Horsetan

I'm hoping his next one will be powered by microturf!

I'll put up photos of the three main types that have been used in UK railway modelling: the 1219, 1616 and 1624. Each came with a 3-stage bevel & spur gearbox and were marketed here as the Escap RG4 from the late 1970s until the mid-2000s when the gearboxes became unavailable. The motors themselves are of course still being made. I stockpiled them when they were in production, so mostly paid about £35 or less. I had 20 in the drawer the last time I checked. On eBay, people go mad if one appears and I've seen them go up to £235 for a single unit; £65 to £80 is more usual. I would like to see the gearbox / geartrain being made again. They would be a grand drivetrain for any motor, not just coreless. Sure there must be a gearmaker in Ireland who can do this type of thing....??

Simply this: when there is no power, a worm drive locks up solid. Think about our car gearboxes & differentials: they use bevels / contrates for a reason, & that's why cars can coast when disengaged. Coreless motors such as Escap or Maxon need very little current to get started, & are very efficient. It's like comparing LEDs to filament bulbs.

Yeah, and don't go giving it away in a raffle now, ha ha ha....

As long as Dougal isn't doing the funeral...

That reminds me of the huge sign that Dougal wrote for Ted: "Ted: get me loads of matador stuff"

There will be two speeds employed on this build: slow......and stop.

"el-Crappo" was the name given to the 7mm scale MTK kits. And they were. 'tis said that Colin Massingham never ever consulted a drawing or took any measurements - he allegedly just looked at a few photos and did everything by eye. Should have gone to Specsavers.

Long before Mercedes made it the plutocrat / African diplomatic conveyance of choice, the Great Northern Railway of Ireland laid claim to the "S" classification to place on Glover's classic 4-4-0 design. Decades later, a brass and nickel-silver kit was produced. Fairly hard to get hold of in those pre-Internet days, it was another couple of decades before a secondhand one, untouched as many kits are, was spotted on eBay and swiped for less than the cost of a Ryanair seat to Dublin. Here it all is, to be built in Irish P4/21mm gauge. As a first stab, you'd want to be doing it more elegantly than a skanger in Ballyfermot: It will be sixteen weeks before Irish axles arrive from Ultrascale and hopefully a lot less than that for P4-profiled wheels from AGW (Alan Gibson Workshop). There'll be working hornblocks to get from High Level, and we'll be trying to install the CSB suspension system. I absolutely hate worm gears, so one of the many Portescap RG4s in my drawer will probably find its way into the drivetrain. Des at SSM e-mailed the missing instruction sheets this week and we're sort of set to go. The instructions suggest that you can build the body structures separately from the chassis, which is great 'cos the wheels and axles aren't here yet! I'll be trying to portray no.171. I only model preserved stuff, on the basis that you can still go and see the thing. A 21mm gauge layout in future? Now chance would be a fine thing (though Templot makes it easier) - more likely I'll seek permission to run on someone else's 21mm gauge.

I wonder if it could be classified as a Class 2 relic......

I remember the days when it was 1.40 Euro to the pound.

I read last year in the Indo that an entire block in Dublin had to be evacuated because a proper fire risk assessment had never been carried out (yet the authorities signed it off), and it was belatedly discovered that there was no (or inadequate) fire-resistant material in the walls.

Not sure if it's true or not, but when 356's tender became dirty, the cleaners allegedly only cleaned some of the lettering on it, so it read: "C I E ...MENTAL TURF BURNING LOCOMOTIVE"

I've never quite understood the newer IR ground signal. They are like the UK position light signals, but with a second white light placed vertically in addition to the white light at 45 degrees.

Would that be like the "Magic Road" in Father Ted? Y'know, where thing appear to roll uphill.....

LHB* stock as featured in The Commitments ? *Linke-Hoffmann-Busch

Not sure how many sets Roco managed to shift (at about 700 quid-plus each), but it doesn't appear in their catalogue for this year, and the coaches don't seem to be available separately (which is a real shame). The video suggests the opening mechanisms appear to be linked to the tops of the doors rather than the bottoms. Proves it can be done, though.