Caley Jim

Hi Gary, Fellow 2MM SA member Alisdair Campbell is the HR society drawings archivist. PM me and I'll give him your email address. Jim

Don't forget that the Jacobite uprisings were not simply Scots against English, but Jacobites against Hanovarians. There were English Jacobites and Scots Hanovarians. Many Lairds were canny enough to get one son to join one side and another to join the other irrespective of where their loyalties lay. That way their lands were likely to stay in the family whoever won! Jim

I've now been able to send the photo to Alan Sibley who is going to post it on the GNRS forum. Jim

Some of them tended a small allotment adjacent to the box, or worked on the flower beds on the platform. You could have a few potted plants around, both inside and around the box. Jim

The whole idea is to not only ensure that all wheels are touching the track, but are carrying weight in order to make good electrical contact. You can never guarantee that your track is dead level to within a few thou, or indeed that it will stay that way. Anyone who has tried to run a bare chassis with no weight on it will testify that it will run like a pig, stuttering along. Blue-tac some weight onto it and it will run much better because the wheels are making firmer contact with the rail. An added advantage is that, to a limited extent, you can redistribute the weight depending on where you put the rocker. For example on my 2-2-2WT I put the rocker as near to the driving wheels as I could to get as much weight as possible on them for traction. This turned out to be not such a good idea as there was then not enough weight on the front wheels to keep them on the track! A couple of chunks of lead glued to the inside front of the beams greatly helped this, but then later adding a DCC decoder into the cab roof moved the CoG back and upset things again! One day I will have a rethink and see what solution I can come up with, but it's not a priority at the moment. As Tim says compensation predates Simpson Springs by some time. I first tried it on my 498 class 0-6-0T back in the mid 70's and was so impressed with the improvement in running that I've adopted it ever since. It certainly involves more complication than SS, and though it works for me I wouldn't recommend it for a first build. Jim

Slow progress for a number of reasons, not least that I had difficulty getting the worm gear shaft bearings soldered in place without soldering the rear beams up solid! Eventually I applied some enamel paint to the inner face of the frames and the outer face of the beams and that seemed to do the trick. The beams were first temporarily fitted, with the bearings held in place by a muff jammed between them. With the ends of the wheel bearings in the holes in the frames, the rocker (40thou styrene) was made, fitted and the lugs on the beams adjusted so the the rocker didn't move. The beams were then removed and the half-etched areas around the holes in the frames filed away to allow the bearings some ½mm vertical movement each way. The beams were then fixed in place by soldering the worm wheel shaft bearings to the frames only, as above! You can just see the top of one end of the rocker and the piece of copper wire on which it pivots. I took the chance to try the gear meshing with some temporary shafts in place and all is well in that department. I had to thin down the flanges of the bearings for both the worm wheels shaft and the centre wheels and also reduce the length of the muffs due to the extra thickness of the beams inside the frames. Next up is to make the motor mount which will also form the underside of the boiler. Jim

Or no deal? Jim

This is where they are working. The dive under is to avoid trains to Spalding having to cross the ECML. I've asked fellow CRA member Jim Summers and he knows the area well from his early days with BR, but he has never seen anything like it, but suggests it may mark the boundary of a surfaceman's length or some such.. He has directed me to the GNR society and I've sent them a message, but unfortunately I couldn't see any way to send the photo. Perhaps I will be able to when they reply. Thanks for the suggestions and the insight into the complex history of the area. Jim

It's on the ECML. So I presume GN. My knowledge of that neck of the woods is minimal to say the least! I wondered if it was a 3/4 mile marker, but they were cast with raised letters. Jim

My experience of etched kits is all with 10thou n/s, but I've found that scoring along the bend line several times with a heavy craft knife, being careful not to cut through, results in not only making it easier to form the bend, but also results in a sharper bend. Sorry no postcards or pre-Raff pictures to hand, only a small boy on his tablet beside me. Jim

The story goes of a Spaniard who was on holiday on Skye and became interested in the connections between the languages of the Celtic Fringe. One day he asked an old fisherman on the pier at Portree if there was a word in Gaelic equivalent to the Spanish word mañana, meaning to put something off until tomorrow? The old fisherman thought for a while and then said "No, no, we don't have a word which conveys quite that degree of urgency". Jim

