ecgtheow

Headstock, I have always enjoyed reading your posts & learned a lot but now you seem to be revealing yourself as a serial killer having apparently buried your house guests ("digging out the boarders in the garden"). What will you do with the bodies now you have dug them up? William (in jest)

There are other ways round the problem of too little length (no pun intended but I am going to leave the wording as it is) quite literally going "round" so long as one has enough width. I am lucky in having a room 5.3m (nearly 17'5") by 4.4m (14'5") so instead of an oval with straights in the middle & too tight curves at both ends my layout is more or less D-shaped. The viewing side has a continuous curve from side to side with an average radius of 2.5m (8'2") so I can sit in the middle & watch trains at a more or less constant distance running around 7.85m (25'9"). My longest trains such as the WCJS/LNWR 2pm from Euston are not much over 2m (6'6) long so the layout fulfils the1/3 rule for "realism" quoted by others. Consecutive Peco Code 83 5'/3' curved points are used for entry the fiddle yard tracks. Currently my layout is only baseboards & some track but a preliminary test showed it works. Now all the boards have been separated for wiring. William

Still on the theme of C12 & E4 locos please see some silk purse painting by Larry Goddard (C12 but I can't recall who built it) & building painting & photographing (E4) by Steamline Sheffield. I am essentially of a pre-grouping model railway persuasion.

Dave, Thanks. This is very clear & helpful. I will give it a go when I return to my normal home. William

There was also a notice for future Compulsory Striking (the company) Off in December but this was withdrawn in January because there was new information. I wrote to the proprietor, who replied that his case against Bank Santander is coming to court next month Covid-19 willing, but I guess that it will be postponed. He has no stock to sell & needs money to restart his business, so it seems that whether Golden Age Models starts trading again is dependent on the outcome of that court case. In the meantime I wait to hear more about progress on improving the running of GAM coaches as I have a Silver Jubilee set with similar problems to others too. William

Thanks again for some really good ideas & comments. As promised yesterday please see 2 photos attached. The first shows the baseboards more or less in their entirety with what will be the fiddle yard at the back & the visible part of the layout at most of the sides & the front. Using a "D" shape for the layout allows one to get a visible run of 7.85m (25.8') in a room only 5.3m (17.4') long & (4.4m (14.4') wide with a continuous curve for the main running lines average radius 2.5m (8.2') & minimum radius 1.77m (5.8'). I will be able to sit in the middle & watch the trains run around me from one side to the other. There will be no corners in the back scene & by using Peco Code 83 5foot/3foot curved points for entry to the fiddle yard one can get 2 quite long trains on each fiddle yard track. Of course that's all in the future with much to do before that happens. What allowed me to get all the baseboards level (with the exception of the 2 lower boards on the right on which an embankment & bridge over a river will be built) was; using the 1m spirit level only for the front to back across the width of the boards; adjusting only the 2 legs on the free end of each board as they were joined together; & most importantly using the laser level to get the front edges of all boards level (photo 2). in case there are queries for the the sharp eyed, who may notice the laser level on the tripod & also see that the red line denoting level that it projects is lower on the fiddle yard boards than on the ones on what will be the visible part of the layout, it's because there will be no underlay below the track in the fiddle yard, but there will be elsewhere so those boards are the depth of the underlay (3mm) lower. William

Many thanks for all the suggestions. The spirit level I have been using is 1metre long so good for checking the level along & across each board as well as across the joints between boards. The laser level is very good for getting the fronts of every board to the same level (I would recommend anyone trying to level a series of boards to borrow or buy one) & the rectangular boards were relatively easy to level.. It was the rhomboid boards that make up the "D" layout shape that were the real problem especially when I was making adjustments at opposite corners. Happily I have managed to get it all level now that I have hung each board on to its already level neighbouring board & only had to deal with its 2 legs at the free end. Fortunately also there are 2 are boards 10cm lower than the others to allow me to build an embankment & bridge across a small river, so if there is any remaining discrepancy in height it can be dealt with there. I will post a photo tomorrow to show the result. William

Thanks. I suspected that just using the 2 legs at the outer end of each board may be easier. I will try that & report progress tomorrow. William

Thanks for your response. Although the fiddle yard is next to a wall but as the layout is a "D" shape it means most of the others aren't. I didn't have too much difficulty levelling the rectangular boards which make up the fiddle yard, but I am having a lot of difficulty with the others. William

