Merfyn Jones

Tenshodo 31mm wb.

Just had the Class 197 about 3 weeks ago, Body shells , floor / underframe and 4 bogies. Started on it and fitted a motor bogie. Shown here passing Deganwy on test. Very pleased with it so far. Painting has begun, watch this space.

Shows the variation of West Coast red, certainly not B R maroon and that they were not all painted the same day.

I worked for 32 years on the Llandudno branch and walked ever yard of it often. I can certainly say it is not on that line. My money is on the Swansea Black 5 picture as proof.

No. When on it allows movements along the down main line, It has to be off to enter the siding.

Track was laid in 1981 and at the time there was no longer any new bullhead being laid for running lines, however it was used still for check rails. I was on the new station job (ground frames) and I recall being told the chairs were a special job order just for there. Nice shot of driver "Big Raymond" a great character.

Reminds me of a EMU at Leeds showing 'Dovey Jct.'

I know of 2 Rollers used by high ranking officers. EYV220 a Phantom III limo of 1937 used by Lord Rathmore of the LNER from 1941. And PPJ999P a 1975 Silver Shadow for the Chairman, Sir Peter Parker. Nothing like the model you have.

Had a thoroughly good time over the weekend exhibiting the Colwyn Club's Dalton le Dale layout for it's last exhibition (has now been sold) Totally shattered as we are all getting on a bit. Thanks Mat and the team for organising the biggest and best Bala show yet. Great to meet so many old and new friends all enjoying our great hobby. Merf.

Very pleased with my Leyland DAF 400 van from the Hong Kong fire van. Converted to a standard low roof van. Thanks Ragtag for the help and inspiration which I got round to in the end.

When I retired in 2010, we were still replacing wooden stakes only when needed with steel stakes.

After a long wait for somebody to make a model of the Freight Rover Sherpa wide body vans, my wish was granted. Thanks to the internet, I was pointed East to a firm called Hong Kong Models who had produced decorated models in resin. They had a F R Sherpa 400 normal roof van representing a Hong Kong fire appliance. Also was a similar van with a high roof and windows as a Police vehicle. Both in 1/76 scale. After a long delay of back and forth e.mails (language barrier) one of each arrived. A lot of alterations ensued and the result is a van like we had at our depot for the S&T painters. As was common just before privatisation they no longer were branded British Rail and our area had the branding Regional Railways.

The late Ivor Williams was the locking fitter and Arthur Roberts his mate. I recall Wynne Davies (think that was the name) A relief man at Rhyl who went round in an old VW Beetle. Talking of locking fitters, I recall Arthur telling me one day that there were 11 left in the UK. For a while in Jarvis days (pre 2004) they were loaned to CIE for a few weeks on a few occasions, as CIE only had one left !

Thanks Kevin.

And road mounted too. WR had one and ER had a few

Just come across this thread. B T Models made a good try at the parcels van, but using the crew bus body which was longer. An easy conversion is to shorten the body behind the back axle by 10mm then converting the rear to roller shutter doors as found on the parcels versions.

Check out our website for suitable registration numbers for your Leyland Sherpa. Railway Company Road Vehicles Index (ltsv.com)

Just read this without looking who wrote it. I did think that's somebody who knows about running buses in Oxford. All the best pal.

The maroon never sucseded Crimson & cream in 1957. However some vehicles were painted maroon in 1948/9 while the new livery was being decided on. If you have not seen it, we now have a website giving details of over 40,000 railway road vehicles, on Railway Company Road Vehicles Index (ltsv.com)

Thanks for the feedback, but the model is a train which can be made of possibly 6 DMU sets. Turning upside down is not an option. The couplings just come out of the pockets if you pull them apart. I do not wish to damage the couplings by force.

Thanks Jack, I'm sure their is an easy answer, somebody must know.

Hello Jack, layout coming along nicely. Love the Britomart pulling No.14 buffet, reminds me o the Sunday beer trains we had as volenteers back in the days gone. We talked about the Bachmann BSI couplings a while back. I am still trying to find the easy way to uncouple them without damage. Just pulling apart just pulls them from the box ! They stay coupled very well as I have run a train of 3 x 150 plus 2 x 153s together without them splitting. Any ideas ? Merf.

Anybody got any idea how to uncouple without damage. A sharp tug just pulls them out of the pockets ?

Generally the newer vehicles in the Mk.1 builds (from early 60s) were built with Commonwealth bogies and in later days many earlier Mk.1s were retro fitted with the B4. So of those survivors today often the B4s are the older examples . Wonder when the last B1 style bogies disappeared from the main line ?