DK123GWR

Might tanks also force the boiler size (and hence power) to be reduced?

Sudrian bankers courtesy of @Corbs (I think his Gordon's Hill is a bit bigger than Awdry's):

Is this a typical price for a Triang Princess nowadays? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274836646573?hash=item3ffd8a6aad:g:1RsAAOSwH3lgy2Sd

Long ago I had a City of Truro given to me. The locomotive is plastic, presumably an Airfix/Dapol kit, and is propelled by a metal tender, which is a poor runner. There are a few issues with it: the pickups need tweaking (and more need adding), the gear train needs to be cleaned and lubricated, and the commutator needs cleaning too. Usually, this means that the motor brushes would also benefit from being cleaned. However, the motor does not appear to allow access to the brushes. Based on the images below, can anybody identify the motor and confirm whether there is a way to access the brushes. I have also included a photo of the chassis undertray, which appears to have branding on it (though searches for "A K's model City of Truro" and similar have yielded nothing so far). As a further question: the motor is currently held together by the shaft only. The top part of the casing (including the part at the non-commutator end) are currently free to pivot and to slide backwards and forwards on the shaft. Since the tender body screws into the top of the motor casing, the body is free to move in relation to the chassis (and often ends up sat at an unusual angle). Is this supposed to be the case? What appear to be glue marks on the motor casing at the commutator end could suggest not. Thanks in advance for any advice on maintaining this mechanism.

How about a GWR outside valve gear 4-6-0 with no firebox and a dome which carries stone in the tender? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05rm2lf I certainly do spot something new every time I pass this. Usually, it makes me wonder if the artist has ever seen a steam locomotive.

I did tell him it couldn't be older that 14 years, so I don't know where he got the 15. Oh well...

In response to a question about how old it was, the seller said: "Hi I honestly not sure was bro7ght from a house clearance and they said they'd had it for over 25 years but this is all I no and have been informed hope that helps thanks" I have informed them of the results of the detailed forensic investigation which I undertook (see photo above) to determine the approximate age of the... thing... and have suggested that they update the listsing.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363437587378?hash=item549e917bb2:g:qPwAAOSwt6Fgy2u1 Let's deal with the description one bit at a time: "Flying scotsman" - Yes it is. Well done. "Model" - Hmm... I prefer the Triang one. "rare." - probably because nobody bought this piece of junk to begin with. "Condition is "Used"." - How does one 'use' this? "Dispatched with Royal Mail 2nd Class." - I suppose this might be true. "Stunning piece" - I'm glad you think so. We may have different standards to each other. "made of pure tin" - Unless your chemistry is better than your history, I doubt that you have a clue what its made from. "but not a tin" - And nothing to do with Tintin. "very old" - I must be ancient by your standards: I'm 18! "but mint cond" - 100*0=0. A "mint" piece of rubbish is still rubbish. "rare one" - It might be more rare than your use of the word rare, but thanks for reminding us that you were the only one foolish enough to buy it in the first place.

Unless it would stop you from eating, get one! They are unbelieveably useful.

Which might spread to the UK over the next few years... https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/luxury-edinburgh-paris-rail-link-20826070

At exhibitions, some prefer to entertain the public by running as many trains a possible, while others run a realistic timetable. Why not do both?

Also, if streamlining isn't necessary it is advantageous (for MUs at least) not to have it, as this facilitates end gangways which allow passengers and staff to move between units when coupled together.

You'll just have to remove the clingfilm beforehand in order to access the number. Wait a minute...

My 0-4-0 tender-tank has progressed slightly since my last post. The first subject of interest is the coupling between the loco and the tender. When I tested the loco pulling a freight train (more axles ergo more friction than a passenger train) the loco had a tendency to swing on the coupling as it tried to move forwards, lifting its rear wheels and going nowhere fast while spinning its wheels rapidly. It was also a bit of a pain to get the wire onto the hook every time I needed to couple. I have therefore developed the Mk2 coupling as shown below: This version of the coupling is fixed rigidly to the coupling hook of the wagon with PVA (which has had black paint added to disguise the brass wire). This is easy to insert into the loop of the loco's tension lock. Forwards, the loco pulls the tender using the coupling, but backwards it pushes the tender using the force of the tender buffers on the buffer beam of the loco. This system works on all but the very worst track laying (fortunately, the track needs to be relayed anyway to adress electrical issues). The photo above also shows the other major modifications which have been made since my first post, which are all on the tender. The first stage was to cut a square out of the wagon for the fireman to shovel coal through. Following this, the eye markings were removed. This was done with a Hornby track rubber. While it was effective, you can see in the photo the white marks where the plastic has been scratched, and the texture of the planks has also been removed. While this isn't too much of a problem here, I wouldn't use the method in a more visible location. The final alteration I have made is to add coal to the tender. I decided to try out making my own. Stage one involved adding cereal card (painted with a black paint/PVA mix) into the tender until I found a slope that I was happy with, and then fixing it into place using pure PVA (so that I didn't end up with black splodges on the sides of the tender). Stage 2 involved painting the card with PVA, then sprinkling on the rubber granules used in 3G football pitches (if you play on these pitches regularly you have an unlimited supply of the stuff - just tip your shoes upside down over a tub when you take them off). This was then covered in diluted PVA to bond the rubber pieces together. As I wasn't happy with the coverage the first time, I repeated the process once the first lot of glue had dried. The result is a homemade textured coal load included in the cost of football training. Unfortunately neither my photography nor my camera are particularly good, but here is a shot to give you an idea of what the loco looks like at the moment.

All copyright on BR-related symbols is, I believe, held by the Secretary of State for Transport.

I actually think it would look quite good with the rainbow extended all the way along the train (and the ends left as they are). It would help to clean up what is currently a rather busy livery.

If you have a view there's no reason you shouldn't express it (as long as you aren't hurting anyone of course). I'm sure they don't see it as a waste of time.

Living about half way between London and Wales, I always find it odd that if two strangers pass each other in a field or on a country lane they always greet each other, but the same two people passing on the high street (or anywhere else in a town) will do anything in their power not to acknowledge each other's existence. I've never been able to fathom why.

Would this be a problem of itself though, if the stated aim (for the Aberdeen locomotives at least) was to improve starting tractive effort?

I think a railway saves more than a few minutes against a bicycle!

Wherever they usually are. It does say 'not to be moved' after all.

To collate information from everybody's favourite carpet-based model railway YouTube channel for the benefit of readers here (who may not be part of that channel's target audience) there is a setting in the app which allows you to change the PWM frequency, with settings ranging from a default of around 60Hz to a maximum of 8kHz. His opinion (clearly backed up by the video) was that at low frequencies locomotives were noisy but very controllable at low speeds. At high frequencies, locos ran much more quietly, but at the expense of low speed performance. Knowing that you prioritise smooth low-speed control I imagine that you will prefer the default lower frequencies, but for those running mainline layouts with high speeds a higher frequency may be more suitable. 17:35 for reference.

I think its a partial misunderstanding. I believe that GWR originally placed an order for some 801s, which were later converted to 800/3s when electrification was left incomplete. Of course, the original 800 orders and the 802s were always planned to be bimode.