What's on your workbench?

[The Doc]

I've been making some parcels vans.  Two were converted from very cheap Lima continental style Kronenbourg wagons (probably a fake livery) but spray painted in BR maroon they look a bit like LMS CCT vans.  They just need proper buffers to complete.  In contrast the second picture shows a Chivers Gresley 4 wheel brake coach (also called a pigeon van, I believe), which looks like a very accurate model based on photographs I have seen.  This is a very nice model that goes together very well.  I've noticed that as ready to run wagons have gone up in price significantly in recent years, kit building or adapting second hand models is a cheap alternative.

/media/tinymce_upload/2dca03144d4520a13835d33ca2fda6ac.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/90889e3f2f8e37d2f4f3a44acdb637a9.JPG

[Twintop]

I have been continuing to repair my locos and rolling stock, but with mixed success. Rolling stock has just been a case of cleaning the wheels and oiling the axles, plus renewing couplings. Locos:

Bman Ivatt 2-6-2 Tanks - split chassis. I fitted the new plastic bearings and resoldered wires to the front pony truck. However, both still ran poorly. The reason seems to be that even with the new bearings, the stub axles are loose, the wheel moves sideways and then the coupling rod fouls the valve gear. So, I could see no option but to glue the wheels into the bearings, and am waiting to test run to see if that works on one. On the other engine, I tried tweaking the valve gear and off popped a tiny retaining plate in an awkward place and so that is a very delicate job to tackle another day !  Luckily i found the piece on the layout.   

Not much luck with a Triang 3F 0-6-0 either. I changed this years ago to Romford wheels and added pick ups to 4 of the tender wheels. I can get it to run on the bench but then it stops and shorts out. I must have spent 2 hours today, checking and testing it, but it repeatedly worked fine, then started to short again. Will have to have a fresh look another day. No doubt it will be something simple that is straing right at me.    

 

Better news with my Triang Brush Type 2 D5572 in green - 1965 vintage. Cleaned that up and added new metal wheels to the non-powered bogie. It runs quite well even on Peco track with just a slight hesitation over points.

 

I also acquired a later Hornby D5572 also in green, with the pickups on 2 wheels on the unpowered bogie, 2 years ago as a non runner.  That was easy to fix, the nut on top of the power bogie was the wrong way round. A good clean and oil including removeing a 6 inch length of cotton from around a worm gear and that runs even better through the points. 

 

Not quite as good is my Triang EE type 3 in green. Same power bogie, but that does not run as well even after a good clean and oil. I might try a new armature in that one, I bought some spares maybe 20 years ago, but I suspect it needs extra pick-ups on metal wheels on the non powered bogie.  

 

The Bman class 46 D193 is still slipping to a halt, and I have not been brave enough to unsolder wires to get the chassis block off so I can se where the problem is. It will have to be done as I have nothing to lose. I am only end up with a non-runner and that is what I have at the moment. 

 

All good fun, but frustrating at times ! 

 

So - whilst I have enjoyed my renovations, success has been mixed

 

  

    

 

[Twintop]

I have managed to dismantle the Bmann  class 46 and can now see that a plastic bearing/housing that a driveshaft locates into is cracked and so is unlikely to be gripping the shaft as tightly as it should. 

 

I "opened up" the crack and have run glue into the crack and am leaving it overnight to set. I have written to Bachmann to see if the part is available. 

 

I did not remove the chassis block. Two screws holding the circuit board can be removed and the circuit board can then be moved to one side and you can then see to get to the driveshaft. You can also drop the bogie down for more access by removing a screw on the top.   

 

One Ivatt 2-6-2T is now running very well, but the other is still wobbly despite new axle bearings, so I suspect the valve gear is distorted.

 

Today I have cleaned and oiled two Bacmann class 20s and found the body retaining screws on one that I had "lost" - they were stuck by magnetism to the side of the motor ! Also replaced a coupling on one. 

 

Hornby Clan McLeod 72008 has also been cleaned and oiled and a tender buffer glued back on.

 

On the layout, I have been troube shooting the wiring as I moved the control panel about 2 inches so I could raise it to over vertical for access to the myriad of wired to the switches. Some of the wires were this too short and became detached and I have been a good while fastening them back on.

 

Also having issues with the point motors. The CDU won't throw a pair of points simultaneously anymore, and whilt it could be linked with my wiring issues, I think it is the CDU - it is after all maybe 30 years old - as when isolating the wiring and just running wires to the pair of point motors, they still only throw together one way. 

 

So, lots of fun lately on the trains. I really enjoy it, but it equally can be frustrating at times.   

[96RAF]

Not so much on the workbench as providing the workbench.

