I'm afraid I didn't get rid of that bug before I picked up another, but I do seem to be on the mend now. Just as well as we have a long trip before us...
Grantham is appearing at Southampton this approaching weekend, so it was time to reacquaint myself with the stock.
A day cleaning wheels isn't the most exciting subject for photography, but I also had the fault list to attend to. It's not often you have the time or facilities to fix things at a show and in the stygian gloom of Spalding it was even less likely, so there were a few items on the list.
In no real order except that in which I found them in the boxes, here they are.
I had a report that the Kadee on 6049 might be low. These can droop - Hornby tender locos are quite prone to this but a piece of 20 thou strip jammed into the NEM pocket usually cures it. I'm not convinced 6049 was the culprit here, but it's been treated anyway. The bodyshell on this loco is still weeping oil, so it will have to be reweathered at some future date.
2403, I was told, had leapt into the air and stopped half way down a ladder of points at the north end and been immediately taken off. The culprit here was the leading tender brake shoe and rigging which had become unsoldered and found their way outside the frames, there to foul something trackside. Repairing this reminded me of the downside of securing nuts with huge blobs of Araldite - no matter how carefully you clean the thread before removing, there's always enough left to bind the thread and snap the bolt. I might add that it wasn't me who created the problem. I've been saying for several years that I will repaint this loco and substitute the NER tender which I have already built and painted. Maybe this will be the time.
3275 was arcing off the bogie wheels intermittently. Examination shows that the (Comet) bogie had shed one of the fore and aft wires which retains the axles, so I assume it was able to move excessively and contact frames or cylinders. It has been restrained and we'll see how it gets on.
4151 didn't have anything wrong with it, but when I was cleaning the wheels I noticed that the lamp irons I've been fitting since the very first show in 2013 still weren't there. Today has been the day and by the end of the week there should be a proper coal load and maybe even fire irons as well.
This is Long Tom 3416 which has a history of wrapping the tender pickups around things. They are long and vulnerable - the latest attempt is in a more rigid wire which may be less prone to catching. Again, time and use will tell.
The South End boys complained that this Lowmac (D & S with a scratchbuilt load) was too light and hard to shunt. It's had some strategically applied lead flashing which has since been painted. I don't like uncovered lead on vehicles.
This is the GNR D96 BFK which runs at the rear of Set 5. I had a note that the tail lamp was missing, but the end door cover had been knocked off as well. Both were in the box and easily reapplied. The cover is the MJT etch, the lamp one of John Marsh's lovely 3D prints (which may now be in the ModelU range).
This was a more involved problem. We had noticed that we seemed to have an intermittent short on Set 5 in one configuration and by leaving vehicles out had narrowed it down to the last two in the set. This is a D7 CK, from a Bill Bedford kit. Examining the underside it was at once apparent that the MJT bogie had gone past the stops and jammed. For those who aren't familiar with them, the two halves of the bogie can move about the central wire, giving excellent running and roadholding. There are tabs to prevent them going too far (more or less behind the axles in the picture) and the bogies can force their way past these and jam. This had happened, but the displacement wasn't enough to stop the carriage running. What it almost certainly did, though, was jam one wheel from each side against the brass floor, so completing a circuit and impeding the running. There were score marks on the floor where the wheels had rubbed before, so some black paper has been stuck over the contact areas to prevent future conductivity.
I hope some readers will be able to make Southampton - please make yourself known if you do, but remember that we do have to run the layout and can't always spare the time to chat there and then.