Il Grifone

That's the one! (I did read it a long time ago!) I think we are getting too far into science and engineering with timplate track. The railhead is rolled tinplate, as that is the simplest/cheapest to make and the rest of the rail follows from that. The nmber of sleepers per trackpiece is the least that they could get away with. The wheel section, if any thought was given at all, is an approximation of the real thing - as long as it works! Compatibility with other makes was not a consideration - if anything incompatibility would have been considered as a brand loyalty thing. AFAIK no consideration to standards was given until the formation of BRMSB around WWII. For instance the pioneer 00/H0 wheel standards were all different! I've never had any trouble with Hornby track due to lack of sleepers (rust and 'stepped on' yes!l).

Last night's "walkies" was a bit of a trauma! It started fine - me, dogs - Lewis & Arran - and cat - Whiskers - who now insists on coming too! Off we set and all OK until the home stretch when we were met by a furiously barking dog* charging towards us. Our two weren't having that - MANNERS! - and ran towards her. I had to drop their leads or I'd have been pulled over. Abrupt reversal of dog in direction and demeamour - from Bark Bark Bark to Cree, Cree, Cree! I was able to call our two off, but then they set out, dogs on a mission, towards the next village (no idea why!) with me in pursuit. Down what I call " Bark Alley" where every house has vocal dogs - our two (they are Maremmani** after all!) treat all of them with the contempt they deserve. The last house has several (five at the last count) particularly noisy ones who all started in concert. Ours passed by ignoring them and then stopped for a particularly interesing smell. I managed to grab Lewis. There was a sharp crack from behind us (firework? gun?) which produced two scared dogs pressed up against my legs for protection. (That sort of noise really disturbs them and they seek our protection (the last 'Festa' had Lewis on my lap!). So now I had them back under control, we set off home - the other way! and we got back without further incident - they realised that Master was not impressed with their behaviour! Of course poor Whiskers had been abandoned during all this. I thought, "He knows the way home", but no sign of him. Obviously I set out to look for him and there he was, sitting forlornly in the middle of the road where the dogs had taken off - luckily it was late at night. He didn't come when I called so I picked him up and set off home. He decided that he preferred to walk though. Once inside he got some food to cheer him up! *Brown, medium sized and hairy and the mum of our puppies. Also a stray of course, but we have never been able to catch her as she is very wary. It looks like a neighbour has been more successful, as she seems to be around their house a lot now. We must go and have a chat. Our dogs had already met her without any sign of aggression, though she was inclined to bark at them (and us). Possibly they could have been protecting me last night (or even Whiskers?) ** Arran is a cross, but is Maremmano inside - he loves sheep, cattle, horses and donkeys - and brown outside.

The kittens have all left on the way to their furever homes. We miss them already, but couldn't keep them as we have so many already, plus some we are looking after for friends and our stray 'visitors' which we feed outside. They seem to prefer the outside life, but we will see when winter sets in.

We've just rescued five stray puppies. Three were very friendly and no trouble to catch, but the other two had to be hunted down, They settled down at once, when they realised we didn't want to eat them! Luckily they are all cat friendly and get on with the other residents. They overlapped with the kittens which have just gone to their furever homes. The first puppy has already gone too. 😭

This was before the de Gaulle period - in the Fourth Republic. Once we got to the Fifth Republic and had decided to join after all, it was of course, "Non! Non! Non!" Measuring the gauge between the rail centres is a German idea I believe. Sardinian metre gauge is 950mm because of this strange practice. The Märklin gauges were all in millimetres of course (Germany still had inches, but each region had their own different one). In the case of 0 gauge it was 35mm, but, because this was measured between the rail centres, the gauge was actually 32mm (1/45) - the few pieces of Märklin track I have mate perfectly with Hornby (allegedly 1¼" gauge - Frank Hornby didn't believe in metric). It's not so much the contact points of the wheel tyres with the rail as the distance across the flanges that sets the gauge, I read a SF story a long time ago in which they had landed on a planet where the railways all had different gauges. They solved this problem by using very wide wheel treads. Unfortunately this solution wouldn't have worked as the flanges would have fouled the pointwork. The American solution to a smilar problem at the end of the civil war* was to regauge the lot! *The Confederate states had different gauges, which was a factor in their losing the war.

To go with the card kits (basically a printed sheet of the basic to cut out and stick together) they had a range of white metal parts. They are excellent, but the range is very limited and like hen's teeth today.

"Models to scale" was a very flexible term back then! Hornby for instance had three ranges, all allegedly 0 scale, but very different in size. I was referring generally about a switch to Metric, not confined to model train... (There are those who want to still use Imperial! I won't comment on this!)

I think there was a general slow shift to metric from about 1951 (all my school rulers had Imperial one side and Metric the other), possibly to prepare for joining the Common Market as a founder member. (A change of government put paid to that - Thanks W.S.C!)

