pheaton

The other one i havent seen mentioned...is in the early years of the 158s, they very very frequently seen with a sprinter attached...and the reason was that because they didn't have tread brakes, dirt on the wheels would build up and insulate them from track circuits, so a 15x was normally added to formation because they had tread brakes. 158s were eventually modified with a tread brake on the outer wheelset of each car to resolve this problem.

Sounds like it needs an auto tune, I used to get similar with Biffs projects on some Hornby locos, https://dccwiki.com/LokSound_Auto_Tune see there, you will need either a rolling road or a decent length of track as during autotune the loco sometimes gets up to some speed!

Absolutely andy, i think there were two problems, the felt supplied with the cabin was not of the best quality but there is also me overlooking the fact that there was no underfelt or membrane

Sorry about the delay @Moley48 weather has been atrocious, and 45149 is resisting all attempts by me to get it ready for a new seasons running... DISCLAIMER...my railway room is a tip and I'm in the middle of dismantling and rebuilding my next layout, but ive made the mistake of trying to plan it properly....so im not getting anywhere :) So thats a dunster house double glazed i think it was a modetro cabin, its about 9 years old now, the roof is something i put on last year and ill explain why i took that course of action, its double glazed and its the middle log size (40mm) i think... No rot its stood up well, obviously the bearers on the floor are pressure treated, the rest of the cabin is not...it sits on the dunsterhouse rapid grid system which has pea gravel in it to prevent water build up, air can get underneath the cabin which is essential. As i said double doors is pain....i believe there is a mistake in the frame sizing which leads to a gap at the top, you can adjust the doors (trust me you will need to) the biggest issue in my opinion is they dont have a central pillar they meet in the middle, but they are an absolute pig to align, and i believe i will have to replace these with a set of custom doors at some point soon the other issue is the glazing is far too heavy for the door and its starting to deform it as you can see on the right hand door. @duncan eluded to a problem with the corners and we can see they are starting to splay out and i secure these to the frame, trust me the cabin wont collapse it can sometimes create a gap, duncan mentioned a tie rod my problem is higher up so i will probably use 4mm angle iron in the web of the wall. you may not get this issue my problem is i think that corner has sunk by about an inch. two views of the inside.....show you the roof configuration, ideal for insulating...but it can mask leaks from the roof which with felt can be common because as the roof expands and contracts it can tear the felt. but there may be ways to avoid this... be prepared to install extra ventilation it can sweat a lot in winter. be prepared for an incredible amount of movement in the first few years, you need to keep on top of it to make sure any gaps between logs that form close up... if i was to do this again...i would use a concrete base, a lot more expensive but much more stable!

My layout is in a dunster house log cabin, the advice i would say is if you can afford it go for the thickest logs as this gives a more stable wall, they do move about a lot but eventually settle down, id also avoid (if you can) double doors, as they are a pain to align and keep aligned. Oh and try to avoid building during the winter because that is when the wood will be swollen and expansion gaps are crucial in the roof as they will start to tear the felt which will cause leaks...going forward. i have completely re-roofed mine with tile affect galvanised steel And @duncan makes an excellent point ref the corners!!!! i to suffer with that issue

yes and no.... In the early days of RTR DCC sound, both the sound files and implementations from the major manufacturers lagged serverely behind what the modeling community was achieving, and quite often you were left with a very mediocre representation of the real thing...which required further investment in either the speaker setup or reblowing the decoder with new files. then you had the problem or issue where there was a period where Bachmann decided they would do away with full fat loksounds and issue RTR models with selects...which linited greatly what you could reblow them with, and this (in my opinion) did hurt the sales of RTR models (not seen any figures) but there was considerable backlash over the move at the time... Now with the like of cavalex and accurascale RTR sound has really upped its game, to going from a feature of a model to a full blown offering. and theres also the point that both Bachmann have started to offer DC users the option of limited sounds. Bachamann have also considerably upped there game recently with the project of RTR sound projects, the latest 37s and 47s are worlds apart from the first versions. personally speaking i still have bought non sound models with every intention of fitting them with sound later on.