 

In readiness for a project, space has been negotiated in the spare room for a layout and four locos have been prepped and allocated to the test roster. 2 x DC and 2 x DCC. The tables are lashed together and covered with a double layer of 5mm laminate flooring underlay to allow the track and point motors to be pinned down. A project file has been raised.

/media/tinymce_upload/d989a422d9c63910bc31932c2fde7a02.JPG

 

Following up from a link in another post I bought these 12v motors, 5 for £15+ Including P&P from China and they arrived within a month. They run smooth on DC, but they are yet to be tried with a decoder.

/media/tinymce_upload/2a4689bfbd10546b6c20445b20a4fc20.JPG

 

One of them has been used to replace the seized motor in ESU test rig #3 below. The rest will go into spares pending a loco motor falling over.

The picture is deliberately slightly fuzzy in places to protect the project - that’s my excuse anyway. The rigs will be used for module testing pending the layout being built.

/media/tinymce_upload/76ca3ddbdfbc837c29534ce0a2ca64fd.jpg

 

That’s all I can say about the job.

[The Doc]

Two contrasting approaches to rolling stock.  I like a variety of different vans in a freight train, and so I built up this very nice Chivers Gresley 4 wheel parcels/brake coach (also called a pigeon van):

 

/media/tinymce_upload/09f5dd16e3414009d12d34ced4c74643.JPG

In contrast to this highly detailed kit (very nice to build - all pieces fitting well), I adapted a couple of Lima continental vans (that cost very little in an ebay job lot), that I thought looked quite realistic apart from the buffers.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/362fc9089bb75b3bbb687ba4e0bdcd06.JPG

All three wagons were spray painted in Halfords Ford Burgundy Red (close to BR maroon) and have Modelmaster decals, followed by a coating of Halfords Matt Lacquer.

[Twintop]

It was the CDU at fault, not enough oomph to throw a pair of points. A new CDU for £8.50 from a local retailer has the points throwing correctly again. Can't complain at circa 30 years service from the old CDU.

 

The manufacturers website also lists an item that will allow LEDs to record the route set, so I am thinking about trying one of those for the control panel, as I have always wished I could have that facility.   

 

I have also been modifying a PECO point as an experiment. I often have trouble with the small metal pieces that are under the point blades that then engage under the rail to make contact. These often seem to fail, not surprisingly really as the point motors fairly thump the blades across. 

 

I had a point out to see why trains were de-railing and it turned out to be fluff not letting the blades throw fully. I took the opportunity to solder wires from the rails to the fixed part of the point blades as there are convenient gaps in the plastic sleeper base underneath. Both tracks are of course now live, but no problem with my cab control layout, and I am certain I will have cured the issue.      

[81F]

 Just fitted a Chp to a Hornby class 29. Tomorrow I will probably do the same for one of my Hymeks (if not both) as they have the same ringfield unit now I havei eventually worked out to isolate the motor

[atom3624]

Didn't actually arrive at 'the bench' - a dirty, cluttered work area ...

 

Steam has been restarting on the main line, including 2 of my big favourites - Britannia and Royal Scot.

 

I brought Scottie back out of her boxes and had her hauling coaches for a while on 'the test track' - nothing will change for some considerable time unfortunately - children to cater for as a higher priority ...

 

I also have a few rails on a large side table where I normally 'recline' in the living room, and have several locos routinely 'on display' so Scottie was added to the group ... and noticed a coupling rod bolt looked 'a bit large', as in unscrewed - not off.

I was right, and VERY lucky - tightened and 'nipped up' again, she's fine.

 

Al.

[The Doc]

My latest low cost project is making some trees for my layout.  The problem with ready made trees is that they are either very expensive, or cheap but identical (bulk buys off ebay), so I've gone for a different approach.  Here are a few ideas:

 

/media/tinymce_upload/86899adb92143f98a396b30a68bfb0f7.JPG

From left to right:

1. A dried buddleia flower head, first sprayed with cheap hairspray, followed by dark green scatter, then another burst of hairspray.
2. A dried hydrangea flower head.  On its own it might be suitable as a dead tree.
3. A dried sedum lower head.  I'll try the same approach as with the buddleia.
4. Hydrangea flower head covered in lichen - I'm really pleased with the outcome.  A pity my hydrangea only produce three flowers last summer!
5. Another sedum flower head.  Maybe combining several flowerheads might make one decent tree, or used separately to make a copse or hedgerow.

[Twintop]

I am fed up with the seemingly constant rain, but at least it means lots of play time on the railway.

 

I have been re-commissioning the layout, cleaning track and testing the track sections, with a few joints needing soldering. Still a fair bit to do, but passenger and freight services are restored to the low level branch line at last. The high level branch is next on the list. The new CDU is working well and I now realise the old one must have been off colour for a good while as points rarely fail to throw now as they did before. 

