Northroader

I use the cassettes on an open flat surface, which is built just like an ordinary baseboard with a 2x1 frame, but topped with hardboard or thin ply. You have to compensate for the differing thicknesses somewhere when joining to an ordinary board. With careful handling stock won’t drop off the cassette, and if it does it can’t fall far enough to get damaged. The board has a ply strip “fence” round the sides and the ends which takes care of runoffs the end. So far (touch wood) I haven’t had anything drop off when I picked the cassette up and turned it round midair.

Crikey, Captain, your picture of alloy angle cassettes stirs some memories. Article by Chris Pendleton in Model Railway Journal no. 27, 1988, “Variations for Fiddle”, thirty years ago now, set the ball rolling to cassettes. I saw it and thought “great, I’ll have some of that” only as I was modelling in O, I got the next size up in aluminium angle, even more expensive. You have to screw the angle firmly down to the ply/ chipboard strip to hold to gauge, and in the loft the temperature variations meant the expansion of the angle made it take up a banana shape, convex or concave depending on whether it was hot or cold. The other snag with O is handling them with a train on if it’s any length needed, it’s very cumbersome with the length and the weight. Anyhow, I’ve moved on from angle now, but still decided cassettes are the best way of doing things, I just lay plain track on the strip, so much cheaper. As I’ve got quite a small layout running pregroup trains, they’re just 3 foot long, and much easier to pick up. There are loop handles fitted for this, and these have flat tops, so you can rest the cassette on them half way round a turn and change hands, also stack temporary whilst you’re changing them round, although I don’t leave them like that, as it would tempt fate! The ends engage with the track on the main board using .060” brass rod with a snug fit in brass tubes soldered to the web of the rail, and I find this locates the rail and conducts the track electrical feed quite well. The rail solders down on to copperclad just the same as yours, and secured by a screw placed centrally, with possibly packing under if the copperclad doesn’t match the sleeper thickness. In the picture I’ve left the track ready to engage to give a better idea, but I’m afraid it’s nowhere near a match to your neat, tidy workmanship.

Metalsmith??

He’s probably gone away to the Banamas, as it is summer holidays right now. Then he is a sensitive artist, just like me, only I worked on BR, so I don’t let little niggles about slow production get me down.

But, but, but...what are we going to do?? We’ll never be able to manage without..

The original Cramptons had the driving wheels sprung by having a big leaf spring mounted transversely across the back of the firebox, the ends of the springs resting on an axlebox at each side, and the centre passing under a bracket on the back of the firebox, the springs being “upside down”, and above the fire hole.“Double Cramptons” were an attempt by c.f. de l’Est to up the tractive effort by better adhesive weight, as this line was very partial to them. The new locos were designed with the middle carrying wheel being replaced by a leading coupled driving wheel, but the trailing wheel was brought slightly more forward, under the firebox, so the boiler would need to be pitched higher. The cylinder layout and drive stayed similar to the original placing. One of the class was modified to have a leading bogie, and also fitted with a Flaman boiler.

The best model I’ve seen, using this theme, is “Indian Hill Railway”, large oval, built to 16mm scale, 32mm gauge, and run with live steam models. The sheer cheerful exuberance of the model is hard to beat.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=trJdEs2TpNI

If you alight at Broadstairs Station, the first thing to catch your eye behind the platform, is the tall flint structure, “Crampton Tower”, but no single drivers about, I’m afraid.

Wintry weather you’d leave everything running anyway. Carriage cleaners were another problem, as they’d always leave the dmu lights on when they finished, so as a rule whenever a set came on shed, the chargers would be coupled immediately, and sets would left be ticking over. Wasteful, but you needed to be sure of getting everything off in a morning.

Oi!!!!!

I do hope as how you’ll continue having intercourse with us hobbledehoys whether on not you’re fannying around with your wiring?

Tricky piece of painting there!?!

I had to go and look... yeah, light cream, cos I’m eighty and we’ve always painted everything light cream all the time, but it’s starting to show smudges and knocks and if SWMBO starts taking an interest I’ll have to paint it again, so quick let’s go to another thread...

Here’s another lot of wagons, first off you were asking about a GCR open. Heres one wearing a CLC hat, although for your period it would have the large “CL” on the side, rather than the small letters. On the one side the brake levers were ar*e backwards. Loaded with new barrels, maybe something yummy from Liverpool Docks. I think somebody must have mentioned lime by now, so here’s a P.O. lime wagon for the Norfolk farmers, this one hails from west of Leicester, so quite possibly could turn up at CA. Then a MR long - low for Stephen, D336, with some object in transit. There’s a tantalising glimpse of cartwheel under the wagon sheet, but beyond that?? Lastly one for Jim from Scotland, loaded with sacks. Maybe seed potatoes? If so, should I have put a wagon sheet over them to keep them dry?

Check the size of your blocks, Jim http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/136360-lswrsr-stone-wagon-load/&do=findComment&comment=3262705

Some ideas for your goods traffic, first wagon is incoming coal on a MR wagon (not one of those poncey wagons out of the diagram book) next a load from dawn sarf. This is the way goods travelled, sheeted over in an open wagon, and nobody knew what the hell it was carrying, but it would be there just the same. Nextly something more exotic, folks moving house, using a pantechnicon on a flat, could be from any part of the country. Lastly, and don’t look at the provenance, as it was Routier du Nords bright idea, an open with a sheeted load, much higher, and obviously animal fodder, usually in local wagons coming or going.

Now, here’s a photo of an HO Italian wagon, made by those skilled craftsmen on Lake Como. You should be able to spot the differing buffer heads, and, dang my boots, the left hand one is domed. (No wonder we voted for Brexit)

Good to hear you’re happy with what you been told and can progress the job. Good luck with it all.

Here you go, Jim and Don, a quote from Gordon Sewell’s labour of love “NBR wagons- some design aspects”

The 800 set I was on last week still changed over at Didcot.

One funny thing about buffers, talking about sliding properly, and thinking more on 12” to 1’ goings on, quite a lot of BR buffers were domed, so theorectically a “high” wagon could be picked up by “low” neighbours on either side when buffering up. Over on the continent you can see buffers on one side of the wagon were flat, and the other side domed, so this wouldn’t happen, but the domes would allow for meeting at a slight angle on a curve. I think Jim’s acme of perfection, the North British, did them like this as well, maybe other pregroup lines, too? Just a detail.

But there was no black pudding, how could you call that a good breakfast?

Sprung buffers? Excellent track geometry?? Nah. Intricate, eye watering fiddling? Yup.