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Clearout


AyJay
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I have become interested in the new tv program hosted by Nick Knowles, 'Big House Clearout' and inspired by this, i thought that I'd start small and give a good look at what is in my railway room.

 

The first thing to consign to the bin was a station building made out of plaster, which I made about  25 years ago using Linka moulds.

It's been sitting on a shelf gathering dust and up to now I just could not gather the wherewithall to part with it.

When I made it, it looked pretty neat, but compared to my recent card kits it just does not look good. So out it went!

This was closely followed by a few completed card kits that have been looking sorry for themselves for ages. Again, early dabbling in making buildings.

I'm now eyeing up an early Triang Hornby Princess that I tried to rewheel and abandoned, plus an early Hornby Jinty that is no longer used.

 

I would be interested in knowing what other peoples attitudes are to hanging onto stuff that has outlived its usefulness?

Do you hoard, or bin?

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I am a bit of a railway hoarder, but have been more strict with myself of late; the new rule is that if I can't think of a potential use for it, it gets the opportunity of an exciting new career in landfill.  I am currently recycling a Silurian era Airfix large prairie withdrawn from service after it's plastic slide bars gave out a few years ago as a rebuild bodgery project to make a Collett 1938 31xx, details on 'Mods and Detailing RTR', so am glad I hung on to this piece of otherwise useless junk. 

 

A trawl through the rubbish box a few weeks back produced enough bits to make up a GW fruit van and a 'hybarshock', though the latter is awaiting couplings and buffers before it can be put into service.  There is plenty that could be culled, though, and should be lest it tempts me into projects even more ill-advised than the 31xx...

 

I never sell anything, can't be bothered, but I give stuff away sometimes; equally kind contibutors here have given me things.

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9 hours ago, AyJay said:

I have become interested in the new tv program hosted by Nick Knowles, 'Big House Clearout' and inspired by this, i thought that I'd start small and give a good look at what is in my railway room.

 

The first thing to consign to the bin was a station building made out of plaster, which I made about  25 years ago using Linka moulds.

It's been sitting on a shelf gathering dust and up to now I just could not gather the wherewithall to part with it.

When I made it, it looked pretty neat, but compared to my recent card kits it just does not look good. So out it went!

This was closely followed by a few completed card kits that have been looking sorry for themselves for ages. Again, early dabbling in making buildings.

I'm now eyeing up an early Triang Hornby Princess that I tried to rewheel and abandoned, plus an early Hornby Jinty that is no longer used.

 

I would be interested in knowing what other peoples attitudes are to hanging onto stuff that has outlived its usefulness?

Do you hoard, or bin?

You can't kill a Princess! Trust me, they are the only thing that will still work after the apocalypse!! (same goes for the jinty.........:D)

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I do not sell anything or get rid of anything. Some stuff gets used for experiments to see what a particular body looks like on a particular chassis or just a base for practicing my painting. Besides some engines scrub up really well. Like these 2 Triang Princess's, A3's and Hall. Plus loads of fun doing them.

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Edited by cypherman
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Humm, I may have started something here...

OK, some random thoughts:

My home is not a museum and my broken possessions are not preserved in glass cases for future generations.

Ancient rolling stock in garish colours with overscale wheels will never run on finescale track.

That thing that might come in useful, wont.

That project that might get started, doesn't.

Hanging onto something for the sake of a memory is overrated, it's taking space that could be put to better use.

(Having said that, I will never part with the Flying Scotsman and the class 31 that my father bought for me as Christmas presents when I was a child).

Let's face it, most of us must have moved house as adults. Hands up everyone who has moved 'stuff' out of one loft and into another, but at no other time even considered their existence.

I suppose bits from my candidate castoffs could find a useful life as engine yard clutter. e.g. wheels, cylinder gear etc :-).

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The Green Triang Hornby Princess has had a stay of execution!

I found some finescale wheels that I bought for it.

The problem is that the gearwheel that came with the axles for them, is of a different tooth pitch to the original and so will not engage with the worm that is on the motor AARGH! :angry:

No doubt if I found a worm.....  it would probably not fit on the armature.

If I replace the motor....  It would not fit the chassis.

