WYAG News 2011

[James Moorhouse]

On Saturday 21st May members of WYAG met at the Network Rail Signalling Training Centre, Doncaster. The event was hosted by Brian Eves, an S&T man by trade, he's also electrical gaffer on Dewsbury Central. The training centre is a stone's throw from Doncaster railway station and its location provides panoramic views across the station and its environs. Two rooms in the building are devoted signalbox simulators: One is a mechanical lever frame working under absolute block conditions; The other an NX type panel (eNtrance eXit) whereby the signaller sets the route by selecting an entry and exit button and the rest, i.e. the switching and locking of points and pulling off of signals, is taken care of by the system. For the most part both the mechanical frame and NX panel are just like the real thing albeit not controlling any trains. The two signalbox simulators are in fact assessment centres for professional signallers. An assessor would sit at the back of the room controlling the simulation via a computer while putting the signaller through his paces. The assessor has the ability instigate all sorts of nasty situations for signallers, and one can imagine how the pressure soon builds up.
Members spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon playing signalman on both simulators. Of course, the mechanical one was the most fun 'cos it had big levers to pull (which incidentally are weighted and really do feel like pulling a real lever) and bells to ring (we had a rulebook handy for all those bell codes).


Photograph kind permission Network Rail
James Dickie gets ready to give 2 on the bell tapper to Wetherall for train entering section. The area is fully track circuited: you can see from the diagram that 2K22 is just passing the intermediate block home signal between Hornby Junction crossing and Wetherall. Lever 5, the only lever pulled, is for the IBH signal: you can just make out the yellow stripe on the lever. Meanwhile Steve Hall sits back having assumed the role of assessor, perhaps contemplating abandoning his layout, Drighlington, and filling his railway room with an even bigger mechanical lever frame than the one here?

[James Moorhouse]

Here is the remainder of the WYAG program of events for 2011:

21st June - The latest developments at Alan Gibson, a talk by Colin Seymour, and running night on Rockingham Pottery.
12th July - Summer outing: Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. An exclusive trip on the diesel railbus and workshop visit.
16th August - Nothing yet planned.
20th September - Running night on Drighlington and Adwalton.
18th October - Project night at Keith Bradbury's home.
15th November - Running night on Hull Town Docks.
20th December - End of year social.

Meetings are held on Tuesdays and start at around 2000. If you are interested in attending any of them, contact details can be found here: http://www.scalefour.org/forum/digests_download.php?f=bluesheet.pdf

I've made a resolution to write a short report about every meeting and post it here; I hope I manage to keep my promise.

[James Moorhouse]

On Tuesday 21st June members of WYAG met at the New Rectory in Badsworth, home of Derek Mathers. The event was split between two locations: half the group was given a talk by Colin Seymour, proprietor of Alan Gibson, at Derek's whilst the other half visited Ian Clark's Rockingham layout at his home. We then swapped places with the other group, so Colin in fact gave his talk twice. The limiting factor was the capacity of Ian Clark's loft (where Rockingham is currently set up on a more or less permanent basis) which only has reasonable room for around six people.
At the start of the evening whilst the whole group was congregated in Derek's front room, Steve Hall took the opportunity to demonstrate a pair of functional block instruments that he had been working on. They were representative of a combined pegging and non-pegging instrument with the repeater indicator above and the pegging handle and associated indicator below. They also had an in-built bell and tapper. If my description is confusing they are very similar to the block instruments on the Hornby Junction Crossing signalbox simulator as pictured in last month's post, although Steve is using coloured LEDs instead of a needle and dial to indicate line blocked, line clear or train on line. Steve explained that he will require eight of these instruments for his layout, Drighlington. It will be interesting to see how his signalmen cope with eight different bells ringing in close proximity; no doubt one's ear soon becomes attuned to one's own bells.
Many of you may be familiar with Ian Clark's Rockingham Pottery layout which has attended many shows, however much work has been done on extending the layout since, although the extension in terms of railway is in the form of a long single line of track meandering round Ian's loft. Operation on Rockingham is strictly one engine in steam and so there is a distinct lack of signalling. Ian's interest lies very much in the scene through which the railway runs rather than the railway itself and this is evident in the many fine architectural models he has built. In reality the Rockingham Works did exist, but were never connected to the railway system, the lines ending at Warren Vale Colliery, about a mile from the pottery. Ian describes the layout as an intricate web of fact and fiction; and told us that as the model gradually progressed in an easterly direction his imagination took over more and more. A few members of the group just had time to run a train into Rockingham and carry out a little shunting, the rest gaining much inspiration from the thoughtfully modelled scenes Ian had created.
Here are a few scenes from Rockingham (photos courtesy Ian Clark):







