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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/05/19 in all areas

  1. Morning all. Norman was up early this morning to catch the morning goods at Bleat Wharf. Here we see 47354 shuffling about the place in the hands of Sheep Lane regulars Driver Jack Hawkins and Fireman Donald Sinden. Once the wagons had been shunted, clearly it was time for a nice cup of tea and a bacon sandwich. All adjourned to the yard office where Foreman Harry 'H' Corbett was doing stove duties with his usual aplomb. Rob.
    20 points
  2. If I'd remembered to look in today's image folder before I started typing I could tell you where we are today. Perhaps I should now check before I just add the images. Having looked I can tell you that we are on the ECML, between Peterborough and Grantham once again. Lolham Class 47 up ex pass Feb 74 C1482 Essendine 254014 up Oct 79 J6654 Swayfield (near) Class 47 Kings X to Hull June 74 J3722.jpg Burton le Coggles 55017 Kings X to York Sept 81 J7576.jpg High Dyke Class 47 up Aug 74 J3997 David
    19 points
  3. All set up at Bloxwich and ready to play trains.
    16 points
  4. Time for the latest blockbuster, The Return of the Fish. See... well not much really, as it's all very dark. Marvel..... at the cr*p photoshopping. Enough. Instead let's look at the image a contortionist photographer on Crescent Bridge managed to take. That's very dark as well.
    15 points
  5. Mange tout, CK Bleat and Sheep are in Somerset, Mutton/Lamb Regis in Devon. Duties for Bleat and Sheep Lane are covered from Highbridge. In the case of the Lamb Regis branch, it is covered from Ewemouth shed 72A with crews staying overnight in the goods shed at Lamb Regis. Both Bleat Wharf and Sheep Lane are close to Highbridge as per map below. Neither a crow nor Ivor can go quicker than Norman in Murray. The roads are quite twisty. No dirigibles have been deployed. Rob.
    13 points
  6. Quite a bit has been done, the wheels are now correct. I've started work on the grain roof sliding hatches, added the Vee hangers and have added the axle boxes and springs. I've treated myself to some etched brass ladders, wheels for the grain trapdoor mechanism and some white metal buffers. My advice to anyone contemplating doing these.....a limited number of up to max of about five would be enough for anyone to build, building a whole rake....well Bachmann are one of a few companies that make them. Thanks for looking Scott
    13 points
  7. Thanks. And that's a super photo you've posted. It shows great modelling details like the missing roof slates and portable generator/compressor. Oddly enough I included a compressor on the gas holder site I built on a layout many years ago. The DED (distributing engineers department) used lots of them towed behind vans when digging up the roads. The model is a bit basic and impressionistic (I wouldn't be happy with it these days) but it served a purpose. It was built for my ‘Hedges Hill Cutting’ N/2mm layout, over 25 years ago, and made from Plastruct girders crossed braced with wire around a cut down Twiglets container. The top should be slightly domed although obviously it wasn't something I bothered with back then. Hopefully the next one will be much more accurate and closer to the prototype. G
    13 points
  8. Shall we have a break from fish? There is some more, but I'll intersperse it with something different. The Up Sunderland is due, and as usual brings the only Heaton engine to get this far South on a regular basis. My memory tells me that Heaton booked a regular engine to this train, so here is Book Law once again.
