Wright writes.....

[MJI]

Week long wait before next stage to outgas smells.

 

[MJI]

 

Took me ages but

 

SW standard white TOPS panel

 

OL outline one worn off

 

NT no TOPS panel

[MJI]

4th 10ft ready to prime

 

 

 

[MJI]

Need 4 packs of these.

 

https://www.cambrianmodelrail.co.uk/store/C305-Etched-tie-bars-for-9-0-wb-wagons-p95280253

 

As the STL is a modified MCV one.

[MJI]

MCV stls

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5760328

[MJI]

Need another coat

[Tony Wright]

I've now videoed JOYOUS GARD (Lancelot's Castle) in action on Little Bytham............

 

 

I don't have any Southern Railway stock for it to haul, so this six-car Pullman (The Master Cutler!) had to do. 

[Tony Wright]

Some new Hornby TT stuff to photograph............

 

 

A quartet of GWR Mk.3s.

 

Were these used in 'Castle' sets in the far West Country? 

 

 

The livery application is superb. 

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

6 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Were these used in 'Castle' sets in the far West Country?

Yes, I think that's correct, there may even be the odd set still in service down here, but most of the 2+4 HST sets (I don't like the name 'Castle') seem to have gone elsewhere. 

 

[Tony Wright]

Is a model railway ever finished? 

 

I thought so regarding Little Bytham (apart from my continuing building locos and stock). 

 

However, there was no road signage, apart from a road sign and signpost.

 

So, Ian Wilson produced these for me yesterday............

 

 

 

Two signs for Station Road.

 

Their position is by 'guesstimation' because the fence has long gone and the wall has been rebuilt. 

 

 

The fence supporting the Witham Road sign has also long gone. 

 

 

Once a common sight by the side of our roads, AA signs were very distinctive.

 

We have no evidence that one was ever fixed to the north wall of the Willoughby, but it's an ideal position.

 

Speaking of the real Willoughby, since the owner's death it has never reopened, and Little Bytham no longer has a pub. 

 

Ian Wilson will produce any road/street signs on request. He can be contacted at Pacific Models. 

 

 

 

 

[Brinkly]

51 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Some new Hornby TT stuff to photograph............

 

 

A quartet of GWR Mk.3s.

 

Were these used in 'Castle' sets in the far West Country? 

 

 

The livery application is superb. 

 

 

 

42 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

Yes, I think that's correct, there may even be the odd set still in service down here, but most of the 2+4 HST sets (I don't like the name 'Castle') seem to have gone elsewhere. 

 

GWR currently have four weekday diagrams for 2+4 sets. Three of the diagrams are Plymouth-Penzance return workings, generally two round trips per diagram. The fourth diagram is a Plymouth to Exeter stopper, returning ECS to Laira - this is an evening turn. 
 

It has been known recently, due to a lack of units allocated to the west, for a ‘spare’ 2+4 set works up to Exeter from Laira forming a Exeter to Plymouth working (I believe we still have five sets available for use, with two mothballed). This has, however, become something of a rarity as now only Penzance, Par and Plymouth drivers sign the stock. 
 

I doubt they will regain any work, as such north of Plymouth, any time soon as they are looking to withdraw the sets completely fairly soon. I’m quite fortunate that I still have two ‘booked’ turns on them as a guard. However, I doubt that will be for much longer… second to the sleeper, they are my favourite traction to work. Nearest thing we have to traditional train working. 
 

This shot was taken from the rear of a 166 unit (I would like to point out, I wasn’t working said unit) one early January morning. It was forming an Exeter to Penzance working filling in for the booked 158 traction, which had failed the previous evening. A Plymouth driver was on the footplate, with an Exeter conductor working it down to Par. 
 

Best wishes,

 

Nick 

[TrevorP1]

37 minutes ago, Brinkly said:

 

GWR currently have four weekday diagrams for 2+4 sets. Three of the diagrams are Plymouth-Penzance return workings, generally two round trips per diagram. The fourth diagram is a Plymouth to Exeter stopper, returning ECS to Laira - this is an evening turn. 
 

It has been known recently, due to a lack of units allocated to the west, for a ‘spare’ 2+4 set works up to Exeter from Laira forming a Exeter to Plymouth working (I believe we still have five sets available for use, with two mothballed). This has, however, become something of a rarity as now only Penzance, Par and Plymouth drivers sign the stock. 
 

I doubt they will regain any work, as such north of Plymouth, any time soon as they are looking to withdraw the sets completely fairly soon. I’m quite fortunate that I still have two ‘booked’ turns on them as a guard. However, I doubt that will be for much longer… second to the sleeper, they are my favourite traction to work. Nearest thing we have to traditional train working. 
 

