Gingerbread

Yes, as Chris Higgs said there is a replacement chassis under development for the Ixion Manor by Nigel Ashton (and it could be seen briefly on Llangerisech layout at the Keighley Expo). Strictly speaking it perhaps doesn't belong in this thread as it is not an etched chassis, but a milled block (brass I believe), but the bogie will be etched. He also intends to developed it into a similar replacement chassis for the forthcoming Ixion 63xx Mogul. David

Regardless of availability (or otherwise) of bodies from Peco, I am interested in this as a chassis for the long-awaited Dean Goods body kit from N-Brass. David

Perhaps the biggest question for anybody starting in 2mm is: "How to make points?". I know Geoff Jones is gathering together various views to include in a definitive (?) handbook, but it would probably be useful to outline some of the alternatives here: Solder - this is the most widespread method. Details vary, but generally it's a case of cutting/filing/soldering rails to sleepers made from printed circuit board. Templates, jigs, sleepers, rails, and optionally chairs, are available from the 2mm shop. For those with good soldering skills it's probably the way to go. Easitrac - attractive for those with limited soldering skills. Milled plastic bases, plastic chairs, rails and jigs are available from the 2mm shop. The disadvantage is that it's much more difficult to "fix" if you have glued the chairs in the wrong place, rather than soldered. Preliminary sections of the Geoff Jones guide are available at http://www.2mm.org.u...ac_Turnouts.pdf Subcontract - there are a few kind individuals who will build points to your requirements. Having built your points, the next problem is how to operate them, and again there are multiple options available, with no clear preference as far as I can tell. Basic concept is to firmly attach the two switch blades to a sliding bar, then allow the operator to move the bar either manually through a wire-in-tube system or by connecting it to an electromagnet. There is a "turnout operating unit" available from the shop, with a sketch (and video) of how it fits together at http://www.2mm.org.u.../TOU/index.html Comments, clarifications, corrections, contrary views, etc all welcome... David

Get hold of the Association booklet (slightly illogically it comes from shop 1 which deals with track):P-103An Introduction to Split-Frame Chassis Design£5.00 I think the wheelbases on the two chassis options suggested by Kris would be rather too large, judging by the photographs. Similarly I suspect the coupling rods available from the Association shops would probably be too long (shortest one I can see is 14 + 15.5 mm). The wheels from the Association are designed for a split-frame chassis, with pickup directly from all wheels to the frames through bearings, without any need for further contacts. Simpson springing is an option which should help ensure all wheels make contact with the track. Apart from the gapped PCB method for insulating the frames, I have seen the following possibilities recommended: Blocks of tufnol between the frames, with the frames screwed (or glued) to the blocks (which I think is recommended in the locomotive building book on the Members section of the site) - though you would probably want something heavier with such small locomotives. An alternative form of this uses brass blocks between the frames, with insulating layer (eg cigarette paper) between frames and the blocks, then holes drilled in the block and filled with epoxy, and re-drilled for screws to hold the frames. Small pieces of PCB as insulators between frames and crosspieces - so you solder one side of the PCB to the frame and the other side to the crosspiece. I would suggest Nigel Lawton for motors - small and cheap: http://www.nigellawt...icroMotors.html Gearboxes are generally scratchbuilt, or acquired from a variety of other sources - see for example post 64 on http://www.rmweb.co....ms/page__st__50 for one (together with a photo of the small Nigel Lawton motor). Good luck with your project David

For another alternative, I suggest the downloadable/printable seats from Bill Bedford at http://www.mousa.biz...oach_seats.html - though they may be a bit fiddly to make in 2mm scale. At least they avoid the weight problem ... Not sure if the colours are suitable, but it's not difficult to recolour them. David

