derekarthurnaylor

Hi all. A couple of postings ago (stone walls) I mentioned having a tour of the Burlington slate Quarries. I had hoped to see the slate crusher in action but it wasn't working that day. This visit was in connection with a new layout I was working on. The Little Langdale Railway. The time was to be the present. I was looking at a Heritage line which would also be used to carry crushed slate from a quarry to a seaport. It was to be situated in Cumbria, Yes, not all slate comes from Wales. Stupid I know but that's what railway modellers do..It was built to the Aire Valley scale and gauge. 4mm to the foot on 12mm gauge track. An article in the July 2006 Railway Modeller featured the construction of a couple of the locos. They were a Southwold loco in 4mm scale and the R and E loco Devon in 3,5mm scale Devon was quite a large loco and the reduction in scale equalised the sizes. As mentioned in the article there was a third steam loco. which was my interpretation of Dubs 2-4-0 metre gauge loco which worked on a shale railway in New South Wales. Along with images of the (half finished) layout there are a a couple of images of this loco outside the engine shed plus and unlettered and unlined image....So, what of the layout. The port of Langdale was more less complete as most of the images show. The company offices were inspired by but a much less ornate model of the Wantage Tramway Headquarters, but non the less quite pleasing I thought. The engine shed and signal box were ,I think, modified card kits. the overall station roof was a modified plastic kit.The low relief main road buildings were a mix of card kits and scratch built. The latter included my must have timber church. The harbour crane was a considerably modified Airfix kit. Quite ridiculous really. The overall harbour scene also shows the waste slate "bins" waiting to. be loaded into the ship. There was to be a fourth loco, a diesel to work the the slate trains but it never got built Oh dear realms of fantasy!!! A ruined abbey also appears. The cliffs below the abbey and the mock Tudor hotel were plastic vacuum formed. items I have never been able to obtain again, very frustrating. The layout got as far as the the some what complex rail road river image. It was then sold on. One of the locos. The R and E one I think was for sale on ebay and bought by a railway modeller. I apologize for the green tinge on some of the images. I have yet learn the art of altering this. Cheers Derek.

Hi All. I was exhibiting my latest completed project at the Furness Model Railway Show last weekend 12th and 13th. This was another of my real water models, Hirstwood Lock No 19. Also showing it at the Blackpool Model Boat Show next weekend. This a model of a narrow canal lock..It is one of those models I had to have a go at to see if it could be done. I had originally looked at a broad canal but at the planning stage realised it would have to be narrow canal. I came up with an optimum length of around four feet, In the end the length was decided by the longest garden tray I could find which was 44 and 1/2 inches long. The model is 43 and 1/2 inches long. The scale is 1/8 inch to the foot. The garden tray was to act, in cricketing terms, as a long stop if there should be any leaks while at a show! A simple drawing was made re the main dimensions but it was built on the sort it as you go along method. Plasticard is the material used as it is waterproof. I'm not going into in depth construction as I'm sure it would descend into being incoherent, Most narrow canal locks have a single top gate and double bottom gates. In such a small scale this poses a problem However as part of my research I had gone on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal site and there are eight locks between Wool Road and Diggle that have a single bottom gate. Problem solved. As with real locks my gates do dribble but so do most real locks. Waterproofing of the gate is helped with a thin smear of Vaseline round the edges of the gates. On the real thing water runs in a continuous flow from the summit pool. On the model I have a plastic container in which a small pump feeds the upper pool and as per the real thing.excess water goes down the by wash to the lower pool. When the water level in the lower pool is full water runs back by gravity to the plastic container. Not prototipical but it gives a continuous flow of water There are three narrow boats, once again all plasticard except for a lead strip "keel". They are not motorised as they are too small to fit motors and batteries. Propulsion is by means means of a hand held twizzle stick. It performed very well over the weekend at it's first show. Further model shows are Kendal , Narrow Gauge North and York.. Cheers. Derek

