roythebus1

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I ended up using a high level models gearbox in the firebox with the motor as cctrans suggested. I done a search for branchlines and that gos straight to our Australian friend who does the Black Beetle motor bogies! I'll try the link above...I did contact them a year or so ago when I re-discovered this project, I'm sure the lady there said she may have some damaged frets lying around. Yes, painting the thing is pain, hence the need to strip it down to get the chassis painted!! Nest problem was the crank covers that I superglued to the Romford driving wheels...try getting 40 year old superglue off! I broke one of the Romford axles wiggling the wheel to get it off. I'll remember to paint the new Dapol body before I go too far with the project. Of course we never thought of these things back in the day. I've still got at least 4 K's Black Fives to finish off, 3 of them have Kean Portescap motors and are all missing parts. :( And 2 full-sized BEA half deck coaches to finish. Retirement is fun.

You mght try using less solder, I use an Antec variable temperature iron. "normal" solder I ind works best at about 350-400 degrees, use a fine-tip for this sort of work using a very small dot of solder to tack things into place, not forgetting to use flux! I'm still learning and have been building stuff for over 60 years now.

Revisiting this project, I wasn't happy with the Kean/Portescap motor in the firebox as it took up a lot of the cab as well. I bought a new body kit from a trader at the Faversham show the other week so decided to fit a High Level Gears set-up which I can actually hide indie the firebox without cutting the cab away. However I'm still missing some of the valve gear. If anyone has a scrap fret or where I could get one it would be helpful. It seems I'm missing more than I thought! I managed to ose the eccentric crank and rod whilste working on the chassis yesterday, the carpet hasn't revealed it yet, not has the workbench. The new body kit provided the from pony truck I used a couple of 2mm bushes on the axle and they run in 1/8" driving wheels fitted into the pony truck box. Not ideal but it ought to work. If Comet are still trading maybe I'll try them again for a spare fret. Ther "Branchlines" range seems to have disappeared.

Pity Hornby hobbies didn't use it on their batch of class 31 diesels from about 14 years ago!

In the 1970s there was a backing in incident at Euston. We were told about it in the traction trainee school so it must be true. A new Carribean shunter was at the leading end of a train being propelled by 3000hp of electric loco on the other end, the instruction was that when approaching the stops the shunter would apply the brake. After the big Bang, the driver went to see if said shunter was ok and why he hadn't applied the brake. "De ting won't turn no more"... he'd applied the hand brake, not the train brake!

Yes indeed! I've just found my LT drawings of the CO/CP entre cars which will give anyone producing them accurate drawings to go by, as well as 38 tube stock DM nd trailer, and Metropolitan Railway min-line stock, 9 compartments! these ar table-size drawings, so pleas don't ask for copies. These are drawings I got from Griffin house in the early 1970s and have the Chiswick works stamp on them. Sadly they lack underfram and bogie details. If anyone can get CDC to contact me I'd be happy to get the Met coach copied if he wants to do a model of it. It's easier than contacting via ebay! When did the last "Chesham"style set run as an electric train? Thoughts for a motorised variant. :)

Ha, my Chesham set arrived this morning. what a lovely model, it captures the atmosphere of the set rather nicely. the only minor niggle is the bogie pivots, 3 of them had fallen out in transit. I've tried to stick them back in with a spot of superglue! Hopefully they don't fall out on the layout somewhere. I suppose if I live enough years to finish everything else, I could spend time fitting wire handrails.. I've fitted Kadee couplings which I use as standard on my layout and to my surprise they are the right height as well. I may well fit some of those little magnetic couplings between coaches when I find the packet that arrive last week, put somewhere safe as usual, never to be found again. A super model, well worth the price, ready-to-run, all it needs to finish off is transfers. Very pleased with it. Well done CC Models. If anyone fancies motorising it, it will need a 28mm motor bogie. :)

Having recently witnessed some of the very late night Watford-LHR buses running full to capacity, that may be another source of traffic. But then with the local bus fare at £2, it represents excellent value. Natex coach fare was £6.

And in the fiddle yard at Waterloo, me changing ends for another trip to Bank.

Shanklin.

One from the archives..

Reminds me, I must get my Kitmaster set finished!! ISTR a BP set being used for a trip on the PAdd-OOC shuttle for an open day back in the 1970s. I had a look inside the set at OOC and still have the souvenir ticket somewhere.

Or the Italain girl back in the mid-1960s who told her mama she wanted to be "Veectoria Choo bellini." Mama asked her to explain, and she showed her mama the Evening News headline "Victoria Tube Line laid by 2000 men in 2 years"

The last Alec Swain was a prolific railway photographer and was also shedmaster at Willesden in the 1960s. He managed to "arrange" certain rare locos to be red carded to delay their departure so he could get decent photos of them.

Really?? :)

They've been talking about the Rickamansworth-Watford link since 1973 when I was a guard at Ricky. a couple of km of new track and a bridge, still not built 50 years later. and they expect a new line to the airport in 4 years??

I fail to see what mot of this discussion has to do with railway safety!

On my local heritage railway there was an "incident" in the workshop the other week and the workshop had to be shut down for a short period. I don't know what it was, but it's the 2nd incident in the workshop in the last few years. H&S involved, but that affected loco availability.

I cleaned up my Anbrico railbus and ran it at the Folkestone MRC the other week. It generated a lot of interest as very few people there had any idea what it was. Most thought it was a motorised Airfix railbus. and yes, I've got one of those with the eAMES chassis with X04 motor and another chassis going spare. There's a part-built Kitmaster Beyer-Garrett in stock as well. And the MTK Cravens parcel car has recently acquired a Black Beetle motor bogie and footsteps. :)

You're welcome. Martin always looks at his own forum but doesn't apparently go on here every day.

"putting up prominent signs and making announcements over the public address system." I wonder how many heritage trains have a PA system? On many I suspect it's the guard bellowing at the top of his or her voice! :)

Without having to read through 10 pages of discussion about road traffic matters, what was the outcome of the Jacobite ban? Has it been lifted following fitment of bars to windows? Or was there more to the matter? It's fun watching people at my local steam railway trying to press the button to get the carriage doors to open. They simply aren't used to big brass door handles and stand there pressing the door stop!

Maybe post this on the 83A Templot site for more expert advice.

I've probably got some ABS GUV/CCT ends. I know I've got quite a few suburban coach ends and M1 1 ends with corridor connections. Adrian Swain used to produce bus kits for me. I've recently found an ABS suburban coach kit unbuilt, still in its box.

The TP and AM10 were totally different body shells and ends. TP were Mk1 based, AM10 mk2 based with no separate chassis/underframe.