Alex TM

Hi everyone, As a certain poet once wrote, "the best laid plans of mice an' men gang aft a-gley." Setbacks: Despite hoping to have begun some work so that trains could run by the end of next month both work and other circumstances have conspired to intervene. Work has become exceptionally busy as we reach the point of publishing a plan for corporate restructuring; the other circumstances revolve around my increasing dissatisfaction with a certain manufacturer's quality control. I have now had to strip and rebuild the chassis of three brand new locos from the same company. All had suffered from short-cuts or carelessness in the factory. Mostly they were assembled just enough friction to run a couple of yards on a test-track; run them for longer and they would seize up or throw a connecting rod. Closer inspection found screws that were popped into place but not tightened; parts fitted upside down; and some parts just not correctly fitted. A couple of shops were good enough to replace the models that were readily available, however a few were now back-catalogue items. All the locos were brought up to a good working order before I came to the decision to dispose of the lot! This means that the fiction behind the layout now has to change ... History revision: I took the above setbacks as an opportunity to reflect upon what really interested me that I also seldom saw modelled. This resulted in a decision to move the layout forward in time to the middle 1970s. Blue diesels now rule the day. This, though, required a rewrite of history. During WWI the line was heavily upgraded to cope with additional loadings courtesy of the War Department. Although easing back during the interwar period, the onset of WWII saw even greater increases in both traffic levels and loading. These, unsurprisingly, began to slip during the latter fifties although it was not until the middle seventies that the future of the line came seriously under threat. With little traffic to what is now the MoD, and the severe curtailment of wagonload services, it will not be long before all traffic is lost forever to road haulage. The layout: The plan is to continue as before but in the new history. Diesels are now the providers of motive power and rolling stock is now mostly in fitted bauxite livery, though a few unfitted grey wagons remain. Working hours permitting the plan is still to have trains running on the first board by the end of September. As ever, thanks for taking the time to read this. Regards,, Alex.

Hi again, D'oh! @Engineshed many thanks for that. You do realise that this was one of the places I looked at, yet never noticed the comment regarding the fire and repaint ..... Do you know a good optician? It looks like the Heljan loco will be fine. Again, thanks to you, and all who took the time to read look for an answer. regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, Does anyone know when D5639 was repainted form GSYP to BFYE? I have been looking to add the Heljan model of the above to my small collection on 65A allocated transition era diesels. It is available in GSYP, and I have photos of her in that livery dating from around 1964. The next set of images I can find all date from 1972into the TOPS era and show her in BFYE in the same style as class 24/5 etc, i.e. no rap-around yellow on the cabs. With a view to buying only locos that could have ran together in reality (1970/71) it would be most helpful to know when she was repainted. I have searched the usual places such as Flickr and DerbySulzers but to no avail. Any help narrowing down the date would be most welcome. Thanks and regards for any help. Alex.

Hi Stubby, Try Scotland Street Yard, Edinburgh. Plans were published many years ago in the RM, several folk have modelled variations of it, and there are plenty of photos of it online. Bizarrely, then only run-round was blocked by the gates to the private siding. Hope that's the sort of thing you are looking for. Regards, Alex.

Hi, A very interesting and topical conversation. I live in Edinburgh where a Fringe show has been cancelled by the venue because of it 'unacceptable' content. Skin Tones: Vallejo also do a wide range of skin tones in both their Model Color and Game Color ranges. Humbrol also do/did a 'dark skin tone' as a base colour. As a former military modeller and wargamer you also learned quickly that skin tone colours are for base coats and highlighting/drybrushing only. They are not for blanket coating notionally 'finished' figures. Regards, Alex.

HI again, Many thanks for both information and the Corby story; having once 'worked' with quite a few ex-Corby works folk I can well believe the story. Regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, Although this is really a questions about prototypes, I imagined that this sub-forum would most likely attract the members with the required knowledge. When BSC formed in 1967 did the newly nationalised industry adopt a standard livery for its locomotives? My awareness of their own motive power dates only from the period from 1979 by which time all were either mostly yellow, or sky-blue in colour. It is, however, the late 1960s, and early 1970s period that interests me at the moment. Thanks in advance for any help or pointers. Regards, Alex.

Definitely sounds more interesting than half of the 'teasers' on tv at the moment.

