rowanj

Last photo for a while, as 60005 from 52A heads for Newcastle on a Glasgow- Kings X on a gloomy evening , It might seem strange, but my memory of those days from 1960 to 1964 is that you were more likely to see a 64B or 34A A4 than a Gateshead one. even at Newcastle. In part, this seems to be because the newer A1's were prefered by the Regional CME, and they were often used on the A4 diagrams, Gateshead's express turns were often on heavy trains, rather than the fast expresses, so A1's, of which they had plenty, were possibly regarded as better bets. Who knows? Having said that, Sir Charles and Bittern seemed to be the Gateshead ones we saw most often , I went 4 years spotting locally before seeing 60016, and have vivid memory of seeing 60001 and 60002, which shows how unusual the sightings were. Or perhaps their diagrams meant you had to be in the right place at the right time. The model is a GBL Mallard on a Hornby chassis, with a modern Hornby tender chassis. One of these days, I'll post the photo I have of this loco being CLEANED on Shed.

I came across this prototype photo during my build of a push-pull set, which shows an interesting mix of stock on a Special at Morpeth waiting to leave the Blyth and Tyne Platform. I can make up something similar, and have the rake pretending to be Special up from Darlington for reasons unknown. The rake is a mix of D&S and Kirk kits. The loco is Bachmann 3MT re-numbered as 51A's 82027. I have a photo of this loco at Newcastle on a SO from Richmond. I never saw one on Tyneside, but they were often around when we went spotting at Darlington, The 65A J38 did get to Little Benton, and I have the photo to prove it, It was been in Works to get the loco -tender height adjusted, The body started as a GBL J39, the chassis is a fairly modern Hornby, so the smaller wheels help the change from J39 to J38, The tender is a resin casting, probably from Graeme King. Finally, DP2 has an Edinburgh train. the loco often got to Newcastle, but whether it regularly went further North, I dont know.

I come to threads like this to get information and inspiration for my own relatively paltry efforts ,and a reasonable breadth of discussion is , I feel, healthy, as long as it fits with the title and purpose of the thread. Mick, I imagine is perfectly capable of managing the content without help from anyone else. As it happens, I am currently in discussion with PDK to get a D49 Hunt which is out of stock, and has been for a long while, and a replacement chassis fora B16/1 which, foolishly, was my first venture into etched loco kitbuilding. Hopefully I can do a better job now. Whatever else, I have found Paul to be helpful and quick to respond to my enquiries. Incidentally, knowing Daddyman a little, I doubt he has built a kit "out of the box" since he left his crib....

This kit building is addictive, After a ffwe years of Cold Turkey, I have been re-infected by the D&S coach kit. I often thought about another J21 to complete the 3 very distinguishable variations in BR days- non-vacuum brake " goods -only"; vacuum brake long smokebox; and vacuum-brake short smokebox. So the urge has resulted in an order to LRM for a kit, which I'll build as 65033, the preserved example. This was at Tyneside for much of the 50's until withdrawal in 1962, so is fine for Little Benton. I have one of the small AM2 motor/gearbox from DJH in the spares box, and will use Markits wheels, also in the spares collection. I built 65110 a couple of years ago, and can just about remember what issues I had with that kit. Actually, it went together pretty weel, although there are things about it which the more discerning modellers find fault with. I needed to add a few bits of detailing, and I remember the boiler to cab fitting being a pain, but what I ended up with was good enough for me..

Tweedmouth got a few BR 78xxx locos in 1962, predominantly for use on the ex-North British branches along the Tweed Valley. i recently received the latest release of the Hornby model, and very nice it is too, renumbered to 78025, it has been rostered on a pick-up to Tyneside, which must have made a change from trundling a single BSK to Kelso and back. As there was a rake of empty cattle wagons ready to go to Alnmouth, the loco and crew were conveniently available, so off they went. My Little Benton world occasionally grants running powers to the NCB, 46256 might recognise his scratch-built body of RSH No 40, This was one of the 1950 builds, used for the miners' passenger trains on the Ashington Complex. Here the loco takes an ex-NER Clerestory to Walkergate Wagon work, presumably for some attention which was beyond the NCB shops.

Funnily enough, I could just about justify having Kestrel at Little Benton, as there are photos of her at Newcastle. I used to have a kit..Silver Fox?..running on an old Triang chassis - the one where the motor bogie hung on a sort of bracket. Long gone now.

