thegreenhowards

The GN quad arts had set numbers between 48 and 94 and the quints were higher numbers. So this was neither of these unless it could have been 12x in which case it was a quint art (I think). Hope that’s helpful. Andy

Thanks Chris, You and I know that but try persuading my wife! I intend to get something up and running and later try to incorporate some if it permanently into the garden. The boards will all be covered with roofing felt soon as a precaution towards being left out. Regards Andy

The Portescaps I have from my teenage years would have been bought late ‘70s/ early ‘80s. They are both quiet.

Long time no post! It’s amazing how progress has slowed down now that the layout has been transferred to our club rooms. We only have Monday night to work on it, but at least we have a team of 3 or 4 regulars who are doing something every week. Latest addition has been some loverly 3D printed retaining walls from club member Rob ( @woko) as shown in the picture below. Our intention is to vary them along the layout to provide variety. The other main project has been installing working point rodding using the DCC concepts 00 gauge system. This is significantly over sale for 00 gauge but seems to work well for 0 gauge. Should have photos of this soon. Andy

A bit of progress over the last few days. I have created some curves by making trapeziums out of the planks of 8” spruce like this. They are then glued together into a curved section. …and braced underneath. The angle at each end is 5.625 degrees meaning the joints are twice that (11.25) such that four make 45 degrees. The two I have done so far are joined in fives making a curve of just over 100 degrees, so I now have two sides of the garden covered (not quite a right angle corner). The radius depends on the length of the trapezium boards. These are 38cm on the longer side meaning a radius of c.6 ft. The other curves will be gentler. I have done some at 48 cm which will work out at 8 ft radius. I borrowed a chop saw from a friend to do the cutting. They are amazing bits of kit and make this job so much easier! I have loosely pinned down some track and run a test train as shown in this video.

Just one vote for me - the N5. An updated N2 is overdue but I already have five (four Hornby and one scratch built bought second hand). I’ve weathered and detailed all these so would not want to throw them away and they’re good enough for me. Five is enough! An N1 would be a good bet with its wide use in the west riding as well as out of KX, but I have one - 3D printed on a N2 chassis - and they were being phased out down south by the early ‘50s. The C12 is also an elegant design and I love them but I have built a kit and one is enough given their limited workings down south. An A5 is a tempting prospect. I do want but I’m half way through building a kit which has got put in the too difficult box at present. If that fails I‘d take an A5 too but I feel I have to try to complete the kit first. Again there were only penny numbers in the KX area post war, so one is enough. I agree with the comment on updated Mk1 shorties especially if the GN specific CL and SLO could be included. Andy

I meant to reply earlier to this but I forgot in the swarm of coupling posts! I agree that Kadees are great although even they don’t always want to couple on a curve. What put me off them was a combination of the price and the difficulty of fitting them to stock without NEM pockets and particularly to the Bachmann mark 1s with pockets in the wrong place. Last time I looked they were about £5 a pair compared to £1 for the magnets. I have about 200 coaches, so that amounts to a significant difference in price. Perhaps it was a false economy, but I do find the magnets very good 99% of the time. Andy

Tony, I think the word ‘folly’ is a bit strong. I really enjoy the research for and putting together of each individual train and when I’m running them at home with time to fettle each rake it all works fine ( maybe on the second or third circuit) as I think the videos on my Gresley Jn thread show. When I’m running Gresley Jn for guests I just use the trains already set up in the fiddle yard. And I generally give them all a practice run first. This generally works very well, although I do admit to having an occasional derailment. Not many, but more than one sees on LB. What clearly is folly is trying to put them together in an ‘away’ layout and expecting them to work first time. Or trying to buy and store enough stock to run the whole lot without re-using any coaches. I think that, given my interest in recreating each train, using my Mark 1s multiple times is only sensible. After all one Mark 1 SK is much like another! Andy

I also fancy a D2. I’m sure we will be debating that soon on one of Brian’s polls!

I also like the Hornby / Roco couplings in fixed sets of stock with NEM pockets - both coaches and fitted goods vans like my blue spot fish.

That’s a really good idea. Shame I’ve already glued all mine on!

Thanks. The black tac is an idea worth trying. I think my main problem with the magnets is when I turn a coach round and have two corridor connectors together. This can push the magnets apart on a curve. But I’ve got to do some more testing after yesterday’s problems. At home they’re strong enough for my HOM rake which is 14 coaches including two with brass sides or, for instance, my 1735 KX-NCL/ Saltburn which load to 12 coaches including a metal triplet. Andy

That’s a ghostly scene!

