Theakerr

Looks nice.  FYI I use pipe cleaners in my wheel bearing bushing.  Keeps them nice and clean.

I would suggest that some of the slow speed excellence has to be due to the Hornby Mechanism.  I dont know what they have done but without doubt my 01 was the best runner i have ever had straight out of the box.  This includes crawling using DC

Agree with Kevin.  some of those shots under the roof have really captured the scene as I remember it.  The last one especially.

I am back from my trip having visited the York show, Monks Bank, the open day at Gainsborough and Peterborough North.  My visit to PN was an excellent day where I was able to enjoy Gilberts company and have a first hand look at what I have to say is becoming one of the "classic" layouts.   The photos on the web are excellent but seeing it in person brought out the true scope of the layout and refreshed my memory of a large station of the steam era (although i did discover that one of my "memories" has to be wrong).  I was especially impressed with the lack of "cluttering" that often accompanies our models.   Many thanks Gilbert and if anyone is over this side of the pond, feel free to give us a shout.

Serendipity is a funny thing,  Yesterday after posting I continued my ongoing job of thinning out old magazines and in the 1991 Railway Modeller I came across an article by Richard Savory about re-motoring a Lima HST.  A bit more complicated than just replacing the motor but doable.  He uses bogies from an Athern GP38-2, a Sagami motor a flywheel and makes up a drive shaft .  PM me if you want to follow up further.

Are Black Beetle still in business?  I seem to remember they did a unit that would fit into the HST.  Also, might want to look at some of the US outline stuff to see if there is anyhting of similar measurements.  For example i fitted a Kato chassis into my Lima Deltic.  The wheel diameter was almost true for an 00 deltic and the dimensions were for the most part within 1/2 mm (based on the incorrectly dimensioned lima deltic)

I have motors in both power cars and whilst they may be a bit noisy I think at high speed they actually sound like a HST.    So until they fail they will stay.   By the way the kids love them especially with the noise.

I use electrical spray cleaner to clean off grease in "sensitive areas.  It almost acts as a wash and dries quickly.  

Did any "Day Tripper" holiday specials ever go through Peterborough?  Many of the D11s I saw were at Cleethorpes on Day Tripper specials when they hauled out anything they could get their hands on.  So it could possibly be on a special

After numerous laps around my circuit with no problems, I got round to adding coal, adding a driving crew, weathering the upper portion, etc.  FYI, 1st problem, on removing the plug from the tender I discovered one wire was not properly crimped into the connector and it separated.  Fortunately it was an outside wire and i was able to solder it to the end of the crimp.    2nd problem, when put back together it would not run through one curved point configuration despite having done so many time before.  After much examination it turned out that the cab door was fowling what looks like a tender bumper.  Cab door was aligned equally with the opposite one so if I had bumped one then I had bumped the other equally, probability low.  Solved problem by carving off may-bee approx 0.2mm.  Still cannot figure out why it should have changed though.  Also managed to break off part of the tender brake lever but that was my cack handed issue

Vertical detector works although placement is critical

Well did a bit more looking at the magnetic field today.  As per my memory although i did not want to say until i had confirmed it, not much (in our world) will mitigate a magnetic field and Al is no exception.  The magnet is really strong and the vertical field extends at least 3 cm from the top of the dome and is common to a friends loco so I dont think a dispersion solution will work.   However, the field appears to be very weak at the running plate level and as such does not seem to activate a reed switch.  I use seem deliberately as I know the reed switch can be sensitive and fast enough to throw a solenoid but not show up on a continuity tester or a bulb.  Anyway, I now plan to build a vertical detector and put the magnet in the side of a wagon.

Have just found out - much to my annoyance - that like the L1, the O1 will activate my in-track reed switches.  This presents a number of complications since my automated fiddle yard is based around reed switches.  Another challenge as the PC would say!

Received my weathered 01 yesterday and I have to say I think it is the best out of the box runner I have ever had.  It is quiet, smooth and powerful and I have had no problems with the front bogie.  Bit disappointed with the weathering (upper body and tender) but will fix that soon.  Will also have to make a new drawbar (as per 31A).  The one supplied is too close on the close setting and too far apart on the other setting.

