gpx1338

This model of the A1X "Terrier" has been touted for the last 2 years as going to be "premium'. "prestige" or "ultimate", and comes at a premium price, as compared with the Hornby competitor. I, for one, am not prepared to pay a premium price for a model which is in no way superior to the new Hornby offering, or even the 40 year old Dapol/Hornby alternatives. True the chassis looks fabulous and the mechanism may be much better - the Hornby model had problems with the pick-ups, but none of mine suffer in any way. Reference is often made in reviews to the "face" of a model being either outstanding or substandard, and it must be remembered that any tank engine has 2 faces - front and back. The coal rails on the Rails A1X bunker are a disaster. It looks as if the item has been inserted into the bunker rather than extending right around the perimeter of the bunker - almost as if it has been manufactured to H0 scale. Not only does it not extend the full length of the bunker, but it is too narrow as well. This discrepancy in width cannot be ascribed to the positioning of the lamp iron. Unfortunately I do not have any photographs of the rear end of Terriers with this bunker in BR days, but I do have a shot of 55 on the Bluebell Railway taken from above, which I hope shows how this rear end "face" should look, and gives an idea of how far off the mark the Rails model is. I'm also attaching my one and only shot of 32661, from which you can see that the coal rails are flush with the cab sides. For a model costing £110 upwards - approx £30 more than the Hornby version - it should not be necessary for the purchaser to butcher the bodywork to produce a decent result. The rear face of any locomotive is a major visual feature, as opposed to a mere detail. The bunker does, after all, constitute around 15% of the entire bodywork. I suspect, as suggested elsewhere, that this was a result of cost consideration, but this cost saving has not been passed on to the purchaser.

According to the BRJ article the only Brake/Third allocated to Arrochar was SC86983E. E86984 was sent to St. Combs. Both of the Brake/Comps went to Arrochar. 1st class was also catered for in the solo Comp/Lav at Arrochar, No. SC88024E. Thanks to everyone who has helped me unscramble this question. Now I must get the T-Cut out and renumber my stock, and live in hope that Hornby will release a Brake/Comp sometime so that a 3 coach set can be run. As for the 2 C15s, what can one say? 67460 looks magnificent bulled up to the nines with the later BR emblem . Much as I love the Adams Radial tanks, the C15s knock the spots off them for sheer beauty of line. Please will Bachmann or Hornby (00 works, Heljan, Dapol etc., etc.) take note. My venerable model (origin unknown) can't go on much longer - neither can I for that matter!

This appears (if my failing eyesight serves me right) to be the comp/lav No. SC88024E from Diagram 50, which normally operated with Brake/third Driver's end conversion No. SC86983E. According to the invaluable articles you sent me, the other Scottish conversion (SC86984E) went to St. Combs. The conversion shown in the Model Rail article is E86997E, which was also for the St. Combs branch, before being returned to the North East in 1943. I assume it was never used at Arrochar. This one is fitted with Fox bogies, which you mentioned in an earlier posting, and could it be that it was this carriage that Ian Kirk photographed in Departmental condition? Unless anyone can prove to the contrary I shall keep the Gresley bogies underneath my Craigendoran - Arrochar set, or else I will have to contact MJT.........

Many thanks indeed for the articles which arrived safely this morning - a spot of light reading indeed! I seem to have opened a right can of worms with my posting. At least it is nice to see there are several people in the world who are interested in Scottish railways. If only that included Bachmann and Hornby, then we light be served up some NBR or CR locos ready to run! All the best for Christmas. I expect I'll be in touch again sometime on RMWeb. from John Goss

Thanks to Ian for clearing up the mystery of this photograph. I could only assume that the push-pull apparatus had failed on this occasion, but, on second thoughts, what I assumed was the Driver's end is facing the wrong direction, and I can't imagine why it would have been turned around.

I did notice in Ian Kirk's photographs that the bogies on the 4comp/brake had been altered, but got the impression that this only happened when it was converted for Departmental use. Were the Gresley bogies still under the carriage up to the end of steam on the WHR service? I look forward to clarification in the BRJ article! My snailmail address is on its way to you (with my thanks).

Many thanks for the info, which brought me back to the Isinglass drawing that I referred to while creating the Driver's end. I should have taken more notice of the small print at the side which states that Diagram 317 consisted of 2 coaches converted from Diagram 65, and these were numbered 86983 and 86984. As yet I haven't got the drawing for the semi-corridor lav./comp. so have got no idea what the BR numbers were of the Diagram 318 carriages. As little or no work seems necessary, apart from renumbering, I didn't think it necessary to purchase the drawing for a while until someone pulls me up on the lack of extra pipework, or something else i might have missed. Can anyone enlighten me, or post me the article from BRJ 32 mentioned by Bill Bedford (thanks to you too). I tried to get hold of a back copy as soon as Hornby announced they were going to produce the Gresley 51' stock, but with no success.

I recently took the plunge and butchered a Hornby Gresley 4 compartment brake in order to produce a push-pull set to work with my elderly C15 4-4-2T - not a job I was particularly keen to start in view of the £40 cost of the carriage, but friends seem to think I've made a reasonable job of it, although it doesn't bear comparison with items I've seen in these pages. I must thank Ian Kirk for the photographs he put on this forum last year which were a great help. However, they showed the driver's end as running in Departmental service, and all the markings on the bodyside had been changed. Does anyone out there know the running numbers of the semi-corridor lav/comp, and the 4 comp. brake/ 3rd (driver's end) which were in service on the Arrochar - Craigendoran run at the end of BR steam? None of the photographs in any of my books are clear enough to show them. Once I get to work with the T-Cut on my Hornby Gresleys I will also need to know which paint and transfers are the best match for the bodywork and any remaining numerals.