Ian Kirk

I was a very spoilt little boy and got a Bassett Lowke Compound in BR Black one year and later a Hornby 4-4-2 Flying Scotsman. This was because I had campaigned for a proper "big" engine as even the little me recognised that the Hornby 0-4-0s were not very lifelike. I still regret having sold the two "big" locos when as a poor teenager I needed new tyres for my first car. As well as my main presents at Christmas I often got a "Santa" present -something made specially for me. One year a two road engine shed which just fitted my two big engines and another year a two platform station with working signals. My Santa was really an aeromodeller so this is almost all balsa wood with dolls house paper. The loco shed did not survive dampness mice etc in the loft but most of the station did and I rescued it when I cleared the old family home after my Mother died. I still hope to restore this (as well as a hundred other jobs) I think I need to live on into extreme old age. I still have some of the 00 electric stuff that I got as an older child which I hope to set up again too as well as sundry unfinished layouts and I still need to spend some of my time with the little bit of my business that I kept - the O gauge coach kits. best wishes, Ian

Seeing this reminds me. In my home town of Kirkcaldy (and perhaps elsewhere) had a scheme to "adopt" a serviceman. Two old maids (can I still say that?) adopted my father and sent parcels of just such knitted items. Fine while he was flying over Germany but towards the end of the war they were sent out to Burma (on the assumption that conventional war with the Japanese would go on for a long time) The supplies of thick socks and balaclavas continued... After the war my parents and I sometimes visited the ladies for Sunday afternoon tea. The younger one was the manageress of R S McColls on the High street and caused me to feel guilty of my first "crime". My Mother and I went into the shop one day (me being 2 or 3) and I was given an under the counter sweet. Sweets were still rationed and it was presented as a sort of secret. The feeling of guilt must have impressed me so much that it is one of the few things I can remember from being so young. Back to the Railways: This thread always reminds me of the joys of railway modelling in the 50s pressing my nose against the glass of Walter Westwaters shop looking at Bassett Lowke locos that I could not afford and wondering if Santa would be kind. best wishes, Ian

Lovely photo. The Railway just as I remember it with the right degree of grime. I think that the luggage racks were more prominent than usual on this type of coach as it has the small compartments with very little between the windows. Possibly a Quint Art. The loco has the post 1958 emblem and the coach looks maroon but I think that is really how the earlier livery "weathered" crimson plus oil plus soot looked maroon. best wishes, Ian

Hi John, The drawing shows original NBR and as rebuilt LNER. The rebuilt cab was quite different from the Caley one and the "industrial" cab was how they ran on both Caley and NBR when first purchased/built. I think Pete will forgive me if I part scan my copy of the drawing. A scaled up print of the original 4mm one. I have mentioned elsewhere that in the 60s these were one of things sold to help the SRPS buy a real locomotive. The NBR 0-6-2T and the Caley 0-4-4T that had been put aside were [priced at £650 each. In the end BR lost patience, the 0-4-4T was saved and the poor old N15 went for scrap. In those days £650 was a lot of money and some of us were only schoolboys. Selling postcard photos at sixpence and drawings for a few shillings took a long time to build up. The surplus from the NBR group was eventually put to the purchase of Maude. I wonder if we had been successful in preserving the NBR 0-6-2T if Hornby would now be producing a model of this. best wishes, Ian

Neilsons sold some to the NBR as well and they unashamedly built more. They became LNER/BR class Y9 Pete Westwater has drawings for these I could get if you want. best wishes, Ian

Not sure if it was typical but at St.Monans on the Fife Coast Line the weighbridge was just inside the gate between the public road and the goods yard area. There was a small brick building just behind it which presumably held the machine itself and provided an office for the goods porter. I know this because long after the line was closed my little factory (for producing plastic kits) was built in the former station site. If I walked to work in the Morning I came in the former goods yard gate and passed the site of these (still quite clear in the 80s) on my way to the factory. best wishes, Ian

It was bad enough around the Clubs which at that time was where most Modellers compared notes (sitting around an unfinished layout drinking tea). The RTR types bemoaning it's passing and the finescale ones pretending that it did not matter. Didn't last long as Wrenn took over the most missed HD items. best wishes, Ian

I would say that it was imperative that potential investors know things like: how many units are required to make the project viable? and at what (realistic estimate) price? I would also want to know how much the owners of the Company were prepared to invest of their own money (in the same way that mortgage lenders like to see a substantial deposit of your own money up front). I must admit to not being a great fan of crowd funding. My idea of business is that if you want to own a business you set it up out of your own resources. If you see a model project that you think might sell you do your sums (and hope against hope that you were right and it is indeed what the customers want) When I moved from a small workshop into a small factory, equipped it to produce plastic kits and employed people to do the production my house (and the future well being of my family) was on the line. The customers funded this eventually but I never looked for anything until the products were sold. I am sure that the earlier generation of model railway businesses like: Bob Wills, George Mellor,etc. would never have dreamt of starting the crowdfunding way. Sorry. My Scottish Presbyterian upbringing coming out here. best wishes, Ian

