Michael Edge

I thought it was yours! Must have been Mike Cole's in that case.

No idea about that, this is the frame from our Janus kit, it's fully compensated and we suggest Gibson wheels and High Level gearbox. It might fit round the existing frame block but that wasn't the idea in the first place. We have the frame kits in stock at £18 + £1.50 postage, etched Yorkshire plates are £3.

We still have plenty of those etches.

This is the DC kits moulding, properly glazed and fitted with Judith Edge pantographs. The moulding is 5% too big (because someone told me do it like that to take account of shrinkage - which is actually zero), it is however as accurate as I could get to in 1984. I wonder if one was moulded in a material which did shrink by 5% we might get to an accurate model? Two photos of JE pans fitted to a Heljan EM1 Finally this shows what can be done with a Triang EM2, repainting in lined black disguises the moulded lining quite well (electric blue isn't bad either), this one has kept the Triang pantographs but at least they do work. Such a shame that Triang put the raised lining on this - probably the best model they ever made - the line is too arrow to put the orange/black/orange lining on but too wide to do it either side. I would like another one of these to rebuild for Wentworth Junction if I can find one at a reasonable price, there is a photo of a brand new EM2 at WJ on a test run from Wath. I will be producing etched EM1s (and Tommy) at some time in the near future - at least before the new layout is ready.

Timbers for pointwork are 12" wide (4mm), this is because many of the chairs have to be screwed down at an angle. Ordinary sleepers are narrower but the chairs are always in line with them.

Yes, should be fun. We might have more of a problem with the daily coke train from Barrow - I'm not sure the 3H hoppers would survive the banking. We can always run them empty though.

No, there will always be at least one loco attached. We might have full 24T wagons as well once it's full electric operation - they will be heavy!

With the arrival this week of 25yds of track I thought I would repeat the gradient tests I did a couple of years ago with the fiddle yard boards. Once again I pinned the track down on the layout boards and made a temporary connection from the fiddle yard for power. Incidentally this is the new Peco bullhead track - this is the first time I have ever used Peco track. It matches the height of the pointwork reasonably well and certainly looks much stronger than SMP or C&L. This is a "half train" i.e. 30 loaded wagons, full loads were 60 wagons but the layout is far too compressed to run them. First test has an 04 on the front with the EB1 banking. The EB1 seems to have been doing nearly all the work, the wagons were buffered up all the way to the O4's tender but the whole train moved very smoothly at not much more than walking pace. This is done on one controller and the power supply to the fiddle yard is a lower voltage than will probably be used on the layout eventually. I've also cut out the ashpit on the banker siding today, I'll finish this before the track is laid here. With a few more locos out I tried out the full effect of four locos per train, although this would actually only have been used for a double train, O4 and J11 pushing at the back with two O4s at the front. With four locos on the speed was reduced but this operation was done at very low speed in steam days, electric operation only got the speed up to about 20mph on the 1 in 40. This demonstrates that half loads are perfectly practical but it might be a bit better to reduce them by 4 wagons or so, the train engine has to pull the train quite a long way up for the banker to get on the back via the crossover in the background of the first photo. 25 wagons or so was the usual load from the pit so this wouldn't look out of place. The two back roads in the fiddle yard are long enough for 60 wagon trains so we could run full load empties down the hill - assuming that one loco can pull them up the corresponding hill at the other side. The O4 on its own easily pulled the 30 wagon train up the hill without the banker. By the time of full electric operation there were no bankers outstationed at Wentworth Junction and a single load would have had an EM1 at each end all the way up from Wombwell.

Thanks Martin, yes, I think that might be better - I was just trying to point the track builder away from REA switches. I usually fish about with switch settings until I get the flowing result I want, remembering that we are using much tighter curves than full size railways ever would.

This looks like the results I got before discovering the "short model switches" in Templot. This is very small radius stuff from a full size point of view and the REA switches don't produce the best result for a model. Have a look at the same B6 turnout and change the switch setting to 1 in 24 model - you will see what I mean. The GW loose heel switches produce similar results.

