Andy Cundick

On 10/6/2022 at 5:42 PM, Irishswissernie said:

I actually have some more negs taken at the same time, this one shows the rear of Railcar 19's tail load as well as No 6 just arrived from Letterkenny towing a dead No 4

Wagon number is 316 originally Oldbury Carriage  No 19 of 1893 and rebuilt as a van in 1927 according to Roger C's CDRJC Companion. It must have lost the van body in the intervening years.

 

Choice of two 316 or319both had the same configuration of uprights,Andy.

I suspect the paneling differences are down to what alli sheet they had,probably 16 was paneled first and got away with full sheets whereas the others end up with increasingly more joints,Andy 

Quite agree about Recreation 21 their MGW brake 3rd hangs above my workbench as an awful warning about how bad things can be better approach is probably resin cast bodies.The North British Railway Study Group have done several wagons which need nothing in the way of tidying up afterwards just adding w irons and brake gear.Similarly Cam Kits do some Cambrian Locos with the main body in resin which exquisite.(just lining and lettering an "Albion" 240 ready for Expo EM),Andy.

36 minutes ago, KMCE said:

Excellent.  Both have merits and depending on your preferences, either way, you will find great advice. 

I had a great fear of building locomotives and was following the route of bashing RTR locos to mimic Irish locos, but was never really happy with the results.  Having read the book (many times BTW), I decided I had nothing to lose and started into scratch building.  What I learned is that despite how complex these locos look (including mine) they are built up of small parts, each being quite straightforward to build.  No loco just appears on your workbench fully finished, but does come together as each part is built - a very satisfying process.  You don't need many tools, however there are some essentials that help in delivering good looking results (thinking of the rivet tool here).  Materials are not overly expensive so you can afford to make mistakes & try again.

I will warn you though, once you go down this route, Pandora's box is opened and anything is possible!!!

Ken

 

Completely agree about the pandoras box,my first two full scratchbuilds were Castlederg 4 and 5,then a Rhodesian Class 15 garratt just because i always fancied one(looks a bit odd at Castlederg).Another goods source of tools and metal is Chronos  their small drills are about 2/3rdsthe price of Eileens with no minimum order and freepost.Andy.

Thats certainly 16,the usual trouble is that most photos don't identify stock and even if they if surprising how often they're wrong,good  luck with the vans i ought  do another 1 or 2  for Arigna Andy

Pete the "strap" around the middle is a joggle in the top sheet to overlap the bottom sheet in stop water ingress whereas the doors on the others seem to have residual framing 16 is just plain sheet so is the plainist one of the lot,Andy.

The thing with using the Mainly trains chassis is that you have all the bits and instructions which if its your first chassis will simplify things.Alan Gibson did do the frames even though they are not in there current list however bear in mind that what you get is just that a pair of frames with cutouts for hornblocks,Two tools i would suggest you acquire is an 1/8th reamer and the GW Models wheel quartering jig (makes quartering simple).Andy.

My E Class (thats the MGW one no the NER one),was built from the TMD kit now done by SSM,i don't know how much it has changed but the (about 35 yrs ago) it came with 2 chassis neither of which i was very impressed with,the fact that Gibson does the frames indicates i wasn't the only one.If you are thinking of doing a 21mm gauge one,i would suggest the best plan would be to use the Mainly  trains J72 chassis with longer axles and spacing washers.For the chassis and then have go at building your own body,its a nice simple one to do,brass tube for the boiler and next size up for the smokebox.There are drawings for the loco in Model Railways Oct 1976.For cabsides/tanks the trick is to sweat two bits of brass together then using PVA glue stick the plan onto the brass and cutout round out round it once done unsolder the two sheets and there you are both sides done at once.The trick with scratchbuilding is not to focus on the whole thing but just on the bit you're doing ie footplate that way its less daunting.Why brass and soldering? because i when you cock it up a touch of the iron and you can have another go,try that with plastic.If you do go down that route i've got the original pattern smokebox and chimney you can have which came with the kit as did 552 in the 30s so they're surplus to requirements.Andy.

16L final condition is the same as 17L apart from the side doors which are paneled the same as the side.Andy.

Just checked my Cavan albums and come up with 3.As my computer skills are not up to this picture sending lark i'll have to print them up and send them by post,however the details are very simple,the whole van including ends are alli clad with single swage line halfway up the body this includes the side doors,hope this helps Andy.

Bear in mind Wizard does the Mainly Trains replacement chassis kit for the J72,my one went together easily as did the conversion bits to a J71. My own Class E uses the frames from Alan Gibson as i didn't fancy either of the chassis that came with the kit.Andy

Thats part of the challenge i'd never built trackwork until i did Valencia and as there was no way i was going down the 00 route i just got on with it(a fairly steep learning curve admittedly)and now building track is no problem (famous last words).Though i admit a broad gauge (7'0") threeway point is causing a certain amount of a challenge.Andy.

