DLT

Hasn't appeared in WHS in Exeter yet, or are they getting so few copies that it goes very quickly? Looked three time now!

Right, I have now restored all the lost photos to this topic, and it wasn't anything like as daunting as I supposed. Starting on the Narrow Gauge Workbench now. And I certainly have NOT neglected the modelling while doing this! I'm working on the Nelson boiler now, trying to get it looking right. I said earlier that a trial assembly had resulted in it looking too thin, and not capturing the bulky look of the real thing. I've fattened the firebox (no pictures, not sure I would recommend the method...) bit still might not be enough. Fattening the boiler-barrel leaves a big gap at the seam though. I'll get there. Dave.

I would try unsoldering with an iron, but start on an inconspicuous are area first, just in case! How many or what sort of iron/irons so you have? Start with the lowest wattage and if is doesn't work, move up. See how it goes. I do all my whitemetal soldering with an old 15watt Weller that was never powerful enough to solder brass. Those are big lumps of whitemetal, so the chances of melting them are fairly low. Best of luck, Dave.

That's a nice looking pillar-drill Jerry, what make is it? I'm looking for a decent pillar-drill, there seem to be umpteen variations on the el-cheapo type, are they any good? Dave. PS Sorry this is not the thread to ask such questions on....

Lovely bit of film, and VERY old, from before Peter's retirement. Thanks for finding.

Couldn't face running out to the workshop in the pouring rain (or taking the dog for a walk) so had a session on photo replacement. Now replaced the photos up to page 44 of this topic.

While fiddling with some photos, I've started replacing the photos in this topic that disappeared (those that I can still find) Its a big task and I'll do it a bit at a time, but the DJH S15 and Finecast Q are back.

While I'm about it, here's a look at the pickup plate. It goes the whole length of the chassis as it will need the spring detail attaching to it, and the pickup wires are temporary. I was fortunate to pickup some very thin copperclad sheet from the late BGman's sales stand at the Taunton SWAG meet, and its just the job here.

Never too old to try new tricks Martyn! Assembled the valve gear, fiddly but much the same as usual. I've restored the lost photos from the post I did on valvegear assembly, just here if it is of interest.

Its done! The etched slidebars needed a double-bend in them, and doing this to fit without braking them was certainly fun. Then they had to be soldered to the somewhat fine whitemetal bracket, while holding them in the right position with the crosshead in between. But hey, its done and it works!

Thanks Barry, that's very reassuring!

The fit of the motion parts is good on this kit, but as usual I felt the need to beef up the front end with an extra frame spacer. The slidebars are not connected to the cylinders, but hang from a separate whitemetal motion bracket. For strength I fixed this to the cylinder assembly using two square brass rods. Motion assembly is going to be fun. The etched slidebars need to be soldered to the whitemetal bracket, with the crosshead in position between them, permanently trapping it. Some time ago, the Chairman of our Group gave everyone one of these: Its an extremely fine file, only 0.6mm thick. I can't remember what its was called, but it really came into its own today, for the slots in the etched slidebars They needed the etch cusp filing off and opening out slightly to match the sliding part of the crosshead (the slipper?) also carefully smoothed. I would prefer the moving parts to be cast brass, but whitemetal can be perfectly ok if carefully assembled.

I like to work on all the parts of a loco at the same time so that I can see how it all fits together as I go. So here are the main loco body parts. The boiler barrel comes pre-rolled, firebox and cab are whitemetal assemblies. Something looked wrong, and I realised the firebox isnt fat enough. the rear is ok where it meets the cab, but it should be wider at the front. I think I can cut a slit part-way along the top , open it up and insert a triangular piece. Some of the superb bought-in additions to replace some rather misshapen whitemetal castings. Markits supplied the vaccuum tank set for the tender and the "bacon-slicer" reverser. The dome and Lamaitre chimney are brass turnings from PDK Models. Excellent service from both suppliers.

And muddy

Excellent! I presume you will be suitably equipped with you Victorian plate-camera for the occasion?

Hi Tony, I read Amberdale cover to cover, I don't recall reading that sentence and I'm not going to try and find it now! I expect we're looking at it out of context and misunderstanding it. As I've said elsewhere, I still think that Buckingham is the greatest model railway ever built, and is still hugely influential and inspirational to this day. We all owe you a huge debt of gratitude for taking it on. My time operating it was a great experience, and I wish it could have been longer. I would love to see Amberdale, but its not going to keep five of us on our toes for several hours at a time! All the best, Dave.

I don't think that was any suggestion that one was better than the other, just a different way of doing things.

I take that to mean he felt there wasn't much distance between stations. The road-bridge at the end of Buckingham let straight into the road-bridge at Grandborough junction. Amberdale has stretches of open country and scenic features that separate the stations. There is no "hole in the backscene" type of scenic brake between scenes.

Or when you get questions like "when is the next one coming?"

Surely the time to retire an exhibition layout is when you stop getting invitations...

I still think that two separate sidings will give you much more. The sidings you have are so short that you can't do much with them; you're not going to be able to shunt more than one wagon into the private siding at a time. My suggestion is something like this, with the private siding either ending on the visible section, or disappearing in to the fiddle yard. Please excuse the roughness of the sketch...

Amazing project, and very ambitious. Looking great, Dave.

Gated siding

Or swap the siding over, have the goods siding at the front, and the private siding at the rear. Both sidings would then be longer (a big advantage, short sidings on the layout are a pain)