Brassey

Baxters lists them. A lot started to receive BF from around 1924 but some never did. Do you have a specific loco in mind?

Came upon this thread rather late but have to say that I totally agree with the above as being the purpose of a model railway

I've had bespoke curved GWR name and numberplates for a Duke plus other name boards etched for me by Narrow Planet. At the time, none were on their website. IIRC the were not particularly expensive. https://shop.narrowplanet.co.uk/collections/nameplate-styles No connection etc.

The goods yard is identical to Berrington and Eye apart from the additional siding. The "loop" at MB was much shorter than you've drawn (more like the SRS drawing) and was not a full loop because it only had trailing access from the up line not facing. It would be technically possible to run round a few wagons parked on the up line by crossing over to the down over the the slip and then running back again. This is how I think it operated at B&E. However, an old signalman who worked the line in the 40's, 50's and 60's, said that operation never happened. In those days there was only one local goods and it ran past to Woofferton then worked the yard on the way back from the down line. The back siding is not on the SRS signal diagram so one can assume that the point there was worked locally from a lever frame. I am no expert but, the six other switches would probably only have had 3 levers so they would have worked in tandem and been locked to protect the main line. I only have 3 electric switches on B&E to work 6 point motors. Unfortunately you can't read the lever numbers on the SRS lo res drawing. In pregrouping days, as there were up and down local goods trains, they probably just reversed their wagons into the sidings and they could have been moved later by horse. 90% of wagons delivered to the yard would probably have been coal as was typical on most country wayside stations. A 10 ton coal wagon would lasted a small village quite a few days. As 98% of trains on the timetable did not go anywhere near the yard, I am becoming less concerned with shunting at B&E.

Not too sure how serious you might be about Marshbrook but I would applaud the choice of a real station rather than a fictitious one; it makes research far more interesting. For starters, at Marshbrook the main station building was on the same side as the signal box. Diagonally opposite was (still is) the Station Inn. Took this in September:

These wayside country stations on the S&H had relatively small goods yards; see my station Berrington and Eye just into Herefordshire which had but one siding and no goods shed! In the working timetable there was only one local goods train a day in each direction. Bigger towns such as Church Stretton had larger goods facilities with more frequent stopping trains. At the smaller locations, coal was offloaded directly onto carts without the use of staithes. However, there would have been around 100 train movements on the line a day so plenty of scope for different stock.

That's an interesting angle though break compos (1st/3rd class) were generally used as through carriages. I think for staff they would have used a third class carriage and there would have been staff accommodation in the Post Office and Sorting vehicles none of which would have had corridor access to the compo (which is listed as non-corridor). I think it was going to Merthyr for a return working the next morning. It is a relatively short vehicle even in those days (1912). In the carriage diagrams it is listed as balanced with the 9:30 am though I can't find a 9:30 train out of Merthyr in the timetable, only a 9:15 so it could have been in that train. I don't have any carriage diagrams for that area to check unfortunately . I have become somewhat obsessed with Merthyr because I'd read somewhere that Merthyr had at least one through train to Manchester a day but I cannot find it. You would have thought being at the extreme end of the LNWR network that it would had at least one direct train to the major Northern cities.

For those interested in the information, the immediately prior passenger train to the 06:40 Leominster Woofferton was the 03:30 Shrewsbury LNW Mail. This being a strict LNWR train, it does not seem to appear in the GWR Working Timetable (Service Time Table). The formation was: Sorting Van Euston to Merthyr Break Van (X) Euston to Hereford Two Post Offices Tamworth to Hereford Break Compo (42ft) Crewe to Merthyr Break Van Crewe to Cardiff (RR) The Break Compo (42ft) Crewe to Merthyr is interesting because there are no through carriages in and out of Merthyr listed in the passenger timetable. To catch this you would have to be on the platform at Crewe by 1:45am! It is the only passenger carriage in the train. This train stopped at Craven Arms, Ludlow and Leominster on way to Hereford. I wonder what locomotive was in charge. Maybe a Renown or Precursor but it also gives me an excuse for an Experiment 4-6-0

Looking at the layout on your website, it is more likely that the signal box would have been at the end of the platform as per Church Stretton and Craven Arms. It makes it easier for the signalman to see the station (and get in and out the box!)

