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War Department First World War Narrow Gauge Layout O-16.5 WDLR

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Westinghouse & Dick Kerr

So here we have the finished Westinghouse and Dick Kerr. Another couple of interesting points since the last picks are the bonnet vents made by pressing a screw driver bit into brass sheet with the Proxxon pillar drill and the and the bonnet exhaust turned up by me on the lathe - yes I can do something with it! Only a basic weathering as was rushed out for Nottingham;     It is fitted -in rather rudimentary fashion, with a Diditrax 64bit sound decoder and a stay alive which has resulted in

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The Westinghouse

As I already had a Dick Kerr body made up this was the easy bit, but as I fancied a Westinghouse version this was where the fun started! Although designed to the same specifications and basic plans the two versions of this loco were surprisingly different as I was about to find out, and it took many different techniques to build. Firstly, this is what I was aiming for;     The trouble is that this photo and two or three others like it are all there is to go on. There is one Westinghouse sti

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Project X Revealed

Right, after several months, I am now in a) a position to and have time to explain the mysterious project that has been alluded to in previous posts. The reason for the secrecy as partly just to get a bit of suspense going. partly that I haven't had time to describe it fully and partly because I wasn't sure that the third party involved was happy to be mentioned for his sterling contribution. Well, all matters are resolved now so here we go.   I have never been happy with my attempts at motor

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A not so simple Simplex and something for it to pull.

To those RM Webbers I met at Nottingham and to whom I promised a return to more regular updates - my apologies! Only a week since the last one I guess but could do better. Am still avoiding the slightly more major issues that I need to get sorted before Burton in a couple of months but have made a start on some little things that I have been meaning to get down to.   One very 'little' thing is the Lawton Simplex - lovely kit to build, looks great but have never managed to get one to run proper

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Another Show - Another Trophy!

Back from the Nottingham show weekend with another bit of silver (platted!) ware for the cabinet - and is little Iz happy about that! A very enjoyable weekend although don't think I was this tired after I ran the London Marathon (OK, that was a good few years ago but does beg the question about whether I should do it again while there is still half a chance I would finish alive!). Anyway, well organised show, with a great variety of exhibits and traders, very spread out though in a huge school

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(Almost) All Set for Nottingham

The idea was that the little outing in Jan to Mickelover was going to sort out all the problems with the layout so it would just be a case of packing it all up, throwing it in the car and then off to the Nottingham show for the weekend. As you can guess the snag list got longer and I got diverted by things that weren't on the list and life just got in the way a bit. Appologise also for lack of posts as have been problems with internet since my 'seamless' change to a new supplier (is a £125 Sains

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Like an upside down swan!

Like an upside down I am - all furious activity on top but little forward movement - an probably drowning as well! These fiddle yards are just eating time and am starting to think of extreme measure to get them finished so I can move on to other important matters before Nottingham. Finally got the new board joint into the new fiddle yard board sorted, was far from easy trying to work around the buildings without further destruction. The big doorway in the barn was very handy as was able to pass

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Getting to the Point

Having lashed myself to the computer today to weather the storm of desperately (and successfully!), trying to finish off my proper work before more comes along, I was able to turn my attention to the points for the new fiddle yard. Having given up on traversers this seems to be the simplest option. Simple - never! Have spent a whole evening on two points to get them up peak performance - and using Peco track was meant to make things simple.   So, firstly, a good clean was in order. These are

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Slimming my legs

That is actually all that seems to be happening with all the going to the gym I am doing at the moment - have lost weight but only from my now skinny legs and nothing from the beer belly! Hopefully, that is not what your interested in as this all about the trestle legs for the layout and at last I have finished something! You may remember that I floated this idea a couple of months ago and for any newcomers will repeat the pic of the plan;     In short plan was to remove the 'horns at 'A'

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Realistic track

This post is possibly a bit in the way of a diversion, a diversion from the fact that although I am 'always working on that thing' (wife's words of course!), nothing terribly concrete has happened to report. One of the problems has, of course, been half term and some proper work getting in the way. So, although no layout progress was made, a couple of days away in Wales weren't wasted. Not much open on the railway front but did get the chance to lay the foundations for some research into a poss

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Still on the fiddle!

Real progress seems to have been very slow of late although very swan like (the only thing swan like about me!), there has been loads of activity of a not too obvious nature. Fevered work is going into a secret project but as it is a secret I a, can't tell you about it right now as it is a secret and b, probably shouldn't have mentioned it at all! Anyway, what I do have to show is the smaller fiddle yard extension almost finished. This has taken longer than expected as I have had to rework the p

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On the fiddle - (yard)

I know things have been a little quiet on the blog front but that was mainly as I have just been messing around with assorted things of no individual significance - well just messing around really - until now. Finally faced the elephant in the railway room and have attacked the fiddle yard problem hopefully for the last time. My previous attempts at rectifying the automatic uncoupling and derailing devices which passed for marks 1 to 4 were just rehashes of the original board, this time I have s

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Another show down!