This shot was taken from the rear of a 166 unit (I would like to point out, I wasn’t working said unit) one early January morning. It was forming an Exeter to Penzance working filling in for the booked 158 traction, which had failed the previous evening. A Plymouth driver was on the footplate, with an Exeter conductor working it down to Par. 
 

Best wishes,

 

Nick 

Thanks for the tip. I’m off down there in a couple of weeks so I’ll make sure to take the proper camera and record one for posterity. 

[Brinkly]

50 minutes ago, TrevorP1 said:

Thanks for the tip. I’m off down there in a couple of weeks so I’ll make sure to take the proper camera and record one for posterity. 

No problem, Trevor. 
 

It does seem odd not seeing/working them north of Plymouth now. I used to have, not quite daily, but several times a week Plymouth-Bristol/Bristol-Plymouth/Plymouth-Paignton (or part there of) work on 2+4 sets. Then about a year ago when the DfT withdrew the first wave and we dropped from 14 sets down to 10, with 8 diagrammed turns. Some went on to Cardiff/Gloucester, with one set terminating at Exeter in the evening and being stored in New Yard Sidings overnight. 
 

By May of 2023, that work had all but dried up. Over a 10 week link, we had one 2+4 job, which was the 2220 Plymouth-Exeter (said working above). 
 

I think the most interesting emergency turn I did on one was a stopper down to Paignton from Exeter when the booked pair of 150/2s failed in tandem at Exeter Central. The stock was meant to form a Exeter to Cardiff working, but was ‘borrowed’ for my working and a spare set brought up from Laira. 
 

Good times.

 

Nick

[Chamby]

2 hours ago, Brinkly said:

 

GWR currently have four weekday diagrams for 2+4 sets. Three of the diagrams are Plymouth-Penzance return workings, generally two round trips per diagram. The fourth diagram is a Plymouth to Exeter stopper, returning ECS to Laira - this is an evening turn. 
 

It has been known recently, due to a lack of units allocated to the west, for a ‘spare’ 2+4 set works up to Exeter from Laira forming a Exeter to Plymouth working (I believe we still have five sets available for use, with two mothballed). This has, however, become something of a rarity as now only Penzance, Par and Plymouth drivers sign the stock. 
 

I doubt they will regain any work, as such north of Plymouth, any time soon as they are looking to withdraw the sets completely fairly soon. I’m quite fortunate that I still have two ‘booked’ turns on them as a guard. However, I doubt that will be for much longer… second to the sleeper, they are my favourite traction to work. Nearest thing we have to traditional train working. 
 

This shot was taken from the rear of a 166 unit (I would like to point out, I wasn’t working said unit) one early January morning. It was forming an Exeter to Penzance working filling in for the booked 158 traction, which had failed the previous evening. A Plymouth driver was on the footplate, with an Exeter conductor working it down to Par. 
 

Best wishes,

 

Nick 

Yes we still see them running through ‘Ozzle daily.  Word on the street is that they’ll be gone by the end of May.

[Brinkly]

2 hours ago, Chamby said:

Yes we still see them running through ‘Ozzle daily.  Word on the street is that they’ll be gone by the end of May.

Possibly. However, it’s more likely to be December of this year, or even 2025. We haven’t been told anything one way or another and if they were going in May, I would imagine something would have been formally announced by now if they were.
 

It depends massively on stock refurbishment. The 150/2 refurbishment programme is taking a lot longer than expected due to the number of faults/work required to get things back in traffic. 
 

The 165 and 166 units also are mid way through upgrades and some have been out for a lot longer than expected. 
 

It wouldn’t surprise me if they are retsined for the summer timetable. Last year was enough of a nightmare and we had more stock! 

[Jesse Sim]

8 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Little Bytham no longer has a pub. 

 

As an alcoholic Australian I must say...

[Tony Wright]

I've completed the 'budget' Mainline 75XXX........

 

 

As already mentioned, I discarded the original chassis (it ran, but assaulted my ears!), replacing it with a Comet set of frames. 

 

The motion on the original chassis was pretty good, so I stripped it off and fitted it to the new chassis - just some strips of scrap brass, solder and some epoxy. The Comet motion will be used on something more-worthy - the DJH 73XXX I'm building, because Comet's valve gear is superior to DJH's.

 

 

The original motion sits well fixed on its new chassis. 

 

After the racket produced by the loco in original form...............

