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Brettell Road

Its all gone a bit Eastern Region

Over the last week or so Ive embarked on another test build for Brassmasters. This time a J17 kit thats been designed by David Barham. Its not really any use for Brettell Road but it would fit North Elmham (which I have been know to help out with).

The basic chassis build with a High level Loadhauler gearbox.  The loco and tender use CSBs throughout. The kit will be supplied with both printed and etched brake shoes.

The tender subframe – Again with options on the brake shoes.

Chassis and footplate.

Tender with its outer frame.

The cab

Pretty much everything above the footplate and forward of the cab is catered for by a 3D print.  Here I’ve made a start on the basic detailing

The tender body, like the loco, is a 3D print.

The detailed up chassis

The finished loco – More pictures below.  This has been a pleasure to put together.

 


shuffling and testing.

A bit of re-jigging of the shed means I have been able to put all of the scenic boards for Brettell Road up together.  Its 5 months since the Cradley show – Time flies doesn’t it?

Theres a few things to fix after the show.  A couple of the points needed a check over as they weren’t totally reliable. I also found 2 dead sections that hadn’t shown up during the show so I fixed those too.  The lights on the upper floor of this building failed before the show but after the building had been planted onto the layout. It was too close to the show to fix it before so this is something to look at now I have time.  I also want to add a few yard lights and sort out the telegraph poles on the layout because as they stand now they don’t make a huge amount of sense.

The other thing to fix was the route setting on the main lines. Signalling purists are advised to look away now!  Before the track and signals were all operated separately via the throttles with only the yard set up as a route. (My Digitrax system allows me to program routes into it.) So thats been changed for operator convenience so that throwing a signal sets the route as well. I know the route should be set then the signal pulled rather than this way round. You can set the signals to danger on their own but in case you forget the routes will set all the other signals to danger for you anyway. I hoping this will be pretty simple to use.

Since the show I have a small stockpile of new rolling stock to be tested.  The rule is all stock must go everywhere without falling off, even though in this image only the middle road of wagons will go into the yard at shows.  Of this little lot only 4 wagons were rejected and returned to ‘works’ for some fettling. These 4 have now been passed too.

Below, just some more traditional layout style pictures.

 


Clay and sheets

One working that passed through the real Brettell Lane and kind of fascinated me was the St Blazey to Etruria china clay working. This service ran for years and was somewhat erratic in the paths it took. Usually going via Worcester, Stourbrige then Dudley before heading off to Bescot. Or it could go right at Stourbridge via Old Hill and (I think) Soho Junction. These routes avoided the Lickey but I’ve seen pictures of it going that way too in later years. When I was at University in Stoke it would often turn up at lunch time behind a pair of class 37s although it did switch to a class 60 in the time I was there.
So to have a clay train on Brettell road makes sense as a through service. I like the classic diagram 1/051 clay opens with their sort of cute, baby open wagon look about them. A little bit of rewriting of history is needed though as they tended to stay in Cornwall and not venture out to the Midlands. Brettell Road is set before the introduction of the clayliner service so my justification is that BR was trialing things out to see how they would work and thats good enough for me.

Ratio make a nice little kit for these and I was fortunate to find someone selling a box of 7 on Ebay for what basically worked out as a fiver each. The bodies go together well with a little bit of modification to make the ends fit. The kit features a somewhat crude attempt at a roller bearing and the brake levers are quite poor. It also includes cast buffers that aren’t all that great. So the bearings were replaced with MJT ones although my research showed oil axleboxes to be more common anyway. Brake levers are from the Mainly Trains etch, door bangers from Rumney models and buffers from Lanarkshire models. I did one as a test then built the other 6 as a batch.

Before I move onto the sheets a bit about the weathering.  I followed my usual approach of a wash of dark grime followed by a spray of AK interactive dark mud. This was then all sealed with Klear before AK interactive white ink was used (in various levels of dilution) to give an overall effect of clay staining. You don’t want a fully weathered wagon at this stage, try to think of it as you are aiming for about half the effect you ultimately want.

Previously when I have done wagon sheets I make the sheet up with the ropes attached to it and then attach it to the wagon. This is a bit of a faff and sometimes the glue holding the rope to the sheet can give an odd effect so I approached this a bit differently.  Roping of wagon sheets is a whole topic on its own and I will leave that too someone who has properly studied the subject but I just looked at pictures and coped what I saw. So the first stage is to attach the ropes (cotton) to the wagon – Tying it on at the visible ends and gluing to the wagon top with Loctite

This was then tided up by first sealing the knots with Zap Pink superglue.  Theres no huge reason to trim the ropes inside the wagon but it pays to just keep things neat so they don’t get in the way later.

As mentioned before the sheet is made from black latex gloves (actually nitrile) and mine are a brand called Supertouch.  They are a bit awkward to cut as the material tends to snag on the scalpel blade even if the blade is brand new.  A method I found to work best is to stretch the glove over a bit of cardboard, make a template and to cut it using the handle end of the blade not the pointy end, pushing the scalpel away from you to cut. I don’t know why this makes a difference but it does!   As i’ve mentioned in the past the material is black on the outside and a dark grey on the inside.  I use the black side as its depicting wet conditions but the grey is good for a nice sunny day layout.

