South Wales Valleys in the 50s

[Happy Hippo]

 

I am told that the cabs of 42xx/5205/72xx locos were uncomfortably hot places to work in.

I'd suggest that from limited experience that a 56/66xx is similar.  In fact I'd put a small amount on the chances of them being the same sized cabs.  They certainly look identical.

 

As a matter of interest, did the 42/5205/56xx share common side tanks as well?  (There might be a minor difference in capacity according to the drawings in JH Russell's GWR Engines Vol II.)

 

Back on cabs, enclosed may be warmer, but they beat hands down, running backwards with no rearwards protection.

[The Johnster]

56xx cabs were certainly similar but not identical; cabs were one of the areas that Swindon's standardisation policy did not extend to, and they were a little different on each class, though very similar in style and appearance.  The 56xx cab is certainly no less cramped to work in than the 42xx and derivates, but a big difference is the size of the firebox; 56xx carried the no.2 boiler and the 42xx types the bigger no.4 as fitted to the 43xx and City of Truro amongst others.  Even if the 56xx and 42xx cabs had been, identical, the front sheet would have to have been cut differently to accommodate the larger firebox.

 

This larger firebox generated more heat (perhaps not in the sense of higher temperatures but in terms of the overall area of heat produced) and would have made a noticeable difference in the cab.

 

AFAIK the water tanks on 42xx, 5205, and 72xx were identical, but don't quote me as I do not claim to know for certain; I will be happy to be corrected/educated on this matter!  

 

It is sometimes claimed by people who know no better that all GW locos look the same, but they don't.  They look similar, being constructed of standard components, but there are differences between each in terms of boiler pitch, which is a function of wheel diameter and hence axle height above the rail and the need to clear it, and, as we have discussed, cabs.  There is no perceptible difference in appearance between the 5101 and 61xx large prairies, the difference here being boiler pressure, and very little between the later series of 64xx and the 74xx, basically the same thing without auto gear.  No class differentiation of this sort was made between auto and non-auto fitted 4575 small prairies, but this is because they auto fitted locos were not built new with the gear, which was attached by BR in order to introduce heavier loadings on South Wales auto services in the 50s.

 

Some classes had slightly different chimneys and safety valve covers within the class, and top feed covers at different times as boilers were changed, and buffers were modernised over time.  But it is fair to say that there are sometimes more visible differences within a class (superheaters and double chimneys on Castles, different cabs on 64xx) than between some different classes...

 

Some Rhymney Railway R class 0-6-2 tanks were rebuilt at Swindon to very, very closely resemble 56xx; the only immediately visible difference on these was the fluted straight coupling rods and the cylinder cover.  A 56xx can be regarded as a Rhymney R built of Swindon parts.

[The Johnster]

I am not happy with my repaint of the pannier that is to become 9649; the green is all wrong, too light, and the wrong hue.  It's no good trying to convince myself, it ain't gonna happen even if I weather it heavily, so I'm off to town to buy paint to re-do it in a better colour.  I need to buy flesh and uniform blue to do my new Modelu loco crew anyway.

[The Johnster]

I have a new brand of acrylic to report on; Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color (sic, American spelling suggests American product but the company's address is Tokyo) Chrome Green Flat Matt H464.  It looks good and impresses by being in a glass, not plastic, jar; I have high hopes of this.  Not expensive either.  Will let you all know how I, and it, got on later tonight.  I'll also be doing my Modelu locomen and the new lamps

[Northmoor]

Actually, a hired BR pannier for the colliery has several advantages; several places had them during the 50s. 

Reference to the Modelmaster Allocations Part 1 tells me that the only Pannier tanks sold to the NCB in South Wales before the end of 1955, were 2034 and 2092.  The sales to the NCB didn't really kick off until about 1959.  

 

Sadly the only 27xx (2794) went to Lilleshall Co., well outside the Tondu area...... (personally I will be operating an ageing, British Railways liveried, 27xx on the daily freight to St. Davids, approx. 5 years after the last one was withdrawn from Llanelli).

