Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

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S.A.C. Martin

Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

Post by S.A.C. Martin »

I thought I'd share with the forum my modelling at last. I have spent the last few years working on a little section of Copley Hill (37B, or 56C dependent on your era and preference). However I'd like this first post to be a thank you of sorts to one of our resident modellers, Atlantic 3279 :)

What's this?! A first look at a new Hornby product?!

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A brand new, DCC fitted, Gresley W1 4-6-4. Simply stunning.

Okay, hands in the air - it's not technically a new product, direct from Hornby.

What it is, is a commission build by Graeme King for me, to produce a W1 by extending the Hornby Railroad Mallard as a base.

The great advantage of using 60022 was its DCC fitted chassis - which, straight out of the box, runs perfectly.

Taking this model out of the box and placing it on the Copley Hill set for the first time was a great moment - it looks and feels like a proper ready to run model, testament to Graeme's workmanship.

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It also goes some way to show how bizarre Hornby's Railroad Mallard is, in some ways!

The bodyshell, as shown above with the comparison to my own super detail Sir Ralph Wedgwood is actually the same item, minus the fittings such as glazing, lamp irons and a coupling. Apart from that, the two items are one and the same. Looking at the chassis - the DCC chassis, in the same vein as the Railroad Flying Scotsman, is also the same. The only difference is the fitting of the clunky, old style valve gear (which in fairness is very rugged for continuous use).

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At the cab end, Graeme's careful cutting of the Hornby bodyshell and fitting of the South East Finecast W1 cab, and cab roof, looks phenomenal. You simply could not tell that the bodyshell had been cut in any way, shape or form. I'm very lucky in that Graeme decided as an exercise - in other words, to see if he could - make for me a non-corridor tender from the over-width Railroad tender (whose origin was from the old tender drive A4 models).

The result is a stunningly slimmed down body which is scale width and correct for the period depicted by this W1 model.

The chassis modifications involved the fitting of the South East Finecast cartazzi and pony truck sides - and a two axle truck between the frames. The irony that this model is actually a 4-6-4, when railway historians argue over whether the W1 was a 4-6-4 or 4-6-2-2, is not lost on me!

Comparing the W1 to the A4 betrays something else:

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The sheer length of the W1 is startling. It has to be said - I'm suddenly finding that the A4 doesn't look long enough compared to the W1! There is a certain majesty in the 4-6-4 that I wasn't quite expecting, but the Gresley racehorse line certainly breaks through in this model.

One final picture - and a round of thanks and kudos to Graeme for a job well done. :)

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manna
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 3790
Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 12:56 am
Location: All over Australia

Re: Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

Post by manna »

G'Day Gents
Yes, I will agree with you and fantastic job, if we had'nt seen it being built we would have thought it was a 'New RTR' loco.

Poor Atlantic 3274, will now need a holiday away from Hornby A4's, his poor aching shoulders :lol:

manna
EDGWARE GN, Steam in the Suburbs.
S.A.C. Martin

Re: Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

Post by S.A.C. Martin »

manna wrote:Poor Atlantic 3274, will now need a holiday away from Hornby A4's, his poor aching shoulders :lol:

manna
Yes indeed :)

I think Graeme deserves a rest, although at the rate he's building new streamlines, you'd think he were a one-man Doncaster works - no bad thing either, they are terrific models he builds.

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I've done some pics of my layout to show the forum - they are posted on my blog first and then linked here via the image coding so as not to use up space on the forum. They are recent pics - this is Copley Hill Mk2, which is used as the "film set" for my youtube series (see my sig for details), and while I would never profess it to be a masterpiece, it's my little corner of Leeds, and I like it :)

My apologies for the dust - I am cleaning it as I go, I have been away from it for the best part of six months while in the final stages of university:

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And one for fun :wink: :

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"Allen" smiles for the camera! :)

You can see these pics, and their related text on my blog, found here.
S.A.C. Martin

Re: Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

Post by S.A.C. Martin »

Check British Railway Modelling, the August Edition, in the reader's layouts. Copley Hill Mk2 - published for the first time!

The grin hasn't left my face yet! :D :D :D
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Atlantic 3279
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 6527
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:51 am
Location: 2850, 245

Re: Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

Post by Atlantic 3279 »

Didn't know Aug BRM was out yet. Congratulations on your debut :!: .

Has TW reported therein on his O4 tinkering too?
Most subjects, models and techniques covered in this thread are now listed in various categories on page1

Dec. 2018: Almost all images that disappeared from my own thread following loss of free remote hosting are now restored.
S.A.C. Martin

Re: Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

Post by S.A.C. Martin »

Atlantic 3279 wrote:Didn't know Aug BRM was out yet. Congratulations on your debut :!:
Thank you Graeme - my copy arrived today in the post, my local newsagent sends it round with my papers.
Has TW reported therein on his O4 tinkering too?
He has indeed! :)
S.A.C. Martin

Re: Copley Hill - Workbench & Layout

Post by S.A.C. Martin »

So eight years since I first posted this thread, I am adding to it, if only to say a few words.

- I'm still alive (!)
- I'm in full time work - as a full time railway man (apprentice signalling designer, since February 2018)
- I'm a regular preserved railway volunteer now (Bluebell Railway, Pullman Silver Service, since August 2017)
- I was on TV, briefly, this year (The Biggest Little Railway in the World, C4)
- I'm building a new layout (pics will follow)
- Yes, Copley Hill is part of it again,
- I'm having a new website built - to replace britishrailwaystories.com's current (unusable) form
- I have done lots of modelling over the past eight years, I'll post some pics when I can on the locos I've built/modded and the layout in progress
- I have been watching quietly from the wings at railway modelling, here and elsewhere - some great stuff going on everywhere
- I won't be regularly posting anywhere again - time constraints. But I will make an effort to keep up more.

So here's a recent project from the last week or so. I have been doing some coach conversions! Old Thompson, Gresley and one of the toy like Hornby Clerestories being turned into things more in keeping with my layout's aims. All requiring branding. All "scumbled" using gloss yellow undercoat and Ronseal teak or pine varnish, painted carefully on top. Thompson and Gresley coaches have had replacement bogies, buffers and vents fitted, and repainted interiors. Wheelsets were hand painted too. Here's the Thompson coach, posed next to the latest Bachmann one, for comparison.
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