Wright writes.....

[Compound2632]

15 hours ago, Ray Flintoft said:

Sorry to say ,but L.N.E.R. loco . names were chosen by the locomotive committee , nice idea though . 

 

I fail to see how this modifies @The Johnster's point. Whether it was the Locomotive Committee, Gresley, the Chief Draughstman's daughter, or any or all acting on the advice of one or more of the others, makes no difference to the fact that the engines were named after celebrated racehorses, mostly Derby, St Leger, and 2000 Guineas winners going back as far as the 1860s. The St Leger is run at Doncaster, the Derby at Epsom, and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket - certainly the latter two are not locations commonly associated with Gresley pacifics, so I think that part of @The Johnster's comment does fall down. The blame for any lack of euphony in the names lies with the racehorse owners!

[Compound2632]

11 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

Locomotive names? Look to the LNWR for a wealth of varied, interesting and sometimes outright unusual names carried by their passenger locomotives. Just a few examples may be found here;

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Named_LNWR_"Prince_of_Wales"_Class_locomotives

 

John Goodman, L&NWR Locomotive Names (RCTS, 2002) reveals they immense variety and complex history of the subject - some names were handed down the generations from engine to engine from Liverpool & Manchester days to the Class 87s. Of the handful of pre-Grouping companies that named engines on a large scale, the LNWR had not only the greatest number but the greatest variety and the least system. 

[Denbridge]

9 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

I note in the listing of the 2020 Hornby program on a certain box shifter from Liverpool's website that one Hush Hush (R3840) version is listed as in apple green! Now we know that No 100000 was never painted apple green, despite a cigarette card in the 1930s showing her as such. 

 

Andrew

My understanding is that Apple Green along with naming the engine "British Enterprise " was  proposed, but it was instead rebuilt. There are certainly a fair few model versions and 10000 in green is, in my opinion, an even more attractive locomotive than in the imposing grey livery.

[Tony Wright]

29 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I fail to see how this modifies @The Johnster's point. Whether it was the Locomotive Committee, Gresley, the Chief Draughstman's daughter, or any or all acting on the advice of one or more of the others, makes no difference to the fact that the engines were named after celebrated racehorses, mostly Derby, St Leger, and 2000 Guineas winners going back as far as the 1860s. The St Leger is run at Doncaster, the Derby at Epsom, and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket - certainly the latter two are not locations commonly associated with Gresley pacifics, so I think that part of @The Johnster's comment does fall down. The blame for any lack of euphony in the names lies with the racehorse owners!

Don't forget the Oaks,

 

The Classic for fillies. 

 

It was good to see some of the Deltics' names carry on the tradition (including MELD, the only female). Even one Class 91 carried the policy on for a time, in DOUBLE TRIGGER.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, micklner said:

Thommo in its intended colour !!

 

Interesting, isn't it? 

 

That it took so many of his Pacifics to be built before one was named in celebration of its distinguished designer, SIR NIGEL GRESLEY, yet the very first of Thompson's 'new build' Pacifics was named after him. The same with Peppercorn, of course. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Tony Wright
typo error

[Chamby]

Reviewing the winners of those races since the early 1960’s reveals some great names that could have adorned locomotives in more recent years: How about these evocative winners names for a taster:

 

Snow Knight

Troy

Shergar

Dr Devious

Commander in Chief

Galileo

Generous

High Chapparral

North Light

Camelot

Ruler of the World

Golden Horn

Wings of Eagles

Sun Princess

Silver Patriarch

Mastery

Masked Marvel

Leading Light

Capri

Privy Councillor

Baldric

Royal Palace

Sir Ivor

Nijinsky

King of Kings

Rock of Gibraltar

Cockney Rebel

Churchill

Saxon Warrior

 

I would also like to see Red Rum in there...  even though he was a Grand National winner.

 

Maybe now hat the LNER name has been revived, we might yet see these on the East Coast mainline?

 

 

[APOLLO]

I think I've mentioned before the Frisco Railroad "over the pond" named it's passenger loco fleet after racehorses. Some were Triple Crown winners. In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a title awarded to a three-year-old thoroughbred horse who wins the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Crown_of_Thoroughbred_Racing_(United_States)

 

 

 

Not many American locomotive were named, and most that were the names were painted on.