Oh why not just be done with the thing and bin it!   :angry:

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Like others, I'm a hoarder. I only chuck out things that are absolutely knackered.  I'd much rather give away things that have a use for the recipient: It fosters goodwill, and you don't need 'Bay fees. That said, I'm only interested in niche-niche items that come along. That way, I limit to what I want to use or collect. 

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11 hours ago, AyJay said:

The Green Triang Hornby Princess has had a stay of execution!

I found some finescale wheels that I bought for it.

The problem is that the gearwheel that came with the axles for them, is of a different tooth pitch to the original and so will not engage with the worm that is on the motor AARGH! :angry:

No doubt if I found a worm.....  it would probably not fit on the armature.

If I replace the motor....  It would not fit the chassis.

Oh why not just be done with the thing and bin it!   :angry:

Why not restore it to original condition, plenty of parts about. Two strokes of a coarse file on the deep wheel flanges and a polish up with wet and dry will enable her to run on modern track. I always scrub the chassis in hot, soapy water with a tooth brush and polish the pick ups and earth points with a wet/dry sponge, polish the commutator and after a minimum of oil they work like new.....check out my thread, "What to do with Triang Princesses?"  :locomotive:

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I got rid of a lot of "stuff" at a local car boot sale. Odds and ends went during the day until I flogged the box and remaining contents for forty quid. I was happy to get rid of stuff that I simply was not going touse and didn't have the time to experiment with it.

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On 05/09/2021 at 20:57, 33C said:

Why not restore it to original condition, plenty of parts about. Two strokes of a coarse file on the deep wheel flanges and a polish up with wet and dry will enable her to run on modern track. I always scrub the chassis in hot, soapy water with a tooth brush and polish the pick ups and earth points with a wet/dry sponge, polish the commutator and after a minimum of oil they work like new.....check out my thread, "What to do with Triang Princesses?"  :locomotive:

Hi 33C,

I think I showed my agreement to that point in my post above. The ones I showed are just 2 of the 5 I currently have...... :)

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21 minutes ago, cypherman said:

Hi 33C,

I think I showed my agreement to that point in my post above. The ones I showed are just 2 of the 5 I currently have...... :)

Absolutely. The princess also lends itself to many, many reincarnations. Just acquired an old plunger (oo-er) princess and now I need a plan........:scratchhead:..!

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People actually pay good money on Ebay for scrappy old buildings, especially if they are Metcalfe et-al card kits that are long out of production.  Their Brewery kit in OO and N fetches unbelievably silly prices now so my advice is pause before binning, it may be worth a bob or two.

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I'll pass on a good idea that, naturally, I don't follow myself:

 

One of my bros worked for a firm that had taken-on a lot of Japanese ideas. Once each year, in the summer, the entire workforce at their factory was taken off normal duties, and they had to take every single portable item out from their work area to the car park - everything! 

 

They then had to take it all back in, in order of frequency of use, starting with "every day", and pretty soon they had a pile of stuff left that they could see no likelihood of using within the coming year. That lot then had to go through some "Can I justify to myself, my mates, and our boss that we should keep it?" routine, the vast majority failing that test and going for recycling.

 

Their factory was immaculately tidy, and they never regretted the pretty ruthless decisions they made.

 

My wager is that if we all did similar at home, we'd have a lot more room, and we'd think more carefully before taking-on new stuff, knowing that we'd end up getting rid of most of it within twelve months.

 

Obviously, I wouldn't recommend this system to places like The British Museum.

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7 hours ago, cypherman said:

Hi 33C,

How about a Black 5. That as one the few ways you could get a Black 5 back in the 60's. Hack up the body and chassis.

Been there, done that! Been digging through my stash of Scottish plan's and a hankering for a Highland castle is pushing to the front........

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8 hours ago, cypherman said:

Hi 33C,

How about a Black 5. That as one the few ways you could get a Black 5 back in the 60's. Hack up the body and chassis.

Its a long time ago and I may have dreamt it anyway, but I'm fairly sure there was a Model Railway Constructor article about how to achieve a Black 5 in this way.  It didn't look anything like as bad as one might initially think, so underscale is the Rovex Princess' boiler.  I suppose one might have been able to cobble up some sort of Jubilee in the same way.

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