Tony Teague

Time for the summary of what was achieved in 2023; in a year dominated for me by health issues this was less than intended but looking back it was probably a bit more than I had imagined. So far as this thread is concerned I started to illustrate the coaching stock fleet that is available of Churminster & Stowe Magna and at this point I have managed to cover 24 of the approx 45 rakes available, so my intention will be to complete this run through in 2024. Whilst we are on coaching & NPCS rakes, three additions were made in 2023 all of which were included in the above review, these were the 3-car and 4-car ex-LSWR cross-country sets Nos. 235 & 134 respectively, from EFE Rail / Kernow; I added 3rd class designations which were missing from the doors of the brake coaches on the 3 car set. Also new to stock was Bachmann Bulleid set no.790. At the same time @Iain.d very kindly took pity on the stalled build of a Roxey 6-wheeler for my breakdown train, and not only corrected my errors but completed it and another Roxey kit of an ex-LBSCR 54' coach, also intended for the same train! Both now look exquisite but are awaiting final painting & lettering by me. On the wagon front there were new GWR & SR additions from the Rapido range as I attempt to reduce my P.O. stock in favour of 'big four' branded wagons; the standard of the latest RTR wagons is so high that it calls into question why you might attempt to do as well from a kit, however, I enjoy this and did manage to build a pair of ex-SECR 12T bolster wagons from a Cambrian kit, whilst at the close of the year a GWR 'Bloater' is almost complete but awaiting delivery of paint supplies. I'll leave equipment, scenery & infrastucture for a separate post, but finally in this one, to locomotives, where I took delivery right back in January of two Bulleid pacifics from Chris Phillips (who has since retired); he built these from PDK kits with the addition of detailing parts from RT Models / Albert Goodall: Also delivered was a new D1 loco from Dapol / Rails of Sheffield, and at the same time, I managed to 'finish' my work on No.3458 'Ironside'; this is not a great model but one that I am unlikely to replace. It had however filled a place from my 'missing locos' list, as did a further beautifully built delivery from Mike Edge in the shape of No.1031, an ex-SECR F1, built partly from a Jidenco kit, and part scratch-built: (pictured here on Little Bytham, image courtesy of Tony Wright) Later, I received a 1st 3D test-print of the body for an ex-LBSCR I1x loco, and whilst this represent progress on another of my 'missing locos' I am now awaiting an updated print as there were a small number of dimensional and other issues which showed up in the test; nevertheless this one should be removable from the list in 2024. So as at the end of 2023 the 'missing loco' list looks like this (The number in brackets represents the total number of each class originally built): LB&SCR Billinton E5X (4) - As per my several previous observations, I have no excuse for this model still being incomplete as the 3D printed body and SEF E5 chassis have each been in stock for more than four years! I just need to extract the digit and finish it. LB&SCR Marsh C3 (8) - Arun Sharma's 'kit of parts' for the loco and related B2X tender, are both with the intended builder & continue to await a slot in his work queue. LB&SCR Marsh D3X (1) - the solution proposed is via a 3D printed body, and use of the chassis from a Chivers D3 kit (in stock), however, design work on the body has yet to start so this one is not going to be a quick win. LB&SCR Billinton B4X (12) - A commission for this to be built from existing etches has been agreed, and so this one awaits its turn on the builder's list. SECR Wainwright B1 (16) - I have been waiting on SER Kits who have had designs and drawings in hand for a 7mm kit for several years; they had indicated their willingness to scale these down to produce 4mm etches but there has been no recent progress. As a result I have now agreed a commission for this to be scratch built in due course LSWR Drummond S11 (10) - I have held a set of L12 body parts (S11 = L12 with smaller wheels or T9 with large boiler & smaller wheels) produced by Arun Sharma for some time, however, PDK have since produced a complete kit and, having acquired one, this is now with a builder and awaiting a slot in his build queue SR Maunsell I1X (18) - A 3D resin test-print of the body received and now awaiting delivery of an updated version; most chassis components in stock So my updated summary for the remaining 7 now is as follows: 'kit / components now available for building' = 3: C3, E5X, S11 'firm solution / within forseeable future' = 3: B4X, B1, I1X 'some issues remain to be solved' = 1: D3X I will cover the remaining topics in a further post as well as looking forward at 2024 Tony

Good morning! May I take this opportunity to wish all followers of this thread a very happy Christmas & prosperous New Year! Once the festivities are over I will post my (fairly short) summary of what was completed in 2023, plus a look forward to what I am hoping for in 2024. Best wishes Tony

Your posts get posted exactly where you put them, so if you put them under "Modelling Musings etc" then thats where they appear, whereas if like your post above, you place it under "Wright Writes" then it shows here. Seems pretty simple to me?

Certainly true, but I am still quite allergic to words that are used by the younger generations to have meanings almost diametrically opposed to their historic interpretation, such as "fierce" and "dope" etc, also the tendency for pronunciation or accents to veer towards imitating those who can't speak English properly in the first place! Very wierd!

