GeraldH

Designed to hold hair in place, but very handy for holding modelling materials together while gluing/soldering. They can also be bent into various shapes, cost me £2.99 for 12 from that auction place, although Etsy also has them at that price.

The BNR's loco department have been spending quite a bit of time resurrecting a Class 21/29 that looked to be destined for the scrapyard. The engine was running rather erratically and was particularly noisy on one direction. The engine was dismantled for cleaning and it was suddenly noticed that part of the holder for one of the brushes was missing so that the brush was not properly held in place when working in one direction. This part is hard to come by now and so the missing part of the brush holder was built up using epoxy. Running has improved and the noise reduced, although it is still not quite good enough. A little running in might do the trick...

Workshop staff have been busy preparing footboards for the full brake. As always the BNR have been recycling materials and some scrap plastic in the stores (SIM card holders) has proved to be exactly the right thickness. Cutting proved a little tricky and it's important to get the cuts close to vertical so that the footboards will land up perpendicular to the coach solebar. Several damaged footboards on other coaches have been repaired in this way in the past.

Well after a few experiments it's clear that Mantis Ministrip Gel doesn't work on everything, but it made a cracking job on a Replica Railways BG that nothing else would touch. It didn't damage the plastic at all or remove the filler. It just turned the paint into water soluble gloup. it was initially left it on for 2 hours with a second treatment added for the remainder which worked much more quickly. it also doesn't have an intrusive odour like some other products and doesn't seem to effect bare plastic unlike StripMagic. Before the toothbrush under the tap treatment. and after, with a tiny bit left to remove...

The BNR have for some time been looking for a full brake to match their standard 54' Triang Mk1 coaches. The availability of cheap, good quality BG bodies via Replica Railways seemed to provide a potential solution. The stores had a Triang 54' underframe from a damaged coach that had to be scrapped and so it was decided to shorten the BG body to fit the Triang underframe. A previous attempt was successful, but the coach was destroyed by a supposedly plastic friendly paint stripper. The new coach body can be seen here being shortened along with the Triang donor chassis and the remains of the previous BG which was retained as template.

If you do replace the traction tyred wheels the loco would struggle to pull very much even if extra weight is added - I've tried. You could put two non-tyred Ringfield bogies in it, but it will never run as well as a modern centre drive loco.

The paintshop has been at a standstill while they figure out how to connect their old (Humbrol airbrush) spraying equipment to a new compressor. The old equipment had a connector designed to connect to a propellant can of compressed air. These propellant cans have become rather expensive and can run out at inopportune moments and so management decided to invest in a modern compressor (Fengda FD-18-2 Mini). No adaptor seemed to be available off the shelf and so considerable head scratching and research took place. The only way it seemed to obtain a male propellant fitting was to procure a airbrush tyre adaptor and it was decided to try and attach this to a 1/8 BSP adaptor in some way. The paintshop had already mistakenly purchased a 1/8 to 1/4 BSP adaptor and so it was decided to use this. The attachment between the two was achieved by creating a plastic inner sleeve from some waste material in the workshop stores (part of a retractable biro) and this was turned down to size using a drill and a file. The parts were then stuck together using epoxy and the paintshop can now hopefully get back to work.

The line's preserved 9F has been behaving erratically lately and failed on a Santa Special having to be rescued by the not yet completed Class 21/29. Once dismantled it didn't take the maintenance crew to spot something suspicious. An uninsulated power feed was causing a short. To get the 9F back on the Santa Services quickly a piece of insulation (paper) was temporarily slotted in and the 9F is back in service.

I've just bought a Fengda compressor which has a 1/8 BSP male thread to use with my old Humbrol airbrush . I read somewhere that my Humbrol airbrush has a connector with a 1/4 BSP female thread to attach to a propellent can so I bought a 1/8 to 1/4 BSP adaptor. The adaptor does not however fit the Humbrol's propellent can connector, so it seems that propellent cans are not 1/4 BSP after all. The propellent can's thread seems to be of a similar size to 1/4 BSP, but finer. Can anyone tell me what the thread on propellent can is so that I can source the correct adaptor? I also have an old Aerograph Imp airbrush which unlike the Humbrol has a detachable hose. I no longer have the hose and the airbrush itself seems to have a completely different sized male thread on it? Any ideas what that might be? Thank you.

The BNR has been a bit short of push-pull coaches since services were expanded to Pewsley. These use its innovative system which works with all of their locos both steam and diesel. Work has now started on a adapting a third coach to the system and with this vehicle it has been decided to retain the corridor connection to maximise operational flexibility. The part converted end is beginning to resemble a 4TC driving coach.

Hornby turntables are rather fragile and if the rails on the deck shift so that they are not perfectly centred they can foul the rails on the exit tracks causing the chairs on the deck to break off. The BNR obtained a damaged deck some time ago at very favourable rates and as other projects have ground to halt it was decided to attempt a repair. The loose rail was clamped onto the deck and then a blob of JB Weld epoxy was placed where each chair had snapped off. After 4 hours the epoxy had solidified, but not yet reached full strength allowing the excess to be trimmed off. Once fully set after 24 hours a little extra can be added if required and the chairs filed to shape.

