Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Looking North

[Annie]

That's a pity- the Sacre locos were withdrawn before WWI.  Just a little too early for me. 

Who cares, - run one anyway  

[Skinnylinny]

Just above the tender of the Sacre single I see the station name Shifnal - also known as Moblems. Quite why, I don't know - it may just be that Shifnal is a bit difficult for a young child to pronounce. When I was very young, I used to be taken by train between Shrewsbury to Birmingham to see my Granny; whenever possible I got the seat on the right hand side at the front, to get the view through the cab of the DMU. My only memory is of the dramatic effect of a change of gradient, at bridge over the line - looking as if we were about to plunge into the void. There was also the orange windsock at Cosford.

 

I suppose that DMU went through to New Street; I've no recollection of changing at Wolverhampton.

The background of these curtains is made up of various notices etc of the period - no grouping ones that I've noticed - and Shifnal appears in this list which looks like it might have come out of a timetable, or possibly a Bradshaw's?

 

[Skinnylinny]

Well, I'm on my way to a job interview (for a position doing much the same as I was at the previous place - electronics assembly and testing) and it's a typical dreich Scottish day. Here's hoping I'm not too damp after the ten minute walk from the bus stop!

[Edwardian]

Well, I'm on my way to a job interview (for a position doing much the same as I was at the previous place - electronics assembly and testing) and it's a typical dreich Scottish day. Here's hoping I'm not too damp after the ten minute walk from the bus stop!

[RedGemAlchemist]

Well, I'm on my way to a job interview (for a position doing much the same as I was at the previous place - electronics assembly and testing) and it's a typical dreich Scottish day. Here's hoping I'm not too damp after the ten minute walk from the bus stop!

My good luck message is belated due to a really busy day to work but here it is anyway:

 

[insert four leaf clover emoji here]

Edited September 3, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[Skinnylinny]

Thanks, everyone. I'm not sure how it went - I seem to fulfill most of their criteria (all of the ones that were on the advert, at least) but now the waiting begins...

 

I then spent this afternoon cutting out more kits for someone, working on the LB&SCR Open D, and cutting out a motley assortment of strangely-shaped parts to build a wagon-loading hopper for the club's 7mm scale layout "Puddle Bridge".

 

Based on Ormiston station, just south of Edinburgh, the layout features a colliery with a loading chute. For all of the layout's exhibition life, the chute has been messy and awkward, regularly depositing coal on the track, and requiring effectively a ladle of coal to be carefully manoeuvred through a hole in the backscene. After various attempts to design a new chute and hopper, we think we now have something. If it works, I'll try to take some video tomorrow evening...

[Nick C]

Four of Linny's 8t LBSCR vans turned up yesterday - I'm looking forward to building them!

[Skinnylinny]

Hope you enjoy them, Nick. The next kit, the Open D is already getting to the point of test-assembly of various parts, although test-assembly has shown a few bits I'm not entirely happy with (including gaps where there shouldn't be and which will need re-designing) but I'm also hoping to have it be possible to have unpainted MDF with engraved planking for the interiors. I'm also experimenting to see if it is possible to register the parts accurately enough to allow engraving on both sides (which means removing the part from the cutter and replacing it in the same position to within about 1/4mm if I want the engraving to look nice. For now, though, the wagon looks something like this:

 

While the MDF isn't perfect for representing bare wooden planks, it's not as visually jarring as, say, unpainted plastic or even plastic in a non-wood colour, and I've always struggled with making things which are not wood look like wood. Those who want to paint it to look even better would be able to, and it ought to react well to weathering powders, but it also doesn't look *too* awful as is. What do people think?

[mikeandnel]

Hope you enjoy them, Nick. The next kit, the Open D is already getting to the point of test-assembly of various parts, although test-assembly has shown a few bits I'm not entirely happy with (including gaps where there shouldn't be and which will need re-designing) but I'm also hoping to have it be possible to have unpainted MDF with engraved planking for the interiors. I'm also experimenting to see if it is possible to register the parts accurately enough to allow engraving on both sides (which means removing the part from the cutter and replacing it in the same position to within about 1/4mm if I want the engraving to look nice. For now, though, the wagon looks something like this:

 

IMG_20180905_164355425~2.jpg

 

While the MDF isn't perfect for representing bare wooden planks, it's not as visually jarring as, say, unpainted plastic or even plastic in a non-wood colour, and I've always struggled with making things which are not wood look like wood. Those who want to paint it to look even better would be able to, and it ought to react well to weathering powders, but it also doesn't look *too* awful as is. What do people think?

 

Looks good Linny.

