4mm Jan's 4mm Workbench
- Thread starter Lyndhurstman
- Start date
16T Mineral - B567890
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
One lump or two? A grey box, a reductionist representation from Metro Camell via Bachmann. Whoever was responsible, her narrow-to-gauge original chassis has had a 'just because' upgrade from Mr Bedford's works - although I'm not convinced that her springs are worth the effort.
B567890 has arrived in The Works for investigation of a warm axle-box, having been stood Out Of Traffic down in the old GN Goods Depot sidings down by East India Dock Wall Road, her paintwork 'benefiting' from the heavy downpours that have plagued us lately. Bert has left her here, brake on, while he goes to knock up a 'Do Not Shunt' board; although that's basically for his own benefit, as he's the only qualified driver at the minute.
16T Mineral - B97762
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
Another 1/108 leaves site.
B97762 was born sometime between March and May 1954, from Pressed Steel to Lot 2254. Like others from PS, she has a strengthening rib - running along the majority of her brake lever. We know that some Cambrian-assembled 108's also had this variance, too..
Other than that - and the separation of reporting number from tonnage (a single Modelmaster panel sliced up) that seems to have occurred with other PS 108s - she's a Bog Standard two-shoe Morton.
This one was a Kirkaldy kit of parts, with a few additionals; she's kept from intimacy with her kith and kin by a MJT fixed buffers at each corner, which in turn sit in a pair of 51L white metal headstocks (the Parkside rendition of same was a simplification that was let down by the moulded buffer housings). Like most of our output, she leaves shod new 3-hole discs. We think these might be Kean Maygib as they have shiny axles - unlike our usual Gibsons - but as long as she holds up long enough for the money to be banked, we're not fussy how she skips along.
Just for interest, here's a comment on the build from Eddie Critchlow; one of the stalwarts of our Assembly Shop:
For a simple box, the kit took a fair degree of fettling. Even out here, in the backwater of Limehouse, we'd heard rumour of the early Kircaldy output being flash-heavy, but had been lucky to miss it. Until now. This one was particularly tricky, and not helped by the less-than-sure fit of corners. Having said that, the thickness of the plate did at least permit a rendition of the inner door surfaces - which is more than can be said for the Bachmann take on these functional forms.
And then there were the strengtheners.... an awkward octet of fiddly fun that demanded heavy use of the loupe. All in all, it wasn't as easy as it looked, and I don't want to think about doing the other one just yet: maybe after Christmas, when I've got my strength back.
As Eddie points out, there is another one of these in the Order Book, but I think his comments - backed up by the murmurings of discontent from within The Works - mean we might let it slip down the Job Order List. What next though? There's a question....
Best
Jan
On behalf of all at Watkins Wharf
Alex Jacksons 1 - An introduction
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
Hello again,
Sad to report, the damp, dreary darkness of the Autumn has given nowt of favour to the workforce at Watkins Wharf. Our time has been spent trying to concentrate - difficult enough with the roar of the rain on the Workshop roof - made even worse as it was pushed up under the tiles by the storm force winds, and wreaked havoc with our cabling for the electric lights in the Stores. We've had to send some of the younger lads up they to put some tarps down in - it's just too wet to get up on the slates at the minute. Although a lot of workers here are no stranger to a night on the tiles... Our stores man now wanders around with his eyes fixed on the ceiling - if I didn't know of the issue hangung over his head, I'd mark him down as devout!
Anyway, now we're back to work after the Christmas shutdown, we've decided to take a crack at the couplings for our stock. I think I've mentioned in some previous missive that we were mulling over Alex Jacksons - as they are discreet, quiet and relatively cheap to produce (the last being something of a definite must with the state of our Order Book, and all the seasonal outgoing we made in the last financial quarter). And AJ's were also a great favourite of the late Graham Turner, a lovely, encouraging chap who I was fortunate enough to know during the years I spent in Gloucester (and who lent his considerable intelligence to the design of some of these jigs, I believe).
It is therefore with some trepidation - and a high degree of weariness - that I place before you the first of our fettlings in this regard.
Suffice to say, they're tricky beasts. Even with the complete gamut of cunningly designed and beautifully realised jigs and gauges designed to ease the generation of these couplings (courtesy of some nifty work by the people at Palatine), it's no easy task. Even for vegetarians, being ham-fisted is still an issue, and these fiddly forms provide a wonderful opportunity for its expression.
