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My Father was on the Plant Centenarian, in the pre war Flying Scotsman Buffet Car. Hailstone and 990 were doing all the work, 251 wouldn't steam for rocking horse droppings due to the removal of the superheater elements. Hoole was on 251 and he was spitting blood by the time they reached KX. On the return Journey Hailstone had is usual engine Silver Link, a fast climb was made to Stoke sumit, apparently the coffee was doing a wall of death around the cups in the Buffet Car. As they entered Stoke tunnel they met an A1 coming the other way. There was a noise like a sonic boom and all the napkins were sucked up into the air and out of the nearest open windows. The two veterans got up to 86 mph on the decent of Stoke bank.

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2 hours ago, JamieR4489 said:

Plant Centenarian with 251?

Correct! For those not so familiar with GNR motive power, the engine will be Klondike Atlantic number 990 as preserved.

 

Rather than the railtour itself, I may start with the 1700 KGX-PBO which the two engines worked as a trial for the railtour on 16th and 17th September 1953. There is a picture of this train on p86 of East Coast from Kings Cross Bob Eric Neve. The stock for this might be easier to put together as the leading five coaches were a steel 5 set which I’m half way through building. 

 

Andy

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Headstock said:

My Father was on the Plant Centenarian, in the pre war Flying Scotsman Buffet Car. Hailstone and 990 were doing all the work, 251 wouldn't steam for rocking horse droppings due to the removal of the superheater elements. Hoole was on 251 and he was spitting blood by the time they reached KX. On the return Journey Hailstone had is usual engine Silver Link, a fast climb was made to Stoke sumit, apparently the coffee was doing a wall of death around the cups in the Buffet Car. As they entered Stoke tunnel they met an A1 coming the other way. There was a noise like a sonic boom and all the napkins were sucked up into the air and out of the nearest open windows. The two veterans got up to 86 mph on the decent of Stoke bank.

 

I’m very jealous of your father - what a fantastic piece of history to have been part of.

 

It is often reported that 251 didn’t do much work on the tour. It do go on to do some other rail tours. Was it fixed by then or did it always run as a ‘bauble’ with another engine doing the work?

 

Do you by any chance know the formation of the railtour? Was it the D.258 Buffet from the 1938 Scotsman? Sadly 8 Bells Jn does not have this vital information.

 

Andy

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17 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

 

I’m very jealous of your father - what a fantastic piece of history to have been part of.

 

It is often reported that 251 didn’t do much work on the tour. It do go on to do some other rail tours. Was it fixed by then or did it always run as a ‘bauble’ with another engine doing the work?

 

Do you by any chance know the formation of the railtour? Was it the D.258 Buffet from the 1938 Scotsman? Sadly 8 Bells Jn does not have this vital information.

 

Andy

 

Good evening Andy,

 

I have all his paperwork from the outing, booklets etc. 251 had been returned to its pre LNER condition. I think this was a bit of a botch job, resulting in the loco not being plumbed up properly. Not exactly a bauble but compromised in the steaming department. I have the formation, a rough guide follows until I cheque the details. I recall it was probably an eleven carriage formation, two Thompson Kitchen cars, one of the pre war flying Scotsman Buffet cars, two Gresley open brake thirds and the rest Gresley open thirds. This was the Sunday southbound run with the two veterans on Stoke bank and return with Silver Link, but I think the same set ran north with the Atlantic the week before.

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22 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

 

I’m very jealous of your father - what a fantastic piece of history to have been part of.

 

Andy

 

Me too! He was also behind Mallard when the locomotive topped stoke bank at 80 mph with almost 400 tons on the drawbar. The effort required is reckoned to be greater than that required when the loco ascended the bank and broke the world speed record. The maximum horsepower achieved is regarded as a record for the class and very close to the maximum recorded for the larger Duchess class locomotive. The latter is still the British record for a steam locomotive, though it is believed that Tornado has unofficially (due to the lack of dynamometer car) beaten the Duchess with its awsome high speed climb of Beattock bank. On that occasion the A1 was still making steam and blowing off as it crested the summit.

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1 hour ago, Headstock said:

 

Good evening Andy,

 

I have all his paperwork from the outing, booklets etc. 251 had been returned to its pre LNER condition. I think this was a bit of a botch job, resulting in the loco not being plumbed up properly. Not exactly a bauble but compromised in the steaming department. I have the formation, a rough guide follows until I cheque the details. I recall it was probably an eleven carriage formation, two Thompson Kitchen cars, one of the pre war flying Scotsman Buffet cars, two Gresley open brake thirds and the rest Gresley open thirds. This was the Sunday southbound run with the two veterans on Stoke bank and return with Silver Link, but I think the same set ran north with the Atlantic the week before.

Thanks Andrew,

 

That largely fits with what I know. The best picture I’ve seen is in Steam Around London The Post War Years by Brian Morrison on p131. This is of the veterans going northbound. It’s certainly 11 coaches with a Thompson RK as the third vehicle. I can’t make out a second RK but there is another Thompson as coach 6 which looks like an RTP, but my eyes are not sufficiently tuned into that sort of thing to be sure.

