Wright writes.....

[mattingleycustom]

Tony,

 

I do like the panning shots, especially of the A4s, they really look like they are speeding along.

 

Something I noticed with these shots is the late BR emblem on 60013 and 60062's tenders look a bit oversize, are they HMRS transfers?

I'm sure I put some on a Bachmann 9F tender a few years ago and thought they looked too big compared with those on the prototypes, I think I was weathering the thing so it didn't show too much. I used the Fox version from then on as they look far more to scale.

 

Glenn

[Dylan Sanderson]

Morning everyone,

 

Just thought I'd post these here, my model of 60501 now has crew and lamps which really makes all the difference!

 

Modelu crew and lamps, painted by Tunnel Lane Model Railways.

[drmditch]

51 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

Not the Mk1 but the Mk2 might  

 

The complete project (technically incomplete - as you can see I still haven't finished it!) has been most educational. I effectively have a complete set of Sopwith drawings for every last bit of the full-size aeroplane to work from and now have a real understanding of its construction.   Indeed I've even given a couple of lectures on the subject with the proceeds being donated to the Shuttleworth Collection.  

 

Similarly, I knew nothing of machine guns and their bits and pieces and whilst I'm still far from knowledgable on the subject you can't help picking up knowledge as you try and work out how to make each bit.

 

Does it (the machine gun that is) have interrupter gear, which might also be useful elsewhere?

Edited May 20, 2021 by drmditch

[Steven B]

20 hours ago, Northmoor said:

There are always suggestions that we should trade in our old models (often in magazines with lots of traders adverts, funnily enough) to buy the newer, better-detailed versions, but where are the memories in the new boxes, because I can never find them?

 

Keep checking - you'll find them in a few years when the new model's derailed more times than you can count, fallen from the baseboard, refused to pull a train without uncoupling, run faultlessly at an exhibition and then been pointed at for having the wrong number of rivets on the tender...

 

Steven B

 

 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, mattingleycustom said:

Tony,

 

I do like the panning shots, especially of the A4s, they really look like they are speeding along.

 

Something I noticed with these shots is the late BR emblem on 60013 and 60062's tenders look a bit oversize, are they HMRS transfers?

I'm sure I put some on a Bachmann 9F tender a few years ago and thought they looked too big compared with those on the prototypes, I think I was weathering the thing so it didn't show too much. I used the Fox version from then on as they look far more to scale.

 

Glenn

Good afternoon Glen,

 

I believe Geoff Haynes uses the HMRS transfers. I certainly do, and I've not noticed their being over-sized. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

Just in for photography - Hornby's latest SR bogie vans..................

 

 

I've removed the tension-locks from this example, and fitted the end pipes and destination blackboards. 

 

 

The Southern Railway version.

 

 

And Churchill's funeral van. 

 

I thought this was un-branded, but its number is just visible on the solebar. I assume this is correct?

 

It even has the appropriate flattened elliptical buffers.

 

Was this the only example of this type painted in Pullman garb? I can't find it at the moment, but I'm sure I've seen a picture of such a van at the front of the 'Golden Arrow'. 

 

Checking all the sources at my disposal (mainly the work of Mike King), these look to be exceptionally-good models. I'll be writing a full review in BRM.

 

 

[Barry Ten]

I made a start on an S&D six-wheeled full brake from the Connoisseur 4mm kit:

 

 

This is shrunk down from the 7mm kit but at least so far, has fitted together perfectly. I do have to think carefully about the next stages, though, as I'd like to be able to get back into it once it's finished. The kit does not make provision for either a removable chassis or roof.

 

And here's one I made earlier:

 

Well, not really - I wish - but this beautiful 7mm example was one of several S&D 6-wheelers I bought at the Bristol show a year ago. The painting is quite exquisite, and sets a really high bar. We have a difference of opinion between these models as to which end the steps should go on - mine are at the other end (which is how I interpreted the drawing above) but it's not really worth losing sleep over.

 

Since I don't have a 7mm layout of my own, other than a loop of track set out on sunny days, the idea for the time being is that this rake will form an occasional excursion service running into Dave Stone's Sherton Abbas, assuming we ever get to take the layout out again.

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by Barry Ten

[Tony Wright]

Having checked a fair bit today, I think Hornby has done a wonderful job in producing the latest SR bogie van..................

 

If it's to run on LB (and it might), the BR crimson version couldn't possibly remain the same.

 

 

First to go were the horrid tension-locks, then weathering (dry-brush and enamel washes). 

