West End Workbench

[Blink Bonny]

Wonderful, old boy. Simply wonderful.

[mick b]

Jonathan
Lovely loco, should it have small Tank numbers ?

[jwealleans]

That's straight out of Yeadon's, Mick... I don't have it to hand but off the top of my head I can't recall seeing any of them with the smaller numbers.

Edit - someone else has queried those numbers; looks as if I've used the 9" ones instead of 12". Wonder what I was drinking that night?

Further edit - I misread you, Mick and thought you were saying the numbers should be smaller. I have now corrected them.

[50C]

Congratulations on a superb model.There were only 10 members in the class at nationalisation and 3 of them were based at my home shed of Selby from 1940 to withdrawal in 57/58.

Great memories.

50c

[scottiedog]

Regarding Jonathan's post of the 28th July - David Geen will have a small supply of the cast whitemetal guard's van duckets on his stand at the RAILEXNE show at North Shields this forthcoming Saturday and Sunday. They will cost £1.50 a pair. I am helping him on both days and if anyone wants a pair (or more!) putting away, please PM and I will set them aside for you.

[7mm Mick]

Johnathan,

I've been quietly following this thread for some time and it's great to see the J73 finished. Inspiration for me to get on with my 7mm scratch built effort.

Congratulations on a superb model.There were only 10 members in the class at nationalisation and 3 of them were based at my home shed of Selby from 1940 to withdrawal in 57/58.

Great memories.

50c

I now live just outside Selby and can't believe where all the railway has gone, lost without a trace !! Although I had chance recently for a bit of a look around Gascoine Wood yard and managed to find some signs of the former glory.

ATB Mick

[jwealleans]

Thank you all for your kind words. I'm on the very last lap - crew, backhead, etc - with the loco and will post some more photos when we're there. I was very pleased to meet Arthur Kimber (whose kit this is) at the Blyth show and hope to build more of his kits in the future. I'd certainly recommend them without hesitation.

[jwealleans]

A long wait between updates - a few shows, the odd busy weekend and some trips away for work can really mess up your modelling time. I have some things I need to get on with now, though, so hopefully there will be a bit more activity. In anticipation here's a summary of what's cooking on the bench at the moment.



This is one of the locos from Ormesby, which usually hauls the 'Coronation'. In about June of this year, while I was operating Corfe one Sunday afternoon, a small boy there with his family asked me whether we had 'Mallard'? 'Yes', said I, 'you can see it on the other layout at the far end of the corridor'. As they turned to walk out of the room, Colin came in from the other end of the corridor with it in his hands. It has been in and out of shops several time since then over the summer. The problems have been pickups and electrical each time. It's got round to me; I've picked up a spare chassis on Ebay, stripped it down, replaced the motor and removed the DCC gubbins. The loco to tender coupling seemed to be part of the problem so that's been replaced with two wires and terminal blocks each end. I'll take it back on Sunday for running trials.



I'm still working on extensions to the Thurston fish train; this is a GWR H6 conflat (David Geen) with two of the adapted Bachmann containers I was working on back up thread.



I have managed to get the V4 brake van painted and it's now awaiting lettering. The Toad E I've just acquired from another member at Ormesby.



This was a buy at Peterborough last weekend. I could see it hadn't been very well built, but it was only when I got it open that I found it was the first brass kit I've ever seen which had been assembled with superglue and sellotape. The builder had also packed it up on the bogies which made it look very odd. It is complete, though and has stripped down pretty well.



I've put roofs on the French vans and have almost got all the rivets stuck on. There's some more detailing to do and then they'll be ready for painting. I'd like to have these ready for Tolworth. Joining a French wagon forum turned out to have been a good idea as when fellow ferry van builder JonHall from RMWeb posted some pictures of the one in the NRM the members over there pointed out that it's painted completely the wrong colour. I have found a French supplier for the correct SNCF brown.