Hi. More on real stone modelling. After all the personalised walls it was time to look at something a bit more challenging. At the time we were living at Keighley just a stones throw (no pun intended) from Bronte Country. In the end it came down to "Top Withens" the remote, now derelict farmstead on the moors above Haworth. Not to build it in this state but as near as possible as it was. Maudie and I did several trips to the building to measure the ground plan and try and calculate the slope of the hillside it was built on. I would mention it's a couple of miles from the nearest point where you can park. But, how did it look? In the end I put an appeal in the Dalesman Magazine. This worked and I got a good number of replies. One interesting one was from a lady whose Grandmother was born in the farmstead in 1896. Another was from a couple with the wife stood in a doorway in the photo they sent pretending to be Cathy. Most of the photos sent were of use. After completing the model I sent photos to all who replied to my appeal. While the attached images show how I went about the construction there were problems and some set backs For instance, the dark stone porch took three tries before I was happy with it, and there were quite a few other minor rebuilds.The blocks in one of the construction images were to enable square window openings to be made. The roof slates were stone slabs and this applied to the model. .I made these from semi perished stone which was easy to slice into thin slabs. That was the easy bit. Cutting them to size seemed to take for ever and I think more were wasted than used. It was a case of nibbling away with the pliers. The ridge tiles were carved from the solid, fortunately not too many of them. The mullioned windows were also a bit of fun! The scale, 1/4 inch to the foot. When we were leaving Keighley it was decided to part with the model I tried to give it the Bronte Museum. but it was declined on various grounds. Who/how would it be maintained? Was there room for it in the soon to be refurbished museum? And anyway the current thinking was it was only the area not the farmstead that Emily used in her book. OK. tell that to all the Japanese students who visit the site as part of their English studies. Somewhat subdued I went round to the Haworth T.I..C. No joy there either. In the end it went for auction. Conversation went. How much did I expect? £300. Ok, reserve of £350.. In the end bidding stopped at £315. I let it go at that. Net sum received, £259.48p. Top Withens was the only model when I kept a building log. 240 hours! So just over a pound an hour..However I like to think someone is enjoying it. After it was sold, (I wasn't at the auction) I only hoped someone hadn't bought it to give to the Bronte Museum. If I have room a little story. Returning to my car one day in Keighley I was asked by an American couple where the bus depot. was. They explained they had come by train from London to Keighley with a view to seeing Wuthering Heights. ie Top Withens . They had missed the Worth Valley train and been sent to catch a bus. I explained the situation of Top Withens, 2 miles there 2 miles back if they had a car, the bus was a no no. And they were getting on in years and it was a real hot day Their faces fell. In the end I did my bit for Anglo US relations and took them up to the Bronte Museum. It seemed, (letter attached) they really did have a nice day! Returning to the was it wasn't it Top Withens. High Sunderland Hall ( long demolished) near Halifax is the main contender. If you want to follow this up, try. w.w.w.wuthering-heights.co.uk/locations/halifax. Finally. When I finished the model Maudie insisted I read Wurthering Heights. I have to confess if I had not seen all the film and TV adaptations I could not have got through it. 'Till next time, Derek.

Hi. Bit of a change today.;I'm not sure if you will consider the ;items in this blog to come under models as we normally think of models or a touch of arts and crafts. Read on and see what you think. The items here were constructed between 1996 and 2007. They are miniature walls constructed from real Yorkshire stone. They were tailored for friends and relations who were to receive them. It started when Maudie and I were going to visit some American friends ;who we met up with while we were on a trip over the Settle Carlisle Line. They did a return trip to the UK the following year and stayed with us for several days. The trip we were doing was pay back time. What to take them as gifts? ;We remembered how they called our stone walls ;stone ";fences ". What could be more unique than a dry stone wall! The early ones were more or less identical except for the etched title plate on the front of the wood base. We took two to the States and over a period of time I made several more for friends. The Walls were built on a slight curve which we thought looked better than a straight wall ;In front of the wall was a couple of Britian's models, a shepherd holding a lamb and a sheepdog. ;The title plate reads ;Katie finds the stray The name of the dog was changed depending on the name of the dog.whose owner was to receive the model. The family ones were a bit more varied.The Laurel and Hardy one was my eldest daughter's She and her husband had a restaurant in Ulverston called Laurel's.;The canal one was my youngest daughter's in Ellesmere. The golfer one is my son's he's a bit of a keen golfer. ;The one with Compo was made to remind my wife and I of Yorkshire when we deserted the County;The last stone wall I built was the milk tanker scene. This was for a very kind and helpful neighbour ;While stating the obvious Slater's bridge is made of slate . it is quite an iconic bridge. I only built the arched part of the bridge and not the clapper built part; I made two of these, One I gave to a director of the Burlington slate quarries as a thanks for a one man tour of the slate operation. ;If I remember I will mention this again regarding another model railway I never finished.. Having referred to these models as DRY stone walls, the individual stones were cemented together with PVA glue. The stone was cut using an ordinary pair of pincers, the stone being relatively soft Next time, another real stone project which I think you will accept as a true model. Will call that it for now. Cheers. ;Derek.

