Hexworthy preparation for Narrow Gauge South

Hexworthy will be at Narrow Gauge South at Eastleigh on Saturday, so I have been carrying out the usual preparations (a quick vacuum) and testing (running all the train combinations I can think of). There were a few minor jobs to do too, including looking at the exhibition fiddle yard following some occasional issues at it's last outing at Chatham last year. 

The probable cause of the occasional derailment or unwanted uncoupling was mismatched rails between the lead track and the traverser.  A couple of rails needed lateral adjustment, but several had a slight change in height. The rails are soldered to PCB strip either side of the join, so adjustment meant applying a soldering iron until the solder melts and holding the rail in the right place (including up slightly where needed) with pliers while it cools. All seems good now, hopefully it will stay that way!

The deck had become stiff to turn, and had started squeaking when turned. The pivot is simply a bolt which had a washer, nut, and locking nut underneath - the lock nut preventing the nut coming undone. When I looked underneath I found the nut had wound itself tighter upward into the wood support, forcing the washer with it - while the locking nut stayed where it was. Here, I've removed the lock nut and the normal nut is about to be removed, but the washer remains embedded about 2-3mm into the timber.

The solution was a bigger washer, and using just the lock nut which shouldn't loosen or tighten. The tightness has been adjusted so the deck spins freely but there's no vertical movement. The old washer remains embedded in the wood - I guess it can act as a bearing!

The end gates for the deck folded down to rest on the rails. The problem is when the deck is slid back and turned, they could catch on the fixed tracks, and the resulting jolt derails most of the stock on the deck unless it is turned very slowly and carefully! The solution is simply a screw (seen centre) acting as a lower stop, holding the gate high enough to clear obstructions when turning. 

I also made an adjustment to the latching arm release mechanism underneath. This pushes the sprung notched aluminium arms (seen lower left in the photo) away from the alignment pegs so the deck can traverse smoothly. I took a photo, but it doesn't really help explain things unless you know what your looking at - so suffice to say the lever doesn't need to be pressed so far to allow smooth deck movement. 

My operating team say that the birds on the canopy are not sufficient to accurately position the train for uncoupling. Something to do with the operating position being four feet away to the end of the layout. In an attempt to make uncoupling easier, I've added tufts of grass. The idea is that with the overscale blue tit in line with the coach roof and the grass by the end of the footboard, together being easier to judge from an acute angle, the coupling should be over the magnet.

The other tuft of grass of course aligns with the robin, the marker for the Microtrains uncoupler magnet. In both cases the trick is to stop beyond the magnet, then set back to the markers to uncouple. We shall see how much the grass tufts help...

Now I just need to pack up for the show. It looks well worth attending if you can - do say hello. 

The Red Lion - A BRM project

Another of my projects features in the May BRM - and is even shown on the cover.

The project uses the Hornby Rose and Crown pub. You might think that a ready-to-plant building leaves little scope for modelling, but there's a lot that can be done to make a model more individual and realistic. I touched up the finish, re-branded signage as the Red Lion, and set it in surroundings including a beer garden, playground, and car park. 

For a simple project, it was a lot of fun, and shows how a little work can really enhance a ready made building. 

Coach upgrades

I've been doing a spot of work on some coaches. Firstly, a couple of older models. The Five79 Dundas Tramway coach was built in 2015 for Awngate, while the Dundas kit for a Vale of Rheidol brake van is even older and also saw service on Awngate. However, having adopted a darker shade of green for the Ashover coaches more recently, I thought these would look better in a matching shade rather than the lighter green used on Awngate. 

I removed the roofs, glazing, and vacuum pipes, and some of the seating from the coach came out too, but didn't strip the existing paint. The Tamyia deep green acrylic paint was brush painted, thinned with a little water to flow well and not dry too quickly, and allowing 3 coats for full opacity without obscuring the detail. The frames were painted off-black, and the window frames picked out in pale brown (a fiddley job but worthwhile). The roofs were sprayed with grey primer, the coach roof was given a covering of masking tape first though I didn't bother on the van since the lamp top was well fixed. 