Colin Seymour's talk was based on the developments at Alan Gibson since he took over the business. It soon became obvious that Colin is a highly experienced engineer, he is also someone with a passion for quality control and continuous improvement. Therefore if anyone had any concerns about the business not being in safe hands, I think they can rest assured that it is. Colin showed us a numbers of samples, these included some items that were still in development and others that had been developed and were now available as products. As an example the Alan Gibson range of wagon and coach buffer housings are now available cast in lost wax brass with holes for buffer shanks, so there is no need to drill the buffer housing out as you did with the whitemetal ones. In fact a lot of items in the Alan Gibson range that were cast in whitemetal are now being cast in lost wax. Colin advised that more improvements were imminent. I don't want to say too much here, but would advise you all to have a look at his stand at exhibitions or check the news page on his website and see for yourself.

[James Moorhouse]

On Tuesday 12th July WYAG members met at Howarth railway station for a special guided tour of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and workshops. Also in attendance were members of the Craven Area Group (unfortunately I didn't manage to arrange a group photo of everyone who came). The K&WVR kindly ran a special service for us after the last public service had run from Keighley to Oxenhope. The tour was conducted on a diesel railbus, of the type built by Waggon & Maschinenbau for BR in 1958.



The railbus proved to be the ideal traction for the tour as we had full view of the line in front. We departed Howarth at 6/30 heading first to Keighley. Since the last public service had finished more than an hour ago and most of the staff, namely signalmen, had gone home operation on the line was strictly a one engine in steam affair. However en route to Keighley we had to stop prior to Damens station to allow the level crossing there to be worked. At Keighley some members inspected the tank wagons and Cowan Sheldon turntable. On our way back we stopped and had a good look around at Ingrow West, Damens (the UK's smallest railway station), Oakworth and then ran express through to Oxenhope. There we visited the exhibition of carriages and engines; whilst most other members were drooling over 5596 Bahamas, I was quite impressed to see a surviving signal from the Mirfield speed signalling scheme (it's really quite amazing what you find at these places). Our tour ended back at Howarth where we had the privilege of a tour of the loco depot and works.
Many thanks to the volunteers at the K&WVR and Dave Carter for organizing a fine evening out.

[James Moorhouse]

On Tuesday 20th September WYAG members met at the home of Steve Hall. Unfortunately we weren't able to operate Drighlington and Adwalton. This was because Steve has recently moved house and consequently his railway room, or should I say cabin, isn't quite ready. So Halifax King Cross was erected in Steve's living room. Some members brought stock along. Dave Carter brought a converted Hornby 350hp. Dave had made his own keeper plate incorporating his own pick-ups. James Dickie also brought his blue class 08, along with some stock to shunt. John Wall brought an Agenoria Hunslet 0-6-0 tank that he had put together quite a few years ago.

James Dickie (on the right) discusses the preparations he's been making for exhibiting Waterloo Street at Scaleforum with Brian and Alastair (on the left). Meanwhile, John Wall's 0-6-0 Hunslet Tank maintains a steady scale 0.25mph on speed step 001.


The King Cross control panel showing Steve's NCE cab and the pentroller it replaces.


