Garden Railway Forum

12/08/23 Borrowing the crane from Dad's work again, the complete engine/gearbox assembly goes in. With little garage room to spare. https://i.postimg.cc/43kmD0rj/365672301-1172299860839338-262471223252339812-n.jpg 23/08/23 "Retrobelt" seatbelts were installed through the body crossmember, ...

08/06/23 The engine progresses in spite of poor lighting. It's like a Roundhouse kit - Pre-machined and more-or-less ready to bolt together, or , you can fettle and fiddle with it for a better result. https://i.postimg.cc/7hV3h4yC/IMG-9403.jpg 04/07/23 After some problems, block No.305 is slowly get...

01/02/23 Because of the camshaft I chose, two of the camshaft bearings in the engine block had to be pulled out and drilled for an oil hole, then pressed back into place. To do this, you need to machine an aluminium mandrel. That lump of aluminium was later used for the chimney of my boneyard Koppel...

Looks like the Ebay Madness thread could use a revival.

Your new loco is certainly a sweet little runner. Looking forward to seeing your unique spin on it.

Really like that one.

30/12/22 Took the easy way out of filling the pitting and dings in my wheels last week, hitting them with two heavy coats of spray putty. This smoothed out most of the pitting with zero further work, but the deeper pits and dents needed sanding flush. Today I sanded out 4/5 wheels, each took an hour...

Ah, the "old man" shtick is because I've been called "old man" and curmudgeon" all my life. I just know what I want. :lol: The idea is to end up with a brand new car. Fix it once, fix it right. Show the world that old things are more than up to the job, and defy mind-numbing...

Rear spring/axle assembly refitted after stripping, treating and painting the underbody. Oh! And new spring end shackles fitted. https://i.postimg.cc/L6491SpH/IMG-0507.jpg 05/10/22 Front axle was bent from the centre, as they always are. Someone tows them out of a ditch or barn at some point, the ax...

03/09/22 The main brake cross shaft resembles the reversing weighshaft on a steam loco. Ford stuck with mechanical brakes right up till '39. Mechanical brakes work just fine, as long as you overhaul and calibrate them right. Admittedly a ton of work, which most can't be bothered with, so they get an...

Keep this coming please Aaron. It's in 'off topic' so it's in the right place :thumbup: (BTW, I genuinely thought that was you laughing about the mismatched and loose manifold bolt :lol:) It certainly was in my head, when I saw it! Pleased to see it's of interest. I know it's the off-topic forum, b...

This is making me want to tear into that Model T waiting in the cupboard for a rail conversion.

So, I paid full price for a dog. I'd made my bed, time to lay in it. It would be some months before my new engine kit would reach the dealer in Western Australia. Plenty of time to overhaul the car. I went into my usual depth recording the work over on the Vintage Ford Forum, but this site ain't abo...

Cheers guys, but this isn't restored. It wasn't even roadworthy. :banghead: The oldest car I've driven as my primary transportation is/was my 40-year-old SAAB, and considering relative complexity and parts availability a Model A is by leaps and bounds a much more practical vehicle! Oh I don't know, ...

As you may have noticed, many of my posts lately have mentioned a car I've been working on. Well, now that it's finally finished, I can divulge the three-year secret that had overtaken my life. It's a 1931 Ford Model A. My first car. This is coming from the guy who made it a point to drive a steam l...

ge_rik wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2024 9:26 am Are Australian crossings generally ungated?

Rural crossings are usually ungated. Some really out-of-the-way places still don't have lights either.

It's always the same story at level crossings. Impatience.

This one's the closest non-hit I've seen. Hard to top that.

Big fan of funny little cars myself, especially Messerschmitts... (Try making one of those into a railcar! :D) Never realised they built things without wings. Old and weird, just how I like a car. :thumbleft: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/KR200_1959.jpg/800px-KR200_1959....

Cheap, effective, good-looking track. Can't beat that.

I thought about trying out a speech to text program, to shorten the excessive lengths of time I spend translating my thoughts into written words.

They all just leave too many mistakes to fix.

Forgot about those two. Terrific little conversions.

Nice work. The battery voltage reminder underneath is a great idea. Beats my method of "forget, then check the loco's records and hope you've recorded it when the loco was built".