    13 points
  9. MINERVA MODEL RAILWAYS ANNOUNCES THE BRITISH RAILWAYS CLASS 14 0-6-0 DIESEL HYDRAULIC LOCOMOTIVE IN 7MM ‘O’ GAUGE (1:43.5) FOR 32MM STANDARD GAUGE Minerva Model Railways, the independent company formed by Chris Basten and Chris Klein, announce the production of a finescale, injection-moulded 0 gauge model of the British Railways (BR) Class 14 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic locomotive in 7mm scale (1:43.5, for 32mm standard gauge). It is Minerva’s first venture into mainline diesel traction and delivery is expected by Spring 2020. The Class 14s were ordered in 1963 and designed for trip working movements between local yards and short-distance freight trains. Fifty-six members of the class numbered D 9550-D9555 were built at BR’s Swindon Works with the first delivered in 1964. The anticipated work on BR quickly dried up and from 1968 the locomotives, some after a brief sojourn at Hull Dairycoates in 1967-68, were either sold to industrial operators including the National Coal Board and the British Steel Corporation or scrapped. Nicknamed “Teddy Bears”, 19 of the locomotives survive in preservation around the UK. Photo ©Chris Klein The Class 14 will be built to the same general specification as Minerva’s GWR 57XX/8750 0-6-0PT, Kerr Stuart Victory 0-6-0T, Manning Wardle K 0-6-0ST and Peckett 0-4-0ST locomotives. Technical Specification • An injection-moulded body • Over 200 individual components • Die cast metal chassis • Fine scale wheels • Six-wheel electrical pickup • High-torque flywheel-equipped motor • 40:1 precision gearbox for slow, smooth running • Options include DC/DCC ready, DCC-fitted and DCC sound-fitted using Plux22 technology • Detailed cab with illumination. · Directionally illuminated four-character headcodes • Sprung buffers and hook draw-gear with cosmetic screw couplings • Finished in BR two-tone green livery with black and yellow wasp stripes and BR crest · Includes a sheet of waterslide decals with BR running numbers and etched metal sheet with builder’s plates and BR shedcode plates. A bespoke DCC sound project is being developed. Design work is almost complete and the Class 14 is expected to be delivered in early 2020. The retail prices including UK VAT are expected to be: DC - £290 DCC fitted – £345 DCC and sound fitted - £415 Advanced orders taken before the end of business on 30th November 2019 will qualify for a discount of £30. Minerva does not take deposits and payment is not taken until the models have been delivered, tested and are ready for dispatch. The models will only be available direct from Minerva Model Railways via mail and telephone order, the Minerva website and from the Minerva stand at selected model railway shows. Further information is available from the Minerva Models website www.minervamodelrailways.co.uk. You can also contact us via e-mail sales@minervamodelrailways.co.uk or telephone 02920 531246/07775 782086.
    12 points
  10. Today we had track! ...and a sort of almost a stream. Thingy. ...and a big hole for a turntable to go in. ...and some very sexy point & signal levers.
    12 points
  11. RFD class 47555 waiting for signal to clear...
    12 points
  12. I have trimmed the uprights to length and set about making the bars that help strengthen the sides. There is a photo which can be seen in Vol 3 of the LNWR wagons on page 203 which clearly shows this. They were made from a couple of small piece brass U shaped channel and some .9 nickel rod.
    11 points
  13. Third and final instalment of our USA Big Boy / Golden Spike adventure: Having checked into a hotel in the locale for three nights, we made our way to Ogden's Union Station The 'Steam Meet' was set up to the south of the station, with #844 already in situ. UP CEO Lance Fritz was amongst those making speeches and called #4014 to come into the arena And here they are, in a homage to Promontory 1869 The inevitable cheesy photos (but not too much so) And then a prolonged photo opportunity, with crews on the front of the locos, Promontory style. We went for a walk around to let the crowds subside and the locos were duly able to be photo'd unhindered (similar, it appears, to Wendell1967). Today, had tickets for Promontory Huge crowds but great to be there under cloudless skies The re-enactment And then a stunning finale. Fireworks were set off (despite it being broad daylight) and - completely unexpected (to us at least) - a flight of four USAF F-35s to complete the picture. Quite a moment. Nice locos but very difficult to get many decent photos due to crowds. Hope you enjoyed the story of our visit. We're not hanging around to see the locos head back to Cheyenne so that's it ... for this visit, at least!
    11 points
  14. A few things still to do. Real coal to tender. Numbers to buffer beams. Bit more weathering Canvas roof rolled up.
    10 points
  15. Waiting for clearance to leave the bay platform for a test run to Little Muddle... Dean Goods 2534 nearing completion, funny but I didn't notice until recently that this model doesn't have any buffer beam numbers!
    10 points
  16. And now for something completely different .... Rather than take on a Cakebox Challenge I've decided to do a Layout in a Skip, it's quite simple ! All the bits are there, just a matter of finding them ! Moo Ving
    10 points
  17. Everything has its place in the Fryers Lane stock boxes, all carefully partitioned (to protect the AJs) and labelled so nothing gets forgotten. However, that does mean that buying new stock at a show causes a slight transportation problem on the way home.