Hi everyone, I hadn't realised until now that it had been over a year since I posted anything here. In the intervening period there have been many distractions ranging from my ever-changing interests to a complete abandonment of any modelling activity whatsoever. The latter was brought on by an ongoing sight problem that is being treated by a series of medical procedures. The layout, itself, has also suffered. Not long after the last post I noticed that the baseboard was beginning to twist; it wasn't by much but it was enough to make the stock run erratically. Eventually the board was scrapped. That's all the bad news. The good news is that I am now in a position to start again with this project as it is one that I really want to see through to completion. This time around I intend to use some commercially available kit baseboards, probably made of plywood. The time period will also be fixed as around 1956/7. This will allow me to focus on an a period that I find fascinating, as well as allow the use of both early and late British Railways logos. Hoping to have some photos of material progress by the end of September. As ever, thanks for reading. Regards, Alex.

Hi, Interesting in that he also chastised the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for not being fully inclusive of people who are gay. At the time he said what a lot in the church felt they could not say, and potentially provided the needed kick in the derriere needed to finally join the real and modern world. As with others, it makes me query your sources. Regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, Sorry to come late to this discussion. My experience with CVs tended to be finding out about what had been omitted rather than what had been 'enhanced'. One example was of a colleague that was an essential car user in the business but who had 'forgotten' to declare a series of motoring convictions. She wasn't happy when, in the space of minutes after it coming to light, she went from a verbal warning to a final written one over it Her actions seriously undermined our insurance of her as a driver, etc. Suffice to say she didn't last much longer. A more common problem that I have encountered is organisations not taking up references or, indeed, ignoring them until it is too late. In my role I am often approached for character references. On a number of occasions these have been regarding folk that neither I nor the organisation I work with having ever heard of them. These haven't just been for menial jobs but for professional positions too. (My favourite one is where a business chose to completely ignore a reference I provided. Two weeks after the person took up the post the HR manager called me to apologise; they had to let the person go as they were everything I had said about them.) Regards, Alex.

Sorry I'm a bit late to the conversation but I really don't get that comment ... how can you ever have enough locos?

Hi Mullie, Just to say that @Suffolk Dave is right about the images. They suggest a certain chill in the air, just as there is today in Edinburgh. Regards, Alex.

Hi Nick, There's some 1/72 out there though it's mostly MBTs and APCs; if you're careful about how you pose it, you'll be fine. As for guns, I think JB Models did a 105mm air-portable job however I don't think it was one of the ones rereleased by Airfix. It may be worth searching on eBay, etc. It may also be worth asking on the Airfix Tribute Forum too. Good luck. Alex.

Bizarre, very bizarre ... but very entertaining too. They got a good write up on the BBC news website a week or so ago. Thanks for posting.

Hi everyone, Many thanks for those helpful responses. With the information supplied I can now judge whether or not the book will be of use or interest to me. The links will be followed up on, particularly the MRC and GERS ones. Nick, thanks for the scan of the contents page as it's exactly what I was looking for. Again, many thanks for your time and knowledge. Regards, Alex.

Hi everyone, Recently I have come across a number of copies of this book via the usual online retailers: THE GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY - PART ONE - Selection of 7mm Locomotive Drawings SHARMAN M ISBN 10: 0853613311 / ISBN 13: 9780853613312 Published by Oakwood Press, UK, 1987 What I cannot find is a list of the locomotives covered; can anyone help out? I am particularly interested to know if it contains illustrations of the smaller 0-6-0T classes, and the tram engines. Thanks and regards, Alex.

Must be, after all it was high enough for someone to notice before walking into it .....

Why would any right-minded person want to ruin tea or coffee by adding impurities such as milk or sugar?

Impressive swordplay though it does remind me of one of Mr. Worf's Klingon aerobic exercise classes!

Cheers, pal! (Pal is NOT necessarily a term of endearment in Glasgow!)

Was it the wet guards or the units that looked good? Seriously tough, that's a great image. I meet so many people that consider 'modern image' to be too dull and uniform compared to the BR steam era ... I may need to redirect them here and to your flickr stream. Regards, Alex.

HI again, Thanks for the additional references and suggestions for sourcing the originals. I now have enough information to proceed with the models I had in mind. The next part is to obtain some suitable donor wagons for the chassis. The VCT are a great bunch of folk. I was pointed to them by folk on here. I checked with them recently and they didn't have any copies of Modellers Backtrack, hence the request here. Thanks and regards, Alex.

Arrived in Manchester around an hour after the final whistle ... Piccadilly was 'full' of men, in United shirts, weeping. Meanwhile, my red-nosed scouse in-laws were singing and rolling around laughing. Funny game, isn't it.

Another passenger train?