Ruston

I don't know about him having a laugh but what's the point in such a rating and comparison anyway? It's like comparing apples with oranges. It doesn't matter how good or bad it is in comparison with a Rapido 15xx because a Rapido 15xx isn't a Ruston 88DS. If you want a Ruston 88DS, you want a Ruston 88DS. You're not going to buy a Rapido 15xx instead simply because self-appointed expert says that it's a better model or gives better value for money. I don't understand why so many people seem to be in the thrall of this guy.

Try Judith Edge kits. They also do the RH plates for the cab. Theirs are nickel silver, which looks like the aluminium of the prototype, unlike the LRS ones, which are brass.

I will do. I've been waiting for the Hornby Ruston 88DS for a long time so I was excited to receive a parcel containing this: I was so excited in fact that I thought of making an unboxing video but then I remembered that I'm not a moron, so I didn't bother. Now that it's here I must say that I am rather disappointed at the chassis. It appears as a plate frame that runs the length of the loco, as it would on a steam loco or a rod-driven diesel. Hornby have done it like that to give somewhere to fit the awful tension lock couplers but it detracts from the look of the thing. There is nothing in those overhanging areas of any importance, so they can be sawed, filed or milled away if, like me, you use 3-link couplings. I haven't run it yet but it does work. I put a 9v battery to the wheels to test it. This particular example, the Reading signal works shunter, is unusual in not having the buffer beam ballast weights. The only ones that I know of in UK industry to not have those weights worked in the petro-chemical industry. The front part of the engine casing was longer and the front air intake was smaller than normal and I think that the frames were actually longer to accommodate this. I have no interest in modelling the BR Reading signal works example, so this loco will become a petro-chemical works shunter. Those lamp brackets will be the first things to go, followed by the replacement of the oval buffers with round ones. The exhaust pipe will receive a vortex spark arrestor and a flameproof battery box will be added to the running plate. I'm not going to attempt to lengthen the frames but may alter the air intake.

It wouldn't work like that in reality. If all you need is something such as a 14-inch 0-4-0 it would make no sense to buy a much larger 17-inch engine, even if the initial cost is less. The 17-inch 0-6-0 is going to cost a lot more in fuel, repairs and maintenance and so would be a false economy. Shunting costs would have been taken seriously. They were a major reason that diesels gained a foothold in shunting long before they did on the main line. When a steam engine stands idle but at the ready it burns fuel and needs a crew to tend to it. A diesel burns no fuel and doesn't need anyone to tend it because it is shut down and becomes ready at the push of a button.

It's been 10 months since anything happened with this layout. It was stored after a massive changearound in my shed that saw the O gauge layout removed and sold, followed quickly by the construction of Blacker Lane. It was whilst turning the shed upside down to look for a squeezy PVA dropper thing, yesterday, that I had cause to disturb HS. I had covered it in plastic bags in case any glue from the baseboard construction of BL dripped on it, so after removing a load of junk and the plastic bags I took a look at the layout. The only damage is that the guttering has come off the crusher building and part of the drainpipe is missing in action. I was thinking about how the reason work stopped was the side-tipping wagons and how when loaded only one could be propelled up the gradient. All sorts of things have been suggested as alternatives to real stone but the real solution is to not have any of that at all. The idea to resurrect HS is that the working loader will be abandoned. It was a PITA and even when it worked there was inevitable spillage, wagons had to be uncoupled in the FY and their contents tipped and they then be put back on the rails. The tippers were supposed to carry freshly quarried stone through the low tunnel to the plant and as this was the only traffic through the tunnel it was something that had to happen to justify the cut down locos. That will change, too. BR wagons will run through the tunnel to be loaded with crushed stone for onward transport. The ironstone tipplers can just fit through the tunnel but the hoppers will have to have to find use as COND vehicles, on Charlie Strong Metals. The loads will be card rectangles on supports, with only a thin topping of stone, which will mean the wagons are light enough for 3 to be pulled up the gradient easily. With the working loader abandoned, both tracks under it will be for the loading of finely crushed products, which requires Presflos and Covhops. The stone going into the plant is assumed to come in from a different quarry via conveyor belt. I could model part of the conveyor belt to highlight this. No real loading of the Covhops is required, obviously and with the operator no longer needing to sit at the front of the layout to observe the loading of the wagons, the layout could be operated from the other side, which would make it better for exhibition use. That's the plan but when it gets put into action is anyone's guess.

I feel the same. The Victory is a great model and I have two of them, for two different layouts, but the sheer size of it makes it difficult to justify for my micro layouts. It's not the sort of thing that you would find employed by something such as a small engineering firm, with just a couple of sidings to shunt a handful of wagons. On the other hand, something small, such as an 0-4-0ST is very easy to justify and I suppose that's why I have 7 of Hattons' Barclays and 14 of Hornby's W4 Pecketts.

I didn't get as much done, today, as I would have liked. I made some ballast and then put some down in the shed area. I then spent hours looking for that little squeezy dropper thing to apply PVA with. I just about turned the shed upside down looking for it. I cleared loads of junk and filled the recycling bin. I eventually found it somewhere that I had never been looking and where it had no place being - in among a tray of paints, on my workbench. That's going to take days to set now that the temperature in the shed is getting into the minus zero range overnight.