 

 

 

 

This morning she just purred round Little Bytham (the exquisite Lawrence/Goddard ex-LMS non-gangwayed three-set was built for the late Paul Bromige, in 1994).

 

I even wound her up to a scale 80!

 

 

Truly, a 'layout loco'. 

 

Was the exercise worth it? In financial terms, probably (definitely?) not. Though the original loco only cost a fiver, add up the cost of the wheels (Markits), frames (Comet) and the motor/gearbox (Portescap) and this takes the 'price' of this loco way beyond what it's actually worth. Granted, apart from the frames, I had all the other requisites in stock, but they'd been paid for in the past. 

 

In a way (a perverse way?), the 'price' is not the point. It started off as part of a further 'budget modelling' article for BRM (to be published soon), and I've taken it a lot further - way beyond any notion of a 'budget'. It could be perceived as being daft spending so much more on items to go underneath an RTR loco from the '70/'80s, but I've rather enjoyed the process (what price for that?). It's also daft to produce a loco type which would hardly ever be seen at Little Bytham, if at all (yes, the type was common six miles away, but on a rather different road). Doncaster repaired the type, but were it on a running-in turn, it would surely be clean. Rule 1, I suppose. 

 

BR Standards (apart from the 9Fs) were not common at Little Bytham, anyway. Though I have one or two.............

 

 

Such as this wonderful DJH 73XXX, built originally by Roy Jackson and painted/weathered by Geoff Kent. All I've done is fit a better motor/gearbox in it. 

 

 

Edited April 30 by Tony Wright
typo error

[MJI]

I like it, the body is good.

[maico]

On 22/03/2024 at 15:45, 1471SirFrederickBanbury said:

It always brings me a slight chuckle when I remember how similar Hornby and TRS Trains smoke units to Thomas the Tank Engine toys!  For the kings ransom that Hornby is selling the smoking locos for, I wouldn't bother.  They should have used this as an opportunity to use something similar to whats used in the film industry for small fog machines, as the results should be realistic enough to sway people towards it, and there is no oil involved, being that its mostly water and triethylene glycol (I'm going to try to make a smoke unit to see just how dense I can get it).  I would certainly hand over my money for that.  

 

Eh? They are both cold steam systems

 

 

[1471SirFrederickBanbury]

21 hours ago, maico said:

 

Eh? They are both cold steam systems

 

 

They're all surprisingly similar in construction, but the Thomas the Tank Engine's mechanism is integrated into the chassis block.  The feature doesn't seem to be too expensive, but Hornby charge a lot for it.  Despite all the amazing results that TRS Trains can get, I think using a resistor and a glycol mixture based smoke fluid would be more ideal, especially for making the effect more opaque and dense.

Edited April 30 by 1471SirFrederickBanbury
wrong glycol compound.

[46444]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I've completed the 'budget' Mainline 75XXX........

 

 

As already mentioned, I discarded the original chassis (it ran, but assaulted my ears!), replacing it with a Comet set of frames. 

 

The motion on the original chassis was pretty good, so I stripped it off and fitted it to the new chassis - just some strips of scrap brass, solder and some epoxy. The Comet motion will be used on something more-worthy - the DJH 73XXX I'm building, because Comet's valve gear is superior to DJH's.

 

 

The original motion sits well fixed on its new chassis. 

 

After the racket produced by the loco in original form...............

 

 

 

 

This morning she just purred round Little Bytham (the exquisite Lawrence/Goddard ex-LMS non-gangwayed three-set was built for the late Paul Bromige, in 1994).

 

I even wound her up to a scale 80!

 

 

Truly, a 'layout loco'. 

 

Was the exercise worth it? In financial terms, probably (definitely?) not. Though the original loco only cost a fiver, add up the cost of the wheels (Markits), frames (Comet) and the motor/gearbox (Portescap) and this takes the 'price' of this loco way beyond what it's actually worth. Granted, apart from the frames, I had all the other requisites in stock, but they'd been paid for in the past. 

 

In a way (a perverse way?), the 'price' is not the point. It started off as part of a further 'budget modelling' article for BRM (to be published soon), and I've taken it a lot further - way beyond any notion of a 'budget'. It could be perceived as being daft spending so much more on items to go underneath an RTR loco from the '70/'80s, but I've rather enjoyed the process (what price for that?). It's also daft to produce a loco type which would hardly ever be seen at Little Bytham, if at all (yes, the type was common six miles away, but on a rather different road). Doncaster repaired the type, but were it on a running-in turn, it would surely be clean. Rule 1, I suppose. 

 

BR Standards (apart from the (9Fs) were not common at Little Bytham, anyway. Though I have one or two.............

