Il Grifone

Glad to report that the bits box(es) came up trumps and supplied my 4MT with a magnet (The correct long version) an armature, (o/c winding needed repair (first I had to repair the (new) soldering iron - twisted wires insulated with tape are a recipe for failure especially at 230V.- Soldered and reinsulated but i will have to do the job properly!). Now all I have to procure is the armature top bearing. Unfortunately looking for bits, I also found a bare N2 block crying out for attention too. One of the axle holes is rather oval and requires bushing. Sorry I have rather strayed away from NER V4 brake vans. Yes I do have some.... I also have a Hornby 0 gauge tinplate version in dark brown GNR livery. It will be celebrating its hundreth birthday about now. It's not unlike the V4 van, being rather short, with verandas each end, but lacks the duckets. One of these, but mine has rather better and more delicate axleguards, https://auctions.specialauctionservices.

She's a cat....

She'd look better on HD 2 rail track*. One of mine is sitting on the coffee table (on some sort of H0 rubbish that just happened to be to hand) in front of me as I write. This poor girl has had a hard life (before she came my way I hasten to add) and needs a new armature (as in hasn't got one) - I'll have to see what the bits box can supply. *3 rail would be appropriate, but for display it looks awful. I was about 5 and the proud owner of new Dublo (6231) when I first realised that it looked nothing like the real thing.

It might work, but IMHO Lucy would then claim both chairs!

Certainement! Oui! We can blame Pyramid Toys/Trackmaster for the odd length. Their wagon underframe is a scale 16' over headstocks and 9' 6" wheelbase (otherwise a passable model of a standard wooden underframe* especially for the late forties. Tri-ang bought it in and gradually b****red it up over the years. * The crown plates were rather an anachronism by the forties though, 9' 6" is also a strange choice - the only wagon I can think of so equipped is a loco coal wagon from one of the GWR's Welsh constituents. A HD 80054 deserves to be converted to 2 rail and run on the layout, not relegated to "Shelf queen!" (Wrenn still have the axle insulators and I think the later chimney ( Dublo's 60s rethink of their early awful effort!) We can ignore that she is in full reverse gear. M. Walschaerts' design is going to be wrong most of the time however you set it. Most makes chicken out and set it in mid-gear - an excuse for their failure to operate? I have a 'Prime Pork' somewhere and an early example (bought new) in NER (? - lettered NE in black anyway) livery! I suspect the prototypes disappeared fairly soon after becoming LNER property (always assuming that the NER hadn't already done so).

Can they be recycled contaminated with paint or varnish? I've usually used Humbrol in tins with the colour indicated by a paper label. I find that paint tends to clog the threads of glass jars and try to avoid them for that reason. (I know clean the thread! but it's more hassle....)

Yes Kadees Peco/HD and the Tri-ang tension lock are all mounted at 9.5mm/⅜". I can understand the attraction of this dimension for U.S. stock in H0 (prototype 33½"), but fail to see it for British, Directly under or in the headstock would seem more logical and early models /toys in fact have their couplings so mounted (as does the prototype). I cchecked my 'Rocket' coach (Despatch)*. but it has identical coupling mounts each end with th ecouplings held by self tapping screws, * I have 'Times' as well, but it is the GBL copy as is my 'Rocket', OK for a static room decoration. I should build a van with the poor guard sitting on the roof, but too many projects - too little time! Waffle alert! I was watching a programme the other day (must have been on Youtube) about Rainhill 150 - it's nearly time for Rainhill 200! and was rather surprised by the results. I would have thought Rocket's multitube boiler would have been considerably more efficient that Sans Pareil's single tube (it's always worked that way since, which is why it was universally adopted. I suspect their continual problems with clinker might have been alleviated had they burnt coke rather than coal. They required coke as fuel in 1829 to "Consume their own smoke". Coal burning only came into use with the invention of the brick arch several years later. (Cyclopede didn't have this problem of course, as equine haulage has different fuel/exhaust problems).

So that's what it is! I always wondered! The Tri-ang brake van predates the H&BR van by almost twenty years and uses the same roof as the ex-Trackmaster goods van (based on an L&Y prototype I think) hence the ventilators, though the original had a sliding roof door. (These could well have been removed over the years of course.) Like the brake van being given a Midland prefix, these were initiallyavailable in GWR and LNER livery rather than LMS. Later on, the colour depended on whatever they could get cheap/had surplus stocks of! I understand the scrap price for rolling stock bodies was 25/- per foot so they got a bargain.