Sorry to read about your depressing problems. I suggest a dual approach: 1) Put Highclere to one side for a little while, until inspiration strikes again. Here follows a few thoughts, in case you've not had them already: (i)I remember when I was looking at Witney Euston I thought that the baseboard joins were a bit unsightly, and tried a bit of lateral thinking - put a hedge up against one side of the join, and turn the join into a ditch! Wouldn't work across the full depth of the baseboard without looking too artificial, but would handle part of the problem, leaving other approaches to be used elsewhere. Not sure it's quite so suitable for you - your baseboard appears to be on a slope, where a ditch wouldn't be so appropriate. (ii) Small buildings or removable scenery such as strips of grass to be laid down when assembled? (iii)Perhaps a semi-transparent rather fuzzy strip of sky/trees to be placed over that join in the backstrip? (iv) I recall from skimming through your book on the DNS there was mention of a goat at Highclere, so perhaps a tiny diorama of goat eating bushes to be placed across one of the joins. (Yes, I know that the goat would actually have been rather ancient by the date you have set Highclere, but it's all part of my cunning plot to persuade you to move backwards in time to real GWR steam ...) 2) Get started on that narrow-gauge layout you've been mentioning. Make it much smaller and more portable (shunting plank size) so you can take it to shows or demos more easily. Might want to make it a small interchange with standard gauge to allow you to show off some of your existing stock as well (and to make it of wider interest to the 2mm FS world). David [Edited to change sub-numbering which was translated into emoticons]

Look at the bottom of the pricelist in his blog around October 2008 - that email address was still valid when I tried it about 6 months ago. David

I'm following this discussion with interest - though I'm still waiting for the release of the 2mm Association pannier chassis as the basis of my first locomotive. I assume you are using one of the Nigel Lawton motors, which have the advantage of being much smaller (and cheaper) than their competitors, but the disadvantage of running much faster, so probably need higher gearing. Using Richard Benn's calculator from http://www.festiveroad.net/rail/software.htm I get the following: motor speed 30,000 rpm (based on no-load speed for the micromotor) gear reduction 70:1 driving wheel 8.5mm actual speed 11.44 metres/minute which at 2mm to the foot equates to 65 mph. So at least in theory the desired reduction of 70:1 looks correct to me. Conversely the various Faulhaber motors which seem to be widely recommended have no-load speeds of about 15,000 to 20,000 rpm, which would seem to fit the more normal reduction of 30:1 to 40:1. As another data point for the discussion, I heard that the 2mm chassis planned for the Ixion Manor is to use about 20:1 reduction gearing - which suggests to me that the Ixion motor must be unusually slow-running. David

Another possible source for GWR drawings is here I suspect the main locomotive list is the same as from Missy's link, just presented in a different order to make comparison more difficult. It does have additional coverage of small tank engines and outside framed 4-4-0s, and some goods wagons and carriages (including a railmotor or two). As Steve said, the recommended source for GWR locomotives seems to be Jim Russell's books, which come in three volumes. Volume one is pre-1900, volume two is post-1900, and volume three is absorbed locomotives (from a quick glance at a copy recently, this appears to mean the various Welsh railways absorbed at Grouping in 1923). Cost likely to be about £25 each second hand. The other source to mention is RCTS Locomotives of the GWR, a series of 14 volumes published between 1951 and 1993. Prices vary, but typically £10-£15. I don't think that the NRM have catalogued their GWR collection yet, so whilst the drawings you want are almost certainly there, you probably won't be able to find them. David

Good to see the pannier project progressing I'd suggest looking at the possibility of raising the motor by about a millimetre (which should put it fairly close to the centreline of the boiler), and moving it about a millimetre to the right. Adjust the intermediate gear by a similar amount to match. This would give you the chance of some daylight below the boiler, which looks difficult with your current placement. David

Thanks for the comments. Steve and Nick - I had overlooked the colour distortion in films from that era, namely that reds would appear darker than expected. Should have realised that from the use of red lights in dark rooms. Mark - I am intending to model the period 1905-1910, and intend to assume that the change in colour was around 1902 - so all wagons built after that date will be in grey, and those before will be in red (except the few that have been repainted since 1902 or thereabouts). I still think that the original intention has merit - to try to find the relation between the shade of red of the original wagon and the shade of grey on the photo - even if the original method was flawed. So I am now looking at photographs of locomotives from that period, studying the relationships between the dark green of the boiler and the two reds of buffers and underframes. At the moment I don't see any consistent pattern. In many ways this just reinforces my earlier conclusion - you are free to choose your shade of grey or red during the period 1880 to 1910, and there will be inconclusive evidence both for and against your choice. David

