The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

I have been sorting out my locos and found a few that I never got round to putting decoders in. I have some decoders in the post but found one in jam jar with a lot of couplers for coaches. I dont remember putting it there. I think I confirmed it was dead as the loco I tried it in shot backwards, a small flame appeared and a very unpleasant smell wafted towards me. 

Tony

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Tony_S

[Dave Hunt]

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

......... shot backwards, a small flame appeared and a very unpleasant smell wafted towards me. 

Saturday night after a few beers and a vindaloo?

 

Dave

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon all,

 

 

Some actual modeling got done this afternoon. This was mostly just painting some bits that Hornby missed on my B12, consisting of lubricator piping. However it has added some variety to some more boring parts of the engine.

 

 

 

This evening it is hoped that time will be found to open the 9 ft long box full of Peco code 100 that lies beneath our spare bed, and a rough assessment of how long my new layout will be came be made. This means that a baseboard order can be placed, and progress can commence.

 

 

Douglas

[J. S. Bach]

12 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Posting links to pictures of NA locomotives, especially any form of Geep is potentially bad for my wallet.

I would happily build an American Short Line (in HO) along the ideas of Tom Klimoski and his GNRR which is based around the real GNRR.

My problem is just the opposite; I preordered a Dapol class 66 and some form of streamlined railcar (GWR?). Not to mention having this:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by J. S. Bach

[Happy Hippo]

I've driven Antars:  They are so much more fun that their successor the 'Crusader'.  You needed thighs like tugboats and arms that could throw launch a C 130.

 

Never got the chance to drive one of these:

 

 

A Leyland Hippo!

[Dave Hunt]

I believe that the Hippo is a bu**er to get going but once in motion is difficult to stop, getting it to change direction is problematic, and it can be quite smelly.

 

The lorry isn't much better....

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

5 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I believe that the Hippo is a bu**er to get going but once in motion is difficult to stop, getting it to change direction is problematic, and it can be quite smelly.

 

The lorry isn't much better....

 

Dave

Cake drastically improves controllability, imparting massive acceleration from standing; highly improves the cornering ability, and greatly reduces the distance required to stop.

 

Sadly it's downside is increasing the fume output.

[Happy Hippo]

Sent to me by a 'friend'!

 

[New Haven Neil]

A Geep you say?  Model you say?  Well here's a nicer one.....  Even has my initials on the side. 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

41 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

A Geep you say?  Model you say?  Well here's a nicer one.....  Even has my initials on the side. 

 

 

STOP IT!

 

My Wallet is whining.

[jamie92208]

43 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

STOP IT!

 

My Wallet is whining.

Only your wallet!

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

Some of you may recall the saga of the Golf engine that resides towards the back of the garage.

 

A pain in the posterior zone as it was resting on a block of wood and was immovable.

 

This morning the problem has been resolved as I made a trolley for the engine.  I am minded to wheel it outside and leave it there!

 

Making the trolley was easy.  Getting the engine onto the trolley without assistance was a little more difficult.

 

Now it's sitting on board, I'm going to make a ply backplate that will bolt onto the gearbox ring and the frame of the trolley.  This will stop any wobbly instability should the trolley suffer a rough shunt.

 

 

Not my finest picture but I was somewhat out of breath as there was no cake as a reward.

[simontaylor484]

There is something about American railroads that I find attractive in modelling terms, I dont know whether its the scale  or the basement empires you see. I darent subscribe to model railroader because i could see the wallet emptying very quickly.

[jamie92208]

19 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

There is something about American railroads that I find attractive in modelling terms, I dont know whether its the scale  or the basement empires you see. I darent subscribe to model railroader because i could see the wallet emptying very quickly.

Barry Lane heard that I had a couple of O Scale US locos, and replied, Don't go there, There lies penury and divorce.

 

Jamie

Edited July 6, 2021 by jamie92208

[PhilJ W]

2 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Barry Lane heard that I had a couple of O Scale US locos, and replied, Don't go there, There lies penury and divorce.

