petertg

Hi all! Since before Christmas I have been able to do nothing. The Christmas period was spent in part away from home and then occupied with family events. Then in January I had vascular problems in both feet and the specialist had me shut up in hospital for twelve days. I still have problems and difficulty in walking due to a constant pain in the lumbar region. The cold weather and lack of a suitable heater make working in the garage difficult. However, since this web is for airing modelling topics and not the state of one's health. I can comment a pair of activities, one dating from last year and the other from this week. Several years ago I purchased a Roco rerailer which, in fact, could only be easily used at one particular point on the layout, due to the width of its arms and the separation between tracks. When I rerlaid the track on thicker cork underlay it didn't seat properly ion the track so I purchaesd a Proses electric rerailer, which is too large for my layout, can fit on only one siding and occupies half of it. It also requires the rerailed vehicle to cross four points before reaching the main line. Thus it occurred to me to modify the Roco item. I removed the arms and feet (see original picture here): I then applied the tip against the sleeperss. measured the gap at the rear end over the track, cut pieces of plasticard just the width between the rails and glued them to the rerailer with the followinf resulta: I can now rerail in up to ten different places on the layout. In November and January I purchased two second hand Jintys from Hattons, with dcc chip fitted by them I must say I am pleased with the service obtained). However the second one arrived just days before admission to hospital and I only had time to test that it worked. This week I deceided to modify its address and spent a whole afternoon without success. Whatever I did, the address was always 3.The day after I had another go and realised I was using the wrong program. Once this error was corrected, there was no problem, the loco answered to its new addresss but ran backwards when forwars was selected and viceversa- I put this down to the fact that when soldering the decoder, the operativv had confused the wires. This was no problem, since it was suffiient to change bit 0 of CV 29 to 1. But I now have an unexpected problem with yje Jintys. I have already glued various Kadee 334 (between the rail) magnets and tested when with my goods and passenger stock, but I now find that the Jintys jam against them, as part of the belly is too low. I shall now have to rip up the magnets and refit them and make space for the remaining one I want to fit by futting out the sleepers, unless there is any better way. Regards to all.

Hi all! After putting passengers into railway coaches, I would like to do the same with some of the buses I have. A cursory look has led me to a provisional conclusion, namely, it would be fairly easy to get them apart, but not so simple to get them together again. Has anybody had any experience of this or is there anything already on the forum to which I can be directed? I am talking about 1:76 scale

To-day I finally managed to get the two new street lamposts correctly wired up after several failed attempts. I had got one to light up, but the other one didn't, not because it was wired the wrong way round, but because of a faulty connection and, possibly, a slight fault in the post itself.I say getting closer, because the stage has been reached where uit can be said that the layout is almost finished I suppose that you can never say that a layout is finished, because there are sdtill umpteen details to be attended to, somr will be attended to, but others perhaps not. After eleven years at the job and with ever poorer health, I am beginning to get a bit tired. I may have a look at modifying some of my HO rolling stock, although I don't know whether it will be worthwhile.

Well done. All this brings back memories of when I worked at the Rootes Group Main Dealer in Leeds. One of the mechanics had acquired an old Sunbeam Talbot and later wanted to sell it on. However at least one of the wheel spats had rusted right through and made a hole as big as your fist, He took it up to the paintshop and, there with newspapere and filler rubbed smooth and a lovely coat of paint and it was made to look like new.

Good evening all. Since my last post modelling has been almost stopped. I had got to a stage where I had to wire up two new platform lampposts and two street lighting posts. This obviously meant working on the underside of the board, which is now a problem. My physical conditions no longer allow me to tip the board on edge like I could a couple of years ago to work upright. Working seated is not comfortable, but after a week turning the matter over in my mind, I decided to put into practice an idea that had occurred to me. The leads from the new posts were long enough to reach some terminal blocks where earlier installed lamps were connected. However, the problem here was how to get the hair thin leads pass through the terminal blocks already full of wires. Just by loosening the screws and trying to push the wires through would not work, because the wires have no body and would just curl up. The idea was to use a needle and thread them through in that way. So, I rummaged in the sewing cabinet and found a tapestry needle which had an eye large enough to take the filaments, although not the plastic sheath. This was overcome by stripping off (with a cigarette lighter) part of he sheath. I was than able to pass the wires through the blocks without dislodging the existing wires. The first lamp went o.k., but there was a contact fault with the second one which required me to release the wire, back it off a little, burn off a portion of sheath and then tighten it up again. Now all my station platform lights work. The street lighting will require the leads to be extended because they are farther away from the nearest terminal block of the existing lighting, but I don't anticipate any serious problems. Once that job is done, I can back to populating the platforms and streets with standing figures, since I have already placed a good number of seated figures.

