(to) Absent Friends

A big deal is made in certain circles about the so called 'curse' of 2016, and it is true that it does seem that more well-known individuals have been lost in the last 12 months than other years. But there are other loses closer to home that should not be forgotten, sadly I have attended more funerals in 2016 than ever before.

The miniature railway community felt the loss of one individual in particular in 2016, Dave Holroyde, who passed away on 2nd July. That this news came only days after the arrival of our baby daughter made it difficult to balance the contrast.

I had first made contact with Dave nearly 20 years ago whilst researching the 15" gauge railway at Britannia Park and always found him to to be knowledgeable and helpful, even with my more oddball enquiries! After years of correspondence we eventually met and then worked together on various projects with the Miniature Railway Museum Trust. His records almost always had the answer, his photographic archive the right picture. When I needed to illustrate Trevor Guests' Pacifics for my article in the 'Review' he was the first, and only, person I turned to.

Yesterday, whilst attempting research on a photo of a 10¼" gauge railway that had appeared on a forum I remembered that I had some notes from Dave on a relevant topic that provided an extra nugget of information.

Dave admires Peter Leadley's O9 model of 'Bonnie Dundee', built by Paul Windle

So tonight I'll raise a glass to an absent friend. Thanks Dave 🍺

Wishing all O9 Modeller readers a prosperous 2017.

Colin

Wagons - an Estate of Mind

I often say that when I find myself tinkering with wagons that there is some indecision in the air... and it is probably true...

My O9 wagon fleet has been through a few sessions of splitting bodies and chassis, new bodies on old chassis etc, often to revert back to the starting point once I've got whatever frustration it was out of my system.

Although I generally scratchbuild my own wagon bodies, over the past few years I have collected together a number of Black Dog Mining wagon bodies for some long-term 'industrial' project. For some time this has included two WA05 open wagons:

Back in the summer I posted a picture of this wagon alongside Roger Chiver's Theakston wagon kit, and Roger commented on the combination: "They almost don't look like they are the same scale. It's the planks I think." The more I thought about it, the more it rang true... an attempt to cut one down to a single plank height did nothing to improve matters and they still looked huge alongside my own scratchbuilt, miniature railway proportioned stock.

These thoughts were occurring as I thought about the potential for a scenario where a 15" gauge railway was conveying loads, e.g. a farm or estate. I was reminded of two wagons that I built back in 2004 by cutting down (in width) two Black Dog WA04 bodies, adding handles on the ends to represent 'Tops' wagons:

These wagons were subsequently sold on, but I had a reference for the dimensions so could scratchbuild a "replica" on one of the existing chassis...

Having marked out the parts for a second it wasn't long before both wagons were in the process of being re-bodied. 

My usual method of creating bolt heads on wagons is to dice a suitable styrene section into thin slices then apply them individually (much the way Steve Bennett has on the masters for casting). On the first body I used Evergreen 30 thou square section, whilst on the second I used 25 thou round section. In the past I have also used Plastruct Hex section. Once applied I leave them to dry overnight and use a wide flat file to reduce them all to the same depth (I'm hopeless at cutting them the same). The second wagon is now awaiting this treatment.

Colin

Carriage and Wagon

Winter maintenance occupies a lot of miniature railway's time at this time of the year, and it is no different in O9. The carriage and wagon department for 'Shifting Sands' has been busy (despite the railway not operating this 'season'!) with a few bits of catch-up work.

Coach 15, one of the scratchbuilt Exmoor-style fleet, has received a new roof. It is in fact the second new roof on just over a year, as the thicker one that it had last year looked out of place compared to it's stablemates. The new roof is formed from 20 thou styrene, heated in boiling water and reinforced underneath with various sections of Evergreen strip.

Meanwhile, one of the open wagon fleet has had something of a transformation. This is based on an example from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway and originally built upon a Black Dog 5' chassis that dated back to my early O9 days. The chassis was robbed for another project and the body initially put to one side, until I decided to add a new chassis based on a Peco chassis, styrene section and axle boxes from Wizard Models/51L.

