Scalefour Forum

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

Purely out of curiosity, does anyone have experience of SMP track in P4? How does it compare for dimensional accuracy, sleeper spacing and representation of chairs?
Roy

There was a rumour about a year ago that IL115/code 82 was going to be discontinued by Peco. We used to buy it in packs of 6 yards because they would not supply it in bulk, which was obviously not very economical for a manufacturer of track. As such we only bought in about 10 packs a month which sho...

Keith is correct. When I worked at C+L until recently we did not produce thin base flexitrack with flat bottom rail in any gauge. Concrete sleeper thick bases were available in the Exactoscale range but we never got round to putting together the jig for assembling flexitrack in P4 as no one had ever...

I ventured down from North Somerset on Saturday and found this to be an excellent local show. The venue is very good with plenty of room and well lit. Really easy to get to on the frequent Matford Park and Ride buses from the High Street just round the corner from Queen Street station (sorry Central...

Seems to be working fine and dandy but still only shows traders and societies. Layouts and demonstrators to follow. There is a Committee meeting of the Fraternity on July 11 so I will raise it with Chris then if nothing appears in the meantime. I'm not sure if Chris updates the website himself or if...

Tim

Do you have room for new members in the Bristol Group? Since being made redundant at C+L last month I have at last managed to knock up a workbench in my little shed so it's time to start dabbling. I would like to come along to your next gathering if you can PM me the location.

Thanks

Roy

In the case of the green flux there is the additional statement 'Refer to special instructions/data sheet 231-592-0'. This turns out to be a Safety Data Sheet for zinc chloride - although there is no mention of this compound anywhere on the bottle. Zinc chloride is the principal chemical used in gr...

The fluxes at least in the Carr's range are made from a mixture of chemicals and not just acids. I think to suggest that they might be safe to drink even in jest is foolhardy. A number of them are designated as harmful to aquatic organisms so should not be allowed to enter water courses even in dilu...

Indeed, as we both know!
Roy