Dave John

There will be some fun moves with brake vans at CA. 

A goods train arrives at CA on the main destined for Achingham. Pulls into the platform, loco uncouples, onto the tt and runs back on the loop or shed line onto the Achingham line. Back onto the main line,  couples to the brake van which is then uncoupled from the train.  Onto the Achingham line, deposits the brake van on the loop. Same move again, couples to the train , moves it onto the Achingham line,  reverses it back and couples to the brake van. Sets off for Achingham. 

The other option would be a local rule, "goods trains for Achinghame to have a brake van both ends" 

All possible, though would need suitable shunting signals on the Achingham line I think ? 

The 4mm version is only £30. Tempting. 

I'm not good with paints but I have always followed the advice given by Ian Rathbone, Start a test sheet as you start to paint a model  and test each layer on there before the model. I have binned a lot of horrible test sheets but that is what they are for. 

Well, I had a bit of a rant, and if one can't have a bit of a rant with fellow modellers where can we rant. I apologise if I shouldn't have.

Anyway I don't have a tv , but I do  enjoy some of the short independent films available .  ERs might fing this one amusing, in an ironic sort of way . 

I used the Express models insulators too. 

3000 is fanatical, they do look the part though. 

I had the same issue of requiring a specific pole design. 

The method I came up with is shown in this and the subsequent blogs. One of many ways of making them, rather fiddly and time consuming

How on earth did a coach that flimsy escape from Motherwell? 

Though I do like the 4 bogie thing, why that many wheels ? 

I'm sure that I have read somewhere ( possibly Mikkels blog ? ) that Tamiya retarder and thinners only work properly with Tamiya paints. 

I think it is a resettable fuse, but it may have failed. 

Bridge it out and see what happens . 

The ai results are interesting, I have had a play with some of the sites myself. As JohnR says , the ai is good at identifying and colouring grass and faces. 

The ai is learning from the internet, there are vast numbers of colour pics which include grass and faces it can learn from. How many colour pictures of railway wagons prior to the 1960s are there? Very few, though I suppose correctly painted preservation stock might be included. It does seem to recognise a railway wagon and that they tended to be browns and greys. 

We would recognise a MR wagon and tend to believe that it was grey, or a Caley wagon and know that it was red. However we have spent years reading about and discussing these things across a range of media that the ai doesn't have access to. Nor can it relate the letters MR to the Midland Railway. It certainly can't relate the Dundee co-op to any specific colour, but then neither can we.

Ai is still in its infancy, it is still learning. Give it a few years and it might be able to identify a MR wagon and know that it should be grey.

Mind you, ask it to correctly colour an early 20 C GWR one and it might just blow a fuse. 

This might provide a few ideas. Adds a bit to the initial cost, but has made maintenance of both the layout and the room much easier. 

Hmm, If I was a signwriter I would put a symbol on 1 plank , not across two. Quicker and easier. 

I'd go for the pic one symbol on a single plank. 

From that model rail article, " largely confined to the south and west of England" 

So I won't mention the Caledonian D104 road vans built 1912 for the Callander and Oban section. 

Ref : Caledonian Railway Wagons, Mike Williams,  p 251

I started using the Masterclub rivets and boltheads on my 1/50 th project as a result of seeing how well Airnimal used them on this thread. However I observe that historex are now showing a much reduced range, they are made in russia and I suspect unfortunate events will affect the supply. 

In 4mm I have used Archers for years, I am now  on my last sheet. I shall try the railtec ones and see how well I get on with them. I enjoy making wagons with a lot of rivets, as the range expands I'm sure I will learn how to use them. 

Soldering kills neo magnets. However you can solder to tinplate, which is then attracted by a neo magnet. 

An example;

The previous blog shows tests on neo magnet conductivity. 

I think something similar on a building might provide a solution for the op. 

Hi Chas , it is 4mm/ foot . 

Debateable really, though I'd go grey. Perth Co-op were a lightish grey , Scottish and Clydebank co-op darker grey. Blairgowrie co-op seem to have been red oxide. 

However by 1950 it really is a guess unless you can find a reference or a builders note. 

I managed to find some gears for a similar handbake from an old scrap watch.

If I have a number of identical handrails or supports to make I use a simple jig. Bit of wood, drill holes where you want the bends, bit of steel rod a tight push into the holes. Bend to those and they all come out the same. 

I also tend to anneal the wire first, reduces the overbend needed for a square corner. 

It is an excellent picture Schooner. 

I do tend to archive such and then look at them as I paint another batch of figures. I still have issues, getting a paint thin enough to get the detail I want tends to lose the matting agent and leads to shininess. Details which show on pics such as watch chains are a nightmare.

I have I think probably attempted snooker on the same tables as Jim, eyesight and alcohol limited my ability. Did ye ever end up at the woodside club ? 

Ah, so more this sort of thing :

http://aglassmenagerie.net/victorian.html

Sums. (feel free to check them} 

Let us assume a small locomotive with a boiler containing 1 tonne of water. 

Let us assume an initial temperature of 20  C and a final temperature of 100 C . 

Let us assume the efficiency of a boiler when lagged in free air is 80 % . 

I estimate that would require about 120 kWh of electricity.  To preheat that quantity of water in an hour would need a 120 kW immersion taking about 480 A at normal mains voltage. I feel it is unlikely that such a current would be available at most preservation locations. 

A search tells me that the average cost of electricity in the UK is 34 p/kWh, so 120 kWH would be about 40 ukpounds. 

Note that this is a preheating calculation. To actually turn water at 100C into boiler pressure steam requres considerable further energy, presumably from burning coal. 

Some of the etched brass frames designed for springing are fine Bill, I was thinking more of the resin/cast with the Irons/springs/boxes  moulded all in one. 

Aye, another vote for sell me a print / cast body with just the solebars on.

I like cast brass or wm springs and boxes, etched W irons , a copperclad sub chassis , etched brakegear of assorted types,  either ajs or 3 links and I'll add the horse loops and tie downs from wire. 

Stuff it , fire up the silhouette..... 

Seriously though my feeling, like most of the above contributors,  is that the best results are models where appropriate materials are used for different parts. I always compensate or spring , so a body with integral W irons and spring/axleboxes is a pita to me , I have to saw them off.