Michael Edge

This is where we got to a few weeks ago.... Wentworth Junction taken down and stacked up (behind the camera) and Herculaneum dock set up at a slight angle in order to access both sides. This was all to get it ready for The Bristol show in May - most of a day's work for BarryO and me and all for nothing at the moment. However I might as well get on with checking and necessary repairs before stacking it away again - it's supposed to be at our show in Leeds at the end of October. Most of it seems to be working OK though.

We'll be working as long as we and the post office are still holding up. We might run out of stock though, recent deliveries from PhotoEtch and PPD were probably the last we'll get for a while.

I would agree with that, most UK turntables had minimum numbers of roads on to them. What exactly are the two long dead end sidings directly off the table for? It would be extremely difficult to shunt anything on or off them.

It all looks correct now.

No need to remove it, it's a good diagram for outside admission gear. I just didn't want Richard to alter anything that was already correct.

Shame about the Britannia smoke deflectors on the Clan - but that's what DJH give you. We do now have some correct etched deflectors for the BR 6MT though.

Washout plugs are in either my workshop thread or the Judith Edge kits one. It's not complicated, basically a sheet of lead is soldered inside the firebox or boiler after the holes have been drilled, then run a smaller drill through the centre of the hole and push a short length of square brass wire into it and solder at the back. 0.5mm square wire is about right for 4mm. It does have the advantage of adding weight where it is most needed in a 4-6-0 as well.

Beware of that drawing - it's for outside admission valves, yours are inside. Radius rod will be pinned above the valve rod (as you have it already) and the return crank should lean the other way.

If you are referring to the shuttle locos, they were built at Qualter Hall in Barnsley and sent to Brush in Loughborough for the rest of the job. Getting them out of the works in narrow streets with sharp corners wasn't the easiest operation I've ever seen.

That looks better but your washout plugs are the wrong ones - these are GW type with a raised rim round, LMS and BR ones just have the square plug recessed in a hole in the cladding. I've described how to do this with lead sheet and square brass wire somewhere in my workshop thread.

Yes it does, Louise is one of the earlier ones with simple handrails.

I wrote an article for Railway Modeller on these locos August 2016 issue. Includes my drawing, some technical information and photos.

I thought it might be a quiet one if Graham built it.

Price for the Stanier 3P etch will be £47 + £1.50 postage, add another £4 for the chimney, smokebox door and firebox back mouldings. All this assuming that the post is still working of course! You can send a cheque (payable to Judith Edge) to: 5, Chapel Lane, Carlton, Barnsley S.Yorks. S71 3LE Alternatively you can pay by bank transfer (I'll send details), PayPal to edgemd@aol.com or phone us on 01226 722309 with a card number.

I can't help with the tank vents, not had to make any of those yet in either scale. The Ivatt chimney doesn't look right to me on this loco, I've not seen the Gibson one.

Feedwater heater

No problem with Portescaps on DCC, there are about 200 on Carlisle and many of them have frames live one side. If you have one with a noisy gearbox you will notice it - if you don't, leave it alone. Graham Varley has a method of getting them to run more quietly anyway - it's the bevel gear which produces the noise.

We are looking at supplying the chimney and smokebox door, which as far as I know aren't available from anyone else, and I also have mould for the firebox back. The chimney is proving a little difficult to mould, failure rate is very high so far, the other two are easy. All other fittings are available from Gibson, Comet, Brassmasters or 247.

The EM2 names appeared when they were green with the later crest, EM1s as well apart from Tommy.

Washers on the screwed spacers will do the job. Cylinders and motion brackets need to be altered but you can take advantage of this to put the cylinders at the correct distance apart instead of the DJH (far too wide) spacing.

I don't have an O gauge layout to run it on, it was used for years on our club layout "Regis Bay" and it had a run out on Holiday Haunts at an exhibition once. I have built a few Southern locos, they will be out again when our new club layout appears but since this is an engine shed one based on Plymouth Friary they won't go very far. Most of my scratchbuilding was done with steel shim for many years, etching has replaced a lot of it now, partly on the back of what goes through for our kits. I haven't done much wheel machining lately, for a long time most of my 7mm output was on AGH wheel castings but now it's almost all Slater's. Scratchbuilt 0395 0-6-0 and the test etch for 11001 both seen on Regis Bay, I have an E1/R 0-6-2T as well but thta's packed away in a box somewhere.

As requested above, a few photos of my 7mm Chonker. 30335 was scratchbuilt, mostly from steel in 1997. Driving wheels are machined from iron castings and motion work all sawn out and machined from steel sheet. I painted and lined it, Paul Fletcher did the weathering. Thanks to 30368 above I now know that the tender handbrake is wrong but I don't think I'll bother altering it.

Very good, I had problems with clearances under the tanks with the 4mm one but the holes carved out don't show. Thanks very much for posting this, glad you enjoyed building it - and don't forget this was only a test etch, not a worked up kit. We do have some production 4mm Stanier 3P etches now, just need to work out the price.

You've probably not done anything wrong, sometimes the screws are really difficult to access. I usually hold them on the end of a magnetised screwdriver. I do try to keep the screw heads accessible and still hold everything together adequately but sometimes it's just impossible - in our EE1 kit some of the screws eventually have to be left out (although they are useful while building it) because the sandboxes get in the way.

Factory reset isn't 8 but I can't remember what it is. I've used a couple of these and had lots of problems with them.