Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

Perhaps not surprisingly, love the turbo motive, Tony...the ks kit I assume?....I confess given my midland preferences to having a real liking for the j11...I will however resist ....for now...best wishes Brian

Brian,

 

I believe the Turbomotive is a modified Hornby item. The 3F is ex-Triang, the Stanier Mogul a K's body on a 'funny' chassis of some sort, the 2F another K's body on an even funnier chassis and the 8F a Hornby-Dublo loco towing a Bachmann Austerity tender. In all of these, I was merely following instructions, numbering/lettering them as requested. If any are wrong, blame the owner! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Poggy1165]

I always think that the beauty of model railways is that they are deeply personal and individual and different people have their own ways of doing things and their own priorities.

 

Earlier today I was watching some tinplate O Gauge expresses whizzing around (approximately) 3ft radius curves. Part of me thought it was ridiculous (given that in real life that sort of curve would have a little shunter grinding around it at 5 mph); but another part of me thought it was great fun, and wouldn't it be nice to have something like that.

 

OK, I am most unlikely to go down that road myself, but my point is that there are all sorts of ways of having fun, and it's a shame to fall out over it. 

[Mallard60022]

What looks like a 8F 8647 towing a Austerity Tender , did such a combination ever exist ?

Today I saw a pic of an 8F with a Fowler hight sided tender. 1963 I think it was taken.

Phil 

[t-b-g]

I always think that the beauty of model railways is that they are deeply personal and individual and different people have their own ways of doing things and their own priorities.

 

Earlier today I was watching some tinplate O Gauge expresses whizzing around (approximately) 3ft radius curves. Part of me thought it was ridiculous (given that in real life that sort of curve would have a little shunter grinding around it at 5 mph); but another part of me thought it was great fun, and wouldn't it be nice to have something like that.

 

OK, I am most unlikely to go down that road myself, but my point is that there are all sorts of ways of having fun, and it's a shame to fall out over it. 

 

I may well have been standing beside you, if you were at Leigh. Great fun, as you say. When you see or read of people worrying about how to get their highly accurate models round less than scale curves, I think of such things and smile.

[Ray Chessum]

Brian,

 

I believe the Turbomotive is a modified Hornby item. The 3F is ex-Triang, the Stanier Mogul a K's body on a 'funny' chassis of some sort, the 2F another K's body on an even funnier chassis and the 8F a Hornby-Dublo loco towing a Bachmann Austerity tender. In all of these, I was merely following instructions, numbering/lettering them as requested. If any are wrong, blame the owner! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

May say on my friend  Keith Pearce behalf that all the numbers are based on photographic evidence of the prototypes, 

Ray chessum

[t-b-g]

Dear Tony and Friends,

 

Sorry for the brief 'segway' from DCC vs DC, I was just wondering if I could ask a little advice please?

 

I'm very happy with how my C12 chassis runs, however due to the short wheel base I would like to improve pick up by adding pick ups to the bogie. As the chassis is fully insulated, pickups would need to be fitted either side. Do you know of a smart way to fit pick ups here without them being too obtrusive? As you can see, there is not a great deal of space.... Any help/tips greatly appreciated. Oh yes, the comments re the correct number of spokes have been noted, I will replace them when I next place an order with Mark Ascot. Looking on the Markits website, I can see BR15BS, a 3' 9" MR 10 spoke bogie set, would these be suitable?

 

 

The late great Chris Matthewman would have made the bogie live to one side and the rear pony truck live to the other, giving 4 pick ups on one side and 3 on the other. He would have insulated the bogie/pony mountings as appropriate. I haven't done a loco like that myself but I have seen his in action and it works superbly and you don't need to add any wiper pick ups. 

[Tony Wright]

May say on my friend  Keith Pearce behalf that all the numbers are based on photographic evidence of the prototypes, 

Ray chessum

I didn't doubt it for one moment. 

 

It's just that I get blamed for so many things..............................

[asmay2002]

What looks like a 8F 8647 towing a Austerity Tender , did such a combination ever exist ?

 

According to the LMS Locomotive profiles No. 8 there were 5 austerity tenders used behind 8Fs "for a few months" in 1948 whilst their tenders were used behind SR pacifics during the locomotive exchanges. 

 

8492    4/48 - 8/48

M8602 4/48 - 9/48

M8647 4/48 - 8/48

8670    4/48 - 8/48

M8687 4/48 - 8/48

 

The tender on M8602 was lettered "BRITISH RAILWAYS".  Those on 8670, M8647, M8687 were lettered LMS in unshaded serif letters (not the 1946 block pattern as might be expected).  I haven't seen a photo of 8492.  The BR unicycling lion hadn't been introduced at that stage.  The cabside numbers were in non standard typefaces and differed between locos.

