The Heybridge Railway, 1889 to 1913

[simond]

A recent visitor to my workbench was a rather elegant 2-4-2, an LNWR 4P, I believe.

It really isn’t a good idea to have the body and chassis live to one rail, particularly if you have brass coaches, whose wheels occasionally touch a brass brake or axleguard or something, resulting in an intermittent, and un-locatable short. Unless it’s dark, of course. Then it’s like the 5th of November between couplings and buffers!

But given that it ran on a garden line and that by the time it went dark, we were leaving for the pub…


anyway, worth checking every item of stock when it’s built, rather than searching the whole train later!

 

[Richard Gawler]

I'd just make four more from scrap etch and solder them in place at 90 degrees down the centre line of incorrect ones. It will look a like 'T' section bracket with the top of the 'T' next to the solebar.

I like this thinking but two wrongs don't make a right and also this approach seemed rather difficult to do. All of the triangles would be irregular, no right angles.


So I have pulled off the four original body stays (it's amazing how good soldering can be when it comes to take it apart!) and added new ones from offcuts of nickel silver.


The stays may well still be incorrect (I don't have a clear photo), but somehow I think this is better.

 

[Richard Gawler]

Conclusions

All of the parts of this kit fitted together really well. I suspect the brake lever would have been better as an etch instead of a casting, but perhaps the designer ran out of space on the etch. If this is the only weakness I can think of, the kit is surely a good one.

I did the assembly with 188, 145 and 100 degree solder, and my 40W iron and a microflame torch. I have two bits for the iron, one for white metal and one for everything else. I have a feeling, I cannot get much neater using these and if I want tidier results in awkward spaces I need to bite the bullet and get a RSU.

Kit instructions rarely find a match between my own knowledge and their writer’s expectations, but the instructions for this kit seemed about right for me. Ragstone have provided an assembly diagram and a page of narrative. The diagram doesn’t show any of the brake gear but I can see this is difficult to draw! A clearer photograph of a finished model would have helped.

I think that tackling Jim McGowan’s NER Lomac as my first etched kit taught me enough to fill in the gaps (especially techniques) which aren’t explicitly set out for the bolster wagon. I chose a different assembly sequence in a few places but this is just reflecting my personal preferences.

At the end of the build, I think this kit and its instructions came from someone who wants their customer to enjoy building the model. I don't have any more kits from Ragstone but I can pore over their catalogue while I try to clear more of the stash.

 

[Richard Gawler]

. . .

View attachment 188069
A few weeks ago I bought a second hand traverser (minus track), this already assembled from a kit by Grainge and Hodder. I was so pleased with it I ordered three new baseboard modules from the same firm to go with it.

I somehow imagined these were on a four- or six-week lead-time but they arrived last Tuesday. Knowing how modern timber goes banana-shaped within days of bringing it into the house I proceeded to ignore the wagon kit and assemble the three new baseboard modules.

One of these modules is the basis for Heybridge Basin, this will be a very simple diorama but I have started a thread for it so the posts stay together and don’t get lost between the trains here.

View attachment 188070
Heybridge Basin is part of a larger scheme with the traverser and the other two baseboard modules.

The intention is to build a fairly adaptable and reconfigurable fiddle yard which I can re-use later when I build a more sophisticated layout. Also, the 1200 mm module easily fits in the back of a Mk2 Yaris with the rear seat folded and plenty of passenger legroom. So if Heybridge Basin turns out to be any good, I can take it to shows.

I have done all of the "structural woodwork" for the baseboard modules so I can relax with this done and maybe I will have a go at the wagon this week.

Last year I bought a secondhand traverser to make the basis of a modular fiddle yard. I want to give this a “scale” appearance with scenics and spiked FB track so it blends into the layout, and at the moment I cannot face building the track nor the task of getting all the tracks to align properly.

So I have looked for an easier build, and bought some Intentio cassettes.


The new baseboard is a standard 900 x 400 mm unit from Grainge and Hodder, equipped with two pattern-makers dowels. The dowels let me connect it to my diorama of Heybridge Basin or my intermediate Module A or Module B. All four baseboards have the same track alignment.