Brush 400HP 0-6-0DE? Manchester Ship Canal Hudswell 0-6-0DE? Go on, you know you want to...

Aye, Cap'n. Full details can be found in my workshop thread, in the Std. Gauge Industrial section.

That loco was sold for scrap to Charlie Strong. In my 4mm world, anyway. 😉

The last time this one was seen was 363 days ago, back on page 29. It doesn't look any different but the motor is now wired to the pickups, so it can move under its own power. I don't know what I am going to do with it now. The only layout that it's really suitable for is the CVMR, but that would mean fitting sound to it and spending a load of money on it. Getting it running is part of a rationalisation of stock. I've got many projects that have stalled for one reason or another, or that don't really have a use now, so some may be sold. Others are being abandoned completely, such as the Peckett W6 scheme. I also need to clear some of the mountain of loco kits that I have collected and will probably never build, such as the Impetus Bagnall 0-6-0ST. There are also some complete locos that may go.

I didn't like the roof on the workshop. It's an etched brass kit and the roof is made from just two panels, which are perfectly straight and uniform. It was totally at odds with the scruffiness of the shed, so I've put some of the same corrugated foil on the workshop.

I went to my local model shop to buy one of these for myself. I always ask to see any loco that I buy running on the test track first. It was put on the track and power applied but it didn't move or make a sound, so the shop owner took it off to look at the pickups but finding nothing obviously wrong there, placed it back on the track. This time the motor could be heard whirring but there was no movement in either direction. He took the display model out of the cabinet and tried that with the same result that the motor could be heard but the loco wouldn't move. The shop had no more in stock, so I left empty-handed. It seems that it could be a risk but I've ordered one online and as I have since heard of one of these "melting" as soon as power was applied I will be taking the body off before it goes on a track to test it. The one pictured in my previous post had wires to the DCC socket so poorly fixed that some fell off when the body was removed. Has anyone else had problems such as this?

Stoneybridge Structures, I think they are called. The people who made the laser-cut water tank parts that I bought at an exhibition. I built the parts into a tank that was to go on Charlie Strong's yard but never made it any further than being stuck with black tack onto a shelf in my shed, where it was used to hold oiling pens. I remembered it a couple of days ago and rescued it, gave it some Plastruct legs and a lick of paint. That's more in proportion with the engine shed. It needs some pipework but otherwise I'm quite happy with it and can get on with the shed and its environs now. I ought to have made the shed longer, so that it can accommodate a 650HP Paxman, but, TBH, I don't like them. They will come out to play now and again but they have to be my least favourite of all types that worked at British Oak. Ugly, ungainly and built in Swindon. I am however looking forward to the Class 11, which will fit in the shed.

I suspect metal, especially if they were to add weight for traction. I'll be making a pattern for milling some of the buffers of the type on the Anderston loco, so if you can wait a while and see how my own conversion goes I may have some available. I have only got as far as stripping the model down for a repaint.

Best bought from here so all profits go to the upkeep and restoration of Rustons and other narrow gauge industrial stuff. https://avlr.org.uk/books

Possibly. It seems that most of it is to give somewhere to fix the tension lock couplers to. The keep plate doesn't run end to end, so won't be affected by the removal of this excess material. It will all be casting with nothing essential in it which means those of use who use 3-links can hack the chassis block at the ends to improve the appearance. I doubt that anything can be done about the solid block within the wheelbase but I can just about live with that. The guinea pig. I'll have that stripped to a bare chassis block at the weekend and it will meet Mr. Hacksaw, and Mr. Milling machine. I don't think it will be a massive improvement as it can't be taken back as far as it ought to be, thanks to the positioning of the keep retaining screws, but it will be better than it is at present. The loss of 20 grammes or so in weight shouldn't make pickup any worse as it's still going to weigh at least as much as the 48DS, which run well enough on DC without the wagon connected. The owner of the loco uses DCC, with Stay Alives, as do I, so it won't bother either of us.

Has anyone got one of these yet? What I want to know is if that long chassis block can be chopped down or not. I can't think why they have modelled it with the chassis block running from end to end, giving the appearance of a normal plate frame on a steam loco, or on a traditional rod-driven diesel. It looks ridiculous and as I can't imagine that any of the mechanism is that far toward the ends I don't understand why they've made it so.

The size and shape of buffers depended on the curvature of the track. Obviously, if there are severe curves, where normal buffers would cause buffer lock with the wagons, they would fit something wider. An oval buffer may suffice, or a circular one of greater diameter. First page, fourth picture down - the Anderston Foundry loco. That has block buffers that cover normal railway wagons in tight curves and the sort of low internal use wagon that it is pictured with. Scratchbuilding some block buffers could be an option for you? The buffer beams and buffer housings are plastic on the Hornby model, so it's easy enough to cut and file the housings down to clear the buffer beam.

Very nice. I do think that it would look better with the safety valve cover being unpainted brass though.

There's been no progress to speak of but I did run a train and took some snaps after fixing D2049. The Stay Alive that I put in it wasn't working, so has been replaced. These Accurascale MGR hoppers are the bees knees.

The former BR D2049, now in use by the National Coal Board Opencast Executive, leads MGR empties into Blacker Lane D.P.

The Ruston 88DS has its day in the sun LEDs.

They are all ready for service. One crew figure each and a plain decoder and Stay Alive installed in all. All that's needed to complete are name plates.