Elmham Market in EM

[Andrew Young]

JS is having a number of firebox stays sorted so is in the erecting shop being dismantled to enable the stays to be accessed.

Nigel

Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear JS is having stay trouble so early in its life. Hopefully it’ll be back out soon.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[James Spooner]

Back home and back to the workbench. Regular downpours and frequent thunderstorms today have provided the impetus I needed to spend some more time progressing the High Level Lo-rider. I have finished soldering the main parts so cleaned them up and gave them a coat of primer. I have then been trying to figure out the gears, bushes and spacers required for each end and get them prepared and set up for assembly when the priming and painting is finished.

It seems to be a case of gently does it. The instructions are very comprehensive but cater mostly for modellers wishing to convert a Lima or Hornby motor bogie so there are large elements that I am choosing to ignore, whilst at the same time not missing something important! That is slowing my progress but I would rather think twice and cut once…

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

I’ve been in town today for a series of board meetings and the last couple of days have been largely taken up going through board papers so modelling has again taken a back seat. I have squeezed some in though and the Lo-rider has had both primer and a spray coat of matt black paint. Assembly also slowly continues…

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

Modelling progress continues to be slow as other things get in the way. Last weekend was a jaunt to see friends and join a summer party on the Severn Valley Railway. On Sunday evening the memsahib slipped and fell, breaking her wrist resulting in a trip to A&E (thank heavens for the NHS at times like that!) and an arm in a sling and plaster.

This evening she was safely ensconced on the sofa watching a film so I managed to get the Lo-rider to a place where the wheels turned happily when current was applied to the motor. Success!

Next steps are to create a mounting for the bogie to attach to the underframe, then work out a way to fit the cosmetic frames and couplings…

Nigel

 

[Dave Holt]

Nice photos, Nigel. Paula and i called in at the SVR on Sunday and had a ride from Bridgnorth to Kidder and back behind 13268, so there's a good chance we're onboard when you took that shot of it leaving Bridgnorth. You obviously know the right people to get round the shed/works like that.
Good to see you've got the Lowrider working.
Dave.

 

[James Spooner]

Nice photos, Nigel. Paula and i called in at the SVR on Sunday and had a ride from Bridgnorth to Kidder and back behind 13268, so there's a good chance we're onboard when you took that shot of it leaving Bridgnorth. You obviously know the right people to get round the shed/works like that.
Good to see you've got the Lowrider working.
Dave.

Thanks Dave. Actually we were there on the Saturday as a part of a pre arranged club party (including lunch in the Engine House at Highley) and the package included a tour around the works.

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

In between nursing duties I have been plodding along with finishing the Lo-rider (pickups duly fitted over the weekend) and then the conversion of the Bachmann underframe to accept this new form of propulsion.

The Lo-rider ran quite roughly to start with but I think that was due to not having shortened the armature pole sufficiently at one end and it snagging with the bolt providing the compensation pivot. Gentle filing down of the pole combined with some plasticard sheet packing in the mount seems to have cured the problem.

The Bachmann underframe surgery is ongoing. I have reused the screws and holes designed to hold the mazak motor mount in place to bolt a couple of angle brass strips instead. My current plan is to measure, cut and solder some more brass section to provide an arch under which another brass arch (soldered to frames on the Lo-rider) will sit. Drill a hole through both and loosely add anbolt in place to act as a pivot and I should have a mounted bogie.

Before that, though, I have to carve lumps out of the mazak base as the Lo-rider is longer than its Bachmann predecessor. This is no doubt due to the Bachmann bogie not having to hold a motor, which was instead blocking over a third of the inside of the DMBS.

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

Well that was less painful than I had feared! The Dremel didn’t work very well but the piercing saw cut through it like butter. It might still need a bit more trimming but the Lo-rider now sits quite nicely in place.

That’s probably it for this evening as nursing and cooking duties take over…

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

More modelling inaction in my part last week as, having supported Mrs B through her operation and set up a rota of sons to manage things at home I spent the rest of the week in Ffestiniog meetings in the TLC of Wales. Back at the weekend and into a complete heatwave, which caused my eldest son (visiting for Father’s Day) and I to run some services on the Wey Valley Light Railway. Attached is a video of part of our ‘operating session’.

Nil progress on the Wickham, although I might venture into the workroom if it gets too hot elsewhere…

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

With the weather cooling down I have ventured back into my workroom in an attempt to kick some life back into the Wickham motor bogie mini project. I have now fabricated a brass arch out of some scrap U section brass. This has been bolted onto the wings provided by HL for (I think) fixing to a Hornby underframe. Three bolts were soldered to the inside of the U sections, one on each side to hold the bolts holding the arch to the wings and one on top to receive the bolt that I plan will be loosely fitted through the mirror image arch (when I build that). A couple of photos to show progress to date…

Nigel

 

[Stevers]

Hi Nigel, Would have happily put that Lorider in my Lima Class 156, but had no idea that Chris had one left!

