Chuffnell Regis

[Graham T]

42 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

This photo I took of an original in the Helston museum shows just how short platform lamps where in the old days:

This image is around 1910 I believe and the oil platform lamp can only be about 10 feet tall overall judging by the porter standing there.

The photos I have of yard lamps show one that is noticably taller than a 45xx - I guess quite deliberately given locos and stock would be all around the yard and thus shorter lamps would have been of little use.

 

Possibly even shorter than you think Andy.  People were generally a bit smaller then, and I make the top of the porter's head about level with the top of the lamp post.  Anyway, I know I have a reference book with these in, so must really take a look rather than guessing!

 

[Neal Ball]

45 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

This photo I took of an original in the Helston museum shows just how short platform lamps where in the old days:

This image is around 1910 I believe and the oil platform lamp can only be about 10 feet tall overall judging by the porter standing there.

The photos I have of yard lamps show one that is noticably taller than a 45xx - I guess quite deliberately given locos and stock would be all around the yard and thus shorter lamps would have been of little use.

 

Just now, Graham T said:

 

Possibly even shorter than you think Andy.  People were generally a bit smaller then, and I make the top of the porter's head about level with the top of the lamp post.  Anyway, I know I have a reference book with these in, so must really take a look rather than guessing!

 

 

Whilst people were generally shorter, you can gauge the size by looking at the height of the fence.... 

[Graham T]

Or the trolley, which someone will have the measurements for, I'm sure.

 

[Graham T]

I finished the Pressfix transfers on the D1666 - this is the better side!  And have got one side of the loco coal wagon done.  As you can see, I managed to chip some of the paint on the latter while manipulating the transfers with a cocktail stick; never mind though, it's genuine weathering!  I will either touch it back in with black/grey or a dab of rust.  Adding the decimal point in the tare weight was something of a challenge!

 

The LMS wagon had a coat of Humbrol clear varnish before the waterslide transfers, so now needs some matt to tone it back down before weathering.

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Some RTR wagons turned up at the post office today as well.  The NE ones are from Oxford Rail, and the cheap and nasty cheerful GW opens are Dapol.  One of each will need renumbering at some point, so it's just as well that I've been getting some practice with the Pressfix transfers 🙂  I'll have to order some more three links too.

 

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

 

Possibly even shorter than you think Andy.  People were generally a bit smaller then, and I make the top of the porter's head about level with the top of the lamp post.  Anyway, I know I have a reference book with these in, so must really take a look rather than guessing!

 

Happily the layouts4u lights come with an adaptable height so I will mix and match height and gas/oil as Helston had this in the late 20s / early 30s

[MrWolf]

Those Dapol wagons have a number of issues, but I think that with the kind of weathering you have been applying and throwing the couplings as far away as possible, they allow you to build a freight train quite cheaply.

 

Unless you have a particular liking for a certain wagon, then you can go mental and throw away the (incorrect wheelbase) chassis as well as the couplings. I've done it with a few PO wagons.

 

[Graham T]

Good idea (I didn't know they had the wrong wheelbase actually).  Did you use the Ratio underframe kits?

 

[MrWolf]

Apparently the standard Dapol underframe is 10'0"" wb, the wagons were actually 9'0" wb. I've used Cambrian RCH 9'0" underframes, brass bearings and in the case of the Groby Granite wagon, reused the Dapol wheels. They also do a wooden underframe which is handy for PO wagons.

 

None of these are entirely accurate, but the only thing accurate about my wagon was the livery anyway, the real wagons were built by small companies in Coalville, East Leake and in the quarry s own workshops.

[Gopher]

4 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

I think the Layouts4you lights are the ones I like best in terms of price and shape though the kytes ones are also nice. They all make the DCC Concepts ones look very pricey.

these ones https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts/item-code-lhm611-oo-scale-lampposts-pack-of-3 look rather like the GWR oil lamps while these ones https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts/item-code-lhm612-pack-of-3 seem a good match for gas lamps. I think for my period in distant Cornwall the oil lamp effect is what I really want, especially in the yard. I may mix in some "gas" lamps on the platform.

Andy

Hi Andy - here is one of the oil lamps installed outside my goods shed.  Gives you an idea of scale.  

 

Clive

[Graham T]

Do you know which model number that is please Clive?

 

[Andy Keane]

10 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Do you know which model number that is please Clive?

 

Looks like 611 to me, see my link above

[Graham T]

Ah, with the shortened post - got you.  Looks good.

 

[Gopher]

9 hours ago, Graham T said:

Do you know which model number that is please Clive?

 

Morning Graham - yes as Andy says it is 611

[Graham T]

So, I'd say I have slightly mixed feelings about Pressfix transfers.  I don't find them easy to use, and I'm pretty sure I haven't got them straight on these wagons.  But on the plus side they look good and don't have any visible carrier film that I can see.  Hopefully some weathering will disguise the wonkiness...

