Waveydavey

Which steel wagons are you fitting the stanchions to Jo? The ones fitted to BAA/BBA/BDA wagons were 1.5 inch x 3 inch RHS in 4 and 6 foot lengths. In a previous job I ordered thousands of them for delivery to Lackenby.

Quite true Keith. Luckily for me Triang fitted AL2 bogies so I’m using two sets of trailing bogie frames on my 82 that is using a Heljan 26 chassis with the bogie centres adjusted. Unfortunately Triang made those AL2 bogies 9’3” wheelbase instead of 10’ and put the axle boxes too low so I’m having to attend to that. David

This thread (and a few others) has been very influential in getting me into modelling AC electric locos as a change from Scottish diesels. On my workbench I currently have classes 81 to 87 in various states of not being finished. I work in P4 so have a tendency to spend to much time researching and pondering rather than getting on with it. Trix AL1 bodies are very popular with those who paid 50p each from Dapol years ago but eBay prices are prohibitive nowadays. My first attempt at an 81 was therefore based on a cheap Triang AL1, I sold the chassis straight back onto eBay and got most of my money back. EBay also supplied a set of Bachmann class 85 glazing so I gently filed out the windows until it fitted and removed the gutter from the cab roof. At this point I’d bought a Bachmann 85 and it became clear that the Triang body is too tall. About 1.5mm was cut off the bottom of the body which improved the look but emphasised the extra height in the roof dome that I didn’t think I could easily reduce. Another Bachmann 85 was bought and I decided to convert it to an 81 by cutting the sides out and grafting the Triang body sides in. The Triang plastic is a bit thicker than the Bachmann so it needed thinning a little. The Triang plastic is also very brittle and I managed to snap one of the body sides. Luckily it repaired quite nicely. Most recently I’ve bought a cheap, slightly broken Trix shell more to compare with the Triang and Bachmann bodies than to use for a build. The Trix body is undoubtedly better than the Triang but they both suffer from undersized windows, a heavy rain strip above the cab windows that shouldn’t be there and a lack of curvature across the front of the cab. The outermost grills on the Trix body seem to be a bit too far inwards but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to fix that. A bit late for Darius perhaps but I think the removal of the rain strip (and adding the correct one) and fitting of Bachmann glazing would be a worthwhile modification for anyone working on the Trix body. Cheers David

A few years ago, from all the available photos I could find, I concluded that the extra grills were added during 1977.

1’8” long Oleos with 16” heads.

Back to 1975 where we see 24009 departing with bogie bolsters. Meld in the background is a bit out of place having just arrived with some parcels stock from Stirling. 08726 shunts a fairly clean HOP32AB that has been receiving C&W attention after being removed from a Polmaise to Kinkardine MGR service up at Alloa New Yard. This wagon was kindly loaned by Will from Cavalex and took seconds to convert to P4.

Here's one from the recent DEMU Showcase exhibittion at Sutton Coldfield. We took ourselves back to 1971 for a while to find 6129 and 8546 passing in the yard.

Indeed it is ess1uk. Along with all the other very interesting and useful threads on here that have lost their pictures during the disruption a few months back. I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for the kind words about my little train set Clackmannan Goods. It's nice to know that my humble efforts are appreciated. The layout ran fairly well all weekend although we did start to have issues with derailment on one point on Sunday afternoon. It also appears that the Roco master box on the DCC system made it right to the end of the exhibition before expiring. I'll have to take it apart to make sure it's properly broken before deciding whether to do a straight replacement or to buy a whole new DCC system. The new venue was, I thought, an excellent find. Bigger than Burton Town Hall but with a really nice old school feel. The carpeting throughout definitely helped with noise and underfoot comfort. Thank you to the organising team, stewards, catering and town hall staff for putting on such a good show and a special thanks for the invite. I'm already looking forward to coming next year as a fee paying punter. Cheers David

Thank you for your very kind comments on Clackmannan Goods. I really enjoyed the show and thought all the layouts on show were of a really good standard. Wellpark was my favourite as it mirrors an idea I have for a future layout as well as having so many interesting and well observed cameos with lots of 1980s dereliction.

