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Mild steel does not seem like a good choice for rail as this will rust given the right conditions.

The EM gauge society sell steel rail and I assume that it is stainless steel. I know DCC Concepts rail is stainless steel but is more expensive. I am waiting to hear from the trade officer at the EM Gauge Society to find out about their steel rail.

Although steel looks more prototypical I have heard that you have to be careful using steel rail based on where you locate your layout. If for some reason the location you have chosen has damp issues will that rust the track and how does the conductivity of steel track compare with nickel silver track . Any advice would be helpful. Thomas.

Those pesky finials are so brittle i was forever busting these off! Looks great dude, will you be printing an interior for this? Are you printing the roof separately? Print the finials in a flexable resin so if they do accidentally get nocked they wont bust off. Thomas

I have been doing some research on MR track building in EM and have noticed that the Exactoscale ones for EM have a .8mm flange way gap. There has been talk on this subject with regards to the gap being the wrong size when in fact it should be 1mm. I decided to experiment and make a MR one myself with the right gap. I haven’t printed it out yet to test it with Code 75 Bullhead Rail. I have modelled it with four bolts, it may have had a combination of spikes and bolts that I have seen on some chairs. In 4mm this probably doesn’t matter as you would probably not notice. Included is a renderd image of my check rail chair.

I have been conversing with Norman Solomon with regards to having some points made for me and he is under the impression that Exactoscale no longer make the 4 bolt chairs although the EM gauge society has them for sale but could be old stock. Can anyone confirm if this is true? I would also like to know if you can mix Exactoscale chairs with C&L chairs and that they will sit at the same hieght. Exactoscale do a check rail chair for EM but the flangeway gap is 0.8mm which is not the 1.00mm requirement for EM. Has anyone used these for EM point work and had problems? Thomas

I thought it might have been for the photogenic background. My time frame for Matlock Bath is around 1906 and I have a scratch built Baldwin which would look nice pulling freight through Matlock Bath but the other locos you mentioned are too late for the period. Tom

Stephen thank you for your post regarding the Spinners operating on the Peak line. I posed this question to David Hunt who did not completly rule out the chance of these locos operating on this line. There is other photographic evidence to support my theory that is held at the Midland Railway Study Centre. It seems odd that the Midland Railway chose Chee Dale of all places to take that photo when they could have chosen the Bristol to Birmingham main line on which those locos operated or other lines they operated on. If I do run a Spinner through Matlock Bath and you are right at least it will save me having to put passengers in the carraiges. Tom

Thank you for your imput. The date to model will depend on whether or not I want fully lined stock or the simplified lining the Midland introduced in 1906. Maybe a mixture as I assume there would have been some fully lined stock running after 1906. I would be interested to know why the singles ran on the Peak line occasionally as they weren't normally rostered to run on that line.

I have used the Halfords grey primers which seems to be a good product and what a lot of modellers use. I have been assembling some etched brass kits and thinking of using the Halfords etched primer but in two minds after reading what it says about car paints on the Phoenix paints site. It states "Whilst these are technically etch primers they do not have the same amount of the activating acid in them as is in the Phoenix Precision product. Whilst these primers are fine for aluminium, which is what they are designed and sold for, they are useless for brass and other similar non ferrous metals. It is also recommended that you avoid any etch primer that does not require a specific thinner." Any truth on this or are Phoenix scare mungering you into buying their etch primer? Tom

I am thinking of modelling Matlock Bath in Midland Railway days and have gathered quite a bit of photographic material on the station. I am lacking photos of the goods yard. I have a copy of Through Limestone Hills by Bill Hudson which has drawing plans of the main station buildings but nothing else. If anyone can add to my enquiries I would be most grateful. I have added a track diagram with photo images linked to various areas of the station. Tom

I have been trying to get hold of Norman Solomon with regards to having points made for my layout. I have contacted the person who runs the Missenden Abbey residental courses for his contact details but have not had a reply. I would be most grateful if anyone has his contact details so I may contact him with regards to this matter. Thomas.

I think the Midland Spinners did run through Millers Dale. There is a picture of one with a rake of coaches behind it taken at Chee Dale from the road.

There seems to be a wide choice of servos out there in the market and I was wondering if there was a particular make that railway modellers tend to use. The SG90 servos on Ebay are incredibly cheap but are they reliable enough to use for signals and points?

