Right Away

On 26/08/2023 at 10:14, dasatcopthorne said:

I've laid a lot of third rail in my time so here is what I have learnt.

 

Raise it no more that 1mm above any running rail, less if you can.

If you are working in 00, then fit the 3rd rail very slightly closer then the prototype.

I made myself a gauge that included a raised area to set the rail and a dropped area to mark/drill holes.

Most modellers make their ramps too short and too steep. They never reach the ballast.

Fix down (solder) on tiny round head brass screws (often found in the ship or Dolls House modelling trade).

Clean the rail all round with a fibreglass brush then weather with Birchwood Casey 'Super Blue' No need to paint as the rails is very often a black.grey oily colour.

Paint the exposed sides of the screws a mid grey, not white.

Oh, and ballast first then paint/weather track.

 

Hope this helps a little.

 

Dave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like the use of soldered small roundhead screws for insulator pots, a far more robust and a good looking job as well.

I’ve always used Peco insulators, they look great but can be a right PITA to install - then you have to try and unstick yer fingers afterwards! 

On 20/08/2023 at 14:25, Wickham Green too said:

Whatever route code applied to 'between terminus X and shed Y' would have had to be accommodated - and that would probably have been ( a tiny ) part of 'between  terminus X and coastal resort Z' so would have necessitated the same code unless it qualified for its own.

Perfectly agree.

My query was only raised because Vic - Stew Lane LE could have been accommodated by the Vic - Dover, via Orpington, Tonbridge and Ashford route disc code; likewise at the Kentish end of a boat train working to which the two engines were generally diagrammed.

However, now that Steamport Southport has kindly confirmed the existence of the said lamp irons, I can get the 0.5mm drill out!

On 20/08/2023 at 13:25, josh_will said:

Hi all, can anybody advise me on the best way to renumber a Union Mills loco? Should I use thinners, T-Cut, or something else? The model is quite old and the numbers are fading. I’d be gutted to get it wrong and spoil the paintwork as this is obviously now an irreplaceable model.

Never tried with 2mm scale but this is the procedure I use when renumbering Hornby and Bachmann locomotives.    

        Remove existing numerals

        Apply masking tape very closely around cabside numerals to be removed. 

·       Dip Tamiya Round Extra Small cotton swab in the enamel thinners and dab on cabside numerals, allow to soak for    at least 5 minutes.

·       Reapply thinners and very lightly rub at numerals. Continue until numerals have been removed. 

·       Wipe off any surplus thinners and remove masking tape.

         Apply Transfers

·       If using individual numerals, the first numeral transfer to apply should be the centre one.

·       Cut out the transfer and place in shallow dish of hot water (Fox recommendation) and allow to soak for a minute or so.

·       Remove transfer from dish with tweezers and place in approximate position on model. 

·       With a small firm paintbrush, move the transfer into position.

·       If transfer becomes “sticky”, dip brush tip lightly into water and then dab on spare backing sheet to pick up a little residual adhesive.

        Dab transfer with this moist brush; this will allow transfer to be moved.

·       When positioned, very lightly dab to secure transfer and remove any remaining water.

·       Repeat with remaining numerals, working outward from the centre.

·       Allow all transfers to set overnight.

        Varnishing transfers:

·       Mask around entire cabside and very lightly spray once with “Railmatch” acrylic Satin Varnish, thinned with “Railmatch” waterborne acrylic thinners. Same with smokebox door.

·       Allow to dry completely and check result.

Not a hugely interesting topic but I would be grateful for any pointers to photographs which show the rear of the tenders of the two Britannias whilst allocated to Stewarts Lane.

I’d like to ascertain when the foot-blocks were fitted to both 4 and 14. Also did these tenders carry the middle SR lamp irons. I rather suspect not as the two locomotives’ diagrams would generally only require tender first running between terminii and MPDs; it would be useful to see photographic evidence of the tenders if possible.

Thanks

Not sure if anyone has hit on this but here goes…..

Faced with a bad cement (glue) mark on a locomotive cab side light (window), I searched online for a remedy. It had to be a gentle approach as I didn’t want the glass to become dislodged so alcohol was out and polishing compounds were far too expensive.