We buy these from Rymans in Castleford and until recently they were kept behind the counter, presumably for this reason.

You'll need a awful lot of bags for most of the Finney kits.

But in that case you would have lost all reference to what they are - there are no numbers on the etch and you have to search all over a drawing (with numbers scattered at random) to identify anything.

You can find some very tight curves in dockside track but not all of it was traversed by locomotives, searching round the Mersey docks system the sharpest curve I found was nearer to 150mm radius. The sharpest curve on my 00 gauge layout is 17" radius and that's a reverse curve not much tighter than scale, however we have no trouble running round it with DG couplings. Using side buffers is always a bit iffy in 00 gauge anyway because of the relation between the gauge and the wheel standards. All MDHB locos, no matter how short the wheelbase, had flangeless drivers on the centre axle, they also usually carried a length of chain with them for coupling to longer wagons.

Thanks for posting all this, hope we sell a few. Thanks also for pointing me towards that blog about building one of our kits, there's some interesting stuff on there. I like the way he says he can't remember who taught him to solder the layers of the buffer beams together (running solder round the edges) - he might just have seen it in the kit instructions....... Mike and Judith

We haven't really advertised this yet but we have plenty of them at the moment.

The tin looks the same but I'm not at all sure the ingredients are. A tin of Fluxite lasts me about 30 years and I had to buy this new one last year.

Vmware is free.......

Seems very slow to me I normally work on the basis of 1 1/2 hours per set of point blades. Tiebars are just plain sleepers with a hole in the middle, I'll be using Tortoise point motors.

Sorry John, I'd forgotten all about that - maybe before we're back in Australia next winter.

With an exhibition coming up in April work continues on Herculaneum Dock. One of the great irritations has been the lack of working signals, particularly with the colour lights. Both the main line and LOR signals are of great historical significance, the CLC was one of the earliest (1930s) examples of multiple aspect signalling in Britain - the Brunswick panel is preserved at York - and the LOR was the world's first automatic system in 1921. About a year ago I bought a two aspect signal and a track sensor from Train Tech and last week I finally got round to trying them out, a lash up on the DCC test track showed that they did exactly what they were supposed to do so today it was time to try fitting one to the overhead. They do come attached to a fairly large circuit board which is going to be difficult to hide under the LOR, the signal head is about the right size but should really be hung on the side of the post. The test train is approaching a signal which normally shows green, just to the right of the BluTack is the IR sensor which turns the aspect to red as the train passes it. Normally these are designed to lie horizontal and react to a train passing over but there isn't enough room to fit it all in at the side so this one is mounted vertically just below the top flange of the girder. The train on the other track demonstrates that this is out of range. As soon as the train passes the sensor the signal goes to red, if the signals are stand alone ones it will return to green after an interval but this interval isn't long enough to allow for a station stop. However the signals can be linked together with a single wire, in this lash up the wire comes from a separate sensor unit clipped to the handrails (this one will be used in the fiddle yard area eventually) but normally it would be the next signal down the line. As the train passes this it returns the first signal to green and if this was a signal it would got to red. All absolutely simple, the only wiring is to connect each signal to the DCC track, no switches and all automatic. It is possible to fit override switches as well and at least one will be required for the signal protecting the car shed exit.

