Harlequin

Yes, it was offered to me a couple of days ago (also on a Dell). It is now telling me that there's a Cumulative Update Preview, which I guess includes Copilot, but install is sitting at 0%...

Has anyone actually got Copilot to work? When I press Windows+C here precisely nothing happens.

The drawings are mostly the same as the ones reproduced in the Vaughan book but not so legible, even though they are larger...! Very useful set of photos, though. Could you get an idea for spacing and height from photos of the station that inspired Chuffnell R? Or aerial photos? Lamps are often marked on station plans in the Clark "Historical Survey" books. Combining all that it should be possible to work out spacing and best placement.

I know it's subjective and there's much debate about GWR Locomotive green but, to my eye, Accurascale's rendition is too saturated (too colourful). Just stating my opinion, not looking to start any arguments. 🙂

There are various drawings of lamp columns and lanterns in Vaughan's "Great Western Architecture". The 1936 GWR drawing shows, from ground level: Standard No.1 cast iron = 6' 1 1/2" up to the bottom of the lantern Standard No.2 cast iron = 8' 1 1/2" ditto Standard No.3 cast iron = 13' 3 1/2" ditto There are a set of concrete posts with similar heights. Yard lamp posts are much taller. A BR drawing shows GWR platform lamp columns with very similar heights to GWR Standard No.1.

@Miss Prism Are you asking this in the context of Hornby's model of Caldicot Castle? The steam pipes look right to me, curve-straight-curve as opposed to continuous curves. (Is the continuous curve version what you mean by "elbow"?)

No great surprise. No Saint, no Bulldog. The closest they got is new versions of the 94XX. Otherwise, mostly modern image again. Bachmann aren't really relevant to us any more, are they?

The amplifier circuit on the decoder usually blows, not the speaker. The typical causes are either a momentary short circuit across the speaker wires or the wrong impedance speaker for the decoder - e.g. driving a 4Ohm speaker with a decoder rated for 8Ohms only, especially when the volume is turned up high. Did you see smoke or smell burning? Whether you did or not, you might be able to see evidence of heat on the decoder, which would be a tell-tale sign. If you're not sure what to look for, post photos here of the front and back of the decoder.

@rue_d_etropal There is a reasonable suggestion that you supply a sample STL for the interested readers of this topic to experiment with printing on the many different machines that we have and then share our results. This would help to answer many of your questions (and ours). Are you going to engage with this idea?

Although the tooling hasn't changed much if you want a new Castle, as opposed to used ones which are a bit of a lottery in my experience, this (and her sister Caerphilly) is the only game in town! Edit: But you're right, if you've got the patience to wait a while the price will undoubtedly come down.

Hornby's Caldicot Castle in early livery has come into stock at Hatton's (can't remember where I ordered mine from): Relieved to see no fire iron tunnel!

How were the existing rivet holes dealt with in the buffer plate if that was the case? They aren't visible in photos... E.g.: From Neil Dimmer's ever useful collection: https://railway-photography.smugmug.com/GWRSteam-1/Churchward-Locomotives/Churchward-Tender-Locomotives/Churchward-4300-Class-Mogul/Churchward-Mogul/i-4dtmr3r/A

This project coasts forever. The Locoman King project works in the same way (at least, mine does). Personally I quite like it but the traditional pick up of the chuff at the lower speed also makes sense.

That's just the normal driving simulation, isn't it? When you close the regulator the loco "coasts" or "drifts" and you should be able to hear the underlying clunking and the vacuum pump sounds. Then just lift the regulator and she'll start chuffing again - I hope.

Four vertical rows of bolt heads instead of the usual pattern of rivet heads.

There was at least one commercial offering but the manufacturer's customer relations caused a lot of problems. A working example can be seen on @Neal Ball's Henley-on-Thames layout.

We are still waiting for the second batch of Moguls, which include the fifty-threes and would make better starting points for the Eighty-threes, for the reasons you explain. (They've been "coming soon" for a while now. I wonder why the delay?) But even then, I think the running plate on the Dapol OO Moguls is diecast so would that make the conversion easier or more difficult?

No, it just says that you tried to print something with walls too thin. If an STL were being sold it would have walls thick enough to print successfully on a target range of printers, those whose characteristics fall within a standard deviation of the statistically average printer.

Here's what's behind the side plating: I haven't got all the details right yet but the basics are exactly what the drawing shows. The tank stops to give the wheel clearance and the "balance pipe" connects at the very bottom of the rear vertical face of the tank, so that all the water can drain out. The pipe then wiggles past the wheel to give the top of the connecting rod clearance, falling gently all the time until it dives down behind the steps. In the transition from vertical to horizontal it also changes from a "stadium" section to round section and then turns inwards to a big central valve structure that can be opened by winding the handle you can see in silhouette in the cab. It took many attempts to draw that pipe correctly!

See the line of rivet heads that rises up just to the right of the "Great Western", turns horizontal and then rises again to the top of the side sheet. That's the rear shape of the tank.

All Metros* do that, whether with double skinned tanks or not. They just have an old fashioned thin cab set behind the wide tanks. The tank side sheets continue beside the cab partly because they cover the pipes that I'm calling "balance pipes". I'll be able to show a cut-away later. * Two Metros were given wide cabs, similar to the small prairies. (And one of those became a 2-4-2T.)

Something about that format doesn't feel right to me. I think maybe it doesn't explain the actual development strongly enough. The reader has to tease it out for themself - and there's not enough detail to be able to do that in this format. Take sandwich frames, for example. From a development perspective, it would be good to know why they were introduced, when, which classes used them, notable cases and exceptions, pros and cons, when they fell out of use and why. That's just my tuppenny worth.

Best explanation so far!

Thanks Chris! That nugget of information unlocks another part of the puzzle. The drawing I'm using shows what I assumed to be part of the water pick-up apparatus but it never quite made sense. I now know that it's the system to drain the tanks and I can see why the "balance pipes" have their particular form, why some apparently odd compromises had to be made and how the drain is operated from the cab. I'll CAD it all when I get time and post the results.