Black Country Blues

[Stubby47]

Stu, you've spotted that I'm actually building Exeter Central...

Needs more water...

[2ManySpams]

I see the point about the corners but you dont have to do 100 scores...   you scrib longer and then cut to width so you do 20 scribes and cut out 5 lengths.

 

A 

 

Funny you should say that, I've been making lots of 2'x3' paving slabs the same way. 

[Stubby47]

Which side would the barges be moored ? I'm guessing you'd need a towpath both sides of the pound. Plus, if barges are moored for any length of time, would the canal workers need footpath / steps access to the town ( for supplies, etc.) ?

[2ManySpams]

Which side would the barges be moored ? I'm guessing you'd need a towpath both sides of the pound. Plus, if barges are moored for any length of time, would the canal workers need footpath / steps access to the town ( for supplies, etc.) ?

 

Mooring in short pounds* between locks for long periods of time tends to be frowned upon as it takes up room for boats queuing for the locks and makes navigation more difficult. Our flight only has a towpath on one side, just like the flight at Ryders Green that it's based on. 

 

You are right, at bridges there was often a link from the towpath to the road. I've added some very basic colour to one of the photos so you can see the ramp up to the road past the back of Flavio's building - hence the funny plot for the building.

 

 

(*Where there is some distance between locks mooring is common.)

[2ManySpams]

PS, I doubt our canal will be that blue, nor the grass that green!

[Stubby47]

I can understand the no-mooring rule on a busy canal, but this is a small canal branch to a dead-end (?). Would it have been that busy, even in it's heyday ?

But, even if boats were waiting for the lock, there would still need to be somewhere for them to be tied up so they didn't move when the sluices were opened, and not be in the way of the boats being hauled out of the locks.

 

I accept you've based this on a prototype, plus the layout era is 100(?) years after the canals were properly used, so things might have changed.

[2ManySpams]

I can understand the no-mooring rule on a busy canal, but this is a small canal branch to a dead-end (?). Would it have been that busy, even in it's heyday ?

But, even if boats were waiting for the lock, there would still need to be somewhere for them to be tied up so they didn't move when the sluices were opened, and not be in the way of the boats being hauled out of the locks.

I accept you've based this on a prototype, plus the layout era is 100(?) years after the canals were properly used, so things might have changed.

Yes, they would have tied up whilst waiting for the lock but perhaps only enough to hold position. Having done this myself it's easy to hold the boat standing on the towpath with a single rope. There are normally mooring rings provided up and downstream for a boat length or two. With the advent of motors in canal boats it's also possible to hold the boat mid channel on low revs.

[2ManySpams]

In ye olde days many boats were also worked single handed. In this case the boatmen worked up a system of holding the boat in the narrow lock approach whilst they sorted the paddles and gates. The boat could then be pulled through using ropes. It's something we've had a go at and takes a bit of thinking about so you don't strand yourself!

 

The thing that always surprises first time boaters is how easily a boat can be moved by hand, with a push or a rope pull. Doesn't take much effort to move tonnes, especially once moving but can be a bit tricky to stop quickly!

 

I'm sure Nige or Andy can add more - they have worked old boats.

[wagonbasher]

Any waiting is the enemy,  that includes mooring.  Working boats moored at the powerstation they are going to, the colliery they are coming from, somewhere were they wait to get orders or on a long journey and overnight stop with the chance to wash some clothes etc.  For working boats someone, young would be the lock wheeler...  Run or bike ahead to make sure that waiting at locks is minimised.  It is only since the 1970's (not sure when exactly) that wew were instructed to shut the gates.  So locks were either empty and open or shut and fullish.  Nowerdays they are shut and typically half full / empty.

 

Passing boats would indicate how many locks in front were set in your favour so you didn't have to boot the kid offf at a bridge with his bike and you can approach the locks at speed even if it was out of sight - and they did!!

 

Chris is correct, if you are waiting for the lock to empty or fill you shove your nose in the narrow approach to the lock up against the gate - if going up hill (against the flow) you can leave the boat in gear nudging the gates or tie yourself to the lock furniture if necessary.

 

If someone is coming the other way, you can hold the boat from the toe path with a single line.

 

Hope that helps, not sure what the original question was

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Mornin' all,

 

We have several canals local to us in Leek, Staffordshire and the picture postcard/local history books show plenty of early B&W images of horse drawn barges etc. As someone pointed out earlier in this thread the canal 'furniture' changed over time and it is worth comparing early and late images to see just what did.

 

Enjoying seeing the progress

 

Dave   

Edited January 13, 2013 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[2ManySpams]

Back to serious stuff..

 

Flavio, when you make up the fire escape can you make it 5mm less tall than shown on your mock up? The actual ground round the back is about 5mm higher than the 10mm socket in this location. Also is it possible to do the base of the doors on the rear of the building 5mm higher also? Tops of the doors should still be fine - the doors can still be 3'x6'6" (12mm by  26mm).

 

The photos below should show what i mean.

 

 

 

Thanks.

[Oldddudders]

A few years ago one of my staff noticed a set of false teeth trapped in the filter screen on the unit where we dropped the bus toilets..

 

After a couple of weeks a gentleman enquired whether we had found any teeth so the things were retrieved and cleaned up then posted on to the person with no further correspondence.

 

It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth even thinking about it!

 

Wally

Something over 40 years ago, a passenger sitting in his train on platform 9 at Victoria felt unwell, and leaned out of the window to throw up. In the course of this event, he inadvertantly jettisoned his false teeth. Opening the door, he jumped down on the ballast to retrieve this expensive item  - whereupon the train left, with the nearside door wide open......

