I have a hankering to add an emu (or two) to my collection and there are several which I particularly like.
Although brought up on the Southern (LSWR) and travelled extensively on their emu stock, it is other lines in which I have a greater interest.
In particular, LNWR Oerliken stock, LPTB surface (ex-District and Metropolitan) stock, Mersey Railway and even LPTB/LER "Standard" tube stock!
Anyone else have similar wish for such things and interested in participating in a project?
John
that would be tempting, but I've got too much on the workbench at present. if I were, it would be the flat sided district line stock, they appear to have run some 2 car and even single car trains. I'd certainly be interested in seeing how you built the bogies and where you put the batteries.
Tim freeze has built a pannier in LPTB colours, perhaps he'd be interested.
John
Maybe Mark can be persuaded to add a Smallbrook Junction module to Blackgang to allow interchange with 1923 Standard tube stock!
;) Tim
Geoff,
Plan "A" would be to spread out the power cells under the longitudinal seats (with a 4-car train there should be room to conceal enough) : Plan "B" go prototypical and power via the third and fourth rails!
Tim,
That's a thought!
I went to school by train from Raynes Park in the 1960s and remember seeing the withdrawn and rather tatty looking "Standard" tube stock (still in faded red livery) stored in the goods yard on the "up" side at the London end of Wimbledon station in the mid-60's, presumably en-route to Eastleigh for conversion.
Regards,
John.
Thinking away from Metropolis:
1) How about the Grimsby & immingham Electric Railway of the GCR? It ran on reserved tracks & would sit beautifully in a dock scenario with tight curves & dock tanks etc. O/H equipment quite minimalistic. Period-wise covers pre-grouping to Beeching so could appeal to the Historic railway branch of the G3S as it's not too modern. However, a long bogie car is preserved at the Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire finished in BR green with an early BR lion emblem on the side.
2) Tube train convoys could be seen being hauled through Chesterfield on the Midland main line en route to scrapping from time to time if I am not mistaken.
Dave
454
Last time I was at Crich, I took several photos of the Immingham car and bought a book on the Grimsby & Immingham line.
Cannot lay my hands on the book at the moment but it does have drawings of the cars (including the ex-Gateshead cars brought in to supplement the original fleet).
I was considering adding a tramway to my line but, on reflection, thought the overhead lines would be very susceptible to damage by birds, cats and squirrels!
Regards,
John.
John
My catenary has been in my garden for over 2 years in it's present format & we have cats, birds & squirrels & foxes visiting. The catenary has to date been totally unaffected. No excuses John, add your tramway.
Cheers
Dave
454
Dave,
Your catenary, I suspect, is raised well above the ground.
Mine would be at or near ground level and herons, sparring pheasants and even the occasional muntjac deer would make short work of demolishing it!
I am even hesitant about leaving signals and buildings outside.
I think I'll stick to 3rd/4th rail if I go with emus.
Regards,
John.
Gosh John I did not realise you were making a railway in a safari park!
Alas my catenary is of LGB design clipped to LGB 45mm track at ground level up & around my rockery powering my rack & pinion railway.
LGB trackage was always marketed by an elephant walking on it. Albeit without catenary fitted.
Bet you ain't got any elephants John?
I really am looking forward to your first open day.
Cheers
Dave
454
EMU's
I've always had a liking for Southern Railway EMU's, and London Transport stock. I was brought up in Dorking, my local station was Boxhill and Burford Bridge, so I was lucky enough to experience most types of Southern Electric stock, (as well as enjoying the pre-grouping locomotives and birdcage sets on the nearby SER line through Dorking).
I am having a 2HAL built for me by Peter Rogers, which should be ready in the near future. Peter also built the 2BIL which appears in some of our G3 publicity.
When I get my track finished, I intend to build some wooden bodied carriages and, if suitable motor bogies are available, an EMU. (I once made a 3 set of a Maunsell style Petrol Electric Unit, a type that should have been produced for the L & B Railway.)
Robert. 492
I have recently been busy building District Railway F and G stock examples. I have built the bogies using Slater's spoked wheels, with motors and gears from Technobots. These all fit neatly below the car floor, and within the bogie frame envelope. The remaining space below the floor will take up to 10AA cells, a small esc, radio receiver,
and four servos to work the doors. The wheelbase of the bogies is 7ft 10in .
To model tube stock would be more of a challenge, as the clearance below the floor would be around 25mm, and I believe the wheels protruded into the under-seat area. probably do-able, but I'm not trying until the current job is complete!
John Branch
Sounds to be a wonderfully well packaged underfloor John! I look forward very much to seeing it in action.
What would be the wheelbase and tyre diameter for the tube stock? Reason for asking is I'm wondering if you could get away with an internally geared small MFA motor with a small diameter (eg 1:1) rubber belt/pulley drive to the axle(s). As you are both a gearbox and sliding door specialist I'm sure you will do it!
