Justin's Workshop

Hi All,

Nice to see a large amount of interest in everything.

Brian, I'd be happy to send you the activities once I have them sorted. They won't be 100 % realistic but I am managing to stick to the era (not enough 44’s in original livery, and no RDC’s for prototype South Coast Daylight Express running either   ). As I have told you before, I’d only be too happy to give you a hand when you need it.

The main reason I chose this route to start with is as you all know I live on this particular route and at the moment I am travelling on the top part of the route on a daily basis (namely Kirrawee to the City). I have spent my whole life travelling on the top part of this route for 30 years, so I thought it only fitting to make a start here.

If only the full Cronulla branch was full included rather than stopping at Kirrawee as I could do a lot of activities for just that stretch (Hey I am biased to my home branch line, sue me ). I know that it would have been a bit of an issue to include this section, but I think with the work that Brian has done that his version of this branch would be amazing.

For those who don't know the Cronulla Branch line was the first line in Sydney that was opened and run from the start as an electrified line, the only steam/diesel services were restricted to specials or maintenance. It is true that in the very early stages of this lines life it had a small amount of freight on it but from the beginning it was intended to be a passenger carrying line. It is also the only line that I know of in Australia where the station is nearly at the beach and the line is primarily advertised as such.

The activities will be a mix of Steam, Diesel and Electric. Steam passenger and freight as well as Diesel passenger and freight. Mostly the Electrics on this line are passenger multiple units known as "Red Rattlers" but I may do some fictional runs with one of the NSWGR 46 class, just for the fun of it.

The Pullman’s are progressing well: only 4 out of the 23 have decided to bite me. 3 are having alpha issues (that never happened when I released the earlier batches   ) and one decided to chuck a wobbly when I put it through Polymaster.

Andy, the “wings” that I was referring to are the distinctive Devon Belle name boards that are usually carried on the smoke deflectors of the streamlined Bullied’s.

Justin

(EDIT)

Ever had one of those    moments?

Having struggled with the 3 coaches that had alpha issues since Sunday, all I did was put the backups I had through Polymaster then trialled them in MSTS low and behold they worked first go…..
Not too sure what is going on there, but hey a win is a win. And the 4th one had a corrupt Polymaster file which is all sorted out now. Now for testing.

And for those of you who may be doubting:



Set 1 in its finest.....

dforrest wrote:............................................................Interesting Brian.  I have just downloaded some NSW routes from Steam4me, including Illawarra, together with stock, and am very pleased with their quality.  However, I am very disappointed to find that there are no activities to run on them.  I am sure you will agree that they can not be fully appreciated without running activities.

Hello David (I'm sure that's your name ?),

I'm disappointed too !!!

Unlike the UK where there is quite a healthy number of MSTS'ers, in Australia the number in now quite low. Unfortunately, we have never had the benefit of having good activity writers in our midst. As I stated earlier, my 'builder workload' doesn't allow time for me to make activities. So, that's the reason you'll find that very few Aussie routes have activities - we have a number of good routes and plenty of stock, but no activity writers.

With my routes, I generally provide a comprehensive 'guidelines' document to assist users in getting the best out of the route - this includes information about typical train formations used historically on that route. I do this to encourage activity writers, but if there is none to encourage, I can only hope. That's why I'm excited about Justin's attempt (which we haven't seen yet) - so here's hoping we may see something good come out of it.

Regards, Brian

j3801 wrote:...................................Brian, I'd be happy to send you the activities once I have them sorted. They won't be 100 % realistic but I am managing to stick to the era (not enough 44’s in original livery, and no RDC’s for prototype South Coast Daylight Express running either   ). As I have told you before, I’d only be too happy to give you a hand when you need it..........................................If only the full Cronulla branch was full included rather than stopping at Kirrawee as I could do a lot of activities for just that stretch (Hey I am biased to my home branch line, sue me ). I know that it would have been a bit of an issue to include this section, but I think with the work that Brian has done that his version of this branch would be amazing. ...................................

G'day Justin,

If you send the activities while in their preliminary state, I could look over them and maybe suggest improvement to realism, so the final released ones may be more accurate to era.

Yes, it's a shame about the lack of 44's - I've made some extra repaints FOR MY OWN USE only, but they would not be approved by steam4me for public release. Same thing with the Budd RDC's - I repainted the Comm rails RDC from steam4me, but it wouldn't be approved for release.

