Siberian Snooper

SEF kits that have etched chassis are produced by branchlines. I don't know if the artwork was transferred to Squires along with the cast kits. A phone call to Squires will ascertain whether they can supply an etched chassis. The Branchlines chassis go together well.

I saw the fs at Paignton in steam when it was there for a season in the 70s, the last time I saw it,it was a pile of bits at York. The trouble with all the hype, with fs, is the trespassing and people putting themselves in danger every time it goes out.

Tenders were swapped nearly as often as boilers.

I would go with the 2nd running in board, the 1st strkes me as being post grouping, or post nationalisation, where two or more companies had stations of the same name.

What you call a Charlie was known as a flying dustbin, when I was a kid in Sussex.

4 hours ago, t-b-g said:

I tried something like this and although I could see well enough, I didn't like having the weight on the front of my head for very long. I ended up asking my opticians to make me some prescription glasses for close up work. These were much better. I also have some lightweight clip on magnifiers from a firm called Opticaid, which allow me to do really fine work better than I ever could with just my eyes.

I'm with t-b-g, I have times 3 prescription glasses for modelling, I found that using an optivisor for any length of time was uncomfortable. I use it occasionally with my x3 glasses when I'm working with small bits.

I bought a Silverline 60 watt iron a couple of years ago and a set of bits, not used the other bits yet. My Weller 40 watt temperature controlled iron bit is getting a bit long in the tooth, but as I'm soldering white metal at the moment, it's hanging in there.

Mr Duck,

Not only Whiteball, but Somerton, the one between Castle Cary and Frome (I can't remember the name of it) and Savernake.

2 hours ago, Chuffer Davies said:

Hi,

mine is awaiting conversion to EM but your comment prompted me to at least spin the wheels on its back to check it was a runner. In doing so I’ve discovered that the pickups on the nearside of the power bogie aren’t conducting current so if your model has a similar issue it might explain what you have reported.

I’ll sort the pickups out when I do the gauge conversion, which won’t be for a while yet.

Frank

I would be interested in your approach to regarding. If there is still available when you have found the pitfalls, I will invest in one.

9 hours ago, brossard said:

 

A point of clarification, I assume you mean 145C solder.  Will this method work on 188C solder?

 

I hope your hair dryer doesn't have the heat to melt paint and/or solder.   I shudder to think what that would do to ones hair.

 

John

Yes it will undo 188C solder. I don't know how hot a hair dryer gets, as I don't need one.

When I go to visit the girlfriend, who lives just outside Reading, or go to gigs in London, I catch the 09.15, they tend to run to time, until arrival at Exeter. From a usual 2 or 3 minutes late departure, it tends to lose time, between 5 and 10 minutes down by Taunton departure, I now expect to be at least 15 minutes down on arrival at Reading.

I usually catch the "14.29" back, I regard anything less than 10 minutes late as an ontime departure, if the 14.37 to Newbury leaves before us, we will lose time until it arrives in there and then continue to lose time all the way to Plymouth. I assume that the late departure from Pad, is that the crew have arrived late and need to have their required break, or the stock arrived late in Pad.

The 80*'s don't have the get up and go of the HST's, to recover time and with big brother watching, there's no opportunity for the driver to give it a bit of extra, here and there.

4 hours ago, 57xx said:

 

This dilemma seems to have resolved itself... An email came in this morning saying Rails had shipped my shirt button Mogul. Only I didn't remember ordering it at any time! I check on my account and it wasn't listed in the orders, so I gave them a call - Apparently I placed the order last May 2023. 🙈

Is it being sent to your address?

Soldered construction can be deconstructed, by using a hot air paint striping gun, or possibly a hair dryer, I don't have enough hair to warrant one, so I can't give a definite answer. The only warning is don't get the brass red hot.

It may be because the  original line was single track and it was the best that could be done to get the best alignment in confined space between the cliff and the sea, without a prolonged line closure.

The edit definitely has my support.

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I recommend nipple height. Armpit height is too high to reach across comfortably.

Your nipple height or Chesty Morgan's?

I suspect that many on here won't know her, Google is your friend!

Mr Duck,

The weekend sessions have tutors, CF MRC and T-B-G of this parish are  two of them. Just remembered, Queens Square.

Possibly a case of signing up for a Missenden Abbey course or two, in the 4mm loco building course. Coach building has been known to take place.

5 hours ago, Graham T said:

 

I'd prefer to be in a town really Clive.  Or at least somewhere that has a decent pub within staggering distance!

 

My mum lives in Stourport, much better than Kidder, at least 2 decent pubs, the Black Star and the Holly Bush. I believe the Swan is good for live music, but I have not visited it. There's an excellent chippy in Brinkley Street.

It's just been on the Spotlight news, that it's the 10th anniversary of the washout!!! I can't believe it was that long ago!

I bank with Lloyds and I have to approve online purchases, other than Amazon or Paypal. Before Christmas I had a message to approve a purchase for a few Euros, as it wasn't me, I rejected it. It did come back to bite me, when I tried to book a couple of hotels, using that card, as the transactions failed. I phoned the bank to find out why and they told me that because I had rejected the fraudulent transaction, they had put a stop on it, for internet purchases. I haven't tried to use it since the embargo was lifted.

Some prospective scrap metal above, where's Cashmores when you need them?

Many thanks John, just what I needed. It has saved me from making an enormous faux par, the drawing in the bible shows 12 planks for the sides and the photo shows only 10. Which makes a difference to how the end looks.

39 minutes ago, Coppercap said:

Mine arrived today, courtesy of Royal Mail.

 

Firstly, removing the Railmotor's own box from the transit packaging, it was clear that the box had been dropped at some point - NOT by Royal Mail. Well, they might have dropped it at some point, but if they did, it didn't cause this as the transit packaging was undented both inside and out.

   

On opening the box and removing the clear plastic packing from it, I could see the chimney was loose within, so I carefully opened it to make sure I didn't lose the chimney to the carpet, but before I did, I also saw a tiny piece of what looks like brass shining in the light, and part-painted black. I can't work out what it is, maybe a step or something? I can't see another one on the Railmotor like it anywhere. The chimney pressed firmly back into place without any problem.

 

On the track (Gaugemaster controller, on DC), the Railmotor is slightly hesitant and doesn't moves off particularly smoothly, being slightly jerky at realistic stopping and starting speeds (I would be critical seeing it do that at an exhibition), or at slow speeds as if there are tight spots (but it doesn't seem to be at the same point of rotation each time) requiring much tweaking of the controller to try and keep the speed constant, but I'll see how it is after an hour or so in each direction.

 

Lastly, the LED head and tail lamps are very bright at anything other than slow speed. I've not got much of a problem with that, BUT after five minutes or so, I noticed that the LED at the 'trailing' end has failed completely, so it doesn't illuminate in either direction.

 

All that said, it is a fantastic model, superbly detailed and finished.  But, it might have to go back...      

That looks like it might be a foot step, as it's black, it could be from a buffer beam.

The missing bit could be the motion bracket.

I would disconnect the motor and the tender, put a meter to the motor wires and see if you get a circuit, if no, reconnect the tender and repeat the test, if you still don't get a circuit, you don't have a short. Next, connect the meter to one of the motor wires and connect to one of the pickups, do you have a circuit? No, try the other side pickups. Still no! Repeat for the other motor wire. If you're not getting circuits, then the wires have a break in one or the other or both. Whilst the motor is out, put power to it. You will now know where the problem lies, if any.