Wright writes.....

[great central]

An aside. On moving to Retford in January 2003 I became more interested in the railways of Nottinghamshire (and area) and began to look at Nottingham and the GC in particular. I spent several days on 'field trips' looking at the few remaining areas of earthworks and infrastructure including trying to orientate myself at Colwick. What a huge web of lines there were and how few are left now. I suspect people may have been suspicious of me peering over fences and into old cuttings but what a sad sort of entertainment it was for me. However, I have several lovely books in my collection and what a Town it must have been for railway enthusiasts until the late 60s/early 70s.

I never saw the actual Victoria but fortunately Midland retains much of its' historic buildings and just a little atmosphere.

Phil

Midland with atmosphere???

Not what I'd call it on a freezing cold morning at 04.00, always many degrees colder at platform level. Buildings are listed so can't be draught proofed or insulated properly, well that's what they tell us?

As for atmosphere in the middle of summer on a Friday or Saturday evening, why do you think some of the trains carry security staff and there's usually a fairly visible police presence?

 

GC looking through the rose tinted window of youth.

[Woodcock29]

Just have to say what a superb photo of Nottingham Victoria - has this station ever been modelled ?

 

Brit15

The answer to this is yes! And by a friend of mine here in Adelaide. We operate it about every 5-6 weeks but preferably not on a very hot day in summer as its the only layout in our Wed Club group that is not in an air conditioned shed. 

 

Have to go to golf in a minute, I'll post some photos I have of it later.

 

Andrew

[Lecorbusier]

 Buildings are listed so can't be draught proofed or insulated properly, well that's what they tell us?

Hmmmmmm! 

[jamie92208]

What a fantastic project Nottingham Victoria would be.

 

Nu-Cast V2 10.jpg

 

Plenty of V2s would be needed. This one, however, will be a New England-allocated one, so unlikely to have been seen on the ex-GC.

 

When WMRC built Charwelton (which is now in diesel-mode - now run by others), we must have had about a dozen V2s to call on. I'd built about eight or nine, Tony Geary had at least two, and there were a couple belonging to other members, not to mention guest ones (two of which I'd built for customers). Two of Tony's ended up on Peterborough North, but I had to modify them to run round the tighter radii. They also ran on Stoke Summit.

 

All were built from kits, of course; no Bachmann ones were used, largely because of indifferent (split-chassis) performance and poor body. Now the Bachmann one, at last, has a decent chassis and a new body is promised. But when will it arrive? Not that I'm over-bothered, but I'm sure it'll mean masses of older Bachmann V2s coming up for sale second-hand.

 

Just the valve gear to erect on this one tomorrow, and book reviews to write...................... How did I ever find the time to go to work? 

 

What happened to the engineering possession and the bridgeworks over the holiday period.

 

Jamie

[richard i]

Two of the V2 on charwelton even had the same number. Both Tony’s and mine. We had both been inspired by the same colour picture of one running on the gc. I should have checked with him before nailing down which one I was going to build. His ran far more often than mine.....it was better.

Richard.

Edited January 7, 2019 by richard i

[Woodcock29]

The answer to this is yes! And by a friend of mine here in Adelaide. We operate it about every 5-6 weeks but preferably not on a very hot day in summer as its the only layout in our Wed Club group that is not in an air conditioned shed. 

 

Have to go to golf in a minute, I'll post some photos I have of it later.

 

Andrew

Further to my post above, if I had read the other posts above it I would have noted that you had found Tony Phillip's 'Nottingham Victoria' layout, photographed by BRM's Phil Parker when I took him to visit Tony back in Oct 2014!

 

Anyway here are a couple of my photos taken at the same time. Tony has shortened the part of the station inside the roof and not included the crossovers between the through lines and the relief road in the centre. His period is late 1940s. Most of his locos are RTR so that limits the available LNER locos to him. He does have 2 C12s, one of which I built (Craftsman) and the other, a SE Finecast kit by another friend of ours. He also runs quite a bit of LMS on the layout.

 

Andrew  

Edited January 7, 2019 by Woodcock29

[Mallard60022]

Midland with atmosphere???

Not what I'd call it on a freezing cold morning at 04.00, always many degrees colder at platform level. Buildings are listed so can't be draught proofed or insulated properly, well that's what they tell us?

As for atmosphere in the middle of summer on a Friday or Saturday evening, why do you think some of the trains carry security staff and there's usually a fairly visible police presence?

