TerryD1471

Many thanks for your comments and I appreciate the suggestion about beefing up the etched sides. I confess that up to now, a healthy dollop of Araldite has sufficed to ensure that such an occurrence doesn't happen, but that's no guarantee! I like Portchullin; it takes me back to my first contact with that area when I toured by bike and stayed in Kyle and then Achnashellach youth hostels in 1963 (forsooth!) Oh what a giveaway, but it was an era when Black 5s ruled. All the best Terry

Perhaps some of our readers have had the same experience. You look in your collection of accumulated bits and pieces and think "I've no idea where that came from!" So it was that I found several brass etches of coach components from Kemilway; they were, I think for 51 ft GE stock and my immediate thought was that they just needed 4mm chopping out of their length to form the basis of several different 50 ft ex LMS vehicles. The top one of the preceding photo is the first of this batch being a Period 1 panelled full brake. It has Comet etched sides and a plastic roof from ??? Aren't spares boxes wonderful? The same pic also has a set of etched sides for a Period III kitchen car, this time from 247 Developments. Also we see one of the Kemilway etches in question. Apart from the floor and ends, it offers a great source of sundry parts like thin brass strip and buffer beams. The next picture is a further stage in the saga of the Period III BFK. It now has a fully fitted underframe, an interior and the roof has had a brush coat of Humbrol; this still needs tidying at the edges as will be evident. The sides have been sprayed with Ford Aporto Red, but the whole still needs (a) glazing (b) corridor connections and (c) lining. It runs on Bachmann bogies and has been tested as the lead vehicle in a rake of 11, running nicely. One of my many failings is an inability to finish one job before starting another and the next pic is a case in point. I have had a brace of DJH kits for Black 5s for a long time which have been staring at me from the shelf, saying "BUILD ME!" Unable to resist any further, I made a start and this shows progress to date on the first chassis. This one has a D13 motor driving via 40:1 gears and I have a number of locos with this drive which have all proved smooth, powerful and speedy. The other chassis will have a Mashima can driving via a Comet 38:1 2-stage gearbox. It will be an interesting comparison between the two locos.

Unless you mean that it is still carrying the name "Drake", I can't see anything to fault it! Go on, give us a clue! ATB Terry

Having watched and read with much enjoyment Baz's saga of his work on ex LMS locos and coaches, I thought it might be timely to have a similar topic relating to my efforts in a similar vein, creating stuff to run on Hest Bank. Better here than in "modelling real locations." Just to give a complete lie to the idea that I was working on kits, the first pic is of a rework of an old (now Railroad) Hornby corridor brake third; I was originally going to use the bodyshell as a donor to stick etched brass sides on after surgery, but realisation gradually dawned (I'm a slow learner) that it was actually not a bad model of a D1905 BSK so I elected to do a repaint in blood & custard after adding a few extra things like vents and guard's duckets. Unfortunately my choice of a bodyshell with thick plastic sides meant that glazing was tricky but my (extensive) scrap box yielded a set of Cooper Craft glazing units for Mk 1 coaches which needed filing down a bit to fit; the main windows were OK but the smaller ones needed much more surgery, and sadly in my efforts to ensure they stayed put, they got an excess of solvent with bad effects on the transparency of the windows. Also the glazing bars received a slightly too liberal dose of cream paint, so they were not to my satisfaction. Even so, in a train passing through at a scale 60+, they don't look too bad. The vehicle behind is an incomplete Gresley open 3rd from Southern Pride etched sides stuck on an Ian Kirk donor shell; just needs innards! The next vehicle receiving attention is a Comet BFK. I was very conscious that my Caledonian set had a restaurant car instead of a kitchen car (now replaced) and a Mk 1 BSK where a Stanier BFK ought to have been. The task then was to build one using Comet sides, ends, roof & underframes and here we have the basic box surmounted by a Comet alloy roof. The integrity of the body was improved by soldering in a bulkhead of scrap brass and a further strip of brass across the main passenger area to which Araldite could be applied to ensure a strong bond. We can also see the underframe from Comet components (no connection, of course with them) to which in due course details and bogies will be added. I have found that Bachmann bogies are excellent value and easy to fit, so an obvious choice. Again no connection! More later A word or two about these next time.

Cheers Colin I think there's a huge difference between the growth of trees up until recently and the way things were back in the 1950s because of steam locos throwing sparks etc. Sorry to hear that traffic has been so badly curtailed of late, but I'm not surprised because of recent events. The last time I was there I was amazed by the frequency of trains; I scarcely had time to drive across the level crossing towards the Shore Cafe before the barriers came down again and another three trains came through in quick succession. Mentioning the grey footbridge (is it still called the Cinderella bridge?) makes me realise that it should have at least a little smoke blackening. On a divergent topic, I noted that Darnborough's great book "West Coast Steam" referred to the fact that there was a 1/477 grade heading south towards Lancaster. A quick calculation reveals that that represents a climb of 11 ft 1 inch in a mile. How were they so accurate? ATB Terry

In amongst all the building activity that lockdown has "encouraged" me to do, there are still occasions when a little operating takes place. A coal empties waits on the Morecambe branch to join the down main. The loco is the recently completed Hughes Fowler Crab, being a Wills body on a scratch brass chassis and the old-fashioned but sturdy drive train of an XO4 motor driving through 30:1 gears and riding on Romford wheels. It's far too clean at the moment, as is the train engine on the opposing working, a loaded coals hauled by a Bachmann Super D. Although I enjoy building locos and coaches, the availability of such a wide variety of good proprietary freight vehicles has meant that about 85% of the wagons on Hest are RTR. Further progress on the Period III BFK has brought a coat of spray paint (Ford Aporto Red) to the sides on top of a coat of grey primer. The roof is brush painted with one of the many shades of matt grey in the Humbrol range, but the vehicle still needs corridor connections, glazing, lining & lettering and a final tidy up of the paint at the join of roof and sides. It has proved it's a steady runner when coupled as the lead vehicle in an 11 car rake, thanks to the Bachmann bogies. Not long before it takes its place in the "Caledonian." HOWEVER, one of my many failings is the inability to prevent myself from starting another project before I have finished the last one. I had a couple of DJH Black Five kits which have been hanging around far too long, looking at me accusingly from the shelves where they had been gathering dust. In a moment of impetuosity I reached for the soldering iron and made a start. This first one has a D13 motor and 40:1 gears, a drive train I find very good. The other one will be powered by a fairly fat can motor on a Model Loco gearbox and it'll be interesting to see how they compare for performance.

Just found this superb layout of yours; I find the scenic work absolutely convincing and the locos and stock look the biz. Well done and I shall be following this. Terry D

Thanks for the suggestion Colin, but I think that all that is needed is a bit more care and common sense. Am I right in thinking that "Glue & Glaze" is PVA based? Just to continue the "coachoholic" theme, I thought I'd post a picture of another couple of work-in-progress items. I found in my (extensive) pile of unmade bits & pieces a few Kemilway etches which, I think, were intended for 51 ft GER vehicles. I thought they would be a good basis for 50 ft ex LMS vehicles, so having cut 4 mm out of the length, I used the first as the basis for a Period 1 full brake (panelled) using a set of Comet sides. It is the top one in this pic. Not sure where the roof came from! Lower down we see a set of etched sides for a P.III kitchen car and the etch from Kemilway which will form the basis of its floor & ends. I earlier posted a pic of the P.I kitchen car but I thought a P.III would be nice too! I haven't extolled the virtues of another supplier of etched brass bits, 247 Developments, (again no connection) who also supply many useful bits; in this case they have supplied the sides for the kitchen car and I shall be using their underframe components to complete both these vehicles. In my quest to have reasonably accurate train formations, my "Caledonian" set needed a couple of amendments. The restaurant car needed replacing with a kitchen car, which has now been done, but I also needed an ex LMS P.III corridor brake first to replace the inaccurate Mk 1 BSK. These were in use until the Mk 1 BFKs were introduced in 1959-60, too late for me. The first pic shows how nicely the initial "box" from Comet sides and ends go together with a Comet extruded aluminium roof sitting snugly in place. Secondly we see the same from underneath with the Comet sides strengthened by a partition cut from scrap brass and thirdly we have the bodyshell with an additional strap from brass strip to maintain body integrity. The underframe above has yet to have some details like V hangers, battery boxes, buffers & brake cylinders attached, but the whole assembly goes together very sweetly. The roof is being glued in place using Araldite as I type this and the brass strip and the partition give extra areas of contact for better glue adhesion. More to follow.