I think that the "lack of search facility at NRM" problem relates to the GWR (and probably other specific areas). As I understand it, the archives transferred from Swindon to NRM are not yet catalogued, though there are attempts to arrange for this to be done by volunteers. If they aren't sorted and catalogued, then they won't show up in the search engine. I don't know if that would apply to the period in question here (ca 1967), but a search for "timetable" throws up examples from about 1960 for other regions, but not for the Western Region, in the form of "General/Sectional appendix to working timetable...", which suggests this is probably the case. David

This gives me another excuse to delay the completion of my first wagon even further - need to conduct extended experiments to determine a suitable level of weight to add.... Pete - I think you may need to change your specs from 2mm or 7mm to the 4mm ones - it looked like Irish Whiskey to me (speaking as a non-expert) David

This short entry was prompted by recent discussion of the old GWR wagon red, in Mikkel's recent blog entry on the Farthing layouts for a 3-plank open in GWR red, at http://www.rmweb.co....pen-in-gwr-red/ I suspect that any attempt to distinguish between red and grey wagons in old photographs is going to be difficult, perhaps impossible, due to the similarity between the two shades when converted to grey in the photo - specially as we don't know what shade the red originally was, and it probably varied significantly. But we can try the reverse exercise - paint some wagons in a suitable mixture of reds and greys, then create some monochrome photos of them, and compare the various shades of grey in the monochrome photo. Here follows my modest contribution to the debate. First a photo of 5 half-finished wagons in a mixture of red and grey - the red being an initial attempt on my part to reproduce the elusive red variously described as "light", "dark" and "warm", and used prior to some uncertain cutoff point between 1870 and 1910 (depending which authority you choose to believe) - see details at http://www.gwr.org.u...eswagonred.html Then the same photo decolourised - i.e. reduced to a grey monochrome, similar to photos from that period. Preliminary conclusion - the "red" wagons are a little lighter than the "grey" ones - but it would be dangerous to read too much into that difference, as I think the two grey wagons used in this example are relatively dark - other photos indicate lighter shades were also seen (faded? or different paint mixes?). It's probably safe to say that a wagon that shows up from the period 1880-1910 as dark grey in a monochrome photo was GWR grey. It's likely that a wagon which shows up as light grey was in GWR red, faded with age. For those that show up in mid-grey, the choice is yours (as also is the choice where to draw the line between the various shades of grey in the photo). So it looks as if you can choose your colour, red or grey, and your shade of red, and then enjoy an inconclusive discussion with the experts whether you got it "right" . For those interested in the wagons - from left to right: W1 cattle wagon, built ca 1890-1900 (modified from BR cattle wagon) 4 plank open, built ca 1885-1900 (similar to O5, but using single lever brakes rather than Dean-Churchward) V6 iron mink, built ca 1885-1900 V5 mink, built ca 1902 (or possibly V4 built ca 1905 - haven't measured the width/height sufficiently accurately to be sure) W5 cattle wagon, built ca 1902 (also modified from BR cattle wagon) David

I hope to have some pictures of 2mm GWR red wagons sometime soon - at present my pictures are rather too blurred for public display (though that has its advantages, in disguising their faults...). I suspect that any attempt to distinguish between red and grey wagons by analysing old photos is going to struggle if the variation in shades of red is as wide as we are led to believe from the "light/dark/warm" descriptions, and presumably there would also be variation in shades of grey, as it faded with age and/or darkened with pollution. However, that does suggest a couple of other possibilities that we could try: 1) Start with a monochrome photo of a wagon that we believe would have been red, and recolour that photo into red, to get an approximation of the original colour. Unfortunately my experiments haven't been very convincing so far. 2) Take a colour photo of wagons in our interpretation of GWR red, decolourise it (ie convert to monochrome), then compare with some old photos. David

