ian@stenochs

Thanks for asking Steve, I have not been on RMwebb much since the changes were made. I find it Not so easy to get around. However I have finished 4 of the locos, shown in a lineup below, with the other two still in the paint shop. I built them as a batch with 3 being in Scale Seven and 3 O fine standard. This was an interesting build but required some special jigs and tools to make the curly footplate and double curved cab. I also made patterns and cast some of the boiler mountings and details to save a bit of time. Worth the effort especially as I made more than one! I think I have now built all the Caley Locos I like so back to the Sou’ West. There is a Stirling 8class 2-4-0 in the paint shop just now and the next build will be an ‘Auld Bogie’ one of the Manson rebuilds of James Stirling’s 6 class 4-4-0. Ian.

I have a model D also and it gets a lot of use in cutting out mostly 7 mm scale loco parts. It is very satisfying steering the stylus round a pattern and watching a loco kit appear! Mine lives in my workshop, which is next to the dining room so warm and dry. I assume your slides and tables are greased from the picture. You can still pick up a good example at quite modest cost but watch out for damaged pantograph arms which can be expensive to repair or replace. The main body is very heavy and rigid but careless handling with badly placed slings can wreck the quite delecate working parts. Ian

I have just seen this thread and can add a bit of information on the origin of the tender design. It is in fact a copy of the standard Glasgow & South Westetn tender, originally designed by Hugh Smellie and perpetuated by James Manson. Dubs built a number of locos for the G&SWR and either just copied the tender design although I suspect they would have come to some arrangement with the Sou'west. There are some detail differences, axleboxes, springs and buffers being the major ones. The Sou'west drove on the tight so there would be no need to alter the position of the hand brake. Lovely model. Ian.

On the G&SWR wagons had the ironwork painted black when new but when they were repainted everything just got painted grey! I know that is an example from a mainline company but I would expect PO wagons to be treated similarly. I know how long it takes to paint the ironwork on a miniature wagon so the time on a full sized one would be similar and come at a cost. Ian.

Mike, I too swithered over track layouts and the real size of points and crossings. The almost universal use of Peco track and points, which has a passing resemblance to real track but in no way is it an accurate replica, does give a distorted idea of space requirements. It is only when you look at a scale drawing of an actual point that you see just how much space the real railway requires. However in modelling we have to make some compromises and unfortunately length is where we have to make the most! When I built Auchlin I used B6’s for the main line and a variety of A switches on the sidings and pit tracks. Most of the points were curved into Ys which saved space and saved the odd inch here and there. That allowed me to get a passing loop in a through single line station and sidings, which could hold 10 wagons, all into 15 feet. The smaller pre group stock we favour looks just fine on the shorter switches and you will find that visiting stock from a later period will run through ok. My Horwich Mogul could access the sidings over the A switches but the Duchess could only run on the main line B6’s! In the real world a Duchess would be on dead slow over a B6! Ian.

Nigel was on the GOG stand on the Saturday of Glasgow Model Rail this year. ian.

I don’t think that comparing the price of model then and now really gives an indication of the real ‘Cost of Modelling’. What you are comparing really is how inflation has affected the hobby. It is more interesting finding out just how much per hour your modelling costs. For example. If I buy a kit and the other bits and pieces required to construct it for, say, £10 in total and I take 4 hours hobby time to build it then my cost is £2.50/hour. On the other hand buying an off the shelf locomotive costing £100 needs virtually no time to get it working so costs none of my hobby time but quite a bit of my capital! I hardly buy anything rtr now but invest in raw materials and components to build from scratch. My modelling costs works out at pence per hour but the value of the finished models adds considerably to my assets. Ian.

12-18 months but price difficult to predict at this early stage.

The G&SWRA is working with an established kit maker providing information and assisting with the castings. The kits will be available to all. However being a member of the Association will be beneficial in attracting a discounted price. Ian.

The G&SWR Association are currently pursuing the production of an etched brass kit for the 361 class 0-6-0 in 7mm scale. Current thinking is that extra parts for the M&C version will be included.

I taught my whole career in senior secondary schools, some of them approved too. I found that 15 minutes at the modelling bench every night, after my after dinner nap, put the world into perspective and kept me sane. Since I retired I find that I don’t need the nap but the modelling is still essential. Ian

Hi Mike, Yes it worked! Ian.

It’s still there and in use! It came from Portpatrick to replace the original which was destroyed in a fire. The line is still operated by tablet and semaphore signals. Regrettably the Stranraer line sees very little passenger traffic since the Irish Ferries left Stranraer and moved to the non rail connected Cairnryan port. Non car using passengers get bussed from Ayr station. Stranraer still has a good service but it is very poorly patronised. Ian.

Agh! Boadicea axles fair cuts the legs of the workmen! Merry legless Christmas, Ian

The Dalmellington Iron Co ran trains for their miners consisting of very old 2nd hand coaches acquired from the North British. None of the locomotives were equipped with train braking gear and not all of the coaches had hand brakes! Some of the 6 wheelers had the centre wheels removed, seating was plain wooden benches and there was no heating or light! Better than walking to work, just! Ian

I don’t know much about the J37s performance, the one at Ayr saw little use, but I do remember the Caley 812s belting down through Cumnock, on the G&SW, with coal from Sanquhar bound for Ayr Harbour. They had around 20 fulls on but they were coasting down grade! Ian.