Edited April 24, 2016 by asmay2002

[Mallard60022]

I didn't doubt it for one moment. 

 

It's just that I get blamed for so many things..............................

That's strange Tony, so do I....................................

Would it be could it be a subject of some interest that we find some 'unusual' combinations of loco and tender in photo's? Otherwise a reference to/link to the picture/photo?

I can find a couple if it would be of any interest? Some folk enjoy running things like that at shows to see if it gets a reaction. I would do it so as to be able to 'interact' with someone (and then probably regret it and resort to having to use the mobile phone call ruse  ) Have a good day everyone; the weather here in 36E is glorious at the moment.

Phil

Edited April 24, 2016 by Mallard60022

[Tony Wright]

According to the LMS Locomotive profiles No. 8 there were 5 austerity tenders used behind 8Fs "for a few months" in 1948 whilst their tenders were used behind SR pacifics during the locomotive exchanges. 

 

8492    4/48 - 8/48

M8602 4/48 - 9/48

M8647 4/48 - 8/48

8670    4/48 - 8/48

M8687 4/48 - 8/48

 

The tender on M8602 was lettered "BRITISH RAILWAYS".  Those on 8670, M8647, M8687 were lettered LMS in unshaded serif letters (not the 1946 block pattern as might be expected).  I haven't seen a photo of 8492.  The BR unicycling lion hadn't been introduced at that stage.  The cabside numbers were in non standard typefaces and differed between locos.

Thanks Andy,

 

I'll alter the Austerity tender to LMS. 

 

See, it wasn't my fault! 

[Woodcock29]

Excellent weathering Mick; my compliments. 

 

My question concerns the smokebox doors. I've seen very few pictures of O1s with the GNR-style smokebox door, and then only in later-BR days - that's the wider diameter, more bulbous and very small annular-lipped one - the sort shown in your pictures, as modelled by Hornby. It could well be the same as the one fitted to the same firm's B1. Has anyone altered Hornby's O1 smokebox door to the NER-type? 

 

Hi Tony

 

I noted your question re fitting of Hornby O1 with NER type smokebox door. I have fitted my O1 with Graeme King's castings for the both the smokebox door and chimney and believe it adds to its appearance enormously.

 

I also thought I might add photos of two of Dan Pinnock's GN coaches that I've recently finished - I know the brake still needs to have bars fitted inside the luggage door windows.

 

Andrew Emmett

[jwealleans]

Ah, number 4079... at the last count we had 3 examples on Grantham and now here's another. Remarkable how none of us thought harder than using the number from the one on the box!

 

That BC is beautifully understated.

Edited April 24, 2016 by jwealleans

[Tony Wright]

 

Excellent weathering Mick; my compliments. 

 

My question concerns the smokebox doors. I've seen very few pictures of O1s with the GNR-style smokebox door, and then only in later-BR days - that's the wider diameter, more bulbous and very small annular-lipped one - the sort shown in your pictures, as modelled by Hornby. It could well be the same as the one fitted to the same firm's B1. Has anyone altered Hornby's O1 smokebox door to the NER-type? 

 

Hi Tony

 

I noted your question re fitting of Hornby O1 with NER type smokebox door. I have fitted my O1 with Graeme King's castings for the both the smokebox door and chimney and believe it adds to its appearance enormously.

 

I also thought I might add photos of two of Dan Pinnock's GN coaches that I've recently finished - I know the brake still needs to have bars fitted inside the luggage door windows.

 

Andrew Emmett

 

Great stuff - thanks for posting.

 

That NER-style 'door really does make a difference to the face of the loco, particularly the O1s. 

 

One thing I would do, if I may be so bold, is to replace the adipose pony wheelset  with something better from Markits or Gibson. Even then it won't suit some. A couple of weeks ago a P4 modeller, on looking at the P2 I'd made, thought the wheels looked like steamroller ones. I await a P4 P2 to be built, doing what mine did - taking 13 bogies at a scale 80 mph! 

 

Those GNR carriages are just belters. If this thread does nothing else than illustrate other folk's quality models (made by themselves, not others) then surely it'll be worth continuing with it. There is some talent out there.  

[Tony Wright]

In between finishing off models for mates, I've also been finishing off the modifications to Heljan's O2s. I've done two, and this is the first one I've completed. Geoff Haynes is weathering the other one by way of a comparison.