Yes. Luckily the platforms are all still removable at this stage. It might destroy the carefully painted and weathered brick face but so be it.

I'd mentioned on another thread that I had used the Brassmasters Cleminson system to convert Ratio GWR 4 wheelers to 6 wheelers. Here's an update to the previous posts: I abandoned using the Ratio under frame in the end because once the Ratio solebar or any metal solebar was fitted there was little room for the centre truck in particular to move which kinda defeated the object. So I reverted to using Mainly Trains GWR 19' underframes. These need a bit of surgery too as the double fold in the solebar gets in the way of the centre truck again. This is the main underframe plate as it comes: And here I have removed a section to allow room for the centre truck to swing, shown with the Cleminson baseplate in place. Centre truck is shown at top of pic: I've not got a pic of a completed Mainly Trains 6 wheel conversion so here's a pic of a Cleminson conversion of an IKB 6 wheeler again. These come with a complex sprung chassis which I did not fancy. The IKB chassis is wider than the MT one and has plenty of room for the trucks to swing and needs no major surgery. I assume that the IKB chassis is closer to scale as the MT one is designed to fit the Ratio 4 wheelers which might not be quite as precise. There is not much room for the additional underpinnings such as vacuum cylinder so that's the next challenge to get them all in. Bill will be please to see that I have removed the brakes from the centre wheel set. This is currently under a Mallard/Blacksmith GWR 6 wheel body that is going through the workshop rather than a Ratio one but you get the idea. This goes round the 5' curves on my mainline fine and negotiates a 1000mm radius turnout in the yard (minimum for P4) without a problem (just over 3 foot radius). I've still got to fit the lower step boards too and now have the added problem that those on other similar chassis foul the platforms so some major work there to remedy that!

For interest, this is my High Level chassis. As can be seen it has a bespoke gearbox unique to this kit. Mine is built compensated to P4 and which allows room between the frames for the dummy valve gear which could be a problem in OO I have used quite a large motor (1428 I think) which is positioned well centrally due to the clever design of the gearbox but does project into the cab a bit. I extended the back head to compensate for this. Since this photo, pickups have been added and it runs fine. Here is the chassis under my closed cab 517 which is why it has 517 axle boxes instead of the High Level lost wax ones that came with the kit

Hi Jol, I've PM'd you regarding the van ends. IIRC I did wait quite some time (18 months sounds about right) for a LNWR 45' break composite from WW of which I'd ordered 2 but only one turned up in the end but that was better than nothing. GWR items arrived quicker possibly within a week. I also had a bespoke item etched which was produced relatively quicker than the 45' coach that was listed on the website. I don't mind the wait as I have enough on my build list to be getting on with. Peter

Jol, would it be possible to add some additional etches for the Boff Van/Milk Van ends for us mere mortals who don't have access to such things? I've ordered quite a few things from Worsley and all have turned up. No complaints from me. Peter

Midland Tarps ordered this morning As an avid GWR/LNWR enthusiast, I don't have much reference of things Midland. A pic of an Ellis box would help though there might be one earlier on this thread. I'm only tolerating a few "foreign" wagons on my layout but the Midland was a close neighbour with a link at Hereford. No carriage stock mind but a few D299's to build plus others

Here's my take on the Midland 3 planker. I built this Slaters kit back in the 80's and have only just got round to finishing the paint job. It is completely devoid of any interior detail. I know the number plate and tare are in the wrong place but I did not know that when I first put it together so long ago. I had originally painted the lower black parts but the upper paint (don't laugh) is Poundland grey primer! I must have bought a tin of Precision Midland Light Grey way back when I bought the kit and intended to use that as the top coat but as widely acknowledged, when I tried i out it is greenish. So I left the primer and think overall it works. Any opinions please:

