Garden Railway Forum

Combined reply to all of you guys (and thank you for your contributions :thumbright: ) ...I've been using the soldering iron to distribute the solder... Yes, I've tried that as well, and apart from the difficulty of heating 1.5mm steel sheet (particularly with high temp soft solder like Comsol, whic...

GTB wrote: ↑Fri Jan 18, 2019 8:49 am...Tenmille in the UK have code 215 flat bottom rail available that looks more like flat bottom rail than the Peco effort...

just had reply from Tenmille:

Unfortunately we no longer supply this rail due to low demand. We can supply bullhead rail instead in case this is of interest to you.

Sure, it's an old technique for wetting/tinning stuff with soft solder. The modern enhancement is to use silicone brush, which allows you to work the solder without burning the brush :) Rather than use many words to describe the technique, below is the link to Youtube vid showing the thing in action...

Thank you GTB , for detailed response! ...Since you are building a Fowler that ran on a cane tram in Qld., technically the rail would be flat-bottom, probably no heavier than 40lb/yd in the steam era, and spiked direct to the sleepers... yes, that is exactly what I had in mind ...Peco rail sections ...

I guess, (looking at the webpage) there is somewhat flat bottom, although it is clearly described as "Code 200 Bullhead Rail" SM-32 CODE 200 For comparison "Code 250 Flat Bottom Rail" is: G-45 CODE 250 I will have to have a look at real thing to make my mind It's not a show stopp...

As far as I know majority prototype narrow gauge rails are flat bottom? So I'd rather have slightly large code 250 rail with flat bottom than correct size but wrong shape code 200 bullhead. The argument often voiced in favour of bullhead is that it is easier to bend (flat bottom requiring rail bende...

Thanks IrishPeter,
Code 180 or 200 would probably be more close to fine scale prototype, but 250 is likely to be more practical and robust indeed.
The only source I know (here in UK) is PECO
Going to have to visit local hobby shop and see what they've got.

Yes indeed ttg as long as you avoid modern lead free sh*te :twisted: Another thing that makes such a difference to final result is the silicone brush for working the solder. Would be lovely to get a source for some decent ones off the shelf. My DIY contraption is rather crude and the only ones I've ...

Bit more progress to report :thumbup: Started on the cab floor: https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7809/46775364221_ff9351d106_o.jpg Brass angle is soldered and riveted to the floor and the whole thing is then "bolted" to loco frame: https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4856/46775367941_4e1369df77_o.j...

That definitely looks more realistic

Only just stumbled on this thread... (don't know why, but expected things like this in "Locomotives - Live Steam" section?)
Very enjoyable
Thank you for sharing.

I can see the attraction ttg

For balance - there is works photo of the same loco (Airdmillan) here

Michael R. Lane Collection (from negatives in the Museum of English Rural Life)

...The simplest option is not to fit rivets, as a lot of late build Fowlers had flush riveted smokeboxes. My late '20s Fowler 0-4-2T was one of them, which saved me a lot of fiddly work. Possibly the smokeboxes were welded, but I'm not sure Fowler were that adventurous back then... Spot on Graeme :...

Thank you for your suggestions.
I will have to make few tests and ponder my options...
btw there are also brass threaded roundhead screws with no slots

It's lovely to see so much steel being used :thumbright: Indeed, that's one of my objectives in this project. btw - how did you secure the rivets in the smokebox in your Wild Rose? Brian Wilson's book is talking about using superglue for dummy/non-functional rivets but I am not convinced that it is...

Nice bit of brazing there... I would call it tolerable rather than nice :D need to practice more :thumbup: ...Shame you had to throw the first attempt away. Did you salvage any of it. You put a lot of very good time and effort into it.... No didn't salvage anything. Job worth doing is worth doing w...

... I reckon I will use silver brazing (56% Harris, I use it daily in my work) for my fabrications. Not an attempt to teach grandmother to suck eggs :mrgreen: The two reasons I am persisting with Sifbronze are: cost - silver solder is so ***** expensive (so where I can get away without using silver...

Smokebox assembly temporarily test fitted to the frame: https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4841/46333633462_5362c46c86_o.jpg and from below, showing bottom closing plate fitted as well: https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4859/45472135105_6f52d5cae8_o.jpg and with all the frame stretchers in place: https://c1....

At long last... bit of an update. As mentioned before I wasn't all that happy with the first attempt. My brazing was dodgy, frame ended up a bit wonky and having real thing in front of me (rather than CAD image) made me change some of my ideas. So everything you've seen so far ended up in a scrap bi...

It's all becoming clear
Thank you again for such detailed progress reports.
This build thread is more than "of interest" - love it - source of info and inspiration