BCDR Diesel D1 (No. 2)

[Tullygrainey]

Thank you very much everyone. Much appreciated. 

Alan

2 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

Baltic next....??

Hmm... An awful lot of wheels there Patrick 

[jhb171achill]

14 minutes ago, Tullygrainey said:

Thank you very much everyone. Much appreciated. 

Alan

Hmm... An awful lot of wheels there Patrick 

Maybe do a cheap version and make it an 0.3.0…….. ?

 

(Ah, here’s me bus)

[Galteemore]

Got to be the BCDR’s speed machine next . The famous No 6…..seen here before her transformative Belpaire firebox went in.

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Galteemore

[David Holman]

Alphagraphix do a kit, though it is 7mm scale...

[Tullygrainey]

11 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Got to be the BCDR’s speed machine next . The famous No 6…..seen here before her transformative Belpaire firebox went in.

 

Crankpins!  rods!  boilers! 

[Galteemore]

Jigs and rolling bars. There’s an answer to everything ! In all seriousness it’s nowhere near as hard as people think. You can probably get rods from a 4mm supplier. Use them to mark out the axle holes and drill. Poppy’s Wood Tech do a 4mm jig which will hold it all together while you solder it. It’s possible to get a running chassis without any fettling that way. As for boiler, brass or plastic tube if you don’t fancy rolling one. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Galteemore

[Mike 84C]

Poppys Wood Tech jig was how I did the chassis for my Bandon tank, worked a dream, well worth the small outlay.  Am now doing a kit? ha ha for an L&Y 4-6-0 .How inaccurate can a kit be????

Tullygrainey with your skills and patience you should go for it. Locos flying off the workbench!     

[Tullygrainey]

I bought a Poppy's Wood Tech jig a while ago but I haven't had an opportunity to use it yet. I have 2 High Level chassis kits in the drawer, for a Jinty and a Drewry 0-6-0 shunter. I'll try it out on those when I get round to it. Up till now,  I've used a set of 3 axle jigs from London Road Models. 

[Galteemore]

The LRM axles are good classic technology, but the jig lifts things to another level. I have a 7mm one from Hobby Holidays that is worth its weight in gold. 

[Tullygrainey]

A few more pics of No 2, now weathered, and some video of the inaugural run.

It still needs a few tweaks to get it running reliably but the fitters are lying down in a darkened room at the moment. It also sounds like a bag of nails on the video - not so bad in reality   

The observant will notice it hasn't got any brakes. I always find those a real pain to fit. I have some tender brake shoes from Gibsons which should do the job and being plastic, they won't cause any electrical shorts, which is always a problem.

No appropriate passenger stock available for it to haul yet. Goods wagons will have to suffice for now.

I think I see light coming down the tunnel 

Alan

* just realised the sandboxes don't have any pipes either.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Tullygrainey

[Galteemore]

You want to be well pleased with that. Beautifully finished off. It looks like a kit that you have had professionally built - inside and out.
 

That opening scene could almost be Donaghadee harbour siding. The noise thing seems to be a feature of the recording process - mine always sound worse too! 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Galteemore

[Tullygrainey]

Thanks GM. The layout was loosely inspired by places like Donaghadee and Dundrum.

[leslie10646]

Absolutely ten out of ten - even though it's a diesel.

Even the late "Mac" Arnold stated that for the price paid (£4,000), its 436,000 miles in service show that it was far from being useless - an accolade from that source!

PS the layout is even better than 10/10. Congrats.

Edited February 15, 2023 by leslie10646
addition

[David Holman]

An absolute delight and bet the real thing had all sorts of mechanical grumblings too. Runs a treat.

[Mayner]

Layout looks brilliant!. Nicely modelled quayside/yard, especially liked the steam cranes and distinctive BCDR wagons with axleguards on the outside of the solebars and curved roofs.

An excellent example of what can be achieved by scratchbuilding when no rtr models or kits are available.

[Flying Snail]

No. 2 look excellent - lots of detail, lining is sharp - it really looks well.

As others have said, the layout looks great too ... looking forward to seeing more of both!

[Tullygrainey]

As the object of a scratch build, No 2 was probably a good choice. Chassis jigs and quartering tools notwithstanding, the lack of crankpins and rods probably made life a bit easier and the body shell has lots of flat panels, straight edges and no compound curves to speak of. 

There are still a few details to add and I might consider DCCing it after it's been run in a bit though I always find adding chips a bit of an ordeal - what ran smoothly on DC suddenly starts stuttering and stalling on DCC. In truth, there's probably enough room for a sound chip and a speaker but I probably won't go there. Also, not sure what sound files you might use.

Anyway, thank you everybody for all the encouragement, advice and praise, without which this project might not have got as far as it has. May this community of modellers continue to prosper.

