Caley Jim

I thought that was spelled 'diseasels'? Jim

There are also those from Smart Models which I have used on Kirkallanmuir. He does a range of road marking, and other things apart from brick and stone. Jim

I once had the notion to model the system on the Hebridean island of Inch. As well as the station in the town of Inch, there would be ones at Mair nan Inch, Inch na Bit and Inch na Hauf, with branches going over causeways to the neighbouring small islands of No'an Inch and Less nan Inch. It would have been 1'7" gauge, built to 16mm~1ft scale (work out the track gauge!). Unfortunately what with only 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week, life is too short!! Jim

Mine is drive shafts from tender mounted motor to loco which go through the middle of the cab (especially very 'open' cabs), which is why I arrange mine to go below the footplate. Jim

It's not just the bits that fall that are the issue, there's also the bits that ping out of your tweezers into the wide blue yonder! When scratchbuilding I usually arrange to make around 25%-50% extra (depending on the number actually required) of small parts to allow for 'losses'. With my etched kits I try to include extras of parts which are small or tricky to assemble, such as axleboxes, end stanchions or brake levers. In short, you have to accept that the carpet monster must be satisfied (although he often spits things out shortly after you've fabricated and fitted a replacement!) Jim

An ecologist might describe it as a land devastated by woolly maggots. Jim

Or Timmy! (only those with young grandchildren will appreciate that!) Jim

One of our farming neighbours had some tups in our field. On the way out to church one sunday I found one of them lying dead. When I told her, her response was 'A sheep's one ambition in life is to die!'. He'd probably had a head-butting contest with one of the others and come off worst! Jim

You will also find that if a hill breed and a lowland breed are put together in a sloping field, e.g. blackface and suffolk, the blackies will head for the top of the field and the suffolks will stay at the bottom. Jim

For Bill's benefit (and anyone else whose interested) here is a schematic diagram of the layout which I hope clarifies things. The red line represents the (still to be produced) backscene. Your assessment is partially correct,except that there is no MPD, only a turntable and water tank. The colliery is imagined to be only ½ mile away and the branch is worked one-engine-in-steam with the loco always at the Kirkallanmuir end (i.e. empties are propelled to the colliery). The cassettes are 700mm long, giving c688mm train space (12mm at each end is taken up with connections and a door) allowing a loco and 13-14 wagons and a van, or a loco and up to 5 45' coaches. I have other shorter cassettes as well. The interchange sidings are around 500mm long and will take the same 13-14 mineral wagons. that's about as many as my 0-4-2 can comfortably handle. Jim

As promised, here is a photo of the underside of one of my 6-wheel coaches fitted with a Climinson underframe. This was my own design and was drawn up and etched for me by Bob Jones, before I got into CAD. The outer W-hanger brackets are free to rock on the ends of two arms whose 'tails' engage in slots on the ends of the centre W-hanger bracket, it free to slide sideways and rise and fall between tabs bent down from the baseplate. The pivots of the arms are on cross beams which allow the arms themselves to rock end to end, but keep the whole thing laterally stable. The underframe is therefore fully compensated. Contrary to what I said before, the pivots are actually arranged to be roughly 1/3rd / 2/3rds between the outer and inner axles to try and make the weight distribution even over all three wheel sets. The design allows for a range of different wheelbases. Prior to fitting these underfames these coaches (which were originally built around the early 1970's with a sliding centre axle) frequently derailed on the 15" radius superelevated curve on my first layout, despit it being fitted with a check rail. After fitting them they sailed round it nae bother! Jim

I'm afraid that in my case it was the plethora of GWR in the Magazines which made me decide that was the one company I was not going to model. I never saw a GWR loco 'in the flesh' until I visited an Uncle in Chester in my early teens. Having lived all my life in CR territory, there really was no option! :-) Jim

On a proper Cleminson the pivot point is midway between the outer and centre axles, resulting in all three axles always being radial to the curve and the outer axles moving in by the same amount as the centre axle moves out. I'll try and find time tomorrow to take a photo of the underside of one of my 6-wheeled coaches. Jim

Loose heel switches have a totally different look to flexible ones. In the open position the former are straight and lie almost parallel to the stock rail, whereas the latter curve away from it at the tip. Jim

Long stands and tartan paint are usually in the same aisle. If you're lucky, they might even have buckets of steam. Jim

The Glasgow Corporation system linked up with those in some of the surrounding towns, Paisley. Motherwell and the Monklands system in Airdrie and Coatbridge for example. Latterly you could go from Airdrie top Paisley on the same tram. Between Baillieston and Coatbridge the trams had a dedicated track running alongside the road which was eventually used to make a dual carriageway. Jim

Can't help with the length, though I would imagine it would be roughly the length of a loco in order that every part could be examined. Chairs fixed to a stone or concrete edging was the norm to the best of my knowledge. Jim

Given how far you've come in the last few weeks, highly unlikely to be needed! :-) Jim

Another button we need. 'disagree'! Jim

My guess is solder paint and a quick touch with a hot iron, using a slip of paper to space the brake block from the wheel. (At least that's how I would do it, but then I was just a humble GDP, so who am I to second guess a Prof?) Jim

The Caledonian Railway Association collection of locomotive and wagon drawings are available on 2 CD's from the Association. Go to www.crassoc.org.uk. Jim

Should it not read 'Cancelled due to lack of track' ? Jim

MODERATORS, Why is there no 'cheeky!' button? ? Jim

If it was one of the steam powered ones, quite a lot!!! Jim

The 1844 regulation was the origin of the 'Parliamentary' trains, better known as 'parlies'. Jim