David Holman Posted April 30, 2023 Author Share Posted April 30, 2023 19 hours ago, Angus said: It must have been fun playing with a train set of that quality Galteemore. Not Jealous at all, not one bit, not even a little bit....honest..... A bit bigger than your stuff, Angus, though we did have the delightful 2mmFS 'Freshwater' layout [IOW] next door. Always impressed by how well these tiny models run. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Holman Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 Fintonagh makes its last appearance for a while this Saturday at the Letchworth Model Show, which is actually at the Priory School, Bedford Road, Hitchin. Hopefully, it will reappear in two or three years time, but made over with a Donegal/Swilly theme. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Holman Posted July 23, 2023 Author Share Posted July 23, 2023 It was a nice day at the show on Saturday, though the less said about the weather on the drive home the better! Fintonagh proved to be its usual reliable self, though I did have to fix a broken wire on Friday. The only issue was three wagons needing new knuckle springs on their Kadee couplers, though I also had to fend off several requests for further shows, but even before its debut in October, Northport Quay is also getting invites and I can' do both... Looking back through my journals [I've always kept an informal diary of my modelling activities], Fintonagh has done 23 shows in five years [two of those limited by Covid], covering just under 5000 miles in the process. The longest trip was Cultra last November - a 1000 mile round trip, but Fintonagh has also been south to the likes of Bexhill and Eastleigh, west to Nailsea and north to Birmingham and Burton. Once NPQ has settled down, the aim is to build more Swilly and Donegal stock, then give Fintonagh a small make over and tidy up, so hopefully there will be plenty more outings in the future. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Holman Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Having said that the Letchworth show would be Fintonagh's last in its current form, got an invite to go back to the Eastleigh narrow gauge show at the end of April, so have been getting stuff out to make sure all is still working, after an eight month layoff. The Barclay tank and Swilly/Donegal stock have been trundled around, but not the Clogher Valley. And just as well, because a couple of strange things seem to have happened. First was the sight of two curious patches on the road behind the station. At first it looked like damp, but happily that was quickly ruled out and soon realised the culprit was my Cogi Classic bus. When I first bought it as a model for one of the Swilly's fleet, I filed 'flats' on all four tyres: this is a simple trick that makes any tired model sit better. The bus has spent several weeks sitting behind Fintonagh station and it turns out those filed tyres have been [somehow] leaking a greasy substance into the road surface. Have proved this by placing the bus on a piece of thin card for a couple of days and, hey presto, small grease marks have started to appear, as shown below. Never come across this before though! Haven't decided what to do about the road surface yet, but am thinking it might be an idea to seal the flat spots on the tyres before it goes back on the layout. Won't be there at Eastleigh mind, because the bus was built after my Clogher Valley late 1930s timeline. Stock mostly proved alright, apart from two Kadee couplings needing attention, until I got to Railcar No1 that is. Running was decidedly lumpy, indeed it was struggling just to haul itself along and was really noisy in reverse. Tried it on the bench with my old H&M Clipper, with the same result, so decided to remove the body work and have a look at the chassis. Loosening the main gear wheel showed the rods were still moving freely, but in doing this noticed the motor [a Mashima 1626] was decidedly hot. Not good. So, decided to to strip down the whole chassis, including un soldering the motor leads and removing the motor from the gearbox. On its own, the motor is vibrating far too much for my liking and quickly gets warm even under a light load. Unfortunately, Mashimas haven't been available for some time and alternatives seem very thin on the ground with nothing available from either Roxy or Wizard. Branchlines might be an option, especially as it is one of their gearboxes, but I don't have an up to date catalogue and they must be one of the few traders still without an an on line site. The only option seemed to be High Level, so a new motor gearbox, of similar size has been ordered from them. The Railcar, meanwhile, remains in bits as shown below. 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Cundick Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 I'll see you there though oddly i got asked to take one of my EM layouts Dinas Mawddwy,still as that nice Mr Brunel regarded 7' as standard gauge it sort of makes sense,Andy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Holman Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Be good to see you. I offered them Northport Quay as an alternative, but not narrow enough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullygrainey Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 I suppose even Mashimas give up the ghost eventually. Good luck with the rebuild David. The High Level motor & gearbox combination should be a good substitute. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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