Macton locomotive works III

[michael mott]

OK so I confess I have been absent without leave for a while! I hope everyone is well and that the pandemic has abated for some, we seem to be loosening up some restrictions here in Alberta, although I am being very cautious when going to the grocery store or the hardware store.

 

Anyway enough of that this will give some Idea about what I have been doing for the last few months. It has all come about because I was looking at my collection of English model railway magazines and the old railway bylines magazine.

A complete rework of the garden railway because of track issues which happened because I did not make a solid foundation for the track and had it "floating " instead and pinned to a few posts buried in the dirt underneath the track. This led me into another world of my own dreaming.

Years ago I built a small layout called Macton Locomotive Works, which was eventually damaged badly by damp and mold during a poor storage situation when I lived at the lake.

I though I could make a new railway layout in the spare room in the basement so I cleaned it up and made three 2 foot by 4 foot baseboards bolted them together and planned a new iteration of Macton .

I set up the new space in the new "railway room" the problem was up and dow the stairs a lot and not very nice light, meaning very little daylight, just a tiny window at the ceiling at the south end of the room.

 

 

 

 

Then I was bringing various tools down to the basement all hand tools but no real bench and a semi shag rug.

 

 

All conspired to the point that I thought I should just move all this stuff up to the model shop. This entailed a big reorganization in the shop, and so it goes.

 

 

 

I am building to the ridiculous scale of 27/32nds to the foot, just shy of 7/8ths to the foot. You might be asking yourselves is this guy nuts or what..... probably!

The reason for this scale is that O gauge track can represent 18 inch gauge at this scale, so rounding up a few thou here and there we get .070" equals 1 inch.  which means that standard gauge is equal to 3.955 inches so I rounded that up to 4 inches. Still a lot smaller than the 1/8" equaling 1 inch which I have been building the cutter at.

 

A layout was prepared that would feature the inside of a locomotive works and a bit of the outside as well.

 

The workshop will give me the opportunity to build some larger model locomotives plus all the overhead cranes and assorted workbenches and other stuff that one finds in these sorts of environments.

I did build a small working loco of Pet, out of plastic to run on O gauge track.

 

And now I can have some fun building some 4 inch gauge locos out of card and plastic as props in the loco works. when I am not working on Cutters or launches

 

 

A working overhead crane will run on a track between the brick arch wall at the back and the columns in the front. The height of the wall at the back and the columns is 21 inches and the overall length of the layout is 12 feet.

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The cutter waits patiently knowing I will work on some more when I run out of the other steam.

 

Michael

 

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Michael,

 

Wonderful!  Will you have  crane operator riding in your overhead crane?  When I began my career we still had crane operators riding in our overhead cranes; later replaced with floor operated pendants operated by the pipe fitters themselves resulting in arguments and a fight once over “waiting on the crane.”

 

The first shop where I worked had a floor made from wood blocks standing upright with their end grain exposed.

 

Roger

[michael mott]

Hi Roger thanks for your kind words and I have been wondering about the floor in the workshop and it occurred to me that wood blocks on end would be a practical floor, forgiving and yet easily replaceable. I seem to remember that some of the sets in the streets of London were wood as well especially around the tram tracks. The overhead crane is is not all that heavy duty and will have a loop of chain hanging down to the floor like this one. In Edward Talbot and Clive Taylor's Book "Crewe Works Narrow Gauge System" published by the London & North Western Railway Society.

And this one shows the flooring in fairly good detail and I had wondered if the sets were wood .

 

Currently I an sorting out the best way to tackle all the brickwork, which will likely be done by adding strips if 140lb watercolour paper and cutting out the vertical gaps as once the strips are glued onto the backing. like this.

 

At least I cannot ever claim to not having something to occupy my time. It's a good thing that I am not into model aeroplanes as well as boats and trains.

here is a shot of the little Crew loco running

 

 

That's all for now

Michael

 

[yvesvidal]

What a fantastic project !!!

 

Yves

[druxey]

Wooden setts? That takes me back a bit!

 

Nice to see you back at work, even if it's not on the boat, Michael. We've missed your posts this past while, so don't abandon us again, please!

