Pictures from Blandford show, September 21st & 22nd

Turntable leading to the steam loco sidings

All the steam locos lined up, with Canadian Pacific in the foreground.
The only loco that didn't move all weekend was Cardiff Castle, which still has a broken coupling.

Brighton Belle sits in one of the sidings.
The three centre cars are Dublo Pullman coaches but looked reasonable sandwiched between the two driving trailers.

The two Bachmann EPBs.
Both ran without fault over the old three rail track.

The station end with the newly extended and repainted platforms (main station building still needs the windows & doors painted)
A pair of Class 20 Bo-Bo's pulling the oil tankers while my newly restored 2-6-4 tank with its shiny LMS body hauls the mail train.

New addition, Royal Scots Grey sits in the siding with the other class 20/

My new, bespoke four track level crossing at the end of the main station.
Dorchester hauls a rake of Southern green coaches while one of the Co-Bo Metrovicks hauls an 8 coach train.
The back of the goods train and mail train also in the foreground.

Old vs New.
Dublo SR EMU and Bachmann class 105 sit in another siding.
The EMU saw regular use throughout the weekend, stopping only briefly due to a broken wire.

Another station view, from the other side of the layout with the newly modified footbridge.
Slight colour difference with the new level crossing that I may address at some point.

Co-Bo Metrovick at the head of its train with Dorchester to the right.

Layout viewed from the front looking down along the sidings and turntable area.
Two A3 controllers for the main loops with another A3 controller further along which controls all the sidings.

Front view of the main station area.

Looking at the back of the layout towards the front.
For a bit of fun, we coupled two of the Deltics together and hauled 17 coaches. The head of the train and the rear of the same train are visible here.

Rear station as the 17 coach train passes through.
The EMU has now moved to one of the platforms while the Brighton Belle takes a rest in the sidings along with the Diesel shunter and a small rake of wagons.

Another view of the steam sidings.
The GWR green 2-6-4  is another recent project, now in full working order.
Original post here:
http://dublonutz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/next-project.html

Show's over!

After months of preparation, it was all over in a flash - two days of solid train running and trying to keep two running loops in constant use, not easy at the best of times but throw in old stock and old track and there will always be derailments, un-couplings etc. Very difficult to hold a conversation with people who take an interest in what I'm doing while also keeping an eye out for things going awry.

As for casualties... there weren't really any - Just a broken wire on the SR EMU which was re-soldered within 10 minutes and a minor fault with the brush spring on Dorchester that will need some further attention. City of Birmingham was rather under-powered, I suspect this is a magnet problem as it seemed barely able to pull much more than its own weight and was stalling rather than slipping. The neo magnet in this one is different to all the others I've used and was in my previous Gresley chassis, which was also under-powered. I'd also forgotten to check the tyres on the surviving green Deltic - two were missing and the other two were too big, so this one spent the weekend in the sidings, along with Cardiff Castle as I ran out of time to replace the rear coupling.

Everything else held up really well and it's so nice to come home with the box of rolling stock in complete working order.

Nice to see so many people taking an interest in my layout, we never intended to show it and it's debatable whether it will get another public showing for a while.

None of the steam locos would double-head using the old A3 controllers, they just couldn't cope with the power consumption. Even powering up slowly wouldn't do it, however the Bo-Bo's, Co-Bo's and two of the Deltics weren't a problem at all. Personal favourite moment of the weekend has to be the double-headed Deltics pulling a rake of 17 coaches, which they managed with ease - after around 40 minutes of running, both Deltics were just warm, not hot to the touch and it was great to see my new Royal Scots Grey get a good run.

Brighton Belle also performed really well, great considering the amount of time that's gone into trying to make it run properly on 3 rail. I  sandwiched 3 Dublo Pullman coaches between the two end cars to re-create the 5 car Brighton Belle set, of course the names and numbers don't match the real thing but when it's running it was hard to make out - only a BB purist would know!

The portable layout is now safely stored away ready for its next outing at the end of October. As I spent so much time and energy getting all my rolling stock in good order it means I have very few projects to distract me from working on the loft layout and now that Autumn is nearly here, it's a bit more comfortable working in the loft.

Deltics in action with 17 coaches...

Lots of pictures to upload shortly.

Show time

Well, everything's set up ready for the weekend.

Thankfully the portable layout, having not been touched since the last run, went together with no problems and both loops fired up without a single track fault.

I've worked out that there's about 40 different items of locos and multiple units to run and my Brighton Belle will get its first public outing after months of trying to work out how to convert it.

So far the two EPBs have been in use, with their flat Marklin pickup skates they make a great job of cleaning the centre rail and after a few laps they were running fine.

