Dave John

Mikkel asked what was between the main part of the layout and the Viaduct sections. The simple answer is a gap. The boards need to move towards the window wall to give them enough room to swing round into the room to be worked on, so they stop short of the window wall by a foot or so. I always had a vague idea that I would build a lightweight scenic extension to take the eye round towards the window. Well, I have finally got round to it. Its mainly made out of foamboard with the curved part from two layers of 1 mm card . The whole thing sits on a small strap on the main board and holds on with a couple of magnets. Weight is only a couple of pounds so it is easy to handle. Scenically I think it will be heavily overgrown, a remnant of one of the many old estates to be found along the banks of the Kelvin before the expansion of the city in the nineteenth century. Must try and get rid of those bubbles in the sky as well.

Very interesting thread, thanks all for taking the time to introduce the subject and providing such good feedback on the pros and cons. Reading and learning, not quite tempted just yet but I'm warming to the idea.

The CR had the same problem, high capacity wagons were introduced but the reluctance to invest in loading and unloading facilities made them a rarity. I was interested in your views on the recyleabilty of the materials that go into the hobby of railway modelling, or for that matter scale modelling in general. I don't really have an answer. Many people want to buy a ready to use model off the shelf and the rtr manufacturers are in business, they will provide them and plastic components are far simpler to make than metals. That said, I personally love seeing models made from basic materials such as wood or brass. I suppose that in reality the amount of plastic used is tiny compared to the quantities used elsewhere. Point taken though, it's something to think about.

Just had a read back through the thread , some excellent modelling. With regard to ambient sound I bought a couple of these; http://www.icstation.com/voice-playback-module-sound-module-music-player-voice-broadcast-device-development-board-arduino-p-6148.html?language=en Dead easy to use, just transfer 10 mp3s to the sd and it plays them when switched. Even has a small amp built in. I am still messing about with them, but I have a few ideas. Small enough to fit in a 4mm coach or wagon too.

I wonder what will happen when the local idiots realise all those charging leads contain copper? The 18th edition of the wiring regs mean you could chop through them with no risk. If I look out of my window I can see 60 + cars parked on street. Thats in theory 180 m of 3 core at least. Should yield a couple of bottles of buckie.... Inductive charging needed. Sorry to be negative, and I do appreciate the experience of early investors. I just think that given the time it is going to take to implement that the whole approach is wrong. Ask a simple question. Your car lasts 20 years. How many hours is it actually being used as a car and how many hours is it merely an obstacle ? Maybe 6 months in 20 years ? The whole idea of car ownership is outdated. The whole concept is driven by the car industry, not by society . I own a 20 year old VW transporter. I drive it for about an hour a week. When I retire I won't need a van. I will need a car for about 30 mins a week, if that. I see a coming together of technologies. Electric vehicles, the software to optimise usage, the ability to drive themselves autonomously. You see, I don't want to own a car, I want a car to be available when I need one. Car ownership is a marketing concept, it actually makes no sense at all in the longer term. Half an hour a week, all that I need. Now, UK, 60 million people, say 30 million cars with the present model ( aye , that surprised me too, look it up ) Thats 30 million cars being used for at a guess 1 % of the time . So really society actually needs 300 000 cars. They need to be maintained and charged, let's call it half a million. Stuff it, call it a million. Implementing that would reduce the number of cars on the road by 29 million. Really, 29 million. So get 29 million cars off the road, the buses become much better since they are not in traffic jams.Delivery vehicles have space to deliver. The autonomous cars are used efficiently when they are needed, the roads are not clogged by parked ones. I don't have to pay the council a couple of hundred quid a year to park in my own street . I just pay for the car usage I actually use. The computers optimise the use of the autonomous vehicles, shared usage for common trips . Pie in the sky ? Might be. But 50 years on , Uk population 120 million , 60 million cars ? Someone work out how much space that takes. Ok, I accept its late, I was given a good bottle of whisky for sorting out stuff and you might well suggest I shut up and get back to making odd pre grouping stuff. Fair comment, but the engineer in me just does not see the present car ownership model working over the long term and the change to electric vehicles will I think provide the lever to shift the whole system from car ownership to car usage.

They look the part . I have never mastered lining either, but that is pretty good in 2mm.

I too saw it at the SECC. Impressive vistas with realistic train lengths. A happy session watching the trains go by.

