National Coal Board - Royd Hall Drift & Royal Oak Sidings.

[Ruston]

On to the second part of the washery - the slurry settling tank, the classic piece of 20th century colliery architecture.

 

I wasn't sure whether or not to include this as these were massive structures. I have seen pictures of different styles, made in steel and not of the classic shape, and had considered building one of those but I found a picture of one at Skelmanthorpe that was comparatively small. It wouldn't need to be shrunk much further in order to be able to fit it in and still maintain some believeability.

The thing holding me back from making it was the cone - how to make it? My idea was to have it turned from a piece of wood but I don't have the kit to do it and don't know anyone who has. I asked for ideas, on this forum, in the structures section, and took the idea of construction from one of those things that are put on dog's heads when they've had an operation, thanks to BG John.

 

 

 

Marking out the plasticard.

Wrapped and glued into a cone and circle, also plasticard, fitted.

 

 

Loosely sat on top of octagonal card support.

 

The card support needs filler in the joints and the cone needs a top (capping) making, amongst other things.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[BG John]

I asked for ideas, on this forum, in the structures section, and took the idea of construction from one of those things that are put on dog's heads when they've had an operation, thanks to BG John.

It's the hairy one you need to thank. She's the one who suffered the indignity of having her lady bits removed, so I could have it available to show you!

[Osgood]

This fellow has discovered one benefit of a cone:   http://www.gifbin.com/987101

 

There's no chance of that slurry tower blocking and overflowing - is there, Dave………...

 

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Osgood

[5050]

Looking good as usual Dave, I'm impressed.  Did you decide to make a purchase last Saturday?

[Ruston]

Looking good as usual Dave, I'm impressed.  Did you decide to make a purchase last Saturday?

Those side-tipping wagons? No, Paul, I didn't. I didn't buy any rolling stock at all. I just bought materials for buildings and the transformer kit.

 

I was going to buy a brake van and saw three second hand examples on sale but they were priced at more than I was willing to pay. All three were Midland vans, built from the Slaters kit and were priced at £30, £35 and £60! I can't see the point in paying that for someone else's old tat when the kit is still available and is priced lower than the last two anyway. The last one had three aftermarket lamps attached, so I guess these must have been worth a tenner each lamp!

[5050]

Those side-tipping wagons? No, Paul, I didn't. I didn't buy any rolling stock at all. I just bought materials for buildings and the transformer kit.

 

I was going to buy a brake van and saw three second hand examples on sale but they were priced at more than I was willing to pay. All three were Midland vans, built from the Slaters kit and were priced at £30, £35 and £60! I can't see the point in paying that for someone else's old tat when the kit is still available and is priced lower than the last two anyway. The last one had three aftermarket lamps attached, so I guess these must have been worth a tenner each lamp!

Well, prices in general were eye-watering in my opinion.  I'll stick to 4mm scale I reckon (along with some 3.5mm as well!).

[Ruston]

More construction work has been done and still more is underway.

Half-relief crusher house and feed bunker for the washery.

 

Walkway and ladder on washery and gantry on slurry tank painted and weathered. Covered conveyor from bunker to washery built. Fence, complete with gate and barbed wire, around the transformer.

 

 

Conveyor from crusher house to bunker under construction.

 

 

 

 

Hunslet 15" saddletank Beatty (nameplates on order from Narrow Planet) now with Kylpor exhaust (kindly provided by a forum member) and weathered.

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[Ruston]

I have built the old Roy Link Ruston LAT kit to be the surface shunter on the narrow gauge.

 

Overall view. More work on the transformer and associated bits. Pipes added to the slurry tank, low-relief stores building and concreted area walkway and ladder added to washery buillding.

 

 

Ixion Fowler 0-4-0DM now fitted with sound. The brake van is a second hand bargain from ebay, repainted and lettered to suit.

 

Mobile compressor. Out of use and with an old paint can over the exhaust.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[Osgood]

As someone who never expected to see much more than the engine shed and a couple of sidings (let alone a representation of a working colliery!) in such a small space, I feel compelled to say -

 

"Well I never...."

