About Me

My photo
When i left school back then i was lucky enough to enroll on an engineering apprenticeship. I think this lead me in good stead. I was always one of those children that pulled things apart but actually put them back together again. My first engine given to me at the age of Seven, a Triang Princess Elizabeth. The rest as they say is History. Later in life i got back in to Model Railways and started building Pine Road. This could lead anywhere so i hope you enjoy my Blog.

Sunday 29 July 2018

SUNDAY ON SHED

I am running a series of photos every Sunday that were taken
in my trainspotting days.
The Ian Allan spotting books are dated
1979-1983
All the photos were taken during these dates.
I reckon i have something close to 200 photos here, all taken in the Corporate blue period from all over the country. The idea is to post One, maybe Two photos depending on what mood i am in. 
There is allsorts, some with trains, some just looking down the line, some out of focus, some to dark, some to light, some you may ask yourself, 'what the hell' Some i don't know exact dates, some i don't know numbers but they are all going to get posted.
I ASK ONE THING
   You are welcome to use the photos but it would be nice if you would copy the link or give some credit to the guy that took em. ie ME Colin Lockyer and/or THIS BLOG.


Thursday 26 July 2018

Dapol and the Adams B4

Well, It was going to happen.
I said NO, because i had already built one of South Eastern Finecast kits of one of these splendid engines, but, anyone who knows me, knows i'm a sucker for anything LSWR.
When i found out you could get one in Lswr livery through the collectors club, gotta have one.

It arrived Thursday morning. Before i go any further, even the owners handbook is worth a mention, 14 page handbook in full colour, listing everything you might want to know.

Dapol's B4 with one i made earlier.
Dapols B4

Dapol Adams B4
 Apart from looking a bit on the clean side, she does look stunning. Wonder if i could get one in Drummond Livery?
Dapol Adams B4 LSWR
 It even has the dimpled buffers.
Dapol Adams B4 LSWR
 I didn't notice it with the naked eye but there is actually a very fine darker green line between the Black and the Pea green. I feel and after consulting "bradley's Bible" that this fine green line should in fact be white, however, most goods engines from 1885 were painted Holly Green with a Black border and a fine Green line. Thought the model was Pea Green, slightly confused.
He does say though that with in a few months this fine line was virtually impossible to see anyway.  
Adams B4

Adams B4
 Still a superb model and think Dapol have done themselves proud with this one.
Adams B4

Dapol B4

Dapol Adams B4


Tuesday 24 July 2018

Website for "southern" modellers.

Really, i had better things to do today but spent some time anyway, searching around on the good old "interweb" looking for ideas on a goods shed for Exton Quays.
It's funny what you find, the amount of times i have entered LSWR, Southern Railway, Wagons, Lswr, this, that, and the other, into the Google search bar, this has never popped up.
An interesting site for all us "Southern" modellers.


Run by a guy called David Smith, there are some interesting kits here.
Please note: I found this purely by accident, I do not know him personally and have no affiliation with him or his site. I just thought it might be useful for others.

Monday 23 July 2018

Exton Quays Coaling stage

I had an idea for a Coaling stage.
Now, i'm guessing that on the branch it would have been a "make do" cheap affair. As long as it does the job that's good enough.
Made from 1.8mm ply and 1.5mm square timber strip, bought from
You might want to take a look, really for the Dolls house and ship/plane building brigade but trying always to think outside the box they have some interesting products that we can use in the Railway world.
Also, how about this for your workbench.
Perhaps wifey might buy you one for Christmas.
Anyway, back to Exton Quays.
This took the best part of the weekend to make up even the crane took 2 or 3 hours.
Exton Quays coaling stage 

Exton Quays coaling stage
 The rear entrance of the warehouse has been finished as well, unfortunately i have created something of a problem here. One is scratching ones head.
You can see the problem, wall disappears into sky, ummm, errrr,
Waiting for a brainwave while driving down the M40 at 2am in the morning!!!!!!


Sunday 22 July 2018

SUNDAY ON SHED

I am running a series of photos every Sunday that were taken
in my trainspotting days.
The Ian Allan spotting books are dated
1979-1983
All the photos were taken during these dates.
I reckon i have something close to 200 photos here, all taken in the Corporate blue period from all over the country. The idea is to post One, maybe Two photos depending on what mood i am in. 
There is allsorts, some with trains, some just looking down the line, some out of focus, some to dark, some to light, some you may ask yourself, 'what the hell' Some i don't know exact dates, some i don't know numbers but they are all going to get posted.
I ASK ONE THING
   You are welcome to use the photos but it would be nice if you would copy the link or give some credit to the guy that took em. ie ME Colin Lockyer and/or THIS BLOG.




Don't forget Parkstone Goods will be at Bridport Exhibition next Saturday.

Tuesday 17 July 2018

12T pipe wagons

Some new editions for Parkstone.
We had a bit of a shortage of these so, i managed to get hold of a couple more.
The loads are made plastic tube and are removable, but think they look good. 

Bachmann 12T Pipe wagons

Bachmann 12T Pipe Wagons

Sunday 15 July 2018

SUNDAY ON SHED

I am running a series of photos every Sunday that were taken
in my trainspotting days.
The Ian Allan spotting books are dated
1979-1983
All the photos were taken during these dates.
I reckon i have something close to 200 photos here, all taken in the Corporate blue period from all over the country. The idea is to post One, maybe Two photos depending on what mood i am in. 
There is allsorts, some with trains, some just looking down the line, some out of focus, some to dark, some to light, some you may ask yourself, 'what the hell' Some i don't know exact dates, some i don't know numbers but they are all going to get posted.
I ASK ONE THING
   You are welcome to use the photos but it would be nice if you would copy the link or give some credit to the guy that took em. ie ME Colin Lockyer and/or THIS BLOG.


