Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

37 minutes ago, GWR8700 said:

Can I asķ what kit makes those L&Y locos are?

I presume the top 2 are Craftsman but I can't figure out the bottom 2.  Excellent work!

I think the Highflyer is Millholme.

 

The O Gauge ST is modified RTR.

 

I don't know about the others. Perhaps Geoff Haynes will explain. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

Just an interesting price comparison with regard to 'budget modelling'..............

 

 

The nearer Black Five is a modified Hornby one. Total price around £40.00 (with work on it, of course).

 

The further one I built from a Model Loco kit for a friend (which Geoff Haynes painted). 

 

The comparison? The top one cost almost 20 times as much! 

 

 

[Leander]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Continuing with 'Budget Modelling'.

 

I've now complete my work on two Hornby Stanier Fives. I've effectively made two-from-four, all bought cheaply off eBay (not by me, by the way). I ended up with three good bodies and two good chassis (the remains can be used for spares).

 

Here's the latest..............

 

 

The body on this example was OK, but its chassis had its motion falling apart. All I've done is to swap chassis and detail/weather the body (I haven't even changed its identity). Quite how a Kingmoor-allocated Black Five, very late in its life, has found its way on to a Kings Lynn-Nottingham service on M&GNR metals is a question for students of altered history, but I like it. 

 

All my findings/conclusions will be published in BRM before long.  

 

 

What lets these Hornby Class 5s down is the 'skirt' which Hornby have put under the front of the smokebox, being set too far forward. If it is removed and replaced with a piece of plasticard cut to fit about 3mm further back, it improves the 'face' of the loco no end, as Timara Easter has done with these two a few years ago, which were detailed and converted to EM gauge. Needless to say, the various kits (Ks, Model Loco/DJH and Brassmasters) do not require such remedial attention.

[GH in EM and O]

2 hours ago, GWR8700 said:

Can I asķ what kit makes those L&Y locos are?

I presume the top 2 are Craftsman but I can't figure out the bottom 2.  Excellent work!

I am not sure what kits the 4-4-0 and the 0-6-0s originate from, I will ask the owners and let you know. I delivered all four this morning down to the south coast.

 

[Tony Wright]

26 minutes ago, Leander said:

What lets these Hornby Class 5s down is the 'skirt' which Hornby have put under the front of the smokebox, being set too far forward. If it is removed and replaced with a piece of plasticard cut to fit about 3mm further back, it improves the 'face' of the loco no end, as Timara Easter has done with these two a few years ago, which were detailed and converted to EM gauge. Needless to say, the various kits (Ks, Model Loco/DJH and Brassmasters) do not require such remedial attention.

Very nice Pete,

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

Another big difference is the fitting of much better bogie wheels (most RTR ones are grim). That, and the removal of the 'skirt' below the tender soleplate. 

 

My 'brief' with regard to the Hornby Black Fives I've been given was to just make them into reasonable examples of 'budget modelling'. I'd normally replace those awful bogie wheels, but that adds to the cost.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[thegreenhowards]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Even though I'm 'retired', I still think I have the 'best job in the world'. A 'job' which takes me, along with good friends, to see and photograph some outstanding models and layouts. To call which follows a 'layout' is a bit of a misnomer, other than to say it's a 'layout in a garden'.............

 

 

 

 

 

All O Gauge excellence.

 

I hope to do a write-up on it for BRM. 

Great photos. I love the concrete(?) viaduct.

 

Andy

[Tony Wright]

48 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Great photos. I love the concrete(?) viaduct.

 

Andy

Good evening Andy,

 

Yes, cast in concrete in sections using wooden moulds.

 

 

It's the centrepiece of the railway.

 

It's normally all GWR, but yesterday was a guest running session.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Tony Wright
to add something

[GH in EM and O]

4 hours ago, GWR8700 said:

Can I asķ what kit makes those L&Y locos are?

I presume the top 2 are Craftsman but I can't figure out the bottom 2.  Excellent work!

You are correct, the 0-6-0s are Craftsman, and the 4-4-0 is London Road Models. This is the only kit still available. They were all built by John James.

[31A]

When I detailed up a Hornby Black 5, I dealt with the 'skirt' below the tender sides by getting hold of a Bachmann Jubilee tender underframe which fitted with a little bit of trimming here and there.  This also took care of the shallowly moulded tender axle boxes and springs of the Hornby model more easily than grinding them off and replacing with the Brassmasters castings, although I did use a lot of the other bits that come with the Brassmasters detailing kit.  I added tender brakes from an etch from Mainly Trains (from Wizard Models), but I'm afraid I didn't address the 'skirt' beneath the smokebox!

