s_ellinson

I'm just finishing a Q kit's 4mm version of this. I look forward to an ACE 4mm version, because the Q kits loco is a shocker. Proper kitbuilding; none of this "it goes together" rubbish.

I work in 4mm and look at the range of RtR that's available and it's something that i couldn't have dreamed of twenty years ago. I (still) model the southern in the thirties and the thought that there would ever be an E4 available RtR is just incredible. BUT... I enjoy building kit and the locomotives that I want to run aren't available, either as RtR or Kit; does anyone make an ex-LC&DR M3? Or an A class? Does anyone even know what they are! I am sure that kit building will continue although as a subgroup of a niche hobby. however, i can see the potential for a maufacturer of unusual prototypes to struggle with sales. Good customer servie and very active promotion is perhaps the only solution.

This is a fascinating thread - as a boy from "the provinces" (well, Bedfordshire), I only got to visit KX models once or twice in the eighties. It's lovely to read stories of all the people whose names I've read in magazines over the years. Sad to say all of the model shops i remember as a boy have gone (there were four in bedford, that i can think of) and even in Yorkshire where i am now there are only the odd one or two left.

That was the only one about PO wagons (it's also indexed as "MAP") - the AG Thomas books were A5 format and a bit smaller than that one. they were full of sketches

Those were AG Thomas's "Private owner wagons", the first book I ever bought on PO wagons was his Volume 3. They're all in the index as AGT1 / 2 / 3. They can be a little inaccurate as they were done "off the wagon side" during the war and just after when a lot of PO wagons were in poor shape. There's one case (I forget the wagon) where a wagon was repaired with two planks off a scrapped one, giving rise to a very odd combination of names.

By way of a progress report, here's an updated version of last weeks file. it now indexes approximately 2200 owners, although I've not been through and tidied up the punctuation etc - in any case, there are still a dozen or so books to go, but all of the Turton, Hudson and Thomas books are in there, along with the OPC Gloucester book and some others. I (think) i can see light at the end of the tunnel. If anyone's got a copy of "private owner wagons on the cambrian" that they don't want - by the welsh railway circle, circa 1997 - I'm after a copy. More next week! Private owner wagons index 12 5.xls

Bill might be the man to talk to - or maybe the intro to his first private owner's book might shed some light on what he saved. And of course, if you take a trip to Matlock, there's Peak rail and his bookshop to peruse!

Im aware of the lightmoor index but its hard to Navigate - I wanted to be able to find wagons which operated in and around kent, and this was the answer..... Now it seems to be answering questions I never asked!! I'd also stress that this isn't primary research, its me trawling through the thirty or so published works on PO wagons - the real heroes of this are messrs. Hudson, Turton, pope etc etc

Hello all I've started creating a searchable index to published private owner wagons in excel format. It lists wagons by Owner, location, county, associated railway, type and publication. I'm about half way through indexing the 30 or so publications on PO wagons from the UK - it started when i wanted to find the published ones from the south of england and, like topsy, it growed. I attach it for anyone's perusal. I'd stress it's a work in progress and a lot of editing will be needed, but people may find it of value. Stewart Ellinson Private owner wagons index.xls

In short "no". "Back in the day", I converted a 4mm slaters 4 wheeled van to a six wheeler. If you compare the drawings, the six wheeler is about 4 planks longer (roughly the width of the central springs) and I spliced in four planks to lengthen it to the length of the six wheeler. I'd GUESS that the six wheeler could be shrunk down to 4 wheel length by a similar (but opposite) process. Stewart Ellinson

I've just found this thread and it's wonderful to see the genius that is Allan Downes producing masterful work still. Your articles in RM through the seventies and eighties were an inspiration. I'll stop gushing now.

One last one I missed out, an article in Model railway Constructor in about 1976 "Clungunford Cottage" by (?) Doris Stokes. It inspired me to model scenery in detail.

I'm working on a Jidenco O1 which i picked up without a chassis. I'm intending to put it on a Perseverance 2251 chassis which i happened across at a decent price plus a perseverance 6ft + 6ft tender chassis. I imagine the same chassis option would work for the Golden Arrow version, and a propriatary chassis might be the way forward!

I'm glad David's well and look forward to seeing him at exhibitions. I wonder if he will ever re-introduce the LBSCR coaches which he'd bought and planned to do a few years back. Stewart

For what it's worth - and maybe this shows my age, my nominations, in no particular order would be: Allied Marine - several pages back, someone said "industrial grot has never looked so good"; I quite agree, and it made me think about the "other" parts of the railway world. Dave Rowe's "Bevleys" - I was lucky enough to be at the london show with the bedford and District MRS in about 1982 when this was exhibited. it was a beautiful piece of work and may the pre grouping scene utterly enchanting. Wallsea by Barry Walls. I never saw this in real life, but it was impressive to an impressionable 11 year old! Lochside by Ian Futers. never liked diesels and never modelled them, but this was beautifully done and very evocative. Chiltern green. Again, never done anything in "N", but this showed that it wasn't just a toy train. Allan Downes' various articles about building with card. It inspired me to build all manner of things and choke the hoover. There must be others, but that's what springs to mind! Oddly, none of them pointed me towards my life-long interest in the Southern railway and the LCDR part in particular. Stewart

Good to see somebody else has built a "T" class - I model the SECR in early SR days, with long block sets of LCDR 6 wheelers and so on. At the moment, i'm finishing an LCDR "T" from a "Q" kit (a horrid piece of manufacture). I've been on the look out for a "J" for a bit, just because i like a good odd loco! Stewart