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19 hours ago, A.R. said:

Hi All, 

 

I have recently got back on RMWeb and have just finished my first loco build (scratchbuilt chassis, heavily modified/detailed body shell). Therefore, I thought I would add my contribution to this wonderful thread! I agree with the earlier discussion about adding loco crews but I have just noted I don't have any on this loco (or any real coal in the tender) yet: a job for next weekend I think! This is my take on the BR 2-8-2 that wasn't built; many thanks to @RedgateModels for the inspiration and @Tony Wright for the excellent help guides/videos! 

 

2.jpeg.408b8202d329c6f36f6b7c5aecbb79d9.jpeg3.jpeg.6ad3a5c0098d4802928b31c224f792af.jpeg4.jpeg.212c23810a1a1aedb4b55d83c929576f.jpeg

 

I have detailed some more about the loco on my thread over in Kitbuilding and Scratchbuilding. 

 

Have a good evening all!

 

Cheers, 

 

Alex

There are some lovely 5" gauge live steam locos of this never built design and at least one in 7 1/4" gauge.

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5 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

'Flying Fox 34F' of this parish had a crack a few years ago:

1382638710_Mountainby447534F.jpg.afff6a36350c00f6e97204c2f13ada27.jpg

 

1223053885_Mountainby6010634F.jpg.00abea322207222ac48f33c54ba71aa8.jpg

 

(As posted on the Grantham thread 2014-15. Maybe he'll be along in due course to explain himself)

 

 

 

Interesting - if it had been built I wonder how much abuse the front would have taken before it went banana shaped? I know Tony has posted photos of bent fronts on here previously.

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Regarding photography, Treacy was and still is IMO the master. I grew up on his books and his work has always been in the top echelon. The photographs taken in Lime Street cutting in particular still have a power that the years have not dulled.

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21 minutes ago, SD85 said:

Regarding photography, Treacy was and still is IMO the master. I grew up on his books and his work has always been in the top echelon. The photographs taken in Lime Street cutting in particular still have a power that the years have not dulled.

As a child it was his photo albums that got me to love steam over diesel (I was age 3 at the end of BR steam) and made me realise that there was something about my cherished Triang Princess that wasn't quite the same as the prototype :)

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At the risk of being branded a heretic, I believe Treacy was technically a very good photographer but, his work wasn't creative and as a photographer of record, he was very poor.  He seemingly took hundreds of virtually the same photographs at Shap Wells - there used to be a joke that you could still find the holes left by his tripods - which recorded very well, front three-quarter views of the locomotive working hard, but that is almost all Treacy took.  He made no notes of what he was photographing or when, which means researchers have had to, more than normal, correlate with others sources to provide train information; many captions in his albums even have to guess at the year.  If you wanted to research train formations or even what the 1940s railway infrastructure looked like, you'd be advised to look elsewhere.

However, technically, Treacy's work was exceptional for the time and would still be considered impressive if it had been produced 50 years later.  I have a few albums of his work and for images of the steam locomotive hard at work, he probably has no equal.

 

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22 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

At the risk of being branded a heretic, I believe Treacy was technically a very good photographer but, his work wasn't creative and as a photographer of record, he was very poor.  He seemingly took hundreds of virtually the same photographs at Shap Wells - there used to be a joke that you could still find the holes left by his tripods - which recorded very well, front three-quarter views of the locomotive working hard, but that is almost all Treacy took.  He made no notes of what he was photographing or when, which means researchers have had to, more than normal, correlate with others sources to provide train information; many captions in his albums even have to guess at the year.  If you wanted to research train formations or even what the 1940s railway infrastructure looked like, you'd be advised to look elsewhere.

However, technically, Treacy's work was exceptional for the time and would still be considered impressive if it had been produced 50 years later.  I have a few albums of his work and for images of the steam locomotive hard at work, he probably has no equal.

 

Obviously given my previous posts I couldnt disagree more. For me his photo's are masterful art that captured a period of time that we will never see again in all its drama and majesty. There are many more compositions  than 3/4 views although I have never seen a 3/4 view better than one of his. Treacy's use use of light and shade and total understanding of how these would translate into black and white was unmatched until Colin Gifford came along. Not a great note keeper but then he was an enthusiast, a people person and an artist - the detail wasnt his interest In any case most of his photo's have subsequently been well annoted by others . 

