Double Slip

Just enough room for a loco!

We now have enough track for a loco to stand on!

The double slip is being built first, thick wooden timbers/bearers, steel bullhead rail and Exactoscale chairs to P4 standards.

Tangible Progress!!!!

This seems to be a buzz word banded about by middle mangers and people who call themselves senior leaders along with other buzz words like “Blue Sky Thinking”.

So we have had a bit of a saga with the base boards for West Halton Sidings, a saga that has dragged on for about 4 years! Not to sound like a Tory MP but….. Covid 19 played a part in the delay for the boards!

I could go into detail as to why the boards have taken so long but it would read like War and Peace!

So, as you find out as life progresses, you find out that everything happens for a reason and that is so very very true. By total chance I saw that Will Perkins a very talented modeller in his own rights was selling his base boards that total a length of 15′ at a depth of 3′ 6″. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather! So I dropped young Will a message and the rest as they say is history and on the 10^th Feb the boards emigrated from Essex to Cherry Burton via a short sabbatical in my garage.

Baseboards…. Not much at this point in time but its a start.

At 1^st a bit of nervousness crept in as Mr Wells had the original plan and the original dimensions and there was a little concern that we might have to do a bit of surgery and shave a bit of one of the boards.

However, Once the boards were delivered to Cheery Burton Head Quarters and the 1^st boards had been put together and properly measured, they fitted perfectly but a little bit wider than expected. This has turned out to be bonus in all honesty.

Coming together nicely

So, you might have seen in a previous post the plan for the layout. The other James was set up in front room with pens and pencils. I was expecting an artist’s easel to be set up and fine water colour to be produced not the layout plan. To be fair with Parkinson’s he done a great job in drawing up the plan and creating the vision of what wants to be achieved. It Is fair to say that we are both on the same page with the vision and what we need to achieve or level we want to achieve. Don’t worry I’m not going to go all James Hilton and start sitting in front of 4 base boards absorbing the atmosphere and put myself in the center. This is our blank canvas and its going to be journey and, in the end, we want to create a model of a prototypical railway! The railway that was run on a shoestring and craved investment and was run down that was supporting another industry in just the same perilous situation.

West Halton design , 2024, You have seen it already but again for good measure.

One slight change has been made to the plan that has been published the truncated branch line now carries on single line to South Ferriby. In our heads and fictious what might have been the Cement Plant at South Ferriby was connected to the national network and was producing Cement for the building industry and a daily block train is dispatched to Earls Sidings for onward distribution. The plant however needs fuel and Coal is brought in from the South Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire coalfield thrice weekly.

A glimpse of what is to come…

Over the next few Months, I really hope that we all start to see tangible progress being made as the journey progresses from one stage to the next. I think for both of us it’s going to be a learning curve with one of us having a extra challenge to contend with as well as us both working shifts and managing our respective home and domestic lives.

This is what started it all off the idea that was developed and we both bough into this from day 1. To make this rough drawing spring to life after all these years on the back burner, for me will be an amazing achievement.

So if you like Frodingham Deltics, Brush Type 2s and EE Type 3s and Brush Type 4s through to Class 56’s and 60s moving SPA’s BBA’s BDA’s and cement and coal wagons then this layout is up your street! You might see the odd surprise. You might also read about the staff that might have worked at West Halton to immerse you into the story as well…. It’s all part of the art!

James S

The Layout Design

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been finalising the design.

West Halton design , 2024.

The track layout has remained the same throughout but how everything is presented has developed. The two roads exist, Water Lane (at the left hand end) has been upgraded to tarmac from its green lane status! The mainline follows the actual path of the North Lindsey Light Railway.

The exchange sidings are, of course, fictitious.

The light grey expanse to the rear at the right hand end is the site of former ironstone sidings – these didn’t exist quite so far north but mining was present a few hundred yards south of West Halton.

There’s more about the background to the project here.

April Update

There haven’t been many updates recently for a variety of reasons – away from modelling there’s been a lot going on.

Janus nearing completion.

I have managed to get our Janus a little further along though. Hopefully we’ll have some more to share very soon.

