Wright writes.....

[31A]

Three.  Two Bachmann incorrect length cattle wagons (labelled "ALE" and carrying barrels), and a Dapol (ex Airfix) LMS-style 12T van painted grey and sitting on an unbraked underframe.  I thought I'd got rid of all of them!

[Clem]

One, the notorious stretched 10' wheelbase  PO iron ore hopper. I've  been building its replacement on and off for the last seven years.

 

Which one is that, Andrew? - Do you mean the Charles Roberts 24T?

[Tony Wright]

Ahhh yes, the famous DCC x-ray vision of disaster. 

It must be a gift, Jesse,

 

However, it's usually the case that locos/carriages/wagons which behave perfectly when there are no visitors, then proceed to fall off the road when they arrive.

 

But then, the inverse is often true. A vehicle will derail when not being observed (usually, if not exclusively, in an awkward place). Cue investigation. The same vehicle in the same train will negotiate perfectly the place of derailment time after time again, under observation. Then, turn away, and it misbehaves again!

 

Seriously, all derailments should be investigated immediately. If dozens/scores of vehicles have ridden over a section of track, then one derails, bank on it being that vehicle which is the culprit. If most fall off, then model in a 'cruder' gauge. 

 

Not long ago, I had an A1's bogie derail on leaving the fiddle yard on a dead straight piece of track. 'What!', said I. 'That should be impossible'. I investigated, and 'dead' was the most appropriate word. A deceased queen wasp was lying across the four foot! 

 

I posted the bits off to you this morning.

Edited December 12, 2018 by Tony Wright

[Tony Wright]

The one that sheared off was on the outside when the loco was cornering, so it may well have been a combination of factors as you suggest. Anyway. I managed to put in a new crankpin and washer without disassembling the valve gear, and all's now well. One of the benefits of kit-building is that these repairs are relatively stress-free compared to fixing a damaged part in an RTR chassis!

Your most-generous cheque has been just posted off to CRUK, Al. Many thanks again.

 

Crank pins shearing? Luckily, I've not had that happen myself, but they must, in time, wear. Tony Geary once built an A1 which was so heavy that it destroyed its driven set of Romford crank pins. They were replaced, and it's been fine since.

 

I wonder whether brass is lower on Moh's hardness scale (I think that's the right spelling, but it's a long time since I studied geology) than nickel silver? Romford crank pins are brass, and most coupling rods (in kits) are nickel silver. If brass is less-hard, then it'll be the pins which wear, which, I suppose, is better, because they're easier to replace. 

 

The oldest locos I still possess are well into their 40s now, and none has sheared a pin. Yet! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

If the (backward-facing baseball) cap fits...

 

No, of course not! There's a huge difference between experts and "experts". I was thinking of the sort of folk at shows who love to proclaim what's wrong but never praise what's right.

Nor ever make anything themselves!

[Mallard60022]

It must be a gift, Jesse,

 

However, it's usually the case that locos/carriages/wagons which behave perfectly when there are no visitors, then proceed to fall off the road when they arrive.

 

But then, the inverse is often true. A vehicle will derail when not being observed (usually, if not exclusively, in an awkward place). Cue investigation. The same vehicle in the same train will negotiate perfectly the place of derailment time after time again, under observation. Then, turn away, and it misbehaves again!

 

Seriously, all derailments should be investigated immediately. If dozens/scores of vehicles have ridden over a section of track, then one derails, bank on it being that vehicle which is the culprit. If most fall off, then model in a 'cruder' gauge. 

 

Not long ago, I had an A1's bogie derail on leaving the fiddle yard on a dead straight piece of track. 'What!', said I. 'That should be impossible'. I investigated, and 'dead' was the most appropriate word. A deceased queen wasp was lying across the four foot! 

 

I posted the bits off to you this morning.

 

Tony, why does he need some dead Wasp? Is it useful for weathering Vans?  

P

[drmditch]

In relation to goods/freight vehicles:-

I think that there are very few satisfactory vehicles available RTR, certainly for pre-1948 Prototypes.

 

But why, Ladies and Gentlemen should that be a problem?

 

Are we not makers of models?

