Wright writes.....

[Michael Edge]

22 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

Very much better than many a valve gear. It just seems a bit of a shame that if you decide to make your own parts, rather than use commercial items and all the information is available as drawings and a real one exist, that you still don't quite capture "the look". I haven't made outside valve gear often (the GCR didn't have much!) but when I have, constant reference to photos and drawings and being willing to replace or modify etched parts was worthwhile. 

 

The Mike Edge variety does, on the other hand, capture "the look". I wonder if a set of etched parts might be available to purchase for those who want to improve their LNER pacifics.

 

Two people who knew how to make good looking valve gear were Roy Jackson and Malcolm Crawley.

 

This photo of Roy's last pacific build appeared earlier in the thread but is a very good example of how to model valve gear with correct proportions and sizes.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if i have any of these etches left but more could easily be arranged, they are suitable for the Hornby A3 and A4.

[Chamby]

9 minutes ago, drmditch said:

Re: Model footplate crews.

Where do they go when the locomotive is 'on-shed'?

 

 

Mine don’t go anywhere.  They’re preparing the locomotive for its next turn of duty.

[CF MRC]

9 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

I'm not sure if i have any of these etches left but more could easily be arranged, they are suitable for the Hornby A3 and A4.

Might be useful shot down to 2mm scale on 8thou NS, Michael.   Although I slightly shudder to say it, it might be better to 1/148 rather than 1/152,  bearing in mind where these replacements may be used.  Chris Higgs is working on a complete etch to re-chassis the Dapol A3s & A4s, but a valve gear replacement on its own might be useful. 
 

Tim

[grahame]

6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

The real essential on a Valleys branch, though, is sheep, everywhere they shouldn't be, on the platform, in the 6 foot, there's even one coming out of the gents...

 

If it had spent a penny presumably it'd been fleeced.

[Michael Edge]

32 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

Might be useful shot down to 2mm scale on 8thou NS, Michael.   Although I slightly shudder to say it, it might be better to 1/148 rather than 1/152,  bearing in mind where these replacements may be used.  Chris Higgs is working on a complete etch to re-chassis the Dapol A3s & A4s, but a valve gear replacement on its own might be useful. 
 

Tim

We do 2mm etches in .010" nickel silver but we don't modify them in any way. The LNER valve gear is very fine in places and probably wouldn't work without quite a bit of re-drawing. 1:148 would upset all sorts of other dimensions and I don't want to go that road.

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, drmditch said:

Re: Model footplate crews.

Where do they go when the locomotive is 'on-shed'?

 

Same place any added passengers go when the coaches are in the carriage sidings.

[The Johnster]

If you were taking an early morning train of passenger stock from the carriage sidings at Canton in the 70s, especially the 'back' sidings, a necessary task was to walk through the carriages and rouse the various examples of desperate humanity who had sought shelter overnight in them.  Homelessness was not the horrible problem then that it is now, but not unknown either, and there would be a few 'domestic disturbance' victims whose spouses had chucked them out, and those who had got drunk and simply not made it home.  They would leave without discussing the matter and, in nearly all cases, leave the accommodation they'd used clean and tidy; Carriage Cleaning would arrange a 'hit squad' on the rare occasions they didn't.  

 

Carriages were supposed to be locked but rarely were.  We also had a haunted Pullman; we had 3 Metro-Cammell 1960 2nd class kitchen cars that had spent most of their lives on the ECML to use as buffets in excursions and charters, and one, 344 IIRC but don't quote me, allegedly had an elderly lady who knitted that sat in it.  She wasn't a 'dosser', it was claimed, because if you asked her to move on, she sort of turned into smoke and disappeared, knitting needles and all.  Of course, it was always icy cold inside the coach... 

 

The Carriage Cleaners, a bunch of ladies who you'd have thought could not possibly be scared of anything, refused to work in the coach, and the shed cats would not go near it.  Rational thinking or not, I was not willing to be involved with anything that frightened a Canton shed cat.  These were not your cuddly pet pussy, they were brutal feral killers red in tooth and claw, thuggery on their minds and murder in their cold cold hearts.  If you saw one coming, you stepped respectfully aside and hoped it wasn't in a bad mood (which it always was).

 

They were in the care of the Carriage Cleaning foremen, who were given a budget for food and vets bills for them as ratters.  You didn't want to mess with a Canton shed rat either... anyway, the haunted coach was left in the open and deteriorated rapidly.  One night it 'mysteriously' caught fire, to the relief of the foreman; 'vandals' were blamed.

