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great northern
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45 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

D332 was advertised as available on April 1st (see News).  I can't see the others either.  Maybe Phil has an inside track?

July Railway Modeller Page 50a ads section Wizard's site. 

Philth

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42 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

One key cleaner trick/obsession is piling up coasters. You leave these in strategic places all over the house, so that wherever you are, should you need to put a mug or glass down while you do something, one will be at hand. Not so, say the cleaners, and pile them all up in one place where you never need to put that mug or glass down anyway. Sigh. 

Agreed, but even worse, given that our memories are perhaps not quite as good as they used to be, is to push everything into corners. I leave stuff lined up across window sills to avoid out of sight, out of mind syndrome. After cleaner's visit, all has been pushed into one corner. "Leave it alone", in stern voice, seems to have no effect at all, except that the smug "I know better, and eventually I will wear you down" expression appears on their faces.

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1 minute ago, great northern said:

No sleepless nights while waiting for the next Tim special to be revealed, I hope?:jester:  Anyway, the time has come. I got a bit bored of having just enough Gateshead locos for the rostered duties, so I succumbed to temptation, yet again, and decided to get another. I do like to have locos which appear in my very useful copy of British Railways steaming through Peterborough, so that restricted the choice, and having just acquired another A3 meant it wasn't going to be one of those. That left A4 or A1, as I already have 52A's only A2. and we weren't looking at Thompson locos this time.

 

 A1s are very nice, but of course in the end it was always going to be another A4. In my book there are just two candidates, Silver King and Guillemot. The latter was very dirty whenever I saw it, and other contemporary photos tell the same story, so I wasn't keen on it. My photo of Silver King in summer of 58 showed it to be in middling condition, not pristine, but not really dirty either, so that was the challenge I set for Tim. As usual, he rose to the occasion, and I really am delighted with the result.

 

 

1507175758_3161.JPG.cf668e9be913caf9efb4226dd2d80ff0.JPG

 

 

1763382778_4162.JPG.4f2369991336e3cf6aec0f0da97475eb.JPG

 

Agaqin the low light perhaps doesn't fully do it justice, but this is exactly as I remember the condition of probably the majority of Pacifics in the late 50s. You could see they were green, but a muted green through lack of regular cleaning, and Tim has captured the subtleties really well.

 

One loco of this standard would have been great, but to have two on the same day is really something. I needed a boost, and I got one.

60016 was worth waiting for!

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Absolutely cracking locos Gilbert and Tim.  That A3 is close to perfection as we can get in our hobby for a RTR loco.  You’ve got me worried about my use of Coronach now, I thought I had the right boiler for Blair Athol but now I’ll have to go back to Yeadons...

 

Cheers

Tony

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7 hours ago, great northern said:

No sleepless nights while waiting for the next Tim special to be revealed, I hope?:jester:  Anyway, the time has come. I got a bit bored of having just enough Gateshead locos for the rostered duties, so I succumbed to temptation, yet again, and decided to get another. I do like to have locos which appear in my very useful copy of British Railways steaming through Peterborough, so that restricted the choice, and having just acquired another A3 meant it wasn't going to be one of those. That left A4 or A1, as I already have 52A's only A2. and we weren't looking at Thompson locos this time.

 

 A1s are very nice, but of course in the end it was always going to be another A4. In my book there are just two candidates, Silver King and Guillemot. The latter was very dirty whenever I saw it, and other contemporary photos tell the same story, so I wasn't keen on it. My photo of Silver King in summer of 58 showed it to be in middling condition, not pristine, but not really dirty either, so that was the challenge I set for Tim. As usual, he rose to the occasion, and I really am delighted with the result.

 

 

1507175758_3161.JPG.cf668e9be913caf9efb4226dd2d80ff0.JPG

 

 

1763382778_4162.JPG.4f2369991336e3cf6aec0f0da97475eb.JPG

 

Agaqin the low light perhaps doesn't fully do it justice, but this is exactly as I remember the condition of probably the majority of Pacifics in the late 50s. You could see they were green, but a muted green through lack of regular cleaning, and Tim has captured the subtleties really well.

 

One loco of this standard would have been great, but to have two on the same day is really something. I needed a boost, and I got one.

Even Gateshead-mucky, Silver King had star quality. Proof. 1963, I'm six rising seven, we are at Newcastle Central fairly late at night to see my Uncle and family off on a motorail to either Fort William or Inverness. Station is rammed - Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton there, I imagine to do with filming 'Becket' at Bamburgh. I don't remember them at all - I DO remember Silver King in the Sunderland platforms with a parcels (my earliest datable memory of a Streak). Who needs Hollywood when you can have an A4?

