Derek Naylor's Aire Valley Railway

RAILWAY

MOD ELLER ®

SIMPLE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION See page 87

SCRATCH-BUILD YOUR STOCK

82

R A ILWAY

MODELLER

Railway of the Month

AIRE VALLEY D. A .

aylor describes his 00n3 layout

Aire Valley Railway is a threeT HEfoot-gauge railway situated somewhere in England and runs from Saltaire, a small seaside resort, to the village of Narrowford some thirty miles inland.

T he main industry at Narrowford is granite quarrying, with sheep farming about the only other industry.

The ra ilway's only passing place is at the busy little market town of Moorhead, which is ten miles from Saltaire and twenty from Na rrowford. There arc a lot of dai ry and cattle farms a round Moorhead.

T he la nd between Moorhead and Narrowford is sparsely popu lated moorland supporting o nl y a few scattered hamlets a nd sheep farms. Happily the railway gets all the traffic over this section, including the granite. as the only road over the moor is a dirt road and impassable many weeks in a year.

There arc two steam passenger trains each way dail y between Saltaire and arrowford. the morning train from Saltaire and the afternoon train from arrowford being mixed. The passenger service b~­ tween the more populated districts of Saltaire and Moo rhead is augmented by the rail-buses.

Site for layout As no permanent site could be gi,·en over to the layout it has been constructed in sections, each capable of being trans-

Engine No. 2. ·· Anne:· on down cattle special :~pproaching Highbank

ported by one person. The sizes of th.:sc sections will be seen from the track plans, the largest being 5ft. 6in. x 2ft.- rathcr ungainly but manageable.

Baseboards The two station sections arc const ructed of well-battened {in. plywood. 1 favoured { in. pl y because it is reasonabl e in price, is easy to pin or screw a nd wi ll hold them when inserted. The big disadvantage, of co urse, is noise, but with the combination of foam rubl1er track underlay and low na rrow-gauge speeds this problem is not too acute.

Tmck

With one exception all track and pointwork is Wrenn TT. T he excepti o n is a pair of Gem TT points forming a crossover in the loco yard. These G::m points make this a few inches shorter than Wrenn - a big consideration when space is at a premium.

Saltaire section Probably this section is the most interesting. as here we ha,·c the small harbour "ith its freighter, the May Cookl'. and fishing 'esscl. the Rhoda Marr. and dockside buildings (in low relief). including a warehouse, a fish dock. and the Smugglers· Arms, a rather foreboding inn.

These buildings. along with all others on the layout. arc scratch-built. The low-relief building in the main st reet (Moorhead

Lane), the butcher·s, the post office, etc .. have been given names of their counterparts in th e real Saltaire.

If we cross the river to the railwav side and wander down to the loco yard ,,:c "ill find it reasonably well equipped. with a workshop (in which near-miracles arc performed). a line for the rail-buses. th::n the engine shed and coal stage road . This ~oal stage is rather novel, as the hand cram: wh ich is used for coaling the locos a lso reaches over the river, and by means of a coal barge ti ed up here the coa! ~~age is replenished, the coal bar!!e in its turn being replenished via the fr-.:ighter.

The station buildings. loco shed, worksho p a nd goods shr!' arc built of the usual balsa wood and budding papers. Slates are put on in individual rows and all buildings have gutters. fall pipes and a share of broken and open "indows.

Passenger platforms both here and at Moorh.::td only come up to rail Jc,·cJ. The track layout at Saltaire rna\· seem rather unusual. but was adopted because it maJ c full use of space a\·ailable '' ithout o,·crcrowding. £/ec1ricity. Power is supplied by a Hammant & 1\.1organ .\linor unit and is a normal two-rail suppl}. There is nothine fane\· electrically except perhaps the fc::ds to th~ dead ends. There are five of these s::ctions. and the normally dead rail of each sc:tion is wired to a copper ri,·et on the control panel. The dead rail is made Ji,·e by apply-

APRIL

1961

83

RAILWAY

MODELLER

En gine No. 4 , "Arthur," with 8.50 from Saltaire taking water at Moorhead on a busy fair day . The merry-go-round and Fe rris wheel can be clearly seen in this photogra ph.

ing a pencil switch (a loudspeal-cr extens ion plug in my case) to the required rivet. The pencil switc h must be co nnected to the same output socket of the co ntroller as the line in which the dead end breaks arc made.

changed by being pulled wi th carpet thread running through small screw eyes as supplied with the spring curtain wire. T he rubber bands and ca rpet thread wo rk a small mechanism made on the same principle as an ordinary door bolt.

Point operation. All the points and the two signals at Saltaire are worked from a lever frame (home made) by piano wire running through spring curtain runner.

Bacl.ground scenery. There are no lowrelief buildings at Moorhead : instead the back-drop is the Oiltcczi "village square" scene, in front of which th ere is a market fair complete with market stalls and a merry-go-round and Ferris wheel, both of which are working models. The showman ·s traction engine of the •· Yesteryear •· series and about four dozen va rious makes of ··people·· complete the scene.

Centre section This is constructed by the open-top

Moorhead section This section was constructed in much the same way as Saltaire. E xceptions and indi vidual items at Moorhead arc as follows.

Point operation. Points are held in normal position by rubber bands and are

method. which seems to be the best way when " rolling scenery" is requi~ed.

Items of note on the section are a working water wheel and tunnel mouths of timber (the company ran a bit short of cash here). One face of Hope H ill. through whi::h the tu:1ncl is bored. is supposed to be rock. This rock face has been built up of .. slag'' retrie\cd from the domestic fire.

Notes on t imcl<~ble This is the proposed timetable when a fourth section is built. Meantime. a modified service is in operation between Saltaire and Moorhead.

The proposed timetable requires three engines in steam and the rail -buses. Trains run in the order of the seq uence numbers shown.

WORKING T IM ETABLE FOR ORDINARY WEEKDAY

NOT FAIR DAYS OR SATURDAYS

UP T RAINS

SEQ UENCE. No.

I

4

s

6

CLASS OF TRAIN

RAIL-BUS

MIXED

GOODS

RAIL-BUS

ETY. :OPPER

Encint! ex train

No. 7

NOTES

{

Before journey

SALTAIRE MOORH EAD NARROW FORO

dep.

{"'·

En&inc from

Engine

From siding to platform

shed. Shunt yard. Attach

From siding to pladorm

Conveys mails

wagons for Narrowford to tr-ain

shed.

Shunt yard and m•ke up tr-ain lor Moorhead

II

I

PASSENGER

I

12

IS

---

RAIL-BUS

PASSENGER

Encinf! ex train

From siding to

No. 3 from shed

pl•tform

No. 10 from shed. need only

from

Engine ex tra•n

6.00 a.m.

8.50 a.m.

10.20 a.m.

11.05 a.m.

12AS p.m.

a.m.

9.30 a.m.

11.00 a.m.

liAS a.m.

1.25 p.m.

6.~0

I

convey mini· mum pau. stock

3.35 p.m.

5.10 p.m.

p.m.

5.50 p.m.

~ .1 5

Water

dep.

9.35 a.m.

1.30 p.m.

4.20 p.m.

arr.

10.50 a.m.

2.45 p.m.

5.35 p.m.

I

7.30 p.m.

8.10 p.m

--(

NOTES

After journey

(

Remain in up

platform

Shunt

yard ,

then en&ine to

shed

Shunt

Moorhe.ad yard. then co cnm No. 7

Remain in up platform

Shunt quarry, then engine to

shed

En&ine to shed

Remain in up

platform

leave coaches in up platform

AP RI L

1 961

85

Locomoti\•cs This is a subject on which I could \\Tite pages. Once the bug of loco construction has bitten, one feels as though one could turn locos o ut for ever ; but a line has to be drawn somewhere or there wi ll be more locos than other rolling stock. The joy and pleasure of putting a completed homebuilt loco on the track for the firM time and watching her roll away under the touch of the controller is just great, and fi ngers burnt with n soldering iron or nicJ..cd with a piercing saw arc forgotten in that moment when she gets under way.

A list of A.V.R. locos is g1ven below, with brief notes on each one.

No. I : .. Anthony,'' 2-4-{) tan!... Chassis converted from Tri-ang standard TT 0-6-0 chassis. T inplate (Oxo t in) body. A bi t too ~pccdy for narrow gauge if one is heavy-handed on the controller.

No. 2: "Anne," 0-4-0 tank. 1 in plate body. Chassis built from scratch. Frame spacers and cylinders arc of wood. Main frames arc secured to spacers by number 0 wood screws. T ri-ang 00 motor, 12mm. diameter driving wheels, modified form of Walschaerts valve gear. This engine is a lovely runner and will crawl for ya rds at less than scale ,,aJI..ing pace under h:tlfwavc rectification.

No. 3: "Audrey," 0-4-4 "Yanl..cc " Fortcy tank. Chassis built from scratch, and in the case of this engine the chassis includes the boiler, smoke-box, cylindereverything in fact except the cab. This commodious cab forms the " body " and IS removable to get at the Romford Terrier motor. T he cab is of card and is fully panelled and gla7cd .

No. 4: "Arthur," 2-6-0 tank. A freelance model of the T rallee and Dingle o.

7. Chassis scratch built, Romford Terrier motor. 12mm. diameter wheels. This is the A.V.R:s first six-coupled loco, runs as nicely as No. 2 and is by far the most powerful.

Everyday domestic items have been used in the construction of these locos, such as pins (101 uses), large diameter brass screws for domes, empty lipstick cases for boiler and smoke-box (steal

Engine No. 3, " A udrey," at coaling Hage. This view is taken from the rear of th e layou t an d shows that bot h sid es o f the station buil dings are fully modelled.

a full one at your own peril), " Dinkic " curlers for con rods, plastic knitting needles and brass curtain rail, to mention just a few items-not forgetting our old friend the Oxo tin.

The only other motive power not yet

mentioned arc the rail-buses os. 101 and 102. ·• Maude" and "Derek." These are based on the C.D.R.J .C. railcars 9 and 10. o. 102 is a dummy vehicle. and except for wheels, axles and axle-guards is cntirel}' made of wood and card. as is the

WORKING TIMETABLE FOR ORDINARY WEEKDAY DO WN TRAIN S

I

SEQUENCE No.

2

CLASS OF TRAIN

RAIL-BUS

NOTES

I

I

e.efore ourney

3 PASSENGER

7

.

GOODS

9

I

RAIL-BUS

MOORHEAD SALTAIRE

NOTES

dep.

1 ~rr.

~

dep. arr.

MIXED

13

I

RAIL-BUS

Encine ex train No. 4 from shed. attach

from Enc•no shed

for Satu.re ro tra•n

I NARROW FO RD

10

WIIOOJ

~ .

To sidlnc

14

I

MINERAL

16

I

PASSENGER

Encine ox train

En&ine ex tratn

No. 8. a~tach loaded hoppers tO brake

milk "nns from

No. 15. atw:h coods shed tO U"~'"

5.25 p.m.

8.15 a.m.

3.00 p.m.

9.30 a.m.

9.35 a.m.

11.50 a.m

1.30 p.m.

4. 15 p.m.

4.20 p.m.

6.00 p.m.

6.40 p.m.

6.45 p.m

8.30 p.m.

10.15 a.m.

12.30 p.m.

2.10 p.m.

S.OO p.m.

6.40 p.m.

7.25 p.m.

9·1 0 p.m.

Encine to shed

loop. onclno to train No.8

leave train in

After iout nty Encine ex train

No. 3 shunt wacons leh '" loop

To sidlnc

Position aoods waaons. encine to shed

To sidinc

Shunt hop/rors to d...-k s• Inc. encine to shed

Dispose of milk vans after un·

loadinc. encine to shed

RATLWA Y

86

MODELLER

PLAN OF THE AIRE VALLEY RAI LWAY Scale !in. to the foot.

1 Harbour master's office 2 Warehouse 3 Smugglers' Arms • 4 Fish dock 5 Weir 6 Cottages 7 Market stalls 8 Merry-go-rounc!

9 Ferris wheel 10 Traction engine II Weighbridge 12 Shelter Close-up of a busy scene at the goods depot, showing the hand - made goods rolling stock in use on the Aire Valley Railway .

body of No. 101. The chassis is brass curtain rail. and once again the motor is a R omford Terrier. Except for pick-up connection there is not one bit of soldering on this chassis. Ttlese two buses run back to back and perform very well.

Ot her rolli ng s tock There are two bogie and four fourwheel passenger coaches and t\vcnty-one

bodies.

of Swiss files, scissors, tweezers, small screwdriver, drills from nin. to l,in., pin vice or chuck.

Tools In case an}one think s a well-equipped workshop is required to build locos, e tc., here is my list of tools : piercing saw, hand drill. vice. tack hammer, pointednose pliers, soldering iron, small selection

P a ti ence My wife also has the last-named toolshe must have to have stood the smell of glues and glue size, the sight of paint on the carpet and the sound of naughty words.

freight vehicles. All the chassis are Tri-ang

TT with scratch-built card and balsa wood

IT CANJT HAPPEN TO ME A cautionary tale

by J ohn 1 Iarrison

AM the a\·cragc railway modcller. I bear no l>Cars and I have no fear.

I never worry about: J oints in mains wiring that arc unsoldered, wrapped '' ith insufficient tape, and stapled do,,n with an uninsulatcd staple.

Mi xing mains and low-\'Oltagc wiring in indistinguishable colours under the layout.

Exposed terminals on hiph - \Oitagc switches behind my control panel.

Getting the insulation of my povvcr tool checked, or heeding the ad' icc to run it orr an earthed socket.

Using plastic·CO\Crcd flex on or ncar m} soldering iron. I am too cle\ cr to pu! the bit do,~n on it ; and besides, if it docs melt the insulation nobody e\Cr touches that part.

Tacking some asbestos under the baseboard where it crosses the fireplace it can't get hot enough to burn, can it ?

1llc story I read of the chap in the States who got entangled in his ub·bascboard wiring, nearly strangled himself. and

I

had to be revived with oxygen by the lire brigade.

That bolllc1 o( lighter fluid on the mantelpiece. Nobody is going to knock it over. fhc ladder up to the loft. It's a bit ricket}'. but it will do.

All that junl.. stowed away in newspaper wrapj)ings. \ly house won't catch fire.

U\ing pin tic cements and solvents in un\cntilatcd spaces or in front of the lire. Yes, I know there is a warning on the tin that the s tuff burns easily and is poisonous to breathe, but I s han 't spill it or breathe in enough fumes to hurt me.

The loose head on the hammer.

The children. They arc too sensible to pick anything up by its cutting edge, or s pill any of the nasty fluids I lea' e lying around.

Yes, I read of accidents from time to time, but accidents arc things that happen to other people. It can't happen to me.

Can it ?

EXH lBITION LAYOUTS nrc once again preparing a special summer feature detailing "orking model railways open to the public that can be \'isited while on holiday. We have already written to all lines l..nown to us, but realize thai there may well be some new lines of '' hich we have no J..nowledgc. We should therefore be greatly obliged if any organi£ers of such displays who ha\c not heard from us would let us ha\e full details as soon as pos ible.

As a further chccl.. it \\OUid be greatly appreciated if reader~ who ba\'c !..nowledge o( lines other than those mentioned last year in our August issue would let us ha,·e details of the e\hibition and, if possible. the operator, that \\C might contact him (or full information. We should. howe,er, like to make it perfectly clear that we arc only interested in small scale model railways which arc open to the general public at delinitc periods and not in prhatcly owned hnc. which can be visited b} appointment. and that pa enger c.'lrr~ ing lines are not included in these remarks.

W

E

DECEMBER

1 961

285

THREE MODELS • FOR CHRISTMAS

by D. A. Naylor Any of th ese aoorking scenic f eatures coultl be built betaoeen n o•o and th e holiday and aoou/d form atl acCeJJtable present for (lrty erulwsillst .

INTRODUCTION

1. WA TERM ILL

HE models arc powered with identical motors. These are Mabuchi type 15 D.C. motors made by Tokyo Scientific Co. Limited and are sold by most model and toy shops at 3/ 6 for type 15, which i~ quite ample for our needs. The normal voltage is 1.5 and a single-cell battery will last for weeks. Fig. I shows the battery holder and connections. Before soldering any leads check the polarity of the motor so that the model does not run the wrong way-they are D.C. motors and reversible.

The other lead from the motor goes, of course, to the other switch terminal. I prefer the switch to be of the push-button type.

The building itself is constructed similar to a chocolate box except that the lid fits inside the base. T his base is tin. ply and carries the works and lower wall. The lid or mai n part of the building is tailored to fit into the base, and is of all-card construction. I used this lid-in-the-box method as the base could then be bedded into the contours of the ground. The building can be finished as desired- stone, brick, all timber, etc. Mine is half-timbered and Fig. 2 will explain a lot better than words.

I omit measurements except base size, which is 95mm. x 115mm.

Fig. 3 shows one side of the wheel.

Two are required, and twelve spacing pieces. Glue the spacing pieces on to one

T

If, like me, you refuse to throw old clock mechanisms and the like away you will have quite a collecti on of gears, etc.

Toy motor-cars have also been salvaged for push-and-go gears, and wheels minus tyrcs for pulley wheels. Ordinary rubber bands a re fine for driving bands. If a thin or odd-sized driving band is required I make my own from elastic thread (very fine cotton-covered rubber). Just tic a knot to make the band the required size, pull tight and cut of!' the surplus thread as close to the knot as possible. One last point about rubber band dri ves. I have found it is not necessary to have them tight, particularly on the mitial drive [rom the motor.

Any of these three models could be built as a simple static model but mechanizing them lifts them out of' the ordinary scenic class and this type of " gimmick " proves quite a hit with the ladies and younger visitors. These notes are therefore mainly on the mechanical side, although full details will be found of the fairground model.

wheel first, then the second wheel to the spacers. The hole for the shaft should be small enough to make the shaft a push fit, and a spot of glue will then hold the wheel in place.

The small stone island in the river carries a post which is supposed to have a shaft bearing. However, tllis is a dummy and all bearings are inside the building and arc made from strip metal about tin. wide bent at right angles. Fig. 4 is a plan of the mechanism.

One final point which I snail correct when time allows. There should be a small weir and sluice to make a mill-race for the wheel. At the moment my mill is dependent on the state of the ri\·er.