Dave the welder has run out of big bits to weld..... We are now at the stage of where we now have lots and lots and lots of fiddly small parts that need to be sorted out, and if you watch something like car SOS this is where the time gets eaten up..... The drivers side window getting much attention after more rot was found in the corner, the lower window frame and shelf have been replaced with metal. Another view of the shelf, some quite complex fabrication was required to recreate this. towards the side the shelf has to curve in correctly Awaiting final cutting the whole area of new metal is etched primed to protect it from corrosion. There have also been significant issues found with the door frames and at no1 end the corrosion was so bad it would have prevented proper fitment of the doors, so it has been cut away and replaced with fresh steel. The steel here is 6mm thick so it can be tapped to hold the hinge bolts for the cab doors. Similarly on the other side the door frame was completely rotten its and the cab grab rail recess have been replaced with new steel. below that the door threshold has been replaced and this will form part of the outer skin of the locomotive. this is prior to having the side skirt fitted. on the other side the side skirt has been bent to shape and fitted giving an idea of how things are being achieved, towards the front original side skirt deemed suitable for re-use has been re-attached, it awaits final welding to close up the join, you cant weld too much too quickly as during welding the metal expands and distorts. the cab grabrail recess base awaits cutting and replacing. the drivers side getting the same treatment, as you can see, if you don't protect the steel with primer...it very very quickly starts to rust. At no2 end the cab desk refurbishment is underway we see the absolute rats nest of pipe work below the desk, the cab desk has been removed as the Formica is life expired, and needs replacing. the Formica has been removed (it didn't take much effort) and this leaves behind the contact adhesive we can see the aluminium desk is pretty badly butchered with years of modifications evident. a solvent has been applied to "clean" the old glue off. the desk has been re-covered with tufnol, which is similar to formica but a lot cheaper and less brittle, the only problem is, that its more susceptible to scratches, and isn't as hard wearing as Formica, the desk is being trial fitted, to determine its correct position. the desk in its final position with the fittings attached, the instrument panel will be thoroughly cleaned, and the gauges given a good clean as well after years of dirt ingress, the gauges themselves were comprehensively overhauled, by a group member many years ago and as a result need no attention and are in perfect working order. The brass plunger behind the locomotive air brake is the brake overcharge valve, as 26s had a yellow band FV4 (valve on the left) they didn't overcharge the brake valve in the release position. Back to the exterior....the part we have been really dreading is the front skirts...they are an extremely complicated part of the bodywork and many discussions have been had with other 26 owners on ways to fabricate these correctly.... the one problem we do have is none of us have legible original drawings....so we are going to have to compromise. the skirt itself is a is a curve on 3 planes....and this is something a skilled panel beater could probably achieve with an incredible amount of time....on an English wheel, but the labour costs quoted would be in the region of 5 to 6k per end. Another way of creating it would be with press, but we would need to create the tooling....which for such a limited amount of panels required wouldn't be viable. the way you see above is actually the way BRCW created them individual sections profiled to create the curve along the base and the front to the middle.....but since we don't have the drawings...and neither do the NRM...we will have to use our gut.....and go with what we think looks right from photos....but every other 26 has the same issue....none of them are the original front skirt....they were all repaired and bodged over the years. above we have the plates tack welded into place...to do some trial and error....fitting after we were happy with the result....they were finally welded.... the welds ground and primed... the process completed for the other side..... and finally the front.....is complete.... the windows have been cut to roughly the correct shape, no doubt some work will be required when the screens go back in, there is also some remedial work needed to the "eyebrows" as well. only 15% of the steel in the whole front end of the locomotive is original steel! the original front end.....nice paint....but its hiding a lot of issues.... the July gala approaches......time is of the essence.. and an old friend is coming back....and there's only one thing better than one 26..........

and that's all that matters :)

But :) When you compare it to the real 47.....how thick are the tyres? heljans 47 was measured using a 47 that is on scrap size tyres....and a 47 that is mid-life tyres...so that will throw off the height measurements.... and there isn't many 47s running around on new tyres at the moment....in fact im willing to bet there arnt any.... springs....no 47 out there has new springs....they relax over time....and also...how much fluid was in the 47 when it was measured...that too has an influence on ride height....add this to the tyres...and there is quite a variation possible....