The example in the photograph (actually half a one - the other end is still to be done) has taken almost two hours to get this far. That includes folding up the sub-base (needed for stock with thin floors - stuff that has representation of framing and supports doesn't require it), and soldering 10 BA brass nuts for adjustable hinge plate: we used soldered nuts because couldn't find a tap - even with all this water kicking around..). Then there's the application of multiple twists and turns of the 0.011"guitar wire to undertake.. Another jig is in the offing - this one built by us - and will consist of a simple Plasticard U channel that will fit between the axles, and have a rectangular hole in the centre to locate the hinge support box.
We're sincerely hoping that the process can be sped up - the Time & Motion Men think it possible, but there's a number of Assemblers walking around nursing pricked digits, and making talk of sacrificial offerings to Messrs Sprat & Winkle... There's still a counterweight to be fitted (it will lie between the backs of the wheels on the other axle, and parallel to it) and a dropper, too. More jigs, and lots of intense loupe work, yet. And another thirty after this. Maybe we'll talk again this time next year, but I'll just wish you
All the best for this one
Cheers
Jan
Sad to report, the damp, dreary darkness of the Autumn has given nowt of favour to the workforce at Watkins Wharf. Our time has been spent trying to concentrate - difficult enough with the roar of the rain on the Workshop roof - made even worse as it was pushed up under the tiles by the storm force winds, and wreaked havoc with our cabling for the electric lights in the Stores. We've had to send some of the younger lads up they to put some tarps down in - it's just too wet to get up on the slates at the minute. Although a lot of workers here are no stranger to a night on the tiles... Our stores man now wanders around with his eyes fixed on the ceiling - if I didn't know of the issue hangung over his head, I'd mark him down as devout!
Anyway, now we're back to work after the Christmas shutdown, we've decided to take a crack at the couplings for our stock. I think I've mentioned in some previous missive that we were mulling over Alex Jacksons - as they are discreet, quiet and relatively cheap to produce (the last being something of a definite must with the state of our Order Book, and all the seasonal outgoing we made in the last financial quarter). And AJ's were also a great favourite of the late Graham Turner, a lovely, encouraging chap who I was fortunate enough to know during the years I spent in Gloucester (and who lent his considerable intelligence to the design of some of these jigs, I believe).
It is therefore with some trepidation - and a high degree of weariness - that I place before you the first of our fettlings in this regard.
Suffice to say, they're tricky beasts. Even with the complete gamut of cunningly designed and beautifully realised jigs and gauges designed to ease the generation of these couplings (courtesy of some nifty work by the people at Palatine), it's no easy task. Even for vegetarians, being ham-fisted is still an issue, and these fiddly forms provide a wonderful opportunity for its expression.
The example in the photograph (actually half a one - the other end is still to be done) has taken almost two hours to get this far. That includes folding up the sub-base (needed for stock with thin floors - stuff that has representation of framing and supports doesn't require it), and soldering 10 BA brass nuts for adjustable hinge plate: we used soldered nuts because couldn't find a tap - even with all this water kicking around..). Then there's the application of multiple twists and turns of the 0.011"guitar wire to undertake.. Another jig is in the offing - this one built by us - and will consist of a simple Plasticard U channel that will fit between the axles, and have a rectangular hole in the centre to locate the hinge support box.
We're sincerely hoping that the process can be sped up - the Time & Motion Men think it possible, but there's a number of Assemblers walking around nursing pricked digits, and making talk of sacrificial offerings to Messrs Sprat & Winkle... There's still a counterweight to be fitted (it will lie between the backs of the wheels on the other axle, and parallel to it) and a dropper, too. More jigs, and lots of intense loupe work, yet. And another thirty after this. Maybe we'll talk again this time next year, but I'll just wish you
All the best for this one
Cheers
Jan
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Kier Hardy
Active Member
Things appear to be quiet on a number of fronts, and with little reported output of wagonry from a certain East London establishment, leads me to believe that perhaps the order books are looking slightly bleak for the time of year. No doubt small batch work of various sub assemblies are keeping the workforce occupied with fettling and preparation of components ready for fitting to items of rolling stock (should they appear), and a glimmering hope of an upturn in work to avoid the need for serious reorganisation (or dare I say it redundancies?).