As for the Cronulla branch - MSTS 'track creep' killed the full branch. When I first started Illawarra, my base route start point was at Thirroul - by the time I got to around the Sutherland area the DEM landforms were around half a mile out of whack - I 'slewed' the line to get down to the Como bridge on usable DEM and worked towards Sydney. When I merged the Sydney area tiles from CTN (with Peter's permission), again I found a wide offset (Peter started at Newcastle and worked south), and so there is a 'poetic license' no-mans-land of about 3/4 of a mile between Sydenham and St Peters.

I wanted the Cronulla branch to at least go 'somewhere', so I started heading east - by the time I got to Kirrawee, the DEM was so far out it was impossible to continue. So that's why it ends at Kirrawee. In hindsight, it would have been better if the route had started at Sydney and worked south - but hey ! my original intention was only a 'trial' route from Wollongong to Waterfall - I never envisioned it extending beyond that, let alone ending up doing the whole Illawarra line !!!

Regards, Brian

Surprise!!



UKTS Fie ID: 33842

Both sets are included in this pack.

Note: If you are installing these coaches and the Golden Arrow set, please install the Golden Arrow set first and then this set as they use the same folder and a few of the textures are common but updated.

Looks Good Justin

I have been on one of those Devon belle coaches on the Paignton to Kingswear line (Dartmouth Steam Railway)

Markh5682 wrote:Looks Good Justin

I have been on one of those Devon belle coaches on the Paignton to Kingswear line (Dartmouth Steam Railway)

Here, here! I can't wait to download them and try them out for myself! I too have travelled behind one of those Observation Cars on the Dartmouth Railway! A great birds eye view when the loco is attached to the front! We went on a trip on our honeymoon and unfortunately lost all of the photos of our week....

Cheers

Andy

Markh5682 wrote:Looks Good Justin

I have been on one of those Devon belle coaches on the Paignton to Kingswear line (Dartmouth Steam Railway)

My Family hired coach 280 for my 21st Birthday attached specially to the 215PM Buckfastleighto Totnes, I was the only member of the party not to
ride in the Pullman that day I rode on the footplate of baby pannier 1638 instead
At Totnes riverside we were joined by and double headed back to Buckfastleigh by newly restored baby prairie 4588 a really great day.
I did get to ride in Pullman 13 (280) some years later after it had transferred to the Paignton Dartmouth line.
Of course sister Pullman observation car 14 (281) is preserved and running on the Swanage railway.
Cheers
Andy

I am in the process of downloading these, I already have some GWR manors (similar to the one on the Dartmouth railway) to use with them, I'll also download the golden arrow set whilst I'm at it along with the golden arrow loco (city of wells) to haul them. it'll take me hours to download them though with this stupid dongle thingy but I'll get there in the end.

Hi Guys,

Just a quick note to say that there was 1 minor issue with the first installer file: the Golden Arrow version of PBT 208's wag file had gotten in.
No need to panic (thanks to Bob for pointing it out to me), if you don't want that particular file you can simply delete it (the Devon Belle version has the suffix _DB), or to simply cure the missing freightanim shape problem simply install the Golden Arrow set first then install these coaches.

The installer has been updated for those who don't want the fuss.

j3801 wrote:Hello World,

I know it has been a long time since I posted anything about my own modelling work so I shall start with something small.




Now I know most of you will be going “Yes and what is so special about these 2 coaches?”
Allow me to explain: these coaches were not originally designed for MSTS, they were designed to be 3D printed in 1/29th scale.

Now I can here you all scratching your heads with confusion so I shall try to explain further.

I would assume that some of you have heard about 3D printing but most would have no idea as to what it is actually about. Let us start by looking at a 3D printer (namely the one that is sitting on my desk currently making some parts for these coaches):



This little fella is a basic “home” 3D printer that is capable of turning your models on your computer into a reality (with a little bit of fiddling of course). Now whilst it is a “basic” version (it squirts out strings of plastic) it is capable of doing really good work. I had been messing around printing out a few “trial” things that I had downloaded and got thinking to myself “wouldn’t it be great if I could make my own model trains..” and I set about creating my first prototype model of an LNER guards van, which took almost 40 hours to model in the “specialty software” that you are supposed to use. Despite my best efforts the van ended up being out of proportion and not that good if I’m honest.



