Modelling a GWR prototype : CARROG in 4mm & 7mm.

LarryG

Western Thunderer
I placed an order this afternoon with with Narrow Planet for 7mm plates (with allocations obtained from a 1953 booklet) to cover current and future locomotives. Also a rough plan has been drawn for the 0 gauge layout, so something is stirring in the old cranium.
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
We're getting there 'Large Prairie-wise' seeing as YouChoos sound equipment arrived today. I will go into it more thoroughly at the fitting stage although YouChoos have a page devoted to this on their website. Choosing sound for the 53xx 2-6-0 will have to wait. Hopefully the rollers will come tomorrow so I can start running-in the locos.

Tower got back to me after I fell asleep on't computer, so they won an order for 8 Peco points. I'll be able to see how things pan out on the baseboard........after the 4mm stuff has been bombed.
 
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paulc

Western Thunderer
I can see a sleeve being machined on a lathe .
Oops got that the wrong way around .
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
A rolling road came today so I had the 0 gauge GWR Large Prairie running-in while I tore up the 4mm layout then I could keep an eye on things. When it came to running-in the Heljan 43xx, it ran like a dogs hind leg. It looks like one coupling rod pin is coming into contact with the crosshead in a serious way. These things are pretty substantial in 7mm scale so I'm not getting involved. I have contacted the retailer, as I am pretty fed up at this point after all the trouble I had with a Heljan GWR big 2-6-2T
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Larry

It seems we are not the only ones to suffer Heljan's lack of quality control though to have both Large Prairie and Mogul give problems seems like a double dose of bad luck. I have been running various locos around the outer oval of my new Moor Street Station Layout and I must say that the Tower Brass Ivatt 2MT is very reliable. Also, the two Minerva Panniers perform well, though one had a tendency to stall on the Marcway scissors where no other engine faltered. A bit of emery paper on the switch blade seems to have cured that little problem. I am reluctant to say anything about the Heljan Large Prairie lest I jinx it, but fingers crossed. Ironically my best performer is one I built, the MOK 14XX and I don't think I am being kind to the little tank engine; it's like a Timex, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

The Lee Marsh Jubilee does what it should do though the sound files are in need of an upgrade which I hope to get installed this summer. I am looking forward to the Lee Marsh Castle arriving on Platform 7 (Snow Hill, that is) with the Cornishman before crossing town in the tunnel and speeding southwest past Moor Street.

Like others before and after, it will be sad to learn that Carrog is being lifted, but that's progress. It has been a revelation to many of us of how to build a good prototype based model.

Paul
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
While the old baseboards took brute force & ignorance to remove, it was better to start anew with a clean sheet, so to speak.

O gauge trackwork will be roughly set out on the floor then I'll know how wide to build the new baseboards.

WEB Carrog 50.jpg WEB Carrog 51.jpg

Once work on the 0 gauge project gets underway, it will appear on a new layout thread.
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
The 0 gauge station will be a variation on Ruabon, although my station will be on a single line branch with a lesser branch off it. I have considered a number of junctions around the Welsh borders, but all are too quiet and none resemble Ruabon. One idea is to replace a real station with mine and rename it! Bala Junction could become Festiniog Junction for instance. One idea I am running with is 'Corwen East Junction' with LMR trains coming in from Ruthin facing Llangollen. This would provide a reason for some re-marshalling of goods wagons. Corwen wouldn't exist! For me, locations have got to be real even if a station never existed there in real life so that trains come from somewhere and go somewhere with motive power provided by a particular shed.

Latest update is the Large Prairie is having Slaters axles lathe-turned to fit the Heljan pony trucks and YouChoos sound is being installed. As always, I depend on good friend PhilH of this forum to work his magic.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
So, Afon Wen isn't on your list, Larry? Three single lines coming together, WR and LMR trains and three platforms. I had thought of it some time ago but rejected it for a reason I now can't remember. Maybe I thought Penmaenpool would be better.

And I like the might have been idea as well, it also helps when you have a favourite loco that somehow doesn't fit in - a Dukedog at Moor Street, for example, needs a light railway branch somewhere in the "boonies".
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Unfortunately, Afon Wen was merely a railway junction that saw activity then nothing for ages, much like all the other Cambrian junctions. Ruabon was on a mainline, but building it in 0 gauge demands far more space than my 14' shed, plus I have no appetite for spending thousands of £££'s on Castles, 2-8-0's and the like or building scores of carriages. So this is where imagination comes into play.

I had another look at Ellesmere, but it doesn't set me on fire anymore. Then I thought, what if the GWR had laid its Mainline on the route of the Wrexham-Ellesmere branch to avoid building two major viaducts and the line through Ruabon was a single line to Llangollen. But then Ruabon would cease to be a junction.

So as things stand, I am still in the Dee Valley. Below is a plan of how my junction station will fit into Corwen town. The red line is the existing railwayline. The white line is my diversion to take the line closer to the A5 road and leave space to fit in a goods yard and marshalling sidings. The blue line is the revised route of the Ruthin Branch. Two fictional roads have been added either end of the station as an excuse for overbridges!
WEB Corwen Junction.jpg
 
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PhilH

Western Thunderer
The Slaters axles will be reduced to Heljan diameter for a short distance behind the wheels, if all goes to plan.

Nope

I can see a sleeve being machined on a lathe .
Oops got that the wrong way around .

Nearly right.

I didn't think much of the axle clicking into the bottom of an open 'V' groove in plastic, in O Gauge ? Dear,Dear !

The holes were drilled out 1/4" dia. and brass bushes made to suit with a tab to fit in the groove

Pony Truck 001.jpg
....Glued into place and a 3/16" reamer run through to make sure the holes were in line

Pony Truck 002.jpg
....the finished result

Pony Truck 003.jpg



 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Just a rough of the layout on the shed floor and the realization O gauge eats space! Walkabout space in the middle is sacrosanct. It doesn't tell you much apart from I am at least making a start on things....:)

Anyone got pictures they can post of a train passing over a Peco 0 gauge Settrack point. I may have to use one or two as space savers...

WEB 0 gauge rough.jpg
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
Fantastic. A proper engineering job. Thank you Phil.

Larry

Or go one better and build your own. The Scorpio kit makes a nice model if you put in some extra effort and of course there is or will be soon, the Finney 7 kit. I remember looking at the Heljan decorated sample before the release and it looked battered in places. Seems like that sloppy approach has spilled over into production. This is my model from the Scorpio kit. I fancy a black one at some point and it would be good to build the F7 one. We'll see.
post-13414-0-87886300-1466768605_thumb.jpg
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
My interest in loco kit building dropped out as far back as 1979. Painting & Lining is a skill few people ever master and quite simply, it gave me a better income. Today I am all-but retired and would dread building a loco kit and waking up each day to face a part-finished pile of parts on my workbench. RTR suits me fine as a starting point so long as it runs decently. I doubt I will buy another Heljan.

Your Large Prairie looks superb P A D..........Well balanced and just right. I presume the pony wheels are Slaters....? What size did you fit fore and aft?
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Friend Andy Peters phoned tonight to give me a link to his thread on another forum showing Peco 0 gauge Settrack points. I think they could be the answer in the goods yard. Shunting will be done using Pannier Tanks.
 
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