Brian (46256) might recognise this pair. 60019 has a relief to Newcastle made up of LMS stock, presumably all that was available at Craigentinny on a Summer Saturday, Heading home to Edinburgh is 64B's 60537, It looks in ex-works, so is almost certainly running home from a visit to Doncaster. Both these locos were obtained from 46256 when he was downsizing, but were appropriated from the postman by my wife and daughter to go towards Christmas and birthday presents. Though my daughter coughed up, I'm still waiting for Mrs rowanj to do likewise. I fear it will be a long wait. SPARROW HAWK was at Gateshead, I had a set of etched plates, but the loco is otherwise as per the first China loco-drive issue, I did fit draincocks, which I think are cosmetically necessary and were in the spares box. Gateshead never seemed to have clean engines, so I dusted this down with powders, as much as anything to disguise the weird Hornby Green. BACHELORS BUTTON only needed a vacuum pipe, though I did replace the rather too short pip in the tender with a piece of brass rod, moved slightly back., This allowed me to give a reduced gap between loco and tender, rather than thw 2 options provided by Bachmann, which either means the fireman needs a 10 foot long shovel, or the loco wont go round corners. I have great picture of 60537 heading through Manors on a Down train,

Thanks Jon, The diagram I would like is on the list, and I will e.mail Bill. It will be a long-term project anyway, and I doubt I'll get the parts quickly, if at all. In the meantime, I have the ex-NER Dia 162 more or less completed, and running in the rake. How accurate it is for a coach running in the mid-50's is a bit of a guess. I dont have a photo of a Dia 162 in this condition running on the Blyth service, But I think the overall look of the rake seems reasonably prototypical, so I can live with it. The centre coach is an Isinglass kit, as is the ex-LNER Dia 320 next to the TMC/Bachmann G5 . The brake end is facing inward, as seems to have been the usual case on these services, meaning, of course, that it could not be uses as a driving trailer,

The Push-Pull on test, which I am pleased to say, it passed, at least as far as running is concerned. The consist is , from the front, D&S ex-NER Dia 162 Brake Composire Driving Trailer, Lner Dia 54 8- compt 2nd, and ex=LNER Dia 320 Driving trailer Brake 2nd. To give it a long overdue run, the North Tyneside EMU Parcels is returning the long way round to South Gosforth Sheds. These ex-LNER sheds are now being re-developed yet again to house the new Metro trains, currently on test, and due to be introduced next year (assuming NEXUS can get enough drivers- the latest excuse for poor servce on the system).

After taking the meat and fish empties back to Berwick, pristine 62006, now in more typical condition- workstained but not filthy- has a SO Alnwick-Newcastle extra, The loco had a spell at Alnmouth, and is almost certainly running in place of an unobtainable Class 101, The train is a mix of Hornby , some donors with brass overlays.

Thanks again, David. As a result, I have (perhaps, maybe) a( possibly) authentic model of a D162 as modified by the LNER and BR, which will have to do .i opted to paint the coach in crimson,I have no colour photos to substantiate this, though I do have one of the contemporary Arrochar trains in crimson. There are no photos of a D162 in the condition of the as-built kit on the Blyth trains either, so its' all a bit ficticious anyway, In another thread, in 2013 Bill Bedford said he could supply etched sides for another ex_NER auto trailer diagram which was in one of my earlier pictures, but it doesnt appear on his latest website., A project for another day, perhaps. In the meantime, here is my seating "foible",It uses moulded seating _Roxey, I think- with Peco printed overlays, I have no idea whether these coaches got the BR uphplstery, so it's just another mystery to add to the pile.

I don;t know how popular the Hornby K1 and Q6 models were/are in commercial terms, but it was certainly possible to pick them up in certain "liveries" for relatively little after the initial burst. This K1 was abou t£90, if I recall, new and boxed, and perhaps was less "wanted" by having "BRITISH RAILWAYS" on the tender. So far, all I have done is remove that, and fit a late crest decal, and hey presto, I have a suitable loco for Little Benton without renumbering, I got a similar deal on an LNER livery Q6, and then an Oxford Rail J27. These deals don't seem to happen with Bachmann, but another G5 wouldnt come amiss. The K1 heads north on meat and fish empties, which will probably have a few dropped off en route at Morpeth and Chathill before the train gets to Berwick. then the loco, which is far too shiny, will visit the workbench for a dusting down The wagons are Parkside and ex-Airfix kits,. The Heaton J39, 64701, in the headshunt is ex-GBL on the spilit chassis Bachmann.It is one of the very few Heaton had with the smaller GS 3500 tender, which is a cut- down GBL running on a dummy plasticard internal chassis.

