Wright writes.....

[PMP]

15 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Has anyone heard of Benyon Gates? It's a location on the ECML, but I've never heard of it.

 

Perhaps a copy thumbnail image might help, the name doesn't ring any bells for South of Hitchin.

 

Location names interest me I recall a picture you put up way back in the Hatfield area with a location name I've never heard of, or could find reference to in mapping. Wish I'd mentioned it at the time! Similar things happen in aviation photography with photographers 'naming' locations that become enthusiast folklore rather than relating to actual locations.

[St Enodoc]

20 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

A request, please....................

 

Has anyone heard of Benyon Gates? It's a location on the ECML, but I've never heard of it. 

 

I have a picture (a magnificent picture) of Deltic D9018 BALLYMOSS on the Up 'Flying Scotsman' and the only note with it is 'Benyon Gates'. 

 

There appears to be a big church in the background - Selby Abbey?

 

Many thanks in anticipation.......................

Perhaps it's supposed to be Brayton Gates.

[Tony Wright]

9 minutes ago, dibateg said:

I've been away from the thread for a while, and there has been a lot of chat to catch up on. 60831 was a Leicester GC engine and I also built a model of it from the Nu Cast kit, with that lovely cast whitemetal chassis! I think my 4mm Proscale V2s - both built by Allen Hammet went to Gilbert. I had to have one in 7mm, as they are just such magnificent engines. Here is my Finney one in the process of being weathered.

Thanks Tony,

 

Could this be the finest V2 model I've ever seen? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[dibateg]

I don't know about that - I didn't paint it mind - that was Warren Heywood's work. I can't be doing with painting the ones that have lining these days, and for a quality model you might as well get a professional paint job...

 

Regards

Tony

[4630]

16 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Perhaps it's supposed to be Brayton Gates.

 

... which is close to Selby.

 

https://www.transporttrust.com/heritage-sites/heritage-detail/brayton-gate-toll-house-selby

[Tony Wright]

2 minutes ago, 4630 said:

 

... which is close to Selby.

 

https://www.transporttrust.com/heritage-sites/heritage-detail/brayton-gate-toll-house-selby

Many thanks,

 

And thanks to the others who've commented as well.....................

 

 

This is the best I can do with the picture (it's a poor scan), but that looks like Selby Abbey in the background to me. 

 

Even though I'm an atheist, I have a great love for our magnificent churches. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[gr.king]

13 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

'it seemed as if a new, accurate Bachmann body might be just around the corner anyway, but a couple of years on it seems hard to tell if the new body is any closer to production!

 

Crystal ball anybody?'

 

Graeme,

 

A couple of years ago, I was told 'next year'; but not which year it was 'next' to!

 

How many of your V2 bodies did you actually make? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

I imagine the total was around thirty, including a small number of failures.....

 

Some moulds will last for far more than thirty castings, all depending on the complexity of surface shape. Smooth moulds, free of undercuts, in shapes that allow easy release of castings tend to go on and on. Moulds with slim rubber projections exposed on several sides to the chemical action of the resin and the mechanical effects of casting release fail much sooner. The same aplies if the overall shape makes it a fight to flex the mould enough to release each casting. 

[Fat Controller]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Many thanks,

 

And thanks to the others who've commented as well.....................

 

 

This is the best I can do with the picture (it's a poor scan), but that looks like Selby Abbey in the background to me. 

 

Even though I'm an atheist, I have a great love for our magnificent churches. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

What's that second coach?

[jwealleans]

It looks like one of the Thompsons built for the Flying Scotsman which had the sides extended down to form a fairing over the solebar.

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, jwealleans said:

It looks like one of the Thompsons built for the Flying Scotsman which had the sides extended down to form a fairing over the solebar.

It is, Jonathan,

 

In fact, it's a pressure-ventilated Thompson First Corridor, complete with Ladies' Retiring Room. 

