Castle

Hi Andy, Is my collection going to meet its big brother someday? I have already been beaten to the punch on this one in a sense as the guys just down the road at Pendon have done a display for us at Didcot and before the centre opened; their engines were sat on the buffer beams of the real thing for a photo call! The only loco that was a model of the actual loco it was sat on though was Shannon so I might be able to corner that particular market… Perhaps one day it might be a good idea so who knows? Could make for an interesting event! I would like to get a large number finished first however as the logistics of moving them and then taking care of it all in a very dirty heavy engineering type environment will be tricky. Best done all in one go to my mind and I will need to take the other half with me too as her camera skills will be required to not waste the opportunity on my iPhone ‘snaps’ and limited photography ability. Perhaps an engine photo shoot could be done when I have finished all of them that I need for this part of the collection. Remaining on the list to build or get are 6023*, 4079 (I have the old Hornby one but I am waiting for them to do a nice 4073 series castle in their new moulds), 1338, 7202*, DL26* and 1363. Those marked with an asterisk are in stocks and awaiting a turn on the workbench. Requiring detail and / or weathering but mostly renumbered and standing on their wheels in my display case are 5051, 3822, 3650, Railcar 22, 4144 and 6106. The rest are done except crews (apart from18k as it has the ex Bachmann Class 37 driver that can just about be seen in the posted photos) and DCC. Give me a year or two… All the best, Castle

HI All, A Meat - Tea pair! The next project on the bench for a photo build is of 2 related vans and so they are being done as a pair. These are the MICA and TEVAN vehicles. The MICA's were a breed of refrigerated vans for the transport of fresh meat from slaughter to market. This type of vehicles were often to be seen at places like London's Smithfield Market and versions of them served throughout the reign of the GWR and well into the BR period. They always stood out due to their startling white livery and complex swooping end handrails that gave access to the ice tanks at either end. They were originally refrigerated with ice but later switched to dry ice and this meant a change from two hatches each end to one central version. Didcot's version was built to Diagram X8 in lot 921 in 1925. Some MICAs were later converted to fit into the TEVAN series of vehicles. These were MICAs that had their refrigerant tanks removed and found subsequent employment in transporting dry goods - particularly tea and cocoa. J. S. Fry, the chocolate manufacturer was one such customer. Built in 1922, on conversion from X7 configuration in 1938, Didcot's example entered the V31 diagram. The V diagram includes other covered goods vehicles such as the famous MINKs and the range of grain wagons. The models are both based on David Geen whitemetal kits of the diagram X5 MICA. Both are fairly involved conversions so here we go! The first thing I did with the X8 MICA is to produce a rolling box. The frames and the sides are one and the same on these kits and the axle boxes and 'W' irons are separate bits so the bearing holes are reamed to accept the bearings and then carefully soldered together. This was my first try at soldering whitemetal but I have the advantage of my experience doing whitemetal bearings for real locomotives so I had a bit of a head start here! It didn’t stop lack of heat in one bit from making the very first joint I made fail – nerve wracking to start with isn’t it?! The door stops on the X8 are in a different position too so a little light carving with a scalpel is in order to remove them. Next to fit are the buffers (from L.M.S. again) and end steps and as I didn't read the instructions properly, I hadn't fitted the steps until I had made the body... D'oh! The instructions state that having built many of these, Mr G. recommends the fitting of the steps flat on the bench but it wasn't too difficult to do this way round as I leave the roof off vehicles where possible until painted as it saves a round of masking and leaves a very crisp edge to the paint. Then, the vacuum cylinder and hose (a replacement from Dart Castings) were soldered in place. That's it for now - see you soon! All the best, Castle

Hi All, I am glad people are seeming to like the thread so I will keep going with it! In response to the comments made about the broad gauge (very nice diorama by the way Nick!), as I was 'on shed' today, I took a few pictures that may be of interest / inspiration to some. As we are the only place in the world where IKB's 7' 1/4" is properly used we have the only fully working set of GWR broad and mixed gauge track in existence. It is fully signalled and controlled from the nearby signal box. What is it like to ride? Well, even from the footplate it is graceful, smooth and elegant. You can well understand how these machines easily hit 60mph+! This first picture shows a stretch of normal dual gauge baulk road permanent way. The main sleepers are under the rails and there are just a few transverse members to maintain the gauge. This is relatively simple in concept... ... but this isn't! This is a dual gauge point with a scotch. The scotch takes the rail that is shared by both the broad and standard gauges from the extreme left rail to the extreme right. This will no doubt have the custom track builders of this forum drooling at the potential for a mega challenge! This is one of the two broad and standard gauge split points where the broad (mixed) gauge goes one way along the broad gauge demonstration line and the standard goes off onto what is known as the branch line. And this is the view behind me as I took the last picture with a certain beast quietly awaiting its annual boiler exam! The building is an original transfer shed from the Didcot area that was used to transship goods to and from the broad to the standard gauge lines. And finally on the broad gauge demonstration line, just to prove that there is a prototype for everything we even have a very short stretch of plain 7' 1/4" gauge track that is made up in the more usual chaired track. Just look at the size of the buffer stops! This will one day be the site of Didcot's broad gauge engine house. These pictures wouldn't be complete without a last shot of Didcot's little bit of IKB's atmospheric railway that neatly demonstrates the cross section of the broad gauge rail. Hope that was interesting! All the best, Castle

