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Graham R

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  1. After a bit more thought … also small amounts of construction materials inwards - tar in barrels or later in drums,, cement, corrugated iron, drainage pipes, fence posts and wire; and wool out. But a few wagons a year, not every week. Or that traffic might have gone by sea as well, if it cost less.
  2. I think the answer is “very little”. The land is poor and mostly crofted, and was energetically cleared by Lord Cranstoun in the mid-19th century before the railway was built (district population in 1880 1100; now 300) so there would be little in the way of inbound agricultural traffic. There was a small smithy at Arisaig but coal and iron most likely came from Glasgow by sea, as it did for most small communities along the west coast. Domestic fuel would mostly be locally-won peat and timber rather than coal. Fish was landed at Mallaig, not Arisaig, where the sea approach was narrow with many reefs and shoals according to a 1930s yachting guide. There was a “big house” built by Lord C which the Army used as a training centre in the second World War. That might have created extra inward traffic for food, ammunition and other equipment but it handled special operations rather than squaddies so I would guess not much. Outward traffic would be sheep, and possibly some commercial timber from the 1950s onwards. Arisaig booked traffic from the public siding at Beasdale further south. The depopulated, but extensive, hinterland of Ardnamurchan was booked through Glenfinnan Station and then by steamer down Loch Shiel for destinations as far as Acharacle, or else by steamer from Mallaig to the Small Isles and places like Kilchoan, according to the 1921 NBR stations list. Hope that helps. Rule 1 applies of course! regards Graham
  3. Have you tried asking Anycubic customer service? They might have come across the issue before.
  4. I have not had any problems using the Anycubic slicer. When you load an .stl file, if its orientation is outside the print envelope, the slicer asks if you want to scale the stl to fit. You should rather rotate/move the stl into the print envelope (the model colour changes on parts outside the envelope). A bit unlikely but is it possible you’re simply clicking “scale” when loading? Graham
  5. The 2mmSA Forth and Clyde Area Group manned the Further North roadshow at a very busy Glasgow show this weekend. We opted not to bring Mearns Shed due to space issues. Jim Watt and Simon Hadwin are doing the explaining here; Martin Macintosh also happily kept visitors abreast of his weathering techniques.
  6. I tried one of the 16W terrarium pads last winter, outside the printer body but inside an insulation-board shroud I made. The pad made a 4-5 degree difference after an hour or two but was not really man enough for overnight prints in Scottish winters (maybe I should have put it inside the printer). For this winter, I bought a cheap 30W fermentation belt of the type found on Ebay for under nine quid. I would have been better to get one with proper cable and a thermostat instead of the rubber-coated ‘elf an safetee nightmare which turned up. You get what you pay for of course. As steveM666 says, they are also much too long and inflexible to fit snugly round the resin tank. They would also be way overpowered for that without a thermostat: 30W of heat is a lot, and I think the resin would get too hot. That said, I simply coil it loosely around the bottom of the printer inside the shroud, shut the lid, and it is very effective and fast at warming things up until the print gets going. Sometimes a lossy system is easier/faster/cheaper/good enough … Graham
  7. Campbell Cornwell’s book on the class (published by the Caledonian Railway Association) states that “the springs were underhung for ease of access”. He does not elaborate on why that was so, but compared to the later tender design with springs above the axleboxes fitting under the tender tank framing, perhaps they were easier to remove. The Stroudley-style tender had oil axleboxes from the outset, not grease. regards Graham
  8. The 2mmSA Further North roadshow attended Model Rail Scotland last weekend: The apres-ski in the Bon Accord bar on Saturday included 2mm modellers from southern climes - John Aldrick from Leeds and Peter Kirmond from Gloucester who were in town to operate Peter's O scale "Laramie" roundhouse layout, where the locos are longer than some 2mm layouts. Simon, Alisdair, Martin, Richard and Jim from the Forth and Clyde group were there to listen and learn, in particular that it's important that drivers know where the brake is as well as the regulator on a layout with a turntable pit. Regards Graham
  9. Hi Ian To eliminate (or at least control for) another uncertainty, spend three quid on a digital thermometer (search on eBay or elsewhere for something like “LCD Digital Fridge Freezer Thermometer Temperature Gauge”), put the probe in external contact with the resin tank, lead the display outside the printer cover, and check what temperature you are actually printing with each time. I have been printing successfully with an Anycubic Mono SE in a cellar as low as 8 centigrade: I use a crude insulating-board enclosure and a vivarium heater pad to get the starting temperature up to 16 or so and once printing starts it runs at 23-25 since the process releases heat. If refilling from the resin bottle, put it on a radiator first to warm up. I’ve had very few failures. I can understand your frustration since, at first, nothing printed at all. Anycubic diagnosed faulty firmware and guided me through a field upgrade which solved the issue. I do wonder whether you have some sort of intermittent problem with exposure. I don’t know Elegoo or their field support but have you tried asking them for advice? Anyway keep going, you will solve it, you are not doing anything fundamentally wrong. cheers Graham