Something I've been twitching to have a got at for a while: German stake opens ('Rungenwagen') as used on the train ferry service. I managed to obtain a drawing from the Edwards Collection and started these while stuck in a hotel in the Smoke a couple of weeks ago.



Finally the focus of activity at the moment; I have agreed to build the Framlingham branch train for the next Ely layout and have had the kits from Dan Pinnock since before Easter. At the time we're modelling it comprised a CK and BTK from the former Norfolk Coast Express 50' stock. I want to get these to a running shell state by Tolworth so our Sprat and Winkle Engineer can take them away, mount and test his couplings over Christmas. I've started with the Composite as you can no doubt spot.

I have a question about this set; there were folding steps, operated by compressed air, which were used at the branch halt. I have one photo showing them reasonably well, but I wondered if anyone could suggest any more. I've also assumed they were only on the corridor side of the BTK - is this correct?

[60800]

The loco to tender coupling seemed to be part of the problem

My Mallard's loco to tender connection is awful too. The 'new' drawbar and electrical socket which is on my 60009 is light years ahead of it and always give a perfect connection

[jwealleans]

My Mallard's loco to tender connection is awful too.

That's interesting. is it one of these where the pin makes one connection and there are two 'fingers' on the drawbar which make connection with a plate on the underside of the tender for the other?

There's loads of room in the tender for a terminal block and I fitted the other in the loco in the space left when I dropped the PCB and blanking plate out. The wires come through the bottom of the backhead and into the tender through the coal door.

[60800]

for 60009? It's a thin black metal drawbar with two additional holes drilled into it. The drawbar itself conducts no power whatsoever, so can be easily replaced with a shorter one (not recommened for 2nd radius , a shorter drawbar tends to take the cab doors with it). For the power, there is a wire (about four bundled together actually) with a 'plug' of sorts on the end which plugs into a small socket just behind the tender drawbar pin. I'll post a pic of it when I get home later.

Anyone think my BVR signature image needs brightening up? It dosen't show up very well on old monitors

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

Looks OK to me, Blackout. Mind you, we do have an LCD unit...

[jwealleans]

For the power, there is a wire (about four bundled together actually) with a 'plug' of sorts on the end which plugs into a small socket just behind the tender drawbar pin.

Sounds like the one we have on the club T9. Is the DCC socket in the tender and the loco won't run without the tender attached? Graeme dealt with one of those some way back in his thread. I haven't bothered doing anything with ours yet as it runs very well as it is for the moment.

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

It sounds like a Bachmann G2A I had in for repair recently.

I used my meter and diagnosed a knackered tender chassis. When I replaced it, the loco ran well. I used the knackered one behind my own G2A, because I don't need the DCC capability. I swear at this machine enough without plugging a damned computer into my layout! I returned the loco to the customer who is a DCC user and all was well.

When I looked at the damaged chassis, I dound that one of the pins had been bent flat when the tender was plugged into the loco. Result: I have a fully DCC capable G2A! Yeeeeuuuuukkkk!!!!

Check that the pins are fully inserted in the plug connecting loco and tender and that the blanking plufg is correctly fitted in the tender.

As for the older ones with two fingers on the drawbar, they're easy! The problem is usually the copper fork beneath the drawbar not gripping the pin correctly. Clean it with some very fine sandpaper then squeeze it so that it gently grips the pin. Sorted! While you're at it, check that the fingers are passing current properly.

If all these are OK, then the problem lies with the loco chassis. Remove the baseplate and solder a couple of Ringfield brush springs (although I use one, cut in half, tight Yorkshireman and all that!) so that they make proper contact with the cast "fingers" on the underside of the chassis blocks.

Any more problems, feel free to PM me!

[60800]

I've never tried to run 60009 without her tender. I haven't disconnected it since I got her christmas 2010. I'm not sure about a decoder socket in the tender, but there is definitely the 'bracket' for a speaker.
It's 60009 on my signature. Can't say I run her with the pullmans though, it was a photo op only!