Nice model - it's on my list to try to build one or two in 2mm scale sometime soon, but with square ends as I'm aiming for about 1905-1910. Colours: I am using Phoenix Precision Paints for my models, and currently experimenting with various mixtures of Red Oxide, Signal Red and Buffer Beam Red for my interpretations of GWR red - needs a bit of fading still. Fortunately the various descriptions of it as “dark”, “light” and “warm” leave plenty of scope for variation! The Precision Paints "Untreated Wood" seems far too dark for me - approximately GWR grey - so I am trying various shades of light brown. "Dark Sand" sounds more like what I would have expected, so I will see if I can find something similar. Ends: I think I have seen it suggested that the rounded ends were to help with sheeting, as Mickey assumes, but I can't find the reference now. Book: I assume it is "A History of GWR Goods Wagons" by AG Atkins, W Beard, DJ Hyde and R Tourett. I think there are different versions - I have Volume 2 (drawings and photos) of the David & Charles version, which was about £10 recently. I think Volume 1 (general description and lot numbers) generally goes for about £20 - I don't have a copy of it yet. I don't recognise the page, so I assume it comes from Volume 1 (or the combined edition), but similar photos can also be found in "Great Western Wagons Appendix" by Jim Russell. David

Devondynosaur - I think my skills are sufficient for the initial stages - building wagons and coaches from kits. Whether I can build good locomotive chassis remains to be seen - if not, I might have to modify my plans a bit, and my layout might finish up looking rather more like yours.... Don - Some of the "might-have-been" alternatives linked to Whitchurch, so the Cambrian nearly made it to Market Drayton. The reference to Armstrong 2-4-0T on the line also separately mentions the later 2-4-0 tender varieties - I don't think the reference is right, and 0-4-2T seems the most plausible interpretation. Certainly I have a photo of a 517 on that service from later times, but more importantly from a pragmatic perspective a suitable body kit and chassis for the 517 should be available shortly. Agreed, the Armstrong goods is another one for the line, but I think outside frames will have to wait a little longer... And yes, I inquired on the VAG about GWR around 1905, to find out what was available - result being the two loco chassis discussed above, plus the small prairie that is borderline in terms of timing and unfortunately seems not to have been used on the line. There's also a chassis for the Ixion Manor under development, but that's definitely too late for my period. Rich - can't disagree with anything you have said there. If I stick with 4 wheels for the 4th Worsley coach, then I have a cleminson chassis free for another 6-wheel siphon. David

Thanks for the kind words everybody. Ian (Landlord) - Yes, it's fairly ambitious, but I hope that I have broken it down into sensible steps, with the "easy" ones at the beginning and the "hard" ones later where I hope my improved skills will make them more manageable. There's plenty of 2mm FS modellers around, so I'm sure that when you start your own 2mm project there will be lots of help and advice on offer. Steve - I've been watching your progress too, still looking for gingerbread-flavoured jellybabies for my line... Pete - The line closed before your beloved blue diesels were around, but I did see a few early green diesels during its latter days. Actually it was quite interesting at that time - electrification of the west coast main line led to diversion of traffic onto the Market Drayton line around 1960-5, including the Pines Express (Manchester-Bournemouth) during 1962-3. I assume that the china clay traffic from Cornwall to the Potteries would normally have gone via Shrewsbury to Crewe, then over the Knotty line to Stoke, so unfortunately I don't think much would have gone through Market Drayton. It might have been different in some of those alternate realities that I mentioned... Missy - I doubt that I will have much to contribute to any partnership on making those engines, but look forward to trying. I have recently been investigating options for GWR cattle wagons, so perhaps that might be of interest to you for your new cattle dock. Rich - Agreed. I've seen a suggestion that one of the Worsley 4-wheel coaches was actually a 6-wheeler, and have bought a cleminson 6-wheel chassis for that (and another for a 6-wheel siphon). Saw David Eveleigh at Watford recently and he said he has some etches on order, for his coach underframes, early toad, and small prairie, so I hope to be able to add them to my growing pile of work-in-progress sometime soon. Best answer I've come up with so far for the early (6 feet 4 inch) Dean bogies is to start with the Association 7 foot generic bogie, but adding suitable detailing is going to be a challenge... David

