russell price

Just seen this, The OPs motor is the later HP2M replacement, which was supplied from about 1979/80 onwards. |Easy to build up and get working but for reliabilty best replaced. I have The Ian Allan book written by By Guy Williams who was a user of The Triang XO4 as it was easily available and reliable. No mention of 5 pole upgrades.

my original 31 401 is still going too, been joined by a green one to keep it company. it was my 2nd loco bought from the Earls Court toyfair in late 1976 or early 1977 when it was officially launched,so therefore must be one of the very first ones out of the door.

Will message you direct, you probably have enough else on your plate at the moment, like others have said its a shame to break up Chuffnell Regis, but things move onwards. No doubt once youre settled CR MK 2 will rise and using lessons learnt from CR 1 you will soon have a layout to be proud of.

If you were interested then, im sure i would be able to give you a couple of commissions, Welshpool Goods Shed for starters? That is a serious question.

I would disconnect the motor and all the suppression bits and establish if the motor is working, only once you know the motor works is it worth trying to do checks on the wiring as you have too many variables. Work back from the motor once you know its ok until you have it running at each stage of the wiring joints etc. i knw nothing about DCC so will leave that to everyone else, but get it running on DC first.

You will need a blow lamp to melt the brass!!! Keep the brass clean and plenty of flux. Then keep your solder in a pool as you work along.

I know flooding is everywhere around Welshpool but not sure I want to be that prototypical .

Trouble here is the wind gets under the edge of the felt and has a field day!! Mind I don’t think it dare come off now!!! Good luck with your re roofing project

we used to call IZAL John Wayne Bog roll. Why, well it was rough, tough and takes no sh$t.

Sorry there hasnt been any updates for nearly 12 months , life has got in the way a bit, and a few issues with keeping the shed roofing felt in its place have meant not much modelling has been done. Having refelted the roof and battened it down, then tarring the lot, hopefully the water will stay on the outside!! Hopefully some modelling updates soon.

Oh and if you want to put your Dinky Vega Major on Aston here is your excuse.. Yes the model on the dashboard is still here. The real coach had a fascinating afterlife but thats another story.

catching up on RM Web having not been on for a few months, seeing all this talk of Trees, reminds me, are you putting the flags in one of them? It wouldn't be Aston without!!

The Bunker is missing the top casting, which i havent used on my build of the Metro either , scroll back a couple of pages and there is the Wills 1854 i cut the bunker off.

The Pannier in the Cotswold box is a Wills 1854 kit with the skirts cut away. I also have a Cotswold 2021 and the loco in the box isnt a Cotswold.

No 617 is also making slow progress too. Looking at the spectacle plates I think the spectacle windows are too big, the McGowan 517 looks much better. This maybe because the kit represents the later Collett cab/bunker.

I believe there were different height cabs. Yes a lot of work on this one, mine looks complete in the photos, however the body is about 4 sub assemblies that slot together. My boiler is also down against the footplate too. It took long enough to decide on a prototype, just ive got a pile of work to get it to match.

No panniers were harmed in this project. The Wills 1854 being built up using the bunker from the Metro tank.

No 617 has made some progress this weekend. The arrival off eBay of a wills 1854 pannier tank allowed some progress to be made with the modifications needed to the kit to represent no 617. The bunker sides were cut from both locos and swapped over, whilst the bunker needed shortening to fit the metro. This also entailed some modifications to the side frames and buffer beam. the addition of the rear spectacle plate then showed up the fact that the cab was about a scale foot too tall. So cab has been unsoldered and reduced in height. The spectacle rims on the cab front need to virtually touch the top of the firebox, so plenty of work there. The other thing I’ve found is I’ve had to remove quite a bit of metal from the base of the smoke box to get the footplate level and the boiler joint anything like where they need to be.

And I shan’t be losing any sleep over the tender chassis, there are plenty of alternatives to sort it out. Im not convinced that even if the centre drivers were on the track it would make that much difference. Most 060 chassis need the centre axle to be able to lift a bit or else it would Bob about the centre axle with the front and rear axles derailed and trying to crab along. Seen this too often.

The drawing is poor but it should be roughly a straight line between the steps on the loco and tender, look carefully and you will see the frames and axleboxes are nowhere near straight! Looks like Mazak rot to me!

I will have to investigate further 14 wagons is too much for it , a mix as follows 1x Wrenn,1x Ratio 1x coopercraft 2x Airfix kits on metal axles with pinpoints. 3x Mainline 4 x Hornby. Thanks Sorry Graham for going off topic.

A quick Dean goods comparison evening has revealed this:- Oxford Centre Drivers are not fully contacting the rails. OR struggles to move 3 free running Triang MK1s. OR takes off like a shot! Airfix Mainline can handle 5 Triang MK1s possibly a 6th on level track. Airfix starts off much slower although not perfect. Ancient Ks Dean metal kit powered by an XO4 not fitted with tension locks so unable to hook up to Triangs pushed all 6 coaches easily without any slipping!!! The XO4 was also the smoothest starter from rest too. Will post videos if anyone wants. HOWEVER The Oxford appears to be warping in the tender chassis/under frame which is a major concern!!! Anyone else had this?

No doubt! I had a pile of stuff out of that tat box, lot of it very useful.

Will have a look at centre drivers this evening, as for load. i think it struggles with anything more than about 3 coaches. Mind i have a mainline 2251 that can hardly move itself, yet the other i have had from new is good all rounder.

What are the main issues with the OR Dean Goods?I have a DC one which runs sweetly except that it starts off almost flat out. i put this down t the ancient Duette or am i blaming the wrong kit? There is also the lack of pulling power but i think a bit of weight may help.