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Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00


St Enodoc
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9 hours ago, KymN said:

A long time ago I designed a jetty for feasibility and costing purposes in reinforced concrete.  The design department then re-designed it in pre-stressed concrete.  The Chief  Construction Engineer built it in timber.  His nickname was 'Up-she-goes'. :rolleyes: 

I designed a layout for a customer using 9mm plywood - he then got someone else to build it and he used 9mm MDF. After a while I got a frantic phone call "my baseboards are all sagging", I then had to go and construct a plywood L girder subframe to hold it all up...... the layout worked fine in the end (I did all the tracklaying and wiring) but it cost him a lot more than it should have. 

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42 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

I designed a layout for a customer using 9mm plywood - he then got someone else to build it and he used 9mm MDF. After a while I got a frantic phone call "my baseboards are all sagging", I then had to go and construct a plywood L girder subframe to hold it all up...... the layout worked fine in the end (I did all the tracklaying and wiring) but it cost him a lot more than it should have. 

Sounds like the good old chipboard days.

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On 09/01/2021 at 13:04, FarrMan said:

Speaking as a Chartered Engineer, if only you knew!

 

Well, if we're on the topic of embarrassing engineering c0ck-ups, one of my favourites concerns the certain depot (not mentioning names) that was due to start servicing HST sets for the first time.

 

A second fuel point was constructed, such that front and rear power cars could be fuelled simultaneously. Come the first night of the new operation, the first HST set duly arrived and the driver stopped opposite the existing fuel point, as he would do with any loco. Down at the other end, the news wasn't so good - the rear power car was exactly one MkIII coach length away from the brand new fuel point.

 

A stewards inquiry didn't take too long to establish root cause - the position of the new fuel point had been calculated based on a 'standard' HST set, as running on ECML and WCML. Unfortunately, the sets to be serviced were Cross-Country sets, which were formed up as one coach shorter. Oops!

 

It was the reaction of the depot supervisor that was priceless, an old timer who'd seen it all and didn't care too much for modern management.

 

'Well blow* me' (*or a word to that effect) - 'in my day you'd have brought a train on the depot, painted a great big white line on the wall and said 'build the f&^ker there'!'!

 

Said supervisor made me sit down and watch the UP film 'Last of the Giants', specifically pointing out the bit where they installed a new turntable of the right length to accommodate the 'Big Boys' when they were introduced, to make his point.

 

True story.

 

Graham. C.Eng F.I.Mech.E

(wasn't my fault - I was just a trainee at the time)

Edited by LNER4479
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1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

certain depot (not mentioning names)

Can’t be ER or ScR as they had EC HSTs, or WR.  So that leaves LM or Southern!  Now where did they service HSTs . . .

Paul.

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"The floor ain't level" certainly occurred to me - nice shiny new set of baseboards constructed, with legs carefully constructed all to have the same length to get a nice level surface. Lay the track carefully. First time I ran a test goods train with lovely modern wheelsets - all went very well until I uncoupled the trucks. Then I discovered the downside of low friction metal wheels and watched as the trucks disappeared off into the buffers at the end of the siding.

 

Much cursing and measuring with my long spirit level revealed that the builders who created our lovely attic bedroom conversion had thoughtfully put a slope of over 1 inch across the room. My trains were only too happy to show me what fun they could have with that.

So I had yet more entertainment adding shims to the baseboard legs...

 

As for "the room ain't square", I already knew about that before I started and made allowances in a few places.

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2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Well, if we're on the topic of embarrassing engineering c0ck-ups, one of my favourites concerns the certain depot (not mentioning names) that was due to start servicing HST sets for the first time.

 

A second fuel point was constructed, such that front and rear power cars could be fuelled simultaneously. Come the first night of the new operation, the first HST set duly arrived and the driver stopped opposite the existing fuel point, as he would do with any loco. Down at the other end, the news wasn't so good - the rear power car was exactly one MkIII coach length away from the brand new fuel point.

 

A stewards inquiry didn't take too long to establish root cause - the position of the new fuel point had been calculated based on a 'standard' HST set, as running on ECML and WCML. Unfortunately, the sets to be serviced were Cross-Country sets, which were formed up as one coach shorter. Oops!

