Caley Jim

3 hours ago, Ian Lilley said:

Hi,Jim,I've noted your use of tooth paste to polish a geartrain and wondered (a)will any toothpaste work (the one I use on my teeth is a gel and does'nt appear to be particularly abrasive)(b)how much-presumably just a small dab(c) how long do you run it for(d)How do you remove it afterwards-I would be reluctant to use water so close to the motor.Keep up the great modelling !

Ian Lilley

Thanks, Lilley.  It is done on the advice of fellow dental professional @CF MRC.  All toothpastes contain a very mild polishing agent.  A small dab on each gear pair is all you need and I run it jut for a few minutes to smooth off any tiny roughness.  In the case of a tender loco there's no issue about washing it off as the motor is in the tender.   For a tank loco with the motor in the loco, I simply remove the motor before washing.  be sure to give everything a good scrub with an old toothbrush to remove any small traces and dry the chassis over a radiator or in the airing cupboard.

HTH

Jim

9 minutes ago, queensquare said:

I’d be interested in how you make your whistles, I always have trouble with these - I get close then they ping off, never to be seen again!

My method is to start at the top and work my way down the whistle (using a minidrill and needle files), leaving the spigot to go into the firebox until last.  Take this down as far as you dare, then grip the whistle in a pin vice and part it off by flexing at the join between stock and whistle.  If the spigot is too big for the hole, open out the hole.

Jim

3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

2mm FS group are also at Model Rail in Feb - so perhaps I need to have a sit down with them too.

Please do.  You'll be more than welcome!

2 hours ago, woodenhead said:

In my head I see people in little workshops with lots of tools to make the 2mm stuff and I am probably overthinking it.

As I said above, I've been working in 2FS for almost 55 years, have no workshop and nothing more than basic tools.  When I started there were no wagon kits and loco wheels were only just beginning to appear.  Re-wheeling RTR wagons involved cutting and pin-pointing your own axles from (very hard) steel rod and then fitting the plastic moulded wheels to the correct back to back.  Life is so much easier now!  If I can do it, anyone with a modicum of patience and who is prepared to learn the skills can.  You will find a wealth of advice and help through membership of the 2MM SA.  We are a very friendly and supportive bunch!

Jim

I would guess that glass should be OK, but you might need to exclude light, as that might cause some polymerisation. 

Jim 

7 hours ago, n9 said:

- Go with 2FS, deal with its consequences both positive and negative, redesign my layout, and probably be much happier.

Go on!  You know you want to!

I got disillusioned with N-gauge track standards before I got the length of a layout, then discovered 2FS and have never regretted it.  That was c55 years ago!

A Guid New year tae yin an' a'!  Lang may yer lums/exhausts reek.

Jim

1 hour ago, AVS1998 said:

One of the nicest Christmas presents I've had in a few years, a Dublo Coronation, three-rail. My brother knows I'm a railway modeller (doesn't take interest himself but whenever he sees something railway-related he buys it for me). I'm tempted to leave it as-is in terms of condition and have it as a shelf curio, but rebrand to either Princess Alexandra or City of Leeds. 

I had one of these when I was 5!! More years ago than I care to remember. 

Jim 

Shocked to find it's over a year since I posted anything here, but truth is my time ahs been taken up with other projects.    Some for other people and our group layout, but also the three 65ft coaches and now a loco to haul them.

Just wanted to wish all those who have been so supportive and made so many appreciative comments over the years a Very Merry Christmas.  I know you'll all be on Santa's Good List!

Jim

3 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Time for...

 

 

I have a talk I have given to several local clubs entitled 'What The Railways Did for Us' outlining how many things which we take for granted in modern society only came about because of the railways.  E.g. GMT being adopted across the country , package tours, national football leagues.

Jim

"The best-laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley'' (To a mouse; Robert Burns).  Sometimes because the schemes weren't as well laid as you thought!

Such was the case with the outside frames for the tender bogies.  These were designed to be in one piece with the stretcher running under, and bolted onto, the pcb spacer, keeping them electrically isolated from the frames carrying the wheels.  What I omitted to account for was that they had to pass through the relatively narrow gap between the wheels.  This meant the stretcher had to undergo a bit of surgery with a carbo disc, as can be seen in this photo with the underside of the completed front bogie on the left and the etch for the rear one on the right.

The axleboxes have two prominent ribs on either side and this was the next idea that didn't quite work as intended.  The plan was that the little half etched triangles on the etch would be folded out, with the etch including the axleboxes having fine slots in the axlebox back plates through which these would pass, thus both forming the ribs and locating the axlebox unit on the frames.  Hmmm!  Bending up the eight ribs to the same angle and passing them all through the slots simultaneously proved all but impossible!  The previously non-existent plan B had then to be devised.  This involved cutting away the triangles and using some of the longer half etched tags, with the end cut at an angle, passed through the side from behind.  Two were used at first to locate the axlebox unit, and then the others added.

This is the completed front bogie.  The inner end stretchers on both bogies had to be cranked towards the bogie centres in order to keep them clear of the lower gear.

The axlebox  unit is a multilayer etch incorporating the axleboxes, the large inverted leaf spring between them, which was pivoted on the frame, and the compensating beam between their tops.

This is the rear bogie (which also has guard irons on it).  The axlebox unit layers are on the left, with the other unit fitted to the stretcher unit on the right.  The little slots in the end stretchers are to locate the brake blocks.

Here we have the tender with the front plates + cab doors and tool boxes added and sitting on its bogies.  I suspect the cab doors will have to be angled out slightly to allow the loco to go round curves.

The half etched areas on the bottom of the tender frames were put there as I was unsure how much clearance would be needed to allow the bogies to swing on curves without the compensating beams fouling the tender frames, however their short wheelbase and the close bogie centres mean that the tender will go round an 18" radius curve with hardly any swing of the bogies, so I may attempt to fill these in.

