MODEL RAILWAYS On-Line

No: 1 February 2004

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2 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE

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FEBRUARY 2004 3

MODEL RAILWAYS On-Line

No: 1 February 2004

CONTENTS

Ashprington Road 4 A 00 Gauge Layout By Graham Plowman

Guard Rails 8 By Paul Plowman

Building a British Railways Class 9F 2-10-0 10 By Graham Plowman Hither Green - A Southern Region 14 Diesel Depot By Paul Plowman Picture Gallery 16

Review of the new Heljan Hymek 18 By Graham Plowman

Editorial

Welcome to the first edition of Model Railways On-Line. The concept is for readers to be able to download this new magazine for printing or storage in their own computer systems. By eliminating production and distribution costs we can offer this magazine completely free of charge.

Initially we propose to publish quarterly. Publication of

the second edition will be on 1st May 2004. The success of

this venture will depend on the support, which we receive from our readers. I would be pleased to receive articles and photographs on any railway subject of interest to modellers of the British railway scene. If there is a good response we will be able to move quickly to a bi-monthly or possibly monthly publication.

I would also welcome your letters for publication. News

and announcements received from clubs and societies will be published free of charge on a society page. I would especially like to receive your feedback and views on this, our first edition of Model Railways On-Line. Advertising

Advertising in this first edition has been limited to the model railway products supplied by GPP Software who are providing a website for the magazine. One of the principle difficulties with advertising in a conventional magazine is that they do not arrive on the shelves of overseas newsagents until some two months after publication in the UK. If production and distribution time is added then overseas readers are looking at adverts, which are long out of date and are no longer a reliable indication of the availability of products for sale. By publishing this magazine on-line we hope to be able to significantly improve this delay for readers worldwide.

If you wish to advertise with us please contact the Editor

through the website for details of our terms and conditions. A new beginning

So here we are at the launch of a new magazine! We begin with an article featuring the construction of Graham Plowman’s Ashprington Road, 00 gauge layout based on the section of the former Great Western main line between Newton Abbott and Plymouth in South Devon. Graham suggests that a high standard of realism can be achieved by using Peco Code 75 track provided it is laid with care. To help achieve his aim Graham has used computers in the design of the track alignment, which includes cant and transitions with prototype geometry. The layout is unusual in that it does not have a control panel. All points, signals and isolating sections are controlled by a PC computer. Graham has developed software, which mimics a prototype solid state interlocking (SSI).

Graham has also contributed articles about the

construction of his BR 9F 2-10-0 and a review of the new Heljan Hymek. Paul Plowman

Cover: Princess Coronation Class 4-6-2 No.46240 ‘City of Coventry’ is posed outside Willesden Shed on 8

th March

1964 during a visit by the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. Photo: Paul Plowman

Model Railways On-Line is published by Paul Plowman 11 Porters Road, Kenthurst, New South Wales 2156, AUSTRALIA Readers may copy and distribute this publication without limitation provided copies include all pages of the magazine. The copyright of articles and photographs remains with the Editor and contributors to the magazine.

4 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE

ASHPRINGTON ROAD

A 00 layout based on the Western Region Main Line between Exeter and Plymouth

By Graham Plowman

The history of my layout

commenced some six years ago when I built a new house, which included a railway room measuring 13.5m x 4.5m. The layout was planned to be 7m x 3.7m which would leave ample space around two sides for viewing. Three years later, after building the ‘ideal’ railway room, I moved house again and repeated the process, this time with a railway room measuring 9m x 5m. As is the usual scheme of things in this hobby, with all the jobs to be done in a new house, about 18 months passed after moving in before I was able to commence work on the layout.

My interest is the Western Region during the early 1960’s period up to _____

Above: Britannia Class 7P 4-6-2 No.70021 ‘Morning Star’ drifts past the Ashprington Road Down Home signals with a train for Plymouth. Notice the drainage channels taking water from the tunnel.

about 1965. This was the period of transition from steam to diesel traction with significant changes in rolling stock and liveries. It was a period of great variety, with many steam locomotives still in service but with the new order of diesels gradually taking over. I also have an interest in the South Western Division of the Southern Region.

I wanted to build a layout with a

double track main line and to add

operational interest I wanted some kind

of branch line or local service

operation. A goods yard would also be

_____

required. Locomotive depots are usually

only found at major centres not intermediate main-line stations, which I was planning to model. This therefore limited the layout to only having minimal watering and coaling facilities.

Naturally, a fiddle yard would be required for ‘off stage’ storage. I wanted to be able to run trains of prototypical lengths and therefore, the fiddle yard would need sufficient length to accommodate them. This requirement ruled out the use of traversers, which are impractical for trains longer than about 4/5 coaches.

I have always had an interest in the Western Region in Devon and _______

FEBRUARY 2004 5

this was the area I wanted to model.