I mentioned in my last post that I was building an additional new platform so that I could have two trains running simultaneously and both would have where to pick up and set down passengers as required or otherwise one would have to run continuously with nowhere to stop. I can now report that the new platform is in an advanced state and enclose some photos of its construction. In the first place I would point out that do not have any CAD program, silhouette or laser cutter, 3D printer or instrument for measuring angles, so all has been done freehand, with the corresponding blemishes. Fortunately, most are hidden under the canopy and are not visible at first sight. The idea was to install it parallel to the Faller station already installed, so ai have tried to represent the same colour scheme, but since I has to mix colours several times in batches, I was unable to make a perfect match. I had prepared a platform some time ago which, owing to imperfect laying leading to a tapering space between the tracks, the platform also tapers. At that time I decided that I had to properly mount the Faller station, which has one platform with a moving belt below, so that there can be walking passengers on top. I had ruined the original belt when trying to glue the magnets to it. These magnets are not much bigger than a pin head but they stick together as though they were superglued. For reasons too long to explain, I took me three months to get a new belt. Then I discovered that the motor would not drive the belt, but the gears started jumping, so I had to order a new motor which, fortunately, same through quickly, but it will not drive the belt properly. My guess is that there is excessive friction which needs to be cured. Anyway, I decided to leave this problem for later on and set about building a canopy for the new platform resembling as close as possible the Faller one. In the first place I had to make columns to support the shallow V-shaped roof and, thus, turned the Faller canopy upside down and started making columns out of laminated 6x1 mm styrene strip, as shown in the photos below. The portion shown (upside down) was too short, so I had to fabricate two more columns and pieces of roof. The roof was made from 0.75 mm styrene sheet, later laminated with 2 mm thick balsa wood. The columns were planted in the base platform, the styrene strips were added (see photo below of mock up) and then the balsa outer covering. When I had got this far and placed the platform on the layout, I realized that I had nor provided any access to it, so I had to cut oblong holes through it and make stairs like on the Faller platform. Below there are a couple of photos showing where the platform goes and the platform provisionally in place. There is still a lot of touching up to be done, such as installing benches and passengers and two lampposts like on the other platform. I had purchased two, but they are not the same as the others because the shop had only one left. However, there are more on order to be received in the next few days.

Hi! all. Certain parts of my layout, e.g., station platforms, are made from balsa wood and have defects which need filling in, plus holes in the baseboard. Before I buy, I would like to know which products would be best. I have a plastic wood paste bought locally, but I find it hard to work, it doesn`t seem to stick well to the wood I have, but it does dry immediately on contact with my fingers. I have seen a product by Vallejo. I am not a kit builder, so I only need it for the woodwork. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Thanks for all the comments. I was confused about my autocoach, it is not Hornby, but Bachmann and I have found the sheet with instructions on how to open the body.. However I still have to find a way to open my Hornby Gresley coaches.

I have found that the roofs of my Dapol coaches are only a press fit on the body and can be easily removed. The body is also a press fit on the chassis but a bit more difficult to release the clips. However I also havs a Hornby ex-GWR Autocoach. I removed one of the bogies but there was no screw underneath fixing the body and I have looked at the other thread and it doesn't seem to help me. Finally, I have a question I do not know where to place, namely, what type of coach would be appropriate to install between the autocoach and the locomotive. I have been using a Gresley brake composite, but this belongs to another rake.

Hello all! I have several Hornby and Dapol coaches and I would like to know how to open them (e,g, remove the roof) without damaging them beyond repair. I would like to install passengers.

