Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[MrWolf]

2 minutes ago, chuffinghell said:

Rob

 

Let me know if you want me to move these over to my thread Instead of hijacking yours

 

Rapido have nowt to worry about 🙄

 

 

 

Not at all! It's possibly my fault for encouraging you in the first place!

 

As for Rapido, they're still young and hungry, they're going to keep upping the ante.

 

It's when they become the market leaders and get complacent is the time to worry! 😊

[Limpley Stoker]

This will be interesting . I started to refurbish my Lima railcar about 10 yrs ago using some expensive ultra scale wheel sets . I paused while working out how to improve the glazing as the SEF vacuum formed windows didn’t look good at either end, I didn’t know laserglaze now produces them so I’ll watch you fit them !! 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

Sounds odd, but if she wasn't odd, she'd no doubt be living with someone younger, taller and richer than I.😆

 

You missed out the 'better looking' I see.

[MrWolf]

7 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

You missed out the 'better looking' I see.

 

Well I had to keep it believable didn't I?

[Winslow Boy]

41 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Well I had to keep it believable didn't I?

 

So I'm assuming that refers to younger?- richer? taller,?

 

Pray tell as I'm all ears not.

[Pete Haitch]

21 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

I too would like to thank Steve @railtec-models for producing the transfers and putting up with ‘silly requests’

 

As Rob has said it’s still very much in the developmental stages although two prototypes have been produced (early design stage, roof skylights not drawn at the time)

 

 

The one on the left (mine) has NEM tension lock couplings and a lever brake

 

 

The one on the right (Rob’s) has a slot for three link sprung couplings and dean churchward brakes (just to be awkward 😂)

 

 

I have a painted prototype but it still needs to be refined

 

After all the teasers, I've been waiting to see these. I don't know how many hours of blood, sweat  and exclamations of frustration reaching this stage represents, but they're looking good. Until my skylight building skills improve (or you go into commercial production!) I am going down a different mink route and trying to put-off thoughts about building a 9' 9" DC chassis.

[MrWolf]

Interesting! That looks suspiciously like one of the Iron Mink compressor vans.

 

Warwickshire Railways.

 

W. Heath Robinson would have been proud of that one!

[chuffinghell]

Before you ask Rob, NO! 🤣

[MrWolf]

What you mean no? I do believe that it was you who messaged me with: What do you think of the old Ratio Iron Mink kit and are there others available?

 

From there it sort of spiralled!

 

I've PM 'd you regarding door construction, materials used and carpentry details BTW.

[chuffinghell]

10 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

What you mean no? I do believe that it was you who messaged me with: What do you think of the old Ratio Iron Mink kit and are there others available?

 

From there it sort of spiralled!

 

I've PM 'd you regarding door construction, materials used and carpentry details BTW.

 

🤣

 

[Compound2632]

17 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Interesting! That looks suspiciously like one of the Iron Mink compressor vans.

 

Not really iron minky at all apart from the iron sheeting. According to All About... it was originally a covered goods wagon of 1856 - apparently of the Henson type with roof door. Note how the side plating is flush with the outer face of the solebars, so It's only around 6' 10" - 7' 0" wide over panels.

 

This was the only one converted to a compressor van but I was interested to read that several survived in stock into the first few years of the 20th century.

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, Pete Haitch said:

After all the teasers, I've been waiting to see these. I don't know how many hours of blood, sweat  and exclamations of frustration reaching this stage represents, but they're looking good. Until my skylight building skills improve (or you go into commercial production!) I am going down a different mink route and trying to put-off thoughts about building a 9' 9" DC chassis.

 

Do you have a copy of All About GWR Iron Minks by Lewis, Lloyd, Metcalf and Miller (HMRS Publications, 1980) ? 

 

It's well worth hunting one down if you can.

[Schooner]

51 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

a covered goods wagon of 1856 - apparently of the Henson type with roof door.

 

In case anyone else wondered. 

