RodneyS

Did the mystery E4/E6 ever turn up ? Rodney

Oooooh......

No. Have you one to spare ? Rodney

I believe it was because they wanted to equip the locos with pull push equipment. This involved a circular air reservoir behind the front buffer beam and there wasn't enough room on the short frame locos. I think 30133 was one of them and I remember it at Three Bridges for a while in the 60s. Rodney

I saw Valencia Harbour at the Uckfield exhibition a couple of years ago. When I looked at the Uckfield Club website I discovered it was actually 2017 ! Oh dear. It is a very atmospheric layout and there are a few pictures here for those who haven't seen it. Rodney http://www.uckfieldmrc.co.uk/exhib17/valencia.html

I did assemble a couple of BSL Southern Railway Maunsell coaches more years ago than I care to remember. It looks to me that you have the two sides, cross member and the little end stretcher in the correct places. The small pin on the left may be for a Hornby/Peco coupling. The mounting piece is screwed to the floor with two nuts and bolts with the boss pointing downwards. The bogie is then fixed to that using another nut and bolt through the centre. You may need two nuts to make a lock so that it doesn't all fall apart during use. The two little raised pieces on the cross member each side of the centre hole rub on the mounting piece to provide a bit of stability. Without them the coach might wobble like a jelly as it goes along. Not good for a pleasant dining experience ! From what I can remember the floors on mine were aluminium and I had to mark the holes out and drill them. If yours is the same then you will need to know how far apart the bogies should be. I'm afraid I can't help with that but I'm sure someone on here will know. It might be worth putting a request in the 'wants' section for a set of instructions. Rodney

I am sure they do. I bought an L1 chassis many years ago and later on a spare 2P body. The chassis fitted with no problems. I think the L1 body was altered to make the 2P. Looking carefully at my 2P body you could just make out where the cab window had been filled in. Rodney

On the subject of manufacturing faults I thought the following story may amuse. A few weeks back a friend presented me with a Triang Jinty chassis. I don't know when it was made but it had spoked wheels and syncro smoke Evidently it had never run well from new and was always jamming up. Over the years he had tried many things, including removing the gear and plunger from the syncro smoke but it would still stick at low speeds. After a lot of peering, prodding and poking I found what I thought was the problem. When the non-insulated wheels had been pressed on the axles a small piece of metal had been pushed through and was projecting above the wheel face. It was very small, crescent shaped, about 2mm long and less than .5mm high. Just enough to catch the coupling rod and stop it but not enough to show up well against the unpainted axle ends. It took a fair bit of careful filing to remove and, rather strangely, it was in the same position on both the front and rear wheels. I was pleased with the result, reassembled the chassis and it seemed fine. I should have tested it better as a week later I had it back again. Evidently sparks were coming from the coupling rods on the insulated side. I hadn't looked at that side as I couldn't believe there was more than one fault. The rear insulated wheel had been pushed too far onto the axle so the coupling rod was catching it every revolution. The back to back dimension on that wheel was smaller than the front so I tapped the axle through a bit and tested it - properly this time. It now runs better than it ever has done so I suppose manufacturing faults are not new. Rodney

Dear Grumpy of Cardiff I do think you have been unlucky with your recent locos. A friend has three 009 Hunslets, Linda, Alice and Dorothea. All run very well although he did have to adjust the pickup on one wheel as one loco was a bit jerky initially. I assume your Victory is satisfactory now you have oiled the motor ? I had to do the same to my Model rail Sentinel which was very noisy and it runs fine now. I haven't got a Rapido Hunslet but I do have an E1 on order so I have been paying attention. I watched Sam's video which showed the mechanism and he says that, according to the instructions, the axles should not be oiled. That sound to me like a recipe for rough and squeaky running. I assume the reason is because the axles pick up the current ? Well, my old Triang locos picked up this way on one side and a lot of hand built and kit built locos are earthed one side. They still work. I've just had to repair my split frame Bachmann 04 diesel which developed the dreaded muff disease. I oiled the axles and that runs surprisingly well. I have three 009 Baldwins and they are all slightly different. One is perfect, one has a slight roll (but probably less than the real thing) and the last one is noisy in reverse. When I say noisy, I mean you can just hear it. All the others are silent. I suppose all these rather complicated models do vary. I won't comment on the Rails Terriers. I also have three of the wretched things. Two stay in their boxes and the third is still in pieces after I gave up on trying to straighten it. As another friend always says "why do we do it ?" Rodney

