ian@stenochs

A late modelling friend used hair clippings from his dear wife to represent straw! She was a natural blond lady who wore her hair quite long but when she decided to cut it short in later life he gathered up her locks. I remember him modelling some very realistic corn sheaves for his lineside fields. Ian.

If it was 'Whiskey' you were drinking then it wasn't Scotch! Irish or American possibly but not Scotch whisky.

Jim, I still have 3 of my P4 locos I built in the early 70's. All three have the motor, large KTM, in the tender with the drive under the footplate to the engine. However if modern motors, more efficient and smaller, had been available then I would gone for the simplicity of a self contained unit. Ian

Definitely a G&SWR 8 ton mineral. The number was on a rectangular cast plate on the solebar but was also painted on the end which made recording easier for the tally man at the docks. They only had double end door wagons for coal, most of which went for export by sea. Having a door at both ends made tipping quick as nothing needed to be turned before being lifted over the ships hold. Large quantities went from Ayr, Troon and Irvine docks which were equiped with large steam cranes. The Sou West was a canny line and insisted on using company wagons for virtually all of the traffic which meant that they could control the maintenance and charge demurrage if customers took too long to empty the load. The few private owner wagons that they did license were limited to specific traffic flows.

As one of the authors of the G&SWRA booklet on the 22 class,and having built a couple of models, I can confirm that the angled rod is the water control for the injectors. The steam supply comes down from the top of the firebox with a valve on the top of the boiler and the wheel controlling it inside the cab. This system was used on the Smellie and Manson engines including the single 361 class which was built for the M&CR. Ian.

Quality tools are an investment not an expense! When I bought my Myford super 7 in 1982 it was quite expensive. However it gets a lot of use, 3/4 times a week and has cost pennies to run. A universal machine tool with an amazing number of applications which makes a lot of modelling tasks easy, accurate and quick. Looking at similar machines for sale now it still has a lot of value so it has paid for itself many time over. Ian.

Mike, Scratchbuilding is relatively cheap as we only buy materials and a few components but get lots of pleasure building something unique for a few pence per hour. Also remember the deep sense of satisfaction one gets when you can say ' I made that myself'. It's the journey that's important. Once we reach the terminus, that's it! Ian

Chris, The paint has to go on wet. I find one good coat sprayed quite slowly along the model gives the best smooth finish. It helps if the boiler comes off for painting as that doesn't leave any dead ends, like round the splasher, cab front and firebox area which is difficult to get the spray into. It also makes masking the black bits easier too. Tender bodies are simple being nice and flat. Ian

There is an eel with lugs like a horse in the tank of No254! See p20 of the Tales for details, published in both hard and soft cover versions and serialised in Railway Magazine.

Probably the Best Scottish Railway book of all time. I am forever dipping into my copies, I have 3 in different rooms, for inspiration and entertainment.

Bob, Here is a couple of pictures which might help make things clearer. It is an 0-6-0 industrial with flangeless centre drivers. I use stock brass tube and plastic rod and the spring is a Slaters buffer spring which gives a nice soft action without too much braking effect. The actual contact is 0.75 brass wire with etch fret as the solder tag. I have tried nickel silver, and phosphor bronze wire but brass works best for me. A little bit of experimenting is needed to get the pressure just right, sometimes a stroke of the file on the plunger is all that is required, sometimes it needs a slightly longer one.

I'm not so sure about perfection but thank you for the compliments. Part of my project to build a model of each of the major loco classes the Glasgow and South Western had. This one is a James Manson 'Greenock Bogie' built from the no longer available G&SWRA kit designed by the late John Boyle though I made the casting patterns. I modified the basic kit to suit S7 track standards and fitted a set of inside valve gear as the overhead valves are quite a noticeable feature of the originals. I did the paintwork myself, the green is a Halfords rattle can, Brooklands Green. Lining is a mixture of lining pen and home made waterside decals though the lettering and numbers are from the G&SWRA.

Probably the best proportioned Scottish 4-4-0! Greenock bogie No355 waits her next turn of duty. Ian.

David L Smith was the authority on G&SWR locomotives.

The G&SWR Baltics were classed 5P by the LMS. Ian.

