rowanj

This is my Dave Alexander J21, built many years ago. It was originally the preserved 65033, but when I became more au fait and fussy, I realised there were a few obvious visual errors which stuck in my craw, So, using Yeadon, I tracked down a loco with inside brakes and no mechanical lubricator, 65070 fitted the bill, and was shedded at Blyth. It was one of the locos without vacuum brakes, and was normally only used on goods traffic. Here, it has a train of loaded 24.5T mineral wagons for Stella North, I could really do with a J21 to use on local passenger workings, and have hung on waiting for a planned ArthurK release, In the meantime, an LRM kit has been ordered, First kit I'll have built in a while, so I hope I remember how to do it.

I really like the LRM J25 kit, which, although a bit dated, really captured the look of the attractive prototype, I'm going to buy a J21 from them to complement my Dave Alexander "goods version". The j25 is on the LOCO coal from Backworth to Heaton. 52B.

I stopped posting on the workbench thread after I found that, even with different kits from different manufacturers, I was basically just repeating the loco building process. I've also more or less run out of models of appropriate prototypes. And my wife thinks I have quite enough stock- but what does she know? I do have a few specific examples of what was on the Queen of Scots on a particular day, but I would rather I had an accurate consist without bothering about getting a particular date right, The Ford books are out of print, and the Hornby models currently out of production, which hasnt helped. But, other than the lack of an all-steel parlour First, I;m happy with what I have done, largely thanks to advice and help from folk on RMWeb. And just to reinforce that, I've just had a message from Canada reminding me that my model of Kitchen First Belinda, nee Loraine, ran on Gresley heavy-duty bogies during this period, I would love to fit them, as I actually have a MJT kit, but it will be tricky with the interior lighting system, So Belinda will become Phylis. Though I wonder how feasible it would be to replace the Hornby sideframe with an MJT one? Good to hear from you, John

Bachmann's WD is a good age now, but I'm not sure if they ever did a better model. Accurate, no details to fall off and a great slow-speed heavy hauler. Their work on coal traffic was almost exclusively South of the Tyne, but this one has somehow managed to croos the water.It is almost certainly heading for Stella South after which it will head home. Thinking about it, it has probably been into Gateshead for a casual repair, so is on a running-in trip. That's my excuse anyway. As a contrast to the meat and drink work on the ex-LNER, luxury passes in the form of the Queen of Scots. Unusually, but authentically, 60507 is the loco heading past Little Benton North. This is the Winter FO 8-car train with the additional Parlour 2nd. All but the Parlour First- Onyx -are now all-steel 1928 stock. i promise that this is the end of my Pullman saga, as I now have sufficient cars, barring the non-available /non - existant 1928 Parlour First, to run an accurate consist from 1956 to 1960. Still need to renumber some of the 2nd Class cars. I managed to get them in the right order based on the Leeds reversal, after a couple of false starts,

The QoS is now a midweek 7-car set. I managed to put together an appropriate rake, though 3 of the earkier K-types is probably a bit of an overkill. The loco today is Blenheim, and as I only havethis and Spearmint as 64B A3's, they are liable to see a lot of work, I do have photos of IRISH ELEGANCE, PEARL DIVER and HIGHLAND CHIEFTAIN on the train, so they make get a turn, as all are sitting on my shelf. This is the Up train, and I had to do some head scratching to get the order right, including toe direction of the kitchen cars, bearing in mind the Leeds reversal. The consist is, heading south. Type K 2nd Brake, 2nd Parlour all steel, First Kitchen Iolanthe, First Kitchen all steel Belinda, First Parlour Onyx, 2nd Kitchen all steel, 2nd Brake all-steel. The all-steel stock is, of course, the 1928 build, and all are Hornby super-detailed. The brake behind the loco is the earler steel-plated version from Hornby, and this was on the ER during the 50:s. Iolanthe likewise, and this is a re-named car using Railtec transfers. Belinda is renamed from Loraine, using Fox transfers, Onyx is a resided matchboard using Precision Labels custom sheet, and is there until I can find an all-steel First Parlour. The 2nd Parlour has a Precision Labels lower panel, really just as a re-numbering exercise,

A while ago, there were some posts about budget modelling, and a query about fitting a tender -drive A3 to a more modern chassis. The A3 is actually GBL, but this was a Hornby clone. Some nibbling of the body at front and rear was all that was needed, The tender is actually a -tender-drive model, cut down in old-school "cut and shut" based on, if I recall, on an article by Simon Martin. I removed most of the motor gubbins, and sawed and filed a fair bit from the top of the casing to get a realistic coal level. The original tender moulding is too fat, (which is probably what I'll be told at my Wellman check tomorrow) The train, which is an early-morning Edinburgh-Newcastle, is real budget ! A pair of Railroad Mk1's, 3 GBL Mk1's,( one of which is re-sided Comet) and an anclent re-painted Lima Guv with Bachmann bogies and DC Concepts transfers. I put it together to test some magnetic couplings which I got from EBay. Not for the purists, but great fun.

