Wright writes.....

[t-b-g]

1 minute ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Tony and everyone

 

I wonder if someone can help, please?

 

I have a Hornby J15 No.65445 (R3232). The chimney has gone missing. Hornby don't supply body spares. I have checked eBay and Peter's Spares.

 

Does anyone know of any of the small suppliers who make a correct chimney? I know I supplied a link to UK Model Shops recently, but a steer in the right direction would be appreciated.

 

The loco is 'dear to my heart' as I filmed it shunting at Waltham Cross around 1960 when I was about 12 years old.

 

Brian

 

Alan Gibson have a selection of GER chimneys from their J15 kit that would be suitable. The real things had a few different types fitted so you would need to be careful choosing the right one.

 

http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/Spring 2022 catalogue.pdf

 

 

[BMacdermott]

Very many thanks!🙂

 

I'll drop him a line to discuss.

 

Brian

[Curlew]

28 minutes ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Tony and everyone

 

I wonder if someone can help, please?

 

I have a Hornby J15 No.65445 (R3232). The chimney has gone missing. Hornby don't supply body spares. I have checked eBay and Peter's Spares.

 

Does anyone know of any of the small suppliers who make a correct chimney? I know I supplied a link to UK Model Shops recently, but a steer in the right direction would be appreciated.

 

The loco is 'dear to my heart' as I filmed it shunting at Waltham Cross around 1960 when I was about 12 years old.

 

Brian

Have you tried 'Alan Gibson'? Pretty sure Colin does one.

[BMacdermott]

Thanks t-b-g and Curlew

 

I have just emailed Alan Gibson and Colin Seymour has replied by return with a photo of a chimney that solves the problem. I am placing a phone order as soon as he comes back to my voice mail.

 

Brian

[PMP]

2 minutes ago, BMacdermott said:

Thanks t-b-g and Curlew

 

I have just emailed Alan Gibson and Colin Seymour has replied by return with a photo of a chimney that solves the problem. I am placing a phone order as soon as he comes back to my voice mail.

 

Brian

I believe the chimney will be 4M631 which should be the ‘late’ J15 style suitable for R3232. The model is an excellent example of Hornby getting it right. All the detail variations on that release are correct for the running number. https://albionyard.com/2015/03/27/j15-red-box-treat/
 

Briefly on Hornby’s TT range, there’s plenty of people saying that the direct sales route won’t work for them. However, not so long again people were saying easyJet, Ryanair,Wizz et al wouldn’t survive without travel agencies, how wrong those people were! If Hornby get the ‘back office’ and supply chain right, there’s no read why this range shouldn’t do very well for them. Their core approach is aiming at a completely new market, I.e. new entrants.  As far as the quality of the products go to me they look on balance exceptionally good, with the exception of the wheel tyres/flanges. A cursory look at the 08’s (apart from the ladders on the livery samples), shows that someone there is on the money, as well as the MGR hopper and MDV. All look very credible models, I’ve ordered an 08 and a few wagons to try the scale out. One element of information that has been consistent throughout the release of both Hornby and Peco contemporary TT products has been the emphasis that these are TT120 scale, not 3mm/ft, so anyone buying them them to match existing 3mm scale models really hasn’t been paying attention. The signal box below is one of Peco’s sublime laser cut wood TT120 buildings under test build. That bodes well for the scale and any entrants into it.

As @Bernard Lambmentions the TT120 scale/gauge is well established in Europe. There will be a crossover market for Hornby into that market for track and shiney products like A3/4 and pullmans. Once my 08 arrives the first thing I’ll look at is modifying it to swap couplings to N gauge DG types to improve the look and operating potential of the models, just as @Barry Tenand I have done with N gauge, no different to any other scale in taking RTR and adapting it to our personal standards by doing some of that there ‘modelling’ stuff. 🙂

 

[Tony Wright]

I don't know whether I 'baited any hook' regarding TT120, but I was just musing on comments made to me yesterday. By the way, along with golf, I cannot imagine a less-interesting pastime than fishing.

 

I have to say (without prolonging the subject of TT to futility), I'm ever so glad that the 'rantings' regarding RTR in all scales and gauges merely amuse me (as does anyone not finding a Gresley A1/A3 attractive in any guise). Amuse me, inasmuch as I really consider them personally irrelevant. I'm one of those happy band who have no need of RTR, other than using some items of rolling stock to free up the time needed to build stuff that isn't available. 

 

Yesterday, I ordered a few hundred pounds' worth of stuff from Markits to supplement the few hundred pounds' worth of stuff from DJH ordered last month. These items will all go into and underneath a few more Pacifics/V2s I have to build. Of course, I have no need of any more locos; I just enjoy building them. 

