Alexandra's Workbench.

What are you up to on your workbench
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kiwitram
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Mountain wrote:Actually its a relief as I'm glad I'm not the only one!
With me it is an idea I have and I have to try it out. Then I find I've started another project! :roll: :D
Mostly the unfinished projects I have tend to be awaiting finishing off. Things like the smaller details. Making buffer couplings etc. Things I know I can do without too many issues are normally the things I've not done!
You're a Southern fan. A few days ago I sold an old Southern Railway share (Cancelled) certificate. It was for £130 which was a fortune in those days. I let the man have it for £1 as he loved collecting things like that.
I have those, too!

Finishing things off is the most difficult part, I find. Sourcing buffers, couplings and other notions is just a faff. And lining, which I have yet to attempt (the D1/E1 will be my first effort!), terrifies me.

And aye, I'm a Southern fanatic, Southern girl through and through but my Yorkshire roots haven't completely left me; I'd definitely love to build a model of York station someday, or perhaps Hull Paragon. I have a thing for big stations, it seems! On a smaller scale, Beverley would nice to produce, or perhaps something more rural from up North.

That sounds fantastic to have had in your possession; I congratulate the new owner on such a marvelous purchase.

I'm hoping I can complete the N1 conversion fairly swiftly, it doesn't seem to require too much work (fatal last words?)
- Alexandra
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by Mountain »

Ooh. Lining. The only lining that I've done has been freehand by brush. I did try painting cotton, stretching it out and pinging it so it leaves a line. Though it kinda worked it wasn't ideal. I used to be a Great Western Railway fan, (I still like the GWR), but I had such a mix in my collection that in my late teens to early 20's I decided to put the lot for sale, and nearly all the GWR sold, and the B.R. green sold, but hardly any B.R. blue sold, so I went into B.R. blue, which was easier, as it was what I remembered the most. Still have B.R. blue in 00 gauge. (I liked the 1980's).
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Evening all!I'm thinking that, for now at least, I may build something with the boards I already have (the wooden ones donated by a club member). It'll keep me busy and prove a good test-bed.



Quite what I'll build I'm not sure, probably a small coastal town or shed which would have seen both SECR and Brighton stock pre-grouping and into Southern days.



This way I can retain all the stock I've collected, and the signal box, but still develop my skills.



In other news, with regards the tenders for various stock, the C class tenders are both in grey primer now, as is the N1, with a view to utilise the cast wheel... thing... from the GBL models under the tender chassis (The method to be used is demonstrated halfway down the page here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... -of-truro/).

Image

Image

The B1's tender has had its filler (From last year!) sanded down, although it did come out a tad dodgy down the sides of the tender, so I'm thinking I'll look at adding a cosmetic thin plasticard sheet over the top, to even the surface out. The bottom of the shell was cut out (still needs a little more for wheel clearance) and as can be seen in the photo, the frames and wheels were posed underneath to get a feel for it; it's very delicate, as to be expected from a Victorian locomotive. Still looking at how to go about building the locomotive body itself, but I'm sure I'll find a way.

Image

All seems to be going well so far!

While on Hastings platform yesterday I did take a few sneaky photos of the bridge at the West end of the station, and also managed to get some close shots of the 'box and its cabling; all interesting stuff. I'm terribly proud of myself for recognising a headcode on a class 73 from a distance, too; or should I be concerned that I remembered what it was without having to think? I'm not sure!

I'm going to try uploading photos via my university onedrive; here's to hoping it works!

- Alex
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Well, three weeks have trickled by, near enough, and I've managed to get quite a bit of university work sorted through and planned to make it substantially more digestible. I've been away for the past fortnight visiting my parents; taking a break from Kent and my family down there has done me the world of good, and my parents have suggested I stay up again during the summer; it'd be my first Yorkshire summer in two years, but I'm certainly considering it!



I'll give a brief overview of what my university work is for this term, and then I'll crack on explaining some planning I've got regarding my rolling stock and potential layout building. For Sociology, this module has been 'Movements, Mobilization and Protest', and as such we have been tasked with a four-thousand, eight-to-ten entry log, if you will, applying theory and questions to a movement of our choice. I have selected the Irish Republican Army due to its constant changing state throughout the last century. One task involves media coverage of an event the movement was involved in; I'm thinking I may cover the 1981 hunger strikes in The Maze prison, as they were certainly hard-hitting and worsened the Troubles and Anglo-Irish relations under the Conservative government due to the non-recognition of the prisoners as political prisoners rather than 'typical' criminals. We have to assess the coverage of the media and determine whether the publisher and reporters' personal politics were influential on reporting the incident; I think it's blatantly obvious that this will be the case, but I could be wrong. Other tasks include looking at groups and affiliations to the movement, whether the movement was the result of a cultural shift (ego, its history) and how Sociological theory can be applied to it. I'm thinking if it takes me two hours to complete each task, I can have it finished within a week to ten days.