The sheet is then positioned in place, not forgetting to add weight inside the wagon and bulking it up with a bit of tissue first before gluing to the wagon tops in 6 places, about where the ropes are. Use Loctite and start in the middle (it sets very quickly) and remember to pull it taught as you glue the outer sides.  This is one of those things were you probably need a bit of variation but you don’t want to force it. I find if I try to be as neat as I can, I’m not all that neat really and I get the variation by default.

Next stage is to glue the sides of the sheet to the ropes, again with loctite and again puling the sheet taught.  I found holding it in place for 10 seconds was all you need. It pays to glue the sheet the side of the wagon at the ends at this stage

On to the ends. Another drop of super glue on the top and the sheet can be glued in place. The corners can be folded and secured in place and the last set of ropes glued into the sheet itself.

The last ropes tied into place and tidied up.

The final weathering, back to the white ink (sprayed this time) with some additional grease stains on the underframe.

To break up the rake a bit I added a few 10ft wheelbase opens too.  These are actually way more typical of the actual wagons used in the clayliners.  The ex LMS Diagram 2150 I’ve featured before a few posts ago.


Likewise the ex LNE diagram 210 (although not this specific model)


A new wagon type for me is the ex LNE diagram 185. This was constructed from the body of the Cambrian kit C81 for the LNER 12ton 6 plank Open Wagon, With a Parkside 10ft underframe. Theres a few tweaks needed to the body as can be seen and theres an additional top support across the top of the door which is worth adding assuming you aren’t going to cover it over with a sheet that is!

Just need an enterprising transfer manufacturer to produce some sheet markings now.


More shockingly mundane stuff

As a follow on to the last post – more every-day wagons have rolled off the workbench.  This time it’s a quartet of shock wagons.


Starting with the basics – Diagram 1/040 shock open from the Parkside kit.  Built pretty much as supplied with the addition of a Rumney Models tarpaulin bar and a sheet from my now standard black latex glove.


Next ex LMS diagram 1983 from the same kit as above with the additional top lip on the ends and buffers from Lanarkshire models.  You cant see it in the pic but I replaced the floor with scribed lead sheet.


A smidge more involved is this Diagram 1/038 shock open from the parkside kit for the standard (not shock) wagon.  I shortened the sides by cutting sections out next to the middle section and mounted them on a new floor as the prototype wagons had a visible lip around the bottom.


Finally a diagram 1/219 shock palvan.  A bit more involved again as I could use spare ends and a roof from Parkside standard 12t vans but the sides needed to be made from scratch.  The chassis is the Red Panda kit.


Just some mundane stuff.

Just one of those every day, run of the mill style posts this time but with a few little tweaks to appease the wagon buffs.

Starting with the Parkside kit for the LNER 21t riveted coal hopper.  Built pretty much as instructed but I did change the side stanchion plates for 10 thou plasticard as the ones in the kit were a bit chunky.

The spare brakes that came with the above kit were used to correct the brakes on my prototype 24.5t hopper I’ve  featured before.

The humble D2150 13t open from the Parkside kit. The only real visual difference between these and the BR build is the small lip on the ends. A bit of 10×20 thou mictrostrip sorted that.

Ex LNER Diagram 210 adapted from the parkside kit for the Dia 1/120 wagon. The side stanchion were slightly reshaped as were the buffer beams while the chassis was replaced with spares from my scrap box.

Another bog standard affair, the D2039 ex LMS 12t van. This one was built from the Ratio kit with the addiction of the Rumney Models LMS van detailing etch (B105). It features the 3 part end for a super subtle bit of variety.

Finally something a little more involved. Before and after of the sides for a D2103 12t van using the parkside fruit van as a start point. The ends were scratchbuilt.


The good old Mainline LMS BG

The subject this time is this…

… the good old Mainline LMS BG.  A great model for its time but not without room for a little bit of TLC.   There is an error here that once you see it you cant un-see and that is that the underframe is too wide by 2mm.  Ive talked in the past about looking at dimensional errors as a percentage.  2mm off over the width of a coach is a much larger percentage than 2mm over its length but theres an additional factor in play here and that is relationships.  If the whole model was 2mm to wide you might (but probably wouldn’t) get away with it but when only part of it is, it just looks weird. Let’s be realistic here we are talking about 1mm per side but that 1mm means the edges of the solebar framing sticks out from the bottom of the body rather than tucking under it.  Also the footsteps don’t line up properly but thats a minor thing.

So the options then.  You could just replace the underframe with a Comet one but at the time they were out of stock and the trussing is a flat etch so no real improvement over the one already there.   Or you could slice 2mm out of the centre of the floor and glue it back together.  The issue with this is I don’t think the trussing itself is over width.  To me the simplest solution was to make a new floor from plasticard (29.5mm x 196mm) and transplant the trussing from the mainline model.  The new solebars are 4mm channel from evergreen.

So heres the model  had already done on its new underframe.  The bogies are Brassmasters with the original sideframes attached.  Buffers have been replaced with more accurate ones from Lanarkshire models.

As is usually the way for me I got a little carried away.  Why build one new floor when you can build several?  Theres a few subtle differences here such as the roof vents and footsteps.

