7mm On Heather's Workbench - North Eastern interlude

[michael080]

sitting on my veranda on Sunday afternoon, I started thinking what needed to be done on Monday. After a couple of minutes I came to the conclusion that this wouldn't make much sense, because Mondays are always good for surprises.

And so it came.

Michael

 

[Mike Garwood]

Heather,

Are Sparmac kits still available?

Mike

 

[Heather Kay]

Are Sparmac kits still available?

Only secondhand, as far as I know. The company doesn’t trade any more.

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

Heather,

Are you aware if the Gresley coaches sold by MM1 related to them?

Tim

 

[Heather Kay]

Are you aware if the Gresley coaches sold by MM1 related to them?

I'm not. There’s a certain resemblance, though. I suspect the former JLTRT Gresleys were new designs.

 

[oldravendale]

didn't sleep very well last night. Alarm at 06:25.
Breakfast - some homemade yoghurt and honey and a cup of good coffee
Weather forecast suggested biking was likely to be damp, came by car (wimp)
in the office a bit early, few minutes usefully spent on Excel
Attempted to talk to somebody in the Met Police about an item reported stolen, on hold for 9 minutes, gave up, filled in a webform.
Half-hour meeting on the joys of "Inward Processing Relief" - nearly completed the procedure and flowchart for the staff & information sheet for customers.
Half hour management meeting, overran 15 minutes
Brief discussions with tech team
Completed Excel exercise
90 minutes Non Conformance review
Few emails, including Met Police acknowledging my webform
Lunch.

Typical Monday, really. And I have the weekly change meeting to look forward to this afternoon too!

Well, you did ask. At least I get all the meetings done on a Monday and can get on with stuff for the rest of the week

atb
Simon

Oh, how I empathise.

When I started proper business circa 1973 Mondays were Sales meeting, pub, drive home. Business could wait until Tuesday.

How I loved those days and look back on them with great affection. That was when one worked to live, not lived to work which is where I found myself in 2007 which is the biggest single reason I retired when I did.

Brian

 

[Heather Kay]

Brake rigging is installed. It’s a fiddle, but with well-written instructions it’s more or less a case of following each step.



Here’s a dead one to show the fiddly stuff. The kite-shaped rod is the pull rod set-up that sits on top of the bogie and connects to the vacuum rod system. The problem I see is it interferes with the rocking bolster. I might concoct a truncated version for that bogie, because it seems a shame not to actually fit it. Then again, I doubt it’s visible most of the time.

Right, these two are for the US bath. There are step boards I could fit, but I need to check whether they were still a thing for the 1960s. Anyone know, to save me actually reading in a book?

 

[Heather Kay]

I’ve done a quick photo survey of bogie steps. There’s some sort of pattern.

The full brake probably doesn’t have any steps.
The brake third has a full set under the guard's section, and probably only a centre step under the passenger end coinciding with doors.
The composite probably has centre steps coinciding with doors.

Well, that’s what I reckon anyway. Towards the end of life, as steps were damaged or wore out I expect they were removed during works visits. The net result is a random assortment in most trains, as far as I can see.

 

[Heather Kay]

Deep breath…



Here we go again!

 

[Heather Kay]

The state of play at home time. Oh, wait, I live here don’t I!

Careful study will reveal some of the nice turned shock absorbers are missing. That’s because I am short of them. I do have cast ones, but I don’t want to use them unless I really, really have to. I’ve paid for the dratted turned ones after all!

I have to admit this build is turning into something of a comedy of errors. Way back, when I first ordered these kits, I bought two pairs of 8ft 6in bogies for the brake third and third corridor, and a pair of the 8ft 0in for the full brake. Mr Dawson, he of Kemilway, unfortunately packed the latter as one sheet of eight foot, and one of eight foot six. I didn’t notice at first, until I decided the eight footers would be nice to build…

And so the saga began. I emailed and rang Mr D, and returned the errant frets to him. Further correspondence revealed he currently didn’t have any of the correct etches in stock, and was having issues with etchers. Well, I left it for the time being, with other fish to fry, and built a pair of the longer bogies instead.

Of course, now I would like the correct fret to complete the builds in order to move things off the bench. I emailed him today, but haven’t heard anything yet. A further email has been sent regarding the missing turnings, and a query about whether I actually have the correct detail frets for the eight footers (I don’t think I have, but what do I know?). I think I shall be on the phone in the morning because I want this sorted out once and for all. If I don’t get any joy, I shall be after a refund, and seeking alternative 8ft bogies for the poor old full brake.

I hope that didn’t sound too ranty. Mistakes do happen, after all. Circumstances, and pandemics, can all conspire to disrupt life. I’ve tried to be patient, but now I need things to move. I hope they will.

