Jim49

Bob, I had a Black 5 that behaved exactly as you describe. Turned out that although the loco pick-ups were bearing properly against the wheel backs, the rest of the electrical path to the motor was a joke and not contributing anything to the party. The pick ups on one side join up to become a single strip of copper which is sandwiched between the keeper plate and the chassis. This strip has to be placed precisely or the path is not complete and power does not get through. The other side I think was hard-wired so no problem there. Try loosening the keeper plate and then re-tightening it in the hope that you make the small adjustment that will be required to sort it out. I stripped the whole thing down and successfully re-assembled it but the sand pipes were never the same again! HTH Jim

Thanks for the offer of new photos Gary. While I would appreciate them, there is no hurry at present as I have still to find a suitable donor M7. This will probably be the Triang version as I doubt I have the nerve to take a saw to the far superior Hornby model. Thanks again, Jim

Thank you Gary, these are 2 excellent conversions indeed. 55209 is not too clear in your photo, being a bit further from the camera, so is there any chance of a couple more photos of both engines please? Now, there's a swap-meet at Falkirk this Sunday, I wonder if there might be any old Triang M7s floating about. I knew I had a reason for keeping that RM article for so long. Jim

Thank you Richard, I thought someone on here had done the deed but could not think who it was.

Al, the march 1972 edition of Railway Modeller had an article on converting a Triang M7 to a Caley 439 Class 0-4-4 tank. Basically, the procedure was to remove 4mm from the front buffer beam, 4mm from the boiler immediately in front of the cab and narrow the cab & bunker area by taking a 6mm slice out of that section. The heights of the side tanks and coal bunker were increased with plasticard to size. The author, Ronald Cockburn, makes no mention of changing driving wheels, etc. The author freely admits that the end result is a representation of a 439 class loco rather than a scale model but given that the M7 itself was not much better, is quite pleased with the conversion. Hornby's current version of the M7 is so far removed from the original Triang offering that it would take a very brave man to try the same operation today. But if anyone on here has tried it, please let's see the results.

Smashing photo Michael. By the rowdy look of the passengers, the coach may be missing a lot more than the lining by the time it reaches its destination.

Carburettors?

Ah, but this isn't just any old Beyer Garratt, it's the prototype, inside cylindered, Great Western Railway Beyer Garratt as shown by the copper capped chimney.

The Killin Branch is covered to some extent in both Volumes 3 & 4 of Caledonian Railways and the episode with the TV train and the Class 20 & 27 appears in Vol. 4. The date of this visit was August 1963, the 20 was D8081 and the 27 was D5365. Hope this helps.

There was indeed a Class 20 & 27 double header on the Killin Branch as Peak Experience says. The train was a special excursion for a load of American tourists and used Scottish Region's TV train comprised of about 9 or 10 Gresley coaches in Maroon. The footage is on either No. 3 or 4 of the excellent Caledonian Routes DVDs. I can't remember which one but I will skim through them tonight to see if the loco numbers are visible. Other than these 2 locos and the DMU specials you mentioned originally, the Killin branch didn't see many diesels in its lifetime. If this lack of variety is a problem then just invent another branch off the C&O, call it what you like and run whatever pleases you from 20, 21/29, 24/25, 27. Always remember Rule 1 - IMFR Jim

As I understand from Dapol, the tooling for the brake end roof has corroded badly over the years and it is uneconomic to repair it, hence the decision to use the Composite roof with the brake end. It is possible to fill the fixing holes in the brake roof and re-drill them in the correct positions if you have an original roof to work from. My very good friend Keith (just in case he's looking in) did this for me last week and made an excellent job of it with no trace of the original holes visible. If you try this make sure you know which end of the roof is which before starting as the fixing clips on the underside are not symmetrical and the roof will only fit one way. This also applies to the Compo if you were tempted to correct those vents as well. Jim

Thanks Coach, you've just made my day.

Thanks folks for the info. Jim

Can anyone advise how widespread these coaches were in real life please? For instance, did they run in Scotland in BR days and should there be a full third variant to go with the coaches currently released by Dapol? TIA Jim

Thanks for the information about "London Finishers" FEGGUK. I've seen the term for years but never knew where to ask for information until now. Jim

It's about time I showed my ignorance again, but please, what is a "London Shrinker"? I relaise it will be part of the fabric treating process but what exactly is it? Jim

I hope it wsn't so dark that he had to feel his way around. Jim

We never used calcium carbide but were sometime known to feed Alka Seltzers to seagulls. Jim

I think this is one time when you will have to ignore what really happened and resort to using the engine off the goods train that conveniently happened to be shunting the yard at that time. Presumably the Creamery facilities were able to load more than one tanker at a time and if the siding was long enough to hold for example six tankers, with the loading dock centrally placed and able to deal with 2 tankers, the procedure could be:- 1) A loco shunts four empty tanks into the siding, positioning them with two in the dock and two outside. (Would these be delivered as Tail Traffic behind the Local Passenger or as a dedicated service?) 2) Once the inside pair are loaded, the shunter is called in to draw all four tanks forward so that the rear two can be filled. The engine then goes back to the yard. 3) With all tanks now full, the milk train is now ready to depart, either as Tail Traffic on the Local Passenger or as a complete train in its own right. Jim