Given my requirements for a layout,

the task was now to find a real

location, which included the features

I was looking for. I found such a

location at Brent which is located on

the Western Region mainline

between Newton Abbott and

Plymouth. It was one of only two

major stations on the line, the other

being Totnes. It was also the

junction for the Kingsbridge Branch.

Today, Brent Station no longer

exists. The Kingsbridge branch

closed in September 1963, having

been operated by a single diesel

railcar for the latter years of its

existence. The line between Exeter

and Plymouth through South Devon

provides operational interest

because it was the diversionary

route for Southern services when

the route to Plymouth via

Oakhampton was closed for

engineering works. In addition to the

weekend diversions Southern

locomotives could be found hauling

regular Western Region stopping

services over the line during the

mid-week period to enable crews to

keep their ticket for the route up to

date. This would justify my use of

Bullied Light Pacifics and N Class 2-

6-0’s on the layout .

Brent represented the location and

operational interest, which I was

looking for. It was on a Western

Region double-track main line with a

branch service, a goods yard and

Southern stock had a justified

presence. The station had the

virtually standard British

cross-country platform length of six

coaches, but it frequently saw

8-coach or longer trains. I proposed

to build my layout to accommodate

8-coach trains, but would provide

only 6-coach platforms. Given the

space I had available for the layout, I

felt that 6-coach platforms looked

prototypical and proportionally

reasonable. The problem with long

platforms is that they can dominate

a layout. Having chosen the location for my

layout, I felt that I did not really want to model Brent. Models of real places can be difficult to build requiring extensive research. At exhibitions there will always be someone who will know the place better than you and point out all the inaccuracies! My layout is based on ______

Brent in respect to its location,

operation and practices but it is not a

model of Brent. The name of my layout

was chosen from a map of the local

area. I have adopted the name

‘Ashprington’ from a nearby village and

added ‘Road’ to create ‘Ashprington

Road’. Historically railway companies

added the word ‘Road’ to indicate that

their station was indeed some distance

_____

Above: BR Type 4 Diesel Hydraulic No.1016 ‘Western Gladiator’ eases around the curve past Ashprignton Road East Box with a train for Paddington

Below: ‘Morning Star’ slows as it approaches the station with a train for Penzance

from the village of that name.

6 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE

On a Sunday afternoon SR West Country Class 4-6-2 No.34007 ‘Wadebridge’ heads for Plymouth with a train

diverted from the Southern Region Main Line via Oakhampton due to weekend engineering works

Planning the Layout

The layout was designed for use

at home and to be transportable for

exhibitions. The baseboards were

constructed to be easily dismantled.

I decided that it would be unwise to

fill the entire room with a layout as it

would be a very expensive exercise

even if only considering the cost of

track and the impracticability of

transporting it to exhibitions. Like

______________

most people, I only have limited time to devote to our hobby and to embark on a very large layout would probably result in the project never being completed. I therefore decided I would build the layout in an area 8im by 4.5im. This allowed a large layout but it would still be transportable.

Once the size of the layout had been determined, I commenced sketching some plans. I started by ____________________

designing the countryside, drawing up a contour map of the area, which the layout would later occupy. In real life, the countryside existed long before railways. I wanted my layout to look as though the countryside was there first and the railway added later. I didn’t want it to appear as though the hills had been added afterwards to a flat landscape. This approach, of ________________

FEBRUARY 2004 7

preparing a contour map, lends itself

to open frame baseboard

construction. However, on balance I

decided against open frame

because I felt that conventional ‘flat

top’ construction would be simpler

and stronger for a portable layout.

Only the area around the viaduct

would have benefited from an open

frame and here I lowered the level of

the boards in two steps of 10cm to

create a 20icm difference between

track level and the valley floor.

Designing the Track Layout

Having designed the countryside,

I turned my attention to the track

layout. This occupied my time while

commuting to and from work by

train. Other passengers tend to look

at you very strangely when they see

you scribbling these funny little

diagrams! At the outset I set myself

a number of standards which I would

attempt to adhere to:

Curves would have a minimum

radius of 5ifeet except on curved

turnouts where the radius would

be smaller.

Track would be Peco Codei75

fine scale using large radius

turnouts. The fiddle yard would

be codei100 to make use of track

recovered from a previous layout.

All of my rolling stock, with the

exception of a few older Lima

coaches, is fitted with fine scale

wheels. Lima and older Hornby

wheels need to be checked for

gauge and flange depth.

The track layout would be

designed to ensure that there

would be no reversals of

curvature (‘S’ bends) without

transitions or a length of straight

between. The reversal of

curvature across crossovers can

be a problem by causing buffer

locking. Due to the configuration

of the layout this problem has

(Continued on page 9)

Top: ‘Morning Star’ leans into the

curve as it pulls away from

Ashprington Road

Middle: A Hall Class 4-6-0 with a

down train passes a new Hymek

on the viaduct

Right: A Southern Region N Class

2-6-0 works an up stopping

service for driver training over the

South Devon line.