 

 

It came from Howes last week as a 'return', effectively not up to standard. 'Jerky' running was written on the sheet. Somebody had manhandled the valve gear, squashing it in (it must have been after it was taken out of the packaging), so no wonder it was jerky. A couple of minutes' remedial work, including slackening off the rear screw of the keeper plate, resulted in a beautifully smooth and powerful runner. I renumbered it, but it's thrown up anomalies in its allocation. 35B (Grantham) is on the shedplate, but Doncaster is printed on the bufferbeam (that's how it came). I'll change the shed code to 36E (Retford) and paint out Donny on the beam. Ian Wilson's Pacific front numberplates really do the trick as well.

 

Finishing work included adding a crew, real coal in the tender, fire-irons put in place and weathering. The last-mentioned was achieved by my usual dry-brush technique. This, I feel, gives more natural varieties of streaks and dribbles than an air brush. It's also far more convincing than factory-applied weathering, which consists, to me, of no more than a squirt of dirty thinners at the chassis. 

 

Lamps add the finishing touch, but I'll also cut off that obese coupling pocket in the pony truck. The photograph highlights it far too much. 

 

 

Here, it's passing another dry-brush weathered RTR 2-8-0, in the form of a Hornby O1 (still with wrong-style smokebox door). As someone has recently said, what hope for kits of these two types now? 

 

A complete article on how I modified the pair of O2s will appear in BRM. 

Edited April 24, 2016 by Tony Wright

[glo41f]

Tony

 

Those pictures of the heavy freight locos are the business!  It is an area of model railways that is oft ignored, more focus being placed on the passenger side perhaps seen as ,ore glamorous. The work a day goods traffic which paid the bills is evoked by the grimy 2-8-0 s which plod their way up and down the spine of the nation. How lucky you are to have the ability to run scale length freights on your system. Even better is that they can be overtaken by the passenger trains and the whole spectacle can be re enacted at LB. We who only have terminus or shunting planks can never emulate the power and spectacle of a 40 wagon train of coal empties plodding northwards.  Wonderful stuff!

 

Martin Long

[grob1234]

The late great Chris Matthewman would have made the bogie live to one side and the rear pony truck live to the other, giving 4 pick ups on one side and 3 on the other. He would have insulated the bogie/pony mountings as appropriate. I haven't done a loco like that myself but I have seen his in action and it works superbly and you don't need to add any wiper pick ups. 

 

Tom,

 

I fitted bogie pick-ups to the C12 I built for Grantham. These consisted of .45mm nickel silver wipers behind the wheels, soldered to a small PCB pad at the side of the pivot (it's live chassis, and the bogie wheels were live on one side). I think the wheels you mention are entirely suitable. 

 

Tony, Mr TBG,

 

Thank you very much for the responses. I think I will be able to make a reasonable job of adding small pickups with the 0.45 wire.

 

I like very much the idea of 'live' bogies and ponies, but alas, I don't think I will be able to make this happen on this particular model. I might well bear the technique in mind for future builds however, its something I would never have thought of.

 

Lovely work on the O1's; something very imposing about a big, dirty freight loco plodding along at 20mph.

[Woodcock29]

Great stuff - thanks for posting.

 

That NER-style 'door really does make a difference to the face of the loco, particularly the O1s. 

 

One thing I would do, if I may be so bold, is to replace the adipose pony wheelset  with something better from Markits or Gibson. Even then it won't suit some. A couple of weeks ago a P4 modeller, on looking at the P2 I'd made, thought the wheels looked like steamroller ones. I await a P4 P2 to be built, doing what mine did - taking 13 bogies at a scale 80 mph! 

 

Those GNR carriages are just belters. If this thread does nothing else than illustrate other folk's quality models (made by themselves, not others) then surely it'll be worth continuing with it. There is some talent out there.

Tony I thought you would mention the pony wheels. As the loco is a BR liveried loco it doesn't get run very often as I'm basically a pre war LNER period modeller hence the GN coaches in teak. The problem is I couldn't resist buying a number of the recent RTR locos in BR livery which are not suited to my LNER period. Therefore I can't justify fitting them all with better pony wheels despite a wide range of other aspects I've fiddled with such as the smokebox door and chimney on the O1. I must also say though that I've still got a number of LNER period RTR locos where I've not changed the pony/bogie wheels despite doing a whole range of other changes/upgrades! We're all different aren't we.

 

I noticed on the O2 you've just worked on that you haven't changed the left hand tender handrails to longer ones whereas that's something I will do on mine. I'll post a photo when its finished but its not at the top of the queue at present.

 

Andrew Emmett

[D.Platt]

Hi Tony , When did Grantham change from 35B to 34F ? Just wondered with the late crest tthe 1959 ABC has it as 34F. Dennis

[micklner]

Tony

       Sadly O2 63976 is suffering from a poorly moulded /chewed up effort by Heljan's idea of a Chimney, hopefully you have another Brass spare. 