[timbowilts]

I have a new brand of acrylic to report on; Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color (sic, American spelling suggests American product but the company's address is Tokyo) Chrome Green Flat Matt H464.  It looks good and impresses by being in a glass, not plastic, jar; I have high hopes of this.  Not expensive either.  Will let you all know how I, and it, got on later tonight.  I'll also be doing my Modelu locomen and the new lamps

Where did you obtain this paint, good sir?

Tim T

Modelling Cwm Cynon in EM

[The Johnster]

Ecky thump, Tim T, it's a bit of a culture shock when people call me sir, never mind good sir!  Antics in Wood Street, Cardiff.  I've started the repaint and done all the awkward bits with the small brush, and am about to go back into the railway room to finish off, but all is well so far.  It goes on easily, seems to cover well enough but of course it's already go a green undercoat, and has a nice consistency in the brush.  The colour is much better, and I am now a good bit more confident that 9649 will be a looker in her G W R unlined green, especially with the weathering.

[The Johnster]

Reference to the Modelmaster Allocations Part 1 tells me that the only Pannier tanks sold to the NCB in South Wales before the end of 1955, were 2034 and 2092.  The sales to the NCB didn't really kick off until about 1959.  

 

Sadly the only 27xx (2794) went to Lilleshall Co., well outside the Tondu area...... (personally I will be operating an ageing, British Railways liveried, 27xx on the daily freight to St. Davids, approx. 5 years after the last one was withdrawn from Llanelli).

 

Tondu's last was 2761, withdrawn in May 1950, and I have a Hornby to represent her.  This was in austerity black G W R unlined with the 'grotesque' lettering applied at Caerphilly works between 1942 and 45; I've seen a photo of it on the reception roads at Swindon works in June or July of 1950 in this condition.  It had no BR smokebox number plate or shedcode plate, and as far as I can tell no buffer beam numbers either, but it was very dirty and they might have been there under the grime; I cannot see the point in them ever being painted out unless a damaged buffer beam was replaced.

 

I would have envisaged locos for St David's coming from Haverfordwest or possibly Fishguard.

[The Johnster]

Ecky thump, Tim T, it's a bit of a culture shock when people call me sir, never mind good sir!  Antics in Wood Street, Cardiff.  I've started the repaint and done all the awkward bits with the small brush, and am about to go back into the railway room to finish off, but all is well so far.  It goes on easily, seems to cover well enough but of course it's already go a green undercoat, and has a nice consistency in the brush.  The colour is much better, and I am now a good bit more confident that 9649 will be a looker in her G W R unlined green, especially with the weathering.

 

Finished and she's looking much better!  Tomorrow; touching up and transfers, including the buffer beam numbers, then 24 hours for the transfers to adhere to the loco properly before the varnish goes on.  Crew, number plates, weathering, and lamp irons and we're ready to go!  When I varnish her, I'll do the Modelu crew and lamps at the same time so that they have a paint key, so there are plenty of small jobs in the offing to keep me going before starting another project.  

 

But there's a show coming up next weekend and who knows what I'll come home with!  And I've acquired 2 more Triang clerestories for the miner's; these are LNER liveried and I am going to repaint them into plain brown austerity GW livery, another livery box ticked...

[Happy Hippo]

Tondu's last was 2761, withdrawn in May 1950, and I have a Hornby to represent her.  This was in austerity black G W R unlined with the 'grotesque' lettering applied at Caerphilly works between 1942 and 45; I've seen a photo of it on the reception roads at Swindon works in June or July of 1950 in this condition.  It had no BR smokebox number plate or shedcode plate, and as far as I can tell no buffer beam numbers either, but it was very dirty and they might have been there under the grime; I cannot see the point in them ever being painted out unless a damaged buffer beam was replaced.

 

I would have envisaged locos for St David's coming from Haverfordwest or possibly Fishguard.

Neyland is another possibility.

