Wright writes.....

[richard i]

Trying to bring several recent discussions together.

this is modeling, which this site encourages. 

No need for some to look away, it is not GWR cream and brown, it is gcr cream and brown, so eastern region, if not ECML .

it will please Tony that the roofs are weathered grey rather than the out of shops white. Though the others I am building in French grey will have white roofs, though slightly weathered later when I can do roof weathering convincingly as that looks better to my eye as an overall colour scheme. 

that comes onto weathering stock. The sides will probably stay unweathered. Outrageous I know. I understand weathering if it is one colour rattle can maroon, but after all the effort to get it looking vaguely neat in panels of two colours I am loathe to cover it all up, besides things were cleaner in 1905. 
I have avoided lining the edge of the panels red and gold, I just do not have that skill level yet. At 3ft it is barely noticeable, but try and do it badly and it will stand out like a sore thumb. 
transfers for crests and class classification and glazing still to apply. 
they ran in mainline expresses of 5 coach rakes so realistic running in a smaller space possible. 
Other topic photography..... don’t judge the iPad pictures too harshly. 
richard 

[richard i]

5 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Rob,

 

Ah yes, I remember some of the letters.

 

Would it surprise you that I never met any of the sternest critics face-to-face? It wasn't for the want of trying either. 

 

I recall one particularly vituperative letter from a reader who lived in Glasgow. I assumed he was Scottish, because I'd had the temerity to mention something about Scottish railways in an article, and had probably got a fact wrong. Now, if journalists make mistakes, they should be pointed out, but there surely is a protocol of how to do this. 

 

Anyway, I was at the (excellent) Glasgow show a month or two later with BRM's stand, so I sent him a complimentary ticket. I enclosed a note asking him to please come and see me and show me what I'd got wrong, and, if possible write a piece for the mag explaining the point(s). Did he appear? One guess. If he did use the ticket, he never made his presence known to me. 

 

One other Scotsman (am I a particularly annoying Sassenach?) considered his idea of Hell to be stuck with me forever in a non-corridor compartment, having to listen to my 'inane bile'! 

 

Regarding Stoke Summit, and a 'lull in operations', at one Grantham Show the point mechanism changing the Up fast to the Up slow failed completely - at mid-afternoon on the Saturday, when the place was packed. In an ideal world, I'd have split the boards and put the one with the point on on its side and fixed the problem with ease. To make matters worse, the sun was streaming in, so I was faced with worst of both worlds; blinding light on top, and Stygian gloom beneath the layout drapes.

 

I instructed the operating team to keep things moving on the Down (which they did, bless 'em) while I fixed the mechanism, trying to communicate with someone looking from above as to how the point was set. Ever tried soldering uphill? 

 

After about 20 minutes of bad language, sweat and belligerence, I emerged from the gloom, with the point now working properly, only to be asked by a punter if we were 'working to rule'! I won't repeat my response on here.................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

It was at that show it think that some one lent in and said we were “ the worstest operating crew ever” the three of us who were on at the time made ourselves badges which said as much and wore them with pride. If you are going to insult stoke summit at least do it in correct English. 
richard 

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, CF MRC said:

Here she is, Ian, straightening out your funny track. 

Tim

Good morning Tim,

 

I wished I'd taken a picture.

 

However, I content myself with what your wonderful P2 looked like a year before. 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Barclay]

Forgive me for returning to pickups, but I have always used brass wire (normally 0.45) - am I beyond the pale, never to be admitted to polite society again?

 

I assume N/S is stiffer than brass, and can see where this might be useful, so I might well try it. 

[Tony Wright]

5 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

I have book about the life and times of Bawtry station, written by a former railway employee.

 

He recounts the tale of the original "Cock o' the North" working a local train as a trial/running in turn when brand new, coming to grief while shunting a horse box in Bawtry goods yard. The ancient sleepers in the goods yard track gave way under it!

 

So the scenario illustrated above does have some slight basis in fact!

Good morning Tony,

 

Though not relating to a P2, a story told by one of the Bytham gang (sadly, now deceased) has a similar ring. 

 

One job which just-ex-works locos used to be employed on was the local pick-up (though I never try it on LB). The locos would range from anything from an 0-6-0 (most-appropriate) to a Pacific. One day it was a gleaming MALLARD  which was tasked with trundling between Peterborough and Grantham, picking-up and dropping-off at the various places between (I didn't ask if her roof were all-over black or not). She was propelling empty wagons into the limestone siding at Little Bytham and literally got stuck on the tight point - just jammed. Rather than risk damage by getting out under her own steam, a light engine was sent to literally tow her out.

 

Could I replicate that on LB? Not without DCC.............

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point

[Tony Wright]

6 minutes ago, Barclay said:

Forgive me for returning to pickups, but I have always used brass wire (normally 0.45) - am I beyond the pale, never to be admitted to polite society again?