SUNDAY ON SHED

I am running a series of photos every Sunday that were taken
in my trainspotting days.
The Ian Allan spotting books are dated
1979-1983
All the photos were taken during these dates.
I reckon i have something close to 200 photos here, all taken in the Corporate blue period from all over the country. The idea is to post One, maybe Two photos depending on what mood i am in. 
There is allsorts, some with trains, some just looking down the line, some out of focus, some to dark, some to light, some you may ask yourself, 'what the hell' Some i don't know exact dates, some i don't know numbers but they are all going to get posted.
I ASK ONE THING
   You are welcome to use the photos but it would be nice if you would copy the link or give some credit to the guy that took em. ie ME Colin Lockyer and/or THIS BLOG.

Monday 9 July 2018

Dapol Class 73

Dapol's Class 73
I have had this a while, its a superb runner but put with everything else on Parkstone the blue is, just so wrong.
Trying to avoid the prospect of repainting, what could i do.
Weathering seem the only other option, not that i have anything against weathering, its just that the 73 needs to be made to look more of a faded blue rather than dirtying it up.
At a recent exhibition i came across some white weathering powders. The pack actually consisted of White, Mid Grey and Gray What would you use white weathering powders for ??
I bought them anyway thinking they might come in handy for something one day.
That day came.
Doh! i didn't take a pic before it started.
Dapol Class 73 weathered

Dapol Class 73

Dapol Class 73
 Sorry, slightly overexposed but shows the bogie detail a treat.
I have fitted the push pull beams and the buckeye coupling in the dropped position, also the extra air pipes that come in the detailing pack.
You can see the bar that i fitted for the sprat & winkle coupling. 
The wheels have been painted as well.
Dapol Class 73

Dapol Class 73
 it always a good idea to have a photo of the real thing to hand 
Dapol Class 73
 One of the roof. I used a slightly different technique, seems to work well and when dry it leaves a fine texture to the paint.
I mixed some smoke weathering powder with Humbols "Matt Coat" thinned will a small amount of thinners and sprayed through the airbrush.
The whole model was given a coat of Humbrol Matt Coat to seal everything in after masking up the windows of course.  
Dapol Class 73

Sunday 8 July 2018

Dorset modellers club

We had our meet yesterday.
We meet up once a month at the 
Avon Causeway Hotel

Next meet is on the 11th August 2018
1.00-4.30pm
£4.00 including chips
All gauges welcome
This month, Nigel had surpassed himself and is in the process of building a Class 33 in 3mm scale.


It has Two power bogies from Geoff Halliwell and runs extremely smoothly. 



Nigel is also building these OBA's from scratch.

A little experiment to see if it was possible to use something to represent the chains on the door clamp.

Robert has built some OAA's in 3mm scale.

SUNDAY ON SHED

I am running a series of photos every Sunday that were taken
in my trainspotting days.
The Ian Allan spotting books are dated
1979-1983
All the photos were taken during these dates.
I reckon i have something close to 200 photos here, all taken in the Corporate blue period from all over the country. The idea is to post One, maybe Two photos depending on what mood i am in. 
There is allsorts, some with trains, some just looking down the line, some out of focus, some to dark, some to light, some you may ask yourself, 'what the hell' Some i don't know exact dates, some i don't know numbers but they are all going to get posted.
I ASK ONE THING
   You are welcome to use the photos but it would be nice if you would copy the link or give some credit to the guy that took em. ie ME Colin Lockyer and/or THIS BLOG.

Thursday 5 July 2018

Parkstone and Dapol Signals DCC Concepts.

Two signals on Parkstone Goods, One starter and one ground.
The starter was built from a Ratio kit who, now unfortunately use plastic basses and uprights. The one i built was of the Southern Rail built type.....It BROKE after being used at one exhibition, i had attached a servo to it with a "bouncing device" it did not like this.
Come on Peco, can't we go back to the good old white metal ones.

As time is always a problem, i looked at the Dapol one, well they had finally released there lattice type.
I have to say, it looks the part, the only gripe i have is that the arm is far to thick.
Here she is fitted.
Dapol Home Starter

The next job is wiring.
4 wires come out from these, Red, Black and Two Yellows.
Red and Black go to your power supply, now, i have heard of issues with these signals or rather the motor. I am running them off  a 9V supply, the same supply as used for the Cobalt point motors so, time will tell.
Dapol Signal wiring
 Parkstone has DCC concepts lever frame switches.
The question arose as to how to wire a Dapol Signal to one of the lever frame switches. Dapol say it should be a push to make switch.

You need the "momentary" switch on the Lever Frame 

I contacted DCC concepts on whether this could be done, with in 15 minutes i had a reply from Mick at Dcc concepts and yes it can.
Its easy.
The Two Yellow wires, one goes to the "common" Terminal 2 on the PCB supplied with the switch. The other Yellow wire is split and goes to terminals 1 and 3. Picture below should explain all.

Wiring Dapol signal to DCC concepts lever frame
  It works.

Sunday 1 July 2018

SUNDAY ON SHED

I am running a series of photos every Sunday that were taken
in my trainspotting days.
The Ian Allan spotting books are dated
1979-1983
All the photos were taken during these dates.
I reckon i have something close to 200 photos here, all taken in the Corporate blue period from all over the country. The idea is to post One, maybe Two photos depending on what mood i am in. 
There is allsorts, some with trains, some just looking down the line, some out of focus, some to dark, some to light, some you may ask yourself, 'what the hell' Some i don't know exact dates, some i don't know numbers but they are all going to get posted.
I ASK ONE THING
   You are welcome to use the photos but it would be nice if you would copy the link or give some credit to the guy that took em. ie ME Colin Lockyer and/or THIS BLOG.


On the Kyle of Lochalsh line