Captain Kernow

Yes, each stool is drilled 0.5mm and a bit of 0.45mm brass rod glued in. This will then be located into a 1mm hole in the baseboard. The larger size of the hole is to ensure that you have a bit of leeway to move them in case the hole in the board is slightly out of kilter. Just glueing the stools down onto the bases on the board would, in my view, make the whole point rodding assembly too delicate and vulnerable to damage if it were accidentally knocked.

You naughty fellow, you!...

Hi Brian, Definitely, definitely install the stools and bases before ballasting, and the actual rodding afterwards, should be much easier. I didn't start work on the rodding on Bleakhouse Road until the ballasting and virtually all the scenery was completed, and that was a mistake, because the finished ground levels didn't make it that easy to get the rodding at the right level, so I think that this way will be easier. Oh, the stools are by Model Signal Engineering (aka Wizard Models).

But what has the Baby Deltic got to say about all this? Despite all the evidence about most other early diesels being found on the S&D in large numbers and on a frequent basis, even Class 15s, I just can't find any reference to Baby Deltics working over Masbury....

This is what almost 100 bases for point rodding stools look like before they are cut out of plasticard: And this is what they look like after they have been cut out! Here is a two-rodding stool mounted on a base: ....and with a 5p coin for size comparason: This is the jig that I'm planning to use to space the rodding stools and their bases at the correct distance from the track (9mm) and from each other (24mm - for pre-Grouping round rodding): Next up is to start drilling 1.0mm holes in the right locations in the baseboard, with the help of the jig, and to start glueing the bases and rodding stools in place. When they and the cranks and compensators are in position, but before the rodding itself is added, I shall paint them and do the track weathering and then the ballasting. Update 30/4/10 Well, I'm becoming more and more aware of the fact that nothing else has yet been done to the point rodding since I last posted this several months ago! Until I at least get the bases and stools down, plus the cranks and compensators, I can't really start the ballasting, and I certainly won't do anything permanent about scenery until the track is fully ballasted and weathered... So, hopefully we'll see a bit of action on the point rodding front in the next few weeks... Update 02/6/10 Well, it's certainly been 'a few weeks' since the last update, but I'm very happy to say now that work on installing the point rodding has at last commenced, with all locations marked out and drilled, and the bases and stools are now being epoxied in place. The cranks, compensators and actual rodding will then follow. Photos in due course... Update 08/6/10 I'm happy to report that I finally glued the last cranks, stools and compensators in position with epoxy this evening. I won't be adding the rodding itself (0.45mm brass wire) until the track has been weathered and ballasted. Update 24/6/10 Here are a couple of photos showing the current state of affairs - just awaiting painting and the actual rodding.

My guess is that the enterprising P4 modeller will find a way to convert it satisfactorily to P4, even if the clearances end up having to be a bit tight, due to manufacturing reasons. As Miss P says, the 23.5 distance ought to be easily achievable.

Yes, so would I (be hugely surprised if they didn't that is!! Some of us are working on a certain individual to achieve that aim!! I couldn't possibly comment... I agree that this is a fantastic choice for a small loco, and an ideal cross-over prototype between industry and 'main line' companies. Hopefully it will inspire more light railway and other similar type layouts too!

Craig - is this something to do with your RCH chassis etches?

Very well done there, Dave - what a great idea! Well done ModelRail too, of course!

You're not the only one tempted - and of course, all these locos were regulars all over the S&D...

You're not the only one tempted - and of course, all these locos were regulars all over the S&D...

Cheltenham (St Margarets Hall, Hatherley) - 24/25 October 2009 This was a really delightful little show and very friendly too. I have posted some photos of the show in the main exhibitions thread here: My link

Tuesday 27/10/09 Here are a few photos taken on Bleakhouse Road last weekend at the Cheltenham show. These two were taken during 'happy hour' towards the end of the Saturday, allowing Re6/6 to run his new Bachmann 150 and give us a glimpse of what BHR might have been like, had it survived to the modern day... Re6/6 has charge of the shunting at this time... I'll add to this particular blog as and when, but more information on this and my other layouts can be found at www.enginewood.co.uk

In fact, as my posture might suggest, that height doesn't do my back any favours!!!