This got me thinking “If I could use TSM as my modelling program I could get an accurate model with high detailing in less than half the time…” So I searched the web and found that I needed 2 extra bits of software and I could convert my MSTS work to a 3D printable model.

My first attempt at a serious model was this:





This is basically an enlarged Hornby conflat and container (the 3D model still needs a little work before it can go into MSTS). As this was a success I then tired a Gresley 51ft Non-Corridor Third Brake (pictures to come at a later date). In a bid to make the BT easier to print I made it up out of individual panels (i.e. how it would have been in real life). After I had put this together I began tinkering with the idea of being able to cross over 3D printable models with MSTS. The 2 coaches above are the first attempt with this cross over.

I have run these in MSTS without any issues (which is a surprise on the first attempt) and I was wondering if anybody would be interested in these coaches as they are not of any particular prototype (they are actually made using the passenger section panels from the BT placed on a stretched wagon chassis). One I have printed out the remaining 2 print jobs and glued the models together I shall post pictures of what the “real things” look like.

Justin

Looks like someone else is getting on the bandwagon over on UKTS.... http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=140768

Hi Everyone,

Well I am finally got the carriage workshops running at speed again and decided to tease you all with these:






Yes these are the same coaches that you saw before, they are just finalised and fully MSTS ready.
They are currently under going testing with Mike so I should have some positive answers soon.

I am still reviewing the information that has been given to me regarding the ECE Freight pack, I am just trying to pick out exactly what I want to be in the pack.
I have had a bit of a repaint of my 47's into Railfreight Unbranded livery:



Not too bad I think (numbers are not final).

I shall turn my attention to the Gresley Articulates next as they need a revamp to bring them up to standard.
This will be an in the back ground project and unless situations change it won't become a "top priority" until they are nearly ready.

Looking back at my to do list there is still a lot to get through (including some things that I want to do but will not mention, hey we all got to keep some things hidden for a surprise).
Hopefully this year will be kinder to me and let me get more MSTS time.

Justin

Very nice models Justin!
IT's great that many of us are still doing things for MSTS....

35005CP wrote:Very nice models Justin!
IT's great that many of us are still doing things for MSTS....

And the fact that here we have a young Aussie taking more than a keen interest in the UK railway system and building fantastic models for the UK MSTS scene, not of course to
mention Hosting a fantastic MSTS Site.
And here we have a 65year old POM, that when he gets to Sydney at the end of March wont know one class of train from another
However with the aid of the ARTC freight timetable (via the Coals to Newcastle site) and the NSWGR passenger timetable that when you click on the the stations, this brings up
the Google map and I note that if I go to Tarrow and Maitland there are some quite good photographic opertunities to be had, according to the freight timetable there appears to be
a coal train each way at 10 minute intervals?
Also if i go to Buraddo the station the Cambletown side of  Mossvale and walk along Railway terrace (I believe it's called) towards the river, again there are several photogenic
spots.It appears Thursday is the best day for freight.
However a downside, I shall miss the Beyer Garrett #6029 which having spent a couple of weeks at Thilmere, will be working a special from Picton to Mossvale and I assume on to Canberra. on Sunday March 29th    Typically my bad luck.
Cheers
Andy
Edit: 6029 and 3642 are double heading Picton to Moss vale but only 3642 returning to Picton so looks like 6029 is off to Goulburn and Canberra.

Andy,

You don’t have to go that far to see things:

Coal traffic also passes (loaded) south along the Main Illawarra, so if you go to say Sutherland or Hurstville (major stations) you can watch them go through, though not as frequently. They are headed by 82 class diesels. North bound for empties. Up around the Hunter region (Maitland – Newcastle) is where you can spot the 90’s (they are restricted to this area, no idea as to why. They are coal only units).

Having worked in the city and travelling home of an afternoon I know there are loaded steel trains that head North between 2:00pm am 7:00pm (I have seen them at both Sutherland and Hurstville). Mostly handled by NR’s.

You do get the odd container train pass through the area. If you go to Sydenham there is the goods line to Botany that passes over the Main Illawarra just south of the station. You will spot the container trains here. Usually hauled by 81’s.