 

I assume N/S is stiffer than brass, and can see where this might be useful, so I might well try it. 

If it works for you, Stuart, if it works..............................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[thegreenhowards]

28 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

 

Could I replicate that on LB? Not without DCC.............

 

We could always ‘upgrade’ Little Bytham for a day!

[Tony Wright]

Mentioning P2s, I've only ever built one.

 

 

 

Built from an ACE kit (reduced to 4mm from 7mm). An 'interesting' build.

 

 

With the basic bodywork and frames complete, I had to strip it down for Ian Rathbone to paint the wheels.

 

 

After which, I erected the valve gear.

 

 

After complete painting by Ian, she whirled around Little Bytham. 

 

It's now the property of Mark Allatt.

 

I think Graeme Kings way of arriving at the same loco is far more-sensible............

 

 

Modified from a Hornby P2, with his own resin parts. A lovely job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[31A]

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

It didn't bother me, but I can respect the view of those that it does.

 

Although the Midland Main Line clearly didn't, aren't there several secondary main lines or through routes that change from double to single track sections?  The Highland ML, Cambrian (Gobowen-Newtown) and Central Wales line (Knighton-Craven Arms) are three I can think of.  Plus, what about seemingly everyone's old favourite, the S&D?

 

And even the revered East Coast Main Line does, at Montrose.

 

[Tony Wright]

And even more P2s................

 

 

The excellent Hornby model (this one had lost its slidebars this side in transit, though it still worked!). 

 

I believe the other versions are to appear later this year. 

 

 

A scratch-built 2001 on The Gresley Beat.

 

 

Eric Kidd's K's P2.

 

 

I can't remember who built this one. An interesting might-have-been.....................

 

The 'ultimate' P2s? 

 

 

 

 

Loveless P2s RTR in O Gauge. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

22 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

We could always ‘upgrade’ Little Bytham for a day!

It's been done regularly, Andy.

 

New Bachmann, Hornby and Heljan DCC-equipped locos have all run on LB, controlled by DCC as well. There's a pair of leads dangling down with 'DCC' writ big on them, ready to be coupled up. Advertising DVDs have been made as well.

 

All I do is disconnect my DC control, switch every switch to 'on' and away they go.

 

I might have asked this before, but could it be done as easily the other way round? Not without isolating sections, otherwise everything would run at once. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Jesse Sim]

15 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

 

I couldn't resist it.

 

 

“To Hedley Lamar”

”To Hedy Lamar”

”Ahh it’s Hedley”

”ahh it’s Hedley”

 

You’ve made me wanna watch it now haha

[LNER4479]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

All I do is disconnect my DC control, switch every switch to 'on' and away they go.

 

I might have asked this before, but could it be done as easily the other way round? Not without isolating sections, otherwise everything would run at once. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Weirdly, despite being a DC dinosaur myself, I have actually set up this facility for a friend's layout which uses the extra 'C'. The layout is wired up into zones (districts, I think they call them?). For the main circuit, there's a DCC to DC switch for each running line so you can use a DC loco to run around on the mainline. But not in the yard area! That would cause carnage.

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, 31A said:

 

And even the revered East Coast Main Line does, at Montrose.

 

Indeed Steve,

 

The P2s must have been the largest locos ever to have a tablet-catching apparatus. Accessed by a hole on the LH side/front of the tender. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Weirdly, despite being a DC dinosaur myself, I have actually set up this facility for a friend's layout which uses the extra 'C'. The layout is wired up into zones (districts, I think they call them?). For the main circuit, there's a DCC to DC switch for each running line so you can use a DC loco to run around on the mainline. But not in the yard area! That would cause carnage.

Is it a separate control, Graham?

 

I must have asked this question before (the memory crumbles) but, while I know a DCC loco will work (after a fashion) on a DC controller (not with all the functions) is it impossible for a DC loco to be operated by a DCC feed? 

 

In my own experience, many DCC-fitted locos have been run on LB (via my controls) but when I posed a couple of my own locos on Peterborough North for photographic purposes, the power had to be switched off to prevent the motors being damaged).

 

Ignorant of Little Bytham. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Tony Wright
to add something

[robertcwp]

7 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Is it a separate control, Graham?

 

I must have asked this question before (the memory crumbles) but, while I know a DCC loco will work (after a fashion) on a DC controller (not with all the functions) is it impossible for a DC loco to be operated by a DCC feed? 

 

In my own experience, many DCC-fitted locos have been run on LB (via my controls) but when I posed a couple of my own locos on Peterborough North for photographic purposes, the power had to be switched off to prevent the motors being damaged).

 

Ignorant of Little Bytham. 

