Scalefour Forum

The bridge will now be removed from the layout, and final dismantling can take place at last. The next news will cover the resumed dismantling process and the final delivery of the layout to its new home (I hope). Lovely work as ever Martin. Fingers crossed for the next phase - good luck! Best Wish...

Can I point out that your blades are still not opening far enough - only about 1mm. The prototype opening was 4 1/4" or thereabouts so you need almost half as much again for safety. DaveB ... but any more Dave, and he will have a short on the opposing slide chairs. Anyone who says double slips...

I confess I am a bit with Philip - when I first opened your post Dave, my first thought was that the job had not yet been done :D Still, it looks first rate and that is what matters! I will be sending the Big Lads round to confiscate all your super glue (safely distanced of course). Just a thought o...

I see your 242A1, and I raise you: Of topic as it is not a Smith System compound :D But I have to concede that not many locos could manage a 305km trip with a 1200t train for a running-in turn... Probably more tonne-kilometers in its first trip than many of the LMS compounds achieved in their whole...

. . Warning - WAY off topic! ... I suspect that neither the GWR or the LNWR would have regarded the Midland/LMSR compounds as being particularly powerful.... Indeed; I suspect they would hardly describe them as locomotives! Even the Midland had to double-head them most of the time. If you want a com...

Hello Tony, Very sorry to hear about the flood - I trust there is no permanent harm. Is this something like you had in mind:- Collars.jpg They take only seconds to bend-up and blow over with a bit of red rattle-can. I will ask Jeremy if he thinks they might be stocked in the stores. Does not help wi...

Hello Tony,

Just to mention that your wires might be a bit on the thin side (compare them to what was originally fitted by by the previous owners!). This could be causing a fair voltage drop around the layout and might explain why a wrong-way diode did not blow!

Best Wishes,

... and decides by diode matrix or whatever ... Hi Dave, I think you might find a thousand devils lurking in that tiny detail! To me, the biggest ADVANTAGE of an electircal approach is if it is implemented digitally (I know of a very large layout with over 500 levers done this way) and I have writt...

Could either of you please advise what the Max Throw is for the Top Take-off Clevis and Bottom Take-off Clevis is please? The throw of the top clevis is 16.5mm (intended to give 15mm after some losses in a rodding run). The bottom take-off gives a max of 6.25mm (intended to give 5mm after losses) H...

... I'll try to not come up with too many supplementary questions. Tony I don't see why not - it is your topic: ask whatever you want for me! 2. Do you think that signals 14, 19 and 22 should be yellow? IE. authorised to pass without being cleared providing you are not taking a route that would req...

Before anyone says anything about the guide wires, I haven't cut and tack soldered them yet as, with my usual lack of confidence, I want to use the frame for a while before committing it to any degree of permanence. Had you looked too closely at the Minories frame, you might have spotted that, even...

There is something in the instructions about using pins in the central holes in adjacent nibs to keep the bridles apart. I don't think that this would work on mine as there are no full sized nibs in close enough vicinity and, in any event, I didn't want to take it all apart again. However, I came u...

Well done! Hope it was not too much of a trial. Time for the Brown flux! Be sure to get it good and hot - you should see the flux bubbling (it does not boil) and the a bead of solder should appear. Once it has cooled down, nothing will shift it ... Just as a suggestion to others following in your fo...

I have the most awful feeling that everything is going to have to be dismantled to access it! That should not be necessary at all - assuming you did as suggested(!) and divided the pivot shaft into 5-lever lengths. If so, then "all" you have to do is to work each length of rod sideways, u...

Something that I had not spotted at the planning stage and, in fairness, unless you've done this before you are unlikely to notice, is that you cannot easily place a single, double ended nib, immediately above or below a conditional lock. It is true that the swinging bits do get in the way and you ...

The nibs are nominally the same thickness as the tappets. Therefore, the nibs that are to be effected by the swinging bit (?) attached to the tappet, do not actually come into contact with it. I can't tell from your photos but I assume that the nibs need to be doubled in thickness for it to work. I...

Tonycardall wrote:... I have noticed a massive gap in the instructions. ...

Rather worried about his - let me look into it.

I apologise that this learning process is taking me so long. It must be very tedious for readers to see how slow going it all is and how many basic errors I am making. Not at all - it can be a very iterative process for those - including me - who do this as a once in a while hobby, rather than an e...

Howard has gotten the better of my conscience and I have attempted to incorporate the conditional locking. Ha gotcha! Looks like you are making some good progress here - well done. Sorry I have not had time to look fully through it, but fortunatley, Keith is on the case. Just to say that you have g...

Well done Tony and I am looking forward to having a look through it when I have a mo! Not sure if you might have slightly misunderstood the purpose of the conditional lock - what is going on is that the Starting Signal locks all the points in Rear of it Either Way and also locks out any conflicting ...

Hello Tony, You seem to be following a good path here - a bit of thinking about the job goes a long way! You will find that there is a degree of tolerance in lining up the frames and locking trays, but the closer you get to perfect at each stage the better. The main thing to check when you have the ...

John Palmer wrote:... gradient post on the Werneth Incline marked 1 in 27

You are quite right John - well spotted!

... any coal for Chadderton was taken back through Rochdale and round the Oldham loop to Chadderton yard. Are you sure about that Tony? Oldham (Werneth) was at the top of the 1:37 and Chadderton was at the bottom - not sure I would fancy working loaded coal trains down there: too great a risk that ...

Many thanks for that Tony - I have uploaded a revised version which includes the revision of the fret layout.

I am sure you will spot further issues - please feel free to let me know.

EDIT: I think I have sorted the references to 1.4mm wire but again please let me know what you think.

Best Wishes,

Coal Concentration Depots were introduced in the late 1950s, but most dated from the early 1960s. ... True, but Chadderton opened on 12 August 1914 - albeit less fancily titled a "Coal and Mineral yard" at that time! Equally, if history has been flexible enough to permit a goods yard at S...