Clayton #5843 in Ex-Works Conditon

It's been three years since I first started work on a model of Clayton #5843, and in that time I've worked on three different models. The first had issues around the print bending and was never finished. The second was built for running on Rhyd but balance issues meant the heavy pewter driver figure caused the loco to kangaroo along the track, so he had to be replaced by a plastic figure. I've now finally finished the third iteration of the model (another commission so I've still not built one for myself) that includes more weight and finally allows the nice pewter figure from Andrew C Stadden to take it's place in the "cab".

It's new owner has requested it in ex-works condition (so they can have it weathered to match existing stock) and so here it is fresh from the paint shop.

While it would benefit from a little more running in (difficult on my short O14 test track) it's running a lot smoother than previous versions with the driver figure on board and is showing no sign of bouncing along the track.

Now I really should get another set of parts together and build one for myself, but first I'll need to take a trip to the post office to get this one on the way to its new home.

Finally, Some Movement

Having spent some time over the weekend when the little one was asleep doing some work, I managed in return to get a little noisy modelling done yesterday while he was at nursery; I do love having a job that allows me flexibility in when I work as long as the work gets done. The result is that I've managed to move the Clayton O14 loco build along a little to the point where it's now moving under track power.

The downside of more weight is that there is even less space inside than before so I had quite a few problems with electrical shorts, but after some careful tidying and some electrical tape in key areas it moves. Clearly the wiring is just temporary; there isn't room in the loco for all that spare wire but I've left everything nice and long until I sort out the lights and will wire everything up properly in one go at the end. The pickups possibly also need a tweak here and there to improve running, but I'll probably do this once the model is painted as they'll only get knocked when the wheels are dropped out etc. The good news is that with the extra weight introduced in this version it seems to run nicely, although I'll only know for certain how it performs once I try adding the rather heavy driver figure as that was what caused the most problems last time. For now I'm happy with how it's coming along though.

Whilst assembling the model I did briefly ponder another change from the previous version. I managed to accidentally assemble the model without fitting axle bearings. The result, as you can see in the video, was that the wheels were free to rotate slightly around the centre line of the locomotive.

Many models are actually designed to incorporate features similar to this, usually refereed to as a compensated chassis, to help the wheels maintain contact with the track at all times, and hence to ensure proper power collection over points etc. While I did briefly ponder leaving the model like this I decided not to, simply as I was worried that the plastic gear would suffer terrible wear against the stainless steel keeper plate, but has anyone done anything like this before? Any thoughts on how successful or terrible an idea it is?

Progress Update

It's been almost a month since my last post and while there hasn't been a huge amount of modelling achieved I thought it worth doing a quick update.

First up, there has been some work on the latest Clayton build. That photo may not look too impressive but the box the body parts are resting on holds a few more bits of work. I've now collected all the parts together to complete the build, and I've assembled the wheelsets and the main layshaft. Most of the work though has gone into preparing the 3D body prints. Normally I spray my models from an aerosol can which puts the paint on reasonably thickly and hides some of the print issues. I'm hoping though to move to using an airbrush for painting so that I don't end up hiding small details etc. and can have access to a wider range of colours. This means though that I need to spend more time preparing the model surfaces. So far both parts have had two rounds of rubbing down with 2000 grit sandpaper after being sprayed with Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500. It's the first time I've tried using this stuff and so far I'm impressed, although the proof will come when I apply a layer of primer.

And now for something completely different. I usually model in my study, unfortunately the desk is pushed up against a thin internal wall and on the other side is my son's cot, so doing much when he's asleep is tricky, and I've avoided doing too much modelling in the lounge after he's gone to bed due to the inevitable mess I'd make. I've especially avoided doing anything with metals and plastics that might leave nasty stray bits if I don't clean up properly. So wanting a project I could work on in the lounge after he was in bed, I've picked up a kit made mostly from wood. I'm not going to reveal what that is just yet but as a clue, I decided to scratch build a brake wheel for it.