To find s~r posi tions step rovnd c i rcumh~rc n c:e: twice wir.h compass su at w.t1ut radi ~s . Start socond l ime: round midway bC!twttl"' any two o1 thcz: f ir.st ~et o f marks Spacer

12 r¢qui rcd

X~:~~ X

Glue X ¢c!gcs to ~ I

Not to seal¢

FIG 4

F IG

3

RAILWAY MODELLER

286

2. SAWMILL The mill will be clear from the photograph. Tbe shed over the saw bench has a low wall round three sides ; the rear is boarded up to roof height and also has an unglazed window. The roGf is supported by timber posts of !in. square balsa. The creation to the right of the saw bench is designed to carry away sawdust, which is duly bagged in the hut underneath. The framework to the left of the roof is instead of a crane; there is a central rail (like curtain railway) which carries a pair of chain blocks for lifting logs. This continues over the railway sidings and is used to un load railway wagons.

Th~:: base for the sawmill is a piece of !in. ply, 12in. x 4in. It is best to start by installing the saw in the required position and building the bench r ound it (Fig. 5).

In addition to the obvious slot in the baseboard to enable the saw to be worked a slot will be required for the log-working arm, and this should be immediately to the rear of the saw bench. 路 I took a risk and made the saw bench a fixture rou nd the saw. If the rubber band needs replacing it will have to be with elastic thread. Taking the underbaseboard mechanism step by step (Fig. 6), shaft A is driving direct from the motor, the pulley is two of K's 8mm. diameter brass wheels. A drive is taken from this shaft to the saw at B. A drive is also taken to pulley C (ex toy car wheel, it is plastic and a push fit on the shaft). On the same shaft is a ten-tooth gear (D), which drives the final 72-tooth gear E. 路 Bolted to this gear is crank F. A .12 B.A. nut is soldered to the end of this crank one inch from the centre and connecting arm G is pivoted by means of a 12 B.A. bolt. It is this arm which finally 'moves the " carriage " carrying the log.

I think the photograph plus the sketch of carriage and runners will make matters clear.

I realize that it is un]jkely that anyone <can repeat this gearing. I cannot myself, but could construct a similar mechanism with other gears, etc., that arc to hand.

I was fortunate with gear E. It has a fixed boss and is free on its shaft (Fig. Sa). However, F ig. 8b shows how the !crank can be attached to a normal revolving shaft.

Finally, attach the log (a reasonably straight twig {-in. or so in diameter) to the 路working arm after cutting a slot in it where the saw is supposed to be cutting it (Fig. 9). The log can be adjusted by ,bending the arm as required so that the log will run through the saw without binding.

sawmill. Facing page: the fairground.

Th e lower photographs on each page show the mechanisms.

!{6 dio \

wire: at Smm ctntn:s lor rollers

FIG 5

7 - I rt"duction on sow Apprac 216-1 roduttion on corrt og~

1--2"==:::1.

trt ~~ot FIG9

Arm

About

tor 2'2

_:j

FIG 8b

3. FAIRGROUND The baseboard for this model is once again路 !in. ply 12in. x 3in. (the 12in. keeps popping up, as the baseboard battens are at 12in. centres). Decide where tbe models arc going to be placed, bore a hole ! in. diameter where centre of merry-go-round is to be and cut a slot about t in. x tin. im-

mediately to one side of where the Ferris wheel is to go (Fig. 10). It will be best if this slot is on the non-viewing or leastviewed side of the model.

Once again I think the photograph will help here, and F ig. II will help in fixing the merry-go-round. The shaft carrying the crown wheel and the merry-go-rou nd is the original rear axle of a toy lorry with the wheels removed and the crown wheel forced down to one end. The small gear whee l is also on its original shaft, and where the pulley is now was the flywhee l of the lorry.

As regards the actual construction of the merry-go-round, the exploded drawing (Fig. 12) will explain far better than a dozen pages of writing. It will be seen that it is a series of cones and discs ; 'tbe numbers arc measurements in millimetres.

DECEMBER

-reo---;> 1

22j

-

•

'-

• =20 .:...

287

1961

•

lhoc k pap or con~

ThiS exttns ion

-;q- :·; ~ -- -~~se; n~~~~

~ Stringor ~ wirt r 1ng to strcnglhen joint

22

Q

-=17.

- '-

l'Nck paper cone Hardboard disc as in Fig 11

FRONT Pvlley_:£!astic car wheel push f il on shaft

30nrn die disc of hard board Tt-i s d1s.c cor rit s the m.rrry· go-round and the shall 1$ a ticJ>~ fll

3""pullcy ex specdo

FIG 10

The side-frames for the Ferris whee l arc the shape of a letter A. Two arc required and should be erec ted as in F ig.

13. M ake sure the frames arc square, as any twis t will make the wheel foul them.

One point to bear in mjnd is not to be tempted to put the cross supports higher than shown, as they will only foul the cha irs.

The wheel (Fig. 14) is also built up fron1 two identical hal ves. They arc made from card, and 1 wou ld recommend thin

wh ite card as sold at any good stationer's.

1 fi nd the chair pivots (pins) stay put without gluing. After the wheel has been drawn out on card the holes for these pi vots can be punched with a pin of the size to be used for the pi vot. but do this before cutting the wheel out. then the card will not split. Any burr on the other side of th e card can be rubbed down with fine glasspapcr. Six chairs are required to the dimens ions shown in Fig. 14. As the chairs revol ve they have. of course, to remain hori1ontal, and to attain this two things a r c necessary: ( 1) the footrest is a piece of 2mm. x I mm. brass bar, and being well bclo'' the

FIG II

centre of gravity wi ll keep the chair level provided (2) the holes in the chair sides a rc free. Once again it will be best to punch the holes before cutting the sides out. but with a larger pin than the pivot pin.

Any passengers (bra ve people!) should be glued in position before the wheel is mounted in the frames. T o stop the chairs binding o n the sides of the wheel. washers should be placed on the pi vot pin on either side of the chai rs. I made my own from soft wi re formed into little loops like chain line.

The final dri,·e to the wheel is through the slot in the baseboard to a pulley on the wheel ax le (in my case it was the last of the four plasti c car wheels). On the rea l thing the wheel itself acts as a .huge pulley, but due to the nature of the construction of the model I did not deem it wise to follow this.

CHAIR

,-,(}1 . . t ..( 7 ....

6

Half sin

_J.

2x l brass bar

Not to scale

1Half size

FIG 14

RAILWAY MODELLER

158

{f!:('TI/BEJSOWERED

~PIN } SINGLE

r~rvr'•w

GI/ID£ CROSSHEAD

CAPO

ASH=tl'AN ......... .

I

: BEND LP 4 S OWER RIVErS IMITATED BY INDENTING WITH PANEL PIN .... ..

,(££PER PLAT£

FIG I

FORAXUS

SI.OT FOR 8 84 PIVOT BOLT

ALL PARTS BRASS

;

BAR S

XEE~ATES

<:::;~S OTS

WASHER FRETTED FROM SHEET

f'IG4

FIG 3

NOT ro SCALE

CAB SIDES HA LF SIZE

SJPAN FRAME

FIG 2

Nor ro

MAIN FRAME

~

FOOTPLAT£ FITS INTO SLOT IN OVERLAY FIG 58

FIG SA

SCALE

I 0

0

l

u:

L. . ~o-: -: c: :- -: -:- :-: -=0- Q__-.~I KEEPER

F I/LL SIZE

PLATE

__

0

01

0

0

COWCATCHER

I EJ

~'}o

1j "'""'""'" ,., IN LEAD

Pf/M.{;;Lf/&Jfro MAINFRAME

em

WOOD OR WITH PINS CAST INTEGRAL

JULY

/963

/59

â&#x20AC;˘

AUDREY A 4 mm. scale free-lance narrow-gauge Forney locomotive for D. A. Naylor's

00n3 Aire Valley Railway H E prototype, a 2ft.-gauge loco, on which tllis model is based attracted my T eye with its low-slung boiler, its commodious

panelled cab and the flangeless rear driving wheels. This was the first time I had come across a four-coupled loco with flangeless dri vers, and I presumed (having no further information on the subject) that the bogie truck must have been on a central pivot with no side play. I tried to follow this up on the model, but without any success, due to the Rangeless wheels running off the rails on the !Sin. cur ves of my railway.

In order to preserve the " dayJjght under the boiler " look of the engine the mainframe construction was approached in a different way from previous locos, and F ig. 1 shows the main frame a nd component parts.

Brass curtain rail was used for all these parts except the ash pan, which is made from an Oxo tin. The brass bars soldered across the keeper plate are to prevent excessive up-and-down movement of the axles, as the depth of the main frame is more than the axle diameter. 12 B.A. screws arc used to attach the keeper plate; 12mm. wagon whee ls were used for driving wheels.

The upper clamping bar fo r the motor is a section o f flat brass the same length and width as the lower bar, with corresponding holes for 8 B.A. screws. Gear mesh ing can be adjusted by packing under the front end of the motor, which in this model is a Romford "Terrier."

The superstructure was started by soldering the smoke-box to the boiler (fortunately I had an empty brass li pstick case of the right diameter in the scrap box for the boiler). T he smoke-box is Oxo tin. T he first two-th irds of the boiler is fi lled wi th a solid chunk of lead (to cou nterbalance the motor), and the last third of the underside is cut away to accommodate the worm wheel. The cab plate is soldered to the ash-pan and the rear end of the boiler to the cab plate. The " footplates " over the wheels were then soldered in place. The smoke-box is supported by a " saddle"; this was cast all in one with the cylinders (my usual wood cylinders were no good, as weight was required forward). The mould was fretted out of wood, and J must admjt the casting required some judicious filing. All necessary

Audrey on shed.

ho les were drilled after casting. A 10 B.A. screw holds the front end together, passing through the mai n frame, saddle a nd smokebox. The chimney stem was then soldered to the smoke-box (sec Fig. 2 to this stage).

What space was left in the box was filled with lead and the door was added. The lamp is wood with brass fittings, the ventilator a used ball pen, the lamp-glass rim a section of brass tube, and the glass a stone from an ear-ring. I was lucky wi th the chi mney top, it being the stop button oiT a disca rded a larm clock- a few to uches wit h a swiss file whi le being turned in a hand drill finished it off. The bell was likewise turned in the hand drill and the bracket was fretted from sheet brass. Fig. 3 shows the make-up of the dome.

The bogie trucks, outside axle-boxes and springs, etc., are only dummy ones built up out of wood and card. The truck is shaped up from aâ&#x20AC;˘ piece of brass (Fig. 4).

The wheels are K 's 6mm. ones on Peco lnsul axles, kept in place with card keeper

plates glued in place. A strip of celluloid clamped between the main and auxi liary frames bears on top of the truck to assist its road-holding.

The card cab was co nstructed on the bread-and-butter method, each side being built of three thicknesses of card plus a fourth layer for the panelled sides. The two outer layers arc identical, but the centre layer is furt her cut away to accept celluloid windows, as the cab is fully glazed. Fig. SA sets out one side; F ig. 5B shows how tbe front end of the cab is held in place-it is secured in the rea r by a N o. 0 wood screw passing through the rear of the auxiliary frame into a block o f wood glued inside the bunker. The roof is laminated from three pieces of thick paper on a wood former. if a quick-drying glue such as " Durofix " is used, the roof can be held on the former with the fingers until the glue sets. l shall be only too pleased to give any further information or clarify any poi nt if a letter is sent via the Editor.

Audrey minus cab, showing the arrangement of the motor.

11

JANUARY '1964

NARROW G_AUGE LOCO CONSTRUCTION

by D. A. Naylor A ire Valley Railway 0-4-0T "Anne."

EFO RE starting the subject of narrowB gauge loco modelling, I would like to say that had any such models been on the market at a price to suit my pocket when I went over to the narrow gauge I do not think I would have bothered to build any locos myself. However, I now find the shoe is on the 0ther foot, and if the market was flooded with narrow-gauge locos I would still prefer to build my own.

The second thing is that I am a " model basher." I know nothing whatsoever about engineering theory or practice, so please, you engineers, bear with me, because right or wrong way I have three little narrow-gauge locos built from scratch which do work, and work well, and perhaps these notes will help someone else bitten by the narrow-gauge bug and at a loss for a loco.

Tools required The undermentioned is a list of tools I have found meet my needs. Even if you had to purchase them a ll at once the tota l cost would be far less than that of a custombuilt loco.

Vice (p referably fastened to a board some 12in. x Si n. in size; the board can then be clamped to any handy table, etc.).

Hand drill (this will also act as your lathe for turning small items when clamped in the vice).

Piercing saw with dozen fine and dozen medium blades.

Small tack hammer.

Steel ruler (in mm. and inches).

Round-nose pliers.

Pin vice.

Top view of" Anne's" chassis.

Selection of drills: 3/64in., T&-in., 3/32in., t in. l do not use number drills, and anything between the sizes mentioned I open up with a round swiss fi le.

Swiss files, rou nd, flat and tapered in section.

Small screwdrivers.

Pointed tweezers.

Soldering iron.

A darning need le makes a nice scriber.

I do not think this list is too formidable, and many modellers wi ll a lready have some of them.

These notes are aimed at the general construction of a 4mm. scale 12mm. gauge loco rather than the building of a specific engine.

Driving wheels I like to start right at the bottom with the wheels, and if 3ft-diameter wheels are all right there is nothing better than 00 wagon wheels (K's also supply 6, 8 and JOmm. brass wheels ready for pressing on Peco lnsulaxles).

~ ~

FIG I

m !i I

~

Wheel sc(tlon

T he wheels, after ,being ca refully removed from their axles, should first be drilled for the co upling-rod pins, and a simple j ig will ensure that all the ho les are the same distance from the cen tre (Fig. I); this distance should be ha lf the cylinder stro ke and the drill size fo r the coupling-rod pin is l/3 2in. I should point out that non-bushed wheels are best, as I will show when the wheels are ready for thei r axles.

If you ca n solder, add the coupling-rod pins nex t, us ing a domestic pin which is thick enough to need tapp ing home with a ham mer ; cut the surpl us pin off, leaving about 3mm. prot ruding beyo nd the wheel rim. Tf you ca nnot solder leave these pi ns until later.

If the wheels are not suitable fo r lnsu laxles take the original steel ax le a nd press one wheel back on to it. The next job is to fix the worm wheel on to the driving axle (K's supply a worm wheel to sui t lnsulax les, 1 am informed, but other makes can be made to fit by bushing wi th brass tube, etc.). N ow take the second wheel and drill the axle hole to 3/ 32in. Beg, borrow o r steal a plastic knitting needle a bit larger in d iameter than 3/ 32in. Put a length of this needle in the vice and, using 3/64in. drill in the pin vice, dri ll a hole in the centre of the needle for a depth just exceedi ng the

thickness of the wheel. This hole must be central-have half a dozen goes if necessary and do not despair if the first one or two are not right. When enough bushes have been drilled (two for a four-coupled loco and so on), tap them gently into the axle hole. It will help if the back of the wheel is slightly countersunk and the plastic bush slightly tapered. If it seems too tight a fit open the hole of the wheel a bit with the round file. When the bushes are in the wheels open the 3/64in. hole a bit and press the axle on to the wheel, once again in the vice. When gauging the wheels check for a back-to-back measurement of JO.Smm. rather than try to gauge 12mm. over the flanges. To finish the wheels, cut off the su rplus ax le, but, unless you have another ax le of the same diameter for checking the size of the axle hole in the main frames, save one surplus piece.

If the axle holes are a ll right for Peco lnsul axles press the wheels on to these in the vice, ensu ring that the wheels are as near quartered to 90 deg. as you can.

The chassis main frame It is in the making of the main frame that 1 have broken away from normal practice, as the spacing blocks are of wood. The side frames are made o f brass cut from curtain rai l- this is about l/32in. thick and a bit easier to work than the usual T&-in. stuff.

Fig. 2 shows stage one of the side frames for one of my engines, an 0-4-0 tank. All five holes in each frame are T&-in. diameter, but the axle-holes wi ll probably require opening up; do this bit by bit and keep test ing with the bit of surplus axle. Note that the frames will be screwed to the wood spacing blocks with tin. No. 0 wood screws and that these screw holes must be staggered.

Fig. 3 shows the next stages in shapi ng up the side frame, a nd it will now be clear that the keeper-plate method has been adopted.

Stage 4, Fig. 3, shows the cut-away frame ready for the motor. T he size of this cu t-away will depend on the type of motor used, but go gently on the cutti ng away, as whi le you

Under view of" Anne's" chassis.

RAILWAY

12

0

can always cut a bit more away you cannot put any back. It is, of course, assumed that the drive is to the front axle. Now we come to the wood shaping blocks. What kind of wood to use? I think any close-grained wood except very hard wood will do. We can also rule out balsa and plywood. The Iauer would be all right if we were just going in from the sides, but as we shall also be going into the wood from the top and bottom as well ply is out. First of all, then, cut the wood about 5mm. deeper than the side frames ; this will bring it to a handy size for reducing to correct thickness. This thickness will be dependent on the actual thickness of the two side frames, of course, and the sum of these items together should be about 5mm. or .75mm. less than the wheel back-to-back measurement. 1l1c next job is to true up one iong side and one short side to 90-dcg. angles (see Fig. 4). These 90-deg. angles must be reasonably accurate.

Next screw the side frames to the spacer

block (see Fig. 5), using ..tin. 0 wood screws and first drilling pilot holes with the 3/64in. drill. When both frames are secured to the spacer cut the surplus wood away with the piercing saw, using the frames as a guide, but be careful not to cut into the frames.

After removing the side frame the spacer block can be divided as shown in Fig. 5 and the centre portion discarded.

The keeper plate is a lso of 1/ 32in. brass.

It should be made the full width of the chassis and as long as from X to X (sec Fig. 5 again).

The plate requires three holes drilling in it (Fig. 6a). Two are for attaching it to the spacer blocks and the centre hole is for bolting the insulated wheel contact strip to the keeper plate and to the tag to the insulated motor brush. Fig. 6b should make the method of auaching and insulating clear. If the wheels are mounted on Peco Jnsulaxles a pair of contact strips will also have to bear on the other wheels, but these can be bolted or

MODELLER

Side and end elevations for the free-lance 0-4-0T .. Anne" of the Aire Valley Railway.