Literature is... fun. There's a lot to do, given I decided to complete the research module for it, on top of the main module, and so I have a two-thousand(?) word Literature review for the research module, comprised of over forty sources I've found (I'll have fun compressing all that...) and then after that, planning my dissertation with the research material. The main module topic some of you may have seen over in the Literary Musings thread; I am going to be writing on Blake's poems, The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence) and Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience) and assess whether children in art (or here, literature) are the result of art and imagination alone, or if reality must play a part to some degree. I'd argue you can't have a fully unique idea, and there's simply too much religious and moral coding in the poems, if not political lampooning, for the children within them to be entirely fictitious. I've also got to complete a presentation for Friday on LP Hartley's 1953 novel, The Go-Between, and I'll most likely try to discuss the thin line between innocence, naivety and nostalgia.

My assessed presentation at the end of the year has to be related to a representation of childhood or children, or 'childness', in a text not on the course this year. So, I'm setting myself a challenge and plumping for the character development of Eric in Gaston Leroux' 1909 novel, The Phantom of the Opera. If you look at his development, he is obviously a musical prodigy despite being of an advanced age, and suffers from quite a delayed notion of communication, love, and expression; he has grown up on theatre and opera, big, dramatic, campy expressions of emotion, and thus anything he cannot create or express without music he does not 'possess'; to that end, he 'possesses' Christine through his teaching her to sing but ultimately comes to 'adulthood' by learning how love, romantic love, maternal love, and selflessness all work. Well, I think it makes sense, at any rate. I may opt for another text, Diana Wynne Jones' 1986 novel, Howl's Moving Castle could also work in terms of the idea of an adult having to 'grow up' (is anyone detecting a theme?), or the 2004 official Peter Pan sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet, written by Geraldine McCaughrean. I adored that book when I was younger; maybe the notion of returning to one's childhood, or having to preserve childhood could work? I could also discuss one of the texts I'm looking at for my dissertation and research proposal, but it isn't entirely to everyone's cup of tea...


Anyhow, onto the railways! I was thinking about the Pullman car, 'Amelia Anne', the GraFar update, and the replacement window frames I was considering etching. Looking at photos of the window type I wanted to represent - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ywK1nK ... sp=sharing
- the upper part looks like really it could be done with a very fine permanent marker onto the actual glazing, and so I think I'll try this rather than etching them initially, just to see how it goes. It will also keep costs down on the model.

When I'm back in Ashford on Monday, I'll order the N1 footplate from SE Finecast, from what I remember it was very reasonable, and most likely only alter the cab spectacles. The linkage and valve chests to me aren't too discernible between the classes, and I can always come back and change them at some point in the future, anyway.

The Cs still need to be completed in terms of body- handrail pillars and detailing parts shall have to be ordered from SE Finecast, I doubt much is needed, and I am contemplating adding brake gear to the chassis, but we'll see. The tenders, I rather fancy, on one of them at least, retaining the cast wheel block but reworking it like this (see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... -of-truro/), so that it maintains some weight down low. I'm unsure of adding tender pickups. If I fancy it, it can be a retrospective addition. The cab interiors also need work, although I believe I have both of the models' backhead mouldings floating around somewhere which can be painted up and glued in. The DCC chips may also have to be in the tenders purely due to space; I will try to fit as much weight in the locomotive bodies as possible, just to be sure they can actually haul appropriate loads.

The B1 project... I'm a little stuck on how I'd make the locomotive body, for now. I'll complete the tender as far as I'm able, and go from there at a later date. I'm thinking I may take a foray into brass scratch building, but we'll see.

I read on a friend's workbench thread a discussion on replacement motors (see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ?p=3127149) for the Hornby standard 0-6-0 chassis, which seemed perfect given I am still hoping to spruce up an R1 in the future. The Hornby chassis seems a good candidate but I'm not terribly fond of the motor, they don't seem to have much torque and the pickups aren't all that good, but this is easily dealt with. And mentions of a fly wheel, too- something to consider, certainly.

