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Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 11:33 am
by FWLR
You do an excellent job Peter. :thumbright: :thumbright:

I am just a simple soul myself though… :lol: :lol:

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:15 am
by IrishPeter
Platform built on Sunday night and roof spars in tonight. I am not quite as fanatical about these for a goods wagon as I am when I am making a detachable roof for a passenger carriage mainly because the roof is fixed. That said, I do not like more than about 2" unsupported or you end up with hills and hollers in the roof. Still trying to decide the precise form of the sentry box, but I have not got much longer to dither on that point.

More pics tomorrow (hopefully) when I am putting the roof on.

Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:10 am
by IrishPeter
The sentry box van seen broadside on. Small rolling stock like this comes from the early days of the Far End Tramway so far as thinking is concerned
Broadside shot
Broadside shot
IMG_4310.JPG (37.92 KiB) Viewed 5191 times
Nice three-quarter shot. Not sure about the extra step on the balcony.
Van 3/4 shot
Van 3/4 shot
IMG_4312.JPG (42.69 KiB) Viewed 5191 times
Little Black Diesel No. 2 and the Sentry Box Van
Van and the usual motive power
Van and the usual motive power
IMG_4313.JPG (42.8 KiB) Viewed 5191 times

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 8:15 am
by FWLR
Nice van there Peter. Can't help with the step....it does seem a bit odd...But it's your build mate and if you like it that's all that matters.

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 2:25 am
by IrishPeter
I did decide it was a bit odd, and knocked it off. The original idea was to make the floor of the sentry box high enough that an ordinary height guard could peer over the top, but the van sides are 96mm, and with the curve of the roof that ended up being 104mm in the centre, which meant that even with the step, the guard would have had to have been considerably over the Victorian average of 5'6" to be able to peer over. Instead we'll just make him a nice little sentry box to keep the worst off. As things develop a bit, I think the small stuff will end up being allocated to maintenance of way duties.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:55 am
by Andrew
I rather like the step, quirky in a Ffestiniog-esque kind of way, but I agree that if the guard still won't be able to peer over the top it's probably best left off... I've often thought that a "birdcage" style brake would be fun to make... Anyway, a nice van, and great to see you're back in modelling mode.

I really like the bogie brake third/compo in the background too (rather WHR Pickering-y?), including that beautifully utilitarian brown livery. Don't know about you, but I get a strange satisfaction when I'm sloshing plain "Kentish Green" over panelled carriages that would once have been more ornately decorated, a strange (and probably entirely misplaced) empathy with the staff at Boston Lodge or Dinas in the 20s. I think that's one of the reasons I brush paint too...

All the best,

Andrew.

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 3:06 pm
by IrishPeter
I have two interests - Irish three foot gauge, and the sort of heavy duty 2' gauge that was sometimes used in the Colonies. At the moment the only 32mm gauge track I have is laid along the site of the goods platform at Skebawn station on the indoor Irish side of things, but that is about to change. I keep casting my eye on the garden looking for exactly where I need to put a couple of sweeping loops to get the railway going out there.

The coach in the background is based on a Bristol Composite built for the Tralee and Dingle. I say "based on" because I made the underframe a bit too long, so it ended up scale 28' not 27'! The utilitarian "brown" was the Great Southern's livery for second string carriages in the 1920s and 30s, it has a bit of red in it and resembles the old LNWR's colour, but it slightly lighter. I am glad though that you say it looks brown in bad light, because that it what folks used to say about the old GSR livery, especially when it was a bit worn.

I do have a bit of a utilitarian streak. The 45mm gauge /15mm scale Skebawn and Castleknox tends to reflect the quirky side, and my 32mm gauge/16mm scale line tends to be a manifestation of the Calthrop way of doing things. Standardisation, decent size rolling stock, good track, but a decided leaning towards minimalism and the corrugated iron club when it comes to stations and other buildings. The van is a bit of whimsey. The story goes that Engineers Department inherited some non-standard vehicles that the Traffic Department did not want, so they use them for minor works. Most of my other vehicles for the 2' gauge will be going on 400mm and 480mm underframes, and I will probably be cribbing liberally from SAR(NG) and Victorian Government Narrow Gauge Railways who also liked big equipment and standardisation. I was down in Nibelheim last night starting a couple of new underframes. :D

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 4:50 am
by IrishPeter
The sentry box van is somewhat further along. Here is the evidence...
3/4 View
3/4 View
IMG_4327.JPG (47.43 KiB) Viewed 4883 times
What the shunter sees...
End View
End View
IMG_4328.JPG (37.35 KiB) Viewed 4883 times
Another view...
Ole fills in as the Guard
Ole fills in as the Guard
IMG_4329.JPG (40.29 KiB) Viewed 4883 times
Handrails and faux brake mechanism are still needed, as Ole needs something to hang on to - he is a bit fond of a beer and a bump (repeat as necessary until the pain eases) when off duty. He fell off a freighter about five years ago and has been helping out on the railway ever since. I am also thinking of adding some curtains to help keep the rain off.
Side View
Side View
IMG_4330.JPG (42.06 KiB) Viewed 4882 times
Somewhat scruffy grey paint is a hallmark of the Far End, goods vehicles are well maintained mechanically, but the aesthetics are a bit lacking as they are needed back in traffic earning money. I will paint the ends of vehicle red, to give drivers something to aim at.