It might technically be possible on some DCC systems but DCC will in general damage DC models as DCC is a pulse system that can have higher voltages than normal DC, I believe. The decoder turns it all into a more pure DC to drive the motor.

[thegreenhowards]

15 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Is it a separate control, Graham?

 

I must have asked this question before (the memory crumbles) but, while I know a DCC loco will work (after a fashion) on a DC controller (not with all the functions) is it impossible for a DC loco to be operated by a DCC feed? 

 

In my own experience, many DCC-fitted locos have been run on LB (via my controls) but when I posed a couple of my own locos on Peterborough North for photographic purposes, the power had to be switched off to prevent the motors being damaged).

 

Ignorant of Little Bytham. 

Some DCC systems allow 1 (and only 1) DC loco to be run (usually on address 0). I think as Robert says it's not advisable for long periods for fear of damaging the motor and I believe it is a definite no-no for portescaps.

 

The NCE system which Gilbert and I use does not have this feature. However, I have my layout split into five sections, four of which can be powered by DC or DCC (the other is my DCC programming track). I just flick the DPDT switch and can run trains round on DC. I tend to use this for running locos in but it does mean lifting a few engines off the track first.

 

 

[robertcwp]

On 23/01/2021 at 10:37, Tony Wright said:

Digging through some more of the old files.........................

 

Some early pictures of Retford.

 

These must have been taken not long after it was in its permanent home. Several appeared in the MRJ at the time under Retford Rising. Does anyone know when that was? 

 

 

I think this one was on the front cover.

 

 

The GN fiddle yard is small, isn't it? 

 

 

I wonder what happened to MALLARD?

 

 

Even one of my locos ran on it. The same one which ran on Narrow Road and the frames from which are now under COCK O' THE NORTH. 

 

 

It looks like somebody had started that signal, Graham................. But, where is it now? 

 

 

'The Elizabethan' was still under construction.

 

 

South 'box was still awaiting completion and painting. 

 

 

 

 

Roy had just completed the B16/1 on shed.

 

 

Did someone mention Kitmaster coaches?

 

 

North Junction. Just one building completed.

 

 

There's a superb footbridge in place now. 

 

 

What a vision! 

 

 

Prompted by the discussion that followed from Tony posting these images, I managed to obtain copies of MRJ 118 and 141, which were the two main ones with early Retford articles. They are a very interesting read and there were plenty of things I learned about the layout's development and early years in its current home. Roy did tell me about the flood and the consequential need for lots of beer mats to help level up the layout, but I had not been aware that Roy nearly set fire to the place by allowing the sun to shine on his large magnifying glass and cause nearby tissues to begin to burn. I had also not been aware that the east (Thrumpton) end of the GC section was rebuilt to ease the curves and gradients. It's a good job the railway room was wide enough to allow for that. The early photos show trains that are still on Retford today, including the Yorkshire Pullman, Talisman and West Riding,although, as previously discussed, one BSO off of the Talisman disappeared somewhere, which Sandra replaced with one from the West Riding where a Hornby BSO now substitutes. There are other trains that have since gone, including a Class 108 DMU (a bit out of place for Retford) and an early Brush Type 2, possibly an ex-Dunwich engine. 

[LNER4479]

35 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Is it a separate control, Graham?

 

I must have asked this question before (the memory crumbles) but, while I know a DCC loco will work (after a fashion) on a DC controller (not with all the functions) is it impossible for a DC loco to be operated by a DCC feed? 

 

In my own experience, many DCC-fitted locos have been run on LB (via my controls) but when I posed a couple of my own locos on Peterborough North for photographic purposes, the power had to be switched off to prevent the motors being damaged).

 

Ignorant of Little Bytham. 

Yes, Tony - it was a separate control. The switch for the section was double pole, so one side sent the two AC wires to the track; the other side send the +/- DC wires to the track. So you switched to DC, put your DC loco on the track and then ran it using a separate DC controller.

EDIT to say that this sounds exactly like TheGreenHowards does it

 

As has already been said, a 12v DC motor won't take kindly to a 16V AC supply being directly fed to it! I ... ahem ... tried it once; it didn't end well, although the Bachmann spares department were very understanding. It works the other way round because the 16V AC goes first of all to the chip thingy (through the black/red wires) which then does lots of clever stuff before sending the required voltage (through the orange/grey wires) to the otherwise DC motor in the loco. Hence why us DC dinosaurs can just bypass the whole thing with the DCC blanking plug or, for a hardwired one, just snip through the four black/red & orange/grey wires and soldering them together in various combinations until the thing goes.

 

Ever so slightly less ignorant of Grantham / Carlisle

Edited February 1, 2021 by LNER4479

[Barry Ten]

My layout's DCC but it's wired for cab control with sections as well, so I can flip a DPDT (actually two, as I'm too thick to work out how to do the wiring otherwise) and then it reverts to DC. As I've mentioned before, when I started going down the route of DCC  I did take a hard look at my loco roster and concluded that all the problem cases were either pre-nationalisation models or which could be easily backdated. I therefore tend to run the layout in DCC mode for half a year or so, then DC, and so on.

