Wright writes.....

[stewartingram]

8 hours ago, landscapes said:

Hi Tony

 

Your 60502 looks superb, I enclose a photo of my 60501 which I have altered for it to look as it would around 1959.

 

I replaced the existing tender totems with the later style, added an AWS bang plate below the front buffer beam and replaced the plain double chimney as well as the usual additions, real coal, lamp, and Fox etched nameplates, works plates, and smokebox number plate.

 

I have yet to replace the smokebox door with the number plate positioned on the top hinge strap, the existing one seems well and truly glued on.

 

As a result of my alterations thank god I do not have to extend the boiler handrails round to the front of the smokebox door, an alteration I do not think I would have had the nerve to carry out.

 

Incidentally looking at archive photos of 60501 the boiler handrails did actually go round onto the smokebox door in the early 1950's.

 

Regards

 

David

 

 

Where did you source the rimmed chimney from? 

[Coach bogie]

1 hour ago, Clearwater said:

In the spirit of show and tell and classing myself very much towards the beginner end of the spectrum, I’ve made progress with my Comet D83 coach.  Obviously not one available RTR,  It seems to roll alright and went around our 6 by 4 literal trainset out particularly on the radius 3 and fine through points. I’m sure there’s stuff to improve on but I’m not dissatisfied with it.

 

 Still needs painting and one two detailing bits adding, rails at the end and alarm gear plus one or two grab handles.  I suspect I will go for one of the simpler GWR liveries!  Thanks to all who’ve offered me advice. 
 

David

 

I made a similar coach from Comet parts but with a different style underframe and bogies. Mine is a Dreadnought....it is honest!

 

At the time Swindon was building the South Wales 70ft stock, one of the Dreadnoughts D42 brake thirds was burn out so they built an extra South Wales brake third body to put onto the original Dreadnought underframe.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Jon4470 said:

If it already works well then there’s no point replacing the chassis ...... in my opinion.

Thanks Jon,

 

The fun bit will be fitting brakes.................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[mattingleycustom]

22 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Little Bytham no longer has two 'Cocks O' The North'....................

 

 

For 60501 to become EARL MARISCHAL, the backing for the nameplates needed shortening. A brand new curved blade in the Swann Morton, and GREAT care.................................................. I employed a rocking motion. 

 

There's no need to force off the original nameplate. 

 

 

Replacement etched plates from 247 Developments fitted perfectly. I ordered them yesterday and they arrived today. I call that service. 

 

Consult prototype shots because the A2/2s' nameplates moved around on the smokebox during their lives. 

 

Why 60501 and 60505 had their horizontal handrails cut short of the smokebox's front is lost in the mists of time. The other four had theirs clipped to the smokebox front ring. Thus, for 60502 they have to be added. 

 

They're formed of Gibson's small handrail pillars and .40 brass wire. The Hornby pillars are made of brass, but the rails themselves are made of steel. I exposed the brass and tinned it (WITH THE GREATEST CARE!). After soldering the new wire into the Gibson pillars, shaping it and then drilling small holes in the smokebox ring, the two were soldered together (WITH EVEN GREATER CARE!) and the new pillars superglued into the holes. Phew! 

 

Any chance of the original top lamp bracket surviving any treatment was instantly lost. The replacement is brass fret, formed/soldered and glued into a new hole. 

 

 

Rather than the fag of changing all the numbers, I just carefully scraped off the last digit.

 

 

And the different front end, with licks of matt black to cover the brasswork. 

 

Since 60502 was shedded at York, then the 50A 'plate can be left.

 

 

Complete and ready for weathering; heavy weathering, since York never seemed to have any cleaners. 

 

The replacement '2' isn't exactly the same colour, but weathering will disguise this. 

 

I sable brush-painted the cab roof eaves and the tender above the beading with matt black enamel. 

 

Worth doing? I think so. Strictly speaking, in this guise (numberplate above top hingestrap and early BR totem), 60502 is a little early for Little Bytham, but I'm prepared to be 'flexible'.

 

Will others 'risk' doing something like this to their brand new acquisition. I hope so, but the chances of cock-ups are manifold....................

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony,

 

Much prefer a P2 in its original condition, but these A2s are fine models.

 

When I was renumbering/renaming RTR locos professionally I used fine grade wet and dry paper (1200 or 1500 work well), depending on the standard of the original varnish finish this usually worked well removing only the numbers themselves, barely affecting the base colour underneath.

 

My preference was never to partially renumber; I would change the lot, then the spacing and style are consistent. Fox Transfers being my favoured type.