Having drifted away from the hobby many years ago, after playing with O gauge (clockwork) and various early forms of N gauge (including OOO push along and Treble-O-Lectric), I recently returned and decided to take up the challenge of 2mm Fine Scale. I used to be quite happy doing simple kit-bashing and scratch-building of rolling stock on proprietary chassis and bogies, but had little experience of soldering (and what little I had was long, long ago). Choice of prototype wasn't too difficult. I've always had a liking for the GWR. In recent years I've had a strong preference for steam over diesel, though that wasn't true in my earlier years, when I looked upon steam as being old-fashioned, dirty and generally second-best to the then-new diesel and electric locomotives. Initially I was intending to model the traditional branch line terminus, somewhere in the West Country, set in the golden age of mid 1930s. Looking around for somewhere specific, I couldn't find anything that inspired me, so I cast my net a bit wider. Going back to early 1900s introduces some interesting changes in the livery - not sure I really like the darker green on locomotives, but I do like the Indian red frames and the extensive brasswork, and the fully lined-out chocolate and cream coaches would be an interesting challenge to my skills and eyesight. I had been researching my family tree for the past few years, and realised that offered an interesting possibility - Market Drayton, where many of my father's ancestors had lived. This is a town in the northeast corner of Shropshire, adjacent to Staffordshire and Cheshire, and with GWR lines running north to Crewe and south to Wellington, together with a North Staffordshire Railway ('Knotty') line eastward to Stoke. These lines all opened in the 1860s, and closed in the 1960s. Little remains - I believe that Market Drayton station is now buried beneath a superstore and its car park. Even in a cut-down version, Market Drayton will be a fairly substantial undertaking - two platforms, two bays, two separate good yards (one for GWR, one for Knotty), a fairly large goods shed, and a small Knotty engine shed. Having made up a few lengths of Easitrac, just to confirm my expectation that there won't be any problems in that part of the project, I decided to postpone the building of points and baseboards and laying of track whilst I start on the rolling stock that I will need for the layout. I will probably build a smaller layout first, either one of the minor stations on that line, or more likely a simple shunting plank. As I don't yet have any locomotives to run, I don't feel any urgency with that part of the project. I acquired two good sources for the area - "By Great Western to Crewe" by Bob Yate and "The Stoke to Market Drayton Line" by C R Lester. From these I could put together a reasonable picture of the traffic through Market Drayton. Nominally my target is 1905, though I might allow it to slip to 1910 if necessary. Passenger traffic Knotty About five trains a day to/from Stoke. Probably still 4-wheelers, and hauled by a 2-4-0T or 2-4-2T. Bill Bedford provides some suitable coaches, whilst London Road Models is the only source I know of for the locomotive, and that would be in 4mm scale - not sure if it could be reduced to 2mm scale. GWR About six trains a day each way between Crewe and Wellington. Basically stopping trains, unclear whether these would be 4/6 wheel or bogie (Dean clerestory) during this period, but two of these trains would have slip coaches or other through sections attached. All should be available from Worsley Works, though the slip coach is in the 3mm range and would need reducing. This service seems to have been regarded as a suitable "retirement" for engines working out their last days - the timetable is not very demanding, and gradients are modest. For example, various 2-4-0 tender classes including Stellas and Barnums in the 1920s, 481 and 149 class in the early 1900s. There is mention of Armstrong 2-4-0T engines in the earlier period - I hope this is a misprint for 0-4-2T such as the 517 class, which would allow me to put the Dean Sidings resin body on the forthcoming 2mm Association 0-4-2T chassis (they were certainly present on the line around 1920). The other possibilities will have to be deferred until my building skills are much-improved. Cheshire and Shropshire were both substantial producers of milk, so there would be siphons (and the