Florence Locomotive Works

Yeah I'm afraid I can't help you there, my suggestion was to just buy a new clock/movement. That's what we do with most battery clocks unless that would be exceedingly expensive. If so then we have a trained battery clock specialist work on them. She's also a professional mural artist, an interesting career.

Yes Lewis is extremely accomplished. I feel like I’ve heard of Rupert Parsons somewhere.

Young horologist here, In a sense, there’s a lot wrong with this industry. For starters it has an image problem. The problem being, there is no image. The vast majority of people have no idea the concept of a clockmaker even exists anymore. If it was advertised in some way then recruits would come flowing in, I can assure you of you this! Secondly, the industry is overloaded with work. The firm I work for has 13 month long waiting list for a rebuild and I have associates in the UK with 10 month lists. Although clockmaking is an enjoyable job it’s one you could tire of very easily with that much work and pressure. Unfortunately the catalyst for this overload is in fact the retirement of other horologists. As far as I know, there are only 5 horologists under the age of 20 in the world. Myself, Michael Dickson of London and Lewis Walduck who is sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Clock and Watchmakers. The others I don’t know by name. However in the “youth of today” there is a certain sect which is quite large that would very much enjoy a job working on clocks, away from all the screens etc. It also has something very desirable today, the Aesthetic value. This is motivated in huge part by Cores on Instagram like Dark Academia and CottageCore. I know Dark Academics who would adore a clock making job but have know idea how to get one. Douglas

Afternoon all, Today has mostly been spent lounging about and remaking the rear buffer beam on the tender as the first one was below even my standards. The only other thing of note was that I was able to take this photo of our friend’s 911 Targa from our ‘83 SC. Its been fed through an editor to make it look semi Polaroid. Douglas

Evening all, I made a good bit of progress on Brunel’s tender today in the form of machining the angle brackets square on the lathe. They aren’t exactly pretty but nobody know will but me. These angles also act as frame stretchers. I’m not sure yet if I will do a center frame stretcher as I think I’ll let the tender tank base take the strain. The rest of tender will be soldered brass, and it’s interior will be taken up with batteries and wiring. The top will be a varnished wood board with a old style brass switch on it, and maybe a reversing switch if I can decipher how Henry Hreenly says it’s possible to make one. Douglas

Evening all, My first day back work was more interesting than predicted. Two months ago when I left I had manged to break a pivot, and without this pivot being mended I could not continue the rebuild. So myself and Stephen, our resident tool and die machinist of 50 years experience (very interesting man) went into the back room where our much abused Unimat lathe lies to replace said ailing pivot. Pivots on a clock are case hardened steel axles fitted onto the ends of the mild steel arbors that pass through the gear wheels. The procedure for replacing them is to center drill, and then use some mind numbingly small size of carbide drill to remove the hardened steel. Then a length of new steel is cut and soldered in the hole. Ours was 1.8 mm in diameter and unfortunately we didn't have a carbide drill this big so Stephen will finish the job for me on Friday when the new drill comes in. I still don't yet know when I will be working or my the figure wages, as my boss was called away on a emergency job charted to us by a restoration company. I think it was for 10 clocks. I also was given a brand new plate spreader for my desk, a sort of screw clamp in reverse that can hold the plates of a moment apart so you can fiddle about with lining up the pivots and their holes. It should be very helpful, I've tried assembling movements without one and its quite challenging. Good practice though. Douglas

That’s a Bing for Gamages early series GWR bogie coach, from around 1903. Probably gauge 1.

Ah I see what you mean now, sorry for any misunderstanding.

I quite agree with you Richard, What you said has been in my mind for some considerable time. In actually fact I should never have embarked on the construction of an engine in gauge 2, and I only did so out of convenience in the moment. The ready made frame stretchers I had would only work for gauge 2 and at the time I did not have a lathe so that was the only way forward. With all due respect, I'm not entirely sure where you got the idea of finescale G2. I have no (known) intentions of improving an already dying gauge. To be completely honest, I am unsure where to continue from here out. Coarse scale gauge 1 seems like a very good route, and I have been offered a Bing N2 at a heavily discounted price, but I don’t think thats the way forward. I think my best way forward is the mending o’ the mogul, but I’ll have to run that past dad first.

