The narrowest gauge!

Last week my son and I went on a road-trip. We crossed 5 countries in a day and reached Germany, staying in the town of Wuppertal near Dusseldorf. Outside our hotel in the middle of town a series of girders span the river, supporting this...

This may look like something from a sci-fi movie, but this is a public transport system, the 8-mile long Schwebebahn (or suspension railway) links a series of towns along the river Wupper valley that now form the modern city. It is built mostly over the river itself and opened in 1900, and with a 10-minute service frequency it still carries millions of people a year, having been refurbished a few years ago. 

This is a true monorail. The carriages hang from bogies with two double-flanged wheels in line, running on a single rail on top of the massive longitudinal girders. The electric drive motors are seen on the sides of the bogies, which seem to pick up power from conductor rail(s), but there are no lateral stabilising wheels/rails. The carriages sway slightly as people board but are remarkably stable. Yes, it was trying to snow...

The trains are very modern and I think quite stylish. The carriages are quite narrow and compact, rather like a narrow-gauge train. Two carriages are connected via a short double-hinged centre section, like a bendy-bus, and have a driver's cab at one end only. Doors are only on one side, with two seats across and an aisle/standing room along the side with the doors, except at the rear of the rear coach where a pair of benches face each other with a full-width end window. 

Stations are of course raised up. The central station is a grand stone-built enclosed affair, and some have been rebuilt in modern glass and steel, while some are wood, possibly original. Platforms are usually wood, with a lower level under the hanging trains - presumably to prevent passengers accidentally falling to their deaths. 

We rode to one end of the line where there is a shed (raised up of course) for storing the trains, this also contains a reversing loop. Our train can just be seen with the rear just inside the entrance (right) door, while the front peeks into view in the exit (left) door. Having only one rail, tight curves are clearly no problem, with the train able to turn 180 degrees pretty much in its own length!

Inside the shed other trains could be seen on straight lines, I couldn't quite work out how the "sidings" were accessed but I presume the straight girder (visible on the right of the entrance or left of the exit) slides in place of a curve. It may even act as a traverser? Anyway, after a few minutes our train returned to the station. 

Riding in the rear gives a fabulous view out of the big window of the massive structures that hold up the trains, and how the line follows the river while passing over roads. One of the wooden stations can be seen here, with a footbridge built under it integrated with the access steps to the platforms. It seems such a lot of infrastructure for such small trains, but I guess the same is true of the underground. 

This is a fascinating line and it is great to see it still running after almost 125 years, used by people going about their daily lives. You can even buy a HO scale model apparently - it's probably just as well I didn't come across that while I was there! 

Toilets!

In the business of the exhibitions over the last couple of months I'd forgotten to highlight an article of mine in the November BRM.

The article covers the build of the least glamorous of station facilities - the toilet! In this case, it's a Dapol 7mm scale laser-cut kit based on the gent's at Chelfham on the Lynton and Barnstaple railway, so has a narrow-gauge connection. 

The laser cut card is a relatively recent medium for model railway kits. The article shows how I assembled and painted it, and added some extra details to bring it to life. 

Tolworth 2024

Last weekend I took Loctern Quay to Tolworth. Here's Andrew Bolton operating. Although it hadn't been out for some time it worked well, of course with the new wagons added to the fleet.

It wasn't the only narrow gauge layout. The Wantage Narrow Gauge Tramway (009, Richard Holder) is modelled on Wantage - but narrow gauge rather than standard. The prototype was so narrow gauge in atmosphere that this actually works - with some of the stock of the prototype represented. 

Wisteria Collop (009, Dave Simpson) is an attractive scenic narrow gauge layout. 

Kaninchenbau (H0e, Iain Morrison) is an automated Austrian layout.

Compass Point (009, Chris O'Donoghue) is an old favourite of mine. I love the contrast between the business of the harbour and boatyard...

And the wide open space of the "shingle desert". All this in a relatively small layout. 

There were some excellent standard gauge layouts too. Drws-y-nant (2mm finescale, Nigel Ashton) was next to Loctern Quay. It's a simple but superbly executed model, even with working road vehicles. 

Lochty (EM, Andy Cundick) is a delightfully bleak model of a North British Railway goods branch terminus, with quaint locos and stock.

Northport Quay (David Holman) is a model of the Irish 5' 3" gauge in 7mm scale on 36.45mm gauge. More quirky locos and stock in a well modelled attractive scene, complete with harbour and Clyde Puffer. 

Ropeley (00, Chris Cleveland) is a model of the station on the Watercress Line in Hampshire, which is home to the line's engine shed, workshop, and extensive collection of running and part-restored locos. Having visited the line, the model is convincing and well observed.

