Roswell Mill

[burgundy]

The General resurrected

Some progress on the body of the General, which is now coming back together.

The “ankle rails” are a rather curious structure, like nothing that I have seen on a British loco. They were evidently a substitute for a footplate to allow movement around the loco (while in motion?), but they are much flimsier. It would be interesting to understand why US engineers took one solution whereas the UK (and most other builders) chose another. I suspect that it had to do with the pressure to achieve the cheapest and most utilitarian product, combined with the need for lightness and flexibility, resulting in bar frames and the “standard American” 4-4-0 arrangement.

In any event, construction started with some lengths of brass L shape strip which was set up roughly in relation to the bottom rear of the cab and cowcatcher (or pilot) at the front. Some 0.5mm brass rod was glued into a hole drilled in the undersurface of the cab and the L section was tacked in place against the rod with solder. The cowcatcher was soldered to the L section and also to struts from the smokebox, which had similarly been glued into holes drilled in the mazak body. After a couple of attempts, unsoldering and resoldering, I got the whole assembly more or less lined up to my satisfaction and the ankle rails horizontal. Al Mueller has written very useful descriptions of building both ankle rails and tilted cylinders, but, while Al’s articles provide the inspiration, my execution of them does not do justice to the precise engineering solutions that Al sets out (I struggle to get my head round working to 3 decimal places of an inch!). With the four corners more or less secured, I then filled in the additional struts under the cab and two each side from the centre of the boiler.

Reference back to John Ott’s drawing demonstrates how much additional detail there was to be added. Yes, I know that I am still one dome short of a General, but the front dome (actually a sandbox) now has downpipes to feed the sand in front of the driving wheels. The rear dome (a steam dome) has the lever of a spring balance attached to the top and the handrails have been reinstated using Markits “long” (very long) handrail knobs. There is also a reversing lever shown in the drawing, which I assume indicates that the loco was driven from the right hand side of the cab. Since most American lines were single track, I don’t suppose that it mattered which side the driver stood and it would have been largely a matter of the manufacturers “off the peg” cab layout. I have replaced the boiler feeds with white metal castings, drilled out to take yet more brass rod. The pipes from the bottom of the feeds snake around a bit but don’t disappear behind a convenient length of footplate, as they would on a UK loco. Instead, they can be seen to attach to the top of a crosshead- or axle-driven pump, which is quite a substantial lump right down at the level of the frames. After much thought, I can see no alternative to attaching the pump to the frames and the feed pipes to the boiler assembly, which leaves me trying to think of a way in which to make it look as though the pipe and pump are actually connected to each other. I am assuming that there is a pump and a boiler feed on each side of the loco – can anyone confirm please? Finally, the bell and headlight are still to be reattached – using the original Mantua versions. I also need to create builder’s plate to go between the splashers (which may help to cover the seam between the mazak body and the brass infill).

The next step will be to go back to the chassis to try to sort out the pumps and to add any simple valve gear detail so that it does not interfere with the removal and reattachment of the body.

Best wishes

Eric

[burgundy]

There is nothing like a photo (ideally right next to a drawing) to make you wonder why on earth you did something.  In this case, it was the height of the handrails, which, without thinking, I aligned with the hole in the cab front that was already there; this results in the slightly odd looking things like insect antennae just aft of the dome and in front of the chimney. Having handrails in that location  would result in a vertical separation between the footboard and the handrail of a little over 6 feet - which would be a bit of a stretch even by the undemanding standards of 1860s Health and Safety. Revisiting the drawing, the rails are more inline with the top of the boiler and so they have been relocated; footplate crews will not now have to have the skills of a trapeze artist.

The other thing that strikes me when looking at the drawing is that the chimney is massively taller than the lost wax casting that I have fitted. Even though the much taller version would help to balance the exaggerated height of the cab, I am afraid that it is one of those things that is just going to have to stay like that, as I have no idea how I would start fabricating something that shape!  

A quick coat of primer was quite encouraging and did not highlight too many lumps and bumps. However, I am trying to think of a way to construct the crosshead driven(?) pump that sits just in front of the leading driving wheel. Plan A was to use some whitemetal castings that came off the 5&9 kit for Jenny Lind, but these turned out to be too chunky to fit behind the connecting rods, so it looks as though I will have to fabricate something up from bits - twice, one for each side presumably.  

