checkrail

Was nearly there with the D33 until I started adding the door furniture and started to make a right mess of my nicely painted coach sides. (Wire and I just don't get along.) Remedial work is underway, and I think I can now downgrade this afternoon's work from 'disaster' to 'disappontment'. Or lesson. Meanwhile here's a quiet moment at Stoke C. as 5557 rests after bringing in a train from Earlsbridge. John C.

Nearing completion now with the D33. Omitting the middle hinges wasn't such a good idea after all - the hinge holes became very obvious as soon as the sides were painted, and were partly above the waistline (see below). So I applied a bit of DeLuxe 'Perfect Plastic Putty' to the back of each hole, wiping off flush with a cotton bud, then touching up the paint. Oh, if that had been the only touching up required ..... ! Transfers were then added - a mixture of Fox and Railtec - as were luggage grilles (Brassmasters). Lining is done with Tamiya masking tape onto which a black line has been ruled with a Pilot V5 0.5mm pen. (I seem to be congenitally incapable of getting lining transfers on straight.) The sides were then sprayed with Dullcote. My methodology here is based on that of the old PC kits with printed sides, adopted because I find it very difficult to do the glazing etc. from inside the coach. In the photo below one side has now been glued on, using Gorilla contact adhesive which allows a bit of repositioning if necessary. But there's always a sting in the tail ... ! (To be continued.) John C.

I believe that in the US they used to tell complainants, "Jet noise is the sound of freedom".

Nice work Mike. Those various kit & bits are shaping up to make a distinctive and authentic looking train.

Another couple of 6305 with cattle wagons. John C.

Yee haw! Get them critters movin'! Given all the interesting and instructive correspondence about cattle wagons on this thread recently I thought it about time we saw a cattle train. So here's 6305 heading west. "Take 'em to Missouri Matt" - or at least Tavistock Junction. (Having said all that - and with apologies to John Wayne - the observant will note that it's actually a train of empty cattle wagons. No cows were harmed in the production of these pictures.) John C.

Thanks Geoff for kind comment re Stoke Courtenay (and for following all the way from the beginning!) I'm totally in agreement with you about texture - it is easy to overdo - and I wanted to avoid ballast like boulder fields and road surfaces like gravel pits. The platform surfaces (as you say, tarmac or gravel - take your pick) are from 1.5 mm plywood covered with very fine grade emery paper which I was able to buy on a roll, obviating the need for joins. The central section on which the buildings stand is from Slater's paving stone Plastikard. The edging was also from Plastikard. I'm also pretty sure that there is an intermediate layer, probably thinner Plastikard, to bring all three elements up to the same level. But as I continued building the station and its furniture and fittings I ended up painting over the emery paper so many times (to cover marks or spills and stains) that any residual texture more or less disappeared. Which rather reinforces your point! I might have got away with ordinary cartridge paper. But it sort of looks textured, so I'm happy with it. I see St Enodoc has kindly answered your other query about Phil's nice signal box signs. Good luck with your layout build. Maybe we'll see it on this forum? Cheers, John C.

Not being a wagon buff I had no idea there were so many variations on the GW cattle wagon. It was always my understanding that the Cooper Craft one was pukka, so it's sad to learn that its end/roof profile is wrong. I always thought that it was the Hornby Dublo/Wrenn one that had the wrong roof profile, being based on a BR (albeit GWR-derived) prototype. My CC models will stay as they are - life's too short and they look good enough for me! And I've now got all the cattle wagons I need including one each from LMS, SR and LNER. But if Accurascale or Rapido were to produce one ......

Road clear now for 8709 to move its train out onto the main line and continue to its next stop, wherever that might be. We've seen a few trains go past since it arrived at Stoke C. John C.

Forgive my ignorance but what was the prototype? An absorbed loco? (There was a long period in the 70s and 80s when I didn't see model railway mags so I don't recall Wing Commander Huxley and his work.)

5557 pulling into the branch platform. John C.

Nice. Lovely finish on that loco. IIRC there's a good pic of Marrington Hall coming into Kingswear in the Beck & Copsey book.

Shunting completed and 8709 is ready to go. But first she has to wait for a passenger service from Earlsbridge to arrive. John C.