Hi Simon, Those are shaping up to be some genuinely beautiful bits of kit! There is nothing quite like this era of engineering and the elegance and grace of the locomotives is being captured here and then some. I look forward to seeing the finished article. A top quality job good sir! All the best, Castle

Cornamuse, It was a good basic idea though - just not one that pans out all the way! The track on the broad gauge has longitudinal sleepers under the rails with only the occasional transverse brace to keep the gauge. It has to be said however that we do have a real mixture of track at Didcot including the afore mentioned 'baulk road', dual gauge baulk road, dual gauge with regular transverse sleepers and chairs, broad gauge with regular sleepers and all points (no pun intended!) in between. The metal rail on the baulk road is also of a different cross section known as bridge rail that means it can be fixed directly to the wooden base. The wheels and track may look a little coarse too if you were not to change them. A bit too Triang rather than fine scale! The basic idea of using mechanisms and track gauges for other scales / gauge combinations is good though - we wouldn't have 009 / 016.5 if it wasn't for this kind of thinking! That is what is great about the forum - ideas like this can be kicked around and talked out. It has also stopped me thinking about it too which is a good thing! If anyone else out there wants to give the layout idea a go though, be my guest... As Nick says, more broad gauge modelling can't be a bad thing and if doing a micro layout, building track and so on wouldn't seem as daunting a prospect! All the best, Castle

They were not mucking about were they? How about if we fit the pneumatics to all of the axles - from Kerosene Castle to the worlds largest and heaviest custom  lowrider - I can just see it jumping up and down on the track outside the shed! I am not sure the permanent way team would be keen on this...

Hi Horsetan, If you have access to the afore mentioned book by Kevin Robertson it gives you the full ins and outs on the conversion but the basics are: The train heating boiler end bogie was modified to accept a pneumatically controlled suspension system and a traction motor on the centre axle. A1A - A1A became 1A1 -3! This was so they could fit a range of different size wheels to look at the interaction of the wheel on the rail head and adjust the pressure exerted on the rail with the pneumatics. Power from the traction motor et al came from the accompanying electric loco used as motive power. They compensated for the removed 57 tons (!) of internal  equipment by placing a large quantity of scrap and lead weights between the frame - much like a giant brake van! The insides were gutted and divided up so there was the two cabs as built, a 'room' above the bogie and the rest became a laboratory with tables, chairs and a whole raft of recording and measuring equipment. The bodyside vents also became windows to help the technicians see what they were up to! She essentially became an elaborate non - corridor lab coach. The bogie itself actually  now stretches to the outside of the fairings so it isn't a simple task to put all that back as it was. You are also still stuck with the fact that she is now too tall for Network Rail... Robertson states that the usual formation for the test train was 18000 with modified bogie leading, electric locomotive to supply power to 18K, lab coach with facilities and extra equipment, a braking locomotive to supply extra stopping power and then a loco to take the whole cavalcade back to its start position. The great thing about this is that on at least one occasion this final loco was a DB Class 50 2-10-0 steam engine! The guy in charge of the conservation program has offered me a tour inside the next time we are both on site together at the same time and I will take a few illustrative photos to post here if I remember (!). All the best, Castle