    10 points
  18. Yes, actually, sometimes they do. And sometimes they suffer from people who submit an expression of interest and then genuinely forget that they have. And sometimes people change their minds, but would prefer not to admit it, so they claim never to have placed the order in the first place. And sometimes people misread the web page and don't realise that they're placing a definite pre-order. And so on. There are all sorts of reasons why unconfirmed (ie, without a deposit) pre-orders end up being non-orders rather than confirmed orders. But that's precisely why the order management system has to be robust enough to cope with all this, and has to be designed in such a way as to minimise it. And the financial planning for the product has to be based on a realistic (in fact, it's safer to be pessimistic) prediction of what proportion of pre-orders won't ever be confirmed.
    10 points
  19. A very short running session before going to see Mum this morning, and then a longer one on my return. IGNORE the times from the Camera, I thought I'd turned the darn things off. So just a few of the 83 pics to begin with.
    10 points
  20. Built from another of Ian’s excellent kits. Corridor brake third to follow... Cheers Darius
    10 points
  21. Given the reaction the announcement generated you would have hoped that DJM would have gone into damage control and rebuild bridges mode. They could have done that by publishing a comprehensive update on the status of all of their projects. If a project manager cannot do that basically by extracting a bit of data from their project management tools (which may be a few simple excel and word documents) in next to no time then it basically indicates that they are not doing their job. I have managed projects in the past including some pretty big ones (such as warship power and propulsion systems and re-engineering a power plant) and it is part of the territory to be asked to provide status reports, budget and delivery info etc at the drop of a hat. If I was unable to provide such info pretty much on the spot I suspect that I would have quickly been looking for new employment. If things are not great then this might have been the moment to go for a reset. Cards on the table, it may not look great but here is my project recovery and turnaround plan. That could potentially alienate a lot of people but those who have paid DJM money to fund projects in good faith based on promises deserve an upfront and honest update and it might pour oil on troubled waters. The other thing that might help are clear statements to accept his own responsibilities for a lot of his problems and a very explicit and unambiguous statement that he has no intention of trying to use his registering of CAD IP for a monetary shakedown and to try and derail projects at Accurascale, Revolution etc. Given the reaction, the asinine and somewhat empty clarification /retraction was grossly inadequate. Made worse by then going deep.
    9 points
  22. OK, but I would respectfully suggest that there has been no evidence whatsoever hitherto, to lead anyone to believe that Steve is acting from anything other than the most honourable of motives. To even 'suggest' that his behaviour could be dishonourable, could be viewed by some as offensive.
    9 points
  23. I know I should'nt but start anything new with so many things nearly finished but ...... I have always been intrigued by the early cattle wagons when I came across a photo on the LNWR forum which has 2 cattle wagons taken in a Coventy goods yard. This is the clearest photo of a roofless cattle wagon I have seen, so along with the drawing published in the LNWR society journal of a similar wagon I just had to make another. So a start has been made and progress has reached the stage shown here. I will trim the uprights later.
    9 points
  24. Tis Saturday here now. A glorious day in in progress, weather is expected to be cloudless and warm. Good thing too, as No.1 daughter's wedding ceremony is outside in the garden at Trerice Manor (NT). Still working on the speech...
    9 points
  25. More trains have run today, and more photos have been taken. I have rather a lot in store now, and so.......more fish (empties).
    9 points
  26. Crowdfunders come to attention and rally around! there was a time when a gentleman was a man of his word...no I don't mean Dave but us crowdfunders who pledged allegiance to his banner and marched behind him waving our mighty £30 deposits - willing to fight for the freedom to choose the model we wanted. Yes that 92 from Accurascale looks really nice but should we be so quick to run to it. They have revealed a CAD just a few weeks ahead of announcing they are going to tooling, so there was a lot of advance planning and work going on, who knows how soon after Dave announced his plan for a 92. They are almost apologetic about the 92 that they are making. I think they say the original plan was they wanted to make the Mark 5 but on agreement they have to make a Class 92 as well to go with it. So sorry for them ruining our project. Are they aware that they are going to hurt all the crowdfunders really bad? They don't want to talk about it. Luckily Accurascale are coming to our rescue us with a great looking 92 (no I really do think it looks to be a stunning model) after torpedoing our project - thanks guys. Now some of YOU crowdfunders are complaining about Dave and saying they are going to walk away from 2nd deposits because they are going to buy from Accurascale. Even if he came to market next week with a better, more affordable Class 92 with a free sound chip and which laid golden goose eggs would you come back? Should we be surprised if Dave walks away from this project? It is the crowdfunders who have walked away which killed this project - not Dave.
