Norton Wood

I know this is a little off the main topic BUT... Along with my interest on the LNER GE section, is my love for the streamlined services on the LNER. A new arrival for me personally was LNER A4 2510 Quicksilver, as always and for a bit of fun for myself I tend to put loco's out on trail with the LNER Dynamometer Car (This is the brass Golden Age Models 1938 Record Breaking model) The loco is from the 2015 Silver Jubilee Quartet which I purchased for £115 not bad when they go for £200+ on Ebay these day's. Along with my other East Coast Giants 4489 Dominion of Canada ( From the Great Goodbye Set) and my Modified P2 2003 Lord President (Which is made from the adapted Grahame King Kit) She's been tested and she's a superb runner, and will eventually head the Silver Jubilee in time.

Another short update today, Between dodging the showers here in Norfolk, I have managed to get the All 3rd Brake into Primer & into the final teak coat. I have also glued the corridor onto the the Compo & one end of the Brake while I wait for the replacement & the third Comp to arrive. My plan now is to line the coaches, and get the underframes completed, I am currently thinking of using masking tape over the body work then lining out with a bow pen, hoping the tape will protect the wood effect. Overall I'm quite happy how these two look in the Teak paint. Cannot wait to do the next vehicle.

Little more work carried out on the 52'6 this afternoon, I've got the Composite into final Teak coat after primer & use the Teak Base coat, however I am in need of a Bow Pen to finish the lining off for these vehicles. However I have been working on the 3rd Brake to get it to the same stage as the Composite. I am also waiting on the Truss Rod underframe kit to come for the Brake and another 52'6 All 3rd to arrive. In addition I have painted the bogies & corridor connectors for the Composite into black. I've not painted the underframe with good reason as I am also waiting for some Dynamo's and V hangers for the brake Cylinder. All in all some good progress I feel.

At David's request I spent a bit of time this evening looking through for photo's of the GER Little Sharpie & GER/LNER T26/E4. As to be expected there are a number of high quality photo's in the book The Mildenhall Branch by Peter Paye and in the Yeadon's LNER Register of Locomotives Volume 30. I have attached a few photo's below.

Thank you, I thought about this and the box which I specifically built will most likely remain on the layout. But I'm certainly keen to have a box which is more accurate for the layout as the box really isn't that big for the type of terminus station I have right now. This is the only argument I have within my head.

With my LNER (GE) 52'6 Coaches at home I couldn't just sit and wait to get them to a stage where they are almost finished ready for painting. So I took the time during my lunch and tea brake (while working from home) to crack on and finish them to a point. For the 1st/3rd Composite, I decided to fit the vehicle out with the Angle Iron underframe, followed by the battery boxes. A fairly easy job to do. Plus I have glued the roof in place while still being able to remove the sole-bar underframe. Having previous experience on these kits I have learnt gluing the roof & sides are the better thing to do rather than glue the sole bar to the sides. This has shown a few imperfections with the printing process however nothing that cannot be solved with tiny amounts of filler ( All to do next time). As for the 3rd Brake, I decided I would go for the Truss Rodding type, at this moment in time I am waiting on the Truss Rodding to appear from dart castings along with the T door handles & grab handles adjacent to the door. Adding to that I have also glued the roof to the sides of the vehicle while being able to remove the sole bar & fitted the torpedo vents onto the roof. So all in all not a bad hour & a half's work.

For the layout I purchased a pair of the LNER 52'6 Teak kits from Isinglass, they arrived yesterday and the same day they were together. I have left the roof & sole bar separate for painting, kit has has been fine to put together, had a few issues with the roofs fitting perfectly. But nothing I cannot solve with a bit of glue or swapping to find the perfect fit. In addition, Bure Valley models have produced in connection with Bachmann a copy of the signal box at Wroxham, just for interest I borrowed one and put it on the layout to compare the different signal boxes. In this case I find myself split between the Wroxham box and the box I has specially built for the layout. Thoughts?

For any modelers, who are not on Facebook, a recent post by Niu Models on the LNER J15 Back-cab & Weather boards which you can fit onto the tender. As it's early day's but it won't be long before they become available. Photo's by Niu Models

Always helpful thank you, I have painted a full Quint Articulated set and a Pigeon Van now. Made plenty of mistakes along the way, but all the better for having made them. I did find a thread on RM Web which demonstrated the way to paint Teak onto vehicles. Showing the various stages of the painting. But since doing these I've realized less "Golden Teak" is more. Painting Teak is an art in dry brushing. which has worked when I was doing a friends Quad Art set. My First proper go at Teak painting Second go at Teak painting My most recent go at Teak painting

Yes this was a mistake I learned rather quickly, so I have painted it as you can see, this is an old photo as the sole-bar is now black. But yes, I'm likely to paint the pre-grouping stock in the same livery as the Horsebox.

