Northroader

Don’t forget this one is fairly close to you. https://swindon-cricklade-railway.org

If you’re after the West Clare, or most of the other Irish narrow gauge lines, there’s a retired English priest called Roger Farnworth who has done a thoroughgoing research on the line. I marvel at his output and quality of what he does. Just to get you started: https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/08/the-west-clare-railway-part-1-ennis-to-corofin/

That’s real talent, putting together an etch for a job like that. Hopefully, it’s a real sweet runner, certainly I’ve found doing compensation on the drivers for this size of loco is a waste of time if it’s built true to start with. I’m guessing you’re allowing the lead axle some “float”, the etch shows a hole rather than a slot, and you’ll need some deflection or the lead axle will rob the drivers of adhesive weight. your comments on the size of 7mm are interesting, I’m sure once you’ve picked up the finished loco and felt the bulk of it in your hand a few times, you’ll be very disappointed with the 4mm jobs you have for the “feel” they give. Another one joins the club!

I see it as pretty basic narrow gauge, sort of Bord na Mona without the peat wagons, just a wagonmaster diesel and a converted caravan on overgrown sectional track.

That’s the feller who went on to be a bishop, wasn’t it?

That’s a crafty move jointing the side rods, it will help no end with giving the back wheels some side play, as the front pair can’t go anywhere with the clearances they've got.

Really good bit of craftsmanship there, they’re enough of a fiddle with the smallness of the parts without the need to get smooth movement on them as well.

The cranks are set at 90 degrees so that as the side rods on the one side are at front or back dead centre, t’other side is exerting the full torque to turn the wheels, but I fancy you know this already. If the angle is less than 90 degrees, the effort will be diminished as the wheels rotate, but you should still be getting some torque all the time. If the angle gets too low, the rods will bind up. So, I would think try fitting the motor and see what happens. You might get a little hitch on each revolution rather than a smooth turning which will become annoying and you’ll want to rework the job, maybe they will turn well enough to leave it. Good luck with it. In the past using slaters axles I’ve put the largest diameter drivers I’ve got on the axle and scribed a mark on the tip of the tyre in line with the crank pin, then lined up by eye looking across the wheels, but I’m not sure if this would work how you’re doing it.

I hope you’ll keep the small tower (belfry?) on the side. The mock-up loses a lot without it.

I expect Mr. Woodman was thinking “Nihil illegit carborundum”.

It’s slowly coming together, but for now I’m still paying expenses on two houses, so outgoings on modelling are very limited. The boards are using two A1 sheets of 10mm foamboard, which determines a length for each at 33”, with a backscene support of 5mm foamboard. The track is nearly ready to lay, and you’ll be glad to hear it’s set at 37mm. or thereabouts. Good to hear you fancy mixing goods and passenger. Don’t worry about the station building that’s roughed out, that’s for a Portuguese fancy, I’m swotting up on JB’ s useful thread on GNRI buildings.

Off to a flying start, looks very promising.

Looking back on “New Irish Lines” archive tonight, I see Mr. Alan Gee did a series of articles on modelling the LLSR about ten years ago, including outside frames, but to a 4mm scale.

What I’m looking at is “Lyddlow Goods”, described in this “Despatch”. Very simple, but Jordan can spend a pleasant half hour shuffling a few wagons. https://micromodelrailwaydispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Issue204_finished-compressed.pdf I see you used to go to exhibitions with a version of “Halstead” (that’s what I take it to be?) much the same but with a kickback siding added. https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/halstead.12154/

I fancy the rails will be a bit too wide for the wheels on that one.

This small layout that’s been threatened is starting to take shape, beginning with a new baseboard, as all the old stuff went to the council tip before the move. Rather than doing it in 2x1 and chipboard, I thought I’d try foamboard this time, so I ordered a pack of 10mm thick foamboard, A1 paper size.(That’s 33.1” x 23.4”, or 840mm x 594mm) I only used two sheets for this job, so it’s quite competitive with using timber, though not so durable of course. I cut a strip 12” wide lengthwise off a sheet to give me the top for the main board, then the rest of the board went in six 48mm wide strips. These were glued together in pairs, using PVA Bond, and used for the reinforcing runners under the top. The other board gave me a 9” wide top for a three road fiddle yard, and the rest of the reinforcing strips. Here’s the two together, with a 7mm 0-6-0T and a small station building roughed out to give an idea of how it will look. Theres a 5mm thick foamboard to act as a backscene support. Obviously you can’t screw, nail, or use track pins, everything needs gluing, but the back sheet is bolted on, using 2mm thick ply pads glued on the outer faces. The two boards are just resting loose on a “tabletop”, an old door made narrow. The rail tracks will register across the join between the two boards, but the boards will stay loose, as I am treating the fiddle board as a single large cassette.

I’ve only done two outside frame locos, one scratchbuilt and one a kit, and they were standard gauge using Slaters wheels. They had inside main frames, and dummy outside frames with loose axle boxes. The one thing with both of them was this arrangement seemed to take away any side play, and as they were six coupled they wanted to go In straight lines only. I managed to sort out the scratchbuilt one, so all it needs now is a superstructure, but the kit one needs new inside frames, which I keep putting off. This sideplay allowance is something to watch out for. if you do get into using Slaters wheels, the ones for outside frames have the wheels fitted on a taper on the axle, once they’re on it, they don’t want to come off, and this affects how you plan the assembly, so it’s best to check the frame bush alignment with dummy axles and the side rods, then sort out motor and gearbox mounting as the wheels go on the axle for the first (and only) time. Good luck with how you sort out the availability of suitable wheels and axles, and how you do the quartering for the outside cranks. You look to be a better craftsman than me, and I’ll enjoy seeing how you do it. I see you’re reusing Fintonagh, I’ve always admired the grouping of buildings on that, with a Swilly station it could be a bit simpler?

“Ahh, well, if I was goin’ there, I wouldn’t start from here at all, sorr…”

That’s great to see, Leslie, nice to know they’re finding good homes. I expect there’ll be some tweaking needed, wheels to polish, couplings to fiddle with, paint jobs to finish, and hope the models all behave, but we couldn’t have a better outcome. Breaking News: “Provincial Models goes into 7mm”!!

Good to hear from you, Alan, thanks for your best wishes, and hope you’re not too bogged down with your job to get some modelling time in.

Thanks, David. Mind, the line will be “dual purpose” https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/151308-“beyond-dover”/page/31/#comment-5323321

Glad to hear: a) it was displayed at the Dublin show, and folks enjoyed it. b) Ken’s got it, but did you tell him it’s 32mm gauge? Following on from reading the two Dave’s exploits on here, Arigna Town, Belmullet, Northport Quay, Rosses Point, Abohill halt, and seeing some of them in action, I convinced Ballycombe will have be sort of 36 and a bit mm gauge as it reappears. Good luck, Ken, that 3D print looks very tasty.

Er, track standards… when you was doing Abohill halt, say, what was the sleeper sizes and spacing you used? Just askin’ for a friend.