D.Platt

Afternoon Tony Sounds like a great way to loose weight , a good excuse to disappear to the other half if you need one , I’ll start saying I’am off to the gym instead of my den !! A few weeks back you mentioned giving items to young interested modellers ,is this still the case ? as I’ve been given by my window cleaner some 1970s Hornby items for me to enjoy , would these items help your cause? Dennis

Hi Tony I notice the cab on the DJH model has a lot of rivet detail on the cab whereas the earlier kit and the two photos of the real engines doesn’t show a riveted cab ,was their different cabs within the class ? Dennis

I think the whole programme gives a negative impression of hie colleagues ! After hearing on the main news today that Paddington was in chaos with the overhead wires down wait till that episode is shown, it will be a good drama !

Evening Tony Sorry the problem lies with the rear set of driving wheels which are set back under the cab to much , it was when I was trying to set the sand pipes and searching on line for photos that I realised the fault, the frames are per drawing but it seems they should be the other way round,l fear trouble at the valve gear and cylinder end of the loco but , I’ve bitten the bullet and stripped the chassis down it’s only taken thirty years to get it here so what’s another few weeks to try and get it right ! perhaps it’s a good idea to have scale drawings when starting a kit but who supplies them these days ? Dennis

Good afternoon Tony The curse of my B16 ! could I ask you Tony the B 16s that you possess do you have a DJH model ? I’ve seen your nu-cast models and they look good . As you can see from my DJH kit just when I thought I was ready for painting and the end was in sight I became aware of a glaringly obvious mistake and I can trace this back to the DJH instructions my only excuse for not seeing this before was the lack of some good side on photographs, she runs well,and although I feel tempted to ignore the fault I just think I’ve got to strip the chassis down and start it again !! Dennis

Afternoon All Just getting back into the modelling after a summer of bowling and other distractions! I’am getting to the final bits to complete my DJH B16/3 ,I was looking for photos of the rear of the tender , the kit has no detail at all on it, I found a great picture on the internet and it’s just got me thinking ( I know dangerous) how the heck did the fireman climb up the back of the tenders that didn’t have adequate steps / handrails ?

SWMBO loves it ,I think she thinks it’s a Comedy programme, I love the way they make mountains out of molehills but like others have said this makes TV drama. The episode made me wonder about today’s railways was the episode where and HST hit a branch causing some minor damage to the front of the loco , after several hours of delay managers arrived on the scene to inspect the damage they couldn’t persuade the driver to continue but as it turned out there was a spare driver on board the train because there are slight damage to the windscreen driver refused to go forward on the train after again hours of daylight reversed back I think it was the Newbury . I recently read an article in a magazine which described how the driver of a castle class and on a run into Paddington when coal from a passing trains tender smashed the spectacle plate injuring the driver in the face, the fireman of the train looked after the driver whilst continuing into Paddington, so that he took control of the loco ,looked after the injured colleague , drove, and fired and completed the journey. My son works on the railway and he will say is would you sign for it, that’s today’s world where everything as compensation attached to it.

Nice photos David, perfect timing!

Whenever I see collectors items “new unused in mint condition in box etc “ l always feel a little sad for the owner , lthink sorry you have missed out the enjoyment of what you bought and after many years in that mint condition do they actually gain any real value? My locos are always weathered as I remember them a few remaining clean and one 60100 Spearmint ex-works as I remember seeing it at Doncaster, what my kids will do with them when I’ve departed ! Not my problem I will have had all my enjoyment from running them. Dennis

Hi Tony I have finally finished Flamboyant and thought I would show you how it’s turned out, She has had a good test run, one short circuit took a while as it was fine going forward but shorted in reverse FUN !! Anyway she’s done and ready for the layout. Next project is to get back to work on the layout and bring the B16 along but for this afternoon it’s off to a crown Green bowling match ,that wonderful summer game , today’s forecast is 8 degrees with thunder storms !! Dennis

Morning Tony Thank you for your comments,I removed the cladding after reading it on here it’s on my previous A1 like I’ve said before there’s always something to learn on these pages , as for the little pipe that comes down the front of the cab I’ve copied the position from the phot of Kestrel inYeadon’smy eyes show it going though the footplate just at the start of the curve. Thank you all for the response to the Optivisor I wear glasses for driving don’t need them for reading or writing this but I’ve found using a magnifying glass a very useful tool but I need three hands !! So with a birthday approaching my beloved is going to treat me to one BUT the cheaper one (from advert in magazine) comes with three different lenses whereas the dearest one which I think looks like it maybe more steady on your head you need to choose from six lenses and I’am not sure which one to go for ? I think a phone call and see what they advise. Dennis

Tony Thought I would post an update on Flamboyant , I’ve got her ready for the paint shops a little cleaning up required ,I have decided to spray the boiler and footplate as separate units thinking it will make the lining out of the boiler easier ! On my desk I’ve have a temperature controlled iron which has been a great investment and a few weeks ago I bought an extraction fan for when I’am soldering ( wish I had bought it years ago) I’am now thinking dangerous !! that with the eyes not being what they were of investing in a Optivisor have you or any other readers found it a useful addition to the workbench? I hope to have Flamboyant finished within the next couple of weeks (just waiting for a parcel to arrive from Markits with the bogie wheels) come April we start getting some distractions like crown green bowling and cutting lawns etc . Dennis

