Wright writes.....

[St Enodoc]

Mike,

 

I assume your remark is 'tongue in cheek'. 

 

By getting out more and broadening my horizons, what exactly do you mean? Between now and the spring, I'm scheduled to appear (in an 'official' capacity) at shows as far afield as Stevenage, Southampton, Stafford, Doncaster, Biggleswade, Glasgow, Nottingham, York, Ely and Bristol (probably more, though I haven't got my diary immediately to hand). It's likely at these events that I'll see (and probably take pictures of) all sorts of kits of all types, both in their kit-form and made-up. Obviously, in your opinion, I need to attend more shows, though I do have another 'life' as well. The reason I mention shows, is that's where one sees model railway items 'in the flesh' - not just in magazines or on the internet. I can examine kits, buy them to build (or be invited to build one for review), talk to the manufacturers and talk to others who've built them. How broad do you wish my horizon to be? 

 

Which kits do you consider 'superior' to D&S' etched rolling stock kits? How many have you built? From which source are they? In what way are they better than Dan's kits? Are they quicker to build, easier to build, more accurate, less-expensive or what? Please, give me (us) what you consider to be a 'broad horizon'. Better still, show me (us) pictures of what you've built from these (obviously?) superior kits. 

 

The ball's in your court. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Even broader come next September!

[Tony Wright]

A4 Miles Beevor reminded me that I was involved in the administration of the estate of his widow. She had one of the nameplates in the house. It was kept by her son who presumably still has it. Never saw the loco though there was a nice picture of it in the house.

 

I went to a local show last Saturday. Not very inspirational as to layouts but there was a trader there who was selling a rather large collection of kits at what I thought were very reasonable prices. He told me there was no call for these things these days.( I think I may have given the impression that I wanted to dispose of a number!). That rather bears out what has oft been said here.

 

I am impressed that Sir seems to be able to knock out quite complex models seemingly daily. These dark days I find it too cold to go to the shed or, if I go, the hands refuse to work after a while and mistakes get made. I really envy those of you who have warm dry places in which to conduct your black arts about which we dare not speak.

 

I have spent today dismantling a layout belonging to a dear friend who passed away. It was a sad duty as I was reminded of the dreams that the railway represented and the plans that were in place for its development. If you can enjoy what you have whilst you are able as you just do not know what is coming. (I am a fine one to talk but the spirit is willing!)

 

Martin Long

Thanks Martin,

 

I don't know about knocking out quite complex models daily, but this is the progress so far today on the D&S Milk Van.

 

 

Dave Shakespeare's widow, Julie, called to see us today - actually more to see Mo - but I enjoyed seeing here again. A mate came around 2.30 pm to collect a couple of models, so I got back to this (having started it after lunch) around about 3.00 pm. I tinkered with it for a couple of hours, watched a totally daft black and white film, had a meal, went back to it about 7.00 pm and put the iron down just after nine. 

 

Complex it might be, but when the fit of the parts is perfect, speedy construction is a doddle. Construction is with solder, of course. I don't wish to start further discussions/arguments/differences of opinion/etc, but anyone who advocates that a kit like this can be assembled with glue (of any kind) is talking through his/her hat. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

Edited December 13, 2017 by Tony Wright

[Willie Whizz]

id, when the regular operators (or guests) come, it is great fun to just 'watch the trains go by'. And, if those trains are (as near as I can get) models of the real trains (not made-up ones) running through a model of an actual place (not a made-up one), then I personally find that much more satisfying and believable, and most important - exciting! 

 

 

I have one last question. Did any trains run direct from Chesterfield Market Place to Kings Cross? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

 

P.S. With a sense of mischief. 

 

No - but IF the Great Central had never been built, and IF the Newark and Ollerton Railway project of the 1880s (which was part of Frank Dyer's inspiration for Borchester Market) had materialised, then there's at least a fair prospect they would have!