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3 hours ago, Denbridge said:

There are some lovely 5" gauge live steam locos of this never built design and at least one in 7 1/4" gauge.

Hi, 

 

I would be interested to see pictures of these if you have any or know where there may be some? 

 

Regarding the Gresley 4-8-2, I am getting very tempted to make one myself! Probably with a scratchbuilt chassis....I will have to add it to the ever growing "to do" list! 

 

Cheers, 

 

Alex

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21 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

For steam railway photography the best books I have  are the four volumes "Never Again", along with several volumes by Colin Gifford & Colin Walker.

 

Over the pond was O Winston link territory.

 

Now where would your eyes be - the crashing plane movie,  your girlfriend sat beside you, or ----- ?? 

 

image.png.abbb67a8ab8b4ee41b2a9f0e2ccb5ce5.png

 

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The great man himself. Just what is that camera ?

 

image.png.43ef5b3e4a2a7425e2b49f819710f518.png

 

I do like Eric Treacy's photos, even if they are a bit "samey"

 

Brit15

Wonderful!

 

The cameras? Speed Graphics?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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1 hour ago, APOLLO said:

For steam railway photography the best books I have  are the four volumes "Never Again", along with several volumes by Colin Gifford & Colin Walker.

 

Over the pond was O Winston link territory.

 

Now where would your eyes be - the crashing plane movie,  your girlfriend sat beside you, or ----- ?? 

 

image.png.abbb67a8ab8b4ee41b2a9f0e2ccb5ce5.png

 

image.png.fa337fa7b03071a280881f5bda94f18f.png

 

image.png.f15e92899ce9565db1590013153dec70.png

 

The great man himself. Just what is that camera ?

 

image.png.43ef5b3e4a2a7425e2b49f819710f518.png

 

I do like Eric Treacy's photos, even if they are a bit "samey"

 

Brit15

 

I was fortunate enough to visit the O Winston Link museum in Roanoke, VA https://roanokehistory.org/historical-society-of-western-virginia/owl-main-page/.  It's one of those places which can take much more time to visit than you imagine, so much so in my case that I did not have time to visit the close by Museum of Transportation www.vmt.org .  The museum is housed in part of the N&W station which was redesigned by Raymond Loewy in 1949  in a moderne style reminiscent of pre-war SouthernElectric style.

 

Link was noted for getting the engine crews to cooperate - how else could the railway function if the drivers (engineers) were faced with hundreds of magnesium flashlights suddenly popping off? Of course Eric Treacy's presence trackside would often elicit some unnecessary 'clag' if he was recognised.  I seem to recall that David Jenkinson included a model of a cleric with a camera on his Garsdale Road layout but would not be drawn as to whether or not it represented a younger version of the bishop.

 

 

 

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Good Evening Tony,

 

I thought you might be interested to know that the video I made of Little Bytham in June 2019, and which I posted on my YouTube channel, has now had 13,672 views. Thank you for letting me publish it.

 

Archie

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We went in 2015. As Adam says, the museum has got lots in it. We went to the Museum of Transportation after, quite interesting as it has vintage cars and other stuff as well as railway items.

 

IMG_20150619_170526.jpg.a3899782a419527076e9e98bbc1fadbc.jpg

 

All the best

 

Terry

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11 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

'Off track', Rob?

 

Hardly. 

 

According to one of the bishop's books, he started with a Leica (started with a Leica!), then moved up to a Super Ikonta (6x9cm?) and a Rollieflex (6x6cm?), both fitted with Zeiss lenses. Top-quality kit, indeed. 

