Wright writes.....

[Clive Mortimore]

There has been quite a bit of natter about adding weight to locos. It seems many like me use lead. About 10 years ago a friend posted on the DEMU forum that Wickes were selling a roll of lead flashing for about £25. Mrs M wanted me to do some DIY stuff doing so I got the materials from our local Wickes along with a roll of lead, more than a life times amount for modelling.

 

I have just had a look on the Wickes web site and the same roll 150mm by 3 m is now £42. Still a bargain, especially if you share the lead and the cost with a couple of mates, 1 meter will last a long time. 

Edited July 24 by Clive Mortimore
spelling

[jrg1]

9 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

 

At the end of the 70's the HST's had started to appear, otherwise little has changed from your shots a  few years earlier (click on pic for details).

 

Funny how things turn out, strongly disliked at first for replacing the Deltics, but forty years later chased and photographed by all and sundry. A bit like those early diesels really!

 

 

John.

Tuxford again-how it has changed over the years, and not for the better, either!

Seeing the original HST set is pleasantly nostalgic-showing my age.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

Deservedly followed too; hopefully not too sacrilegious to say so on this thread, but I will argue they were the greatest train ever built in the UK.  There were many terrific locomotives, but how many combinations of stock were still highlighted in the timetable 30 years after their introduction?

 

Yes I noticed that; unit numbers below the nose, no exhaust deflector cowls and two buffet cars in the 8-coach formation.

Hard to disagree. Had they not been in service when Serpell reported, the future of the railway might have looked rather different.

 

Being just slightly pedantic, the two catering cars were a TRSB (Trailer Restaurant Second Buffet) in the second-class section and a TRUK (Trailer Restaurant Unclassified Kitchen) - i.e full restaurant service - between the first- and second-class.

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Earlier year I had to spend money on New tyres, and waited for the tyre fitters to do their job, so I walked the dog around the expansive yard, while there I picked up many lead weights that littered the yard, I now have a couple of Kilo's of lead for future use.

 

Terry (aka manna)

 

[jrg1]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Hard to disagree. Had they not been in service when Serpell reported, the future of the railway might have looked rather different.

 

Being just slightly pedantic, the two catering cars were a TRSB (Trailer Restaurant Second Buffet) in the second-class section and a TRUK (Trailer Restaurant Unclassified Kitchen) - i.e full restaurant service - between the first- and second-class.

There was a proposal for an electric HST in Australia, instead we had the XPT-a derated power car for Australian conditions, and Budd coaches, including sleepers with HST bogies.  As a retirement present, we took the XPT from Melbourne to Sydney-hearing the Paxman engines again brought back the many times I travelled on the ECML.  Happy days.

[Tony Wright]

11 hours ago, DenysW said:

A frivolous question ... Are you going to weather the platforms? Yours are in such better condition than the prototype! No evidence of patching, and no disintegrating asphalt on the slopes. No chewing gum either, but that's probably too small to model.

Good morning Denys,

 

Probably not to the extent in the prototype picture, though more surface treatment has been applied since the model picture was taken.

 

I've tried a few further experiments off-scene, but it just looks a mess - like the real thing? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Deservedly followed too; hopefully not too sacrilegious to say so on this thread, but I will argue they were the greatest train ever built in the UK.  There were many terrific locomotives, but how many combinations of stock were still highlighted in the timetable 30 years after their introduction?

 

Yes I noticed that; unit numbers below the nose, no exhaust deflector cowls and two buffet cars in the 8-coach formation.

'hopefully not too sacrilegious to say so on this thread, but I will argue they were the greatest train ever built in the UK.'

 

Not at all, Rob. I couldn't agree more!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[gr.king]

14 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Graeme,

 

It could well be that a higher-grade PVA doesn't react in the same way as cheaper stuff. Whether that's because it's more resistant to damp conditions, I don't know. However, from what I've been told (and I'm certainly not a chemist), it's the reaction between the PVA adhesive and the lead itself which causes expansion - to the extent of rupturing seams on soldered-together boilers and tanks. 

 

Personally, despite your 'happy experience' (so far), I'd advise never to stick lead-based material in confined spaces with PVA. I've seen some of the horrific results! 

 

I use epoxy, superglue or low-melt solder to secure ballast, whatever it's made of. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I agree that there would be no point these days in knowingly exposing a model loco to risk by gluing loose lead or iron ballast in place using PVA, leaving no expansion space too. There was no information / rumour in circulation regarding the risk when built my model in 2005/6, and as I seem to have got away with it "by accident" (using Resin W PVA , also well sealed off from the atmosphere once it was cured) I thought it worth mentioning.

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Denys,

 

Probably not to the extent in the prototype picture, though more surface treatment has been applied since the model picture was taken.

 

I've tried a few further experiments off-scene, but it just looks a mess - like the real thing? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

This kind of thing can be a challenge for us modellers. Sometimes, the application of 'grot' and 'disrepair' can just make the model look as if it's been shoddily finished off. It can be a difficult choice. For example, some steam locos ended up with bent footplates, but if you replicated that on a model, chances are you'd be accused of not having straightened up the footplate properly, before assembling the kit!

 

In a similar vein, I am sometimes wary of 'upgrading' details on a RTR model, unless I can be sure that the replacement grille (on a diesel) or chimney or whatever is going to look fully integrated on the finished model, as opposed to being obviously a badly-attached after thought.

