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Evening all, Final Camden update of 2021 - unless something bizarre happens this evening. As 2021 dawned, this was the state of play: So, despite being away for 2 1/2 months in Asia at the end of the year, and not having a particularly great year with injury and subsequent rehab, I have at least got somewhere. We have all the baseboards completed and working including the complex gate, 4 functional, wired and pretty smooth mainlines, and the beginning of a backdrop with the backscene boards and the goods yard. On which subject…….. Iain

No problem, Bernard. If there is anything more you need please do ask. It may be buried in this thread, or my head, or more likely one of the various sources I have. I would love to see any of your S7 locos too! Iain

Hello Bernard, there are four B6s, one B7 and one B8 in that area. The three that are on the loco road next to the down fast are all B6. I expect that they probably aren’t completely correct but I planned it from the real track plan from the OS map which I purchased. So they are as they are. The diamonds are completely bespoke and part curved so I have no clue. They will just be built from the templot plan. Because the whole area is checkrailed throughout and I haven’t worked out how to do that on templot, I haven’t even turned them into diamonds, rather just left the intersecting tracks as they are. Iain

Yes, when I manage to get that far! Iain

Thanks Farren. It was there before but it’s been completely remodelled to be more representative of the first 1.5 of the 9 bays - 7 double, one triple and a single. This was a massive building in real life. I used the side of the old model (because that part was quite accurate and a right ballache to repeat) and built everything else new around it. Old effort started here: And this was about as far as it got: Stanley’s pics here are brilliant:I Iain

First two down fast trains on here are hauled by 46245 with a Comet tender. I plan to add some polystyrene cut to size before coaling it, but this is unaltered and the tender doesn’t make any excessive noise. The tender axles do not have proper bearings though, and they did squeak before being set up properly and lubricated. Iain

Evening Jeff, Have quietly enjoyed everything that you have done here - thanks for sharing. Best wishes, Iain

Hi Wayne, These all rail versions look great - and will save me no end of time as well as being excellent. They also got me wondering whether eventually you would sell components like the bases and tie bars separately - like a few probably I would be more than happy to cut and prepare my own rail pieces given what I have built so far, but the real saver and guarantee of smooth running would be the timbering and chairs. Either way I will be in the market for a few, so thank you. Iain

I definitely don’t recall fitting those plates to my 46256 - whether that was a conscious decision, forgetfulness, ignorance or something else, I can’t remember. But the upshot was that the cylinders were slightly less out of gauge in the end, probably, and it runs well enough so alignment can’t have been too big an issue. The cylinders were soldered to the aperture in the frames - frames tinned around that aperture and then 70 deg low melt solder used to fix the cylinders. Seemed to be the relatively accepted way? My limited experience of the DJH kit is that, even without the extra lead I added, it is heavy enough that a 1620 sounds small and a 1626 or 1628 sounds much more sensible. The tender itself weighs about 200g if built as per the kit. That’s a fair bit to haul round even before adding a train. Hope that helps - I would listen to Mike before me though! Iain

Morning Tony, Talking of searching for excellent mainline running on handbuilt track - as close to perfect as I can manage - here are a few down trains at Camden. I do have a little fettling to do, to make sure we always have reliable and smooth running otherwise the entire project doesn’t really work. However, I am working under the handicap of not being Norman Solomon, or at least not having his experience and skill. Anyway, on we go and I hope this section isn’t too far off. Once it is done, it should give a decent impression of prototype heavy mainline trains running past the shed. Best wishes to you and Mo as always, Iain

Thanks mate. It is definitely a bit of a milestone and close to a bigger one which is when I can be really happy with the running for any loco and stock on all 4 mainlines. The up lines are pretty good, and the down lines are almost there. Then I think we can get a good impression of 300-600 tons being dragged over the top of the bank or being held back approaching the descent, and I can start work on the shed area. I may at least do the painting, ballasting and weathering of the mainlines and the goods yard approaches before completing the shed area. Anyway…… Hope all well with you. Iain

Thanks Stanley. Hope all well with you? Yes it is indeed St Saviour’s I think. Salvaged from the painted backscene of Camden Shed mk1. The other backscene boards can’t really work on the new layout as 12’ doesn’t really stretch to 22’, but the two ends work well. The challenge will be to paint the rest to (a) match and (b) represent the scene. Probably will now have to remove and carefully store all of the backscene boards, buildings and almost all of the stock in order to make some more progress on construction. Iain

And somewhat late but a few down trains for your pleasure: Obviously not much variation in passenger stock yet but will be rectified in time. Some slight tweaking needed to smooth out running. I think some of the blame is with bogie wheels, but we will see. hope you enjoy. Iain

Not much progress lately due to work etc but a sense of where this is going. With the goods yard approaches full of weathered vans, conflats etc, it should be a realistic and reasonably accurate backdrop to the main scene. Iain