Some people can't get on with waterslide transfers but I found they produced the best results so long as they were applied to a gloss base and then varnished over with satin, or sometimes a satin/gloss mix to imitate the original finish.

 

Keep up the fine work,

 

Glenn

 

 

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Jol,

 

I thought the suggestion was to model Rugby Central. 

 

Rugby L&NWR would require something bigger than Retford's home to do it justice (with the GC passing over the south end for good measure).

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Mea culpa, Tony.

 

A resident of Rugby until I was eighteen, Rugby Midland was "the station" and remains so to me.

 

However, Rugby Central was the regular departure point for trips to Leicester, then regarded as a more upmarket shopping destination than Coventry. Leicester GC was also the first place I stood on the footplate of a steam locomotive, invited on with a school friend by the crew while we were waiting for our train back to Rugby.

 

Another recollection was sitting on the embankment just south of Rugby Midland Station and the GC girder bridge while train  spotting. The GC line over the bridge held little interest and the only locos we could recognise were the 9Fs, but then I only had an Ian Allan ABC  LMS Region spotters guide.

 

Jol

[cctransuk]

8 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

.... sitting on the embankment just south of Rugby Midland Station and the GC girder bridge while train  spotting.

 

I had a flattened halfpenny, 'processed' by a Patriot passing on the freight avoiding line at that exact spot.

 

We travelled to and from South Wigston (south of Leicester) via the Wigston to Rugby branch, which departed from one of the bay platforms at Rugby. As these bays had platforms on either side, one return trip we boarded an ancient non-corridor coach at the rear of the train from the 'wrong' side.

 

Arriving at South Wigston, we found that the doors on the platform side were locked out of use - and we could not attract the attention of the guard. In the folly of youth, we detrained on the 'wrong' side, onto the track, and beat a hasty retreat - to the sound of loud cursing from the platform!

 

John Isherwood.

[robmcg]

Hello Tony, thanks for your reply to Ian Hargrave on the A2 thread in Hornby, I took the extreme liberty of tidying the sky in your beaufiful photo of 60502 at speed, thus,

 

 

As I suggested there, the depth of field is astonishing and the colours are superb.

 

LB is a National Treasure.

 

Edit;  notice how the much-reviled Hornby green on the A2 is irrelevant in what is everyday natural light?  It actually looks 'right' to me in this photographic representation of ordinary daylight.

Edited February 21, 2021 by robmcg
added comment

[Shaw_Thing_M8]

11 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

60505 were fitted with Peppercorn boilers (60505 latterly with a Thompson one) that their handrails were cut short. Why, when 60502 and 60506 on receipt of Peppercorn boilers

 

What exactly is the difference between the boilers cosmetically? I've looked through photos of 60505 and 60506 and my untrained eye can't seem to discern a difference.

 

regards

[Tony Wright]

19 minutes ago, Shaw_Thing_M8 said:

 

What exactly is the difference between the boilers cosmetically? I've looked through photos of 60505 and 60506 and my untrained eye can't seem to discern a difference.

 

regards

The dome on the Thompson Dia.117 boiler (as fitted latterly to 60505) is further forward than on the Peppercorn Dia.118 boiler. It's actually a round dome as well, not a perforated steam collector, though the same streamlined cover was fitted over it. Not, as one commentator has suggested, a 'banjo' dome. 

 

60505 was unique in the class as being fitted (at various times) with the three types of boilers carried by the A2/2s.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

[Tony Wright]

34 minutes ago, robmcg said:

Hello Tony, thanks for your reply to Ian Hargrave on the A2 thread in Hornby, I took the extreme liberty of tidying the sky in your beaufiful photo of 60502 at speed, thus,

 

 

As I suggested there, the depth of field is astonishing and the colours are superb.

 

LB is a National Treasure.

 

Edit;  notice how the much-reviled Hornby green on the A2 is irrelevant in what is everyday natural light?  It actually looks 'right' to me in this photographic representation of ordinary daylight.

Thanks Rob,

 

LB's room is illuminated by some 16  5' 'daylight' strip lights, giving very even-illumination, and the pulses of fill-in flash are white light.

 

I think you're right; Hornby's green looks fine here.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Adam88]

On 21/02/2021 at 12:34, APOLLO said:

After watching this very interesting video of long gone railroads in Colorado I decided to add a bit of "excitement" to my operations. Short steam powered ore trains on spindly trestles high in the sky on sharp bends and heavy grades - magic !!.