Will be nice to have two solid days to run the existing stock and the new additions, we'll need to ensure that we rotate the locos frequently as some of the older locos can get quite hot. I've no doubt that there'll be casualties over the weekend but hopefully we can keep these to a minimum.

Here goes...

Double footbridge

Having seen these at other shows, I wanted a double footbridge of my own.

Having been gifted this one as a birthday present, I realised that for the loft layout I actually needed two of them.

Thankfully over the years I'd gained a number of single footbridges in various condition, even a nice boxed one so obviously this wasn't a candidate. I did however find two that were looking a bit sorry and using the one gifted to me as a guide, I managed to carefully hacksaw, file and respray my own.

After some careful hacking...

Test fitting...

 Priming...

This is the final result...

I ended up using a whole tin of Sahara beige on this footbridge alone and even after priming, it needed three coats of top coat.

I'm happy with the final result, it will match perfectly with the platform sections I recently completed and should give my main station a bit of a "wow" factor.

Halfords must be wondering why there's suddenly been an upsurge in several of their stores for a paint that was used primarily on 70s Cortinas!

Finishing touches

Still busy trying to finish off as many projects as possible before the public showing next weekend.

Just waiting for the paint to dry on the footbridge before I reassemble it, ordered and fitted a replacement bogie for the VEP that has been broken for ages, still waiting for the tyres to arrive for the Co-Bo and the Brighton Belle and finally got around to 3 railing the other Bachmann DMU that I bought last year...

It's a class 105 and in its green livery it won't look too out of place. Seems to have issues with one of the corners on the loft layout so I'll try it on the portable layout before going too much further with my investigations.

After bidding, and losing on several platform extensions I've given up and decided just to run with what I have already. The extension pieces are fetching eye-watering sums of money, my method of buying scrap platforms and removing the buildings is working out to be way cheaper.

Most of the rolling stock is now boxed up ready for next weekend. Hopefully the tyres will arrive in time.

Brighton Belle progress

I've wanted a Wrenn Brighton Belle for some time but in good condition, these fetch ridiculous sums of money.

I finally got my hands on a reasonable two car set about 18 months ago and attempted (and failed) at three railing it. Since then, and after an aborted DCC attempt, it's lived in several boxes completely in bits.

So today and with next weekend's run in mind, I decided to take another look, and make sure all the spares were accounted for.

One of the reasons why I wanted a Wrenn version was that i thought it would be an easy job to convert to 3 rail running... Not so.

After much head-scratching and trial & error, I realised that the only place that the 3rd rail pickup can be fitted is in the rear bogie, for which there isn't enough room.

Drastic measures were called for, so out with the reamer...

Not for the faint-hearted and no turning back. Yes it probably de-values the unit but it's mine and not for sale!

After much reaming of metal and with metal filings everywhere, there's enough space to mount a Marklin skate. This is where it gets fiddly as I've used the spare hole drilled in the bogie to bolt the skate in place. Trouble is once the skate is in place, you can't screw the bogie to the chassis.

So the bogie gets screwed into position first, then the skate gets bolted in and the live wire soldered to it. I had to ream out even deeper to mount the bogie securing screw so that it didn't interfere with the pickup skate, then I had to shorten the bogie securing screw and the fixing bush to accommodate for the new, shorter length. For extra neatness I drilled another small hole in the top of the bogie to feed the live wire through to the pickup. Should this require maintenance in future then it's going to be a pain as the pickup will need to be de-soldered, then unbolted before the bogie retaining screw can be removed.

The bogie could do with a quick coat of primer and black paint but for now and with another weekend run coming, this will do...

After doing all that it was finally time for a test run. That didn't go well.

I've read on numerous forms the difficulties with the Brighton Belle and the common problems associated with poor running. This one was no exception - judders, stutters and completely stopping on points & crossovers. I know the Marklin skate can cope with them as they work fine on my other stock. Of course this unit still had its 2 rail wheels, complete with isolated wheels for the original 2 rail live pickup.

Worse still, the motor bogie has two wheels fitted with tyres. After some more head-scratching I worked out that the best option was to replace the wheels with a set that I had left over from scrapping one of the spare Deltic chassis. The dimensions were the same, only major difference being that the original Wrenn wheels are silver, whereas the Deltic ones are painted black. Not a huge deal as once the side rails are installed, the wheels can hardly be seen!

After further testing, I still wasn't happy with the results - the unit, even running alone, was prone to slippage and derailments so I tried fitting the motor bogie with 4 tyred wheels for extra traction. This worked reasonably well but highlighted once again the issue with some of the replacement tyres I'd been using a while ago. Basically the tyres lift the wheels off the track, that reduces the amount of contact with the rails and causes the derailments. So another set of the small Marklin tyres have been ordered, these once stretched give great traction but due to their tiny size, more of the wheel will be in contact with the track.

