clarkea1

Thanks Luke - much appreciated!

Can anyone tell me how much clearance there is between the wheels and outside frames on these? Trying to assess the prospects of an easy EM gauge conversion, without having to fork out for one if it's not feasible (I have a plan B if the Hornby conversion isn't viable). Thanks Alastair

The Dean Forest Railway Society have released a new book to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Dean Forest Railway (founded in 1971, first Steam Day in 1971). It is being officially launched at our Fiftieth Anniversary Gala weekend on 23rd October 2021, 50 years to the day since our first Steam Day was held at Parkend in 1971. The book has been a couple of years in the making - and the various lockdowns saw a project to produce "a small booklet" grow somewhat to produce a comprehensive pictorial history of the DFR! The book is 164 pages long, and contains over 400 photographs charting the development of the railway from early days at Parkend, the move to develop Norchard as a Steam Centre, extensions southwards towards Lydney, and then the return to Parkend. It also has chapters covering the 'home fleet' of locos and rolling stock over the years, notable visitors, galas and special events, plus various other fascinating pictures giving a proper flavour of the railway over the last 50 years, and finishes with a short selection of the best contemporary photography of the railway. The vast majority of the pictures, found in the DFR Museum's archives and in the attics and cupboards of many of our members, have never been seen before! The book is softback, printed on high quality art paper, and is available to pre-order now! Visit dfrsociety.org.uk/shop to pre-order. It costs £20 plus £3 p&p, and all proceeds go to the work of the Dean Forest Railway Society (a registered charity) in maintaining and developing the railway. All pre-orders will be despatched to arrive on or near the launch date (23rd October). From that date on, as well as online sales it will be available to buy in the railway's book shop at Norchard. Thanks, Alastair DFR Society Chair of Trustees.

I wonder if anyone can tell me. Since MRJ now seems to be being packed and posted by the printers (or a fulfillment house) do they still put a reminder slip in when it's the last issue of your subs? I only ask since I can't quite remember when my current batch of 4 issues runs out..... If not, I think I'm probably best to send Cygnet a cheque and ask that they add 4 on to whenever my previous subscription runs out! Thanks Alastair

As I thought, something clever! Thanks for explaining. Cheers Alastair

Thanks for these details. From the chassis images, I'm half hoping for EM gauge that I may just be able to pull the wheels out to gauge, perhaps spacing out the cylinders slightly (and I suspect replacing or modifying the motion plate). However, I'm intrigued by the design shown above. It appears to be a 3mm axle, with shoulders at each end, against which the wheels are pressed (excellent idea - I have often wondered why this isn't more common practice). However, between the shoulders, the axle appears to drop back down to 3mm, so how are the gears and bearings fitted, as they are shown with a 3mm bore which obviously won't go over the shoulders... have I missed something clever? (Suspect so) Cheers Alastair

Turns out they're also, as suspected, doing the Clayton CBD90 loco. Fairly sure the Sellafield ones are CBD80s though, but I may be wrong.

Simon, With the cover price rise, I presume subs will go up too? Only I've literally last week sent in my subs at the rate in issue 281 - I presume this will be ok? Thanks Alastair

It's interesting to find that it was 9 years ago since I made much progress with this. Recently, the loco has gained a chassis (two Black Beetles - yes the model is going to have ample haulage capacity.....) and some progress on bodyshell finishing - lots of fiddly grab irons etc. I've also made some progress with the long handrails that run down the side of the loco. I've going to have a concerted effort to finish the loco. I now have the bogie sideframes printed up, and some nice Stenson Models air tanks etc to represent the tanks that can be seen prominently on the real things between the bogies. Then, I just need to finish the steps, make a roof, and paint it..... So, see you in 2030 for another update? Cheers Alastair

Thanks Andy! The last time I had any etches done (15 years ago if it's a day) I used PhotoEtch in the Midlands. I've got some drawings for some industrial wagons nearing completion, so I'll give PPD a try. Cheers Alastair

This is looking simply outstanding! Out of interest, who do you use for etching? Thanks Alastair

There's some intersting info on these workings here: http://www.traintesting.com/torpedo_wagon_tests.htm

Very interested in the big Hunslet, and possibly the torpedos. Which prototype is the torpedo based on - Scunthorpe to match up with the Hunslets?