8 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE

Guard Rails

By Paul Plowman

Guard rails and their installation tends to cause confusion amongst railway modellers. This confusion is probably caused by the multitude of different arrangements, which can be found on railways around the world. Some arrangements are difficult to model and it is often easier to omit them from our layouts.

In general guard rails are provided at locations where a derailment would precipitate a catastrophic event. Such locations are on viaducts, where safety critical members of a structure are close to the track or adjacent to high pressure gas mains, water mains, oil pipelines etc.. In fact anywhere a minor derailment could develop into a major disaster.

There are essentially two systems in use; inside guard rails between the running rails and outside guard _____

Above and below: Guard rails on Oxted Viaduct facing Oxted taken on 16th June 1986 shortly before the line was electrified with a third rail.

rails. They can take many forms. Inside guard rails can vary between one or two rails dog spiked in the four foot way to a sophisticated system like that installed on Oxted Viaduct, see photographs. The distance between the guard rails and running rails can vary to the extent that it becomes debatable whether they are guard rails or check rails. Hence the confusion. Outside systems again can take a number of forms, principally guard rails attached to special chairs or extended sleepers with guard rails attached, see photograph of the Festiniog Railway. In the extreme, outside guard rails can take the form of continuous mass concrete walls to guide vehicle bodies in the event of derailment. This system has been built into the North Downs Tunnel of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link where closing speeds will be up to 600kph.

As mentioned above an inside system involves the fixing of one or two rails in the four-foot way between the running rails. If the risk is only to one side of the track just one rail might be installed but it is more usual to install a pair of rails irrespective of which side the risk is located. In this system if a pair of wheels become derailed the guard rail guides the back of the wheels. It will not prevent a derailment and just guides the wheels once they have become derailed. The rails can be bullhead or flat bottom and can be fastened to the sleepers using standard chairs or baseplates. Flat bottom rails can be spiked directly to timber sleepers or held by rail fastenings to concrete sleepers. In the approach to locations of high risk, such as viaducts, it is common practice to install a re-railing device intending to guide derailed wheels back on to the track. In the example at Oxted Viaduct flat bottom rails are mounted on their side such that the foot of the rail contacts the ________

back of the wheels. Possibly the earliest outside system involved using a

bullhead rail section, held on it’s side, outside the running rails and slightly higher. In theory if a pair of wheels become derailed the guard rail guides the outside of the wheels before the wheel flange has crossed the head of the running rail. The track is fitted with special baseplates or bullhead chairs about every fourth or fifth sleeper to which the guard rail is fixed with vertical bolts. This system of guard rails is no longer favoured for several reasons. The fixing bolts have a tendency to shake loose and require regular maintenance, the guard rail obstructs the tines of tamping machines, while on 3

rd-rail electrification it fouls the

protective insulation on track recording machines and it cannot be used on concrete sleepers where the rail fastenings are integral with the sleeper. Finally this system is useless if wheels are already derailed before reaching ____

FEBRUARY 2004 9

the guard rails. Again, there were some variations on this design using “L” or “T” section rails mounted on their sides.

A simple outside system has been installed on the Festiniog Railway at Lynn Ystradau. The railway crosses the massive water pipes, which feed water from the High Dam to the turbines in the power station. The pipes are close to the surface and it is necessary to protect them from damage, which might be caused by a derailed train. Now members of the FR might tell me that I’ve got this all wrong, but it appears that it is not practicable to position a pair of guard rails within the narrow gauge track. The sleepers have been extended and guard rails fastened on the outside. This system has the beneficial side effects of strengthening the track and spreading the weight of the train over a greater area.

As to how effective these systems are, I have no idea, because the good news is that throughout my career on the railways I have never known of a single derailment at a site fitted with guard rails. There is a body of opinion which takes the view that on modern very high speed railways guard rails in the track might actually contribute to a disaster. Critical structures are protected against impact by mass concrete walls or positioned well clear of tracks. New bridges over railways are designed without intermediate supports wherever possible. Again the good news is that derailments on very high speed railways are very rare. I believe _______

Guard rails on the Festiniog Railway in 1984. The loco is Merddin Emrys.

there has only ever been one derailment on a TGV line which occurred in France. The train was brought to a stand safely.

It is possible that with the ever diminishing costs of modern electronics, trains will be fitted with devices monitoring the performance of all the axles/wheels which will either alert the driver or automatically bring the train to a halt in the event of something being amiss. Such devices could have prevented the disastrous accident at Eshlade in Germany. N.B. all new trains in the UK are fitted with aircraft style black box recorders. I once read in the “Railway Gazette” an account of one African state which purchased some new wagons in which the continuous brake pipe was routed across the tops of the wheels. The _____

idea being that if the wheels became derailed the ensuing rough riding would cause the wheel flange to slice into the brake pipe and hence automatically apply the brakes.