Knotty equivalents) attached to various passenger trains. There is a large dairy making muesli in Market Drayton now (adjacent to, or possibly on, the site of the old railway) - I don't think there was a dairy/creamery in my period, but at least two nearby stations had creameries. Goods traffic This is rather more interesting than my original proposed branch line terminus. There were about three local trains a day in each direction, but the Crewe-Wellington line also saw some fairly heavy through express goods traffic, about fifteen trains a day in each direction. These included manufactured goods between Wolverhampton and Manchester, fruit and vegetables from Worcester (and broccoli from Cornwall) to Crewe/Manchester/Lancashire/Yorkshire and meat from Liverpool to London. I've also come across a creosote tank wagon which ran between Manchester and Hayes, via Market Drayton. One form of traffic mentioned in later years was cigarettes from Bristol to the Potteries. Local traffic included two cattle trains, one in each direction, on Monday mornings. There were at least two breweries in Market Drayton, so the transportation of beer by rail seems plausible. There was at least one foundry, making agricultural implements, so coal and iron from the Potteries and finished machines outwards would be likely. So as far as the GWR goods traffic is concerned, it will not follow the "standard" pattern - few Private Owner wagons, few unfitted open wagons, mostly fitted vans and fruit vans. Most of these should be fairly easy to make/convert from the Association kits. Locomotives would probably be Dean goods for the express goods, and various 0-6-0 saddle tanks for the local goods, whilst the Knotty used an 0-6-0 tender locomotive for their freight traffic. As with the passenger motive power, Dean Sidings offer a resin 1701 body which should fit the forthcoming Association 0-6-0 pannier chassis. I have a chassis kit for an 0-6-0 tender locomotive, which doesn't quite match either the Dean goods or any of the plausible Knotty classes, but might be adequate for a first attempt. More powerful locomotives were used in later years - Aberdares, 28xx 2-8-0s, 43xx moguls, 72xx 2-8-2Ts, all the way up to 9F 2-10-0s. Of these, I think only the Aberdares would have been present in my period, and I will defer any attempt to scratch-build one... So I'm making a start by building up some GWR goods vans and open wagons, with about 30 currently in the queue, to be followed in due course by a few coaches and then three or four locomotives when the chassis kits are available (and my confidence/competence is a bit higher). I am also debating whether to use one of the "might-have-been" alternatives for my initial layout, before moving onto the full layout of Market Drayton (assuming that my patience lasts long enough to complete the project). From what I can see, the Knotty enjoyed a very profitable monopoly over goods traffic to and from the Potteries, and local businessmen vigorously supported the provision of alternative routes to break this monopoly. In particular there was an interesting possibility in the Wellington, Drayton and Newcastle Railway proposal of 1861 (which would presumably have been taken over by the GWR in due course) - the potential for this line to bring china clay from Dorset for the pottery industry was apparently very popular. There were various proposals for the Potteries Junction Railway between Shrewsbury and Stoke on Trent, via Market Drayton, which did eventually obtain Parliamentary approval in 1865 - but never obtained the finance to construct the line. For anybody who is still reading, and wondering where the Gingerbread Line fits in - Market Drayton was famous for its gingerbread. The Market Drayton Railway Preservation Society was formed in 1992 with the aim of reopening part of the Nantwich to Market Drayton line, apparently using the name "Gingerbread Line" - web site is at http://www.the-gingerbread-line.co.uk Finally a word of appreciation for the modellers whose blogs here inspired me to make the attempt to follow in their footsteps, with suitable modifications. In particular, credit (or blame) is due to Missy whose Highclere shows what can be done in 2mm (but too modern with those new-fangled diesels), and Mikkel whose Farthing layouts showed how interesting the earlier period can be (though I'm not sure that I will follow his example in adding beards to my passengers!). David