 

More photos and list here

 

https://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/friscoline/dieselrace.cfm

 

Brit15

 

 

[gr.king]

As I said over on the "Hornby 2020 Range" thread where the comment seemed to sink almost without trace in a sea of over-excitement about gaudily decorated, paraffin burning, boxes-on-wheels:

 

I suspect that clutch of new LNER heavy locos provide evidence of Mr Kohler's return to Margate. I wonder if Hornby might stretch themselves as far as fitting bogie wheels that have a realistic Doncaster look rather than the Honby-generic appearance, along with some fully three-dimensional valve gear parts rather than thin pieces of stamped sheet-metal? Will the different motion bracket faces for the A2/2 and A2/3 be provided, or the same style for both? Quite rightly, you'll still have to do some honest model making work if you want an A2/1 of course! 

I'm highly unlikely to ever wear out my recently renewed mould for resin W1 cabs and fireboxes to suit A4 conversions now. I might even be tempted to get an original "galloping sausage" 10000 myself, if the financial terms ever seem acceptable.

Next products of Mr Kohler's influence? P2/2s wouldn't surprise me at all, eventually.....

 

I was also asked what I thought about the announcement, just after I'd gone to the trouble of re-making one of my main moulds. The question came from a prospective user of some of my conversion parts who now prefers to wait to take the "easier" RTR approach. I found it easy to answer: No problem. It's an ever present risk for anybody who goes to the trouble of making things for themselves, or making parts for others. Such activity almost invites the RTR manufacturers to stick their oar in!

 

I'll gain in respect of having more time to get on with other things, mostly for myself.

[Clive Mortimore]

A boring fact about locos named after 'orses.

 

The horse called St Paddy out lived the loco that was named after him.

 

St Paddy for some unknown reason was my favorite Deltic as a trainspotter.

[grahame]

1 hour ago, Chamby said:

 

I would also like to see Red Rum in there...  even though he was a Grand National winner.

 

 

And what about that famous Canadian racehorse 'Hoof Hearted'?

 

 

[grahame]

49 minutes ago, gr.king said:

As I said over on the "Hornby 2020 Range" thread where the comment seemed to sink almost without trace in a sea of over-excitement about gaudily decorated, paraffin burning, boxes-on-wheels:

 

 

I guess you need to be on this thread for enthusiasm and excitement about smokey, smelly, puffing and wheezing antique behemoths.

;-)

 

 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Chamby said:

Reviewing the winners of those races since the early 1960’s reveals some great names that could have adorned locomotives in more recent years: How about these evocative winners names for a taster:

 

Snow Knight

Troy

Shergar

Dr Devious

Commander in Chief

Galileo

Generous

High Chapparral

North Light

Camelot

Ruler of the World

Golden Horn

Wings of Eagles

Sun Princess

Silver Patriarch

Mastery

Masked Marvel

Leading Light

Capri

Privy Councillor

Baldric

Royal Palace

Sir Ivor

Nijinsky

King of Kings

Rock of Gibraltar

Cockney Rebel

Churchill

Saxon Warrior

 

I would also like to see Red Rum in there...  even though he was a Grand National winner.

 

Maybe now hat the LNER name has been revived, we might yet see these on the East Coast mainline?

 

 

Thankfully, you've not listed 'Santa Claus'. 

 

'Sun' seems to have been very popular in the names of Classic winners (winners on the flat - that's why no steeplechaser has ever been named; not by the LNER and its successors, anyway. Wasn't an electric loco named RED RUM?). SUNSTAR, SOLARIO, SUN STREAM, SUN CASTLE and so on. SUN PRINCESS would work very well as a name, following a tradition. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Barry Ten]

The "Nancy Hanks" on the Central of Georgia was a train rather than a loco, but named after a racehorse, which in turn was named after Lincoln's mother.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Hanks_(train)

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

A boring fact about locos named after 'orses.

 

The horse called St Paddy out lived the loco that was named after him.

 

St Paddy for some unknown reason was my favorite Deltic as a trainspotter.

There's a good reason to list D9001/55001 as a favourite, Clive,

 

It was the first production Deltic to enter revenue-earning service. 

 

When was 55001 withdrawn? 1979? By which time the horse would have been 22 years old (having won The Derby in 1960). 

 

I wonder if any of the A2/3 horses outlived their namesakes? It's just about possible I suppose.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

[Clive Mortimore]

16 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

There's a good reason to list D9001/55001 as a favourite, Clive,

 

It was the first production Deltic to enter revenue-earning service. 

 

When was 55001 withdrawn? 1979? By which time the horse would have been 22 years old (having won The Derby in 1960). 