This has lowered the wagon a little and got rid of the slightly 'tip toe' look it had before, here is it when first built by way of comparison.

I have to say that both of these projects have created a fair bit of frustration in the paint shop, must be the time of year....

Colin

Two Steps Forward....

I completed the paintwork on the second of the two cut-down Avalon Line coaches that I acquired recently. In contrast with the one that was completed in a run down state and incorporated into a diorama scene, this one is ex-works in maroon with yellow lining. I have far too many carriages so this one will be moving on shortly.

I have been doing a little work on my O9 wagon fleet, making a few changes (such as the tool wagon seen in the last entry with 'St Edwin') and subtly rebuilding others. Wagon tinkering is usually a sign that I'm in an indecisive mood, and on this occasion that is equally true....

Having progressed a little with the idea of a desk-sitter this has now been put on hold as the intended board was not as suitable for reconstruction as I had thought, leading to it's untimely demise. Other ideas are in the melting pot, so watch this space.

Colin

Exmoor on Tour

Unfortunately I have not had a chance to give my Exmoor 0-6-2T 'St Edwin' a real run since it was completed in the summer, largely as 'Shifting Sands' has remained in storage.

Happily the locomotive had the chance to have a run on Peter Leadley's 'Clee Valley Railway' at the Hull exhibition this weekend and our photographers were on hand to record the event...

With the recently rebuilt tool wagon behind acting as coupling converter, 'St Edwin' awaits departure from Castle station.

On the turntable, I have rendered this shot by my Dad into sepia tones as it hides some of the work to overcome the lighting of the original shot.

Finally, a short video of the locomotive in action.

Colin

Rambling Thoughts of a Desk-Sitter

I've spent some time over the last week or so looking at some of the half completed odds and sods about the place and trying to create some sort of order from them. Having disposed of at least one offending item my thoughts drifted towards the possibility of a 'desk-sitter' shunting plank approx 25 x 6"...

Of course we have been here before, most recently with 'Upcycle', which was a little longer at 29" long, which was one of the issues that actually made it difficult to use as it was too tight a fit on the desk (i.e. too much needed clearing out of the way!)

If a new project does come into being, the lessons of Upcycle will be taken on board, notably having a decent height of backscene and not having a kick-back siding making life difficult. One option is to take the "less is more" single point approach that worked well on another desk-sitting project, my Gn15 'Ambassador Works', seen here in full form... on a desk...

Whilst delving through photos of past projects, it is worth pointing out that the balsa framed, foamcore topped baseboard being considered for this project is the much altered remains of the 'Misterton Fen Tramway' board from a few years ago. Subsequently used as a test track it was ironically replaced by 'Upcycle' and it's descendants. I have recently extended it at the right-hand end and for this project the left-hand end would also be extended.

We shall see...

Colin

The Path To... (Reworked)

The last time we saw 'The Path To...' was back in January, when it went into the display case with an experimental backscene depicting beach huts in the distance, and a promise that the crossing would gain some warning signs.

The backscene never really found favour in the display case but I felt that the scene looked a little out of context without it, despite a little blown sand in the scenery it was not obvious it was a seaside scene! Having decided that it was due an upgrade of the grass textures following the success of the here was an opportunity to do something about it. I also decided to add a fence along the back edge, and to finally install the crossing warning signs. The result is shown below.

As well as the enhanced grass textures I have added a lot more blown sand into the scene, using the same fine sand that was used for the dunes on 'Shifting Sands' followed by Mig Beach Sand weathering powder.

The fence is a length of Parkside Dundas station fencing reduced in height and painted and weathered to look like a weather-beaten seaside fence.

The new sign posts are 1/16th" brass tube sprayed with grey primer, the signs are some I printed some time ago onto photo paper, which was sprayed grey on the reverse and with matt varnish on the fronts to kill the shine. The signs are superglued to the posts, with dummy strapping on the reverse from silver car trim line. The advertising sign is a left-over from 'Shifting Sands' given similar treatment, this is secured to the post using 5 amp fuse wire to give the impression it is an unofficial addition!

With these additions I feel that the seaside atmosphere is created and this micro-diorama is now truly complete.

Colin