Grain traffic is mostly handled by 81’s which can be found on the Main Illawarra as well.

Then of course there is Enfield yard, so any point between Strathfield and Enfield you can watch goods trains rumble by quite regularly as there is the goods only line that runs alongside the main lines.

Eveleigh workshops (or what’s left of them) are literally of the end of platform 10 at Redfern.
Macdonaldtown car sheds are just next to the platforms and as it is just around the corner from Redfern you can watch most of the Sydney suburban and interurban trains pass by.
Clyde Workshops are close to the platforms and the mainline splits the workshops from the yard there so you do get to see a lot of different things.

Or if you want to see nearly every passenger train that runs in Sydney, all you have to do is go to Central (Sydney terminal). Here you can see the Indian Pacific (when it’s in), XPT’s (our version of the HST 125), Endeavour and Xplorer (yes it starts with the X, it runs to outer country services that don’t need the XPT) and all the electric Interurban and Suburban multiple units.

Try http://www.sydneytrains.info/about/fleet/ for info on the EMUs.

You will get the odd working of some different classes from other states (in Pacific National livery thought) but mostly it is home state units.

If you pick up a copy of Railway Digest from a local news agent it will give you an idea of what to expect.

(See I do know about Aussie trains as well   ).

Justin

Hi Guys,

Have you ever had a moment where you have seen something “prototypical” and gone “I have just got to model that”?

I was watching a video on youtube :



at the 1:50 mark there is a shot of a class 91 on testing with Mk3 coaches (ok so…) at the end of the train is a Mk1 BG generator coach ADB 975325 QXA. Normally I have seen them with DVT’s or 43’s on the end, the Mk1 BG generator just caught my attention so I give you this:




The MSTS version of the train. Asides my version of the BG everything else is from Europeanbahn.
This van has run in Blue/Grey, Inter City, and is currently in Riviera trains livery as W6310.

Food for thought maybe….

Justin

An interesting video that once again shows that there's often a reality to justify the unusual. Thanks for that Justin, and of course those earlier LNER 4 wheelers are excellent models.

PS: I was also pleased to see a FG Class 114 Royal Mail set in operation in the video.

Hi
What a difference to todays Peterborough,now It's a East Midlands 153 on the Peterborough-Spalding-Lincoln Service,Cross Coutry 170 on the Ely -Peterborough-Grantham Nottingham,East Midlands 158 on the Norwich-Ely-Peterborough-Stamford-Liecester service
ECML
Class 91+MK4 and DVT on both Kings Cross to Leeds and Edinburgh and HST's on the Kings Cross Edinburgh-Inverness\Edinburgh -Aberdeen,the other two East Coast operaters Grand Central HST's and Hull Trains Aldenete's.

GoVia have now taken over the old FCC Franchise and the GoVia goes under the Great Northern branding(Peterorough Station when first built in the 18.00's was built by the Great NorthernRailway)

At Present Class 365 Emu's are the mainstay of their services,these were originally built for BR so are getting a bit long in the tooth,seems every thing to do passenger wise is the same no wonder the East Coast is called the Cinderella Route.

Freight just every thing hauled by class 66's DB Schenker\GBRf\Direct Rail\and Colas,and that's it oh and the od steam special,I used to like going to Peterborough in the old days now after an hour it's boring.


And the station has changed,the bay platform at the London end has now gone,replacded by a longer platform, the old platform 2 is now platform 1 the old platform 3 is now platform2 and now a island platform with track realinement is platform 3,platforms 4&5 the same,but where the old goods line was there is now platforms 6&7.
Now the change over from East Coast to Virgin\Stagecoach has been put on hold whilst the competion authority look into it,as Stagecoach operate already over the route between Peterborough and Grantham,they have the monopoly as Hull Trains and Grand Central don't stop at Peterborough.
Mike

Just to scare everyone even further:



A HAA hopper, fine detailing still outstanding as well as full texture work (currently only in works colours). I have 4 versions: empty, empty end of train, loaded, loaded end of train.
Starting at 7pm it only took till 10:50 pm to get this far.

Already tested in MSTS (first low poly count model in ages so I was surprised when it worked first go )
hence a longer time, as well as having to hunt for my Hornby model so I could see things that weren’t in photo’s online.