Having built a Prairie using the Kitmaster body on a Tri-ang 3MT chassis back in the day*, my advice is the same as that of Mr. Punch to those about to get married, "Don't!" Why I didn't buy the Farish R-T-R which would have been cheaper, I don't know. The useless smoke gimmick had just appeared and meant I had to pay around £3 for the chassis rather than £2! Possibly it came out just afterwards? * Why didn't I use the Princess chassis??? The TT Prairie and Castle are actually quite good models (I recently acquired a Castle for a Grifone friendly price!), though the Castle doesn't look quite right at the front. Smokebox diameter too small? The underwhelming sales of the French engines probably explained their non-appearance in 00, though they did do German and French 2-6-2Ts (neither much cop as a model thanks to using the 3MT chassis - It's even too long for the 3MT!)

The NEM pocket is supposed to be standard and not require such things (joke!). I try to avoid the offset Kadee heads (they look awful), but the offsets are the full depth of the coupling. The American coupling* pocket is supposedly standard too (joking again!). *'Coupler' if you prefer, but I'm on this side of the pond. It's 'Aggancio' in Italy.

It looks like a file is needed to relieve the coach floor slightly so that the coupling sits at the right height. Don't try to bodge things by bending the drop link. (This should only be done with the correct tool to avoid damage to the coupling - Guess how I know!) Why the original couplings are different I don't know - Mysteries of the (Margate) Faith. The locomotive model is not correct for her original (1829 Rainhill) or later (1830 L&M) form. She would have had problems with modern overbridges! Researching I found this interesting piece from 'only' fifty years (or so) later: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11734/11734-h/11734-h.htm I'd steer clear of the "Sulphurous Acid.—Easy method of preparation for photographic purposes" however!

The nice people (computer?) at eBay thought I'd missed out on the 'Silver Steak' and informed me that she had been relisted: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334761131016 I could collect from Ilford (just down the road - about halfway to central London) and save a fiver, but investigation shows lack of a convenient bus, so that's out. (Don't all rush!) Shouldn't 'Golden Eagle' be 4482 or am I just being too pedantic? This reminded me that I have a Red Brimtoy tender. I was going to couple it to my Hornby M1 (repainted (badly) by a previous owner and overdue for some TLC , though she has had her broken spring repaired!), but the result is rather ridiculous (not that the right tender is a lot better). It is really intended for one of these: https://www.vectis.co.uk/lot/wells-brimtoy-britannia-locos-x2_752102 The red ones were on sale in Woolworth's in my youth at the princely sum of 7d*. I recall they were 'Royal Scot' ,whereas the survivors seem to be 'Britannia'. The blue one is 'Royal Scot' however so there may well have been a version for Woolies. The lack of blinkers would have made it that little bit cheaper to produce. * Less tender of course! This seems absurdly cheap even for the mid-fifties (roughly the price of a bar of chocolate or a large ice lolly), but the figure is firmly stuck in my mind.

Poor Arran was really upset the other day. He went to his bed and found Whiskers parked exactly in the centre of it (as cats do!). He looked at me with a "Daddy! Help!" expression. I shifted Whiskers (protesting of Course!) and Arran reclaimed his bed. Bless him! He went to the far end and curled up leaving a space for Whiskers, who, offended, refused it. They have been found sharing the bed in the past. It's a large bed, but Arran is quite capable of spreading himself all over it. (Arran really belongs on the dog thread, but Whiskers is a cat so it's here.)

This is Toby (tabby) with his mum Stella (tortoiseshell) as a kitten. Stella has since moved next door, though she still reappears from time to time, but Toby is still here along with his dad Maurice. He insists that our bed is also his bed. Lewis sleeps on the floor (on his bed of course) next to us and considers it is his duty to jump up to awaken us in the morning. Tummy and ear tickles are expected!