 

I once read an autobiography about a driver who started his career at Neyland (I can't for the life of me recall it's title) whose first major firing turn as a passed cleaner was a Neyland to Tondu freight. Istr it was on a Mogul and the trip wore him out so much that he was unable to make the return journey later that morning!

[The Johnster]

Transfers, the G W R initials and the blue spot R.A. on the cabsides ahead of the reveal cutout, not above the numberplate where BR put them them, and blue for this loco until 1950, are on, and the '9s' are on the buffer beams.  This loco will, when weathered, carry both a red backed BR smokebox number plate and GWR buffer beam numbers beneath the grime.  I have learned in the past the hard way that, when you are applying small discrete numbers closely together like this, to do them one day at a time, allowing them time to dry thoroughly to the surface they are applied to, buffer beam red painted plastic in this case, before disturbing them with moisture as you position and fix the next one; any other way lies madness.  I've given up altogether with wagon numbers as they are too small for me in my feeble dotage; eyesight and hand/eye co-ordination are not up to the task, but I should be able to manage these, just. 

 

This loco has to carry both smokebox and buffer beam numbers of course, as being originally a BR livery body moulding it has a plate moulded on the smokebox door.

 

I am holding off on the final matt varnish coat until these numbers are all on and the number plates have arrived from Modelmasters and been fixed. 5555 is also awaiting number plates, and is for the time being running around with an auto train with a split personality, the loco not the auto train.  4581's numbers have been temporarily re-attached and, as I badly bent the smokebox number getting it off, so this is showing the loco's original Bachmann RTR number, 4585.  

 

I'm pleased with the Mr Hobby paint, by the way.  It went on easily, didn't shrink as it dried, and is commendably thin and opaque; my rivet detail has been preserved well.  Recommended.

 

I've prepared 5633's loco crew and the new lamps for painting by spraying them matt varnish for keying, and intend to paint the lamps and put the lenses in later; I might have a go at painting the crew as well.  I've not done any figure painting of this sort for a very long time, probably my teens, and I doubt it's got any easier!  The fireman looks a bit shifty to me, an honest man would not be so slovenly as to lean on his shovel, and I'll try and emphasise this aspect of his character by giving him a fag to smoke furtively, spiv style, smoking being an indication of bad character in my family though both my parents did it.  I'm not sure that the Modelu shovel is the correct slightly longer GW type, but I'm not going to be losing any sleep about this!

 

Mother told me to 'hang around with the bad girls who smoke if I wanted to 'find out', but not to ever bring any of them home'!  Likes a bit of double standards, I does...

Edited October 12, 2018 by The Johnster

[Northmoor]

Neyland is another possibility.

 

I once read an autobiography about a driver who started his career at Neyland (I can't for the life of me recall it's title) whose first major firing turn as a passed cleaner was a Neyland to Tondu freight. Istr it was on a Mogul and the trip wore him out so much that he was unable to make the return journey later that morning!

In my alternative history, all three suggested allocations wouldn't apply, as the St.Davids branch was only built because it connected with the mainline to Abermawr at Mathry and not 3-4 miles further with the Fishguard line. Had Abermawr been built, Neyland would never been served by a railway, while Haverfordwest (which never had a shed), despite being the county town, would have been on a single track branch from Clarbeston Road.

 

Some of the plans for a branch to the city were from the Haverfordwest; a look at the contours between the two places should have discounted it completely, unless funds could run to building about five viaducts.  

[The Johnster]

There aren't any geographically easy routes to St David's, and I reckon most viable would have been along the geological dip towards Newgale, where the railway would have been on the hillside to the north of the village.  It is then possible to serve Solva as well, though dropping a branch to the harbour level would have been difficult.

 

You can see why the line was never built, but dafter lines were, partly at least; a look at the history of the Manchester and Milford Railway shows this!  

[The Johnster]

Finished the loco crew for 5633, and installed them in the loco, and gave her a final coat of weathering gunge, so she is therefore a completed, ticked off the list, project. I also took a risk, which I got away with, and put the '6s' on 9649's buffer beams, and have made up the latest batch of Modelu lamps; a successful evening of potching about all things considered.  

