DavidB

Not all electronic speed controllers are equal - I had some very disappointing experiences with a couple of products, such as a 16mm scale Double Fairlie that came professionally fitted with r/c at considerable additional expense. The ESC produced a very irritating electronic whine and it turned out that it had been designed for r/c cars, meaning that the quality of control in reverse was much lower than in forward direction. Not much use for a double-ended locomotive, so I had to strip out the installation and fit my preferred (silent and superbly controllable) ESC from RCS. David

I use a scrawker tool for my plasticard coaches - scrawkers are specifically designed to scribe fine lines in plastic and metal. Mine makes consistent panel and door indentations and removes unwanted plastic from the grooves without creating the raised edges on either side of the scribed lines that you can get in with some other tools. I think I ordered mine from Eileen's Emporium. Might be worth a try unless you are using very thin (5 or 10 thou) plasticard, in which case you would need to be very careful not to cut right through. David

All my Accucraft L&B freight stock (vans and bogie open wagons) came with both 32mm and 45mm wheelsets (from memory, they were factory-fitted in the boxes with the 45mm sets). Almost all 16mm RTR these days is designed to cater for both gauges. The exceptions are inside-framed steam locos, like the discontinued Roundhouse single Fairlie Taliesin, which only came in gauge-specific versions. As an aside, it means that some locomotives (e.g. the Roundhouse Penrhyn Hunslets and the Accucraft NGG16 Garratt) are wider than true scale, to cater for both gauges. The Accucraft rolling stock is very nicely made, robust and well detailed - the standard chopper coupling is over scale and keeps the vehicles too far apart, but it works very well in my experience (especially if you want to propel stock over reverse curves when shunting) and it can be modified to make it less obtrusive if needed. I was sceptical about the choppers to begin with, but I now fit them to all my stock in preference to the LGB/hook-and-chain/paper clip alternatives. David

Very nIce Pete - takes me right back to my own family holidays in Dawlish in the 80s (even including the poppy red Devon General Bristol VR behind the eth Peak in the fourth photo). Thanks for sharing, David

Lovely work - I don't think I'd really clocked before just how short the boiler barrel is on a Jubilee, compared to the long smokebox and firebox. Really looking forward to seeing this one finished. David

Very ingenious - just the kind of creative approach that I love to read about. Thanks for sharing, David

Wow - that is simply gorgeous. Fabulous piece of work. David

Looks fantastic Martyn - hope you have a cracking show. David

Still looking good though - I really like the cylinder/bogie/running plate relationship. Looks just right in the Urie built-to-last-forever-from-armour-plating style. David

The other factor to consider, based on Peter Smith's memoirs about firing double chimney 9Fs over the Mendips, was the sheer human cost of feeding the monstrous appetite for coal when producing 2,000hp from a two cylinder machine. Fine on a day when the fireman was on top form and all conditions were favourable, but too much to ask of someone day in and day out, which would make regular rostering to take the benefit of the extra power simply unrealistic from a human dimension. I've just checked and the introduction to the Locomotives Illustrated edition on the 9Fs mentioned above was written by a RMWeb regular who may have more to say on this subject. Paging Stationmaster Mike, paging Stationmaster Mike.....

This even applies in our scales - the Accucraft NGG16 Garratt (OK - it's a 4 cylinder design powered by gas and without the need for the Stephensonian draught to draw a coal fire) was a notoriously poor performer when first introduced and this was traced to a tight spot in the exhaust circuit that was choking the loco. My own model had to be driven very hard on 80psi to haul seven WHR cars around my line and would be winded after two or three laps - after modifications that gave each set of cylinders a separate exhaust circuit, it can now haul the same load with minimal effort on just 45psi for lap after lap. I guess the reason that double chimneys weren't widely applied to 2 cylinder locos was simply the lack of need for the additional power, so the cost/benefit ratio didn't add up. Per discussions on the National Preservation website, the effect of fitting a double chimney to a Castle was to increase available power by up to a third - the highest known power output of a single chimney Castle was around 1,500 dbhp, but double-chimney 5043 sustained 2,000dbhp (equivalent to a strong Class 47) for mile after mile up the Settle and Carlisle a few years ago, as well as demonstrating a considerable capacity for running at high speed on minimal steam. I wonder just how many 2 cylinder locos needed that kind of extra performance on a day-to-day basis. I recall an introduction to the Locomotives Illustrated edition on the 9Fs that referred to the experience of a crew when taking a 9F on a night-time fast fitted freight on the ECML - from memory, the loco's performance was completely different from any 9F they had driven and fired before, but it wasn't until the end of the journey that they were able to see that it was the first of the class to be fitted with a double blast pipe. David

