Wright writes.....

[Michael Edge]

The only WD 2-10-0 I ever saw wasn't far from you in Chester, 90763 was on loan to Bidston for a while on trial with the John Summers iron ore trains.

[Tony Wright]

46 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

The only WD 2-10-0 I ever saw wasn't far from you in Chester, 90763 was on loan to Bidston for a while on trial with the John Summers iron ore trains.

Thanks Mike,

 

The local bush telegraph didn't pick up on that one, otherwise a bike ride to Shotton would have been immediate!

 

Trainspotting bush telegraphs were very useful, though sometimes met with incredulity; as on one local occasion in about 1959. Arriving at school, a mate who lived on the Broughton Straight said he'd popped into Mold Junction (6B) on his way to Overleigh and, amazingly, he'd seen an Eastern 'Brit', 70007 COUER DE LION! 'Nonsense', we all said 'you've got the number wrong'. 'No', he insisted. So, after school, a dash on the bikes along Hough Green and the Broughton Straight (not much in hope, it has to be said, because over eight hours had elapsed) and into 6B. To our astonishment, there it was, a great 'cop' - a 'Brit' from far away Norwich. It was gleaming, and in light steam. Now, our understanding was that Eastern 'Brits' were shopped at Doncaster, but this one must have been shopped at Crewe. This was obviously the precursor, because, eventually, all the 'Brits' ended up being repaired there - indeed, all the class eventually ended up on the LMR, but this was unheard of in the late-'50s. 

 

In the end, 70007, and all its siblings, were common through Chester, but it was all a long time ago.....

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Michael Edge]

I didn't go looking for it, just chance but we used to visit Bidston quite often, it was a very friendly shed.

[1471SirFrederickBanbury]

17 hours ago, maico said:

 

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

You're right.  It seems that I had read the wrong document for the varieties of the smoke fluid I was looking at.  I had another glance, and this was the one that seemed most promising of my list: https://looksolutionsusa.com/product/tiny-fluid-250ml/

 

its msds is here: https://looksolutionsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/MSDS-SDS-fluid-2021.pdf

 

It contains both triethylene glycol and monopropylene glycol, as well as dipropylene glycol.  I was looking at making my model railway outside anyway (the only way I could have a decent looping layout in S4x, which is p4, but with full prototype dimensions), and can just use less irritating fluids for any locos I make in 00 or H0. 

 

Thanks for making me look twice.  I should have done so in the first place.

[Mike 84C]

My son has just started firing on the West Somerset and sent me a picture of happy smiling faces on Hall 6990. Its sobering to think I was firing it for wages 60 yrs ago!  The loco looks much better today than it did 60 yrs ago!

[Barry Ten]

20 minutes ago, Mike 84C said:

My son has just started firing on the West Somerset and sent me a picture of happy smiling faces on Hall 6990. Its sobering to think I was firing it for wages 60 yrs ago!  The loco looks much better today than it did 60 yrs ago!

 

A few of us had a ride behind 6990 on Saturday, just before the RMWeb SWAG gathering in Taunton. The loco looked sparkling and took the train with ease. Conditions in Minehead were distinctly chilly, though.

[Barry Ten]

Not the best shot ever taken but better than nothing?

 

[Tony Wright]

Delighted to report that all the Peter Lawson locos and stock placed in my care have now sold. 

 

Two friends visited today; one to pick up two of Peter's locos he's bought and the other to take some pictures (he wasn't happy with his first lot some weeks ago).

 

Keith picked up the pair of BR Standard 73XXXs he bought............

 

 

 

 

And was delighted with their performances (I should have straightened the step on 73021). 

 

Visiting locos need not display lamps. 

 

When I showed him what was left (the Stanier 2-6-4T and the Fairburn 2-6-4T) he put a deposit on those, to collect in three weeks' time. 

 

He brought...........

 

 

 

 

A trio of eBay 4Fs he's working on. 

 

John asked me to set up some scenes he could photograph, which included.................

 

 

SILVER LINK overtaking the new B1.