 

All of which merely strengthens my non-reliance on RTR. Rather abstractly, whether or not others buy/don't buy something (in any scale or gauge) is rather irrelevant to me (other than as an almost-retired photo-journalist).

 

Today, my two (modeller) guests emailed me with thanks for a great day spent running Little Bytham yesterday. They said they were 'in awe' of the running - a compliment to the team which built it. Would it surprise anyone to know that (apart from an Accurascale Deltic - which went, for a short distance, at over 250 mph!) not a single RTR loco was used? By the way, one of my kit-built A3s almost matched that Deltic's pace. Oh, and the pick-up went at no more than 1 mph at times.  

 

Like many others, the making of things is far more important to me than whether any RTR manufacturer has made the right decision or not. 

Edited March 24, 2023 by Tony Wright
clumsy grammar

[t-b-g]

4 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

I don't know whether I 'baited any hook' regarding TT120, but I was just musing on comments made to me yesterday. By the way, along with golf, I cannot imagine a less-interesting pastime than fishing.

 

I have to say (without prolonging the subject of TT to futility), I've ever so glad that the 'rantings' regarding RTR in all scales and gauges merely amuse me (as does anyone not finding a Gresley A1/A3 attractive in any guise). Amuse me, inasmuch as I really consider them personally irrelevant. I'm one of those happy band who have no need of RTR, other than using some items of rolling stock to free up the time needed to build stuff that isn't available. 

 

Yesterday, I ordered a few hundred pounds' worth of stuff from Markits to supplement the few hundred pounds' worth of stuff from DJH ordered last month. These items will all go into and underneath a few more Pacifics/V2s I have to build. Of course, I have no need of any more locos; I just enjoy building them. 

 

All of which merely strengthens my non-reliance on RTR. Rather abstractly, whether or not others buy/don't buy something (in any scale or gauge) is rather irrelevant to me (other than as an almost-retired photo-journalist).

 

Today, my two (modeller) guests emailed me with thanks for a great day spent running Little Bytham yesterday. They said they were 'in awe' of the running - a compliment to the team which built it. Would it surprise anyone to know that (apart from an Accurascale Deltic - which went, for a short distance, at over 250 mph!) not a single RTR loco was used? By the way, one of my kit-built A3s almost matched that Deltic's pace. Oh, and the pick-up went at no more than 1 mph at times.  

 

Like many others, the making of things is far more important to me than whether any RTR manufacturer has made the right decision or not. 

 

Couldn't agree more Tony. I spent a bit of time this week scratchbuilding a Southern U Class in 2mm scale, some time building somersault signals for my new layout, some time working on scenery for the new version of the Burnden Park layout, a bit of time running Narrow Road, which has probably 95% kit or scratchbuilt locos and stock and even the tiny number of RTR items are heavily modified. Tomorrow, I hope to have my usual Friday running session on perhaps the ultimate "make it for yourself" layout, Buckingham. I am also working on a scratchbuilt Millwall Extension Railway 2-4-0T for a layout that I build a few things for. The boiler, in 4mm scale, is 10mm diameter.

 

None of these activities have anything to do with what Hornby or anybody else produce in their factories.

 

I fully appreciate that not everybody wants to approach the hobby from the perspective of building most, if not all things for themselves. For me, sitting at the workbench using my favourite soldering iron and tools to produce models of whatever is needed for my layouts (or for those of others) is where my satisfaction comes from.

 

 

[LNER4479]

Oi! What's going on??

 

My RMWeb viewing pleasure is being interrupted by a 10 year old video showing some bloke making a model railway based on the ECML. I can't switch it off!?!? Where's the 'X' in the top right hand corner?!

 

 

[Chuffer Davies]

I very much enjoyed the live streaming of Little Bytham the other day, although I was confused that, instead of being upside down as appropriate for the nationality of the cameraman, it was instead back to front.  No matter....

In a similar vein, and in the hope of encouraging similar contributions, I am posting a short video I am calling 'Watching The Trains Go By'. I took the opportunity, during my weekly visit to the clubrooms today, to play trains.  I had time on my hands having completed my planned tasks for the day, but then waiting for someone to come and lay new flooring in the club's newly refurbished kitchen.

The layout remains very much a work in progress.  You will see that we are starting to work on the pasture either side of the cutting and using the hanging basket liner that Tony W had recommended.  Currently we are still trimming it to length before applying a combination of scatter materials and static grass to improve the overall effect.

It would be great to see examples of trains running on the layouts of other contributors to WW.