Do we not have excellent access to most interesting reference material?

Are we not provided with a range of kits and components?

Do we not have raw-materials in metals and plastics and wood and card?

 

Do not have workbenches, with knives and saws and drills and broaches and cunning little hammers?

(And even a selection of soldering irons!)

 

Even some of the incorrect RTR mouldings can be used to provide the basis for a re-worked vehicle. (My 'Make do and Mend' thread on the LNER forum shows some of my examples.)

 

I may not have the skills and/or experience to build a large locomotive with the rapidity and accuracy of my betters on this forum, but as soon as I can spend more time out of bed, then there is an ex-GE van in Mr Tatlow's Vol.1 which has been tempting me for ages. What, being temporarily housebound, is a better way of spending a winter's day?

 

We may not have those skills which in old days, built heaven and earth, (From scratch)

That which we are, we are

One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate (and financial limitations)

But strong in will, to do, to seek, to find, and not to yield. (Especially to those who say it can't be done!)

 

With apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

[LNERandBR]

I find that one solution to 'phantom' derailments is to turn the offending vehicle in the formation round or change it's position in the train.

 

This is especially true for exhibition layouts where trains run fine at home but then randomly fall off upon arrival at a show. This is why with our clubs layout I like to stock up as much as possible on the Friday. Then Saturday morning before the show opens can be used to iron out issues.

 

However if something continually derails despite the above measures being taken it gets evicted.

[Barry Ten]

 

 

We may not have those skills which in old days, built heaven and earth, (From scratch)

That which we are, we are

One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate (and financial limitations)

But strong in will, to do, to seek, to find, and not to yield. (Especially to those who say it can't be done!)

 

With apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

 

I met a modeller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless planks of wood

Stand in the shed. . . . Near them, on the floor,

Half sunk a shattered wagon lies...."

 

With apologies to Shelley

Edited December 12, 2018 by Barry Ten

[Enterprisingwestern]

However, the main point of wearing a baseball cap backwards is to wind up grumpy old men... 

 

Your point being??!!

 

Mike.

[MJI]

I find that wagons are pretty poorly represented. BR is just as bad as the companies.

 

My sources are Parkside, Airfix, Cambrian, Lima, Hornby, Chivers.

 

Vac stuff 90% Parkside & Airfix

Departmental Cambrian

BR Air Cambrian Hornby

P/O Air Lima

 

So what have I had to make

 

MCV MXV, 16T minerals, Airfix, top flap removal X to 4 shoe vac brakes, C to 8 shoe clasp (AFAIR)

MSV Tippler, LOTS of Parkside and I still need transfers.

HTV hoppers, Parkside and modified Parkside for vac braked early bodies

STV, LWB tubes, Parkside with white metal bearings for the ones I have seen rather than the Parkside ones

SPV, plate, Older Parkside modified body to BR with MJT components and a mix of brakes to make a BR plate

Vanwides, Parkside

CPV PCV, Cement, Airfix and detailed using photos I took.

 

Common wagons few RTR or even as kit supplied

 

I am currently repairing a pile of unfinished broken Cambrian bogie flats with new buffers and glued solid bogies.

 

Biggest expense is locos, need another 47 for the MSV set and another 37 for the steel wagons

[Headstock]

Which one is that, Andrew? - Do you mean the Charles Roberts 24T?

 

Afternoon Clem,

 

it purports to be the Charles Roberts design, in reality it is more of a figment of the imagination. I know that you have produced some fantastic examples of the real wagon.

[Mallard60022]

Just in case I am indisposed I shall take a moment to wish you all well for 2019 and thank you for the information, wonderful photographs, fun and friendship.

Sincerely

The Duck

[Bucoops]

Just in case I am indisposed I shall take a moment to wish you all well for 2019 and thank you for the information, wonderful photographs, fun and friendship.

Sincerely

The Duck

 

Indisposed? Do you need to see the Quack?

[Tony Wright]

Just in case I am indisposed I shall take a moment to wish you all well for 2019 and thank you for the information, wonderful photographs, fun and friendship.

Sincerely

The Duck

Is it that time of year already?

 

Humbug!

 

Most sincerely.