Best wishes 

Eric 

Edited August 28, 2017 by burgundy

[2996 Victor]

Hi Eric,

 

Any progress with The General?

 

How does Bachmann's 4-4-0 effort compare? The firebox cone looks to have a fairly good profile.....

 

Have you decided on your track standards yet? I'm thinking of 5'0" gauge gauge for my projected Southern ACW layout, and I'd like to go 17.5mm gauge. But I haven't got any track-building experience and I can't see that ending well....!

 

Best regards,

 

Mark

Edited October 3, 2017 by 2996 Victor

[burgundy]

To respond to Mark’s question above, there has not been much progress on the General, but lots of research.
John Ott kindly supplied a drawing which showed how the crosshead driven pump should work and, one way or another, I have fabricated something that fills the gap – even if not perfectly convincing. I have also been trying to produce something to resemble the Stephenson link motion and this is where the serious detour into research comes in.
If I were trying to convince the judges of my commitment to the Cameo contest, I might try to persuade them that I went to the US only to get some photos of a real Standard American 4-4-0 that has just been restored at the B&O museum in Baltimore. The truth is simpler; we were on yet another visit to our daughter and family, now in New Jersey, but had travelled via Virginia to see friends from when we lived there 30 years ago. For want of a better stopping place en route from DC to NJ, I suggested Baltimore and a detour to the B&O museum, which has a great collection of early locomotives  housed in the roundhouse. Part of my sales pitch to Mrs Burgundy involved my enthusiastic recollection of the crab cakes, served in a buffet car at the museum. Unfortunately, the catering facilities have been rationalised in the intervening 30 years and the refreshment area now consists of an unattended hut, containing dispensing machines for snacks and sodas. I was not forgiven for this disappointment until the promise had been fulfilled at a rather more upmarket (i.e. expensive) establishment on the inner harbour that evening. 
The immediate cause of my visit was the Mason 4-4-0 of 1856, which has just been restored and had been unveiled the previous weekend.

It was displayed on the turntable in the centre of the roundhouse, so that there was none of the problem of oblique views taken between a circle of locos standing on adjacent tracks.

The restoration appears to have been cosmetic but is beautifully done. However, when you look at the crosshead driven water pumps, they are not connected to any of the motion and when you look at the boiler cladding, it looks suspiciously like black anodised sheet metal, rather than Russian Iron.  I am sure that there are lots of other giveaways to those who know, but it did satisfy my curiosity to see how Stephenson link motion worked, as it is shamelessly exposed to view, rather than discretely hidden between the frames as on most UK locos.

Like most restorations, the question is “to what condition has it been restored?” My understanding is that it reflects a condition late in the 19th century, rather than as constructed in 1856. Not perfect for my purposes, but much better than most, including the “original” General at Kennesaw.
Since this is a thread about the cameo competition, I will not go into a detailed description of other exhibits, other than to say that the museum is well worth a detour to visit. There is a significant collection of very early locos (both replicas and survivors) which illustrate some of the evolutionary dead ends that were explored – crabs, grasshoppers and camelbacks. However, these are mostly shown on the radial tracks from the turntable and so may be rather harder to photograph. Just don’t go for the crab cakes anymore.
Continuing the detour, another fringe benefit of the US visit was the opportunity to order some figures from Knuckleduster Miniatures. Having a US “ship to” address, the service was exemplary. The significance of this range is that they produce figures to model railroad scales, rather than wargaming sizes, and I would rate the detail as approaching the level of Andrew Stadden’s. Yes, I know that they are technically “wild west” figures but, although Georgia was one of the 13 founding states, the inland area was only really seriously settled after the gold rush of 1829 in the area around Dahlonega. Atlanta began to grow as a result of the convergence of three railroad companies in the following decades, so I have little hesitation in using figures with a frontier flavour. http://knuckleduster.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=1_78_79
The net result of all this modelling displacement activity is that I think I now have the necessary information to complete the chassis.
To answer Mark’s other two queries
- I have not tried the Bachmann 4-4-0; the General has been enough to keep me busy for the time being, but comments I have seen suggest that it is a good likeness for a post civil war loco. I have a second loco in the plan for Roswell Mill, a Shapeways printed Yonah, but this is some way down the priorities and after I have recovered from the experience of the General!  https://www.shapeways.com/shops/gdykstra
- Track standards will be essentially P87 – with an extra millimetre on the gauge. There will be more on this when some trackwork begins.

