On my bench this afternoon were these three new high-capacity loco coal wagons. Now hardening off before I tidy them up and add detail, they're to be used for transporting loco coal up the the shed at Tawel-Llety and around the yard from the exchange siding to the loco shed at Llanmynach.
Well done David. Nice to see that the L&TR C&W workshop is in action again!
Mick
Greetings again. An afternoon spent in the L&TR Carriage & Wagon dept and this is the result. Strapping by Kenline, hinges are Slater's 20thou rod and the 'T' irons on the wagon ends are from Eileen's. Easy to cut if you're careful. I rotated the head of my bench vice 90 degrees and clamped a miniature hand vice in that. I then clamped the 'T' section in the hand vice. It's fairly easy to cut the very fine brass using a fretsaw with the teeth cutting TOWARDS you using VERY gentle downstrokes. Handbrake levers and solid brass solebars awaited; then it's on to the painting!
Can anyone spot the problem the Railway will have with those drop-down doors?
Not a problem if they are being unloaded on a raised dock - something like the NER coal drops but for side discharge rather than bottom discharge, Pentewan Harbour would be another inspiration.
Perhaps the easier solution (i.e. not rebuilding the L&TR coal facilities) would be to move the horizontal microstrip 'catch' down a couple of planks to have a drop door with partially fixed side (you may need some wrap round corner plates to hold the ends of the fixed planks in place), much like the Glyn Valley Tramway opens...
Well spotted that man! Shame I didn't see it before I committed to the height of the sides! And to think I nearly made them 2mm lower, which would have been ok! Ah well! The only excuse I can offer is that the doors only need to go horizontal because they're for replenishing the loco coaling stage at Tawel-Llety. One day I might rebuild the stage at Llanmynach properly but I know how solidly I fixed it into place with rail buried deeply into the board!
Had to phone Eileen's Emporium for some more square brass bar to use as solebars on the coal wagons and the new flat wagons. Ordered them Wednesday and they arrived Thursday. Excellent service! - I fitted them all last night!
Eileen's Emporium: www.eileensemporium.com
01531 828 009, Unit 19, 12 Highnam Business Centre, Newent Road, Gloucester, GL2 8DN. (Usual Disclaimer...)
Following my previous post, herewith a couple of photos of one coal wagon with the new solid brass solebars and the underside of a coal wagon and one of the flats, each with solid brass solebars. Excellent for getting a bit of weight and a low centre of gravity. There's still room for some brass or lead between all the brake gear as well.
Looking good, David. The solid brass is just like a wooden solebar.
I wonder about the coupling fitting. It looks like a Peco N gauge one with an 009 coupling fitted in. As you know I only use the N gauge variety.
Thanks Ted - I wish I'd used solid brass solebars when I built the original rolling stock back in 1982 (or '83 - can't remember!) instead of Plastrut H section on its side. In those days of course I was still using Egger and Joueff locos and they couldn't pull the oil slick off a pond so I tried to make the rolling stock as light as possible. These days I've learnt so much useful stuff professionally which I can apply to the model and miniature world. One of the most important lessons I think, is that heavy rolling stock which runs well is far better than light rolling stock which doesn't! (I shan't go into the theory and practice of coning, cant, steerable bogies or wheel-rail interaction here. If people tell me they have trouble getting to sleep I'll write a ten-page dissertation for the News... ::)) I would have done more on them yesterday but a late set at Pizza Express Jazz Club in Dean Street on Friday and crawling into bed at 0130 Saturday morning had an effect which I'd begun to notice by yesterday afternoon!! :D Well worth it though - fantastic evening!
I digress...
As for the couplers, spot-on Ted. When I started out I was guided by what I knew with EggerBahn, the Mike's Models rolling stock, the GEM loco kits and the availability of the Peco couplings. This time round I had in stock a whole load of the wonderful Greenwich couplings (usual disclaimer...) because I'd had so much success with them on the Buccabury stock. Now sadly the Greenwich coupling cannot be fitted to my existing rolling stock (trust me, I've tried!) due to the design, which was tailoured to the Peco coupling. The first sheep wagon I built was fitted with a Greenwich but unfortunately I discovered during trials that it didn't like working with my existing Peco couplings, so I'm back with Peco! There's nothing wrong with that of course, so long as they work together and that's the important thing especially if, like me, you enjoy running a proper railway which runs a service and shunts trains! Unfortunately the drop on the loop has been re-engineered and to get the new couplings to mate with the existing rolling stock and loco couplings this drop is worryingly close to rail level. I've had problems in the past with the loop catching the rain head on points and I'm expecting at least six months of running-in during which time I shall no doubt be cutting out some, many or even most of the Peco wires and replacing them with my own as I've had to do a few times in the past. If I were to start again with the knowledge I now have, I'd undoubtedly be using standard N gauge couplings. They're unobtrusive and reliable. Am I right in thinking that Mick also uses N gauge couplings?
