Martin S-C

Hi Mikkel Yes, it's 2309 and after a day disassembled on the workbench and put back together it does now run very sweetly.

Coastline no longer seem to offer the Dean smokebox door though I am sure I've seen one elsewhere on Shapeways in recent months *scurries off to rummage about* A simpler fix may be to get hold of a plastic pipe of the correct diameter, cut a slice and fettle it down to the right depth. I may be a freelancer of the more freelancing-than-you fraternity but I do like to see a nice rimmed dished Dean smoke box door now and then. They have that certain extra elegance of Victorian styling that you just don't get in the brash economic grinding 1930s.

I have seen a diffrent tender filler cap and dome on Shapeways as well.

Thanks James, those are valid points and I will do as you suggest. The lack of the typical Dean smoke box door rim bugs me as well.

My strategy may be the most effective. The NM&GSR will have purchased a second hand Dean Goods and modified it in their own workshops with a wider footplate, bigger splashers, added rivets to the splashers and smokebox, altered cab profile and whatever else needed doing to result in a 100% accurate historically correct loco in my fictional world. Freelancing (and I know James, you have a different intepretation of that word to me - and yours has my fullest respects) does have its advantages.

Well, certainly as long as the next shiny off-topic subject peaks our interest!

Some people have said the model is a good runner but mine was 100% DoA and it took the best part of a day to disassemble, fix and rebuild it. Live wires were shorting across the two sides of the chassis so how it was tested and released from the factory as acceptable I cannot say. However after several hours work it now runs very well, nonetheless I rated the reliability as "1" as this was my experience. Historical accuracy is low, as others have pointed out. I rated it a "2". I too have the factory sound version and in my case its very nice and quite loud enough! I suppose given the comments above from tetsudofan, the sound units are as variable as other elements of the model's assembly. One can be lucky, or unlucky which is a lottery experience common to all RTR loco buying. Despite the inaccuracies and the mechanical faults I rated the model a "3" overall as it is a fair price and since my railway is a freelance layout, my loco won't be a Dean Goods anyway, but something fictional, or rather it will represent a Dean Goods but locally modified by my company works - wider footplate, bigger splashers, changed cab, rivets on splashers, etc etc... There does seem to be a worrying trend at Oxford Rail over poor research and QC - this model, the GW 6-wheel brake, the NE cattle van and their 6-plank wagon all have glaring faults which could all have been caught with better research and QC proceses and improved tooling. Then again, if that had happened we would not be getting such low prices. Low pricing is apparently a key marketing element of Oxford's strategy and they are to be commended for that. It is however a shame that a comptetively priced model will always sell well, no matter whether it has inaccuarcies with the prototype or not and in such cases it is then unlikely that a competitor would release a version of the same model but higher priced. This is the worry with the structure of our current RTR model railway industry.

I was unaware of the "history" of the Oxford Rail Dean Goods' inaccuarcies. I own two of them, one in GWR green (which will be repainted into my freelance livery) and one in BR black for some 1950s time travel light relief when I want to try a different time period on my layout. Is anyone able to point me to a thread on here where they are discussed? Thanks. EDIT : Please ignore this request - now found some discussion in the manufacturers area.

I was told never ever take dimensions from a drawing. Always rely on stated measurements which ought to be marked on a drawing. Presumably in this case no dimensions are given.

Weren't the dimensions of loco wheels just for the WHEEL casting itself, tyres always being in addition? As the discussion has shown tyre thicknesses could vary considerably over the life of the tyre so measuring such a critical dimension as driving or carrying wheel diameter to include a 'wrapping' that no-one could know the thickness of at any particular moment unless you stood next to it and measured it seems a very curious practice.

Is that the Chiltern show this weekend? If so, I will come along and say hello.

I'm going with Plan B then and will let the room "breathe" until Tuesday. Tuesday is baseboard day so I hope all will be ready by then (all appendages crossed).

Oh, how I wish it were that easy in 00 gauge (I need an emoji for tearing your hair out)

Or just a sand texture so they almost disappear? I think Linny may be right, I think you can apply a texture that is 100% alpha channel to make things invisible.

Those brick walls to the quayside look very good. And the cobbles. Are there any figures in older styles of clothes available?

Hi Annie Sending you lots of virtual love and support. Your work is amazing and the Windweather docks area is just incredible. I worked in MSTS 1 for 10 years and couldn't get the look you achieve. I too am fed up with things gong wrong, in may case damp in the new garage that I don't know technically enough to form an opinion on and I'm at the mercy of anyone who advises anything, so its all just very frustrating. I also would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise for my post of a couple of days back where I commented about the bullrushes - re-reading it, the tone is a bit snide and sharp and I am terribly sorry that I must have offended you. Your virtual world is wonderful, please keep at it. If you ever visit the UK, please drop me a note in advance, you'll be extremely welcome to come and see the NM&GSR and play trains for a bit. Sheila and I will make you most welcome.

That must be the version with the "go faster" cab. Is the Irish 0-6-0 model to 00 gauge...? I couldn't find out from the website.