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9 hours ago, trw1089 said:

Absolutely cracking locos Gilbert and Tim.  That A3 is close to perfection as we can get in our hobby for a RTR loco.  You’ve got me worried about my use of Coronach now, I thought I had the right boiler for Blair Athol but now I’ll have to go back to Yeadons...

 

Cheers

Tony

I'm a bit puzzled here Tony. You wouldn't have a double chimney A3, surely?  Or have you changed it to single?

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10 hours ago, great northern said:

I'm a bit puzzled here Tony. You wouldn't have a double chimney A3, surely?  Or have you changed it to single?

Hi Gilbert

 

I changed back to single chimney and spruced it up using the Brassmasters superdetail kit plus new front wheels aka below:

 

bhlJRE.jpg

 

Only problem was that Hornby Mag used this as the main image for the article and the shed plate had fallen off, so instead of it being a Donny loco, it was still supposedly a Carlisle Canal beast (well that’s if anyone looked that closely...).

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41 minutes ago, trw1089 said:

Hi Gilbert

 

I changed back to single chimney and spruced it up using the Brassmasters superdetail kit plus new front wheels aka below:

 

bhlJRE.jpg

 

Only problem was that Hornby Mag used this as the main image for the article and the shed plate had fallen off, so instead of it being a Donny loco, it was still supposedly a Carlisle Canal beast (well that’s if anyone looked that closely...).

If you are that bovvered Tony, it is wrong, I'm afraid, as according to Yeadon 60058 never carried a Dia 107 boiler. We are mainly talking about the position of one washout plug here though.

 

Fitting of Dia 107 to A3s started late, 60109 in November 1954 is the earliest I can find in Yeadon, so you would struggle to justify one in your period. I say again though, we are looking at one washout plug.

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11 hours ago, great northern said:

By way of a change tonight, we will have a prototype shot, as usual copyright of Andrew C Ingram. This is the picture that persuaded me that Silver King should join the fleet.

 

My first locomotive was my older brothers  Hornby Dublo 'Silver King' converted to 2 rail running,  it's 50+ years old and still stretches its legs.

 

Every layout should have one.... 

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Thanks Gilbert

 

But now that I know, I will have to do something about it...  And here I was thinking I’d done well because I sorted out that I needed a curly 6...

 

Cheers

Tony

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6 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

 

My first locomotive was my older brothers  Hornby Dublo 'Silver King' converted to 2 rail running,  it's 50+ years old and still stretches its legs.

 

Every layout should have one.... 

When I was 11 my dad built me a model railway for Christmas. Proper job, baseboards, the lot. Why was I disappointed, if only a bit?  The big green engine was Duchess of Montrose, not Silver King.

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On 26/06/2019 at 22:13, great northern said:

Today was a Tim day, and you know what that means......goodies! As I don't want you getting over excited at this time of night, I shall reveal only one of them now, but the other will be seen tomorrow, so you can have a guess at what it might be.

 

Some time ago, Tim mentioned me that Hornby's model of 60093 Coronach had the best rendition of BR green that they had ever managed to achieve. 60093 though was a Carlisle Canal loco, and so almost never seen down our way. The only time I saw it was on a Donny plant visit. Hornby did it with a Dia 107 boiler and double chimney, which gave very few choices for me if I wanted to change identity, and so I did not get one when it came out. A while back though I saw one on E bay, and as they are now very rare indeed, I put a reasonable bid in, and to my surprise, I got it.

 

Before bidding though I had researched suitable candidates, as sometimes I am not entirely stupid. With the first double chimney loco only having emerged in June 58, and with my already having snaffled four of the possibilities, I was left with few choices. However, 60054 Prince of Wales was a Grantham engine, came out ex works on 29/8/58, and had an A4 boiler. What's more, I found a photo of it on Grantham shed in ex works condition, which can only have been taken either in 58 or after its next works visit. Job done, photo copied to Tim, with "do it like that please" as the instructions.

 

And here it is.868623840_1541.JPG.6d02309c97c91d3d2a114908dfcd4e39.JPG

 

 

1360536538_2542.JPG.844eb9dfb9b133792e8ff8a831c6e93a.JPG

 

Light was in short supply today, so these don't quite do it justice, and I don't know where the camera got that crescent shaped mark on the tender on the right hand side, as there isn't one. Nevertheless, it is another superb job. You've seen my other very recently ex works one, Grand Parade, which is very nice, but this is much more subtle and less garish. No doubt it will become the pride of Grantham, as it was the first double chimney engine they got. I am very pleased indeed that I gave way to temptation and bought this.