If you haven't seen this film it is worth watching, even though it won't answer your question. The loco are pushing snow ploughs and I can't see any lamps on them. I would imagine lamps wouldn't survive the first snow drift anyway. Rodney

I remember, many years ago, we had some H & M point motors on a Club layout. A few were getting a bit 'sticky' so someone (not me !) oiled the sliding armatures. I don't know what he used, possibly '3 in 1', as that was very popular at the time. Whatever it was, the tubes in which the armature slid expanded and locked the motor solid. I assume they were some sort of plastic. Exit some H & M point motors. Perhaps some graphite powder might have worked better ? After that some clever soul came up with a capacitor discharge unit. That gave the point motors one heck of a kick. If the motor didn't move, the layout did ! I recall the built in switch didn't always work well and required frequent adjustment and cleaning. Oh, happy days. As a friend of mine always says "why do we do it ?" The funny thing is that it doesn't seem to stop us trying. Rodney

I am after a body for the Hornby W4 Peckett. Livery is unimportant but the body must be complete and in good condition. Thanks Rodney

I'm really pleased that you are venturing as far east as Sussex. Plenty of grass on the Downs. Personally, I think you should bring all the layouts and take over one of the side rooms. Looking forward to seeing Ewe. Rodney

The drawing looks as though it comes from Branch Lines of the Southern Railway Volume 1 published by Wild Swan. This also contains a drawing of the goods shed. If you haven't seen the book, it has a section on the Hayling Railway, about 30 pages or so. They do come up on the usual second hand places ! Rodney https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134395547011?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=7101533165274578&mkcid=2&itemid=134395547011&targetid=4584826055637456&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=412354546&mkgroupid=1299623041023876&rlsatarget=pla-4584826055637456&abcId=9300541&merchantid=87779&msclkid=69eb3f2683781638df515c99c4c215a0

I've never even thought of washing kit sprues before assembling a model. I would worry that small parts might break off and be lost before they were glued on. Rodney

You could try Alan Gibson ones but I don't know if they will be the right size. See https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/?s=rivets&post_type=product&title=1&excerpt=1&content=1&categories=1&attributes=1&tags=0&sku=1&orderby=date-DESC&ixwps=1

This is a link to the D1 locos. If you scroll down to number 247 you will find a picture of a D1 with a Marsh boiler and fittings. This seems to match your model. https://www.lbscr.org/Rolling-Stock/Locomotives/Stroudley/D1.xhtml It does look to be nicely made and well worth completing. Rodney

Definitely not a D3 as your model has a Stroudley cab roof. Rodney https://www.lbscr.org/Rolling-Stock/Locomotives/R.J.Billinton/D3.xhtml

From what I remember about all the variations of etched W irons (it was a long time ago), the fixed ones were generally screwed to the floor through a couple of the holes with 12 BA screws. The four tags just spaced it from the floor. For the rocking one, the four tabs were bent up or cut off. The pivot plate was removed from the middle of the W iron etch and screwed or glued to the floor. A piece of thick wire such as a piece of paper clip, provided the pivot. The problem I found was that the fixed and pivoting W iron could end up at different levels requiring a bit of packing. Hence the use of screws ! If you are not bothering with compensation you could perhaps glue a piece of plastic sheet, cut to just fit between the tags, to the floor. Then, when you are happy with the location and height, you could glue the W iron to it. I've had one of these kits in my 'to do' pile for rather a long time. Fortunately I seem to have a right and a left side ! Didn't the Bishops Castle Railway have one or two of these vans? That's what I had in mind when I bought it. Rodney

Dangerous.