I can continue the build pictured above. The turned parts can be installed later in the build, so I’ll blast on with things tomorrow.

 

[Heather Kay]

Just been on the blower to Mr Dawson. The inevitable confusion about which fret I needed, but I hope to receive the missing eight-footer next week.

We shall see.

Sadly, CNC turnings for the spring shock absorber doobries are like rocking horse poop. I’ve heard the same story, about needing orders in the thousands, from other suppliers. There’s a ready market there for anyone with the equipment who's happy to churn out a few dozens of items, it seems. So, I shall have to use the cast versions for the remaining bogies. They’ll be fine.

 

[Heather Kay]

A fairly productive day, after a slow start.





The second pair of 8ft 6in bogies are on wheels. I also decided to do the step boards earlier in the sequence, as handling and supporting the bogie frames without wheelsets in place is easier. Note the asymmetric boards. They were, I understand, fitted where they coincided with doors on the coach - so I’ll have to extra careful about fitting them the right way round!

Bolsters tomorrow. Happy, happy.

 

[Mike Trice]

Don't know if this helps:

 

[simond]

Sadly, CNC turnings for the spring shock absorber doobries are like rocking horse poop. I’ve heard the same story, about needed orders in the thousands, from other suppliers. There’s a ready market there for anyone with the equipment who's happy to churn out a few dozens of items, it seems. So, I shall have to use the cast versions for the remaining bogies. They’ll be fine.

We have the technology… (though it’s really aimed at bigger things, it’ll do little things too)

the problem is as always that the set-up takes time, as does the programming. If it’s something simple, which can use a size of material we have on stock without being ridiculously wasteful, and if there’s no rush, I can usually fit a job into the schedule.

It doesn’t need to be thousands, but equally, a quantity of seven would prove rather expensive on a per item basis…

happy to have a look if you can let me have a drawing, or at least a sufficiently-dimensioned sketch.

Atb
Simon

 

[Heather Kay]

happy to have a look if you can let me have a drawing, or at least a sufficiently-dimensioned sketch.

Thanks for the offer, Simon. Sadly, I’m not in such a position. If you think it’s something you might be able to offer to the model railway cottage industry, though, I’d be happy to pass on your professional contact details if you’d care to PM them over at some point.

As it turns out - pun intended - the castings have cleaned up just fine. I even managed to drill through them all (I needed 20 in all) dead centre without breaking anything.

 

[Heather Kay]

I haven’t started the brake gear, but that’s a job for tomorrow. I have, however, installed the bolsters.

I didn’t take photos because I’ve already done it once earlier in the thread. Suffice to say, things are designed so the bolster can rock or be fitted rigid in the bogie. It is recommended that one bogie has a rocking bolster, and since it’s the dynamo end on the brake third, I’ve done the same on the all third.

Time for a test.



This is the first time I’ve been able to properly couple a pair of these together. These two have been fitted with Kadees by the previous owner, and I have no reason to change them. Anyway, a swift prod…



…and off they trundle. Very nice and smooth, negotiating my purposely dire P&C without a hitch (at least, after a little fettling of the bolt tightness).

Happy with that, I will take the rest of the afternoon off as a reward. Brake rigging tomorrow.

 

[richard carr]

Heather

Those are looking great

Richard

 

[Heather Kay]

Those are looking great

Thanks Richard!

I will email you in a day or three to finalise a few things - nothing serious, just silly details and such like.

 

[Heather Kay]

While I await the (inevitable) non-delivery of the rogue 8ft bogie kit, I’m beginning to familiarise myself with the Gresley way of doing things.

My task today was to work out solebar footboards, which turn out to be reasonably straightforward so I won’t bore you further at this stage. I also wanted to find out how guard duckets were supposed to work, and discovered that they were generally only fitted to one side of a brake compartment. That would explain the plain panels on one side of the brake third and the full brake.

The vehicles in this collection were probably the most common diagrams built, and some lasted into the mid-1960s, which is sort of the condition in which the models will be finished.

One thing I really can’t get any clear guidance on is how the passenger communication gear worked, or what it looked like in any detail. Where most railway companies opted to fit the apparatus below the roof line on an end of a coach, Gresley has it mounted up on the curved roof itself. Presumably, the pipework is behind the timber panelling of the end, but quite how a flag was seen from anywhere along the train beats me at present. Any pointers would be most appreciated while I continue my searches for inspiration.

 

[Heather Kay]

Just a quick note to thank Mike @Mike Trice for a generous amount of fantastic information off list. I shall be digesting it and attempting to turn it into the gold standard for Gresley coach roof detail later!