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A Nod To Brent - a friendly thread, filled with frivolity, cream teas and pasties. Longing for the happy days in the South Hams 1947.


gwrrob
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55 minutes ago, BenL said:

 

Those will be the 8Fs built at Swindon during the war - something that would be a nice addition to ANTB :)

 

I know nothing about this class other than Laira had four allocated postwar. Have Hornby actually done the Swindon built version and is the model up to scratch.

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48 minutes ago, gwrrob said:

 

I know nothing about this class other than Laira had four allocated postwar. Have Hornby actually done the Swindon built version and is the model up to scratch.

 

There's a very interesting GWRJ article on them, with some good shots from our period - issue 51 from 2004.

 

I don't think there were any significant differences on the Swindon built examples, at least not that would show up at the level of fidelity of the Hornby model. I think LMS connoisseurs see some limitations to the Hornby model, but to my GWR blinkered eyes, the model looked enough like an 8F for me to ask Toboldlygo of this parish to renumber one to a Laira example, with weathering based on a photo in the aforementioned GWRJ article. I'm sure he'll share the pics if you ask nicely :D

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4 minutes ago, BenL said:

 

There's a very interesting GWRJ article on them, with some good shots from our period - issue 51 from 2004.

 

I don't think there were any significant differences on the Swindon built examples, at least not that would show up at the level of fidelity of the Hornby model. I think LMS connoisseurs see some limitations to the Hornby model, but to my GWR blinkered eyes, the model looked enough like an 8F for me to ask Toboldlygo of this parish to renumber one to a Laira example, with weathering based on a photo in the aforementioned GWRJ article. I'm sure he'll share the pics if you ask nicely :D

 

Iirc, a very visible difference was that they were fitted with short pipey things on the driver's side near the smokebox. On the LMS ones the pipey thing stretched all the way from the firebox.

 

Hope my vast technical knowledge hasn't baffled anyone. :P

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1 hour ago, gwrrob said:

 

I know nothing about this class other than Laira had four allocated postwar. Have Hornby actually done the Swindon built version and is the model up to scratch.

They have done a GW built loco (which if I remember rightly has a number on the bufferbeam) 

An 8f on my list for one day...

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17 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

Iirc, a very visible difference was that they were fitted with short pipey things on the driver's side near the smokebox. On the LMS ones the pipey thing stretched all the way from the firebox.

 

Hope my vast technical knowledge hasn't baffled anyone. :P

The worth Valley 8F is a Swindon build and still has the non LMS pipework

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/emdjt42/7277446304

 

 

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20 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

They have done a GW built loco (which if I remember rightly has a number on the bufferbeam) 

An 8f on my list for one day...

 Yes, this is the one:

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/10006/hornby_r2394_class_8f_2_8_0_8453_in_lms_black/stockdetail.aspx

 

If I remember rightly (I'm currently socially distanced from my layout) it has GWR Swindon works plates on the front frame extensions and tender rear. They even added the GWR route disc but sadly it should be blue not yellow!

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7 minutes ago, M.I.B said:

Were the 8Fs turned out in black with "GWR" on the tenders?

Black, yes, but LMS on the tenders - they were turned out in the standard LMS livery of the time with the exception that they had GWR-style buffer beam numbers and GWR cabside route discs. They were officially only on loan to the GWR. The photos in the GWRJ article mentioned above show that Hornby was right with this depiction of the original livery of the Swindon-built 8Fs (except that the GWR route disc should be blue):

https://www.hattons.co.uk/10006/hornby_r2394_class_8f_2_8_0_8453_in_lms_black/stockdetail.aspx

 

Edited by BenL
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Going back to the GW’s borrowed LMS 8Fs, I have found some interesting info in the fleet news pages of the GWR magazine in 1947 (curtesy of eBay) 

 

More to the point, it has the list of engines that had been returned to the LMS in the month preceding. (Along with the Halls and county’s which had been named 
 

So in Summer 47 issue (which I think was moved to April 47) 

Newton Abbot

8425

8432

Laira 
8434

8435 


(July issue listing moves in Feb 47 )

8409 NA and 8412 LA

 

Will keep an eye out for any issues towards the end of the year.  What I don’t know is which 8Fs were at LA or NA at the start of 47 (and from which which if any were still there after April)

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On 20/04/2020 at 18:50, gwrrob said:

 

I know nothing about this class other than Laira had four allocated postwar. Have Hornby actually done the Swindon built version and is the model up to scratch.