 

GC looking through the rose tinted window of youth.

Well, sadly, that's the actuality as it is at any large station these days and at some, the daily routine even in daylight. What I was droning on about was the facia and the steps down to Platform level and the remaining signs of a more interesting time before plastic took over the world. Mind you, I remember a few 'interesting' evening experiences at one or two London Termini back in the 70s/80s, especially if I had made an error and there had been a football encounter involving travelling thugs. There was even thug trouble at Retford some years back when some so called fans were dumped at the station by the coach Company they had been using and the Police had to set about sorting that lot of ####s. Why someone wants to open a pub on Platform 1 at 36E is beyond me, we are not a busy exchange station in any sense of the word and the existing Coffee Room should be extended or resited to what was the old and still decorative Buffet.

Apologies Tony for off topic mumbling so early in the day.

Phil 

[Tony Wright]

What happened to the engineering possession and the bridgeworks over the holiday period.

 

Jamie

It's postponed; for just a short while.

 

As I mentioned in my PM, Jamie, other things have rather got in the way.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[The Stationmaster]

Hello MIke

 

I took this query up with S&D Fireman/Driver Peter Smith some years ago - he confirmed that he always lamped up according to the forward direction (as per what you say - when viewed from the cab towards the chimney in the forward direction). 

 

He had never considered it 'a problem' as everyone knew what to do.

 

There was also the 'light engine' lamp code. And 'standard' express code - lamp or disc over each buffer - was used if the chimney bracket was in use for a train headboard (such as the Pines Express).

 

Brian

 

The freight code was a lamp at the foot of the chimney and one above the right hand buffer.

Hello again

 

Attached is from the Passenger WTT (the Freight WTT detailed the freight headlamp code).

 

Brian

 

Unusually the S&D headcodes are not shown in the 1960 Sectional Appendix although other local codes do appear in some other WR 1960 Appendices.

[Chamby]

It's postponed; for just a short while.

 

As I mentioned in my PM, Jamie, other things have rather got in the way.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

 

Sad face.

[Captain Kernow]

I thought I would share a rather unusual and unexpected experience I had whilst out shopping for some new soldering iron bits this afternoon.

 

I decided to visit Brewsters, in Plymouth city centre, who are Antex stockists amongst other things.

 

I couldn't remember the wattage of my soldering iron (silly me!) and so wasn't sure which bits I should purchase (despite having brought a couple of examples of my current bits with me).

 

The young assistant wasn't sure, so he called the proprietor over. We quickly established that my existing variable temperature Antex iron is a 50w item and he pointed out the correct bits for this. A more general discussion on matters connected with soldering then ensued, during which he revealed that he and his father used to own Antex and used to have a factory elsewhere in the city, where the soldering irons were made.

 

During the discussions, the following allegations were then made:

 

- A customer had returned a bit (or might have been a complete iron) after only a week or so and Mr Brewster (that may or may not be his actual name, by the way, but I didn't ask) stated that he'd 'never seen such damage to a bit/iron' and asked the customer what he'd been using. The customer apparently returned with a bottle of Carrs Green Label flux, which 'Mr Brewster' promptly sent off to a chemist chum of his for analysis. The chemist apparently got back to him and said that he'd only done some kind of a preliminary analysis, but the stuff was 'so noxious that he wasn't prepared to investigate any further'.

 

- 'Mr Brewster' then alleged that if you used Green Label for more than about half an hour in any enclosed space (eg. a shed or work room), you would probably knock yourself out or do yourself other terrible, (unspecified) harm.

 

- He also stated that he had contacted Trading Standards, who had apparently also told him that 'the stuff should/would have been banned, but for the fact that it was sold in a bottle size just under the legal minimum', or some such. 'Mr Brewster' then stated that 'the bast*rds (Carrs) know this and are deliberately using this 'loophole' to sell this product'.

 

- The discussion also touched on low temperature irons and low-melt solder. Apparently there is no iron on sale now that goes below 200 degrees C. I mentioned that I used to have an Oryx 12v iron for low-melt solder, to which 'Mr Brewster' stated that none of the commercially available model railway controllers of the time, 'even those by Gaugemaster and H&M' had enough amperage to run this iron. I told him that I'd had mine hooked up to an H&M 'Duette' for about 15 - 20 years with very satisfactory results.

