Progress with the Balconies

The next challenge was to fit the balcony railings to the ends of the coach in a sturdy manner, so they don't fall off when handled. I also wanted to be able to leave the roofs off until the coaches are painted and glazed, so ideally the railings should be affixed to the body and chassis only. The solution I came up with is shown in the photo below: the

 

The bottom of the corner posts fits into "feet" on the steps, which should appear to be extensions of the end frame of the chassis. The tops of the wire corner posts bend through 90 degrees under the roof, they then bend downward into a piece of plastic fixed into the inside of the coach body. The photo below shows the recesses cut into the underside of the roofs to clear the wire.

 

I'm pleased with how the look with the roof on, and they certainly seem well attached - even at this stage, without glue. I'm still to deal with the spikes, they will be removed and replaced with a plastic strip representing a wooden handrail.

 

Also visible above is my "prototype" step. The original steps were too fragile and long gone, so I need something more sturdy, this "solid" plasticard step (which doesn't show up well in the pictures) is certainly solid, the issue is ensuring sufficient bogie clearance. With some trimming of the end of the bogie and careful position of the points the coach is easily able to negotiate 12" radius Peco points, so it looks like this should work.

 

Coach Balcony Railings

I can't put it off any longer - it's time to have a go at the balcony railings! I think these will be what give the coaches character, and it is important to get them right. They could also be rather delicate, so there is no real option in my mind but to make them from metal.

These are the component parts - the railings from the Scale-Link etch, trimmed as shown, and some brass wire.

 

I figured the only way I am going to get these railings straight and even, and them solder them together without suffering severe burns, was to use a jig. Nothing complex here, just an off-cut of MDF with some thin card (slightly thinner than the wire) stuck on. The wire is laid into each slot up to the stop, a steel rule used to hold it in place, and then it is bent down.

 

With the wire uprights in the slots and held in with blu-tack they are tinned with solder. A little flux paste is applied to the ends of the railings and they are lined up with the marks and uprights, it then just takes a few dabs of a tinned soldering iron to solder it all together.

 

The results I am pleased with - strong, square, and even, and more to the point, I've not gained a single burn. Since I took this picture the excess solder has been filed away, I think they should look quite neat once painted. One thing I have just thought though - spiky railings on a moving coach don't seem a good idea, do they?

 

Coaches back on the workbench

It may not have escaped your notice that this summer has been rather quiet on the modelling front, and the last few posts will give some reasons why! However I have managed to spend a few evenings getting back to the workbench, and the Egger OEG coach conversions. Nothing major to report yet, but I have done a little more work on the underframe, and added some longitudinal seating inside. Not visible here but I have also cut up the one-piece window mouldings from the original coach into pieces that can be fitted around the seats and partitions.

 

I have also been pondering how to tackle the end balconies. Thanks to Bernard Taylor via the NGRM-Online forum I have the fine etches seen below, from a Scale Link railings etch. They have the right feel for elegant balcony railings. I've also obtained some brass wire, already used for adding handrails (seen above) in the existing holes where the plastic gates located. I now have a plan coming together for how I'll make the balconies, but more on that next time...

 

Birthday Presents

To soften the blow of being another year older I was given some lovely presents. Such as this variety of books:

 

Once I have read those, I have a project to do. I've seen a tram conversion of a "Skylark" onto a smooth-running Kato chassis before, and thought "that's a good idea!"

 

Finally, a Model-Rail Sentinel, a superbly detailed model. The observant amongst you will have noticed that despite it's tiny size, the gauge is wrong for my current layouts. Hmm....

 

An Inspirational Train Ride

Today we had a family day out, and as so often the case it involved a train ride. However this train was rather faster than most!

 

 

As you may have guessed the train ride was not the point of the day out, indeed it was a short speedy ride from Ebbsfleet to Stratford, a rather convenient way of getting here:

 

The Olympic Stadium - or in this case, the Paralympic Stadium. Looks rather small from this distance doesn't it?

 

From the inside it looks much bigger, and holds an impressively large crowd! The events taking place were impressive too, with some inspirational competitors. Of course this is not a sports blog so enough of the diversion, so I'll end this post with a picture of the rather impressive flame.

