SimonD’s workbench

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simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Assembly has not been attempted tonight. Some gardening was undertaken, and then we went for a couple of beers down at the harbour. Madame decided I need some exercise, she’s probably right. Anyway, it was nice to be out, but b****y freezing.

Before going out, I checked that when installed we shouldn’t have any chimney or cab roof clearance issues, and all is well.

This evening, I made a set of wedge shaped pieces, well,wedges, I suppose, to allow me to clamp the smoke hoods to the roof until the glue sets. I’ll need to make some clamp screws, though maybe elastic bands would be sufficient to keep things snug for an hour or so.

fingers crossed, assembly tomorrow.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Well, one side done, apparently successfully, so here goes with t’other. Photo in case anyone walks this road again.

image.jpg

The roof is sitting upside down in a pair of laser cut cradles rather like you’d use for a model boat. I cut and glued the wedges together last evening, and cut some 30mm square spreaders to sit under the smoke troughs. Once glued in place the nuts are run on and the trough and roof are thus clamped together ‘til the glue dries.

I’m in two minds as to whether to try to model/fit the tie rods that secure the real troughs to the roof structure. My troughs are strengthening the model!

I’ve also fitted the louvres to one side. I’ll hopefully do the other side this evening, and will follow up with pictures, of course.

Atb
Simon
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Crimson Rambler said:
Reminds me of Aberystwyth shed - sans loco boiler!


Crimson Rambler
Click to expand...

Thank you! you have no idea how happy that makes me!

MrsD & I surveyed Aberystwyth shed about 5 or 6 years back, courtesy of the VoR, who treated us very kindly, and supported us with ladders and all sorts. I drew the plans on TurboCAD, I tried even to replicate the brick patterns, though I’d not swear it’s perfect. I have a Chinese CO2 laser on which its been cut from 2mm MDF for walls, floor, roof & trusses, and 4mm Perspex for the structural steel.

IIRC, the model is 6 bays shorter than the prototype. There are lots more details on my RMWeb “Porth Dinllaen” thread.

Aber did have a loco boiler, with a whopping great big steel pipe chimney, secured with guy wires. At some point, I’ll do a better job of the boiler, which I understand was from a Dean goods.

Thanks again

Simon
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
It’s perhaps a little bright, but the lighting works. Currently running off a part-discharged PP3 at about 8V but I will use an Arduino with PWM to run a bit dimmer.

image.jpg

I need to make a multi-channel dimmer to allow different brightnesses for the yard lights, the coal-hole, shed, & offices, and I’ll need to adjust the jaunty angle that a couple of the lights have adopted. The LEDs are a bit cold. A warmer shade would have been nicer, but it’s ok.

of course now it’s possible to see inside, it’s necessary to add some details, workbenches, shelves, notice boards, stacks of brake shoes, water fountains, ladders, barrows & clutter.

The layout at the front of the shed is pretty much a “shrunken mirror image” of Leamington (except the buildings are brick) and there was a tall yard lamp on a Y-lattice post, I’ve got the fret from Pete at Scale Signal Supply, and will build that too. There will also be lights on the crane out at the back, and there are a couple of outside lights to add, plus one in the boiler house.

image.jpg

Now, where are the slates...?
 
Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
simond said:
... now it is possible to see inside, it’s necessary to add some details, workbenches, shelves, notice boards, stacks of brake shoes, water fountains, ladders, barrows & clutter.
Click to expand...
And do not forget the (covers of the) water cocks for washout, in your case probably along the centre walkway. Maybe even one cover moved aside and a washout hose and "key" left from an earlier job.

"Stacks of brake shoes"... come, come, "brake blocks". I understand that brake blocks and firebars being cast iron were generally stored outside so as to "mature". What you can find stacked on the walkway alongside the exterior wall is firebricks - one stack for each of the brick types that are required to service the locos allocated to the shed. As luck has it, Brian (@oldravendale) has a photo to help you; some years back Brian posted a several photos of Southall Shed and showed stacks of bricks with the type letter chalked on the wall above the stack (for example, O, P, R, S, T).