Even in its current formation it runs reasonably well, current return is now via all 8 wheels. 

I'll leave fitting the side rails to the motor bogie until the tyres arrive.

I have to say that in all honestly, the Wrenn Brighton Belle is a big disappointment. I expected the build quality to be better and whilst I can't grumble about how hard this one was to convert to 3 rail operation (as it was never intended to be) I have to say that of all my stock, new and old, this is by far the noisiest piece of rolling stock! 

I've checked the bearings and given it a light oiling but still it seems incredibly loud compared to the rest of the fleet.

The plastic bar that the motor bogie screws to snapped as soon as I removed it, so I fabricated another one using a cross bar from one of the scrap Deltics, straightened it in the vice, then cut and drilled to size. Seems to have done the job and adds a bit of extra weight to aid traction!

I wonder if there's an alternative motor bogie that would fit...

Painting progress

Most of the platform repainting is now finished, while I was at it I took the opportunity to repaint the tops of the signal boxes, again the main paintwork is reasonably good and I'm not skilled enough to re-colour all the doors and window bits, so repainting the top will have to do.

Top of the signal box after it's top coat, still masked up...

All done...

Halfords grey primer makes a great base coat for the tinplate coaches, I had 4 coaches with rusty roofs so after a quick rubdown and two coats of primer, I then applied two coats of lacquer to make them look like this...

With most of the work done, I couldn't resist a quick mock-up on the loft layout, the station area here can't accommodate a longer platform than two sections plus ramps, hence why I want the waiting rooms and other buildings to be separate from the platforms so that I can centre them up when in the loft, and re-position them when using the portable layout...

My new, "neverwazza" double footbridge in the background, more to come on that...

Happy with progress, it's nice that the platforms all match. Should make the portable layout look much better with a nice big station.

Royal Scots Grey

At present, the only rolling stock that I have duplicates of was the Green Deltic, and as they aren't actually numbered it wasn't a high priority to sort it out but I had always intended that one day I would try and either get the existing body repainted or source another. I'd been hoping to find a St Paddy as these go for silly amounts of money but when this appeared on Ebay, I snapped it up...

The body and paint are in reasonable condition so it was quickly swapped with the existing green body, what this means is that this particular Deltic is now composed entirely of spare bits.

Stripping

Whilst I have a reasonable skill for mechanical restoration, my artistic skills when it comes to painting are a bit lacking to say the least. I was rubbish at art when I was at school and I've never really tried anything particularly artistic since then, apart from painting rooms around the house which I can just about manage without screwing it up.

So having read numerous internet forums, I was intrigued as to the many different methods of paint removal and decided to test one of them for myself.

Now there are two reasons for doing this - First of all I need more platforms, although Dublo did make platform extensions, they cost a bomb. If I could track down some shabby stations / platforms that are worse for wear or have been repainted then potentially I could strip them and repaint them myself (also avoids the issue of poor colour match between my different stations and platforms) I've picked up two more island stations, both for less than a tenner each and one without platform ramps - ideal for extending the existing stations, if I can make this work!

Secondly, I have now amassed quite a collection of spare bodies and ages ago I purchased a spare set of transfers for a 0-6-2 loco, so I decided to give it a go. I selected two bodies for repainting - a 0-6-2 and a 2-6-4 (which I later discovered had a buffer missing) nothing too elaborate for my first attempts, just standard black paintwork.

Priority at the moment is the platforms but as I needed to strip the paint it made sense to bung in the two loco bodies while I was at it. I opted to go for the oven cleaner method, using the sealed bag supplied with the cleaner.

This is the first station, bought without ramps and has been repainted along the edges, although the station building itself is in good condition so I drilled out the rivets underneath and removed the waiting room, also because it's the platform I'm really interested in...

Two island station platforms, both with the waiting rooms removed and two loco bodies, ready for stripping...

Frothy! - After only a few minutes in the oven shelf cleaning bag, this was the result...

The transfers literally fell straight off the loco, the paint wasn't far behind...

After a couple of hours I turned the loco bodies over to ensure they were fully soaked...

Still soaking but not much paint remaining...

The view after an overnight soak...

Platforms removed and rinsed thoroughly...

Loco bodies, after final rinsing...

All dried and ready for primer...

Really impressed with the speed and ease of this method. Now for a final rub down, primer and paint.

I wonder how well this stuff works on cleaning ovens.

Next project...

Both sourced from Ebay, the loco currently shows no signs of life whatsoever and the body is pretty poor...

