Saltford Models 'Mudmaster'

 As you know, I rarely feature anything on this blog that I haven't built myself, however I'm making an exception for this little rarity;

It's a Saltford Models K1 Hudson Hunslet (also known as 'Mudmaster'), bought from the 009 Society's stall at Narrow Gauge North last weekend.

It's very nicely built and finished, with the exception of the cab roof which needs to be removed, straightened and re-painted.

The kit was brass, with the chassis block and engine being cast and the bodywork and frame sides etched.

Interestingly, the frames on the prototype is a single casting as well.

The buffer/coupler blocks aren't part of the original kit, these are also Saltford castings as used in the K4 Simplex and also supplied separately. Nameplates are also Saltford items.

I have removed the cab roof, in the photo above the ECM motor can be seen.

Drive is to both axles using an idler gear;

Wheels are nickel silver and the axles run in brass bearings. Note the ballast weights behind the buffer beams.

I've applied a drop of oil where appropriate and cleaned the wheels, and I'm happy to say that the loco runs well.

Paul.

Mining remains at Hay Dale, Derbyshire

 We have a new dog, a rescue from Spain who's very reactive. So, we're looking for quiet out-of-the-way places to walk him until he's more settled and we can be better placed to deal with his anxiety and reactivity. As a result of that today we took a walk along the Limestone Way down through Hay Dale nature reserve, in the White Peak. This took us past some mining remains, much to my surprise. I was even more surprised to find the rusted out body of a Hudson Jubilee skip wagon;

The view above is looking towards the adit, the one below away;

Looking into the adit, there's what looks like an old red tent behind the screen;

You have been warned!

Another view;

Fuel tank from what looks like a tractor, the left hand end was for petrol used for starting and the right hand for TVO (tractor vapourising oil, basically paraffin);

By the look of it the line came out of the adit on an incline to a tipping dock. The remains of the dock are very overgrown and difficult to interpret;

Like I said, very overgrown!;

A quick scout around on the web reveals very little information, the most useful being this page from Derbyshire County Council. However, there may be more, I'm not great at searching.

Paul.

Parkside Dundas DM65 Hudson dropside bogie wagon.

I've not done much modelling recently, so to make up for a lack of effort and get myself back to building I've been finishing off a few projects, some of which have been hanging around for quite a while.

This kit was started last year, I got as far as the painting stage but then stalled, possibly because I'm not keen on painting...

Its rather a nice kit to build, the parts are all crisply moulded and fit together well. The floor is moulded in two halves with holes for the bogie pivot screws, and its worth putting the effort in to disguise the join. Two screws are provided to attach the bogies, the floor needs to be countersunk for the screw heads so they are just below the surface, then the screws can be glued in place and the heads hidden with a filler. After the body was finished I epoxied a strip of lead (aquarium plant weight) under the floor. Just for the record I managed to snap off the brake standard, luckily there's a spare included. Couplings are RT Models etches, using the larger NGWC003 loops, chosen as the smaller size suits the bogies better than any of the larger alternatives.

I was going to paint it black all over, so I started with a squirt of Hycote red auto oxide primer. But the red oxide looked just right so I left it at that, at least for the outer body. The inner body is a mix of Humbrol Leather and Citadel Rhinox Hide, and the bogies are painted with Phoenix Precision Dirty Black. A squirt of Testors Dullcoat finishes things off.

It sits nicely with my A1 Models diesel;

Which is partly why I bought it, I like to have stock that suits my locos.

Paul.

Leander Architectural Open Day.

Leander Architectural is a small foundry based in Doves Holes, Derbyshire. They specialise in cast signposts, plaques, etc, see their website here. The company is run by Ted McAvoy, who is also a railway enthusiast. Around the rear of the works is a short 2" gauge railway and a collection of stock, including a Motor Rail Simplex. Today Ted had organised an open day, which will probably be the last as Ted is looking towards retirement. I took a day off work and headed over, camera in hand.

After signing in and paying a donation towards a Downs Syndrome charity (the day raised £315) I went around the side of the building, where stock sits in a couple of sidings;

An escaped slate rubbish waggon, note the double-flanged wheels;

The first 'loco' encountered was the diminutive 'Wasp', powered by what seems to be a motorcycle engine;

Running around the yard was 'Turbo Ted' (MR9543/50). Rebuilt at one stage by Alan Keef Ltd with an air-cooled Duetz diesel engine it is unusual in that the driver faces left when seated as opposed to facing right on a standard 20/28;

'TT' was being used to give rides along the 'U'shaped line;

I rather cheekily asked if I could have a drive of the Simplex, after explaining that I once rebuilt a 20/28. Ted quickly went over the controls and left me to it. I would have been happy with a quick run up and down but as people kept photographing and filming the loco at work I kept on driving, probably doing over a dozen runs. Which I have to say I rather enjoyed. A photo and brief description of this loco as re-built appears in 'Motor Rail Ltd' by Alan M. Keef.