Hi All, Thanks for all the really kind compliments everyone. Kelly: 18000 is a really interesting vehicle and that whole period of modern traction development produced some really striking machines that sadly we only really have 18000 and DP1 to remind us of. The Metro – Vick 18100, the LMS twins and the Bulleid diesels to name but a few. As I said before it’s the ‘retro future’ look that appeals to me. They look like they come from the set of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (sorry if that is an obscure movie reference for some!). The black and silver just seals the deal. Horsetan: We in the loco works think that if you start with a modern helicopter engine and a generator set… The big issue with reviving the loco is not so much the power plant, the big stumbling block is (apart from the obvious mega amount of cash and time needed!) the very extensive and out of gauge bogie and frame modifications made by the Swiss. I don’t deny for one moment that it would be VERY cool! However, I’m not sure our neighbours at Didcot would appreciate 18k screaming up and down the demonstration line quite as much as we would though! We also have one or two other things demanding time and funds at the moment. She will be getting a full cosmetic job though so all is not lost. You should eventually be able to visit a fully refurbished cab, sit in the driver’s seat and imagine yourself at the helm of the mighty Kerosene Castle… Cornamuse: The models I make are all of the GWR / BR change over period so no plans to do the broad gauge stuff right now but I will run out of the rest of the collection one day! There will still be a few standard gauge bits to do after that including the locomotives Shannon, 1340 'Trojan' and the steam Railmotor (although I can do this one as an auto trailer for my collection). Hmmmmm, mind you, a nice little minimum space broad gauge loco shed layout based on the planned building at Didcot with Firefly and Iron Duke could be an interesting little side project… Oh no, Look what you’ve started! All the best, Castle

HI All, Here is one from the vaults: Something smells fishy... The Bloaters were a series of vans specifically designed to transport the large traffic of fish that the GWR was dealing with in the 1910's and 1920's. The previous vehicles were a motley selection that was by that point up to 40 years old and these later vehicles were built to replace them. They were used in the fish role generally until the mid 1940's when they began to be pensioned off into departmental service which is how 'our' one survived. They are slightly unusual in having sliding rather than hinged doors and were part of the 'brown vehicle' fleet, being vacuum fitted to enable them to be used in fast freight trains. The real life 'Flying Kipper'! The example at Didcot, No. 2671, has a capacity of ten tons and was built in 1926 to diagram S10 from lot No. 1356c. It is part of the collection held at Didcot for our friends in the 813 fund and was saved by them for preservation at Didcot in 1976. To the model: This is based on the Parkside Dundas kit PC44 for the diagram S8 vehicle. The drawings of the S10 are in the GWR wagon builder's bible of 'History of GWR Goods Wagons' by Atkinson, Beard, Hyde and Tourret. The two diagrams were pretty similar so the kit was duly purchased. The key differences I thought was the addition of shell ventilators in the roof and these were duly ordered from Dart Castings along with the Parkside Decal set for all the kits in the range from Cambridge Custom Transfers and the buffers. On a second reading and a study of the real thing, I realised the obvious and saw that the chamfered vents in the body sides of the S8 were missing on the S10. This was a bit of an issue as the mouldings in the kit are very fine and after destroying one up by attempting to fill and re-scribe the plank lines, I realised that new sides were to be the order of the day. What looked like a simple project became a lot more involved (don't they all?!). I will gloss over the first side that I made dutifully incorporating a very clever maths failure into the dimensions (Grrrrrrrrr!) and 2 more sides and 2 ends were slowly built up out of pre-scribed styrene sheet for the planking and pre cut strips for the angle irons. Much concentration later a new set of body components were produced and the kit went together as per the instructions. The footsteps are a bit of a fiddle to do as they are finely moulded and are all handed to some degree. There were only a few other changes to the kit were replacement GWR self contained whitemetal buffers from Lanarkshire Model Supplies and the bar between the axle boxes was replaced with brass wire as the plastic ones sagged and twisted when fitted. The brake gear had a bit of detail fitted from various sources and some more brass wire, whitemetal hoses, scale couplings and that as they say was that... A dose of Halfords Grey primer, followed by base coat of matt black was applied and then it was masked to spray the sides in Phoenix Bauxite. The roof (kept separate to the end) was sprayed in the same company's roof grey and the whole lot was assembled, given a light gloss coat for the decals to adhere to, matt varnished and then weathered using my usual box of tricks. This is a great kit and would have fallen together if it was built as per the instructions and wasn't for my obscure requirements! Again, no connection just enjoyed doing the kit. Well, there we are. More of the same later on! All the best, Castle