Thanks again to Daddyman for the information, which I am busy following. Not having a decent view of either end of a Dia 162 in BR days, I have improvised, using what evidence I do have to hopefully produce something similar, The driving end certainly looks "busy" but whether it is accutate is another matter.. This is the 3rd D&S kit I have attempted, and it is a real pity they are not more widely available,They are certainly not "starter kits", but with a reasonable amount of care, a decent model can be produced, The instruction sheet is pretty basic, with a lot of generic guidance across the various kits in the range, I am left with a whole host of small detail pieces on the etch with no idea what they are or where they go, so on the etch they shall remain. I suppose better modellers thatn me will know what they are for, The kit is really crying out for better instructions and diagrams, I am a big fan of the LRM system, which includes a photocopy ot the various etches, numbered and cross-referenced into a list in the written instructions, Anyway, the last thing I want to sound is churlish, I was delighted to get the kit, along with a nice note from Dan who does not know me from Adam, and I'm enjoying building the model. i stole an idea from Daddyman to produve the various hoses and standpipes, as I didnt have any suitable castings, Unlike David's much neater versions, I simply soldered guitar string to 0.7cm brass, I could possibly have dropped a gauge, but the photos of the real stuff make them look pretty chunky compared, say, to an LNER or BR coach. The York Truss rods on this coach are a bit different to the LNER turnbuckles, so that scotched my idea to fit MJT ones. The photos seem to show round "rods" rather than flatter bars, so I used 0.7 rod, Each end has a pair running from the queen posts, (which are provided as etches in the kit),to the chassis bottom. In doing so, I ran out of rod, so one side awaits "trussing". I'll wait until this is done, as it is a bit fiddly and involves a bit of heat, before fitting the vacuum "v" hangers and dynamo. I did fit the gubbins as David suggested on the "completed" side. The kit has a an etch for both a double and single battery box, but gives no clue which or where to fit them, so I fitted the single box, I'll start the roof, which will be a permanant fit. I'd hoped to use an MJT aluminium one which was in the spares box, but the shape is sufficiently different that I'll use the plastic one in the kit. I'm tolerably happy about where the vents go, but this is another case where a drawing, a la Kirk kits, would have helped. Photos seem to suggest something else going on on the roof above the brake area, but I dont know what, and there are no odd castings I can find in the box. Finally I have started sticking printed Peco seat covers to plastic seats for 2nd class, I dont have a file for the 1st class ones, but tracked down an image for Blue Maquette and will use that, It's just one of my foibles to do this, in blissful ignorance of what the actual colour scheme would be in late LNER/BR days, Photos to follow once the 0.7 cm wire arrives.

On Summer Saturdays, there was a York-Glasgow train, presumably to cater for the holiday traffic, and was a York turn, usually hauled by an A1. The return working was an Edinburgh-York parcels. I seem to have got this turned round, as Flamboyant heads North, rather than South. Hey ho. I though I may as well post the latest on the push-pull saga here, as I have been giving the D&S kit a run round bends and through points. I.ve reached the detailing stage, if only I could identify what the detais are. Those poor souls in the middle coach must think they are in the Spanish City already, given the lean. I have an Isinglass replacement to build to replace that Kirk one, which will be repaired and put into another rake under construction.

This is more or less what I'm aiming for with the push-pull service- an ex-NER Driving Trailer, LNER 8 compt, then the LNER Dia 320 4- comp brake driving trailer. It is a pretty good representation of the 3-coach sets on the Blyth-Monkseaton Shttles through the 1950's until 1958, when DMU's took over. First-class passengers have one compartment to squeeze into, in the NER DT, but I dont imagine demand was high. The D&S kit has continued to frustrate due to lack of information on these coaches in LNER/BR days. No two seem to look alike, and I am increasingly convinced that they were modified in several fairly substantial ways during their long life. I reached a point where I just had to bite the bullet and get on. Having found the photo of a porthole coach at Monkseaton in 1956, I used this as the excuse to build the kit as supplied, Even then, it was clear from the photo that things were different- no steps on the front end for a start,, and no toplights, I took Daddyman's advice to leave the kit windows alone. The photo shows the coach on test, The roof is just perched there, and there is still detail to be fitted. It's about 3 years since I soldered a kit, and my rustiness shows, but hopefully a clean-up and paint job will reduce, if not hide, my multitude of sins. I'm unsure about the layout of the underframe, so if anyone has a drawing or photo to assist, that would be helpful.

There are plenty of photos of the A2;s on freight turns- usually, as has been said, and the more important fully-fitted turns. 60526 was a York engine for all of it's rediculously short 14 - year life. It went into store at Scarborough in Sept 1962, from where it was withdrawn- well before the yellow stripe began to appear. John

I suspect you are correct in the assumption that these driving trailers got various mods as parts wore out or they went through the works for servicing. etc. I have never built an NER kit of any description which didnt involve a lot of research-all of which is enjoyable and led to contacts with some great people, which is very handy for a solo modeller. After all that , I.m just going to build the kit "as is", as it looks close enough to the photo at Monkseaton, and is in the right ballpark as far is timescale is concerned., Now, should it be crimson or lner brown? One could do a PHD thesis on the intracsies of NER coaches. Someone probably did. John

