Wright writes.....

[cctransuk]

30 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

It's getting that way with some more-recent RTR offerings, where access to the inside of the things is incredibly difficult and complex. Why? Do manufacturers expect their products to last forever, never needing any maintenance? Would that that were true.

 

Ah - but if RTR models ran forever, or were easily repairable, you wouldn't need to buy a replacement, would you?

 

It's called built-in obsolescence and future-proofing sales !!

 

What me? Cynical? How dare you?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Tony Wright]

Almost there with the ancient Acro 4F..............

 

 

There's the chassis to complete, and detail to put on the firebox. The cladding bands will be the last to go on  - cut from PVC self-adhesive insulation tape and stuck in place after thorough cleaning; much easier than trying to solder brass shim. 

 

The bits and pieces I acquired from SE Finecast have added to this model considerably.

 

What does it all prove? That a kit which has being lying in a mouldering cardboard box for the best part of 70 years still has a place in today's railway modelling environment? No matter how good current RTR equivalents to kit-building are (and they are good), there's something about an all-metal loco, especially one in brass/nickel silver which just gives it a 'presence' in my view. Something redolent of the past, perhaps? Something 'old-fashioned'? Something from a time when modelling actually meant making things, for oneself. 

 

Granted, there are proportional issues with this loco (the front end doesn't look dead right), but when painted/weathered (which I'll do), as a 'layout loco' running on the MR/M&GNR bit of Little Bytham, I think it'll fit in very well. 

 

Anyone else out there got any 'museum pieces' to show us, please? 

[Manxcat]

I've made use of a number of sources for coal for my loco tenders, all of them real coal but in different sizes. I've even used coal from a relative who has open coal fires. I bashed the lumps to pieces in a bag to get what seems to me to be a reasonable mix of lumps and dross. 

 

My question is this. What is the largest size of a single lump of coal you would expect to see in a tender? I would be interested to hear your views.

 

P.S. I have a small lump of coal recovered from the wreck of the Titanic but that will not be used for a loco tender!

[New Haven Neil]

As opposed to muttering about the language, may we please make the difference between washout plugs and fusible plugs open for correction?  The fusible plug is in the firebox crown, inside of the firebox above the fire - you can't see it on a model.  Oh look a double space too, which is demanded by the Isle of Man Government Corporate Image instructions!

[CF MRC]

And now for something completely different.  I have just had a pleasant, relaxing, day painting the back scene for the MRC’s HO ‘Putnam’ US layout, prior to Ally Pally next week.   Out of preference, I would have made certain aspects rather differently, but with a few dodges the end result at least takes the eye off into the distance. 

 

Tim

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Almost there with the ancient Acro 4F..............

 

 

There's the chassis to complete, and detail to put on the firebox. The cladding bands will be the last to go on  - cut from PVC self-adhesive insulation tape and stuck in place after thorough cleaning; much easier than trying to solder brass shim. 

 

The bits and pieces I acquired from SE Finecast have added to this model considerably.

 

What does it all prove? That a kit which has being lying in a mouldering cardboard box for the best part of 70 years still has a place in today's railway modelling environment? No matter how good current RTR equivalents to kit-building are (and they are good), there's something about an all-metal loco, especially one in brass/nickel silver which just gives it a 'presence' in my view. Something redolent of the past, perhaps? Something 'old-fashioned'? Something from a time when modelling actually meant making things, for oneself. 

 

Granted, there are proportional issues with this loco (the front end doesn't look dead right), but when painted/weathered (which I'll do), as a 'layout loco' running on the MR/M&GNR bit of Little Bytham, I think it'll fit in very well. 

 

Anyone else out there got any 'museum pieces' to show us, please? 

 

I have a layout full of them! They have all been seen before many times so I won't take up space on here showing them off again and they don't really stand up to close scrutiny.

 

I will, in the spirit of making things, show off a very dull bit of wall. It is the start of my O Gauge project and as commercial bricks would have taken a lot of cutting and joining to get the right pattern, I had a go at scribing them onto 40 thou plastic sheet, inspired by the work of Geoff Kent in 4mm scale. I did try it once in 4mm and decided one needed to be either a genius or an idiot to persevere with it. How Geoff does it so well is just beyond me! 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by t-b-g

[MJI]

6 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Ah - but if RTR models ran forever, or were easily repairable, you wouldn't need to buy a replacement, would you?

 

It's called built-in obsolescence and future-proofing sales !!