[APOLLO]

This is Marmalade, Didcot engine shed cat - no doubt looking for Terence Cuneo's mouse !!

 

 

We had a dog, Blackie, at Longford gas works Warrington, a stray adopted and fed by the pressure attendants who were on shift 24/7 (until it was all automated). A friendly creature though very tatty and he stank of gas oil !!! Jokingly we added his name to memo circulation lists which caused a laugh or two.

 

I'm not keen on cats - especially works ones like the mean looking one above !!

 

Brit15

[The Johnster]

Mean?  That one's a pussy...

[grahame]

1 hour ago, APOLLO said:

This is Marmalade, Didcot engine shed cat - no doubt looking for Terence Cuneo's mouse !!

 

 

 

He looks very determined and self assured.

 

[Coach bogie]

19 hours ago, APOLLO said:

By the way, they make much ruder little people - better not to post here !!

 

 

 They gave Peter's Spares front page headlines

 

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/middlesbrough-firm-selling-model-railway-13213297

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Steamport Southport]

33 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

 They gave Peter's Spares front page headlines

 

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/middlesbrough-firm-selling-model-railway-13213297

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Isn't it a coincidence that article was also in the Liverpool Echo but with the model shop name changed to Hatton's....

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/model-train-companys-x-rated-13228009

 

 

 

Jason

[Tony Wright]

On 08/11/2019 at 09:05, 31A said:

 

Thank you Tony.

 

Do you really think the numbers are too small?  That hadn't occurred to me.  I renumbered it by just altering the last digit - the numbers on the HMRS sheet match the printed Hornby ones, albeit very slightly paler (disguised by weathering).

 

https://rcts.zenfolio.com/steam-lner/l-2-6-4/l1/hA891970A#h810f5e6c

 

 

 

 

They are Steve,

 

If you use the largest of the numbers on the HMRS sheet, you'll see the difference. 

 

Hornby got it wrong to start with, then corrected the number size on subsequent models. 

 

 

First Hornby BR black L1. Too small - ex-LMS locos' size.

 

 

Subsequent BR black..........................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Lecorbusier]

I paid a flying visit to the South Devon Railway today as I was in the area. I went around the little museum they have there and was surprised and delighted to see a 4mm model of Ashburton station tucked into the rear of the room. I thought it was nicely conceived and well modelled if somewhat unloved and exhibited simply as a display diorama. The modeller  was Chris Lamacraft - the model in EM gauge and it appears that it was quite widely exhibited in the 1980s?

 

Is anyone familiar with this layout ? Was it a well thought of exhibition layout? Are there any archive photos of it in operation?

Edited November 9, 2019 by Lecorbusier
Name now spelt correctly

[Barry Ten]

2 minutes ago, Lecorbusier said:

I paid a flying visit to the South Devon Railway today as I was in the area. I went around the little museum they have there and was surprised and delighted to see a 4mm model of Ashburton station tucked into the rear of the room. I thought it was nicely conceived and well modelled if somewhat unloved and exhibited simply as a display diorama. The modeller  was Chris Lamacroft - the model in EM gauge and it appears that it was quite widely exhibited in the 1980s?

 

Is anyone familiar with this layout ? Was it a well thought of exhibition layout? Are there any archive photos of it in operation?

 

Chris Lamacraft (note the spelling) is still exhibiting; his excellent rendition of Hemyock was at Taunton a couple of weeks ago.

[queensquare]

5 minutes ago, Lecorbusier said:

I paid a flying visit to the South Devon Railway today as I was in the area. I went around the little museum they have there and was surprised and delighted to see a 4mm model of Ashburton station tucked into the rear of the room. I thought it was nicely conceived and well modelled if somewhat unloved and exhibited simply as a display diorama. The modeller  was Chris Lamacroft - the model in EM gauge and it appears that it was quite widely exhibited in the 1980s?

 

Is anyone familiar with this layout ? Was it a well thought of exhibition layout? Are there any archive photos of it in operation?

 

It featured in MRJ 31 and is on long term loan to the South Devon Railway. Chris periodically goes down and operates the layout.

 

Jerry

[pete55]

4 minutes ago, Lecorbusier said:

I paid a flying visit to the South Devon Railway today as I was in the area. I went around the little museum they have there and was surprised and delighted to see a 4mm model of Ashburton station tucked into the rear of the room. I thought it was nicely conceived and well modelled if somewhat unloved and exhibited simply as a display diorama. The modeller  was Chris Lamacroft - the model in EM gauge and it appears that it was quite widely exhibited in the 1980s?