All this looked so easy a few weeks ago. Actually, I enjoy the research and discussion almost as much as the actual modellimg, I remember the same issues a few years ago when I was building my first ex-NER kits, and struggling to get information on their life in BR days, I am so grateful to those who have helped me on this journey through the maze of NER coaches. Here are a couple of photos I found amongst my books - pls note the copyright , The first one clearly shows a driving trailer still with porthole windows in the mid-50's. The water tower hides what would be useful side detail, and there dont seem to be any toplights, but it MIGHT be a D1a 162, Either way, As David suggested,I'll build the kit with the portholes, and think about whether to gill in the toplights. I will pst the odd photo of the build, but for those who want to see these kits done properly, have a look at https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7210&start=25 The second photo, from 1951 , shows a real mixed bag of stock at Morpeth in 1951. I can reproduce this train after a fashion, but in any event thought the photo would be of interest.

The posts between Simon and David pretty well sum up my dilemma. There are sufficient detail differences, some of them pretty major, between the kit and the photo to make me hesitant about how to proceed. I can have a stab at the front end using the MJT part, and can fill in the errant window. The kit will then look more like the photo, but will I have an actual Diagram, or will I have constructed a fictional monster? On balance,I'm inclined to go with the mods, as I have no evidence, in any case, of a coach like that in the kit running around Tyneside in BR days. I'm grateful for the advice...pls keep it coming. John

I've made a tentative start on the D&S Dia 162 driving trailer, and spent more time trawling through various books and threads/posts. Doing so, i found this photo of a coach previously identified as the same diagram at Bedlington- a bit of an oddity as Bedlington was not usually, as far as I knew, served by a push-pull service. Anyway, the photo is a good reference point. Some Dia 162's were altered in 1938 when the LNER re-introduced a number of services. This photo shows a couple of significant differences from the kit, notably the front windows- portholes on the kit, - and a lack of a window in each side of the brake compartment. I've ordered a couple of ends from Dart Castings to provide the new drivers' end ,and will fill in the side window on the kit with brass scrap if necessary BUT... Before I go to that extreme, can anyone confirm that the coach in the picture is a D162, and that the original porthole windows were replaced in the 1938 upgrade? Daddyman- I;m thinking of you..... I was full of good intentions to go this weekend to the Newcastle MRS show and talk to and join NERA, but the show was cancelled due to the small matter of the school roof blowing off during Storm Babette,

The completed driving trailer heads towards Newcastle. I'll build an 8-compt second to go behind it, but in the meantime, passengers have to deal with this leaning Kirk. On the bench, though still in the box, is a D&S ex-NER Dia 162 driving trailer, which need a couple of modifications to represent the one in the photo.The kit has porthole windows and a window in the guards side which need tackling, Could be tricky.

That's a real shame, Jonathan. We Geordies will be wearing long-sleeved T-Shirts next!

This is the latest state of play on the Dia, 320 There are a few more details to add, mainly on the roof. I'll be fitting cast ventilators, and destination boards from Evergreen strip. Buffers have just arrived in the post from Wizard, The coach has had a push around the layout and all seems OK from a running point of view. On the basic kit from Isinglass, I replaced the dynamo, battery boxes and vacuum brake gear, using MJT parts from Dart Castings, This was from choice rather than necessity, as Isinglass do provide prints for them. As I said, I'll use whitemetal ventilators, as I find them more robust than the 3D prints. Buffers need to be sourced, as does door furniture, The Fox Bogies work well and I'm happy to use them, though I know some folk prefer etched ones. The seats were a bit of an experiment. isinglass will supply an interior kit, but I already had loads os seats in the spares box. Bill Bedford used to offer a download based on the Peco/Kitmaster card sheets. It seems to have vanished from his site, but I had a saved file, so just printed it out, and stuck the 2nd class covers to the seats, using strong impact adhesive. I've stuck a seated driver in the cab, as well as a reverser, just to fill the space really. So what do I think of this? I know the advice is to get loads of different views of the prototype, etc but in this case,easier said than done, In particular, a view of the ends, especially the drivers end, would have been nice, Mine is pretty bare compared with the one decent view I have, and steps and lamp irons would not have come amiss , But the basic premise of this unique coach has been captured, I believe.

Looking forward to seeing Grantham and hopefully saying "Hello"

Although there is still a bit more to do, the push-pull driving trailer is ready for a road -test. This is a one-off Dia 320, which transferred to Blyth after a couple of years on the NBR St Coombs Branch, It has a few unusual features = Fox Bogies and a drivers window only on the LH side. The kit is from Isinglass, produced after a helpul exchange of e.mails. There are very few photos readily available of this coach, nor, indeed, any others of the driving trailers used on the Monkseaton-Blyth trains - photographers naturally concentrating on the G5 at the other end - and we could really do with a good picture of the RH side to check exactly where the sole door was located.