 

As you say, it was built for the post-War 'Flying Scotsman' (three of the type were built), then used in 'The Capitals Limited' and then in 'The Elizabethan' up until 1962 (when the train ceased to exist). These cars with Ladies' Only facilities (three FKs and three TKs) were the last of their kind to run in the ECML Deltic-hauled prestige trains - 'The Heart of Midlothian' also had one in each of its sets, as well as the 'Scotsman'.

 

Not one of these wonderful vehicles (other rather the restored RB at Llangollen) exists any more. I even have a picture of one on the S&D!

 

Thompson's ultimate design legacy?

 

 

An FK with ladies' room is seen here as the second car in the 'Lizzie' at LB in 1958. 

 

 

 

And I have a model of one in the same position.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Tony Wright]

2 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

 

For some reason my last post appeared twice. Must be me! 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Tony Wright

[Leander]

6 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

 

Definitely Selby: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selby_(Brayton_Gates)_railway_station

Edited August 7, 2019 by Leander

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Leander said:

 

 

Definitely Selby: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selby_(Brayton_Gates)_railway_station

Thanks indeed,

 

It was Selby Abbey I recognised in the background.

 

Does any other trunk main line go past so many ecclesiastical gems? Is St. Paul's or Westminster Abbey visible as one climbs out of Kings Cross? What next? There are some exquisite churches next to the ECML between London and Peterborough (the two at Offord are beautiful). I don't think Huntingdon has anything really special, but Peterborough Cathedral is fine. Grantham's tall spire is always worth a view, and, if one looks eastwards heading north into Notts, Lincoln Cathedral (the finest in the realm) is visible on the skyline. Newark's spire is also worthy of note. Retford's tower has merit, though Doncaster's parish church is typical Victorian. Selby Abbey has great beauty, and York is the largest of our ancient cathedrals (with magnificent glass). Can Ripon Cathedral be seen to the west on the way to Thirsk? Probably not with its dumpy towers. I know nothing of note at Northallerton or Darlington, but Durham's Romanesque magnificence and its siting puts it into the very-best category. Newcastle has little merit, and there are some fine, robust churches further north visible from the train. Berwick? Don't know. Dunbar? Equally don't know, but St. Giles' in Edinburgh is worth a look. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Leander]

I offer St Walburgh's Church spire, much photographed over the years, overlooking Fylde Junction at at Maudland, in Preston.

[Tony Wright]

After so many diversions, I've managed to crack on with the Gibson 517 Class in EM.

 

 

It should be finished soon. My brief is just to assemble the body and frames. Geoff Haynes (who'll paint it) will get the Gibson wheels to work.......................

[jamie92208]

From my know of the ECML (Rather limited) I would add the railwayman's church as you enter Doncaster, a lovely parish chuch that you see from the A1 and the train just east of the line north of Newark and the ruined but hauntingly placed little kirk, on the cliffs near Berwick.

 

Jamie

[Tony Wright]

1 minute ago, Leander said:

I offer St Walburgh's Church spire, much photographed over the years, overlooking Fylde Junction at at Maudland, in Preston.

The second-highest spire in the land; only Salisbury is taller (Norwich is third). Grantham's is sixth - what comes in between, I don't know. 

 

But what else has the WCML to offer worship-wise compared to the ECML? 

 

Rugby? Any great church there? Lichfield suffers from its dull, sandstone construction (though its tallest 'sister' could be fourth in terms of spire height). Stafford (if I remember correctly) has an octagonal tower, but it's not high on the list of great churches. Preston as you've mentioned, yes. St. Walburgh's is Catholic, but what's the Cof E church in the city like? Lancaster, don't know. Carlisle is small (the smallest in the realm), but it makes a fine model!

 

 

 

However, compared with the great cathedrals alongside the ECML, it's not in the same league. 

 

Glasgow? 

 

One thing that does occur to me is how many churches represented on models are far too small. Even some little churches are 'vast' compared with other buildings.  

