Caledonian

Discovered this a few weeks ago and it really is astonishingly good Jinty ruined by a [really] bad paint disaster - new body looking superb 57XX a bit tired after multiple identity changes and hard usage over the years - Great Western's finest British Railways Robinson 04 - ROD body with Westinghouse pumps and re-railing jacks - Caledonian Railway Thoroughly recommend the site - and yes, very addictive

I'd agree with that and am minded of a book lurking on my shelves by a Mr Jenkinson, entitled Historical Railway Modelling. Exactly how you want to define "historical" will depend on you, but honesty would have to say that for most of us it could be defined by steam and if that's the case, why this obsession with modelling the last years of it when so much is on offer and untouched by manufacturers further back.

Absolutely splendid from beginning to end - mind you the size of the luggage being shoved around the platform makes railway modelling accessories look a bit anaemic

The "old" one was a model of 7788 which I understand was well known for retaining GWR livery well into British Railways days So what was the reason for the change from blue to yellow for 57XXs ?

Galloping senility is setting in. I originally read this as changing from yellow to blue 😳

Curses - missed them

OK confused here [yes, easily and often] Once upon a time I had a 57XX by Bachmann with a yellow RA disc. It also had GWR on the sides but for various reasons which needn't detain us I treated myself to a replacement body-shell from Bachman spares. Quite splendid and no regrets, but... On the tank sides are the words Great Western which firmly predates British Railways, but the RA disc is blue !

Now you mention it...😉

The preserved example is exquisitely painted in a fictious livery - the NBR passenger livery I don't know what kit you're building, but its also worth bearing in mind that the cab sides weren't added until LNER days in1931

Bit before my time, but the most likely would be bunker fuel for fishing boats at Peterhead - or an empty coming back

Often overlooked in scrabbling around for Caley locomotives is the ROD 2-8-0 brought to us by Bachmannn and briefly used by the Caley after WW1

That was useful, thank you very much. Looks straightforward enough, but I'm impressed that just two tiny screws are used to secure that big body

Some time ago I carried out a rather crude conversion of a BR era ROD to backdate it to one of those lent to the Caledonian Railway. I've now discovered that Bachmann Spares are offering a 1918 body. This is tempting, but can anybody advise what would be involved? Looking at both my original and my existing 1918 version I can see a very small screw at the front, partly obscured by the the forward wheel yoke, and another small one at the back partly obscured by the cabling linking the loco to the tender. The front one is straightforward enough, but the back appears to also secure the drawbar. Is this the case, or is there an entirely different screw I need to locate - and are there only two screws securing the body to the chassis?

The Limestone cutting seen in the background of the bottom left photie still exists and Metro cars run through it, but everything else has gone [in an earlier existence I helped survey the Metro line] and not only has the spur and sidings gone but they have been obliterated by a broad new road - "European Way" which compelled us to swing the track northwards before rejoining the original alignment at the cutting.

Google tells me that there's a 1948 image on https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW014479 However it aint part of the Tyne and Wear Metro. The Penshaw line was lifted many years ago and the alignment gritted over to become a cycle track. An extension of the Metro line was then built on top of it nearly 30 years ago, but there's no trace of the quarry or any links from it into the site. A nice cutting through the limestone, but that's all.

Having spent nearly a month running the 812 and Hornby's J36s together on the same layout at the same time I have to report that the 812 appears to be quieter and more powerful than the Hornby one

That's how I understand it, which is why I'm reckoning on donating the Westinghouse to Maude, which had lost its own one by preservation😉

Ha, most kind. I have acquired a Rails/Bachmann 812 in LMS livery and am backdating it to Caley A more substantial problem now is the Westinghouse pump. A goods loco probably shouldn't have one so I can either donate it to Maude, or leave it to emphasise that we're a very long way from "modern image"

Very nice, but I have to confess I'd prefer to see North British versions

No suggestions I'm afraid on sound - and increasing deafness doesn't help, but... With time to settle in, this model is definitely growing on me. I think I'd agree that the J36 may be superior - I have three of them - but I'm not sure as to the cost difference. Yes it was certainly cheaper when first released but as discussed on another thread, cost when you can find one is now £150-£185 so broadly comparable. Then, I didn't buy this one because it was pretty but because I wanted a Caledonian locomotive to haul my Caledonian stock. I was to late to get a blue one but I'm not bothered because I settled for an LMS one and am currently turning it out in Caledonian goods black - the LMS lettering and numbers were the easiest to remove I've ever encountered In short its what I wanted and I'm happy

I have no dog in this race, let alone a terrier, but those coaches definitely look green

Thanks Stephen, I'm sure it will but thus far I've not turned up a copy hence the query

The Caley is famous for turning out it's passenger locomotives in blue, while the tender bore the company's arms flanked by the initials C R and rather splendid they looked too. Goods locomotives however were in black. Once again the tender bore the initials C R, but in this case did they still have the company's arms, or just a single dot separating the initials. I know that they did this with the borrowed RODs at the end of WW1, but was that simply being cheap and cheerful or did it reflect existing practice ?

Seem to have fixed it with a bit of a Tamiya rubber tube for attaching tank tank wheels. Hole was a bit oversize but a spot of glue did the trick

LMS 17566 arrived this morning and on the whole very pleased - although I reckon that the Hornby J36 is superior The intention is to backdate it to CR black, but that can wait. A far more urgent issue is going to be securing that very insecure tender connection - did anyone ever come up with a solution, beyond Blu-tac ?