 

[John Isherwood]

3 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

This kind of thing can be a challenge for us modellers. Sometimes, the application of 'grot' and 'disrepair' can just make the model look as if it's been shoddily finished off. It can be a difficult choice. For example, some steam locos ended up with bent footplates, but if you replicated that on a model, chances are you'd be accused of not having straightened up the footplate properly, before assembling the kit!

 

In a similar vein, I am sometimes wary of 'upgrading' details on a RTR model, unless I can be sure that the replacement grille (on a diesel) or chimney or whatever is going to look fully integrated on the finished model, as opposed to being obviously a badly-attached after thought.

 

 

Pristine platforms - would you be able to detect the patches in the surface from, say, a nearby overbridge?

 

If not, you should not try and represent them - they'll look 'overdone'.

 

CJI.

[DenysW]

11 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Deservedly followed too; hopefully not too sacrilegious to say so on this thread, but I will argue they were the greatest train ever built in the UK. 

That's a can of worms opinion. Personally, I'd go for Stephenson's Rocket - the locomotive that (virtually) eliminated the rope-haulage alternative. And introduced more sophisticated heat-exchange to the reciprocating steam engine.

[BMS]

Rocket is not a train; its a locomotive!

NOT attempting to move the discussion to  the greatest loco and also NOT attempting  to provoke the pro/anti FS groups!

[St Enodoc]

2 minutes ago, BMS said:

Rocket is not a train; its a locomotive!

NOT attempting to move the discussion to  the greatest loco and also NOT attempting  to provoke the pro/anti FS groups!

When a locomotive is running light, it is a train.

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

When a locomotive is running light, it is a train.

Good afternoon John,

 

Ah, semantics!

 

It's still described as 'light engine' (and should carry the appropriate lamp code, front and rear), but 'engine' is a misnomer, because that really refers to the number of cylinders (a minimum of two?). 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

With regard to the merits of the HST (which, I suppose has two 'locomotives', because they're described as such in the loco sections of many books listing stock), by all yardsticks, they have no equal in my view. Almost no route is denied to them, and they've travelled more squadron miles, at very high speed and carried more passengers than any other 'train' ever seen in these islands. If that's not enough to be called 'best ever', then I don't know what is. 

[woodenhead]

4 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

With regard to the merits of the HST (which, I suppose has two 'locomotives', because they're described as such in the loco sections of many books listing stock), by all yardsticks, they have no equal in my view. Almost no route is denied to them, and they've travelled more squadron miles, at very high speed and carried more passengers than any other 'train' ever seen in these islands. If that's not enough to be called 'best ever', then I don't know what is. 

And not forgetting they were the stopgap in case the APT failed to take off.

 

Evolution not revolution

[BMacdermott]

Hello Tony

 

Rule 16 of BR Rule Book 1950 (and reprint with amends up to 1 October  1961) gives a glossary.

 

The term 'Engine' is noted as including 'Electric or other locomotive'. And the term 'Train' can include 'Light engine, ie engine without a train; also rail car, rail bus'.

 

As ever, context is important.

 

Brian

[MikeParkin65]

Re Lead sheeting - Smaller quantities readily available from ebay - I bought this for less than £12 recently  - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351901378484?var=624108647235

Edited July 24 by MikeParkin65
Makes no sense without the quote that disappeared!

[Dunsignalling]

I'm still using up the second-hand stuff liberated when I got my my chimney re-done a few years back. 

 

It's thinner than the new off-cut I have so I can sometimes get more weight into the space available.  

 

Edited July 24 by Dunsignalling

[Bucoops]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

With regard to the merits of the HST (which, I suppose has two 'locomotives', because they're described as such in the loco sections of many books listing stock), by all yardsticks, they have no equal in my view. Almost no route is denied to them, and they've travelled more squadron miles, at very high speed and carried more passengers than any other 'train' ever seen in these islands. If that's not enough to be called 'best ever', then I don't know what is. 

 

And quite a few are now chuntering up and down the rails in Mexico of all places.

 

As a die-hard LNER Steam buff, the HST wins. I believe two of the power cars are still the holders of the diesel world speed record?

[Clive Mortimore]

2 hours ago, MikeParkin65 said:

Re Lead sheeting - Smaller quantities readily available from ebay - I bought this for less than £12 recently  - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351901378484?var=624108647235

Hi Mike

 

Oddly that is more expensive than Wickes, who's price works out at £14 per meter, the e-bay offer is £12  per half meter. Pity Wickes do not sell it in half meter lengths.

[MikeParkin65]

16 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Mike

 

Oddly that is more expensive than Wickes, who's price works out at £14 per meter, the e-bay offer is £12  per half meter. Pity Wickes do not sell it in half meter lengths.

'Free' postage included

[MikeParkin65]

33 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

 

And quite a few are now chuntering up and down the rails in Mexico of all places.

 

As a die-hard LNER Steam buff, the HST wins. I believe two of the power cars are still the holders of the diesel world speed record?

And at least one set in Nigeria. I think their withdrawal was accelerated by the Stonehaven crash https://www.modernrailways.com/article/three-dead-after-scottish-hst-derailment  and the death of the driver in the relatively vulnerable cab. Unions have subsequently rightly pressed for either upgraded crash protection to match more modern units or early withdrawal. 

[juke]

1 hour ago, MikeParkin65 said:

'Free' postage included

I tried to place an order last night and at checkout £12 had been added. Looked at other offers and got 1.4m approx Code 3 for £3 plus £6 post. May be used I don't know but it'll be OK for me.

 

Syd

[dibateg]

Tony mentioned a few posts back about documenting builds, I have done a few of my 7mm loco builds. here are just a couple selected from around 40 taken of my build of the Finney V2.