Wright writes.....

[johndon]

9 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Quick exam question - please give an example of a properly-constructed English sentence that includes the word "and" five times consecutively.

 

He discovered that the spaces were wrong so he said, “The space between This and And and And and That is different. Please fix it”

 

 

[LNER4479]

37 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I always thought that George Hudson was the Railway King.

Ah, but was he Victoria's Railway King? (as per title of the book). Bit of a game girl, was Vicky, by all accounts ...

[bbishop]

14 hours ago, Leander said:

I know of a an O gauge modal of Springhead Junction modelled by Paul Knight, a member of the L&Y Railway Society.

I think that I saw it at Guildex.  It looked great but nothing ran.  Bill

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Ah, but was he Victoria's Railway King? (as per title of the book). Bit of a game girl, was Vicky, by all accounts ...

 

Hudson's rise began in the reign of William IV - his first decidedly dodgy dealing, declaring a dividend out of capital before the opening of the Y&NMR - was a full two months before Victoria's accession. But his fall was definitely Victorian. 

 

The Watkin book does look unjustifiably hagiographical but one shouldn't judge by the cover, especially after the publisher's been at it. "King"? No. "Baron" might be more apposite - it carries the hint of unscrupulous practices. He learnt his trade from Mark Huish, who was as sharp an operator in his own way (contrasted with Hudson) as one could wish to find in the 1840s.

[Compound2632]

Oh yes and pedant: that's a decidedly post-Watkin engine on the cover of the Watkin book.

[Leander]

15 hours ago, Leander said:

...tomorrow if time permits. I have a Virtual expoEM to get ready to go online in less than a fortnight!

Tony, because of the size of the file, I'll email you the article, or use WeTransfer. Here's one photo from the article which was published in the Winter 2003  edition of the L&YRS Magazine (Number 220).

[St Enodoc]

24 minutes ago, Leander said:

Tony, because of the size of the file, I'll email you the article, or use WeTransfer. Here's one photo from the article which was published in the Winter 2003  edition of the L&YRS Magazine (Number 220).

Super trackwork.

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Hudson's rise began in the reign of William IV - his first decidedly dodgy dealing, declaring a dividend out of capital before the opening of the Y&NMR - was a full two months before Victoria's accession. But his fall was definitely Victorian. 

 

The Watkin book does look unjustifiably hagiographical but one shouldn't judge by the cover, especially after the publisher's been at it. "King"? No. "Baron" might be more apposite - it carries the hint of unscrupulous practices. He learnt his trade from Mark Huish, who was as sharp an operator in his own way (contrasted with Hudson) as one could wish to find in the 1840s.

Good afternoon Stephen,

 

Whichever sobriquet is applied, according to the book, Watkin's list of achievements include.....................

 

Building the longest railway line in the world, and the last mainline (sic) railway into London before HS1, starting to dig the Channel Tunnel in 1880, being knighted for his work which led to the creation of Canada, becoming chairman of nine different British railway companies and a trustee of a tenth, creating three 'parks for the people', helping develop railways in Canada, the USA, Greece, India and the Congo, beginning construction of 'The great Tower in London' (to rival the Eiffel Tower in Paris), planning a high-speed Manchester-Paris rail-link and helping bring down the price of bread by fighting the Corn Laws.

 

I'll enjoy reading the account!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Leander said:

Tony, because of the size of the file, I'll email you the article, or use WeTransfer. Here's one photo from the article which was published in the Winter 2003  edition of the L&YRS Magazine (Number 220).

Thanks Pete,

 

The picture has jogged my memory. 

 

If it's the same layout, I've taken photographs of it at an early stage in its construction. The owner lived near Ludlow, and had commissioned Norman Solomon to make the trackwork for him. It was this trackwork which I photographed (on transparency). The boards were stored in a garage in Ludlow, which had no power. We had to use a portable generator to power my lights!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Compound2632]

54 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Stephen,

 

Whichever sobriquet is applied, according to the book, Watkin's list of achievements include.....................

 

Building the longest railway line in the world, and the last mainline (sic) railway into London before HS1, starting to dig the Channel Tunnel in 1880, being knighted for his work which led to the creation of Canada, becoming chairman of nine different British railway companies and a trustee of a tenth, creating three 'parks for the people', helping develop railways in Canada, the USA, Greece, India and the Congo, beginning construction of 'The great Tower in London' (to rival the Eiffel Tower in Paris), planning a high-speed Manchester-Paris rail-link and helping bring down the price of bread by fighting the Corn Laws.

