Tullygrainey

Weather has been exceedingly wet all week so some progress on the narrow gauge Peckett chassis with a few fiddly bits made after a struggle or two. Cylinders cut from 12mm o.d. brass tube and slide bars from 1x1mm square brass bar. The 10BA bolts are for attaching the cylinders to the chassis frames. Usual practice would be to mount the cylinders on a saddle that straddles the chassis. I wasn't confident I could calculate how far apart the cylinders would need to be to get clearance behind the crossheads so I did it this way to allow me to adjust each one individually. Bit of a fiddle. I made crossheads following a method described by Guy Williams ("The 4mm Engine, A Scratchbuilder's Guide", Wild Swan, 1988). He made it sound easy. Ha! (Image courtesy Wild Swan Publications Ltd) It took me two+ attempts and a number of disasters to get something that worked... .. but eventually there emerged a kit of parts... ... and the bones of a working chassis. The rubber band is by way of a temporary restraining order on the motor. IMG_8041.MOV Well, that was more fun than gardening in the rain Alan

Looking good. That's a significant amount of re-working David but undoubtedly worth it. The solidity of everything is very impressive. Your Block Signalling SS2A shuttle unit should work well with the crane. I used one on my narrow gauge layout to control the passenger line along the back. Easy to set up and very reliable in use. It just takes care of itself once it's powered up.

So far, so good. Cylinders will be a whole other story! IMG_8029.MOV

And I thought my project list was long! Suggest you do the weeding whilst you think about arranging the rest in order of priority

Thank you John. Poor weather and nothing much on TV helps Though I suspect designing a kit suitable for others to build is a lengthy business. I would imagine that requires a whole extra level of work compared with a one-off. As mentioned elsewhere, I started on a narrow gauge O:16.5 Peckett for my narrow gauge stone yard layout at the same time as BCDR No.29, getting as far as some rods and chassis frames. However, it got parked when the latter claimed all the bandwidth. Now that 29 is simmering in a siding at Loughan Quay, the little Peckett is calling to me. I used the one at Cultra as my starting point and was able to do a bit of measuring. I'm not aspiring to an accurate copy but something reasonably close which will look at home on the NG layout. The chassis was built in the conventional manner. Rods (2 layers of 15 thou nickel silver) made first, to dimensions taken from the Cultra engine. Chassis frames (15 thou nickel silver) cut as a pair and the rods used to mark and drill the axle holes. Chassis erected with brass Alan Gibson OO spacers. Fixed rear axle and rocking front axle on MJT horn blocks. Drive to the rear axle through the excellent High Level Loadhauler gearbox. 90:1 ratio.The wheels are 4mm scale L&Y Pug wheels from Alan Gibson, just about the right size for this tiny vehicle. We'll see how this goes. Travelling the narrow path Alan

Yay!! (Breathes sigh of relief) Great stuff Patrick. Enjoy!

No.2 IS a chunky beast isn't it. All the way through the build I couldn't shake the notion that I was building it over-scale but I used the published wheelbase as my benchmark and scaled the drawing accordingly. It may have ended up a bit larger that it ought to be but not by much. Mind you all the photos of the original show a tall solid looking engine. The DCC chips I use are shrink-wrapped in plastic (fairly common practice I think) to reduce the risk of components shorting inside the bodywork. There's still a risk from the ends of cut wires but a dab of nail varnish sorts that. I find the main challenge is finding places to stuff the chips, stay-alives and wires and then re-assembling the loco without trapping wires or dislodging carefully soldered connections. These two weren't too bad - everything went inside the boiler on No.29 and the diesel would have room for a sound chip and speaker, and probably a packed lunch for the driver. Loughan Quay was conceived as a DCC layout hence the desire to chip the BCDR locos. However, I still have a number of kit-built shunters which would be challenging to chip, given their size. At present they chunter back and forward happily on a little auto-shuttle layout on a shelf above LQ.

Thank you very much J-Mo. I have to say I'm very pleased with how No.29 turned out. There were a few moments when it felt like a failed project but I'm glad we got there in the end. Both locos have the same DCC gubbins but of the two, No. 2 seems to run better - smoother start and stop mainly. A bit of tweaking needed maybe.

Thanks for this Noel. However, 1. With the blanking plate in, the loco doesn't run on DC. (We tried it on Patrick's other layout Brookhall Mill which is DC) 2. With the decoder in, the NCE system can't make contact with the decoder. I think this is a electronic problem with the loco's own circuitry rather than a burnt out motor. We know the decoder is ok because it's now installed and working in another loco.

