john new

Given that in order to work the curved bits either side of the joint must be slightly proud of the edge how are you avoiding damage? Have you had to cut a small slot into your board end protector pieces or similar?

4 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

 

I often wonder if the tree growth is the bigger problem 

 

The cuttings weren't built with trees on them and regardless of the methods of our victorian forebears in relation to working out, (if indeed they did,) what would be a stable slope,  I don't think they would have accounted for several hundred tons per square foot of timber being added to the slope. 

 

Andy

The lineside grass of former times at scythe length would be a binder and hold some water back too. I also think the value of lengthmen on both the railway and in County highway teams has been seriously underestimated. 

Link to Stuart Morris' video of the Weymouth trial - see YouTube 

12 minutes ago, Chuffer Davies said:

Hi Keith,

I would have to challenge the logic of including wheels in with a kit.  Inclusion of Markits wheels would be a wasted cost for P4 modellers or EM/OO modellers with a preference for plastic centred wheels.  I don’t know enough about 7mm wheel options but would imagine a similar situation exists.

Perhaps if wheels are offered as an optional extra then fine that might be of benefit.

Frank

Interestingly this came up in conversation at the club this afternoon as a discussion had arisen about shortage of wheels. Is there a case for thinking part of the shortage is perhaps that in 4mm there are three gauges/wheel standards rather than just the predominant BRMSB as was the case a few decades back? Two/three versions per diameter plus different axle lengths to make and/or stock rather than one being part of the cause of the shortages? Unsustainable to do so with a concurrent drift from kits to r-t-r reducing overall demand and trader turnover.

Saturday: Magnets put in for future use with Sprat & Winkle couplings. Ballast now down and drying; remembering to put the magnets in first.  
Numpties error avoided. Taking  advantage  of the two working days at the club rooms so that the ballast dries overnight and hopefully I can also paint the track etc., during tomorrow.

Sunday: Layout now back home. In testing this morning whilst it was still over at the club rooms I tried it on DC and it ran fine. The Heljan Class 33 test loco traversing all tracks nice and smooth. The test wagons propel through all the track with no problems of jammed bits of ballast etc. I then tried a bit of DCC running. Very jittery with the two test locos I had with me and therefore it needs further testing. In the light of the jittery running on DCC no further track painting is to be done until I get smooth running in both power modes.

35 minutes ago, Boris said:

You're not going to persuade me to go, the way that place has treated its volunteers and now its paid staff in the past 12 months has been absolutely disgusting.

Agree. What I have read and heard hasn’t inspired confidence. They (whose idea?) have also messed up what was an informative Moorsline members journal into a glossy waste of paper. I have to say they as I have no knowledge of where the idea for the change came from but as a member since the 1970s* it is a retrograde change.

* now a life member.

9 minutes ago, 31A said:

 

The axles of Romford tender (and bogie) wheels are smooth and the wheels themselves are a tight push fit, so they can be pushed off without damage and are tight enough fit to hold themselves in place when you push them back on.

 

Some tender sub chassis kits have the axles running in inverted U-shaped slots so that you don't need to take the wheels off the axles, and the axles are retained in by wire retainers across the mouth of the U.  The Comet kits cater for this by tabs with holes in, which you bend at right angles to the frame and then pass the wire retainers through.

 

Here is a Comet kit in a Bachmann LNER tender; I have added wire springs to the middle axle:

 

Thanks for this. Big help.

2 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

That would be my solution and I would normally do that even if the correct wheels and axles were available. Making a tender inside frame is a good introduction to making your own mechanisms and isn't difficult.

 

I gave up trying to get tender wheels square and straight in cast whitemetal outside frames some time ago. An inside frame gives you somewhere to mount brakes and tender pick ups if you would like to have them too. It also allows a bit of side play to be introduced on the centre axle, plus a bit of compensation or suspension for those who like such things.

Are the flush hub wheel sets for tenders a push on stiff or spline fit? The sub-chassis idea makes sense. Just thinking it through before ordering wheels. A very quick look on line at brass kit images suggests you have to have the wheels off the axles.

More to research on the steep learning curve.

Having spent the last couple of days trying, and not yet 100% successfully, to get the wheel sets and motor/gearbox combo needed to complete the 2nd hand started DJH B16 kit I bought a couple of years ago it doesn’t surprise me that kit building is seen as problematic. Even if the kits are available the vitals to complete them may not be.