Thanks for all the suggestions, especially Dave, Phil, Colin. I've chosen to reject the unit offered to me today - it was expensive and a friend of long standing who is a heating and insulation engineer and who largely rebuilt an 1870s French manor house on his own ridiculed it at the cost it was offered. The plaster was just a skim but there was more used around the window and door reveals so there was a fair bit of water in that. Not a lot, but some. The paint was cheap so he thinks out of 15 litres of paint, a good deal of that is water. The garage was extended by 1.2 m with a new concrete floor under that section so he thinks that's another 20L of water down there. The concrete panelling will exude water too if there is a temperature slope. His suggestion is that what is needed is to seal the room and heat it, so that the air draws moisture into it (hot air retains moisture, cold air dumps it), then after 12 hours, open the door and windows to let the hot wet air out and recharge the room with cold dry air (assuming it doesn't rain). Rinse and repeat for about a week and that should get rid of any moisture from the build. After that, hold a watching brief and see what else occurs. As this is a zero cost option I see no reason not to try it and after a week consider further options. I do appreciate everyone's input, its extremely helpful and brings up options and views I'd never have considered on my own. I also feel hopelessly inadequate - and consequently frustrated - as I am ignorant of damp, condensation and related subjects so have been at the mercy of whatever the builder and his people have told me...

Thanks Phil... gah, now I don't know what to do. I think the guy who came today was keen to sell me his unit, and his experience seemed to be limited to only advice rearding it. I shall go back to my builder and see what they suggest. A friend of mine who owns an energy, performance and design company and who specialises in air-con and insulation at the industrial level thinks the unit I've been offered is just a scam for an ordinary heat-exchange unit. He's been in the business for 30 years so I trust his judgement...

Hi Phil We did have a discussion about the source of the moisture and he thought that the initial plaster skim drying and the 15 litres of paint I put in there were most of the problem. Since the issue began (when I was painting in mid December) I have left the windows cracked open and not gone in there at all over the Xmas period. After the power sockets were moved yesterday I turned the dehumidifier unit on (about 3:00pm) and left it running all night and this morning until about 10:30 when the guy arrived. At the end of that time there was no condensation anywhere on the power sockets, the consumer unit underside or on the windows (all of which were wet before). The only water was on the extractor hose to the dehumid unit which has always been an issue. It seems to me like the condensation problem is reducing. According to the information booklet the unit I am buying costs only £4.47 a year to run at trickle setting at leccy costs of £0.15 per kWh, and £5.00 at medium setting. This is without turning on its heating unit, though I will need to do that I expect.

Hi Colin Thank you for the link. I have seen computer control on another layout - even an arrangement where drivers could log in from around the world and drive trains while the owner was dispatcher and shunter. I am not sure I like the idea of computer control however - my friends layout I fear is just a bit too clever and on running weekends the whole thing goes wrong a good half-dozen times. I am very much a hands-on kind of operator. If I am alone I will be happy to either just work that half of the layout that's reachable from one of the two operating wells, or quite happily shimmy between them on my planned wheeled garden gizmo. I am also the kind of person who is happy to spend a couple of hours just shunting some industries or a yard. The NM&GSR is designed as a shunting layout in any case so I fear that remote or computer assisted control would have limited value. My daughter is 23 and a complete petrol-head - plus she's an engineer so she likes all manner of mechanical things and enjoys attending steam railways with me; she claims that she gets "geeky" over any kind of engineering and she's already baggsied the colliery as her favoured operating location mainly because she likes Peckett W4s and three of them will be stabled there. So I do at least have one regular person to share the fun with and the design and operating method will allow a modest service with two people, if we take it slowly. Today I had a very fruitful meeting with a guy who supplies units that combat condensation and damp. He installs them often into student accomodation and older properties. The units act as heaters to a small degree but mostly they clean and dry the air, getting rid of all kinds of smells, chemicals, dust and so on. When running, the machine creates a mild pressure cell so that dust and other particles cannot enter the space. Best of all the machine runs constantly taking the power of about 2 x 60w bulbs and runs almost completely silently. After the Niagara-like roar of the first unit, the one he demonstrated made only a whisper - just what I need. I will need a small heater in the room if it gets very cold, as the cleaner/dehumidifier doesn't specifically warm the room up much and we have a spare old blower one that we don't use that can be requisitioned, but I have decided to abandon the idea of air-conditioning and go through the first summer without any and see how things pan out. The insulation in roof and walls ought to help anyway and its always possible to open door and windows. If it gets unbearably hot I'll consider other options but that is a bridge to be crossed when I arrive at it.

People were posting posts of posters just to increase their post count, post-haste.

Oops! Sorry! I didn't mean that to come across as derogatory. I meant it had a lot of character!

Absolutely Annie - so far its all been a drain on money converting a garage with no railway in sight. I have to admit I felt a silly rush of joy just drawing out the baseboard perimeter on the floor! Red Gem - as I mentioned before, the railway will run best with about 4 to 6 operators so I will need people to come over for a day or a weekend and play trains. Its an open invite to readers of this thread as I presume you're all here because this kind of layout appeals. Please contact me by PM if interested. At close of play today electric sockets finished with plastic cases fitted proud and inboard of the plasterboard walls and the holes behind stuffed full of insulating foam. If I get condensate out of the sockets after this, the building must be cursed.

Very nice. I quite like the distorted frames and paper roof. It looks like something Col Stephens would run on a bad day.