Best wishes 

Eric 

[burgundy]

Some progress, this time on the tender, of which some of the original remains.
First, can I say that I am growing to hate mazak. The top of the tender is was made as a single mazak casting, to include sides, ends and logs on top. Since it is no longer full of motor, I cut out the top, with its load of logs, and hacked and filed away the rear face of the coping until it was smooth. This required a lot of the 3Ps*, as mazak is horrible stuff to work.
The easy bit, once the hole had been made in the top, was to chop up some scrap brass fret and solder up the new top and U shaped tank. The water filler is a spare whitemetal casting and the pair of toolboxes were also cobbled up out of scrap fret. My first thought was that I had instinctively made them to 4mm scale, but their size looks OK against the rather overheight cab.

The chassis of the loco has also had some attention, to add the crosshead driven pumps and the Stephenson link motion on top of the cylinders (and no, it does not move). My thanks to John Ott for a very nice sketch, which made the whole thing much clearer.

I still need to add pickups, both to the driving wheels and to the trailing bogie of the tender. However, I have not yet figured out how the current from the tender will be transferred to the loco: it is all a bit crowded down there!
Best wishes
Eric
• Patience, perseverance and profanity

[technohand]

​As a friend of the author and fellow lunatic, I have been given the job of making the points**; which as you will notice are all of the stub variety.

​The main problem was to create suitable standards for the scale and gauge. This has now been done and a drawing produced with flange ways, back to back dimensions etc.

A roller gauge and "mint" gauge have been produced and construction of the first turn out commenced. It is of copper clad sleeper* construction with non stressed ties of timber.

I am not proposing to make them from P87 Tree trunks, there lies total madness!

Most of the problems seem to have been overcome and a further opposing point or switch will be made before attempting the three way.

​FUN THIS HOBBY AIN'T IT!

Tony

*Ties are American sleepers

** Points are American turn outs or switch and crossings.

 

[burgundy]

Tony's contribution to this project followed a request for assistance to the NWSEMGSAG* at one of our monthly meetings. I was struggling to convert my outline layout to Templot, to include a 5' gauge, three way, stub turnout. Tony's note, above, quietly understates the scope of what he has done. He has effectively designed a completely new gauge to P87 standards, not only working out all the required clearances (recognising that wheels will be to P4 standards), but also "just knocking up"  the gauges to go with it.  I am extremely grateful to him for his help. 

And "no"; I have no ambition to use half round, split log ties!

Best wishes 

Eric 

 

 

NWSEMGSAG = North West Somerset Area Group of the EM Gauge Society

Edited December 17, 2017 by burgundy

[2996 Victor]

​As a friend of the author and fellow lunatic, I have been given the job of making the points**; which as you will notice are all of the stub variety.

​The main problem was to create suitable standards for the scale and gauge. This has now been done and a drawing produced with flange ways, back to back dimensions etc.

A roller gauge and "mint" gauge have been produced and construction of the first turn out commenced. It is of copper clad sleeper* construction with non stressed ties of timber.

I am not proposing to make them from P87 Tree trunks, there lies total madness!

Most of the problems seem to have been overcome and a further opposing point or switch will be made before attempting the three way.

​FUN THIS HOBBY AIN'T IT!

Tony

*Ties are American sleepers

** Points are American turn outs or switch and crossings.

 

 

 

Tony's contribution to this project followed a request for assistance to the NWSEMGSAG* at one of our monthly meetings. I was struggling to convert my outline layout to Templot, to include a 5' gauge, three way, stub turnout. Tony's note, above, quietly understates the scope of what he has done. He has effectively designed a completely new gauge to P87 standards, not only working out all the required clearances (recognising that wheels will be to P4 standards), but also "just knocking up"  the gauges to go with it.  I am extremely grateful to him for his help. 

And "no"; I have no ambition to use half round, split log ties!

Best wishes 

Eric 

 

 

NWSEMGSAG = North West Somerset Area Group of the EM Gauge Society

 

Photos, please! 

[technohand]

Watch this space.

[technohand]

Points are done. Seem to work OK. Mint gauge goes thru fairly well and some bogies to the right back to back go through the crossings and over the switches without falling off the track! Eric will do the pictures as its his model and I'm not clever enough. 

