David Holman

The Swilly coach is now pretty much finished. Final jobs included fitting roofs to the duckets, glazing, plus lettering, numbering and a bit more weathering. At least the Swilly didn't go much on complex liveries for its coaching stock - the diamond logo [hand drawn with various fine marker pens], plus 'guard' at the van end and a number [both transfers] and that's it. I also made some covers for where the lamp tops went after electric lighting was installed. Hopefully it looks suitably care worn. Eventually, it will form the mixed train with a couple of wagons and the Barclay 4-6-0T With another show coming up for NP Quay, decided I ought to improve my stock storage, so invested in some new plastic ones from The Range. Not sure about the Barbie Pink lids, but they mean my stock now stands on its wheels and I can [hopefully] protect the AJ coupling hooks better. I can also fit a complete train in each box, which makes for easier setting up and packing away. The three deeper cardboard boxes contain the station building, the crane and some spare stock if/when required.

Northport Quay gets its second outing at the South Hants show next Saturday. Venue is the Admiral Lord Nelson School, 10.30 - 4.30 and will be running the 1900s stock. Nothing after that until second half of next year at the moment, though should be a few coming up, post Uckfield.

7mm scale but 36.75mm gauge and 21mm for 3'ng. I sometimes wonder how many folk actually model 5'3 in each scale. Take 7mm scale: Slater's do a broad gauge loco axle and Donegal wheels, but the evidence of this forum suggests that, apart from myself and Galteemore, they don't have many customers! We seem to have Angus doing 2mm and Broadstone in S, while 4mm scale is probably still in single figures - I can think of four. Then there is Ballyconnell Road in 3mmfs. Not that it matters, there are great things being done in the more commercial scale/gauge combinations, but it would be nice to know who else is out there.

Mail order parcels have been arriving this week, albeit not quite in the order I expected, but welcome nevertheless. First in was a pack of Kadee 0 gauge couplings. Fintonagh stock uses No5s, but these are too small for the 2'7" Donegal and Swilly rolling stock wheels, so have had to go for the larger ones. Had been thinking about using Alex Jacksons, but these need standard side buffers, whereas narrow gauge favours centre 'chopper' couplings, so Kadees seemed the only option. They are quite chunky, but certainly work in terms of height, though being American, key dimensions are in fractions of an inch. The gap between the the bottom of the dropper wire and the rails is 1/16th of an inch, but the top of the drag box has to be 25/32", so making a simple gauge or three seems the best option, the simplest of which is a piece of 60 thou plastic sheet, which is as near as dammit to 1/16th" A bit of weathering and painting has been done - in the case of the roof, after receiving a couple of layers of tissue paper to simulate the canvas covering. Another parcel was from Worsley Works. I hadn't been expecting the Barclay 4-6-0T etchings for several weeks, so it was a nice surprise. Worsley etches are very much an aid to scratch building and certainly NOT kits, because there are no castings, or indeed instructions, so working out what some of the parts are often requires a bit of thought, while you also need to compile a list of all the additional items required, such as chimney, dome, safety valves, handrail wire and other details, plus of course the chassis too. Speaking of which, am still waiting for the wheels from Alan Gibson, ordered at the same time as the Worsley etches... Anyway, I think I've identified the parts - side tanks, cab, footplate [& valances], smokebox saddle and sand boxes being fairly obvious. Less sure about how the boiler works, or indeed the smokebox wrapper, while the inner sides of the tanks are just one of the things I'll need to make, but overall, the etches represent a very helpful start.

Remains my favourite scene - something to do with the lighting and the wet looking ground.

Exquisite. Shouldn't be allowed, really...

Simple, inside cylinders, straight (ish) footplate - ought to be easy! Until you look more closely that is... Not hard to see the challenges, but certainly looking good and well worth the effort.

Indeed! Just been reading it. Interesting that he used just the outside frames.

A varied and eclectic library too, by the look of it!