As with any grouping of things there tends to be one member thats a little bit weirder than the others and this is it.  The diagram 1715 version.  OK it looks kind of the same but the qay it was build was quite different and actually much more like the much later BR Mk2 in that the body was where all the strength is and it didn’t need a traditional underframe.  The solebars themselves are also different in that the outer face is solid. Other variations are the positioning of the roof vents, bodyside beading (which comes in a whole load of variations on these coaches anyway), the extra rain strips and the full length footboards

This is the more normal side. Note the dynamo is at the opposite end to the more standard versions.

The other side is decidedly more odd with basically next to nothing there. It almost looks like the model hasn’t been finished. Note also the steps on the bogie.

Just a quick note to thank Mark Tatlow and Graham Speechley for their help locating images of the diagram 1715 version.


Back to business as usual

So back to business as usual then.

This is an ex LMS 12 ton traction truck which has recently been released by 247 Developments. The kit is a 3d print which is supplied as a body with solebars, W irons, brake gear and white metal buffers. The body was a little bit distorted (kinda like a spoon shape) but popping it in very hot water and weighting it while it cooled seemed to take most of the distortion out. The back of the frames needed thinning for p4 wheels to fit (I believe the kit has been changed to rectify this now).  I replaced the sides with microstrip as they were a little uneven and added the safety loops and tie down shackles that were missing from the print. The supplied buffers were a little odd so these are Accurascale ones.   Just need to do a load for it now.

On Brettell Road I have mostly used cast white metal vacuum pipes.  Generally these have been fine but I have had some of the bufferbeam mounted ones break as they are slightly vulnerable. David Roome has now produced some 3d printed ones that are rubbery and a lot less susceptible to knocks.  Im not replacing them on all of my wagons just as and when a white metal one gets broken.

Links

247 Developments

David Roome Facebook

David Roome website


Cradley Show – Epilogue

My friend Tim has put together a short video of the layout from Saturday. It was late ish in the day and being in front of a window the layout was back lit so didn’t really get the full effect I was after. (Note to exhibitions managers – I actually want the dark bit of the hall no one else does!!)  However it does show up the wet effects quite nicely.  I need to be a little more fastidious with the dusting in the future.


Cradley Show 2023

Yesterday Brettell Road made its return to the exhibition scene in its extended form.  The show went very well I thought and we all enjoyed ourselves. Theres a snagging list for me to work through, of course, but nothing major.  The layout seemed very well received and we were honoured to be awarded the Frank Collins Award for best layout in show as voted for by the Cradley Heath MRC committee.  Somewhat poignant for me as Frank had assisted me with info for the model of the Round Oak admin building before he passed away.  I like to think he would have approved of my efforts.  The kids seemed to enjoy themselves looking for the cats on the layout and and the strategically hidden lego Batman that the club provided.

Quick thanks to my operating team and the members of the CHMRC for their efforts.

(Pic ©Tim Horn)


Finishing touches

With a little over a month to go before Brettell Road is back on the road*, I’ve been finishing a few things off.

The last backscene is now in place so the road in the middle of the layout now gives the impression it goes somewhere.  The Leyland Steer seems to have lost its licence plate somewhere.

The little back yard on board 2 is done – I wanted a used but not particularly looked after feel.

I realised I’ve not actually taken any images of this building in its finished state before now.

Princess Margaret heads back to the Wallows for the evening.

GWR railcar catches the last of the sun as it heads off to Dudley.

* The show is a local one on the 7th October. Click here for more info.


Back scenes done (well most of them anyway)

 

My Back scenes have been printed onto self adhesive vinyl and most of them mounted to the boards.  Just the last one still to do.  I used a local company who kindly did a couple of test prints so i could tweak the colours.  Anyone local to Stourbridge area who are after something similar I can highly recommend them – SAC Graphics

Below is how it looks in something close to the intended light.

Haven’t done a bit of photoshopery for a while but i found a pic of a Deeley tank in a cloud of steam and thought I’d emulate it


simply back

Today, 21st June 2023 marks a small but significant date in the life of Brettell Road, in that it’s exactly 2 years since Tim and I first cut wood for the 2 new baseboards.  I think it fair to say that a reasonable amount of modelling water has flowed under that particular bridge since that day and I’m now drawing in to the layouts final destination somewhat.

Drawing being the word as the big thing thats always been missing from any pictures of the new boards is the backscene.  Long time readers may recall that this is an area of the layout that I have revisited on more than one occasion and, with every intention of this being the last time, I find myself deciding to get this particular subject closed off once and for all.

The method

The method I use is like modelling but in a 2 dimensional world rather than 3.  Starting with drawing up the basic structure in much the same way as I do the modelled buildings.

 

Above is the basic drawing of a typical industrial shed.  Think of it like a kit of parts.  This is done in Adobe Illustrator and the rather bright colours are simply so that they are easily selectable at the next stage.

 

Which is to transfer the basic drawing to Photoshop where Scalescenes textures are overlaid and the bits ‘assembled’ into something resembling a basic 3d building.  You will note theres no shading and no perspective yet. A different building showing some shading and some perspective.  The image is still made up of separate parts in a folder so that I can fine tune it once applied to the finished backscene.