 

I wonder if any of the A2/3 horses outlived their namesakes? It's just about possible I suppose.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

Hello Tony

 

I cannot find which Deltic book I have that list the details of the horses the Finsbury Park locos were named after but from memory St Paddy lived until he was about 30. He retired at 3 years old to spend the rest of his life with the sole responsibility to make more baby horses, what a terrible way to spend your retirement.

[john new]

19 hours ago, Ray Flintoft said:

Sorry to say ,but L.N.E.R. loco . names were chosen by the locomotive committee , nice idea though . I do look at racehorse names myself & think , that would have been good on a Pacific ( or not )

  Regarding loose coupled freight trains , I believe the 25 m.p.h. limit came in with dieselisation . Speeds in the 30's & 40' s more common in steam days . For example the Thompson O.1 in the 1948 trials attained a max. of 43 m.p.h. & averaged over 30 for lengthy periods .

                         Cheers ,

                                    Ray .

Was it also perhaps to do with the increasing introduction of c-w-r track around the time the diesels came in? I remember reading somewhere (but not where) that with jointed track the harmonic patterns of short four wheeled wagons were broken by the joints, but with c-w-r the harmonics swelled and they lifted and derailed. It was this breaking the harmonics factor that allowed trains of fitted four wheel wagons to go as fast as they did in the days of jointed track.
 

Obviously the stopping power of lighter diesel locos also comes into play, hence the need for brake tenders. However, did application of prudent caution lead to curing both issues with one lower speed limit?

Edited January 8, 2020 by john new

[landscapes]

6 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I don't mind at all, David,

 

The more the merrier.

 

I hope Hornby's Thompson Pacifics will have those 'wiggly pipes' on the smokebox sides. When Hornby borrowed my model of an A2/3, I did point out their being there. 

 

I imagine they will sell very well. They're the last of the BR 'big green engines' not represented RTR, and their names did 'sell' them to Hornby. Someone suggested elsewhere that Hornby decided to do Thompson's Pacifics on my recommendation. This is not so, though I certainly didn't dissuade them. Simon Kohler and I discussed them over two years ago, and, when my help was requested, I gladly gave it.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Hi Tony

 

I have seen some photos of the resin or plastic prototypes for the A2/2's either somewhere on RMWeb or maybe Hornby's own website and there is evidence of the wiggly pipework, maybe not as pronounced as what I have seen you achieve on your model locomotives but more profiled than the current Hornby A3's for instance.

 

Regards

 

David  

[Ray Flintoft]

18 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

They are lovely pictures, Rob,

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

Just one little 'correction'. No Thompson (or Peppercorn) Pacific ran with a 'banjo' dome. The only locos to carry such a device were the last-built A3s, and then only until their first boiler change, pre-War. What was underneath was a perforated steam collector, which was 'peardrop' in shape. Someone must have decided that panel-beating a banjo dome (with its complex shape) was too difficult, so the 'streamlined' dome cover was adopted  - easier to make, with its straight, tapered sides. 

 

Your pictures of 60514 illustrate a dilemma for the RTR boys. Along with 60500, she had plates between her sandbox fillers, but the ones she had were extended rearwards. The other 13 in the class didn't have these protective plates. She also has a rimmed chimney - something she retained until withdrawal, along with 60519. All the others eventually got lipped, cast-iron chimneys. She's carrying a Thompson Dia. 117 boiler, with round dome on the second ring. Later in her life, she'll receive a Peppercorn Dia. 118 boiler, with streamlined dome, further back. 

 

Not only is she named after a racehorse, but also an Alpine mountain. 

 

Just for clarification, some pictures.....................

 

 

I don't have a prototype shot of an A3 with a banjo dome, but here's a model with one. Only WINDSOR LAD to BROWN JACK had these.

 

 

Here's an A3 with a streamlined dome - quite different. 

 

Other ECML big locos with streamlined domes................

 

 

 

 

The Thompson and the Peppercorn Pacific boilers were interchangeable, and classes A2/2, A2/3, A2 and A1 carried both. When fitted to the A1s, the 117 boilers had a streamlined dome cover, further forward (with the exception of 60153). The A2s with 117 boilers had round dome covers. 

 

 

Here's an A2/3 with its original boiler (and original rimmed chimney), built by me from a DJH kit and painted by Ian Rathbone. HYCILLA later got a Peppercorn boiler and a lipped chimney. 