The connecting track has a slight gradient because my “standard” is code 100 FB rail with spikes on 4 mm cork while Intentio are expecting code 125 BH in chairs on 3 mm cork.


I have already written more about the electrical connectors than most people will ever want to read, this culminates here.


If I restrict myself to short cassettes then I have a space for my photo background too.

It seems to me, I could assemble a fresh set of cassettes and re-use this baseboard for a 00 or H0 project. I could even build some power supplies inside it to run controllers and ancillaries on multiple alternative layouts. This would save me repeatedly building near-identical power units and then struggling to find space to keep them.

I now have the essence of a layout and it's only three years since I started! The Intentio cassettes give me potentially unlimited storage and they can hold my Y14 too. I have a feeling, the traverser may never get its track . . .

 

[Richard Gawler]

Some notes in case 900 mm seems a bit short for an 0 gauge fiddle yard:

1. Two 'short' cassettes (or one 'medium') will hold a passenger train complete with brake
2. The same cassettes will hold four wagons or three wagons plus brake
3. A cut-down 'medium' cassette will hold a push-pull passenger train
4. The offcut will hold Lady Marion


Another 100 mm would be better.

The sidings at Heybridge Basin are long enough to let Lady Marion shunt the first passenger train (saloon and brake van) and let the Terrier get onto the other end for the return working. Alternatively, the sidings will just about cope with four small wagons.

The idea of the push-pull passenger working is to let me have passenger and freight on the layout at the same time without getting completely gummed up.

The wide-angle lens is finding the limitations of my 600 mm brolly. Bounced flash off the ceiling next time.

 

[Dog Star]

Excellent post.

 

[Richard Gawler]

Excellent post.

Thank you Graham. I have seen very few posts on the subject of operations, and describing what the fiddle yard can hold seems like a fair way to make a start.

I have a well-defined list of the commodities carried on the railway, and the specific wagons used to carry them. I am thinking along the lines of a dice- or card-based operating regime where chance decides what is to be taken to Heybridge Basin, with one or two wagons per trip. The return working to carry away whatever wagons were left behind on the previous working. I can intersperse this with timetabled trains for passengers and a daily internal freight service, and occasional permanent way and service trains.

If this works out I could even try to re-do it on some Ardunio hardware I can salvage from an old layout, with a text display showing what is going to happen next. But I am getting ahead of myself . . . I need more cassettes and the electrical wiring to connect them and Module B to everything else.

 

[James Spooner]

Richard,

I have been back up in Wales this week with grandchildren and yesterday we visited the Glynllifon Country park near Caernarfon and I saw a piece of equipment there which reminded me of your project. A couple of photos attached.

Nigel

 

[Dog Star]

Those photos look to be good enough for Richard to make a load for a low-fit or other 1-plk wagon.

Rgds, Graham

 

[Richard Gawler]

Those photos look to be good enough for Richard to make a load for a low-fit or other 1-plk wagon.

This construction looks so complicated Richard can best make a tarpaulin and tie it down over a wagon belonging to E H Bentall

 

[Richard Gawler]

Richard,

I have been back up in Wales this week with grandchildren and yesterday we visited the Glynllifon Country park near Caernarfon and I saw a piece of equipment there which reminded me of your project. A couple of photos attached.

Nigel

View attachment 226730View attachment 226731

E H Bentall exhibited their range of Patent Prize Root Pulpers at the 1862 London Exhibition:
1862 London Exhibition: Catalogue: Class IX.: Edward Hammond Bentall - Graces Guide


At the time, their model RPA at least was driven by a hand crank not a belt pulley.
This illustration is also from Grace's Guide at File:Im1862Cat2079d.jpg - Graces Guide

Thank you James!

Incidentally, the Bentall machines were exported all over the world so I think some wagonloads appearing at Heybridge Basin are suitably plausible.

 

[Hayfield1]

E. H. Bentall & Co - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Interesting read on Wicky

 

[Richard Gawler]

E. H. Bentall & Co - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Interesting read on Wicky

Unfortunately the Wikipedia article on E H Bentall cites unverified sources and presents opinions and suppositions as though they are facts.