  10. Hi Richard, Caley signalbox architecture is a little more complicated than simply “Northern Division” or “Southern Division” from the Perth and Glasgow design offices respectively (the territory was split between Caslecary and Greenhill). There were broadly four styles of Southern, and three Northern design, mostly in brick where the ground was firm, and in timber when on made-up ground such as embankments which required a lighter structure. But there were many exceptions. Jim Summers’ excellent Caley Signalling book has several drawings and many photographs but he has not attempted to provide drawings for all styles. He notes that the Ballachulish branch boxes (though in the Northern division) used a simplified version of the Southern S4 timber design, “which omitted the brackets under the roof eaves. Like those on the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway, they had high roofs, and, indeed, had an outsized appearance especially when positioned alongside the station building … probably to give the signalman a view over the station verandah”. So the Ballachulish branch boxes are not your typical Caley box, for all that they are recognisably from that railway. If you nevertheless seek a drawing, plate 289 of the OPC “The Signal Box - a pictorial history and guide to designs” is an original drawing of an S4 timber design (albeit for an example 25 years earlier, at Rutherglen Loan Junction). I can’t quickly find an example of a typical Northern Division brick style drawing - they were much simpler in design than the Southern division boxes - so here is a dimensioned sketch of the N1 (pre-1890s) style box at Glamis on the Strathmore route. I measured the dimensions on site in 2000 but had to estimate the roof pitch so that bit may be require checking. I’m not sure if the box is still there, it was in poor condition when I measured it up. I have detailed photos somewhere. And here is the adjacent sleeper-built privy: If you want better drawings, the best thing to do is to ask Jim (“archivist at crassoc.org.uk)” or John Paton (via “journal at crassoc.org.uk”) if they can help. The Caledonian Railway Association lists a number of standard designs in their drawings archive. John is an authority on the Ballachulish branch and has published articles on its station architecture (although none include signalbox drawings). The late Jim Macintosh made a 7mm model of Ballachulish (described here) and the drawing on which he based the signalbox model may be with his personal papers which passed to the CRA. Jim Summers will know. Hope that is helpful and good luck with finding drawings for the pop-up project. regards Graham
  11. After studying GWM Sewell's "NBR Wagons - Some Design Aspects" and Peter Tatlow's "LNER wagons Volume 3", I gather that there were two designs of 8T mineral wagons in Jubilee years: the first, to NB diagram 1, drawing 154W in the year of Victoria's Golden Jubilee, had dumb buffers, a length of 14'6" on a 7'6" wheelbase, and non-adjustable, single-shoe, single side brakes; the second, to NB diagram 26, LNE SSE diagram 16B, drawing 222W in the year of the Diamond Jubilee, had sprung buffers, a length of 15'0" on an 8'6" wheelbase, and adjustable single-shoe brakes on both sides working independently. Both designs had one end door and side drop doors (3'4" on diagram 1, 3'11" on diagram 16B) below a continuous top plank. The diagram 1 wagons were fitted with adjustable brakes in 1895, still on one side only. "Adjustable" meant that, instead of an L-shape brake lever with fulcrum at the same scroll iron as the spring with a shoe on the short leg of the L bearing directly on the wheel, the L had a separate fulcrum below the side door. The brake shoe was suspended at its top by a hanger from the spring scroll iron and a short rod from its mid-point linked it to the short leg of the L, with adjustment holes to take up wear. I think the illustration on page 44 of the Hooper book shows a wagon in this state (this is not the same photo as posted above). Many of these wagons were upgraded with sprung buffers. The diagram 26 wagons were given modified chassis in 1902 (the buffer springs were moved) and were uprated to 10T without further modifications in 1908. Many Jubilee wagons were reconstructed in 1916 as 10T wagons, re-using ironwork such as wheels, axles, springs and W irons, but requiring different (No. 5) axleboxes due to reduced clearances from their longer, narrower bodies. Drawing 1051W shows that external diagonal strapping was added from the base of the centre doors to the top rail at each end. They had shorter buffer sockets and buffer-beams packed out with wood and iron to compensate. The reconstructed wagons had two-shoe brake gear on both sides working independently. The author of "Highland Miscellany" mentioned by James37LG is of course the son of the author of LNER Wagons Vol 3 ... one would expect he'd be pulled up pretty sharpish if he didn't get the details right. The Tatlow book has many very helpful photos of both designs in NB and LNE days but all have brakes on both sides so they do not answer the question of whether the brake handle pointed towards the end doors on the single sided wagons. The Sewell book does not have a drawing of the diagram 1 wagon, but it does have a drawing of an earlier wagon design with one-side one-shoe non-adjustable brakes, and the braked wheel is next the end door, the brake handle pointing to the other end. regards Graham
  12. Also of interest at Model Rail Scotland was Nigel Cliffe's remote-control motorised bus (the bodyshell is a Leyland Atlantean I believe, from Graham Eason's Vintage Miniature Models range), which made an appearance on the 2mmSA stand but which I omitted to photograph. However a visitor to the show has very helpfully included it on his Youtube video record, starting here. (You may need to sit through a few seconds of cat food advertisment or similar, but don't despair). I will leave Nigel himself to explain why he went undercover for this demo (wearing his Scalefour East of Scotland group disguise and demo'ing the bus on the NGS stand).
  13. The Far North roadshow was the only 2mm Finescale presence at Model Rail Scotland this year: Jim Watt has some of his recent Caledonian models to show off and we saw quite a few old friends, including several from the North East area group. It's nice to be back at a show. Jim's Jubilee pug 417 class 2-4-0 in its latest state: bioler fittings are coming shortly Bogie van from a John Boyle etch
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