There is also another project down in Nibelheim, and this is to increase the quantity of available SM32 carriages from one to two.
Carriage - left
Carriage - left
IMG_4332.JPG (39.96 KiB) Viewed 4881 times
Based on a carriage built by Sachsishes Wagenfabrik, Werdau, in 1926 for the SAR/SAS narrow gauge. The original had a roughly 8 metre body on a 30' frame, so that fits in with the longer of my two standard frame lengths. The frame length was dictated by the SAR-SAS specification, which was basically in Imperial measure, and the rest was left up to the builders - in this case a German firm uses to using metric. The SAS NG had a mix of British and Dutch/Belgian/German built stock due to the peculiarities of South African politics as when the Afrikaner parties had a share in running the government the orders tended to go to Hannomag, Cockerill, Henschell, basically anyone who was not UK based, as payback for the second Boer War.

This carriage has a small 1st class compartment to the left; then the loo - this was a long distance carriage; and finally third class to the right. I suspect the prototype was probably an all-third or a composite without a loo originally, however, the sheer length of the Avontuur branch would have soon required the management to provide facilities, or for train crews to be very patient at the main stations! I went for the German built vehicle because I liked the look of it, and so I would not have to cut 18 x 4 windows (or 16 x 4, if it had a loo) to model the British-built compartment/semi-corridor stock. The next photo shows the other side. The two small windows were opposite one another, so there was either one large lavatory compartment, or more likely two, one for each class. The odd thing is That I have not been able to find the water tank for the flush, so I might be wrong about the purpose of the compartment with the small windows.
Carriage - t'other side
Carriage - t'other side
IMG_4334.JPG (39.69 KiB) Viewed 4881 times
As you can tell. My workbench is a disaster area, and I had a fairly profitable day off.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:42 am
by FWLR
Like the way you have Ole peering out of the van, very good.

The new build looks very interesting..... :thumbright:

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:07 pm
by Andrew
The van looks great, the new carriage is fascinating - and there are interesting things in the background again! The 4-wheel passenger brake's very nice (I've a ig soft spot for such vehicles...) - and is the curvy-roofed vehicle next to it a tram car??

Andrew.

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 9:43 pm
by IrishPeter
The four wheel brake is based on one of the Hurst Nelson MER brake built in 1899, which ended up as E1 on the Isle of Man Railway after a spell as E11, and survived into the 1960s. Latterly (1930s) it lost its duckets and was used for parcels, luggage, and one suspects, fish. I think it ended up going in the Ballasalla Bonfire in 1974, which is when most of the remain goods stock was scrapped. My version still has its duckets, and is the Skebawn and Castleknox's other brake vehicle - the main one being the Bristol Brake Compo alluded to above.

Hiding behind the tramcar is a Zillertalbahn four-wheeler which was not an outstanding success, as the chassis is not quite square, and it is dimensionally accurate, so it is the equivalent of 7.5 metres long by 2.5 metres wide, which in SM32/45 is something like 393mm by 131mm. It hangs around waiting for a rebuild that never quite gets to the top of the Roundtuit list, which is a bit of a pity as it was one of my winter buildings and ended up getting finished except for the wire handrails and papering and painting the roof.

In front of the Zillertalbahn coach is a freelance tramcar which owes a bit to the Douglas Bay single deckers that were cut down from double deckers in the 1930s. Right now it does not really have a purpose in life, but if I complete it, it will acquire a mate and both will go, I think, to the Skebawn and Castleknox side of things. I have a half hatched plan to have an 'early GSR' set, and a 'CIE' set of passenger stock.

Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 11:50 pm
by IanC
I like the sentry van Peter. I look forward to seeing pictures of it when it's completed.

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 1:20 pm
by IrishPeter
The lavatory water tank mystery is solved. I did a bit more digging and it turns out that the tanks were inside on the German built coaches, but outside on the British built ones.

Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 2:26 pm
by IrishPeter
Went for a trundle to Michael's (the craft store chain) and the place was a disaster, though it might be worth checking out the sale baskets after Christmas. Their stock of basswood was lamentably low, and the wife had some adventures with the picture framing department which rather reminded me of dealing the Department of Officious Officialdom. As it was I could not get the sections needed - 3/8 x 3/16 and 1/2 x 1/4 - but managed to get some other bits and bobs in the wood line that I needed. General consensus was that the place had gone down hill, and we needed to hit the Hobby Lobby, which is 35 miles away, in order to get what we want.

