames amd mechanism. We did see this on Grantham while unpainted and with a loose cab. Looking back down the train:



Pair of SR cattle wagons. I think these are both D & S - the piped one certainly is. Both came to me part build and I've finished them off.



Ian Kirk Boplate. This has been in the weathering box as long as I can remember and just keeps being missed. It's had the door springs and the internal end metalwork added.



D & S LNWR van, don't recall the diagram but it's the one with doors both sides. I'd wanted one of these for a while, being a sucker for an outside framed van and then two fell into my lap in very quick succession.



D & S GN 8T van. I acquired this built and painted as part of a collection so all I've had to do is weather it.



Ian Kirk NB van and an L&Y single bolster which i think is a David Geen.



Trio of grain hoppers, a very typical East Anglian traffic. The outside two are Parkside, reworking of kits I built a long time ago. The original pattern one is a GK resin casting from a scratchbuilt master I acquired on Ebay.



Highly unlikely traffic for East Anglia, a PD sulphate wagon. Shame they saw such limited use as it's a nice looking thing and a decent kit. I built this many years ago and ste it aside when I found there were no LNER transfers for it. Presumably they think everyone who builds one will be using them on the 'Ashburton Pullman'. John Peck printed these from my artwork.



The other LNWR van and a GC loco coal wagon. This is a fairly recent kit release from 51L.



The guard's usual duty is the Scotch Goods on Grantham, so he might be forgiven for looking bored. His luxury accommodation is supplied by Lima as I recall, with a fair amount of rework. Maybe he could untangle that coupling if he's got nothing better to do?

[Woodcock29]

Nice wagons and loco as usual Jonathan.
I'm curious about the Parkside LNER grain wagons - do we know if they were seen anywhere other than the north east? I have two built back in the 80s and two part built but I'm not sure I can justify running them.

Also the Sulphate wagons, shouldn't they be grey as they're unfitted? I have two I built back in the 80s. I found that I could get transfers from Woodhead in those days, although they were difficult to use. I'm not sure what to do with my two as again I think they were only seen in the north east in the 30s but my layout is southern area of LNER.

Andrew

[Hatfield Shed]

...Highly unlikely traffic for East Anglia, a PD sulphate wagon. ... Presumably they think everyone who builds one will be using them on the 'Ashburton Pullman'...

These trains suffered the mightiest title down grade per mile of travel I should think. It was the 'stink train' by the time it was on either of the branch lines from Hatfield leading to the tip sites. Last time I saw an N7 working was on the Hertford branch, struggling to restart the train over the hump of the Ridgeway crossing. The first vehicle was one such bogie sulphate in grey and rust, which probably wasn't helping matters.

[jwealleans]

Afternoon Andrew,

I don't believe I've ever seen an in traffic picture of the grain hoppers in LNER days, so I can't answer that question. They did migrate down there after 1948 and that's my only justification. Other than Hull (and does Peter Tatlow mention Sunderland?), I have no real idea where they ran.

The sulphate wagon - all I can say without going home and consulting the instructions is that I'd have followed them absolutely at the time, not knowing any better. From memory the picture in Tatlow looks a different shade to most unfitted wagons - did Shildon or Darlington do their own thing here? Of course, PD may have got it wrong or research may have moved on. I will check this evening if I remember, though. Be a shame if it does need to be grey, it's a very handsome vehicle in that colour.

[Atlantic 3279]

I wonder now why I initially painted my PD plate wagon in red-brown, only to realize years later that it so obviously was unfitted and then repainted in grey. Was I initially following instructions, or just not thinking very hard about what I could see in photographs?

[PGBerrie]

According to Roche Drawing G/129, Dec. 1949 the painting is:
NE Oxide, black running gear; white tyres and lettering
'BR' dark battleship grey, rest as above.

Peter

[jwealleans]

The Parkside instructions (at least, those from ~1999, when I built this wagon) also say brown.

[65447]

Just postulating, but is it possible that it was not the colour of the paint that was important but it's properties, given the chemical nature of the load carried?

[jwealleans]

Bit of a break from the workbench today as along with Atlantic 3279 and our respective spouses we enjoyed a day out at Gilling East, courtesy of the Ryedale Society of Model Engineers. This was one of their twice yearly Mainline Rallies, where guest locos and stock are on show and working all weekend.

There was a great deal on show to be enjoyed as well as some familiar faces to meet up with again. Enjoy.







































If you've never been (and I hadn't) it's an excellent day out, a very friendly club and event and thoroughly deserving of support.

[jwealleans]

Back to the workbench now the weather's starting to deteriorate and one or two projects moving along.

The D18 BT is now complete and ready for paint. This is for export down under once complete.



We saw the K3 in a previous post -it's now ready for weathering, coaling and crew and then will be on Grantham at the next outing. This is a Bachmann body with a brass chassis (I assume SEF) by Tony Wright and replacement cab from the SEF etch. The tender is the original.



I'm not sure whether this has been on here before or not. NuCast O2 from Ebay for £75. As I have an unbuilt kit, I thought it was probably worth that for the wheels alone. It's been stripped so the body could be tidied up - I've removed untold quantities of glue - and had replacement tender frames and wheels. On test, the whitemetal crosshead on this side has worn too far to remain in the slidebar and dropped, bending the piston rod which has now snapped. A new valve gear etch is on the way from the ever-helpful Brian at Branchlines along with a pair of their brass V2 crossheads so we don't end up here again. I'll move the motor while the motion's off as well, try to make it less visible.



This week I've been working on this. I doubt it'll be ready for the next Grantham show, but maybe in 2022. LRM J5. Visually similar to the J6 but quite a different kit to construct. You can see the hand of different designers, which is interesting in itself. I started it on Monday, so it's gone together quite well. This is now held up by the fact that the mandrel on my cutting disc broke. Not something I'd have said I used often, but I now have three separate jobs waiting for it on and around this loco and the High Level gearbox which will drive it. I have one of their new coreless motors for it, also a first. We shall see.