LNER4479

I do find myself shouting at the tele a lot whilst they're on - and not just at Bill (and not just at that particular series for that matter). But I guess we shouldn't complain. Time was when a programme about railways of any sort was a major event ...

That B&D drill is 35 years old, I'll have you know. Been in bits several times, brushes renewed etc. It can be excused feeling a bit delicate these days 😆

Thanks Shaun (including thanks for uncoupler details). Re getting a little bit done each day, my regular routine is early evening. This evening it was 7 to 8.30. Evenings otherwise just involve the tele being on, either showing a certain north of England soap opera (which I can't abide) or endless repeats of rail-based travel programmes. They're OK - just been through Sri Lanka with Bill Nighy - but they do get a bit 'same'y after a while. The above update is the result of the last two evening's work. Tomorrow will be tracklaying ... and so on. I appreciate that the above might not suit your own circumstances but, for what it's worth. I do occasionally dip into your 'grim up north' thread and am equally inspired by your own efforts.

Latest update from Upperby: A quick bit of DIY to provide baseboard support. Might look a bit Heath Robinson in places but it does the job and is very sturdy. With the top board now permanently affixed, time for a final alignment check. If you are so minded to look closely, you might be able to see the alignment pins and how they've been moved into their finalised position. For example, pin 64 has been moved towards the outside of the curve by 4.5mm. This part of the curve now has a steady versine of 5 to 5.25mm, equating to a curve of 7 and a half foot radius. Wasting no time, within minutes the grey paint was out to provide the base colour for the cess on the inside of the curve. The WCML running tracks will be in foam underlay; the rest will be cork. Once the foam tracks have been laid (following the alignment pins) the cork will be butted up against the 'up' (outer) line to suit. Priority always given to the alignment of the main lines - everything else fits in around. Even just temporarily positioned, that curve looks promising. Can proceed with tracklaying now 😊

Yes, cork sheet, painted light grey. Why? Sound deadening properties (track affixed directly to wood will make running noisier), plus it helps smooth out any lumps and bumps in the baseboard surface (especially at joints). They shouldn't be there in the first place of course; but, with the best will in the world ... No doubt others will have their own preferred approach; the above is mine. (ask 10 modellers a question and get 12 different answers and all that)

Thanks Tony for featuring Grantham locos. I can't claim any credit for any of them; you have variously featured the (weathering) work of Tom Foster, Jonathan Wealleans, Graeme King and Barry Oliver in those pictures. I agree with you re mix of techniques and that airbrush-only rarely convinces. That having been said, I have been using an airbrush for my own (feeble) efforts in more recent times, in conjunction with dry brushing, as follows: Air brush in use for initial, overall wash. Degree of application depends on the extent of weathering being depicted. In this case (1967 'Brit'), a heavy application. The sheen you can see is simply because I took this photo seconds after putting down the airbrush. It soon goes matt. The reason I've taken to doing this is that it provides a suitable base to build the more more detailed weathering up on, gets rid of the 'plastic' appearance of RTR. (Incidentally, this is Dave Shakespeare's former Badger airbrush) Now preparing for detail weathering, dry brush applied. Most important thing here is to work from a photograph. Doesn't have to be the exact loco but at least representative of what you're trying to achieve. I have amassed a fair library of such photos, general colour pix cut out from magazines. The end result. A particular effect here is the front end 'splattering', typical of a dirty loco that hasn't been cleaned for a while. Easy to overdo, but study of photos shows that cylinders, front steps etc often exhibit this. I reckon this is a combination of the 'catherine wheel' effect of the front wheels training a stream of dirt upwards and the general swirl of air currents around the front end and underframes when running at speed, particularly on a wet day. By contrast, this example also features some front end enthusiast-applied embellishments, typical of the era - and as per the reference photo. I'm sure others have much better examples but just to illustrate an approach if it is of any interest.

Before long, some wagons appeared and the owner is wondering where the bare baseboard for dumping 'stuff' has gone.

Another rewarding trip to the model railway room. Tracklaying in full swing, with all the essential elements present. And after a profitable day ... Station approach pointwork, now allowing inbound trains to access passenger relief line and goods reception line. The goods depot laid out. The block of wood represents where a goods shed building might go. Then two sidings paired together for outside loading / unloading and a final siding for ... flexibility (maybe making up an outgoing train?) Following round towards the station, the nearest platform road is now fully laid, with the adjacent line acting as both a run round loop and goods depot headshunt.

