2mmMark

Celebrity Little Train Brother - big name personalities have to build layouts while being filmed 24/7, advised by armchair modellers, who'll pummel them with rucksacks.

This might be of interest to those who live in the Greater London area and have a not yet Historic-qualified bike which is registered prior to the EURO 3 regulations. (July 2007) As I live in the now expanded ULEZ area, my 2002 Enfield Bullet 350 is deemed non-compliant and regarded as “highly polluting”. Fortunately, bikes have the option of being tested for compliance with the Euro 3 Nox emissions levels. There’s a motorcycle workshop (Big Jim’s Motorcycles) near me in Ealing who are planning to offer tests but they are still not ready, awaiting some more equipment. With the ULEZ deadline of 29th August looming, I booked a test at the easiest test centre to reach which is in Stevenage, 45 miles away via M4, M25 & A1M. Test day arrived on Weds 23rd August so I trailered the Bullet up to the centre. I didn’t know what to expect, so I took some tools, a spare carb, a standard silencer, some fresh fuel and a bit of oil. The Bullet has a free-flowing exhaust rather than the huge OEM torpedo and a rejetted carb with a simple mesh filter. Arriving at the centre, I unloaded the bike and it was placed in the test cell which is a rolling road. It was strapped down and various cables & sensors connected. I only managed to get a rather blurry photo as photography & filming was not strictly permitted. What seemed to be measured was engine RPM via a clip on the HT lead and obviously exhaust gas. Gary Smith at the centre explained that the test is a simulated 10 mile urban ride, following a set programme, mirroring the EURO 3 homologation test. Speeds vary up to about 50 to 55mph. Tales of bikes being revved to the redline that I’d heard are definitely not true, at least at this centre. I think this was the first Bullet they tested as I needed to show Gary how to start the bike (the regular single cylinder kickstart/valve lifter routine) and how the gears worked (RH side, 1 up, 3 down). Gary started the test and I was able to watch via a window and also see the measurements on a computer screen slaved to the one Gary was using. The test took about 20 minutes and the bike simply sounded like it was being ridden pretty much as how I ride it. At the end, Gary came out and said the bike has passed very easily. It’s the NOx level that’s measured and the Bullet measured 0.03g/km, way below the Euro 3 limit of 0.15g/km. Gary said the bike was overfuelling which I think is modern bike speak for “running rich”. This was the first time one of my bikes had been on a dyno as all my tuning is done on a vacuo-visual gluteus maximus assessment basis. It appears that lower NOx levels are gained by running slightly rich. Leaning off the mixture increases them. Now I know the bike is rich I can try dropping the needle one notch. I suspected it might be on the rich side, because the downpipe has never blued. To get this result straightaway was very pleasing. I was expecting to need to put the Bullet back to near factory configuration. None of the extra stuff I took was needed. The bike went in just exactly as I use it, no adjustments or modifications needed at all. Bear in mind that this is a bike that has its origins back in 1949, when the Bullet was first built. The test results are uploaded to TFL so after 24 hours for bureaucratic gears to grind, I got a compliant bike. Cost to me was £175 plus my time & travel. I received a certificate showing the test result. Importantly, the test is a one-off and lives with the bike for the rest of its life. It might make a good selling point but my Bullet is a very nice one, which I intend to keep. I make no comment on the rights & wrongs of ULEZ...😉 However, it does beg the question of how many other vehicles, not just motorcycles, might comply with the ULEZ requirements and are being scrapped needlessly.

If I might be so bold, can I make a plug for the Brooklands Motorcycle Day on Sunday 2nd July? https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/whats-on/motorcycle-day-2023 There'll be a good mix of ancient and modern machines, plus a chance to try your own bike on the famous Test Hill. Next year, on 17th March, we're planning a rather special event for pre-1940 machines as well as our usual motorcycle day. More details later.

Sorry to see Mr. Wolf's nice Star Twin in such a state. Fire is intensely damaging to a bike if it really takes hold. I recall the carnage at the National Motorcycle Museum when they had a serious fire. One of my Brooklands colleagues described Amal pre-monoblocs as being "moist" which is putting it mildly. Things improve when the bike is running. It makes me wonder how common fires were back in the day. The Type 4* on my 1938 Royal Enfeld S2 isn't too bad but it's taken a lot of faffing about to get to this state. I don't think modern fuels help much. They seem to be able to creep almost like penetrating fluids, even the supposedly ethanol free premium grades. *should really be a Type 74. I've got one but it needs properly restoring.

It's just greyhound feng shui.

Lounge now arranged to their satisfaction, Stanley & Nellie retire to a well-earned nap.

Look on the bright side, at least you weren't offered the swimming pool! That really would send you off the deep end.

