Garden Railway Forum

The water mill beside the PLR is based on the "grist mill" which was originally at Bulkeley. I'd always thought that "grist" was a sort of coarse flour or meal used for animal feed but I've just found out that "grist" actually refers to cereal grain which has been prepared for grinding - hence "grist for the mill". So, it looks like I already have a reason for flour traffic on the PLR.

It never ceases to surprise me just how much ancillary knowledge is needed to run a model railway .......


Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 7:40 am I'd always thought that "grist" was a sort of coarse flour or meal used for animal feed but I've just found out that "grist" actually refers to cereal grain which has been prepared for grinding - hence "grist for the mill".

Many years ago, I ran the QC lab in a flour mill and I can confirm that you are spot on. Most flours are are made from a combination of wheat from various sources blended together and that is called the grist. i.e. Canadian plus French plus English, for example, blended to give specific moisture levels, gluten strengths and other characteristics in the finished flour.

philipy wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:05 am Many years ago, I ran the QC lab in a flour mill and I can confirm that you are spot on. Most flours are are made from a combination of wheat from various sources blended together and that is called the grist. i.e. Canadian plus French plus English, for example, blended to give specific moisture levels, gluten strengths and other characteristics in the finished flour.

I'm 70 years old and still learning ......

Rik

Just a little more progress on this one - wheels, roof, a few initial details, and a coat of primer...

Lots of character in that already.

Afternoon all...

I should be doing festive preparations really, but instead I finished my model of Ffestiniog Van 101, and here it is:


I say "finished", but actually it's not quite - I've got some FR numberplates to fit, but I've temporarily misplaced them, so it will have to enter traffic anonymously for now.

For some reason I can't quite put my finger on I'm not wildly excited about this one, but I think it'll look the part trundling along in a Ffestiniog goods train behind Palmerston, or making up the numbers in a Welsh Highland rake - there's at least one photo of the real thing on the WHR.

I really ought to return to the half-finished carriages now, but I've got a couple of quick (famous last words...) wagon projects I might have a look at first...

Hope all's well out there,

Andrew.

Excellent as usual Andrew. I do like the faded lettering.

I agree, it looks perfectly well to me, you should be pleased with it.

Thanks chaps!

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sat Dec 11, 2021 7:24 pm you should be pleased with it.

Do you know what, I think I am now... I literally took the photo as soon as the paint dried, and I think finishing the model you've spent weeks/months on can often be a bit of an anti-climax. I don't think weathering helps in that regard - it's my preferred state for many of my wagons, but it's odd to "outshop" something that looks like it's sat in a particularly dingy siding for several years!

Anyway, I've now elevated my humble van to the state of art by putting it on the shelf where Grace's finished pottery pieces live, and have enjoyed looking at it as I've pootled about this afternoon...


Cheers all,

Andrew.

That’s really neat — it looks way more plausible than the real one!

Andrew wrote: ↑Sat Dec 11, 2021 8:22 pm .... and I think finishing the model you've spent weeks/months on can often be a bit of an anti-climax.

I know what you mean. I think we generally only see the flaws in our creations which tend to overshadow all the good points but I'd be quite pleased if that van was mine. There's a lot to like about it..

Rik

Morning!

I really shouldn't be starting anything new this close to Christmas, but...

A few months ago I was flicking through my book on the Croesor Tramway, part of which was incorporated into the Welsh Highland Railway. My eye was caught by the little iron open wagons, familiar to 16 millers due to the once-popular Coopercraft kits - I had a couple myself in the early days of my garden railway-ing, I think they were an 18th birthday present from my brother!

I decided the time had come to add some to my line, to add a little variety to slate trains and to reflect a little more of the WHR's quirky history. Unfortunately, Coopercraft stopped producing their kits some years ago due to machine problems, and several weeks of trawling through eBay proved fruitless. When a fellow member asked for some in the Wanted section of the Forum I must confess I thought he had no chance of obtaining them - and then "Steam George" came forward with some to sell! Happily, there were two left over, and they're sitting on the table in front of me as I type - isn't the Forum great?!

As it turns out, the Coopercraft kits seem to be "inspired by" the Croesor wagons rather than an exact scale model, particularly the lower parts, which are clearly based on Ffestiniog slate wagons. I can be a bit of a purist at times, but with these I decided that capturing the flavour of the originals was enough - they're intended as a quick bit of fun rather than a core part of the wagon fleet, and will portray wagons owned by the fictional Clarach quarry that just happen to look a lot like the examples that were found at Croesor...

That said, when I can replicate details from the originals I will, so the first step was to replace the wheels - of the three surviving wagons, two have straight spoked wheels and one has disc wheels, so I swapped the curly spoked examples that came with the models with appropriate Binnie alternatives. I've also added lead strip for extra weight and begun to modify the couplings so that they'll be compatible with my other wagons. Here they are so far:


I haven't entirely decided what order I'm going to carry out the rest of the work in, but at some point I'll add the very unusual brake gear carried by one of the survivors to one of my wagons, including the additional ring that seems to be intended to allow a rope to be used to hold the brakes off:





It looks like the brakes are off in this picture, I think? Would the handle then be moved upwards to apply them - and tied into that position?? Most unusual...