Good luck with it either way, Nick. Adam makes some good points too, I guess if a better shaped hook but large enough was available, I'd switch to it, but I haven't got time these days to start filing Smiths hooks to shape, I'd rather direct what pedantry I have left in me, in a different direction!

I built the Judith Edge North British/Paxman 0-4-0 a few years ago - this has a jackshaft as well, with articulated rods. I don't recall a swinging beam system being an option, but this might just be my memory. The loco was built to OO gauge and I decided just to take loads of care and build the chassis uncompensated or sprung but exactly square and ensure all wheels were on the track. It generally runs pretty well, provided the wheels and track are kept clean. If I was building it now, however, or doing one in P4, I'd probably opt for the basic 3 point compensation system, with one fixed axle and the other gently pivoting with minimal vertical movement in the hornguides. If you want to install something more complex, then fine, but the simpler version suits my purposes at the moment.

This is an interesting thread, but it's not the first time this topic has been debated on RMWeb! I use 3-link/screw link couplings exclusively on my 3 layouts (Engine Wood, Bleakhouse Road and Callow Lane). I have done many exhibitions with the first two layouts in particular. Exhibition operating conditions are intensive, to say the least, with a lot of coupling and uncoupling going on, especially if (like me) you like to shunt, transfer traffic etc., so I hope that these observations will be of use. I have fitted Masokits screw couplings to some of my locos in the past. They are relatively easy to assemble (you do need your wits about you when soldering the pins in!) and they do look very good. I've also seen the Exactoscale ones, and they also look good. However..... I have always used Smiths on my rolling stock and now standardise on these for locos as well (I should mention that I do have an improvement on the screw coupling assembly, which avoids the 'track pin' look on the counter weight, as supplied by Smiths - I featured this on the former version of the forum). I do like my locos and stock to look right, so why would I settle for an overscale hook and links? The reason is this - in operational terms, they are the best compromise between 'ease of use' and appearance. Based on my personal experience, no one can seriously entertain the use of working screw couplings under exhibition conditions - in my experience, I defy anyone to argue otherwise, unless they have had some special dexterity augmentation! The scale hooks of Masokits, Ambis etc. look very nice, but you have to bear in mind that during a two day show, you will get progressively more tired, your concentration will inevitably lapse, lighting may (or may not) make the act of coupling and uncoupling easier. The result is that getting the coupling loops over the smaller/scale-sized hooks becomes more and more of an ordeal as the weekend progresses. One of the things that I've noticed hacks viewers off is where the operator can't get the 3 links to work. People watching soon lose interest and move away - you begin to look as if you can't operate your own layout! Added to this mix is the fact that the Masokits couplings will not flex as much as the Smiths ones (it's certainly not as easy to built flex into them), and this also makes for harder coupling and uncoupling. I'm assuming that you are not using any kind of magnetic device here, although for straight 3 links you should consider this - 5050 on this forum uses an ordinary needle file as a coupling 'hook', which works very well with 3 links that have a single steel link on the end. So, just think of this - you will be tired at the end of the afternoon session. You have to couple a corridor coach to the rear of a pannier tank with an overhanging bunker. People are watching and expecting you to keep getting 100% success rate on your coupling activities each time. Think, then, how easy it is (when you're tired and perhaps a bit annoyed with these dam*ed 3 links anyway), to make a mistake. It's easy enough to actually derail your stock with your coupling hook as well.... I'm also finding that the older I get (and the more I need reading glasses for this kind of work), the more I appreciate the easier use of the larger hook. When compared with a tension lock coupling, or even a 'Sprat & Winkle' or 'AJ' type, I'd rather have a slightly overscale hook and links and be sure that I've achieved an acceptable (to me) compromise between appearance and useability. The use of the one make of coupling hook on everything also introduces a consistency, which means you know what to expect on each and every coupling act, and don't have to squint in the semi-gloom between your vehicles to see what coupling type you are dealing with this time... If on the other hand I was just building a showcase model, I'd use Exactoscale or Masokits couplings every time!

