Il Grifone

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!)

I have a feeling early Romford axles were something SWG? (15 - 1.829mm). I think I have one of these in the UK, but since I'm in Sardinia at the moment its rather far away.

Ambulance goes past the front door making their usual din - Cue furious barkfest from our two! (Any excuse is good enough!). I call, "It's OK wooflies, it's not for us!" - instant silence! Now did they understand or had they just run out of bark? (The latter is unlikely - they have a plentiful supply....) (The cats of course were not worried in the least!)

The shaft diameter is 3/32", but I'm not sure of the gear diameter. I could, of course, use three gears with one on a layshaft. The result would run the wrong way, but that is easy enough to resolve (or ignore if I were to use it to power a double-ended diesel - not that I have one to power). Thinking about it, there is a Dock Shunter that needs a mechanism, but maybe it won't fit? I'll have to investigate the next time I go back to the UK. I should be there now, but my daughter has bagged the slot. Someone has to stay and look after the menagerie (see 'On Cats' and ' On Dogs threads').

You take it home of course!

I have two of these. One works perfectly and powers a late model CNR R.55*, but the other has stripped the two gears on the end, presumably through the screws not being tightened correctly and being allowed to 'chatter'. I bought it for the motor, but really would like to get it going. They are the same diameter as the ubiquitous axle gear fitted to most of the steam chassis, but have the teeth cut parallel to the shaft rather than diagonally as in the worm gears. Sourcing replacements is a problem, especially as these are imperial, whereas gears are almost universally metric these days. * Or whatever the catalogue no. is for this version,

The problem with tension locks is usually that they won't uncouple - i think of them as tangle-locks for this reason. It is essential that they are all at the same height above the rails for sucessful operation, Knuckle couplings will allow a small vertical tolerance as long as the actual knuckle is vertical. I agree that the Mainline type is superior and use these on the few items I have with tension locks. The Tri-ang TT and Peco 'Anita' are also OK but hard to find/expensive these days.

There shouldn't be any vertical motion (and no horizontal either since she appears to be in mid-gear - hard to see at that angle and speed). As usual the eccentric crank is set at the wrong angle! (ignoring the inclination of the cylinders.)

Update to above - the new kittens are actually tortoiseshell, ginger and white, black and white, and black. (Put it down to old age....)

We were feeding our cats this morning. Raphael (as in 'large') was busy scoffing his breakfast when kitten Gretel (as in 'small) decided that his food was also hers. In the end he backed off and left her to finish it. Obviously he got extra rations! Yesterday after taking a small dog to Alghero on the first stage of the journey to her forever home, we collected four more kittens* as temporary residents. They are isolated from the others for now, and are supposedly only here for a week, but.... * One tortoiseshell. 2 tabbies and a black. Panic! Scream from kitchen, "Raphael has brought in a mouse!" It turned out to only be a poor terrified shrew, which was rapidly taken back outside by yours truly. I trust it has the sense to make itself scarce! 😀

A couple of years between overhauls doesn't seem too bad to me! 🙂 I agree the early K's motors are OK, but the H2PM is rubbish. (IIRC they have the armature running in a bearing free plastic moulding?) That reminds me I still have a 44xx to get working. (She has the original press-on type wheels....)

I was referring to the specific diagram, where the shed is very close to the platform and there are always exceptions to rules.... I haven't checked all the examples, but: St Ives shed had a headshunt from the mainline at some distance from the station. Ashburton shed was accessed from the loop. (The short platform would have been used for parcels and milk loadng (and cattle on market days when the station was closed to passengers anyway). Bodmin shed was accessed from the platform, but the pointwork was close to the signal box.

The engine shed would be reached through a diamond from the loop in GWR practice. The facing point from the platform could have disastrous consequences! Ashburton was usually (always? I've mislaid my book!) operated by the 'one engine in steam' principle. This saves on signals, but is much less interesting to operate. Fly shunting was indulged in*. but this is a non-starter on a model. * The story goes that on one occasion this operation was misjudged and the wagons came to rest blocking the pointwork. Calling for assistance was unthinkable of course - they'd have never lived it down! The solution involved taking a spanner to the point locking gear. Shh!

Today's gift was half a lizard....

I've used the full size neodymium magnets in the past but they are really too strong. Nowadays, I use two 6mm cube magnets padded out with steel washers. These are about as strong as the originals and have the Grifone friendly attribute of costing a lot less than the full size neos. A couple stuck on the Tri-ang motor bogies will cure tired versions of these things. There are also ring versions (check the direction of magnetisation) which will fit around the screw in Tri-ang X.03s and X.04s. Tri-ang magnets seem much more reliable than Dublo or is that just me?