Regards, Tim
Tim,
Typical wheel tyre dia is around 2'31/2" to 2'7", wb around 6' 2 1/2" bogie total length 11' 5 1/2". Top of floor from top of rail 2' 5 3/4". Not a lot of room for suspension movement. Wheels definitely protrude thro' floor.
Interestingly, I got this data as a result of someone making a FOI request-see below,
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/various_tube_stock_technical_dra
Cheers, John
That is a useful set of drawings.
One of the most interesting "tube" units I saw was from a bridge over the throat of Morden Depot in the late 1950's.
What caught my eye was the fact that it was painted a shade of brown similar to LNER carriage paint. It was a set of very old stock in "departmental" use. I have since seen photos of a similar (if not the same) train in a scrap yard and it was 1919 Cammell Laird stock for the Bakerloo Line, latterly used as an "instructional" train.
John.
Before I go too far down the design path on a new project, I hope someone will advise me on the availability of some wheels. I shall need 16 off solid disc wheels and 8 axles to G3 normal standards and profile. The prototype diameter of the wheels is 788 mm, which works out to around 35mm. I cannot find any ready made wheels of this size from "trade" sources, and I lack the skill to make them myself. Material does not have to be special- mild steel or aluminium will suffice.
All and any suggestions would be much appreciated.
John Branch
John
An enquiry to Peartree Engineering a.k.a Model Railway Parts on either 01379 608000 or info@modelrailwayparts.com might bear fruit (sorry, no pun intended..... oh, go on then....)
www.modelrailwayparts.com/
HTH
Barry
Thanks, Barry, I'll let you know.
John
Hi John,
Re: my recent post about cast iron pulleys...
"They are just under 44mm in total diameter with a thickness of 10mm. I think (for use in G3) the maximum scale tread possible would be about 2ft 8" (bottom of pulley groove is 37mm) so you could probably get a turned tread of 36mm, one side of the pulley wall acting as a flange. So not big enough for standard gauge wagon wheels...."
So that might be a possible source of materials, maybe you just need someone (Walsall?) to machine them for you.
Regards,
IanT
Not sure whether to post here or on the more recent thread on choice of motors, but as my latest project is for power bogies for LT 1938 tube stock, I thought this was the best place. Photo attached is first mock up of the closest I have yet come to an axle hung design. It uses a pair of unidentified , but identical, motors salvaged from the wreckage of a Canon inkjet printer. Subjectively, it seems to deliver enough ooomph to do what I want, although it will be a few months yet before this is demonstrable. As in the prototype there will be one motor per bogie, thus 2 per car. My hope is that there will be enough power to haul a dummy motor car ( or even 2 trailers) to make a train of it. I have no idea what the rated power/voltage of the motors are, but as some probing with a meter before final destruction of the printer revealed, the power supply seemed to deliver +12v-0--12v.
Next milestone is a running bogie, will keep you posted
John
(https://i.ibb.co/Z6Bh55R/DSC04192.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Z6Bh55R)
(https://i.ibb.co/Z6Bh55R/DSC04192.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Z6Bh55R)
Further to my previous posts, the attached photos show one complete-ish and one bare bogie for the 1938 stock motor car. I have most of the MEL-cut parts for two bodies and another set of bogies, so that answers the question about what I will be doing during the "Great Isolation of 2020"
John
John
(https://i.ibb.co/QcMKfm2/DSC04315.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QcMKfm2)
(https://i.ibb.co/7zmWspf/DSC04316.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7zmWspf)
Since March (can it really have been that long ago?), I have been through that process that a lot of us have experienced, from concept to reality. It is never until the end that we discover whether it was all worth while. I am nearly there-probably a month or 2 away-and have something to show for it.. I have a running 38 tube stock driving motor car, and it is quiet, smooth and fast. It needs a lot of finishing work and something to pull. The something will be an identical car sans motors. The reason I went so far with the first one was to assess if it had the strength to pull a dummy. It does, and so the dummy is coming along. The photos are not quite up-to-date, as I am still working on getting the roof to fit before it is revealed to the membership.
John
(https://i.ibb.co/475Ys9j/DSC04337.jpg) (https://ibb.co/475Ys9j)
(https://i.ibb.co/MZRWsvd/DSC04321.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MZRWsvd)
Looking good John! :)
Regards,
IanT
Looking brilliant!
Ever since I saw the large scale model tube train shuttling up and down above the main gallery at the London Transport Museum I've fancied one of these.
Fantastic!
Ian
I find it somewhat disappointing that the the progress made on my various project in this time of lockdown and every-day-the-sameness has been so slow. Months have gone past and only marginal improvements in the state of my stock have been achieved. However, progress has been made, both in the (almost ) completion of the 2-car 1938 tube stock set and in a 2-car set of 1920 "F" class stock. A pic of each is attached. I guess you can sort out which is which!