As for the layout... Hmm. I know I'd said I was going to aim for a smaller project to cut my teeth with, but the opportunity for a free 8'x4' baseboard came along, and it seemed too good to pass up, so I've inquired after it and will hopefully be collecting it with my friend once I'm back in Kent. From what I remember the two boards I already have are either 4' or 5' by 2' wide, and so would be ideal for use altogether:
Baseboard arrangement one.png


I realise it's 14' overall, and so obviously too long for my bedroom (11' 6'' square), but I can always tweak it when the time comes, or find space elsewhere to have it. But my thinking is I can work on each baseboard as a separate project and bring them all together when it's appropriate. It's only an idea, at any rate.

Sorry for my long absence, by the way, I do keep reading the posts on various threads but it doesn't always occur to me to reply!

- Alex

Bibliography:


BBC (2018): Historical and political context of The Maze Hunger Strikes, 1981. Accessible at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/events/rep ... rikes_maze
Blake, W (2013): Songs of Innocence and Experience, pp. 11, 23. CreateSpace Independent Publishing (Amazon).
Ford, A (2008): Pullman Profile No 1: The 12-Wheel Cars, pp. 17, Noodle Books Publishers, ?
Hartley, LP (1953): The Go-Between, Penguin, London.
Leroux, G (1909/1910): The Phantom of the Opera, Collins Classics, London/New York.
McCaughrean, G (2004): Peter Pan in Scarlet, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Wynne Jones, D (1986): Howl's Moving Castle, HarperCollins, London/New York.
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by Mountain »

Seems like you have a lot to keep you busy.
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by Pete »

My assessed presentation at the end of the year has to be related to a representation of childhood or children, or 'childness', in a text not on the course this year. So, I'm setting myself a challenge and plumping for the character development of Eric in Gaston Leroux' 1909 novel, The Phantom of the Opera.
Alex

Interesting choice of novel, why did you choose it to explore your theme, it's quite a contrast to your other options?

Have you read Gunter Grass's 'Tin Drum'? Oskar the protagonist remains a child of 3 but sees the world as an adult, it's set during the late 30s- early 50s.
(There's also an excellent film version made in the late seventies, though it only covers part of the book).

To give this post a loose railway theme, I read the above during a week commuting by train to Swindon... (that's commuting each day for a week, not the commute took a week...)

Pete
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Mountain wrote:Seems like you have a lot to keep you busy.
Aye, though I'd rather be kept busy than have things to do and procrastinate, or have nothing to do at all!
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Pete wrote:
My assessed presentation at the end of the year has to be related to a representation of childhood or children, or 'childness', in a text not on the course this year. So, I'm setting myself a challenge and plumping for the character development of Eric in Gaston Leroux' 1909 novel, The Phantom of the Opera.
Alex

Interesting choice of novel, why did you choose it to explore your theme, it's quite a contrast to your other options?

Have you read Gunter Grass's 'Tin Drum'? Oskar the protagonist remains a child of 3 but sees the world as an adult, it's set during the late 30s- early 50s.
(There's also an excellent film version made in the late seventies, though it only covers part of the book).

To give this post a loose railway theme, I read the above during a week commuting by train to Swindon... (that's commuting each day for a week, not the commute took a week...)

Pete
Hi Pete,

I suppose I decided to do my presentation on Phantom because the character of Eric interests me a great deal; the idea of delayed adulthood and having to mature to benefit others seemed logical when applied to the character. That and I had wanted to see the musical for my birthday but instead have opted for another show... But no, in all seriousness, I imagine Eric (Erik?) is a more complex character than he is given credit for, and his physical description of being death-like and discoloured seemed at odds with the idea of childishness, but also strangely logical; the child and death/Death are both huge figures within literature and often represent naivety or innocence. Death within the Discworld universe, for instance, is arguably naive of humanity and its emotions, hence his sabbatical in Death Takes a Holiday. Death and children are simultaneously pure and clean but also easily manipulated and tainted; there is a fine line between life and death, between childhood innocence, naivety and being informed too early. I must remember this for my The Go-Between presentation, which I'm dreading...
As for Tin Drum, the novel rings a very faint bell but I can't say I've read it or seen any adaptations; I'll keep my eye out on Amazon and in charity shops for copies. I wouldn't worry about deviating too far from railways, I do it all the time! I just find people enjoy hearing and discussing my studies, and my threads are a good testing ground for ideas. When I'm commuting to university (I live about forty minutes by train from my campus; crossing the Kent/East Sussex border twice daily gets tiresome but it's a pretty view across the Marshes) I try to keep up with my course reading, or if I'm not reading that, I do aim for a novel a week, which I find fairly easy to keep up with.