An Extra 8.5g

As some of you figured out the new parts I showed in the previous post are a revised version of the keeper plate in the O14 Clayton battery electric locomotive I've been modelling on and off for the last two and a bit years, having started on it back in May of 2015. I did finish a complete model at the end of 2015 but that is now earning it's keep in Rhyd. Initial running trials at Rhyd showed that while the model worked okay it wasn't really heavy enough, especially if the driver was on the heavy side, and had a tendency to bounce. For the past year I've been slowly thinking about ways to add more weight and this is the result.

On the left we have the original keeper plate as fitted to the model now running on Rhyd. In the middle we have the revised keeper plate which is quite a bit thicker and has much taller ends. On the right we then have a new part which is purely to add weight; it doesn't have any specific function, unlike the keeper plate. This fits between the motor and the layshaft directly over the wheels.

The original keeper plate weighed 6.3g whereas the two new parts together weight 14.8g so an extra 8.5g, or viewed another way, an increase of 135%. Hopefully this should drastically improve the running quality of the model by helping to keep it securely on the rails. Hopefully I'll find out reasonably soon how much of an improvement as I need to get on and build the new model because, yet again, I've been commissioned to build it for someone else, so I still won't have finished one for myself!

As a bit of an aside, and because I think it's interesting, I thought it worth a few comments on weighting models and I why I've taken the route I have. Often when trying to add weight to models people use Liquid Gravity which is essentially a lot of tiny little heavy beads; would probably have been lead shot at some point in the past but health and safety rules means it's no longer lead based.

Liquid Gravity is nice and easy to use as you simply pour the beads into the available space within the model and keep it in place with a little superglue. I used this approach when building the Hudson-Hunslet model as it meant I could fill the tiniest of spaces to add extra weight. While the manufacturers don't provide any details on the weight of Liquid Gravity for a given volume I did find a review that had tried to estimate how heavy it really is. They found that it weighed roughly 4.15 g/cm3 which is actually quite light when compared to lead which weighs 11.3 g/cm3.

The stainless steel that I've had the parts 3D printed in is referred to by Shapeways as being 420 steel. Having had a hunt around I've found that 420 steel should have a weight of 7.74 g/cm3; so an 86% increase in weight for the same volume. Shapeways also give the material volume of each part and checking I found that the original part (with a volume of 0.8141cm3) should have a weight of 6.3g and the new parts (with a combined volume of 1.8215cm3) should weight 14.1g which matches nicely with the final weights of the printed parts.

When building such small models it seems silly not to take advantage of the extra weight of the stainless steel especially given that it can be printed to exactly fit within other printed parts and, in the case of the keeper plate, to serve a function at the same time. I'll certainly by continuing with this approach on future models, although Liquid Gravity still has it's uses.

A Better Fit

Late last week I had a delivery from Shapeways which contained the next iteration of the parts for the O14 Clayton battery electric loco I'm working on. This is now version three of the design and it looks like I've solved all the outstanding problems with the previous version.

The main differences are to the way the parts fit together. Firstly I've narrows the steel weight slightly (which involved changing the shape of the cutouts for the screws) so that it will fit inside the body without distorting the sides. In the previous design the two main parts of the model were mostly held together as a friction fit, but only along two small surfaces (the back and front of the top piece fit against the front buffer beam and the front of the driver area). In theory this was enough, but often the parts would warp ever so slightly during the printing process and although they would hold initially would spring apart just by sitting there. Also if viewed from low down there was a slight visible gap between the two parts above the wheels.

I've solved the problem by adding more material to both parts to increase the surface area of the interlocking sections. This means there is now a block on the bottom of the upper part that slots between two of the supports in the bottom half to keep the flat rear area flat. To make sure the front part stays together, and to get rid of the slight gap, I've extended the body sides upwards so that they fit inside the top half by a couple of mm. This seems to work so well that once the parts are together they require a fair amount of force to separate. Combined with the retaining screws it looks as if it will be a nice solid model once I've built it up.

