Gibbo675

Hi Geoff, The number range from which your model was built is 5225 - 5451 (LMS numbers) but do beware that although all were delivered with welded tenders and long fire box boilers these did get swapped around during works visits. The above number range should assist in researching locomotives that were allocated to suitable sheds in the area. The book LMS Locomotives volume five by Essery and Jenkinson is a good start for all sorts of details. In short there are; Two types of tender. Four types of boiler (from outward appearance). Two types of frame in that the rear set of driving wheels were four inches further apart. Two lengths of connecting rod and piston rod arrangement. All of the above got swapped around as some of the early locomotive received new frames to the later pattern and some of the later locomotives received short firebox boilers. Very complicated. Gibbo. Edit: Spelling

Hi TS, It's mercury for madness but with a density of 13593 kg/m3 it would do the job if t didn't run out of the body shell ! Your'e still better off with tungsten though. Gibbo.

Hi There, Look again, there is a rail nearer to the locomotives that has no fixings and I would suggest that that is the second rail. Gibbo.

Hi There, That is for continuous welded rail replacement such as this video shews. Do bear in mind the video is a modern version of what would have been going on in the photograph. Gibbo.

Is that why when you press the dome light shines out of the firebox ?

Hi Chaps, These links may be of interest, you will see a photo of a tyre wear gauge about three quarters down the page; http://www.tonysimon...-and-axles.html Profiles "A" and "G" equate to P1 and P9 respectively and profile "T" was discontinued as the standard for LMS bogie wheels and replaced by "A" / P1. The Southern had a similar profile to the LMS "T" profile upon their bogie wheel sets also. In theory the flanges don't touch the rail, the 1:20 cone of the tyre profile keeps the wheel sets correctly centred upon the rails (1). Certain diesel and electric locomotives have what are known as adhesion profiles and also certain heavy axle load goods wagons have pre-worn profiles that offer a greater spread of load to the rail head through a greater contact patch but I can't remember the specific numbers of the profiles are. For how tyres wear; https://link.springe...0864-017-0072-2 Gibbo. (1). In theory, theory and practice are the same thing. In practice however they are not ! Edit: Removal of some of what was copied for it was out of context from one of my previous posts

Hi Folks, The Y6 is coming on well, not only does the chassis fit it is now adorned with a boiler. By way of practicality the firebox doe look rather like an electric motor. Only slight modification to the lugs that located the sand boxes were required to make it all fit once the boiler was fitted for it would not scoop in as it had done. The reverser wheel is a Cambrian hand brake wheel and the only detail part of the Pug is the handbrake standard at the smoke box end. I shall not fit one at the fire box end for I intend that the loco crew will hide that missing detail and the rather square firebox. The tubes in the doorway at the smoke box end are the water tank fillers. The later J70 locomotives had a filler behind the sliding windows in the body sides rather than in the doorways which I think is a strange place to site them. Only the cow catcher to make and fit and then it will be ready for painting. Gibbo.

No, I'm 304mm to the foot scale but I do live in quite a small house and I should think that Stormont is at least 48 times larger than my house. I'm now tempted to look at a map and work out how big Stormont would be at 1:48 scale.

Hi Colin, At 1:48 scale that would be bigger than my house !!! Gibbo.

Eventually it all ends up in land-fill via eBay !!! Gibbo.

Hi There, Well spotted sir !!! Gibbo.

Hi Keith, The use of roller bearings upon US locomotive and latterly British locomotives was two fold; first lower static friction upon starting, and second greater mileage periods therefore extending major works maintenance attention. A correctly set up white metal lined bearing will, once rotating, provide less dynamic friction than any comparable duty roller bearing. The main trouble with white metal bearings is that should they stand for any length of time the oil is eventually forced out of the contact patch of the bearing and upon restarting there is a risk of metal to metal contact and it is this that causes most of the wear in such bearings. The railway continued to use them for no other reason than they were cheap to produce and maintain within the existing engineering infrastructure. The main reason for the switch over to the use of rollers in British steam locomotives was that they both the extended mileages between major maintenance and also that the cost of skilled labour repairing white metal bearings had risen considerably enabling the high original capital outlay for roller bearings to be accounted for. Like all things on the railway it was down to money and not much else. As an aside, white metal bearings run hot when lubrication fails yet roller bearing tend to run hot though over lubrication. In a nutshell; http://www.tribology-abc.com/abc/tower.htm Gibbo.