 

[Ian Rathbone]

Yes, the garden railway is beautifully done, it sits in the landscape so well. Here is my Patriot enjoying a run over the viaduct.

 

 

Ian R

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Andy,

 

Yes, cast in concrete in sections using wooden moulds.

 

 

It's the centrepiece of the railway.

 

It's normally all GWR, but yesterday was a guest running session.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

It's hard to beat 0 gauge in the garden.

[Iain.d]

Seeing the few posts relating to Hornby Black 5’s caused me to pull out the box on an old model of mine. It’s one of the much-maligned Hornby tender drive versions from the mid 1980s; I bought it from Beatties in Banbury in the summer of 1986 for £40.99 (with one of my first pay packets!) It was in LMS livery, as that was all that was available, but was quickly painted in BR lined black as in the photo below. The image portrays much evidence in the way of my inexperience at the time.

 

 

In the early 1990s I replaced the loco chassis with a Comet Models version, it was at that point I found out the Hornby model was under length, and the tender drive replaced with a simple Comet chassis frame. From memory it ran reasonably well, although the D13 motor driving the rear axle runs better in reverse than forward! Something to do with the way thrust acts on the bearings, I believe. I did do some work on the loco body – I took out the ‘skirt’ below the boiler, and detailed it with things like sprung buffers. The front step on the offside has been lost along the way.

 

So why show it, given I have two Hornby models from the 2005-2010 era and a Gibson one in the kit pile? Because I’m fond of it and it was part of a modelling journey and, in keeping with the budget theme, I have acquired many bits and bobs with the idea on mind of upgrading it.

 

I did purchase most of the parts needed to detail and improve it. This included a replacement Hornby body for it – before the better Hornby ones came out – with the intention of really seeing what I could do with it, but then someone gave me one of those plastic display models of a Black 5 as a gift. As kind as it was of them, they’re not really my thing and I saw the potential in using that as the basis of upgrading my old runner!

 

 

I haven’t checked the plastic display model for dimensional accuracy, the tender doesn’t seem quite right but the loco body on face value seems to ‘look’ okay. If it ever gets done, I appreciate, it’ll be more of a ‘Trigger’s broom’ than an upgrade of a mid 80s Black 5!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[thegreenhowards]

12 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Andy,

 

Yes, cast in concrete in sections using wooden moulds.

 

 

It's the centrepiece of the railway.

 

It's normally all GWR, but yesterday was a guest running session.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Fantastic. I’m looking to do something similar to build Glenfinnan viaduct in my garden (subject to domestic authorities!). Do you know if the technique is written up anywhere?

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

16 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I think the Highflyer is Millholme.

 

The O Gauge ST is modified RTR.

 

I don't know about the others. Perhaps Geoff Haynes will explain. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 The L&Y 4-4-0 could be the London Road Barton Wright version. The Craftsman kit was, AFAIK, for a different  class of 4-4-0, probably the later Aspinall design. The L&Y Society website shows photos of both, the front frames and the tender frames  of the model in Tony's photos being a match for the Barton Wright version photo.

 

https://lyrs.org.uk/locomotives/

 

https://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/locos-tenders-chassis/lancs-yorks/

 

Edit, I wrote this before I read GH's reply to the query. Must try harder.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Jol Wilkinson
Additional text

[St Enodoc]

28 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Fantastic. I’m looking to do something similar to build Glenfinnan viaduct in my garden (subject to domestic authorities!). Do you know if the technique is written up anywhere?

 

 

Andy, Don Neale described how he built the viaduct for his Kirtley Branch outdoor 0 gauge layout in the June 1969 Railway Modeller.

[Bucoops]

13 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Andy,

 

Yes, cast in concrete in sections using wooden moulds.

 

 

It's the centrepiece of the railway.

 

It's normally all GWR, but yesterday was a guest running session.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Very natural looking weathering on the viaduct too (hee hee).

[Staffordshire]

      I doubt this little loco BR Number 1 'Hercules'  ever went through Little Bytham.

 

         Comments welcome ....

[Tony Wright]

12 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Fantastic. I’m looking to do something similar to build Glenfinnan viaduct in my garden (subject to domestic authorities!). Do you know if the technique is written up anywhere?

 

 

Good evening Andy,

 

I don't know if the casting techniques have been described anywhere. I'll ask the builder.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

The bodywork is now complete on my rebuilding of that Pro-Scale A4.....................

