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Merfyn Jones

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  1. Merfyn Jones
    The flying ballast was a regular hazard round here as we had the trains out of Penmaenmawr passing us daily. Our worst place was Llandudno Junction at a crossover where it was the first set of P & C since gaining speed from the quarry (50 mph) where the old Dogfish, Catfish and Sealions really shook any loose stuff off. Any sign of a up ballast and it was shelter behind the nearest locations. Another hazard was where we had the line running past golf courses.
  2. Merfyn Jones
    Yes I did see it thanks. Have replied to him but not heard back yet.
  3. Merfyn Jones
    Depends on the bogie type. Mk.1 coaches had B1 (original) bogies and Commonwealth type which use 14mm. Later B4 bogies use 12mm.
  4. Merfyn Jones
    And for anybody modelling B R, they bought a few from British Airways to serve station to ship at Harwich Parkstone Quay. Like the Shotton ones they were Bedford tractor units. Anybody seen a photo ?
  5. Merfyn Jones
    Points into the yard at No.1 ground frame are not visible. They are right towards the bottom of the picture next to the shallow wall on their left.
  6. Merfyn Jones
    In recent years we have put in a lot of semaphore signals welded to a steel base, very like those on colour lights. Bolted to a 1m square block of concrete.
  7. Merfyn Jones
    Good memories there. When the layout closed down. I bought most of the Mark 1 coaches which were Kitmasters, and I still have them. Lou was a great showman, loved showing off his skill at hump shunting and his end of the afternoon show off was to attach all the Kitmasters behind his favorite loco , Duchess of Montrose 2 rail conversion which would haul 42 coaches around the oval. I bought this loco too but now it will not move with the tender coupled to it.
  8. Merfyn Jones
    Yes Bernard, I had one once. Now about one in 1-76.
  9. Merfyn Jones
    There was another at the other end of the train, 7 coaches, the rest were Mk.1s one being blue/grey.
  10. Merfyn Jones
    My photo in my collection has doors inboard of the ends and toilets at end. That rules out D1707 and D1782. I propose it's a D1807 Open third of 1931-2, a number of these were departmental, of which DM395784 & 811 are possible candidates.
  11. Merfyn Jones
    Blaenau it is on 24 Sept. 1966. The coach behind is a mess coach in departmental red livery, with panelled over windows and gangways removed.
  12. Merfyn Jones
    Yes it certainly is a Ford D.
  13. Merfyn Jones
    20 certainly not Deganwy
  14. Merfyn Jones
    Yes Kevin, I can. Firstly if we are in the 1950s then P Way gangs had their own maintenance areas which were fairly small. My dad was in charge of a gang of about 6 who looked after a length of 4 track main line plus a goods yard and station area. The length was less than a mile. Most staff were local and there was no transport. In fact very few staff could even drive back then and transport to work was by bike or foot. Relaying jobs and other renewals used rail transport for all materials. The Bedford above was probably a goods department vehicle and not ex military as B R and it's predecessors bought very few second hand vehicles. It should have twin back wheels, and the headlight masking removed by 1948. The use of the second hand buses came about in the very late 50s and early 60s to move big gangs of relaying men around the renewal sites and were based at the big engineers depots.
  15. Merfyn Jones
    Just a quick mod. to the recent Oxford V W van. Released in the Response Unit livery, I could find no photographs of one in this style. However I did have some in the plain livery with gold stripe as both plain vans and crew vans, so a bit of work with T cut removed the battenburg stripes and some black paint created the side windows along with an offside door. The other thing to do is replace number plates with something the right size. My main criticism of Oxford is many number plates are too small
  16. Merfyn Jones
    Look forward to the next step Martyn, as I've never heard of the Halfords masking, and wonder if it works better than the old Humbrol Maskol.
  17. Merfyn Jones
    As you say Caz "filthy place". I recall numerous times going through looking for track circuit faults, not easy with the dirt and dust. Of course now it has to be checked after every steam train. Well you wouldn't want to loose the last one in the world, that would be embarrassing !
  18. Merfyn Jones
    Looks a lot more like a Mondeo than a Sierra, well done Adam
  19. Merfyn Jones

    Hello 2968,

    Re  our recent talk on RMweb about the Fordson E83W , you quoted details of the Bluebelle's van as OUR223, from your friend I believe.

    My records for the van are a bit vague, I have always believed it to be former OUR 2.  Is there a way this can be checked so I can update my records of the BR fleet.

    I see from your profile, you may know an old friend of mine from some years ago, Colin Williams who was also involved on the SVR with your Mogul.

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. Merfyn Jones

      Merfyn Jones

      Pleased to hear Colin is still active at the SVR, I recall him being a couple of years older than me so that will put him about 73 ish. A few years since we last bumped into each other, so if you do see him, give him my best wishes.

    3. LMS2968

      LMS2968

      I will, Merfyn. We were due to meet last month to discuss the barry years, but obviously that is now something for the future.

       

      Back to the van:

       

      "I would say the number information on your posters record was incompletely recorded. Our number information comes from the completed register form submitted by the custodian at the time, a Mr. Mick Blackburn of Horsted Keynes who kept the van for the railway. This is all the confirmation we have. I've attached a scan of the form and also a snap of the vehicle parked outside Horsted Keynes railway station (with the addage that the damaged canvas roof has now been repaired!). I have also obscured the address and contact details of Mr. Blackburn in accordance with Club policy. If the poster desires more concrete information I suggest that he contacts the railway who will probably furnish contact details of the current custodian if changed. Failing that or additionally he can approach the Hertfordshire County Record Office to find if the original OUR ledgers still survive and if they are lodged there. !

       

      Jim

      Scan_20181030.jpg

    4. Merfyn Jones

      Merfyn Jones

      Thank you for your trouble re. the van details. I will have to look further into the van.  My records show 5 vans OAR 1-5 numbered 3635-9 D M with box van bodies, so it looks like there were more of them if OAR223 was one also, as I have a gap of OAR215-229 being unknown. The Midland Region had OAR 1-999 issued by Hertfordshire and my records are far from complete, so far I only know details of 490 of them, but I'm working on it. I was told years back that the county didn't have records from back then.

  20. Merfyn Jones
    Yes Nick, and a lovely kit to make. Something noticeable on your pictures is the E83W van is a Southern vehicle taken in 1962 and the ET6 is a Western vehicle taken in 1964. This shows the transition when the Southern in the West of England was transferred to the Western Region, the ET6 being renumbered in the process.
  21. Merfyn Jones
    The Ford E83W vans that B R had were mainly the factory built van bodies. The coachbuilt bodies were very rare, this being the only one I have ever seen a picture of, however there is one preserved which was ex LMR but now has a new registration. Yes the Fordson ET6 van can be done from the RTI kit, which is based on a Southern Region one. The other car nobody mentioned is a Rover.
  22. Merfyn Jones
    Progress so far on the Bedford Astra van
  23. Merfyn Jones
    On the subject of Astra vans. I took apart an Oxford Astra 2 3 door hatch and a close look at the drawing provided by Bernard (thanks) I think it's a doable project. So far removed the rear behind the fuel filler and stripped the paint off. Well now I'll have to carry on with it.
  24. Merfyn Jones
    The roof bars were a B R design and bought in their thousands, fitted to all sorts of vans and always orange. Many B R vans had the grilles added, weather they carried gas bottles (propane) or not.
  25. Merfyn Jones
    How many times have they used that advert ?
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