Hi Clive, I'm fine with blue because 1973 is about as far back as the memory goes, not bad for a 1970 model. Good old eBay; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Job-lot-of-Hornby-Class-110-104-DMU-bodies-glazing-spares-Free-P-P/143081756436 Gibbo.

Hi Folks, The Y6 is coming on well, not only does the chassis fit it is now adorned with a boiler. By way of practicality the firebox doe look rather like an electric motor. Only slight modification to the lugs that located the sand boxes were required to make it all fit once the boiler was fitted for it would not scoop in as it had done. The reverser wheel is a Cambrian hand brake wheel and the only detail part of the Pug is the handbrake standard at the smoke box end. I shall not fit one at the fire box end for I intend that the loco crew will hide that missing detail and the rather square firebox. The tubes in the doorway at the smoke box end are the water tank fillers. The later J70 locomotives had a filler behind the sliding windows in the body sides rather than in the doorways which I think is a strange place to site them. Only the cow catcher to make and fit and then it will be ready for painting. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, Here is the latest from the tamper project. The bogies have been detailed with .020" fascias fitted to them to make them look as they should and painted in Humbrol matt 87 which is a blue grey shade that seems to match what a lot of tamper's bogies were painted in. I'm not sue that it is the correct colour but it looks about right so there it is. There have been extra detail bits of micro strip glued onto the body sides and the tamping and lining gear along with a good dose of yellow paint, the insides of the cabs were painted rail grey. The friend for whom it is being built is sending me some oval buffers in the post to finish it off along with a Grafar black five chassis and a Peco jubilee tender drive unit for my next N gauge project. No prizes for guessing what it will be ... actually, no prizes for guessing, but you are welcome to try ! Gibbo.

Hi Clive, I've had root around in the "as yet nearly started box" and pulled these out for your perusal. The drawing that I did is not dimensioned but the windows are as the 110 cut and shut except for the guards compartment windows which are to the same height as the door windows the larger one being 10mm and the smaller 8mm wide. I worked from photos and diagrams on Railcar.co.uk Class 103's were a rare treat on the Southport to Wigan line, I would think deputising for failed 104's as the 103's worked Chester to Manchester services in the 1970's. I have previously wondered about a 310 EMU from Lima 117's and bits of MK2 but fortunately the lunacy has somewhat subsided. Gibbo.

Hi TheQ, In the real world are the above elements part of the Unobtainium series ? Gibbo.

Hi There, I was thinking about 16 years, anyhow, quite some while back. Mick Roberts was the driver can't remember who was firing, I repaired the tender steps. Gibbo.

Hi Big Jim, Some years back, when I was at the ELR there was once a framer who would insist upon leaving the level crossing gates open despite being asked numerous times to shut them. He did this so that he could drive his Land Rover over the railway without looking. He also did this once too often and bent the rear tender steps of the 42765, is Land Rover went to the crusher and he was put in a box. Fortunately no one else was injured. Gibbo.

Hi Woodenhead, I have wanted a Swindon class 123 IC DMU for years but no one makes one so I built my own and here it is, The body side profile is not quite right but I'm happy with it ! I have done a cut and shut Park Royal 103 from a Hornby 110 and also converted the same into a 3 car 104 to go with my various DC Kits DMU's, two 2 car Cravens, a Derby 108, and a Met Cam 101, yet to build, a Derby light weight. In the parcels department a Cravens 129 from a Triang Hornby Mk1 BG with scratch built ends and a Gloucester 128 from a Hornby Mk2. Build your own its great fun !!! Gibbo.

