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This week we shall have visitors, some image tomfoolery awaits!

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Y1for the Branch

At Model Rail Live this year I was particularly taken by the Y1, so much so that I bought one! It’ll need converting to EM which looks quite straightforward, it’s a pretty simple assembly, and then straight into operating stock, a nice easy win! Heljans Class 16 is very tempting too, so far I’ve resisted. Double click the images for a really good look at the Y1.

As far as the layout goes I’ve had a couple of offers for exhibitions for 2014, which if I can get the weekends, I’ll be doing. There’ll only be a few, and I’m hoping to give the ‘presentation’ of the layout a rework to. Once Albion Yard has had its swan song at Warley in a few weeks and the layout for the DVD I’m working on is complete then I’ll be able to attend to a simple, and clean makeover. Bawdsey will appear in the DVD too, there are some very clever design features to it, which aren’t apparent when the layout is set up, but are huge benefits for the storage and transport. More on those in the DVD and on here in due course.

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Taking Stock

This is the first of three grain wagons for Bawdsey. Built from the Parkside kit, it’s not the easiest of builds. Being one of the earlier kits in the range it is showing its age, but with a bit of work scrubs up well. I’ve yet to add a few more details such as the handrails and refine the end steps.

This is an example of the kit completed to P4 standards on Longcarse West and shows just how well it can turn out. I’m hoping my three will end up a similar quality.

http://waveydaveysmodellingblog.wordpress.com/

This picture was taken at Scalefour North, one of the shows where the layout was exhibited. You can read more on Longcarse West here
 

http://waveydaveysmodellingblog.wordpress.com/

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Postponement Bawdsey at Model Rail Live 2013 at Newark

30th May 2013 Model rail Live 21st 22nd September 2013

Its been a while since there’s been an update on here. I’m pleased to announce we’ve been asked to take Bawdsey to Model Rail Live September 2014 at Newark http://www.modelraillive.co.uk/

The layout is still in its original configuration, however I may change some of the presentation of the layout, raising its height and adding a new backscene. The lighting rig is also showing its age so if the height and backscene are altered it will make sense to swap the lights to a lighter more user friendly set up. Chris Nevard’s latest layout at Railex, Pollbrook Guerney showing just how well good lighting works.
http://nevardmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/railex.html
http://www.railex.org.uk/

In terms of the rolling stock, I prefer three link couplings, however the layout has the facility to use electromagnetic couplings too, and I’ve invested in a few packs of Dingham autocouplers and may try those on some of the stock for hands free operation. New to the roster will be the Railbus seen above, and I may have a couple of steam prototypes if I’m quick enough!
Thank you for reading and we look forward to seeing you at Newark!

http://www.dingham.co.uk/

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Come Fly With Me! ..

You know those days when everything seems to have gone well, and you sit back thinking, ‘the boy done good’, well heres one of those bring you down to earth moments. Looking through the images taken a day or so ago, I found this little gem. Fortunately I’d taken several very similar shots so I don’t have to unpack the trainset again.

I took the opportunity to see how the Hornby Gresley Suburbans looked on the layout too, apart from being a bit too clean, they capture the look and atmosphere of the Suffolk branch line well. When the Thompsons arrive I’ll weather them all together in a batch, to get a uniform finish in terms of overall color and texture. Then I work on the details. More to follow soon.

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The Railbus Arrives

For the first time in well over a year the layout is up and a few of the newer items snapped on it. I’ve put Albion Yard and Bawdsey up together for the first time, and its very interesting to see the differences in approach by Chris Matthewman who built Bawdsey, and how I’ve done Albion Yard. Having said that I have used a very similar structure for Albion Yards supports based on Bawdseys’, after all why re-invent the wheel? The next few items to convert and shoot are the Hornby Gresley Suburbans, and with the Thompson Subs a week or so away (according to my sources) I’ll have a fully authentic coaching stock roster, ready for a photo shoot in the near future.

The reason for the assembling the layout is for a couple of people to see it, my good mate Paul Lunn is over tomorrow and the layout will be an example in the book project we’re working on, and the other visitor is for a potentially very interesting media project to run in the future.

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No Lightweight Connection …

In my previous post I mentioned that I’d got an idea for the Derby lightweights corridor connections. Unfortunately that didn’t work out as the mountings were too wide, full story here http://albionyard.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/108-connections/

However what it did do was spur me on to get the soldering iron out and brush up on rusty skills, so it’s not been wasted effort, see below.

Practise results!

I’m now looking at Masokits range to try their connections for double scissors connections as a suitable replacement. From the improvement with the 108 (see link above), I know the effort will be worth it. I’ve also taken a provisional booking for the layout for the Autumn next year, so I’ve still got a little while to sort the DMU’s out!