 

- The use (or non-use) of lead in low-melt solder was then raised (again, by 'Mr Brewster'). Apparently you cannot manufacture anything now for public consumption with lead-based solder (which he likened to asbestos), without risking a £25,000 fine. He said that, 'a lady had recently tried to sell something featuring lead solder and had been fined the full £25,000'.

 

- Telling me that contemporary low-melt solder is just a 'mish-mash of melted-down whitemetal and other rubbish', I explained that I had some older stock of decent low-melt solder to keep me going. Apparently, though, if I were now to exhibit a whitemetal kit loco built using lead-based solder at a public exhibition, I too could get fined £25,000, as could the exhibition organiser!

 

 

Although I did purchase the spare bits that I had gone in there to get, I left with a profound feeling of dissatisfaction at having effectively been subjected to this man's ranting. I shall not use his business again.

 

Thinking back, though, I seem to recall at least one person telling me, years ago, about this 'Mr Brewster' and his personal hobby horse. I can't recall if this was mentioned on RMWeb or by someone that I have met.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience at this shop?

Edited January 7, 2019 by Captain Kernow

[polybear]

I guess all owners of older cars had better not drive them in public then, cos' there's a pretty fair chance there's lead based solder in there somewhere.....

[Bucoops]

Sounds like a classic case of lead poisoning.

[bbishop]

Strangely, yes.  I rang him about six months ago, asking for a bit for my heavy duty Antex.  "Don't stock them, they are cr@p".  I then received a lecture about how dreadful Antex irons are.

 

So at the next exhibition, I asked "Eileen's" lad for a bit.  "80 or 100?" "Dunno, does it matter?" "Yes!"  Plumped for 100 and got it right. 

 

Any of you drink full strength Coca-Cola?  If so, then you are only drinking diluted green label.

 

On the subject of irons, I also have a variable high temp iron Antex and a variable low temp Antex.  Plus a 30w electrical one bought at Maplins, which truly is awful. 

 

Bill

[Willie Whizz]

I’ve always believed that, sadly, a model of Nottingham Victoria would be very difficult to pull off successfully - partly from the sheer size and complexity but mainly because of the location - deep within what, I believe, was at the time the largest man-made excavation in the country and possibly the world. Being a spectator would be very challenging; more so even than ‘Lime Street’.

 

However I recall that many years ago now one of the magazines did publish a plan by Peter Kazmirczac of New Basford Station and the carriage sidings that were discussed earlier, in something like 16ft x 8ft and therefore within the grasp of a determined solo modeller. I still have it somewhere, buried in archives I can’t currently reach, but I seem to recall that though the track plan wasn’t quite correct, it was fairly close, and there was also a list of the major through passenger trains. If anyone was interested in modelling the area it might be worth looking this up.

[St Enodoc]

I thought I would share a rather unusual and unexpected experience I had whilst out shopping for some new soldering iron bits this afternoon.

 

I decided to visit Brewsters, in Plymouth city centre, who are Antex stockists amongst other things.

 

I couldn't remember the wattage of my soldering iron (silly me!) and so wasn't sure which bits I should purchase (despite having brought a couple of examples of my current bits with me).

 

The young assistant wasn't sure, so he called the proprietor over. We quickly established that my existing variable temperature Antex iron is a 50w item and he pointed out the correct bits for this. A more general discussion on matters connected with soldering then ensued, during which he revealed that he and his father used to own Antex and used to have a factory elsewhere in the city, where the soldering irons were made.

 

During the discussions, the following allegations were then made:

 

- A customer had returned a bit (or might have been a complete iron) after only a week or so and Mr Brewster (that may or may not be his actual name, by the way, but I didn't ask) stated that he'd 'never seen such damage to a bit/iron' and asked the customer what he'd been using. The customer apparently returned with a bottle of Carrs Green Label flux, which 'Mr Brewster' promptly sent off to a chemist chum of his for analysis. The chemist apparently got back to him and said that he'd only done some kind of a preliminary analysis, but the stuff was 'so noxious that he wasn't prepared to investigate any further'.

 

- 'Mr Brewster' then alleged that if you used Green Label for more than about half an hour in any enclosed space (eg. a shed or work room), you would probably knock yourself out or do yourself other terrible, (unspecified) harm.

 

- He also stated that he had contacted Trading Standards, who had apparently also told him that 'the stuff should/would have been banned, but for the fact that it was sold in a bottle size just under the legal minimum', or some such. 'Mr Brewster' then stated that 'the bast*rds (Carrs) know this and are deliberately using this 'loophole' to sell this product'.