 
Short answer to the final part of your question.....must do better by a country ( Devon ) mile. Not one of their best and needs retooling.

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5 hours ago, toboldlygo said:

Considering I had no bogies or chassis to work with from OZ - it's amazing what you can do with some styrene sheet and a set of 3-D printed bogies..

 

whatsinthepot_11a.jpg.e83bd7c9b133e953a6f97e598fa27358.jpg

 

Very nice. Here's why there were no bogies:

 

1870065189_20120102001StEnodoccampingcoach.JPG.af98676b76150f7e8edb3c210843201c.JPG

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On 20/04/2020 at 20:23, BenL said:

 

That's interesting. The photos of the Swindon built examples in the GWRJ article mentioned above show the full length pipe - was the shorter pipe a later modification?

What a minefield. I have spent hours trying to solve this one. Right or wrong, my understanding is a number of the Swindon builds were transferred back to the WR in the 1950's.  Based on issues from war time experience, this was when the vacuum injector was moved /fitted to the smokebox, not as built. I assume this is due to the LMS/LNER/SR using a vacuum of 21 inches of mercury whereas the GWR used 25 inches.   They were not removed on engines sent back to the LM Region in the 1960's.

 

This my conclusion from reading a number of sources.

 

Mike Wiltshire

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17 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

 

So in Summer 47 issue (which I think was moved to April 47) 

Newton Abbot

8425

8432

Laira 
8434

8435 


(July issue listing moves in Feb 47 )

8409 NA and 8412 LA

 

 

@BenL of this parish has info that 8427 was allocated to Laira in our period too.

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On ‎19‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 16:20, Tallpaul69 said:

Hi All, and especially Robin,

All the brilliant pics on this and all the other great (G)WR sites has frustrated me that I have nothing to show you!

 

Thursday's not unexpected news that the UK Government had extended the lock down a further 3 weeks added to my frustration as it also pushed back progress on my "Lower Thames Yard" layout dependent as it is on others for all aspects of the construction apart from scenic, which is one of the few areas I can do for myself to the standards I need.

 

So  yesterday, as reported on my layout thread, I started to think about how I could turn my small test track into more of a layout.  

I am pleased to report that my thinking has moved on since yesterday!

Firstly, checking the size of the "test track" board I realized that the 4ft x 2ft 6in dimensions I quoted in my thread yesterday was not the size of the board, but the size of the old desk that it sits on! The board is in fact 5ft 6ins x  3ft.

So space is not (quite) so restricted as I first thought.

 

Secondly, having played around with the layouts of all the intermediate stations on my chosen area, the Maidenhead to High Wycombe branch in 1960/2, none quite fitted.

However, last night while thinking out something entirely non railway related I had a brainwave!

 

So I have now started to look at the detail for what I am calling "Lower Thames Goods Shed".

 

This has a viewing position across the Branch from that described some days ago when detailing the trains on the branch in 1960/2.

Thus I am standing on the base of the old Maidenhead Middle Signal Box. I can see the branch tracks left and right, the Branch siding to the left, and kicking back off of it to the right the siding I had put into "Lower Thames Yard" for the repositioned Goods Shed.

Also to the left on my side of the branch line track is a short siding that in "Lower Thames Yard" leads to a pair of sidings for coal wagons and wagons dropped off of up goods trains, but here is just long enough to hold a few wagons or maybe a parcels van. To my right is the station and the ends of platforms 4 /5 but platform 4 only has a line that connects to the branch line, there is no up (or down) relief line.