HI All, The final instalment of the 18000 model is here: Time to make it dirty! Photo one shows the model after a dose of the acrylic matt varnish and then a liberal application of my Tamiya weathering powders and Game workshop paints and ink washes. Studying photos of her in service it seems that the dirt tended to collect much in the same way as on a diesel with soot stains on the roof around the exhausts and a dustier grimier sort of muck on the body sides. The glazing was a pain to do but not the kits glazing as that went fairly smoothly and with the minimum of fettling. The difficult bit came in doing the windows in the body sides as they required flush fitting. The two grouped together were done with the variable top section open as they are very rarely seen closed in prototype pictures. The other end was a genuine pain as it is flush fitted and the body sides are quite thick. Engage coarse grade Anglo Saxon... If anyone in future wants to do this kit and fit the windows then take my humble advice and thin the sides down, even if just locally to the windows. You can't see the thickness now the window is in and the 37 chassis provides suitable grey lumps to suggest the long gone and little photographed inner workings. Photo two give the feel of the finished beast and a look at the weathering on the bogies. These were mainly done with the G / W paints and washes with the powders doing the business as far as the greasy gunge goes. That will be enough on this one for now. As mentioned before, DCC will need to be fitted later on but on this, for now, that's all folks! All the best, Castle

Hi Simon, Thanks very much for the complements - very kind! I can't do a full photo job of weathering 18k as I have already started it (!) but I will do on a later project if people are interested. The basics however are: The Materials: I use a mix of Tamiya weathering powders and Games Workshop acrylic paints and ink washes for the runny, more fluid type muck (!) and darkening lower areas of relief. Chipped areas of paint can be simulated with one of the various silver colours in the range.  I also use these paints to do any bare wood in the vehicle. Matt acrylic varnish is also a staple, along with watered down PVA glue and a dash of real coal. The Method: a light coat of acrylic matt varnish is applied - I don't do anything fancy here and just use a Humbrol rattle can, well shaken (and not stirred) to ensure that the matting agent is thoroughly mixed. Ensure that if you have used a non acrylic paint underneath, that it has had time to cure fully and vent off any fumes to prevent the funny reactions that this sometimes causes. I usually leave it a week before attempting this stage in these cases. I also keep cans indoors as cold cans are not conducive with good finishes. The matt surface allows the next stages to stick. Any runny dribbles or oily muck is then done with the G/W paints and washes (don't you just love the names on these?!). This then HAS to dry to not interfere with the next bit. A brief hairdryer session can achieve this if speed is of the essence and I know that modelling time is precious to all of us so we don't want to spend it literally watching paint dry. The Tamiya Weathering Master powders come in what can only be described as a sort of make up compact and as a result I think that they are a little bit greasy to enable them to stick inside the tray thing. This also helps them stick to the model too and it is why I like using them. Prototype photographs are essential here so keep referring to them. Even if the the shot of the loco I have isn't exactly the right class, the theory is always broadly similar and this is helped by the broadly similar shapes of most GWR / BR (WR) steam designs. Themes such as dust / ash / muck / rust on the steps, smoke box doors and other bits give clues where required. I find that the little sponge on a stick in the Tamiya box is ok but I usually resort to some cheap hogs hair style paint brushes that will put up with the abuse that me scrubbing the stuff into any nooks or crannies causes. The expensive brushes are great but don't last in this role! The powders are reduced in intensity of colour when the sealing coat of matt varnish is laid on top so you either have to learn to overdo it slightly (which is tricky to judge) or make sure your sealing coats are thin so you don't end up with too much matt varnish on as this will result in the model progressively turning white! With the thin varnish coats several layers of weathering is possible and it is this I try to do - the dirtier I want the vehicle, the more layers I apply. I like the powders as you are doing what happens in real life, making the thing dirty - really dirty real objects usually have successive layers of grime on them and so on... It also helps although not essential to know why a certain part might get dirty! The only other type of material I use after that lot is thinned down PVA that is used for not only sticking in the carefully crushed and placed coal as per ballasting track but also for doing wet areas around water fillers. This puts a sheen in these areas that unfortunately my poor camera skills can't capture on little 1466! That's it really - get dirty stuff and fling it at your model until happy! All the best, Castle

HI All, The next instalment of the 18000 model build is here: Paint, paint and more paint... Photo one is showing the results of a long wait for the curing of silver paint to ensure the whole thing doesn't peel of with the masking tape. An hour and a half masking the stripe and the roof with Tamiya tape and a splash of black resulted in what you see before you. This was all done with Humbrol Acrylic spray cans. The 'Kerosene Castle' is starting to become recognisable! Photo two is the completed chassis with all the relevant plugs soldered on to the right bits. The main lighting circuit board sits in the space normally reserved for the speaker on the 37. Despite Nick's earlier wish, I don't think that a sound chip for this will come along soon but stranger things have happened. I waited ages for a 72XX in RTR, gave up waiting and was bought the PDK kit from the other half this Christmas... Oh well, it's a good job I like kits and it will give us something to chat about here! Photo three shows the inside of the body shell and you can (just about) see the three plugs. The two small ones either end are for the cab lights and the big one has all the others from the four lights each end and the positive common return for each end. Sorry about the poor picture by the way! Photo four gives the state after the application of a transfer or six. The numbers come with the kit and Silver Fox expect you to come up with your own BR insignia to your personal taste. Mine came from a now very well used Modelmaster decal sheet. A dose of matt varnish will be applied next to even out the finish and allow the powders and paints to stick and then it is time for a spot of weathering... That's enough for now! All the best, Castle

