rowanj

Less than a third of that, David.

As advised, I wrote to D&S, and Dan replied with a price for the ex-NER driving trailer. It arrived today, courtesy of the first cheque I;ve written in years. Letters, s.a.e's, cheques.... those were the days. Looking at the kit, the only obvious mod will be to the drivers front window, In the kit, they are circles, but the coach was obviously modified at some point to fit the larger rectangles. Otherwise, it seems to be pretty similar in design to the other couple I built a few years ago. However, I dont think I will be able to replace the portholes with the rectangular windows. There is also a window in the space behind the driver which I dont see in the prototype, so the NER coach must have been modified at some stage.

K1/1 looking a bit better. The body has been lowered to the correct height, and the cylinder block given an overlay, using my Isinglass drawing to get the dimensions. I had a pair of draincocks staring at me, so fitted them. The train must be an excursion heading back to Glasgow- The horsebox suggests a trip to Gosforth Park, possibly for the June Northumberland Plate ,- "The Pitman's Derby"- meeting.

There are several posts around on construction of Isinglass coaches around, so I'll only post build updates to describe any mods I find I need or want to do. Tthe photo shows what you get. In my case, I ordered the body/roof, underframe kit and bogies. In addition, there is an interior kit, which I didnt want- I already have sufficient parts. A print with roof vents, and a dynamo and vacuum brake are supplied, though I'll probably replace them with castings from Dart/MJT. The drawing comes with the kit. As described in earler threads, the driving trailer I wanted was a one-off, and this resulted in a helpful exchange of messages with Andy at Isinglass, in order to identify what specific parts were needed. He has managed to produce just what I need, for which I'm very grateful.

It's a good while since I did the K4, so I brought it down to have a better look at it, The main fault when checking against the drawing is the K3 cab, which has a "smoother" curve at footplate level and should really be attempted to get the overal flow of the loco correct. I actuall still have a couple of GBL bodies in the spares box, so might just have a go. However, I suspect it might be easier to scratch build new cab sides and that part of the footplate. Probably too much effort for a loco which shouldnt really apppear on my layout, I also have the K1/1 which I put together at the same time, so have had a look at that, too. It sits too high on its; K3 chassis and my work on the cylinder block was awful, so it too will enter works.

You are right to be confused, as I was wrong. I was posting from memory... It was the frames which were extended, but the wheelebase was the same across the K series. Sorry.

You need a few J27's for a model of Tyneside/SE Northumberland in BR Steam days, I have three kits and here they all are. The pair on trains are from Dave Alexander, one the original kit with the cast boiler, and then the later one with the etched brass version. The light engine is NUCast, with the extended smokebox and wrap around handrails this loco kept even after losing its superheater. I remember Dave being unusually caustic, for him, about the shape of the boiler/firebox on the NuCast kit. Not seen here, are a further 3 from Oxford Rail. They must be breeding in the loft, as I thought I only had 2. Refreshing the litte grey cells reminded me that I got 2 on thir original release, then picked up a 3rd when Bure Valley Models had a sale, I think all 3 cost less than £300- amazing for the quality of the model, in my opinion.

Hi Clive. I;ll need to re- enlighten myself,! The boiler is from an old tender-drive B17, and this smaller diameter does make a big visual difference. The cab and footplate were from the GBL K3. The tender is cut-down GBL with a dummy internal chassis, Originally, I ran it on a Bachmann K3 chassis which made the wheels, underscale for a K3 but OK for a K4, look alright, though the wheelbase is wrong. It;s now on a Dave Alexander etch.I got the fimensions from my LNER drawings book by Ian Beattie. John

The sidings at Little Benton were not Exchange sidings, though they occasionally act as such. Lambton No 5 has backed onto a LOCO coal rake ready to head for Weetslade. All fiction, of course. The real loco was an early acquisition for the NYMR, but is currently in the queue for the time and money to get it back into steam. Paul Sterling produced the 3D kit which I think is still available, with some of the funds going towards the prototype. It is on a Bachman 56xx xhassis, but I confess the adaptation is pretty brutal, and I would be looking for a Comet etch if I was doing this again, But it does produce a nice and unusual model.