My thoughts were 'home brew' using someone's cast axleguards. I have seen those buffers before, but have no idea as to the make. The couplings look like the ERG product. I would leave well alone as 'collectibles'. The Peco wagons first appeared in 1954 IIRC and had a cast floor with wooden sides covered with an embossed card sheet printed with a vriety of P.O. names. Around 1960 the wooden sides were replaced with a cast body. They don't really meet modern standards, but were a step forward in the fifties*. The axles and buffers are sprung, but really the springs are too stiff to be of any use. * Alternatives were ERG kits (no comment!) and later K's and Wills white metal kits.

Our two like to dig big holes and then lie in them!

It's down to changing all the wheels (or at least the B2B) to one standard or using some sort of universal pointwork, where the crossing itself moves to eliminate the gap (Hornby tinplate for example.)

Definitely the dreaded zincpest! There is no cure that I can confirm beyond that damp makes it worse. I keep meaning to try this from Rivarossi Memory http://www.rivarossi-memory.it/Tecnica/Zama/Rivarossi_Zama.htm. Caution nasty chemicals are involved! Sorry it's in Italian, but Google Translate is your friend! Is this the old 00 version (zincpest is a common failing in these) or the later N gauge variety?

My investigation into possible prototypes showed it is really a not unreasonable model. It appears that Joy valve gear was typical, but I couldn't find clear enough pictures to confirm.

Kitten Gretel has just climbed onto my lap and taken possession! At least it gives me a good excuse for not doing anything....

She's been stretched to fit the 0-6-0T chassis and utilise the 3MT* pony truck. Really the leading coupled axles should be closer together and there is rather too much overhang at the front. Proper crossheads and slide bars rather than Tri-ang's cut price horrors would be a great improvement too! * This also suffers from the stretching procedure. Since they made a new chassis for it, there was no real excuse.

The current indoor temperature is around 30 degrees. Kitten Gretel is spread out on Dog Lewis' bed and he is on the floor! (His choice as Arran's bed is vacant.) Cat Ariel is asleep in her bed on top of the furniture. Arran has just taken Lewis' place after Lewis went in the Hall. The sun is that side so it's probably even warmer. Raphael has just come in loudly demanding his breakfast. (It's nearly lunchtime, but this is his first appearance today.)

I've got a Mehano one somewhere with an 0-4-0 locomotive and four wheel coaches (obviously of central European style). It came with cardboard cut-outs on the box for a 'Wild West' town. IIRC she has switcher type end steps. Similar to this one Sam is being rather unkind - there are far worse things out there! IIRC I paid 10,000 lire for mine in Porto Palazzo market in Turin in the eighties. It didn't come with the plastic hill (butte?) or the Penn Central hopper car though. It works doesn't it? What more do you want? Spaghetti Westerns (as mentioned in the comments) were usually shot in Spain. Apart from the style of the rolling stock, the wide gauge is a give away! EDIT I wish i hadn't looked up the Bachmann bits. I feel an attack on the wallet coming on. I DO NOT NEED ANY MORE TRAINS! I DO NOT NEED ANY MORE TRAINS! I DO NOT NEED ANY MORE TRAINS! I DO NOT NEED....

Not that I know of. Their spares tend to be for current production. There could be a scale problem too The Bachmann are H0, but Tri-ang's efforts are a generous 00. Apparently Moguls tend to be late in U.S. history (c!870) awaiting the invention of a swivelling leading pony truck. Previous attempts with side play play in the leading axle having been prone to derailment on what passed for track over there.

One of my two needs a cowcatcher, but both need the headlamp, which doesn't seem to be available. The original isn't up to much however and I was thinking of making them as 'proper' lamps from plastic sheet. The second one was bought as spares for the first, but I can never resist a restoration....

because it is funny! 😂

Cat Pecking Order:- ME! space Other Cats/Humans ( variable - depends on the cat and the human) Large space Dogs (assuming they are family - otherwise only deserving of contempt!) Birds, rodents, reptiles* etc. = food * Had to clear up the remains of a fair-sized lizard this morning (present? or just not tasty enough?)

Tribbles looks like he can't make up his mind as to which Barbie to knock over first! 😺

Hansel set off on the journey to his forever home this morning. 😹 Now there are only four kittens.... Soon Ginger and Blackie will be going too. They have already been renamed Tim and Barton. That will just leave Gretel and Tinkerbell. These two are bundles of mischief - they had to be forcibly removed from the food drawer this afternoon. Gretel has just climbed on my lap, followed by Tinkerbell and Barton. I'm being kneaded and licked! EDIT It's finally cool enough to take the dogs walkies. Dylan came too!

Arran has a Donkey friend too!

It would appear that the 'Visitor' we have named Felix is really Felicia. 'He' has a very suspicious looking tummy! More kittens are just what we needed! We already have Hansel and Gretel, Tinkerbell, Blackie and Ginger. (Two more have found forever homes!)