Northroader

Hansom is as handsome does, me hearty.

Now that we've beaten that damned Kaiser Bill, it's time to get our boys back home to dear old Norfolk, don't you know? What better way than on the Uganda Railway, built by Britain, eh? It's the one that blighter Von Lettow Warbeck was trying to blow up, damned scoundrel. Here's some shots of a model I took on the old Kodak oojymaflip at Manchester show in '97. It's made by Mr Derek Williams, obviously a very gifted chappie. Now have a look at the scale, 10mm to a foot, and 32mm gauge, proper sizes, I'd say, good old solid look about that, what? Those tinplate fellows with garden Railways can tell you all about that. There's even a blasted elephant at the back!

Are they sending the leftover rocks back to Norway?

Do you know, Tom, I missed that one completely. You had me scrambling on the Google to find out what you meant, and yes, it is a very close relative to the American pile up Jordan linked to. Could have been a flash off the third rail, too, when she went over. Thanks for that.https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2017/01/25/16/lewisham2501.jpg

I seem to remember that type of point lever used the lever to give a kick to get the mechanism, which was a sort of spring loaded knuckle, past the centre, with the treadle helping to overcome the spring. To change the point throw, you just pulled it again, and it went back, so the lever action was the same travel for both point settings. There was no point in keeping pressure on the lever or wedging it, as the spring mechanism under the boards was doing that.

She almost swooned at his macaroons..

Back on the coast, there's West Bay, Bridport, which probably would have had 14xx if Paddington hadn't took the passenger service off when they did. Just over the road from the harbour, and attractive station building.

Reacher cars?? Like your man says, "good scenic possibilities"

Dear aunty rob, When I drained the bath this morning I found this car float thingy. Could you put a recess in the LH front of your board and stick it there, with a lead onto it? Soapy Sam from Sault Sainte Superior.

What about running the private grain track into the middle track of the three over a diamond crossing?? Edit: just checked to see how far you've got with your track. This end is still in progress, n'est ce pas?

A good branch with a seaside location is St. Ives, Cornwall, which of course is still there. It didn't do 14xx, but there's no reason why it couldn't have done. 45xx were the usual branch locos, and would double head through portions for Paddington, but again you put a larger loco on for that if you want to. It's your model after all.

Hey, Jordan, I love that clip, the sheer ponderousness of the train, the whole lot happening in slow motion, and the final tangle as everything decides to topple over. I'm not getting anything spectacular as that, but I'm still getting "incidents" as I carry on test runs, between building the feed mill for Englefield, and wagons for Washbourne. Kevin's post brings this round very neatly, I was pushing a rake of wagons through the points, when one come off. I was thinking of rude words for it, and it said, "not me, gaffer, the point blades opened under me." When I built the pointwork, I thought I'd try having live frogs, with a small insulation strip at the vee, and rail gaps. This works quite well, although I needed to 'back off' the rail ends with a small file where sparking was happening. This way there's no need to have a switched feed to the crossing. (I think the young people are calling them "frog juicers" these days) Before I used to have a slider switch for the electrical feed, and had a rod through the knob giving a mechanical throw to the point simultaneously. The slider did give a positive engagement, but now I just use a plain lever which has no locking on its movement, tending to creep. It looks klunky, so the next job is better point operation.

The shed was an indicator shelter, open at the back, and needing to be close to the cylinders. The technician used a piece of kit which was capable of drawing a small graph, the horizontal axis was linked mechanically to the piston stroke, reduced down of course, the vertical axis was a measurement of the steam pressure in the cylinder. At the start of the stroke pressure high, end of stroke low, but the point the valves cut off and steam allowed to expand could be clearly seen, with any problems such as how the steam was exhausting out. The area inside the loop which was traced out related to the work being produced in the cylinder. Diagrams were taken in succession on the journey, and used in conjunction with more graphs from the dynamometer car, which was measuring the pull the engine was exerting on the train drawbar, also speed with a trace of the journey, mileposts being noted, so as gradients could also be fed in. There was usually another guy on the footplate logging the rate at which coal was going in, as coal was usually bagged for tests. Having said all that if lube oil was being looked at maybe they were interested in cylinder temperatures without producing indicator diagrams, but then why have a dynamometer car?http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/indicator/Indicator1.htmhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_volume_diagram#/media/File%3AIndicator_diagram_steam_admission.svg

(He says, wiping shortbread crumbs from round his mouth..)

I bet you can get an "app" these days for this on your "dcc" thingys? Talking of derailments and bangs, the best sound is a heavy wagon that's off the road going along before it comes to a standstill. A big thump-thump- thump as it goes over each sleeper and drops into the dips between.

Thanks, actually I was just looking at it and thinking I should have gone over it again. Normally I do it in pencil, then go over with white paint on a draughtsman's pen, then touch up round the edges with background colour, giving straight corners to blobby areas, maybe getting the levels right against a straight edge, then more white, then perhaps more background, so that it gets trued up by degrees. It never happens first go, and I should have done one more pass with the brown with this one, now I think.

One thing about changing the layout spec. to slightly increase train length is that some more wagons are needed. Here's one the shops have just completed, using a kit from Furness Wagons. It has a one piece resin casting for the body and underframe, white metal axleguard/ box/ spring units and buffer housings, steel buffers, and brass etching details. It's a LSWR lowside with fixed sides and ends. They classed this as a 'stone' wagon, and used it for traffic from the quarries on Portland and in Cornwall. I thought a suitable load would be paving slabs, which I made from plastikard, but hollowed out to take steel strips in the middle, to give plenty of weight. (I think a heavy wagon will think twice about derailing, where a light wagon will just go "yippee") Photos show they were normally very dusty from the quarries, so I scuzzied it up with pastel chalk dust, though I don't try to "fix" this with any sprays. Looking at the picture, it looks very grey, but it is umber brown, honest. Edit: to keep things neat and tidy there’s a more recent discussion on the way this wagon has been loaded further on in this thread here:http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107190-washbourne/page-29&do=findComment&comment=3258569

Thanks for taking the trouble to show that job. It all makes good sense. Now I know what bits and makes to look out for, and try that on my heap of junk when I can find time. The thing about Alco switchers that turns me on is the Blunt trucks. The steel company of Wales had them at Margam, and I thought they looked great, like nothing else around. Like you say, Jordan, those Lionel wheels, nooooo!!!

It needs to be bigger for that:

The trouble with Facebook is you can't put a lot of detail on it. Looking at your video, I'd like to see a bit more on how much of the trucks, drive train, wheels were done. I picked up a Lionel nw1 conversion very cheap at a show a long time ago, and it was very badly done. I'm looking out for ideas on how to do it properly. Merci, mon brave.

Good plan for some excellent track, and I was enjoying your S2 rebuild on the Facebook. Any chance of more detail what went in below the deck on that one?

There's a lot of people want to go through to Oxford. They can't turf them out at Didcot from an emu to a dmu, surely?

Something funny to share with you, as somehow we've got to muck spreading, sorry, James. I was out walking along a field where a farmer was using a mechanised muck spreader, a hopper thingy towed behind a tractor, with a rotating thrower underneath which was flinging it out in a flat arc at about five feet high behind the trailer. His sheepdog, black and white collie, was trotting behind, and, to keep himself amused, whenever an extra large piece came sailing out, Fido was leaping up in a graceful arc, and catching it in his mouth. It was fascinating to watch.

It was the dieting so as to get through the loft hatch I was thinking of. Still, now you're up there.