No worries Mike. Thanks for the quick reply.

Hi Mike, Have you had any more class 83 grill sets etched since I last asked you a year or so back? I've got a couple of Bachmann 85 bodies desperate to get shortened and begin their new lives as an 83 and an 84. David

Nigel Walls on his YouTube channel Wallsrail has done one of these Lima tanks as a German ferry tank in VTG livery with an orange stripe. I've also recently finished a build of two in P4 as French registered Algeco tanks.

Any idea when this streamlined cab was removed?

Nice work on narrowing the chassis. My solution was to replace it with a Comet brass chassis. By the time these were in blue most (but not all) had lost their gangways. The rectangular vents above the doors also look to have been removed before these vans were painted blue too. Cheers David

Just found this thread as I'm looking for info on class 50 model improvements. That 50 looks amazing. Pity so many of the photos have disappeared in the recent server crash and move.

More new wagons at Glasgow Three Shellstar fertiliser vans based around the Lima PWA. One BRT, one Procor and one Lloyds and Scottish owned. Jon Hall etches and Stenson bogies with decals being a mix of Railtec and others I had in stock with the Shellstar and L&S logos provided by jessy1692. On pre exhibition testing the BRT van refused to stay on the track and with limited time to sort it out had to be left at home. Two visitors were these Cavalex BBAs brought over by Will Perkins of Cavalex. Just able to scrape in with our 1975 time period they do look very nice but perhaps a little bit too clean. I found the mesh deck of the wagons to be a work of art. I hope we can host these again with a bit of road dirt starting to accumulate.

Two new wagons for Glasgow were these ferry tanks based around the old 1980s Lima HOish tank. New buffers, bogies and ferry fittings and a little work on the sun shields and a first attempt at printing my own decals for the ALGECO logos. Not based on any particular prototype so a bit naughty for P4 Much more 'in the style of' type of thing. A bit of a change from 4 wheeled vans and opens for a bit of visual interest on the layout. Although Clackmannan Goods is freight only I do like NPCCS so some turns up occasionally and gets shunted onto the back road. The SPV on the left was new for Glasgow and is the Parkside kit having been half built for probably 15 years. No springing or compensation fitted but it stayed on the track without issue all weekend.

After a long break it was great to get Clackmannan Goods back out on the road at Model Rail Scotland last month. Really good catching up with old friends and making some new ones. The layout and stock mainly behaved very well after their long rest but we did find some derailments happening on a couple of sets of points that previously haven't been an issue. I'll have a good look at them before our next outing.

I notice that on the photos at the start of this thread that there are no strengthening flanges (or whatever they are called) on the two ribs on the van end. Every VIX I've ever looked at has them so I'm wondering if they are going to be a separately added part that hadn't been added when the photos were taken.

Anybody had a look at the possibilities of EM/P4 conversion on these yet?

When I was researching 131s for my build I found that 55013 was different from 55014 and 55015. And somewhere between the late 70s and early 80s 55015 was altered to move the additional doors on one side to the end of the body.

I'm going for Lima/Hornby Met Cams as the overall shape is right and three bodystyles are available. The main issue with the Lima moulding is the cab front screens and destination box are the wrong size. Shawplan now do an etch for these based on measurements I took at Grosmont a few years back. The underframe details are mainly correct on the power cars so all is needed is to remove the infill between the bits that should be there and boxing in the remnants with plastikard. The unpowered underframe is nearly there but the dodgy bits can easily be replaced.

Hi Phil, Did you get anywhere with the pre-TOPS Carflat decals? I've just bought a Bachmann carflat that needs deTOPSification. Cheers David

Very nice job you've done there. What size strip have you used on the bodysides? Is it 10x20 thou? I have one of these tucked away in the project box and I think I've come to the conclusion that a shortened Comet 50' underframe will be the way forward.