Narrow gauge continues on two fronts, albeit one more theory than practice at the moment. In the practical world, the Swilly brake third is making progress, though as is the way with coach building, it is as well not to get ahead of yourself too much. The coach had reached the stage where I could give it a coat of primer. I'd made a removable roof assembly & added basic interior seating detail [not sure the Swilly went much further!], so after a bit of a wash and brush up, out came the Halford's rattle can primer. This first witness coat showed a few areas needing attention, but as you can see from the second picture, a piece of beading on the guard's ducket is still slightly askew. After a few hours drying time, decided it was worth having a go at a bit more detailing. I'd already added representation of the door hinges [20thou plastic rod for the top two, 40x40 square of 20thou for the lower hinge], so next up were the varied door and grab handles. The former are ok, but the various grab handles are certainly not my favourite task - fiddly to say the least, with other, less polite, adjectives applicable too - especially the multiple bends for the door commode handles. Speaking of fiddly, I'd also added some [very] basic brake gear to the outer ends of each bogie. Not worth doing any more because the footboards hide much of what is below sole bar level. The upper footboards are just strips of 40thou plasticard, welded straight on to the sole bar, but the lower ones needed brackets made from 0.7mm brass wire, bent into an L shape. I flattened the top end using a hammer & small anvil, before glueing in place with cyano. It could be that the primer may end up being the top coat as well. In its latter days, Swilly coaches were grey, which it seems often weathered to an even lighter shade - along with a fair amount of dirt too, so once final detailing has been applied, it may be straight to the weathering bit. As far the Barclay 4-6-0T project is concerned, this remains in the planning stage at the moment. It certainly seems important to have a set of inside frames, with the outside ones being dummy. Swilly stock was about 7 feet wide, so I've been trying to work out all the clearances for the chassis. Therefore have been making some actual and large sized drawings to help visualise things. At the moment, using Slater's wagon axles seems about right. 3' gauge wheels work out as a scale 3' 6 wide overall. Therefore setting the frame spacers at 2'3 should give a scale one foot of space between the inner and outer frames. The latter, if set at 4'3 apart is also the distance between the ends of the Slater's 1/8th inch wagon axles. The actual wagon wheels are pushed on to smaller diameter extensions & these will hopefully take the crank axles. By the time coupling and connecting rods, plus the fixing nuts are added, the overall width stretches to about a scale 6'6, which seems about right under a 7' wide footplate., as shown below. Much as I'm keen to make a start, it probably makes sense to finish the coach first.

Some real gems there, John - especially the 4-4-0!

Many thanks - sounds like good advice. Heard about the Slater's wheels and am certainly thinking will use inside frames, with the outside ones dummy - probably fixed to the footplate, with the extended axles in slots and not connected to the outer frames. Am thinking the inside frames will need to have a keeper plate, so I can drop out the wheels and motor gearbox when needed.

Fine work and handy to know where I might get whitemetal castings for a Swilly 6 wheel coach, albeit it a way down the road for now. I use stainless steel sink cleaner on brass and nickel. A brand called Shiney Sinks was recommended back in the day, but Cif or similar works well enough with an old toothbrush.

I'm going to be adapting Fintonagh - mainly just a few new low relief buildings and new backscene. The track is hand built, using Peco Code 83 flat bottomed rail on copperclad sleepers. It uses 4mm finescale standards = one millimetre flangeways on the points. Both 0 and 00 wheels seem happy with this combination.

All about framing and the right materials. 6mm birchwood ply is the best I've found for flat surfaces and frames, but there are many options. Try getting hold of books like Iain Rice's Cameo Layouts for ideas.

