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Dave, you say the NSR van is a bit late late for you because it was built in 1911. The NSR buit similar vans in 1896 which were 9'6" wb as opposed to 10' of the later build. I would imagine that not many people would know the difference. I built the early version in S7 a few years ago.

Finished GBRF

Not sure Wally Dugs would normally warrant a covered waggon. But - a goods yard in Stoke.... "It's routed through Partick, sir." "Get it off that wagon and into a van." Alan

Well, the wagon looked fine when you bought it, but the end result is unique! Can I ask what the red base paint is, please? An excellent end to a good day on RMweb.

Maybe they're just very kind close-ups (that's a thing, right?!) but those look really very very good indeed. Roping exemplary once again, too. Now, how's about a nice little layout to run them on...?! :)

There is a story about some early North Staffs modellers who found someone who had worked as a wagon painter in Stoke Works. So they showed him a collection of variously painted wagons and asked which was the most accurate. His answer was "All of them"

Having seen the actual model today I can confirm it is as good in real life as in the photos, another triumph for Nick....

I like that a lot!

The obvious load is porcelain, although I suspect that would usually have been crated and sheeted in an open. However, some high quality stuff for fitting out the first class dining rooms on a liner could well warrant a van. Nicely built as usual. Alan

An off-topic comment if ever there was one! That looks like a nicely-built example of the K's kit; you're lucky to have it. You might want to consider renumbering. 2849 was one of a handful of 700 class engines rebuilt with the type D boiler in 1908/9, which did result in a degree of uglification: [Embedded link to catalogue image of Midland Railway Study Centre item 82417, 2849 approaching Trent with a through goods train c. 1920.] It went straight from this condition to a G6 Belpaire boiler in 1923, a type it retained until withdrawal in 1947: [Embedded link to catalogue image of Midland Railway Study Centre item 99-0683, 2849 outside Derby No. 4 shed c. 1925.] Tenders are a bit of a nightmare. By the 1920s, many 700 Class engines were running with either Johnson tenders off withdrawn 2-4-0s and the like, or with Kirtley tenders with rebuilt tanks, as in these photos of 2849. An example of an engine with round-topped boiler and unrebuilt Kirtley tender, i.e. in the condition of the model, is 2834, renumbered 22834 in 1935 (2849 was renumbered 22834 around the same time). 2849 was a Derby engine for most of its life; 2834 was allocated at Leeds or Normanton up to 1930 but was at Birmingham in 1933, ending its days as part of Bournville shed's antique collection. [Ref. S. Summerson, Midland Railway Locomotives Vol. 2 (Irwell Press, 2007).]

I misread that and for a moment thought you meant: Nick.

Thanks, Chris. I find these kinds of project very satisfying - finding an everyday detail from over 100 years ago and translating it into model form. Nick.

Thanks, Louis - hopefully the positive effect is not just down to the photography! Well, quite.... There is the possibility of something in the current attic room (aka box room, junk store, room of doom...). Planning permission will be required, as well as considerable preliminary works to prepare the space. Other domestic projects will need to be completed first, to raise sufficient 'capital' - watch this space, but don't hold your breath. Nick.

For anyone interested in seeing how the Ontario layout in the Pilentum video linked into the blog post was built, there's a thread here on a Benelux modelling Forum (in Dutch). Build photos reveal how the layout goes together, as @AndyB highlights. Very informative. I have no connection with the builder, or with Beneluxspoor.net - everything I've linked to is in the public domain, Keith.

Thanks Andy, some good pointers as always. I think the picture in my blog post of the abbreviated mainline DB train illustrates your point about train length very well. Fortunately I also have a couple of railcars: Epoche I: and Epoche III / IV: As for goods or freight trains, this is only 20" long in OO and could be used to generate ideas too: I do need to give some further thought to your observation about cassettes - thank you for flagging this up. If I want something simple to enjoy at my leisure, I won't want to end up 'driving fiddle yards'. Good point, Keith.

