Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, BMacdermott said:

Hello Tony and everyone

 

In a post or two above, Tony commented:

Speaking with my old teacher training chum yesterday, we mused over whether anyone what produce the A1/1 RTR. I thought not, but who knows? 

 

I don't claim that The 00 Wishlist Poll is in anyway a crystal ball of what will or will not be made, but it's interesting to note the bottom eight positions out of 42 LNER locos listed (with number of votes shown to the left):

61 - B2 4-6-0

58 - GNR A1 4-6-2

58 - LNER A1/1 4-6-2

58 - LNER A4 4-6-2

56 - GCR 04/8 2-8-0

52 - LNER A1 4-6-2

52 - LNER A2/1 4-6-2 (60507-60510)

43 - LNER A3 4-6-2

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

 

Good morning Brian,

 

Thanks for that. 

 

Being dim, I'm puzzled. Given the votes for a GNR A1, A4, LNER A1 and A3, since they're already available (or have been) RTR from Hornby, does this mean voters want them made by another manufacturer as well? 

 

Is the B2 the Thompson version? I imagine so. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Tony Wright
sloppy 's'

[TrevorP1]

37 minutes ago, 31A said:

 

Thank you Tony, glad you like it!  Yes, the office building is scratch built from plasticard.  It's mainly freelance (although inspired by various buildings) although the proportions are partly based on the Prototype Models Heckington station card kit.  It wasn't quite finished when I took this picture:

 

 

I’m reminded straight away of Kings Cross passenger loco. Job done I’d say!

[billbedford]

11 hours ago, billbedford said:

 

You need a selfie-stick...

...Or at least a camera truck that can be trundled around the layout and take photos from out-of-reach places. 

[Tony Wright]

17 minutes ago, billbedford said:

...Or at least a camera truck that can be trundled around the layout and take photos from out-of-reach places. 

It'll be some OO truck to be able to take the weight of a Df, Bill!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[polybear]

3 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

It'll be some OO truck to be able to take the weight of a Df, Bill!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Does a Df meet the loading gauge requirements? 

[BMacdermott]

Hello Tony

 

The B2 was listed as: LNER Gresley B2 4-6-0 (in range 61603-61671, but many are B17).

 

So, yes, it was the Thompson version.

 

The purpose of The Poll is: To provide railway modellers and collectors with an easy way of indicating to companies making or commissioning 00 ready-to-run models which models they would realistically buy if made at some time in the future.

 

Our cut-off date was the end of 2005 - so, anything made before that went it, whether still in maker ranges or not. Items made from 2006 did not go in. Having a specific cut-off dates precludes us making selective judgments of quality as to what to list.

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

[billbedford]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

It'll be some OO truck to be able to take the weight of a Df, Bill!

 

 

Ahh, yes, but the wagon is the easy part. Finding a way to line up and take the shot remotely needs a different skill set. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by billbedford

[kingfisher24]

Oh it’s always nice to return to rmweb after a medically enforced hiatus and see this page in particular and read through all the chat and wonderful modelling on show. I am now getting back into things and starting new projects now that my “can’t be arsed” has been replaced with “get my finger out and do something” frame of mind. Mental health is really a pain in the posterior. Anyway I have been busy of late with yet more rtr conversions. In the latest case a ex lner c16 which has been made from a nu cast kit which had been glued together but was falling apart. It was dropped in paint stripper and rebuilt. Plus I found that a re wheeled Hornby adams radial chassis is perfect wheelbase-wise. I plan to do a few more when I find a spare chassis.  I now have two c16’s made the same way and they run far sweeter than any kit I’ve put together. Plus one made from an old triang m7 body with new boiler and front end. I think I’ll do one more when time allows. Is it possible to have too many of the same class??

Please excuse the lack of lamps. They were on the loco when they went in the box but ran away during the journey to my club…

Edited June 12, 2023 by kingfisher24

[kingfisher24]

Ohh while I’m on here…

 

Tony 

 

I am looking to make up a representation of the Queen of Scot’s circa 1958/9 before the mk1 pullmans made an appearance. Members of my club are looking to make a model of Edinburgh St Margaret’s, well the running shed side at least, with the main lines running around the front of the depot and the north side of the lines left to the imagination….

I already have the Elizabethan but the Q.o.S did pass the depot and it would be something different in amongst the blood and custard and or maroon stock. Plus I know it can be a relatively short rake which would keep the pennies and pounds happy, and the wife too!
I’ve seen and remember that you have a rake on Little Bytham. Could you possibly pass on a list of stock which would be suitable. 

many thanks 

 

Gary 

[copleyhill007]

Thanks to Tony and Mo for our visit on Saturday. We had a brilliant day.

Tony's keen eye and photography have now added a B1 to the workshop for smokebox repair, and A2/3 to have its coupling hook and coupling restored!