A breath of fresh air.... part of the issue is...if you take two brand new ford fiestas...(before they got discontinued) they will look exactly the same....why....because they were built by a robot to a defined program with very tight tolerances.... classic diesels were built by humans...and they will vary from the outset...but even going on from that....they were modified and repaired very very crudely.... and when being repaired they wouldnt have access to the original drawings....it would have been cut and shut and that will do. and thats before we get to paint... im going to deliberately paint 043s yellow ends...in the wrong shade of yellow....purely because the shade we have chosen from experience is less prone to sunlight damage and fading... so if you took a model and made the mistake of comparing to 043...straight away your on to a loser.... and its the same with blue....br used williamsons....in the pres world...they are switiching to other suppliers....the shade and recipie for the paint is different so there are going to be differences.... and thats before we get to colour variation in photography.

Collets Models of exmouth have some back in stock as well, purchased a DCC sound one yesterday from them.

Was that a drop in replacment for the sugar cube @Dougjuk do you have any details?

Hey All, coming back to the hobby after a period away beating the living daylights out of 26043 (see my blog) anyway....i recently purchased a SH accurascale DCC sound 37, and thought i would do a bit of research to see what is going to drop through my door.... came across this video... now not too concerned about the bogie issues....and the manufacturing issues we have all been there, forums like this are just for problems like that... :) what concerns me is the following at 21:30 he explains that accurascale are asking people to reduce the master volume....because the speakers have been wired in parallel leading to a 2ohm impedance across the loksound 5 chip....this means that you are exceeding the maximum impedance by 50% which is beyond the design spec of the loksound chip. am i right in thinking that the main speaker has to have a sugar cube in parallel for this to work? because im still concerned that whatever the volume level, the impedance load across the amplifier is still going to shorten the life of the chip severely? have any others out there altered their speaker setup?

We start where we left off... Work has started to re-instate the metal strip which attaches the dome to the cab, the dome itself has been filled smoothed and flatted and given an initial coat of grey primer, the rough join will be hidden by aluminium trim....eventually. The strip now extends above the drivers windscreen. Over the past few years we have grown quite attached to rust and we were worried we were running out.....as a result we thought we would have a poke around the drivers cab-side window top to see if we could find some more and we were not disappointed! we see the corrosion has cracked the top steel right through, something is going on here and like everything we need to figure out what it is... After removal of the corner external pillar we get a better idea!!! water has been collecting in the corner and running down the inside of the pillar to the base...where things are pretty damn ugly....in fact the base is not actually attached the body lower so the entire corner was only held on by a small piece of steel at the base....this is evidence of a botched repair the water trail can be seen from the top left of the pillar to the bottom right. a patch has been welded internally to try and strengthen this.... but rather haphazardly....it would appear the windscreen and side window was an inadvertent structural item, before cutting can commence this area will need to be braced to ensure it doesn't collapse. The random screws are what hold in the conduit for the drivers heated windscreen. A closer view of the extent of the corrosion in the base A closer view of the pillar, the path of the water can be clearly seen, oddly although it doesn't look it...this pillar is painted, and the majority of the steel can be salvaged and made good again with a good clean...but the bottom 3rd will be removed.# In the last blog we mentioned we wanted to cut away part of the dome on this side to check a roof support hadn't failed, and as can be seen whilst it was still securely attached...its a less than satisfactory job! this too will need to be addressed! The bottom of the pillar has been removed and a patch welded in, unfortunately a lot of the steel at the front is quite thin so its common to blow a few holes in it during welding, even when you try to be careful, the pillar has been cleaned and reveals quite serviceable metal still and this is suitable for retention. A new section of pillar welded in and securely attached to the cabside. The missing corner from the previous blog has now been added and the pillar primed a new base for welding the upper pillar has now been added. the pillar now ready to accept its outer steel after one more coat of primer. a replacement bit of steel for the upper has been trial fitted. The dodgy repair you saw earlier has been removed and the strut directly welded to the frame, the dome awaits the missing piece to be re-attached. The replacement outer pillar has been bent and cut to shape and trial fitted, it will be riveted in place prior to welding and then the rivets removed, this is to ensure it keeps its shape and doesn't move while its being welded. The dome has been repaired and the repair we saw earlier covered up, the side steel too now awaits fitting, the holes are for plug welding to the inner frame and then it will be riveted to the dome and sealed to prevent water ingress. The side is now completely flat compared to a bulge which can be seen in earlier blogs. on the secondmans side the steel work for the dome has been prepared for the dome to be re-fitted, this starts with giving the dome something to sit on, in this case some aluminium, the dome will be glued and riveted to this with counter sunk rivets. Those rivets you see will be drilled and replaced with countersunk ones too which means they will be invisible when the locomotive is finished. The dome being trialled... the dome is now fitted and the corner added in, as can be seen its still a little rough and its thought the pillar below is too flat. The cuts are sealed with fibreglass paste which will be sanded smooth, and holes are drilled for countersunk rivets. a close up of the filling.... That's why god invented filler :) the dome awaits pushing down so it can be riveted firmly into place. Thanks for reading.

