Captain Kernow

I've done two or three GW locos like that in my time, using 5 amp fuse wire, individually glued into tiny holes, just like you've done. I rather like the idea of the 0.2mm brass wire, though. These days, however, I am happy with the way Bachmann et al have moulded their rear cab window bars and I doubt that I could better them in terms of regularity and evenness. Sometimes 'less is more'. What I won't endorse, however, is the etched window bars that you can get (?former Mainly Trains etch?). They may be nice and slender, but the lack of '3D' just doesn't convince. In terms of the smokebox door on the old Airfix body, I couldn't agree with you more and on the few 14XXs that I've upgraded (for others), I've used a turned brass smokebox door that I think I obtained from Roxey. I then added hinges etc. from plasticard.

I was just wondering if anyone has a particular method of curling p/b (or other) wire into a 'spring' shape for pick ups, please? I always seem to end up with untidy spirals and never seem to know where to stop the curling, so that the straight end is in the right place to bear on the flange of the wheel. Thanks.

This K's pannier was originally built by Peter Lawson, but was one of two bought by me from Tony Wright recently, when Peter decided to sell his collection due to ill health. This is how it arrived: I wanted to renumber it, which would also enable me to put the smokebox door plate in the correct position. I also added a small number of extra details, such as lamp irons and sand pipes, but wanted to keep the essence of the loco as it had been built. Now finished and in service:

Never found it to be a problem.

What an excellent job, Tony. A loco like that for £5.00? Wonderful! I bought one of these back when they first came out. I had no where to run it for many, many years, so it only got a little test running now and then. When wanted to use it on my S&D layout 'Engine Wood', I found that the wheels were no longer retained on the axles, the usual Mainline split chassis problem. My solution was to put a Comet chassis under the body and apply some weathering. Should I start exhibiting my remaining S&D layout again, the Standard 4 still remains in 'front line service'. 75023 was a Templecombe loco for a while in the early 1960s. Here it is on 'Engine Wood': And on 'Bleakhouse Road':

Would you mind saying what kind of controller you use with the coreless motors, please? Thanks.

Ah, memories of misery there for me, of enforced cross-country running in the cold and wet! Better memories from when I was a bit older (but still at school) of bunking off games and exploring the old S&D trackbed!

Or, as Ivo Peters once captioned a photo of a 9F standing next to a Beattie well tank - 'Dignity & Impudence!'.

Is it finished, then? Looks really wonderful.

Heat, but little work in Bethesda Yard:

New arrivals at Capel Bethesda... Yesterday, postie brought me this lovely item (one of the recent Hornby releases), which I had bought from Larry Goddard, who has also weathered it: 78002 was based at Machynlleth for part of the time frame covered by Bethesda Sidings, so the back story is that she ended up at Shrewsbury off a booked working, and was then borrowed for a local goods down the North & West route to Leominster. Once there, she was hurriedly detached and used to work the Kington lines goods service, due to the booked engine (1420) having to return to Hereford for fitters attention. Today, postie brought me this, which I bought from Tony Wright. This was also part of the Peter Lawson collection, like the two panniers featured previously. 84003 was based at Croes Newydd at the time, so also found it's way to Leominster and thence to working the Kington lines goods, via a similar caper as 78002. 84003 was built by Peter Lawson from the DJH kit and runs absolutely superbly.

What a lovely scene, John. That bridge is so iconic too, I instantly recognised it a few days ago, whilst watching an episode of 'Canal Boat Diaries' featuring Robbie Cumming, that we had recorded.

I am an extremely happy bunny today, as the postman has brought me this: And exactly as Tony said a few posts ago, it is such a sweet runner. Based at Croes Newydd for some of the time period covered by Bethesda Sidings, it is absolutely ideal. I count myself very lucky indeed to have been able to acquire this and other locos from the Peter Lawson collection. Many thanks again to Tony, Graham and anyone else assisting with this.

Yes, you are correct, they did all start out in lined black livery, the green came later (it was the naughty Western Region's fault!). What surprised me was that they started with the unlined green as early as 1957, one might be forgiven for thinking that that came a bit later (ie. after some were initially repainted lined green), as some kind of an economy measure. In the end, most of the W.R. allocation of 82XXXs were in green (lined or otherwise). When I built my 82041 in 1995, however, I didn't realise quite how widespread the green was on the W.R. in my layout's time frame. I was going to finish it in Mixed Traffic black, but then realised that some folk at exhibitions might mistake it for the soon-to-be-released Bachmann Ivatt 2-6-2T, so I opted for green, to get away from the 'is that the new Bachmann one?' questions...

A special train of box vans for the peat works arrives at Bleakhouse Road: Photo: Chris Nevard, courtesy Hornby Magazine

Hi Tony, not wishing to contradict you on the origins of the 82XXX, but the shape of the individual castings around the cab and smokebox area, plus the thickness of the cab itself does look like the body at least was built from the Kemilway kit?

There are some good photographs of the area in Volume 11 of Lightmoor's 'British Railways, The First 25 Years', North Wales, Chester and the Wirral'.

This is my Kemilway one, built almost 30 years ago now and I still haven't been able to bring myself to weather it!... Apologies for the 'planter in the sky' behind the loco, never was any good with Photoshop...

I've always liked the BR standards and especially the Standard 3 2-6-2 tanks. I've built both the Kemilway and DJH ones in my time. I probably prefer the Kemilway chassis (for the lovely valve gear) and the DJH body (for the sensible way that they combine both etched brass and whitemetal, depending on the part being replicated). I did acquire a couple of Bachmann ones, when they came out, but one got sold on. The other one refused to run smoothly, so eventually I replaced the RTR chassis with a modified Comet 76XXX chassis. 82044 is the last of the class (further batches were planned but never got built) and was also unique, livery-wise, in that it was the only black one to have no lining on the bunker and the number on the cab side. It was based at Barrow Road at the very end of Western Region steam in 1965. I built it to run on my S&D layouts, so in this photo, it's in Mid-Wales, a rather long way from home!

I had thought that the repainting into unlined green came later, but there's a photo in the RCTS book (Volume 3) of 82007 standing outside Swindon Works, newly repainted into unlined green with a large early crest.

That's absolutely right, according to the RCTS book on the Standard tank classes.

Try these - http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/lanarkshiremodelsandsupplieswebsite_019.htm I think they are excellent.

I certainly agree with that. Back in the 1970s, when I first started building whitemetal kits as a teenager, the choice in RTR was extremely limited and kits actually offered more accuracy and detail than the average RTR product. Today, so much has changed.

Here's a question for all of you who have cats - do any of your cats eat vegetables? We've discovered that one of ours loves eating cooked courgette (cooled off, of course). He loves eating and we now use this to bulk up his food, as it has next to no calories, thus helping us keep his weight under control. The other one, however, can't stand the stuff...

On the question of pricing of kit-built locos, I am aware that a beautifully assembled P4 Pro-scale 'Princess' in BR maroon, built by Alan Sibley, sold very quickly (was advertised on the S4 forum and also was on Ebay). The asking price was £350 (o.n.o.). I don't know if that represented the final price paid (I didn't buy it, despite being tempted (it would have been too big for my little P4 layout anyway). Even for that price, there's no way that you could get a kit professionally built for that, especially one so well finished.