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D51

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  1. The floor of the K's wagon here is the instruction card for an ERG L.S.W. 10T open wagon. Early K's wagons were so simple they didn't need instructions. They just needed a prayer for the 'Pafra' adhesive to hold the thing together! Frank
  2. This is an ERG Rex wagon kit with Rex BRMSB wheels. These kits were manufactured by the McMurdo Instrument Company and wholesaled by ERG (Bournemouth). They were originally marketed as "Masterpiece" parts being supplied in boxes of sides or ends etc, then sold as "Masterpiece"Kits. This would be about 1949. At this time they were sold with very fine spoked wheels with metal treads and plastic centres, and the kits were quite expensive for the time, about 9/- without couplings. Later, in the 1950s, the kits were supplied with Rex wheels and ERG couplings. The Rex wheels, as on this example, were not so free running and tended to gather a lot of dirt on the treads. Now known as Rex kits, the price was reduced to 3/6d. per kit, sometimes 2/6d. The design of the kits was done by McMurdo, and particularly the chassis design was criticised at the time. E Rankine Gray who founded ERG responded that it would be too expensive to modify the design of the moulds. McMurdo was, and still is, a manufacturer of radio and electronic components, and this was its attempt to enter the model railway market about the same time as Graham Farish and Sayers Chaplin. They had the capability of large scale manufacture of mazac castings and plastic mouldings. Frank
  3. His first name was Edward according to the library records for his two books, "Cardboard Rolling Stock" (first published 1944) and "Study of the Model Railway" (first published 1950). He made a patent application for model wagon wheels, whereby the wheel and half-axle were moulded as an integral unit including steel axle, but I cannot find this online just now. This was the "Rex" wagon wheels. The two half axles were joined by a piece of celastoid tubing which was cut to the appropriate length for 'OO' or 'EM' gauge. That would certainly have had his full name. I remember finding Jock Stewart assembling these wheels and pieces of tubing in the shop at Roumelia Lane! The earliest reference to his business that I remember was around 1944 in small ads in "Model Railway Constructor". "Good Used Equipment of all types wanted and supplied. Special items obtained for clients (stamp details)" At the same time he was advertising his book which was first published in 1944 and also listing the latest card wagon parts to be released. He placed a display advertisement for Brookdale Buildings whatever they were. The address at this time was 726 Christchurch Road.
  4. The gentleman in the downstairs booth was probably E Rankine Gray himself. As well as running the model railway he made hand-made model locomotives as well. The man in the 'ERG' premises round the back in Roumelia Lane was Jock Stewart who had taken over the shop side of the business. The shop was mostly below ground level and must have been damp. Much of the business was devoted to cardboard kits; the "Precision" card parts were drawn by Gray himself and were produced from 1944 or so. In addition 'ERG' took over the Modelcraft range of card kits including many of the "Micromodels" range. Jock Stewart had been a lecturer at Glasgow University. 'ERG''s main business was as a model railway wholesaler where they supplied such items as Skinley blueprints, and the "Masterpiece" goods wagon kits which were manufactured by McMurdo Instruments who are still in business today making electronic components. Like several other companies such as Graham Farish, McMurdo diversified into model railways in the late 1940s to make use of their capacity to make zinc diecastings and plastic mouldings which they had developed during the war.
  5. I follow the same procedure as Tom, always use the order form and leave the price column blank, and I have been doing it this way for several years; I nearly always get what I want in a couple of weeks, often in a couple of days. I find the service for such specialised items to be very satisfactory, and the quality of Mark's work is very high.
  6. The motor is a Zenith X3, also called a Gem X3. I think the body is from an R M Evans kit. This was before the Jamieson kit. The differences were that the Jamieson kit used bent square section brass for the valances, the Evans kit had stamped valances; Evans used a brass dome whereas I think Jamieson were cast. The Essar box has nothing at all to do with the loco! R M Evans was in business in the early 1950s which is contemporary with the Zenith motor, although stocks of this motor were still available in the early 1960s. R M Evans was Martin Evans who later concentrated on large scale live steam and wrote for years in 'Model Engineer'. I believe when he gave up the small scale business many of his tools were sold to Keyser who went on make the famous K's kits. Frank
  7. Kevin is correct. This is the Tri-ang X500 motor, two of which were used in the BEC London E1 tram kit. This tram kit is no longer made although it is quite common. There is now a plastic kit made. It might be better to replace the bogie assemblies. KW Trams make a wide variety of mechanisms for 4mm model trams. You would have to specify the bogie wheelbase (18mm?), diameter of outer wheels (9mm?), and diameter of inner wheels (7mm?). Say it is for the original BEC kit, and contact KW Trams at contact@kwtrams.co.uk . Frank
  8. The Buhler motor was marketed as a kit, including a plastic cradle and a worm sleeve, to replace the X04 motor by a firm called ECM Control Systems of Horsham, who produced model railway controllers including the "Compspeed", an excellent controller at the time. The Buhler was smaller than the X04 but was a very powerful little motor. Frank
  9. I suggest that what you want to do is fit the wagon with compensation rather than springing. Obtain "Pre-Group Wagon W-Irons" from Wizard Models. These will cost about £5 for 8 pairs. They can be made up rigid or rocking. Make up one of each. Separate the axlebox from the spring on two of the axleguard castings. File the top of the two axleboxes and the bottom of two springs such that there is a gap of about 2mm between them. Solder these two axleboxes to the "rocking" W-Iron. The solid axleguards are used with the "rigid" W-Iron. Might sound complicated but it is quite simple. Wizard should be able to supply an excellent instruction leaflet. The wagon will need a floor, which can be a piece of plastikard, as the W-Irons glue to the floor.
  10. Have you had a resolution of your problem? I have been following with interest the problems you have been experiencing. I hope all your wheels have the same crankpin throw. I have usually used the "Romford" style crankpins (with the soldered washer) with Markits wheels, as this gives a very 'solid' crankpin relative to the wheels. Frank
  11. D51

    Kean Maygib

    KM Engineering is still at the same address. Their website https://kmengineering.co.uk mentions Covid precautions so is obviously up-to-date. They are contractors for many industries machining and assembling small components, but no mention of model engineering components on their website.
  12. Kevin is quite correct, the locomotive has been motorised using a K's tender drive unit. In the K's motor the magnets are the two blocks holding the bearings and these are held by epoxy-resin glue to the steel pole pieces which transfer the magnetic field to the motor armature. What has happened here is that the glue holding one of the magnets has broken down and no longer holds the thing together. The previous owner has tried gluing this together again, hence the glue marks, but this has not been successful. The carbon brushes are retained by the brush caps which also attach the tags which have connected to the pickups. The whole mechanism has unfortunately been taken apart. The K's tender drive unit was, in my opinion, quite a good idea in its day although the gears were usually very noisy. If the motor was overloaded it would get hot, very hot, and this would break down the glue holding it together. Repairing this was not practical. I have half-a-dozen of these tender drive units used for all sorts of purposes. George E. Mellor used them in his narrow-gauge locomotives. They last quite well provided they never get too hot! Once the magnets have been separated from the steel pole pieces they lose their magnetism so need to be remagnetised. I think you will probably have to start from scratch with a new modern motor unit if you can find one. Frank
  13. Russell, You don't say what are the serial numbers on your Romford motors. I have a Series IV which is 1296. Frank
  14. They did need to! To make it easier for the ladies painting the later versions. There is a similar difference between the Duchess of Atholl and Duchess of Montrose bodies with the ridge along the footplate.
  15. Click "vendor information" on the "water based safety flux" page which gives the postal address, e-mail address and mobile phone number.
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