Tony Cane

You do not give a times scale but during WWII may Southern locomotives were loaned to the other companies. The record for furthest north has to go to a D1 tank locomotive used as a station pilot at Wick.

I am mounting miniature microswitches to the base board through 3mm of cork with the following screws https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372851078759?ViewItem=&item=372851078759 Shank is about 2mm diameter

There are two assumption made in the above post. One is that the device is an LED, from the list given it could be a 3V bulb. The other is that the current drawn is about 2mA, it may be higher so more voltage will be absorbed. If the current drawn by the device is measured then the correct resistor can be selected to drop the 1.1V required. One other option is to place an ordinary diode in series with the device. This will drop about 0.6 to 0.7 volts. A second diode, in series with the first, will drop double this. This would give 2.7 to 2.9 volts on the figures given, and under running a bulb is preferable to a slight over run. Some experimentation will be needed to see if this gives sufficient brightness.

A couple of tables from the book The Railcar 1847-1939, by R.W. Kidner that may be of interest.

Perhaps we should go back to the beginning. According to Kinder this is the very first railmotor, built in 1847

A note on the Markits Westinghouse pumps. While WALP1 may look small, WALP5 is 20% larger than the pumps fitted on the WD 2-8-0 Austerity locomotives.

When setting up the Digitrax radio system on a club layout we came across the document at the following URL https://nrmrc.org/sites/default/files/publications/setup_and_train_operations_with_digitrax_duplex_throttles_and_radio.pdf This gives details of the problems they have experienced, and recommends the use of 4 channels least used by normal wifi. The UK situation may be different however.

Thanks to all those who added to this topic

I am investigating the movement of dead locomotives, particularly during WWII, when over 1000 locomotives were towed to Southampton or Dover and loaded on to train ferries. Research so far has revealed the following. A pre-war picture and documentation confirms the use of barrier or spacer wagons between each locomotive. In both cases 2 wagons were used but a picture of a BR diesel pulling at least three Bulleid Pacifics has 4 wagons between. Further confusion is caused by the movement of locomotives to scrap yards where they are all coupled together. From this it would seem that the barrier wagons are providing some kind of protection. The other issue is the removal of the coupling rods. As far as I can tell this because of cylinder lubrication. If mechanical lubricators are used then the rods can stay on, but if lubrication requires the assistance of steam then they must be removed. With the connecting rods in place the loco is put in full forward gear and the drain cocks opened. Has anyone got access to the regulations for this type movement? I look forward to further enlightenment on this subject.

According to information in An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol 4, When banana traffic was moved from Hull to Southampton, as the port of entry, that the now redundant LNER wagons were hired by the Southern to meet the sudden demand. In a 21 hour period in 1934, 681 wagons were loaded with bananas, and such was the demand that refrigerator vans were converted for summer use for this traffic as they had no steam heating.

British Railway Journal No 11 Spring 1986 has an article on two different SR weed killing trains. The vehicles in the second version, built in 1937, match those of the model. the picture of the complete train has 6 tank wagons and a standard Southern brake van.

NWSL used to sell metal gears to replace the plastic ones mounted on the drive shaft. These were both expensive and difficult to fit. Bachmann spares do, what is reported to be, an upgraded drive train, see following URL http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_68_92&products_id=1651 This would be the the simplest way to get the shay working reliably.

I have a reference to an article being in the April 15 1938 supplement of the Railway Gazette, but cannot confirm it includes a drawing.

If you are looking for prototype information to aid the build then Model Railway Journal Issues 35 and 36 have a Ian Rice expose on all the various differences and very detailed drawings.

Some retained their WD numbers for 20 years, even though no longer WD owned. Others were at least renumbered during the war. For example 71524 became No34 in December 1944.

The painting diagrams I have are North British drawings and there are occurrences recorded where different works were using different size numbers, so the manufacturers were painting the locomotives. The USATC wagons shipped across the Atlantic in kit form were painted in U S Army olive drab. The USATC locomotives were painted grey, which could be light colour or nearly black in appearance.

The best reference to WD locomotive colours I can offer is the attached deliberately low resolution picture from the colour Rail collection. This is of stored locomotives just after the war. All the usual warnings about the colour distortion of an image originally made over 70 years ago apply. There are other images in the Colour Rail collection, which show similar greens, some are darker but weathering and colour bias of the slide could cause this. The North British Painting diagrams just refer to the colour used as Khaki Green, even on locomotives painted with 21st Army Group shields. The attached image shows that either the Austerity tank was painted in a different colour or has weathered differently.

The best information I have is that the last batch of WWII Warflats was built in 1942.

Hi The UK supplier of the Archer rivets is DCC supplies https://www.dccsupplies.com/search/results/?search=rivets Application is the same for other water slide transfers. there are are number of "how to" videos on the web. Search for "Archer transfers video" Consider it to be part of the painting process, after priming but before the body colour. Alternative, cheaper but poorer quality, in my opinion, is Micromark, but I do not know of a UK source.

This was a one of trial, with I believe observation from the air to see how effective it was. There are 13 negatives in the Imperial War Museum collection IWM NEG H25189 TO H25201, dated November 7th 1942

Hi Not sure if it fits with your proposed layout, but the book on the Naval Dockyard at Devonport has the attached list of wagons.

I did one in 4mm scale, but the lettering was not all the correct size.

No wishing to add to the high jacking of this thread I have started a new one entitled “WWII tank transport by rail”. Links to all three of the films listed above are published there.

Here, as requested, are the links to all three films I have acquired off the internet of Covenanter tanks being transported by rail. Tanks by Rail, Covenanter tanks https://youtu.be/YCbTUoj_fH8 Tanks by Rail, End loading dock https://youtu.be/ZvUdYcE3tT4 Tanks by Rail, Ramp wagon https://youtu.be/9oe6DrFieQ8 These were made by the Army film unit in 1942, and shot at the Longmoor Military Railway. They were intended as training films so cover every aspect of the process of loading the tanks. While the unit signs on the tanks have been covered over, the cap badges show that the unit involved is the Coldstream Guards. A video published by Heritage Magazine many years ago has more films in this series, such as using the emergency ramp ladder and the loading of Churchill tanks

Here is my attempt at reproducing the weathering in the photograph.