Finally to correct one misunderstanding, “bridge rail” has nothing specifically to do with bridges! “Bridge Rail” is a type of rail as in “Bullhead” or “Flat Bottom”. It was used by Brunel for his Broad Gauge track and today can occasionally still be found in use for crane rails or in iron and steel works for carrying very heavy crucibles of molten iron or steel.

This article was previously published in ‘The Clearing House’, the journal of the British Railway Modellers of Australia. It is published here in modified form.

5 foot radius curve between, say a

steam loco with a long overhang on

the inside track and say a Mk3

coach on the outside track.

Six-coach platforms would be

provided.

The layout would be designed to

accomodate 8-coach trains.

The track layout would be designed

to avoid locating turnouts over board

joints.

Turnouts would not be located

closer to board joints than 5cm. The

positions of turnouts would be

designed to avoid point motors

being obstructed by board bracing.

In practice, the boards were

designed around the layout and

_______

(Continued from page 7)

been largely avoided.

All curves on the main running

lines would be canted

(superelevated). The calculation

of the cant and the design of the

transitions would be in

accordance with former BR and

now Railtrack Standards.

Professional railway alignment

design software would be used.

Track would be laid at 52imm

centres, which appears to be the

nominal spacing of Peco turnouts.

Although greater than a true scale

spacing of 45mm the value of

52mm adopted by Peco is about

right for passing clearance on a

__________

board bracing as positioned away

from turnouts.

The baseboards would be 900mm

deep in the visible area and

600mm deep in the fiddle yard.

Graham will continue to describe the

construction of his model railway in

the next edition of Model Railways

On-Line

10 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE For many years I have had an

interest in the BR 9F and have often thought of modelling one for my layout. Since I was a modern image modeller, a 9F would never quite fit in! About two years ago I extended my collection of rolling stock into the Western Region 1960's period, which gave me the opportunity to legitimately include a 9F. I had already made up the Airfix kit and later had acquired another unmade Airfix kit, purchased for 90p at a swap-meet. Research

Before attempting to build my model I decided to research the prototype and purchased the excellent Irwell Press book 'The British Railways Standard 9F 2-10-0'. Since completing my model, Ian Allan have published a book of colour pictures, ‘The 9F's - BR's Heavy Freight Locomotives’.

The 9F's were originally conceived as 2-8-2 locomotives by E.S. Cox, R.C. Bond and Robin Riddles and were one of the last designs to appear from the Brighton Drawing Office. It was decided that a 2-8-2 arrangement would not provide the adhesion required for a heavy freight locomotive and the design was changed to a 2-10-0. They were built between 1954 and 1960, with construction divided between BR workshops at Swindon and Crewe. Swindon built 73 of the class, while Crewe built the remaining 178, a total of 251 locomotives being built over a period of six years.

The 9F's were paired with five types of tenders, each varying in their coal and water capacities:

BR1B 4725gal NER and LMR BR1C 4725gal LMR BR1F 5625gal ER BR1G 5000gal WR BR1K 4325gal LMR

The class was divided between all of the regions except the Southern and Scottish regions, which received small allocations for a short period only:

Western 56 London Midland 100

Building a British Railways Class 9F 2-10-0

By Graham Plowman

Graham describes how he built a model of this popular locomotive

Eastern 85 North Eastern 10

Various experiments were carried out on the 9F's including the fitting of Berkley mechanical stokers to 92165,6 and 7. A Giesl ejector was fitted to 92250 in 1960 and of course the less than successful Franco Crosti experiment. Within the class, a few differences could be found such as the fitting of a large headlight to 92079 on the Lickey Incline and air brakes to those locomotives allocated to Tyne Dock.

Although designed as a freight locomotive, the performance record of the 9F’s was so successful that they could be found on all kinds of work including passenger services, in particular, on the Somerset & Dorset, the Great Central and on the Western Region.

Like all steam locomotives, the 9F’s fell victim to the 1955 'modernisation ______

plan', many of them serving for as little as seven years. Fortunately, we can still see the 9F in action today as around eight of the class have been preserved.

Planning the project

Since I follow the early 1960's period of the Western Region, complete with Diesel Hydraulics, my model needed to represent a locomotive from this period and location. This also determined the type of tender to be paired with the model - it would be a BR1G, as supplied with the Airfix kit. The Western Region 9F's also had double chimneys. I wanted my locomotive to represent a typical Western Region 9F - nice and dirty with a non-descript number. It would have all the standard fittings with nothing out of the ordinary.

I set about planning how I would ________________

View of underside of chassis showing pony truck arrangement

FEBRUARY 2004 11

model the 9F. There were a number of possibilities: - Purchase the Hornby model and

add detail. - Purchase a kit - the DJH model. - Place the Airfix kit body on the

Hornby chassis. - Motorise the Airfix kit.