Justin

Justin,

Those hoppers will look good behind one of those Railfreight Grey 47's you have made.

sent you a message about the 4 wheelers

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the feedback and all the information that you have given me.

Justin

Coming soon:



UKTS Fileid: 33910

Justin

The buffers look a bit short which reminds me of an interesting story.

When the first wagons were trialed it was found that the hopper doors were too low and were hitting the discharge gear when open.

The solution was to raise the whole wagon 3 inches by fitting 3ft6in wheels.
This required the buffers to be lowered by adding an extra "plank" below the headstock.
Production builds had deeper headstocks.

They also had seperate air and handbrakes.
The air brake operated diagonally on the right hand wheels with the hand brakes on the left.
The air brake was disc but no brake pads were fitted to the wheels resulting in a shiney centre on the right wheel only.

I'll look out a drawing for the wagons. Don't trust the hornby model.

j3801 wrote:Hi Guys,

Have you ever had a moment where you have seen something “prototypical” and gone “I have just got to model that”?

there is a shot of a class 91 on testing with Mk3 coaches (ok so…) at the end of the train is a Mk1 BG generator coach ADB 975325 QXA. Normally I have seen them with DVT’s or 43’s on the end, the Mk1 BG generator just caught my attention so I give you this:

The MSTS version of the train. Asides my version of the BG everything else is from Europeanbahn.
This van has run in Blue/Grey, Inter City, and is currently in Riviera trains livery as W6310.

Food for thought maybe….

Justin

Hi Justin.
This was the period that the East Coast Mainline was first electrified North of Peterborough. To Leeds and I think initially Newcastle before being extended into Edinbrugh.
There was a delay in introducing the Mk4 Driving van trailers, hence Several HST powercars were fitted with Buffers and couplings and were marshalled at the London end of the train.
There certainly was some very interesting footage there.
Cheers
Andy.
Edit: Thanks for Sydney freight info, Thats given me a few idea's.

Hi Justin,

Re the class 91's the reason why these were streamlind one end and a slab cab the other, they were origanally going to be used on passenger trains during the day hence the streamlined cab,and at night they were going to be used on freight and parcels trains which didn't need a streamlind cab, hence the flat cab,when they came into service there were a lot of teathing problems with them,that they were only used on passenger trains.

The other reason why the class 43 driving cars were used was so the trains could be driven back to London with out having to uncouple the 91 and running round the train,and also trying to find somewhere to turn it,other wise it would have had to return with the flat cab leading,which would not be much use for high speed running.

Mike

Hi all,

Isn't it always the way, you just get back in to the groove and bam: motherboard and power supply decide to let go...

Unfortunately this means my computer is out of commission for about a week whilst it gets rebuilt, good news is that the hard drives are still intact which means all of my work is safe (even though I do have backups, just not the absolute recent things).

Even more frustrating is that I am in the mood to do a lot of MSTS work....

Well for now I still have my tablet (which I am currently using), so at least I can keep in touch with the world.

Justin

"There but for the grace, etc., etc." We all fear such unplanned events. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

Hi All,

Just when you think you have most of the problems with a computer rebuild sorted you then get multiple hick-ups occurring.
First problem being that the person who fixed my computer decided to NOT do as I had requested and put certain programs back in to place, namely MSTS.
He also changed the operating system when I specifically told him not to which has resulted in a number of other programs that I use being rendered unusable without work-a-rounds....

The result of the computer not being restored as I requested has been a month wait to get the MSTS files. During this time I had reset up the computer to run everything as before (to a degree), only now it doesn't want to connect to the internet (not to much of an issue as I now have a laptop which is intended to be used for a Graphic Design course that I shall be starting in May).

On the MSTS restore front I am finding that despite having all files present and correct, certain routes are miss behaving and not wanting to load which means that these routes will need re-installing thankfully I have the installer files so this is not too much of a headache but still a good 4 or more hours of re-setting up everything.

On a positive note, all my recent work is safe and sound so I don't loose any time there. Also the backup files for projects that I have worked on with others are safe (I just need to find the right coaches for Andy from about 10 different backups).

I have also started a new job which ATM is proving to be "different", the main issue is the travelling time: getting to work is around 1hr but getting home can be closer to 2hrs depending on traffic. I am mostly running around all day so by the time I get home I'm stuffed (I have to leave home at 6:10 am and I usually don't get home till close to 7pm). Still it pays the bills.

