NeilHB

John, A quick search of eBay UK for ‘Pasting table hinges’ found a few sellers that shipped worldwide - all very reasonable prices by the look of things. Hope you manage to find some that are suitable.

A little break from lining to letter up the first of my ETCo wagons. The transfers were a custom order from Corbs at Railway Mania - I can highly recommend as the transfers are very clean and crisp, easy to apply and most importantly were excellent value for money. Thanks Corbs! Standard 3-plank open No.6 2-plank dropside No.11 4-plank open fitted with raves for the transportation of sheep No.17 Next step to paint the interiors and underframes. I then need to get on and build some more to use more of the transfers!

Lovely work Dave.

I think we need a drool reaction - these are simply delightful Annie!

Hi John, They are pasting table hinges.

I am pleased to report that all lining has been completed on Elsbridge Tramway Company locomotives Nos.2 and 4. A very productive lunch hour today adding the last few bits. No.2 "Sigrid" in Doncaster Green with Black/White Lining: And No.4 "Sigmund" in the standard ETCo livery of Indian Red with Yellow/Black lining: No.4 needs a new set of roof supports as I managed to break a couple off when I was lining it out. At least they will be an easy fix. I hope to be able to complete the lining on No.3 "Gerda" this evening.

Sometimes you just have to say to hell with it and start again…twice in fact! WSR “Thorkell” was first up in the do it again category, having new lining applied and new sets of lettering on both sides as I wasn’t happy with them: In WSR condition as their No.1 In early NWR days as their No.12 ”Sigmund” also had the do it treatment, this time involving a full repaint in readiness for new lining, which has now been applied to the boiler, one side and one end: Much better now I think.

Annie, from my experience volunteering on the recreation Travelling Post Office trains on the Great Central Railway the hut and figure are too close to the net and liable to be clouted by weighty mailbags travelling at speed! Though I realise it may be the angle of the photo and they may be far enough back. Once we’d dropped the bags on the arms out and put the net down ready it was always a case of standing well back, even inside the train, as the bags weighed a considerable amount and had a tendency to bounce quite well, particularly those being collected by the train. I must admit it was jolly good fun, and we had some memorable runs (Leander and City of Truro are the two that always spring to mind) when I was volunteering. Some lovely footage here of the GCR TPO from a few years ago after I’d stopped volunteering sadly:

My HMRS transfer order arrived today (very speedy since I only ordered them on Saturday), so I sat down this evening and started sorting out the lining on some of the stock. ETCo No.3 “Gerda” was first up, and I’ve lined one side so far using LMS pale yellow and black lining: Much better than my hand lining attempts! This will become the standard ETCo lining now. I’d also ordered some LNER white/black lining to do the W&SR locos, and ETCo No.2 “Sigrid” as she carries a green livery rather than the standard ETCo Indian Red, so I’ve made a start on her too: Still got to line the skirts but I like how it’s looking so far. I also applied lining to the skirts of NWR No.7 - just a simple red line but it does set the blue colour off nicely I think: What do you think please folks?

According to the books I have on the BCDR, it was a block post on the main line, and goods trains were frequently parked on the branch itself to allow other traffic to pass on the main line. Effectively blocking the branch train from accessing the junction until they had departed. There was also a rather long headshunt at the Belfast end of the station which may have assisted in passing trains when required?

James, I did wonder if Ballynahinch Junction on the Belfast and County Down Railway might provide suitable inspiration for Birchoverham Market: BCDR main line from Belfast entering at the top and exiting bottom right to Downpatrick and Newcastle. Ballynahinch branch exiting bottom left. This was quite interesting as for a number of years was operated by the BCDR’s 6-wheel diesel from Harland and Wolff and a pair of 6-wheel coaches - rather delightful! I’d be inclined to move some of the goods faculties into the space between the diverging lines where the dotted outline of the shed is on the plan above, that way it would be easily accessible by both Staithe and Town traffic?

