Miss Prism

I stand to be corrected, but as far as I know, if a GWR NPCCS vehicle was 'Westinghouse fitted', then it did have actual WH gear. I have yet to see a decent diagram showing exactly what or where it was, but I think it was a comparatively small cylinder tucked up under the underframe. I used some dimensions from the drawing on page 142 of Great Western Coaches Part 1, but to and to all intents and purposes, the cylinder was not really visible (from a vehicle side view). I have no idea how it was connected to the rest of the brake gear linkages (vacuum and, where fitted, hand). D&S kits tend to be somewhat 'simplified' in the brake gear area anyway. The Perseverance Y2 has full DCIII vacuum and hand clasp-brakes, and that is nightmare enough! Pragmatically, the only real manifestation of the WH brake is the characteristic pipe on the ends of the vehicle, and they tend to be taller and thinner* than a normal vacuum pipe. Steam, vacuum and Westinghouse pipes make headstocks quite busy. I think the SDJR and MR used Westinghouse as well? * I seem to remember using 0.8mm

Phil - did you widen them as well, to 8'6"?

'Exchanged'? I don't understand you, Mikkel.

Plated over or painted over?

Lovely, but where are the slip reservoirs? Underslung? (I like the slips that had long tanks on the roofs!)

F11 or F12 38'6" 4-compartment composite slip. The kit is probably a Roxey F12. (The F11 had 6'4" bogies, but I think the F12 had 8'6", so I'm not sure whether the model in the pic is supposed to be an F11 or an F12. Confusing!)

Quite a lot of GWR NCCPS was dual-fitted (vacuum and Westinghouse), primarily Horse boxes, some of the Fruits (Y2 and Y3 in particular), some Siphons (O8 and O9, and I think a few O2/O3/O4/O5/O6). This enabled them to interwork with the LBSCR and GER, which was important for horse box traffic (Epsom, Newmarket etc). Not sure when the Westinghouse gear started to appear on GWR NPCCS, possibly 1906 (as a wild guess!). Generally, I think it had been removed by c 1931.

http://www.clag.org.uk/pics/beams/continuous-2251.gif

The axle weight distribution would be better if the 17.5mm dimension was made 18.5mm.

Sorry if I've missed something, but what is the 'Making Waves' paste?

David Geen has yet to regain access to and control of his website.

The railway bit is great, but have to admit I'm spending more time looking into that water!

An 80g drive bogie should be fine for three 160g pinpoint coaches.

Do you mean 3 coaches in addition to the thing with the drive bogie in, or 3 coaches inclusive?

Craig - we are awaiting developments and hope Iain Young will be 'in operation' soon: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/117208-cspangenoria-models/

Sorry the standard 7'3" + 8'3" CLAG plots weren't quite suitable for the spacers in the 2251 etch, Andrew. Let me know how you adjusted the fulcrum points, so that I can add it to the CLAG page, which I hope may assist future 2251 practictioners.

Thanks, Simon. gwr.org.uk links updated.

I'm so tempted to promote "Swindon Improved Wagon Red" as an official name...

Yes, certainly, and the internet has made things a whole lot different. I was just making the point that 'cheap and cheerful' kits in model shops keep the tills ticking over and the moulding tools pumping.

A factor in Coopercraft's historic success was the common availability in model shops, which promotes impulse buying. (The same applies to Slaters and Ratio kits.) Good distribution arrangements were/are crucial.