Black5

Thanks to everyone who`s answered my query.

After contacting Hornby, I had an e-mail suggesting I returned the loco for them to have a look at and that is where things are at the moment. I await their suggestion.

One problem I find with the more up to date models is the high risk of breaking small fittings when trying to remove stubborn parts.It`s nice to have all this detail but when fingers are not so nimble, as in my case, it can lead to other problems.

Trustytrev, I too have a Comet chassis that`s going under a Mainline Scot but at the moment is being delayed due to ongoing work on the layout.

Oh to have more than one pair of hands!

Cheers just now,

Jim.

Hi Ray, thank you for your reply. Brit70053 had pointed that list out to me and I duly had a look at it.

I`ve since managed to finally remove the body and i`ve not seen any thing drastic on the chassis which suggests a degrading of the metal but I haven`t managed to get into the drive system so i`ve e-mailed Hornby for advice.

Hopefully they can help but it all looks a  very solid fit around there.

Meanwhile , thanks for your help and i`ll see what happens if Hornby reply.

Cheers just now, Jim.

Hi John, many thanks for your reply.

I haven`t had another try at separating body and chassis yet, might try again tomorrow.

I take on board all your comments and it`ll be extra porridge and try till something gives and then see what`s left!

Many thanks for your help.

Cheers just now,

Jim.

I have a Hornby Rebuilt Patriot loco that I have need to remove the body on owing to a loss of drive between motor and gear on the centre driver.

My problem is I have been unable to get the body off the chassis as it is such a tight fit. Is there a difference in location due to this being a DCC fitted loco as apposed to the other one I have which is only DCC ready.

Iv`e removed all relevant screws as instructed in their servicing sheet and I can get the front end to pull down but it still wont budge when I try to pull the chassis forward. If I pull any harder something will break.

I wonder if anyone else has had the same problem or have I simply missed a hidden screw or maybe there`s a problem due to the fitting of the decoder.

Many thanks,

Cheers just now,

Jim.

Hi Iain,

Good to see things are progressing with you.Your scratch build is going to be an interesting one to follow.

When I scratch built my Duchess, the most frustrating part for me was trying to hold the smallest piece being made between thumb and finger while it was being filed to it`s required shape, so best of luck with that.

Cheers just now,

Jim.

Hi Ian,

Spent the afternoon going through your blogs on the motive power for Camden.

You certainly give people ideas on modifying rtr models or complete re builds. The results you have produced over time have been outstanding with, I think, British Legion being a fine piece of work.

I agree with you about building Walschaerts valve gear, very fiddly to work on and need delicate handling  but give a much more satisfying result, definitely worth the effort.

Best of luck with your continuing production line!

Cheers just now,

Jim.

Hi Ian,

I have in front of me a drawing of an L M S Stanier 9ton 4000 gallon tender drawn by a J F Henderson in 1973. There are a great number of measurements on it, albeit some a wee bit faded but if it is of any use to you you`re welcome to have it if you let me know where to send it.

Other than that, look for the mags that Tiptonian suggested and also Historic Locomotive Drawings In 4MM Scale by F J ROCHE.

Cheers just now

Jim.

Hi Ian, I don`t know if you`ve seen this picture before. It`s on the cover of Loco Profiles No 37----L M S Pacifics.

The picture is dated 3-6-1962. The reason for posting it was it shows a different down pipe arrangement from the tank compared to the picture on page 18 in the Rod Steele book and that was taken in July `62.

Whether this fits into your modelling timescale or not i don`t know and if you have already seen the picture my apologies.

Took a look at your proposed new layout on your blog. That`s some project. Enough to keep you occupied for a while!

Cheers just now,

Jim.[attachment=757557:IMG_1864s.jpg

Apologies for deviating from the subject but looking at The Signal Engineers blog and in particular his blog heading Ansells, The Mild (referring to the beer ) brought back a lot of memories. Down here in Fleet in Hampshire back in the sixties our local pub used to sell Ansells King Pin, a superb brew. Many an evening was spent there with a good mate and seeing the picture jogged the memory.