On the 60s/70s photos of the survivors, the lower side of at least one wagon has rusted all the way through (possibly because they were originally preserved on the Ffestiniog, where they were used to hold loco ash), so I'm looking forward to trying to replicate that...

Cheers all,

Andrew.

Unless you had mentioned the differences I doubt I would have looked closely enough to notice, but now I see just how many small, but significant, changes there are. Even the bolts holding the axle-boxes are in the wrong position. It will be interesting to see how you make the alterations.
The lead flashing will make a great difference to the running of such lightweight wagons. When I do something similar I always put the cut pieces between vice jaws to make them perfectly flat. This will give a better appearance and more surface area for adhesive..... Helpful tip?

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:03 am Unless you had mentioned the differences I doubt I would have looked closely enough to notice, but now I see just how many small, but significant, changes there are. Even the bolts holding the axle-boxes are in the wrong position. It will be interesting to see how you make the alterations.

I had the day off today, so spent a fair bit of it working on these. In the end, I've kept the alterations fairly minimal. The perpendicular strip that runs around the lower part of the body is the most noticeable departure from the real thing, but cutting it away wasn't an option because the bodywork below it isn't flush with the rest of it, so I've left it. According to Festipedia, the real things were built for horse haulage and weren't strong enough to be used in long locomotive-hauled trains, so I'm assuming those strips are something to do with strengthening them for use in longer trains...

I did rearrange the axlebox bolts a little, and have also added the distinctive and very basic brake hangers and lever on one of the pair. I'll leave adding the brake shoes and rodding until after I've done the initial painting.

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:03 am The lead flashing will make a great difference to the running of such lightweight wagons. When I do something similar I always put the cut pieces between vice jaws to make them perfectly flat. This will give a better appearance and more surface area for adhesive..... Helpful tip?

Yes, very, thank you! I cut my flashing with tin snips, and the strips roll up like one of those fortune telling fish from a Christmas cracker...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Here's the latest view, with the wagons primed and ready for the next stage. As you can see, the work I've undertaken was relatively minimal:




Progress is likely to slow now, but the project feels like it's off to a good start...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Hi all,

I finished the Coopercraft Croesor slate wagons just before Christmas, haven't given them a test run yet, but I did take them outside for a quick photograph.

Here's a "Before" picture:


And here they are "after":


All good rusty fun - I was pleased with how the rather rustic brake gear turned out on the black one. The lettering is in the style of the "Parc & Croesor" wording on the originals but represents the fictional Clarach Quarry instead.

Cheers all,

Andrew.

Now those are impressive... superb weathering.

Hello!

I find myself unexpectedly working from home today, so took advantage of that by seizing the opportunity to take a quick snap of my latest project.

It's intended to become a Welsh Highland slate wagon - that's the conventional "crate" type, the WHR also used simple open wagons for slate traffic. There were a number of different designs, but only one (unusual) type has been drawn, and few photos exist. Mine will be a composite design based on those photos, with typical WHR features, most notably an iron body on a wooden chassis, and a lack of bracing on the corners - I'll dig out a photo at some point.

My idea is to build this around a cheap flat wagon kit, for speed and reliable running, and because in the absence of drawings no-one can tell me it's wrong! I opted for the Phil Sharples kit, and so far I've opened up the slots for the solebars to accommodate larger wheels, cut down the bufferbeams to made curved buffer/couplings, and hacked the original dummy solebars around and glued them on to thicken the frame. I've also stained the deck and coated everything in MDF sealer. Here's what it looks like so far:


If the whole project works I plan to build another 4 or 5 of these, so I might see if it's possible (and cost-effective) for Phil to cut the parts to incorporate the modifications I've made, and to supply them with larger wheels - he's happily done the latter for me before.

The next step will be to tidy up the chassis and add dummy axleguards, then I'll need to tackle the ironwork, which is where the whole thing might fall apart, literally.

In other exciting wagon news, the number plates for my FR van turned up - naturally they were sitting in a drawer I'd already checked three times, but I didn't spot them until I went looking for something else. I might weather them a little to match the rest of the van, but I'm very pleased with how they finish the whole thing off, thanks Philip!


Cheers all,

Andrew.

That van looks a treat Andrew. You ought to tone the plates down a bit to match the rest of the ironwork though.

Afternoon all!

A little progress to report on the prototype WHR slate wagon, which has now reached the stage of looking like rather a smart little flat wagon:


I took it for a test run up the line this morning, and all seems well - the weight under the floor no doubt helps. These small, light, wagons are always a little track-shy, but it seemed perfectly happy being pushed through the points etc.


I'll head off to the model shop one day this week to purchase some plastic strip for the body, but first I'll need to measure up and maybe make some drawings to determine exactly what I'll need.

Cheers,

Andrew