Mike Bellamy

Now looked at six volumes of 'Bygone Grantham' with no railway content - mostly showing old shops and pubs etc. However 'Grantham in Focus' (Vol 1) compiled by John Pinchbeck in 2007 (ISBN 978 1 84547 142 2) has a 6 page section 'Focus on the Railway' with 13 photos - 4 of the station in 1985, Peascliffe in 1983, Spitalgate in 1982, loco no 63982 being cut up for scrap in 1962, 60121 with driver Shields and fireman Cunnington in 1955, unknown loco taking water in 1964, unknown loco and goods train in the station in 1964, 92041 on a train of open wagons again in 1964 but the caption says that this loco would have been clean and painted in LNER green before the war (!!!), 60929 heading south past the good yard in 1964 Coaling Tower looking very empty and unused in 1964 before demolition Grantham in Focus Vol 2 doesn't have any railway content and the other two Pinchbeck books I have are Grantham in the News 51-75 and 76-2000 which contain a selection of news items in date order and as they don't cover your era, I haven't looked through these. Hope that helps Mike

In the same series of 'Bygone Grantham' books there is one called 'The Grantham Rail Crash of 1906' by Harold Bonnett (1978) ISBN 0 906338 05 0 that will also be of interest and although not the period you are modelling, there is a detailed map of the area around the Harlaxton Road bridge showing the track layout and where the various carriages ended up when they left the track and went down the embankment. The book also has lots of photos that appeared in the newspapers at that time. Another book 'Windows on Grantham' has a collection of photos by local professional photographer Chris Windows, with two railway photos. On 3 Aug 1948 a parcels train from Edinburgh hit the rear of a train of empty iron ore wagons on the North Parade embankment and the photo shows a wagon in the air wedged on the streamlined front of an A4. the other is RAF personnel helping to clear the wreckage after the weight of snow in 46/47 caused part of the station roof to collapse onto the line. Photo shows some of the ornate ironwork from the canopy being cut up. ISBN 0 906338 13 1 published in 1985. There are several more 'Bygone Grantham' books and also 'Grantham in the News' by John Pinchbeck of the Grantham Journal but I have already missed my breakfast and am late for work so that research will have to wait for another day !! Mike

OO9 is at a scale of 4mm to 1 foot O-16.5 is at a scale of 7mm to 1 foot In 4mm your coach would be about 96mm long, 21mm high and 14mm wide In 7mm your coach would be about 168mm long, 37mm high and 25mm wide All figures rounded to nearest mm If you want to run on prototypical 15 inch track, this would be 5mm in 4mm scale - the nearest you will get is Z gauge which is 6.5mm In 7mm scale the track gauge would be 8.75mm and it would be best to use existing 9mm track for this - either N gauge or OO9 Hope that helps - and that my maths is correct !! EDIT - Nick beat me to it - but at least we got the same answer !

Perfect - I have one of those locos and I now know what to do with it - eventually ! Mike

Excellent to see my old home town (from the age of 6 in 1960 to 1976) - looking forward to seeing how this develops. There is another Grantham layout on here but with a less ambitious track plan http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/43173-ecml1960-essence-of-grantham/page__fromsearch__1 Mention of the Harlaxton Road bridge reminds me that there are plans to redevelop the town side and station approach as explained here http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/local/grantham-firms-issued-with-compulsory-purchase-orders-as-station-approach-work-is-set-to-begin-1-3885610 Have you seen all the information in this topic on the LNER Encyclopedia - I know I have seen Roy posting there http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3429

Not a sample of every item of food and drink that was discussed here is it http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56610-the-black-country-food-and-culture/

A mini layout on a round board - that's different. Does it turn round as well to become a train turntable !! Mike

Card kit of the Bottle and Glass available from Alphagraphix. To be totally different you must have a Shay loco as used at Bilston - the only one in UK? http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/23/Shay.htm http://www.shaylocomotives.com/data/lima/sn-618.htm Plenty more ideas in the Industrial Railway Record Archives http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/back_issues.htm Mike