Hi. Further to my posting of 17th july. This was about the attempt at a 009 layout ( tunnel through the chimney breast) and the indoor garden layout. I said I didn't have any images of these efforts apart from the one of the the garden line loco which I attached. Guess what? I have found some. Explanation. I have been down to Ellesmere again to a family get together for my Great Granddaughter's Christening. I was asked to look through my family photos for any revelant photos and found the attached images in among the family ones. The only one I will comment on is the oddball one like a starburst. This is an image taken through the "tunnel" of an approaching train. There is also another example of nameplate etching on the odd ball Fairlie.loco. I may as well mention that the Liquorice Line, after several exhibitions was rehashed into the Smokey Mountain and Soggy Bottom layout. I was a two level layout without any connection between the two levels. The mountain did smoke, it was fitted with a smoke making unit. In the end I thought the layout was beyond the pale and it was sold on to a friend for this Grandchildren. I wonder if any of you ever saw this at the one or two shows it went to? I will stick my neck out again and say I don't seem to have an photos except for the very poor image of the attached Fairlie loco so will call that it for now. Regards Derek.

Hi. Time now to go from the sublime to the ridiculous, "The Liquorice Line". Where on earth did that come from? Rewind to 1995 I was in my second year of retirement and off to Australia with my wife spend a few weeks with her Sister and Brother in law..One of the places we visited was Melaeuca Station. This was part of a Tea Tree Oil Plantation. You boarded a narrow gauge train which took you on a large continiuous circuit. The train stopped at various points and a train crew member explained the growing and processing of the oil. This excellent operation was filed away in the back of my mind for future reference. Fast forward. Over the years I have built three of the Avonside geared locos. One for the AVR in 4mm scale, one for Semerdale in 3mm and one in 7mm, the latter for the enjoyment of it as I didn't have a line to run it on. After some time I got round to thinking of the Melaeuca Station as a simple line to run the Avonside on.but I wanted to Anglicize the operation. Chewing on a pomfret cake it came to me, a liquorice plantation. Pontefract in Yorkshire was the top area in the country for growing liquorice. Sadly it;s no longer grown in this country. However as railway modellers we don't let small details like that get in the way.The layout was ultra simple. An oval with just three points, One to the engine shed, one to the carriage shed and one to the factory. The sheds were just low relief fronts with the tracks going through cut outs in a backdrop which divided the layout. The opening did have doors. There were four locos. The Avonside called "Callard". A second loco was a Bachmann Porter which was used as bought apart from adding the company logo and name "Bowser". Callard and Bowser are the makers of some excellent liquorice toffees. A third loco was a birthday present. This was the loco from the Fleischmann Magic Train set. This was called "Haribo" after the makers of super pomfret cakes. There were two further items of motive power, both utilized Gnomy toys. The lorry was converted to a railborne vehicle with a simple scratch built chassis. It's called "Spanish" which was and may still be, the colloquial name for liquorice in Yorkshire. It would do several circuits then stop behind the backdrop to be loaded with liquorice root to deliver to the factory. The fourth loco was a customised Gnomy tram fitted with a Spud unit. It was called "Bassett". Rolling stock. Two Magic Train set coaches. Three Gnomy push and go trams fitted with Triang chassis. There was also a workman's coach and a water tanker. Operation was pretty simple. Sightseeing trains, the lorry collecting liquorich root and the water tanker doing a turn round. Notwithstanding being a bit of an oddball layout it was well photographed. and I hope to attach a few of them. Cheers. Derek..