 

Behind, is an old Hornby version (of the same vehicle type?) to which I fitted a Roxey conversion kit more years ago than I can remember. 

 

 

Weathering does bring models to life in my view. I thought at first I might have dirtied the windows too much, until I looked at a prototype picture in one of my books.

[Manxcat]

I seek some help from the fabulous resource that is the Wright Writes entourage please.

 

From time to time our cub is approached to advise on the value of a deceased modeller's model railway equipment. Sometimes items from the estate are donated to us, the bereaved wanting to have modellers benefit from what they give us.

 

Should none of our members model the company or time period of any donated items, we seek permission from the bereaved to auction then on e-bay in aid of club funds. It is generally a very modest income but every little helps, especially at the moment.

 

Below are some photos of one item recently passed to us. It is a Westdale Coach Kit for a GWR 61' Corridor Brake Third from the 1936 Sunshine Series.  Well at least that is what it says on the box. So my first request is whether someone can please confirm the body shell is indeed for that particular coach.  

 

When selling, we are anxious to ensure that the kit of parts is complete. We do not want to list something as a "comlete kit of parts" if it is not. I have therefore spread the parts out and photographed them. The two strips which look like card are glazing material protected meantime by some beige coloured tape on both sides. I have no idea what the two long items above the right hand bogie sides, with long rectangular holes, are. Any ideas?

 

So far as I can see the parts would make a basic coach with interior partitions, roof vents, corridor connections, underframe truss and bogies. Is anything major missing ? I am surprised there is no real underside detailing but maybe that's how these kits were sold. 

 

One final question, if I may please. What do you think is a reasonable price for a kit like this? Many thanks everyone.

 

Archie

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mattingleycustom]

7 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Just in for photography - Hornby's latest SR bogie vans..................

 

 

I've removed the tension-locks from this example, and fitted the end pipes and destination blackboards. 

 

 

The Southern Railway version.

 

 

And Churchill's funeral van. 

 

I thought this was un-branded, but its number is just visible on the solebar. I assume this is correct?

 

It even has the appropriate flattened elliptical buffers.

 

Was this the only example of this type painted in Pullman garb? I can't find it at the moment, but I'm sure I've seen a picture of such a van at the front of the 'Golden Arrow'. 

 

Checking all the sources at my disposal (mainly the work of Mike King), these look to be exceptionally-good models. I'll be writing a full review in BRM.

 

 

 

Tony,

 

This was the only one painted in Pullman garb, retained and repainted as such after the others were withdrawn from service.

 

The Golden Arrow often had a crimson example at the end of the train, usually kept cleaner than those on less glamorous duties. Unsure if any green GBLs were used on the 'Arrow, but with the Southern Region's passion for reviving green after 1956, it wouldn't surprise me.

 

Glenn

[cctransuk]

7 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

Churchill's funeral van

 

Was this the only example of this type painted in Pullman garb? I can't find it at the moment, but I'm sure I've seen a picture of such a van at the front of the 'Golden Arrow'. 

 

Tony,

 

I think that your memory is of a couple of BR Mk.1 BGs that the SR 'borrowed' from the WR for use on the 'Arrow'.

 

CJI.

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Manxcat said:

I seek some help from the fabulous resource that is the Wright Writes entourage please.

 

From time to time our cub is approached to advise on the value of a deceased modeller's model railway equipment. Sometimes items from the estate are donated to us, the bereaved wanting to have modellers benefit from what they give us.

 

Should none of our members model the company or time period of any donated items, we seek permission from the bereaved to auction then on e-bay in aid of club funds. It is generally a very modest income but every little helps, especially at the moment.

 

Below are some photos of one item recently passed to us. It is a Westdale Coach Kit for a GWR 61' Corridor Brake Third from the 1936 Sunshine Series.  Well at least that is what it says on the box. So my first request is whether someone can please confirm the body shell is indeed for that particular coach.  

 

When selling, we are anxious to ensure that the kit of parts is complete. We do not want to list something as a "comlete kit of parts" if it is not. I have therefore spread the parts out and photographed them. The two strips which look like card are glazing material protected meantime by some beige coloured tape on both sides. I have no idea what the two long items above the right hand bogie sides, with long rectangular holes, are. Any ideas?

 

So far as I can see the parts would make a basic coach with interior partitions, roof vents, corridor connections, underframe truss and bogies. Is anything major missing ? I am surprised there is no real underside detailing but maybe that's how these kits were sold. 

 

One final question, if I may please. What do you think is a reasonable price for a kit like this? Many thanks everyone.

