LNER4479

Only one from me - a bit of fun at the end! Not sure what the assembled gallery made of this monster ... which did manage to make it's way round without destroying any lineside infrastructure. More importantly, the weekend was a marvellous opportunity to give the layout with new fiddle yard and much expanded stock a real good shakedown in advance of the big shows to come. New fiddle yard was a great success and Andrew's clever electronics allowed for slick operation. We had 33 trains in all; 2 are reversible making 35 actual trains seen up or down the bank, plus 6 banking engine returns, hence 41 train movements in all. And we were cycling round in 40-45 minutes. Given that train movements are not especially fast (some can easily take two minutes to do a full circuit), I don't reckon you can improve much on that.

Good to see you at Hartlepool Tony and thanks for the new photographs (of some proper locos!). A pleasure to host 46245 in her natural environment; needless to say she ran faultlessly all weekend. Re my (currently) gutless blue Hornby 'semi', may I share a certain puzzlement surrounding this? Having spent some time super-detailing, etc I would rather like her to be capable of hauling 11 coaches without looking ridiculous. Here's the puzzlement. She's a Hornby Duchess from the previous era, ie 15-20 years ago, let down appearance-wise by the swinging rear frames attached to pony truck (this is one of the main things I have attended to in my recent work). Otherwise it's loco drive, reasonable adhesion weight to which I have added some extra lead weight, directly over the driving wheels - but still slithers around. Meanwhile, Tom Dewdney has treated himself to one of the latest Hornby Duchesses, No. 46232 in green, which handles the train perfectly OK. My Hornby 46256, from 2017, is also a competent climber of Shap bank. So what is it about these newer Hornby Duchesses that makes them superior in pulling power with no modifications at all compared to an older one with additional lead added? The two genres of model are not THAT different in terms of their overall mechanical specification. Do the newer models have wheels with a different grade of metal with a higher coefficient of friction that gives them better grip?(!) Puzzled of County Durham

Hmm... Four teams yet only three layouts mentioned. I don't think ours fits any of the descriptions mentioned so, for complete mess sake, the fourth layout was based around a traditional funfair. We also had an enforced team member change, Pete Jarvis replacing Tom Dewdney. Guess who hasn't got ready access to a tele on Saturday?(!)

Well done Charlie for what you did with the scratchbuild challenge items - inspired!

As is now known, being in the final competing against the Railmen and WCR, it was certainly more than interesting this evening to see the second semi-final. In the final, there was so little time to take in the work of the other teams so it was good to appreciate these layouts and the work involved. Well done to all three teams for a perfect 10 on functionality, indicating how closely matched you all were - liked the slaloming bus in James Bond. Otherwise, my eye was drawn to the Railmen's recreation of Glenfinnan viaduct, having visited the real location a good few times over the years. Very impressive given that it all had to be made from scratch on site and the simple-but-effective backscene really 'nailed' it.

There's a slight gleam in my eye to have 10203 as this did work the Royal Scot in the summer of 1957. And, yes there is a picture of GT3 passing Shap summit in the Derek Cross Steam over Shap book (ironic, given the title). Nothing immediately to hand along any of these lines though - big list of stuff to do on the regular stock first!

Ah, that's the Caledonian. Only ever an 8 coach formation. Needs coach roof boards and headboard for the loco to convince (will be done by Peterborough). 'Sir's 46245 will primarily be allocated to this working. 46256 will be held in reserve as she's still in out-of-the-box condition.

Just GOT to share this little story from today with you. Andrew arrived at lunchtime in preparation for taking Shap to the Hartlepool show this weekend and we're doing some last minute further development work on the fiddle yard. Knowing that we would no doubt be nattering on about GMRC with us being on the last two episodes, Mrs 4479 decided to 'escape' this morning to go on a local walk with two friends. Not a chance! Both (friends) had seen the programme and were gushing with how much they'd enjoyed it and insisted that Gill passed on their congratulations to us - specifically mentioning the radio telescope (from Heat 5). One even went so far as to say that their husband was in utter admiration and is now talking about taking up railway modelling as a hobby! Result, I'd say? Andrew has his 'Team Grantham' T-shirt with him and we'll all be wearing them with pride at the show this weekend.

You became a serious railway modeller on the basis of initially being attracted by fantasy trains with talking faces - Quod Erat Demonstrandum! Not 'having a go' at all - it's a good discussion - merely to say that this is EXACTLY the reason we threw our hat in to the ring, ie to promote the hobby, to show how fun and interesting it can be, get people along to model railway shows, have them visit their local model shop (if there still is one) in the hope that they will indeed 'catch the bug'.

Blimey, you've got your ear to the ground! I think 'proper Swiss stock' ought to be clarified! The so far silent Richie from Team Grantham is a compulsive stock collector so dug out what continental stock he had and brought it round for a photo shoot. However, I do intend to acquire some reasonably representative stock going forward (the kettle and stock in the branch platform is mine). This photo is one that I didn't send to CM as it did stretch plausibility a little (no overheads and stock fouled the platforms on corners). Ha! Listen to me - 'plausible'?!?!