There was something about the

Hornby model, which made it look incorrect - it looks too high because the driving wheels are under scale. The tender also doesn't quite have the character of a BR1G tender, perhaps because it looks as though there is a motor hiding inside it! The cost of the Hornby model was also a factor. I considered the DJH kit. This is an excellent model but again the cost was the deciding factor here at over £100 and you still have to purchase motor, wheels, gears, etc.. Having discovered that the Hornby wheels were the wrong size I ruled out placing the Airfix kit on the Hornby Chassis. Also, I did not want a solid block chassis where one cannot see between the frames. Motorising the Airfix kit became a practical proposition with the advent of the excellent chassis kits from Comet at a reasonable price of just over £20 for a complete chassis kit less axles, wheels and motor. The only problems envisaged would be adding weight to the loco and the mounting of the motor.

Preparation

Having looked at the possibilities I ______

chose to use the Airfix kit and a Comet chassis. I already had an unmade Airfix kit which, would be much easier to modify than a Hornby model and I previously had had a very favourable experience with Comet kits when I built their chassis for the GWR King.

I then commenced planning how I would build the model. How would it be motorised? How would I arrange electrical pickup? What level of detail etc.. I produced a shopping list, see below:

Work commenced on the locomotive chassis. The Comet chassis can be soldered together, providing a nice firm frame. I found the Comet chassis to be very accurately made and it fits together squarely very easily - full marks to Comet! Positioning of the _______

Subsequently I have not had any problems with the locomotive on my track

I chose to locate the motor in the locomotive driving the centre wheels. I initially fitted the motor using the bracket supplied by Crownline. I found that this bracket did not hold the motor firmly enough and could not ensure accurate gear meshing. Instead, I soldered a thick piece of brass between the frames to which the motor was attached by a screw. This proved to be ideal. Electrical pickup is on all driving and the tender wheels. This ensures the best possible electrical pickup. I initially used the traditional 'copper strip' pickups on the backs of the driving wheels but found this to ______

Above: Partially completed chassis with Mashima motor installed

Below left: Modified Airfix body mounted on the Comet chassis

SHOPPING LIST

Comet Chassis kit £22.00 Crownline detailing kit £18.70 Romford driving wheels £11.00 Mashima 5 pole motor (DS13) £13.50 Motor mount £1.50 Gears (50:1 2 mm worm bore) £2.50 Tender wheels (Gibsons) £4.50 Cab window spectacle frames £0.85 Crank pins £3.00

-------- Total £78.70

frame spacers is important on the chassis since if you locate them correctly you can also use them as fixings to hold the body and chassis together. Many 'dry runs' are advisable before soldering the chassis together. I decided not to compensate the chassis but it was important to make sure that the whole assembly was dead square and all wheels touched the rails. I have mixed feelings about compensation. I do not think it is necessary to provide compensation for 'OO' if your track has been laid carefully _______________

12 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE

be unreliable due to the closeness of the driving wheels. The loco now picks up through the frames and axles on one side and Gibsons plungers on the other. This has turned out to be possibly the best loco I have for electrical pickup!

I then commenced modification of the Airfix kit 'footplate' to fit to the Comet chassis. I was surprised at how little modification was necessary and how accurately it all fitted together. A small cut and file was all that was necessary. Over the years in a box, the running plate had twisted. No problem! Boil the kettle, submerge the plastic running plate, twist with (asbestos) fingers and voila! I suggest taking a little care when doing this for obvious reasons!

Bodywork

Building the locomotive body was very easy with the Airfix kit. However, I spent a whole weekend just preparing the two boiler halves, removing all of the plastic handrails. I have a few tips here. First of all, you MUST use a sharp knife. Second, by cutting off the top of the _____________

The 9F rolls across Ashprington Road Viaduct in the early stages of layout construction Photo: David Lord

the pipes are painted the correct colour I think it is quite acceptable. They are certainly the right size and the detail is actually better than the Crownline offering. I used many other Crownline parts to detail the body such as handrails, knobs, smoke deflectors, window frames, boiler top feeds, smokebox door fittings, steps, buffers, brake pipes, etc.. Valve Gear

The valve gear came as a nickel silver sheet with dozens of parts. What had I let myself in for? Patience and a steady hand is the key. The Comet instructions are very good. I found that fitting the rivets to the linkage gear could be achieved by drilling out the appropriate holes and using a pair of perforated edged pliers to push the rivets through. The perforated edge neatly bends the back ends of the rivets so that they won't come apart. I must admit, I don't really get on with laminated coupling rods. I find them incredibly difficult to stick/solder them together. I would prefer solid or cast nickel silver components.