This is a fairly typical example of a side-tank contractor's locomotive which coul d well be found in the stud of any small narrow-gauge line.

Drawing full size 4mm. scale for 00n3 gauge.

soldered direct to the keeper plate. It is also advisable to bond the keeper plate to one of the frames if lnsulaxles have been used.

Mount the motor next. The type of mounting will depend on the motor used. Those with onenut fixing will probably have to be attached to a metal bracket, which in its turn can be screwed into the top of the rear spacer. In my own model I have a Tri-ang 00 gauge mounted sideways on top of the chassis and the drive is via a jack-shaft. The rear mounting was bolted to an L-shaped bracket which was screwed to the rear spacer. The front mounting is difficult to describe in words, but Fig. 7 may make it clear. If this method is adopted there is no need to make a motor cut-away in the side frames. 1 may have been lucky dropping on a motor with both pole pieces bored. I cannot say whether just the one-side fixing would be all right, but I would strongly advise against trying to drill a pole piece.

Next come the cylinders. 1 prefer to make

FIG S One frame only shown at ea ch stoQe 0 :>~aot

two cut owoy shod td portion ltv t l with bottom of o.dt nola.

c==

Stoq c thru Cut ond f li t oxlrholu

:=J

into slots

~~csk~~; 0 fiG 6A Fits Into hole kee per plo \1 Kuper pi ott

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.

Contact strips

~ulottd

wos htr â&#x20AC;˘Contact strips 1 1&"'12 BA bolt

FIG 6a

~6 tubo

FIG q

FIG 3 A ,..to I brocket som e size as brush holder Is mode for other pott plttt

lltw oxttnd td flbro brush holder

bo It od @-Cui

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FIG 10

l~sulotiolg

wo.shel"

~~ Co ~~rod Crosshtod

J ANUA R Y

1 9 64

13

mine of wood, as this makes them easier to shape up and d rill and ?rovides insulation against a dead short via the loco's motion.

1 would suggest we stick to just coupling rods and pretend the loco has inside valve gea r.

F ig. 8 shows side and front elevation of cylinders and frames and underside view.

I tl:tin k these drawings wi ll be self-explanatory, and we now con·,e to the last item for the chassis, the cou pli ng rods and crosshead co nnecting rods. 1 make mine from " Dinky" curlers. 1 will not enlarge on just what these torturous th ings are, but they can be obtained from any ladies' hairdresser or wife/ mother/ sister/sweetheart. My wife has now gone over to plastic ones. However, fret the rods out with the piercing saw. 1 find it best to drill the holes fi rst and then cut the rods out. The distance between the holes in the coupling rods should, of co urse, eq ual the wheelbase.

D rill the holes l/ 32in. and open up if necessary wi th the round file. The length of the crosshead con necting rod should allow the crosshead to stop 2mm. or 3mm. short of the cylinder. lf we are of the soldering school we shall also need four washers about 2mm. in diameter and drilled l/ 32in. These can also come out of " D inky" curlers. Fig. 9 shows the operation of solderi ng the rods to the wheels. The notepaper washer is torn away after soldering. At the crosshead end the pinhead is on the outside and the connecting rod soldered to it direct.

For the non-soldering boys who have no pins in the wheels Fig. 10 shows how to go on. Perso nally I have used this method only once, and as yet the pins are showing no signs of working loose. The mai n thing is to watch that the holes are not too slack or too tight.

If the pin goes right home from one gentle tap from the hammer, obviously it is too slack. On the ot her hand we do not want to have to use a sledgehammer.

Before replacing the wheels in the frames they should be provided with Insulaxle washers, two per axle whatever kind of axles have been used. To get the washers on the ax les when the wheels are already on, simply cut through one side (Fig. I 0).

Bend th~ u on~ lc.s -

in the

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.fr~l out to _-

su•t motor

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FIG II ~Bross or copper 'W Oshtr svcatcd on

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Bross or copptr tube

1 ic._Soldrr fi llet / U ~Sn\okt box 8ross dctu con be modt from lorCjt brou sere..,

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Copprr or brass copped Chll'nncy s

Brou ... o,hrr or disc s ... cottd to cob shtt l ot A. Frrl <woshtr and cob sidt to9t thtr to pr odu ce

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brass ,.j m

Cob front or rcor ~tll:l - - -

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FIG 12

Locomotive bodies There is nothing like a home-made body, whether free-lance or prototype, for a bit of character. Before going into the construction details a word or two about pla ns and drawings. If you have a favou rite narrow-gauge loco you want to build so me of the advertisers in the RAILWAY MODELLER will be a ble to supply you with a drawing. [Most narrowgauge-railway histories are well supplied with drawings.- Eo.] If you find the loco o f your fancy would be a little too small in 4mm. scale to suit your loading gauge, or unable to accommodate a motor, scale it up a bit. For instance, a loco with a rai l-to-chimney height of 8ft. would be 32mm. in 4mm. scale. In Smm. scale this would increase to 40mm., a reasonable height for 3ft.-gauge standards (anyway, some of tbe Welsh slate locos have cabs more suited to Snow White's dwarfs, and scaling them up an odd millimetre makes the average man fit).

If you are of the no-solder school there is nothing wrong with card or styrene sheet for loco bodies, and there is no reason why some of the brass fittings, etc., described later should not be glued or bolted to a ca rd body.

However, an all-metal body is the stronger.

I make mine from Oxo ti n mai nly, using a heavier gauge tinplate for the footplate. I make the footplate and buffer-beams a ll in one (Fig. II). This also shows the footp late valance rail, which should be cut rough and filed down after being soldered.

The body itself is pretty straightforwa rd, but a few hints are shown in F ig. 12. The dome is straightforward except for some hard filing. The chimney cap can be turned in the Top view of'" Arthur·s '' chassis.

~~tor buftu- b e am choH i <

A ire Valley Railway 2-6-0T ·• Arthur."

ho"

· LocotonQ p tQS p rotrud <nQ thi ckncn o f bufftrb(OI'ft

hand d rill, using swiss fi les. At the front end the body can be attached to the chassis by a No. 0 wood screw- there should be just room for it in the front spacer. I have not shown any couplings, as these vary so much on the narrow gauge.

Painting I like the " H umbrol " myself and start off by giving the body inside and out two or three coats of matt black and then following up with the required colours.

Lining and lettering For black or white 1 use waterproof inks a nd for other colours d iluted poster paints.

As for the actual lettering or lining, you can do it or you cannot, but with practice one can improve. I do all mine freehand, using a mapping pen and ruler. Boiler bands and any bands around cylinders, because they are round, are best drawn on good-quality tissue paper and then carefull y cut out and glued on. The ad vantage of using inks and poster paints is that if an error is made the liJie can be rubbed out and done again. " Audrey " took over a week to letter, as her lettering is silver and an error in lettering meant a repaint on the cab side.

Conclusion I can only hope these hints and wrinkles have been of some help, particularly the chassis on the no-solder side of it, but I think it best if you can learn to solder. I will be only too pleased tG answer any queries and can be contacted through the Editor of the magazine.

Under view of" Arthur·s ,. chassis.

RAILWAY MODELLER July 1964 · Volume No. 15

170

RAILWAY

Railway of the Month

THE NETHERTARN EXTENSION RAILWAY

MODELLER

Diesel loco No. 5 011 empty bogie hopper train 011 th e viaduct. The rear vehicle is maid-of-all-work, brake va11, workmen's or fa rmer's accommodation plus horse box or cattle wagon.

D. A. Naylor describes the new station on his 00n3 narrow gauge layout .4. BOUT the same time as the article on the A ire Valley Railway was f t published in the April 1961 RAILWAY MODELLER the hidden Siding section was completed. After about twelve months in this form it was decided that the other end of the line should be built. This was felt to be a must, as the railway is self-conta ined and not just a B.R. branch line.

T he hidden siding section was extended to make it L-shaped and the new Nethertarn section joined on to the end of the L, making the layout U-shaped.

Up to this time the railway had been on exhibition three times, and the Jack of a continuous run was felt. Storage space was the greatest obstacle to adding further sections. After some thought it was decided to scrap the L-shaped section (which was all bits and pieces anyway).

A new oblong section was built (this contains the sawmill). On one of the older sections a new junction was laid, and to complete the oval a four-foot-long viaduc t was built. This viaduct occupies only four square inches when stored. 1 must add that it is the butt of funny remarks at exhibitions, as the arches do not reach the floor.

T his work was completed in ti me for the Leeds 1962 exhibition and is how the line now stands.

Before going any farther I would like to make a point about exhibitions. T here is quite a difference between a model railway which is built for permanent exhibition and one which an enthusiast runs fifty-one weeks a year at home and one week a year at an exhibition. At home one usually operates the line from the front, but the customers who have paid their cash quite rightly expect a clear view. With this thought in mind the con trollers are detached from their normal positions and hung at the rear. J n addition, if one refers to the plan of the line this is how it is set up for home use. However, when at a show " exhibition " junction comes into its own. I think most readers will agree that the little extra work and expense involved is worth while.

Along with the change in the model A.V.R. the fict itious history has cha nged as follows. The A.V.R. was originally only ten miles long, i.e. the section from Saltaire to Moorhead. The line was built to serve the agricultural areas between and around these towns. There was also some mining around Moorhead, which helped to add to the railway's traffic and accounts¡ for the four-wheel hopper wagons. Several years after the A.V.R. had been running large mineral deposits were discovered near the small village of Nethertarn (the name Narrowford was a print ing error). A company was formed to mine these minerals and the best method of transport ing the mineral to the railhead at Moorhead was looked into. The outcome was the extension railway, which was built by the min ing company and handed over to the A.V.R. to work, the agreement being that the A. V.R. should maintain the line a nd keep one engi ne and the bogie hopper wagons in N .E.R. colours.

The li ne was built as cheaply as possible; traffic is worked by staff and ticket. There is no block, but trains are signalled by G.P.O. telephone, which is much cheaper than maintaining twenty miles of poles and wire.

Back to fact again. The section which is part of the continuous run has been built by the open-frame method on¡ 2in. x I in. timber. The sawmill has been ab le to come into itS own now and the head-shunt of Moorhead station also serves as the mill siding. One item the ladies li ke on th is section is the church with the wedding group outside having tl1ei r photographs taken.

The Ncthertarn section is t in. ply on 2in. x I in. framing. It measures 5ft. 6i n. x I ft. and shows (as the Editor has often pointed out) how

Th e absolute end. Loco No. 4 "Arthur" shunts some hopper wagons under the mine trestle. In the background cattle are "sh unted" into wagons.

J ULY

1964

171

Above: the whole loco stud gathered around Nethertarn shed. The reason? A directors' meeting in th e Railway Arms, and these gentlemen wanted to inspect the locos.

Below: a view across Nethertam platform down the main street.

172

R A ILW AY M ODE LLE R

Close-up of an evening scene. Figures are the focal poim here-the train spotter, the dog by the lamp, the fish shop queue, and tlte little girl nattering " Mother, let's be going."

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LC

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W

w" R

Lt V91 crouit>g Station b<Jikling

Wotutohk or colu'"" Wt lftlbr/dg< Routtdabovt

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Trvcrlon

w~>< •l .ngln ~

PLAN

'cw loco mot in•s

OF AIRE VALLEY SALTAIRE RAILwAy AND NETHERTARN EXTENSION

much can be got on a board a foot wide; also a narrow board looks longer than one twice as wide but only the same length. The section is very simple. Points arc worked from the spot and there are only two electrical feeds and switches plus a push button for the engine shed.

The latter, in keeping with cheapness, is of timber with corrugated iron roof. Also of timber arc the water tank support. platform and platform shelter. There are no station buildings. The railway owns the Railway Arms public-house across the road from the ·station, which also serves as the booking onicc. Along with most other buildings in the street, the public-house is a Supcrquick kit converted into a low-relief model.

One shop is a fish-and-chi p shop wit h a queue waiting for opening time.

The portly lady at the head of the queue is, I am told, Ena Sharples.

Goods trallie is dealt with in a very tiny yard, the goods depot consisting of a wood platform and an old van body. There is also the usua l cattle dock.

This just leaves us to visit the mine workings, which are very simple indeed. The cliff face b built up from rea l rock and the mine tramway comes out on a short trestle, from wh ich the mineral is tipped into the hopper wagons.

Co ttl~ N£Tf£RTARN

Two new engines have been acquired. neither of which is built from scratch. Number 5 "A ire'' is a much-cut-down Airfix diesel kit on a Rokal chassis. This chassis was originally an 0-6-0 but is now cut down to an 0-4-0. The front \\heels have been made into a jack shaft. This engine is used mainly on the increased mineral traffic but never on passenger trains. The sound emitted from it is very realistic. due. I think, to the spur gears.

Engine number 6 .. Ada" is a K's kit on a scratch-built chassis. with a K"s motor and wheels on Pcco lnsulaxlcs. This is the engine which is kept in N.E.R. colours.

The only new rolling stock is three bogie hopper wagons. These are of wood and card on Tri-ang freight bogies. Close inspection will reveal that the solebars of these vehicles arc bowed as though with the weight of the load they have to carry. This was achieved very simply: the solebars arc of three-ply and when one of the !ayers is stripped off the other layers bow slightly of their own accord.

JUL Y

1964

173

The railbuses approaching the new junction (compare with photograph on page 82 April 1961 RAILWAY MODELLER), and the scene of a recent disaster. The collages, damaged beyond repair on rewming from an exhibition, /rave been bumed out.

A busy scene at the sawmill. This is a working model described in December 1961 RAILWAY MooELLER, which has now found a !tome.

The watermill and fairground at Moor/read were also described in this issue.

A short passenger train headed by "Anne 'â&#x20AC;˘ trundles past Nethertam church just as the local photographer records a happy bridal scene. Tire line on wltich the train is running is the "Exhibition Branch."

Internal combustion on the Aire Valley

â&#x20AC;˘

by Derek Naylor

Railbuses and diesel loco at Saltaire shed.

0 -4-0 diesel meclza11ical No. 5.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Rai/buses 101 and 102.

RIGHT:

BOTTOM LEFT:

The charm of internal combustion ABOUT the time this article was being prepared there was quite a bit of argument in the model press on Steam versus Diesel. I don't intend to join in this battle as there is much to be said for both sides. As far as the industrial narrow gauge is concerned, the diesel seems to be replacing the steam loco.

The preserved narrow-gauge lines (Talyllyn, Festiniog, etc.) in the main stick to the steam loco. Indeed, in the case of the Talyllyn, steam is written into the constitution. Even so, some of the lines use a diesel loco for work trains. My own diesel is normally restricted to freight working.

The railbuses have a charm all of their own.

Most narrow-gauge fans I know admit to having a weakness towards the type of vehicle described in this article. Mention should be made here of the railway in the British Isles which made the best possible use of railcar working- the County Donegal. The whole range made by or for this railway are fascinating. The last railcars the company obtained are now in use on the Isle of Man Railways, and modern as they are, they still have a hold over me.

Beyond these shores railcars are or were legion. Mention must be made of one oddity which carried its own turntable round with it (Davis Light Railways). However it was to the U.S.A. that the Aire Valley turned for the second and somewhat ill-assorted pair of vehicles. They are based on American Railroad Jogging practice where anything seems to go.

Number 103 is based on a Brill Railcar.

Number 104 is an obvious conversion from a road vehicle.

March 1966

Diesel loco number 5 Aire The chassis of the loco is off a Rokal 0-6-0 tank engine. This was obtained as a ready-torun steam engine as a hard-wearing chassis for exhibition work. I never liked the steam outline of this engine, it being obvious, to me anyway, it was TT standard gauge.

I had seen several narrow-gauge versions of the Airfix Drewery. Most of them were the Airfix body as designed on a Triang TT bogie, with side skirts added.

The impression I got after building one of these diesels for a frie.n d was that the loco was

Paper w rapped round and glued to screw

1

No 5's chimney

too large for narrow gauge. Another kit was obtained, and after cutting the Rokal chassis down as much as possible, a start was made fitting the kit to the chassis. This was a case of cut-try-fit- cement. The bonnet has been cut down considerab1y. The cab is still quite large since it was fitted over the mechanism.

Two of the buffers are cemented in the centre of the buffer beam. Four scale coupling hooks (two came from the friend's kit) arc cemented where the buffer should be. (Sec Fig. 1 for attaching body to chassis.) The loco still lacked something. The final touch was to remove the front wheels and put them on the

centre axle. The flangeless wheels were then cut down to outside cranks and put on the front axle.

The truth is this model is just a bit of kitbashing but has produced a neat and very useful loco.

The r ailbuses The railbuses 101 and 102 were among the earliest vehicles to be built for the Aire Valley.

They are based on the County Donegal railcars 9 and 10. In general the chassis design is similar to Fig. 3. The rear axle guards are attached to the chassis with nuts and bolts instead of the frame being tapped. The wheels are K's 10mm. brass ones on Peco insulaxles.

On the powered unit (101) there is a phosphorbronze pick to each wheel, tl1ose on the lefthand side being soldered direct to the chassis.

The motor is a Romford Terrier. (Note Fig. 6 and the way the bonnet has been built up bread-and-butter fashion. The thin card overlay covers all the joins.)

Body work follows the general wood and card method. The sides are laminated from two layers of card with a centre layer of celluloid. The non-powe.r ed unit is similar except there is no chassis. The axle guards are screwed direct to the plywood floor with number 0 wood screws.

These Railbuses are permanently coupled so no vehicle can be coupled between them.

Neither is there means of attaching a vehicle to the front of either bus.

The Railbuses 103-104 are the latest addition to the railway's rolling stock. As said earlier they are based on American logging

77

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Internal combustion on the Aire Valley

Railbuses 101 & 102

Railbuses 103 & 104 12 0 b:a::l55-

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railroad practice. Having seen photographs and drawings of them I just could not resist them. They have not been copied slavishly. I should point out they are useful as well as decorative. For instance, the early morning railbuses (see RAILWAY MODELLER, 1961) had t o revert to steam working within a few days.

T his train conveys the early morning fi'h to Moorhead. Passengers complained (not that a good narrow-gauge line should take any notice of passengers' complaints) when the fish travelled inside the buses. The porters struck when they had to load it atop and the passengers still were not happy with their luggage smelling of cod and haddock. The railbus working is now reitored with the fish conveyed in the lorry or in a fish tub between the two.

