We had a lovely day at the invitation event on Saturday, terrifically hot weather kept some away, but all credit to Cliff, Julie, Roy and the rest of the Essex team for setting up and running the portable layout. It was good to see the Mangapps line and hear of its full-size heritage, and Warton Road too. The little Type 3 shunter was overheating on the 1 in 13 ascents, no surprise there!
A Grand Day Out
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First run of the River loco and coach at the Fawley meet, the wheelbase is rather rigid, it ran on the straits ok and just managed the curves, but did not like the points as it derailed. Being an outside frame engine there is not much choice to solve the problem.
I could machine off the flanges on the leading bogie wheels or the middle drivers.
Anyone willing to offer advice?
Mike
Agreed, it was a great day out. As a Museum society member, I was dividing my time between William Street, the O gauge layout, and Warton Road, at one time running an Adams 4-4-0 simultaneously on both. Thanks to Tim Breeze, I'd had a chance to try out my T3 loco on Warton Road at an earlier date, and it stuck on one curve. I increased the swing of the bogie and that fixed the problem. Unfortunately I also had to remove the tail rods from the cylinders which were limiting the swing of the front bogie wheel. I now have two sets of cylinder fronts: a plain set for running and set with tail rods for display - if I can be bothered to change them!
Probably none of which helps Mike. If the only options are to remove wheel flanges, I'd be inclined to go for the leading driver rather than the rear of the bogie, because the latter might make the bogie quite unstable.
Anyway, here's a couple of photos of Warton Road. The loco is, improbably but not impossibly, pulling my LNWR Picnic Saloon from the Mike Williams kit which was getting its first outing.
Nick
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With or without tail rods, the T3 looks magnificent!
The "River Class" looks a beauty, what a shame about those curves/turnouts. What radius are they?
Perhaps reserve it for use on lines with more generous radii in preference to carving it up?
I would have expected it to negotiate 15ft radius, with just a little "wiggle room" in the axleboxes.
John.
Yes, indeed, a really, very grand day out - now the question that needs answering is...... Are 'we' going to do it again next year?
What's not to like?
G3 trains - the big test track, Warton Road (always good to see that one out on tour) & Mangapps (another good to see layout), really big real trains complete with as many rides as you like, ice creams, tea & cake, a very interesting museum (I now know where the dead enamel signs go when they die, they go to Fawley Hill, never seen so many enamel signs in one place & they're all in tip top condition).
If you didn't go, you missed a cracking day, though someone needs to turn the Sun down a degree or two - Phew, what a scorcher.
Barry
I guess one factor in whether to hold another is whether Lady McAlpine wants it? It is her private house afterall. I didn't go because I went a few months back, but its a fantastic and very eccentrically English place.
Mike
The best person to answer that question is Tim Breeze who negotiated this visit, and spends more time at the museum than I do. I don't think he posts here, so this is my understanding. It's unlikely, because there are many groups looking for invitations to open days and the Museum Society tries to be fair to everyone. But never say never ...
Nick