Philosophy and Model Railways

I Blame BRM.. Read on

Now, i'm know intellectual by any means and if it wasn't for spell checker i probably couldn't spell it anyway.  So you are asking yourself, what has Philosophy got to do with Model Railways. Yawn. If you haven't already taken a big sigh and switched off by now, you won't know.  Well, i would have done the same, But a bell rang in my head (oh dear, seek professional help).

   It's raining outside, even the dog doesn't want to go out so i thought i would sit here and have a Sunday morning grumble." Apparently" i am at an age now where this is quite normal. Those of you who are under the age of say 30 have probably stopped reading by now but trust me, you will become this person.

Philosophy, History and Geography. 
    3 subjects that i didn't take much notice of at school. As we are probably aware they come into play quite a lot in the model railway world. But for this mornings lesson, lets focus on Philosophy. (stay awake at the back please) I won't tell you again. 

 The Oxford English Dictionary explains Philosophy as:   thinking, reasoning, thought, wisdom, knowledge.

"Thinking" yes we do a lot of that.
"Reasoning" Talking to the wife, I want to build a Model Railway, Where can i put it ?
"Thought" What and how am i going to build this thing.
"Wisdoms" I use to do that so i should be able to hone my skills to do this.
"Knowledge" I want to build this in this time period, I'll buy a book on the subject.

So why am i rambling this way. It all started with an article in this Months (September) BRM. I am probably not alowed to copy the whole text but i am going to take some snippets from it. If you have a copy, then it is courtesy of  "Water Street Sidings By Charles Oldroyed" a stunning O Gauge layout. My kind of layout, small and full of atmosphere. ( that was a song by Russ Abbot). did i just own up to knowing that, Help needed. 
   His Philosophy is: Regarding scale, Don't think about the space you have but what you enjoy doing most. If it's lots of detail then it's 0 Gauge. If you like rolling hills then try N Gauge. This is one thing that  often catches out newcomers. He says and i quote: I would advise you to think small regarding the scope of your projects, particularly with your first efforts. There is a danger of setting a target that is unachievable and running out of time money and enthusiasm.
   It just rang a bell with me when i built "Pine Road" It was my second attempt at building a Layout and wanted to get it right.
  So rather than rush out and buy your first Train Set, Perhaps you should rush out and buy your first wagon kit, Take it home and build it. Did  you enjoy doing that. Look i have built my first wagon. It could save you a fortune in the long run. Try and look what you are best at and enjoy doing. Railway Modelling has so many aspects to it. 

It's not one Hobby, It's lots of hobbies in One 

Perhaps i should have re-titled this post as a day of grumblings. It does annoy you tho when you have gone to the trouble of making all the buildings from scratch, making all the track and trees and a guy comes up to you and says: that bicycle is missing it's saddle. OK

There are 3 main phrases i have learned 
It's a Hobby
It runs on Electric
If it was easy, we'd all be doing it.

And on that note i shall leave you all alone to get on with your "hobbies"

              

Hornby Class 56

I know that this is perhaps a shade to new for Parkstone's time scale, but after seeing them in Cardiff years ago i have always had a soft spot for them. 

I bought a Hornby Class 56 sometime ago. Sound fitted all singing all dancing, admittedly it was second hand but it seemed fine. After about 3 months the lights failed. After taking the body off, i thought it may be the age old problem of the contacts on the cab floor. All good their. 

 

After investigating further it would appear to be the PCB is dead, nothing, ziltch, zero, caput.    

 After speaking to Hornby they can't supply a new PCB. Infact it's not even listed as a part. I have tried various other part supplyer's but to know avail.
There does seem to be about 3 maybe 4 different light systems

Not really wanting to go down the road of fitting a kit from Express Models just yet. Perhaps someone out there may have one as a spare.

 It seems odd that both ends went pretty much at the same time

Class 20

Look what i saw in Warwick Services last night.

 20 901 in GBRf livery.

It had come from the Bluebell Railway and was on route to Barrow Hill. It had flat spots on the tyres hence why it had to go on a lo-loader. That's a lot of filling. The weathering on it looks very good as well, I'm not sure without taking a ruler to it but think the gap between the bogies and the bottom of the sole bar maybe a Millimetre or so to wide, yeah ok just couldn't help myself. not having a dig at any particular reviews.  73 tons of engine and 55 tons of Lo-loader.

