Two Sister's Farm 1/32 scale layout

[Mogul]

A selection of pictures taken at different exhibitions over a period of years by Mick Thornton a specialist narrow gauge photographer.

Peter M

 

[fordmajor]

You exhibit at tractor shows. Spalding / Toytrac  

[Mogul]

No Jim, I am an old git so I no longer do exhibitions. Although this year we are opening our garden so I will set the layout up in our conservatory for visitors to see or have a drive if they  would like to.

The dates the garden is open are July 1st and 2nd.

Regards Peter M

 

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She always seems popular with the visitors, a selection of shots featuring the quad going about its business on several different occasions in Two Sister’s yard.

Peter M

 

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A small scratch built diesel I’ve not mentioned before is the Ruston which is powered by a bogie from a Bachmann switcher. It is not an accurate model of the prototype but looks more or less right. I made the body from plasticard using photographs to get the proportions looking right. She is quite light so is used mainly for maintenance work or towing empty wagons out to the fields on the farm. The driver is rather fierce looking Chinese character made I think by Siku.

Peter M

 

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She made her debut at a specialist narrow gauge show at Barton le Clay Bedfordshire, this is Tilly, the latest addition to the farm’s growing fleet of unusual vehicles. It is an ex Second World War 10 HP light utility car with a pick up body. She is used for track maintenance purposes and not general haulage as she is a bit too small and light.
The kit is made by Tamiya and is rather delicate with unusually many of the parts being a poor fit. I have left the bonnet off to show the details in the engine bay, as it seemed a pity to hide them.
I made a false chassis to attach and locate the body to the power unit which is from an HO Bachmann HI-rail track maintenance van. The body has a solid block of plasticard at the back of the false chassis which was drilled and tapped. One long screw then holds the two together. It has little out rider wheels which also pick up current. I added extra weight in any place I could to help it track better.
The first two photos are of the new track maintenance vehicle arriving back in the yard having spent the day adding sidings from the main line into the fields ready for the potato harvest.
 

Peter M

 

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The Fordson Major 27n powered rail truck is the latest device to have come out of the farm workshop. It looks just the sort of vehicle to find on a farm railway, sadly it was not.
It is very loosely based on a device made by Muir Hill that provided the inspiration for to build something similar for my Two Sister‘s Farm. Muir Hill used a Fordson Standard for their macine.
I was given a very damaged 1/32 scale white metal Fordson 27N and having a photo of the Muir Hill device decided it would be an excellent starting point.
The model is powered by a WB35 Tenshodo bogie. This is held by one screw to a plasticard false chassis which in turn is held by two screws to the plasticard chassis that supports the white metal tractor body. The driver figure is a German tank crewman supposedly playing cards from Master Box, who incidentally make a lot of civilian figures in 1/35 scale.
The finished model is much higher from the rail top than the Muir Hill example due to the space taken up by the Tenshodo bogie. Therefore it is assumed an accident damaged tractor had a chassis built for it in the farm workshop. It is used for light shunting in the yard due to its relatively low power and its three speed gearbox with its extra two ratios by a Darlington overdrive gear box giving 6 forward and 2 reverse gears. Tenshodo bogies are fine for powering things like this tractor but they do need plenty of weight and take some time to run in properly.

Peter M

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At the same time the tractor based device was being built I was working on another rail truck. This has a Zvezda GAZ-AAA Russian 1/35 scale kit of a Ford based lorry as a basis. The real trucks were built under license in Russia during the second World War. Because the prototype is a small vehicle I used the three axle truck to give a little more length, the two axle version being very short, more like a tipper.
I must admit I am a little disappointed with the way this has turned out. It has one saving grace however, it runs quite well and I’m happy to make allowances for decent running.
The kit was inexpensive and turned out to be rather poor with regard to the fit and quality of many parts. Even the cardboard box it came in fell apart. The clear plastic windows being especially troublesome. But with a lot of fiddling and cutting I eventually managed to get it to fit a Con-Cor switcher chassis.
It is a kerosene tanker for refuelling the tractors out in the fields. The tank is actually an HO scale Walthers Oil Terminal item I have modified to suit its new role. I added flat shelves to the body sides to hold the refuelling pipes and a couple of wooden boxes for tools. The hand rails are made from paper clips and the rubber refuelling pipes are resin cored solder.
The exhaust pipe and silencer I have moved and now is fitted to the front of the vehicle to minimise the fire risk.