Hi Simon, Very nice indeed! Looks very much like our beast at 81E! Well done good sir. I love the oily sheen effect on the rods - very realistic indeed. As I have said before, there is a certain presence in O gauge models isn't there? Mine in OO I like to think of as intricate watchmakers work but they are just small! In a case of I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours (!), here is No. 1466 in OO in what I hope will become the first of many of my 'From The Archive' of previously completed projects type posts appropriately enough with GWS loco No. 1. In what seems to be a popular move, we will start with a bit of history of the real thing. Built in 1936, No. 1466 / 4866 (The renumbering took place during the oil firing experiments of the post war period. It was proposed to renumber 28 / 38XX 2-8-0s that were oil fired into this sequence so the 48XXs became the 14XXs) is in many ways the most important loco in the Didcot collection as without her, there would be no GWS and no Didcot Railway Centre. The oft told tale of the formation of the GWS harks back to the early 1960's when the list for the then nascent National Collection was first published. 4 young gentlemen (they are often portrayed as schoolboys but they were really in their mid teens so this is something of a misnomer) who spotted trains together on Southall station footbridge were appalled that their favourite class of engine - the classic GWR 0-4-2 autotank was not included. Determined to do something about it, they wrote a letter to The Railway Magazine to ask for funds to save one and a Hawksworth autocoach to go with it. To cut a long story short, the money flooded in and kept doing so long after Nos. 1466 & 231 had been purchased and the rest is history. There is some incredible footage of Didcot's founder locomotive being steamed for the first time in preservation. The four founder members and our society photographer (who is still in the role all these years later!) just decided to go trundling up and down the private siding where she was being stored. They managed to get enough wood to build a fire and get pressure and spent an enjoyable day running their loco. They are all dressed in white overalls and have bowler hats so it looks for all the world like the cast of 'A Clockwork Orange' has been drafted as footplate crew! They really were pioneering days - can you imagine the uproar if it happened today!?! No. 1466 / 4866 has been on the main line in preservation with No. 231 and has had a starring role, dressed up as a foreign engine for the film 'Young Winston' about the early adventures and daring do of Sir Winston Churchill. The photo below is slightly unusual as it shows No. 4866 at the recent 50th anniversary gala where HST power car No. 43024 was named 'Great Western Society 1961 - 2011 Didcot Railway Centre' in our honour. This was, as far as we can tell, the first time an HST has been in to the centre. Seeing as they are about as old as I am that was a long wait! Perhaps No. 43024 should take a permanent place at Didcot someday along with No. 57604 Pendennis Castle when FGW have finished with them? My model was purchased appropriately early on in my collection and was one of the first that I seriously detailed too so don't be too harsh on it! It has the full Mainly Trains 14XX detail kit which included buffer beam and auto working gear, new smokebox door, smokebox door handles, safety valve bonnet and chimney. It also has a moulding for the boiler back head and reverser which the use of the Hornby chassis mainly precludes but I cut the back head down so that the top of it with the gauges and other bits fitted into the cab and could be seen in the windows. With the addition of a couple of properly amputated and positioned crew figures (yet to be done), the fact that there isn't much of a cab in there won't be noticeable. There isn't a lot of room on the footplate of one of these engines anyway - particularly in OO! She has the Mainly Trains etched lamp irons front and back and some scraps of brass etch and wire was used to make the tool rack and fire irons on the bunker. A Springside bucket finishes off the tool kit. Slaters sprung parallel Collett buffers were fitted as were scale couplings. The complex (!) livery of plain black is pure Halfords spray can and the Lion and Wheel decals and etched plates are from Modelmaster. A bit of clear styrene was used for the windows and weathering is my mix of Games Workshop acrylic paints and washes and Tamiya weathering powders with a sealing coat of matt acrylic varnish from Humbrol. A bit of real coal (yes, it fell of the back of a loco, literally!) in the bunker completes the look. All the best, Castle

