Wright writes.....

[t-b-g]

1 minute ago, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Tony,

 

Do you remember Ynysibil Fach (my spelling is probably miles out!), a South Wales colliery layout in O Gauge built by the Gibbons brothers?

 

At one show at Ipswich, short of operators one day, elder son Tom was press-ganged into operating its working coal tipplers. By the day's end, he looked exactly like my late uncle Percy just coming off shift (he was a miner at Dinnington pit). 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Hello Tony. I do remember it well. I saw it a couple of times, at York and elsewhere. I couldn't have told you whether it had working coal loading or not. It didn't make that much of an impression on me. Tom's experience would be another reason for not bothering with such things on a model.

 

For a short while, in the late 1970s, I worked at the Orgreave coke works. I have never seen anything on a model that comes even close to the experience of seeing their hoppers working close up. The whole area around the hoppers was caked in a thick layer of dust, which when wet became the most horrible black slimy sludge! Yet I have seen models of such facilities with relatively clean ballasted track.

 

 

[MJI]

I have been stripping and recycling all my old railway magazines, going through early 2000s.

 

I can spot a TW loco build at first glance now.

 

Keeping between 0 and 10 pages per magazine.

 

Oh and I can get in my garage.

[APOLLO]

As I mentioned David Jenkinson earlier, I was doing a bit of Googling and found this interesting little video.

 

 

Brit15

[polybear]

I went to the Ally Pally exhibition today; whilst speaking to someone (the Boss?) on the Squires Stand he told me that they are in the process of developing their own range of 4mm self-quartering Loco wheels "that'll be better than the Scalelink wheels".

Could be good news indeed.

[Buhar]

6 minutes ago, polybear said:

I went to the Ally Pally exhibition today; whilst speaking to someone (the Boss?) on the Squires Stand he told me that they are in the process of developing their own range of 4mm self-quartering Loco wheels "that'll be better than the Scalelink wheels".

Could be good news indeed.

I wonder if a split axle version might be considered.

Alan 

[cctransuk]

3 minutes ago, polybear said:

I went to the Ally Pally exhibition today; whilst speaking to someone (the Boss?) on the Squires Stand he told me that they are in the process of developing their own range of 4mm self-quartering Loco wheels "that'll be better than the Scalelink wheels".

Could be good news indeed.

 

That is encouraging - but akin to reinventing the wheel!

 

There exists - in theory if not in practice - the best range of user-friendly wheels, plus a massive range of incomparable fittings, that has ever existed.

 

The problem is that, for whatever reason, availability seems to be NIL - and no-one is saying why!

 

I find this to be immensely frustrating, and must be a serious disincentive to the kit and scratch-building hobby.

 

SOMEONE must know what the problem is, and I cannot believe that it is beyond the whit of man to find a way of putting all the immense skill and work that went into the Markits range back on the market.

 

After all - brand new, 1:1 steam locos are being produced - what we are talking about here is fine miniature engineering; very skilled, but not beyond the ability of many suitably trained persons.

 

If the existing proprietor cannot, or will not, sort out the supply problems I would suggest that what appears to be a conspiracy of silence is not serving well the greater railway modelling community.

 

CJI.

[Dunsignalling]

6 hours ago, PMP said:

I use plastic moulded loads, they have steel glued underneath and lift out with a magnet. They are about 1mm narrower all round to ease getting them in and out and top is covered with real coal for realism. Not ideal but pragmatic. I’m working on real loading for a washery, with the reality of it being a pita to unload them, and the sheer volume of material required to load each 21t wagon.

Mine just have a support structure under only two thirds of their length.

 

Removal is achieved simply by finger pressure on the unsupported end, A small offcut of lead glued under the other end ensures stability in traffic. 

 

I make the supports from Wills planked sheet so don't even need to mark it out for cutting.

 

John

Edited March 16 by Dunsignalling

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, MJI said:

I have been stripping and recycling all my old railway magazines, going through early 2000s.

 

I can spot a TW loco build at first glance now.

 

Keeping between 0 and 10 pages per magazine.

 

Oh and I can get in my garage.

 

I put the extracts into clear filing pockets, thence into 4-ring binders, which is usually easy but a bit of a pain with mags like the Railway Modeller since the pages got bigger than A4.

 

[Buhar]

44 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

I put the extracts into clear filing pockets, thence into 4-ring binders, which is usually easy but a bit of a pain with mags like the Railway Modeller since the pages got bigger than A4.