There will be no excuse for water ingress from the roof during quiet times, as I'm sure the metalsmiths, carpenters and painters are more than capable of adapting themselves to the tasks in hand, although ladderwork and high wire activities should almost certainly be carried out by those of junior years in any organisation.
You will have to excuse any presumptions as a result of this contribution, but communication has never been easy in these far reached parts of the borderlands. Similar problems have been encountered in the locale with regard to automation, and the Shaglings may hold the key to performing separation & agglutination within preferred timeframes, much of which could be more widespread if it wasn't for copyright and patents pending. There's nothing worse than constant shuffling, resulting in frustration and a desire to return to the drawing board!
Give me a 3-link any day.
There will be no excuse for water ingress from the roof during quiet times, as I'm sure the metalsmiths, carpenters and painters are more than capable of adapting themselves to the tasks in hand, although ladderwork and high wire activities should almost certainly be carried out by those of junior years in any organisation.
You will have to excuse any presumptions as a result of this contribution, but communication has never been easy in these far reached parts of the borderlands. Similar problems have been encountered in the locale with regard to automation, and the Shaglings may hold the key to performing separation & agglutination within preferred timeframes, much of which could be more widespread if it wasn't for copyright and patents pending. There's nothing worse than constant shuffling, resulting in frustration and a desire to return to the drawing board!
Give me a 3-link any day.
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
Hello Kier, and thank you for your concern.
Indeed, recent happenings in The Works have had little - or any, if the truth be told - impact on the external environment. This is not to say that the work has dried up; we still have a number of wagons on the Order Books, and rumours of a coat of paint for the Works 48DS (rendering her to something other than Bold As Brass) are currently providing much froth around the Tea Trolley.
But the current activities have been centred around the ongoing acclimatisation with all things Alex Jackson. For a variety of reasons, mostly related to the fundamental foundations of fixing these folded finger-piercers (after so many battles, some amongst us call them The Devil's Handiwork) we are all a bit weary of the shaping shenanigans, and are casting about with an open mind for alternative associative arrangements - especially those that look comely, and are self-determinant and unrequiring of prestidigitation). In truth, I would long to utilise 3-links, but the oscillatory nature of the shunters hand has been found to lack the fine control necessary in this area, and has wreaked havoc upon many a supposed immovable wagon in its time.
Herewith below, you find the current status of our travail.
A finer obsequiance to the Deities of Bodgery and Hamfistedness shall not be found, I wager. The slots in the baseplate are useful here, as the 'approved radius' for these couplings is far beyond what we have here, and thus the distance between the tail of the coupling and the coupling needs to be greater than the 0.25" in the specifications.
The next attempt will be to try the more 'classic' fixation, and be mounted directly to the chassis, and will thus need to take into account a priori the need of more distance between coupling tail and bufferhead to enable traversing of the tight curves of The Wharf.
The additional metalwork sits on the host vehicle - a 7 plank mineral that might well have been to Mainline standards once, but has now been allocated as testbed for all manner of Works experimentations. I fear her chassis will not recover from this one as - having got her to a point where she was able to host both couplings and soft iron droppers, and having seen her couplings nod in the presence of a magnetic field - she was cunningly assailed by Gravity, and lost another buffer head as she interacted detrimentally with The Works laminate floor.
You may see from the above photo that we have decided not to use steel nails for droppers (they pass muster for counterweights, though), but have come up with this kneeling L-shaped bend of soft iron. We prefer this method - it is a length folded several times, becoming two L's, joined at the top; this design (more a happy accident, but we'll happily make out we're Engineers of the first order to anyone who doesn't know any better..) having the useful advantage of clamping the 11 thou wire between its 'knees' and sparing the need for more jigs and dexterity to hold it in place for soldering.
So, there we have it. Something or Nothing. Probably the latter, but the time spent in education and enlightenment - although gazed upon ruefully in hindsight - will not be entirely wasted.
We remain, resolute and intrigued.
From All of Us Here.
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Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
Progress. Of sorts.
We've survived blitzes and loss, so we're not giving in. Not just yet, anyways!
Tripping towards working Alex Jacksons
Under the watchful eye of our MD, The Experimentals (some would do without the first couple of syllables) sectioned off a corner of the yard to give their handiwork some air. As The Works have yet to tackle the fundamentals of power supply, we have temporarily resorted to a fixed (and somewhat aggressively attractive) fixed magnet.
Note: If you look closely at the left hand coupling, you'll see evidence of another drawback to these origamic combinators - some of the front of the builders jumper!