 

Full and dimensioned drawings are available in here (for Broad Gauge at least), from which @MikeOxon created his charming rendition

[MikeOxon]

3 hours ago, Schooner said:

Full and dimensioned drawings are available in here (for Broad Gauge at least), from which @MikeOxon created his charming rendition

 

Thank you for the reference - 'charming' is not an epithet I have seen attached to one of my models before 😀

 

Mike

[Pete Haitch]

5 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Interesting! That looks suspiciously like one of the Iron Mink compressor vans.

 

Warwickshire Railways.

 

W. Heath Robinson would have been proud of that one!

Yes, this is the very beast. I have a copy of All About GWR Iron Minks by Lewis, Lloyd, Metcalf and Miller (thanks for the tip though), but Russell's GW wagons Appendix has a clearer reproduction of this picture. I'm using an unpainted Dapol body as it scales out at the correct 17 foot length, and grafted in doors from a Ratio kit that will donate its roof and ends to another project. After 55 years away from modelling I'm grateful to everyone on RM Web who share their knowledge and expertise.

[Schooner]

54 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

'charming'

Well it worked on me, looking as I am across the water from Bullo Pill c.1875... :)

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, Schooner said:

Well it worked on me, looking as I am across the water from Bullo Pill c.1875... :)

 

You're avoiding 1868 I hope.

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, Pete Haitch said:

Yes, this is the very beast. I have a copy of All About GWR Iron Minks by Lewis, Lloyd, Metcalf and Miller (thanks for the tip though), but Russell's GW wagons Appendix has a clearer reproduction of this picture. I'm using an unpainted Dapol body as it scales out at the correct 17 foot length, and grafted in doors from a Ratio kit that will donate its roof and ends to another project. After 55 years away from modelling I'm grateful to everyone on RM Web who share their knowledge and expertise.

 

I like a bit of ingenuity, adaptation and general hacking things about. It can produce items that are unrecognisable from their original state that are instantly recognizable as something else. 

When it comes to long breaks from modelling, you're not on your own around here. I've had twenty years, in fact it's probably thirty since I had anything like a fully sceniced layout and ran trains on it.

There's plenty of others! 

 

[NHY 581]

I returned to the hobby in 2015. First layout I ever finished was in 2016. Before that...other than a few false starts, nothing since about 1985. 

 

Rob. 

[MrWolf]

7 hours ago, Schooner said:

 

In case anyone else wondered. 

 

Full and dimensioned drawings are available in here (for Broad Gauge at least), from which @MikeOxon created his charming rendition

 

I do like a bit of broad gauge. I've wondered whether any of those vans ended up as sheds (so could possibly have survived) or whether the whole fleet went for firewood.

 

If you say Henson to my generation, we generally get an image of a frog made from felt, or a bear in a hat who appears to be from Yonkers rather than Paddington.

 

 

[Annie]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

I do like a bit of broad gauge. I've wondered whether any of those vans ended up as sheds (so could possibly have survived) or whether the whole fleet went for firewood.

Some did end up as sheds and staff lunchrooms & etc in much the same way as old but still sound standard gauge van bodies found themselves having a second life as grounded sheds.  I used to have a couple of photos, but I don't know what I've done with them now.

[lezz01]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

I do like a bit of broad gauge. I've wondered whether any of those vans ended up as sheds (so could possibly have survived) or whether the whole fleet went for firewood.

Yeh me too the B&G is my favourite bit of it.

Regards Lez. 

[MikeOxon]

5 hours ago, Schooner said:

Well it worked on me, looking as I am across the water from Bullo Pill c.1875... :)

... but the South Wales lines, including the line through Bullo Pill, were all converted to standard gauge in 1872

[Schooner]

4 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

...finished...

Over-achiever!

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, Annie said:

Some did end up as sheds and staff lunchrooms & etc in much the same way as old but still sound standard gauge van bodies found themselves having a second life as grounded sheds.  I used to have a couple of photos, but I don't know what I've done with them now.

 

This may be one of them:

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6076443