 

 

And GOLDEN FLEECE passing the new 75XXX. 

 

These are my shots, but he'll send me his in due course.

 

Thank you gentlemen for your entertaining company and your generous donations to CRUK. 

 

Tomorrow a larger group is visiting................

 

 

[ecgtheow]

4 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I didn't go looking for it, just chance but we used to visit Bidston quite often, it was a very friendly shed.

Mike, Can you remember when that loco was at Bidston? I thought I had seen an Austerity 2-10-0 but wasn't sure as I had read that most were in Scotland & it would have to have been between September 1959 when I started secondary school & December1962, when they were withdrawn. Maybe you also come from the Wirral like me? I used to see lots of Standard 9Fs going to & from John Summers steel works on the bank at the bottom of McAllister Field in Oxton, where I played rugby. The 9Fs were an impressive sight climbing the bank against the setting sun.

Like you I found that Bidstom was a friendly shed.

 

William

[Michael Edge]

I can't remember and I didn't often keep detailed notes but it was allocated to Bidston from 15/08/59 and returned to Kingmoor 02/07/60. 90763 was the only one ever allocated to an English shed, I do have a photo of it on Walton shed in Liverpool although I never saw it there. No I 'm not from the Wirral, i'm from Prescot originally but we roamed around a lot by bike.

[stewartingram]

Ah, 70007, I had that from CBG to LST when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I can remember standing on p1 at CBG, whilst it simmered away in the carriage sidings, next to the freight avoiding linesbefore it moved over to pick us up. And then we turned left at Shelford, to go via Saffron Walden and Audley End!

I have a photo of it somewhere that I took in c1966, in Crewe Works. I say of "it" I should have said " the remains of it", as it was the 1st Brit scrapped, and the cab was dumped outside with other bits of metal.

How the mighty have fallen.

[Tony Wright]

Members of the Olney Club are due to visit Little Bytham today.........

 

 

 

Everything set up in readiness. 

 

Two roads are left clear in the fiddle yard for trains to/from the kick-back sidings and for visiting locos/stock. I hope some will be brought today.

 

 

Two locos from the Peter Lawson collection will be taken home by their new owner today. 

 

A further report later.................

 

 

[Richard_A]

Recently, I have bought a few British Railway Modelling magazines from the mid 90's, I recognise a few names from this thread, but the thing that has struck me is, the articles are so much more interesting than modern magazines, MRJ excepting. 

 

I have even read Tony's V2 article, very amusing. 

[cctransuk]

33 minutes ago, Richard_A said:

Recently, I have bought a few British Railway Modelling magazines from the mid 90's, I recognise a few names from this thread, but the thing that has struck me is, the articles are so much more interesting than modern magazines, MRJ excepting. 

 

I have even read Tony's V2 article, very amusing. 

 

Quite - we used to be told how to build models, not just tinker with them.

 

CJI.

[Barry Ten]

I've been working on a loco kit, in this case a Nu-Cast M&SWJR 2-4-0. This is in GWR condition after reboilering so regrettably can't be in the gorgeous crimson livery that it ran in originally.

 

 

The kit is "of its day" so to speak, with whacking great brass frames and no brake gear etc, but the castings are clean and no major snags have arisen thus far. I hadn't built a loco for a while (other than Comet chassis) so felt I needed to do at least one this year. I gather Rumney models do a more up to date chassis for this kit, but I'm happy enough with the basic product.

Edited May 1 by Barry Ten
correcting bizarre typo

[Captain Kernow]

Looking very nice, Al. This kit was one of my first, many, many years ago!

 

[Barry Ten]

2 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

Looking very nice, Al. This kit was one of my first, many, many years ago!

 

 

I should add that one very nice touch is that the cab and tender handrails were already soldered onto the castings, eliminating at least one major opportunity for a cock-up.😂

[BMacdermott]

Hello Tony

 

The Olney Club run a small but very friendly, varied and interesting show each year - September I think.

