What happened at your workbench today?

Strictly speaking this is not work on the bench, but it is a necessary precursor of work to come. I can have completed all of my modelling projects with regard to locomotives and rolling stock, I have four modelling projects to complete regarding layout buildings and accessories, a pair of water towers and water cranes to be painted, a pair of loco coaling stages to be be scratch built, and, another nine buffer stops to be modified and painted, to compliment the six that I have already modified. Once this have been completed, probably not until after New Year, I shall make a start on constructing baseboards and screwing down some track. I will be working to my third track plan design for the Claptowte Railway, reverting to a fiddle yard to terminus design, but this time built as a 'U' shape, so that it can be erected in the garden. Gernise End Station will be located along one leg, leading into a curve with Goudes Sidings leading off, and with Phidell Yard along the opposite leg. In order to ensure that everything will fit, according to plan, I have laid out the track, that will comprise Phidell Yard, on the lounge floor, and populated it with the locos and stock that it will be required to hold. The five sidings will hold seven trains with locos, with stabling for two additional locos, to ring the changes. There are three loco hauled rakes of four passengers coaches, a mixed goods/passenger rake forming the parcels/milk train and to complete the passenger services, the twin coach auto-train. In addition there are two rakes of five goods vehicles with attached brake vans. Uncoupling ramps will be fitted at the end of the sidings, so that arriving trains can uncouple the loco, a new loco can come from the stabling sidings to couple up, and once the train has departed again, the released loco can make its way to the stabling point.

In addition to the stock held in Phydell Yard, there is a third five wagon goods set with brake van. These wagons will be staged on display at the loading ramp. cattle loading dock and coal staithes at Gernise End Station, with the brake van in a siding. The 4-wheel Directors Coach will also be displayed in a siding at the station. The Engineering Department Crane, with associated vehicles, will be stabled at Goudes Sidings.

Having satisfied myself that everything fits with regard to Phidell Yard, I will have to carry out the same exercise, for Gernise End Station, to make sure there is room for all the station buildings. The curve, joining Gernise End and Phidell yard, together with Goudes Sidings, will have to be worked out after the other boards have been completed.

dig 231029001.jpg

dig 231029002.jpg

dig 231029003.jpg

dig 231029004.jpg

David
 
Strictly speaking this is not work on the bench, but it is a necessary precursor of work to come. I can have completed all of my modelling projects with regard to locomotives and rolling stock, I have four modelling projects to complete regarding layout buildings and accessories, a pair of water towers and water cranes to be painted, a pair of loco coaling stages to be be scratch built, and, another nine buffer stops to be modified and painted, to compliment the six that I have already modified. Once this have been completed, probably not until after New Year, I shall make a start on constructing baseboards and screwing down some track. I will be working to my third track plan design for the Claptowte Railway, reverting to a fiddle yard to terminus design, but this time built as a 'U' shape, so that it can be erected in the garden. Gernise End Station will be located along one leg, leading into a curve with Goudes Sidings leading off, and with Phidell Yard along the opposite leg. In order to ensure that everything will fit, according to plan, I have laid out the track, that will comprise Phidell Yard, on the lounge floor, and populated it with the locos and stock that it will be required to hold. The five sidings will hold seven trains with locos, with stabling for two additional locos, to ring the changes. There are three loco hauled rakes of four passengers coaches, a mixed goods/passenger rake forming the parcels/milk train and to complete the passenger services, the twin coach auto-train. In addition there are two rakes of five goods vehicles with attached brake vans. Uncoupling ramps will be fitted at the end of the sidings, so that arriving trains can uncouple the loco, a new loco can come from the stabling sidings to couple up, and once the train has departed again, the released loco can make its way to the stabling point.

In addition to the stock held in Phydell Yard, there is a third five wagon goods set with brake van. These wagons will be staged on display at the loading ramp. cattle loading dock and coal staithes at Gernise End Station, with the brake van in a siding. The 4-wheel Directors Coach will also be displayed in a siding at the station. The Engineering Department Crane, with associated vehicles, will be stabled at Goudes Sidings.

Having satisfied myself that everything fits with regard to Phidell Yard, I will have to carry out the same exercise, for Gernise End Station, to make sure there is room for all the station buildings. The curve, joining Gernise End and Phidell yard, together with Goudes Sidings, will have to be worked out after the other boards have been completed.

View attachment 320286

View attachment 320287

View attachment 320288

View attachment 320290

David
Looking good David, you must be itching to get something up and running!
Nothing happening on the workbench, more that the workbench and racking were fitted plus some stock added,

View attachment 320291
Oh the space, the space!
 
Work commences on the Playmobil Crane, all the necessary items have now arrived, case of draw out a working design, print the necessary items, connect all the required electronics, I mean, what could possibly go wrong! :D

Playmobil Crane.jpg

Construct yet another PWM to Linear converter.............

