Theakerr

I have a few questions (not all railway related) that have persisted despite attempts to find answers using the normal channels. One is why the preference for inside cylinder 0-6-0s? From a maintanance perspective an outside cylinder should be much easier to service. I did come across a suggestion that the early wheel bearing quality was such that an outside cylinder would have caused excess wear (due presumably side or twist trust motion) on the bearings and that an inside cylinder arrangement would put a more even load on the bearings. Just curious.

Correct. That is the beauty of the neoprene. It has both strength and flexibility.

Re the whistle information request for my J6, I was in the process of placing an order with British Model Trains here in the GWN and it turned out he had a Markits NE whistle in stock- except that he probably doesn't now as it is on its way to me. Thanks

I have just acquired a sort of built DJH J50 at a price well below the Hornby version. It is complete with wheels and the biggest DJH motor and gearbox i have ever seen. Whilst the body will probably require a complete tear down the chassis seems to be very well put together although some solder strengthening will be done. Next winters project along with a C12

As far as motor and gearboxes are concerned I highly recommend spending the money and going with DJH. I am anxious to try High Level and have an order in place but they are in the COVID hole at the moment and cannot supply. Good communications from them and I am willing to wait. On my DJH A2 valve gear, one side is soldered and one side is riveted. I think the soldered side is better but it took me forever to find suitable pins (in Canada), most are steel covered with Brass and they do not work. I have two old Portescaps doing nothing, one the small one that doesn't whine, will hardly move a white metal tank loco and was replaced with a DJH combo and the other that will haul whines so badly that I can hear it at the far end of the house. I have tried all the suggested cures none have worked although one I keep meaning to try is to put some old valve lapping paste on the gears.

Do a search on Top up. I posted a how I did it on an A4. The trick was to use a black neoprene protective glove. I have just found the file I put together when I submitted it to the BRMNA journal, see attached. The file should contain pictures as well as a description. I also covered it in Wright Writes. A4 Top Up V1.docx

In theory Yes, otherwise there is a risk that you may get small surface tears, especially if you have to roll it to a small diameter and do a complete tube. Also, by annealing it should be easier to get a true round profile although the use of rolling bars instead of a Heath Robinson set-up will help. However at 15 thou I suspect you will be OK. Do you have enough of the etch that you can do a test roll?

I am close to finishing my Nu-Cast J6 and wondered if anyone know of a source for the cab roof mounted whistle. The one supplied is rather crude and because of its location will be highly visible. Thanks

I have found on my Councourse that adding fuel injector cleaner will clean out the pilot jets without the need for disassembly. Just leave it to sit for4/5 hours and the bike will start and then as it runs the cleaner cleanes more. Over here in the Great White North, our premium grade still does not contain any methanol so that is what I use but even then for storage of more than a month i add gas stabiliser and for storage over the winter (6 months) I drain the float bowls as well.

Cannot comment on the B12s but it was nothing to see 13/14 coaches (mixture of Thompson, Gresly and early MK1s) behind the Cleethorpes, Grimsby, London trains

Painting also minimises dust pick-up.

Same in The Great White North. However, we seem to have a lot of Suits who tell anyone who will listen (or not) that they are in fact Super Geniuses (Genii?)

Man, you all look so young!

I have converted almost all my detailed split chassis B1s to the new chassis and have had to add weight to all of them to achieve the same performance as the old split chassis. My notes say about 50gms but I have a feeling my notes may be wrong!!. If anyone is interersted I still have an unconverted new chassis and can weight one of each. Since I am not using DCC I take out all the gubbins associated with the decoder socket and hard wire the motor. This gives a nice space for extra weight. However this creates a forward weight bias that is nearly as bad as no extra weight. It took me some time to figure out where to put the rear weight; it is possible to put a little right at the back of the motor and a real thin sheet on each side of the motor but the front rear bias was still there. I ended up putting the extra weight into the cab roof. From a helicopter view it is invisible and by painting it black as well as trimming the end and sides it is almost invisible from a track level view. However, the crew do seem to suffer from concussion on a regular basis.

