33 years on...

[cabbie37]

After a bit of a hiatus due to Christmas and New year, plus a couple of trips that took me away from the workbench, I’m back in the swing of it now. After my degree of success with a Jidenco kit, ever the glutton for punishment, I’ve enbarked on another project from the same source. Through the generosity of another RMWeb member, I became the owner of these part built Gate Stock pair..

 

Already painted in LSWR livery (as it happens, incorrect for the ‘4 window’ drivers end which came later) the first thing to do was to strip the paint to see what I was dealing with.. My new favourite, now Nitromors isn’t the product it used to be, is Biostrip. That and a bit of fine wire wool soon did the trick...

 

 

[cabbie37]

One of the hurdles I had to overcome was a lack of knowledge of the real thing. The Mike King book was the obvious resource, but the prices asked on the internet were unrealistic. The other day, I popped into my local library and casually enquired,  you don’t have this book by any chance do you? Why yes, not in this branch but we can get it here in a couple of days if you pay a fee of a pound. Bargain! Why didn’t I think of it before...

 

Big hurrah for Cambridgeshire Libraries...

[Crimson Rambler]

For years I made great use of ILL - Inter Library Loans - to obtain all sorts of railway and other books. Initially the cost was £1 then the local clowncil put it up to £5. Needless to say demand dropped off - one unintended consequence being people could buy a copy of many of the desired books off the web for not much more!

 

Not content with that however some years ago CCC arbitarily stopped the service altogether. Good old Ceredigion County Council - if it serves a useful purpose I've yet to find it!

 

Crimson Rambler

 

[cabbie37]

When chatting with the staff in the library, they mentioned the possibility of an Inter-Library loan. They would do that for 2 quid, which *definitely* sounds like a bargain to me...

[Bucoops]

I remember years ago I kept borrowing an LNER modelling book from the library, I brought it back one day and they said it was going to be withdrawn and sold and would I like it. So I bought it for £1

[cabbie37]

The 2 carriages came exactly as you see them in the photos, so I needed quite a few ancillary bits and pieces to complete them. Dave @ Roxey Muldings couldn’t have been more helpful and knew exactly what I needed when I explained the situation and this little lot turned up a couple of days later. As you can see, I have already assembled the first pair of bogies that went together quite nicely. I must learn to control the amount of solder I use and had quite an excess when I soldered the axle bearings in place that I had to clean up with a file. I suppose I could have used super glue, but I was a little nervous of getting it in places it shouldn’t be in. At least with the solder, I can see where it is going. The clean up only took a few minutes..

 

The main problem will be the roof as one of the Falcon/Jidenco problems is an incorrect roof profile. That remains a bridge waiting to be crossed and currently resides in the too difficult basket..

[cabbie37]

Things never run smoothly, do they.. The carriages came without bogies, as  I said so I’ve now assembled a pair of the Roxey ones and trial fitted them. Of course, they were miles out on the buffer height and the only way to resolve that was to reduce the ‘boss’ height on the bogie mounting plates. Some careful measurement showed that i need to reduce the boss by 2.5mm. Careful but slightly forceful application of a flat bladed screwdriver saw them soon pinging across the table. I’ve reduced the boss by the 2.5mm with a razor saw, but not as flat as i would hoped and I may have to finish with some sandpaper on a piece  of plate glass and then replace any excess removal with a washer of appropriate thickness. Trouble is that now that they are at roughly the correct height, the bogies appear to be fouling the inside of the sole bar. I may have to accept that they will run slightly higher than standard (13.5mm ?) to overcome the fouling..

[Bucoops]

Those solebars seem very deep - is that perhaps the problem? Reducing the wheel diameter would also drop the coach height so that may be an option and pack the bogie mount again?

[cabbie37]

Thanks, @Bucoops you may be right, but there is little I can do about that, I guess. What I have been doing in the interim is experimenting with other mounting bosses. I had a dig around and found some that come from Roxey LSWR coaches and tried those. As they matched the ride height for the bogies, they were much better, but still some fouling took place. I will have to play with some washers/spacers to get it running right and have to accept that the buffer height may not be perfect. At least, as pull-push, they only have to match one end against the loco.. Careful assembly of the other bogies and placing the spring castings as low as I reasonably can on the side frames will help...

 

I do like the idea of reducing the wheel diameter and will keep that tucked away as an option.. 

 

The next couple of weeks will see me away from the bench, so hopefully more progress to report mid-March

[Il Grifone]

Looking at the drawings, it appears that the solebars are too deep. The buffers are almost in line with the bottom of the solebar. Perhaps it was intended to fold up the bottom of the solebar to form the flange which can be seen in the photos?

 

The normal height of the buffer centre line is 3' 5½", but can be lower due to tyre wear* and loading. Some designs (e.g. well wagons were an inch or so lower).

*About 5" was allowed on diameter for wear and returning and 2½" for loading.

[cabbie37]

That's a possibilty. As you know, I received these part built and it may yet be possible to bend a small flange in the bottom of the solebar. That might be tricky, though, I'd have to make up a former to bend it round. It's certainly something to consider next time I'm at my bench. Thanks for the idea and observation...