Bethesda Sidings - Western Region in rural Mid-Wales

[Captain Kernow]

A few months ago, when I was testing some of the locos that I plan to use on Bethesda Sidings, I found that my Bachmann 08, which had previously been a lovely, slow runner, had developed a pronounced tight spot and 'limp'.

 

The loco had essentially been sitting in it's box for a few years since my last exhibition. Initial investigations failed to reveal the source of the problem and I reluctantly put it away again.

 

I have been having a more thorough look in the last couple of weeks and finally spotted that one of the plastic outside cranks, on the rear (driven) axle had split, where the crankpin is attached.

 

The plastic crank was quite oily and I didn't fancy trying a repair on it, so I ended up ordering a complete replacement wheelset, with rods attached, from the Bachmann spares department. When on the phone, I asked if the design of the 08 chassis had changed over the years (mine is a relatively early model) and was assured that it hadn't.

 

The new wheelset arrived pretty quickly and I went to install it this afternoon.

 

I was rather irritated, to say the least, to find that it would only fit, with the rods upside down:

 

I couldn't put them in the other way up (even though the axle centres are the same between all three axles), because the drive gear is off-set and the gear in the new wheelset was off-set on the opposite side from my original one.

 

I concluded that either the wheelset I had been sent had been assembled incorrectly or the chassis design had changed after all.

 

After a bit more faffing about, I realised that I could remove the new driven axle, with it's new outside cranks and substitute it for the original driven axle.

 

I was able to remove the Bachmann crankpins OK and when assembled, the whole thing then ran sweetly again:

 

You may notice that I hadn't finished painting the dark rust colour on the check and wing rails, this is now done.

 

Also, a bit of footage:

 

 

[teaky]

Since you have now fixed the 08 this may be too late but just in case ...

 

I bookmarked the following link some time (years?) ago when it was put forward as a solution for split gears on Mainline J72s.

 

http://www.hafixs.co.uk/products/profglue/

 

I haven't tried it (yet).

 

[Captain Kernow]

6 minutes ago, teaky said:

Since you have now fixed the 08 this may be too late but just in case ...

 

I bookmarked the following link some time (years?) ago when it was put forward as a solution for split gears on Mainline J72s.

 

http://www.hafixs.co.uk/products/profglue/

 

I haven't tried it (yet).

 

Ah yes, I used to have some of that, bought it from the Hafixs stand at Ally Pally one year. Very good glue, in fact and would happily get some more sometime. Thanks for the link.

 

[Captain Kernow]

Also on the workbench, work continues on the conversion of a Bachmann 64XX to a 74XX:

 

[bgman]

Definitely worth the effort on the 08 and nice to see your hard work in the video, well done matey !

[Pannier Tank]

18 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Also on the workbench, work continues on the conversion of a Bachmann 64XX to a 74XX:

 

I'll be following this conversion with interest as I have a Bachmann Body waiting for conversion to 7408.

[Captain Kernow]

I've made a start on the removable cover for the layout. This will take the form of a framework of 20mm x 20mm timber, covered with clear plastic sheeting and anchored to the three sides of the backscene support and the front of the fascia:

 

And just for St Enodoc, who was becoming concerned at the apparent lack of traffic in the yard:

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Captain Kernow
Correcting size of timber used.

[Siberian Snooper]

CK, is the 2mm x 2mm figures correct, 5/64 in real money or in this case inches.

 

 

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, Siberian Snooper said:

CK, is the 2mm x 2mm figures correct, 5/64 in real money or in this case inches.

Sorry, doh! moment, I blame the vegetarian sausages - the timber is 20mm x 20mm (ie. 1" by 1" in old money).

 

I'll amend the original post.

 

[Captain Kernow]

More heavy rain here today, but at least it's an opportunity to progress work with the layout covers.

 

[Siberian Snooper]

It's been mostly dry here, on the edge of civilisation.