 

The way your detailing is starting to draw everything together into one uniform scene is a lesson for the learning.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Osgood

[Ruston]

Well, I never expected much at all. All the planning just goes out of the window once I start. I envy modellers who can come up with a plan and stick to it because I just seem to make it up as I go along. As for detailing - it's not really that detailed. Impressionistic, I think...

 

I'm off work at the moment, and was yesterday too. So I spent some time making insulators.It was tedious cutting circles of plasticard, drilling them, sliding them onto plastic rod then making eyes from wire, but I think it was worth it.

The cable is elastic and is anchored to a similar pole arrangement at the shed wall (backscene). I have put hooks on the wall end of the cables so they can be taken off for future maintenance and whilst I'm still in the process of adding more scenics and buildings.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[Ruston]

It goes to show how much working for a living eats into modelling time...

 

Today's timefiller is a weigh cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

I plan to model the interior and have the door propped open to show it off.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[Arthur]

 

How did you make the window frames Dave? They look to have been cut from sheet?

[Ruston]

Hi Arthur,

 

They are resin casts. I bought them from Invertrain at a show, last year. They were originally going to be used in the loco shed but I decided that they weren't right for it so I've been cutting them up to use in the colliery buildings instead. The one across the front of the weigh cabin is full size and hasn't been cut.

[Ruston]

Weigh cabin interior. Most if it is scratched from bits and pieces - paper, plasticard, plastic rod/bar and milliput. The wagon checker and his dog, and the coal bucket are bought items. The coal is real coal.The newspaper, wagon labels, tiled floor and weighing machine face are printed on the computer printer.

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[Ruston]

The surface narrow gauge shunter has been fitted with couplers suited to the modern rolling stock. The couplers on the loco are modified from some spare parts that were originally for a WDLR Simplex. I have made them into a representation of Allen couplers. The Robert Hudson 82 cu. ft. mine car is completely scratched from plasticard, save for the wheels. The Allen couplers on this, and the other two cars (not shown) are from plasticard and brass wire. The other two cars stand under the bunker as view blockers. There will be a bogie flat wagon and maybe a man-riding car to complete the narrow gauge stock. I may also build a few old style mine tubs and have them lying around as junk.

 

Manning Wardle Jervis, of 1918, moves off with drain cocks open. This is the latest of the fleet to be sound-fitted.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[Ruston]

Today I completed the ground cover! There is now no bare baseboard to be seen. I also added some clutter around the bridge end, which consists, mostly, of sleepers and chairs. The sleepers are balsa that has been painted and the chairs are... I can't remember the manufacturer but they are sold for making hand-built track. I had to cut out the moulded keys and, for the loose ones, also cut off the screw heads and drill them out.

 

The oil drum is from Skytrex and the dragline bucket was scratchbuilt by myself for my old O-14 layout Whitaker's Tramway. It has been lying around for years so I decided to use it here.

 

The "fiddle yard" at the other side of the shed. This has been relaid and is finally all wired up. The reason for the new track layout is so that it can, eventually, be made part of the scenic railway. The plan is to have a working tippler and visitors can shunt the sidings and operate the tippler. It should also mean that wagons don't need the Great Hand From The Sky to empty them.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[sir douglas]

its this kind of coupling isnt it

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/littletoncollieryplace/hFA4A9E9#h9b414db

 

i didnt know its called an allen coupling i thought it was just a variant of the chopper, thanks for the info

[Ruston]

its this kind of coupling isnt it

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/littletoncollieryplace/hFA4A9E9#h9b414db

 

i didnt know its called an allen coupling i thought it was just a variant of the chopper, thanks for the info

Yes, that's an Allen coupler. My information comes from the 1957 Robert Hudson Light Railway Materials catalogue.

[Ruston]

The miners' paddy train.