 

 

Such as this wonderful DJH 73XXX, built originally by Roy Jackson and painted/weathered by Geoff Kent. All I've done is fit a better motor/gearbox in it. 

 

 

 

Hi Tony,

 

What a lovely job you have made on the old Mainline Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0.

 

Your photographs capture the graceful lines of these locomotives.

 

In someways with the work you have put into the chassis build, it would be lovely to see the loco receive a fresh coat of paint.

 

Doing a bit of research Nottingham 16A did acquire 75044/75055 from Bedford 15D in 1960.

 

A bit out of period for Little Bytham perhaps, but with some modellers licence perfectly feasible.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[Tony Wright]

23 minutes ago, 46444 said:

 

Hi Tony,

 

What a lovely job you have made on the old Mainline Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0.

 

Your photographs capture the graceful lines of these locomotives.

 

In someways with the work you have put into the chassis build, it would be lovely to see the loco receive a fresh coat of paint.

 

Doing a bit of research Nottingham 16A did acquire 75044/75055 from Bedford 15D in 1960.

 

A bit out of period for Little Bytham perhaps, but with some modellers licence perfectly feasible.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

Good evening Mark,

 

The loco body is certainly 'scabby', and I have considered repainting it into BR black (green-painted Standards tended to be more on the WR).

 

Perhaps a more-uniform application of grime might be better - that provided by an airbrush, for instance (which I don't own). There are certainly plenty of prototype examples to copy where BR 'standard grime' seems to be the livery - the top picture on page 84 of The Power of the BR Standard 4-6-0s by Gavin Morrison, OPC, 2003 illustrates this perfectly.

 

I'll see what Geoff Haynes can do.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

[46444]

12 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Mark,

 

The loco body is certainly 'scabby', and I have considered repainting it into BR black (green-painted Standards tended to be more on the WR).

 

Perhaps a more-uniform application of grime might be better - that provided by an airbrush, for instance (which I don't own). There are certainly plenty of prototype examples to copy where BR 'standard grime' seems to be the livery - the top picture on page 84 of The Power of the BR Standard 4-6-0s by Gavin Morrison, OPC, 2003 illustrates this perfectly.

 

I'll see what Geoff Haynes can do.

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

 

Evening Tony,

 

I would agree re: BR green 4MT 4-6-0's being more WR based. Not sure if you would have seen them at Chester? 

 

I'm a bit biased, but to me the 4MT 4-6-0's always look smartest in lined black. That's coming from someone with WR persuasions. 

 

I would certainly agree re: BR Standard grime. After a few months in service the gloss would certainly start to diminish.

 

It will certainly be interesting to see what Geoff can do with your Standard Class 4MT.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark 

[maico]

2 hours ago, 1471SirFrederickBanbury said:

They're all surprisingly similar in construction, but the Thomas the Tank Engine's mechanism is integrated into the chassis block.  The feature doesn't seem to be too expensive, but Hornby charge a lot for it.  Despite all the amazing results that TRS Trains can get, I think using a resistor and triethylene glycol based smoke fluid would be more ideal, especially for making the effect more opaque and dense.

 

I worked in the film industry, nobody like breathing in the muck blown out by smoke machines.

 

These days I think fog machines use a more diluted mono propylene glycol and similar

Edited April 29 by maico

[Tony Wright]

49 minutes ago, 46444 said:

 

Evening Tony,

 

I would agree re: BR green 4MT 4-6-0's being more WR based. Not sure if you would have seen them at Chester? 

 

I'm a bit biased, but to me the 4MT 4-6-0's always look smartest in lined black. That's coming from someone with WR persuasions. 

 

I would certainly agree re: BR Standard grime. After a few months in service the gloss would certainly start to diminish.

 

It will certainly be interesting to see what Geoff can do with your Standard Class 4MT.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark 

Good evening Mark,

 

Seeing BR Standard 4 4-6-0s in green livery at Chester? Oh yes - loads of them. Indeed, out of a class total of 80, I only missed copping 15.

 

In fact, I did rather well with regard to copping the BR Standards, with just two class exceptions - the Clans and the Austerity 2-10-0s; just a couple of the former seen and none of the latter. All the Brits, 71000, most of the 73XXXs (including some Southern namers), plenty of 76XXXs, not so good on the 77XXXs, loads of 78XXXs and plenty of the various tanks, not to mention scores of Austerity 2-8-0s and most of the 9Fs. Wonderful days indeed, but one has to be well into one's 70s to be able to recall them!

 

Regards,

 

Tony.