Can't offer any views on the Scale Link/Shirescenes Siphon C - I'm half-tempted to buy one, but haven't succumbed yet. I have got an unbuilt Ultima Siphon F, which looks promising - etch appears to be clean, and instructions look fairly comprehensive, but lots of tiny parts to attach... Not sure whether the provided bogies will be satisfactory, or whether to go for Association ones, need to add wheels, bearings and couplings in any case. Ultima also have Siphon G in their range, but out of stock at present (too modern for my requirements anyway). David

Building easitrack is easy - points are a bit more challenging, but you can just build a couple of feet of plain track for testing of your models. Although it's probably of little interest to you, drop-in wheel replacement is now available to convert many diesel models from N to 2mm. Replacement wheels for rolling stock to convert from N to 2mm are readily available (you just need to ensure you get the ones with the appropriate axle length). There is a highly-regarded wheel-turning service, though I've heard that it's difficult to satisfactorily turn down the wheels on some steam locomotives for various reasons. I'm building a few wagons at present to improve my skills (and confidence), then I will be building a simple 0-6-0 tender engine. General recommendation I received was to build one of Bob Jones' Jinty 0-6-0 tanks for my first venture - that didn't suit my preference for GWR, and unfortunately I don't think the pannier that missy suggests is generally available yet, so I went for the second choice, the 0-6-0 and tender - I chose the Bob Jones chassis, though I don't think its wheelbase quite matches any of the prototypes I want to copy. I think it is certainly worth joining the 2mm Association - that gives you access to their components, and links to various independent suppliers. I'm sure you have found their web site by now, but for the benefit of other interested readers it is http://www.2mm.org.uk/ You might also like to look at the experience of John Birkett-Smith who has a couple of N layouts using largely handbuilt or heavily modified locomotive stock. I understand that he finds it difficult to obtain components for scratchbuilding in N, and appears to use some from the 2mm Association. His blog is at http://small-but-perfectly-formed.blogspot.com/ Good luck with it! David

A few comments - take them with a suitable pinch of salt as I have yet to build my first loco chassis: 1) If you've not already done so, read through the recent VAG thread where Steve's proposals to use alternative gears (due to the recommended ones being out of stock in the shop) drew comments from numerous quarters. 2) Comments there suggested that using a non-helical gear to connect to the worm would be a bad thing (though it wasn't very clear whether the proposed gears were helical or not). 3) I don't think Steve's suggestion of switching the 28T and 30T gears will work - different inside diameters, so the 28T will need opening out to fit over the "sleeve" on the driving wheel axle, and the 30T will probably need a similar "sleeve" adding onto its axle. 4) I suspect with the relatively small driving wheel, you will not want an overall gearing as high as the original design. I've seen a suggestion that about 50 to 1 will work fairly well in most cases - with smaller wheels it corresponds to a lower top speed, which makes sense. However, some of the Nigel Lawton motors have a very high speed, and higher gearing would be wise for them. David

Agreed with the general layout suggested by Julia. I'm slightly sceptical of the 37:12 reduction on the second stage, on several grounds, so I would suggest you double check the following: 1) 2mm Association Yearbook gives 9.91 mm as the outside diameter of the 37 tooth gear if it is 100dp. Will that clear the rails at a crossover? (What diameter wheels are you using?) 2) No entry in the Yearbook for a corresponding 12 tooth gear - there's a 13 tooth on 64 dp, otherwise the smallest is 14 tooth on 100 dp, and both the metric ranges. 3) More generally, your 12 tooth gear will have a diameter of about 1/3 of the 37 tooth gear. I'm not convinced you can simultaneously fit the larger one inside the diameter of the driving wheel and the smaller one over the usual 3mm "sleeve" (to avoid the censor's wrath). Perhaps you are using another source for the gears, but the same general dimensional restrictions apply. I would have expected 34 and 14 teeth to be the best you could manage, which still gives a pretty impressive overall reduction of 28:1 first stage and about 2.5:1 second stage, so about 70:1 overall. David

I think the "wooden 'thingy' that goes around the horses' rear end" may be the "breeching", in which case it will be made of leather and will be part of the harness and won't need to match the height of the wagon floor. Some examples can be seen on WIkipedia at http://en.wikipedia....reeching_(tack) Interesting looking model - I'm building the more normal traction engine at the moment (moves under steam power rather than horse power, but looks similar). David

Details of the Midland are outside my area of interest, but this looks plausible by comparison with the GWR which I do know quite well: Until about 1902, height of covered vans was about 10 feet 6 inches. Subsequently height was about 11 feet 9 inches (apart from a few exceptions of about 11 feet 3 inches or 12 feet 3 inches). For comparison, brake van height remained constant at about 11 feet (excluding chimney). Interestingly, there were a few open wagons which were almost as high as the covered vans - the "provender wagons" were about 10 feet high, with sides of 10 planks, and were used for transporting hay and straw for the use of GWR horses. David