Wednesday 20th December 2017

Worklist:

Wagon modifications

Main building

Laurence down with a bad cough so he stayed away. Geoff, bleary eyed and coughing, soldiered on with Stephen.

The running session the previous week had highlighted a problem with a small rake of 5 ore wagons. Built by John on at least three different chassis types they all had Kadees. The couplings and short wheelbase made the wagons very flexible sideways - in technical terms, they wiggled around a lot. Geoff took the intermediate couplings off and replaced them with fixed draw bars/rods with loops and pins, which helped with the movement and will make it easier to move around.

Stephen worked on the main building trimming the stone sheeting to suit the various wall intersections. Part of the staircase side wall face was carefully sliced off and a sheet of cardboard glued back to allow plastic stone sheeting to be applied without over-sailing the steps.

Finally, a solid cardboard under-roof was created. The side door and loft window are just showing through the plastic sheet.

It's about time we decided on the actual use of this building and come up with a proper name for it. The inspiration for it came from a farm vehicle/equipment store with a malting room/floor over. Stephen has always seen at least one of the three bays used for things like an Information Centre, Reception, Ticket Office, Sales, Refreshments or just Offices, i.e. things an embryonic preserved railway might need? The rest would be storage or display space.

Stephen and Geoff also discussed the issue of wagon loads from the quarry, as raised the previous week. It was agreed that John's mine wagons were too small, but the Peco 4 ton GVT mineral wagons were ideal. 8 wagons and a 'suitable' loco fitted nicely on a standard cassette and, in Geoff's opinion, the physical load to engine power worked well. It appeared that between the three of us, we could probably muster 8 wagons albeit one had a glued-in coal load and at least four hadn't been assembled. If we adopted two trains - one full and one empty, 8 more wagons would be required, at around £14 each (a far cry from the £3.75 on the unopened packets). More sensibly, the glued-in wagon load could be cut out and removable loads created to fulfil natural train movements back and forth to the quarry. We then investigated making our own wagons using components fabricated or cast ourselves. Geoff has experience of both white-metal and resin casting, so all we needed was to make a set of masters. Stephen then suggested 3D printing might be suitable. He had experience with some Gn15 components and would investigate this option as well. To be continued ...

---

Subsequent delving through computer folders unearthed the photo that inspired the building - a 'brick-built cart shed with a granary over' - just like the model (not very!).

Further Google Image searches found a few more prototypes that might provide the odd detail such as quoins, arches, lintels, window positions etc.

Wednesday 13th December

Worklist:
Play trains!

A full house so yes, today we could finally play trains. Theoretically, this was mainly to test how we might use the cassettes in an exhibition scenario, but it would also allow us to run a lot of John's old stock and provide a few more hours learning how best to operate the layout.

All running sessions start with a clean-up, so, while Stephen cleared superfluous items, hoovered modelling debris, cleaned the track and installed the power units, Laurence finished off the cassettes by gluing-in the red, centre guides. Geoff, having found the first few items of stock he unpacked needed attention to wheels and coupling etc. repaired them. Finally, we loaded up a few cassettes and had a play.

One thing we knew we had to do was to keep the fiddle area free, but at no point was this achieved. However, the cassettes themselves worked perfectly.

We also need to decide the best way to store additional cassettes and loose stock. Our storage rack definitely needs to be better organised.

John's Bord Na Mona diesel - scratch-built body on a Piko 4w chassis. Having been stored away for over 30 years, it was not surprising that it stuttered and screamed on first running, but a strip-down, clean-up and oiling worked wonders.

Stephen's railcar inspired by a 4w unit on the Longmoor Military Railway and built on a Bachmann US BO-BO diesel chassis.

And it's companion bogie flat wagon with a load of portable track for the quarry.

John's scratch-built McEwan Pratt WW1 loco with repainted figure. This was one of the mine locos.

Another mine loco found was a Grandt Line Plymouth battery loco kit into which John had squeezed a scratch-built chassis. However, the horrendous grinding noise it produced, the inaccessibility of the chassis and the fact that we didn't need such a vehicle meant that it was consigned back to its box.

