Tim V

Oh yes, there is a surprising amount of room. Just have a look at some of the smaller locos, a pannier is positively roomy. I saw a chip inside an 04 diesel, now that was small. A challenge before Camrail!

Or slip some plasticard half washers in. I reduced the length of the muffs by a smidge using no more than a scalpel, just put your callipers between your bearings, and calculate the required cut.

Just built a 2mm pannier using the new etched chassis. It works! It works even better with a decent controller, I don't have any DC controllers left, other than an ancient Powermaster, so I connected a DCC chip between the controller and track. It works really well I'm surprised to say. It isn't DCC itself, as the only layouts I can try it on are DC only.

OK, how are you going to squeeze this into Clevedon.....

I expect the jig is quicker to set up, but it is £35, and I had the lathe. One thing the jig will have is repeatability - so if only one wheelset needs setting, that can be done with the assurance that it will be the same as the others.

I don't see a problem, as you're quartering the wheelset against against the other wheelset, not relative to the chassis. Therefore any slop in the axle holes (and we are talking about 0.1mm here) won't affect the quartering. I don't have a quartering tool, but I do have a lathe, a few minutes work produced this tool which is mounted in the tailstock and a dividing/indexing tool (Unimat). A slot is cut in it for the crankpin to fit through, you can just see the slot on the right hand one (right hand leads). The tailstock chuck is given bias with the key to ensure it stays in the same place. Using the tailstock wheel, I can push the wheels towards each other, checking with the back to back gauge as it advances.

Axle holes reamed to 1.5mm then carefully enlarged by twisting a 1.6mm drill in all three axle holes. Then the Simpson springs put on. There is a sheet about it on the VAG, plus an article in the magazine. Jerry Clifford (Queensquare) put me on to it. Electrical pickup was the problem, it ran smoothly enough. Haulage power not ascertained as I don't have any other stock!

Just stripped mine down, as I wasn't satisfied with its performance. Fitted Simpson pickups in enlarged axle holes as recommended. Having the removable motor and gear was a boon. Running transformed, hoping to sneak it onto a 2mm layout in the near future....

See that bit of swarf that the gear wheel has cut on the muff - it could mean trouble. It might mean the gearwheel is eccentric, or it might be OK. Don't forget to remove it anyway - before the eagle eye of the camera spots it!

Funny, I didn't find them tight - maybe it was my batch of wheels.

Point taken, but having an "easily" removable motor means that setting up the wheels and gears will be easier, plus I didn't like the thought of pushing the motor through the worm in the frames. And there is still the problem of the unsupported outer end of the motor, as I intend using DCC having seen the benefits it brings to small scale models.

I wasn't happy with the unsupported motor, plus I didn't like assembling the worm wheel inside the frame, so I've made these slight modifications. A simple L piece of scrap nickel is soldered to a base plate which is screwed to the frames, using the existing spacer and 14BA screws. The motor can be removed for setting up the wheels etc.

I wonder too....

I was very pleased to receive the award at expoEM for "most authentically operated model railway" - the Reverend Peter Denny Memorial Cup, presented by his son Crispin Denny (of automatic Crispin fame) and judged by Bob Essery. However, it seems that some people seem to think that correct operation implies trains arriving within seconds. Even gaps between District line trains in the rush hour seems to exceed some people's attention span. In my book, correct operation means adhering to what the prototype would have done. So on Clutton there is a lever frame, with interlocking, bell systems with virtual tokens being released, signals that work, the role of signalman and driver split - the list goes on. Plus when there are no trains, there is something to see on the layout. I did some timings at the show, it takes a full minute to get from the staging roads at the back to the station at the front, and a full minute to get from there back to the staging roads. That could mean nearly two minutes between trains. I know that my layout is not to everyone's taste, but so be it. You can't please all the people all the time.

That was the impression I got from your instructions Chris, which I'm impressed with by the way, thanks. I used the association motor for my conversion. I "may" remove the metal under the boiler, but at the end of the day, it's still the Farish pannier, which doesn't strike me as a "scale" model.

I decided that the amount of metal to remove to fit the motor in did not justify the extra work. After all, the loco is light enough anyway. And it's pretty awful metal to do anything with.

Finally started on 57XX. I started on the rear wheel drive frames, as practice. The frames were quite easy to separate from the etch, and bend up, but what is that extra bend line for on the frame spacer piece? Having ascertained the body needed a lot of surgery for these frames, I opted for the centre drive frames. These were not so easy to separate, or get my cutters in - I'm using the Xuron ones. However success. Pleased to see the axle holes etc accept the bearings accurately, but I'm concerned that the holes for brake supports clash with frame spacers.

Look more like Romans to me - which is far more useful for Somerset.

Gosh, I missed the pictures of the new layout. And I was getting very excited!

What's this I see at Warley this year Jerry? http://www.thewarleyshow.co.uk/2mm.htm

Umm, I do like your instructions Chris, but the lack of a numbered parts list does hinder it. Thanks for this additional information, how about adding this to the instructions? I find the 2mm price list a bit unfathomable at times.

So, I've been looking at the parts list which comes out as for a pannier tank set of frames 6 x 9mm wheels 3-257 can motor 3-156 frame spacer 3-359 Skew spur gear 3-383 worm 3-385 spur 3-387 Spur 3-113 frame bush What muffs do I need, it isn't too clear, and have I missed anything else?

What about that lorry number plate?

Good news about this Brian, there's plenty of future in Canal Restoration. Something else to investigate next time I'm down that way.

The point of the site was to record the final days of those buildings. Fray Bentos does state that the bulldozers went in shortly after his visit. So of course the buildings are decrepit - they ain't long for this world!