[burgundy]

Technohand's brief comment above must be a strong contender for the most understated post of the year so far. What it fails to say is that, having designed a completely new gauge with its own set of track standards, he has now made a set of gauges to construct track and built a three way, stub turnout (amongst other things) – all using code 40 rail. The photos below do not really do justice to the intricacy of the resulting pointwork. If anyone feels moved to add a “like” or “craftsmanship/clever” rating, please make sure that you do so to the post above and not this one!

In the meantime, the rebuild of the “General” went into limbo for some time both before and after Christmas, but has now burst back into life. The photos below are at an interim stage, with quite a lot still to do. However, it seemed an appropriate moment to take a long hard look, as photos tend to be pretty unforgiving – and besides a brief period of sunshine was too good an opportunity to miss. I am a little disappointed that I have ended up brush painting this loco, although I prefer not to use an airbrush indoors, and it has not really been the weather for doing this sort of thing outside. However, the colour scheme is complex and I am not sure how much of it could have been airbrushed easily. The main colours are
red on the wheels and cowcatcher/pilot
green for wooden bits like the cab and also the tender
“Russian Iron” for the boiler (I settled for a gun metal colour which, in Games Workshop speak, is “lead belcher”)
bare metal for the ankle rails and any cold water or sand pipes 
lots of copper and brass
The metallic colours have a distinctly odd texture and absolutely no resistance to masking tape, so it may well be that both spraying and removing a lot of masking would have created a whole different set of problems.

One of the contrasts that I find interesting is the way in which, even at this early stage, US and UK practice had diverged. Can anyone think of any UK locos that sported large areas of  unpainted iron or steel? 
Best wishes
Eric

[2996 Victor]

Technohand's brief comment above must be a strong contender for the most understated post of the year so far. What it fails to say is that, having designed a completely new gauge with its own set of track standards, he has now made a set of gauges to construct track and built a three way, stub turnout (amongst other things) – all using code 40 rail. The photos below do not really do justice to the intricacy of the resulting pointwork. If anyone feels moved to add a “like” or “craftsmanship/clever” rating, please make sure that you do so to the post above and not this one!

3 way 1.jpg

3 way 2.jpg

 

That is an astounding piece of workmanship, absolutely superb!

[2996 Victor]

In the meantime, the rebuild of the “General” went into limbo for some time both before and after Christmas, but has now burst back into life. The photos below are at an interim stage, with quite a lot still to do. However, it seemed an appropriate moment to take a long hard look, as photos tend to be pretty unforgiving – and besides a brief period of sunshine was too good an opportunity to miss. I am a little disappointed that I have ended up brush painting this loco, although I prefer not to use an airbrush indoors, and it has not really been the weather for doing this sort of thing outside. However, the colour scheme is complex and I am not sure how much of it could have been airbrushed easily. The main colours are

red on the wheels and cowcatcher/pilot

green for wooden bits like the cab and also the tender

“Russian Iron” for the boiler (I settled for a gun metal colour which, in Games Workshop speak, is “lead belcher”)

bare metal for the ankle rails and any cold water or sand pipes 

lots of copper and brass

The metallic colours have a distinctly odd texture and absolutely no resistance to masking tape, so it may well be that both spraying and removing a lot of masking would have created a whole different set of problems.

180215 part painted 1.JPG

180215 part painted 2.JPG

180215 part painted 3.JPG

One of the contrasts that I find interesting is the way in which, even at this early stage, US and UK practice had diverged. Can anyone think of any UK locos that sported large areas of  unpainted iron or steel? 

Best wishes

Eric

 

Excellent work, Eric! (I must get busy!)

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[technohand]

We'll see how good the workmanship is when Eric completes the layout!

[burgundy]

A little more progress to complete the body - it is amazing how some lining brings out the main colour. It needs a coat of varnish (and some light weathering) but, since I airbrush outside, I think I will wait for some slightly warmer weather........

One of the challenges of not having a clear borderline between the chassis and body is that dangling pipework becomes extremely vulnerable; I need to find a way to avoid the boiler feeds becoming displace every time I put the body onto the frames!

Now back to the chassis to thin out the coupling rods and to sort the pickups.

Best wishes

Eric  

 

[technohand]

What you need is some nice track to try it out on. Weather permitting I may have just the thing!