    8 points
  27. Today, I put 68062 back together, and added a crew. It all looks very clean and shiny at the moment: However, this isn't how the locos ever looked on the C&HPR, so here's what it looks like after an attack of weatherage: Some of the weathering powders look a bit raw though, so to finish it off and protect it, I gave it a coat of matt varnish: There's more to do, it still needs lamps, and I might do a set of doors for this loco as well. Thanks for looking, Al.
    8 points
  28. Praise where it was due Tony - a proper job railway. Alas I don't have the LNER appendix which still applied to the GN mainline in 1958. but I'm sure the May 1950 amendment from the REC applied to all Regions using the RCH lamp codes although basically all it did was re-word the description (and on the WR let it take account of there possibly being two brakevans instead of just one: the LNER Appendix might have already provided for two brakevans?) and create a different bell code (on the WR at any rate). But the important thing was that the lamping was the same as a light engine - provided there were no more then two brakevans. And I couldn't resist adding this to my post-
    8 points
  29. Rob, as your empire grows, what is the geographical relationship of the three layouts to each other. Is there an Ordnance Survey map of Sheepshire? How long, for example, would it take Norman to drive from Sheep Lane to Bleat Wharf? Could Ivo do it any quicker in his Bentley, or are the roads pretty poor? Could a crow, flying in a straight line, do it any quicker? Has the British Railways hot air balloon (the one in maroon and cream livery) ever been deployed to get a member of traincrew back to sign off, without incurring overtime? What depot signs the road to both Bleat Wharf and Sheep Lane? Presumably drivers who sign one or both of these routes wouldn't also sign the road through Mutton to Lamb Regis? These are all serious and weighty questions, which we, your readers, have no right to know the answers to, but will ask them anyway, because some of us are nosy. I'm now going to (a) get the washing in and (b) make the tea.
    8 points
  30. Do other crowdfunders suffer these malicious fakes? Or is this poor man just inordinately unlucky? Life seems to deal him an impressively tough hand.
    8 points
  31. Here is the not quite alpha and omega of my model railway life. The 700 class was built in 1959, so is now knocking 60 years old. that summer was wonderful with wall to wall sunshine and I was swotting for my chemistry finals which were due to be sat in the September. So as a change from studies I built the engine. I built it outside at my parents house, using a blowlamp to heat up the soldering iron and a huge stick of solder and , what my father called, killed spirits, zinc in hydrochloric acid. My bench was the top of the concrete coal bunker and the vice was in the shed. Happy days. The bogie tender was built a little later when I had a house of my own. Up to then, I paired the loco with a tender from the Triang L1 This was built to EM gauge but previously I flirted with TT gauge when I built an LMS 2P. Later I had a go at narrow gauge and built a Trallee and Dingle 2-6-0T. Both these locos were not very good and I gave them away. A Midland 1400 class 2-4-0 followed but I managed to get the boiler sloping down to the front, so that was given away also. The Johnson compound was built over a period of about ten years 1995 to 2005 to run on Canal Road, my Settle Carlisle type station. Unfortunately Canal Road was scrapped when my arthritic knees started giving me grief, and now I operate Kirkby Malham, a terminus to fiddle yard layout, so my two engines with bogie tenders are not used , they will not fit on K-M turntable. between these two engines, I produced a fair number of locos, mainly Midland for me but North Eastern for friends. I am currently building a slim boilered 4-4-0 of the 1808 class. This one, I think will be my last one as this year I will be 84 years young. Derek
    8 points
  32. Sorry, quoting you out of context but: The shock wave is still running around the railway world, following the service of a writ in Swindon yesterday, taken out by DJ Models against the Great Western Railway, alleging intellectual property infringement. Several members of the Swindon Drawing Office are named in the writ, including Mr C.B. Collett, the Great Western's Chief Mechanical Engineer. The claim is understood to relate to Mr Collett's new 'King Class' locomotive, which DJ Models alleges is its own design. Your correspondent has gained sight of the writ, which claims that "the DJ Models's King Class design contains a number of distinctive DJ Models's design cues that the Great Western has copied, such as wheels and a boiler". Damages of £200,000,000 are claimed against the defendants for the alleged infringement, which industry experts estimate is over two hundred million times the value of DJ Models's business. C B Collett: Confused When asked to comment upon this development, Mr Collett said he was confused, "it's not even really my design; it's really George Jackson Churchward's, I just made it bigger". In response, D J Models threatened to make its King much, much smaller.
