[Wright writes.....]

14 hours ago, 45568 said:

Examples finished by me, transfers from John at CCT. I used LMS supplies buffers rather than the 3d printed ones supplied, purely my preference.

 

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

Ah, they're just the thing!  A few low sided and a few medium sided will do me nicely.

Thanks Peter.

 

[Wright writes.....]

2 hours ago, MJI said:

 

I do not know of anyone but as an example if I charged for the time and materials per hopper, expensive.

 

The printers do wear out, the bodies take about 4 hours, not a quick job.

Thanks Martin. It is something I've considered but I am worried that it'd be a whole new field for me and I haven't got any local friends who have experience in this field who could offer real support if I got stuck. However, it does take a lot of effort to scratch build them....

[Wright writes.....]

43 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

See 'Ironmink' on Thingiverse.

 

CJI.

Thanks CJI. I've looked on this site. These just seem to be the data files and unfortunately I don't have a 3D printer. Do you know if anyone actually prints and markets them?

 

Clem

[Wright writes.....]

On 24/09/2023 at 17:17, MJI said:

 

Ratio 3d mjt cambrian parkside bits on top will get gibson 3 hole and Lanarkshire buffers

 

3d hopper currently getting brakes, ordered 4 packs of buffers

Hi, 

 

May I ask, where did you get the 3D LMS hopper from?

 

Thanks

 

Clem

[Wright writes.....]

Hi Tony,

It was great to see and chat with you on Sunday at the Ruddington show. I very much enjoyed our wide-ranging, stimulating debate not to mention reminiscing about distant memories of D11s and other long gone locomotives.

 

As usual I was very taken with the locos on  your display stand especially the O4/8. As a fan of the O4s of all flavours, it particularly caught my eye.

 

When I eventually took my leave of you, Chris was waiting outside with the patience of a saint... but then dragged me back inside to buy some 4mm figures to set up for her photography! (she often raids the layout!).

 

Lastly but very much not least, thank you for your advice and tips on chassis painting.

 

PS an update on my annoying knee injury. Our next door neighbour - a GP - popped round a little earlier this evening. Coincidentally she is going into hospital for a cruciate knee operation on Thursday herself (brought about by participation in a hockey match) and she's been following my own knee progress. But she thinks I may eventually need a small op myself. Oh well, we'll have to see. 

 

Cheers for now and regards to Mo,

 

Clem.

 

[Wright writes.....]

20 hours ago, andytrains said:

Nice to see the Bisto being used for the sm0ke unit!🤣

Nothing comes close to Bisto circular containers for tool holding, acting as work holders, in fact they can do anything... And I have a regular supply from Chris.

[Wright writes.....]

After visiting Tony in January (a very enjoyable afternoon watching expresses on Little Bytham) I promised I would post the videos I took. Sorry Tony , I have been very neglectful and thank you for reminding me when we met at the Cotgrave show recently. Finally (hopefully), here they are...

 

 

https://youtube.com/video/hsV-ZgtNOH0

 

https://youtube.com/video/SbXlyuk47tQ

 

https://youtube.com/video/R_SgTaRNiQg

 

https://youtube.com/video/K5ZdGI-bFwU

 

 

On the EM topic, Sandra has pretty well echoed my thoughts. Some RTR lend themselves to relatively easy conversion while others require more effort. For instance the Bachmann K3 requires major surgery both to the chassis and the body in order to get the right size wheels in place. Here's my conversion of 61896. It runs slightly better than it did in OO but still not as well as my other (Wills) K3 which I built a sprung chassis for. 

 

 

I had a couple of failed EM projects in the Autumn, felt that a complete break was required, and so I started building a couple of things in OO for a proposed GC layout in the loft which would bring back some of the memories of my youth living by the GC in the early 1960s. So here's my almost complete V2 for that. Note that it's also done the trick of giving me a fresh start with my existing layout. I'm ready to get on with the Dave Bradwell chassis for my J39/3 after my upcoming holiday in France and other non model railway commitments. Just for clarity, the OO layout in the loft will use a lot of RTR - I haven't got time to do it any other way - and my EM layout remains my main focus.

