Dave John

I'd agree, CR Diagram 2 meat van, later planked body style. The trumpet ventilators are a CR thing. There is a detail drawing of them , wagon book p318. As far as I know they were only fitted to CR stock, but as ever any other info would be good. The earlier body style was panelled.

Nice modelmaking. I too use the EZline elastic for ropes and sheet ties. A bit fiddly tp work with but the tautness is very realistic I think.

Veery nice. I must make more 6 wheel stock .

With regard to various heights of pantechnicons and traction engine haulage have a look at ; https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=495&p=2957&hilit=furniture#p2957 I'm thinking about it ....

Fair point Compound, the CR didn't have any specific stock for hounds as far as I can tell. I'd agree, a lot less foxhunting in Scotland than England, though historically some significant hunts. All largely wiped out for political reasons. Deer tend to be stalked rather than chased down with deer hounds. These days foxes have become urban, the west end of Glasgow is full of them . “The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable!”, as Wilde had it in full cry along the Great Western Road would be a sight to behold, and probably far less of a danger to pedestrians than the current hordes of pavement riding cyclists....

Oh, I really enjoy these diversions WF, all sorts of interesting facts come to light. The compartments at the RH end of the model are described as dog boxes so the CR envisaged some traffic to hunts as well as races.

It can get very complicated, certainly the CR built wagons for private traders. The situation is further complicated by wagons built by the CR and then Thirled or hired to a particular company. Add into the mix wagons built by wagon builders for the CR and then thirled or hired to other companies and you have a lot of different angles. Oh, and wagons built by other wagon builders for other owners which went bust without paying for them which were sold to the CR .... Much more can be found in "More on caledonian wagons " by Mike Williams.

Excellent modelmaking as ever Mikkel. I am impressed with the way the printed paper overlays look and the horses are gorgeous. I use 5A fuse wire to make reins. Probably just described as 35 swg tinned copper wire these days.

The latest kit from True Line Models represents a horse box built by Metropolitan in 1870 for the CR. This is a different method for TLM being a resin print. I have used 3d printed parts but this is my first go at a complete 3d printed wagon. Removing the body from the supports taught me just how brittle resin prints can be. Since I want a practical layout vehicle I decided to reinforce the steps and springs with 0.3 brass wire. Wheels are on MJT internal compensation irons soldered to a copperclad sub chassis. A view of the underside showing the brass wires. Simple brake from bits of scrap etch. I think that by 1900s it would be piped but possibly not fully braked. A general view. I’m a bit unsure about the top edge. A coat of primer may push me towards paring the top hinges off and replacing them with brass strip. I’m also a bit worried by the fragile resin buffers, time will tell. The three roof sections made from laminated styrene. The oil lamp is I think MJT. Primer next, might show up all sorts of faults.

I wish I could plonk down carriages of that quality. I took a similar approach to track laying , a lot held down with assorted screws and washers til I got things how I wanted . That D2 made by Jim Watt is stunning, as ever. Had a good chat on Saturday.

Well, cables for something. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Aberdare_Cables

Very impressive modelmaking.

Interesting as ever Mike. I note that the sheep truck has slightly higher sides, but still to my eye a bit low. I wonder if they might have had some sort of extra planking to prevent sheep jumping out? Just a wild guess based on later CR wagons for sheep traffic. I'd agree the lithograph by Haghe is rather stylised. However I do note that the footplate staff have a rather Naval look to them. I did a bit of research and note that his main area of interest was shipping or biblical themed. Perhaps those Naval uniforms are a bit whimsical too.

Ah, Letraset. There were never enough Cs or Rs on the sheet...

Hi Torper, I had to remove a bit of the lower part of the solebar. Some pics in part 2.

For the Caledonian it's Caley coaches or some body only etches from Worsley works. I must admit painting and lining is my modelling weakness so I developed a transfer technique for the panels. This and the previous 7 blogs chart my attempt at a rake of Grampian corridor stock. Passable, but I wouldn't claim to be good enough to build for others.

Ah, the early CR coach "W" iron. Not just coaches, the CR recycled a lot of underframes with those for things like empty cask wagons. I have hand filed a couple of sets starting with 4 rectangles of 10 thou brass soldered together. Fiddly. I'd agree Jol. it is a bit specialised. However if some enterprising person did an etch I'd add a few dozen to the overall demand.

The downpipes are just part of the photo. One of these days I might consider a low relief backscence. Maybe.....

I think in the end just the boiler and the tender came from djh, the rest is brass sheet. The Westinghouse pumps are possibly Caley coaches. My usual wheels are Gibson, I have used Ultrascale as well but the lead times are long.

The 83 members of the 709 Class 0-6-0 tender engines were built by McIntosh from 1895 onwards. They were the original Jumbos, all Westinghouse fitted for mixed traffic duties. Five members of the class Nos 583 to 587 were fitted with condensing apparatus for working the Glasgow underground lines. The model dates back to the 90s, some of it from a secondhand djh kit, the rest scratchbuilt. Unusually for me it runs on Gibson sprung hornblocks. I noticed that it had developed a squeal when running, time for a bit of an overhaul. Before and after pictures of the chassis. Better tender pickups cured the squeal. Back on the track, a view of the right hand side. Westinghouse pump configured as a brake air compressor in the usual CR manner. A view of the left hand side. This held a second Westinghouse pump configured as a feedwater injector. Hot water in the tanks, or in this case tender, always caused difficulties with steam fed injectors. Perhaps at some point I might try an improved painting and lining job. As we discussed in the last blog these were very unusual. There were oddities such as this, but I can find nothing else in regular use. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Ramsay_Condensing_Locomotive_Co

Well, a lot of the kits and ready to plonk stuff I have looked at in the past is badly underscale. Dunno why, unless the makers think that it goes with the general trend of model railway compression. Perhaps some of it is down to the idea that the trains are to the front and buildings to the rear a bit smaller adds depth as forced perspective. Certainly my backscene is about 80% of true size. All a case by case decision I guess.

Fine attention to detail. The telegraph pole wire stays are a nice touch.

Depending on where and when you model Caley coaches have a good range, some more at NBRdevelopments. http://www.caleycoaches.co.uk/index.php https://www.nbr4mm.co.uk

Just a vague observation. I'm in the making things camp. Debatable as to whether I'm any good at it, but it's what I enjoy. So a wee diesel. Based vaguely on the Alstom builds for French west africa in the early 1950s. 1/50 scale, 20 mm metre gauge. The only stuff to make that from established model railway suppliers was plasticard from Slaters and paint from Howes. Brass chassis is bits from a scrap piano. Ok, I buy tools from Squires, but they are modelmaking suppliers rather than Railway modelling suppliers. The rest came from generic suppliers of engineering bits. Full radio control, servo uncoupling, driver with magnetic feet on a tinplate floor, working lights. All held together with magnets. Pages have been written about the death of railway modelling. The hobby is about more than rtr. I think folk should start to emphasise that.

Well worth a second read.