 

For the last few years I've been scanning articles of interest as well as sections of reference books. Now with the online versions I either screen print or save the whole page or spread as a pdf. The pages of the new size RM do need trimming to fit the document feed or if necessary done flatbed.

Alan 

[Dunsignalling]

2 minutes ago, Buhar said:

For the last few years I've been scanning articles of interest as well as sections of reference books. Now with the online versions I either screen print or save the whole page or spread as a pdf. The pages of the new size RM do need trimming to fit the document feed or if necessary done flatbed.

Alan 

 

I fortunately have a "Quiktrim" photographic print trimmer which makes it relatively easy.

 

John

[Buhar]

I used one of those if there was a bit to do, otherwise knife and ruler.

Alan 

[Captain Kernow]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

That is encouraging - but akin to reinventing the wheel!

 

There exists - in theory if not in practice - the best range of user-friendly wheels, plus a massive range of incomparable fittings, that has ever existed.

 

The problem is that, for whatever reason, availability seems to be NIL - and no-one is saying why!

 

I find this to be immensely frustrating, and must be a serious disincentive to the kit and scratch-building hobby.

 

SOMEONE must know what the problem is, and I cannot believe that it is beyond the whit of man to find a way of putting all the immense skill and work that went into the Markits range back on the market.

 

After all - brand new, 1:1 steam locos are being produced - what we are talking about here is fine miniature engineering; very skilled, but not beyond the ability of many suitably trained persons.

 

If the existing proprietor cannot, or will not, sort out the supply problems I would suggest that what appears to be a conspiracy of silence is not serving well the greater railway modelling community.

 

CJI.

Thanks for the timely reminder, I was thinking of ordering some Markits wheels earlier...

 

Is there anything wrong with the Scalelink equivalent? I was aware that Scalelink was doing wheels but I've no experience of them.

 

Thanks.

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

That is encouraging - but akin to reinventing the wheel!

 

There exists - in theory if not in practice - the best range of user-friendly wheels, plus a massive range of incomparable fittings, that has ever existed.

 

The problem is that, for whatever reason, availability seems to be NIL - and no-one is saying why!

 

I find this to be immensely frustrating, and must be a serious disincentive to the kit and scratch-building hobby.

 

SOMEONE must know what the problem is, and I cannot believe that it is beyond the whit of man to find a way of putting all the immense skill and work that went into the Markits range back on the market.

 

After all - brand new, 1:1 steam locos are being produced - what we are talking about here is fine miniature engineering; very skilled, but not beyond the ability of many suitably trained persons.

 

If the existing proprietor cannot, or will not, sort out the supply problems I would suggest that what appears to be a conspiracy of silence is not serving well the greater railway modelling community.

 

CJI.

John, 

 

I was speaking to a close friend yesterday who is a "Small Supplier" and buys some components in quantity from the person/company to whom I think you are referring.

 

The owner has been suffering from a trapped nerve causing considerable back pain which has prevented him from doing much. His wife and assistant (two different people) have been doing what they can, but it appears that "normal service" may take some time to resume. Having said that,at least one other Small Supplier has not been able to get stocks of driving wheels for at least a year.

 

What this does show is that the kit/scratch building sector of the hobby is reliant on a relatively few suppliers of critical components. In recent years we have lost Sharman Wheels, Mashima motors, Perseverance, GEM, David Geen's kits and Mitchell 4mm kits, while Ultrascale are having to reduce their range. Any new products/suppliers are to be welcomed, especially for component parts..

 

Jol

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Regarding Markits, it's my understanding that Mark Arscott has been recently incapacitated by a trapped nerve, necessitating him taking time off to recover. 

 

I'd like to wish him all the best for a speedy recovery. 

[Tony Wright]

7 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

Thanks for the timely reminder, I was thinking of ordering some Markits wheels earlier...

 

Is there anything wrong with the Scalelink equivalent? I was aware that Scalelink was doing wheels but I've no experience of them.

 

Thanks.

 

Good evening Captain,

 

The Scalelink wheels are plastic-centred (though they are self-quartering). I have used them, but in my experience they're not quite so concentric as the more-recent Markits ones, nor are they as robust. The ones I used were more 'generic' as well, rather than a specific prototype. They do, however, represent a viable alternative, especially as Markits wheels are difficult to obtain right now.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

Mention of driving wheels is perhaps somewhat apposite, as Romford wheels have been one of my main focuses over the last couple of days.

