Dava

Today I collected my long-awaited copy of 'Iron Rails & Whisky Trails' (Ian Peaty, Irwell Press, £20) It does not disappoint and will become the standard work on the subject of Scottish distillery railways. There is lots on the background of the industry, detailed maps, excellent pictures and even the author's colour paintings of the subject (forgive a few dodgy perspectives, they are pretty). Fans of wee Rustons ( the Longmorn 48DS has 4 photos), Barclay 'Pugs', Cameron Bridge and much else will enjoy it. Its a great field guide to the remaining traces of these lines. The only mistake I noticed so far is that the Balmenach (Cromdale) Barclay on the cover is not at Aberfeldy (that is 'Dailuaine' as he says elsewhere) but is on the Strathspey Railway in Boat of Garten yard when I last saw it, I'll look out those photos. I have plans for a future layout based on the Balmenach branch and it would have been nice to see the track plan - there is one in Industrial Railway Record 85 from 1980 in the article which seeded my interest in these lines. I'll be reviewing it in depth with the aid of a bottle of Glenmorangie (ach, a lassie's drink?) over the next few nights! Dava

Yes, that's the one. I've seen your helpful critique & ways of improving the kit, so will be guided by this when I start building it - a project for the autumn/winter. Once the garage-to-workshop conversion has been done & the layout has done its october shows.

Thanks to Ruston for the drawings which are really helpful, for when I get started on building mine, which is the 'electrifrying trains' clone - having also given up on Karlgarin! Dava

This is such an atmospheric model of the C&L. I've visited the preserved section at Dromod, walked the section around Drumsanbo and sat in the preserved coach at Cultra but this is a superb evocation of what the line must have been like, well done John.

No connection with Ruston's book, but I saw from 'Railway Bylines' that Irwell are about to publish a book by Ian Peaty on Scots whisky distillery railways ,'Iron Rails & Whisky Trails', this has been a long time coming as Ian talked to Julia Bradbury about it on her Speyside railway walk a few years ago. Its a 'must buy' as a future layout project for me is a short line to a distillery, like the Balmenach line at Cromdale. Ian did a book on 'Brewery railways' back in the '80's which has been really useful. There is a siding on my 'Coney Hill' layout which serves a brewery. It needs a 'Coney Ales' sign & more barrels! I like industries where you can sample the end product.

I came across this book today in the Ian Allan shop in Brum - not seen it before: Working and Preserved Industrial Locomotives, From the Bill Reed Collection edited by Peter Tuffrey (2012) 225 photos, lots in colour, of industrial locos (mainly steam, some diesel) in both native environments and early preservation days. There are lots of locos which have not been featured too much before, esp from the coal industry in Notts & Derbyshire. Worth £16-99 http://www.fonthillmedia.com/shop/article_978-1-78155-057-1/Working-and-Preserved-Industrial-Locomotives%3Cbr%3EFrom-the-Bill-Reed-Collection%3Cbr%3E%3CI%3EPeter-Tuffrey%3C_I%3E.html?sessid=KM01rsNn7H4hypA5ihEh2TmzmuBovPwZa7gxgY32rHzCeYLMbIpiKYE8YhCEKBGr&shop_param=cid%3D1%26aid%3D978-1-78155-057-1%26

The MSC tanks were in two sizes - short and long tanks - the KWVR and ELR both have short tank examples which were more attractive to my eye see http://www.uklocos.com/final-results.asp?action=display&id=6599

I saw this loco on its first steaming, good luck with it!

I think the Glasgow & South-Western Railway has been neglected by railway writers & publishers - I've just been given for Xmas the long out of print Oakwood book by Campbell Highet, recommended history read but few illustrations. David L Smiths's books are great oral histories of 'engines & men' but there never seems to have been an album of quality historical photos of the GSW, not just the locos, but carriages, wagons, stations, piers & steamers (there are two on the steamers which are recommended). Does anyone know of one? Is it too late? Dava

Good luck with that, I started my little Peckett the same way with a 00 'pug' chassis regauged. Lots of work....the basic problems are that the motor/gear combination is too low ratio so it runs too fast. Also the wheels are hard to quarter, true up and stay there. Its one way to get something running, but in the end I built a new chassis which took slightly more work but runs ever so nicely. The same link to my gallery shows a hack-job on an Atlas Plymouth diesel which is much more successful - and obtainable from £20 upwards. Now being emulated by others! Dava

Good example of thrifty modelling, I do like the look of those card 4 wheel coaches. I see another Jim Read style layout in the making! Just about every component of my little 7mm layout has been recycled from previous layouts or scrap materials, except the AND plasticard coach I started tonight after failing to get to Wakefield MRX owing to M1 traffic.

It would be really useful to see a drawing of a Planet like this one....