 

I have also been cleaning and servicing more locos. I did a Hornby J94 yesterday and it was so simple to disassemble and remove the body and then two screws to take off a weight to get to the motor. In contrast, the Bmann class 08 was quite awkward, but I managed in the end. Next is a Hornby LNER livery Flying Scotsman - from Argos and I think an upgraded railroad version - and a Bmann class 24.

 

[81F]

 The Hymeks are still awaiting chips as the one I was going to use claimed it was only suitable for N and Z gauge locos so I though I should fit it to a Dapol L&Y pug which had been given a low priority for conversion since I do not have any L&Y stock.

 

It is such a nice runner that it is a joy to use and I wish I'd fitted the chip sooner but I will probably have to use it in the Colliery as an Industrial. However, I know some were sold out of service in real life.Its number 19 also fits in very nicely with a gap in my allocated DCC numbers and should be usable with my walkabout I hope to install at the colliery.

[atom3624]

A few weeks ago I purchased a 'new unused' Bachmann split chassis B1 4-6-0 Mayflower.

Presentation-wise it did look as described, but ... it wasn't.

 

After initial oil-up, check over, I powered up ... and wheels fell off - literally!

 

Some of these old 'split chassis' locomotives are fine - I've a few - others just disintegrate, like this one. The driving wheels are steel / alloy, with a plastic isolator separator inbetween each half - not nylon or teflon - and this is what cracks up and breaks.

 

£3.50 replacements received from Bachmann and aligned, glued up and 'gapped', it appears to work.

It's still a work in progress, but at least its running now!

 

Al.

[atom3624]

Mayflower has had the old axles glued up, smoothed down, and ... well, not a lot really! Jamming all of the time.

All was totally dismantled, cleaned up, smoothed down, and Bachmann kindly sent the replacement isolators - at a small fee of course - which I used to reset the drivers again - gapped accordingly B2 14.5mm.

 

Still a few problems, so had to replace the centre drive gear as well - then all started to come together - not super  smooth, but starting. That motor was  worked hard, and sustaining!

 

Eventually things started loosening up, and the locomotive running really quite nicely!

 

I painted the cab relief detail - pipes, regulator, guages to some extent - then the inside of the roof 'off-white', fitted the seats - backs painted green, fitted the crew, made a cab extended platform, painted, glued, and also painted the cab doors I made from plastic sheet I had lying around ... 

 

See the photos:

 

/media/tinymce_upload/829386a3b2b75f745e7552c6c40cbc8a.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/4f247b4e728971b6d78a584f9a191c60.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/1ea85cb4f86d2d89cdd4d5db1079e3a3.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/3a7f2b8ac52aeebc388843fe72c420da.jpg

 

Al.

[atom3624]

Might sort out the draincock pipes this weekend - I've loads of different thickness wire I've used in the past on my Stanier 8F and Black 5.

 

Not a bad looking little locomotive after all!!

 

Al.

[atom3624]

B1 draincocks installed, as original with good downward slope - quite pleased with the locomotive.

 

Deltic lights - alternative 'light pipe' with the black sheath works great - pity I broke a lead on the 'B' end.

 

'A' end - that at the front lights up very well.

 

Just installing lights on a Bachmann Class 40 'disc' model - quite complicated.

It required me to literally hacksaw off 3-4mm of MAZAK off each end to site the light units ... in progress but going well - and I'll be more careful with the wires this time.

 

Al.

[GWR 14xx Tank]

See the photos:

 

"Mayflower" looks absolutely stunning, Al. Fantastic job.

[atom3624]

Thanks.

I was tossing a coin between stumping up for the Hornby one and renumbering / renaming, or the original Bachmann.

 

Must admit, for much 'of the journey' I was wishing I'd done the latter - looking OK now, but running reasonably well - which seems little short of a minor miracle!

 

Al.

[Mac-_-]

Looks really good, i'd say you have nice smile watching her in action  😀.

[Twintop]

I am slowly but surely getting through cleaning and oiling my locos plus any minor repairs needed. I have always had an intermittent screech on my Railroad - Argos version - Flying Scotsman and finally decided to have a better look. I eventually worked out how to remove the body - very simple when you know how - 1 screw and a lug under the cab. I did howver undo about 4 other screws at the rear before I twigged it was the lug that was holding the rear in. One of the screws held in the rear motor housing - so not a wise move to just undo random screws as I did !  

 

Well, FS is transformed - now running super smooth after oiling the motor bearings and gears - wish I had tried years ago. 

 

I also tackled a Hornby J94 and that was very easy to get the body off too, plus have done a Lima 47, BMann class 25 and Jinty recently. 

 

Ther Hornby Fowler 2P is back on the bench though, a traction tyre has come adrift and there are none to be had at Hornby - I registered for a reminder when they come in, but that was close on a year ago ! 

