Wright writes.....

[John Besley]

On another point does anyone have a use for 2 spare Hornby coach bodies free to a good home. i've used the chassis and boigies for a couple of coaches I am building

 

if so send me a message

 

 

 

Edited February 1 by John Besley

[Bernard Lamb]

This turned up on my facebook page this morning. Seeing that this seems to be the place for information about the history of these machines I will post it here. No doubt more knowledgeable folk can provide chapter and verse on were it is going for its holidays. Apologies re lack of copyright information.

Bernard

 

 

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

This turned up on my facebook page this morning. Seeing that this seems to be the place for information about the history of these machines I will post it here. No doubt more knowledgeable folk can provide chapter and verse on were it is going for its holidays. Apologies re lack of copyright information.

Bernard

 

 

Good morning Bernard,

 

Liverpool? Not going on holiday to, but from.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited February 2 by Tony Wright
to add something

[Chas Levin]

27 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Bernard,

 

Liverpool? Not going on holiday to, but from.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Morning all, my first thought was 4472 going off to Australia but I can't distibuish the number. Terrific looking photo though, great composition with all the girders, the crane and the ship dwarfing a loco we're used to seeing as the largest thing in the picture!

[John Besley]

Is that when 4472 was shipped of to USA in 1969 as she has a crest on her cabside instead of the loco number, which was on one of her two tenders

[Chas Levin]

6 minutes ago, John Besley said:

Is that when 4472 was shipped of to USA in 1969 as she has a crest on her cabside instead of the loco number, which was on one of her two tenders

 

Well spotted, I think that's right. I'd been puzzling over the cabside marking and of course it's not a number at all!

[Michael Edge]

Yes it's Liverpool with the floating crane Mammoth.

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Yes it's Liverpool with the floating crane Mammoth.

Thanks Mike,

 

The reason I thought it was Liverpool (not knowing of the MAMMOTH crane) was that the buildings across the Mersey looked to be those in Birkenhead (where I taught for three years).

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Bernard Lamb]

Thanks folks for the folow up comments. There is a video on ytube The full stoty of Flying Scotsman's trip to the USA, and it was 1969. Liverpool to Boston on the Saxonia. I was not aware of the details, nor that it was a political tour backed by Harold Wilson, nor to the extent of the stock that also made the journey.

Bernard

[Tony Wright]

Regular readers might recall my showing this on Wws some little time ago.............

 

 

It's a rather battered Jamieson hand-cut kit for a Thompson A2/1. It was given to me by a friend because it was going in a dustbin!

 

Now, despite my claims of not being sentimental, I've taken pity on it...........

 

 

Straightened it up, repaired it as necessary, made a buffer beam for it, made a set of frames for it (PDK) and I'm making a South Eastern Finecast A2 tender for it. 

 

It'll be stripped in due course (it's soldered together) and repainted to become 60509 WAVERLEY. 

 

Why would I bother with such a thing? Because I'm the reason this Jamieson kit came about. I commissioned it from Kings Cross/EAMES in 1976, the cost being £27.00! What that is in today's money, I've no idea, but a fair bit.

 

So, at nearly 50 years old............

 

 

My DUKE OF ROTHESAY will have a classmate! She's seen here very early on in Bytham's construction. 

 

I painted this one, but I won't be painting 60509. I saw 60508 but none of the other A2/1s, so WAVERLEY will be on a running-in turn, fresh from the Plant; the only occasion when  Scottish-based ex-LNER Pacifics came this far south, other than the 'Lizzie' 64B A4s in the summer.  

 

 

 

 

[chris p bacon]

11 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

. I commissioned it from Kings Cross/EAMES in 1976, the cost being £27.00! What that is in today's money, I've no idea, but a fair bit.

According to the BoE it’s £174.12. 

[Chas Levin]

2 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

According to the BoE it’s £174.12. 

Probably what a (late lamented) DJH kit of one might now cost, had there been one... Nice job saving it from the bin, Tony.

[richard i]

My slow modeling. A D7 in LNER language.
It is a mr king kit of body parts. A scratch built chassis ( possible now TW showed me how on my 12AT.) 

Advice from high level on how to get a motor and gear box to fit.

Painted lining except the boiler bands and tender sides. I did not fancy trying to successfully do the odd shapes with transfers, and paint is less likely to fall off.

