5050

Just wondering if this site is mentioned in the relative IRS Handbook? Not got or even seen one for this area.

Err, that means it did. I'm sure you didn't actually mean that didn't you

Having read the 'other' Sentinel thread I now realise why the wheelbase on mine is approx. 3" to long. The slack has been taken up on the drive chains of course! File under 'Prototype for Everything'. Or should that be 'Excuse/Reason for Everything'.........................

That's what professional architectural model makers do all the time - although I suspect that these days, CGI walkthroughs/arounds are probably more in favour. Mainly for larger commercial projects though, an individual house build might be a different story - but it would have to be an expensive speculative build to make it worthwhile.

When I red the first post I thought I was going to read that the one on e-bay was lettered 'sugar' and 'pepper' and it was the OP's original! Sarah, when you say 'some', this presumes 'several'. I thought these were like the proverbial rocking horse excrement and that they had all (or nearly all obviously) been dumped in the Mersey when Meccano went bust. Can't say I've ever seen an actual example.

Well, I must admit that prior to reading all this i had always assumed that a J94 was a J94 etc. etc. No idea there was so much that distinguishes individual locos. With this in mind I will desist from building one in case I get accosted at an exhibition with a verbal "Did you know that that loco was fitted with a left hand grommit widget and not a right hand one like what you have fitted etc. etc."

As last Saturday was our 50th anniversary i have been reminiscing about my time living in High Wycombe from 1967 - 71 and remembered visiting Soho Mills in Wooburn Green for work sometime in (I think) 1971. The company I worked for at the time (but not for long - but that is another story!) had a metal working/fabrication plant there and I remember seeing quite a bit of old railway lines around the premises in general. The buildings were being used as a general industrial 'estate' and, as far as I can gather, it still is but quite probably after being modernised and developed. I've had a look on the Old Maps website and found this for 1938 - https://maps.nls.uk/view/101450062 The trackage looks quite extensive and rather 'involved' so I was wondering if there is anything out there that shows the railway in use? Did it have its own loco(s) or did the GWR/BR work the sidings? I can't say that I will be building a layout of it but it might be useful for inspiration for someone. BTW, my wife went to the small infant school close by and the place used for Fawlty Towers is half a mile down the road - large house near 'Manse'.

Anyone got any more info. on this? https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7026

I turned out my 63xx set of castings yesterday during a bit of a 'rearrangment' of my stash. It's all there and I do have a Comet 63xx chassis and tender kit - but I bought it to fit under a Bachmann loco I obtained at a very silly price last year at Wakefield show. When I bought it I went straight round to the Wizard stand before I changed my mind! However, reading this has set the old grey cells circulating as I do like to make proverbial silk purses out of sow's ears! Regarding the crank pin/crosshead potential problem (especially in P4) I either leave off the front end of the 'upper' layer of the laminated rods or drill/enlarge the hole out to clear a 14BA threaded top hat bush that I turn up myself and screw in from the front with a very thin minimal flange. I started doing this when I realised that not all the Gibson 'nuts' have the thread positioned centrally in the turning. This creates a sort of 'cam' effect as it rotates and can cause tight spots. So far I've only done this on outside cylinder industrial tanks but I expect the principal to be the same on a larger loco.

I fitted MJT inside bearing w-irons, mainly because it is P4 - but I could see that trying to get it running well with the cast axle holes etc. would be a challenge. The MJT ones aren't all that free running either but OK for the sort of trips mine will be doing! BTW, thanks for all the likes from everyone.

Just to show that all is not lost with this thread (but you still won't get to see the layout in the flesh until at least next April at S4North - if it actually happens that is) I have been building locos (Barclay Diesel and Sentinel for those paying attention) and a few other bits and bobs such as the creation in the attached photo thus - This is built from an ABS kit (from c. 1975-80. £2.78 on the box!) and has been 'described' in 'Obituaries - Adrain Swain' as a homage to Adrian who sadly passed away recently. Originally a GWR prototype, the Braynerts Railway purchased it at a bargain price direct from the Swindon scrapyard (knowing the BR management probably as a back hander!) to function as the part of the Braynerts Railway Engineering and Maintenance Emergencies Division train. If you read my posts in the Adrian Swain thread you will see that I was experiencing what would politely be called 'slight difficulties' until I took a firm grip upon myself and altered the method of construction to a small extent. Life was a lot easier once this was done and the result can be seen in the (rather strangely) hued photo. The kit provides an extremely fine etched chain and hook which I decided wasn't practical so I replaced it with some dark grey thread from Mrs 5050's sewing stash (almost as big as my modelling stash). The hook was 'created' from parts from her beading 'stash' (ditto) - some flattened brass wire and a suitable bead. Threading and winding the 'rope' through and around the 'drum' wasn't easy but I got there eventually after scraping the diameter down in-situ and dipping the end of the thread in superglue to stiffen it so it could be pushed through the gap. Still some work to do with painting the hook, adding bits of wood, rail chairs, tools etc. but I reckon I need a break from it now to settle my nerves somewhat................

