Accucraft L&B Lew : first pictures
- Thread starter Sea Lion
- Start date
PaulRhB said:
Yes Paul, you are right, that is about the level of interest Accucraft would need to see to convince them to build an electric version. I am quite sure there is that level of interest, but guessing it and having it actually registered by people are two different things. This really is over to you guys.
No problems to circulate the pictures, as long as they are credited to Accucraft UK.
Happy meanderings,
John
PaulRhB
This Way Up
Thanks John and my registration is already in 
The wheels were ok on Cale its her long wheelbase that's caused problems. Mine runs beautifully on R3 points. Lee has a much shorter wheelbase so should be better on tight radii unless the pony trucks limit the radius she'll take.
The wheels were ok on Cale its her long wheelbase that's caused problems. Mine runs beautifully on R3 points. Lee has a much shorter wheelbase so should be better on tight radii unless the pony trucks limit the radius she'll take.
Cyclone said:
Ah, right, well the latest is that the working drain cocks will probably be not put on the production version of Lew as several people have expressed a wish not to have them, mainly concerns about limited clearance above the objects they should not have sticking up near the rail!
I guess it all goes to show it is impossible to keep everyone happy all of the time!
Happy steamings,
John
Good question Keith. As Paul mentioned the thing with Caledonia is the long wheel base will allow the loco to find faults in the track that shorter wheelbase locos can cope with. It really does depend on the make of the points and how well they are laid, my friends and I happily drive whole fleets of Caledonias over points at speed, these are a mixture of Peco G-45 and AMS Code 250 and are well laid. I did once derail my Caledonia on an LGB point at a friends line, he has since done a little trackwork and it is no longer an issue. It should be remembered, with the greatest of respect, LGB points are a proprietory design where the wheels run on their flanges through the frog - not on the rail/frog head. This is totally against all known 'standard' railway practice and naturally leads to some occasional problems when 'non LGB' locos us them.KeithT said:
That said Accucraft have investigated the possibility of anything that can be done to help in this situation, the problem is if you start deepening the flange you can cause problems with other makes of track. Don't forget some people run these locos on Code 200 G1 track with much thinner rails. Really rather than looking at flange profiles it comes back to the fact a long wheelbase loco will always be the first to 'object' to track that a shorter wheelbase loco can cope with.
Happy steamings,
John
E
Elmtree Line
Guest
Although dummy the drain cock pipes under the cylinders on a Silver Lady aren't much higher off the ground than that of Lew' working ones, maybe Accucraft should do 25 with and 25 without for the first batch and then see what happens!
400Parker
Registered
Cyclone said:
DJB Engineering sell working drain cocks that can be fitted to a Ragleth, Ed.
http://www.djbengineering.co.uk/index2.html at the bottom.
They work nicely on my Edrig.
Steve
Rhos Helyg Loco Works
Registered
Also used on some 90 degree crossings in the USA.400Parker said:It's tramway practice John
Chris Bird
Steam,gardening, photography
I have to say that Ian has done a superb job on this loco, with just some tweaks in the pipeline to make it absolutel right. I am eagerly awaiting mine, though on balance I would prefer it without the draincock system. My reasons are:
- On a loco which is a scale and detailed model, they are very much out of scale. I realise that the same ones are on the NG15, but that is huge and somehow they are less obtrusive than they appear to be here (even if painted black).
- Condensate on a slide valve engine is not a problem at all, except when it is ejected out of the chimney. That will not happen on my loco once I have made a certain modification to the exhaust
- I would not use them on my track as blasting steam down that close to the ballast would send dirt and grit up into the motion. I seem to think that false draincocks as on Silver Lady and the DJB automatic ones send the steam forward away from the motion. It would be Ok to use them in a clean steam up area of course.
- They do look pretty low slung and vulnerable - though of course the cow catcher should meet any obstructions first. And the drip trays (not fitted yet) are also pretty low.
On the other hand they are another gadget and allow greater involvement with the loco so I quite understand why some are in favour. Perhaps potential or waiting list customers should let Ian know what they think ............
Whatever the decision, I think it is going to be great and mine is more than likely to star in a video or two
Cheers
Chris
- On a loco which is a scale and detailed model, they are very much out of scale. I realise that the same ones are on the NG15, but that is huge and somehow they are less obtrusive than they appear to be here (even if painted black).
- Condensate on a slide valve engine is not a problem at all, except when it is ejected out of the chimney. That will not happen on my loco once I have made a certain modification to the exhaust
- I would not use them on my track as blasting steam down that close to the ballast would send dirt and grit up into the motion. I seem to think that false draincocks as on Silver Lady and the DJB automatic ones send the steam forward away from the motion. It would be Ok to use them in a clean steam up area of course.
- They do look pretty low slung and vulnerable - though of course the cow catcher should meet any obstructions first. And the drip trays (not fitted yet) are also pretty low.
On the other hand they are another gadget and allow greater involvement with the loco so I quite understand why some are in favour. Perhaps potential or waiting list customers should let Ian know what they think ............
Whatever the decision, I think it is going to be great and mine is more than likely to star in a video or two
Cheers
Chris
PaulRhB
This Way Up
I prefer the scale appearance of flanges. Cale and Countess run beautifully on my R3 points but mine are fixed to flat baseboards rather than laid on shifting ballast. As John says above pleasing everybody is never easy but the Accucraft models are aimed at the absolute scale end of the market so they have minimised the compromises. With LGB increasingly moving towards true scale with recent models I think it would be detrimental to follow the big flanges approach when you can address the issue by taking a more scale approach to track geometry. Points and curves which are the problem laid in real ballast can have strips of wood or upvc board underneath hidden in the ballast to level them out and remove the problem entirely. Yes it would mean some minor relaying but it doesn't require major re-engineering of lines or locos and then both scale and coarser scale wheels will run happily together.
A compromise that will cost a few pounds rather than hundreds and either coarse or finescale flanges will always stop some from buying the model so this halfway approach means both groups can have the loco.
A compromise that will cost a few pounds rather than hundreds and either coarse or finescale flanges will always stop some from buying the model so this halfway approach means both groups can have the loco.
Rhos Helyg Loco Works
Registered
The drain cock operating handles on the NG15 and NGG16 are much smaller than those shown on LEW.Chris Bird said:
Glad you got sorted Keith, yes sadly I have come to the conclusion there are no code 332 points that can be described hand on heart as 'good' they all have some negative features. We will have to see what the Accucraft ones are like when they eventually surface.KeithT said:
Can't wait to get my hands on the finished Lew, and with Peveril for the IOM at almost the same time I think we are starting to be spoilt, the hobby has never had it so good!
Happys teamings,
John
ZingyOrange
Registered
Its a shame about the drain cocks. I have a Lew on order and I'd personally really like to see them fitted. I'd gladly modify my line to remove any obstacles if they got in the way. I wonder if it would be possible to make them removable and include flush blanking plugs for those that didn't want them.
Regards
Dave
Regards
Dave