We've survived blitzes and loss, so we're not giving in. Not just yet, anyways!
Tripping towards working Alex Jacksons
Under the watchful eye of our MD, The Experimentals (some would do without the first couple of syllables) sectioned off a corner of the yard to give their handiwork some air. As The Works have yet to tackle the fundamentals of power supply, we have temporarily resorted to a fixed (and somewhat aggressively attractive) fixed magnet.
Note: If you look closely at the left hand coupling, you'll see evidence of another drawback to these origamic combinators - some of the front of the builders jumper!
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jonte
Western Thunderer
Hi Jan.
Many thanks for relating your experiences with the AJs and for taking time to provide a fascinating video of them in use. Apologies if my constant pressing of the 'replay' has detrimentally affected it's clarity, such is my fascination with these things.
As a novice, which of these would assure me of a favourable outcome E-Shop | Scalefour Stores | Scalefour Society (the series of jigs can be found towards the end of list of items for sale)?
Many thanks in anticipation of your generous and valuable advice.
Jon.
Many thanks for relating your experiences with the AJs and for taking time to provide a fascinating video of them in use. Apologies if my constant pressing of the 'replay' has detrimentally affected it's clarity, such is my fascination with these things.
As a novice, which of these would assure me of a favourable outcome E-Shop | Scalefour Stores | Scalefour Society (the series of jigs can be found towards the end of list of items for sale)?
Many thanks in anticipation of your generous and valuable advice.
Jon.
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
Hello Jon,
As a novice, you should be penitent and practicing your vows
Not wasting your time reading such tosh as this, Peter.
12 seconds. If you only knew how long it took to get that from my phone onto Flickr... I tried ever so hard to make a GIF of it, but in the end it couldn't GIF a FIG. So I went over there.... sadly, I don't think I get paid for your clicking, and you'll be glad to hear the clip still clops (I wonder if there's a HoofTube?).
Anyway, enough of the blather, and back to your question.... (if there's a question, is it positively charged? And is there a questanion?)...
In my experience (ongoing), I would say DEFINITE for the AJBJ (takes a bit of work to build, and you need a razor saw to make the final angle cut, but is otherwise indispensable). Also DEFINITE for the 180 bending jig and the AJJ buffer beam clamp.
The AJPJ enables you to make a 90 degree bend in the horizontal plane in your 0.011" guitar string (I got mine from Ernest Bay). This horizontal bend is useful if you want to do what I have done, and mount the coupling on a Palatine baseplate. As the instructions state:
The use of a baseplate makes the adjustment of the distance between the tail of the hook and the front face of the buffer heads very easy, but I'm not convinced that all the faffing with baseplates and hinge plates is worth the effort. So - for the time being at least - I've asked The Experimentals to conduct further tests into anchoring techniques - including utilising the AJJ clamp to hold the hook where it should be - the 'classic' method of melting the far end into the vehicles intimate areas (this would be by far the easiest way, I feel). I hope to bring you - and anyone else daft enough to stumble across the witterings herein - more news in that strange signalling indicator; the Not Too Distant.
If you're interested, the MMRS pages on The Alex Jackson Coupling - are a great help.
Cheers
Jan
As a novice, you should be penitent and practicing your vows
Not wasting your time reading such tosh as this, Peter.12 seconds. If you only knew how long it took to get that from my phone onto Flickr... I tried ever so hard to make a GIF of it, but in the end it couldn't GIF a FIG. So I went over there.... sadly, I don't think I get paid for your clicking, and you'll be glad to hear the clip still clops (I wonder if there's a HoofTube?).
Anyway, enough of the blather, and back to your question.... (if there's a question, is it positively charged? And is there a questanion?)...
In my experience (ongoing), I would say DEFINITE for the AJBJ (takes a bit of work to build, and you need a razor saw to make the final angle cut, but is otherwise indispensable). Also DEFINITE for the 180 bending jig and the AJJ buffer beam clamp.
The AJPJ enables you to make a 90 degree bend in the horizontal plane in your 0.011" guitar string (I got mine from Ernest Bay). This horizontal bend is useful if you want to do what I have done, and mount the coupling on a Palatine baseplate. As the instructions state:
The use of a baseplate makes the adjustment of the distance between the tail of the hook and the front face of the buffer heads very easy, but I'm not convinced that all the faffing with baseplates and hinge plates is worth the effort. So - for the time being at least - I've asked The Experimentals to conduct further tests into anchoring techniques - including utilising the AJJ clamp to hold the hook where it should be - the 'classic' method of melting the far end into the vehicles intimate areas (this would be by far the easiest way, I feel). I hope to bring you - and anyone else daft enough to stumble across the witterings herein - more news in that strange signalling indicator; the Not Too Distant.