                                           POWER! 

Buffer stops

Didn't really want to use the ubiquitous Peco Buffer stop on Parkstone so got some of these. Rather exquisite
don't you think.

All soldered together and painted up. All different types of era and regions available. Have a look Here

Lima Class 73

Been playing around with this for a while now. It started life out as the Lima Intercity version. I wanted a blue one but just couldn't find one anywhere, of course recently they seem to have turned up everywhere, guessing because of Dapol's version.

So having dipped it in Dettol i was left with a completely clean body. A repaint in Corporate blue i think she looks great as 73 103

After the dip in Dettol i set about removing the moulded hand rails, after a good clean up a complete repaint was applied. New wire handrails were fitted, these were a bit of a pain as the four corner ones are an odd shape trying to get them to stay put.

Good old Shawplan's Lazerglaze was fitted. Because of the repaint they were a bit of a tight fit but some very careful filling and all sorted.

I re-used the Lima jumper cables as didn't think they looked that bad. I may change the airhorns tho. Other details are the steps on the Bogies, this is a real must they are a bit fiddly to put together but definitely well worth it. They came from P.H.Designs. Worth having a look at his site Here

This was another big change. The Lima motor did not run well so it's fitted with one of High Levels motor bogies. These i have to say are brilliant. I think he does 2 or may be 3 types but they are a direct fit. A bit of care is needed to put them together  but now it runs superb and will crawl around the layout all day long. Go on then, another site for you to look at Here

Not the best of picture's but you get the idea.

Oh, yes the wheels are from Romford/Markitts

You may be interested that this is DCC sound fitted. I got the chip from a friend who doesn't believe in DCC, well you try to teach and old dog but ...............

So i was very grateful that he let me have the chip. After fitting, setting up etc, Loco ran but no sound oh great. but, wondered if it's the speaker. How do you test a speaker, If in doubt ask Youtube. Multi meter across the terminals on the speaker, nothing. Order new speaker, Speaker duly arrived and fitted, "Yeeeeah sound" Only thing is it's the electric sounds. No third rail at Parkstone in 1975. well, it works, runs, bleeps and stuff.

Still a few little things to finnish but it's been an entertaining project and have thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.  

More wagons for Parkstone and 09 repair

Hope your not getting to bored but here's some more wagons i weathered for Parkstone. I wouldn't leave anything on my workbench for to long, you never know if it might get the treatment as well. And know that's not an invite

A sand tippler

  

Now, i'm very happy how this one turned out, not to much but just enough me old fruit (sorry just couldn't help myself)

Oh look, another mineral thingy

Now then, this one came from a young lad not to far away from here, look what i bin and gone and done to your ex wagon, it was so clean and pristine, sorry mate!

I had a slight mishap with me shunter, I broke the handrails off that go along the top, Oh heck. Suppose to be fixing things not breaking things. so out comes the soldering iron and thought well, it can't be that difficult surely. Soldered up some 0.45 brass wire because that's what i had and hey presto look what i made

Attached fitted and painted.

Yeah!

Hornby's 58' rebuilds

Having built Pine Road based on Lyme Regis i just had to get me a set of these didn't i.

Comparing them to the Branchlines set that i built a couple of years ago i had to compare them. Well you would wouldn't you.

So here goes. A few things have come to light
Hornby one at the front Dia418. The Guard lookout is further in from the end of the coach on one side than it is on the other, so technically they are handed if you get my meaning. The kit and Hornby's are the opposite way round, so who is right ?

 The second coach Dia99 again Hornby at the front, again the lookout is the opposite way round. I used precision paints Olive green Eastleigh shade which looks slightly darker.

 The other thing of course is that i have lined mine and Hornby haven't, although in Mike Kings book there is a photo of one unlined saying this is probably the livery when new. I have searched and searched but can't find a photo good enough to see weather they were lined or not but guessing not then!

4 photo's 2 of each type for a better comparison

I have to say that Hornby have done a superb job on these and yes all is correct but i am still very happy with the set i already have, after all i built them myself with my own fair hands and the information that i could get hold of at the time. They will still take pride and place on Pine Road