Like this you mean? (Note to self - need to get a decent pic of 46210 on the Birmingham-Glasgow this weekend)

Thomas the Tank Engine?

That's a pity because I believe you might have liked this from Heat 5 (available on My5 catch up) C'mon guys - lighten up a bit! GMRC is an entertainment programme based around model railways, pure n simple. We knew that when entering and we knew we risked ridicule etc being otherwise experienced railway modellers. Happily, the Heat 5 theme allowed us to build a 'proper' model railway (which is intended to have an exhibition future); the Semi-Final theme ... er ... well ... gave us the opportunity to do something different and to challenge ourselves, all very much in the name of entertainment. I have had plenty of 'loved it!' messages from family and friends who are not otherwise railway modellers. A few related thoughts. Our 'proper' Grantham layout was designed to have a working road system designed in to it. I held off implementing it for many years whilst we built the railway proper. However, it is now operational, complete with a working traffic light (prototypical - I have the photo to prove it). The result? Everyone loves the working road vehicles and the traffic light! Is that 'railway modelling'? Am I bothered? Of course not! The paying public are being entertained and the minority cognoscenti can still appreciate the ex-GNR diagram xyz 3 plus 2 1/2 BCK at the head of the glorious rake of teak coaches that has paused at the station for a loco change. Count up how many layouts have buses on bridges, a simultaneous wedding and funeral taking place at the obligatory village church, a burning building with attendant fire engine, a naked couple making out in the forest... Yet it's all an integral part of the model railway hobby, part of the 'equation' that is keeping the hobby vibrant in the face of the i-phone generation. Good grief - even the late, great Roy Jackson had a two wheeled rodent with 'tail' lamp which he occasionally attached to the rear of a train at an exhibition!

Like this you mean?

Very much looking forward to hosting 46245, Tony. Likely to be allocated to the 'Caledonian', a flyweight at only 8 coaches but I'm sure we'll get the chance to try her on some larger trains at some point. Mind you, also looking forward to seeing how my 46251 (Model Loco / DJH) shapes up. She should be no slouch, either

Yep - rear frames was the other big thing. It's only the recent Hornby revamp that's done away with the ridiculous moving rear frames. I managed to find them as a spare part via Peter's Spares (for the even earlier tender drive version!) so have fitted those, in conjunction with hacking away the rear bogie casting. Some of the other details are more - er - detailed! Mainly at the front end; the following picture gives some indication: Some of these are related to the front footplating conversion but it all needs doing. The loco as supplied has the AWS battery box and reservoir already fitted but needed the 'bang plate' for consistency. Above the bogie transom should be the side bearer brackets but they're not as prominent on a Duchess compared to a Princess. 46224 didn't need as much as this doing (no AWS for one thing) but interestingly, as the last member of the first five built, has a different cylinder draincock arrangement (bypass valves?) so - yep - I've had a go at those as well. Very noticeable once you become aware of it and start studying pictures of 46220-224. 46248 meanwhile lacks any draincocks at all so that's still on the 'to do' list. I'd like to improve aspects of the valvegear in time as well. 46224 has however been treated to some decent Gibsons front bogie wheels. Did I mention that I quite like these locos?...

Have no fear, good Doctor - 'proper' weathering is in the pipeline. I've just rather run out of time for this weekend's show and getting the engines mod'd is of course the first task. FWIW, 46248 (nee 46251) came with the factory brown haze already applied so all I've done for now is to apply a similar shade to the new bits of plastic to maintain the uniform look (otherwise that would have looked REALLY odd!). Super Barry-O of this parish does rather a good line in subtle weathering of Duchesses... In the meantime, feel free to post as many pictures as you like of these magnificent machines!

One down; about 19 to go (although you have identified one of the more significant ones). And yes, to clarify, these are the earlier Hornby Duchesses...

With a few days to go, looking forward immensely to presenting Shap with its new, purpose built fiddle, with 33 trains from the early 1950s to 1967. If you haven't already seen them on the layout thread, then here are a selection of the trains that will be doing their stuff. Some recent loco detailing work undertaken as well: Look forward to seeing you there.