Hi. I guess it's about time to look at further layouts I have constructed. After the Windermere boats and the two layouts that came to nothing I came up with the Idea for Semerdale. I'm not sure how the idea for the layout came about ..As mentioned in the Railway Modeller article of May 1998 I was looking for a few "tweaks" in the scale/gauge. Also, for what ever reason I built it as an exhibition layout and as mentioned in the above article I am more of a constructor than an operator. Most of the photos of the layout have appeared in the above article and two other articles in the Railway Modeller. See " Log Loading in 009" April 2001 and "Additions to Semerdale". March 2002. Somewhere in the production of the log loading article things did not come out as I had written them and it finished somewhat abruptly..If you didn't understand it ,neither did I. But, that's water under the bridge. My late wife Maudie took charge of the log loading operation and would invite children to come round the back and have a go. After all the (understandable) do not touch notices parents were pleasantly surprised at this chance of a hands on approach invite to their children. Back to photos. If you haven't seen it yet,Semmerdale is featured on the wwwngrail.co.uk site which is a virtual narrow gauge exhibition Click on to Hall 1. In real life the layout did 22 exhibitions between 1997 and 2001. Somewhere around the latter year I decided it was time for the line to find a permanent home. This home was built into the garage and was eight feet square. The enevitable happened and when half the track for the other terminal was laid it didn't gel and it was sold on as seen. Both Maudie and myself had enjoyed it at exhibitions. I quite enjoyed the building of the layout and stock. in particular the two bogie locos Semerdale and Semerwater. They ran very well as indeed did the two four wheelers and the railcars. Loco number 1 DAN was the test build to see if the scale/gauge would work. You may notice a likeness in DAN to the AVR loco number 2 Anne. I made my own couplings which were a little over scale. They were single ended with a hinged loop at one end and fixed hook at the other. At the hook end there was a hinged latch which prevented recoupling after passing over an uncoupling magnet. Big headed I know but these worked very well along with the sweet running of all four locos. Think that's it for now. Couple of photos attached which I don't think have been published. Cheers. Derek.

Hi.. Just had a long weekend in Halifax. Among other things I paid a visit to the Kirklees Light Railway at Clayton West. It must be about 15 years since I was last there. Not a lot seems to have altered except I'm not sure if number 7 was around then. In some ways it's a one off style of line for a 15 inch gauge line. No "Express " locomotives as on the RHDR or the R and E. Am attaching some images. Badger, the little green loco hauled our train. Yours truly is seen in front of Owl. I guess it's pretty obvious it's not in steam. Also in the shot is Fox the red loco. I got permission to enter the shed to photograph Hawk which was being prepared as Thomas for the coming weekend. The two articulated locos are of particular interest to me as they are reminiscent of models I built for the AVR and Semerdale. One part of the journey that is a little bit surreal, for me anyway, is travelling through a standard gauge tunnel on a 15 inch gauge line. If you are ever in the West Riding the KLR is certainly worth a visit. It makes a change to the standard gauge Heritage lines. Next time I will have to get back to modelling items. Regards. Derek

Hi. Just a quicky. If any of you have not discovered it yet, If you Google Summit Tunnel fire 1984 you will find quite a bit of information. Sorry I didn't mention it in the blog. Derek

Hi. After the tragic event in Canada of the runaway oil tanker train I was reminded of the oil tanker train derailment in Summit Tunnel in 1984 on the L&Y route between Leeds/Bradford and Manchester. The cause of the the derailment was a sheared axle. Fortunately there was no train running in the opposite direction and the driver of the tanker train escaped along with the locomotive and first four wagons. It must have been really horrendous for him. However, oil escaping from a ruptured tank caught fire and there was nothing the fire service could do and the fire was left to burn it's self out. I was working at Mill Lane Junction at Bradford Interchange at the time ( and for the next ten years). The removal of the remains of the train, repair of the tunnel lining and track laying took several months and a temporary timetable was introduced. I had a friend in the fire service and he got me some official photos and a sample of fire damaged brick. The latter I mounted on a wood base which I still have. I thought I had lost the photos but they turned up when I was looking for some other items and I hope to attach them. Derek.

Hi. Not much to report re the Glyn Valley Tramway. I went to Chirk and to the little industrial estate and made some enquires only to draw a blank. Back at the station I asked a chap who was a local if he knew where there might be any activity re the refurbishment of the G.V.T. He thought there was but couldn't say where. I wandered around a bit but without success. It was real hot so I ambled back to Chirk station car park only to find my car blocked in with a couple of lorries which were delivering some equipment for track work. The gate at the end of the car part was locked..Job stopped. The drivers and myself shunted around a bit and I managed to escape! I went down the valley to Glynceirog. Its a lovely little valley and I never fail to enjoy it. It will be a really nice train journey If ever the line gets rebuilt. I don't think I will ever see it running. I didn't look very hard mainly once again to the heat. The engine shed and the short section of track are still there along with a brand new notice stating some aims.. I took a photo of the track and attach it in all it's isolation and returned to Ellesmere. On the Saturday I went with my family ( four generations) for a trip on the Welshpool and Llanfair line. where both the Earl and Countess were in steam. It,a bit if a stop start go slow journey in several places due to , I guess the extreme caution at level crossings but none the less a pleasant ride. The Raven Square shed was open and I took the opportunity to take a photo of Manarch looking rather sad but having built two models of her, A.V.R. and Semerdale it was a must. More on modelling next time. Derek.

