hartleymartin

The Talyllyn Railway pre-preservation ran on the one-engine-in-steam principle. They added staff tokens during the preservation era when the increase in traffic made it necessary to add passing loops and divide the line into sections.

I would think the reason why a single auto-trailer would be attached at the bunker end would be to make it easier to clean the smokebox out between runs if there were a build-up of ash/soot.

I wish I had been following this earlier! Any chance that some of the castings will be made available for others to purchase?

Some years ago I purchased an un-boxed Manning Wardle H Class from the run of brass models by Ixion. Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy of a manual or instructions? I would like to do a retrofit for DCC with a Keep-Alive unit, but I cannot figure out how to separate the body from the chassis.

It is a non-working replica on a wagon underframe. Also appears that the water tank capacity was increased - a common feature of Australian locomotives due to water supply issues.

Is the flat smokebox door and stovepipe chimney a scratch build or are these parts from S&D models you used to dress it up as an earlier version? Personal and global circumstances out of my control keep delaying my projects, but I do plan on backdating the K class model for a personal project. The K class Manning Wardles were built from the 1860s to about 1914, and in that time there were lots of detailed changes and evolution in the design. Fact is that you can do almost anything to them and it would be entirely plausible. Non-standard cab? Locally made to suit local conditions. Non-standard chimney? Replacement after an accident with a small crane. Non-standard buffers? Replacement after shunting accident.

How much to get them pre-painted? I am completely useless at figure-painting and would rather get pre-painted ones.

Was this one of the sources of inspiration for the tram motors?

Yes, I got the body assembled. I was in contact with someone to make up patterns for the bogies, but ended up taking over the whole project as an etched brass kit or RTR. I still have the assembled sample at home. The difficult part is getting the detailing parts. The bogies seem to be unique to this carriage, though there are some near-enoughs in the form of American tender bogies out there.

So what are my plans moving forward with O gauge? Well, I want to purchase a couple of the Manning Wardle K Class and modify them to represent Australian versions, and possibly do an 1860s-1870s era layout based on the Blacktown-Richmond Railway line (near Sydney, Australia). I may also purchase a Slaters GWR Brake 3rd to do a representation of the Easingwold Railway. I am moving more towards just freelancing in 7mm scale. Vaguely Australian-British. It depends largely on what I can obtain easily and what my budget allows.

A bit more thread necromancy. 2 years have passed. A certain pestilence has ravaged our lands time and again. Everything I had planned at the start of 2020 was put on indefinite hiatus and most things are dormant. But I now own three Hudswell Clarke locomotives:

Can't seem to find much information about them. Not even sure of the final price.

Some further research has turned up some interesting facts. The Old I Class that the NSW railways ordered were in fact the first step in the evolution towards the K Class. Works numbers 88, 89 of 1863 (and 109 of 1864) were the first of the Old I class to be built with boilers 6" longer, which necessitated increasing the wheel spacing between the 2nd and 3rd axles by 6" giving the wheelbase of what would become the K Class. In fact, the distinction is blurred since this increase in length by 6" is the only visible distinction. The fact is that the cylinders were typically 11x17" on the Old I and 12x17" on the K class, but lots of Old I were supplied with 12x17" cylinders. In fact, records show that Old I Class "Pioneer" (32/1861) was later refitted with the larger cylinders in 1879. In fact this locomotive received numerous modifications and was reboilered at least twice in its lifetime, and had a heavy overhaul as late as about 1920. A photo previous posted in this thread showing a locomotive numbered 19 is the subject of ongoing historical investigations as the accepted historical record of its identity may in fact be very wrong.

The chimneys were extended in the 1870s with the introduction of American style end-platform carriages. Otherwise, the smoke and soot would gather under the end platform and get into the carriages via the doors and windows.

More images turn up in my research. Here is "Pioneer" once again. Another rare photo apparently from the Southern Highlands:

I forgot to mention all that time ago that I rode the last train to/from Carlingford on January 5th, 2020. It was a strange to think that in my own lifetime I rode the last train to anywhere. I didn't even think to bring my camera, but being the middle of the night, no good photos could be taken. There had been shuttles with the historic electric sets, but if memory serves, it was opressively hot that day and I stayed indoors with the benefit of air conditioning. I ventured out to take the last train to Carlingford in the middle of the night as the weather was much more favourable. It was a surprisingly well-patronised service, with a lot of (relatively) young people travelling and photographing things. Anyways, the line is closed and it is to be rebuilt as a light-railway service, but it will no longer connect with Clyde, but run into Parramatta along a different route at the southern end. Thus ended 124 years of the Carlingford Railway Line. From what I understand the line itself never returned a profit on the books. I am searching for good literature on the line still. I am sure there is much more to be found!

A bit more thread necromancy from me! I had to put this whole project on hold due to global events beyond my control. In the mean time, someone did the artwork and produced a brass kit for the KA tramcar. I originally asked them to help make the bogies and detailing parts, but they ended up doing the whole thing. The brass kit is available RTR. Marc Dobson is also in the process of producting NSWGR D wagons. There was a lot of correspondence in 2019 to make this happen, but he too was forced to close down his operations due to the global situation. The layout is getting a re-design because I now own a VW Caddy Van and I no longer need to make baseboards that fit into the back of a Kia Rio Hatchback!

A bit of thread necromancy. I was still working on this, but world events at the start of 2020 (the name of which shall not be spoken) conspired to force me to put this endeavor aside. I was looking for the three Manning Wardle books by Fred Harman, but Vol 2, the standard gauge book seems to be unobtainium for some reason. Things have settled down for me a bit so I can start looking into it all again.

For several years now I have been meaning to get myself a Slaters GWR T34 Brake 3rd coach kit to use as the basis for something to represent the brake 3rd coach on the Easingwold line. Have to get around to it one of these days.

That kit turned out real nice. The same company was commissioned to do NSWGR wagons. World events conspired to delay the project, but it looks like I'll have the first ones by the end of the month.

I've been trying search functions but had no luck. There was a portable layout using Peco Set-track points in O gauge built by someone who took it with him in a caravan. I am looking for that thread and all the usual attempts at google and search functions have gotten me nowhere. Anyone remember that thread? It has probably been 18 months to 2 years since I last saw it.

April 2021, and I finally have my hands on these set-track points - nearly 8 years after I first learned of them. This was partly because supply here in Australia was a bit all over the shop and at one stage they were listed at $140AUD each! More recent exchange rates have been more favourable. Now to get to Inglenooking!

AJRM is best described as an "Irregular Serial" It seems that they collect articles and eventually get around to publishing a new edition. A friend of mine once described it as "comes out about every time a Pope dies."

Sorry Jim - That wasn't intended as a criticism towards you. More my thinking out loud about what I would tell people at exhibitions.

Come to think of it, I could offer to make such baseboards for people in between jobs. January has been a bit slower than anticipated and two big jobs that I had lined up... well, one was cancelled because the corporate client (multi-million, multi-national type) didn't want to pay a materials deposit, and another was delayed. So I might just go shopping for some plywood and make up a baseboard this week. Only other confirmed work at the moment is the new garden shed for Mum and a bit of gardening again for Mum.