 

Is anyone familiar with this layout ? Was it a well thought of exhibition layout? Are there any archive photos of it in operation?

 

MRJ 31 has an article about it.

 

Beaten to it by Jerry!

Edited November 9, 2019 by pete55

[t-b-g]

6 minutes ago, Lecorbusier said:

I paid a flying visit to the South Devon Railway today as I was in the area. I went around the little museum they have there and was surprised and delighted to see a 4mm model of Ashburton station tucked into the rear of the room. I thought it was nicely conceived and well modelled if somewhat unloved and exhibited simply as a display diorama. The modeller  was Chris Lamacroft - the model in EM gauge and it appears that it was quite widely exhibited in the 1980s?

 

Is anyone familiar with this layout ? Was it a well thought of exhibition layout? Are there any archive photos of it in operation?

 

I did see it at exhibitions and it is a lovely model that also ran superbly. Chris is presently exhibiting a layout on the circuit based on Hemyock.

 

Ashburton was covered by an article in MRJ Issue No 31 and a follow up on the slightly offbeat signal and point operation system in issue 44.

 

Hopefully you can get access to those. It may have been in other magazines but those are the ones I know about.

 

Several of us posting in stereo! 

Edited November 9, 2019 by t-b-g

[johndon]

8 minutes ago, Lecorbusier said:

I paid a flying visit to the South Devon Railway today as I was in the area. I went around the little museum they have there and was surprised and delighted to see a 4mm model of Ashburton station tucked into the rear of the room. I thought it was nicely conceived and well modelled if somewhat unloved and exhibited simply as a display diorama. The modeller  was Chris Lamacroft - the model in EM gauge and it appears that it was quite widely exhibited in the 1980s?

 

Is anyone familiar with this layout ? Was it a well thought of exhibition layout? Are there any archive photos of it in operation?

 

There is article on the layout in MRJ 31.

 

John

[johndon]

4 posting at once it seems...

[Barry Ten]

A video of Hemyock:

 

 

 

[Barry Ten]

1 minute ago, johndon said:

4 posting at once it seems...

 

Have we all just finished our dinner?

[Tony Wright]

Yesterday, it was my privilege to be present at the official launch of Hatton's O Gauge A3s at the firm's base in Widnes. 

 

They're proving very popular, particularly at the price of £750.00. 

 

 

A happy husband and wife take delivery of PAPYRUS from one of Hatton's staff.

 

 

And another happy customer tests his current guise FLYING SCOTSMAN. 

 

All the models tested ran superbly. A full report will appear in BRM.

 

Mo and I stayed overnight in Chester, and this morning we walked into the centre of my home city. In Frodsham Street, there's a proper camera shop, which I always visit when I'm in Chester. 

 

They had on sale a demonstration Nikon 60mm Micro lens for the fantastic price of under £400.00! Current new prices are well over £500.00. I've used my old Nikon Micro lens for many years, but it's not compatible in every way with modern digital LSRs. So, I bought this new one, and I've tried some experiments with it attached to the front of the D3. 

 

By fiddling (don't ask me how!), I've managed to get the minimum aperture down to smaller than F50! Which means that at a foot's distance to take a shot like this, everything is in sharp focus. It's my ancient Nu-Cast B16/3, out because I'm completing the same type started by Roy Jackson. Yes, I know one should never make a model of a model, but after nearly 40 years it's a reasonable reminder of how the bits fit. 

 

 

Believe it or not, this is  an N Gauge van, by Sonic Models. The lens was an inch from the subject matter! There is absolutely no chromatic aberration, nor any distortion whatsoever. What a lens! The problem is, of course, that any specks of dust look like small (or large) stones! 

 

 

I've tried a layout shot, and the results are reasonable - with room for more experimentation. B&W, in many ways, is more redolent of the time. 

 

 

By getting in close and not exploiting the minimum aperture, the principal subject matter is sharp whilst background detail is nicely understated. 

 

I know some readers are going to be aghast at my spending nearly £400.00 on just a lens, but it is part of my professional equipment, and, on first experience, worth every penny! 

 

[queensquare]

3 minutes ago, Barry Ten said:

 

Have we all just finished our dinner?

 

Yes, and now off to the shed for an hour or two!

 

Jerry

[Barry Ten]

1 minute ago, queensquare said:

 

Yes, and now off to the shed for an hour or two!

 

Jerry

 

And I'm upstairs to the train room while my wife watches a Jeff Bridges biography - can't compete!