Bullion Carriers: Body and Underframe Complete

The major push this week has seen the last of the rebuilding of elements and adding of detail to both the underframe area and body of the bullion van for Train Simulator 2013.

All that's left now is to construct the friction damped B5 bogies that will go under these vehicles. The bogies have been mocked up and the frames are in the process of being fabricated.

HBA/HEA Hoppers modelling complete

Well we live in hope that when the testers give the shapes the once over they don't find anything that needs a big rebuild!

As you can see from the renders below, the shape creating stage of the HBA/HEA air braked coal hoppers for RailWorks Train Simulator 2012 is complete. Once the testers have given them a quick visual check in the simulator they'll be back in the workshop for unwrapping and baking.

I have been quite surprised by these as a model (especially as they're a recycling of a previous project) by the amount of subtle and half hidden detail that's been needed to really get the feel of these wagons which look so deceptively simple at the first glance.

North Staffs Minerals:On the road with 7Z16

A series of screenshots of 7Z16 a special steel working from Etruria to Toton hauled by Class 44 44005.

North Staffs Minerals: Cheadle Yard

A couple of screenshots of Cheadle Yard where tipper lorries loaded wagons directly from a raised concrete pad.

North Staffs Minerals: Miscellaneous

A series of screenshots taken around North Staffs Minerals, our freight themed route for RailWorks set in 1970s Staffordshire.

North Staffs Minerals: Oakamoor Sand

A couple of screenshots of Sulzer Type 2s working Oakamoor sand traffic.

North Staffs Minerals: Etruria Traffic

A selection of screenshots showing traffic around the Etruria area.

North Staffs Minerals: Route Map

A route map showing the progress of North Staffs Minerals in early May 2012. Only the lines running from Stone - Etruria and through Cresswell carried passenger services, all other lines are freight only with the branches to Florence and Cheadle being NCB internal lines.

North Staffs Minerals: Meaford Power Station

Please note: The mineral wagons in the pictures are not our product and merely used by the route builder as an illustration.

North Staffs Minerals: Wedgwood Factory

North Staffs Minerals: Hem Heath Colliery

A couple of pictures of the south end head shunt at Hem Heath Colliery.

Route X

A little something coming soon to RailWorks 3 Train Simulator 2012...

North Staffs Minerals: Grange Sidings

North Staffs Minerals: Cockshute Yard

A nice little selection of screenshots from North Staffs Minerals, our 1970s freight orientated route for RailWorks 3 Train Simulator 2012 have floated over from the route builder.

Target 9 Departs Cockshute Yard, Stoke-on-Trent. 

A view from the tow path as Target 9 Departs Cockshute Yard, Stoke-on-Trent behind two Sulzers.

You can only assume this picture was taken from a narrow boat on the canal of 102t bogie tanks in Cockshute Yard, Stoke-on-Trent

Gas Lit TSR Warning Board

As we spend most of our RailWorks time in the 1970s and 1980s it seemed only right that we had a set of TSR signage that was appropriate to the era.

The pre-battery signs were gas lit using propane and by the early 1970s were flood lit rather than using internal lamps in the board itself. Reference photographs of the boards have been hard to come across and there seem to have been a wide selection of designs.

The board shown here has fittings for dual speeds if required and the gas bottle box is currently solid with the mesh to be added during the texturing phase.

The Night Capitals: Final Master GUV shape.

After much looking at pictures, continual adding of bits and a pretty manic time in non modelling life it's great to have a couple of final shape renders of the GUV for our Night Capitals stock addon for RailWorks 3 Train Simulator 2012 to show off.

The plan has always been to create a generic shape that can be exported to create most variations that the GUV has gone through in its life time. The top picture shows a shape in as delivered condition with step boards, vacuum brakes and through steam pipe. The step boards found themselves removed fairly early on as they were frequently damaged during the transhipment of BRUTE trollies.

The second picture is of possibly the most complicated (and possibly not true to life) variant with dual brakes, through electric wiring and steam pipe along with a gangway buffing plate. The buffing plate was  a modification applied to Motorail vans to help stop shocks under braking between the clasp braked GUV and disc braked Mk3 sleepers. The buffing plate fitted vans were not recognised by TOPS when still in the standard number range so which vans in Motorail traffic were fitted is a matter for conjecture.

Now these are out of the way it's time to put some serious effort into the mark 1 sleepers!

Starting to roll GUV

I've finally found the time to get back to the bogies for the GUV model that will be making its first outing as a Motorail variant in the Night Capitals expansion for Railworks Train Simulator 2012.

At the present time the bogies are about 75% complete with a few other large components to add along with some of the fine detail. once that is complete it should be just the bufferbeam detail to add and some other fine detailing.

NSM: Trentham MGR

Some more work in progress shots of North Staffs Minerals, our route for RailWorks Train Simulator 2012 have arrived in the inbox from the route builder this week.

This time we get to see a class 47 hauled MGR departing Trentham Colliery and heading past the Wedgewood ceramics factory.