wainwright1

I have three of the H's and two out of the three have had problems. The first one in original full Wainwright livery was used on my exhibition layout. It did one complete run with its train in and out of the station without problem,. The second time it emerged from the tunnel giving a very realistic cloud of smoke from the chimney, unfortunately without a smoke unit ! Fortunately it did not do any damage to the body. The dealer I bought it from was standing in front of the layout when it happened and saw everything. He returned it to Hornby for me and they replaced the motor. No problems since. The second one was the collector club model, also in full Wainwright livery. This one faired worst and seemed to get hot much quicker causing the boiler in front of the dome to sag. I phoned Hornby and returned the model. They replaced it completely and I have had no further problem with it. I have seen on another thread that there may have been issues with the assembly of the motors causing problems. Screws not properly tightened up ? RB P.S. Also had one of the front steps fall off. That went back into its slot with a spot of superglue.

I would just mention in passing that one of my club colleagues recently built a replacement Ratio signal for a club layout. The kit was moulded in white and black plastic parts. The white parts were fine, but he found that it was impossible to cut the black plastic parts from the sprue without them shattering. Luckily he was able to replace the cranks etc with brass ones and was able to complete the kit. So problems with plastic are not a thing of the past. RB

I believe that they were also used by the ROD, so another livery option. RB

Hi Mallard. That is very interesting about the shingles starting other things off. About a week after my shingles started I got an arthritic type flare up in my left knee. I had experienced some problems previously with arthritis in both knees, but not too serious and it had been more or less negligible for about four years. I had the knee x-rayed and they compared it with an x-ray taken five years ago and the they said that there was no change in the joint. So perhaps this is also being caused by the shingles. The shingles are in their ninth week and very slowly dissipating and the knee is up and down, improving for a few days and then getting achy again. At the moment I cannot straighten my leg properly, so have been very careful on stairs and avoided carrying anything heavy or awkward, especially model railway layout boards. I am also restricting my driving to fairly short trips. I would finally say that I have yet to find any pain killers or other treatment which has given any real relief. All the best RB

Another three years to go until I am eligible (aged 70), but once I am clear of this bout I may ask if I can have it earlier to prevent another episode. All the best RB

Interestingly, I saw my neighbour across the hallway from my flat yesterday and she got shingles about a week ago. Her's is nasty as it is high up on her back and going around onto her face. Apparently she got taken into hospital in an ambulance and kept in over night on a drip. She was released the next day, but they did not give her any medication. I told her what I had been through and gave her the packets for the medication that I had been given to stop the spread of the shingles and prevent it getting infected. She has been to the doctor and her has given her the same thing. She is only in her thirties and going around using a spray on everything she touches to stop the spread of it. Her upstairs neighbour is currently pregnant with a risk to the baby and we have warned her about the problem. All the best RB

Hi All. Many thanks for your comments and kind advice. It is now eight weeks since my attack started. My kitchen is now looking like a chemists shop with the selection of treatments that I have tried, some over the counter and others prescribed by the doctor. It was quite aggressive, painful and debilitating when it first started, but after a couple of weeks it eased a bit and and I got my energy back. Unfortunately, it seems to have got stuck at that level and nothing seems to shift it. I am currently on Gabapentin (400ml) tablets and EMLA Cream (5%) (Lidocaine) a mild anaesthetic. Unfortunately neither of these seem to be doing very much. I might try the antihistamine tablets to see if they help. I also have what appears to be an arthritic flare up in my knee which started about a week after the Shingles. I had an x-ray last week and Interestingly, when compared with an x-ray five years ago there would appear to be no change. This does not seem to be responding to the medication either, so perhaps the Shingles virus has got in there as well ? I suppose I shall have to ride out the storm and hope that this fades away after not too much longer. (Failing that, I will call out the vet). All the best RB

Hi DaveF. Thanks for your kind regards. I have tried paracetamol and ibuprofen, both without success. I am currently taking the Gabapentin with pararcetamol+codene at doctors instruction for a week, although still without any apparent effect. Have another appointment with the quack on Tuesday. I am retired and have adopted the loose clothing strategy which helps. Braces are also useful set at just enough strength to keep your trousers up. I am sure that there must be something out there that will soothe the soreness, its just finding it. All the best RB

