brack

I'd hate to try and get it up to 88mph....

Is that the narrow gauge at kirtlebridge station? There was a pre existing NG line serving brickwork and quarries, but in ww2 the mod laid a 2' line along part of the trackbed towards solway viaduct and built a depot there.

I forgot, I weathered a rake of 11 irish cement bubbles (built previous to the rtr model) using toothpaste mixed to a sort of slurry/wash.

Ooh, that'll attract families with kids. "Are we going to ride on thomas today Mam?" "No, it's the b@st@rd offspring of a bus and the troublesome trucks." I've had too many unpleasant 40 mile journeys on those to ever pay to do it recreationally. Usually with at least one flat on a wheel, rain leaking through the door and the smell of hot metal and exhaust from the heating, screeching round every curves and an irritating rhythm of thumps and bangs from the flat.

True, but they spent decades refusing to use 15" gauge and his theories, settling on 18" for internal lines eg. Woolwich, Chatham suakin, deptford and many other forts and I believe 2'6" was decided upon for siege railways, but when all our allies went with 2'/60cm for the trenches in ww1 we followed their lead. Heywoods attempts to convince them of the merits of 15" were 3 decades in the past by the time of his death. Youd have thought those he'd spoken to would also be out of the way by ww1.

Is that the same taxpayers alliance with a director who lives in france and er, doesn't pay uk taxes? The one that received hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding donations from anonymous US based donors in the past 5 years and £100000 from a rightwing fund based in the Bahamas (obviously not based there for tax reasons, of course)? Not sure I'd bother listening to them and their trump funding backers when I could read what the people who actually work on transport planning and who actually have the evidence to hand think.

Furthr to the previous post: having checked Smithers' book on Heywood, The only clue is that the disposal date (from gretna) of the 15" locos tallies with the delivery date of the Barclays 2' fireless locos and the readiness of the 2' lines. The ministry had Ella and Muriel for about 1 year. There is a suggestion that some duffield bank rails came to ravenglass with them (and had been at gretna), and that the ministry mightve been persuaded to spare the locos in conjunction with a plan to reopen the eskdale iron mines.

Yes, eventually. After Sir Arthur's death in 1916 Muriel (080t, now River Irt) and Ella (060t) were requisitioned by the ministry of munitions supposedly for constructing the gretna factory. It seems bizarre that they'd put in a 15" line for this when 2' stock was much more readily available, the usual gauge for construction NG work and the gauge of half the railways they were putting in anyway. Hence I'm curious to know what exactly Heywood's locos were doing there!

Does anyone know what part, if any, Arthur heywoods 15" gauge duffield bank locos and stock played?

I designed the Y7 kit on shapeways. It's essentially in two bits, body and chassis. It took me a couple of days to build/finish it. A kit isn't necessarily some complex etched brass thing. https://brackmodels.weebly.com/lner-y7-in-4mm-scale.html There is a lovely brass and white metal kit by Dave Alexander should you prefer a more traditional medium, but it does come in more than two parts!

Exhibition looked good, I like the early RhB layout. I've been to the past couple but decided against this one due to a combination of illness/lack of cash/nothing on the layout list really grabbing me. Perhaps next time I'll be there again. The setting amongst the locos always gives it a certain atmosphere.

The idea of minor lines being well kept until closure is perhaps down to when they shut? Those which closed pre ww2 seem to have run fairly well until the end, whilst post WW2 things really were run into the ground - cash and labour shortages, maintenance deferment/overwork from the war? The other likely factor is that those lines which were parts of a larger concern ran fine until the plug was pulled as there was money coming in from elsewhere, but small independent concerns decayed and dwindled before succumbing.

I brush klear on the surface first and let it dry, put rivets on then (when dry) carefully put another coat of klear on to seal them. I do one side of the loco at a time, as I discovered the hard way that trying to do a second side will result in your fingers dislodging the first...

