The Heybridge Railway, 1889 to 1913

[Yorkshire Dave]

Although invented in the 19th century, it wasn't until after WW1 that dial phones started to be common. Railways were far from the early adopters. My mother worked a GWR plug board in the late 1940s.

A candlestick phone might be appropriate for the period.

I would suspect the increased use and availability dial telephones phones broadly mirrored the conversions from manual to automatic telephone exchanges where you no longer had to ask the operator to connect. If you called from a number serviced by an automatic exchange to a number serviced by a manual exchange the latter's operator would just connect the call without the caller asking to do so..

Railways probably had no need to adopt dial phones quickly as they effectively had their own internal telephone systems and exchanges not connected to the public network. They may have adopted dial phones in offices for their public network connections.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

With regard to your telegraph office it'll be one of these you may need - Phonopore, and if the GER operated the line they may have well installed a telephone connected to their system.

If it was the only phone in the locale the building may have a sign indicating the public can use the telephone.

 

[James Spooner]

I would suspect the increased use and availability dial telephones phones broadly mirrored the conversions from manual to automatic telephone exchanges where you no longer had to ask the operator to connect. If you called from a number serviced by an automatic exchange to a number serviced by a manual exchange the latter's operator would just connect the call without the caller asking to do so..

Railways probably had no need to adopt dial phones quickly as they effectively had their own internal telephone systems and exchanges not connected to the public network. They may have adopted dial phones in offices for their public network connections.

…and even in the 1970’s the Brentwood telephone exchange used operator connection for calls rather than STD.

Nigel

 

[Osgood]

Back to the crane - just dug this out, it looks to be yet another 7mm kit of the LNWR? yard crane but I cannot recall the maker (acquired as seen a while back for a future project), thought the dimensions may be of interest to you:

 

[Richard Gawler]

Back to the crane

I shortened the jib for my Peco crane and made it 175 mm long between centres. It looks like this "future project" crane, should I find a similar model, would be a drop-in replacement.

 

[Richard Gawler]

It seems, I need to make a Morse key to replace the telephones (wrong period) and paint the rest.

A candlestick phone might be appropriate for the period.

With regard to your telegraph office it'll be one of these you may need - Phonopore, and if the GER operated the line they may have well installed a telephone connected to their system.

If it was the only phone in the locale the building may have a sign indicating the public can use the telephone.
View attachment 220024

Reading up on commercial telegraphy, I think a one-needle telegraph instrument would be better than a morse key. Such an instrument would make use of a two-wire connection to the headquarters of the railway.

It would be sensible (and economical) to extend this same pair of wires to a Phonopore in the railway's commercial office nearby. This office could indeed have a "You May Telephone from Here" notice, I rather like this.

For the time being, all of this deliberation affects only the interior of the telegraph office. I can carry on painting the model of the building.

 

[Osgood]

Headquarters?
Headquarters?
We'll see a modern day layout based on an EHBRAIL franchise next

 

[timbowales]

Headquarters?
Headquarters?
We'll see a modern day layout based on an EHBRAIL franchise next

He means the decrepit repurposed bothy a bit further along the line.......

 

[Richard Gawler]

He means the decrepit repurposed bothy a bit further along the line.......

Headquarters?
Headquarters?
We'll see a modern day layout based on an EHBRAIL franchise next

Ahem! The head office of the Heybridge and Langford Light Railway was within the campus of E H Bentall, a successful engineering company. There is nothing in the factual background nor the fictional history of the railway to imply anything decrepit about its infrastructure. Only the internal-user wagons were superannuated. Remember, the GER ran thorugh trains over the line.

Nevertheless, the EHBrail (capitalisation still uncertain) franchise is of great interest; a major success story of British railway privatisation. By the 1980s, the timber viaducts at Wickham Bishops were in a very poor state of repair. The residents of Heybridge were delighted with their new bypass but the residents of Langford were most definitely not. EH Bentall continued to prosper but the winding B1018/9 was inadequate for the UK part of their European logistics operations. Private capital funded the removal of the timber viaducts and their reinstatement at the East Anglian Railway Museum; also construction of new embankments and a modern railway bridge in their place. The new Witham to Heybridge railway operation, known as Heybridge Railway(1984) Limited, provided a direct rail link from Heybridge to Witham and, through the reinstated north-facing chord line, to Felixstowe and Harwich. This strictly freight-only operation continued to prosper after the opening of the Channel Tunnel and the loss of the Harwich train ferry service. Indeed, we can expect to see this unique train waiting in the loop at Beaulieu Park sometime next year, taking a brief pause on its journey to Dollands Moor.