“Thorkell” paid a short visit to the workbench this evening in order to receive its Wellsworth & Suddery Railway lettering as their No.1: As the layout will eventually cover a couple of different time periods, the other side carries North Western Railway lettering as their No.12: For the later North Western Railway time period, I’ve been working on and modifying a Slaters Midland 6-wheel Brake Third to get away slightly from its obviously Midland origins: It will form one half of a pair of NWR liveried 6-wheelers that will go rather nicely with NWR No.1: What do you think please folks?

Little bits of modelling to report on this week. Ex W&SR “Edric” in North Western Railway colours has now gained a number and been reassembled. I’ll add the lining when I’ve placed my next order with HMRS: A new nameplate for him is on order from Light Railway Stores/Narrow Planet, along with those for the rest of the Wellsworth & Suddery Railway fleet. Hopefully that will give me the incentive to get on and sort them out. ETCo/NWR No.7 “Toby” has also gained numbering: I tested out a new lining scheme for the ETCo locos, using “Gerda” as the guinea pig: Just a basic trial using some old waterslide transfers from Fox at the moment. I’ll redo it properly when I get some better Pressfix ones from HMRS but I think it suits the trams nicely. I then had a very silly idea at the end of last week… North Western Railway No.1. Scratchbuilt body which is very much work in progress but I think I’ve captured the likeness nicely, though I’m not going for the dropped footplate at the front (mainly as I prefer the look from the later books). It’s sitting on a Dapol Terrier chassis, but that’s been fitted with the wheels from the Dapol Jinty. I just need to swap the gear wheels over as the one on the Jinty is much chunkier and won’t fit the chassis. Thoughts?

Thanks Sam, that's a good find. Some new, some secondhand that I inherited from a late friend. A lot of his came to me as effectively kits of parts so were actually a good starting point to put different bits together to get something else. I've never been afraid to take them apart and repaint/modify as necessary to suit my needs, whether they were new or secondhand!

Thanks James. There will be some Ivory and Green stock, but only a couple at most that belong to the Wellsworth & Suddery Railway which will be allowed occasional visits. I like the sound of your tramcars - the Hales/Keilkraft plastic tramcar kits sound rather useful. I guess the Testors/Hawk San Francisco cable car kit is the 7mm scale equivalent. I will admit that in my world the ETCo’s G15 and W&U tramcar plus luggage van did originally come from your GER-WNR joint Bishops Lynn Tramway - a perfect excuse to have a couple of additional members of the class built without too much compromise! I hope that is acceptable to yourself. I shall looking forward to seeing the WNR version of the ETCo steam trams in due course. We do have a similar, excellent taste in freelance Edwardian railways - long may it continue! Thank you, I’m just glad to be finally getting somewhere with building a layout. I suspect my other half is glad as well having patiently listened to my ideas for the last 14 years (he’s a patient one bless him). I must admit I like the challenge of not having a loop, mainly as the width of the board just won’t permit it. It’ll certainly keep me on my toes when operating. The trains will arrive and depart on scene from behalf the dairy which will act as a viewblocker at the front left hand end. I’ll probably use a cassette system or similar to move stock on and off the layout. Thanks, the Horsebox is ex-Midland - IIRC the drawing is from Midland Carriages Vol.1. I reckon one of them would be an ideal cast-off acquired by the West Norfolk? Today’s workbench occupant is Wellsworth & Suddery Railway “Rognvald” which is back for further thoughts on its conversion/unholy matrimony of a Minerva Peckett and a Dapol Terrier. I’m aiming for a Victorian/Edwardian maid-of-all-work look which I think I’ve captured with this attempt: We have: - Dapol Terrier chassis - Scratchbuilt footplate -Minerva Peckett body (shortened) and cab (altered and rear bunker added) - Dapol Terrier splashers and smokebox - IIRC the chimney is Midland from a 1F A real mashup of parts, but I do like how it looks. Just need to find a way now to disguise the motor under the saddletank. I was going to finish it in the standard W&SR livery of two tone green, but I think he’ll look rather good in NWR blue. Thoughts please folks?