If you're interested, the MMRS pages on The Alex Jackson Coupling - are a great help.
Cheers
Jan
jonte
Western Thunderer
Good Lord, Jan.
It would appear that making these little divels is a penance
Having said that, the jigs are most definitely a blessing; I shall count them and purchase the lot to be sure!
Thanks for the link btw. Please keep me apprised of developments on the technical front. I'm certainly daft enough to know more.
Best wishes,
Jonte
It would appear that making these little divels is a penance
Having said that, the jigs are most definitely a blessing; I shall count them and purchase the lot to be sure!
Thanks for the link btw. Please keep me apprised of developments on the technical front. I'm certainly daft enough to know more.
Best wishes,
Jonte
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
Hello Jonte,
Glad to be of help.
Just one more jig thing I forgot to mention. The head of the coupling should sit in a very small - and localised - region of space. In order to achieve this you need a Hook Setting Gauge. No... it's not something out of Peter Pan... it's something that lets you set the vertical height of the hook to the 10mm above railhead, and laterally midway between the rails. There are a couple of options explored on the MMRS pages I mentioned earlier,but I prefer the AMBIS foldup - rather than a point to line up, it provides a cutout to sit your coupling shank in. You maybe able to make it out in the debacle of my Workbench on Flickr It's up at the top right, below the solder pumps and paste pot, sat on a bit of track.
Cheers
Jan
Glad to be of help.
Just one more jig thing I forgot to mention. The head of the coupling should sit in a very small - and localised - region of space. In order to achieve this you need a Hook Setting Gauge. No... it's not something out of Peter Pan... it's something that lets you set the vertical height of the hook to the 10mm above railhead, and laterally midway between the rails. There are a couple of options explored on the MMRS pages I mentioned earlier,but I prefer the AMBIS foldup - rather than a point to line up, it provides a cutout to sit your coupling shank in. You maybe able to make it out in the debacle of my Workbench on Flickr It's up at the top right, below the solder pumps and paste pot, sat on a bit of track.
Cheers
Jan
Alex Jacksons 2 - The AMBIS Hook Height Gauge
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
No worries chum
This is the beast in all doubtfulness. You'll see its marked for checking your hook, as well as having lines for buffer height on the verso.
Cheers
Jan
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
It's a local Works modification, to hold the gauge in place, while the whole assembly is inverted to be able to adjust the coupling;
In order to oppose the bending inwards of the jig by the force of the elastic, I've also added a bit of scrap rail (we have a lot, here...) across the width of the jig. You can see this just under the elastic band.
Regarding the state of The Works, this is - as you say - generally the norm. It's always a safety hazard, but at least the workers know where everything is!
All the best
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BR (LMS) 1/204 B752150 - 1st Entry
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
One of these things is not like the other.
The Works has been quiet of late, as most of the workforce has been on something of a Wagonman's Holiday to help out the restoration of a Y14 - this might (should it's Burly Chassis ever be in a fit state to consider union with its far-from-super structure) be featured in this decidedly dodgy diatribe.
What has gone on is the too and fro that is featured in the link. This was an Airfix LMS 12T van (there's its unaltered sibling lurking behind it). Despite tripping back and forth through the relevant chapter of Essery & Morgan it's hard to decide what Diagram the Airfix rendering represents - it has the later style of metal wraparound ends, but also the diagonal strapping. Whatever it is, it sits on a downright dodgy underframe, cunningly designed so the brake shoes will never wear, as they live in a different universe to the wheels they're supposed to be intimate with.
The reworked vehicle will be a BR-built Dia. 204. This has meant a new chassis from Parkside (PA16), two new buffer beams (sourced from local stock), correct buffers from LMS (Northern Area), and modification of the corrugated end from 2-panel to 3-panel via Swann Morton's sharpest.