So in short, it will be a little while longer before I can get back into modelling but hopefully not too long.

Justin

Good to hear from you, although we would all have preferred that you had not had the problems. Fingers crossed it'll soon be all right again.

Somebody please shoot me,

Having spent the last week and a bit preparing my computer to run Windows 8.1 with MSTS I have gotten down to the actual point of running MSTS only to have it crash back to desktop. I did a bit of digging around only to find out that because of the graphics card that I have (ATI Radeon 3600 HD, it’s the computers original one from 2008) MSTS won’t run.

So now I have 2 choices: get a new graphics card (which I can’t afford right now) or try and find a copy of Windows Vista (which the computer originally ran and which I told the repair guy to reinstall). Right now I am going for the last option as I know everything that I have works on that system.

Don’t get me wrong, after sorting out a few things Windows 8.1 isn’t so bad, it’s just all the old software that I use doesn’t like it.

Justin

Once again sorry to hear of your problems, but it would appear that the rapid "development" of OSs doesn't take into account older games, etc. Perhaps once you have a copy of Vista or even 7 you can dual boot?
Hopefully you'll be back up and running MSTS sooner rather than later.

Hi Justin & Alec,
I feel it's not the Win 8.1 Operating System itself which is the problem, but the way the ATI/AMD graphics drivers are arranged to run under it.
I have two reasons to support that statement :
a) NVIDIA cards work quite happily under Windows 8.1
b) When I first installed Win 8.1 and before I installed the ATI/AMD drivers, MSTS worked, albeit almost as a slide show, using the default Microsoft drivers.

There are several (old) games which have similar problems with the Win 8/AMD graphics card configuration, but AMD have not, over the last 3 years, addressed it, so I believe it's a lost cause now

Cheers,
Ged

I think the easiest option would be to get an NVidia card ( the GTX 750ti is a good gaming card for a very reasonable price, and runs MSTS with ease) I  considered upgrading my old XP machine to vista last year to see if it would fix the problems with it, but vista was hard to find and what was available was far too expensive, especially for an old defunct operating system, (windows 7 might be easier to get hold of, be cheaper, and is much the better option) if that situation still exists it may be a lot cheaper to go down the NVidia graphics card way.

Hi Everybody,

Well I finally have some good news: I have my computer back up and running properly (with Windows Vista). I have managed to reinstall about 80% of the programs that were on it that I need for MSTS. There should only be a few rarely used programs missing which is neither here or there regarding operating MSTS or my workshop. And yes, I am actually posting this message from the computer.

For a brief second I had a heart stopping moment when I couldn’t find the HAA works files for TSM (I had put them with all my coach files instead of where I thought I had them) but everything is safe and sound and running as it should be!!!!!

Everything that was backed up has been “dumped” back onto a hard drive and works as though it never left the computer. As my computer is equipped with 2 hard drives (The old primary hard drive is somehow now only 500gb instead of 750gb) I have decided to use one hard drive solely for MSTS keeping the default install setup but changing only the drive letter (D:\program files\microsoft games\train simulator\ instead of C:\program files\microsoft games\train simulator\) making it easier to keep a default set up.

So over this Easter weekend I should be able to get back into modelling, if I don’t get stuck watching the 17 seasons of Thomas the Tank engine and Friends that I have been given. Looking at the show from a more adult perspective the modelling that went into the show is just amazing and with the new episodes being CGI it gives me too many ideas, not that I haven’t been thinking of doing the Island of Sodor for MSTS for years…. But that’s another story…. (queue the end credit theme song…)



Justin

Hi Everyone,

So I just happened to be enjoying a quite period at Doncaster station when all of a sudden this rolled though:



Yes that's right, I now have my MSTS set ups working and I have gotten on with the HAAs:



HAA Empty.



HAA Empty End of Train.



HAA Loaded.



HAA Loaded End of Train.

Surprisingly the heavily used texture shows up well in MSTS which is good news, and yes I know that the hoppers all have the same number. At this stage they are still undergoing work to clean up the models and the major texturing work. Once this is done I will then look at possibly doing individual numbers for 2 sets of 30 hoppers (one set full, one set empty). Plus there is the scope for the canopy fitted versions and multiple different liveries (this is just a basic mock up). I could also do the preserved one at the NRM in it's flat grey and red colours....