 

Having done some 'fettling' on the first of the two Peter Lawson panniers, my attention has now turned to the second one, but before I do any work on the body, there was a matter that needed attention regarding the chassis and specifically the driving wheels.

 

Both locos are well built and run very well. Whereas the first pannier had Alan Gibson wheels, the second one I am now working on has the older type of Romford 18mm drivers, the ones with the deeper flanges as compared with what is now available from Markits.

 

The problem is that the older, deeper flanges on the Romford wheels fouls the inside of the chairs on my C&L track. It's not a new problem and one that I have got round in the past by asking a friend with a lathe to turn the flanges down for me and this worked well. Unfortunately my friend is no longer in a position to help me and in any case, all of my new builds have used the newer 'RP25' profile wheels from Markits, once they became available.

 

I also wonder if the problem with the insides of the chairs is restricted to the older pattern of C&L track from around 25 - 30 years ago, my stocks of which have still not been exhausted! I don't recall the problem with SMP track and I have no experience of other types of bullhead flexitrack in OO.

 

Anyway, my plan of action was to remove each driving wheel in turn from the pannier and reprofile the wheels using a file and an electric drill (it sounds a bit dangerous but I have done it before and it's straightforward enough).

 

I was also going to remove the rods and unscrew each crankpin and (probably) fit newer Markits ones, where I could cut my usual fine slot across the top of the crankpin washer, once it was soldered in place and dressed smooth with a file. This is done with each crankpin held in the vice (with card either side of the thread to protect it) and is probably better described with photos, so I'll do a new blog entry when I've finished the work on the pannier.

 

Unfortunately Peter Lawson had not only epoxied each wheel nut in place, but also each crankpin! I know there was a discussion on this a few pages back and I understand the reasons for doing so, but none of my locos go far or fast enough on my small layouts to risk crankpins coming adrift in that way.

 

In the end, I managed to remove each of the wheels in turn and successfully reprofiles them as described above, using a current Markits wheel of the same diameter as comparison. 

 

Unfortunately, two of the six crankpins resisted my efforts to remove them and both broke off, leaving the base of the crankpin securely in place.

 

Not currently having the ability to drill the centre of the brass thread out, to take some brass rod of the same diameter as the crankpin bearing, I had to reluctantly put all six Romford wheels to one side. As luck would have it, I had a complete set of current Markits GW 18mm drivers to hand (marketed by Markits as suitable for a 57XX pannier), so the pannier was rewheeled with these newer wheels (I couldn't mix and match, as the crank throw is different...).

 

After a bit of adjustment and fitting new pick ups on one side (the original chassis had half insulated and half uninsulated wheels), the loco is now running as well as it ever did, which is very gratifying.

 

Just as I was testing it on the layout this afternoon, I found that the back-up controller, a Gaugemaster panel-mounted DC unit, seemed to have failed, so the rest of the sessions was spent testing it and ensuring that it was the controller that had failed and not the wiring on the layout. Having satisfied myself that the problem is the controller, I have now contacted Gaugemaster to arrange one of their 'life time warranty' repairs.

 

It's been a busy day!

 

[Tony Wright]

I mentioned that last Monday's running session on Little Bytham was shy of A3s............

 

 

In fact, only one member of this historic class saw service on the day; in the form of 60111 (SE Finecast/Wright/Haynes), hauling this 14-car kit-built rake (something RTR LNER Pacifics won't touch!). 

 

Another class which was 'under-represented' was the V2. 

 

A train often hauled by a big 2-6-2 during the LB sequence is this Down express goods..........

 

 

But on Monday it was New England's A2, 60533 (Crownline/Kinsey/Wright/Rathbone) which was in charge.

 

In fact, only three V2s saw use.............

 

 

60862 (Pro-Scale/Hammet/Geary) had the Down cement block train. 

 

 

 

60905 (Nu-Cast/scratch/Wright) hauled an Up Newcastle (including the Comet triplet). 

 

 

 

 

And 60948 (Nu-Cast/Comet/Wright) took one of the Up fitted freights. 

 

60905 is almost 40 years older than 60948, which rather indicates how little my loco-building has 'developed' over almost four decades! At least both are all my own work.

 

In fairness, Geoff West brought some visiting locos which were used in the roster, probably taking the place of a further A3 or V2.

 

I hope next month's running day will redress the balance, though A1s will still dominate (as they did in reality). 

 

 

[PMP]

58 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

 

I also wonder if the problem with the insides of the chairs is restricted to the older pattern of C&L track from around 25 - 30 years ago, my stocks of which have still not been exhausted! I don't recall the problem with SMP track and I have no experience of other types of bullhead flexitrack in OO.