 

 

Peter M

 

[fordmajor]

you will have to build a bigger yard .Great stuff.

[Mogul]

I stuck to this size Jim because it fitted in my car with all the stock and lights. Also it never took very long to set up and take down after a show, when you've been on your feet all day and you just want to get home and relax.

Kind regards Peter M

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A few pictures of the small Porter steam loco no 1, the farm only use her during the summer at harvest time when things get really busy. At this time the loco still looked rather American with the large headlight.
Several remarks have been made over the years regarding to two figures on the footplate. I will
leave any thoughts you may have to your imagination. Suffice to say they are both modified soldiers.

Peter M
 

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I exhibited at a show at Reading a few years ago and it being a two day affair I was kindly assisted on the Saturday by a friend.
On the Sunday when things quietened down in the late afternoon I had a wander round and found on the organising club’s stand a box of mixed figures all in different scales. I bought two 1/32 scale figures for 50 pence. They were un-painted and made of a hard white plastic. They both had thick bases and quite a lot of flash. After a lot of work with a scalpel and various files they have cleaned up very well.
I painted both with acrylics and placed them on the layout, these pictures show the two figures. One is a farmer in a duffle coat and the other is an elderly mechanic in brown overalls with a petrol or paraffin can.
I have since found out that they are both from the old Airfix 1/32 Track Officials and Spectators set.

Peter M

 

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2013 was not a good year for electronic devices for me. Firstly my old computer died after some eight years use, then the screen packed up and then to cap it all my wife's compact camera cried enough also. It has taken many images over the last thirteen years so I suppose I shouldn't complain really.
I have never owned a digital camera, I always borrowed the one belonging to my wife in the past. With that no longer working I have had to lash out on a device of my own. I bought a compact Canon camera that was on offer for just under £100 with which I am very pleased.
These are a few images I have taken with the new camera while testing the layout and stock in readiness for the narrow gauge exhibition at Swanley.

 

Peter M

 

[Mogul]

 

 

Photo by Mick Thornton

This is a Fordson Model N 1929-45 a precursor to Fordson Major, it used the same engine and transmission. They too had a power take off at the rear. They were originally painted bright orange but during the second world war standing outside the factory at Dagenham they were used by German bomber pilots to find London. So Fords painted them dark green, mine is blue an earlier colour and the same as the ones near where I lived.
The smell of a tractor running on paraffin is like the smell of a steam engine never forgotten, one that would be good if you could put it in a bottle and have a sniff now and again.
The model is a Scaledown kit and like the Major would be used to tow a trailing plough as it had no three point linkage to lift it when not ploughing. I remember these as a lad too as the local farm had two of them, the drivers usually stood up when driving them. Yes this model reminds me very much of my youth the smell of freshly cut grass and the paraffin smell of the tractor’s exhaust, lovely.

Peter M

 

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A few pictures taken a small exhibition in aid of church funds at Braunstone Leicester.
The exhibition itself was inside the church and is an annual event that specialises in small layouts. Sadly the gentleman who both organised and exhibited passed away a few years ago.

Peter M

 

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A few pictures taken at the Beds and Bucks narrow gauge club open day one Sunday.
I always enjoy specialist shows like this they have a relaxed atmosphere and fewer but a more knowledgeable selection of visitors.