In other more uplifting news, I will be returning to work tomorrow after a 2 month absence. I guess you could say I was furloughed, but I am returning tomorrow to finally discuss my schedule and the very shiny prospect of the payroll. We now have a year long waiting list for a clock rebuild, which according to another horologist my age who I’m in contact with is not uncommon. The firm he works for has a ten month waiting list. This does make me ask the question of my furloughing but I’m not complaining. Douglas

Evening all, After consulting the only other gauge 2 modeller in the world who also happens to be a user on this forum, it has been confirmed that I have in fact bought a mis identified Gauge 1 brake van. A lovely item as Jamie said, but an expensive mistake. It has also awakened me to the problem of scale. When I began building Brunel, the frames were originally cut to the dimensions of a gauge 1 Dunalastair, and lengthened slightly to what I thought was gauge 2. I was in fact very far out on this measurement, meaning the engine is about 2 inches too small all around. This means that if I did run it with proper gauge 2 stock it would look (I think) exceptionally comical. It’s just about the right size for gauge 1 (slightly to small but I think it would work for fine scale), but the frames are spaced to 42mm for G2 and can’t be changed. I attempted to re gauge the van to G2 but this came to nowt, including machining a bit off the wheels. It is tantalizingly close though. So now from what I can see I have two/three paths open to me. 1. begin making all my own rolling stock. 2. Figure out some way of re gauging old G1 stock. 3. (hypothetical) just run the engine with G2 stock. Any thoughts?

Yes i just discovered that and its rather worrying as that is not the worlds cheapest brake van. I supposed I could regauge the engine down to G1 (its scaled to G1 not gauge 2) but I'm not sure if I should. That would enable me to stop making my own track though. That would mean unsoldering the bogie frames though. Lesson learned though.

Evening all, This may be of interest to those of us who are more crimson bent. This is my new (to me) Carette for Bassett Lowke MR brake van, made in France in 1909, so she’s had a few owners! It’s very strange knowing when it was made the Midland was still making full size brakevans. It came from a large collection up in New York (my George the Fifth came from the same) and is 2 inch gauge. And it was also in quite a state. Here’s an example of the dirt on the footboards before and after cleaning. I cleaned it all with some very gentle soap mixture that is easy on the paint, I have tested it before. Here are some photos. Its all made from tin with the exception of cast zinc wheels which were covered in muck. The buffers were worse and looked as though they had been buried in the earth for a while. This acquisition is also very perplexing. From what I can find (which is very little), the BTB for 2 inch gauge is 45mm, the BTB on this 40mm, but it’s too big to be gauge 1. I attempted to move the wheels out to 45mm but this was to large for the frame. Any thoughts? Douglas

Afternoon all, Today was a very momentous day in the history of the Florence Ave Locomotive Works, for our first engine constructed in house made its first run on a piece of track, vindicating 8 months and 1,178 hours of work. Although the run was only a few inches (nearly dead batteries) the proprietor is most pleased. This is also the first time in the 21st century where a new build gauge 2 engine has run on new gauge 2 track. Here are some photos. Ironically the permanent way is sitting atop several ancient Frisco or Santa Fe sleepers. Old soldiers never die they say. The PW is constructed from 1/2 x 1 inch aluminum angle screwed to wooden sleepers. I also bought a 1/4 inch thick steel plate on which to do my soldering and other heat related things, rather than using the top of the wood burning stove when my parents are out, which is how the splashers got made… Douglas

Evening all, I got home from school this afternoon and decided to fire up ye olde Toyo and make some bushings for the crank bosses on Andy’s wheels. This having been done, the motion work was put back on the engine. And to my complete shock it turned over on 5 volts! A good lesson in why you should do things properly the first time. It has been very cold recently, my walk across campus in the early morning is very awaking as it has been 12 degrees in old money for the past three days. Douglas

If you are going to get a printer I would go for a filament one, and probably the best your funds can allow. Resin printers are quite a hassle and require significant cleanup of the prints afterwards due then having to have supports designed into them. They also can take ages and have a very limited build plate, probably a max length of 5 inches, where as your average filament printer I believe prints on a 12 x 12 inch plate. Also, you can always do the CAD and hire Shapeways to print them for you, however their prices aren’t exactly friendly.

Noted and the post shall be edited. Thank you. 1895 does seem late for a 4-4-0 to be introduced though, especially a mainline one.

That does seems unusual as I know most locomotive fitters take great pains to set the valve timing slightly forward in order to cushion the reciprocating blow of the motion. I know the Royal Scot's/Duchess's had a particularly bad problem with smashing up their rear axleboxes (and the crew/track!) unless the timing was altered. I also do this when ever setting up a stationary live steam engine after a rebuild. Never done a loco though so I can't judge.

