Barclay

Loving this, it's going to look superb. It's decades since I built a loco without beams or at least some form of springing - I don't have Tony Wright's 12 wheels and 80mph to keep my loco's going! To be fair, except in P4 you only need it for faultless pickup and if you're having a stay-alive that'll take care of that. But then I see no purpose to split axles, with apologies to @5050, so it just goes to show that we all like what we like I suppose !

This is just what I need - another loco project!

When I saw this NW2 on ebay I couldn't resist. All I really knew about it was that it was old - very old. On receipt it revealed itself to be a Varney product, and has even consented to run, after the rusty worms were cleaned up and everything was given some oil or grease. Current consumption is off the scale, quite literally.

Clearly loads of work required - this won't get the layout built...

3 minutes ago, Cymru Rails said:

For some reason the images on this post no longer load, would you be able to repost?

A large number of images on RMWeb were lost a few years ago. You will find this problem on many older threads unfortunately.

11 hours ago, B-R said:

Evening Barclay this looks like a very good brass etched kit. Your build on this kit so looking splendid. I like the colour you have painted the Ruston.

Thank you - the colour is GWR green, the later, brighter shade.

32 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

That looks spiffing - but do you also imagine commodities and points of origin and destination? Oil tanks and coal trucks may not need this, but vans etc can acquire new purpose.

Ha ha - I don't even know what they keep in that warehouse !!

11 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

It was inspirational on first reading of this lovely layout.

 

Each to their own. It took me fifteen years to fully grasp that operation is absolutely 'where it's at' as the reason for having any model railway gear. If someone else will do the construction that's great.

 

A French friend many years ago gave me a name for my layouts:  'trainodrome'. There's the track formation per prototype layout, and ballasting in the on-scene sections because I like the noise it provides. Nothing else scenic provided, cannot form trains of buildings, shunt road vehicles or operate trees to timetable, etc. no point having them.

I think this illustrates what a broad church our hobby is !

38 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Operating? Does anyone try to run a realistic sequence?

 

Why else would anyone build a layout? 

I must admit that I don't operate all that often. It's the making of things that takes precedence for me.

Freight/shunting only for me, but every wagon has an operating card which shows where it has to go. The cards are hung on appropriate hooks representing each destination.

Well the Ruston couldn't handle the sand wagon - no surprise! The company's other diesel, Kerr Stuart 4421/29 has been called in to help the diesel lobby save face...

A complete slur on the real 48DS of course, which could have handled something like 10 coal wagons on the level. When I get 'round to building an 88DS it will definitely have geared drive to both axles.

56 minutes ago, Ruston said:

 

Or... Would compensation still work with the solid rods and could both outer axles rest on knife edges, or would that be too unstable?

Part of me wants you to try it !

I would be more inclined to curl that gearbox round as Mike says - maybe drive the back axle and put the motor under the short bonnet? Traditional compensation, at least how I do it, is made much more tricky by the split axles, but maybe CSBs are the answer in this instance? Disclaimer - I've never used them and don't intend to, but the people who like them really like them!

I think you would have to joint the rods though to allow flexibility.

Looking forward to developments.

3 minutes ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

or whether new stock will be purchased by the nationalised operator.

And built in Britain? Or is that just too radical?

At the moment we seem to have the worst of both worlds - if a service loses money they don't fancy keeping it so the Govt. has to take it over to keep it running. If it makes money, then it's straight into those pockets, so, to me, surely better to have the lot and let the profit-making lines subsidise the others?

I'm finding Dettol to be a good and plastic-friendly paint stripper. It can take 24 hours though. If you don't strip then definitely take heed of the comments regarding removal of the original transfers - I have found they can leave a 'ghost' even when I thought I had rubbed them down thoroughly.

8 hours ago, DCB said:

Maybe that is a possible  revenue stream for Hornby, spares for older models , which seem to last for 50-70 years  even if their recent efforts don't.

 

The Nellie/Polly/Connie locos seemed to start with a black loco with solid non  see through wheels a  steel strip chassis with Mazak spacers rivetted in, unique I believe for Hornby and an X04 motor, 2 start worm small worm wheel (same as transcon )  Later they received separate steel tyres and much later shiny plated tyres.  Some plated tyre ones have a huge dome and some have a Can motor similar to contemporary Scalextric cars, not as good as an X04 similar  but not the same as 101 smokey Joe etc..  The Romfrord 30/40/60:1 gear sets fit the chassis and X04 as does the Triang TT single start worm for slower sub 100MPH top speed.

Its a pretty little thing but could not be built as a full size loco as the firebox would hit the crank axle and the connecting rods would foul the leading axle .  It needs outside cylinders and ideally outside valve gear  unless the drive was from the front axle a la Dolgoch I am planning stretched 2-4-0T versions which would have leading axle drive from inside cylinders for my 5 X 2   00 gauge layout. and maybe a non stretched outside cyl 0-6-0T version.