A while ago I did put one in my Lima Class 101. It ran very smoothly in both directions, but was noisier in one direction. Chapman Snr spotted that one of the worms wasn't quite centred over its gear, and moving it just a fraction rendered it equally quiet (and smooth) in both directions - hopefully that won't be a tip you need.

The Wickham DMUs are such handsome beasts, and your model of one really does them justice!
Steve

 

[Dave Holt]

Nigel.

Good to see some progress fitting the power bogie.
I wonder if it would be beneficial to separate the pivoting action with your arch arrangement from the traction forces, which could be taken by pillars mounted on the bogie centre line, fore and aft, bearing against the curved edges in the floor pan? You might have to make some adjustments to the inboard curve but the front surface already looks spot on. If the "pillars" are brass tube, free to revolve on a brass or N/S wire pin or smaller diameter tube, very little friction would result and the traction forces would be taken low down and leave the screw in the arch to just give the pivot and locate the bogie sideways.
Just a thought.
Dave.

 

[James Spooner]

Hi Nigel, Would have happily put that Lorider in my Lima Class 156, but had no idea that Chris had one left!

A while ago I did put one in my Lima Class 101. It ran very smoothly in both directions, but was noisier in one direction. Chapman Snr spotted that one of the worms wasn't quite centred over its gear, and moving it just a fraction rendered it equally quiet (and smooth) in both directions - hopefully that won't be a tip you need.

The Wickham DMUs are such handsome beasts, and your model of one really does them justice!
Steve

Thanks Steve! Actually I did make some tweaks to the position of the worms and a bit a of gentle filing seems to have got a smooth runner.

Nigel

 

[AJC]

Hi Nigel, Would have happily put that Lorider in my Lima Class 156, but had no idea that Chris had one left!

A while ago I did put one in my Lima Class 101. It ran very smoothly in both directions, but was noisier in one direction. Chapman Snr spotted that one of the worms wasn't quite centred over its gear, and moving it just a fraction rendered it equally quiet (and smooth) in both directions - hopefully that won't be a tip you need.

The Wickham DMUs are such handsome beasts, and your model of one really does them justice!
Steve

It does help that Chapman snr (Hi dad!), had built two already, one for a Hampshire unit and one because he'd got fed up with the coffee grinder gears on my LIMA single car DMU...

Adam

 

[James Spooner]

Nigel.

Good to see some progress fitting the power bogie.
I wonder if it would be beneficial to separate the pivoting action with your arch arrangement from the traction forces, which could be taken by pillars mounted on the bogie centre line, fore and aft, bearing against the curved edges in the floor pan? You might have to make some adjustments to the inboard curve but the front surface already looks spot on. If the "pillars" are brass tube, free to revolve on a brass or N/S wire pin or smaller diameter tube, very little friction would result and the traction forces would be taken low down and leave the screw in the arch to just give the pivot and locate the bogie sideways.
Just a thought.
Dave.

Dave,

Many thanks for that very helpful suggestion. I got your suggestion about bringing the driving forces down so they weren’t pivoting off the top of the arch (and that was something that was troubling me too!) but it took me a while, as a simple accountant, to figure out your method. I think I have now done that and I will essay an attempt as I think it is worth it. I will build the pivoting outer arch first as that will determine the arc I want to run the brass rotating “pillars” on, then take it from there. Thanks again!

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

I have managed to make some more progress this evening. The outer brass arch against which the motor bogie will sit has been created out of more U shaped section, suitably cut, filed, drilled and then soldered into place. The lateral beam, it turns out, is slightly too high (by about 1mm) so I have cut a couple of pieces of 40thou plasticard to act as bearers between the two brass beams.

Dave Holt has very kindly sent me a sketch indicating in a very clear way his suggestion for vertical rollers to provide more stability around the motor bogie and once I have tidied up this bit of work I will see if I can make that work as my next job. After that it will be a case of fitting the Bachmann frames and a socket for the Kadee coupler.

A couple of photos are attached to clarify what I have probably failed to explain in words.

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

Just to confirm it would look right with the trailer car I couldn’t resist trying the DMBS body on and seeing if the two cars matched up. Fortunately they do and with the benefit that the motor bogie and mounts are all hidden by the brake compartment.

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

Following on from Dave Holt’s suggestion (albeit rather delayed due to a succession of domestic plumbing problems - these things never seem to happen in isolation!) I have made and installed a pair of roller bearings, one at each end of the bogie, and fettled the mazak casting before inserting and gluing into position a pair of curved strips of brass (bent up on my GW roller) for the rollers to run against. I am calling the motor bogie mounting finished now!

I think my next task is to fit the remains of the Bachmann bogie frames and work out where to fit the coupling socket.

Nigel

 

[Dave Holt]

Really glad the suggestion worked out, Nigel.
Dave.