 

 

[billbedford]

9 hours ago, MJI said:

OK Couplings, I have a few types of uses I need to sort.

 

 

...but are you looking for something that looks like the real thing?

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Oi! What's going on??

 

My RMWeb viewing pleasure is being interrupted by a 10 year old video showing some bloke making a model railway based on the ECML. I can't switch it off!?!? Where's the 'X' in the top right hand corner?!

 

 

Good morning Graham,

 

I hope you realise, it has nothing to do with me..............

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Jol Wilkinson]

14 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I don't know whether I 'baited any hook' regarding TT120, but I was just musing on comments made to me yesterday. By the way, along with golf, I cannot imagine a less-interesting pastime than fishing.

 

I feel the same way about some of the "modelling" activities that are enthusiastically talked about on RMWeb. In particular the frothing about new RTR products and the joyful claims of how many of this or that new things people have ordered or bought.

 

And I have got friends who are (or have been ) keen golfers or anglers, so know devastatingly boring they can be at times. Fortunately none are avid football supporters.

[BMacdermott]

15 hours ago, BMacdermott said:

Thanks t-b-g and Curlew

 

I have just emailed Alan Gibson and Colin Seymour has replied by return with a photo of a chimney that solves the problem. I am placing a phone order as soon as he comes back to my voice mail.

 

Brian

 

Hello again everyone

 

Colin Seymour returned my call very swiftly and the chimney was ordered within less than two hours of me posting my request here!🙂

 

Brian

[Tony Wright]

10 hours ago, Chuffer Davies said:

I very much enjoyed the live streaming of Little Bytham the other day, although I was confused that, instead of being upside down as appropriate for the nationality of the cameraman, it was instead back to front.  No matter....

In a similar vein, and in the hope of encouraging similar contributions, I am posting a short video I am calling 'Watching The Trains Go By'. I took the opportunity, during my weekly visit to the clubrooms today, to play trains.  I had time on my hands having completed my planned tasks for the day, but then waiting for someone to come and lay new flooring in the club's newly refurbished kitchen.

The layout remains very much a work in progress.  You will see that we are starting to work on the pasture either side of the cutting and using the hanging basket liner that Tony W had recommended.  Currently we are still trimming it to length before applying a combination of scatter materials and static grass to improve the overall effect.

It would be great to see examples of trains running on the layouts of other contributors to WW.

 

 

Good morning Frank,

 

I'm glad my recommendation of the hanging basket liner as a 'base' for scenic work has proved to be so effective on your model. 

 

Is the J50 the John Edgson-built one I sold you? (I think it was the J50 I sold to you, though there was an 0-6-2T as well, which I think went to Jonathan Wealleans, but I get easily muddled). 

 

I'd love to see moving footage of others' railways on here. How easy is it to do? I ask this because several folk have shot moving footage on their phones of LB during visits, but the 'files' end up being far too big to post. It's not that there's a shortage of moving images of LB (much of which I've taken, which has then been 'properly'-edited), but it would be nice to view what others have come up with. Jesse took some footage, but I've yet to see that. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited March 24, 2023 by Tony Wright
clumsy grammar

[Compound2632]

20 hours ago, jwealleans said:

You do this deliberately to wind him up, don't you, you greengrocer, you.

 

I've not come across "greengrocer" used as a term of abuse before and am puzzled as to what it is intended to imply. You are surely not suggesting that @LNER4479 habitually misuses the apostrophe? 

[jwealleans]

23 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

You are surely not suggesting that @LNER4479 habitually misuses the apostrophe? 

 

Heaven forfend.  I'd put him forward as a paragon of apostrophic virtue.

 

Except when there's an opportunity to wind Sir up......

[MJI]

9 hours ago, billbedford said:

 

...but are you looking for something that looks like the real thing?

Between carriages if br i could use kadee but need something rigid.

 

Basically something more discreet than tls for stock.

 

I do use wire bars on diesels which match with tls

[MJI]

42 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

I feel the same way about some of the "modelling" activities that are enthusiastically talked about on RMWeb. In particular the frothing about new RTR products and the joyful claims of how many of this or that new things people have ordered or bought.

 

And I have got friends who are (or have been ) keen golfers or anglers, so know devastatingly boring they can be at times. Fortunately none are avid football supporters.

Only knew one football fan when young  all i can remember was a change in bag colour as he changed team from one random northern to another.

