The Bigbee Line

It's office work today.... Had a stress break looking at the demon duo again. The smokebox handrail on the Yellow engine looked quite chunky. Here are a couple of shots with a piece of the other handrail alongside. On the BR Black loco it looks better, the silver shows it up. Nothing that a replacement with a couple of handrail knobs won't sort out. You can also see the neat chimney joint on this one. I also mentioned the fore and aft adjustment of the smokebox on 32635. I looked and noticed a small cut out for the splasher in the side of the saddle..... I'll have to ensure the boiler section is adjusted to fit that. The original construction assembly appears to use a contact adhesive. Has anyone any suggestions for something similar to re-assemble the bits.. The next job was to try and fit the brake gear from the Black loco onto 32635. The gear comes off with minimum trouble, However the fixing holes are different between the metal and wooden brake shoed versions. The mouldings for the side frames are different. The below footplate sandboxes on the A1X fit on little mouldings. Removable with little trouble, for fitting to 32635. No point in swapping the frames as Ds680 had metal blocks as well Here is the neat sandbox. The wire is quite stout, looks a good base for some detail of the steam sander mechanism

Managed to get a few minutes working on the demon duo. The footplate castings are quite different. For some reason the A class has a couple of moulded alloy sections that the smokebox slides onto. These had to go... This is the before shot with the smokebox and splashers removed. About 15 minutes work with a cutting disk removed enough metal to allow the plain splashers and the smokebox saddle to fit. The various parts in position. The yellow boiler section is different to the black section. The fit of the yellow boiler into the extended smokebox is fine, The smokebox saddle is positioned where it falls naturally. I'm not thinking of making any fore / aft adjustment. There is one small section of footplate in front of the splashers that will need some filling. The BR footplate has mortices for the smokebox tenons to sit in. At some point the sandbox fillers behind the buffers will have to go. Fitting the A smokebox to Ds680 was easier, just needed to cut the plastic tenons off the bottom of the smokebox. The splashers fit in one position only, so they position the smokebox. The black boiler section doesn't locate positively in the A smokebox. it will need a locating ring assembly created in the boiler section, to fit and locate in the smokebox.

Matt, Thanks for the correction. I've edited to post accordingly. I will scratch built the rails for Ds680. I had thought they might have been a SECR mod, but a picture of 680S and 515S in Southern days no coal rails on either.....

Check out "Gricermans" picture https://flic.kr/p/de5MdH

The Dapol coal rails from 32655 and seem to match those on 32635. The section below the bottom rail needs a little taking off as it sits a smidge high. Ds680 has unique coal rails. I've not checked the pictures but suspect they are SECR built. On Flickr there is a good rear view of the bunker showing the rails on Ds680. Thanks for noticing.

The postman has just delivered a copy of Portrait of the Terriers by Handel Kardas. Lots of interesting pictures. One picture in particular is of Boxhill, quoted as September 1960 in Eastleigh Diesel Shop. getting the 'star treatment' in preparation for exhibition in the new Transport Museum at Clapham. IT'S GOT NO PAINT......... I was banking on the current paintwork dating back to the 1948 repaint......

The Dapol O Gauge terrier has been a gift from the gods. The loco that I thought would never arrive. My intention is to swap parts between loco's to produce two works shunters: 32635 the Brighton Locomotive Works shunter and Ds680 One of the Lancing Carriage Works shunters. Images below from Flickr, thanks to Ian D Nolan First 32635 at Steyning https://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/9923634416/in/photolist-g6V2dZ-g6UxB7-g7VdM7-g7Vp1b-g6Uoh7-g6UXmk-g7VT3c-gXwzLR-gXvJ59-3Jz7Uq-gasMjh-gzEiK8-gzDNu7-hxdHyC ​ Ds680 at Lancing https://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/9897860773/in/photolist-g5D5pQ-g5D8aX-gXwzLR-gXvJ59-nk97jV-nBppms-nDpZC2-azQXpY-gzETFp-gzEVXt-gzF27X-gzEpho-gzEFpy-bHZ3d8 ​ The easiest part so far was to swap the coal rails from 32655 onto Brighton (will become 32635). Ds680 will get scratch built rails. The next thing is to fit the A smoke box and splashers to Ds680. The alloy footplate of 'Brighton' has some parts of the casting that are different, necessitating a bit of filing etc. Also the section of boiler between the tank fronts and the rear of the smokebox is slightly different in length between the 2 locos, so some fiddling will be required there. Here is the first dry run 180329-1921

