Albyn

Interesting figures! The Tri-ang Model Land range had some very good figures. Hadn't realised about Merit or Subbuteo! Looking on the web it says that "In 1954, the famous British toymanufacturer established by William Britains in 1845, released 'Britains Lilliput World', a series of OO/HO scale models of buildings, figures, farm animals and several vehicle models intended to complement Trix Twin model railways. For a while the models appeared under the name of W. Horton Ltd. (a Britains subsidiary)." Thus pre-1954 Lord Craig figures were not the familiar chap in brown.

Thank you ever so much. What an interesting topic. I'd often wondered where the figures came from. I'm a bit too young for the 1950s stuff and didn't really start modelling figures in layouts till the last 20 years. I'd always wondered about the origins of Lord Craig and the rotund, seated, sleeping figure. Pity nobody does one like that today. regards, Albyn

I'll have another try, Albyn Malcolm has kindly asked me to add the full caption: CRAIG circa 1955/6 Harbour Street with the boat building yard is on the left, but Craig Castle has yet to appear on the hill [that happened in 1957]. On the (early) standard gauge is an American Varney 4-6-0 "Casey Jones". In the narrow gauge platform is "Alistair" with two new looking 'Kemtron' bogie coaches, the original goods brake van, the open wagon converted from a 'Dinky' trailer and, bottom left, you can just see the corner of what was the first coach on the C&MR. On the right is the engine shed with "Agnes" and "Ian" outside, and "Joan" in the siding with the 'Woolies'. Peter Allans Processing Plant is behind the engine shed. Photograph by P D Hancock is copyright and reproduced by kind permission of Edinburgh & Lothians MRC P D Hancock Collection.

Thanks for that folks. I've often wondered if the figures made by Graham Farish feature on the layout but have never seen a set to be able to compare them. Perhaps that's where Lord Craig and Andrew McAlistair come from..... However quite a few small firms in the 1950s produced OO figures I believe. PDH produced his own on wire frames dipped in wax which seemed unduly complex to me. I recall modifying figures with plasticine coated in banana oil which dried hard. I attach hopefully the 1955/6 colour photo which the gentleman couldn't find, regards, albyn

Thank you very much for the reply and the link. Have you a photo of the figure you think is a caricature of PD Hancock please. There are some very interesting figures - some recognisable commercial ones but others are new to me. I know he dressed a lot in Edwardian costumes as he did an article about that in an old Railway Modeller.

I have just found a fantastic 1954/5 colour photo of Craig station on Grum's Narrow Gauge Lines Blog at https://grums009andgn15lines.blogspot.com/2018/01/p-d-hancock.html He says it is from the Edinburgh MRC P D Hancock collection. Are there any more fantastic photos like that in the collection? I've never seen it before despite being a bit of a Craig and Mertonford fan. I was fortunate enough to see Dundreich when it was exhibited at the 009 Society's do at Kegworth in 2013 with most of the surviving locos and rolling stock. Are the photos of the surviving buildings still on the web somewhere please? regards, Albyn

Look nice but these are the larger 4 gallon cans used by the military rather than the smaller 2 gallon type used by civilians and also by the military. However the accessories and items such as the GS cart and various lorries and motorbikes look to be very useful, thanks, Albyn

SHQ miniatures VP33 contains 16 white metal 2 gallon petrol cans plus two funnels! Thanks Albyn

I found some whitemetal ones in racks of five sold by SHQ MINIATURES VP12 or VP33 are for 2 gallon 'flimsies' petrol tins and also racks of 5 VP46

Thank you for the replies, especially the dimensions. i have located some army 4 gallon types alledgedly so will see what they are like, otherwise I shall be making my own, regards, Albyn

Thanks - a colourful display! They were using shell on the K&ESR so red or green?

Thank you for letting me know capacity was two gallons. Yes that is the fall back but nice moulded ones with handles and caps already on would be good! Don't even know the approximate dimensions either. thanks, Albyn

I'm modelling a Colonel Stephens Ford railcar in 4mm scale. These carried several of these 1 gallon petrol cans full of water as the radiators constantly boiled as the engines were over stretched hauling the second car with its engine shut down. Cans were carried on the roof rack or the footboards. Does anybody know of a source for these cans please? Note these were rectangular rather than the much later 'Jerry' cans that came in during World War 2.

