London cambrian

Hiya Mark

No probs, if you need anything, PM me an i can post them somewhere or alternatively email anything you need.

I made a new set of sandbox of pull rods myself for the 5 inch one, though have only made the cams so far, havn't been able to get hold of any suitable section for the rods. My stuff tends to be smaller than what is common at model engineering shows! haha. But its sitting in the lounge looking at me, i've told myself i'm not allowed to touch it till after the exams! But after that we'll get the odd running issue sorted, get it a proper steam certificate (i was running at a private track and had an inspector check it before hand the other weekend!) and do a bit of detailing work, a proper new cab, pipe work, maybe another injector, lamp irons, and LT fittings like sleet brushes and trip cocks, before lining it when its all apart, maybe as late as september!

but as i say, if you need anything, always pleased to help another pannier fan

Mark

excellent work there Mark, looking a little cracker. If you need any pannier pics and details, give me a shout, i have a shed load of photos that  used from when i was doing my 5 inch gauge ones, and i did full all angle surveys of several engines, so if you need any detail photos i may well have something!

you'll also find that because of their many and varying builders, Theres several detail differences, you only start noticing when you start looking closely to detail, something i've found to my cost on occasion! haha

Great stuff again,

Mark

Yeah, i'm afraid what modelworks failed to do was to design, develop and test their products properly. They also had the mentality you could build one of their kits on a tabletop, which is ridiculous, and there really wasn't the for-thought of design going into their products, and quality of build that would be necessary to work. Its only with the likes of Polly are we finally getting almost ready to run and decent kit built engines.

But yes,the pansy is a very robust and strong design. I've driven and known several, always decent engines, once you get them right. fortunately a lot of work to correct the valve gear had already been done to mine, but i've put in a bit of extra time on it myself to sort the rest out.

As to the LT re livery, in my opinion the best they ever carried, and certainly the reason why nearly a third of the panniers we have are still with us. That and the fact only 2 of the preserved 57xx engines (8 in total) didnt come from LT, and the other 2 came from the NCB. My own connection is the large amount of London transport and metropolitan railway rolling stock we have now built. So, a logical choice for a first steam engine, having had several others on loan in the past

Mark

hey Paul.

this is very defo a pansy, having had a winson brit for a while I wouldn't touch anything modelworks with a bargepole! hehe. if you go back to the first post in the blog there's a pic of when I got it. but they are very good engines and I have slowly been rebuilding/repainting this one now for the last 3 years. something I been working on a while, rebuilding and detailing to LT configuration

Just been thinking doing one of these burnt out brake vans in 5 inch gauge would be superb, i'll be sure to come to you if it ever goes ahead!

Haha yes i have heard that incident! That was back before brent realigned the formation, used to go in front of the box. Dont think its the only loco that came foul through those curves, think one of the LNER02 heavy freights has straight-lined them once or twice!

But nothing will ever slow bill down! He hares round gilling, regulater open past erimus, up round the corner, over the levele crossing, shuts off in the station, doesnt open up again till 2/3rds the way up the bank! Then shuts off past the headshunt, to open up again past erimus! Top bloke though. But bill is famous for his SPADs, so after one incident early on saturday, there was two great troughs of ballast where he'd put his feet down after having run a red, not having had time to top, the speed he was going!

Oh good times!

Not of course encouraged!

Go for it rcmacchipilot! Its an interesting vehicle, but i cant help thinking 4mm wouldnt do it justice! plus its got open frames, so make it a fully timbered chassis or at least an impression of it!

But devondynosaur, we have at time resorted to using bits of styrene etc, even down to those sort of size, details you just couldn't get in 4mm! several bits of angle iron supporting tool boxes under one of the vans were made from plastruct, but your right, most of our fine details are made from metal, machined out! and if its flat its laser cut, if its not, like some cams for the sanding gear on my pannier tank, its machined from one long piece and cut up into bits all of the exact same profile

Hey devondynosaur

I'm not sure they would be too pleased!

But yes it is the final shade, though its darker in real life compared to what you see, camera doesn't show it up very well! But its the exact same shade the electrics loco is in, and my mate with the other LT pannier is gonna use the same shade, so they match in all but numbers!

But the engine may well run without lining for a good few months, like the pair of 02s did, so after its running it may drag out a few months after as well!

Hi all, i shall do my best to keep the entries coming, but dont be surprised if they come like buses, two at a time or so!

Scanman, i started out in 4mm stuff, i built an entire layout in the loft, which atm is sitting abandoned and unloved because i started building some wagons! That's the next immediate project after finishing the pannier, spend a couple of weeks tidying the loft and clearing out all the rolling stock which i am not likely to use for any future project. Most of mywagons will stay but there could be a goodly amount of GW coaches on the market soon!

