Barclay

Treasured possessions!

The trouble I find is that whenever I do this, and it does feel good, it inevitably returns to its natural state in a matter of weeks!

I've been labouring on this 1361 0-6-0ST for months now, and it is finally coming together - CSP chassis & chimney, Gibson safety valve, buffers, injectors, smokebox door handle. Unlike the Coal Tank I can't really recommend this one - too many faults!

With the receipt of an order from Alan Gibson, I was able to add handrail knobs and a smokebox door handle, and, finally, a safety valve bonnet. The one with the kit was poor, and a better one I had in my bits tin was too tall (as was the original). I opted for a Gibson casting , I think it was for the 850 saddle tank, and it's very nice, and the right height. Maybe not the exactly correct profile, but better than the alternatives. Other odds and ends have been added and I think the body is ready for paint. Well I did until I checked the photo of 1364 and discovered it didn't have a horizontal handrail on the bunker, so those new holes will have to be filled! The front of the tank has also been improved since these photo's were taken, so it looks like more work before I fire up the airbrush. The chassis is nearly ready - I made up the brakes, but they vanished from my workbench when my back was turned so I'll have to find some others. All rather poor excuses for why a tarted up K's kit has taken me 10 months and counting - I've scratchbuilt loco's in less time than this!

CSP are very helpful with selling parts such as castings from their kits, so when you build the Lobitos loco you can probably obtain all the useful bits without having to buy a whole kit.

I'd go for no.3 - if you are imagining that MOR acquired a fireless loco in 1968 then why not imagine they got it from somewhere else? Perhaps they got this one instead of it being scrapped? AB 2326 of 1952 British Enka Ltd, Aintree; scrapped there 1968.

A concerted effort over the recent break from work has seen the trackwork completed. It has ended up very messy as some of the sleepers I stuck down in advance have turned out to not be in quite the right place! This of course is entirely the result of me adjusting it this way and that, and even now, looking at this picture, I see a slight lack of 'flow' to the track at the entrance to the run-round loop that might need yet another tweak! Luckily all of the sleepering will be covered up, and I have ordered some ivory coloured 1250 micron card to represent the concrete surface. This is the same thickness as the sleepers so I should be able to slip the first layer under the rails and then have a top surface that is slightly lower (about 3/4 mm) than the rail head. As I discovered many years ago with my British EM layout, a totally flush surface looks good until the first time you clean the track... Detailing and colouring the concrete surface will need a lot of practice and testing of techniques before I commit to doing it for real. For point control the simple option seems best so some DPDT switches will be ordered and once they are installed I can conduct some extensive testing before finally getting onto the scenics, and the carfloat of course - looking forward to that.

I keep feeling that I should have a go at it, probably shamed by those same few protagonists on the S4 Forum, who make you feel like a 1970's throwback for using compensation. However I still fail to understand how I can set up a chassis for a loco. that I haven't yet built, but the weight, and weight distribution of which, I must presumably have to know in advance - my modelling doesn't work like that I'm afraid!

At Mistley Quay in Essex these lines are still visible. I don't know when the connection was removed but it was certainly still in use in the early 80's.

I tend to leave the flange on the wheel bearing as it keeps the tyre away from the frame, and minimises risk of shorting. I just make sure the chassis is thin enough that there is a little sideplay and then remove it from front and rear with axle washers. You really don't need much though. Below is my own coal tank in EM. You can see there isn't a lot of sideplay, just a little on the centre axle is enough, though the rear part of the chassis was narrowed by a couple of mm to help the trailing wheels negotiate a 3' curve.

Close enough ? A little more austere inside than the Wolseley version!

Personally I would use the smallest possible motor and fill the spaces with lead. My own Pug, built with a Bristol Models chassis kit nearly 40 years ago has a tiny Tenshodo motor, but one of the small High Level ones would be a better bet now.

With apologies for the blurry shot:

And very lovely it looks. I wonder if the change in colour scheme is just for no.300 or a hint of things to come?

Years of life left in that! - I have a Casio scientific calculator that I had in 1981 when I started 'O' Level maths, and it's still running on the original AA batteries. Totally agree though that under normal conditions a burst battery can destroy your appliance. As to meters - I have an inexpensive Maplins analogue version that does the job nicely. I do feel that a meter with a pointer is more suitable for our needs than a digital one because it is so easy to spot the quiver of the needle if your new chassis has a slight tight spot.

You can only ask him, and if he says "B*&$£r Off" then start your own in a similar style. Plenty of advice on here to help.

Looks a fair bit like one of those Great Eastern tanks (LNER Y4). Great work!

The grass is always greener - it's the human condition isn't it? I wouldn't worry about it, and don't forget that anyone who posts their whole life on the interweb is probably highly conceited or indeed seeking affirmation themselves. There is a whole army of people much worse off than you and I who aren't doing it don't forget! I have nothing to do with social media, except train and classic car stuff for this very reason. I once joined a hi-fi forum as I love music and am fond of my hi-fi, which is pretty good, but once on that forum all I saw was people showing everyone how much incredibly expensive kit they had, leaving me feeling pretty deflated and even a little patronised. I stopped using it and soon felt better!

I think that's a good decision - coal is very messy, but, as you say, nothing except coal looks like coal! I have read painting/weathering articles and books where people go to a lot of trouble to make other stuff look like it because they claim the real thing cannot be scaled. It looks just fine to me. Last year with the imminent ban on sales of domestic coal I saved an ice cream tub of it for future loco and wagon projects, just to be on the safe side.

Thanks for the info - I'm beginning to wish I'd paid more attention to detail in the track construction, those really short heel switches would have looked rather good, but hey I'm lazy! Having made a definitive decision on how to operate the pointwork at least 3 times now I'm veering towards having DPDT switches mounted under the board with the switch accessible from the top, covered by a length of square brass tube to the top of which is soldered something like the steel gratings you have illustrated above. You would only need to slide it back and forth with a finger. I really need to make up my mind.

I have one of those Albions - they definitely benefit from a repaint as the colours they come in all seem pretty gaudy. Looking at this it desperately needs flush glazing too!

The mojo has been distinctly lacking this summer and autumn - I've done a bit on my EM projects but not much. Hopefully this piece of nonsense will help revitalise the US arm of the operation... I got this old Varney "Little Joe" B&O switcher from Elaine's Trains for £15 - great service as always. It was cheap because it was missing a motor. The cast body suggests it was produced between 1941 and 1953 so it has a lot of history behind it, but I was pleasantly surprised by its overall quality and fineness compared to British efforts of the same era - you couldn't put early Tri-ang on modern track and expect it to run that's for sure. I really wanted to find a worm that meshed with the existing gear wheel, to avoid having to pull the wheels off, and got lucky at the third attempt - I had a set of old 20:1 gears that came with a kit a couple of years ago and the worm meshed very nicely. It was fitted to a 6 pole square can motor that came cheaply from China a while back - they are very strong and smooth, and also rather slow revving, their only downside being that they are not at their best with a feedback controller. The motor was secured down with a brass strap, and some simple pickups fitted: After this it was time to test and I am pleased to report that it runs well, though the gear noise is pretty loud, which is unfortunate because these motors are practically silent! I am tempted to clean off the lube and run in the gears with Brasso to help them to play more nicely together. Then it will need some more detail. All rather silly really but very enjoyable. By the way, does anyone have one of those after-market valve gear kits for one of these that they don't need?

After 40 years building wagons without any help I recently obtained one of these Brassmasters jigs and I must say it was a pleasure to use.

Cleanliness is usually the answer - if the wire is old and has lost its shine the solder may not bind to it.

Yes please !!!