Happy days

Back to the railways.

Cheers just now.

Jim.

Hi Iain, just been looking at your latest pictures of the water tank. It really is a great piece of work.

I have to agree with 1B Camden, it`s a pity all that work will disappear beneath a coat of paint but it has to be done. I think i would take a good set of pictures though when it`s finished and still bare metal.

I noticed in an earlier message you mentioned Alton Models. The last of the shops to hold a good stock for the modeller in my area, (I live in Fleet ),

 We used to have another,Cove Models, but sadly that went a few years ago unfortunately.

Cheers,

Jim.

I agree with farren Iain.

I`m sure a lot of us watch what you`re up to with great interest and envy at your modelling ability and eye for detail.

Way back at the start, i think you said this was your first serious attempt at a layout, some first attempt!

Thanks for the pictures and the info.

Cheers,

Jim.

Hi Iain,

Thanks for your reply. I didn`t think there would be a standard height as all yards would be different but i just wondered. I actually upped the length of the legs on my cardboard mock up to give a height of 32 ft which certainly looks much better.

 Braithwaite Panels arrived this morning ( amazingly quick service from them ) so tank building will start soon,albeit slightly narrower due to space.

Thanks for your help

 All the best,

Jim.

Hi Iain,

With reference to your water tower construction, i wonder if you would mind answering a couple of queries.

Was there a standard height at all for the base of the tank from the ground? Iv`e made a cardboard mock up at 25 ft scale height and it looked a bit low, so hence the question.

The other thing was the size of the brass pieces you`ve used for the support structure?

Hope you don`t mind me asking.

Best wishes,

Jim.

Hi Iain,

As usual,neat work on the coal tower and water tower support framework.

I have to say, i like seeing things their state of construction be it plasticard or brass. It shows the amount of work put in before the paint hides it, especially any brass work where all the soldering is on view and you can see the effort required to reach the desired result.

Someone said to me once at an exhibition whilst looking at an O gauge Bullied Pacific beautifully made in brass, once painted you could easily think it had been made of anything but brass as all the work gets covered by the paint.

Always enjoy following your postings,

Cheers

Jim.

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for your reply. I think i`ll stick with the Select for now as it does do the basics, ( moving the loco one way or the other ).

What i will do though after reading your reply is try another decoder. I have a Bachman Jubilee which, even on a minimum control setting, takes off like a greyhound out of its starting trap! so i think that`s where i`ll start.

If a loco (dcc) doesn`t move when asked to ( all things being clean ) is there a way of checking the decoder to find out if it`s blown ( other than putting the suspect decoder in a loco you know works?

Thanks once again,

Jim.)

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the reviews  you`ve recently written up, most helpful, particularly the Hornby Select.

This came to me as a gift so i have no real understanding of all the terminology yet so i`m reading as much as i can.

Regarding the Select, if a loco acceleration control was  set at 99 and duly moved off slowly, what difference would you get in performance by changing controller or decoder to have CV adjustments available?

Are CV adjustments better suited to layouts with a longer run rather than an end to end like mine?

At present i just turn the control knob to the speed i think is ok but reading things suggest i could be missing out on better operations.

If changing things didn`t make that much difference, bearing in mind it`s only a slow running layout, would it be worth looking into?

Hope the questions aren`t too daft but i`m a bog standard modeller picking things up as i go along.

 Many thanks,

Jim,

Hi Iain,

As usual from you, great model structures and great pictures. Your coal tower is certainly a big beast ( as most of them were ) and is a lot different in shape to mine. I built mine from a plan i found on the web and is similar to the one made by Bachman so i think is more a standard type around the thirties. This is why my layout is only loosely based on Camden rather than anything else. Too many things iv`e had to change due to available space

Nice to see the motive power on site, gives a great picture of what`s ahead when you progress further.

Hope 2016 is a good year for you in all your construction, modelling or the real thing.

