RMweb Premium Annie Posted February 15, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 15, 2018 Scrapping good clockwork mechanisms would be awful and would mark you out forever among tinplate train enthusiasts as the man who knowing and with aforethought scrapped 50 clockwork mechanisms. You would become a pariah and a target for any fanatical tinplate enthusiast with access to a shotgun and a backhoe. Perhaps I exaggerate a little, but I'm sure I can't be the only 'clocker' nut when it comes to 'O' gauge and anything you have would be highly saleable on ebay. I would love to be able to say, 'I'll take the lot,' and hand over a wedge of cash, but I'm an old lady of slender means so I can't. Hornby would be my main interest, but any you might sell would have to be cheap though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium coronach Posted February 15, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 15, 2018 Hi Annie. I have no intention of scrapping them and no doubt will get around to selling them on to someone who will appreciate them for what they are. My dad collected them intending to construct a fleet of locos, and set up a small workshop to restore /service them, fit ptfe bearings and telephone dial governors. They are all safely packed in my loft, testing the strength of the rafters - they weight a ton!! I might post some pics to ask for help in identifying them. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted February 16, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 16, 2018 Good to hear Coronach. Sad though that your Dad didn't live to carry out his dream A warning perhaps to us older ones to stop mucking around and get on with things if we what to see our plans and ideas come to fruition before we get promoted to glory. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Coronach? Might you be able to post some photos? I'm curious! C. Urious Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium coronach Posted April 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2018 Some pics: Basset lowke, Hornby, Bing, walker-fenn and meccano. Plus a box of used new springs and some old springs ... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium coronach Posted April 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 7, 2018 Some pics: Basset lowke, Hornby, Bing, walker-fenn and meccano. Plus a box of used new springs and some old springs ... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 I remember ballasting with clockwork once. When we were younger, L49 wanted to lay some track in the garden for his Mamod & we had a heavy bag of ballast. He was told by his mother that it was ok to dig a trench & lay the track, but not to destroy the grass by dragging the bag of ballast across. The answer was to fill 3-4 wagons with ballast & send them down the existing part of the line. We had no loco in steam so used a clockwork loco instead. I think it needed winding after each return trip. Ballasting had never been so much fun. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Coronach Thinking about that mega-stash of clockwork, the best way to pass it on to appreciative new owners might be by way of ‘stop the drop’ a specialist on-line auction service for old train buffs, which is notable for dealing in spares, which few others do over the Internet. You might want to contact the guy who runs it. Kevin 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium coronach Posted June 27, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 27, 2018 They make good subjects for still life.... Got my drawing back from the framers today..... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 Bit of a hot day for being proud of yourself, but you surely should be. Beautiful piece of work. Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florence Locomotive Works Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 Clockwork or spring drive could, with a massive amount of effort and expense, come back as viable source of power for Gauge 1 or gauge 3 garden lines. @Nearholmer mentioned earlier a modern clockwork engine. This engine used 3-5 coil springs mounted lengthwise along the engine providing an exceptional amount of power. However it was so powerful that it could not be wound by hand and one had to use a specially modified electric drill with revolution counter to wind the engine, (which I believe was a BR livery LSWR M7). This system would probably be the only viable form of clockwork power in the modern world, as the old style of clock type spring simply doesn't have the needed high energy to low density ratio that electricity or even live steam can supply. That being said, it is entirely possible that you could modify a old o gauge Bing or BL mechanism with PTF bearings and a gramophone governor to enable a scale speed and longer run time. Or you could even fit a different type of custom made mainspring which would have different characteristics than the standard spring. This is of course talking about O gauge. In gauge 1 it might be even more practical to have a governed mech, as I have seen videos of a G1 Bing for BL Gresey N2 running for several hundred feet on a full wind, so with a governor and proper bearings think you might start edging near 1000 feet at scale speed. Those are the thoughts of a apprenticed horologist on the subject. Douglas 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKPR Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 (edited) There were a few articles in MRN in the 1960s -early 1970s on clockwork power and control in 'O' gauge, most of them being written by an Irish modeller, Drew Donaldson. He not only described the mechanics of fitting clockwork mechs into the smaller prototypes, 4-4-0s and the like, but also set out how to use governed clockwork power to run to a timetable. From what I recall from memory*, he designed his layout, a continuous run with a multi-purpose terminus that could be Dublin, Cork, etc , around the running time of the mechanisms used - in effect, one 'fuelled' by the requisite number of key turns and then let the train set off and obeyed the signals until the end of the journey. * I'm being very lazy as the relevant volumes are in the next room... Edited August 9, 2021 by CKPR 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted August 9, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 9, 2021 (edited) 14 hours ago, CKPR said: There were a few articles in MRN in the 1960s -early 1970s on clockwork power and control in 'O' gauge, most of them being written by an Irish modeller Drew Donaldson. He not only described the mechanics of fitting clockwork mechs into the smaller prototypes, 4-4-0s and the like, but also set out how to use governed clockwork power to run to a timetable. From what I recall from memory*, he designed his layout, a continuous run with a multi-purpose terminus that could be Dublin, Cork, etc , around the running time of the mechanisms used - in effect, one 'fuelled' by the requisite number of key turns and then let the train set off and obeyed the signals until the end of the journey. * I'm being very lazy as the relevant volumes are in the next room... There was a few articles on the 'Teleguv' which used a rotary phone dial. Given that these have disappeared too, how would you modify a push button phone? I should add, there is a bit of background info on the Teleguv in MRC 1972 May. Edited August 9, 2021 by kevinlms More info 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted August 10, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 10, 2021 On 09/08/2021 at 03:09, CKPR said: There were a few articles in MRN in the 1960s -early 1970s on clockwork power and control in 'O' gauge, most of them being written by an Irish modeller, Drew Donaldson. He not only described the mechanics of fitting clockwork mechs into the smaller prototypes, 4-4-0s and the like, but also set out how to use governed clockwork power to run to a timetable. From what I recall from memory*, he designed his layout, a continuous run with a multi-purpose terminus that could be Dublin, Cork, etc , around the running time of the mechanisms used - in effect, one 'fuelled' by the requisite number of key turns and then let the train set off and obeyed the signals until the end of the journey. * I'm being very lazy as the relevant volumes are in the next room... An 'A. Donaldson' wrote an article on building a CIE loco in MRC 1973 December. I assume that's the same person? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKPR Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 Yes, that's the chap - I think he was (An)Drew Donaldson 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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