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gordon s

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Posts posted by gordon s

    Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

    in Layout topics

    Posted · Edited by gordon s

    Thanks Andy. Sadly Marc Models have now ceased trading, so the chances of getting another Quad Art set is zero unless some pop up on the 2nd hand market. I couldn’t recall seeing the 51’ coaches around KX, yet they were familiar, so probably saw them at Liverpool Street.

     

    Spent the morning packing up around 40 loco’s that were spread around ET. It was fun playing trains, but in some respects it stopped any progress as I didn’t want to lift up track sections to fit the new crossovers and double slip. Now they are packed away, I will get stuck into rebuilding the main stairwell board and then drop in the additional turnouts. Probably a month or two away as lifting anything will be off limits until everything heals up.

     

    Onward and upward...

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    Locomotive storage boxes with no handling

    in Modelling Questions, Help and Tips

    Posted

    I agree in sliding off the lift, but it was more when the box is being moved around with a full complement of locos. From memory the loco lift track sections are low profile and it wouldn't take much for them to slip off sideways and crash into each other if the storage box moves moves away from the horizontal position. I bit like carrying a tray with a dozen cups of tea full to the brim without spilling anything.

     

    As I said, I'm sure the OP has it covered.

    • Like 1

    Locomotive storage boxes with no handling

    in Modelling Questions, Help and Tips

    Posted

    I like the idea of using Peco lifts as I have a couple laying around when I was experimenting with a loco cassette system. The only thing I'm not sure of is I can't see anything actually holding the locos in place within the loco lifts. Are you counting on lifting it square and level or is there something holding the loco onto the lift track?

     

    I'd shudder to think of tripping on something that's sufficient to throw the locos off the track itself and they all cascade into each other.

     

    I'm sure you have it covered.

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    Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

    in Layout topics

    Posted · Edited by gordon s

    You're a star Barry.....It was on the top shelf of my glass case with my US loco's. Once you mentioned the Standard 4, I suddenly had visions of it being there.

     

    Rule 1 is really going to apply now. N2 69572 based at KX. Same as the others with a Comet chassis, motor and gearbox.

     

    DSCF1749.jpg.a0c8b137b33d2f3d26378b553c316394.jpg

     

    ....and just to make sure it isn't left out, the Standard Class 4. I know little about this as it came from a local model shop. It has a Portescap motor and I assume was kit built by builder unknown. Fairly sure the sale card said it was painted by Larry Goddard but a) it doesn't have his signature that I believe he adds to his loco's and b) he didn't recall it when I sent him a pic, so that's one fact out of the window.....:D

     

    I must have imagined it......

     

    Fact 2 was Baz added the tender pickups for me. That's bit is true.....

     

    It still needs some magic touches, in terms of running quality, but I'll deal with it in a few months time.

     

    This loco will need Rule 1, 2 & 3 as it appears to have only been shedded at Motherwell. Perhaps the driver and Fireman fancied a day out south of the border.....

     

    170776518_DSCF1751(1).jpg.66f973933add98c27a06f2931bff3bfd.jpg

     

    I wonder what tomorrow holds in store....

    • Like 20

    Can’t get a motorbike to start, advice needed!

    in Wheeltappers

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, big jim said:

    I suppose if I didn’t turn the fuel tap off it could have flooded it then? 
     

    I’ll pop and take the plug out and have a look in a sec 

     

    Flooding would have happened by continually trying to start it and the plug getting wet. The more you try, the wetter it will become. Take out the plug and turn over the engine on the electric or kick start to remove any fuel vapour in the cylinder. Dry the plug and clean it. Replace and go through the normal start procedure. With any luck it will fire again. More often than not, people flood engines by over cooling or just continuing to pump fuel in when it's nor firing.

    Wright writes.....

    in Modelling musings & miscellany

    Posted

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I loved the Coffee Pots as I grew up surrounded by them at Hornby and Kings Cross. They  had a charm of their own......

     

    I saw the Standard 5 with Caprotti Valve Gear listed earlier. Pure coincidence as I was cataloging stock a day or two ago. A DJH kit built by Graham Varley and sat in a box for years, but soon to have a decoder added and the wheels will turn once more....

     

    DSCF1706.jpg.cb9fa5100799776ac86d3ac50160c11f.jpg

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    Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

    in Layout topics

    Posted · Edited by gordon s

    Afternoon all.....

     

    Had my Covid test this morning, so now all set....;)

     

    Just to show life isn't all beer and skittles and large Pacific loco's, here are a few of the more mundane loco's and coaches I grew up with in North London. N2's and L1's were a way of life to a young trainspotter, consequently they had to be included one way or the other. Rule 1 was specifically designed for this eventuality and you'll see why.

     

    Late 50's and Palmers Green was well served by N2's and Quad Arts, mostly double sets for the rush hour trip to KX for all the city workers. Trains were packed and every compartment had its share of smokers. Pipes and cigarettes in those days....No wonder passive smoking became an issue years later.

     

    Hornby introduced a new N2 in the early 2000's (my receipt is dated 2003) and Graham converted three of them for me with Comet chassis, DS10 motors, flywheel and gearboxes along with new wheels. Managed to find two this morning, so the third must be around somewhere.

     

    The four coach Quad set was from Marc Models and is cleverly articulated with press studs. 

     

    I guess they would have disappeared by the early 60's. 69522 was based at Hornsey, so Rule 1 will have to apply when it appears on ET suburban traffic.

     

    DSCF1743.jpg.4f5bf2be1215d218fd1beb357f211e55.jpg

     

    DSCF1744.jpg.2802954e01ae6d71200aced774ebb008.jpg

     

    I seem to have a wonky toplight. Photography certainly pulls up the things you don't normally see.

     

    The next N2 is 69506 from KX, so I probably was pulled by both of them many years ago.

     

    DSCF1739.jpg.ce6bf67174ee2469bc01b37e64f1cc2d.jpg

     

    DSCF1741.jpg.2d4f3677e50dee4f0bb8671d8ebd5420.jpg

     

     

    Here it is with three LNER 51' coaches from Kirk Kits. Bogies are from Comet and MJT supplied under frame components. Here I'll plead ignorance as I knew little about these coaches at the time (2003) in terms of where they ran and what time period. I'm guessing from the panelling etc they were a Gresley design, so please feel free to fill in the history.

     

    And so the years roll by. The Quads had gone and along came diesels for the Hertford North and Hatfield suburban traffic. Of course as a youngster you plonked yourself in the front seat behind the driver and sat wide eyed with a drivers view of the track ahead. I still recall the Acme Brush Company on the left as you approached KX. Of course all long gone and under the Millennium Stadium I suspect.

     

    DSCF1747.jpg.8103c289b5713d7c7049748b2a8b94c2.jpg

     

    This is another kit built version which clearly pre dates the Bachmann version. Runs smoothly with a similar noise to a Cravens unit even without a sound decoder.

     

    I hope you enjoyed the meanderings around North London....;)

    • Like 25

    Fiddle Yard OO Gauge

    in Layout & Track Design

    Posted

    48 minutes ago, ISW said:

    You can probably push this to 1 in 42 with newer all-wheel driven diesel locomotives on ~8-coaches. From my experience with 1 in 42 & 1 in 48 gradients, older diesels (think Airfix & Triang-Hornby or any with rubber tyres) you will be down to 5 or 6 coaches at best.

     

    So, aiming at 1 in 50 is a good idea, but with the potential to squeeze that down to 1 in 45 if it's necessary.

     

    Ian

     

    Unfortunately at 1:45 the saving is fairly minimal. It comes down from 65' to 58', so you are still looking at complete circuit around the room as a minimum. Even at 1:42 it will be 55'.........

     

    Reducing the board spacing is not really an option as you simply move the problem to one of access rather than gradient.

     

    Overall, no reason why it can't be done, but further thought is required.

     

    A helix at 1:50 with a 75mm spacing will need to be approximately 1200mm diameter and would need 5-6 complete turns.

     

    Fiddle Yard OO Gauge

    in Layout & Track Design

    Posted · Edited by gordon s

    Has anyone consider the gradient and the length of any ramp between the two sections? Unless things have changed the separation between the two levels was 400mm and at a gradient of 1:50, which is the minimum I would consider for full length trains and diesel locomotives, you will need a run of 20m or around 65’........

     

    Original versions of ET had a similar set up, but I had to run the ramp at least twice around the room to join the two levels with similar separation.


    .....and I would still be concerned about access to the top right storage roads under the top board.

     

    • Agree 1

    Camden Shed

    in Layout topics

    Posted · Edited by gordon s

    .......and to think you could have saved all that wiring by going DCC.........:D

     

    It all looks very neat and tidy though.....;)

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    Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

    in Layout topics

    Posted

    Well I've had my Lyons Fruit Pie and a Jubbly, so fed and watered to see what comes through this afternoon....

     

    Probably the most famous train in the world. I have used the word 'train' and not 'loco' deliberately, as to someone in their 70's who spent a lot of time at KX, it was the non stop train that got the publicity and now it's switched over to the loco, mainly because of the renovation and media channels which weren't there in the late 50's. The cleaners at the 'Cross have had a field day and the clean paintwork even gave my camera a problem with lens flare on the tender....

     

    Two more DJH's with Comet Valve Gear and NS wheels. I nearly burst into song as ' it was 20 years ago today' when these arrived (well almost: May 2001)

     

    Of the two, I have always had a soft spot for the addition of German smoke deflectors, so 60077, The White Knight is my favourite of the two. Shed plate is 56C, which will please Baz, as it's Leeds, Copley Hill which would place it as 1961.

     

    If ever there was a need to get ET finished, the last few days sum it up and I want to see these run. Apart from a chug up and down the dining room table on 6' of track 20 years ago they have yet to turn a wheel in anger. I had no idea it was going to take so long, but before anyone chips in, yes, it was all self imposed....:D

     

    DSCF1724.jpg.fe23d8bb56cbc83af346fd63335260bd.jpg

     

    DSCF1728.jpg.60cd33596a9d3d795f2ee10daca2631f.jpg

    • Like 22
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