Mayner

JMRI Operations Pro is now generating longer trains after after some fine tuning to the Locations menu ( basically you have to add an additional 2' to the length of each wagon when calculating siding capacity).

All wagons are individually numbered, so need for individual waybills or car markers used with paper based systems.

This afternoons Trip made up ready for departure: 1st Van 17113  destined for Track 4 at the rear of the traverser, 2 Opens with containers 10552 & 10568 for the Quayside siding, 2nd Van 17165 to the Milage road & Ranks 2 for the Grain silo.

Train arrives at NorthWharf, 1st task is for the entire train to "set back" into the Fiddle Yard uncouple 17113 from the train before shunting to Track 4.

In practice the crew would have parked the rear of the train and Brake Van on the Main Line while the loco shunted the yard. There is a good account of CIE goods and mixed train workings in a J P O'Dea IRRS paper on the final days working of the Farranfore-Valencia Branch, the Brake Van and most of the train was left on the main line while the C Class shunted Killorglin Yard.

B125 propels 17113 under the overbridge to collect outgoing GSWR Covered 15253 from Track 4

15253 has been parked on the Main Line while B125 sets back into Track 4 with 17165

Track 4 is basically what American modellers describe as an off-scene industry a destination and source of traffic, possibly a warehouse or Granary or an oil depot if I can get my hands on some decent tank wagons!

B124 has picked up the two vans and opens and is now preparing to shunt the Wharf Road while Ranks 2 & the Brake Van continue to wait on the main line.

Push & Pull B125 has moved 3 vans that were on the Milage Road/wharf headshunt to the main line in order to position Opens 10552 & 10568 on the Wharf Road

The crew are not exactly happy with the extra shunt needed to separate 17165 from 10552 and 10568 to position them on the Wharf Road.

125 has moved wagons with outbound traffic Grain 16404, Ranks 2, Vans 17165 & 17121 to the Loading Bank road to clear the main line and loop for the run round move and draw the remainder of the train into the yard.

B125 has uncoupled from the train and is preparing to run round.

As a timesaving move B125 coupled to Ranks 2 & the Brake Van running round by the loop positioned Ranks 2 at the Silo and the Brake on the Main Line clear of the loop turnout.

B125 has shunted the outgoing wagons onto the van including 15253 and is preparing to set back with 17165 to the Loading Bank Road

17165 positioned for loading/unloading with 17012 placed earlier in the week

I am planning a loading bank in this area with a canopy for loading bagged mill products. 

Complete train made up and ready to depart.

Hopefully I will  make some progress in completing the distillery buildings, retaining walls and over bridge during the holidays, they have been in a hiatus for the best part of 10 years.

Personally I like RM Web for the modelling and technical content, kit and scratchbuilding, p.w., signalling, modellers musings due to the greater and wider knowledge base than IRM.

The pop-ups are not a problem on my laptop, though both RM Web and IRM are a pain to access on the iPhone.

Noel do you view RM Web on a Phone or computer?

No problem viewing RM Web (free) or news media on a Laptop, but phone infested with popups trying to sell me things I don't want tailored to my  age demographics and personal search pattern.

On 9/12/2022 at 9:26 PM, murphaph said:

That's serious commitment to the hobby! It looks amazing. 

De Selby (Alan) is an accomplished builder of steam locos to S4 standards mainly GN & NCC who occasionally publishes his work on RM Web.

Locos include NCC Mogul, Whippet 4-4-0 (scratch) both lined Crimson Lake) GNR Vs, S and U.

650 is de Selbys first "Southern" loco.

19 hours ago, Mike 84C said:

Another thought, the worm on my 00 works 0-6-0t is very sharp, as in cutting, and I wonder if gentle dressing with a jewellers file to round off the top of the worm gear would help?

Best avoid taking a file to the worm. Wear/damage to the worm wheel/pinion usually occurs when the mesh between the worm and worm wheel is too shallow, motor overheats/burns out when its too tight.

Best option would be to contact OO Works (return for repair or replace worm and worm gear) as the "Minister" and "Westcorkrailways" experienced similar problems with their Beattie/West Cork 0-6-0STs.

A paper on the Meath Line was published in an IRRS Journal during the early 1950s possibly by J O'Meara, the Journal and Meath Road paper may be accessible in the IRRS Library at Heuston.

The paper was fairly comprehensive detailing the lines history, description of the stations and traffic handled (early 1950!).