 

My own real railway photography began as a kid with a Brownie 127 (a bit poor), then a Voigtlander 'Bessa' folding 120 camera (obtained by an uncle in Berlin in 1945 for a packet of fags and given to me 15 years later). I foolishly then later 'graduated' to 35mm by obtaining a Praktika; foolish? Cheap, but it kept on going wrong. A Pentax K1000 was the best 'budget' (though highly-reliable) camera I ever had, but that, after thousands of exposures, gave up. A Nikon F was then my choice (second-hand), which I still have. That's the camera which went to Vietnam, the photographer was blown up, and the next guy picked it up and carried on taking pictures. Or, it saved a photographer's life by getting in the way of a bullet! My final film camera for real railway photography was a Pentax 6x7. Surely the finest piece of kit (pre-digital) for taking railway pictures? Blessed with all the dynamics of a brick, with a hernia-inducing weight, it gave incredibly good results (many of which have been published - diesel/electric, not steam of course). I had two bodies, a photomic head (plus a normal pentaprism and eye-level viewfinder), and about a dozen lenses. Costing me thousands, second-hand 30 odd years ago, I couldn't give it away in the end! Dick Blenkinsop used one latterly. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Wow.  Thankyou.   The Rev Eric started with a Leica.  He was indeed blessed.   

 

He also had from what little I have seen, great skill and energy, not to mention masterful artistry.

 

Like you I started with prosaic plastic cameras ... or similar, I truly wanted a Brownie 127 and would stare at one in the chemist shop window on the way home from school in 1959 aged 8.  I started that year with my mother's Box Brownie, moved quickly to a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 'Agfa Clack' and in my 13th birthday received a Regula Sprinty B 35mm which had a nominal 1/250th with down to f2.8...  but a cheap lens and weak shutter...  ah well. In 1967 I bought a damaged 6 x 6 'Toyocaflex', similar to a Yashicamat,  we still had main line steam then, just,  and then in 1969 a 1936 Leica III 35mm  rangefinder camera, what beauty!   but still limited, looking back, by being 35mm.  From 1964 on I did nearly all my own developing and printing the latter on a friend's home-made enlarger, the former with Johnsons tanks in dark bathrooms.

With my Leica and 6x6 I was pretty well set up, and at university met people with Hasselblads and similar but when I landed a job as a press photographer and journalist I went for speed...  and with fast motorbikes, and screen type enlargements straight into printers, never really found a need for those beautiful large format cameras.

 

Like a fool I sold the Leica in the 80s for about UKP100    it had been in Poland during WW2... shades of your camera. I wouldn't use it these days, but it's such a beautiful object.

 

At least I have an idea of how Eric Treacy got the quality he did,  The Super Ikonta and Rolleiflex and Zeiss lenses, plus great skill.

 

Thanks for your reply and the story of your own cameras, I can see why you like Nikons, they are so very good! 

Edited by robmcg
typos, addition.
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34 minutes ago, Manxcat said:

Good Evening Tony,

 

I thought you might be interested to know that the video I made of Little Bytham in June 2019, and which I posted on my YouTube channel, has now had 13,672 views. Thank you for letting me publish it.

 

Archie

My pleasure, Archie,

 

And my thanks.

 

I've no idea how many videos of Little Bytham are on YouTube. I certainly wouldn't know because I don't have the least idea how to put any on. I can shoot them, but have no idea how to edit them and rely on others' ability to show them on the channel. 

 

I really don't mind where they appear. If they're of interest, and maybe even 'educational, I'm delighted. 

 

I shot some footage just prior to Christmas, and Tom Foster is editing that. He'll put it 'out there' in due course. Thanks Tom.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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Well I for one am certainly an Eric Treacy fan.

 

I get the same-y / conventional comments but I think there's a lot more to his photography than that. For me, where he excelled is in the subject of composition. He clearly had an 'eye' for a photograph, knew where to place the object of interest for maximum effect and seemingly effortlessly could find a handy signal, or telegraph pole to balance or frame the picture.

 

Above all, he had a natural empathy for the human side of the railway (perhaps not unsurprisingly, given his vocation!). The pictures with a railway worker or two deliberately - but sympathetically - placed in the scene are timeless and no doubt the result of a friendly conversation struck up at the lineside.

