Any new ideas for Emily…I finally removed the loop hock couplers…she looks better already…
Anyone get the face off yet? I had a buddy in the UK that found me a book on the Stirling, so sort of holding off on any work on Emily until I get it. Ran it around my 4’ Christmas loop, did okay, coach, tender wheels squealed a little.
I haven’t removed her face yet, but I have been looking around. The only pictures I have seen of her backhead, in real life, show it being only a few inches extending past the front wall of the cab…so some surgery is in order there. I have removed the hook loop couplers. First on my list of details will be the proper couplings for the front and tender, along with the vacume hose…
There is a googled web page that shows a fellow who has removed the face, and done other changes, but the photos are very poor…along with his repainting, which may be accurate, but looks sad…
I will be looking for suppliers of detailed parts soon, and hope that some of our friends accross the water can make suggestions.
I already am planning, and have contacted a person that might make up a pair of name boards, for the loco. One of my distant relatives worked at a shop, that serviced the Singles…so I’ll name her “Edith Oakley Low”, after his wife.
I think the shop was at Crewe…but I may very well be wrong. He was a “Hamemerman”, at the shop.
I like the Emily’s large drive wheel, with it’s many thin spokes. Looks like the drive wheel could be useful for scratchbuilding certain types of locos.
Could do a heck of a whimsical type of locomotive with that big drive wheel and some of Chris Walas wild ideas.
Mark V said:Hi Mark,
Chris...This is what is holding me back; I hear Emily's tender is done the same way. I think this would drive me batty. Do you find it visually objectionable?
I am one of the poor demented who wishes to convert Emily back into a Stirling Single. So I bought Emily and her two coaches. My club mounts a major, six week display at a local botanical gardens each December. I ran Emily there “out of the box” - a major hit with children and parents.
Short answer to your question is “No”. To me, the suspended flangeless center wheels were neither objectionable nor even noticeable while actually running. We had a serpentine course with minimum curve 8’ diameter.
I was particularly concerned how the divided, part swiveling - part stationary, “bogie” or “pilot truck” would look. I was happily surprised. Even knowing how it was faked and what to look for (and videograph), I found the resulting divided motion of the pilot virtually undetectable and certainly nonobjectionable on that reasonably radiused curve. I have a book covering Stirling’s Singles which shows that the bogies were all pivoted closer to the rear axel than to the front which would mean it would swing further at the front anyway. The boiler and outside valve gear and piston rod mask the fact that the rear axel isn’t pivoting.
Emily is not a faithful reproduction of a Single, but that is not Bachmann’s fault. The “fault” (if a fault exists) lies with the cartoonists who created Emily for the TTTE family using the Singles as inspiration for a fantasy for children. Bachmann very faithfully recreated the cartoon fantasy as appropriate for their target market.
The hardest (impossible?) visual problem to fix will be the lengthwise running boards. On Emily they are thick and at the same level fore and aft of the drive wheel. On the Singles, they were thin and always higher in front of the driver than behind it. For Emily conversions, I think this running board discrepancy will be more noticed by British audiences than by North Americans.
So, Mark, if you plan to run Emily on the tight radiuses the toy was designed for, you might find it visually jarring. If you run on wider radiuses, you might be as happy as I was.
Fred Mills said:Fred - do you want me to do this with the supplier over here in UK who actually makes all the parts, or are you going to do it from there? I've mailed you the parts list of avaialble bits thismoring, with the suitable bits high-lighted.
I will be looking for suppliers of detailed parts soon, and hope that some of our friends accross the water can make suggestions.
tac
tac,
Any chance you will be posting the parts list for the rest of us would-be Emily fixers? I’ve seen some of your earlier posts about contacts with GRS. Being new to this forum, I wouldn’t feel quite right asking you to drive that hour and back just for me, and I know you are stuck being snowbound today. Still the drive might be easier for you than for me from Maryland. For now, however, just the initial list of parts numbers would be a great help to me. Thanks…
Quote:All - I've had success phoning GRS and ordering parts using a credit card. Overseas calls cost about 3 cents on Skype these days!
I wouldn't feel quite right asking you to drive that hour and back
And remember that UK VAT (sales tax) is INCLUDED in the price they quote, BUT you are entitled to buy without VAT as an export. This usually pays for the shipping!
It would be good to join this thread, to the other one on “Emily”…good information is found on both…
Pete - I also pointed out the 20% reduction in the yUK prices over on the other thread. I’m about to call GRS now, having given them time to get in to work…
I’ll keep you posted, OK? Then you can make up your own minds about how you go about it.
tac
EDIT - I’ve just spoken to boss-man Michael Adamson, and he is now looking to put an all-in-one package together for ‘Emily’ - this will include -
Suitable buffers - engine & tender
Suitable screw couplings - engine & tender
Suitable smoke-box door
Suitable vacuum and steam-heater pipes
Suitable backhead detail set
At a price less than here in UK by at least 20% - I’ve asked him for a price for five sets to get an idea of how a group buy might save you all some $$$, 'cos I know that times are hard, right? 
He’s coming back to me in the next day or so.
'kay?
tac, ig & The Coos Bay Packers Boys
…just to move this up to the other thread…
Moving this ahead again…
OK, Gentlemen - here is the latest hot skinny -
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The company is called Garden Railway Specialists of Princes Risborough, and here is their contact page - http://www.grsuk.com/index.asp?info/welcome.htm
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Please address your orders personally to Mr Michael Adamson [NOT Mike] - he heads the company, which is the largest large-scale garden railway store/dealership in the UK, and also THE manufacturer of a HUGE amount of accessories and kits for 16mm and G3.
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Please advise him that you are ordering off the arrangement/deal that I noted before in this thread [and the other thread, c’mon Mod!].
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I have simply caused it to be done and do not benefit in any way, shape or form from this deal/set-up, in case anybody there thinks that I’m going to live the life of Riley off the proceeds. It’s just that it has been pointed out that if it is bits for Brits that you want, he has most of it in one location. There are MANY other small companies around the UK who do similar stuff for16mm, but NOBODY does it for G3.
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There will be a HUGE exhibition sponsored by the 16mm Society in April, and since I’ll be at home en famille for the invasion, I’m happy to bring small items over with me for anybody attending, either for them or to pass on down the line.
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If anybody wishes to pass this on to those who have still not joined us here, but are futzing around ‘knitting fog’ on other sites, please feel free to do so.
tac, ig, ken the GFT & The Hardleigh Lykeleigh Boys
PS & NB - DO NOT place orders for at least THREE weeks, to give the actual manufacturing time a chance.
Thank you Terry…your efforts are greatly appreciated…
Thanks Tac,
I’ll mark it on my calendar when to contact him.
Jerry
Just to move it ahead…
This thread has been transferred to a new thread in the ROLLING STOCK Forum…PLEASE go there for anything pertaining to Emily, and her upgrades or thoughts on the subject…THANK YOU