dunwurken

GERS. To anyone North of Hadrians Wall living in Nicky Sturgeon's wee country GERS is Glasgow Rangers Football Club currently managed by a chap from Liverpool called Gerrard. The one thing GERS (Glasgow) and GERS (Railway) have in common is the colour blue. Just another piece of useless but interesting information which normally is well received on this thread. Malcolm

Yes both the general arrangement and of course the stone used varied between the cities. Malcolm

How are flats detected these days? Visual inspection before departure / periodic examinations? RMweb member by side of track?

Ah, he and P D Hancock obviously had the same carpentry teacher. I have been informed by a number of people over the years that when in Edinburgh it certainly worked very well. I cannot comment on how it ran when in Devon. Malcolm

John If you search P D Hancock Craig and Mertonford Railway that will take you to a thread on this site. You can also use the same search on NGRM online and if you require any specific information please feel free to pm me. Malcolm

Mmm. Undecided now!!

I think it was double track. There are bridge safety rails to the right but to the left there are safety rails at right angles to the track presumably on the top of the support walls where part of the bridge has been removed. The left hand track side safety rail must be behind the woman.

Is that it in place now?

Great photos Eric. The Haymarket cleaners have been very busy. Malcolm

My uncle spent WW 2 in the RAF Regiment, guarding a base at Lytham St. Anne's! Malcolm

Referring back to the discussion on page 39 concerning P D Hancock's K's kits and equipment and in particular the J72. A replacement loco was found which had the same chassis and motor and the parts were duly swapped over. Seen in photo below passing Dundreich on a short pick up goods NER No. 2187 is again a working Craigshire loco after sitting on the cripple road for at least 33 years! Malcolm NER No.2187 Nov 2020 by Malcolm MacLeod, on Flickr

You are correct David there was one on the Craig and Mertonford called 'Ian'. The body is a commercial 3.5mm scale casting of a GWR ‘1101’ class dock shunter which was produced for the toy market in the late 1940’s / early 1950’s by Richard Kohnstram under his “Moko” label. PD undertook his conversion in 1949/50 and details can be found in MRN Jun 1952 pages114 to 117 and Narrow Gauge Adventure pages 64/5 & 68/9/70. On p107 of the RM for May 1954 we learn that “Ian” has met with an accident having plunged a scale 300 feet onto the floor. “Ian’s” woes continued because on p254 of the Nov 1955 RM we are informed that “Ian” is temporarily out of commission due to a crank working loose. He/she was still out of commission in 1958. [RM Feb 1958 p28]. Whether “Ian” ever worked again is open to question for whilst the body of the locomotive still survives in a box in an attic there is no chassis, it having been removed by PD, possibly cannibalised for any re-useable parts. Photo below - 'Ian' when almost new. Early Days - Ian by Malcolm MacLeod, on Flickr A few tribute/replica 'Ians' have been built including one by myself. I bought my body shell for 99p +p&p!!! It did not look good but then I was not looking for a model to stuff in a showcase. I subsequently. for the showcase. acquired another loco and two wagons [there were at least 4 on the C&MR] for £27. I have seen £60 to £70 being paid for a good one but £145 for one in that condition is cloud cuckoo land. Photo of my 'Ian' attached. She/he is in the later yellow/green livery. 'Ian' never appeared in this livery in any published photos but there is an unpublished photo of her/him in this later livery. C&MR 'Ian' repica 'Iain' by Malcolm MacLeod, on Flickr Malcolm

Copped them all at one time or another at Craigentinny! Some look a bit cleaner than I remember them but that said we are talking 55 to 65 years ago and my memory may faulty . Lovely photos. Malcolm

Rather odd design of corner Windows. Anyone any idea why they were designed that way? Malcolm

Jeremy If you could scan and send that would be great and save me some hassle. Thanks Malcolm

Nick. Thank you for that. I've arranged to get into the club room later this week. I have feeling there may be a copy of Iain Smith's book in there. Thanks to all of you another item can be properly catalogued in the collection. Malcolm

I think we may be getting close to an answer. PDH had some NBR coaches built for him by D C Lawrence and painted by Larry Goddard which used zinc sides manufactured by Trevor Charlton. Where these coaches are now I have no idea but they were to different NBR diagrams. I did not say anything in my first e-mail but my first thoughts were that the metal is zinc. You will also notice that one of the coach sides has three raised cream coloured lines. These are actually some form of fine sticky tape or transfer and my thoughts are that it was a start at panelling the lower part of the coach sides. So are the sides for a set of NB coaches? Due to covid no access to club room to have a rummage in the Library for an answer. Malcolm

There is a firm of that name in Kirkbymoorside which dates from 1964. Maybe they did model railway work in the past for some of the cottage industry model railway manufacturers. Malcolm

Paul Not entirely sure. I am puzzled partly because I think the panelling and windows are etched but would the etching process not remove the finish on the back of the metal as well? Regret I do not know enough about the etching process to give a definitive answer. Malcolm

I am trying to identify the metal coach kit parts in the attached photographs. They appear to have been cut out of a sheet of metal which has the legend MICRO-METAL and what looks like a dragon or similar animal logo on the rear. They are part of the P D Hancock collection so could date back to the 1950's but I think they may be later. I have as usual tried Google and searching this forum without success. Any help appreciated. Malcolm IMG_3476 by Malcolm MacLeod, on Flickr IMG_3477 by Malcolm MacLeod, on Flickr IMG_3480 by Malcolm MacLeod, on Flickr

Definitely look at the photos. 'Mons' had differently shaped rear steps on the frames either side of the tender! Malcolm

Jim You must be lucky dodging all the bad weather at the moment. Malcolm

If my memory serves me correctly they carried an essential Ingredient for whisky! Malcolm

The answer, at least in so far as the GNSR card coach sides used by P D Hancock in his first Craig and Mertonford coach are concerned, is yes. Malcolm

Lord Craig says that if you will place one of his posters at Castle Aching he will place one of yours at Craig. Craig Castle Poster by Malcolm MacLeod, on Flickr