B4's first run

 

 

Summer evenings are great. I can go to railway club, and have a sail beforehand. Or, if have a new loco to try on the outside track, I can do that instead. You won't be surprised that I was keen to try the B4 out!

A nice extra with the model, is this little carrying cradle. Simple, but it makes moving the loco around really easy, especially when it's hot.

I'll admit, I didn't read the instructions, but most steam engines work the same way. Once I've turned the gas valve off, I managed to fill the tank, then oil around, fill the lubricator and then add water. 

Lighting was tricky as there was a bit of a breeze, and it took half-a-dozen goes to get the flame at the back of the loco and not in the smokebox. Once I managed this, the safety valve didn't take long to start blowing, and I eased the model forward. There was a bit of priming, and some muck chucked out of the chimney, but we were soon off. 

And that was it. With the regulator only cracked open, a nice speed was achieved. Hanging a train on the back will help keep things under control even more. 

A few lessons/jobs:

• The pressure gauge is broken, showing 110psi when the loco is cold. Hopefully, this is a spanners job to fix. 
• The gas must be opened a very tiny amount, and it's not easy to control. I'm told melting bits on the front of the loco is a possibility if you leave it turned up to high. 
• Long term, I will look at a sleeve on the burner, which would be a better solution. 
• The reverser is a fiddle, you need pliers to move it. That's the prototype's fault, not the model. I'm intrigued how RC can be fitted though. 
• I need a vacuum pipe for the front.  

Overall though, I'm very happy with my new toy. Like every steam engine, this is a learning curve, but I've had it running, so my growing steam experience has helped.  

Gauge 1 North haul

 

Well, this wasn't part of the plan. 

 

At last year's show, there was a kit for a B4 tank engine, complete with its chassis and wheels turned to G1 standards. I've always wondered if this should have been added to my pile. However, I've since seen one of the kits made up, and there was something odd about the proportions that made me feel happier about my decision not to buy. 

 

The kit was still on sale at this year's show. But next to it was an Accucraft live steam B4. 

 

Now, I saw one of these running at Swindon last year. It trundled along at the proper speed for a shunting engine, and talking to the owner, he was very pleased with it. There had been a couple of modifications, adding radio control, and sleeving the poker burner which is a bit large (I'm told) for a small loco. But it looked great, and is very much my sort of locomotive. 

 

Anyway, there was a slightly tatty example sitting there for £500. To be honest, I was surprised it was still on the table, but chatting to a couple of people, other locos from the same stand had already been snapped up. I asked for some advice from my friend Bob, who was perusing a kit on the next stand, and he said it was a lot of loco for the money. I was assured the loco was a runner, and it could be seen in action on YouTube. 

 

A (very) little pondering later, I negotiated fifty quid off the price, and handed over my credit card. A pleasant surprise was that the model was then boxed up for me with the original packing, including a boiler certificate. 

 

OK, it's not perfect. Some of the paint is tatty, and a sandbox is mostly missing. A few fittings need to be screwed back in place properly, but nothing that I can't do. An interesting modification is the regulator that had gained an arm rather than the T-bar that it had as supplied. 

 

To be honest, I have wanted a Gauge 1 loco for a long while. There is a Barratt kit in the stash, but when I'll get around to building that I have no idea. This means I can steam at the club with the other G1 guys, using a loco that is much more me than anything large, and expensive. 

 

A couple more bargains were also snaffled up. Part of Ken West's retirement sale, a laser-cut wood wagon body that cost a couple of quid, and I think will become a grounded body project. 

 

More usefully, a massive etch for a class 02 diesel from wagon and carriage works. £25 has solved another problem. Our club plans an indoor G1 shunting layout, with diesels. Since I have a suitable motor and gearbox, all I need is wheels and castings. The later might be tricky to find, but there's not much in an 02 that I can't modify or scratchbuild. After all, I've built several in 4mm scale and one in 7mm!

 

Gauge 1 North 2025

 

Time for the tweed, and a trip up north for the annual G1 extravaganza. This year, I had a good reason to go, other than just "networking" with the 10mm/1:32nd scale folk. The society layout "Ridings" was the main feature, and as it will be at the NEC in November for the National Festival of Railway Modelling, I felt it would be useful to gather some photos of the model. 

