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34theletterbetweenB&D

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Everything posted by 34theletterbetweenB&D

  1. For those whose layout curves are 24" radius and up, an easy way to set the loco to tender distance correctly is to bend a downward 'U' shape in the middle of the drawbar to shorten the connection. This not only makes the ensemble look that little better yet, with the fall plate covering about half the tender step; it also provides a convenient support for the wiring bundle.
  2. The motor may be small, but it can draw a current. Static readings circa 10 to 14 ohm depending on armature position, and will draw up to 0.8 amp starting, so definitely one for a 1A output decoder as a minimum. Put a Lenz silver in it and now have it nicely speed matched to the other low power diesels for MU purposes, runs as sweetly as the Bach 20 and 24, Heljan 26 and Hornby 30. Now to build a bogie sulphate or three for the dustbins service Ashburton Grove to Blackbridge pits.
  3. Nick, Excellent, that's all I need to have them moving East Anglian taters up to Town. Is the picture good enough to reveal whether these cattle wagons were specifically lettered, labelled or otherwise identified for this traffic?
  4. Scrolling through Paul Bartlett's selection, wasn't it nice to see that when no longer required for cattle transport, one was made available for the personal conveyance of the Nottingham civil engineer. But more seriously, I have heard the story that the BR cattle wagons (which were pretty much redundant at the time of construction due to majority of the trade decamping to the road) were used for moving fruit and veg to help cope with the high peak loads of this traffic. I have seen photos of LNE and LMS cattle vans branded fruit, was this done on BR cattle wagons? Any pictures? Groping wildly here for a chance to use a couple with my other grouping prototype kitbuilds in this traffic.
  5. Beverston Castle was wafted under my nose this afternoon, and the cash just flew straight out of my wallet. By happy chance I was with MiL today (Swindon girl) and she completely approved it for overall appearance. Told me how hard you had to pull to open the reggylaturh: don't you just love that Wiltshire burr... Etched plates are really all it needs, perhaps a little grime in the corners, some real coal in the tender. Very convincing model. Roll on that 28XX.
  6. I have now got the cab roof down flush with the short bonnet top; it stood all of 0.5mm higher, and there was a same size gap at the bottom of the cab side, above the solebar, running plate, or whatever it is called. Once the body is off the chassis the cab could easily be worked free from the inside. Took a little bit off the bottom of the cab interior moulding (the visible part of which I am going to paint dark) , and thinned the pegs on the bottom of the cab sides, also cleaned up where it lands on the footplate, all neat and tidy now. Actually, after a short break took another look and wasn't quite satisfied, there is a raised edge inside the rear of the cab roof, scraped that off, now it sits truly flush. A little filler in the gap on top to blend them together at some point I think, if photographs show no panel join in the real thing. The chassis was very tight in the body (whip the fuel tank off, undo the two crosshead screws, gently, very gently, work round the underside to get the mech out). Very neat internal layout, bags of space for a decoder under the fan end. Alternatively a large oval speaker at the fan end, decoder at the cab end with a bit of modification of the cab interior insert. The body green is rather bright, dirt will fix that though. The NEM pocket isn't, strictly by the rules, since it is positioned getting on for 2mm overheight, ( just like a Bach 16T mineral in other words). Lighting effect good on DC, should be excellent once decoder fitted. Good news on the decoder socket location too, clear void underneath it, no metal for long plug pins to short on. The motor is a 30mm long 12mm diameter round can type, no flywheels. Have only run it on test with DC at the so far, smooth, quiet, very controllable. Bags of traction, good for 40 grams force, and that is likely to improve after more running has polished the tyres up. Started and pulled smoothly the 20 coaches the force measurement predicts ( Bach mk1 and Hornby Pullmans) on a level track circuit including a 30 inch minimum radius curve. Hasn't got warm or anything after getting on for an hour on the move, so there is no indication of any mechanism troubles.
