Davexoc

Flashing yellow aspect, only done on single I think. So slowed by the double yellow, flashing single yellow warns that the route diverges, then the junction yellow with feather... Thinking Ledburn and Bletchley South on WCML....

Railmatch blue roof on that class 45 toned down a bit now.... And just a wisp of exhaust on the route learner behind.

I agree, if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it. I measured a representative range of wheels just to see how non-standard things really are. I see trains splitting occaisionally, and will move the vehicle to determine which coupling is the culprit. Derailments, I had a the odd one in the fiddle yard where I hadn't glued the pointwork down. Always cured by flattening with either glue or a screw or two....

Split trumpet comes to mind, or was it air pressure/flow or actuator related? Sounding the rear horn on a class 47 creates a different sound due to it being a solenoid valve rather than manual.

I have taken some measurments of various wheelsets and this is what I found; first is back to back, then flange width, and finally flange depth 7.35 - 0.55 - 0.45 - Farish coach 7.35 - 0.55 - 0.45 - Farish wagon 3 hole 7.35 - 0.6 - 0.5 - Farish diesel loco 7.35 - 0.7 - 0.6 - Farish DMU 7.35 - 0.7 - 0.6 - Farish class 03 7.35 - 0.45 - 0.75 - Poole era Farish wagon/coach 7.35 - 0.5 - 0.7 - Poole era Farish loco 7.25 - 0.4 - 0.85 - Dapol class 35 (pizza cutter edition) 7.4 - 0.5 - 0.6 - Dapol diesel loco 7.45 - 0.5 - 0.55 - Dapol coach 7.3 - 0.6 - 0.55 - Dapol wagon 7.5 - 0.55 - 0.5 - EFE wagon 7.4 - 0.55 - 0.5 - Sonic wagon 7.2 - 0.5 - 0.5 - Parkside wagon 7.4 - 0.6 - 1.0 - Lima coach/wagon 7.3 - 0.35 - 0.7 - Peco wagon 7.65 - 0.55 - 0.5 - Revolution wagon Now I measured several spare Farish diesel loco wheelsets and the B2B varied from 6.95 - 7.75mm which goes to show that you need to check these things. As you can see, any track has to cope with all thise variations, 0.55mm on flange depth if you are considering shimming... My DCC Concepts B2B gauge measures 7.55mm whereas their current spec says 7.65mm, and Farish seem to like 7.35mm... But it isn't all about those dimensions, because the radius between tread and flange varies, as does the actual wheel profile. The flatter the profile, the more waddle you will see, but flat equals better traction... I measured a Peco long crossing and the flangeways are 1.25mm giving a minimum B2B of 6.5mm. The widest part of the crossing briefly goes out from 9mm to 9.8mm. Now to a double slip. The section between the two switch blades is the point where we have the leap of faith. The bottom of the gap there is a whole 2mm deep, and as it is also wide to gauge, I think this is the point you need to look at. If your slip isn't flat, this is where flanges will climb over rails. My 03 is quite happy running slowly over my slips, but they were glued and weighted down. It does waddle, but it does slightly even on plain track. Below are two images of it sat on the chasm, push one way and then the other. Yes it does move a long way, but it doesn't derail.....

I'll have to check mine to see how they perform, but the if you've ever been on the footplate of a steam loco, they can get a lateral wobble on under power even on plain track. Its to do with the quartering of the motion and the drive forces. A diminutive N gauge 03 weighs next to nothing, doesn't have quite the same wheel/flange profile to the prototype, and is certainly living with massive tolerances for B2B and flangeways, so it will to some extent. Notice how when you had wagons in tow it damped it out somewhat. The only way you are going to get consistent running is to adopt just one wheel profile and B2B setting across all stock, so that you can close up those flangeways towards something more prototypical....

Same here, I was tempted but would have preferred it in the early GWR 150 days without the cab aerials which were added some time during 1988 I think. Would have been more tempted by 47484, but the tooling can't do the odd cab fronts apparently.... Does look nice on the layout though....

Haltwhistle on the evening of April 4 back in 2007....

That trailing wheelset is sitting in a lovely dip in the track, look how far out of parallel the bogie is to the body....

That confirms my recollection of travelling or working on 115, 117 and 121s.... I remember journeys where the driver would restart an engine at every stop because it wouldn't idle.

I don't use underlay. I glue them down onto the baseboard (MDF) with PVA, an off-cut of MDF or wood on top and a 5 litre bottle of water on top of that while the glue dries. That goes for all pointwork, and once tested, ballasted in place. As for other track joints, screws that are either buried, or removed and ballasting patched afterwards to ensure it all stays true....