 

 

And here's an A2/3 with a Peppercorn boiler and lipped chimney. It's a Graeme King/Bachmann conversion (done by Graeme), patch-repainted by me and weathered. 60515 was the last to retain the front numberplate at the top of the smokebox door. She later, like all the rest, had it lowered to the top hingestrap.

 

Do you see why Paul Isles and I spent ages poring over Thompson Pacific pictures?

 

Please (all) observe copyright restrictions)

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Don't forget , Tony , that A.2/2 no. 60505 " Thane Of Fife " carried a diagram 117 boiler with a cosmetic streamlined dome in her final years . I know that you know this but there will be some who do not .

   I must say that I am amazed that Hornby are doing the A.2/2 , for the very reasons you have mentioned . there are just too many variation in the class .

                                                                 Cheers ,

                                                                             Ray .                  

[Ray Flintoft]

6 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I fail to see how this modifies @The Johnster's point. Whether it was the Locomotive Committee, Gresley, the Chief Draughstman's daughter, or any or all acting on the advice of one or more of the others, makes no difference to the fact that the engines were named after celebrated racehorses, mostly Derby, St Leger, and 2000 Guineas winners going back as far as the 1860s. The St Leger is run at Doncaster, the Derby at Epsom, and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket - certainly the latter two are not locations commonly associated with Gresley pacifics, so I think that part of @The Johnster's comment does fall down. The blame for any lack of euphony in the names lies with the racehorse owners!

My post was simply in answer to @The Johnster's belief that the names were chosen by the sheds' they were first allocated to , nothing else .

                      Cheers ,

                               Ray .

 

[Andy Reichert]

The mention of "Brunswick Green" a couple of pages back got me all excited  .  It triggered a teenage memory of 1960 when the first class 305 electric unit was delivered for London's  Liverpool St. "Jazz" service. It was in a similar (in my memory) deep rich and "warm' green with equally rich (non standard) dark red lining at the belt rail and roof line.  But all subsequent new units were delivered in the then much lighter and dull unlined "Electric Green" of the Southern Region .  And the first unit colour scheme promptly disappeared almost immediately, never to be seen again.  Some years later, all the ER electrics finally went to a nicer darker green, but still nothing like the rich colour of that original. 

 

Anyone else have any knowledge of the colour and scheme of the that first 305 unit?  Could it have been the same as a top link BR Steam loco? Later experience of the BR DMU green (whatever colour that is known as) didn't seem to match my memory. But when I complete my own 305 models, that's the colour I want to paint them.

 

Andy

 

 

[Tony Wright]

29 minutes ago, Ray Flintoft said:

Don't forget , Tony , that A.2/2 no. 60505 " Thane Of Fife " carried a diagram 117 boiler with a cosmetic streamlined dome in her final years . I know that you know this but there will be some who do not .

   I must say that I am amazed that Hornby are doing the A.2/2 , for the very reasons you have mentioned . there are just too many variation in the class .

                                                                 Cheers ,

                                                                             Ray .                  

Thanks for mentioning that, Ray,

 

One other point (which I'm, sure I've mentioned before) regarding the A2/2s is to why the nameplates (the shorter ones) were moved forward on the smokebox in later years. 

 

When first rebuilt (and renamed) in LNER days, and into earlier BR days the likes of LORD PRESIDENT, MONS MEG and THANE OF FIFE had their nameplates fixed some distance back on the smokebox. By the time the later BR emblem was adopted (or round about then), this trio had their 'plates moved further forward. The others' plates tended to remain where they were when first attached. I've never seen this mentioned in print, but I've seen it wrong on a few models - 'plates forward in LNER days, and 'plates further back in later BR days. This has nothing to do with later boiler changes.

 

Other matters concern the 'mistakes' in several established works - the RCTS and Isinglass stating that 60501 never got AWS, for instance. Or Peter Coster telling us that THANE OF FIFE is being scrapped on P. 152 in his Book of the A1 and A2 Pacifics, Irwell Press. It can't be - look at the dome's position and the fact that the side handrails are clipped to the smokebox front. It's EARL MARISCHAL. 

 

It's easy to see why Paul Isles and I (particularly Paul) had to be so diligent in the research for the models. This is what the market seems to expect now - 'absolute' fidelity to a specific loco in an RTR product. Who would have thought it? Time was when such minutia of detail differences would have been the realm only of the kit-/scratch-builder, or the determined RTR modifier. Not now.