Keith, everyone of us is an artist, for an artist takes something and makes something that means something. I sincerely hope the books help, the first is more practical the second hopefully more thought provoking. The third, in hand, something else again. Best of luck, and enjoy the journey.

Taken a while to get here with this one as I decided to go full function lighting which meant a complete rewire of the chassis and the body. This has day, night, tails on both ends which can be also switched on and off on end at a time. I also added an EOT lamp. Ready for decals and bogie paint:

Ah, now I understand that observation - @Mikkel will have chapter and verse - the Great western wagons were 'red, and grey'. Or was it 'grey, and red'? That SWAG meeting sounds to have been good. Perhaps I should make more effort...

I wish I had spent more time today studying this wagon but I got lost in all the conversion around me. Looking at your photographs of the build show us once again your excellent workmanship. I do like the scale look of the wheels and underframe. Top class.

Thanks, Mikkel. The paint is an automotive red-oxide undercoat, from Halfords. Where I had to repaint the inside, I used Revell matt 37 enamel, which is a close match. The colour then gets pushed about a bit with the oil paint - my palette includes Indian red and yellow ochre, as well as black, white and burnt umber. With that mix I can go towards pink, orange, or a darker, richer red. In the case of this wagon, I did that a bit on the inside, but not much on the outside, where it is mostly greys, warmed up with a bit of yellow ochre and burnt umber. Nick.

Stunning work as usual, Nick!

Another sleeper on a Hornby chassis just as a mock up.

I was thinking more like the Wurzels...

Once again, superb observation and execution....!

Nice that my freelance No.5 sparked off some inspiration for your own interesting Broad Gauge freelance 4-2-4T engines Isambird. I originally assembled it from a collection of parts that weren't really meant to fit together to create a track testing locomotive for the Trainz simulator, but as it happen it turned out to be a reasonably useful engine to have on the roster.

That is interesting. The Cambrian were using 4-4-0 for their passenger expresses from 1878, but express might be typed 'express' as they went nowhere very fast.

At the time it was the norm for express engines to be 'single wheelers' - probably because really accurate alignment of coupled wheels for fast running was still difficult. The GWR persisted with 'singles' later than most and built rather too many late in the 19th century.

My original model has conventional bogie arrangements, with the Tenshodo drive unit in the rear one. It even copes with my small radius curves!.

I find it interesting that they went for bogies but retained a single driving wheel. It would be interesting to know their thinking. Still, the Pearson one is quite beautiful in its own way.

The firebox flicker looks particularly effective in that video👍

If you've used bearings, and you're feeling brave, you can resolve this with a soldering iron. Put the wagon on a flat surface, identify which bearing needs to be adjusted down (you only need to adjust one side of one axle) and then remove the relevant wheelset. Warm the iron and then touch it to the bearing, applying gentle pressure in the desired direction until the bearing just starts to move in the softened plastic. Remove the iron immediately and assess whether the wheels are now closer to level. The plastic will reharden quickly so you can have another go if things need further adjustment. Don't dwell with the iron or the plastic will melt all the way through to the front of the axlebox. It's a method of last resort but I've found it works if done with care! I had to do it on on one or two Dapol cement wagons with the soapy plastic.

Yes, it deserves the name on it. If you already have one of the HMRS transfer sheets, the name can be composed from the lettering - either the alphabet provided or from bits of the other wording. But it takes a bit of time of course.

I enjoy making these kits, but have found the issue with "soft plastic". Out of the three I made, one only ever has three wheels in contact with the rails, which results in it derailing regularly. That really put me off making more, but I'll keep an eye out for original Airfix kits at future shows (though I'm not sure the decals will have aged well)

Sleeper: GBRF:

Hi Keith, Well done for persevering over the past few years with your ideas and above all keeping your dreams alive and I’m glad that my thread has kept you entertained along the way. The very best of luck with your upcoming house move and hopefully once settled in, the creative thinking processes will kick in, swiftly followed by some modelling magnificence. Best regards, Mark

Small has a number of advantages when you are plagued by the usual problems of space, time, funds, deciding on a prototype/layout style/theme. You can build and get to a 'sufficiently complete' stage to scratch that particular itch fairly quickly and if you decide it isn't what you want - or you have taken it as far as you want to go - you can move on to something else. I look forward to seeing what develops.