Not down at all actually - it was really good! Hats off to those Mickleover chaps who put on a surprisingly extensive and comprehensive little show even though it was only really an open day sort of thing. After a slightly hesitant start while things warmed up a bit and rather too long trying to track down and mend a faulty lead (must make up a couple of spares for a quick swap), things settled down nicely and we had some real fun with a very unrealistically busy operating schedule. Many thanks

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Loco line up for tomorrow

All set for tomorrow now - well as well as I am going to be. Have spent last couple of days getting really frustrated with locos that ran perfectly last time out but are now displaying all manor of faults from out rough running to derailing to out right refusal to work. The most common problem appears to be pick ups not working properly and as these are one of my least favorite parts of loco construction (couplings are a close second!), you can probably tell that I am wishing I had checked them

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Mickleover this Saturday.

As alluded to in my last comment Up the Line will be out and about again this Saturday - well half of it will be! For reasons that will become apparent very shortly, scheduled maintenance work has over run (sound familiar?) and as it is a slightly more informal gathering than a full blown exhibition, just a couple of boards are going. That will be nice and easy I thought - am sure you can guess where this is going!   Details for the show can be found here http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Admin/Sh

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Is 18 inches enough?

As a result of my constant attempts to cut down on the space that the layout takes up in the car I have come up with another plan but there may be one overriding problem that I would appreciate some opinions on.   The trestles that I have been using - all five of them - are currently 27 inches wide and the layout is only 18. The result is and awkward protrusion at each side which I keep catching myself on and which means that the skirt to hide them has to stick out rather ridiculously. And of

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Sounding it out

Finally, I am happy with the running - was pretty good on the whole but just one bit of valve gear was giving a problem. Eventually, nipping up the rivet with some pliers sorted it out. So onto fitting the chip and sound. First job was to drill some holes in the tank backs and the boiler bottom to let both sound and wires out;     Then a simple job to fit a speaker into each tank;     The chip fitted in my slightly remodeled bunker and was then covered with a piece of plasticard which

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Baldwin Backhead

What with Christmas and a few windy days in Pembrokeshire, slow progress is a familiar story. Have been pottering around though, which is actually the sort of modelling I really enjoy - working from just a couple of photos in a way that looks right without the need for 100% accuracy as a) it will be pretty much hidden and I actually want to finish this year! This whole backhead problem only arrises though as I have been too clever again and have moved the motor to the boiler. The original kit h

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Baldwin Valve Gear

Have now completed the Baldwin valve gear - an evening for each side, so moving along nicely. As I remember, the instructions that come with the Wrightlines kit are pretty useless here so will go into this bit in some detail.   First off, a little bit of filing to the cylinder block to allow a bit more leeway in getting the length of the piston correct.     Then a bit of DIY with a 10ba nut soldered onto the long bit that wiggles (a technical term where my knowledge of the correct terms f

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Bearing Up!

Had some 2mm roller bearings delivered this morning so was able to make up a pony truck to my own design this evening. I have completely ignored the one which comes with the kit as I have found this approach to be the only way to keep it on the tracks with the other Baldwin. Firstly some brass strip was soldered together the marked out drilled and filed to shape. When separated (quick touch with blow torch), you have two identical pieces;     Just s little reaming to get the bearings to fit

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A nice easy project!

Well that is what I thought I would treat myself to! Having already built one and a half Wrightlines Baldwin 4-6-0 kits - one had the chassis already built when I got it - I thought another would be straight forward. Am actually being a bit naughty here as probably ought to be rebuilding the chassis on the second one as it does not run particularly well and has the standard, and ugly, motor set up. Anyway building a new one just seemed more exciting.   So problem 1 - me being too clever! I alw

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Boxing Clever - featuring my new Cameo Cutter

Having left the Baldwin and it's dodgy cranks to mature for a bit (maybe some Christmas elves will sneak in one night and fix it for me!), have turnrd my atention to something else I have been avoiding - ammo boxes. These formed a very large part of the wagon loads so obviously have to be tackled. First option would be to just buy a load     These are available from PLM but would be prohibitively expensive and would need loads of cleaning up and filling before they could be used. Second opt

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BGM - 4

Finished the last bits of detailing so it was time for a bit of paint which was pretty easy as this kit splits into really useful sections. After a coat of grey primer, I started with the frames, a tin of Humbrol track dirt, an old stiff brush and plenty of talcum powder. Being rather taken by the results I carried on but swapped to some olive green. For someone who has been proudly spraying locos for quite some time going back to a brush was quite a shock for me but really pleased with the resu

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BGM - 3

Things seemed to move on very quickly , until I started to detail the cab that is!     The rods fitted very well and it all pushes along very nicely.   The resin bonnet was detailed p with the very nice lost wax castings. Again, in my attempts to get the most weight I can into the model, I have drilled the fuel tank and filled it with lead shot. Am sure there will be some scope for adding weight inside the bonnet but will wait until motor and chip are fitted.     And then the cab....

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BGM - pt2

Making good progress with the Baldwin Gas Mechanical (BGM for short), and now have a beautifully smooth (by push power!), chassis. Not without problems though!     Above picture shows the lost wax spring castings soldered on but just a bit too low it seems as they were fouling the cranks and had to be filed back quite considerably. Have just wondered why I didn't just re-solder them a bit higher but for this I have no answer! Even then I think they would still have required a bit of attenti

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