JamieR4489

I'm currently at secondary school and we still have 2 lathes, a milling machine, several pillar drills and hegna saws and a band saw (although we're not allowed to use that as the school are worried we could slice our fingers off). We've even got a foundry/forge, welding equipment and blow torches. This is on top of all the basic tools: chisels, saws, etc. A sign of the times, however, is that we've also got 2 3D printers and 2 laser cutters. The next nearest secondary school has very little practical equipment and I'm told that the students do a year of theory and then a year of practical stuff, so perhaps we're just lucky. Jamie

Maybe it’s to drown out the DCC sound diesel TMDs that seem to swamp exhibitions these days, rumbling away all weekend.

Ah, I made (quite literally) a schoolboy error!

P2s are 43,462lb whereas Duchesses are 40,000lb

I assume you've also made sure every engine has a place to attach the lamps! Interestingly, Peregrine was the only A4 never to work one of the Streamliners.

But I think what Micklner is trying to say is that between 21st August 1935 and 13th October 1936, the W1 never actually ran in service, effectively meaning it ran for 3 months with the double chimney and spent the rest of the time either in the works or being tested. Sorry if I've misinterpreted things, Jamie

Thanks manna, The GWR version is certainly a better starting point as it has the right cab and the running plate is better around the cylinders. I got the info about raising the cylinders from Graeme King who was able to provide (very useful) photos and notes. I agree it’s a vast improvement. Jamie

Well, the Hornby tooling is of Tornado, i.e. lower chimney and cab to conform to the loading gauge, different tender around the water filler cap and different cabinet arrangements at the front of the tender. That didn't stop them making Bon Accord a few years ago, though... Edit - beaten to it by the previous post

No it was rescued from my grandparents' when they were going to chuck it out. We'll have to reballast the goods yard on WM soon so I can ask then what sand we use

I didn't have to sieve it at all. I'm afraid I've no idea where it came from but I imagine it was children's play sand. Jamie

I've used sand to build up the ground to the top of the rails. Just glue it like you normally would with ballast although I found it helpful to put a layer of PVA down before I layed the sand. This means it also has a nice texture, similar to that of ash. This photo shows the effect nicely. HTH, Jamie

The first thing I thought of when I saw the Hornby announcement was a certain Mr Wright, who'd built tens of Thompson pacifics, and his claims that one would never appear RTR. With regard to the W1, it wouldn't surprise me if several SEF kits turn up on eBay now at good prices. I'd happily take one rather than wait for the Hornby offering. My first project of 2020 is complete (for now). A Bachmann O4 picked up for a bargain price and converted to an O4/3 (thanks go to Graeme King for providing notes and pictures of his conversion). It still needs three link couplings but apart from that I think it's done. Regards, Jamie

While I'm at it, I might as well show what else I've been doing over the holidays. I had far more time than I thought I would so I managed to get two wagons almost finished for Weybourne, an SR pill box brake van and a lowmac The lowmac is a heavily modified Dapol kit The brake van required the sand boxes to be taken off the ends. They came off fairly easily just by slipping a blade between them and the body and cracking the glue. Then I had to fill the holes and add the centre lamp iron. This vehicle just needs to be renumbered and weathered. Jamie

So much for not doing anything worth posting! Well, it seemed rude not to buy a Bachmann O4 for only £60. As some of you may know, the Bachmann O4 isn't correct straight out of the box for any sub class. It's an O4/1 (GCR built) loco with an O4/3 (ROD built) tender. As O4/3s were far more numerous, I decided to convert the model to O4/3 status. The first job was to remove the vacuum ejector pipe from the RHS of the boiler. This came off fairly easily and then there was just a bit of cleaning up needed. The front, top lamp iron was moved from the door to the top of the smokebox and the vacuum pipes were cut off. The chequered plate just below the smokebox was smoothed over with filler and then sanded down. The wistle was moved onto the top of the cab roof and then the rear roof rib was cut off and a new rib glued on. One other thing I did was to raise the cylinders and slide bars by putting a shim under the rear of the cylinder stretcher and elongating the holes in the motion bracket and then filling in the bottoms with plasticard. The loco was renumbered to 6257, a Colwick loco, and weathered, firstly with paint and then with weathering powders. A crew and coal have also been fitted. Now all she needs are some three link couplings. Jamie

Looking forward to see the W1 in both forms although I'll probably just get the rebuilt version. Just noticed from looking at the pictures, it looks like Hornby are doing away with tension locks for Rocket. They look like proper 3 link couplings (or representations of them).