 

- The discussion also touched on low temperature irons and low-melt solder. Apparently there is no iron on sale now that goes below 200 degrees C. I mentioned that I used to have an Oryx 12v iron for low-melt solder, to which 'Mr Brewster' stated that none of the commercially available model railway controllers of the time, 'even those by Gaugemaster and H&M' had enough amperage to run this iron. I told him that I'd had mine hooked up to an H&M 'Duette' for about 15 - 20 years with very satisfactory results.

 

- The use (or non-use) of lead in low-melt solder was then raised (again, by 'Mr Brewster'). Apparently you cannot manufacture anything now for public consumption with lead-based solder (which he likened to asbestos), without risking a £25,000 fine. He said that, 'a lady had recently tried to sell something featuring lead solder and had been fined the full £25,000'.

 

- Telling me that contemporary low-melt solder is just a 'mish-mash of melted-down whitemetal and other rubbish', I explained that I had some older stock of decent low-melt solder to keep me going. Apparently, though, if I were now to exhibit a whitemetal kit loco built using lead-based solder at a public exhibition, I too could get fined £25,000, as could the exhibition organiser!

 

 

Although I did purchase the spare bits that I had gone in there to get, I left with a profound feeling of dissatisfaction at having effectively been subjected to this man's ranting. I shall not use his business again.

 

Thinking back, though, I seem to recall at least one person telling me, years ago, about this 'Mr Brewster' and his personal hobby horse. I can't recall if this was mentioned on RMWeb or by someone that I have met.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience at this shop?

I get all my spare/replacement Antex bits from Element14 (formerly Farnell). Usual disclaimer.

[APOLLO]

I was building a layout based on Leicester central back in 1990-93, about half built then I got married & moved house. The OO stuff was packed away for a few years as I (re)built my O gauge in a shed (away from 'er indoors). My OO is up in the loft now (wife dislikes ladders !!).

 

Leicester Central is a fairly simple layout (though long - I had to compress it a bit) with useful loops both sides of the big main island platform - in essence it's half a Nottingham Victoria on a viaduct. I considered Victoria in the loft, plenty of space but the two tracks each end would have restricted my need for multi train operation. I went free-lance and am pleased with what I've built - it's still GC / GN based though.

 

Sheffield Victoria (with or without electrification) would be interesting - I've seen a model of this in a mag a few years ago. I keep thinking about Leeds Central or Bradford Exchange if I ever rebuild - both very interesting stations. Leeds has the edge locomotive wise - Bradford "scenery" (industrial grot) wise !!

 

I suppose living in Wigan I should be a WCML fan - I am but not for modelling, I have built a smallish Wigan GC / Springs Branch LNWR loft layout based on Ince near Wigan, both were backwaters railways with lots of industrial grot, Interesting lines I remember from my youth.

 

Brit15

Edited January 7, 2019 by APOLLO

[Tony Wright]

At the risk of being 'fined', here's the old Nu-Cast V2 now completed. 

 

 

This is the Comet chassis. No matter how many sets of Walschaerts valve gear I make, at some point parts of it will jam up. That's why I always separate construction into two halves. 

 

 

Why is it that my modelling looks so rough these days? Granted, nothing on this model has yet been scrubbed but parts of it do look a bit grotty. Still, doesn't a good paint job hide a multitude of tins? 

 

Because I had to do some mods on the loco body and chassis to get them to match (my choice), it took me some 28 hours to build this. Fast enough, I suppose, but not as rapid as the SEF A3. 

 

At least it goes well. I coupled it up to 14 heavy bogies this evening and it just romped along. Plenty of weight, that's it. 

Edited January 7, 2019 by Tony Wright

[Compound2632]

Still, doesn't a good paint job hide a multitude of tins? 

 

Ha!

Edited January 7, 2019 by Compound2632

[Atso]

That's a lovely V2 Tony and it looks great in its raw metal state.

 

Because I had to do some mods on the loco body and chassis to get them to match (my choice), it took me some 28 hours to build this. Fast enough, I suppose, but not as rapid as the SEF A3.

 

28 hours? My latest project has consumed almost twice that amount of time (not including research) and it is still in the electronic finger painting stage! Who said this 3D printing lark was faster!? With a bit of luck I'll have an initial test print/model to show on Sunday, if you're still going to be attending Stevenage - I hope that V2 will be attending too. Edited January 7, 2019 by Atso

[Chamby]

I’ve always believed that, sadly, a model of Nottingham Victoria would be very difficult to pull off successfully - partly from the sheer size and complexity but mainly because of the location - deep within what, I believe, was at the time the largest man-made excavation in the country and possibly the world. Being a spectator would be very challenging; more so even than ‘Lime Street’.