 

What me? Cynical? How dare you?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

 

Simple, you cannot have too many engines. (Well you can like more than 22 production Deltics or 50 50s)

[Ian Smeeton]

1 hour ago, Manxcat said:

I've made use of a number of sources for coal for my loco tenders, all of them real coal but in different sizes. I've even used coal from a relative who has open coal fires. I bashed the lumps to pieces in a bag to get what seems to me to be a reasonable mix of lumps and dross. 

 

My question is this. What is the largest size of a single lump of coal you would expect to see in a tender? I would be interested to hear your views.

 

P.S. I have a small lump of coal recovered from the wreck of the Titanic but that will not be used for a loco tender!

 

Not sure about the largest lump of coal in the tender, but, off topic a bit....

 

A schoolfriend's late Grandfather was a fireman at Polmadie.

 

Loco crews heading south would pelt the 'Welcome to England' sign at the border with lumps of coal.

 

He was firing on the last scheduled steam hauled southbound run of the Royal Scot, and to commemorate the occasion, went through the coal stack at Polmadie to find a suitably huge lump of coal.

 

On approaching the sign at the border, he and his driver collectively heaved said lump of coal from the speeding loco, not just hitting the sign, but totally demolishing it.

 

Regards

 

back to modelling

 

Ian

[Dave Hunt]

According to a couple of ex-LMS firemen I've spoken to, it was not uncommon to get slabs over two feet long in the tender that could easily block the tender coal doors so that the fireman had to go back into the coal space with a hammer and break them up. Also, crews on long runs with small tenders would often get coaled up then arrange these large slabs along the sides so that they effectively extended the coal rails up, then they would go back to the coaling stage and get some more. 

 

Hope this helps

 

Dave

[manna]

G'day Folks,

 

Have heard, from drivers that they have had lumps of coal so large on the tender, that they have partly demolished signalboxes, and taken down station awnings, when they fell off the tender.

 

manna

Edited March 16, 2019 by manna

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 hours ago, MJI said:

 

 

Simple, you cannot have too many engines. (Well you can like more than 22 production Deltics or 50 50s)

 

Owning no less than 5 D0280/1200 Falcons and 2 HS4000 Kestrels, I feel I must disagree with the second part of your post!!

 

Mike.

[Michael Edge]

We now have two versions of the Fell running on Chapel en le Frith. We had to arrange a token system in the fiddle yard to avoid both arriving in the station at the same time after this occurred once at Pontefract and again at Chapel exhibitions.

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

As opposed to muttering about the language, may we please make the difference between washout plugs and fusible plugs open for correction?  The fusible plug is in the firebox crown, inside of the firebox above the fire - you can't see it on a model.  Oh look a double space too, which is demanded by the Isle of Man Government Corporate Image instructions!

Interesting, Neil,

 

Who mentioned 'plugs' in the first place?

 

I've just been going through 4F pictures with the intention of adding detail to the Acro 4F's firebox. There appear to be four 'plugs' in a horizontal line, just above the handrail/ejector pipe. These, I assume, are washout plugs. I'll just drill eight holes and solder in some wire to represent the plugs. Above them, two each side, are things which I believe rejoice in being called 'mudhole door covers'. They're right on the curve at the top of the firebox. These will come from a fret of loco detailing parts, original supplied by Mainly Trains but now (I think) available from Wizard Models/Comet/MSE. Designed by Iain Rice, these frets are most-useful. 

 

The safety valves (also yet to be fitted) are from SE Finecast, the base at their bottom not being supplied by Acro (nor lubricators, reversing lever, sandboxes, sandbox fillers, etc...........). 

 

I suppose the final question is 'Why did I take the time/trouble to build this piece of antiquity?' Certainly, if one 'wanted', say, several 4Fs of different sorts, then Bachmann's RH drive ones and Hornby's LF drive ones would surely fit the bill in OO? Or, the SE Finecast kit will do every variety, and there's also the Alan Gibson kit. All of these will produce a more-accurate 4F, and one would not have to source any extra bits. I've modified/built examples of all of these.

 

I suppose the answer is 'I could', and did, anyway. I know at forthcoming shows when folk ask about the loco's origin, many will be puzzled by my answer; never having hear of Acro (which I hadn't until the mouldering box was found). 

 

Finally, and on a completely different subject, may I ask what rates a thread as 'most-popular', please? I 'upset' someone by suggesting that a particular thread was the most popular, going on the number of pages. It was not his. Apparently, it's the number of views, not the number of responses (the latter boosting the page count, I suppose). Which is it?

 

I ask the above, just out of a little interest, though, I have to say, it would matter not a jot to me which was which. It's certainly not a competition and I feel it's not really that important (though, clearly, it is to some). 

