Harlequin

They are not fitted on my Diag. O No.61 but I wouldn't describe them as missing. Very often PCBs are design with pads for optional components and I think these are just options that have not been used in the release models.

Here's my Minories brought out from its dusty corner with the cobwebs (mostly) brushed away: The curved turnout in the centre really makes it flow nicely: Curves feeding into other curves with similar curves either side. ☺️ I cut back all the Peco gubbins around the tie bars and the tie bar ends themselves so they don't stand out so much, which probably helps the appearance of flow. (The way the line into platform 3 joggles around the hinge post is an original CJF feature.)

CJF made beautiful designs within the limits of the technology at the time. We certainly have the advantage over him with computer design tools and precision measuring and cutting. Hopefully people don't take those old plans too literally these days. (Maybe I'm guilty of that!) In my version of the 7ft by 1ft Minories I managed to keep the turnouts clear of the centre joint by about 30mm and at the entrance/exit the turnout is exactly flush to the 7ft mark, as drawn above, but there's a sturdy end frame the track has to pass through and I use the depth of that to protect the turnout from damage.

Yes, quite right. I will amend my post. Thanks.

Dean Goods: Uncoloured for route availability, Power class A (not Ungrouped as previously stated). So no need for that decal at all. (But red would never have been right.) See Jason's post below. The cast iron "Caution" notice goes inside the cab, either on the left hand side sheet or the left side of the roof, but you may not consider it worth doing. Similar to this:

This is what I see using all Streamline Medium turnouts with no tricksy angles: The ladder starts on the right exactly on one of the blue 1ft grid lines and all parts are butted exactly together. A thin white line shows where the two 3ft 6in boards join and you can see that the last turnout overhangs that line. You can also see that the basic 12° geometry doesn't slew the track across enough or at the right angle to feed Platform 3. I have complete faith in my turnout templates because they proved to be very accurate when I used 1:1 printouts to lay down my Minories. (And that process taught me that I should even have allowed for the extra length caused by insulating joiners!)

I agree that in some of the many versions of Minories that CJF drew and published it might have been possible to maintain a 3ft minimum radius using the turnouts that were available at the time. In "60 plans for small railways", where Minories is plan "49s", the length of the layout is 6'8", there is no kickback siding but no minimum radius is stated. So this version might be possible with min radius 3ft turnouts. However, in "60 plans for small locations" the introduction says that all pointwork is Setrack or Streamline, Minories is now Plan SP35. the length is 7ft, it has a kickback and the minimum radius is stated as 3ft. This combination is, I think, impossible.

The axonometric view is reproduced in my track plans album, using my Streamline plan: BTW: I think that the statement of 3ft minimum radius that accompanies the original plan in "60 plans..." was simply a mistake. I don't think it is or was possible in the 7ft by 1ft size given for the 00 version with the kickback siding.

What do you mean by jerky running? Can you post a video showing what you mean? Do you hear a clicking sound when she runs? If so, have a look at @mikesndbs very important "Last Tip".

This is what I came up with using current Peco Streamline 00 turnouts and fitting the throat into the 1ft by 3ft6in footprint of the 00 plan published by Peco in "60 Plans for Small Locations": Two Small radius turnouts (blue) were needed to fit the throat into the restricted length and it's crucial that the inbound tracks turn 15° across the board to use the maximum diagonal length. There's a short 3° turn between the two main crossovers to achieve that. The light brown turnouts are all Mediums and the green is a Curved left, which really makes the plan work. I have actually built this and it looks as smooth in real life as it does in the drawing! ☺️ IMHO, if a plan doesn't have that characteristic "Minories Eye" of the trailing and facing crossovers combined with a turn, it ain't Minories. That is the source of all Minories' magical powers.

To the top and bottom electrical lugs on the motor. No. A painter got badly injured while trying to line the top of the firebox and after that it was discontinued. If the motor does work, check that the two copper contacts here, do make contact with the pickup metal on the keeper plate. I.e. bend them out a bit.