They were a hefty engine Mikkel, the all over ROD black is a very basic livery. Westinghouse pumps were already fitted for overseas work so the Caley could have used them on the odd passenger service, though I have never seen a photo of that. I do trim the odd chair down, and several years on from tracklaying I spot a bump and trace it to a spot of flash I missed in the past. Mind you that is a fairly heavy model, a few hours of running it might just wear them down.

All things considered the modifications to the body were straightforward. It all comes apart easily and the plastic seems to work well. The list of things which need to be altered to make a Caledonian version are as follows; Replace buffers with continental style ones. ( these are from shapeways) Fit westinghouse pump, smokebox rhs. Remove safety valve cover, fit ross pop valves. Square off and slightly reduce chimney height. Reposition and fit single whistle. Remove boiler topfeed and pipework. Remove smokebox door handle, fit handwheel type Remove smokebox door number plate. Fit plate type smokebox hinge. Add lamp irons to cabside and tender rear top. Add safety chains to bufferbeams. Add header discharge valve, smokebox lhs. Add air brake reservoirs under rear footplate. Add brake pipes. Add 3 number plates. Cabsides and tender rear. Add NBL build plate. (I have some, can’t find them atm) There should also be a piston rod cover on the front of the cylinders, but since it would foul the front wheels I left it off. Jacks are another issue, some of the CR engines seem to have had them, others didn’t so mine hasn’t. One thing that the rtr manufacturers seem to do very well these days is backhead details. I wish they would sell all the bits as a separate pack for use in other models. Anyway, a simple paint job followed by a bit of a light weathering to bring out some of the detail. I need to wotk the weathering in a bit when the light is better. So how does it run? Well the honest answer is acceptably but not wonderfully smooth. It rides hard over some pointwork and the flanges hit the inner tops of the chairs in some places. The fact that I had to limit the sideplay of the front drivers so tightly means that it fishtails a bit on curves. That said it hauls 25 wagons happily and gets round most of the layout without falling off. I am not going to try to turn the wheels down, they are diecast from something a bit soft and I doubt I could do a good job of it. If this was going to be a mainstay of my loco fleet I would get frames and a full wheel set from agw and build a compensated chassis, I still have the option to do so if I feel I want to run more post war stock. However the point of the exercise was to see what I could do with a 50 quid bargain and I’m happy with the result for the amount I have spent.

Hmm, it is an odd word. I have in the past heard the the expression "to be in thirl " used , as in to owe or be obliged to. Sorry Edwardian, I seem to have wandered off topic a bit . I might mention the CR vehicles allocated to Waddell's sausages, but I won't. Until that is I have made one....

I often pop by this thread, always good to see people actually making things. Cab doors are one of those things that niggles at me a bit. Not a perfect solution, but this is how I got round the problem.

Out of interest there was a third class of wagon alongside PO and company owned wagons. These were known as "Thirled" wagons, owned by the railway company but for the exclusive use of a particular company and only to be hauled by the particular railway company that supplied them. The company name was usually added to the wagon in addition to the railway company lettering. Both the NB and CR had such arrangements between 1887 and 1911. Here is an example of a CR D22 thirled to John Watson Ltd. A good chapter on the subject in "Caledonian Railway wagons" by Mike Williams.

The plastic tender frames are just wide enough to let the EM wheels go in if you remove the splashers and file back the rear of the axleboxes so they are flush, but maybe the N class frames are narrower. There would be a bit more of a clearance if agw wheels were used. Maybe its me but I have had disasters in the past trying to prise axleboxes apart to get pinpoint wheelsets in, never mind trying it with those square ended things. Making a simple chassis allows a bit of compensation and gives somewhere to solder the aj to. Glad you are enjoying it Alistair. I am pleased that many people take one look and identify the area, the whole look of the layout is something I have tried hard to achieve.