 

Of which this is the end board for the left of the layout. Some consideration, such as the metal fence, needs to be made for elements of the layout that will cross from the 3d world to the 2d one. The line the railway takes, under the bridge on the left is hinted at by the arrangement of the trees.

 

This is the view of the bottom of the hill on the left.  Again the wall and the building on the right of the image are intended to match up with the 3d model.

And finally the middle bit of the 2 new boards. Based on images of the real Round Oak.  Of course the point of all this is that its there but not really all that noticeable at the same time.


Revised fiddleyard

Ive mentioned before that enlarging Brettell Road would mean I need to build new fiddleyards.  The reason for this is the way the cassette system worked was to have a recess in the board which given that the layout is now 2 tracks meant the old ones couldn’t really be made to fit.  I also took the opportunity to make some improvements and the result can be seen above.

The boards are 6 inches longer and this time I’ve included a little barrier on the near side edge to stop anything falling off It never did but it was something that bothered me. View from the front.  I decided that the Round Oak industrials running on the mainline was a no-no, so now they will appear from the right of the layout behind the warehouse.  As the mainline drops away this means that i needed a different level for this bit.

With the cassettes I have also made some improvements. The originals use 9mm ply which as it was unsupported did bend somewhat.  I now have 3 sizes instead of the original 2.  A short one for locos, A medium one for units and a long one for coaches/wagons. I have made the long and loco ones reversible but I only expect to reverse some of the locos.

Pictured are the loco and unit versions. The base is 9mm MDF this time.

The little bits on the inner ends are for rudimentary buffer stops.  This stops the trains running off the end but also adds a little security when lifting the cassettes so that nothing rolls off.

The way they connect is a tweak on my original design of using a bit of flat bottom rail on its side – positioned in the web of the running rail for alignment and electrical connection. Originally these were both sides and the rails on the cassettes were angled outwards a little for a good fit.  Making the loco cassettes reversible main this wouldn’t work and so a small bit of 0.6 straight wire is soldered to the inside of the web to help with alignment.

You may be wondering what the little blocks are for in the first 2 pictures.

Taking a hint from Amlwch (a layout i used to help out with) I decided to make the storage of the cassettes integrated with the fiddleyards.  This one will store the locos and units, the other one the long cassettes.  Most of the braces slot in place meaning I can lock in place 8 unit cassettes with just 3 bolts and 16 loco cassettes with just 2.  The less time spent faffing about at an exhibition the better!

Thanks as always to Tim for allowing me to hijack his laser cutters.


Heavyweights done

Just a super short post this time. The wagons featured last time are done and can be released into the wild.

Is it just me or do metal kits always just seem a bit ‘meh’ once they are painted?


A couple of WIP heavyweights and breaking the golden rule.

When my friend Tom kindly gave me the Ks kit for the Coral glass wagon (featured earlier) he also gave me another Ks kit for the 24.5t coal hopper.  Further investigation  showed that this was a kit that was based on the prototype B333000 which was not really like the production ones in that the ends were different.  I suppose back in the day this was your only option however now you can buy 24.5t hoppers ready to run this strange little oddity might have a little value as something different from what everyone else is doing.

B333000 was one of 2 prototypes and was built at Shildon. The other B333001 was built at Ashford and it seems to heave been this latter example that influenced the production run. I believe B333000 was later used for experimentation of the automated doors used for MGR trains but photos of it are rare as hens teeth.  Simon Bendall kindly supplied the only picture I had to work from.

So, breaking a golden rule I have had to make educated guesses about some of the details of this wagon. The underframe in Simons picture is very dark and looked to have been modified in some way. It was claimed the Shildon design was basically a taller 21 ton hopper and the lack of outer discharge doors kind of backs that up. So getting hold of a parkside 21t kit to use as a guide I set to work.

The hopper had some chunky mouldings on the inside of the corners that gave quite a positive location.  But as I wanted it to be empty they had to go.  I replaced the W Irons with Bill Bedford sprung ones (from my nearly depleted stocks) and Wizard model axle boxes.  These were soldered in place as supplied and when I was happy everything was square the centre of the w irons was cut away to give an open floor. The end platforms were replaced with a bit of brass as the moulded ones sat on top of the solebars and were too thick.  The kit had no hopper doors so these were made from plasticard using a parkside 21t hopper kit as a guide.

The finished wagon (well almost finished – I haven’t added the door mechanism handles yet) is a bit of a heavyweight in that its 78 grammes.  About 50% more than my usual target of 50g.

The parkside kit built up.  This is the opposite of the Ks kit as while i added some lead overlays to the inside lower hopper its a tad light at only 38g.

Moving away from hoppers I’ve also finished of the construction phase of this…

A David Geen milk tank which I was told by the man himself when I brought it was the last one!  This uses a Rumney models chassis and has, to be honest, been a bit of  slow burner.  Its one of those kits that I just seemed to struggle to get any enthusiasm for but I’m pleased with it now it’s done. I thought the hopper was heavy but this weighs in at 88 grammes!

