Michael Edge

I checked the voltage on my magnets power supply yesterday, turns out to be 18v measured at the magnets. I was completing the ring main for magnet supply round the layout - there must have been some voltage drop when fed one way, they all work better now.

Any loco must be able to slip its wheels on full power, if it can’t it’s either underpowered or over weighted.

Not me, I wouldn’t bother cleaning that etch at all, just solder with phosphoric acid. The only time I clean etches is when they have been wrapped with sellotape - the glue this leaves behind (even when the tape has long gone) just about prevents soldering entirely.

I rather like Chonkers as well, this is my 7mm version of 30335. Scratchbuilt quite a long time ago mostly from steel with cast iron wheels, it gets to run on our club O gauge layout from time to time. The mismatch between the tender and the cab on this one off loco is really remarkable.

Mine run at something around 20v, they can get a bit warm if you keep them on too long.

Now number eight, I do the same as Jonathan but grease the components to stop the solder flowing in. I used to use rivets many years ago but found it difficult to get the joints consistently free without being sloppy. The rivets are much bigger than the Duchess pins I use now and required an over large end on some if the smaller valve gear parts.

It still has the skirting under the footplate though.

There's photo of 46243 on the Warwickhire railways website, dated 1948. It still has a fully streamlined tender but it's too filthy to see what's on the tender side, I have seen a photo of the cab side though and it definitely carried its BR number.

Your question was "when was City of Lancaster de-streamlined by the LMS", my answer was never. As far as I can tell its tender was still in full streamlined condition at the end of the LMS, it was rebuilt in June 1949.

City of Lancaster was still streamlined in 1947 and was the last one to be rebuilt (by BR).

I think many locos were liable to do this but full size railways don't use 2 rail electrification..... One of our club members recalls moving the exhibits from the old museum in York to the present one and he says that bogie wheels were gouging into the frames on the inside cylinder NE 4-4-0s.

Same age as me then, I was 9 when it closed but I only got ride on it once.

DJH always put the cylinders much too far out and they do it 7mm as well with even less justification.

I've spent a long time searching for colour photos of either of the LOR shunters with no success at all for the Ruston but careful studying of the b/w ones led me to believe that it was delivered in more or less Ruston's standard livery. This the one I run on Herculaneum Dock (actually an old Impetus kit, not one of ours!), Dave Studley painted it. The Ruston name is painted on the radiator casing, cast plates came later and the LOR crest is painted on the cab side. Incidentally, don't believe the rubbish in the books about the 48DS buffers being removed and fitted to Polly before it was sold - the 48DS always had its buffers as well as the LOR central buffer. This is the best b/w photo I have been able to find, it looks very new in this one.

My Liverpool Overhead Railway has dead frogs from necessity since the are not motored but just sprung one way. This causes no difficulty with the LOR trains as they all have pickups further down the train, exactly as full size with more shoes to avoid gapping. However the Ruston 48DS loco has to run coupled to a wagon with pickups fitted. Other than for this I would never use dead frog pointwork but on the other hand I've never used Peco points anyway.

I have, all the Overhead is flat bottom, it's a lot more difficult than bullhead.

Look what turned up in the post about an hour ago PWM650 back home at last, I really didn't think I'd ever see it again. No damage, lubricator drive was disconnected but still works and the DG couplings had been taken off and replaced with three links. Thanks once again to everyone on RMweb who helped me to get this back (at the expense of paying a ransom of £25 though), I don't think I would have succeeded without your pressure on him.

Temporary panels for Carlisle were even cruder... I have to agree with John about additional point motors v mechanical linkage though.

You have to have an incentive to get things finished.....

You're not hanging about with this! When can we have at the exhibition?

The boiler is on the F1 now so that's the hardest bit done. It looks very scruffy, not my usual all soldered from the inside appearance but it's on straight and it all rolls along the test track 28" radius curve without shorting. I'm still cleaning old sellotape markings off in places, some visible on the boiler above the leading sandbox. It's a delicate business cleaning out the soldered joints between the boiler and the splashers because the brass is so thin and soft - quite easy to poke the scriber right through if you push too hard.

That doesn't distort the parts? Try chiselling out parts like this :

My point is that we are not trying to preserve the fret the etch came in, just get the parts out and throw the rest in the scrap bin, I've seen a lot of people proudly showing off a piece of brass lace and bragging about how they got all the parts out. I'm more interested in getting them out quickly and efficiently, good quality snips used correctly will take off the tag entirely - and quickly.

Too much distortion with chiselling, I prefer snips and a little filing. All our etches are designed to be cut out almost entirely with snips - many other designers can’t resist putting tags on the inside of curves where they can’t be snipped. Remember that everything other than the parts are just scrap and can be cut up anywhere to get at the tags you want.

I'm not complaining, I knew it would be difficult - I've built plenty of Jidenco kits before. This one is an odd mixture though, it's basically accurate but with some daft bits in the design and it's the first kit I've seen where the tags between parts are if anything too small - they are difficult to see and the gaps between parts are too narrow to get the slitting disc in (my normal method of getting to tags which can't be snipped). The brass is too thin and too soft but's the case with all Jidenco kits.