It should also be possible for these railbuses to work the proposed branch Hne, any odd freight vehicles being attached in between.

The non-powered lorry is pretty straightforward in construction. The cab is built up card lmm. ply and a balsa wood roof. This roof was carefully carved and sandpapered to shape. (See Fig. 2 for a plan of this chassis.)

The imitation engine is built up from a block of wood. Bits and pieces are added for the exhaust manifold, distributor, plugs, fan and water hoses, etc. The radiator is a section cut from an Airfix model. A front view of this vehicle when travelling gives the impression

Ori II & tap

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10BA for bogie pivot

Thin brass plate s.oldered to stiffen rea r of chas~iS' & carry rear axle

"" 16 SWG brass soldered to rail

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Cut from brass curte!n rail

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Construction of leaf springs

it is tiptoeing along due to the inside frames.

Re Fig. 4 and the use of a glass bottle. This is better than using wood dowel as stray glue does not get the same hold on glass.

The rear wheels of the powered unit are Triang TT bogie wheels which include the gear wheel moulded on the axle. The motor is the Triang XT60 which made the whole power and transmission quite cheap. The rear wheels have pickups as described for number 101. The front bogie is a different matter, however, as the spHt a.xle and insulated frame method has been employed. The wheels are K's 6mm. ones mounted on half a steel axle.

The two half axles were then pressed into a

Wood block

6

& up 12 BA

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Front of bo,dy

5

Miscellaneous details

rube of plastic. The two phosphor-bronze springs (see Figs. 5a, b) which really do act as springs pick up the current through the brass rubbing plates (Fig. Sc). One spring goes direct to the frame while the other goes to the insulated brush.

Bogie details

Fig. 5d explains method of attaching front end of body to the chassis. the bonnet being part of the chassis.

The four railbuses are supposed to be petroldriven. hence the title to this article.

Railbuses 103 a11d 104.

--6' ···.". ' '

;

Bonnet of 101

M arch 1966

79

A working lineside industry

Clinl<er blocl<s on the Aire Valley Derek Naylor shows you how he added operating interest to his narrow gauge railway THE December 1954 issue of Model Railway News contained an interesting article by the late John Ahern entitled " T he Madder Valley makes bricks". Everything about the article intrigued me from the title onward. However,

there was no room on my then standard-gauge portable layout so the article was filed both literally on paper and figuratively in my head.

M eanwhile the narrow-gauge bug had bitten. The standard gauge was scrapped and

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106

the Airc Valley Railway, a 3ft.-gauge line, emerged. T his layout was still portable and there was still no room for the brick-works.

When I finally found a permanent site for the Aire Valley it was realized a brick-works would not be able to be incorporated. The space required was just too much.

A new position at work found me within a few hundred yards of what might be described as a "poor man's brick-works", but is in fact known as a clinker block works, and is very compact indeed. The products of this works arc also known as breeze blocks. In house building they are only used for inside walls with the result they are rarely seen when the house is complete. If you drill a hole in a wall for any reason you will soon know whether it is brick or breeze block under the plaster!

The basic ingredient of the block is waste clinker from mill and factory furnaces. Water and a small amount of cement are added and mixed thoroughly. A female mould about twice the depth of the finished block is filled level with the mixture, then the male half of the mould press is brought down and the mixture tamped solid. As the reader can perhaps imagine these blocks are churned out by the hundreds and arranged in stacks to dry.

Before starting a description of the model I would just add that the clinker supposedly used in my plant comes from another processing plant (still on the secret list) a few " miles" down the li ne, thus providing extra traflic for the railway.

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Main Construction When construction of the model was commenced it was decided it was worth making into a working model. The motor is one of the small Jap 1·5-3·0V. This motor and those of three other working· models are powered by their own 12V D.C.-controlled power unit with the control knob suitably set. T he gear train for working the mixer is out of an old alarm clock. It was screwed to the underside of the baseboard after the position of the clinker hopper and mixer had been determined.

The hopper was the first item to be constructed. Fig. 1 shows this at the stage where the mixer had been added.

The mixer drum is simple enough. The mixer paddle is just a piece of shim brass soldered to the centre boss of one of the alarmclock gears from which the spokes and teeth have been removed. This boss has its own shaft an d brass bearing, the latter is cemented into a hole drilled in the base of the mixer drum.

This sketch also shows the mechanism for operating the hopper door. This working hopper door was an afterthought to add w the working interest. Not shown on the sketch so as not to complicate matters arc the return spring and stop. The stop is just a piece of wood so positioned to prevent the lever returning too far after the passage of the cam.

T he purpose of the return spring speaks for " itself.

Railw ay Modeller

1

3 The sides and front of the lower part of the hopper legs are covered with card, and the front piece slides out for maintenance.

Attached to tlus front piece are some odds and ends of balsa wood and wire whlch represent the mould press. The shambleslike shelter was built up from strip balsa and corrugated material.

The cement silo is a pretty straightforward affair and needs no description. Just one point should be mentioned. There is no automatic means of getting the cement from the silo to the mixer. There is instead a platform or boardwalk joining the two over whlch the cement is transported by wheelbarrow.

All the equipment to the left of the hopper is fictitious. If I may refer again to the prototype it will explain why. ( 1) To the rear of the prototype hopper is an artificial slope up to about the height of the mixing drum. Thls is high enough for a tractor witl1 a hydraulicoperated scoop to dump its load in the hopper.

(2) The mixer and tamping mechanism are worked by a petrol engine bcllind the mixing drum. As the former is too modem for my between-wars layout it was decided to install a steam donkey engine in the model to do all the work. The vertical boiler is a lipstick case with a paper cone on top. Bits and pieces were soldered or cemented on to represent gauges, firehole door, etc. Though I cannot take credit for the idea I can suggest the Matchbox

horse fire-engine boiler could be used. The same can be said of the cylinder, crosshead and flywheel assembly. These could be purloined off the Airfix Rocket or Pug Kits. Mine was built up as in Fig. 2. Note the connecting rod pin goes through the slot cut along the back of the crosshead guide. The latter is also cut away at the front to expose the crosshead. The connecting rod is a section of a pin hammered flat at both ends. The ends are then filed to shape and drilled. The flywheel is a K's Smm. dia. brass wheel with the flange cut off. The complete cylinder assembly is soldered to a brass plate whlch is in turn screwed to the baseboard. This plate also acts as one bearing for the flywheel shaft. The other end of this shaft has a simple L-shaped bracket for a bearing. A pulley on the shaft takes the drive from the motor as in Fig. 3.

The crane has been squeezed into a very cramped site. In theory the clinker is loaded in small 4-wheeled tubs, hauled up with the crane and after being swung over the hopper a bottom door in the tub is released to discharge the contents.

Bits and Pieces The old half of a mould can be seen propped up against one of the shelter uprights. To the left of the donkey engine are stacks of blocks drying out or waiting shipment. Also in

evidence are plenty of pallets as the blocks are withdrawn from the press on these.

The prototype office is a wooden one but I made mine from breeze block with a false front and corrugated-iron roof.

A final "square" touch is the lettering on the signboard.

Painting Very dull indeed but what can you expect?

The whole model was given one undercoat of matt black. It was then gone over acain in varying shades of grey. The cement silo is a very dirty yellow. Boiler and corrugated iron are dirty silver. Various parts of the ironwork and all the "ground" were given a thin streaky wash of bumt umher poster paint. There are two bright contrasts at either end. The office door, door-frame and window-frames are green and ilie flywheel rim and connecting rod bright red. The clinker is represented by finely crushed coal, liberally scattered about.

Conclusion On a branch line or narrow-gauge line ilie plant makes a useful industry to be served by a private siding. The model need not be a working one. For myself I like modelling in general and models such as this allow the nonrailway outlet some satisfaction and at the same time produce somethlng different and useful for the model railway scene.

1 The model i11 posicion 011 the layout.

2 U11derside of model showi11g motor drive and geari11g ex old alarm clock.

3 The model ouc of cite layom, with drive showing underneath.

4 The prototype in all its glory.

2

4 April1968

107

Aire Valleysteam developments Derek Naylor describes two interesting additions to his 00n3 stud Introduction THE last rolling-stock article "On the Aire Valley" (RAILWAY MODELLER, April 1966) described the somewhat motley collection of internal combustion motive power. I hope tlus article did not give the impression that the Aire Valley management was abandoning steam.

Indeed the I/C units, gathered under one heading for the article, had been built over a period of several years.

The Aire Valley attended its last exhibition in April 1965. Since that date the layout has been undergoing a complete rebuild in a permanent site, the converted loft of my home.

I only hope it won't be long before the rebuilt layout can be described in the RAILWAY MooELLER. While most modellers normally build their own layouts, i.e. baseboards, track laying, scenery, buildings (either from scratch or kits), those who, like myself, build their own locomotives must be considerably less numerous. I mention this as I wonder if other modellees sometimes feel the same as myself. That is, after several years of building or rebuilding a layout modelling tends tO get a little stale. To overcome this staleness.a change of modelling is needed. In my case these two items of motive power provided this change. Construction of the steam rail-car was started before the painting of No. 5 " Aire" was finished . This was in January 1969 and it should please our editOr that at least one modeller took heed of his editOrial for that month! In all the two items took just over 15 months to build.

Locomotive No.5 "Aire" It will please me very much if keen narrowgauge fans can recognise this locomotive for what it is intended to be. It is an attempt at a reasonable ( ?) though not super-detailed model of one of the 2-4-2 compound locomotives built for the Ballymena on Larne Railway in Northern Ireland. Full details of these locomotives can be found in some of the many narrow-gauge books. In particular there is E. M. Paterson's Ballymena Lines. I used a drawing published in the August 1965 issue of the Model Railway News. It is sufficient to say here that the prototype has always been my favourite 3ft.-gauge locomotive. For me they have very graceful lines and yet still have a look of power. What our American cousins would call a " high stepper". Some of these locomotives were rebui lt with larger boilers and an extended rear bunker. The rear pony truck was replaced with a 4-wheel bogie. This TOP:

totally transformed these engines and tO me they became real ugly ducklings.

Construction was started with the coupling rods. These were fretted with a piercing saw from Dinky curlers (neither my wife nor daughters use these nowadays, but they can be persuaded to get them from Woolworths !).

After drilling coupling pin-holes in one it was used as a jig for the other and the axle-holes in the main frames. T he latter are fretted from brass curtain rail. The two end-members for the main frame are also cut from curtain rail but two or three times longer than required.

These were then soldered up in a somewhat crude jig as in Fig. I. The wood spacing piece was drilled to match the axle-holes. The axle could then be checked for correct levels before soldering up. The excess length of the endframes allowed the squareness of the frames to be checked with a steel rule and was cut off after soldering up.

Fig. 2 is a side-elevation of the main frames showing additional brass and other spacers.

These were added after soldering up the four main frame units. One may question the wisdom of soldering other substantial pieces tO an already soldered main frame. My only dodge is to wrap the already soldered joints with an absorbent thread (from an old towel and keep it wet duJiing soldering operations.

The Tri-ang XT60 motor has been used. The Tri-ang worm was discarded and Romford 40 : l gears used. The saddle for the motor front is just a length of brass tube over a lOBA screw. T he left-hand frame is drilled to clear lOBA and countersunk for this saddle screw and the two lOBA screws securing the Tufnol block. The right-hand frame is drilled and tapped lOBA.

The driving wheels are Romford 15mm. dia. ones which make them a correct scale 3ft. 9in.

I used four insulated wheels as they both look better and make better electrical contact. The insulation was broken down on two of the wheels by drilling a ;hin. hole in the insulating strip in the back of the wheel and inserting a section of a pin.

The cylinders are my usual wood ones and in the case of this locomotive the right-hand cylinder is larger than the left. The cylinders are drillad and bushed with brass tube for the piston and ' lve rods. The crossheads are filed from brass. D ifferent size pins were used for piston and valve rods. The rest of the valve gear (which is in permanent mid-gear) is cut from Dinky curlers. As for soldering up valve gear, well you can either do it-or look for a locomotive you like with inside valves! I used the wet-thread method to stop parts already soldered from becoming unsoldered, and I also used paper washers between bits of valve gear being soldered. T hese washers leave some free play when torn away after soldering and help tO stop solder running into the wrong places.

One distinctive feature of these locomotives is the splashers over the driving wheels. They were one of the worst items to overcome. I had just decided to leave them off when my friend Ken Gorrell called (Ken also took the photographs for this article) to see progress on the layout. He was aghast at my decision and so reason took hold again. In fact they were very easy to make. Some very tlun phosphorbronze sheet was used and the simple jig in Fig. 3. The finished splashers were Araldited to the main frames.

Builder's photograph of No. 5 "Aire".

BOTTOM:

Chassis of No.5 "A-ire".

February 1 970

45

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Aire Valley railway

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Chassis of No. 105. Note the coach pivot pin, also the slight .forward tilt of the motOr. This had to be done to clear the worm. The collection skate at bottom left was a tempo1·ary affair.

While painting the side-frames some paint fouled an a;de and insulated it.

The pony truck wheels are K's Smm. dia. brass ones on Peco Insulaxles. The trucks themselves are once again from curtain rail with card overlays for springs, axle-boxes, etc.

These pony trucks are quite light. I thought they would need weighting, but this has not been necessary and they run very smooth through pointwork.

The body is pretty straightforward, being constructed mainly from Oxo tin. A couple of old tips worth mentioning again are as follows: 1. The round front spectacle frames are a thin section of brass tube. These were soldered to the cab front sheet and then the tinplate fretted out.

2. The same applies to the oblong rear spectacle frames and the side-s heer frames except these were soldered on with just the outer edge shaped. T he brass frames and the tinplate were then fretted our rogether.

The dome is shaped from a large brass screw. T he worst part to shape being the flare. You cannot describe how it is done, you just have to have a go! I was lucky with the chimney, it is a brass by-pass fitting off an old gas lamp. It was turn up in an electric drill using Swiss files.

As the main weight of the motor is well behind the rear driving axle some ballast was required forward. This is a substantial oblong of lead bolted inside the front end of the body. This ballast also seems to deaden the noise of the motor and gears.

Colour scheme: Main frame and pony trucks, matt black; buffer-beams, red. The chimney cap, dome, spectacle and cab side frames remain polished brass. All the bodywork and the cylinders are maroon. The lining is a single gold band. The lettering is also gold and this and the lining band arc Blick Dry-print. I usually do my own letrering using waterproof ink or diluted poster colours. I could not obtain gold in either of these so I used the Blick lettering. I could have used gold paint but if an error is made it is so difficult to erase.

While I have nothing but praise for Blick Dry-print I still feel something of a cheat.

Steam R a il-car No. 105 Any readers who have read Namib Narrow Gauge by S. M. Mair and H. T. Crittenden may recognise the outline of No. 105. I underline " may" as the photograph of the prototype in the above book has only been used as a basis for my own car. Readers who do not know the Namib book may wonder what it is all about. The book deals with the history of February 1970

the narrow-gauge lines in what was German South-west Africa. The prototype units on which No. I 05 is based were obtained with the object of running an express passenger and mail service over a main line some 350 miles long. I should add the round trip was timed over 5 days! These units, as explained in the book, were designed more for quick sprints between stations and not a gruelling pounding across miles of desert. Of the five units ordered only two appear ro have been delivered.

The photograph in the book was used to make my own drawings to the Aire Valley loading gauge. The largest error is one of 50 per cent from the 2ft.-gauge of the prototype ro the 3ft. of the Ai.r e Valley Railway. I have tried to capture some of the more interesting features of the prototype. There is the massive underframe of the coach unit. The cab of the drive unit is parr of the coach even though the whole drive unit seems to have been pivoted and nor just the wheels. On the drive unit itself the chimney, sand-box and dome are all quire distinctive. The real gem though is the wheel and cylinder arrangement. The inside frame wheels have no coupling rods, the cylinders are set between the wheels and each wheel is driven by its own connecting rod, crosshead and piston rod. My own interpretation from the prototype photograph is that each wheel is driven by a separate piston.

Just how the pistons and valve gear kept in step I do not know. (Tllis was one trouble with the prototype. They ran sweet enough when the valves had been set but they needed resetting after practically every round trip.)

From the modelling point of view this presented some difficulty with fine clearances.

After some thought,it was decided to adopt "Naylor 's" patent. This is as though the pistOn rods at each end of the cylinder are connected to a common piston. Thus, when one crosshead is up to the cylinder, the other crosshead is at the outer end of its guides.

This is the probable prototype arrangement.

From the start it was decided that the drive unit should be made with split axles and insulated frames. It was also noted both axles would have ro be powered. When the drawing was made 8mm. driving wheels seemed right and K's brass ones were selected. Some thought was given ro the business of split axles, bearing in mind the small-diameter worm wheel that would be required. The following method was adopted. Before starting I must say that having the bits and pieces in the scrapbox was pure luck and I could not repeat the method exactly bur it is worth describing. The key items that came out of the (lucky) scrapbox were some small goldplated electrical connectors. I think tl1e drawings in Fig. 4 will explain better than words. Points ro note are:

Builder's photograph of No. 105.

1. Length of tube = half of wheel back-tohack measurement less half of gear thickness.

2. Length of nylon half-axles as above less the depth connector goes into tube.

3. Method of assembly: (a) Solder connector into tube. (b) Fit wheel on connector and solder. (c) Try wheel half on nylon axle, check back-to-back measurements and for true running. (d) Drill tube and axle (No. 75 drill) and pin with Peco track pin.

The cranks and 12BA screws were not added until after the moror had been mounted and the drive mechanism rested. The hollow connectors had the right inside diameter ro rap 12BA. Prior to screwing into place a smear of Araldire was put on the threads.

The main frames were tackled next. Once again they are from curtain rail. F rom the photograph they appeared ro be an inverted 0 section which allowed the curtain rail to come into its own. Figure 5 shows their construction and rr,ethod of insulation. Note the frames are first soldered up as a single unit.

The Paxolin is then cut and fined and all the necessary drilling and tapping done. After removing the Paxolin, the frame end-members were cut and the frames reassembled.