Historical research is always very advisable; I have found many useful sources of information, and among these are BR reference sources on train formations. It covered the mid 1950s and gave me some surprises. I had always assumed that there were plenty of 1st class vehicles among the train make-ups, but it seems I was wrong because it was only the top flight trains which included them. The majority seemed to rely on a CK or two for 1st class accommodation and, also surprising was the number of brakes marshalled in the body of their train (presumably because they were being split at some point in their journey). Also a number of trains had no brake marshalled at their ends, presumably for operational reasons. Unwittingly, it seems that the proprietary manufacturers of yesteryear had given us a better mix of vehicles than I had realised, but of course Sod's law has it that I had purchased not only a goodly number of Comet 1st class sides, but also quite a number of Hornby/Bachmann 1st class vehicles from among their recent releases. Lovely vehicles, but just too numerous. Not only could I reasonably be described as a locoholic, but also I am on my way to being a coachoholic too! Heigh-ho, but you can't blame me when you realise what a wonderful variety of ex-LMS vehicles there was to choose from!

So many aspects of Watkin's empire building seemed sadly to come to naught. Quite apart from the stupidity of dismantling the GC main line, there is the case of the Metropolitan tower. They had built the biggest part of it near Wembley, but then???, And as far as the Channel Tunnel is concerned, to quote my favourite politician, "There is no worse crime than being right too soon." I trust that everything is right in your household at this tricky time. Best wishes Terry

Amen to that; your coaching stock is coming together very, very nicely, but one of the comments struck a chord with me. There are three words used to describe red and they are maroon, crimson and carmine. I remain in a state of slight confusion, but to my eye, carmine is the lighter shade used for earlier non-corridor stock, vans and the bottom half of "blood & custard" vehicles. Maroon is, I think, the darker shade used for post 1956 coaching stock including non-corridor vehicles repainted and possibly some vans. I am just not sure about crimson; is it maroon, is it carmine or is it something else in the spectrum? I wish someone could clarify this. Yours spectrographically challenged. Terry D PS See edit note , but I am conscious that this might be better placed on your coaching stock page.

For the sake of completeness, I decided to post a photo of the ex-Hornby BTK which I have been working on. It is with some trepidation that I do, because Iain's maroon version of it is beautiful, whereas under the glare of an enlarged photo, the warts on this are only too apparent. The principal problem lay in my decision to use the original body shell with thick sides which I glazed with Cooper Craft windows ex Mk 1. As will be only too clear, the solvent used leached out into the visible parts of the windows and resulted in marks which defy removal. My fault as I used too much solvent because I wanted to ensure the windows would stay in place. Also my painting of the glazing bars is much messier than I would have liked, so although it looks fine seen passing by at speed, up close it ain't so good. Oh well, back to the Comet sides which give a much superior result. At least there was one area of success, in that I found a different batch of lining transfers (origins unknown) which went on very well without breaking up. If only I knew who made them! The vehicle behind is a work-in-progress ex LNER steel sided open 3rd. The sides are from Southern Pride and are stuck onto donor Ian Kirk sides, roof and ends. Just needs an interior, but there are two DJH Black 5 kits which are also beckoning me!

Thanks Iain You achieved a beautiful finish with your vehicle; well done! Can I ask what lining transfers you use as I am still having problems with mine breaking up as I apply them. Mind you they are probably old stock, so it's likely I only have myself to blame! Cheers Terry

Hi Barry I appreciate the words of comfort. They very much chime with one of my old fellow members of the Wolverhampton club who invented (I think) the expression "stand off scale", by which he meant that if you couldn't see it at normal viewing distance, it didn't matter. And in these days when I need slightly more powerful specs to see what I'm doing, things are becoming less critical. Anyway, I look forward to seeing future coaching stock (ex-LMS) from the Oliver stables. ATB Terry D

Nice to see the results of your labours; I too have been building up a fleet of ex LMS vehicles for use on Hest Bank. Yes, Barry, I confess that I too have had problems with some lining transfers. Some of the waterslide ones (Name withheld) went on in about 6 different pieces! Others were better but there were still occasional glitches. I too resorted to using a bow pen; two times out of 3 they were fine, but I have one or two where the lines got distinctly blotchy so draw a veil over them (or turn the coach round so you can't see it!) Keep up the good work! Terry D