Photographing G1 layouts like this isn't easy. There's a lot of background clutter, and not that much model. In real life, you just focus on the trains, and ignore the rest. Photos don't work like that, sadly. 

Anyway, I set my DSLR to sport mode, and took a lot of pictures, hoping to find enough when back at the big screen, to be useful. 

I also enjoyed a lot of chat with pretty much all the trade present. For a minority scale, there is a lot available, including some very tasty RTR diesels and a very interesting Manning Wardle kit from Slaters. I'll do my best to get all these into a future issue of Garden Rail. 

One benefit of the show being held in an agricultural hall, is that the catering is impressive. I opted for a sausage batch for lunch, but wished I'd chosen one of the bigger meals, which looked fantastic. 

Still, Bakewell was but a five-minute stroll away, so I did manage a snack before heading home...

Gauge 1 at Kidderminster 2024

My trip to Kidderminster station on the SVR was a spur of the moment decision. Suddenly finding myself with a free Saturday, and the desire for a train ride while reading the excellent The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks. 

I knew that Kidderminster was celebraiting its 40th birthday,  and that there would be a G1 layout in operation. And that the museum does excellent cake. Not forgetting that Footplate Models is a couple of minutes away. All the ingredients of a nice day. 

Arriving at the station, there was a lineup of classic road vehicles. Unexpected, and a good start. The crowds were thick under the canopy, but I eased my way through to the musem as they listened to speaches. As expected, the Victoria Sponge was perfect, and just as I finished this, and my tea, the crowds started to find their way in. 

The G1 layout operated with the usuaul efficiency. A couple of battery GWR railcars filling in the rare moments when steam engines weren't thrashing around the circuit. G1MRA do this very well. A board keeps the public informed as to what will be running when, and there is rarely a break in operation, perfect for crowd pleasing for the public. 

Outisde, a Pannier, 4MT and Western diesel were all in operation. I understand that a loco had failed during the morning, so all services were suffering an hours delay. 

For me, the only disapointment was lunch. A pint in the station pub seemed like a good idea, and on offer was a "Brunch Burger". I love a good pub burger, especially with beer, so ordered. Well, the beer was very weak, I like a light beer, but this was too light, almost watery. The burger was a cheap patty, with two hash browns and an egg in a bun. None of this sits in there, so at least one hash brown has to be removed. Sadly, someone had already extacted all the flavour, and even a generous dollop of ketchup didn't help. 

After lunch, I bumped into an old friend who works on the signalling side, and he took me (among other places) into the signal box beside the miniature railway. It's beautifully restored in there, and volunteers were offering sessions having a go. 

So, what do I photograph with in a lovely, restored GWR signal box?

Aboard from the modern (1980s?) Stourbridge box. In my defence, I've seen loads of levers, but you don't see the electronic boards. Maybe one day, someone will preserve one? 

Anyway, lunch aside, a good day out. 

More photos over on Flickr.

Finished G1 wagon

 

And there we are - job done. If you didn't wait for paint to dry, the kit could be assembled in about an hour and a half, and even that would be a leasurely pace. 

I really like this kit. The finished model feels great. A little weight might me required, but I'll aim to match the Accucraft wagon when that is to hand. It rolls well and has that mass that only a large scale model can muster. 

So, I'll be shopping for more Northern Finescale kits then? Yes I will, but it's going to be tricky.A couple of messages on the G1 Facebook group explain: 

Heads up for this weekend. Chris Arundell will be at Gauge One North Bakewell with the last Northern Fine Scale wagon and van kits for sale, all at discount price, buy for future needs because this is your final chance. Snooze and you loose!

 *

When he died Roger was had turned 78 and wanted to do some Gauge 1 for himself. We were at the stage where parts were getting low so re-investment of substantial $$$$ for more parts was on the very near horizon.......at prices a couple of hundred percent more than before. We had already made the decision that it was no longer cost effective, so to assemble the final kits, I had 500 rims made and I fired up my own bench-top injection molding machine to make buffer heads on a home made mold. There is nobody capable of using the molds we have (some a two-man job to lift) and shipping them (to the UK?) would be prohibitive, especially as Roger was a demon at swapping over ejector systems and water cooling from mold to mold. No, NFS's time has come and just looking at the recent contraction of G1 commercial manufacturers, just confirms we have done the right thing. It's always best to quit when you are on top.