Hi Nick, I, as a child of the 1970's, am constantly jealous (in a nice way) when people can recount stories such as this! The sound of 18000 in action is something that we currently don't have preserved at Didcot although my fellow members in the Great Western Trust (the keepers of the GWS museum and it's vast collection) would dearly love to find a recording to add to the interpretative displays they wish to have as part of the locomotive's preservation scheme. Any suggestions by anyone on their behalf would I am sure be welcome. It would be nice to think a recording exists out there somewhere as  the equivalent gas turbine locos in the USA have their sounds preserved to the extent that these have been produced as DCC sound models. I suspect part of the problem is that the Kerosene Castle was not only illusive at times but was out of service by the 1960's. If only we could download people's memories! All the best, Castle

Hi All, Martyn - don't worry about liking 18k - she was ordered by the GWR and isn't a diesel loco (although it did have a auxiliary diesel motor for slow speed manoeuvres where it wasn't practical to fire up the turbine) so she is an honorary steam engine! Just like the GWR railcars. Errr - yes, I suppose in that case a diesel can join the club and I have pretty much destroyed my own argument there but they are all good! Steve - an O gauge Kerosene Castle ehhh? Now there is one for the 3D printing fraternity to get their teeth into! She is imposing in OO as she is built to the limit of the loading gauge but one in 7mm would have real presence. Sounds like the start of a challenge for someone out there... Has it been done already? All the best, Castle

Hi Sej Thanks for the kind comments about the model. The real thing is a bit of a beast isn't it?! Do have a go at the lights thing as it isn't anywhere near as difficult as you might imagine. The important things to remember are: 1) LEDs only work one way round. The way to tell the legs apart is that the longer of the two legs is the positive one. There is also a flat on the casing and this is adjacent to the negative leg. If you want to have a light to stay on in both directions (a firebox light for example) simply solder two together with the legs in opposition. This is all for DC of course and DCC sorts out the directional issues for you. LEDs are available in a wide range of sizes and voltages. 2) LEDs don't like large currents. The average small sort of LED that you might get from an electronics store will rated to about 1.5 - 3v. In order to prevent the emergence of what is known as the "escape of the electronics genie" or the little smokey pop (!) a resistor is required. A 560 ohm is a good catch all sort of size but experiments will reveal that different values will result in different levels of brightness at different voltages which might be good for certain uses. In order to not be blindingly bright and shine through the sides of the body shell, little Kerosene Castle has 1k resistors for her marker lights. To tell the value of a resistor, there are four colour bands that give the info. Put the gold (sometimes silver) on the right and then it's a case of the first two colours give you numbers and the third gives you how many zeros to put behind it. My 1k or 1,000 ohm resistor are therefore brown (1) black (0) red (x 100) gold. Resistor colour code charts are easily available on line. Don't linger with the soldering iron too long either as they don't like being too hot and make sure you insulate all exposed conducting metals from each other. Buy a few inexpensive bits and give it a go! I hope that was useful and not condescending! I have also done an No. 1466 as a model and used the Mainly Trains detail kit as a starting point. It has the Hornby chassis still but might get the Comet chassis one day as it isn't the smoothest runner. Why not post a picture of yours here? it would be great to compare and contrast 14XXs! You are right about Didcot - There is nothing like seeing the sense of wonder in onlookers - particularly kids - as a steam locomotive rolls by them at ground level. It isn't the same experience as on a platform and Didcot enables you to see the train from the outside and ride it in a way you can't do easily on a 'traditional' preserved railway. It's a different kind of steam heritage experience and it is one of the things that I treasure about the place. All the best, Castle