An Austin Allegro

Advert for the Austin Allegro 2

I really like making road vehicles – when I was younger I spent a lot of time building and repainting buses – most still exist,stored at my parents’ house. Creating decent cars and other small vehicles, especially before the likes of Cararama and Oxford Diecast came on the scene, was quite a challenge, especially anything post 1970 when kits were thin on the ground – Springside produced a small selection (their Land Rover Discovery is a decent kit incidentally) along with a few others. Beacon Models produced a small range of cars, I had a Metro from their range, a rather yellow clear resin moulding. Taylor Precision Models produced some lovely kits, sadly missed. There will be other ranges I’ve forgotten. Hornby made a Ford Sierra which looking now wasn’t great but it seemed alright thirty years ago!

The modern diecast models can be very good but suffer from typical diecast model paint work, terribly thick and the power to obscure most fine detail. But stripped and repainted many have excellent possibilities.

CMAC Models Austin Allegro

Easy access to 3D printers and CAD software has lead to all sorts of new products from the very best like Modelu to misshapen wagons and snow ploughs that look like they’re made of Play-doh. Thankfully there are many products which are rather nice. CMAC Models have a small range of locos and units in N gauge and a selection of units in 4mm scale. Browsing their eBay shop, through which they sell their products I became aware they also produce a range of cars, mainly in 1/32 scale but also a couple in 4mm scale. Here I noticed a 4mm scale Austin Allegro. See here for the item on eBay.

We had Allegros in the family, my dad walked away from a head on collision in his with no injuries (someone overtaking a lorry in thick fog – not good). Maroon with a black vinyl roof and gold coach lines, very of its time!

The two components.

By 1992, when West Halton is set, there were still some around so it seemed like a nice little project and very reasonably priced too – it makes a change from everything becoming so expensive!

The body in primer highlighting the surface finish.

For just under seven of your hard earned pounds, you get two components – a body with the dashboard and a chassis with wheels and a basic interior. The body is very well proportioned just with typical marks from the 3D printing process but we can deal with this.

I’m thinking about converting it to an Allegro 3 with it’s newer plastic bumpers and revised details but we’ll see. Comparing photos of different models of Allegro I’ve become not too bad at spotting the differences!

It’s the start of a very nice project.

First Building

Making the window over the printed Roxey original.

The first building is taking shape, an LNER concrete P-way hut from the Roxey Mouldings kit. I built it a little while back, just for a little change I suppose. It’s a lovely kit, the castings, it’s white metal, are very nice indeed. The window isn’t so good, it’s not bad I suppose but the printed window just isn’t as nice as the rest of the kit. So while I thought about it, the kit was put to one side – it turned out to be to one side for quite a long time.

Some time ago in Model Railway Journal Barry Norman and Geoff Kent, in issues 206 and 210, both describing the use of Limonene (also referred to as DL-Limonene) as an alternative to M.E.K/butanone for certain tasks as Limonene evaporates much more slowly than butanone, a property which also seems to prevent warping too. I bought some via eBay some time ago and gave it a try on various things but this was the first use in anger.

The windows (I made more than one!) used Evergreen 15 thou clear styrene as a basis with Evergreen strip, Slater’s or Evergreen 10 thou sheet cut into strips and Slater’s 10 thou rod.

For the first one used I’d used 10 x 20 thou strip for the frame and 10 thou square strip (cut from sheet) for the window bars but this looked much to substantial when compared with the real thing, see below.

The prototype, photo courtesy of Mick Nicholson.

So the second version used 10 thou square strip for the upright bars and 10 thou rod for the horizontal ones.

The printed window at the top, below the two windows, the final version being on the right.

The slow drying nature of Limonene means you need to be careful when handling items before they’re completely set. If you look at the window on the lower left, you’ll notice one bar is damaged. This was a result of trimming the waste plastic before everything was fully set – so a third and final version was made. This time I used 10 x 40 thou strip for the side s of the frame to get a better fit in the rebates cast into the side of the hut.

The window trimmed and ready to paint.