[Tony Wright]

Hi Tony , When did Grantham change from 35B to 34F ? Just wondered with the late crest tthe 1959 ABC has it as 34F. Dennis

Dennis,

 

My 1957 Combined Volume has it as 35B (in the New England district) and my 1959 one has it as 34F (in the Kings Cross district). So, 1958? 

[Tony Wright]

Tony

       Sadly O2 63976 is suffering from a poorly moulded /chewed up effort by Heljan's idea of a Chimney, hopefully you have another Brass spare. 

Mick,

 

The problems of a powerful camera to some extent. You're right, it could be a better chimney, but it does look worse in the pictures. 

 

When the example with the new chimney returns, I'll take a comparative picture.

[Headstock]

 

 

Excellent weathering Mick; my compliments. 

 

My question concerns the smokebox doors. I've seen very few pictures of O1s with the GNR-style smokebox door, and then only in later-BR days - that's the wider diameter, more bulbous and very small annular-lipped one - the sort shown in your pictures, as modelled by Hornby. It could well be the same as the one fitted to the same firm's B1. Has anyone altered Hornby's O1 smokebox door to the NER-type? 

 

Hi Tony

 

I noted your question re fitting of Hornby O1 with NER type smokebox door. I have fitted my O1 with Graeme King's castings for the both the smokebox door and chimney and believe it adds to its appearance enormously.

 

I also thought I might add photos of two of Dan Pinnock's GN coaches that I've recently finished - I know the brake still needs to have bars fitted inside the luggage door windows.

 

Andrew Emmett

 

I must admit that the Hornby O1 is a smashing little model, I have one myself. It has still undergone some transmogrifications, 5 amp fuse wire to replace the moulded details, injectors behind the steps, new smoke box door, repaint to 1949 condition, crew coal ect. I find it quite strong, however I have added a considerable amount of lead so it will handle anything that I chose to build to hang behind it. For our project we were only able to secure two of the little engines kits, so the Hornby model has been a Godsend. To be fair it is a better model then the old kit, though the later can scrub up quite nicely with a little bit off work.

 

Your ex GN carriages are proof (if it was needed) that RTR offerings still have a long way to go to match the quality and diversity of well built and painted kit carriages, lovely work. I find it reassuring that there are some areas of the hobby were kit building still has the edge

Bachmann mk1's, scrap em. This weekend I attended the Epsom and Ewell show. With the exception of the diesel era modelling, the majority of the layouts on show had some beautiful kit built locomotives running. If I was not exhibiting i would have gladly paid the entrance fee and not felt cheated. plenty of interest, and some wonderful prototypes.

[micklner]

       A.F.Hammond Brass etch dated 1995 for a H&BR 3rd Brake . Bought via ebay as etches only. D&S and MJT provided all the other bits with some modification. I doubt if this will ever appear rtr . One of these actual Coaches of this Diagram survives on the NYMR, the only Bogie H&BR left.

     A awful etch very thin and items oversize and or poor fit. The instructions were vitally non existent on how to build it as well.  I find Coaches hard work compared to Locos probably all that Glass fitting !!

 

 

 

[Headstock]

  I find Coaches hard work compared to Locos probably all that Glass fitting !!

 

Well worth the effort though. Quality built and painted rolling stock such as yours gives real character to a layout, and sets it in a time and place. When you think that even at nationalization 60% of LNER carriage stock was of pre grouping design, then you can't buy that level off authenticity of the shelf.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Headstock

[County of Yorkshire]

       A.F.Hammond Brass etch dated 1995 for a H&BR 3rd Brake . Bought via ebay as etches only. D&S and MJT provided all the other bits with some modification. I doubt if this will ever appear rtr . One of these actual Coaches of this Diagram survives on the NYMR, the only Bogie H&BR left.

     A awful etch very thin and items oversize and or poor fit. The instructions were vitally non existent on how to build it as well.  I find Coaches hard work compared to Locos probably all that Glass fitting !!

 

IMG_0117.JPG

 

IMG_0118.JPG

 

IMG_0119.JPG

 

Superb H&B coach Mick. I currently live on the site of Springhead shed - the bottom of the garden pretty much is where the up main was, so one of these could well have 'travelled' over my garden 80 years ago!

 

I think there are two H&BR brake thirds left, both up at Goathland, although to two different diagrams I believe; one with lavatories and the other without. Long term intention is to return both to running order iirc - more info here. Distinctive looking coaches!

 

Cheers, 

 

CoY

Edited April 26, 2016 by County of Yorkshire