[Public nuisance]

How often does he have to be re-shod ?

 

Looks very good.

 

All the best

Ray

[A complete whitewash]

Hi Chris.

 

More food for thought - Beef on the hoof !

I wonder how often Jonathan has to get new clothes if he splashes that all over them ? It won't do his skin much good either.

 

Not got around to building my open cattle wagon yet and must get one of your newer early Brighton ones as well.

 

I did however apply the lime wash to the SE & CR wagons I built for my Hawkhurst layout.

 

It does add that authentic atmosphere to the models.

 

All the best

 

Ray

[Saturday morning on the Upper Grange Road]

34 minutes ago, 5&9Models said:

My version of Greyhound Place. I've not included some of the features in the old photo as they were later additions/alterations post dating my era which is c.1845.

 

This photo was taken before I added the bridge road and railings, and before the whole lot was added to the layout.

 

That's very interesting Chris. 

I cannot remember that side of Dunton Road as it was. I am however very familiar with St James Road bridge which replaced Mercer's Crossing. The buildings there seemed to suffer a similar fate, including a row of houses and a pub on the corner end junction with Lynton Road. These seemed to have fared better and I am not sure whether the houses had another floor added, but they certainly had dummy front doors at first floor level which was always a fascinating sight to children. At a later date I found out that the pub, the Sultan, had received another floor and had a a two storey cellar ! How do I know that, well our club's first club room was in the crypt of St Augustine's Church, Lynton Road, about five minutes walk from the pub and we used to frequent it on a Friday night after our club sessions.

Needless to say, the pub has now been demolished and replaced with a block of flats and the houses the same with part of the London Academy School built on the site. There is a tunnel under the road still extant, which links the two halves of the school, and I think was the only means of access to the houses on that side of the road.

 

All the best

Ray

[Saturday morning on the Upper Grange Road]

Wonderful atmosphere Chris.

 

I must have a wander around the Pages Walk area, have not been around there for ages.

Then there's Upper Grange Road and Greyhound Bridge. Most original features gone now I think.

 

Interesting choice of name William Rolls for the gent in the cab. As I recall, part of the Bricklayers Arms site was built on the Rolls Estate (hence Rolls Road) and the family was connected to the Rolls Royce car manufacturers. Although I believe that the Mr Rolls in connection with the car business died fairly young.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

All the best

Ray

 

 

[LSWR and LCDR in Bermondsey?!]

Hi Chris.

 

The Chatham van is interesting. I have acquired a couple of the Wizard Hull and Barnsley van kits which I am planning to amend to LC & DR. Not looked at them for a while, but I think that the body is virtually identical and it just needs the brake gear and possibly the buffers changed to suit the Chatham version.

 

I have an etched kit for the Chatham Kits version, but having built their brake van with its double overlays, have not built up the strength to do the van.

 

All the best

Ray

[Bricklayers Arms stables update]

Hi Chris.

 

Very nice and atmospheric. Are you using genuine horse poo ? If you were, you would have to find some scale bluebottles or even horse flies !

 

Does this represent part of the large two tier stables which once existed on the north end of the Dunton Road bridge (nee Upper Grange Road) ?

 

Being a local lad, I can just remember the top storey features of this which were visible from the road. The view of the lower storey was limited to what you could see off the bridge.

 

Not to be confused with the remains of the 'Sick Horse' stables off St James's Road/Rolls Road, which are still extant, but have been under threat from developers in the recent past.

 

All the best

Ray

[Day 91: Ford Railbus finally finished]

I bought one of the early Pacers cheaply from one of our club members as he found it a poor performer. Once I had fitted a mini two pin connector between the cars it ran very well. Both cars were motorised and I think from memory one wheel on each car had a traction tyre !

 

All the best

Ray

[Day 91: Ford Railbus finally finished]

Hi Tom.

 

Thinking about it again, having the pair would help with current collection, but not sure if the combined weight would require both cars to be motorised ? I imagine it would, like Hornby's original 142 Pacers were.

 

All the best

Ray

[Day 91: Ford Railbus finally finished]

Hi Tom.

 

I presume that you would do a set of two of these for a complete train ?

 

I have an old Taugem Models etched brass kit for one of these I bought years ago at the Chatham show. I think that they only did two kits, the other being a  Southern Railway, later Weston Clevedon and Portishead petrol railcar. I have that as well. I think that S & D Models may still make these from the same artwork in 7mm.

 

If I had them I would like to run them occasionally on Hawkhurst as it was intended to extend the branch to Rye via a junction at Bodiam on the K. & E.S.R., so they might just have appeared.

 

Then there are the Simplex Railcars ........

 

All the best

Ray

[Day 79: SER brake progress (at last)]

Hi Tom.

 

I would certainly be interested in a couple of these if you can sort out the production issues.

You mentioned the broken buffer and I was wondering just how brittle this material is. I have an exhibition layout and rolling stock tends to get a bit of handling, so anything too fragile might be a problem. Many moons ago Ratio used to sell the turned buffer heads separately, but no more. I think Slaters might do, but they do not include the collar, which is usually a moulded plastic ring in their kits.

Even whitemetal buffers are susceptible getting their heads broken off. I have had some Chatham kits where they have been broken even before opening the packet. I like the MJT ones with the whitemetal bodies and blackened turned shafts and heads. Unfortunately, they do not do all the types to suit S.E. & C.R. wagons.

 

All the best

Ray

[Day 88: which SE&CR wagon livery is correct?]

Hi Tom.

Just come across your blog, handy for when I get my wagons.

I have been using the Precision 'Mk1 coach roof grey for maroon coaches only' as my lead grey colour for wainwright era wagons, which I think looks quite good.

I think that it says somewhere in the book that the S.E. & C.R. wagon grey for the Maunsell era started similar to G.W.R. grey, but the G.W.R. grey weathered lighter and S.E. & C.R. weathered darker.

 

Hope that helps.

 

All the best

Ray

 

 

[ARCH RECORDS shop front]

Arch Records is starting to look good, I look forward to seeing the shop window display. The one for Walden Books is particularly effective in your picture.

With regard to modelling with card, I have used 2mm mounting card available from art and crafts shops for a number of buildings and this is very good for attaching brick papers to. It is not overly expensive and you can usually get several buildings out of one sheet. This good quality card cuts very cleanly with a nice sharp modelling knife and steel rule, ideal for window and door openings. I used to be able to get one type that was a sandwich of white slightly shiny card outside layers with a grey middle layer. This card could be be cut away in thin layers to produce stepped features in wall structures, unfortunately it does not seem to be available any more.

I also use Evostic impact adhesive to glue my buildings together and to attach brick paper. I apply it as if it was wallpaper, i.e. I spead a thin coat on each surface and this allows you to align the paper before the glue goes off. If any glue gets on the surface do not worry, leave it a for a few seconds until it starts to go rubbery and you can then rub it off leaving no trace. Use the Evostick in the tube not the tin, because as soon as the seal has been broken the glue will start to thicken and become less durable.

I hope that this might help for future projects.

 

RB

[Old Humbrol Thinners]

Thanks Adams 442 and TT Pete.

 

White Spirit will thin paint, but it does it by breaking it down and effectively destroying it. So next time you want to use it it will probably not mix up properly.

 

I will try the Xtracolour as an alternative.

 

All the best