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

7 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

Rugby? Any great church there? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

No, but it had the large BTH (later AEI) English Electric (later GEC) factories, a substantial loco shed, the Locomotive Testing Station (commissioned jointly by the LMS and LNER but not completed until 1948), the wonderful "flyovers" at the SE end of the station, that signal gantry, etc. So if railway infrastructure is of any importance rather than cathedrals which largely had little to do with railway, it was a great location but arguably too large to model realistically.

 

[mullie]

Westminster Abbey is too far away to be visible from Kings Cross I would have thought. During steam days the dome of St Paul's might be visible but I don't know as by the time I started visiting London in the 70s tall buildings were starting to be erected and London cleaned up.

 

Martyn

[rowanj]

Newcastle has little merit,

 

 

A visit to the splendid St. Nicholas Cathedral at Newcastle might change your mind, Tony, I'm sure it is visible from the main line, as is the famous Keep.

[polybear]

This EM Brake Van seems to be doing quite well:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/D-S-Kit-built-etched-brass-LNER-ex-GE-20t-Brake-Van-Finescale-EM-Gauge/254318582560

[Bucoops]

4 minutes ago, polybear said:

This EM Brake Van seems to be doing quite well:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/D-S-Kit-built-etched-brass-LNER-ex-GE-20t-Brake-Van-Finescale-EM-Gauge/254318582560

 

Wow!

 

Unbuilt ones go for about £60. EM wagons persumably can easily be converted to OO by moving the wheels on the axles?

[Manxcat]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

One thing that does occur to me is how many churches represented on models are far too small. Even some little churches are 'vast' compared with other buildings.

 

 

I couldn't agree more. Here are a couple of shots of the church on my Fairhaven Road layout. A friend built it many years ago and the spire was removable to save it from damage when being moved for exhibitions. Almost inevitably, the spire was lost. I took the main building and made a new spire, added the representation of stained glass and added interior lighting. 

 

 

[Barry Ten]

Thanks to the discovery of a spare grub screw (!) my SE&CR E1 class has begun running trials:

 

 

It's always (to me, anyway) a relief when a loco walks away with a train, and while this one will end up on passenger workings, I was glad to see it not show any signs of struggling with a goods train, and to have a reasonable turn of speed. I've not put any weight in it, nor is the tender playing any role in the adhesion, but the sprung bogie seems to work very well as designed.

 

There's still a lot to be done, and my limited amount of reference materials on E1s is going to mean some careful squinting at grainy photos to work out where all the boiler details go.  I decided to make it an E1, rather than a D1, by fitting fluted rods - no great reasoning involved. I'll be sure to check those pony wheel spokes, too, Tony, and eventually it'll get a set of brake gear. The model will eventually be painted in lined olive.

 

Al

Edited August 7, 2019 by Barry Ten

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, rowanj said:

Newcastle has little merit,

 

 

A visit to the splendid St. Nicholas Cathedral at Newcastle might change your mind, Tony, I'm sure it is visible from the main line, as is the famous Keep.

My apologies, John,

 

I was forgetting the glorious 15th Century lantern spire, described as the 'most daring piece of architecture in all of Newcastle'.

 

My comment was in comparison with the much-greater ecclesiastical buildings passed by the ECML. And, Newcastle didn't have a church of cathedral status until 1882, which rather pales against the antiquity of Peterborough, Selby, York and Durham. Perhaps I should have said 'some' merit. 

 

All great buildings usually have comparisons made with others. In the case of great churches, Lincoln, York, Wells, Durham, Ely, Canterbury, Norwich, Salisbury and Westminster are usually considered the finest from olden times. Others have merit - St. Albans has a magnificent west front and Chester has the finest internal carvings for instance. St. Paul's is loved by many, and, if you want size, nothing beats Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. As for the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool, or Coventry, best let others come to their own conclusions. 

 

What a diverse thread this is!

 

Regards,

 

Tony.