Thank you, I previously painted my LNER Horsebox using the Golden Teak livery only, (It has been since repainted correctly) and I've found this to be a rather close livery to the one shown by the K&ESR photo. As I'm modelling the layout in 1937, I'm wondering if it's worth doing a mixture in Varnished Teak and some in the Brown colour. But thank you for your comments.

Currently looking into the liveries carried by Pre-Grouping coaching stock once the LNER was formed. I am looking a various liveries, but so far I only have a number of options presented from restored coaching stock or from recently recovered coaches used as houses. Was it the dirty brown shown by the vehicle from the K&ESR or a representation livery for teak or varnished look? It looks to me as if the numbers applied were the same as those applied to Gresley stock, being the Gold & Red numbering & lettering? Opinions and information always welcome.

Ah well thank you, It has bugged me but nice to hear you say it's fine. I did do a fair amount of research plus looking at the Isinglass drawings, B&W plus a few colour photo's and it's been a hard one to get right around the bufferbeams. But I think it looks good with a Teak colour bufferbeam. The weathered Claud was 62581 I believe, funny as I volunteer at a heritage railway, and Alan Baker ( Former Fireman on BR M&GN & GE) said 2581 was his first Claud to work on! Mmmh I'll have to see about that might solve my running problems and enable me to just sort a few things out.

Yes! There's not many GE layouts kicking about, as I live in Norfolk it be rude not to have a go. Yes it's been very strange, my current 8837 is a poor runner but my LNER 8802 is amazing along with my Re-numbered BR (Early Crest) Claud 62614. These two have pulled the Quint set with ease on another layout. I must admit since doing a Quad set for a friend I am becoming far more un-happy with my work on the Teaking effect so I'm likely to purchase another 2 sets and get a proper teak effect to them.

Thought I'd change my tactic's a little, and have a topic based on my Exhibition layout, rather than a blog to follow, anyway here's my most recent progress, hopefully I'll get a few more updates within the next few weeks. Track work Of course as Peco has been busy and I am sure the Double Slip will come out when it can, so recently a brief focus has turned to ballasting, now this is a job which I must admit I wasn't happy with so the likelihood of it remaining down on the board is low. However for a first go it's not too bad however there are issues with some ballast catching on the flanges of the locomotives & rolling stock. You will have to trust me when I say that the photo does not do the work I have carried out any justice. Since that photo a lot of work was carried out to clean the track up and ensure smooth running. Locomotives I have recently taken stock of a new LNER D16/3 No.8802, in recent history Hornby's LNER D16 suffered with poor weight distribution which in turn meant the locomotives would wheel slip and have a very low capacity to operate any significant load. Particularly on track which has any incline the locomotive simply will not pull it, so on occasion a run up was required to get it up there!! However a friend of mine bought the LNER Apple Green Claud 8900 'Claud Hamilton' now this seemed to operate in a much better way than either of our original LNER Black Claud's ever did (This was the first batch Claud No.8825) I recently took 8802 to operate on a layout which has gradients and is designed to haul to scale length trains and the locomotive performed beautifully. 8802 will replace my current 8837, as 8837 will be renumbered to carry another number as the original 8837 has the double snifiting valves which this model has. This also ties nicely with rolling stock, however since building my LNER J68 in O Gauge and I recomend you have a look through, I recently gained a large amount of confidence to purchase & build brass kits of LNER locomotives for this layout. Hot off the press news @David Eveleigh is looking to produce the LNER(GER) T26 and for those interested the Little Sharpie. This locomotive will become a welcome edition to the MEP Fleet, with the potential of having 2 in the future. LNER E4 7504 seen here in 1936. This will be the locomotive I look to replicate... ( Photographer Unknown) Rolling Stock On a final note, having found David's work on the internet I am very happy to be able to decide to look into ordering 5/6 of these lovely looking coaches from David. To begin with we will focus on the GER 6 Wheeled stock, and put them into the LNER Colour scheme which was effectively painted Teak. Not a nice colour for such lovely coaches but it is a necessary job. I may eventually purchase the same set again and look to do them in the GER Crimson colour scheme. Eventually I plan to have 4 of the 4 Wheeled Stock as one of the 6 Wheeler's will sit among the 4 wheeler stock. A much more cost effective way of modelling then purchasing a higher priced LNER mock up from the Hattons Genesis coaches. I will note that those coaches are great for people looking to get basic coaches for there Pre-grouping locomotives, and both being at a very competitive price David's product at £37 and Hattons at £30. Personally that extra £7 is worth the money as a modeler you can pay for the detail and the accuracy which the Hattons model will not give you if your a serious modeler like myself. Photo's above are the property of eveleigh creations 2020) On another plus planning has begun for purchase of the Isinglass LNER 52-6 Teak coaches which were a regular site on the LNER(GE) Section, I have begun with purchasing drawings and within a few weeks of this coming out I should have the first of the 4/5 coaches required. The aim will be to use them in a variety of passenger roles mixing them with the Hornby 61ft 6in types as that was regularly seen on the LNER(GE) Section and something I wish to replicate. So all in all lots going on and lots being planned it's just a case of getting the beginning items for this layout together!!

