The Heybridge Railway, 1889 to 1913

[mswjr]

watch this , a cracking view of the chimney hinge about i minute in.

Meeting Simon Nuttall and his Fowler A4 Traction Engine 9691 for Winter Maintenance​

 

[RichardG]

How would such a machine be unloaded? What would be needed?

The rigid towing bar stops the engine running away into the Defender, though I suppose with too much speed it could end up propelling the car.

The bit between the pan and the smokebox is called the perch bracket, it looks much too heavy on the model.

Yes, I can see detail of the perch bracket at 10:22 in the video.


Watching the video a second time, I think the most glaring error in the model is the colouring of the tyres. These are made out of soft, pliable plastic. If I can't paint them, perhaps I can make replacements from styrene.

Thank you @mswjr (I'm sorry I don't know your name) it is really helpful to have a close-up video showing this engine.

 

[RichardG]

. . .



View attachment 227475
The electrical connections are the same as on my other cassettes. I didn't show how I took the wires from the terminals to the rails, so this is how I did them.

View attachment 227472
Four pre-grouping wagons (plus brake) are likely to make the longest train on the railway.

View attachment 227471
I have a functioning fiddle yard. Two "short" cassettes (far left) match up with one "medium".

I am a bit surprised how flat the modified cassette sits on its baseboard. If warping occurs, I can think about fixing some aluminium strips along the sides.

The fiddle yard has turned out to be a bit cramped (photo in October 2024) and I am making a new one to use the same cassettes.


The new fiddle yard is a reversible design, for use at home and at a show. The layout connects to either end, so the open side of the fiddle yard can be at the front of the layout or at the back.

There will be a display board for exhibitions, a shelf to hold cassettes and stowage for r/c handsets.


The basis of this is a kit from Grainge and Hodder. I have dispensed with the cross-braces supplied in the kit because I don't think they will achieve anything useful in this application. I have put in the diagonal brace instead, to stop the long sides moving relative to each other.


The brace going under the baseboard had to go in through a hole in one side. This is now blanked off.


I have taken photos to show parts of the structure before I add the display board. With triangulation in two planes the whole thing is very stiff and shows no desire to settle on a skew.


The short lengths of oak are a shelf support and something to hold a lighting strip.


A mock up before I add the display board and fix the shelf, with the unmodified Corgi road locomotive for continuity.

I want to think I could eventually add further stub tracks so I can use this creation for other track gauges. Especially my H0 and H0e models because I have no workable layout for these at the moment.

 

[daifly]

Richard
If those are G&H alignment dowels, there should have been some 2.5 - 3mm ply packers in the bag to bring the face of the dowel near-flush with the end of the baseboard.
Dave

 

[RichardG]

If those are G&H alignment dowels, there should have been some 2.5 - 3mm ply packers in the bag to bring the face of the dowel near-flush with the end of the baseboard.

No . . . the dowels for this baseboard have needed work.

Up until now I have used pattern maker's dowels from Station Road Baseboards throughout the baseboards in this project. Every module is a G&H one. Unfortunately these dowels are no longer stocked because of quality and tolerance problems.

Of course I didn't know this when I ordered the baseboard last year. I do know that G&H sell their own dowels but I don't know their specification, or whether they will mate with my existing ones. So I have improvised.


For the first end, I salvaged the dowels from the old fiddle yard. The dowels carry the track power from one module to the next. Up until now I have used brass bolts to connect wires to the dowels; this time I used the lathe and some solder. Such is progress as skills improve.


For the second end, I bought some 12 mm dowel pins and turned them down to fit. The new diameters are about 7.95 mm for the business end and 8.05 mm for the part driven into the baseboard. It is easier for me to turn steel down to fit the baseboard than to open up the holes in the plywood and keep them concentric.


The packing pieces supplied with the baseboard kit are giving me some cosmetic trim.

I am glad I went for pattern makers dowels. The fitting clearance is about 4 thou, while ordinary bullet dowels give about 12 thou. The sloppier fit is fine for finescale 0 gauge, but I it would risk taking my 0-MF track out of spec at the baseboard joints.

 

[simond]

Richard, if you take the FY out to a show, I think you will want something to prevent a cassette falling off the back of the shelf - the wall is doing an excellent job presently, but I guess you won't take that to the show...

 

[RichardG]

Simon, the display board will block off the back of the shelf. I am part way through pinning it on, and battling all the way as I pull or push or otherwise cajole everything square and into place!