My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

This forum is for the discussion of railway modelling of the LNER and its constituent companies.

Moderators: 52D, Tom F, Rlangham, Atlantic 3279, Blink Bonny, Saint Johnstoun, richard

Phil Brighton
NBR D34 4-4-0 'Glen'
Posts: 298
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Phil Brighton »

Hi all,

I am looked at installing some magnets in the track before going on to paint and ballast but am not quite sure really where to put them.
Really the bigger issue is that I don't know how the station would have been operated. I understand some suburban trains from London terminated at Potters bar but I am not sure how the engine would have run round looking at the track plan. If anyone has an insight into the sorts of common moves goods and terminating passenger trains would have made, or have advice on where to put magnets for automatic uncoupling that would be great.
Trackplan below...
potters bar magnets.jpg
Phil Brighton
NBR D34 4-4-0 'Glen'
Posts: 298
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Phil Brighton »

The railway continues to progress with ballasting now well underway. Its not the most exciting job in the world and I lost the will to continue at one point so decided to crack out the Mailcoach silver Jubilee Set I have. While these are a pain it has restored my mojo to some extent. Don't half look at mess while you build them though.
Img_0733.jpg
Img_0730.jpg
Img_0732.jpg
User avatar
nzpaul
LNER Thompson B1 4-6-0 'Antelope'
Posts: 610
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:48 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by nzpaul »

Oh, that's bringing back some painful memories, good luck, looks like your past the fun stuff though. Looking forward to seeing that finished.

Cheers
Paul
jwealleans
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 4208
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:46 am

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by jwealleans »

I've never set eyes on any of those kits up to now- do you have to fret the windows out?
Horsetan
LNER P2 2-8-2
Posts: 959
Joined: Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:46 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Horsetan »

I'm glad I'm not building those!! :shock:
Phil Brighton
NBR D34 4-4-0 'Glen'
Posts: 298
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Phil Brighton »

The kits are along the same lines as the Mailcoach Coronation and Tourist Stock - Clear sides with the windows built in. The fun stuff NZPaul refers to could be the fact the parts don't really fit together or the job of masking. Either way I think the really nice bit about the kits is you don't know if you have ruined the windows until after you have done the painting. In the last picture they have had a coat of primer, I mask inside and out. So no need (thankfully) to cuts the windows out after. No one is going to claim these are the greatest kits ever but they are a lot cheaper, if you can find them, than a brass set. I may change my tune later on in the build when its all gone wrong....
mick b
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 3727
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 4:43 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by mick b »

Still trying to find anything good about removing a masked window to find paint creep ??

Er no I cant , be prepared for a lot of swearing etc instead !! :shock: :( :?
Phil Brighton
NBR D34 4-4-0 'Glen'
Posts: 298
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Phil Brighton »

Mick,

I think yours is probably more realistic prediction of how I will feel when removing the masking.
john coffin
LNER V2 2-6-2 'Green Arrow'
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:24 am

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by john coffin »

Have any of you tried using pva glue as a masking medium rather than tape?

works very well on other forms of modelling including racing cars, and aircraft.

Paul
Phil Brighton
NBR D34 4-4-0 'Glen'
Posts: 298
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Phil Brighton »

Paul,
Not tried pva no but on these coaches I have used Revel Colour Stop. Its a latex masking fluid that I 'paint' into the windows with a cocktail stick. The problem is it dries clear so I constantly doubt if I have covered it sufficently. Humbrol maskol looks like it dries pink so I may get a bottle of that for further Mailcoach kits.
Mercator II
GCR O4 2-8-0 'ROD'
Posts: 508
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 12:14 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Mercator II »

Hi Phil

I built a 8 coach rake a few years back from that range. To mask the windows I just used Copydex, it dries a transultant white so can see the coverage, it just peels off after

One tip I also got, brush paint the interior wall colour on the exterior. Been clear plastic it shows through, and also gives you something to key to when spraying

HTH
oOo

Brian

Garage Hobbit!!
Modelling in 00 on my heritage line, very GCR inspired
User avatar
Atlantic 3279
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 6527
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:51 am
Location: 2850, 245

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Atlantic 3279 »