Looking for something else (obviously!), I found this picture of Lewis visiting his friend and Arran's sister* Skye. They are both maremanni, and thus almost indistinguishable, so Lewis is the one on the left with the blue lead. Skye always comes running to welcome us when we visit. Lewis found the three puppies under a hedge all huddled together and scared stiff. Drake (now Brad with his new family, but he's still Drake to us) was in front and a bit aggressive. He needed to be wrapped in a raincoat, but soon settled down when he realised he had just become a rescue dog. The other two Arran and Skye came without any problem and I was able to carry them to the car, one on each arm. (They've grown up now and it would be difficult/impossible to carry just one of them.) Arran and Drake are both brown and almost identical, though Drake has a proper tail. Drake and Skye found new forever homes and Arran has settled as Lewis's faithful number two dog though he is now about 5kg heavier than Lewis. (Estimated as he's too heavy to weigh - I did try to pick Arran up, but it was made quite clear that the procedure did not have canine approval and without his assistance it was a definite no-no.... (35kg at least) * We assume they are brothers and sister as they were found together, but no DNA check has been done.

I always wondered what that was supposed to be! It's price (and incompatibility with Dublo track) ensured I never got one. I have a broken (zinc pest strikes again!) bogie frame in a box somewhere that could be from one, though the part was used on other models (the pre-war SR EMU for one I think and the uncatalogued (AFAIK) twin railcar that was on sale in the fifties (Trix Express I assume - don't tell anyone it's German...).

I have some wagons (as in one or two) built with Merco lithos. If I can find them, I'll post pictures Many (as in many - 50s) years ago I bought a Southern van from ERG. On arrival it turned out to be a block of wood (Hamblings sold shaped blocks for just this purpose) with a Merco litho attached, sitting on a crude cast underframe (one of their less successful products). So crude it made the Dublo wagon underframes look super-detailed (as the expression was back then). So make matters worse it turned out not to be level* so was perpetually derailing. I don't know what happened to it, but I assume a bin was involved. * The axle hole not drilled true I suspect. In my youth I lacked the skill to sort it out, though I did try bending it - without success of course.

I promised/threatened to post pictures of our menagerie. The dogs, Lewis and Arran, are in the thread 'On Dogs', so I'll post the cats here. To start, this is Maurice big boss cat.

I came across* my 2P yesterday. She has a 'Mainline' tender which is several rungs up the ladder from Tri-ang's effort, but lacks her front buffers. I must finish what was obviously a project to fit a new buffer beam in the correct place. It should be below the footplate valence not part of it. This is also true for the L1. * In one of my numerous boxes.... So that's where she had got to!

EBay thought I might be interested in this 'Restoration project': https://www.ebay.co.uk Ignore the title - the Streak has lost an 'r'! I suppose 'Streak' sounded more flash than 'Link'! Mettoy? All it appears to state is "Made in England". I was tempted, but I have too many projects on the go already....

Currently I'm in Air the UK and my Daughter rang this morning from Italy. Apparently Freya, our latest rescue kitten, has been out on the town celebrating her first season, but shot inside as soon as the door was opened. Dylan and Whiskers (both rescues too) are showing great interest, despite both having been attended to (as above)....

The tender isn't right for the 3F either*. Somewhere along the line, the body moulding lost the rivets**. It was also attached to the King Arthur look-alike (it is a 4-6-0, but not as we know it, Jim!) IIRC the later 4-4-0s share a chassis block which has three axle slots to cater for the different wheelbases. *There was one 3F with a similar tender, but it wasn't 43775 (most had the Midland tender with a flared top). There are dimensional compromises too. (One of the 3Fs with 4'10" driving wheels would have been a better ID too seeing they used the same existing six-coupled chassis. ** The 2P tenders lack rivets, as do those for the Southern Railway liveried LI and King Arthur The Bachmann N class tender is more accurate for an L1 (or the GBL copy fitted with a proper chassis i.e. with wheels). (Perhaps I'm being too pedantic. It is Tri-ang after all!) The L1 wheels are too big for an M7 and give the result a top heavy appearance.

I bought a job lot of coach bogie sideframes/wagon axleguards on eBay recently. Most were GWR and therefore useful! 🙂 Amongst the dross, there were two ERG wagon solebar/axleguard units.... I'm loathe to bin them, but....

I use microswitches. There is a type witha small roller on the end of the operating lever which I prefer, but any type will do provided the contacts are rated at ! amp or more.

The lubricant needs to be a special light oil for models. The usual 3 in 1 stuff is too thick. Dublo and early tri-ang will accept it but more modern stuff especially with plastic gears is less forgiving. £5 was a a bargain! I paid £7 for mine several years ago1