CME and Bottlewasher

That sounds great, but I can never get the company to reply to emailed questions. So I'll probably go with Deltang type equipment.

Congratulations on all fronts mate

Cracking layout that - hope you're enjoying it.

Ha ha! Yes those sorts of events can be quite manic, but fun I spied you keeping an eye on Mark Found's driving too, but didn't see you creditted (criminal! ). The DVD is really interesting - lovely line you have there too. I noted that they interviewed Bob Symes too, dad met him a couple of times at - iirc - Ashton Keynes? Sadly I never got to met my childhood hero. I'll have a look at the You Tube submissions too. ATVB M.

Hi Giles, A belated Happy New Year to all here. I wonder if you can clear up a query for me please? Did I spy the younger you on an episode of "The Railway Monthly" DVD? With the charming Claire Barrett from "Salvage Squad" et al Kindest regards, M

Very nice Steve, coming on nicely

Good luck with rejigging it, Laurie is very helpful and accomodating.

I'm glad that you did Giles, it's a bigger job of work - for you all - than most would comprehend (as I suspected). More strength to your elbow though! Kindest regards and the season's greetings, Martin.

Congratulations Giles, interesting topic ripe for a book. How do such things come about - if you don't mind me asking? Is it a case of, "I've got an idea for a book" or that you were approached? Sounds like lots of hard work? I haven't purchased a WS book for awhile - I'm very tempted now though. Good luck with it all, a well deserved achievement. Kindest regards, CME.

Superb! Ditto! Lots of character and atmosphere!

I've had a look - thanks - very nice! The prototype location is full of atmosphere and intriguing too. Good tip off, thank you. Thanks again, very hard to tell in B&W photos if they're grey or cement covered yellow livery. Thank you Paul, dug out the Don Rowland book, interesting photos. Thanks for the update Ellis and the info too. As the photos of them are often B&W and they got dirty, grey or yellow looks very similar to my eyes. I applaud you for taking your time to get these right, your renderings look very detailed. Fascinating subject matter these wagons. Thanks everyone. ATVB, CME.

Thank you Chris - much obliged. Does anyone know how long the yellow livery lasted for on the Blue Circle private owner versions - did they later switch to grey livery? Thanks again everyone.

Good to know - I'll try and research that - thanks for the heads up

Hi, These look great - nice effort. Please excuse my ignorance but did these ever travel as singles or in twos and threes? Eg to a small localised railhead depot or moderate-major works site with a railhead? Thanks in advance. Atvb, CME

Agree fully with that, my health and faculties come into play now too - and even the real railways have several coupling types. I'm not surprised re Trevor (Dinghams), like many, he, I'm sure that he wouldn't mind me saying, has had a rough two years. That's excellent news Tim, the GOG fulfilling its reason for being.

Hi Rod, I'm dabbling with Dinghams, they should make shunting other stock easier too. I'm also experimenting with magnetic couplings on other coaches and some cuts of wagons too. Very nice! Thanks for the advice and the additional reply too - all appreciated. Sounds like an easy life owning and weathering them. Can you tell me how the Battery Boxes and Voltage Regulator are attached please (glued on?). Many thanks in advance.

Looks great already!

How easy was that to do HN? Is it easy and quick enough to facilitate weathering or would strategic masking etc be quicker? Thanks

Why for, do you ask? Buckeyes or magnets inboard on a train, with dummy under slung pipes would be my preference for such things, especially with gangways/vestibules etc. At the ends then, one's, preferred couplings. Hope that helps a little.

Hi Paul, Thanks for the insights - every day is a school day. For me/the layout the wagon is a one off, I rescued it as a part built second hand/slightly damaged project - in terms of the build (or the parts I had to attend to) there's things I'd do differently next time as part of my continuous improvement. Having said that, as a layout model, hopefully it still suffices (I'm my own, biggest, critic). I did copy it, the livery and most of the weathering, from prototype photos - I can't recall which book (sorry). IIRC I chalked 'Spoil' as an antagonistic joke, again, iirc, such loads were forbidden? But that's also from the mists of time and Long Covid, now, hampers me in such matters/my memory. Thanks again, atvb, Martin

That's interesting and perhaps we'll never know why - I came across similar conundrums in the railways but in different areas of operations when I worked for them. A photo (hereunder at the bottom of the Post) of one of my previous efforts (nearly twenty years old). Not a 16 tonner, but a white elephant, the 24.5T - that, so I'm led to believe, wouldn't fit under coal shutes - what were they thinking of?! Lovely cross section and variety, all superbly modelled too!

Very nice work, most helpful, I always seem to get defeated by scale, space available, motor/gearbox efficiency, battery size and tech. I plough on regardless.

Thanks John, much obliged. I did find some photo evidence - I think - if correct, Eg those without bottom doors had ended up being fitted with Morton brakes. Every day is a school day for me, it does seem that when bottom doors were abandoned it allowed for the cross bar/Morton brakes. That's really well described, beautifully put and illustrated - thanks, I can now justify a bit of variety in my 'fleet', thanks for the info, much appreciated. Hi Paul, thank you, I'm slowly getting up to speed on the subject, struggling with reading and concentration but getting there, this is a fascinating thread. I did come across a photo of a diagram 1/108 apparently without vacuum brakes but painted in bauxite? Things can get confusing for the average modeller ha ha! I think that the Backtrack articles might be like trying to obtain hen's teeth - I did a search for an hour or so and drew a blank. Thanks again everyone for your wisdom and knowledge, all much appreciated. All the best!

That's my understanding too, although I may have messed up, in a similar way to Ruston. Unless one can get hold of the - definitive - articles in Backtrack, it's often hard to ascertain certain details. I wouldn't be surprised if, as you mention, when at various post production wagon works for repairs and certain amount of cannibalisation went on too. An aspect that has confused me is the use of Morton type brakes, Eg were any fitted with with shoes on both sides, thus four shoes per vehicle? One thing is for sure, with so many of them, the variations - after repairs - maybe almost endless?

I bought several pairs from a discount online supplier a few years back, they're very adaptable/useful. I wrote a couple of articles for two magazines on them and various baseboard support systems/options. All looking very nice, looking forward to seeing more in due course. ATVB CME