I think it is probably time I got a new thread going dedicated solely to my little pet project the West Wales and Midlands Union Railway. Basically it is an amalgamation of companies and routes stretching from Northamptonshire to Pyle via Worcester and Cardiff for the main purposes of bringing iron ore to the Welsh ironworks. At some point I will probably create a blog to legitimise the "fluff" and history. For now the dirty task of manufacturing the physical products in OO will do. I have had a few projects on the go for this but I suppose the most fitting one to start with is my most recent. In anticipation of this scheme I have bought up a good deal of hornby 0 4 0s in various states and researched a suitable copycat scheme which I believe I have found in the LNWR 4 foot shunter. The hornby chassis shares a good deal of similar dimensions with the 4 foot tanks and with a mild amount of surgery the chassis can be cut down to a reasonable size without compromising the motor mount. The projected loco is an 0 4 0 saddle tank shunting class built from the 1860s by a WW&MUR predecessor, the Oxfordshire and Northants who, by providing the first of the Union's chief Loco engineers, allowed the design to continue being built after the amalgamation. I have three initial variants which I want to try to construct; as built with a small weatherboard and unbraked, fitted with a small cab and unbraked, and finally fitted with a small cab and Westinghouse braked. I am attempting to tackle the as built design first as the prototype and here is my progress. I still haven't finalised the classification system for locos on the WW&MU yet mainly because I havent thought up enough individual designs, therefore for the time being I am temporally dubbing this family of locos the Desmond class. Feel free to ask anything about the loco or indeed the overall scheme hatchery for the WW&MUR. Im pretty open to comments, criticisms or just general bamter about why an impoverished millenial would want to model the most ill catered for period of railway modelling there is, let alone a freelanced company which practically needs creating from the ground up!
What an interesting layout plan you have going Bazzmund... I intend to follow this one for sure. cheers York Paul
An outside frame version would look good as well. I have a good book on LSWR Locomotive drawings Volume 4 By Mike Sharmon, covering 1835 to 1889, I know the wrong area but the designs are interesting for 0-4-0 / 2-4-0 and even some 0-6-0 designs that could have found thier way to lesser railways. Looking forward to following this thread. Paul
I am planning a few outside framed locos that survive into the 20th century including a small amount of single driver tank locos.
Interesting subject and I look forward to seeing how you get on with this project and others. Cheers, Gary.
It's a melancholic period for me today. It tends to happen if you are a depression sufferer like me however with today being the first shIET entering service on the ECML it means the begining of the end for the 91s I grew up with. Is it me or are some railway facebook pages being filled with trainspotter trolls who if you show a fondness and regret at the sight of something close to your heart being sidelined instantly pounce with the most childish comments and insults? Don't get me wrong - I love trolling the trolls but when did our hobby become a contest and a cult of personality between what you see and what you like? Sigh... On a different note I've carried on work on the Desmond. I was going to keep the plastic clips at the front of the chassis to attach the body to but as seen in one of the pictures above it was putting far too much strain on the footplate. Not fancying a wonky footplate ive chopped them off and gone for the tried and tested screw-in-a-pillar-of-plasticard method. I'm not too sure on the size of the cab so I may add a bit on when it comes to building up the rear bufferbeam.
The tea has been thrown overboard... Brass kits have never been a forte of mine. The sheer horror I went through building a brass underframe for a resin bodied van still resonates in my mind. That said I have thrown caution to the wind and dived in the deep end. Barry and Penarth MRCs show had dragon models in attendance and so I purchased their Taff Vale iron mink kit. A few parts I have left off for reasons of my soldering not being up to scratch just yet but thus far my efforts are below. Sadly the Taff Vale design can't be bashed out of the Ratio kit as the Taffy's vans were a good deal longer than the western's and other welsh companies' vans. I think if the WW&MU has any minks they will be based on the western dimensions
Continued work on the Mink has me thus far. I am starting to warm to the kit now, if only to get both types of end commode handles into the fleet. I wont lie, it still terrifies me for a first timers brass kit.
Its taken a week to the day, countless groans, winces, burns, sheer terror and a few bipolar rants but IT IS DONE! Soldering skills NOT withstanding I think it at least looks like the real thing but will probably need a little tidying up before painting...
You've done well mate. Brass soldering is not something you learn easily, however if you persevere it do'es get better. The trick is to use a hot enough iron for the job, plenty of flux, not too much solder and constantly clean up as you go, it saves a lot of work at the end. Cheer's, Pete.
Ta Pete. The learning curve is visible - as Ive adapted as one side is noticeably more scruffy than the other but im gonna get a grinder on it before I paint and letter it anyway. I have a feeling the iron I have isnt hot enough for some of the more complex parts required but as it stands its an ok first go. On discussion with the wifey and comparing the ratio plastic kit and the Taff Vale even she says its not a viable option to use a ratio van as a Taffy one due to the size difference. Looking more likely that I will be getting another one in the future!
Progress continues on painting. It seems a rare instance of iron solebars being painted body colour BUT STILL NEEEING TO PICK OUT THE UNDERFRAME IRONWORK IN BLACK!!! Mr Hurry-Riches what were you doing in west dock? Progress stops tonight as Hull KR are playing 'Uddersfeld tonight in Superleague.
It's probably not the soldering iron not being hot enough, more likely that it's not a high enough wattage. When you attempt soldering larger areas of brass, what happens is that the surrounding metal conducts the heat away faster than the iron can supply it, so the solder, when it eventually starts to melt, is only just on the point of melting and is lumpy and cools very rapidly. I don't know what wattage your iron is, but for soldering areas of brass, I'd suggest a minimum of 60 watts, better with either 80 or even 100 watt if possible, though get one with a fairly small tip otherwise it's like soldering with a fireside poker! My own 'stable' of soldering irons is 15 watt, 25 watt (both mainly for electrical/electronics soldering) 40 watt, 80 watt and 100 watt, a 40 watt variable temperature one just used for low melt soldering, plus my Iroda gas torch which is often useful for larger areas, as like Rob Pulham and York Paul on this forum, I also build brass/white metal models. You might try using a lower melting point solder which may help, and though I normally use 'Electronics' solder for main assembly with brass fret, (more tin, less lead, so it's a stronger bond), the low melting point solder is essential when soldering white metal to brass otherwise you end up with molten parts! I prefer Phosphoric acid as flux, and a point to bear in mind if you use different melting point solders is not to use the same iron (or at least change the tip) so as to avoid cross contamination by mixing different melting point solders on the same iron tip. If you haven't found out already with soldering, as with many things in life, 'Practice makes Perfect'! Keith.
Thanks for the info Keith. Upon reflection I think I do need a higher wattage iron going forward. At some point I may try soldering white metal kits however I tend to be ok with Stupor Glue on that particular medium
What is a true labour of love is finally coming to an end. On a side note, I really hate pressfix transfers!
And that's that. She is finally complete. Painted, lettered and varnished. 22 days from purchase to completion - a record for me!