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Heljan’s Waggon & Maschinenbau Railbus

In the time honoured ready to run tradition of ‘we never ad it so good’ Heljans Waggon und Maschinenbau railbus has arrived. The unit is packed in Haljans standard sturdy blue box with foam insert and a vacuum formed cradle. The cradle is a one way fit due to the chassis moldings so take care when re-packing it. First impressions are that a) its heavy, and b) it looks like one. Mine runs quietly and well with smooth stopping and starting. I’ve not yet had the top off, not running DCC this isn’t a priority as I don’t need to chip it. The instructions advise that its a 21-pin DCC fitting.

HELJAN 8702 W&M RAILBUS E79963

The quality of the finish is excellent and no blemishes were found on my sample. The only problem with mine is I appear to have an Antipodean Export version.

Antipodean version

I’m hopefull that will be an easy fix to change it to Bawdsey. The glasing throughout the vehicle is clear and well defined, there is very little light refraction through any of the windows, the curved cab windows are exceptional in this regard. Internally the seating is well represented in a light grey molding that includes the cab interior and partition. The cab partition on mine shows a slight distortion on one of the vertical bars but I anticipate that too will be an easy solution. Painting of the seats will give a marked improvement to the overall appearance of the internal components.

As Bawdsey is EM my thoughts are how easy will it be to convert this model. I’m pleased to say that I think this will be one of the easiest conversions to EM and S4. The wheelsets drop out from a gearbox cover held in by three screws.

Heljan Railbus Gearbox Cover

Once the cover is removed the wheelsets drop out, the final drive gear wheel being offset on the axle. The washers hold the axle in its location restricting the lateral movement, and will need to be replaced once new wheels fitted, the gap in the chassis being a width of approx 22.5mm. The pick ups are four simple phosphor bronze wipers bearing on the top of the wheel tread. There may be some value in tweeking these to collect from the rear of the wheel faces reducing the potential of dirt contamination from the wheel treads.

Heljan Railbus Gearbox Cover Removed

I’m sorely tempted to put the layout up and convert this straight away, it just looks right. You’ll note theres no mounting for a tension lock coupling, Heljan noting that as these vehicles ran as single units rather than in trains or with ‘tail traffic’ they’ve supplied the scale screw coupling as standard, which I think is a good touch myself. Also the running lights only show ‘white’ in the forward direction of travel. Theres no red tail light showing, the units were not fitted as such relying on the traditional red oil lamp. Also supplied as extras are a set of steps to fit underneath the doors for low platform or halt access for passengers and crew. If you want to model an East Anglian branch line in the late fifties and early sixties, particularly with diesel motive power, then this really is a golden era.

Heljans Waggon und Maschinenbau Railbus

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Derby Lightweight Arrivals

Bachmann Derby Lightweight

Its been a while since there been a modelling update on here, simply because I’ve been working on other projects and Bawdsey has been placed into storage as there no booked shows for it at the moment. In the next few weeks I’ll be returning to work on some of the new releases which are just arriving in the shops. To date I have one of the Hornby Gresley suburban composites, and am awaiting a couple of others when I’ll work on them together, the biggest change being the conversion to EM gauge. At the end of this month I’m looking forward to the Heljan Waggon und Maschinenbau railbus, these worked in East Anglia and under ‘It’s my train set’ rules I’ll be running one on Bawdsey, though I’ve yet to come across a specific shot of an W&M railbus in the Ipswich area.

However what turned up yesterday was one of the latest releases from Bachmann, the Derby Lightweight DMU suitable for east anglian branchline use. Overall I’m very pleased with the look and finish of the unit. Conversion to EM gauge looks simple enough and I’ll swap the wheel set from the Class 108 DMU currently in use. These are the Branchlines conversion set and are well engineered easy to use and hence well worth the money, the 108 will then be redeployed in OO to work on my current project layout ‘East Dursley’.

There are one or two quick fixes that I’ll make in addition to the EM conversion, the first being to disguise the circuit board visible in the vestibule area. Bawdsey is displayed at normal viewing height so it can be seen relatively easily.

The second change is to look at the way the units are coupled. Both the 105 and 108 units have sprung buffers, this has made it easy to run the DMU’s close coupled and with the corridor connections touching. With the DLW the buffers are fixed so theres no easy way to run the unit close coupled, whilst a litle dissapointing, its not the end of the world. What I will be doing is looking at what after market buffer heads there are available and suitable corridor connections. The outer parts of the buffer stocks are I have already discovered, plastic. This may make it easier to fix sprung buffers, but I won’t know for definite until I get them apart. Overall though its another really good addition for my stock to give an accurate representation of an east anglian branchline in the transition era.

http://branchlines.blogspot.com/2007/01/bachmann-108-wheels.html

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