One thing ro remember with insulated frames is not ro get any additional metal parrs across the frames. Figure 6A illustrates the drive shafts and bearings. The drive-shaft system may look unnecessarily complicated and probably is. There are two reasons why each worm has a separate shaft instead of a universal one: ( ! ) No steel shaft is the right length. (2) It was thought it would be easier to adjust each worm and wheel with individual shafts. The universal drive in Fig. 6B is simple but effective.

The worms are Tri-ang to match the Tri-ang . axle/gear.

The motor is a Tri-ang XSOO mounted on a brass block, drilled and tapped SBA. The block is attached to the rear end- frame with lOBA screws to the left frame only. The spur gears were once again out of the scrap box.

Old clock gears would do fine.

The crossheads are filed from brass, the slots being cut with a coarse piercing saw blade. The connecting rods and valve gear are cut from nickel silver bar. The finished section of these rods being about ·{;in. x 01•0 in. Peco track pins were used as pivots, the drill size used being a No. 75. The ends of the connecting rods and valve gear were hammered lightly to a flat balloon shape for ease of drilling.

The boiler and fittings are permanent.ly attached to the chassis. No lipstick case was small enough for this boiler. A short sear ch found a substitute in brass cased tube. This is

47

The steam rail-car arrivi11g back at Saltaire with They were carefully manipulated to an oval No. 5 ready w depart up the valley with a shape \\ ith pliers. This is my first model f reight train. using sryrene shee t and I am very happy with normally used for hanger rails in wardrobes, it. The only comment I will make, bearing in etc.: !. in. diameter tube was selected and a mind my inexperience with it, is that I only sectio~ long enough for the boiler cut off. A used 10 and 20 thou sheet and 10 thou cut was then made down the length of the glazing material. Using the sandwich method tube. The brass case can then be drawn off the of construction I found these two thicknesses steel core. AnOther length was cut for the strong enough. To further help with drive-unit smoke-box. Although in the case of this adhesion and help make the coach run steady the floor of the first-class compa rtment has a steam unit the smoke- box is smaller in diameter than the boiler, one section of brass case nice oblong chunk of lead stuck ro it with can easily be sprung over another. T hese two Evo-s tik.

The rear bogie wheels arc K's 6mm. dia. were soldered together and the rear of the boiler soldered to the rear bearing plate of the ones on Peco Insulaxles. The bogie is built from sryrene sheet, but it encases a shaped front worm shaft. The smoke-box was Aralbrass core. This core as well as adding a bit of ditcd to its Paxolin saddle. The dome and sand-box arc brass and bolted to the boiler. stabiliry ro the bogie was used for attaching the The chimney, also of brass, is an obscure part coupling and pivoting gear. of an electrical fitting. I t had a flange at one Colour scheme: Frame, smoke- box, chim ney end which was quickly turned into the att ractive cap. The smoke- box door is a stem, coach undel;'framc and bogie, matt black. drawing pin. T he headlamp is two sections of buffer-beams, red. The chi mney cap, sandbrass tube as in Fig. 7. The glass is a stone out box, dome and spectacle frames arc polished of an old brooch. T he bolts which hold brass. The coach roof is grey. T he boiler, the sand-box and dome in Paxolon place also rerain a length of brass bar. This has a vertical pin soldered to it and this pin Ori l ied & tapped 10 BM acts as the front bogie pivot / for the coach. From the roof Note cutaway of the coach there is a section in of tube which goes over the pin, sec Fig. 8. The tube's upper end is soldered to a brass plate (curved to the contour of the roof) which is bolted to the roof. The boiler is fi lled with lead. wheel T he coach is built entirely from styrene sheet, except for the brass cab spectacle frames and the hand-rails. The spectacle frames, although oval, are sections of round tube.

coach sides and ends are mar oon. T he beading on the coach is picked out in black . Lettering is white edged one side with black.

Building these two items of stock has been very interesting and rewarding. Both had construction methods not used on previous scratchbuilt models. Neither of these models though is for the "rivet counters"! Some readers may wonder if it is justified to write a how-to-do-it article where several "cannot-be-repeated" bits and p ieces come ouc of the writer's scrapbox. If the editor publishes I can only suppose he thinks it all right. No one will expect to copy these models slav ishly, if indeed they build them at all. For myself I hope readers mar find this a reasonably interesting progress report about the Aire Valley Railway.

The Airc Valley Railway motive power stock now amounts to 6 locomotives, 2 pairs of I c rail-buses an d the steam rail-car. T his is about all the line can carry and for the time being anyway I have quenched my thirst. On the ocher hand of course-just got "the last of the 3ft. loggers" as a birthday present and those shays and Hieslers sure look tempting ....

7

Jewel

Lamps

~e;o;o ~large

6a

48

Un iversal drive

6b

-----oWh

Q ____ : : ---¡o Sandbox

Dome~

Tube

\

gear w heel

8

Boi ler mount ing s Ra ilway Modellet

Scrap box Compiled by C. J . Freezer Trams a t Seaton The Tramway over the old track-bed of the Sea ron branch has come one step nearer with the public enquiry over the Transfer of the Light Railway Order. Despite several last minute objections by local inhabitants the M.O.T. have granted the Order.

The principal objections revolved around the alleged danger of the road crossing and obstruction to traffic. In point of fact, the location of the crossing is such that any motorist approaching at over 30 m.p.h. is a danger to himself and all others. A touch of irony was given by a farmer who objected to obstruction: he makes a practice of blocking the road for up to 15 minutes at a time with a herd of cows!

The line will follow the old trackbed up to the old station at Seaton, where it will deviate and run to a new terminus ncar the Council car park. Seaton Station is no more; they demolished it last year, a great shame since the building was a good example of Southern architecture. The debris was used to raise a footpath that runs outside our office windows. Talk about adding insult to injury!

completely ignorant. They expect someone else to provide detailed information free. And they refuse to sta rt without all this.

If, of your own free will, you decide that you must model a specific part of a specific prototype r.t a specific period, then you must accept the consequences. These arc that you must be involved in detailed personal research which should include visiting the area in person. (Distance is no bar-see Brian Fayles art.iclc in the January 1970 issue.) You must lay out a fair amount of hard cash on a library, and you will have to spend a lot of time studying the material and selecting that which is of value tO you and rejecting that which is not. You must accept the fact that certain information will not be forthcoming in a direct, simple manner, and will have to be inferred from other sources. You will have to undertake detective work.

If you are prepared to do this, all well and good. You will, if you have the right temperament, find it thoroughly enjoyable. Once you have made a start you will find that you can amass information faster than you can build models.

O n Research If you arc not prepared to do Martin Water's lener on p. 57 this, then you will have to abandon raises a very important point of the project. principle but does not, I feel, go far enough. There is today ample S ources general information available on Your local public library can obthe prototype, certainly enough to tain on loan virtually any book enable anyone to make a clear published since 1900. This is the start and keep working solidly basic purpose of a public library; for between two and five years on to provide information for students, a layout based on any pre-national- not to supply popular novels free of isation line and most pre-group charge. "Modeller's Bookshelf" lines since 1900. will indicate books to study. This The trouble is that some people is the start. are deliberately adopting a very Some books will be essential. extreme viewpoint. They require You need on your shelves any work detailed information on every con- dealing specifically with the comceivable aspect of the prototype. pany you are following. This will They select a specific area about help both author and publisher, which they appear to be almost and be more convenient for refer-

1 encc. You need to build up a personalised collection of photos and drawings. The size and extent of your reference library depends on the amount of detail you wish to incorporate.

Drawings are to be found in model railway magazines, most of which arc out of print. There is the Skinlcy range, which covers most basic requirements and has been advertised regularly in our columns. There arc a number of excellent books of loco, wagon and coach drawings in the Ian Allan range.

There are, in addition, specialised societies, listed in Club Register. These vary in their scope.

Of greater value is your local club.

While the chances of finding an expert arc slim, there is a distinct probability that you will encounter several people who know things you do not and, more important, know someone who has the information at his fingertips.

On s.a.e.'s It is not just common courtesy to include an s.a.c. when writing for information, it is an essential requirement. Agreed, an envelope and a 4d. stamp is not a great deal in itself but if, as is often the case, a private individual receives a number of such letters, the total over the year is quite appreciable. \Vhcn an enthusiast answers a query, he gives freely of his timewhich is quite valuable-and of his experience-which is frequently priceless. I cannot help feeling that anyone who docs not va lue such an answer at 4d. does not deserve a reply.

S ub-p latform Tan gle The other day I was looking at one of the photos Hawker Siddley sent me of "Kestrel" at King's Cross when my eye was caught by a mass of wires hanging under the platform. It looked so like the usual tangle under the average layout that I could not resist blowing up this pan of the picture. Truly, there is a prototype for everything!

New Loco for W. & L. The Welshpool & Llanfair Railway took delivery of a new tank locomotive in December. The machine is an ex-Austrian narrow-gauge engine and will make an excellent stable companion to the Zillertalbahn coaches already in service on this popular \Vclsh border preserved line.

S evern Valley Progr ess The Severn Valley Railway are pleased to announce that the first pan of their Light Railway Order was granted by the Minister of Transport on December 4, 1969.

This order allows British Rail to operate the S.V.R. line between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade as a light railway. The second order, still to be granted, transfers the operating from British Rail to the Severn Valley Railway Company. It is hoped that the trains will be operating by Easter 1970.

As from December 6, 1969, "The Severn Valley Railway Company Ltd.," and "The Severn Valley Railway Society" arc merged as one organisation to be known as " The Severn Valley Railway Company Limited" .

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3 62

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Railway Modeller

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Aire Valley adventure 1.

Introduction to a valley Derek Naylor describes the setting for his OOn 3. system Locomorive No. I Amhony

Photographs by Brian Monaghan The Past Years THE AIRE VALLEY firsr appeared in these pages in Apri l 1961. Other articles followed showing various aspects of the line from scenic items to rolling stock. As a portable layout it was exhibited at several shows in the West Riding. The last public showing was in April1965. The same year a permanent home was found for the line in the loft of my house. I had considered making use of the loft as a railway room for some months. lr was only when Derek Shore started building his main line layout (Avondale, \XIarerfoot

and C reston. Railway of the month, November 1970) in a loft a little smaller than mine that I got moving.

Of rhe portable layout, Nethertarn was sold. Saltaire and Moorhead were retained.

The intermediate baseboards were scrapped after various scenic items were rescued.

A new starr was made. This new starr, however, was disastrous and resulted in two years wasted modelling. In the first flush of enthusiasm a layout was designed with a view to getting the longest possible point- to-point

~ ~!~-=,-=~~~~~~----------------~ t.S- LOCOMOTI V! Sl-I£D C~- C~UIAGE SHED GS- GOODS SHED

CD- CATTLE DOCK

SB- STATION BUILDIW' WB- WEIGH 8~\D'E

LC- L1\'IL CROSSIN' \ V - Wt£Jt

1-CUSTO!IoiS SH£0 2- PAt.:~ HORSt &A. tOG,£ J-PMK HillS£ INN 4- MOOR'HtAl) CHUR< H 5-W~TERHILL

6 ... \VITHElliNG HEIGHTS

7 .. NtTHERTA'lW TIMES

8 - COACH ~ HOiSES 9- NtT HERTARN CHUI CI-l

SALTAIRE

run , plus a branch line. This involved d1e main line going twice round the room with the branch line fitted in between. At one point there were three levels. The lower main line over which the branch line crossed, thi s in turn being crossed by the upper main li ne. As the layout progressed my doubts about the layout design deepened until in one mad week the whole th ing was ripped up.

The Present Layout Before redesigning the layout some thought was given as to what would be desirable features. The valley must com e first, thi s was to be the setting for the railway. Next the river, thi s must run the whole length of the valley. Obviously there must be some towns and villages for the railway to se n·e. As these would pre-dare the rai lway some roads would also be needed. Some main basic traffic for the railway tO transport was also a must.

This is a mineral but more of that in the next article. Finally the line itself. There must not be a continuous run, no lines crossing ove r o ne another that arc supposed to be m iles apart. Lastly, if possible a branch line to add interest to the operating side.

The map of the valley and line will show how far I have been able to achieve the above aims. The least desirable feature in m y o wn opinion is the sectio n between 1'v\oo rhead and Nethertarn. Here the railway hogs the riverside too much. T his was a com promi se that had to be made dtJe to restriction in baseboard widths, etc.

The design of the layout has resulted in a relatively sho rr run between stati ons. I have tried to overcome this to so me extent with sceni c breaks on ·the between station sections.

Photograph number one shows the first of these, between Saltaire and M oorhead. This is the "Aire Gap". Here is a fold in the earth across the va lley through which a glacier has forced its way. The road has had to climb over the lowest parr of the fold. On the other side of the river the railway has had ro tunnel under the fold. The timber runnel mouths of the old line have been retained. The bare rock faces arc made from stone begged fcom the foreman of the demolition gang pulling down the real Saltaire station ! And a queer look he gave me. 1 suppose he coul d have understood had I wan ted a couple of barrow loads, bur o ne stone' The next scenic break between Moo rhead and Nctherrarn is shown in photograph nu mber two. This is a combination of items.

The Stonyridge road crosses the main line and ri ver. Like the runnel this bridge is an old gag. Also in the pierure is one side of the valley. This is more o r less in steps.

On rhe plateau is \XIithering H eights H all.

