jimwal

Hasn't this thread become more interesting than simply frothing about the Oxford announcement!

Good drawing there Clive. A lot better than those diagrams in the LMS coaches books. I'm still looking for pics of Stanier catering cars in BR maroon, I have some in crimson/cream. Actually there may be many photos with them in, but well down the train with the focus being on the engine.

Pandemic delays? A year or so of it for a decade of excuses.

'New competition on Shef-Ex toybrains etc' What is the maximum number of bits Clive can cut to make a coach side? I believe I counted 21 pieces in one of those, but I may have lost count part way along!

If the 12' 6" wheelbase bogies are 6 wheel they well be LMS or Midland ones as used on restaurant and sleeping cars. I have BSL restaurant third with them on. The GWR, LNWR and Caledonian used 6 wheel bogies, there may have been others.

If all are defective I would look to return them.

Many thanks LNER4479. I have already searched Robert's and Paul Bartlett's photo sites. Both are very comprehensive but catering cars could not have been on photographers' agenda at the time.

I have posted the request below in a couple of other places on RM Web and elsewhere but so far with only limited response. With Tony's thread having such a huge following, I'm hoping someone here maybe aware of other resources. Images of LMS Restaurant Cars in BR times. Looking for photos or sources to the above. I have all the usual LMS carriage books by Jenkinson and Essery. The images in these are nearly all official 'as built' type shots with very few in the BR period. I have done some searching of the photographic collections like 'Rail Online' and others. Inevitably many of these are 'loco centric' meaning relatively few rolling stock views. I have a few pics of 'period 1 & 2' vehicles but very few of 'Period 3' Stanier coaches particularly in BR maroon. Many Thanks Jim

That's the stuff!

There is another thread titled: 'ABS Models (Adrian Swain)'. Maybe it could be used rather than start another thread.

Many thanks TMc. I have already placed an order with HMRS for those. I will look at the RCTS archive. Jim

Looking for photos or sources to the above. I have all the usual LMS carriage books by Jenkinson and Essery. The images in these are nearly all official 'as built' type shots with very few in the BR period. I have done some searching of the photographic collections like 'Rail Online' and others. Inevitably many of these are 'loco centric' meaning relatively few rolling stock views. I have a few pics of 'period 1 & 2' vehicles but virtually nothing of 'Period 3' Stanier coaches. Jim

Info from David Larkin's books seems to be that BR fairly quickly dropped the scheme of black livery with straw lettering for loco coal wagons. They then become grey with white lettering without a 'D' prefix. I have seen it mentioned somewhere (possibly David Larkin again) that 21T coal wagons were transferred to power station and industrial workings with the loco coal work being done using the all wood coal and merchandise wagons supplemented by 16T mineral wagons. The wooden wagons sometimes marked 'one journey only- loco coal' or similar wording.

Hi Mike, yes for post '75 but these wagons date from the fifties and photos in David Larkin's books and elsewhere show shackles up to at least 1968. Matt's wagons are obviously air braked, with tensioners and very good they look too! The wagons in the Flickr photo appear to have a non-standard securing for the chains, maybe prior to ratchet straps becoming common. For the steam era shackles I believe it has to be! Jim

Can we use this reasoning when the 'greens' tell us we must stop eating meat to save the planet?

Clive, that scratchbuild looks brilliant! with its more appropriate sized windows it must show up those on the old Hornby cut and shuts. . . .Dare I say it. . . but the glazing will be simpler as well.

Bump... . . . . again??

Richard, Fit furniture then paint. Unless you are going for pristine showcase models, some parts are sure to fall off.

They either don't read this or don't know what 'ratchet tensioners' are. As with John Isherwood there will be no purchases by me either. Making the Cambrian salmons into useable working models is not the easiest of jobs, but compared with hacking unwanted detail off of diecast items, it will be easy. Plus they are cheaper.

Yes, agree that's likely to be the case here. Having worked on a heritage line restoring carriages the costs soon mount up. It is sometimes necessary to do an interim job to get a vehicle into service until funds are available to do a full restoration. One reason why preserved items should be checked for authenticity.

The roof covering on this coach looks like bitumen roofing felt, what you may use to cover the garden shed. There are no long rainstrips nor destination board brackets. Perhaps it was done on the cheap if the coach was due to be taken out of service soon. This one looks much more like the original layout.

The coal yard must have been out of use by the mid fifties as the Southminster, Marks Tey and possibly other sand traffic went there. The yard was in the form of brick arch drops or staithes. Iron ore hopper wagons surplus from quarries in the midlands and elsewhere were used.

More six wheelers showing wheel mountings. At left is the Stove R, next is the Hornby Dublo version (the colour has faded reducing its collector value). Next is the Chivers LMS fish van with proper centre wheels. Finally is a Midland 530A brake van from Ratio Bain suburban coach parts. These show the way I have arranged the centre wheels. Basically a U shape bracket to hold the axle, narrow enough to allow sideplay.

Here are a couple of images of my van. Among other things the duckets were replaced with slimmer ones. The chassis required fairly drastic work.

Narrowing the body is easy enough. Remove the gangways, cut dead in the centre and stick the two halves back together. Just select a hacksaw blade that gives the right width of cut. I cannot remember if one blade was wide enough or if two were needed side by side. The roof profile is correct when done, it will need a couple of filling and sanding sessions to tidy it up. The gangways cover most of the ends, just a bit at the top. I will try and get some photos on here. Jim