Off topic of ECML, but on thread. 
For that matter everything in the picture has been built. The buildings before the r-t-p ones were available.

Poor photography as the iPad didn’t want to use its flash to take the wheels out of shadow.

Richard

Edited February 3 by richard i

[john new]

18 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

Thanks folks for the folow up comments. There is a video on ytube The full stoty of Flying Scotsman's trip to the USA, and it was 1969. Liverpool to Boston on the Saxonia. I was not aware of the details, nor that it was a political tour backed by Harold Wilson, nor to the extent of the stock that also made the journey.

Bernard

There is also an excellent pdf article about the tour. See https://www.academia.edu/23561018/Flying_Scotsman_modernity_nostalgia_and_Britain_s_cult_of_the_past_  Free to download/read.

[Michael Edge]

11 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

According to the BoE it’s £174.12. 

Still a lot cheaper than commissioning an etch design today.

[Tony Wright]

For those suffering from insomnia............

 

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AiRP3jVN2v0pszzrSEL92Be9BFSC?e=w0yeuF

[Tony Wright]

The 'resurrected' Jamieson hand-cut A2/1 is now all but complete.

 

Here's the PDK chassis I made for it.

 

The stubby Portescap is ideal because there was precious little space left in the body; it's packed with lead!

 

 

Just a few bits to add, but she's very happy on this 13-car express. 

 

 

I wonder how many layouts have A2/1s passing each other, let alone two Jamieson hand-cut ones? 

 

 

40 wagons (several built from metal kits) were just a breeze........

 

The front numberplate is very well glued in place, so it'll just be covered with 60509 after painting.

 

 

Worth it? I hope so.

 

Considering it was inches from the dustbin, then it's a reasonably satisfying conclusion.

 

 

 

 

[Dylan Sanderson]

Afternoon everyone,

 

I'm still on the hunt for some Markits 6'2" 18 Spoke LNER Driving wheels, I can't seem to find them anywhere! Got to a point with my NER G class where I can't continue without them!

 

If anyone has any sat in a draw and you don't need them anymore, please direct message me so we can discuss a price. I only need 4, gauge not important 😀

 

many thanks,

 

Dylan

[cctransuk]

36 minutes ago, Dylan Sanderson said:

Afternoon everyone,

 

I'm still on the hunt for some Markits 6'2" 18 Spoke LNER Driving wheels, I can't seem to find them anywhere! Got to a point with my NER G class where I can't continue without them!

 

If anyone has any sat in a draw and you don't need them anymore, please direct message me so we can discuss a price. I only need 4, gauge not important 😀

 

many thanks,

 

Dylan

 

It's seemingly difficult to source ANY Markits products!

 

I need a few axles of their LOWMAC wheels, but they can't be had for love nor money.

 

I know that Gibson do them, but I find that their narrower wheel treads drop into the crossing gap of Code 72 track.

 

CJI.

Edited February 4 by cctransuk

[Tony Teague]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

For those suffering from insomnia............

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AiRP3jVN2v0pszzrSEL92Be9BFSC?e=w0yeuF

Excellent video Tony, and witness to the perfect running qualities of the locos that you have built.

Sad that all kit-built locos don't perform in this way (in my limted experience!).

Tony

[Tony Wright]

21 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

Excellent video Tony, and witness to the perfect running qualities of the locos that you have built.

Sad that all kit-built locos don't perform in this way (in my limted experience!).

Tony

Thanks Tony,

 

I suppose I could be described as a zealot when it comes to running on my model railway; the running of the stock as well as the locos. 

 

I'm lucky in that I have scenic-side trackwork made/laid by the best in the business - Norman Solomon, who's due to depart these shores before long for a life in Australia. With good track, then good running should be relatively easy to attain; as long as the locos/stock are to the 'same' standard. 

 

I've gone on at length at how many kit-built locos pass through my hands which don't work. Not to the standard I insist upon, anyway. Many look quite good, well finished and accurate in appearance with quite often a high standard of painting. Then, I put them on the test track and it's a tale of woe! What I've found is that most (yes, most!) are noisy, jerky, rough, incapable of negotiating even large radii, subject to short circuits and derailments. Why? Most are built too 'tight'. The drive is not free enough, the bearings have not been reamed, coupling rods have a tight spot or two (the excuse that they'll run-in is twaddle!), pick-ups are a hopeless muddle, clearances are inadequate (a frequent fault is a loco-to-tender coupling which will only work on dead straight track) and 'thoroughly-tested' means that they'll go from one end of a yard of dead straight track, and back, but only just! And, only under full power.