    8 points
  33. Blimey, looks wet down there!
    7 points
  34. Productive Saturday, platform halt built from foam board and coffee stirrers - loosely based on Halburton Halt on the Tiverton branch. Still some weathering to go, but it's getting there... Giles
    7 points
  35. Sorry to be a party-pooper, but can I just pop in for a minute with something SJ related? You don't go past for a few days & look what happens - someone starts painting the steelwork on the canopy! What's that all about then? Looks like I'll have to start asking a few questions. As an aside, looking back the other way, our friend from Colyton seems to have been busy prettying up the jungle behind the concrete fence at the back of the former up platform and someone's going for a 'roses round the door' look at the former booking hall entrance. Note old rail used instead of kerb stones. NB apparent flying saucer in first photo is top of septic tank installed last year. Don't know whether or not it's actually connected to anything.
    7 points
  36. I am pleased to say that at last I have seen the railway again. It seems a long time since the last time a train ran on it. This is strange as my calendar always is at Thursday 21st March 1895. Never changes, I wonder if it has stopped. Now I am very pleased to be able to contribute to this broadsheet, or whatever it is. When I ask my Contractor about it, he began to mumble and say things I did not understand. He often does that. As you see, I am standing in front of a cottage. Not my cottage. If it was, I would have had a man round to paint the doors and windows. My contractor built this. I ask you, look at it. It is a new building but it looks old and worn. He said it is meant to be like it. You see this is what I have to put up with. There is worse to come. As you can see, it is not even finished and look at it. It is covered in dust. I did ask him to clean it up but he obviously does not have a woman’s touch. Now why am I showing you this. Well, this is the only building he has made, not my station, or my cottage. You ask why am I concerned? He is busy making coaches, and where will the passengers go when they arrive? Where is the Refreshment Room, or the waiting room, or the Ticket Office? It does not matter how many people come, we have nowhere to put them. That is not the only thing. I have a wife and five children. I have nowhere to live. My wife has had to go and live with her mother in Dolgelley. It is fortunate that the Dolgelley trains were one of the few My Contractor actually manged to run. Wrong engine, wrong coaches, but at least it ran. My son works with me at the station. He is a ticket clerk. No, I did not give him the job. He had to go to Oswestry to the Head Office. A long journey for a boy of twelve. I thought he would be quite able, but his mother insisted on going with him. They were impressed with him. I am so proud. Have not seen him recently though. I asked My Contractor, and he just mumbled. I think he knows more than he is letting on. Now he says it will be alright soon as he is finally retiring at the end of October. Retiring! Retiring! How will anything ever get done? He seems to think that it will mean he has more time. He never makes any sense to me.
    7 points
  37. But sometimes the two coincide.... https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/522699100473630523/ Harcourt Street Dublin, 1900
    7 points
  38. What!!!???? Is someone else making a 92.......?
    7 points
  39. Back to photos again now, today's come from a visit to Grangetown on Teesside. It's February 20th 1988, a very dull dismal day with little light. Grangetown 143018 Saltburn to Darlington 20th Feb 88 C9346.jpg Grangetown British Steel Robel 20th Feb 88 C9347.jpg Grangetown 20118 and 20137 down le 20th Feb 88 C9348.jpg Grangetown 20118 and 20137 empty potash to Boulby 20th Feb 88 C9352.jpg Grangetown Class 101 Middlesbrough to Saltburn 20th Feb 88 C9354.jpg David
    7 points
  40. Phew, as long as this doesn't stop the production of those Franklin Mint Cuckoo Clocks, I'm fine with it!
    6 points
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