Thanks mikkel, the wagons in the first pic belong to a man over in Gloucestershire, some of the other wagons come from lincolnshire and one or two others from kent, plus the resident wagons, and our coaches from the midlands and we really are a national group!
But running any sort of load on that railway does become a battle at times, after about 10 laps with 5 on when i was driving the Caley i gave up and dropped two off, and those coaches are comparatively very light!

The caley, neilson 2-4-0 was built by a man called roy amsbury, *edit, was built by a friend of Roy amsbury, after Roy made the first one, so theres another one out there somewhere!* a man well known for his locos and in articular designing locomotives and machinery, so that loco really is a joy to drive (gush-gush to the owner ) But as i said it pulls incredible loads, and pulls better than one of the other scottish railways 4 coupled engines, a Highland railway Loch class 4-4-0!

And Paul, i echo mike's call, Loco please! Yes i know you made some excuse about the yard, but steam it up at brundall gardens! i've never seen that loco run in the 2 years i've known you! But indeed, hopefully see you guys at brent house this weekend!

it certanly added to my wet socks! Luckily as the running descended on the monday, being down yard master, you can shelter in the signal box!

The pannier is at a bit of a stalemate atm, ican keep going with little jobs, but i am limited until i get the studding to bolt up the vale chest.But i cant easily get over to the local suppliers for the 6BA stuffing i need. And when i do go over, they have shut early and gone home! Part timers!

As i said in the post, itsgot a re profiled chimney, am currently makin some new detailing parts for it, which need machining, but cant get at the miling machine, and i'm stil pondering how to make the very small hinges for the cylinder head and valve covers opening. However a friend very kindly made me a very nice GWpatternsteam lance valve for the front.

Then i may rebuild the drain cock arms on it, and put dummy springs in the cab. That orjust their covers because some caried them, others didnt!

But anyway, may have another post upafter nextweekend,or this week if i get bored!

Cheers

Mark

hehe, shhhh don't tell anyone about that! wasn't my fault tbh, rain and your dodgy controller mate!

as to the brake van, its been there longer than 6 years, and with a flat that size from aluminium rail, several people are convinced its gotta have been that long, especiallyvwith the size of flat on it. And.yes we probably could have done with a fee flat spotted wagons!

indeed many more to come, hopefully with the pannier in the not too distant future and my toplight.

cheers

Mark

Cheers devondynosaur.

The mineral wagons will soon be subject to a similar project that saw that whole rake of tank wagons built by lindsey society. So we could well have a rake of windcutters soon! Would love a few of them, London Transport bought a few fore internal coal duties, so would great behind the pannier when its done.

I have a few better shots of the turntable. Unfortunately, the new server restriction means images from my camera are too big to put up without resizing them, which is a pain, especially late at night when i write this!

A friend of mine has a duchess, who'll bring it to the rally next year. The duchess in the photo probably wont be there next year.

The intention has always been to get away from the model engineering of passenger hauling, more to a prototypical way of running a scale miniature railway, in a proper manner. Wagons there varied from anything upto thrity years old, from the first years of GL5. Some wagons are begining to show their age though. One brake van had a seized axle we found, and had been dragging locked solid for atleast 5-6 years! Needless to say it had a flat spot around 10mm long! Amazingly, the next day it was back running, the owner had wrenched the axle box free, re profiled both wheelsets and had got it back running the next day!

Its great to see trains of wagons running round behind authentic engines being driven in a prototypical manner. Its what the original founders wanted and something i enjoy actually far more than just driving an electric loco, or even model railways these days.

Cheers

Mark

Haha thanks devondynosoar

Unfortunately i will admit to counting a few rivets whilst doing this! The running plates had existing rivets in them so all i did was drill them out, file them flush and replace with smaller ones, and double the number along the length. in places there should be two line rather than one, and others, in places not easily seen, i havnt put any in. but in all visible places, they are there, more to give an impression than anything else. thats really all that counts, it doesnt need to be mm perfect, as its the look that counts

Went to gilling again this weekend, so pics up soon!

Cheers all

Mark

Any time gents.

The baby castle belongs to my friend Dinmore Manor on here. Its an engine thats spent a few years on the shelf, and as such its needed a bit of work. hes had a few issues with injectors, valve gear and draughting arrangement. But it was out today, and ran alright, and at brent house, but he retired it early.