Progress continues, albeit a bit slowly, on the D33. Today I mounted the underframe onto the bogies and temporarily fitted the carcass and gangways, then couplings before a test run. It's seen here coupled to the toplight 3rd which will be its neighbour in the formation. After a bit of twiddling I hit the sweet spot between close enough coupling for no daylight between coaches (using Keen Systems clerestory ends with floating end plates) but not too close to preclude smooth transit through Peco curved points in the fiddle yard. The next pic shows the loco end, with new brass wire handrails replacing the moulded ones. The gangway at this end is glued shut as it won't be used. This was fortuitous as the little spring pinged off my tweezers across the loft and hasn't been seen since. The third pic shows the gangway connections between the two coaches and the new roof tank above the lavatory, fabricated from Plastikard and microstrip The last shot shows the underframe detail, now converted to electric lighting with battery boxes etc. and with new V hangers and rods. I did get some more bogie steps from Dart Castings/MJT - quite a few as I realised I still had some stepless American bogies, for which they are actually intended. Now need to sort out the interior (it'll be sketchy!) and then think about the daunting bits - painting, glazing and door furniture. John C.

As promised, Star and train in full, as it sweeps through the station and disappears into Stoke Courtenay tunnel. John C.

Hi Neal. Yes, two compos in fact. Formation is: D47 (Slater's) C54 (Hornby) E88 (Slater's) H33 (Hornby/Comet conversion) E127 (Hornby) C77 (Bachmann) D95 (Hornby). Not necessarily following an actual formation in detail but hopefully using what the trade and after market offer to capture the atmosphere and flavour of GWR 1930s trains. They'll all be shown in the next few photos later today. John C.

Today's action features the return of the Star, heading for the Midlands. I quite like the first pic with the light catching the smokebox door - more by luck than judgement. In the yard 8709 is still busy - in a leisurely sort of way. The third pic illustrates something that's puzzled me for years: a) if glazed in the normal way with the material supplied the windows on the Slater's toplights are quite deeply recessed; b) On the inner surface of the corridor side there are little ledges to locate the horizontal corridor side handrails. These have to be cut or filed off to accommodate the glazing strip. Together these two features suggest that the windows should be flush-glazed with separate pieces of glazing. But no such glazing is supplied nor is the matter covered in the otherwise comprehensive instructions. In view of the long rumoured re-issue of these kits by Slater's it would be nice to know what was going on back in the day when they first came out. Another weird idiosyncrasy like those fiendishly complicated bogies? John C.

Interesting to read this Trevor and to find someone else using the Brian Kirby modification. I hadn't come across these hooks before. But in my experience trying to replace a tension lock hook with another one has never worked - it's never been secure again. So if I'm adapting a coupling to the Brian Kirby system and I knock the hook off I bin the whole thing and start again. But making the addition to the existing dropper with a staple and superglue is quick and efficient - about a couple of minutes per coupling. Here are a couple of mine: In the second pic the patch of rust on the rail chair denotes the location of the sub-ballast magnet (Screwfix kitchen cupboard door magnet). I too had loads of trouble with steel axles being attracted by the magnets, causing involuntary re-coupling. Goods stock which is regularly shunted now has brass axles (delivered from California in Imperial sizes!) and/or some friction applied to the axle (usually with slivers of Plastikard glued to the back of the coupling mount and bearing on the axle. After lots of trial and error I reckon I now have upwards of 95% reliability. John C.

Nice! Looking forward to my Hornby Macaws now. Wonder if they'll do them with a girder load like Bachmann did.

Yep - know what you mean. They do have a certain presence, a bit of heft, don't they?

Inspired by Kevin's @KNP 4112, seen recently on a van train at Little Muddle, here's my 4117 hauling a motley collection of brown (-ish) vehicles, perhaps waifs and strays being redistributed to their home depots or where they might be useful. A gleam of late afternoon sunshine illuminates the train as it crosses the road bridge. ( That's real sun, shining through the Velux window in a brief respite from today's near-incessant Mancunian rain.) And 8709 continues to shunt the yard. The Siphon F behind the large Prairie hasn't seen the light of day for some time. John C.

Quick work Neal! (And good work.) Look forward to seeing it in its full glory.

Indeed Robin. According to Beck & Copsey she was at Laira in 1938 and still there in 1946. I've seen a few pre-war pics of her. There's a really good 1935 one of her at Exeter St D. on a Plymouth express in 'The big four in colour', p.107.

Another Castle takes centre stage in today's selection as 5041 'Tiverton Castle' hurries its train towards distant Paddington. John C.

And there's more .... ! Now 6305 comes past on the down line with a freight bound for Tavistock Junction, while shunting continues at Stoke C.. John C.