jonhall

Biel p2 A MAK G1700 awaiting its turn whilst another is missing its bogies, but has regained its motor a view underneath a shunter 1906 steam snowblower was next to a few more modern types, all of which demonstrated their turning capability - alas it was a bit wet and I didn't notice the droplet on the lens. A crane showing why the event was being held and another general view of one of the workshops

SO what did I choose then?? arrival at the Beil SBB works at just after 9 gave me 3 hours there on Saturday Spare wheelsets stored in the pit of the traverser. A jolly big wheel press to put wheelsets onto axles Caterpillar V12 on the test rig the engine may have come out of one of these the MPV carries round the snowplough most of the year, but its shown fitted here and a Harsco OHLE equipment wagon one of the two fire and rescue trains they had on site (the other was open to look around) A small shunter that had just been converted to battery

There are correct bogies in the Stenson/WillsWorkbench range, however the mould is currently laid out with one single sideframe of the type I need per mould, and lots and lots of unrelated parts, so if I want 50 pair of bogies, the mould needs to be spun 200 times, and then there will be a significant excess of all the other parts! We are evaluating the possibility of producing some secondary masters and dedicated moulds, however doing this as a kit might be financially quite marginal for me, and whilst I don't need it to make money, I equally don't want the project to cost me, nor do I want to end up with dozens unsold cluttering up my workshop. Jon

the simpler box needs Schlerin's, the earlier type with diagonals needs a clasp brake Gloucester type Jon

Those are the resin printed railways ones and I don't know how he has the front to sell them, they are awful. I'm still trying to source some suitable bogies in bulk, and then my own kit might see the light of day. Jon

For my scratchbuilt silver bullet tanks I used two techniques which worked equally well. The first was a model aircraft product called alclad (there are various versions depending in what finish you want). You need to spray the model with a high gloss black coat, and then airbrush over the top with the alclad at close range - this looks awful initially - the metal particles swim about in the solvent on the model, and you have time to think 'oh no! what have I done?' but then the solvent flashes off and you get a good 'chrome' finish. The easier method is using a plasticote chrome/silver effect aerosol, which worked really well. Jon

They are having a steam event in that area in early October https://www.rolph.de/artikel/175-jahre-eisenbahnverkehr-in-rheinhessen-an-der-nahe-und-in-der-pfalz but thats the only info I can find about it at the moment, Jon

You could change the plug for one with a power on light - I used to have one on my soldering iron - they warm up much quicker if you turn the power on at the mains! Jon

I think thats fair - I was a little hesitant to post for much the same reason. Jon

That would have 5 driving axles, the middle 3 are missing! This is a close up of the axle hole, you can make out the vertical wear plates that the axleboxes move up and down against and at the bottom the bar that retains the axles (the keep) is bolted across Jon

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fahrgestell_2_-_Dampflokwerk_Meiningen_-_CC_BY-SA_4.0_-_Ludwig,_Silvio.jpg Jon

Isn't that the Rod Neep Gordon Ashton kit? Jon

Is this the crane that spent many years in the yard alongside the subway between the two parts of the NRM site under Leeman Road, that was de-accessioned by the NRM, to the Churnet Valley Railway, who then sold it to a scrap man, before having to buy it back when the enthusiast community made a fuss? Jon

And apparently not a great seller at the time- I was told when I was looking for a copy that Mr Brownlie had a fair number pulped, which is a shame because they are scarce, and consequently quite valuable. I have a spare copy with poor dust jacket available for £50 inc postage to the UK - I forgot I'd already found a copy when the excitement of finding the second overtook my memory! Jon

To mark 175 years there are a number of events this year https://175-ans.ch/ I happen to be in Switzerland over the weekend of 3rd and 4th September, so have a range of events to choose from https://175-jahre.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/EV22-02001_Flyer_175JahreBahn_Web_FR.pdf https://175-ans.ch/region-mitte/ However this is coincidence, not pre-planned... I'm staying in Basel until Sunday, and on Saturday I think its possible to visit the Biel and Spiez depot open days, which between them are the highlights for me. On the Sunday I had intended to go to the https://dvzo.ch/ in Bauma to have a look at their Swiss ferry van (and have a ride) but a) this should be on most weekends so could be done some other time, and b) the trains appear to be electric rather than steam (due to fire risk? ) at the moment, so going to one of the other '175' events seems a better choice, but which? The more fundamental problem is that I need to be in a different hotel in Innsbruck on Sunday evening, so either need to back track to my luggage in Basel, or have an alternative left luggage somewhere en-route, and allow time to get to Innsbruck and probably can only visit one of the events on Sunday. My shortlist is between these 3 the BLS Historic collection at Burgdorf https://www.bls.ch/fr/freizeit-und-ferien/events/bls-jubilaeum-schweizer-bahnen-burgdorf The CFF Historic collection at Delemont https://www.cffhistoric.ch/2022-0903-175-ans-delemont?action=refreshCalendar&month=9&year=2022 Or the workshops at Langenthal https://www.asmobil.ch/de/freizeit-und-ferien/events/175-jahre-schweizer-bahnen.html Has anyone visited any of these before? My instinct is the two historic collections will be possible to visit on some other occasions, which might make the workshop at Langenthal a better bet, but google-earthing suggests there might not be all that much to see? Its a nice dilemma to have! Jon

copies of my photos from page 1

If you just want to improve the quality of a plastic pinpoint seat in RTR then micromark do a little tool that can improve the shape of the divot - of course it can't put material back if its wear that's the problem. https://www.micromark.com/HO-Truck-Tuner_2 There are a couple of tools that aid drilling a 2mm hole for a 'top hat' bearing, I'm not sure if either are still available, I thought there was a third supplier out there, but I can't recall who? or http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/RTR Drill.pdf Jon

Having been reading through the articles that Stuart sent me (and having picked up the original magazines at The Bluebell railway on Sunday) I was thinking the split axle seems something I wouldn't rush to build, I'd prefer something with conventional pickups. Jon

Thank you Stuart - just what I needed! Jon

I've just acquired a set of the castings, and I have Issue 66 in which the series is kicked off, but please can anyone tell me how many issues it ran for, and even better would anyone be prepared to scan and send me a copy of those issues please? Thanks Jon

Immingham to Dorset? All RTR!

Whats more confusing to me is.. that isn't the layout I saw him operating! I think he had a go on Toaster* as well! Jon *whatever

Thank goodness for that - I thought I was having really weird hallucinations when I thought I saw that! Jon

Interfrigo was a post was construct formed by most of the European railway administrations to operate a pool of insulated/refrigerated wagons, some were built for Interfrigo, and some transferred, and not all were to UK dimensions. There were a number of different UIC codes for Insulated or refrigerated wagons, I don't recal the differences off the top of my head. Early vans were cooled with ice, later they had machine refrigeration. Wet ice has the problems of water and once the ice has gone, so does the cooling, Dry ice has the same problem of wet ice, but also can cause the atmosphere inside the van to become unbreathable causing asphyxiation and the mechanical refrigeration needs either fuel (which I don't this was used in the UK) or axle driver, which doesn't work very well if the wagons stops on the way. Jon

yes please, we can't go back to the original source, although I do wonder who ended up with his research archive. Jon