Morning Tony All your photographs are really good and your attention to detail is to behold that’s why the B1 stood out,I’ve tended to use the comet bogie etched kit. You are right about what looks best on the front of the locos so I only have the kadees on the front of a few shunting locos ,I have now altered my coach rakes to your bar system ,just the kadee on front and rear coaches ( as I have to run from one fiddleyard to another then back again ) One of the great benefits of reading your blog and this whole website has lead me to have a go at trying to emulate yours and other modellers work , hence this year I have taken to making points,trees,static grass etc ! My son laughs at me now because when he showed me this website years ago I said I’ve no time for things like that !! Dennis

Tony dare I say the photo of the B1 highlights the exposed nature of the front bogie with the axle showing! All the talk of couplings, I wasted a year of my life soldering up hundreds of bits of wire making up the D&G style of coupling , setting them all up on the rolling stock and after a few years had to admit defeat as I found them to flimsy to withstand the constant riggers of running my layout which required auto uncoupling in the storage sidings, I’ve never liked wrestling with tension lock couplings so I went for the kadee couplings,a big investment but they have been very robust and once set up with the height jig give me reliable uncoupling. But each to his own, my brother use to love his Peco simplex couplings ! Dennis

Thank you for that Tony I will have to find some suitable washers,I’ve not had chance today as I was volunteered to chisel out brick at my sons house for electrical sockets !! I have said before that this last year I’ve been busy making my own points (a first for me) doing scenic work not my strong point and my latest trying to make trees ! So I decided last week to have a change and get a kit out ,this will be my third DJH A1 and I also have two Darlington Bachmann A1s ,I have an incline from my bottom storage sidings so I do like my kit built locos. Like I said 60153 seems to have been camera shy, the best photo I have is in Yeadon’s book, but is from the mid fifties with the round dome ,the good book tells me she had a boiler change in 1960 as I aim for 1962 for my locos I struggled to find a photo till last night when I found one on internet,it showed me what I wanted to know that she kept the top electric light so kept the generator, Flamboyant seems for a roller bearing A1 to have been under utilised . I will put another photo on in a few weeks to show you how’s I’ve progressed !! Dennis

Tony No need to tell you what this is , for some reason it’s overtaken my B16 ! It’s going to be 60153 a rather camera shy York engine. A few pages back !!! I seem to recall you altered the axleboxes for the roller bearings could you remind me how you accomplish this. Dennis

Hi Tony I like your scratch built 01 as you say a good layout loco ? I’ve a little engines version along with their 04/8 , something that puzzles me is why Bachmann have not produced the different 04 variations as they have the chassis and tender. Dennis

Hi Tony Love your A2/2 models I just missed out in seeing any of the locos my first visit to York as a nine year old was I think 1961 (big brother took me on a new trans Pennine unit ) That’s my problem I only model locos I saw !!!! Dennis

Well my best guess I will go for the J27 the missing link !!! Dennis

Tony Perhaps with the ever increasing price of RTR models folk maybe are thinking of alternative options, a certain stand not far from you that weathers locos add crews etc and it’s near £200 for a model ? I will try the bogie arrangement with my B16 as I think the linkage causes problems with that long wheelbase and I like the way you achieved it on the H16. Dennis

Good Morning Tony I only came across you on Saturday just before I was due to depart , gave you a nod but was unable to have a chat as the two chairs we occupied all the time I had left, I was going to ask you about the H16 you have built, having read the article in the Modeller regarding the way you dealt with the front bogie , would you use this method in future builds ? I was thinking it might be an ideal method for A2/3 or B16 s? Regarding the show on Saturday my only spend was at the first stall the tree lady , another task I’am giving myself !! I love building locos but this last twelve months it’s been new ventures into track building,scenic,wiring and now tree making I hope my efforts pay dividends but it keeps me busy . Think the Hornby Scot you tried to fix had the same fault mine had ,a cracked chassis block where the gear is housed,my cure was a comet chassis, not what your guy would have wanted to hear. Dennis

Sorry for the delay just seen the photo of Monkhouse and Brown and agree that it would make a good background in modelling my question,as a steel stockholder were they rail connected ? Dennis

Richard Looks like you had a feast before you built your chassis. Dennis

Adam Thanks for that brilliant bit of film , I just missed out on that moving to the summit estate in Heywood in 1975 , my brother who had lived there from the mid sixties never mentioned seeing them working so I always thought the system had been closed for years before I moved there, if my memory is right I saw 51218 in the Prettywood goods sidings must have been late sixties/early seventies. Dennis

When this happened on my Royal Scott I didn't look at it as a alloy problem but as a poor design,if you look where the gear sits there's no strength in the casting at all, when I asked Hornby for a replacement I was told they tried to source one for me but as it was out of production they couldn't !! Now it's back in production I've dropped them an email but no reply,I'am not holding my breath because it must be two years since the first contact so is it out of warranty? Dennis