 

Brian

[jjb1970]

I have been looking at Japanese brass kits. Brass models are popular in Japan and several companies offer beautifully done factory finished brass models. The most famous in the western world is probably Tenshodo, who actually outsourced manufacturing. Some of these companies offer models in kit form for those who like kit building. The kits are extremely professionally produced. Maybe because they're designed to be serially built and finished by the factory so they demand something that is well designed and goes together well for their own reasons. Brass bodies are preformed, chassis are often milled or pre-assembled and the instructions (albeit in Japanese) are comprehensive.  While building and getting a good result takes a lot of skill, the chassis and running gear is straightforward assembly. And they are in many cases fully complete, though they do offer body kits. They're not cheap (they're very expensive) but they're pretty much produced to the same standards as something like a Tamiya kit, but in brass. I have been very tempted to do one.

[LNER4479]

4 hours ago, Richard_A said:

I have even read Tony's V2 article, very amusing. 

A classic, if ever there was one 😆

[Northmoor]

5 hours ago, cctransuk said:

Quite - we used to be told how to build models, not just tinker with them.

 

To be fair most people won't get past the tinkering stage so I'm grateful even for that.  Not impressive are the "How to recreate this sort of train" articles which always list the RTR locos and rolling stock available so you just have to get out your credit card, open the boxes and couple them all together.  Train formations involving significant kit building or modification don't seem to get written about anywhere near as much....

What I did find better in magazines from 30+ years ago was the layouts; so many had been built over long periods by clubs who wanted a long term project they could devote time to getting right.  Too many layouts in the current mags (which I virtually always put back on the shelf these days) seem to have been built in a year, have an operational life of a couple of years then get dismantled (often to be replaced with a very similar layout).  They have often been built for a specific exhibition deadline and even with some good weathering and scenic work, are still obviously full of RTP buildings.  While I don't want to criticise their hard work, these "identi-kit" layouts don't inspire me enough to want to pay to read about them.  These layouts always existed, but it's the Pendleburys, Chee Tors, Chiltern Greens, Dovey Valley Railways etc. that are logged in my memory.

[Bernard Lamb]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

To be fair most people won't get past the tinkering stage so I'm grateful even for that.  Not impressive are the "How to recreate this sort of train" articles which always list the RTR locos and rolling stock available so you just have to get out your credit card, open the boxes and couple them all together.  Train formations involving significant kit building or modification don't seem to get written about anywhere near as much....

What I did find better in magazines from 30+ years ago was the layouts; so many had been built over long periods by clubs who wanted a long term project they could devote time to getting right.  Too many layouts in the current mags (which I virtually always put back on the shelf these days) seem to have been built in a year, have an operational life of a couple of years then get dismantled (often to be replaced with a very similar layout).  They have often been built for a specific exhibition deadline and even with some good weathering and scenic work, are still obviously full of RTP buildings.  While I don't want to criticise their hard work, these "identi-kit" layouts don't inspire me enough to want to pay to read about them.  These layouts always existed, but it's the Pendleburys, Chee Tors, Chiltern Greens, Dovey Valley Railways etc. that are logged in my memory.

I would go along with most of that, However I have always liked and avidly read about, the small layouts of Ian Futers. The build it and move on idea seemed to work for him. But then, I like the locations.

My earliest experience of layouts that I found to be of great interest were the likes of Hitchin and Borchester. I still have a, much carved about, Trix A4 as per the notes from Bert Collins.

Bernard 

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

A classic, if ever there was one 😆

Good evening Graham,

 

Ah yes, my Pro-Scale V2 article! Enough for the proprietor to take his whole range off the market. 

 

It really was 'un-buildable' as supplied - not if one wanted an 'accurate', working model. With copious amounts of bad language and a bloody mind, I built it and it turned out OK, especially with Ian Rathbone's painting. 

 

When the range was taken over (by Springside?), I was asked by the new proprietor how much would be needed to make the Pro-Scale V2 correct. 'A lot!'. Thus, it was never reissued, and for that you can blame me. 

 

Others have built them.............

 

 

Including Allen Hammet. Built well, too. 