Now, Northern Finescale were at G1 North, and I did spend a bit of time on their stand, knowing that this was the last chance. The thing is, I couldn't work out how much anything cost. Sides were priced, but did they include the chassis? And wheels? And if they don't, how much were those bits? 

I couldn't ask, because both people on the stand were deep in conversation, and later in the morning, I ran out of car park time, and had to leave before I could answer my questions. I suspect that if I had, I might have bought more kits...

So, I missed out. A few more coins in my pocket and my car park time would have been longer (it didn't do contactless unfortunatly), but that's how the cookie crumbles. I'm sure there will be kits on the second-hand market, so I'll keep my eye out. In the meantime, there are other manufacturers, so I'll have to build my train up from a variety of sources.

Buffers and couplings

 

Both buffers and couplings on this kit will be familiar to anyone who has built an O gauge kit. You can see the buffer components above. The only glue required is to attach the ring to the face of the buffer body. 

I screwed the nut half-way along the thread as doing it all the way up seemed to leave too little buffer shank showing. Maybe I'm wrong there, but it's my model, and I like it this way. 

Couplings are again, the same as a 7mm kit. The hook slides through the buffer beam, a spring is put on the back, and retained with a split pin. The only difference is that the chain is chunkier, and needs lot more bending to open out the links for fitting!

Brake gear

 

I'm loving this kit! The brake gear is a joy. For example, the back of the safety loop is moulded in with the main part containing the shoes. The fronts are stuck on and they loops will automatically be vertical and properly positioned. When can't this be done in O gauge, or even OO? 

Brake shoes are close, but not touching the wheels. Certainly close enough for the gap not to be visible in normal viewing. 

I managed to break one of the brake levels cutting it off the sprue, but a bit of Microstrip glued to the back fixed this, and now painted black, no one can see. 

Two shapes of toothed rack are included, and since this is a freelance wagon, I've used the rounded bottom version as I prefer the look.

Wheels in

 

Another easy job, the W-irons locate into holes in the solebar that match up with a lug on the front. You can't go wrong, and you would have to work pretty hard to fit them wonky. 

Into the bearing hole goes a slippery plastic bearing. Maybe there are brass alternatives, but for the amount of running I anticipate, I can't see this being a problem. Judging by the quality of the kit, the manufacturer knows what he's doing!

Solebars drop in, with some more raised lugs to set the distance apart. Wheels need to be fitted at the same time, i can't see you can spring the sides out to do it afterwards, A bit of juggling, but nothing too difficult, these parts are chunky after all. 

There's a little allowance to slide the solebars side to side to ensure the wheels are perpendicular to the sides. A good wash of Mek fixes everything in place, and I've even been careful enough not to damage the paint for a change.

Body, and a bit of paint

 

Well, this big scale seems simple enough! Building the body is no harder than it is in OO - to be fair, the pieces are just the same, but larger. 

Using Revell Contacta glue, two pairs of corners are assembled, then the four sides come together, and finally the floor is dropped in. The Contact tacks the lot together, with Mek-Pak washed inside the corners to set the joins. 

I took care to ensure the assembly was square - building it on an old bathroom mirror - but this was probably overkill. 

While the sides are prepainted, back ironwork has to be coloured on the ends and solebars. It's not too fiddly, although keeping a brush of thinners handy was a good idea a couple of times. While the paint (Revell 6) was out, I gave the underframe components a coat too. Easier now, that trying to dodge the green solebars with the W-irons are attached.

G1 Anniversary wagon

 

You can't leave a model railway show without at least one bag or box of goodies. That's the law. 

From G1 North, I came away with this Northern Finescale wagon kit. Bought second-hand, hence it being 17 years old, I had checked that all the main bits were in the box, before putting £60 on my credit card.

My long-term needs for G1 stock are half-a-dozen wagons, and a brake van. Plus a loco, which I already have the kit for. I'm not fussed what the wagons are, but pre-grouping will work best with the loco livery I have in mind. One Accucraft RTR model is in the pile, and this is to be the second in the train. Since £60 to £95 seems the going rate for wagons, the process won't be quick, but I'm not in a rush. 