Definitely starting to feel better now as the modelling mojo is returning to normality. “Sigrid” has had a coat of paint. For some years she carried a non-standard green livery. No one is quite sure why, though it has long been suspected that it was carried out at the request of the Chairman so that he could tell the twins (“Sigrid” and “Gerda”) apart easier: Precision Paints LNER Loco Green (Darlington). The green suits her rather nicely I think. I’m not sure at this stage whether to go for ETCo lining colours (yellow/black) or LNER style of white/black/white. Thoughts please? Next up we have the first two North Western Railway locos to have been lettered. Former Wellsworth & Suddery Railway A1(X) “Edric”: I just to order a set of nameplates now for it to go on the sidetanks under the lettering, and decide on a suitable number to go on the bunker. ETCo G15 “Toby” has also received NWR lettering, but on one side only as the other will carry ETCo insignia: The NWR lettering is from the HMRS LNWR transfer sheet - rather useful for NWR stock. What do you think please folks?

It's a pretty smooth slow runner, hopefully even better by the time I've added some weight to the body.

Been feeling under the weather the last couple of weeks thanks to my asthma. Following a trip to A&E, urgent care centre and two doses of steroids and a stronger preventer inhaler later I’m now finally starting to feeling a bit better, but there’s not been much, if any, modelling to report. However, I did manage to acquire a suitable chassis for the first of the new tram locos, so when it arrived yesterday I took advantage of feeling somewhat better and set about converting it from 16.5 to 32mm gauge and adjusting it to fit under ETC No.3 “Gerda”: Gerda’s alive: I also managed to get No.4 “Sigmund” up and running again after it’s spent the better part of the last 6 months on the naughty shelf for refusing to work. It looks like I shall need to acquire new wheels for it though as it’s developed a rather distinctive limp/wiggle when running!

I'm looking forward to seeing progress on this CKPR. I spotted that Skytrex produces an LNER/NER Standard Water Crane in 7mm scale: https://skytrex.com/collections/o-gauge/products/7-222-lner-ner-standard-water-crane I wasn't sure if this was the same prototype as that formerly produced by Mike's Models?

They look superb Ade - very nicely done.

Thanks Annie, much appreciated

Happy Birthday Mike, hope you have a great day tomorrow!

Annie, any chance of some views of the freelance Hopewood Tramway milk vans please when you have time? They look just the sort of thing that would be suitable for my tramway.

Thanks Ade, it feels good to actually be getting somewhere with a layout at last.

Layout planning fun in the sunshine! Having made absolutely zero progress on converting the garage in order to house Elsbridge, I made a decision to build myself a small layout that I can set up in the lounge (husbands suggestion actually - I think he was shocked I was actually starting to do something about the layout!). I’d acquired a small folding board from my friend Tim when he passed away, and this is now being put to good use as the base for Elsbridge Goods. I’ve taken full advantage of the lovely weather today to set the board up on the patio and have a play around to create a workable trackplan that will keep me entertained when operating. We start at the left hand end of the layout: Fiddle yard to the rear - this will be a cassette based FY enabling me to swap stock quickly and easily. At the front we have a siding serving St Pedrocs Dairy - a low relief structure which will help to mask the FY and its entrance. Moving along, we can see the entrance gate into the yard on the rear line, and the entrance into the private siding serving the dairy. Before entering the dairy the siding will also serve a loading/cattle/livestock bank - roughly where the Wellsworth & Suddery Horsebox is sat. Future along, we can see ETC tram loco “Sigmund” worrying one of the tramways sheep wagons on the headshunt serving the dock and dairy siding. Behind is a short siding where the ex NER ironstone hopper is. At the far end, we can see that the headshunt actually becomes the siding serving the coal staithes (behind the ETC and GW opens). The PW hut in the background is standing in for a yard office, and the cottage is standing in for what will be the location of a small goods shed/lockup. I’m thinking of a small timber built structure for this. At the back of the board beyond the end of the goods shed siding will be a warehouse. I’ve got a Petite Properties Brown and Sons low relief kit which will go nicely here I think. A couple of overhead shots to finish off with: Thoughts please folks?