 

And, thanks for your friendship, too. 

 

T. 

[Headstock]

Re derailments, the piece of advice I was given when I was starting out on this model railway malarkey, by those in the know. If a loco or piece of stock derails it is indicative of a problem with the track or the vehicle, it doesn't matter if it occurred on the first run, the tenth or the twentieth. Taking that advice onboard, I think that my stock has a good reputation for reliability, it is not by luck, rather the application of sound basic principals, a solid maintenance regime and sorting out any problem as quickly as possible.

At a recent exhibition, one of my locomotives parted from its train on the front of the layout, I was mortified, it had never happened before, totally embarrassing. Frustratingly, it couldn't be address immediately because the train was back into the run up line and inaccessible until it reached the departure point again. The problem was addressed, a bent coupling, my fault for not missing it in preparation. The problem was not apparent in the test running prior to the opening of the exhibition but it was there waiting to cock up in front of the maximum amount of people in front of the layout. Excluding extraordinary circumstances beyond a individuals control, things don't just happen, there is always a cause and an effect and a solution worth investigating.

Edited December 12, 2018 by Headstock

[Clive Mortimore]

Over the years I have concluded there are three reasons for derailments.

 

Track.....normally associated with more than one vehicle playing up. 

Stock.....normally associated with one vehicle playing up at several places.

Me.....I am the one who lays the track, builds the models and operates them.

 

The first two are easy to sort out,  the third everyone has given up on.

[Clem]

Afternoon Clem,

 

it purports to be the Charles Roberts design, in reality it is more of a figment of the imagination. I know that you have produced some fantastic examples of the real wagon.

 

Hi Andrew. Yes, I've done a few, mostly with Parkside underframes, cut and shut a la Geoff Kent. But to be fair, the hopper shape is close to being correct at the ends but it is just elongated to fit on a 10ft wheelbase as the RTR boys always used to do. Cutting and shutting to correct the length is not too onerous. The main difficulty with them is getting the height down to correct level.

[Tony Wright]

 

I finished off the Parkside bogie brick wagon this morning, adding transfers and weathering. I was a bit too clumsy with the latter (caused by my usual impatience) and dislodged one of the transfers (it hadn't fully-dried). It's just about fudged back into position. 

 

Though I definitely prefer working in metal, I have to say building this was an absolute doddle. It is irritating waiting for the solvent to dry/evaporate, and even more irritating when something you thought had been glued in place securely (a brake lever) just pinged off on contact with a finger (that would never happen with soldered metal); but, it runs really well and can be shunted back into a siding (I glued lead slugs underneath the body). 

 

Would its type have run through LB? Perhaps on the way for repair? 

 

Building it set my mind back to the same sort of wagon I bought in 1959; from Trickett's, in Garden Lane, in Chester - nearly 60 years ago! 

 

 

And, believe it or not, this is it! That same one. How it's still here is a mystery, because my brother had all our train set stuff after we 'grew up'. My lads played with it on their own train set (they're now in the mid/late-30s), and it's just sort of been sitting (not sat!) in a cardboard box on a shelf in my workshop(s) for decades. 

 

Comparing it to the Parkside wagon, the body moulding is extraordinarily good for something near six decades old. I wonder is it worth 'improving'? The bogies have the most-awful wheels, and there are two great holes in the floor where they pivot. Is it possible to get replacement bogies? Has anyone else used these oldies to make a half-decent 'layout wagon'? 

 

Pictures, please. 

[Mallard60022]

brick wagon 02.jpg

 

I finished off the Parkside bogie brick wagon this morning, adding transfers and weathering. I was a bit too clumsy with the latter (caused by my usual impatience) and dislodged one of the transfers (it hadn't fully-dried). It's just about fudged back into position. 

 

Though I definitely prefer working in metal, I have to say building this was an absolute doddle. It is irritating waiting for the solvent to dry/evaporate, and even more irritating when something you thought had been glued in place securely (a brake lever) just pinged off on contact with a finger (that would never happen with soldered metal); but, it runs really well and can be shunted back into a siding (I glued lead slugs underneath the body). 

 

Would its type have run through LB? Perhaps on the way for repair? 

