Siberian Snooper

The brake hangers are on the Branchlines chassis etch. Each is in 3 parts and making sure you have the outers of the correct hand was a bit of a faff, I had to re-do some of them. I used one of the parts as a template and drilled holes in a block of wood and fitted short lengths of wire in the holes, fitted the etches and soldered the top two.

Well I remembered to get some photos, so here you go;- Sorry that they're a bit fuzzy, but I took them on the phone. Any questions, please ask.

Makes a change from the usual Sheepy attire of an overly loud shirt, akin to Monsewer Blackrat.

I have made my brake gear removable, if I remember tonight, I will take a photo or two of it. I have used Romford/ Markits wheels for initial construction, but I'll be fitting Gibson's when I have weathered the chassis.

Thanks Andy, I missed it, tucked away, near the bottom.

Any idea of the opening times? Thanks

Laira, for Hemerdon, can't remember whether it was Laira or Newton Abbot that supplied locos to Totnes for Dand Rattery. It would have been Plymouth, before Laira opened.

Naiad was somewhat accident prone, in that period.

I have to have my old meter replaced and the only option is a smart meter, I'm not happy with that, but I may get the last laugh, as the last time they wanted to change it, the chap took one look at it and said that he couldn't change it as the Western Power fittings were out dated and he'd not been trained on them. He said that he would report back to his supervisor and I should await a call from Western Power, quick as a flash, nothing happened. I'm now waiting to see what happens.

The pilot advises the skipper on what tugs he should use and not following that advice is usually foolhardy, but ultimately it's the skippers responsibility. I watched a cruise programme where the skipper refused the tug(s), because the pilot had no experience of the type of ship and was awestruck when the skipper berthed the ship in virtually a single move, with azimuth engines and a number of bow thrusters.

Most cruise ships have at least two engines and props, but an awful lot of merchant ships have asingle massive engine. I don't know what particular ship has. If you have two engines you have a chance to retain some control if you loose one, but if you have only one and loose the lot.

WOT, no filth?

I know that this is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, but I can see a case of tugs being compulsory where large ships are required to navigate through bridges. My thoughts are with the missing and their families.

With the gearbox you have, how does the motor look if you mounted it vertically in the firebox? you will need to shorten the end of the motor shaft.

I spoke to Dave yesterday, he has finished casting and all the moulds have gone to storage. All the castings he has are boxed up and ready to go to Brian. So far there has been no interest in anyone buying the business, but he remains hopeful.

After soldering connecting wires to the motor and testing that all was good, I wrapped insulation tape around the end with the terminals to ensure that they wouldn't come into contact with the firebox.

I can do that, but it will be on Monday, as I'm off to a couple of gigs and a couple of nights in the Smoke. I forgot last night, as I got accosted on arrival at the club last night to sort out electrical faults on a couple of layouts.

Probably the small China clay trains.

I don't see why they can't run at least a few trains into Paddington, during the Old Oak Station build. During initial construction it ought to be possible to keep the mains open and once stage one is complete, open the reliefs and close the mains. There's no need to open the station. During the Reading rebuild, the station remained mostly open, I don't think there's been any dramatic changes to elf and safety, since then.

Most woodwork weather's to a silvery grey colour, only new sleepers and timbers are original creosote brown the rest of the trackwork is various levels of rusty brake dust and other contaminants, especially if you model the pre- retention tank era.

I have used have mounted the High Level gearbox on the rear axle and the gearbox vertically in the firebox, I think it's a 12 x 20 motor, I can check later, if I remember. It's a snug fit, it won't need to be torque restrained. The chassis has been primed and had a coat of mat black, I need to weather it and fit the wheels etc. I'm currently fighting the bodywork.

I too have found that the tank castings and the joint with the front casting to be a bit of a mess, I'm going to wait until I get some primer on it before deciding what to do about it. For the injectors, I used lost wax castings from Alan Gibson.

Take it one step at a time, draw your 1st plain line track from end to end and then add the 1st turnout or crossover, just a couple of clicks these days. If it's a crossover, you can extend the track in either or both directions. If you want to add another turnout you split the plain track from the original turnout, you can then put a new turnout in the new bit of plain line, repeat as required. It's been a lot easier to make diamonds, single or double slips and even tandem turnouts, with just a couple of mouse clicks, these days.

Only if they survived!

Just as a matter of interest, what security measures do vehicles and passengers go through before embarking on the Shuttle?