 

As far as this thread goes (which isn't 'mine', by the way), it's all of you, the correspondents, who make it what it is. Just look at the variety of subjects covered over the last few pages. I've learned a lot! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[uax6]

Not sure that this counts, but it certainly is a golden oldie:

 

A Midland Half cab built by Frank Roomes. It sits in a display case at my Dads, one of the items that we were allowed to remember Frank by when he died.

I've no idea if it still runs, but it would be lovely if it did. Probably needs someone with a lot more skill than me to bring it back to life.

I can remember it ran very quietly many, many years ago.

 

I have to say just looking at the photos it brings back long lost days when I was a nipper working his Lutton layout. Dad driving, me in the box at Lutton and my brother doing Kenbrennan Castle. Frank with that glint in his eye working the fiddle yard. I wonder what Frank would think with me now being a professional Signalman?

 

Andy G

[The Fatadder]

Last night I was getting very frustrated with the Markits wheels for my manor kit.   I can’t believe how much fettling is required to get the square axle peg into the wheel, and keep finding that things are not square.  At this point I’m even finding it easier to get Gibson’s square (fitting with a GW models press) than the Markits.   (Though the fact that the latter is easily removable during testing / painting remains a big plus point).   I feel like I must be doing something wrong.

 

it was not at all a productive night with the wheel issues and then once I had them approximately square finding out that the OO wheels are fouling the underside of the cab, along with the front and rear firebox ends!  

 

I think i I will go back to layout work today.

[Tony Wright]

59 minutes ago, uax6 said:

Not sure that this counts, but it certainly is a golden oldie:

 

A Midland Half cab built by Frank Roomes. It sits in a display case at my Dads, one of the items that we were allowed to remember Frank by when he died.

I've no idea if it still runs, but it would be lovely if it did. Probably needs someone with a lot more skill than me to bring it back to life.

I can remember it ran very quietly many, many years ago.

 

I have to say just looking at the photos it brings back long lost days when I was a nipper working his Lutton layout. Dad driving, me in the box at Lutton and my brother doing Kenbrennan Castle. Frank with that glint in his eye working the fiddle yard. I wonder what Frank would think with me now being a professional Signalman?

 

Andy G

Thanks for posting these, Andy,

 

Frank Roomes. That's a name from the past. I recall driving over to Kings Lynn from Wolverhampton to take pictures of his O Gauge Lutton (which was in a bedroom). After the shots were processed (medium-format transparency), the trannies went off to Bourne, the article made up and the proofs sent out to Frank. He approved them, but, before the article was published, he died! 

 

Apparently it subsequently happened (at least twice) again - my taking the pictures, article made up, proofs approved and then the builder/writer dying before publication. The curse of my photography? The curse of the BRM proofs? Interestingly, proofs are no longer sent out. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Bucoops]

16 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Last night I was getting very frustrated with the Markits wheels for my manor kit.   I can’t believe how much fettling is required to get the square axle peg into the wheel, and keep finding that things are not square.  At this point I’m even finding it easier to get Gibson’s square (fitting with a GW models press) than the Markits.   (Though the fact that the latter is easily removable during testing / painting remains a big plus point).   I feel like I must be doing something wrong.

 

it was not at all a productive night with the wheel issues and then once I had them approximately square finding out that the OO wheels are fouling the underside of the cab, along with the front and rear firebox ends!  

 

I think i I will go back to layout work today.

 

I don't like to moan about suppliers, but at least you have managed to get wheels, I popped an email off to Markits a couple of weeks ago asking for confirmation on which wheel was suitable for a loco, and how much, along with some other bits, as there has been a price increase - I got a response saying which wheel (there's a typo in the 2013 catalogue hence the query), but nothing on price or availability. I replied thank you, how much were they. Silence ever since

 

Edited March 16, 2019 by Bucoops

[The Fatadder]

Just now, Bucoops said:

 

At least you have managed to get wheels, I popped an email off to Markits a couple of weeks ago asking for confirmation on which wheel was suitable for a loco, and how much, along with some other bits, as there has been a price increase - I got a response saying which wheel (there's a typo in the 2013 catalogue hence the query), but nothing on price or availability. I replied thank you, how much were they. Silence ever since

 

I get mine through Wizard Models, ordered on Tuesday and on the work bench on Wednesday.

[Bucoops]

Just now, The Fatadder said:

I get mine through Wizard Models, ordered on Tuesday and on the work bench on Wednesday.

 

I did notice they have some wheels - but without knowing which one I needed I wasn't able to order (I then saw they do happen stock the particular one i need, bit none of the other bits I am looking to get). I also only want insulated ones and I assume (I've not asked) that the Wizard stocked ones are one of each?