 

 


Back to the beginning (and then a bit more too) Part 2

My 2441 tank is now done.  Heres some images
I will need to straighten that station lamp.  It’s amazing how things are so obvious in a photo but equally so invisible to the naked eye!

Crew by Modelu which is pretty much standard these days

Lurking


Back to the beginning (and then a bit more too)

The Great British Locomotives Jinty.  The model that started this whole diversion into the late 50s era. When they first appeared (as part of a magazine series) they were so cheap that I brought a second one just so I could do a before and after picture.

Recently I dug it out but I didn’t want to just do another Jinty so my focus has been on its predecessor, the Johnson designed Midland 2441 class. Just for a little bit of clarity before we go any further both classes were referred to as Jinty’s or Jocko’s so going forward, if I mention Jinty’s I mean the later LMS Fowler 3f.

So the 2441 class.  The Midland built 60 of these which were considered as heavy goods tank engines.  They were later rebuilt by Fowler which made them look very similar indeed to a Jinty.  Initially there were 2 distinct types. with or without condensing apparatus. For those interested in these locos theres a good book on the subject, Midlands Engines No.5 by David Hunt, Bob Essery and Fred James (ISBN 1-874103-94-1)

The Model

Work required can be broken down into 2 areas.  Stuff you might want to do anyway and stuff you will need to do to depict the 2441 class. Let’s start with the stuff you might want to do anyway.

The handrails need replacing as do the lamp irons. The Chimney is a bit naff as are the safety valves and whistle.  The coal rail is too chunky and the buffers are somewhat generic. The steps would benefit from something a little more refined.

For the 2441 specific bits the smokebox needs to be shortened and its saddle is a different shape. The Dome is also a different shape (more rounded) although I believe some had the more flattened off type. The front splashers are different too. The biggie is the tank sides which are taller and drop down by the cab area to be a little lower than a Jinty.  The bunker is also lower and squarer with no overhang. The footplate is actually a little longer on these locos and the fairing at the ends is different.

So let’s start with the footplate.  The body of the model separates into 3 parts.  The footplate, tank sides and bunker. The boiler, smokebox and tank tops and the upper part of the cab. Handily everything is plastic so carving it up is easy. I believe that the Bachmann Jinty has a cast metal footplate so it might be a bit more tricky.

The tank sides and bunker are from 30thou plasticard topped with microstrip.  The coal rails come from my spares box (Brassmasters 1f etch) and the steps are from Mainly Trains.  Splashers are also from Brassmasters (1f again) and the buffers and vac pipes are from Lanarkshire models. The lamp irons are from Stenson models.  You can see at the back of the footplate where it’s been lengthened.

Not a lot to do the cab. New rear spectacle plates from Mainly trains.

The Boiler.  I cut the smokebox back and remounted the front piece (which is separate).  It seems that the condenser fitted locos had the handrail below the upper hinge like a Jinty but the others has it mounted above the hinge.  Chimney is from my spares box (Brassmasters Jinty detailing kit I think) and the safety valves and whistles are from Markits. The top of the dome had been filled and blended into a new shape.

When it comes to the tank tops, the drawings show the filler caps to be more central and they certainly would need to be on the condensing locos as theres a big pipe in the way.  However pictures of the non condensing ones show what looks like the bracket at the front of the tank indicating that they might be at the front as seen on the model.

A little bit of fiddlyness for the ejectors. The moulded one is a bit clunky and I believe depicts a combined large and small Ejector. When I did my other Jinty I used a cast detailing part for this from (I think) London Road Models. Some 2441 class locos had these.  The fiddly one depicts an earlier type and is cobbled together from 0.4mm wire with 0.6 and 0.8mm tubing.

The assembled loco (so far)  The chassis is a High level Jinty with the frames altered to be shallower. Otherwise it’s built as per the kit. I didn’t go for working inside motion as you really cant see it at all on these locos.


Steel and Glass

Let’s talk about glass. Something Stourbridge is particularly renowned for.  It is believed that there has been glass production in the area for hundreds of years with a factory opening at the lower end of what is now Brettell Lane in the 1640s and production continuing in the area ever since.

You’re going to need your imagination for this bit! Regular readers will know that Brettell Road is not an accurate model of the real Brettell lane but is inspired by it and the local area.  The above picture taken in August 2014 (that long already?) shows what was left of the goods yard at Moor Lane.  Brettell Lane is behind us. The line to Pensnett branched off on the left and the yard is petty much straight ahead of us. You can see the flood lights against the skyline. This was the view from the left hand end of the original version of Brettell Road and is now the view from the middle looking to the right. On the model the line is not an S curve but a continuous left hand bend.  Also the main line descends from this point on the layout while the real line rises as it goes away from us.

On the right, long gone now, there used to be a siding which served the Brierley Hill glassworks.  The buildings are still there and can just be seen behind the trees in the distance where the mainline disappears.

Another view from 2014 that shows the building being converted into apartments.  If you stand looking at the right hand end of the layout you would effectively be standing in this building.  The line runs behind it and you can just make out the ironwork of Moor Lane Bridge on the right of the picture above the yellow van.  This building is represented on the layout as part of the backscene.