And an earlier K Type Parlour Brake. I have a photo of the Up train leaving Harrogate in 1956 with a car of this type behind the loco. As can be seen, there are still things to do. Some of the numbers are duplicates, and I need to think how to deal with the roof colour mismatch( assuming I do). the hunt for a super-detailed all-steel parlour First goes on.

A few photos of what would represent an accurate QoS on the Winter Timetables from about 1955 to 1957, This is the Down train, North from Leeds Central, all are Hornby allsteel K -type with lights. 3rd Parlour Brake 2nd/3rd Parlour 2 x First Kitchen, Both originally "Loraine" Missing First Parlour - to be filled by Type K ONYX, earlier plated car, info c/o Great Northern )thanks, Gilbert) 2nd/3rd Parlour and Kitchen. 3rd Parlour Brake

At the other end of the scale is my little collection of NCB locos based in Northumberland. All things being equal, I'll put together a colliery- based layout, but for now I just give them occasional runs up the main line, On the Down line, Judith Edge Kitson has a mineral wagon based on a photo of one at Bates Colliery, Blyth, Don't look too closely at the wagon, which is my first attempt in donkey's years to build a body from Plasticard. No 40 is an RSH loco based at Ashington, and often used on miners trains on the internal system. The body was scratch-built for me by a great pal. he knows who he is, No 5 is another RSH 14 inch built from a HighLevel Models kit, with a resin-bodied Hunslet behind running on an Electrotren chassis. I see the roof has worked loose. I tend to fit them "clipped on" as I try to fit cab detail where possible.

The Down Queen of Scots passes Little Benton South, hauled as usual by a Haymarket A3, The cars are all the latest Hornby all-steel models, and the consist is OK for a FO service in the Winter WTT for 1956-58 I need to decide what to do about the roof colour, and there are some dupications in car numbers which I need to think about and sort. There are, correctly, a pair of First Class Kitchen Cars, but no Parlour First- I havent been able to find one, What I may do, to provide a bit of variety, is get a matchboard or steel-plated Parlour First - there are a couple on Ebay.Can anyone suggest a suitable donor, and an appropriate re-name for a habitant of the ER/NER in the mid-50;s? i havent had to do as much research to get this far since I was in Uni, and I still havent graduated. Almost as much fun as studying Politics was!

I am wading my way through the various files,,, a real goldmine of information. Thanks for posting. I;m down to "only" needing a suitable Parlour First for a 1856 or ;57 Winter rake. Talk about Hen;s teeth....

For info, and courtesy of D5158 above (thanks, Alan). Here are some appropriate consists for the Q os S. I also heard from Steve at Railtec, so thanks for that, too. All i am left with is a suitable nomination for a matchboard Parlour First, please. Just for info, i was advised that Loraine was not approriate for the ER, so i renamed my car (to Thelma). It does appear it was still around until 1955 or so, and is one of the Hornby models one can still pick up on the well known auction site. The E/NE had 52 Pullman cars allocated to the region in the summer of 1956. (37 rostered and 15 spares. The consist of both Q of S trains was the same. 1 @ 1st Class Kitchen 1 @ 1st Class Parlour 2 @ 3rd Class Kitchens 2 @ 3rd Class Parlours 2 @ 3rd Class Brake. The trains were generally made up of All Steel ‘K-Type’ cars (1928-31) although you could get Wooden Bodied steel underframed (1923-27) ‘K-Type’ cars. April 1948 Cars: 77, 70, 75, Juana, Ione, 83, 81, 79, Agatha, 67 (No. 1 train). Cars: 78, 71, 76, Sheila, Evadne, 66, 68, 80, Agatha, 67 (No. 2 train). April 1950 Cars: 80, 67, 76, Ursula, Evadne, Rosamund, 75 , 161. August 1951 Cars: 65, 72, 83, Loraine, Lucille, 64, 107, 161. June 1954 Cars: 79, 69, Juana, Nilar, Evadne, 83, 105. November 1954 Cars: 65, 68, 76, Iolanthe, Zena, Joan, 83, 80. June 1955 Cars: 77, 69, 73, Nilar, Sheila, Loraine, 83, 161. February 1957 Cars: 78, 68, Juana, Belinda, Cynthia, 83, 79.