With the S1 finished I've made a start on the track. Point timbers and sleepers stuck down to the Templot drawing with double sided tape. The timbers have been tweaked considerably at the LH end, the narrow gap is where the baseboard joint will be. This is a new technique I'm trying out, previously I've used 1.6mm timbers with the rails soldered directly to them but this gives a very visible discrepancy when connected to moulded track bases with proper chairs. I'm not keen on the current fashion for building pointwork with plastic chairs, I'm not sure it's strong enough and it's almost impossible to adjust. All the pointwork for Chapel-en-le Frith was built like this and it was a very long job fettling it for smooth running. What I did was to etch a series of baseplates (can't really call them chairs) to solder on to the timbers to raise the rail off them. It's a long job soldering these on, just about doubles the time for point construction but I think the overall effect is quite good. They are soldered on with 2% silver solder, blob of fluxite on the timber, drop the etch in place, hold down and touch the iron at the side of it. All done for two turnouts and a single slip, this is about a third of the pointwork required so it was a good layout to try this out on. This is 16.2mm gauge, at least through the crossings, no need for fancy gauges, just use EM ones with the checkrail position for one rail. The last one on the left is 16.5mm gauge where it will join up with the moulded track. I usually start from one side and work across, this is the up running line, the nearer rail has the start of the crossing V filed on it. Now I'm using ordinary 60/40 solder, I'm quite happy for it to form a blob where the chair should be, visible on the right another absolutely essential tool - Xuron rail cutters. Nobody likes filing point blades but this is the easiest way I've found, I've never found a way of machining them. First file the back down to the web and a little bit past, Templot tells you the length of this planing. The rail is clamped to a piece of wood on the bench top with a G clamp and a sharp file is used with both hands to file it down flat - keep your newest and sharpest files for this job, this one isn't used on anything else. Now the head of the rail has to be filed down (same file), leaving the foot untouched. Depending on whether you are left or right handed one of these will be more difficult than the other, I'm right handed so this is the more difficult one. The whole process takes no more than 5 minutes. This is another very useful home made gauge, a flat piece of steel cut square to exactly 16.2mm width. Not visible is another narrower layer soldered underneath to lift the gauge off the chairs. This is very useful for aligning at least the first part of a K crossing, an EM gauge alongside the point blade which is clamped to the stock rail with a miniature bulldog clip. I have a couple of these, no idea where they came from though. I've used the flat gauge on the running line, alignment is more important for this direction, the other routes will mostly be used for light engine movements. Checkrails are fitted last, I test the running without them first. I've used phosphor bronze rail recovered from many of the old Herculanum cassettes, not sure if it will be very noticeable but it's worth a try. The checkrails are not set with the roller gauges, you really need a check gauge which is what this is. The EM society provide this in their gauge set but I had to make my own for 00. The checkrail is not gauged from the adjacent running rail but from the crossing V - the distance to the running rail doesn't matter much but the distance from the wing rail to the checkrail must be less than the back to back minimum of the wheels in use. The gauge has a plain section which fits in the flangeway and two grooves to hold the checkrail, the large boss on the end nearest the V is machined off at rail level so the gauge can sit over the other rails. Everything is tested with all the different wheels in use, the Hunslet at the end has Romfords, the Jackshaft nearest has Gibson, in between is an old Hornby Dublo Lowmac which is ideal for hand testing. The long wheelbase and small wheels coupled with the ease of pushing it over the track makes it easy to feel any faults. Set out in place on the layout, this crossover, incorporating a very unusual facing slip, runs from the water tower (marked on the right) and the signal box on the left. In this photo from track level I think the effect is quite good. If anyone is wondering these are A7 turnouts with REA switches.

Get VMware or something similar and keep running your old XP machine as a virtual computer within your Windows 10. I use a Mac but most work is done on virtual XP and Windows 7 machines, Judith uses a virtual XP computer on her Windows 7 machine for most of the kit work. Another advantage is being able to use Templot without an internet connection, the virtual machines are only suspended, not normally stopped, so Templot stays running. I get all the Office stuff with my OneDrive subscription which removes nearly all back up worries.

I was referring specifically to the loco etches, wagons are a bit different being generally smaller - although the one wagon kit we do has its own tool.

The big problem (as told to me by Colin just after he took over) with the Gibson kits was that not only were the different locos spread across several etch tools but in some cases they weren't even with the same etchers! I have no idea what the Jidenco/Falcon etch tools look like but we stopped making this sort of mistake about 3 kits into our range and every kit now has its own tool.