 

*snip*

I think Nottingham Victoria would make a stunning model. The size of the excavation, with the tunnel entry at each end sets natural boundaries that would focus all the attention on this classic ‘cathedral of steam’. Opening up one side of the pit, and one half of each roof span would enable good viewing of the majority of the station. The challenge of course is that it would be a huge undertaking of architectural modelling, and the enormous variety of GC, GN and cross country services would require an equally vast stock inventory. But it would be ideal as a large club looking for an epic project, and if done well it would create unique and hugely popular exhibition centrepiece.

 

Phil.

[APOLLO]

V2's - lovely locos. I only remember seeing a couple on York shed when we bunked it on a school trip back around 1966.

 

I did manage a trip behind Green Arrow back on the 16 june 1974 with my dad (who somehow wangled free tickets!!) The trip was Wigan - Carnforth - Leeds - Scarborough and if I remember correctly green arrow took us from Carnforth to Leeds.

 

A couple of photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited to add - Railtour ticket  - 

 

When I built my Leicester Central layout I bought a couple of the then new Mainline / Replica V2's. They were a disaster running / haulage wise. I modified them by adding a Hornby B17 tender drive unit with suitable connections and modified the tender body to fit - Thus dual motored they then worked well and would pull anything (and still do) but they sound like Concorde on take off - I don't run them much these days !!

 

Brit15

Edited January 8, 2019 by APOLLO

[Woodcock29]

At the risk of being 'fined', here's the old Nu-Cast V2 now completed. 

 

Nu-Cast V2 11.jpg

 

This is the Comet chassis. No matter how many sets of Walschaerts valve gear I make, at some point parts of it will jam up. That's why I always separate construction into two halves. 

 

Nu-Cast V2 12.jpg

 

Why is it that my modelling looks so rough these days? Granted, nothing on this model has yet been scrubbed but parts of it do look a bit grotty. Still, doesn't a good paint job hide a multitude of tins? 

 

Because I had to do some mods on the loco body and chassis to get them to match (my choice), it took me some 28 hours to build this. Fast enough, I suppose, but not as rapid as the SEF A3. 

 

At least it goes well. I coupled it up to 14 heavy bogies this evening and it just romped along. Plenty of weight, that's it. 

Hello Tony

 

The V2 looks nice but I would have modified the valve gear so its in forward gear - but them I'm very pedantic about some things. Not that all my locos are so as I didn't build them like this many years ago. I would also have fitted a better shaped vacuum pipe or reshaped it.

 

I'm building a Nucast D2 at the moment which has a strange arrangement for the front frames under the footplate - which is a solid casting that sits above and moves with the bogie but it seems to work on test running of the chassis. The castings are quite poor in places and require a lot of work, eg the vacuum pipe along the right hand valence had to be removed as the gap between it and the footplate was half filled with flash and that couldn't be removed without damage to both the pipe and the footplate edge, the splasher and tenders sides are pitted in places and the boiler of course needed all the boiler bands removed - I do that anyway regardless now. I'll be fitting a LRM chimney. No 28 hour build time for this - I don't think I could manage any loco kit in that time!

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Andrew 

[DougN]

Tony the V2 captures the look of the locos. I have been building a Martin Finney Version for a number of years, tender completed

But the body and chassis to the loco not very far along. Your photo above really does show the boiler and the rise to the back plate of the fire box well. I was always concerned with the way the boiler was designed in my kit. Your convinces me it is right ( or should that be Wright?) I think the tender alone took me over 28hrs. I am moving forward on a Martin Finney A4 tender at the moment so the V2 is sitting in the queue of kits to be finished off. I have a bit of a thing of getting started kits finished. Ok the A4 tender started before the V2... and there are a list of other things to finish as well.... it has slowed me buying more kits to build and I have more things finished working this way so this way of modelling works for me!

[Lecorbusier]

Why is it that my modelling looks so rough these days? Granted, nothing on this model has yet been scrubbed but parts of it do look a bit grotty. 

What aspects in particular had you in mind? ...... or is it simply the polishing many like to show it off to its best in the raw but which should has little to no impact on the painted loco?