 

Compromises will be several:-

Trains can only be tank engine plus 2 or 2.5 coaches long,  freights 5/6 wagons.

Curves will be second radius.

Although DCC can be used, the points will be manual as will signals.

 

Positives are that this layout will enable me to make a start on the goods shed. I think that will be in two halves so that the longer shed for "Lower Thames Yard" can be constructed by inserting a middle section.

I can also start on the Plat form 5 (Branch platform) overall roof, although this will probably need altering on the larger layout!

And I can also build one or two other buildings that can serve on both layouts. 

 

Most of all, of course, the big Positive, I can get to run some trains not just engines under test!!

 

Thus I am feeling positive about this idea, and if the weather stays good, later this coming week, I hope to make a start!

However, I mustn't get ahead of my self, there needs to be some further planning and some drawing first.

 

I will be reporting further on "Lower Thames Yard".

 

I hope your models are all proceeding well, and that you are all safe and well?

Best regards

Paul 

Good Afternoon Robin and everyone reading this,

Firstly apologies for hijacking your thread again, but I wanted to get this update to a wider audience than my "Lower Thames Yard" thread's 16 followers!

So- here we go:-

A number of house and family things got in the way of modelling yesterday, but I have managed to sketch out a plan for Lower Thames Goods Shed, which is attached.

 

I should remind readers that the idea of this small 5ft6in x 3ft 00 DCC layout is to allow me to run a few trains testing some of the High Wycombe Branch elements of the timetable for my 00 Lower Thames Yard 12ft x8ft layout set in 1960/2, the building of which is delayed by the dreaded virus which prevents the people due to do the baseboards, track and electrics for this from working, and of course the installation of their efforts in our self isolated home.

 

Other things to bear in mind:-

I want to have this up and running with materials (such as the baseboard). that I have to hand in as quick a time as I am able, bearing in mind other calls on my time for home and family etc.

 

The trains will only be short - engine + 2 coach or 6/7 trucks long, there will not be any signals and only the fiddle yard points will be electric with surface mounted point motors.

The layout will not be ballasted, or have the "ground" covered or dealt with, only in so far as I need to "test" alternatives for the main layout.

 

Similarly only the buildings will be more than skeletons where they can be used in the main layout. So only the houses (see A and B on sketch), the goods shed and the train shed overall roof (F on sketch)  will be fully built. 

 

I am currently looking at ways to extend the baseboard to 6ft x 4ft allowing increased track radius but the track plan will stay the same. 

 

Hope you are all safe and well and making good progress with your modelling?

Cheers

Paul

Maidenhead.-Lower Thames Goods Shed 1.jpg

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2 hours ago, gwrrob said:

 

@BenL of this parish has info that 8427 was allocated to Laira in our period too.

Yes, I think the GWR Journal article I mentioned above has all the details of where the Swindon-built 8Fs were allocated from new and until when. There's also a chapter on them in the David Maidment book on GW Heavy Freight Locos, which I seem to recall has an appendix with the allocation details.

 

I'm away from my GWR Journals and books at the moment, but I picked 8427 as the number for my version both because there is a good photo of her in the aforementioned GWR Journal article and because she was the last to leave Laira to 'go back' to the LMS, I think from memory c. Sept/Oct '47. 

 

I do have an e-version of the 15th June '47 GWR shed allocations to hand (who doesn't?!) and 8427 is the only 8F allocated to Laira by then (none at NA by that time). They were of course replaced by WDs, something else that would be very fitting on ANTB although I understand Robin feels they are aesthetically challenged :)

 

 

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The Senior Scale enables greater detail and the models, especially these days, look impressive even when RTR. I have a number of On30 models, but even they require a bit of space to be fun, while proper 1:43 O Gauge is even more space-hungry. Ingenuity needed in getting a layout worthy of the name in many modern dwellings. 

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