Ruston

I've seen that, yes. https://www.google.com/maps/@53.8043352,-1.5480045,3a,75y,79.74h,91.08t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1spDYfZoPYzFsBSd5SvmbiHg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DpDYfZoPYzFsBSd5SvmbiHg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D97.8752%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu I don't know anything about the etches. They're not on the JE UK model shops page.

Dave Bradwell, IIRC.

Wow! That's going back some time! 2005/6? I didn't accomplish all that I wanted to this weekend but the majority of the work on the staithe is now done. It is fixed in place but there are some gaps around it that need to be filled and part of the sleeper retaining wall needs to be rebuilt at the front. The hopper is a Parkside kit that I have been building on and off for months and I finished it today. It would have been complete with NCB lettering but the transfers that I used for the RCH internal users have gone AWOL. I've looked all over the shed for them and I just know that as soon as I order some replacements they'll turn up in a drawer or something! No progress has been made with the barge. I've got some Hornby LNER 21-ton hoppers that I bought second hand, if I can find them, and have a brass kit for an MOT 21-ton hopper that I got from @Mark Saunders that I was about to start when I noticed that the destructions say that it's for EM/P4 only and that major surgery is required to the body to allow it to be built to OO, so that one won't be built now. If I'm going to spend a lot of time and hassle on a wagon it would be one of those Liverpool Corporation types (see pics of British Oak hoppers that have a large control wheel on the side for the hopper doors) but that would have to be a scratch build. I'll stick to LNER hoppers for the forseeable. I think the British Oak-inspired staithe is a definite improvement over the fictional tipper house.

I should have this finished, weathered, and properly installed over the weekend. I will also attempt to finish the barge.

A very thin coat of epoxy adhesive is the best way, IMO. It gives lots of time for adjustment and to squeeze out and wipe away any excess. You will need to hold it in place with pegs or clamps. I have used it to successfully add etched panels to both brass kits and RTR plastic-bodied loco models.

When we were discussing the loading of the barges and the unloading of the hopper wagons, on page 15, I didn't appreciate the size of the chute under the staithe. Or that it seems to have been capable of acting as a storage hopper itself, so it wouldn't be simply a case of opening the doors on the wagon and the load discharging immediately and uncontrollably into the barge below. There appears to have been two hand-operated winches just in front of the buffer stop on the staithe; one for the hopper door and one to adjust the angle of the chute. Now that I've looked at photos again it's obvious that there was a a door at the bottom of the hopper part of the 'chute, just before the adjustable open part. I've been making the hopper and it's rather a more complex shape than I first thought. I need to make the staircase, buffer stop, adjustable chute, winches and that strange tin hut thing. I guess that was just a shelter as I remember having a look inside and there was nothing in it at all; not even a stove or a chair.

Well I never... If you like this and the stuff I post here then, apparently, you can vote for it and me in this here poll. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVprB4ALfO-BPO2zBXLSPI5UiSDDmfxfHLtR8rqfbj7DokOg/formResponse

See above. To be honest, I've only known about the Rapido one since about this time last year, so I can't blame the lack of progress on that entirely, but as soon as I was told about it I gave up any idea of scratchbuilding one. Apart from measuring up the ones at Preston and Shildon, I didn't get any further than preparing a drawing to make a pattern for milling the frames. I think it's great that there will be a RTR fireless in OO, and I'll buy a couple, but it does mean that everyone and his dog will have one and so it won't be the stand out model that a scratchbuilt one would have been. It would be nice to see a load of proper industrial layouts where a fireless would have been used being built for them to run on but then I thought that might happen in 2017, when Hornby announced the Peckett W4 and the layouts never materialised. A lot of people bought the models but most seem to be more into having a cute little engine, rather than modelling proper industrial railways for them to run on and I fully expect the same to happen with these.

Was this kit only ever designed to be powered on one axle?