Thank you both for filling me in on this interesting topic. A pal has a diecast body for an 'WD' 2-8-0 body in 4mm. No tender or mech though he has substituted a Dublo 2-8-0 chassis, spoked wheels, and found a suitable tender - a much modified proprietary one of Tri-ang origin I think. We've no idea who made it. Anybody got any thoughts? regards, Albyn

Bradshaws marketed a Midland 2P kit made by KMR in the early 1950s. It had a diecast body so it was fairly simple to build. Did they produce any more kits or locos?

Have been working on Gazelle and trailer - photo attached - I realise green could do with a touch up!

Thank you very much! regards, Albyn

I wonder which is smaller - this one or Gazelle! Gazelle weighs 5.5 tons and has a 10ft 6in wheelbase, 17ft 2in long.

It is produced by Simon Dawson of this group who trades on Shapeways as Recreation 21 and is available in all the usual scales. I also used the new Lightmoor press book on the Colonel Stephens Railmotors. This includes drawings of Gazelle and its trailers, with updated drawings by Les Darbyshire of the ones that appeared 50 years ago in the MRN using information that has turned up since then. The first London tramcar trailer that I picture is now much shorter than Les's original drawing. At the time he didn't realise that London horse trams came in two lengths - a long one for flat routes, length known, which was the basis for his original drawing, and a short one for hilly routes which is the one Stephens bought. Crich now have the body for one of these. There are also some great photos reporoduced in very good quality, many never published before from the Col Stephens Rlwy Museum collection (where the preserved Gazelle lives) and a much updated text from the original version that appeared 20 odd years ago. Basically it's a new book. The Pickering steam railmotor features also as well as the Drewrys, Fords and Shefflex cars for which Stephens is famous.

I obtained some suitable wheels from a pal for Derwent and fitted a trial overlay on the wheel. As Romford wheels have a coned tread, as per real railway wheels the overlay is about 0.5 mm too large a diameter and so fouls the the wheel treads. It is also very thick and looks rather overscale. I presume a significantly thinner overlay is not possible if 3D printed. I remember the gentleman who started the job produced a pdf for the wheel overlays so that might be a better option. Perhaps he could please email it to me at albynaustin@gmail.com. Ideally I suppose it could be made in etched brass. The planking on Derwent compares well with that on the whitemetal old K's Titfield Thunderbolt/Lion kit. The width and depth are about the same in fact. In 4mm overscale looks more realistic sometimes than exactitude. The gaps could be made smaller fairly easily with plastic strip to reduce the width. edwardian remarked that he had not seen a 3D printed coach. Here is a view of the trailer for the Shropshire and Montgomery's Gazelle, an ex-London horse tram, with the roof and end balconies removed, that was used on the Criggion branch in the 1920s. It is 67mm long in 4mm, the view below being about actual size. The enlarged view shows the finish, suitably tatty with a couple of coats of paint flatted down with flour paper and then top coated in LBSCR brown with a bit of frame dirt. needs a bit of finishing off of course. I am happy with the result but of course others may disagree. regards, Albyn

Wow!

Well the Derwent prints arrived this afternoon and are very impressive. Really pleased with them. Many thanks Dr. Newman. I enclose some cruel enlargements and a view of the whole ensemble. The loco is 80mm from tip of footplate to front of smokebox, and looks to my eyes very acceptable. I may try some dissolved body putty from my local model shop to fill in some areas and see what they look like but i think much of the printing can stand as is especially for a rough old goods engine towing a few Smallbrook chaldrons. The photo of the ensemble is about 10% over size of the actual prints. However if you blow everything up you can see it is 3D printed. I shall let everybody decide for themeselves. regards, Albyn

I hope that was meant to be a joke, if a somewhat unkind one, though of course we are all a bit eccentric. I am very grateful to the good Doctor for his efforts on Shapeways to produce items that I could never scratch build to the same standard even if i could find the time, Albyn

Still a little on the large size is this picture of the roof.

Here is a photo which hopefully ids nearer actual size. In fact it is still a little larger than actual size.