 

 

 

[Wright writes.....]

Hi Tony,

Thank you so much for a lovely and very enjoyable afternoon with you and Mo, chatting and watching the trains gallop through your Little Bytham. What a wonderful model railway it is.  It took me back to those days where I'd go to Newark or Grantham and watch the Gresley and Thompson thoroughbreds racing through in real life. I'll post a couple of the videos a little later that I took of LB on the phone.

 

 

 

Thanks also for additional advice after doing my first Gresley big engine build (I can't believe it's a first after doing Colwick workaday locos in EM all this time!). But it has been a lot of fun building the Nucast V2 (now just waiting for a Comet chassis and streamlined dome from 247 dev (plus handrails etc.) to complete) for a possible no. 2 layout in OO in the loft based on the GC. How far I get with the loft layout will depend on my success or failure in clearing out the loft of much hoarded rubbish intermingled with meaningful items from my family accumulated after they'd each passed away. It's never easy sorting out and/or throwing out stuff you've kept for years.

 

Hopefully I'll see you again at Doncaster in a fortnight.

 

[The 00 Wishlist Poll 2022]

9 minutes ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Clem

 

Good to hear from you and keep up that lovely modelling!🙂

 

As Paul Uni has noted above, you should be able to see the direct link to The Poll about half way down.

 

All the best

 

Brian

Yes got it! Many thanks. 

 

Merry Christmas!

[The 00 Wishlist Poll 2022]

Hi Brian,

 

Thanks for the kind words (although for one reason or another I've been doing very little recently) - I hope to be much more active in the spring. 

 

Err.. and no,  I'm still not seeing the link. I click on the banner  arrow and it just opens a new window on to the same page - ie the wish list poll thread.

 

Can you help? I particularly would like to vote for the LMS design iron ore hopper wagons. I could do with about 10 of them!! (they're a bit long winded to scratch build! :-)   ). There are a few other items on the list that would appeal also.

 

Many Thanks

 

Clem

[The 00 Wishlist Poll 2022]

10 hours ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello everyone

 

Just a reminder that if you have downloaded The Contents of The 00 Wishlist Poll 2022, don't forget to actually vote!

 

The holiday season should be a good time to relax, enjoy browsing the lists to see what fits with your modelling wishes and cast your votes.

 

All the best

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

Hi Brian, I can't seem to get the link to actually vote. When I click on the banner it just returns me to where i started. What am I doing wrong?

 

Clem

 

[Closure of Eileens Emporium]

Very sad for you Derek to have to give out this news. You've always been my first port of call whenever I needed tools or raw materials. You've always given first class service -  in my experience of the highest order - and you are going to be massively missed by any modeller who does more than just buy boxed railways.

I hope everything is sorted out in as good a way as possible and I wish you all the best for the future. 

 

Clem

John Clements.

[Wright writes.....]

Get well soon Tony. Thankfully your symptoms sound pretty mild and with a bit of luck won't get worse. Hopefully Mo will miss out on it.

 

We haven't had it yet. I've had 3 vacs and Chris has had 4 so I'm hoping we are pretty well protected. But you can never be sure with this virus. 

[Wright writes.....]

1 hour ago, Edmund Kinder said:

 

Lovely work there Clem.  I've also very nearly finished a Connoisseur Models 4mm BR Brake Van that I purchased nearly two decades ago.  It all went together very well, and I had to exercise extreme care not to put too much solder on the iron tip when soldering on the strapping and other fine detail.  There was an interesting article on building the kit by Steve Banks in BRM February 2002, and I also fashioned and put in plasticard inlays for the ends as he'd done.

 

Regards

Edmund

That looks stunning Edmund. I must say that it absolutely looks the part. I really like his kits and it's such a shame he's stopped producing the 4mm ones. Understandable that he wanted to concentrate on his 7mm business,  but our loss.