 

Archie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good evening Archie,

 

Westdale kits for carriages tended to be very basic, so it's probably 'complete'. 

 

They share a commonality with the contemporary BSL kits, in being stamped aluminium (though the BSL kits had separate roofs, usually made of wood). 

 

The bogies look like BSL ones, anyway. 

 

The main problems are (in my opinion, based on experience) that the kits have to be glued together and that provisions for things like door furniture and door definition are non-existent. Also, if the kit is complete as supplied, there are no V-hangers nor a dynamo. Nor battery boxes! Perhaps it isn't as 'complete' as I thought. 

 

As for a price? Having sold similar items on behalf of bereaved families, I'd think you'd be lucky to make double figures, though the wheels and bogies have a value.

 

I'm probably wrong, of course!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[sandra]

Dear Tony,

 

Thanks to you and Mo for your very kind hospitality yesterday. It was great to see LB again and all the new locomotives you’ve built since the first Lockdown. It was also nice to meet Ray and Keith again.

 

It was immensely kind of you to let me have B17 61620 “Clumber” on loan. I tried it today on the boat train and it worked beautifully.Here’s a photo of her crossing the flat crossing with the Liverpool/Harwich boat train. Here’s another photo of her with the boat train. The locomotive runs very well and the weathered finish is wonderful. 
 

At present the boat train only runs in the up direction but I would also like to have the boat train running in the down direction. To do this I would have to slightly rebuild the GC fiddle yard but I’m not sure I can face doing it.

Sandra

[LNER4479]

Hello Tony,

 

I was going to post this anyway but the recent discussion re older (RTR) locos makes this rather serendipitous. 46245 has a rival!

 

This is a Hornby Dublo original, now over 60 years old. Repainted / renumbered and rewheeled during her life but it is otherwise the original mechanism. But more importantly ...

 

She goes as well as ever and tackled this 11 coach train last night, including from a standing start on the bank, no trouble whatsoever! Quite remarkable for a 60 year loco. Makes me wonder whether any of the latest Hornby Duchesses being bought new in 2021 will still be going strong in 2081?

[Clearwater]

2 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Hello Tony,

 

I was going to post this anyway but the recent discussion re older (RTR) locos makes this rather serendipitous. 46245 has a rival!

 

This is a Hornby Dublo original, now over 60 years old. Repainted / renumbered and rewheeled during her life but it is otherwise the original mechanism. But more importantly ...

 

 

She goes as well as ever and tackled this 11 coach train last night, including from a standing start on the bank, no trouble whatsoever! Quite remarkable for a 60 year loco. Makes me wonder whether any of the latest Hornby Duchesses being bought new in 2021 will still be going strong in 2081?

I’ll ask my sons.  They’re 5 and 9.  Hopefully they’ll make 2081 so I could make it a condition in my will that they check this out...

[chrisf]

9 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Tony,

 

I think that your memory is of a couple of BR Mk.1 BGs that the SR 'borrowed' from the WR for use on the 'Arrow'.

 

CJI.

Was that not for the Bournemouth Belle?

 

Chris

[polybear]

7 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Quite remarkable for a 60 year loco. Makes me wonder whether any of the latest Hornby Duchesses being bought new in 2021 will still be going strong in 2081?

 

(Based on recent locos in general) What with their fragility, very poor spares availability (even for very recent models), body shells that need divine intervention to remove - and often being damaged in the process, and seemingly not designed to be "fixable" I very much doubt it....

[Dunsignalling]

33 minutes ago, chrisf said:

Was that not for the Bournemouth Belle?

 

Chris

Yes, and AFAIK, only one, which was supposedly in a right old state when the SR purloined/rescued it from a cross-London parcels trip circuit that (allegedly) didn't involve visiting the WR (at least in daylight) anyway! Had it been left alone, Swindon/Paddington probably wouldn't have noticed it was missing.  

 

Other BGs were also used on the Belle, usually maroon, blue/grey, sometimes one of each, and at least once, one of the very uncommon green ones. 

 

John

Edited May 21, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[Dunsignalling]

8 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Hello Tony,

 

I was going to post this anyway but the recent discussion re older (RTR) locos makes this rather serendipitous. 46245 has a rival!

 

This is a Hornby Dublo original, now over 60 years old. Repainted / renumbered and rewheeled during her life but it is otherwise the original mechanism. But more importantly ...

 

She goes as well as ever and tackled this 11 coach train last night, including from a standing start on the bank, no trouble whatsoever! Quite remarkable for a 60 year loco. Makes me wonder whether any of the latest Hornby Duchesses being bought new in 2021 will still be going strong in 2081?

