RodneyS

The original Triang axles were 9/64'' in diameter. I suppose there must have been a reason for such an odd size. This is why the bushes have such a thin wall. Markits do indeed make an axle this diameter. Rodney

The K's sand wagon was my first white metal kit. I saw it advertised in the Model Railway News when it first came out and eventually managed to obtain one. It came with Jackson metal wheels with the domed ends and rather strangely they were nickel plated. I glued it together with Evostik which is all I had at the time and was disappointed that it wouldn't run on my Triang track ! I also had problems getting it square. Eventually it fell apart and was put in a box. Come the lock down and I decided to reassemble it. Unfortunately one of the wheelsets had disappeared, goodness knows where as it's not that small. Perhaps I used it for something. In the interests of 'historical accuracy' I used a similar set of wheels which were in the familiar blackened brass. I enlarged the axle holes and used some equally old Peco brass axle bearing cups. The wagon is quite free running, obviously not as good as pin point bearings but not too bad. During the reconstruction I discovered why I had so much trouble with it. The axleboxes looked to be castings which had been added to the patterns for the sides. One was rather shrivelled up and deformed which resulted in that axle hole being a bit higher than the other one. As the kit seemed to have two identical castings the difference in height was effectively doubled. It could never have been assembled square. The sensible thing to do would have been to use etched W irons as Barclay and Hayfield did. However, as I wanted to keep it original, I filled the two offending holes and re-drilled them. More by luck than judgement I managed to get the new holes in the right position and the wagon is now in one piece - and square. It would be interesting to know if Chas Levin's kit also has the same problem. Rodney

From what I can remember (it was a long time ago) ECM would adjust the feedback setting if the controllers were returned to them. Perhaps that is what happened to Tim's ? Not an option now of course. Rodney

The first Ratio loco kit was for a 4-4-0 and that was all plastic. Even the wheels were plastic and plated. The 2-4-0 had a brass chassis and Mazak wheels. I believe the 4-4-0 was later released with an etched brass chassis. If you find an original loco kit then all I can say is good luck. There is some information on the kits here. Rodney

Hi Leigh I've just checked my 33009 which I bought new and have hardly used. It is the same as yours, two hoses on the front and one on the tender. No hose in the bag just the front coupling and other details you have described. Possibly something to do with hoses fouling the couplings ? Rodney

That is an interesting photo of Waddon. It must have been taken after it was withdrawn as it has the Marsh chimney taken from the Brighton Works Terrier instead of the Drummond one it carried during its working life. The Marsh chimney was going to be used for the restoration but a new one was made instead so it ended up at the Bluebell Railway. Hopefully it is still there, the last surviving piece of 'Brighton Works'. Rodney (Terrier nut)

I've found a couple of pictures of preserved cranes on this link. As the jib is held in position with rigid links I've often wondered how it was raised and lowered into the lifting and travelling positions. I suppose this could be accomplished with the hook attached to the jib until the links were fixed in place. Rodney https://www.svrwiki.com/GWR_601_1Ton_10cwt_Hand_Crane#/media/File:GWR_601_1Ton_10cwt_Hand_Crane.jpg

I'd been wondering about this as I've not heard anything about the coaches I have on pre-order. Rodney

I hope Martin replies as it would be nice to hear from him again and perhaps get an update on the layout - even if it is only about demolition ! If he doesn't reply I have one of those kits in my unmade stash. I don't have a scanner so a photocopy would have to be sent by snail mail. PM me your address if you want me to do that. It is amazing how many kits seem to be sold with no instructions. Is there an instruction black hole somewhere I wonder ? Rodney

I assembled one of these kits more years ago than I care to remember If I were to do it again I wouldn't use any of the K's chassis at all. However at that time the wheels, gearboxes and small motors were just not available. As Barclay says the wheels are too big which makes the loco sit rather high. The K's wheels changed over the years. Mine had a D shape on the end of the axles which located in a small flat in the plastic wheel centre. A large headed screw went into the end of the axle and holds the wheel in place. I assume this has been altered on yours as you mention a brass bush. Presumably you have plain axles. My chassis was just two strips of brass with some holes punched in. The front part which holds the cylinders was white metal castings screwed to the front frame spacer. I used the K's motor and a Gibson plastic gearbox giving, I think, 38:1 reduction. It does still run but is very noisy. The white metal castings in my kit were very nice and I was very pleased with the model. It doesn't look as nice as Barclay's though ! Rodney

Well Tony, your C12 looks so much better than the one my friend bought, even before the accident. Another purchase by this same friend was a G2 0-8-0. A Gem kit I think, on a rather nice etched chassis. One axle was sprung with proper horns and axleboxes and fitted with flangeless wheels - correctly I believe. It looked really nice and ran very well but only on straight track. You have mentioned in the past about kit built locos with absolutely no side play on the wheels ! Fortunately he sold it on. Some other poor soul now has the problem. Rodney

My Lima 94xx was stored away for quite a while. When I looked at it the weight had swollen up and forced the plastic footplate down. I managed to get the weight out but the footplate remains bent. A friend had the same problem with a Lima Crab. I assume this is the result of Mazak rot and could explain why your weight is missing. Rodney

You have my sympathy. A friend bought a made-up C12 which did not run very well. He asked me to look at it and I managed to re-solder some broken joints on the chassis. It was still a disaster but then he did the decent thing - unintentionally. He carried it up to the loft layout and managed to drop it. It hit the first floor landing and then proceeded down the stairs to the ground floor. Saved me a lot of trouble. I'm sure he could be persuaded to do the same with yours - and the Crab. Rodney

Will a pesky Peckett go through the doorway ? Rodney

Many years ago a fellow club member showed me how he made coupling rods to fit a chassis. As he was by trade a tool designer, it was always worth listening to what he had to say. He would not drill the coupling rods and frames together. He explained that it would not be possible to enlarge the axle holes accurately without the drill wandering off centre. Instead he assembled the chassis with wheels as you have done. He then measured the axle centres using a pair of spring dividers - with sharp points of course ! He placed one end of the dividers against the tread at 9 o'clock (or 3 o'clock). He then adjusted the dividers so that the point was against the adjacent wheel tread. The dividers were then used to mark the centres for the rods. As he measured on the wheel tread it was easy to get the dividers to 3 or 9 o'clock. Any slight discrepancy in this would have a minimal effect on the length of the rods. I have tried this method and it worked for me. In those days we only had the choice of Romford or Hamblings wheels. Neither had a centre on the axle end to measure from. He generally used Romford wheels and did (naturally !) machine them all to exactly the same diameter first. Rodney