 

Modelling it all sounds achievable, but it would take a long time to do properly. The buffet car will be the most difficult as I’m not aware of a kit/ sides for that. 
 

Andy

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1 hour ago, thegreenhowards said:

Thanks Andrew,

 

That largely fits with what I know. The best picture I’ve seen is in Steam Around London The Post War Years by Brian Morrison on p131. This is of the veterans going northbound. It’s certainly 11 coaches with a Thompson RK as the third vehicle. I can’t make out a second RK but there is another Thompson as coach 6 which looks like an RTP, but my eyes are not sufficiently tuned into that sort of thing to be sure.

 

Modelling it all sounds achievable, but it would take a long time to do properly. The buffet car will be the most difficult as I’m not aware of a kit/ sides for that. 
 

Andy

 

Evening Andy,

 

it may have been the Thompson Buffet car from the post war Flying Scotsman, I will check in the morning.

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Some progress with the Klondike to report. the loco has had a few details and the cylinders added but I have concentrated on the tender which is now finished (although the phots show that it will need quite a bit more cleaning up!). I’m quite pleased with that having only started it on Monday evening. I was nervous having read Graham Nicholas’ description of building the LRM equivalent of this tender with the need to create the flare on the top of the tender sides. So I was relieved to find that the DJH version has a white metal top with the flare pre-formed.

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I’m struggling with a couple of items. Firstly the beading and handhold for the tender front as shown in this close up.
22B13299-137B-4EA1-81CC-E1342FA09FCE.jpeg.492137a7330215ed5cde5defb14cefa3.jpeg

 

The instructions were less than clear on how this should be attached. I’ve opted for adding it to the outside of the tender side brass sheet flush with the end. The handhold piece was square at the top right hand corner but photos show this as curved, so I’ve filed it round and added some solder on the inside. Does this look right?

 

The other problem is the less than elegant method of attachment of the coal rails to the tender top. The instructions show brass lugs bent at right angles and soldered to the top of the tender sides as shown below.

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Does anyone have any thoughts on how to tidy this up or disguise it?

 

Andy

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1 hour ago, richard i said:

Coal, and lots of it.

 


Good point! I was thinking that you don’t normally see coal going right to the back of the tender, but as there is no division plate on this one, presumably I can load it with coal right the way round.

 

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What they said.    Clear area round the water filler where the fireman's kicked it away, but you can cover the rest, I'd have thought.  

 

The handholds look OK to me.   I'll bear that in mind when I build mine.   I think the beading's Ok as well - I've done two of the LRM ones recently and I made both of them like that.

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3 hours ago, jwealleans said:

What they said.    Clear area round the water filler where the fireman's kicked it away, but you can cover the rest, I'd have thought.  

 

The handholds look OK to me.   I'll bear that in mind when I build mine.   I think the beading's Ok as well - I've done two of the LRM ones recently and I made both of them like that.

Thanks Jonathon, That’s very reassuring.

 

 

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The Klondike is almost finished.

 

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It sill needs some detailing. I’m going to add a brass smokebox door dart as this was bulled up for the railtour, so it will stand out. And it needs some ‘wiggly pipes’ around the cylinders. But other than that, I think it’s finished cosmetically - feel free to shout if I’ve missed something obvious (apart from the paint!).

 

Running wise it was very hesitant, but I’ve added tender pick ups and it now seems OK. But it’s got a tight spot which affects the low speed running and needs attention. I think this is caused by the coupling rods being not quite the right length. The holes for the crankpins were too large and I had to solder on a washer behind to bring this down to size - I may have to tweak the positioning of that washer. I just have to wait for the loft to cool down so I can do some investigation. I’ve only done a couple of tests but it will pull 13 Bachmann Mark 1s with some slipping - not bad for a little Victorian engine.

 

Andy

 

 

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A bit of a departure from the normal for me to report on. I’ve branched out into ‘O’ gauge! This Ian Kirk kit is being built partly because I fancied it and partly to run on a friend’s layout.  I fancied having a go at it because his O gauge kits are built on a modular basis meaning that they’re similar to the cut and shuts I’ve been doing in OO but without the cutting.

 

It’s quite a basic kit, but reasonably priced by O gauge standards, and it went together easily.

 

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It has no interior apart from the partitions, so I need to cut up some seats. I think balsa will be my preferred solution. But first I’m going to paint it. I intend to try teak on this one - hopefully it will be easier in the larger scale.

 

Andy

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Progress report on the BT. I tried to follow the ‘Jonathan Wealleans method’. This means first painting it in Halfords filler primer, then teak undercoat, then picking out individual panels in different shades of brown to represent varied shades of teak.

 

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Then I went over the whole lot in a brown wash varied with different shades and added small amounts of Humbrol 10 to give some darker grain. I think my wash was a bit thick as I’ve lost much of the variation between panels, but the result still looks better than my previous attempt, so I’m reasonably happy. It’s darker than some as I’m trying to represent an early ‘50s look when the coach would have been c.25 years old.