Hi Martyn, I think this thread ought to be called "Van-Rioty !". Feel free to ignore such silly suggestions. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, I've been busy this evening with The Plasser and Theurer tamping machine again. The work has been to drill and cut the window apertures and fit all sorts of fiddly bits. The first job after the windows was to file the sides and ends so that the roof may be filled to width and the curved profile developed along its edge, after this I fitted the roof stays between the roof and the body sides, the longitudinal rails were the fitted. These two jobs went very well for I was half expecting a wonky soggy mess peeling away from the main model but they are squarely fitted and stayed in position. I then decided that the tamping equipment was positioned to low so I gently cut off the parts from both sides and repositioned them higher up. Once this job was done I made up some cab steps from .030" plasticard cut 5mm X 3mm with micro strip for the sides and steps. There is some sort of lining equipment under the cabs which I cut from .030" plasticard, these were secured to the steps also which will help give strength to the items as they will brace each other. Othe details fitted were marker lights and boxes on the cab front and also some boxes and air tanks on the under frame. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, The Dapol Pug arrived this lunchtime and I have been busy this afternoon disassembling it so that I may adapt its chassis for the Y6 project. To remove the main part of the body I had to detach the wires that fed current to the motor, once this was done I cut the ends of the chassis off close to the retaining screw holes and then tried it into the Y6 body after I had cut an aperture in it to receive the chassis. The aperture had to be widened to allow the motor to pass through, I could then see that the remains of the slide bar support and the tops of the sand boxes would provide location with the Y6 body shell. I elected to place the motor at the fire box end of the body shell so that both members of the loco crew could stand in the way of the motor. The tops of the sand boxes were slightly proud of the top of the chassis and were pared down so that the body would sit plain to the chassis and level to the track. Most conveniently the chassis needed 5mm of packing to bring it to the correct height. this was achieved by gluing two 5mm strips of plasticard to either side of the aperture, one .080"thick and the other .040" thick. Another pair of synergistic occurrences was that one of the original screw holes lined up with the centre of the underside of the foot plating at the chimney end and also that it required precisely 8mm of packing. The 8mm packing was made up from four pieces of .080" plasticard 7mm X 9mm. Once the chassis was centred within the aperture a hole was drilled through the chassis screw hole and into the 8mm thick packing block, one of the original Pug body securing screws was utilised to hold the chassis in place. At the other end to make sue that the body and chassis did not pivot about the securing screw I cut some .080" strips of plasticard 3mm X 9mm with 45* angles upon one end. With the chassis correctly placed I glued these strips so that the angled ends located upon the sloped side of the sand boxes. when the glue had cured the screw may be undone the chassis slid along by 4mm and the whole disassembles. The other slight modification was to drill a hole in the end of the chassis to retain the keep plate over the axles, again I used one of the original Pug body securing screws. This action was required as the clip had been cut off when shortening the chassis. Gibbo.

Hi Folks, The Dapol Pug arrived this lunchtime and I have been busy this afternoon disassembling it so that I may adapt its chassis for the Y6 project. To remove the main part of the body I had to detach the wires that fed current to the motor, once this was done I cut the ends of the chassis off close to the retaining screw holes and then tried it into the Y6 body after I had cut an aperture in it to receive the chassis. The aperture had to be widened to allow the motor to pass through, I could then see that the remains of the slide bar support and the tops of the sand boxes would provide location with the Y6 body shell. I elected to place the motor at the fire box end of the body shell so that both members of the loco crew could stand in the way of the motor. The tops of the sand boxes were slightly proud of the top of the chassis and were pared down so that the body would sit plain to the chassis and level to the track. Most conveniently the chassis needed 5mm of packing to bring it to the correct height. this was achieved by gluing two 5mm strips of plasticard to either side of the aperture, one .080"thick and the other .040" thick. Another pair of synergistic occurrences was that one of the original screw holes lined up with the centre of the underside of the foot plating at the chimney end and also that it required precisely 8mm of packing. The 8mm packing was made up from four pieces of .080" plasticard 7mm X 9mm. Once the chassis was centred within the aperture a hole was drilled through the chassis screw hole and into the 8mm thick packing block, one of the original Pug body securing screws was utilised to hold the chassis in place. At the other end to make sue that the body and chassis did not pivot about the securing screw I cut some .080" strips of plasticard 3mm X 9mm with 45* angles upon one end. With the chassis correctly placed I glued these strips so that the angled ends located upon the sloped side of the sand boxes. when the glue had cured the screw may be undone the chassis slid along by 4mm and the whole disassembles. The other slight modification was to drill a hole in the end of the chassis to retain the keep plate over the axles, again I used one of the original Pug body securing screws. This action was required as the clip had been cut off when shortening the chassis. Gibbo.

Hi Jason, I remember seeing an artists impression of the class 58 in Modern Railways around the late 1970's or early 1980's that looked like this one; Gibbo.