Oh dear! Old age is really having a go at me; it’s not the K3 at all, it’s the O6: - FOOL.

Some readers will not understand “O6”. During the second world war, the government (ROD? MOS? WD?, not sure) had the LNER build about 60ish LMS 8Fs. The Southern built some too; and each of the ‘Big Four’ had some on loan. It appears that the LNER purchased some of these and classified them O6 and they appeared as such in the stock book. Those on loan, the LNER called “WD® 2-8-0”. They had 68 O6s and 60 WD® 2-8-0s at one time. All eventually ended up as LMS owned, bar one, which was transferred to the Midland Region of the newly formed British Railways because the LMS was gone!

My model is No.3563. My father drove the real one when it was a Mexborough engine. I’ve no record of ever seeing one.

I said last time that I used it in order to test that it would still run over the marginally modified double slip. (Actually I said it was the K3; - that's old age memory for you. It was my O6) It wouldn’t run on Bowton’s Yard without falling off left right & centre.

Since the J10 episode, I’ve changed my approach to backing wheels; I now use two, a “go” gauge and a “no-go” gauge. These showed that the O6 wheels had seen some movement (or I had never had them set correctly – but it was normally a superb runner). All was adjusted – “go” fitted smoothly; “no-go” would not slip in. Then back to ‘Bowton’s for a try. Good fastish run down the straight and then UGH!!! Complete lock-up and DCC tripped.

This lock-up under power was catastrophic; number 2 axle had the crank pins ripped from the wheels, ever axle was un-quartered. I was faced with removing the axles, re-fitting crank pins, re-quartering; - on a Walschaert valve gear loco, no mean job.

All was corrected and reassembled but at the first test it did not move but immediately tripped out the DCC. The motor was locked-up! Why? Because the first stage gear shaft had left its bearings, -well its fixing points really, because this shaft is not supposed to rotate. I’ve met the problem before and when building this gearbox I’d soldered patches of shim brass over the fixing holes so it was impossible for this shaft to lose its fixing.

Obviously my soldering had been rubbish, because those patches of shim were not there! I can remember being concerned about the plastic gear wheel on the shaft, so probably I took the soldering iron away too quickly and achieved a poor joint. Since I built this one I have actually decided that a blob of araldite achieves the same purpose with less risk of damage. The gearbox was re-built with the araldite adaptation.

Removing the driven axle from the gearbox had caused a little damage to one end of the axle so I decided to re-make the axle. As I write this, I’m waiting for the araldite that sticks the axle parts together and provides the electrical insulation between the parts, to cure.

Tell you the rest next time, - when I’ve done it!

Tarra & good modelling to you,

Dave