D51

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

Russell, You don't say what are the serial numbers on your Romford motors. I have a Series IV which is 1296. Frank

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.

Click "vendor information" on the "water based safety flux" page which gives the postal address, e-mail address and mobile phone number.

The body is certainly the Essar parallel-boiler tank locomotive. I agree with Ruff that the coupling is the standard pre-war Hornby Dublo. The chassis does not seem to be Essar as the wheels are of another manufacturer. They look like Romford but could also be Cimco, I think, who also made wheels secured by nuts. It would have been interesting to see the motor and chassis. Marklin-style skates also work well on Hornby Dublo three-rail track and there are many examples of Wrenn, Tri-ang and present-day Hornby locomotives converted to three-rail using these skates. I have a Hornby Dublo R1 converted to three-rail using a Marklin skate. Different sizes of skates are available from Gaugemaster. Frank

To be fair, Wizard Models does say on the website for the Midland Compound chassis kit LCP9, "The Hornby model has a 40mm wheelbase, and this chassis has been designed to match. It is not suitable for scale models with a 38mm wheelbase". Surely the GEM kit will also have the incorrect 40mm wheelbase?

The 3rd class LNER coach was advertised, but not illustrated, in the Hornby-Dublo leaflet for 1954/55 and in the Bassett-Lowke catalogue for 1954. The price was 9/- for UK, and 7/9d. or $1.75 for overseas. Frank

The Essar mechanism I have is stamped 4142 in the position you showed for "AE". Frank

The W&H versions of the 4F, Diesel shunter and Gnat all had Romford chassis and motors. The Essar motor was integral with the chassis. Romford was always more expensive than Essar. In about 1951 a Romford 0-6-0 2-rail mechanism was £5/10s. compared to an Essar at £3/12/5d. More expensive still was an R M Evans mechanism at £7/0/6d. fitted with a Zenith or Evans motor, almost double the price of the Essar. In the later 1950s GEM also sold the Essar 0-6-0 body castings with their own chassis incorporating the X3 or X5 motor which had been made by Zenith but was not the quality of the Zenith-trademarked motor. The X3 was fitted to the first Tri-ang locomotives and evolved into the X04. Frank

The Gnat, as well as being sold by Hamblings with an Essar mechanism, was also sold by W&H with a Romford Phantom mechanism. The two products were not quite the same as the Romford had a longer wheelbase mechanism than the Essar. W&H sold the black Gnat at £6/8/4d. and the coloured models at £7. They had the Guinness (blue/gold), Ind Coope (green) and ICI (red oxide) but not the Cadburys. Because of the longer wheelbase the coupling and connecting rods were longer. W&H also sold the Essar 4F and diesel shunter (and the Gaiety pannier) with Romford mechanisms, but not the Essar tank locos type R181 (straight boiler) and R181T (taper boiler). Incidentally the tender for the 4F but not the loco was available immediately after the war as R183 (chassis) and R184 (body). Frank

The Romford Series IV motor was not mentioned in the 1948 First Edition of the ERG catalogue, in fact the only Romford products available then were 3-rail wheels and axles. By the Second Edition in 1950 the Series IV was available at 58/8d., as well as the Series II at 42/9d. By 1955 ERG were listing the Series IV at 56/- as well as the Series II at 40/10d. and the new Series V at 47/-. Also in 1955 Eames of Reading were listing the Series IV at 56/-, Series II at 40/10d. and the Series V at 49/-, together with another new motor, the Phantom at 37/4d. By 1959 the prices had gone up slightly, Series IV was 59/6d., Series V was 52/6d. and Phantom was 39/8d. At this time the Series II was discontinued. The same prices were quoted in 1962 when the Terrier motor appeared at 22/2d. These motors continued for another ten years or so before they were all discontinued in the mid 1970s when the Bulldog appeared at £4.96. The Series IV was the top motor of Romford's range with its 7-pole armature, adjustable ball bearings and oil bath for the gears. So the Series IV was available from 1950 until about the early 1970s, quite a long life. I am not aware of any changes to the design in this time. Frank

The price guide for the various Lone Star ranges of 000, Treble-0-Trains, and Treble-0-Lectric trains is given in Volume 2 of British Model Trains catalogue. I think the 8th edition is current. This also gives information on the history of the company and details the various books written on these toys.

Barks, Have a look on YouTube for videos by Garry Hall. He used to contribute a lot to RMweb too. He uses Peco Setrack along with plastic chairs by C&L Finescale (www.clfinescale.co.uk) and fine rail for the centre conductor. The chairs can be stuck to the Setrack with adhesive. Peco flexible track is not suitable as no adhesive will stick to the polythene base. Use Insulfrog points, Setrack or Streamline. All Code 100 rail. Frank

23 hours ago, Il Grifone said: I had forgotten this which has been doing the rounds for ages: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIECAST-METAL-PANNIER-TANK-SOLD-AS-A-RESTORATION-PROJECT-SCROLL-DOWN-4-PHOTOS/151458812874?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 Note the wire wound around the chimney and the "staple" across the front of the tanks to keep it together - restoration project is about right! How were the halves originally joined? This "object" has been on sale, as Il Grifone says, for about 3 years. It looks like a Gaiety pannier but is quite different from the Gaiety I have. This one seems to be made from two halves, probably joined by steel pins, plus a separate front casting. The detail on the casting is different, for example the main handrail is longer than on mine, and the casting is not so crisp. The Gaiety pannier is usually a one-piece casting. The detail of the model (size of safety valve, shape of pannier etc.) may not be quite right but the casting is very well made as are all the 1950s products of J V Murcott. Incidentally the firm of JVM, who made items for Gaiety, KMR and Hamblings among others, moved last year from Tamworth to Worcester. Frank