 

Building it set my mind back to the same sort of wagon I bought in 1959; from Trickett's, in Garden Lane, in Chester - nearly 60 years ago! 

 

Tri-ang bogie brick wagon.jpg

 

And, believe it or not, this is it! That same one. How it's still here is a mystery, because my brother had all our train set stuff after we 'grew up'. My lads played with it on their own train set (they're now in the mid/late-30s), and it's just sort of been sitting (not sat!) in a cardboard box on a shelf in my workshop(s) for decades. 

 

Comparing it to the Parkside wagon, the body moulding is extraordinarily good for something near six decades old. I wonder is it worth 'improving'? The bogies have the most-awful wheels, and there are two great holes in the floor where they pivot. Is it possible to get replacement bogies? Has anyone else used these oldies to make a half-decent 'layout wagon'? 

 

Pictures, please. 

 

Go on Tony, I bet you can make that look damn fine. I believe there are some kit bogies (or at least cast parts?) that some will tell you about.

ATB

Phil

[gr.king]

Diamond frame bogies from Ratio or Cambrian, specify LNER type for the latter supplier. Alternatively, push the steel axles out carefully from the Triang bogies, drill right through for plain pin-point bearings, file off the excess protrusion of the axleboxes, fit new wheel sets and bearings then add some new outer faces to the axleboxes.

 

If you change the bogies you do get the opportunity to set the ride height to scale rather than to Triang standard of course....

 

Add better buffers, vac pipes and scale couplings too?

Edited December 13, 2018 by gr.king

[AndyID]

brick wagon 02.jpg

 

I finished off the Parkside bogie brick wagon this morning, adding transfers and weathering. I was a bit too clumsy with the latter (caused by my usual impatience) and dislodged one of the transfers (it hadn't fully-dried). It's just about fudged back into position. 

 

Though I definitely prefer working in metal, I have to say building this was an absolute doddle. It is irritating waiting for the solvent to dry/evaporate, and even more irritating when something you thought had been glued in place securely (a brake lever) just pinged off on contact with a finger (that would never happen with soldered metal); but, it runs really well and can be shunted back into a siding (I glued lead slugs underneath the body). 

 

Would its type have run through LB? Perhaps on the way for repair? 

 

Building it set my mind back to the same sort of wagon I bought in 1959; from Trickett's, in Garden Lane, in Chester - nearly 60 years ago! 

 

Tri-ang bogie brick wagon.jpg

 

And, believe it or not, this is it! That same one. How it's still here is a mystery, because my brother had all our train set stuff after we 'grew up'. My lads played with it on their own train set (they're now in the mid/late-30s), and it's just sort of been sitting (not sat!) in a cardboard box on a shelf in my workshop(s) for decades. 

 

Comparing it to the Parkside wagon, the body moulding is extraordinarily good for something near six decades old. I wonder is it worth 'improving'? The bogies have the most-awful wheels, and there are two great holes in the floor where they pivot. Is it possible to get replacement bogies? Has anyone else used these oldies to make a half-decent 'layout wagon'? 

 

Pictures, please. 

 

Tri-ang made some really good stuff. The detail was excellent for the time, and it was very robust. I still have a lot of bits from the fifties.

[great central]

Tri-ang made some really good stuff. The detail was excellent for the time, and it was very robust. I still have a lot of bits from the fifties.

.

 

Thread here including upgraded brick wagons

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/137519-improving-a-triang-Hornby-mk1/page-2

[Tony Wright]

Interesting - many thanks.

 

The brick wagons on the thread have the 'I' to the right of the central upright, and 'RETURN TO FLETTON' underneath 'BRICK'. That's the same as illustrated in Peter Tatlow's book on LNER wagons. 

 

However, I've modelled mine in BR days, so was the 'I' to the left of the central upright in BR days, and the 'RETURN' in the bottom right hand corner - like I've done it? The way Tri-ang did it? 

 

Anyone got a picture, please? 

 

I think I've probably built my last wagon! 

[31A]

Three pictures of two Brick Wagons in BR livery here:

 

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/lneropenwood

 

In each case the "I" of "BRICK" is to the right of the central upright.