Dava

Volunteers & skilled workers at a premium in Strathspey region. Board needs to understand this.

17 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

It might be a good idea for people in this thread to get hold of a copy of Classic Toy Trains, to get an idea of the breadth of what goes on within 3-rail 0 in the states.

 

It isn’t all tinplate, in fact it’s heavily dominated by plastic, because the US makers  want largely that way postwar, so the tin stuff is mostly genuinely old, or modern reproduction (they don’t seem to have the ‘revivalist’ strand that we do here from firms such as Ace, which gives us a lot of modern tinplate and ‘giant Horby Dublo’). It isn’t all 8x4 layouts with a million operating accessories, although there are plenty like that, and big versions of the same (80x40?), there are various degrees of train realism, and scenic realism, extending to “very” in both cases. It is a broad church. A barely comprehensible church from this side of the Atlantic, but a broad one.

The loco on the left is modern US 0, and apart from the wheels and current collection, it’s more or less ‘finescale’, so this one is at the ‘very’ end of the scale. It’s a truly superb runner too. This one is largely diecast construction. The 4F behind it is modern tinplate.

 

 

The diesel loco is a Bachmann Williams GE 44 tonner, a reasonable model above the footplate with slightly overscale handrails. Below, the trucks have a direct drive axle and freewheel axle with coarse wheels which can be replaced. Very similar to the GE 70 tonner I bought which awaits conversion to scale wheels & removal of fairground sound system. Otherwise these are reasonable models, available from Tootally Trains in UK which makes importing easy.

Dava
 

This thread has taken about three years to get started. In Autumn 2020 we were 'locked in' and I started to get interested in North American shortline railroads. North American, not just USA, because I had first-hand experience of one in Canada. I'd been modelling British light railways in 7mm scale for over 10 years, and read 'Classic Trains' magazine (Kalmbach) most quarters. But US railroads have massive locos, mile-long trains, and there's nothing you can buy, right?

Well, no. Let's see the photo below, from one of the many shortline groups on FaceBook. Its a red GE 44-tonner with a single flatcar on the Pinsly-owned Claremont & Concord Railroad outside an engineering foundry on a former electric trolley line in downtown Claremont. Pinsly saw that the Class 1 railroads like the Boston & Maine were closing loss-making country lines which no longer served industrial companies such as papermills, engineering and other companies that needed rail connections. Rather like a Massachusetts version of Colonel Stephens,  Pinsly built up a shortline empire of 16 railroads between 1938 and 2020, when the Pinsly RR sold off its final line.  He replaced steam with red GE 44 and 70 tonner diesels, cut costs, serviced clients and created a unique operating model and visual image for his shortlines. 

So in the past 3 years I've been acquiring a few (too many?) US 2-rail finescale locos suitable for a shortline, in the UK, or imported from US, and even Switzerland, mainly brass. All have cost less than a new Heljan class 25 or similar, import costs included. Also a small fleet of shorter boxcars, gondolas and flats, sets of turnout parts and rail. I have a design for the layout, and a name. Now I'm ready to go. More next time. 

Dava

The story of my involvement with the CB&NSCR in Nova Scotia is told here, sadly the illustrations were lost in the great RmWeb meltdown a few years ago. 

There is North American 2 rail finescale in both US and Uk. This weekend we have an annual event at Winchester, see below. Come along & see! 

Conversion from 3 to 2 rail is a PITA. Some of the Bachmann Williams locos like GE 44 & 70 tonners are candidates.

3 rail seems to be attractive because of the extreme curve compression, fairground sound & light effects & instant entertainment it offers, Neil Young has a lot to answer for. 
 

2 rail is entirely possible, I’ll be starting a thread on my shortline project on here soon. Preview of some testing playtime below. That K-Line Plymouth started life as 3-rail, converted to 2-rail DCC (not by me) is a sweetie! I’m converting matching 3 rail ore cars back to 2 rail, they are Atlas bodies which just need plastic trucks, scale wheels & Kadee couplers.