On the flat wagon sits a Wingrove Rogers battery loco;

Human power was also represented;

The second one started life as an exercise bike! I had a play on it, interestingly it has a fixed wheel (its a long time since I rode a fixie!).

Inside the building sat a small copy of a Porter, recently imported from Australia;

And a Lister awaiting restoration;

Around the yard sit various wagons;

Whilst we were there we watched some castings being poured. The big blue box is an electric furnace;

Once the castings have cooled sufficiently the sand is knocked away;

Note the Hudson skip, is this the last skip in industrial use in the UK? Its in very good condition anyway;

And finally, a look at the track;

Points are of the 'kick across' type, typical of industrial narrow gauge concerns.

A good day out. With thanks to Ted for allowing us to visit, and to Mark for the tip-off.

Paul.

Don't forget that clicking on a photo brings up a larger image.

A pair of derelict skip bodies.

Just outside Stoney Middleton, next to the A623, the eagle-eyed railway enthusiast might just spot a couple of old dumped skip bodies up an earthen bank. If said enthusiast has a camera he might even pull over and scramble up the rather steep bank in an undignified manner, especially if he's wearing an old pair of DMs rather than something more suited to steep loose earth. And these are the photos that he might have taken;

The first body;

These look like standard Hudson products. No sign of any chassis.
And the second;

These can be found at approximately SK217758, on the south side of the road. At the top of the bank is a worked out quarry. Nothing else of interest could be seen from the top of the bank.

Paul.

Langley OO9 skip wagon.

One of the lesser known OO9 kits, I picked this up from Langley's stand at recent exhibition. It appears to be a Hudson Rugga skip wagon, cast in whitemetal, complete with a miner figure;

Judging by the cast curly spoke wheels it looks to be a purely static kit. We'll see about that...

After a bit of fettling I decided to have a look at fitting wheels. Holes are cast in the back of the axleboxes for the pin-point axles supplied, but there's no obvious way of fitting those axles. Now the beauty of whitemetal is that its pliable, within reason, so I decided to simply bend out the frames to allow the axles to fit. So I didn't have to bend too far I filed away part of the inner face of the axlebox, so that the holes are shallower. I also found that the holes weren't quite deep enough anyway, so I drilled them a touch deeper. To do this I made a simple 'D' drill (so called because of the shape of the business end when seen end on) by taking a spare pin-point axle and filing away half of the end, whitemetal is soft so the drill doesn't have to be hardened. Cast un-insulated wheels and two-rail pick up simple won't get along together, so Parkside Dundas 5.1mm disc wheels are used in their place, which set the coupling height at the standard 6mm. Interestingly the supplied axles are 15.2mm long and 1.6mm dia. as opposed to the more usual 15mm long and 1.5mm dia. An old standard? Wheels are simply fitted by pushing the frame sides back together!

Here's my crude 'D' drill;

Unsuprisingly couplings are not supplied, so I drilled pivot holes through the stanchions (.5mm) and made loops from .45mm brass wire. The outer part of the holes are disguised with Squadron Green putty. Hooks (not fitted in the photo below) are simple .45 brass wire;

I applied a couple of coats of Hycote acrylic car primer (red oxide), straight from the can, followed by Revel Aqua Color (sic) 378 Dark Grey brushed on. For some odd reason this is 'silk matt' (who needs silk matt grey?) so a coat of matt varnish will be applied next time the airbrush is set up. The interior is just my usual mix of Humbrol 'Leather' and Citadel 'Rhinox Hide'. Here it is next to a Parkside Rugga skip;

I'm sure that this kit is of a 27 cu.ft. Rugga skip judging by the shape of the skip body, but there are a couple of oddities about the design. The axleboxes look like they're sprung (the detail looks to be an etched overlay added to the pattern) and there are crude rivetted strips around the ends of the skip body, neither of which match Hudson's standard design. It does look like a horizontal strengthening strip has been removed from the master, leaving witness marks. Take away those axle boxes and rivet strips and it bears a striking resemblance to the old Saltford Models kit. Its also overscale, the frame scales at 7'9" long and 4'1" wide, meaning that its a scale 1'6" too long and 1'3" too wide. By my reckoning its about 5mm/foot scale.

Unusually for me I've built this kit as it comes, with no added detail. I bought it out of curiosity rather than as a serious addition to my (rather eclectic) wagon fleet. It does sit well with my Saltford Models Simplex though...

...but I don't fancy Miner Willy's chances of pushing the thing...

...as it weighs a hefty 19 grams! (Parkside skips weigh about 2 grams!).

Paul.