PatB

The mention of static plastic kits is interesting, and possibly one worth pursuing. Airfix did it decades ago, and Revell have been mentioned. It occurs to me that plastic kit modellers are quite happy to pay substantial sums for large, high quality kits, and spend many hours of highly skilled work to put them together. Could this market be exploited? Perhaps not for 4mm scale, but 0 and upwards might be an option. If there were enough static kit modellers out there who, whilst not specifically railway modellers, considered a large static loco kit a satisfyingly challenging and attractive thing to build, it might go some way towards amortising the tooling costs for much of a motorised kit. As Phil has said, motorising represents a challenge but, surely in this day and age, not an insurmountable one. But this thread is supposed to be about r-t-r so I'll shut up now.

Any new entrant offering a significant range (rather than offering the odd individual model, as most of the commissioners currently do) is going to need a unique selling point to stand up against the established players. The established players offer pretty broad coverage of the Big 4/British Railways/BR/Privatisation eras. Yes, there are gaps, but they're shrinking and, by the nature of commerce, will be those areas which are difficult and/or less profitable to fill. So, as a few others have touched on, I'd seriously think about pre-Grouping. And I mean properly pre-Grouping, rather than the easy way out by offering what are, essentially, Big 4 prototypes that were designed in December 1922, or prototypes that were pre-Group but offered only as rebuilt by the Big 4/British Railways. So certainly pre-WW1 and maybe pre-1900. Not sure if I'd go quite as far back as Johnster's 1840-1870, but I wouldn't completely rule it out either. The generally positive responses to Hattby's generic coaches and Hornby's Wainwright and Terrier suggest that there is a market there. Pre-Grouping has much to recommend it. Attractive and varied liveries, short trains, stations that probably more closely resembled the more cartoonish efforts on tourist lines (acres of enamel adverts, flower beds and baskets, bright new paint etc.), and more. And Peco's bullhead track makes it slightly easier to create a plausible layout. Yes, I know it's not an accurate representation of pre-Group practice, but I'd counter by saying that, at 16.5 mm gauge, it's not an accurate representation of any era. And it's better for the purpose than their FB Streamline. The plethora of different companies make it difficult to cover well, as has been discussed ad nauseum on the generic coach threads, but let's have a look at how it might be done. Starting with locos, I don't see it being economic to tool up for specific designs for multiple companies, but what about the prototype's "generic" designs? That is, stock designs from the likes of Beyer-Peacock and Sharpe-Stewart, which were sold to many different companies. Others will know more about this than I, but might it be possible to find, say, an 0-6-0T or 2-4-0T general purpose tank loco, an 0-6-0 tender goods, and a mixed traffic mogul, supplied by commercial loco builders to several different companies? If so, there's the core of a useful range. If cabs and boiler fittings varied from railway to railway, but on the same basic loco, it shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to arrange for that on the models without major tooling changes. Turn of the C20th locos tended to be very "clean" designs, so it shouldn't be too hard to provide prototypical detailing without vast numbers of fragile, and expensive to add, twiddly bits. For coaching stock, whilst the brief is to not worry about duplication, I'm going to say that I think Hattby have got things well enough covered for now for non-bogie stock. I think, though, that there's scope for some generic short bogies (say 40'-45'). Brake-third, all-third and compo should cover it to start with, maybe with a full-brake as the first introduction after initial launch. Goods wagons are fairly generic anyway (cue howls of protest from the purists). For maximum versatility, pick prototypes from the big commercial builders for general merchandise, and RCH compliant designs for minerals. Again, I'm going to upset people here, but I'd suggest that you could get away with a minimal number of underframe designs. Brake vans are more of an issue, with companies using their own designs. Maybe start with a couple of vans from the bigger companies (LNWR/MR/GN/NE, take your pick) and then expand the range over time. So there you have it. A range that, whilst it won't satisfy the P4ists, would do very nicely for people like me who quite like the idea of pre-Grouping for its visual appeal and space saving properties (short trains in pretty liveries against spotless, colourful stations) but haven't the time or skill for extensive kit building and who need to look stuff up to spot detail errors (so we don't). With careful stock selection it doesn't even have to be that inaccurate.

