SirBud

Hello Sir Douglas and Johnson 044, The above is one of the photos reproduced in the Bylines article. Having taken the time to actually read things, the photo caption says this is a Midland Railway "Gun Truck" No. 9696 Diagram 622 consisting of six 4 wheel bogie wheelsets built at Derby in 1911. It is the only one built. Capacity was 105 Tons with 70 Tons at the breech end supported by 4 bogies and the rest of the barrel (about 35 Tons) supported by 2 bogies. There's also another photo at https://warwickshirerailways.com/misc/miscfr001.htm and I found an RMWeb forum article "140-ton 'Gunset' wagons" from 2013 in which there appears to be a fair bit of discussion (5 pages) about these things and most of the links still work. Best regards, Trevor

Hello Johnson 0-4-4. I have been having a sort out today and came across an article on these gun barrels at Coventry Ordnance Works including 4 pages of photos of the bogie "Gun Trucks" used to transport them in Railway Bylines Vol 23 Issue 12 Nov 2018. Thought it may be of interest to you if you are not aware of the article. Best regards, Trevor

I've often thought that there should be a subject in the Skills and Knowledge Forum for "How to dismantle and re-built RTR Locomotives and Rolling Stock" to the level of detail that Jon did in this case, where these types of instructions could be kept in one place and available to everyone. Maybe it could be combined with "How to fit a decoder into RTR Locos" for which there are also many tutorials inside and outside RMWeb. Unfortunately it seems that the people who write the manufacturers instructions are already familiar with all the bits and pieces and so they are not in the best position to write instructions..... "Remove boiler" - but fail to explain how many pipes and bits need to be disconnected first, and how best to disconnect them without damaging them or the model. I think I may have some similar instructions downloaded from the RMWeb several years ago for the original Ixion Manning Wardle 0-4-0 which from memory the process is not for the feint hearted. I'm pleased the information I posted worked its magic and helped those looking for it. Best regards, Trevor

Hi Tim, This doesn't include milk, but its a very interesting short film about ingredients coming into Huntley and Palmers biscuit factory by rail. Regards, Trevor Reading in the 1930s - Huntley and Palmers Factory - WFSA - AV618-2-V1.mp4

Hello Davey, The attached will help. I copied it from RMWeb before the great server crash and loss of photos from older posts. Best regards, Trevor how to dismantle an Ixion Hudswell Clarke.pdf

Which tells you the employer was not trustworthy and did not trust its staff and subcontractors. Scum / product of human greed in my opinion. Sadly there are too many companies who operate this way, who see employees and subcontractors as resources to exploit to improve the "bottom line", rather than partners in the business enterprise. Hattons demonstrably are not like that and from what I can see are doing their very best to look after customers, staff and suppliers as they wind the business down. That is commendable as well as socially and commercially responsible. I have a very large collection of locomotives, hauled stock and DMU's I purchased from Hattons over the past 10-15 years or so - both O gauge and OO gauge. Superb service every time, without exception. I've purchased from other retailers as well, but to me Hattons had the edge over everyone else in terms of their customer service, website functionality, accounts set up and management, ordering, and ease of doing business. For me living in Australia, the trunk service was brilliant. Overseas postage is so expensive these days. Being able to pay for an item up front and then have it saved until it could be combined with another purchase down the track to save on postage costs was an innovative and for me a much valued service. I will greatly miss Hattons and their team of dedicated people. Trevor

I think it looks fabulous and have just ordered a kit.

There doesn't get a much larger space around a track than this: Nullabor Plain, Australia

Hi Schooner, A real life example - Queensland Rail at Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia.

Hi Dave, On the back of the above comments I have just tried out my Tiger that arrived a few days ago. It ran beautifully straight out of the box. Quiet motor and drive, and smooth low speed operation in both directions. Very pleased with it. Then I gave it a session on a couple of tortuous test tracks with 10" and 8" radii that i use to test On30 and GN15 short wheelbase models. The loco and tender handled 10" radius without any issues both forward and reverse. 8" was a bit too tight and the loco derailed. Same results with the supplied wagons hooked onto the back of the tender. The "chains" supplied are fiddly to install, and the only way I could attach them was with tweezers and the help of a magnifier. The wagons look at bit odd though without any dumb buffers, and the "chains" hold them a long way apart. Regards, Trevor

Could you develop a system that uses the wagons themselves? To start, fill a wagon then tip its contents into an identical empty wagon under the loading chute. That full wagon eventual makes it off scene and the train brings in the empty wagon and places it under the chute, full wagon tipped into the loader and so on. You would need two wagons of each type to do this and the loads would match the wagon capacities. Could be semi automated using something like the locomotive coaling stages that lifted and tipped coal wagons, or manually tip a wagon over a hopper. An alternative would be a series of containers, one for each wagon type, which when filled and levelled hold the correct amount of stone. Then tip the contained into a hopper with the matching wagon below.

Seems to me there is no physical reason why it could not be done. Therefore it would come down to a commercial arrangement between the railway company and the industry. Whether anyone actually did it is a different matter. And on a model railway rule 1 can always be applied.

I agree with Jason and think the majority of people who purchase locomotives probably do so because they like them - I do. Therefore a double ended Sentinel may be just as useful on a layout as a Bulleid Shunter - just depends which one the prospective purchaser likes the look of. And this will depend upon its general appearance, colour, number of wheels etc. Few would research in any detail whether the locomotive actually existed or where it worked if it did. As an extreme example consider Hornby's Steampunk range - Non ever existed on real railways but people buy them to run around on their layouts. We're a weird mob and everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Personally I'd take the Sentinel before any other locos on the list - by a very large margin, especially if it was O gauge!!. Best wishes to all Regards, Trevor

In addition to the information Mol suggested above, if you can track down a copy of Railway Bylines April 2000 there is an 8 page article on Altrincham Gas Works that includes lots of information, photos of small locos and wagons, a detailed map including the works and track layout etc.

Thanks everyone for your input and advice. Looks like seeking the assistance of Digitrains to re-blow the Zimo decoder with Paul Chetter's new soundfile when it is available will be the best way to go. Best regards, Trevor