In a previous post I had mentioned that Steve had introduced to us his version of a working block instrument. Although intended for Drighlington we tried them out during the operating session on Halifax King Cross. Coloured LEDs represent the needle positions. There is a microswitch on the side which is the bell tapper.

Although Steve has a number of timetables for Halifax that would have made for an intensive operating session, operation on King Cross on Tuesday turned out as a bit of a free for all. Much of Steve's stock was still in boxes due to the house move, members that had brought their own stock along wanted to give them a run and most of us had Scaleforum at the back of our minds.

[frizby]

Aren't phots cruel. Attention of lifting jacks required!

[James Moorhouse]

Our last meeting was project night. This was an opportunity for members to show off what they had been up to in between meetings.
Steve started off by showing us some pictures of his new cabin that will house his layout, Drighlington. The cabin is a wooden structure in his garden. It has been painted in authentic BR north eastern region colours (oriental blue and silver birch), and the exterior finished off with a tangerine totem sign over the door (although such a nameboard never existed at Drighlington).
Steve also brought along his class 101 dmu which had been detailed and modified, including Bill Bedford sprung bogies on the trailer and High Level Lo-riders on the power car, working double scissor Masokits corridor connectors and various other details.

Brian Talbot showed us the progress he's making with his Connoisseur J71 kit. He used a photograph, from Model Railways Illustrated magazine, of a J72 (very similar to a J71) to illustrate the angle iron 'beading' between cab and boiler that he is trying to model. Brian had fretted the strip to the profile of the boiler out of brass, but we discussed methods of bending/forming L profile section.



The chassis has been built compensated as per instructions. Sharman wheels and a High Level gearbox have been used. There was a brief discussion about the need for a torque reaction link, Brian's mentor, John Wall, regarding torque reaction as a fairy tale. Opinion was divided!


Inside the cab. Brian has modelled the splashers from scratch using some scrap nickel silver.

Brian also showed us the LNER works plated that he had bought at a bring and buy. Made by Hobbytime Products (Kent Model Shop) and called "deep engraved loco name & number plates".

Murray Franklin showed us a recent kit he had purchased. This was a Mousa Models (Bill Bedford) kit for a North Staffordshire wagon. The body, sides, ends and floor, including all strapping had been moulded as one piece. Since Bill Bedford had used the 3D printing process to make the master for this kit, there was a discussion about 3D printing and the implications it has on our hobby. It seems many of our members were impressed by the 3D-printed model of an LNER Toad, as seen at Scaleforum on the Mousa Models stand, which included 3D-printed handrails.

Ian Clark introduced his latest architectural model which will be added to the expanding town scene on Rockingham. The Market Hall will be a rare example of kit-bashing on Rockingham; most of Ian's building are scratchbuilt. The model is based on a Kibri kit. Ian really rates the quality of these kits, although he only used parts out of the box to model the front of the Market Hall. The lettering is by Slaters. Ian told us that when he paints his models he firstly uses enamel and then applies acrylics on top. Another member said that enamels should be painted over acrylics because enamel mostly contracts. He based this theory on the fact that artists paint oils onto a canvas that has been primed with an acrylic base.


The Market Hall by Ian Clark.

Dave Carter showed us a model of a L&Y dia.34 coach, or should that be carriage. The kit, as he had purchased it, was by Microrail, but now believed to be sold by David Geen. Designed by Attock, dia.34 was the most numerous carriage in Great Britain with over 800 built. Dave explained how the kit was built as individual components, roof, body and chassis, all held together with 10BA bolts. The bogies are not captive and we talked about how on the prototype this was often the case.
Dave had spoken with L&Y colour guru, Barry Luck, about what paint he should use, told to avoid the Precision L&Y paints and use Humbrol tan, with a bit of black and green, Precision LNWR plum and GN dark chocolate for the ends.


Although of the correct wheelbase, Dave's L&Y all third sits on temporary bogies.

