Ian Kirk

Well done your wagon looks to me exactly like the original last time I saw it. I should explain that I am not quite as old as that but this kit was originally in my range. Then Parkside, now Peco. Pete Westwater who did the original detail tooling (I completed it to run on one of my machines) had actually bought a 12 inch to the foot example which had been until then in use at a government establishment. This was duly repainted into NBR livery pretty well exactly as you have it (I can't remember the number) and is now preserved at the Kingdom of Fife Preservation Society. We got the painting details from a works photo showing one of these just finished by the builders Hurst Nelson of Motherwell. I tried to find the photo but so far no luck. I have gathered an awful lot of stuff in my 50+ years in the Trade. best wishes, Ian

Hi, Looks an interesting project. THe Library of Scotland has a good digital collection of old maps and the 25 inches to one mile ones have sufficient detail to give the track plans which did not change much pre 1960. There is a gap in the collection over the open countryside and Rannoch is not included there is a satellite view of the present and it has a measuring feature. THe platform would seem to be 440 ft long If you have the Callander and Oban book you will realise that prior to 1965 the trains to Oban ran underneath the West Highland at Crianlarich ( Crianlarich lower station) the junction being rarely used and the through West Highland trains were on their way to Fort William. In the 1960s Mark 1s were still fairly new and some west highland trains included a few ex LNER types. The only DMU I can recall in that period was on a Railtour called something like "the five Lochs tour" . best wishes, Ian

Good to see something of mine being put to good use so long after I made it. The tank fillers were originally on the roof. on the prototype there was steps on the end and a step on the roof each end. I did not put that on the roof mould as the full brakes didn't have them and it gave good modellers something to do (I notice that Phoenix have moulded them on their new roof). I think that the removal of steps from the end and the filling pipes down the end came in with electrification and although fitted in preservation were not on the originals. I produced this type as it was the last kit I needed to cover the entire 1926 Flying Scotsman set. I produced some factory assembled/painted sets in glass fronted display boxes. The advert stated that the first set ordered would be delivered by a flying Scotsman. I duly flew the first set down and met the customer at Halfpenny green airfield. Unfortunately for me I didn't get the intended free advertising in the RM as the photograph of me handing the kit over in front of my Cessna did not come out properly. The negative was fogged as I must have put the camera through an x ray security. Photographs of me setting off were taken on a different camera and came out fine. best wishes, Ian

The Chap in London was Tony Brown. He sold the by then combined ranges on when he retired. I agree that my old LNER Coach range could probably do with up grading if it could be saved. Some of the tooling is now 40 years old and what was considered to be state of the art forty years ago does not compare with now. I continue to be surprised that there is a demand when much of the range is duplicated by RTR from Hornby. Despite being stored in less than satisfactory conditions I am fairly sure the tooling could be polished up again. If Pheonix were to get them they have I believe a new roof moulding for the 61ft 6 Gresleys and seem to have managed production of the SR ones. Putting the range back into production would not be easy but by no means impossible. I made them so I could fix them. Colin Ashby (like me in semi retirement) still has one of the "stretched" Austin Allen machines that I designed especially for the long mouldings so production is certainly possible too. Interesting Times.... best wishes, Ian

I believe that the specification for LNER coaches was 3 inch square timber planed half round on top. This would then be screwed to the roof and allowed to adopt a curve as has been suggested over a 60 ft length I think that this would happen easily. (try lifting say an 8ft length of 1/4 dowel by the middle. It will curve naturally.) In my O gauge kits I supply specially long lengths of Slaters rod. This once cemented in place, if the cementing and painting can be made to fill the slight undercut gives I think a good representation of a square section with the top planed half round. best wishes, Ian

Only found this thread just now. I will be interested to see the build of the Pickersgill. I have one to build myself if I ever get around to it. I bought it a year or two ago from Finecast when I thought that they were not going to be produced again. This was one of "Mine" in that I produced the original brass patterns for Nu Cast and although I got to build the first off castings I had to give the model back to Nu Cast so I don't have one of my own. Inflation meant that I paid almost as much for the kit as I was paid long ago for the original pattern making. best wishes, Ian

While I had the kits that became Parkside (including the first four O gauge ones) They were always moulded in standard HIPS. ABS (which is more difficult to work with) was only ever used for a few small mouldings (buffers etc.) where the added strength was useful. And I don't imagine Parkside did any thing differently. HIPS becomes brittle if moulded at too high a temperature, or later in life if aged exposed to UV light. Otherwise all should be well. best wishes, Ian