 

[Graham T]

Well the last bits and pieces I was waiting for from Jakub at LCut Creative have finally reached here, having had it seems quite an epic journey through the labyrinth that passes for the European postal system these days.  The doors, windows, and quoins all look rather nice on first look, so now I think I have everything needed to make a start on Chuffnell Regis' station building!

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Graham T

[Neal Ball]

5 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Well the last bits and pieces I was waiting for from Jakub at LCut Creative have finally reached here, having had it seems quite an epic journey through the labyrinth that passes for the European postal system these days.  The doors, windows, and quoins all look rather nice on first look, so now I think I have everything needed to make a start on Chuffnell Regis' station building!

 

 

Good luck! We look forward to seeing it all develop.

[Graham T]

Meanwhile...  I'm sure this is a very un-prototypical formation, but sometimes it's nice just to play trains for a while 🙂

 

The kit-built wagons (apart from the Cordon, of course) were a bit skittish when being propelled over my appalling trackwork, so I've glued some lead strip to their undersides, which seems to have helped.

 

[Neal Ball]

It might help that as a rule of thumb, to weigh your wagons and get somewhere close to 50 grams.

 

You can buy lead shot for this, or use old wheels under a coal load, or under a tarpaulin, some stones from the garden!

 

Certainly kit built wagons will benefit from the extra weight.

[Graham T]

Thanks, I'll get the scales out tomorrow!

 

 

[longchap]

Hi Graham,

 

I carried put some research today in preparation for my Cordon Diagram DD5 build and came across the build of your kit on the Swansea Railway Modellers Group website https://srmg.org.uk/recent-kitbuilds (just over half way down the page) and now realise just how much trouble you must really have had in producing such a nicely finished kit.

 

The numbering for Dia DD5, which the Wills Finecast kit mostly resembles, runs from 1 through to 17 and no two wagons were ever the same, mainly down to differences with brakes! 

 

I'll publish some findings on my layout thread soon and try and figure out which numbers would be best to go with, as 8 of these wagons lasted well into the 1950s.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by longchap

[Neal Ball]

7 hours ago, longchap said:

Hi Graham,

 

I carried put some research today in preparation for my Cordon Diagram DD5 build and came across the build of your kit on the Swansea Railway Modellers Group website https://srmg.org.uk/recent-kitbuilds (just over half way down the page) and now realise just how much trouble you must really have had in producing such a nicely finished kit.

 

The numbering for Dia DD5, which the Wills Finecast kit mostly resembles, runs from 1 through to 17 and no two wagons were ever the same, mainly down to differences with brakes! 

 

I'll publish some findings on my layout thread soon and try and figure out which numbers would be best to go with, as 8 of these wagons lasted well into the 1950s.

 

 

That was an interesting read Bill, thank you.

 

I still have some Peco wonderful wagons, although they rarely see the light of day. At the time - late 70’s I guess, I thought they were very good.

 

I also at one tIme had a Ks Autocoach which was awful, or at least that’s how I remember it. With my limited skills at that time, I couldn’t really make a good go of it.

 

Interesting to read his run down of the cordorn wagon…. One to avoid I think!

[Gopher]

10 hours ago, Graham T said:

Meanwhile...  I'm sure this is a very un-prototypical formation, but sometimes it's nice just to play trains for a while 🙂

 

The kit-built wagons (apart from the Cordon, of course) were a bit skittish when being propelled over my appalling trackwork, so I've glued some lead strip to their undersides, which seems to have helped.

 

Lovely scene Graham.  I think you did a good job with the lineside fencing

[Graham T]

9 hours ago, longchap said:

Hi Graham,

 

I carried put some research today in preparation for my Cordon Diagram DD5 build and came across the build of your kit on the Swansea Railway Modellers Group website https://srmg.org.uk/recent-kitbuilds (just over half way down the page) and now realise just how much trouble you must really have had in producing such a nicely finished kit.

 

The numbering for Dia DD5, which the Wills Finecast kit mostly resembles, runs from 1 through to 17 and no two wagons were ever the same, mainly down to differences with brakes! 

 

I'll publish some findings on my layout thread soon and try and figure out which numbers would be best to go with, as 8 of these wagons lasted well into the 1950s.

 

 

 

Thanks Bill, that was an interesting thread.  Some of the gas wagons seemed to have "No X" on them (with a superscript O), but there's nothing like that on the Pressfix sheet.  I could add just a number, but not sure about that.

 

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, Gopher said:

Lovely scene Graham.  I think you did a good job with the lineside fencing

 

Very kind Clive, but personally I'm not happy with the fencing.  It was a complete pain in the neck to make too.  There are far better techniques on this forum; @Andy Keane has a great technique which is described on page 172 of this thread.