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Today I was presented with the finished double chimney, Yeah! After some fettling to the chimney, chamfering the oil screw head a little and a little chamfer on the chimney hole it now fits perfectly. Only a paint job to finish. It's a bit hard to see, but the underside of the casting replicates the original design of the single chimney having a boss and 'peg' to locate within the chimney hole. The inside diameter of the boss dictated that I had to reduce the screw head a little.

So what is missing on the RHS of the locomotive? That's right, the link driving the lubricators. Hornby sells a spares item, X5278, which is the link assembly for a non valanced A4. X5275 is the same item but for a valanced loco. See photo. So I replaced the journal on the rear wheel with  that from a centre wheel to be able to fix the new link and you have to use the screw from the centre journal, its thread is smaller. I bought 3 link assemblies and luckily one of them was complete with the bracket at the running board. From this bracket I will get it cast in brass as the plastic one won't last, however to confirm the conversion will work I have glued it on. See video.

Last weekend the club Roadshow Team travelled to Staffordshire, Statfold country Park is near Tamworth, and has many attractions for all ages and interests.

The layout was erected in the usual efficient manner on the Friday as usual, and I arrived on the Saturday morning, even before the show opened we were running our engines, but soon the crowds arrived and we as busy as ever. Being a location with its own narrow gauge steam railway, many of our visitors knew how steam engines worked but were still fascinated to see the oo cutaway mallard made by David known as Arfur, and commented on the marvels of miniature engineering. Here is Arfur on top of the newly made loco display stand made by shop manager Nick.

Throughout the show the tannoy system was playing 1970 music, abba, Eagles etc. great for those of us from that era! Also at intervals…

A previous post questioned why the safety valve steam didn't exhaust up through the safety valve holes. 'David & Val' recommended the solution. The holes on the safety valve cap on some A3's do not align with the valve holes on the top of the boiler. In fact, they were way off. Placing a drill through the top and spotting on the cap proved the problem was real. As you can see from the photo, the new holes need to be near to the centre and the other one was right on the edge of the cap (see pointer) and would be hidden by the flexible shroud. So I only used the centre hole drilling it a little larger than the originals. The original holes have been blocked off with 10BA screws, held in by Loctite and cut off. I now have my Flying Scotsman blowing off correctly!! I'll be…

Just a picture showing the LNER builders plate. The Silver Tay Co. does a great job of creating these ultra fine fittings. The text can even be read, fantastic. Thanks Silver Tay. I reckon this kind of fine detail really makes the model look real. The double chimney is on the back burner according to my maker of all things brass.

My rectangular layout of two tracks with drive through sidings has R3 & R4 bends. I have found that A4 with valances do not like the R3 bends, they run very well on the outside bends of R4. A4's without valances are ok on the R3 bends and of course the A3's run ok on either.

Having received the parts from the OOLS Shop (Many thanks Nick) I can now repair the same and reassemble the locomotive. The superheater and safety valve assembly has to be unscrewed allowing access to the top hat, brass arm with the steel wiper arm underneath it at the top hat end and the gear with pin close to the gearbox . The top hat has 2 holes, 1 round for the whistle and the other a tear drop shape, this shape allows the increased control of steam as it is rotated. It is important to make sure the top hat hole is on the LHS, driver side, when positioned on its peg. Now it has to be aligned with the hole in the regulator base, doing this with a drill the size of the hole and juggling it until it drops into the steam feed hole beneath. This now sets…

In my previous post I hinted on a special train for the Flying Scotsman I have modified. Well here it is. The Northern Belle. Enjoy the videos.

What's this you say? Well my new Flying Scotsman that I am building with the deflectors and double chimney doesn't like blowing off through the safety valves atop the boiler. Instead the steam exhausts down and under the cab turning the steam into water. Removing the body and steaming up, the safety valve works fine, but with the body in place, I get the problem. Any Ideas as to what's happening?? I hope to get the double chimney soon and have some special coaches on order for a really nice train. More on that later. Cheers.