Castle Aching

[rocor]

23 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Well, this is as far as I've got.  As the West Norfolk does not name its locomotives, I fear her name must be unofficial, but, given her diminutive size and her Anglo-Japanese genesis, I thought Titwillow.

 

 

 

 

 

Following that line of thinking, Cherry Blossom sprang to mind, then promptly sprang away again. The name would be appropriate, if she was on the roster of a fictional small industrial railway that was situated in Chiswick around the beginning of the 20th century. This would have had sidings linking it to the LSWR. Its purpose would have been to serve the transport needs of a shoe and boot polish manufacturer.

[Caley Jim]

13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

As we all know, there are but two rules:

 

Rule 1: Your other half is always right.

 

Rule 2: If your other half is wrong, see Rule 1.

There is a third rule :

 

Rule 3:  You are in an equal partnership, but she has the casting vote!

 

Jim

[Edwardian]

4 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

There is a third rule :

 

Rule 3:  You are in an equal partnership, but she has the casting vote!

 

Jim

 

In my case my 50% stake turned out to be non-voting shares.

[Edwardian]

More modelling with my cheque book, I'm afraid.  Nonetheless 

 

 

[Annie]

Oooooo now that is lovely.

 

If I ever went Southern it would be the SECR that I would want to model.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

More modelling with my cheque book, I'm afraid.  Nonetheless 

 

Come on now, we all know you've put a bit more into this model than just your cheque!

[Edwardian]

[Annie]

Here's a fascinating photo I found in the Bay of Fleas while hunting for old photos to add to my collection.  It's a photo of Tilbury Riverside station and it definitely wasn't snapped yesterday.  It looks like most of the station staff have turned out for the photo which gives a wonderful insight into everyday clothing and railway uniforms at that time.

The station building looks a bit ramshackle though.

 

[Caley Jim]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

.....  It looks like most of the station staff have turned out for the photo.....

And the dug!

 

Jim

[Edwardian]

4 hours ago, Annie said:

Here's a fascinating photo I found in the Bay of Fleas while hunting for old photos to add to my collection.  It's a photo of Tilbury Riverside station and it definitely wasn't snapped yesterday.  It looks like most of the station staff have turned out for the photo which gives a wonderful insight into everyday clothing and railway uniforms at that time.

The station building looks a bit ramshackle though.

 

 

Why has no one modelled this?

 

[Annie]

Yes I know James, but having wriggled my way out of being tempted by the London & St. Katharine Docks Company just recently I saw at once what a slippery slope even considering the Tilbury would be.

There certainly seem to be plenty of old photos of it about at the moment.

[St Enodoc]

12 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Ooh, a garden layout!

[Edwardian]

The Hattons Genesis topic has been musing on grounded coach bodies and I advanced the view that coaches should be at least 30-40 old in most cases before grounded, the owner company having pretty much exhausted the possibility of selling on to a second user or transferring to department use once its revenue earning service is over.

 

Given that CA is set in 1905, I'm not even sure I want my failed test prints of 1870s coaches recycled as grounded bodies. I think for a backwater line in the mid-1900s, it's a little too soon for that to have happened. 

 

Looking outside the boundary fence of the West Norfolk, I note that c.1899 the first LSWR 4-wheelers were going to the Isle of Wight; early 1870s coaches of a similar type to the WNR's.

 

In the early 1900s the GER was still selling off late 1860s stock to second users, and probably grounding only those too far gone as platform shelters etc. In 1903 it converted a mid 1870s coach for the W&U. 

 

I reckon a line like the WNR would still be using 1870s coaches in the mid-1900s, albeit confined mainly to branch line, the odd strengthener, and, perhaps, excursion, duties.  By the late 1900s they might begin to be weeded out, with some perhaps sold to Light Railways, or moving into departmental use.  Only after these possibilities are exhausted are we likely to see any grounded bodies.    

 

So, I agree, grounded bodies on the WNR are likely to be those of the original 1850s and subsequent 1860s stock. 

 

We have spoken before about Joseph Wright as the supplier of the original mid-1850s stock for the WNR.  This makes the ordering of the 1870s 'New Stock' from the same business (Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co from 1863) logical.

 

We looked at the example of Wright's NSW stock of the period. 

 

 

There are also some GW constituent and Northern Division examples also worth considering.

 

 

 

For coaches of this era, I can imagine the WNR demounting the bodies for various purposes, e.g. engineman's bothy at Castle Aching, and, where still sound, might the WN have recycled some of the chassis to, say, implement wagons?  

 

Moving on, this Wright product of the early '60s might well have survived on the WNR for van traffic, and in departmental use.

 

 

 

You can how this design evolved into the Aching Constable's later home-grown efforts, such as the 4-wheel luggage brake that Hornby almost got right.  

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by Edwardian
spelling!

[Edwardian]

Another problem chassis.

 

- If I manually turn the drive shaft, the driven wheels do turn, so the gear is engaging.