[LNER4479]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I'd love to see moving footage of others' railways on here. How easy is it to do? I ask this because several folk have shot moving footage on their phones of LB during visits, but the 'files' end up being far too big to post. It's not that there's a shortage of moving images of LB (much of which I've taken, which has then been 'properly- edited), but it would be nice to view what others have come up with. Jesse took some footage, but I've yet to see that. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

It's call YouTube (as per Frank's moving footage above). One has to subscribe, upload one's humongously large video file (put the kettle on while you're waiting) 'publish' it, then post the embedded link in a post like above. Simples (not really)

(no doubt other video sharing products are available?)

 

I'll see if I can dig out an old bit of video of Grantham to demonstrate (stand by) ...

 

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

I feel the same way about some of the "modelling" activities that are enthusiastically talked about on RMWeb. In particular the frothing about new RTR products and the joyful claims of how many of this or that new things people have ordered or bought.

 

And I have got friends who are (or have been ) keen golfers or anglers, so know devastatingly boring they can be at times. Fortunately none are avid football supporters.

Good morning Jol,

 

I suppose that since the majority in this hobby rely on RTR/RTP, then there's going to be a lot of 'frothing' about what's new and what is being bought. 

 

Interestingly, one friend (who is almost entirely RTR-reliant) tells me that he rarely looks at Wright writes because his perception is that posters on it rather 'look down' on those who don't, won't or can't make things for themselves. I find that rather disappointing, because I'd like to claim that it's the opposite. I agree that I find RTR (in whatever scale, and however much it might have been altered) far less-interesting than something someone has made, especially by themselves; even if it might actually be 'inferior' to an RTR equivalent, if one existed. But it's the opposite inasmuch as just about everyone who posts on here (if not all) is prepared to help others in whatever way they can (the J15 chimney immediately springs to mind). If posters on here 'looked down' on others, then there'd be no offers of assistance of any kind. 

 

I count myself privileged in being able to help the likes of Jesse Sim in his modelling. It's not because of me that his modelling has progressed in leaps and bounds, but, with the help of others (the likes of Jonathan Wealleans, for instance), he's produced items of this sort of quality.........

 

 

This trio forms part of an article he's just written for BRM with regards to weathering techniques.

 

 

And, this is a model he built for me as a gift for the help I've given him. It's beautiful. So much for 'looking down' at others - I'd hardly be getting such a lovely model if that were the case. 

 

There are many on here whose aim is to assist others in their modelling, either as tutors/demonstrators (the likes of Tony Gee and Mike Edge spring to mind, as well as others) or with words of encouragement and/or showing their work. 

 

If RTR-dependence isn't featured much on here, then that's not the fault of posters, though it's sad that some don't feel 'at home' on Wws. 

 

Tomorrow, I'm tutoring another young modeller on a one-to-one basis with regard to his loco-building (I've helped him in the past). He does not want to be RTR-reliant. Watch this space.............

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Willie Whizz]

I don’t have enough spare lifetime left to be other than about 80% dependent on RTR and kits, frankly. I’m probably not alone as such, being a late entrant/re-starter to the hobby, and unable and unwilling to become a modelling monk. But I come on Wright Writes because it’s aspirational for what I can do with the other 20%. 

[billbedford]

1 hour ago, MJI said:

Between carriages if br i could use kadee but need something rigid.

 

Basically something more discreet than tls for stock.

 

I do use wire bars on diesels which match with tls

 

Give me two or three weeks. 

I'm in the process of packing some sample to send to beta testers and when I get feed back from them and build some stocks, I'll make an announcement. 

 

As a tease, I can tell you that they will be marketed as "Mousa Magnetic Couplings"

[Chas Levin]

1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

 

Heaven forfend.  I'd put him forward as a paragon of apostrophic virtue.

 

Except when there's an opportunity to wind Sir up......

Thanks Jonathan - 'apostrophic' was a new word to me, but as a bit of a language pedant myself, I shall undoubtedly find it handy in due course...

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

Heaven forfend.  I'd put him forward as a paragon of apostrophic virtue.

 

Except when there's an opportunity to wind Sir up......

 

Doh. I'm with you now. Of course I had read the "..." in the original post as standing for "valve gear" or "performance in service" or some other attribute of the locomotives in question, since from the context it evidently wasn't a plural.

[JustinDean]

For me Wright Writes is an inspirational place; it has given me the push to kit build a locomotive which is almost complete. As far as RTR goes there’s not a great deal for someone that models the Cromford & High Peak apart from a couple of J94s. Water traffic in modified tenders was a staple of the C&HPR and I’ve created a train of this type by hacking up a couple of white metal kits and a spot of 3D printing. The Furness Railway 10t brake is a print by PreGroupingRailways. 
Seen here on my work in progress layout of Middleton Top.

 

Jay