Brierley Hill glass was more of the decorative, cut glass and crystal type than the industrial large sheets and I have a few shockvans as a nod to glass traffic but of course they could be carrying anything so only I know that. However thanks to a gift from my friend Tom i now have something a little more obvious…

I present you the ancient K’s kit for the GWR Coral glass wagon. These were built in 1908, to 2 diagrams, by Swindon to carry large plate glass in crates.  BR briefly continued with these building 6 more examples before switching to the LMS design but even then only building 42 wagons (also at Swindon).

I decided to build one of the BR types with the main differences being (as far as i can tell) the shape of the ends of the frames, the GWR ones being more curvy, and the brake levers.  The model had been started by Tom’s dad but was dunked in some cellulose thinners which dissolved the glue (but not the paint strangely) before it was reassembled using low melt solder. The kit had some nice brass buffers which were replaced with Lanarkshire models which better match the BR examples. The upper frames were cast in whitemetal and there were only 2 of them so they were replaced with brass section. A part of the original casting was soldered to the end of the underframe and reshaped to better match the BR design.  I used the slotted bearing and central pivot method of compensation as previously used on my lowmac. In service on the layout.  As mentioned its not really the sort of glass that Brierley Hill was known for but it is a nod to the industry.  Apparently some of the real wagons were transferred to the steel industry anyway so perhaps its on trial in the area for that reason instead?

Thanks go to Tom and his dad.


A couple of classics

This time we have a couple of classics from the Cambrian range

The good old catfish.  Built with the use of Stenson models hand wheels and replacement handrails.  One thing with these, as supplied, is that the wheels seem a long way away from the w W-irons, even in P4 so I cut the moulded rings off the back and moved the solebars closer together.  A lot of people say these are a bit tricky but the only real difference to any other kit is you just need to take a lot longer and really let things set.  They aren’t really a bung it together in an afternoon style job.  I found another 2 kits in my stash which i will build up for New Street and might do a bit of a step by step on how to do them.

Next up the mermaid.  I have built this as an early one which were the same as the original GWR builds.  The main difference is push rod brakes instead of clasp, no vacuum brakes and earlier buffers. The rail clamps were replaced with Roxey mouldings shackles.

Below – It seems Brettell Road has had something of a GWR take over today!


LMS iron ore hopper

Let’s start with a little observation.  Modelling railways is expensive these days, the reason for this has been discussed elsewhere but if I were starting out now I certainly wouldn’t be able to afford it. I actually think the prices are what they are but there are one or 2 things where manufacturers really are taking the mick.

Case in point is the 24ton LMS iron ore hopper.  Firstly its not one, at all!  Basically yes it is a hopper but thats about it. It’s a loose model of the Charles Roberts hopper with a body stretched to fit a generic 10ft chassis.  When you consider that this model first appeared in the 1977-78 mainline railways catalogue charging nearly £30 rrp for a completely wrong, very old tooled model is a fictitious livery is more than a little bit dodgy,  Considering thousands of these are out there in various liveries for a fraction of the price you have to wonder who’s actually buying the things?

So let’s look at what this model attempts to be.

LMS hoppers are something of a gap in the RTR market as they have been hardly touched by either RTR or kit manufactures. I believe that the model is trying to masquerade as a diagram 1893-1942 iron ore hopper.  From what i can tell these were all the same except for the materials used.

D1893 – 50 wagons built in 1934 by the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company out of Chromador Steel

D1894 – 300 wagons built in 1934 by the trade out of mild steel

D1941 – 450 wagons built in 1936-38 by the trade out of copper bearing steel

D1942 – 100 wagons built in 1936 by the Gloucester Carriage and Wagon company out of an unspecified material.

Many of these lasted into the BR era and were cascaded to various steel works meaning theres quite a few liveries that can be done and an enterprising manufacturer can cash in on the current rise of interest in industrial modelling.

The model

While the RTR hoppers wheelbase of 10 ft is actually closer to the LMS wagons 10ft 6 than it is the Charles Roberts 9ft wheelbase theres nothing about the model that can really give you ahead start on constructing one of these so the easiest method is just to scratch-build one.

Which is what I did.  Construction is plasticard with evergreen sections for the chassis and rivet strips from Mainly Trains or transfers from Archers. Buffers are from Lanarkshire models and underframe ironwork from Ambis and Bill Bedford. The axleguards, axle boxes and springs are salvaged from parkside kits. Drawings in LMS wagons volume 1 were used as a guide.

Painted up with transfers from Modelmaster and Fox.

Comparison with the Charles Roberts wagon on the right. This has been shortened and rebuilt on a 9ft chassis so its not a direct comparison with the RTR model as supplied.  To see what I did to that one click here)


An unremarkable little tank engine – Part 2

Thoughts turn to the remaining detailing on the body of my 57xx tank.  I like to take pictures pre paint for prosperity before it all disappears under plain black and grime and no one really notices what you’ve done anymore!

Front 3 quarter view.  You will notice that the buffers are different.  Due to a timely new casting arriving from Lanarkshire models. Lamp irons are from Masokits and the sanding levers from RT models. The footplate pipework has been replaced with wire  The Whistle shield is from Modelu reinforced with a bit of wire. The tool box seemed a little ‘floaty’ as mainline had modelled it so I filled in the gap and re-scribed a finer one.