 

- It's had new pick ups fitted, not by me or how I would have done them, but by someone who knows what he's doing

 

- the wheels and pick-ups are clean and the pick-ups are in contact with the wheels

 

- the motor has shown signs of life in the past.

 

It is now, however, dead as the proverbial door nail when placed on the track.

 

What are now my "actions on ..." please?

 

 

 

 

[webbcompound]

by the look of it this has a live chassis, with pickups on one insulated side. The contact point for the other side must be the axle bearings. They look pretty grimy to me. Maybe a clean up of the axles and bearings on the live side would improve the situation?

Edited June 16, 2021 by webbcompound

[Annie]

Does the motor work if it's removed from the chassis?

 

 

[Edwardian]

2 minutes ago, Annie said:

Does the motor work if it's removed from the chassis?

 

 

 

I don't know. Are we thinking short circuit?

 

As I have to travel down to my parents again, it might be a while before U can rig it up to test.

[Northroader]

I would attach a pair of flying leads to your controller and try and probe the two brushes on the motor with them, and try and get the motor to turn. The way the pickups are done looks suspect, I doubt if they stay in contact with the wheels as the wheels move. Another thing, have the wheels been taken out and replaced the wrong way round, they’re only insulated on the one side, which should be the pickup side.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Northroader

[Edwardian]

6 minutes ago, Northroader said:

I would attach a pair of flying leads to your controller and try and probe the two brushes on the motor with them, and try and get the motor to turn. The way the pickups are done looks suspect, I doubt if they stay in contact with the wheels as the wheels move. Another thing, have the wheels been taken out and replaced the wrong way round, they’re only insulated on the one side, which should be the pickup side.

 

Will do.

 

Good point about the wheels.  It is possible someone took them out and fitted them the wrong way round, but then, I cannot see where the insulation is, so cannot tell what side it's on.

 

I can always sort out better pic-ups, but they are in contact at the moment. 

[Annie]

16 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I don't know. Are we thinking short circuit?

Yes that could be a possibility, but if the motor works when separated from the chassis then it eliminates it as being the source of the fault.  If it doesn't work then it is the source of the problem.

[CKPR]

The wheels look like K's or Hamblings wheels, which means that they probably can't be removed from the axles but it's a 'keyhole'  chassis (possibly 1960s K's ?) so wheel sets can be removed and possibly put back the wrong way round. I'd concur with the previous comments about the likely  inadequacy of the pick-up arrangements and the possibility of the motor (again, this looks like an old K's 'Mark I') having expired. If the latter, it can always be replaced with a modern can motor (I wouldn't recommend try to find a NOS K's motor !). Looking further at the photograph, I'd make a guess that the seemingly superfluous bolt on the left [front ?] with the fibre washers is the remnants of the original pick-up arrangement. 

[Edwardian]

6 minutes ago, CKPR said:

The wheels look like K's or Hamblings wheels, which means that they probably can't be removed from the axles but it's a 'keyhole'  chassis (possibly 1960s K's ?) so wheel sets can be removed and possibly put back the wrong way round.

 

Yes, the wheels don't look like they want to come of the axles.  The frames resemble the keyhole description, though I really cannot see how the axles in their bushes would come out.

 

 

6 minutes ago, CKPR said:

 

I'd concur with the previous comments about the likely  inadequacy of the pick-up arrangements

 

 

Yet there is clearly contact. I agree that they need to be improved, but I cannot see how the pick-ups account for the lack of life signs.

 

6 minutes ago, CKPR said:

and the possibility of the motor (again, this looks like an old K's 'Mark I') having expired. If the latter, it can always be replaced with a modern can motor (I wouldn't recommend try to find a NOS K's motor !).

 

 

I wouldn't know where to start finding a suitable motor. 

 

 

6 minutes ago, CKPR said:

 

Looking further at the photograph, I'd make a guess that the seemingly superfluous bolt on the left [front ?] with the fibre washers is the remnants of the original pick-up arrangement. 

 

Yes, I thought so too.

[Edwardian]

The Highland Railway seems to have been a treasure trove of grounded coach bodies ...

 

 

 

[Donw]

On a non insulated wheel a meter on resitance setting will show a connection between the tyre and the axle.

 

Does your controller have an LED which lights up when there is a short? If so it will be showing if there is one.

 

If you have  meter I would place the probes across the wheels on one axle. With the meter on resistance  no reading at all suggest a disconnection somewhere. If there is a reading a full reading ( i.e the same a touching the probes together ) it suggests a short a modest reading would suggest the circuit is through the motor.

 

Don

[Edwardian]

9 minutes ago, Donw said:

On a non insulated wheel a meter on resitance setting will show a connection between the tyre and the axle.

 

Does your controller have an LED which lights up when there is a short? If so it will be showing if there is one.

 

If you have  meter I would place the probes across the wheels on one axle. With the meter on resistance  no reading at all suggest a disconnection somewhere. If there is a reading a full reading ( i.e the same a touching the probes together ) it suggests a short a modest reading would suggest the circuit is through the motor.

 

Don

 

No such fancy stuff on my controller.

 

I'd need to find the meter and then ask again how it works!