 

On the layout I have recommissioned all my tracks now - I tend to run trains on the main ovals and let the branch lines go "unloved" and also the loco yard and all is working now apart from the Peco turntable which needs a furher look to get power to the tracks.  

 

[GWR 14xx Tank]

 

Ther Hornby Fowler 2P is back on the bench though, a traction tyre has come adrift and there are none to be had at Hornby - I registered for a reminder when they come in, but that was close on a year ago ! 

 

I replaced 2 traction tyres a couple of months ago on a Hornby 14xx, but not with actual traction tyres. I did try and buy some from Hornby, but postage was £5, which I thought was ridiculous, and they were out of stock everywhere else.

 

I then rummaged through my box of O Rings and found 2 that were of a similar size to the traction tyres that needed to go on there. 

 

Loco works perfectly with O Rings on instead of traction tyres.

 

Maybe try and replace your traction tyres with O Rings if you can't get them elsewhere?

[81F]

Not really my work bench but computer work station. I have one surplus tender drive 9F Chassis, a Surplus ringfield Patriot tender chassis and a railroad midland compound Fowler tender Body in LMS Black which I might be able to fit to the above tender chassis.

 

My initial plan is to discard the 9Fs pony ttruck and get the loco chassis and tender working together. While I await a 3D test print of a basic body for Big Bertha, the Lickey Incline banking loco. If I can get them to fit together I will then add more detail.

 

However, I am not sure if I will ulitmately use the 9F chassis as it will probably be slightly too long and require modification. If this is the case I might just use the wheels and connecting rods. Also the valve gear is not quite right so I will probably end up trawing the web for some more suitable Hornby spares, although some Fowler 2-6-4T motion looks hopeful especially as I have a set somewhere.

 

If this seems feasible I will probably start a separate topic sepecially as I may need to ask for information.

[atom3624]

Had one last run of the B1 Mayflower which had caused all of the 'problems' - Bachmann split chassis model.

Ran near-perfectly, for 30 minutes' time, then I cooled her down and put her away - nice little locomotive after all!!

 

The Class 40 light installation is excellent - a lot of work but worth the effort.

 

The cab lighting is too bright, so I'm going to try and tint the led's .... hopefully without casualties.

 

Al.

[Twintop]

Thanks for the advice about the O-rings, I will certainly consider that in the future. 

 

In the meantime, I am slowly working through all my locos, cleaning and oiling including taking bodies off where I can - some are quite a challenge - others very straightfoward.

 

I messed up on the Heljan Clayton - inexplicably I pulled off 2 buffers thinking they were holding the body on as per a Lima Class 47 and of course one of the tiny springs and one of the retainers flew off, never to be seen again.  

 

Even a powerful magnet has failed to locate the spring which is high on impossible to see. The magnet is over 40 years old and still has immense magnetic pull which surprises me. However, the lack of sprung buffers is not really a problem - I still cant work out why they are fitted on models in the first place.  I intend to end up with a list of parts I need, then in one fell swoop order a full complement of spares I require - if they are available.   

[atom3624]

Nothing wrong with them, just don't like the principle of tender powered, so I'm selling my tender driven B17 61663 Everton, said to be a B17/4.

 

According to Wiki and others, 61663 was rebuilt into a B17/6 so there's no problem 'adapting' a B17/6 loco driven.

I purchased one at a good price, have replaced the splasher nameplates - R3003 Barnsley - to Everton courtesy of Fox's Transfers, and which includes 2 front  /smokebox door plates.

 

I over-smoothed of the flashing on one, so needed the second, which is placed without problem.

 

Now to change the cab numbers - from 61669 to 61663.

I had ordered a set of cream / yellow cab numbers / smokebox door numbers for my B12 - thinking of renumbering from 61533 to 61572, as preserved (OK, it's 1572 for now).

 

Spare numbers should permit me to renumber Everton, once received.

My preferred paint / numeral remover is very careful application of Brasso - it works very well.

For the numbers, I'll get a small piece, tightly wrapped and hold with my small modelling tweezers ... wish me luck!

 

Should be fun.

 

The B17 is a gem!

Just completed a circuit of 4th radius curves in 4 minutes - without hesitation - super smooth.

 

Al.

[Rana Temporia]

I just got a job lot of Tri-ang 'junk' off eBay for one item. I have one of the Swedish diesels that needed a new motor and there was one of the blue continental tanks in the lot that shared the same chsssis. There were two other locos, a blue Nellie and a Playcraft 040. After 10 mins all three locos were working. They did look corroded around the wheels but that all came away with a fibreglass pencil so I can now fix my Swedish diesel and have some of the spare parts that will keep my other starter set locos going for some time, in particular the driving axle with it's crown gear that often strips. 

I don't need another Nellie or Playcraft loco so need to decide whether to strip for spares or sell on.