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Rocky Mountains (my garage) to do some surveying !! Could I squeeze in a mine branch, mine, and two or three sidings ? Long hard looks at what I had built, and I wanted to keep most of it "as is". Yes I could - The answer was in the video - build it on trestle bridges, on sharp curves and steep gradients up in the sky - just like the old timers did.

 

Peco set track O gauge points were thought practical here. I downloaded and printed templates from the Tower models shop website (Peco haven't got them for some strange reason). I already had a box of track (bull head - yes wrong but it'll do). My method of construction is very strange - but it works. Blast out the sandstone scenery with lump hammer & chisel where required, Cut, bend and lay the track floating in mid air, mark, cut & paint the trestle track base, test fit. That's where I'm up to now. The bents (supports) girders etc will come later this spring - lots of interesting work to do, brings my modelling Mojo alive. Only the first half of the branch is done, the second bit to and including the mine surveyed only and work will commence here this summer when the snow has melted in the mountains !!

 

A couple of before and after shots.

 

The existing narrow gauge. The standard gauge line will pass through here after Blaster Bates has been. The spur has to go.

 

 

Start of the new line (end of the old spur coming out of the tunnel). 

 

 

Existing narrow gauge and mine spur.

 

 

Feasibility study. Track and template laid. The narrow gauge has to go here probably (or curtailed at the point). A dual gauge crossing is beyond me, though I may put in a dummy crossing. I rarely use this line. The station will stay, now a short standard gauge siding and a home for my Gas Electric railcar I built last summer.

 

 

Blasting complete (spot the chisel marks). Hornby track used for N/Gauge for test fit only.

 

 

Trestle bridge track base made & painted. Curvature, clearances  & gradients all OK

 

 

Trestle supports and girder bridge over main line etc to be made & fitted.

 

 

Current end of stage 1. A curved s shape trestle will rise to the mine site.

 

 

Proposed mine site. The station building & one track in front will stay. The narrow gauge yard will be the site of the mine over two or three standard gauge tracks. Just i bit of rock blasting required here.

 

 

NO - you three are NOT going "up there" !!!!

 

 

This is the sort of modelling I really enjoy doing, even though it was an hour at a time in a freezing cold garage last week.

 

Brit15

 

That was an excellent film, most interesting.  In 2005 I had to do some work in  Colorado Springs and stayed at the Antler Hotel at the back of which was the modern railroad from Denver going south and a plinthed narrow (3') gauge (Baldwin 1883 built for the D&RGW) locomotive, not a Coloardo Midland survivor unfortunately.  This locomotive has recently been returned to full working order at the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad after being on static view for nearly eighty years.  At the time of my visit it was not possible to do any sight seeing but I would very much like to revisit the area investigate some of the historical areas.  Hopefully current travel restrictions will not last for ever.

 

Apollo, I look forward to seeing the fruits of this modelling project.

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Adam88
reinsert lost picture

[sandra]

10 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks Rob,

 

LB's room is illuminated by some 16  5' 'daylight' strip lights, giving very even-illumination, and the pulses of fill-in flash are white light.

 

I think you're right; Hornby's green looks fine here.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Tony,

 

This photograph shows the Hornby livery to its best effect but other photographs I’ve seen show the green to be far too light and too blue and the lining to be too red. I have a few Hornby locomotives on Retford but I think the only way they look acceptable is if they are heavily weathered. 
 

I do have a couple of Hornby locomotives waiting to be converted to EM gauge for use on Retford but I’m in some doubt as to whether I should bother as I feel I can’t  live with them without repainting them. The problem is that whilst I can respray them, the finish I can achieve is not up to the quality (but not the colour) of the Hornby product.

 

The Bachmann green is better but the lining can be too bright. Retford has A2 “Happy Night” which is spoiled by the lining being far too bright and thus it looks incongruous in comparison with other locos on the line. I will have to weather it at some point.

 

Sandra

[bbishop]

15 minutes ago, sandra said:

 

The Bachmann green is better but the lining can be too bright. Retford has A2 “Happy Night” which is spoiled by the lining being far too bright and thus it looks incongruous in comparison with other locos on the line. I will have to weather it at some point.

 

Sandra

I think the locomotive is telling you to run her (him?) in the dark.  Bill

[Tony Wright]

3 minutes ago, sandra said:

Tony,

 

This photograph shows the Hornby livery to its best effect but other photographs I’ve seen show the green to be far too light and too blue and the lining to be too red. I have a few Hornby locomotives on Retford but I think the only way they look acceptable is if they are heavily weathered. 
 