(Yes Withering nor Wuthcring). This is made from plasticard with the stones cut

~~~~~~~~;;~;;~~~~§~~;~~~~~~~~~d~~~~~~~E~ iniliv~~lly. :.. rhe deserted·Irisbu~ooiliefim~uKin village of Wycoller between

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216

Railway Modeller

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1

3

1

TOI' LEFT: Railcars 101 and 102 j ust emering, or are chey just leaving Aire Gap t111mel.

Road just visible on the right.

The tree, cop left, shows the direction of che prevailing wind 011 Ul'itheri11g Heights!

The river is just off scene, it nms through the arch, bouom1¡ighc.

ABOVE:

LEFT: Railcars 103 a11d 104 in che branch culli11g. A s in photograph 1\'o. I the water has come o/11 very fair.

4

2

3

BELOW: The customs warehouse masks the harbour emrancc.

4

July 1972

217

Vie2o of Saltail¡e station buildin.r:.~, platform and harbour. Loco No. I Amhouy just leavill,f! with the four wheel coaches.

Haworth and Colne. If you have seen "The Railway Children" film it included a little ~cene shot in Wycoller. This was where me doctor crossed the ford adjacent to a pack horse bridge in his pony and trap. Here he ~topped to pick up me eldest of the children.

My thanks to Ken Gorre l's wife for spotting this. Anyway, back to the Aire Valley. Next

Saltaire locomotive depot. Loco J\'o. 5 A ire far lefc. New diesel No. 6 in centre. At the bottom Amhony has proceeded a liule with irs rraiu. level is the road and below that me railway.

Here the line skirts a rock face, once again real stone. On me bonom level of all is me river.

Photograph number three shows the much sâ&#x20AC;˘mpler break on the branch line. This is a rock cutting through which the line runs in a reverse curve.

Photographs four, five and six show some views of Saltaire. The cusroms warehouse at the end of me harbour is a kind of scenic break itself. It helps to hide me supposed harbour entrance, so difficult to represent on a Hat backdrop. This warehouse is about the only new feature at Saltaire. The captions will explain the other two photographs.

Plan of the month

Looped eight

by C. J . Freezer THIS month's plan is deliberately designed to meet two needs, a compact scheme for a comparative beginner wim a longish run, and a small layout ideal for exhibition use. It is, however, quite unsuitable for serious prototypical operation.

In any compact system, something has to go.

In this case, it is reversible working. The line is designed for clockwise operation of up to three trains-Qne for each of me storage sidings. A large loco depot is provided, hopelessly out of proportion, but who cares ?

The gradients are arranged for clockwise operation, if you go widdershins you hit me sticky climbs, and the sidings face the wrong way. However, to vary the running, a short bay is provided for a local, either steam hauled or a 2-car DMU. The station is at mid level, equalizing the climb.

218

Railway Modeller

Aire Valley Adventure-2

C-Oil on the Aire Valley Derek Naylor reveals the raison d'etre of the line- a new and unique mineral

2

Photographs by Brian Monaghan No . 2 Anne.

MANY prototype narrow gauge lines were constructed mainly with a view for easy transport of some mineral from a mine or quarry tO a port or standard gauge line. In considering the fictitious history of the Aire Valley the mineral came later.

The first section of line onl y ran between Saltaire and Moorhead.

This was built to tap the agricultural resources at Moorhead.

Some years later a mineral was discovered at the head of the Aire ar Nethertarn a nd the line was extended. Reverting to fact again. Throughout the life of rhe line as a por table layout the mineral remained unnamed. It was transported to Saltaire where it was dumped in coastal steamers and shipped to unknown ports.

Before fully planning the permanent line I just had to find some mineral -something original yet reasonably feasible.

Slate and granite were out, nor original. Black pudding and treacle mines were also out, just a bit too silly. Though I think 1.

2.

3.

4.

The C-0 I L work~. The place could do ~~it h ,, lot 11/0I'o! "muckin.~t" up.

The Quarry .

Loco 1111111ber 2 A nne siiii/1/S a couple of hoppers tllldor the mine letâ&#x20AC;˘el.

The C-OIL company's private coach.

Railway Modeller

we should take time off now and again to smile at ourselves.

Suddenly the whole thing clicked, and up came C-OIL. What is C-OIL? It is a high oil content coal. The name C-OIL is pronounced as in coil of rope. There is a double meaning to the name. The associations of coal and oil will be fairly obvious.

Also in broad Yorkshire coal is pronounced coil.

The mineral was discovered by a young American mining engineer called Colorado. It is understood his forefathers were Indian chiefs! Backed by a British financier caUed Carson, Colorado proved the mineral could be mined and processed economicaUy. In the amended history of the line it was extended to Nethertarn and a branch line built to Stonyridge. It may be seen by readers, if we did not mine C-OIL at two separate places the whole theory of transporting it to Saltaire to be processed would fall through. It would be cheaper to process on the site and transport the oil.

As well as making the railway more interesting to operate the mineral provided three nice scenic items. Photograph number one shows the processing plant at Saltaire. The Playcraft hopper loading installation provides the centre piece. This is now the only commercially produced building on the layout. The condensing apparatus on the right is made from cigar tubes and wire.

The oil storage tanks are the top half of some washing- up liquid containers. The oil is piped to coastal tankers in the harbour.

The residue clinker is not wasted but taken farther up the line to the clinker block plant. The locomotive shunting in the works is the new number six diesel. It is a model of the Clogber Valley Walker diesel number rwo. The old diesel is now working in Australia !

At Nethertarn the C-OIL is quarried. Photograph number two shows the quarrying in operation. The quarry is several pieces of coal embedded in the "earth". Piles of broken coal are ready for loading. The steam navvy is scratch built. In the foreground arc the blacksmiths shop and the stable for the shunting horses.

The mine at Stonyridge is shown in photograph number three.

September 1972

The mine is in the huge stone ridge from which the village gets its name. The 15" gauge (non-working) manpowercd mine tramway comes out on to a ledge several feet above the 3' gauge siding. The mine cars can be tipped into the 3' gauge hopper wagons below. A small crane is provided for hoisting pit props and other stores to the mine level.

Before closing this article on C-OIL I must explain how the company got its name. A pen friend in America- Martin Fauelsent me a beautiful model he made of a Carson and Colorado combine. I was at a loss how to put. this to use on the Aire Valley without repainting it. Of course! Name the mining company Carson and Colorado and make the combine its private coach.

Photograph number four shows the combine.

3

4

"Come in nwnber seven". Au idyllic Sarurday afremoou by the river.

Loco 1111111bcr 6 is just breastiug the rise as she passes the pack horse bridg,.

3

Aire Valley Adventure-3

Scenes on the River Aire Derek Naylor describes the riparian delights of his narrow gauge scenic system Photog raphs by Brian Monaghan

)

Railcars 101 and 101 in Green Cove hair. The hair is u:ell equipped, it has a seat as well as a nameboard! As memioned in the text, the clinker block works really fits in.

Loco 1\'o. 3 "Audrey" .

Loco number -1 "Arthur" passes the disappearing river. The signal on the right is M oorhead's "arrival" from Nerherram. Ir rrtr/IS 90 to show a proceed aspect. The lamp with added jeruels is off the K irmaster "Gmeral".

4

5 Loco number 5 "A ire" shums a wagon of logs imo the sawmill siding.

The watermill's f reight platform is adjacem to the first coach. In the foregrouud is the branch line.

IN the first article it was mentioned how the river had to be an integral part of the layout. I think one pitfall to avoid on this type of layout is that of filling all the available space with something.

Naturally there must be the countryside, river, road and railway but to me some of this must be left free of houses, works etc.

I'm not sure whether I've altogether succeeded in this, though a couple of attempts have been made. The section between the Clinker block works and Moorhead has been left absolutely clear. There are no houses, road vehicles or people and other animal life has been confined to a couple of water hens. Visitors never notice or at least never comment on this lack of life. So perhaps it works without it being obvious as when written down.

The whole of the branch line is also free. T his countered to some extent though by the fact the main line runs along the other side of the river and has several scenic features .

Working up river from Saltaire photograph number one shows the boating lake at Green Cove. This scene was not originally planned. It was only after being given the bathing figures and I was thinking of a way to usc them, that the idea occurred.

While not in the least like the real pleasure ground known as Shipley G len, it was the' glen that helped to inspire this model scene. Although it was a not too warm November day, the Editor of the RAILWAY MODELLER sampled one of the pleasures, I should say treasures of Shipley Glen, namely a ride on the tramway. The rowing boats and punts arc fabricated from card. The row boars could do with replacing with better ones.

Swinging the camera co the right we came up with photograph number two. H ere we have the hal t which serves G reen Cove and the Clinker block works behind. T he latter was fully described in the April 1968 RAILWAY MODELLER. The photograph in that article showed the works situated on the aborted layout. Strangely enough, the various parts of the works were sited to fit the old layout yet they seem to blend in better on this one. A private siding serves the works. The points are electrically worked so the operators at either Saltaire or Moorhead can work them without leaving his panel.

The old pack horse bridge is shown in photograph number three. This is only used as a footbridge now, vehicular trafQc using a newer bridge. T o some extent the pack horse bridge is shown out of context. It is part of a little scenic set, each giving reason to the other. This will come to light in the next article.

Having stated in the first article the river must be seen to flow the whole length of the valley, we now find this principle broken-but legitimately. Referring to the map of the valley it will be seen the river runs along the front of Moorhead and then disappears. It doesn't actually go off scene but gee~ underground.

It would be more correct to say it rises here. It disappears as shown in photograph number four. Unfortunately the Moorhead controls are in th e way of the river and this seemed as good a way " round" them as any.

M oving along beyond M oorhead for photograph five, up pop two more oldies. The watermill and sawmill. Both were described along with the ferris wheel and roundabout in the December 1961 RAlLWAY MODllLLER. I think they have both fitted in better on this layout than the old portable one. The watcrmill, between rail and river has been fitted with a weir, mill race and sluice gate. It does not have a private siding but goods can be loaded or unloaded on to a platform direct from the main line. The sawmill is in the inevitable corner position.

T his is tempered a little by having the road between the railway and the mill. T he private siding serving the mill crosses November 1972

this road. Once again the points are power worked.

The last photograph number six shows the adjacent rail and road bridges ncar Nethcrtarn. Once again the old idea of making the river appear from off scene under the bridges has been used.

In the distance is the lower Tarn from which Nethertarn takes its name. There is supposed to be another Tarn up in the hills.

Loco llllmbcr -1 "Arrhur" leaves ,\'crherwrn. The PECO backdrop lake sceuc has blcudcd in very tJ.:c/1.

6

Locomotive No. 4, Arthur.

Aire Valley adventure 4

Moorhead vi llage Derek Naylor describes the pri ncipal metropolis of the va lley photographs by Brian Monaghan DURING its life as part of the portable layout, Moorhead village was represented simply by the Bilteezi village square backscene. On the present layout chance has been taken to expand part of the village in three dimensions. All these new buildings are to the left of the station. A couple of them are in front of the railway but most of them behind the line. It makes things look a bit more interesting with the line threading its way between buildings. It was the Editor who suggested I m ight like to try modelling some buildings in Plastikard stone and brick. Having had a go with this material on several of the buildings at Moorhead I must say I'm very pleased with the result. As many modellers will know it's easy stuff to cut and cement. Details like window frames arc so easy to make up. Like most plastics and plastic kits though it's the painting finish that counts. The three plastistone buildings at Moorhead have been painted N.A.T.O. extra dark grey. It's more of a brown to me but it gives the effect I wanted.

The painting was done in the usual manner and the whole of the stone work painted normally. By the time the last side of the building was painted the first side was tacky dry. The walls were then gone over again with a brush dipped in turps to kill the all over depth of paint. This is easy to do once you have got the knack.

In the case of brick buildings I just gave them a thin wash of black paint to weather them.

Photograph number one shows the first of the stone buildings, Moorhead parish church. This is modelled on Kirkdale church near Hemsley, Yorkshire. The church was illustrated in a drawing in the "Dalesman" . It's a very useful publication for simple sketches of buildings and some of the cover paintings by IONICUS can be very inspiring to the modeller.

The next photograph, number two, is a view of the buildings in Church L ane. F rom left to right are the Vicarage, this is balsawood and stone paper. A pair of houses in plasticbrick.

The third block houses the general store, a hardware shop and a bank. The names over the shops are cut from billheads begged from the owners of a couple of local shops!

For photograph number three we move over the other side of the railway. The left hand building is a freelance public house the Pack Horse Inn. The other building is the local garage. The prototype lies on the Pateley Bridge-Grassington road. It had taken my eye several times so one day I stopped to sketch it.

You might think there's not much to it but it has character, more so if you could see the prototype.

I t was mentioned in the last article the pack horse bridge was tied up with several other scenic items. One of these is of course the Pack Horse Inn adjacent to the bridge. Then there is the garage. This has good reason for being positioned where it is.

It stands almost on the sire of the old stables which were once part of the inn's outbuildings. It will be seen that Church Lane is a cul-de-sac. Now, while local history is a bit thin I would imagine the old pack horse road continued behind the inn and joined Church Lane at the church gates. I suspect until the arrival of the railway this old road existed as a footpath. No doubt the railway company "forgot" to erect a stile at either side of the line!

From being a simple passing station on the portable layout the station now has the status of being a junction. This has been achieved with very little addition to the track layout. The shunting neck on the old layout which also served as a siding for the

At a guess, it's 110t Swtday.

Moorhead church casts a gloomy shadow over the churchyard.

TOP:

LEFT: 1\1/tatever day it may be, it's no rush day, as we find several Moorhead inhabitaltts in cltauy groups.

Railway Modeller

RIGHT: A Harbms Bullnose Morris pulls in for some petrol while a mecl1aâ&#x20AC;˘lic sorts out the tiller steering on an old hanger. The Pack H orse bm is doing a brisk trade. Note the end wall where the stables used TO be.

sawmill has become the start of the branch line. The siding serving the goods yard is still in the same position. The additional track mentioned is a short bay platform for the branch train. The platform is very unprepossessing being of simple timber construction with an old coach serving as a waiting room. U ltra simple as it is, it works quite well if one of the railcars are serving the branch. With a separate locomotive and stock in use the staff have the additional chore of running round the train. Photograph number four shows the branch platform.

The last photograph, number five, is a view of the main platforms and the village square. The market and little fair are still with us-though theoretically only on Tuesdavs! Older readers will see little has changed here. A little more dust has accumulated. Some different trains are on show however in an attempt to show the line is not stagnant.

RIGHT: The steam railcar rests in the branch platform at M oorhead. Perhaps "crude" is the word for the platform. Iu the right foreground is the waiting shelter, an old coach.

BELOW: Tuesday in M oorhead. The market is busy. Up and down trains pause in the platforms.

On the Stonyridge branch

by Derek Naylor photographs by Brian Monaghan Loco number 5 "Audrey" with branch coach on Limber trestle bridge. Sronyridge arrival signal by rear of coach is sloued in the post.

2 2. Note the roof slates on the small cottage gradually reducing in size. Also the sagging roof.

3. The paving stones are drawn on ~chite card wich indian ink chen paimed v.â&#x20AC;˘ich watercolours. Never skimp on chimneys. The pub has a coca/ of eight firepiaces.

4. With the sw1 still low enough one Sunday morning co cast shadmus of the Citadel battlements, the Salvation Army band "sally" forth.

5. The station master turns om for the day's tuork. L eft the Airfixfat lady tears a strip off a couple of school boys.

6. The steam railcar has just shumed om of the engine shed. On the left the split level of the station building shov.â&#x20AC;˘s up nicely.

7. Corrugated iron. L eft, the railway van backs up co the goods shed. Cemre, the loco complex! Number 1 coals up. Right, the branch coach props up the carriage sized.

8. In a11 English country garden, wei/nearly.

The bullnose Morris appears again in cheguise of a pick up truck.

3

IN a diesel railcar article (RAILWAY MODELLER March 1966) and the steam railcar article (RAILWAY MODELLER February 1970) I kept harping on these units would be ideal for branch line working. So here we have the stamping ground of these units.

In the earlier article in this series on C-OIL it was mentioned the mineral had to be mined in more than one place to give reason for transporting it to the processing plant. This did not mean there had to be a branch line. A couple of mines or quarries at different places on the main line would have served equally well.

However a branch line does offer extra operating interest. In the last article a photograph featured the branch platform at Moorhead and a photograph in the first article illustrated the cutting beyond midway point on the branch.

The first photograph therefore brings us relatively near to Stonyridge itself. This is a timber trestle bridge carrying the line over the river Stony. To be honest I don't think the width of the crossing really warrants a trestle bridge. They are nice to look at though and interesting to construct. T he Jjne is on a curve over the bridge. The track was laid first and several of the clips or staples holding the rails and sleepers together were soldered to the rails on each side of the bridge site. The sleepers on the bridge portion of the track were then removed without the track gauge springing. The bridge was then built under the rails!

Moving up river or stream, for truthfully the Stony river is not much more than a stream, a small but only tributary to my river Aire we come to photograph number two. Before continuing I wonder if the Editor will permit a small observation on rivers and tributaries. There must be many modellers and

Locomotive No. 5, Audrey. prototype enthusiasts who have never heard of the real river Aire.

It nurses the Midland main line from Leeds to Skipton on its way to that more famous location, the long drag. Yet all must have heard of the river Worth which is no more than a glorified stream emptying into the river Aire. The Worth valley is of course famous for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and the legend of the Brontes. Truly a case of the tail wagging the dog! The Aire has one famous landmark though, the real Saltaire

4

5

6 7

village. Built 120 years ago by Sir Titus Salt, it was a marvel in its time and today the main buildings and alms houses are protected under the ancient monuments. act. For those who may be interested, Sir Titus Salt's biography published in 1876 has just been reprinted by the Benton Publishing Company of Settle. But all this has strayed from photograph number two.

This is a ncar view of the property backing on to the river.

Access to the back door:; being via a timber stage.

Photograph number three is a front view of the same property.

The pub is called "The Royal Butterfly". It's not well known that William IV was a keen butterfly collector. On one of his northern collecting expeditions he stayed at the local hostelry at Stonyridge. The landlord promptly altered the name from "The Weary Traveller" to "The Royal Butterfly". The sign is out of a box of Dutch cigars.

Moving back down the main street photograph number four shows a rarely modelled place of worship. A Salvation Army Citadel. A strong non-conformist area this, of the four churches on the layout only one is Church of England. The band are several of the Airfix guards band. The bearskin hats were quite easily cut down into peaked caps.

Assisting Brian Monaghan back up the street with his old plate camera, tripod and what have you we note the main street is several feet below the level of the railway. On the way we pass a row of miners cottages, the steps to the station and the Station Buildings. The building is on two levels. The station master's sitting room, dining room and kitchen are at road level. "Camera all set up Brian?" "Oh yes." Photograph number five shows the domestic side of this building. The upper rooms on the street side are bedrooms.

Photograph number six prest:nts the business side of the building with all the usual offices. The awning in front of the building is corrugated iron. As we will see this material has been used a lot at Stonyridgc.

The track layout is very simple, employing only five turnouts.

The engine shed is sited on the extended dead end. It is corrugated iron on a brick base. To one side is a lean-to carriage shed.

This normally houses the branch coach which is only needed if there is a locomotive working the branch. Locomotive facilities are completed with a simple coaling stage and a water tank on a timber base. On the freight side the C-OIL loading arrangements were shown in the C-OIL article. The goods yard has a small

shed, corrugated iron on a brick base. There is also a small cattle dock. Also in the yard are the rear of the premises used by a Fcllmonger ! I ought to explain a Fellmonger does not sell fells.

He receives the skins of slaughtered sheep and processes them to remove the wool. Having talked with someone who used to work for a Fellmonger be assured me it was a place of high temperature and high smell! Photograph number seven is a general view of the engine shed and yard.

Photograph number eight is a view of two cottages and the carriage shed. The cottage in the foreground is thatched with Polyfillcr. This is plastered on and combed to give the thatched effect. The walls are "whitewashed" with matt white paint with sand mixed in it to give a rough finish. The cottage in front of the carriage shed has a balsa wood frame. The walls are of stones supposed gathered from the river bed. As near as I could get was to use fishpond pebbles.