Interesting - and of course if you were just to see any one of these alone you (or I, anyway) might not notice such subtle differences. The quality of the RTR model, which is a fairly recent Hornby production, is such that it might certainly put off all but the most committed kit builder - as you have observed many times before. Tony

A trio of S15's that may be of interest: No.499 is a Urie S15 from a DJH kit built & painted for me by Chris Phillips No.839 is the Maunsell version also built by Chris Phillips but from the different DJH kit No.826 is a Hornby RTR Maunsell S15, beautifully weathered by the late Mick Bonwick. Tony

I have not shown any further coaching stock sets for a while - mainly because those not shown to date are parked away in the fiddle yards and I have not run any trains for quite a while - so no pictures. I am pleased to say that changed today when amongst other movements, ex-LB&SCR 2-coach Set No.783 emerged into the daylight and was immediately posed for pictures: The leading coach is trailer composite no.6103 from a Roxey kit and built by Ian Wilets, painted & beautifully lined by Larry Goddard. This is followed by brake 3rd no.3992 with the same pedigree. Bringing up the rear is Hornby Van C no.753 and the train was hauled by SR / Bulleid class Q1 no. C21, also by Hornby: Whilst there is plenty of work to be done on the layout, much of the stock had ended up in the wrong place for various reasons, and so the plan now is to restore trains to their allocated places and this should enable me to record the remaining coaching sets as we go along: Of course, the whole train needs weathering! Tony

Almost 6 weeks on and the underframes for the breakdown train have each been brush painted in black, however, waiting for a day that was warm enough and dry enough to spray paint the bodies proved problematic; every time the weather was right I was busy doing something else.............. but eventually I managed to spray them with a grey primer. As you can see, the Hattons Genesis coach is still darker because under the paint it was black; I did remove the existing decals but found it impossible to get to the glazing, which would have involved removing the roof, and so I resorted to covering the windows with Maskol. A couple of days later I intended to apply the top, darker grey coat but found that I didn't have the right stuff in stock; I manaed to get a car spray paint that I thought looked right, but having applied it, the result was way too light and so I am now awaiting a new supply that I have ordered. In the meantime I had a visit from Giles and we worked together on making progress with the semaphore signal interlocking for Churminster; essentially the plan is to use the blue DCC Concepts levers on the control panel for route setting rather than 'simple' signal or point switching, however, the number and complexity of the routes means that connecting the levers to relays will not easily cope, and so we have resorted to installing an Arduino (mini computer) into which each route is programmed. The picture shows the Arduino and the bank of 20 relays that it fires; this is work in progress as both will eventaully be mounted below the baseboard, but at this stage all of the Churminster semaphores have been switched to be fired by the Arduino, whilst the program has been written, tested and proved for operation of the points which will be transferred on Giles' next visit. Ultimately a second Arduino and relay bank will be used to do the smae job on the other side of the room at Stowe Magna. Finally for this update, I have also indulged my usual habit of building a wagon as a diversion from everything else; this time it is a Parkside / Peco GWR 'bloater' fish van, and this shows progress to date: The 6 sets of steps are especially fiddly and awful to build but I will get there, and the roof looks like it is a very poor fit (just resting in place for the picture). Tony

Having just worked through this thread from the beginning, I am impressed! I look forward to following progress with great interest. Tony

Could have been a 2-LAV.....

Tony Don't like to rock the boat but I think that is my 21C134 built from a PDK kit rather than being by Hornby! I can send you images of Hornby BB & WC locos if needed....... Tony

Did you mean loose his lunchbox, or open his lunchbox - I fear these have different consequences for those beneath!

Reflecting on the discussion above, concerning the various problems that all of us may encounter with our eyesight in old age, I wondered whether the simultaneous debate about OO/EM/P4 and the angle from which pictures are taken really matters at all...................😁 Most of us may not be able to discern any difference.