 

Which makes me feel even more marginalised in a way. Up to the end of this year (maybe the beginning of next), anyone seeing a Thompson Pacific on a 4mm layout (or any scale?) must have worked out that it's an individual's work - in the case of the likes of Stoke Summit, Charwelton and Little Bytham (and Peterborough North) either scratch-built (yes, me), kit-built (again, yes me) or a much-modified RTR loco (not so much me). But, in a year's time they'll be everywhere! 

 

I hope they do sell - I really do, but pity any kit-maker's product for the same thing. Under £200.00 (amazing) for the Hornby example? You can add near another £150.00 (and more) to that if one wants a complete kit for the same.

 

Do I have any consolation? Of course; there's a good feeling at having helped a manufacturer (though, potentially, to the disadvantage of others), at being asked to help in the first place, and having the pleasure' of making so many Thompson Pacifics over the last 40+ years!

 

Regards,

 

Tony.   

[glo41f]

The recent pictures of the various Pullman trains run on the East Coast route bought forth a comment that the West Coast did not run such trains. Given that a major constituent of the West Coast company was the instigator of the Pullman concept in the UK, I wonder why this was so. Was there an issue with royalties or ticket income that the West Coast folk would not tolerate?  Was the ex LNWR view the most prevalent in the LMS?

 

What did the West Coast have that matched the standards on the East Coast as reflected in the Pullman trains?

 

I am sure that someone of this parish will have the knowledge.

 

Martin Long

[Chamby]

16 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks for mentioning that, Ray,

 

One other point (which I'm, sure I've mentioned before) regarding the A2/2s is to why the nameplates (the shorter ones) were moved forward on the smokebox in later years. 

 

When first rebuilt (and renamed) in LNER days, and into earlier BR days the likes of LORD PRESIDENT, MONS MEG and THANE OF FIFE had their nameplates fixed some distance back on the smokebox. By the time the later BR emblem was adopted (or round about then), this trio had their 'plates moved further forward. The others' plates tended to remain where they were when first attached. I've never seen this mentioned in print, but I've seen it wrong on a few models - 'plates forward in LNER days, and 'plates further back in later BR days. This has nothing to do with later boiler changes.

 

Other matters concern the 'mistakes' in several established works - the RCTS and Isinglass stating that 60501 never got AWS, for instance. Or Peter Coster telling us that THANE OF FIFE is being scrapped on P. 152 in his Book of the A1 and A2 Pacifics, Irwell Press. It can't be - look at the dome's position and the fact that the side handrails are clipped to the smokebox front. It's EARL MARISCHAL. 

 

It's easy to see why Paul Isles and I (particularly Paul) had to be so diligent in the research for the models. This is what the market seems to expect now - 'absolute' fidelity to a specific loco in an RTR product. Who would have thought it? Time was when such minutia of detail differences would have been the realm only of the kit-/scratch-builder, or the determined RTR modifier. Not now.

 

Which makes me feel even more marginalised in a way. Up to the end of this year (maybe the beginning of next), anyone seeing a Thompson Pacific on a 4mm layout (or any scale?) must have worked out that it's an individual's work - in the case of the likes of Stoke Summit, Charwelton and Little Bytham (and Peterborough North) either scratch-built (yes, me), kit-built (again, yes me) or a much-modified RTR loco (not so much me). But, in a year's time they'll be everywhere! 

 

I hope they do sell - I really do, but pity any kit-maker's product for the same thing. Under £200.00 (amazing) for the Hornby example? You can add near another £150.00 (and more) to that if one wants a complete kit for the same.

 

Do I have any consolation? Of course; there's a good feeling at having helped a manufacturer (though, potentially, to the disadvantage of others), at being asked to help in the first place, and having the pleasure' of making so many Thompson Pacifics over the last 40+ years!

 

Regards,

 

Tony.   

 

I wouldn’t worry too much, Tony, there’s still a great deal on LB that still won’t be available RTR... Pacific tank locomotives, and many coach diagrams, the list remains very long.

 

May I also point out that despite the long-time availability of RTR class A3 and A4 locomotives, that situation didn’t affect your ‘build-it-yourself’ philosophy at all!

 

So there’s nothing to lament, I suggest.   Just the good news that the future availability of additional high quality models will provide an even greater incentive for people to develop a genuine interest in modelling the ECML.  Which can’t be a bad thing.

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, glo41f said:

The recent pictures of the various Pullman trains run on the East Coast route bought forth a comment that the West Coast did not run such trains. Given that a major constituent of the West Coast company was the instigator of the Pullman concept in the UK, I wonder why this was so. Was there an issue with royalties or ticket income that the West Coast folk would not tolerate?  Was the ex LNWR view the most prevalent in the LMS?

