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Also the RM had an article on fitting Romfords.... I've got a copy in the archive in digital... Andy G

I'll have a look over the next couple of days to see.... Andy G

I think it might have been me who started to widen the Lima crab cab... I also widened the footplate by adding strip to the outside edge of the footplate. I fitted romfords to it as well, which transformed it, and an Airfix 4F tender (fitted with loco drive Hornby tender wheelsets, the airfix wheels being filed off to just leave the gear, and this fitted behind on wheel on the Hornby axle... works really well and looks better!) I have to say though that I now had an influx of SEF cast crabs on triang chassis, and I'm using the Lima cylinders on them, they seem to look more like a Crab to me (apart from the raised footplate at the front, which I must sort out!) and being loco drive and heavy, can actually pull trains! Andy G

Thank you very much! Andy G

You should still be able to get spares from Squires for any of the SEF kits... Should be a nice build, are you going to solder it? Andy G

I don't think I've seen pictures of UK flat bottom laid on timber sleepers without baseplates before... I wonder where and when... Andy G

The shell of the old part of the building is (this was burnt out while the developers were awaiting planning permission to convert to flats), but it is somewhat swamped by the massive development of high rise flats that cover more or less the whole of Dalgettys site, and the site of the old railway yard. I find it somewhat oppressive when I have to go there now. Andy G

I would say that Lemonene is a slow setter, but its probably only a couple of minutes. it is quite handy if you notice things have slipped a bit. I do tend to take a lot of precautions to prevent it getting trapped in laminations, lots of holes drilled to allow it to vapourise and go in the intermediate layers. Andy G

HWD are still in business, and the products on the right hand pages are still being made... Theres two clamped bits of CWR in the cess here..... Andy G

In this case, if you have access to a lathe, then surely the axle ends can be turned down to a size that fits the new Hornby wheels? Andy G

See the bottom paragraph..... Andy G

I've just done an EM2 motor bogie. It had nylon drive axles and gears moulded as one, so that the driving wheels are un-insulated. In this case I used four new Hornby replacement coach wheelsets. Take the triang drive wheels off the axle, I found that they could be removed by twisting them. Then take the Hornby wheelset apart so that you have the wheel with the insulating bush. Knock this bush out and then gently file the hole in centre so that it is a tight fit on the tri-ang axle. Repeat with the other three axles (although I have found some that are bushed on both wheels, so in that case you only need two axles). Set the back to backs and superglue them. Job done. If its a metal axle in the motor bogie, you will need to re-use the bush, so will have to drill out the modern Hornby wheel centre hole to the same size as the triang one. Andy G

Lemonene is my solvent of choice for plasticard, and paint doesn't seem to affect that! Andy G

Thats a lovely etch Dave, its almost enough to make one want to change allengencies..... Andy G

You will probably need to make a former for the roof, so that it will keep to shape. For my carriages I wrap a sheet around a length of 2" steam pipe and then tape it into position so it can't move. I then put the lot into the warming over of the Rayburn (when its lit!) for it to 'take'. You can probably do the same with a hair drier over a coffee tin... As for the edges, a run around with a sand block after its fitted will probably do to get them vertical. I've not really had much luck sticking bog roll to plastic roofs to get the texture of the canvas, but again a rub over with sandpaper roughs it up to remove the plasticy-ness. Andy G Edit: For the door hinges on the shed, why not make them out of stiff wire? The hinge pins would probably be about an inch in diameter (our crossing gates have hinge pins of about the same diameter), so that would be about .45mm (so use .5mm) wire. Then you can hang the doors using a hinge that sits ontop, made out of a bit of tube (or plasticard drilled through) held on to the door with thin plasticard strapping....

Another way of doing the residual gap is to drill the armature and insert a small set screw with a lock nut. You need to tap the armature and have the lock nut on the free side of the armature. You can then adjust the residual gap to get the optimum.. Richard, thats a rather nice bell unit...... older than ours here I guess. Andy G

On a different track..... Does anyone still use the old fashioned rheostat controllers, the ones with a handle that presses against studs on the surface? I remember Frank Roomes Lutton had this style of controller (mounted vertically), and they were a delight to use. I'd love to find one... Andy G

Dave and Nu-cast partners will, if he has got the moulds, spin anything out of the Nu-cast range for you, but the quality will be dependent on the state of the moulds. Brian at Branchlines <might> be able to supply chassis parts, again dependant on what he has got. I've had a few Highland locos this way.. Andy G

No John you are right, I posted a couple of things in it, and its now completely gone.... Odd! Andy G

I thought that there was another steamable one on a length of track in a feild used for steam shows on the board of Norfolk and Suffolk... Andy G

They had a stuffed Paul Wellar as well? That must have been an impressive boardroom... Andy G

You would like to think that it would be spotted wouldn't you? But if you trawl through RAIB reports you will find a concerning number of cases where things aren't seen. Its actually quite difficult to spot a locked up wheelset from a signalbox, here I've got freights going past at different speeds (about 40mph in on direction and about 70mph in the other). Even for the slow one I have to go on the balcony to get a good view of the wheelsets, and to see that they are going round, which is helped by the fact that the axlebox cover on the wagons down here rotates with the axle. The 70mph trains you get very little viewing time and its very difficult to see whats moving and what isn't. Then add into the mix the fact that you might have other things going on in the box (phone calls, other trains, and windows that can't be cleaned) then its a lot harder than you think to see whats going on... Andy G

The question that My daughter wants to know the answer to is this: Is Liz Truss now ever likely to be re-elected as a MP? I don't have an answer! Andy G

I have to agree with Phil here, maintenance isn't seen as sexy, just expensive, so something that can be lived without. Just fix it when it goes wrong.... Interestingly the only time remote monitoring has affected things here was when a point motor was detected as being slow and likely to fail. They swapped it out, and less than a fortnight later that new machine was failing to go over.... but that wasn't detected by the monitoring! Andy G

But don't under-estimate just how much it would cost to have a power feed to the location would cost.... a couple of years back our Parish paid 16K for a feed to a lampost, and I was quoted £1k to have a feed removed from a house.... Andy G