Wright writes.....

[Woodcock29]

53 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

A random question, for the knowledgeable, would a ballast brake - for a PW train - have been painted blue in the LNER period? Also what colour in GN days?

 

Thanks in anticipation. 

Tim

My understanding is yes. Oxford blue which weathered to a lighter blue.

Don't know about GN days.

Andrew

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, CF MRC said:

A random question, for the knowledgeable, would a ballast brake - for a PW train - have been painted blue in the LNER period? Also what colour in GN days?

 

Thanks in anticipation. 

Tim

 

I am pretty confident that Oxford Blue is correct for LNER days but I have a bit of a doubt in my mind about the GNR period. There is a photo in Tatlow (the enlarged later edition, Volume 1) showing a Ballast Brake in GNR livery. The end is not the same colour as the sides, very obviously. The caption suggests that the ends were likely to be red and this did happen on the brake vans of several companies. It is just that the body colour is very likely the standard GNR brown/red colour and I wouldn't expect to see such a contrast between brown/red and red in a photograph from the period. If I was guessing, I would think the ends were white, as the tone of the colour matches the roof and the lettering.

 

No doubt somebody from the GNRS will know for sure but it is pretty much a secondary interest for me and I don't have a huge amount of information.

[gr.king]

22 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Perhaps it's time Tony had an iPhone. 

The invention of Beelzebub!

 

22 hours ago, CF MRC said:

A random question, for the knowledgeable, would a ballast brake - for a PW train - have been painted blue in the LNER period? Also what colour in GN days?

 

Thanks in anticipation. 

Tim

 

21 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

I am pretty confident that Oxford Blue is correct for LNER days but I have a bit of a doubt in my mind about the GNR period. There is a photo in Tatlow (the enlarged later edition, Volume 1) showing a Ballast Brake in GNR livery. The end is not the same colour as the sides, very obviously. The caption suggests that the ends were likely to be red and this did happen on the brake vans of several companies. It is just that the body colour is very likely the standard GNR brown/red colour and I wouldn't expect to see such a contrast between brown/red and red in a photograph from the period. If I was guessing, I would think the ends were white, as the tone of the colour matches the roof and the lettering.

 

No doubt somebody from the GNRS will know for sure but it is pretty much a secondary interest for me and I don't have a huge amount of information.

I think it may be equally true to say that there are photographs probably in GN livery that don't * show a contrasting end colour.

 

*Added subsequently: Perhaps it would have been better to say that there may be photographs that don't decisively show a contrasting end colour.

 

I am now further reminded that it is time I finished this off properly:

 

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by gr.king
Clarification

[t-b-g]

3 minutes ago, gr.king said:

The invention of Beelzebub!

 

 

I think it may be equally true to say that there are photographs probably in GN livery that don't show a contrasting end colour.

 

I am now further reminded that it is time I finished this off properly:

 

 

 

Very nice! The old D & S Ballast Brake. I built one as one of my first etched brass kits and remember looking at all those handrails and my heart sinking!

 

You are quite right of course. It isn't fair to suggest that a single photo of a single vehicle taken at a particular date is an accurate representation of "GNR practice" over the existence of the company.

[Iain.d]

I’ve recently been able to get on with this Roxey Mouldings GWR A2/3 Clifton Down Driver Trailer, to the point that is now ready for a final wash and paint. It’s a bit grubby in these images; normally I test fit/check everything I can, then wash it, put it back together and then photograph it. But this one is quite fiddley and fragile and has to go together in a sequence,  I couldn’t be bothered with the faff! Sorry…

 

 

Its very much as it came out of the box. I have only added the steps under the guard’s doors and substituted the provided etched brass lamp irons for reshaped staples. There are no ‘T’ handles in the kit, they got left off the etch at the drawing stage! I’ll use Comet ones and the GWR commode handles in the kit are so fine they’re beyond my skill level to fit so I’ll use some leftovers from another Roxey GWR handrail fret.