 

Next week on pension day, I will order more crew, for the still crewless 9649, 9681, 4218 and 5555.  Modelu will almost certainly be doing the honours, and I am not unhappy with my people painting efforts (though yer avrij military modeller would scoff at them).

[The Johnster]

More fruitful potching, but I've wrapped up for the night now; if I do any more I'll tire and my concentration will suffer, followed by the modelling!  9649 is several points nearer completion; the buffer beam numbers are done, the lamp irons attached and painted, and a coat of matt varnish to seal everything applied.  I've put the body back on the chassis in the interests of not losing screws and stuff.  She is still awaiting her cabside and smokebox number plates, and sooner or later I'll order another sheet of shed code plate transfers; for now she's carrying the 81A that 8743 came with.  She's not ready for her portrait yet, without the number plates, crew, or weathering, but she is fundamentally complete.

 

Did a bit of touching up on 9681 and 2761 where the metal was showing through on handrails and 9681's whitemetal cab, and finally got to grips with a long standing problem on 2761.  This is my worst running loco, though when she is cleaned up she runs very well as a bare chassis, but is a bit lumpy with the body on.  I was pretty certain that she wasn't fouling anywhere, and was thinking of giving up on her; she is not my most finescale offering!  I'd decided that the problem was probably the internal wiring dressing being upset by the body being put on, the only explanation, but it wasn't this as it turned out.  I was on the right lines, sort of; one of the pickups was being forced out of position by fouling on the body, leading to the loco's poor performance and stalls on my dead frogs.  Once the dead frog issue became apparent, over the last few days after I'd got the chassis running as well as it could, the cause was obvious and only needed isolating and fixing, by the gentle and precise application of brutality in the way of bending the pickup strip sharply outwards and downwards so it sits behind the wheel.

 

I thought this might be counterproductive as it is now bearing quite hard on the back of the (rear rh driving) wheel, but the loco is plenty powerful enough to deal with it.  She is, frankly, transformed, and runs every bit as smoothly and slowly as my Bachmann panniers despite being insanely overgeared with a top speed somewhere in the warp range, a nod to her Triang Hornby heritage.  She is now as well behaved and demure as an elderly Late Victorian lady ought to be, and controllable enough for pick up work. Pretty quiet, too, not in the silent league of more recent mechanisms but there is a subdued transmission buzz which I am not worried about.  She is positively 'stealth' compared to my old Airfix large prairie, and runs better as well.  

 

There are, I admit, irresolvable problems with this loco, with the plastic skirts under the tanks and an incorrect wheelbase, but she has a sort of character to her and I'm fond of her.  I doubt her Tondu crews or the shed's fitters in the late 40s and the early months of 1950 prior to her withdrawal from service would have agreed with this, though; she probably rattled your teeth (if not your entire spinal column) a bit in motion and was a bit of a nuisance in general that they were glad to see the back of!  The half cab of a 2721 is not the best place to work in a South Wales winter (especially 1947!) with the faster, downhill, half of the mileage being done bunker first, even with the tarpaulin sheet, which I may yet model, in use, a sort of drophead coupe loco...

 

I've always thought of her as the weak link, but now that dubious honour now has to go to 9681.  An early Mainline pannier body moulding, tank side handrails moulded, with an even older and rather crude K's cab, dating from before Mainline released an 8750 version of the 57xx and the result of my youthful impatience and refusal to have 2 identical panniers on my layout (well, I've got 2 8750s and 2 56xx now, haven't I), she runs ok on a Baccy 64xx chassis with is not quite correct for her.  She has a more correct but rougher running alternative, an early Bachmann split chassis purchased on 'Bay when I was working her up a bit some months ago.  This is not the original Mainline split chassis which gave up the ghost 2 years ago, and is an improvement on that, but not as smooth running as the current Baccy 0-6-0 which is more or less my 'standard' mech.