Well yes exactly. I chose the ones with the most likely specs I could, and it’s a bit of an experiment at 2 quid each to see what they are like, I tend to use the etched screw holes provided - whichever way they are aligned is how I mount the motor. In this case I didn’t have much choice anyway: it wouldn’t fit in the boiler if I rotated it by 90 deg. Will def try HL. I have one for a Jinty in a full chassis kit. But I need to order something suitable for this. A somewhat Heath Robinson solution: Inserting a small washer between the box and the motor on the top mount just eases the angle of the worm upwards with respect to the idler gear. This effectively seems to provide the required clearance and both boxes now run smoothly. It’s not perfect but the worm should engage with the gear basically on the tangent (yes I know there is overlap so not strictly the tangent) so it’s not as geometrically dodgy as it first appears. Is it reliable enough for actual use? Maybe with a slightly longer M2 mounting screw? Iain

Thanks Baz and Mike I was more concerned about debris getting inside over time but I think now I might try a HL box anyway which will put the motor further from the driving wheel centre and solve it that way. Baz - would you suggest a Loadhauler in a Coronation? Iain

Not a good gearbox day….. 46248 started whirring instead of going and I assumed it had dropped a grub screw somehow. This one is on a GB5 plus drive extender and in fact the idler gear had come loose So I soldered a couple of small pieces of brass to stop the steel gear axle from moving sideways and dislocating. Great, it runs properly forwards. But it won’t go in reverse and just locks up. No issue with the rods or anything like that x I checked. Looks like the gearbox locks up. ugh Never thought I would think this but I am beginning to lean towards shelling out 70-80 quid for a preassembled DJH box being worth it, given I have spent about 6 hours today on these. Iain

Thanks Mike, that’s helpful. I probably need it to be more controllable at lower speeds - heavy trains passing the shed will only be either up trains braking before descending the off scene bank into Euston, or down trains just cresting that bank. Plus it needs to move around the shed at low speeds. I’ll see how it goes. Fired up the Poppy’s jig The problem with this big motor is not that it doesn’t fit the frames or the boiler (this isn’t the body I will use just a spare) but the 27mm wheels foul it slightly So….either I put this box and motor in a Princess, and hope the 1mm smaller wheels work (I can test first), or I use a different gearbox with a longer “throw”, or I file a bit away from the motor casing. I think the first and second options have more chance of lasting success to be honest! However, I made up this GB3 and also another one with a Mashima 1628 to compare, and neither will run. I’ve never had an issue with Comet boxes, and in fact I have never used any others, but with both of these when the 46 tooth idler gear is put in it seems to push too hard against the worm and the motor won’t turn it, or if it does it is jerky, slow and only runs in one direction. It is as if the etched hole is too close to the motor mount. I think that is unlikely as all of the previous ones I have built have been fine, unless the gears are a new batch. I don’t know. Anyway, any advice welcome. I have opened the idler gear bearing hole just a twitch but to no avail. Iain

I might have a go when I need to Baz yes. I’m not sure what metal the cases are made from but I will seek advice if I get to that. But I prefer to screw them together as Mike says when possible especially if i am trying out a new combination as here. Then if it doesn’t work I can try something else. I think the smaller motors which are effectively a 1527 have screw holes already in the right place so we will see. Iain

I think it’s 38:1 Mike so that sounds like it might not be low enough, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure it’s not exactly the same motor as yours though, so I will see how it goes when I make it up. I can replace it with something else, and use a different box with lower gearing for this one if I have to. Iain

This larger motor fitted a Comet GB3 fine with a 2mm worm, but I had to mark, drill and open out new mounting holes. Normal M2 screws (don’t come with the motor) work perfectly. I guess you could solder the gearbox to the motor if you knew what you were doing - Mike Edge I think this is what you do? The motor casing has a collar around the shaft of the motor that exactly matches and centres the motor shaft so it aligns perfectly with the gear wheel in the Comet box. So even I couldn’t get it wrong. It runs smoothly and quietly in this form. I’ll take a photo tomorrow and add it here. It is tight on top though. The size of the motor means it doesn’t quite sit parallel to the top of the frames in OO. EM or P4 I think would be a doddle. The very thick DJH frames might be a problem. I could remove a little from the Comet frames here, as it would be hidden anyway, but I don’t think I will unless I have to. A different, more adaptable gearbox, perhaps GB5 with an extender or a High Level one, would give more angles to play with. It will fit nicely in a Coronation boiler/firebox, but I would imagine it’s too big for most locos. I will build this up and see how it goes. The smaller one will certainly have more permutations for use in different locos but hopefully this will work for the biggest. Iain

I can’t help myself…… Iain

My effort from a few years ago, thanks to John’s inspiration: Bachmann LMS bogies, white metal LMS buffers I think from Comet/Wizard, clipped at the top, some spare laser glaze, renumbered and weathered. I’ve got a few (3-4) more to do and will probably do much the same but replace the brake wheel and respray as well. Iain

Duly arrived. The bigger one has a 2mm shaft, quite short too, and is 15x20x32 mm, so somewhat larger than the ad stated. Anyway, it should still fit in a Coronation and we will see how it goes. The smaller one is 12x15x27 mm with a 1.5 mm shaft. I bought 5 of each for the princely sum of half a curry. No real harm done if they aren’t any good. Iain

A couple more views of progress. Some of the inlaid track has been checkrailed but there is still a bit to go. Overall approaches including the signal box. A water tower goes just opposite, this side of the small building. more detail of the inlaid section, or what will be that. I am still not 100% sure of the rationale behind using card to Iain