Alex
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Cor blimey, what a long lapse!

Quickfire updates first of all:

- I didn't do my presentation on The Phantom of the Opera; I plumped for Peter Pan in Scarlet instead.
- I've got two pieces of coursework left to do, then I'm free until final year!
- I'm in Yorkshire for the next month and hope to have my nose buried in some NRM Archives (Railway Museum, that is)

~ Railway Quick-Fire Updates ~

- D1/E1 body has been glued together (main components), still need to fit detailing then prime again
- Both Cs in initial primer; again, need detailing
- Taken delivery of two 'Nellies', the lore of which I'll post another day
- ERTL 'Toby' is in drab olive, and will be entered alongside the two fictitious 'Nellies' under the 'Blackstone-in-the-Straight Pier Initiative' company
- N1 conversion is going slowly; I still need to order the footplate extension from SE Finecast
- GraFar Pullman is on six-wheel bogies, just needs bodywork to be completed then will be prepped for painting
- New layout proposal (will be expanded on at a later date)

And now, onto my latest project!

~ The Premise ~

As you all know, I'm very much into working on my coaching stock at the moment, building up (or trying to) plausible rakes of coaches which would see service on Kent or Sussex coastal services towards the end of the 1910s and start of Southern's existence. As such, perhaps rather unfortunately, my focus has been on Pullman stock recently, which is fantastic for the 'luxury' services Blackstone would see, but not so practical for everyday services.

However, here we go- my latest Pullman Project.

~ Princess Regent or Car No 3 ~

According to the Model Railway Constructor article dating June '81, Princess Regent was 'another of the 1893 batch assembled in March. Little is known about this car, with no traceable 'in service date' or details of which line it ran on. It was rebuilt at Longhedge as Kitchen Car No 3, 2nd class, in September 1921. Condemned date is unknown' (Newman, 1981, pp. 421).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/anTWLzM5d4dnvYDW2

I'm plumping for this car due to its lack of evidence; this may seem counter intuitive but my thinking is, I have the drawings and given there are no dates given, I can be a bit liberal with the truth as to what may have happened with it. Now, I'm very happy to have a second-class car; goodness knows I need something to take up the slack between first and third.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZwlLPeMji4ycCfQJ2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JG0FY0BirlFsPQR02

The plan is to fit lighting, as in the other cars, however given there are no table seats, I'm curious as to how I can manage this; half the car is swivel/armchairs, leading me to think these may well be suitable (https://www.shapeways.com/product/KFRA4 ... eating-kit), and presumably the other half is what became the kitchen. But, I'm thinking I could either try to be clever, and fit lighting to the sides of the car's interior, or, still fit tables and argue it became a kitchen-parlour car. This seems to make the most sense. I do have two spare pairs of Hornby bogies, both of which sadly have lost their wires and whilst they aren't difficult to rewire, I don't know if it's worth my searching for yet another set of plug-in pivot points. One option that I am considering is using white-metal bogies by 247 Developments (part number C477) which presumably screw onto a bolster, could easily be fitted with electrical pickups, and would provide much-needed weight at the bottom of the car. The car sides will be etched using the drawings (I'll try it by myself; brave!), paper corridor connections, LBSCR pattern buffers fitted and a floor-mounted Kadee at either end, or I may use the (*shudder* proprietary) Talgo-style coupling arm, which seem to sit at the same height as the floor-mounted ones, but don't have as good a reach... Final livery will be 'Old-Standard'.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZUnDJfFYw1u1H8qx1

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bAt4xN5QRhL5Kb8LA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zXB4GiTq0harc3092

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PRhggPRCWYyKDq1Y2

https://photos.app.goo.gl/i8EE61B5ado2bSsr1

https://photos.app.goo.gl/W3tI1nSfNFhS9t7J3

https://photos.app.goo.gl/lKPST79xbkAUQ7qg1

Other little bits that need sourcing are footsteps for the car ends, possibly some underframe equipment.