So be careful what you wish for. I have a Class 66 apparently on hire from GBRf, a class 11 from Harry Needle and some smaller "terminal pilot" traction to hand. A project just needs a repaint on two or three bogie ferry wagons, and even more tolerance from our congregation

 

[Richard Gawler]

Those drawer handles look awfully 1940s/‘50s to me …

That’s not a Victorian desk.

Simples. I model the telegraph office as though it is brand new and awaiting fitting out.


Head office have provided a surplus chair, quite a decent one.


The door is a press fit into the wall, no glue.


Everything here except the glazing has been 3D printed, right down to the handles of the fire buckets. One of these sucumbed to my not-gentle-enough handling. I think the other two will survive on a home layout but not on a portable one.

I am pleased with the roof. I painted the slates with mixes of 951 Vallejo White and 862 Grey Black. The Grey Black provides the bluish tint.

The chair is from an eBay supplier and I regret I never made a note of their trading name. It is part of a set designed for a NER inspection saloon. I will only ever have room for one seat of this style in my private coach so it can go in here.

I don't need to glue this building down onto its base nor glue the roof into place so I can treat the interior as a separate project another time.


Edit: the chair is by Floyd Kraemer.

 

[Richard Gawler]

View attachment 187458
To recap slightly, this is my Y14 and its tender on 15th March [2023]. I bolted the subassemblies together before sending them off to Warren for painting.

I never imagined one model loco could bring so much happiness, even though it spends nearly all of its life in a display case because my layout is too small for it.

Today it was on the Narrow Gauge, indeed the narrowest gauge.












"Tornado" belongs to another member of the club.

925 was painted by @warren haywood and still looks wonderful a year on. I try to remember to use a cloth when I pick it up. The rigid chassis does not inhibit running i.e. the loco stays on the track. Which is, of course, really good when the track is a scale 1.3 miles long and you want to sit and unwind and watch the trains go by.

 

[Richard Gawler]

Two more photos of 925 from the running session today. I am sure daylight is the best lighting.





I found the scuff marks on the chimney after a club meeting (different club!) last year. The loco derailed and someone decided to pick it up without being asked or indeed asking first. Or it seems washing their hands. The marks show less in artificial light.

Anyway, next time I must take some of my wagons for her to pull. A scale 20 - 25 mph is very calming when the train takes three minutes to get round the layout.

 

[Richard Gawler]

MW Class F 'Lady Marion', Unpainted

These are my photos of 'Lady Marion' unpainted, all taken on 10th December which was the day after the test runs at NEEGOG.

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I do think the High Level 'Roadrunner' fitted in well here. It is almost invisible from above. The external trappings of radio control (switch, aerial and charging socket) will be almost impossible to see too.

"Lady Marion" is back on the workbench


A while ago, I dismantled the loco and sent these parts off to @warren haywood.


There are also control parts, mechanical parts and castings which didn't need painting.


The parcel with Warren's work has arrived. The wheels have kept their rear markings and every other part is handed or unique in some way.



The cellulose paint is so thin it reveals flaws I never noticed, but things like the filled-in holes below the quadrant will never show on the finished model.

I am delighted with all of this. Hopefully, the rebuild will involve nuts and bolts and a little glue, and no soldering except for the wiring.

 

[Dog Star]

Your approach to organising the parts is impressive.

Paint job looks the bees knees.

Rgds, G

 

[Richard Gawler]

Your approach to organising the parts is impressive.

I feel that I "need" to keep these things organised. The Y14 ran like a sewing machine before it was painted, but the wheels got muddled up and I have never got it back to its original state. Every crankpin will be unique. The loco runs, and runs pretty well, but it has lost that "crafted" feel it had before. I teased out one hole in one rod during the build, and I'm not prepared to do this again.