HI All, The next instalment of the 18000 model build is here: I see the light(s)! Photos one and two in the sequence for this time round is showing the outcome of a battle between me, some wire, a pin vice, some resistors a bit of copper strip board, solder, some LED's and a few styrene tubes to fit them into. The LED's are powered off the same wiring as was used in the 37's lights. A word of warning though for anyone doing this as the cab lights have a resistor in the circuit built in but the end lights don't - it's on the little circuit board that goes in the diesel's nose. I had noticed this but thoughts go elsewhere and I think I was half watching the TV as I was working and, well, one of my brand new LED's ended its brief existence in a little smokey pop! Photo three - All of the lights on the loco body now have an LED behind them and are wired through a socket (see the picture below) so that the body can be completely removed for servicing. This was done by modifying a socket and plug (in the same style as DCC fittings) from one of Maplins' bargain bags of connector bits and attaching it to a piece of copper strip board on the loco and disconnecting the wires from the copper connector strips at the ends of the 37 chassis and soldering them to the board. Smaller 2 pin plugs and sockets were fashioned for the cab lights. It will only do the forward (express passenger) with red at the reverse to the direction of travel as per the Bachmann original at the moment but I think with the planned application of DCC in the future, it will enable any head code to be displayed. Finally for now, photo four is a rather cruel enlargement of the body in Halfords grey primer pre - sanding and other miscellaneous fettling. I do like to get a model in one colour to see all the dodgy bits better. I have added the lower cab steps as you can see (also straightened post picture - the one thing I have learnt from starting this RM Web thing is that we should all take pictures of our models as it really shows the flaws you don't notice otherwise!). Also added are the big air or vacuum (I'm not sure which they are - I usually do steam engines!) tanks that usually can't be modelled as this is where the coupling lives. In order to allow it to run on friends layouts, the Bachmann NEM socket are still in there and I have simply blu tacked it on! It may sound a bit like a bodge but it works really well. I first did it just to see if it interfered with the turning of the bogies but decided it was quite clever and left it! As they have to be black and the bogies are silver this fortuitous blundering has turned out clever in two ways... No masking there for me! They are attached to the bogies rather than the body but I think that you have to accept this as part of the compromise of using an RTR chassis. The centres of axle boxes don't quite line up with the bogie sides either but again it is the price of the RTR chassis. The original has different diameter unpowered centre wheels (it was an A-1-A A-1-A configuration as opposed to the 37's CO-CO) and the originals wheels are spoked. This isn't a criticism of Silver Fox and their kit - far from it. The kit is an excellent idea (I have no connection with the manufacturer - I'm just a satisfied customer) as it allows an obscure prototype (until, inevitably, Heljan or someone else gets their finger out and makes this all somewhat academic! If someone has done a class 16 - 18k, GT3 and the Fell can't be that far behind...) to be built relatively easily and lots of little 'Kerosene Castles' can thunder up and down layouts across the country that wouldn't be doing so otherwise and to a level of detail that the builder is comfortable with doing. I certainly wouldn't want to try to fabricate those classic Dan Dare / 1940's 'retro future' style curves as a scratch build job and it is a fun kit to do. I have enjoyed it so much that I have bought their Class 05 kit so I can do Didcot's DL26 (one of my out of period and never a BR machine modeller's licence type purchases but with its mechanical gearbox, it is such a fun thing to ride in I had to have one!) and a Bachmann Class 03 for the running gear but that's in the to do pile... I hope this is all ok - I am new to this posting lark! All the best, Castle