Exactoscale hornblocks and guides are very easy to use. I have quite a few P4 locos with them and bought quite a lot for future projects. However when I changed to 7mm scale I found them very good for springing bogies. The little springs aren't quite strong enough for S7 but I add an extra one on the outside of the screw which lets me adjust the pressure so that the wheels are fully sprung, up and down. Makes for a lovely smooth ride and a joy to watch as wheels ride over bumps but the body just glides! Ian.

Even in 7mm scale you only need about 1.5 mm maximum travel about 1mm in 4mm scale. If you need more than that you need to sort out your track work! If you position the plunger as near wheel centre line and just over 1/2 the tyre thickness, measured on the back of the wheel, in from the rim you will still have more than enough wheel travel without the plunger falling off the contact area. One last point pickups should be considered right from the start of the build. Too many kit instructions omit or don't mention current collection. I know I got caught out in my early kit building days. Trying to bend up wire pickups to miss detail like brakes, sanders and springs without shorting and still reliably contacting the wheel. That nearly drove me mad. My home made plungers go on right at the start of any new model and then get forgotten about because they work. Ian.

All my locos are sprung or compensated and plungers work fine! I do not rely on the coil springs to carry the current which may be where your problem lies. Always use a hardwired current path, mine is fine flexible wire soldered to the plunger and led a terminal block, piece of pcb, then leads to motor. Ian.

Dave, The example shown is 7mm but some of my P4 locos used the same system. However instead of toilet roll holders the pressure was supplied by a piece of foam rubber. I do still sometimes use foam on 7mm locos when testing during a build as it is quicker and I don't loose as many springs. I don't spend much time on RM web now as the adverts are so annoying and off putting. I do post on Western Thunder though. Ian.

Sorry but I disagree Dave. I use plungers on all my locos. However instead of using the commercial offerings, which tend to be bulky and difficult to hide, I make my own. Sitting behind the wheel the only visible part is the wire plunger and if sited behind the brake block even that cannot be seen. The construction is from stock brass tube, wire and plastic rod with springs from Slaters intended for their sprung buffers. Think ‘toilet roll holder’ for the basic principal! The actual pickup can be taken out with the wheels still in place for cleaning or adjustment of the spring pressure. There is only one spring which pushes both plungers against the wheel so equalising the pressure and with the added benefit of no loss of contact if there is sideplay on the axle. The assembly simply slides with the wheels. I always adjust the spring pressure to the minimum required so ensuring the least braking force. The attached photos should be self explanatory. Ian.

The late Bob Smillie, who started work as a cleaner in the 40’s at Ayr, told me that the coal stacks were a good source of overtime. Even after he became a fireman he would supplement his pay with a couple hours unloading wagons and building the stack. I don’t recall him saying anything about whitewash and my perusal of pictures of the shed show just black coal. However Ayr was situated in the centre of a triangle of lines, with only one road in, so access would be quite restricted.

Bakers fluid is an ideal flux for soldering steel. It is acidic so needs to washed off. It is available in plastic bottles now though my tin is still going strong. Lots of suppliers, try your local plumbers or building supply merchant. Ian

I have built a few plastikard coaches while on holiday in our caravan, there is a small toolkit and the odd drawing permanently stored in a locker yet. However a word of warning! Plastikard cuttings and swarf gets everywhere and sticks by magnetic attraction. My wife is VERY understanding but she does get a bit annoyed if I don’t clean up thoroughly. Ian.

The G&SWR was more like the NER and carried most of its mineral traffic in company wagons. By so doing it had better control of the maintenance of the wagons, Private Owners were not always diligent in looking after their vehicles. There were financial benefits too in that the company imposed strict demurrage terms charging whenever customers took too long to empty and return the wagon to traffic. This did cause some disputes which resulted in legal action on more than one occasion. Unlike the CR & NB virtually all of the G&SWR mineral wagons had doors at both ends. As the vast bulk of the coal went for export by sea this simplified unloading as wagons always arrived at the crane with a door at the correct end for tipping. Ian.

Sorry to pedantic but I think you are referring to a STIRLING engine invented by the Rev Robert Stirling in 1816. There is a railway connection as he was father of Patrick and James who were both eminent locomotive engineers.