Combe Martin

Many thanks for that. I presume your not referring to a 2mm model.

Has anyone on here managed to successfully motorise semaphore ground signals, and if so what mechanism did you use ?

This is creating as much froth as Kate's operation !

Ah, well many thanks for that.

MMM, the last thing I want to do is change CV's before and after wheel cleaning !

Does anyone sell it in the uk ?

Does anyone have a tip on how to clean loco driving wheels without undoing the coupling rods/valve gear and removing them from the chassis. All locos are DCC fitted.

I've just looked at their website again, there's loads of pictures of Spetisbury, but none of Bailey Gate which suggests they're concentrating on something else. Shame, especially when you consider there was a piece in the model railway press (a couple of pages including photos) about that project, and it didn't look to be condensed (squashed a bit) like mine has to be.

No, Bill Coomers books only contain rudimentary station layout diagrams with no dimensions at all.

I've been keeping an eye on their website but there hasn't been anything on there about Bailey Gate for (I would say) a couple of years at least ! It makes me wonder whether progress has stalled ?

Many thanks for the offer, but bearing in mind the below I think I've got enough for me to make something near enough to the correct length. This fits with the rough estimate I'd already made from a colour photo on Page 74 of 'On Somerset & Dorset Lines' by Robert Robotham (Ian Allen) which shows a Std Class 5 coupled to a train of a green Mk1 GUV, a maroon Stanier Bk 2nd, and then 2 maroon Mk1s in the Bailey Gate up platform. The problem with the picture is that its difficult to see exactly where the end of the train is ! So 330 feet fits. I've enlarged and printed off a piece from one of the Ordinance Survey maps (found it eventually online after much rummaging), but its exactly the same as all those I've seen in various books except for the font style used for the various descriptive words, but for example if the up platform is 330 feet then the down siding behind the down platform (where the parcels vans are stabled) is about 136 feet (this is the other length I was needing). From photos I've seen, it usually holds a maximum of 3 Southern CCT type vans or 2 bogie parcel type vans eg a Mk1 GUV plus a MK1 BG. Yes, this is a little less than my 'loco plus a mixed 4 on' mentioned above, so a down platform length of 291 feet (prorated from 330 feet for the up platform) seems about right.

I'm finally actually building my new 'less condensed' model of Bailey Gate, but I'm having difficulty finding out the lengths of the platforms. All the plans I can find in the various books are too small to work anything out. Does anyone know the lengths or know of any published information on this. All I can see is that the down platform is a little shorter than the up platform.

Further to the above, I see your using Gem wire-in-tube to connect the point to the motor. I've found this is now available from Wizard Models (he seems to buy up all the useful 'old' ranges where the originator wants to retire), and he has some in stock too. I can see you'r using brass connector blocks to connect the wire pieces, are they ones that have been cut out from nylon terminal blocks ? One more thing, do you find it necessary to use Omega Loops at either or both ends of the wire ?

Many thanks for that, so I presume no one else does what I would call a conventional 'old type' point motor which from your description sounds like a slightly more modern version of the old H & M point motor. I just happen to have one of these which I bought 2nd hand at an exhibition. It looks new unused, unlike many. It has a right angled crank but also has an extension piece to the crank pivot so it can be mounted under the baseboard with just the extension piece poking through. This has a small hole drilled though it at the top with a long piece of stiff but sprung wire passed through it that you aim at the point's tie bar. The sprung wire has a right angled bend at the end that you poke through the hole in the tie bar from the top side. The advantage of this is that the motor can be mounted underneath and up to 2.5 inches away from the point's tie bar. I used this on my old layout where I had 3 points parallel and adjacent to each other (at the entrance to the fiddle yard) with no room for a motor under the middle one. I seem to remember seeing this setup on exhibition layouts years ago before Peco bought out their Streamline range.