BCDR diesel electric No.2 is now DCC chipped and making friends with its new stablemate at Loughan Quay - DCC Concepts DCD-ZN8H.2 decoder - DCC Concepts DCD-SA3-SM-1 control board and 3 wire stay-alive The job was not without incident. The decoder needs to be hard-wired and I only used 4 of the wires - red & black to the pickups, grey and orange to the motor. I usually trim back the unused wires for tidiness' sake. Pity I can't tell the difference between grey and white isn't it. Cut the wrong one didn't I. Bit of splicing required to get it sorted. All ok now. Until the next episode of brain fade. Wire cutters locked away for now Alan

I need to step in here and take joint responsibility. I was present at the scene of the crime and party to it. I let him do it. Neither of us was concentrating properly - kids in a toyshop syndrome, I'm afraid. As Patrick says, it was on the DCC powered track for 3 or 4 seconds. It still had its blanking plate in. When we subsequently inserted the chip and tried to initialise it and give it an address, the NCE system couldn't make contact with the chip and generated an error message.That suggests to me that something in the loco's circuitry has been damaged. No obvious visible damage and no smoke or burning smell. Alan

6mm x 4mm. A recipe for eyestrain. There were a number of failed attempts

Some number plates for No.29. For previous models, I've made these from plastic but I tried brass this time and made a little jig to help shape the frames. They should be smaller but there's a limit to what I can usefully see (and find again when the carpet monster absconds with it). A great workout for the eyesight. And the patience. 0.33mm brass wire and 0.010" brass sheet Soldered together and the wire filed flat Humbrol Metalcote paint and Railtec waterslide transfers Numbers applied and a little light weathering. I think we'll call it done. Maybe. Shunting happily Alan

Sounds like a great trip J-Mo. Nice, subtle weathering on the rolling stock. You've also made a very fine job of that Dapol/ex-Airfix double engine shed. The moulds are so worn out for that, the mortar lines on the brickwork are really shallow, making it very hard to get paint to stay in them. I know. I've tried! Alan

Brilliant!!

What a little gem! Lovely work David and a fine addition to the fleet. Nice delicate touch with the weathering. Thanks for the info on the powders. Must look into those.

I think so David. Starting to get some logic into the loco roster on Loughan Quay Ah Patrick, a lie down in a darkened room

What a lovely touch!

I made an inventory of all the proprietary bits that went into No.29. Quite a lot in the end. High Level Loadhauler gearbox and 1015FE motor Alan Gibson 4849N : 16.5mm 12 spoke driving wheels 4836 : 12mm 9 spoke bogie wheels 4M42B : Crankpin set (6 wheels) 4M92 : Universal coupling rods LM1-OO : OO frame spacers 4M104 : Midland Railway loco brake gear 4908 : Early GWR/Dean buffers 4M170 : Loco boiler bands (used for coal rails) Dart Castings 4003 : MJT Locomotive hornblocks (basic 1/8”) MSV39 : Monty’s Models whitemetal locomotive crew Wizard Models MT329 : Mainly Trains GWR smokebox door DCC Concepts DCD ZN8H : Nano locomotive decoder DCD SA3-SM.1 : Control board and small 3 wire stay-alive Chassis frames are 0.015” nickel silver, superstructure is 0.010” and 0.015” brass. Other bits from the spares box.

Thanks David. Yes, that would be my instinct too. And maybe a dark wash over the buffer beams to simulate dirt round the rivets and buffer stocks. The chassis has already been weathered, in more ways than one! No.29 has now been chipped, using a decoder and stay-alive from DCC Concepts. These fit nicely inside the boiler and her tanks are now filled with lead. Here she is, doing the job she was built for. IMG_7939.MOV

Better get the satnav fitted to No 29. PS: I’m not changing the livery!

I have every confidence in you

This is all shaping up very nicely Patrick. The sleepers look great. I'm enjoying watching this one take shape. * On active railway lines, the movement of trains throws up dirt etc which gives the sides of the rails a muddy brown colour * On lesser used lines, the lack of movement of trains allows the sides of the rails to assume the rusty colour Well observed. One to remember. Thanks for that. Alan

A bit of a hiccup with No.29 since finishing the paintwork. After re-uniting chassis with body for the first time in months, I could see that the running plate and everything above it was sitting too high because of a fundamental build error. I’d made the chassis frames too tall. I remember at the time erring on the generous side to avoid the possibility of compensated wheels hitting the underside of the running plate. Big mistake! The whole thing looked quite odd and I don’t know how I missed seeing it before. At first, I couldn’t see how it could be fixed short of a completely new chassis. I could sense the big hammer stirring in the tool cupboard. But having come this far and with nothing to lose, I attacked the chassis frames with a slitting disc, shears, files and appropriate vocabulary to shave metal off the top edges at front and back. It was a messy job which predictably had a knock on effect on other things. The motor had to come out, the pickup mounts had to be moved, two chassis spacers had to be unsoldered and relocated and the cab front had to be opened out a bit more to allow the motor/gearbox to sit higher inside the body. It was also painful having to butcher the chassis frames I’d carefully sculpted as a matched pair all those months ago. It took five hours of solid graft and picturesque language. Anyway, all’s well now. The running plate is 2mm lower than it was and the bodywork no longer looks like it’s on stilts. The paintwork survived and the chassis still runs as well as it did (Phew). Better actually. Before, it had a strange little wobble, lifting and dropping a tiny amount on one side with each revolution of the wheels, defying attempts to find the cause. While cleaning the wheels after the surgery, I discovered a minuscule blob of superglue on the tread of one wheel. Removing this cured the problem. It still needs number plates (tricky things to make) and a few more small details seeing to. That Kadee coupling needs relocated because it's fouling the bogie and causing derailments. A bit of weathering would also be in order. I'm a fan of weathering but I still find it hard to dirty up a pristine model. I never feel in control of the process either. The crew have gone on board to pretend to drive it but their primary role is to stand in the doorways, concealing the fact that the cab interior is completely devoid of detail. That’s for another time. Alan