Beatties track and rolling stock

 

The Beatties collection continues to grow, more by accident than design. A couple more vans joined the pile from eBay, where it seemed no one else wanted them. Odd that the yellow Tri-ang open wagons still go for proper(ish) money, but the OO gauge Graham Farish vans don't attract the same attention. I've enough for a modest train now. 

They are sitting on genuine Beatties track. 

This arrived in a box of other stuff from work, with a note "To Phil from Nick Smith for the Beatties Collection" - thanks Nick, it's much appreciated. Mind you, the people I work with don't quite understand!

From Railex, a proper find, more Grafar wagons, with Beatties price tags on them. 

This pack cost a miserable 75p! I'm guessing this was in the 1970s, so inflation has taken hold, I paid £9.

As well as being a valuable addition to the collection, these wagons mean something to me. My first electric trainset was a Tri-ang 3F and a mixed bag of wagons, one of which was a SC Pritchard Grafar vehicle.

An odd find at a finescale show. All the wagons have been relieved of their couplings with a saw. Why? Unless there is a wagon diagram I'm not familiar with (feel free to educate me), they aren't particularly accurate. Something from the Airfix range would have been a better starting point, even if you didn't want to have a go at a kit. 

I've been pondering how to make best use of the collection. An online museum seems like a good idea, and I've been playing around with an AI-based website design tool from Ionos, my ISP. I have a pretty good idea how I'd like it set up. A database with an entry for each "exhibit", and a searchable front end. It's well over 20 years since I've done any development work, but in the old days I wouldn't have found it too much of a streatch. 

Sadly, AI turned out to be rubbish. Or at least the early results are. I'm using this as a learning exercise, and maybe it will continue to be rubbish, and I'll have to relearn some proper developer skills, or persuade a mate to have a go for me. Another "one day" project. 

 

Cooper Craft wagon repair

 

This pile of bits has been kicking around in the pile for months. On bank holiday Monday, I decided that I'd take half an hour to stick them back together, a job that took me all morning...

What you are looking at is a Cooper Craft LNWR coal wagon that I must have built around 40 years ago. I carefully painted my name on the sides, and it's hovered around any 32mm gauge layout I've built since. At some point, I must have dropped it, reducing the model to the pile you see. 

Sticking the main pieces together was quick enough using a mix of Contacta cement and MekPak solvent. Lashings of the latter, and I'd like this to stay in one piece for a while. 

 

Annoyingly, one of the axleboxes had vanished, and while I know there are spares somewhere, I couldn't lay my hand on them. What I did find, was a nice whitemetal set. Really nice. It took a long talk with myself to decide this was their time, and I shouldn't keep them on the drawer for a more suitable project. 

Does anyone else do this? Save things, clothes being a good example, for "best" and never actually using them? 

Anyway, with a little detail removal on the solebar, and plenty of superglue, the new axleboxes fitted the model, and the plastic versions are in the drawer. 

There was an issue - the extra depth of the axle holes meant the axles slopped from side to side by around 4mm. More talking to myself, that this wasn't acceptable, and I solved the problem with some slices of plastic tube. 

Extra weight from the whitemetal parts made the wagon run really nicely too. 

One end was missing its coupling, so I bent a replacement up out of brass, fitting a hook compatible with my bathplug chain couplings. You'll notice the axleboxes have gained an extra rivet - that's a track pin drilled through the box and solebar, as I don't trust superglue to do the job on its own. I also pinned the coupling for the same reason.

A bit of paint, and the job is done. I have a freewheeling wagon, and an old friend is out of the hospital pile. 

Death of a track rubber

 

I've always been a big fan of the Double O Gauge Association track rubbers. For decades, they have been my favoured way of keeping the railhead clean, and trains running. Unlike the otherwise perfectly good Peco version, they don't drop "bits" on the track. A few years of cleaning with the Devon products, and you can see sparkles in your tracks!

I'm not a fan of this one though. Somehow, I have cleaned up something greasy, and now all it does is smear grease on the rails. 

Doubting that there is a way to clean it up, this one has gone in the bin. I can't understand why I've kept it around so long, and more than once I've picked it up and realised my mistake!

Fortunately, I have a couple of non-greasy rubbers, so my track is clean! 

Battery management

 

Preparing Dad's boats for use has made me face up to the state of the batteries we own. It's very frustrating to try charging one up, only for it not to take a charge, because of years uncharged. 

So, I've ordered some, and now write the date they were bought on the side. At least this way I can work out how old the things are, and make a guess at the chances they will actually work.. 

Now, I just need to get rid of the old ones, which aren't as easy to recycle as you'd think. I can't, as far as I can tell, just drop them off in a recycling point in a shop. Is there a space at the tip? Maybe, but I've got to remember to take them next time I visit.  

Railex haul

 

Combine me feeling reasonably flush (not loco buying flush, but not bad) and an excellent second-hand stall, and you won't be surprised that my rucksack was pretty full. 

Like any proper modeller, my first stop was the stand, and I pretty quickly worked out that stuff was priced to sell. A Bachrus rolling road for a fiver? That has got to be the bargain of the year. I already have one, but it only has three supports. Add these three, and I can test bogie locos properly. 

An 80s Hornby Post Office kit - you'll see that one in The Collector at some point. Kenline chassis? Cheap, and a little nostalgic. There is also the possibility of a project that might make use of it...

Grass and flower tufts are handy scenic standbys, a 7mm scale whitemetal fitter kit likewise. 

Grafar wagons can wait for another post, there is a bit of a Beatties backlog to get through. 

Petite Properties barge kit? I wanted one as soon as they announced it, but they don't normally take dolls house stuff to toy train shows. Unless you ask nicely, which I did. 

Rolls of silicone-covered tool wire at a fiver a pop save me buying the stuff elsewhere, as I've nearly run out. Mind you, they certainly weighed my bag down for the rest of the day!

And then, possibly the most Phil thing I could buy. 

Yes. It is an S gauge wooden kit for an American "reefer" to carry watermelons. Someone was selling a collection, and I decided, for a tenner, I wanted to know more. My colleague Steven thought I'd lost my mind. He may be right. 

I've had a look and still can't work out if I've just bought a box of random wooden bits, or a proper kit. As far as I can tell, the complicated bits for the chassis are there, as is the roof. All the metal bits (trucks, wheels etc.) are present, but I can't see all of the sides. Maybe they only paint the ends, and the rest is left to the modeller. Not to worry, I think there will be enough material there to build a wagon. One day.