 

Likewise, if Nottingham Victoria (GC/GN Joint) and Leisester Central had never been built, it's not too far-fetched to infer that there'd have been a 20th Century demand for fast expresses from Nottingham London Road (Low Level) and from Leicester Belgrave Road to Kings Cross via Grantham ... the former of which is a demand that still occasionally resurfaces even today, due to successive Governments' persistent and abysmal failure to electrify the Midland Main Line.

 

Thus more "might have beens" with at least a fair degree of plausibility - and if the Elizabethan-style buildings on the Stamford Branch make a beautiful model, imagine T C Hine's intricate masterpiece at Low Level in 4mm scale!  You'd have to do it viewed from the South though, with the Lace Market as a backdrop, otherwise those nasty Midland lines and sidings would obstruct the view.

 

(Also with a sense of mischief, but it'd make one heck of a model given only time, space and lolly!)

[Compound2632]

otherwise those nasty Midland lines and sidings would obstruct the view.

 

?

 

You are proposing to omit the main feature of interest...

[grob1234]

If you think I'm going to fall for that one Tom, you've another think coming, I've already had my halibut moment on here for daring to defend people who couldn't solder.

Pictures of some of my builds for you to slag off exist on various threads on RMWeb, but I never tried to infer I was a high flying expert.

 

 

Well, Mike, for what it's worth my original question was out of interest - no set up intended, and I don't have any halibuts - they're quite expensive I believe? 

 

I model LNER 1935-39, so by definition, the number of kits available to me is small. Therefore due to the small nature of many kit manufacturers I'm interested to see if there are different or better ways to do things that I have not encountered.

 

As for slagging off your builds, this is something I would never do. I hope also that I am broad enough to be able to appreciate good modelling whatever era/scale/gauge it is in. By the way, I am in no way an expert modeller, just someone who enjoys making stuff, and who appreciates other people who make the effort to build stuff. Sadly I tried to find your work on here but couldn't - probably due to the limitations of the site search engine.

[RThompson]

Well after the week I've had with thanks to the snow and according to the local news, Shropshire is the coldest county I've got stuck into model making.

 

Well I've had to park my 55 year old Routemaster coach elsewhere as it couldn't get to the yard or any other vehicle and got stuck, the next day went to use it and batteries lost power. Then bought new batteries and after 5 long start attempts (no glo plugs or modern accessories) it started but rear air suspension would not go up so it's got to sit there till the weather warms up, cannot get the other bus out.

 

No post going in or out so delaying orders.

 

Got stuck into my 4mm scale, backwoods miniatures kit of the uk's first Beyer Garratt locomotive.

 

It's been part built for years but actually completed the power units minus pickups.

 

I've not found it the easiest of kits to make and time consuming, like Tony Wright I can knock out a loco fully built in a few days but this has taken longer and much modifying as it's built to 00 gauge.

 

Once this is completed I can turn to other projects as I've got a maturing cupboard myself now, never used to a few years ago.

 

[Porcy Mane]

No post going in or out so delaying orders.

 

Got stuck into my 4mm scale, backwoods miniatures kit of the uk's first Beyer Garratt locomotive.

 

It's been part built for years but actually completed the power units minus pickups.

 

Big thaw later this morning Robert so you'd better get off  to bed. Far to late(Early?) to be up and about.

 

Acid flux used on the cab of the Garret?

 

P

[RThompson]

Yes its started to thaw thank fully. Im a night owl and usually get home at around 2am on some rail replacement service jobs. I dont do mornings!

 

I use frys powerflow flux for building my models but doesn't look like ive cleaned it off previously.

[rowanj]

The pervasive but by no means perverse influence of Mr Wright strikes again as the artist formerly known as "Kestrel" morphs into "Saint Mungo", once again a loco more suited to Tyneside.(though it did have a spell at Leeds). I forgot , on "Sir Walter Scott" that I needed to hitch up the footplate a touch to match the tender. I also replaced the Bachmann tender connection . Why Bachmann provide either a ludicrous length or one so short the loco wont go round corners is a mystery to me. Surely there is a compromise.