We've now got 4 boards of the other straight side nearly complete, thanks to a marathon session last Saturday, much of which was finished off by Re6/6 after some of us had left (it was at his house)!

Craig - is the PDF file attached to your blog here the latest version, as I've gotten a bit confused as to which one is the most recent. Thanks. (I'm only sorry that I haven't yet had time to start one of the etches I picked up at S4um). On the matter of sprung buffers, I'm more and more persuaded that for propelling and shunting in P4 they are pretty desirable, although for my OO stuff I am far less likely to bother, so I can see Adam's point as well.

Oh arr, m'Luvver!

Callow Lane is my new P4 layout, which has been under construction for far too long now... It is set in North Bristol/South Gloucestershire, and represents a small suburban goods yard in the Westerleigh area. There used to be an old goods-only branch running north-westwards from the Midland Railway's Westerleigh Yard, to a location called New Engine Yard. From here, colliery spurs ran to the pits in the district, amongst them being Mayshill and Frog Lane collieries. Callow Lane is actually set in the location of New Engine Yard, but the line then continues on to join the GWR main line just to the west of Coalpit Heath station, a route which would have required some considerable earthworks and steep gradients. Callow Lane is where the Westerleigh Yard to Coalpit Heath line goes from double to single track (the double line is back towards Westerleigh Yard). There are two sidings on both up and down sides, one of which runs through to a chocolate factory. Tuesday 27/10/09 Got the day off today, so have re-erected Callow Lane and have made a start on the point rodding. Here is a batch of two-runner point rodding stools with brass wire glued into the bases (the epoxy is setting), to assist locating on the baseboard. I drill an oversize (ish) hole in the baseboard and mount the stools on small square sections of 30 or 40 thou plasticard (to represent the top of the concrete block that each stool is mounted on). The squares of plasticard also have oversize holes drilled in them, and the whole lot is epoxied to the baseboard. When it's set, I can begin the track weathering and ballasting, and will then put the actual rodding in after that. One of the compensators that I will also need to install along the rodding run (this one isn't quite finished - it needs a representation of 'pivots' glueing into the two holes in the middle): Sunday 01.11.09 Not much done over the last few days, other than prepare even more point rodding stools, drill their bases and glue bits of wire in. I've now got over 80 rodding stools ready to install on the layout, but I first need to prepar the plasticard bases for them to sit in... Saturday 21/11/09 The point rodding is on hold at the moment, although all components are now ready for installation. First, however, I need to complete the final section of retaining wall, that forms the cutting, in which the railway sits, so that I know for sure how much room I will have to fit the rodding. I may also build some or all of the three running signals and fit them for the same reason. Here's the final section of retaining wall as a card mock-up, to check the angles and levels etc.: Sunday 29/11/09 Today I finally completed the last (and fourth) section of the retaining walls that radiate out from the central road bridge. Photos to follow. The next job will be to start another row of four cottages, this time cottage backs with back yards and outside toilets, backing onto a narrow footpath that will run along the top of one of the retaining walls above the railway. Sunday 03/01/10 I've been making some decent progress with the latest row of half-relief cottages (cottage backs based on Howard Scenics kit) and have posted some photos up in the 'Scenery & Structures' part of the forum, but here is one of those photos for information: More progress has been made on the cottages, and I've put some photos up on my 'Cottage Industry' thread in the Scenery & Structures part of the forum, but here is another one to illustrate the current state of play: Sunday 04/7/10 Here are a couple of recent photos, showing the newly-installed point rodding stools and cranks: Work is currently progressing with track weathering and a bit of experimental ballasting has been done as well, photos to follow when there's a bit more to see.

I think I'm more interested in why you were after a loco from that era in the first place! Could this be the blossoming of some 'historical modelling' for the Fatadder?

I would agree that Colin's service is very good indeed!

Hmm, interested in one of those, then? Will we see a P4-ed Kestral winging it's way around TT2 sometime?