All Activity

The best way is to bend the rail to the correct angle. The advantage is that it gives the maximum support to the centre of the rail at the Vee and the smoothest splice. All explained on Templot Club of course, don't forget that the splice should be handed as per the turnout (well usually anyway).

I had the call back from the surgery, next thing is an X-ray of my knee.

IIRC Everton have spent the longest time in total years in the top flight of English football; but they have been relegated and bounced back. Arsenal have never been relegated since they have been in the top flight.

The most famous example of Georgian jerry-building in London is number 10 Downing Street. It has been gutted and rebuilt several times so that only the original facade survives, plus a corner of Henry VIII's tennis court. Likewise the White House has been gutted and a complete new interior fitted (The first time was in 1812 when the British burnt it down).

I'd say that signal 9 isn't needed - I can't see you're ever going to have a movement out of the platform without it being clear to 16. As others have said 13/14/15 would be a single disc in SR practice. The two discs for the loco release crossover should be at the toe of the points, you've shown them partway along the crossover? Depending on the distance between the turntable access points and crossover 10, they might both be protected by the same shunt signal rather than having multiple.

Good luck with the open day. I was hoping to visit but Ive got contractors in at work and need to be there. Robert

The Tri-ang looked just too coarse, so I printed some track segments. They probably won't be visible from the intended viewpoint anyway. Now how am I going to tackle the embankment ...?

As you intimated, I really wish you hadn’t said that. :-) Paul.

An updated floor plan showing the location of Guyzance which is number 53. unfortunately having gone to print it has not been possible top include the layout in the programme but would like to thank Paul Marshall Potter for stepping in at short notice to bring Guyzance as a replacement for James Street. David

i can't help with the comparison photo you want but suggest that one major difference between the three 4mm gauges is the visual difference in the pointwork. The "ratio" between gauge and the check and wing rail gaps is usually very evident, although this is minimised with well built OO pointwork (see Norman Solomon's handbuilt OO trackwork on Little Bytham in Wrightwrites as a good example). P4 wheels also have narrower tyres as well as smaller flanges. EM and OO wheels from Alan Gibson wheels are also "finer" than RTR wheels, although Markits wheels are also generally better too. The attached photo by Tony Wright will give some idea of P4 track and wheels.

....and is it just me - or do the sizes of the buffer heads vary too......? 517 here has dimples too...... Then there is the question of 'Wolverhampton Green'...... My Grandfather said Wolvo' engine were 'beer-bottle green' - whatever that meant, when he was a youngster. I have noted that in period colourised images do tend to agree with that, as they seem to have more of a blue tinge - or is that just me again.....? I hope Dapol take a punt at this, as the later Chrome Yellow wouldn't look right.

First... Again for convenience: I have not seen the article, but my conclusion is based on the fact that this photograph does not appear to me to show a 15'6" w/b engine. It looks to me, both in terms of the frame steps and the w/b length, to be a 15' w/b engine. I would venture the guess that this is the loco in 1887-1900 condition. The following is (mainly) according to RCTS Part 6. 517 was built in 1868 as a saddle tanks with w/b of 13'7". In 1880, 517 was converted by Wolverhampton to a side tank and the w/b extended to 15'. That, looks to me essentially the configuration we are seeing in the picture above. 517 had a boiler replacement in 1887, but this was of the same R3 type she was built with. Cabs were general during the '80s and back bunker spectacle plates were a standard Wolverhampton addition, so I can imagine this being added to the bunker rear as part of the 1880 conversion, but I don't think anything is likely to turn on these features. It might be worth drawing a line at this point under the chaotic 517 class history by noting that, by the turn on the century, all 517s had either 15' or 15'6" w/bs . Thence forward, many of the former would become 15'6" w/b, but not all. However, all 15'6" w/b locos, regardless of whether originally built at 15'6" or, rebuilt to that length, whenever it was done and whether at Wolverhampton or Swindon, had outside bearings to the trailing wheels. 517's conversion to a 15'6" w/b took place in 1900. 517 was one of the relatively few (18) to be thus converted at Wolverhampton, rather than Swindon. I have not seen a picture of 517 in that state, and I do not know whether 517 was one of thise of that group treated to an extended smokebox and wing plates, but I do know, from the picture of 1475, rebuilt to 15'6" by Wolverhampton in February 1900, that the loco was in Swindon single tank panel lining, had a Wolverhampton type 33 bunker (i.e. with coal rails) and trailing wheels with outside bearings. A picture of 555 (one of the extended smokebox locos), rebuilt to 15'6" by Wolverhampton in April 1902, shows the same features. The lining of 517 in the picture is Wolverhampton style. By 1900 examples of the Wolverhampton livery would be becoming rare, I would imagine, as in theory it ceased to be applied from 1894. As this is a B&W picture, we have to acknowledge the possibility that the colour was no longer Wolverhampton green, but that Wolverhampton applied an older lining style. That said, this may well be full Wolverhampton livery using that works's peculiar shade. In either case, it does not seem very likely that the livery seen in the picture would have be applied new as late as 1900. However, it seems clear to me from the physical condition of the loco that this picture pre-dates 517's conversion to 15'6" w/b in July 1900, so the question of livery is somewhat redundant.