 

 

Just the motion/valve gear to erect now. 

 

I'm generally pleased with the way it's turned out (it certainly goes like stink, and will pull a house brick or two!). That said, and looking at it dispassionately, it's not as accurate as the Hornby RTR body.

 

Much is dependent, of course, on the 'ability' of the builder to push and shove the cladding into shape, then soldering it together successfully (I still have some cleaning up to do). 

 

So, to me, it raises both philosophical and practical questions. For instance, is the aim to produce the most-accurate model of an A4 in OO? If so, go for the Hornby one (though, maybe not the chassis). However, that's been made for 'you', in some far-away factory. Tens of thousands of others can have exactly the same model. Yes, work can be done on it to improve/alter/detail/renumber/rename/weather it, and there is merit in that, especially if it's the owner's own work. But, it's still a possession (admittedly a desirable one), not a personal creation. 

 

Thus, I'll end up with a 'less-accurate model' (though its painting will be excellent, of course), but one I'll know I've built myself, and that feeling is far more 'valuable' to me than anything I've just bought.  

Edited August 28, 2022 by Tony Wright
tautology

[Tony Wright]

Another shot of one of the 'budget' Hornby Black Fives....................

 

 

Thanks to others for showing us their Black Fives (all superior to this one).

 

Yes, I could have taken this further (as others have shown), but, for around £35.00, I think it satisfies the brief (despite the eccentric rod being bent!). 

 

Going through my decomposing Ian Allan 1957 Combined Volume, I note that I saw well over half of the Black Fives; including this one!

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Tony Wright
tautology again!

[Coach bogie]

More budget modelling. When the Hornby Railroad Hall came out there were mixed reviews. I bought these for under £50 each from my local model shop and were just perfect for simple updates. Both had moulded handrails replace by wire and brass knobs on loco and tender. Brakes were included but not the rodding so this was added from scraps of brass and wire. Both had a brush over paint to give them a bit of work stained look, added missing lining to the tenders, with frame/splasher lining added with bow pen. These were halls, like the Black fives, not getting express loco attention by the cleaners. Crew, lamps, lamp brackets including moving top bracket to earlier position, new names and numbers, etc. 4983 has an inspector on board and 4941 has the cylinders modified as this was a unique loco with experimental snifting valve in the cylinder, similar to early 47xx. Condition of both is based on images kindly loaned by David Geen. Both have added weight and now pull a decent load. I have kit built halls  from Nucast/Wills/ and Jamieson but I could not resist the Hornby Railroad for the price. I keep a Harry Potter boxed on the shelf as back chassis/parts should either of  these two fail, bought in a sale.

 

Took me back to being a teenager when I had little money and this was the only way to get a decent looking loco. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Coach bogie

[APOLLO]

Black fives, here's some at Carnforth August 1968, last week of steam.

 

 

 

Lostock Hall, same week.

 

 

Heaton Mersey, 3 June 1967. Somewhat tatty, as most were by this time.

 

 

Springs Branch, date unknown (Dad's photo). 1966 or a bit earlier.

 

 

Black 5''s (and 8's), common as muck back then but sorely missed now.

 

Brit15

[chris45lsw]

23 hours ago, Staffordshire said:

      I doubt this little loco BR Number 1 'Hercules'  ever went through Little Bytham.

 

         Comments welcome ....

Yes, an intriguing engine (Peckett 810 of 1900) which was never a GWR loco despite the GW safety valve.  It was acquired by BR in 1948 from the Ystalyfera Tin Works which was in liquidation.  It was derelict when taken over and the safety valve was fitted during the requisite overhaul.  It was allocated to Gurnos and was withdrawn from there in Jan 1954.  The photo shows its 'good' side as there was no nameplate on the right!  Chris KT

[APOLLO]

Quick question, been wondering for years.

 

On the Springs Branch photo above, open the image in a new tab and zoom in. Can anyone identify the (presumably) diesel loco at the refuelling tanks (above the line of mineral wagons) ? It seems to have silver / white oval buffers and a small yellow warning panel.

 

Brit15

 

 

[TrevorP1]

3 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Quick question, been wondering for years.

 

On the Springs Branch photo above, open the image in a new tab and zoom in. Can anyone identify the (presumably) diesel loco at the refuelling tanks (above the line of mineral wagons) ? It seems to have silver / white oval buffers and a small yellow warning panel.

 

Brit15

 

 

 

Class 20?