Hi Everyone

[508035]

Hello to all members and moderators

I am from the wirral even though my username does quite match for the merseyrail unit 508135, it is based on that unit when it was running down south as a 4 coach unit hence 508035.

If I may just let everyone know, there may be times during posts where I might make mistakes with spelling, I feel it is only fair for me to let you all know that I have dyslexia and dyspraxia aswell as aspergers and adhd but I will do my best not to make too many goofs

[Walkingthedog]

Welcome to the forum 508035. Don’t worry about spelling mistakes, we all make them on here. Do you have a layout and if so what scale?

[bulleidboy]

Welcome 508035 - you have joined a great forum - lots of help, information and fun. Any questions just ask away.

[508035]

I have both OO & O scales, both are just in an end to end format at the moment due to social housing space restrictions where I live. My previous place of residence was much better where I had a 17' 00" by 13' 00" continuous run

I was able to run double headed freightliner 66s towing 10 × mk4 coaches + dvt as though going to a works for refurbishment or a Peppercorn A1 with 12 mk1s but where I live now, these formations are currently halved, however, I have been able to test the haulage ability of a fictional 2-10-0 + 0-10-2 garratt locomotive that I built purely from commercially available parts only.

Currently now, I am slowly building up a union pacific big boy locomotive although it will use 2 × class 8f powered loco driven chassis although these both need full correct valve gear and cylinders fitting and do test runs with it, the difference between the loco and uk stock height is noticeable but doesn't bother me.

In O Gauge I built the Hachette Flying Scotsman locomotive which was advertised on tv back in 2009 and took 112 weeks to build. The loco was built as 60077 and painted using humbrol #3 Brunswick Green which to me is as close as I could get to the actual colour the A3s were actually painted in.

Not long after finishing 60077 unpowered at the time, I went to a swapmeet at the Chester Northgate Arena and purchased for £5 a meccano motor along with 2 gears and 2 worm drives and found on the same stall several pieces of O Gauge track. I offered the stall holder £10 for the pieces but he told me he was just wanting rid of the track and gave me them completely free.

The centres of the gear cogs were 4.0 mm but had to be oprned up to 4.8 mm which was the size to the driving axles and luckily once a gear was fitted followed by the motor with 1 of the worm drives, the loco was oiled up on all moving parts and tested starting off at a low speed then gradually increasing power.

Not long after finishing the Scotsman locomotive the same company announced Mallard as a partwork but I never got the chance to finish the loco, I got up to part 5 which was the cab roof of Mallard and then parts just disappeared from the shops so I have a completed Scotsman locomotive and an A4 body & cab without the chassis or tender.

My apologies for the long post.

[Walkingthedog]

So you’re not really doing any railway modelling then.

We would love some pictures

[508035]

At the moment my 1/2 layout consists of old boards from wardrobes with 3 layers of black A3 sized foam sheets on top of which the track is laid.

Not all of the track is pinned in place but there is enough space in between platform tracks snd sidings in between them for stock to be stabled without contact.

In terms of railway modelling, in relation to scenery I have not had any experience of doing that part of it, my nain experience has revolved around various projects which at 1 point included fitting peco 3rd rail wired for power collection and then running hornby pullman coaches 2 of which had X942 HST/Class 110 motor bogies fitted of which 1 side was connected into the 3rd rail pickup supply and the all metal wheels on the moyor bogies picking up from the rail. Both motors were fitted the same way round which required the 2 coaches to be the same way round aswell. Currently the 3rd rail project is on hold for now.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I purchased some balsa wood from hobbycraft with the intention to build my own platforms, something I have been wanting to try for a while. I have managed to put together 2 sections each roughly 3 feet long although these have yet to be put in place as there is still a lot left to do.







I am not sure if the 3 images above will show but if they do I will post more in due course.

The 1st picture was of the rear bogie of a Lima class 156 with my representation of a 3rd rail pickup fitted in case I ever get to build and operate some class 508 units.

The 2nd picture was a conversion of s Hornby HST powercar fitted to a heavily modified ( in terms of filing ) class 58 chassis with class 58 bogies. It was built during my time as a member of rmweb for an imaginary locomotives thread they had at the time. It was based on a HST powercar converted to run as an all electric co-co locomotive with class 58 bogies geared for higher speeds. The motor was converted to a cd motor and runs well.

The 3rd was another project using a fowler 2-6-4 chassis modified to a 2-6-2 chassis and a kitbuilt V2 locomotive body which gives much needed extra weight and better traction for hauling easily 12 coaches or 30 wagons. This loco recently had new valve gear for the drivers side after the previous valve gear on that side came apart.

I will post a picture at some point of the union pacific big boy and the 2-10-0 + 0-10-2 garratt and put them on here.
Like the co-co HST powercar It too was originally built when was on rmweb and had a 9F loco body but after a few pists which mentioned that a 9F boiler would not have produced enough steam for 2 × 2-10-0 chassis, I rebuilt the loco using a hornby A1/A3 loco body which I was duly informed would certainly produce the required power for a 20 wheel driven locomotive. It certainly hauls anything coupled to it.

Most of my tender driven locomotives are fitted with cd motors including 2 hornby black 5 locomotives, 1 was purchased from eBay as number 5112 but as I already had 5112 as a locomotive driven loco I repainted the body which was badly faded and renumbered the loco as 5001, the other was purchased from my local model shop in Birkenhead and is number 44932 ( of which the real version returned to service recently ). Aswell as cd motors in the tenders, they also have extra self made pickups for 2 rail power collection and now run much better than they did when puchased.

Another recent project was a B17 4-6-0 chassis onto which is fitted a Bachmann B1 body and is also tender driven using a silver seal motor which I also converted to a cd motor before a recently introduced kit became available for converying these motors to a cd motor drive.

Also if requested, I will post a picture of my O Gauge locomotive.

I should also mention that I am an open university student and there may be a gap ( hopefully not too long ) in posting these pictures but I will get them done.

[Walkingthedog]

I run O gauge so yes to pictures.

[508035]

I have just taken these now, the 1st 2 pictures are of my O Gauge loco, granted the boiler is incorrect given that 60077 was a left hand drive locomotive by the time she would have been this colour, unfortunately currently not fitted with appropriate name plates but I will get some in due course.












Then we have Duke of Gloucester on my OO Layout, little bit of a story behind this loco, next is the 20 wheel drive beast, my 2-10-0 + 0-10-2 Garratt numbered as 96100 and finally the union pacific big boy locomotive project still needing a lot of work but it will be finished.

With the Duke of Gloucester loco it turned out that there was an issue with it that the previous owner could not fix, wiring gad come apart and the speaker had blown ( no idea how ) and when I asked the owner of the model shop in Birkenhead how much the previous owner wanted, imagine my complete surprise when he said £20, yes a £200 locomotive for just £20, needless to say I bought it on the spot.

Hope you like the pictures.

[Walkingthedog]

Thanks for the pictures. Unfortunately I can’t run anything bigger than an 0-6-0.