Dava

Dava

38 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

It was touted as "not been done before in RTR O", so ruled out duplicating any output by Heljan in particular.

BUT - is there really enough difference between a Ruston 48DS & an 88DS to still maintain that claim? No idea, myself, and the only 'very small' British outline loco I've succumbed to is the ECT Wickham Trolley, if that can be counted as a loco?

So personally, slightly disappointed it's not a D63xx/Class 22, & not interested in UK Micro-shunters, but I expect as a "toe dipper" for Accurascale it's a sensible choice, unless it has to compete for sales with the Heljan 48DS.

 

There's always next time for the Class 22, as even if D@p□l announced one tomorow, it'd likely be years before it came to pass (*thinks* Class 66), so plenty of time.... 🤪😝😂

48DS is a baby loco, 88DS is a gawky teenager. Some industries had both. Plenty of 88DS BR NE departmental locos.

Someone will do a class 22 someday!

Visited Malc’s Models today as I was in Ilkeston for brewing supplies, home brew stores being as rare as model shops these days, Ilkeston has both! I’d seen Malc’s at shows but not visited before. Extensive stocks in N, TT120, 00, 0, G scale, plastic kits. Well recommended. Kato N stocked , also 009.

Dava

The list of projects to replace HS2 seem likely to cost multiples of the £36bn ‘saved’ (if it is). According to Andrew Adonis and others.
Quantum theory is being applied to public finance to make this possible.

To explain, I have saved £36bn from not building HS2n. So I can commit £36bn to NPR, but I still have £36bn which can be ‘spent’ multiple times. But we cannot know how much these projects will actually cost, nor whether or which ones will actually be started or completed. As with A1 doubling north of Newcastle, announced multiple times since 1992 but never started. If they are not started only the £s spent planning have been spent. 
Quantum theory defies linear logic but it can ‘explain’ what is being proposed. Quantum public finance.

I hereby claim my Nobel Prize!  Don’t try this at home…..
 

Professor Dava

You can do a surprising amount in O gauge in 6 x 1 feet and every extra bit of space helps. I built my Coxheath Sidings microlayout using foamboard in this space in 2015 and had a lot of fun with it. It’s successor, a US shortline, is now under construction in the 10 x 2ft (3000 x 600mm) space in my workshop. The Coxheath story is here with some re-added photos.

Dava

This thread lost the later photos of Coxheath Sidings hosting my American shortline locos for test running, I have added a couple below. Coxheath still exists in store and construction of its larger replacement US shortline is finally about to start.

Dava
 

Last time I looked, HS1 was mainly owned by the Canadian Teachers Pension Fund.

Eventually, when HS2 is completed in whatever limited form, it will also probably be sold to an international owner, such as Dubai, India, China. But it’s viability is very much in question from the constraints being made on the route. 
 

Dava

Enjoyed the  Stafford show, recommend the Grandstand cafe for huge breakfast bap and waiting indoors for show to open. Lots of space, fine selection of layouts in most scales (no TT, T or Z, observation not complaint!). Easy to reach from East Midlands and reasonable VFM - same price as Guildex in the same venue. 
 

Dava

Will be visiting as a punter on Saturday. Intrigued as to why advance tickets are £17, on the door £15? 
 

Will be in the queue. Hope the cafe is open for crispy bacon bap!

Dava

Look to the future rather than the past.

The 870 km Rail Baltica project, which is due for completion in 2030, will connect the capitals of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia with Warsaw and the rest of Europe, allowing trains from the continent to run uninterrupted.

The high-speed railway that's uncoupling the Baltic states from Russia and their Soviet past.

https://www.railbaltica.org/about-rail-baltica/

How about a Ukraine Freedom Train with a saloon business car used by all the leaders of the free world?

A friend on another forum kindly brought me a copy of the Groudle Glen Railway book back from the IoM gala week.

