Caley Jim

Now, if you were working in 2FS, you would have a wide range of wheel sizes from which to choose! 😀 Jim

Since completing the Glasgow and Edinburgh direct set I've mainly been doing little bits and pieces. A short while ago I was asked by one of our group members if my CR Dia 22 mineral wagon etch could be modified to a NBR 8T 'Jubilee' mineral wagon (an earlier one than that which @AWright is working on). I thought this would just be a matter of altering the cupboard doors to drop doors, however when I got hold of a copy of the drawing (Courtesy of @AWright) I discovered there were several other differences, including dimensional ones. I set about modifying the CR etch and put it on a trial sheet I was doing. I started assembly of the chassis at Model Rail back in February and recently went back to it to complete the body. I discovered there were several errors in the etch, including the chassis too short for the body (which was the correct length), resulting in the wheelbase being off centre towards the fixed end, and the end door too deep, among others. All these have now been corrected in the artwork and a second trial etch will ensue in due course. I was able to produce a wagon from it, but it was no longer an accurate model of the prototype, so I decided to finish it as another 'Dixon' PO wagon. Here it's marshalled between two Dia 22s carrying the same livery. With the drop door, different planking (narrow top plank) and push rod brake it gives a wee bit of variety. Jim

It's the flight of stairs up into the cab that gets me! Almost like climbing onto the bridge of a ship! Jim

A parish minister of my acquaintance has a Doctorate in Practical Theology and is therefore entitled to call himself Rev. Dr ...... he takes great delight in reminding his son, who has an MB ChB and is a medical practitioner, that he (the minister) is a 'proper' Doctor! As a dental surgeon I was latterly entitled to use the courtesy title 'doctor', but never did, arguing that in the UK surgeons were addressed as 'Mr'! Jim

Vicar of Dibbly? Jim (a've picked ma windae)

As a teenager I lived in a mining village where the Glasgow bus service was run by Alexanders 'Scottish Bluebird', whose buses were blue and cream. Never lived in Glasgow itself. Anyway, trams should match the locos!😉 Jim

Provided it has the name all the way through! 😄 Jim

That's an impressive station building! nearly as impressive as Flinders Street (Melbourne)! Jim

Do they need upholstery? What's wrong with wooden slatted seats? Oh! And BTW, the outside should be blue! 😁 Jim

Starter still needs to be pulled off before the tablet is removed and given to the driver. In truth, it was usually the fireman who carried out the exchange, and then showed the tablet to the driver as it was his responsibility to ensure that they had the tablet for the section they were entering. If any tablet was missing from either machine, then the signals for that section could not be pulled 'off'. Jim

The tablet would have been in the pouch, attached to the ring, so it's unlikely to have been shovelled into the firebox without being noticed. Common practice was to hang the ring on the tender brake standard so that it couldn't go AWOL. Jim

If that's the tablet for the next section, then the starter would need to have been pulled 'off' before the tablet was removed from the machine, otherwise it's locked 'on'. Jim

Although it was only the first few batches of Jumbos which were fitted with these Stroudley-style tenders from new, in later years tenders tended to get swapped around. Locos built with Drummond boilers had the safety valves on top of the dome as was his practice. This was to reduce the number of openings in the boiler. Jim

Yes, I have just been alerted to the fact that I didn't notice that that photo was not of the loco to which the original question related! I will suitable chastise myself! Jim

That's not a Caley Jumbo! The original Jumbos did have Stroudley-style 2850gal tenders with underslung springs, but not Stroudley cab roofs, Salter safety valves or tapering copper capped chimneys. Nor should it have lamp irons on the footplate. The CR only had lamp irons in front of the chimney and on the cab sides. If that was sold to you as a CR Jumbo, then you've been mis-sold and are entitled to your money back! Jim

Maximum height for CR stock was 13'2". Jim

Hence my suggestion of 'distressing' the strip first. Scrape two opposite sides to give it a trapezoidal cross section, at the same time rounding off the corners and roughening the sides. Seemples Igor! (That's how I make copings for stone walls) Jim

My apologies, @WFPettigrew. I was looking at the front container! 🙄 Mea culpa! Jim

My guess would be that it says the same as on the side 'Spencer Bros'. That definitely looks like the LHS of a 'B' to me! What else is it likely to be? Jim

60 thou square styrene strip? Nick it with a craft knife and break rather than cut and that will give you the 'broken ends' effect. You could 'distress' the strip first be scraping with a craft knife. Jim

It certainly looks like pig iron, but the ones in the wagons look shorter. I suppose a good whack with a sledgehammer might be all that was needed to break them in two. In 2mm I cut lengths of 30thou square styrene rod, arranged them in a metal tray the same size as the wagon and flooded them with solvent. I then sprayed them with rattle can grey and dry brushed 'rust' over them before gluing them into the wagons. (apologies for the c**p lettering!) Jim

On the CR these were called 'raves' and were, as you say, fitted to wagons designated for coke traffic, and were so lettered on the top rave. A standard CR 8T mineral wagon did not have the capacity to hold 8tons of coal, but would hold 8tons of denser minerals, e.g. iron ore. Similar raves were often fitted to open merchandise wagons to allow them to be used for sheep when the demand for that was high. Regarding company specifications for white rims, I would refer parishioners to my post on page 1 here (22 May 2022) referring to Mike Williams' book on CR wagons :- 'The book also quotes an R Y Pickering card order for CR wagons which states inter alia :- Wheels and ironwork one coat lamp black with a little japan added. Wheel tyres and numberplate letters white. This would imply that white tyres were a company specification.' Jim

I always use a button gauge between the tip of the first switch fitted and the opposite stock rail to ensure the gauge isn't tight. Second switch is then fitted with it's tip no further away from the crossing than the first. Jim

Used to do that in The scouts, but we called it an eye splice! Jim

You can post the video on Youtube and link to it on here. Jim