Bernard Lamb

Porcy's picture also shows this example to be dual braked. The Westinghouse pipe being clearly visible. I hope Tony takes great care in selecting a suitable number as most photos that I have seen are of the dual braked variety. Or were they all dual fitted? Bernard

Went to visit somebody and this lot came over to say hello. Bernard

I was on the next London bound train. Fortunately there was a Structural Engineer at Watford Junction and he was at the scene in around 45 minutes and gave it the all clear. I think you are correct about the arm as when I went that way a few days later by road there was a deep gouge mark towards the top of the arch but to one side. Bernard

Before you start on any drastic action I would check that things like the sand pipes are not fouling the track and causing the problem. I had a problem with mine and a bit of bending cured things for a while. They then worked loose again so I cut a couple of mm from them. Now runs very well. Bernard

Cosmetic? Then none better than Heljan available from Howes. Hornby might be obtainable as spare from a few suppliers. Working? Smiths are practical Exactoscale are better. Bernard

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think that part of the reason is that it is only in relatively recent times that discussion of such topics has been acceptable. It was not that long ago when the book was published. I remember not long after the wall came down being invited to the home of a family who lived near Potsdam. I had known them for many years but had always met them on neutral ground. They lived in a very nice house sat in a large garden that sloped down to a lake. The conversation turned to how long they had been there and it came out that the grandfather had built the original house in 1937. They assumed that I new just how high up the tree he must have been to have been able to do that. The grandfather was still alive at that time although well into his 90s. Later on viewing the family photo album when the odd railway related photo came to light he talked with some enthusiasm of a British loco he had experience of during the war. He accurately identified a Dean Goods.It took that long before they felt comfortable to talk about past events. At a memorial service recently the son in law of the family who is a very well known historian, in particular of that period, advised me to listen very carefully to the eulogy. He new that I could relate the dates of where the family were to historical events. SWMBO was amazed when we discussed it later as we were totally unaware of the background of this seemingly very nice and respectable family. With German history it can be quite an eye opener when the odd remark is made and you are able to follow it up. Brexit and the desire to obtain German citizen ship is also throwing up anomalies in status dating back from long forgotten times. Ironically we are finding out in SWMBO's case that being a citizen of the long hated East German regime is now having advantages over having lived in West Germany. Bernard

Which takes us back to Speer who designed the stations for it. I have never seen a model of any of the large gauge machines. Any one know of any? Bernard

Oh dear, come on now, in general 'twas the other way around. It was Barbara Castle who sealed the fate of the Waverley Route after Richard Marsh had prevaricated. It is so easy to bash people using the blunt weapon of hindsight. It is totally unacceptable to use rude and offensive language as in your post. Bernard

Several factors come into play here. Many of the employees were quite old. They also had local ties and even when offered alternative railway jobs away from home were not interested. Unemployment benefit was better in real terms than it is today. On the Waverley Route for example, only 23 out of 158 people choose to stay with BR in alternative jobs. At the time there was also much more local work available. BR at that time had an enlightened redundancy policy. They wanted people out and were quite willing to pay enough to achieve the required result while avoiding any union problems. If you want to study the situation in detail try and get hold off "Redundancy and Manpower Policy on British Rail". An MBA dissertation by Douglas Paul. Bernard

I posted way back in the early days of this thread about him taking out a subscription to Model Railway News before the war. I presume his English was good enough to be able to order it and to read it. Bernard

But that was all for show. His real train during the war years was usually hauled by a P8 as the larger machines could not use the local lines due to weight restrictions. Bernard

Cats in action, cats posing, they bore me, why don't they just go back to sleep, they are letting the side down. Alarm set for tea time when the servants come home and I can scream at them. lego

It is not that they have such a large order book. More that making wheels for model railway enthusiasts is a very small part of their business and they probably don't make much out of it either all things considered. The quality is well worth the wait. The problem with using any other wheel set id fitting the gears to the axles. Taking a file to the flanges is probably the best method. Bernard

There is a set of books North Eastern Record published by the HMRS, volume 3 includes comprehensive coverage of the various NER painting schemes for locomotives. I suggest you try and get hold of a copy as it will explain many of the complex and confusing differences. Bernard

Thanks Tony, I suppose it does depend on how the item, chimney or any other part, is located. You obviously know these kits far better than I do. I would make a hole from inside the smoke box to allow a good route for the solder to flow.I have always worked on the principle of doing as much work on each item as possible before joining the individual items into a larger assembly. Model railway stock or buildings to Ikea units I find it a good maxim. it might well require more time spent at the thinking stage to get the best out of I. Bernard

Why? I would have drilled out the holes before fixing the chimney to the locomotive. Hold chimney in vice using rubber inserts in the jaws to prevent damage and work as per your excellent method. But then I am just a pragmatic engineer. Doing it my way does mean that if you mess it up it is easier to have another go and any danger of collateral damage to the body is avoided. Bernard

I would suggest sliding the fish plates on to one end of a prepared length of track while holding it at chest height and in good light. Then as mentioned by Chamby ease out the gap. I do this just for the first mm or so to give a lead in. Any further then they can be too loose and fail electrically. I know you should use dropper wires and connect all joins in rails but I persist in being lazy. Then put the length of track into position, ensure that the four rail ends are in perfect alignment and slide the joiners across onto the fixed rails. Repeat as required. You will soon get the hang of it. I am working with SMP track and it works fine for me. Nor had a problem with other makes of track either including home made from rail and chairs. Bernard

I bought an Hornby J15 when they were first available.. By the time I thought about buying another one the second batch had arrived and the price was now over the 100 notes mark. Last week they were on sale at under £70. One has just arrived. Well I did need some rail joiners and I needed something to make up a worthwhile parcel. Bernard

You must have seen the Sentinel lorries that they produced under license. Bernard

I can't accept your comment on cost Coach. When I was involved in painting using a base cost of 1p for the cheapest unit cost, a mid grey as it happens, most common colours would have been around 3p with some going up to 7p. Granted the area and thus the volume is quite small in the case of models but it still has to be costed into the job and as Dibber pointed out working to a limited colour range is an added complication. Add in minimum amount that can be ordered and the smaller production runs it is not as easy as it might at first appear. Bernard

Because he was a genius. A brilliant innovative engineer who was also able to get one over on the politicians of his day. At times my imagination runs riot and I have a strange idea of what he would have achieved if he had been put in charge of Skoda in 1945. Bernard

That master set would also be a rather expensive bit of kit. I used to have a set for various reasons, funnily enough containing certain Ford colours. Several sets were made up and kept for checking. They were used to check other samples that were in every day use and these open samples had to replaced on a regular basis. People tend to forget that a commercial paint supplier will have a tolerance range. This can be quite wide in some cases. Take RAL3002, there is a British Standard that is very close and the two can actually come out the other way round to the impression given from the master colour sample. Now as carmine is one of the coaching stock colours that would explain part of the problem. If you want a consistent paint colour you will have to pay a lot extra for it and I have no idea if the big makers will do it this these days. Bernard

ROTFL I remember a remark when my daughter qualified and we attended a presentation at The Law Society. "Your children will now be able to keep you in a style to which you have not been accustomed". Still holds true from what I see of most of them from that time. Although a few of them, including my daughter took the money for a few years and got out as soon as they could. The money in a city firm is still ridiculously good but they do have to work for it and some would rather not have a 24/7 involvement. However I do take your point, as the woman that did the catering has had to take a job on Bake Off, so times must be hard. Bernard