 

As usual I fitted some wiggly bits to the smokebox, which otherwise looks very bare on Bachmann A1's.

 

The train is heading south towards Heaton, under Scottie Bridge at Little Benton South. I really must do some more scenery work to give myself another photo location.

 

[The Stationmaster]

 

 

 

again well thought out comments. First of all I must make it clear that I am not a Pendon hater.

 

I didn't read that in to your comments .... In fact given your reservations I thought you expressed respect rather well.

 

You mention that Mr England had quite a specific agenda in that he wanted to capture a disappearing lifestyle. I being myself, can not help but ponder why a specific real location could not fulfil this desire, given that disappearing lifestyle presumable must have existed somewhere. So if it is the case that particular elements are brought together to create an artificial environment, it is just likely to make me more suspicious to the reality of the original concept in the form of a piece of historical documentation.

 

An interesting question, and one to which I don't know the answer. I would be interested to know if anyone does. Maybe the distillation he wished to achieve meant that a degree of concentration was required? Otherwise the range of types would not have been captured .... again available or realistic size might well have come into the equation - but this is only my on the hoof hypothesis.

 

For me the fact that all the buildings and in some instances the Hamlets are modelled form actual buildings with detailed provenance,  coupled to the clear explanations given by the curators and accompanying  texts, has to date allayed any suspicions I might have had.

 

 

With Pendon as he foresaw it Roye England was very purposely setting out to capture the character of the area at a time when his source material in the shape of buildings was changing rapidly.  Hence he took details of what he could in a way that gave him scenes and buildings to fit into his aim for a Vale scene.  Obviously I didn't know the area when he first came across it but I knew it well in the 1950s as my grandparents lived there and had lived and been raised in the area has had previous generations of both their parents' families.  Even in the 1950s - and in fact into the early 1960s many things had not changed - they had electricity installed in their (rented), farmhouse in early 1953 when a new milking parlour was built.  But neither my granmother or great aunt had an electric cooker, the only tap in the building was one for cold water in the former dairy, the lav was outside and there never was any mains drainage.

 

Roye was always fascinated to talk about survivals of the 'old' Vale area and was still - in the late 1960s/early '70s when I knew him quite well - looking for further examples to model.  No way to produce a chocolate box scene but to recapture the spirit and fabric of what had so appealed to him back before the war when he first discovered the area.  That to me has always been what the Vale scene at Pendon is about - a loving presentation of a slice of England which had begin to change dramatically in the years between the wars and which continues to change to this day and which I can also savour some aspects of from old family photos.  

 

And it is why an awful lot of people model railways - albeit with the overall emphasis played out in their own ways with some going for the recreation of a real place or scene, others trying to get as near as they can to such a representation, while others 'do a Pendon' and seek to capture the character of a line or area through their mental image of it.

[Mallard60022]

Thanks Martin,

 

I don't know about knocking out quite complex models daily, but this is the progress so far today on the D&S Milk Van.

 

DSC_8239.JPG

 

Dave Shakespeare's widow, Julie, called to see us today - actually more to see Mo - but I enjoyed seeing here again. A mate came around 2.30 pm to collect a couple of models, so I got back to this (having stated it after lunch) around about 3.00 pm. I tinkered with it for a couple of hours, watched a totally daft black and white film, had a meal, went back to it about 7.00 pm and put the iron down just after nine. 

 

Complex it might be, but when the fit of the parts is perfect, speedy construction is a doddle. Construction is with solder, of course. I don't wish to start further discussions/arguments/differences of opinion/etc, but anyone who advocates that a kit like this can be assembled with glue (of any kind) is talking through his/her hat. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

Had the opportunity to examine this van today. What a cracker. I also had the chance to see Little B again after quite a long time. Inspirational with some really lovely scenic work and several, historically accurate cameo scenes. There were some trains to watch and some recently constructed loco's to admire. I quite like seeing WM and Brass/Nickel Silver in the 'raw', especially when they 'sound' so good too.   

