Dave John

If you are very concerned about cost these might do ; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315210702629?itmmeta=01HVHK3618JS9EG21G45RSM1P9&hash=item4964059f25:g:eqQAAOSwHIFl64Fb&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8OWUHi%2B89h%2BZnI6bupALuR98nJaT0UTFB%2FyYnjp%2BTiRkN%2F90y%2BSSzaUZl7fbMQQLKNzO96YHr4AkpoYmmxWIBpE%2Fkq7lP8We6S%2BuCP6gNx18ml4P0S3aqgSpuxEYlYG5Peix9M5y4IitgJyWdyBFLlhza2K2GzYJ94wl3C33G5dy7TzDHNsKDYau%2BdrQlFQvAOX7rGbB1HYh5Z1qIJzNhmwCSGIyjLJNoDqrRBZLQbG8buCJZHFLJk%2Bz0ShhwgbBaZYl%2BqCauWUYGG0Hui1kO2ohRt%2BN3H8G69yZ1hYl%2FWD8CIm3sa8Yj3HcLfalwTPdmA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9zgjLPcYw They will run off 3x AAA cells and with a bit of electronics would control a motor. I used them in this wagon project.

Interesting and very educating, I knew nothing about these engines. To be fair Mike it isn't only you that is trying to piece it all together. The whole idea of rubber sprung flangeless drivers has seen me scribbling a few thoughts out, I can't help but feel that any sort of sharp curve would be a problem.

Have you considered battery powered radio control? There are some impressive models over in the radio control forum and a self propelled railway wagon would just be forward and reverse, no steering required. Gets round the whole pickups issue. Lots of good ideas in here ; https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/forum/228-radio-control/

I'd agree with the comments on Worsley Works etches and I do like the idea of getting a basic set of accurate etches at a sensible price and doing the rest myself. A CR D35 full brake to illustrate the point.

Many thanks Q , order placed.

Hi Q. I'd be grateful for a link to a source of the SL-14 sized pins. I am using them for the 1/50 project but will need 4 per sleeper. Packets of 10 k seem ideal, colour not an issue Cheers

Well I just happened to have some old mahogany flooring. Like a lot of old wood it looks rough but when sawn is nice inside. I like the colour too, historically creasoted but then rather sunbleached.

Three great pics there Andy. I did manage a vaguely illegal nosey round the grain silos but it was before digital cameras so no pics ....

I decided to have a think about making track. I have a number of reference photos, including the excellent one of Corsican track kindly uploaded by 5&9 models earlier in the blog. So, timber sleepers, medium weight flat bottom rail held down with track screws. Firstly sleepers. These are cut from some old mahogany, pretty hard but it saws well. A scale 2.1 m long which seems like a reasonable average from the info I can find. Track screws next. Sometimes called rail screws or screwed spikes. These are still manufactured by several companies so I was able to get dimensioned drawings. Some experiments later I came up with the idea of using a peco track pin with a 0.5 mm cube of styrene glued to the head. This is the first batch with a coat of primer. Some rejects but enough to play with. Peco trackpins are 0.4 mm dia. There is no chance of them going through mahogany that tough without a pilot hole. However using any sort of hand held drill is a recipe for snapping drill bits at a rate. So I made a drill machine consisting of a linear ball slide mechanism from the bits box with a flexible mini drill drive clamped to it. Here it is sat on the sleeper drilling jig which makes sure that one inner hole is accurately drilled as a reference point. I painted a bit of scrap 10 mm ply as a test bed. First sleeper fixed with a track screw on the inside. The rail is peco code 83. Intended for HO that represents a fairly heavy flat bottom rail, but at 1/50 scale it comes in very close to the drawing I have of typical metre gauge track. The drill can then make the outer hole and a track screw inserted. The curve is 1 m radius marked out using the bit of string tied to a pencil method. With the inner rail fixed roller gauges are use to position the outer rail for drilling. Some pictures of the test track. I have tried a bit of ballasting and rail painting at the lh end. Not particularly happy about those, but I will do tests with other ballasts a few sleepers at a time till I find one I like. Overall I feel that was a worthwhile test. The track looks right to my eye and the wood sleepers have a more natural variation than plastic ones. Similarly the slight positional variation of the track screws adds to the realism. Price wise it isn’t much more than standard OO track, certainly cheaper than O gauge.

They look nice Bill. However, following the CR tradition of not spending money if you don't need to copper wire and accurate soldering works: Heading into retirement I find I have a bit shy of a half a mile of cat 5 cable in store. Thats a lot of tiedowns.....

I too am finding this fascinating. Effectively a structural boiler. The heat losses must have been significant with all those yokes rivetted on.

Is it possible that they just bought it from metropolitan ?

Should be an interesting build. I'm intrigued by the yoke arrangement. Were the two pots for a rubber suspension as well ?

Surely a spade is flat and a shovel has turned up edges ? Mind you in these woke times I'm sure there is a more politically correct term for either a spade or a shovel. Though I really cannot be bothered finding out.

The above is all good advice. My biggest error early on was not realising just how clean you need to get the brass to make a really good soldered joint. 40 years later I do. Out of the box etches look clean but they have a surface of etch resist that needs to come off. Get some fine emery, some pcb cleaner blocks, some fibreglass brushes and some brass and steel minidrill wheels. Keep cleaning as you go . Wash the flux residue off , clean it all again.