Let's take stock of what I have so far:

- Pullman car donor body

- Drawings/diagram and lore

- Bogies (may/may not be used)

- Kit parts from Pullman car

- Other detailing gubbins (underframe equipment, ventilators, wire)

- Paper for corridor ends

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3bKBFFPX1Tw9X1MP2

The next stage in the process is to cut down the car in length; at the moment it is 28cm long; a scale 57' should be 26cm, comparable with the other cars. Width-wise it should be okay; the cars were 8'10 1/2'' and I imagine that the width is close enough. You wouldn't be able to tell as it rolls by, anyway. Following this, the body sides will be cut out in a fashion similar to fitting Comet etched sides but reinforced to maintain strength along with the floor-pan; leave space for glazing but enough material for the new sides to be glued on comfortably. Leaving the fascia board in-situ seems like a good option, I can always add new beading over the top of the new etched sides in microstrip. On the other hand, etching a full new side is probably far easier and will give a uniform appearance. The doors will be etched into the sides, too; it doesn't look like the vestibules were 'stepped-in' like on other American-pattern cars and later Pullman productions.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8VERCnb1LGMNfquc9

I'm thinking, if I utilise the queen-posts and thread that came in the kit for the trussing, I'll have to move them further apart anyway following the cut-n-shut, which isn't really a problem. There's a diagram in the Ford Twelve-Wheel book [author's note: I'll fill in the page number later] which shows some of the converted clerestory stock's underframe design, which is ideal for copying! I'll probably just copy that of Monaco for prosperity though, make things easy for myself.

Underframe trussing instructions.jpg
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rtHHW4J2kAOO2tvy2

The brake end of the car as supplied doesn't have windows; I'm thinking I can either fill in those at the other end, or I can cut new ones out, either way it will look alright mid-rake. Filling in the existing ones I could excuse under 'persistently damaged when shunted' and given the car was coming to the end of its service life, I don't imagine replacing windows would be of much concern. Ensuring the car could run and was maintained to an acceptable standard, on the other hand...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KmzCz5EW7FtcNPCC3

So, there we have it! It doesn't feel like a huge project, if I'm honest. If I pushed I could finish it in about six weeks, but I don't want to rush things. Slow and steady is what counts.

I hope you all find this interesting, and if you have any suggestions for any methods or construction, painting etc, I'm very happy to hear them.

- Alex

(Apologies that I still haven't got photos sorted out properly; even when I compress them on my laptop the site still complains they're too big to upload!)
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by Mountain »

Looks good to me. :)
A rake of 16 Pullman cars were in sidings in Clapham Junction. They wanted to find them a new home with preservationists so the railway (B.R.) tried to get people interested. No one came forward, so they started scrapping them. They scrapped four coaches and suddenly it was all over the news and all sorts of interest came forward. (Where were they before?) A friend of mine gave me some Pullman car fittings from one of them. I gave them to a friend who has coaches who is going to make copies and mount Pullman car fittings into his coaches when he gets the railway opened up down here.
Incidently, did you know Hornbys Pullman lampshades look nothing like the origional lampshades used up until the 1960's and for decades before that? I had an origional. Hornby Pullmans are modelled on the modern lampshades used which are very different.
The older ones were made from a bakerlite type of early plastic and had a very different shape to them. More of a dome type of shape at the very top,but then falling into a very distinct bell shape in that the shape curves outwards and then down. The very bottom had frilly bits sewn on. The plastic was made in segments and was a light coffee cream coloured type of see through plastic material. The segments had holes in which were sewn together.
Just a few interesting things about history!
All Pullman fittings from door hinges to lamp stands all had the car number stamped into the forging and were made from brass where possible. Even small items like little coat hooks had the car number.
Last edited by Mountain on Sun May 20, 2018 1:02 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Mountain wrote: Incidentally, did you know Hornby's Pullman lampshades look nothing like the origional lampshades used up until the 1960's and for decades before that? I had an original. Hornby Pullmans are modelled on the modern lampshades used which are very different.
The older ones were made from a Bakerlite type of early plastic and had a very different shape to them. More of a dome type of shape.
Just a few interesting things about history!
All Pullman fittings from door hinges to lamp stands all had the car number stamped into the forging and were made from brass where possible. Even small items like little coat hooks had the car number.
Hi Mountain,

I'd had an inkling that the lamps weren't quite the correct type, but at a three foot viewing distance, whose going to know? :wink: Though I may have to be careful backdating the two Hornby examples' fascia boards to the 'Old-Standard' now that you've said that... People may not believe it ever existed!

