LNER4479

'Consultant', eh? Remind me to take your watch off you and tell you the time

So does one build a layout so that it can be photographed from a realistic viewpoint to create a 'just like the real thing' image ... or does one build a layout to enjoy seeing trains run? (Probably invites the inevitable answer: 'Both!')

Well, Mr King, your wit was working fast enough there...

Trip to Ormesby last night. Did remember to take some pictures - unfortunately I forgot to take the camera so crummy mob hone pics only A studious Craig is working on the roadway leading away from the cattle dock. Meanwhile, the extra ground cover (setts - not cobbles!) has gone in on the remaining area in front of the granary warehouse (bottom left). Apparently, I gave an incorrect reference to the source of these sheets - so to correct that error, they are downloadable from http://www.modelrailwayscenery.com/ My modest contribution to this feverish activity is the loading dock area (where the output from Ruston & Hornsby / Aveling Barford was loaded onto rail vehicles). Apologies for the poor quality of pic. I'll take some better pics once the boards are all reassembled back at base. Finally - for now - the 'star moment'. Paul B brought in the work he has been doing on the detachable board that backs on to the station approach road. Work in progress at the moment (eg garden details to be added) but the Belvoir Baby Carriages building is just wonderful work - and all based on a zoomed in snatch glimpse(!) of a chance aerial photo from the Britainfromabove website.

You worked out how to create an avatar!!! Very classy...

Yes. Others have answered but, for absolute clarity, the prototype dimension is the summation of 4' 8.5" plus 2 x rail head width (2.75" each) plus 6'. That little lot tots up to 11' 2", hence 44.67mm at 4mm to the foot scale. Obviously, as OO track gauge is narrower, so the 'six foot' model dimension is proportionally larger (that was my point to Gordon about the gap being accentuated when modelling in OO as opposed to P4). I always prefer to start with the prototypical dimensions then scale down from those.

'Fill me with your permanent way! c'mon, you know you want to...' Like that, you mean?

Wow, Iain - that looks fab! One of these days, you must get out what locos you have and arrange them around that end of the depot to give some idea of the overall scene. I'm sure it'll look mighty impressive already. May be also a useful (poignant?) record if you do end up creating Camden Mk2. Go on, just for us ... it is Christmas, you know ...

Love the latest avatar - any chance of seeing it - sorry, her(!) - in all her full glory? Go on - you know you want to...

Hi Gordon, I'm a great advocate of the 6 foot way in OO - chiefly because, with OO being narrow gauge anyway, the space between the tracks can look exaggerated and all too easily end up looking 'continental' (If that makes sense). 'Tis true that there are many examples where track spacings are greater (Mike has posted a pic of the most obvious example - ie Ex-GWR broad gauge lines) but I would go so far as to say that a typical stretch of UK double track mainline would be set out at the 6 foot spacing (ie which equates to 44.67mm centres in 4mm scale). Once the real railway builders had constructed their railway in such a manner, every viaduct, tunnel, cutting, embankment (etc) would constrain it to that dimension thereafter. In answer to your question, on a purely empirical basis, 5 foot radius and above is perfectly OK for a 6 foot spacing; 3 foot radius and below it definitely needs to be wider. Somewhere in between therefore lies the cut-off point. I would have thought that with the aid of Templot you could have set out your trackwork such that the spacing starts to increase below 5 foot radius and you adjust it so that you have a variable track spacing to match the instantaneous radius at any one point (ie to allow for transitions).

Now fancy going all festive on us all of a sudden (bah humbug!) Seriously - many thank to yourself for your not inconsiderable contribution to Grantham this year in the build up the show debut in September Barry caught you in this pose at the show! All the best to you and Mo over the holiday period and looking forward to 2016.

Thanks very much! Although I'll always like messing about with trackwork & signals n stuff, it's nice to give some attention to other aspects at the moment. Ah, yes ... I wonder who was gonna spot that first! A blob of plaster got on one of me fingers and I didn't notice until...