There is a good selection of Meath Line stations on the IRRS Flickr site well worth the annual subscription.

Link to 'de Selby' 21mm gauge S4 model of 650 complete with working inside valve gear.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/175977-jm-design-650-class/

4 hours ago, Galteemore said:

The OO works locos are basically like a classic car - lovely to look at, can trundle around nicely, but don’t expect them to cope with the rigours of daily commuting. They are built with 50s-60s technology and are, as one said above, essentially a ready made white metal kit. In this case, the grunt work of sustained exhibition running (in conditions which are, it is easy to forget, environmentally challenging - wheel and track cleanliness alone take a hammering from the atmospheric impact of many humans in a room) is clearly too much. I suspect that running the odd branch line style train with a few restful station stops would be much more their bag. 

The small scale chassis technology particularly in terms of the adaptation of high quality motors and gearboxes with two stage gearing has developed considerably since the 50s and 60s. 

OO Works, or similar kit built locos with an all metal chassis gearing and high quality can motors are likely to be more durable in the long term than many mass produced steam out line locos, the downside is the chassis may take longer to run-in because there is likely to be less slop (built in wear) in the running gear, the plus side is the chassis may not wear out as quickly as a loco with a lot of inbuilt slop

The combination of a brass or nickel chassis with Markits metal centered wheels running in brass bearings with an all metal or nylon gear train driven by a coreless or high quality can motor, with all metal motion and valve gear (properly assembled) should be virtually bomb proof one run in.

Ironically for a long time kit built chassis were considered more reliable and durable than rtr and kit built steam outline locos often used on large UK exhibition layouts such as High Dyke or Stoke Summit because of more reliable running and superior pulling power of a loco with a whitemetal body to haul a long passenger or freight train.

Comet ran a very successful business for many years suppling replacement chassis for Airfix, Hornby and Mainline steam outline locos manufactured during the 7os and 80s. Their exhibition display featured a large number of steam outline locos running continuously on Comet chassis (usually with outside valve gear) from exhibition opening time to closing

There are well documented problems with zinc rot with Hornby and Heljan chassis, gear splitting and failure with Hornby and Bachmann locos, there were problems with the  Bachmann A1 4-6-2

I had to replace the gearbox, leading truck and carry out major chassis repairs on a 10 year old Bachmann Large Scale (1:20.3) 2-8-2.

I am planning to re-release undecorated models of all the existing wagons plus additional versions of the Brake Van and GSR Van during the 1st quarter of 2023.

I expect to have sample prints of the revised versions of the Brake and GSR Van by late Dec/early Jan.

To quote Patrick sssssseriously impressive!!!!!!

and an excellent of what can be achieved using traditional scratchbuilding techniques.

Very tempted to build a 'steam outline" H&W diesel

10 hours ago, connollystn said:

My money is on IRM producing a model of the GSR 800 class locomotives, most people would want a few of those and ideal for anyone modeling the mid-50s.

Hornby (original company) business model was based on selling an Express passenger locomotive from each of the Big Four and a small entry level locomotive for those that could not afford a pacific or a 4-6-0.

LMS/LMR----Duchess, LNER/ER Streak (A4), SR/SR West Country and GW/WR Castle.

Irish list

GSR/CIE 800 Class

GNR/CIE/UTA  V/Vs Class

NCC/UTA   Mogul 

BCDR/UTA---Baltic Tank

SLNCR/UTA--Lough

Can't see myself buying any of these though I would probably be tempted by a Lough for use on my OO gauge shunting layout or a possible 21mm gauge conversion.

7 hours ago, WRENNEIRE said:

At the recent MRSI 3 Day show in Raheny I ran my 2 J15's on out "Castletown" layout
When I bought them I ran both in for around 30 mins in each direction 
I had them professionally chipped and they were put away for the show
Ran them both on the Saturday, one in each direction for 20 - 30 mins, then rested while I ran a 121 and did some shunting
On the Sunday at about 2 PM the Black J15 stopped suddenly and gave up the ghost, about an hour later the Grey followed suit
The instructions stated that DCCing the locos would nullify the warranty so I have given them to a fellow member of the club who 
has previous convictions for fixing stuff!
I have been offered any spare parts by Roderick so all is not lost yet
One thing he said though that I should mention is that the locos are not suitable for very long running
His gearbox has mostly metal parts and needs to be rested between runnings
 

Personally I have giving up on converting small kit or batch built locos with high quality motors (Mashima or Coreless) and reduction gearing to DCC and intend to continue running my steam outline locos on straight DC.

