Midland Railway in EM gauge

[Mrkirtley800]

 

How many RMWebbers remember the introduction of these track cleaning vehicles   

They are pure 1960s Triang.  

I bought two, one for my sons 00 layout and one for my EM, by replacing the wheel sets.

The idea was to soak the felt pad, in the middle of the vehicle, with meths and run it in a train, with varying results.

 

 

[Compound2632]

There was a discussion the other day about the red that Midland Locomotive and Engineer's Department stock was painted. I don't think that's quite the shade, though I wasn't so well-informed in my innocent youth:

 

 

Airfix 16 ton mineral wagon underframes at bottom!

[Mrkirtley800]

Now that I have difficulty cleaning the trackwork of Kirkby Malham, I have had to bring my old track cleaners into use.  We do not have any 00, so now both vehicles run on EM track.

Rather than have two vehicles of trans Atlantic origin, I rebuilt one into something resembling a British van.  The felt pad was replaced by a piece of hardboard sprung downwards and rubbing on the rails.

one end has a loop of wire to engage with the AJ couplings, the other end still has the Triang coupling in case I need to run both vehicles in tandem.

 

 

The track cleaning will be powered by my old 3F, a MPD kit from about the 1970s.  I never use it in normal times, it is way out of my period.

 

[Compound2632]

Aha! Now I know what the mystery van in Plate 241 of Midland Wagons Vol. 1 is!

 

[Also Midland Railway Study Centre Item 64099.]

[Mrkirtley800]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

There was a discussion the other day about the red that Midland Locomotive and Engineer's Department stock was painted. I don't think that's quite the shade, though I wasn't so well-informed in my innocent youth:

 

 

Airfix 16 ton mineral wagon underframes at bottom!

Actually, the two shades of red don’t seem too far apart, at least in photos.

[Mrkirtley800]

The. Track cleaning  seems  to work .  The  problem  arises in getting the balance between the springing and loading the vehicle with some weight.

If the thing is too heavy, the loco will not be able to push it, yet if too light, the sprung hardboard “rubber”  will lift the van off the track and derail.

Derek

[Barry O]

Derek

 

I dispensed with the spring on the ones I have made. I just let thechardboard float (it uses two nails glued onto thechardboard running in two holes in the floornof the vehicles used. Added weight to the hardboard can make use of 2p pieces or a piece of lead.

 

Barry

[Mrkirtley800]

Thanks for that Barry.  The hardboard is stuck to a piece of copper clad, which has two bits of rod soldered to it.  They run in tubes stuck to the van floor forming guides.

Iwill try dispensing with the spring, might make life a bit easier.

Derek

Edited April 8, 2021 by Mrkirtley800

[DayReturn]

One of the best threads on RMWeb and endlessly delightful photographs!  Thank you for sharing all your progress with us.

 

Please may I ask about your black Kirtley 0-6-0?  You said it is produced from the good bits of a Jidenco kit and judicious additions from scratch, I think.  I would like to see some pictures of it that might aid me with a project I haven't yet started.  I was waiting on John Redrup to release a London Road Models version, he had some workings on display 2-3 years ago but last time I asked him about it he said he was having difficulties (probably sorting out the tooling versions) - I forgot to ask him its provenance, e.g. George Norton.

 

Meanwhile I bought a pack of Falcon etches for the 700 class engine on eBay from "hatuk73".  I'm not sure of the background here but the seller seems to have a stockpile of leftover Falcon Brassworks kits' etched sheets (only).  I fully expected to be disappointed with what I got, and my expectations were largely fulfilled!  I have finished and unfinished Jidenco 800 class and 156 class 2-4-0s and am very comfortable with them after judicious fettling.  I understand from Tony Sheffield that the tooling artwork for these was done by Mike Peascod of significant reputation, so I had hoped that the 0-6-0 goods would have similar quality.  I don't believe they do have the same pedigree though.  So to cut to the chase, what did you manage to do with the Jidenco pieces and how did your black Kirtley Goods work out?  There are no instructions with the Hatuk73 offerings, but most people would agree that there were none to speak of with the originals either!  I can identify most of the etched parts, and I know enough about Jidenco's reputation not to try matching apparently adjacent pieces up to match joints!  The running plate appears the right length in plan view, which means it is clearly wrong after allowing for the running plate curves following the frame strengthening arcs, so that is clearly one fundamental piece for the scrapbox.  The fret comes without a boiler or firebox (! - designed for downhill running only?) and the smokebox wrapper half-etch leaves you with three-inch diameter rivet heads (though the same on the outer frames look more like passable bolt-heads).  And obviously I need to conjure up a full set of non-flat bits from scratch or leftover options from other kits or shopping around parts suppliers.

 

So, an interesting challenge, hence my curiosity about your machine. 

 

All the best

Mehmood

[Denbridge]

2 minutes ago, DayReturn said:

One of the best threads on RMWeb and endlessly delightful photographs!  Thank you for sharing all your progress with us.

 

Please may I ask about your black Kirtley 0-6-0?  You said it is produced from the good bits of a Jidenco kit and judicious additions from scratch, I think.  I would like to see some pictures of it that might aid me with a project I haven't yet started.  I was waiting on John Redrup to release a London Road Models version, he had some workings on display 2-3 years ago but last time I asked him about it he said he was having difficulties (probably sorting out the tooling versions) - I forgot to ask him its provenance, e.g. George Norton.