Talking of building it, this model is going to be a little different to every other one I've built as once it's running it will be packed up and shipped off to it's new owner. When I was visiting ExpoNG I spent a very enjoyable evening drinking beer and talking railways with David John the builder of the wonderful O14 layout Rhyd. He was really taken with the first prototype of the Clayton and has asked me to build one to run on the quarry tramway. Normally I'd have waited and built up another print rather than what is in essence a prototype model, but as it is destined to be one of David's Christmas present I don't have time to order more parts. It will also be heading to David unpainted as I feel that my loco painting skills (wave an aerosol can at it) fall well below that of the other locos on the layout. Anyway David has kindly agreed that I can document the build and hopefully at some point there will be photos of it earning it's keep on Rhyd.

The Little Details

I'd intended to be able to show you a moving Clayton locomotive by now, but one of the test etches that arrived in the post a few days ago was all the details for the loco so I'm going to build these up and add them before completing the mechanical side of things. This may sound like a daft order but once I add the lights the two parts of the loco will be joined together making it more awkward to paint and detail.

I've discovered that moving to a larger scale (7mm to the foot in this case) has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include being able to more accurately model some of the details, the disadvantage is that the extra detail actually often means smaller parts. For example....

This reversing lever (at least I assume that's what it is) is made of eight separate etched pieces all soldered together. Fortunately seven of the layers all contain a hole for the pivot wire so are "fairly" easy to align and hold in position while they are soldered together; the eighth piece was a little more fiddly.

It may have been a little fiddly to put together but I'm really happy with the way it's turned out. I didn't know how well some of the finer parts would hold up to the etching process or how it would look once assembled but I'd call this a success.

I can certainly understand why some people enjoy the larger scales for the level of detail it allows, but I'm not sure how true the idea of the larger scales being easier on the eyesight really is.

A Part Assembled Clayton Locomotive

Having built some O14 track ready for the Clayton battery loco I thought I should make a start on assembling it. Due to the rather large wheels it sports I decided it would be easier to paint it before assembly, we'll see how successful an idea this was at some point but for now this is the current state of play.

While all of the photos I've seen of the loco in use (just two if you remember) show it painted orange I understand that when it was originally delivered it was finished in Clayton's standard yellow colour. As this is the first prototype I've built and I had a can of yellow paint, this one will be painted yellow.

As well as painting I've assembled the layshaft, which slides into place pre-assembled, I've cut the OO gauge axles down to the right length, and I've sorted out most of the electrical side. The motor is actually rated at 12V so in theory could be wired directly to the pickups, but I'm going to try and fit working lights, so the little PCB holds a resistor and capacitor ready for wiring in the lights.

I'll probably leave the paint a day or so to fully harden, given past experience of spraying this Humbrol acrylic (while it feels dry it's possible to leave fingerprints in the surface for a day or so after painting), and then will assemble and test the mechanical parts before adding the working lights.

Clayton #5843: Now With Wheels

While the parts on their own looked good I thought it was worth showing you how the loco looks roughly assembled with wheels fitted.

Obviously the axles need cutting down in length, but they were just fitted to test that the bearings were nicely aligned and that the chassis would roll freely. Unfortunately I found that the holes for the bearings were slightly too small. I'd intended brass bearings to be a push fit into the print but I had to ream out the holes slightly for the bearings to fit. This was easy enough to do for the wheels, but the holes for the layshaft bearings are harder to access so they will need to be made slightly bigger on the next print to make life easier.

First Prototype of Clayton #5843

I had a Shapeways order arrive yesterday which should give me even more things to blog about so you don't get bored with my bridge building experiments. There were parts for quite a few new models in the order but I'll start with showing the parts for the Clayton battery electric locomotive I described back at the end of May.

From an initial look at the parts they have printed quite well with only a few places that might need smoothing down before painting. I have, however, discovered two issues. Firstly with the print as I designed it I can't actually fit the motor, and the fixing between the top and bottom isn't perfect.

As the motor I'm using doesn't have any fixing holes built in I designed the mount to hold it in place with a friction fit. Unfortunately I didn't leave enough space to angle the motor down through the front part of the mount. Fortunately I think I'll be able to file down part of the mount to fit the motor, and then update the digital model when I know if that works or not.