Back in the mists of time I produced a 2Bil kit. This went to Colin Ashby but fortunately did not go on to the dreaded non producing them firm in Somerset like my LNER coach range. I believe that the moulds went to Phoenix so it is probably still available but for most people replaced by a RTR set from Hornby. There was a thread on here about building /detailing a kit a few years ago. best wishes, Ian

In 1983 I bought a Capricorn Trade Directory for Model Shops and used it to go round trying to sell kits to shop owners. In the 80s most model railway outlets had a small display of the bright yellow packaging of my 00 Coach range. I never throw much away and I found the Guide recently. It is staggering how few of the class of 83 seem to be still extant. AS an example from the Guide: Lancashire had 33, London 34, West Midlands 34. That is just the ones the Guide found. I knew of one or two that they had missed. Lots of them gone now. "Sic in transit gloria mundi " best wishes, Ian

White painted smokebox door handles and hinges, sometimes buffer heads too I always associate with an ordinary locomotive that was "bulled up" by the shed staff for working some special train. Back in the glory days of my youth there were a good number of enthusiasts specials, In Scotland worked often by one or more of the 4 owned by BR preserved locos that there were at the time : Glen Douglas, Gordon Highlander, Jones goods and the Caley Single. There was usually a "back up loco" allocated too, usually one of the 0-6-0 goods types specially cleaned by the shed staff. I recall for example a Glen Douglas tour from I think Glasgow where the Glen came off at Thornton for turning and servicing while a bulled up J37 took the train round the Fife coast line and rejoined the Glen later. I am fairly sure I have seen a photo of a 2P on an enthusiasts special with the white painted "embellishments". IIRC some of the preserved locos had these in polished steel. That would take a lot of work but a touch of white paint was quick. best wishers, Ian

Aircraft have pre flight checks. I don't know about the modern computer driven ones but 50+ years ago RAF Service types, more recent light aircraft and vintage examples all had a well established series of checks in a book of words. I have never in all my time flown an aircraft without doing a full pre flight check and I would not want to. After all it was my soft little body that was going to be in it. I should imagine it would be the same with drivers on the railway. Old age catches up with you and I am no longer flying so now qualify for being an old pilot. There was a saying: "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots". best wishes, Ian

As far as I am aware all of the British outline RTR (except for the expensive brass ones) produced recently have been designed to go around the set track curves. This has opened up the possibility of a continuous run layout in spaces under 12 ft wide. Problem comes and the same can be said about 00 layouts involving R1 and R2 curves if you want to try and run big locos and full length coaches in that they look decidedly unrealistic on the curves. The late CJF designed one 00 trackplan to deal with this, basically an oval with very tight curves in tunnels either end, fiddle yard at back and station (viewed area) at the front. THe spectators never saw the undignified progress around the curves. So gentle curves on most of the layout and hide the tighter bits seems to work. Alternatively model an industrial scene with small locos and these tight radii are prototypical. In O gauge I am working on a harbour model using quite a lot of setrack curves. I have found by experiment though that small locos can go down tighter yet. In real life short wheelbase 4 wheel wagons and small industrial 0-4-0 tanks were designed to go round one chain radius (66ft) which works out about 18 inches. I have some bits of 2ft radius and the 0-4-0 "pugs" go round that fine. If the bigger 0-6-0T locos won't, no problem, they would not have been allowed there in real life anyhow. best wishes, Ian

Whenever I read one of these threads I am reminded of the difference between running a small business with 7 or 8 employees (as I once did) and being a sole trader (as I am in semi retirement). Someone being unwell can be an inconvenience for the first but it wipes the second out altogether so I am inclined to sympathise with "one man bands" when they are criticised for delays. Some of course deserve it, witness the threads on here about the current owner of my former4mm coach range but I am sure that some others do not. My Grandmother used to say "do your best. No one can do better than that." I am sure Markits are doing their best. In these troubled times it is not just the small outfits that have delays. Last month I was looking for some Peco O gauge track/points, tried everywhere and the result was "pre order" then delivery is promised for sometime this month. Which I am sure it will be. I remain patient. It shows though that even if you have a whole factory you can't always stock all of the items all of the time. best wishes, Ian who if he is spared will soon have been in the Trade for 50 years

