New Street

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jim s-w
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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Sun Oct 22, 2017 4:39 pm

As you may be aware my friend Phil has taken over the wagon bits and kits side of Colin Criag's useful range and set up Stenson models. Its hoped this will grant Colin more time to develop stuff as well as new things Phil wants to develop himself.
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One of the new bits is this rather handy etch for the HEA steps. Phil has used some good thinking in the design ensuring that the end result has a neat and robust way of actually attaching to the wagon (some purveyors of etched bits take note). The same steps were found on the MEA and MFA wagons too. One down 17 to go!

http://www.stensonmodels.co.uk
http://www.stensonmodels.co.uk/product/hea-mea-mfa-footsteps-sm19d/
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Terry Bendall
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Re: New Street progress

Postby Terry Bendall » Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:05 am

jim s-w wrote:One of the new bits is this rather handy etch for the HEA steps.


I have not used these yet but I have made use of some of the steps designed for the VGA van which are similar and these are very good. The method of fixing to the chassis is particularly effective with two fixing surfaces at right angles which gives increased strength. There was a short review in the last issue of Rail Express.

Although I have known Phil Eames for some years I have no connection with the company other than as a satisfied customer.

Terry Bendall

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jim s-w
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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Sun Jul 22, 2018 3:32 pm

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A long time ago now I started work on 3 motorail coaches for New Street. The motorail train at 15 coaches will be the longest on the layout. The first coach was relatively easy (the blue and grey one in the picture) but the blue ones stalled because I wanted to do the ones that had Mk1 style divided windows. I got as far as drawing up and etch but never got it actually produced. However Brian of Extreme etches has done a set of window frames for the BG coach and these are the same so i can finally tick these 2 off as well. Some standard GUVs had these windows too so ill be doing some of those as well.
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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jim s-w
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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:46 pm

A while ago I modified a Cambrian Turbot kit with a Rumney Models bogie bolster E underframe. ( http://www.p4newstreet.com/going-about-it-all-backwards.html ). Ive finally got around to doing the others too. Here they are on a visit to Brettell Road.

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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Mike Garwood
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Re: New Street progress

Postby Mike Garwood » Fri Sep 14, 2018 3:56 pm

That is exceptionally convincing Jim, lovely work.

Mike

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jim s-w
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Some Steel wagons.

Postby jim s-w » Sat May 16, 2020 8:31 pm

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The diesels have escaped to Brettell Road again. Actually its just a convenient photo background but there you go.

New Street isn't known for its freight operations but there were some services booked through the station on a fairly regular basis. Normally late at night and of those steel traffic was quite common. To that end I have recently finished off a few old Cambrian bogie wagons that have been lurking in my half started box for a while now.

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First up a BDA. When I started this model there was no Stenson Models so sometimes, letting a model live in the half started area for too many years works out as a positive. The little kit for the braking gear lifts the model. I've used Jon Hall etched bogie inserts with the Cambrian bogie sides but if you want better, sprung bogies with nicer sideframes then Stenson models do those too.

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I replaced the supplied bolsters (when i say replaced I actually mean lost!) with microstrip which better suited the wooden ones fitted to the earlier conversions anyway!

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In a not entirely unrealistic scenario, a class 56 heads towards Round Oak.

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BAA also from a Cambrian kit.

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... and a BBA.

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Although my Yorkshire DE02 is part of the Brettell Road fleet they were still very much around in the late 1980s and still in their original wasp livery so this scene isn't implausible either!

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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Re: New Street progress

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun May 17, 2020 9:10 am

Nice work on the wagons Jim. We have some from the same source that are used on Ravenscroft Sidings and need a similar upgrade. That would have been a job to start soon in time for its appearance at Scaleforum this year but we now have lots more time to get the work done. :( :)

Terry Bendall

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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Mon Aug 03, 2020 5:07 pm

One of my earlier DMU conversions was a class 120. Built from Craftsman overlays on a Lima 117 it's done many shows on Moor Street and was probably due a bit of an overhaul.

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I had already rebuilt the underframe to better match the prototype and a few years ago I swapped the bogie side frames for Dapol ones* as they better matched the Swindon design the class ran on.
*the older ones from their trans pennine mode not the newer ones from their bubblecars

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The big thing I wanted to address was the inner ends. When I built the model the inner ends were void of detail and the instructions just said to stick the Lima gangways and exhausts back on. However the class 120 exhausts are somewhat distinctive and look nothing like what Lima supplied. So the ends have been detailed up to better match the real thing.

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As mentioned before I am a fan of the Masokits gangways for DMU's however I don't see a lot of point using them if they are hidden behind the exhausts. So for this model i have use paper bellows and moulded gangways I had in my spares box.