PWC to Linear converter.jpg
 
Strictly speaking this is not work on the bench, but it is a necessary precursor of work to come. I can have completed all of my modelling projects with regard to locomotives and rolling stock, I have four modelling projects to complete regarding layout buildings and accessories, a pair of water towers and water cranes to be painted, a pair of loco coaling stages to be be scratch built, and, another nine buffer stops to be modified and painted, to compliment the six that I have already modified. Once this have been completed, probably not until after New Year, I shall make a start on constructing baseboards and screwing down some track. I will be working to my third track plan design for the Claptowte Railway, reverting to a fiddle yard to terminus design, but this time built as a 'U' shape, so that it can be erected in the garden. Gernise End Station will be located along one leg, leading into a curve with Goudes Sidings leading off, and with Phidell Yard along the opposite leg. In order to ensure that everything will fit, according to plan, I have laid out the track, that will comprise Phidell Yard, on the lounge floor, and populated it with the locos and stock that it will be required to hold. The five sidings will hold seven trains with locos, with stabling for two additional locos, to ring the changes. There are three loco hauled rakes of four passengers coaches, a mixed goods/passenger rake forming the parcels/milk train and to complete the passenger services, the twin coach auto-train. In addition there are two rakes of five goods vehicles with attached brake vans. Uncoupling ramps will be fitted at the end of the sidings, so that arriving trains can uncouple the loco, a new loco can come from the stabling sidings to couple up, and once the train has departed again, the released loco can make its way to the stabling point.

In addition to the stock held in Phydell Yard, there is a third five wagon goods set with brake van. These wagons will be staged on display at the loading ramp. cattle loading dock and coal staithes at Gernise End Station, with the brake van in a siding. The 4-wheel Directors Coach will also be displayed in a siding at the station. The Engineering Department Crane, with associated vehicles, will be stabled at Goudes Sidings.

Having satisfied myself that everything fits with regard to Phidell Yard, I will have to carry out the same exercise, for Gernise End Station, to make sure there is room for all the station buildings. The curve, joining Gernise End and Phidell yard, together with Goudes Sidings, will have to be worked out after the other boards have been completed.

View attachment 320286

View attachment 320287

View attachment 320288

View attachment 320290

David

David, that's not carpeting, is it ?.....:giggle:
 
David, that's not carpeting, is it ?.....:giggle:
Yes Dan, it's carpeting. Most houses in the UK have carpeted floors, unlike the US where I believe they are mainly floorboards or tiles. It's just one of those things that makes us different.

David
 
Yes Dan, it's carpeting. Most houses in the UK have carpeted floors, unlike the US where I believe they are mainly floorboards or tiles. It's just one of those things that makes us different.

David

Does SWMBO know where you're playing ?.....:rofl:
 
Does SWMBO know where you're playing ?.....:rofl:
Dan

There is a story to that. Our son and family are coming over from Knoxville for the C******** Holiday, he (44) and our son-in-law (41) are like a couple of kids, planning a trip to the store together, to but loads of cheese for C******** and fireworks to let off on New Year's Eve, they have previous history for these, usually over the top, activities. My wife was monitoring the Whatsapp messages going back and forth on the family chat group. 'Look at them', she said, 'the are in there forties and they are acting like a couple of ten year olds'. I had to point out to her that she was seeking sympathy from a 73 year old man, crawling around on the floor, on his hands and knees, playing with his trains...... I wonder where they get it from.

David
 
Last edited:
Dan

There is a story to that. Our son and family are coming over from Knoxville for the C******** Holiday, he (44) and our son-in-law (41) are like a couple of kids, planning a trip to the store together, to but loads of cheese for C******** and fireworks to let off on New Year's Eve, they have previous history for these, usually over the top, activities. My wife was monitoring the Whatsapp messages going back and forth on the family chat group. 'Look at them', she said, 'the are in there forties and they are acting like a couple of ten year olds'. I had to point out to her that she was seeking sympathy from a 72 year old man, crawling around on the floor, on his hands and knees, playing with his trains...... I wonder where they get it from.

David
A quiet word to Border Force about them"boys" importing foodstuffs and explosive devices might solve the cheese and fireworks aspects.
 
A quiet word to Border Force about them"boys" importing foodstuffs and explosive devices might solve the cheese and fireworks aspects.
No, no, all will purchased in the UK upon arrival, VAT included, etc, the only thing missing will be common sense.

David
 
...I had to point out to her that she was seeking sympathy from a 72 year old man, crawling around on the floor, on his hands and knees, playing with his trains...... I wonder where they get it from.

David
A long while ago, I had a temporary job when I was between real ones, inputting timesheets for an ad agency. The staff, when they could think of nothing else billable, would mark down any spare hours as 'conceptualising'. Since then, I tend not to play trains, I conceptualise.
 