Few that do very much work in the meantime, I suspect.

 

Any that do still go will have spent their lives in the boxes they came in or a display cabinet....

 

That said, so many locos get treated that way nowadays that the survival rate might be surprisingly high.

 

John

 

 

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, sandra said:

Dear Tony,

 

Thanks to you and Mo for your very kind hospitality yesterday. It was great to see LB again and all the new locomotives you’ve built since the first Lockdown. It was also nice to meet Ray and Keith again.

 

It was immensely kind of you to let me have B17 61620 “Clumber” on loan. I tried it today on the boat train and it worked beautifully.Here’s a photo of her crossing the flat crossing with the Liverpool/Harwich boat train. Here’s another photo of her with the boat train. The locomotive runs very well and the weathered finish is wonderful. 

 

At present the boat train only runs in the up direction but I would also like to have the boat train running in the down direction. To do this I would have to slightly rebuild the GC fiddle yard but I’m not sure I can face doing it.

Sandra

Thanks Sandra,

 

I'm delighted CLUMBER is up to the job (her finish is entirely down to Geoff Haynes). 

 

Part of her ability to haul the heavy train (other than the fact that she's absolutely packed with lead!) might be because her drivers have stainless steel tyres; giving a greater coefficient of friction?

 

Of all the B17s which worked the boat train in my 'spotting days at Retford, 61620 was always the most common. She's entirely at home on Retford on her EM frames; much more so than on Little Bytham, on top of her OO ones. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[31A]

12 hours ago, Manxcat said:

I have no idea what the two long items above the right hand bogie sides, with long rectangular holes, are. Any ideas?

 

I think the long items with rectangular holes are mountings for whatever kind of auto coupling you want to use; I had some cast bogies that had similar parts although I think the ones I'm thinking of were from K's.  I think you attach the coupling to the solid bit at the right hand end, and the side of the slot fit into the grooves in the bogie centre casting - you can slide it in or out to adjust the setting of the coupling relative to the coach buffers and then solder / glue it in place on the centre casting.

 

[cctransuk]

4 hours ago, chrisf said:

Was that not for the Bournemouth Belle?

 

Chris

 

Chris,

 

You may well be correct - I never was any form of expert of all things SR, and age has taken its toll of what little I did know!

 

Regards,

CJI.

[Ian Rathbone]

On the subject of transfers for the BR emblems I think the HMRS transfers are rather primitive, the Fox ones are far more detailed - and you get more time to position them. Conversely, if you model the areas of BR that used 10” numbers then I think the HMRS numbers are better as Fox’s figures are too fat, especially in 7mm.

 

A couple of weeks ago I dug out a loco that I built back in 1976, which makes it 45 years old. It’s a Wills A3 for which I scratch built a chassis and used Jamieson valve gear. I can’t remember which paint I used but looking at it now it seems more Darlington than Doncaster. On my metre of track it ran well but it could do with a decent run somewhere, unfortunately LB is ruled out as it is EM gauge, (I built it while a member of the Market Deeping Club, which had a strong EM group).

 

 

Ian R

 

[MikeParkin65]

1 hour ago, Ian Rathbone said:

On the subject of transfers for the BR emblems I think the HMRS transfers are rather primitive, the Fox ones are far more detailed - and you get more time to position them. Conversely, if you model the areas of BR that used 10” numbers then I think the HMRS numbers are better as Fox’s figures are too fat, especially in 7mm.

 

A couple of weeks ago I dug out a loco that I built back in 1976, which makes it 45 years old. It’s a Wills A3 for which I scratch built a chassis and used Jamieson valve gear. I can’t remember which paint I used but looking at it now it seems more Darlington than Doncaster. On my metre of track it ran well but it could do with a decent run somewhere, unfortunately LB is ruled out as it is EM gauge, (I built it while a member of the Market Deeping Club, which had a strong EM group).

 

 

Ian R

 

This forum so badly needs a 'Wow' reaction button!

[Clive Mortimore]

17 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Tony,

 

I think that your memory is of a couple of BR Mk.1 BGs that the SR 'borrowed' from the WR for use on the 'Arrow'.

 

CJI.

One well photographed WR BG was used on the Bournemouth Belle for a few weeks until the WR asked for it back. 

Edited

Quote

 

Chris,

 

You may well be correct - I never was any form of expert of all things SR, and age has taken its toll of what little I did know!

 

Regards,

CJI.

 

Firing from the hip again, I hadn't noticed this post. Sorry.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Clive Mortimore