[Wright writes.....]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

Clem, Tony,

 

It is true that I have, exceptionally, produced bespoke transfers for personal friends, but I have always made it clear that this is not a service that I can make generally available. For the avoidance of doubt, I repeat this fact here.

 

Though I am retired, I still manage to produce my standard list of transfers as listed on the Cambridge Custom Transfers website, but I do like to do my own modelling as well.

 

Precision Labels and Railtec offer a bespoke service - I would direct prospective clients to those companies.

 

I would ask those whom I have assisted in the past NOT to suggest, especially on a public forum, that I am able to do the same for one and all.

 

John Isherwood.

Hi John,

Thanks for the clarification. No harm done. Tony was simply trying to give me a lead . In fact I've used your transfers with great success in the past. 

 

Cheers

 

Clem

[Wright writes.....]

59 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Regarding transfers for it, have a word with John Isherwood of Cambridge Custom Transfers (he posts on here regularly). He's been very helpful to me in the past, producing several 'one-off' transfer sheets for LB which are excellent. 

Thanks for the info Tony. I've also managed to learn of some others already produced, courtesy of Jonathan Wealleans who recently made one of these wagons for Grantham. John Isherwood will be my next port of call. I have certainly been impressed by the results and realism of transfers applied to the stock on Little Bytham. 

 

cheers

 

Clem.

[Basford North]

On 24/05/2022 at 09:24, dibateg said:

More scenic work, but topography and boundary work proceeds with walls sprouting up and road surface prepared. I've changed the orientation of the Saxondale Drive house on to Vernon Road. Everything is compromised as the formation through the station should be straight of course. Not prototypically correct, but it looks better and the house that is actually there wouldn't fit.. Space space space - there is never enough!

 

This photo turned up on Facebook, it shows that 34091 Weymouth was not so far off when I tested it on the railway!

 

Hi Tony,

 

I think that's one of the Southampton FC football excursions in 1963 presumably turning the whole train on the triangle in readiness for the return. 

Forest were playing Southampton in the 5th round of the FA Cup if I remember correctly. There were about 6 Bulleid light pacifics in Nottingham Victoria that day. It must be a record!

[Wright writes.....]

Good evening Tony et al,

 

I'm close to finishing this little wagon kit. It's a Connoisseur Models PMK LNER Longfit pipe wagon. (There's just the side latches to put on).  Jim McGeown stopped producing the 4mm Connoisseur PMK range in 2006 to concentrate on his 7mm business but I've got one or two of these to do on the build list. First of all, I must say it's been a very enjoyable kit to build albeit a bit fiddly in places. Soldering on the individual strapping is pretty straightforward if you're careful. It's generally very accurate although I'm finding that the side latches seem to be a quite bit over scale. (Not unusual for cast white metal parts in my experience from many different sources). Next, I have to source some transfers for it. (e.g.'EMPTY TO STANTON IRON WORKS ILKESTON LNE' ).

 

[Wright writes.....]

Memory evoking pictures of York and Retford from Keith and Tony. And here's my contribution. In keeping with the theme it's V2 60831 just after withdrawal at York on January 8th 1967. This V2 was very common on the GC and had been at Leicester GC earlier in it's service. It was very much an old favourite.

 

 

 

Elsewhere, I've made a bit more progress finishing off the signal box. As you can see, I've finally settled on a name for the layout. Although the topography is a little different to where the line passed the real Nuthall (which didn't have a station), I've used a bit of modeller's licence as if the line had been cut deeper into the sandstone to alleviate the gradients. There's still a couple of details to put on the box: the safety rails and the vertical drain pipes.

 

I had trouble with this model from the word go with the plasticard determined to warp and bend in all directions. As an attempt to remedy this, there are several internal bracing beams to force it to be more square. They do a good job and the model looks reasonable from a distance, but with a photo as unforgiving as this you can see the extent of the problems. At least for the moment, I'll live with it.