 

This is now the loco with a question mark over her, and some thought is being given to her long term future.  She could be worked up to include the handrails and missing bunker hooks, but will always suffer from the overthick K's cab and bunker castings and crude rivet detail.  As currently running, she has no backhead detail, but includes my own closed sliding cab weather protection sheets to hide the fact...

Edited October 14, 2018 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

I've been giving some thought to goods handling on the goods platform, and I've decided that the mechanical aid supplied at the moment, a Ratio hoist, would not be capable of doing very much, and certainly could not be used to unload a container from a conflat never mind a medfit.  So I picked up a Wills yard crane on my last trip to Lord and Butler's, and assembled it this evening. Nice little kit, fell together, much less faff than the hoist and reaches high enough to handle BD containers.  The instructions say it had been designed by Iain Rice, no less, an impressive pedigree born out by the ease of assembly.  I'll paint it Wednesday; busy today.  

 

This leaves the question of what I'm going to do with the old hoist.  There are no industrial premises suitable for it unless I convert the Cwmdimbath Non-political club to something more engineerish; this is one of the penalties of the narrow baseboards.  It's a nice little thing with a lot of character and I don't want to bin it, so maybe it could be the centrepiece of a small per way yard, somewhere alongside the loop.  Nothing major, just a few sleepers and maybe some materials stored with not much going on, the hoist's task being to load stuff on to trolleys to be pushed to site.

 

It's a bit advanced and unlikely even at this level for a location like Cwmdimbath though, and I will give more thought to the thing.  The obvious place might be the Remploy siding, but my feeling is that this is a post war development and quite modern in the layout's period; the hoist looks a bit antediluvian for it.  Perhaps there was something else there before the war.

 

Another idea is to have it on an abandoned and derelict loading dock on the 'stub spur'.  The imagined history of this small siding, which is useful as a place to put brake vans out of the way when you are running around the coal trains, is that it was one of the rail entrances to the off-scene colliery, or perhaps to a now abandoned part of it, before being buried under the road embankment that carries the Remploy estate access road bridge (the scenic break), which started life as a wartime development but the war finished before it was brought into use and it became the Remploy factory and the small trading estate.  But none of this imagined history is set in stone, and the stub could easily be the stub of a previous private siding with such a handling facility.  And I like modelling dereliction.

 

The new crane will go in it's old place on the goods platform of course.  I will include slew limiters to stop it being accidentally allowed to foul the main platform road over the fence.  Livery to be weathered black or grey, white for the winding handle and faded white for the pulley housing on the business end of the jib.  Not too much rust; it isn't an ancient crane in the 50s and should be fairly well looked after, but it needs to look like a working piece of kit, not an immaculately presented museum exhibit.

 

Had a shunting session with 9649 and the Remploy clearance, which identified a pick up problem, now sorted.  The loco runs near perfectly now, but is for some reason a little noisier (but still very quiet) than 5756 which has an identical mechanism; a not unpleasant purr as opposed to the other loco's quiet hum.  It seems not as free running as well, as if the motor needs to draw more current to get moving, but this is a subjective impression and the running is very smooth, which it wouldn't be if there was any problem in this regard.  

Edited October 16, 2018 by The Johnster

[Steamport Southport]

Neyland is another possibility.

 

I once read an autobiography about a driver who started his career at Neyland (I can't for the life of me recall it's title) whose first major firing turn as a passed cleaner was a Neyland to Tondu freight. Istr it was on a Mogul and the trip wore him out so much that he was unable to make the return journey later that morning!

 

Behind The Steam by Bill Morgan and Bette Meyrick

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&text=Bette+Meyrick&search-alias=books-uk&field-author=Bette+Meyrick&sort=relevancerank

 

 

Jason

[The Johnster]

More potching tonight; rigged the new crane and have done a bit of working up on 9681.  Repairs to handrails, and some new bits at the expense of 6408; improved turned metal buffers which much finer heads and and a modified rear tension lock coupler to reduce the distance between buffer heads which was excessive on this loco because of the way 6408's old chassis sits under it.  Rear cab windows now have etched brass coal rails.  6408's bunker hooks have been pulled like teeth with a brutal pair of pliers to be transferred to this loco, and the rear bottom lamp irons pulled as well as I'm not happy with them and can do better, but I haven't done this work yet.  