Working in a realatively new scale to me, means I don't have that overview of the market that I enjoy for smaller size trains. Hence my trip to G1 North to look at the trade. 

Anyway, in the box are some nicely painted sides and ends, with transfers already applied to the sides. Everything is plastic, apart from the wheels. Instructions are a single sheet with some photos, but nothing looks too scary. In fact, on first glance, it's a lot like several O gauge kits I've built in the past.

I made it to Wikipedia!

Looking for something online, I alighted on the Wikipedia entry for Gauge 1 model railways. 

Imagine my surprise when I spotted that the main image, was a shot of my Ruston, built in 2009. This isn't my doing, I've never had much success in editing Wikipedia, so someone out there has spotted the photo on Flickr, and decided that it would be ideal to illustrate the scale. 

Long-term readers will know that this isn't really true. My model, built for a customer, is electically powered, and uses a lot of O gauge technology. Something live steam from Aster would probably be more typical, but who am I to argue? 

 

Van done

 

There we go - finished!

Considering I bought this at Easter, completing the job by the end of June is some sort of record. 

I'm very pleased with the result. A bit of learning along the way, but it wasn't difficult project. 

One question remains - how heavy should it be? G1MRA don't have any specific recomendations, so I've only tacked the roof in place so I can add weight if required in the future. 

All that was left was to shorten the box, and it can go into the G1 stock store for a future running session. 

Springs

 

Nearly there. A quick clean up of the buffers shanks and they bolt stright in with the accompanying spring. It's a few minutes very satisfying work. 

The couplings though. The theory is simple, but the nut doesn't quite fit between the chassis strengtheners. And if it doesn't fit, you can't do it up. 

So, there was a fair bit of carving away to make this work, but eventually I managed to get some clearance so it could be done up to the end of the thread in the hook casting. I considered a few bodges, but in G1, the hook really should be sprung. It might look pretty, but you can't see when the van is on its feet.

Actually, I seem to remember the same issue on the O gauge version. I should have learned.

The sweet smell of methylated spirits

 

I love the smell of meths, so when the transfers in the G1 kit turned out to be methfix ones, I was happy. Not least because this means no carrier film, so they can be applied to a matt surface without silvering. 

In theory, application is simple, cut light around the letter or number, and peel the top surface with the print away from the backing. Using a sharp blade, this is easier than you might think. 

The transfer is put in place and wetted with a 3:1 mix of meths and water. A bit of proding, to ensure it's in the right place, and flat. Leave for 15 minutes, and then wash the carrier paper away with water. 

And to be fair, that's how it worked. OK, there was the ususual pain lining up the numbers (hint, turn the model upside down, the different angle makes errors stand out) but otherwise, they seem to stick fine. A worry with a second-hand kit is that the transfers will have dried out and need rejuvination or replacement. 

Left overnight to fully dry, I cleaned up any leftover purple marks (the colour is s dye added to the meths so we can see it) with a damp cotton bud, and a finishing spray of matt varnish.

More metal

 

More metal to fix on to the G1 van - this time some rather nice lost-wax cast handrails. All slotted into position easily, with the exception of the long middel one, where the spigots were very slightly off. I simply filed one end flat and superglued it in place 

Under the door is an etched runner. These are handed as the holes should match up with the spigots on the plastic bodyside. Not a problem, but a little trap for the unwary.

Brakes on

 

 

The van kit came without instructions, but fortunatly, they can be downloaded from the Slater's website. Handy, because without them, I'm pretty sure I'd have assembled the brake gear incorrectly. 

I'm used to the idea that half-etched lines mean fold, but the size of G1 bits mean that items like the push rods which would, in 4mm scale, be a single plastic moulding, are a bit more detailed. Specifically, the double push rods have a gap between them. I'm sure they don't on the standard kit, although I'm also sure that finescale fans will have an etch to do this. 

Joints are brass pins, the kit includes some very fine bolts, but I've rescued these for use elsewhere. The pins look fine, and are superglued in anyway. In fact, the who construction owes a lot to superglue, a bit of a surprise, but it works. 

