murphaph

Thanks Leslie. Appreciate the effort

Quick question about the Cravens. Were they ever hauled in a scheduled train by steam traction or only later by preserved steam on specials? They came in right at the end of steam so I'm not sure. I don't recall seeing any photos of such but it's not my area of expertise (nothing is lol).

I'll take a rake of Cravens with new numbers, especially welcome would be the original livery ones. Oh yeah probably. I'm more interested in these than the Cravens to be honest. They're IR too which suits me better. Timing wise it sounds like we might be forking out a lot in the last quarter on coaches from both sides of the border

Mk1's? As in GSV's?

Two red lamps normally, one on each side.

The double iPhone can be made up yourself with 2 iPhone speakers wired in parallel (halves the 8 Ohm impedance to 4 Ohms) with the plastic housing trimmed a bit and shrink wrapped in heatshrink. Oddly the speakers are waaay cheaper on the Roads and Rails website. At least I think these are the same ones: https://www.roads-and-rails.co.uk/collections/speakers/products/35x20x7mm-double-iphone-speaker-4-ohm I highly rate good smartphone speakers because they are designed to produce a lot of sound in a small form factor. They have to fit in a space much smaller than a loco and reproduce high fidelity quality sound while doing it. They housings have baffles and whatnot to create the bass almost out of nothing. It's quite remarkable how they manage it.

Well it depends on the decoder first and foremost as some decoders require a high impedance speaker and some require a low impedance speaker. If it's Loksound I can recommend the following which I have installed in a 141: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254366688403 Great sound IMO from these double iPhone speakers and they fit. I think I may have had to trim another tiny bit of housing off but not sure. In any case it was trivial if I did. Edit: Man alive these things are expensive these days. I just checked. I paid 30GBP for 4 back then.

Check out our own Swissernie (Ernie Brack) and his Flickr account. He has several videos of shunting going on at Limerick Junction. You might even see laden Gypsum hoppers bound for Castlemungret on the end of a container or cement bubble liner and other things. The gypsum wagons would be uncoupled from the (say) Cork bound liner to be run to Castlemungret, possibly on the rear of an empty Waterford to Castlemungret cement bubble train. IMO YouTube and Flickr videos are best for catching the more exotic freight stuff. Photographers rarely focused on stuff behind the in loco. The loco tended to be the money shot and digital photography was still new. Film cost money so I guess taking random photos of liner train configurations was not common for this reason. Often grainy Video 8 recordings are the best reference material. Surprisingly the "cab ride" videos are among the best as oncoming passing trains can be paused to see what the whole train is composed of.

IMO the trains of the 90's are as interesting as the loose coupled stuff which ended in the mid 70s. There were all sorts of combinations of things in those 90's trains. If you watch enough YouTube clips you'll see stuff you wouldn't have expected. Guinness and cement, random containers, cement and fuel oil etc.

I think it's another name for super glue. Cyanoacrylate?

The clingfilm trick is very clever indeed.

I got it already and if you are ordering from Key Publishing direct they also have a magazine for a fiver called "Traction Transition" which covers all the Irish EMD's as well as EMD's in GB. If you're paying for the post you may as well make the most of it It was delivered promptly to me here in Germany.

I have given consideration to applying different running numbers to the opposite sides of my stock, especially the harder to regauge ballasts and bubbles to "double" what I have but in order for the illusion to work I need to be able to turn complete rakes somewhere on the layout and that requires a significant reversing loop. I haven't completely given up on the idea though. It definitely has merit.

Ah chain puller! Why didn't I think of that. I've got one of those already so maybe I can save the money I was going to spend on a H0 wheel puller. Same design anyway as far as I can see. Sorry for reviving an old post but it had to be said lol.