Compared with the reprinting, the structural reconfiguration has been simplicity itself. The reworked vehicle is on its fourth - and final - skin tone (Railmatch 612 LMS Bauxite). It was - briefly - Railmatch 2323 Early Freight Bauxite, but the acrylic was not best pleased to be invested upon such a hybrid, so that came off and a more uniform rendition of Railmatch 235 was shown to it, but the Paint Shop took this down too, as it
Anyway, this is just a quick recap of things as they stand at The Works. As I say, not much to show, but a lot of frantic paddling beneath it all.
Our best to you.
Sincerely
Update: We should have surmised that the journey upon which we find ourselves has been undertaken by others. A great deal of detail regarding the 1/204 can be found in this online article from those wonderful citizens of CLAG. It appears that the van is supposed to represent the BR 1/204, and thus it's guise as an LMS vehicle is a fabrication. This means little to The Great And The Good, but a lot to me; in that I can rest easy, knowing that our Works Library (and my interpretation of the information therein) has not led us down a costly cul-de-sac (unlike the cadre of Impressionists in the Paint Shop).
The Works has been quiet of late, as most of the workforce has been on something of a Wagonman's Holiday to help out the restoration of a Y14 - this might (should it's Burly Chassis ever be in a fit state to consider union with its far-from-super structure) be featured in this decidedly dodgy diatribe.
What has gone on is the too and fro that is featured in the link. This was an Airfix LMS 12T van (there's its unaltered sibling lurking behind it). Despite tripping back and forth through the relevant chapter of Essery & Morgan it's hard to decide what Diagram the Airfix rendering represents - it has the later style of metal wraparound ends, but also the diagonal strapping. Whatever it is, it sits on a downright dodgy underframe, cunningly designed so the brake shoes will never wear, as they live in a different universe to the wheels they're supposed to be intimate with.
The reworked vehicle will be a BR-built Dia. 204. This has meant a new chassis from Parkside (PA16), two new buffer beams (sourced from local stock), correct buffers from LMS (Northern Area), and modification of the corrugated end from 2-panel to 3-panel via Swann Morton's sharpest.
Compared with the reprinting, the structural reconfiguration has been simplicity itself. The reworked vehicle is on its fourth - and final - skin tone (Railmatch 612 LMS Bauxite). It was - briefly - Railmatch 2323 Early Freight Bauxite, but the acrylic was not best pleased to be invested upon such a hybrid, so that came off and a more uniform rendition of Railmatch 235 was shown to it, but the Paint Shop took this down too, as it
. I have insisted that - whatever the issue with this now brown box, the artistic temperaments of Our Staff will be subsumed beneath the need to profit from our endeavours.
Anyway, this is just a quick recap of things as they stand at The Works. As I say, not much to show, but a lot of frantic paddling beneath it all.
Our best to you.
Sincerely
Update: We should have surmised that the journey upon which we find ourselves has been undertaken by others. A great deal of detail regarding the 1/204 can be found in this online article from those wonderful citizens of CLAG. It appears that the van is supposed to represent the BR 1/204, and thus it's guise as an LMS vehicle is a fabrication. This means little to The Great And The Good, but a lot to me; in that I can rest easy, knowing that our Works Library (and my interpretation of the information therein) has not led us down a costly cul-de-sac (unlike the cadre of Impressionists in the Paint Shop).
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BR (LMS) 1/204 B752150 - 2nd Entry
Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
The End Of Things.
The 1/204 is finished. She took a lot of effort in the end, and had her identity altered at the 11th hour. She was going to be 752189 from Lot 2013, but having applied the six digits (individually... on both sides....) they didn't look right. So she became 752150 - same Lot, and - courtesy of Modelmaster Sheet 4604 - a lot easier than the 'bespoke' identity I had planned for her.
In the end, the only thing left from her original incarnation is the body. She's had new vents - at the proper pitching - and as well as the Kirkcaldy chassis, a fair tranche of additional tartan tinkering, sporting Lanarkshire's finest in her intimate areas.
Before you say anything, I'll note that she's supposed to be LMS Bauxite (Railmatch 612) but seems to have a decidedly more Swindonesque hue about her. It must be all that shuffling around the grim easterly hindquarters of the seething, belching metropolis that's done for her dermal disappointment. Either that or the Paint Shop Boys didn't put enough Elbow in the mixing.
Her Pre-Enlightenment twin accompanies her in the picture, her OTS chassis balanced on the check rail. She'll get her turn. One day.
On behalf of the Watkins Wharf workforce, I wish the compliments of the Season to you all.
Best
Jan