Trinity Dock Street Bridge (00, Gavin Rose) portrays Hull docks in an atmospheric, well detailed scene.

A couple of layouts stood out for their unusual approach. Kinmundy (EM, Southampton MRC) is set in winter, with a light dusting of snow/heavy frost. I've seen snowy layouts before, usually Alpine and typically depicting a deep blanket of snow. This has a much more British winter effect that is very convincing - wintery trees, frosty bushes and roofs, even a touch of glitter to add that frosty sparkle. A very convincing result. 

Brief Encounter (00, Model Railway Quest - Dawn Quest) takes a radical approach of depicting a scene entirely in black and white. Yes, this is a colour photo, the model is black and white. It's very cleverly done - when you think about it, it must be really challenging to do effectively and convincingly - but beyond the novelty, I don't really get the attraction!

It was a big show so these are just a selection of the layouts. It seemed well organised and went smoothly, an enjoyable weekend. 

Cars, a motorbike, and preparing Loctern Quay

In the run up to the Uckfield show I thought Hexworthy could do with a few more road vehicles in the car park, I've struggled to find "ordinary" modern or recent vehicles, but I did have a couple of (original) Minis from Oxford Diecast, a relatively timeless model. I'd also been given an RAC motorcycle and sidecar, wrong era for Hexworthy but will look at home at Loctern Quay. 

As with any commercial model they looked far too shiny and clean, too artificial, so the first task was to disassemble the cars. Sadly, these models are riveted rather than screwed together, but I've drilled out the rivets of many of my son's HotWheels so he could modify them...

The paintwork was given a very light rub back with a fibreglass pencil - just to take the edge off the shine. I sprayed the Mini bodies with Testors Dullcote, but for some reason this went a little cloudy (maybe it was too thick, or the air too damp?) - looking like faded paint on the red car, but not so good on the green one. I did another light rub back and brush painted Vallejo acrylic matt varnish which seemed to reduce the cloudiness. 

Next the tyres and window reveals were given a coat of matt off-black enamel. The motorcycle saddle and panniers and parts of the car interiors got some matt dark grey to take away the one-colour look, and metallic silver dry-brushed over the brake levers, exhaust, and other parts of the bike. Finally, an acrylic brown wash was applied, worked into panel lines, and dabbed off with damp kitchen roll. 

The vehicles were reassembled with a little glue to hold them together, and a blob of gloss modge podge on the headlights. They look much more natural now - not dirty or rusty, but not quite clean and less shiny. I do have to be careful how I "park" them though, as the windows reflect the lighting too well!

The RAC motorbike and sidecar also look much more natural, being much less shiny and mono-colour.

Loctern Quay has an exhibition coming up, so has had some prep, such as vacuuming and brushing off any dust. I'd given the harbour water a coat of magic water when I did the river on Hexworthy, and the three new wagons have had cards made up for the shunting puzzle. All locos have been tested, as have couplings on all the wagons, of course what works in testing may not work in the exhibition!

So all is ready for the exhibition this weekend at Tolworth, my third show in four weekends! It looks like being a good show, if you visit do say hello. 

Newhaven/Seaford Show with Hexworthy

Yesterday I took Hexworthy to the Newhaven club show in Seaford. Here's my helper for the day Martin Collins at the controls. 

Set-up now is pretty slick, delayed slightly by someone who'd parked their car so close to the handrail by the entry with the boot open so that entering the building meant squeezing through an 18" gap while ducking under the tailgate! A mysterious short early in the day was thought to be due to a point changing but not switching electrically, and there were a couple of derailments leaving the fiddle yard but fewer than at Uckfield, otherwise all went smoothly. 

This was a small club show with a variety of layouts in different scales. I didn't pick up a program so I can't identify the other layouts, but here are some that caught my eye. 

This N-gauge layout was inspired by the narrow gauge tram/railways around Interlaken in Austria, albeit made using standard gauge Kato track and trams, it reminded me of a childhood holiday in the area. 

This N-gauge model of Banbury was impressive for both its size and its realism. 

This is a 3mm scale Southern Railway layout.

This is the Uckfield school club layout. 

Nice detailing and weathering on this NE region BR era layout. 

The Newhaven club did a good job of looking after us and, while the multi-room venue made it hard to judge, it seemed quite busy so I hope it was a success. Not much of a break now - my next show is next weekend at Tolworth, although for a change this one is with Loctern Quay. 

