NeilHB

Little bit of modelling here, there and everywhere over the last few months. Some of the stock is destined for Elsbridge (Wharf), but most is destined for another project, of more in a while when there is something to report on. First up two repainted Dapol Terriers - A1 and A1X variants: Next up is a selection of Furness Railway stock - The scratchbuilt 10Ton 4 plank from a few pages back has now been painted. Recently joined by a scratchbuilt 12Ton 3 plank And a scratchbuilt 6Ton 1 plank, Which will run with the kitbuilt 8Ton 2 plank from Furness Wagon Company. Obviously Furness wagons need a Furness loco - et voila! A scratchbuilt Sharp Stewart 0-4-0ST - everything on this is built from plastic strip and sheet - am rather enjoying this build so far. A friend is going to 3D print the saddle tank for me, which is a big help! Lastly is the other encumbent of the Workbench - a nice eBay bargain which has been through the paint shop recently. Just needs some nameplates now and a few more odds and ends and it’ll be ready for service :-)

Thanks toffee - glad that she now has a home where she willl be useful! Really must make an effort and go to the Middy for a visit one day myself to see her. Not seen any photos of her time at Carnforth, or at Fawley Hill. Hopefully someone has some, as I'd also like to see some photos.

Borrowing heavily from the 'Norfolk Burnhams' - how about: Aching Thorpe Aching Overy Town Aching Overy Staithe Aching Burnham And of course the lovely little town of Aching Market, actually being a combination of Aching Sutton, Aching Westgate and Aching Ulph... Staithe for me is strongly associated with North Norfolk - having spent many happy childhood holidays staying just outside of Brancaster Staithe, and trips to Burnham Overy Staithe to go crabbing. Not forgetting a stop off en-route at Castle Rising to pick strawberries!

The current pre-grouping encumbents of my workbench. Skytrex GER G15 - this is mounted on a regauged Bachmann 0n30 tramcar chassis - a nice smooth runner. Just need to finish off the painting on the body and it's complete. Next up is 'Robin' (formerly Crosby) - repainted Dapol A1 - I'm in the process of lining her at the moment - this is as far as I've got tonight. I think I'm going to paint the wheels to match the body at some point. She has also been fitted with the later iron brakeshoes, replacing the wooden ones supplied with the standard A1 model. And lastly is 'Swallow' - again a repainted Dapol A1X - same Railway but representing a later time period, hence the different shade of green and simpler lining. The two sisters together :-)

Thank you Wellyboots - still no joy for me today (having now tried iPhone, iPad and PC at work this morning...) - least it's not just me and they are aware of the problems.

Hi All, Does anyone know if DCC Supplies (https://www.dccsupplies.com) are still in business please? I’ve tried unsuccessfully to get on their website this afternoon, but it keeps timing out and I get a message saying the server has stopped responding. It’s a bit of a shame, as they are the only ones I’ve found that sell spares for Dapol’s 7mm scale Terrier! I’m after a few parts, as I’m in the middle of making a couple of modifications to my second Terrier, but haven’t as yet found anyone who sells the spare parts. I was under the impression that they were the official repairers for Dapol?

There’ll be plenty of cakes by the sounds of things - mother Blair has been roped in to make some of her very nice lemon drizzle cakes for us - hope everyone is bringing their appetites with them! I must admit it will be strange to not see Mike in the kitchen this year...

I did wonder Edwardian, having looked at the photos of the ‘new’ layout, if it’s the Flitching terminus of the Bishop’s Lynn - Flitching Tramway? Home of a pair of Sudrian residents in their much younger days, before one of them was threatened with becoming a henhouse?! :-) With a reworking of the scenery, I’d suggest the headshunt and long siding at the front of the layout are allocated to the loading of punnets of strawberries in pyramid fashion inside some nice Great Eastern vans? The two smaller sidings to the rear can become the general goods yard (as it appears to be now), and there could be room for a small ramshackle loco shed on the short siding opposite the station? Or at the very least some loco servicing facilities - I’m thinking something along the lines of what was at Upwell on the W&U. It certainly has the potential to be a very nice layout when it’s done (though I’m very much looking forward to the first powered movement on CA!). Your handbuilt trackwork looks very nice so far - keep up the good work.