I then thought of “Pearl Drops” tooth polish, and so applied by gently rubbing with a Tamiya Triangular Extra Small Cotton Swab …… SUCCESS!.

The tooth polish worked very well, I just wished I’d taken  “before and after” photos for posting.

I’m not familiar with this model but as a long shot, does the tender move freely behind the engine?

I ask this as I had a couple of Bullied Pacifics where the tender fall plate was making slight contact with the engine having the effect of keeping the engine running in a straight direction when turning out at points, completely overcoming any guiding effect of the engine’s bogie and leading drivers. 

After checking the back to back of all axles and noting nothing amiss, I spent quite some time, watching the engine’s behaviour at very slow speed, noting exactly where the flanges began to lift. before the reluctance of the engine to follow the curve became apparent.

A slight tweak upwards with tweezers completely cured the problem.

For current interest, courtesy of Google Maps; the bridge south of Tunbridge Wells (West) where the Spa Valley Railway crosses the A26 road.

IIRC, Southdown (NBC) had to ensure that Park Royal bodied AN68 Leyland Atlanteans were not diagrammed for Service 729 and that a Bristol VR was used because of the reduced headroom.

“Draughts anyone?”

A little later date than the OP’s query, (double yellow lines intr1960 and the Mk3 Zodiac intr 1962), the parapet markings on this bridge at Fareham, Hampshire are quite striking …. ouch!

Thanks all. I hadn’t considered the increased frame length of the Bullied 64 footers or the Mk1s in comparison with the, in the main, shorter vehicles elsewhere

Another coach poser.

I read somewhere of an instruction which restricted the use of Bullied coaches on through trains to other regions which was lifted in 1954.

Can anyone shed some information as to the reason for the restriction on these vehicles and what was required to eventually ease it.

Thanks

On 12/08/2023 at 18:59, The Stationmaster said:

Good.  Now judging by what happened on the Wr I suspect there might have neen some changes from the oiginal SR Instrctions - which was quite complex.  The problem I have is that I can't reliaL;y date when teh Instruction altered on the WR exceot to say that the change was definitely made some time between 1954 and July 1956 (at which time afurther minr change took place.

 

As I read the revision made between those datees I think it os reasonable to assume that it was anational change so would have invclluded teh SR.  The only question then - which I can't answer because I have no information to enable me to do so is what changes, if any were made to the original SR 1934 Instructions prior the one made at some time between 1954 and 1956.  From the information I do have it appears that the Instructions did not change between 1934 and 1937.

 

1934 Instructions

All Unconnected gangways  of corridor vehicles  at the extreme ends of trains working to or over any other mainline company to be protected by a gangway shield

 

D For all trains working within the southern Railway the following applied -

1.Coaches No.s2362, 2363,3714, 37155630, 5631 5632, and 5633 are fitted with metal roller shutters at each end.  Coaches3680 &6659 are fitted with steel roller shutters at one end.

Provided the shutters are brought into use no other shield is necessary

2. The end gangway doors of all new corridor steam stock will, dating from July 1933, be faced with metal and  and ftted witha special fastening on the outside.  Certain corridor coaches built prior to July 1933 will be similarly fitted as they pass through shops.

When these doors are in use and provided they are securely fastened on the outside no other shield is necessary.

3. In the case of the following vehicles there is a risk of gangway shields if fitted on adjacent gangways rubbing off when passing over a curve and gangway shields must not be provided :-

a. On adjacent Pullman gangwayed vehicles when an automatic coupling is NOT  in use

b. On a Pullman gangway adjacent to  vehicle with a Standard gangway with an adaptor fitted. 

c On a vehicle with a Standard gangway extended and fitted with adaptor clips adjacent to a.vehicle with a standard gangway not extended.

In all the above situation gangway doors must be securel fastened

This Instructions means that gangway adaptors can be fitted on adjacent vehicles with standard gangways that are not extended and not fitted witha adaptor clip.

4. All other unconnected gangways other than those listed above, must be protected by means ofa gangway shield.

 

So what that means is that there could be vehicles carrying gangway shields formed within - and not just at the ends of, a train.

 

The reference to roller shutter doorsbut no mention of vehcle numbers was still in place from October 1960 on the SR South western Division.