So far -

• motor/gearbox as recommended by DJH = yes. Ordered from them. It is an old kit so hoping the new iteration of the stated type will still fit.
• correct size set of Markits driving wheels. Yes, sourced 2nd hand via EBay but not 100% accurate as 2 spokes short (18 not 20). The stockists of Markits wheels I have found are all giving the right diameter as out of stock.
• axles, fibre washers, crank pins and Romford/Markits screwdriver. Yes and new.
• Front bogie wheel sets - yes to diameter and new.
• Tender wheel sets needing extended axles. Plenty in correct size with flush to hub axles. Pinpoint extending out of stock everywhere I have looked. Nearest I have found so far are a Bachmann spares set that are 0.2mm bigger than recommended. The kit says 16mm whereas my translation of the prototype’s 3ft 9” would be 15mm so putting in 16.2mm wheels might make it ride a bit high.

I think onwards and upwards is the motto but the hill seems rather a steep climb!

Forgot that. Thanks for tip off @woodenhead  I should have remembered because if we need anything for tea back at the house after the show we have to find one of the small shops that is open. Clifton Green SPAR usually.

23 hours ago, Market65 said:

Good evening, everyone. This evening, courtesy of knoxrj, Matt Fisher and Simon Beeston, all on Flickr, we have four photo’s to enjoy.

 

We start with a not perfect, but historically interesting photo’ of a class G5, 1701, at Scarborough, in maybe 1928. I understand that G5’s were not too common in Scarborough.

 

 

The second photo’ is of another class G5, this one being 2088, at Hull Botanic Gardens shed, in the 1930’s.

 

 

Next we have a photo’ of 20311 and 20314 pass Brind en route to Hull with the second day of RHTT work in Yorkshire on the 3rd October, 2019.

 

 

Finally, here’s a photo’ of 37422, and 37402, working train, 5Z51, the 13.11 Beverley to Hull Diarycoates Tilcon, on the 21st December, 2019.

 

Best regards,

 

Rob.

The bottom image is not the train described in the caption. .

A Single's unencumbered ability for speed was IIRC why Stirling built No 1 etc. Was he the CME with the (alleged/true?) quote about locomotives with coupled wheels being like a man running with his breeks (trousers) down?

For the theoreticians amongst us I wonder what the theoretical maximum speed for say a replica GNR No 1 or the Caley 123 would be with modern laser aligned erection, roller bearings, fully honed steam passages and some form of mechanically aided firing or oil? I guess for stopping power though it would need something like a brake-tender behind it. 

Perhaps one for the Imaginary Loco's thread though not this one.

13 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Gibson? They have pin point axles as well as ones for 00 and EM.

 

http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/

 

3' 11" 12 spoke 

 

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wheels/4847nw/

 

4' 1 1/2" 12 spoke - which is the size for GWR tenders.

 

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wheels/4849/

 

Jason

Saw those earlier but they are out of stock. That has been my problem all day tracking down wheels. So many of the listed items are not actually available as marked out of stock.

3 hours ago, Tangoman69 said:

Looking for some advice, which day is generally the busiest day of the York show?
wifey has her 60th the following week, so trying to nudge her for a shopping day in York

Saturday, busiest, especially in the morning.

Sunday you will have less no options for general shopping with her (Sunday trading hours/Easter Sunday enforced closures of the large shops). My guess would be try Monday, possibly the quietest of the three days for us (But very weather dependent) and shops in the City likely to be open for their normal trading hours despite the bank holiday. 

Hope this helps. Pre-paid tickets are on line via our website.

Similar problem to the OP.  I can find plenty of 16mm dia OO bogie wheels but the only tender wheels have axles flush to the hub. I need extended axles to fit the tender kit I have.

Any ideas. The only type available seem to be the withdrawn by PECO type (R-18) which from the photos appear to be a nylon (or similar) moulding not ones with a metal tread.

EDIT: A suggestion I have seen is use the Bachmann Manor Tender wheels but the Bachmann spares site does not give a wheel diameter. Info request has been sent.

Although it will be only an occasional visitor to the layout finally getting the B16 rescue from ebay kit I bought from @Mark C nearly three years ago out into the actually getting onto the (a)round tuit workbench. Currently watching @Tony Wright's excellent loco kit building video (ex-DVD I am assuming) on YouTube. The kit is part built, I am guessing at about a quarter done. The age of the kit is shown by the references to various options for the mechanisms - Romford Bulldog or K's. Luckily it also suggested one of the DJH gearboxes and that is now odered.

Today's task is tracking down a source of the necessary wheels and axles. 23mm drivers, 12mm front bogie and 16mm for the tender. plus the necessary Romford/Markits screwdriver. I am anticipating a struggle given comments elsewhere on availability of Markits components. I do have three axles and two sets of the 23mm drivers I can liberate from another round tuit project but, hopefully, won't have to.

The more you delve into the field of kit building the more there is to know/learn. Hopefully by Missenden I will have sourced the wheels.