  7. All too often that summed up the real problem with class 15 (and 16, and 21, and 23...) Other defects would have been tolerable. The reliability of good old 'Thousand Horse' was the real killer for this class.
  8. Excellent, the first of the wave of BR(ER) diesel crapness has arrived. Perhaps a quick visit to St Evenage is indicated to pick up my all green order. With the class 105 and 23 also on the way, it only wants a class 21 to reduce the KX suburban area services to a complete shambles. Don't think Seuthe have a unit that could lay down the smoke screen I saw one of these produce as it expired...
  9. Not as harsh as commercial assessment: I would not be in the least surprised if our friends at Barwell and Margate analyse their sales in some detail. If they see that models for a particular territory show poorer relative sales, what likely conclusion will they draw? In terms of achieved sales you are up against an army of customers buying 'anything' Swindonian, and apparently a substantial number up for those items that ran on Southern lines (even if the design originated in Crewe or Derby), and even people like me willing to buy J39s for a Southern ECML layout where the J39 was a rarity as a 'place holder' for the native 0-6-0 types I have to build for myself. Not purchasing what is to some extent suitable, is no way to convince a supplier that a market opportunity exists.
  10. You just lost me there. You are not interested in a RTR offering that actually operated in Scotland. A Black 5 is no more or less distinctive of Scotland than a K3. While the K3 is pre-grouping design in origin, roundy top boilered like most Scottish loco designs, the precursor of a small class specifically built for service in Scotland... Foot, shot, yourself, in the .
  11. As regards the late BR steam period, perhaps it is the possibility of a range of locations, both main line and branches, where the pre-group types and LMS and LNER designs genuinely worked side by side, along with BR equipment, plus some occasional exotics. And then there's that scenery. A flagship exhibition layout like 'The Gresley Beat' or 'Stoke Summit' wouldn't hurt; get permission sponsorship from the distillery and call it 'The Famous Grouse'...
  12. And then there's the DMU's. To the local speciality of Cravens class 105 patented tooth loosener, by 1970 other units had appeared on the services. Derby suburban types, BRCW things, and even some of the rare Wickham units, with class 101 showing up when the electrification of the inner sub services had begun. Compatible units ended up mixed, in an attempt to keep the clapped out stuff going until the new electrics brought the service we enjoy today. 17/2/71, no 5624
  13. It is even possible to have a steam and diesel worked train. All the photographs I have seen of such workings in the UK have the diesel inside, but I have never looked into whether this was by rule or simply coincidence. The examples come from the introduction of diesels in the UK, so the braking system would be vacuum.
  14. Thought concerning limiting the lateral movement of the axles. On the old Mainline models which had a similar set up, cementing plasticard strips to the sides of the keeper plate behind the wheels proved the easiest method, and enabled modelling of the hornblock sides into the bargain. (If you wanted the top of the hornblock, infill pieces had to be glued onto the chassis block.)
  15. Well there's a surprise, votes by what must be by now about 40 modeller types, sees a focus on 0-6-0 prototypes. But does this in any way reflect what the general market is likely to find attractive? (Make no mistake, it is 0-6-0 types I want, and even those based 300 miles from where I model are going to be purchased, because they are 'the' locomotive of the steam age railway.) But do they have the necessary appeal to attract more casual off the shelf purchases, recognising that this is what counts in making a model a commercial success. Need to work every angle here: Scottish character loco that might open a market sector; preserved (preferably working) specimens; most varied and colourful livery options, even any TTTE tie in.
  16. merely human