I have a problem with number 97: I had run her quite a lot backwards and forwards on my oval test layout with no problems but I turned her around today. (Should have done that sooner, I know.) She is now hesitating intermittently when turning right on 2ft2in radius curves, sometimes with a click and sometimes even with a small hop into the air! I assume something is jamming in the motion but I haven't been able to see what yet. I don't want to push it too far so if I can't diagnose the problem soon I'll have to report back to Kernow MRC. I have fitted the smaller scroll irons but I don't think they are involved. 😞

What kind of controller are you using, Mike?

Let’s go surfing now, Everybody’s learning how, (Even the sheep!) 😆

Hi Matias, The Americans would call this a switching layout but in British terminology we don't use the term "switching" so much in this context. We call it shunting. (Switching usually refers to electrical gubbins.) With the small footprint you have available it's definitely best to keep the plan simple. You need to use just enough turnouts to make the layout entertaining and no more, and employ as many clever tricks as you can to avoid turnouts. (A "Turnout" is a ready-made bit of track combining a set of points and a common crossing.) If shunting is the aim here, do you need to clutter things up with passenger-related platforms and station buildings? Some sort of temporary, off-scene track work (a "fiddle yard") can represent "the rest of the world" where locos and wagons come from and go to. It can also do the job of some of the station turnouts (see previous point). For instance, it can act as the turnout at the far end of the run round loop. ("Run round", not "runaround.") The simplest fiddle yard is just a length of track that you connect to the layout when you want to operate it, like @DCB showed above. The plan will look more interesting and dynamic if the main line is curved and/or diagonal.

This is very welcome and quite clever because it allows Accurascale to push back very gently on a difficult issue: People still using ancient DC controllers.

This sort of thing: https://www.robinsonwirecloth.co.uk/online-shop/Soffit-mesh-stainless-steel-30m-roll-p49612077/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnrOtBhDIARIsAFsSe51vnyTudppesg2NEFovyuo47yO-co4f0eKyTV6WM1rH7xDNaxvw-uAaAvV1EALw_wcB You need 75mm width. I don’t think 50mm is quite wide enough. Screwfix sell something similar for 3 times the price! I had some left over from my house build. A full 30m roll would probably be enough for about a thousand tenders!

Hi Andy, Search for "Lode Star", "Killarney" or "Dean goods" in the DCC sound section. I use stainless steel insect mesh and I'm convinced that having the sound come out directly at you makes a big difference.

The chimney has to be removable to get the body off the chassis. E.g. if you need to get inside for decoder fitting/changing.

I very gingerly opened up No. 61 to fit a decoder: The vertical boiler and its fittings are lovely: The blue capacitor in the luggage/speaker compartment is labelled C17 but I haven't worked out what its purpose is yet. I found that there are some cunningly hidden vents to let the sound out just above the rear driving axle:

Here's an attempt at focus-stacking, to keep the whole vehicle in focus: It's not a great photo but it does show the impressive length of the steam railmotor. She's standing on a 2ft radius curve. The smaller scroll irons are fitted.

Here's a focus-stack attempt, also under artificial light:

Over time I've realised that I don't take very good photos of my models. I think that's due to bad lighting, no scenery, the wrong sort of camera and rank amateurism on my part. So please bear that in mind... The first four photos were taken in natural daylight. (Cat hairs in the motion already!) This photo shows how long she is and you can see some nice underframe detail. This last photo was taken under artificial light.

The sound is pretty good. It's loud enough and all the sounds are nicely balanced but maybe a little bit muffled. It comes with "Active Drive" enabled, which I like. That means that you get gradual acceleration, deceleration and when decelerating you just hear the valves going phut phut. The chuff sync with the motion was a bit out and needed tweaking. The main whistle sound does seem to have a bit of distortion at the end. It might be loud enough to overdrive the speaker, perhaps? I need to do some testing. I can't see any clear sound paths out yet but I'll know more when I open one of them up.

I live in Devon, which is considered by most of the country to be the westest west of the far southwest (they think Swindon is in "The Westcountry") - and yet Camborne is so far west from me it's almost in a different time zone! 😆 When I drove down to Kernow MRC a couple of years ago it took me two hours. Admittedly I did get caught up in the A30 roadworks. (Are they ever going to finish the A30?)