I used a combination of HMRS gold lining and custom decals from Stan Cedarleaf for my 1/19 scale Welsh Highland Pullman observation car Glaslyn. Sadly I can’t tell you the specific colour of the HMRS gold, but it has the right flatness to my eye. Large Pullman models do it for me and I am loving your build - can’t wait to see it completed. David

This was particularly the case on the WR, which had a fleet of Mk2C BSOs (W9464 - W9478) used in exactly this way. In the early/mid 80s, Old Oak Common had a number of nine coach Mk2 a/c sets that worked the main loco-hauled Torbay and Cotswold Line diagrams - these all included Mk2C BSOs at the end of the rakes. The Cotswold Line workings also often included a GUV (but hardly ever a BG). Martin Loader's Hondawanderer site has many photos of these rakes. Those BSOs were so characteristic of the premier WR loco-hauled trains at the time that I had to include them in my model rakes. However, the lack of any RTR Mk2C stock meant that I had to convert Hornby Mk2 BSOs - the original Mk2 brakes used the same body shell for both first and second class variants, so that called for some serious cut-and-shut work to change the window spacing to match the Mk2C BSO layout, as well as changing the roof vents, shrinking the toilet window, adding wrap around doors at the saloon end and adding the red folding gangway doors in the corridor connection. When I changed scales to O gauge, I also then made a similar model to run with my a/c stock converted from TriAng Big-Big coaches. Like Stovepipe, I used to make a bee-line for the BSOs for the full audio experience of Class 50s unleashed along the WR main-line. Deep joy! David

Great to have you back with us - you've been missed! David

Hmm - I'm not sure about that. As a commuter at Reading who fondly remembers the original 1976 interiors of the HSTs (lighter, airier, quieter and smoother than any train I'd travelled on before), I haven't heard a single comment from other travellers about how they prefer the HSTs to the 800s. I have, however, heard many disparaging comments about the 'grotty old trains' and how much nicer the new ones are. As I've mentioned in the main Class 800 thread, I've seen examples where passengers at Reading and Didcot will deliberately choose an 800 for the improved ambience compared to an HST when both are on offer at adjacent platforms. Personally I agree with Stationmaster Mike that the 387s are preferable to the 800s in many ways, and the handful of limited stop services worked by the 387s along the Main lines are my usual choice where possible. Performance is obviously slightly slower than the 800s, but journey times of less than 12 minutes from Reading to Didcot are pretty impressive for a suburban train.

The panelling looks much more realistic than most 16mm wooden coach kits I've seen or made - most manufacturers seem to use the same thickness of ply as they use for the main bodysides, which makes the panelling much too prominent (e.g. compare the otherwise lovely wooden kits for FR Bowsiders produced by The Lineside Hut with the real thing, or with the brass Bowsider etches available from Worsley Works). The panelling on the coach in this thread looks way better - it must either be very thin ply or card. I've never built a Brandbright coach kit, but I'm impressed if they went to the trouble to source a realistic thickness of material for the panelling. David

I only saw 40513 in use on a couple of occasions on the WR. Each time it had been added to an existing set between the first TF and the power car to create an extra long HST. There is more information in posts 14105 and 14106 on Dave F's Photo thread, including the official operating instructions for the Executive Saloon: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85326-dave-fs-photos-ongoing-more-added-15th-september/?p=3293553 David

