Garden Railway Forum

Andrew wrote: ↑Sat Jun 09, 2018 7:30 pm
That said, I'm always wondering "what if" regarding making a little extra cash to fund my hobby, so I confess I have given it some thought.

My advice is don't, unless you find you need money to keep food on the table ........

I became involved in the commercial side of the hobby as a manufacturer in HO scale back in the '80s and it came very close to destroying model railways as a hobby for me. I even took up building glass case ship models for a while to keep myself sane.

It wasn't until we wound the company up, that I slowly got back into modelling trains as a hobby.

Regards,
Graeme

I know several people (including myself) who can vouch for Graeme. Mixing personal life and work is (in my opinion) disastrous for both. I've found using manual machines and hand tools to be better than CAD and Additive Manufacturing in the hobby. As a result, my printer hasn't been used in over 6 months!

Yes, I think you're right - I spend too much time making (and thinking about making) models as it is, I don't think anyone would really benefit from me doing any more of it, least of all me...

Very happy to describe the slate wagon build though, just give me a while to get hold of some of the materials which I've run out of...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Hi Andrew,

Will be looking forward to your photo’s of the build with lots of anticipation

Hi all,

Another two slate wagons reached the "nearly ready" stage after work this afternoon. Would've been sooner, but I dropped them on the floor and had to glue the axleboxes back onto one of them. I was pleased to note that the bodywork survived the fall unscathed, although I don't plan to make a four-foot drop a regular part of my testing routine...


I'm progressing with the "step-by-step" one too, should have that done soon, next week maybe...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Nice!


Rik

Oh dear Andrew, we have all done something like that haven’t we. I did it when I was building my N gauge stuff, a 6 bay roundhouse…I wasn’t best pleased….

Looking good Andrew! I've found a picture of the NWNGR 3 plank wagons, might have a go at making some of these after the Jurassic wagons and brake van. Might also look at the solitary Cleminson wagon as well.

Glad you like 'em, thanks!

I must build a van and proper NWNGR/WHR brake next, but I thought I'd move onto the smaller opens after that too. Are you thinking of the sort like the ones on the right in this picture?



I'm wondering how to model those axleguards - pretty distinctive but unlike anything on the market. I might just go with the plainest ones I can find...

I'll try to modify my slate wagon building technique to recreate some of the NWNGR's distinctive "cornerless" slate wagons at some point - the chap above's done a great job of those. And of everything else come to that!

All the best,

Andrew.

A van is probably next on my list although this will be a WHR vehicle. Research by the FR Heritage group has concluded that the two vans were built from coal wagons in 1927. The square door van might be a former "ridged-roof" wagon or at least received the doors whereas the curved door van likely received parts from several FR vans. Both had doors on both sides (unlike Boyd's description).
The three plank wagons were full drop-sided at 3 tons (unlike the ones above). The Gloucester works photo below is from the FR ibase archive.

Oooh, that's rather nice, isn't it? Wheels and axleguards readily available from Binnie, and good for general traffic too - those fixed sided wagons must have been a pain to unload. It's on my build list, thank you!

Yes, I read that about the vans and their doors - I'm glad I did before I built one! I re-positioned the brake levers on my coal wagons to where I thought they'd have to go if they were later converted into vans, if you see what I mean.

No other distractions this evening, so I hope to get back to my slate wagons...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Looking forward to seeing your work. I'd like to have a 2 sets of carriages and wagons; NWNGR (for Moel Tryfan and maybe another locomotive) and combined WHR/FR (for the Wrightscale Baldwin). I'd probably need a battery locomotive as well, probably the Baldwin tractor (became Moelwyn) if I knew the colour!
Just need the WHHR to hurry with the Pickering!

JMORG wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:26 am The Gloucester works photo below is from the FR ibase archive.
wp_ss_20180630_0001.png

Love Gloucester's makeshift 1'11" track!

Tim

JMORG wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:48 am Looking forward to seeing your work. I'd like to have a 2 sets of carriages and wagons; NWNGR (for Moel Tryfan and maybe another locomotive) and combined WHR/FR (for the Wrightscale Baldwin). I'd probably need a battery locomotive as well, probably the Baldwin tractor (became Moelwyn) if I knew the colour!
Just need the WHHR to hurry with the Pickering!

I think I recall reading somewhere that the FfR's "tractors" were all green. I've got an Andel Models Moelwyn (currently awaiting a new battery pack) and I think I'll give that a coat of dark-ish green over it's unpainted green resin finish at some point, probably a sort of municipal lawnmower shade... In the longer term I'm considering models of Kerr Stewart 4415 or the Simplex, both of which seem appropriate "might have beens" for my fictional WHR branch...

Might have read somewhere that the FfR are planning a Pickering brake compo, possibly after the current Ashbury replica is complete?

Do post photos of your WHR/NWNGR stuff as you finish it, I always like to see what others are up to...

Cheers,

Andrew.

11thHour wrote: ↑Sun Jul 08, 2018 7:29 am

JMORG wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:26 am The Gloucester works photo below is from the FR ibase archive.
wp_ss_20180630_0001.png

Love Gloucester's makeshift 1'11" track!

Tim

Curves might have been interesting...

Andrew wrote: ↑Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:19 am I think I recall reading somewhere that the FfR's "tractors" were all green. I've got an Andel Models Moelwyn (currently awaiting a new battery pack) and I think I'll give that a coat of dark-ish green over it's unpainted green resin finish at some point, probably a sort of municipal lawnmower shade.

The Simplex's were painted in British Army Artillery green when new, I imagine any repatriated equipment was painted green and black (both being readily available).

Andrew wrote: ↑Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:19 am Might have read somewhere that the FfR are planning a Pickering brake compo

Ah really? I know the WHHR were making one (they have bogies at least) so if this is true I dread to think about the current political climate between them. I already heard one rumour regarding Russell's lack of appearance at Hunslet 125 which (if true) makes one of the organisations look childish!

Hello again!

Life's been awfully busy lately, with very little time for trains, but I have managed to complete and paint the last two of my rake of five FR slate wagons:
I think I read that about one in six of the real wagons were braked, so I though one of mine ought to be - you can see the handle, the brake shoes are on the other side.

All five now await numbering and weathering before they can enter service - at which point I'll have to tidy up the line again and run a slate train...

Cheers,

Andrew.

They look brilliant Andrew, love the Red Oxide one….

All done!

I finished weathering the completed slate wagons last night, so here's a couple of pictures of the whole rake:


I've already got two Binnie ones and a couple of larger 3 ton wagons from PMVR, as well as three wooden bodied WHR wagons, so expect slate train pics soon...

Eventually I'll need to build some proper WHR (ex NWNGR) slate wagons - I'll use the same sort of technique but they'll be trickier because they weren't braced at the corners and had quite distinctive axleguards.

Cheers,

Andrew.

They look really good. Love the way they are all subtley different, just as you'd expect. Looking forward to seeing the complete mixed up rake.