BBA56513-FD0C-4F23-A744-18EC060B9D2B.jpeg.0ee9da25181541c2624efb2903a902e1.jpegDF120945-DBFA-4829-A288-A25247429BB3.jpeg.3956bb9624480ee83d008c8061cc0b68.jpeg

 

Next time I’ll use a thinner wash. The interior has been done with balsa and card seats and some Mike Trice wall ‘decoration’ which I downloaded and blew up to 7mm. 

77C1BA91-997E-4109-9A01-9DF30275E29D.jpeg.aa89ba5f8b9e02ff3d9fbcb09cd798da.jpeg

 

To finish it I need to do the glazing, add some door furniture and some foot boards on the bogies/ solebar. Then transfers - Any suggestions as to the best bet for LNER numbering in 7mm?

 

Andy

 

 

 

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Meant to add, and this is in no way a criticism, that if you wanted to add the vertical grab handles by the doors I think "Laury Griffin Miniatures" does them in lost wax castings. Personally I loathe lost wax castings because of the fettling usually needed and the material is so hard, so given its a lot bigger than our usual scale I'd go for wire bent up in pliers.

 

Written by someone who has done a few 7mm wagon kits, and is most of the way through a diesel shunter build, coaches still to be faced!

 

John.

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6 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

Meant to add, and this is in no way a criticism, that if you wanted to add the vertical grab handles by the doors I think "Laury Griffin Miniatures" does them in lost wax castings. Personally I loathe lost wax castings because of the fettling usually needed and the material is so hard, so given its a lot bigger than our usual scale I'd go for wire bent up in pliers.

 

Written by someone who has done a few 7mm wagon kits, and is most of the way through a diesel shunter build, coaches still to be faced!

 

John.

Thanks John,

 

I had a look for grab handles and drew a blank so that’s a useful link. The trouble is the price - £12 for 12. O gauge is frighteningly expensive! I think I’ll stick with .45mm wire bent up.

 

As for transfers, it seems to be between Fox and HMRS. I’m inclined to go with Fox as I like waterslide but if anyone had any other suggestions I’d all ears.

 

Andy

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I rather like that in close up - you've got a nice 'water getting under the varnish' effect in one or two panels.

 

You may be right about too much topcoat and you maybe could have been a bit more extreme in panel variations before applying the top colour - even I worry about how some of mine are going to turn out and I haven't yet had to strip and repaint one.

 

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I'd be perfectly happy with that as a result, though.

 

Assuming the Fox transfers in 7mm are consistent with their 4mm ones, go for them.  They'll be the right size.

 

 

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10 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Thanks John,

 

I had a look for grab handles and drew a blank so that’s a useful link. The trouble is the price - £12 for 12. O gauge is frighteningly expensive! I think I’ll stick with .45mm wire bent up.

 

As for transfers, it seems to be between Fox and HMRS. I’m inclined to go with Fox as I like waterslide but if anyone had any other suggestions I’d all ears.

 

Andy

Andy, I think you've hit the nail on the head in terms of cost, it's the add-ons in 7mm that really seem to bump up the costs. I have two or three of the Kirk Gresley non-corridors in my store, and from memory they were just over £40 a piece, which I think is really good value. It's when you start buying bits that it all soars! So definitely bent wire for me, might even make liittle jig to make sure they're all the same.

 

John.

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John,

 

As you say, Kirk kits seem excellent value until you realise what you need to complete them. I bought mine from H&A at the Stevenage show this year. When he added the metal bits to finish it off the price doubled and I nearly put it back. But in the end I bought the wheels and buffers and left the screw couplings. I’m still not sure what I’ll use for couplings but I’m not prepared to pay nearly £10 for one pair - it’s extortionate! 
 

I'm working on accurascale to sell theirs In 7mm as they do in 4mm. The 4mm ones are £1 each (and excellent) so even if it doubled for 7mm that would be affordable.

 

Andy

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A first view of my latest project...a D.194/5 Steel artic. I already have one of these, but they tended to run in a five set with a pair of twin-arts and a composite in between (Initially a shorty D.190, later a Thompson or Mark 1).

 

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it’s made from brass sides glued to a cut down railroad Hornby Gresley donor. A lot of work still required, particularly on the underframe.

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Another project nearing completion. Those of you who follow ‘Wright Writes’ will have seen Seagull in bare white metal while I was trying to work out what to do to the tender. Here she is almost finished.

 

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Just coal, crew, lamps, cylinder drain cocks and some light weathering to go. The tender had to be cut down to represent one of those modified for the 1948 locomotive exchanges as shown here.

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This is made from an old Wills Body kit mounted on a Hornby chassis. The fit of the white metal was poor and needed a lot of filing down which lost most of the river detail. I’ve replaced the obvious line along the top with Archers transfers. But please don’t count them...it’s just a representation!

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I’ve jus bought an airbrush and this was my first attempt at using it. I think the jury’s still out on whether it’s an improvement over hand painting (in my hands), but I’m reasonably pleased with the result so I will be trying it again. I’ll probably practice on some coaches next, before tackling the Klondike.

 

Andy

 

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