Reading's pair (W55991 and W55992) very occasionally substituted for a power car in a Pressed Steel 117 unit, and Reading's 117s worked along the Cotswold line to Hereford, so it's not completely inconceivable, although the reduced seating in the formation makes it unlikely for such a lengthy journey. I once had 128 haulage from Reading to Oxford on a Saturday in the early 1980s - the formation was 117 DMS, 117 TC, 128. Sitting in the rear seat in the TC placed me just a few feet from the rasping exhausts of the 128. Reading's Pressed Steels tended to purr along, but the higher-powered 128s were much more vocal, so I thoroughly enjoyed the noisy restarts from each of the Thames Valley stations. David

Wow Nidge - that's my early childhood in the late 60s in one photo - a dual door Reading Corporation single decker in that lovely old livery at my home station, and with a Milwards advert too. All that's missing is a few Warships, Hymeks and NBL Type 2s, plus Falcon and a Blue Pullman. Happy days indeed - thanks for bringing the memories flooding back. I don't suppose you have any photos of the old Reading Bristol REs as well? David

Inverness type 2s (both 26s and 24s) dominated Highland Line workings to Edinburgh and Glasgow in the 60s and early/mid-70s, working in pairs (and famously in triplets on the heavy Royal Highlander sleeper service). Photo captions suggest that they usually returned home on captive diagrams, but Bradford Barton's small paperback on the 26s and 27s suggests that in later years they could be borrowed for other duties once they reached the Central Belt. David

I'll thank you not to use bad language in polite company Mr PMP - the Vale was part of Berkshire in the inter war years and has been part of Occupied Berkshire since 1974. David ("Berkshire born and Berkshire bred, strong in the arm and thick in the 'ead" - still living in the Vale and loving the fact that I can see outstanding models of the buildings in my village at Pendon)

Definitely no sarcasm detected here - just Stationmaster Mike being his usual helpful and knowledgeable self. And like Western Aviator, I too spent many hours on Westbury Lane bridge as a young lad watching trains - in my case, it was the Blue Pullmans, so that John Cooper-Smith photo brings back particularly happy memories. Thanks for sharing it. David

I was recently on a train between Harrow and Wembley which made an emergency stop due to trespassers on the line - two young teenage lads walking coolly and calmly down the middle of the West Coast main line. They carried on walking along the Up Main towards Euston (I.e. With their backs to any approaching Pendolino or Voyager on a line with a 125mph limit, and with live LUL 4th rail tracks just to their right) as we came to an abrupt stop alongside them on the Up Slow. Apparently they were wanted by the police for a burglary and had sought refuge on the WCML, as being a place where the police wouldn't be able to follow them. It took the deployment of a couple of huge Police Alsatians to persuade them to leave the track 90 minutes later, during which time the WCML had been completely shut (although the Bakerloo Line continued running past the site for at least another 20 minutes). If those lads thought the WCML was a safer place for them to be than on the streets, they had a very lucky escape. As a postscript, my train's emergency stop had halted us with the pantograph just feet from a neutral section - fortunately with the gentle downgrade we were able to get moving again (just) and coast at walking place to Wembley, rather than needing rescuing from the section. As the first train into Euston for the best part of two hours at the start of the evening rush hour, the consequences of the lads' actions on thousands of delayed travellers was all too apparent. David

Not a judgement on this particular case, but just an observation from a number of recent journeys on Great Western that a surprising number of mothers with prams have asked the first class host if they can park their pram in first class and sit there on a standard ticket for their journey, on the basis that there is apparently no room elsewhere in the train for their pram. Each time the train crew have accepted the request without question. I have no way of knowing whether the mother in this case had a first class ticket or not, but the willingness of the crew to prioritise the mother's request doesn't come as a major surprise. David

I remember a school visit to Lincoln depot in the early 1980s, where the depot manager told us that lightweight units (Cravens 105s and Derby 108s in this case) had LW stencilled on the cab fronts specifically because there were severe restrictions on what they could safely tow, because of their lightweight construction. Standard 64' heavyweight units were not subject to the same restrictions and it was not unusual to see them pulling GUVs, BGs or (on my local patch) unpowered class 121 driving trailers. Performance suffered accordingly, due to the lower power-to-weight ratio. On the same local patch, the gutsy Gloucester 128 parcels units were capable of pulling a number of vehicles, and indeed acted as locomotives for short ballast trains on the Cambrian for a while when the Barmouth Bridge was subject to weight restrictions. David