The Bigbee Line

Good evening Thanks for the suggestions. Quite spookily when I was sorting out some stuff today I came across one that had already had the wire inserted into the switch. Just what I need for my Brighton Works layout. It's even got the simple loop to take care of any difference in throw... Just need to get it into position..

How long would an 1887 type wagon have lasted? I ask because I think I have one from an ebay job lot.. It needs some TLC

I loaded the crate into the wagon. I'm not sure if it's too big? Not high enough? It might look different when the wagon has been painted and weathered... I fixed the body to a stick to hold it whilst painting... The colour is not solid, but that's not a bad thing. It gives some variance for the weathering. I will apply the numbers next, then start with the weathering. As I have numerous tins of paint I recorded the colour used on it's 'record card', the sheet is a bit of fun, but at the same time a record of the work history etc.

The packing gang must have been on 'Job and Knock' this morning. The crate looks to be ready for loading.. I can't see any nail heads... Not sure what to do about that ones as I couldn't see them in my reference picture... plus this is a looking too close, I'll be at least 2 feet away....

I'm on a mission to finish the Shock Open. The definition of finished is to get it painted, some numbers added etc. It will need to have couplings fitted for shunting. It also needs a load.. Whatever the load is, has now been crated up. It is built around a block of wood. The glue needs to dry overnight, then the body will get a light sand and finishing off... I'm not sure what to do about stencils..

Gordon Ramsay, first class chef, second class personality.

I've been busy with the safety loops. I was planning to solder these to a piece of scrap brass, but ended up using a piece of fibre glass PC board. The loops are made from handy paper clips. They might be a little on the big side but quite bullet proof... They are straightened and soldered to the board. Using some wooden clothes pegs to hold the parts and a big 'f*ck *ff' 100 watt iron I felt like a proper O gauge modeller... Here when bent into shape, Trying for size on the wagon.... The wooden block has been trimmed down as the 'crate' will need to sit over the top... A couple of detail shots, first one from the end... The last shows the loop hiding away, The cross shaft and levers are to be added. I do like the look of the door bangers....

In the 80s when I was at Dover. We had 20 empty “Frigos”. They wanted 10 particular ones shunted out for seed potatoe traffic from Scotland, these were the ones that weren’t vac fitted. They were lighter, so could take a bit more load. As they were required for M94, they got the first 10....

Did a bit of soldering tonight, got the short shafts on a few levers and bent up and soldered as brake slide. I really like the improvement of the etched levers. Don't want to sound unappreciative but the levers can be cut from sheet and bent up. Most plastic levers are pretty flat. Real levers are anything but...

Ian I have no trouble with up and down, all my missing stuff ends up on the floor...... Ernie

The 'door bangers' on the shock open stick out quite a distance from the solebar, so I thought they need to be quite robust. Looking through the material available, I was planning to use some Ambis levers and the spare fret had a suitable section. This was tidied up with a file, then the strip was bent around the shank of a small drill. The in true Blue Peter fashion I made use of a toilet roll tube (We keep ours for use as compostable seed pots) that was handy in the workshop. Flattened and folded the 4 thicknesses of card was just right to stop the bend being crushed in the vice. The piece ready in the vice. A razor saw made short work of cutting the strip into 2 pieces The pre-bending allowed the end to be tweaked to give the correct shape to the end The other end of each piece was bent to fit in place on the underframe and the the end is trapped by cementing pieces of scrap styrene around the end. Here is the under frame upside down. The brakeshaft is made of evergreen tube. I'm thinking of soldering a fine pin into the brake lever, the pin can slide into the hollow shaft. The assembly being retained by the paint, everything being able removable at overhaul if required. This is the bent lever sitting on the drawing that has proved very useful....

We had a Chargeman at Dover who had the epithet of 'Jewson', he worked to the same principles, he would scour wagons for any loose dunnage etc. Some was still nailed to the wagon decks, that was soon removed....

At school I think I spent too much time looking out of the window and watching the trains go by.... My question relates to two specifics. I’m building an open wagon from evergreen type sheet. (Groans from the experts no doubt, and well deserved). That has a tendency to bow inwards. I’m thinking of doing a half height inner skin from a fererro Roche type box, where the sheet is rigid. Could I use this rigid plastic to make an inner shell, then later evergreen over the top. Comments / constructive critism appreciated.

THINKING ABOUT THE LOAD As the SHOCK OPEN nears completion I need to think more about the load. Looking through books for inspiration I turned to one of the Larkin 'Working Wagons' books. One picture shows 218741452260 (SNCF Railway Owned Steel Low Sided Open) passing Nunhead in 1974. It is loaded with 4 large crated items. I think the wood is used as a 'one journey' protection rather than a crate as the construction doesn't seem durable in the long term for use. There looks to be one diagonal per end. Might try some coffee stirrers...

