30368

Do I detect a "Didcotist" attitude being expressed? I used to live in North Moreton and catch my train to London at Didcot, an up and coming place, the local rag said, as I recall. Oxford was a venue for Parliament in the 17th Century so it does have form and we have another King Charles on the throne so it all fits. Kind regards, Richard B

Nor I, oh yes... The lady is wearing a very attractive habit too.... Kind regards, Richard B

Hi Phil, 524 now has coal - glued and (Matt) varnished in place. I am not so much taken with the N15's as all Mr Urie's and Mr Drummond's locomotives. I do, for sure, have a bit of a fixation on the H15s firstly because of the wide variation of appearance in such a small class and secondly they were a bit of a trailblazer - two outside cylinders driven by outside Walschaerts valvegear - easy to service and prepare for the road. Mr Churchwards's Saints were also very influencial as were many of his designs. I also rather like the look of Urie's engines, very Scottish. Thanks very much for the Arthur transfer to 70D - plenty of scope, they had a fair few over the years. I must have about 10 of them now, perhaps more, I can't remember. I now move, perhaps, to building that pride of Basingstoke, a 700 class 0-6-0, or maybe I should move to phase 2 of the layout..... Kind regards, Richard B

Truly great weathering on the bunker and tank side of the A5, and I should say really good use of the light in this image. Mr Robinson's locomotives look so impressive with a very strong family identity. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi John, They are 24mm drivers, and are, as far as I know, those supplied with the kit. Phil can always correct me if I am wrong. The drivers on my 30475 are a little (0.4mm) undersize. They were supplied with the kit directly from DJH and have much reduced flanges which, on code 75 track, can be a problem. I plan to replace them with the latest Markits wheels. I have just coupled the loco to the tender and it all runs pretty well and is very quiet apart from the noise from the tender axles which sounds ok. I have taken a video of the loco running past the shed on my iphone but have no idea of how to get said video onto my PC. Further investigation required! Kind regards, Richard B

OK Phil, this is the final version of 30524. I will leave it to you to fit couplings and coal. I will run it for a bit before I arrange handover. Hope it is ok. It is better than my 30475. Kind regards, Richard B

Made a start on the weathering. More to do. Kind regards, Richard B

Phil, Thanks so much for your kind words and I will run it for a bit until you are ready for the loco. I had a quick look at the early stages of your layout on this site and your track laying is so very good. 524 looks very different already. I have very lightly sprayed the underframe with "frame dirt" and the tender bogies likewise. Next stage will be weathering with powders and washes. The benefit of using powders is that if, at a later stage, your prefer a cleaner loco you can wash most of it off leaving the nooks and crannies still mucky as would have been the case in the full scale world. Kind regards, Richard B

30524 is painted and lining (buffer beams to do) is almost complete. Phil has said it wants it to be very careworn so the special powders will be applied next. Valvegear also needs additional staining. First image untreated, second trimmed and adjusted a bit. Kind regards, Richard B

30524 is almost complete - just needs couplings and a few vacuum and steam heat pipes and it is ready for painting. I plan to fit Hornby cylinder drain cock pipework. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi John, That is really very kind and much appreciated. I am still a novice really having started about 10 years ago with loco building and 2 years ago on (serious) layout building. So I tend to jump in and make the best of what are often very old and perhaps poorly designed loco kits. I particularly like the B16/1 although where it fits on my layout I have no idea but I'm not too worried. Re Phil's H15 kit - a lot of the work has been completed by Phil and very good it is too. I am a bit of a fan of the H15 - for a number of reasons - but such great variation in such a small class is appealing. When my version of 70D is closer to completion I will have a special "H15 Day on Shed" - ah the way we indulge ourselves in this hobby! Good luck with the N15, Urie or Maunsell? Kind regards, Richard B

Many thanks Phil, I was a little concerned about disturbing your work but it was, I think, worth the extra effort. I will probably be painting the wee beasty next week. Kind regards, Richard B

Having made some adjustments to the mesh the chassis now runs well in forward and reverse. I have removed the N15 style pipework feeds to the boiler clack valves and replaced with CVs and feed pipes that are accurate for the H15. I have fitted the very small splashers fitted to this design. The reversing lever has also been repostioned and other detail added. Next will be the footsteps and injector pipework under the cab. Wizzing away in forward gear. Woops! someone has bent the top lamp iron.... Kind regards, Richard B

I continue to run in the chassis on the LSWR main line just outside 70D. I am concerned that the meshing of the worm and the idler gear needs to be checked. This will require some dismantling of Phil's work. The chassis runs perfectly in reverse but stutters in forward, it starts to move and then stops. In my experience this is often due to problems with meshing. Wizzing away in reverse. Some detail improvements to the DJH chassis - the motion plate rear support, poor image sorry. Adding a black plasticard frame covering the gap in the DJH frame where the motor would have sat. I have also added the bracket that supports the running plate. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi Dave, Many thanks, praise from the praiseworthy (Aragorn?) is always most valuable. Agree re brakegear - my earlier efforts had been hampered by giving brakegear a slight priority over, say, pickups! Now that I have a layout under construction pickups have the highest priority! All part of the journey that, I hope, will go on for many years yet. Kind regards, Richard

You are right Bryan. It is very complicated. If you have access to Peter Swift's The Book of the H125 and S15 4-6-0s take a look at the plan view on page 14. It has a copy of the GA. Too tricky to model in 4mm! Kind regards, Richard B

I just think that they all look just great Tony, what a splendid family of Pacifics the LNER(BR) possessed. I, naturally include Mr. Thompson's efforts too. (Blast, have I said too much?) Kind regards, Richard B

Very busy day on other matters so only did a little work today. The Urie and SR version of the Urie H15 all had the same brake gear set up. Two opposing brake levers between the middle and trailing drivers and the third lever operating on the front of the leading wheel. I found that a Mainly Trains LNER express engine etch was the best match, the levers are quite short. I did try to fit the leading brake lever but this proved impossible without fouling the bogie wheels so I have not fitted it. It is very hard to see anyway... Kind regards, Richard B

Valve gear update. The drivers side is all fitted and works very well with no stiction. Must of got all the clearances correct. Ready to solder the return crank to the crankpin (but not connecting and coupling rod!) Motion plate needs cleaning up. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi, Yes they do - fitted to the crosshead - in the middle picture. Kind regards, Richard B

And now... back to the SR. I have just started work on Phil's H15 as mentioned above. Phil has made a very, very good job of the body and chassis and the motor still runs Phil.. Valve gear riveted together however the union link will be set screwed to the crosshead and the two valvegear halves set screwed together at the motion plate. Kind regards, Richard B

61412 now weathered and I will move on to completing Phil's H15 4-6-0. Final images follow. Kind regards, Richard B

Tender now complete and united with locomotive. Next stage will be weathering and cleaning back. Kind regards, Richard B

Well said Tony and don't leave.... Kind regards, Richard B

One more SR picture and then a tender update. DJH Tender is not that great and needs some work to get it closer to prototype. Perhaps at a later date I will look out for a brass kit of a Late Pattern NER 4,125 gall. tender. Kind regards, Richard B