Wright writes.....

[The Johnster]

It would have to have been mounted with some fairly clever springing isolating it from the bounce of the loco.  The technology was available in those days in the form of periscopes; some Italian Crosti locos already look as if they’ve got torpedo tubes... 

[Chamby]

45 minutes ago, Stanley Melrose said:

What a pity the type of video camera now commonly fitted to cars to aid reversing wasn't available in steam days.  At least one could have been mounted on the front of a loco (suitably protected from rain and snow, etc.) with a screen inside the cab to enable the driver to see ahead without peering through a possible mucky window or hiding behind a little glass screen.  The camera could even have included night viewing facilities and even be effective in fog.

 

Indeed the possibilities with modern technology are endless.  How about also operating the regulator electronically, using a handheld control.  And doing away with the firebox and fitting a pantograph on the cab roof, or a third rail collector shoe, to power electric heating elements in the boiler?  

 

But then if you follow that line of thought right the way through to it’s logical conclusion, you’d just end up with a class 90!

[Headstock]

1 hour ago, t-b-g said:

 

I recall that the good people who built Calderwood had a layout that matched that description before they built the current layout. I just can't remember what it was called but it had a big mill type building at the LHS (viewing) which the track went off scene behind. The track came out from behind the mill/wharehouse, crossed a bridge/viaduct by a signalbox and then went along the top of a high retaining wall. There were some exchange sidings, with a saddle tank shunting up and down as the trains ran behind. It was a very nice layout.

 

It may even have been called Mill Sidings or something similar but I really can't be sure!

 

Many thanks,

 

that all sounds as if it is the one that I remember, it was a very nice layout indeed.

[Headstock]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Once again, I'm unable to create a new post without an earlier one coming up. It must be me!

 

Having resurrected the L1 recently featured, I've now turned my attention to an A5 from Roy Jackson's estate (though not an actual Retford loco). 

 

 

 

A bit like me, Roy must have taken pity on locos built by others. And locos built a long time ago, because the mouldering orange box for this has 'Millholme Models, £18.37' stuck on it! 

 

Nobody seemed to know who built this loco, but Roy had scratch-built a set of compensated frames in EM for it, complete with Gibson drivers and a bogie, but no pony (anyone interested?). The original (OO) white metal chassis was also in the box. Normally, I'd not touch such a thing, but I bushed it with one eighth top hat bearings and, amazingly, with its Mashima motor and High Level gearbox, it runs superbly. I'm astonished! Since I cannot get on with friction-fit driving wheels, I've fitted my standard Romford/Markits (not a matching set with regard to the live side ones being older, and therefore not blackened). Stripping, detailing and repainting awaits. I paid the princely sum of £50.00 for this, which included the motor/gearbox. A bargain indeed! There was another EM chassis in the box, as well. One for an A1, complete with Gibson drivers. Anyone interested in that? Any proceeds will go to CRUK.  

 

 

Grantham had one or two ex-GC A5s during LB's period, so I might well finish it as this example.

 

 

It won't suit a NER-allocated one, because these had detail differences and LH drive. Also, in this case, round buffers. 

 

I saw these lovely locos at Manchester London Road and Guide Bridge. It's a great shame none made it to preservation. 

 

The third loco I acquired from Roy's estate was one he'd started - a Nu-Cast B16/2 or B16/3. I'll finish that (in OO, obviously, which will mean making a chassis). I hope when I'm gone, folk will complete any projects I've started. Anyone interested in an EM B16/2 or B16/3 set of frames (no wheels)? And/or a Steve Barnfied etched NER tender kit? I have a spare NER tender. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon Tony,

 

I really like the A5 tanks. With a bit of luck, I shall be having a crack at one in the new year. They were the best something or other, thingamjig ever.

[Barry Ten]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

Once again, I'm unable to create a new post without an earlier one coming up. It must be me!

 

 

 

 

 

It's not you, Tony - it's something to do with the forum software. The next time it happens, see if you can spot a "clear editor" option or something similar. I'm not sure why

it happens sometimes and not others.

 

Al

[MJI]

21 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

As promised, some shots of Little Bytham's freight/goods locos............................

 

As always, I'll credit the origins of each.

 

Apologies for the visual distortions caused by the necessity of using a wide-angle lens.

 

 

LB's five 9Fs. From left to right: Kitmaster/Comet/Crownline/Alexander. Built, painted and weathered by my elder son Tom when he was 15 (with a bit of help from me carving off the handrails and making the valve gear), 23 years ago: DJH, built by Roy Jackson, painted/weathered by Geoff Kent: Bachmann 9F, modified/detailed, weathered by me: Model Loco, built by me, painted and weathered by Geoff Haynes: DJH, builder unknown, painted by Larry Goddard, detailed by me and weathered by Geoff Haynes. 