I'm a fan of Railtec, and Steve produced some customised NCB transfers for me during the first Lockdown. I couldnt see the Pullman ones I might need on his list, and his Contact still isnt working. But he will be a port of call. John

Thanks for the posts so far. This is the info I'm using for the consists, taken from the relevant WTT's. The 1960 one will, I imagine, cover the Bachmann models, rather than my 1928 Hornby all-steels (other than the Second Brakes). Edit I think, though built in 1960, they entered service in 1961? 1957 Winter Down (1956 the same other than where noted) Second Parlour, First Kitchen (to Leeds) Secomd Brake Second Kitchen Second Parlour (SO) Note 1956 Winter( FSO) First Parlour First Kitchen First Kitchen Second Parlour Second Brake 1960 Summer Down 2nd brake 2nd kitchen 1st parlour(FX) 2nd Parlour (FO) 1st parlour 1st kitchen 2nd parlour 2nd kitchen 2nd brake

Thanks Alan. I have seen lists of formations with 3 Firsts and only 1 Third class Kitchen at the Up end. I can't believe how hard it has been to get info on the consist of this train. As you say, I model the train just North of Newcastle, so as an 8 car set. John

The Norseman and, indeed, all the Norwegian Boat trains, were interesting to us on Tyneside too, Gilbert, They were as likely as any to bring a "cop", and indeed, it was only time I saw your namesake, 60113, at Newcastle. I run one occasionally through Little Benton, though the more usual route was via Wallsend with reversal at Percy Main, Engineering work is the normal excuse.... V1/3 were the regular motive power, with Class 24 and 40's on the last of the trains.

I am assembling a QoS primarilly using the Hornby all-steel K type Pullmans. This has been complicated by the fact they are out of production, as is the best reference book by Anthony Ford. The SEMG Coupe News downloads are excellent, Although I have found a couple of threads, they have;nt answered all my questions, and the photo loss means the consists assembled by the likes of Great Northern or Tony Wright cant be viewed. I have 6 of the cars I need, but am struggling to find the pair of ist Class parlour Cars to complete the rake. My unresolved queries are.. 1-can anyone identify a suitable matchwood (i,e unplated) Parlour first to use -there are a couple of these around secondhand, but which names are appropriate (if any)? 2-I think I need to replace the later Pullman Crest on the "Grey Roof" cars if I want to represent them in my chosen period... is this correct? 3- The change of numbering from 3rd to 2nd Class was in 1956. Can anyone point me at suitable transfers to make this change? I can;t see them on Fox or Modelmaster, No doubt I;ll think of something else as the work progresses John

The Magnetic Express has taken about a week to get to Little Benton North, but the spotters have noted that the Lima Guv has acquired a grey roof and DC Concepts transfers. I painted the wheel on the underframe and I think, from normal viewing distance, it looks OK. from close up, that's another story. I'm currently assembling a 1956/7 Queen of Scots using the latest Hornby all-steels, which are currently out of production. I still need a pair of First Class Parlours, which seem particularly thin on the ground. I've enjoyed the research to get a reasonably accurate rake, but admit it hasnt been easy. When the pair of 3rd Class Kitchens arrive, I'll add a bit more info on what I have done.

Heaton K3 on "The Magnetic Express" Unlike on the GN, I have no photographic evidence of a K3 on passenger work in the NE, certainly around Tyneside, I Imagine there were sufficient Pacifics, V2;s and B1's allocated locally to make it unneccesary. So quite why 52B has provided one is a mystery, The train is a Newcastle- Edinburgh all-stations (of which there were many), so a GUV has been added for the considerable volume of parcels to be dropped off and collected. The K3 will probably come off at Berwick, though it could certainly work the full route = Heaton and St Margarets used K3's extensively on the fitted freights to and from Tyneside to Millerhill. The train, with the GUV is 6-coaches, and the magnetic couplings are certainly strong enough. The GUV is Lima, and sat in a drawer for years. Originally yellow, I sprayed it and lined it probably 30 years ago but never got round to fitting transfers. I dug it out with a view to upgrading it, but the only description I found on line was one on RMWeb suffered from lost-photos syndrome. I fitted Bachmann Mk1 bogies, and have ordered transfers from DC Concepts. I may upgrade the underframe fittings -though they dont look too bad, and will re-paint the roof, I'll leave it on this rake, along with its' Hornby Railroads and modified/re-sided GBL coaches. proper budget modelling.

