The Night Mail

[AndyID]

30 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

If I recall, the original Hornby Dublo Deltic had to make do with just 2 axles and some traction tyres 😁

 

Traction tires might make a big comeback when we finally get to battery powered radio-control and get rid of all this DCC nonsense 😆

[Dave John]

Why would a Lidl battery powered loco with twin axle hung traction motors, primary springing and secondary compensation need traction tyres ? 

 

 

 

Less than half the price of any modern rtr, but much more fun. 

 

Stuff it , I'll build another one .... 

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, Dave John said:

Why would a Lidl battery powered loco with twin axle hung traction motors, primary springing and secondary compensation need traction tyres ? 

 

 

 

Less than half the price of any modern rtr, but much more fun. 

 

Stuff it , I'll build another one .... 

 

Glaswegians are OK but Renfrew boys rule!

[MrWolf]

33 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Traction tires might make a big comeback when we finally get to battery powered radio-control and get rid of all this DCC nonsense 😆

 

As long as nobody goes back to making those godawful knurled wheels...

 

[AndyID]

1 minute ago, MrWolf said:

 

As long as nobody goes back to making those godawful knurled wheels...

 

 

I had some of those on a Tri-ang DMU. The wheels are long gone now but I still have the DMU.

[MrWolf]

1 minute ago, AndyID said:

 

I had some of those on a Tri-ang DMU. The wheels are long gone now but I still have the DMU.

 

I still have one of those DMUs somewhere, it's definitely still got the piecrust wheels. I might at some point dig it out and modernise the running gear a little. 

I've got a Lima GWR railcar on which I've swapped the bacon slicers for a set of modern replacements.

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

I still have one of those DMUs somewhere, it's definitely still got the piecrust wheels. I might at some point dig it out and modernise the running gear a little. 

I've got a Lima GWR railcar on which I've swapped the bacon slicers for a set of modern replacements.

 

A very long time ago you could get nice wheels mounted on nylon axles with an integral nylon gear. Might have been from Peco but it was so long ago I cannot remember. These days is possible to print a gear in hard-wearing plastic.

[jamie92208]

8 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

Isn't there a 6th law that involves skin and plastic sports pitches?

 

I thought that was really about flesh and tarmac. 

 

Jamie

[Hroth]

7 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

As long as nobody goes back to making those godawful knurled wheels...

 

 

The knurled wheels are good on the Triang Dock Authority shunter, they make it sound like a "real diesel" when its moving!

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I thought that was really about flesh and tarmac. 

 

Jamie

I think you've got that confused with gravel and skin Jamie.

[Oldddudders]

19 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I think you've got that confused with gravel and skin Jamie.

I've heard that gravel-rash is really quite uncomfortable under a particular piece of male skin. 

[Happy Hippo]

9 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I've heard that gravel-rash is really quite uncomfortable under a particular piece of male skin. 

I am told that some gentlemen do not have that option.

[Dave Hunt]

Good morning. I haven't posted since last Monday when I was sitting at Malaga airport waiting for a delayed flight home. As it turned out the delay was only an hour and a half but the captain obviously tweaked the throttles an extra quarter of an inch and we were only 45 minutes late into Manchester. Unfortunately when we got home it was to receive the news that a good friend here in Shropshire had died a few days earlier and an ex-schoolmate had also died while we were away. That kind of knocked the stuffing out of me and then on Thursday Jill went down with a bad cold. Hence I have not really been in the mood for TNM and haven't caught up with what has been going on so forgive me if I haven't replied to something.

 

Dave   

[Happy Hippo]

Dave, I'm sorry to read that the return to UK was marred with bad news.

 

I hope Jill recovers from her cold soon.  Nyda hates getting a cold as she suffers badly if she gets one. 

 

Imagine man flu, but 10 times worse.

 

I've just taken delivery of a load of timber: Some ply sheets to bolster existing shed flooring, and some posts and rails in order to make a Japanese style archway.

 

As is usual with any project I undertake, I will have to unload the shed into the garage before I can cut the ply and lay it.  Then it will need some form of sealing before I can reload the shed.

 

Of course, I need to do some tidying up in the garage prior to unloading the shed.

 

It ought to keep me amused until Boxing Day.🤣

[SM42]

SM42 Towers is a hive of activity  

 

Mrs SM42 is off to visit her folks during half term and I'm being left to hold the paintbrush. 

 

As the people who pay my wages inconveniently insist I go to work I will have about 3 whole days to the kitchen. 

 

I may be a little busy next week.

 

I'd like to get some  modelling done as well in preparation for the NEC as I will have unopposed 7 day  access to the dining room table as a work bench. 

