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dcordingley

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Everything posted by dcordingley

  1. Very easy to overthink this whole issue. I operate a Hornby Dublo 3-rail layout, which I regard very much as a trainset. I also have a 4mm scale layout based upon a quarter mile or so of the WCML in the North West: I think of this as a model railway. Perhaps what delineates the former from the latter is the use of set pieces of trackwork ("setrack" in modern-speak)? David C.
  2. Yes, I think the K's body is pretty much a non-starter as the basis for a scale model. Strictly 1960s retro! David
  3. Run it on a Hornby Dublo 3-rail layout (mounted on an R1 chassis converted to 3-rail) and suspend disbelief concerning the wheelbase. The joys of coarse-scale modelling - well, it works for me...! 😀 David C.
  4. There's obviously a good deal of detailed knowledge about Toads on this thread, so I wonder if I might pose a question which has been exercising people on another forum. There is a view that Toads were never fitted with piped brakes, and in consequence were always painted in "unfitted" grey in BR days. Others state that at least some Toads were retrofitted with pipes in the BR era, and therefore appeared in "fitted" bauxite livery. I've seen photographic evidence of at least a couple in bauxite, but I wonder if there was a difference in "fitting" through pipes and/or vacuum brakes. Can anyone shed any light? David C.
  5. In response to the OP's question, I don't think anyone has mentioned Morecambe Promenade as an example. Before its replacement by a bus shelter on a different site, this four-platform terminus had just two of its platforms electrified at 6.6kV overhead, for the Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham services which lasted until early 1966. Platforms 3 and 4 were electrified for the EMUs; the other two platforms (1 & 2) were generally used for Morecambe-Leeds services over the erstwhile "Little North Western" and for ex-LNW services south to Preston and beyond. David C.
  6. I like your skips - ex_Peco "ruggas", I think. I used these as a starting point for ash-disposal wagons in my 4mm scale mpd. I laid a length of 9mm gauge track, inset into a representation of concrete, running alongside the ash-disposal road and through the ash plant itself, intended to replicate the facilities seen at many larger ex-LMS depots. I filed away the "lips" on the skips to make them more representative of those you can see in, for example, images of the ash plant at Camden and elsewhere. I'm not sure whether there was ever a standard design for these, but they look OK to me! David
  7. Hello Tony Two or three months ago you may recall my expressing interest in a 4mm scale Stanier 0-4-4T which you were selling. Unfortunately I PM’ed you about an hour too late, and missed out on the opportunity. However, this spurred me into doing some creative thinking. I grew up in Lancaster, and in the early 1950s half of the small class of these Stanier tanks were allocated to Lancaster Green Ayre shed. Initially they worked push-pull trains on the ex-Midland route between Lancaster Castle and Morecambe Promenade, pending the 1953 re-electrification of this line with converted ex-LNWR Oerlikon units. Thereafter they were used on regular suburban trains on the ex-LNW route between Castle and Morecambe Euston Road. The last of the class had departed by late 1959 – a little before my trainspotting years – but it seemed a pity not to add one of these locos to my 4mm scale evocation of steam days in the North West. A little online research revealed that a firm called CDC produce 3D-printed resin bodies, designed to fit on the modern Hornby M7 chassis – the wheelbase and driving wheel diameter are near matches. I ordered the body and sourced a suitable chassis via eBay, and then set to work. The body required a fair bit of fettling to redress the 3D imperfections; you have to be careful with the “brittleness” of the resin. But after detailing, painting, numbering, lining, etc, I think it passes muster – perhaps not a showcase model, but a decent enough layout loco. It copes adequately with four coach non-corridor trains. I chose to model 41903, which was at Lancaster until withdrawn in November 1959. I have a couple of photos of the prototype taken in Lancaster in 1953. In the first, from February, the loco has the early “British Railways” lettering; in the second, from August (and presumably after a works visit), it carries the pre-1956 BR emblem. So it seemed to me a good opportunity to depict each of these liveries, on opposite sides of the loco, on the reasonable basis that you can’t see both sides at once.🙂 Here she is, newly released to traffic on my layout. She’s a little out-of-period for me, but thanks for prompting the whole exercise! David C.
