RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 16, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2018 Sir Eustace, (Yes you can get used to it!! LOL) I am glad you are intrigued. I have been thining about how to do this post all day! In fact I had originally planned it for tonight, but it was not ready in time so I decided to post the birdcages tonight and delay that one until tomorrow!! Gary 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Does it concern matters vegetable, animal or mineral? (He is the very model of a modern major general...) Or, indeed matters literary, railway or history (Historical doesn't rhyme!)? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 16, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2018 Or, indeed matters literary, railway or history (Historical doesn't rhyme!)? Yes! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 All of them? The first two? The second two? The first one, second one or third one? Specfics man, specifics! Yes, ahem, specifics! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 16, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2018 At least one of them, possibly two, maybe even three!! :jester: I'm hoping for all three!! Gary 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 (edited) Probably not best to put this in the literary thread, but it is technically a poem/sonnet (A blatent rip-off: Name the sonnet!) I met a director at the Uckfield show, Who said "One great and inspiring layout Stands in the house. ... Near it, on the workbench, Half-bashed, a broken terrier lies, whose chassis And boiler fittings, and smokebox door handle Tell its owner well those parts removed Which yet survive dumped in the scrap box, The P4'er who mocked them, and the forum who fed; And on the forum, these words appear: My name is Gary, Modeller of Modellers; Look on my works, ye finescalers, and despair! Little beside remains. Round the remains Of that Dapol Terrier, stripped and primed, The boxes of bits stretch far away." Edited January 16, 2018 by sem34090 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 16, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2018 Well that is the first time I have been the subject of a poem!! And I will admit I would not have known what or who you had ripped off to write it!! Gary 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 That was quick! Didn't think it would take long... Apologies here to Gary... but it could be a nice lead-in to his literary mastepieces that I suspect may be surfacing tomorrow! sem34090: Sat atop St Pancras observing a Johnson Single stuggling to start its train... (Ooops... wrong thread! ) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 16, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2018 No apology needed!! I quite enjoyed it!! I wouldn't call my literary pieces "masterpieces" though!! Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 The Men in Umber will save their judgement for later... We only have 33 minutes to wait! Then it's tomorrow and Gary's masterpieces (DON'T!) will be revealed for all the world to see!!! The Men in Umber are currently noting your use of the phrase 'LOL' in an earlier posting... Such incidents will not go unrecorded. Be careful, or it's a class 313 to Southampton for you... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 16, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2018 We only have 33 minutes to wait! Then it's tomorrow and Gary's masterpieces (DON'T!) will be revealed for all the world to see!!! You will have to wait a little longer!! I need to go to bed first! I do however finish work nice and early on a Wednesday so you may well get a sample of my literary work sometime around mid-afternoon! Such incidents will not go unrecorded. Be careful, or it's a class 313 to Southampton for you... Have 313's not been banned yet?! I had to get one all the way from Hampden Park to Brighton once! I considered walking instead!!!! 'Men in ...... Full Wainwright lined pinstripe suits' YES!!! These are the secret agents I want!!!! The only problem is they might stand out a bit!!! Gary 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 What have I started... I feel a story opening coming on; keep a watch the literary thread! 313's have not been banned yet! They've even repainted one into 'Heritage' BR Blue-Grey livery now, the newest being 41 years old this year! In fact, last year I contacted Southern about them: Thank you for your email to Govia Thameslink. The class 313/2 units operating on the East and West Coastway services are currently expected to operate on these routes for the length of the GTR franchise. The rational for the replacement of the class 313 fleet operating on Great Northern services in this franchise was the expected (at the time of the franchise bid) installation of ETCS in-cab signalling on the south of the East Coast Mainline and the Northern City Line into Moorgate. The long term value of installing such equipment on a fleet of trains which had a limited lifetime, led to the fleet replacement decision being made.The 170 vehicles being introduced onto the Southern network would have referred to the 377/6 and 377/7 fleets (34 x 5 car units) which predominately work on the Southern Metro routes. The class 387/1 introduced onto the Thameslink network are now cascading to Great Northern as part of the class 700 introduction onto Thameslink, with the class 387/2 fleet operating on the Gatwick Express. It is expected that as part of the Thameslink programme, a number of class 700 units will start to operate more widely on the Southern network. The class 378 units have a number of bespoke features for operation on the London Overground line of route, which would make replacement of these trains on the London Overground network problematic, and it is expected that they will remain on this route for the length of the GTR franchise.The Vivarail class 230 remains an unproven concept as diesel offering, and converting the 4th rail traction system to a 3rd rail traction system would be a different re-engineering problem, in particular for the traction return circuit.I hope the above is useful information and we are hoping to release more information our main website in the near future with updates on the DOO trains and updated Fleet information. Thank you for contacting us. If you wish to contact us further regarding your query, then please contact our Customer Service team directly at www.southernrailway.com/contact-us or by phone on 0345 127 2920 or in writing to Southern Customer Services, PO Box 10240, Ashby-De-La-Zouch, LE65 9EB Kind regardsSouthern Customer Services Some genuinely interesting information there: I was suprised! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack P Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 The couplings used here are not actually attached to the carriages, and they require some work to the buffers as they are solid. I think I need to replace them with sprung buffers, but from where? Gary, Markits do an assembled sprung set, listed as: M4BufCoSECRoval Coach (SECR Clipped OVAL) Sprung Buffer (Pkt 4) £5.75 At nearly £20 inc postage for enough for 3 coaches, they aren't cheap, but they should be a direct fit - maybe a little fettling required. Once you decide to go screw link, it bites hard, you start realizing that sprung buffers aren't a gimmick, and become both practical and functional. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 17, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2018 Gary, Markits do an assembled sprung set, listed as: M4BufCoSECRoval Coach (SECR Clipped OVAL) Sprung Buffer (Pkt 4) £5.75 At nearly £20 inc postage for enough for 3 coaches, they aren't cheap, but they should be a direct fit - maybe a little fettling required. Once you decide to go screw link, it bites hard, you start realizing that sprung buffers aren't a gimmick, and become both practical and functional. Ideally, you will fit something between the coaches (I.e. within the rake) that has the buffers touching and compressing the springs very lightly. You can twist some wire to do this, so that it looks like a screw coupling from all but the closest range. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted January 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 17, 2018 Ah, but having the buffer heads touching will only work if you have got gentle curves and points that are of the longest radius possible, otherwise buffer locking will occur. The upside will be that your coaches will behave like a train, in as much as they will damp each other, and remove the rocking that we modellers get. I suppose what you will need to do is bring them together as close as you can, making sure that the wire is stiff enough to prevent the buffers touching when propelling. Much like the old tinplate Hornby O gauge loco couplings.... Andy g 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 17, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2018 There is a risk of buffer locking with tight curves, period. The coaches will be pushed round the curve at some point, with bufferlock followed by derailment. This problem is exacerbated in 00, not because of the gauge, but because of the amount of side play permitted by the wheel standards (aka as slop). The tension-lock couplings are not just couplings, but also take the buffing forces, hence the curved face to them. Ideally, the couplings would be mounted slightly further back, and have shorter links, to reduce the amount of slack. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted January 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) Another trick is a bit of wire soldered to the rear of the head, either running all the way across to the other buffer (but which makes it difficult to couple with screws), or just a little way along to effectively extend the head so that the other head cannot slip behind it. This latter method would only need to be about 4mm long and facing the coupling hook. Andy g Edited January 17, 2018 by uax6 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 17, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2018 Thanks for the input guys. All very helpful, the issue I will have with screw-links and spring buffers is when the layout was first built by Falmouth MRC it was built with set track points, and it has a quite sharp reverse curve into the fiddle yard. I will try and get a picture later that shows how sharp it is. I will get some of the Markit's buffers. That will be the easiest solutions. I just have to hope that Bachmann and Phoenix agree on what colour SECR carriages are!!! This makes buffer lock a real possibility. So I will play with that. possibly pushing the rake by hand through these parts of the layout with no couplings to see if they lock, if so then I will fit a wire behind the buffers to prevent it. I assume this only needs to be on one set of buffers per coupling? Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted January 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 17, 2018 Well you could remove one of the scale(ish) shackles and replace it with a stiff wire one the will hold the coaches just off their buffers at all times, which may get round it... Try one end first, but I'm guessing that as they swing out the unwired outer buffer will drop behind the wired one, so do both. Andy g 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 17, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2018 Thanks Andy, I will have a play when I get home, and again once I have got the sprung buffers. Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcm@gwr Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 I would suggest looking up Keen Systems, they do a Close Coupling System, which keeps them close together on the straight, but lets them move apart as they go around the curves. http://keen-systems.com/Couplings.html 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 17, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2018 Hi Jeff, Thanks for the link. The Birdcages do have Bachmanns standard close coupling system as per their Mk1's which is very similar to the Keen System. The issue I have is that I would like to use scale couplings on all my stock, as at some point my exhibition layout will be finished and a lot of it will also run on that. This is one of few times I am willing to accept the fiddly-ness for the sake of looks at exhibitions. Gary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
webbcompound Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Hi Jeff, Thanks for the link. The Birdcages do have Bachmanns standard close coupling system as per their Mk1's which is very similar to the Keen System. The issue I have is that I would like to use scale couplings on all my stock, as at some point my exhibition layout will be finished and a lot of it will also run on that. This is one of few times I am willing to accept the fiddly-ness for the sake of looks at exhibitions. Gary Try these. They look right, but they are rigid. Most of your rakes won't be split so these are a good solution. http://www.brassmasters.co.uk/coach_couplings.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 17, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2018 Thanks webcompound!! I had never seen them before. They look perfect!! Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) You will have to wait a little longer!! I need to go to bed first! I do however finish work nice and early on a Wednesday so you may well get a sample of my literary work sometime around mid-afternoon! Have 313's not been banned yet?! I had to get one all the way from Hampden Park to Brighton once! I considered walking instead!!!! YES!!! These are the secret agents I want!!!! The only problem is they might stand out a bit!!! Gary Hi Gary. My sister and I once had to travel all th eway from Bexhill-On-Sea (LBSC) to Brighton in the "wrong" part of a 2-Hap! (2X2-Hap, before they made up the 4-car 4-Cap by "permanently" coupling th e2X 2-Haps, luggage ends ouward, and painting th einner cabs blue (or black...doubt creeps in regards the actual colour!) "Wrong", in that it was the coach with no lavatory accomodation! Things began to get urgent just after leaving Polegate.... I do very much like the SECR coaches....but no way can we afford them! (Even in BR Crimson... .) Still, they are a must for Oak Hill.... I have now had a quick look thorough the Jan. Issue of Railway Modeller. The Pre-group layout is nice....it is basically an oval, with part behind a backscene, with a small terminus station in the "middle". I think it may be a good inspiration for more Pre-group modelling? Edited January 17, 2018 by Sarahagain 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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