 

 

 

[Killybegs]

After the wettest February on record in Donegal (3 x the normal average for the month) we have had two days of sunshine. I suppose I can't take the credit for bringing the fine weather back from New Zealand but we did pick the right month to go away.

[Captain Kernow]

A bit more progress.

 

I'll reinforce the glued joints with screws when the glue is fully set and will then fit the clear plastic cover.

 

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

To the right of Bethesda Sidings, you can make out the two boards of Callow Lane, which have the same type of covers.

 

[Neil]

It looks like both layouts are fully protected from the corona virus. Could you knock me up a 6'4" tall one with castors on the bottom and arm holes please?

[MPR]

10 minutes ago, Neil said:

It looks like both layouts are fully protected from the corona virus. Could you knock me up a 6'4" tall one with castors on the bottom and arm holes please?

I have always thought that the good captain’s modelling skills were not to be sneezed at.

[Captain Kernow]

The layout cover is more or less complete:

[Captain Kernow]

Now that the layout itself is virtually complete (apart from some work on the fiddle yard), I've been doing a bit more on the 74XX conversion this afternoon.

 

Thoughts then turned to giving the chassis another test run on the layout and I found it to be unsatisfactory. It's not really smooth enough at slow speed for my liking and doesn't like the A5 crossover (which is OO-SF), as not all the Bachmann wheels are touching the rail and it sometimes stalls.

 

Such unreliability isn't acceptable and I know that a compensated chassis would work properly, so I've made the decision to order a High Level chassis kit for it and will probably make building it a priority, together with the whitemetal 16XX kit.

 

This is now the fourth RTR loco for this layout, where the RTR chassis has failed to live up to expectations and has to be replaced by an etched, compensated example (the others being two Hattons/DJM 14XXs and the Oxford Dean Goods).

 

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Captain Kernow

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Now that the layout itself is virtually complete (apart from some work on the fiddle yard), I've been doing a bit more on the 74XX conversion this afternoon.

 

Thoughts then turned to giving the chassis another test run on the layout and I found it to be unsatisfactory. It's not really smooth enough at slow speed for my liking and doesn't like the A5 crossover (which is OO-SF), as not all the Bachmann wheels are touching the rail and it sometimes stalls.

 

Such unreliability isn't acceptable and I know that a compensated chassis would work properly, so I've made the decision to order a High Level chassis kit for it and will probably make building it a priority, together with the whitemetal 16XX kit.

 

This is now the fourth RTR loco for this layout, where the RTR chassis has failed to live up to expectations and has to be replaced by an etched, compensated example (the others being two Hattons/DJM 14XXs and the Oxford Dean Goods).

 

 

I've had some intermittent, random, stalling with my 7446 lately. I haven't yet opened it up to investigate. As and when I do I'll report back.

[Captain Kernow]

On 08/03/2020 at 16:52, Captain Kernow said:

I've made the decision to order a High Level chassis kit for it

My thanks to Chris at High Level and Andrew at Wizard Models, as the chassis and wheels for the 74XX arrived yesterday and I hope to make a start soon.

 

[NHY 581]

All a tad Panniertastic. 

 

Nice...

Edited March 12, 2020 by NHY 581

[Captain Kernow]

I have now started to build the High Level chassis for the 74XX. Early days yet and no photos so far, but the bits that I have soldered yesterday went together really well.

 

In the meantime, here's a photo of Peckett 'Plantagenet' resting at Bethesda yard, having worked down the light railway from Llanddewi:

 

Due to the gradients up the light railway from Capel Bethesda, all locos operate with the chimney 'facing north'.

 

[Captain Kernow]

Some progress with the High Level 74XX chassis:

 

[Captain Kernow]

No photos yet but I assembled the hornblocks yesterday and fitted them today. There was no compensation fitted and the wheels were running with the bearings right up on the hornblocks, but the chassis appeared to run nice and smoothly, which was a big relief.

 

[Captain Kernow]

The hills behind Plantagenet give some idea of the gradients all locos working back up the light railway face, when they leave Bethesda yard: