Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I make no claim for glamour when it comes to the "late Midland" style - it's the sheer unpretentious ordinariness of a 2P or 3F that I find appealing. I'm a disciple of the cult of the ordinary.

'Ordinary' 2Ps and a 3F happily run on Little Bytham's upper section, Stephen,

 

 

 

My Millholme 2P, modified to make a Midland-built example, complete with South Eastern Finecast tender. 

 

 

This one is an old Millholme kit which I made a new chassis for; the property of a friend.

 

I also weathered it.

 

 

 

This renumbered/weathered 2P has an Airfix loco/tender body, under which I've made Comet substitutes.

 

 

I was given this 3F last year. It had a non-running EM chassis. I made an OO set of frames, completed it and weathered it.

 

I've since removed the centre steps - they're only correct for the last-built 3Fs.

 

 

Of course, Bachmann makes a very nice RTR 3F in OO.

 

 

And, JLTRT makes a jolly good kit for one in O Gauge.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

11 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

I've since removed the centre steps - they're only correct for the last-built 3Fs.

 

An interesting observation. Of course "built" is a bit of an awkward word for a 3F - but then one comes across them (and the 2Ps, the Midland ones also not exactly "built" - but more so than the 3Fs) attributed to Johnson, which is equally awkward.

 

"Only correct for the last Johnson goods engines to be rebuilt as 3Fs"!

[BMacdermott]

Hello Tony and everyone

 

I wonder if anyone can help with a query about J50 workings through Welwyn North in 1959/60.

 

Firstly...were there any rostered?

 

If not, could they be seen working such as local parcels trains, PW or breakdown trains, etc - or perhaps working to Works?

 

Many thanks

 

Brian

[Chuffer Davies]

This is the third of the five models for our Clayton layout that I am currently finishing off.  This time its a small boilered J7.  Originally a Stirling engine, by 1930 it had been fitted with a wider Ivatt cab but otherwise was still pretty much as originally built.  This model has the same credentials as the J1: CSB suspension, American pickup, motor in tender, friction fit Gibson wheels.   

 

Was the J7 the smallest of all the 0-6-0 tender engines of the GNR/LNER?  It is certainly deminutive when stood next to a J1 or J3, and the tender doesn't help. 

 

  

[Tony Wright]

58 minutes ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Tony and everyone

 

I wonder if anyone can help with a query about J50 workings through Welwyn North in 1959/60.

 

Firstly...were there any rostered?

 

If not, could they be seen working such as local parcels trains, PW or breakdown trains, etc - or perhaps working to Works?

 

Many thanks

 

Brian

Brian,

 

Several J50s were allocated to Hornsey in 1959/'60, transferred from further north. Their main duties were trip freights to the Southern Region via Snow Hill, their being more powerful than the J52s they replaced. 

 

It's quite possible that they worked through Welwyn North on trip freights heading north and back.

Examples at 34B were 68891/4/906/7/20/1/6/8/9/30/1/6/45/60/1/6/8/70//1/2/9/80/1/2/3/5/6/7/9/90/1. 68946 was actually shedded at 34A at the time.

 

I hope this helps. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Michael Edge]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

'Ordinary' 2Ps and a 3F happily run on Little Bytham's upper section, Stephen,

 

 

 

My Millholme 2P, modified to make a Midland-built example, complete with South Eastern Finecast tender. 

 

 

This one is an old Millholme kit which I made a new chassis for; the property of a friend.

 

I also weathered it.

 

 

 

This renumbered/weathered 2P has an Airfix loco/tender body, under which I've made Comet substitutes.

 

 

I was given this 3F last year. It had a non-running EM chassis. I made an OO set of frames, completed it and weathered it.

 

I've since removed the centre steps - they're only correct for the last-built 3Fs.

 

 

Of course, Bachmann makes a very nice RTR 3F in OO.

 

 

And, JLTRT makes a jolly good kit for one in O Gauge.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

My next 7mm job after this 2F will be a 3F, not sure whether I'll build the loco the same way but the tender will be very similar.

[Tony Wright]

Now, a request from me, please.

 

Does anyone know exactly where this is?

 

 

Apologies for the poor scan.

 

The date is most-likely Saturday September 9th 1961, and MALLARD is returning on the 'Elizabethan' set, having worked the last Down non-stop the day before. The headboard is turned round, and the train will have stopped at Newcastle (for a crew change?).

 

But where exactly is it on the ECML? The shadows suggest the Home Counties (towards the end of the train's journey). 

 

Is that a bridge reconstruction in the background - road widening?

 

Any help greatly appreciated. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

1 minute ago, Michael Edge said:

My next 7mm job after this 2F will be a 3F, not sure whether I'll build the loco the same way but the tender will be very similar.

Beautiful!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, Michael Edge said:

the tender will be very similar.