Work continues above the windscreens and the scabby metal has now been cut away and the metal below cleaned up to see what can remain and what needs to be removed, right to the base of the small section of angled steel above the centre windscreen, the screen itself covered to protect it from metal fragments during the cutting. The dome is pretty beaten up from years of pigeon and bird strikes but also previous repairs, you are looking at the original surface of the dome as evidenced by the br green paint towards the centre, the textured surface is from the glass cloth scot rail applied which has now been removed, the dome will need considerable sanding and and fibreglass filler before the metal work can be tended to. The angled clean steel is part of the base of the dome steel supports which is in fair condition. the cut continues above the drivers windscreen, you can just about see the weld lines for the original (pre HGO) windscreen the two large holes are for the wiper control arms, these will be filled with fibreglass cloth and re-drilled, the drivers windscreen will be removed to inspect the condition of the seal edges, and any wasted metal replaced, as water that can get into the seal will damage the windscreen and cause delamination. On the drivers corner pillar after the paint and relatively thin layer of filler has been removed, we see as expected significant corrosion and we will need to establish the cause...if we just put fresh metal in the corrosion will re-occur, also note the bulge above the side window...this too, is abnormal and indicates issues behind the steel in this area....It would appear this is an old repair from impact damage. with that corner removed considerable corrosion is present behind it.....its more than likely this has been caused by a leak in the horn box area likely due to a poorly sealing lid and the water is finding its way down the front corners of the dome....and then running down the crash pillars previous repair attempts to the dome can be seen with the metal removed you can now also see the extent of the bulge. part of the dome will be cut away down the side to determine the condition of the roof supports which also hold 3 very heavy air tanks inside the cab, its possible that they have corroded weakened and started to sag, so if that is the case they will be jacked up and repaired. The dome requires considerable attention also. A rough paper template has been made to start cutting the new steel. No1 end second-mans door has had its hinge recess strip ( a posh name for a 6mm thick bit of steel....well it was 6mm) removed, there was considerable signs that all wasn't well in this area.....and after removing the door....(which will go back to Scotland to live on another loco) and the strip as evidenced by the paint outline....you can see considerable issues...after a good attack from the needle gun.... The corrosion goes all the way to the base... And up to the top...….this is why you make sure not only does the door fit properly.....but its also sealed....if you don't, this happens this isn't structural steel its just a skin, directly behind this is the grab handle recess, this will be replaced with 6mm plate to give the doors something to bolt into Work continues in No2 cab refit Drivers side heater conduit painted the regulation orange and the heater permanently wired up. The second-mans side is a slightly more complicated affair with the heater light switch and DSD holdover switch (allows the second-man to operate the DSD if the driver leaves his seat) The switch box hasn't been fitted, the wiring (about 7 wires in all) has been mostly threaded there are some crimps that need renewing, the heater has been wired up, the light switch box has been fitted it just needs some modification to the lower conduit to accommodate the DSD holdover switch box the white panel at the side of the desk is brand new and the wooden window surround is being renewed where required and refitted. On the drivers side the Fv4 valve has been removed to renew the crimps to the wires going to the valve (more on that later) and to put more screws in to the drivers side panel to stop it rattling, at this point the opportunity was taken to renew the O rings that seal the valve body to the base plate, the thick pipe is actually the locomotives vacuum brake pipe... This is the Fv4 valve itself (otherwise known as the train brake valve) its the largest valve in the cab of an D+M (davies and metcalfe) equipped locomotive for which 20s 25s 26s 45s and 47s were so equipped (56s have a similar valve but its looks it only shares with this valve) this, although it looks a little beaten up is a recently professionally overhauled valve. There are types of valve (non banded...yellow banded and green banded) as you can see this is a yellow banded one.....whats the difference? Non banded Overcharges and speeds up the vacuum exhauster the brake pipe when when release is selected Yellow banded speeds up the exhauster but does NOT overcharge the brake pipe when release is selected Green banded (quite rare) has no exhauster speedup facility The reason 26s have a yellow banded