Dominion

On 01/09/2023 at 04:51, Guardian said:

Hi Tom,

 

Thank you for testing this A 3 model. Good to see that the ski jump footplate issue seems to be resolved. May I kindly ask you to check if the spokes of the wheels are still made of plastics?

 

Cheers,

Mark  

Sorry for the long delay Mark, yes they are. It Runs very smoothly.

I am just experimenting with the magnetic couplers that came with these. 

It turns out they handed for polarity. Each pair has one north and one south.

Not a problem but it means the carriers will only couple one way around. 

I have got used to the Hunt Elite and Hornby couplings that work either way around.

The Hornby buckeye seems a bit long for these. ( R7398 )

The Hunt Elite ultra close is a little shorter than the Hornby Buckeye and seems good.

For context, my mainline minimum radius is 34 inches but as there is a close coupling mechanism I don't think that matters much.

Lots of the wagons you mention will have Nem pockets.
I use number 18s in those instead of fitting kadee draft boxes.

If you have tight radii you may need 19s.

If you are doing Bachmann wagons with the cranked tension locks in Nem pockets then the Nem pocket is set too high from the factory.
You can bring the coupler head back down to an acceptable height by turning the small Nem pocket component on the wagon upside down. 

Good luck.

Tom

I can confirm they are quite weighty and glide along very nicely.

Tom

The few times I have experienced something like that and wondered if it was the NCE throttle it always turned out to be a failed decoder or an installation/socket problem.

Once it turned out to be a decoder I had bought by mistake that had no motor control, only functions.

good luck with the issue.

Tom 

Here is a kadee 19 installed. A bit longer than I would want but agree with you the 18 was too short.

I have seen a photo of Flying Scotsman in Toronto.  I think by the Spadina Roundhouse,  which is now a rail museum here.

I believe it was taken by Retro-man aka Steve who is on RMWeb. @Retro_man

Tom

Wayne, have you considered designing and printing some insulated rail joiners ?

The Peco bullhead metal ones that go under the rail are very good.

but for insulated joiners the Exactoscale ones are very delicate, and the Peco n scale ones are chunky.

Would your print material be good for that or should it be something more flexible ? 

Tom

I wish there were some stronger ones available.
 

I use Exactoscale plastic ones within track sections I am building and they seem to survive once installed.

But I have given up on using them on track ends when installing track section to section as they brake and ping off fairly quickly, after installation, I assume with temperature fluctuations.

I do use the clear Peco n-scale ones mentioned above on code 75 bullhead, but shortened on both sides of the break.

They don’t look very good but lots of my track is pinned and not ballasted yet and the rails or track seems to creep and create shorts without a mechanical insulation if some kind, and they are very hard to find. 
 

Perhaps if the layout is ever all ballasted and glued I will be able to remove the Peco clear plastic ones.

Their metal Bullhead ones are so good. I wish there were an insulated equivalent. 

Perhaps someone could design some more resilient than the Exactoscale ones and more discrete than the Peco n scale ones. 

Tom

Is it is scissors crossover you are doing ?

If so the polarity of the Diamond V crossings can always be the same as the polarity of opposite turn out frog on one of the diagonal routes. It seems a bit counter intuitive at first but it doesn’t actually matter which diagonal route you choose the turn out frogs of to power the Diamond frogs.

This works as long as you arrange for neither route to be switchable to the cross over unless the other diagonal is set to straight.

I have arranged for mine to be interlocked so that the point motors will not respond unless the other diagonal is straight, but you don’t have to go to those lengths for the frog polarity setup above to work, you just need to remember to reset the other route to straight if you forget.

Tom

I think the central crossing is done now. It works well just pushing a wagon through. I will try it now with some jerry-rigged power.

This is all Finetrax except the pale brown wood short sleeper sections and the rust coloured Exactoscale chairs.

I have one of Wayne's double slips to add for the bottom left.

I will have to hand build the rest of the tandem for the top right.

I think there should not be a timber in the centre of the diamond as it is a 3.5 angled crossing but I added one to make the build easier and plan to leave it in place. Some of my other diamond timbering is a bit too close together for real life ballast maintenance but I am happy with the compromise to have allowed me to use Finetrax bases at all 4 corners.