 

Well, yes indeed, since the tenders didn't get rebuilt! (Though there may have been some swapping around since not all Johnson goods engines by a long way started off with 3,250 gal tenders.) That and I think the valences - engines from the Neilson Goods batch retained the distinctive shape of the cab step backing plate.

[Michael Edge]

I meant that the construction of the model will be similar, steel plate tank with brass strip beading. The 3F will probably have some variant of 3250 gallon tender but I don't know yet exactly which loco the customer wants.

[Manxcat]

I just saw this set of pickups from a new company called TrainOmatic sold through DCC Supplies. (Usual disclaimer)

 

Seems a nice neat design and, at £6.80 for a pack of ten with wires attached, reasonable value.

 

 

[Tony Wright]

I've just spent two hours doing something I haven't done for a long time; running my railway!

 

Everything worked just fine (amazingly), considering the last time it was run was last November. 

 

With restrictions gradually being lifted, I thought it wise to begin preparations for a return of visitors. 

 

All those who'd arranged visits for last year, will you please get back in touch in the next six weeks and we'll reschedule for this year?

 

I look forward to it.......................

[Bernard Lamb]

23 hours ago, Doncaster Green said:

My parents used to live in one of the villages just up the A1 from Grantham and, thus, I have been to the crematorium twice, but both times in one of the funeral cars.  But if memory serves from the station to the crematorium is quite a trek.  You would certainly need a good meal after that walk both ways!  Was the pub the Angel and Royal?  I’ve had a few nice meals in there over the years.

 

John

That was the place.

Suggested by a friend who used to go there with his grandfather for reunions of what he called the machine gunners association. I bet they could tell a tale or two.

Bernard

[Tom F]

I've just finished weathering this Hornby Thompson A2/2 for a client, and contributor of this thread! 

 

I have to say, there were a few quality control issues with the model. Missing cab handrail, dodgy snifting valve and the reversing lever dropped of while handling.

 

Should the loco have an AWS bang plate during this period with early crest and higher front numberplate?

 

I think the green has improved with weathering.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Tom F

[Tony Wright]

50 minutes ago, Tom F said:

I've just finished weathering this Hornby Thompson A2/2 for a client, and contributor of this thread! 

 

I have to say, there were a few quality control issues with the model. Missing cab handrail, dodgy snifting valve and the reversing lever dropped of while handling.

 

Should the loco have an AWS bang plate during this period with early crest and higher front numberplate?

 

I think the green has improved with weathering.

Looks good Tom,

 

Contrary to what the RCTS and Isinglass have written, 60501 did receive AWS, but not in the guise shown. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[mark54]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Now, a request from me, please.

 

Does anyone know exactly where this is?

 

 

Apologies for the poor scan.

 

The date is most-likely Saturday September 9th 1961, and MALLARD is returning on the 'Elizabethan' set, having worked the last Down non-stop the day before. The headboard is turned round, and the train will have stopped at Newcastle (for a crew change?).

 

But where exactly is it on the ECML? The shadows suggest the Home Counties (towards the end of the train's journey). 

 

Is that a bridge reconstruction in the background - road widening?

 

Any help greatly appreciated. 

 

 

Hi Tony,

 

I think that might be approaching the old Stevenage station and the bridge in the background would be the Stevenage Bypass then under construction, and now part of the A1(M).

[PupCam]

4 hours ago, BMacdermott said:

I wonder if anyone can help with a query about J50 workings through Welwyn North in 1959/60.

 

Firstly...were there any rostered?

 

If not, could they be seen working such as local parcels trains, PW or breakdown trains, etc - or perhaps working to Works?

Do I correctly infer from this enquiry that there might be a model of Welwyn North in the offing?

 

If so, I look forward to seeing it as I know the area well although sadly the station was but a shadow of its former glory by the time I came to know it!    Will it also include that most significant and imposing bit of local infrastructure as well?

 

While we're on the subject, I was intrigued when I noticed in the Welwyn North section of Peter Coster's book (I know it doesn't meet with universal acclaim but the two volumes are far better than all of the (non-existent) alternatives IMHO)  the shot of the car park with a lovely selection of period cars which includes an Austin Seven whose registration number was only 13 different from my first car.    That was also an Austin Seven which I bought second-hand back in the mid 70's for £30 from someone who lived just 1.5 miles from the station.  

[Jack P]

4 hours ago, Chuffer Davies said:

This is the third of the five models for our Clayton layout that I am currently finishing off.  This time its a small boilered J7.  Originally a Stirling engine, by 1930 it had been fitted with a wider Ivatt cab but otherwise was still pretty much as originally built.  This model has the same credentials as the J1: CSB suspension, American pickup, motor in tender, friction fit Gibson wheels.   

 

Was the J7 the smallest of all the 0-6-0 tender engines of the GNR/LNER?  It is certainly deminutive when stood next to a J1 or J3, and the tender doesn't help. 

  

 

I've seen your updates on facebook also. 

 

I'm curious about the motor in the tender - are you able to provide me/us with some further info/photos of how the arrangement works? It seems to be an excellent solution to mounting a large motor in a small loco.

[Chuffer Davies]

14 minutes ago, Jack P said:

 

I've seen your updates on facebook also. 

 

I'm curious about the motor in the tender - are you able to provide me/us with some further info/photos of how the arrangement works? It seems to be an excellent solution to mounting a large motor in a small loco.

I've previously documented it in more detail here.  I hope you will find it of interest.  The real benefit is the additional weight that can be obtained over the driving wheels by filling the space normally occupied by the motor and gearbox with lead.

 

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, mark54 said:

Hi Tony,

 

I think that might be approaching the old Stevenage station and the bridge in the background would be the Stevenage Bypass then under construction, and now part of the A1(M).

Which would be approximately this ......  

 

I'm not 100% convinced but a first Google Maps helicopter flight up and down the line hasn't revealed any better candidates 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.9189287,-0.2212843,156a,35y,5.57h,77.34t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

This is the view from the "new" A602 looking south, the A1M bridge is the one furthest away

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.927657,-0.2255164,3a,30y,150.06h,93.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s3LjMbPrnF1hgs6envsW2IA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D3LjMbPrnF1hgs6envsW2IA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D187.05182%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

 

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by PupCam
Added second link and photograph

[robmcg]

12 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Rob,

 

I must ask Tony, was the Deltic photo at Little Bytham a 40mm micro cropped?

 

From memory (it was taken a while ago), 55mm Micro, tightly cropped. 

 

I suppose that's the advantage of the full-frame camera. An image can be cropped without losing much in the way of definition/quality. 

 

A favourite lens is an 18mm- 35mm zoom, always set on 35mm. For overall views, it is brilliant, requiring no cropping. 

 

 

Full frame, with the image size reduced and saved as a jpeg for posting on here. 35mm at F29. Focus point, the footbridge. 

 

 

Same lens, same settings but cropped top and bottom, though full-frame width. Focus point, third carriage.

 

 

Again the 35mm, but more cropping to get this track-level view. Focus point, the centre signal. The background is just beginning to 'go'. 

 

 

60mm micro at F32 (or thereabouts). A little cropping, but the depth of field is slightly more-limited. That said, this lens is biting-sharp (expected, for the price!), and I don't mind the background being slightly 'fuzzy'.

 

Clever photographers, of course, succeed in getting great depth of field by stacking. Though the process has been explained to me (by a very-patient Andy York), I'll never get it, nor, do I believe, need it with the kit I've got.

 

The 'downside' of how I photograph model railways? The cost of the equipment! Were I to replace everything I've got with the very latest Nikon equivalents, I'd need somewhere in the region of twelve grand! I should point out that much of what I use was obtained second-hand. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

 

 

You are very kind Tony to describe the equipment and settings you use so very well, I must add, uniquely well.

 

I can think of no other photographer who can obtain the results you achieve, especially with single-shot methods.

 

Unlike you I understand photo stacking, in fact the latest cameras will do it for you, if you can find the commands on the menu. They will also cook you a fine meal if you can find the control sub-menu.  I do stacking manually and prefer the dictates of my eye over a program.

 

Your cameras and lenses confirm for me that you have to have top equipment, and i have enjoyed confirming this in the last few days, whether the best be Nikon or Canon 45-50MP full frame.  There are some options with less outlay, but most of the 'improvements' are all about 'interconnectivity', video speeds, and all sorts of irrelevant things if the aim is great photos of model railways.  They use words like 'rethink' and soon they will use 'improved optionalities'. There are people out there who have to have the latest cameras and 8 lenses, and photography is simply a test of camera capability, nothing much to do with beauty or art.

 

However you can buy a new 34 Megapixel Canon M-series camera for about UKP700 with a fairly good 15-45mm or 22-74mm (35mm equiv.) lens   it's the Canon M6 MkII with 15-45mm , about as good as you can get with anything less than full frame and micro lenses. It will take RAW or JPEG images 6900 x 4500 pixels which gives some room for cropping without excessive loss of definition.. These smaller format cameras can use older full frame lenses via an adaptor ring. 

 

Trouble is that my current 'old' 2015 camera, an 18MP EOS-M, is nearly as good as a new 24MP M200 or maybe a 34MP M6 MkII, and I am lazy, the M6 MkII has different batteries and so on, but lenses would intermix,   It may be fun to try something new. I have a micro lens for my cameras coming, regardless.  My cameras will currently go to F36 and we shall see what happens.

