NCB

Not a chance of going around Triang-type curves! I reckon it might do about 27" radius. However, this is partly due to the Brynkits chassis I used being not allowing much at all in the way of sideplay on the wheels; Brian Golding who designed it is a 12mm gauge modeller, and it's possible the 12mm version of the chassis is better in the way of sideplay, but for 14.2mm he more or less had to guess how wide to make chassis. So, it is possible the 12mm version might be a lot better; in fact if it is the same width as the GEM chasses then I don't see why it wouldn't go round the same radius curves. Nigel

Garry Here's an article I wrote for the 3mm Society's "Getting started" FAQ, using the 48XX as an example.. http://www.ncb.ndo.co.uk/rail/3mm/Getting_started/cast_loco/index.html I used a Mashima 1220 flat can, with a High Level Roadrunner gearbox. They fitted fine, and the 1220 runs very well. For 12mm gauge I'd have used a High Level Slimliner Compact +. But other options are possible.

They make nice models. Well worth the effort. Nigel

I think the "own personal use" agreement which you need to sign to get access to say stuff from the NRM is fairly watertight; they may not own the copyright but they can dictate the terms under which you access the material they hold. However, agreements which cover stuff destined, say, for publication in a book aren't watertight in the same way. If a pic is published in a book and is also out of copyright then it's effectively in the public domain. Think the important thing anyway is that stuff in collections is recorded so that it can be determined what is available, and that there is a means of accessing it when required. If that's the case, then a moderate fee doesn't seem unreasonable. Nigel

That was my understanding as well - that it went to auction, over a period of time. Would that it had gone to the WRRC! Nigel

Unfortunately the lining below the footplate on the GWR versions looks way to heavy to me. Think it might have been better to have left it off. Could always paint over it I suppose. Not sure about the colour either, although that might be the photography; the "orange" looks a bit too red.

I'm still sick that C. C. Green didn't complete his Cambrian series. I gather he'd largely drafted the remaining volumes, and had made arrangements for somebody to complete them if he couldn't, but it fell apart after he died. The volume on Oswestry works would have been gold to anyone interested in the rolling stock. I believe bits of his collection of pics appear on ebay from time to time.

Chris Not in the C. C. Green book. Is there another "Machynlleth to Barmouth"? Cheers Nigel

Any ideas on how early the flush-sided vans were? I've drawings for two, both signed off by Herbert Jones, drawings 1187 and 1153. 1153 has TWO dates, 9.4.1902 and 27.5.08. 1187 has a single date 7/6/09. I'm wondering if the dates don't mean what you'd think they mean. The most obvious difference between the vans is that one has 6 1/4" planking, the other 8" planking. How many did they have? These are NRM/OPC numbers 8206 and 8207.

Definitely clasp brakes. I've had the drawing for some time, with thoughts of building a model, but I'd only recently noticed this; I'd rather assumed fairly ordinary single-sided brakes, and unfitted. Being fitted AND one-sided is definitely odd, but that's what the drawing seems to show. The brake shaft ends at an inner support about 2/3 of the way across the van. I'm doing a sort-out at the moment and the other drawing might turn up. Nigel

Chris This probably doesn't help. I have (in theory) photocopies of the two Cambrian van G.A. drawings in the OPC collection now held by the NRM, ref nos 8597 and 9023. 9023 is of a 9' wheelbase van, Cambrian drawing no 1031, dated July 1905 and signed by Herbert Jones. The drawing at first sight appears to show a vacuum-braked van, with single-sided clasp brakes; to me that's a bit unusual as the Cambrian switched to Morton brakes at some point, presumably as the result of BoT edicts on single-sided brakes (single-sided here means not only are the brake blocks on one side only, but there is only one brake lever as well). Another oddity is that it shows slight differences for buffer lengths, to cater for fitted and unfitted vans respectively, so maybe the drawing was meant to cover unfitted vans as well; if so, I wonder if those would have used clasp brakes. Unfortunately, 8597, which I obtained fairly recently, seems to have gone missing. I seem to remember putting it to one side to study further, which probably means it's tucked away somewhere obscure! However, I remember noting that it wasn't 9' wheelbase, possibly 9' 4 1/2". Copies of both drawings can be obtained from the NRM. Cheers Nigel