I also enclose a couple of photos taken during the day.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by copleyhill007

[Northmoor]

On 09/06/2023 at 16:58, westernviscount said:

Many model a period, loco or place that they are nostalgic for, having grown up or had significant memories of. 

 

The discussion here has made me think on a few things and I realise My modelling "approach" is nostalgic in it's own right. I am trying methods and practices I admired when a child but did not have the ability to engage in. 

 

Above is an airfix 14xx I am working on. With the addition of finer handrails, a couple of white metal bits and a respray,  I have managed singlehandedly to drag a late 1970s rtr model into...well, the mid to late 1980s!:-) However, this is the modelling I remember admiring at exhibitions and watching my Dad do and now I can, I also want to do it. Hence why most rtr stuff now is of no interest to me because I cant afford it (working, with young family) and I like tinkering. 

 

Is my approach superior to buying the lastest RTR? Well, yes but only to me and those who might admire my work or feel equally nostalgic for a modelling era. 

 

One extra thought to my ramble,  I often wonder why I prefer to see spratt and winkle couplings to tension lock (auto uncoupling aside). They are almost as obtrusive! I think I just like to see "the artist's hand". I like to think of another human tinkering away also. There is a sense of shared values perhaps.  I "register" the standards of a shiny rtr model, but I "admire" and am "motivated" by other's bespoke modelling. 

That makes at least two of us, then.  It's why except in very few cases, I don't buy the "new" versions of RTR models; my ambition - being very slowly implemented - is to detail/repaint/change identities on my 1970s/80s/90s RTR (many of which I have a great emotional attachment to, which a new one wouldn't), generally using the methods in contemporary publications.  I was inspired by Richard Gardner, Monty Wells, @Peter Kazmierczak etc., just as I am inspired by the output of many on this thread today.  It's why I bought a K's GWR 42xx from Tony last year; of course I could just purchase a new Hornby one, but while I dreamed of building such things as a kid , I couldn't afford one (and certainly didn't have the skills).  Now I just don't seem to have the time!

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, billbedford said:

 

Ahh, yes, but the wagon is the easy part. Finding a way to line up and take the shot remotely needs a different skill set. 

'Finding a way to line up and take the shot remotely needs a different skill set'.

 

Which I don't possess, though there is a ten second shutter delay; one could fire the shutter (having previously set all the manual parameters  - I never use anything 'automatic' on my cameras), then push the wagon into whatever position one requires. Except the camera is far too big!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Barclay]

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

 I was inspired by Richard Gardner, Monty Wells, @Peter Kazmierczak etc.,

Is that the Richard Gardner who wrote articles in Model Trains and Scale Trains in the early 80's? They were very inspirational to me, as were the other 2 gents! Heard nothing of him after I stopped buying Scale Trains in the mid-80's though.

[Tony Wright]

5 hours ago, kingfisher24 said:

Ohh while I’m on here…

 

Tony 

 

I am looking to make up a representation of the Queen of Scot’s circa 1958/9 before the mk1 pullmans made an appearance. Members of my club are looking to make a model of Edinburgh St Margaret’s, well the running shed side at least, with the main lines running around the front of the depot and the north side of the lines left to the imagination….

I already have the Elizabethan but the Q.o.S did pass the depot and it would be something different in amongst the blood and custard and or maroon stock. Plus I know it can be a relatively short rake which would keep the pennies and pounds happy, and the wife too!
I’ve seen and remember that you have a rake on Little Bytham. Could you possibly pass on a list of stock which would be suitable. 

many thanks 

 

Gary 

Good afternoon Gary,

 

You'll need a seven-car rake for the 'Queen of Scots' in Scotland in the summer of 1958 (except on Saturdays, when it was made up to eight). The consist for the Up train (leaving Glasgow Queen Street at 11.00 am) was Second Brake, Second Kitchen, First Parlour, First Kitchen, First Kitchen, Second Parlour and Second Brake - seven cars in total. Two further cars were added at Leeds, a First Kitchen and a Second Parlour. The set reversed at Leeds, though the pair of Leeds-only cars were always at the front, in both Up and Down trains. All these types have been available from Hornby in the past, but I'm told that the 1928 all-steel types (which the train was mainly made up of) are now as rare as hens' teeth and very expensive! 

 

The number of cars in the rakes varied with each passing seasonal timetable - more usually, it was eight cars in Scotland and ten between Leeds and London. The consist altered, too. In 1959, the two Leeds-only cars were both Kitchens, First and Second respectively. 

 

I've modelled the set as ten cars; appropriate for Little Bytham. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I built this train getting on for 30 years ago from a combination of Hornby donors, Comet sides and MJT bogies and fittings. Ian Rathbone painted the lot. I also made the loco (which he, too, painted). I made a couple of the cars to be pre-1928 types, wooden-bodied but clad in aluminium, with curved roof rainstrips and angle trussing. 

