Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[bgman]

Very nice Grahame. Is that scratchbuilt or a kit?

 

Thank you.

 

Would you like a photo of the cuts and burnt fingers ? 

Yes, scratch built John, made it about 1998 ! 

 

It was a time when my interests were on a roll, so to speak, and decided to give it a go. I currently working on an O Gauge layout with 5 points ( copper clad ) and possibly 2 signals so it may be brought into action !

[St Enodoc]

He's picked it up and is on the case.

 

Thanks.

Now fixed - the answer is here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/93090-posting-a-photo-to-signature/

[The Stationmaster]

Dunno, but I hope I find it before I start filing the tappets themselves...

 

Do you get a jig for filing the ports in the tappets or do they all have to be individually measured and marked?

[St Enodoc]

Do you get a jig for filing the ports in the tappets or do they all have to be individually measured and marked?

Mike -

 

I misinterpreted your question when you asked it a week or so ago - apologies.

 

The holes in the locking bars are pre-drilled and you use those as jigs or templates to mark the tappets for filing, so no actual measuring is needed. The manual tells you which type of notch is needed in each location.

[St Enodoc]

I worked through Step 11 today. This step has an evil reputation amongst Modratec lever frame builders, as it involves holding tiny springs and steel balls in place while manoeuvring the lever guides into position and securing them. For people with four hands this would be a doddle but the rest of us have to do our best with some clever tools and a clothes peg. To this end, I had to buy a pack of 50 clothes pegs this morning - I've got 49 going spare at a very reasonable price.

 

The springs are not quite as small as Kadee coupler springs. At the North Shore club those are known colloquially as "pingf#ckits", because when they go "ping" the immediate reaction is to say "f#ck it". Thoughtfully, and knowing the likelihood of losing some, Harold at Modratec provides a few spare springs and balls in each kit.

 

Fitting the springs and balls requires the frame to be standing on end. This wasn't a problem except that for the last 20 or so levers I had to move it to a lower table so that I could see what I was doing without the aid of a periscope. Also, for the first few levers (at the bottom) it's a bit awkward getting the clothes peg in place while still leaving access to the lever you're working on.

 

This is what you do:

 

First you align the little L-shaped tool with the blind hole in the lever. The clothes peg holds the tool in position.

 

Then you pop a spring and a ball into the blind hole through the tool and hold them in place with the push rod...

 

... while you gently ease the tool back slightly so that the ball and spring are trapped. It's important not to withdraw the tool so far that the ball and spring can escape. Don't fool yourself into thinking that this won't happen. It's a matter of when and how many, not if.

 

You can now feed the fixing screw through the tubular lever guide and secure it loosely...

 

...before removing the tool and starting again for the next lever.

 

After 54 levers the final score was balls 4, springs 1 so I don't think that was too bad.

 

After tightening all the screws the lever frame now looks like this - in "construction" configuration with the levers at the back, not "layout" configuration with them at the front.

 

Overall not too difficult, although definitely a job to be done in a good light and with some relaxing music in the background.

 

Finally for today, I coupled the now-completed D3510 to the shunter's truck ready for next week's running session. The truck is a Cambrian M4 kit, which I built nearly 15 years ago in Singapore. It's branded St Enodoc since at that time that was the planned name for the junction. Whether I can be bothered to change it now I'm not sure. One of the handrails has fallen off so I'll glue that back on before Saturday.

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Barry O]

Mmm, reminds me of Charlie's balls!

 

Good job well done.

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

Mmm, reminds me of Charlie's balls!

 

Good job well done.

 

Baz

Ha ha, a bit smaller though!

[trw1089]

Hi John

 

Those pesky balls and springs, I ended up doing mine over a towel so they didn't roll away when pinging out.  When you get to fitting the pins and filing out the notches in the tappets, I had a few tips which I put together in an article for one of our club newsletters (though it may have also appeared in the BRMA Clearing House too).  It's available on the Modratec site here http://modratec.com/download/pdf/Arnthorpe.pdf

 

They do go together nicely though when you read the instructions carefully!

 

Cheers

Tony

[St Enodoc]

Hi John

 

Those pesky balls and springs, I ended up doing mine over a towel so they didn't roll away when pinging out.  When you get to fitting the pins and filing out the notches in the tappets, I had a few tips which I put together in an article for one of our club newsletters (though it may have also appeared in the BRMA Clearing House too).  It's available on the Modratec site here http://modratec.com/download/pdf/Arnthorpe.pdf

 

They do go together nicely though when you read the instructions carefully!

 

Cheers

Tony

Thanks Tony. Yes, I've got a copy of your article as well as various others to help me along the way. I haven't got a lathe so I won't be able to follow your tip for the pins but I like your idea for marking and sawing the notches.

[St Enodoc]

Another excellent running session on Saturday, involving eight operators (including our special guest Barry O of this parish). That meant we had two yardmasters, a signalman at Porthmellyn Road, four drivers and myself as Fat Controller once again. We got through the sequence with no major mishaps in two hours straight, which left plenty of time for afternoon tea.

 

As requested, Charles produced another of his excellent short videos, this time of the clay train arriving at and departing from Porthmellyn Road:

 

 

Barry was invited to go and see the New York Central in 0 gauge so we will be off there later this morning.