 

I'll enjoy reading the account!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

I don't dispute his achievements (although the shareholders of some of the companies of which he was Chairman might have done so); it's his methods that were, I believe, sometimes questionable. But as a Midland enthusiast, I'm partisan.

[simontaylor484]

Watkin was also involved in the early days of underground railways in London in particular the expansion of the Metropolitan Railway that became the Metropolitan line

[Michael Edge]

On 09/05/2021 at 09:30, LNER4479 said:

The view looking the other way is even better Tony! Plenty of scenic breaks and modelling opportunities!

(from the David Hey website)

Can we correct this back to Springwood Junction before "Springhead" gets repeated again.

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I don't dispute his achievements (although the shareholders of some of the companies of which he was Chairman might have done so); it's his methods that were, I believe, sometimes questionable. But as a Midland enthusiast, I'm partisan.

Thanks Stephen,

 

The book does suggest he was 'flawed', at least in some departments.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[LNER4479]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

Can we correct this back to Springwood Junction before "Springhead" gets repeated again.

Not my writing, sir! That's as it's printed on the David Hey website. I did rather wonder that it was wrong.

[Tony Wright]

One thing I probably don't take enough pictures of are Bytham's goods trains (largely because there are far more - realistically - passenger rakes). 

 

Anyway, here's a start........................

 

 

Class A4 60026 MILES BEEVOR (SE Finecast/Crownline/Wright/Rathbone) heads northwards on an express freight.

 

 

It might be the 'Scotch Goods' but I don't think I've seen a horsebox as the first vehicle in that. 

 

Still, the scenes have atmosphere, or I hope so. 

 

More, later.........................

 

 

[Tony Wright]

An Up fitted freight next.........................

 

 

This is Hornby's A2/2, ex-60501. Detailed/renumbered/renamed by me and weathered by Geoff Haynes, how this was done will be in the next issue of BRM. 

 

 

60502 was in this condition as late as 1957 - rimmed chimney and numberplate above crossrail. 

 

I've found out today (thanks Headstock) that the front of the tender is too high. I should have conducted more-diligent research! 

[Tony Wright]

And, the last of the goods trains for today......................

 

 

Class O2/3, 63987 (detailed/renumbered Heljan by me, weathered by Geoff Haynes) plods southwards on full coals from the Notts pits, having joined the main line at Grantham. 

 

 

Some 45 wagons-long, it's on its way to New England, probably for re-marshalling (that PO wagon should have a BR 'P' panel on it). 

 

What a view like this proves (at least to me) is the necessity of not just having the length of room to accommodate a 'scale' model of Little Bytham, but also the width. The baseboard at this point is almost 5' wide. 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by Tony Wright
typo error

[Theakerr]

8 hours ago, johndon said:

 

He discovered that the spaces were wrong so he said, “The space between This and And and And and That is different. Please fix it”

 

 

As in the Pub name 'England and Andover'

[robmcg]

Well Tony having experimented with good half-frame cameras and rather goods lenses I can get very good depth of field with F40 , but I have to say that your excellent Nikon full frame camera and lenses are without equal for 4mm models at least.

 

This is well-demonstrated by your lovely goods train shots.  Excellent photos, thanks.

 

Not to mention your many, many review and other photos.

 

For any interested in modern cameras and photography at a modest level, here is a result from a 33MP Canon M6 MkII with its standard 15-45mm lens on 45mm   Aperture priority, ISO100, 20 secs F40 window light and reading lamp.

 

Question is, will I buy Chamossaire as well? With a 118 boiler instead of 117.  I think the detail on these RTR models is state of the art.

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by robmcg
typo

[Theakerr]

Its been a while since the J6 was a subject of discussion but in the meantime I have been playing around at making a U-Tube video of my J6.   I am using a 12/15 year old camera primarily designed for still shots and  this is my first U-tube video so I am open to comments of all kinds.  As for the loco, the main chassis is not finished because I don't know what the final drive system will be.  As referenced in the video I have an alternate drive train on order from High Level, but it may be some time before they can supply.  I am also fascinated by Chuffer Davies shaft drive system which with a little adaption might be appropriate for 00.  Finally, and this will seem sacrilege, if they ever get back to me Ferro-Trains vario drive might just work as a tender drive.  Finally, I had thought about driving off the back wheels, but whilst I can achieve very free running with the drive on the centre axle, when I try to use the rear axle it binds rather badly, 

 

 

[andytrains]

 

Hi Tony.

