RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted February 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 14, 2018 Essential on Valentine's day of course. Bought a pack of 3 weathered 16ton minerals yesterday at Lord & Butler, a move towards building up a train of empties to counterbalance the loaded working from my imaginary (and therefore perfectly dead scale modelled and fully working) colliery, and was pleased to find loads included in the pack, a new departure for Baccy AFAIK as my previous wagons haven't had them. This sort of justifies the slight price increase. They consist of a load of dark grey 'mineral', unpainted, that could presumably represent several types of commercially exploited geology but is about right for coal, on a foam base thin enough to be inserted into the wagon to form light, medium, or heavy loadings. Not sure what the material is, but it is much better than a plastic moulding. If I use them, I may glue a small crosspiece across the bottom centre so as to be able to 'tip' the load to ease removal. The wagons are of course Baccy's normal 16ton mineral, a lovely little model and superbly weathered and lettered in slightly different styles, all with different numbers of course, the point of the purchase as my eyesight and hand/eye co-ordination are no longer up to doing my own lettering in 4mm; nice, and my only minor grumble is the lack of interior detail (I am aware of the moulding difficulties that make provision of this problematic, but it would improve the look of trains of empties. Perhaps I can devise some sort of overlay that isn't too obvious). But well done Baccy, a nice surprise when I opened the pack! It did occur to me that, had this been done earlier and the idea taken up by Hornby and Oxford, I might have saved myself the cost of the empties rake, a fiddle yard road, and the faff of filling the loaded rake that I already have, but the intention was always to have 2 separate trains so that they could both be on the layout at the same time, also an excuse for another brake van and another loco as if excuses were needed... I could have easily enough made removable loads! But I applaud this move, commend it to other manufacturers, and hope that it will extend to coal in steam loco bunkers and tenders; I would love this to be removable. The real railway never featured locos with constantly full bunkers and tenders, and it looks silly on a loco supposedly arriving at a terminus with a long distance train. I have heard stories of Canton Britannias running into Paddington on coal dust, their tenders completely empty, after a tough run up from Cardiff with 16 on. An empty tender and a fireman leaning on the cab side wiping his brow would create the correct impression... Dapol should take particular note; I haven't yet forgiven them for selling me a steel open with an incorrect plastic coal load screwed into the bottom of the wagon, so that when it was removed there was a massive screw hole and the plastic shoulder around it visible in the bottom of the wagon. It currently runs around on Cwmdimbath with a tarpaulin sheet over it. I believe this model dates from Hornby Dublo days, and fails to cut the modern mustard in terms of underframe detail as well; it is scheduled for withdrawal and replacement along with the rest of the older wagons in my goods fleet that have moulded brake handles and chassis detail of this sort, though some bodies may be retained on new chassis, especially where I've put a bit of work into weathering or lettering them. It is branded 'Made In Wales' on the bottom, not the best thing my country has ever given to the world... That, of course, would be me, and maybe Barry John. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Essential on Valentine's day of course. Bought a pack of 3 weathered 16ton minerals yesterday at Lord & Butler, a move towards building up a train of empties to counterbalance the loaded working from my imaginary (and therefore perfectly dead scale modelled and fully working) colliery, and was pleased to find loads included in the pack, a new departure for Baccy AFAIK as my previous wagons haven't had them. This sort of justifies the slight price increase. They consist of a load of dark grey 'mineral', unpainted, that could presumably represent several types of commercially exploited geology but is about right for coal, on a foam base thin enough to be inserted into the wagon to form light, medium, or heavy loadings. Not sure what the material is, but it is much better than a plastic moulding. If I use them, I may glue a small crosspiece across the bottom centre so as to be able to 'tip' the load to ease removal. The wagons are of course Baccy's normal 16ton mineral, a lovely little model and superbly weathered and lettered in slightly different styles, all with different numbers of course, the point of the purchase as my eyesight and hand/eye co-ordination are no longer up to doing my own lettering in 4mm; nice, and my only minor grumble is the lack of interior detail (I am aware of the moulding difficulties that make provision of this problematic, but it would improve the look of trains of empties. Perhaps I can devise some sort of overlay that isn't too obvious). But well done Baccy, a nice surprise when I opened the pack! It did occur to me that, had this been done earlier and the idea taken up by Hornby and Oxford, I might have saved myself the cost of the empties rake, a fiddle yard road, and the faff of filling the loaded rake that I already have, but the intention was always to have 2 separate trains so that they could both be on the layout at the same time, also an excuse for another brake van and another loco as if excuses were needed... I could have easily enough made removable loads! But I applaud this move, commend it to other manufacturers, and hope that it will extend to coal in steam loco bunkers and tenders; I would love this to be removable. The real railway never featured locos with constantly full bunkers and tenders, and it looks silly on a loco supposedly arriving at a terminus with a long distance train. I have heard stories of Canton Britannias running into Paddington on coal dust, their tenders completely empty, after a tough run up from Cardiff with 16 on. An empty tender and a fireman leaning on the cab side wiping his brow would create the correct impression... Dapol should take particular note; I haven't yet forgiven them for selling me a steel open with an incorrect plastic coal load screwed into the bottom of the wagon, so that when it was removed there was a massive screw hole and the plastic shoulder around it visible in the bottom of the wagon. It currently runs around on Cwmdimbath with a tarpaulin sheet over it. I believe this model dates from Hornby Dublo days, and