Thanks Tony and Mo for the excellent lunch; much appreciated. Good to see Gilbert as well, however this meant I was outnumbered by BRER modellers

Tony has said in the past that goods vans and wagons are not one of his priorities as he enjoys more the coach and loco poart of the operatons. However I must say that the goods trains that ran today look just like those that I remember seeing all those years ago and the stock is beautifully modelled/finished. 

I survived the horribly wet A1 and am now enjoying an Organic Cider from Herefordshire, not bought lovally but purchased at the Telly Tubby Services on the M5 a couple of weeks ago.

ATB

Phil

[Tony Wright]

Had the opportunity to examine this van today. What a cracker. I also had the chance to see Little B again after quite a long time. Inspirational with some really lovely scenic work and several, historically accurate cameo scenes. There were some trains to watch and some recently constructed loco's to admire. I quite like seeing WM and Brass/Nickel Silver in the 'raw', especially when they 'sound' so good too.   

Thanks Tony and Mo for the excellent lunch; much appreciated. Good to see Gilbert as well, however this meant I was outnumbered by BRER modellers

Tony has said in the past that goods vans and wagons are not one of his priorities as he enjoys more the coach and loco poart of the operatons. However I must say that the goods trains that ran today look just like those that I remember seeing all those years ago and the stock is beautifully modelled/finished. 

I survived the horribly wet A1 and am now enjoying an Organic Cider from Herefordshire, not bought lovally but purchased at the Telly Tubby Services on the M5 a couple of weeks ago.

ATB

Phil

Thanks Phil,

 

It was really good to see you and Gilbert today - what friendship and railway modelling is all about as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Regarding the freight stock: you're right, apart from a handful of wagons/vans, little of it is my work. Most of the kit-built freight stock has been provided by two Robs; Davey and Kinsey respectively. Many of the modified RTR wagons have been weathered by Rob Davey as well, though I've done a number, as has Richard Wilson. Some wagons on the M&GNR bit were built by Norman Turner. 

 

Thanks also for the comments about the Hornby unrebuilt BB. It isn't in its original box for sure, and it's not the very latest manifestation (it doesn't have the plug and socket between the loco and tender) but it is DCC-fitted. If anyone out there is interested in it (on sale on behalf of a widow), I think £95.00 is fair. Don't you? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[nerron]

Tony,

Could I trouble you for some advice? I have just acquired a PDK A2/3 kit on eBay and would be interested to hear if you have had experience with this kit and if you encountered any problems or issues with it. .Also should the tender wheels be spoke or disc? Markits show the complete A2 wheel set as having spoked wheels. Looking forward to meeting you in Sydney next year.

[Tony Wright]

Tony,

Could I trouble you for some advice? I have just acquired a PDK A2/3 kit on eBay and would be interested to hear if you have had experience with this kit and if you encountered any problems or issues with it. .Also should the tender wheels be spoke or disc? Markits show the complete A2 wheel set as having spoked wheels. Looking forward to meeting you in Sydney next year.

You can 'trouble' me all you wish, Ron. 

 

I built both the A2/3 and A2/2 kits when they were introduced by Crownline, at the turn of the century. Both builds appeared in the RM. The PDK kits are exactly the same. 

 

The PDK A2/3 isn't bad, though I personally prefer the DJH version. The cabsides on the PDK version aren't the right proportion, with the horizontal handrails set too low. This alters the shape of the lower cab for numbering and lining, squashing them up. The designer appears to have copied the right-hand side of the Isinglass drawing, which has the handrail too low. Oddly enough, the LH side is fine. The dodge, if it is a dodge, it to fix the handrail further up, hard underneath the windows. That way, the eye 'reads' the cabside proportions as correct. 

