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sandshifter

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  1. Sorry, only just discovered this thread, some very interesting miniature railway views. 333 is definitely Cleethorpes, loco is Severn Lamb steam outline 2-8-0 7217 of 1972, as rebuilt by the CCLR 1992. 301 is Ferry Meadows, loco 'Henry' by Dove (1950) 338 is also Ferry Meadows, I believe the loco is a Bo-Bo built by A Mills (1986), now rebuilt as 'Norfolk Harvester' at the Wells & Walsingham 339 is again Ferry Meadows, loco 'Alice' by A Mills (1977), present location unknown 309 is the 7 1/4" line at Pleasurewood Hills 313 is an interesting one, the loco is indeed Guest's 'Prince Charles' (later 'Sir Winston Churchill', nowadays 'Prince William') during the period it was owned by William McAlpine, used on a temporary line at events, and lettered RHDR on the tender as a Romney impostor (McAlpine was of course instrumental in saving the RH&DR about this time). Nice to see 303, that line must have been a nightmare for the operator in the sand. Loco now at Oakwood Theme Park in South Wales. Just to correct a point here (that I have seen elsewhere online too). The railway at Billing uses SL 15.5.78, a 2-8-0 that originated in Cleethorpes and was rebuilt at Windmill Farm and has nothing to do with the American Adventure line. A couple of rides did go to Billing, but not the railway. The American Adventure line went lock stock and barrel to Twinlakes Park near Melton Mowbray. The AA locos are actually SL 2-6-0s of a larger overall design than the 2-8-0s and are pretty unique as only four were built to this design, the other two being 60cm gauge ones exported and seemingly vanished. The trackwork from the park had originated at the Liverpool Garden Festival in 1984. I wrote a history of the line at Britannia Park/American Adventure many years ago for the Narrow Gauge Railway Society which now needs an update... Colin
  2. Indeed, an enjoyable weekend operating Old Castle Lane and thanks to Ian and crew for putting the show on. Simon - I enjoyed seeing both Annesley Woodhouse and Depot Lane, hope you get a 156 soon Colin
  3. Some pre-show tinkering has added a few new details to 'Shifting Sands'.... More here: The Road to Hull Colin
  4. Not in stock at the Nottingham store today, in fact the website is a bit vague about stock levels anywhere. Never mind, came away with an ex-display 'Moppe' plywood drawer unit at half price, always fancied one but never sure what to do with it.... and some stuff for the house, which was the point in going! Colin
  5. Thanks for the offer John, I have a handful of more modern chassis awaiting the day they might "come in handy", I really shouldn't add any more vintage ones! I have dismantled the distorted POP wagon this evening, I must admit that the chassis is far better engineered than I imagined, the buffers are held on by small tapped screws and the W-irons and brake gear are separate castings held in position via cast pegs. Parts of this chassis will live on in due course under a O-16.5 model of a wagon used on the 3ft gauge Murcar Railway in Aberdeenshire (I've just realised that given the origins of the wagon the name of the line is slightly ironic...). My thoughts towards the masterpiece chassied wagon are now erring towards not restoring it and either somehow re-using the chassis parts for another narrow gauge model, selling them alongside the spare Dublo chassis or simply putting them in that "come in handy" box..... Colin
  6. Thanks for the info Bernard and Dave. I had found the Litho sheet covering both wagons on the Freestone site. Here's where I have to decide where to go, this isn't really meant to be a project that takes up much time, do I really want to devote much to it? The POP wagon is beyond restoration so will be carefully taken apart so that the chassis parts can be used to create an O-16.5 wagon in due course. The Masterpiece chassied wagon is another matter. It might be possible to carefully restore what is there, perhaps with the loss of the damaged solebar litho strips. I could obtain the sheet, go for a more complex restoration, but if I did that, the sheet has 'Bolsover' on there too which is more local to us.... I'd really like to create a vintage style 'Firbeck' wagon (our local pit), but that would be a whole other ball game! Colin
  7. Last year I received the gift of a handful of tinplate OO gauge wagons as a wedding anniversary gift/joke from my wife (ten years is 'Tin', apparently...). Do what you want with them she said... I'll be honest, tinplate is not really my thing, but I gave the contents of the box a good looking over to see what could be done. First impressions weren't good, but the closer I looked I realised that two of the wagons weren't tinplate at all, but litho printed card overlays on wooden bodies, with cast metal chassis. They are certainly not the best examples of the breed and I suspect have no heritage value. The 'POP' one has a cast whitemetal chassis with rather fine wheels (though on plain-end axles), but the wheelbase is 35mm - that's 10 feet in 3.5mm scale rather than 9 feet in 4mm scale - is the chassis actually to HO scale? The body is rather warped and appears to be some sort of fibreboard in places rather than wood. Having shown this to my Dad he believes it is fully a Hamblings/Merco product. At some point I'll try and use the useful bits of this wagon under a O-16.5 model (sacrilege!). The Muirson & Patton wagon is a very curious beast. It has a Mazac chassis that I have identified as being a McMurdo Masterpiece product from this thread: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/88542-tank-wagons/. The body is ply, with Merco sides. I do have the original plastic wheels from it - I have borrowed them to go under one of the Dublo wagons at the moment. I had eyed this up with narrow gauge potential but I am starting to think again... The Hornby Dublo wagons were very battered, this brake van is typical: The eagle eyed will notice the rather shiny wheels, they are modern Hornby examples! As the body on this was beyond repair they have been reclaimed for the spares box and the chassis frame advertised on eBay as a spare.... A totally non-conservation approach was taken to the best of the battered tinplate wagons. Two open wagons became one (and another pair of more modern Hornby wheels reclaimed); I swapped some other wheels about amongst the interesting 2-rail conversions and the oldest length of Peco Streamline track I could find seemed apt for a tongue-in-cheek display that may well develop in time: Colin
  8. enjoyed the Hull show and meeting up with friends old and new!

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