 

 

Its all soldered other than the very fragile castings on the bogies which are glued with epoxy. The roof is removeable which is needed as the design of the kit precludes constructing the interior and fitting it in the final stages (as I would normally do). I have made the interior seats, partitions, driver’s cab and regulator detail and will build this in after painting. I have made up the vacuum cylinder operating gear and this, along with the gas tanks, will be glued to the floor of the vehicle.

 

I’m happy how it has all gone together, especially the driver end.  I think I had a good soldering day – amazing what posting photos on this thread does for trying that bit harder! I had considered adding more detail, as per the prototype. I made up some bits and pieces (additional handrails, destination board brackets and some sort of electrical connector box) but I couldn’t make them fine enough to not make it look overly cluttered, so I’ll probably leave all that off. I need to drill a hole for the windscreen wiper.  The bell and brake pipes will be fixed after painting. The front three windows have a horizontal white line on them, about a third of the way down the glass, I’ve read this was to warn/catch the attention of the loco fireman when he was moving coal forward in the loco’s bunker.

 

 

Its going to be completed in BR Crimson and numbered W3338, probably the last survivor in South Wales, circa 1953. There are threads on RMWeb detailing this carriage’s last few years.

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

Edited August 7, 2021 by Iain.d
add a word

[Bucoops]

2 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Perhaps it's time Tony had an iPhone. 

Good grief! You of all people should know Tony is a serious modeller. No way would a "my first telephone" be appropriate!

[polybear]

51 minutes ago, Iain.d said:

I’ve recently been able to get on with this Roxey Mouldings GWR A2/3 Clifton Down Driver Trailer, to the point that is now ready for a final wash and paint. It’s a bit grubby in these images.......

 

 

 

 

If that's grubby then I'm Elvis Presley......

[Woodcock29]

1 hour ago, t-b-g said:

 

Very nice! The old D & S Ballast Brake. I built one as one of my first etched brass kits and remember looking at all those handrails and my heart sinking!

 

You are quite right of course. It isn't fair to suggest that a single photo of a single vehicle taken at a particular date is an accurate representation of "GNR practice" over the existence of the company.

In John Crawley's book The Great Northern Railway in Focus there are two photos of GN Ballast Brakes (p118). (If one is not familiar with this book virtually all the photos are of extremely high quality as are the photos in the companion volume The London & North Eastern Railway in Focus.) One is the same photo as in Tatlow Vol 1 referenced previously, and appears to be a works photo. However, the photo is printed nowhere near as overexposed as the one in Tatlow. It clearly shows the lighter ends and they are not white as they are very distinctly different to the white roof. The sides are extremely dark and appear to be similar to the buffers in colour. I would hazard a guess that they might even be black or at least a very dark colour, and the ends red?

 

The other photo of a van in Crawley's GN book is in an earlier livery and is taken in Nov 1899 - also a works photo. It also appears to show that the ends are lighter but then they might be better lit in that photo? 

 

On the previous page in Crawley's GN book there is a photo of a Ballast Brake converted from a 4 wheel birdcage 3 compt second class brake in 1914. That is also a works photo and shows the sides to be very dark but could be still in varnished teak as it has a similar appearance to a number of the coaches shown in the book.

 

Interestingly non of the photos of the GN Ballast Brakes, including the two in Tatlow Vol 1 in LNER and BR livery show the tops of oil lamps on the roofs. I make this comment as I have a D&S Ballast Brake kit that I bought built secondhand here in Australia which doesn't have the oil lamp tops fitted compared to the lamp tops on Graeme King's model on the previous page of Wright Writes. I would like to know though whether mine for mid -late 1930s period should have oil lamp tops?

 

Andrew

Edited August 7, 2021 by Woodcock29
typo

[Tony Wright]

On 06/08/2021 at 11:15, Michael Edge said:

I've built a few A3s, this is the only one I can find in my digital photos though.

I built this about 20 years ago from a Proscale kit, not sure who painted it though and they didn't paint the bogie wheel tyres and axle ends. Incidentally my records say this took 27 hours to build.