First my sincere thanks to Tony, Mo and Jilly the cat for again hosting my visit - always a great pleasure! I picked out these locos to visit LB on the basis that they were all a bit unusual, plus it is not often that one sees tiny shunters at this location; as Tony and followers of my thread are aware I also have a sub-project going on, alongside building my train set, which is to have at least one model of every class of loco that the SR had on their books at nationalisation - and because of their investment in electrification they had a lot of variety including some quite ancient locos. Each of those shown had been hard to source and on my 'missing list' for several years and so finally securing them felt like an achievement; there are now just 7 types left to source and I think I have 'solutions' for each of these. The first departmental shunter shown, no 400S is a Fowler 4C 150hp loco and one of a class of two for the SR, in service stock form 1946 until 1957 and used at Southampton Docks and then Eastleigh Carriage Works.; the model was built by Mike Edge from his own etches and I believe it was the test build for a kit which is now in the Judith Edge range. The diminutive SR ex-LSWR Drummond C14 class loco has actually been seen on here before; 10 of these were built around 1913 and this one worked at Southampton Docks until withdrawn; three survived into BR days (but not this one). Again the model was designed and built by Mike Edge as one of the test buiilds for a kit now available in the Judith Edge range. The 3rd rail shunter as above is SR ex-LSWR departmental No.DS74, built 1899 and finally withdrawn in 1965; it served throughout as the shunter of coal wagons at the railway's power station at Durnsford Road, Wimbledon and never carried it's stock number. The model was built for me by Chris Phillips from a Judith Edge kit and despite it's size an lack of weight it seemed to be very comfortable pulling a short rake around LB. Perahps the smallest of all was Ruston 48DS, SR no.DS1169 whcih formed a class of just one on the SR; it was acquired in 1948 and lasted until 1972 serving at Broad Clyst civil engineering depot and then Folkestone. Again, the model was built for me by Chris Phillips from a Judith Edge kit. Finally, No.1031 (shown here on home territory) is an SR, ex-SECR Wainwright class F1 loco built as Stirling class F between 1883 and 1898 and rebuilt by Wainwright between 1903 and 1910; the last was withdrawn in 1951. The model is partly from a Jidenco kit which I bought on E-Bay and subsequently discovered had many missing parts! It was built, and partly scratch-built, by Mike Edge, becoming the latest to tick off another class from my 'missing list'; the model both looks and performs brilliantly, even though I have yet to add a crew, coal and headcode discs! You certainly did! Tony

Yes, and amazingly it seemed to be able to haul a short train despite the absence of any 3rd rail! Tony

Given how magnificent these coaches look, I have no difficulty whatever in taking the blame! Thanks for showing us the result. Tony

It was a great relief (to my wallet) to find that there was nothing whatever on the list for those of a Southern persuasion! Nevertheless I am sure they will all go quickly.

Doesn't seem there is much hope of that................

I understand that this is not uncommon around Brum, but the people who do this sort of thing are scumbags and thos who buy the second hand parts that they must sell on the black market are simply fuelling their activities!

I have a Nucast N15X and although my layout is DC controlled, I have had some problems with the front bogie shorting; I have used a smear of araldite on the inside of the cylinders to help overcome this (as well as removing metal!). The loco was built and painted for me by Chris Phillips (this is in OO). I look forward to seeing your completed model. Tony

Still looking for No.8.......................... In the meantime I have finally attacked the problem of several months of junk having been dumped on my workbench as well as the only remaining 'un-scenic'd' area of the layout, in order that I might actually re-start some project work. (I found a handy empty drawer.........😟 ) Because the lull in proceedings has been so long I have needed to sit down and work out just exactly what my priorities now are - of which more in a later post, however, the clearance gave me the space to re-start work on the breakdown train which will be based around the excellent Bachmann SR crane. My research showed that the vehicles in the train were likely to be in some shade of grey or black (or even red in some cases) but the HMRS 'bible' on SR liveries does not provide a specific shade and so I decided to try to get somewhere close to the crane livery since I have no intention of repainting it! I tested a number of shades of grey that I had in stock (but nowehere near 50......) and found that the closest (in my eyes) seemed to be Phoenix Precision Paints P955 - which oddly is 'Roofing Slate Grey' - of which I have a small amount but more is now on order. Followers of this thread may recall that I had acquired a Hattons Genesis 6-wheeler, which is currently black........... ............whilst back in May, @Iain.d had very kindly rescued my abortive build of a Branchlines ex-LSWR 30' 6 wheel full brake, which is to become a tool van...... ......and had also (beautifully) built for me an ex-LSWR 54'5" 5 compartment brake 3rd which will be finished as a Riding Van: So all three of these are now off of their bogies / underframes so that those can be painted black, whilst the bodies have been cleaned up and will be primed before painting in "Roofing Slate Grey". Updates will follow. Tony

Yes, some of mine are close to the pointwork, e.g. those used for polarity switching. whilst there is a bank of them inside the control panel fro such things as changing panel light indications - but anywhere from the trigger switch to the device they are mimicking works fine. Glad to know I am not alone! Tony

If I may just divert back to my previous post on the subject of using the Gaugemaster relays and in case anyone is minded to try out what I have suggested, I omitted one key detail in terms of how I went about it. When I first used these it was at the suggestion of two guys who were hepling me with the layout at the time, and they had considerable experience in using these in the way that I was proposing. What they told me was that the relays worked more consistently and reliably if two resistors on the relay circuit board were removed; I have no idea, or can't recall what they said about how they behave without this modification but every one of the 60+ of these relays on my layout has been doctored in this way - see image. The two black wires to the right have replaced two resistors that come built into each relay board and whilst I am certain that this negates any warranty, I can say that (touch wood) all of those that I have installed are continuing to work well and I have so far had no failures. I give no warranty to those either following or ignoring my advice!😁 Tony

The rails may have been 'borrowed' in places but the key issue is that the line from Bicester to Bletchley was mothballed and never closed, so ownership of the trackbed / formation was maintained throughout.

Excepting that the trackbed is already owned = nil, or less land acquisition costs; a major problem with HS2 and for a new route into Cambridge.