 

As supplied, it came with a resin boiler. Since I don't like working with resin (or any plastics) for locomotive construction, I acquired a SE Finecast cast metal A2 boiler (DJH will not sell parts separately). This was easy enough to modify to fit, and it's far better than the resin one - it can be soldered! 

 

I made it as 60500 EDWARD THOMPSON, which retained its original (four segment) boiler, round dome and stovepipe chimney until the early-'60s. It also has spoked tender wheels. 

 

The following pictures show ET in service on Little Bytham, hauling a cement train (which this class was best at!). Some of the pictures were taken quite some time ago. 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope these help. Ian Rathbone provided the lovely paint job. 

 

Looking forward to going down under next year, too.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited December 13, 2017 by Tony Wright

[nerron]

Thanks Tony that is most helpful.I too would have preferred a DJH kit but I only paid 75 pounds for the PDK kit and it was from a fellow in Oz, so as well postage costs were considerable lower than from the UK..

[Tony Wright]

Thanks Tony that is most helpful.I too would have preferred a DJH kit but I only paid 75 pounds for the PDK kit and it was from a fellow in Oz, so as well postage costs were considerable lower than from the UK..

That's a bargain, Ron.

 

One thing I should have also mentioned - if you look at the pictures, you'll see I've had to nibble a bit away from the inside of the cylinders, to give clearance on tighter curves. Had I built this loco for Little Bytham, I needn't have bothered, but it was built originally for Stoke Summit, which had tighter than 3' curves in the fiddle yard in places. In normal viewing conditions, the 'nibbling' is invisible, but I've shown it by my lighting in the pictures. If your curves are 3' or greater, then you'll probably be able to leave the cylinders alone. 

[gr.king]

Is the bogie suspended on the traditional modelling dodge of the swing-arm? I'm fairly certain that I found it possible with Thompson pacific bogies, guided by a pin moving in a suitable curved slot, to leave the cylinders complete even if the loco had to cope with OO curves of somewhat less than 3ft radius.

[Atso]

With help from the every helpful people at Dapol, I've got some spare valve gear and fitted it to my long term A1 'Flying Scotsman' project.

 

 

This model started life as a cheaply obtained A3 2750 'Papyrus' and was in a really poor state when I got it. Work to date includes, replacing the valve gear, moving the various gubbings from the left to right hand side and carefully removing the superheater header covers from the smokebox. The cab (used because it had the correct number and I was being lazy) and tender are spares that I purchased some time ago and the corridor tender has been de-streamlined. I've still got some patch painting and frame lining to do but I'm very happy to finally see it running. It's supposed to represent the loco in early 1930's condition and therefore the cab isn't correct and the reversing level under the running plate should be the straight version but I'm happy to live with those relatively minor issues.

[glo41f]

Looking at the pictures of Edward Thompson on here ( I will refrain from commenting on the aesthetics of the loco!), I notice that the large cylinders are quite a bit outboard of the running plate. If this is to scale, were these beasts restricted as to where they could go as I could see some lineside impedimenta receiving terminal damage!

 

The cement train looks very clean. We had a Blue Circle Cement factory just north of Ipswich and all the wagons were absolutely covered in thick white powder as indeed was the adjacent station (Claydon), goods shed and signal box. The local houses also suffered from the fall out and there was great rejoicing when the plant closed.

 

Martin Long

[Tony Wright]

Is the bogie suspended on the traditional modelling dodge of the swing-arm? I'm fairly certain that I found it possible with Thompson pacific bogies, guided by a pin moving in a suitable curved slot, to leave the cylinders complete even if the loco had to cope with OO curves of somewhat less than 3ft radius.

It is Graeme. 

 

As I mentioned, there's no need for it now to negotiate curves of less than 3', but I'm not going to reinstate the nibbled bit off the cylinders. 