Thanks Tony They are mostly kits/resin models because I can't contemplate the time required to scratch build them, so they are the right type of building, but not necessarily an accurate model. The overall effect is, I hope, something near. To move to a slightly different theme, I was pleased to see Barry O's thread on LMR coaches, full of useful info. I don't want to tread on his toes, so any comments on coaching stock will appear here. I realise I had rather blithely skated over the mention of nearly twenty Comet-based coaches without scarcely a mention of how they were done. Just for a change I looked at one of the old Hornby 57 ft LMS(ish) coaches, now in the railroad range. The "composite" is too short and there are several other issues which make it a non-starter, but I had acquired a beaten-up brake third with a view to major surgery. Before I cut into it, however, I checked it against Essery & Jenkinson's reference work. At first I dismissed it as wholly wrong, but a further look made me realise that it was not a bad bash at a D1905 brake third. The underframe was probably the worst part, but once the unwanted boxes (battery?) underneath had been removed and an MAJ box put on the corridor side, and the oval buffers had been replaced by some nice round ones (MAJ too) and the over wide lower flange on the underframe had been planed (Yes!) off, it was looking OK. The body shell was much more promising. The roof detail was good & needed no work, but there were no guard's duckets and no ventilators over the brake doors, so these were added using plasticard or Ian Kirk plastic duckets. In the deep end then, and having primed the whole thing grey, I masked the sides and sprayed them with Ford Sierra (not Sahara, now obsolete) Beige. See pic. I had deferred the decision as to how to glaze the body. That's shorthand for saying I didn't know what to do! The body sides were deep & I didn't like the original Hornby glazing moulding, and then I spotted some Cooper Craft Mk 1 coach glazing bits in my (very large) parts box and realised that they were the right width and only 1/2 mm too deep. A few swift passes with a file and "it fits". The other seven window mouldings were similarly reduced and cemented in position and the result you see:- The windows are a nice flush fit and only need to have the glazing bars painted to look convincing. The remaining windows do not have such a neat solution and it is either going to be a lot more Cooper Craft bits filed within an inch of their lives or ferret around amongst the South Eastern flush glazing bits. That last mention probably takes us back to the 80s, to a time when I were nobbut a grown-up and pensions were a long way in the future! Happy lockdown! I hope to report on the next phase soon.

Those Barnums look superb. The GCR always did have a sense of style! Terry

Hi Tony Good to see you have a useful size railway room and Basford looks like a very interesting layout with much operating potential. I look forward to seeing future progress. Sorry you hurt your back; these rotavators can be vicious! Best wishes Terry

Just to complete the photo session:- A side-on view of the WD; you always thing you've finished and then realise that there is still some stuff to do, mostly dirtyingthe wheels and motion. Dornoch Firth (old Hornby body on scratch brass XO4 powered chassis with Comet cylinders & motion) still awaiting a few jobs like nameplates, motion dirtying and some pipework beneath the footplate, towing some more results of my coach-completing lockdown session. First comes a "porthole" brake corridor 3rd from Comet, then a 62 ft P.III corridor brake composite, then a P.III corridor 1st and a 68 ft 12 wheel restaurant composite. Many of the 57 ft vehicles are old MAJ clear plastic kit body shells with pre-painted Comet sides stuck onto them, while longer vehicles are usually from Comet's own chassis & roof components. The same train from the other end. The last three vehiclea are a P.III 65 ft 1st open, a P.III 62 ft corridor brake composite and a P.I corridor brake 1st. I confess to loving working with Comet components! City of Salford (still awaiting a few finishing jobs) passes through at a scale 85+. It is an old Dublo body shell, much hacked about, on a scratch brass chassis powered by an Anchoridge /Sagami? D13 with 40:1 gears. This a favoured drive system, giving plenty of power and speed smoothly. Comet valve gear and jackson Evans deflectors and an almost standard Hornby Princess tender complete the model. A couple of visitors from the Central Division making their way back home light engine. They are two locos (a L&Y A class 0-6-0 and a Fowler 7F 0-8-0) acquired from my old friend Rob Kinsey (a fellow Wolverhampton club member) and both are nicely made sweet running models providing some variety on freight workings from the usual diet of 4Fs, 8Fs and Super Ds. To conclude we have Sir William A. Stanier FRS running north light engine. Built from a DJH kit about 15 years ago, she has the same drive system as her sister City of Salford. The catering establishment behind will no doubt be very welcome to the guests when the camping coaches are installed for next year's (1959) summer season

Thanks for the message, Richard. Yes, I wanted to buy some perspex sheet to protect the whole of the front of the layout and not just the signal, just in case of accident. When I looked at the price of the stuff, however, the response was "How much!" (Residents of Ceredigion will be very familiar with that reply, as will Yorkshire folk.) The signal incidentally is not my creation; it's far too good for that. Mick Moore of the Bingham Club made it and it came my way through good fortune. Its construction was described in MRJ issue 180 of 2008.