Yes, I'd heard of the Pullman Co. being fastidious in marking everything with the car operating number, date of production and so forth. Just one of the things that you'd imagine would make researching the darned things easier, but nope! Apparently not always. Still, thank you for that little tidbit about the lamps, I'll bear it in mind with car no 3.

I'm struggling at the moment with the pick-up wires on Monaco and my fictitious SEC Pullman build snapping and not collecting current; I'll have to look into alternatives, the fault only occurs on the bogies and I can't keep buying new spares, no matter how nice (and cheap!!) the spares company is in Wales...

- Alex
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by Mountain »

I ha e to make correction regarding the shape. Thehap did go in in the middle and then out. Not exactly dome shaped. More like a bell. Hope I will correct the post above. The Pullman cars today use standard shaped lampshades in that they look triangularly round.
Where I saw the dome shape is at the very top of the lampshade. The reason why I mention it is that the shape of the lightshades are very visible when watching the coaches pass. If one is on a platform and one passes at speed. Ones eyes will be drawn to the unusual shape ands style. The plastic is a few pieces stitched together like petals of a flower, though one would only notice this aspect if one was by a window of a coach, or iside.
So the top of it is like a dome but then it turns outwards and then turns downwards again like the shape of an ornate bell. They had a very 1920's look to them. If I remember I will make a drawing and photograph the drawing and put it in here.
While not quite the right shape, the Triang/Hornby Pullman cars did seem to capture the look of the older table lights better, (Though I'm going by memory as it has been a good ten years since I've had one as a model), while the more modern Hornby Pullman cars have a definate preservation look to them. The table lights are very noticeably modern right down the the colour of the shade and the light. (See amended notes in my last reply above).
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Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Good news!

After unsoldering and resoldering the pickup wires on Monaco and fretting about potentially having wrecked a £48 model, I noticed I'd refitted the wheelsets the wrong way around so one rail's worth of pickup had been insulated; pop the wheelsets out, flip them over, and all's well.

Amelia Anne on the other hand is still a struggle, I'm wondering how I can go about fixing it up... Replacement LED bulbs and a new bulb filter cover (it's a little clear plastic fitting over the bulb that diffuses the light into the fibre-optic pipes) should hopefully fix everything. Paint the inside of the car black, fit some interior detail paneling (for the vestibules, to disguise the PCB boards) and that'll be the lighting sorted on all bar the newest car.

I suppose I ought to outline the 'lore' of my new proposed layout (note: I will actually try to build this one this time!), Blackstone-in-the-Strait.

~ Blackstone-in-the-Strait; a history ~

Blackstone is a middle-sized resort town fictitiously sited near(ish) Hastings, and was accessed by rail via the Hastings-Ashford line on a spur, up to the outbreak of WWI. The town was jointly served by the SECR and the LBSC, who, unusually, shared the facilities and services rather amicably; perhaps this was due to the town's relative unimportance and the general population's lack of knowledge of its existence. Through services to Charing Cross and London Bridge via Ashford or Hastings and Tonbridge were provided by the SECR; a very slow stopping service via Hastings and Lewes was available by the Brighton Company, along with services to Brighton itself. Its first station was built on the north-west side of the town, with planning permission to extend down to the Coastline, finally taking place in 1869; The Pier Station, named Blackstone-in-the-Strait became the main station for the town; Blackstone (Town) was used more for goods services. The station was built with three platforms; two long examples, and a shorter bay platform designed for use by auto-trains and short shuttles to Hastings and Ashford, respectively. In between the two longer platforms was a line used initially for locomotive stabling, but later was realigned for running around trains.

Following the declaration of war in 1914, the line was sadly a victim of reduced services from the SECR, starting in 1915, due to falling holiday traffic and the enforced production of machinery for the war effort having to take precedence. The LBSC had entirely stopped its services a year earlier, with the agreement that at the end of the war (based on the assumption at the time it would only last a year) services would be reinstated. Sadly, this was not to be. Following the conflict, the SECR struggled to keep services at a consistent level, due in fact to a decline in traffic, both freight and passenger. With the cessation of ferry services in 1915, the town was highly unattractive as a holiday destination.