 

The book 'Eric Treacy's LMS' has already been mentioned on here and, of all his books, I regard it as the best presentation of his work. That is in a large part the result of the work of David Jenkinson who clearly revelled in being able to study the images in detail and add so much interest to many of the images with his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things LMS.

 

It's been mentioned how the dear Bishop wasn't terribly organised with his collection and there is a wonderful description by DJ of his first visit (1970) to look at the photos:

'I had never met a real bishop before and did not know what to expect but I need have no fear ... within half an hour, he had divested himself of his clerical jacket, having decided that the simplest way to sort out this vast treasury of pictures was to spread then all over the study floor. This was most certainly not what I had expected - crawling about across a mountain of railway pictures in company with a shirt-sleeved Bishop of Wakefield! However, when the inevitable pot of tea appeared at 'mid-session' it was equally clear that the domestic authorities were not the least surprised at the scene.'

 

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Hello Tony

 

What have you done to scare all the passengers away in the big Brush photo at Wood Green?

 

Seriously there appears no one on the platforms. Which is how most passenger stations are most of the day. How many of us get to a station an hour before our train? Most of us leave as late as we can so unless there is a stopper due the platform is empty (bar the puffer nutter with the camera). Then if you look at how passengers don't tend to move far from the entrance or steps of a bridge they have had to cross , they kind of handle together until the train is almost stopping. OK you get the likes of my dad who would go for a stroll down the platform to see if he could see the train coming.  They do not wait in a evenly spaced line along the platform as we often see in model land.

 

Having said that all those who have had the misfortune of commuting to work will say that when they caught their train each morning the spread was fairly even. That is because the regulars would know were there would be space for them to stand on the train.

 

Far to many models of sleepy country stations look like the up platform of Ingatestone station between 6.30 am to 8.30 am but on both platforms.

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6 hours ago, APOLLO said:

For steam railway photography the best books I have  are the four volumes "Never Again", along with several volumes by Colin Gifford & Colin Walker.

 

Over the pond was O Winston link territory.

 

Now where would your eyes be - the crashing plane movie,  your girlfriend sat beside you, or ----- ?? 

 

image.png.abbb67a8ab8b4ee41b2a9f0e2ccb5ce5.png

 

image.png.fa337fa7b03071a280881f5bda94f18f.png

 

image.png.f15e92899ce9565db1590013153dec70.png

 

The great man himself. Just what is that camera ?

 

image.png.43ef5b3e4a2a7425e2b49f819710f518.png

 

I do like Eric Treacy's photos, even if they are a bit "samey"

 

Brit15

Link's work is the reason why, were I ever to model a US railroad, it would be the Norfolk & Western.

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25 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hello Tony

 

What have you done to scare all the passengers away in the big Brush photo at Wood Green?

 

Seriously there appears no one on the platforms. Which is how most passenger stations are most of the day. How many of us get to a station an hour before our train? Most of us leave as late as we can so unless there is a stopper due the platform is empty (bar the puffer nutter with the camera). Then if you look at how passengers don't tend to move far from the entrance or steps of a bridge they have had to cross , they kind of handle together until the train is almost stopping. OK you get the likes of my dad who would go for a stroll down the platform to see if he could see the train coming.  They do not wait in a evenly spaced line along the platform as we often see in model land.

 

Having said that all those who have had the misfortune of commuting to work will say that when they caught their train each morning the spread was fairly even. That is because the regulars would know were there would be space for them to stand on the train.

 

Far to many models of sleepy country stations look like the up platform of Ingatestone station between 6.30 am to 8.30 am but on both platforms.

 

The only people visible in the shot are the highly visible loco crew.

 

I agree 100%. Platforms need to be populated much more thoughtfully on many models.

 

Of course the number of people on a platform varies enormously depending on what activity is taking place. A commuter train could leave a platform very well filled but only for a few moments. At a small country station, you might never get more than a handful of people.

 

Whatever we do as modellers is only right for the scene that we choose to portray as it happens at that moment.

 

I usually opt for a couple of station staff and a small number of people, maybe 2 or 3, either waiting to catch a train or meeting somebody arriving on one. They usually wait by the building, perhaps seated, although I sometimes have a figure who has walked up the platform to see the loco.