I do have a couple of Hornby locomotives waiting to be converted to EM gauge for use on Retford but I’m in some doubt as to whether I should bother as I feel I can’t  live with them without repainting them. The problem is that whilst I can respray them, the finish I can achieve is not up to the quality (but not the colour) of the Hornby product.

 

The Bachmann green is better but the lining can be too bright. Retford has A2 “Happy Night” which is spoiled by the lining being far too bright and thus it looks incongruous in comparison with other locos on the line. I will have to weather it at some point.

 

Sandra

Good morning Sandra,

 

My memory of seeing HAPPY KNIGHT on every occasion was that it certainly wasn't green, nor had any lining of any colour! It was just all-over grey/brown. 

 

 

Like this; taken in 1956/'57 before her chimney was altered. It's approaching Retford on a Down express.

 

My own model of 60533 is really far too clean.

 

 

 

It's a Crownline/Kinsey/Wright/Rathbone) combination.

 

When weathered (in this case, expertly by Tom Foster), the Bachmann A2's appearance looks much more 'natural'.

 

 

All I did beforehand was to detail, renumber and rename this original Bachmann HAPPY KNIGHT. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

 

 

 

[robertcwp]

1 hour ago, sandra said:

Tony,

 

This photograph shows the Hornby livery to its best effect but other photographs I’ve seen show the green to be far too light and too blue and the lining to be too red. I have a few Hornby locomotives on Retford but I think the only way they look acceptable is if they are heavily weathered. 
 

I do have a couple of Hornby locomotives waiting to be converted to EM gauge for use on Retford but I’m in some doubt as to whether I should bother as I feel I can’t  live with them without repainting them. The problem is that whilst I can respray them, the finish I can achieve is not up to the quality (but not the colour) of the Hornby product.

 

The Bachmann green is better but the lining can be too bright. Retford has A2 “Happy Night” which is spoiled by the lining being far too bright and thus it looks incongruous in comparison with other locos on the line. I will have to weather it at some point.

 

Sandra

Some photos of clean pacifics do seem to show very prominent lining but I wonder if it's the effects of the photo editing or film that is overly sensitive to certain colours.

 

I seem to recall that 60117 on the up Queen of Scots on Retford is also Bachmann, something I had not noticed until I put lamps on it. How bright is the lining on that one?

 

On the subject of Retford, this is currently in the works. It's a Hornby Mark 1 FO, with a difference:

 

E3079 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Some photos of clean pacifics do seem to show very prominent lining but I wonder if it's the effects of the photo editing or film that is overly sensitive to certain colours.

 

I seem to recall that 60117 on the up Queen of Scots on Retford is also Bachmann, something I had not noticed until I put lamps on it. How bright is the lining on that one?

 

On the subject of Retford, this is currently in the works. It's a Hornby Mark 1 FO, with a difference:

 

E3079 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Good afternoon Robert,

 

 

Here's Retford's 60117. I think this Bachmann A1 was weathered by Tim Shackleton. The lining is certainly toned-down.

 

 

As it is on my own much-modified Bachmann A1. Ian Rathbone weathered this for me, proving that the lining as supplied can be made to look much more realistic after weathering.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[MJI]

Looks like a TW special in BRM this month!

[MJI]

6 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Some photos of clean pacifics do seem to show very prominent lining but I wonder if it's the effects of the photo editing or film that is overly sensitive to certain colours.

 

I seem to recall that 60117 on the up Queen of Scots on Retford is also Bachmann, something I had not noticed until I put lamps on it. How bright is the lining on that one?

 

On the subject of Retford, this is currently in the works. It's a Hornby Mark 1 FO, with a difference:

 

E3079 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

 

What has been altered on this?

 

 

[sandra]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Robert,

 

 

Here's Retford's 60117. I think this Bachmann A1 was weathered by Tim Shackleton. The lining is certainly toned-down.

 

 

As it is on my own much-modified Bachmann A1. Ian Rathbone weathered this for me, proving that the lining as supplied can be made to look much more realistic after weathering.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

Tony, 

Thanks for posting those photographs. I’m attaching a photo of 60533 Happy Knight which I took this morning.The lining is very prominent on this loco and I think it needs to be toned down by weathering. I think the effect is made worse by the cylinders being lined. Surely this is wrong or was 60533 exceptional in this regard? However I like the shade of green which to me seems about right.

In contrast here is 60135 Madge Wildfire which is a converted Railroad Hornby “Tornado”. The lining seems to be rather prominent but it is the colour I feel to be wrong but it doesn’t seem to be as bad as the latest A2/2. It also has been very lightly weathered.