 

With one minor exception (explained below) the national Instruction which was published on the WR between 1954 and 1956 and which I am presuming also applied on the SR was as follows:-

 

1 Complete Buckeye coupled trains  - Shields must be placed on the front of the leading vehicle and the rear of the rearmost vehicle (however I would place good money that the SR published an exception for vehicles with steel faced gangway doors although only roller shutter fitted vehicles are mentioned in the 1960 South Western Division Instruction.  In fact that exception was published nationally in the late s ummer of 1971)

2. Trains composed partly of gangwayed stock .  A shield must be placed on the front and rear ends of each portion of gangwayed stock.  (i.e exactly the same as the earlier SR Instruction but without the exceptions it contained.

3. Mixed Buckeye and screw coupled vehicles when owing to the absence of adaptors it is not possible for the gangway connection to be made gangway adaptors shields must be placed on the adjacent ends of the vehicles.

4. Trains composed of Buckeye and screw coupled Post Office vehicles when a buckeye coupling fitted vehicle is marshalled next to a PO vehicle.  The shield on the buckeye fitted vehicle must be removed and the door securely locked (which basically means both lock it and secure the French pin on the outside of the door).  Gangway adap shield to be fitted on the PO vehicle.

There were further Instructions relating to gangways of vehicles coupled to engines with corridor tenders.

 

Phew! - best I can do, Hope it helps.

 

The only difference between this 1960 - nationally applicable Instruction and the mid 1950s one published by teh Wr was the lack of a reference to the use of a special (solid plywood) gangway shield on the last vehicle of the main train coupled immed iately ahead of a slip coach.v

Thanks Mike. That must’ve taken some digging. 

Thanks, Mike. The time frame would be between 1950 and 1964, quite a span! Services would be those between Exeter Central and Ilfracombe, Plymouth, Padstow and Bude.

Would anyone know of any BR official instruction regarding the usage/fitting of outer gangway doors to coaches? At a guess, I would assume it would depend on the diagram(s) worked and the amount of attaching/detaching involved.

I would be particularly interested if the outer gangway doors were used on the 2 sets (Maunsell and Bullied) as operated in the West of England. I can only surmise this would be quite a rarity as these sets would often become part of a multi-portioned consist of a long distance service with catering facilities.

Attached are a couple of scanned photos where the doors are absent; the top taken at Meldon Viaduct and the bottom at Honiton Tunnel.

A few years back, Hornby released some green Mk1s (with lighting) all with emblems, which brought a degree of criticism from discerning modellers. It had been expected that that release would not carry emblems as the fact that relatively few BR(SR) coaches were so adorned had been brought to H’s attention.

I was looking to reduce the distance between engine and tender of a Hornby Britannia (R3865).The factory fitted drawbar has two holes at the loco end, one for running and t’other realistically for static display as it brings the tender up really close to the cab. 

With Bullied Pacifics and other locomotives, where required, I make my own shorter drawbars from 0.4mm brass strip but the factory fitted drawbar of the Brit is apparently permanently located at the tender end, making removal most difficult without surgery. 

So, stuck with the infernal factory fitted drawbar, I looked at what could be done to permit the use of the closer fixing hole at the cab end.

Perhaps not to everyone’s liking, the small tender buffers (loco end) were removed and the vertical plate beneath the cab floor was filed flush, however this modification is hardly discernible and the visual improvement of the closer coupled tender more than compensates. 

The closer fitting hole can now be used in the drawbar with sufficient freedom of movement to negotiate large radius turnouts with ease, but it should be noted that my curves are quite generous. 

Please see pic for result.

On 08/08/2023 at 20:01, stewartingram said:

Pedantic mode, they are not wing mirrors, but door mirrors. And a van of that age would be more to have wing mirrors

The firm I worked for had one of these in the ‘60s - Reg No WPM26. Sizeable rust holes appeared in the front wings (a mirror disappeared through one!) and I, as a passenger, would lean out and watch the front wheel in motion with a degree of fascination.

Below is a photo of my own “Moggie” in the mid ‘70s in much better “nick”. (The O/S mirror is there but does not show up too well in this scanned image).