 

 

The three LB Austerities. Clockwise: two DJH examples, built/painted/weathered by Tony Geary (a privilege to have such lovely, natural locos on my trainset): DJH, built, painted and weathered by me.

 

 

 

Five of LB's O2s (a sixth, an O2/2, is currently being borrowed by Geoff Haynes as a guide for a Heljan conversion for a customer). Top, then left to right: PDK O2/4, built and painted by me, weathered by Tom Wright: Nu-Cast O2/3, built, painted and weathered by me (very old): ACE (?) O2/2, built and painted by me, weathered by Tim Shackleton: Heljan O2/3, modified/detailed/renumbered by me, weathered by Geoff Haynes: Nu-Cast O2/1, started by Rob Kinsey, completed and painted by me, weathered by Geoff Haynes. 

 

 

Little Bytham's Robinson 2-8-0 family. Top, then left to right: Little Engines O4/1, builder unknown, mechanically rebuilt, detailed, painted and weathered by me: K's O4/2, built and painted by Rob Kinsey, weathered by me: Little Engines O4/3, built, painted and weathered by Tony Geary: Little Engines O4/7, built and painted by Rob Kinsey, weathered by me: O1; scratch-built, painted and weathered by me: Hornby O1, detailed, renumbered and weathered by me: K's O4/3, built, painted and weathered by me (very, very old): O4/8; part-scratch-built, painted and weathered by me. 

 

It's interesting to see how few RTR locos are in the collection. My choice, of course, and those that remain are destined to be sold-on because I never use them

 

A great user of ex-LNER 2-8-0s was the late, great Roy Jackson..............

 

 

What looks to be a Nu-Cast O2/1. That's me waving, to the right, by the way (though my school blazer was black, nor red)! 

 

 

And what looks to be a modified Bachmann O4/1 (though where the missing bits of the front number have gone, I've no idea!). 

 

Speaking of the great man, some bits and pieces of his have started to be sold on behalf of his family (nothing off Retford, as yet). 

 

 

 

I've acquired this, for the princely sum of £40.00! It was Roy's property, but not his work. It was built in EM from an ABS kit, and ran (if at all) like a bag of rusty spanners, powered by a creaky XO4. I've converted it to OO (heresy!), and with its Mashima motor and High Level gearbox it now runs beautifully. Why the bodywork is in such a state, I don't know, but I'll strip it, detail it and repaint it. 

 

 

You probably remember my thoughts on some RTR notably the Heljan 02.

 

They are more yours than a kit made and painted by someone else. When you are involved with the design and prototype testing you partly made it.

 

If I was in your position I would be proud of it.

[MJI]

A5, I remember reading about them years ago and thought they were nice looking locos.

[Allegheny1600]

Hi All,

The Lancashire and Yorkshire layout being referred to above, is it "Ogden Fold"?

https://www.scalefour.org/layouts/exhibogden.html

It really is a beauty!

Cheers,

John.

[Buhar]

Ogden Fold did have a section on an embankment with the mill behind.  0-8-0s were featured too.

 

Alan

[pete55]

10 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks Tony,

 

Those old K's O4s of Roy's will go forever...…….

 

I assume the anonymous O4 in the recent picture is Pete's work

 

 

 

Hello Tony,

yes, the anonymous 04 was my work. I probably removed the numbers too, and I cannot remember now why it was not re numbered!

 

The K's 04s still run perfectly, and will outperform haulage wise their more modern Bachmann counterparts, of which there were a few on Retford.

[Kier Hardy]

On ‎24‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 17:28, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Tony

 

While agreeing with you about everyone will have their own view on what is the best loco in a certain category, but in the case of heavy freight trains especially unfitted coal trains surely everyone knows that a Peak with a brake tender outclasses even the best steam locos.  

Will this do Clive? It's to my usual fuzzy standard, snapped on my trainset.... and fits the bill.

[Clive Mortimore]

13 minutes ago, Kier Hardy said:

Will this do Clive? It's to my usual fuzzy standard, snapped on my trainset.... and fits the bill.

I have gone all weak at the knees.....even better it is a proper Peak , not a Crompton or a Brush.

[Tony Wright]

5 hours ago, Allegheny1600 said:

Hi All,

The Lancashire and Yorkshire layout being referred to above, is it "Ogden Fold"?

https://www.scalefour.org/layouts/exhibogden.html

It really is a beauty!

Cheers,

John.

Ogden Fold is indeed a beautiful layout, John.......................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's even a Robinson 2-8-0 in one of the pictures but, unfortunately, no 0-8-0.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Headstock]

Ogden Fold is a superb layout. How wonderful it is to see the so many photographs of L&Y layouts, a first for Wright writes? However, it is not the layout that I was referring to in my original post. Given the vagaries of memory, I'm beginning to wonder if it ever existed. One thing is for sure, the L&Y has attracted some superb modellers, long may it continue.

