PGH

Ever feel you've been here before ? .......... (Post #1344) Another Dean Goods fitted with a Zimo MX645. This time using the 8 pin plug and socket so rather more straightforward apart from keeping the additional wiring tidy. A slightly taller speaker was used so the top of the tender has been cut away, but it will still fit well below the moulded coal load. A 680uF capacitor has also been fitted. Larry's decision to return to 4mm was a surprise, just like his earlier decision to change to 7mm scale. Most of us would probably waste time dithering about what to do for the best but when he makes a decision he certainly 'cracks on' with it and always does a superb job.

Carrog Road now has a chuffing Jinty (just fitted with a Zimo MX645) and is apparently temporarily on loan to the NCB -

Yes, no problem. Send me your Email address in a PM and I'll send them as a series of attachments. The original scans from the negatives are approx 2Mb in size. I took several photos during the 11 times I saw it in visits to Hafod and Gresford and I should be able to sort out reasonable RH and LH views of the whole loco.

I don't think there were any quarry steam locos at Nantmawr Quarry. There is an interesting account of the quarry railway in 1953 on this website - http://www.oswestry-borderland-heritage.co.uk/?page=133 and this also includes a photo of Lilleshall 10 ton wagon No.1750. The quarry was connected to the crusher and limekilns at the end of the Nantmawr Branch by a long rope-worked incline. From the top of the incline to the quarry itself was quite a short distance and the above account describes that this section was horse worked. A horse was also used for shunting at the bottom of the incline. I visited the quarry in 1959 by which date the internal railway system had been replaced by lorries and the only remaining railway item I found in the quarry was a very derelict standard gauge timber side tipping wagon, so I assume the quarry system was standard gauge.

David, The skill and craftsmanship displayed in this thread is truly outstanding and I think we should all be grateful for your detailed description of exactly how the results were achieved. However there is one aspect of the prototype locomotive that I'm very curious about - the rear extension of the footplate and frames. As stated in the first post, No.41 (KS 3074) was one of the last two to be built and the pair were despatched together from the builder on 14/9/1917, just over two weeks after the previous batch of six locos. The other loco of the pair (KS 3075) did in fact have timber buffer planks in front of the steel buffer beams like all the earlier locos and so I think its very unlikely that KS 3074 was any different. I have found a photograph of this loco which was published some time ago by Real Photographs and taken I believe by W.H.Whitworth while the loco was still under L.H.& J.C. ownership. This confirms that the timber was removed from the front buffer beam but appears to show that it was still in place on the rear buffer beam. I can't reproduce the whole photograph here for reasons of copyright but maybe I can be excused for reproducing just part of it. The RCTS thumbnails shown in Post #41 appear to show that the bunker was later modified with a straight vertical back plate instead of the previous reverse curved back plate. So I am wondering whether the footplate and frames were only extended when this was carried out ? A further point to note from the Whitworth photo is the lettering on the side tanks. Under L.H.& J.C. ownership the locos were lettered "L. H. J. C." or "L. H. & J. C." on the tender or tank side with the number on the cab side or bunker. However in the photo the number is painted in the middle of the side tanks in a similar style to the letters so it actually appears as - "L. H. 41 J. C."

So would I ! It would have been (or maybe will be - who knows ?) built with the later cab. I first saw it at Hafod Colliery, then several times at Gresford - a remarkable survivor.

The footplate on THE WELSHMAN is 8'-4" overall - measured at Gresford Colliery in April 1970

The first loco for the new layout - a Minerva Pannier - has been fitted for DCC Sound. Minerva will supply this loco ready fitted with DCC Sound for a very reasonable sum, but this was not taken advantage of because Larry already had a suitable spare Zimo decoder and also he wanted to try the Zimo twin speaker. The decoder was to be hard wired direct to the motor and pickups and it was determined that it would fit under the existing pcb platform with a little modification. After temporarily shielding all the chassis apart from the part to be removed in polythene film and tape, the section of metal between the two pcb platform support posts was removed with a cutting disc. This allowed the decoder to fit between the posts and below the platform, where it was secured with double sided adhesive foam tape. The platform was replaced minus the pcb clips and turned through 180 degrees, then the speaker was secured to it with more adhesive foam tape. The wires between the motor and the decoder appear to be close to the flywheel in this view but they are positioned as far as possible from the centreline and are well away from the flywheel. Two 1800Uf capacitors were fitted in the pannier tank and connected via a two pin plug. Ready for action - well, after adjusting CVs, fitting plates, weathering, etc, etc !

There was a connection between the Kettering System and long boilered Manning Wardle's as the larger three 3ft gauge locos were of that type The first was obtained secondhand and the other two bought new from Manning Wardle, the last in 1906 just two years before the drawing of the proposed loco dated 1908. Shortly after, in 1909, they did obtain a 15" cylinder standard gauge Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST secondhand, larger than their existing 12" and 14" cylinder Black Hawthorn 0-4-0STs. So maybe in 1908 they were thinking of a much larger loco, although it still doesn't explain the restricted height of the proposed loco. Kettering Ironworks was served by a standard gauge system, the 3ft gauge served to bring iron ore to a tipping dock at the works. After the ironworks closed in 1959 two standard gauge locos were retained (1 in use, 1 spare) to shunt wagons from the tipping dock to the mainline sidings until the quarries closed in October 1962.