Well a great deal has happened over the past few days. On Saturday I discovered the driving wheels were out of gauge by about 4mm, meaning they had to be removed from their axles and the spacing altered with the bearings. This ended in disaster and 6 failed attempt's at quartering, and it took till Monday night working six hours a day to fix the problem. However the wheels are now within in gauge tolerances. That's not the only change though! I've always been a great admirer of the North British Railway, and I realized a few days ago that I had some leftover Midland Railway good brown in a spray can from my 4mm Kirtley Goods. This is very similar to one of the many shades of brown applied to NBR engines, so the engine was repainted. The lining still isn't quite done and I still need to reinstall the salter beam to it's spring in order to complete the safety valve. The basis of this engine is a rebuilt Drummond "Waverly" class of 1878. These engines eventually spawned the Caledonian Dunalastairs which the frames measurements for my engine were taken from. This particular Waverly would have been rebuilt by Reid in 1903 for fast mixed traffic work. Lets just say he had recently taken a trip to the continent and wanted to try out the streamlining being used with success on the Paris Orleans! Here's an unrebuilt Waverly: https://gracesguide.co.uk/North_British_Railway I've also just begun construction on the tender which will look like your average late Victorian/Edwardian 4-4-0 tender. So far both frames have been cut out and pilot holes drilled for everything. One frame stretcher has been turned but I think more of the structure will be made up of the tender floor and buffer/drag beams. I've also managed to acquire some original 2 inch gauge rolling stock from about 1909, in the form of a Carette for Bassett Lowke Midland Railway brakevan in need of a fair bit of TLC. I got scammed on the price sadly but its mine! Douglas

Thank you all very much for the advice, it was very useful however the funds ended up being allotted towards a Carette for Bassett Lowke 2 inch gauge MR brake van for my ongoing gauge 2 layout, which doesn’t quite exist yet! Heres its engine though, built by me from scratch in NBR livery. Still not quite finished. I think it’s the first gauge 2 engine made since 1927! Douglas

Nearly done now, the design has changed greatly and now includes elements from both French and American engines. Painted in NBR livery which isn't quite done yet. '

Evening all, Problems were solved and changes were made. I ended up taking off all the wheels and boring the ID of the axles hub out to 1/4 inch and then I installed a brass bushing to help with running concentrically. It kind of worked, they aren't 100% dead on but much better than before. They are also within gauge tolerances now, or at least as far as i can get them. As there is only about 400 ft of surviving gauge 2 track in the world i'm not to worried. I also made the decision to paint the engine in North British Railway livery as I was unsure about the upkeep the bare metal finish would require but more so I really like it. The lining isn't quite done yet but it was good enough for a photo. (that is a very cruel photo) You may have noticed that the coupling rods are missing. The new bushing takes up the new hole I drilled for crank pins as the bosses I spec'd to Andy were 2mm oversize and I'm pretty sure if I put a rod end on them they would foul the side valances. So this requires some thought. Of course the engine could run as a single driver but that would be very disappointing. And there's also the problem of my not being able to remove the wheels with any real ease, so this needs some thought. Suggestions very welcome. Douglas

Fun was had. In other news, im thinking of buying an Ace Trains bulldog. What do we think? Douglas

1. I’ve just been on eBay and I’ve seen moguls reaching $1500 so I think it’s better to be left as is, which is still in running (kind of) condition. 2. Pwllheli is my dads layout and we have been stalling on progress as his main hobby is classic cars. However we have been systematically cleansing eBay of any BR coaches that come up for sale in the USA. A Dapol manor also got ordered. Another possible thing in 4mm would be resurrecting my plan for a varnished wooden board with an inglenook layout layer over it as I don’t particularly like doing scenic work. This would be suitable for the H1. 3. The nearholmer kind. I looked and it is certainly to expensive. 4. I’ve looked at both doing a Project or a Dee. Unsure if it would be a good idea as college is in 2 years.

Afternoon all, Unfortunately I stand defeated at the hands of my own creation. Without going into to much detail, Brunel is now a project for another day. Although it is not destroyed if anybody thought that. So now I stand at a crossroads with four roads I could take: 1. Drag the mogul off it’s shelf and sort the poor thing out once and for all. (The hippo slaps his head in despair) 2. Buy a nice Bachman pre grouping loco that won’t give me problems and build a small layout. (Either a GCR D11 or LBSCR H1) 3. Buy some sort of rtr coarse scale engine. (Very expensive but I have the rolling stock) 4. construct a gauge 1 GWR saint from scratch. This time it would be made properly and could be taken with me to college and run on club tracks. (Dad was very confused at this option) Thoughts? Douglas