PGH

This would be Manning Wardle works no.1673, a Class M loco built to standard gauge and despatched new in February 1906 to Price, Wills & Reeves (contractors), Bombay. It still looks as built in the photo, so presumably still standard gauge.

Still on wheels (sorry, blame coachmann for asking the question !) and still at Preston 'H' spoke wheels on LNWR 0-4-0ST No.1439 'H' spoke wheels on Andrew Barclay 1147 JOHN HOWE These have a rather narrower front face than the wheels on Grant Ritchie 272.

I'm not sure whether the driving wheel spokes are 'H' shape or 'T' shape, if they do have an inside "flange" (foot of the 'T') it will be narrower than the outside face (head of the 'T'). Presumably the 'T' shape would be easier to cast. It does seem as though the cab backsheet has been completely replaced with the handrails now matching the handrails on the cab side. The site that the loco last worked at under the NCB was closed in 1966, so when first steamed this year it would be 50 years since the loco was last in steam.

Grant Ritchie 272 made its operational debut since restoration at the Ribble Steam Railway Gala on 10th and 11th September Crossing the swing bridge across the dock entrance https://youtu.be/thzl6aYhja0

Loco Shed - based on the NCB shed at Walkden Yard (Lancs).

A couple of 7mm weathered wagons from a Parkside kit (left) and a Peco kit (right)

I only load on the centre of the three roads at the moment, which I find is quite sufficient. I assume that in the prototype different sizes of coal would be loaded on each road, so you would need different methods of unloading wagons to keep the sizes separate. When I get the end tippler working I might add another hopper and delivery chute to the nearest screen road. In your case by vibrating the whole hopper I wonder if you are actually tending to compact the coal rather than getting it to flow - perhaps the reason why its more difficult with the finer material. I notice that your discharge "spout" is enclosed, increasing the size of this may help. You can control the amount of flow with the vibration rather than the size of the outlet from the hopper. In the above, arrangement B should give a better flow of material than A If you wish to load on more than one road and are happy to use a single size material you could have separate vibrating feeding troughs from a single fixed hopper, thus - Considering a fixed hopper with sufficient side slopes to discharge by gravity, bear in mind that where two side slopes meet at 90 degrees the valley angle (the line along which the two side slopes meet) is less than the angle of the side slopes so you would need to increase the angle of the side slopes so that the valley angle is at least 35 degrees (personally I would aim for 40 degrees) to prevent a build up of material in the corners. One further thought - is your screen structure strong enough to withstand all this vibration ?

I'm not sure if this helps, the quality of the video is pretty poor, but this is my coal loading arrangement in action: https://youtu.be/pI1yLT6uBvs The motor is run on DC via a controller and the speed adjusted to give a good flow of coal with a reasonably quiet operation. About ¾ way through the speed is turned up which does illustrate how noisy it can get with excessive vibration. If the coal is sitting on an inclined surface it shouldn't take much vibration to get it moving.

Likewise I use a similar arrangement with the only "mechanism" being a motor with an out of centre flywheel. Personally even if this did fail (after 10 years) I would still prefer to use coal that looks like the real thing.

"any mechanism eventually" - maybe, but surely that depends on the type of mechanism. I can only say that I've been using real coal for more than 10 years with no problem.

The coal is sized in old kitchen sieves plus the screening device shown below. This comprises a tray with a section of aluminium mesh in the bottom mounted on a frame at a slight angle by four springs. The tray is vibrated by a small electric motor with an out of centre flywheel mounted on top. Samples of coal produced - approximate nominal scale sizes left to right: 3½", 2½" and 1½"

Operating a layout like this needs a fair amount of coal for loading/unloading. Real coal is used and it may be of interest to describe how it is reduced to the required size. First with the coal inside a thick polythene bag it was crushed down with a hammer to reduce the size to about ¼". Then the coal was further reduced to the required sizes in a purpose made coal crusher - rather a 'Heath Robinson' affair, but it did the job ! Built largely from scrap materials it comprises a length of steel angle to which are bolted two short lengths of angle which act as pivots for a steel roller which can be turned by a handle. The sketch and photo below should help to make this clear. In use the device is clamped to some firm object - in my case an old coal bunker - outside the house, the latter being important as it tends to make loads of dust. The steel roller is 1¼" diameter, a larger diameter would be better but that was the size to hand. The surface is "distressed" by longitudinal gouges round its circumference. Initially it was also provided with "teeth" in the form of short lengths of steel rod forced into holes and protruding about 1/16" from the surface. However it has been used latterly for producing coal dust to mix with the track ballast and these have been filed away. The gap between the roller and the face of the steel angle determines the size of material produced and this is adjusted by the packing pieces coloured blue in the above drawing. The material is reduced in stages, narrowing the gap each time, until the required size is reached. The material is fed into the device by a hopper with a flap cut into the bottom to direct the flow on to the roller.

I use real coal and don't find degradation a problem, although no doubt the amount of use on a home layout is quite different to that of an exhibition layout. I use coal graded to a fairly even nominal size and periodically sieve out any fines. The basic material is so cheap that its easy to replace if you have the facilities to crush and grade it. I've just posted my methods of crushing and grading coal in my 'Moving Coal' thread which may be of interest.

You can find mesh with 2mm holes here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1mm-Thick-2mm-Round-Hole-3-5mm-Triangular-Pitch-SS304-Grade-Perforated-Mesh-MEGA/131890168847?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D37567%26meid%3D0b635ab496bb406b8cf4e53583113ff5%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D131868393559 or if the link doesn't work put "aluminium mesh sheet" in the Ebay search box.