Probably... Been plodding away at the approach road. Last time it looked like this. A few bare patches in need of filling... Usual polystyrene blocks used to fill the corner. Then the start of the retaining wall. It's not really like that at the real Grantham, more of a sloped embankment with a shorter wall at the bottom. But this won't really be on show at a show so is a compromise resulting from compression. Coloured plaster mix to cover things up ready for grassing. Now, let's try for that ground level picture again... That's better!

That doesn't look too bad to me David - I think it can be made to work. One thing that is possible is to adjust the curvature of the points by cutting away some of the webbing beneath (nothing too drastic - it's surprising how much difference just the slightest tweak can make). I can post you some simple instructions for doing this. The other thing to bear in mind is that although perfect flowing curves are the thing to aim for a stretch of mainline, you're dealing with a loco shed here - the odd kink and dip here and there would be perfectly prototypical (provided your stock can still run over it)

Here's a model project in progress (trying desperately to get the thread back on track and knowing how much 'sir' likes us to do show n tell...) I'm replicating in model form what the erstwhile GNR did back in the day, namely rebuild their D4 4-4-0's into D3's. Main work here is to extend the smokebox and add cut down fittings (chimney, dome). I've decided to live with the more-noisy-than-I'd-like motor/gearbox Tony. I unsoldered it all to adjust and think I managed to quieten it down a bit.

AndyID is correct in his drawing UncleBobkt - you've missed off the vital second half of his sentence that you quote: 'distance between the crank pin and the crosshead along a line that intersects both the axis of the axle and the axis of the piston' Another way of saying this would be the horizontal distance. (the length of the conn rod - which is of course fixed - is at an angle as drawn) Here's another way of expressing / explaining it: When the piston is at its mid-point (ie halfway between the front and the rear of the cylinder), the connection with the crank pin is NOT at its absolute top or bottom position (TDC or BDC). Well you did say you hoped to learn... (I'm OK with mechanical things - it's electrickery that bamboozles me)

FWIW it gets a mention here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crank_(mechanism) Nothing about Crabs or 9Fs though...

To answer the OP - all (35) of them! (or at least access to them). They were all to be seen together at Barrow Hill last year as part of the A4 event there (No.8, 4489, 4464) and they all ran at least once on the layout during the weekend. Was featured in Model Rail 202. Not an exercise to be repeated in a hurry! (if you can't count to 35 that's cos there were several on the layout at any one time) Also fortunate to have access to two of the three streamliner trains: Come and see us on the road in 2016 - but we won't have all the 35 A4s with us! (Dare I mention the 79 Gresley A1/A3s...?)

I think Jonathan's on to something there. Gill can confirm that Joseph Cockshoot & co was a large car manufacturer and dealer in the Manchester area. (latterly absorbed by Lex Motors) http://95.129.105.39/media/33871030/josephcockshootandco.pdf This info from MOSI 'nails' it: 'It acquired new premises on the corner of Great Ducie Street and New Bridge Street in 1906'. That's the correct orientation for what you're looking at in the background of the photo.

Well of course there is Strangeways prison(!) to the North of the Exchange-Victoria complex - but I think that's more to the east than the background to that photo seems to indicate. Nearest brewery around there is Boddingtons.

See Post #11 on previous page!

Thanks Paul - however my station approach is also 'single track' whereas on the real thing two road vehicles can pass relatively easily. That's the compromise bit! In other news, a third board was delivered to Ormesby last night for ground cover work in the Up Goods Yard, seeing as how the winter scenic work is cracking on apace. I'll try and remember to take some pictures next week!

Thanks Dr G-F! It (the station road scene) will be even better when it's finished - just come in from working on it further in the chapel model railway room to thaw out. 9oC in there at the moment

You might like this then, Ducky. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2Jgg1LpzU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2Jgg1LpzU (There's a better bit of footage of this on youtube but can't find it at the moment)

Broadsword calling Danny Boy. Broadsword calling Dan.. ny.......... Phwoooaaar!!