Looking wonderful - and I am looking forward to seeing it at Railex. Nick.

Rare to see pictures of Sprinters with grey ends, well done for photting them! I know what you mean with them replacing l/h trains - the 4-coach (cl.27 or 47 with vb Mk1/2z) Dundee-Edinburgh trains became 150/2 from 1987-8. Usually a single unit even on the busy trains!

I have a huge problem with tonights upcoming AFL game, Sydney V Carlton at the mighty SCG. Sydney is my home town but Carlton was the team I've supported since back when the AFL was the VFL, and just Victorian teams took part. I chose to support Carlton back in the 70's when I started playing Australian Rules at school. At that time Australian Rules was a weird game played down south dubbed "Aerial Pingpong"We were a staunch Rugby League state and were studiously uninterested in what they had to offer. Then the VFL started sending missionaries up here in the mid seventies, and although many were murdered or "went missing" , by focussing on schools a foothold was eventually gained. I was hooked after playing one game. Its like being a human Border Collie, chasing a crazily bouncy ball around for 80 minutes on a huge ground, kicking it, punching it, picking it up and then getting spun round and round and thrown into the ground before you can get rid of it - it just maximum rough-housing with minimal interference from the powers that be. No boring violations for being offside, no boring violations for forward passes, you are totally free to express your individuality in a sporting context. Due to its Victorian territorial limitations back then I had to choose a Victorian side to support. I chose Carlton due solely to the Skyhooks album that was huge back then called "When The Sun Sets Over Carlton" giving me the only Melbourne name I could identify. I've supported them ever since, even when South Melbourne moved north as a result of the eventual AFL incursion in the eighties, and morphed into the Sydney Swans. That said, I am a strong believer that you should support your home team so I am very conflicted. Luckily. I have a neutral arbitrator - South Australian beer - to help me through it! On top of this, there is a car and bike show at the local Primary school on Sunday, and Mad Max 5 opens on Thursday - I could die happy right now. (well, actually, not now - preferably AFTER I've seen Mad Max!) Australia, the opposite of a rant! (PS: 10 minutes in - one side is getting there bottoms handed to them!)

Heading further west again, if you like grey towns and the rain - what about Plymouth? Friary - mixed goods to Riverside, Bitumen tankers, 03/08 trips to Cattewater, Plymstock. Dockyard traffic.

Not a lot happening at present because I still don't have any S7 wheels for this build. I have done a small amount including adding the handrails to the body as well as completing the other side W-irons. I have found my wheel puller and removed the finescale wheels from the Slaters 6 wheel chassis that I removed from my LNWR coaches when I converted them leaving me with 2 sets of made up and painted parts that were going unused. I could of course used the etches in the kit for the working parts but as I already had these, it would be a shame to waste them when i know that these work very well. I also added a small piece of angle inbetween the outer ends of the W-irons because one small part had been over etched and had come away from the frame leaving it very fragile. In other news I have managed to find a pair of tyres for my bike but on the house front it has all gone quiet despite dropping the price by 7.5K. I have also being fully discharged from Hospital after my prostate operation and don't have to see anybody again. I just have to have a PSA once a year at my local doctors.

I thought it was more that the claimed advantages (faster, safer, more powerful) boiled down to 'can accept larger inside cylinders provided that your track and civil structures can accept greater axle-loadings'. Brunel did not design for these, not realising that when he added 50% to the track gauge he probably needed to add 50% to the maximum axle-loading. The locomotives do seem to have been less prone to falling over in derailments, so a smidge safer.

Some time back in one of these mazak threads it was stated that the factory assembling the loco, whoever it was, was not the one casting the chassis, that would be another link in the chain, being bought in as a pre-made part. Indeed even the caster may not have even been th producer of the raw material. This was often made by a small business (rather like our own UK garden shed hobbyist suppliers).

There is zero protection with regards to gift cards, and yet its a multi-billion pound aspect of the retail industry, which is why everyone offers them.

I don't think D5578 has yet received the stars. I saw it regularly and never saw noticed stars without the white background.

This was donated at the Stamford show last weekend. It's a K's Stanier Mogul, minus a few bits and pieces. I'll fit a motor and get it going, but there's no tender. Does anyone have a spare Fowler tender with coal rails, please? If so, please PM me. When the whole thing is finished, I'll sell it - with proceeds going to CRUK. Thanks in anticipation (any reasonable fee paid for the tender, of course).

Following a recent update of the software, I had difficulty with the 'move' tool: when I used the mouse to drag the arrows on the manipulator, the body did not respond in the expected direction - if I dragged in the X-direction, the body might move in the Y-direction or it might rotate - unpredictably. I did a web search but could find no mention, so I started my own investigation. After a lot of searching, it turned out to be down to the the Graphics driver setting in 'Preferences'. In the drop-down box, this was set to 'auto-select' My problem disappeared after I changed the setting to 'Open GL' I mention this, in case anyone else encounters a similar problem. Mike

Best Of My Love - The Eagles