Fv4 is because they have a brake overcharge plunger in the form of a big brass plunger on the drivers desk. The brake overcharge facility is used when you have a long air braked formation and it ensures that the brakes at the rear are released. Overcharge does not affect vacuum operation. The two terminals are shorted when then release position is selected, and this is used to place a resistor in series with the vacuum exhauster motor field, this as a result weakens the field speeding up the motor and creating vacuum faster, which...saves your embarrassment when you have bled off too much vacuum during braking and you don't want to stop....or...it allows a quicker brake release pulling away from a station... a side affect on a non banded Fv4 is you will also overcharge the brake pipe but more on this later.... Another view of the vacuum brake pipe, this bolts to the Fv4 and is operated by that little nipple.... the Fv4 valve now installed and bolted down without the vacuum brake pipe attached, the handle is in the full service position note the notches on the ring and score mark, these give driver a tactile feel in dark conditions about the position of the handle at the right of the white handle there is a small pointed plunger which drops into these notches and allows the driver to feel where the handle is in the dark. The notches correspond to the the following... Running (basically brakes released) initial - brakes rubbing...with a little pressure used to control your speed descending an incline rather than actual braking) from here the brake is stepless to full service full service (maximum brake pressure but applied in a controlled manner) Emergency considerable force is required to put the valve into this position (you cant do it accidently) you don't get any more braking than full service you just get it a lot quicker. shutdown used to seal the vacuum pipe in order to change cabs. NO DIESEL and that includes VAC ONLY diesels (apart from the twins 10000 and 10001) has a vacuum brake...what I hear you all cry...yes you heard me...a diesel does not have a vacuum brake, the only physical influence the driver has is on the emergency portion of the vacuum brake, a conventional diesel locomotive does not have a vacuum cylinder. In simple terms The Fv4 valve simply reduces the ATP (automatic train pipe) which the locomotives air vac relay valve senses and operates a diaphragm to allow air into the vacuum brake pipe, this causes the air to be emitted to the rear of the vacuum brake cylinders on the coaches or wagons on operates them which through linkage operates the brakes on the vehicle....on the locomotive the triple valve compares the value of the vac chamber (a small tank that always has 21" of vacuum as a reference) to the value of the vacuum pipe and applies the locomotive air brakes in proportion. A locomotive with an empty chamber will not apply its locomotive brakes in proportion. This also means that the train (with a higher brake force) will do most of the braking effort...but also means that the carriages (because they are braking more and therefore the locomotive always releases its brakes first will not slam into the back of the loco allowing for smoother braking. When emergency selected the valve mechanically forces this little arm out....which operates the nipple. And here is the vacuum pipe attached with its trapdoor valve in the closed position which seals the vacuum pipe and relies on several valves on the brake frame to ensure that the vacuum pipe operation is within the correct pressures according to demand from the driver, this why the train brake is also sometimes known as the automatic brake, and its governed entirely by the automatic train pipe, which is air, and governs the operation of the train brake. here we have the brake valve in emergency the trapdoor valve has been opened by the arm actuating the little nipple on the trapdoor valve which opens it and instantly vents the vacuum pipe....which drops the vacuum to zero causing the brakes to fully apply on the train.....the locomotive compares the zero vacuum pipe to the chamber and as a result now knows to apply its locomotive brakes fully...ensuring maximum braking effort is available to the locomotive and the train. The Fv4 is probably the most complex valve on the locomotive, its extremely intolerant of wear and as result internally contains a lot of hardened corrosion resistant material, they are also one of the most expensive valves to overhaul (which has to be done by a specialist contractor) and cost close to £1k to overhaul, and that's just one of about 40 different valves on a dual braked locomotive. They also have lot of rubber seats and diaphragms which degrade over time. The operation of the brakes is tested and carefully compared to the BR specification every year, but in addition the driver has to complete and sign a brake test every time the locomotive is used, which consists of a test to ensure that the brakes react as expected before the locomotive enter service every time. finally with the drivers screen removed considerable repairs have been made to the dome ready for welding.