Stephen's freelance ic unit (Tenshodo spud chassis) newly fitted with a driver and cab detail. It's only taken 26 years to complete!

It often runs with a train of Peco timber bolsters made-up as disconnects and a toolbox wagon derived from a Peco flat wagon. Two interchangeable loads are available - logs and prepared timber. These will form a perfect quarry traffic element, running full and light.

John's original layout had 'a mine' with a short storage section and a low tunnel entrance that demanded that both the locos and wagons were all small. We found a rake of Johns small mine wagons that we think were based on Gem chassis components. These use long-shank Kadees and have 'narrow' back-to-back measurements, both of which conspire to make them awkward to couple/uncouple. After a discussion, it was decided (as well as re-gauging) to swap intermediate couplings for hook & bar type and just have Kadees at the ends.

This raised a long overdue subject... The new Worton Court tunnel has a standard loading gauge and no storage restrictions, which deliberately opened up the potential line uses and stock. Whilst it has usually been referred to as a quarry, not a lot of thought has gone into what stock we would run there. Apart from the timber train (and John's short rake of opens), we had no other specific quarry stock. Stephen suggested that, to get started, we could pool our Peco GVT wagons, that we all seemed to have. It would require the fulls/empties issue to be addressed, so we need to dig them out and bring them together, for consideration. If this proves unsuccessful, we might need to reassess what is located on the other end of the tunnel. Gulp!

Wednesday 6th December

Worklist:
Generator room
Main building
Railings

Health issues are taking their toll this year and on top of us not meeting last week, Laurence couldn't shake off a nasty cough, so just G&S. Therefore, the planned 'Intensive running session to assess fiddleyard cassette requirements' will now take place next week - Laurence take note!

Geoff hadn't been idle as the ladder had been finished, ready for fixing in place. However, a last minute doubt had prevented glue actually being applied. He thought the top seemed to stick out, and proposed cutting the wall bracket down and sloping the ladder slightly backwards. Stephen agreed, but also relayed his qualms about the height of the side/handrails being below the balcony guarding. The obvious solution was to lift the ladder as well - not a problem as a wall bracket had inadvertently been formed on the bottom, rather than a floor bracket - perfect.

One last detail remained - the engine exhaust pipe. It ought to have one, but its exact egress point from the engine was either forgotten or unknown. Photo's in the workshop were inconclusive, so a web-search over lunch was required.

Meanwhile, it was agreed that Stephen should tackle finishing the main building. Stone sheeting had been purchased at ExpoNG and was assessed for the best way to tackle the the corners. Stephen decided to get close with the plastic sheet and form the corners in modelling clay or plaster. The three sides of the polycard frame were not all flat, which was remedied with gentle persuasion, tape and glue. The panels of stonework were then cut to size. Post-lunch, the sheets were applied using contact adhesive and left to dry until next week.

Over lunch, both Google images and YouTube were scanned for Tangye engine exhaust pipes. This was not easy, as most images were of portable engines that had, what appeared to be, bespoke systems suitable for transporting around. However, once 'museum based' engines were found, a consensus of a top-exit pipe was established. G&S subsequently agreed a route out through the front wall, adjacent to the room extract vent.

As a final, final flourish, Geoff found a station porter figure in a box, carved the cap into hair and gave him a coat of paint. Instead of waving a flag, he's now about to scale the ladder to check the batteries!

With a second packet of balustrade posts left over, a previously discussed option was taken up - a guardrail around the gas holder. A simple curved design was agreed (although Stephen insisted on a chain guarded access section at one end) and Geoff had the panel made in no time.

The panel will curve equidistant around the gas holder with the chain access section beside the stairs.

Wednesday 22nd November

Worklist:

Generator room detailing
Cassette construction

A full house again and with relatively straight-forward tasks for S&L, there was a lot of idle chattering going on.

Geoff continued with the generator room, but he'd been busy in the week fitting cables/conduits and assembling the control panel elements. This week he created a brass balustrade from brass posts made for the boat-modelling fraternity, together with brass wire rails.