The pair were then weathered in my usual way: a dirty brown wash over the underframes, a track brown airbrushed over the underframes and just onto the lower edges of the body, and an off-black airbrushed over the roofs and ends. These vehicles retain their Microtrains couplings, and can accompany a pair of the Ashover coaches with which they fit well, to form a longer train of mixed but matching vehicles for Hexworthy. 

This pair of Peco Glyn Valley Tramway coaches are much newer, having been acquired ready-to-run in the last year. I expect they will add to the stock suitable for use with smaller locos, such as quarry Hunslets, on Hexworthy. However, like most RTR stock, they look too clean and plasticky, even for a preserved railway. 

End details of steps, handrails, and brake levers were touched in with off-black, as were the underframes and lamp tops to take away their shiny finish. Foot steps were painted weathered brown, and inside, the seats painted green although this is barely visible through the windows. I had some seated figures left over from previous coaches, so both got a scattering of passengers. 

Weathering follows the same process as the other vehicles, the "soot" being even more effective on the white roofs. Not really visible here, but I've added wire droppers to the couplings to allow magnetic uncoupling. 

WD Hunslet remotoring

Some years ago I built a WD Hunslet using the Langley Models whitemetal kit. I was very happy with how the model came out, but the running was a bit rough and unreliable, so it has never seen much use. It uses a Minitrix N-gauge 2-6-2 chassis, quite an old chassis and although generally robust, the kit required significant modifications including moving the cylinders and motion. I spent some time adjusting the motion and ensuring quartering and gearing were in sync when I built it, yet running was still rough and occasionally the loco stalled without apparent reason.

It was time to do something about it. With the body removed, I removed the motor clips and released the motor from the gearing. This allowed me to check that the chassis rolled freely. The chassis is robustly rather than finely engineered, but rolled easily without any snagging or binding. However, turning the motor over revealed that wasn't so free, with serious cogging, possibly something catching.

Fortunately, Tramfabriek offer a remotoring kit for this chassis. The kit includes a coreless motor, worm, brass flywheel, and 3D printed motor mount. Fitting the upgraded motor is a little fiddly, the most tricky part being soldering the wires. It didn't help the pickup contact on one side of the chassis snapped off, leaving very little to solder to, but the motor contacts are very small too, and I could have done with finer wire (a pity wire wasn't in the kit). My epoxy glue had dried up, but UHU seemed to work. However, the online instructions are excellent, the motor and its mount a perfect fit, placing the worm precisely in mesh with the gear. I had to trim a little of the whitemetal footplate from the inside of the loco body to clear the wires, then the body refitted without issue. 

Even better, it worked straightaway, and the motor upgrade has made a big difference. The loco now runs smoothly and is controllable even down to slow speeds. It is still noisy, due to the coarse brass gearing, and it can be slightly hesitant when setting off from rest. So, perhaps not quite up to the running standard of modern RTR locos, but vastly better than the old motor could manage and easily useable on the layout. I've since been testing it on a rake of coaches; it has plenty of pulling power, and with a controllable crawling speed, coupling and uncoupling is reliable. Finally, this fine loco can be used at exhibitions - expect it to be in service at Narrow Gauge South later this month!

Whittingly - What next?

Since the Rail200 event at the NEC National Festival or Railway Modelling, Whittingly Hospital has lived in its box in the garage. It was always intended to be the basis of an operational layout, not simply a diorama, so it is time to think about the transition. 

As a reminder, this overhead shot shows the layout as built within the Rail200 rules - which limited not just baseboard size, but overall height and the position of the front, disconnected, through track. The buildings were all constructed to fit within the available footprint and height limit. 

So here is Plan A. This was my original concept. The track layout is modified with a left-hand point by the end of the platform connecting the 3-way point to form a crossover, but otherwise the scenic area is unchanged. I would replace the backscene with a taller one, and add a cameo-style lighting pelmet. 