They are indeed the same as a 33, i will measure for you this weekend

Any modern diesel with conventional draw gear can pull a dual braked mk1. Of which there are quite a lot of those in preservation.

Preservation has evolved from a un-regulated hobby to an increasingly regulated industry. And the key word there is evolve...most lines have still adhered to there stated objective which is normally to run trains between point a and point b with a future aspiration to get to point c. you mention relevance and i with respect i couldn't disagree more, if we turn what you said on its head....what relevance is a black 5 to a 16 year old rail enthusiast? Pacers have been preserved in large numbers due to an ease of availability...go back 5 years they were the hated element of the railway....by enthusiasts and punters alike...yet they should be preserved as much as anything, and they are just as relevant. Weve been through several evolutions of the standard BR carriage as you mentioned....yet only 1 type has survived in the number required.... you mentioned mk3s and why they wernt preserved more....its quite simple...they are not suitable for preservation in the medium term... 1,) Air Braked (no trust me you cant vac brake them) 2,) ETH 3,) Monocoque construction which means repairs are beyond the capability of most C&W departments. How many second generation diesels are preserved? 2nd generation rolling stock does not fair well with the preservation usage.... if we pick on the mk3 and you could argue its very relevant to the Mk2 CDEF and some extents the Mk2 A and B you come across a number of issues that preclude there use in preservation. 1,) Air Braked...which rules out 90% of steam locos... 2,) ETH....passenger comfort is high on the list of railways....and a mk3 with no opening windows is like a sauna in the summer and like a fridge in winter without ETH....that means you restricting your mk3s to 37/4s (but you can only have 3 at the most possibly 4 and if you have a buffet in the rake...forget it!) ETH 47s 50s 45/1s and 31s..(31s are on a downward spiral to extinction) there are comparatively few ETH locos in pres...i have left out 33s because the ETH on a 33 is only 750v compared to 800v on a mk3. Mk3s and Mk2s are also a sealed carriage....they have no ventilation, they rely on the fact that they are constantly in use....leave a mk3 over the winter and in the spring you will find its harbouring all sorts of fungal life in the soft furnishings and the air conditioning system. Hence why most carriage sidings kept them on a shore ETH supply....and why 47701 found a second life as a carriage heater at doncaster works... 3,) Construction, mk2s and mk3s are monocoque, which gives them a massive strength advantage over a mk1....the down side is....if you allow it to get too rotten they are very very difficult to repair, and require specialist welders, and specialist kit to carry out those repairs. Thats before we look at the ETH electronics...Motor alternator sets, roller bearings, disc brakes...power internal doors..and your posh air suspension on the mk3...suddenly we are beyond the skills of dave the panel beater who fixes mk1s in his spare time...and roger the carpenter.... suddenly....the practicalities of a mk1 look very very attractive...and the basic engineering on the running gear can be refreshed and repaired a lot easier. and its the same with diesels, class 56s onwards do not like sitting for long periods of time out of use, the electrical control cards degrade....and they are very difficult and expensive to repair... Preservation will continually evolve...the people who collected steam engine numbers are dwindling....along the personal association to steam powered transport, and it will survive for as long as they can attract enthusiasts to it....but as you point out...the next generation of enthusiasts will feel more affinity to 66s and 67s and 59s....how long they will be able to keep them in traffic for due to the evolution of engineering in them is difficult to say.... 58s and 56s...the ship has already sailed on those...if you preserve one now you will find it difficult to obtain enough spares to keep them viable in the long term.... classic locos share a number of common parts so the spares pool is still quite large....or...groups are trying engineer modern equivalent parts into them... and this is partly because BR insisted on standardisation for cost and simplicity....thats long gone with the modern types...and even the 2nd generation types...where they all had there own individual parts pools. you try swapping the modules between a 58 and 56 and you will quickly run into trouble...

