Author name: Rodney Hall

Week ending 26th May

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One of LBH’s brake vans did not hold the road too well when running at NewGOG and on inspection it was found that the axles were not perfectly aligned allowing the vehicle to rock slightly. It had been built (by a third party) without any provision for springing or compensation, so LBH is trying this somewhat gimcrack arrangement of wire springs bearing down on the axles as there is just a little movement available. He’ll add a load of lead too.

On ABB the area in front of the three sets of semis has never been satisfactory with just a rough bank where a pavement or wall should be. So excavations have started and some brick plastikard cut to represent the wall. Should the wall have a step in it to reflect the step in the houses behind?

We already have some nice laser cut iron fencing from Scale Model Scenery to put on the wall, and the gates look attractive too. The panel size does not match properly to the step in the wall.

The ever productive Wagonman has completed two models that have appeared on this blog. The ex-GNR 6 wheel Brake van has 4 skylights and they are each glazed with 2 pieces of clear plastic. The LNWR Coal Tank is finished in its final format as used on the special train on the MT&A from Abergavenny.

The work converting the L&Y 2-4-2 to a Barry Railway J class continues. The bunker and cab section has not fitted as smoothly as the tank section with sawing, grinding and filing required to get it as far as shown below.

And congratulations to Paul 🏅🏅on being awarded his second Royal Medal, this is for driving King Charles’ train, and goes with the earlier one he had for driving his mam’s. Apparently there is no truth in the rumours that he also drove for King George VI.

The long term dissatisfaction with the area behind the station building may be over. This laser cut terrace from Intentio seems to be filling the space in a better way. The shop on the left is a chippy, and the space to the right will have a pub, also laser cut. The name for the pub is not confirmed yet, but could be The Sheward Arms, although looking at the picture above maybe The Two Gongs might be more fun.

Week ending 26th May Read More »

Lundi/Montag

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Wagonman unveiled a Fulgurex HOm Aigle-Sépey-Diablerets Swiss railcar (if that’s an acceptable translation of Automotrice and Triebwagen). The prototypes were built in 1913 by SWS and AEG and the model, in brass and steel is an absolute delight and the flush glazing a tour-de-force.

LBH continued with the suspension units on one of the ADR two-plank wagons, fixing the bases with epoxy and using a Poppy Axle Spacing jig to get the axles parallel. He also managed to fix the wandering leaf springs before the glue cured.

Paul🥇called in on his way to work, Andrew N decided how to hide the visible turnout operating mechanisms on Frecclesham (see 26th Feb post) and Andrew J applied undercoat to the sides of the rails on Lyne Road.

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Monday Monday

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Four of us present, TAFKATYS managed to return from a skiing holiday with all limbs intact and worked with MrC preparing Frecclesham for Ally Pally. Rhobat continued work on a crane for TÅ·’n-y-Coedcae and LBH on the ADR two-plank wagons.

The conversion of Pol Sands to TÅ·’n-y-Coedcae made available a typical Southern Railway concrete line side hut, which became earmarked for use on Frecclesham to hide some point actuators after it was deemed that the World War II pillbox wasn’t quite up to scratch. However, given the relative sizes we shall need to be a bit inventive in order to make it work. Watch this space.

The Wainwright D class engines are very elegant and look good with the Birdcage set. These coaches have been improved by the addition of magnetic couplings which makes forming the set so much easier. Also the couplings have been shortened for a more realistic close-coupled appearance.

Monday Monday Read More »

Friday 23rd February

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A quietish Friday with cleaning underway on Frecclesham .

With the scenic side of TÅ·’n-y-Coedcae largely attended to and the baseboards disassembled while Frecclesham is readied for its trip to Ally Pally LBH reverted to type and went back to building wagons. This time he is trying the Prickley Pear wagon springing units for some ADR two-plank wagons. The solebars on the wagons will need to be eased slightly to allow the rocking units to move.

Another visitor to Frecclesham was Luke’s Dapol Terrier. This also ran successfully and tested the now adjusted turnouts. Luke also was busy removing accumulated dust from the surfaces with a trusty brush and vacuum. Hopefully you can see the difference it makes in the last picture where the darker area below the ground signal has been swept clean.

Friday 23rd February Read More »

Back to DCC?

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The space available for a battery in a Manning Wardle Class K has proven to be too limited so it is reverting to DCC and thus pickups will be required. Unfortunately the perfectly good OEM ones were removed and have gone astray so some new ones will need to be fabricated.

Fitted with a DCC decoder and reunited with its body, it ran but not well and LBH will need to give a bit more attention to the pickups.

Back to DCC? Read More »

Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae Lineside

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Andrew N turned up with a couple of items for Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae – a gradient post showing how the line climbs from the valley floor towards Caerphilly and a milepost in true B&MR style denoting 5 3/4 miles from Bassaleg.

Also from Andrew, but not photographed, were some components for the Facing Point Lock.

Elsewhere, out of shot, Rhobat continued with the yard crane and LBH wired up the west fiddle yard.

MrChairman worked on the cabling from the control panel to the Alex Jackson coupling magnets.

The relative simplicity here contrasts with panels 20 plus years ago when one could hear the phrase “knit me a control panel, Nellie” when work was in progress.

A bit more linesidary sprouted up on Tuesday, in the shape of a fixed lamp, that was installed at the halt to show drivers where the halt was in the hours of darkness.

Fred produced a running-in board for the halt, setting it off well.

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Lifting the horizon

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As suggested on the post of the 29th (was it only Monday?) raising the backscene by just a couple of inches paid dividends. The 3-d model and the 2-d back scene gel together better now. Hopefully some of the shadows will disappear when the lighting is set up and the backscene gets flattened out a bit.

Looking West

Looking East

A lone Bedwas coal wagon, not far from home, poses in a couple of locations in front of the backscene.

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