32655 arrived today. No damage... Took a couple of pictures before the 'demolition derby' commenced: A 3/4 view from the rear. Looks good to me. As per the prototype there is no Westinghouse Pump. Close up of bunker and coal rails. This shows the smokebox and join in the chimney Cruel close up of the chimney join. Another shot of the same join. The flared part of the chimney has a rounded top, and the bottom of the chimney itself looks to be very slightly on the large side. Options are: 1) Ignore it 2) Fill and paint the join. 3) Flatten the top of the flare, loosing a smidgen in height. 4) Flatten the top of the flare and reduce the diameter of the chimney, if it is too big. Rather than clog this thread I will start another on the cut and shut to make the Works shunters

The problem with the clear plastic is that appears to be unable to cope with shock loads during transit. My Brighton had started to go through the clear plastic in one corner. I thought about filling the back of the packing with foam or some type of filler. But the plastic is too unforgiving and can push fittings off when being put round the loco. I also thought about using it as a mould to produce a shaped piece to hold the model. But couldn't think what to use? Also thought about lining it with thin felt.

Just tried the loco in a wagon box. A bit snug in length. But I think the loco will live in a wagon box and the loco box will hold wagons. Job done. Thanks for the tip.

I'm thinking about making a new "inner" for mine. Does someone cut foam to order? The other option is to make the inner from foam sheet. Does someone sell suitable foam?

The Bigbee Line, on 06 Nov 2015 - 18:59, said: Good idea! BTW did you get around to taking a lot of photos on the Bluebell visit? ATVB CME Took a few pictures https://www.flickr.com/photos/55938574@N03/albums/72157660985737241 ​

Did think of making them, but for the price decided on a couple of Roxey Mouldings Westinghouse Pumps, just ordered....

Has anyone received a BR early crest yet? Does it have a Westinghouse pump???

Yes. A hole. I've got them to fill in my 32635.

Are we all that tight? Manufacturers need to cover costs etc. If I want a model, I take it on the chin and pre-order. If later there are bargains, I might get another. If I've over stocked I should get my investment back on eBay. The E4 was a good choice. A good mixed traffic loco. Just need to get mine out of the box......

Linda and I have booked for a january trip from Manchester to Carlisle. Maybe I'm the evergreen optomist, but you have to have a little faith. I might open a thread for all those that want to scorn things...............

Hmmm. I've just bitten the bullet and invested in a copy of 'Stroudly and His Terriers' via Amazon..... It's amazing what you can see on loco's when you look. Here is the detail behind the buffer and the front sandbox filler. The extra bits behind the buffer can be fabbed up from plasticard and glued on.

Bodiam, if an A1 should convert to Rolvenden with little trouble. Rolvenden had it's tool box behind the bunker when on the scrap line.

Good afternoon, I have been looking at pictures of various terriers and a couple of real ones at Sheffield park at the weekend. The variations are a bit of a nightmare. I was thinking of a simple chart on the first post of a new thread. Additional posts of information would be used to update the chart on the first page and a second page would be a photo index.

I've been looking at images of 32635 with a view to see how to finish my model. I know assumption is a real trap for the unwary, now how about this logic: When Boxhill was restored it was the works shunter at Brighton. 377S received the same paint scheme, so my logic will be to copy the arrangment of colours used on Boxhill, ableit it will be very heavily weathered, more on the 32635 side than the 377S side... So its tank tops black and balance weight between spokes into green. Any other suggested changes appreciated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1rW1FUi0no

Nice. What was used to blot out the gold medals?

Sorry, I didn't ask about Bodiam. Is it being produced as an A or A1X?

The footplate seems to be an alloy casting. The LBSC A has wing plates to the smokebox front with separate splashers. Very clever. I'm looking forward to my black AiX to arrive so I can fit the plain splashers and extended smokebox. Hopefully the coal rails on the bunker can be swapped onto the yellow version. If I'm lucky I'll only have to paint the splasher sides and repaint the tank sides to create 32635 "Brighton Works". Spoke to Tower Models this morning that advised the latest shipment were being sent by air freight today. Wow.

Time to make a start. As I prepared to turn Brighton into 'Brighton Works', I pondered the first step. With some trepidation I took the model from its box. A quick wiggle and the buffers were off, undo the 4 screws underneath and another wiggle to detatch the speaker from the tank side, then extract the 'firebox glow'. Pieces then flew off at a rate of knots. Another couple of screws under the tanks were removed. The 'tenons' for fixing the smokebox to the footplate were pushed out from below. Here in its state of undress: I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a black A1X to start swapping parts over. The condenser pipes will be fitted to 2644. It was a shame to remove the LBSC number plates as they are exquisite. I need a set of brake hangers with iron blocks, anyone want to do a swap?