 

Will need to drill holes for the bunker hooks, and then a repaint will do no harm to try and get a more even finish than the rather patchy existing job.  6408 also donated whistles and a whistle shield; this is of the same type as the one on the recent 'Bay purchase that is to be 9649 with the G W R livery, and is an assumption of mine as correct for a 96xx series 8750.  It is in any case an improvement on the rather blobby Mainline moulding with it's chunky stubby shield, very overscale thick but correct for 5786, which the loco was originally.  All this brings 9681 more into line with 9649, but she'll never be quite as good in terms of rivet detail and will always have the very slightly wrong 64xx chassis; the biggest visual difference is the angle of the front brake hangers and the slight misalignment of wheels and splashers only visible from dead side on view, and I can live with it.  9681 will be my only model of a loco that still exists...

 

I am also winging it a bit with top feeds on my 57xx/8750s.  9681 as currently running on the DFR has one which she was probably built with, and I think I'm on fairly safe ground with 9649, but am much less certain about 5756.  I am fairly, but not absolutely, certain that this loco features in a colour photo that comes up on Google, approaching Abergwynfi with a train of 3 auto trailers in tow; if so, I am ok with the top feed for my period.

 

Of course, if I can isolate a Tondu 57xx or 8750 confirmed without a top feed for my period, it'll be another addition to the shopping list, a variant I will want to include!  I'm a little conscious that all my panniers have top feeds, even 2761 (correct for this loco as withdrawn in 1950 photographed at Swindon that year awaiting breaking up).  It'd be better if the manufacturers made the models without top feeds so that we could add them as detailing components, which'd be easier than removing them!

Edited October 17, 2018 by The Johnster

[tomparryharry]

More potching tonight; rigged the new crane and have done a bit of working up on 9681.  Repairs to handrails, and some new bits at the expense of 6408; improved turned metal buffers which much finer heads and and a modified rear tension lock coupler to reduce the distance between buffer heads which was excessive on this loco because of the way 6408's old chassis sits under it.  Rear cab windows now have etched brass coal rails.  6408's bunker hooks have been pulled like teeth with a brutal pair of pliers to be transferred to this loco, and the rear bottom lamp irons pulled as well as I'm not happy with them and can do better, but I haven't done this work yet.  

 

Will need to drill holes for the bunker hooks, and then a repaint will do no harm to try and get a more even finish than the rather patchy existing job.  6408 also donated whistles and a whistle shield; this is of the same type as the one on the recent 'Bay purchase that is to be 9649 with the G W R livery, and is an assumption of mine as correct for a 96xx series 8750.  It is in any case an improvement on the rather blobby Mainline moulding with it's chunky stubby shield, very overscale thick but correct for 5786, which the loco was originally.  All this brings 9681 more into line with 9649, but she'll never be quite as good in terms of rivet detail and will always have the very slightly wrong 64xx chassis; the biggest visual difference is the angle of the front brake hangers and the slight misalignment of wheels and splashers only visible from dead side on view, and I can live with it.  9681 will be my only model of a loco that still exists...

 

I am also winging it a bit with top feeds on my 57xx/8750s.  9681 as currently running on the DFR has one which she was probably built with, and I think I'm on fairly safe ground with 9649, but am much less certain about 5756.  I am fairly, but not absolutely, certain that this loco features in a colour photo that comes up on Google, approaching Abergwynfi with a train of 3 auto trailers in tow; if so, I am ok with the top feed for my period.

 

Of course, if I can isolate a Tondu 57xx or 8750 confirmed without a top feed for my period, it'll be another addition to the shopping list, a variant I will want to include!  I'm a little conscious that all my panniers have top feeds, even 2761 (correct for this loco as withdrawn in 1950 photographed at Swindon that year awaiting breaking up).  It'd be better if the manufacturers made the models without top feeds so that we could add them as detailing components, which'd be easier than removing them!