The thing to note regarding coaches is that the Southern filled in the door toplights which is how PECO depicted them, The thing that slows me up is the early livery which is to put it politely fiddly.Though saying that i've just finished three North British locos in pre great war livery ready for Expo EM in a week now that is over the top.As to the modelling an actual location lets just say it works for me.Andy. 

Hi Mark Yes The locos are all Backwoods in the early cab form,the coaches are all Worsley as Alan has done them in the original form,sadly the Peco and Langley ones are both in the Southern condition,still at least i can use the  PECO brakevans the first bit of ready to run i've bought in years.To be honest doing an actual location is easy someone has already done the planning for you and if its an interesting prototype it should come through in the model plus i find knowing what is needed in advance stock and that can be built first along with buildings etc and only then do you put saw to wood and by that stage what you have is kit of parts for the whole layout.The downside to this approach is the vast number of appealing prototypes which leads to multiple layouts,in my case 8 up and running and another 4 in the planning construction phase,Andy.

Nice to see someone else doing early L&B one of my current projects is Lynton in 1898 to scale(it works out at 12'x18"),currently got one  Manning finished and 6 coaches with enough little green boxes to do the other 2 and Lyn, Fortunately Worsley does etches for all 17 coaches in their original condition so i'm plodding my through them,its the livery that takes the time.still its a bit of challenge,Andy.

Coach 53 been there built it,Andy.

For the topfeed try 247 developments they do a Stanier one.Andy.

3 hours ago, Angus said:

Hi Andy, 

I think most track plans suffer from that. It is easy to get a bit optimistic about what can fit with a pen and paper. Cyril Freezer's plans being a case in point! 

I always flesh my plans out first in planning software such as Anyrail. This allows a lot of quick adjustment. 

Once I've proven the concept and got the layout roughed out I move over to Templot. 

Once in Templot it is surprising what can achieved using bespoke geometry to ease curves and create a more sinuous line. 

My planning is a bit more basic comprising of a sheet of ply 3 foot steel rule and a pencil.Andy

 A point to watch with some of Ians designs is that when you go to build them you find everything is a bit on the tight side,many moons ago i built his "Etterick"  design but transplanted it to the Welsh borders as "Tallylyn Road"  and built to EM standars and ended up leaving out several features because there was not enough room.The basic concept was fine however and it saw many shows plus a feature in British Railway  Modelling,before age caught up with.Funnily enough i've just exhibited its successor which is a Scottish branch terminus.Lochty which was the terminus of the East Fife Central Railway operated by the North British.It was a line with great intentions but ran out of money and ended up finishing in field in the middle of nowhere.Post closure it was run for ten or so years as the Lochty Private Railway ,main rolling stock consisting of "Union of South Africa" and a Coronation observation coach,definitely a prototype for everything!.Andy 

Confused for  a minute ,i assume you mean Fosters of Lincoln,post great war their smokebox works plate incorporated a tank as they produced these during the war.one small point the flywheel is too far out it should be right next to the bearing bracket.Funnily enough i spent most of yesterday of at brother in laws sawing wood with their Marshall portable,Andy.

On 4/3/2022 at 8:00 AM, Irishswissernie said:

Its at Dingwall probably taken after the Dornoch branch closed. 2 16xx panniers 1646 & 1649 were transferred to Helmsdale to work the Dornoch branch which had very restricted weight/axle  loading after the last Highland Railway tank 55053 broke an axle and there was nothing else light enough to work the line. The 16xx tanks were almost new having been built in BR days.

Back to Ireland now!

CIE 1958-09-11 Galway station G2 654 

The last 2 are at Castlefinn on the Donegal. CDRJC 1959-12-04 Castlefinn 10.45 Stranorlar- Strabane 'Erne' (6)

CDRJC 1959-12-04 Castlefinn 11.10am Strabane-Killybegs (10)

 

If its any help its Railcar 12,Andy.

Very useful set of photos,Ballinascarthy being on the to do list,Andy.

One issue with 3d printing is the quality which is highly variable,there is some truly dreadful prints out there as well as some very good ones.Andy

15 hours ago, J-Mo Arts said:

That would be very useful, thanks! 

No problem let me have a address to send it to,and i'll get it sent off Andy.

The answer to that is no,the drawing is a Bruce Heaven drawing which has to treated with caution. 141 was rebuilt at Dundalk c1949/50 and so is a bit of a one off.The single brake levers pivot on the bottom of the frames If its any help i can sort you out some drawings of Donegal stock if its of any use.Andy.