Chris Higgs

That might have been the first time we met, Tim. Chris

Given Dapol are now over a decade from this being announced in N, I think the Hornby one will be quite ancient before they ever get to doing an OO version. Chris

As I recall (and it is a long time ago) there was a plentiful audience for the whole operating session of Heckmondwike. The other thing to say was it being Bristol there was a whole lot of OO Gauge GWR Branch line layouts of quite variable quality there and a P4 LMS layout set in West Yorkshire did have a novelty value. And there was plenty of quality modelling to take in without a train in sight, let alone running. Layouts a re a lot more than just the stock. I fear there are some people who go to shows to nit-pick and will find a problem with any layout you care to mention. It did end up at York and what I heard (again third hand so there might be others who know better) that for whatever reason the baseboards warped to the point it was inoperable. Perhaps through poor storage. There is a certain irony in them once publishing articles on their baseboard construction... Chris

Subjective indeed. I saw Heckmondwike at Bristol in (I think) 1978, probably one of the few shows it actually did. I and a friend, we ran the school MRS together, watched the whole sequence. We didn't find it boring. The gaps even gave us time to barrack the operators. What distinguished it from everything else at the show, except perhaps Chiltern Green, was that nothing fell off, or needed something poking to get it started. So it certainly met your requirement of reliable running, Tony. And they even did a bit of shunting. Chris

The other thing is that you might be able to pick up Farish detail packs from the Bachmann spares site.

The place you used to be able to go was Taylor Precision Models. http://www.tpmodels.co.uk/modernlocodetail.html But not sure if Bernard is still operating. He posts on RMWeb on occasion so he may step in and let you now. B.H. Enterprises was the other place with lots of parts. Chris Higgs

I also like the 'barely there' gaps between planks which are how a real wagon actually looks. Chris

Mine (a GW Models one I think) wraps the item around the adjustable roller - my adjustable roller is at the top but I don't think that makes a difference. So minimum radius is determined by that roller, which is the one I changed. Chris

If you prefer to build your 45XX as a 44XX (smaller wheels, wheelbase reversed) I do a chassis for that. Having said that, I just sold the last one so would have to order it from the etchers. Only applicable if your 45XX is the earlier version with flat tanks. Chris

On mine, the two lower rollers (on the outside of the curve) are geared together, the upper one runs free. I replaced that, I had to modify the end bearing to get it at the right height. Chris

I modified my set of rollers using a smaller diameter rolling rod that meant I could just about do a 2mm boiler. It think you only need the bar that goes on the inside of the curve to be small enough. Chris

Certainly 70s. I built one then (and still have it). Chris

Ah, tobacco tins. Those were the days. My grandfather was a pipe smoker so we got a few. But a little small for some things, my brother still has a shelf full of biscuit tins full of radio valves. We have no idea what they do, but you never know when you might need one... Of course, those who really hate the sight of RTR can always choose to model in 3mm, or S. Chris

A sale is still a sale for the manufacturer. And perhaps if those sales never happened we would not get some of the models we have RTR today at all. Which I know some would say would be no bad thing. I know full well that of the etches I produce in 2mm scale, probably 90% are sat in gloat boxes and will never get built. But if I only had sales for people who were actually going to build them, they would never have been designed in the first place. It's not just in the RTR sphere that people do not put things to use in the way they were intended. My brother has a friend who died, his house was packed to the rafters with railway and bus books, which he left to various of his friends. When my brother asked why he had bought the books most of which he had never opened, he was told he felt that he wanted to financially support those who wrote and published them. Good thing or bad? Chris

And I should imagine that customer helped to keep that shopkeeper in business. So that those of us who just go in to buy a wagon kit and one tin of paint and then do some modelling have a shop we can do that in. I too used to do some custom kit builds for the local modelling shop (the same one I used to do shows with). But I knew that that was not what kept the bottom line acceptable. Everything in life has its place. Chris

So, if we begin with the presumption that it was a D702 RK (the picture you have posted is a D702), the D700 and D701 examples having anthracite stoves and were withdrawn quite early. I don't have a stock book for 1968, but the 1976 stock book from RCTS lists the following as Eastern region examples: E80022, E80023, E80024, E80026, E80028, E80037, and E80039. Can you see the bogies in the film? According to the RCTS, in 1976 the bogies were B1 on E80022, E80023, E80024, E80026 and B5 on E80028, E80037, and E80039. Confusingly, the Wizard photo has Commonwealths. EDIT: this post says the RK had B5 bogies. It states there were no ER RKs with B5 bogies, but RCTS say otherwise. So my guess is one of E80028, E80037, and E80039. Chris

I've noted there is a Midlands version near Leamington, not too bad travelling for me. Unfortunately just missed the 2022 edition, will have to wait until October 2023 for the next.

I'm still going to try and see if I can work it to get a grub screw in, as I would like to be able to removed the motors when needed. And I might need some bearings in the frame as I don't know whether stepper motors can sustain that much side thrust without them. It is indeed a Hachette/Agora bus. Really a very impressive piece of work from its designers I must say. Rather let down by the unrealistic external panel strips which are screwed on, but I suppose they wanted something that people could build completely without gluing or soldering. I am going to be etching some replacements for these, I have been measuring them up from the Routemaster at the Covent Garden museum. I would rather like to rebuild it as an open-topper, but am a bit daunted as to how to get the part at the rear of the upper deck to the same quality as the current roof. Chris

Yeah, quite probably. And I suspect that the larger companies do the major shows just to be in people's minds, so that when you have to 'name a box-shifter', then their name is on that list. Even if they make nothing at the shows themselves.

I have the Isinglass drawings of these coaches, they give the width details. Here are some comparative roof cantrail widths. Gresley corridor 8' 10 1/2" Gresley non-corridor 8' 10 1/2 or 8' 10 5/8" Gresley Quad-Art 8' 11 7/8" Thompson (corridor/non-corridor) 8'9" LMS 8' 10 1/4" BR MK1 8'9" Some might think one and a half inches (0.25mm in 2mm scale) is neither here nor there, but it makes a lot of difference to how the coach side profile presents itself. So I can see width-wise the Mk1 matches, but the roof profile is all wrong. You might consider thinning the LMS roof down a touch width wise to get the proportions right.

Well, most of the ones built from the Churchward era on did, after a fashion. I first thought this was an absorbed loco, but apparently it is proper GWR, built for the Helston branch. Lovely model. Chris

Who knows. It's also the case that if you actually have a physical shop, you need extra staff to do shows as Saturday is also the busiest day in the shop. And the average staff member would rather do 9-5 in the shop than 5am-9pm for the show. Thinking back, the Model Engineer exhibition was really the show to go to if you wanted raw materials for scratchbuilding. All the nut and bolts, stock metal and tools you could ever need. Do they still have such shows? The big German show in Koln has the best of both worlds, all the model railway stuff downstairs and the model engineering upstairs.

The sloping sides are prominent in some of the photos within this excellent link.

Technically speaking not, although for most coaches it is indistinguishable. And the Quad-Arts had a slightly wider roof than other non-corridor stock. I chose to ingore that when designing my kits. But a Thompson roof profile differs from a Gresley. Now I come to think of it, the plastic Ultima Gresley roof would probably form a better starting point than either of the ones the Association sell.

Well, yes, there is also the issue of the width. Thompsons had a narrower width at cantrail height than either Gresley or Stanier coaches. This gives the sides a more pronounced angle above the waist.