plastic handrail and then using a pin-drill into the moulded handrail knobs ensures that you will be able to position the replacement brass knobs correctly when you come to fit them later. I also cut off all of the steps and manifold mouldings since the Crownline detailing kit includes replacements. This locomotive was my first attempt at really major body 'surgery' and I am very pleased with the results. If anyone can see evidence of the original plastic handrails then they have better eyesight than me. I then glued the two boiler halves together, suitably filled with lead sheets to provide plenty of weight. I cut the plastic chimney off and fitted a Crowline replacement double chimney. I decided to discard the Crownline manifold pipework and the 'plumbing' under the cab since they are out of scale, the latter particularly so. Also, the Crownline manifold mouldings have a 'concertina' pipe on them. In over 100 pictures of 9F's I cannot find one, which has manifold pipework that looks anything like the Crownline fittings! I made my own pipework from brass wire and some of the Airfix fittings. I used the Airfix 'plumbing' under the cab 'as is'. When ___________

FEBRUARY 2004 13

Below: BR Class 9F 2-10-0 no. 92204 departs from Ashprington Road with a goods train for the Midlands

The Tender Having chosen to build a BR1G,

my solution was to use the tender with the Airfix kit. I prepared all the parts, cut off handrails, replacing them with brass handrails and cut off the plastic ladder on the back. I even cut out the coal chute so that the coal really does come through to the cab from the bunker!

I feel that a tender with extra high coal is screaming out saying 'hey look at me, there's a motor under here!'. Since my motor is in the locomotive I was able to cut out all of the plastic coal, fit realistic coal chutes made from plasticard and have the tender half full of coal. This is something, which is not modelled very often and I decided to take the opportunity to do it. How often did you see a tender full of coal in reality? Most of the time they were half empty.

The tender was weighted with two lead sheets along the inside of the sides. Wheels are Alan Gibson fitted on Lima axles, running in Peco bearings. This combination was adopted to suit the Airfix kit tender _____

tinge of brown. The colour photographs provided excellent examples for matching of colours. Running in

Having completed the locomotive, it needed to be lubricated and run in. Like the real thing, my model can easily haul a very long train!

In retrospect, I think 50:1 gears are probably a bit too high a ratio for a 9F unless it is to crawl around a layout with huge numbers of wagons in tow. I later reduced the ratio to 40:1 and used the 50:1 gears on my next project: an 09 shunter. Or will it be a 'Britannia'? Post Script

Since this article was written Crownline has ceased trading. All we can do is hope that someone will step in to continue this excellent range of detailing kits.

This article was previously published in ‘The Clearing House’, the journal of the British Railway Modellers of Australia. It is published here in modified form.

and has worked well. The tender was half filled with coal,

which was fixed using watered down PVA glue. Painting

I painted the whole locomotive in matt black using a Humbrol spray. This produced a slightly rough, but regular surface to which I could later fix Carrs Modelling powders. I used Woodhead transfers for the BR logo and number. As the locomotive was to be in all black livery there was no lining to worry about.

I then proceeded to the stage, which I enjoy most - weathering. I think the Carrs modelling powders are excellent for this and provide an easy way to achieve a very realistic finish. I would always recommend obtaining colour photographs of the subject. If you make a mistake with Carrs powders, a damp sponge easily takes you back to the start. I rub the powders in using an old toothbrush and find that I don't need to 'fix' it afterwards. However, an artists matt spray varnish can be used if required. I achieved a characteristic overall weathered grey finish with a _____

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Two BRCW Type 3 Bo-Bo diesel locomotives stand over the pits outside the former steam shed. A water crane remains in-situ.

HHiitthheerr GGrreeeenn -- AA SSoouutthheerrnn RReeggiioonn DDiieesseell DDeeppoott by Paul Plowman

All photographs taken by the author on 30th

May 1964

A Southern Region Type 3 Bo-Bo stands alongside the refuelling cranes while four shunting locos wait on the adjacent track. Notice the gully in the four-foot way to collect fuel spillages and the fuel pipe lying on the ground with fuel spilling out over the concrete apron.

Hither Green Marshalling Yard was located in South East London between Hither Green and Grove Park stations. Goods trains from the Midlands and the Eastern Region crossed London over the Metropolitan Widened Lines to Holborn Viaduct. From there the route was via either London Bridge or Nunhead and Lewisham to Hither Green. Goods trains from the Western Region and the North West crossed London over the West London Extension Line to Longhedge Junction, Nunhead and Lewisham.

Trains were hauled by a variety of locomotives from the various regions. At Hither Green the trains were sorted in the marshalling yards by diesel shunters. Some of these diesel shunters had been built by the Southern Railway shortly before Nationalisation. The train engines were serviced in the loco depot ready for return workings. During the 1950’s we lived near to the yard. I would lay awake at night listening to the sound of steam hauled goods trains departing for Dover struggling to get under way on the rising gradient towards Grove Park. With the end of steam in Kent in 1961 Hither Green Loco Depot became all diesel. In reality it was little more than a refuelling point for the yard shunters and Type 3 Bo-Bo locomotives built by the Birmingham ___

R.C.&W.Co. in 1960 to replace steam in the South East. These locos were fitted with Crompton Parkinson transmission equipment and traction motors, which earned them the nickname of “Cromptons”. With later renumbering ____

FEBRUARY 2004 15

One on the two locos, which had been waiting outside the shed departs from the depot.