All the best.

Jim.

Hi Iain,

Pleased to see things are moving ahead again. One thing i`d like to ask is," where do you find the time to progress as much as you have?"

I`m retired ( i`m 73) so i can spend a fair bit of time on my layout but i can`t match you for progress i`m afraid.

I seem to be spending a lot of time improving some of the things i did earlier.

Good to see you`ve started on the shed.

Best wishes,

Jim.

Hi Iain

Good to see things are still moving ahead. With what you appear to have coming up with the house etc, it`s no wonder things slowed down on the modelling front a bit.

Very nice job being made on the pub.Not something i can fit on mine i`m afraid.

Look forward to your progress as and when.

Best wishes for 2015.

Jim.

Hi Iain,  for what it`s worth, my shed sits across a board joint as well. I drilled holes in each corner wall of the shed

and drilled and put four brass tube dowels in the baseboard lining up with said holes. I couldn`t do it any other way

as my layout has to be put up and taken down again every time i work on it. So far it`s worked, i just have to be careful when

lifting that i don`t damage the bottom edge of the cross beam.

Jim.

Hi Iain,

           Great to see you back on the blog pages again. I know what you mean when you spoke

           about leaving the layout for a while, my break was trying to keep up with the garden through the summer.

           Now the evenings are drawing in and a visit to the local model railway exhibition re kindles the

           enthusiasm. I`ve attached a couple of pictures of recent progress on my Camden shed roof.

            Your pictures of your track ballast were of interest as i have always thought mine a bit on the coarse side,

            even using several different grades.

            Look forward to seeing more from you as time permits.

             Jim  (Black5).

Hi Iain, just caught up with your latest blog. the pointwork looks to be coming along nicely. The pictures of the turntable have made me decide to look at mine again and make improvements. Next for me on my humble version of Camden, the shed roof.

Look forward to seeing more pictures of your progress.

Regards, Jim.

Hi Iain, iv`e put a few pictures here for you to show progress so far on my attempt at something resembling Camden..The track layout i measured off an LMSR ratings dawing drawn at a scale of 40ft to the inch. The drawing is on one sheet and measures 9ft x 3ft layed out on the floor. I had a neighbour who worked for British Rail at the time and i asked the question regarding a track plan of Camden Shed and the drawing i have is what she brought home. It covers the complete curve from the Regents Canal round to Primrose Hill including the whole goods area and Gilbeys Bonded Wharehouse,( now the Roundhouse Theatre), all the buildings,stables etc.

The shed is built to fit the space i have, is approx 3ft x 1ft 3ins and covers the five main tracks. Space dictated losing some track and i won`t manage the offices at the end. I`ve been wondering what to do about the water tank, modellers license i think. The layout is 17ft x 2ft and comes as 4 separate boards that hang on the garage wall when not in use. I`m surprised it all works as well as it does considering the car goes in there at night wet and frosty depending on the weather! I`m unsure how to find you when i`m signed into the rm web, i only find you through google under Camden mpd.

Hi Ian, just been looking at your latest pictures. Certainly been some work going on there. I posted some pictures last year under the heading Black5 of the Ash Hoist and Coaling Tower that i`d built. Since then i`ve built an Aqua Duct at one end which is totally wrong i know but i wanted to build in some relief to lose some of the flatness of the layout. Your layout is certainly larger than mine which is why i concentrated on the yard area. I`ll take some pictures of progress so far. I`m half way through building the engine shed at the moment. Regards, Jim.

Hi Iain,

I joined this site after seeing your progress in pictures last week. Very impressive. Like you, i`m building Camden but not on your scale.

Mine is concentrating on the depot with the coal tower, ash hoist,engine shed and turntable as the main building structures.It`s an end to end being built in the garage down one wall measuring 17ft x 2ft. The track is down and wired for DCC. Some ballasting has been done but the next build is the shed now i`ve almost finished the coal tower. Made loads of mistakes along the way but good fun learnig from.

Jim.