The painting of structures within the NCB appears to have been up to individual areas and there doesn't seem to have been a common national scheme. Some examples are: Frances Colliery (Scottish North Area) - red steelwork Bedlay Colliery (Scottish North Area) - a modernised colliery with white steelwork Polkemmet Colliery (Scottish South Area) - light green steelwork and white painted brickwork Light blue painted steelwork was also quite common. At a guess I would say that light green was perhaps the colour most widely used.

Thanks Jon for your comments, PM and links to the videos - I look forward to seeing more of the action at Astley Green. I made several visits to Astley Green during the last years of operation but it was mainly recorded on black & white photos with a few in colour, so its great to see it on film with sound as well.

Thanks John. There has been little progress recently on the layout as with the better weather attention has turned to the 'great outdoors' with such ridiculous extremes from this: to this: The latter is from the IP Engineering kit, sold by some as 7/8" scale but actually nearer 1" scale, which is not now available. It is a strange concoction of mdf (inner chassis), plasticard (outer chassis) and whitemetal castings and is fitted with radio controlled battery power and sound. There was a similar prototype example readily accessible and reasonably close at hand to examine in the shape of the ex Cilgwyn Quarry loco at the Slate Museum, Llanberis. The model runs on 45mm gauge track and membership of the 16mm Association gives access to other members layouts locally in both 32mm and 45mm gauges. The Roundhouse Penrhyn Railway CHARLES shown in Post #174 has now received its new buffer beams and Penrhyn style buffers. Shown here with a rake of Festiniog slate wagons from Slaters kits, still awaiting the "rustiness" to be added. Excuse this wander off topic, intended to show that I'm still "at it" (i.e. modelling). I think its useful if enthusiasm for a long term project reaches a low ebb to try something different yet still keep within the model railway hobby. No doubt when we get to the usual summer weather - wind, rain, etc, etc - attention will return indoors to the colliery layout and the job of tipping wagons endwise.

These would appear to be spare numbers in the Hunslet works list following 15x20 0‑6‑0ST locos actually delivered: 1811 - follows 1810 of 1937 Airedale Collieries Ltd., CORONATION 1829 - follows 1828 of 1937 Mersey Docks & Harbour Board No.8 1903 - follows 1902 of 1938 New Fryston Colliery Co.Ltd., MEXBOROUGH 1957 - follows 1956 of 1939 Airedale Collieries Ltd., AIREDALE No.2 1986 - follows 1985 of 1940 Mersey Docks & Harbour Board No.11 2410 - follows 2409 of 1942 Linby Colliery Co.Ltd., KING GEORGE

One loco lasted slightly later than 1969, although in a derelict condition. I photographed Kerr Stuart 3066 the first loco of the class in the derelict wagon repair shop at NCB Aberaman, South Wales in August 1970. It was still there in July 1971 but, according to the Industrial Railway Society's Mid & South Glamorgan Handbook, it had gone by May 1972 - presumably scrapped. This loco had the higher cab roof like KS 3067 which leads me to believe that these first two locos were built in that form. 3066 also acquired a rather ugly replacement chimney.

Thanks for your comments Rich, much appreciated. No I haven't yet and the opening end door wagons are normally kept "out of service" as they aren't necessary until the end tippler is in operation. However I do have a rough idea and just temporarily fitted one wagon to illustrate the point. Basically its just a 'L' shaped wire catch retaining the bottom of the door, passing through a hole in the buffer beam with the end bent to form a vertical lever. In practice the wire, perhaps of smaller dia than the 0.5mm shown, would be blackened and there would be a proper bearing replacing the strip of masking tape to keep the catch tight against the buffer beam. The catch would be operated by moving the lever end with the shunters pole (or finger !).

I recently discovered this photo of the first section of track laid on the layout at the entrance to the colliery sidings, which makes an interesting comparison with the present situation. The first 3 points (2 left and bottom right in the photo) used Peco plastic point sleepering whereas all the remainder use wood sleepers cut from obechi. The first checkrail and crossing chairs were built up from solder on a brass base plate, but I soon restricted the baseplate to just under and between the rails with cosmetic half chairs on the outside. The points are operated from the slide switches bottom left described in Post # 71 - yet to receive the wiring for the change over switches. All the rodding is buried under the scenery, probably not advisable in retrospect although its fairly robust and has been completely reliable so far. Any problems will no doubt involve 'excavation' of the scenery. The backscene is a left over from a previous layout.

The part assembled structure in position on the layout Bases were added to the columns This shows how the tippler will operate - when provided with deck, rails, chute, etc, etc. tbc

The tippler table pivots were constructed next. They comprise vertical triangular plates supporting the bearings with flanges down each side and mounted on baseplates. The triangular plates were first soldered to the baseplates and located with 0.6mm dia dowels to ensure they wouldn't move in subsequent soldering operations. The problem then was how to fix the bearings and flanges on to the verticals and keep everything in line. The two sections were bolted to a piece of plywood a set distance apart and exactly opposite each other using the tapped 8BA fixing holes in the baseplates. The bearings and flanges were then soldered on in single pieces spanning both verticals. This gave the required result after separation of the two parts and removal of excess material.

Thanks Chris, your comments are appreciated. Its nice to get some positive feedback from someone who was familiar with the prototype.