Looks OK to me and remember most goods wagons had a hard life and would have to have repairs from time to time . The local preserved railway has a van where soft, potentially rotted timber has been cut away and replaced in a similar way to yours. best wishers, Ian

Not the "first" train set that I can remember but the first "layout" from Santa was on a sheet of plywood and had green "grass" grey roads a station platform, a garage and a circuit of very tight radius (1ft I think) tinplate track, more of a square really as there were straights as well. The "train set " bit comprised a green clockwork 0-4-0 tender engine and two very short bogie tinplate pullmans. (ostensibly 0 gauge) I think probably mettoy. I have no real memory of this, other than what I was later told. However being a "canny" family the " baseboard" was later used inverted on a 00 layout that ran around my bedroom wall. When this was recovered model railway archaeology revealed what had gone before. Apparently there was also a clockwork car and a level crossing. The car if setoff to cross the crossing followed the roads by banging into carefully angled stretches of (cream painted) walls and ended up in the garage. I am told that I preferred to set it off the other way in the hope that it would collide with the circling train. The first real train set I can remember, again from "Santa" was a Hornby Clockwork LNER green 0-4-0T and three "teak brown" coaches. I still have this. It's last outing was when as The Scottish Area rep for the Gauge O Guild I used it as part of my "sixty years of O gauge" display at some of the Shows I attended. A few Christmases later I got my first electric 00 set a Triang Jinty and two very short red coaches. The rest as they say is history....... best wishes, Ian

Another example from Scotland which I saw regularly in the evening (the morning train would be too early for me I only saw the return) was "The dockyard" This took civilian workers from East Fife to Rosyth dockyard. It was the only train I know of that stopped at Donibristle Halt as it also carried workers for the RNAS repair facility at Donibristle aerodrome. I think there may have been other trains to the dockyard from other lines. There were a couple of terminal platforms in Rosyth but the only time I remember them in use by "civilians" was for special trains on "Navy Days" . At one of these aged about 10 I got a trip around the bay on an MTB and the chance to pedal a bofors gun. Great days! After the introduction of DMUs on local services this was the only non corridor stock train regularly through Kirkcaldy. Latterly pulled by a BR standard 2-6-0. best wishes, Ian

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. In a way flattered that people still want stuff that I produced perhaps 30 years ago now. Great pity that it has ended up as it has but the LNER range has had two perfectly satisfactory owners before ending up with the current owner. Colin Ashby in Leeds and Tony Brown in Ilford both ran the range as I would have wished to have it done. I had no say on any later sale. I sometimes wish I had held onto the range and up dated it but the main part of my business was commercial moulding and this type of work had already started to move to Asia. When I got the chance I sold up the factory (some of my machinery was bought by a gentleman from India some went to Parkside) Having first put my freight wagon kits into Parkside I sold the 4mm Coach tooling to Colin and Tony and I kept a couple of machines and the O gauge coach range I had just started to give me a little business (at that time I thought I was too young to retire) I now call it semi retirement. As someone said there is an O gauge range and they are all still available. I hope Ian H finds what he wants and does not have to pay too much for it. I have bought a few from a well known site and am amazed at the cost but I am thinking back to what I charged a long time ago. best wishes, Ian

Don't know about the venerable, certainly feels vintage or veteran any time I try to climb hills or run up stairs. It's funny these things used to be so easy! Still modelling though . Better qualify that, not for paintings or photographs. In the 80s when I moved into the new Factory I got a new phoneline. The business name was Ian Kirk Models. Yellow pages asked if I wanted an entry and I agreed. Shortly after I started getting messages from young Ladies offering to take their vests off , some sent photographs. I changed the name to Ian Kirk Model Engineering. The letters stopped. Probably just as well. they will all be Grandmothers by now.... best wishes, Ian