Tom

The tender looks so much better with that treatment. I did a Cameronian in a similar way. It looks like you cut the single piece coal rail stamping ? When I did mine I tried to shape it to take out the extra width and shortened each end a little but it ends up with tight corners. How did you cut the railing ? A hand held hack saw ? I seem to remember it is quite hard.

Tom

The super detail Gresley teaks that I have seen are all different, with the exception that one of the brakes in the Olympic set has the same number as one of the early ones, though it also has an E prefix. So no exact duplicates that I am aware of. 

The big problem with all the super detail Hornby Gresleys is the lack of tumblehome. The chassis appears to be too wide and the sides are too flat rather than turning in below the waist. 
The teak finish on all by a few is very nice but the shape is off. 
It doesn’t stop me running them but I really wish one of the manufacturers would produce some Gresley Diagrams in the correct shape.

At least this error easily justifies working on the older ones in this thread !

Tom

40 minutes ago, Captain_Mumbles said:

 … When I get an opportunity to find an another Garter blue A4 I'd like to build an early BR A4 in blue with red wheels and motion exposed. That would be my version of an ultimate A4.

 

Cheers all!

 

How about this one ? R3771.

The photo is from Hattons as I am not currently with mine.

As for a balance free LNER green one your hunch that that combo did not exist is correct. Tom

Thank you very much for posting the link and also the time-stamp that Oxford Rail gets a mention. I am delighted to hear that Oxford plans to keep the Rail side of the business going. I have several Oxford Rail products, locos and wagons, and like them all.  Tom

I searched for Tamiya dark wash and search results are black or brown panel line accent. Is that the product you use or something different ?

The OP asked about which are the most detailed. The only changes from then to now are internal wiring and tender connection as far as I know. The fidelity of the shape and detail were excellent then and are the same now. The recent Dublo metal version is obviously different tooling but I do not think of it as more detailed.

The OP went on to say they were interested in Black. From the modern tooling there have only been two releases in black.  The reasonably recent R3441 that has unshaded yellow numbering and letters and R2338 Sir Charles Newton which has shaded numbers and letters, which is quite a different look. I personally prefer the shaded livery and i thought helpful for the OP to know if the options. I agree it was released a long time ago. But good examples come up from time to time, and the detailing is excellent, as is the running on the ones I have seen. 
Regards, Tom

Agree with Mick, the fully detailed loco drive models started with that pair. Sir Charles Newton in NE black was R2338. There was a BR green one at the same time, Golden Plover, that was R2340.

Some of the sets have included full spec. A4s too. 

For the windows, I tried an idea I read probably on RMWeb somewhere. Use a 4B soft pencil to run around the thick inside edge of the window frames. I thought it does make a small improvement and is quick and reversible. 
I tried the vacuum formed glazing on an old Replica Mk1 and they seem not quite plane enough. I have not tried them on a Hornby old Gresley yet. I read somewhere that some micro crystal clear around the edge of the vacuum formed insert reduced the meniscus effect mentioned above but I have not tried it. 

It is fairly common in Canada to have cottages by one of our thousands of lakes. Spiders have a field day near the water especially with its breezes. We spray a repellant around the outside of the cottage when it gets bad. It does not need doing every year. It significantly reduces the number of spiders inside the house too. 
If you don’t like the idea of using a chemical you could propel something that is easy to clean on your first run each day. 

I use one of this Dapol wagon mounted vacuum cars occasionally. It wouldn’t get the spiders but it might get some loose stuff, and eggs perhaps. It is also much easier to wipe off than a loco ! Tom

It also gets small parts that have fallen off :-)

I have just been running mine in, I am very happy with it. I live in Canada, and it is really reminiscent of some of the locos CN and CP ran.
My Dad, Grandad, and Great Grandad all worked for Paxman’s so I had to have one :-)

Tom 

Perhaps Tony might make an exception for this ready to run item ? (Without the couplings of course).

The photo is from Hattons and the item is 37-075v in case your son doesn't already have one. Tom

Many thanks to each of you for your responses and comments. I did figure out how to post a box file on the Templot club and received an extremely helpful reply from Martin. 
Tom