With luck all it needs mechanically is a clean up, magnet and lube but I have enough spare parts to repair anything electrically that may be at fault, once it's running I'll fit this body...

The end result should look quite nice.

I didn't really need anymore 2-6-4 locos but this body caught my attention, it was a good price and has a good paint job.

I'll update further once it's finished.

Saved from the scrapheap

This is one of the three locos I picked up recently as part of a job-lot of Dublo items, all 3 of the locos are non-runners.

No body fixing screw, no rear pony, a very play-worn body, missing buffer, stuffed armature and a magnet with very little magnetic field strength left. Oh and the axles were pretty stiff too.

I own an 80054, it was my first repair project when I started out and, although it only cost me 13 quid, is still in way better condition than this one...

So did I scrap it?

Well, no... 

I did this instead...

Found the body on Ebay, it was listed as a repaint. most likely a Wrenn.

I had a spare armature in the spares box, once I'd cleaned and lubricated the axles I then found it would barely move due to the poor magnetic field (to the point of the armature smoking)

Another batch of neo magnets arrived, so with nothing really to lose I threw it straight into the back for a quick test, thinking that I'd already cooked the armature.

But to my surprise, off it went without complaint, so after a further dig around I found a replacement bogie & pony (even though they're from a later 2 rail chassis) a new body fixing screw and the transformation is complete.

I really like the end result. 

Better than scrapping it, not that I really needed any more 2-6-4 locos.

Scrap or repair?

Really not sure what to do with these but picked them up as part of a job lot with some track, wagons and another A3 controller that's clearly been apart at some point during its life.

None of these run, or make any kind of attempt to run. None of them have their body fixing screws and the 2-6-4 seems to have shed its rear pony somewhere. The bodies are also very, very play-worn - even if I do restore them mechanically I don't have the ability (or patience!) to restore the paintwork and the 2-6-4 is missing a buffer. Clearly these have had a hard life but I don't have the heart to break them up for spares.

I do however have a potential plan for the 2-6-4 having found a nicely repainted body on Ebay. I also have sufficient spare parts to potentially restore it to working condition without having to spend any money!

For now I think I'll store the two 0-6-2's safely away, just in case some suitably cheap bodies should turn up, or I find someone who can do some justice to the existing bodies (which I can't) however I do already own four 0-6-2 tanks.

I think I did say previously that you can never have too many...

Arise, Sir Nigel...

Finally fixed Sir Nigel Gresley after months of downtime.

In the end I resorted to cheating and swapping the chassis, two main reasons for this - A. Because the wheels, not the pins were the cause of the rod pins falling out and B. When I tried converting to DCC I managed to drill out the un-insulated brush tube too big, after several attempts to refit I gave up and decided to scrap the chassis, the rest of the loco however was too nice to scrap and at £70 was one of my more expensive purchases at the time. It had never really run right from the day I acquired it - this was later found to be due to a faulty armature and some voltage leakage through the insulated brush tube, so after weeks of searching (and buying an A4 chassis that didn't have red wheels!) I finally tracked down a reasonably priced Gresley, complete with red wheels!

The loco was advertised as being in running order but, as seems to be the norm, it juddered, stuttered then smelt pretty bad and shuddered to a halt.

Time for some surgery...

Within minutes, the body was off, pickup, electrics, brushes, springs, armature, magnet & pole pieces all removed ready for cleaning & servicing.

With everything removed, the wheels should run nice and free, but they didn't and closer inspection revealed loads of dirt and muck in the axles.

(This is where it pays to remove the third rail pickup for better inspection of the middle axle)

(Rightly or wrongly) I use WD40 or equivalent at this stage, mainly as a cleaning agent, giving it a liberal dousing and leaving it to stand before wiping away any excess and checking the running wheels again. This time they were fine.

The spoons of the third rail pickup were badly marked and pitted, so a quick polish in the vice using a Dremel soon brought these back to life.

After a visual inspection to ensure that the 50+ years of dirt and grime had been successfully removed, it was time to lightly oil the axles.

This is a com-stick, generally used to clean commutators on washing machine motors, but works really well as a track cleaner, and for sprucing up the wheel flanges!

A quick spot of oil on all the rods & pins - if it moves, lubricate it!

After a quick cleanup of the armature segments, a neo magnet was installed, the chassis was then reassembled. Then after a quick electrical resistance check I fitted my original Gresley body and sent it off down the track for a test run... Perfect!

So after about an hour's work I finally have a nice example of a Gresley loco that runs as good as it looks.

Only thing is that I'm now left with another Gresley body & tender, and a spare A4 chassis with black wheels - enough spare bits to basically build another A4 loco, I already have Mallard & Silver king though.

Maybe time to consider sending this little lot away for a repaint...