Very nice Mike,

 

However, whoever painted it didn't realise that the A3s only carried their worksplates on the cabsides after being fitted with German blinkers (those which were, and not every one). Previously, they'd only ever been on the smokebox and/or the centre splashers. 60035 never had blinkers, so never carried the worksplates in this position. 

 

I await the evidence to prove me wrong....................

[Tony Wright]

On 06/08/2021 at 11:20, Headstock said:

 

Good morning Tony,

 

your friend is an owner, you are a maker. At every stage in the process of making things, there are choices to be made, that's part of the fun. The day that I can't be bothered to make those choices anymore, is the day that railway modelling will no longer have any value. If your friend had only the choice of one A3, with one name and number and a bunch of identical A3's with the same name and number, circa 1975, would that matter? Would he be even happier?

In fairness Andrew, he's in his 90s and cannot model any more due to failing faculties. 

 

That being the case, he has the resources and he has the right to have all his 'modelling' done by others. I think he's quite happy.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

On 06/08/2021 at 13:20, landscapes said:

Hi Tony

 

Some very nice photos, I do have lots of photos of my Haymarket A3’s but the are all Hornby RTR I am afraid.

 

Regards

 

David

Good evening David,

 

They still have merit. May we see them, please? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

On 06/08/2021 at 19:04, 60027Merlin said:

Has anyone else out there got some nice A3 models to show us, please?

 

Tony,

 

Not sure about nice but certainly old, A Jamieson kit built around about 1970 with Humbrol paint and Kingsprint lining. I cannot recall anything else about it as it is a bit too long ago to recollect some detail. It was originally a 64B loco (cannot recall which) but when I came across it several years ago when going through some boxes I decided to change the identity to a regular visitor from Gateshead and have it out and about running on the layout now and again.

 

I prefer not to dwell on the age of it as I am accompanying it on the same track!

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

 

A splendid model, Eric,

 

Thanks for showing us. 

 

Can you change the banjo dome to a streamlined one?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, t-b-g said:

Morning all.

 

I have just had a chat on the telephone with "sir" and he has asked me to let you all know that he has suffered a computer malfunction this morning. He has somebody coming to look at it for him this afternoon but until it is fixed or replaced, he isn't able to post on here, or to reply to emails and messages.

 

So if you don't receive an instant response, please be patient. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

 

Tony Gee

 

 

Many thanks Tony,

 

You (and others) will note from my responses that my computer has been fixed. 

 

The guy who fixed it lives in the village. He walked round this afternoon, looked at it, diagnosed a 'dead' hard drive, took it away and repaired it within four hours. All for £60.00! 

 

What brilliant service.................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Bucoops]

1 minute ago, Tony Wright said:

Many thanks Tony,

 

You (and others) will note from my responses that my computer has been fixed. 

 

The guy who fixed it lives in the village. He walked round this afternoon, looked at it, diagnosed a 'dead' hard drive, took it away and repaired it within four hours. All for £60.00! 

 

What brilliant service.................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Welcome back   Not a bad price at all, especially if that included reinstalling windows and other software.

[Tony Wright]

6 hours ago, Bucoops said:

Good grief! You of all people should know Tony is a serious modeller. No way would a "my first telephone" be appropriate!

Good evening Rich,

 

I do have a mobile phone. It's (I think) made by Nokia and I received it in 2003. It allows me to make and receive calls.

 

It lives in the car and is permanently switched off. It's purpose is there for emergency only (if I remember to charge it from time to time). 

 

I had to make one token call some months ago because (even though there is still money 'in it') I was informed my 'account' had been suspended because no calls had been made from it for over six months. 

 

I don't really need a mobile phone, find it appallingly bad manners when users interrupt conversations and cannot wait to look at it/answer one, prefer to look where I'm going when walking and am not prepared to chuck money away on electronic gadgets. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

9 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

 

Welcome back   Not a bad price at all, especially if that included reinstalling windows and other software.

It did.

 

Not only that, he's given it more memory and patiently sat with me to show me how to reinstall my 'favourites'. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[t-b-g]

31 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Many thanks Tony,

 

You (and others) will note from my responses that my computer has been fixed. 

