jwealleans

Thanks, Barry. The set was condemned in 1953 after a shunting accident. I don't know any more detail than that.

This is a busy time of year and we had an exceptionally good crop of hay, so it's been even busier than usual. All is safely gathered in, though, so more time at the bench beckons ( I hope). I have been getting on with detailing and finishing the Quint, starting from the centre again. The centre cars are almost ready for lining and letters now. The ends require more work, because of the domed ends. They do give a nice result, though, once you've got them properly blended in. Just a bit more to do along the cantrail here. Roofs won't be finished until I have the roof boards. I have had a most generous offer to make those, so watch this space. I have also been working on some coaches for Corfe at Ormesby Hall. Some of the whitemetal bogies are distorting or disintegrating with age, so we're having to rebuild them. We've standardised on the MJT ones as a replacement as they're robust and run well but are also fairly simple to put together. The old whitemetal bogies, once disassembled, serve as cosmetic overlays. I have no idea whether these are available any more even should we try to replace them.

But me going up and down on my shiny chrome stool while fiddling with myself is OK, is it? I think 'B-' there, Mr King - confusing solicit səˈlɪsɪt/ verb verb: solicit; 3rd person present: solicits; past tense: solicited; past participle: solicited; gerund or present participle: soliciting 1. ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone. "he called a meeting to solicit their views" synonyms: ask for, request, apply for, put in for, seek, beg, plead for, sue for, crave, canvass, call for, drum up, press for; More with solicitude səˈlɪsɪtjuːd/ noun noun: solicitude care or concern for someone or something. "I was touched by his solicitude" synonyms: concern, care, attentiveness, mindfulness, consideration, considerateness, thoughtfulness, solicitousness, carefulness I think 6 of the best from Mrs King and extra study is called for. Should we require anyone to solicit on a professional basis, Gilbert, I'm sure you'd be at the top of our thoughts. Even if they have had the gall to label you 'former'.

Moi? Derive amusement from the misfortune of others? I will be the living embodiment of solicitude. Sheet BL52 in John's range - I'll have to check if it's a 'variant' or not. Second hand but unused so half price to you, guv.

... or I could just sit at the back going up and down on my shiny black and chrome stool and let the rest of you worry about it....?

Does this explain why I can't ever get the control panel to do what I want it to, then?

I meant to ask you about that. Was it me who finished it off, or did it work again after I'd hexed it?

Not really what you'd call in 'the Duchy' either, is it?

More problems for Hornby as it seems the new Chinese factory might have mixed the P2 tooling up with something else...

... And has anyone else noticed the paperclip holding the barrier up?

Wasn't the conjugated gear patented jointly by Holcroft and Gresley? Gresley also tried to recruit Holcroft onto the staff at Doncaster but his CME (Maunsell? SECR, I believe) wouldn't release him.

It's an auction. He bid higher than you. He won. No-one has a right to buy stuff just because they think they should. Snipe program or not, if you had bid higher, you'd have won. I'd be miffed if I'd sat up until 3 am to try to win something - but then that's why I use a snipe program. And I only win occasionally.

That D3 is a bit of a half hearted attempt at the Thompson 4-4-0, I think.

Has he been drinking? His coupling rods have gone all wobbly. It's not Boris in disguise, is it?

THere's at least one photograph of a Gresley coach freshly outshopped in fully lined teak in (I think) 1952. I can't remember off the top of my head what lettering has been used. I think it may well be another case of works variations; there were a large number of coach photographs taken in the years immediately after the war on Ebay some time ago. What was noticeable was that the ex-GE coaches were uniformly painted (one assumes brown) while the ex-GN ones, some of which were very elderly, were visibly still in a teak finish.

Not a tool van - I was told they were used to move explosives round the dockyard (presumably too much explosive in one place was considered a bad idea). That is my photograph - these vehicles (there are two) are now at Beamish. They arrived there via the now defunct Army museum at Beverley. http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=11311 http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=11312

This keeps being repeated. The London Extension opened in 1899. The Berne Gauge was defined in 1912. Whatever gauge was adopted as the standard by the GC (and it was generous by British standards) it could not have been the Berne gauge.

I can only answer that by referring to the GWR diagram, which was the same as the first LNER build (the LNER borrowed the drawings, apparently, although there are detail differences). The GWR ones worked in blocks between Birkenhead and Wrexham. I can only assume that the LNER ones did the same, but possibly over a wider range as I've read they worked to Sunderland as well as into East Anglia. I don't think I've ever seen a picture of them in traffic. All that said I have a GWR train consist from 1933 near Bristol which has a single grain van in it, but it may have been on its way somewhere for repair or to be tried on a different traffic.

Nice job - I can't think how I've missed these before now. I built quite a few of these for our club layout which is in East Anglia. I think I threw away the floor and cut a one part one from 60 thou plastikard. If you do get a wobble, these are prime candidates for the MJT inside bearing rocker units which help greatly (ours are shunted all the time). The corners are also challenging as you've found. Adding all the handrails makes quite a difference as does doing away with the plastic hopper operating wheels and using etched ones. There's also a strip of what I think is metal with rivets along each end of the roof. Powsides do a transfer pack for these but I couldn't recommend it - apart from the difficulty I have with dry transfers, the main advantage of using them is that they have the 'Return to Silo (Hull)' lettering, but it's too big to fit where it ought to go. I keep thinking I'll get some made for myself, I have three or four to make up into LNER condition. This one is done with the Powsides lettering, but I didn't bother with the bits which didn't fit - better missing than wrong. It needs a tidy up. If you feel inspired after these four, have a go at one of these. You've done a fair bit of the scratchbuilding already.

I think you may find his career died some time before he retired. About the time he acquired the highlights and stripey blazer and started hanging around in Hollywood.

Quackers?!!! That's Jenny Agutter. Nothing wrong with Mr Duck in my book. As long as he doesn't start pretending to be her.

Yes, and it's about time someone went back and tidied them all up.

I spotted those swingers right at the start as well and had considered a variety of off-colour jokes.... It was very much an ER thing and (I think) exclusively on fish workings which attached portions but had to run at express speeds and to tight timings. There was a discussion on the BR Yahoo group some time ago - I'll see if I can find it. Edit - the original question and a response from a longtime railwayman. I have a feeling the group has been over this more than once. "Someone has mentioned some practices which seem a bit odd to me on the LNER for fully fitted freights (class C) that I would like confirmed or denied. It was normal practice to add vans on to the end of the train, rather than detach the guards van. Hence the guards van could end up quite near the front of the train. There was no maximum speed limit on these trains, they were allowed to travel above 60 mph despite having 10 ft wheelbase stock." "There was a standing order which allowed up to 20 vehicles (Swingers) to be attached behind the rear of a 1-speed goods. If any of the vehicles had a wheelbase of less than 15' (and I think most did) then a limit of 60 mph had to be applied. Under these circumstances the formation of the train would be : engine: 40 XP wagons, BV, 20 XP wagons. It was not normal practice to run with swingers and was limited to the small numbers of trains that conveyed an intermediate section which could be detached on the main line. Fr a short time one of the east coast trains used to run with swingers for the M&GN which were detached on the main line at Westwood. However since most ECML express goods - fully fitted trains were almost unknown - were limited to 50 wagons, swingers were an unproductive way of moving traffic unless by some marvel of organisation there happened to be 20 wagons at Westwood for Scotland which could be put on the engine."

I'm not completely familiar with these mechanisms but I have had other Hornby locos where the motor fixing screw has loosened enough to allow the motor to lift slightly and come out of mesh. It's usually accessed from underneath.