The BNR (another way)

[GeraldH]

The branchline train awaiting departure with a preserved J72. I've been having trouble with my J72 lately as the plating seems to have worn off the axles resulting in poor electrical pickup. I've cleaned out the axle journals with meths and put some graphite powder in there and at the moment it's running much better... but for how long...

I do like the Triang clerestories, it's a shame Hornby don't reintroduce the moulded interiors which I believe Triang used to make for them.

I think I need to do a bit of dusting as well

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[GeraldH]

A view of my improved Hornby Diesel Dock Shunter. It has been repainted, glazed and fitted with Ultrascale n/s wheels. It runs pretty well and looks quite good although this angle is rather unflattering.

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I've got a couple of projects in the pipeline now including fitting a Triang clockwork loco body onto some form of Hornby 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 chassis

[35011 GSN]

that looks rather nice

[Bufferstop]

What's the dock shunter like for slow running and haulage? I always thought that motor bogie that its based on was better than the later pancake motored job.

[GeraldH]

Thanks for your comments. The Dock Shunter runs pretty well - probably better than most of my Hornby 3 pole Pancake locos. The haulage is OK, but not spectacular - probably about the same as a Hornby generic 0-6-0. Slow running obviously isn't as good as locos with double-reduction gearing and it's more noisy than the modern locos; I quite like the noise though.

The new Ultrascale wheels seem to have reduced the haulage capacity slightly, but have improved the running and reduced the need for wheel cleaning. I did have to remove some plastic/flash from the pickup surface of the Ultrascale wheels which was interfering with the pickups and running when I first fitted the wheels.

There's plenty of room for extra weight in the body. I guess a neo-magnet might improve running still further, but I'm a bit loath to try one after putting one in my Wrenn 08 (see Neo-magnet thread).

[GeraldH]

I had two of these Hornby 0-4-0s as a kid and when I saw this one being sold off cheap it seemed a good opportunity to relive my childhood . It's an OK runner with a bit of lead squeezed in here and there. Although the BR livery is ficitious I prefer it to the GWR one.

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The second picture shows a view along the main baseboard to give an impression of how it is all laid out. The main board consists of two pieces of 4'x2' MDF laid end to end. This is unfortunately not supported well enough and is beginning to sag. I'll be moving the layout over the winter and will have to beef up the bracing a bit.

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[Bufferstop]

Now that the Ultrascale wheels are available I might look for a dock shunter at the swapmeets, get one for old times sake. I had one of the very early ones, with the knurled wheels, if you turned out the lights you could see a layer of sparks under the wheels. I sold it to a mate who was building a GWR railcar, he spent hours filing the detail off the bogie sides, don't know if he finished the job.

[Tiddles]

Perhaps you should rename the layout NRM Memory Lane

I had 8 of those little dock shunter's, don't know what happened to them

As for the little Hornby loco I had the old GWR version with deep wheel flanges. And had forgotten about it utile my wife saw the new LSWR version at a swap meet for a very cheep price. So we got it for one of her "layout in a case" projects.

We found the old UK built deep flange 0-4-0,s wont go around the VERY tight 6" radius corners but the new Chinese built version with the shallow wheel flanges will.

Fantastic layout, any chance of a track plan I was temped to do as you by building it in 2 by 4 sections but eventually built it in 2 by 8 sections.
I use 12mm ply framed and braced by 2" by 2" planed timber, so strong I can stand on the middle them with only the ends supported.

[GeraldH]

I seem to be creating a market for Diesel Dock Shunters with Ultrascale wheels! A friend of mine visiting from Australia has just bought one after seeing mine running. It's a shame that the wheels cost more than the loco itself, but they do exude quality and seem to require less cleaning than the original wheels which they replaced. Someone on Ebay was selling upgraded LED lighting boards and if you added a neo-magnet you could have a fully pimped up Dock Shunter .

I'm still working on posting a the track plan... hopefully soon...

[kennyGWSR]

Another rather freelance loco - looks a little like a USA tank...

BNR2.jpg

Ive just realised what this looks like, Model Power do a similar loco (maybe its from the same lot?) There really cheap little locos £14.99 from Shrewsbury Model Centre. I was going to use one as the chassis for my GWR Steam railmotor but its very chucky and i would have to do several alterations...
Great work, i really should look over some of these layouts more often!
Kenny

[GeraldH]

Ive just realised what this looks like, Model Power do a similar loco (maybe its from the same lot?) There really cheap little locos £14.99 from Shrewsbury Model Centre. I was going to use one as the chassis for my GWR Steam railmotor but its very chucky and i would have to do several alterations...
Great work, i really should look over some of these layouts more often!