Is that the Hornby Stanier brake van on the left, complete with saggy bottom side handrail?

I was quite disappointed when mine arrived around Christmas time.

You would think that they could get a handrail straight and the correct length in this day and age.

Andy.

[Tony Wright]

1 minute ago, andytrains said:

 

Hi Tony.

Is that the Hornby Stanier brake van on the left, complete with saggy bottom side handrail?

I was quite disappointed when mine arrived around Christmas time.

You would think that they could get a handrail straight and the correct length in this day and age.

Andy.

It is Andy,

 

And, I think it's the opposite of 'saggy' because it's actually bent upwards. In fact, I think it's become even more bendy in the time I've had it. 

 

I must admit, I hadn't really noticed it, but it is far too prominent in the picture. I think the only cure will be to cut it off and replace it with metal.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, robmcg said:

Well Tony having experimented with good half-frame cameras and rather goods lenses I can get very good depth of field with F40 , but I have to say that your excellent Nikon full frame camera and lenses are without equal for 4mm models at least.

 

This is well-demonstrated by your lovely goods train shots.  Excellent photos, thanks.

 

Not to mention your many, many review and other photos.

 

For any interested in modern cameras and photography at a modest level, here is a result from a 33MP Canon M6 MkII with its standard 15-45mm lens on 45mm   Aperture priority, ISO100, 20 secs F40 window light and reading lamp.

 

Question is, will I buy Chamossaire as well? With a 118 boiler instead of 117.  I think the detail on these RTR models is state of the art.

 

That's a wonderful image, Rob.

 

Most-impressive, and certainly as good in terms of depth of field as anything I could achieve.

 

Regarding the model, what strikes me is how it's such outstanding value for money. I'd better explain...............

 

I assume this is under £200.00? You'd need at least another £100.00 (maybe more) to get a top painter to achieve this standard of LNER green presentation on a kit-built equivalent (perhaps a pro painter might tell us). And, speaking of a kit-equivalent, probably around £300.00+ will be needed to buy all the bits (the DJH A23 boiler would also need altering to produce 500). 

So, if I may use my rates as a guide, for one LNER 500 from my stable, you could buy about seven of these! Food for thought?

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Chamby]

10 hours ago, robmcg said:

Well Tony having experimented with good half-frame cameras and rather goods lenses I can get very good depth of field with F40 , but I have to say that your excellent Nikon full frame camera and lenses are without equal for 4mm models at least.

 

This is well-demonstrated by your lovely goods train shots.  Excellent photos, thanks.

 

Not to mention your many, many review and other photos.

 

For any interested in modern cameras and photography at a modest level, here is a result from a 33MP Canon M6 MkII with its standard 15-45mm lens on 45mm   Aperture priority, ISO100, 20 secs F40 window light and reading lamp.

 

Question is, will I buy Chamossaire as well? With a 118 boiler instead of 117.  I think the detail on these RTR models is state of the art.

 

 

Hi Rob,  I agree with you, but with one proviso.   It is a shame that Hornby haven’t provided etched nameplates for this model, in the same way that Bachmann do for their named locomotives these days.   It is an easy fix, thanks to other nameplate and lettering suppliers such as Fox, but what a strange and very noticeable omission given the lengths that they go to elsewhere on the model.

[thegreenhowards]

3 minutes ago, Chamby said:

 

Hi Rob,  I agree with you, but with one proviso.   It is a shame that Hornby haven’t provided etched nameplates for this model, in the same way that Bachmann do for their named locomotives these days.   It is an easy fix, thanks to other nameplate and lettering suppliers such as Fox, but what a strange and very noticeable omission given the lengths that they go to elsewhere on the model.

I agree. They used to do plastic nameplates in relief which, while not as good as etched plates,  were just about acceptable  I could live with them if I wasn’t renaming the loco. But these printed nameplates are a real step back and when you consider all the other fine detail they’ve added it’s quite surprising.

 

Andy