Hartley, These are really useful dimensions... if I'd had them a few months ago I probably wouldn't have claimed that the Atlas conversion I built represented a 'Planet', as very few of these dimensions match the loco I built - length is closest - because of the limitations of building it around a shortened Atlas chassis. I had an operational need for a small shunting loco to test sections of track and bat a few wagons around on the small layout I'm building. The radical surgery on the Atlas provided this and put what had been a redundant acquisition to work. Atlas locos don't like PECO points, because of the wheel flange profile, by the way! What we really need are dimensions like this matched to a drawing of one of the Planet variants - there were several. Then either scratchbuilding or a kit to produce an authentic Planet will be much easier. Dava

This is my first topic so please bear with my slow grasp of the technology.... I suspect I'm not alone in having acquired an Atlas 6-wheel Plymouth switcher loco and wondering quite what to do with it. They can usually be acquired at GOG meetings for £20 or so. As a US prototype in 1:48 scale, it is too wide and low to pass for a British loco and my well-used example was too rough and 'clonked' when it ran to be sold on, so I had to find a use for it. Being in need of a small shunter to test track and generally be useful on my light railway, I worked out that it could be converted into a small 4-wheel loco with a short wheelbase of 5 scale feet in 7mm scale. The result is not a scale model of a Hibberd, but a chunky and useful loco which fits into a British layout more readily than the Plymouth. I could not find a drawing for a Hibberd but there are lots of photos on the internet - such as http://flickrhivemin...erd/Interesting Major surgery is required, but this requires determination rather than any advanced engineering skills. This is a robust loco and you are unlikely to put it beyond use by taking reasonable care. Completely dismantle the entire mechanism, even the motor and all gears are removed for re-use. The front 30mm of the cast chassis is cut off, removing the first axle slot. This takes 20 minutes determined effort with a junior hacksaw and marks the point of no return! The shortened chassis is then cleaned up to remove any burrs and metal dust, and put on one side. Next, the plastic footplate is also shortened by a similar amount, leaving 1mm or so longer in the remaining rear end than the length of the chassis block. The front end pilot is then shortened to fit this, with the chassis block fitting snugly in the centre. The two parts of the footplate need to be narrowed by 2mm each side, resulting in an acceptable scale width of 8'6". Thiis was the hardest part and I found a fretsaw with a blade for wood/plastic was able to do this. The two parts of the footplate were then aligned carefully on a glass surface, and welded together with Butanone, which works effectively on this type of plastic, The plastic side frames were also shortened by a similar amount, and the detail of the old front axlebox and spring filed or cut off, to be replaced later with front steps. My model already had power collection on the old centre axle (now the front) but otherwise this would need doing. Finally the keeper plate is shortened at the front to fit. After thorough cleaning, the chassis is reassembled, using the flanged wheels in both remaining axleboxes and not using either the flangeless wheelset or surplus large gearwheel. It should run quite acceptably, but may need minor adjustments. The next step is to select the design for the body. For the Hibberd, I used the front 55mm of the Plymouth bonnet, with the name, light and exhaust stack detail filed off, although I left the louvres on the engine side doors. I used 40thou plasticard to build a cab, based on the Hibberd design with its characteristic sloping roof, and added waist-level beading from microstrip. As there is no cab floor, I included a false sloping roof to reinforce it, then added a 10 thou overlay for the final roof surface. The cab sides were reinforced with sections of the old Plymouth cabsides below the windows, with the detail filed off. Full-length buffer beams were also made from 40 thou with a 10 thou overlay onto which rivet detail was embossed first with a scriber. I added the distinctive channel side frames from 40 thou below the footplate and used offcuts to build the cab steps. Brass buffers, 3 link couplings and a range of little details such as handrails, a horn and light on the cab front was added, before spray painting in Doncaster green and finishing. The end result is a powerful small loco which runs quite slowly for shunting and is very robust. OK, tell me you hate it!

I like the later diesel-mechanical Planets too, having built a couple of the 'Y' class petrol locos as narrow gauge models. Here's one now on the Bowes Railway http://www.bowesrailway.co.uk/locosandstock/diesel_101.html There was also a chunky D-H model favoured by the Royal Navy dockyards Anyone know of a scale drawing as I would like to do on in O gauge?

Really useful list & references Has anyone come across a drawing of a Hibberd 'Planet' 0-4-0 Diesel, post 1950 with a proper 'hood', either mechanical or hydraulic, similar to the Bowes Railway and Cambrian Railway preserved ones? I'm interested in buidling a 7mm model...

Just bought a super book with the best collection of photos & data on the BR railbuses: 'BR 1st generation diesel railbuses' by Evan Green-Hughes, pub Ian Allen and from Booklaw it was £15.30. Will anyone do a 7mm scale kit for the AC cars bus? It was the shortest and with parallel sides probably the most straightforward to model. Just remember the originals on the Beith branch before it closed in 1962...

I can bring my 'Irton Road' 09 layout based on the Ravenglass & Eskdale with Heywood stock if you like - its 5 x 2 feet and local, with some features to entertain.