Hi, I don't think anyone need worry about the rights and wrongs of buying from Coopercraft quite yet. I will believe the statement on the other forum when I see it come to fruition. As far as my former LNER range is concerned the moulds were designed for a specific machine. I designed this myself and to my knowledge Austen Allen only ever produced two. Precision have one which is why they could re-introduce the Southern range so quickly. I am fairly sure I know where the other one is so it is not likely that the moulds will fit directly to any machine he may or may not have on order. If he intends to alter the moulds to fit the machine I hope that he has undertaken some engineering/toolmaking training since he last demonstrated his abilities in this field by destroying his last moulding machine. He has not as yet contacted me as regards the offer of help which I included in my request for a refund on the test order I placed some time ago. (no refund either). So don't hold your breath. best wishes, Ian

Ironically it is the Bakelite telephone (and a lovely piece of kit it is) which is non recycleable plastic. Model railway use tends to be styrenes/ ABS which are in fact easily reground/ re pelleted and then injection moulded into something else. Somehow I can not see any modeller using his Bachmann coaches then handing them back to be recycled into something else. If they do I will happily volunteer to start the recycling process. best wishes, Ian

Way over budget I know but if you or he could persuade Pete Westwater (who lined the original) to re livery one it could be Fife Heritage Railway's Forth. (recently returned to steam and re painted in Fife Coal Company livery) best wishes, Ian

. Anyone else noticed the adverts are thinning out a bit compared to maybe 10 years ago? Hi, I have noticed this in other publications. I suspect that it might be for the same reason that some exhibition organisers can't get so many traders as before. The "baby boomer" generation of small business owners are now of an age to retire or alas die off. The next generation will have been brought up on computers so will be more likely to rely on websites and other electronic advertising and I don't think that there will be so many in any case. I advertised in the R.M. every month from 1970 until the late 90s. Even with my O gauge range that I kept in semi-retirement I don't think that I have bought an advert in 20 years. best wishes, Ian

Hi Corbs, Well done with the 3F. Makes me nostalgic. It takes me back as "doing up" the Triang 3F from my train set days was my first go at trying to get a "scale" model. Romford wheels, separate handrails and ERG 3 link couplings (which were nearly as big as O gauge) nothing like as good as your version of course but people were much less critical back then and I was still only a lad. best wishes, Ian

This Parkside kit was one of those originally in my range. The person who produced the injection mould tools actually bought a full size one and the drawings were prepared from that. Pretty sure that it still had/has the single shoe brake gear. The van still exists and is currently at the Fife Heritage Railway in Kirkland Yard . It had finished it's working life with the MOD and was bought from Rosyth Dockyard in the late 60s. It went first to Lochty Private Railway (I think when the A4 was still there) and was restored to NBR livery and used for a time as their souvenir shop. On the closure of Lochty it was stored at Methil power station (with other Lochty items) and moved to Kirkland when preservation started there. It has just had some rotten wood replaced in the underframe and the restoration should be complete by the Summer. I will try and look in over the weekend to see if any plates are still attached. best wishes, Ian

Hi, The NB Atlantic Midlothian was indeed set aside for preservation. It was briefly put back on the main line again in 1938/9 but was withdrawn again and fell victim to the WW2 scrap drive. In the 60s The SRPS had two locos set aside the Caley 0-4-4T and a NBR 0-6-2T (N15)the price was set at £650 each. Two rival groups were formed within the Society to raise funds and I was involved (as a teenager) with the NB group. Eventually BR issued an ultimatum. There was funds for one not two and as the Caley group had more money the 0-4-4T was saved and the N15 was scrapped. The remainder of the NB fund eventually went towards the purchase of Maude. So if things had gone the other way Hornby might now be announcing an N15 0-6-2T best wishes, Ian

Hi, I have looked through my stuff and can not find anything. Next time I see Pete Westwater I will ask him, he has a great deal on Kirkcaldy area. The Harbour branch sidings and signal box were not photographed a great deal. The area was difficult for rail enthusiasts. One side the industries them selves the other the private gardens of houses in Balsusney road. Photographs around the station were quite common as were those taken from Factory Road. In between there was really no where to photograph from without trespassing. I had an Uncle, Johnny Urquhart who played football for Hearts then Raith Rovers (in the 50s) who had a house in Balsusney Road and whose garden was just behind the little Harbour Branch box. When visiting I can remember watching trains from there (and the J88 shunting the sidings) I was too young to take photographs though. He had moved house before I got my first camera. best wishes, Ian