 

You mention mental health in a previous post; something I can speak of from personal experience! At times when the 'Black Dog' has 'bitten' me, I've been unable to do any modelling. However, once its 'grip' is loosened, and I return to making things (even though it's incredibly difficult to start with), then the benefits of having a constructional hobby are revealed, and good mental health is restored.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Tony Wright
to correct an error

[Chas Levin]

21 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

 

Good afternoon Tony, very nice set of shots and as you say, it's always interesting to photograph things from different angles; may I please ask, what's the prototype and the kit origin of that rather nice looking NPCS behind the loco? It's nice to see daylight through the upper glazing and the door glazing on the far side of the vehicle...

[26power]

Queen of Scots Pullman - started from Glasgow Queen Street, rather than Glasgow central?

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Chas Levin said:

 

Good afternoon Tony, very nice set of shots and as you say, it's always interesting to photograph things from different angles; may I please ask, what's the prototype and the kit origin of that rather nice looking NPCS behind the loco? It's nice to see daylight through the upper glazing and the door glazing on the far side of the vehicle...

Good evening Chas,

 

I built it from an etched brass Chivers kit (unavailable now, as far as I know).

 

 

It's rather basic (there are no triangular body supports on the solebars), and I've an idea I built the brake gear as supplied, which is probably incorrect. I think there should be a central, longitudinal bodyside strip as well.

 

It runs at the head of a York/Hull-Kings Cross express........

 

 

Here's one (I think) being marshalled at York in 1958/'59. 

 

Non-passenger four-wheeled/six-wheeled or bogie stock was quite common at the front or rear of an express in ECML BR steam days (as it was in BR blue/grey days). 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Tony Wright
to add something

[Tony Wright]

11 minutes ago, 26power said:

Queen of Scots Pullman - started from Glasgow Queen Street, rather than Glasgow central?

Sorry, yes - a senior moment (since corrected).

 

Many thanks.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[micklner]

NPCS is a E=ex NER vehicle, Chivers did the etched NER and LNER versions of the vehicle years ago.

 

I have asked Chivers owner , now the son if he intends to do anymore. He said when the etching prices come down !! Might be a long wait !!

[john new]

Thompson coach roof detail question. I noticed in the G5 video that the brake end had the distinctive curved rainstrip on the roof but the other coach didn't. What book would be the best source for drawings with decent content covering the roof detail? 

[Barry Ten]

3 hours ago, Barclay said:

Is that the Richard Gardner who wrote articles in Model Trains and Scale Trains in the early 80's? They were very inspirational to me, as were the other 2 gents! Heard nothing of him after I stopped buying Scale Trains in the mid-80's though.

 

Same here, my first ventures into trying to improve RTR were down to Richard Gardner's articles, which always seemed to approach the subject in an entertaining and encouraging manner. 

[Tony Wright]

45 minutes ago, john new said:

Thompson coach roof detail question. I noticed in the G5 video that the brake end had the distinctive curved rainstrip on the roof but the other coach didn't. What book would be the best source for drawings with decent content covering the roof detail? 

Good evening John,

 

Is this the set the G5 was hauling?

 

 

 

If so, the rainstrip is there on the middle car, but it's not as distinct (a shortage of the right size of Microstrip at the time it was built?). 

 

LNER carriage drawings? LNER Standard Gresley Carriages by Michael Harris (Mallard Books, 1998) is a useful source, but it's woefully short regarding roof detail (and underframe detail as well). Historic Carriage Drawings Volume One, LNER Constituents by Nick Campling (Pendragon, 1997) is also of use, but both books are long out of print.

 

The best source of LNER carriage drawings is the range provided by Isinglass. 

 

I hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

 

 

[Tony Wright]

This is the York/Hull express in which the ex-NER bogie CCT runs (part of it just visible beyond the footbridge), hauled, appropriately, by a York-based A2/2.

 

 

The first Thompson car does have curved rainstrips on the roof, but they're hardly visible (down to which size of Microstrip I might have had at the time). Others are more-prominent.

 

I must be more uniform in my approach to carriage-building! 

 

 

[jwealleans]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

I think there should be a central, longitudinal bodyside strip as well.

 

Not on the LNER version, which is what yours is.   The prototype photo is of an NER diagram, which were steel plate up to the waistline and did have such a strip along both sides.

[Tony Wright]

3 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

 

Not on the LNER version, which is what yours is.   The prototype photo is of an NER diagram, which were steel plate up to the waistline and did have such a strip along both sides.

Thanks Jonathan,

 

I should have remembered that I noticed that difference when building it, but the memory falters.

 

The drawing on page 115 of Nick Campling's book clearly shows the NE version you describe. The photograph on the previous page also shows it clearly. 

 

My principal prototype picture for building my model is on page 29 of BR General Parcels Rolling Stock, A Pictorial Survey, by David Larkin (Bradford Barton, 1978). It clearly shows the LNER-built version. Another difference it shows are the small rainstrips above each double door, not present on the NER-built version. 

 

It's odd; I do the necessary research (or as much as I can) when building a model, then promptly forget all about it. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.