NCB

What's the symbol on the prisoners' garb?

There's a pic of a composite on page 57 of Slinn 2nd ed in 1900 showing 2 firsts sandwiched between 2 seconds. The coach is labelled Corwen to Bala.

Modelu3D is producing some very useful stuff. Excellent lamps, for locos, and other stuff including signals. A stack of people. Etc. What's more, he'll do them in most scales. I've bought some for 3mm/ft.

I've completed my 29" radius test curve with gauge widening. Here's a pic with the M standing on it: Sleepers are cut from 1 x 2.5mm Plastruct using that very useful tool, a NWSL Chopper, and placed on the Templot template using double-sided tape. Chairs and code 60 bullhead rail are from the 3mm Society. The outer rail was laid first, with the rail being pre-bent to roughly the right shape, then the inner rail was added using the triangular gauge seen in the pic. Plastic Weld was used to glue chair to sleeper. The M sails round it with no trouble, probably even smoother than the 29" test curve seen in the background which was seen in the previous post. The amount of widening is quite small. I'm not sure if the smoother performance is actually due to the gauge widening, or whether laying chairs individually rather than using track bases results in a smoother curve. This time I've a smaller chunk of lead in the bunker, probably about the right amount. The curve in the foreground is 25" radius. It's only purpose was to satisfy my curiousity to see what stock can get around it!

Next job: adding the boiler backhead to the cab. Being hardly visible, I wasn't too fussed about the details (which I knew little about anyway) and found amongst the 3mm Society parts list a backhead for a slab-sided Belpaire firebox, of the right size. It's probably from an LMS 2P. Here it is in place: Also, have been playing around with getting the balance right. Here's the loco on a bit of test track with some lead weights stuck in the bunker: and also on a 29" radius curve which mimics the one I'll need on the station approaches: The weight is probably overdoing things. I reckon the balance point on the locomotive needs to be about halfway between the front and rear pivots for the compensating beams, so that all wheels carry roughly the same amount of weight. Without the weight it's too near the second driver; with it it's too near the third driver. So I'll see how it does with about half that weight. The 29" curve is built using the Society's 14.2mm track bases, a boon to knocking up test track. I've been using it to test all my stock. Most is OK, if near the limit; a few items are unhappy. The M goes round pretty well, so the method I've used for the suspension works! I'm in the process of buiding a 29" test curve involving gauge widening, to see if that makes a difference.

A long delay ..... I ran out of Araldite, was busy doing other things, eventually dropped into Halfords to get some more, and finally managed to find some space on the workbench to progress things. I'd reached the point where stuffing some weight into the body seemed a good idea, and Araldite was a good glue for this. So, I chopped up some lead sheeting (bought a roll from a builders merchant years ago, I'll only use a fraction) to obtain two strips the right size to fit into the side tanks, and chopped each in two so that they were easier to squeeze in. You can just see some in this pic: This improved the balance of the locomotive, but on test I could see more was needed over the rear driver and radial truck, so next stage is to carry out tests with some stuck in the bunker. Once I've the weight sorted I can think about adding the remaining fittings. Main problem at the moment, apart from time, is that my main PC is stuck in a Windows repair loop, so I'm surviving on backup laptops. I'll need to resurrect the PC as that's where all my CAD stuff is. So I've a few more details I can add, but the chimney and dome may be some way off.

Think it's the English for Efyrnwy is Vyrnwy...

Ahem ... not exactly. The name is correctly Ffestiniog. Historically in the past it had been spelt Festiniog. There were entities, and maybe still are, which used the spelling Festiniog and when referring to those that would be the correct spelling. But the railway itself I believe now uses Ffestiniog (although entities connected with it may still use the name Festiniog). So if referring to those entities, historical or present, which used that spelling it would be correct to still use that spelling, but use the correct spelling of Ffestiniog for things which use that spelling. That should clarify things. Nothing to do with language.

My mistake; the BOT regulations requiring brake handles on both sides of a wagon were issued around 1911, so probably not a motivating force in the design of the wagons. Re Morton, after a bit of digging around, I wonder if the term is used today in a rather more general way than warranted. As I understand it, Morton held patents on certain aspects of brake operations, rather than complete brake systems. BR/OPC drawing 9004 apparently is of Morton's Brake as understood by the Cambrian. Might be worth a look.