Nice. The thing with Austin 7s is that, although there's not much power, there's also not much weight (I've seen weighbridge verified claims of 7-8cwt for 2 seat specials), and they're so small there's a pretty direct connection between you and everything else. The result is that they feel very nippy, even if the paper numbers suggest otherwise. Besides, depending on what's in the engine, you might have anything up to 25+bhp in there (back when I was interested, 30+ was the realm of serious racers and advanced students of the dark arts of supercharging), which is early Minor or even A30 territory, with much less to haul around, and nobody really complains about those.

And very well. Bought it new in 2008. Drove it out of the showroom and 4000 km across Australia, doing the first 2 services at the roadside with the bike's own toolkit. Then used it regularly for 6 years, during which it missed not a single beat.

As I recall, back in the early 80s, you could buy thermostat substitute restrictor plates for the more common 'stat sizes. Basically just a big washer, I think.

Both the air cooled motorcycles I've had here (BMW R1100RT and Ural 750 sidecar outfit) have preferred premium unleaded (95RON or higher) to the regular stuff. They'd run OK on 91 under most circumstances, but if they got hot, such as round town in high summer (air temps in the high 30s+) they'd pink like b@$¥@&ds on more than about 1/4 throttle. Higher octane calmed them down. I also found that the Ural's fuel economy became very poor on E10, when I was on a long cross-country run and had no choice in fuel supply. I forget exactly how much worse, but it was enough that I'd have been left stranded on a seriously remote highway had I not anticipated range issues and so was carrying an extra 10L can. As I've noted before, I used to time my VW Beetle by ear. I'd slowly advance the distributor by increments until I could just provoke pinking by flooring the throttle on a particular local hill, and that would be the setting I'd run at. I found I could run several more degrees of advance on premium vs regular and, as a result, enjoyed better economy and slightly crisper throttle response. The improved economy just about cancelled out the extra cost.

Now you remind me I'd heard of that one too. Possibly even seen it demonstrated on TV, back when programmes sometimes imparted useful information. It got filed away at the back of my mental archive, though, as I've never had a close involvement with anything A-Series powered, and the B-Series didn't have it.

Dunno what difference it really makes. All they need is a really big vice to squeeze the wheels in on the axles a bit, and it'll run fine on 2'4".

Much more likely to be from an MGB, as the stud patterns match. I'd assume Rostyles on a Westie to be from the Rover, though, as both had a 5-stud pattern IIRC.

Allegedly, the trick with those (never tried it meself) was/is to put a bolt or threaded rod through the new hose, use nut(s) to compress the hose longitudinally to a length that will fit between the stubs, and stick it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Then take the bolt out and put the hose in place whilst still frozen. As it thaws out it returns to uncompressed length and pushes itself onto the stubs. I'm not sure how the reinforcing fibres stand up to such abuse though.

I like lots of access points too, but the springy tools are pretty good at getting round corners if you twirl them reasonably quickly, while applying forward pressure, so it's less important than with traditional rods.

As someone who's lived with dodgy old plumbing for much of my adult life, I'd definitely add my vote for mechanical methods for what is likely to be quite a substantial blockage. For best results, once you've made the initial breakthrough, keep working the springy thing back and forth whilst running the hottest water you can through the system. As far as magic chemicals are concerned, the more potent ones will eat through a minor clog, but probably won't work on what is likely to be a several feet long plug of solidified gack. And, as pointed out, they're quite dangerous. What I have had some luck with, but I don't know if it's available in the UK, is a supposedly enzyme based product (trade name Actizyme). It won't, as claimed, clear a blockage, but a regular maintenance dose does seem to assist in preventing, or at least delaying, further problems. As a bonus it does seem to have improved the health of my elderly septic system. And it says it's safe for children and pets, although why you wouldn't give them a proper laxative I'm not entirely sure .

Looks to be in surprisingly good and original condition, given that it's probably been out of service for the better part of a century.

Here too. Doesn't stop them having the minister on speed dial.

Given my druthers I'd have ordered every single one to the crusher, but most met the set criteria for approval, and so I had to grit my teeth and sign off on them. As for setting those set criteria, such things are influenced politically from above as much as they are technically at ground level, and WA's stretch limo operators are well connected politically. Indeed, undue influence on policy by various industries was a major factor in my ceasing to be a PS, which was a secure career which I otherwise enjoyed.