Fettling Hexworthy between shows

On Saturday I'll be taking Hexworthy to the Newhaven club exhibition (in Seaford). Following the two days at Uckfield there were a few issues I wanted to address to improve running. One was the uncoupling magnet under the bay platform line - this seemed to "grab" at metal wheels of coaches causing jerky running, and the small quarry Hunslets could actually stall. Operationally, the magnet isn't needed as I don't use the bay as a siding, stock remains coupled to the loco, so the obvious solution was to remove the magnet.

The cupboard-catch magnet had been stuck in place through a hole in the foamcore board using hot glue, such that it sits just below the sleepers. Cutting the glue away allowed the magnet to be prised away, but of course this brought some of the ballast with it. 

Fortunately, the little oblongs of ballast were so well set in glue that I could slice them off the magnet intact with a scalpel. Having stuck a piece of card under the sleepers, the ballast blocks could be glued back in place!

There had been occasional derailments exiting the fiddle yard, I think due to misalignment of the traverser. The traverser/turntable deck has a "lip" which passes under the fixed edge to prevent the deck rising up, but I think the fixed deck might have been rising slightly. 

I've added a lower support, the wooden "finger" seen horizontally protruding from the fixed deck under the traversing/turning deck lip. Hopefully this will constrain any vertical movement. I also filed the vee notch in the aluminium arm a little deeper and more symmetrical, and increased the spring tension. Originally I'd been aiming for smooth movement without having to disengage the latch manually, but that wasn't really possible, so now the latch can be disengaged via a single lever I could have a more positive alignment via the deeper V and stronger springing. 

Up top, the alignment of rails was checked, a couple of tracks were adjusted slightly with the soldering iron. A couple of rails were also trimmed back a fraction of a mm, although they cleared the entry tracks fine one of them caught on them at Uckfield, I can only presume due to heat expansion or distortion of the frame. I've also added a switch to isolate the traverser tracks, regardless of position. To access the bay locos draw their coaches back into the fiddle yard, this can happen when all tracks are in use which could be done by moving the traverser to a "between tracks" position so no track was live, but the addition of the switch makes this easier. 

A quick test suggests coaches can be pulled and propelled on and off the traverser, but they could most of the time before, so we'll see if things are more reliable. The latching feels more positive. If you are at the show on Saturday you can see for  yourself - do say hello!

Bachmann Baguley-Drewry 70hp - commissioning

The Bachmann Baguley-Drewry 70hp is a lovely model, and I wanted to use it on works trains for Hexworthy, but my wagons are all fitted with Microtrains couplings and the Bachmann models come with the standard 009 type coupling. I know the Bachmann EZ mate couplings can be swapped in, but while they'll couple to Microtrains, they don't work reliably in uncoupling. 

The large buffer blocks have a big square opening to clear the standard coupling, that is pretty close to the size of the Microtrains draft box which can be accomodated after a few strokes of a file. The model is supplied with alternate buffer blocks without the coupling hole, for which long coupling pins are provided, these look ideal to secure through the centre of the Microtrains draft box. 

However, the back of the coupling fouled against the coupling mount on the chassis block. Four screws release the body and skirt to reveal the chassis block, so I took a file to the coupling mount. It's now nearly flush with the block above, but while the centre screw socket has been flattened it is still intact, so the standard couplings could be refitted. 

The buffer blocks were clipped back in place with a smear of superglue as they pulled off slightly too easily, and would now have to take the strain of the coupling. The Microtrains coupling then fits in place, with a little superglue gel either side and on top (not near the moving parts), and the coupling pin inserted through the top of the block through the centre hole of the coupling. 

While the body was apart I fitted a driver from the Preiser truck drivers set, painted with added high-vis of course. A lever (gearbox?) needed trimming back as it fouled the seat such that no driver could sit there - it was that or amputate his left leg. 

While I didn't want a heavily weathered look, any working loco has a little dirt. I used water soluble oils to make a dark wash for the body, and a mid-brown wash for the frames. This is applied liberally, then a damp brush used to take off the excess - I spend longer removing it than applying it! This allows panels to be largely clean albeit slightly dulled, while emphasising shadows such as panel gaps and grilles. The airbrush was used to give a very light dusting of soot on the top (diesels produce soot too!) and track dust along the lower edges, similar to the coaches. 

Other detail painting included touching in the cab grab handles in black, and dry brushing a hint of rust and gunmetal over the edges of the buffer beam casting, corner steps, and cab steps. These help bring out the detail and provide signs of use. 

I'm pleased with the result, subtle from a distance but more realistic. 

The couplings work perfectly, and the loco looks great with the works trains, adding a splash of colour. 

It makes a good partner to the 90hp (Narrow Planet kit), noticeably shorter of course and with differing details (such as the side grilles), but clearly of the same family and the nicely detailed kit compares well to the RTR model.