This is nothing short of epic. Having read Don Townsley's book numerous times, and been fascinated by the photos inside the works, this is lining up to be an outstanding model of Jack Lane. Bl**dy brilliant!!! The shot from the 80s is also fascinating - I'd be very interested to see any more you may have. On my "to do" list one day is the Scunthorpe Bo-Bo locos - hoping Mr Edge gets round to a kit before I have to resort to scratch building. He's got a while to go - I'm still working on a model of the Brush Bagnall bo-bos built for Port Talbot that's been on the go on and off for a decade.... Alastair

Excellent to see this! Hopefully the conversion to wider gauges will be as straightforward as the 48DS was. Alastair

According to the IRS's Peckett & Sons book by Andrew Smith, there is a link between Ruston and Peckett. I paraphrase below: At the end of WW2, Rustons approached Peckett to build locos for them under subcontract, using Ruston engines and gearboxes. At the time Rustons didn't want to get into building larger locos themselves, but Peckett didn't want to enter into the subcontract arrangment as Frank Peckett feared a loss of independence. However, at some later date (not given in the book) Pecketts agreed to design and manufacture the running gear for larger Ruston locomotives. Pecketts certainly machines the first sets of frames, but it's not clear if they did them all or if Rustons machined later frames themselves. The running gear for Ruston 4 and 6 wheel locos became a relatively substantial part of Peckett's output, including work on 100hp underground locos. Alastair

Paul, there's some photos of them in this advert, from "A Technical Survery of the Steel Company of Wales Limited" published in 1952.

Looks great, and being inside cylindered ought to be a relatively easy conversion to EM which is big plus points in my book.

Great to see this model announced, but a +1 for anything you can do design-wise to make the EM/P4 conversion easier. Key to me looks to be clearance between leading wheelset and the crosshead..... although thankfully the CAD model seems to suggest the cylinders are a separate component so if all else fails I dare say this can be modified to move the cylinders outwards to create a bit of room.... Fingers crossed! Alastair

Hi Kier, Yes I did get the order, thanks to Hayfield for his help with it. Cheers Alastair

Tim, You learn something every day....I'd presumed it originated with Dave Doe. Thanks Alastair

I've highlighted here what I think is the key point in Tim's comment above - the eye readily detects straight lines, but break them up a bit and the eye seems to allow for them in some way. One interesting idea which very effectively hid baseboard joints was Dave Doe's 'Jigsaw Scenery' concept - this involved removable sections of scenery (divided along, say, hedgerows between fields for example) which sat on top of the baseboard and very effectively hid the joints - the eye completely misses the joins between the scenery sections as they are somewhere near the bottom of a hedge or wall, for example. I think his layout was called "Flintfields" - set on the GER? There was an article about it, and a subsequent article on the jigsaw scenery concept in the late, lamented Modelling Railways Illustrated (at least, an excellent mag in the earlier issues - I felt it had rather lost it's way by the end. The most recent thing to put me in mind of early MORILL was the also now defunct Finescale Modelling Review from Bob Barlow). Alastair

There's at least one currently at Port Talbot - on hire from Ed Murray. I'm not sure where the loco was orginally from. As far as I am aware, it has been hired in recently (i.e. in the last 2 years or so) - I'm not aware that they had any of these earlier. Llanwern had quite a few, and still have some - including one which has recently had a very heavy overhaul (see below). Of course, Llanwern never relied on rail to the same extent as Port Talbot does - if I remember correctly even hot metal traffic (molten iron from blast furnace to steel plant) was road hauled using some huge Kress carriers. Alastair

Hi all, I'm after some recommendations (or offers of help, paid of course) for a laser cutting service. I'm in the process of building an industrial layout, where along the backscene is a stretch of steelworks building, based on Margam Abbey Works in Port Talbot: https://www.architecture.com/image-library/ribapix/image-information/poster/margam-steel-works-abbey-works-for-the-steel-company-of-wales-limited-port-talbot-west-glamorgan-the/posterid/RIBA87933.html It's quite a striking building in real life, and one I want to get right as it's really the centrepiece of the layout. I've drawn up some etchings for the large window units between each block of the building, plus bits and pieces to make up all the railings. However, I also need some parts for the structure that holds the window etchings - nothing too complex - I've attached a screenshot of the CAD design below. The grey parts would be 6mm MDF, with the blue parts that the window panes sit against being 1mm plastic (or thin ply). Normally, I'd happily cut these sorts of thing out myself, for a one off structure, but due to the need to get the curve and angled cuts spot on across what will be 6 window units, and a desire for the building to look very consistent, I'm turning to laser cutting for these bits. So, can someone recommend a reasonably priced supplier? I've only ever used laser cutters before at work, for big sheet metal work, and most of the subcontractors I'm familiar with don't touch plastics or wood. Alternatively, would anyone with the capacity at home be interested in the work, for costs covered plus some beer tokens? Thanks in advance Alastair

Hi Rebecca, I have a copy - will PM you a scan. Thanks Alastair