Regards

Tony

[burgundy]

It is a long while since anything was posted on this thread, but things have not gone completely comatose.
With a couple of fine days, I was able to finish the paintwork on the ex-General, now named Roswell. The final coats involved first Microsatin varnish overall and then a more selective application of Micromatt. Both are thinned with windscreen wash and the matt coat is lightly tinted – black on the topsides and brown/earth on the wheels and running gear. Having never seen a weathered, wood-burning loco, it is difficult to imagine how the overall finish might have been affected by grime, but I have stopped at the point where the overall shiny finish has been modified selectively to something nearer matt on the upper and lower surfaces.

The “coffin” for the cameo has been built, trialed in place and then rebuilt. My first attempt provided a rather deeper scene, 4' x 2', which did not really work. It seemed too deep in proportion and the extra space did not offer obvious ways in which to fill it.

The extra 6” width also added significantly to the handling problems. It was therefore taken back outside (proving the handling issues in the process) and a 6” slice was removed from the scene.
I had also invested in LED lighting, which was loosely rigged in place for the trial. The jury is still out on this one. The effect of the LEDs is less “scorching summer day in Georgia” and more “wet winter in Hastings”.

The new slimline version is now shown, with cork matting in place where the track will go. The turnouts are ready to fit and I am still deliberating how to actuate the three way stub turnout. I am also  on the lookout for ideas to solve the following issues.
What did track laid with strap rail look like? I think I shall need to use some for the sidings and I have a photo of the “rail” section taken at the museum in Savannah. The question is whether the longitudinal timbers, on which the strap was laid, had regular sleepers (ties) between them or whether there were less frequent cross members rather like the Brunel broad gauge.
Where can I get some civil war period HO scale figures that are simple labourers, rather than  cowboys, gunfighters or civil war military? Some of them will also need to be black.

Best wishes 

Eric 

[technohand]

Oh God, not more track building!!!

Tony

[burgundy]

Another small step forward. The “mechanical” part of the fiddleyard is in place and fitted.
I had bought a 16" transfer turntable, which is designed to enable an individual with limited mobility to manoeuvre into a car or similar. It is made of a hard rubbery plastic, with a smooth-running bearing arrangement between the top and bottom surfaces.
In another thread, I was given some very useful assistance in working out the geometry to fit two tracks and I am grateful to Orion for creating the design on Templot.
I was therefore left “only” needing to work out how to place the end of the fiddle yard in a point in space that lined up with the tracks on the main baseboard – which are not yet laid.

My solution is a freestanding plywood box, which houses the turntable. It is packed up underneath to the correct height and then wedged in place against the lower plate, leaving the top to rotate. It can all be removed for the time being, as the top deck has not been screwed down.
The rails have been laid on EMGS rivets, which were pressed into holes drilled into the surface of the turntable. The alignment of the rivets was planned with the Templot design, which unfortunately obscured the grooves that are printed onto the surface of the turntable, for grip. This explains the rather odd green blodges, where I tried to fill the grooves and demonstrated that body putty was not really up to the job. Fortunately, using code 75 rail, the odd missing rivet does not seem to be a problem. Soldering needed to be carried out quickly, as the plastic did not take to heat. I still need to line it all up with the track on the main baseboard – which will be code 40.

I have not yet done anything about the electrics which are likely to be similarly crude and agricultural.
Best wishes
Eric

[ullypug]

It's all coming on very nicely Eric!

[burgundy]

Despite the lack of postings, there has been progress, although not all of it has  been in the right direction.
In principle, all that has happened is that I have stuck down one of the points. However, to get that far, I have also had to
- develop the “control panel”
- install the point actuation
- work out how the wiring needs to go
- and, as a by the way, replace the tie bar that Technohand had cunningly fashioned, with a P4 tiebar that I was able to buy at RailWells.
Most of these things would have been easier if I had not stuck the point down first! Replacing the tiebar had to be done in situ and the wires and wire-in-tube had to be tunnelled under the point. Aligning the moving part of the point with the main part was an unexpected challenge as there is really nothing to hold it all together – other than the printed template. The one smart thing that I did was to complete work on the first turnout, so that I have learned the lessons for the other two and, hopefully, will not faithfully replicate the same mistakes.  
The control panel will work very much like the one on Vintners Yard, which has the polarity switches physically actuating the wire-in-tube. One switch will operate both ends of the loop and the other will operate the 3 way. All connections from below the switches are connected up to a row of chocolate block connectors on the back of the panel, for accessibility, as the panel is now glued in place.