It's been a long haul since I did my last update on MEP, of course these things take time. Now like most layouts where work was able to be carried out due to the Lockdown, however my last update on the 5th of April 2020 was the last thing I was able to do before Lockdown and before the final stages of my Degree. Anyway what has happened since then... Track work Of course as Peco has been busy and I am sure the Double Slip will come out when it can, so recently a brief focus has turned to ballasting, now this is a job which I must admit I wasn't happy with so the likelihood of it remaining down on the board is low. However for a first go it's not too bad however there are issues with some ballast catching on the flanges of the locomotives & rolling stock. You will have to trust me when I say that the photo does not do the work I have carried out any justice. Since that photo a lot of work was carried out to clean the track up and ensure smooth running. Locomotives I have recently taken stock of a new LNER D16/3 No.8802, in recent history Hornby's LNER D16 suffered with poor weight distribution which in turn meant the locomotives would wheel slip and have a very low capacity to operate any significant load. Particularly on track which has any incline the locomotive simply will not pull it, so on occasion a run up was required to get it up there!! However a friend of mine bought the LNER Apple Green Claud 8900 'Claud Hamilton' now this seemed to operate in a much better way than either of our original LNER Black Claud's ever did (This was the first batch Claud No.8825) I recently took 8802 to operate on a layout which has gradients and is designed to haul to scale length trains and the locomotive performed beautifully. 8802 will replace my current 8837, as 8837 will be renumbered to carry another number as the original 8837 has the double snifiting valves which this model has. (Again you can see some of the poor ballasting work which I have had to clean up since taking this photo) This also ties nicely with rolling stock, however since building my LNER J68 in O Gauge and I recomend you have a look through, I recently gained a large amount of confidence to purchase & build brass kits of LNER locomotives for this layout. Hot off the press news @David Eveleigh is looking to produce the LNER(GER) T26 and for those interested the Little Sharpie. This locomotive will become a welcome edition to the MEP Fleet, with the potential of having 2 in the future. LNER E4 7504 seen here in 1936. This will be the locomotive I look to replicate... ( Photographer Unknown) Rolling Stock On a final note, having found David's work on the internet I am very happy to be able to decide to look into ordering 5/6 of these lovely looking coaches from David. To begin with we will focus on the GER 6 Wheeled stock, and put them into the LNER Colour scheme which was effectively painted Teak. Not a nice colour for such lovely coaches but it is a necessary job. I may eventually purchase the same set again and look to do them in the GER Crimson colour scheme. Eventually I plan to have 4 of the 4 Wheeled Stock as one of the 6 Wheeler's will sit among the 4 wheeler stock. A much more cost effective way of modelling then purchasing a higher priced LNER mock up from the Hattons Genesis coaches. I will note that those coaches are great for people looking to get basic coaches for there Pre-grouping locomotives, and both being at a very competitive price David's product at £37 and Hattons at £30. Personally that extra £7 is worth the money as a modeler you can pay for the detail and the accuracy which the Hattons model will not give you if your a serious modeler like myself. (Photo's above are the property of eveleigh creations 2020) On another plus planning has begun for purchase of the Isinglass LNER 52-6 Teak coaches which were a regular site on the LNER(GE) Section, I have begun with purchasing drawings and within a few weeks of this coming out I should have the first of the 4/5 coaches required. The aim will be to use them in a variety of passenger roles mixing them with the Hornby 61ft 6in types as that was regularly seen on the LNER(GE) Section and something I wish to replicate. So all in all lots going on and lots being planned it's just a case of getting the beginning items for this layout together!!