 

My one & only grimble  about  Bachmann panniers.  "You're havin' a top feed, and that's that", sort of thing. In fairness to DJM/Hattons, at least you had a choice with the 48xx body. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by tomparryharry

[The Johnster]

New crane painted, and about to be installed on the goods platform; the old hoist has moved to the back of the yard by the office.  There is a pile of bricks nearby, but I have no idea if the two features are in any way related.  

[The Johnster]

Morning rush hour, 07.50, and an auto runs in from Bridgend, passing 9681 with the empty stock from the miner's standing over on the Remploy siding and 5633 on the loop, with the stock for the Tremains ROF workman's, 3 trains at once!  The Tremains with shunt over to the platform as soon as the auto goes back to Bridgend, but the miner's is trapped for another hour at least as there is coal traffic to run before a path can be found for it.  The loco will then be 'awaiting orders' at Tondu, and occasionally turns up on an ad hoc clearance or with pit props or other materials for the colliery later in the day at Control's behest.  It will return for the evening miner's service though, the crew having been relieved at lunchtime. They will be in the Remploy canteen having breakfast.

Edited October 20, 2018 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

Morning rush hour, 07.50, and an auto runs in from Bridgend, passing 5756 with the empty stock from the miner's standing over on the Remploy siding and 5633 on the loop, with the stock for the Tremains ROF workman's, 3 trains at once!  The Tremains with shunt over to the platform as soon as the auto goes back to Bridgend, but the miner's is trapped for another hour at least as there is coal traffic to run before a path can be found for it.  The loco will then be 'awaiting orders' at Tondu, and occasionally turns up on an ad hoc clearance or with pit props or other materials for the colliery later in the day at Control's behest.  It will return for the evening miner's service though, the crew having been relieved at lunchtime. They will be in the Remploy canteen having breakfast.

 

 

[The Johnster]

Morning rush hour, 07.50, and an auto runs in from Bridgend, passing 5756 with the empty stock from the miner's standing over on the Remploy siding and 5633 on the loop, with the stock for the Tremains ROF workman's, 3 trains at once!  The Tremains with shunt over to the platform as soon as the auto goes back to Bridgend, but the miner's is trapped for another hour at least as there is coal traffic to run before a path can be found for it.  The loco will then be 'awaiting orders' at Tondu, and occasionally turns up on an ad hoc clearance or with pit props or other materials for the colliery later in the day at Control's behest.  It will return for the evening miner's service though, the crew having been relieved at lunchtime. They will be in the Remploy canteen having breakfast.

 

Note the red backed number plates, a feature of the early BR days.  9681 was delivered new to Tondu in the summer of 1949, and would almost certainly have sported them, though her current livery on the DFR is unicycling lion with black backed plates.  5633 has them as well, with the second version of the BRITISH RAILWAYS livery, which I am not sure this loco carried.  I'd considered applying them to 2761, in austerity GWR black, but the photo of this engine at Swindon in 1950 after withdrawal shows black backed plates, or at any rate very dirty red backed ones; she seems never to have had smokebox number plate.  I have ordered red backed plates, a service provided by Modelmaster JE, for 9649, which is also in GWR livery as supplied new to Tondu in 1946; it will establish the date as post 1948.

 

 

[The Johnster]

Having a tea break in the middle of a modelling session; this is a proper modelling session, with set goals and jobs to finish, not potching and being surprised how much I've managed to do at the end of it. Jobs are 1) Fit lamp irons to 5633.  This loco came with very good scale lamp irons at the front and the bunker top at the rear, though the other 3 were moulded and needed work anyway.  The scale irons, good though they looked, will not fit the slots in Modelu lamps, and have therefore been pulled out with pliers like teeth, and replaced with my standard no.13 Rexel staples cut in half and trimmed to length after being superglued into drilled holes.  2) Ditto on the bunker bottom of 9681, which has just had a repaint in Halfords matt black.  She looks a little less patchy now.  3) Replace the lions and RA spots on 9681.  4) Weather 9649.