The wiring initially caused me some anguish, until I understood how Technohand had gapped the rails and copper clad sleepers. It then dawned on me that I had been trying to make it much more difficult than it needed to be and it can operate in exactly the same way as an ordinary switched turnout.  I have a 3 position switch for the 3 way and, before I try wiring that up, I will need to draw it out on a piece of paper to to make sure that I understand what goes where. 

 
The lightbulb moment with the tiebars came when it struck me that, with a stub turnout, the tiebar has to join the two running rails, rather than the two switch rails. The 17.5mm gauge comes out fairly close to the dimensions for P4.
Next on the agenda is to install the 3 way and build some plain track. At RailWells I was also able to buy some very small section metal strip which will do very nicely as strap rail, should I run out of code 40 – and possibly even if I don't. I don't think I have seen a model use strap rail before?
Best wishes
Eric

[technohand]

Well done. My system was always a bit Heath Robinson so I'm pleased theres a satisfactory outcome.

Look forward to seeing how it all comes together.

Strap rails whmm! Better give it some thought.

Tony

[burgundy]

So now we have track!

It has taken a while, but Tony’s turnouts are now connected up to the rest of the track layout and the wiring is in place. So far only one of the three turnout actuators (wire in tube) is connected and I am trying to invent something a bit better than the first effort. The issue is that there is nothing to hold down the moving parts of the turnout, which are anchored only by the tiebar and a couple of  PCB sleepers, which are about 6 sleepers back. They simply rest on the intervening sleepers, so there is very little to keep them in vertical alignment with the main body of the turnout. My first effort involved soldering a short length of brass tube to the brass baseplate that Tony had thoughtfully incorporated, and using this to capture the ends of the tiebar. It works, but it is rather prone to getting solder in the wrong places and making the whole thing solid. At the moment, I am not sure that I have any better ideas.

Best wishes 

Eric

[burgundy]

When was the last moment that you screamed “what a Muppet”  at yourself when you realise that you have just done something stupid (other less polite expressions are available)?
That moment occurred shortly after the last post, when I was looking at my handiwork. My worry was that the sleeper spacings on Tony's turnouts and my plain track were conspicuously different. I had drawn up the track on Templot some while ago and carefully worked out the settings from data that I obtained from Dave Bright's website Confederate Railroads (well worth a browse – not least for the maps and images).   
http://www.csa-railroads.com/
The page, which describes a Mile of Southern Track, showed that there would have been 2350 sleepers per mile, each about 10' long, giving a gap of about 2'3” per sleeper.   Photos also suggested that the impression given by the track was of quite close sleepering, with additional width not only from the broader gauge but also from longer sleepers.

When I went back to the website to check the dimensions, it eventually dawned on me that I had taken 2'3” as the gap between sleepers, without allowing for the sleeper itself, which explained why my track appeared to have a rather more spindly appearance than intended.

The photo above shows the difference. On the lower of the two tracks, I have loosely rearranged the sleepers to show
- on the right, the rail soldered to copper clad sleepers every 4th sleeper (as originally designed)
- in the centre, 3 timber sleepers between the copper clad, matching the Templot design
- to the left, 4 timber sleepers between the copper clad.
After some thought, the best fix that I could come up with was to remove all the timber sleepers and realign them. They had been attached with Copydex, which proved relatively easy to release and the soldered structure, of rails and copper clad sleepers, provided quite a robust skeleton while this surgery was being performed. Each block of 3 old sleepers was replaced by 4 new ones so that the general appearance is consistent. It just makes the Templot design look a bit odd – although, after the first couple, the markings provided quite a useful grid for replacing the sleepers.  
So the overall layout now looks something like this.

It will immediately be apparent that the right hand siding, with the train on it, has not been adjusted. This one was laid in “strap rail”, the original track for many US railroads, which consisted of iron strip secured to wooden longitudinals, apparently laid on top of normal sleepers.  Since this siding is entirely held together with glue and with virtually no soldered components, I doubted whether it would withstand the sort of surgery applied elsewhere. It also serves to differentiate the two types of track, which might otherwise be overlooked, and so it is going to stay that way!
So now I am back to where I was at the end of last week..............
Best wishes
Eric

[ullypug]

oops...

Still better you spotted it now before ballasting, detailing etc.!