While the top and bottom parts fir together well, the upper part is ever so slightly bowed. While only slight pressure is required to flatten it this isn't possible once the parts are fitted, and the mounting screw holes are at the wrong end to make any difference. Fortunately I think a slight redesign of the motor mount to provide a slightly tighter fit of the two parts would cure this so again not a real problem.

So even with those issues the model looks promising. I'll clean up the print and then start trying to build up the model. The bottom part will actually need painting before assembly (no way of painting behind those wheels among other things) but painting the top part will have to wait until the etched parts arrive. Anyway there is no rush as long as I'm enjoying myself.

Clayton Battery Electric Locomotive No. 5843

While work is still ongoing to turn the Hudson-Hunslet into a kit I've already started work on designing another model. As with the Hudson-Hunslet I've picked something with local interest; this time to where I live now rather than where I grew up.

As I've mentioned a number of times before the Penistone line from Hudersfield to Sheffield runs along the bottom of our garden. Until 1981 the line also formed part of the Woodhead route between Sheffield and Manchester. The line to Manchester branched from the current line at Penistone and climbed into the Peak District where it entered a tunnel at Dunford Bridge before reappearing at Woodhead and continuing to Glossop and on to Manchester. Since the line originally opened in 1845 there have been three parallel tunnels built. The original tunnel was joined by a second one in 1853 and a new tunnel replaced both of these in 1953 when the line was electrified. When the new tunnel opened in 1954 the two Victorian tunnels were closed and the track lifted and they remained unused until 1966.

In 1963 the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), now known as the National Grid, announced that they wanted to construct an overhead power line linking Thorpe Marsh power station in Yorkshire with Staylbridge in Cheshire. There was significant public objections, however, to allowing pylons to be built within the Peak District and eventually the CEGB decided to route the cables through the old Victorian railway tunnels. As part of this work a 2 foot gauge railway was installed within the northern of the two tunnels to ease access. A number of locomotives have worked this line but my interest has been caught by Clayton battery electric locomotive works number 5843 which was a one off variant of a standard Clayton design using larger wheels to give a higher top speed.

The locomotive was delivered new in 1971 and withdrawn, I believe, sometime during the 1990's. It's now owned by the Moseley Railway Trust who purchased it in 2000. Amazingly these two photos are the only colour images I've been able to find of it in use prior to preservation (there is a black and white photo in issue 77 of the Industrial Railway Society journal). It's not just photos of the locomotive that are hard to find though. Given how much interest there is in the standard gauge Woodhead route I can find almost no published accounts of the 2 foot gauge railway that replaced it. I'm guessing this is mostly due to only short sections at either end of the tunnel being visible to the public and both of these are in fairly out of the way places. If you happen to know of any more details on the line, the locos or the rolling stock I'd appreciate it if you could leave a comment.

Fortunately, while details of it in active use might be scarce I already had a set of drawings done by Jeremy Tilston in 2005 and these have allowed me to make a start on a model. Currently progress is only virtual as I'm again intending to 3D print the majority of the model.

There are still a few details to add before I order a print but the render on the left seems to be a good representation. My plan is to print it in two halves; a chassis (in orange) to which all the mechanical parts will be fitted and then an upper body (in yellow) which will slide over the motor and be secured by two screws. What you can't tell from the images is that this model is in a new scale for me.

I really wanted to produce a model of this locomotive in OO9, the same scale as the Hudson-Hunslet, unfortunately it just wasn't possible. On the Hudson-Hunslet the motor just fitted within the bodywork, unfortunately on this locomotive there isn't enough space in OO9 to fit even a 6mm x 10mm motor horizontally within the body and if fitted vertically the driveshaft would be almost touching the rail and two low to drive the layshaft. This means I've had to move up a scale and this model is designed for O14. For those not familiar with this scale it models narrow gauge in O scale (7mm to the foot) using 14mm gauge track. This has the advantage of being an accurate representation of 2 foot gauge railways. Even in this larger scale the model is very small and in fact won't be much bigger than the OO9 Hudson-Hunslet!

Of course having never modelled in O14, or any scale larger than 4mm to the foot, I'm going to have to see what modelling skills work in a larger scale and which need some more thought. I'm also going to need to build some 14mm gauge track to test it on. I can see months of fun ahead!