[Andrew P]

You mean Barry's missed out on the Snow,  hahah.

 

Looks like a good session Boys.

[Barry O]

No Andy it's just above 40C...luvvverley!

 

And an excellent visit to a very nice, dcc equipped NYC layout today....

Baz

[Stubby47]

(Where's the 'jealous' button?)

[lofty.ian]

Another excellent running session on Saturday, involving eight operators (including our special guest Barry O of this parish). That meant we had two yardmasters, a signalman at Porthmellyn Road, four drivers and myself as Fat Controller once again. We got through the sequence with no major mishaps in two hours straight, which left plenty of time for afternoon tea.

 

As requested, Charles produced another of his excellent short videos, this time of the clay train arriving at and departing from Porthmellyn Road:

 

 

Barry was invited to go and see the New York Central in 0 gauge so we will be off there later this morning.

Brilliant video clip, did I detect a certain north eastern voice in the background? Keep up the progress.

[St Enodoc]

Brilliant video clip, did I detect a certain north eastern voice in the background? Keep up the progress.

Yes indeed you did Lofty. The whole weekend formed one portion of a multi-part meeting of the LMRS Eating & Drinking Section (Australian Branch), which will continue in another State from tomorrow. Hope all is well with you.

[Jesse Sim]

Cheers John for a lovely afternoon on Saturday. Quick photo of one of the trains I drove, there are more on my thread. 

 

 

Jesse

[St Enodoc]

Cheers John for a lovely afternoon on Saturday. Quick photo of one of the trains I drove, there are more on my thread. 

 

IMG_0439.JPG

 

Jesse

Thanks Jesse. For those interested, go to http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/125185-brighton-junction/page-5&do=findComment&comment=3013958

[Killybegs]

Cheers John for a lovely afternoon on Saturday. Quick photo of one of the trains I drove, there are more on my thread. 

 

IMG_0439.JPG

 

Jesse

Love the bridge across the doorway

[St Enodoc]

Love the bridge across the doorway

Thanks John. There are more details starting on page 4 if you're interested.

[Killybegs]

Thanks John. There are more details starting on page 4 if you're interested.

Very clever. Thanks.

[St Enodoc]

Very clever. Thanks.

John, the credit belongs to John in Adelaide whose original steel version gave me the idea.

[St Enodoc]

Step 12 involves painting the levers, which I had already done, so it was on to step 13 today.

 

There are two types of locking bars - the long bars that fit into the locking bar guides and the short bars that slide in between the long bars.

 

The short bars need to be cut to make them shorter than the long bars (!) so that they can slide between the locking bar guides. Some of the short bars also need to be divided into several parts. In my case the largest number of sub-bars is 6.

 

I started Step 14 by connecting the lower tappets to the even-numbered levers. I found that a hook made from bent wire made the task of lifting the tappet links to drop them into the holes on the tappets very straightforward. You can see the extended tappets for levers 6 and 46, with the holes for the EEMECKs, quite clearly in this view.

 

Once the lower tappets were connected I placed the long locking bars in position, resting on the lower tappets.

 

The next stage of Step 14 is to fettle the short locking bars one-by-one so that they fit neatly between the long locking bars and can slide freely. This involves a fair bit of filing and although I started today I only completed three of the 14 short locking bars. It is certainly testing my filing skills, which I was taught in the Apprentice Training School at Derby Locomotive Works in 1974. To be perfectly frank, this is the first time I've really had to file anything flat and square since then. I think I'll get away with it though. At least filing brass is easier than filing steel.

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

Well, what a bl00dy chore that was.

 

I finished the fettling of the short locking bars today. It took me about four hours to tidy up the remaining 11 bars and I still don't think that I've done as good a job as I should. The problem is getting the long bars and the longer segments of the short bars dead straight, which over a two-foot length I found impossible. While the bars all move smoothly, they are not all quite as free as I would like, so I think that next time I will clean up the faces of the long locking bars as well. As they come, the faces of all the bars are slightly concave, presumably as a consequence of the manufacturing process. I will file these gently so that they are flat, which will give a few more thou' clearance between each bar. With 28 interfaces I reckon that will improve matters.

 

I have been looking for one of these for a while and at last an Australian stockist managed to get one for me, so as of tomorrow it will be crossing the border from Roving Wolf Models in Melbourne (usual disclaimer) http://wolfstore.com.au/.

 

Why do I want it when I haven't got room on the layout for Tregissey Docks? I don't know really but you will recall that I now have some spare baseboards from the old St Enodoc layout that I might be able to find a use for.

 

Alternatively, it might run aground on Pentowan beach, with the lifeboat standing by...

 

Watch this space.

 

Edit: link added.

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

Nothing to report on the modelling front but it was good to spend this evening in the Sherlock Holmes with Mr & Mrs Barry O of this parish, for the third instalment of this year's session of the LMRS E&D Section AU Branch. No Proper Job on tap this week but between the three of us we enjoyed a lamb's fry, Malaysian curry and chicken schnitty. We washed these down with some Cooper's Pale, Furphy and Hargraves Hill ESB, all of which made it very easy to put the worlds of cricket, rugby and model railways to rights.

[Barry O]

And no further falling over by yours truly!!

Baz