    1. Chrisr40

      Chrisr40

      many thanks for the tip on the speedo drive - have removed it and now have a far smoother running loco. Thanks again - Chris

    2. Alan Higgi

      Alan Higgi

      Quite a helpful human

  17. Ambidextrous, Bearded, Curious, Devious, Enlightened, Faithful, Gnostic, Helpful, Intelligent, Jocular, Kind, Libidinous, Mendacious, Nosy, Obstructive, Pompous, Querelous, Robust, Sensible, Thoughtful, Unhurried, Venomous, Willing, Xenophilic, Yahwist, Zealous. All these things and a few more besides. Be careful who you say hello to.

  18. Never underestimate simple inertia in long established businesses, 'Always done it this way lad, none of your clever clever ideas thank you'. But let me speculate, it may well relate to the installed equipment at coal gas works. I would imagine the tar was tapped off by gravity from the bottom of a condensor of some sort , (you really wouldn't want to have to pump the stuff) probably originally going into barrels or other containers standing on an open wagon floor, and this developed in time to a tank wagon with a height similar to a regular open merchandise wagon, simply to allow the vehicle to fit under the existing arrangement for tapping off the tar. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who actually fooled around with the stuff... As a parallel, why did the nationalised railway stay with the similarly archaic 16T mineral for moving coal, to the extent of building a quarter million of them? It was the fit with the coal handling infrastructure, nothing taller would fit under the majority of UK colliery loading screens, and there were serious restrictions on vehicle length due to track curvatures and a built environment that had co-evolved with little Victorian wagons.
  19. Very little movement on the sprung driven axle as supplied, on the models I have handled less then 0.5mm upward from the rail, 0 downwards. That's been pretty much the case on every Bach steam model with sprung driven axles, it is often difficult to tell which axle (if any) has a spring on it. When posting about this, I have steered clear of advising people to deepen the chassis' axle recess to increase upward travel; those that know what they are about will take care of that should a little more upward travel be desireable.
  20. I would guess at a layout of oval speaker standing vertically behind the radiator grille, decoder lying on top of motor, with whatever small chassis alterations are required to fit these components. There is a lot more room in both RTR 08s than first meets the eye. By slightly modifying the interior of the body mouldings my Bach 08s (which are packed with as much lead as possible for tractive purposes) have Lenz golds lying flat immediately under the bonnet tops. The Hornby 08 (which has not had to be weighted as it runs in a freight being delivered) easily accomodates a Lenz silver decoder behind the radiator, using the two posts that take the body securing screws to trap it in position, one of the easiest installs of any model I have tackled. The chassis casting may need to be slightly reshaped to give enough depth, but I can see this location being very suitable for the speaker.
  21. We chewed this one over on an earlier incarnation of RMweb, with several contributors reviewing the available photographic evidence. What emerged as I recall it was practically an 'anything goes' conclusion. There are good photographs with the platform in focus in the foreground showing where a white platform edge stripe has been applied, in every condition from pretty fresh to very dirty and worn. And there are equally good photographs where there is no discernable white platform edge stripe: whether worn or washed off, obscured by dirt, or never applied, who can say? Grahame's point about 'not too neat' is good one; fairly regular with dribbles down the platform face would be my attempt at a description.
  22. Unless they have changed the design of the chassis, the sprung axle should be present. But on every Bach steamer with this feature, the travel permitted is negligible. I adjust them all, slightly deepening the chassis recess or filing a bevel on the plunger shoulder if required, and filing recesses in the keeper plate to allow the axle and plunger 0.5mm or thereabouts downward travel. Then stretch the spring or install a beefier one, (depending on how much weight the loco is getting, the A1s get made up to 550g) reassemble with grease lubricant and you are done.
  23. The simple answer to differences in performance between locomotives built to the same design, is quite straightforward in principle: there is variance in every aspect of the constructional technique of any physical product, even one made using precision machine tools or vacuum deposition of dopants; and on steam locomotives which were largely hand crafted the variation can be significant. A few areas which have been proven to be highly sensitive to small differences in construction: firebox airflow through dampers, ashpans and grates, steam flow through the multiple joints in the steam circuit, airtightness of the smokebox and blast pipe and petticoat arrangement, timing and precision of valve gear setting. Much of this was done by hand work with little in the way of precision tools. A loco that happened to get a heavy dose of 'less effective' differences would end up sluggish or shy for steam compared with the norm for the class. It would be expected that the mixing of components by general overhauls would in time spread out the 'bad news' among the class; and I have seen references to locos coming back from general overhaul with not quite the 'sparkle' expected, based on their performance prior.
  24. Please people, you mustn't be posting all this green gorgeousness, or I will end up buying one for my dear wife's birthday... Should you decide to adjust it, you don't want it resting on the tender step, as then it will then lift the back of the loco, particularly on curves, with a consequent loss of traction. The fall plate representation is a separate piece of brass, and can be removed entire, and replaced by a piece of sheet 'whatever' on a cloth hinge blu-tacked to the cab floor for a genuine fall plate which will not affect traction, (nor irreversibly change the model, should that be a concern).
  25. NRM say this model is 'exclusive' to them. There will be an agreement between the NRM and Bachmann as to what is encompassed by that term, but the basic meaning is that NRM own and control use of the tooling. There is probably some provision guaranteeing production slot availability. I should imagine the agreement also precludes Bachmann from making their own tooling for the same class, for at least some period of time. A difference between this model, and the earlier DP1 'exclusive', is that CoT has not been announced (as far as I can see) as a limited volume model; which strikes me as a good move on a number of fronts. For a start the NRM can continue to issue this model (in current and potentially other liveries) in whatever numbers are required to fulfill demand, both as CoT, and as other class members if there appears to be demand for that. With an unlimited volume of CoT potentially available, provided supplies are maintained, second hand prices should be contained at or below the new price; this means the NRM should get all the resulting sales revenue from all but those addicted to the auction experience to the extent of paying more for s/h than new. It will be interesting to see how the NRM chooses to proceed...
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