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Jim Smith-Wright

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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:08 pm

The plan for New Street has always been to feature a selection of engineers trains.  The ones I have had in mind are a rake of loaded mainly 4 wheeled hoppers, a rake of loaded bogie hoppers, a rake of loaded grampus style wagons (partially fitted), a rake of empty salmons and a mixed rake of unfitted oddities(also empty).  All of these trains have been started to a degree and most of them many years ago.   However I had an urge to get at lease one of these trains finished off and it was the bogie ballast hoppers that appealed the most.

These have been pretty much done for years with most just needing the hand wheels and safety screens finishing off.

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The oldest model is an old Cambrian kit for a Sealion.  Because this model does look a little different to all the others it will actually form part of the 4 wheel rake so that it doesn't stand out.

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Next up a couple of Lima Sealions.  An excellent model for its time let down only by the odd bogies. Ive replaced them with Cambrian ones.

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The Lima tooling went to Hornby and rather than just stick it in a 'railroad' range box they did actually do some decent upgrades to this model.  Mainly the bogies but also adding the safety screens.  The rest is as Lima designed it with the exception of Hornby moved the end handrails from the top of the platforms to the buffer beams and replaced the inner original handrails (which were plastic) with better wire ones.

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The above image serves to show the changes made. The hand wheels have been replaced with Stenson Models etched ones and the safety screen, while a commendable effort, wasn't fine enough in my eyes. I've used cut down etches from Extreme etches intended for the class 56 bodyside grills. I also replaced the buffer heads with some  from MJT.  The livery Hornby applied to these seem to be a hybrid of the earlier light grey version applied in the later dark grey style. I couldn't find any like this so the lower black band was added.

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Also from Hornby the later welded Seacow.  Again the screens were replaced.  These too had the lighter grey livery so they were resprayed into the darker grey.

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Bachmann have also done a Sealion and theres not a lot wrong with it as it comes. I still changes the screens and hand wheels for consistency throughout the rake.

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The super easy conversion to a lima Sealion is to remove the vacuum cylinders to turn it into a Seacow. Lima did brand some of their RTR models Seacow but they retained the vacuum gear.

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A more involved conversion is to stretch the lima model to produce the larger 50ton Whale. These were started way before the Cambrian Kit appeared although they do now ride on their bogies. Hand wheels are again from Stenson models.

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Although a modest train for New Street its still virtually as long as Brettell Road!
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Tue May 03, 2022 9:08 pm

I may have mentioned before a plan to have a mixed engineers train for New Street. This will be the closest I will get to what could be vaguely referred to as a traditional goods train.  For this I've completed a couple of the good old Airfix brake van kits.
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Pictured above on test on Brettel Road, the bauxite one features roller bearings left over from a Chivers kit and Oleo buffers from Accurascale. The dutch one also has Accurascale buffers (spindle this time) and plated ends. Both feature a new, thinner roof.  Ive retained the original chassis with internal rocking compensation at one end and added the underframe trussing Airfix missed off. Theres an etched underframe option for those who are interested and I can direct you to this thread https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=7863&p=87934&hilit=brake+van+bradwell#p87934 if thats something you fancy having a look at.

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While time travelling engineers trains were 'invading' Brettell Road this 31 appeared!
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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John Donnelly
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Re: New Street progress

Postby John Donnelly » Fri Dec 23, 2022 8:59 pm

I see that the signal box at New Street,so well modelled by Jim, is set to close tomorrow.

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Re: New Street progress

Postby BryanJohnson » Fri Dec 23, 2022 9:17 pm

The closure is covered by the BBC News website:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-64007383
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jim s-w
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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Sat Apr 01, 2023 8:56 am

The 31st of March 2023 turned out to be a very interesting day.

The initial minor disappointment of George, The Stourbridge Junction station cat, being unaccessible for some fuss (he was perched on a filing cabinet at the back of the ticket office having a wash) was quickly tempered by this turning up!

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This wasn't what I was out for mind you.  The main event was a tour of New Street's signal box which you may know has recently been decommissioned.  Network Rail ran a ballot for people to have a look round and having been unsuccessful with that my visit was saved by my friend Tom who had a spare ticket.

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I wasn't expecting to find a lever frame but there is one.  Its located on the third floor which is used for training.

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The fourth floor is a gigantic relay room. It still had that lovely electrical machines smell.

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These are called K packs and each one controls 1 thing outside in the station.  Theres no plug in a laptop and diagnose a problem with these things.  If something goes wrong an engineer would need to use their knowledge of which pack is causing the problem, lift it out and use and the paper schematics that are kept on the same floor to fix it.  All under the pressure of something on the station being shut down and the general (organised) chaos that would ensue. We were told that some of these pack have never been touched since the day they were installed.  About 60 years of reliable service!

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The view from the fifth (top) floor window.  The Building directly ahead is about the only thing thats unchanged since my version of New Street set in the late 80's.  The blue building stands where the original lamp block stood and is still called that.