Onwards, together

Alan

[David Holman]

Haven't used DCC for several years, Alan but when I did, the fact that most of my models were made of brass created issues, especially regarding insulating the chips. With the space you have available, could be  challenging!

 As for DCC overall, I'm with you. It has its uses, but is certainly not the answer to everything and personally, I am much happier with analogue.

[Patrick Davey]

Just revisiting this inspirational thread Alan and once again I am bowled over by the locomotive and of course that magnificent layout too!!  Would love to see much more video of both!!!

[David Holman]

Photos too - lots. And descriptions. Just more please!

[Tullygrainey]

On 16/2/2023 at 8:51 AM, Flying Snail said:

No. 2 look excellent - lots of detail, lining is sharp - it really looks well.

As others have said, the layout looks great too ... looking forward to seeing more of both!

 

On 23/2/2023 at 12:05 AM, Patrick Davey said:

Just revisiting this inspirational thread Alan and once again I am bowled over by the locomotive and of course that magnificent layout too!!  Would love to see much more video of both!!!

 

12 hours ago, David Holman said:

Photos too - lots. And descriptions. Just more please!

Thank you chaps. Perhaps best to start a new thread in the Layouts section? I'll put something together in the next few days, all being well. Look out for Loughan Quay.

Alan

[LARNE CABIN]

Alan, @Tullygrainey, an inspirational thread, and a real treat for BCDR fans! I've just read your article in New Irish Lines, May 2023, very well written and presented. Looking forward to No 29 nearing completion and then ....... what's next.! It's great to have someone with such an interest in the BCDR and such exceptional modelling ability on board.

[Tullygrainey]

That's very kind of you to say so LC. Thank you. No 29 is inching towards completion. I'm taking my time with it and trying not to drop it again! Hope to have something to post in the next day or so.

As to what's next, I'm not really sure. Patrick Davey gifted me some Bill Bedford BCDR coach etches which I'd like to have a go at. I also have a couple of Provincial GNR(I) wagon kits to build. Then there's my drawer full of assorted diesel shunters which cry out for an industrial layout to run on. As to another BCDR loco, I haven't really given that much thought. Maybe a bogie tank?

Too many projects!

Alan

[Tullygrainey]

I forgot about the O/16.5 narrow gauge Peckett which I actually started at the same time as No 29. I spent an enjoyable morning at Cultra climbing over their example with a tape measure. I got as far as a compensated chassis and a set of rods before No 29 elbowed its way to the front. No cylinders or bodywork yet. So that probably needs finishing sometime. If I can remember where I put the bits 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Tullygrainey
typo

[Tullygrainey]

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

 

[Patrick Davey]

This is a feast for the eyes of the BCDR enthusiast!!!  No. 29 looks great with the number plate now too!  Amazing work as always Alan, such an achievement!!!

[Dunluce Castle]

A brilliant picture of two fantastic models together.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Stunning double act

[jhb171achill]

The little Peckett is close enough to 00 scale compatible itself!

[David Holman]

Lovely picture and interesting to see how chunky the diesel is alongside 29.

're dcc, I hope things have changed since my own experiences of flirting with the Dark Side. More than a little care was needed 10 years ago, when fitting chips inside metal bodied locos. Indeed, with the Chatham Club's 0 gauge oval now running again, post Covid, found that the chips on several of my locos were kaput. 

 Now converted back to DC and probably just as well I only used basic, one amp chips (Mashima motors only draw 0.25-0.5 amps), or it would have been multiple hundreds of squids down the pan...

[J-Mo Arts]

That is simply incredible work Alan. At first glance having not read the text I thought it was a colourised photograph of the real thing. Your livery application is exquisite. I really love No.29, very inspirational to the rest of us BCDR fans. 

[Tullygrainey]

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. 

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

Lovely picture and interesting to see how chunky the diesel is alongside 29.

're dcc, I hope things have changed since my own experiences of flirting with the Dark Side. More than a little care was needed 10 years ago, when fitting chips inside metal bodied locos. Indeed, with the Chatham Club's 0 gauge oval now running again, post Covid, found that the chips on several of my locos were kaput. 

 Now converted back to DC and probably just as well I only used basic, one amp chips (Mashima motors only draw 0.25-0.5 amps), or it would have been multiple hundreds of squids down the pan...

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.

 

[Tullygrainey]

Escaping Loughan Quay for the day, No.2 runs into Donaghadee with a trainload of Comber spuds for onward transit to GB.

With thanks to the Ulster Model Railway Club for a great show, Belfast 19-20 August 2023, and with special thanks to Gordon Hunt for the great pleasure and privilege of running BCDR Nos 2 and 29 on his exceptional model of Donaghadee Station.

Alan

 

 

[jhb171achill]

That is OUTSTANDINGLY good!