Whilst I was pondering how to use the 517's I have on the workbench, I'd completely forgotten this fact that they could have pulled LNWR trains too. It helps to go back and read your own Topics! I have a soft spot for these small GWR tanks so the candidate local trains are: 06:40 Leominster Woofferton 10:05 Ludlow Hereford 10:53 Hereford Craven Arms 11:47 Ludlow Hereford 11:40 Hereford Craven Arms 16:30 Hereford Craven Arms 18:30 Hereford Ludlow 20:53 Woofferton Leominster Ludlow also had a Metro so that's another candidate loco for this list. My rather ambitious objective is to run a 24hr timetable which would be about 90 train movements. I recently tried to rationalise the list by taken out the goods RR's (Run as Required) which took it down to about 80. However, in doing that and going through the WTT again I found a couple of trains I had missed! One was an LNWR loco coal empty which is easy enough as I have salted away a number of Ratio LNWR loco coal wagons which would now run with removable loads to go both up and down. The other train though was an LNWR ballast train that ran from Llandovery via Craven Arms through Hereford presumably to Abergavenny Junction and onwards. I had discounted any LNWR permanent way trains because from circa 1907 the track was in the hands of the GWR but I had overlooked the possibility of trains passing through. The timing of this train through Berrington and Eye in the morning moves it to number 3 on build schedule but I better get on with finishing off the coaches to go with the 517's before I start on a new train:- http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/72342-lnwr-coaches-gwr-coaches/ Peter

I believe the Slaters 4mm kits have returned to Slaters

I’ve been working on building some of the Ratio GWR 4 wheelers as 6 wheel but they need a new chassis with slimmer solebars to get them to work. I’ve done some with adapted Mainly Trains underframes. I have a stash of the Brassmasters Cleminsons for these and for IKB 6 wheelers which are a bigger challenge. I have a thread on here somewhere and will post a link on when I’m off the mobile. Jol, I also have some LRM 6 wheelers on the list too (and David Geen for which I have LRM u/frames) so will watch this build with interest. All I need is time to build them! Peter Edit for link: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/72342-lnwr-coaches-gwr-coaches/

The ability of these to negotiate curves is not just about the movement of the trucks themselves but the width between the valances that can restrict their movement. For example, to put them on a plastic Ratio kit with unadjusted thick plastic valances set to OO means the centre set have hardly any room to move at all.

Hi thanks for the question. Well I cheat by firstly copying what the kit manufacturers have done who may have had a GA drawing to refer to when designing the kit. In that instance I used a Martin Finney Dean Goods kit but I also have a Malcolm Mitchell 517 which does include copies of GA's with the instructions. However, the kit manufacturers will have designed the splashers wider to take account of the narrower BTB in OO so I take this back out as I model P4. You can see that the splashers on 835 are wider than on 1425 because 835 uses the splashers from an old white metal M&L kit whereas the splasher tops on 1425 are scratch built. I also refer to photos to gauge what looks right; to see the wheel behind the splasher would be wrong. P4 wheels are thinner than OO so the splashers can be narrower. Both these kits and my 1425 have valve gear so narrower splashers give a better chance of seeing this between the frames. So far I have not built any working valve gear though! Don't hold our breath. PS: IIRC the Finney Dean Goods has a choice of different width splashers depending on which discipline you model. Hi Mikkel, I think I borrowed that description from the Malcolm Mitchell instructions (as well as the design of the bunker itself and some spare parts). The second bunker did not work out as well as the first; strange how my modelling gets worse with practice. Peter

Progress on the 517's has been typically glacial but 835 now has her numbers. Just buffer heads, rear buffer beam numbers and some cab detailing to do. I have bought the whistles and will fit them to the cab roof once I've found them again. And 1425 has the 'armchair' bunker beaded and fitted along with lamp irons and the closed cab. This one will be finished in chocolate. I've also been doing a spot of ballasting in the meantime.

Jol. apart from oversticking a new address label, I doubt the instructions have changed under Paul. I have one of his in my kit mountain too. Will follow with interest. Peter

What width frame spacers are you using? Edit: having reread the thread, I see you are using the P4 spacers. Why not try something wider? Martin Finney's kits use the old fashioned flexichas bearings in slots rather than hornblocks which gives more room between the frames for the valve gear. I am currently building an 1854 chassis with valve gear which is how I know. But for my next Dean Goods I am planning on using the Comet sprung horn guides with the Comet chassis. IIRC, in an old MRJ Compendium, someone got his working in OO; so it is possible.

Birkenhead Woodside was on the Birkenhead Railway which was joint GWR/LNWR so it was run by GWR motive power. Until fairly late on it retained Expresses direct to Paddington