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Midland Railway in EM gauge


Mrkirtley800
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  • 4 months later...

Good to see you back Derek, and what a splendid looking Loco, I do feel for you, and it must be heart wrenching for you not to be able to play Trains.

 

All the best,

Andy.

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10 hours ago, Mrkirtley800 said:

Thank you fellas, it is all very frustrating to say the least.  I even have problems climbing onto my posh chair.

Derek

Have you any trainy pals locally? Perhaps you could relax in an easy chair in the train room and let a couple of friends run trains while you sit back with a cuppa and watch?

If there were a great need to help you out, I'd be very honoured to operate such a superb railway. I'm sure many others here on RMWeb would also jump at the chance.

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Hi Derek 

I love the photos and the new loco looks great. I assume the problem with operating the layout is you need to move about and the knees aren't up to it. You have my sympathy unfortunately I am rather too far away or I  would love to pop round for an operating session.  It is a shame no one seems to sell ready assembled motorgearboxes for 00 anymore. One of the Portescaps would have been ideal. In 0 gauge ABC do a quality motor gearbox quite pricey but worth it for the quality, eficiency (i.e more power gets to the wheels hence less current draw) and no fiddling with meshing. I haven't tried a high level gearbox myself they weren't available when I was working in EM.

 

It does make one think I am seventy now and one of my knees is protesting quite a bit where I am busy laying paving. I have a large 0 gauge layout I want to build. I better have a good think about  access, ease of maintenance etc. If I had stuck to EM I could have fitted it into the spare room. 

All the best.

 

Don

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Guest CLARENCE

Only just discovered this fascinating thread. Wonderful modelling and great photographs; wish my attempts were a tenth as good!

Edited by CLARENCE
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Thank you for your nice comments fellas.

Martin, I have some friends at the local model railway club, who I am sure would come and play with my trainset.

I had two good mates, both lived about 20 miles away.  One of them, Fred, loved to come and run our layout, but sadly Pete died about 15 years ago then Fred 10.  I still miss them, having known them for well over 40 years.  Fred and I used to phone each other regularly, especially if we had a problem with our modelling.  During his last couple of years we spoke nearly every day.

All that was when I had Canal Road, a big roundy of EM and 00.

I started the present layout when my knees began playing up, placing the controls of signals and points so that I would have to keep moving during an operating session.  It was a very successful idea and kept my seized up joints working, until that is, just recently, when movement has become more difficult. So it seems my idea has come back to bite me in the nether regions.

I live about 180 miles north of you, Martin, but if you find yourself in the North Yorkshire coastal area, you would be welcome to do some operating.  Probably have to clear the spiders webs away first.

Coincidentally, before my cranky knees stopped my driving long distances, I used to visit your neck of the woods.   My youngest son and family live near Stamford.

Derek

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Don, I was 72 and a half when I had the first problem.  Olga and I were keen folk dancers and used to be in three clubs, dancing three or four evenings each week.  We were so very fit, then during the New Years Eve dance in 2007, my right knee gave up, and that was it.  So treat your joints with kid gloves.

Derek

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Great to hear from you Derek, and a lovely job on the 1808 class. You say this is scratchbuilt? Wow!

 

Superb work, and such a shame that you can't enjoy your beautiful railway.

 

Al.

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Sorry to hear of your troubles, Derek. 

 

Wonky knees or not the Midland 4.4.0 does you immense credit. 

 

Arguable the most graceful of British 4.4.0s and your lovely model captures it superbly. 

 

Splendid. 

 

 

Rob 

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Now, as they say, something completely different.  Over the years, in my exhibition going days, I often told folks how magical Whitby could be, and that the sun rises and sets in the sea, during two weeks or so in mid June..  Many looked at me in disbelief, so here is proof for all the unbelievers.

My two eldest grand daughters, Niamh and Emily were staying for a few days, when Emily took this photo of the sunset over Sandsend bay.  Taken on 20th June

The reason is, of course, due to local geography, , we are facing north, and on the days either side of the 21 June, the sun sets in or near,  the north.

Derek

 

 

IMG_7017.JPG.7f85383353e7ef5084c9abb6346e8d2f.JPG

Edited by Mrkirtley800
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Thank you Alan.  It was really ‘Hobsons Choice’.  Canal road had a long siding along the back and to keep it cleanI had to climb on my bench to reach it.  When my knees went on strike, I could no longer climb anywhere, so that siding became a dumping ground.

So if I wanted an operational railway, it had to change, and, as ‘they’ say, the rest is history.

For a while everything worked OK and I was able to operate myrailway to my hearts content, until this last six months or so, when my arthritis seems to have taken over.

So, now I am happy to sit at my bench and make things, even things I don’t need.

I am really pleased to say the 1808 class is operational.  I took the bit between my teeth and settled down and managed to build the lovely High Level gearbox.   The engine purs as it runs, but I seem to have made a hoo haa with the tender and made the frames a bit narrow, so a bit more work is required.  But, I am really enjoying it.

Derek

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold
On 10/07/2019 at 18:03, Mrkirtley800 said:

So, now I am happy to sit at my bench and make things, even things I don’t need.

If any of it was truly needed, it wouldn’t be a hobby!

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