I have just realIised that six months have passed since my last post and a lot of things (not all pleasant) have passed in the meantime. To be brief, In May I was rushed into hospital with a lung edema (lings full of blood) and was discharged a week later with a new addition, namely a stent. Then I had a couple of short visits (a few hours each time) for a nose hemorrhage and a heart block). On the pleasant side, there was a trip to the UK to visit relatives and old friends (in spite of my age and theirs, some are still alive), including a trip on the NYMR of TV fame. I decided to get my Faller station (with moving figures) operative and started sticking magnets to the drive belt, but made a horrible mess of it and had to order a new belt, which took almost three months to reach my hands for reasons too long to explain. Once I had fitted the magnets (devilishly small: 2x2x1 mm) I found that the motor was faulty, so I had to order a new one, which I now have. but it won't drive the belt. I don't know whether I haven't got the tension right or whether there is too much friction. I have left that problem for the time being. I decided to add an additional platform to the Faller station because my layout has two variants, namely, double loop which goes alternately under than over the bridge, or two individual loops, one going always under the bridge and calling at one of the stations and the other going always over the bridge and not calling at any station. Since I have DMUs and the autocoach, two units can be running at the same time and both need stations where to pick up and drop off passengers. I'll come back to that another time. Like another member mentioned just recently, I have decided to populate the layout since there were empty trains, empty stations, empty streets and empty buses (when I put them on the layout). So, I bought some benches which needed painting) and some seated figures and placed some in a small park, in the bus shelter and in the DMUs as passengers. They are, however very plain, apart from the hair and face, the rest of the figure is all one colour (you can't expect much at 6GBP for 25). I also acquired a box of 30 Noch Travellers figures, extremely well detailed, but obviously much more expensive (five to six times). not all are specifically railway oriented and can be used for street scenes. Since I have 30 benches to share out among four platforms and, perhaps, in the streets, I am contemplating buying a box of Noch seated figures and may even buy a box of legless figures for use as passengers if I can find a way of opening coaches and buses without doing irreparable damage. Finally, I have added a wall to the other station platform (homemade and decorated with Metcalfe card kits) and show some photos below. The wall is made of two sheets of 2mm thick balsawood faced with printed brick paper and capped with Metcalfe paving flags. The first half of the new wall The completed new wall.

I have just realIised that six months have passed since my last post and a lot of things (not all pleasant) have passed in the meantime. To be brief, In May I was rushed into hospital with a lung edema (lings full of blood) and was discharged a week later with a new addition, namely a stent. Then I had a couple of short visits (a few hours each time) for a nose hemorrhage and a heart block). On the pleasant side, there was a trip to the UK to visit relatives and old friends (in spite of my age and theirs, some are still alive), including a trip on the NYMR of TV fame. I decided to get my Faller station (with moving figures) operative and started sticking magnets to the drive belt, but made a horrible mess of it and had to order a new belt, which took almost three months to reach my hands for reasons too long to explain. Once I had fitted the magnets (devilishly small: 2x2x1 mm) I found that the motor was faulty, so I had to order a new one, which I now have. but it won't drive the belt. I don't know whether I haven't got the tension right or whether there is too much friction. I have left that problem for the time being. I decided to add an additional platform to the Faller station because my layout has two variants, namely, double loop which goes alternately under than over the bridge, or two individual loops, one going always under the bridge and calling at one of the stations and the other going always over the bridge and not calling at any station. Since I have DMUs and the autocoach, two units can be running at the same time and both need stations where to pick up and drop off passengers. I'll come back to that another time. Like another member mentioned just recently, I have decided to populate the layout since there were empty trains, empty stations, empty streets and empty buses (when I put them on the layout). So, I bought some benches which needed painting) and some seated figures and placed some in a small park, in the bus shelter and in the DMUs as passengers. They are, however very plain, apart from the hair and face, the rest of the figure is all one colour (you can't expect much at 6GBP for 25). I also acquired a box of 30 Noch Travellers figures, extremely well detailed, but obviously much more expensive (five to six times). not all are specifically railway oriented and can be used for street scenes. Since I have 30 benches to share out among four platforms and, perhaps, in the streets, I am contemplating buying a box of Noch seated figures and may even buy a box of legless figures for use as passengers if I can find a way of opening coaches and buses without doing irreparable damage. Finally, I have added a wall to the other station platform (homemade and decorated with Metcalfe card kits) and show some photos below. The wall is made of two sheets of 2mm thick balsawood faced with printed brick paper and capped with Metcalfe paving flags. First half of new wall New wall completed

This post brings back memories of when I was a youth. I used to visit relatives in Pontefract where I was "evacuated" during the period 1941-1943 (my mother sent me there) and caught the train (an old looking railcar) and loaded my bike at Crossgates to go to Castleford, via Garforth and Allerton Bywater (where in fact my father was born), from where I then biked to Pontefract.