Apart of the physical challenges of wiring a small loco 2-4-0, 4-4-0 or 0-6-0 for DCC and finding a space for a decoder, finding a decoder suitable for the motors and drive systems used in these locos can be challenging.

I converted a pair of  OOn3 Tralee & Dingle 2-6-0T to DCC using Digitrax decoders several years ago, but had to re-convert the locos to DC because the decoders had insufficient capatiance to operate reliably at slow speed and there was no space to fit a 'stay alive" capacitor in the loco, more recently I have had problems with "plug & play" decoders blowing up while in programming mode with these types of motor although the motors were well within the decoders current ratings.

I am happy enough to continue with DC my kit built locos with Mashima can motors and metal gears some assembled over 20 years ago start and run reliably while some of my DCC fitted rtr diesels are non-runners as a result of component failure. Like many electronic components decoders and circuit boards have a finite life, during the 2000s it was estimated that a high proportion of decoders would fail within 10 years. 

A high value low volume manufacturer such as OO works is unlikely to have the capability and resources to produce locos in DCC ready or fitted format compared to a high volume rtr manufacturer ----------OO Works---sal3es approx: 100 of type of Irish loco produced Vs ------------2500-10,000---------Chinese mass produced loco

1. The Seep point motor built in switches are not 100% reliable, I use microswitches to change frog polarity for many years

b

2. I haven't had any problems with wheels shorting between a stock rail and an open switch

3 minutes ago, GSR 800 said:

And then there were fewer...

One of the GNR types I'm sure, though you'll keep the seal on it. I'd be tempted to say the S class, though the V class have that extra bit of wow factor...Q class is probably the least likely of the three, but maybe, maybe. 

At any rate, nice looking model, hopefully with the larger tender they add weight to it. 

315 isn't bad for a batch build, I may buy one if the budget allows it.

I would be seriously tempted by Vs with an Enterprise set as I have convinced myself that I saw a big blue steam engine with smoke deflectors possibly 207 Boyne crossing Gormanstown Viaduct as a child.

A Compound and a matching rake of coaches especially in GNR colours would certainly have the wow. factor in terms of a large express passenger steam loco and probably sell well considering the popularity of the GNR among modellers and enthusiasts in GNR territory and mainland UK.

I would probably go for the Gauge 1 live steam version, though would probably have to sell most of my stock of American rtr N and Large scale locos and stock.

5 hours ago, Flying Snail said:

Another question for the learned gentlemen here ... this time re the liveries chosen by OO Works for 186 and 179: Grey with Black Smokebox. My understanding is that all-over grey would have been the most common livery, where there many turned out grey with black smokeboxes? Also, how common was black which I see in another option for all four locos? (I gather that after a while they probably all looked black regardless of the original livery)

In a "Decade of Steam" on CIE in the 1950s Drew Donaldson, Jack O'Neill and Bill McDonnell RPSI 1974 the authors wrote about Cork (Shed) painting a number of steam locos during the late 50s/early 60s in Grey with black smokeboxes including a no of J15s and an ex MGWR Standard Goods. I have mislaid the page with the numbers many moons ago.

CIE retained steam for seasonal Beet Traffic and for shunting and pilot duties until April 1964. Cork's final allocation included J15 118, J9 251, J4 262, Bandon Tank 463 & MGWR small tank 560.  261 & 262 would have been useful for working Beet Specials from the Youghal Branch to the Mallow factory being larger and more powerful locomotives (approx 20%) than a J15 or a 1948 CIE motive power assessment "I would like to see half of the 101 (J15) Class scrapped and many other stray Goods classes and replaced by this design (257/J4 Class). 

57 minutes ago, Ironroad said:

Yes.  Extract from the OO Works website;-

Beginning in 1930, about half of the class received a later superheated “Z” Class boiler with Belpaire firebox – the preserved No.186 was one of these.

In later years most superheated locomotives ran with larger tenders while the saturated locomotives mainly kept the smaller tenders with springs to the upper sides of the tank sides, however there were several other types of tenders used as well.

Almost 60 remained in service into the 1960s, of which, about a dozen still had round top fireboxed saturated boliers.