Yes it does, but the trouble is that photo has been scanned wrong way round. It needs to be flipped (technical term from Photoshop !) horizontally to get the right view.

Real Photographs Ref:- W8814 I believe the Real Photographs collection was acquired by Ian Allan and has subsequently gone to the National Railway Museum, but I don't know whether copies are currently available. If you wish I could scan my copy and send it attached to a Personal Message.

I think its taken at the London Brick Company's Coronation Brickworks, Kempston Hardwick, just south of Bedford The works was served by standard gauge sidings which used an unusual two wire overhead system, similar to that used for trolley buses. A similar system was used on the narrow gauge system at Llechwedd Quarry, Blaenau Ffestiniog. The details of the overhead system appear to be similar in the Motor Rail photo. London Brick were good customers of Motor Rail for narrow gauge locomotives but had very few standard gauge Motor Rails.

The two brakevans at Granville in latter years came from the NCB's Cannock & Rugeley Collieries system. They were apparently employed on trains of container wagons used to transport coal from West Cannock Colliery to the canal basin at the end of the Cannock Extension Canal. This traffic ceased about 1962 which is probably about the date they were transferred to Granville. It seems likely that the container wagons at Granville shown in Post #107 were also originally used for this traffic on the Cannock & Rugeley system. I don't know their origins but I would guess either home made or perhaps not one of the regular rolling stock manufacturers. There were no builders plates on either, the van in use had the lettering "W.H.Ltd." on the axleboxes and the other, No.4, had lettering "E.E.G." on its axleboxes. Both were painted light grey with black underframes.

If you had read the text that accompanied my photos you might have found a possible answer to that question:- "The two brakevans at Granville in latter years came from the NCB's Cannock & Rugeley Collieries system. They were apparently employed on trains of container wagons used to transport coal from West Cannock Colliery to the canal basin at the end of the Cannock Extension Canal. This traffic ceased about 1962 which is probably about the date they were transferred to Granville."

I believe it was originally a wagon works, part of the Powell Dyffryn 'empire' as was the adjacent colliery. I don't know when it ceased to be used for wagon building, and then perhaps later by the NCB for wagon repairs. By the time of my first visit the entire site was disused and the building completely empty apart from KS 3066.

Is this OK ?

Is this any help ? Photo deleted - wrong green apparently ! Taken at Layerthorpe in June 1979

Another done - the 38XX. Zimo MX645 Decoder + YouChoos 'Flame 12' 20mm x 15mm x 12mm high speaker + 1000 uF capacitor. I'm no great fan of 00 gauge, but I find the detail in some of these current models to be quite amazing:

Its done - Zimo MX645 + YouChoos speaker + 470uF capacitor. I was hoping to fit a larger capacitor, but with pickups on 5 wheels each side, lack of contact shouldn't be a problem.

16mm scale drawings of LINDA and CHARLES by Don Townsley were published in the Magazine MODEL RAILWAYS. The drawing of LINDA appeared in the October 1976 issue and the drawing of CHARLES in the March 1978 issue.

Larry, you've now got a chuffin' Crab (or you will have when I bring it round !) Zimo MX645 decoder installed in tender with YouChoos 0.6W speaker, 1000uF capacitor and 4 pin connector to loco. It makes a change from what I'm currently working with: No prizes for guessing which I prefer ! - its a bit fiddly this 00 scale, but as they say "variety is the spice of life"

Extending the subject of "surprise" level crossings to other locations, there is this one at Amlwch in North Wales Located on the private line connecting Amlwch Station with the Associated Octel Works, it was originally worked by their own locomotives but latterly BR locos worked right through to the factory gates. Here 25285 is returning from the works with an outgoing train. The lorry was used by the Associated Octel workers who operated the gates.

These photos at Maentwrog Road in the 1990s are outside your modelling period but I thought they might be of interest. They are scanned from prints so excuse the quality. 31190 (with 31327 at the rear) on the "Trawsfynydd Trekker" special 27.8.1994 31163 + 31199 on the flask train from Trawsfynydd 4.8.1995 31308 on the last flask train from Trawsfynydd 29.4.1997 59205 (with 37098 + 37377 at the rear) on "The Roman Nose" special 18.4.1998 37023 (with 37114 at the rear) on the weedkilling train 19.8.1998 56108 at the rear of the Hertfordshire Railtours "The Trawsfynydd Lament" special - train was heading back to Blaenau with 47785 on the front 17.10.1998

It's very gratifying to see that my photos of Colwyn Bay Goods Yard had been a source of inspiration for this project. It certainly makes the time and effort spent in scanning and editing the old negatives worthwhile.

Another possibility (excuse ?) for an additional siding at Carrog is a private siding that served a slate quarry. Similar sidings existed each side of Carrog at Penarth to the west and Glyndyfrydwy to the east. These once had direct tramway connections to their respective slate quarries, but another quarry perhaps more remote from the railway could have used road transport to bring the slate for loading at their own siding at Carrog. Being a private siding this would explain why its separate from the goods yard. The only facility necessary would be a loading bank.