The window immediately looked much better than the printed window or my own first attempt.

Test fitting – the appearance is much finer than the printed original.

Painting was a faff – freehand could ruin the fine appearance so I masked the window panes and then painted the frame. I think the result was worth the effort.

Ready for fitting.

I used a mix of dark grey (Humbrol no 67) for the first two coats – I stippled the paint on so as not to allow it to seep through the masking tape. After the second, some dark umber weathering powder was applied to the still tacky paint. The following day a coat of light grey (Humbrol no. 28) was dry brushed over the top to suggest it had once been paint.

The window fitted in place.

Once the window was secured in place I think the extra time spent on what many might consider a small component definitely worth the effort.

Lima CD Motor Conversion

Lima motors have always come in for bad press, often by those who didn’t know how to look after them. You’d find examples which were sold as “poor runners” which needed only oil on motor bearings and some grease on their gear before a bit of a run to completely transform them. I’ve had all sorts of Lima locos which have run superbly – Ultrascale wheels and extra weight also help, as does fitting extra pick ups of you can. So if anyone tells you Lima motors are terrible, tell them they’re wrong!

The re-motoring pack as it comes.

One problem we face, though, is wear and tear. Even usually reliable locos will eventually need some attention. Disassembly and thorough cleaning, adjusting brushes, replacing anything as required will help things but not everyone will be comfortable with this sort of task. I frequently do this kind of work the NRM on models there and it’s also quite dirty work with old oil and carbon dust getting everywhere so I’d not blame anyone for not wanting to do this! But there may be another solution for ailing Lima models.

CD motor conversions are not new, Model Torque (remember them?) produced something very similar twenty years ago, I did fit a couple but didn’t see a huge improvement over the motors I replaced at the time. More recently I spoke with my friend John Shaw who’d used CD motors in a couple of his locos on his P4 layout based on York MPD in the sixties with great result. But it’s been on the back burner until I was left unsupervised on eBay last week.

Strathpeffer Junction produce a varied selection of CD motor conversions for Hornby and Lima models. There are various motors depending upon the room available and their website guides you through the which motor will fit which model.

The motor bogie fitted with the CD motor and bracket.

For my model of 47380 I thought the kit might be worth a punt – it’s £12.99 for the motor, mount and gears which seemed quite reasonable. The loco was ok but not the greatest runner – my intention was to strip the motor and overhaul the parts but I decided the Strathpeffer Junction worth a try.

For the six wheeled bogie the site says you’ll need a 9mm motor but I went for the 12mm as it’s 00 wheels which restrict the width. The 12mm motor is more powerful, produces more torque and is, importantly, 12v. Being 12v avoids the need to faff about with diodes to drop voltages as you need with the 6v and 9v motors. The smaller motors also have warnings about no extra weight, etc, so the 12mm motor is very much preferable I think.

There’s just enough room for the 12mm motor between P4 wheels.

You can see it’s a bit tight but it works – just!

The only awkward bit is cutting the gear to length but the instructions guide you through. Beyond this is it simply unscrewing the motor, remove bits, the screw the new one in place. The 3D printed mount is basic in appearance but does the job very well. You’ll need to unsolder and resolder the wires but beyond that it’s essentially plug and play. First impressions on a short test track are quite favourable, though it’s very quick to accelerate so on traditional DC a light hand might be needed to avoid spinning the wheels but DCC, in time, I’ll control it’s acceleration rates to smooth this out.

For £12.99 and an hour’s work it seems pretty good value. I do like budget projects, they’re becoming increasingly attractive as the cost of living rises.

I bought the motor via Strathpeffer Junction’s eBay store –

Clicky Linky Bit

If anyone else has longer term experience of the conversions I’d be interested to hear.

Rewheeling Hornby’s Class 56

Project 56 has been a long drawn out affair…

First glance the Hornby model seems quite nice but the more you do, the more you realise isn’t quite right. It’s little things, like bits not quite line up properly, which make it an increasingly frustrating project. Especially with Cavalex Models’ version on the horizon.

At least Hornby did the wheelsets properly though – standard 2mm axles which makes life much easier.

