The Headshunt

Continuing the the 'Up-cycle' story is a diorama that re-uses some of the planned scenic setting, now entitled 'The Headshunt'. Whilst this probably isn't the other end of the Somerthorpe Miniature Railway, the setting is such that it can be a little ambiguous. Is this a small estate with a 15" gauge tourist railway or perhaps a corner of a 15" line built on an old Great Northern Railway trackbed?

The new name actually came from a day spent volunteering last weekend on the Sherwood Forest Railway, where I was privileged to have a root around at the far end of the line and even take the works train right up to the end of the line. By incorporating a dummy point to mark the end of a loop into the scene makes it clear that this isn't just a siding.

The diorama board seen under construction in the previous blog update is seen here with construction moving on. I added a layer of foamcore to the plywood and once dried glued the track into place, followed by various sections of card to raise the ground level up to sleeper height. Generally speaking, cream mounting card will be hard surfacing, the brown card soft:

A close-up of the van body and wall.  The Peco van has a corrugated iron roof and is weathered to represent a well-worn, flaking (in places) finish.  The walls have been painted to represent a cream/yellow brick effect:

At the other end of the scene I have added some Wills (4mm scale) setts in the area that represents a long-bricked-up gate, these must have been there a while and they will be partially buried in later surfacing:

The next step is to add some track detail, dummy fishplates etc (and some spikes on that dummy turnout!)

Colin

Steps on the Path? (Up-cycle pt.5)

As hinted previously, things have been rather quiet on the ‘Up-cycle’ front lately due to an emerging view that the work so far is a step on the path rather than the destination itself. I'm not sure what has provoked this change in thought, but I suspect it is fuelled by a feeling that ‘Up-cycle’ was really just that little bit too small to be a layout itself and perhaps too big to be a diorama.

Although ‘Up-cycle’ was built with (and fulfils) the dual purpose of fitting onto my already cramped desktop and storing in an impossibly small slot, in practice there is a rather cumbersome movement between the two. Since the re-purposing of the scheme as a dual identity test track/diorama scene I've actually started to wonder if I have made a compromise too far and whether the best outcome is in fact to split these two purposes apart and make some further steps:

• A simple (dual gauge) test track which sits on the desk in a location more suited to use whilst other work is ongoing.  Now complete:

• A diorama suitable for photography could be created using the existing scenic concept and material and store in the location used for ‘Up-cycle’. In progress:

• Adopt the view that the existing board stands as a proof-of-concept for the method of construction used. The diorama board above uses more shelving offcuts and plywood:

The only real loss here will be the length of the track available for ‘play’ purposes but I get the feeling that in the genuine spirit of the project, the potentially redundant board could easily be “upcycled” itself. Although built to fit in a limited vertical space there is every possibility that it could be extended upwards with higher backscene boards and indeed outwards if required to add depth. Alternatively, it could make a useful fiddle yard run-off for a larger project…

Colin

Excitement and Confusion

The 'Festival of British Railway Modelling' last weekend in Doncaster produced a first for me - the purchase of an O9 kit from a manufacturer at a (very) mainstream event! It was good to see John Flower of A1 Models back behind his stand and he was happy to sell me his the latest version of the O9 loco kit, a reduced height version more suited to a 15" gauge passenger carrying railway.

Things have been rather quiet on the 'Up-cycle' front lately. The board sits unchanged and although the scenic features are slowly being painted, there is a dawning view that the work so far is a step on the path rather than the destination itself. I will expand on that idea another time after some further thought and experimentation has taken place...

Colin

Some trains are made to be played with...

Last year I received the gift of a handful of tinplate OO gauge wagons as a wedding anniversary gift/joke from my wife.  Do what you want with them she said...

I'll be honest, tinplate is not really my thing, but I gave the contents of the box a good looking over to see what could be done.  First impressions weren't good, but the closer I looked I realised that two of the wagons weren't tinplate at all, but litho printed card overlays on wooden bodies, with cast metal chassis.

They are certainly not the best examples of the breed and I suspect have no heritage value, but the mazac cast chassis of the one on the right looks like a potential 7mm scale narrow gauge underframe to me.  The one on the left is very curious, cast whitemetal with rather fine wheels (though on plain-end axles), but the wheelbase is 35mm - that's 10 feet in 3.5mm scale rather than 9 feet in 4mm scale - is it actually to HO scale?  The body is rather warped and appears to be some sort of fibreboard in places rather than wood. At some point I'll try and use the useful bits of these wagons.

The Hornby Dublo wagons were very battered, this brake van is typical:

The eagle eyed will notice the rather shiny wheels, they are modern Hornby examples!  As the body on this was beyond repair they have been reclaimed for the spares box, the chassis frame may go on eBay as a spare....

A totally non-conservation approach was taken to the best of the battered tinplate wagons. Two open wagons became one (more modern Hornby wheels reclaimed); I swapped some other wheels about amongst the interesting 2-rail conversions and the oldest length of Peco Streamline track I could find seemed apt for display:

Colin

Hiding the end of the line (Up-cycle pt.4)

Having settled on the brick wall along the rear of 'Up-cycle', I needed to consider how the end of the scene should be finished off.  Having rejected a simple fence I considered whether a building could fit in the limited height available.  Something flat roofed might just fit, but it will be a case of "mind your head"! Now what if the front line could go into a doorway in the building...

