Jol Wilkinson

Hi Dylan yes that is one of the loco kits I designed for John at LRM. the others all being LNWR. Great to hear that you are enjoying it. This is my built version (I had a bit of practise building the two test etches). I don't have the skill to line the wheels and a few other livery details may be a bit inaccurate. This despite having bought several NER loco textbooks when creating the design artwork. 679 has Sharman P4 plastic centred wheels with 20 spokes, which I happened to have in stock when I built the loco. Having just one green engine amongst all the black ones made me worry that it might be a bit lonely so I have a Tennant 2-4-0 kit to build and a friend is building a set of D&S NER clerestory carriages to run with them (I have agreed running rights for the NER on London Road). One point if I may, my name is Jol (short for Jolyon). Having an unusual name has made me conscious of getting peoples names right. Jol

Dylan, would also commend that you go for a slightly smaller diameter wheel as suggested if you can't find the ones you want from Markits (the catalogue available online is dated 2013). Wheels were often turned when worn in service, reducing the effective diameter by up to 1.5". So a 6ft wheel would be okay, although you may have to compromise on the number of spokes. Alan Gibson also list the wheel for the V2 but you may prefer to stick with a slightly inaccurate 6ft Markits wheel for ease of fitting. Jol

Hi Peter, yes that was the end baseboard of the original terminus version of London Road, which was "redundant" when I extended the layout into a through station. That used two of the original boards plus two new boards with a total "scenic" length of 22 feet. This board has now been reunited with the other tow original boards and fiddle yard and is now back in the hands of John Redrup. Jol

Yes, I have bought from 247 Developments when it was owned by Errol Surman, then Gary Wells and latterly Brian Mosby.

IIRC Gary Wells took over 247 Developments from Errol Surman. He was able to retail the coach etches although these were supplier by Mr Surman, who retained ownership of them. When Brian Mosby took over 247 the etched carriage sides/ends were no longer available. Squires own the Stephenson Carriages range, which were produced by Brian Badger before Barry Stephenson took them over. I wouldn't be surprised if the ones Erroll Surman supplied also came from the same etch artwork, as similar items were available from Ralph Jackson many years ago and also, briefly, from Dave Gillott at the same time Brian Badger supplied kits. A rather confusing picture. Modellers World also produced etched kits for LNWR carriages but these were for different Diagrams, but I have heard that there was a possibility that they would become available again, Errol Surman's name being mentioned in connection with that. Now back to things with big wheels.

Care to work out if I got this right Tony? (Joy valve gear on an LNWR Teutonic).

It isn't just AI, it's the ignorance of those selling things, who actually don't know what they have got or can't be bothered to find out. With some exceptions it seems that a number of eBay sellers are acquiring the property of Estates that include items they aren't familiar with, hence stupid descriptions and pricing.

Hi John, I am looking forward to seeing these built and painted.What are the Diagram numbers? I am particularly intrigued by the etches for the two narrow vestibule carriages, I can't work out what these are from the Worsley Works website. Jol

Hi Martin, good progress on the tank loco. Electrical solder isn't a good choice in my view. It tends/is designed to form a relatively large joint and doesn't flow well, often leaving a large fillet of solder that has to be cleaned off. A specific modelling lead based solder such as Carrs 188 will flow better but still enable you to add other parts without fear of unsoldering existing joints. Having said that I use LRM 145 solder almost exclusively for kit building only occasionally using 188deg on brass or n/s, or 100 deg on white metal. I only use pre-fluxed electrical solder for assembling components onto pcbs or layout wiring where a large solder joint is an advantage. Jol

We should also remember that Phil at Hobby Holidays has also been supplying the same materials and tools as John Flack, as well as EE did under Eileen and Jim Pitchforth and then Roger Sawyer. https://www.hobbyholidays.co.uk/categories.php?cat=7 Sadly, in the later years EE seemed to discontinue stocking some items while also looking for other lines to sell, which were also normally readily available elsewhere.

Because too many modellers/collectors are readily seduced by gimmicks.

As requested, photo of my GW wheel press. The plastic "overlays are .5mm thick which suited the AG wheels I have been using. They are marked R and L to make sure I always use them in the same orientation,

I have used mine on on all my loco builds since I bought it. I also modified both parts by gluing a piece of plasticard to each wheel contact face. This is the thickness of the protrusion of the hub on AG and Sharman wheels and has a keyhole cut out to clear the wheel centre and crankpin boss. When the wheels are pushed on, both the centre boss and tyre are in contact with the press to give uniform pressure round the wheel.

"LOOK - RARE" high density solder paste. May require minor repair, a major addition to your exclusive collection.

You are only saying that Keith because you haven't been a good boy this year and know he won't be calling at your house. Jol

I am most likely to miss my target of having the wiring completed by the year end but the alterations to the main control board are fairly well underway. In the meanwhile I would like to wish those brave few who have followed this and my Loco and rolling stock thread a very Happy Christmas and a healthy, wealthy and productive New Year.

The NER G/G1's-LNER D23 had an interesting number of frame variations, firstly as 2-4-0 s and then with three different 4-4-0 frame designs over time. The first 4-4-0 frames, as used with the saturated boiler. The other two types, low with a convex front profile and the deeper frames were both used with the superheated boilers. (I regret I cannot attribute these photos).

The Christmas display over the GER station building entrance in Felixstowe. I am sue that the GER aficionados will be able to comment on its accuracy. Happy Christmas.

Yet we have no problem with "Bus Station" where people go to catch a bus. Likewise we go to a petrol station to buy petrol (or diesel, or groceries, etc.). Is it because a Railway Station is a Station on a railway?

One RMweb member has produced an etched for the 700 Class, so you could build your own rather than waiting for he RTR manufacturers to produce one. With so many pre-group prototypes to choose from, there is no guarantee that it would ever be produced RTR.

Dave Ellis teamed up with Brian at Branchlines in 2015 to create NuCast Partners to produce and market the NUcast/Ks kits. Dave later sold the SE Finecast business to Squires of Bognor, but Nucast Partners continues as a separate business. A search for Nucast Partners in RMweb,s Small Suppliers section will provide all thje history.

In the early 80's, a colleague at the regional office of the French motor manufacturer I worked for brought in a neighbours invoice for the first service on the Honda he owned. His neighbour was horrified by the cost and asked for our views on it. What was apparent was that the service schedule called for the replacement of a lot of parts that most companies did not in my experience (I had also worked for Ford and Opel).However, they were the sort of parts which, had they failed would would have probably damaged the owners view of the reliability of his Honda. As I recall they included the fan belt, wiper blades and radiator cap. So Honda's image for reliability was partly being paid for by the owners service bill.

"I make model railways not models of railways" sums it up completely. I prefer to make a model of a railway, even though it might be a fictitious location and set in a variable time span (within limits). I can enjoy research, design, model building, etc. replicating as well as I can a little bit of transport and social history. That's different to enjoying a model railway which can be a total invention of your own imagination, limited only by the money and time you have available to spend on it.

It would make commercial sense if people weren't so besotted with buying the latest highly detailed, gimmick laden, pretty liveried locomotive instead of appropriate stock to run with what they have already bought. When you read of peoples intentions to buy several different iterations of a model when they are announced on topics such as these, it reinforces the view that this is a very loco centric hobby for many collector/modellers. I have been assisting one supplier with developing a set of pre-group carriages, starting nearly two years ago. Despite enthusiasm from those involved with the project, it is continually overtaken by other products - usually locomotives - that are considered more commercially viable. So the carriages project remains on the back burner.

Dylan, perhaps worth asking on the S4 Society Forum, as you have previously posted there. Jol