Yes.

I could ...

Now then, time for a 'spot the difference' competition. Before ... ... after. No? Aw, c'mon ... It's all to do with alignment (you knew that really, didn't you?). Given that this layout is intended to be 'it' (god willing), then it's worth taking time to ponder at certain critical points. I was keen to check the onward curve of the WCML running lines towards Citadel, to make it as smooth and as gentle curves as possible - even though, in practice, it's a 180 change of direction. Anyhow, now I've explained all that, perhaps you can detect a different alignment on photo 2? By realigning thus, it both maintains a steady curve throughout and is also better aligned for the tight(-ish) curve that follows. Said curve was planned as standard minimum 3ft radius, but will now be closer to 3ft 6". As usual, there's a trade off! I lose a bit of siding space, either in Upperby goods yard or MPD, but only a little. Should be worth it, especially as the orientation of the curve is the same as the prototype - plenty of classic photos on that curve. Anyway(!) ... with pondering done, I could cut associated boards to final shape. No going back now. And laid out again to check it all fits - it does! Just some final tidying up cuts required on the new piece of 9mm ply that has been deployed. But, I know how much you all prefer the trains, so how about this: Had a weak moment! Hattons were selling these off as 'bargains' (interesting!), about 75% RRP. I really only wanted the loco, although the coaches will always come in handy. But I was 'good' and watched the last one get sold to someone else. Except that ... once you get an idea in your head ... I kept an eye out on Ebay and found some further flexibility on price and ended putting in an offer on one which secured this example at a further £50 less than the Hattons price. Result! Don't panic - I know the loco is missing! It's been on the workbench, receiving attention. Nothing wrong with it (apart from a buffer sprung out of its housing), it's just that 46232 Duchess of Montrose is a bit hackneyed, being the original HD trainset loco. I fancied a close relative. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the latest addition to the HofN stud. None other than: 46234 Duchess of Abercorn - the 1939 record holder. Surprisingly, for such a famous loco, she never seems a particularly popular example for the RTR boys. Or is that just my preception? As well as renumbering/naming, I've added a few details, inc front steps and draincocks. In utter contrast to my other modern 'Hornby-Dublo' example (46252), the green on this example is lovely, really vibrant, rich colour. Correct tender type for '34 as well, I think she's pretty much 'spot on'. Very happy with my 'weak moment'. Aren't they fantastic looking locos?

Next heading south, it's ... A Royal Scot on the Perth express. One day this loco will change identity to be the locally-allocated example, 46136 'The Border Regiment'. No problem with this train; she's soon scurrying away past Shap Wells. An interesting choice of motive power for the next train (all pacifics), the WCML fish train. 46256 gets the gig. Meanwhile, a parcels train has sallied forth from Central. And of course... The reason for choosing 'Sir William' now becomes clear - this side she (he!) has the 1964 yellow cab stripe; Duchesses were occasionally seen on this train before their tragic demise. I thought the Black 5 might have needed the banker with that train but seemed to cope fine. Good locos, Black 5s.

So how does an 11-coach train fit in at a station only originally built for 7 coach trains? Quite easily, actually - you cheat... Loco and front of train poke through the end of the station like so! Can you see the train, bottom right? Actually, this view summarises quite well this year (2023)'s work to date. In January there was nothing here, apart from the terminus station, ending 3 feet away from the end wall ☺️

Meanwhile, trains keep running. Next away from Central is an Eastern Region interloper. So, what's going on here, then? Well, maybe this Treacy-esque image will explain? As is fairly well-known, three Peppercorn A1s were temporarily allocated to Polmadie (Glasgow) for comparative trials. Treacy captured one of them, 60161 'North British' working back to its temporary home with the morning Birmingham-Glasgow (having worked south in the night with the West Coast Postal) so here's my approximate recreation of that scene. This required a certain amount of stock re-marshalling, spurred on partly by a couple of new MkI acquisitions. But the main reason was to give this Stanier 12w restaurant car a try. I built it over 20 years ago but it's never actually run anywhere. Until now. So far, so good. Some of the other vehicles in the rake are a bit 'approximate' but it'll do for now, pending more suitable replacements. Always worth hanging about at Shap Wells. Coming the other way is the premier train of the day. This train has been 'finished' for some time and is a regular on the Shap roster. Even in a slightly shortened formation (11 vice 13), it's a suitably long train. I wonder how they'll cope with it at Central?