Excellent stuff, Alan! Missed the reference to Morton brake on 8597. Any idea as to the "low goods" mentioned? It was somewhere around then that the BOT specified that brake handles had to appear both sides, which might explain a move to Morton brakes. If there's no cam and the brakes were both sides then they'd have had to devise some other arrangement. Drawing 9023 specifies different length buffers for fitted and unfitted, so presumably the drawing is meant to cover both. However only the fitted brakes are shown; I've been trying to understand how they worked! It would be reasonable to suppose that the unfitted ones were the standard sort of things the Cambrian used at the time, but the drawing actually post dates 8597, so would they have been both sided? But then, how accurate are the dates scribbled on the drawings? I've drawing of an unfitted 4-plank open dated 1915 which does show some sort of cam arrangement on the brake. Nigel

Thanks, have just done so. Thought I'd try here first though, as there are Cambrian enthusiasts on here.

Yep, I realised that they varied a bit re wheelbase. For an unfitted version, I could always use one of the drawings but stick typical Cambrian unfitted brake gear on it. However, I'd be happier with a proper unfitted van drawing. Cheers Nigel

I have two Cambrian drawings for general-purpose covered vans, both of them from the BR/OPC collection via the NRM, and both vans fitted; one has a 9' wheelbase, the other 9' 4.5". However, I have been looking for a drawing for an unfitted van, so far without success. Any ideas? Thanks Nigel

Highly impressive, Alan. Keep it going! Nigel

For coke, try Woodland Scenics cinder ballast. Comes in various grades. Looks about the right texture to me.

Regarding TT, prices may eventually fall. A member of the 3mm society told me a few years ago that there was quite an amount of TT coming onto their members' sales, as TT modellers (and presumably amongst that, 'collectors') were all falling off the perch, and such models were from executors sources, or friends of the dear departed. As modellers as a whole are an ageing bunch (and I'm one of them), in future years might supply actually outstrip demand? David. I read a comment recently that the 3mm Society second hand sales was well stocked with Triang TT. Not sure it applies to in-demand stuff like the DMU though. Nigel

3mm Society second-hand shop can be a useful source of obscure items.

Here's a snap of a Fruit D (Parkside kit) on my 3mm layout. Timescale is late 1930s, up to 1939, so can justify one. Think the first Lot started in 1939 and was completed 1941, so the 1939 ones would have had white roofs when turned out, but the last of that Lot may well have been turned out with grey roofs. Being new I reckoned mine had to have a white roof. I've seen the odd reference (one by Russell) which said brown vehicles had light grey roofs, but have doubts about this.

More power to your modelling! Interesting location. In the 1960s I used to travel between my parents and university a lot, from Stroud to Paddington on the ex GWR main line. The Stroud to Swindon bit in particular had great views of the countryside, along with the drama of climbing Sapperton Bank and through the tunnel. I can still visualise the M&SWJ line passing underneath. After services were discontinued on it, I think the Swindon bit was still kept open to serve a power station.

Added the castings for the tank fillers and vents, and the sandbox filler: Need to add the front springs, which might be a bit tricky. Also the firebox backhead. After that it's thinking about the castings on top; may have a suitable one for the safety valve cover, otherwise think I'll have to get really stuck into Blender or similar, for 3D prints. Have also reached the point where adding weight and getting it correctly distributed, to fine-tune the running, is needed. Probably the thing I'll do next.

The other thing about Triang wheels is that fact that the tread is flat. This means is it sits firmly on the (flat) top of the rail. If you've ever wondered why Triag locos seem to keep going with crud on wheels and rail this is probably why. In contrast, "better" wheels with coned treads only have a small area in contact with the rail (the rail edge), because the rail isn't canted to match the cone, unlike the prototype. Nigel

Mixed Traffic no.2, which published proposals for 14.2mm gauge, also included the BRMSB standards for 12mm gauge. Broadly speaking, the BRMSB standards lie within the 3mm Society's Intermediate standards for wheels. The track is a bit different; the check gauge is smaller (10.75 +- 0.05) and the check gap (1.25 +- 0.05) is larger. Not sure the track standards would work correctly; there's a danger of the wheel flange hitting the crossing nose. If the check gauge is at the upper limit and the check gap close to the smaller it becomes just about safe; it would be wise to adjust them a bit further, e.g. 10.85 and 1.15, which are close to Triang standards. Nigel

The 4F has been announced on the 3mm Society web site. See: https://sites.google.com/site/3mmpublic/products/a-3 No pics that I know of yet.

Starting to add the castings I have to the body. First up, the buffers and the smokebox front. In GWR days it seems they were fitted with GWR tapered buffers with a small step on top (from the pic in Rhymney Railway Drawings), and I had some 3mm Society castings for these. I usually use strong superglue or araldite to attach castings; in this instance I use ZAP SLO-ZAP.

Well, the scale did, if not H.P products. There were several modellers working in 1/120th scale prior to Triang TT being launched. They had to make everything themselves, but there was some nice stuff being built. Can remember Model Railway News have an article on an urban terminus being built, also techniques for constructing driving wheels.