 

This was once the property of Tony Geary (it might have been owned by someone else before), who weathered it, and it ran on Stoke Summit and Charwelton. When those WMRC layouts were sold, Tony sold it to Gilbert Barnatt. Unfortunately (as it turned out) it had a D13 open-framed, live-to-one-side motor, meaning it was incompatible for DCC. Now, such a conversion is way beyond poor Gilbert, so I got it to put a new motor/gearbox in, but prior to that, here it is running on an 'infant' Little Bytham; running beautifully. 

 

It ran for over a decade on Peterborough North until Bachmann's latest RTR V2 appeared, whereupon it was to be replaced (almost all PN's loco stock is RTR-based now). Since I knew its history, I bought it off Gilbert, and.................

 

 

Now she blazes round Little Bytham! I'm puzzled as to how anyone could consider such a fine model like this 'inferior' to an RTR equivalent, but there you go. 

 

There was also a second Pro-Scale V2 with a Hammet/Geary/Barnatt history..............

 

 

Which is also now on Little Bytham. I know which I prefer.............

 

As coincidence would have it............

 

 

A mate handed over this other Pro-Scale V2 (builder/painter unknown) at the weekend, which he'd bought of Ebay for £100.00 as a non-runner. It's pretty evident why it doesn't run, because the motion has turned into metal spaghetti! The motor (a Portescap) does work, but I'll have to make a new set of slidebars and straighten that piston rod and connecting rod to have any hope of getting it to work. 

 

Generally, what's been done has been done well (though where are the cab steps?) and the painting is rather good (professional?). 

 

It's had the odd knock, but I should be able to fix it - famous last words?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

[Northmoor]

54 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

I would go along with most of that, However I have always liked and avidly read about, the small layouts of Ian Futers. The build it and move on idea seemed to work for him. But then, I like the locations.

My earliest experience of layouts that I found to be of great interest were the likes of Hitchin and Borchester. I still have a, much carved about, Trix A4 as per the notes from Bert Collins.

Bernard 

I spoke to Ian Futers a couple of times when he exhibited his layouts and agree they were interesting.  Sometimes I think he has built about 25 versions of the same layout, but I certainly wouldn't class them as identi-kit; he has worked in at least two scales (both finescale) and the standard of his work is very high indeed.  His "Lochside" was one of the first modern traction layouts I remember that really impressed me and I suspect a great deal of diesel era modellers copied it to some degree in their modelling careers.

[Tony Wright]

On 01/05/2024 at 14:00, BMacdermott said:

Hello Tony

 

The Olney Club run a small but very friendly, varied and interesting show each year - September I think.

 

Brian

Good evening Brian,

 

The Olney Club members are very friendly, too - certainly by today's evidence, where five visited and we all had a most-enjoyable time (though apologies to Malcom for our decking!). 

 

Great fun was had running the railway, though there were a couple of MR/M&GNR derailments caused by a rogue coupling - now fixed. In fact, the most-popular loco on the day ran on the 'little bit'..............

 

 

 

My McGowan D9 (painted by Geoff Haynes). 

 

Only one 'visiting' loco was brought (though more will be brought on the next visit)...................

 

 

This J50. 

 

I recognised it instantly, since it's a lot of my work.

 

It originally came from the estate of the late Gordon Stolliday.

 

Now, if memory serves, Gordon had started it (its origins unknown).

 

 

To reach this stage.

 

 

I took it further.

 

 

To completion.

 

 

 

 

Then painted it.

 

It was then weathered by Geoff Haynes, Geoff West or Tom Foster (I can't remember which).

 

To produce.................

 

 

The rather attractive loco seen above (I've added the crew and lamps today).

 

I sold it originally to one of the Olney Club members, but he has no further use for it, so, via some 'wheeler-dealings' it's back with me. Chances are I'll keep it! 

 

Thank you gentlemen for your most-entertaining company and conversation, and your most-generous contributions to CRUK. Particular thank to.............

 

 

Barrie Trinder, who gave me this fascinating (and recommended) book he's written.

 

Gentlemen, here's to the next time.....................

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3 by Tony Wright
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