Keith Bradbury showed us a Parkside LMS fish van his granddaughter had built, this featured some rather neat Masokits brake gear. I believe this will be featured in the Snooze in the not too distant future. He also brought out some other examples of Masokits wagon underframes he's built. Unfortunately my shots were a bit out of focus, so no pictures.

My contribution to the evening was a Midland square panelled coach based on the Ratio kit. The moulded roof is yet to go in a warm oven to remedy the warping issue and the panelling needs a bit more attention to get smooth where I have removed grabrails. Eventually Bill Bedford 10ft sprung bogies will be fitted and I will use the supplementary secondary springing kit.
I also brought with me a Perivale Waggon kit for a one plank Gloucester open. Designed by Clive Croome (my modelling hero) these kits are highly detailed and even include the the wagon maker's name spelled out on the brake shoe, quite remarkable for the time (1982?).

[Ealing]

"The moulded roof is yet to go in a warm oven to remedy the warping issue" Be careful James, the roof is liable to warp even more - or worse!

I've found the best way to solve this problem is to make the roof removable by having a length of 2mm studding (Eileen's) soldered through some scrap etch and then through a length of plasticard that sits in the channel in the lower roof. The stud then passes through the coach body (a central lav comp is ideal) and through the floor. By carefully tightening a nut on the protruding stud the roof is drawn down onto the body. HTH.

[James Moorhouse]

Firstly, apologies for the absence of a November meeting report. I did attend and planned to submit to the forum a pictorial survey of Jim Harrison's scratch built GN coaches. Unfortunately since the operating session on Hull Town docks was so well attended I couldn't get anywhere near the layout and was unable to take any pictures! Hopefully Jim's coaches will be the subject of a future post. I can, however, report that the goods yard on Hull Town Docks has been expanded for the ever growing goods traffic being handled there and that a good time was to be had by all who attended.

Our final meeting for 2011 was held at the Ponsby Inn near Leeds. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss next year's WYAG programme. A number of ideas were put forward and various members were 'volunteered' and it looks as though the programme will be a good one. We also had a chance to peruse an early copy of the 2012 Scalefour North Guide, but it's not my place to say too much about that. Group Organizer, Dave Carter, showed us a collet that he had made to hold locomotive wheels/tyres in the lathe for accurate reaming and bushing. He also showed us the boring tool he had made for the job. The rest of the meeting turned out to be an opportunity to put the real railway to rights; the latest 'Northern Hub' and trans-pennine electrification proposals providing us with plenty to talk about.


Dave's collet for holding model locomotive wheels in a lathe


Not the entire cast, (top row, left to right) Keith Bradbury, Jim Pitchford, Derek Mathers, Brian Talbot, Murray Franklin, Dave Carter, (bottom row, left to right) Brian Eves, James Moorhouse, Steve Hall, Ian Clark and Steve Park

[paultownsend]

Group Organizer, Dave Carter, showed us a collet that he had made to hold locomotive wheels/tyres in the lathe for accurate reaming and bushing. He also showed us the boring tool he had made for the job.

That looks a useful tool, especially for the new AG brass wheel kits.
It looks a hard job to make and several required for various wheel sizes.
How does the collett closure work? Is it made of brass?

Any chance of a how to make it description?

[James Moorhouse]

Any chance of a how to make it description?

Here's what Dave said:
The collet was turned from a solid piece of 1 1/8" brass bar, all turning and boring was done before parting off. The internal dia. is the same as loco driving wheel, after parting off three slots were cut with a 0.040" slitting saw, to 6mm from the small end, to give flexibility. The collet was made for a friend who has a small lathe, hence the reduced dia. I use a dial gauge to check for concentricity and have a Pratt Bernard Grip True adjustable 3 jaw chuck to make adjustments if required, although I have not found this necessary.

Hopefully this will be the subject of a more detailed and illustrated article in the Snooze?