He then set about designing the handrail access ladder. This element has long been a subject for discussion between Geoff and Stephen. Both have experience of access ladders, but in different fields,  and the choice between a vertical, wall mounted ladder and an inclined ladder have never reached a conclusion. The principle consideration centred on how the heavy batteries might have been replaced - something both agreed would need a hoist. Geoff's preference for a raking ladder had to give way in the end, purely because the room and equipment didn't allow for its physical installation. The vertical ladder, whilst not providing ideal climbing conditions, did provide a space for the batteries to be lowered. 

Geoff in ladder-making mode.

The handrail will have a curved section added to protect workers at the top and 'contain' the delivery area. Stephen thought the final solution was perfect!

Laurence and Stephen pressed on with storage cassettes. Stephen completed two short cassettes (400mm and 420mm) using up left-over angle, whilst Laurence made a 'standard' 770mm unit. Components for several more are ready for assembly, but in order to determine a practical range of lengths, a full running session is planned for the next meeting.

He does make a meal of things sometimes...

Wednesday 15th November

Worklist:
Generator room details
Fiddleyard cassettes

There was no meeting last week, but we all met at 'Showtrain' - the Tolworth Model Railway Show. The first highlight was meeting up with Dave Phillips, an old friend from T&DMRC days. Dave also helped out on Cottesmore and is pictured on the CLR page. You can't miss him - his nickname is 'Furry D'!

The second highlight was peering over a back-scene at a fiddleyard that employed cassettes exactly like ours. Instead of the multi-angle location system we had decided on, they simply had a folded piece of brass (see below). This provided location and electrical connectivity - Simples!

In the workshop, Stephen and Laurence were right in the middle of making some more cassettes, this so revelation couldn't have come at a better time. A brief group discussion to assess the idea, strip-off the angles from one cassette and then a bit of playing around with a bulldog clip proved it was a great solution. However, taking the angles off the cassette was all that was needed, as the angles on the fiddle end offered a perfect locator, so we only needed something on the open side. We decided on a strip of shaped metal bolted on the the end angles. A strip of nickel silver was cropped, bent into shape and fitted. It worked beautifully.

That sorted, Geoff went back to making racking for the batteries in the generator room and Stephen & Laurence started to make two more cassettes.

At the start of the session, Stephen had presented a solution to a problem with his new BO-BO diesel. The Bachmann GE44 has a recognised problem with 1st & 2nd generation chassis - the gears on the axles can crack, which causes a problem with the drive. Stephen's model has a 2nd gen chassis and the cracking is just beginning. However, a severe problem with another 1st gen chassis has made it unusable. Geoff & Stephen had discussed repair options, but Stephen had finally decided to try and make new ones. He read-up on gear specifications, their constituent dimensions, went through copious YouTube tutorials on drawing involute gears and finally sent a 3D drawing off to Shapeways in Holland. (The gears are 6mm dia. so four had to be joined to make the minimum print size). The new gears had arrived last week and were tentatively fitted to the old loco - they worked perfectly!

The final drawing above and the new gears below, still on their sprue beside the cracked gear.

Wednesday 1st November

Worklist:
Generator room details
Fiddleyard cassettes

Geoff progressed the generator room interior, assembling the gantry and battery racks. It looks like the corner reinforcing triangles will have to be removed.

All three were involved in deciding what size cassettes were required and how best to use the 1200 x 600 sheet of 12mm MDF that had been purchased. Once decided (a mix of standard '770/800mm' and some shorter units) the MDF was cut down on the bandsaw using a a length of heavy steel angle as a replacement guide. Red plastic strips for the re-railers and some 1.5mm packing strips were also cut.

Laurence continued to work on the cassette he had started to make, while Stephen got comfortable and cleaned-up all of the newly cut materials.

Unfortunately, Geoff couldn't make ExpoNG, so the South Eastern Finecast stone walling sheets S&L had purchased at the show were reviewed and approved for use as cladding for the final/main building on the layout.

Wednesday 25th October

Worklist:

Batteries for generator room

Point levers

Cassettes

Crane bases

Trees

Geoff continued to assemble the 7 blocks of 7 batteries for the generator room. These were drawn-up and cut from card using a laser cutter, including the 1mm dia filler caps. The fronts were then painted a pale green to replicate the glass containers. 