 

Meanwhile I bought a pack of Falcon etches for the 700 class engine on eBay from "hatuk73".  I'm not sure of the background here but the seller seems to have a stockpile of leftover Falcon Brassworks kits' etched sheets (only).  I fully expected to be disappointed with what I got, and my expectations were largely fulfilled!  I have finished and unfinished Jidenco 800 class and 156 class 2-4-0s and am very comfortable with them after judicious fettling.  I understand from Tony Sheffield that the tooling artwork for these was done by Mike Peascod of significant reputation, so I had hoped that the 0-6-0 goods would have similar quality.  I don't believe they do have the same pedigree though.  So to cut to the chase, what did you manage to do with the Jidenco pieces and how did your black Kirtley Goods work out?  There are no instructions with the Hatuk73 offerings, but most people would agree that there were none to speak of with the originals either!  I can identify most of the etched parts, and I know enough about Jidenco's reputation not to try matching apparently adjacent pieces up to match joints!  The running plate appears the right length in plan view, which means it is clearly wrong after allowing for the running plate curves following the frame strengthening arcs, so that is clearly one fundamental piece for the scrapbox.  The fret comes without a boiler or firebox (! - designed for downhill running only?) and the smokebox wrapper half-etch leaves you with three-inch diameter rivet heads (though the same on the outer frames look more like passable bolt-heads).  And obviously I need to conjure up a full set of non-flat bits from scratch or leftover options from other kits or shopping around parts suppliers.

 

So, an interesting challenge, hence my curiosity about your machine. 

 

All the best

Mehmood

The ebay seller is Samantha, one of the current owners of Falcon Brass.

[lezz01]

I have three observations about the 700 class DF goods in 4mm.

Firstly the Falcon/ jedenco kit is woeful. The outside frame and inside frame wheelbase doesn't match I tried to build this kit long ago and failed. 

Secondly don't hold your breath waiting for an LRM kit to emerge, it's been rumoured to be "about to happen" for over 25 years!

Lastly the K's kit isn't that terrible, although it will cost you upwards of £100 on ebay as they are getting to be like hens teeth and rocking horse poo. I finally scored one last month after about a year of being out bid on every offering. I look forward to building it soon although it will have a scratch built chassis. I keep having mad crazy ideas about including working inside motion using a modified Brassmasters 4F motion kit. It will need a new motion plate and modified valve gear but I think it's possible as all the basics are in the kit. The build will be on my layout thread but it's not top of the build list so don't hold your breath as there are at least 5 locos in front of it including a Wills 4f that will be getting working inside motion if I can manage to build it from the Brassmasters kit. The motion kit is a bargain at £18 although if you don't have all the bits that don't come with the kit the tubes and rods will cost you around the same again.

In closing I would just like to add that Derek's Kirtely DF locos are exquisite.!

Regards Lez.     

[Denbridge]

22 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

I have three observations about the 700 class DF goods in 4mm.

Firstly the Falcon/ jedenco kit is woeful. The outside frame and inside frame wheelbase doesn't match I tried to build this kit long ago and failed. 

Secondly don't hold your breath waiting for an LRM kit to emerge, it's been rumoured to be "about to happen" for over 25 years!

Lastly the K's kit isn't that terrible, although it will cost you upwards of £100 on ebay as they are getting to be like hens teeth and rocking horse poo. I finally scored one last month after about a year of being out bid on every offering. I look forward to building it soon although it will have a scratch built chassis. I keep having mad crazy ideas about including working inside motion using a modified Brassmasters 4F motion kit. It will need a new motion plate and modified valve gear but I think it's possible as all the basics are in the kit. The build will be on my layout thread but it's not top of the build list so don't hold your breath as there are at least 5 locos in front of it including a Wills 4f that will be getting working inside motion if I can manage to build it from the Brassmasters kit. The motion kit is a bargain at £18 although if you don't have all the bits that don't come with the kit the tubes and rods will cost you around the same again.

In closing I would just like to add that Derek's Kirtely DF locos are exquisite.!

Regards Lez.     

The ex K's nucast kirtley is being re-released by nucast partners.

[Compound2632]

27 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

The ex K's nucast kirtley is being re-released by nucast partners.

 

Information seems hard to come by...

[lezz01]

41 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

The ex K's nucast kirtley is being re-released by nucast partners.

Happy days!!!

Regards Lez.

[Denbridge]

23 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Information seems hard to come by...

Not really. It has been announced. Nothing more for them to say until ready for release.

[queensquare]

Interesting discussion about one of my favourite locos. Wrong scale for the thread but here is my recently completed Kirtley in 2mm.

 

Jerry

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

Just now, queensquare said:

Interesting discussion about one of my favourite locos. Wrong scale for the thread but here is my recently completed Kirtley in 2mm.

 

Typo - surely that's 7mm? 

[lezz01]

Very nice Jerry. Is it a Slaters or a shed master?

[Barry O]

2mm finescale??

 

[queensquare]

1 minute ago, lezz01 said:

Very nice Jerry. Is it a Slaters or a shed master?

 

Would be lovely to have the Slaters or Shedmaster range available to us in 2mm - plenty of Midland stuff between them.

 

Jerry

[Compound2632]

Just now, Barry O said:

2mm finescale??

 

Sorry if my little joke is causing confusion. These 2 mm FS people delight in turning out exquisite Faberge egg work that can put the larger scales to shame.

[lezz01]

Wow! I too assumed that it was 7mm.

Regards Lez.

[queensquare]

Does this help! 

 

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, queensquare said:

Does this help! 

 

No, not at all!

[Northroader]

Currently struggling with a Slaters 7mm Kirtley I got off eBay. I’ve so far got a running chassis to discover there’s no sideplay, so looking at making my own chassis. I’ve found it’s a terribly fiddly kit in the number of small parts.