Justin

Hi Justin,
Those hoppers look really good,just needs one of you Coal Sector 47's to haul them
Mike

Hi Justin,

Glad your computer is up and running again. I had a similar problem with "lost" gigabytes after my main hard drive crashed last year. I decided to buy a bigger one but when I did a system restore to put Windows back onto the new C drive it only gave me the original drive size. With the help of my clever son-in-law and a free programme called MiniTool Partition Wizard Free 9.0 all is now well. Incidentally, Train Simulator and Open Rails are both on G drive and using the system restore also meant that they both worked perfectly without a lengthy re-installation.

Your new HAA Wagons are looking good - I like the idea of giving them individual numbers.

Regards,

Stephen

Some good looking wagons there Justin.

Hi Justin.
HAA hoppers (Merry go round or MGR) used to pass through Doncaster on a regular basis, Yes they do look very good.
There is just one thing wrong, the tail lamp, which is shown as oil. It should be the Bardic Battery flashing type.
I note that you also have them in Australia, saw two or three freights in Sydney last week with them on the rear.
Cheers
Andy

Congratulations getting the angle on the hopper correct. tricky job.

The HAA preceded the Bardic tail lamp so an oil lamp is OK up to the 1990s

However the lamp is in the wrong place.
The bracket was on the headstock between the Left buffer and the coupling.
The brake shoes were at the right hand end only - worked by the handbrake.
The left hand end has the air brake disks.


Here is a drawing......

https://www.hightail.com/download/UlRRZUN1UzdwM21Ga2NUQw

Hi All,

Firstly thank you Ian for the drawing of the HAA, it helped clear a few things up and I have replaced one set of brakes with discs as you suggested.

Having said that I won't be making these too realistic (as per normal) but I hope that the improvement is a good one:



And on the note of tail lamps, I have decided to change them to a freightanim so that they can be different without the need for multiple large files.



Fitted with my standard LNER lamp.



Fitted with my version of a Bardic type tail lamp.

I have done some modifications to the wag files adjusting the spacing of the wagons (at first they sat too close then they moved too far apart, now they sit just right).
Still need to adjust the weights of the wagons and finish up the extra texture work as well as numbering 60 individual wagons....
I still have the canopy version to go as well.

Then comes the fun part of starting on what ever comes next...

Justin

j3801 wrote:

Then comes the fun part of starting on what ever comes next...

Justin

Mmm . . not always fun when you have lots of items you fancy trying.

These wagons are looking good. I'll need to use FreightAnim's for lamps on the LNWR 42ft brakes!

And I goofed again, looking at the photo's and information that I have again reveals that one side of an axle is Disc braked the other side has the traditional brake shoes.



Trust me to get it wrong and not realize before I did the 60 different numbered versions......

Just checking out the canopies that were fitted and at first I thought there was 2 types: one having straight level sides and the other having a "rolled in" appearance. On closer inspection of the photo's I realized that it was simply that the canopy had been bashed around that much that it gave a different appearance (looking at multiple photo's and noting no conformity between bends in the canopy and also uneven bend lines). These having the TOPs code of HFA.

Now can anybody clarify the HDA/HBA's for me as they seem to have an air brake pump mounted at one end (Similar to one that is on the front end of my 38 class)?

The Clasp brake and disc brakes were diagonaly opposite with the clasp brake under the brake lever making both sides similar.

The air brake motor operated the disc brake at each end with the distributer in front of it at one end only.
This was vulnerable to dust damage and was moved above the frame on the HDAs.

I have sent another couple of drawings. Unfortunately I never kept the text of the article the drawings came with.
At the time I was working with these wagons regularly and never expected to model them.
None of the photo I have show the brake clearly.

Might be worth checking the Hornby or Bachmann models.

https://www.hightail.com/download/UlRSanZ1ZDV1Yk1YRHRVag

Hi Ian,

Thanks for that, the drawings help clarify a few things. Unfortunately I only have HAAs in my possession in model form.
I did manage to get the canopy nearly right just from photos, I just left off the lower bend on the sides:



I'm not too concerned with it being missing, when you have already made 60 of them it does get repetitive.

