Albyn

I have revised my notes on the BCR colour schemes that maybe of interest. The original was written ten years back and more information has come to light, regards, Albyn Some Notes on the Bishop's Castle Railway and its Stock.docx

Museum is now sadly shut but the Society continues and stocks several books on the railway - see their website http://bcrailway.co.uk/ regards, Albyn

Copy of Mercian instructions for Carlisle kit attached - if i can remember how to do it! Albyn Austin

I recently acquired an old whitemetal "Model Wagon Co" kit for a G&SWR Corpse Van. However the instructions are very basic and there is no drawing to show the layout of roof ventilators or the brake gear - a brake lever is included and a vacuum cylinder and V hangars but the layout is not explained. Should ther be two brake levers or is the one included a stray? Could somebody please post a photo or a drawing to show me the way please? These unusual wagons are rather interesting. Most railways had corpse or funeral vans or used a ventilated butter van or similar to transport coffins. The SECR used a luggage van to transport the coffin of Edith Cavell, shot by the Germans for aiding British prisoners to escape and also Captain Fryatt's coffin - shot by the Germans for trying to ram a U-boat and also the Unknown Warrior, all in the First World War. The van is normally at Bodiam on the Kent &East Sussex Railway, but is currently on loan to the Severn Valley Railway, I believe. The North British used something that looked like a lime or salt wagon with a peaked roof for coffin transport however. On a less sombre note the NBR and the Caledonian both had prison vans to transport prisoners from Edinburgh, which had no prison, to Peterhead near Aberdeen or Barlinnie at Glasgow for the really serious offences. Drawings from 1945 or 46 Model Railway News attached. Albyn

Keep an eye out for ebay auction sets - use ebay search to notify you when sets come up - an old style der adler set went for £34 a week ago I see and several others for under £60. There are a couple with buy it now prices of £120 but ignore those! The loco is about 5.5mm scale so fits in well as the original loco is tiny - if you see one from the new replacement HO set it is minute. Loco is pushed by the goods van which has the standard Trix mech, built like a tank and will run for ever with a bit of oil and tlc. The Bachmann locos are not renowned for having a long life - most are pushed by the tender but the Prussian/Lafayette Norris 4-2-0 has a motor in the haystack firebox! Triang Rocket also tends to overheat if run hard for long and burns out the motor, the TT type, I think. Using the Trix and Piko powered vans as pushers seems to work well, with unpowered locos, though Nick has managed to motorise a Lion. Albyn

Only available to order I see as out of stock currently.

£295 from gaugemaster in the UK Albyn

My pal, Nick Gillman has exhibited such a layout at several exhibitions using commercial products - the various Bachmann locos, the old K's kit for the 0-4-2 "Lion", the Trix "De Adler" Piko "Saxonia" the "Triang "Rocket", K's Mataro coaches, Smallbrook chaldrons and a modified 4 wheel version of "Lion". Preiser figures and the old Triang rubber buildings plus a few whitemetal kits for vehicles.

Wow! That looks very impressive. No wonder the young lady looks pleased. The extra locos also helped to show the development of steam engines. I especially like Locomotion! Not too many models of that engine around either! After all that work and midnight oil it all splendidly on the day. Well done to all who helped out plus the two leading lights! Albyn

Good thought - getting thse things to run is a bit of a black art - especially to tight deadlines. You might try coupling four wheels that run free and even trimming a little off the bottom of the slidebars if necessary for clearance if part of the rods are still OK. Dirt is usually the big enemy - if no PECO track rubber a cloth with a little thinners on will usually clean up track and wheel treads,

Poor running is usually due to dirty track and dirty wheels, including the rear where the power is picked up. Also a spot of oil on the axle bearings and the gears if you can see them usually helps. Just a spot of light oil - use a piece of wire or similar to place a small drop in the correct place. You can always just run up and down on the straight sections! If its any comfort I'm having similar problems motorising a 3D printed model of the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire's tiny loco Gazelle and it's ex-London horse tram trailer!

Don't dispair - even a non-working model on a length of track is impressive. Don't worry about rods. It would be nice to get the chassis to roll - trim a little off the chassis block to give the wheels a bit of side play- but if no time just draw a line under it and have it as a static model for tomorrow. Hopefully the 0-6-0 works. Chaldrons lasted into the 1960s on private lines and were certainly in use in West Cumbria on freight lines into the early 1920s. You're not producing something for P4 after all. Perhaps concentrate on the rest of the layout - green flock works wonder! I'm sure it will impress! regards, Albyn

Alternatively something like a cotton bud with most of the cotton removed and soaked in thinners will probably clean up the paint - no need to worry about loss around the axle hole as the wheel is in front. As a last resort run without coupling rods as long as the wheels go round, capt'n bodge

If the nut stays lost - just super glue the wheel to the axle - it is brittle so should be removable. Sticky axles just need cleaning out - a triangular needle file turned in the axle hole should soon do the trick,

The alternative if they still are not satisfactory would be to take two pieces of rail and use the cardboard rods as a pattern to drill holes in the rail which can then be cut to length for use as couplings rods - the old fashioned way of making them, best of luck, Albyn Austin

I've found my plans that i drew up for Carlisle many years back and were passed to Trevor who had them redrawn in CAD, See attached plus my comments on the test etch, some of which were rectified in the issued kits.

4th Class stood in open trucks, originally thirds I believe but banned by govt legislation, but the kindly management did provide handrails and did drill lots of holes in the floors to let out the rain water, though this made them rather drafty.

Many thanks for those helpful comments. Albyn

Does anybody know please whether Jouef also market the HO Spanish Matara loco kit and coaches? Albyn

A few more photos of Carlisle with early tender

some photos that maybe of use from the Stephenson Locomtive Society list though I think they are available from other sources too, They also have a huge photographic library and a great library including the Kitson order book with side view drawing of Carlisle and the works photo A great magazine too. regards, Albyn

Some views of the rear of the tender and a side view by jarvis of the other side of the loco

The width across the buffer centres on the Beyer tender seems to be 5ft 8in. Both the GWR and Beyer used 5ft 8in or 5ft 10 in. but looking at photos suggested 5ft 8in was correct. I did study a few Beyer and GWR tender drawings of the period. Carlisle was slightly wider so was probably 5ft 10in across buffer centres. Also the Beyer tender footplate was a slightly different height to that on Carlisle - see photos. This seems to agree with my guess at the width of Carlisle too. I did enquire about surviving Kitson drawings but Hunslets who took over the goodwill etc of Kitsons got rid of all drawings that they didn't think would ever be of use to them, so nothing survives except for the side view in the KItson book of completed locomotives now with the Stephenson Locomotive Society. I await any views on the subject! Albyn

I attach a scan at my attempt at a front view of Carlisle which I guesstimated as 7ft 6in across the footplate after looking at engines of a similar date. This looks about the correct size from looking at front view photos with a 4 foot 6 in diameter boiler. I also attach what i think the boiler back plate looked like from studying several photos showing part of the boiler. The indistinct writing says that the frames were edged with a single line.

Some more photos of Carlisle with 4 wheel tender