Hawick via Grantham, Inverness and SIAM (00 gauge DC)

[Ex-Pat]

Many thanks to:

flying scotsman123 - looks like there's plenty of help to go on for Stone now if you need any - I never expected such interest in the subject!

Bufferstop - no disrespect, but I've already embarked on Geoff Taylor's method of using thin strips of masking tape to wrap round the pipe.

glencairn - this particular pipe continues down into the sloping embankment, so after I have permanently attached the building to its base I will be inserting a piece of copper wire into the pipe in order to attach the bottom section of pipe (they're not referred to as loires by any chance are they?)

Timbersurf - interesting video - I like the idea of using the end of the wire to anchor the pipe to the building - must also look out for the pin vice you have.

luckymucklebackit - such a pity that thread is not "live" - must take a another look at it.

[flying scotsman123]

flying scotsman123 - looks like there's plenty of help to go on for Stone now if you need any - I never expected such interest in the subject!

Oh, didn't know you were in there! Yes I was quite taken aback at the interest taken. Must post some more there as I go along.

luckymucklebackit - such a pity that thread is not "live" - must take a another look at it.

Sadly all the pictures are gone I think - I've a vague recollection he popped up on RMWeb briefly with some photos that might still exist somewhere? Definitely an inspiring layout.

[glencairn]

A loire in guttering is generally balloon shape. It is fitted to the top of a down pipe. It prevents blockages in a down pipe; more so in one that has a bend in it. A so and so to clear if a loire isn't fitted and there is a blockage. Not expecting any rain are you, Ex-Pat?

Glencairn

[Ex-Pat]

flying scotsman123 - looks like there's plenty of help to go on for Stone now if you need any - I never expected such interest in the subject!

Oh, didn't know you were in there! Yes I was quite taken aback at the interest taken. Must post some more there as I go along.

luckymucklebackit - such a pity that thread is not "live" - must take a another look at it.

Sadly all the pictures are gone I think - I've a vague recollection he popped up on RMWeb briefly with some photos that might still exist somewhere? Definitely an inspiring layout.

Thanks flying scotsman123 - I'm trying to get my head round this and correct any possible misunderstanding. My reference to "I never expected such interest in the subject!" was to the subject of drainpipes, but I sense from your reply that you might perhaps take it to be to Stone ?

You may have noticed that I have bumped Andrew's Layout thread, and I also took a look at RMWeb and found no photos but there is a video on page 3 of that thread (Leith Baltic Street) and it gives a flavour of it.

[flying scotsman123]

flying scotsman123 - looks like there's plenty of help to go on for Stone now if you need any - I never expected such interest in the subject!

Oh, didn't know you were in there! Yes I was quite taken aback at the interest taken. Must post some more there as I go along.

luckymucklebackit - such a pity that thread is not "live" - must take a another look at it.

Sadly all the pictures are gone I think - I've a vague recollection he popped up on RMWeb briefly with some photos that might still exist somewhere? Definitely an inspiring layout.

Thanks flying scotsman123 - I'm trying to get my head round this and correct any possible misunderstanding. My reference to "I never expected such interest in the subject!" was to the subject of drainpipes, but I sense from your reply that you might perhaps take it to be to Stone ?

You may have noticed that I have bumped Andrew's Layout thread, and I also took a look at RMWeb and found no photos but there is a video on page 3 of that thread (Leith Baltic Street) and it gives a flavour of it.

Whoops, my mistake!

That video leads to all the others, hurrah! Can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/user/grotland1/videos

[Ex-Pat]

Unfortunately most of the last 4 months has been spent on SIAM's Cambrian Railways traffic control simulation, so not much time for modelling.

However there have been 2 new arrivals.

60068 “Sir Visto” had previously donated its double chimney body to become 60097 “Humorist”, but it has now rejoined the fold as the result of two further “60062 Minoru Ski slope” re-naming/re-numberings. 60037 “Hyperion” is the other new arrival.