 

The guy who fixed it lives in the village. He walked round this afternoon, looked at it, diagnosed a 'dead' hard drive, took it away and repaired it within four hours. All for £60.00! 

 

What brilliant service.................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Great result and welcome back!

 

Best wishes,

 

Tony

[westerner]

My latest bit of moselling a Peco/Parkside Grampus kit. I decided to number each side differently so that gave a slight choice of eras and two wagons for one.

 

 

I even managed to get the removeable ballast load  to a colour similar to the ballast on the track. Not bad for a modeeler who models in the "Monet" style of modelling.

[Headstock]

55 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

In fairness Andrew, he's in his 90s and cannot model any more due to failing faculties. 

 

That being the case, he has the resources and he has the right to have all his 'modelling' done by others. I think he's quite happy.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Good evening Tony,

 

Not a criticism, only an observation that what apparently makes one man blissfully happy is not necessarily transferable to all.

 

If I ever reach my 90s, I shall be extremely unhappy about it.

[Ian Rathbone]

I’ve been looking through my photos and find that, apart from Tony, no one has ever asked me to paint a BR green A3. Apart from my own Papyrus I’ve never painted any other 4mm A3, strange that. Of the 7mm scale A3s the BR period ones have all been Sancheng RTR, a grand total of three.

 
Anyway here’s a LNER one beautifully built by Graham Varley.

 

 

 

Ian  R

[Jesse Sim]

4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Rich,

 

I do have a mobile phone. It's (I think) made by Nokia and I received it in 2003. It allows me to make and receive calls.

 

It lives in the car and is permanently switched off. It's purpose is there for emergency only (if I remember to charge it from time to time). 

 

I had to make one token call some months ago because (even though there is still money 'in it') I was informed my 'account' had been suspended because no calls had been made from it for over six months. 

 

I don't really need a mobile phone, find it appallingly bad manners when users interrupt conversations and cannot wait to look at it/answer one, prefer to look where I'm going when walking and am not prepared to chuck money away on electronic gadgets. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

You were still impressed on the video quality of my iPhone last time I was there through. 

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Many thanks Tony,

 

You (and others) will note from my responses that my computer has been fixed. 

 

The guy who fixed it lives in the village. He walked round this afternoon, looked at it, diagnosed a 'dead' hard drive, took it away and repaired it within four hours. All for £60.00! 

 

What brilliant service.................

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I thought you were going to tell us he'd turned it off and then back on again.

 

5 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

It did.

 

Not only that, he's given it more memory and patiently sat with me to show me how to reinstall my 'favourites'. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I hope he also showed you how to make regular back-ups.

[landscapes]

8 hours ago, Ian Rathbone said:

I’ve been looking through my photos and find that, apart from Tony, no one has ever asked me to paint a BR green A3. Apart from my own Papyrus I’ve never painted any other 4mm A3, strange that. Of the 7mm scale A3s the BR period ones have all been Sancheng RTR, a grand total of three.

 
Anyway here’s a LNER one beautifully built by Graham Varley.

 

 

 

Ian  R

Hi

 

That’s about as close as you can get to the real thing in a model version, absolutely stunning.

 

David

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by landscapes
spelling

[Tony Wright]

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I thought you were going to tell us he'd turned it off and then back on again.

 

I hope he also showed you how to make regular back-ups.

There are limits, John,

 

I only use this computer for emails and RMweb. All my documents and photographs are on a separate computer (which is not linked to the internet), with plenty of back-up hard drives. 

 

Speaking of hard-drives, the computer bloke tells me that they're no longer 'mechanical' (the replacement one he's installed in this computer isn't), and will, as a consequence, last much longer. 

 

I'm extremely reluctant to even speak about computers (being so ignorant of them), but I get by with the little knowledge I have of them.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

[Tony Wright]

6 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

You were still impressed on the video quality of my iPhone last time I was there through. 

Impressed, yes..............

 

But that doesn't mean I want one, Jesse. And, more importantly, I don't need one. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.