Holmside

Er, having yet to summon enough courage to subject a pristine model to weathering, I still regard this weathering business as rather a ‘black art’ (yes, extraordinarily feeble and doubtless unoriginal joke intended). That said, could I ask if john_41241 would briefly describe how he achieved these (to my eye at least) totally convincing results in this case ?

As ever, Johnster’s posts are well worth the trouble of finding and reading carefully. And the comments that he makes in this thread are no exception. I, for one, would , however, be very interested if he would be prepared to describe in more detail what he means by ‘deep cleaning’ and reveal the techniques and materials that he uses to effect this and his maintenance procedures generally. My thanks in anticipation of any reply that he may care to make on this important (in my view, at any rate) subject of getting slow reliable running.

Er, could Davknigh please explain (or direct me to where I can ascertain) what the ‘RP25’ standard is as it sounds interesting .....

I think that this is superbly observed and crafted: especially as these are close-up images which usually expose any inadequacies: but not here. To my eye, it is totally convincing.

Re: tomparryharry’s interesting point about a tar plant at Wernddu (posted january 3rd) . Was this the same one as the Thomas Ness plant at Caerphilly connected to the line to Cardiff, on the opposite side to the loco works (and fascinating to observe from the train ! ) or was there another one near to Caerphilly ? I’m not trying to be pedantic , just fascinated by the railways of South Wales in general and having known this part in particular during the days of steam, I am always keen to learn more . And if anybody out there has a photo of the goods shed at Trethomas ....i

1) I would first like to thank all who have contributed to this thread: for both the willingness to share with others their knowledge and expertise, as well as their excellent communication skills. It all makes for both a fascinating and enjoyable read. 2) As one who would like to gain some practical insight into the matters covered in the thread, I would like to ask the originator (or anyone else) what CAD package(s) were used and what are the requirements for the hardware ( ie the machine and operating system running the CAD). Additionally, please could information be supplied as to what 3D printer was used and what (if any) further computer-related requirements are necessary to drive it. 3) I would like to thank, in advance, anybody who cares to respond to these requests.

Re Johnster’s posts relating to the pros and cons of the existence of particular loco configurations and types (culminating last Sunday at 17.06 hrs), I found these discussions both fascinating and illuminating. Whilst there are many texts showing actual designs, I know of few ( but that’s doubtless due to my lamentable ignorance of these matters) that go into details of the ‘why’s’. Whilst it may be considered a small digression from the topic in hand, I welcome such asides as enriching the hobby enormously.

Sir, In a thread posted on November 3 2019 in ‘UK Standard Gauge Industrial Modelling and entitled ‘Hunslet 48150 from Hornby/Dapol Austerity Bodge/Bash [Battery Power/Radio control’, you wrote: ‘The Hornby/Dapol model has a HIDEOUS mould line down the saddle tank which detracts from an otherwise quite good (for its time) model. Oly and Chris over at OTCM devised a way to get rid of this shown here.’ Please could you direct me to where I can find the details of the method referred to whereby this mould line can be removed ? I would like to thank you in advance for any response to this request that you may care to make. I would also like to thank you for the many posts that you make on RMWEB. I invariably find your contributions both fascinating and enjoyable to read

Thank you very much martyn11post for taking the trouble to respond. Having seen the images, I now appreciate that all the complimentary commentary on this model is more than justified. It is a spectacular example of industrial modelling.

Er, cannot get to this . I just get directed to ( presumably the home page) of the ' modeltrainsweathered' website . It is not at all obvious (to me at least) how to get further. As a keen student of coke ovens in my youth, however, I really would like to see this. Can anyone help me out here ? Thanks in advance

You mentioned Bedwas in your post and also goods sheds associated with each station. I hope that you will forgive the impertinence, but can you suggest any places to look for a photograph of the goods shed at nearby Trethomas ? I have, I think, all the published books containing photos of Trethomas station, but all these except one are taken facing west towards the coke ovens and Bedwas colliery. The only one facing east towards the goods shed is of a trainstanding at Trethomas station which, of course, obscures any view of the goods shed or the associated sidings. I have been seeking such a photograph for several decades now at all the usual sources (WRRC, NRM York, photo collections at exhibitions, etc) but without success and have been advised by several archivists that if such photos exist at all that they are likely to be in private collections. One very well respected railway/industrial archivist that I consulted made the wry but well-meant comment that ‘even the GWR does not appear to have photographed Trethomas station and its surroundings !

This is very interesting and relevant to my own endeavours concerning modelling railways of the south Wales valleys. What IS the FB group please ? BTW, your are absolutely right, the region is very under-represented in model railway terms, which is a great pity.

As a volunteer in the loco dept of a preserved line, it seems to me that one reason for there being apparently fewer diesel loco preservations than steam is because the latter is basically a bit of an ‘agricultural’ machine. As a consequence, relatively unskilled volunteer labour can be utilised in the maintenance and rebuilding of steam locomotive and their components. In contrast, to perform maintenance/ refurbishment functions on a diesel loco (replacing piston rings, or crankshaft bearings for example, or , say, effecting repair of a main generator after a flashover) I think requires specialist skills that generally beyond those available in a pool of volunteer labour and will , therefore, require an outside agency to complete with consequent expense.

Please excuse my ignorance (or lack of observation if this question has already been answered in this thread) but are the terms ‘ open spoke ‘ and ‘split spoke’ synonymous ?

Thank you very much but, er, as a bit of a novice on this site ( and rather computer illiterate, generally) where can I find it ?