[Moab]

Hello Michael; as always I’m looking forward to your build. It’s interesting how a new project seems to necessitate other sub-projects (e.g. reorganizing a shop, new or modified tools, etc.)...Moab

[michael mott]

3 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

What a fantastic project !!!

 

Thank you Yves

 

3 hours ago, druxey said:

Nice to see you back at work, even if it's not on the boat, Michael. We've missed your posts this past while, so don't abandon us again, please!

Thanks Druxey , I am always a b it hesitant about posting about the railway stuff here because I know I should be posting about the cutter and boat related stuff. That said I really do enjoy reading about all the wonderful work that so many do on this site. it is still my favourite forum for the warmth and sharing that occurs here. So apologies for not being around for a while.

 

2 hours ago, Moab said:

It’s interesting how a new project seems to necessitate other sub-projects

Hi Moab Yes I call them rabbit holes it is so easy to get tripped up by them, and then away we fall.

 

Having some interesting decisions about how to deal with the crossing and points (switch) inside the standard gauge track because I did not want to have the large rail cut into a short piece between the narrow gauge track.

 

 

Most of the track will be buried up to the rail height anyway with ground texture as in these images.

 

Again these images are credited to Edward Talbot and Clive Taylor book about the Crewe Works narrow gauge system. The reason that I have the narrow gauge join the standard gauge track just before the entry into the works is to avoid having a small door next to the large one, it just looked odd.  Once the track is all laid The Idea is to be able to move a standard gauge wagon on the narrow gauge trucks as in the picture so that it theoretically can be moved to another part of the works with the narrow gauge loco. I love the outfit that the chap is dressed in so will have to make a figure dressed the same way.

 

Michael 

[druxey]

Surely gaps in the rails are required at the crossover to prevent catching the flanges of the wheels?

[mtaylor]

I'm in to watch this also, Michael.  Looks like a great project.

[Egilman]

A little out of my wheelhouse, but I'll not miss this.... Pullin up an easy chair...

[michael mott]

4 hours ago, druxey said:

Surely gaps in the rails are required at the crossover to prevent catching the flanges of the wheels?

quite right Druxey there certainly will be gaps for the flanges This picture shows it a little more clearly, I have been shaping the rails and there will be enough clearance in both rail sizes for the wheels of each to clear.

 

This overhead shot gives a better view of the way the track will set.

 

The points will function as a normal set will function. The most fiddly part will be filing the gaps in the large and small rails at the cross over place. One of the comments in the Crewe book is that most of the points on the narrow gauge were kicked over by the driver when needing to change tracks.

 

Mark and Egilman welcome to this new project.

 

Michael

[Jack12477]

I'm here too, Michael.  Snuck in the side door. 

[amateur]

Fun! Another out-of-the-ordinary build.:)

Jan

[michael mott]

Hi Jack and Jan welcome to what I hope will cover a number of different types of materials and finishes and techniques.

 

Michael

[michael mott]

I was able to fix down the standard gauge track last night where the switch will be and then added the notches unto the narrow gauge track today, I will be deeding to add check rails for the narrow gauge because of the tight curves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr driver is wondering about the situation

 

 

Time for some supper.

 

Michael

 

[popeye the sailor]

I'm finally here!   I have been trying like crazy Michael,  to get to the point where I could look in,  but I kept running out of time.  looks to be a very unique project......the building backdrops are nicely done!  I'll be following along  

[michael mott]

A bit of time to get the points working and the 18 inch gauge loco pushing a standard gauge axle along the straight section.

 

Michael

[Canute]

Michael, interesting that they laid 2 complete sets of rails there. Most dual gauge I've seen(admittedly not many) would use 1 common rail and 1 rail for the narrow gauge. Your work on the rails looks impeccable.

[michael mott]

Ken, the Crewe works had a very extensive 18 inch gauge system in many of the buildings they used a flat steel bar for track bolted directly to the floor, and outside they used a lot of 30lb rail which was quite a bit smaller than the main standard gauge rail. They really were two totally independent systems. My model is just a cameo of the types of things that could be seen in the works around the turn of the 19 to 20th centuries. I don't have enough time during the next 30 years which would take me to 102 to do the research and build a really accurate model, especially if I want to finish the cutter and launch as well.