Under cover of darkness I presume

Well, I gave myself a good talking to and decided that the work I'd already done would have been wasted if I'd given up altogether. So, encouraged by John's remarks, I revisited it and decided to 'redesign' some of Adrian's construction advice by amending the way some of the parts fitted and also adding some strengthening 'fillets' to the 'body' of the crane to prevent it bending so readily when handled. These improved matters considerably and I was encouraged to complete it as per the photo. It's painted in a 'well used' state having been sold by the GWR to my industrial railway as a general purpose crane, mainly used on track and civils work. The etched chain and hook I found to be so insubstantial that I will replace them with something slightly meatier using rope (strong cotton) and a better hook. Coupling links still to be fitted BTW. So, that's at least 2 of these that has been built! Any others?

Captain, as promised here are some shots of my 16xx build using the BL chassis. I'm afraid that they're not to my usual high (HAHAHA!) standard but hopefully they'll do for now. Here it is in all its glory, a bit fuzzy at the rear as the actress said to the bishop, but not bad considering. Sanding gear rodding is what I fitted during the original construction many years ago, the kit rodding is still on the fret saved for a rainy day. I actually think mine is a bit finer TBH. Here is the chassis complete. The motor is 'hard wired' in place from the PCB pickup 'plate'. I suppose I could fit a flywheel but I can never be sure they actually make a lot of difference in practice. And from the other end. Pickups are mounted on a 'long U shaped' piece (to clear the motor and gearbox) of PCB attached to the top of the frames which avoids all the potential messiness with brake gear etc. underneath. And here is the u/s of the chassis showing the PCB keeper plate attached with 8BA screws into tapped holes in 1/16th brass spacers, a single one at the inner end and 2 at the outer to allow for a semi-circular cutout to allow access to the body fixing screw. The driven axle is held in place with my 'split-tube' method and (I think!) there are some thick washers either side of the gearbox to reduce sideplay to a minimum. I always cut the springs off the etch to make fitting and removing axles much easier, something I end up doing a lot as the build progresses. Once all is in place these were then soldered to the keeper plate. Brake gear is clipped in place using very fine bore brass tube (0.45mm internal) soldered into the top hole of the shoes sliding onto projections of 0.45mm brass wire soldered to the chassis in the etched holes provided. The u/s of the body showing that I needed to fit some plasticard pads to get the ride height correct. I also cut a slot in the boiler to clear the rear motor drive shaft. Injector pipes are bent up from steel florists wire and there was a fair degree of hacking away at the inside of the splashers. And this is the original chassis which had 2 side beams between the front driven axle and the centre axle and a single central beam the other end. Never could get it to balance properly and the loco had been sent to the naughty step for several years until Branchlines released ther version. Hope this is useful!

You mean 2 months rather than 1?

Surely you mean 89A? Anyway, that's in England - almost as bad as Scotland. But possibly more understandable

The 16xx pannier was always a favourite of mine since we had several shedded locally (at 84J Croes Newydd) when I was a lad. However, following a midnight raid by the tartan clad Celts, we lost one! It appeared later at Dornoch. Never forgiven the Scots for that..........................

I found the Branchlines chassis an excellent investment. I had a body built many years ago, fitting on a scratch built chassis which turned out to be to 'clever' for its own good. I never got it to work satisfactorily and it also had a D11 and Romford gears (which shows how old it was!). One of the nicest parts of the Branchlines etch IMO is the etched cab back which I Araldited to the back of the already assembled kit one. I've just had a look in my files and can't find any photos of this build which is surprising. I'll dig it out tomorrow and post a couple of photos. Are Rapido bringing one out RTR? I don't keep up with all the latest gossip on RTR releases as 95+% of them are of no interest but I suppose it makes sense to do one as the other Panniers are all available. I'll bet mine with its HL gearbox and Mashima and whitemetal weight runs better...................

You'll need more than a Tardis to get all that lot into 6'!

Blimey, this thread has wandered since I last visited! BTW, my 'P4' comment was an attempt at a joke - especially as it was a clockwork one!

Still waiting for my cheque................ Guideline produce several model magazines of reasonabl;e repute. Don't forget that a magazine is only as good as the articles its contributors contribute. A friend of mine who is very respected in another model related sphere rates them as being good.

When I was a lad I was the proud owner of one of the first batch of L1's. At the time it was groundbreaking in that it had see-through spoke wheels and was a (relatively) 'scale' RTR 4-4-0 - as distinct to the Trix Twin ones. The layout I was trying to build at that time never really got going, the complexities of trying to wire Peco spiked track and points defeated me. I soon became a very enthusiastic cyclist and railway modelling moved into the background. The L1, being my greatest asset at the time, was traded in and the cash used to buy a Brooks saddle. I think the guy who bought it at the time actually paid me over the odds so I was quite happy - and I got far more use out of the saddle than I would have done with the loco!

Like the Grange that made it to Huddersfield, ripping away at platforms as it made its way up from Sheffield. The trip back must have been interesting, I think it went back via Manchester.

For some obscure reason I always wanted one of these as a lad. It must have prompted/sparked some sort of latent interest in small saddle tanks (although the model itself is quite large and not scale, a point not really appreciated by a 9 year old!). There was a clockwork one for sale at Barnsley show a few years ago for a good (ie low!) price but I resisted the temptation. Converting it to P4 possibly isn't an easy project

Very interesting project I reckon. Might even prompt me to think about starting an FoD layout (again!) to use the Drybrook Road buildings I started a couple (or more!) years ago. And it would allow me to make use of the mainline locos I've built and still have in the 'to do' list. Assorted panniers, Cl14's, Cl22, Cl24 etc. I've got a set of baseboards in the loft too. When does Lockdown finish?