I remember when Triang took over Hornby. We had a very good local model shop and one of the assistants showed me a letter from Triang. It told them they should reduce the price of their existing HD stock. The letter clearly stated the new prices should be 25% OF the original price. Presumably Triang were going to make some recompense for their loss. I therefore bought a 2 rail Castle and A4 for 25/- each instead of £5. It later turned out that it was an error. The letter should have said 25% OFF but they never asked for the models back ! I've never met anyone else who remembers this. Perhaps it was amended quickly and I was lucky being in the right place at the right time. Rodney

I have a Westward Terrier kit WK16 which I bought from Kemp Models in Hove, near Brighton. The blue box has a white label and states "Manufactured and distributed by Kemp Models 154 Church Road Hove". The last page of the instructions says "Kit design by Rod Neep". The chassis etch has "Perseverance LC302 Design by Rod Neep 1986". By 1986 Kemp Models also had a shop in Brislington, Bristol and eventually the shop in Hove closed. In July 1986 George Bailey replaced Nick Stanbury as Managing Director of Kemp Models and Brian Brown was Executive Director of manufacturing, retail and advertising. I have a catalogue dated 1994 from Puffers of 96 Micklegate York and 134A Kenton Road Harrow. There is a section devoted to Perseverance and Westward containing coach kits and parts as well as 18 loco kits, chassis kits, tenders and parts. There are also 4 complete loco kits "Rod Neep design" as well as 6 by Iain Rice so it is amazing what has disappeared over the years. I don't know if this adds anything to the story but it has taken me down memory lane. Rodney

A friend has a layout in a shed. It is a continuous run with a lifting flap across the door and no contact switch protection. Late one evening he was working at his bench with a loco running in on the layout. Suddenly all the electrics went off. In the gloom he lifted the flap, opened the door and went up to the house. He discovered the trip had gone off so he re-set it. On the way back to the shed he remembered the loco.......... Although it was a kit built white metal loco the only casualty was the front buffer beam. I did give him a spare micro switch but he still hasn't fitted it ! Rodney

I recently removed some K's wheels with the plastic spokes from a Terrier I was given years ago. The plastic was very brittle and the first one just shattered into many pieces. I managed to get the rest off by supporting the wheel across open vice jaws with two pieces of metal close to the wheel centre. I used some old 13 amp brass plug pins. Then the axle was tapped out with hammer and an old nail as a punch. Of course, I should have done that in the first place ! However, one wheel had the crank pin broken so I was going to replace all the wheels anyway. Do you need to remove the wheels from the axle ? I am assuming that perhaps it's just to remove the gear ? One version of the K's wheels had a large headed screw in the end of the axle holding the wheel in place. The slot may be filled with paint. That type would be a lot easier to dismantle. Good luck. Rodney

That is probably worth trying. A late friend built many locos with DS10 motors. After running in they were virtually silent and performed well. He had one fitted with a Portescap and you could hear that coming a mile away. I have a K's Taff Vale 0-4-0ST built as intended but I used a Gibson 38:1 gearbox as I thought the supplied plastic gears were rather too low a ratio. It was a long time ago but I think there were bearings and sleeves for the worm to suit differing armature shafts, none of which were 1/16''. I put a 1/16'' drill through the 1.5mm bearings and sleeve so I remembered there was very little difference in size. The gearbox took the load off the troublesome front bearing and I think it ran quite well. However I never got the pick-ups right so it didn't have a lot of use. In the end it was just put away and forgotten about. Last year, after discovering this thread, I dug out the loco and it still runs - sort of. The wheels are a bit rusty and the pick-ups still need replacing. Obviously a winter project. Rodney