7mm West Kirby Town
- Thread starter dmudriver
- Start date
dmudriver
Member
Hi.
There's been a bit of a delay since the last post in the description of my layout: this is mainly because I've been away, with my partner, in the Berner Oberland in Switzerland, enjoying the clean, fresh air of the lakes and mountains - together with blue skies and warm sunshine. The railways were there just to get us around, I'm afraid!!!
Anyway, the next instalment is the stock on the layout. Please excuse the lack of pictures: if I'd put them in this episode would have taken at least a page!! All powered stock is DCC controlled, with sound, using either ESU Loksound or Zimo chips. There's no smoke as 1) I don't like the smell of the stuff and 2) in my opinion it doesn't look realistic enough yet. The locomotives and most rolling stock are fitted with Dingham auto-couplings but the DMUs and the "Welsh Dragon" set retain their screw link couplings. First, the DMUs:
a) 2-car 108: a Westdale kit, powered by a very early ABC Gears motor bogie. Finished in blue/grey and numbered as the first unit I drove on the Llangollen Railway.
b) 3-car 108: an Easybuild kit, powered by an ABC Gears diesel bogie gearbox. Finished in Merseyrail refurbished livery.
c) 2-car 101: a Bachmann RTR unit which is on loan. Finished in refurbished livery with interior detail and extra external detail.
d) 4-car 115: an Easybuild 116/117 kit with the extra vehicle, the sides of which were specially cut for me by Shawn. Finished in blue and powered by a ABC Gears diesel bogie gearbox in each power car. Controlled by Zimo chips which have been synchronised and directionalised (if that's an English word!!) - basically, the horn sounds in whichever end is leading: similarly, the guard's buzzer sounds in the leading cab and the driver's reply sounds in the rear brake van.
e) single car 131: an Easybuild Class 122 kit without the interior fittings and with sides specially cut by Shawn for the extra set of double doors fitted when they were converted to parcels duties in Scotland. Finished in blue/grey with an ABC Gears diesel bogie gearbox.
DEMU: a 3 - car Class 205 Thumper - way out of area, but the story is it's been loaned for trials as the North West are short of high density units!! A Peter Clark kit, finished in b/g and powered by his own motor bogie.
LOCOMOTIVES: Diesel
Class 37 - a Heljan model, fitted with snow ploughs, finished in blue and featuring the white stripe livery.
Class 25: a JLTRT kit with twin motors. Finished in blue.
Class 50: a JLTRT kit, also with twin motors. Finished in large logo blue and numbered 50021 "Rodney" - a little bit of self-indulgence!!
Class 08: a Dapol model, finished in blue and renumbered and lettered as a Chester loco. Clean, very lightly weathered livery as I have a photo of it at Swindon, just out of shops after overhaul.
Class 03: a DJH RTR model in blue. Runs with a match truck fitted with pickups and wired through to the loco to ensure decent running.
Steam (there's only one!!)
Ivatt 2-6-2T: finished in BR lined black livery and numbered 41276, representing a loco commonly used on "The Welsh Dragon" - a 3-coach push-pull unit which ran between Rhyl and Llandudno in the 50s and 60s. On the layout it is a preserved set which is allowed to run at weekends on BR metals between West Kirby Town and New Brighton. I've modelled it because I used to see it as a kid when we went on holiday on the North Wales coast.
ROLLING STOCK:
3-coach push-pull set, finished in BR maroon with "The Welsh Dragon" headboard and roof boards. Ian Kirk kits.
4-coach Mark 1 set. Heljan models, with Kaydee couplings between the coaches. Now fitted with Easybuild bogies.
4-vehicle parcels set, consisting of 2 x JLTRT BGs, 1 x Easybuild BG and a Heljan GUV. In blue and b/g, 2 vehicles are branded "Newspapers". The 3 x BGs are coupled together with Kaydees, the GUV being loose coupled.
Western Region Inspection saloon. From a kit whose name I can't remember at the moment: an impulse buy a few years ago at Telford, but a very detailed model. Finished in b/g.
Heljan fuel tanker, black, branded "Esso".
So that's the stock on the layout. I'll describe the operations and put some photos and maybe a couple of videos next time.
Rod
PS Just to add a photo to liven up all that text, here's a pic of some of the stock described:
There's been a bit of a delay since the last post in the description of my layout: this is mainly because I've been away, with my partner, in the Berner Oberland in Switzerland, enjoying the clean, fresh air of the lakes and mountains - together with blue skies and warm sunshine. The railways were there just to get us around, I'm afraid!!!