fails to cut the modern mustard in terms of underframe detail as well; it is scheduled for withdrawal and replacement along with the rest of the older wagons in my goods fleet that have moulded brake handles and chassis detail of this sort, though some bodies may be retained on new chassis, especially where I've put a bit of work into weathering or lettering them. It is branded 'Made In Wales' on the bottom, not the best thing my country has ever given to the world... That, of course, would be me, and maybe Barry John. Thanks very much for clarifying the 'coal' - or whatever - loads : I don't think Bachmann make it clear that the loads are not fixed as I found in one of their wagons 'weathered and loaded' by one of the aftermarket suppliers ..... that wagon's a nuisance but these three ( etc.) shouldn't be ! Hornby have been using removable tender coal for ages now - though some ( 6-wheel-tender King Arthur comes to mind ) looks rather silly on a loco supposedly departing from a terminus with a long distance train. ! - yer can't win Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted February 15, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) Thanks very much for clarifying the 'coal' - or whatever - loads : I don't think Bachmann make it clear that the loads are not fixed as I found in one of their wagons 'weathered and loaded' by one of the aftermarket suppliers ..... that wagon's a nuisance but these three ( etc.) shouldn't be ! Hornby have been using removable tender coal for ages now - though some ( 6-wheel-tender King Arthur comes to mind ) looks rather silly on a loco supposedly departing from a terminus with a long distance train. ! - yer can't win No, yer can't win; the best you can do is keep up! My Hornby 42xx does not have removable coal, and I can't get into the cab to put a crew aboard it. I would like to see removable coal and cab roofs on steam outline locos, and a way to get into the cabs on diesel or electric outline, but I suppose the need to cater to the toy market mitigates against removable parts that children can easily lose, especially ones with sharp corners like cab roofs. I would like to be able to have locos running on my layout with bunkers in various stages from full to empty; on a small BLT the main line terminus issues are not important. But the matter is complicated by many locos using the bunkwe space to provide weight, disguised by a layer of plastic coal which always looks better with a layer of the reals stuff on top, but this fills the bunker a little more, and on some locos performance suffers if this ballast weight is removed (example; Hornby 2721 with sprung rear axle). Haulage is not an issue for me either; my least powerful loco can easily handle my 10 wagon anna brake van loaded coal train, but I set great store by good, reliable, slow controlled running. On tank engines it is not simply a matter of removing the coal like it is on tender locos. As often happens, things get more complicated when you investigate them closely. For now, my locos are all running with full bunkers, and some have no crews because I can't get into the cab space, but I continue to look for ways around this! I would much rather to be able to load bunkers to my specifications and get into the cabs than have sprung buffers... Edited February 15, 2018 by The Johnster Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 No, yer can't win; the best you can do is keep up! My Hornby 42xx does not have removable coal, and I can't get into the cab to put a crew aboard it. I would like to see removable coal and cab roofs on steam outline locos, and a way to get into the cabs on diesel or electric outline, but I suppose the need to cater to the toy market mitigates against removable parts that children can easily lose, especially ones with sharp corners like cab roofs. I would like to be able to have locos running on my layout with bunkers in various stages from full to empty; on a small BLT the main line terminus issues are not important. But the matter is complicated by many locos using the bunkwe space to provide weight, disguised by a layer of plastic coal which always looks better with a layer of the reals stuff on top, but this fills the bunker a little more, and on some locos performance suffers if this ballast weight is removed (example; Hornby 2721 with sprung rear axle). Haulage is not an issue for me either; my least powerful loco can easily handle my 10 wagon anna brake van loaded coal train, but I set great store by good, reliable, slow controlled running. On tank engines it is not simply a matter of removing the coal like it is on tender locos. As often happens, things get more complicated when you investigate them closely. For now, my locos are all running with full bunkers, and some have no crews because I can't get into the cab space, but I continue to look for ways around this! I would much rather to be able to load bunkers to my specifications and get into the cabs than have sprung buffers... Can't say I'm into DCC -but I wonder if anyone's put a servo-adjustable coal load in a loco's bunker ? ...... would be fairly simple in a straight-sided tank loco bunker but would need telescopic coal in a self-trimming tender ....................... hmmmmm ................................. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted February 16, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 16, 2018 Barry John. Since the thread's about packs of three, I'd add Gareth Edwards and JPR to your Barry John. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted February 16, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2018 The holy trinity; no argument here! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted February 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2018 The Pontypool Front row. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted February 17, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 17, 2018 Otherwise known as the Viet Gwent. Happy days! If we are going to have DCC servo controlled bunker levels, then perhaps we can have spring leaves that decompress by servo as the bunker and tanks empty as well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flapland Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Otherwise known as the Viet Gwent. Happy days! If we are going to have DCC servo controlled bunker levels, then perhaps we can have spring leaves that decompress by servo as the bunker and tanks empty as well... As long as we can buy the loco for £60-70 discounted Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted February 17, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 17, 2018 Of course... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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