The SECR had helped to bring some unification to Kentish railway services during its existence, and as such had steered some holiday traffic away from some of the smaller former South Eastern lines towards some of the more appealing resorts on former LCDR territory, and as such, had operated the Blackstone line singly, with gradually reduced services. With no 'Brighton services and very limited operations by the 'South Eastern and Basham' (thank you very much, LP Hartley!), the local population of Blackstone and the nearby villages of Lympington (Derived from Lympne and Aldington) and Hamchurch (Derived from Hamstreet and Newchurch) were none too happy. Following lengthy negotiations and some very very ambitious campaigning by a local heiress, Lady Alexandra, a thoroughly modern woman for her time, services were restored, though not quite to the state they were before, though this could be easily dealt with. The pier and its station were rebuilt circa 1919-21 in its original Gothic-Italianate style (funded by the Lady), and followed standard SECR paint practice, which remained throughout the twenties. Boat train and ferry services were also restored, and though they were only twice weekly it was enough to bring revenue to the town once more and saved the hospitality and fishing industries from bankruptcy. The retention of Gothic stylings came from Lady A's persistent campaigning, who, as an avid reader and volunteer in the local school, recognised the importance of celebrating local culture and making a mark on the town, and discovered a famous author (fictitious, obviously...), Benjamin. D. Yorke, a Gothic author who also illustrated his volumes, and wrote a majority of his work in the town whilst taking a sabbatical from Glasgow. Influenced by his Gothic, Italianate and Jacobean architectural illustrations of castles and manor houses, Lady A drafted a plan for the rebuilding of the station offices and helped with the design of the station layout generally, a first for a woman in the field. She later went on to become a member of the Blackstone Railway Committee, negotiating and designing and so on.

Typical stock included Brighton coach sets, SER/SECR 4-4-0s, the occasional Brighton 4-4-0 or B1, and a H/E4 + two coach shuttle for the coastal/Ashford local services. Boat trains were made up (typically) of a few Pullman cars and one or two SECR corridor coaches, or perhaps a Birdcage set, dependent on which route the train took; trains coming down via Tonbridge and Ashford were restricted to R1, or 8'6'', Brighton and along the coast gave a more liberal loading gauge, 8'10 1/2''. Contrary to typical Southern practice, instead adopting the Caledonian/LMS model, the Pullman cars were retained and ticketed at a tuppence supplement to standard tickets, permitting travel in any Pullman car on the boat train or ferry service for meals. This practice was again popularised by Lady Alexandra, or 'Miss Alex' as she was known to the locals, as her fiance was friendly with the board of Caledonian directors (friend of his father's.) The Pullman company only agreed to this practice after a trial period in March 1921, which took was received with great joy by the local businessmen and holiday makers; the middle classes traveling from Surrey, Kent, Sussex and so on appreciated the improved seating and dining service, at affordable rates, and so did students who wanted to make the most of the sun. Large families who wanted warm meals also benefited. It was the only example of a supplement Pullman ticket service in the South East (that I can think of, at any rate.)

I'll add more when I think it up; if anyone notices any inaccuracies, please point them out!

Thanks,

- Alex
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kiwitram
Posts: 374
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:11 pm
Location: England

Re: Alex's Locomotive Works- tinkering and whatnot

Post by kiwitram »

Good evening, good evening, good evening!

I've not long got back from a trip on my tod to York, where of course I visited the Railway Museum (nothing exciting to report really; Sir Nigel Gresley is still in the 'shop, there's been a shuffle of exhibits slightly around the 'table and Stirling Single No 1 is on the 'table itself) to attempt to undertake some research on the LBSC clerestory Pullmans. And would you believe it?

There's still next-to-nothing about them. Kew (National Archives) it is, then. Eventually. I'll include a bibliography of what I did read while I was at the 'museum, in case anyone would care to have a gander for themselves (I'm afraid I didn't note page numbers as there were literally brief mentions in most cases, and the page references were easily found in the indices).

I felt like a bit of a numpty, thought I had no writing material with me and so I bought a pencil and pad (got into a fluster about how to pay until I saw the donations box on the desk... Silly Alex!), and it was ever so muggy in Yorks. today, it was almost unbearably hot and humid. Nevertheless, I did find some things out such as:

- The Pullman coat of arms as we know it now (or rather, in its original form before it became a 'squashed cabbage' in the late 'fifties, as Pullman employees referred to it) was not introduced until Lord Dalziel bought the British Pullman Co.
- All the clerestories were electrically light, but were also fitted with gas in case of emergency.
- Pullman 'Pups' were in fact not Pullmans at all! They were built by the 'Brighton in the style of the Pullman cars of the era so that they did not look out of place but were maintained by the LBSC.
- There were also no Pullman brakes built, and thus they ran with six-wheel double-end-ducketed brake carriages of Billington design.
- When delivered, the LBSC and LSWR Pullmans initially carried the US Pullman olive livery, with ornate gilt gold scrolling, lining, and green bogies. This was changed by around 1906, I believe, just prior to the Southern Belle cars construction completion, and the all-new service was introduced in the LBSC's umber and cream livery, which became the 'Pullman Standard'.