 

Clem

 

[Wright writes.....]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

A few more evaded me Clem,

 

Though I last saw 60129 (sadly nameless) at its then home shed of 50A, out of use and probably withdrawn. ST MUNGO was still in steam, but BOSWELL, PEREGRINE, SILURIAN and others were waiting to be towed off for scrap. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Hi Tony. Memories eh? The first time I visited Newark probably the summer of 1958 the first A1 I saw was 60116 Hal O' the Wynd - one which seemed to evade many of my friends at the time. I don't think I ever saw it again. I also saw the W1 60700 that day. It stopped at Northgate on a Northbound passenger. (Kings Cross-Doncaster?). Wouldn't it be great to go back in time for a day. 

[Wright writes.....]

7 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

This will become 60129 GUY MANNERING. 

Ah, Guy Mannering, the only English A1 to avoid my eyes back in the days. 

[Wright writes.....]

Evening Folks. 

I've just finished off a few more half finished coal wagons converted to EM from my P4 days in the 80s and 90s. These 4 are all from white metal ABS kits and although they are just slightly over-scale height-wise, they offer real authenticity with their looks (possibly even more so than the more accurate RTRs by Bachmann, Oxford Rail, etc.) as you can very slightly bow out the sides as per the prototype. 

 

They are no longer on the market. Does anyone know, has anyone bought up Adrian's cast moulds with a view to renewed production?

 

[Wright writes.....]

12 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

LNWR Cauliflower, Precursor, Teutonic, Watford Tank. A George V is under construction but as it doesn't have the apparent glamour of large LNER locos (of which there are already enough) it is very slow progress.

Got to disagree... We need a K3. I'd give anything to see a K3 getting a heavy train under way again. Alas, I don't think I'll be around if one is built as it would probably take upward of 20 years.

[Wright writes.....]

Good afternoon all,

 

I wonder if anyone can help me. I'm trying to sort some station platform fencing for my ex-GN station. I have a short section which survived from a long gone OO layout of mine and the fencing is of the correct dimensions for my present layout. I can't remember where I sourced it at the time.  Although in the photo below it looks like 3 horizontal beams in each section, I can tell that this is proprietary fencing originally with two and I've added the third. I thought it was Ratio GW white fencing, so I ordered some only to find it was of different dimensions. Each section of the original fencing is 34mm against 32mm on the new ratio fencing and the height of the original is 18mm against the new Ratio fencing's 16mm.

 

 

So two questions if anyone knows:

First, does anyone know who may have made this fencing. Is it an older version of Ratio fencing?

Secondly, if anyone has any old stocks of such fencing, would you be prepared to part with some (for a fee of course). I'm looking for about 6 or 7 feet of it.

 

I know it's a long shot but it would save me a good deal of time.

 

Thanks

 

Clem

[Wright writes.....]

On 20/04/2022 at 17:37, Ray Flintoft said:

Also a couple of views of the type familiar to Clem & all who bunked B.R. steam sheds .

                                                 Ray .

Hi Ray. Yes indeed. Reminds me of bunking Colwick (which I did many times). I was notoriously difficult to bunk but I had a fairly foolproof way of getting in via the staff bike sheds. I'd be quiet as a mouse and creep around to the front of the shed and go down and retread my steps back up each row. It was fatal if you tried to get to the next row at the bottom end. The foreman's office was there. The foreman seemed to have a loathing for spotters and if you were caught, you got a right old dressing down and turfed out on your ear with threats that if he ever saw you again it was prosecution. Great days....

 

Well, I'm not really keeping up with the thread. I just saw the postings on the signal boxes, speaking of which, I've been busy roof tiling a couple of buildings - the goods shed and the signal box. Still quite a lot to do on the box -  I've just started work on the interior. The tiling is almost complete. It just needs a light spraying of soot colour. I Still have to add the down pipes and safety rails on the windows as well as the name boards. I'm afraid it's not up to the Retford/Little Bytham standard but it's got the right atmosphere about it for a GN box. I didn't like painting it LMR maroon but it had to be done to be historically correct as the buildings passed into LMR control about 1950 and they wasted little time putting their brand colour on the stations and signal boxes.