Caley Jim

Well, if you hadn't told us we'd be none the wiser, but we won't tell anyone if you don't! Jim

Do they do models of Para Handy and Sunny Jim to go with it? You wouldn't need one of McPhail as he was always down in the engine room! Jim (in sunny Biggar)

For the flagstone pavement I'd say printed papers are your best bet. Embossed plasticard is too coarse for 2mm scale. Same applies to brickwork and dressed stone. Jim

The very finest grade of wet and dry gives a good representation of tarmac or ash surface. The colour can be varied with dusts of powder colour or ground down pastels. That's what I used for the platform surface on Connorburn. Jim

I wouldn't worry too much about the wide insulation gap. My experience is that as long as there is good horizontal alignment and smooth ends to the rails, stock will cope with that, though there might be a slight 'bump' as wheels go over it. Not un-prototypical in a yard setting. Jim

Well, any piece of good news is welcome in these difficult times, but to get three in the one morning is a bonus!! Yesterday PPD sent a link for me to make payment for my order, which I did thinking that it would at least help their cash flow. Today I got an acknowledgement saying that they hope to resume limited production next week, so maybe i'll get relief from my soldering withdrawal symptoms before I need to delve into my stash of etched kits. Secondly, a surprise package arrived by post this morning contain these, courtesy of @Skinnylinny. There are another 6 in the bag, so plenty spares - and they ARE octagonal, though I had to look at them under magnification to be sure! I have thanked him in a PM, but thanks again, Linny. I am very pleased with these, being my first foray into 3D CAD (see 3 posts ago). The third good news was in the same postal delivery. The arrival of another sheet of £5.20 modelling card as part of an envelope containing a rather nice magazine with several 2FS articles in it. Jim

But Jerry's will be finished at that stage - North Somerset Light Rly livery!! Jim (with big stick in hand for stirring it!) Edit to add that my £5.20 piece of modelling card arrived today along with a very nice magazine, which was well worth waiting for.

It wasn't just other companies freight vehicles that could be brought in for seasonal traffic. The Caledonian borrowed stock from other Westinghouse using companies for the extra traffic generated by the Glasgow 'Fair' holidays. Jim

History of R Y Pickering can be found here. Jim

There was a similar arrangement at Peebles (CR) which I replicated on Kirkallanmuir on the turnout dividing the two up sidings,the toe of which is very close to the crossing of the turnout off the up main. I also recall seeing a photo in MRJ which showed one with pairs of switches, i.e. one on each rail. Jim

Whatever put that Idea into your head? 'Poor English Skills'? Twaddle! No-one on here has ever suggested that, quite the opposite! Fantastic modelling as always, Mike. Wish I could get anywhere near that standard. Jim W

That must have been where I read it! Jim

I too seem to recall reading somewhere that similar semaphore signals were used to control shipping access to docks. Jim

Nick, have you looked at my Jubilee Pug build, which is a similar loco? i added some of the parts I needed, mainly for the chassis, to an etch sheet I was doing, including the tank top, but I wished I had made the lower edges of that half etched to make forming them easier. In the end I filed in inside down a good bit, but it was still a pig to bend and the results are not great. Jim

It's all about reducing waste! One has to strive to be environmentally friendly! I also have a reasonable supply of onion skin paper, salvaged from boxes of modelling wax. It's ideal for use when soldering on crankpin washers etc. Jim

You could try dried out tea bags as I used for wagon sheets. Sending this on my phone so can't quote a link, but I think there are photos in my Kirkallanmuir topic somewhere. Jim

Have you thought of using black polythene, e. g. bin bags? It would probably need cyano to fix it. Just a thought, Jim

Ah! OK, totally different. You're on your own there then, Angus!! Jim

Are they at all similar to the CR two-horn ones as fitted to the Dia.8 horsebox? Jim

While on holiday in Malta several years ago I purchased 'The Malta Railway' by Joseph Bonnici and Michael Cassar. From it, the loco illustrated on the stamp is one of the first three locos on the railway, Nos 1, 2 &3, which came from Manning Wardle for the opening of the line in 1883. Makers numbers 842/3/4. They were all 0-6-0T's. A further 2 were supplied by the same company in 1891. No 5, a 2-6-2T , works no 1243, and No 6, an 0-6-4T, presumably works No 1244, but that is not quoted in the book. The chapter on Locomotives and stock ends with the sentence : The engines finally went for scrap in 1937 most probably to Italy and most likely returned in a different, deadlier guise during the second world war. Jim

Thanks, Don. I got to know him in the early '70's and he was very generous in having some of his hand drawn etch artwork shot down to 2mm for me, locos and coaches. My Jubilee pug being one of them. I had hoped to show it to him at the CRA AGM which should have been last month. I in turn made some brass masters for him. Jim

Another way is to solder a strip of thick brass (c1mm or more) onto the top of the bracket before attaching it to the coach, drill a tapping hole through using the holes in the bracket as a guide and then tap them for the bolts. I did this when I built the CR 45ft coaches designed by john Boyle (who sadly died last week) which have a similar means of attaching the body to the underframe. No issue if the strip moves slightly when soldering on the bracket since you're not drilling the holes until after that. Also saves on nuts - but then I'm a parsimonious Scot! As an aside, I only used two bolts, diagonally opposite one another. Jim

Having seen this building and his other laser cut ones at our last (however not THE last) area group meeting, we were all most impressed and look forward to seeing more. Jim

Nurdled!

Thin brass and n/s (up to. 25mm) can be cut with a heavy craft knife. Start by scoring lightly and gradually deepen the cut, then flex back and forth and metal fatigue will do the rest, finally tidying up by filling along the edge. With thicker metal it is a case of cutting oversize and filling back. Jim