 

Andy

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

31 minutes ago, SM42 said:

SM42 Towers is a hive of activity  

 

Mrs SM42 is off to visit her folks during half term and I'm being left to hold the paintbrush. 

 

As the people who pay my wages inconveniently insist I go to work I will have about 3 whole days to the kitchen. 

 

I may be a little busy next week.

 

I'd like to get some  modelling done as well in preparation for the NEC as I will have unopposed 7 day  access to the dining room table as a work bench. 

 

Andy

 

 

Can't you claim you were called into work for emergency cover for the entire time Mrs SM42 was away?

[SM42]

11 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Can't you claim you were called into work for emergency cover for the entire time Mrs SM42 was away?

 

I could, but then I  would still have to do it, so as I can tolerate a higher level of mess than Mrs SM42,  now is the perfect time. 

 

I can cope with the cooker hood in bits and dust sheets all over. 

 

She might last 3 or 4 hours. 

 

It was bad enough when all the furniture was in one room for 3 weeks while the east wing was built.

 

The kitchen in bits would push her over the edge

 

And you don't want to go there.

 

Andy

Edited October 28, 2023 by SM42

[J. S. Bach]

19 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

I still have one of those DMUs somewhere, it's definitely still got the piecrust wheels. I might at some point dig it out and modernise the running gear a little. 

I've got a Lima GWR railcar on which I've swapped the bacon slicers for a set of modern replacements.

I wonder if those are the same as what we call pizza cutters over here. 🙃

 

EDIT: And the couplers called lobster claws. 😉 MTH @15-year-old lobster claw on the right coupled to a 65+-year-old ScaleCraft O scale coupler:

 

See, they do couple but not very well when actually running on the layout; reverse curves are a witch!

Edited October 28, 2023 by J. S. Bach

[DaveF]

In the last few days I've been doing a small amount of work on a secondhand 0 gauge North British van built from a Parkside kit which I bought recently from a trader who is a friend.  To me the colour looks a bit dark when compared with old photos, but I decided to ignore it as colours often darkened with time.

 

The roof looked as though it needed repainting, it had a sticky white patch.  Wiping it over with sticky stuff remover followed by a wipe with a damp cloth solved it - it was the remains of a price label.

 

Everything below the solebars had been painted brown, almost GWR chocolate, a quick coat of matt black sorted it.  The transfers were quite well done, so I left them alone.  It lacks a running number, that might get done when I next have transfers out on my desk.

 

Then I put it on the track, or at least tried to.  One wheel was OK but the wheel at the opposite end of each axle had its flange on top of the rail.  On checking the back to backs they were set to 32mm, no wonder it wouldn't sit on the track.  I took the wheels out and tried to move one wheel in on its axle to no avail, I also found that one wheel wasn't quite true.

 

In the end I put in a new set which I had handy.  It is fine now.  But how could anyone set up the back to backs so badly?

 

Fortunately I had paid so little for it that the cost of the new wheels didn't matter.

 

David

Edited October 28, 2023 by DaveF

[Happy Hippo]

I have done no railway modelling since I got back from France, although I have been purchasing.

 

Those TNM'rs with a brain larger than a goldfish will recall I bought a rod and strip storage unit from EMBA which I was very pleased with.

 

This has now been joined by their sheet storage unit which is currently sitting on the dining table with all the slot together parts fitted:  It just needs the sides and the drawers glued together.

 

Then, there was the totally indulgent purchase of a suitable steam loco for working the industrial side of Pantmawr North.  I had been considering a Dapol J94 when they become available, but NHY 581 was bleating about 7 mm scale in East Anglia and wanted to get rid of his early BR liveried B4 tank loco.  How could I be so cruel as to ignore him in his hour of need?  However, the loco will travel a roundabout route to get to Telfland, as it will be placed in the care of br2975 until I can collect it on my next trip into the land of plenty  twenty.  I now need a decent back story to explain the arrival of an ex SR loco into the S Wales Valleys.

 

Then, for some reason, I decided I needed a dark coat for the occasions where wearing a duffel coat, or a waterproof smock might not be smart enough.

 

I'm now all spent out, so my therapy tomorrow will be continuing the work in the garage, as this afternoon's efforts consisted mainly of taking quick peeks at the MRN collection destined for Hunt Towers.

 

[Canal Digger]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

It just needs the sides and the drawers glued together.

 

I would recommend that you don't glue the sides to the drawers 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

However, the loco will travel a roundabout route to get to Telfland, as it will be placed in the care of br2975 until I can collect it on my next trip into the land of plenty  twenty.

 

 

Will you be able to avoid the tollau a chartref  ?

[AndyID]

Do pinpoint axles reduce friction?

[Happy Hippo]

27 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Will you be able to avoid the tollau a chartref  ?

The Welsh border is more akin to a colander.