 

Jamie

I once went to an exhibition and they had a selection of 3 scale American locomotives on display. Some were priced in the thousands (££££).

[Tony_S]

Some more Hornby inside bits for Douglas. I had forgotten that I had this loco. Putting a decoder in was really easy unlike a Bachmann Midland Compound I did earlier. The "how to remove the tender body" sheet was not at all accurate.

[New Haven Neil]

6 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

There is something about American railroads that I find attractive in modelling terms, I dont know whether its the scale  or the basement empires you see. I darent subscribe to model railroader because i could see the wallet emptying very quickly.

 

Well, I'm 'on a break' from US modelling at the moment, the UK O Gauge that occasionally features here is on the same baseboards in the garage, but the US stock is all tucked away safely.  There's rather much too much of it though so some may come up for sale.....one day!

[Happy Hippo]

12 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Well, I'm 'on a break' from US modelling at the moment, the UK O Gauge that occasionally features here is on the same baseboards in the garage, but the US stock is all tucked away safely.  There's rather much too much of it though so some may come up for sale.....one day!

So you are like me and claim the stuff in the garden is nothing to do with model railways, but is a real railway in it's own right, albeit a bit smaller than usual.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon all,

 

 

Got sudden burst of courage and attempted to repair the mogul today. 
 

(is that a monumental sigh from a hippo I hear)

 

 

On the whole it went well, but the solder didn’t melt in the intended way so it was still leaking. 
 

here’s a video.

 

 

Douglas

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

Douglas, the leaking is one of the problems with a system that is held together purely by soft solder.

 

Having the lubricator connected to the steam pipe from the boiler by some form of gland nut and union would make it  much easier to work on the pipework of the lubricator and the feed on to the cylinders.

 

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 minute ago, Happy Hippo said:

Douglas, the leaking is one of the problems with a system that is held together purely by soft solder.

 

Having the lubricator connected to the steam pipe from the boiler by some form of gland nut and union would make it  much easier to work on the pipework of the lubricator and the feed on to the cylinders.

 

 

I agree completely Richard, and in fact I tried to carry out a conversion to gland nuts half in October but Dad didn’t quite agree with that.

[SM42]

8 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Some of you may recall the saga of the Golf engine that resides towards the back of the garage.

 

 

I didn't recall and on reading this I was thinking of some victorian device for automating the swiping of small balls into distant flag marked holes. 

 

I put that, this rather improbable but equally plausible invention,  should pop into my head down  to the fact that my head is rather scrambled by solving the thorny problem of how someone proves that test and trace 10 day self isolation  ends tonight when they only had to do 4 days ( it took 6 to contact them)  and they deleted the app in  panic and now have no record for their employer and others who would prefer not to see them for another 6 days.

Of course this all has to be translated into Polish too

 

It all revealed what a complete mess it all is with no records other than taking things on trust. 

 

 

Andy 

Who needs a beer now

Edited July 6, 2021 by SM42

[New Haven Neil]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

So you are like me and claim the stuff in the garden is nothing to do with model railways, but is a real railway in it's own right, albeit a bit smaller than usual.

 

The garden railway is playing trains, nothing more.  No modelling really, but it is fun, and a very social branch of our hobby.  The HO and O are modelling - not very good, but modelling!

 

Boing time - g'night all.

[Dave Hunt]

8 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Barry Lane heard that I had a couple of O Scale US locos, and replied, Don't go there, There lies penury and divorce.

 

My mate who has the O Scale Y6B has intimated that he would like to sell it for a sum usually associated with telephone numbers. Much as I would cheerfully sacrifice a few canine teeth to own it, I am quite attached to some other, more delicate, parts of my body and am quite fond of some of life's little luxuries such as sleeping indoors. Hence I am manfully resisting the urge to take it off his hands. It's a beautiful model though......

 

Dave  

[SM42]

Luckily telephone numbers start with a 0  so it is only a matter of pence

 

Seems a good excuse

 

Andy