With the work on the Shock Open progressing I have started to catch up with the brake work on the LNER Fruit Van, Both are Clasp brakes LNER style. The van has rigid axles, home made solebars with Slaters (I think) guard irons. After the success of mounting the brake hangers directly to the floor on the open, I have started adding the outer blocks on the van... You will note the green arrows to ensure the brake assembly is fitted the correct way round... I used a green paint pen, so now I know which is my left hand... The axles are kept from having sideways slop by some thick spacers that are slipped over the brass bearings. These will be cemented in place when the axle boxes have been made... There is just an axle box to be fabbed up and cemented to each axle guard. This is the axle box I'm going to make...

I'm adding all the bits of the brakework. Some Parkside beams were added and after positioning at the correct angle, cemented in place. As they looked a bit on the flimsy side I've added some additional material to the beams, hopefully they will 'reduce in size' when it's all painted in gungy brown... The main brake shaft was fabricated using a piece of brass wire, Parkside parts and a piece of evergreen tube. The brake shaft will be sprung into place last, between the vee hangers. I'll bend some brass levers, with some brass strip formed into the guides, soldering the two pieces with a pin through the two pieces to allow mounting to the solebar. When the cement has all set up I need to do some fettling with files and fine sand paper, just a little easing to shape the brake blocks etc.....

I try and do a bit on the board everyday, gets me out of the house and on my feet, no sitting about in the workshop.... too cold at this time of year... The board when built for Tenterden Sidings used some handy strips of ply, forming an L section with a strip of timber at the front to keep that edge from wavy about. Now with its re-use I needed to match it up to a cassette board, PLUS make it suitable for hanging on 2 shelf brackets in the office upstairs. So the job tonight was to attach 2 timbers that sit at the same lower level as the end joining board and also line up with the slotted shelf brackets.... Not much going on upstairs as I am screwing down through the surface to secure the framing below. My experience operating the excellent Dock Green at Peterborough has been quite inspirational. I have a 4 foot Cassette board that will have a visible section on the front track, anyway that's the plan....

ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME, how true.... I fell for this one, cemented the brake cylinder in place, started fixing the V hangers and I had an Oh Sh*t moment, something wasn't right..... I checked various pictures, still confusion, then the penny dropped.... The views in the Tatlow book are from the side and from above, in my stupid head I thought I was looking from below, my excuse is that's the way I normally see wagons..... Here with re-located vacuum cylinder..... One of the Vee's has lost a leg, I've got it and will cement in place later... A bonus was the realisation that the drawing in the book was 7mm...... I think I get 'duffer of the week' award....

You tell them Andy....

BRAKE SET UP Once I had located the errant set of brake blocks I could proceed with the brake set up. I'm in a slight quandary as the brakework needs to be reasonably robust, but at the same time allow the wheelsets to be removed if required without destroying the rigging... I started to construct the Vee hangers using some Parkside parts that I will not use for their designed purpose... The Slaters Chassis comes with RCH style 4 block pusher brakes, this version has the LNER style 8 block clasp arrangement. The cranks and connecting rod were from my 'general brakework' box... Once these have set I will add the other leg of each Vee Hanger. In the pictures below I have placed some Parkside Brake Beams between the Blocks. I think they will be trimmed as in the 'red parts' in the diagram below. The green parts are the Safety Loops, these 'catch' any brakework that becomes disengaged. I think these can be made to fit last. The two loops for each axle made from one piece of bent wire, hopefully they can be sandwiched between 2 pieces of styrene and then secured using the screws that hold the chassis through the body to the wooden block. Using my trusty Tatlow book I see that the brake cylinder is offset by 6". Slid between the chassis and the underside of the body is a piece of backing paper (non stick) from paper labels, this will stop any stray glue sticking it all together... Once I have worked out the correct 'jaunty angle' for the cylinder..

While tidying up ( a continuous process) I came across the missing brake blocks.. The buffer shanks have now been fitted. The chassis and body are screwed to a wooden block to ensure squareness.... One end stanchion has been shaped, need to do the other. I have a list of things to do tonight, will see how that goes.... I need to think about a load, probably a crate of equipment destined for the Navy..........

Here's one I made earlier... I had noted on some 1950's brick paper there was shadow added to try and give a 3D effect. I was planning to try a small section to shade the mortar, also to randomise the bricks. To give a guide I enlarged a section of wall to roughly the same scale... Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but on flickr, Ian D Nolan has an excellent picture of the goods shed at Hove https://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/17286453866/in/album-72157645849661774/ that is my colour inspiration, the view of the other wall did not get the sun, so looks completely different... https://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/7852175654/in/album-72157645849661774/

Quite clever, almost, but not quite.. The link to click was the giveaway, gives you a bad feeling though..

I've just received this email, any ideas? Is it spam?

The Shock open has been making progress. I had something lines up for the dimples, but forgot what it was.... So a search of the odds and ends box offered a piece of round sprue, a few slices were cut off and cemented in place. A run of cement was placed round each dimple to smooth it off. A piece of wood is ready to be used as the weight for the wagon, plus it will keep it all square. I have a cunning plan to square them all to the same thickness....