Two Type 3 Bo-Bo diesels stand outside the loco shed awaiting their next turn of duty.

A Type 3 Bo-Bo diesel stands on the refuelling apron. On the left are the fuel storage tanks and on the right are the refuelling cranes.

they became Class 33. The six road engine shed remained in use although two

roads were occupied by the Hither Green Breakdown Train. The two cranes kept at Hither Green were the only steam power left at the depot.

The coaling stage was removed and the sidings alongside the Lee Spur became a Civil Engineering Depot for permanent way prefabrication. The turntable remained and was used for turning permanent way tamping and lining machines but otherwise was little used.

The 1994 Quail Map of the area shows the loco shed to have been demolished and replaced by a two road Plant Depot over the former shed roads 5 and 6. Both Up and Down Marshalling Yards have gone to be replaced by carriage berthing sidings. Only four tracks remain in the ‘Bramdean’ section of the former Down Yard, which are allocated to use by freight trains.

Assistance with the preparation of this diagram was provided by Colin Watts

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Picture Gallery From the Editor’s Archive

Above: M7 Class 0-4-4T No.30108, the original ‘Rosebud’ stands over the ash pit at Swanage on the 10th July 1963. The rosebud stickers can be seen in the noughts of the number. This picture contains a wealth of detail for the modeller: The overturned wheel barrow, the water tower with door leading to store underneath, a small shed to the right of the water tower, oil cans outside the store, boarding over point rodding, two ground signals, inspection pit, the pile of ash and irons left leaning against the loco.

Left: Two Class 3F ‘Jintys’ stand outside Willesden Shed on the London Midland Region, on 8th March 1964. The first is No.47341. Notice that even in the yellow afternoon sunshine the whole scene has taken on a blue/grey colour. The photograph was taken on Kodachrome II film at the same time as the cover picture and there has been no loss of colour over the years.

FEBRUARY 2004 17

Above: A BR Class 3 2-6-2T passes the Talyllyn Station at Towyn Wharf on 4th July 1964. Notice the track in the first siding. The bullhead chairs are sitting on individual concrete blocks and the track gauge is held by steel ties at every third block. Notice also the detail of the GW lower quadrant signal.

Vale of Rheidol 2-6-2T No.9 ‘Prince of Wales’ is being prepared at the old Aberystwyth loco shed beside the Afon (River) Rheidol for the afternoon trip to Devils Bridge on 20th August 1965. To load as much coal as possible it was normal practice to place boards across the cab doors and pile coal on the floor. The train would leave Aberystwyth with the driver standing on a pile of coal.

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also included a spell as banking engines on the Lickey incline. In their later years, the Hymeks were concentrated in West London and withdrawal started in 1971, completing in 1975 as a result of BR’s policy to standardise on Diesel Electric transmissions.

When introduced, Hymeks were painted in a two-tone green livery, later receiving BR corporate blue with yellow ends. D7054 was the only member of the class to survive until withdrawal in late 1972 without being painted blue. It spent several months at Laira before being towed to Swindon for cutting up in 1973.

The Model

On opening the box, one immediately realises that there is enough room for two models! The instruction sheet is the first item to come out of the box. The instructions are good with several diagrams and part numbers. Unfortunately, the section on the history of the prototype is incomplete – it stops mid sentence!

The loco is well packaged with a polystyrene surround and sits inside a plastic bag. This makes it extremely easy to remove the model without touching it, you simply lift the end of the bag.

Unfortunately, despite the excellent packaging, the ____

The latest addition to the British outline market has arrived in the form of a Hymek Diesel Hydraulic locomotive from Heljan.

The Hymeks were introduced in 1961 to meet the BR Western Region requirement for a Type 3 power range locomotive. Built by Beyer Peacock of Gorton, Manchester, a total of 101 examples of this 1,740hp design were built. Transmission was Diesel-Hydraulic utilising a single powerful Maybach MD870 power unit as opposed to the twin-engine design of the larger ‘Warships’ and ‘Westerns’.

The initial order was for 45 locomotives (D7000-D7044), which were fitted with Stone Vapor steam generators. The later locomotives (D7045-D7100) were fitted with Spanner Mk3 boilers.