The SMP track chairs are much slimmer than any of the other ‘scale’ track chairs. Back when the C&L (Nee K&L) track came out, early 80’s, the issue of striking chairs was prevalent for RTR products and Romford ‘universal’ profile wheels. We used to recommend Maygib, Gibson Ultrascale, Sharman or Romford Finescale as being suitable for the K&L and exactoscale chaired track. Fortunately most of todays contemporary RTR has wheel profiles that work with C&L, DCC Concepts and Peco bullhead trackwork.

[Steamport Southport]

2 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

John, 

 

I was speaking to a close friend yesterday who is a "Small Supplier" and buys some components in quantity from the person/company to whom I think you are referring.

 

The owner has been suffering from a trapped nerve causing considerable back pain which has prevented him from doing much. His wife and assistant (two different people) have been doing what they can, but it appears that "normal service" may take some time to resume. Having said that,at least one other Small Supplier has not been able to get stocks of driving wheels for at least a year.

 

What this does show is that the kit/scratch building sector of the hobby is reliant on a relatively few suppliers of critical components. In recent years we have lost Sharman Wheels, Mashima motors, Perseverance, GEM, David Geen's kits and Mitchell 4mm kits, while Ultrascale are having to reduce their range. Any new products/suppliers are to be welcomed, especially for component parts..

 

Jol

 

 

 

GEM are slowly being reissued.

 

https://www.johndaymodels.co.uk/

 

It can be easier to see what is in stock on his eBay store. The Beaver N Gauge stuff has reappeared.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/daryletoneymodels

 

 

Jason

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, PMP said:

The SMP track chairs are much slimmer than any of the other ‘scale’ track chairs. Back when the C&L (Nee K&L) track came out, early 80’s, the issue of striking chairs was prevalent for RTR products and Romford ‘universal’ profile wheels. We used to recommend Maygib, Gibson Ultrascale, Sharman or Romford Finescale as being suitable for the K&L and exactoscale chaired track. Fortunately most of todays contemporary RTR has wheel profiles that work with C&L, DCC Concepts and Peco bullhead trackwork.

Good morning Paul,

 

C&L track was used principally on Charwelton, and there was initial concern when all the locos running on the older Romford drivers and Hambling's drivers (remember those?) 'clouted' the tops of the chairs. 

 

A simple tool was made (using a scalpel blade and a piece of brass set to gauge) which 'lopped' off the tops of the chairs on the inside of the rail when pushed along the track. Problem solved, no loss of integrity with regard to the track and impossible to detect when accomplished. 

 

Though Bytham's plain scenic-side trackwork is SMP, Norman Solomon used C&L components for the pointwork. Since I have so few locos now shod with older Romfords, it's not a problem but when I run the two (very old) locos running on Hambling's drivers, they don't half bounce! Actually, they're both so heavy that with perseverance they might just wear the tops of the chairs away! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[thegreenhowards]

18 hours ago, t-b-g said:

I have rarely been convinced by attempts to have working loading and unloading facilities. Most hopper systems involve lots of noise and great clouds of dust, which you just don't get on models. Plus, you often have a scene where the figures are in static poses, when in real life they would be moving around. The best we can really do is to create a scene that looks realistic when photographed. When it is a moving 3D scene, we need lots of imagination to complete the gaps in the movement. The loading, unloading and movement of people in my imagination works just fine. Making one part of the action really happen without the other parts doesn't convince me, although I can be impressed by the work done to make it happen.

I think this is a classic case of the ‘ best being the enemy of the good’. Personally I find attempts to model coal or aggregates being unloaded are fascinating and really add something to the model. They’re not perfect for all the reasons that Tony states, but that doesn’t mean they’re not an improvement on not trying.

 

I say well done to those who have the skill and determination to try.

 

Andy

[polybear]

11 hours ago, PMP said:

The SMP track chairs are much slimmer than any of the other ‘scale’ track chairs. Back when the C&L (Nee K&L) track came out, early 80’s, the issue of striking chairs was prevalent for RTR products and Romford ‘universal’ profile wheels. We used to recommend Maygib, Gibson Ultrascale, Sharman or Romford Finescale as being suitable for the K&L and exactoscale chaired track. Fortunately most of todays contemporary RTR has wheel profiles that work with C&L, DCC Concepts and Peco bullhead trackwork.

 

I think I'm right in saying that track made using Exactoscale Chairs doesn't suffer from the issues cause by C&L Chairs.