I thought I'd post a pic of my gauges in case anyone else is interested in dipping their toe into 21mm. The top 4 gauges are a pair of track gauges (true 21 mm, from the Scalefour Society stores, some of a handful of Irish 5'3" stuff they have available). In straight sections there's no difference between the roller and triangular gauges. In curved sections the triangular gauges are used to provide slight gauge widening. The retainers at the base of the triangle are used to hold the outer rail, the single retainer at the tip of the triangle holds the inner rail. The black roller type gauge is a P4 (4' 8 1/2") check gauge, used to set the check rail position relative to the common crossing. I bought this just to see how it was made with the intention of having one made up to Irish gauge but it turns out it was made with a screw going through the rod and it could be easily disassembled and shimmed with 5 little circlips (sanded slightly between two sanding pads until the correct gauge was achieved) giving a check gauge of exactly 20.05mm which is "EM" standard converted up to 21mm. This was also purchased from the S4 Society stores. The bottom two items are both back to back gauges machined/printed to to 19.3mm. The brass one is from John Mayne and the plastic one is from EDM Models. I think this is all you need to build 21mm track to EM standards but with 21mm track gauge as opposed to 20.2mm. IMO there are huge advantages to building your own track that go beyond the obvious correct gauge stuff and apply even to H0. Track and especially pointwork can be built that looks far more "flowing" and prototypical. There is no set track geometry on the real railway.

Hi Robert, got a link to that fine trax thing? I'm having difficulty visualising it.

With A1 selling out I'd expect sales of the remaining A30s to pick up pace also.

Be handy alright! I could stand up from the dinner table, descend into the man cave and land in my armchair in one fell swoop.

I like those folding doors withe their semi-industrial look but the missus hates them lol. She grew up in East Germany and they were very common in the average tower block flat. I think they bring back bad memories

I had considered a sliding door of some description and a pocket door would be the Rolls Royce option but as you say it would need to be built in front of the existing wall (load bearing) and the doors in the perpendicular walls to the left and right are only ca. 10cm from the wall we're talking about, so those door architraves would need trimming and I don't think the missus would sanction that. She'd also question why I was dumping an expensive enough glass door as well lol. I'm stuck with the glass door I think. It can be made to work as it is I suppose, with both the bridge for the track and the glass door opening inwards. Just need to put a bumper on the track swing bridge to make sure it prevents the glass door being rammed into it from someone on the outside.

The path of least resistance (and cost) is definitely to adapt the B-B gauge so I can use the NMRA 110 wheelsets as provided by IRM etc. I don't have a problem with the out of scale tread width/flange depth and it's a lot of expense to re-wheel everything for something that doesn't bother me in the first place. It's the out of scale track width only that bothers me about 00. I don't even particularly mind the overscale flanges in pointwork in 00. I'm going to build my track to 21mm with the P4 gauges and EM tolerances for point etc. flange widths. Then I will see how the NMRA 110 wheelsets handle the track at different B-B's. If the check rails are too tight, I will ease them out to closer to 00 clearances I suppose. It's good to know your Markits wheels are NMRA 110 25 (or close) as that's my test bench right now (using 19.83 B-B for the moment, but we'll see if that stays like that)

So it's basically finished after a good bit of fettling which has helped me better understand the critical dimensions. John Mayne's brake van has the dubious "honour" of being the first piece of 21mm rolling stock in my possession and the first to run over this "masterpiece" lol: What's the general consensus on rebating/joggling the "straight" stock rail at the switch blade tip with bull head rail? A must do or not really required in 4mm?

John, what is the wheel profile of the wheels you supply with the brake vans? You may be pleased to hear that the very first item of regauged stock I own is one of your brake vans I'm using it to push through my first set of 21mm points. I'm using P4 gauges (roller and triangle types) so true 21mm between the rails and at present just judging the flangeways by eye as I practice my technique. I have your turned brass back to back gauges as well as a 3d printed gauge supplied by EDM Models, all 19.83mm. I'm wondering is it worth replacing the wheels on the baby GMs with EM gauge (I don't intend going as far as P4 throughout as I think I'd regret it on the large layout I have planned). What is the profile of the original Bachmann wheels? The brake van wheels strike me as being a bit narrower and thus maybe not requiring the filing back of the baby GM bogie side frames?

Love it. The head on shots are the best for me.

I am waiting since last summer for an answer to my 3 emails. I think that's patient enough in fairness