I've looked at that Modelpower loco a few times as something with BNR/USA tank potential. I've often wondered how well they run? At the moment I'm using the Hornby International Tank Loco as a basis for my plan. The one painted BR green in my photos I unfortunately sold as it had a duff chassis and there was no Ebay in those days to get a spare one. My new one named Bulldog is still in original condition, but will be adapted with buffers, cab glazing etc. when I get some time. It runs really well.

[Ex-Pat]

The following is posted with Gerald's "blessing".

If you are interested in his fascinating liveries then you may well find a current thread on "lmsreg" at Yahoo Groups (you will probably have to register) similarly interesting.

The thread starts at Message 11052 with a fairly innocuous "I believe I am right in saying that in Midland, LMS and BR days the standard 3F 0-6-0 tank was always in plain unlined black livery.", and then progresses to diversify over the whole spectrum of who is entitled to do what, and why, with regard to colour schemes on any locomotive.

[Tiddles]

Ive just realised what this looks like, Model Power do a similar loco (maybe its from the same lot?) There really cheap little locos £14.99 from Shrewsbury Model Centre. I was going to use one as the chassis for my GWR Steam railmotor but its very chucky and i would have to do several alterations...
Great work, i really should look over some of these layouts more often!

I've looked at that Modelpower loco a few times as something with BNR/USA tank potential. I've often wondered how well they run? At the moment I'm using the Hornby International Tank Loco as a basis for my plan. The one painted BR green in my photos I unfortunately sold as it had a duff chassis and there was no Ebay in those days to get a spare one. My new one named Bulldog is still in original condition, but will be adapted with buffers, cab glazing etc. when I get some time. It runs really well.

Model Power produce "toy" trains with basic motors and detailing.
So for there 0-4-0 tank think early Hornby "smoky Jo", rocket propelled with lats of wobble. I did have there B&O saddle tank modified with a better motor but the gearing was still to high and it really needed axle spacer to stop the wobble. I cut my losses and got a Bachmann USRA 0-6-0 saddle tank.

Look out for the Bachmann Juniors 0-4-0 GW saddle tank as they are beautiful runners. They are VERY hard to find now but the Percy model uses the same chassis and molding.

[GeraldH]

Model Power produce "toy" trains with basic motors and detailing.
So for there 0-4-0 tank think early Hornby "smoky Jo", rocket propelled with lats of wobble. I did have there B&O saddle tank modified with a better motor but the gearing was still to high and it really needed axle spacer to stop the wobble. I cut my losses and got a Bachmann USRA 0-6-0 saddle tank.

Look out for the Bachmann Juniors 0-4-0 GW saddle tank as they are beautiful runners. They are VERY hard to find now but the Percy model uses the same chassis and molding.

Are there perhaps different versions of the ModelPower 0-4-0? I've found a posting on another model railway forum entitled "Kiwionrails' Work Bench" which shows a chassis with something which looks a bit like a new version of the X04 with (apparently) a 5 pole motor. The author has anglicised it writes "And it now runs like a dream, easily crawling at speedstep 1 due to the 5 pole motor" so perhaps the model has been upgraded recently?

I'm tempted to have ago at one as the risk is not that great for GBP 15. The other loco I've been toying with chopping up is the Hornby-Jouef locotracteur which can be picked up for GBP 10-15. It is by all accounts a bit noisy, but usable.

[GeraldH]

Just thought I'd post a few pictures of the previous BNR layout with its Windowsill Branch from nearly 30 years ago. My room had a very long window sill and I managed to use this to link two sections of layout without cluttering up the whole room with baseboards. I never did too much scenically along the window sill as there was a big condensation problem, the condensation froze in the winter. The steel track went rusty and had to be replaced. Getting the track up to the window sill required a pretty ferocious gradient of something like 1 in 15. My Mainline J72s really earned their keep on that gradient! The hill was made out of polystyrene and Modroc, I then foolishly dug up some moss from out of the garden, slapped it on top and started watering it! Luckily I realised the error of my ways before there was a major disaster. Still it was good fun

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The Hornby engine shed makes a nice overall station roof - a bit like Wick as I recall.

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