HeatherKay

Hi Membership is

Hi Regarding S7 wheels, you can buy them directly from Slater's. All the main styles of wagon wheels are available to the S7 profile and back to back, as well as the coach wheelsets. Loco wheels are a different animal. The Group is working with Slater's to develop a range of suitable driving, carrying and tender wheels for a variety of steam outline locos, which will only be sold through the S7 Group Stores. The other method is to have normal FS O wheels reprofiled, either yourself (the Group can sell you a profile tool) if you have the relevant lathe skills, or by the Group (there's a service run by one of the members, at reasonable cost). If it helps, I've been a ScaleSeven member since the late 1980s, and never once had to run a lathe in anger! The Group's web site has a fair amount of technical info scattered about, but I agree it can be hard to find answers to questions if you don't know where to look. The best bet is to contact any of the committee members and ask! If you visit any large scale shows, look out for the S7 demonstration stand. The guys who man it are always friendly and willing to answer most questions people might have about the standard.

As you say, something of a rigmarole. I guess I get spoiled by other forums which let you embed images in posts on the fly. At least the video link worked properly! I seem to have missed a simple method of previewing a post before submitting it. You're right about the Big Giant Heads - they weren't there as I framed up, but sneaked in as the shutter button was pressed! Whatever, let's not dwell on my problems. I'm dragging things off the rails as it is!

Well, here are the dodgy photos... Did that even work? If not, expect a swift edit! They don't make it easy to share stuff here, do they! I had a link to a video, but that didn't work very well. I'm afraid you'll have to follow the URL to my YouTube channel.

I know I ought to kick off a topic of my own at some stage, but if it's okay with you I'll post them here. They'll most likely be links to where they get hosted. I hope they come out - having bright backlighting against a window wasn't very helpful at times!

I did pop into Wimborne yesterday, with Best Beloved. It was lovely to be able to stand and watch Dock Green without being jostled or pestered. I took some stills, and some video. Having just arrived home and catching up with things, it might take a day or two for me to sort everything out, but I will share later.

Steps and handrails may be a hangover from days when the vehicle may have been oil or gas lit. On more modern passenger stock, it was generally for access to toilet filling facilities.

I believe you have the right of it there. I am afflicted by many interests and passions. Keeping control of them can be a nightmare, and when Best Beloved shares some of them - as well as his own - it can get really messy. That's enough wandering off topic. Back to your mogul rebuild. *Sits down, hoping to learn something new about outside valve gear as she has a WD 2-8-0 pending*

No, we're not. I have the misfortune to live with an amateur radio operator…

Invoke Rule Number One, of course. That's how we got away with shunting wagons on a branch line terminus with an ex-works LMS 10000... I would have liked to have lingered at Dock Green to savour more of the atmosphere, but I was demonstrating further round the hall and didn't really get much of a chance to roam over the weekend. It was nice to chat briefly again, and I hope we can do it again at another show some time.

Lovely to see your coaches out of the box and on the rails at last, Chris. Thank you for the kind words, too.

I believe the meat vans were converted to ale traffic later in life, presumably when refrigerated vans and containers were more reliable. The vans were repainted to standard fitted bauxite and lathered "ALE". So, you could, potentially, get away with one, but it would mean repainting from the crimson/maroon.

Oh, what a shame. I know it was fairly common to use brick or stone to reinforce an area if it needed it. The combination of material surfaces always makes for a nice model, I think. Still, if it doesn't fit your prototype information...

If the terrain is rocky enough, would they even bother with retaining wall? A natural rock cutting, wrought by explosives and hand tools, would look great.

I had a camera with me, but sadly I didn't think to use it. I usually find I dislike trying to do a layout justice through a lens while being jostled by the crowds. I much prefer to take my time and do it properly. Still, good to see so many did take some excellent images.

That pile of locos looks very daunting. Perhaps you should consider not trying to build them all before your layout's first exhibition. As long as you have enough locos to run things happily, to show some variety and get over what you're trying to show with the layout, and to provide a spare or two if something goes awry, you can look on the stash that remains as things to build when you have time.

It was a pleasure to see Dock Green in the flesh at last, and great to meet and chat with Chas and his team. I spend quite some time today, watching the trains trundle about, and catching new cameos and details.

I've got the Basingstoke show in my calendar now. If there's any excuse to make the trip from Chatham, it's to see Dock Green in the flesh.

Cheating!

What a brilliant idea! Now, don't forget to score a crack or two in one of the panes every now and then. I guess the glass would most likely crack on the panel that opened to let the lamplighter light the lamp.

Hi Bill I wondered if there was a Rule 55 reference online, and lo! Wikipedia has a page dedicated to it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_55 I hope that makes interesting reading. Heather

Hi Bill! The white diamond on the signal indicated to the train crew that track circuits were installed on that section of line. This meant the signal boxes on the line were aware of their presence, and if they came to a stand in the section Rule 55 (which meant the fireman had to go to a telephone and call the signalbox to remind the signalman the train was there) could be ignored. I think that's essentially what it means. No doubt someone properly clued up on the British Railways Rule Book will correct me! Heather

Just a thought, but chain link fence often has a horizontal wire or two to support it over a certain height. You might find you can thread the tulle on to fine brass wire to achieve the support you need.