 

I just love this thread . Almost every picture has something memorable or fascinating

Prince Of Wales 60054 : fresh from the works with not just any old double chimney but a Kychap. At first the Kychap arrangement was patented and subject to a heavy licence  fee so at first only four A4's had them but they were so successful that once the patent expired all the A4's and A3's were retro fitted together with the Peppercorn Pacifics and I am pretty certain that the double chimneyed V2's were Kylchap fitted to give them extra performance on the heavy  Scottish freights. 

The greatest success was on the A3's though. Kychap exhausts were fitted to the A3's at a cost of around £230 , a sizeable sum in the late '50's but so successful were  they in improving both performance and economy  that the cost was quickly recovered . It was said that Kychap fitted A3's were never short of steam even with poor coal and a relatively inexperienced fireman and even though only rated 7P top shed used then interchangeably with 8P rated  A4's on all but the most prestigious Top Link duties. The secret of the Kychap exhaust was the way it mixed smokebox gasses more efficiently , using three separate nozzles , but the downside was that it reduced the blast, which in turn lead to the fitting of the German style smoke deflectors on the A3's which some think ruined their appearance but personally I think looks great. 

I hope this little digression is of interest to some but it brings be to  something I was unaware of. 

Until Gilberts caption I had no idea that some A3's were fitted with A4 boilers in later years which I suppose may well have been partly responsible for their improved performance when fitted together  with Kychap exhausts. So, first question, is there any difference in outward appearance to identify whether it is an A3 or A4 boiler? At a guess, after studying photos I imagine it might be something to do with the  taper from the firebox down the first half of the boiler,  but its not clear so can anyone enlighten me (and no doubt others) on this ?

Secondly, the dome.  In Gilberts picture  Prince of Wales has a banjo dome but other boilers had a round dome. Most A3's had boiler changes in there lives ( Flying Scotsman apparently had 15 boilers in all ) so almost all of them had banjo domes at some times and round domes at other times in their lives, as boilers changed.  So My question is what was hidden away in the banjo domes that wasn't in the traditional round domes and what was the point of them ? It couldn't have been anything desperately important otherwise they would all have been fitted with one type or the other. Anyone know the answer ?

 

P. Dantic.

 

EDIT : Its actually Kylchap , not Kychap but my spell check is rather argumentative !

Edited by jazzer
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15 minutes ago, great northern said:

 The 4.05 from KX is the first train to be seen tonight, and brings in another streak.

 

 

2105327725_17001.JPG.1702a4fd42d4c683d90c8c850a3e309d.JPG

 

Meanwhile, the 5.25 slow to KX has appeared at Platform 2. This was often used for crew training on the new diesels, which came down with the Heart of Midlothian. Nearly every mention I have found says D201 was the chosen loco, and that is the case again today.

 

 

1497455071_22011.JPG.ed8252c853c167a6c4b8b1dbd44b9fa0.JPG

 

Is that Silver King?

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Good evening, Gilbert. I like those latest photo’s, and that last one made me think. Now, being on my iPad, it’s possible to easily take screenshots and crop photo’s, so what I’ve done with that last one is exactly that. Sadly it  comes out a bit too fuzzy, but it might work better if the depth of field made it so objects further away from the camera were those in focus leaving the out of focus things in the foreground. Sorry, I may not have perfectly explained that! Hopefully the cropped screenshot will. Here it is:

 

01590A2D-2BD5-4E12-97CA-583F7CD3774A.jpeg.848a935070b0986a2755adfee5f9275e.jpeg

 

Very best regards,

 

Rob.

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12 hours ago, great northern said:

The prize, if there were one, would be going to Andy.

 

 

1330696377_37002.JPG.9fdab7c6258040e328c64882f383d85a.JPG

Yes, the 4.05 was a West Riding train, and the regular duty of the big unnamed beast. Pity the photographer pressed the shutter just a little late.

 

He then moved round a bit, and tried something through the Midland arch.

 

 

921561019_4700and201.JPG.6a1f990b25e7189ef633e5a36198b97e.JPG

 

This will always work better with trains on the down slow or in Platform 6, I think, but I'll wait and see what your opinion is.

Any chance you can let me know the consist of the 4.05. Did it contain a triplet?

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