Interesting to know that Copydex works. I'd wondered about that. I agree that the interior colour is best applied as the exterior undercoat as the window edges do not then reveal the two separate layers of painting with the thickness of the side between them. If you can at least become half competent in using a bow pen then there's no need for any fiddly window masking with attendant worries about paint bleeding under the masking layer. For my Tourist Buffet, I just ruled around the window edges and glazing bars with the bow pen then brush painted (suitably smoothly with free-flowing fresh enamel paint rather than any globby old muck or zero-covering-power acrylic) the areas between the windows in the upper body colour. The lower body colour was then sprayed on after some very simple masking. On the finished coach you'd definitely have to "know your onions" to spot that the upper body sides have been brush painted rather than sprayed.
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.
earlswood nob
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 1666
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:23 am
Location: Surrey

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by earlswood nob »

Good morning all

Thanks, lads, for the tip about Copydex.

I still have a Silver Jubilee set to build, but haven't plucked up the courage to attempt it yet.

The postman has just delivered a packet from AGW, so I can get on with building the pseudo-GNR quint that I'm playing with.

At long last I'm feeling better after a succession of bugs, that the whole country seems to be sharing with me.

Earlswood nob
User avatar
StevieG
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 2331
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:08 pm
Location: Near the GN main line in N.Herts.

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by StevieG »

Phil Brighton wrote:Hi all,

I am looked at installing some magnets in the track before going on to paint and ballast but am not quite sure really where to put them.
Really the bigger issue is that I don't know how the station would have been operated. I understand some suburban trains from London terminated at Potters bar but I am not sure how the engine would have run round looking at the track plan. If anyone has an insight into the sorts of common moves goods and terminating passenger trains would have made, or have advice on where to put magnets for automatic uncoupling that would be great.
Trackplan below...
potters bar magnets.jpg
Sorry to have only just picked up on your query Phil.
I can offer no info. about goods movements, but regarding passenger trains, I know there were some Potters Bar terminators in the era of the post-quadrupling layout (indeed the power-signalled arrangements included a siding between the Down Fast and Down Slow, provided for convenient recessing and running-round, which involved an extra 3 sets of points and 5 signals; but I digress).

But I've no idea in this respect about the (pre-1955?) period that you're modelling.
It looks a very inconvenient place at which to run-round and turn back in those times.

Possibly running-round would have been done on the main line using the two Down Main/Up Main crossovers.
But as that would have taken a significant amount of time on what was a busy route, another possibility would've been to pull well forward onto and along the Down Slow until clear of the north end of the adjacent siding, then setting the train back into the siding. Then to achieve the run-round, loco off and out onto the Down Slow again, shunt back along the DS and into the siding by the south end points, then north again along the siding onto the train's south end.
Then when ready, propel out onto the Slow through the north end siding points, and draw forward along the Slow until crossing to the Up Main via the long 'ladder' ('Through') crossover.
This all sounds rather long-winded, but would have left the DM and UM unobstructed for most of the time.

There is one possible variation to this method : If there was space in the Goods Yard to accommodate the length of train, it could have instead drawn onto the Down Slow but stopped clear of the long 'ladder' ('Through') crossover, then propelled back into the Goods sidings; then drawn forward onto the long siding beside the Down Slow, sufficient for the train's south end to go clear of the sidings/Down Slow crossover points. And then run-round etc. as already described.

One other possible alternative would've been, after terminating, to merely run forward as ECS to somewhere else (e.g, possibly Hatfield) where running-round and reversal may have been considered easier.
Last edited by StevieG on Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
BZOH

/
\ \ \ //\ \
/// \ \ \ \
Phil Brighton
NBR D34 4-4-0 'Glen'
Posts: 298
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: My Workbench - Potters Bar and South Mimms

Post by Phil Brighton »

Never occurred to me that one of the advantages of not painting the inside walls was that it shows the thickness up. I was planning to do curtains inside - will have to see if this shows it up too much.

Thanks for the info Stevie, that's really helpful. I believe that both inner suburban trains (generally pairs of quad arts) and LMS services terminated at Potters Bar in the 30s. I am sure I have seen references to quad arts being kept in the siding alongside the down slow so that would back your theory up.
Post Reply