[Tony Wright]

13 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Last night I was getting very frustrated with the Markits wheels for my manor kit.   I can’t believe how much fettling is required to get the square axle peg into the wheel, and keep finding that things are not square.  At this point I’m even finding it easier to get Gibson’s square (fitting with a GW models press) than the Markits.   (Though the fact that the latter is easily removable during testing / painting remains a big plus point).   I feel like I must be doing something wrong.

 

it was not at all a productive night with the wheel issues and then once I had them approximately square finding out that the OO wheels are fouling the underside of the cab, along with the front and rear firebox ends!  

 

I think i I will go back to layout work today.

Rich,

 

I'm astonished you're having so much trouble with Markits drivers. 

 

Just a thought.................. Have you scraped out (gently, with a curved craft blade) the inside edges of the square hole in the wheels' centres? Have you then just dressed (again, gently, with a fine file) the square edges on the axles' ends? After this, have you just pushed the wheels into place to begin with, not using the screw fixing? 

 

I find it rare that I have to do the first two procedures listed above, but I always push the wheels into place, just by hand, first. I push them on, take them off, brush away any slight detritus, and finally fit with the screw.

 

I must have done this procedure with Romford/Markits wheels thousands of times.........................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[The Fatadder]

1 minute ago, Bucoops said:

 

I did notice they have some wheels - but without knowing which one I needed I wasn't able to order (I then saw they do happen stock the particular one i need, bit none of the other bits I am looking to get). I also only want insulated ones and I assume (I've not asked) that the Wizard stocked ones are one of each?

Likewise I just use insulated wheels, when you order there is a comments box on the final confirmation screen and I just type in there that I would just like insulated wheels.  Worked perfectly for the wheels on my County last year as well as the Manor last week.

[Tony Wright]

1 minute ago, Bucoops said:

 

I did notice they have some wheels - but without knowing which one I needed I wasn't able to order (I then saw they do happen stock the particular one i need, bit none of the other bits I am looking to get). I also only want insulated ones and I assume (I've not asked) that the Wizard stocked ones are one of each?

In the days of Comet, only insulated drivers were stocked. I assume Andrew has continued with this policy. 

[uax6]

11 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks for posting these, Andy,

 

Frank Roomes. That's a name from the past. I recall driving over to Kings Lynn from Wolverhampton to take pictures of his O Gauge Lutton (which was in a bedroom). After the shots were processed (medium-format transparency), the trannies went off to Bourne, the article made up and the proofs sent out to Frank. He approved them, but, before the article was published, he died! 

 

Apparently it subsequently happened (at least twice) again - my taking the pictures, article made up, proofs approved and then the builder/writer dying before publication. The curse of my photography? The curse of the BRM proofs? Interestingly, proofs are no longer sent out. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

I'll try and liberate it from the display cabinet and arrange a date to bring it over so we can have a play with it.

Frank died at the wheel towing a caravan, which must have been scary for Peggy his wife....

 

Do you happen to have any copies of the photos per chance? I'd love to see the layout again...

 

Andy G

[PMP]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

Finally, and on a completely different subject, may I ask what rates a thread as 'most-popular', please? I 'upset' someone by suggesting that a particular thread was the most popular, going on the number of pages. It was not his. Apparently, it's the number of views, not the number of responses (the latter boosting the page count, I suppose). Which is it?

 

I ask the above, just out of a little interest, though, I have to say, it would matter not a jot to me which was which. It's certainly not a competition and I feel it's not really that important (though, clearly, it is to some). 

 

As far as this thread goes (which isn't 'mine', by the way), it's all of you, the correspondents, who make it what it is. Just look at the variety of subjects covered over the last few pages. I've learned a lot! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

It is the number of hits/views the thread gets. As a thread becomes popular more people view it, and return to view further contributions, as well as those just grazing. This pushes the viewing numbers up, and can attract more viewers, wanting to see what everyone is talking about. There’s no ‘quality’ element this is a pure numbers thing, but without the thread being of interest in some format, it wouldn’t get the interaction of people viewing it, which increases the numbers.

[CF MRC]

1 hour ago, uax6 said:

Not sure that this counts, but it certainly is a golden oldie:

 

A Midland Half cab built by Frank Roomes. It sits in a display case at my Dads, one of the items that we were allowed to remember Frank by when he died.

I've no idea if it still runs, but it would be lovely if it did. Probably needs someone with a lot more skill than me to bring it back to life.

I can remember it ran very quietly many, many years ago.

 

Andy G

My memory of Frank’s locos on exhibition was that they were not quiet, as such, because the pick up skates made the most realistic squealing noises.  Far better than some DCC sound!

 

Tim