A long while ago, I had a temporary job when I was between real ones, inputting timesheets for an ad agency. The staff, when they could think of nothing else billable, would mark down any spare hours as 'conceptualising'. Since then, I tend not to play trains, I conceptualise.
Ah, time sheets - genuine:

Paddy, installing a steel joist - 2 hours lifting Irish Jay :nod::nod:
 
Been getting ready for my Xmas day with live steam, I do like to have 2 Radio Controlled engines in steam. Last year my Stanly Steam Tram woukd not run, forgot about that till I tried it out today after some mods. I run live steam so irregularly now it seams pointless to have rechargeable battery packs so I have gone back to Alkaline. However Stanly has batteries in a holder one side of the body which are a pain, so I decided to put in a roof mounted 9v battery. Have used these before on RC with no problems so decided due to space issues in the movable roof to go this way.

Below you can see the original battery location, modified some by me but a real pain to change with Alkaline Batts.
IMG_7688.jpeg
So I made up some metal to hold the 9v in the roof soldering the metal to the existing hinge.
IMG_7689.jpeg
I then needed to wire this up to the electrics, I had used a Fosworks wiring loom to make things easier when I fitted rechargeable AAA’s but decided to rehash things with a new switch. Here you can see some of the bodgelling to hold tye AAA’s and hacking carried out in the past to get the switch and Rx sorted, nasty. Still it all workedIMG_7690.jpeg
IMG_7691.jpeg
So I wired up the switch using my recently purchased from Amazon magnetic holder and magnifier, this is on a good solid lump of metal and goes nowhere when you are working.
IMG_7692.jpeg
Next up once all wired up testing showed up that the weight bar Alun bolt was loose and not adjusting the valve gear on the Rx side of the loco. You can just about make out the black screw above the valve gear in the shot below.
IMG_7693.jpeg
I had to undo some screws then modify an Alun key to get into the screw to tighten it back up. Needless to say the 3 screws to achieve this were undone. The 2 below were tapped into the chassis. So no problem even if there had been nuts the other side they would have been accesible.
IMG_7694.jpeg
But this one had a nut the other side, only accessible behind the wheel. Every pair of tweezers were tried out to hold the nut to get it back, one very small set with blue tack assistance finally got the nut back on the bolt after much bad language!
IMG_7696.jpeg
So after some worries she now runs fine, has been home boiler tested and all is good. Just Jack to go now for Xmas running.

Russell still a none runner, not sure why I found a vid that I made just after I fitted the SloMo last January so not that. Will need to do some messing around, it does appear to me though on testing this afternoon that steam iis not getting to the cylinders. A fun day to follow.

.
 
Been getting ready for my Xmas day with live steam, I do like to have 2 Radio Controlled engines in steam. Last year my Stanly Steam Tram woukd not run, forgot about that till I tried it out today after some mods. I run live steam so irregularly now it seams pointless to have rechargeable battery packs so I have gone back to Alkaline. However Stanly has batteries in a holder one side of the body which are a pain, so I decided to put in a roof mounted 9v battery. Have used these before on RC with no problems so decided due to space issues in the movable roof to go this way.

Below you can see the original battery location, modified some by me but a real pain to change with Alkaline Batts.
View attachment 320330
So I made up some metal to hold the 9v in the roof soldering the metal to the existing hinge.
View attachment 320331
I then needed to wire this up to the electrics, I had used a Fosworks wiring loom to make things easier when I fitted rechargeable AAA’s but decided to rehash things with a new switch. Here you can see some of the bodgelling to hold tye AAA’s and hacking carried out in the past to get the switch and Rx sorted, nasty. Still it all workedView attachment 320332
View attachment 320333
So I wired up the switch using my recently purchased from Amazon magnetic holder and magnifier, this is on a good solid lump of metal and goes nowhere when you are working.
View attachment 320334
Next up once all wired up testing showed up that the weight bar Alun bolt was loose and not adjusting the valve gear on the Rx side of the loco. You can just about make out the black screw above the valve gear in the shot below.
View attachment 320338
I had to undo some screws then modify an Alun key to get into the screw to tighten it back up. Needless to say the 3 screws to achieve this were undone. The 2 below were tapped into the chassis. So no problem even if there had been nuts the other side they would have been accesible.
View attachment 320336
But this one had a nut the other side, only accessible behind the wheel. Every pair of tweezers were tried out to hold the nut to get it back, one very small set with blue tack assistance finally got the nut back on the bolt after much bad language!
View attachment 320337
So after some worries she now runs fine, has been home boiler tested and all is good. Just Jack to go now for Xmas running.

Russell still a none runner, not sure why I found a vid that I made just after I fitted the SloMo last January so not that. Will need to do some messing around, it does appear to me though on testing this afternoon that steam iis not getting to the cylinders. A fun day to follow.

.
What are the clips you used to hold the wire and switch in the 5th photo Jon?
 
What are the clips you used to hold the wire and switch in the 5th photo Jon?
Something that I thought I had purchased from Amazon but apparently not, may have been an advertiser on here. A steel base with bendy extensions and magnetic clips that appear to have some heat resistant isolating tips. There are also extra magnets (seen in the base) that can be unscrewed from the base then screwed to the bendy extensions or used on the base to hold parts. Sorry have totally lost track of where purchased from but certainly this year. Pic below of something similar.
IMG_7697.jpeg
 
Back
Top