The last of the class was withdrawn in the mid 1960s. Thankfully, one of each main type has been preserved: No 184 representing the earlier round top boiler and smaller upper sprung tender, the other being No 186 with a super- heated (Belpaire firebox) Z boiler and a larger tender.

OO Works comment that in later years most superheated locos ran with large and saturated locos ran with small tenders is not strictly speaking correct.  The larger tenders tended to be allocated to bot superheated and saturated locos rostered on long distance work (Shipping Specials and long distance goods trains). The pool of large tenders available to work with J15s was fairly limited mainly from scrapped 4-4-0 Classes, and 4-6-0s.

It looks like the OO Works loco is based on 186 which is paired with what appears to be a Type C tender used with the larger 4-4-0, 0-6-0, 2-6-0 and 4-6-0 locos introduced from the early 1900s

124 at Thurles 1964

118 Rosslare Harbour  (post 57)

181 Cork 1956

133 Carrigaloe 1955

184 Amiens St 1961

183 Waterford 1955

All going well I hope to complete my 21mm gauge superheated J15 from a modified SSM kit by 2030

6 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Only because we’ll get told blue lined express engines are the climax of BPs art rather than plain old workhorses! Welshpool had a Beyer gala this year - with visitors from a wide range of gauges. See how many Irish design similarities you can spot. The BP works shunter has a very similar cab to an SLNC small tank. ….

 

Enjoyed the Welshpool video my favourite Welsh narrow gauge line after the WHR. First visited the line in 1980 tramped nearly 3miles from Welshpool to Sylfyn station and back to catch the train as the line did not reach Raven Square for another year, doubt I would be capable of walking that distance these days.

Rode behind Hunslet No 14 , a lot in common with WHR Russell, or a scaled down Dingle loco! Interesting to see an Austrian 0-6-2T at Sylfyn, the Welshpool & Llanfair was built to follow the contours with minimal earthworks and sharp curves similar to another 2'6" gauge line the Mariazellerbahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariazell_Railway. which we discovered in 2003 including an operational Engert 0-8-4T

On 3/12/2022 at 1:47 AM, connollystn said:

I wouldn't be surprised, there was probably a North/South approach to the mentality of the people in both bases. Have to say, this is a very interesting thread. It's a pity that none of the unusual Northern stock survived into preservation.

The different approach in taken by the GNR and NCC towards railcar development during the 30s & 40s may be as a result of existing agreements with AEC, Gardiner Engines and Leyland for the supply of engines and transmission parts. The GNR appears to have been an AEC & Gardiner company and the NCC a Leyland company. The NCC would have deeper pockets than the GNR which would have allowed York Road to experiment with railcar design while the GNR used proven technology with Atkinson-Walker and AEC/Park Royal after its experiments with railcars A & B

The GNR appear to have been an AEC & Gardiner company in terms of its road fleet, while the GSR and NCC were UTA companies

NCC Railcar No 1 the progenitor of the British Rail 1st generation DMU survives in RPSI care at Whitehead https://www.steamtrainsireland.com/rpsi-collection/42/railcar-1,

York Road continued to be innovative while using a "make do and mend" approach converting existing coaches into diesel railcars under UTA ownership during the 1950s and 60s. The MEDs basically became the proof of concept for the British Rail 1st generation DMUs the MPDs the prototype for the second generation DMUs including NIRs CAFs and IEs 22000 Intercity railcars.

The UTA engineers were limited by the limitations of existing engine and transmission technology and having to kitbash their new trains out of existing 'donor" coaches in a similar manner to Darius and Colm Flanagan converting Airfix, Dapol and GMR coaches to AEC Railcars 5-6, MED and MPD units.

Its hard to believe that I started this thread just over four years ago and should keep my occupied until Christmas 2030 (if I am still around and capable) at my present rate of progress having just about completed 1 of the 3 J15s.

I had planned to finish several CIE Bulleid 4w Vans before resuming work on the J15s but had to put the vans on the backburner as I appear to have mislaid my stock of van decals.

Back to the J15s the "Grey Engine" is still awaiting buffer heads, vac pipes, number plates, coal load and couplers (B&B)

229 and the Z boilered loco spent the last 18 months waiting their turn in the Works.

Missing parts including tenders and misc. castings used to complete a pair of 52 Class locomotives, Inchacore was a great advocate of standardisation.

I have one 1804 gal. tender kit in stock and will probably build a couple of 2730 gal tenders to run with the (saturated) locos rostered to Limierick-Sligo passenger and goods trains.

