Albyn

None at all - just washed and dried it and applied a thin coat of Precision Paints LNWR grey from a new tinlet. regards, Albyn

Well I have finally got round to putting a coat of grey paint on my GWR brake van, for the Bishop's Castle Railway, another love and have taken some photos - not that i stirred the paint well enough to avoid some gloss patches..... Hopefully you will see what a white nylon WNVP looks like given the original van is 75mm, 3 in. long, so the photos are three times life size approx. I have also taken the plunge and ordered Derwent in the black nylon version as a pal has found a set of Romfords for me, now £7 each apparrently, and suggests Gibson adjustable connecting rods. he has also sourced a power bogie so i have no excuses really. I'll report progress at infrequent intervals. I attach a drawing of Derwent and a Bury loco from the book on 19th C railway drawings by Alan Prior. . It certainly passes my three foot rule - what can be seen at that distance.

Many thanks for the above posts and helpful suggestions. Much to think about - i thought i had selected to receive posts on this topic but apparently not. I have just received a printed brakre van from Rue D'Etropal in WNVP which seems to be much finer printed than previous items in this material. I have too many projects on the go but will have a big think about Derwent. regards, Albyn

I have just come across this thread. I have been considering buying an OO scale Derwent but as the complete set up is quite expensive I was waiting to see what somebody else made of it. Also the power bogie doesn't seem to be available at present and Romford wheels are difficult to get. Also not sure what material to specify. The resin based ones give finer detail but are rather fragile and prone to warp while the nylon ones are stronger but the texture is coarser. Perhaps not a problem on a loco like Derwent. The other thought is making valve rods, coupling rods etc that look reasonable. What do folk think on these matters?

My pal Steve bell scanned this drawing of a GWR outside frame GBV for me from 'A History of GWR Goods Wagons' by Atkins, Beard, Hyde & Tourre

Send me an email to albynaustin@gmail.com and i can send you some better quality scans of the brake vans and other BCR wagons, coaches and locos plus sourcies of info on liveries and kits - rather off topic for this thread. No rush as off to the Colonel Stephens AGM weekend on the PD&SWJR, the Gunnislake branch, so not back till Monday evening.

Well looking at enlargements of the photos on my computer i think both do in fact have channel section frames, not wooden ones, Albyn

You know that Worsley Works does the BCR ex LSWR six wheeler and Shapeways Recreation 21 produces the BCR ex- H&B coach and the old goods van type that pre-dated the iron minks ( more or less the same size as GWR ones) regards, Albyn

So far have just found the kit header for my kit - no instructions - so if you could scan the instructions please that would be helpful - though it looks as though this scan might be OK. My ABS "FourMost Models" header says 'GWR 10 ton outside frame pre-diagram brake van of 1886, F.272'. They were still available 3 yor 4 years back from ABS but I don't know the situation now as I believe he has retired and some parts of the business have moved on, regards, Albyn

A pal forwarded this to me. I model in 4mm scale and used the ABS whitemetal kit for my models which has some drawings on. Not quite the correct brake van as it is a little later but OK in 4mm scale as the differences are very small. I can copy the instruction sheet if i can find it, regards, Albyn Austin

A belated thank you - for some reason I never was notified of replies to this topic. Whre did you acquire the transfers please? regards, Albyn

There were four replaced by the iron Minks. Two bodies remained at BC and one went to Eaton station where I think it still is. I think the drawing is of the Eaton van. i have a photo of it somewhere. Attached two views of the body by the weighbridge taken by Casserley in 1963. Shapeways Recreation 21 will print to all common scales.

Many thanks, Albyn

Many thanks- have most of the books for the BC and area but don't recall it. I'm sure it's not in the latest Ifor Higgins book from Lightmoor unless it isn't captioned as a BCR loco?

A recent article in the BCR Society Journal reported that the researcher had found a GWR bill in the records for the Beyer tender. The BCR had actually bought the Beyer tender from the GWR - and paid over £100 for it which seems rather steep!

The BCR did at one time have an 0-6-0 loco "Plowden" from the LNWR that they bought in the mid 1860s - it was originally from the St Helens Railway. It went in the 1870s or 80s when replacement 2-4-0s from the Somerset and Dorset were bought. It also had an ex-GWR 517 class 0-4-2T bought in the early 1900s.

photo of No. 1

As a BCR enthusiast I was interested to hear that a photo exists of No. 1 at Craven Arms on delivery to the BCR sans cab. Current thoughts are that the cab was built by the GWR - but maybe fitted at BC? I've never seen the photo you mention. regards, Albyn Austin

That would seem the best idea then - contact Mercian but if you have no luck get in touch again. My pal has started to build the four wheel tender for Carlisle and hopes to have it complete next year! regards, Albyn

Was this after the railway shut as the BCR also ran buses in later years.

Interesting! The late Ken Lucas told me that one of the final straws that finished off the BCR was the tarmacing of the road to Shrewsbury and the beginning of a regular bus service there. I recall, perhaps wrongly, he said it was run by the Midland Red, but perhaps I only remember half the story!

I do have an unbuilt kit as does a pal. I think one of us would part with theirs. I still would like to build a decent version so I'll contact him and see if he wants to part with his first before i let mine go.

I did suggest to Trevor when he was thinking of producing the kit that he did both tenders and that if he put the tenders on a separate etch he could sell a few separately but he suddenly decided to do it in a rush - didn't take much note of our correspondence or my comments on his CAD drawing - and sent me an unmade kit and asked if I'd build it in 10 days, unfortunately when I was also busy at work. I did manage to throw it together though unsurprisingly Trevor was not overly impressed with my workmanship and it was just an unmotorised shell. I've never actually completed it as I'm not very happy with it but I can't see me building another.

When Carlisle was fitted with vacuum brakes at Wolverhampton the old four wheel tender was in such poor condition that they suggested that one of the Beyer Goods locos they were scrapping had a far better tender and the BCR bought it off the GWR. It must be remembered that the railway had done well in the war and had some funds but there was a backlog of maintenance which was never caught up with and traffic fell away in the next ten years to about 20% of the 1923 figure, causing the final closure.

Some Notes on the Bishop's Castle Railway and its Stock.docx