 

Now and then I've accidentally had a DC loco in-circuit on DCC power, but no harm's come to any of them. That said, I haven't yet run one of these coreless motored models and I imagine they might be a bit more susceptible.

[Clearwater]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

It's been done regularly, Andy.

 

New Bachmann, Hornby and Heljan DCC-equipped locos have all run on LB, controlled by DCC as well. There's a pair of leads dangling down with 'DCC' writ big on them, ready to be coupled up. Advertising DVDs have been made as well.

 

All I do is disconnect my DC control, switch every switch to 'on' and away they go.

 

I might have asked this before, but could it be done as easily the other way round? Not without isolating sections, otherwise everything would run at once. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

That's similar to the conclusion I came to for my sons' train set.  It's notionally wired for DCC but increasingly we use it on DC with just a controller plugged in (we run one loco at a time).  If/when I next rewire, I'll design to work on DC but allow a DCC plug in.  As it is not permanently erected, its no real extra hassle.  If/when I get space/planning permission for a permanent layout, I'll adopt the same approach to give flexibility.  

 

David

[CF MRC]

5 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Tim,

 

I wished I'd taken a picture.

 

However, I content myself with what your wonderful P2 looked like a year before. 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

After that set of photos Tony, she went on a tender crash diet with a slitting saw, as you had observed that the tender was too wide for the type.  Always useful to have constructive feedback. 
 

Tim
 

[2750Papyrus]

On 22/05/2020 at 01:34, Woodcock29 said:

Bolster wagons - here are some of my recent efforts, please don't compare them with Headstock's work! I don't think I've posted these on here before?

 

A Cambrian Quint I built the other year that's now been loaded with 60ft rail and therefore needs extra support from a secondhand NE single bolster. I know the Quint needs weathering, particularly the floor planks - but the load is still removable.

Some loaded timber wagons for Gavin Thrum's Spirsby layout.

Two NE single bolster I bought second-hand recently that have been converted from P4 to OO - I can here some cringing! I only noticed I hadn't painted the plastic card above the coupling mounts when I saw the photo!

A David Geen NE double bolster

A Chivers LMS double bolster.

Andrew

 

Sorry to jump quite so far back, but this seemed to be the best place for my question. 

 

I'm just re-reading "That Was My Railway" by Frank L Hick.  In an early chapter, he refers to the use on the old NER of double-bolster wagons for the carriage of trussed hay and clover, destined for cattle and horse fodder.  This sounds like an interesting use of such wagons. Has anyone seen photographs of wagons so loaded, or attempted to model it?

[Ray Flintoft]

19 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

What a wonderful picture Andrew,

 

Thanks for showing us. 

 

It also shows an interesting livery variant, unique to only three A4s as far as I know; that of lining the firebox cladding band. It was obviously a local thing (unless Darlington applied it), and the other two were 60019 and 60024 (were there others?). It was at the end of their lives. 

 

Another livery oddity is how the parabolic curved lining at the front goes right into the valance, not running along it to the first cladding band. 60019 also had this (and did 60024?). 

 

Other points of note? 60034 is towing a streamlined non-corridor tender, something she had in exchange with FLYING SCOTSMAN in 1963, losing her 1928-style corridor tender, complete with lowered rear. 60024 also lost her corridor tender (getting 60034's in the process?), but only for the last few weeks of her life. 

 

I think your picture is pretty conclusive in that, whatever the works' painting schemes might have been with regard to the colour of the cab roof above the eaves, in practice (after a week or so of work) they'd be all-over black.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Good afternoon , Tony ,

   As usual I am miles behind on this thread but the firebox cladding was lined out by Darlington works . This appears to have been standard practise there& can also be seen on V.2's ,A.1s & A.2,s that were repaired & repainted  there during the mid 1960's .

    Regarding the cab roofs , all I can say is that in 1969 I was one of a group of teenagers cleaning & general labouring on " Blue Peter" in York shed & the cab roof was overall black . Yes , I was the one who had to clean it !

            Best Wishes ,

                             Ray .

[Michael Edge]

10 hours ago, Northmoor said:

It didn't bother me, but I can respect the view of those that it does.

 

Although the Midland Main Line clearly didn't, aren't there several secondary main lines or through routes that change from double to single track sections?  The Highland ML, Cambrian (Gobowen-Newtown) and Central Wales line (Knighton-Craven Arms) are three I can think of.  Plus, what about seemingly everyone's old favourite, the S&D?

Yes but it was the Midland, other railways may have had single track main lines but not the MR. (S&DJ was a joint line, not Midland).