Reverting to the water outlet along the walkway, a couple of posts before the referenced photos above shows a lifted water cover, washout hose and a key left standing erect from the (unseen) water cock. Note the absence of "clutter"... these are running sheds, places of work, not where fitters / cleaners are likely to leave objects acting as hazards.

regards, Graham
 
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simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Dog Star said:
And do not forget the (covers of the) water hydrants for washout, in your case probably along the centre walkway. Maybe even one cover moved aside and a water standpipe and washout hose left from an earlier job.

"Stacks of brake shoes"... come, come, "brake blocks". I understand that brake blocks and firebars being cast iron were generally stored outside so as to "mature". What you can find stacked on the walkway alongside the exterior wall is firebricks - one stack for each of the brick types that are required to service the locos allocated to the shed. As luck has it, Brian (@oldravendale) has a photo to help you; some years back Brian posted a couple of photos of Southall Shed and showed stacks of bricks with the type letter chalked on the wall above the stack (for example, M, N, R, S, T).

regards, Graham
Click to expand...

thank you sir!

btw, I dropped you a pm, t’other day, did it make it through?

cheers
Simon
 
oldravendale

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Well found, Dave. I'm flattered that anyone found it beneficial to keep these referenced.

Saves me having to locate it again!

Brian

PS - some of the Willesden photos show these components stored outside too. If you want me to find them I'll be happy to do so.
 
daifly

daifly

Western Thunderer
oldravendale said:
Well found, Dave. I'm flattered that anyone found it beneficial to keep these referenced.
Click to expand...
Just used the site search engine. Graham had done the hard work in identifying Southall and you. A search using those two parameters throws up a limited number of hits which are quickly evaluated. I hadn’t realised what the bricks were first time around.
Dave
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
I had never heard of these stacks of firebricks.

I shall have to do some research, generate some CAD and fire up the laser.
It’ll be very convenient if the layers scale out around 2mm thick.
 
oldravendale

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Hi Simon.

I don't know whether this will help as an example. The subject is Britannia 70000 at Willesden on 12th September 1964 and is one of my own. It's from a box camera neg so not very sharp particularly at the edges, but in the foreground are four (probably) sleeper built containers for various shed consumables. The first is brake blocks, the second probably fire bars and firebricks, the third is difficult to determine and the last is oil drums. I don't know whether similar storage was normal at GW sheds - in the case of Southall it looks as though the firebricks were kept in the shed, but stacks of these things around and about sheds was quite normal.

Frustratingly I know that a few of the scans I've done of Tim's negs show similar features but I can't locate them from the thumbnails just now.

70000. Willesden. 12 September 1964. FINAL. Photo by Brian Dale 1200 dpi.jpg

Brian
 
Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Brian (@oldravendale),

I agree with Tony (@Osgood), the first couple of bins are "consumed" consumables. The firebars show the effects of heat on one edge (that in contact with the bed of the fire). On the ground to the left of the firebars are the remains of a rocking grate.

oldravendale said:
The subject is Britannia 70000 at Willesden on 12th September 1964... ... I don't know whether similar storage was normal at GW sheds - in the case of Southall it looks as though the firebricks were kept in the shed, but stacks of these things around and about sheds was quite normal.
Click to expand...
When writing about the Southall "stacks" in November 2016 I wrote that the firebricks were stored inside (and later by GWS at Didcot) because the firebricks are friable and can be damaged by frost (if stored outside).

There are some consumables which I have neither seen in any of Brian's photos nor know what was the way of the GWR... for example:-

* boiler tubes, probably stored in horizontal racks;
* superheater elements.

In case you are thinking... I believe that limited replacement of the small tubes was done at sheds whilst any replacement of a superheater flue was a works job.

regards, Graham
 
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oldravendale

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Thanks for the clarification, Graham and Tony. I'm sure you are correct.

Somewhere in the photo stash are a few of neatly stacked brake blocks which, I assume, are for future use and not scrap. They will surface eventually, but whether too late for Simon.......

I'll watch out for firebricks on the interior shots too, but as far as I know it's only that one in Southall which shows that aspect of storage.

Brian
 
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