doilum

I cannot comment on the smaller scales. I moved on when I became dissatisfied with sticking Triang mechanisms into Wills kits. They did work though!

Sadly I don’t know. I just keep boxes of scrap and go fishing for something that meets the requirements. No doubt someone will be able to recommend some commonly found charging cable that will provide what you need.

Slaters plunger pick ups are by far the most reliable I have used with over 20 kits / scratch builds so far. Only the American system can beat them for reliability. The secret is to prepare them properly. The plunger must be free to move without friction. The holes in the frames need to be a perfect fit. Too tight and they restrict the movement of the plunger. Too slack and the plunger will bounce around and jam. The plunger holes need to be positioned carefully to put the plunger in the perfect place on the flange. This especially important if using cast wheels with rim insulation. The wiring needs to be a light multi core wire that does not impede the free movement of the plunger. The plungers should be seen to “ dance” to any slight eccentricity in the wheel or play in the axle back to back. if my response appears a little “strong” I apologise as it isn’t my intention to offend. It is important however that someone new to locomotive construction isn’t put off by one prejudiced opinion. There are occasions when it is not possible to fit plungers, large gearboxes and internal valve gear spring to mind but otherwise, fitted carefully, they have proved most reliable over a long period of time.

Back in the day I had a mate who was a works rally mechanic. I was impressed by the range of spares that were tie wrapped to a frame on the inside of the barge ( van). These included three two litre bottles of Coke. When I asked if these were emergency provisions for the crew he said they were there to flush out the clutch in the case of an oil leak. They had cut access holes in the bell housing and after a good shaking would apply the brown stuff. This would be sufficient to get the car through the next couple of stages to the service point where the gearbox could be removed to do the job properly.

Don’t ever recall throwing away pva because it has “ gone off”.

The cost of specialist adhesives like Glue’n Glaze can be offset by sourcing general pva from a builders supply merchant in 5 litre containers.

An automotive paint supplier will have a range of tapes beyond the usual diy type.

After fifty plus years of modelling I have just discovered Glue’n Glaze. Unbelievably good. The tiny amount required and the zero collateral damage must far outweigh any initial costs.

Spring bank holiday was introduced to “fix” the holiday previously known as Whitsuntide. In some parts of the country this was the time when all the factories in a town took their annual fortnight shut down. As a religious feast it moved around with Easter. 1971 sounds about right. The early May bank holiday may have had something to do with our friends in Europe.......

Big thanks. Exactly what we were looking for.

Some thirty years ago our club layout Ramsfield had an independent branch line running into a bay platform controlled by an automated shuttle module. Can anyone remember the name of this module, who made it and is it still available. Whilst Selby will be a full dcc layout, I can see the advantage of having a simple, independent dc line capable of distracting the public should the digital gremlins escape their box. In fact, we might have two!

I know you are in there. Breakfast will be served when you hatch. Meantime, let’s keep you nice and warm!

As far as I recall the only time Mallard ran with a corridor tender was during the locomotive exchange of 1948. The tender was swapped with Woodcock and returned almost immediately afterwards. Woodcock retained the now modified tender until withdrawal. Pause to await correction........

Or glue them into dead biros?

And for those in the truly tight part of Yorkshire, there is always the dead biro and epoxy solution....... Seriously though, the smaller the screw size the higher the quality of key required. And bonus tip for those of us coming to terms with failing eyesight and shaky paws, use a pin vice to locate those tiny b.a. nuts.

Radio Spares. Not cheap but excellent. Mine came courtesy of my wife who rescued them from the works bin where a service engineer threw them in disgust after snapping the tiny one. The broken one was cut off with the Dremel. Full set restored.

Many thanks. I have a birthday next week........

The owner of our Selby project has a lovely rake of LNER tourist stock coaches ( they may have been acquired via the Guild ET service). They connect via bogie mounted KD couplings and have simple but effective corridor connections made from black paper which concertina correctly. These appear to be a commercial item. Can anyone help to identify them as I could use a few on my Gresley sets.

The WD looks remarkably clean considering the date. Prototype for everything?

On a recent visit to Beamish I watched them prepare one of their live steamers. There was a pile of imported coal which I barely recognised as the same stuff we used to heat our homes. Full of strange mica like faces that seemed to change colour in the light, it gave off an acrid smoke that brought tears to your eyes. Not a good example for younger modellers who will not remember the real thing!

Back in the day the motive power was a a handful of large Manning Wardle tank engines which survived the grouping to become J— and N— ( I need my book!) In BR days J 52 ( with a sun roof / ventilator) and latterly J 94 seemed to do most of the work. To these had to be added the eclectic mix of colliery locomotives which had random running rights which occasionally ended in tears. I actually have the J 52 in 7mm although I think it is slightly over scale due to a well known limitation of enlarging images on early photocopiers.

Was your nice shiny coal anthracite? Being brought up in the heart of Area 8 I was surprised when I first encountered this “ foreign “ coal. The families of miners could identify which seam a particular lump had come from by the colour and dust. When I needed real coal for a working model I went for the anthracite as it is relatively clean to handle. The grey is spot on.

I have always assumed them to be bare wood. Pitch pine was readily available in the first half of the century and probably didn’t need further protection. The floor planks took most of the wear and were replaceable. I know the area well and the E&W YU Rly is one of several that I researched but never got round to modelling.

I haven’t managed a decent scan of my old photos yet but looking at the ones I took in January 1984 the hulls are quite weathered. Imagine the boiler of a WD late in life and you have the picture. The decks however were bright orange in well maintained condition as was the wheel house. These comments apply to all of the four or or five examples moored at Castleford on that afternoon.

Probably not. Seventies electronics were pretty indestructible. Dry joints or worn out contacts are the usual suspects if they fail to perform. My current favourite is a Kentroller hand held, due to its tiny size.