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One of the reasons for building 'Bethesda Sidings', was to be able to run some of my existing OO stock, without having to put 'Bleakhouse Road' up, the latter being too big to leave set up at home for any length of time. I like to operate a green diesel sequence on my layouts, so I decided to test my Hymek and Class 33 on 'Bethesda Sidings' recently. To my irritation, I found that the Heljan wheelsets didn't like the OO-SF points on the layout. Both locos are original issue Heljan models and both had those coppery coloured wheels, on which the treads gave the appearance of being dirty. More importantly, the flanges are relatively thick, resulting in the wheelsets not running smoothly through my OO-SF A5 points, even though the back-to-back was correctly set at 14.5mm. The solution was to replace the Heljan wheels with Black Beetle wheels, which I obtained from Branchlines recently. These are turned and have a much finer flange. The old Heljan wheelsets were removed and the wheels pressed off their axles. I would be re-using the Heljan axles with the gear wheels on them. Both the Black Beetle and Heljan wheelsets use 2mm axles. The Black Beetle wheels were then pressed of their axles and pressed onto the Heljan axles and replaced in the two locos. The result was two locos that now ran very happily through the OO-SF points. Here one bogie on the Class 33 has had it's wheels replaced: Here is the Hymek with it's new wheels, being test run on the layout, before I replaced the bogie side frames: Completed locos:

Some photos of the poles planted in their sockets. I managed to get the spacing fairly even at 60 - 65 yards, the preferred Caley distance. The camera is much harsher about verticals than the eye, particularly along the length of the layout. People used to Glasgow might be familiar with the effect, tenements do tend to lean back a bit. The time to panic is when they start leaning forwards. I’m happy with the overall effect, I think the effort to make them Caledonian rather than generic ones was worth the effort.

For anyone who doesn't know, Tommy Gander was a fictional Music Hall comic, a character that featured in the 1941 British film "The Ghost Train" portrayed by real life comic, Arthur Askey. On his way down to Newquay to start a new sixteen week season of his act at The Pier Pavillion ("Well, we'll see how I go Monday night...") Tommy gets caught up in the events that unfold in the film (or was he instrumental in causing them...?) Years later, Tommy Gander finds himself performing regularly at the increasingly popular "Holiday Camps" that have sprung up all over post war Britain. It's while doing a season at Dent-de-Lion's "Smuggler's View" Holiday Camp, on the North Kent Seaside Circuit - that Tommy decides that there's money to be made in this game, and eventually buys up the camp - lock, stock and barrel. Renaming it "Gander's" and trading on his popularity as an entertainer, Tommy "runs the show" as it were - headlining in the nightly cabaret, as well as booking new acts, looking after the guests, and taking charge of the day to day running of the park. At its peak, the camp was full to the rafters - train-loads of guests from London, the North of England and beyond would regularly disgorge at Dent-de-Lion station and spend a week-long summer break in the sun at "Gander's Holiday Camp" - many returning year after year. But it's "now" the late seventies, and package holidays to the Costa Brava have taken their toll on the holiday camps. "Gander's" is still in business, and maybe a little less glamorous than in its heyday, but Tommy still takes to the stage nightly during the summer season, to entertain the appreciative (but dwindling) crowd.