The first run of the completed tram loco was not without its incidents as you will see if you read on.
 Up to this point, the 'Bertie' power unit had received about 5 hours of running, requiring another 5 hours to be fully run in; consequently it was still a bit erratic and lively in operation.
 I found I was unable to light the burner and I could hear no gas escaping as I opened the gas regulator. I put this down to the fact that the replacement brake handle control I had fitted to the gas tap was binding on the inside of the tram body. I had no option but to remove the tram body and then replace the brake handle with the original gas control knob. Once that was done, steam was raised in about 5 minutes.
 Before painting the loco I had manually pushed it right round the railway in order to check the clearances of my rather restricted loading gauge. I only did this in one direction, thinking this would be sufficient.
 Due to the short wheelbase of the power unit and the size of the tram body, there is a lot of overhang, causing the loco to waggle about a lot, especially on curves and at speed.
 There is a 'hole in the sky' in the indoor section where the line leaves Carndonagh station and runs through the backscene, curving to the left and running under the storage area in the workshop, then emerging outside. The loco, running rather too fast was approaching this hole from the opposite direction (into the workshop and Carndonagh) when the top left corner of the roof fence made contact with the edge of the hole, removing some paint and bending the roof post, causing the roof fence to bow outwards.

 At this point, my first reaction was to remove the roof fence! Once I had calmed down a bit, I considered that it may be feasible to enlarge the hole with a jig saw without causing too much disruption. I had also noticed that the starter signal was being hit as the loco passed by, this was resolved by swapping it with the taller Home signal.

 The lower body trim was re-attached using epoxy adhesive, I improved the fit around the body corner posts by denting the trim inwards by use of a screwdriver tip, gently tapping the screwdriver with a hammer.
 Assembling the condensing apparatus was a fairly straightforward process; the only real difficulty was soldering the end pieces to the side tubes, ensuring all was square and that the cross tubes would not be too loose or tight once the ends were permanently fixed.
 I found that the 40 other cross tubes were a bit of a tight fit but I eased these by filing a small amount from the ends of every cross tube. The tubes were spaced at 5mm intervals using two 5mm drill bits as spacers. Initially I set the assembly up vertically, pushing each tube down against the drill bits and adjacent tube while tacking with solder. After fitting a few tubes, I found it easier to lay the assembly on the bench and clamp the cross tube in place against the drill bits. After every 3 or 4 tubes were in place, they were checked to ensure they were square and the spacing was correct, repositioning the next tube to account for any discrepancy. It all went very well except that after fitting about 20 tubes I went off into a bit of a trance and soldered a tube where I needed to leave a gap for the safety valve. It took me nearly half an hour to remove the offending tube, rendering it unusable in the process; luckily there is a surplus of 4 tubes in the kit so there was no problem with discarding the removed tube.
 Finally the removable roof section was temporarily taped in place on the roof and the tube assembly soldered to it, tacking it in several places.
 The completed assembly is very sturdy and quite heavy.

 Once all the bodywork was washed and de-greased, it was ready for painting. I used one and a half spray cans of grey auto primer for the undercoat, painting the inside of the body is quite tricky, firing spray paint in through the various openings that are available. The inside of the roof is mostly paint free for this reason.
 Several coats of auto spray satin black were applied the next day as the top coat.
 The condensing apparatus was then gently weathered with some 'NATO olive' and 'Anthracite' model spray paint.
 Some of the shiny brass bits on the 'Bertie' power unit were painted with self etch black primer, namely: bolier bands, gas regulator body, steam regulator and the large plug on the top of the boiler.
 The final finishing touches were the addition of name and number plates, a pair of TBLR company crests and a driver from Brandbright. The driver was painted using acrylics in the intervals between applying the spray paint to the loco. Coal was also fixed in the bunkers with diluted PVA glue.