There is a photo of 229 with a 2730 gal tender of an "Overload Goods" at Ballycar and another saturated J15 with a 2730 gal tender approaching Collonney Junction on a Limerick-Sligo goods (saturated locos consumed more water and coal per mile than an equivalent superheated loco)

The first task is to short out a driving wheel on each axle in order to convert the wheel sets to live axle pick-up

I used to use soft brass wire but etched some "spider" last year to produce a more user friendly solution

I carefully opened up the hole in the boss with a tapered broach to allow a tight sliding fit on the axle.

I use a small cross locking clamp from Micro Mark as a clamp and heat sink while soldering the legs of the spider to the wheel rim.

I use a 145° solder with a phosphoric acid flux which eliminates the risk of the steel wheel tyre rusting.

I ran into a snag with the High Level "Load Haulier+" gearboxes originally supplied to motorise the kits as the gearbox carriage is too wide (even in 21mm gauge) for my preferred option of using hornblock bearings on the driven axle to allow all wheel sets to be dropped out for painting and maintenance. Fortunately I had two "Road Runner+" gearboxes with a 60:1 reduction in stock similar to the gearbox used in the 'grey engine"

I ran into trouble soldering some of the detail parts that had become damaged/displaced during the past 18 months as I find it difficult to carry out fine work or hold a soldering iron steady as I get older.

I screwed a small piece of stripwood to the assembly block as a temporary support while attempting a repair on the sandbox operating rods.

229 Starting to look like a locomotive .  I replaced the sandbox operating rod on this side with one of the original brake pull rods as the sandbox operating rod on this side was quite badly distorted.

Next job is to set up the driving wheels and gearboxes for both locos, then review the CAD work for the Z boiler conversion.

1 hour ago, murphaph said:

Where the doors always plywood? I have seen pictures where the sheeting looks suspiciously metallic. Like galvanised sheet steel. 

The bogie fertiliser wagons were originally fitted with steel mesh doors and nicknamed "Long Kesh" wagons after the Long Kesh internment camp (Maze Prison) opened in 1972.

Its possible CIE built at least one train of wagons with mesh doors before changing to ply sheeting because the Long Kesh wagon nickname appeared to be common at the time.

The change to sheet metal or ply was likely to have been an attempt to reduce the risk of bags bursting and the wagon becoming unstable in the event of the load shifting, a fairly common problem with wagons carrying palletised loads

Railcar A was basically an experimental railcar with a driving cab at each end originally powered by an AEC engine mainly used on the Scarva-Banbridge line.

Railcar B similar in appearance to A was diesel electric apparently unsuccessful.

Railcar F & G were lightweight diesel trains with Atkinson Walker power units used mainly in GNR day on Dublin suburban trains and the final development of the GNR-Atkinson Walker railcar.

Diesel Dawn provides a detailed history of Irish diesel railcar and locomotive development and includes drawings and photos of the different GNR railcars.

The Silver Fox CIE coaches are based on conventional coaches built at Inchacore during the early 1950s and were quite different in appearance to the Laminate coaches built during the late 50s.

 While reasonable models (the coaches), Silver Fox omitted the raised detailing on the sides a distinctive feature of early CIE coaching stock.

Going back to travelling between Ireland and the UK.

I used to travel by boat and train after moving from Dublin to London during the mid 80s was fine if you had plenty of time and were able to take the day time Mail Boat sailings arriving in Dublin or London early-evening or late afternoon.

A couple of times I was foolish enough to take the evening sailing from Dun-Laoire and the overnight train arriving bleary eyed in London at around 5:30-6:00 intending to start work at 07:30 but ended up going home and crashing out!

London-Holyhead was enjoyable on particularly on weekends not very crowded comfortable MK2 (E)? coaches, cheerful Buffet Car staff and interesting diversions round Brum. and Northwitch due to engine works on the WCML, had one night mare trip on a hot sunny afternoon in the opposite direction, Buffet Car ran out of water and soft drinks at Bangor then blocked for an hour at Hollywell Junction when we discovered the A/C ventilation system was not working. Very fast running and no delays after Holywell Junction Buffet Car re-stocked at Crew.