Somewhere on the Pugbash thread is an outside cylinder 0-6-0 version, and it looks superb.

Modelmaster may have been discontinued but Creative Models still have a fair few in stock. I recently stocked up on Insignia Blue for my Santa Fe Loco's but they were out of Blue Angels Yellow already. Hopefully these enamel paints, unopened, will last as well as Humbrol - I've opened some of these after 40 years or so and found the paint was good to go!

1 hour ago, Chas Levin said:

 

Morning Rodney, yes, my kit has the same deformity:

 

 

 

 

 

So I too will be adding someone else's underframe. Not a problem, as I'm currently building my first sprung wagon and I'm keen to try more...

 

 

Interesting - I don't remember mine looking that rough, but it was an old kit, in a plastic bag with the orange header card. Perhaps the mould became damaged at some point?

The only one I have is this 1/43 Moskvitch 426, a genuine Soviet model - the paint quality is appalling! Worth 25p at an exhibition though.

The High Level Kits website has downloadable profiles of all their gearboxes so you can hold them against a model or drawing and see what will fit. Remember to allow for the thickness of the material though. Given the distance involved I'd be inclined to make a small card mock up of your chosen motor/gearbox combination to make doubly sure it fits inside the body. 

The numbering, in line with the company's other diesel, was completed with gold LMS block style letters, shaded red. The bonnet was fixed down, the crew added, quite prominent as they hide the motor. Then weathering with an overall spray of very dilute 'dirt' to tone the colours together, then assorted powders, and some AK 'shafts and bearing grease' on the oily bits.

The size comparison with some other stock is amusing - the Kerr, Stuart is a small loco:

"Can we shift these?" (Answer - NO !)

I appreciate some will wonder why I built a loco with such little utility, but it was how they were built in the 80's when this kit came out, and I liked the idea of using all the bits that came with the kit. I am very happy with the slow smooth running though, and it is great fun to let this little loco potter along the layout at its scale maximum of 9mph!

Looking at the pictures now I realise I forgot the sandpipes. Luckily it's an easy fix.

Out and about on the rail system, I always love findings relics of the 'old' railway - you know, when it was interesting! Buffer stops seem to catch my eye. I know that different railways used different styles, but I don't know much about them, so I thought it might be fun to start a thread where we can post pictures of the things and those who know a little more about them can maybe enlighten us as to their origins. There must still be some pre-group gems out there. I'll start with a couple from a bay platform at Preston, one of which looks pretty standard and the other appears to have been 'customised' with some wagon buffers? Comments please..

12 minutes ago, Philou said:

 

Hello @Barclay.  Oo-er - now you're getting technical :). Do you want a £5 shot or a £10 one? Would you like a shot of just the section I'm working on at the moment or the whole thing (not much to see in the latter case). With my small camera I can do a series of overlapping pictures but I haven't any software to create a single picture. I know with the 'phone it can do a panoramic picture, but it might be rather big in terms of Mb and it would be just my luck that it would be too big to post here (unless I join the Gold Club). I'll give it a go, but you'll have to wait a few days as I've just undone the track-bed so that I can do some fiddling to give the 'styrene some support and to do the faffy bits between the branch and mainlines - looks as if a Scud has landed on the layout!

 

Today it went very cold and it wasn't very inviting to be out in the barn, but as mentioned above I managed to do some support work to the 'styrene so that's ready to complete the Dymented area when I get back out there. As I've undone the track-bed, it also means that I can decorate the bridge abutments in the house of an evening. For the rest of this afternoon, I shall do more on the skew bridge as I have the angle in stock.

 

More updates tomorrow,

 

Philip

Ha ha - I just meant a more standing back kind of shot to give an impression of the whole, if you know what I mean?

I'm enjoying catching up on this thread, as I've recently started doing some restorations of old 'toy' cars - it's quite addictive.

In your first post you mention glazing for the Dinky Pontiac - I've recently ordered some parts from model-supplies.co.uk and they do list this part. Can't recommend them yet, as I've only just placed my first order. If you want any detail shots for the A60 do ask as I have a real one!

I recently built this very old K's Great Eastern Railway loco sand wagon. I say very old because the wheels supplied with it weren't on pin-point axles. It has Prickly Pear etched W-irons and springing, and runs very nicely, but, Hell, it's heavy! Lettered as an internal user.

It is possible to add a kind of knurling to a steel shaft by rolling it back and forth under a fine rat tail file, and this can be enough to turn a slightly loose fit into an interference fit. Motor shafts can be very hard though so I'm not sure how effective it would be in this case. 

Hi I use Loctite 603 retaining compound for tasks like this. Expands slightly in the presence of metal and locks it in place, but, as described above, can be released with the application of heat.