For the class F, I marked the wheels on the back with coloured blobs, tied written labels onto them, and taped them onto a labelled sheet of card. Only the blobs survived, but they are enough to let me know I am putting the wheels back in their original locations. Front and rear wheels have different crankpins but there are still four potential permutations and only one is the same as the build.



I just picked up a RTR loco, and the side rods have visible lateral play on their crankpins - perhaps 10 or 15 thou. I am building my mechanisms to much tighter tolerances, aimimg for 2 or 3 thou of space to just leave room for the oil. I worry that mass-produced washers will have different thicknesses and so, every mechanical part is laid out and taped down onto card, and everything goes back where it came from.

I will quietly observe, the RTR loco (a Dapol Terrier) runs really well. Perhaps I can be learning something from it.

 

[simond]

The Dapol terriers are very good runners, surprisingly powerful too, indeed, the Dapol 58xx is also an excellent mechanism.

 

[Richard Gawler]

. . .

View attachment 196481My first outside cylinder, not counting the Kitmaster/Airfix ones. But this one works, and very sweetly too.

Thank you everyone for the ideas for this loco and for future models. I am especially glad I followed Alan's suggestion to fix the cylinder with a stud and a nut. This lets the cylinder find its own angle on the frames and the cylinder and slide bars can remain as a bolted subassembly to make painting easier.

I am doing more snagging than I had expected, starting with the left cylinder.

For some reason, my brass stud was free to turn in the casting, though it would not unscrew. I cannot remember how I secured these studs (probably 100 degree solder) but it has failed to hold.

I have dribbled Loctite 601 (green) onto the bottom of the stud, and this seems to be holding. I know, I shouldn't really be using Loctite anywhere on a model, but it is the only approach I could think of. Fingers crossed it will be permanent.


The cellulose paint has such a high gloss, the camera autofocus won't work. Amazing.


The drain cocks on the ash pan will be nearly invisible when the model is finished so here is a photo of them. The Slater's detail castings are of a very good standard. The handles are about 0.7 mm across, so I didn't think to look for mould release lines let alone try to remove them.


The rest of the chassis has gone back together with plenty of curses but everything is back where it was last December.


The four strips of copper-clad are here to hold wire pick-ups if I decide to give up on radio control.


The connecting rods are tapering inwards onto the big ends. I could pack out the crankpins with extra washers, but the big ends already look quite chunky. The tapering does not show from normal viewing angles, so it may be best to leave well alone.

At the moment, the final drive gear is loose on its axle but this chassis runs very sweetly as a push-along model. My best so far.

 

[spikey faz]

That looks great Richard.

Bolt together sub-assemblies definitely a good idea. Perhaps we can get you moving onto some Meccano in due course! Lots of nuts and bolts there.

Re your mixing up of wheels: I often mark the back of the wheels with a centre punch.

I can also confirm that the Dapol Terriers are great runners (despite being dismantled and reassembled by yours truly). Somehow the rtr manufacturers seem to get away with a bit more built in slack in their mechanisms. But if I try to replicate that slack I don't think I'll get away with it.

Mike

 

[Richard Gawler]

Meccano

Bilofix came first, about 55 years ago. I called this "Mr Mechanical".

 

[Richard Gawler]

Bilofix was fun; this loco build has seemed like two steps forward then one step back, and the re-work does not let up.


Making a start on the superstructure, one side of the battery holder has detached itself from the boiler. I don’t know why - it might have been treatment by Royal Mail or me cleaning the paint out of the thread for the pivot support.


I have put a fillet of slow-setting Araldite inside the join.

Two days on, this seems to be holding. The alignment of these two parts is critical because the battery holder also locates the saddle tank.


The buffer beams have gone on with more Araldite. The hollows are to make space for the glue. I have some doubts about the wisdom of adding such load-bearing parts this way, but the trains on my layout will be very light. On the bright side, I think they will be stronger than the styrene sheet provided in the kit.



I reinforced the steps with strips of brass and these foul the nuts for the buffer stems. These buffers still move, but less than they might. I've lost the spring for one of them too