Grinding halt with regulator open & safety valve lifting.

[blagdon]

Sorry Dave, Mike and John! Just couldn't resist a bit of a joke, a bad habit started during a one week 'holiday' in St Thomas' Intensive Care Unit; it's what comes of having used up too many of my lives, plus mixing with the Swindon fraternity!! (or corr look it's another green 4-6-0 ).

Ian the (grovelling) Gauge '3' Pirate

[454]

Ampthill boiler test day.

With trepidation the Brit was prepared for it's steam test together with 2 other Brits  ( Brian's & Dan's) on the day.
Mine was the last to be checked. Once the paperwork sorted & given the nod by Roger M, with RC fitted the Brit was united with Alan's 6 coach BR Mk1 rake of coaches. Ran very well on the 29th steaming & returned back to the steaming bay without manual assistance proudly adorned with "Thames Clyde Express" headboard supplied by Ian H.

This was the first steaming after Mike Pavie replaced the defective whistle valve washer seal. Thanks Mike P & Jon S.

Looking forward to 30th steaming at Timperley in April. So watch this space.

I am hoping that this log of activity will be really boring this year as excitement usually is accompanied by disaster & we do not want that do we?.

But today Dave is a happy bunny 
454

[blagdon]

Hi Mr Happy Bunny......
Good to hear Britannia behaved herself; perhaps when she goes 'up North' you could film her and put it on YouTube. Better still, would it be possible to double head her with Kinder Scout?

Ian the Gauge '3' Pirate

[454]

Hi Ian,
Had not considered double heading but had considered topping & tailing like on some mainline steam specials.
Not too sure if Kinder Scout could keep up, that will be the subject of much experiment over the coming weeks.
It could be a method of preventing uncoupled breakaways which I have not sorted yet on the Mk.1's.

I think the best way is to have a 2nd operator on the diesel chasing with buffers in contact but not coupled.

Can you imagine the sole driver (me) with two transmitters attempting to control 2 locos & failing rapidly to keep the mobile phone video aimed in a non shaky manner. You have to be kidding. Oh, & keeping an eye on water levels.

Thought about pairing the Tx with both Rx's & having Brit on LH "throttle stick" & diesel on RH "elevator stick", this could be a workable solution.

Thanks for the suggestion Ian.

Cheers
Dave
454

[MikeWilliams]

On the subject of YouTube, would it be useful to have a page on the website permanently linking to relevant videos of all types?  And if so, is it technically possible?

Mike

[IanT]

It should be fairly simple for John to provide a list of YouTube videos as 'links' on the G3 site (just one more job for him to do!    ) but "outsiders" would still need to find the G3 website in the first place...

I'm guessing that having a "consolidated" set of G3 videos on YouTube directly should also be possible & perhaps easier to find (it would get more hits than individual videos!). Someone would need to set up a YouTube 'account' and then people would send him/her their videos and he/she would upload them all to the one G3-YT account. You would then have quite a variety of G3 video material all in the one place and John would only need to link to that one place (a much easier task for him).

It would require a sort of 'YT-Webmaster' to organise & manage it - And no, I'm not volunteering to do it ...

Regards,

IanT

[454]

Suppose Youtube could be a bit off topic on this thread but I think it would be good if all members who upload to Youtube suitable Gauge 3 relevant video clips of their models in operation would place "Gauge 3 Garden Railway" in the title or keywords so that if anyone searches these specific items should pop up in the search. If I get time I will check if all mine have these keywords since I thought I had done this earlier.
Hope this helps.

Dave
454

[MikeWilliams]

Quite right Dave.  Sorry I hi-jacked your thread.  Will try not to do it again.

Mike

[John Candy]

http://lakes-pages.com/gauge3.co.uk/G3Forum/index.php?board=77.0

The above board was set up last year (if I remember correctly, at the suggestion of Dave).
In Sussex this week so my responses may be sporadic.

John.

[MikeWilliams]

errrr, sorry John!  Didn't notice it.

Mike

[454]

In March mentioned that the 30th steaming would be at Timperley. This was a good day with sunshine & plenty of live steamers. Managed 2 steamings as follows:

The 30th steaming with 24 goods wagons has taken place, nothing to report, ran flawlessly.

The 31st steaming followed about an hour later after full cooling down & servicing backed onto Trevor's 6 x Gresley teak bogie coaches. Absolutely beautiful run in fine style.

Important tips for Brit owners.
There is a point to note for Brit owners & that is make sure the rubber water & gas tubes are well secured under the tender to cab connector as they could drag over the top of a switch point & snag in a frog "vee"

Have modded the tender coupling now to a more robust steel hook with stiffer spring & a bit of ugly but very robust toilet chain. A straight substitution for the very pretty screw-link coupling. Made to fit without damage to tender, easy to revert back for showcase should I become very sad & decide not to run it ever again. What am I saying?

Next report after Ampthill which is next planned running session.

Dave
454

[blagdon]

Well done Dave; did you video either run?

Hope to see you at Ampthill.

Ian the Gauge '3' Pirate and Mrs Pirate

[454]

Ian,
Sadly I did not video the runs, however others did. There were some fine runs from other operators as well. A good variety of locos. So hopefully we should see some clips on You tube eventually.

Look forward to seeing you & Anne at Ampthill next.

Cheers
Dave
454

[454]

Ampthill May 3rd 2014

Conditions:
Weather fine warm & sunny after a cold early morning start.

Equipment installed in Brit:
RC unit changed from Saturn Tx / Rx combo ( other unit now in Dan's Brit ) to Spektrum Tx & Orange Spektrum compatible Rx.
Fresh made new RC unit with completely new components completed previous day, this was first time of use. Orange Rx with extra short stubby aerials. Spectrum Tx on throttle channel. Software programmed servo reversal so stick in low position for closed regulator with trim to set stop. Servo limited angular sweep less than previous to enhance controllability. Hopeful to limit top speed to a more realistic max. Throttle stick better control.
So will use this configuration for the rest of the season unless I can further improve function, starts from stationary were smoother, gentle & very controlled with progressive acceleration.

Run log:
32nd Steaming before lunch with 6 X BR Mk 1 bogie coaches in tow, no problems.

33rd Steaming later in afternoon, waited in steam simmering ready for a lull & then sneakily set back onto main to have  3 X Mk 1 bogie coaches in tow, again no problems.

Both occasions loco detached from coaches & ran light engine back to depot for servicing.

The Britannia is now a runner to be proud of and may be controlled in a realistic manner at all speed ranges with respectable loadings.

The GTG day:
Thanks to Alan & Maureen for their hospitality today. It was good to see such a variety of models on track throughout the day. Lost count of the number & variation of models running around the track.

Dave ( Happy Bunny again )
454

[IanT]

Nice day out at Ampthill - Good to see everyone.

Regards,  IanT