Always worth listening to her Ladyship, Sir William....

Here are a couple more oddeties. The K4 is probably on a SO Works excursion from Glasgow to Whitley Bay, and was sitting doing nothing at Eastfield.the loco is a right old cut and shut, on a Dave Alexander chassis. I still have one of the 5 etches I bought from him for, if I remember correctly, £1 each at a Newcastle MRS Show. I like a short freight, so gave my 3D Hardys Hobbies Hudswell Clark a run out. These kits seem to have disappeared from the market, which is a shame, They run on an Electrotren chassis, These chassis;s are a bit generic, but the ones I have are super little runners, and they used to be as cheap as chips. But like the chips themselves, they became expensive and are not as easy to get these days, so that may be why the body kit production stopped. Who knows?

Alnwick is a lovely town, and Southerners are welcome! The Dirty Bottles, and the curse that goes with it, is still intact. The Aln Valley Railway is still creeping towards a main line connection at Alnmouth, but is unlikely to get any nearer the town centre than its' present location. As far as diesels on the branch are concerned, I have no evidence of anything other than the 101's. These were predomnantly 2 car sets, paired up where necessary on the Newcastle Trains from 1960, They also ran on the Alnmouth shuttle as a single 2-car set in the period between the end of steam in June 1966 and closure.. Passenger services were withdrawn from 29th January 1968 but goods services lasted until 7th October that year, so diesels must have been used on those remaining goods turns. Tweedmouth and Alnmouth sheds closed with the end of steam in June 1966, so Gateshead is the most likely source of diesels on the remaining freight services. Surprisingly, I cannot find a single photo of anything other than 101's in that later period, but assuming Gateshead was the provider, at that time they had a couple of Class 17's, Class 24;s and had started to get a good supply of 37's so any or all of these would seem likely candidates. ,

i have photos of j39's on both passenger and freight ai Alnwick in the 1960's, In addition I have a photo of a j27 shunting the yard, and a heaton V1 or V3 on a Newcatle - Alnwick, passenger.the only diesel traction I can see are the Class 101' 2 coach sets coach sets, sometimes running in pairs, on Newcastle trains.

I have been doing some tidying up in the loft, and thought it was time to give the T1 a run. Tyne Dock has sent it on a ttrain of 16T minerals, for some reason. The kit is from Little Engines, and went together really well, other than the usual fight I alwasys seem to have with leading bogies and curves on ex-NER locos. I;m afraid in this case I had tp resort to underscale wheels, Held at the signals is a Heaton K3. I was a bit shocked to discover I had 5 of them, most obtained when GBL brought out the model with the magazine. All are a bit different., This one has the early GS tender with the flared top, another has a 3500 gallon tender, another the 4200 gallon, and another an ex-NER one, The final one, which really shouldnt be working at Little Benton, is an early GN version with RH drive and a GN tender. This was a conversion based on one desribed by Tony Wright. Most run on modified early Bachmann V1/3 chassis, as they have the correct sized drivers. The view from the bridge shows the K3 ready to go into the sidings,passing the G5 waiting patiently for me to build its; push-pull sets, and a J77 .just back from a service, parked up after having been given a good run roumd the layout.

The final piece of evdence- the LH side of the Dia 320, with the drivers window clearly visible. And conveniently propelled by the loco issued RTR by Bachmann.TMC.

Nice photo, David. I think this must be on the Epping-Ongar service. I canot find any photos of this diagram on the Blyth trains, but who knows. All the tanks I photographed earlier have escaped the breakers yard. Here are the last pair to go back into service- two of my favourirs built from ArthurK kits. Other than oiling and cleaning, all I needed to do was tone them down with my trusty Humrol Powders and give them a light spray with varnish to seal the work. For painting duffers like me, I can recommend this method to get a decent result. The locos are , of course, an N10 and J73.