[Tony Wright]

Looking at the pictures of Edward Thompson on here ( I will refrain from commenting on the aesthetics of the loco!), I notice that the large cylinders are quite a bit outboard of the running plate. If this is to scale, were these beasts restricted as to where they could go as I could see some lineside impedimenta receiving terminal damage!

 

The cement train looks very clean. We had a Blue Circle Cement factory just north of Ipswich and all the wagons were absolutely covered in thick white powder as indeed was the adjacent station (Claydon), goods shed and signal box. The local houses also suffered from the fall out and there was great rejoicing when the plant closed.

 

Martin Long

The cylinders are fixed as designed, Martin. 

 

They do look a bit outboard, though they certainly don't foul LB's platforms. The big cylinders were built out to the loading gauge limit. 

 

 

 

Both these shots were taken in Sept 1962, by which time 60500 had a five-segment boiler, lipped chimney and disc wheels on its tender. Was I there at Retford, watching all this at the time? It's possible. The cylinders are certainly as wide as would be allowed. 

 

What's also of interest is the GE Section-allocated Mk.1 in this empty stock train - probably new or recently-refurbished (along with some of the other stock) at York. 

 

Please observe copyright restrictions.  

 

Any restriction on the Thompson Pacifics (or any LNER big stuff) was dependent on the line's RA rating. In earlier days, the first Pacifics clouted the edges of some platforms, until the bottom outside edges of the buffer beams were taken off in a curve. Both Thompson's and Peppercorn's Pacifics had shorter buffer beams, the footplate curving in at the front on the Thompson locos and being less-wide at the front on the Peppercorn ones. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by Tony Wright

[jamie92208]

It is Graeme. 

 

As I mentioned, there's no need for it now to negotiate curves of less than 3', but I'm not going to reinstate the nibbled bit off the cylinders. 

 

I had the same problem with leading bogies on Midland 4-4-0's going round curved of nominal 6' radius.  I used the swing arm method pivoted from a frame stretcher near to the leading couple axle and a curved slot above the bogie.  This worked fine for the inside cylinder locos but the compound caused problems with the tyres of the bogie wheels shorting onto the slide bars on pointwork.  That was solved by putting a thin coating of araldite round the outside face of the bogie wheels after painting.

 

Jamie 

Edited December 14, 2017 by jamie92208

[Tony Wright]

Both D&S LNER vans are now (just about) complete. 

 

I reiterate, I've not built any better etched brass rolling stock kits (though I haven't built a kit from every manufacturer - yet!). 

 

 

This is the Pigeon Van. 

 

 

And this is the Milk Van. 

 

The only items not fixed by soldered construction are the ventilators and the roof itself, along with the plastic rainstrips. Aluminium and plastic just won't solder.

 

Total time for both vehicles? About 17 hours spread over four days. 

 

 

This is the Isinglass equivalent of the D&S Milk Van. Its build featured in my Crowood book, and I've since painted it. It's crying out to be weathered.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[petrovich]

Both D&S LNER vans are now (just about) complete. 

 

I reiterate, I've not built any better etched brass rolling stock kits (though I haven't built a kit from every manufacturer - yet!). 

 

DSC_8276.JPG

 

This is the Pigeon Van. 

 

DSC_8280.JPG

 

And this is the Milk Van. 

 

The only items not fixed by soldered construction are the ventilators and the roof itself, along with the plastic rainstrips. Aluminium and plastic just won't solder.

 

Total time for both vehicles? About 17 hours spread over four days. 

 

DSC_8273.JPG

 

This is the Isinglass equivalent of the D&S Milk Van. Its build featured in my Crowood book, and I've since painted it. It's crying out to be weathered.  

Hi Tony

 

The boxes hanging from the underframe, are these for batteries or something else? If batteries what did they power?

 

Regards

 

Peter

[jwealleans]

They are battery boxes. The D86/87 vans were built with oil lamps and converted to electric lighting. I can't recall whether the D120s had electric from new, but they certainly ended up with it.