The bogie with the keeper plate removed – revealing the gear train.

I used Black Beetle wheels which seem to be made if an alloy which is resistant to blackening fluids which is awkward as they’re incredibly bright – possibly one for black etch primer… I knurled the axles with a file using Pete Hill’s method he described in MRJ No.282 for the conversion of the Bachmannn J72. It works beautifully – get a back issue if you don’t have a copy.

P4 vs. Hornby wheel.

The keeper plate needs to be removed and this is a bit involved with the rather stiff clips and trying not to break them as the plastic is quite brittle. The brake gear is part of this too which makes it more awkward.

You’ll need remove the gears from the original wheels which requires a little bit of brute force. The originals can be thrown away.

The basic arrangement for the new wheelsets.

Instead of using washers, as is often used in such conversions to take up the slack between the wheel and the chassis/bogie, I used some 2.0mm ID brass tube cut into lengths of 4.6mm an one 10tho/0.25mm washer which goes on the inside of the bogie by the gear wheel, opposite the tube, on the outer bogie axles to minimise the sideways movement, though I left this off the central axles. You’ll need to check the position of the gear wheel as you assemble the new wheelsets – a little bit of adjustment may be necessary.

Accurately Cutting Tube

Jewellers Tube Cutter

For accurately cutting fine tube, I cannot recommend getting a Jewellers’ Tube Cutter enough! You set the length and then you can easily cut multiple identical tubes.

The new wheels should fit straight in providing the gearwheel is correctly positioned.

The first wheelsets in place – the brass tube bush can be seen.

With the three wheelsets in place you should be able to easily turn the wheels by hand with little resistance.

The new wheels all in place and ready for the keeper plate to be refitted before putting the loco back together again.

You might have noticed that the original pick ups have been bent outwards to meet the new wheels – an advantage of using solid metal wheels for conversions like these. Unfortunately Black Beetle wheels don’t seem to be easy to obtain at the moment, so on a Hornby class 60 I’ve used Gibson coach wheels which require new pick ups, but it does work out very reasonable cost wise with the Gibson wheels. But this is a story for another time.

The keeper plate still with the brake gear intact.

The keeper plate and the brake gear, possibly the most frustrating bit all on this model now. Initially I was going to reposition the brake to match the wheels but if you look at the real thing, the brake blocks are surprisingly hard to see. So I simply removed the brake gear from the keeper plate.

But looking back at the real thing below, the amount if daylight between the wheels is very noticeable.

Class 56 bogie – notice the amount of daylight which is present between the wheels.

Compare it with the model.

56044

The keeper plates hang very low, robbing us of the daylight which should be there. You remember how I said it was little things which make it an increasingly frustrating project? Well this is one if these things.

I will finish it but it has been frustrating! Well as soon as paint became involved – the earlier stages were quite enjoyablebut the latter stages, increasingly less so. What will keep me going is that it should make a decent enough ‘layout loco,’ as Iain Rice described, for West Halton.

Capturing the Mundane – Class 08s

Capturing the mundane – 08405.

Once class 08s were everywhere – every major station, depot, big yard, working trips between yards, shunting, moving coaching stock around, etc, etc… Now there are hardly any around but back in 1992 this was part of the everyday, mundane scene. But there’s something very appealing about this for enthusiasts and railway modellers.

A rear view of 08405, showing how filthy and faded it was.

Part of the appeal of 08405 was how faded and filthy it was! It was how many freight locos were at this time – what we’d give to go back for just a day.

I’ll leave it for you to decide if it captures the real thing but I’m quite pleased with this one.

08405’s driver can be glimpsed through open door.

Having a Brake

The CAR brake van, B955091, in all of its tatty, patch painted glory.

The first BR brake van is now finished!

I’m rather pleased with how it’s turned out – I like to think it hides its Airfix origins…

‘Air Piped’

Further Reading

Modelling BR Brake Vans Later in Life
BR Brake Vans – When Things Don’t go to Plan
Brake Van Progress
From the Ashes
Brake Van Resurrection!
More Brake Vans