Scalefour Forum

How old are they? It was a known problem under the previous ownership when I was the track assembler. Track gauge regularly came out at around 18.75 but there wasn't the will to correct it. Whenever I raised concerns I was told that it was 'near enough' which might just about work with straight trac...

Pete

I probably have copies of those in my shed. I'll have a look over the weekend.

Roy

IIRC there was a link to Rocar in the old Comet coach kit catalogue including an address in Scotland. It was definitely on the website which no longer seems to be active. Does anyone have a copy of the catalogue squirrelled away somewhere. I may have one but I cannot get to it at the moment.

Roy

This problem only came to light when the rail was used to make flexitrack. We noticed that it would not lie down flat but we quickly ruled out a problem with the sleeper bases. It was initially thought that once the track was fixed down to a base material the problem would go away but the tendency o...

To the best of my recollections from working at C+L, all of the steel rail sold was that which was handed over to Pete in 2011. There was more than sufficient stock to meet demand over the following 5 - 6 years although much of it had started to corrode in the damp workshop. A batch of HiNi tended t...

Totally agree and well worth the temporary back pain incurred after 5 hours of driving. Poured with rain in both directions and the M4 was a bit of a mare going home due to those who don't know how to drive properly. Many thanks to all those who did the organising, entertaining and educating. :thumb...

Woe betide anyone who falls foul of my PAT tester! I have amassed a bumper crop of books and DVD's for our charity bookstall this year and I might throw in some odds and ends which I haven't been able to sell so far. Might be worth bringing a carrier bag. All proceeds (100%) go to Railway Children s...

Andrew

Has any thought been given as to how the assembly instructions will be available when the transition happens? To the best of my knowledge they are currently only available as downloads from the C+L website under the Knowledge Centre.

Roy

That would have been me! The undergauging problem was with the C+L thin sleeper P4 flexitrack and seemed to vary with each new batch of sleeper bases which arrived. Typically 18.75mm was not unusual towards the end of my involvement. I did discuss this with the new owner and he acknowledged that he ...

Paul, you really missed out there. Barrow Road was a haven for big chunky LMS and Standard locos in the heart of Western Region territory. As a teenager in the early sixties I lived about 6 inches (in 4mm scale) off the southern end of Barrow Road viaduct. I saw the decline including the influx of W...

I agree with Paul. I have used old Contiboard for shelving in garden sheds where it starts to delaminate within a few years due to temperature and humidity variations. So unless you are building in a properly heated room or are prepared to invest in some sort of climate control I would definitely av...

I'm starting to wonder about the role of the guard in all this. One of the guys I worked with in the eighties said he started work as a goods guard but apart from some obvious differences I have no idea how the role differed from that of passenger guard when it came to shunting and brake tests. Roy

John Palmer wrote: So I wonder how far the GA's instructions in this respect were observed in practice.

Reminds me of the expression I was taught in the carriage works at York - Rules for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.

Wise men being supposedly plentiful at this time of year of course.

Roy

When I worked for Pete one of the problems with e-mails was the need to weed out those which related directly to orders and those which were general requests for information and unlikely to result in a sale of any kind.. Some people tended to treat us as an advice bureau which we were just not equip...

The drawings in these books seem to be reproduced in our scale and this is confirmed by measuring the wheelbase of the 8 foot bogies at 32mm. The wheels come out at around 14mm across the treads. Interestingly, wheel sizes are generally quoted on the drawings in volume 1 but not volume 4. I'm not su...

Terry The one we have at Midsomer Norton is from the 1936 batch (diagram 1550) and that has standard coach wheels of 3'7" diameter. I did find a quote saying that these vans were fitted with standard coach bogies. The drawings and photos in "An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons" ...

As a means of proving and demonstrating the principles of automation I think the scale and gauge is largely irrelevant. Probably better to be small and compact so it can all be seen within a narrow field of view. Think about how some DCC traders demonstrate their wares, usually with a very tightly c...

No John I didn't read that into your comment. Personally, car sharing is not the ideal for me as I probably have a higher risk than most of being recalled for a domestic emergency (elderly parents who are becoming increasingly infirm and dependent). It does work for some people with the bonus of red...

Regarding John P's comment re the car journey, I was pleasantly surprised to have to have made the journey in an approximation of the estimate given by Journey Planner. Although my car is capable of a lot more, I did stick to well within the speed limits for most of the time. I suppose one solution ...

This was also my first visit to Scaleforum since Leatherhead. My last trip to Stoke Mandeville was in the early days of Railex and the journey was half the distance that it is now. Parking was a bit of a 'mare back then. Somehow I had convinced myself that it was too far to drive and my body would p...

We seem to be drifting off thread here so maybe it could be moved somewhere more appropriate. When my old Epson printer stopped printing to an acceptable quality after a period of misuse I thought about replacing the ink cartridges. This was going to cost over £40 for the set but a very helpful chap...

Does this also mean that contact between the offside wheel and railhead migrates from the cone to the flange or at least the root of the flange resulting in more frictional drag?
Roy

Latest information is that the £3 charge on Palace Field for Saturday is correct.
Roy

Comments? I find the slight undergauging of C+L P4 thin flexitrack is tolerable on straight track but bear in mind it is not available with flat bottom rail. The flat bottom version of flexitrack uses the thicker Fast Track bases. I see that Phil is listing the P4 version on the revised website so ...

Thanks for that Philip. I used it in EM gauge back in the 1970's when P4 was in its infancy. It seemed like a state of the art product back then but somehow it looked a bit odd connected to copper clad pointwork.
Roy