Concrete Evidence

SR timber and concrete, side by side

My 3D-printed SR concrete sleepers for Chelfham, after several attempts, gauge correctly. The tirefond holes are barely more than dimples and need drilling to take the lace pins. I blackened the pins first, but most of the blackening doesn't last the process. The process, by the way, involved rather more pulling from underneath than pushing from above: that won't be practical on the viaduct!

Sleepers Perchance ...

SR style sleepers

As built, the Chelfham layout represents the station as it was post-1927 (when the lean-to was built at the up end of the station building). As such, it would probably have had concrete sleepers on the main line. I'm going to build a few lengths to see what they look like. In the background of the photo is an early attempt at making concrete sleepers, which sadly are not quite correct dimensionally - they're a bit narrow. I've had another go using CAD, and am waiting delivery of the 3D printed result. At the very least I will lay some concrete in the area of the water tower, supposing that the timber sleepers there would need replacing.

 

In the foreground is a trial run of early Southern period L&B sleepers, and they are stained as per John Clutterbuck's track articles in the Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review, but the Karlgarin rail still needs blackening and rail and KBscale rail clips need painting. By the way, John has since realized that it is much easier to weather the sleepers with a bit of emery before laying the track: this gives them a bleached look.

Peep Show

According to Stephen D Phillips (2012), The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Measured and Drawn, Hartlebury: S D Publications Ltd, the distance from rail height to the centre-line of the smokebox door on the L&B's Manning Wardles was 4ft. Assuming the Gibson Manning Wardle kits are accurate in this respect, and I will check, I need to raise my track bed from its current 41mm below the viaduct parapet to just 28mm.

In order to get my Manning Wardles to peep above the viaduct by just the right amount, I reckon on using a slab of 9mm ply underneath the foam, coffee-stirrer sleepers, and Karlgarin 82/7 rail. Yes, that will mean re-aligning the viaduct and station boards, but there's plenty of timber to play with in re-siting the board-joining dowels.

Keeping the Bridge

“Now who will stand on either hand,

And keep the bridge with me?”

Thomas Macaulay, Horatius




Behind Chelfham Viaduct

I’m re-laying the track on Chelfham to 0-14 standards. Therein hangs a tale.

I acquired Chelfham in February 2012, picking it up from Brian Taylor’s Lancing workshop. His only requirement of me was that the layout would once more be seen on the exhibition circuit. So it was that I ended up at Warley, NEC, in November that year.

Acutely short of rolling stock at Warley, I decided that a change of approach was necessary before the next outing. This will be in August 2013 at the Wiltshire 009 Group Open Day and MOMING ’13 in Pewsey.

What I decided to do was to rip up the Peco 0-16.5 track and start again by hand-building some 0-14 track as per the L&B formation. The photographs show some of the detail so far.

Peco 0-16.5 track removed, the pine track bed is revealed.

With the track removed, a plain timber track bed was revealed. In the fullness of time, the ballast will be scraped away and I will be able to check how level the track bed is. Meanwhile, I have to decide how I am going to raise the level so as to re-create the views that show the centre-line of the Manning Wardle boilers about equal to the height of the viaduct parapet. It is not as easy as putting extra timber underneath, for this will have knock-on effects at the join with the station board.

I am resisting the temptation to take out the viaduct structure and give it a ‘make-over’. The prototype, as most viaducts, curves by means of ‘thrupenny’ bit changes in direction at the piers. The model is wrong in using a smooth curve, however I probably do not have the time to do much about it unless by sleight of hand I paint ‘shadows’ and re-model the parapet to give the impression of sharp bends. My partners in crime in this venture, Steve and John, have my permission to reign me in by whatever means, for keeping what is really a club layout going very much depends on their help.

Fitting Out

Front fittings on the Decauville 042T

Since its outing to ExpoNG last weekend, the Weidknecht Decauville has acquired its smokebox door fittings and cylinder appendages. I thought I'd lost the lamp bracket, which is one of the problems about painting something dark brown over all: what once was shiny brass disappeared into the background.

The next thing to do is to fit the brake gear and vacuum pipes, and this brings the whole enterprise nearly to an end. It will be nice to have not only a complete engine but one that is in its finished colours. Probably the longest bit of work remaining is attaching John's couplings (Zamzoodled) which means that I'll probably soon be returning to my 4-wheel toastrack carriage so that they match.

Bits 'n' Pieces



Hang on t' brass, lad!

The insignificant objects in the picture are significant in my modelling. On the right is a valve wheel off the 'small dome' of my 042T Weidknecht Decauville. It has appeared before, which in a way is why it appears again now: I decided I was unhappy with the amount of solder defacing it and its 3 companions. So at ExpoNG last year I loitered at the Meridian Models stand and bought myself a Meriparts bag of assorted wheels. Last weekend the original offenders were removed and replaced with what I hope are a better testament to my soldering abilities.

The object on the left is, or was intended to be, a replacement crank for the same loco. It is 4.5mm long and links a rod from the loco cab to the steam dome. Again I was unhappy with the huge blob of solder that was my initial effort at fixing it. The picture shows my first attempt at crafting a replacement crank, fashioned from a spare bit of fret. As I was holding it in a pair of tweezers and bring the soldering iron towards it: 'ping'! It was lost.

From the depths of somewhere rose a calmness that threw me: I didn't swear. I simply picked up the brass fret and made another part which as it turns out was better than this one. This one, by the way, turned up as I was cleaning off my workbench in preparation for visitors (one of the problems of modelling in the spare bedroom).

The significance for my modelling is that I've tended previously to depend solely on kits as they are. When I've spoiled a part in the past, it has either been disregarded or the entire kit given up on. When I eventually finish this loco, I may be a step nearer tackling a scratch-build than I expected.

Conventional Wisdom



Monkey Island, 1908

John invited me to help out with an 014 stand at the 2011 7mm Narrow Gauge Association Convention and AGM at Burton on Trent last weekend. We had much interest: he at his end of the table with his DCC-operated L&B couplings and a 'garnet' or 'gaggle' of Garrat K1 engines, and me at my end with my expletive-ridden attempts at making plain track.

K1 Appreciation

I took along a diorama of Monkey Island, Barnstaple, which I’d made for the purpose. As the track base I was making slots in to a channel, there were a few comments about the canal scene! The trees on the model are rescued from the 0-16,5 Barnstaple Town that Steve and I had ... so were out in public for the first time in 17 years.

Some visitors to our stand were just getting into, or returning to, the hobby. These are good targets for persuading to model in 014, as they usually don’t carry any baggage – such as a hundreds of pounds worth of 0-16,5 motive power they don't want to re-wheel.

My track-building was so-so, but I learned a lot. A diarama is better for learning on than a full-fledged layout.

We were invited to return to the 2012 Convention, although we suggested that every other year would work better. Maybe next time I’ll actually have a layout rather than a diorama to display.

Ah well, back to the Weidknecht Decauville ...