S

LEFT: The engine shed at Netlzertam. Note the off centre door in the shed allowing room down one side for workbenches, etc.

BELOW: L oco number 2 draws the four wheel coaches out of the carriage shed. The wire mesh round the shed is fine nylon net.

RIGHT: The signal on the left is a slorred lower quadrant. The goods shed was deliberately designed to project in several directions. On the right, the hump in che foreground is Stonyridge .

1

Aire valley adventure 6

Nethertarn village Derek Naylor concludes the tour of his narrow gauge syst em Photographs by Brian Monaghan

2

ONE can only suppose Nethertam was a nice little village until the start of C-OI L quarrying. Without the quarry though the railway would never have come to the village. No doubt the inhabitants consider the railway and the increased prosperity worth it as far as this bit of Yorkshire "muck" is concerned.

Space limitations forced me to put the quarry much nearer the village than I would have liked. I suppose the quarry siding could have been made into a mineral branch and have disappeared into a simple fiddle yard. However, I did want all the line and its associated sidings in view so settled for the railway dividing the village and the quarry.

The quarry, the road and rail bridges on the approach to Nethertam were featured in earlier articles. We take up the story after passing the bridges. Immediately after passing over the rail bridge the brick built engine shed comes into view. As at Stonyridge the coaling and water arrangements are very simple.

Photograph number one shows the shed.

The next bwlding, coming up on the left is the carriage shed.

I think all layouts must be plagued to some extent with dust. I try to keep all the locomotives in sheds when not operating. The carriages can also be kept under cover at Nethertarnand Stonyridge One of the next jobs is the construction of an all over roof at Saltaire to give the stock there some protection. Photograph number two shows the carriage shed, inspired by, though n ot a model of the old carriage shed at Towyn on the T alyllyn Railway.

Photograph number three shows the goods yard. A single siding serves the brick built shed and cattle dock. There is a lack of coalmens facilities both here and at Stonyridge. The villagers made do with C-OIL, gooey though it burns.

Moving on towards the stop blocks brings us to the station. The station building lies in the lee of a retaining wall and is illustrated in photograph number four. It's rather a dismal little building in engineers' blue brick. In the centre background is the local Congregational church with the inevitable wedding scene. The model is based on a timber built church at Baildon in Yorkshire.

In stage coach days Nethertarn was a staging post. Surviving evide.n ce of this is the "Coach and Horses" public house shown in photograph number five. The pub itself is on the left and a block of duee shops on the right. Advantage was taken here of black and white styrene sheet. The main parts of the building are in white styrene sheet and the timber beams in black. There are odd bits of stone paper including the archway into the courtyard.

The last photograph, number six, illustrates several buildings at the low end of the village. The very thin low relief building on the left is from a Dalesman cover painting of " Warter" in the East Riding by I ONICUS. The wedge shaped block houses the offices of the local newspaper, the Nethertam Times and the police station.

3

R olling Stock Most of the locomotives and railcars have been described in detail at various times in the RAILWAY MODELLER. The old number six "ADA" a K's Southwold kit on a scratch built chassis has gone to new pastures. So has the old diesel which is a Kitmaster Drewery diesel on a Rokal chassis. As mentioned earlier it is now working in Australia. The new diesel, a model of the C logher Valley Walker diesel number two is much more pleasing.

The existing motive power, six locomotives and three railcars arc quite adequate for running the service. There is another locomotive on the drawing board. This is one of the Hunslct/ Avonside geared locomotives. This will present some totally new problems in locomotive building. With the Editor's permission, more of this locomotive when complete.

Passenger and freight stock has not altered much. The branch coach is new, so is the Carson and Colorado combine. The bogie hoppers have been scrapped and replaced with some new four wheel hoppers. There are now twelve but these could do with increasing w sixteen. ' Signalling Very simple indeed. Moorhead, Nethertarn and Stonyridgc just have home or arrival signals. Trains depart after receiving the staff or ticket and the okay from the station master. Saltaire also boasts a starting or departing signal. \Vhcrc any of these signals have sneaked inro a photograph it has had a menrion in the caption.

R oad vehicles Considering the period of the railway ( 1929) and the area it serves there are quite a number of road vehicles in the layoU[.

There arc a few of the Lesney Yesteryear series. Two of these, the Osram lamps wagon and the Jacob biscuit van have been repainted. They arc in usc as the railway's railhead delivery service. I'm told some of these Yesteryear models in mint condition arc worth pounds, it takes some believing. Horscdrawn

Loco No. 4 has just arrived. The horse attached to the brides conveyance is gelling a bit impatient.

June1973

4

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LEFT: T he Coach and H orses is copied from a Christmas card.

The chap stood on the pedestal, behind the telegraph pole was a hero at Water/:Jo-the baule not rhe srazion!

AIRE

VALLEY

ADVENTURE

For the benefit of new readers the previous

instalments

ap~r~d

as

under: I lnuoduction to o Volle}' july 1972

2 C-Oil on the Aire Valle}' September 1972 3 Scenes on the River Aire November 1972 4 Moorhead Village

February 1973 5 On the Stronyridgc brnnch April 1973

The local taxi <nQner cranks up. The level crossing only leads to the goods yard.

BELOW:

5

6

vehicles arc a mixture of German, Hong Kong and the Airfix wagon train kit. Good value the latter as there arc also a good number of people in the kit. One of these Airfix wagons has been made into the Stonyridge railhead delivery wagon. Reverting back to horseless carriages. I got two sets of Harbuts Replicas.

One set are built as standard. Most of the other set have been converted into small commercial vehicles, vans, pick."UpS and a hearse.

Some random thoughts What inspires a modeller to build a certain type of layout?

I'm sure space limitations don't bring about a branch or narrow gauge line so much as the builders desire for that type of line.

Many good main line layouts have been built in a smaller area than that occupied by the A.V.R. ( lOft. x lOft. plus a bit at Nethertarn). Perhaps that GW Branch line of some northern modeller was influenced by a holiday in Devon or Cornwall.

For myself, I'm Yorkshire and my valley and railway are Yorkshire. Yes, parts of the county arc grim but most of it is beautiful.

Why the Aire Valley Railway? Why not like the other precious dales? Wharfedalc, Wensleydale etc? Well, at the time I started the layout in 1956 it seemed right the line should run up a valley.

It will have to remain the A.V.R. for sometime yet. Relettering the stock will be a fair old task.

The least beautiful of the Yorkshire dales Airedale is prettiest in its first few miles and at its most spectacular at the source of its rivers. The Aire rises at the base of a massive 200ft. vertical limestone cliff at Malham Cove. On my last visit the first three feet or so of water had no apparent movement, then it starts to bubble over the rocks.

Here then lies the inspiration of the Aire Valley Railway with no disrespect to the lesser counties of England.

May I acknowledge the patience of my wife who lives with a nut who thinks he has a valley in a windowless loft. The faith of the Editor that these articles would materialise. My daughter for typing the manuscript from my illegible best handwriting and Brian Monaghan for his superb photography.

On the narrow gauge

Gears on the Aire Valley Derek Naylor describes a truly unusual prototype that has made an attractive model Introduction THIS is an article describing the Aire Valley's first-and at the moment-only geared locomotive. "Ah" you say, " Don't all model locomotives have gears?" True they do and so do steam locomotives in the form of valve gear. However, we are dealing here with a locomotive coming under the accepted heading of "Geared Locomotives". In his book Articulated Locomotives L. Wiener classifies the geared locomotive as a group of articulated locomotives. This type of locomotive really did have gears, usually bevel, as the final part of the drive mechanism with a reduction of two or four to one.

The geared locomotive is mainly an American product and the most famous and well known of these is probably the "Shay".

It is often nicknamed the "sidewinder", a very apt description as the cylinders, which are vertical, the universally jointed cardan shafts and the gears are all down one side. It must have been something to have seen one of these in action!

A second type of geared locomotive is the "Climax", this has its cylinders in the more conventional position but driving a transverse shaft under the boiler. This shaft is geared to fore and aft cardan shafts with further bevel gears driving each axle of the bogies.

The Shay and Climax are pure geared locomotives as all the axles are driven by gears.

Without wishing to do what might seem unnecessary hair-splitting, the next locomotive is really one of a sub-group under the heading "Rod and geared locomotives". T his is the "Heisler" and again the cylinders take up a new position, this time in the form of a V under the boiler. These drive a crankshaft in line with the mainframe with a cardan shaft on each end to the bogies. However, only the leading axle of the front bogie and the trailing axle of the rear bogie are driven by gears.

The non-geared axles are driven in the usual steam manner with coupling rods.

Before going to the locomotive which is the subject of this article, one point. There are other examples of geared locomotives but I think most readers with a knowledge of them might agree the three I have mentioned are by far the most well known.

In the last Aire Valley locomotive article (RAILWAY MODELLER July 1970) I mentioned the possibiliry of building a Shay or Heisler.

Some time after publication of the article a letter arrived from Sydney Moir in South Africa. Among other things Sydney Moir asked me, "Why build an American geared locomotive for the Aire Valley. I already had two items of U.S.A. rolling stock, what is wrong with a British geared locomotive?"

Nothing I thought, if there was such a thing, 124

and Oh dear, there at the end of the letter was a drawing of a British geared locomotive.

How embarrassing to learn about a locomotive all the way from South Africa which was built but a few miles from where I live! On first seeing the drawing it certainly was not love at first sight but the thing grew on me until I realised this was the geared locomotive for me.

The Prototype It will be seen it is a cousin of the Heisler, V cylinders under the boiler and crankshaft in line with the main frames. Just the outer axles are geared and coupling rods driving the inner axles. There were thoughts of coupling the axles with chains. Avonside built three two-cylinder locomotives and one four-cylinder locomotive for sugar plantation service in Natal. These four locomotives had worm drive.

The Hunslet Engine Company built a further three locomotives, one two-cylinder and two four-cylinder ones for the same two-foot gauge plantation line in South Africa. Hunslet developed and improved these locomotives, one main alteration was the substitution of bevel gears for the worm drive. The twocylinder locomotives weighed in working order 17 tons 1 cwt and the larger engine 25 tons I ewt. Tractive effort figures at 75% boiler pressures were 8,450lbs and 12,375lbs.

The two locomotives differed considerably in appearance and for those interested a photograph of one of the four-cylinder locomotives is in the book A Hunslet Hundred by L. T. C. Rolt. According to Mr. Rolt these locomotives proved very successful but after the second world war the Natal sugar estates went over to diesel power.

The Hunslet Engine Company kindly supplied me with a general arrangement drawing.

Just to show they don't always supply drawings to modellers in vain I sent them a photo of the completed model.

The Model The model was interesting to build as it presented some completely new problems in method of construction. One point of construction that was considerably simplified were the crossheads and valve gear. In fact there was no problem as these items are nicely hidden away under the boiler. The cylinders and valve chests are dummy but took a fair amount of construction time as will be seen later.

I usually break my locomotive building into two basic parts, the chassis and the body.

With this locomotive there are four basic parts, the body, a chassis or sub-frame and nvo more or less identical bogies. Where to start ? I usually start with the chassis but was waiting

for a Triang XSOO motor (for which I would still be waiting but for the kindness of a friend). So I made a start with the body.

There are modellers who can make a locomotive body in several pieces, paint the various bits and then reassemble them. If I try this I find the odd thou of paint just wont let the pieces fit back together etc., etc! So I build my locomotive bodies in one piece, when it's assembled-that's it! I've always found I can manage to paint them.

Body Anyway this locomotive has something really solid to build on to. Running the length of the body down either side are two channel girders.

Along with the two end cross members this "footplate" was made in one piece as in Fig. la. It was cut out of a piece of 2tmm. brass sheet. This was an old Midland lever frame description plate. Some might think it sacrilege to cut one of these plates up but I like to think there is a bit of " prototype railway" in my model. The question was, how to mill the edges of the brass sheet into girders ? This was done by hand but I think it would be a ticklish job to set up in a lathe.

Practising on some scrap brass it was found possible to make nvo cuts with a miniature hack saw. This left a section of brass in the centre which was hand milled. I have some wide piercing saw blades, one of these was broken off at the end of the teeth and used to mill, or I should say scrape the surplus metal from between the two original saw cuts.

See Fig. lb. The girders were finished off with swiss files. A point to note is that the centre of the footplate was cut out last. It made a more solid job to work on cutting the slots, also if I made a mess of cutting the slots I had not cut out the centre for nothing. The rest of the body was pretty straightforward, much as has been described in these pages many times before. This is my first all brass instead of tinplate body. I also used my usual bits and pieces-brass-case off brass-cased tube for the boiler and smoke box, large brass screws for the chimney and dome turned up in an electric drill, drawing pin for the smokebox door. For the spectacle plate frames a section cut off brass tube and soldered to the cab sheets before cutting the holes in the sheets. Due to the positioning of the cylinders the water tanks are not part of a continuous side sheet along with the cab side. The tanks were made up as separate items and soldered to the footplate. Along with the boiler the tanks are filled with lead.

Normally the cylinders are part of the chassis but with this locomotive were built as part of the body and along with its valve chest were filed up from brass. The cylinders

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are drilled right through to clear 10BA and are bolted to a shaped p late as in Fig. 2. T he upper end of the bolt is filed to a domed shape.

T he shaped plate is soldered to a base plate which is in turn bolted to the main body girders. One interesting feature of this locomotive is the external steam pipes from the dome to the steam chests, these pipes are made from copper wire. T he end plates of the cylinders and valve chests are brass discs Araldited on. These were then drilled number 75 and lengths of PECO track pin inserted to represent the bolts holding the plates on.

Chassis This required a little thought as there are a few items requiring critical positioning- the bogie pivots. Position of the motor and the bearing plates carrying the main drive shaft.

(Crank shaft in the prototype.) Fig. 3 shows a plan and side elevation of the chassis. T he shaded ponion of the "front spacer" was cut away afte.r the chassis had been assembled.

The spacers and front member of the chassis are from the same thickness brass sheet as the foorplate. When in position under the body the front member fits between the water tanks.

It will be seen to just stick out beyond the tanks. This bit that sticks out, plus a bit has been shaped into a girder same as the footplate. The chassis was assembled with a mixture of 10BA bolts and solder. The side frames arc bolted to the spacers, and the front member to the front spacer. Assembled this far the chassis was tried for a fit in the body, when found all right the lmm. thick brass sheet was soldered in between the frames and at the same time the front spacer and front member were soldered. The motor is a Triang X500 wid1 the worm removed and replaced with a clock gear. The motor is on its side and is fastened at the rear end to a bracket on the normal fixing bolt. The bracket is bolted to the lmm. brass sheet. At the front end of the motor the circular nylon extension pushes into a hole in a brass plate, this plate also has a bearing hole for the rear of the jack shaft.

Bogies As already mentioned, the original Avonside prototypes had worm and wheel drive to the geared axles. The Hunslet locomotives were altered to bevel gear drive. In planning the bogie dte Hunslet drive was out-! didn't know of any bevel gears small enough, come to d1ink of it I didn't know of a small enough worm and wheel! Until dtat is the spring drive of a musical box movement packed up.

As soon as the mechanism was opened there it was-dtat tiny worm, part of the governor

mechanism. To cut a long story short I scrounged another dud musical movement and found two brass gear wheels out of an old travel alarm clock which meshed lovely with the worms. F irst job was to assemble the driving wheels and worm wheels on the axles.

The wheels are K's 8mm. diameter ones pressed on to 00 gauge steel wagon axles.

To insulate one set of wheels I adopted the method shown in Fig. 4.

The two bogies are made mainly from brass curtain rail. Fig. Sa shows the four basic members. T he end spacers are the standard depth of the curtain rail. A centre spacer was added, also the front bearing bracket for the worm. Fig. 5b shows these with one side omitted for clarity. One side of the centre spacer had to be soldered as the spacer is above the top edge of the frame and there is not enough depth in the spacer to tap for a bolt.

There is a bracket bolted on the underside of this spacer with a bearing hole for the rear of the worm shaft. Once the bogie was assembled complete with wheels etc., and everything checked and in order the frames and spacers were secured with solder. The outside cranks were added ne>.:t being made from nickel silver rail as in Fig. 6.

Current collection off the insulated wheels is by phosphor bronze strip bearing on the wheel tread. The strip is Araldited to a length of fibre strip which is attached to the centre spacer with a 12BA bolt. Instead of having a flexible lead a length of phosphor bronze strip is soldered to the pick up strip. This strip wipes across a piece of phosphor bronze plate attached to, but insulated from the chassis.

Leads are taken /rom these to dte motor.

The locomotive had now reached the stage when it could be assembled, stood on d1e track, dte power turned on and the motor would spin but the locomotive would not move. It still lacked the mechanical drive

between the "crankshaft" and the worm shaft.

As is often the case, what seemed the trickiest bits to make were left until last, namely the cardan shafts and universal joints. Small diameter brass tube was the obvious solution.

The size I selected was 16 SWG inside diameter. This size was chosen because the model shop had some brass rod that was a nice free sliding fit in the tube. In the real thing the outer shaft is able to tum the inner shaft (or vice versa) by virtue of having splines which allow the shaft to lengthen or shorten as dte bogie turns. Any thought of 4mm. scale splines were out but the problem was overcome as shown in Fig. 7a. The pin is soldered to the outer tube. The outer ends of the tube and rod were cut and opened out to take the swivels. The latter are short lengths of 16 SWG tube and once again PECO track pins were used for the swivel pivots, see Fig. 7b.

16 S\XI'G tube was soldered to each end of the "crankshaft" and the ends of the worm shafts. Each of the four swivels was assembled with its pair of shafts and the hollow centre of the swivel with the pins poking into it soldered up.

Conclusion \Veil, there you have it, not everyone's cup of tea but certainly different. Livery is maroon with a black smoke box, chassis and bogies.

The chimney and dome are polished brass and the buffer beams signal red. Lining and lettering is gold .using Blick dry print. The name was something of a problem. A VR number six locomotive is named AIRE after the river Ai.re. It didn't seem right just calling number seven STONY so RIVER was added.

She has been in service several months now mainly hauling C-OIL. This is what she was really built for. The gear ratio is 45-1, dtis plus 8mm. diameter driving wheels does not add up to speed.

RIGHT: The chassis, showing motor drive atul two power bogies.

BilLOW:

U11derneath view of one of the power

bogies.

126

Railway Modeller

Trees in plenty

Forestry in the Aire Valley Unfortunately, model trees don't grow in w oods, but Derek Nay lor shows you t hat t hey can be made on the workbench Photographs by Ron Prattley Photo. 1. You call that a flit? The parts in their natural state.

P r ep aring the gr ou nd I SUPPOSE it all started with the "Plant a tree in seventy three campaign". "We could do with a wind break down that side of the garden." That was my wife speaking. It so happened a few days later I was working in a particular signal box and there they were, Silver Birch saplings by the score. Half a dozen of these were going to form my wife's wind break but really the scene was tinged with sadness as they were growing on the site of abandoned track. . . . "Does everything we get have to have some railway connection."

That was my wife again but I assumed it was a rhetorical question, I carried on digging.

For the record all but one of the saplings have taken. What has all this to do with the Forestry Commission sening up business in the Airc Valley? Very little really but I wanted to show I had done my bit in the campaign.

The next move came from my wife when she gave me a pull-out supplement from a womans' magazine. This was an article on recognising trees. Armed with the supplement I took a look at the few trees round the Aire Valley. Well I suppose they do look a bit like some of the real trees. Anyway another item was added to the list titled "Jobs to do on the Aire Valley!". This new item was of course "make some better trees". Even at this stage of thought there was still no sign of the Forestry Commission looking for land. Then it all started to happen. There in a copy of Railroad M odel Craftsman was an article on making an (0 gauge) pine tree. I liked the pine tree very much, so much that perhaps a dozen or so would look nice and who better to tend a lot of conifers than the Forestry Commission. The thing now was to find a

site and there was one just asking to be used.