Ruskington between Christmas and New Year about 20 years ago.... Far from the current temperatures we are seeing....

I run code 55 and have canted the curves, which are fairly large radius, but I even have a degree of cant on some curved pointwork. I rarely see derailments, but if I do, it is usually down to a wagon related problem, or more commonly an auto-uncoupling for various reasons.... As pointed out, the flangeways are all accomodating for several eras of wheel profile. Light weight and kinematic couplings with too much spring force can be culprits...

So, is that a 10-car DMU service? Trying to think how many engine lights there were in a cab to see that all the engines were running.....

So, the remaining decals have been applied to all, and the handrails on the LL pair refitted. I found that at some point during de-masking, one of the small grab rails got removed with the tape, resulting in a replacement being fashioned and fitted. The blue pair have had their headcode boxes modified to domino type, which involved poking them out. The strange Dapol interpretation has been changed and has resulted in removal of the rivet effect and the wierd four segment panel. Need to put the on the track to see what the lit effect looks like.... Anyway, everyone have a Merry Christmas, and here's to 2024.......

Perhaps it was used by the managers of several regional companies. And the menu would have been either a certain brand of Turkey or Fish Fingers, accompanied with a Mustard sauce?

That sounds a bit slow, especially if the intermediate stops are only Bletchley, Winslow and Bicester, but then if it had been electrified it could have been so much quicker. I don't know the rail route mileage, but by road it is only around 40 miles depending on which way you go....

I suppose we can't moan about model marker lights being too bright and unprototypical any more.....

The Railtec decals arrived so I started the renumbering process. Here is 5/6ths of my class 50 fleet. Need to add data panels, OLE flashes, and varnish everything, but impressed with the nameplates, making the Dapol one in the middle look a bit odd... Noticed some of the handrails on the blue ones don't sit properly, so I might look into that when I refit the LL ones.

In 2008 Tees Yard would throw up quite a few Dutch remnants, albeit air braked in the form of BEA, MHA, SPA, ZBA Rudd, and YLA Mullet....

I have found the following, but the number placement is still wrong. It may be that initially some of the tablet catcher fitted locos were adorned like the first, pre-TOPS 8100, then the two TOPS numbered ones that came up were 20032 and 20081 https://www.flickr.com/photos/59835095@N02/6548600253/in/gallery-35296891@N07-72157708125049604/ http://ukrailways1970tilltoday.me.uk/Skegness_station_BR_days.html second photo down https://www.flickr.com/photos/pics-by-john/51257559435/in/album-72157626150478699/ The original alludes to 20041 in the comments, but that didn't crop up. The tablet catcher area appears to have been plated in the image, and the arrows of indecision have been moved across, but the numbers moved upwards as well. Strange, but then there is a prototype for everything.....

So, the GBRf pair of class 50s have been through the paintshop. Some will frown on what I did, but as the GBRf livery is psuedo Large Logo, there are elements there that are already done. Dapol printing comes off quite readily with a light scraping, so the numbers, OLE flashes and names etc came away to leave a mainly orange and dark blue body. Cab handrails and front jumpers were also removed. Mask up the black window surrounds and spray the wrap around ends with Railmatch faded yellow, which over an orange base is quite a good match for the Dapol yellow on the front. The cab door windows were coated in Maskol for this stage. Once dried, the masking moves to spray the roof Rail grey, Maskol used during this stage for the headcode lights. More waiting for paint hardening before moving onto the Rail blue body, with engine room windows and fire pull handles coated in Maskol. Just awaiting delivery of numbers and names from Railtec, trying out the 3D printed names on these two, plus two unrefurbished locos too... And with a bit of paint still in the airbrush, I decided 45114 needed to lose that grey roof, and become 45121. It is a shade too light, but once weathered, it should blend in.... Meanwhile out stretching it's legs is a Whizzo on 'Stone' tipplers

Fear not, it is back illuminated this evening....

Has anyone got 50p for the meter? The previously mentioned signal near Mursley has gone out. Either that, or they've already finished for Christmas....

Planting a few things today, like little people, because they were getting fed up sitting in their packaging, more telegraph poles, because they looked a bit too spaced out, and a bit more fencing, just for a bit more variety... The up service to High Wycombe is ready to depart as a ticket collector stands at the exit and another member of staff readies to see off the next down departure that is just arriving into that platform. DMU Classes 101, 108, 117 and 128 going about their business... The look-out acknowledges an up DMU as the P-way gang goes about their work. Scenecraft barbed wire, but the fine wire dosen't show up....