Edited October 26, 2019 by Headstock
remove e

[Barry Ten]

There's been some discussion of Britannias here lately so I hope no one minds this snap of my revamped Tri-ang Hornby Oliver Cromwell, as now (nearly) finished:

 

 

Please ignore the ropy smokebox dart which will be replaced in due course. Last week, rummaging in a bargain bin at the Cardiff show, I found a pair of Britannia front window rims for the princely sum of one pound, too useful not to snap up, and today I added them to the loco, after first enlarging the original openings to about the right size and shape. The front windows were then glazed with "Glue and Glaze" or whatever it's called.

 

As mentioned when I showed the loco last year, it's got a Comet chassiis with a DJH motor and gearbox, and is now running with a Digitrains sound decoder. The Britannia itself was a ninth birthday present, purchased in Hamleys! It's always been Oliver Cromwell to me which is why I haven't renamed it as a Western Region example.

 

Al

[t-b-g]

5 hours ago, pete55 said:

 

Hello Tony,

yes, the anonymous 04 was my work. I probably removed the numbers too, and I cannot remember now why it was not re numbered!

 

The K's 04s still run perfectly, and will outperform haulage wise their more modern Bachmann counterparts, of which there were a few on Retford.

For anybody interested, a review and an account of the conversion work on the O4 appeared in MRJ No 200. Later, the tender was altered from the ROD pattern to a GCR type and when we finally established that the preserved loco still had an ROD tender at the date of the layout, the last two digits were removed and it was going to be numbered as one with a GCR tender in 1957. I can't recall if the cabside numbers were ever altered but I have a vague recollection of putting new numbers on the cab and then doing some heavy weathering as the transfers didn't quite match the Bachmann ones in colour and/or size. 

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I have gone all weak at the knees.....even better it is a proper Peak , not a Crompton or a Brush.

Well, the proper Peaks were Cromptons too but I know what you mean.

[Chamby]

15 hours ago, Kier Hardy said:

Will this do Clive? It's to my usual fuzzy standard, snapped on my trainset.... and fits the bill.

 

What a wonderful model, at first take it looks convincingly real.  You have captured the ambiance and details beautifully.  

 

How long did it take to build, to this level of detail?

[Tony Wright]

13 hours ago, Headstock said:

Ogden Fold is a superb layout. How wonderful it is to see the so many photographs of L&Y layouts, a first for Wright writes? However, it is not the layout that I was referring to in my original post. Given the vagaries of memory, I'm beginning to wonder if it ever existed. One thing is for sure, the L&Y has attracted some superb modellers, long may it continue.

I think I've put a couple of on Wright Writes, after I took the pictures three years ago. 

 

I'm astonished at the number of layouts I've now photographed. My old computer (on which there are thousands of pictures) needs to be looked at because I can't get it to 'speak' to a monitor. All the pictures are there, but when I can access them, I'll see what else is there. 

 

That's not to mention the thousands of negatives I've got, which will all be scanned one day! 

 

I don't think my approach to model railway photography has altered since I first started in the genre. Yes, it's all now digital, and I no longer use a plate camera with movement, nor its dark slides. However, the principles remain the same. Get everything 'right' in the exposure/composition at source, don't muck about with weenie cameras, nor explore the 'black magic' of stacking and obtain depth of field optically (with lenses which stop to smaller than F32. Lenses attached to Nikon full-frame DSLR cameras - a D3 and a Df - with everything shot as TIFs - I've never understood RAW). Apart from taking out extraneous backgrounds, I don't add 'real' images which aren't there. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Clive Mortimore]

52 minutes ago, Chamby said:

 

What a wonderful model, at first take it looks convincingly real.  You have captured the ambiance and details beautifully.  

 

How long did it take to build, to this level of detail?

Hi Phil

 

It is well worth seeing it in the flesh if you get the chance, the best "historical, modern image " layout I have seen since Wibdenshaw stopped being displayed.

[Tony Wright]

21 hours ago, MJI said:

 

 

You probably remember my thoughts on some RTR notably the Heljan 02.

 

They are more yours than a kit made and painted by someone else. When you are involved with the design and prototype testing you partly made it.

 

If I was in your position I would be proud of it.

Good morning Martin,

 

Though it's kind of you to say so, I think you're making too much of my contribution to the development of Heljan's O2. 

 

Apart from lending some models of mine, and scrutinising prototype pictures, I'd hardly say I had much involvement with the 'design' of the thing. Yes, I did undertake 'prototype-testing' (on LB) and wrote some reports, but the real work was done in Denmark and China (with some in England). Grahame Wareham did more than I did.