To clarify the quantities, I'm making it as 30 individual hoppers per type: 30 HAA empties, 30 HAA loadeds, 30 HFA empties, 30 HFA loadeds.

Add to that 30 HDA empties and 30 HDA loadeds and all of a sudden I have 180 individual wagons. This pack is going to be the largest that I have ever released (and I thought I'd gone big with the Pullman's....) not including the engines that are going to go with them......

If anyone wants to be scared think of this: the uncompressed size of the MSTS folder that houses the models just passed 1.1GB. A full original install of MSTS is around the same size......

Justin

Hi

My poor old computer I think it will roll over with fright with that amount of gigabits,when I first started in computers we worked in bim,bam,boms,bytes,and the computer was a IBM 1403,you had to plug wires in it to get to work,there were no disc drives,just a card reader,card sorter,a tape drive and a printer.

After that we got a IBM 1410,the big difference you didn't have to use wires and it had one big disc drive and the operating system was DOS.
The computer room took up 3 quarters of the ground floor of Brittania House( The Aeroplane,not the locomotive),I started working in 1963.

Mike

Mike,

It sounds as though you would have had some fun getting those computers up and running....
My first computer experience was with a DOS based system back around 1991 in school. I don't know what they were as they had no operating system and you used the old 5 inch floppies to get them running. The first time I saw an actual "PC" was in 1996 and it was running Windows 95..... How things have changed since then.

And just so people don't freak out too much the somewhat compressed size of the folder is 356mb (The 2 47 shape files aren't compressed yet).

Justin

EDIT: Forgot to ask a dreaded question: was there a canopy version of the HDA/HBA? And the HCA, is that a lime wagon like the HAA or is it the code for the canopy fitted HDA/HBA?

My limited understanding is that a number of variants were developed from the HAA as follows:-
HAA = standard Coal Hopper
HBA = modified HDA with canopy
HCA = modified HFA Lime Hopper with canopy
HDA = Coal Hopper
HFA = HAA with aerodynamic canopy Lime Hopper
HMA = modified brakes version of HAA Coal Hopper
HNA = HMA Coal Hopper with canopy

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the info Alec, I corrected the incorrect TOPS Coded HFA back to HAA.

I have also just done my version of the HDA hopper:



The motor isn't 100% accurate but I think it serves.

To recap what hoppers I have made so far:

30 HAA Standards Empty numbered 350100 to 350129
30 HAA Standards Full numbered 350130 to 350159
30 HAA With Canopy Empty numbered 350160 to 35089
30 HAA With Canopy Full numbered 350190 to 350219
30 HDA Standards Empty numbered 368100 to 368129
30 HDA Standards Full numbered 368130 to 368159

So, so far I have done 180 individually numbered hoppers, and with another set of HBA hoppers to add in (as HDA's with canopy) that will take the total to 240 individual MRG wagons.

And I have also done another 2 Eastern 47's, this time in Railfreight Distribution livery:

47377


47378

I have decided as this pack is getting quite big (240 wagons and so far 4 engines with another 4 or more of a different classes to come) that it will consist of 8 fully individually numbered MGR trains.

Don't worry I will include consists to make everything easier.

Justin

My what a lot of wagons! We are really being treated to a veritable bonanza! I believe that it is always a plus to include consists. MGRs would not look out of place on many of the most popular available routes.
Thanks in advance.

Hi All,

Ok, so the 60 HCA's are done taking the wagon total to 240.



To quickly recap, there are:
30 HAA Standards Empty numbered 350100 to 350129
30 HAA Standards Full numbered 350130 to 350159
30 HAA With Canopy Empty numbered 350160 to 35089
30 HAA With Canopy Full numbered 350190 to 350219
30 HDA Standards Empty numbered 368100 to 368129
30 HDA Standards Full numbered 368130 to 368159
30 HCA With Canopy Empty numbered 368160 to 36889
30 HCA With Canopy Full numbered 368190 to 368219

In short 4 loaded and 4 unloaded trains for operational interest.

Now I will make one thing clear at this stage: as there were over 11000 of these hoppers built and I don't have a list of what happened to every single hopper the TOPS code may be slightly off for individual hoppers. However I don't anticipate any major issues over this.

Now, having said that who would like to guess what this is:



No clues asides form it being something that I have been wanting to build for a number of years.

Justin