i dont think enthusiasts are being priced out...its not like railways raise the prices just because they think that the 2+2 market can afford more because the opposite is true.. @Phil Parker hits the nail on the head (albeit in a more diplomatic way then i would) about the enthusiast market, and i raised that very point about certain corners of the enthusiast circles on the WNXX forum. The majority of hard core enthusiasts (not all) but the majority simply want to spend as little as possible for maximum product....but i will say possibly controversially...this does seem to be more prevalent in the classic diesel bashing circles.... @rodent279it depends how you define a preserved railway, the days of the traditional preserved railway are not numbered....they are long gone...You could argure that every railway is a "traditional preserved railway" if you define it to the meaning of preserved... What do i think you mean?...lets take two opposites... 1, ) Bluebell railway....and in mainstream days were anti diesel....but it dawned on them that its simply not viable to fire up a steam locomotive for a pway train...or to shunt...so diesels had to start creeping in...then you have to ask..is it viable keeping a steam locomotive in light steam just in case its needed...in the early days when money wasnt too much of an issue it was....those days are long gone.... 2,) GWR .....well that line shut in 1976 so by rights...there shouldn't be a steam locomotive in sight.....but without them...the railway wouldnt survive..its a fact...that steam locomotives bring in the vast majority of income on a preserved line. All preserved lines are essentially a what if scenario on someones model railway... the days of a traditional preserved line ended when they evolved into a business and they realised that they couldn't survive on enthusiast income alone.... the transition to a business is inevitable to any preserved line that wants to expand or run passenger trains in a large capacity, since the ORR started taking firm interest in preserved railway operations...the fact is nowadays to survive reliably you need to employ professionals in certain areas...and thats when you become a defacto business.. i cant think of any railways that are now run by a bunch of middle aged blokes with a load of spare time on there hands...

Many railways will have a charitable arm, but they shouldnt be controlling because it can have detrimental effects on the flexibility of operations.... Depending on how they were setup a lot of railways have a 2 headed structure, one being a trust (but again not really having control over day to day operation) the other being a PLC or LTD company....however the trust will have an all assets debenture over the PLC, and what that means is...should the PLC or LTD company go insolvent then the trust is a preferred creditor, which protects the assets from liquidation (assuming the debt isn't to HMRC). However it all depends on how the line was setup originally, and if this was done with leveraged funds then its not possible to go down that route until those debts are repaid....which is very difficult to do on a heritage line. Members wishes...this is where it get contentious....a member is not necessarily a shareholder, and therefore has no official voting rights....again it all depends on how the constitution works....the problem with members voting..is that 9 times out of 10 they vote with there heart and not their head....and preservation as well all know can get very very militant! i would say most railways are guilty of heart over head decisions i can think of a number of these at the GWSR, but you only learn from your mistakes....and i can see over the last few years the railway has had to make a number of cut backs to stay within their means.... As a loco owners rep i as the cmdg chairman am simply a tenant of the line, we are not permanent and like everything we just need to be prepared to move with the times... On the railways front they need to be able to do that with the minimum of delay and seeking the approval of membership will make that very difficult.

I can certainly measure the screen for you, but just to confirm (because class 26s had two types of screen) is it the post 1975 screen you want or the as built screen? because they will be radically different.

We use an oil based non setting mastic the non setting is key as it means that as things expand and contract it will still seal, being oil based it repels water as well.