This has changed the building priorities a bit. The little sentry box brake is at the paint and detail stage, it now has red ends, and is waiting for hinges and hand rails. The Lav. Composite's body will be next in line, for which the outside mounted sliding doors is causing the little grey cells to be exercised. The underframe will have to wait until I can get the appropriate sections of basswood, though before I resort to going almost an hour away for supplies I will schlepp across to the local hardware shore and see what they have lurking in the back corner. I usually build from the underframe upwards, so this is going to confuse me, and I am also going to have to find a way to represent the rubber mounting blocks under the body which were rather a noticeable feature of the original when seen broad side on.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:24 am
by IrishPeter
The sentry box van has now been clobbered a couple more times with the paint brush. I tend to like red ends on goods brake vans, and this one is no exception...
Van - sentry box end
Van - sentry box end
IMG_4347.JPG (35.06 KiB) Viewed 4644 times
And just to prove I did both ends...
Van - blunt end
Van - blunt end
IMG_4349.JPG (34.78 KiB) Viewed 4644 times
Meanwhile the South African coach is coming on. Here is the six window side with its beading, and first coach of paint. Unfortunately, the paint had been left too long. Might be a do-over in the works there. Nah - it was just undercoat anyway. I am still trying to decide between dark brown, and deep crimson lake (NER, not Midland) as the passenger livery for the CLR/NET.
Coach - six window side
Coach - six window side
IMG_4344.JPG (41.97 KiB) Viewed 4644 times
Here is the other side, showing the framing for the drop lights, which in this case includes stops as the pocket for the drop lights was a bit on the deep side. Sometimes I just make the bottom bar a bit deeper, other times I use stops. Just depends on how I am feeling. Sometimes I even save my sanity and just fake it with the droplights!
Coach - seven window side framing
Coach - seven window side framing
IMG_4343.JPG (42.41 KiB) Viewed 4644 times
And your bonus for tonight, a little shelter that has been a little pick it up and put it down project for about three years. I am finally bored enough to finish shingling the roof!
Shelter front
Shelter front
IMG_4346.JPG (38.29 KiB) Viewed 4644 times
The prototype is Norwegian - probably one of the minor halts on the Setesdalsbanen, or possibly one of the minor standard gauge branches. It is "half inch" rather than 5/8th scale, so it will end up as a bus shelter in the background, but I could also knock the bottom out and put it on some sort of masonry base to make it fit. It was built as a sort of dry run for constructing all those funny little huts that light railways seem to use.
Shelter back
Shelter back
IMG_4345.JPG (41.13 KiB) Viewed 4644 times
That's it for now. Next instalment might be the CLR "signalling" project, but we will see.

Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:42 am
by FWLR
I do like your bold colours Peter.

Love that little hut too. I have put a brick base on a Model Town Water Tower and it certainly has made a huge difference....

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:01 pm
by IrishPeter
My usual railway palette is black, dark green, brown or "lake", grey - in short, colours that don't show the muck too much. The livery scheme for both my railways is relatively dark. The CLR, which is theoretically an offshoot of the NER/LNER, is basic black for locos; bauxite for fitted wagons (actually a reddish brown primer); and grey for unfitted. Departmental stock gets clobbered with either barn red, or grey (LNER used Oxford Blue - ironic given that Cambridge was on their system) depending on whether it is their exclusive possession, or the traffic department can nick it.

I only use bright colours for safety purposes - for example, loco buffer beams and brake van ends are red so that they can be seen when being moved around sidings and within station limits. If I ever get around to fitting dummy brake gear, then the brake handles will be white.

Cheers,
Peter in Va

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:52 am
by Andrew
I like the red ends too - I might well add some to my trusty (not to mention rusty) Mamod guards van when it receives its long-overdue overhaul. Apart from anything else it would add a touch of colour to winter goods trains, which would be rather nice when the garden's looking cold and drab. When I started making WHR wagons I initially baulked at the red paint, it seemed rather gaudy compared to my usual greys and browns, but actually I find I rather like it for that reason.

I like the shelter too, especially the roof. Actually, it's inspired me to make a stable for a colleague's camel, but that's one for another forum...

Looking forward to the next update,

Andrew.

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:57 am
by philipy
I do like the roof on that hut, very realistic finish.

Re: Rolling Stock for the Far End Tramway

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 1:51 pm
by Peter Butler
Andrew wrote: Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:52 am ...... it's inspired me to make a stable for a colleague's camel, but that's one for another forum...

Andrew.
I have to ask.... what Forum has stables for camels amongst its subject headings.... sounds interesting!