 

In the main, I've got quite a few to work, and then sold them (in good causes). My 'donation' to these causes is my time, as is Mo's. Those where it would take a complete mechanical rebuild to get them running well, I sell to those capable of doing just that; at a price commensurate with that imperative. 

 

I know a few modellers who've now gone completely RTR, such is their dissatisfaction with kit-builds, some of which have been commissions.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

[jamieb]

2 hours ago, Dylan Sanderson said:

Afternoon everyone,

 

I'm still on the hunt for some Markits 6'2" 18 Spoke LNER Driving wheels, I can't seem to find them anywhere! Got to a point with my NER G class where I can't continue without them!

 

If anyone has any sat in a draw and you don't need them anymore, please direct message me so we can discuss a price. I only need 4, gauge not important 😀

 

many thanks,

 

Dylan

Theres a set of Sharmans on eBay which looks the correct size,depends if you're happy to use push on wheels? 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155954217248?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=91BfgljoQsS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=Kucr-G-lStW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I suppose I could be described as a zealot when it comes to running on my model railway; the running of the stock as well as the locos. 

I really couldn't agree more, Tony!

 

One of the things that I find beneficial when making a chassis in OO, is the option to use Romford or Markits wheels, with their self-quartering attributes.

 

I have made P4 chassis with 'push-on' wheels by Ultrascale and Gibson, but somehow the added task of ensuring that the wheels are correctly quartered forms an additional 'hurdle to overcome' in my mind. I do use a GW wheel press, but I have also got wheels to quarter 'by eye', but I find the whole business a bit fraught and always find myself wishing that you could get Markits wheels in P4 as well...

 

I had built my fair share of OO locos before I started doing P4 and they all had Romford or Markits wheels. Their ability to self-quarter was indeed a great comfort.

 

So, when I started my most recent OO loco (a W.R. 16XX pannier with an old Cotswold body and the new etched chassis) in 2020, I once again bought a set of the appropriate Markits drivers.

 

As I normally do with OO locos these days, I built the chassis with single-beam compensation, which I find is a real help to current collection. The chassis kit (designed for NuCast Partners) by Justin Newitt went together well and is a joy to build.

 

But I just couldn't get the loco to run smoothly. Try as I might, there was a persistent tight spot, which defied all the usual methods to induce smoother running.

 

I was getting very frustrated and in the end, put the chassis to one side and started again, using the second chassis kit that I'd bought (originally for a P4 version). This time, just to rule out any possible problem with the compensation that might have been affecting the running, I built the chassis rigid.

 

But still the same tight spot persisted. By now, I was tearing my hair out and inventing new forms of bad language...

 

Eventually, I had an unexpected light bulb moment... - what if the problem was that the Markits driving wheels were not quartered properly? But that can't happen, right? Surely, they're designed to ensure that the wheels are quartered correctly, aren't they?....

 

Each axle was taken out, dismantled and reassembled and thoroughly checked. On one of the axles, I thought I spotted the two wheels out-of-quarter. An impossibility, I thought.

 

Nevertheless, I took a file to the steel corners of the axle end and rounded all four, just slightly. I then re-mounted the wheel and put the axle nut on to a 'loose tightness'. I was then able to gently twist the errant wheel until it appeared - by eye - to be correctly quartered and tightened the axle nut up fully.

 

When fully assembled again, the chassis ran as sweet as a nut! The problem had been that one set of Markits drivers all along.

 

I replaced the compromised wheelset with all new wheels and axle, which quartered correctly first time.

 

I certainly haven't built as many kits as you, Tony, or as many as some other contributors to this thread, no doubt, but in all the dozens that I have built over the years, this was the first time I've ever encountered a problem like this.

 

I wonder if anyone else has had this experience?

 

 

Edit - it wasn't a major tight spot, only noticeable at slow, shunting speeds (which on a small layout is all important, though...).

 

 

Edited February 4 by Captain Kernow

[Captain Kernow]

Now well-behaved!

[ROY@34F]

Yes Captain . It happened to me many years ago , probably the late seventies when they were Romfords ; before Markits I would say . The milled ends were well out of quarter on one axle . 

Regards , Roy