Hi Polybear, Needle files are fine for delecate work but for a lot of model building too small. Get a couple of decent quality 8”/200mm flat files, a smooth and a second cut, half round is useful too, and keep them solely for brass and nickel silver. You will find that filing a straight edge and cleaning up etch is much quicker and more accurate than plittering with needle files. Keep expensive needle files for detail work. Any decent tool shop will have a range of quality files but Cromwell tools are good. https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/abrasives/engineers-files/09010101?familiesDisplayed=10&familySkip=20&page=3 Ian

I knew David Smith, a charming gentle man, who was a sickly child and not expected to live but lasted well into his eighties. He wrote 5 books on railways and numerous articles and it was his ‘Tales of the G&SWR’ which inspired me to model that railway since expanded to include the Dalmellington Iron Co locos. You can still pick up his books on the 2nd hand market and well worth the effort. Ian.

Superb model but what scale please Giles?

Microset will release transfers just as long as they have not been varnished over. Been there! Ian.

I too have a similar issues with kits, mostly locos in my case but also wagons. I have a few which have stalled again and are back on the shelf while I get back to building from scratch. So much easier! The problem areas are when the kit designer deviates from how I would build the model or they introduce ‘modifications’ usually dimensional, which make an accurate model impossible from their kit. What makes them frustrating is that you seldom find out the faults until you get started on the build and you have parted with your folding money. I see that your GWR kit has dimensional issues, not unusual! I find that keeping the mojo going is facilitated by having periods away from the workshop doing something completely different! Basically get on you bike! though I prefer a good walk preferably ending up in a decent pub. Ian.

Thanks for the blue comments Jim! I’m now building a Connor 0-4-2 as a contrast, now that is much more complex with outside cylinders, wavy footplate and multi curved cab.It will be blue too. I am a glutton for punishment. Ian.

For some time I have been building a couple of models of the rebuilt 187 class of 0-4-2. The engines were designed by James Stirling and were typical For the period with a basic round top cab and simple tender. The first rebuild was by Hugh Smellie and was a fairly straightforward conversion. The boiler and motion stayed as original but the frames were extended a bit to take a small bunker and tanks, the cab was also improved. The tanks were used on the City of Glasgow Union Railway on suburban services until displaced by Manson’s 326 class 0-4-4tanks. The 187 class were dispersed to Ayr, Hurlford and Dumfries for shunting duties. 198 is modelled as she was a Dumfries circa 1906 when she was used occasionally on the Moniaive branch as well as general shunting. Some of the remaining locos were rebuilt by James Manson in 1900 as a precursor to his better known and larger 221 class. The engines got a bigger boiler, new cab and a neat Manson chimney. Some also got tender cabs. The locos with the tender cab went to Dumfries for use on the Portpatrick and Wigtownshire joint Railway. My model depicts her circa 1906 in the condition she would be when working to Portpatrick. Ian.

You exaggerate a bit. One does not require a fully equipped workshop to scratchbuild. Neither does one need to pay for a professional paint job. A small collection of hand tools and a soldering Iron is enough to build a decent model. My first loco was built with tinplate from cocoa tins, brass curtain rail extrusion for frames and offcuts of rail for coupling rods. The only purchased bits were the wheels, motor and gears. I used a junior hacksaw, tinsnips, assorted files and a Stanley hand drill, not electric, and a soldering Iron you heated in the fire. The chimney was turned from a bit of brass, a pin from an old electric plug, held in the chuck of the drill and turned with the left hand while the brass was shaped with a file in the right hand. For rolling stock you need even less with only a decent knife, rule and square and a few sheets of plastic card. However I agree with you, scratchbuilders don’t just do it because it’s cheap, we do it for the sheer satisfaction of having something unique to ourselves. Something a rtr model can never give you. Ian

Hi, The large G&SW lettering came in with Jame Manson circa 1895. Prior to that ownership was on a cast iron plate which included the number on the sole bar. Even after the large painted lettering became the norm the plates were still carried. Wagon sheets were a mid grey with G&SW and the number on each long side. These wagons were for general merchandise so could be found anywhere. There were quite a number of industries on the system who would send goods by rail in Sou’West wagons. Glenfield and Kennedy in Kilmarnock manufactured most of the valves and fittings used in water works and hydraulic systems, Johnstone had many firms making machine tools, particularly saws, and there were lots of thread and cloth makers in Paisley but other places too. Ayrshire is known for the early potatoes grown on the Clyde Coast and there was a thriving timber trade so every excuse fo4 having a ‘foreign’ wagon on your line. Incedently I have seen a period photo of Kilkerran Station, quite a small remote village, with about 10 wagons in the yard. Not one is a G&SW one but there is an SE&CR wagon and two LNWR ones! Ian.