First time I have seen this track with the steel sleepers and so I assume that it's a fairly new introduction from Peco. If that's the case and they had to produce new tooling, then why didn't they set the sleepers at the correct distance in the first place. I know in the past the argument has been that a lot of their production goes for export (labelled as HO) but would that be the case for this design - or are the steel sleepers a type only seen in UK ? Mike

Hi Don Pleased to see that you are making a start with this and we look forward to seeing progress at the Club. As you have set yourself a deadline, then I guess the first public showing of the completed model will be the Mickleover Show, October 2013. Mike

Be careful what you wish for - Dapol Catalogue topic post #439 31 Jan - also see several other posts later the same day Mike

Glenn - I prefer the first example rather than the baby powder - having never been to a tart's boudoir I'll have to take your word for the smell You say that you're trying to get the effect of frost on the sleepers which seems better in 1 but in 2 the powder seems to have spread to the ballast and is uneven - of course the photo is much larger than the model so it might not look so bad in real life. Mike

Very interesting concept - they certainly look the part when compared to the etched brass Festiniog wagons produced by the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association and illustrated in this link to 'The Loop' by Giles http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/1966-the-loop-0-16-5/ Mike

Ha - and then in a Bond 875 if I remember correctly - just found this interesting description from http://www.3wheelers.com/bond.html Mike

Long article in the Derby Evening Telegraph in opposition to HS2 - "Eye wateringly expensive and won't benefit Derby" - article is promoted by better than hs2.org. http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/eye-wateringly-expensive-high-speed-rail-link/story-15077651-detail/story.html Mike

Have you seen the website maintained by Simon Castens (a one time member here) which has a lot of useful information which doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet. http://eis.bris.ac.uk/~liserc/tit.html Simon now runs a railway bookshop using the Titfield name in Bath http://titfield.co.uk/ Mike

I don't know if it is a coincidence, but plans for a new rail hub between Derby and Burton, just over the road from the Toyota factory at the junction of A50 & A38, are back in the local headlines. Severn Trent Water are the land owners and perhaps they feel that now is the right time to cash in on the publicity and push for their development to be given the go ahead. http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/2-000-job-rail-freight-depot-deal-just-weeks-away/story-14354429-detail/story.html This follows on from the news last year that Marks and Spencer are building a huge distribution werehouse at Castle Donington which again is to be rail served. Seeing this building from the main road you don't appreciate how big 900,000sqft is but it's half a mile long and 100ft tall http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Rail-hub-M-S-centre-track-create-huge-number-jobs/story-11647526-detail/story.html http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Vast-warehouse-s-half-mile-long-handed-retail/story-14207814-detail/story.html Hopefully both of these projects will take up some of the increased rail capacity and reduce HGVs Mike

Agreed - and I hope you have a copy of the latest Railway Modeller as well Mike

Yes but they are still at 99% as they sold a quarter of a million items in a year

Originally produced many years ago by Stephen Poole and then sold on to Peco. I believe it was designed to fit a Hornby Dublo or Triang 0-6-0 chassis and so that must date it back to the 1960s. The chassis is produced by Branchlines but no web site - only that of the previous owner in 'blog' format. New contact details (but may not be up to date) Brian Osborne, PO Box 4293, WESTBURY. BA13 9AA Tel: +44 (0) 1373 822231 Mike

Hi Ian Congratulations on the award Thought about you when I saw this article in the paper yesterday http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037877/Boston-Lincolngrad-The-strange-transformation-sleepy-English-town.html Mike

I'm sure I have seen them both together - was it at 7mmNGA Burton?? Mike

Er, Yes http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-14584428 and also http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-14587426 Mike

Very pleased to see that this has been mentioned especially as some of the examples shown have been built around wooden boxes. For portable layouts this may cause problems as PAT testing is a requirement at some exhibitions. Bob - you are very welcome to call in at Mickleover Club and see what the guys have done there - 5 layouts and all have different control panels Mike

Geoff You may be thinking of 'Dr Mike's' glue which is imported into UK by Paul Martin of EDM Models. Details on the NGTrains website here http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/EDM_Models/Dr_Mikes/dr_mikes_glue.htm The manufacturer's web site is here http://www.drmikesglue.com/index.html Sold in USA through Micromark http://www.micromark.com/Dr-Mikes-Formula-2-Glue-1and2-fl-oz,8534.html Mike