Garden Railway Forum

My latest project is to create models of every type of goods stock which ran on the Southwold Railway. The 3D printer is a great help because the majority of stock was manufactured by the same company and so there's some commonality of parts though, of course, the wagons got modified over the years.

Here's where I'm up to .....

The Short wb van .
The Four plank Open .
The Three plank open .
The two-plank open .
And the flat wagon .
And here they all are together. .
I'm working on the remaining wagons. The long wheelbase van is presently on the printer and then I'll have a go at the short wheelbase 3-plank open and then ...... ta dah!! ..... the six-wheel Cleminson open!

Looks like I'm going to have to stock up with Halfords grey primer!

Rik

Brilliant ! The photo looks like they grow from right to left.
They sure are nice looking prototypes to start with.
BTW what is the actual wheelbase of them?

Well they look just the part, amazing work there Rik Any chance of the stl files going in the download section?

gregh wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:00 am Brilliant ! The photo looks like they grow from right to left.
They sure are nice looking prototypes to start with.
BTW what is the actual wheelbase of them?

Thanks Greg.
The van's wheelbase is 5ft, the other stock's is 5ft 6in and the long wheelbase van I'm presently printing is 6ft. There are some swb open wagons still to do and then the six wheelers will have an overall wheelbase of 15ft 6in.

Rik

-steves- wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 7:50 am Well they look just the part, amazing work there Rik Any chance of the stl files going in the download section?

Hi Steve
Certainly will. I'm just tweaking the drawings. I find, after I've constructed each one, I have to go back and make a few amendments. Sometimes it's because I got the measurements wrong and sometimes what I think will work on screen doesn't quite work in practice.

I'm going to try applying some sort of watermark to them as well, so I can keep track if they go astray.

Rik

Same as I do Rik, takes a few attempts to sort the finer details. Not sure what printer you printed those with but particularly the 4 plank wagon has come out superb.

I will also be uploading something to our download site soon. I am currently working on a W&L bolster wagon as I have one Accucraft one, but could not source another anywhere as they were generally bought in pairs, I got this one in a job lot from eBay years ago. Only thing is they are huge compared to most things, but I dare say it is true to scale.

It's no where near perfect, but I figure if I print two, then at least I will have a matching pair, the only thing being I will be in the same position of having one bolster wagon spare, lol Yes the painted one is an Accucraft one and not my design, lol.

It's not finished yet with the CAD work, but once it gets there I will happily add it up too. I will post some more pictures up when I have a painted and near complete one, but that won't be this side of Christmas I wouldn't have thought.

I was lucky enough to have a number of spare Accucraft wheels and axle hangers which I also bought from eBay many years ago

How can you do watermarks without giving the stl file away for free by uploading it online at some site or another?

Those are great Rik, really lovely representations of really lovely prototypes. I'm hard pressed to work out which is my favourite, but I've always had a soft spot for wagons with curved ends...

Andrew.

Those are looking good, Steve.

-steves- wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 11:34 am How can you do watermarks without giving the stl file away for free by uploading it online at some site or another?

Not sure. I'm wondering whether to embed some lettering into each part somehow. It won't stop someone determined enough to erase them but it might prevent someone just downloading and then reposting them elsewhere without acknowledging the source.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:59 pm Not sure. I'm wondering whether to embed some lettering into each part somehow. It won't stop someone determined enough to erase them but it might prevent someone just downloading and then reposting them elsewhere without acknowledging the source.

If you produce a "Peckforton Works" plate I'll print it out and add it to my short van make!

ge_rik wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:59 pm

-steves- wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 11:34 am How can you do watermarks without giving the stl file away for free by uploading it online at some site or another?

Not sure. I'm wondering whether to embed some lettering into each part somehow.

Thats what I was thinking of doing when we discussed setting this up. Should be fairly simple to just apply some suitable 3-d lettering either raised or debossed 0.5mm on an undersurface where it won't be seen on the finished item.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:29 pm My latest project is to create models of every type of goods stock which ran on the Southwold Railway.

The models have come up well, especially the bodywork prints from the new printer.

I was wondering how long it would take for this to happen. You do of course realise that they are like potato chips, you can't stop at just one. It won't be long before you can run a Southwold session on the PLR..........

Regards,
Graeme

ps. I just checked the wheelbases, my standard pass car bogie is almost that long. I hadn't realised just how small the Southwold rolling stock was.

GTB wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:40 am

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:29 pm My latest project is to create models of every type of goods stock which ran on the Southwold Railway.

The models have come up well, especially the bodywork prints from the new printer.

I was wondering how long it would take for this to happen. You do of course realise that they are like potato chips, you can't stop at just one. It won't be long before you can run a Southwold session on the PLR..........

Regards,
Graeme

ps. I just checked the wheelbases, my standard pass car bogie is almost that long. I hadn't realised just how small the Southwold rolling stock was.

Thanks Graeme
With the curves on my railway, short wheelbases are the order of the day - which is probably why I'm struggling with the 6-wheeler.

Rik

Rik,
I wonder whether you have seen this?.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygtjCLh4YBs&t=8s

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:25 pm Rik,
I wonder whether you have seen this?.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygtjCLh4YBs&t=8s

Thanks for that Peter

I have seen it but it's been ages since I last watched it. Great viewing it as I munched my breakfast.....

Rik

Rik, here's another Southwold video showing original b/w film and more recent garden railway footage. One interesting feature is the modification of the carriages to bogies rather than Cleminson 6 wheelers, possibly because of the same issues you have found yourself.
A good story completely ruined by loud and inappropriate background music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKZOFd3oez8

That is my railway featured. I do have some Cleminson wheel bases for the 6-wheel trucks but they're too unreliable for regualr runing so I went for the more pragmatic solution of having bogies. Life is too short! Sorry about the music - Mark Found put that together and it probably is a bit loud but, to be fair, it is me playing and a Suffolk tune. Glad you liked the story though.

Hi Stephen and welcome to the Forum. As previously mentioned I did enjoy the video and love your line. I'm sorry about the reference to the loud music but I can see it was Mark who added that. On my laptop I frequently experience loud music on TV video productions, so perhaps that explains it?
When was the video made and do you still have the railway?

Not sure of the year (circa 2006?) but I know it was the Sunday after England had won a World Cup match. We both had hangovers...
Yes, the line still exists and runs, it's showing its age but I am working on a slow renovation process. I finished the new church at Wenhaston last Tuesday, put it on a shelf to photograph it and the shelf collapsed. I'm halfway through gluing the church components together again, then to just fill the cracks, repaint and mend that bl**dy shelf! I was looking to get some more stock together soon when I saw these 3D ones so, rather than painstakingly reinvent the wheel, I thought it best to go down this route.
I'm also a borderline-active member of the Halesworth to Southwold Narrow Gauge Railway Trust, working at Blythburgh, Wenhaston and Bird's Folly near Halesworth. I find them more friendly and welcoming that the other lot at Southwold. The shed at Blythburgh has been fully renovated and good relations made with Lord Blois, who owns most of the original trackbed. A good man to know and his anti-railway history is being gradually eased.

Thanks for the background info, Stephen. I've always admired your line - but then I would being a long term fan of the Southwold and a member of 'the other lot' for more years than I can remember (membership no. 25). We now only make occasional trips to Southwold but I do have to get my Southwold fix every few years.

Glad to hear you're also into folk music - I listen but don't play (at least not in public).

Rik