I tried to remove the front of the tipper house to alter it for the loading chute but it wouldn't come away in once piece and the house would have needed to come out to fix the resulting mess. Having to remove it from the baseboard in any case gave me the opportunity to try the British Oak-inspired staithe again. I will finish it this time and install it for a couple of reasons. Firstly that it is more correct to the British Oak theme and secondly that it makes removing the fixed wagon loads easier. An enclosed tipper house was fine for the plan of actually tipping loose coal loads but with fixed loads that need to be removed by THOG it meant propelling a wagon in, stopping, pulling it out and then removing the load. I suppose it sounds silly either way you look at it but it just seems more natural to lift the load out when the wagon is in its unloading place and not after it has supposedly been unloaded. It's back to 21-ton hoppers for the staithe run and the 1923 RCH minerals will now be joined by some Rapido/BRM 1907 RCH internal users for a landsales run.

I'm trying to click on this again to give it another like. Can I have some more clicks please?

The Class 11 is my favourite loco. At least until the next new loco comes along... I had a bit of a running and photo session, today, so no progress made on the barge.

Ex-BR Class 11, 12099, at Blacker Lane Disposal Point.

12099 at Blacker Lane.

12099 scruffs up well.

Excellent! I've known about this for some time now and not being able to tell anyone was killing me. 😶 I do hope there will be a DCC sound-fitted version, using actual recordings of the sole working fireless left in the UK, because there is no suitable sound file that can be used. A fireless is very different to any other steam loco in how it sounds, especially as it is completely silent when stationary. I already have a chemical works micro layout in the pipeline especially for this model and the Hornby Ruston 88DS. The only question is which livery to choose...

Thanks for the photo and info, Ian. It's all very helpful. Flickr photos, by The KDH Archive. Not British Oak, and probably larger boats than the West Country types. On the Aire & Calder at Primrose Hill colliery. My tipper house isn't actually based on any prototype but it's the same idea.

I have painted the hull of the barge but have since repainted the deck orange after doilum's comment about the decks being orange. It does look orange in one of the pictures but I wasn't sure.

Thanks. That does work to an extent but every time I go to another page I have to do that, back and forth from German to English but when you go as far as clicking the 'more info' on a particular tree it loses all of the flags and the simple text of English, German and Polish aren't clickable, so I still can't get more info and still can't buy anything. Weeks ago I managed to find a 'contact us' thing and tried to let them know that their site was broken but I never received any reply and they have clearly not fixed the site.

I don't understand. I haven't shown a photo of how far I've got with the painting, never mind weathering it.

Does anyone know hat is the thing on the cover plate of the fuel tank is? I don't know if they all had it but 12099 should have one, but it isn't on the model. 12099 in orange should have a ladder on the front at the right hand side only but mine hasn't and there isn't a ladder in the bag of parts to be fitted by the purchaser. Can someone please tell me if the others have ladders already fitted, or if the ladders come in the bag.

I managed to get the airbrush to work enough to spray some orange over the orange and have left that to dry whilst I made a start on the wheelhouse for the barge.

For whatever reason, the running plate was orange on the model so I've put that right. The frames, springs etc. have been gone over with matt black, just to get rid of the plastic shine. Weathering proper will come later. I've also painted the engine compartment handrails . I will attempt to fix my airbrush and give it a blow over with a less drastic shade of orange before adding electrification flashes and number. It has run up and down the layout a few times but hasn't pulled a train yet. The provided screw couplings are cosmetic only, which is a retrograde step as previous Heljan offerings came with very nice functional steel screw couplings.

Sound and Stay Alive fitted. Running plate painted black, as it ought to be. Engine compartment handrails painted orange, as they ought to be for British Oak D.P. 12099 number and BR electrification flashes to be added before weathering. There are radiator overflow pipes provided to be fitted by the purchaser but there are no locating holes for them. Presumably we're expected to just glue them on. The screw couplings that come with it are a let down. Heljan's Class 05, 07 and 14 all came with good quality screw couplings with steel end links that moved freely and could be used with a magnetic shunting pole but these are cosmetic only so this has yet to pull a train.

The pic is clickable for details on the site where the link goes to. Going back to the previous page, the links to DOCP one at Backworth is no longer functioning. Does anyone know where a photo of it may be found?