There are much better resources, and I often find myself going back to Grace's Guide. There is a vast amount of contemporaneous material here. My subscription has expired but I expect I will renew when the time comes for my next swathe of reading-up on British industry

 

[Hayfield1]

Unfortunately the Wikipedia article on E H Bentall cites unverified sources and presents opinions and suppositions as though they are facts.

There are much better resources, and I often find myself going back to Grace's Guide. There is a vast amount of contemporaneous material here. My subscription has expired but I expect I will renew when the time comes for my next swathe of reading-up on British industry

I often wonder what the large commercial building was/is on the south bank of the canal in Heybridge, must be near the old factory

 

[Richard Gawler]

The huge commercial building beside the navigation at Heybridge was built as a warehouse to hold Bentall products destined for export. This rather flies in the face of my railway carrying these products in small wagon loads but I see this as a little modeller's licence!

The building has since been used as offices and the lower two storeys by an engineering company. I have read somewhere, the building has been acquired by a property developer to convert it into luxury flats.

The Bentall factory is now underneath Street Industrial Estate. I have no photos at all of the back of the factory (backing onto the navigation) and any pointers would be great.

The Bentalls Shopping Centre on the opposite side of the waterway is a conversion of Bentall's modern offices. This is the area where imagine the Heybridge and Langford Light Railway had its main station.

 

[Richard Gawler]

I have added some bracing underneath the fiddle yard, and made up the first electrical connections between baseboards.


I put stripwood along the lower sides of the baseboard, and then a diagonal brace.

This approach is mechanically more effective than the diagonals supplied with the kit (these go between the central cross members) and it leaves the baseboard surface clear of obstructions. The structure is now very rigid, and it still weighs under 2 kg.


I have decided to use the dowels to carry the track power between baseboards.

When the brass machine screw is tightened up, there is a tendency to pull the dowel crooked as the plywood compresses. The dowel still engages, but with a tiny bit of friction. I found that I could tighten up the two woodscrews on the dowel, and this pulled everything square again.


I think there is a case here to choose pattern-makers dowels over cabinet maker's dowels. It is much easier to make an electrical connection.

I have run out of 4 BA hardware but when I have wired up Module A and Module B I can expect to add and remove modules at will and the track power will get connected in the process.


Nellie had to be the first two-rail analogue loco to run onto the cassettes.

So far, everything seems to work

 

[Richard Gawler]

I have added the wiring to modules A and B, and so Nellie, Blackwater and the Terrier can run through these sections to the fiddle yard.


I am using 24/0.1 stranded wire, mainly because of its mechanical robustness. Also it is easy to source from mains cables.


The terminal blocks are fixed down with hot glue. I found that double-sided tape would not hold on the bare ply.


Module B gets spare ways on its terminal blocks in case I decide the controller ought to be connected here or the scenics could use an oil lamp. The high frequency lighting unit can cope with a couple of suitably dim scenic lamps.

I have now wired up all of the track I have in the project.


I don’t have quite enough elbow room to keep Module A connected, but I know it works.

The photo of Brockford is hanging here to remind me what railway colours can look like . . . I still have a way to go.

 

[chigley]

what are the terminal block connectors Richard

 

[Richard Gawler]

what are the terminal block connectors Richard

The terminal blocks are Wago ones, specified for 4 mm² wire and 32 amps. I have found, they will grip wire down to 16/0.2 and even 7/0.2. You can buy them in 2, 3 and 5 ways.

Example:
Wago 222-413 3-Way Lever Terminal Connector 4mm 32A 50 Pack

I salvaged mine from a layout I built in 2020 but the design looks unchanged. Back then I bought smaller quantities through eBay. They are much easier to use than the usual choc blocks but for a layout you have to arrange a fixing of some kind e.g. hot glue or put them inside an enclosure.

 

[Richard Gawler]

I took one of my Intentio cassettes and their access ramp along to NEEGOG last month.

Here is Lady Marion doing her party trick.

Thank you to Julian Best (not sure if he is on WT) for filming this and uploading it to YouTube.