In some ways i am finding that the advent of superior RTR models is actually spurring my interest in kit building, detailing, improving my skills to match the improved quality of the RTR and other methods of adding uniqueness.  For example, i have just purchased a set of coal hoppers to run behind my soon to arrive Hornby 01.  As received they were much of a muchness.  So all have been re-weathered, the underframes "blacked" to represent coal dust, the wheels painted, new coal added, etc.  Now pretty well every hopper is different.  As high quality RTR models that were specific to where i am modelling have arrived I have become much more  interested in getting my layout to be more typical rather than generally representative.  Hence I have started building single bolster wagons and will soon start on a proper LNER bogie  bolster wagon.  Also, my generic card model based station is soon to be replaced by a model that is much more representative of a real station.  

Really enjoyed the video. Thanks

FYI, I always understood a K3 was a known as a "Tango" on account of their rough ride

Hi JCL, I just noticed where you live. My son (Roger John) also lives in Fernie and is into Mountain Biking, Skiing. He works the Bar at one of the local hotels (next to the Crysler Dealer). I grew up in Grimsby and my 1st wife came from Louth. When we were courting our Saturday night activity was driving to the various country pubs within about a 40 mile radius of Louth, so it is almost certain we would have found some of the pubs in Wainfleet. I now live in Deep River ON and have an OO layout based on the Grimsby to Boston Line although I cheat and have A4s, A1s and A3s running. Maybe we can meet up next year when we do our annual visit.

I would suggest that one area you might find interesting for your program is why there is a relatively large number of expats who model British out-line. So m uch so that both north America and Australia (New Zealand?) have their own Associations (BRMNA and BRMA). I suppose an interesting corollary might be why there are a number of UK residents modelling overseas prototypes (NA primarily)

My memory from "cabbing" the horse boxes when they came into the yard was that the entire interior was a dark maroon. The wall painted and the seat, if you could call it that, a dark maroon cloth. The groom who travelled with the horse was pretty low on the totem pole so no luxuries for him.

Very nice. Reminds me a bit of Peterborough North which has to be a positive testament to what you are doing. Will be watching to see how it progresses. Also makes me glad I decided to stay with DC though.

I dont know what it is with the DJH motor and gear box system. but i have to agree with TW. They just seem to run quieter/better than the alternatives I have tried. I had a Little Engines J11 and a Craftsman A5. I started out with Anchoridge open frame motors and tried Porterscap, but both always ran rough and noisy. Then I came across a comment from TW that described the problem with my J11 to a tee. Changed to a 50:1 DJH and without doing anything else it became a really sweet runner. Duplicate story for the A5. I am currently building a chassis for a Bachman J39. I will start with a Portescap motor since I have a spare (see above), but I suspect I will be ordering a DJH set-up.

Mallard 60022, I really do have to agree with you. I follow this thread pretty well everyday whereas I tend to follow others rather sporadically. I also have found that it does inspire me to do just that little bit more. I just wish some of the changes I would now like to make did not involve such a major change to my layout. Whilst I do not model the ECML, my layout is based on the ER with an attempt to model a bit of Grimsby, a bit of Lincoln and a bit of the Grimsby to Boston line (which of course ended up in Peterborough) and I do it as though the proposal to upgrade the line from Doncaster through Grimsby to Peterborough to reduce the ECML traffic, especially freight, had gone ahead. This allows me to run A4.s A3, etc. On top of this Peterborough, was a changing point when I used to go up to London with my father and to visit my Grandparent in Chatteris. So Peterborough North brings back many nostalgic memories to an ex-pat.

For some reason I have missed this thread before, so I have really enjoyed the last 20 mins reading it. BR E is my interest having spent most of my younger years at Grimsby. So from time to time I did pass through Grantham.

Some-one had posted a link to U-tube clips of someone in the US doing exactly the same thing except for the induction charging. Thought I had it bookmarked but I dont. Having a DC system i am really interested in how this works out since it will, if I understand things correctly, do some DCC type playing without all the cost of a complete conversion