As to the pannier, i shall be doing my best to have it running for september, there is a run at the Greystones railway which i would not mind having it going for, especially because of all the jibing i've had over it! So steam test towards the end of august, and certify it around then, and have it ready for end of september. I have all the bits for it, and the boiler has a hydraulic cert and basically had a steam cert before i dismantled it,so it is a case of getting this approved and it all running.

Cheers

Mark

haha, thanks for that devondynosaur!

it really doesn't have to be hard. all my parts I dump in a pot of panel wipe to remove all traces of grease. I then use a halfords spray can for my paints, but many others brands will do. For using brush paints I'll paint on a very thin coat, I mean really thin of a good quality paint like phoenix precision paints, and let dry and harden for 12-24 hrs. Then give it another coat and perhaps a third if it needs it.that's what I do for mine, I don't know about you.

The overhaul is gatherring pace, should be running by september. Some bits are a bit of a pain but overhaul its really quite enjoyable!

Thanks pannier tank, no problem, i'll ask next time i see graham if you want?

I've got afriend doing one as well, also into LT Red, but his work is fantastic. we're hoping to have them running together next year. Hopefully, I'll leave mine clean for a few months then get someone i know to weather it, but the other mate with the pannier, is doing one of the early ones, so leaving his clean.

Cheers

Mark

Hi guy,

i have absolutely now idea! Tbh without being too crude, i know its german, probably a kriegslok and its black with red below the running boards! You may have guessed anything beyond the isle of wight is not my forte! I wouldnt know the answer, and i doubt my friends from echills would know either because it was a visiting loco!

Sorry couldnt be more help. anything on 5 inch british stuff, i'm great on but nothing foreign!

Cheers,

Mark

Cheers all

As you say mike i probably will paint the wheels all red, certainly the centre posses, when i paint the centre wheelset, probably next week. They would certainly benefit from it.

Glad you enjoyed it devondynosaur!

Mark

hey Jon

the lever frames are all ex London transport,from a mixture of neasden and stanmore mostly, with I think a few from Watford. Pretty much all courtesy of ex London underground signal engineer Dave Alexander!

The 08 has a reasonable amount of detail to it, I think there are several like it, I think a fibreglass moulding I don't know who by but I suspect by Dan jeavons, whoes range recently passed to miniature railway supply co. it could be someone else's moulding, there are aa few suppliers out there.

Mark

Good oh. Dan Jeavons did the moulding for our body shell, though really a bit rough ours was, how was yours as a moulding?

We just use ordinary car batteries in ours, we have never found any benefit from any other sort of batteries, so we just use ordinary lead acids.

We found the DMR dead easy to plug in. the only work we actually had to do was to break into the hand controller feed, and put a switch in so we could flick between radio and handset, the DMR is designed for permenant Radio integration. But other than that, dead easy, other than 4QD supplying a reverse wired piece of wiring when we did a friends loco, that meant nothing worked, its all been fine. We switched to a more channel handset to put in lighting funtionality. So, not quite with you, your lighting circuits are built into your controler? we have a relay for our lights (two actually) but its nowhere near our control board?

Mark

The T1 is my grandads, only driven it once or twice, hopefully convnce him to let me run it next time i'm down his. I would love a dean goods, though preferably in 5!

Boxes i find surpirisingly intuitive. the good thing about GL5 is that everyone has a good experience of running and looks where they're going! so major accidents are avoided. But generally 2 people work this, it can be done but its tricky for one, remember they are a lot busier than a full size box, we probably deal with the movements of somewhere like newcastle, though without the track complications!

I do have some closer ones of the 08, but they are not really close ups per say. are you after detail shots, because i have some of full size ones if you want? If not i'll post some pics from last year on the next post of the 08. Its one that gets everywhere!

Hopefully part two this evening

Cheers

Mark

Hi Mike.

Gonna look at weathering my pannier when its done. They never ran clean!

Go ahead, write an article for turnout, we'd all be fascinated, and Dave Noble is always short of articles, so go ahead.

We first ran our remote control last summer, had no trouble from the word go. Are you using the 4QD DMR with their controller? But the Radio control does make things sooo much better and more fun. Means you can shunt and jettison a riding truck as well. We also often have fun watching it run from a distance. Would love to see yours on the 13 mk1s at gilling, no truck!

Next post coming later this evening

Mark

ah yeah, its in my vids somewhere, ones i havnt put up. But i must say that 37 is certainly was fabulous!

anyone who doesnt know its a superbly weathered 5 inch 37 in blue with yellow ends. But like the green 7 it also has a teally deep sound system and the two double heading up the bank had to be heard!

how did you weather it? Was it using conventional smaller scale techniques?

Mark