 

Holiday in Wales Part 2: Rheidol and Welshpool

On our third day in Wales, my son was adamant he wanted to go on a steam train again. With the Mrs happy to have a quiet day, and my daughter needing a quiet day (partying until 9pm takes it's toll on a 3-year-old), I was encouraged to take him to the nearest railway....

...which happened to be the Vale of Rheidol. I'd never visited this line from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge before so it was nice to get the opportunity, and I think it is a rather under-rated line, eclipsed by the better known railways further North. The powerful GWR-built 2-6-2T locos, based on the Davies & Metcalf locos that went before them, are beautifully turned out and attractive, despite their somewhat brutal appearance.

Interestingly the VoR is not really a preserved line, although it has changed hands several times it has never closed. British Rail continued to operate it until 1989, since when it has been privately owned and commercially operated - there are no volunteers, but it is a very professional tourist attraction. Not just the locos, but the carriages and stations are in excellent condition, and a new engine shed/workshop is under construction.

The upper half of the line is mostly on a 1 in 50 grade, which means that with a full train such as this, the loco is really having to work. (Although the VoR is not so famous amongst enthusiasts, the trains were at least as full if not more crowded than any of the lines we visited that week). At the top of the line Devil's Bridge station looks like it was designed to be modelled, an idyllic spot.

The next day we didn't visit a steam railway. Although we did take the Funicular railway up the cliff, which gave some spectacular views (as you can see by now the weather was unusually summery for this summer!), and some jolly nice ice-creams at the top!

Now as it happens the sat-nav plotted a route home that passed both Welshpool and Llanfair. Of course this was too good an opportunity to miss, so an early start on our last day saw us catching the first train of the day from Llanfair on the W&L.

Countess is another GWR engine that is far from typical! Along with "sister" loco The Earl, it was built by Beyer-Peacock, but the GWR couldn't resist adding Swindon-trademark safety valves and chimney. The W&L and VoR were built around the same time and have many similarities, but feel quite different. The modern W&L is very much the product of dedicated volunteers.

The line has quite sever gradients, including stretches at 1 in 30. The Hungarian coach we were travelling in had a rather useful balcony - a great place to watch the loco (and crew) working hard!

It wasn't planned that way, but visiting 4 narrow-gauge steam railways (and a funicular) in the space of 5 days made me a very happy man!

Just in case you want to see more pictures, click the picture below...

Wales Holiday August 2012

A Holiday in Wales: Festiniog and Talyllyn

After visiting my family in Cheshire last weekend we headed over to Wales for a few days. By remarkable coincidence the route to our caravan park passed through Blaenau Ffestiniog! OK, I'll admit this was planned - I'm a member of the Festiniog Railway Society although it must be 15 years since I actually did any volunteering, and only manage to visit the line about every three years these days. 

We started from Blaenau, as it suited our route best and parking is easier (particularly with a roof-box exceeding the height limits at Porthmadog). Our train was hauled by double-Fairlie Merddyn Emrys, but at Tan-Y-Grisiau we passed Lyd on an up train, making for a rather nice photo.

I've not visited the Talyllyn Railway for many years, but I've always had a soft spot for it since reading Boyd's book on the pre-preservation days of the line - indeed this was one of my inspirations for Narrow Gauge.  Here's Talyllyn running around our train at Nant Gwernol. The cheesy grins in the Corris coach are my family, having enjoyed a ride up the line right behind the loco.

Passing Dolgoch at Pendre.

On the way back to the holiday park we passed through Corris (we'd travelled from Abergynolwyn), sadly there was no time to visit the museum and short line but I spied a wisp of  smoke over a hedge. So I pulled over and took a snap of TR No3 Sir Haydn, and the Corris Kerr-Stuart replica.

A nice couple of days on the narrow gauge, and fortunately it seems the kids like steam trains. In fact at Towyn my 5-year old son ran off up the platform with his Fisher-Price camera. My wife shouted after him to ask where he was going, "I'm going to take a picture of the engine" he shouted back...

Good lad.