The key changes would be off-stage. To the left, a short extension gives a little more head shunt room beyond the platform canopy, and lengthens the two sidings through the buildings. On the right, a fiddle yard both provides for a change of train and completes a run-round loop with the 3-way point. I'd sketched a turntable yard, though if that doesn't look like it would work a sector plate would do. A train of 2 6-wheel coaches or 3-4 wagons and loco would be 15-18".

In this plan, the Rail200 challenge entry is kept largely unchanged, which minimises the work involved, and there are no board joins in the scenery. The downside is that only about half the layout length is scenic, shunting will go off-stage, and during key movements such as running around the loco can't be seen. 

Plan B is more ambitious. The extension to the left has become scenic, allowing the loco to be seen beyond the station canopy. A second board to the right provides the rest of the run-round loop and a point "on-stage", as well as the off-stage fiddle yard. This means pretty much all operation will be visible, and makes the scenic length around double that of the fiddle yard. 

The downsides are the complexities of extending the existing buildings. The engine shed would be particularly problematic, as sketched it crosses a board join, but the current structure is well fixed down and has an angled rear that is incomplete. I'm not sure how well the scene on the right-hand board works, messing up the balance of the existing scene without really adding to it. There's also an inconvenient backscene join, and it's harder to store. Finally, the resulting layout has lost the connection to the Rail200 challenge by growing well beyond its original size. While technically better, it would be better not starting from the current layout. 

Let me know what you think!

Glyn Valley Tramway Loco Shed.

April's BRM magazine shows another of my projects as a step-by-step guide. This one is is a Dapol laser-cut card kit for a narrow gauge engine shed. 

The prototype for the model was the Glyn Valley Tramway engine shed at Glyn Ceiriog, and still stands and can be seen on google streetview. 

It's a fine kit that makes a nice model. A first for me was using colouring pencils on the brickwork, which has worked really well. I modified assembly to allow the roof to be removed, and sat it on some card to lift it so my Glyn Valley Tram loco fitted through the door. I suspect the prototype was measured from current ground level, which might be equivalent to what was once rail height! 

It's nice to have a building kit that is intended for narrow gauge models. It will hold 3 009 locos, and would suit layouts in many different settings.

Steyning WRG Exhibition 2026

The Wealden Railway Group exhibition in Steyning yesterday was the first external show for the Sussex Downs 009 Group layout, Much Ditheryn. It was at the group's own members' day show last year, and has been to a previous members' day and an Amberley railway gala as an under-construction demonstration. 

The day didn't start well with two electrical issues, traced to loose/broken wires, but fortunately we resolved those quickly. We also had some issues with running as we found locos and stock that struggled with the gradients, curves, and possibly track imperfections, some adjustments may need to be made. However, most troublesome vehicles had been swapped out by soon after opening, and once we got into a rhythm things went well. Although lacking the finishing touches, it looked good and received some nice comments, and set-up and breakdown went well. 

Another new layout I was looking forward to seeing was Chris O'Donoghue's Caravanserai (009), set alongside the Nile in Egypt. It looked great, full of interest and very different!

The WRG show often has a good selection of NG layouts. Simon Hargreaves brought Dead Frog Basin (009), a delightful Inglenook which has been nicely completed and framed in an Ikea APA box since I last saw it. 

Giles Barnabe had built Ashleworth Quay in about 5 weeks. The premise uses "OO" for a 4' gauge line - OOn4 perhaps? It's compact and attractive with a clever backscene that really sets the scene. Sadly, perhaps because of its short development, it suffered from running issues. 

Ian Roberts had yet another 1:32 scale 16.5mm gauge layout, this time an island in the North Sea.

This large scale (SM32?) industrial layout by Les Coleman was "dead rail" (radio control). 

On to the standard gauge. Andrew Knights showed his new O-gauge shunting layout, I guess it's a micro layout in that scale!

London Road Sidings, a very compact shunting layout in OO by Terry Kempton.

A diesel depot (OO) by Tim Farmer.

Sidlow (OO) by Ian Buck

N-gauge tram layout that fits in a motorbike back pack by Mike Potter of Budget Model Railways.

Polbream, a very small but delightful scene in N by Tom Lloyd, featured in April's Model Rail magazine.

As always, a good friendly show with lots of chat.