Marc, The average short wheelbase wagon had a design radius of one chain (66ft) so around 18 inches in O gauge. Small industrial pugs were similar. The attached photographs of Kirkcaldy harbour had bits of two chain. This was worked by short wheelbase J88 0-6-0T. If the full size could manage then presumably S7 could too. best wishes, Ian

Going back in time I can remember the same complaint being made about kits. A good friend of mine was a prolific scratch builder and in the 70/80s he invariably (it seemed) completed a new loco only to find the announcement of the kit release in the Railway Modeller. He solved his problem by going O gauge where he is still happily loco building and having chosen to model 1890/1900 North British Railway is unlikely to be troubled by the increasing amount of RTR in O gauge. best wishes, Ian

I am afraid that I doubt if this could be done. The HD (Peco Simplex) coupling relies on having the big pivot somewhere behind the buffer beam (to get the correct spacing between vehicles) and the coupling is on about the same level as the pocket. The only way I can fit HD couplings to modern wagons involves destroying the NEM pockets. Sixty odd years ago when making the first steps from Train Set to "scale" modelling fitting scale wheels and three link couplings was standard. Now at the other end of the age spectrum I find the need to go back to autocouplers! best wishes, Ian

Hi, Another blast from the past. One of mine produced for Mr Stelfox. Late 1970s probably. A GER 10T 7 plank open. I cut the moulds, ran off (500 or 1000 can't remember) sets of bits. These presumably must have sold slowly as Mr Stelfox never came back and ordered any more. I wonder where the moulds are? best wishes, Ian Tatlow Pictorial Record of LNER wagons P 17

The LNER kept 2nd class for a bit. not just for the GE section boat trains but also I think in the London Suburban services. My only knowledge of this comes from once having produced kits for Quad and Quint articulated sets and having struggled on the ones I built up to find enough 2s on the HMRS transfer sheets. LNER coach experts will have the definitive answer. best wishes, Ian

In my teenage modelling years. Which was not yesterday. I had a Trackmaster N2 body with cut down bunker (sacrilege but in 1960 they were cheap) fitted with a HD 8F chassis with cut down cylinders/valve gear. As a scale model of a Q1 it only fitted where it touched. best wishes, Ian

Sad. I have known GEM since it was old George Mellor at Rhos on Sea. GEM were always white metal casters. The "tooling" was vulcanised rubber moulds formed over brass patterns so if the quality deteriorated it could always be rectified by making another rubber mould from the original patterns. As long as the patterns exist the kit can continue. In the days when white metal was "state of the art" good casters would renew the moulds when wear (burning out) became obvious. Nowadays I suspect that with diminishing sales it is less easy to justify the costs/effort in getting a new mould set out and vulcanised so quality could go down. Many years ago I produced brass patterns for GEM in fact I produced the patterns for the NLR tank someone mentioned. best wishes, Ian

Not quite the area you are after but at St.Monans on the Fife Coast line. At one time a fishing village, there was a curved platform on the South edge of the goods yard. Fish was brought up from the harbour area by horse drawn carts and boxes were loaded by hand into the vans. These were usually added to passenger trains. In the lines last few years of operation when DMUs were on most of the passenger trains there was one loco hauled train each way (to/ from Thornton Junction) as I don't think that the DMUs were allowed tail traffic (or not enough). In the 1980s/90s my little factory unit was on the site of ST.Monans station and I am fairly sure that this platform was the only remnant of the station. It might be still I have not been back for years. I think that while on that site I did produce some Fish van kits in my 4mm wagon range (which eventually became the beginnings of Parkside) best wishes, Ian Edited to add that the fish platform is still there, or it was on Google maps in 2009

Hi Sam, Glad to hear that you made it back safely from the Kettering expedition. If your NB van is plastic it may be one of mine. I had the first few of what is now the Parkside O gauge range in my range until they went to Parkside when I concentrated on Coach kits. An example of the prototype still exists. My friend Pete Westwater bought it from MOD surplus at Rosyth Dockyard and it was moved to Lochty where IIRC it was used as the shop. Pete measured it,prepared the drawings and did most of the toolmaking (of the moulds).It is now with the preservation society at Kirkland Yard in Leven. Currently being restored it should be operational again soon. There were a couple of small Pecketts (and a small Barclay) at the British Aluminium factory in Burntisland. The late Ian Fraser of Arbroath bought one (as well as Morayshire and a small BR std 2-6-0) in the 1960s. This was at first kept at the Lochty Private railway which was originally set up for A4 60009. Pete and I were regular "helpers" so I am sure he will have loads of photos ( he had a better camera than I did). If you need photos let me know and I will see what Pete has. keep up the good work best wishes, Ian