Hi After the period of building the Windermere boats and the etching of all those stanchions a change of modelling was needed. Two things came together at this point. A spare bedroom and some passed down 009 locos and rolling stock. This culminated in the infamous episode of bashing a hole through the chimney breast which went up through bedroom to create a tunnel. I would hasten to add the fireplace in the room below was not in use. The bashing through was done when my wife was away for the day! After playing about for some weeks the basis of a station was constructed plus laying track through the tunnel. Alas this was to be the first of several layouts that were started but never finished. The stock was returned to sender and the tunnel blocked up and peace descended on the little known valley. Some time later navies descended again on this valley. I had the bright idea of creating an "indoor garden " line. This had the blessing of my wife. It was to be a very simple layout. Due to the fact I was using real plants I decided to build to a scale of 10mm to the foot. The layout was a bit complex in so much as it was a series of boxes to contain the soil and plants. These boxes were lined with garden pond plastic sheeting and the track bed cut out of 9mm exterior ply. It got, once again, half done when I realised the actual line was to simple to be of interest as a layout to run. My wife pointed out half the interest of the venture was to be tending the landscape. Well, yes, but first and foremost it was a model railway. Inevitably it was all lifted and the plants returned to their natural environment. No photos exist of either layout. The loco and stock for " garden" line was scratch built. The loco was constructed from drawings of one of the Groudle Glen locos but I'm not sure which. The scale as mentioned was 10mm to the foot but I used 16.5 mm track. Two images of this model exist and are hopefully attached. It's nice that that the little G.G.R. has been saved. I'm off to Ellesmere tomorrow The town in Shropshire that is not the port...Hope to get to Chirk and Glynceiriog to see what is happening down there. Regards, Derek.

Hi. Back from East Grinstead. Did the full trip on the Bluebell line. Not sure that passengers starting at East Grinstead will find it easy, Sainsbury's have cut their parking time down from two hours to ninety minutes so it's a pay and display car park a little distance away. No problems for my party though with living in East Grinstead. My Grandson dropped us off at the station. It was a bonus weekend for me as it was the model railway weekend with layouts at Horsted Keynes and Sheffield Park with some nice layouts on show. While not a scenic layout the Gauge One exhibit took my eye with mainly live steam locos.. All standard gauge, no narrow gauge. A very pleasant day indeed. We also did the Spa Valley Railway another day. Shoe on the other foot we had to use a pay and display car park but I got dropped off at the station being the old man . Another pleasant day. I meant to ask some member of staff what emergency rules are put into operation should a Spa Valley vehicle derail on the section next to the Uckfield branch line and foul that line but didn't get round to it, anyone out there know? The other railway connected day out was to the Brighton Toy Museum in which toy and model railways are by far the largest exhibits. I'm attaching a couple of pics of the AVR I found in my files. These are of Stony Ridge This section of the layout was on a peninsular and one of the images is taken looking down the main street from the end of the peninsular. I think this really is the end of any unpublished images of the Aire Valley. Other modelling to follow next time. Regards, Derek.

Hi. This post will be mostly images of the stages in the construction of the Wndermere vessel M.V.Swan.. I mentioned in my posting of 11th June the hull is built on the plank and frame method. I'm guessing most of you will know this method. I will now do one of my digressions.. I see over the next fifteen years all the remaining signal boxes are to be closed and twelve Railway Operating Centres will cover the whole of the system. On the one hand it seems drastic and maybe will on some signallers but I guess it's logical. Just recently the iconic box at Hest Bank has finally closed though for some time it just controlled the level crossing. Also not far from Hest Bank Bare Lane has also closed..On Thursday I'm heading off to East Grinstead fo a week. Among other things I'm looking forward to a journey on the extended Bluebell Railway This will be the last post until I get back. Regards. Derek

Hi. Having looked at the image of the home made drilling machine I posted in my last blog again I'm not sure if does show things very well. While I realise no one is going to construct such a machine in this day and age when small pillar drills and hand held mini drills are available i am attaching a simplified drawing which I hope will help to explain it..I say this in jest but then we had to scratch build machines to scratch build models. It beat using a pin chuck in the hand to drill brass frames..Will catch up on Windermere boats next time.. Cheers..Derek.