We, start where finished last.... The top second-mans side window has now been fabricated and welded into place as well as the internal steelwork in this area, the cabling has also been encased in copex to protect it, these are the cables for the second mans switch panel and the brake indicator panel. More steel has been removed further up due to distortion that was being hidden by filler. Also as can be seen a steel plate has been welded on the second mans side. Another view of the steel plate welded to the secondmans side. The dome portion that was removed has been fully repaired and strengthened as well as the corner splayed outwards, although it will be some time before its re-fitted, it has been filled and flatted and finished in blue undercoat. Back inside the cab the secondmans desk is in an extremely poor state and will be removed as its beyond salvaging, you can see that the entire front of the desk has lost almost an inch of metal from corrosion, likely caused by leaking windscreen seal. the holes are for the wiper control and windscreen washer button, the second mans panel has long been removed for repainting and repairs. The pipe unions on the left supply the horns from the secondmans desk. A new desk has been fabricated from fresh steel and this will be fitted in due course. Back to the front the buffer beam has been rubbed down and given a coat of primer and the first bit of new steel is attached, at this point tack welded. going back to the side of the loco the second-mans panel has been primed and new steel welded in place for the lower portion of the second-mans window, the secondmans door awaits removal for attention to the frame, as this was a poorly fitting door the water ingress and corrosion is substantial in this area, around the door pillars, this will need to be corrected before the new doors are fitted. to keep welds to a minimum and try to avoid distortion of the metal the next sheet was ordered specifically to size and is seen here in the process of being fitted and awaiting welding. the sheet is now welded into position and welded also to the new internal braces. The original panel has had the tail light removed and awaits the circular recess to be cut out, as this would be very complicated to reproduce correctly, one it has been cut off it will go for shotblasting and be welded in to the sheet we have just attached above, in the marked area. Once removed this steel like all the steel cut from 043 will go for recycling. The final sections of steel are welded into place now virtually completing the lower front of the locomotive, attention (after the corners are welded will turn to above the drivers side panel which has suffered quite severely with rust jacking, this will be cut to the line with the 22 on the underlying issues with water ingress resolved and replaced with fresh steel. The drivers windscreen will then be removed in order to resolve the issues alone the bottom of the seal. A view of the completed front from the other side. the second-mans side corner is now welded in place And finally the whole area is given a coat of primer, steam loco 3850 (sporting its freshly overhauled and recently delivered boiler can be seen in the background) At this point we ran out of welding wire so that has curtailed welding until after Christmas. elsewhere work continues in No2 cab refitting the panels and painting the pipe and refitting in this case the heaters, along with brand new conduit as most of the original conduit was life expired and new conduit has to be made here we have a simple piece waiting to be sprayed in the correct orange. Thats it for this side of christmas, work will carry on, on the 27th. Merry christmas all.

This has actually been tested already more recently in the preservation world....with none other than 45015 languishing (still) at the battlefield railway. In the early days of preservation...newly established railways were fairly liberal with allowing people to bring various vehicles of sometimes dubious quality, and in some cases questionable use because they needed items of rolling stock to attract people through the door and put themselves on a map....and back then things were fair lax...a bit like the health and safety at the time 😀. Now for wagons that generally wasn't too much of an issue the problems came later when...space started to be at a premium...and for more useful vehicles (mark 1s) to come in....something had to give... or the wagons generally end up forgotten somewhere (just look at cheltenham racecourse south hunting butts) on google earth ;) Coaches however...were a bit more hazardous anyone preserving a mk1 sleeper and indeed quite a lot of mk1s and some DMUs...were in for a nasty shock if they proceeded to pull panels off! and its at this point some railways were starting to pay more attention to what was on there site... Whats this got to do with 45015...well it had the dubious honour of being the last 45 out of toton....it had been tipped over more times than pint in your local pub, and it had been pretty robbed of every single useable part....but someone decided to preserve it anyway...as with everything sometimes...plans overtook ambition...and it was left....and left and left... now normally a railway will draw up a restoration agreement....this effectivly bounds the owner to agree to work on the asset (in this case 015) and have it either presentable or useful within a defined timescale....(generally time isnt enforced as long as the railway see's progress)...part of the agreement is...when all else fails....you have to pay rent....(sometimes by the metre) for some reason ( dont know the ins and outs) the railway took action for money due...it went to court, the court found in the railway favour, and after various toos and throws....015 was taken in lieu of payement.

So normally you would rely on the window frame for the exact shape, but 26s dont have the frame anymore, so it would be a case of knowingly building an opening that is too small for the window and then using the glass as a template...but allowing for the panel gap (the gap taken up by the glass and the seal). The problem here comes though in that you cant do this until you know what size you are using, which means you need to adjust the opening for the window to suit, and this because certain sizes are now special order, which mean you need to buy 30m of window seal when you only need 2 or 3m and this has a much inflated cost. The actual positioning we would use No2 as a guide or look at another loco as in our case we have had to cut away the whole section. i knew from my early days of working on 45149 (i only took over 26043 after it blew two traction motors after 10 years ago) that 043 had its dome swapped from a class 33, but i assumed it was the whole dome not just the secondmans side. The reason for this is at some point an impact had seriously damaged the roof dome and it had been patched up, and it was seen as a better prospect to replace the damaged portion, however its a difficult thing to measure accurately even in the best of conditions and as im sure you know life at toddington was extremely basic in the early days.