Hi all, I have been a very long time lurker on this site but have never plucked up courage to post on the site before with some of my models. No time like the present so I have signed up and here we go. Comments, advice and discussion are welcome here. I will apologise about photography now and as the majority will be me, my iPhone, a glass shelf and a powerful lamp, they will not be to the great standard that we sometimes see here. My partner has a fancy camera and she will take a few snaps from time to time to offset this lack of skill on my part! I don't have a layout but I hope to do so in the future. However, I wanted to get modelling. I therefore took the decision to start making kits and adapting RTR models to get the fleet of vehicles that I would like to own which leads me on to another point. I am a member of the Great Western Society (usual proviso here about any opinions being mine and not the society's) and an active volunteer at the Didcot Railway Centre having a role in the restoration and overhaul of the loco fleet. I decided that having free access to a large fleet of preserved vehicles meant that it was natural to want to model them so that is what I am up to. Didcot's collection in 4mm scale. I chose to model the GWR / BR change over period from the late 1940's up to about 1954 (with one or two modellers licence type exceptions) so that I could get the greatest range of liveries in both the loco and rolling stock fleet. For the engines alone it means blue kings, black LNWR style mixed traffic locos, BR green locos, GWR liveries with British Railways in GWR text, a few in old GWR liveries and so on... I know and understand the appeal of the late BR period with the ability to run early diesels on the layout too but the BR totem logo on a steam loco is to me a bit like it running around with a death sentence on its side so it isn't for me as a steam loco man. This is just my opinion and this is in no way a dig at anyone else's interests and I hope it isn't taken as such. There are some truly stunning examples that fall under the 'art of modelling' category when looking at the inspiring end of steam weathering jobs we sometimes see on this site. In any case, the engines from the immediate post war period were not far short of this condition and in fact a picture exists (published in the book 'The Didcot Story') of our own No. 6998 not long after it was built looking in a very sorry state, not unlike it probably did in 1963... I like to detail things as far as is reasonably possible without going mad and I like my engines and rolling stock to look like they have had a life so weathering is the order of the day. Wherever a loco or bit of rolling stock isn't available, kits and RTR will be ruthlessly bashed chopped and hacked into a vague resemblance of the prototype. In a cheeky and thoroughly unprototypical move, my engines all have 81E shed plates. Destination / area markings on rolling stock is deliberately vague or of the 'Return to Paddington' type so that when I do get to the layout, I am not restricted or forced to repaint. I can hear the gasps from the purists but I think of it as my collection’s signature. These things are quite small and largely unnoticeable as they trundle past on a layout. if we put our models in a fictional setting, they are likely to gain things that are not as they would have been in life. I'll invoke the 'it's my railway' clause if anyone moans. So there! I have fitted scale couplings and I will probably regret it but I really don't like putting something as hugely obtrusive as a tension lock or a knuckle coupling on my stock and I also want a layout where trains generally process past with perhaps a loco shed (not predictable at all that is it?) on the cards. The trains should therefore be pulled in most cases (auto trains excepted but I have a plan here involving rigid couplings) and from what I have read, the issues with this are mainly with propelling stock. So there is the philosophy, such as it is, and I will from time to time post pictures of models and projects past present and future and preserved prototype photos to illustrate a point where relevant. Without further ado, for your education, entertainment and edification, here is some of my humble, ham-fisted cobbling. I thought I would start with no real order and in a shock move for a steam fan, with the build of one of the newest residents at Didcot - Brown Boveri Gas Turbine No. 18000. A bit of potted history: 18k was ordered by the GWR as part of their 'Next Station' modernisation plan but didn't arrive until 1949, well after nationalisation. She was a prototype and understandably she had her issues. The various reasons as to why she and her Metropolitan Vickers Cousin 18100 were not perpetuated are many and don't just centre on reliability. The rise of diesels, the cost of fuel, maintenance and further development requirements all played their part. For a prototype machine in a situation where her owners showed a progressively lessening interest in the type of traction and on a steam railway she actually did quite well! She eventually ended up back in Switzerland and was used (minus her power plant) as a test vehicle to investigate the interaction of wheels on the rail head. She went in display in Switzerland in 1975 and returned to the UK in the 1990's, her first home being Crew. She finally arrived 'home' to Didcot, after a long derogation process with Network Rail as she is an 'out of gauge' load, on the 29th July 2011. She will be put through a conservancy & restoration process that it is hoped will include the reinstatement of one of her cabs to the same condition it was in when she was a live loco. Kevin Robertson's book on the subject 'The Great Western Railway Gas Turbines - a myth exposed' is recommended reading on this subject. Little known 18k fact: After she returned to Switzerland and was converted, she carried the name 'Elisabetta' between her front cab footsteps. Back to the model - This is a Silver Fox resin body that will be detailed, fully lit, mounted on a brand new Bachmann Class 37 chassis (purchased as a complete loco and mega bargain at my local toy & train fair) and painted in my absolute favourite British 'modern traction' (it's a bit inaccurate calling 18k modern I suppose but it is to me and my fellow steam fans!) livery of black with silver roof and body stripe. A livery with its LMS origins I know, but we are all railway fans here! The first photo shows a try at the Cab end of 18k with the chassis fitted loosely and the bogie side frames attached. The plastic of the Class 37 bogies didn't accept the glue easily so there was much fruity language as this process was done. Roughening the surfaces with a file to provide a key seemed to help. The moulded handrails have been pared away with a scalpel and wire replacements fashioned. The moulded buffers fared no better and were cut off in readiness for sprung replacements. Alan Gibson GWR short whistles (I couldn't find anyone supplying whistles for a 1940's prototype Gas Turbine loco surprisingly) are fitted too. The original 18k had these air powered whistles fitted earlier on in her career to be replaced with horns when it was found that they were not loud enough in the noisy steam railway environment she operated in. Photo 2 - the windows on the side have been nibbled out with a drill bit in a pin vice, a scalpel and a further application of the afore mentioned fruity language... Also gone is the exhaust for the train heating boiler, replaced with a new version made in styrene. Photo 3 shows the front end with the various lifting and step holes in the valance opened out. The etched lamp irons are from the ever useful mainly trains etch and have been straightened post photo! These were fitted despite the original having four electric marker lights in the appropriate positions. She started using discs that were not unlike Southern Region practice but ended up using regular WR lamps. Some little cast door handles (source forgotten), Slater's buffers and screw link couplings from Smiths complete the picture. The handrail and step pattern on her cabs changed throughout her life and the layout modelled is as she was when delivered with just steps and rails on the left side (when viewed head on). Presumably as the use of lamps became more prevalent, dicing with death stretching across with a relatively heavy lamp to do the far side on a wet or icy day became less and less attractive and the additional steps and handrails were fitted. Interestingly she was also fitted with a bracket below the centre cab window so she was able to carry train headboards but this also falls outside our time period. Well, I will leave you to mull that lot over and I will get back to you soon with further updates! All the best, Castle