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Finally the panel.  Who knows how many millions of movements were controlled by this in its lifetime?  All the platforms are bi-directional and all worked via permissive block working.  Everything being safety netted by the relay room downstairs.  We were told it would take a signaller 6 months to become proficient in using the panel although there was one guy who learnt it in 8 weeks.

It genuinely is mind blowing!  Thanks to the Network Rail Staff who looked after us all.
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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Re: New Street progress

Postby Terry Bendall » Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:44 am

jim s-w wrote: It genuinely is mind blowing!


It certainly is Jim. Thanks for sharing the information.

Terry Bendall

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Re: New Street progress

Postby Rod Cameron » Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:37 pm

Nice one Jim :)
Rod

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Re: New Street progress

Postby Tony Wilkins » Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:55 pm

Terry Bendall wrote:
jim s-w wrote: It genuinely is mind blowing!


It certainly is Jim. Thanks for sharing the information.

Terry Bendall

Yes indeed, but how do you reproduce that in miniature!.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

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Re: New Street progress

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:37 pm

Tony Wilkins wrote:Yes indeed, but how do you reproduce that in miniature!.


With difficulty! :) Or perhaps with some clever programmable electronics which would be outside my comfort zone.

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jim s-w
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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Sun Apr 16, 2023 1:48 pm

Tony Wilkins wrote:
Terry Bendall wrote:
jim s-w wrote: It genuinely is mind blowing!


It certainly is Jim. Thanks for sharing the information.

Terry Bendall

Yes indeed, but how do you reproduce that in miniature!.
Regards
Tony.


The plan for mini New Street (should it ever get that far) was just to follow a set sequence. The idea of it being a bit make it up as you go along was too big for my little mind to process. I did start at one point transcribing stuff from one of the station working books into such a sequence but even 1 hour of real movements was an awful lot of moves.

It would have meant I would never have been able to accommodate requests at shows though.
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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jim s-w
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Re: New Street progress

Postby jim s-w » Sun Apr 16, 2023 1:51 pm

I should add that god knows how long it would have taken to test and fine tune it all and a failure on the layout would be an absolute nightmare of a level probably compatible to the real place!
Jim Smith-Wright

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Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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Re: New Street

Postby steve howe » Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:10 pm

I watched this recently on 'Architecture the Railways Built' recording the imminent demise of the New Street control panel and the building itself being Grade2 listed.

How is progress with the miniature New Street Jim?

Steve

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Re: New Street

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Apr 17, 2023 7:46 am

jim s-w wrote:The plan for mini New Street (should it ever get that far) was just to follow a set sequence. The idea of it being a bit make it up as you go along was too big for my little mind to process. I did start at one point transcribing stuff from one of the station working books into such a sequence but even 1 hour of real movements was an awful lot of moves


When the mid Sussex group's layout Pulborough was nearing completion we also had to work out how it would be operated. I described how it is done in the guide to Scaleforum 2009 and this is still available in the archive . Pulborough is of course a much smaller station than New Street but in the period modelled had a lot of interesting moves. Two of the group found a working timetable for the period and the sequence of operations was based on that.

Pulborough is a junction station for the branch to Midhurst so that adds operational interest. We replicate such moves as tail traffic being added and detatched from main line and branch trains, a milk train that started from Pulborough with vans from the Midhurst branch added, empty cattle trains stabled in the down lay by siding which are shunted over to the cattle dock on the up side of the line and quite a lot more all of which happens with DC control.

The sequence of moves was initially shown by diagrams on A4 sheets of paper which showed the position of trains at each stage of the move. This was a lot of paper but was used for a very long time. A few years back we changed to the same system used on Plumpton Green where there is a very brief description of what is done. e.g "Stopping passenger train. Branch engine removes horse boxes from reat of train and adds to rear of branch train." It is then up to the signman to set the road and the driver drives to the working signals. Easier to describe as long as both people understand how railways work and a lot less paper.

Pulborough will be one of several layouts built to P4 standard at Expo EM on May 13th/14th so those interestred in the operation have an opportunity to see the layout in action.

Terry Bendall

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Re: New Street

Postby Enigma » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:50 am

steve howe wrote:I watched this recently on 'Architecture the Railways Built' recording the imminent demise of the New Street control panel and the building itself being Grade2 listed.

How is progress with the miniature New Street Jim?

Steve


It was on again last night. Missed it first time round. Amazing technology for its time.

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Re: New Street progress

Postby kelly » Mon Apr 17, 2023 1:30 pm

Tony Wilkins wrote:
Terry Bendall wrote:
jim s-w wrote: It genuinely is mind blowing!


It certainly is Jim. Thanks for sharing the information.

Terry Bendall

Yes indeed, but how do you reproduce that in miniature!.
Regards
Tony.


With MERG kits and JMRI it would be possible. Obviously it'd be a big and complicated task, but it could be done. The building of the trackwork etc would be an entirely different manner.
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