As expected it is the definitive book on this line which has had a better history since it reopened in 1986 than it did before. The standards of loco builds, rebuilds, coaches, buildings and everything else are superb.

The book is expected to be on sale on the mainland later this year, watch for Nigel Bird Books.

I was delighted in the section on models of the GGR to see a photo of my 012 models of Polar Bear and Sea Lion in a Display case, each with a matching train of the 4 wheel coaches. I built these in 1985-6 to run on my Groudle Glen Railway layout, which I sold to the current GGR President back in 1997, before moving house. I now know what happened to them. The book photo is shown below. Forgive the parallax view and my 1980s modelling. The locos ran on BerlinerBahn chassis! Sadly the Thixofix used in metal-plastic joins perishes after 25 years or so.
 

Both the book and the railway are highly recommended. Sadly, Mrs Dava does not wish to experience the charms of Mannin,so not sure when I’ll revisit. Should have done a solo trip this summer!

Dava

There are some interesting LNER tank locos on the floor plan, the J75 is Hull & Barnsley but the J138 is a new one on me!

Dava

Worksop will be a ghost town without the Wilko HQ & DC jobs. It was bad enough before. I hope someone buys the centre. Wilko’s slow or non payment of suppliers was a major reason for its failure as you can’t expect continued supply if you don’t pay. The end of the home wine & brew lines was an early warning of this.

There is no place for incompetent management in UK retail as the market & cost leaders are ruthlessly efficient & competitive. Bunnings has been mentioned and their failed takeover of Homebase was the most catastrophic misjudgment and cluster for a long time in UK home retail. They didn’t understand women as decision-makers and customers. It showed and the rest is history. 
 

Meanwhile, Dunelms is still doing rather well.

Dava

They were manufactured by Lima from the start, just imported and sold under the Wrenn brand. Mainly wrongly scaled mutants from the start. I confess to owning a 4F and some coaches in a brief N gauge foray. Best forgotten. There never was a King, J50 or class 31. Minitrix weren’t to perfect scale either but they ran much better.
 

Looking forward to being there on Saturday as well. Shortline modeller.

Anyone got any shortie ore cars they don’t need?

Dava

The Clans were the only uniquely Scottish class of Pacifics, by dint of their names and route allocations, though not actually built there. If the Southern Chiefs had been built, they wouldn’t have kept this distinction.

Some sported blue smoke box number and shed plates, unofficially.

Dava

17 hours ago, jpendle said:

Yes they have.

The owner retired and decided not to sell the business.

 

Regards,

 

John P

Thanks, I saw that on Mark Ellis’s excellent Union Mills website. I have. J39 which I’ll be looking to sell on.

Dava

Why is it irreplaceable?

Has Union Mills stopped production?

Dava

Looks like you need access to an article in the NBR study group journal, as below, result from the search engine on their journal web page.

AUTHORJOINT AUTHORARTICLE TITLEISSUEPAGE

TORTORELLA ArnoldWagon Sheets for the NBR8428

that’s issue 84, p28

https://www.nbrstudygroup.co.uk/nbrsg/author_and_text.php

20 minutes ago, Gatesheadgeek said:

Possibly so, but for me at least they’re less memorable than the bigger locomotives. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that. 

Smaller tank locos such as Jinties, Panniers, Terriers and J94s were much more numerous than your Pacific express locos on the steam era railway. And more versatile on smaller layouts. I’m personally not interested in modelling anything in TT120 until smaller locos are available. At present it’s mainly A3s & A4s going round & round…

Thanks

On JMRI its a ZTC217 decoder.

The value for CV29 was 4. I tried resetting and saving to 8. This didn't work in either DC or DCC.

I then reset CV29 to 4 & saved it. On DC the change in direction only works after 1 start in the same direction as before, which is useless on a shuttle. Also it runs very slowly on DC. Its not currently responding to DCC at all. So its not been successful and I'm now out of time, so rather frustrating.

I'll have to try again when I have time.