[i am now back home, but we did have a good return trip Pickering-Whitby with a steam engine pulling. I did not see it, but my brother-in-law said we had a diesel locomotive hooked on behind. I upload a photo of the locomotive i case anyone can indicate the class to me. attachment=1039839:IMG_20180808_160512.jpg]

I have at last discovered one familar bus - ANW 682. When at school, we travelled sometimes on a bus like this, whether it was this particular one or not, I don't remember. From 1939 to 1960, with a short interval of 1941-43, I lived a stones's throw from the back end of Crossgates Carriage Works (Chas. Roe) and remember seeing whole trunks of wood cut into slices left outside on a cart track to weather. I also remember seeing naked chasses being driven along Austhorpe Road to the works wirh the driver exposed to the elements behind a makeshift windscreen. I have pictures of some very old buses, but I can't uplioad them because they are not mine. They are of the 1933 Leeds Q bus, of a Ledgard PD1 (one at City Square and ther other at the works before delivery) like the model and the first non-Leyland bus Ledgard bus (one on the forecourt at Roe's and the other on the street) and also two of the Crossley DD42 JUB727 with the apparently aberrant fleet number of 701 (when Leeds normally followed the identical reg. nº/fleet nº system). It had been originally numbered 27 but this was subsequently changed. These photographs can be found on the Secret Leeds web page under the Transport and Ledgard threads. I would add that my only connection with buses was as a passenger, except one morning going to school, when I acted as bell ringer, while the conductress was upstairs collecting fares on a crowded bus. As far as trams are concerned, Leeds had some balcony trams which only seemed to come up to our end in the middle of winter when it was freezing cold. I also remember the wartime utility buses, just skin and bone, a wooden frame with external sheet metal cladding and uncomfortable seating. I miss photos of Yorkshire Woollen and West Riding buses on which I also travelled.

I shall be in the area the first fortnight of August and it will be a chance to revisit Pontefract where I was evacuated to live with relatives in 1941-43. Can you give the exact address of the shop in case I get the chance to visit it?

I have just found this thread but 41 pages are a lot to browse through at one go. I am interested in old buses (pre Atlantean) but of Leeds, Green and Red West Riding and Yorkshire Woollen. In the first 10 pages there was, error excepted, only one very old West Riding. Are any of the ohers shown from page 11 onwards? Any information will be appreciated.

Thanks for this information, but I think that Redcar is too far from Wetherby for our plans. I have been to Redcar, we had holidays there in 1938-1939 and 1946-47.

I live abroad so I would not have been able to see the series even if I had known about it. I had travelled on the railway part way in 1981 and next month, all being well, I shall be in England with a daughter, her husband and two grandchildren and my brother-in-law has booked a return trip to Whitby with time for a look around and a good fish 'n chips lunch. I asked him to book steam, since I have an aversion to diesels and don't want them on my layout, although I do like DMUs and have three. By the way, are there any shows going on within a short drive from Wetherby in the period 3-11 August?

I think you should go for the two drivers since you will be creating employment

I have similar problems. However I am stuck in dock with heart trouble, so I cannot investigate the matter until I get out. Will keep it in mind. Greetings.

I have fitted kadees forming my own "pockets" and then gluing in the normal plug-in tyoes.to some Dapol coache with apparently difficult plastic to bond. To do this I found a plastic cement manufactured by a company known as Ceys quoted as being for difficult plastics and so far they have not come apart. However, since then I have not been able to find it again and it did have the problem of bonding its own screw cap to the screw thread.

A lot of very interesting information has come out in this discussion. However, the object of my original question was to find an appropriate RTR vehicle to insert between the locomotive and the autotrailer, namely would it be all 3rd or composite, brake or otherwise and corridor or non corridor since the autotrailer has no gangway.. I say RTR because I am not in a position to do any modification work for four main reasons: I don't have adequate tooling; I don't have the expertise; I don't have the required eyesight and I don't have nimble fingers, rarther swollen arthritic joints and often things seem to fly away from my fingers when I try to pick them up.

I have taken to a push-pull rake. However, it is motley collection with an LMS liveried Jinty, a BR Maroon liveried corridor coach and an ex-GWR autotriailer. While itis true that here nobody would notice the difference, I would like it to be a bit more genuine. I imagine that the seccond coach could be a non-corridor brake, either composite or sal third. My current coaching stock is four Gresley coaches in BR liverry and four LMS coaches in crimson..Did push-pull services extend much into Nationalisation? If so, at some later daate I might consider purchasing a second Jinty in BR livery and an appropriate coach, since the autotrailer is BR. Any ideas.