This was the slope more or less rising from the timber trestle bridge on the approach to Stony Ridge and continuing to the top of the ridge. Apart from this being more or less the only available site for this scenic feature, it also had the added advantage of further separating (visually) the view across Stony Ridge to Nethcrtarn.

Making t h e trees The method of making the trees is not new.

As I could not obtain any of the materials recommended for the foliage I experimented with some new material. But perhaps it may have been used before. I thought C-OIL was new (see Aire Valley Adventure, part 2, September, 1972 RAILWAY MODELLER) but correspondence after that article produced Torsonite and Shale Oil. Photograph number one shows the raw materials and tools required : ~in . square balsa, KHAHIA GRASS, resin 'W' adhesive, stain, scissors, tweezers, rough sand paper, pin chuck and couple of small drills, mine were a number 75 and a l /32nd. Also required a piece of scrap card to keep squeezing a blob of adhesive on to.

The Khahiagrass, which is everlasting, might prove the dificult item but most good florists should stock it. Photograph number two shows the first stage in production. The balsa has been cut into tree lengths-mine vary from five ro seven inches-then rounded and tapered with rough sandpaper. This sanding is an easy task, so easy one has to take care not to overdo it. The trunks have also been stained brown though lacking stain, paint will do. The Khahiagrass has been cut into individual stalks from the main stalk. Photo-

graph number three shows three trees in various stages. Left to right, just started, half way and in full foliage. The Khahiagrass is pushed into holes drilled into the trunk, using a dab of resin W to fix. In the just started tree only a number 76 drill has been u sed and the first hole sunk vertically in the top and a specially selected piece of Khahiagrass inserted. After getting ~in. or so down the trunk the larger l / 32in. drill was brought into use. The drilling can be done in one of two ways. One. Pre-drill the whole trunk and then insert and trim the Khahiagrass. Two. Drill a hole, insert and trim the Khahiagrass, drill a hole, insert and trim the Khahiagrass and on and on. I prefer method two. Before any time and motion types point out the advantage of method one, i.e. having got the pinchuck in the hand drill all the holes at once I ought to mention the disadvantage.

Having pre-drilled all the holes and inserting and trimming the Khahiagrass you will find the branches arc not just as you thought and a couple of extra branches could do with inserting. So up with the pinchuck but because of the existing foliage you cannot back up the trunk with a finger and the slightest bit of extra pressure snaps the trunk off. Yes you can repair it but the time and motion study is losing out. The method I developed was to keep the tree in my left hand, tweezers in the right, pinchuck between the teeth and scissors on the table. I found I could usc the pinchuck or scissors without putting the tweezers down. So it went, drill hole, pinchuck to teeth, insert branch with tweezers, pick up scissors, trim branch, put scissors down, drill hole, etc., etc. I found a tree took about an hour or an hour and a half with one eye on the telly!

After the required number of trees have been completed to the foliage stage it just leaves the lower exposed part of the trunk to be completed. I used artists burnt umber acrilic paint brushed thickly on the trunk, then using an old toothbrush scored the still wet paint to represe.nt the bark. When dry, the trunk was finished off by highlighting with a thin brush of yellow.

Photo. 2. Left. Embryo trees: shaped balsa bra1z.ches, Khahia grass foliage.

Photo. 4. Right. The logging camp on the Aire Valley. The cra11e is somethi11g of a cross betwem a derrick a11d an American loggil~g skiddcr.

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Photo. 5. These trees have really added a dimemion to this hillside.

11ew

Completing the site As mentioned earlier the site chosen was some sloping ground at Stony Ridge. Before planting out the trees a path was cut from the back of the site to the now extended mine siding. This siding extension is in a shallow cutting shored up with tree trunks. The "ground" being made fr0ÂŁ1.1 glue-size stiffened lint was easy enough to dig into to plant the trees. Main thing here is . to make sure the trees look bedded in. Bits of Khahiagrass and other timber debris have been scattered about.

The site has also been fenced in and equipped at intervals with fire fighting tools in the form of beating brushes. The forestry workers are Preiser figures and the shire horse Airfix.

The derrick crane is also part of the scene.

At the time of writing it is purely scenic but it is planned to make it a working model using my usual discarded clock mechanisms and low voltage motors.

Photo. 3. Left. The cemre tree is to be added to the layout with just a few dead branches added lower d0W11.

Photo. 6. Right. The site from another angle.

Note the wanung to engine drivers on the centre telegraph pole.

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I. Above, a fair-sized area has to be given over to a locomotive depot.

Note the water tanlt at the from of the shed which adds length.

2. Right, a rather cramped wharf scene bm no more chan one rcould expect at a small harbour with rail and road competing.

Return to the Aire Valley

built, remained unaltered the longest. Granted a Methodist church was built just off the end of Moorhead Lane and the C-OIL works complex beyond that but the original remained untouched.

Rebuilding was prompted for two reasons. First, the scenic parr outside the railway fence was now" overshadowed by the rest of the layout and rather uninspiring being completely level.

Second, the facilities in the railway yards had become inadequate due mainly to the increase in motive power and passenger stock.

The rebuilding started with one firm rule in mind. The layout must always be ready for operation inside twenty-four hours.

It was decided the railway yards would have to be rebuilt in the same area and any ground that could be gained given over to extending the town. As the Saltaire section baseboard had been installed in one piece and was only secured by four screws, the ideal way to gain ground would be to move the whole baseboard forward six inches or so. This was impossible though without wholesale wrecking and reconstruction of the C-OIL works/ G reen Cove area. A compromise was to make do with half this area. Not a three inch move forward but make a wedge shaped area. The pointed or zero movement end being at the C-OIL works end and opening out to six inches at the harbour mouth.

This then was the first move in reconstruction and diagram A shows the trackwork before the navvy's picks dug in. The only track alteration at this stage was the removal of a three inch length of straight marked X and replacing it with a slightly

Redevelopment in reverse In the full sized world attractive buildings give way to characterless blocks. At Derek Naylor's Saltaire the opposite has happened. Prototype please copy !

Photographs by Ron Prattley SALTAIRE had remained more or less untouched since it was fi rst built in 1958. Along with M oorhead, Saltai re was installed into the existing permanent layout "as built". Moorhead village was extended and the station made into a junction as described in part four of Aire Valley Adventure (February 1973 RAILWAY MODELLER). Since then the old pagoda style station building at Moorhead has been raised to make way for a canie dock siding and a new smaller station building erected. But Saltaire, the first 330

3. Number five has just arrived tcirh a mixed bag of coaches. The station is inspired by, though not a model of, Douglas station.

Railway Modeller

4. The shape of the jetty walls shows up here. The schooner is somewhat underscale but is the "right size"; any bigger would shrink the harbour.

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5. The scene at the end of the harbour. Only the " Ecko" building is a true three- dimensional structure.

longer curved piece. A small wedge shaped area down the end of the baseboard required a bit of scenic fill and then the first major alteration could be started.

This was the locomotive yard. When the Aire Valley was first planned I had envisaged four locomotives and one railc~r set.

The total is now seven and three respectively. This motive power had now completely outgrown the locomotive facilities even though two locomotives are stabled at Nethertarn and , a railcar at Stony Ridge. Diagram B shows the new trackplan.

Three sets of points (a,d,c) remained in situ in the yard and just the points leading back to the old coal stage were lifted.

These were replaced with a set facing the other way to make the new shed double tracked. The new shed, of standard balsa and brick paper construction had already been built and was positioned as soon as the track and wiring were in order. The old single road shed has been reinstalled at Nethertarn and the old shed there passed on. The workshop (on which a detailed article will be published) followed along with ancillary buildings and structures. Photograph number one shows the shed and workshop and photograph number eight the fueling facilities.

The steam crane for lifting coal (still from the river barge) and coaling locomotives may seem a little grandiose but the line has outgrown its "Far Tottering" mentality and reached out to a Donegal or Lough Swilly operation since the djscovery of C-OIL. Freight operations were looked at next. As the hopper waggon's home at this end of the valley is now the C-OIL works the harbour sidjng no longer needed to run the whole length of the wharf. This siding was reduced in length to make way for a new fish dock. A new timber extension to the railway section of the wharf was constructed and a new smaller but better detailed November 1975

crane bas been made from styrene sheet. Photograph number two shows the reconstructed wharf. At the other side of the yard the original freight sidings totalled two. The run round loop dead end siding serving the goods shed remains. T his goods shed and the cattle dock are now the oldes): structures left on the railway. The other siding, the long one ending in the cattle dock had always been a bit of a bind to shunt so it was split. A new set of points was installed at the left hand end of the goods loop and the cattle dock portion of the spljt siding slewed into it.

A second sjding was added next to the shortend original siding and both these are used for stabling.

The grandest section of the scheme was now underway, a new and extended passenger station. I would have liked to have

A

----------------------. ·······-

B .. -····· ··········

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6. It's hard co believe the back drop between the "Ecko" office and the cottages on the level is just the size of a postcard.

retained the original station building but it was in the way of the new platform Hne, so it has been carefully lifted and preserved.

The platform is in the same place but now has two faces. The new surface is done in a styrene sheet embossed to represent slates but to me are remarkably like stone setts. The new station building, platform and overall roof arc shown in photograph number three. The main object of the overall roof is to provide cover for the passenger stock but it also adds to the scene and the status of the station. The building is balsa and brick paper. It has d1e usual offices on the ground floor and General Manager's and Station Master's offices on the first floor. The overall roof is all styrene sheet. Each of the inverted W roof supports were jig built each one having forty pieces of styrene sheet in it. It went together quite well. Its finished strength lies in its rear wa!l (brick paper covered Styrene sheet) and the glazing which is done in four lengths. The harbour c.n d of the baseboard had to be lengthened three inches to fit in the promenade behind the station building. This extension was done with a piece of 3.. x 2.. timber. This large section was used as the three by two continues to form me seaward jetty of the harbour. As the jetty narrows from bottom to top and also curves it was much easier to carve from the solid wood than build up in sections.

Having completed the railway works, mention of the jetty leads on to the new town. The township is an amalgam of " inspirations" provided by many small villages and towns, the harbour end being inspired by Whitby in so far as d1ere is a ruined abbey overlooking the harbour and it has steps leading up to it. Photograph number four shows this feature. In making the new harbour I have tried to lose the squarcness of the old one.

Reference to the "new map" of Saltaire will show this has been

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done. As mentioned the seaward jetty is carved out of three by two timber and the soudl jetty has been done the same way.

Both are covered with random stone styrene sheet. The cliffs coming down ro the jetty arc real stone. The promenade type railings are sold as ships rails. It's moulded in a very pliable plastic and could be bent at right angles or be persuaded to go up or down steps. The buildings overlooking the harbour shown in photograph number five are, left to right, The Smugglers Arms and a cottage both in red brick styrene sheet. Next is the only building done in any depth. This is the office of the local newspaper, The Aire Valley Ecko. This is constructed in embossed styrene sheet. The road emerging from behind the Ecko office is Eastgate. The backscene is cut from a colour postcard of Hcysham village main street. The Ringtons horse-drawn tea van hides the tops of some modern motor cars also on the post card. The buildings down Eastgate are a pair of cottages, these are plain styrene sheet painted with white paint with sand mixed in, the Ring-0-Bells pub and two cottages and a shop. The last three arc balsa and cement rendered with fine sandpaper. These arc featured in photograph number six. In phorograph number seven we have the fire station, this is in oblong stone painted plain white with, of course, the woodwork in red. The front of a fire engine can just be seen through the doors. This is the front of a Modelcraft petrol tanker card thoughtfully coloured red! Next to the fire station is a house and a bank. These arc in red brick. The bank is a model of Barclays at Stokcsly from a "Dalcsman" cover painting.

That just about covers the new Saltaire. A little more interesting than the old one and it just remains to see whether it will last fifteen years Hke its predecessor.

Railway Modeller

JL ----

Aire Valley Adventure The Aire Valley Railway w as described in detail during 1972/73, as below: Part 1 Introduction to a Valley: July 1972 Part 2 C - Oil on the Aire Valley: September 1972 Part 3 Scenes on the River Aire : November 1972 Part 4 Moorhead Villag e : February 1973 Part 5 On the Stonyridge Branc h : April 1973 Part 6 Nethertarn Vi llage: J une 1973

7. Quire a bit of "gingerbread" wem imo the bank. It was worth it i11 the end but I was glad it only had one door.

8. Number six fuels up while the new crane concinues to stockpile coal.

Aire Va lley developments

Danes Crossing works Derek Naylor has built an elaborate 4mm depot for Saltaire Photographs by Ron Prattley

A straightforward view ofthe workshop.

MY I NTRODUCTION to the fascination of the narrow gauge was through reading L. T. C. Rolf's book Railway Advemure.

Apart from the usual narrow gauge appeal, size, antiquity, country lane style right of way etc. there was the autonomy of such a line.

One could build a complete model railway empire without recourse to fiddle yards to represent the rest of the system. T his fact of autonomy was impressed on me, particularly in the case of the Talyllyn in the provision of a workshop. Here we had this little system with but two locomotives and a handful of passenger vehicles and it had to have its own workshop. So right from the start when planning the Aire Valley a workshop was a must.

The old balsa wood and stone paper workshop was one of the first buildings constructed and served its purpose right down to the recent reconstruction of Saltaire. The necessary workshop mentality ne\¡er left me and when the new workshop was being planned it was expanded as much as possible.

For some time I had the desire to super detail the interior of a building and what better than the workshop with its machines and milliard bits and pieces. I must admit even at this stage I hesitated about going in for lhe interior detail. For once again this was to be one of the first buildings for the reconstructed Saltaire and as time is always at a premium, was it worth stretching out lhis super detailed job while the rest of Saltaire crumbled? " Build the so-and-so shed first and detail it later at your leisure". That was lhe

Night scene with the lights 011. The poor apprentice is still cxplainillg away some misdemeanour to the foreman.

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Out on a limb, so to speak or at least the digits at the end of a limb. This allowed the size and detail of the office to be shown.

voice of one Paul Towers stating the obvious.

Apart from the door hinges the workshop is constructed from styrene sheet. Each wall, there are six, was built up separately sandwich fashion. All the walls are the same thickness, eight by twenty thou. Measuring this odd way meant the sandwich filling could be calculated simply. T he two outer layers arc oblong stone (twenty thou each) and the windows glazed with twenty thou clear. The sandwich has not been filled solid. The outer edges arc soljd, also the edges round the windows but the spaces in between are filled with odd pieces from the scrap box. One

point worth mentioning, though I suppose it's obvious, is the careful making and cutting of the window openings so they line up. One other point perhaps not so obvious is to make some of the outer sides of the stonework longer than the sandwich. This extention will then cover the raw edge of the wall it is butting up to. Fig one should explain. The arches over the door and windows are separate stones cut from twenty thou sheet with all the edges slightly chamfered. These are set into the wall level with the random stone. Each wall when completed was laid on a sheet of plate glass, covered with another sheet and weighted and left at least twenty-four hours to set. When all the walls were completed the interior frames and walls were painted. The walls we.r e done with matt white to represent limewash and dirtied with a wash of diluted black. They were then erected on a temporary floor of ten thou styrene sheet, once again on a sheet of plate glass to ensure squareness.

The roof is twenty thou styrene sheet with individual rows of ten thou slates. The coping stones are thirty thou. The internal roof joists are also thirty thou. These were cut out V-shape to the same template as the end walls.

After cementing the joists to the two roof halves the completed unit was left to reaUy set before attempting to add the "iron" tie rods. The rods are thirty thou plastic rod cemented to the joists and all the joints reinforced with gussets of ten thou.

For the doors it's back to twenty thou sheet with twenty thou bracing strips. The hinges are strips of very thin phosphor bronze swinging on PECO track pins. The strip is attached to the door with impact adhesive.

It's perhaps worth mentioning I've found a Railway Modeller

As memioned i11 the text the machine tools lie i11 the lee of the wall 11earest the viewer. This impossible-to-take shot was done with the aid of a mirror.

"scraper board nib" the best tool for scoring imitation planks on styrene sheet. This does scrape the groove out clean as opposed to a pointed instrument which tends to plough a furrow with raised edges.

At this stage the track had been laid and an inspection pit built. The temporary ten thou floor was cut away and the workshop placed on its site and the internal wall size marked out on the baseboard. A balsa wood floor was next built up to just below rail level and covered with Faller embossed card representing stone setts. Finally the completed building was cemented in place.

When at last I got round to the interior detailing the first job was the forcman'soffice.

There was not any room on the floor so it was built into the roof space-model railway style. The office and spiral staircase leading up to it and all the furniture, table, chair, buffets, lockers and cupboards are all from styrene sheet but the stove is shaped from plasticine.

Downstairs again I found it was a pity but unavoidable that the machine tools, a lathe, wheel lathe and drill had to be ranged in the lee of the wall nearest the viewer. The machines arc scratch built and arc supposedly driven by overhead shaft. The hoist is also powered by the overhead shaft. Other equipment round the place consists of workbench, saw-horse, steps, cupboards and lockers.

There's a fair mixture of paint cans-plastic sprue and wire-and other containers of

various size plus oxygen and acetylene bottles.

Hand tools, hammers, saws, pincers, spanners etc. are cut from thin lead. Brace and bits are wire and plastic sleeve. Having gone this far it was felt some kind of lighting was called for.

I had read several articles on fibre optics or light fibres and was impressed enough to give this method a try. Fibre Optic Suppliers, P.O. Box 702, London WIO 6SL are very helpful to modellers and provide along with any materi-

also ordered, details on its various uses. I have used forty thou diameter fibre which can be permanently heat bent. The workshop has eight lights plus one in the foreman's office.

All are illuminated from one source, a 12 volt 2.5 watt bulb. Most visitors to the layout agree the lighting effect is best when viewed through the open doors.

The works got its name from a nearby ford reputedly used by the raiding Danes.

The workshop staff seem to be having a steady time, tzo rolling stock in sight.

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Aire Valley events

People, places and trains Derek Naylor describes a new set piece at Nethertarn Photograph by Ron Prattley

BETWEEN myself, friends and visitors to the Aire Valley Railway we have got round to dropping the word railway and just referring to it as the Airc Valley. I suppose in a way this is both correct and complimentary. No doubt most people do come to see the trains running but I did put a lot of thought into creating the Aire Valley for the railway to run in and quite often the visitor who is not a model railway fa n spends more time looking outside the railway fence than inside. In my own mind I think of the trains running on the Aire Valley (Railway) and the raiJway running in the Aire Valley. Odd thinking perhaps but it docs give me a feeling of integration of my modelling.

November 1976

Figures can often be boring but the last census in the Aire Valley sh owed there were 706 people. These range from babes in arms to a couple of octogenarians and one reputed centenarian. In the accompanying photograph, a part of Nethertam, we have 57 of this population. Anention is drawn to the new tableau in the centre. This arose indirectly out of the construction of a Forestry Commission site at Stony Ridge. This site needed some forest workers and Preiser make some. I finished up getting the set of 120 unpainted figures which included these rather royal looking types. To me the young lady looks remarkably like Princess Anne. I have had it

pointed out however that German women do go in for the "bun" style hairdo so perhaps it's coincidence. In any case as time in the Aire Valley is fixed at nineteen-twentynine it rules out Princess Anne so I 've senled for her being the Princess Royal. Over a period of time it is intended to continue the crowd down the steps and further along the pavement. Just off scene is the Station Master gesticulating frantically for shunting to cease lest the horses be scared. Their pedigree escapes me but the coach is scratch built from styrene sheet including the rear wheels. The front wheels came off a Replicar.

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