Beattie Well Tank 30586

I've been browsing the web for photos and discovered this little gem.

What an excellent photo of the one that did not survive into preservation.

Taken 17th July 1962 and can be viewed as part of ricsrailpics collection on Flicker. He has published many photos from the 1960's up to the present day.

A7 point kit

Where has this week gone...? It doesn't feel like over a week since I started this point kit. This weekend being first opportunity to pick this kit up again since the 18th. Thought I would put up a few more photos showing progress.... mainly for anyone who does not know these kits, or is hesitant about having a go.

This is what you get in the kit.

I had already started to solder a wire dropper onto the V before taking this photo. As with the previous kit I found the instructions to be daunting, along with seeing all the small chair components. When seeing the kit laid in the above photo there doesn't seem much to it.

I was not happy with using the plastic sleepers on the first kit. This must be something to do with reading Ian Rice's books on track construction and his use of ply and rivet construction, also due to my early results in staining wooden sleepers. I have been very pleased with the stained plywood sleepers and think I will find it very difficult in achieving the same result using plastic. So picking up from my last blog on this point kit I discarded the plastic sleepers.

I have purchased Templot software to help design the track plans for these projects and find it an intriguing piece of software. I thought I'd build this kit over a Templot template using wooden sleepers.

Above photo shows the V in place and so far so good. The plastic chairs seem to be sticking to the wooden sleepers well.

Apart from the sleeper spacing and overall length being different between Templot and the kit, there is also a difference where the V to closure rails end and start. I only realised this once the V was fixed. Don't think this will affect the points operation just the visual look. It was not until later that I spotted Martin's comments attached to my previous blog and read the form entries on this link to RMWeb.

This photo is showing the closure rails going in place.

Next day (Sunday morning) and daylight.... switch assembled.

At this point other events took control of the day. Not sure when I'll get back to this kit but hope to finish it during this next week. I've taken note of a comment re the check rail. It is thought that making the check rail live improves running though the point, something I hadn't thought of with these kits. Coming from Paxolin sleeper construction this was never a problem.

Being new to P4 standards (I really consider myself a novice to railway modelling - full stop), the questions that have been thrown up regarding these kits accurate are beyond me for the moment. Using these kits as supplied enables anyone to make a very functional P4 turnout that certainly looks the part. Exactoscale have got to be commended in bringing P4 standards closer to the masses. Beautifully made they give anyone, with a modicum of kit building experience, the capabilities of building P4 track. I need to finish the kit before deciding which standard to follow, Templot (reality) or Exatoscale (functionlity). In the end there will be few people that will be able to notice the difference. It will all be down to me accepting any inaccuracies.

Ultrascale order but more to the point

My Ultrascale order has arrived : P4 wheel conversion packs for a Bachmann Pannier and a Class 29. Hmmm ........ which one to tackle first.

While I am now excited by the thought of quickly having a P4 loco, I am also bathing in the success of the B7 point kit. So this evening I've made a start on the A7 kit but using wooden sleepers.

Templot template PVA'd to 3/16th balsa with the pre-stained sleepers.

Templot's sleeper spacing or the length of the point does not match the P4 Track Company's kit. Not sure that this will cause too much of a problem. I hope to be using Templot to build other points and the rest of the track so this should be a good starting point .... sorry about the pun.

All ready for tomorrow night...!

More posts will follow along with photographs hopefully in the next few days......

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Sorry .... just noticed that posting date for this blog was wrong not sure how I manage to post this before I'd started doing it!! Amended posting date to 18/06/09 (20/06/09).

At last I've built it

Last night I finally finished my first B7 P4 Track Company point kit. I'm really pleased with the result and the crossing V seems to be OK. Ran a couple of wagons through the crossing V with no problems, nice and smooth. I still feel the V is out of specification but this does show that there are some tolerences within P4. Next test will be a six coupled loco.



I only broke one fishplate and lost one very small part chair component from the switch assembly. I also seemed to be two slide chairs and three S1 chairs short. Replaced most with spares that come on the sprues but had to resort to some C & L S1 chairs to finish the job. There are a few chairs that may need tweaking in the future but at the moment I am just pleased I've got this far.



Next task it to work out how to weather the sleepers to match the wooden ones I'm producing for the plain track. My first attempt is not good need to rethink colours and how to apply the paint. I also need to think about how to operate the point. Tortoise motors seem to be the favoured option and I've purchased a pack of P4 Track Companies base plates. Just need to purchased some motors.

Overall I think these kits are superb and more will be purchased, just a shame that the sleepers are plastic and not wooden.

Ballasting (3)

"What type of ballast are you going to use?" was a question asked and to be honest, though I have several published colour photos of the branch, due to potential colour casts in reproduction I was still unsure to type and colour.

After posting a thread on RMWeb I've been informed that the likely source for the ballast during S.R. days would be Meldon Quarry on the edge of Dartmoor. If anyone else in interested the three links below offer a reasonable background information about this quarry and include photos.

http://www.devon.gov.uk/meldon_summary.pdf
http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/sheet_3c-b.pdf
http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/sheet_3b-b.pdf

If there was any ballasting completed after being transferred to WR, Stoneycombe quarry would possibly have been used.

I'm still trying to track down if any of the branch was re-ballasted during the 1950's and 1960's but I am now more confident about the colour of two photos on this website taken in 1986. To me this looks like ballast from Meldon. But I do believe ColourRail have a number of slides of this branch which I am also going to try and purchase as reference.

The thread on RMWeb is still running so more information may well surface.

Brake Vans

After posting a thread on RMWeb, I've gleaned information on types of Brake Vans that might/were seen on the Wenford Branch and in the area.

It looks like it was a N.E. Toad E Van that was regularly used on the Wenford Branch not an LMS one as I first thought. But in saying that I could justify a 20T LMS van, a SR 25 ton van and the Standard BR van. Interestingly there is a case to justify a Queen Mary van in the early 1960s. One would be added to the goods train if there was a paying passenger. The train would then have two brake vans. That I have to model so it can be included as an option.

Track - First effort

Spent this evening watching Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible) with a drop of Laphroaig to keep me company. Then looked down at my workbench and discovered I'd finished my first bit of track. Just a short 14 inch length to get me started but it looks OK. There is always room for improvement, some of the chairs are at a jaunty angle and I need to work out the correct rust colour for track and chairs. Tried pre-painting the chairs using acrylics and they have taken some colour but not happy as I'm after a dusty colour.

Think I read recently that P4 Track Company's wooden sleepers are thicker than those supplied by the EMGS, which would certainly help with ballasting. I do like the texture and overall effect of the wooden sleepers so will have to give these thicker ones a try.

So far the chairs seem firmly bonded to the wooden sleepers. Will the bond reduce in time? Will the bond be strong enough to construct points? Questions I hope to be asking this weekend at ScaleFour North. Also need to purchase a point kit to see if I have the skills needed. It will be good to try plastic sleepers just to see how they turn out......Try my hand at swimming with the current before continuing swimming upstream again.