Dave Holt

Thanks, John. The weathering is based on, but not an exact copy of, a photo of the loco at Newton Heath shed (home base) probably taken in the mid to late 1950's (it later had a Stanier 4000 gallon tender, which limits the date). Just my period.

Dave.

Robin,

Yes, very neat indeed. I tried to keep my wiring on Delph as tidy as possible, but yours takes the biscuit. Looks like you're going to get through a hell of a lot of point motors by the time you've finished.

Dave.

David, thanks for the complement. I'm sure there are other equally or better detailed locos than this, really. However, it is now slightly more detailed than when you saw it on Saturday. When I separated the chassis, footplate and boiler, I saw that I'd omitted the front part of one of the pipes that run between the frames (actually on the footplate unit), so I've added it now.

The boiler is permanently fixed now and I've just trimmed off the excess adhesive squeezed out of the joint round the back and bottom of the firebox. So it's ready to go now!

Dave.

It might just be the angle of the photo, but to me, the loco looks to be high at the back or low at the front.

Dave.

Looking very nice, Robin. It looks as if you have plenty more points to construct to fill the boards with storage sidings. Is the idea to complete the centre roads first to give a continuous run?

I'm off to Railex tomorrow. Might I see you there or isn't it one of your shows?

Regards,

Dave.

Hi Rob

 

I expect you're looking forward to glueing the chairs on!

I doubt Robin is planning to glue chairs on these points as they're in the fiddle yard/storage sidings. Could be wrong of course....

Dave.

Hi Robin.

Yes, very nice smooth curves. The C12 cross over looks good, although it would be great to see it in more close up detail. Have you tested any stock across it yet?

Dave.

Hi Dave.

I'm glad you managed to track down the mysterious short, eventually. I always think fault finding and rectification is far more difficult that building a model in the first place. Well done!

Dave.

Rather a lot of funny looking stuff with copper capped chimneys there by the looks of it - for an ex-Midland shed. Still, needs must.....

It's interesting to see just how much coal is lying behind the rear coal space bulkhead on nearly all the locos visible. I wonder if it got shovelled into the coal space during preparation? I've certainly never thought to have that much over-spill on my models. Perhaps I need a re-think.

Dave.

Hi Robin.

It was good to meet and chat at S4N.

I'm sure changing to a simple cross-over at each end of the storage sidings is a good move. The facing end switch blades will still have to be pretty well made to ensure reliable running but at least there's fewer of them now. Interesting that you're using mainly rivetted ply sleepers, even though this is a hidden area, rather than going for more widely spaced copper-clad construction. Hope you won't be fitting cosmetic chairs!

Looks like excellent progress so far.

Dave.

Hi David.

In the upper 3F photo, was the centre driving wheel not sitting properly on the rail head? There looks to be a distinct deflection of the coupling rod. Otherwise, it looks as if the quartering might be a bit out.

Regarding Dc or DCC operation, in my view it's easy to arrange your layout to suit either. Wire the track for DC cab control but provide facilities to plug in either a DC controller or DCC command unit. For DCC use, you just switch on all the track section switches - that's what I've dome on Delph/Holt. I suggest two controller sockets as the DC and DCC systems might use different pins for the 16V AC out and two wires in to the track.

Dave.

Hi Robin.

Mmmm... Curved scissor cross-overs, eh? Sounds quite ambitious and a bit of a challenge to loco front bogies and trucks, not to mention filing the switch blades and the number of tie bars needed!

Hope it all pans out OK.

Dave.

Looks like the track might be down near the shed. Did you finally manage to feed all those droppers through the holes in the board or was some other drastic action needed?

Peter does do rather nice, evocative buildings, doesn't he?

I presume the ex-LMS Pug wouldn't be too hard to replicate.

Dave.

Robin,

I must say the layout looks very impressive, in the round, so to speak.

From the number of crimson and cream coaches, I take it you've settled on the mid 1950's-ish?

Regards,

Dave.

If you're a bit concerned it might be too narrow for a tractor, you could make it a bridle path or footpath. Again, weeds and long grass at the edges with a worn bare earth/short grass area nearer the middle?

Dave.

Hi Dave.

Barely legible, even on the A4 sheet, as you say. However, I'm sure it's worth it, knowing you have the correct destinations for the layout.

Happy modelling in 2017.

Dave.

Hi David,

All looking very good. As you say, once weathered, it's hard to tell the difference between the bow pen lining and the Fox transfers.

Not so sure about the white cab roof on the Jub. I bet they didn't stay like that for very long!

Season's Greetings,

Dave/

Mmm... I was going to say something similar, but it might be an optical illusion caused by the position of the two black strips under the track. From some angles, they definitely make it look like there's a distinct kink but it's not so apparent if you look at the rails instead.

It'll be interesting to see Robins response.

I am also intrigued by the sleeper gap in the outer track, adjacent to the loco tender.

Good to see steady progress with the track though.

Dave.

Dave,

Glad to see you got it sorted out without too much trouble.

Best wishes for Christmas and New Year.

Dave.

I was referring to the middle picture!

I'll resist the temptation to enquire if you're using Magnadhesion(?) to help get up that incline.

Dave.

Hi Norton961 (If you get one of the new 1200 V4's, will you change your pseudonym?).

Welcome on board. I'm looking forward to further installments.

Hopefully, I can sort out the Scot wheel clearance issue (and my Jubilee pick-up problem) so you can have another item of appropriate motive power.

Dave.

Dave,

Pick-up problems seem to be flavour of the month.

Dave.