xModellerx

Hi Dave... please can you announce on here when the deposit emails have gone out as between moving house and countries I am worried that they will go out and I will not get them even though I have email forwarding set. It would be a great help to get a single post on here so I can follow up direct if nothing is received Thanks.

Not sure if it would help but I have this in my file folder that I got from somewhere ages ago Looks to me that if you treat it as a wall, then you might just get away with it assuming all your stock fits within the loading gauge. Of course the ultimate test is.. if nothing hits it, then you have clearance

Hi Dave Yeah.. firebox top is wrong.. I think the front is a gnats tadgers to high it should be closer to flush with the boiler top IMO, and the cab end another gnats too low giving a wrong impression. Your CAD has the top of firebox at the cab end level with the top of the cab front windows and it should be a little higher from these phots. As to cab windows.. well there were multiple versions depending on period... heres two pics to conpare and as you can see, the windows are different sizes. Your CAD appears to have the slightly smaller window, but the rear of it is in the position for the larger window. The front edge of the window appears to be common to both types. Spud 7 with the double chimbley has the (slightly by about 1 rivet) narrower ones.. the spud 2 and line drawing show larger. By the way... looking at the .. oh god, don't remember what it's called.. but the bulge under the chimney RHS smokebox.. it seems straight on a king (unlike other western locos)... conpare in spud 2 the king with the loco behind it, also compare to spud 7 with double chimney. (added a screffy pic of KGV as well to show it more clearly). This may be a date dependant thing as well, but a lot of phots on the web show it straight and it should be bigger and start futher forward of the CAD idea.. (may be a doubly chimbly thing.. don't know but have found one phot of Henry 8 showing it like your CAD so beats me but from the photo.. blue spud 2 as it is today is single chimney and straight cover thingy. ) I'm not a specialist but it looks wrong to me but hopefully someone with good knowledge can confirm or deny the options and the whys and wherefores.

I spoke to a friend of my fathers who was a footplate inspector on the GWR and regularly travelled on the footplate of Kings after having been a fireman and driver on the GWR. He states that whilst tender first was not forbidden, it was generally only done on empty stock workings out of necessity (such as a possible run from Kingswear to Goodrington on a Summer Saturday when the sidings at Kingswear were full and there was no spare loco available) or where, for some reason, the turntable or triangle were out of order. The main reason being that the driving position on a tender first King was awful. In addition to the driver being "wrong side" of the footplate, the size of the tender blocked the view of any signals and as such relied on the fireman being the signal observer even though the driver was still "in charge and responsible" for the loco and train. It also meant that all movements on the controls were reversed and so it took a lot more concentration to operate effectively and that you had to keep looking round to check all your gauges and devices. A King running tender first was only possible when the timetable allowed for slower running. In addition, King drivers.. who were the top flight drivers, were not keen on getting their uniforms and persons covered with coal dust that blew down from the tender when running tender first. He stated that for training purposes it was required to be able to drive a King tender first, but very few drivers would accept that option if any other option were available. As to piloting a King, he absolutely confirms the statement by the StationMaster in the post above this, but also stated that it took a lot for a King driver to accept the need for a Pilot, even when it became obvious. He said that King drivers were, in his words, "an 'ornery lot" who fully basked in their status as a top flight driver and wanted to be the lead loco wherever possible.

it's a King... no tender first running.. if you need to turn it and you haven't got a turntable on the layout.. run it off-scene.. manually turn it and run it back and assume the turntable is a bit further up the line I can't think of a GWR terminus that allowed Kings into it that didn't have a turntable or triangle.

Trade gets my vote G

Kingswear, providing you sit under the overall roof and look out south towards the river mouth and over the ferry pontoon and not across the new shipyard and marina areas M

Yeah.. Lockheed developed one for the US that fired the seats downward rather than risk the rotor blades not being blown off properly for the AH-56 Cheyenne. Development work stopped on that one, when there was an accidental firing of the ejector seat when the aircraft was on the ground with a pilot in the seat. M

Awesome info Andy. TY for posting. I have some optoisolators in stock and may also look at driving them from an Arduino local to the servos with Solid state Relays as an option If you are looking for PCB's to be made, I would recommend these people... https://oshpark.com I have had a number done for me from them for making Arduino based DCC decoders for lighting etc. (The finished boards come in a very distinctive dark purple colour) 2 layer boards are $5 per square inch (with 3 copies of your board included in that price) and ship in under 12 calendar days from ordering with basic international shipping free, although you can request faster shipping for a price. Regards M