Dave John

Depending on where and when you model Caley coaches have a good range, some more at NBRdevelopments.

http://www.caleycoaches.co.uk/index.php

https://www.nbr4mm.co.uk

A decent suggestion but historically the other way round Johnster . The Caley / NBR pugs were a development of the Caley 262 class  0-4-2 saddle tanks built for the Killin branch. 

Full drawings are available from the CRA. 

I would agree with most grains being carried in sacks early on sheeted opens and later vans. There was some bulk grain traffic early on, there are a couple of pre-grouping grain hopper wagons in the SRPS collection. Probably only used on a few specific routes where bulk handling equipment had been installed. 

http://www.srpsmuseum.org.uk/10099.htm

Agreed, that photo of the ivory warehouse is remarkable. Must have been some sort of auction going on, Hale and Sons seem to have bought  many lots. 

Agreed, gutties. I think that comes from the soles originally being made from gutta percha. 

Very true Jim, and I would add that the railways provided the food of the working poor, fish and chips. The railways got fish from ports to the big industrial centres quickly, they transported the potatoes and the coal to cook them . 

Don't start me on the fact that a fish supper is now 10 quid, 2 quid at least of which goes straight into the duck houses and moat cleaning fund. 

As for the dark ages if the price of energy keeps going up we might be entering a new one. 

Anyway , thats  my last political rant of 2023. Half an hour and I can start the political rants of 2024. 

Happy new year all ... 

Depends on the date you are building the model to Jazz. 

Originally (1906) it would have just the smokebox lamp iron and I think just an air front pipe to the rhs of the coupling. The lower lamp irons seem to have been added a bit later. 

They were rebuilt 1911/12 with superheaters. The cab sides were altered and I think the vac brake may date from then.

AB Macleod notes that "905 was fitted by Pickersgill with two large pop valves in place of the original four columns", a bit later than the superheating.  

I think that some of the use of specific loco coal wagons, particularly prior to the grouping, is about accountancy and the way coal was taxed. 

We have discussed this before , but I can't find the link. 

Going back a few pictures I note the wheeled  stepladders. Perhaps rarely photographed or modelled  but thinking about it all stations must have had a similar solution for maintaining and lighting all those gas lamps. 

A fiddly but fun scratchbuild over christmas for Kelvinbank I think. 

I used 3mm cork. Add a mm of ballast or so on top gave me a ballast shoulder of about a scale foot above the cess with C+L thin plastic sleepers.  That seemed about right looking at period photos of Caley track.

I think advertising signage adds a lot to a period feel.  I looked at the detail in the signs, simpler ones might well be enamel and  the more complex ones printed and fitted on boards. 

The roof ironwork is wonderful at Carlisle. Not sure I would know how to model it though. 

I'm in the bit of wire camp too. 

Over the years I have used Contacta a lot, I do a lot of styrene laminating. Contacta isn't instant which gives a couple of  seconds adjustment time and when used to laminate  gives very strong structures when allowed to dry, usually overnight. 

An example of 5 ply laminate body construction ; 

It is worth getting used to its characteristics. 

Quite a few were leased rather than purchased by other railway companies, such as the Caledonian. 

An interesting read;

https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=62&p=403&hilit=robinson#p403

Given that the grouping was only a couple of years away ( and clearly going to happen) I suspect that accountancy played a part and that purchase had financial implications which leasing didn't. 

Time and therefore money Spikey.  Impact drivers are faster for larger screws into things like studwork or decking and much better for self drilling screws or bolts into steelwork and the like. 

There are plenty of comparison videos online . 

A very interesting thread, good to see new techniques being developed. 

At some point I will have to think about track for the 1/50 scale project, this is all giving me food for thought. 

Proper hole saws consist of the hole saw and the mandrel. This sort of thing;

The centre drill is held in the mandrel by a screw in the side so you can adjust or remove it. 

I think a diamond one would try to burn its way through, a good quality hole saw would cut. 

A burr is this sort of thing;

Search burr for minidrill, loads available, very useful for modelmaking.

The issue with hole saws without a pilot drill is getting them started without them skittering about all over the place.

I found a way round this is to get a bit of 12 mm  scrap ply about 3 inch square and use the hole saw with pilot drill to make a hole in it. Drill through the baseboard from above , say 1mm next to the centreline of the point tie bar. The bit of scrap ply can then be screwed to the bottom of the baseboard offset a bit so it is centred on the tie bar. This will act as a guide for the holesaw which can be then used without its centre drill. 

Just take things carefully and slowly. The guide can be unscrewed when you are nearly through the baseboard, the last bit being removed carefully with a burr in a minidrill. 

Good luck. 

Why would a Lidl battery powered loco with twin axle hung traction motors, primary springing and secondary compensation need traction tyres ? 

Less than half the price of any modern rtr, but much more fun. 

Stuff it , I'll build another one .... 

Have a read at the excellent thread "S7 scratch building" by airnimal. In there you will see extensive use of the Masterclub range of nuts, bolts and rivets

I have been using them a lot in 1/50 scale. To my eye they better represent nuts on a bolt than rivet transfers for larger scales. 

Have a look at google earth.

Russia and N.Korea share a border , the Tumen river. There is a rail bridge called the Korea - Russia friendship bridge across it, with railyards both sides.  So the gauge must be the same both sides . Not somewhere welcoming to trainspotters at a guess. 

Some bits of N Korea have a dual gauge to suit that link , I'd guess that was the way it went. 

Surely if one wanted to buy a battery shunter then the first thing would be to get a written quotation for price and delivery cost from a variety of manufacturers ?

 Until then it is all rather open.