 

 

In NCB years the paddy train was reduced to a single pre-WW1 coach and brake van. No one is quite sure where the coach originated but the vacuum brake and gas lighting had been decomissioned before it passed to the NCB from the previous colliery owners.

 

The coach is a Slaters GWR composite. I picked it up, second hand, as an unbuilt kit at Kettering. The only bargain I've ever had from the GOG! I haven't finished it as a GWR coach because I fancied having something in varnished wood. You may also notice that I've been planting a few wild flowers and long grass.

The coach isn't bent - it's the camera lens that makes it look that way!

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ruston

[Dava]

Exquisite, the rural fringe effect of a small country coal mine works very well.

 

Dava

[Ruston]

Thanks, Dava.

 

This evening's project is to make something to fill the gap at the end of the layout.I thought about having some tall trees behind the loco shed and crusher house. I may still have some low-relief trees but a large part of the space will now be filled with another structure. It will be open with just a roof and will be on a framework attached to the side of the crusher house and over the workshop that is alongside the loco shed.

 

If we imagine the adit to be off somewhere behind the collection of buildings, there would be a slope, constructed of steel girders, that rises up to the level of the crusher house where the mine cars would be run through a tippler to be emptied. A chain creeper would haul the mine cars up the slope and another would lower them down another track after being emptied.

 

At first I thought about buying a second hand OO gauge point as the end of a run round loop as this is an easy option but this would have meant extending the gantry over the loco shed and that didn't seem at all plausible. So I decided to put in a Peake Patent Turntable.

 

This device, invented by Cecil Vowe Peak and patented by the National Coal Board in the early 1950s, was designed to turn mine cars and tubs around in a short space and was used in exactly the situation I am wanting to fill. The table did not have rails and was powered by an electric motor and turned constantly. Wagons pushed onto it, or fed onto it by a creeper, would be taken round and re-engage with the rails at the other end where they would be manhandled or picked up by another chain creeper. Hudsons could also provide tables with an pneumatic arm that acted like a switch rail and could direct cars onto one of two tracks. I have made the simple one way off version.

 

Table under construction.

 

Table with rails in place and tippler under construction.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Ruston

[Ruston]

Slowly, everything is coming together.

 

Nothing drastic has happened but the conveyor between the crusher and the feed bunker is done (except it may yet get a cover), the rollers and belt are in place, as is a walkway and handrail.

 

There is an access door from the crusher house to the conveyor and the crusher house now has some heavy duty cabling around the outside and gutters (made from umbrella spokes with Giles' brackets. The cable hangers are also by Giles. The mine car tippler and Peake Patent Turntable is in place next to the crusher house.

 

The workshop/store alongside the engine shed now has a door handle and a light above the door. On the side of that building is a bell for the shed telephone and on the shed itself is a junction box for electrical cabling.

 

The feed bunker has been repainted and weathered again as I didn't like the blue colour I had originall used.

 

All the buildings have been given a light blow-over of dirt, using the airbrush.

 

Things yet to do on this collection of buildings include downpipes from the gutters, cabling into the engine shed, more filth on the concrete in front of the engine shed and probably a few other things that I haven't even thought of yet.

 

Edited July 25, 2017 by Ruston

[Giles]

You do make exquisite layouts, Dave....... And this one is no exception!

[Ruston]

Thanks, Giles.

 

Today I have been doing the tedious job of sawing and milling more brass H-section for the screens building. So far I've used about 8 metres of the stuff and now the frame is becoming too large for the soldering plate. It's tricky trying to keep everything square and as it grows more deviation is creeping in. Some parts will have to be fixed with Araldite as some of the wall panels (that will be brick embossed plasticard, backed with card) need to be slotted in the columns before cross pieces are fitted above them.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Ruston

[Andrew Young]

Been a couple of weeks since my last visit to Royd Hall and in not sure where to start. The delightful scenic work, the exquisite finish on the coach, the attention to detail with the Peake Patent Turntable or the realism of the Ruston outside the shed.

 

Lovely work.

Andrew

Edited July 24, 2016 by Andrew Young