Apparently living there for two years a wee while ago and having built models of their railways doesn't count, just in case anyone else was planning on asking the powers that be. Ironically it probably does make me more irish than half their football players (several of whom hadn't been there until called up!).

I assume you're intending to hit a stationary plane on the ground. I'd have thought that in a war situation youd be ensuring there weren't enemy combatants within a couple of miles of your airbase. Given it has a range of 900 miles there isn't any need to park it on the frontline. If you're planning on hitting a plane flying at the speed of sound with a sniper rifle then it is effectively impossible (you might get a one in a million hit from dumb luck like the Russian bomber shot down by a musket in the yemen civil war) Anti aircraft guns work on the principle of flooding the area with bullets or fragments simply because aiming a single shot is not possible.

I weathered a rake of 3 hudson skips using spices as weathering powder (turmeric, paprika, cumin and cinnamon). It smelled quite nice.

Not sure I agree, Eric pickles is definitely broad gauge. And narrow gauge is charming, interesting, useful, diverse and cheaper to install and run than broader gauges. Not sure our current politicians are.

For little screws I have used http://www.screw-shop.com

I just read this. A few thoughts (which you may or may not have had previously). For your pinpoint axles, what you describe to me sounds like a split axle pickup, but with coned axle ends. Essentially you put the axle in a jig to hold it all in place, cut though it, fill the cut with epoxy and there you go (often with a tufnol sleeve). There are threads on here regarding this (I haven't done it myself, so am not the one to ask). Secondly, for keeping the loco on the track and stopping it lifting off (I'm assuming no pointwork here). Fell system: But instead of using a double headed centre rail like fell did, you could position those horizontal wheels further to the sides so the flange fits under the rail head... Just ideas - they may or may not work.

I'm not so sure I'd be so quick to insult our would be dictator in writing... We're all loyal and patriotic here dear leader.

Mine was printed in FUD. Its much stronger than youd think, and the bracing is more than sufficient - it doesn't flex, and the loco weight is applied from above in a vertical direction where there is greatest strength. WSF is awful for chassis (frankly for anything at all! I made 2 models in wsf and decided scratchbuilding was quicker than filling and sanding the surface, I wouldnt touch it unless I was working in a large scale and couldnt afford anything better) as it doesn't print accurately in the z axis, leaving oval holes, whereas FD and FUD always gave a hole accurate enough for bearings to be a good push fit, secured with a touch of super glue.

No problem - we all have our own preferences anyway, there have been times I've drawn something that someone else has already done as a) I thought I could improve on it b) it didnt quite fit with how I'd like to put the model together and c) I wanted to draw it myself anyway. One thing I might suggest (if I may be so bold) is that you've filled in the ends and bottom of the frames. On the prototype the frame ends are quite visible, as are the cylinder covers. On my cad I sprued the clack valves and brake shoes to the inside of the frames, but hopefully you can see the cylinders at the first spacer in line with the smokebox front (the top of the cylinders/valves are just visible below the smokebox above the foot plate. Guard irons I did with a bit of scrap brass. Please dont interpret me posting as some sort of territorial claim - I wouldnt care if you did put your version on shapeways, I've only sold 5 of them in 5 years! I just thought I might be able to save you some time. The day after I finished mine I took it with me to newcastle exhibition, dad showed it to Dave Alexander (who hes known for years) and it turned out that unknown to us (and anyone else) Dave was releasing his new kit on that day, he'd spent about a year making all the masters, etches and moulds but hadn't told anyone. I felt a bit bad - I'd only made mine as an experiment and because the nu cast kit wasnt available.

Looks very like a Y7 (Y8 is similar but has an extra cut out). I did the one on shapeways. If you just want it for personal use I could let you borrow my CAD. Dont want to steal your thunder so I wont post pictures. N20 and bevel drive on the front axle was my choice too, I trimmed the rear shaft but it wasnt completely necessary.

See the first part of the name "extinction rebellion"

Well if ever a leader were likely to have a son or daughter who didnt know who his dad was.....