Quote from: Tigger on January 08, 2012, 09:57
If I were to start again with the knowledge I now have, I'd undoubtedly be using standard N gauge couplings. They're unobtrusive and reliable. Am I right in thinking that Mick also uses N gauge couplings?
Yes!
I made the decision to stick with N couplings around 25 or more years ago when I first met Dave Scott and his Chelthwaite & Beccadale. As we were following similar 009 freelance approaches and using N gauge chassis as the basis for nearly all stock building, I followed his experienced and sage opinion that "what is the point of paying good money for a chassis that has couplings already on it that work fine and then paying more money and investing more time in ripping the couplings out and replacing them with expensive couplings that do not always work as well" (Back then, nearly everyone was using Bemo and Liliput as coupling sources). As he had a very successful and popular exhibition layout then that was good enough for me!
A couple of years later I met Ted who was following the same philosophy and then when I moved south in '94 I found that Howard Coulson was also using N couplings on a significant proportion of his Eitomo stock with "match trucks" deployed with N coupling on one end and Bemo on t'other to ensure compatability with visiting stock and "proper 009" that he had on his own layout.
Accepted that the N coupling does have some disadvantages but overall I have never regretted my own decision to stick with them. As it is currently taking me years rather than days to even get a rake of 3 new coaches finished, if I had to find couplings for them it would probably add even more years to the build time!
No intention of firing up yet another couplings debate/war, just answering your question!
Mick
Quote from: MickT on January 08, 2012, 11:09
"...No intention of firing up yet another couplings debate/war, just answering your question!
Mick"
Fully understood Mick but I do think I would have been wise to contemplate switching to standard N gauge couplings way back in 1982 when I was only just starting to build dedicated L&TR rolling stock!
RIGHT YOU LOT - LET'S NOT START A COUPLINGS DEBATE PLEASE!!!! :)
Quote from: Tigger on January 08, 2012, 17:19
Quote from: MickT on January 08, 2012, 11:09
"...No intention of firing up yet another couplings debate/war, just answering your question!
Mick"
Fully understood Mick but I do think I would have been wise to contemplate switching to standard N gauge couplings way back in 1982 when I was only just starting to build dedicated L&TR rolling stock!
RIGHT YOU LOT - LET'S NOT START A COUPLINGS DEBATE PLEASE!!!! :)
No, I don't think that's needed - we just said it all. I just wondered! ;)
The latest!
The official ex-works photo of one of the new coal wagons.
As with the other new rolling stock, they only require weathering and then the three new coal wagons can go into service.
Just to re-cap, these were built for the transport of loose loco coal around the yard at Llanmynach but more importantly also for getting loco coal all the way up the line to the mines and to the loco shed at Tawel-Llety.
Hi lads,
Excellent rolling stock threads David, you have made me re-think my approach to my scratch built freelance stock, yours look excellent. I realise that mine appear to ride to high, I've also created coupling mounting problems with creating an overhang. I too use the Peco 009 couplers when I could have stuck with the originals by leaving off the overhang, ah well I'm only here to learn.
Once again great model work David and thanks to yourself and Mick for the"coupling insights". Mike
Many thanks for your comments Mike. These wagons have been weathered since I took the works photos. Beware the low bottom loop of the Peco couplings. They are lower than the ones I was using 30 years ago and on my rolling stock, because I've fitted them fairly low to satisfactorily engage with the loco couplings they tend to catch on the point blades, leading to derailments. I actually expected this to happen so it's not a surprise to me although it's a bit of an embuggerance, to quote Terry Pratchett! Also, the coupling loop itself is slightly more angular than the earlier design and this can lead to a bit of coupler-buffer lock (and derailment) on my 9 inch points. All the three main coupler kits are excellent - Windle, Greenwich and Peco; I've had great success with them all. It's horses for courses and I use Peco now because they're compatible with the Peco I used 30 years ago. And compatibility is very much the secret. And careful set-up, of course!