Silver Sidelines

As the winter solstice approaches I thought it appropriate to look back at some of my earliest railway models. My first ‘train set’ arrived one Christmas in the early 1950s. I am guessing that it was 1953 or 1954 when I received a clockwork Trackmaster tank engine, a Graham Farish suburban coach and four Graham Farish goods wagons. Trackmaster Clockwork engine from the 1950s prior to sale in 2007 1950s Graham Farrish suburban coaches – repainted and fitted with Hornby bogies prior to sale in 2009   Sole remnant of Graham Farish steel mineral wagon from 1953 compared to recent Bachmann wagon My father was not a train man. I need to give him some credit for he must have asked for advice ‘in the office’ before purchase. The rolling stock came with an oval of track on a solid board. Perhaps it was Wren track. There was a big green tunnel made by a family friend. Years later my father confided that it had been a nightmare to pin the steel rail which seemed to...

How to construct the baseboard? This question seems to be asked on a regular basis. I will describe my own experiences. The woodwork in progress I have used the same basic approach for all three of my ‘big’ layouts. I would say it is my variation of the ‘L’ Girder technique. ’L’ Girder overview according to CJ Freezer I spent some time this weekend searching through old periodicals to see if I could find the original article that inspired me to use the ‘L’ Girder technique. No luck – I think it was a US layout. I did find an article in the Railway Modeller from September1969 which linked back to an earlier article from October 1966 which I do not have. These articles provide a useful overview of the technique but differ slightly in detail from my own practice . For my basic structure I made ‘L’ girders by screwing and gluing 1x2 inch planed timber to the top of 1x3 inch planed timber to form an inverted ‘L’. PVA provides the bond and a few strategically ...

A few weeks back I posted somethoughts on the need for and the use of Capacitor Discharge Units (CDUs) with Peco solenoids. I reported that after some thirty years of model train operation I had now installed my first Capacitor Discharge Units. Under baseboard Gaugemaster Capacitor Discharge Unit At the time I did not see a great improvement in point operation. In a couple of cases the operation was worse after installing the CDU than previously with the power supplied directly from 16v auxiliary supply from my Gaugemaster DS controller. I suggested that the there was a problem with the quality of the push button momentary contact switches that I was using. Some of these switches had been in use for over thirty years on three different layouts. It was explained that without a CDU there was likely to be problems, not with operating the solenoids but with switching the current off after solenoid operation. Further that switching off larger currents as needed to operate two p...

Flushed with success after fettling Bucklebury Grange I thought I would tackle some of the other unresolved locomotive issues. Bachmann 3440 City of Truro City of Truro arrived from the National Railway Museum in January 2010. I remember being well impressed by the livery and the detail. It ran slowly and smoothly and was carefully put away – too good (expensive) for day to day use. Fast forward to January 2014 and Bachmann’s Dukedog arrives. 9017 was a superb runner, smooth and rock steady. It had me thinking because City of Truro did have a tendency to swing from side to side. I would investigate. Underside of City of Truro The driving wheels on City of Truro are geared to reduce problems with quartering. I did wonder if the driving wheels were not true on their axles. I would try some replacements. Steve at Barwell indicated that the wheels could be removed without splitting the chassis and body. Also that the outside cranks simply ‘pull off’. ...

It is a great feeling when things turn out well. Bucklebury Grange arrived at the beginning of summer. Hornby Bucklebury Grange (left) Overton Grange (right) The first model was returned to the seller, something about the way it ran. The replacement model was an improvement, so it stayed. How many models can you send back? However at higher speeds it still seemed to roll around. I began to imagine that one or more of the driving wheels was not central on its axle. Bucklebury Grange was banished to one of the shed roads. Now on RMweb RonnieS has been investigating how to add some extra weight to a Hornby Grange. I would have a look at Overton Grange (one that I added lead to earlier) and at the same time, try and sort Bucklebury Grange. Adding lead shot to the smokebox Adding lead is relatively straightforward. I made a cylinder out of a 65x65mm heavy duty brown paper which I pushed into the smokebox before filling with around 50gm of lead shot. A bit like a cartr...