Midland Compound

[Hardwicke]

I bought a second hand Midland Compound last year or so, P4 wheels but no bogie wheels and a few "problems".
It's had a loose footstep resoldered on, new grub screws for the broken ones in the gears, the keeper plate/ pcb drilled for clearance of the gear wheel, electrical wires soldered in and wheels sourced. It's also had a new coat of undercoat and a first coat of Midland Crimson Lake. Next job on my days off is to make a collector tab on the motor anodes as they're missing.

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[Hardwicke]

Bogie now has a sort of CSB.
I used to gold tubes from a bead shop and steel wire I bought from Slater's more than 25 years ago.
It's a little difficult to see the wires bearing on the axle tops. I might change it to proper CSB with axle bearings.
Oh the joys of a second hand loco ...
The bogie as it arrived had no suspension just a central spring and floppy outer side frames.
It now holds the track nicely with a small amount of springing.

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[Hardwicke]

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[Hardwicke]

I received a set of High Level Miniblox today.
My question is, do I fit them to the inner or outer frame of the bogie? The fixed inner rather than the outer pivoting frame seems the logical place

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[Hardwicke]

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[Horsetan]

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The considerable gap between the tops of the bogie wheels and the front "arches" of the chassis leads me to a question: I thought Compounds had 3'6" bogie wheels (14mm) and, if so, what diameter are your new ones?

[Hardwicke]

They are 3'6" Sharman's though I'm still awaiting a reply from them as to a missing pair from my order at Christmas

[Hardwicke]

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One of the problems with the kit is that the equalizing beams have the cosmetic hornblocks etched on (incorrectly) and the inner frame is set to the narrow 00 width.
I'm considering cutting them off. I just don't know where to fit the hornblox frame.

[petermeyer]

The mini hornblocks need to be fixed to the rigid inner frame. The equalising beams should work on the outer axles. It's not clear from the gap shown in the pic whether there should also be a bearing at this point.

PS: if using the equalising beams, which appear to be correctly set up assuming they move and are not rigid, you won't need CSB on the hornguides which will be duplication.
PPS: given my notoriety with bogies, someone will be along soon and correct any mistakes in my reply.

[Will L]

The mini hornblocks need to be fixed to the rigid inner frame. The equalising beams should work on the outer axles. It's not clear from the gap shown in the pic whether there should also be a bearing at this point.

PS: if using the equalising beams, which appear to be correctly set up assuming they move and are not rigid, you won't need CSB on the hornguides which will be duplication.
PPS: given my notoriety with bogies, someone will be along soon and correct any mistakes in my reply.

Just thinking about the bogie Peter, that's about right, if you want to produce a bogie with working equalisation beams. Fit the hornblocks on the inside frame so the axle blocks protrude on the outside of the frame. Reduce the equalisation beam etches so they are just that and rest them on the top of the axle blocks.

That said, how the bogies is attached to the main chassis also needs thinking about

[Hardwicke]

Thanks chaps. I built up the hornblox last night but they're a bit tight so a run over with a small file to check the clearance should do.
The bogie itself has a bent wire pivoting the equalizing beans and is squarely constructed
It's fixed to the body via a central nut and bolt with a small spring and washer. There's 1/2mm to 1 mm play in the hole. If this isn't enough on curves I can ream it out a bit.

[Hardwicke]

It's not clear from the gap shown in the pic whether there should also be a bearing at this point.

PS: if using the equalising beams, which appear to be correctly set up assuming they move and are not rigid, you won't need CSB on the hornguides which will be duplication.

There's no bearing on the beam but there is a spacer which also allows a stronger soldered joint. The only plan I could find of a Midland bogie (and an LMS 2300 class) shows the etched equalizing beam is a bit on the thin side. It should rest squarely on top of the hornblock.

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[Hardwicke]

The cosmetic etched hornguides have been cut off the equalizing beams, the hornblox assembled and the cut outs in the bogie sides enlarged from a poor bulb like shape to rectangular slots ready for the hornblocks. One thing I've now discovered is that the Sharman axles are 3/32 whilst the bearing is 2mm...
I removed the semi csb wires too.

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[Hardwicke]

A check on the new wheels I bought for the bogie shows they are 2mm. Some older ones I had used on the old rigid frame that are 3"3' seem to have the larger axles. As such the bearings were gently reamed today and the 2mm axles fit.

[Hardwicke]

I've rebuilt the bogie now. As mentioned previously I removed the cosmetic hornguides from the equalizing beams. The slots in the frames were opened out for the High Level Miniblox hornblocks. They were set up with the Chassis2 jig. The equalizing beams had extra nickel silver strips soldered to the backs to thicken them up so they can rest on the tops of the hornblocks and do the job they're designed for. The last photos shows a dry run before I finally solder the beams in.

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[Hardwicke]

It's taken longer than expected as one filed slot in the frame wasn't quite far enough back so, I had more filing to do and then I managed to solder two hornblock bearings. Oops. All a bit fiddly.

[Hardwicke]

Although the inner bogie frame is probably designed for 00 as there was quite a lot of sideplay in the axles, I've resolded the equalizing beans closer in so they rest on the axleboxes as per the prototype. Bit of balancing with two files and steady hand and it's done now.
I found some washers and decided to use two of them on the rear of the equilizing beams in place of the thicker ones there had already been used. Only now have I realised they had fallen out of a box with three P4 Hornby /Gibson Class 50 wheels. I don't know where the other three are... I hope they're standard Gibson bearings. I'll clean them up to remove all the flux and then they're ready for painting. Then some very thin wire to retain the axle boxes and refit onto the loco.
I recently bought some plates of oil fired Compounds. Not quite right for my Midland era but a bit different to build. Hmm, rectangular or semi-circular ones?

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