Peter M

 

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One of the most enjoyable exhibitions I did was at Stow on the Wold which was a most pleasant experience. My wife helped me setting the layout up, but a gentleman with a layout next door ran Two Sisters while I had a walk round outside in the sun.
It is a fabulous venue in a charming Cotswold town. The show was very well attended by a record crowd, who came in to view the models despite the glorious weather outside. All the exhibitors were treated to some fabulous cakes by the show’s organisers.

Peter M

 

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I did the Hemel Hempsted club show at Leverstock Green one day and thoroughly enjoyed it, the weather was good with a steady flow of visitors all day. There was a selection of different layouts in various scales so there was something for everyone to enjoy.
I didn't take my camera but I took a few pictures of the layout on the Friday before the show while checking it all worked, before loading it in the car to take to the show.

Peter M

 

[Mogul]

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I started work on a project I have been thinking about for some time now. I was given a Con-Cor switcher some time ago with a view to using the chassis. It runs superbly so I had to try to think up a suitable body for it.
In the end I decided to make a wooden bodied 2-4-2, cheating with the Bo-Bo chassis. The long side skirts will hide its real identity.
The back story is the device was one of the original locomotives used on the farm but has lain derelict in a barn for many years and has been resurrected as a project for a couple of apprentices to get working again. Firstly fitting a new Gardener 4 cylinder diesel engine then repairing the wooden body. The lads in the workshop are known as Grunty Fen engineering.
I am making the device up as I go along so am still not sure what it will look like when it is finished.
Peter M

 

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Grunty Fen Engineering have done a little more work on the wooden bodied shunter.
I have managed to give it opening doors with the aid of some real bodging.
The doors are hinged with a piece of rod passing through the top of the door frame and into the edge of the door itself. This was easy from the top with a small drill held in a pin vise. The bottom though could not be reached with the drill. So after a bit of a ponder I resorted to a hot dress maker's pin heated with a blow torch and held with a small pair of pliers. Crude but effective.
I still have some controls in the cab and a roof to add.
The driver faces outwards and can then see both ways without leaving his seat.
The photographs were taken on my test track.
 
Peter M

 

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The above photograph shows a bit more progress with the final paint scheme and some work stained weathering.
I am tempted to leave it at this stage as I think it is all too easy to overdo it.
It is after all a device that is supposed to be in daily use.

I have yet to fit the roof and this will be covered with a fabric effect. As is the roof to the store at the back of the cab with an access door on the near side where the fuel filler is situated. Then a few bits of rope and chain and a re-railing jack, KD's at each end to finish it off.

Peter M
 

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This shows the primed roof covering with kitchen towel which will be trimmed to fit then painted a dirty black colour.
Then a general touching up around the edges of the roof.

Followed by a few photographs of the shunter at work in the yard.

Peter M

 

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This vehicle a particular favourite of mine, it is an Opel Blitz fitted with a gas converter, the black vertical cylinder behind the cab.
Coal or wood chips were heated to produce a gas which was fed through a radiator at the front of the truck to cool it then into a storage tank and finally into the engine via the carb.
It only produced about 40% of the power petrol would. It was introduced by the German Army at the end of the war due to a shortage of petrol.
She is seen in the yard at Two Sister’s waiting to start the days work.
Peter M

 

[Mogul]

One of the advantages of freelancing is being able to make your own rules, and in my case I try to make things that are maybe unlikely but still believable. The biggest plus at model railway exhibitions is no one says in a very loud voice, “I think you’ll find the mark 3 had a bracket and two bolts there.” Because all the models are from my imagination, a very useful tool the imagination for any modeller.

Some Britain's bales of hay which will be delivered to the extensive pig sties by the Davenport, on the Nocton estate (the model is loosely based on the Nocton estate railway) a two foot gauge track ran down the centre of the pig sties. As it did down the centre of the large greenhouse which was a quarter of a mile long on the Nocton estate.
This modified Bachmann On30 loco although it only has four wheels runs superbly over the dead frog points.

Peter M