So.... With days to go until the first show of the season (Hartlepool this coming weekend), time for a last update on the stock side. Work on the 1950s Royal Scot is complete! Here are the two Lima/Comet conversions previously featured, now 'released to traffic'. First of all the full Kitchen Car, here displaying its corridor side. And the partner Third Class Restaurant Car. Having acquired a pack of Precision Labels for the train, all the passenger carrying vehicles in the set now have roof boards affixed (nine such sets of labels in the pack so just fitted them to the public side for now!) Also provided are the rather nice end boards which make for an appropriate finishing touch. Of course, a train such as this needs appropriate motive power. And it has been Oh such a hardship to work on not one but two of my all time fave locos over the last few weeks(!) Here is Polmadie's 46224 Princess Alexandra in all her finery, suitably tarted up to work the train. A little weathering still required - not to mention a set of lamps (thought I'd get in there before Mr Wright mentions it). Standing alongside, is sister loco 46248 'City of Leeds', but depicted towards the end of the 'Duchess' story in early 1960s condition. This - you might remember(?) - was the 46251 'City of Nottingham' passed on from 60022 of this parish for services rendered, so has required extra work to convert from curved front footplate to the 'utility front' arrangement. Can you spot the other various little (and not so little!) mods and details lavished on these two miniature examples of Stanier's magnum opus? Haven't actually put together the complete Royal Scot set with '224 at the business end so quite looking forward to seeing it myself at Hartlepool. Hope to see you there if you're planning to coming along; alternatively, not too much longer after that until the Peterborough show, before which I hope to work on some of the other stock / locos in a similar manner.

To clarify - there were two takes of the Heat 5 '...and the winner is...' moment. They primarily re-did it because of the need to declare the best runner up spot. So on the second take, Tim Shaw's calling us back to the line-ups was genuine and how it happened. In general, many bits like this were subject of two takes (three, four or more when the presenters fluffed their lines), it appeared to me at least to give the production company two versions to pick the best bits of during editing. That in itself does not seem unreasonable?

Thanks for further comments, good and bad! I have to say that I am in complete agreement in terms of the 'was this railway modelling?' discussion. We were aware that what we had planned was rather different to our Heat layout but we did not otherwise set out to be radical. As I have mentioned already, we actually had very little time to work up a design as we were in the middle of a fair amount of pre-build work to our Heat layout; but we were all required to submit our designs some weeks prior to semi-final filming (for them to be OK'd and then the stuff to be ordered). When we got the theme, the first thing we were all agreed on was NOT dinosaurs, not our 'thing' at all. Instead, conversation around 'legends' threw up St George n Dragon, Robin Hood ... and King Arthur. It just grew from there. The 'light bulb' moment for me was the jousting knights, realising that we had a double track railway whereby they could rush at each other. The production company liked it as a design so it was 'job done' and back to the work on the Heat layout. Yes, not a conventional model railway at all, rather a challenge involving the use of model railway equipment. Happily - for us - the judges ultimately went along with that.

A few model railway technical titbits to explain a bit more about what you saw... One aspect of our design was that we were able to make use of G scale figures. One thing I've been struck by in GMRC so far is that individual figure cameos can be a bit small in OO/4mm, even though the sophisticated production cameras can pick them up perfectly OK. There were a range of figures and animals available via the Bachmann shopping list but to supplement these, Tom found some cheap plastic Wild West cowboy n Indian figures on line. I'm so glad they included the 'how to' interview with him as he really was in his element with this aspect of our layout. The 'stage hands' were two more of the Hornby 0-4-0 diesel mechanical shunters that served us so well on the Heat layout. The wagons for the horses were two more of the Lilliput HO bogie flat wagons (available via Gaugemaster) - diecast bodies, so nice n stable. The motive power for the rotating stage were two Hornby Railroad Class 73s (AGAIN as used in the Heat layout); with their bodies and cab details removed, the power bogie pivot point was the ideal bearing point for the wood structure. Two Hornby mineral wagons carrying wood block packers acted as outriders, meaning that the stage structure was supported at four 90degree points. The most sophisticated part was the release mechanism to allow the white knight to ride off the rail wagon on to the road as the 'unloading' part of the challenge. As you saw, the heart of this was a Faller road vehicle (Gaugemaster again) - anyone familiar with these marvels of miniature engineering will know that you can stop them with a magnet adjacent to the in built reed switch which cuts the power to the motor. So the wagon was fitted with a swing out magnet arrangement that was held in place whilst in motion on the railway tracks and then engaged with a track pin strategically placed alongside the unloading siding which had the effect of releasing the road vehicle from the deck of the wagon at just the right moment. Very much a joint effort from myself and Andrew. The Lady of the Lake was raised and lowered via Spud motor running on a short length of track. Very Heath Robinson but it worked. Honourable mentions to Richie who had a Children's (Osborne) cardboard cut out castle to work with and Paul for the most of scenic components, including the castle interior as the finale. As I mentioned earlier, we had very little time to work up the details of the design beforehand as we were fully engaged with our Heat 5 layout so we really did have to work out how to do a lot of this stuff on the day. The drawbridge for example was an extra feature from scratch - had not anticipated the need for that.

I'm SO glad that made the final cut - and he'd just given me the perfect lead in too ( not shown) by wondering if they were going to see Sir Cumference...

Spot on, Huw. According to the rules that was EXACTLY what the production company had in mind. Still a mighty boring trackplan, mind...