Post Uckfield, have managed to get back to my new narrow gauge projects & in particular the Swilly brake coach. And what an interesting time it has been! Indeed, have had to vacate the workshop for the second afternoon running having tipped over a bottle of DI Lemonine solvent. Yesterday, I did the same thing with a bottle of MEK, which was even worse. Anyway, back to Monday, when I was hoping to get the panelling done on the other side of the coach, only to find that my stock of 20x40 micro strip had virtually run out. Never mind, I thought and initially went to the Amazon website to get some more Evergreen strip. Bad idea! They were asking £18 a packet [yes, really]. Fortunately, other outlets are available, not least Slaters Plasticard, who not only do a packet for under a fiver, but it contains 50 strips to the ten from Evergreen. Ordered Monday morning, arrived Tuesday lunchtime. Can't be bad. So far, so good. While waiting for it to arrive, I decided I could have a go at the Alphagraphix bogie/underframe kit. However, while the castings are nice enough, when made up, the are a scale 6' wide and will not fit between the sole bars. I tried various ideas to cut them down, using most of my tools, until finally realised that I needed to shorten both the centre spacer and the axles ends too. The picture below sums up the chaos nicely... Since then, things have progressed well and the panelling is now complete, with the coach sitting on its bogies and awaiting the addition of the double footboards. Another problem causing much head scratching has been what to use for couplings. Kadee No5s are too short for the 2'7" wheels on Swilly stock. Thought about using AJs, but these won't work with the centre buffing couplers, so am probably going to have to try Kaydee 0n3 type or even 0 gauge ones. My mind has also been turning to building a Londonderry & Lough Swilly locomotive. First choice is one of the Andrew Barclay 4-6-0Ts, not least because Worsley Works do a 7mm scale body kit. An order has been made though it will be a while as it is currently not in stock. However, I can make a start on the chassis, especially as Roger Cromblehome at Alphagraphix kindly sent me his CAD drawing. So, more stirring of the grey matter because, as you might expect, things are far from straightforward. The main problem is that these locos were outside framed and as far I can tell the right combination of wheels, extended axles and cranks are not available. Alan Gibson do a 6' diameter, 4mm scale driving wheel that is a close match to 3'6 in 7mm scale. These come in a £10 a pair. Slaters do a standard gauge 3'6 wheel, but these are now close to £30 an axle! Gibson wheels use a 1/8th inch axle, whereas Slaters are 3/16th. Gibson are unable to supply an extended axle for 21mm gauge and though Slaters do an extended axle for outside cranks, it is way too long for 3' gauge. So, what to do?After MUCH pondering, finally came up with the idea of sourcing my own 1/8th inch steel rod and cutting it to length myself. However, a different alternative might be to use Slater's coach/wagon axles, which are long enough to go through the outside frames, while the 1.8mm extensions on to which the wheels are fitted could actually be ideal to take the outside cranks. Still with me? I'm not sure I am, but this is where I have got to at the moment, so orders for Gibson wheels, bearings, motor-gearbox and so on are being prepared, while Geoff Holt's excellent books on loco construction are being pored over again. He's not done outside frames though, so John Ahern's Miniature Locomotive Construction, first published in 1949 [mine is from 1971] may also be useful. Watch this space, as they say. Below is a photo of the loco, Roger's frame drawings and my idea of Slater's wagon axles against 3' gauge wagon wheels. The Gibson wheels, being 4mm scale have 24 spokes [drivers] and 12 spokes [bogie], Swilly ones were 12 and six respectively, so may have to remove alternate spokes, though probably only on the bogie wheels as the drivers will pretty much be hidden behind the frames. Life is complicated, that's why it's fun. Allegedly...

A 7mm scale etched brass kit of a permanent way ' riding van', used in track lifting trains in Ireland. £40.00, plus wheels and couplings. www.alphagraphix.co.uk

Fantastic thread and great to see a 12" to the foot project documented.

Very tasty indeed - quite a line up!

Hard to believe that is 2mm scale...

Seems there has been a fair bit of interest in Belmullet, including approaching 600 views on the 'free to a good home' page. Several folk has asked for more info, so there is now a queue and am hoping to be able to find a new owner soon. Many thanks for all the positive comments.

Uckfield was indeed a fine show. For me, the stand out layouts were Farringdon and Longwood Edge - the latter one of Iain Rice's final projects. It was a real stunner and [typical of Rice] a very clever, two level design, packing a huge amount of interest into a small space. NPQ did ok for a first proper outing, but came away with a list of things that need work: Two of the push to make switches that operate the uncoupling magnets failed over the weekend. Given that they were the two most used ones, this perhaps points to the fact that more robust versions might be needed. They have been replaced, like for like, but may remain a problem waiting to happen. Back in the workshop, the magnet in the loop still wasn't working satisfactorily & after a fair bit of frustration this week, finally realised that the M5 bolt which forms the core of the electromagnet was sitting too low. Only a millimetre or so, but enough cause some of the the couplings to not work properly. Bit of a bummer, but there you go. At least it was easy to fix. The other main issue centred around the fiddle yard. I'd done lots of test running in the workshop, but only shunting on the layout itself, as there was no room to set the whole thing up without taking over the lounge. Ok when the Domestic Authority is out but not really practical. So, finally bit the bullet and took Belmullet to the Club storage tunnel in Chatham Historic Dockyard, so I could set up NPQ in the workshop. The fiddle yard has received some serious surgery this week: The main frame has had about 5cm sawn off its sides, so it is both lighter and sits better on the support beams. The train table has been shortened by about 15cm and also been made narrower, so it now only has five tracks in stead of seven. The also reduces weight, but makes it more manageable too. 7mm scale trains [even short ones] are heavy and rotating the fully loaded table was proving to be a two person job - rather stressful too. I'll still be taking six or seven train out to shows, but two will be spares that can vary the sequence during the day. I had several couplings fail over Uckfield and it is easier to swap an item of stock than try to repair it while exhibiting! The photos below show the revised set up in my workshop. It also means I can alternate NPQ with Fintonagh, especially once I have adapted the train table to take 21mm gauge rails inside the 36.75mm ones. Anyway, the 1900s sequence now seems to operate more reliably in terms of the AJ auto-couplings, so fingers crossed for the Portsmouth Show in three weeks time. The GSWR goods has been replaced with a one of MGWR flavour with the E class 0-6-0T, 'glasshouse brake', 4w fish van and cattle wagon with one of Richard Chown's Dublin & Meath brake vans bringing up the rear. The cattle van is swapped with another in the right hand siding and the improved magnet makes this much more effective.