[2ManySpams]

Morning folks, a neighbour has just been round and left me with a load of old railway items from an attic clear out. "You're into trains...."

 

Anyway, there were a couple of vehicles in the boxes, any use to anyone? 

 

The black lorry is a Matchbox DAF, not sure about scale or date suitability.

 

The white vehicle says it is a Lomas Ambulance by Lesney.

 

The cars are by Minix - black a Vauxhall Viva and blue a Morris 1100 (missing an axle).

 

 

 

 

[Mark Forrest]

I dont use a hammer or a wheel puller....   Just a pice of 1/8 steel with a slot cut in it with a slim cutting disc in an angel grinder...  then put a hardened nail from a picture hook with its head cut off in my tower drill blunt end down.  Sit the wheel set in the slot of the 1/8 steel, support it in a drill vice and then use the drill (turned off) to press down as required on the centre of the axle.  Lots of pressure with control !!

 

A

Careful now; we (as a group) have a reputation for cutting things with chop saws and hitting stuff with hammers - this sounds like a sensible bit of precision engineering (by my standards any way).  Must admit, I've often thought that I probably should really do it that way.

[Stubby47]

Chris, can't you add a 5mm base into the bottom of the socket instead ? It might be too late for Flavio to change his building...

[2ManySpams]

It's a sloping site - adding 5mm would expose the underbelly on the front.

 

It's basically just putting the door threashold 5mm higher on two doors - not a major rebuild. At the moment the doors measure 34mm tall on the mock up - so a massive 8'6" which could take a bit being taken off the bottom.

[PhilJ W]

I'd keep the cars and upgrade them to use on the layout. The ambulance and lorry are HO scale.

[2ManySpams]

Careful now; we (as a group) have a reputation for cutting things with chop saws and hitting stuff with hammers - this sounds like a sensible bit of precision engineering (by my standards any way).  

 

Hey, I've stopped using 6" nails in the scenics...

[Shadow]

Me too, you can only get up to 90mm nails into one of these.

 

 

 

Guess it will be ok for the finer details though.

[2ManySpams]

Me too, you can only get up to 90mm nails into one of these.

 

 nail gun.jpg

 

Guess it will be ok for the finer details though.

 

nice and subtle!

[Geoff Cook]

Hey, I've stopped using 6" nails in the scenics...

 Yes

 

You have been using screws, and from experience I can say that the points are sharp

[2ManySpams]

Yes, I meant to tell you about those - there's one board with a few spikes sticking out...sorry.

[Mark Forrest]

Despite its weight saving timber base, our cabin requires a short length of retaining wall to prevent it falling into the canal below.  This weekend I've been working on this so that (hopefully) the whole structure can be planted as a complete module next time I'm in the same county as the relevant baseboard.

 

The structure is in 1mm styrene with square tubing and L angle ((Plastruct) added for strength.  As you can see, I'm about halfway through cladding it Slater's English bond.

[2ManySpams]

Been busy today making the top lock, or more accurately, half a top lock. 

 

Decided to do this now as it will be very tricky to do once the bridge is in place.

 

Anyway, some photos...

 

Foamboard template with a thin layer of plasticard stuck to it with double-sided tape.

 

Starting to make the lock walls, noting how Nigel had done his recesses.

 

 

Trial fit with one wall fitted.

 

And the start of the second.

 

Further work - adding the curved end.

 

Much later...

 

Current state of play.

 

And this is what the audience will see.

 

[Arthur]

 

Pick ups!!, I don't know why but fitting them is never a job I enjoy.

 

Do you know how your Dad applied the striping, Adam, paint or decal strips? When I finished my Hunslet, I used strips of decal paper, following the method outlined by Ian Rathbone in his book.

 

Onto the build;

 

First up was the chassis. Michael Edge was my first port of call. I wasn’t clear about how to arrange the compensation beams, in particular did I need to fret out the axle holes in the frames as I had done previously? An email to Michael and a quick response clarified it, as follows.

 

Deciding to drive on the front axle, I first fitted the two compensation beams which pivot just behind the rear axle. Each pivot was a brass pin, I used a taper broach to open out the etched hole in the beam side to be a running fit. With the pin inserted I placed a spot of oil on the joint, placed some thin paper over the pin and pushed the compensation beam onto the pin. A quick clean with a fibre glass brush, just a smear of flux (I didn’t want it penetrating down into the frame) and a quick application of iron and solder. The pin was cut back to leave about 1mm left allowing a nice fillet of solder between the beam and pin. With the oiled paper removed the beam swings freely.

 

 

 

Here is the partly assembled chassis. The wires are for the brake hangars and the part completed footplate sits on top. The rear axle bearings are fitted to the inside of the compensation beams and with the axle inserted there is enough space in the frame axle hole (it’s etched to fit a bearing) to allow the rear axle and compensation beam to rise and fall through about 1mm, all that is needed. So, no, I didn’t need to do anything to the chassis at all. Very neat, I might be a convert....

 

 

The brakes, two per wheel, comprise either three or four etchings plus some cosmetic wire ‘pivots’. The main assembly was performed by keeping the hangar on the etch, whilst soldering on the brake blocks. These were then drilled for the cosmetic pivots. Here’s part of the etch, some of the brake parts can be seen assembled onto their hangars and the buffer beam layers have been soldered together.

 

 

TBC