I have tried to discover why the later vans may have had black solebars. Looking carefully at the 51 L model I note that the W irons do not have crown plates or side washers on the legs. The excellent model by Airnimal of an earlier version does have them. Perhaps I am totally wrong but a theory. If the later D9 lacked crown plates that would suggest a wagon with flitched frames. If so it would be metalwork not woodwork and painted black. My researches have drawn a blank, perhaps someone with detailed knowledge of Knotty vans could illuminate the subject ?

That would have been altogether rather more comfortably within range! But I'm just an 00 bodger.

At last, I think the roof is complete, bar weathering. But this is needed on the whole building anyway, plus some down-pipes. Now for another project, I hope, and nothing to do with slates. I hope others agree it has that 'Brighton Pavilion' look.

The 51L instructions state black solebars, but as ever that might have been an interpretation of a shadow.

If anyone is inclined to question the presence of a Knotty van in Glasgow before the Great War, point them to Lt.-Col. Yorke's report on the accident at Gretna in the early hours of 14 May 1891: https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_Gretna1901.pdf. Wagons in a southbound Caledonian goods train, Gushetfaulds to Carlisle, derailed, fouling the northbound line. (Which way is up, there?) A northbound Sou' Western goods train, Carlisle to College Goods, Glasgow, ran into this; fortunately there were only minor personal injuries but there was much destruction of stock, which is duly listed in the appendix. Damaged vehicles in the GSWR train were all GSWR and MR but the victims in the CR train bear witness to the goods traffic on the WCML: 10 CR, 5 NER, 6 LNWR, 5 L&YR, 1 GWR, and 1 NSR wagon. The latter was No. 2781, perhaps more likely to have been an open than a covered goods wagon.

Maybe this is what an Accurascale advert could have been like!

I am adding cloudflare to my website - this is a service that will hopefully root out unwanted bots and increase security. It will take time and I'm not sure that I will be able to get the website up and running this month but things are happening behind the scenes.

Prototyped:

Absolutely worth the wait - superbly-finished vehicles. I believe it was the case that a four wheeler gave a better ride than a six-wheeler. I think the earlier use of three axles and later conversion to two had chiefly to do with journal, bearing, and lubrication technology. In the 1870s and 80s, the weight of these carriages was too much for four of the bearings of the time, but by the 90s, larger journals were being used with better designs of oil axlebox. Compare Churchward's 70-footers with four-wheel bogies, built at a time when other companies were putting carriages a few feet shorter (but possibly heavier) on six-wheel bogies. Back in the late 1870s, when Clayton was first building bogie carriages on the Midland, a decision was made that in future, all new carriages would be either bogie or four-wheeled but that didn't last long. A large number of 28 ft and 29 ft carriages built in the first few years after Clayton's appointment as four-wheelers were converted to six-wheelers in the early 1880s. Apologies for introducing the Midland but it's not so far OT - it seems to me that Clayton must have initiated the style of panelling used on these Great Western carriages shortly before he left Swindon for Derby, where he introduced essentially the same style. So one suspects other details of construction were related, too.

Thanks Duncan🙂 You’re quite right the River class was always the plan to pull this rake of coaches, it’s next on this list unless I get distracted by a rather lovely LB&SCR family saloon that’s in the kit stash! BW Dave

My version; no.1425 in brown complete with dodgy lining and wrongly place garter crest on the PBV:

Great pic! Note the mixture of lamp iron types at the front, old style on top, new style on the footplate.

Not so rare. You can tell it's the brown scheme from the lining and the cream cab insides: RCTS lists all the brown 517's. Most if not all had full cabs and outside bearings to the trailing wheels. Most were probably also autofitted at some time. PS: just the clarify, the lining on green locos was 2 orange lines whereas this has only one. You can see that around the cab the lining is edged in black