Hi All. Trying to get our Crystal Palace High Level layout ready for the Gravesend exhibition at the beginning of November. lots of jobs to do, but mostly painting cobblestones at the moment. As a large percentage of our membership are shall we say in our late middle age, I am sure that many of you have suffered what I have got a the present time, in fact over the last eight weeks, the dreaded shingles on my right side. I have tried a variety of things to ease the itchy/sore irritation from this, but so far have not found anything that really eases the problem. Has anyone found something that does the job ? I have tried: Calamine Lotion, Witchhazel Gel, Ibuleive (Ibrofrofen gel), and Piroxicam gel (prescribed). None of these seem to do anything, although I do find that Deep Freeze last thing before bed seems to calm it down a bit. I am also on Gabapentin tablets (prescribed) which are supposed to be specifically for nerve pain, but they do not seem to do anything either. Any suggestions gratefully received. Now back to the modelling. RB P.S. I also have an arthritic knee on my left side which is not helping. Don't know which way to turn, literally.

I know a modeller who used to scratch-build wagons in gauge 1 from polystyrene and he found that after a couple of years that these tended to fall apart generally where they had been stuck together using solvent. I think that it was the plasticiser in the styrene that had evaporated out of the material that caused the problem. I am not sure if the problem is the same with ABS type plastic as used in Plastruct or Evergreen. The type of solvent used may also have implications. He now builds his wagons with wood and metal. I built many Airfix kits over the last 50 years and do not recall any of them falling apart, although they were mostly constructed using the old polystyrene cement rather than solvent. I suspect that once they were painted it substantially reduced the migration of the plasticiser. I also have many old Tri-ang and other brands of plastic bodied locos, coaches and wagons and do not remember any of then going crumbly or soft. Obviously prolonged exposure to direct sunlight would be likely to cause damage on more than one level, but perhaps storing models somewhere where there might be exposure to some kind of fumes or vapour which might otherwise be considered innocuous might cause damage over a prolonged period of time.

You are probably right about Ratio clearing old stock for the LNWR kits, I recall that there was either a small add or part of a main ad in I think the Railway Modeller stating they had a limited quantity of the kits and that they would be discontinued. The transfers were definitely PressFix which I use for all my Southern pre-grouping wagons and I think I still have the remains of some of the LNWR ones. I think that they even had made up very small tare markings for the solebars which I found useful. These transfers seem to adhere very well to most surfaces, but satin and gloss are best, and I find that if I apply the smaller lettering lightly, I can manoeuvre it with end of a cocktail stick to get it into perfect alignment with no carrier film. RB

I recall that the Ratio LNWR wagon kits that were withdrawn were offered in a plastic bag without instructions, but with the standard transfer sheet which was PressFix and very good, maybe just before the range was sold to PECO. I bought some and and have built them. I have not bought any kits recently, but I think that the current kits have water slide transfers which are not so good. Other kits which were discontinued were the NBR Open Cask Wagon and GWR Tube Wagon, although these may have been withdrawn earlier. I have an unbuilt Open Cask kit somewhere to add to my pre-grouping collection. RB

It is a pity that they are doing Basra again as the Longmoor loco which was previously produced by Bachmann for Modelzone, although this will obviously be a more accurate representation. They could do the other one Bari, which was the one that was involved in the serious accident on the railway involving a number of fatalities. RB

An interesting thread with some fairly local connections. I recall using Cow Gun in the mid-eighties for mounting materials, maps etc, to some display panels for an exhibition. Also seem to recall that it went mouldy after a while and stained through the displays, obviously due to it being a natural organic material. Always found the original Evo-stik contact adhesive very good for woodwork assembly and sticking on Formica laminates. I also use it for sticking brick paper onto scratch-built card buildings using the wall paper system. Coat both surfaces, allow to start going off, apply brick paper. It gives you time to straighten things up and any excess can be rubbed of cleanly after it few minutes when it goes rubbery. RB

The cattle wagons would look something like this when lime-washed.

The only one which had the panelling picked out in brown against the cream panels, but no lining, was the one in the Thomas range, but that had a face on the end of it !!!