 

It was the reaction of the depot supervisor that was priceless, an old timer who'd seen it all and didn't care too much for modern management.

 

'Well blow* me' (*or a word to that effect) - 'in my day you'd have brought a train on the depot, painted a great big white line on the wall and said 'build the f&^ker there'!'!

 

Said supervisor made me sit down and watch the UP film 'Last of the Giants', specifically pointing out the bit where they installed a new turntable of the right length to accommodate the 'Big Boys' when they were introduced, to make his point.

 

True story.

 

Graham. C.Eng F.I.Mech.E

(wasn't my fault - I was just a trainee at the time)

Yes that is a true story Graham. For the avoidance of doubt, it wasn't Craigentinny.

 

We did have a bit of fun, though, when some ECML sets went from 2+8 to 2+9...

Edited by St Enodoc
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31 minutes ago, KingEdwardII said:

"The floor ain't level" certainly occurred to me - nice shiny new set of baseboards constructed, with legs carefully constructed all to have the same length to get a nice level surface. Lay the track carefully. First time I ran a test goods train with lovely modern wheelsets - all went very well until I uncoupled the trucks. Then I discovered the downside of low friction metal wheels and watched as the trucks disappeared off into the buffers at the end of the siding.

 

Much cursing and measuring with my long spirit level revealed that the builders who created our lovely attic bedroom conversion had thoughtfully put a slope of over 1 inch across the room. My trains were only too happy to show me what fun they could have with that.

So I had yet more entertainment adding shims to the baseboard legs...

 

As for "the room ain't square", I already knew about that before I started and made allowances in a few places.

Part of the spec for our new garage was that the floor should be level, with no fall towards the door. It is, and the walls are "square" (rectangular) to within about 5mm on length and on the diagonal. The builders did a good job.

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2 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Can’t be ER or ScR as they had EC HSTs, or WR.  So that leaves LM or Southern!  Now where did they service HSTs . . .

Paul.

I hereby wish to disassociate myself with the remarks of the last speaker ...

Edited by LNER4479
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4 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Yes that is a true story Graham. For the avoidance of doubt, it wasn't Craigentinny.

I know it's a true story - I was there!

 

Not my fault though; I was only a trainee at the time. Although I do remember being given a day ticket to Haymarket to go and research how other depots 'did' fuelling points. That was a fun day out.

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On 29/11/2020 at 21:47, St Enodoc said:

My Dapol Mogul is ready for dispatch from West Cornwall to Mid-Cornwall but it won't arrive for a little while, as I've agreed with Greg at Kernow that they will hold it back until my Bachmann 94xx is ready too, so that I can save on postage charges. A nice gesture, seeing as the two locos were on separate orders.

Well, in spite of all that someone at Kernow actually dispatched my Mogul on its own and it arrived today. C'est la vie.

 

Based on others' experience, I was a little apprehensive about how it would be.

 

Quality control-wise, it wasn't perfect but not as bad as some people have found:

 

- Both front buffers were detached. I was able to refit these without any problem.

- The right-hand boiler handrail was not inserted in the rearmost handrail knob. I was able to remove the knob, thread it on to the handrail and replace the knob in its hole.

- There is some discoloration of the front buffer beam where it looks as though black paint has oversprayed the red slightly. This is not a problem as it will disappear when it's been weathered (now then @Barry O, that's enough sniggering from you).

- The left-hand boiler stay is snapped in two. I will try to glue this back together but, in case this doesn’t work, I've asked Kernow to arrange for Dapol or DCC Supplies to send me a replacement pair of boiler stays.

 

Other than those minor niggles it looks very nice indeed.

 

Running on DC on the rolling road, I'm happy to say that there are no problems, so the next job is to fit the decoder and test it on DCC.

Edited by St Enodoc
DCC Supplies not Digitrains
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John I think you are a little too generous to Dapol regarding the problems as minor niggles.The snapped boiler stay to my mind puts it out of that category. I do understand you probably wanting to avoid the nuisance of returning it.