 

I wonder if most have sold now.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[petrovich]

19 hours ago, Kier Hardy said:

Will this do Clive? It's to my usual fuzzy standard, snapped on my trainset.... and fits the bill.

Absolutely wonderful would love to see this for real !!!

 

Regards

 

Peter

[5 C]

31 minutes ago, petrovich said:

Absolutely wonderful would love to see this for real !!!

 

Regards

 

Peter

Two opportunities next year: February in Glasgow or November at the NEC.

 

http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/exhibition_diary.html

[Tony Wright]

Having acquired four part-built/started/kit locos (plus lots of bits and pieces) from Roy Jackson's estate a fortnight ago, having completed/finished/painted, but not yet lined/lettered/numbered the Nu-Cast A5 and ABS L1 (featured recently), I've now turned my attention to a Nu-Cast B16/3 (or 2, I haven't decided yet). 

 

 

This was in a curious condition on purchase. It looks like Roy (or someone else) had dismantled it, and, in doing so, wrecked the boiler. Perhaps someone else had previously made it, but to a standard not good enough. A new boiler was in the box. Roy had cut a set of frames for it, and made-up a further set of frames. The tender was built as far as the condition shown (very well, so I assume by Roy). All I've done is to erect the set of frames (using OO spacers), made it go and re-soldered the bodywork together thus far. A few other bits seem to have suffered in the dismantling, so a bit of judicious scratch-building will probably be required. All good fun! 

 

In fact, this sort of stuff is always good fun. How long this had mouldered in its fading box, I've no idea; though the musty smell of the cardboard suggest some time! Along with the other two (and a virgin kit to build for a J17), I'm now completing models started by others (by one very dear, late friend), and they'll see service on LB. I know I keep on advising folk not to take on modelling jobs begun by others, but this is a case of 'do as I say, not as I do' (the teacher still in me!). 

 

I've already built a Nu-Cast B16/3 (when the kit first appeared, 40 years ago?), scratch-building a brass chassis for it. 

 

 

With its MW005 motor/40:1 Romford gears and Hamblings' wheels, it's very much old school. I keep it more out of sentimentality, since it's all my work. 

 

This latest one should be far superior.....................

 

At least it's a type which has to be built. As yet (despite the bleats of those who want a B16 RTR), it would seem to be on no RTR manufacturers' radar. But for how long? 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Headstock]

59 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Having acquired four part-built/started/kit locos (plus lots of bits and pieces) from Roy Jackson's estate a fortnight ago, having completed/finished/painted, but not yet lined/lettered/numbered the Nu-Cast A5 and ABS L1 (featured recently), I've now turned my attention to a Nu-Cast B16/3 (or 2, I haven't decided yet). 

 

 

This was in a curious condition on purchase. It looks like Roy (or someone else) had dismantled it, and, in doing so, wrecked the boiler. Perhaps someone else had previously made it, but to a standard not good enough. A new boiler was in the box. Roy had cut a set of frames for it, and made-up a further set of frames. The tender was built as far as the condition shown (very well, so I assume by Roy). All I've done is to erect the set of frames (using OO spacers), made it go and re-soldered the bodywork together thus far. A few other bits seem to have suffered in the dismantling, so a bit of judicious scratch-building will probably be required. All good fun! 

 

In fact, this sort of stuff is always good fun. How long this had mouldered in its fading box, I've no idea; though the musty smell of the cardboard suggest some time! Along with the other two (and a virgin kit to build for a J17), I'm now completing models started by others (by one very dear, late friend), and they'll see service on LB. I know I keep on advising folk not to take on modelling jobs begun by others, but this is a case of 'do as I say, not as I do' (the teacher still in me!). 

 

I've already built a Nu-Cast B16/3 (when the kit first appeared, 40 years ago?), scratch-building a brass chassis for it. 

 

 

With its MW005 motor/40:1 Romford gears and Hamblings' wheels, it's very much old school. I keep it more out of sentimentality, since it's all my work. 

 

This latest one should be far superior.....................

 

At least it's a type which has to be built. As yet (despite the bleats of those who want a B16 RTR), it would seem to be on no RTR manufacturers' radar. But for how long? 

 

 

 

Evening Tony,

 

Apparently, the recent wishing well poll has revealed that what modellers want most is a generic mix traffic locomotive, suitable for all times and places. The locomotive will be a Black 16 or Town Hall class. The model will be available in GNER, NER, LBSC, SR ,BR, LMS, CR, LNER, L&Y, GER, and Amtrak  black as well as GWR greenish grey as a first run. Named examples are expected to include Rochdale, Hobbiton and Bristol Town halls and East Crompton technical collage AD 1982. All variants will come with a bag of chips and a squeaky left rear tender wheel.