  8. Another slight location error involving 75019! The train is certainly coming from Heysham, but is actually entering Morecambe Promenade station. The train would reverse here (hence the second brake van marshalled behind the loco) and no doubt head off to Leeds with the oil tanks - probably behind a couple of Sulzer Type 2s at this late stage of the steam era. Sorry to be a little pedantic about these captions, but I grew up in Lancaster and spent a lot of time trainspotting in the area! 🙂
  9. Nice photo, but this is not the Lancaster quay siding, which was west of the West Coast mainline. The photo is taken just east of Ladies Walk Sidings on the ex-Midland route from Lancaster Green Ayre to Settle Junction. 75019 looks as though it is shunting mineral empties from what was then Lancaster power station, just around the curve to the left. The "Little North Western" was truncated at this point by 1968, and run-round facilities may have been removed - hence the presence of the 350bhp shunter in the distance, to support the move. Regarding the original query, the Grassington branch was certainly a contender for end-of-steam freight, as I think was the Windermere branch, which had a daily steam-hauled pick-up freight until near the very end. Both were Carnforth mpd workings, I think. David C.
  10. Thanks for the various responses to my query about the "Golden Arrow" routings - here's my take on all this. I don't think that BR's and SNCF's (entirely reasonable) requirement to each use one set of stock explains the Dover/Folkestone change, as departure times from both Victoria and Gare du Nord are such that each set could easily make a daily return trip from London or Paris on the respective sides of the Channel. The likely factor is therefore access to berths at Dover and Folkestone. Given how busy Dover could become (and indeed remains to this day), it seems likely that the quieter port of Folkestone was regarded as a more dependable departure port in the middle of the day - after all, you wouldn't want your well heeled "Arrow" passengers waiting on the quayside for a suitable berth to become available for their ferry. Interesting to learn how "pathing" problems are not just restricted to railways... David C.
  11. "Backtrack" magazine had an interesting couple of articles on UK boat trains in the recent January and February editions. But neither article answered a fairly longstanding query I have had about BR's arguably most famous boat train - the "Golden Arrow". I wonder, therefore, if I might tap into others' knowledge to provide an answer? During the period 1952-1959 the "Arrow" ran Victoria to Folkestone on its down run, and Dover to Victoria on the return up service. (Outside this period, both up and down trains seem to have been routed via Dover.) The empty Pullman stock was transferred between Folkestone Harbour and Dover Marine to facilitate this arrangement. But why was this routing adopted? I don't think tides can have been a factor, as both Dover and Folkestone would surely have been non-tidal ports long before the 1950s. Something to do with pathing issues, then, whether on rail or at sea? Can anyone shed any light on this? David C.
  12. Just came across this interesting thread whilst googling about 4mm scale 3Fs, so I've given it a bump. One of my lockdown projects has been to resurrect an ancient (schoolboy-era!) conversion of a Triang 3F to something rather more realistic as part of an old-fashioned kit-bashing exercise. Originally completed to run on what I then thought of as a "fine-scale" (!) 2-rail layout in the late 1960s/early 1970s, it has lain in storage for 50-odd years. In its resurrected state it now serves on my Hornby Dublo 3-rail layout, with whose overall coarse scale it is much more in keeping. Provenance as follows: Triang 3F body, much hacked about to remove the original boiler and replace it with a rolled plasticard one to allow daylight below; new cast smokebox door fitted Triang 0-6-0 chassis with the driving wheels replaced with Hornby Dublo ones Body from a Ratio cast metal Johnson tender kit, mounted on an old Mainline/Replica Fowler tender chassis - the Mainline wheels run well through Dublo pointwork Body fittings from various sources, including most recently a tender filler cap from 247 Developments The whole thing has been sprayed with Halfords grey primer, then matt black - the latter actually gives it an ex-works sheen. It has been transferred up as Lancaster Green Ayre's 43502. The cabside numerals are probably slightly larger than they should be for an LMR loco - so we'll assume she's made an unlikely visit to Darlington Works for a recent overhaul. Next step is to arrange a 3-rail collector, which I'll fashion from copper strip and steel drawing pin heads. I think the end result captures the general character without undue pretensions towards accuracy. The idea was to replicate the charm of a 1950s Hornby Dublo loco. David C.
  13. I have a copy of the LNER booklet for travellers, titled "On Either Side" and published in 1939 for the then princely sum of 1/-. Here's the quote on page 14: "Lincoln Cathedral can be seen from the line between Crow Park and Dukeries Junction on a clear day". So there we go! David
  14. I think there's another route which, at least for a short period, saw LNER pacifics reach Carlisle - the ex-Glasgow & South Western line. Around Summer 1964 my father and I were on a NW England "runabout" ticket, and travelled out to Annan from Carlisle. Annan was then a "frontier post", beyond which you couldn't legitimately travel on the runabout ticket without paying extra. We therefore alighted and awaited a return train to Carlisle, which duly arrived with either an A1 or A2 (can't now remember which) on the front. There were at least a couple of A2s at Polmadie at this time, but it was of course rather later than your period, Graham - and the loco certainly wasn't in early BR blue! David C.
