Daniel W

I was watching the programme with my girlfriend and she made a couple of interesting observations about the VR section. One: VR really isn't quite 'there' yet, both in terms of market penetration and the technoology. Two: If/when it does get there, Hornby could do something similar to the Nintendo Amiibos or Disney Infinity where you get the physical item (the model) and also a code for the same item in VR. My own feelings on the programme, however, can be summed up by this gif:

Was a little bit curious about that particular one myself, actually.

I have to echo this; the Dentdale wagon saga has been a very enjoyable read. It is rare to see wagons covered in that level of detail outside of MRJ. The truth is that, for the most part, it is possible to prototypically represent the locomotives of the London Midland Region using only RTR offerings. The same cannot be said for the LMR's Wagon fleet. Or indeed, for British Railway's wagon fleet as a whole. In fact, a fair bit of modification, kit-bashing and scratch-building would be needed to build a truly representative fleet. It would be a pleasant surprise to see more prototype and modelling articles about freight stock in the various publications. Especially since wagons often seem to come a distant third behind locos and carriages in the field of rolling stock.

I seem to recall that layout also having a deceased spider hanging inside one of the fiddelyard tunnels too.

It was great to catch up with you yesterday at Preston show, Tony. I will bear in mind your offer about visiting Chateau Wright, if i can find some time later in the year. Also, i do hope that there were not too many grammatically incorrect speakers after myself!

Picked up a copy yesterday but not had the chance to read it yet, looks like an interesting issue though. I believe there was some mention in 'Wright Writes' of the Little Bytham film being put on the Youtube channel at some point, is this still planned?

Slippery slope indeed! An interest in wagons can be dangerously bad for your health wealth! Albeit, very rewarding in the long run.

Don't forget that the LMS had some Southern and LNER built general merchandise vans on their books. The Southern ones can be built from the Ratio kits. The LNER D2079 wagons are produced as an etch by Lochgorm kits.

Monetising Youtube would be a no go, unfortunately. Youtube have become much more strict in terms of the people who can run ads on their channel and claim a percentage of ad revenue. The rules now state that your channel needs to have at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours in the in the past 12 months.

That's a good point Huw in regards to the grooves in the brickwork in particular, some of it is quite overscale. I think it is often what looks right to the eye. Is it better to have overscale grooves and texture, or no grooves and texture at all? It sort of reminds me of the diesel model paradox, whereby in reality most locos have 'ripple-y' sides, but this is never modelled by manufacturers so its not something that we perceive as a problem.

I've not rally done any modelling since the beginning of the year due to work and health issues. However, when I saw Phil building the Metcalfe kit, I thought I'd have a go. The kit is mostly out of the box, except for a whitemetal chimney, since I didn't like the paper one. The white card folds were painted in with watercolours, as per Metcalfe's recomendations. Unfortunately, I only watched their youtube after building the kit! Took about an hour and a half to build, plus longer for the painting. No bad for someone who has never built a card kit! Quite impressed with the kit though. Obviously it doesn't hold up to close inspection as well as plastic(card) due to the lack of texture, but they would be a good way to quickly assemble some background buildings on a large layout.

Captain, you are what the yoof would refer to as "an absolute madlad"!

Mr Larkin's wagon books are some of my most thumbed books. His first Civil Engineers book was what fired my interest in Departmental rolling stock. Having read this publication, I have to say it is surely worth the money. Looking forward to volume two, hopefully it fills the void about the lack of info on PO and MOT steel-bodied minerals. The potential number of future volumes is frankly mind-boggling though...

Very interesting to see the High Level gearboxes arrayed over some different diagrams. Out of curiousity,John, which gearbox are you using for the 4Fs and 3Fs? is it the Loadhauler+? Dan

Clearly Slaters have the market well sussed out. I remarked years ago that this would be the most missed out of their entire 4mm range. Although it's not a vehicle that I personally require, I'm pleased that NE modellers will have such a key kit back in their armoury. Here's hoping that further items from the range are reintroduced in the future.

Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to check the rivets thoroughly before proceeding. Those end stanchions look like a right pain though.

I have one of these in the stash myself, so I'm interested to see how this turns out.

Thank you for keeping us informed Graham, best of luck with the venture. As for potencial kits, I would be very pleased to see a completion of the LMS Roadstone wagon kit that Mr Parks made a start on. If we are talking more long term, I would dearly love a kit for the LMS 'Sole' ballast wagon, another kit that was mooted by Cambrian at some point. Certainly a long-lived vehicle that survived well into the 70's in some parts of the country. Best Regards Dan

Speaking as a younger modeller (under 30), I have to say that todays Railways are terribly sterile and dull. There is far too much of a reliance on multiple units too. Apologies in advance if this statement makes anyone feel old, but the Steam era for younger people has now passed into that mythical realm of 'history'. History is something that is always going to appeal to a certain type of person, it seems to be a timeless phenomenon, irregardless of age. As such they are modelling something not out of nostalgia, but perhaps more out of academic fascination? That being said, I suspect that most younger modellers have been introduced to railways by some sort of familial influence and/or have already engaged in other type of 'making things' i.e Warhammer etc. Which, incidentally, is a wonderful hobby. One of the few that seems to actively be drawing in younger people to 'stick things together and paint them'.

Great work so far. I have the 4mm version of this, so shall be watching with interest.

Bit of a shame that the LMS RoadStone Wagon will remain unfinished, but good to hear that they have found a new owner for the range. As has been said above and will no doubt be said below too, let us hope this doesn't turn into another Coopercraft!

Interesting that Tony should mention teaching at schools backing onto railway lines, since as a lad I attended a primary school that backed onto the West Coat Mainline. This time period, the mid to late 90's, was probably the last time there was any real variety on the railways. 20s, 31s, 37s, 47s, 56s, 58s, 60 and of course the coming of the 66s and 67s. Not to mention all the electric types and DMUs. And the liveries! Trainload Freight, Railfreight Distrobution, Royal Mail, Intercity, Regional Railways, 'Dutch' engineers livery, Mainline, Load Haul, Transrail, Virgin, Freighliner, EWS, DRS, Fragonset. I'm sure I've missed some, but all those liveries could be seen running concurrently at that time. No train was ever alike. It's most certainly a time period I would love to model one day, once I have the time, finances and space to do it justice.

Just picked up this month's issue of BRM from Smiths, not finished it yet, but I feel compelled to comment on what a fantastic layout Llawryglyn is. Not to say that the other layouts are not fantastic, Malham is very much 'my thing' when it comes to time period and location. But Llawryglyn really is lovely, proof that you don't need to cram in track and have endless amounts of stock to make an effective model.