Caley Jim

Sadly, it look as if it's gone a little green with age! Jim

Only if ye pick a windae first! (the one by which you'll be leaving) Jim

But if the electricity is static, will there be any movement? Jim

I have a couple of old Players cigarette boxes with several of these which my father built, locos and ships, along with some un-built sheets. Jim

She could always go to Beamish for inspiration for a loco (I'm thinking of the line beside the manor house). Jim

On Sauchenford we just used the slide switch with a hole drilled transversely through the top to take the operating wire. On a piece of test rack i have I used a toggle switch with the operating wire in a loop around the toggle. You only need just over 1mm throw at the turnout. Jim

James, check your PM's. Jim

I have a power Point presentation I gave to my Probus Club sometime ago called'What the Railways Did for Us'. It was an attempt to show how the railways changed society and some things which we no take for granted which came about through the railways. E.g. standard time and package tours (the latter courtesy of Thomas Cook). Happy to send it by PM and you can use what you like from it. Jim

Is that what you'd like to do to the perpetrator? Jim

Modelling time has been somewhat sparse of late as other things have taken priority, however, being confined to barracks by the snow has given me some time to install the first run of point rodding using Laurie Adam's etched stools as described in the last MRJ. Having studied photos of CR rod runs and consulted on the CRA forum it is clear that the supports are not the same as the LSWR ones. The top rollers are simply pivoted on a bolt running across the top of the stool and there is no horizontal slot for them to run in. There is, however a slight 'cox-comb' effect to the top as each side support projects slightly above the aforesaid bolt. I therefore opted to omit part E and cut part A midway through the top set of holes. To fit the stools I set my dividers at 16mm and marked a row of holes where the run was to go. I then went along with a craft knife and made a cut at each mark at right angles to the track through the DAS slurry ground cover and into the Ply baseboard, just deep enough for the leg of a stool. A stool was then fitted into each cut and aligned using the Mk1 human eyeball, adjusting the cuts where necessary. The rods were then threaded in, any further adjustment needed made and the ends soldered to a small piece of sleeper strip. One end goes into the boarding in front of the box and the other is at the baseboard joint. Any of the cuts showing at the side of the stools was filled in by softening the DAS slurry with a little water and making it good. Any gaps under the stools were similarly filled with some slurry by pulling the stool up slightly and putting a little under it before pushing it back down. The CR was very considerate of we modelers and boxed in the cranks etc. One such box can be seen in the first two photos where a rod branches off to a turnout. My cunning plan to disguise the joint between the baseboards is to have the compensators there, boxed in, of course, the box fitting over the joint and being removable for transit. It will not be quite in the middle of the run, but since the far end disappears under a bridge, this should not be too noticeable. The run was painted with two thin coats of a mix of Humbrol Nos 70 and 173, which I think are 'leather' and 'track dirt' respectively. The challenge will be to mix the same colour for the other runs! The down home signal has been moved a couple of MM to give room for the rods coming across from the box into the ten foot between the down loop and the down main. You can just about see them behind the signal. The box covers the cranks and there will be a (initially) 9 rod run going along the ten foot. Jim

Our daughter and 3½yr old grandson walked down here from their house up the road this afternoon (he wanted to go a walk!). In some places around our house it was up almost to his waist. Still snowing off and on and church communion service cancelled on Sunday. Getting some modelling done while we're hunkered down, so may post some photos on my layout thread shortly. Jim

More here too. Of course everything is at a standstill thanks to the 'red alert'. We're just hunkering down for the duration. I like CA's temporary buffer stop, BTW! Jim

Bob and Willie, two P4 modellers, were getting on a bit in years and one night at their local Model Railway Club they were discussing whether there would be model railways in heaven. They made a pact that whoever died first would come back and let the other one know. A few weeks later Bob suffered a fatal heart attack. Two days after the funeral he appeared at Willie's bedside. 'Willie, the layouts in heaven are fantastic. Every scale you could imagine and all highly detailed and with totally reliable running. You couldn't ask for better.' Then, just as he was leaving, he said, 'Oh!, by the way, you're on the rota to operate with me next Friday.' Jim

Do toes count as digits? Possibly they do! Jim

Excellent stuff, James. You must be feeling very encouraged by the progress you are making. Lets face it, a few months ago you were dreading building track and had a phobia for electrickery. Now you have locos running on track you have built yourself! Weel done that man!! Jim

James, Gary, Alex. Check your PM's. Jim

I now use DL-Limonene which I find pleasanter than the others. It is not quite as aggressive and i find it helps to wet the two surfaces with it before bringing them together, however it seems to harden quicker than some of the other solvent I've used. Jim

I think that may have been No. 25, p243 on an NER one. You can see how I did my turntable here . I could PM the article I wrote on it for the 2MM Magazine to you, Alex and Edwardian if any of you would like it. Unless, of course, there is somewhere on here where you can upload files, of which I'm not aware? Jim

I went out this morning to clear a path up our drive through the 4" or so which had fallen overnight. Snow came on again while I was out and now you can hardly make out where I cleared. Blizzard at the moment. We're not sure whether we are in the 'red alert' zone which is in force up here from now until tomorrow 10:00hrs. Scotrail are stopping all services in the Central Belt as of now (15:00hrs). 09:37 this morning. From my study window now. Jim

Like Justin, I do as much of the build as possible with the underframe in the flat. i find that by the time you have soldered on the overlays and the axleboxes/springs, they are stiff enough to stand bending down. Do Not however attach the steps on the likes of brake vans before bending down the solebars! (ask me how I know). I design all my kits with a gap in the bend line between the solebar and floor to make the bending easier. Take some shavings/filings of plastic (off the sprue), put them in a recepticle that will not be affected by your chosen solvent and flood them with said solvent. Wait a few minutes until the plastic softens in the solvent and use the paste thus formed to fill the gaps. Jim

Looks like a Stirling cab with side sheets to me. Jim

That's just a wee flurry! looks like the dogs enjoyed it, though. We had similar flurries during the day, but most of it melted in between them. In fact at one point the part of the driveway that was getting the sun was dried off. I've just been on part of the M74 (Abington - Lesmahagow) and there was no snow on it, but the overhead signs were saying 'Don't travel tomorrow'. The car was reading -3° on the way home. Jim

I'm not familiar with RTR construction, but it sounds to me as though they've been moulded into the wheel and will have some sort of locking/retaining lugs on them, so getting them out, deepening the holes and re-fitting them will be out of the question. Pity. Jim

Nah! They're always out of stock! Jim (who's had some on back order from several sources for years)

Can't you file them down too? Or would that not leave enough thread to hold the crankpins? Jim