Just read elsewhere that the Shipley - Ilkley line is also shut for about a month with bustitution due to cracks in a cutting side near Baildon.

On 13/02/2024 at 11:29, Forward! said:

It's significant that in 2020-21 the UK was 9% wetter than it was between 1961-1990. And when rainfall events occur, they are generally more intensive than they were in the past: more rain is falling in less time. Indeed- between 1862 and 2020 six of the ten wettest days on record have occurred in the last 20 years. A very significant part of that increase in rainfall is concentrated within the months October-March, which exacerbates the effect of rainfall events on localised flooding, damage to transport infrastructure, etc. There's also a regional effect- the North West and Scotland is seeing a greater increase in intensive rainfall than the South and East. As climate change warms the air, it can hold more moisture (7% more moisture for every 1 degree Celsius increase in air temperature), so the UK is likely to experience more dramatic rainfall events in the future.

 

Climate change, even if action is taken now, will continue to effect our fundamental transport infrastructure without extensive (and very expensive) adaptation. Victorian rail infrastructure was never designed to cope with extreme rainfall (or for that matter, to cope with extreme heat either.)

 

Will

News item on the BBC confirming. Worcestershire Cricket Club ground flooded as many times in the last 20 years as in it took the previous 100 to attain.

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning,

 

I agree.

 

Some images in the model press are really lurid; over-processed it seems to me. 

 

I'm told the Nikon Df didn't sell as well as expected (even though its controls are exactly like those on a Nikon F film camera), but it suits my needs perfectly. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Low sales. Partly due to cost v available income. It was what I aspired to when I went digital, I.e. a traditional camera like I was used to but with a digital back. IIRC it was around four times the price plus need for extra lenses on top of the basic and with a young family at the time it was out of my price range. These days I rarely do enough serious photography to warrant changing what I have. 
 

21 hours ago, micknich2003 said:

Coming this Saturday 17 February 2024 at the Carniege History Centre Anlaby Road/Walton Street corner,Hull 1330hrs an illustrated talk by Norman Hugill "Steam in the North East". Organised by the North Eastern Railway Assoc. All WELCOME, MEMBERSHIP NOT REQUIRED. See you there. Sample attached, Willerby June 1963.

Do you know whether it will be available to NERA members later as a recording? It clashes with our WMRA working open day?

8 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

No. One of the players has to stand down and not be eligible to take a kick. I reckon they probably get a few volunteers to sit it out!

 

If it was still equal after all remaining twenty players had taken a kick then it would start again in the same order.

 

 

Thanks for that. 

I have today updated the London Road Models weblink. 

I will be doing a routine check of the traders page weblinks before the show; however, there are a few gaps. If you are attending as a trader and your entry in the Traders page listing is wrong, missing entirely or missing a website or Ebay link that you now have then please let me know via a PM.

Thanks in advance.

19 hours ago, John of York61 said:

Just heard today of the passing of Roger Ellis. Roger was a member (with Ian Nuttall I recall) of Grimsby MRS and back in the 70s I remember 'Burdale' an BR steam/diesel layout. Later, Roger became a country member of the 'Butcombe Junction' crowd with Dave Hackling et al.. I for one always looked forward to Roger's arrival at the York show on Good Friday to help set-up/lift the mood when Cookie was chucking his teddy(!) and just to chat when us "young 'uns" were generally ignored by the oldies!

Steady away, Rog.

Roger's obituary has now been added to the Show website. It is located here.

9 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

As mentioned above, dust has a big influence on the appearance. Loco crew didn't (don't) like dust either, and when running tender/bunker first would try to keep the coal damp to minimise the dust blown in their faces. Damp coal is shinier than dry coal. 

That then made me think of something else. If the coal is secured with dilute PVA dribbled on top, that will have an effect a bit like varnish in making the coal look shinier than it was before. It also seals it, preventing any weathering/oxidation effects.

I still think that the thing that looks most like coal is coal.

My suggestion is to put talc into your PVA mix. No idea why but it helps matt the result. Also if it adds any slight colouring to the fluid it will be slightly white so will aid the greying effect.

PS: (1) Make sure the baby powder type stuff is actually talcum as since posting above I have remembered recently reading that at least one supplier (Johnson & Johnson) either have, or are about to, swap talc to corn starch. My modelling box stock of it is quite old so is definitely talc.

(2) Found a link - from the BMJ, so definitive stating change was due during 2023.

Thank you @John of York61 for posting the picture above.

A long term stalwart of the show along with his wife Fiona. A tradition currently being carried on by his son, Fred, to whom the whole show team express our condolences.

His excellent Easter fruit cakes were an annual York tradition.