Following WW1 the Caledonian, like many other railways, were short of locomotives. They therefore hired 53 surplus Robinson ROD 2-8-0 s from the large pool available locally at NBL . They ran 1919 to 1921. A comprehensive thread is available on the CRA forums Really it is a decade out of my time period, but Hattons were selling them at low prices so I bought one ( BR, ex GWR version ) just to see what I could do with it. First off loco chassis. I could buy all the stuff and make a proper EM version, but lets see what I could do with the Bachmann one. On examination the axles are 3mm with splined ends reduced to 2mm. These go into a plastic bush press fitted into a cast wheel. I dug about and found some perspex rod just over 3mm. Cut 4 bits , in the lathe, drill 2mm and superglue to the original axle at one end . When set put the axle back in the lathe and finish the perspex to the axle diameter. There followed a session of assembly adjustment and messing about. I made spacers so the front drivers have no sideplay. Even so the slide bars needed a bit of tweaking for the crossheads to clear the crankpins. The thing ran like a lemon first time, a fault traced to the second axle bearing being low. Well, when I say bearing I just mean the square slot in the chassis casting where it sits being low, so stripped down again and a bit of filing. It took a whole evening but eventually I got it running well enough. The bare chassis running round the layout and not derailing though riding a bit roughly through some pointwork. I could turn down all the flanges a bit but I’ll leave it for now. You would think that the tender would now be a simple job. Er, nope. The wheels have the same plastic bush and press onto 3mm axles with 2mm ends. These are a snap fit into the tender frames. Not going to go in if they are set for EM. Second problem, the outer faces of the wheels foul those internal “splashers”. Ok, chop those out. Well, I don’t like axles running in plastic anyway. So I might just as well make a proper tender chassis and bolt it on. It has the added bonus that I can make a set of pickups while I’m at it. Body next .

I made one for my current layout. It works well enough, might help with some ideas.

I too have done panels like Jim. Very thin paint, let the surface tension do the work, several coats. Hmm, might be me but paint just isn't what it used to be. ( A good number of threads about saying just that. ) I now find that all enamels need several well thinned coats and with things like red or yellow four or five coats. Drying times seem longer too. Mind you it does lead to a paint job taking a month. ( As an aside you would have laughed if you had seen me at the SECC kneeling down at the 2mm stand with my nose about four inches from Jims models so I could get them in focus. )

I watch all these newer methods with interest, that seems promising for a first go.

Mikkels stories always lead us into meandering thoughts, which is no bad thing . Though really it should read one dug .....

Ok, have a look at these : and I would never suggest that this is the best way of doing it , but it works for me . Electromagnets run hot , a swinging permanent magnet is simple and cheap.

Thanks all. The front of cab lining was tricky , but I think adds to the whole thing Compound. I must polish the edges of the hornguides at some point. Well, full drawing are available from the CRA Knuckles. The cost of a scratchbuild like that is actually less than a comparable RTR these days . The coaches are all from etches by John Boyle. Still serviceable , but now showing a patina of age. with a bit of varnish yellowing. Mind you, the real ones did too. Not sure if my tracklaying is particularly good Mikkel though I do think a well compensated or sprung chassis makes a huge difference to the apparent stability of a model. I have a couple of old rigid chassis engines and they do jump about far more. Thanks Wenlock, I intend to replace the one labelled "signal box " with a proper lever frame type. One of these days. It wasn't going very fast in the video, give it 12 Volts and it flies along . Trouble is you then can't video it .....

Wouldn't the slug still need intake grills for traction motor blowers ?

Hi Blandford. I cut curved brass strip using a pair compasses with a sharpened point replacing the lead . The roof was curved by rolling with a bar and a soft cloth, then tie wrapped to a jar that was conveniently the right diameter. ( beetroot I think ) . The 3 bits of curved brass were then soldered on and when removed from the jar cut to length so the side strips could be attached. Technically the roof supports should be L section, but thats a bit too fiddly for me .

Glorious stuff. Winding the tale round the characters and period setting, very cleverly done .

Well, it has taken a while but there it is. Number 729 is running and in service. As I have said I find painting and lining difficult but it does look reasonable from normal viewing distances. I am pleased with the way it runs, smooth and with quite sufficient tractive effort for my needs. Watching it in motion I think that the closed doors do make a difference, if I make another tender engine I will repeat that bit. Anyway a few pictures . A bit of video, rough but best I can manage. Hello to everyone I met at the SECC on Friday, interesting exhibition.

Looks rather nice in lined blue. Very neat job with the lining transfers corbs. Sadly the 53 ( yes 53 of them !! ) ROD 2-8-0 s hired by the Caledonian from 1919 to 1921 ran in unlined black.