In a previous life as a public servant, my department used to be responsible for approving all the stretch limos built in WA. Pretty much every single one was a collection of bog and bad welding, attached to some seriously time expired base vehicle. I never saw one (and I saw every one that was built here over a period of 6 years) that wasn't complete rubbish. A few were a waste of a fundamentally decent base vehicle (there was a rather nice, original Mk5 Jaguar that still makes me sad). Ghastly things, and mostly operated by people I wouldn't want to spend much time with.

Mr Darwin makes no exceptions for youth.

I tend to agree with other posters, that UK standard gauge is very hard to freelance well enough to achieve the necessary suspension of disbelief. Even non railway nerds are at least vaguely aware of the ubiquity of BR, and, previously, the Big 4, which wipes out most of the C20th for plausible freelancing. You either need to do a really major alternative history or, as did the Rev. Awdry, create a substantial extra landmass to fit your imaginary railway in. NG lines, OTOH, have/had a tendency to appear in all sorts of odd corners of the country, serving all sorts of specialist purposes. Many (most?) were so geographically confined that it's relatively easy to accept that a fictional one could have fitted into this or that little corner of countryside. You can (well, I can) look at almost anywhere in the UK, even places that have never been rail connected, and plausibly imagine where a small NG line might once have been. That road verge looks a bit wide, could it have been a NG tramway trackbed? And what about that suspiciously goods shed looking building on the edge of the village? That sort of thing. That and, unless you want to do the L&B, you still can't buy a comprehensive range of prototypical stock r-t-r or as simple kits, AFAIK.

Given that it has been plausibly alleged that, during recent panic buying in parts of the USA, it has been necessary for government agencies to issue the advice "do not put gasoline in garbage bags", I worry that this is not actually a fake.

As an engineer, my experience of architects is that they draw a pretty picture, then hand it all over to the engineers to actually make their flight of fancy work, whilst vetoing all proposals by said engineers that might actually make the project feasible. Oh, and then accept the gong, of course. The senior engineer couldn't make it to the ceremony anyway, having succumbed to stress related ulcers. Don't want that riff-raff lowering the tone anyway. They'll only get drunk and steal the cutlery. [/rant]. As to a portal to Hades, didn't that already happen when New Street was sunk? The escalators down to platform level always felt like that, as long as you accept that Hades might be cold, dimly lit and smelling of diesel exhaust.

I am reminded of the occasion when I watched a Lotus Europa attempt the ford next to Tarr Steps clapper bridge. Even at the tender age of 11 I thought it was rather brave, given the combination of minimal ground clearance and Lotus/Lucas (and a smattering of Renault) electrickery. And no, he didn't make it.

In many ways I quite like it, and think it has a great deal of merit.

Another little bit of progress in my quest for a SuperMarx motor. I split the side plates of the cooked motor this afternoon and had a go at rewinding the field. Standard is 125 turns of 0.6 mm wire. I got 150 on before boredom and finger fatigue made me stop. I reassembled it with the previously rewound armature and tested it on the track. It sort of ran, but made loud clacking noises and repeatedly locked up. Hmmm. It took me a while to work out what was happening, but eventually I noticed the visible end float on the armature shaft. It appears that the increased magnetic field is dragging the armature sideways hard enough to overcome the, frankly rather hopeful, thrust control provided by the pressure of the brush springs, pulling the spur gear out of mesh and jamming the mech. OK. Better thrust control needed. A couple of brass washers, and an insulating shim cut from a plastic bottle, saw the end float reduced to something sensible. Back on the track and, once I'd remembered to put the brushes back in, it chuntered up and down quite happily and fairly reliably, with only the occasional refusal to proceed. Things are improving.

Used to be one of those not far from where my dad lived. He could source all sorts of odd bits and pieces. I've still got a Haynes manual that was long out of print when he found it for me. Probably the best one was when we were looking for an ancillary switch for something on a Herald 13/60 (this was in the early 90s). The proprietor disappeared into the stockroom for a while and, after box shifting sorts of noises, returned with a lovely little chromed bracket, complete with switch and accessory plug and a price label that said 25p (applied over an earlier label that said 4/6). And he honoured the 20 year old price too.

But it has been professionally weathered.