As with “Brown Jack” & “Ormonde” I again had to apply finger/thumb pressure to correct the “ski slope“ effect.

The first job was to remove the tender couplings and replace them with less obtrusive wire drawbars.

The 2 locos are in the “Shops” and have had their names erased (this time I decided not to remove the nameplates but just glue the new ones on to the old). The last 2 digits have been scraped off for “Hyperion” ’s donor loco, but “Sir Visto” only required part of the final digit removing as the new “8” would cover the top part of the existing “2”.

Rather annoyingly the new transfer figures are not totally compatible with the Hornby numbers and are slightly lighter in colour, so weathering will have to come to the rescue.

“Hyperion” at the head of blood & custard.

“Sir Visto” ‘s final digit cries out for weathering!

However all is not well, in that I am experiencing de-railments with these 2 locos. My suspicion is that the pony truck may be the cause. When I fitted the flanged pony wheels I thought there didn’t seem to be much “play” in them. So I am going to re-instate the flange-less wheels to see if that makes any difference, and take it from there.

An update on the coaling stage saga is well overdue, and I hope to provide it shortly.

[Peterm]

Some really nice work there expat, but a shame about the pony truck.

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi Ex-Pat, nice work!. Remember seeing UoSA masquerading as William Whitelaw back in the 1990s witn a "8" Sticker over the "9", it wasn't the same colour either.
Saw that Hattons had painted samples of the A2/2 and A2/3 on the website, very tempting so rule 1 might get invoked as neither class worked into Scotland towards the end of their life AFAIK, think they ended up at New England.

Jim

[GeraldH]

You've made a very neat job of the renumbering. What did you use to scrape off the old numbers?

[Ex-Pat]

Thanks Peter – the re-introduction of the flangeless pony truck wheels has done the trick. Whereas I have reasonable radii on the “business” side of the layout a couple of the fiddle yard curves don’t like the flanged pony truck wheels!

(By the way, did you ever manage to get those Shawplan roof grilles?)

Thanks Jim – whilst what you say about the A2/2’s is correct, rule 1 may not have to be invoked for the A2/3 as:

“Steady Aim” went to 64A on 2/12/62, then to 66A on 15/9/63 and ended up at 62B on 14/6/65.

“Honeyway” went to 64B from new, then to 64A on16/10/61, and ended up at York from 2/12/62.
(I’ve seen a photo of it on the Waverley Route so it is a distinct possibility for me!)

“Straight Deal” went to 61B (very short lived!) on2/12/62, to 64A on 31/12/62 and ended up at 66A on 15/09/63

Perhaps they had a mix-up because,

“Herringbone” went to 64A on 2/12/62 (again very short lived!), to 61B on 31/12/62 and finally to 66A on 15/9/63.

Which will you plump for?

(“Herringbone” for me was the most memorable A2, as I was once travelling from Derby to York and to my great surprise and joy they replaced the Standard Class 5 at Sheffield with “Herringbone”.)

Thanks GeraldH – I just used a Swann & Morton scalpel (very delicately of course).

[luckymucklebackit]

Thanks for the loco history Ex-Pat, Steady Aim is looking like a possible Northbridge loco by Xmas

Jim

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Nice to see you posting again, Good looking A3's.

manna

[Ex-Pat]

Thanks manna

Back to the coaling stage.

I’d decided that it would be best to tackle the "landscape" underneath the coaling stage now rather than when it was finished. The rear and mid support columns were embedded in a slope down from wagon rail level to ground level.

A piece of 1mm card is marked out with the positions of the support columns.

The diagonal slope (possibly my first bit of scenery (!)) looks just about right when compared with my only decent photo of the coaling stage.

Unfortunately the card wasn’t long enough to fit without a small overlapping section, which was glued together.

The handrail has been attached to the steps.

And in turn the steps have now been affixed to the main structure.

[RailwayRobbo]

That is looking very impressive. Excellent job.
Pete (RailwayRobbo)

[flying scotsman123]

Indeed, really looking good Ex-Pat, can't wait to see it in place.