Split Infinitive...

...because it takes me an infinitely long time to finish anything?

Anyway, here are a couple of photos to prove that 1. I can work on more than one kit at a time and 2. I can write more than one post per day.

I decided that I didn't like the idea of Lancashire being rear-heavy and having to weigh down the front to keep it on the track like most model 0-4-4Ts, so I'm having a go at actually carrying some of the weight one the rear bogie. I reckoned that if it was carry weight, it would hold the track well and could usefully pick up current, so the next two photos show my attempts to split-frame the trailing bogie to provide wiper-less pickup.

The bogie link arm has been split by soldering on a small strip of PCB, cutting the insulation slot and then filling everything with epoxy to avoid getting dirt in the insulating gap. The bogie is split similarly but there's a paxolin boss tapped 8BA in the centre - this will take a screw with a large head (not the one on the left) which will act as both an adjustable height bearing pad and the conductor for the insulated side of the bogie - the loco has uninsulated drivers on one side, so there are only two pickups and the frame is live. I'm sure it'll be clear when it's all put together...

The wheels are the originals with the centre replaced with brass and stub axles inserted. Yes, the little black thing is an axle muff and yes, that means there's one missing. I've lost is somewhere, but it is only 4mm long so I think I that's a reasonable excuse.