My DJH A8 heads back to Bishop Auckland with a special , full of happy supporters following theit teams victory at Ashington in the FA Amateur Cup. I suspect they would go on to win it at Wembley a few months later, as often happened in those days. Well- it makes a change from justifying the A8 on a Race Special, which is my normal excuse, This one cane to me on hearing of the death of one of my heroes, Bobby Charlton, who was born in Ashington. Bishop Auckland were very helpful to Man Utd after Munich, loaning 2 of their great players to help out. The clubs remain close- United paid for floodlights at their ground a few years ago and often send a team up tp play friendlies to raise much-needed cash. Nice to see in this commercially-driven age,

Thanks Trev, that must be it!! John

J77 68392 has a rake of 24.5T mineral wagons. loaded wagons going North, This is an anathema- they really should be empties, so I'm struggling to explain this train. Perhaps the fact that the coal is glued into the wagons is the answer, The loco is an ArthurK/Northeastern Kits kit, and is having a run following a visit to my Worls. It runs pretty well, but could do with its; cheap motor replaced with something with a bit more oomph. I;ll deal with it next time I see Chris of High Level Models- probably at the Newcastle Show in a couple of weeks. I also dulled down the body with Humbrol Powders,

Hi Mike, Do all the following BEFORE you post to your thread. Press ENTER a couple of times after the text that you want the photo to refer to- this gives 2 empty lines after the text, Select an empty line and click the cursor.You should see the position at the start of the line as a flashing cursor. You need to have selected the relevant photo, which will be at the bottom of your post, Look for it. then click where it says Insert, This will put the photo where you want it, eg, between lines of text. Basically Insert will put the photo where you clicked on the cursor. I have just put a post on my kitbuilding thread to show the effect I am trying to describe, Hope this helps

Well, I suppose that depends what I find when I get them into Works.The first pair have escaped the breakers torch though they have emerged looking scruffier than when they went in. The short-bunker J72 is on a Mainly Trains chassis. It started out as Mainline body- I needed a pair of bodies to build the loco, If I was doing it again, I would either get a kit from ArthurK, or try to fit a bit more detail,especially internal motion, To see how much can be done, Mike Meggison is building a Highlevel chassis, beyond me, I'm afraid. I have it running well enough, though ideally I would rplace the chinese motor with something with a bit more oomph. The N8 is the LRM kit, for some reason, these locos were turned out with mixed traffic lining though I have never found a photo of one on passenger duty. On the photo, the lining looks a bit rough, but I've managed to tone it down a bit. It came into Worksas a non-runner, but a bit of cleaning up, lubrication and pickup adjustment has it ready to go back into service,

Thanks for the offer, David, However I already have a Shire, so it's the Hunt I want, They were actually more usual visitors to Tyneside, though not exactly common as muck. Last time I asked PDK, they were still out of stock.

Armed with all the help from RMWebbers, and a great contact with a member of the Blyth and District MRC, an order has gone to Isinglass for a Dia 320 ,I'll post the main elements of the build , just for completeness, though I don't imagine it will be any different from any other Isinglass coach construction. It's a while since I built a new loco kit, though I'm after a J21 and D49 Hunt, after which my roster will be (over) complete. Like many solo modellers, my locos don't get out much, so here are several builds being dragged past Little Bentom en-route to the scrapyard at North Road , Darlington. Many of the builds were described here, though the photos are long lost.

This is a sad sight as Gateshead's 24/1 hauls a line of redundant tank locos south, probably destined for the scrapyard at North Road, Darlington. I saw someting similar, as 5 Clans passed Little Benton one evening as we spotted after school. Luckily, this isnt actually happening on the layout. Though the diesel is nothing more than re-numbered, the other locos are all either kit-built or modified RTR. I'll let the spotters identify them, but they include a J71 and short-bunker J72 (Bachmann bodies on Mainly Trans chassis), SEF N5 (Sunderland had a couple), LRM N8 and N9, N10' s (Alexander and ArthurK) and a J73 (ArthurK), Some were built a good while ago and havent been run for ages , so they have been dug out to check them over and see if they would benefit for any TLC, There are a few other kits in similar circumstances, so these may be the subject of the next few posts. At least it will be something different,

To be fair, he isn't trying to be a male Vera. His character moved up from the Met after his wife was murdered.