Following my venture to the NRM (RM... Whatever. It'll always be the National Railway Museum to me!) I took a wander down to Monk Bar Model Shop, an excellent little shop which thankfully always has at least four or so customers in and enough staff to keep everyone occupied, and bought some 1mm plank-effect plasticard for the GraFar project (that scales out at 3'' thick planks, which sounds perfect!) and these delightful little chappies:
Pullman Crew Bachmann.jpeg
I realise that they're dating from the 'sixties, however, once they're inside the cars, I imagine they'll look just fine. Now I just need to buy some suitable 'twenties passengers... Ah. Something will turn up, I'm sure. When I was in the shop, I was terribly tempted to buy a Birdcage or a wagon kit, but I refrained. Finish what you've started, Alex, finish what you've started...

While I've been up in Leeds, I did remember that I have two boards that were my Dad's stored in the garage, which is nice and dry. I'll try to measure them at some point, but I've got a feeling they're 4' wide by 5' long (I could be wildly out on that), which is pretty darn good, and would lend themselves well to an L-shape layout at some point in the future. If I can plan out a board arrangement with the two I already have, and these two, then I can follow some members' advice of building the layout in modules. I can work on the boards up here when I visit my parents and when I have a place of my own again (please be soon, please be soon, please be soon, please be soon), then I can obviously set them all up together. From memory these boards are wide enough to take 3rd radius curves, and so that would suggest a 4' width.

My friend has been doing some work on the Pullmans while I've been away (he offered to!), just tidying up my filler on the GraFar and firmly fixing the clerestory car shell together, and I believe he said he'd fill in where I'd cut away too much, so that'll be nice to come back to. Whilst researching the 'correct' (dreaded word) Madder Lake colour, it would appear that the most popular colour suggested is Precision's Caledonian Purple, which to me does look pretty close. So, this is an option for Amelia Anne (The GraFar car) and any subsequent SECR coaches I build/purchase, as it would seem Precision's SECR Lake is rather hard to come by nowadays.

The clerestory Pullman requires round buffers, most unusual for a Pullman on the Southern, but I suspect generic round ones such as Roxey's SECR/LBSCR round buffers should be fine. It doesn't look like the cars had any ventilators on the clerestory section,though there may have been some on the roof either side- I shall investigate more in photos. Seeing as though Blackstone-in-the-Strait saw boat traffic in my little fictional world, I'm supposing I can and should procure some Continental coaching stock as well as some Birdcages (I see you recoil in fear, student overdraft) and some 'Brighton bogie stock, too. Obviously I'll whittle down what it is I need as opposed to what I want; believe it or not, they're not always one and the same (much to my dismay and bank balance's relief). I'm imagining each boat train would be perhaps two-to-four Southern coaches, and one or two Pullmans. It's a smallish town, and not a terribly big station (six coaches maximum) in my mind so far, so... Yeah, that's about it.

As always, any questions or comments are very much welcome!

- Alex

~Bibliography~

Behrend, G (1962): Pullman in Europe, Ian Allan Publishing Ltd, Shepperton.

Haresnape, B (1987): Pullman- Travelling in Style, Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, Littlehampton.

Kichenside, G (1964): Vintage and Veteran Series- Railway Carriages 1839-1939, Ian Allan Publishing Ltd, Shepperton.

Morris, J (2007) Pullman Pride: Photographs from the Archive of E J Morris, Company Secretary of the Pullman Car Company, Noodle Books, ?

Newbury, P.J. (1976): Carriage Stock of the LBSCR, Oakwood Press, ?

Radford, B (1984): The American Pullman Cars of the Midland Railway, Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, Littlehampton.

Weddell, G (1992): LSWR Carriages 1838-1900, Wild Swan Publications Ltd, Oxford (?)
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Mountain
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Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2016 3:43 pm
Location: UK.

Re: Alexandra's Workbench.

Post by Mountain »

They look nice.
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