Anyway, the next instalment is the stock on the layout. Please excuse the lack of pictures: if I'd put them in this episode would have taken at least a page!! All powered stock is DCC controlled, with sound, using either ESU Loksound or Zimo chips. There's no smoke as 1) I don't like the smell of the stuff and 2) in my opinion it doesn't look realistic enough yet. The locomotives and most rolling stock are fitted with Dingham auto-couplings but the DMUs and the "Welsh Dragon" set retain their screw link couplings. First, the DMUs:
a) 2-car 108: a Westdale kit, powered by a very early ABC Gears motor bogie. Finished in blue/grey and numbered as the first unit I drove on the Llangollen Railway.
b) 3-car 108: an Easybuild kit, powered by an ABC Gears diesel bogie gearbox. Finished in Merseyrail refurbished livery.
c) 2-car 101: a Bachmann RTR unit which is on loan. Finished in refurbished livery with interior detail and extra external detail.
d) 4-car 115: an Easybuild 116/117 kit with the extra vehicle, the sides of which were specially cut for me by Shawn. Finished in blue and powered by a ABC Gears diesel bogie gearbox in each power car. Controlled by Zimo chips which have been synchronised and directionalised (if that's an English word!!) - basically, the horn sounds in whichever end is leading: similarly, the guard's buzzer sounds in the leading cab and the driver's reply sounds in the rear brake van.
e) single car 131: an Easybuild Class 122 kit without the interior fittings and with sides specially cut by Shawn for the extra set of double doors fitted when they were converted to parcels duties in Scotland. Finished in blue/grey with an ABC Gears diesel bogie gearbox.
DEMU: a 3 - car Class 205 Thumper - way out of area, but the story is it's been loaned for trials as the North West are short of high density units!! A Peter Clark kit, finished in b/g and powered by his own motor bogie.
LOCOMOTIVES: Diesel
Class 37 - a Heljan model, fitted with snow ploughs, finished in blue and featuring the white stripe livery.
Class 25: a JLTRT kit with twin motors. Finished in blue.
Class 50: a JLTRT kit, also with twin motors. Finished in large logo blue and numbered 50021 "Rodney" - a little bit of self-indulgence!!
Class 08: a Dapol model, finished in blue and renumbered and lettered as a Chester loco. Clean, very lightly weathered livery as I have a photo of it at Swindon, just out of shops after overhaul.
Class 03: a DJH RTR model in blue. Runs with a match truck fitted with pickups and wired through to the loco to ensure decent running.
Steam (there's only one!!)
Ivatt 2-6-2T: finished in BR lined black livery and numbered 41276, representing a loco commonly used on "The Welsh Dragon" - a 3-coach push-pull unit which ran between Rhyl and Llandudno in the 50s and 60s. On the layout it is a preserved set which is allowed to run at weekends on BR metals between West Kirby Town and New Brighton. I've modelled it because I used to see it as a kid when we went on holiday on the North Wales coast.
ROLLING STOCK:
3-coach push-pull set, finished in BR maroon with "The Welsh Dragon" headboard and roof boards. Ian Kirk kits.
4-coach Mark 1 set. Heljan models, with Kaydee couplings between the coaches. Now fitted with Easybuild bogies.
4-vehicle parcels set, consisting of 2 x JLTRT BGs, 1 x Easybuild BG and a Heljan GUV. In blue and b/g, 2 vehicles are branded "Newspapers". The 3 x BGs are coupled together with Kaydees, the GUV being loose coupled.
Western Region Inspection saloon. From a kit whose name I can't remember at the moment: an impulse buy a few years ago at Telford, but a very detailed model. Finished in b/g.
Heljan fuel tanker, black, branded "Esso".
So that's the stock on the layout. I'll describe the operations and put some photos and maybe a couple of videos next time.
Rod
PS Just to add a photo to liven up all that text, here's a pic of some of the stock described:
Ressaldar
Western Thunderer
Hi Rod,
many thanks for the listing, I can help you with the Inspection Saloon as we discussed your purchase shortly after you had bought it - it is an Orion kit, similar to this one
but without the heater vents in the sides.
Glad that you had a good break.
regards
Mike
many thanks for the listing, I can help you with the Inspection Saloon as we discussed your purchase shortly after you had bought it - it is an Orion kit, similar to this one
but without the heater vents in the sides.
Glad that you had a good break.
regards
Mike
dmudriver
Member
Hi Mike.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, it is indeed an Orion kit. I couldn't check it last night as all the stock is still packed away in a cupboard in the house. Although my shed is pretty secure I still bring everything (except the Mark 1s and the parcels rake) into the house when I go away - just to be sure!!
At the moment, it's all going to stay there as I want to finish the fencing and surrounding vegetation at the back of the layout. It's so much easier with an empty layout!!
One little bit of information I missed: the Ivatt is a DJH RTR model, numbered 41276 at my request.
And just a final comment, where I've mentioned manufacturers, I have no connection with any, other than as a satisfied customer .
Rod
Thanks for your reply. Yes, it is indeed an Orion kit. I couldn't check it last night as all the stock is still packed away in a cupboard in the house. Although my shed is pretty secure I still bring everything (except the Mark 1s and the parcels rake) into the house when I go away - just to be sure!!
At the moment, it's all going to stay there as I want to finish the fencing and surrounding vegetation at the back of the layout. It's so much easier with an empty layout!!
One little bit of information I missed: the Ivatt is a DJH RTR model, numbered 41276 at my request.
And just a final comment, where I've mentioned manufacturers, I have no connection with any, other than as a satisfied customer .
Rod
