Brassey

Stevensons carriages are still available in the hands of Paul Barker IIRC. He attends a number of shows under the name Stevensons Carriages but does not have an internet presence. The shows are mainly in the North/Midlands. I'm not too sure how many corridor arc coaches he has but there is always the Ratio LNWR offering. Peter

Jol You do yourself a disservice. An "average" modeller cannot produce work of this quality and also produce articles about it in the modelling press that we all follow with enthusiasm. Plus design etched kits too! Your work is first class and truly an inspiration. Cheers Peter

Hi John Good to see an LNWR workbench. The paint work on the 50ft coach looks superb which is a real challenge. Is that a 6wheel PBV in the background too? I've been tinkering with a DX Special Goods for five years now and also have a Jumbo and Whitworth on the todo list. All also from LRM Cheers Peter

Thanks Larry, I now have a fighting chance of completing this kit. Peter

I've checked my more recent kit and it does indeed have an extruded aluminium roof though the instructions refer to a wooden one!

Jol I bought one of these when 247 Developments were still doing kits. The origins of which are probably Modellers World. Will have to check the roof at some point. I've also got hold of the Masokits bogies; another one on the todo list. Cheers Peter

Hi John Thanks for the interest. I gave myself a week off last Summer to complete and ballast the track but it took the week just to fully wire up, make functional and fine-tune all the point work. I don't want to ballast until everything works. I ran out of time. So visually there is nothing different to see at the moment. I am now in the chicken and egg situation of having no stock to test the track work and no track work to layout-test stock so I have been focussing on making the stock which is taking longer than I imagined. From memory, in Templot I set the start of the transition curve radius at 0 (which is where the fiddle yard enters the station end; so on a straight road) the final radius I think i set at the metric equivalent of 5 feet. Templot then sets the transition. I can't remember whether I calculated the length at 3.2m or whether that's just where the curve reached 90 degrees on the plan. You can read that I added another infill board to straighten the road again so that it can enter the other fiddle yard on a straight road. The overall length of the track thus is about 3.5m which is not particularly long but it was a very compact station. Another member of RMWeb very kindly surveyed and drew the station building for me so I have a plan to build that but stock is the priority at the moment. The layout does run from one fiddle yard to the other with my ancient Wills 1854 Pannier Tank built over 35 years ago. On the workbench at the moment is a Malcolm Mitchell 517 tank which will pull a rake of 4 wheelers for which 2 of the 4 chassis are built; all of course in P4. I also have some Dean Goods in the works and next up will be an old George Norton LNWR Cauliflower with an appropriate LNWR goods train behind it. My kits for this project include a Bill Bedford D32 van which I acquired at Scalefour North recently. Cheers Peter

Hi Jol Good to see the Precursor finished - your thread inspired me to get hold of a kit myself (still not started though!) I see that you have elected for the later brake blocks on the coal tank. Is there a reason why you did not go for the wooden brake blocks? My reason for asking is that I have found these very fiddly to put together and wondered if you had the same challenge? Cheers Peter

Hi Mikkel Yes that's the layout. Having check the link I must have seen it at ScalefourNorth 2014. Very impressive Peter

There is an LBSC model of just such a location on the exhibition circuit but I cannot recall the name; i saw it last year and was impressed

I bought a pen two years ago. They emailed an invoice which gave the details as to how to pay via bank and via PayPal which I did. That was of course before Brexit so not sure what the implications of that might be.

Excellent build of an interesting vehicle Jazz as always but just an observation; not many LNWR D385 PBVs had torpedo vents as they were deemed unnecessary.

I believe whoever holds the rights to these wants too much for them

Note that after the 4 coach set is another vehicle still in Chocolate and Cream. This counters the view that all had gone by WW1. I am sure I have read that some coaches never achieved the single colour scheme.

Hi Coach Some more of your work has appeared under Gostude i.e. 3x GWR coaches. Whilst looking at these it occurred to ask how you achieve the GWR cream? It looks less custard than the proprietary paints available and more realistic. Been meaning to ask for a while. Regards Peter

Traction engines appeared in yards in the 1900's. Note the early car in the centre:

What always struck me as intriguing in this photo is that there is such a ladder erected in the middle of Platform 1 at Crewe with all the Porters going about their work! An accident waiting to happen. I am sure there is a photo of an even longer ladder working on the roof of Lime Street but I can't seem to find it.

Long ladders; the LNWR had some too:

it would depend on what you are modelling. The main line would have recently new stock in Lake but a branch backwater is unlikely to have any. There are pictures of complete trains in Lake in the era but also trains with a mix of chocolate/cream, brown and lake. For my stock, obviously anything that was new after 1912 is in Lake, such as contemporary toplights. For everything else, if I have a duplicate coach then I will produce it in either brown or lake - just for variety rather than on any scientific basis. Hope this helps.

Can I ask what the pre-1912 fixings were if known. Cheers

Is the intended vehicle corridor? It's the problem I have with the concept of cutting down the Ratios. The cut down vehicle I want would ideally be non-corridor. Sourcing LNWR non-corridor arc ends is a challenge. Peter

"Hi Peter, that's a funny coincidence, but then again maybe not as the S4 boiler attracts. Your lovely photo made me take mine out of the stockbox. I think the builder underestimated the complexity of a Finney kit (not that I knew better myself at the time), so there may be inconsistencies with the real 3245." Hi Mikkel, The comment I would make is that I think it unlikely that 3245 would still have had coal rails with that post 1908 livery. Your model has the cover on the sight feed lubricator pipe on the smokebox which is a post 1910 update according to Russell, and being pedantic, 3245 received the S4 boiler as late as 1911 which dates it. With such a major overhaul I would have thought the tender would have been updated too at the same time with fenders. There were other members of the class that got S4 boilers earlier and prior to the livery change probably. The Finney kit comes in either a belpaire of round top version and I went for the round top because, you are right, the S4 boiler does attract. 3245 was the only one with an S4 boiler that could have run on the Shrewsbury to Hereford joint line in 1912 because it was shedded at Chester. The picture is an up train (Northward bound) at Leominster on the S&H line passing the South signal box with a nice section of 6 wheel and clerestory bogie stock. I see you have a 6 wheeler in your stash along with the Slater Clerestorys which would make a grand train behind 3245. Peter

The numbers on the splashers are part of the Finney kit. Peter

Hi Mikkel I too have a 3232 on my build list which coincidently will also be 3245 which was sheded at Chester in 1912 and was the only one still with an S4 boiler in the area. Merry Christmas Peter

Hi Gordon In general keys were driven with direction of traffic which helped prevent them working loose. At joints the keys were driven towards the joints. Somewhere in the middle of this topic is a post from me complaining that I laid a whole section with the keys in the wrong direction! IIRC this was by way of comfort to you for putting the bullhead rail upside down on turnouts. It occurs that you may be having trouble threading the chairs because you have the rail upside down again. Just a thought. I built all my track with ply sleepers and rivets soldering every 5th or 6th sleeper. The rest are plastic chairs even on plain track. The smaller, lower portion goes on easier; I also found that the end of the chair without the key was easier to thread. Peter