@David Eveleigh Hi, It's Tom, we've been talking via email re the E4 & Little Sharpie. I've been flicking through a lot of photo's for the E4's using the Yeadon's and various online cases and I've managed to find a number of photo's for you. I've attached the links to those photographs. Interestingly I found an E4 at Cambridge with the North Eastern style type of cab. https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=66776 https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=66703 https://www.flickr.com/photos/93456400@N04/15159066123

Does seem very odd, for Hornby to do that, but I suppose it's to save some money, I mean Hornby could very well modify there P2 for the streamlined P2's. So just my luck Rails then announce that they are no longer trading with Hornby better look else where for my W1!

Yes, but as you can see in the photo's they've molded the double chimney. I think the loco had the original look but the with double chimney for a period of 2 weeks then was re-designed. Then rebuilt to the Streamlined condition. I ought to get the book solely dedicated to the W1. As I work on the footplate of std gauge locomotives and I understand how they operate but this marine boiler I find it very hard to follow in terms of how it actually worked.

A good idea for the nameplates to go with the Apple Green version, I really hope it sells well...And just looking at Hatton's website the Original & Apple Green versions have sold out so fantastic work from Hornby. I had thought this myself, now looking back at the 3D printed models that were shown on announcing day, the Original W1 on show has the double chimney. So I would imagine that Hornby have 4 front ends for us the modeler to look at purchasing. Looking at the Yeadon's book on the W1 the loco received a number of alterations before being re-built to the streamliner look. Very interesting, and highly commendable to see.

I always had an intention to purchase the Rebuilt LNER W1, this photo just confirms that, glad I pre-ordered one while I could! I do like the look of the Apple Green, but like others I wouldn't get it.

Nice to see another J68, and funny enough 7045. Which I have just completed

Hello again, So a lot has happened since the last blog so I'll bring you up to speed. In the last blog, I asked for some help regarding the ARC-ing, sadly no-one came forward to give me any hints or tips. So I took the logical step to go back and re-do what I had done, this was a whole afternoon spent trying to get the model to operate, firstly all the brake rigging came off and the engine ran fine. So what became a three hour process of elimination of what was wrong with the locomotive, with a result of the engine running very nicely!! Following that, the model was cleaned again and again, before I decided to put the model into primer! Great Eastern Works Grey anyone?? Anyway, following this the model was painted into black the following day, and just before I sat down to write this I'm just letting the extra's dry now!! The model is starting to look the part now, the next job after I have given another brief coat of black paint in certain area's. Then this will be handed over to my good friend for the locomotive to be lined in both white around the buffer beam and red around the tank-sides, after this the next job will be to fit the decals to the locomotive. This will be to fit in with the Loco which I am looking to do which is No.7045. In addition to this I have also been working on the GER locomotive disks, you can see these in the background of the photo's above. Personally I think this will all be rapped up by the end of the next part!!

Hello again, After a bit of work I have finished the building work on the J68, so it'll be a bit brief, but I would like a bit of help from the vast group of experienced modelers out there... Anyway, the kit has reached a stage where the fittings have been going on. So since the last update, I've fitted all the cab and boiler fittings, for this I have used Araldite to hold these parts together, apart from the lifting lugs which I have been white metal soldered in place which has meant that the Air Vents on the tanks are now soldered in place too!! Further work has moved to the fitting of the injectors and relevant pipe work. Plus the fitting of the brake blocks and brake rigging. This is where the problems are, since fitting the blocks and rigging I have found that the locomotive is Arc-ing when the power is running, now this has not happened before since I fitted the blocks & rigging. Further work has been carried out on the Vacuum, air pipes, Steam Heat Pipe work. The reason for painting this is prepared before being glued in, this is also because of the numbers on the buffer beam, my plan is once the decals are in along with the varnish I will glue the pipework using Araldite, but not too much as they need to look smart. Further work has included the Destination boards, interestingly the kit comes with two boards (Right) which I intend to put into the back of the cab on the brackets. Because I didn't see that these brackets, and disks I bought some more from Ragstone Models. The spare set which I now have can be used on the loco when running. Please note the really smart looking backhead and finished oil can. What I'd like to know is it the Rigging as it's so close to the track? The photo below is an old(ish) one, but I thought it might help. I have moved the brake blocks back away from the tyre, they are roughly 1.5 - 2mm away. So if you have any idea's to help me that would be appreciated. All in all the model is ready for painting, just a bit more cleaning to do before I put this into Primer, but it won't be too long before further work is carried out!! Thanks Tom