As promised I attach some pics of progress to date. First is 46234 Duchess of Abercorn, built from a much hacked about Dublo body shell on top of a scratch brass chassis (using the original H/D valve gear) & powered by a Pittman motor through 30:1 gears. It tows a much doctored H/D tender representing an ex-streamliner. The poor auto-focus doesn't allow you to see that the first vehicle is a Comet Period II corridor brake 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd are P.III corridor 1sts & the 4th a 50 ft kitchen car (P.I), also Comet. The same train from the other end. The last vehicle is a 57 ft Southern Pride full brake, while preceding it is a Comet P.III corridor 3rd. In front of that is an articulated open 3rd set also from Comet. All of these vehicles and a whole lot more have been completed (give or take!) during this lockdown. A quick shot of the middle of the train, showing more closely the 2 corridor 1sts and the kitchen car. If the lining on the kitchen car looks rather white, it turned that way after I had applied satin varnish to the transfer lining. Aargh!! The 5th Vehicle is a 60 ft Period 1 open 3rd (Comet). Heading in the down direction is a Black 5, made from a stretched (cut & shut) early Hornby body shell on top of a scratch brass chassis stared many years ago and only recently completed. It is powered by an XO4 motor and 30:1 gears. Although noisier than modern motors they still function well and haul better than many modern proprietary locos. The first coach is an old set of PC printed sides on a donor Mk 1, probably Mainline. Another view of the same train, but poor auto focus again prevents us from seeing the remaining vehicles in the train which consist of a couple of Mk 1s from various sources and followed by a Mk 1 kitchen car using PC sides an another donor Mk 1. Bags of roof detail went onto that one! Finally we have a freight hauled by a WD 2-10-0 90763. This is built from a DJH kit riding on Markits wheels and powered by a Mashima can motor through a gearbox. It is a sweet runner and quite powerful. All of this class was allocated to the Scottish Region, principally Grangemouth and Motherwell, but this one was a long-time Carlisle Kingmoor engine, so conceivably it may have made forays as far south as Carnforth & Lancaster. That's my excuse anyway!

This coronavirus pandemic has had some unexpected consequences. The fearfully long interval since I last posted anything here was a result of being ordained in the Church in Wales and finding myself quite busy. I know it's a cliche about railways and clergymen, but I was a railway enthusiast a long time before I received "the calling." Not being able to do the usual church stuff has left me with a lot more spare time and as a result, a good many of the unfinished projects which had been staring at me accusingly, saying "finish me!" have now actually been completed. The locos completed include a WD 2-10-0, 2 Duchesses, 2 Black 5s, a Britannia and a Hughes-Fowler Crab. Also there was a very large batch of coaching stock which needed only a comparatively small amount of work to bring to completion. I plan to take a number of pictures and post them shortly. Watch this space!

I too had a Hornby 4F 0-6-0 with traction tyres on the centre axle which ran quite poorly. Experimentally I removed them from both sides and found to my surprise & delight that running improved dramatically and traction still proved more than sufficient for the 17 wagon train to which it is normally rostered. The track on Hest is C & L bullhead on the scenic section and Peco code 100 in the fiddle yard. No problems with wear or jamming have occurred.

Beautiful work.

I have a number of these chassis, mostly Jubilee/Scot ones, some of which still run sweetly, but others of which were terrible. The first bad 'un I decided to drill and tap two holes (one each side!) at the back of the chassis and insert a short length of threaded brass rod. Wires were soldered to these and run through to tender wiper pickups. This has turned it into a sweet runner. Capitalising on this, I took another couple of bad 'uns and cut away the middle section of the rear end of the plastic chassis keeper plate (to gain access to the two halves of the mazak chassis) and drill, tap and insert threaded rod similarly. Two pieces of copper clad were superglued to the underside of the keeper plate and wiper pickups soldered on and connected to the threaded rod. These too now run very well. Summing up, it doesn't seem to matter whether you use tender or loco pickups, as each work equally well. I will endeavour to attach photos at some point.