For shunting, my two Hattons P class 0-6-0T engines fitted with Zimo MX617N decoders are extremely reliable slow runners.

My Hornby A1x “Terrier” 0-6-0T engines (the later, re-tooled releases) fitted with Zimo MX617F decoders are almost as good, however one of them requires its pick-up wipers to be re-tensioned occasionally. Easily done, whip off the base keeper plate and gently tweak the wipers inwards. The “Terrier’s” wipers would benefit from being a little “springier”, but the slow running is still excellent.

I am wondering as to what factors dictate whether an X crossing or switched diamond crossing be installed. Are there constraints relating to speed over the crossing and more obviously the geometry (angle) of such?
Thanks for any info.

The “Railways Archive” website is worth a trawl.

https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk

4 hours ago, Ruston65 said:

Having yet more issues with my electrofrog points, after sorting out the initial shorting problems now after adding in another set half the layout is no longer conducting power, from the area after each set of points on the left, see image below, but I don't understand what the issue is, left and right turnouts are being used and the image below shows how it looks like on both areas, do I need to reverse it to stop the power issue? I don't have a clue on what's going on and it's really annoying me to have to ask people again because to me it seems like I'm just wasting people's time, so sorry about that, I just need advice on what to do to fix it so I can actually run my trains properly, for reference I'm talking about the outer loop only, not any of the inside ones

Please don’t think you’re wasting anyone’s time. The vast majority of members will be only too pleased to help with what may appear to be “easy” or repetitive queries; the only silly question is the one not asked.

As others have replied, you have placed the insulated rail joiners in the correct position to ensure there are no short-circuit issues.

I am not familiar with your controller and its means of connectivity to the track and so my suggestion may not be the road you’d wish to go down, but here goes.

Would you perhaps consider feeding maybe three or four (or more if you’d like) separate sections of the layout, each section isolated with IRJs and yet each having its own isolating switch. This would enable one train to be stationary (at a platform for example) whilst another is being operated. Yes, this means additional wiring to each section of track and to the switches, which could located near the controller, but careful positioning of the track feeds will ensure there are no unintentional “dead” sections.

Follow up from my reply yesterday at 15.03 - here’s a photo of the wire/rod produced by Albion Alloys, for reference. (The piano wire is used for semaphore signal arms).

Also, a Hornby BSK with wire handrails and tank filler pipes in place of the moulded ones. Note also transverse roof ribs removed.

I use 0.45mm nickel silver (or brass) wire.

Relatively easily bent to shape, I have used it to replace moulded water filler pipes as well as end hand rails with very good results.

My local source is Sussex Model Centre in Worthing.

Also required is 0.5mm drill bit and pin vice for holes. Fix wire with a minute dab of superglue gel applied to the hole with a spare piece of the same wire.

There are many older release 1:76 models of larger vehicles, whose appearance can be drastically improved by the addition of some very tiny adornments where not fitted - i.e. wing mirrors and windscreen wipers.

Perhaps it’s me, having spent many of my earlier years driving HGVs, but the omission of wing mirrors alone makes a big vehicle virtually impossible to drive and it is this, albeit tiny, fact that I set about to remedy.

Reference to preserved vehicles can be helpful, although in a few cases details are, by necessity, differing than those that I remember “ back in the day”.

I cut some thin (1.5mm) strips of brass which will form the mirrors from etching offcuts and soldered these to some 0.45 nickel silver wire (brass wire can also be used) which will form the bracket. The “mirror” then  is trimmed and filed to shape and the wire bent as appropriate and cut to length. A 0.5mm drill in a pin vice is used to make fixing holes in the model and the wire “bracket” is fixed with a minute dab of  superglue gel on a pin. Screen wipers are again, just 0.45 wire.

I do struggle with finer detail and therefore apologise if the results in the attached photos are left somewhat wanting; at “normal” viewing distances the visual improvement outweigh any downside.

I’ve not attempted putting mirrors on 1:76 cars and other smaller vehicles as apart from the fact they were not mandatory for the period which I model, the smaller size would be almost too much for my eyes and fingers!

Strictly for info, the 6-CIT/6-PUL Pullman cars were composites.