[PMP]

11 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I think I'm right in saying that track made using Exactoscale Chairs doesn't suffer from the issues cause by C&L Chairs.

I don’t know what ‘issues’ you’re referring to. What I do know is that the pizza cutter RTR type wheels and the original Romford profile will hit the top of scale positioned and profile chairs as @Tony Wright has described above. Again thinking back to the mid 80’s K’s and Hamblings driving wheels fouled too.  I’d forgotten the dodge Tony mentioned of cutting the chair heads down, which does work.

[cctransuk]

13 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Mention of driving wheels is perhaps somewhat apposite, as Romford wheels have been one of my main focuses over the last couple of days.

 

Having done some 'fettling' on the first of the two Peter Lawson panniers, my attention has now turned to the second one, but before I do any work on the body, there was a matter that needed attention regarding the chassis and specifically the driving wheels.

 

Both locos are well built and run very well. Whereas the first pannier had Alan Gibson wheels, the second one I am now working on has the older type of Romford 18mm drivers, the ones with the deeper flanges as compared with what is now available from Markits.

 

The problem is that the older, deeper flanges on the Romford wheels fouls the inside of the chairs on my C&L track. It's not a new problem and one that I have got round in the past by asking a friend with a lathe to turn the flanges down for me and this worked well. Unfortunately my friend is no longer in a position to help me and in any case, all of my new builds have used the newer 'RP25' profile wheels from Markits, once they became available.

 

I also wonder if the problem with the insides of the chairs is restricted to the older pattern of C&L track from around 25 - 30 years ago, my stocks of which have still not been exhausted! I don't recall the problem with SMP track and I have no experience of other types of bullhead flexitrack in OO.

 

Anyway, my plan of action was to remove each driving wheel in turn from the pannier and reprofile the wheels using a file and an electric drill (it sounds a bit dangerous but I have done it before and it's straightforward enough).

 

I was also going to remove the rods and unscrew each crankpin and (probably) fit newer Markits ones, where I could cut my usual fine slot across the top of the crankpin washer, once it was soldered in place and dressed smooth with a file. This is done with each crankpin held in the vice (with card either side of the thread to protect it) and is probably better described with photos, so I'll do a new blog entry when I've finished the work on the pannier.

 

Unfortunately Peter Lawson had not only epoxied each wheel nut in place, but also each crankpin! I know there was a discussion on this a few pages back and I understand the reasons for doing so, but none of my locos go far or fast enough on my small layouts to risk crankpins coming adrift in that way.

 

In the end, I managed to remove each of the wheels in turn and successfully reprofiles them as described above, using a current Markits wheel of the same diameter as comparison. 

 

Unfortunately, two of the six crankpins resisted my efforts to remove them and both broke off, leaving the base of the crankpin securely in place.

 

Not currently having the ability to drill the centre of the brass thread out, to take some brass rod of the same diameter as the crankpin bearing, I had to reluctantly put all six Romford wheels to one side. As luck would have it, I had a complete set of current Markits GW 18mm drivers to hand (marketed by Markits as suitable for a 57XX pannier), so the pannier was rewheeled with these newer wheels (I couldn't mix and match, as the crank throw is different...).

 

After a bit of adjustment and fitting new pick ups on one side (the original chassis had half insulated and half uninsulated wheels), the loco is now running as well as it ever did, which is very gratifying.

 

Just as I was testing it on the layout this afternoon, I found that the back-up controller, a Gaugemaster panel-mounted DC unit, seemed to have failed, so the rest of the sessions was spent testing it and ensuring that it was the controller that had failed and not the wiring on the layout. Having satisfied myself that the problem is the controller, I have now contacted Gaugemaster to arrange one of their 'life time warranty' repairs.

 

It's been a busy day!

 

 

The application of a hot soldering iron tip to the two recalcitrant crankpins may release them - if you can devise a way of turning them.

 

A sawn slot into the collar may permit the use of a flat screwdriver.

 

CJI.

[polybear]

4 minutes ago, PMP said:

I don’t know what ‘issues’ you’re referring to. What I do know is that the pizza cutter RTR type wheels and the original Romford profile will hit the top of scale positioned and profile chairs as @Tony Wright has described above. Again thinking back to the mid 80’s K’s and Hamblings driving wheels fouled too.  I’d forgotten the dodge Tony mentioned of cutting the chair heads down, which does work.

 

The issue of flanges on some older wheels fouling chairs.