Venetian

We are getting on with our O gauge layout including the excellent 75ft turntable from Kitwood models. So after 83 years our Hornby P.E. can now run around her train for the return journey - as can both the Duchess after WD did the trick loosening up everything after many decades. A bit of luck really because we simply couldn't see how to get the motor frame out. But the battered Royal Scot needed things sorted and we nearly got the frame out but releasing the motion from the middle drivers has defeated us. It needed to come out as the splines on the motor are worn and in trying to shift the intermediate toothed wheel the grub screw broke after the tiniest of twists. so, is there anybody who repairs Bassett Lowke, or for that matter anyone who knows where there is a motor with a reasonable spline we can fit as a replacement? OO gauge was far less challenging even going back to plunger Rovex P.E.s, but it would be the icing on the cake if we could repeat the 'Night Mail' with the Royal Scot as we have just the Mail coaches needed to play the part while Covid keeps us at home!

During the virus period we have been developing our O gauge layout having decided to use Gargraves track from the States as it is both flexible and al three rails are insulated by wooden sleepers. This was to allow a trio of pre-war B L and Hornby P.E. to run with a Lionel Hall but at other time also run two rail and a Webb 2 2 2 2. But it all needed ballasting, so we took a look at what was on EBay. Johnb already has a rather fine two rail O gauge version, and was developing a three rail equivalent. So we tried it. Gargraves has deep sleepers and some of the pointwork is sharp so that our B L Mogul couldn't negotiate some of the curves until we made a new leading truck. But John's three rail ballaster more than does the trick. In our opinion it is excellent, easy to use and quickly does the job. so for three rail, look at this British product - it has a cut off function allowing neat ends to be made whereas the States side equivalent product is far more messy when coming to a halt with the ballast laying.

I've a mixture of prewar Hornby, including a P.E., B.L. Duchess and Royal Scot. Added a year or so back was Lionel's Kinlet Hall, a Webb 2 2 2 2 and a much modified pair of Lima 4Fs. So with both 2 rail and 3 rail plus a.c. and d.c. to contend with I bought Gargraves track as all rails are insulated from each other. But then I came up with the problem of fine and course scale wheels..... in the end I converted all engines to 3 rail to make things simpler. The points turned out to be a problem for the fine scale wheels of the 4Fs and the Webb. The Webb's leading and trailing pair are being rewheeled but I found the only problem with the other fine scale wheels of the 4Fs and some of the stock is that the flanges drop down in the frog area leading to occasional derailing. The cure - tighten the check rail gap, and deepen the flanges by gluing a transparent plastic disc to the rear of the wheels. This prevents the wheel dropping in the gap ahead of the frog blade. This seemed to work just as well with Hornby's prewar 3 rail track points so it maybe an easy method of getting old and new to run alongside each other. It's pity that Lionel are not going to make the Witherslack Hall set announced for later this year. We have driven both Witherslack and Kinlet and it would have been nice to repeat the enjoyment in O gauge, but I suppose we could get their Hogwart and do a spot of repainting....

Just a word of warning. There are two versions of the large scale Hogwart. One is G gauge and no longer offered. The second 'Ready to Play' is very similar but is sold with 2 inch track. As far as I can established there isn't any additional track so a purchaser would be limited to a simple loop as comes in the box. However this has been looked at in the States and there is link available illustrating a dremel use to regauge the engine and stock to 45mm. I'm about to do that as well as a repaint to BR lined Black etc, and then lengthening the coaches by a couple of windows plus new couplings so the whole thing looks a tad bit better. Obviously the engine is far too short, but I'll leave that to someone more adventurous! But it's something to keep one battened down at home in these strange times. If anyone wants the regauging link, just let me know.

My Britannia model has run erratically ever since i purchased it as a reminder of a Golden Arrow trip from Victoria to Paris that was full of incident taking 21 hours due to the French engine failing an hour into its duty. Enough said on that topic, but my Britannia runs badly even at a full 12V setting. So i recently dismantled it and found that the motor is the problem. But there are no spares either for the X9108 or the X9592 motion that was damaged by the previous owner who no doubt found the same fault. i have sourced another motor less the worm. Can the worm be removed by the old Triange Hornby puller of yesteryear? They are available on Ebay and seem the only ones available. Any advice would be appreciated - also my P2 seems somewhat reluctant, I hope its not the same problem!

I agree and proved it with the dummy boiler section. I suggested to Hatton's that rounding off the tops of the pivots may help but a simple ball and socket would suffice without the magnetics. I've relaid a section of my foam underlay track using a flat plate for reference to ensure that curves are aligned precisely with the plane of neighbouring sections of tracks. What I observed on curves was that the leading driving wheels tilted up slightly clear of the track and ran over the edge on curves. Although this also occurred to a degree on straights the wheels dropped back in place on straights. The need for precision is surprising and I would suggest that foam underlay is best avoided - but cork should be okay. Mind you my other Beyer Garratt and all the other engines including finescale rattle through without any such problems. My next problem is a section of track in a long tunnel behind a domestic water tank with little access.....!!

Thanks for the suggestion chaps - but the short straight isn't that short so the engine is not bending both ways at once and my Kitmaster version running on Lima Crab underpinnings has no problem at all. The Kitmaster is very similar in dimensions to Hatton's version. I've investigated further and built a dummy centre boiler section thus avoiding the magnetic pivots of the original. It seems to cope well when pushed manually. Furthermore some of my curves are 4ft radius and two of the earlier engines suffered pony truck derailing on these long curves. I'll look at the back to back, but what is essentially a 2 6 0 shouldn't derail on 3rd radius - Hattons say they should cope with 2nd radius and have been very helpful - possibly the best customer service I have experienced in decades. If it is the back to back I don't fancy the job to say the least!

I've returned four BGs to Hattons for QC issues of one type or another and my current engine is not perfect but acceptable providing I can get replacement steps and sanding pipework. The thing is they all derail on S bends consisting of a pair of Hornby R608s 3rd radius curves with a straight in between. The leading set of driving wheels derail both on my layout and on a test track I set up to see what's wrong. None of my other over eighty engines derail including fine scale and 10 coupled. Any ideas anyone?