O Lord, lead me not into temptation

[Martin Shaw]

The evening sun glints on the Swindon adornments as The Earl, or is it The Countess, heads the last train of the day home.


Right, enough of the poetry. This is all Steve Cook's fault, posting pictures of French fancies that beguile and lead to stray thoughts.
A spare Sunday afternoon at the end of April led me to the Bonnybridge model railway show, small but enjoyable for a couple of hours, until I fell into conversation with Scottish Garden Railways where things took a turn for the expensive. He had a Roundhouse Lady Anne on display, nice enough but not a model of a prototype so I asked if he had anything else. A W&L Countess was the reply, oh how I wished I hadn't gone, how I wished Sandy hadn't been there, but that was it, hook line and sinker. There were some issues needing resolved so I couldn't pick it up until today. It is gorgeous and whilst recognising that the West of Scotland is hardly ideal garden railway territory when the weather is good, what more could you want.

As for that Steve Cook, of course in reality he was extremely helpful giving much useful guidance and information to assist with my decisions, thank you Steve.

This is the real estate in which some forethought is needed, fortunately the county surveyor seems to approve so planning approval seems likely.


Funny how life turns .
Regards
Martin

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Hi Martin,
Here’s a couple of shots of my long sold Pearse Countess. I had a wobbly moment a couple of weeks back and nearly ordered the Accucraft No 14 in madder lake livery, I’m still tetering on the edge!
Good luck and looking forward to seeing your progress!
Richard

Ps..it looks like you are going for G45 scale track. I used Peco and after 12 years I pulled it up and it was as good as new!

 

[Overseer]

One or two of these would look nice too.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Is that the Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway?

 

[Martin Shaw]

It most certainly is Dave, stop planting thoughts.
Martin

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Scottish narrow gauge railways will make an overdue welcome to the Welsh monotony .

 

[Steve Cook]

Pleased I could help Martin, your new toys look magnificent
Steve

 

[Martin Shaw]

I thought to give the loco a tryout, so pending a railway, suitable blocks of wood lifted the wheels. It runs more or less ok, as I had observed when I tried it out at the dealers, however it had some rather obvious deficiencies. The water gauge is ornament rather than useful, as you can see it suggests water in the top half and nothing below, go figure. The breed is generally messy, some exhaust comes from the chuffer in the lum but the obvious overly copious oil supply and quite a quantity of water drops from the bottom of the smokebox, overfilling the boiler produces water from the safety valve, and in homage to Swindon it feathers constantly. Whilst running the pressure sits quite happily at 40psi, shut off it will rise to 50psi at which the safety is coping, so no worries there. I was more concerned about the R/Control, neither servo was operating within a comfortable zone, both could be heard to be driving on the endstops which was partly due to the operating linkages. For lack of adjustment mid gear wasn't the same on both sides of the loco, one die block was higher than the other which effectively meant one engine wouldn't be in full gear in both directions, fortunately an easy alteration. The regulator didn't fully shut, a lack of adjustability in the linkage, but on an engine with no drain cocks or handbrake a distinct liability. So I did what any self respecting engineer would do and took it to bits.



Yeh I know its arty and out of focus but the problem is obvious.
I found a bit of brass rod, and having tapped the yokes out to 8BA, threaded one end, and pending setting up the servo for travel it sits awaitng finishing. In addition the rod was fouling on the gas supply pipe so some judicious bending fixed it. The reversing servo mechanism also needs a look at. It has also enabled a major clean, for a loco with one previous owner, it hasn't been particularly well looked after. There are other issues which whilst not affecting it's operation suggest a minimal effort. The body is held on by six screws, four from underneath which are easy, the two inserted from the top in the bunker space are going to be changed, who ever though a hex head screw with no slot immediately adjacent to a pipe was ever clever. Nothing too dramatic that can't be easily enough fixed.

There has fortunately not been an adverse reaction to use of the kitchen work top, the workshop is just too hot and the garage is a tip, force majeure.

Regards
Martin

 

[adrian]

The water gauge is ornament rather than useful, as you can see it suggests water in the top half and nothing below, go figure.

That doesn't surprise me - I suspect it's something to do with capillary reaction in such a small tube. Clarry Edwards on his 7mm locos didn't bother with a gauge glass but judged the water level from the noise from the blower. I suspect it's something you learn from just running the loco. Nice to see some authentic motive power anyway.