I have dealt with Slaters for something like 50 years (right back to when it was George Slater) and have never had cause to complain. My last order took a bit longer than usual but I am of a generation that did not expect instant gratification. These are not normal times. In a small business with a handful of employees there are no margins to cover if someone goes off sick. Similarly there may not be a spare pair of hands to contact customers who are waiting. The Post is a lot slower than usual. Lots of things could be wrong. We are accustomed in this computer age to get instant return of our orders. Expecting this at the moment is perhaps a bit unrealistic. When I sold the Factory and retired I kept a little bit of my business, the O gauge Coach range, to keep me from getting bored. I am still running this, working from home in the lockdown. I like to turn Mail Orders around quickly but at the moment I sometimes do and I sometimes don't. The small town I live in has lost it's sub Post Office so we get a Travelling Post Office Van once a week. I could drive into the Post Town and queue up in the Post Office but at my age I am vulnerable. So depending on when orders come in I can turn orders round in 24 hours or up to a week. best wishes, Ian

Still doing this in O gauge where my "modular" system allows different types to be built from standard parts. The First/third twin should be possible in 4mm with the standard coach bodies. I wish these were still available. Third/third would also. Just to tease you I can confirm that a Brake third/third is in the O gauge range as I made a couple of extra modules for the different brake. Don't knock Gresley's coach designs. The variety of types has given me a living for the best part of 50 years. best wishes, Ian

I miss a lot of 50s stuff but only found this thread today and I think most of these have already been mentioned. My Maternal Grandfather bought the first TV I can remember for the Coronation. We all gathered round to watch the small screen in a huge floor standing cabinet with doors to shut it away when not in use. In those days programmes were only transmitted during the day and shut down at night. They played the National Anthem before shutting down (and the dot in the centre of the screen faded away. ) my Grandfather always stood up at his own fireside while this was playing. My other Grandfather made his own TV using a Government surplus cathode ray tube from a night fighter radar. This was green and white not black and white. I was fascinated but my Mother was terrified I would be electrocuted as he never boxed it in and was always adjusting it. He seemed to get shocks but was relatively unharmed. The whole thing covered a whole kitchen table and the picture was about post card size. best wishes, Ian

Guilty as charged. It is half of one of my very early brake thirds. Perhaps someone else somewhere has a four wheel four compartment coach from the other half. I know some people did. The simplest way to stop something like this bowing inwards is to put a couple of partitions in but shortened so that they don't show through the toplights. Interesting to see how it turns out. The mouldings must be over 45 years old by now. best wishes, Ian

Everything is "of it's time" . WE should also remember that initially some of these were aimed at the "train set" market and when many of these things were introduced the "real grown up railway modellers" were scratch or kit building . The degree of accuracy and detail achieved in RTR today could only be dreamed about at one time. The whole market has changed and is now aimed at the serious adult. Fewer and fewer kids want train sets these days so robust cheap "toys" are not needed so much. Over the years the lower quality and limited variety of the RTR available at the time gave me and others the chance to make a living producing kits. In 1970 there were no British outline wagons in N gauge so I started to make plastic kits. In the mid 70sthere were only a handful of RTR wagon types so I started a range of 00 wagon kits (which eventually became Parkside) In the 80s the only RTR LNER coaches from Hornby were too short which gave me the chance to produce a range of coach kits. I produced brass patterns for several manufacturers of white metal loco kits at a time when there was little variety in RTR loco types. So I can't complain the shortfalls in RTR ranges gave me a lifetimes work. In fact some of my favourite locos are old Triang or Hornby that I scale wheeled and detailed in my youth. Not very good in comparison with todays super models but I would not change them for the world. best wishes, Ian

The Thornton to Methil Docks part was never lifted so re building this bit of the line looks fairly easy. The Leuchars to St Andrews end was and although several proposals have been made for reopening the local authority must have given permission for housing development on the site of the old Guardbridge station about ten years ago effectively blocking the route. The long scenic bit round the coast will never re open. Too much cleared and built over. Mea Culpa when I had my factory in ST. Monans it was built on the station site and my office window gave the same view of the Stationmasters house as my photograph of a train entering the station. When the DMUs were introduced there was still a bit of fish traffic which had been tail traffic on the steam trains. The DMUs could not cope with this so there was one steam working per day for a time. When this was discontinued some friends and I travelled on the last steam service. The proposed line will pass the Fife Heritage Railway site whose running line parallels it for a bit. I presume the station will be around where it passes under the road at the Bawbee Brig there was coalyard there at one time now I think under the bus station. Linking with the buses would seem logical. best wishes, Ian

These are from a very long time ago so I doubt if many will come up for sale. Even on eBay. IIRC They were sold as "GWR vintage van" but also packaged up body only as "grounded van body" best wishes, Ian