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On my last layout I used the staple on tension lock coupler with success, however I had to use two magnets to uncouple, one for each staple, are you taking one hook off the wagon? that would work but the wagons will need to be set up spot on too each other as any inconsistencies in track levels may cause them to uncouple when you don,t want them to. Cheers, Pete.

Hi Marc, personally I have never liked the Metcalfe kits, they don,t have realistic finish to them, however I have seen some of them covered by Scalescenes papers and the transformation is astounding, so if they brought there O scale kits back I may be tempted. Cheers, Pete.

Hi Salty, I,ve been following your posts on FB, where did you get the conversion kit from? was it expensive? I wouldn,t mind doing one myself one day, I had one years ago already converted, but the chap I bought it from had made all the parts from scratch, it was a superb runner and looked amazing I wish I had taken some photos before selling it! Keep up the good work! Cheers, Pete.

Hi Neil, just read your post and it looks really interesting, just the sort of modelling that appeals to me! regarding the chlorine/bleach deliveries, I worked on a chemical plant, Staveley Chemicals near Chesterfield, in the mid/late 70,s, early 80,s on a plant producing both Chlorine and bleach/caustic soda. At that time none of our products were sent out by rail but for the amount of chlorine that would probably been required by the paper mill I imagine it would have been delivered in very thick walled steel barrels similar to what we loaded and sent out on the back of lorries, roughly 3ft diameter, 7ft long with inwardly dished ends, I will see if I can find a photo of one, bleach would have been delivered in a normal tank but I have no idea of what they would look like, the products would most likely come from ICI at their Runcorn works. Cheers, Pete.

Hi Rich, I have just read through this topic and it brought back a lot of memories from when I first started plastic kit building, they can be a pain at times thanks to unhelpful instructions, I think the makers believe we can read their minds when they design them, but its still fun to get them built. When you decide to have a go at building a brass kit, and I promise you will mate, try one of big Jims, Connoisseur models, not quite a shake the box and it falls out made, but very well designed with good instructions and you won,t go far wrong. Pete.

Hi Neil, I know the scratchbuild a loco project of Mike Cawthornes was very popular among the club members, I didn,t find out about it until later by which time I was unable to buy the castings and parts, I did ask if anyone was interested in selling theirs but no takers, I know Mike did a printed assembly guide, whether he can still supply one after all these years I will have to ask him, though I have not been to the club for a very long time as it is a struggle to climb the stairs these days, but I will have a run over this friday. Pete.

Hi Neil, I know the post I am re quoting is about 18 months old, but I,ve only just found your thread and very good it is too! anyway I think the castings etc you won on Ebay may have been produced for Mike Cawthorn the chairman of Sheffield O Gauge groups scratchbuilding a loco project a few years ago. Cheers, Pete.

I,ve cleaned, painted and fitted the carburetor linkages, and loose fitted my new exhaust, it will have to come off for painting but I couldn,t resist seeing it on. Thats it for now, next job is to finish the trolley for it so I can move it around, its starting to weigh a ton! Cheers, Pete.

I,m not sure if this is the correct forum for this topic, but if not feel free to remove admins. I started restoring and showing old stationary engines around 17/18 years ago after visiting the Lincoln steam and vintage show, I have had an interest in old machinery for many years, old motorbikes and cars, I even had a small part in restoring 80080, standard class 4 locomotive whilst it was at Matlock station back in the 70s. It was at Lincoln show I first came across stationary engines and instantly fell in love the way they popped and bounced around fascinated me and I had to have one, as with a lot of hobbys one is not enough and I soon found myself with 4, first was a 1948 Petter A11, unfortunately I can,t find a photo of that particular engine but I still have it so if anyone is interested I will take some pics and post them, second was my 1952 Lister D, shown here. That engine I bought restored and running, and found a Lister pump to run off it shortly after. I always hankered after an engine to restore myself, after seeing an advert for a farm auction with some engines included, I decided to give it a go, the engine I was looking at went for more than I was willing to pay but next up was an engine that looked promising a 1928 Lister B in need of restoration with some parts missing, I thought I,d have a punt and lo and behold I won it, here it is as bought. During strip down and repainting. I have got a bit further with the resto but I have not taken more pics yet I will sort that out and post them up. I found on checking it out once I had it home the magneto wasn,t working, I took it an auto electrical restorers for them to check it out and they quoted me £360 to have it rebuilt, more than the engine is worth, so I went on Ebay to try and get a replacement and the money they were asking was ridiculous, so I decided it would be easier to buy another engine and rob the mag off that which I did, winning another Lister D, they use the same mag, this one. Once I got it home I realised I couldn,t bring myself to strip it, it was to good, sooo, at a rally I found a mag at the right price and with a good spark so I bought that as well, when I have finished the "B", I will make a start on my new "D". I hope this has been of interest to someone, I will update as I go on, thanks for looking,cheers, Pete.

Just found this thread Nick, very very impressed! The trackwork problems you were experiencing I am glad to see you sorted, I am also going for Spratt and Winkle uncouplers on my own layout, though in 7mm, you should be able to retro fit the delay bit to your wagons using a bit of wire soldered on. Looking forward to the next instalment. Cheers, Pete.

I have just caught up with this topic Dave, I must say it has inspired me to get on with my Wheeldon Mill layout, I have posted some photos of it but wasn,t looking at what I was doing and have put them up on the 7mm section, if there is some way of moving them to here on industrials could some one do it? I hope you won,t mind but I am going to nick some of your ideas for mine . Cheers, Pete.

Hi Dave, I have just recently found this particular part of the forum and I,ve just read through your topic from the beginning and I am very impressed with the topic and the modelling of it, my personal interest is industrial and iron working in particular but I have picked up on several things you,ve done and mentally filed them away for use on my own layout, Wheeldon Mill, which I will start a topic on soon. Cheers, Pete.

This is my old Lima shunter, I,ve had it for ages, it came to me with the buffers and buffer beams replaced, but I decide to give it a repaint and detailing to make it more suitable for my industrial layout Wheeldon Mill, ( I will start a separate thread on that later ). I stripped the old paint with brake fluid, messy but it did the job! before repainting I removed the old moulded hand rails and replaced them with wire, I painted it with satin black car paint, it,s what I had to hand, the point being I am a skinflint and I am trying to see if I can do the job cheaply. I have glazed the cab windows, made a control desk for the cab and put a driver in. Well that is about as far as I have got at the moment, I need to get some numerals for the cab side, and I would like to make it dcc not sure whether to go the whole hog with sound or fit a basic one for the time being, any suggestions for which type to go for? Thanks for reading, cheers, Pete.

Hi Andy, I,ve just found your topic and read through, it,s very interesting! I have loads of wagons to do plus 4 locos, I just wanted to ask if you seal the surface after applying weathering powders and if so, what do you use? Cheers, Pete.

A long time ago a friend asked me to have a look at a Connoisseur models LNER J50 he had built and asked if I would sort it out for him, foolishly I agreed before seeing it, to say it was not well assembled is a massive understatement, I had to completely disassemble it which I did by putting it on an old tray and sticking it into the oven on high temp until it fell apart, it was then a " simple " job of completely rebuilding it for him!

I have just read through the whole topic for the first time, very inspirational, I have been working on something similar for a very long time now, and seeing yours has given me the boot up the rear to get on with mine, well done so far, can,t wait for the next episode. Pete.