I'm building a new layout and have laid the fiddle yard on one side of the room using Peco code 100 salvaged from my old layout (no problem there). Now I've come to laying the station and yard on the other side of the room using Peco code 75 Bullhead track and points. In the past (on my old Code 100 layout ) I had no problem mounting Peco point motors underneath the baseboard, and in the few places where the point tie bar was directly above a piece of wood framing that supported the baseboard top (meaning I couldn't drill a hole in the baseboard for the points operating pin that slots into the hole in the tie bar) I managed to mount the point motor on the baseboard top to the side of the point (using one of those adapter plates) and even where there was another piece of track parallel to where the point was and so was in the way, I used one of those extention pieces to connect the adapter plate to the point running it under the adjacent track to the point motor (which was a couple of inches away. I then disguised the visible point motor with a building or piece of scenery. I hope this is understandable. Now I'm laying Peco's Bullhead points I've run into a problem. Typically with a load of them (not just the odd one) where they are sited the point's tie bar is right over a piece of baseboard framing so I couldn't drill the access hole for the point motors pin when I was laying and fixing down the point. No problem I thought, I'll just put the point motor on the surface to the side of the point and disguise it as I did with my previous layout. Now comes the problem, Peco's Bullhead points don't have the little plastic pin at the edges of the tie bar that is for fixing to the point motor adapter base (or the extention piece used for mounting the point further away), they have a LITTLE HOLE ! It looks as though the point only supports mounting the point motor directly underneath the centre of the tie bar's hole. Now Ok, I could lift a load of the track and move the position of the point away from the supporting framing but I don't want to do this because I've just spent ages laying it (and bullhead track is a lot more delicate and fiddly to lay than good old indestructable Streamline code 100 ! The other thing is I'm building a model of a real location and I spent ages working out where exactly to put the points, also bearing in mind that even though I've now got a bigger railway room (I moved house to get this) I've still had to condense it all (just not as much as before). Now I've searched everywhere for what Peco's intention is regarding somehow connecting their point motors (both types), traditional PL-10 solenoid type and the newer slimline low level point motor, and I cant find anything (and Peco are on holiday at the moment !) I dont want to enlarge the little hole, the tie bar is a bit narrow at the ends. The only solution I've thought of so far is to put a Hornby track nail through the little hole from the underside, it's a loose but snuggish fit, fix it with a bit of Araldite and snip off the top. Then take an adapter base extention piece, cut off the hole at the end (the hole is too big, its meant to fit the plastic pin on a Streamline tie bar) and drill a small narrower hole that will be a tight fit over the Hornby track nail. Has anyone else encountered and solved this problem, Bullhead points have been around for a few years now !

Not in the 50's, but there is a report of the rebuilt West Country 'Dorchester' in the early 60's going though Bailey Gate at at least 85 MPH being driven by a certain Mr Smith. Something to do with Mr Beale being right up his backside with the southbound Pines ! Since reading the above quote, I recall reading somewhere else that it was more like 95 !, but where I got that from escapes me at the moment.

Many thanks for that.

Does anyone know what Diagram no. the Ks plastic 6 wheel Siphon kit is. I've got one, packed away somewhere, built up, but it needs some attention in the 'running dept' and finishing off !

Yes, it looks like an ex Express Dairy tank (rap round straps) on an ex LMS underframe (4 tank supports) with lots of extra piping bits. I wonder where the prototype was.

The Std class 5 wasn't produced with a split chassis, that was the Std class 4 before it was replaced with a 'conventional' chassis. Also the Std class 5 has the gear drive on the centre axle but the problem is said to be the leading driving wheel axle so it's not a gear problem.

Have you checked the wheel quartering ?

The Bluebell Railway has 3 stations that will have a 'Gents', it's a couple of years since I've been down there, I would guess that they were built by the LBSCR but don't now know what sort they all are, but maybe worth checking them. Do you mean inside or outside ?

In the 50's the Pines restaurant car was a Stanier 12 wheel coach though not unfortunately the RTR model currently available from Hornby (the ex Airfix/Dapol model). I don't know which diagram it was but someone more expert than me on here will know. I do believe there are Comet sides for it. Photos in Ivo Peters and Norman Lockett books show it being the 4th vehicle on the down Pines. Photos show it was still a Stanier 12 wheeler in mid 1961 though my understanding is that it changed to a BR Mk1 around this time. I've no info about the open (diner ?) attached to it. I'm not expert on Stanier coaches and most Pines photos concentrate on the loco so because of the photo angle it can be difficult to recognise the coach types being used. When I have been able to do so they don't tie up with the CWN. The Pines was the only service over the S&D which conveyed a restaurant car though I don't know about the 'Pines relief'. Gresley restaurant cars were never used on the Pines because (my understanding is) it didn't originate on the former LNER which had electric charging points for re-charging and most Gresley restaurant cars had electric cooking. There were a few (3 I think) Anthracite Gresley restaurant cars plus a few gas powered for those restaurant services that started on the ER but finished away from it.

4417 (44417 in BR days) was a left hand drive loco.

I'm thinking of motorising a RTR milk tanker so that it can shunt other milk tanks at a milk depot where they probably used what I think are called 'pinch bars' to move tankers by hand. Does anyone know of a kit (probably etched brass) that will do this.