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10 hours ago, nerron said:

John I think you are a little too generous to Dapol regarding the problems as minor niggles.The snapped boiler stay to my mind puts it out of that category. I do understand you probably wanting to avoid the nuisance of returning it.

Well, Ron, compared with some of the problems described by others on this thread:

 

they're very minor indeed. In fact, apart from the boiler stay I've fixed them all already.

 

I'm certainly not going to send the model back as a) a return journey to Kernow could well end up with a worse example; b) I don't want to wait at least another month to get a replacement; and probably most significantly c) this version has already sold out according to Kernow's website.

 

Even if I can't fix the stay to my satisfaction, and Dapol (through DCC Supplies, who are their spares agent) don't do the right thing, I'll be happy to pay a couple of quid for a pair of spare stays myself.

 

So, overall, I'm happy , and relieved I suppose, but not delighted. Will it stop me getting a new Manor to replace my old Bachmann split-frame one? Probably not.

 

Anyway, after a slight delay reinstalling the SPROG drivers, as Windows 10 had kindly thrown them out during one of its recent upgrades, 6305 (new version) is now ready for trial running on the layout this weekend. Once that's done it will come back indoors to be DGed and have its new numberplates attached. At some stage after that it will get a crew, lamps and coal, then (one day) weathering.

Edited by St Enodoc
DCC Supplies not Digitrains
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@St Enodoc the part you need is listed on DCC supplies website (I think it’s them not digitrains who are the spares provider)

 

https://www.dccsupplies.com/cat-1189/mogul-oo.htm 

 

they also have the Dapol outlet, where I am hoping some of these returned moguls will start appearing soon...

Edited by The Fatadder
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8 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

@St Enodoc the part you need is listed on DCC supplies website (I think it’s them not digitrains who are the spares provider)

 

https://www.dccsupplies.com/cat-1189/mogul-oo.htm 

 

they also have the Dapol outlet, where I am hoping some of these returned moguls will start appearing soon...

Thanks Rich, you are right. I'll amend the earlier post.

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On 10/01/2021 at 20:43, St Enodoc said:

Part of the spec for our new garage was that the floor should be level, with no fall towards the door. It is, and the walls are "square" (rectangular) to within about 5mm on length and on the diagonal. The builders did a good job.

 

That's because they 're not British builders and can therefore read plans, use measuring implements and follow instructions.

 

Behind the plasterboard in my extension there is a full set of plans.  They were taped to the framework and when I queried why they were being covered up the boss builder said 'I got it all up here mate, don't need no plans.'

 

Utter ars3hole. 

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Just as an aside- going on our experience of the current next door build - some so called architects cannot prepare decent plans and the builders have to rely on imagination and experience sometimes .

Daughter ( architect) who can draw up properly detailed drawings for builders, has been very critical of the  plans drawn for next door- the builders make up for the plan decifiencies

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1 hour ago, chesterfield said:

Just as an aside- going on our experience of the current next door build - some so called architects cannot prepare decent plans and the builders have to rely on imagination and experience sometimes .

Daughter ( architect) who can draw up properly detailed drawings for builders, has been very critical of the  plans drawn for next door- the builders make up for the plan decifiencies

We have just had our laundry renovated. The plans our designer drew up were very specific in two key areas. The joinery makers took no notice. We have some interesting discussions ahead...

Edited by St Enodoc
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6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

We have just had our laundry renovated. The plans our designer drew up were very specific in two key areas. The joinery makers took no notice. We have some interesting discussions ahead...

Can you video the discussion? I think the joinery guys need to make sure they are well protected. 

Baz

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15 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Can you video the discussion? I think the joinery guys need to make sure they are well protected. 

Baz

Our discussions will be with the builder. How he deals with his subbies is something I'd prefer not to see...

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20 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

The left-hand boiler stay is snapped in two. I will try to glue this back together

A dab of MEK seems to have done the trick. I was a bit worried that this might be a type of plastic that wouldn't respond to MEK so I had a stronger, tetrahydrofuran-based, product on standby but I don't think I'll need it. I'll let it harden overnight and check tomorrow.

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