 

I always think that is enough.

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8 hours ago, gregpokes1/Camden said:

Evening all,
I wanted to unveil a project that has been in the works for the past couple weeks.  RMWeb user "Ribird" and I have been working together to produce 3D printable detail packs for the current "super" detailed Hornby A4 tenders.  I must admit that I've no knowledge whatsoever on CAD and have left it up to the professional Ribird to design the kits so all credit ought to go to him.  I helped with a few measurements and quite a bit of the research aspect but never mind that... The first prototype is installed in my LNER 'Mallard' in 1988 condition when she was restored for the "Mallard '88" special runs, hence the application of warning flashes on the rear of the tender.

This kit was designed using the base structure of the original Hornby insert and designed to replace the stock insert attached inside the tender shell, therefore the base measurements were not altered in any way, just detailed properly.  A coal door, corner braces, and rivet strips were 3D printed along with the new insert to correctly model this streamlined non-corridor tender which are separate pieces.  Two types of inserts have been drawn up for the streamlined non-corridors, one with a high flat-topped rear bunker and one with a sloped-back top bunker.  We believe Hornby did not model the insert properly since we have no evidence of a low-flat top rear bunker ever being produced for the non-corridors.  Seven different variations are currently being drawn up by Ribird for the non-streamlined corridor and at least two, maybe more, designs are being drawn up for the the streamlined corridor tenders.  Differnces include flush riveting versus exposed riveting, bunker shapes, water filler caps, etc.

I hope you'll agree that the detailing on the interior of the tender truly brings the model much more to life.  Updates to follow as new designs are printed and installed into my other A4 tenders...

Regards,
Camden

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There is certainly far more detail there. Now to fill it with coal, but not so high that it covers all the detail just fitted. 
richard 

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10 hours ago, gregpokes1/Camden said:

Evening all,
I wanted to unveil a project that has been in the works for the past couple weeks.  RMWeb user "Ribird" and I have been working together to produce 3D printable detail packs for the current "super" detailed Hornby A4 tenders.  I must admit that I've no knowledge whatsoever on CAD and have left it up to the professional Ribird to design the kits so all credit ought to go to him.  I helped with a few measurements and quite a bit of the research aspect but never mind that... The first prototype is installed in my LNER 'Mallard' in 1988 condition when she was restored for the "Mallard '88" special runs, hence the application of warning flashes on the rear of the tender.

This kit was designed using the base structure of the original Hornby insert and designed to replace the stock insert attached inside the tender shell, therefore the base measurements were not altered in any way, just detailed properly.  A coal door, corner braces, and rivet strips were 3D printed along with the new insert to correctly model this streamlined non-corridor tender which are separate pieces.  Two types of inserts have been drawn up for the streamlined non-corridors, one with a high flat-topped rear bunker and one with a sloped-back top bunker.  We believe Hornby did not model the insert properly since we have no evidence of a low-flat top rear bunker ever being produced for the non-corridors.  Seven different variations are currently being drawn up by Ribird for the non-streamlined corridor and at least two, maybe more, designs are being drawn up for the the streamlined corridor tenders.  Differnces include flush riveting versus exposed riveting, bunker shapes, water filler caps, etc.

I hope you'll agree that the detailing on the interior of the tender truly brings the model much more to life.  Updates to follow as new designs are printed and installed into my other A4 tenders...

Regards,
Camden

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Good morning Camden,

 

What an extraordinary piece of work.

 

I feel quite ashamed in a way with what I usually do with tender interiors. That is to solder a piece of flat brass, just below the top of the sides of my tenders, then, after painting, just fill it with (real) coal, even allowing some to spill over to the rear, around the dome and water filler. Thus, any detail (not that there is any) is buried.

 

Would anyone actually model a tender interior like the one you've shown? By that I mean, on an operating model railway like Little Bytham, most of the locos' tenders would be fairly full of coal (even the Up 'Lizzie's' tender used to have plenty left by Kings Cross). The only time a tender's interior would be so visible is just as its towed out of the paint shop for weighing or in a museum. Splendid work, nonetheless. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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