Flew Heathrow-Dublin with Aer Lingus/BA a few times at Christmas, I started flying Luton-Dublin when budget airlines entered the market a couple of years later, I had a job with a company car and it was simpler and less hassle to drive to the airport or Holyhead than take the Tube and BR. I was allowed use the car for non-business use including the holidays and exploring the UK from Cornwall to the Highlands with the odd trip to Ireland in the days before a company car became a serious tax liability.

These days I am highly reluctant to fly, though until fairly recently it was basically turn up and go for internal flights in New Zealand, but you needed to allow half a day to check in for an international flight.

2 hours ago, Lambeg man said:

I was on a stag do in Krakow in Poland circa 2008. The groom and the others were work colleagues. I was by way the oldest person in the group. One of the party was a guy called Andy who I had worked for many years and who I got on with very well, though he was about ten years my junior. By the time of this stag do he had developed Type 1 diabetes. Furthermore he was still recovering from injuries he received as a pedestrian hit by a car and was not able to walk long distances. After a meal in a nice restaurant we all adorned to night club. By 01.00 in the morning I was feeling tired but too bluttered. Andy remarked that he felt the same way, so I suggested we both call it night and make our way back to the hotel which was not too far away.

We came out of the night club onto the main square in the centre of Krakow. I looked around and THOUGHT I recognized the way out of the square to the hotel. We set off under my assurance to Andy that I knew it was the right way. We walked for about an hour before being a darkened wood I realized I had gone seriously wrong. We needed to get back to the centre of Krakow but by now the local street lighting had been switched off. Fumbling around in the dark, I climbed a tree to try and make which direction the centre was. I could see lights away in the distance, so we set off that way. It took us just under two hours to get back to where had set off from, the nightclub in the main square. This was partly due to fact I was having to support Andy with my shoulder as he was in a bit of pain in his injured leg. At least in the centre, the street lighting was still on. I was totally knackered and Andy was by now in bad shape. Fortunately a very short distance away I could see a taxi.

I carried Andy to the taxi and placed him in the back seat. The driver looked around at us

I said to him, "I'm sorry but I do not speak Polish, but my friend is very ill. Can you help us please and take us to the HOTEL IMBUS."

He began gesticulating and talking in Polish.

"Please," says I "please take us to the HOTEL IMBUS."

The driver shrugged his shoulders, started the taxi and we set off...

Turning a corner off the square he drove another twenty yards and stopped the taxi... Right outside the HOTEL IMBUS...

I felt the least I could was to give him 10 zloties for his trouble...      

I had a similar experience with a taxi driver on my first visit to Sydney with the other half who spent many years in the City and was determined to take me round all her old haunts.

We arrived at Central station from the Airport had morning tea in a pub near the station and hailed a cab for Surry Hills, the very grumpy driver drove us about 1000 yards to our destination (another pub).

On 22/11/2022 at 10:19 PM, Irishswissernie said:

Some images taken by the late Alex Ford Copyright Transport Library today. Dromod 13L 30 June 1950 first 2 views and then passing exchange sidings same date.

  

 

Interesting the two steam cranes in the exchange sidings possibly a tandem lift transferring locos between the broad and narrow gauge.

A lot depends on whether you want to get something up and running quickly using readily available models or you are more interested in model making (building models from scratch, kits or modifying rtr model

The quickest way to get started in 21mm gauge would be to work to EM standard using re-gauge Murphy Models GM diesels or IRM A Class and IRM bogie wagons, before attempting a kit or scratch building. 

Modelling the MGWR is going to be challenging and involve a lot of scratchbuilding as no suitable rtr models and very few kits are available. The SSM MGWR convertible wagon would be a good starting point for metal kit assembly, I have produced JM Design etched kits for the MGWR K Class 2-4-0 in late MGW condition, a MGWR Horsebox and a MGWR Fish/Meat Van. I would not recommend an etched loco to an inexperienced builder, it took me several years (trial and error) to acquire the skill, experience and tools to assemble a loco or coach kit to a reasonable standard and I am still learning.

Modifying a OO Gauge rtr loco like a Bachmann Pom-Pom or SECR C to 21mm gauge is going to be extremely challenging as there is likely to be insufficient running clearance between the coupling rods and loco body, clearance is tight even with brass kits designed for 21mm gauge such as the TMD/SSM Midland Tank or GNR S class.

Another constrict with 21mm gauge is that it can be challenging to fit a 21mm gauge layout in a restricted space as minimum radius curves are larger than in OO and points tend to be longer as shown in Kens comparison of a 21mm gauge B6 and Peco small radius point