My son is currently working for Morgan Sindal on the contract to make a dive-under on the Stamford lines at 79m 15ch at Werrington/Dukesmead. They have just dug this up while digging a trial hole. Can anyone identify what it is? the plate is painted blue and the post white and there are no cast letters or holes on the plate. Jim

Every Scottish Pre-grouping company came under the Drummond influence in one form or other! Jim

Yes, Tim. Spokes are T-section. The wheels will be made by the same methods as the new Association range once the technical details for these have been sorted out. Jim

Thanks to nick and Angus for their kind comments. Firstly I must correct an error pointed out by Angus. These locos were officially the 323 class, not 232 class. After a certain age one becomes easily confused! A little progress. The frames have been attached to the spacers and the support for the rocker formed. The bearings have been fitted to the beams, the centre ones being only soldered to the front (outer) beams so that they pivot about these. this was a tricky operation involving two pieces of tissue with holes punched in them, one between the flange of the bearing and the rear beam and the other between half etched areas on the beams, in order to stop everything being soldered up solid. The support for the rocker is the projection on the LH frame and it will bear on the two lugs on the front beams. Next job will be temporarily fit the beams in place, make the rocker and adjust it so that the chassis will sit level. Jim Jim

Now if that was happening in a Clyde shipyard the unions would be calling a strike over job demarcation! Jim

While on the subject of station staff, I am I the only one for whom the ticket collector on the Achenseebahn last Friday reminded me of Mr Perks? Jim

It is now some 17 years since I built my last loco, my 98 class 2-4-0 No 108, though two have received new chassis since then. The bodywork for 108 was part of a sheet of etches from John Boyle's hand drawn artwork, reduced to 2mm scale. As well as several different 2-4-0's there was also the bodywork for a Drummond 323 Class 0-6-0ST. These were introduced in 1887 and became known as 'Jubilee Pugs', that year being Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Drawings appeared in Model railways for July 1975. My model will be of No 217 of the 1888 batch and will be powered by a 0816 motor from Tramfabriek mounted in the boiler with the drive in the firebox. The chassis will be my usual beam compensated type and the parts for this were included on the same etch as the footbridge I recently completed. From the top, RH frame, RH compensation beams, PCB spacers, LH beams, LH frames. The rear beams pivot on the bearings for the worm wheel, while the front ones pivot about the bearings for the centre axle, with the front of the frames supported on them via a rocker which pivots on the little section projecting down from the front of the LH frame in the photo above, thus providing 3-point suspension. This will become clearer as the build progresses. My reasoning behind this unconventional approach is the it ensures that all wheels are in solid contact with the rails at all times, with the objective of improving current collection.

As far as I understand it, and I'm open to correction, Gordon has retired from doing the final machining of wheels for the shop, but is still willing to turn down proprietary wheels for members. Jim

It's pretty hot here too.despite being at c940m Maurach was around 34° today. We were up at the top station of the Rofanseilbahn which, at 1840m, was a bit more pleasant. Some weather sites were forecasting thunder this evening, but it hasn't happened (yet). Jim

Here's the plate I mentioned This one is on No 1. Theodor. They don't seem to have tightened up the screw on this one either. Jim

Not doing any modelling as I'm in Austria. Local railway. Pity they didn't tighten down the rear fixing screw or hide the big gear in the centre !

My own system, not based on John's, is equally simple. Two lengths of 8thou. p/b wire wound into a coil spring with a long tail each end. One tail is soldered to the outside of the loco frames at the back and the other tail fits into a tube on the front of the tender frames. Only tricky bit is threading the two tails in while also lining up the drive shaft when putting loco and tender together. The secret is to make the two tails different lengths and long enough to let you align the shaft once they are in. Jim

So you both work for B&Q then? Jim

Us. Seen that when we've been here before. Never mind a really useful engine, that's what you call a really useful wagon! Every layout should have one (or more), preferably fully loaded. One has to keep ones fluid levels up in this heat. Jim