RTR OO9?

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote

A friend of mine scratch-builds locos in 009 - the quality is superb and his prices very reasonable. Contact me off-group if your want his name & address.

John.

Roco do some HOe (N track) industrial/quarry stuff with both basic steam and diesels and a few side-tip skip wagons. They are often fairly cheap and I think they are what you are looking for. If you can only get the wagons, then what about rope-worked with a bit of cotton wound round drums to pull back and forth ?

There are various reasonably priced kits in 009, though accuracy is very variable. Chassis can be a problem (kits use now unobtainable Arnold/Ibertren chassis), though there is a new low volume maker which provides a way round.

Accurate scale 4mm narrowgauge is another matter, probably commission built, but I don't think that's where you are heading.

- Nigel

In message , John Turner writes

Although I'm not into narrow-gauge modelling, I'd be interested to know if there are any pictures of his work.

I've often thought there was a market for RTR narrow gauge in both O and OO. There was plenty of 2' gauge. Possibly the ex- WW1 war department locomotives saw the widest use even though I like the quarry Hunslets and the Fairlies.

On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:01:12 -0000, "Nigel Cliffe" said in :

Perfect, yes, thanks. And I will talk to John as well. Roco is sold (perhaps ot exclusively) by

Guy

Not done anything with them /yet/, but am most taken with the dual-guage track they do. I have definite ideas of using that for 2'4"/15" in 7mm (obviously copiously ballasted..), but it could make for some fun operation in 00/009...

Liliput have a range although it is technically HOe and of Continental prototypes. Both Rails and Hattons were selling some of the range at bargain prices not that long ago, although they seem to have sold out of most of the items unfortunately.

Hmm... Balderton and Chirk are only 20 miles apart.

If you want a fun combination, I remember seeing a freelance

Coo. /Cute/.

Well, don't leave us all in suspense..

"Jane Sullivan" wrote

Many of his locos were featured in a very recent RM article. The layout is Crumley & Little Wickhill and was both on the front cover and I think was Railway of the Month.

There are a couple of (fairly ordinary) pictures on

John. It's a Hull Club

Can't comment on the supplier, but Roco is available from a lot of retailers. Stock seems erratic, but that is the case with many of the German/Austrian ranges. Even with the high Euro, it might be worth importing from Germany/Austria. And don't rule out Ebay. Or a copy of Continental Modeller might yield a few more suppliers of similar stuff.

If just wanting a few tipper wagons, then check Nigel Lawton's offerings; he has several kits which are little more than a few bits to stick together.

Lawton's locos are nice, but they are fiddly super-small kits, so probably not what you are looking for.

- Nigel

One of the Continental makes (possibly Fleichmann) offers a pair of working side tipping V hoppers in N which are passable as 009 (see note), for locos look at small N Gauge engines, hacksaw off the cab and add your own (Minitrix did a suitable 060 well tank engine one, they sold it with an alternative body as a British 'dock tank' when Hornby Minitrix was still going, I have a couple of Japanese 1:150 N Gauge 060 diesel 'shunters' that could be fettled in a similar way but the really small petrol engines commonly used could be tricky). Depends on what it is supposed to represent, slate wagons would be tricky to source, I am not certain of the dimensions of bales of wood pulp but if its a quarry/sandpit.gravel pit a 1 cubic yard V shaped side tipper would be right. Sorry I cannot be more help, just passing through home today.

Note - Sketches and photo of the most common 'Jubilee' 2 foot gauge tippers are included in

Regards

Mike

Some 40 years ago, I saw some fun track on one of Mike Sharman's 1840s

Tim

The one I was talking about was freelance engine running on the wrong pair of rails of a broad/standard mixed gauge layout as a joke. Possibly Bob Harper's layout.

Mmmmmm. I have (somewhere!) an old issue of MRC which shows that layout. Magnificent stuff.

I can never understand why the 1840s-1850s aren't modelled more (OK, lack of suitable track, lack of suitable kits - but why those lacks?). Short trains, short stock, tight curves the norm.. ideal for fitting something realistic into a small space. And //so// much more interesting.

Sharman's current exhibition stuff is worth seeking out. He shows in the UK and France.

Lack of data - see some of Sharman's writing on the topics. There are rarely accurate drawings of anything, photographs are very rare. So its illustrative sketch drawings, paintings, etc. And fill in all the details yourself to get a plausably accurate model (ie. one with all the bits required to make the real thing work actually connected in the right order).

Size - get a drawing of an early loco and see how small they are. 4ft and under diameter boilers. Lots of daylight underneath. Open cabs. Driving axles often directly below cab floor. Daylight underneath everything. Work out where a gear train will fit and it becomes a serious challenge in any scale. Adding enough weight for adhesion is difficult. In 4mm its small work (I'd suggest comparable to industrial narrow gauge).

I have a friend who has ambition to build some 1860's locos and stock in EM. Mechanical drive is one of the big issues. I think its going to prove more difficult than 2mm scale scratchbuilds of more modern stuff (where I have some experience).

The advantage is that, like Sharman shows, you end up with a model where there is little chance of anyone else having one, there is unlikely to be a rivet counter who can point out your mistakes (as Mr R. Counter will be guessing just as much as you will on the details) and no chance of the RTR makers coming out with the same item, except for The Rocket, just as you finish a multi-year scratchbuilding project.

- Nigel

Yeah, but R. Counter Esq will then have to come up with some other subterfuge to show off his vastly superior knowledge.

"Excuse me, but shouldn't the pipe run from the double-flanged widget grommet connect to the shuttlecock valve instead of the oojamaflip gland?"

To which you answer: "show me the photograph"...

I'd have thought that knowledge of the period being limited was a positive advantage: makes it easier to get away with something generic (a Patentee being a Patentee being a Patentee..).

Probably not showing the proper spirit, I know, but semi-freelance

Answer: I refer the dishonourable gentleman to rule 1: It's my railway and I'll run what I like.