 

What did the West Coast have that matched the standards on the East Coast as reflected in the Pullman trains?

 

I am sure that someone of this parish will have the knowledge.

 

 

It was the Midland Railway that introduced the Pullman car to Britain, in the 1870s, using them on London-Manchester and London-Leeds/Bradford expresses, and from 1876 on the Scotch Expresses via the Settle-Carlisle route. The Midland became increasingly unhappy with its arrangements with Pullman, buying the cars off the Pullman company in the 1880s and using them as dining carriages until it started building its own in the 1890s. Some of the surviving ex-Pullman cars ended up being used for push-pull "motor trains" in the early 20th century. So by the grouping, Pullmans were but a distant memory on the Midland.

 

In terms of passenger revenue and quantity of passenger rolling stock, the LNWR was by a good margin the largest of the companies in the passenger business going into the LMS, so yes, its operating practices prevailed at least on ex-LNWR routes including the West Coast main line - which carried a very much larger share of the London-Scotland passenger traffic than did the Midland route. In the 1893 the LNWR introduced the first true corridor dining trains and then in 1908 special sets of de-lux carriages for the principal Scottish express - the 2 o'clock.

 

Of the LMS group companies, the Caledonian had made some use of sing Pullman cars for catering on routes north of Glasgow - I think some of these remaind in use into the 1950s on the ex-Highland far north line - plus of course the observation carriage on the Oban line.

 

The general standard of LMS main line passenger stock was above that of the other groups, so there was very little call for anything better for the prestige services - even the Coronation Scot sets were basically standard vehicles.

[Clive Mortimore]

34 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks for mentioning that, Ray,

 

One other point (which I'm, sure I've mentioned before) regarding the A2/2s is to why the nameplates (the shorter ones) were moved forward on the smokebox in later years. 

 

When first rebuilt (and renamed) in LNER days, and into earlier BR days the likes of LORD PRESIDENT, MONS MEG and THANE OF FIFE had their nameplates fixed some distance back on the smokebox. By the time the later BR emblem was adopted (or round about then), this trio had their 'plates moved further forward. The others' plates tended to remain where they were when first attached. I've never seen this mentioned in print, but I've seen it wrong on a few models - 'plates forward in LNER days, and 'plates further back in later BR days. This has nothing to do with later boiler changes.

 

Other matters concern the 'mistakes' in several established works - the RCTS and Isinglass stating that 60501 never got AWS, for instance. Or Peter Coster telling us that THANE OF FIFE is being scrapped on P. 152 in his Book of the A1 and A2 Pacifics, Irwell Press. It can't be - look at the dome's position and the fact that the side handrails are clipped to the smokebox front. It's EARL MARISCHAL. 

 

It's easy to see why Paul Isles and I (particularly Paul) had to be so diligent in the research for the models. This is what the market seems to expect now - 'absolute' fidelity to a specific loco in an RTR product. Who would have thought it? Time was when such minutia of detail differences would have been the realm only of the kit-/scratch-builder, or the determined RTR modifier. Not now.

 

Which makes me feel even more marginalised in a way. Up to the end of this year (maybe the beginning of next), anyone seeing a Thompson Pacific on a 4mm layout (or any scale?) must have worked out that it's an individual's work - in the case of the likes of Stoke Summit, Charwelton and Little Bytham (and Peterborough North) either scratch-built (yes, me), kit-built (again, yes me) or a much-modified RTR loco (not so much me). But, in a year's time they'll be everywhere! 

 

I hope they do sell - I really do, but pity any kit-maker's product for the same thing. Under £200.00 (amazing) for the Hornby example? You can add near another £150.00 (and more) to that if one wants a complete kit for the same.

 

Do I have any consolation? Of course; there's a good feeling at having helped a manufacturer (though, potentially, to the disadvantage of others), at being asked to help in the first place, and having the pleasure' of making so many Thompson Pacifics over the last 40+ years!

 

Regards,

 

Tony.   

Hello Tony

 

You will be casting your net far and wide looking for models to make that will not be seen on others layouts.

 

I love seeing models of overhead EMUs because the modeller has modelled them. OK there is a few very modern overhead EMUs but have you ever seen a LBSCR EMU. I have a wonderful book on the LBSCR OLE.

 

There is still a lot of "railway" that we as modellers can make for ourselves.