I see the 85p one has gone! Next cheapest is £7.20, then it leaps up to £35 and £71 (from the USA)

One of the most inspiring industrial railway books ever in my view. I've had my copy for 30+ years now. There's a copy on Amazon now for £0.85 plus £2.80 postage https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002DICUP0 Somebody snap this one up!

This AI Bot should go on Mastermind, specialist topic - the bleedin' obvious.

If it was genuinely intelligent, it would offer solutions to crippling business rates and energy costs. My profession before retiring was IT, including some time spent in advanced research. AI leaves me unimpressed so far. The responses above are just basic platitudes that would apply to all retail. I'm sure it will improve with time but right now it's more A and less I.

So I'm not alone! I thought it was a bit thinner than usual. Not really a problem and if it helps with the economics of producing the magazine, I'm content with that. I'm in the habit of using the Cordex binders from Modern Bookbinders for my MRJs. I find that the "American" size binders with the 26 cord option can accomodate between 20 & 22 issues comfortably. Might now be more with the thnner paper. https://www.modernbookbinders.com/product/cordex-magazine-binder/ Mark

Paul & Simon perfectly describe what was one of the nicest shows on the exhibition calendar. It was a fixture in my diary for many years, Howard being kind enough to invite Phil Copleston & myself to show the 2mm narrow gauge flag. We'd see Howard at ExpoNG in October, he'd ask "Coming to the show?" We'd reply "yes, usual arrangements?" He'd reply in the affirmative and that was it. Just seemed to happen. No doubt some hard work went in from Howard and the team to get everything set up. RIP Howard.

"It's two bridges then 45 beats." Great bit of modelling Nigel. I can't recall seeing that done before.

The tyres on the T100 look like TT100s or the modern equivalent thereof. From memory of when I used them on my BSA A65, they had directional arrows for fitting, one direction on the rear and the opposite on the front. The idea being to optimise grip either for traction or braking. The original TT100s were distinctly triangular section and you could feel effect of this. On some bikes, they could do funny things with the handling. A lot of people fitted them to try taming the alleged wayward handing of early Japanese big fours and found the results not too good. They were standard OE fitting on the Laverda triples, which they did suit. I'd expect them to be OK for the T100 as they were originally designed, I believe, for the late 1960s production racing Triumphs. Malcolm Uphill's 100mph lap of the TT on a Bonneville being achieved on them, hence the tyre name. On the subject of tyres, it looks like Avon's days are numbered, the brand having been taken over by Cooper Tyres, who have announced closure of the the Melksham factory. That's a shame because their Roadrider tyres are excellent.

This one has potential.

My little 2mm model of the 1968 steel built staithe bears little relationship to the reality but when I was building it, photos were very scarce, I think I had maybe 3 or 4. Now they seem to be tumbling out of the woodwork quite regularly. Of course, now I know that the actual site is very bleak indeed, even in summer. Industrial Railway Record issue 187 covers the later staithe and 194 covers the earlier staithe. In summary, the earlier staithe was wood construction and indeed used end tippers. The later replacement was bottom door discharge only. The large scale OS map from 1904 available from the National Library of Scotland shows that originally there was a decent size fan of sidings and what looks like two staithes. The new staithe was officially opened in January 1969. Nice dogs Dave, greys or whippets? Mark

What you could do is model it as the exchange/reversing point for a BR/Industrial line. That way you could have both BR & industrial locos side by side. If you want some inspiration about creating a rundown look, check out the thread on Shwt. Mark

That may be true for the press but Twitter is full of real world photos of totally empty shelves across the UK. It's not a consistent picture but undoubtedly there are shortages and patchy availability. There is a potato available at Richmond Station.

Didn't someone quite well known once say "the lady's not for turnip"

Well before the current period of high prices, we went through an odd time with Octopus where they wanted to arbitarily alter our direct debit. If they had done this, we would have ended up with a huge credit and it took a few testy emails to customer service before they saw sense. Our current level of DD built up a sizeable surplus over last summer, which we've now almost used up over the winter. Doing exactly what the system is designed to do - even out the monthly bills. Quite what's going to happen in April is another matter. Octopus do seem to be one of the better run energy companies but unfortunately they've missed us out on this particular discount scheme, even though we do have an imperial gas meter. https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/news/glitch-in-energy-bills-gives-thousands-of-octopus-customers-almost-free-gas

Looking forward to the episode that features this limited edition multiple unit.

Having had a little bit of involvement in one of these documentaries, whoever's got control of the edit suite has got control of the narrative. They're not really aimed at those with deep knowledge of the subject. There were a good few howlers in the Brooklands series. What is good is that they present the subject in a fair way that respects the participants.

Probably one of those times when you know exactly what you want to say but it doesn't come out as intended. We've all been there but not often while being filmed.

There was an episode which featured the crash of a large RAF helicopter. Quite well done as I recall.