I have a few Scalescene downloads, all have had a scale ruler but what a game to get the print to the correct dimensions. As I remember because I haven't downloaded any for a long time - more of that in a minute, I have had to use the manual adjust on my print page and the adjustments have varied between +104% and - 95%. The reason I have not downloaded anything in the last few years is because I purchased a medium range Brothers LazerJet printer that has no colour adjustment - presumably because it knows better than I what the colour should be. So my dirty red brick are a bright orange etc etc. Moral is to make sure any printer one purchases has an adjustable colour palette.

Re drilling and tapping the chassis. I haven't done a J72 but i have done several B1s. Basically I simply drill a small hole - about say a mm - then find a STEEL screw that is just a bit wider with a medium thread and a slightly tapered lead and screw it into the hole using the screw to tap the hole. Sometimes I have got away with reusing the original screw sometimes I have had to use a second because the thread maker screw was damaged.

Over the years I have found with several suppliers that their plasticity seems to vary. I know for a fact that age plays a role and I also understand that if the kit has been exposed to sunlight, as in say a display case, it will em-brittle. I recently acquired an old Wills LNER Lattice signal kit that I have had to junk because the plastic was so brittle. In that case it was age and fortunately I had only paid a pittance for it.

Are you saying that when it goes past the detector it changes, eg it goes from green to blank?

As mentioned lubrication is absolutely essential especially if it is a thicker section and, whilst we tend to think of Al as being soft it can be quiet hard. I have a bottle top filled with sewing machine oil that I dip the drill tip in.

I was part of the discussion on Wright Writes. My Father, who was a Station Master on the Grimsby to Boston line that carried many express fish trains, told me that it was to give the Guard a better ride, especially so that he could do his paper work. I can believe this because those express fish trains used to really rattle through at speeds I would guess would have been in the 60+ mph. My memory thinks the Guards van could be as far as 5 wagons in. There were a number of comments suggesting that no way would the Railways consider the comfort of the Guard. Bearing in mind the labour shortage just after the war I don't agree with that perspective but everyone to their own opion, informed or not. There were others who said the guards Van had to be at the end until a number of photos were produced. There were others who said the BR rules did allow for the Guards Van to be 2 wagons in. Take your pick.

The PCB board with the decoder sockets definitely does something because there have been several reports on this forum including one from myself of DC locos running badly, often after running well. Once the PCB board is removed they revert to normal running. So by default it does seem safe to remove the PCB board and wire directly. I know I do as a default on the new Bachmann B1s because it gives significantly more room for additional weight.

Simple answer is Yes. However, I am biased since i live in Canada. Would not object to purchasing a DVD (or download) as I did for Grantham - The Stream Liner Years.

A couple of nights ago I re-watched some videos about CF. This may seem like heresy to some people out there but I came to the same conclusion I did when I watched them before, I prefer the video to seeing the actual layout. The layout is so 'small' and as a result I found it difficult to take in everything that was there. In a good video I can see it all and without the ignoramuses pushing, shoving and line jumping. As a thought, so much has changed in the last few years how about another one ?

Like titanious I started out using cheap SG90s but had some fail and then proceeded to buy somewhat better ones from Hobby King out of Hong Kong. I also experimented with Digital Servos and heavier load servos; there was no real benefit. Recently i have just used my first micro servo, also from Hobby King. Previously, I had to mount the servo under the baseboard which was a bit of a pain. The micro servos have a much smaller footprint allowing the signal and servo to be built as a single unit, calibrated before installation and installation as a single unit. They work with my Mega Points controller and as an added benifit the one i have just installed is silent.

I replaced the flangless wheel on a Hornby A3 with one from an A4 detail pack and like you could not get it to rotate. The main problem was the thickness of the plastic wheel centre which I ground off. I did not have to remove any metal from the casting. I did run into a problem with derailments on my 36" radius curves. There was not enough sidewards motion for the flanged wheels and I had to take a fair bit of each side of the frame casting.