Finally here is 60117 which is a Bachmann A1 which has been weathered. I like the appearance of this loco and this is what I would like to aim for in the future. The green is about right and the lining is suitably restrained. I saw several of these locos and this is how I remember them.

Sandra

[Tony Wright]

13 minutes ago, sandra said:

Tony, 

Thanks for posting those photographs. I’m attaching a photo of 60533 Happy Knight which I took this morning.The lining is very prominent on this loco and I think it needs to be toned down by weathering. I think the effect is made worse by the cylinders being lined. Surely this is wrong or was 60533 exceptional in this regard? However I like the shade of green which to me seems about right.

In contrast here is 60135 Madge Wildfire which is a converted Railroad Hornby “Tornado”. The lining seems to be rather prominent but it is the colour I feel to be wrong but it doesn’t seem to be as bad as the latest A2/2. It also has been very lightly weathered.

Finally here is 60117 which is a Bachmann A1 which has been weathered. I like the appearance of this loco and this is what I would like to aim for in the future. The green is about right and the lining is suitably restrained. I saw several of these locos and this is how I remember them.

Sandra

Interesting comparisons Sandra,

 

As far as I'm aware, the cylinders should not be lined on green ER locos (though one or two of mine have the feature - to be attended to). 

 

Interestingly, Hornby's A2/2 has been criticised on some examples for the poor fit of the 'cab to the firebox'. Just like 60117? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

P.S. The balance weights for the Ivatt 4MT have arrived. I'll post them to you tomorrow......

Edited February 22, 2021 by Tony Wright
to add something

[thegreenhowards]

7 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Some photos of clean pacifics do seem to show very prominent lining but I wonder if it's the effects of the photo editing or film that is overly sensitive to certain colours.

 

I seem to recall that 60117 on the up Queen of Scots on Retford is also Bachmann, something I had not noticed until I put lamps on it. How bright is the lining on that one?

 

On the subject of Retford, this is currently in the works. It's a Hornby Mark 1 FO, with a difference:

 

E3079 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Was this one of the first coaches to have commonwealth bogies?

[robertcwp]

20 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Was this one of the first coaches to have commonwealth bogies?

Yes, the E3076-80 batch built at Doncaster in 1956 had experimental Commonwealth bogies. I don't know how much they differed from the production variant and I have only seen two photos of a crimson and cream FO with CW bogies. One of those is a distant shot and I cannot now find the other one. They were the only Mark 1s to have CW bogies whilst in crimson and cream livery.

 

Incidentally, I have only been able to identify one Mark 1 that had CW bogies whilst in WR chocolate and cream, which was RB W1646. 

[31A]

Here's another mucky Bachmann "Happy Knight" - still too clean?  No lining on the cylinders of mine - I don't remember painting it out.  The rest of the lining is toned down by the weathering:

 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, 31A said:

Here's another mucky Bachmann "Happy Knight" - still too clean?  No lining on the cylinders of mine - I don't remember painting it out.  The rest of the lining is toned down by the weathering:

 

 

 

That's very effective Steve,

 

Most-realistic.

 

Actually, the real HAPPY KNIGHT could be clean................

 

 

The location of this print (seen before) is said to be Grantham, but it looks much more like York to me. The date is 1958, and the incorrect right-facing lion is still evident on the tender. 

 

My model of 60533 was originally built for Stoke Summit. 

 

 

 

Built from a Crownline kit, it was started by Rob Kinsey (I substituted a DJH cast metal boiler for the resin one supplied) who handed it over to me to complete. That done, Ian Rathbone painted it.  It would be criminal to obliterate Ian's fine painting with heavy weathering. 

 

It looks to be more or less in the condition it is in the prototype picture, which, being the summer of 1958 is fine for Little Bytham. However, the lion is the correct way round on the model. Not only that, the lamp irons should be taller (though the electric lighting had been removed). 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited February 22, 2021 by Tony Wright
to add something

[Dunsignalling]

4 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Yes, the E3076-80 batch built at Doncaster in 1956 had experimental Commonwealth bogies. I don't know how much they differed from the production variant and I have only seen two photos of a crimson and cream FO with CW bogies. One of those is a distant shot and I cannot now find the other one. They were the only Mark 1s to have CW bogies whilst in crimson and cream livery.

 

Incidentally, I have only been able to identify one Mark 1 that had CW bogies whilst in WR chocolate and cream, which was RB W1646. 

Never mind Commonwealths, at least one WR Mk1 (a BCK) received B4s whilst still in chocolate and cream.

 

John