I can now start on the loco body, however work on that can only go so far until Squires get 10mm thin walled brass tube, for the boiler, back in stock! ☹️

Jim

Perth was another location where not only loco changing went on, CR or NBR to HR and vice-versa, but much remarshalling also took place.  On 7th August 1888 the 07:00 ex Perth comprised 37 vehicles from 9 railway companies, 4 LB&SCR; 8 LNWR; 1 NER; 5 MR; 4 NBR; 1 ECJS; 1 GNR; 2 WCJS; 11 HR, including 12 horse boxes, 2 carriage trucks, 6 luggage vans, 1 ECJS sleeping car, 1 HR PO van & brake van. 

Jim

Like the doo'cot.  Keeping homing pigeons was very common in mining areas.

Jim

20 hours ago, CF MRC said:

The standard stock also ran and looked the part. This train may get a new mechanism and act as a prototype for the gate stock which is currently at the design stage in the Jim Watt works.

The drawing office at JW Works has yet to commence work on this project as all staff are currently fully occupied in the erecting shop.  Thinking will hopefully commence soon!

Jim (MD,CEO, & General Factotum)

4 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Having seen the excellent OO model of York seen on other threads on this forum, .......

If it's this one to which you are referring, it's 2FS, not 00.

Jim

tender body coming along slowly.  The openings in the footplate and tank top needed a wee bit of fettling to clear the motor etc, but otherwise most bits fitted rather well.

This side has the 'temporary' coupling rod.  the extra weight is keeping the tender a bit steadier, but there is a slight stiff spot which causes it to wobble slightly.  I think that's in the gears somewhere and will hopefully 'run out' once it gets a bit of lubrication.  It's already been run with some toothpaste to polish the gears.

Front plates/cab doors and toolboxes next, then I'll start on the bogie outside frames.

Jim

1 hour ago, CKPR said:

 (another instance of the M&CR havin deek aboot Carlisle for some inspiration, this time from the Caley ?)

Yes, indeed. The CR had some early similar asymmetrical ones with a raised centre section. 

Jim 

Magnificent as always!

Jim

17 minutes ago, Schooner said:

Behold!

 

 

 

that's got mair pipes and tubes than a plumber's van!

Jim

Hi Adam. It's just that I have a'thing'about not wanting to have a drive shaft flailing about between the low tender and relatively open cab of my tender locos. I've no objection to other folk doing it, that's their choice. It does make things a bit more complicated with the extra gears on the tender and the need for a lay gear in the loco, but for me it's worth it to get the drive shaft out of sight. Purely a personal thing and not something I would necessarily encourage folk to do unless they are similarly minded. 

Jim 

12 minutes ago, webbcompound said:

So the government is exercised about the hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Perhaps if they didn't include the 300,000 students from overseas in their ludicrous calculations things would get "better" at a stroke.

My daughter is working in a University post where she was dealing with postgraduate students, almost all from overseas.  It was their fees that are paying her salary!  If the number of overseas students is reduced then the Universities are going to suffer financially.

Forgive me if I'm missing a point here, but I cannot get my head round the logic that the threat of shipping immigrants off to Rwanda is somehow or other going to stop the illegal gangs taking oodles of money from them and dispatching them from the beaches of France!  Why aren't the French getting on top of the gangs? 

I'll tell you why, they're only too happy to see the back of the poor souls and don't give a sou what happens to them after they are out of their hair!

Jim

If it's Zinc, it should be possible to solder it.

Jim

At least we don't have someone standing for election who thinks Al Capone 'was the greatest' (it takes one to know one) and says he will only act as a dictator on the first day of his presidency!  that will probably involve making himself President for life and abolishing all opposition parties!  Small comfort.

Jim

Another addition would be to drill a pair of holes vertically into both parts, from the underside, and fit a couple of wire staples in them, spanning the joint, to not only reinforce the joint, but also hold the parts together firmly while the Araldite suggested by @WFPettigrew sets.  That would be the most secure way of doing that.  Getting the staples the correct size between the legs will be the trickiest part and may need a few goes to get them right.

Jim

After removing the sacrificial tabs etc., adding the springs carrying current from loco frames to tender and masking off the gearbox with tape, the chassis was given a quick blast with rattle can black.  The wheels were then fitted along with the gears.

At this point there was one of those 'b****r it!' moments when I found I only had a set of layers for one coupling rod when I was absolutely certain I had put two on the sheet!  Close examination of the artwork showed that I hadn't put any tags on the second set attaching it to the parts around it so there was a glaring hole in the sheet where that set should have been!   See this C-Nile virus?  Does it never stop raising it's ugly head?  Guess what will be going on the next sheet I do!

Only solution in the short term was to use the made up rod as  template to make a temporary one and, while it's not as neat as the etched one and not fluted, it seems to do the job as the wheels turn in unison when powered.  The photo has the good one on this side.  The crankpins on the other side have been left long to make it easier to eventually replace the rod.

Running is somewhat erratic as the lack of weight causes both chassis to shake about a bit resulting in poor current collection, so no video of it, but if the tender is held steady, the wheels turn reasonably smoothly.  Hopefully the weight of the tender and loco bodies will cure that.  You can just see the drive shaft running behind the spring.

I won't be making the front bogie until the loco body is well on the way as the body fixing screw will only be accessible with the bogie off.

Jim

2 hours ago, DavidLong said:

Most courageous if I may say so. I haven't dared to try it yet!

It's what I've always used.  Watered down to the consistency of thick cream and applied with a soft No.6 artist's paintbrush.

Jim

Sorry, Mike.  I should have been paying attention😒!

Jim