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 ...

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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.