If it of the same quality as the box van kit and has the alternative of an EM gauge chassis that would be good

Michael

[Skinnylinny]

Hi Michael,

Having played around with the van kit some more, it does seem that it could be built with the standard underframe parts after all, as the wheels don't pass through the baseplate at all. As such, if you want one of the original base plates (as per the instructions), just let me know and I can stick one in the post to you - I think it would allow for a stlightly stronger chassis build.

The Open D will use a very similar chassis design, so should accept EM wheels with no trouble at all.

 

(Apologies for the terrible photo!)

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by Skinnylinny

[mikeandnel]

Hi Michael,

 

Having played around with the van kit some more, it does seem that it could be built with the standard underframe parts after all, as the wheels don't pass through the baseplate at all. As such, if you want one of the original base plates (as per the instructions), just let me know and I can stick one in the post to you - I think it would allow for a stlightly stronger chassis build.

 

The Open D will use a very similar chassis design, so should accept EM wheels with no trouble at all.

 

(Apologies for the terrible photo!)

 

IMG_20180905_194212958.jpg

 

Linny 

Thanks for the info.

The chassis has gone together very well so look forward to the Open D.

Are you now doing all your kits with the 'wooden' components, because they are very superior to the early three-layer card ones of the Stroudley coaches?

And are the Stroudley coaches now all 'wood'?

Michael

[Skinnylinny]

Glad to hear the chassis has gone together nicely - they can be a bit fiddly but hopefully not as bad as etched brass, to say nothing of the lack of burnt fingers! I'd love to see photos of the kit when it's built as I've not seen anyone else's attempts at the vans yet.

The Stroudley coaches are likely to stick with the laminated wood chassis (simply a copy of the original card chassis, but in MDF rather than card, as it's much stronger), though any future kits will most likely use the van-style chassis with separate solebars etc - this is what's being used for the SE&CR push-pull set (albeit with sliding centre axles). Bodyshells however will remain in card, as it's not easy to form turnunders or tumblehomes in the MDF - it's not very flexible (hence using it for the chassis!)

 

 

 

The Stroudleys were always intended as "beginner" kits, while the push-pull set is going to have a lot more, rather fiddlier parts. Proper footboards for one thing! I'm still not sure how much effort people will want to put into making carriage-end alarm gear out of card though! While it can look very good, it can also be maddeningly fiddly, and if there's an etch out there, it may be much easier!

Edited September 6, 2018 by Skinnylinny

[Edwardian]

Glad to hear the chassis has gone together nicely - they can be a bit fiddly but hopefully not as bad as etched brass, to say nothing of the lack of burnt fingers! I'd love to see photos of the kit when it's built as I've not seen anyone else's attempts at the vans yet.

 

The Stroudley coaches are likely to stick with the laminated wood chassis (simply a copy of the original card chassis, but in MDF rather than card, as it's much stronger), though any future kits will most likely use the van-style chassis with separate solebars etc - this is what's being used for the SE&CR push-pull set (albeit with sliding centre axles). Bodyshells however will remain in card, as it's not easy to form turnunders or tumblehomes in the MDF - it's not very flexible (hence using it for the chassis!)

 

IMG_20180831_160211624.jpg

 

IMG_20180831_163119989.jpg

 

IMG_20180831_193837877.jpg

 

Brilliant, Linny.

 

The world of 6-wheel coaches opens up.

 

As soon as I am back in funds, I'll be beating a path to your door.

[Skinnylinny]

For clarification, any of my chassis using 12mm wheels will quite happily accept EM or 00 wheels (I wouldn't like to say it'll accept P4 wheels, although I see no reason why it shouldn't, unless someone wants to post me two pairs of P4 wagon wheels and a length of track!). As for 14mm wheels, as these need slots in the floor to clear the wheels and flanges, so these would need a special EM chassis (which should accept P4 wheels, but again I'm not certain).

 

The 6-wheel chassis are designed to go over Peco/Hornby 1st radius curves in 00, but will need wider curves in EM, simply because the wheels are further apart so the centre wheelset has less far to move before they hit the axleguards. This has been possible because they have a relatively short wheelbase. Longer 6-wheelers might be limited to 2nd radius, but I definitely want them to be able to operate over setrack points.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Skinnylinny

[Skinnylinny]

Evening, all.

Sadly, no video from Puddle Bridge at the moment - we'll be fitting the final version of the coal loading chute on Tuesday evening. We're pretty happy with how the current iteration works, though. The previous system used to end up with a very tall, narrow cone of coal in the middle of each wagon, often with the top over the top of the wagon sides, and the floor at the end of wagon still visible. There was also quite a lot of coal ending up missing the wagons entirely.

 

A new, laser-cut hopper arrangement has been designed and built up, such that the coal is poured into a hopper, from where it travels down a tube and is diverted into two streams, making two heaps in the wagon and loading it much more evenly. A second hopper then narrows the flow across the width of the wagon, stopping coal from spraying over the sides.