 

The lamp iron fitting must proceed at a stately pace like a Royal funeral, as it is no use upsetting the one you've just done before the cyano has gone off by starting on the one next to it, or picking the loco up to do one at the other end.  So, having done one on 5633, I proceeded to make a start on 9681's.  Now, with time going to waste while I allow 5 minutes for the cyano to go off before I do anything else, I decided that not all of my XP rated goods stock has irons, and went through the fleet looking for those that didn't, so that they can join in the fun with NPCCS or as tail traffic.

 

This identified no less than 11 XP goods vehicles needing to be fitted with lamp irons.  Some already had the holes drilled, and may have had irons that they have lost, but I was not aware of this.  So, I set up a production line.  I'm half way through the XP, need to do the other ends of all of them, and have finished 9681; this is so far as fitting them is concerned and they still need to be trimmed and painted.  The front of 5633 remains to be done as well.  It's turning out to be a busier session than I'd planned, with jobs 3 and 4 not started yet, but we'll cope...

[The Johnster]

Cardiff show today, a Grand Day Out!  I've bought some stock from NHY 581, who was showing his excellent layout, and picked it up today.  There are 2 Triang type clerestories in LNER livery, a compo and brake 3rd, which will join my existing brake 3rd on the miner's workman's when I've repainted them.  They are going to be in GW austerity plain brown, which is almost a shame because they are very nicely lined out!

 

Also, a brace of wagons; an Ox 6 wheel toad in late GW livery and the rest Bachmann, a GW unfitted conflat with a couple of containers in GW shirtbutton livery, and 4 vans, a GW Mogo and Southern unfitted Ashford van in pre-austerity big initiials livery, then an LMS unfitted ventilated in what I think might be an austerity livery, small initials LMS on the door (one I already have has LMS in even smaller numbers above the running number), and an LNER vanfit in austerity bauxite.

 

The Mogo and Southern vanfit are my first excursions into large initial liveries, and there cannot have been too many of these still around for long after my 1948 start period.  I will weather them very heavily to indicate that they have been around without any tlc for a while.  They all represent vehicles in liveries or at least versions of liveries I don't already have, and my first unfitted conflat and first Southern liveried vehicle, though I already have 2 unfitted Ashford LMS vans, one in BR and one in LMS austerity livery.  I probably have more vans than is reasonably for my layout now, and must resist buying more!  More opens, especially GW and maybe one or two Southerns, are needed to get the balance right.

 

But I am close to the sensible limit now for general merchandise freight stock in terms of room on the layout, and have all the minerals I need.  I can't really justify any more locos either (who can?) but a 45xx is needed although I have no idea what Tondu used it for, and of course the Bachmann 94xx I keep banging on about; the Limbach will have to do for the foreseeable future as Baccy have deferred this loco yet again. I have been binging on panniers lately, the aforementioned 94xx, an new secondhand 8750, and a refurbished old one, plus a new 56xx.

 

I can't really justify any more NPCCS either.  There is still room for expansion in terms of passenger stock, however; another B set, probably in GW livery, and then we are into kits for Collett non gangwayed and A44 auto conversions.  All of which is prompting me in the direction of a redesigned fiddle yard to maximise use of space, and see if I can squeeze another road in, along with some stock shelves on the wall behind it so that storage by means of crane shunting is easy.  This is a classic case of enlarging the fiddle yard in order to cope with your stock, and then buying more bl**dy stock!

 

Crane shunting is a term you don't seem to hear any more; it means picking the stock off the track and putting it somewhere else.  I regularly do it with my locos to change ends in the fiddle yard; it is a completely allowable activity 'off stage'.

 

So. plenty of work for the next few weeks working up the clerestories, repainting and numbering, converting bogies to Dean types instead of the Triang BR1s they come with, and putting in compartment dividers and seats.  Oh, and of course putting lamp irons on them!  There are always more lamp irons, I'm starting to see them in my sleep now...

Edited October 22, 2018 by The Johnster