Hi. I have been delving into my photo bits and pieces. With luck attached below is a photo of the panel and diagram of Mill Lane Jcn signal box which I retired from just over 19 years ago. It controls Bradford Interchange Station which replaced Bradford Exchange some years ago. The old Exchange box went along with the old station The ten dead end platforms of the old station were reduced to four in the new one. The ten old platforms were divided equally, Five G.N., five L.and Y. The old box had two frames with a signalman on each frame except on the quiet night shift. There was no rail connection between the two halves until Mill Lane Jcn. Since I retired there has been a track remodelling to allow trains from both the Leeds and Halifax directions to enter the station at the same time. There was and still is a 15 minute service between Leeds and Halifax most of the day. As each train runs in and out of the station it will be the seen the signalman is on the go most of his shift. Across town the old Foster Square Station closed and was rebuilt with it's platforms being halved from six to three, how many cities can that have happened to? As I have wandered off railway modelling and indeed modelling in general I must mention that I outlived British Rail. I started work as a telegraph messenger at Foster Square Station in 1943.and I retired two weeks after the end of B.R. in 1994. There cannot be many of us that did that. Any more out there?. In my last posting I mentioned my home made "power" drill. I have also found a photo of this. It's not too brilliant but I think it shows It's salient points. I cannot take credit for it being my idea. If I recall correct, P.D.Hancock had an article in the M.R.News or the Modeller but I cannot remember what kind of motor powered it. More modelling next time Derek.

Hi. Having messed about attaching files which I hope I am getting the hang of I thought I thought I had better get on with further etching. Nothing to do with railways I'm afraid. I mentioned the building of the SS Raven which was the the start of my second ship building period. The first was was during the war While the rest of my classmates were into building Spitfires and Hurricanes and the like I was into building British warships. The drawings for these were produced by a firm called Modelcraft. Prices of these drawings varied from sixpence for a submarine to halfacrown (two shillings and sixpence) for a battleship or aircraft carrier. I earned six shillings a week as a paper boy.Wow. Back to the Windermere vessels. The second model was the M.S. Tern, the one with the bows like a canoe. Construction was to the same principal as Raven, balsawood hull and plasticard upperworks. and then there was the stanchions..As a keen scratch builder I wanted to produce my own.I have no recollection of how I stumbled on the idea of etching them but here's method The material is 40 thou copper wire out of twin and earth electric cable. The ball shaped bit through which the horizontal rails go was wrapped with a sliver of selotape, three to a stanchion. Several at a time were put in a flat plastic container containing the etch fluid.When the required depth of etch was reached the embryo stanchions were drilled 20 thou for the rails at the unetched part. Yes I bought the drill bits by the dozen. The drilled sections were then rounded off in a home made power drilling machine .I the simplest terms the drill was a pin chuck driven by a three speed motor out of a food mixer..The bloke is nuts. The stanchion numbers on Tern was't to bad and they were all three holers .After completing Tern I had a rest from scratch building and and built the Matchbox Corvette. I built radio control into this which included the 4 inch gun traversing.. On a holiday in Scarbrough I sailed it on the lake used for the naval battles. While in the middle of the lake the R/C failed. It took ages for the wind to blow it to shore. Turning to Swan. This was built on the Plank and frame method but using plasticard instead of wood. But, oh those those stanchions. 128 of them and some went through to the upper deck. This was truly a task of mammoth proportions but having built the hull there was no going back. She was the last of boat building for some years. My models of Tern and Swan both of which had R/C are now on show on Pier 1 at Bowness. If these blogs about non railway stuff are getting a bit boring let me know. Finally, I am hoping attach to a couple of images of Dennis Allenden's wonderfull modelling skills. It was Dennis who brought etching to my attention. Cheers, Derek

Trying again.

Hi. I gather the image I attached got through Stating the obvious it was a B/W print of part of Nethertarn on the aborted line.I going to try a few more. One of interest is the one of the Clinker Block Works, a bit dark, with the American rail cars on the line above I think it may explain why the line was aborted. The image of the stamp may be of interest. Regards Derek.