I still take photos when I run the layout for my own purposes, and I find they often prompt memories of my early teens. For some reason, typing them and posting them makes them fresher in my mind. 60002 was the last A4 I saw in service, racing North through Chathill in Summer 1963. Gateshead seemed to have a strange relationship with its' A4's, certainly before double-chimney or Talisman days, with CMEE orders to use A1's as the preferred choice. I have a DVD of the A4's where a rather supercillious commentator is pretty snotty about the Gateshead locos. My model heads North probably on an extra. The only Pullman at Little Benton was the Queen of Scots. I remember standing at Chathill waiting for the last Down train, Deltic hauled. I have a photo on a tranparancy which I keep meaning to dig out and try to "fix", I've decided to re-create it in pre-60;s condition using Hornby K -style cars. I wish I had done it earlier, when they were cheaper and easier to get, So far, my "rake" consists of 3 cars. Bachmann A1, renamed as 64B's Auld Reekie, emerges from Halls Bridge with the Up train, always a Haymarket turn. 60160 was a common sight on Tyneside,

All go today, as I got a few locos out which had not run for a while. From the top, the NuCast K2 has a train for Alnmouth. K2's were seen reasonably often on Tyneside- I have photos of them on 52B, so let's assume Heaton has borrowed one to replace some unexpected failure. Next, the EMU Parcels sets out for Central, where it will begin a counter-clockwise run around the North Tyneside Suburban route. Kit by Dave Alexander. The renumbered Hornby Q6 has a rake of 16T minerals. Most coal traffic was carried in hoppers, but I recently came across a series of photos of trains which had originated in the Northumberland Coalfied, and went oner the N&C towards Carlisle. So the Q6 will probably come off at North Wylam and be replaced by a Blaydon K1. The Bachmann Ivatt suffered a fall some time ago which damaged the loco-tender connection. I thought I'd fixed it, but it was too closely coupled to get round eeven 4th radius curves, so I modified it again. It is re-numbered as a 52B loco, but I only changed the last pair of numbers, Depite some weathering. I was never happy with the colour match, so took the oppertunity to add a bit more overall grime to the loco- not too much as Heaton kept their locos reasonably clean. Finally, the 24/1 has reversed the engineers train into the last of the 4 sidings to check running of the stock after fitting of magnetic couplings.

There you go, Brian. It looks very good. Well done.

A couple of shots of recent work/acquisitions. Darlington had a few L1's includ 67777, and they made occasional forays to Newcastle. This included a SO from Barnard Castle, and the train loco was used on local empty stock work before the return working,... which is what it is doing here. The loco is bog-standard Hornby, and doesnt even need renumbering, (so why bother). I'm playing with a variety of magnetic couplings, including on the pair of wagons being shunted by the J72. The loco is adapted from a pair of old Mainline bodies to represent an early short-bunker version, The chassis is Mainly Trains/Wizard. The WD is renumbered Bachmann, and is a rather improbable sight north of the Tyne. Finally, my engineers/ballast train- still a work in progress. The staff/tools wagon are an isinglass kit, followed by a D&S ex-NER 6-wheel brake, and show a couple of different attempts at LNER teak or brown. The loco is simplt re-numbered Bachmann.

I agree, Mark, I would, however, quite like another of his Q7's, and would also be able to live with his N8/9/10 series, and a J21 and J25. I know ArthurK has released or has plans for some of these, but I find them a little hard to lay hands on. Dave's kits were always available, almost until the end, as well as being a source for a whole set of spares. We were in regular contact up to his death, and he kept promising me a North Tyneside Artic EMU set. Much missed, and not just for his kits.

A loco which doesnt get out very much is my D49, BERKSHIRE. It is a tendr-drive body on a Railroad chassis, with an ex-GC tender. it has probably brought a SO train from the Borders- possibly Kelso .This sort of train was fairly common until the late 50's, and brought more unusual visitors to Newcastle. On the other hand, the j27 is common as muck, This one is a Dave Alexander kit. I keep living in hope that someone will take on Dave;s kits. Edit- this photo was taken a while ago, and I typed the text from memory- the J27 is actually an ancient NUCast, built as the last of the class to keep the extended smokebox after the superheating was removed. I could claim I was having a "blonde" moment, but my hair, which used to be brown, is now largely grey.