Yes your right looking at the map of the line. So it would have carried on its journey to Matlock and dropped off its passengers after which it would have gone to Rowsley.

Sorry for not ticking the thank you box and I did appreciate your response. I misinterpreted the caption which actually stated the train was going to Matlock after dropping of passengers at Matlock Bath. I did not already know the answer and was just questioning your answer and posing another scenario. As it turns out we were both wrong according to another forum. The train left the coaches at Matlock headed down to Rowsley to take on coal and water then headed back tender first to Matlock.

My mistake I thought there was a turntable at Matlock being such a large goods yard but there isn't one. I agree with you that Rowsley would have been a better place to turn the engine where it could have coaled up and taken on water for the journey back to London. I would have imagined that it would have taken the coaches with it as there were ample spaces there to dock the coaches while the engine was turned. I can't see how it could have left the coaches at Matlock Bath in the sidings as it would have blocked the entrance into some of the sidings unless it was only pulling maybe a few coaches.

I am doing some research on Matlock Bath station with the intention of maybe modelling it in Midland Railway days. I came across this photo in the book 'Midland Through The Peak' by Brian Radford and it has perplexed me. The caption states that it is a Midland Compound that is waiting to complete its return journey to London having dropped off its day trippers at the station. As far as I'm aware the station never had a turntable so how did the loco turn its self around. The only explanation I can think of is it journeyed up to Matlock to use the turntable there or it left St Pancras tender first and used the cross overs at the station to shunt the train on to the other side of the tracks ready for the return journey. I have also include a track diagram from Bill Hudson's book 'Through Limestone Hills' to illustrate how the last train movement could have been achieved. This was a main line station and I doubt that a train would have been allowed to sit in the station for a long period of time. Any suggestions on how this train movement could have happened would be of interest.

The resin is by a company called Nova3D and is called Red Wax which is used for highly detailed prints. I am experimenting with clear resin for this print so that I do not have to glaze the lookout once it is printed. The window panels will be masked off with masking fluid when it comes to spray painting the brake van then rubbed off to reveal the clear resin. I will post the results when I have completed the brake van.

No they are my own printed at 20 microns. Tom.

Just started reading your thread on Millers Dale with admiration on taking up such an ambitious project. I have plans of Millers Dale station building if they are of any use to you.

If the roof is to be formed in plastic it's a good idea to scibe where the rain rails are going to go so that some Evergreen microstrip can be inserted into the grove afterwards aswell as drilling the holes for the roof vents.

The best way to 3D print coaches is to print the sides and ends flat then put them together like a kit. This is only possible if you have designed the coach yourself or if you can download the sides and ends as stl files. This method will also be very fast as the Z hight will only be the thickness of the sides and ends and you will not need any supports. The roof can be plasticard that is heat formed in hot water over a roof profile and the roof vents could be 3D printed at the same time as the sides and ends.

I have put a loco kit that I have been working on aside for the time being and concentrating on finishing a 51L kit and the masters for CamKits. Decided to try and print out a look out for the 5L Models 25ft MR Brake Van I’m trying to put together. The etched brass one is so delicate and one of the ends has almost broken in half. Soldering the two ends to the side and getting a nice clean joint would be challenging for me. I am pleased with the print and I might try and do one in clear resin so I don’t have to put the glazing in. Another project is for CamKits Midland Railway A Class 0-6-0 kit which will have a resin casting for the main body. The 3D print will be the master, unfortunately this one isn’t quite right as the cab end of the boiler tapers in slightly. I will have to make a slight alteration to the model to give the inside boiler lateral support so that it doesn’t taper in when printing.

What's on your workbench ? Modellers chat this Saturday at 11am GMT. Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Modellers Chat Time: Jan 23, 2021 11:00 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73187705967?pwd=Wjl4bXk2b3BHQldKRDFTaEl3Tjl0QT09 Meeting ID: 731 8770 5967 Passcode: 8DgEFQ Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Thomas Clarke's Zoom Meeting Time: Jan 23, 2021 11:45 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77306063216?pwd=akVJUjNTMjlxS0hmWFZwS2FNb2YwQT09 Meeting ID: 773 0606 3216 Passcode: 5GpXAD