Nether Madder and Green Soudley Rly

[Nearholmer]

Martin

 

just been reading the review of the new Bachmann NER 0-6-0T in Railway Modeller. Noting it’s weight (177g) and the results of haulage tests (eight pullmans up 1:48 on 3ft radius), I thaought of the NM&GS.

 

I reckon that a home-made transfer patch, matching the original green, but carrying your railway’s initials, plus similar to cover the cab side number plates, would give you a good and plausible modern loco for your line ....... it isn’t a million miles from some of the Dean Forest locos, going by memory.

 

No need for magnadesion.

 

Kevin

[Martin S-C]

That sounds like a simply immense load. I honestly find such figures hard to believe given my experiences though knowing the weight of that train would be helpful. Perhaps the Pullmans aren't that heavy. My Hornby Peckett B2 weighing 180 gm can haul 590 gm up a 1:55 on a mainly straight run.

I have finished applying the magnets to the Beattie WT and I also glued down the steel plates under the track. I had originally just slid them under it loose and while some were held down tight, some weren't and as the loco went over, I saw these were shifting. I think this made the magnetism less efficient which may be why I saw anomalous results yesterday.

The second biggie I found was that a magnet placed under the leading undriven axle increased load haulage quite a bit, oddly enough. I am not sure why this would be but perhaps holding down the front of the loco also pulled down the middle of it and gave the leading driven axle more grip. Without magnets the 100 gm loco slipped with a 225 gm load. With the extra magnet and the steel plates glued down it hauls 6 loaded coal wagons plus brake so about 315 gms and that is plenty for a branch line train so I'm happy with that.

The Hornby J15 (weight 235 gm) had plenty of ground clearance below the body for 2 of the thicker DCC Concepts magnets and this loco is happy hauling over 650 gm up the 1:32 on a 4ft radius. That's 12 wagons plus brake. Plus the tender which I left out of the calculation. I also found that extending the steel plates about 2/3rds of the train length beyond the top of the gradient helped, which is pretty obvious if you stop to think about it.

Right now though a bigger problem is the swelling of the baseboards again due to damp as this infernal wet weather goes on and on. This has affected the baseboard/rail joins. This is a never ending problem...

[Nearholmer]

Is it the lifting-flap bits that are causing trouble in the damp weather? Can we see a close-up photo of the offending interface(s)?

 

On this load-hauling business, it is a real bind that there isn't a standardised haulage-capacity test for model locos, but at least the Railway modeller consistently cites how many Pullman cars (of unspecified weight and rolling resistance, admittedly) each model that it reviews will shift over that particular grade and curve on that particular layout, which allows semi-meaningful comparison.

 

Of course, a properly standardised test would involve maths and a spring balance (of electronic equivalent), and only about three people in the world seem to like such things: a chap who writes articles about them in RM, the late Mr H Greenly, who was calling for it in 1910, and myself. So, it ain't gonna happen, I guess.

[St Enodoc]

7 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Is it the lifting-flap bits that are causing trouble in the damp weather? Can we see a close-up photo of the offending interface(s)?

 

On this load-hauling business, it is a real bind that there isn't a standardised haulage-capacity test for model locos, but at least the Railway modeller consistently cites how many Pullman cars (of unspecified weight and rolling resistance, admittedly) each model that it reviews will shift over that particular grade and curve on that particular layout, which allows semi-meaningful comparison.

 

Of course, a properly standardised test would involve maths and a spring balance (of electronic equivalent), and only about three people in the world seem to like such things: a chap who writes articles about them in RM, the late Mr H Greenly, who was calling for it in 1910, and myself. So, it ain't gonna happen, I guess. 

I seem to recall that the Scalefour Society used to run a haulage competition (The Chairman's Cup?). Someone here might remember the parameters for that.

 

The MRC used to test locos against a spring balance, which wasn't much help in absolute terms but was a useful comparator.

 

Separately, in 1963 Jack Newton described in the MRN his formula for weighting 00 locos - one ounce per 3 tons of adhesive weight on the prototype. That's quite a lot of weight but I try to get somewhere near 5t/oz if I can.

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

one ounce per 3 tons of adhesive weight on the prototype. That's quite a lot of weight but I try to get somewhere near 5t/oz if I can.

One per 3 tons is reasonable, but 5 tons (model) per ounce (prototype) seems somewhat excessive... ...and what on Earth are your baseboards made of?

[St Enodoc]

13 minutes ago, Regularity said:

One per 3 tons is reasonable, but 5 tons (model) per ounce (prototype) seems somewhat excessive... ...and what on Earth are your baseboards made of?

Unobtainium.

[Martin S-C]

A gift to myself this weekend in compensation for my missed trip to France

 

 

It seems No.34 spent the years 1908-1921 on the Longmoor railway. In my universe the Longmoor will sell it to the NMR in 1917 to assist in moving military stores in the Forest region and it will wear the company's usual yellow ochre livery.

[chuffinghell]

Hope you're feeling better Martin

[Martin S-C]

Getting there slowly, Chris, thanks for asking. The last two nights I've finally had a decent unbroken sleep.

[Caley Jim]

3 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

Getting there slowly, Chris, thanks for asking. The last two nights I've finally had a decent unbroken sleep.

Can I suggest that if you haven't already done so you peruse the latest MRJ.  I read it today on the train back from the Aberdeen show (for my reason for being there see here ).  A somewhat philosophical issue, but none the worse for that as the excellent editorial and a couple of the articles deal with how the hobby can help those who suffer from the 'black dog'.

 

Jim

[Martin S-C]

My low mood phase is well over, Jim. This is the nasty cold/cough that's plaguing me now! That too is over the worst now.

