Horsetan

I'm just after buying the last copy of it at the Waterloo bargain bookshop (closing down in Jan 2015) for £6.99 - a fascinating work.

I'd be biased towards steam, e.g. no.461, and it would be helpful if it could have allowances to convert to 21mm gauge.

Ah, but which Monday?

That's partly because Irish railways have perennially been short of money, not helped historically by unrealistic hopes or the more modern love affair with the car. Broken down / decrepit / neglected became part of the charm of the whole thing.

I visited the Warley show once. Once was enough.

...including principles. Just look at governments (and local governments) in modern times.

A fair number of British mainland shows have been much worse. Fortunately, all the ribald remarks about brutal BO seem to be getting through to the extent that the recent Scaleforum show was BO-free!

Yes, I have a number of these still for sale... *discreet kof*

I thought it might be loco-related. Just didn't know which one. Had hoped for the J15 with "Z" boiler option, as per 186.

Unless ye're really good at sawing up mazak, this is not a route I'd be trying. The Dapol 52 bogies/gear towers, motor and flywheels may be adapted, and the drive shafts will probably need shortening to fit inside the "A" shell, but the underframe and mazak internal casting are another matter altogether.

LOL. eBay rubbish is always amusing! "Gosturde" (his real name is Greg Diffen, he originates from Australia, and he owns and runs a big collection of American Studebaker cars) is infamous for the hilariously unrealistic price tags that he places on almost all of his stock. There's some real sh*te that he's been demanding over top dollar for - hence he's been stuck with them for years. See also "micmcn" of Cartmel, whose asking prices are also unreal.

Why be scared? The tools and gauges are available to help. The only thing that's different is the track gauge; all the other track-building principles remain the same. Hopefully the degree of rust on the rails - a characteristic of much of the network - will also be portrayed!

I wonder if that's loco-related....?

Thanks. Think that has fixed it now

I have always logged in at this address. Should I now change this to remove the "www" part of it?

That's what I thought, but I'm definitely having to log-on twice. That also makes me wonder: if I don't log into my photo albums, does that prevent everyone else seeing my photos?

Am slightly mystified by the requirement to log-on twice - once for the Forums, and again to see my photo Albums. If I don't log into my photo Albums, the Forum prevents me from seeing my own photos that are part of my posts. Is there a way of adjusting Forum settings so that I only need to log-on once?

Sure, 'twas going that way.

Should that not be "c-arse-tomers"?

One question (which maybe I shouldn't ask, but it's one that I have had personal experience of) that intrigues me: - with your collection presumably running into hundreds of models (some of them clearly very rare or one-of-a-kind), what arrangements will ye be making for the care of it "when the time comes"? Will it all go to a museum?

Here's an overview of the original Finney inside motion parts - some of which will find their way into no.171: The LSWR "T9" has 4-bar slidebars, matching cylinder glands and ends on the fret. The motion bracket also looks as if it could be adapted: ...but the real beauty is the pair of cast brass cruciform crossheads which lend themselves almost perfectly to 171's insides: Here's the connecting and eccentric rods fret from the GW 2721: ....the connecting rods, at just short of 26mm centres, seem almost exactly right for 171, though a bit of lengthening wouldn't come amiss. I was also sifting through the small pile of Brassmasters LMS loco kits that I have picked up secondhand over the years (never buy them new if ye want to save cash), and realised that the 4F also has working inside motion included in it, which almost immediately led me to consider if the motion bracket, rockers and reversing gear / counterweights could be adapted into the "S". I think I did hint that this wasn't going to be a quick build, but I'm so grateful to you for providing all those invaluable close-ups of 171's inside motion that most of us would never normally give a thought about.