Rear view. The fire irons are from Springside Models and the rear windows from Mainly Trains (now Wizard models).  I’ve thinned down the cab sides I tried to do the water balancing pipe as one piece secured by magnets but as its all a little bit small the magnets weren’t really strong enough.  I had fears of it falling off and causing havoc with the inside motion so I had to settle for it being in 3 parts instead. Not sure what the little box is behind the rear footstep not all locos had them.  I think it might be related to the AWS gear.

Underside view – you can just make out the way the pickups are arranged.

My intended victim for this model was 8718 which in Brettell Lane era was a Kidderminster Loco.  It later went to Stourbridge where it lost its number plates and gained painted on numbers in a reasonable attempt at the GWR font.  I preferred the proper number plate.  Searching for pictures I couldn’t make out a BR logo on the tank sides. A request to the GWR modellers and British Railways Steam era 1948 to 1968 facebook groups didn’t yield any answers either so reverting to my ‘model what you see, not what you think you know’ approach I left the logo off.

Below a few images of the finished loco. The crew are the customary Modelu products.

 

So there you have it – An unremarkable little tank engine.


An unremarkable little tank engine – Part 1

One of my slow burning projects has been a humble little 57xx tank.  A combination of the old (But essentially quite good) Mainline body and a High Level Kits chassis but with a bit of twist.

Iain Rice wrote about these back in MRJ 61 and 62 using a similar route, in his case using a Perseverance chassis as that was what was available around the time, and I would urge readers to refer to this as a start point.

The High Level chassis

Like all of Chris’ chassis this was a joy to build (this is my 4th of his chassis kits now, who would have thought it?) I opted to use Brassmasters bearings which may have messed the alignment up a little as I found I needed to mount the break gear 1 mm lower than as supplied.  Strangely though the buffer height seems fine. I differed a little bit from the instructions by making all of the brake gear removable.  The rear rods that go behind the wheels seems to trap the rear axle in place as supplied.

Eagle eyed viewers might spot something little odd and yes, you’ve guessed it – I’ve gone off piste again.

A couple of prototype pics from the Severn Valley.  Personally i though the inside motion was pretty obvious looking at the real thing and while there is a representation of it in the High Level Kit I wanted it to move.

So this is a mish mash of bits – Brassmasters 4f bits at the axle end and Finney GW bits at the front.  The GWR version of inside motion seems much simpler that the midland one and the hardest part of this task wasn’t putting it all together but getting it in place.  Being a small loco theres not a huge amount of wiggle room.

The body is essentially good, you could say extremely good for its time.  The obvious stand out bit of weirdness was the top of the dome but nothing a spot of filing can’t sort out. It did come with a separate main handrail and some wire ones around the bunker but they were all a bit heavy so i replaced those along with those handrails that were moulded on. I reduced the size of the front wheel splasher by cutting it off and gluing it back on, The width of the cut being all you really need.  I didn’t feel the need to fiddle with the centre and rear ones.  While on my 94xx I replaced all the pipework under the tanks in front of the cab with this model I thought it was good enough as is, although I have cut away the ‘holes’ as per Iain’s article.   Theres a bit more detailing to add to the footplate yet and the lower pipework will need to be replaced.


Latest building and what does it have to do with lions?

This is my latest building for Brettell road and likely to be the last but one physical model building for the layout.  I have plenty more buildings to create yet but as those will be on the backscene they will need to be illustrated instead.

As usual it takes its inspiration from a local structure and this time its the Lion Health building in Stourbridge.  Or at least a bit of it.  Construction is the same as the others featured recently so I wont go over old ground again. Before it was a health centre the Lion Health building was an Ironworks built by Foster, Rastrick and Company in 1821.  John Urpeth Rastrick was originally from Morpeth and had previously constructed an early railway locomotive for Richard Trevithick in 1808. The company would continue to produce steam engines as well as proving machines for chain cable, saws, mills, and boilers. It also produced structural components for buildings, bridges and gas works and in 1825 it listed railway components in a catalogue of products including rail, sleepers and chairs.  Its fourth locomotive, Agenoria, was built for the Earl of Dudley’s railway and it survives to this day at the National Railway Museum.  The company fared far worse than Agenoria and it was officially dissolved on 20 June 1831 and it was absorbed into the Stourbridge Iron Works of John Bradley & Co.  James Foster was already the major partner (John Bradley was his half brother) and after 1832 James became the sole owner.

The site went through several more owners but they kept the name John Bradley & Co. (Stourbridge) Ltd. The first was when, in 1919, the Stourbridge Iron Works were sold to a company owned by Edward J. Taylor and then in the interwar period, N. Hingley & Sons Ltd took over but it still continued to trade under the John Bradley & Co name until 1963. The company was finally wound up in 1966 but the Stourbridge Ironworks continued as a rolling mill within the F.H. Lloyd Group until 1982.  The building became derelict was nearly destroyed completely due to a fire in 2004. In 2012 it was renovated to become Lion Health which opened in 2014.  In 2009 a couple of urban explorers managed to get in and took some pictures, these can be seen here.

What have lions got to do with any of this?