I have had another testing session with my original S.E.C.R H which had the motor replaced and the Southern liveried one which did not display any problems. Both seem o.k. Mind you this is only running forwards and backwards on a fairly short length of track. The new S.E.C.R was collected on Monday. They are supposed to be replacing it, but have not heard anything yet. RB

An informed sourced has advised me that Hornby received these locos before Christmas and have spent the time since then replacing the motors ! Apparently a lot of the motors from the original batch, the push pull set and now these were poorly assembled. Also seems that the replacement motors that they have been using are are a bit dodgy. Anyone else heard about this ? RB

I had a similar problem with my first H from the first batch, also full Wainwright livery. That took longer for it to start smoking on my layout at an exhibition and did not damage the body. My retailer was standing in front of the layout and saw it happen. It was returned it to Hornby who replaced the motor. RB

Hi All. Received my Hornby Collector Club H Class yesterday. Looked very nice and was well finished. The two headboards enclosed are a nice touch. Took it down to the club to give it a test run. It ran a bit, stuttered and started, stalled and then I noticed it smoking. Took it off and brought it home. Checked it this morning and noticed that the area behind the dome had started to melt. Also noticed that one of the front sand pipes was half broken off. It seems that Hornby still have a problem with these motors. Spoke to the repair section this morning and will have it collected for replacement. The very helpful lady on the phone said that she had only one other faulty one reported, although they have only been sending them out the last couple of days. RB

Hi All. This is regular problem with Humbrol paints. I did a test a few years ago for matt varnishes trying enamel, acrylic and some artists types and found that the Humbrol enamel was the best for drying to a dead matt finish if you got a good tin. Now the problem is that the production appears to be inconsistent and sometimes it does not dry fully matt or it has creamy steaks in it. I have therefore produced some test cards with patches of dark coloured matt paints on, dark brown or matt black are best and I always mix and test the varnish on them before risking it on a model. This way you should be able to determine if there is going to be a problem. You must mix the varnish thoroughly and if it consistently fails to dry properly I take it back to the retailer and ask them exchange it for another tin from a different batch. Note that all Humbrol tins now have a label on the bottom which shows a batch number, so make a note of any dodgy paints and avoid buying any from the same batch. N.B. I did also complain to Hornby about one tin and they told me to send it back to them with a description of what was wrong with it. They sent a replacement through the post, which I did not think that they were allowed to do, but did not comment on the problem. I have not tried airbrushing varnish, but do not think that there should be any problems once the base colour is fully dried whether it is enamel or acrylic. Here is an example of what can go wrong if you do not test the varnish properly before applying to a model. These are two Bachmann models that I weathered. The one on the right was done with untested vanish and got a patchy bloom on it. Fortunately, I was able to touch it up and make it look like a well weathered wagon, but it could have been much worse especially on a prized locomotive or similar. I hope that this helps. RB

Using a diode in this way would divert some of the kick from the solenoid which would probably not affect a single one, but would it not reduce the effectiveness of throwing multiple points ? We use Peco solenoids on our club layouts and my Hawkhurst layout, all 00 . I currently have three points on Hawkhurst, (Peco code 100) , more than 30 years old, where a point blade has broken from the tie bar. These have been temporarily repaired, but the points will need replacing. We had a similar point on another club layout, also code 100, which broke and has been replaced. Our Crystal Palace High Level layout (Peco code 75), which is approaching 30 years , originally had Seep solenoids which we found fell to bits after a while. It now has Peco ones, but no breakages to date. On this layout we have a route setting control panel which does throw up to five points in one go from one switch and we did in fact add extra capacitors to make sure all the points threw positively. I can only remember one of the miniature toggle switches burning out in the last 30 years and that is with quite a few exhibition appearances for each layout. If you open up one of these switches to look inside, there is not much in there and you can see where they would arc and burn. We have also used the small buttons particularly for route setting in fiddle yards and these do burn out, so we now avoid them. Where possible on replacement or for new layouts, we now use the large buttons which should have enough meat in them for the lifetime of the layout. Hope that this helps. RB

The two types of brake van are completely different animals and the old road van is ideal for use with Isle of Wight 02s, Terriers and E1s. If recall correctly, Kernow are planning to do three or four versions for the island. RB

Here is the Hawkhurst goods shed. All scratch-built from multi-layered 2 mm laminated mounting card overlaid in Prototype 4mm yellow brick paper. Unfortunately this brick paper has been out of stock and out of print for some time from Freestone's. Despite my chasing him on numerous occasions. I need about six new packs so I can build new more accurate versions of the water tower and loco shed, using proper scale drawings. Something that was not available when i built the originals. RB

How much difference is there between the Caledonia Pug and the North British one ? They were both built by Neilson and look similar in photos. Perhaps Hornby could produce a new model of the latter and use the new motor and gears and chassis/footplate casting to upgrade to old one, reinstating the tank side handrails, a separate smoke box handle etc. It is interesting to note that with all the generated interest in pre-grouping locomotives and especially their new J36, Hornby have the old J83 in the Railroad range, but have never produced it in North British livery. 2020 range ? RB