  15. I seem to recall similar problems with different shades of colour (lined maroon, in this case) on Bachmann non-gangwayed Mark 1 suburban coaches. The early models were, to my eye, unacceptably dark, and in a mixed rake including later coaches they looked very odd. I too solved the problem by disposing of the earlier models and replacing with later ones, to achieve greater uniformity. Whilst I agree that prototype rakes of (notionally) similar-liveried coaches often displayed different hues (dirt, repaints, etc), I think that this phenomenon doesn't always translate well into the model world; it's probably an issue of "scaling" of colour. For that reason I also like to run uniform rakes on my layout. David C.
  16. I think another potential problem with these motors is carbon dust from cheap replacement brushes clogging the magnet and causing intermittent short circuits. I have cured a couple of my ringfields of the problems described above by dismantling them, cleaning out the dust, and fitting new brushes. One thing to watch for are the tiny ball bearings which lodge in the top and bottom bearings. These can easily go missing during the maintenance process, with the result that you get rough running. David
  17. You could think about joining the Hornby Railway Collectors' Association (HRCA). It covers Hornby Dublo and Hornby 0 gauge, together with other Meccano Ltd products. The Association produces a Spares Directory, in which you'll find pretty much all the various bits you might need. Monthly journal and active online forum, too - all for about £30 a year. Check out https://www.hrca.net/ David
  18. Railmatch matt varnish. Works a treat for me, especially when used to protect transfers - stir well and brush. David C.
  19. Not sure if this has been mentioned, but a few years ago somebody in the Hornby Railway Collectors' Association (HRCA - recommended to all those interested in things Hornby or Hornby Dublo) pointed out to me that the Wrenn diesel shunter had flanged centre driving wheels, unlike the HD flangeless version. I have a Wrenn shunter converted to 3 rail running on my 3 rail layout, and it certainly has the flanges.... David
  20. Hi Andy I'm pleased with the Shapeways body shells; with some detailing (separate roof vents, brass handrails) they scrub up pretty well. My only reservation is that the surface of the moulding is slightly coarse - I understand that this is a common feature of 3D printing, although no doubt the "layering" process will improve as the technology is refined. It is difficult to sand down the sides because of the panelling, but for layout vehicles (as opposed to showcase models) I think they're quite acceptable. Clive: Interesting - Scale Hall was my local station; my father took me on the first train in 1957. Not that I remember this, as I would have been 4 or 5 years old at the time. The station was probably the shortest-lived on BR, closing - with the demise of the electric service - in early 1966. I think the Class 25s (or Sulzer Type 2s as we knew them at the time) probably arrived after this, although the Peaks certainly appeared on the Leeds-Morecambe passenger trains a little earlier. The station buildings at Scale Hall remained in place until the whole ex-Midland line through Lancaster Green Ayre closed completely around late 1967, when 9Fs, Black 5s and 8Fs together with the odd diesel, still handled the remaining Heysham oil trains - often steam/diesel double-headed. David
  21. Hi Clive - here's one for you. I think there is little danger of any commercial RTR production of one of these units - a post-1953 Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham 6.6kV 50 Hz overhead emu. I grew up in Lancaster and the prototypes (converted from ex-LNWR Earls Court-Willesden stock) could be seen from my bedroom window, shuttling backwards and forwards throughout the day. My model comprises 3D-printed bodyshells from Shapeways/Rue d'Etropal and underframes from various components - the driving trailer is mounted on a Replica powered coach chassis. Still work-in-progress, although the driving trailer has now emerged from the Wolverton Works paintshop. Once the unit is complete my thoughts will turn to suitable catenary... David C.
  22. A question, if I may, to Tony W or any other contributors here about 4mm scale footplate crews. I have dutifully lamped up all of my 50+ steam locos (mostly Lanarkshire Models, with some slightly over-scale Springside), but have thus far not embarked on the exercise of fitting loco crews. I'd appreciate any thoughts on suitable sources; the ModelU figures look good, but the expense of manning my entire fleet looks rather daunting. Any advice warmly welcomed... David C.
  23. I'd like to add my thanks to all the team for the meticulous work on this. Slightly tongue-in-cheek, i couldn't see any reference to Class AM1/TOPS 301 - the Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham electrics - in the poll. I've voted for these in the past (probably under "miscellaneous other" or similar), but unless they're included under the "LNWR Oerlikon electrics" category they seem to have slipped through the net this year. Not that I imagine they would ever attract much interest, as a very niche prototype. However, as someone who grew up with these trains I've decided to get cracking and am currently in the process of building my own 4mm version. I don't recall ever seeing any such models - ever! David
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