Like many others on this thread I am not a very competent modeller: building wagon kits & the occasional simple coach kit are the most difficult things that I have attempted. However, with the extra time now available I have completed all 13 baseboards for my new D-shaped layout in a 5.3m by 4.4m room. Somewhat miraculously they more or less fit together. The joints aren't perfect, but the final board joins up well with the boards on either side to complete the "D". My problem now is to ensure that they are all level with each other. So far it's not going well despite using a long spirit level & a laser level indicator. Every board has 4 legs & each leg has adjustable feet but I am beginning to wonder if it would be better to have just one board with 4 feet & after ensuring that is as level as I can make it just hang the next board on it & focus on getting it level using just the 2 feet on its other end? There has been a lot on this thread about the importance of achieving an absolutely level baseboard surface & that's what I am trying to do. I would be most grateful for advice on how best to go about it. I am sure that would help may others in a similar predicament to me. William

Send the book back Tony & suggest that BRM doesn't review because thee are so many errors. If you write a truthful review, there will be trouble! William

I think that in libel & slander cases the truth wins out & there were those characters, but I doubt any railway company would dare to name locos with their names either then or now for rather obvious reasons. Anyway I preferred "The Magic Roundabout", but then I suppose I am a sort of latter-day existentialist. William

Having raised the issue of what is risqué while others are remembering characters from childhood TV series it's surprising that nobody has yet mentioned the names of Captain Pugwash's subordinates. Imagine locos called "Master Bates" or "Seaman Stains"! William

Though it's written in jest let's be careful taking the Micky out of Tony. Nobody has a skin like an armadillo & things can easily get out of hand & hurt people even though that's not the intention. William

Perhaps it would have been like rail transport in Switzerland? The last mainline steam locomotive for the SBB federal railways was built in 1917 (a 2-10-0 which was actually very efficient for its time & lasted until 1968). Thereafter almost all lines were electrified progressively & now Switzerland has the most dense railway network in the world, the greatest distance travelled/ inhabitant (1,528 miles in 2015) & has been ranked first in Europe for intensity of its use, quality of service & safety record. One could go on. All that AND the cost to performance ratios outperform the average for all European countries. The downside of course would be no glorious steam locomotives such as A4, Duchess, Merchant Navy, 9F, etc which the majority of users of this blog including me prefer to remember. William

You probably mean torque which is stressing the mechanical parts when a P2 starts off as power is the rate (energy amount per time period) at which work is done or energy converted. William

Another company that also looks to be coming to the end of its days unless anybody has contrary information is Golden Age Models. The Registrar of Companies published on 10 Dec 2019 that unless shown to the contrary the company will be struck off the register & dissolved not less than 2 months from that date & that all property & rights vested in or held in trust for it will belong to the Crown. It's sad both for the proprietor Quentin Poore & for those who paid for models in advance as I did for an 00 gauge streamlined Merchant Navy in full & deposit on a streamlined P2. Hopefully Hornby will produce the latter in due course as others have mentioned on this blog. William

Though not built in Britain there were other successful 2-8-0 locomotives introduced in Europe at about the same time as the GWR 28XX. How about the Gotthardbahn C4/5 class? According to Locobase these locos were 4-cylinder compound motion, bar frame, high-pitched boiler with wide frame firebox unhampered by the wheels & fitted with superheaters introduced in 1906 & could manage an average speed of 17 mph up the mountains & 40 mph on the level. Their tonnage ratings were: Mountain - freight 180 tons & passenger 260 tons (though there is some confusion about the latter figure) Level - freight 520 tons & passenger 800 tons Anyone who has driven over the Gotthard pass will realise that these are very impressive data for their time. Since they also had to descend as well as climb the passes they must have had impressive braking power too. As Swiss Railways decided to make no more steam locomotives after 1917 (the last were the C5/6 2-10-0 development of the C4/5) in favour of electric traction (Clive Mortimer will be pleased about that?) they are scrapped in 1925. The photo above is a Lemaco HO model. I have one but to respond while this topic is still quite current it was easier to use this stock shot.

Tony, Well done. It needed to be said & it was best coming from you. Otherwise we would be joining those who try to ban those who they disagree with. Unfortunately it seems to be the flavour of today. William

Tony, For me your earlier shots with a slower shutter speed & so more movement in the wheels & motion suggest speed better. William

Sorry for my cock up. The wagons are either ICI or John Summers hoppers & because there don't seem to be any ICI markings on them it makes it more likely that this is a John Summers train of iron hoppers somewhere on the line from Bidston Docks to Connahs Quay possibly near Heswall? William

I lived in the Wirral until 18 & saw many Semis mainly at Liverpool Lime street including standing right next to them as well as travelling to London on the trains they pulled. I remember them just as the photo above lighter than their coaches. William

But also no bars across the access where the milk churns are.