Love the roof fixing idea! Will definitely be looked at for my Swilly coaches.

Details just posted in the Layouts section. Available free, to the right person or group, willing to take it on. No locos or stock, though a few items could be available for purchase to get the new owner started. Check the details, look through the layout posts and if interested, send me a personal message. David Holman

After much pondering, I have decided to offer Belmullet a new home, so would be keen in hearing from anyone interested in taking it over. In other words, it is available free of charge The simple reason for this is that it is 7mm scale 36.75mm gauge [correct 5'3] and while I may be willing to sell a small amount of stock [see later], essentially whoever takes it on needs to be able to build/commission their own stuff to run on it. Other things any new owner needs to be aware of are: The layout comprises three scenic boards, each 120cm x 62cm The new owner will need to build a new fiddle yard, as Belmullet's original one is now being used with Northport Quay. In its intended terminus-fiddle yard mode, the overall space required will be 5m x 0.6m, although there is no reason why it couldn't be extended into something bigger. I live in Kent, which is a long way from Ireland, to say nothing of the expensive ferry fares. The new owner will need to collect it from my house, though it should fit in a reasonable hatchback/estate car, requiring an overall space of 120cm x 90cm x 45cm when crated up for transport. If it went to someone in the UK, I might be able to help with delivery if not too far away. Points and signals [with bounce effect] are worked from a custom made Megapoints panel using servos via small mother boards on the layout. This comes with its own transformer. For working the trains, the new owner will need to provide their own controller and transformer. The layout is wired to run from a Gaugemaster hand held unit, via a 5 pin DIN plug. The layout can be operated from either the front or the rear The layout sits on longitudinal beams [on top of kitchen base units] in my workshop, so the new owner would need to provide their own supports Although originally built for my Arigna Town layout, ten years or so ago, the baseboards are structurally very sound and [since conversion to Belmullet], all the scenics were renewed and most of the buildings are only two-four years old. Track is Code 100 flat-bottomed rail on copper clad sleepers. Points were all made by Marcway of Sheffield, while the plain track was built by me. The turnable works from a simple hand cranked mechanism. Please note: this is not a layout for anyone looking for an instant 'train set'. It has been built to a decent standard, requiring hundreds, if not thousands of hours, of my own time and skill. Any new owner will need to be competent in carpentry, basic electrics, soldering and general modelling skills. On this basis, it might make an interesting Club or group project. The reason I am willing to let Belmullet go, is simply because I need the space in my workshop. The layout was built to be an exhibition layout, but after just a single outing, I realised it was too much effort for me to take out and it seems a shame for it not to be used. Stock While, for reasons already explained, I am not asking any money for Belmullet, were I to provide any stock, this would have to be paid for, not least because locos coaches and wagons would be fairly easy to sell on and I have no intention of being that charitable! The items that could be for sale are as follows Midland Great Western J19 0-6-0. Built from an Alphagraphix/Tyrconnel brass kit. Price £300, being solely the cost of the kit, plus motor, gears and wheels Deutz, G class, 4 wheel diesel shunter. Built from a set of Worsley Works etches, with much added detail. Price £180, as above Up to 15 four wheel open wagons and vans, all scratch built by me representing SLNCR, MGW and GS&W prototypes. The new owner will need to decide on their own couplings. I have used three links, Dinghams and Alex Jacksons over the years, so these vehicles currently are a mixture of the above - or none at all. I am willing to sell these at £15 each. Bearing in mind 7mm scale wagon wheels cost £10 per vehicle, while cast buffers, W irons and brake gear are each at least £5 a set, along with both locos, a new owner would get my time, effort and skill for free. So, there you are. If anyone is interested, I suggest you first look through all the posts on this thread, in order to get a feel for the layout. After that, send me a personal message if you wish to discuss things further. I need to be confident that whoever takes the layout on will be able to enjoy it and not simply someone wanting it for profit. Everything is in working order, though it has only been operated occasionally over the last two years.