Result: much nicer wagon loads!

 

 

They're still not perfect (which is what the next iteration of hopper is designed to improve, partly by allowing more coal to be poured into each wagon) but we're no longer pouring coal all over the track (leading to derailments) and the floor... Bearing in mind we're running empties in and loaded wagons out in 7mm scale, and loading "on-scene" without visible hand-of-god intervention, we're rather happy with the appearance so far.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Skinnylinny

[Nick C]

I've just started building the first of the 8t vans - I'll try and document it on my Cowes thread

[Skinnylinny]

Looking good so far, Nick. Hope you enjoy the kits!

Still a little more to be done on the coal loading hopper for Puddle Bridge, but mainly just building a hopper for operators to pour the coal into. Other than that, everything's installed now!

 

To the left is the upper part of the wagon-loading hopper, which features a splitter to divide the coal flow into two distinct heaps in the wagon. To the right, the lower half then "scoops" the coal inwards, preventing it from spraying over the sides of the wagon being loaded.

 

Another photo, showing the two halves assembled. The inset section in the middle is to allow for the "floor" of the loading building on the layout.

 

And finally, all in place, with a chute made of some old cable trunking. Coal is poured down the chute, into the wooden hopper, and is then divided and guided neatly into the wagons.

 

 

So far, so good... In about an hour I hope to have some photos from a commission job I'm working on for the laser-cutting business side of things.

[Skinnylinny]

Well the commission work photos had to partly wait until I got home, then my phone died before I could get the photos off it, so you're getting this now!

 

A while back, I got a commission to produce parts for a Gauge 1 Midland clerestory bogie coach. Now, from this, I got a bit of a feel for how large the stock would be, but everything was very much "in the flat" and I didn't get a chance to test-build, as the coach would require a fair amount of sanding to form body curves etc. So I thought "gosh, Gauge 1 is big!" but that was about it.

 

...then another customer approached me about the possibility of scaling up my 00 gauge Stroudleys to Gauge 1. This has required a fair bit of re-designing the chassis, and the body (to be made out of wood, rather than card) but I had the basic shapes in CAD work, so this was mostly detail. The problem with CAD is that because you can zoom in and out freely, it's very easy to lose track of the actual size of things. So, when the time came to cut out the parts for a Gauge 1 D45 Brake 3rd for a test-build (with wheels, buffers and couplings provided by the customer... Wow! What a brute!

 

 

I did a quick section of a mock-up body before committing to the entire job, to check that laser-cutting a wooden Stroudley would be plausible, and to see how the panelling would come out - it looked like this:

 

So far I haven't cut out the card overlays which will give a smooth surface to the sides and the beading, but this thing is... chunky! It's for a rake of five for a garden railway, so I've been asked not to have too much delicate detailing in case of derailments, but it's certainly gone together nicely enough and it's *huge*!

 

 

I did a quick section of a mock-up body before committing to the entire job, to check that laser-cutting a wooden Stroudley would be plausible, and to see how the panelling would come out - it looked like this:

 

 

Though as I've done this test-build, I'm seriously considering buying the detailing parts necessary to turn it into a really nice model - wheels, couplings, buffers, transfers etc. Where would it stop though? One? Two? A rake? And then there's the question of what would pull them...

 

I'm going to need a bigger layout!

[ianmaccormac]

Linny

There are kits for Guage 1 Terriers?

Cheers

Ian

[Skinnylinny]

Ian,

 

That there are, but they're definitely out of my price range! And then I'd have to develop some kits for LBSC wagons too, and... Oh dear.

[Regularity]

There (are?) some brass imports: have a look at Tower Models’ website.

 

They are to the correct internationally recognised (apart from some parts of the UK) scale of 1:32.

[NeilHB]

The gauge 1 commission looks fantastic Linny - job well done!

 

Wouldn’t mind one or two of these in 7mm too at some point. Ideal light railway coaching stock.

[Skinnylinny]

I will be looking at scaling these down to 7mm once the gauge 1 commission is complete - they would seem to be the perfect match to the Dapol Terrier. I might even be able to enlarge the Stroudley van, and the open D, when it's completed.

[ianmaccormac]

You could always cut a G1 Terrier out of card and do what Bob Fridd used to do.

You could probably 3D print all the fittings you needed apart from maybe the buffers?

That would keep you busy!

Cheers

Ian

Edited September 13, 2018 by ianmaccormac

[sem34090]

You could always cut a G1 Terrier out of card and do what Bob Fridd used to do.

You could probably 3D print all the fittings you needed apart from maybe the buffers?

That would keep you busy!

Cheers

Ian

I like the sound of that...