 

The one thing I suspect many readers like about your photography Tony is that it is a fine expression of art, the techniques would be invisible to many. 

 

Just for interest here is an example of my camera on F36 and some sharpening....  not a patch on an express roaring through Little Bytham!

 

 

Thanks again for your reply.

 

 

 

 

[Iain.d]

On the last page or two there has been some great images and modelling of 2F/3F and 2P locos. Similarly to Compound2632, I have a fondness for the simple elegance and aesthetics of these engines.

 

A while back I bought this part built Alan Gibson 2F because I wanted the tender to do  an upgrade on an old Triang 3F loco. But now I’m keen to strip down and redo the whole kit as a Somerset & Dorset 2F/3F ‘Scottie’ of about 1920 vintage. I kept an early 1990s BRM with an article on Midsomer Norton in the Edwardian period (photographs by Tony Wright) and it would appear that this kit was used to build a model of S&DJR no 72.

 

 

To that end, would anyone be able to help me with a set of Gibson instructions? While I can work out what most things are, and relate them to a dated photograph, there are multiple options of some parts, particularly the small castings and etchings. The historical information in AG instructions is pretty good too.

 

 

I did place a request on one of the RMWeb help pages, but have not received a response – admittedly it was only earlier in the week, but with the coincidence of locos on here I thought it would be opportune to seek assistance again.

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

Edited April 2, 2021 by Iain.d
spelling

[Compound2632]

5 hours ago, Iain.d said:

But now I’m keen to strip down and redo the whole kit as a Somerset & Dorset 2F/3F ‘Scottie’ of about 1920 vintage. I kept an early 1990s BRM with an article on Midsomer Norton in the Edwardian period (photographs by Tony Wright) and it would appear that this kit was used to build a model of S&DJR no 72.

 

Not a Scottie, a Bulldog. The Scotties, Nos. 33-44, 25-28, and 46-61, were rather smaller engines - a tender version of the 1F 0-6-0Ts.

[Iain.d]

I have a couple of builds on at the moment, one is this Worsley Works Caledonian Railway 45ft Full Brake. I did start collecting bits for it last year (it only came with sides, ends/steps, roof, floor pan/solebars) so I built a pair of Comet MR bogies for it, but I wasn’t happy with those (thinking it unlikely these vehicles would ever have been rebuilt with them)  so have replaced them with an adapted set of Fox bogies (Roxey Mouldings). I don’t have much information on the vehicle, they were all gone by the mid/late 1930s but I’m assuming this one made it into departmental stock and will work with a breakdown train that I’m slowly putting together. The etches are very nicely done; the panelling is so crisp you could cut yourself on it!

 

 

This morning I soldered in the drop lights, door stops and bent up and fitted the guards duckets and made up and drilled the headstocks. Over Easter I’ll try and do a bit more; at least fit the bogies and solder up the ends and sides.

 

Otherwise, happy Easter and take care.

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

Edited April 2, 2021 by Iain.d

[BMacdermott]

10 hours ago, PupCam said:

Do I correctly infer from this enquiry that there might be a model of Welwyn North in the offing?

 

If so, I look forward to seeing it as I know the area well although sadly the station was but a shadow of its former glory by the time I came to know it!    Will it also include that most significant and imposing bit of local infrastructure as well?

Hello PupCam

 

I'm sorry to disappoint, but the answer is 'no'.

 

The background to my enquiry was partly that I train-spotted at Potters Bar in the late 50s/early 60s but don't have any recollection of seeing a J50 go through. My note books were all thrown out, so I have no reference point and I don't recall seeing any photos either.

 

The other part to my enquiry was that I am fortunate to have two layouts - one at 'normal' waist level, with the other above at my eye level. This is 25ft x 10ft in the form of a folded dog-bone and permits just over 20 trains ranging from 10-coach expresses to humble pick-up freights. One side of the room is 'scenic' double-track with a small station and goods yard - akin to Welwyn North.

 

The station can purport to be 'somewhere on the S&D', or 'somewhere on the Liverpool Street-Cambridge main line' or 'somewhere like Welwyn North' dependent on what stock I run.

 

Being a fan of the J50, I wondered if anyone could offer proof of any passing through so that I can 'justify' running my models.  But I can always apply Rule 1 and run what I want anyway!

 

Before signing off, I don't read of many people having 'eye level layouts' although they seem more common in  the USA. There were many reasons for me going eye level, one of the principal ones being that - as the fascia is slightly undulating and lined with 'bushes' (lichen) - I can't actually see the track. This meant that I didn't have to ballast it!

 

Back in the 1970s, I was a sales rep travelling around the Welwyn area. When time permitted, I would have my 'flask and sandwiches' parked up at Welwyn North just off the viaduct so as to see the 1300 from King's Cross hurtle through.

 

Brian

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by BMacdermott