Has anyone tried Mantis MiniStrip Gel? It's an apparently plastic safe model paint stripper that I've not seen before It's listed on Ebay as "Mantis MiniStrip Gel 30ml, model paint stripper, ideal for wargaming miniatures"...

To assist drivers of the ore train a new marker post has been installed at Pewsley so that they know exactly where to position the first ore wagon to leave them enough space to run round before passing over the unloading bridge. A trial service was operated today with the BNR's flagship diesel. The operating department weren't convinced that it would manage the heavy train on the lines extreme incline, but it was surprisingly sure-footed and is now likely to see regular use on this service. The extra lead castings on the bogies probably helped as did the tyres .

The official photographer has recently been granted access to the other side of the lines leading out of the junction station providing some different views. The newest of the three preserved Class 16 diesels can be seen taking a mixed BR/BNR freight train down to Brundlewick for marshalling, The BR wagons will then be sent through the tunnel to the UK. The night mail can be seen on it's way back from the Pewsley extension. This is normally hauled by a diesel, but had a preserved Prairie on the front for the benefit of visitors to the island during the Bank Holiday. Some of the BNR's French Blue locos can be seen on shed in the background.

Peter's Spares do replacement muffs and geared axles. If mine are a bit loose I fix them in with epoxy taking care that there's no overspill which could break connectivity between the axles and the chassis. Superglue is in my experience too brittle. Make sure everything is degreased before applying the glue. Lubricate the axles with graphite powder rather than oil or grease, it can make quite a difference. I have quite a fleet of split chassis locos on the BNR and I only usually give up on them if they have mazak rot, or parts have literally worn out. Of course they're not up to modern standards, but I'm working on a budget and prefer older, simpler, models 🙃.

I think i used a Hogarth Stone chassis in one of my BNR locos and it does have the slower running chassis. As far as I know all the current Hornby 0-4-0s now have the slower running chassis. The gears look the same on both old and new and one can only assume something has been done to the motor. Be careful picking up second hand ones though as some people are selling the new bodies on the old chassis after upgrading their old 0-4-0s.

Pewsley signal box is finally finished. The flash is not very flattering and some of the paintwork could be better, but if the workhop staff will use 30+ year old paint... having said that the unopened tin of Humbrol matt enamel varnish was only a couple of years old and that was just as bad .

Fred the Pewsely signalman has been sent down to the workshop to have a look at the new levers. They're very robust, but they are a little stiff!

Now that the overall roof is complete at Pewsley attention has turned to restoring the old Triang signalbox. It was quite draughty in there with no glazing and this also posed a security risk. The absence of a lever frame also meant that staff were wandering around changing points and signals manually. The chimney was also missing which did not help during the winter months. The door has now been panelled to improve security and the glaziers will arrive shortly assisted by a new access at the lower level. A new (replica Triang) chimney has been sourced (Ebay) and painting has commenced. A new lever frame has been constructed from parts already in store (panel pins and wooden trim). The frame base has now been painted and the colours will be applied ot the levers shortly. No more need for staff to wander around the station throat dodging trains.

The paintshop has a lot of very old enamel paint most of which is still usable after 20-30 years, but it does take some stirring and sometimes the addition of thinners. Stirring by hand can be a bit tedious, but using a stirrer in a drill is a bit risky as there is always the possibility of knocking over the can and covering the paintshop and it's operatives in paint. In a moment of inspiration one of the paintshop staff realised that they could borrow a large clamp from the workshop team. The expo stirrer can now be mounted in drill no low speed and the old paints (mostly) restored

The roof is complete with some nice BNR French Blue bargeboards to finish it off

The roofers have arrived and spent the day putting slates (scored 150gsm card) on the overall roof. The lack of vents could make things a bit smoky in there, but most services use the BNR's patented push-pull system which means that steam locos rarely enter.

Staff finally found the lettering for the station nameboards, although the lettering was ordered before the Pewsley extension was constructed and so the nameboard for Pewsley cannot be completed yet. it was also remembered a little late that the nameboards needed to be gloss varnished before the letters were added to ensure a good finish. Some of the posts are also a little off-piste due to the difficulty of drilling post holes at 90 degrees, but the new signs are much clearer than the old fence mounted ones. Someone now has to find some attractive vegetation to put in the planters. It is likely that some kind of mutant local shrubs will be planted (painted scouring pad). Meanwhile the roofers have arrived and have installed the rather over-engineered trusses to the station roof. The line's third preserved Class 16 has snuck into the photo with the track maintenance (cleaning) train. These Class 16s seem to be breeding! The next stage will be putting the slates on which looks like quite a big job. There is also some useful advertising space on the supporting walls which should generate some extra revenue

To reduce the numbers of bewildered passengers and promote the BNR's corporate identity work has progressed on some robust station nameboards to fit into the stone planters. The nameboards themselves are wooden (3mm ply) with steel supports (nails). The supports will be painted in the BNR''s standard French blue, but the boards may be finished in a lighter shade to improve the contrast with the black lettering.

Progress continues on the overall roof at Pewsley. Since the photo was taken both supporting walls have been finished along with the beams that support the roof. The roof trusses (recycled 3mm ply) have been fabricated off site ready to be craned into position to support the roof. The planters which will support the station name boards have also been moving forward. Staff have been looking n the stores for the station name decals, but can't remember where they put them! The BNR's No1 is seen checking clearances before services resume.