Some vans were only fitted with gear on one side, but since the previous owner fitted shows on both, and I don't like wasting parts, I'll repeat all of this on the other side.

Update: I've just fitted the brakes on the other side and realised these are back to front. Push the lever and the shoes move away from the wheels! I'm not sure how I'll fix this to be honest...

Wheel woes

 

The van is up on its wheels, but fitting them wasn't quite as easy as I'd hoped. Both axles could be persuaded into the axle boxes, but neither rotated anything like smoothly. 

Examining the problem, I spotted that the freer axle was 58.5mm long, which the other measured 62. How? 

The axle eneds didn't look that special either, some polishing required. 

Supporting each axle on a fine foam sanding block, which helpfully cleaned it as I worked, the wheelset was spun using an electric screwdriver, which I gently attacked the end with a sanding stick to smooth it, and round the corners a little. 

The long axle was reduced in length by 2mm using a fine file and then repolished. Still not entirely happy, a 3mm diameter bit was spun in the axlebox as best I could. Finishing with a countersink bit ensured there weren't any burrs. 

If all this sounds crude, it is. Opening out the bearing would have been a lot easier if it wasn't fitted - my version doesn't allow for a nice squre opening out, but it works.

Soon, the long axle ran perfectly, but the short one mostly worked, but sometimes didn't. A 1mm long piece of copper stuffed in each axlebox removes most of the sideplay, and improves things a lot. 

I suppose this is all part of the "fun" of buying a second hand kit. There is some satisfaction in solving the problems after all!

MR (big) box van kit

 

Spotted on a stand at York, a Slater'S Gauge 1 box van kit. Part built, but, as far as I can tell, complete, and priced about £30 cheaper than buying new, I snapped it up. 

I've built this kit in 4mm several times, and always liked it, so why not try in the larger scale? 

First impressions are good. The previous builder has done a good job. There were obviously some issues with the moving (sprung I think) axleboxes, but these have been resolved. 

It all seems nice and square. In theory, this will be a quick project. The instructions (missing from my box) have been downloaded, so let's see.

My first gauge one wagon

 

In my stash of future projects is a Barrett Steam LNER J65 live steam kit. Picked up at a bargain price, that still required me to go and have a sit down, cup of tea, and slice of cake to decide money from the building socity would be better off turned into a dream kit, I'm hoping to do a Peckett-style build in Garden Rail later this year. 

If I have a loco, I'll need a train. Not a layout, our club is busy building one of these, but I need rolling stock. 

A quick chat with a professional loco painter tells me that a pre-grouping livery can be on the cards, which means no BR wagons. 

Chatting to Graham Langer, it seems that Accucraft's range of PO wagons isn't going to be easy to track down. And then I spotted one for sale on Facebook, which was with me a few days later. 

Do I like it? very much so. Price-wise, it's about two Rapido wagons, which isn't unreasonable if you look at it this way. Which I plan to do, to spare my wallet the pain. 

My aim is to have five wagons and a brake van. That will look lovely in my eyes, and if built up over a long period of time, not be too eye-wateringly expensive. There is the posibility of a four-wheel coach too, so a mixed train is a possibility. 

I'm not going fully RTR. Looking around, if you can aclimatise to £75+ wagons, there are a few very tempting kits out there too. Very tempting. Watch this space. 

Gauge 1 Garratt seen in the wild

For many years, I've been suggesting to Trevor at Mercian Models that he ought to produce his rather nice industrial Garratt kit, currently available in O gauge, for Gauge 1 modellers. I've always thought that it's a good little big engine and would probably appeal to those in the larger scale.

The idea appealed to him but you can't just blow the etch up, someone has to master all the cast lumps too.

A few months ago, he mentioned that Dave from Cromford models have offered to do this job and so the project looked like it was on.

Last weekend, I saw the first results. Dave was sitting in the basement of St Albans exhibition. I greeted him with, "How's the gauge 1 Garratt coming on?" to which he responded by handing me construction shown in the photo. A real live bit of the model!

At the moment, the model is just etched bits but it looks like progress is seriously being made. This means even more saving up for me as I'll be wanting one of these to add to my collection of unbuilt kits in the future...