(https://i.ibb.co/kGkHr5c/DSC04512.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kGkHr5c)
(https://i.ibb.co/7jC6V3P/DSC04412.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7jC6V3P)
John
Very impressive work, could you give more detail on how you made the coaches and materials used.
Thanks
Mike
I'm working on a full description ( mainly to remind myself of what I did before reaching my dotage). Essentially, any part that needs cutting really accurately and/or repeatedly is farmed out to MEL, some material is used as supplied. Most material is 1mm steel, with some 0.5mm brass, bending and curving is achieved with thumbs, a vice or two, a soft-faced hammer and 2",21/2" and 3" steel pipe as anvils. There is no technology applied by me, just MEL's clever laser cutter. Everything is soldered and some sub-assemblies are nutted and bolted as well.
Once a few more things have been worked out, ' I'll put finger to keyboard, to describe the whole shebang!
John
looking forward to the shabang! ash
John
Thanks for the info, I think 1mm steel is an underused material, as it's cheap and suits laser cutting very well.
It would be interesting to see panelled coach sides made with styrene panels laid over steel sides?
Mike
Mike, some years ago I tried laser cut stainless steel sides, ends and partitions for a paneled carriage. I gave up and went to etched brass because 1) I couldn't form the curve of the sides; 2) the 20g beading was too thick; 3) Even 20g beading was so thin and lacy that during cutting it deformed, came up from the base of the cutter and wrapped itself around the cutting head, much to the disgust of the laser operator!
One day I will dig out the parts and see if I can finish it off.
Mike
Regarding panelling, my first foray into laser cutting was for some "Ashbury" Metropolitan coaches. These were built of teak and were fully panelled. I had the side cut from 08mm ply, with door and compartment windows all cut out, and then a fret of .8mm ply cut and stuck to the side (after it gad been stuck to shaped formers to give the correct tumblehome) The fret is very fragile before assembly, but has lasted many years in assembled form.
I have a few spare samples of frets if anyone wants to see if this would be useful to them.
The laser company was York Modelmaking.
Couple of pics attached.
John
(https://i.ibb.co/2nwx66g/DSC00435.jpg) (https://ibb.co/2nwx66g)
combo duplicate remover (https://dedupelist.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/pvP77rf/IMG-6369.jpg) (https://ibb.co/pvP77rf)
Quote from: John Branch on Apr 06 2021 09:43
I have a few spare samples of frets if anyone wants to see if this would be useful to them.
Could you PM me with a list of what you have left over? THX BoB
I am very interested in the idea of laser cutting wooden sides with overlays for carriages. This is similar to the Brandbright system for 16mmNG. Is there a company that can do this to order, and what standard of drawings would be required? Also could laser cutting be used to form complete wooden segments (in finished form with all mouldings) of compartment coaches, similar to the Garden Rail system?
Would really like to get back into building wooden carriages.
Robert. 492.
Robert, John kindly pointed out that he got his frets cut by York Modelmaking.
I looked at their website this morning and found two webpages that are relevant to us both (and others).
Bespoke services
https://yorkmodelrail.com/bespoke-services/
Information and instruction sheets
https://yorkmodelrail.com/information-and-resources/information-instruction-sheets/
Download .pdf files
https://yorkmodelrail.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Bespoke-laser-cutting-information.pdf
https://yorkmodelrail.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Materials-Information-Sheet.pdf
Thank you very much for this info Doddy. I will contact York Modelmaking shortly.
Robert. 492.
York Modelmaking was an architectural model business with a sideline in bespoke work for people like us. This grew so much that the model rail side appears to be a separate business, with a lot of "standard" items such as lattice-work bridges, window frames etc. They still appear to offer a bespoke service in wood and plastic. I used 0.8 mm ply for sides, panelling, window frames etc, 3mm for ends and partitions and 5mm for the floor. I have not used MDF. For reinforcement and the roof I used spruce strip from Hobby's. I wrote an article on the process which was published in GardenRail for April 2013. I might still have it on a memory stick somewhere-if I find it would you be interested?
John
Thank you John. I would be interested in seeing it if you find it. The "Brandbright Method" might be a solution to carriage building for me. I would also prefer to use thin ply rather than MDF. I always made my NG roofs (Removeable) with thin ply "planks" with pillow case type "canvas" glued on.
Robert. 492.
Robert,
Not sure if this is the second copy of this I have sent, but I think the earlier attempt failed. Anyway, I have found the text of the article I mentioned, and I can send it as an attachment if you let me have your email address. Wait a minute! I see an attachment option at the bottom of this page-I'll give it a try.
John
Thank you John.
This is most interesting and will be most useful to me when I make a start on the carriages.
Robert. 492.