 

Michael

[Canute]

Michael, it was just my comment based on what I'd seen in the past. Your diorama looks to be a fascinating vignette of the loco works. 😁

[michael mott]

Today I finished the rough filling up of the ground round the track on the outside of the works. The loco is running a little rough so I will need to sort that out.

 

Michael

[michael mott]

In order to maintain my sanity I have taken a break from the foam and started to build the standard gauge wagon that I am going to use to replicate the scene with the wagon on top of the little 18 inch gauge trolleys. I am using a bit of salvaged old growth clear fir that came from a soling paneled door. You could also say that I am practicing cutting the mortise and tenons that so many of you execute with such precision in the deck framing that many of the wonderful builds have.

The sequence pretty much speaks for itself.

first though I did a quick practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally some blank tyres cut from some 2 3/4 x 1/4 solid drawn tube for the wheels that need to be machined to thickness and profiled .

 

 

Time to some tea.

 

Michael

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Really nice precision  work.

 

OC.

[Bedford]

Finally found this build, very interesting indeed Michael

[michael mott]

Thanks everyone for the likes and kind comments. A little progress . I had to make  slight adjustment to the long side timbers due to a conversion compounding error they were about 7/64th too long, so set them up next to the centre beams and made the adjustment on the one end before cutting the cross member timbers. then cut the mortises in them and proceeded to do the same with the buffer beams.

first shot is of the mortises being chopped out for the cross beams.

 

next the four timbers in the buffer

 

 

and then fitted

 

 

I now take my hat off to all you folk who frame up the decks of your three deckers.... they would have to take me away in a straight jacket, I honestly do not know how you manage to do those decks as neat and clean as they are. It is very humbling indeed.

 

Michael

[Egilman]

Having done New England style 18th century timber framing in real life, (for restoring/rehabbing/building old barns, it's it's own art form) doing it in miniature is another level of precise, and what they do on ships? I really don't know if I could replicate such timbering work in real life much less in quarter scale.....

 

Yes it is very humbling indeed.....

[popeye the sailor]

very precise fittings Michael..........nicely done  

[michael mott]

I had a very busy couple of days with no modelwork, yesterday I let Maria Go, it was a bit of work getting her out of the garage and onto the trailer. She went back to the chap I first got her from. I have no idea what will happen to her now. The chapter that was Maria and all the trials and tribulations that went with refurbishing the old sloop are now going to be fond memories.

 

Today as I waited in line to take something to the Eco station here in Edmonton after a 1 hour crawl to the pay booth My car broke down and I had to be pushed out of the way because I was blocking the entrance for everyone. A second 1 hour wait for the tow truck.

 

So then spent the last bit of the afternoon tidying up the garage and sorting wood.

 

There was progress before all this though. I finished the mortises and tennons and dry assembled the frame

then began cutting out the axleguards out of some .051" cold-rolled steel. I did one per day they took 2 1/2 hours each to cut with a #5 jewelers saw blade the blades only cut about 2 inches before wearing enough that to push them further they break.

 

 

After cutting they were drilled out then had to have a double bend put into the top section this took tree tries to get right, bending then flattening it out again. After I figured out the technique it was plain sailing, the cutting did not get any faster or easier though.

 

 

 

They actually get bolted to the inside of the sole bars and I will use the guards as templates to drill the holes through the wood.

 

 

Just one more guard to make then all the other odd little bits of metal Nuts and bolts.

 

Time to rest now it was a troublesome day today.

 

Michael

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Michael,

 

They say that the best two days of boat ownership are the day that you buy it and the day that you sell it, but for those of us that have poured heart and soul into creating or restoring a boat I have found some sadness in parting with it.

 

Living within 2 or 3 miles of the georgeous sheet of water that is Lake Superior I often miss no longer having a boat but then having just passed my 77th birthday I realize that building miniature ones in my shop is a good substitute.  Now will you will have more time to devote to complete your stunning creations.

 

Roger

[popeye the sailor]

it was an enjoyable journey following along Michael........let's hope this chap takes good care of her.   history,  no matter what it is,  should be preserved