Thank you Ruston for the new thread - this makes me very happy. I love Motor Rails - they are such dainty machines that are very much undervalued. That’s a cracking photo (even if it is airbrushed) of the 12-Ton 65/85HP loco, I haven’t seen that photo before and it shows up the details nicely. There are some loco preserved examples that have been restored to working order - 2 Motor Rails (Ubique and Morris) and one of the Worthington Hibberd copies at Chasewater, plus the second Hibberd at the Bass Brewery Museum. There is also the lovingly restored ‘Burt’ at Amberley Narrow Gauge Museum - complete with his own dedicated railway in the area around the restored De Witt Lime Kilns: I think operational wise there is also one (ex WD) at the East Lancs Railway, though this one is rather different with a taller, completely enclosed cab that is somewhat reminiscent of the Great Western owned Motor Rails. Non-operational wise there are far more, and many that are, let’s face in, in not particularly good condition. The two ex ICI Tunstead ones at the Midland Railway Centre are a prime example! Sadly though I don’t think that many of the bigger Railways feel there is much need for a loco of this size. Perhaps we need a Motor Rail care facility where they can be given some much needed tlc and a chance to roam free... :-)

Thanks Dava - I think there will be some form of Burneside layout at some point in the future, but probably as a micro-layout. Agreed about the foam board though - I've got plenty of it stashed away in readiness :-)

No problem - will dig mine out and scan them in for you. Probably be later this week as got to locate the magazine first.

I’ll add a vote for the Bideford locos - I have drawings too if they are useful :-) It’s another one on my I’ll build a model of it one day list...

Found the photo of Beamish's Tin Turtle - turns out it was here on RMWeb all along! On this thread here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70917-standard-gauge-tin-turtle/ Not the armoured version as I thought previously - just a bit modified from the norm.

Somewhere I have seen a photo of the SG Tin Turtle that used to be at Beamish - I'll have look in my books later for it. Seem to recall though that it's now been back-converted to NG and now on display at Duxford? IIRC it was one of the armoured ones, so different to the Wrightlines kits. I think that it came from a sewage works?

Thanks Simon - have a couple of ideas for powering it, and have ordered some parts so watch this space. With regards to the 60hp 6' 6" w/b variant - these were never built, it was just a proposed design. They did go on to produce a 65hp variant with a 5' 11" w/b, which is also featured in the WJK Davies book - These were then modified to this type here as demonstrated here by Motor Rail 4WD 5755 of 1948 (also MR 3896 of 1935 in distance) at Esso Bitumen Terminal, Harrison's Wharf, Purfleet, Essex - 25/03/1961: I did note that the shape of the cab on the print is wrong - illustrated nicely here by a photo of 'Burt' at the Amberley Museum: Note that there is a 'peak' to the roof, rather than how it is curved on the model. Different from the drawing shown in WJK Davies book, but I'm going to assume that that was a pre-production drawing maybe? There are certainly plenty of differences between each of the prototypes in preservation - lovely little machines though!

Thanks all for the various suggestions - plenty of ideas to think about and see what works :-)

Thanks Marc, I’ll have a look at them if my other idea doesn’t work out.

Not sure yet Marc - I’ve seen a couple of micro geared motors on Amazon, and wondered about coupling one of them with some Delrin chain and gears to drive both axles maybe? If that doesn’t work then digital (I.e. finger power) will have to do!

Thanks Marc, I shall look forward to seeing it in Furness Railway mode at the NEC in November.

Thanks Dave - I’ll bring it with me to the Mickleover open day in January for inpection :-)

There hasn’t been any progress at all on Burneside since my last post, and there probably isn’t going to be much progress going forward, however I do at last have one half of the motivepower for the layout thanks to Shapeways: https://www.shapeways.com/product/SWP8T9CQ6/o-43-sg-simplex-loco-1?optionId=64450240 It’s rather nice!

Mine arrived today from Shapeways - nice and quick as I only ordered it on the 30th December! It's rather nice and a big thank you to Simon for taking the time to produce this. If I may point out one issue though - the shape of the cab roof is wrong - the roof on the real thing had more of a peaked profile. See the difference with the prototype photo of Rachel in the goods yard at Burneside (image courtesy of Burneside Past and Present group on Facepest). Not a big issue to sort though with a bit of plasticard! With regards to the main line versions with 6'6" wheelbase - as far as I'm aware these were never produced. They did go on to produce a couple more versions which are illustrated later in that book.

Many thanks Simon - one 7mm scale Simplex ordered! Will post photos when it arrives.

Ooh excellent - a SG tin turtle! Saves me having to try and scratch build one (or two!) in 7mm scale. Do you have a link to it on shapeways please?

What an absolutely cracking model! Well done to Ruston for bringing a curiosity from Boultons Sidng to life - I’ve long been a fan of Issac Boulton, really must get round to building one of his oddities at some point...