The corrugated iron/H-girder fence actually dates back to my OO gauge boxfile layout, it was a prototype for the scrap yard fencing but used 7mm scale corrugated iron rather than the 4mm scale material used on the finished article.  Here it attempts to provide some depth and hide the corner.

I was then asked if was worth having the building flat stepped so that one part sticks out more than the other.Ironically this thought had already come to me and I had made a suitably rough sketch, although this involved a drop in floor level and a caravan behind a fence:

Translated into a mock-up, this became:

The thought has occurred to me that the section with track heading into it could be an excuse for another attempt at the former Skegness Miniature Railway shed, as I think the last one was probably over-size this one can be a little under-size to fit!

In other news, the walls are now structurally complete, pillars have had their corners neatened up and mortar lines taken around the corners.  The gate has been completed with posts, planking and a latch:

Colin

All in all it's just a... (Up-cycle pt.3)

After experiencing a few issues with the right-hand point that led to the front siding (all due to it's slightly battered beginnings and my attempts to correct it) I looked again at what this Up-cycle should achieve in the way of being a test track rather than a micro layout. I set out the following new objectives:

• Some 16.5 mm gauge track to at least allow rolling road block testing (using DCC Concepts rollers).
• A length of un-ballasted 9 mm gauge track to allow rolling road block testing.
• Low-key scenic treatment on part of the board to use for photographic purposes.
• The ability to shunt a few wagons about as the mood takes.

So there has been a change to the track layout, the pit that accommodated the loco cassettes from 'Shifting Sands' has bee filled in, all gaps around the joins in the cork filled with decorator's flexible filler and the whole area painted with blackboard paint borrowed from the craft cupboard.  This area is the 'test' area, the other part will receive scenic treatment.  The area around the point could go either way at present, we shall see what develops...

I have also made some progress on a brick wall to sit along the back right-hand end.  Having had a wander around the canalside industrial area behind my workplace and taken a few reference photos on my phone (backed up with Google Earth) I had a good idea of what I wanted to build, I wanted a bricked-up gateway with a replacement smaller gate, plus a length of buttressed wall to the side - I didn't want a plain wall as it would be one of the main features of the scene.

This is actually wall v2.0 (the less said about the first the better...), using Slaters embossed brick in two patterns (in order to give some variety) mounted on 3.5mm foam core.  The majority is in Flemish bond, I found that the sheet I bought last weekend has little in the way of squareness in the embossed pattern, which was rather annoying to say the least...

The pillars of the gateway are built from a plain bond in order to make the corners easier to match up.  The infill section was recovered from the first attempt at the wall, but altered to incorporate a rebuilt upper section to add interest.  Capping is from the Wills 4mm scale roof/guttering pack.

Further along the wall is the buttressed section.  The buttresses are an overlay with a 40 thou piece of styrene behind, the top is tapered in to a slot in the brickwork.  The sides of the buttresses have the brick courses scribed in.  Again, there is a repaired stretch of wall along the top, capping is again from the Wills pack, the original capping is assumed to be the triangular pattern, the replacement is rounded.

Painting will follow in due course, I tend to find that I prefer yellow brick, but we shall see...

Colin

'Crompton' - In Numbers

Following correspondence during 2014 via the NGRM Online Forum I measured up the vital statistics of the 18" gauge Atlantic 'Crompton' at Cleethorpes for a gentleman planning a model of the New Brighton miniature railway in 6mm/ft scale.

'Crompton' was built to the order of Tommy Mann by David Curwen Ltd, notably after the founder had left the company.  An enlarged version of the 10 1/4" gauge Atlantics supplied by Curwen, it somehow lost the careful proportions of the originals in translation to the larger scale.

After many years in storage the remains of the loco arrived at Cleethorpes in 2005 for the centenary of seaside miniature railways and have remained in store there ever since.  After some time stored at the back of the shed they were moved in May 2014 to a more accessible location:

'Crompton's Dimensions - Locomotive:

• Front bufferbeam to rear of footplate: 147”
• Width of front bufferbeam/rear footplate: 40”
• Length of rear footplate: 26”
• Length of boiler (front of smokebox to rear of firebox): 114”
• Length of firebox: 21”
• Width of firebox: 20”
• Height of firebox: 33”
• Length of smokebox: 27”
• Diameter of smokebox: 23 ½“
• Width of smokebox saddle: 14”
• Length of smokebox saddle: 17”
• Depth of frame plates: 12”
• Driving wheel diameter: 21”
• Driving wheelbase: 30”
• Bogie (and trailing) wheel diameter: 11”
• Bogie wheelbase: 21”
• Wheelbase (front bogie wheel to rear driving wheel): 87”
• Cylinder length (external): 10 ½“
• Cylinder diameter (external): 8”

Tender (Frame):

• Length: 88”
• Width: 40”
• Depth of frame plates: 12”
• Wheelbase: 47”

All dimensions recorded at CCLR 11/05/2014 by Colin Peake

Sadly, due to change of ownership at the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, the remains of 'Crompton' left the railway on 15th August 2014 for storage at a private location.  Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time...

Colin