A physical mock-up was created to assess the overall effect and the general layout of the room. There's a lot more to add like conduits, cables, columns, handrail and ladder. Note the OSRP notice on the wall. The wall corner-braces are visible here, but won't be, when viewed through the front window.

Laurence finished painting the areas around his concrete crane bases and added grass flock. He then moved on to making some more cassettes for the fiddleyard, for which Stephen had bought 2 x 2.4m lengths of 25mm aluminium angle. Laurences first job was to examine and record the way the existing cassettes were made in preparation for creating some more. A lot of ad-hoc modifications were made at the time, so it will save time to have a proper set of instructions. There were a few small pieces of 12mm MDF along with some short lengths of aluminium angle left over from when the original units were made, which will be made into short cassettes. 

Stephen finished off the area around the point lever at the end of the platform. Then, all of the point levers were glued in place. Rummaging through the storage boxes, he also found the various cars assembled over the years. A scene was set up showing the vehicles parked around the Manor gates as left by members/staff of the railway.

Stephen had also brought a pair of 'bare' trees made from heavy copper flex, twisted and soldered, and painted with acrylic paint mixed with plaster. This exercise was to review the general height of trees, and these worked well. The trees were taken home for foliage application.

Lunch was taken in the garden, in bright sunshine (25th October!)

ExpoNG on Saturday, so the shopping list was reviewed.

Wednesday 18th October

Worklist:
Decal stripping
Snagging & shopping lists
Generator room details

Stephen brought along a 'Days Gone' model he had purchased from a local shop for £3.50. The Morris Z-van had no scale on the box, as usual, but this one looked O scale, and a bit of Googling confirmed it. It was cream & black with Gordons Gin branding and looked quite smart. Rather than a full 'Nitromors' paint strip, a more delicate decal removal was attempted. Geoff had read that Dettol was a good, mild stripper, so Stephen had a go. It was a very slow process using a cotton-bud and gentle rubbing, but it did work. However, mindless tasks usually allowed Stephen to talk non-stop, and this work fell into that category ....z....z....z......

We just have to decide what the new branding will be. Possibly something to do with the new preserved railway, or maybe a delivery vehicle for the tea shop?

Laurence had a wander up-and-down the layout, taking stock of recent progress and was therefore encouraged to prepare a snagging list of all the things that needed doing. As extra materials were often required, a shopping list was started as well. With ExpoNG at Swanley coming up, both could be very useful.

Geoff worked on the generator room. Firstly, a pair of doors were fitted. These had been made-up from images found online and printed out. The control panel he'd drawn had also been printed out and dropped roughly into place for review and to assess the battery layout. The gantry floor (over the panel) was painted.

Artists impression!

Finally, a method of assembling the dozens of batteries was investigated. These will go beside the panel and on the gantry over, and need to be mounted on angle iron racking in groups. The spacing was calculated and spacers cut out. The batteries have been laser-cut from card. Note the top plate with 1mm dia terminals.

The main building has long been the elephant-in-the-room. Stephen had produced the polyboard mock-up and experimented with self-printed brick paper. However, the other buildings and bridge had subsequently been clad in embossed plastic, so a textured finish was essential. Stone was felt to be more appropriate, but the plastic sheet used for the bridge stonework was far too crude. Even if a suitable sheet could be found, the current design would require a lot of making-good. Stephen offered to attempt a full plaster finish scratched with bespoke stonework, but it was decided that research into plastic stone sheeting would be undertaken, especially with Swanley a week away.


Stephen also brought along his BO-BO diesel (Bachmann GE44) to show how the bonnet grille problem had been resolved. Based on 15" gauge 'Carnegie', the fine grilles had been difficult to emulate and 'no grilles' was becoming the only solution. However, prompted by Geoff, Stephen tried several different methods and finally settled on panels of .75mm plastic rod. Rod was cut over-size, glued together and then cut to width when fully set. The top rod was shaped at the ends and the back of each completed panel sanded to half-way through the rod thickness. They are still slightly overstated, but the effect is pretty good.

It now needs a paint job, and a name.