Good evening Tony, I accept your points. I was in the process of gradually replacing all the tension locks with the magnetic couplings. They have worked well at home after a few teething problems. I love the speed of coupling and the fact that they can be used either way round. But after yesterday’s poor performance I’m having second thoughts! Your hook and goalpost couplings work well on fixed rakes and I use them on one or two of my rakes such as the Lizzie. But they don’t allow the coach to be turned round when I’m forming up different trains. So they don’t work for me in most situations. It looks like I’m back to the drawing board in terms of finding a suitable coupling. I will do some more testing with the magnets. Andy

Thanks Robert, My SP etched sides don’t match the Bachmann/ Hornbys perfectly, but I think they’re good enough. A bit of variation is prototypical isn’t it? I think Thompson kitchen cars did work the train from time to time. I seem to remember there’s a picture of one in the early fifties in the Banks and Carter book. Sometime in 1957 it change from a full kitchen car to a Thompson RF. nice video. I’m doing videos of all the trains for the article but I can’t show them on here yet. I do find that some Hunt couplings slip out of the NEM pockets and as you say the magnets come out of the 3D printed bit. but that normally happens straightaway and can be fixed with a dab of cyano. Despite having checked it all at those before I left, I had two problems yesterday: - some magnets came apart when the train jerked - I think this was exacerbated by the tendency for DCC locos to start suddenly when used on DC; and - a couple pulled out of their NEM pockets. I think this was caused by the warm weather making the 3D printed resin go soft. I could have sorted it with some cyano…if I’d remembered to take it! Andy

As expected my wallet went home lighter after today’s trip - I was responsible for one of these. Tudor Minstrel will be making its entrance on Gresley Junction soon.

Thanks for your hospitality Tony. A great day with the normal erudite conversion mixed with banter and a lot of trains run - most enjoyable. I was in control of the A1/1 when it self destructed and was worried it was my fault for some ‘Duddingtonesque’ driving, so was rather relieved to find that Tony blamed the Gibson wheels - I suggested he fitted some Hornby ones instead but that didn’t go down well! My trains didn’t behave very well with the Hunt magnetic couplings parting from time to time - often in the most inaccessible of locations. This is despite a thorough test at home before they were packed up. Apparently Tony has a special eye which causes other people’s trains to misbehave! As for the trains photographed, the first is the ‘Car Sleeper Limited’. The first Motorrail service in the UK starting in 1955 and running between KX and Perth. It later had bogie CCTs and then the Newton Chambers car carriers in the early ‘60s. The coaches include 3 Kirk Sleeper thirds - the couchette type with four bunks per compartment. The second is the Heart of Midlothian in its original ‘Festival of Britain’ guise. One of several all Mark 1 demonstration trains introduced in 1951. This loads to 14 vehicles including an original kitchen car (Comet) and RTO (Southern Pride). The rest is RTR. It shows what an ordinary Hornby A4 can haul. Andy

Thanks for that video. That’s exactly why I want mine low…at least while I’m learning!

Thanks Fred, I’m 57 and relatively agile for my age, so I think I can cope with it being low for the time being. I have to build up slowly while SWBMO gets used to the idea of a garden railway which means it’s going to be fully portable for the time being and stored in the garage. Therefore I don’t really want the hassle of getting legs out each time. I was also worried about trains falling off the boards from a height. If you have a high level garden railway what do you do about that? (Apart from not having any derailments which would be nice…but in the real world!). Regards Andy

I'm another one who never met Gordon but felt I knew him. I enjoyed his thread and he often popped up with helpful / encouraging comments on my threads. He will be sorely missed. RIP Gordon. Andy

Hi, Having started in O gauge during lockdown 2 by building a club layout, I’ve really got the bug for the scale. Once the club rooms reopened the club layout has been moved to its permanent home and I have nowhere to test my stock at home. So I decided to build something in the garden. SWMBO is not keen, so I’ve agreed to make it portable and just set it up for running sessions. The idea will be a triangular layout round two sides of the lawn with a third arm back across the middle. I have chanced upon some planks of softwood which are used for pipe delivery crates and measure 10’6” x 8”x20mm as shown hanging above my MGB. So not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I’ve decided to use them to make sections of baseboard 9’x8” ideal for a double track in O gauge. I also intend to build the curves from the same material by joining together lots of segments. I applied wood preserver over the weekend and so far I’ve built four 9ft boards as shown in my garage under construction this morning. I set them out in the lawn this afternoon and loosely laid some track on top to test the concept. It all seems to work OK, although will need a lot more care with levels when I lay the track properly to get a smooth ride. I intend to join the boards using dowels and adjustable sprung toggles from Amazon which I found excellent on our club O gauge. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07RHD9CMN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). The boards will rest on loose bits of wood arranged to minimise gradients. Does this all sound like a credible plan? Or am I setting myself up for a disaster down the line? Thanks in advance for any feedback from those more experienced. Andy

My other recently completed project is this Ian Kirk 0 gauge Gresley BTK. I’ve almost certainly forgotten something critical, so feel free to point it out! Andy

Thanks for showing us. I thought it might have gone in the too difficult box, but good to see you’re getting stuck in.

I’d also love a D2, but I was saving that for the passenger list.

And they’ve finished the ends in teak livery instead of black which I don’t think was ever correct?