River Dee Meats ... My first foray into O Gauge

Back in post #194, I mentioned that I would get onto building the cattle pens. Well today I took some steps into getting this together.

I ended up cutting several pieces of Code 100 rail that I have to the required lengths. This was then laid out according to a sketch I had drawn up using a few measurements from this link : https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrsh2951.htm

This is all the rail I need at the moment, approximately 50 individual pieces... (but I get the feeling I will require more... )

Next up was the 'fingers burning' job.., soldering the rails together.

Using two pieces of 5mm thick balsa cut to 8mm wide was used as spacers to get it all together and make the soldering consistent. Between the top three rails, the gap is 8mm and between the bottom rail and the next one up, the gap is 5mm. Rolling the balsa pieces is all that I needed to do. These fences are both the end sections.

Not the best soldering effort, but I'll clean all this excess solder up with a wire wheel on my dremel. These are the centre fences along the face of the cattle pen

Joining the corners together wasn't the easiest task as the web of the rail and the base of the rail had to be soldered together. A fair amount of solder was also used as a filler.

The centre fences had the dividing fences soldered on and this is the result so far...

The gates will be constructed from either bass wood, balsa or styrene. I haven't decided yet but this will be tomorrows job...

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thank you Steve.

Thank you Toto.

At the moment I will leave it as soldered rail, but after the exhibition, I shall prime and paint it. Looking at the pics in the link to the Shirley cattle pens, they look to be either black, or just rusted up rail. I would have imagined this type of construction would of had a lick of paint, possibly white like the common concrete post and steel tube constructed cattle pens, seen elsewhere around the UK.
The reason for not painting them for the time being is that 'River Dee Meats' will be exhibited as a 'work in progress' and not a completed layout, similar to Luib Bridge at Elgin.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thank you Gormo.

The rolling stock register is starting to come together...

I have also ordered a few more kits from Peters Spares which include another cattle van, beer van (for the thirsty workers at the abattoir), an open wagon, a Dapol salt wagon, some Peco line side fence and a new set of wagon buffers as one of the older Parkside kits had cast white metal buffers.

I got some work ahead of me over the next couple of weeks...

Cheers, Gary.

 

A box of tricks was at my front door this afternoon, all the way from Middlesbrough...

Yep, definitely busy times ahead !

Cheers, Gary.

 

Started on the cattle pen gates tonight. I decided to build them in styrene styrene as it will be more forgiving than wood, plus I did not have any wood that was suitable in size. The beauty of styrene is that I can use my 'Chopper' to cut the pieces to the right length, especially the slats. The posts of the gates are 3.2mm square styrene and the slats and diagonal brace are 1.5mm x 2.0mm. Anything larger would have looked wrong in my opinion. Each gate is 32mm high x 22mm wide.

Three down, three more to go for the front fence anyway...

It would be nice to have hinges for these, but I'll knock something up that looks right, but non functional.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Your wish is my command, although a little late...

This ain't a bad model, but for £43.00, you would think there could be a little more detail underneath. All the kits that I have purchased and put together have far better detail than this model and considering they are £32.00 each, the extra £11.00 spent on ready to run from a major manufacturer like Dapol, could have included some more under carriage detail.

Cheers, Gary.

 

True, but when you look at this model and one of the kits I put together, you just know something (a lot of something) is missing...

Cheers, Gary.

 

Cattle pens are coming together now with the platform knocked up and just a few gates to add...

I used the folded top section of cardboard from a packet of Bachmann couplers to make the hinges on the gate. Yes, they are card, but when soaked in super glue, they become reasonably strong and still hinge !

Cheers, Gary.

 

No weathering at the moment, I'll wait to after the exhibition.., too many other bits and pieces to do !

Cheers, Gary.

 

Slowly the layout gathers pace and grace !

I have ordered a station building from Laser Cut Railway Models, a few canopy brackets for the abattoir, a signal box (LMS design) and a coal merchants office and staithes from L-Cut. As well as getting a few wagons complete, I think I'll get the majority of this done prior to the exhibition, all except scenery, ie grass trees, shrubs, ballast, gravel, road surfaces, signs, weathering, people, and the miscellaneous items that pop up around a railway yard...

Anyhow, a few pics of where I'm up to...

Must crack on...

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks Chris. The Epping Club knows it won't have all the scenery in place, but maybe a scenery tutorial during the exhibition could be the go ??

Well, here is a video I shot this afternoon showing where I'm up to with the build...



Cheers, Gary.