Not sure if this was a call to show 'successful' Jidenco loco builds per se, Tony? But, as others have posted, then here's my offering. LSWR T-something-or-other 'Paddlebox' You (gladly) threw in a Jidenco LMS 'Crab' kit with some of my 'Honest Tone's' purchases some while back. The devil in me fancies giving it a go ... one day ... given the notoriety hat surrounds such kits.

Just one pic on this occasion, to report, if not progress exactly, then at least the next phase. To the left are the running lines past Upperby temporarily laid out in order to fine tune the alignment and baseboard shapes for the subsequent curves round towards Carlisle itself. Perhaps not mega clear but, from right to left (over on the left hand side) we have: the WCML heading towards Citadel; Upperby goods reception lines, which morphs into the lines towards Crown Street Goods Depot; the through goods lines, which will curve round a full 180 degrees to run through Bog Junc (on the right) and into Dentonholme; Upperby goods yard and shunting spur. The pointwork bottom left facilitates both goods shunting from reception into the yard and also light loco movements on and off depot. All in all, a fair bit to keep me amused in the months ahead!

Hi Mike, Very nice. I did something similar a full 30 years ago but not quite up to your fidelity: I paid most attention to the wheels and motion. The other big change is the front end, where the HD casting is too long and too low. I distinctly remember cutting it off, dressing and remounting, using small lengths of steel wire as dowels to hold it all in place. Unfortunately, I used a Wrenn Duchess as the basis and its performance is nothing like as good as the older HD locos; the motor just fades and dies - not uncommon with Wrenn locos. If you're able to, do feel free to come and see us at either Milton Keynes or Doncaster and we can put your 6256 through its paces on the legendary northern bank. (last hour of the day preferred)

Yes ... occasionally. Latest offering, outshopped earlier this year. But we're way off this thread's topic, aren't we?

Sounds good. Add to my four and we have the makings of a decent sleeping car train 😄

Talking of Duchesses and heavy trains, just posted this on the 'Were they any good?' thread in the 'Miscellaneous Musings' area: Very VERY favourite / sentimental loco, now on indefinite loan to HotN. 63 years young, no less. I don't go in for 'playing' much, but happy to make an exception in this case 🙂

In the spirit of the OP (ie pre-1970s) - and hopefully driving a horse n coaches thru any assertion that the loco type featured could ever possibly exist n a 'worst of the worst' listing - may I present: Original Hornby-Dublo Duchess. Purchased (by Dad) as a 2-rail City of London circa 1960, these days running as 46228 'Duchess of Rutland'. Only significant change is re-wheeling with 24mm Romfords, which Dad got done some while ago. Still undersize but an improvement nonetheless. Now, OK, I accept that in terms of looks / accuracy, the current Hornby offering is in a different league. But let's consider performance. Here she is, tackling Shap unassisted with a 15 coach test train. If above photo is a bit fuzzy, you can count them for yourselves here. But I've just posed these photos, haven't I? Well, watch this: Still not convinced? OK, now let me present: Current Hornby 'Hornby-Dublo' (die-cast body) Duchess, on the same train. Let's see how this one gets on: Oh dear! Bit disappointed, actually but hopefully proves the point re the original product. 46228 is 63 years old, original motor, still going 💪. Wonder how the new one will be faring in 63 years' time? (In case you were wondering, I dropped 3 coaches off the back to make 12 and then the new Duchess managed the restart) Hornby-Dublo Duchess any good? You bet!

Post script. Derby 14.9.23 Derby c.1987. Quite a bit changed. Oh, hang on - that's a MML HST ... Here's a XC one from that era. Didn't photo them very much at that time. HSTs were boring; loco-haul was much more interesting. Funny how the passage of time changes one' perception.

Oh, how the mighty are fallen ... (Photo courtesy of Mr Wright)

Good grief - I've actually managed to finish something! Remember this? (Xmas 2021) Or this? (May this year) Or even this? (July this year) Well, anyhow: Ta daa! Two more sleepers ready for service. That's 3 built so far, plus 2 acquired. Another 4 similar kits in stock so a bit of a way to go yet, but one day we'll be running night time sleeping car trains. 25 of 'em passed through Carlisle on a typical 1955 summer's evening - plenty of work for the Duchess fleet.😁

At the bottom of the 'box mountain', perchance?