Deliveries to WR depots continued through to February 1964 when the last of the class was delivered to Newton Abbott. The ‘Hymeks’ formed the backbone of the WR mixed-traffic diesel fleet through the 1960’s and into the 1970’s and could be found operating in significant numbers across the whole of the WR except for Cornwall where they were less common due to a shortage of trained drivers. Duties ranged from top link express passenger services to pick-up freights and ______

Review of the new Heljan Hymek By Graham Plowman

Graham reviews the 4mm scale model of the Western Region diesel hydraulic, which has become available from Heljan of Denmark

FEBRUARY 2004 19

model under review had a broken buffer on one end and the broken part was not to be found in the box. Given the excellent packing of the box and the packaging by Hattons for mail order, it is highly likely that this model was broken before it left the Heljan factory. Contacting Heljan to resolve this has been difficult because they only supply postal addresses and fax numbers in the literature. There is a website and it does have an e-mail contact, but only to Denmark.

The buffers are not sprung. The box contains two packs of fittings, one for snow ploughs and one containing buffer beam pipe-work.

On removing the model from its protective plastic bag, the first thing which is obvious is it’s weight. And what a superb model it is! The model has certainly captured the overall image of the prototype very well. All of the plastic bodywork is finely moulded and paintwork is neatly completed on the entire model. The cabs have interior detailing. One notable problem is the buffer beam cowling – it is black plastic. It should be painted in yellow/green, the same colour as the lower part of the body sides. Only D7000, the first Hymek had the cowling painted black upon introduction. They all reverted to black when BR corporate blue was applied. For those wishing to make the correction, it is easy to do: the buffers are actually long spindles which when pulled off, release the cowling so that it can be painted separately. The author used a screwdriver to lever the back of the buffer beam as the buffers need pulling hard to remove them risking breakage. Railmatch 302 Yellow Green is recommended for painting the cowling. The buffer/cowling assembly must be removed to fit the snow ploughs.

A number of comments have appeared in various forums stating that the colour of the numerals on the cab sides of the model is white. It can be confirmed that they are a silvery grey, which represents the prototype colour well. The prototype locos had separately attached stainless steel numerals, which were not painted. The _____

with the routes they represent. It would be helpful if the route information was to be supplied with the instructions: 0Z28 Light engine to Swindon 1A26 Express passenger, Swansea to Paddington

(1962) 1F46 Paddington to Pembroke Dock (1962) 1M28 Express passenger to LMR 1O59 Express passenger, Cardiff to Portsmouth

(1969-1970) 1V23 Express passenger, Portsmouth to Bristol

(1969-1970 and 1973) 2H90 Local passenger, Swindon-Gloucester (1962-

1965) 2T82 Local passenger, Paddington to Hereford

(1963) 3C49 Vans/Parcels to Cardiff (prior to 1971) 6B18 Fitted freight, Bristol area 8B49 Not fully fitted freight, Bristol area 7O42 The ‘O’ is purposely distorted on the sheet. It is

suspected to be from the early 70’s period when headcodes were no longer used and headcodes were set to the locomoive’s number.

Performance

This model has all wheel drive, with no traction tyres. The pickup is from wiper contacts on the backs of all wheels. Straight out of the box it runs extremely smoothly without any running in. There is absolutely no wheel wobble and the model runs very steadily.

The pulling power is certainly enough to match the prototype. Dismantling is achieved the same way as Lima models; the body is prised away from the chassis to release the internal locating lugs. Unlike Lima models, there is no external evidence of the lugs. Power is via a centrally mounted can motor with cardan shafts to both bogies. The model is ‘DCC ready’ and ____

numerals on the model are printed and do not have the raised appearance of the prototype, but it looks very acceptable.

The prototype had a very characteristic cylinder attached to the body just under the buffer beams. This has been well represented and cleverly attached to the bogies above the NEM coupling socket.

The roof fan vent is correctly off-centre. It is a moulded representation of a grill and there is no fan underneath. It is well moulded with a hint of a fan and certainly does not detract from any realism.

Also supplied in the box is a sheet of headcodes to be fitted by the customer. The headcode panel is illuminated in the direction of travel. The headcodes appear to have been largely sourced from the Ian Allan book ‘The WR Hydraulics’ by Hugh Dady. They are listed here ___

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the circuit board is retained by rather novel rubber clips. Other Comments

This model is not designed for fitting screw couplings. There is a significant section of chassis block behind the buffer beams which prevents a coupling shank from being threaded through. To fit screw couplings requires removal of part of the chassis block.

The coupling supplied is the same as the Bachmann Blue Ribband coupling, they are exactly the same shape and size. Handrails are all separately fitted wire and look very good. Windscreen wipers are fitted and the horns ____

are fitted above the cab. Both are moulded very neatly. The back-to-back wheel measurement is 14.3mm,

which runs perfectly on Peco code 75 and code 100 track.

This offering from Heljan is a very accurately made model, which captures the image of the prototype very well. It is a very useful addition to any early period BR(WR) layout and could also be justified on other regions. These locomotives travelled off the WR, for example to Portsmouth and Redhill on the Southern.

At £75.00 it is a fairly expensive model, but the quality more than justifies the price.

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