In 1829 Foster, Rastrick and Company built a locomotive for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company in the USA and this loco, Lion, or rather the Stourbridge Lion is noted to be one of the first foreign built locomotives to be operated in the United States, and one of the first locomotives to ever operate outside Britain. The locomotive performed well in its first test in August 1829 but was found to be too heavy for the track and was never used for its intended purpose of hauling coal trains.  Parts of this locomotive also survive and are on display at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.

A view from the platform.  I think i’ll tone the lighting down a bit more.

The recently completed Hymek trundles past.

Below are a couple of overall layout shots which I think captures the wet look I’m after. The last one from my phone so apologies for the lack of depth of field.


Funny little Alien

For all of my lifetime, certainly my time aware of railways, mainline diesel locomotives have been powered by a diesel engine driving electric traction motors. However the Western region was never really one to follow what everyone else was doing and invested heavily in Diesel hydraulics. Of those the largest class and the only one to fit into the type 3 category were the Hymeks of which I missed out on.  When I was born there were half a dozen still in service and they were withdrawn before I had transitioned from a 4 legged human to a 2 legged one. So they are all a bit alien really.

Apart from the transmission (and the idea of a mainline loco with gear changes) there were other things that were a bit odd. Why wasn’t the radiator fan housing central?  Why didn’t they use no.1 and no.2 ends, Instead of having A and B and why was the radiator at the back not the front like everything else?  Despite all the weirdness they were attractive little locos though so when a Heljan one popped up cheaply on Ebay (described as having intermittent running) I put in a cheeky bit and as no one else did, a Hydraulic is coming to Brettell Road. Not having any 00 track I didn’t investigate the reported running problems but the Heljan wheels were filthy and having swapped them out for some Alan Gibson ones no running issues were encountered. This model is one of Heljan’s early efforts and in terms of getting the shape right still one of their best. However there are a few tweaks that can be done. The roof horns were broken so they were replaced with Markits brass ones.  The buffers were a bit naff so those were replaced with Lanarkshire Models ones.  The numbers and builders plates are from Shawplan/Extreme etches.  The rest is really down to working with what Heljan give you.  The bodyside windows are flush glazed but not flush enough so they were cut out and remounted. The cab side and door windows are fine but I did add the droplight strips from 10×10 microstrip.

Not much to do on the chassis really – I added the mileometer on the leading axle of the B end (left) and I thought the pipework on the bogie frame at the A end was a little too fine so replaced it with wire.

This is the A end from the other side.  As I was doing an early batch loco I carefully cut off the headboard clips and touched in the yellow.  The windscreens were also not flush enough but it was easier to just replace them  with clear plastic cut to shape.  Oddly the glazing on the headcode box (yes i know the headcode is wrong for the train) was too flush so this was replaced as well. Windscreen wipers are again from Shawplan and the brake pipes are from Hornby (the loco wasn’t supplied with any). I also remounted the tank under the bufferbeam and added a little pipework.  To avoid confusion when it comes to DCC I’ve followed the diesel electric convention and set the fan end as forward.

The model is weathered to look new but not 10 yards from the factory new. Im aiming for a few months and bear in mind the layout is set in autumn. There seems to be a tendency among modelers to weather Hydraulic locos to look an absolute state and most of them did end up that way in real life.  So basically washes that I’ve pretty much cleaned off again as best I can before light dustings of track colour and roof dirt. This was followed with streaks from AK interactive spilt fuel and grease before finally the obligatory rain effect. Diesel locos tend to have characteristic weathering which is unique to each class (something which a lot of professionally weathered locos you see seem utterly devoid of). Class 24 to 27 have the water stain from the roof, just inboard of the fan.  Class 50s have 3 leaks that run down the fuel tanks, class 20s have an odd direction for the staining deposits from the exhaust and class 31s have the oil leaks through the bodyside at floor level.  Hymeks have this too but not as much and from my research only later in their (short) lives.  They do however have a distinctive leak on the fuel tanks and this seemed to have been from new.

Any reason for D7022?  Ive always had an affinity for the Lickey incline and these 3 locos were all regulars on banking duties over the years.  The Hymeks went there much later than Brettell Road is set and were the second class of diesel to work the incline.  The first being English Electric type 3s (class 37).  A lot of Hymeks worked the Lickey but the initial ones were D7021-D7025.  In his book, A life on the Lickey, Pat Wallace talks about them and mentioned that early on they preferred to have the A end facing north (up the gradient).  If a loco turned up the wrong way round it was sent to Worcester to be turned on the triangle. He doesn’t give any detail on why this was the case but you could lock out first gear in a Hymek and the equipment cabinet for this was in the A end.  The locos definitely had first gear locked out while on this duty. This was because the change from first to second gear was right in the range where trains were banked and they could snatch. The Hymeks having only one engine were a little worse for this than the Warships and Westerns.

One little anecdote Pat also mentions concerns the 17th January 1968 when a kitten was discovered in the engine room of D7025. He was adopted and named Hymek (of course).  He crops up again 10 days later when he had managed to hide himself in the bogie of D7022 and refused to come out.  It was reported that Hymek the kitten did 4 trips up the Lickey!