[Regularity]

5 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

The last two nights I've finally had a decent unbroken sleep.

 

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

Can I suggest that if you haven't already done so you peruse the latest MRJ.

That could so easily be misinterpreted!

[Martin S-C]

I must be still under the weather - my sense of sarcasm wasn't alert enough to spot the humorous link.

[Regularity]

Well, the great thing about RMWeb is, even if one misses an opportunity like that, someone else will spot it.

[Annie]

7 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

A gift to myself this weekend in compensation for my missed trip to France

 

 

It seems No.34 spent the years 1908-1921 on the Longmoor railway. In my universe the Longmoor will sell it to the NMR in 1917 to assist in moving military stores in the Forest region and it will wear the company's usual yellow ochre livery.

Now that's a good choice Martin.  Well done.  Very much a favourite engine of mine.

Glad to read that you are recovering from your bad cough/cold.

[Nearholmer]

Good looking loco, but I'd wager it is going to be tricky to get it to balance right to have good traction. Depleted uranium in the front of the boiler and in the smokebox?

[Regularity]

If properly compensated, with twin beams either side operating on the drivers, and the bogie pin acting as the third point of the triangle, it would be fairly straightforward. A piece of brass rod in the smokebox, going as far into the boiler as possible, with the motor mostly in the firebox, and it should be able to haul quite a bit. 

[Nearholmer]

True.

 

My mind has become stuck in the coarse-scale paradigm, where the bogie would be very lightly loaded, if loaded at all, and I made the problem worse in my head by kidding myself that it was a white metal kit, with the cab/bunker weighing about half a ton.

[St Enodoc]

14 hours ago, Regularity said:

Well, the great thing about RMWeb is, even if one misses an opportunity like that, someone else will spot it.

And as often as not it's you Simon...

[Martin S-C]

14 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Good looking loco, but I'd wager it is going to be tricky to get it to balance right to have good traction. Depleted uranium in the front of the boiler and in the smokebox?

I have two habits (well, two that I'm happy to mention here), one is liking the odd quirky engines, and the other is buying kits of them that will require the extra effort to make them haul enough.

Oddly enough, my first thought wasn't about weight, it was about how to get a sound decoder and speaker in there.

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

And as often as not it's you Simon...

I resemble that remark.

(If I set 'em up, will you bowl 'em?)

[McRuss]

Hello Martin,

 

regarding the humidity in your  shed, maybe you could use a chemical dehumidifier. I've been using these in my modelrailway room in the basement.

I'm using one similar to these one

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/500ml-Interior-Dehumidifiers-Acting-Crystals/dp/B075KNTRTL/ref=sr_1_52?crid=1D48L8MJ0Q70W&keywords=dehumidifiers&qid=1572423503&sprefix=dehum%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-52

 

In Germany they look a bit different

 

https://www.amazon.de/Sichler-Haushaltsgeräte-Luftentfeuchter-Raumentfeuchter-Wiederverwendbare/dp/B075CS1TX8/ref=sr_1_14?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=16BB3N3OVUX1T&keywords=luftentfeuchter&qid=1572423574&sprefix=luften%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-14

 

But their working principal is the same.

 

Markus

[Martin S-C]

Work continues at a steady pace though much of it is still below the baseboards and makes for very dull viewing.

The control panels are now in place for all stations/locations other than the two termini - Nether Madder and Green Soudley. There were some complications involving the above board DCC Concepts point motors when paired up with their more "standard" below baseboard motor on a crossover, where the pair need to work switching two points together and this required a chat with the manufacturers to fathom out their intent which was completely unclear from their instruction sheet. We got over this hurdle however and about half of the above board motor units are now operational.

As Neil has been working away at the electrics I have been doing the pretty-pretty cosmetic bits on the control panel diagrams and we have now begun to put up the fascia along the edge of the boards which, hiding the skeleton of the framework and some wiring has helped immensely with the layout's appearance. We are going with a slightly raised (1") edge to the fascia above all scenery levels to assist in reducing damage to the scenery at the layout edges. If a person leans their arm or elbow on the baseboard, they'll rest it on the top of this "belly board" (as I've heard them called). The presence of my bits-n-bobs shelves alongside each control panel should also keep the scenic area free from clutter such as phones, uncoupling hooks, tea mugs, and so on.

I am pressing on with fitting magnets to locos but its hard work - as in I mean it is frustrating work in that the locos that really need the magnets are the small ones and these often lack room to fit them. I bought some disc magnets but these have such a truncated field in the direction of the poles that they are useless. Its back to the rectangular magnets... the ones which need more room

Control panels and fascia taking shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Martin S-C]

I was at the Tolworth show at the weekend organised by the Hampton Court MRS. There were several pre-grouping layouts. Lee-on-the-Solent (LSWR) in P4 is a veteran having first being built in 1981 but updated numerous times since. This layout has a wonderful sense of space and calm with large areas of open farmland uncluttered by busy cameos.

I'll add photos of other layouts tomorrow when the site limits permit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ruston]

11 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

I am pressing on with fitting magnets to locos but its hard work - as in I mean it is frustrating work in that the locos that really need the magnets are the small ones and these often lack room to fit them. I bought some disc magnets but these have such a truncated field in the direction of the poles that they are useless. Its back to the rectangular magnets... the ones which need more room

I've looked back a couple of pages but can't find where you said it but didn't you say that your steepest gradient is about 1 in 30? And your longest train 8 wagons?

 

If that's the case then I'd really like to know what engines you have that can't handle that without magnets. My own layout has a 1 in 18 bank and one of my lightest engines, an L&Y Class 21 (a.k.a. a pug), weighing only 110g, can take 5 wagons up that, so I imagine that 8 wagons on a 1 in 30 would be no problem.