 Using the 80 watt iron has made soldering the bodywork an easier task, however, one has to be careful not to overheat the parts being soldered as this can cause warping. The roof needed some reshaping to get a decent fit over the two ends, but try as I might, I could not get it to touch the top of the sides. The roof is only soldered to the ends and to a roof support which is roughly in the centre of the body.
 The roof is fitted with an even overhang on both sides and ends, but the hole for the chimney and the hole for the safety valve in the removable roof section, do not line up with the chimney and safety valve on the power unit. I was able to bodge this with the chimney by moving the chimney roof ring as far forward as it would go without leaving part of the larger roof hole showing behind it. The safety valve hole however, need enlarging quite a lot towards the front and slightly to the left (the boiler is probably not mounted exactly upright). The roof ring for the safety valve was not large enough to cover the remainder of the hole in the roof and so I cut out a small piece of scrap brass and soldered this in place to fill the hole. 
 This bodgery should not be noticeable once the condensing tubes are in place
on the roof.
 I had difficulty fixing the lower body trim in place as there is not enough meat on the bottom edge of the body to fix a clamp to hold the trim in place. In the end I opted to fix the two trims in place with epoxy resin, these are not a good fit as my corner trims were not as flush as they should be, leaving a gap between the body and the trim as it goes round the corners. Since the body received a degreasing in the dishwasher, some of the epoxy has come adrift. I will either try re-fixing with cyano adhesive or attempt soldering it back on.
 The roof fence was tacked together nice and square before fitting to the roof but promptly fell apart as I applied the heat to the very fiddly and highly frustrating fence support posts. I was getting close to abandoning the project at this stage! Anyway I got it all soldered in place eventually, doing a little bit at a time. The roof fence now has a warp in it that I can't cure without running the risk of some bits falling off again if I apply more heat, so it will have to stay that way.
 The main body is now complete, apart from having to resolve the issue of the lower trim. The next stage is to assemble the condensing apparatus, I have already cut the 46 tubes from their frets and cleaned them up.

I have started work on this Swift Sixteen brass bodywork kit of a Kitson tram loco, the body is designed to fit on a Roundhouse Bertie live steam power unit.

There are a lot of parts in this etched brass kit and approx fifty per cent of them relate to the condensing apparatus which sits on the roof of the loco.

Each part has to be removed from its fret by using a cutting disc fitted in a rotary tool. Grooves etched into many of the parts make assembly easier, helping to hold the part in place while solder is being applied. The rivet detail needs to be pressed out on all the relevant parts, I used a Metalsmith rivet press for this purpose.

I used Fry's resin cored solder and Fluxite soldering paste. I have used my variable temperature iron (set on max of 450 degrees C) to construct bodywork in the past but by the time I got to fitting the skirts, I found it a struggle with this kit as there is just so much brass, which dissipates the heat. I halted work until I had obtained an 80 Watt Antex iron on Ebay. This should make the work easier.

Following the purchase of the Roundhouse Silver Lady loco, and allocating it the name Stephanie and number 1, the current holder of that name and number needed renaming to its original identity, Errigal No.2. I still had the original plates, that was the easy part.

Unfortunately when I attached the Stephanie plates about four years ago I used a rather strong silicone adhesive. It was a bit of a struggle to remove the plates. I had to lever them off with the aid of a screwdriver. The tank sides of the loco are made of wood and I could not avoid denting the surface in my attempt to remove the plates.

Once the plates were off, I set about filling the dents with Milliput filler and then sanding the filled areas back to a smooth surface. The affected area was then given a coat of gloss black enamel paint to match the rest of the loco body. Once the paint was dry, the number and name plates were fixed in place with a very thin smear of silicone adhesive.

This model is a product of LGB and has been around since the early days of the brand, I obtained it on EBay in June. This version appears to date from the 1970's; the model's age is determined by the small loop coupling at the rear, fitted to early models, it is stamped 'made in West Germany' (dating it pre reunification in 1989-90) and it is fitted with a Siemens motor as opposed to the Buhler motor which has been standard since the late 1970's. 

In order to bring this loco into the TBLR fleet, I gave it a repaint into the standard black livery. I also decided to remove the third headlamp at roof level, as this gave the front of the loco a rather cluttered look. I had considered converting the loco to battery power but there is not much space inside (the boiler is filled with a lead weight) and I would have to sacrifice some of the interior detail to make room for batteries; I fitted my standard flying lead and plug instead, which connects to the radio control van number 3. 

First the loco was dismantled into its component parts; the pick ups were removed from the chassis block, and following removal of the surplus headlamp, the mounting holes were filled with Milliput. I removed the glazing with its shiny chrome edging, to be replaced by clear plastic sheet after painting. The boiler is the one produced for the LGB Stainz loco, minus all the fittings, which leaves several gaping holes, these were also filled, the boiler was then painted matt black. The body was given two coats of matt black inside and out and the ceiling was painted cream. The moulded makers plates were picked out in brass enamel as were the first two digits of the number 102, making it number 10. The shiny chrome bits; bell, whistle and handrails, were toned down with oily steel enamel. Once the TBLR crests were applied, the body was given a coat of spray satin varnish.
The visible area of the pinkish red cab floor was painted matt black and the skirts were painted with acrylic brick red. My standard Accucraft chopper couplings were fitted at 28mm height (1ft 10 1/2 inches in 15mm scale, as per the Ballymena and Larne Railway).

Once reassembled the loco was given a test run, it ran well but unfortunately the 40 year old motor screamed like a banshee. Removing the motor and spraying the bearings and commutator with WD40 rectified the screaming, but it still makes some rather odd noises; I may have to obtain a replacement motor.