clecklewyke

Dave, I don't have a lathe but found that converting the Bachman WD was simple. The trick was to buy a set of WD coupling rods from Alan Gibson. They were spot-on for the Bachman chassis - top marks all round and, of course fitted the Gibson crankpins perfectly. I forget how I bushed out the conn rod - probably a short length of copper tubing bashed out with a hammer to expand it into the large Bachman hole, then drilled and reamed to fit the Gibson crankpin. Sorry if that makes you cringe, Dave, but it's typical of my bodger's approach - and it resulted in a smooth and slow running heavy goods loco. False black Plasticard cosmetic frames completed the main surgery and Brian (Windermere) Lewis's bit of sound trickery has given it a lovely WD clank when it's coasting.

Hi, Dave. I'm finally getting to grips with RMWeb and eventually found these fascinating pictures of Birch Vale.

I've also tried out your simple wheel quartering system. Like the other man said, "Why did I not think of that?." It worked a treat and while it did not instantly make my two poor runners silky it did eliminate one of the many variables. Having sorted through the others (binding brakes, bent crankpin, wheels touching splashers, you name it... the two black sheep are now running beautifully. My main problem now is how to get enough ballast in the D49 to prevent those big wheels slipping when it's loaded with more than three corridors!

Best wishes,

Ian