Lets see if my image has uploaded

Hi . Before going into further etching, an answer to to a question I get asked on odd occasions. " Do I regret parting with the Aire Valley"? I will dodge that question and just say it is in the past and you cannot change the past. A move of house with no room for the railway was the reason for the sale. I know it's been mentioned before that the locos, except two, and rolling stock went to friend in Australia. On a visit to Australia some years later to visit my wife's sister my friend gave me every thing back, It had some minor damage due to a garage fire. On getting the models home it was realised there was no was no way the AVR could be resurrected and after a while the stock was passed over to the 009 Society. Two of the locos, Arthur and Aire were bought by Audrey Boston as a birthday present for Teddy. After Teddy passed away my long time friend Paul Tower's persuaded Audrey to pass them over to the 009Society. The layout went to a modeller in Leicestershire and I think parts of it were exhibited a couple of times. I had a go at a simple garden line and built a Manx Electric winter car. The line and of course the car were built to a scale of 10mm to the foot The gauge was 30 mm. This did not get very far and was the first of several model railways that got part built and then sold on.After the aborted MER line I started a long period of radio controlled model boats The first three were railway connected. These were models of Lake Windermere vessels.The first of these was Raven, the little freight vessel that served the hotels and the like on the lake shores. It was, still is, an odd little vessel. It's tiller steered and this position is behind a deck mounted vertical boiler. The only other deck mounted item of note is a railway goods yard type crane..It must have been a rough job for the crew in the lakes rain and winter months. Legend has it that tips the crew got at the hotels was often in the form of ale! The course back to Lakeside was often quite erratic. The hull of the model is constructed on the bread and butter method in balsawood. The deck and fittings are plasticard plus bits of brass wire. The scale is 1/4" to the foot. The crew of two are Slater's 7mm loco crew. At 17" long and a beam of 3 1/2" it was a job to fit the then R/C into it.The last time it sailed was at the Blackpool Model Boat Show in Oct 2012. I still haven't got around to further etching, I will try next time.

Hi everyone. I finished my last posting with a mention of another item connected to dry print.This was etching. It was the final "aid" to giving that final finish to the locos. There was an article in I think the Model Railway News explaining how to etch your own nameplates. The author was the late Dennis Allenden, an Englishman living and working in the U.S.A. modelling superb French locomotives and rolling stock in 7mm scale. The production of name plates was in fact pretty simple but need some care in both the production and the handling of the etching fluid.The dry print I mentioned last time was, still is etch resistant. All you had to do was lay the print,lets say AIRE on a sheet of brass. The brass had to be really clean but not buffed up at this stage with metal polish. In the early days there was the problem of straight lines for the plate edging.Until the introduction of lines this was overcome by using insulating tape which was also etch resistant. Put the plate into the etch fluid, for my size of plates I used a test tube.As an aid to keep checking the depth of etch I use a strip of insulating tape on the back of the plate This was two fold,it prevented the back of the plate etching away and the plate could be lifted out of the test tube to check the etch depth. When happy with the depth dispose of the fluid but not in a stainless steel sink. Wash the plate and clean the letters off with a very very fine abrasive paper.Wash it again and paint it , all of it,yes all of it don't try and just paint the etched background. When the paint is thoroughly dry buff it carefully with metal polish and there you have it brass letters, painted back ground, red in my case. Varnish the plate. I also glued mine on with varnish.There you have it another example of scratch building. The etch "fluid" was bought in crystal form. and made up as required. I understand there are several firms now a days who make bespoke nameplates as well as regular names.In another posting I will explain how I took etching to a higher level in connection with model boat building, one which nearly drove me potty. Some say it did. To finish on a different note..There are plenty of really top hole N.G. model railways around today as can be witnessed in all the modelling magazines and societies and indeed exhibitions devoted just to N.G. However if I was asked to pick one modeller who has filled the shoes of John Ahern and P.D.Hancock it will have to be Ted Polet with his C and DR I guess that's it for this one Let's see what the next one turns up Regards, Derek...

Hi dana. By all means upload the plans of the old 105. Thanks indeed for making the offer As I mentioned when I said would like to start an AVR blog am very new to this internet caper and I need all the help I can get. I am unable to upload some old B/W pics of the aborted layout. I will keep trying. Derek

I have tried to post some photos but it seems there are problems with the amount of content. I will look into it further. Derek. Hi David.Thanks for the mention of George Slater at the Manchester show. I was indeed wondering I had got it right about the Leeds Show. Derek