Getting there! Keep at it. Nigel

Do the artwork and send it off to PDP, who seem to do a good job. I'd been interested in trying it for some time. Then had a bash at scratch building a Rhymney Class M, but had no illusions about my skills in scratch building a working chassis; a chassis kit for a GWR 56XX had been promised (which would have done) but there was no sign of it appearing, so started thinking about etching one myself. In the meantime had started to build a Mallard kit for a Dukedog which had been reduced to 3mm, and decided the chassis was no good, so set to on designing my own. Quite pleased with the result. Here's the basic lash-up: It has twin compensation beams on the drivers so the weight is shared between those and the bogie pivot, gets rid of the problems with balancing a 4-4-0. Here's the chassis with motor: I later replaced the Mashima 1015 motor with a Mashima 916 open frame one. The tender was a Brynkits kit for which I did my own replacement compensated chassis, and the complete thing is: It's now going through the paint shop. Then, back to the Rhymney M, and did a chassis for it. This is as far as it's got: It has twin compensation beams on the front drivers and a single one on the rear driver and pony axle; part of the reason for doing it this way is that I had problems getting a pony truck to pivot in the right place. It is now waiting for the body to be completed before final testing, as I'm not yet sure the motor I'm currently using will fit. I'm also doing some etched wagon chasses for some 3D printed wagon bodies I've obtained, like the Chris Higgs ones mentioned on another thread. Nigel

Fair enough. I've taken to doing my own etching, largely as I can then get what I want rather than somebody else's idea of what I want! And it's fun! Nigel

Think the handrails should be very close to the three vertical stanchions on the cabin sides. Looking at the upside down pic, they don't look too far out. With the handrails painted white but the bits behind painted body colour I think they should look OK. Looking at the underside, have Hornby adopted an ingenious swiveling truck for each pair of wheels to help it around corners?

I believe John Sutton, editor of the 3mm Society magazine Mixed Traffic, made a 9F out of a Brittania. Think he probably used the Branchlines 9F chassis. Nigel

Parkside does a similar kit in 3mm/ft for the 3mm Society. I worked out you could get around 13 different variations from it. So far I've built half-a-dozen or so.

Designing a new etch. It's OK; I like the challenge! Have some others to do as well. Cheers Nigel

Hi Chris Just getting around to knocking up some etched wagon chasses for these. Quick question: the rectangular hole at the right hand end of the solebar; is this a mounting point for the brake lever assembly, or something else? Cheers Nigel

Have you thought of chemically blackening the couplings? I've no experience of this, but B&B do some neat couplings which are blackened; think they're brass but the same method might work for n/s. Nigel

Nope, the current Corgi models are indeed 1:120, but the model of Hogwarts Castle (which is actually a Hall) wasn't part of the current series, and is in fact 1:100. Wish the current Corgi models were 1:100! They are better than the Atlas models. Nigel

There's some pics of the Atlas models (but no stock) on the 3SMR web site: http://www.3smr.co.uk/locosatlas.html You may notice that there's also a Hall (Hogwarts Castle). This actually a Corgi model, but I suspect comes from the same factory as the Atlas models; it's of very similar construction. The proportions are very good. It would have the same problems to motorise. Don't know if the Triang Castle chassis could be used. Nigel

The height of GWR tender footplates varied according to the engine they were to be attached to.

Couple at Achnasheen on 5/10/2016, around 14:05. The Up direction, Inverness-bound train leaving: The Down direction, just missed the Kyle train:

For a very simple pure DC controller, of late I've been using the Gaugemaster Combi. I like it, in fact I now have several, for different purposes. Although I'm a 3mm modeller, I have a small interest in N gauge, purchasing stuff I find attractive, mainly very recent stuff. Most of these have coreless motors and the Combi works fine with them. At the other end of the scale I've just tested an Eric Underhill O Gauge GWR saddle tank which hasn't been run for 30 years, and it works fine with that (after a bit of oiling). Just had a look at the Gaugemaster website and their list of controllers, and the only one where they warn explicitly against using it with coreless motors is the RF feedback controller.