Theakerr

But did the Model Railway get built?

Grew up in Grimsby and took numerous journeys to London through Peterborough in the 50's. Have watched this thread since the beginning. Still enjoy it. Brings back many memories. Thanks

Despite the perception of the Great Unwashed, Harleys can be made to handle very well at ALL speeds. At low speeds they handle well right out of the box. This characteristic is one of a small number of reasons why most MC Officers and local authorities over here like Harleys. The only issue is you have to have long arms to get full benifit since the bars are wide. As for the spacing on the cones, believe me, they are not specially spaced for a Harley. I would like to see someone on a Duck or a Gxer try to get through them. Sumner Hobby is Motorcycling (Harley EG). Winter and really hot summer hobby New Waltham, an ER based section of a what might have been an alternate route for the ECML from Doncaster to Peterborough.

Very nice. Living in Canada and not having access to many shows I really appreciate a set of pictures like this.

Nice

Just read this thread. Informative and enjoyable. Thanks

Folks, Since i am the one who lives in Canada, I would like to clarify a couple (or more points). 1. Benbow asked for feedback and I provided my experience. 2) I will not buy from this supplier because of my personal experience. 3) and most significant, if one has a web page I EXPECT to recieve a response to an electronic communication. There are suppliers who have decided that the electronic media is not the way they want to go and ask for a letter. I respect that position and I will send them a letter. Thanks Shortliner, Will follow up

I must admit to being a bit concerned about their service. I live in Canada and was very interested in their products. I have sent two e-mails asking if they could substitute a 110V transformer so that I could use it over here. They have not replied to either e-mail. I am afraid this leaves one with rather a negative impression.

Very nice.

FYI, I always put a bit of dialectric grease on the pins when i use these connectors. Stops moisture getting in

Many thanks for the pictures. I was going to try to put the spring inside the chassis screw mounting hole. Will discuss with the actual owner and see what he wants to do. We know your solution works. Question though, do you see any sign of the plastic keeper plate flexing in front of the foremost mounting screw. I have looked at my friends model and without to much effort I can make the plastic "come off" the two positioning pins.

Should clarify the rocking I reported. The problem is with my track. Using a strait edge the wheels are completely flat with no rocking at all. Also no vertical movement of the centre wheel set. Almost all if not all my other loco's have a bit to a lot of vertical float in the centre wheel set, thus they can accommodate a degree of miss-alignment in the track. Rob, I think you have a very good point about why the L1 is such a good puller when you say that all 6 wheels are in contact with the track. This is good, but it does introduce a new dimension to track laying. I consider my self to be better than average (false modesty in a situation like this does not help solve a problem) and one has to wonder how many people would end up being totally frustrated by this situation. One has to wonder if, with the introduction of near museum quality models, it my soon be necessary to put floating (hornblock) axles on "commercial" locomotives. I know it will add to the price but based on the length of this thread and others there clearly is a problem although one can argue about just how big it is.

Status as promised. There were number of VERY small "burrs" on various components. I cleaned those off but the front bogie still wants to go its merry way. Did some more investigation and I found that my tack is not quiet level. At the critical point I can just feel the loco rocking on the centre axle. I am certain that is the real problem. Unlike many of my loco's there is zero vertical float in the centre wheels so I suspect that even the smallest track imperfection will permit the formation of the inverted V that I hypothesised which in turn allows the front bogie to continue following its established direction. Corrective action would appear to be one of 3 options. 1) correct the track imperfection. Very difficult to do because of its location (under a bridge) and since I dont have any problems with my own locos, I will leave it as is. 2) put in some sort of spring arrangement either as described in this thread or a leaf type spring as per the K3. If my friend wants me to this will probably be the route I go. 3) file a little bit out of the centre wheel housing so that there is a little vertical float. I would be very loath to do this on a new model and especially one that runs so well otherwise. It would be interesting to see if the Black L1's have any float on the centre axle.

Picture shows what appears to be happening with the LNER version. Will have a look at the truck and see if there are any places where it might be catching. Will post results

A friend brought over his L1 last night and there is one set of points where the front truck continuously de-railed. None of my other locos de-rail here including the K3, WD 2-8-0 and the 2-10-0 which also have a single wheel front truck. Back to back was slightly out. Corrected it - no improvement. Put in a little lead - no improvement. The point (switch) where it derails is somewhat unique. It is a code 100 LR st right hand turnout and it is approached by a curve that matches the point turnout curve radius. The front truck just wants to keep following the curve. Did a bit of an analysis and it seems to me that if the track is level there is no way the truck can come off due to how it is held in place on the loco. However if there is the slightest hint of a gradient up to the switch rails then the loco could ride up on the driving wheels creating a bit of an inverted V and the truck will continue on its merry way. Will be doing some checking in the next couple of days to see if my track is not level. However, this set of points did pass my crude track laying test. Specifically, take a nine coach train and run the entire thing in reverse at about 1/2 speed and see if anything de-rails. Also when going backwards the rear truck de-railed at a Code 75 crossing. Beautiful runner though. Pulled 9 of my old heavy lima Mk 1's with no problem. Started and stopped so smoothly. Finally, see my post re reed switch activation. I use a lot of reed switches and this makes it a show stopper.

I like it. You are actually doing something. Will be interesting to see how it progresses, especially since I have some strong (probably distorted) memories of changing at Peterborough from the slow Grimsby to Kings Cross train and jumping on a fast express. My Father was a Station Master so he new all the tricks. I also have not so fond memories of rushing like crazy to try to catch the March train that was timed to leave about 1 minute after the train from Grimsby arrived in.

From my memory as a child, when there was always a fight between my sister and I who got the pole side (it obstructed our view), I put my poles about 12" apart. This is based on the memory that there was roughly one pole per Mk1 coach length

Ah, the infamous High Street crossing before the Bridge.

Alvin Lee - I hear you knocking