Stentor

I came across this video on YouTube by MikesMovies which has the best servicing guide for Lima pancake motors I have ever seen and explains how to transform them at very little cost. I always thought I’d replace my Lima drives completely but this is making me revise that plan. This link to servicing a class 73 demonstrates exactly what can be achieved. //Simon

Since I joined the EMGS they haven’t had 3 point track gauges or their starter EM gauge sets in stock themselves so they are not in a position to point fingers. // Simon

The only pictures I have of these locomotives were taken at Stratford on 25th October 1980 by which time they were carriage heating units. This is ADB968001 (ex D8233) now preserved and hopefully back in service again soon on the East Lancs. This slightly blurred shot is ADB968002 (ex D8237) which was scrapped in 1985. //Simon

They do come up on eBay, there was one this week for a fiver as a buy it now which I posted on the bargains thread. So maybe worth setting up a search on that or any of the other selling sites. //Simon

Jeff, I cannot recommend this product too highly http://www.traymateproducts.com/TM25_Symmetry.html We used it for my mother-in-laws’ bathroom and it gives you a wet room without the need for tanking etc which is really beneficial if your putting it into an upstairs room where movement can play havoc with sealants. Plus as long as you install it on a full screen base it’s guaranteed for 25 years. No connection to the firm other than a satisfied customer. Take care of yourself. //Simon

A real bargain on eBay if you live in the Okehampton area. A Lidl collectors display cabinet for £5 buy it now, pick up only. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F183466846589 If I lived closer you wouldn’t be reading this. //Simon

Ray, I think that we’ve seen so many weakly researched and poorly presented television about railways that it would have raised comments if it had actually been any good. What I cannot understand is why so much time was wasted looking at a tank loading ramp next to a housing estate when there are so many really television friendly stories about Woodhead: the cholera outbreak at the Navies camp, the tunnellers blowing themselves up because they were given cheaper steel tools instead of copper ones to save the builders money, the terrible conditions in the tunnel for steam crews on freight trains lying on the cab floor gasping for air, the attempts to rectify the smoke in the tunnels by building a massive water smoke cleaning plant between the two original tunnels, passengers falling off Dinting viaduct because they mistakenly thought the train had stopped at the platform, the electrification and all the optimism around it, that Beeching recommended that the line stay open..... Any of these would have given Rob Bell ample opportunity to pull that sanctimonious expression so beloved of documentary presenters. Ah well, rant over, one day somebody will do it justice and I just hope they don’t involve the “Woodhead expert” they used on this show. //Simon

I was talking to Alan Whitehouse, the guy who built the Mini MSW layout, at Railwells and he told me that the contractor for the electrification, Bruce Peebles Ltd of Edinburgh I believe, used the eastern side of the tunnel as a sort of showroom for what kinds of catenary they could provide. Totally logical given the enthusiasm for electrification and the line itself at the time. This video on YouTube shows the run from Penistone heading west and illustrates the variety of mast designs quite well. https://youtu.be/uHP6YDPTDuU //Simon

I saw these on a YouTube channel of a guy who restores diecast cars and they work well: Molotow Liquid Chrome Pump Marker Pen - 1mm Nib https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01E7EFSVU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_5EaKBb77KMQQK They do a 2mm nib as well, no connection other than a satisfied customer. //Simon

There is an article in the April 1992 Railway Modeller where Hayden Reed builds a P1. His recipe is Hornby A3 (locomotive drive), an early Triang Princess chassis and a Hornby D49 tender shell. He says that the Wrenn 8F chassis would work but rejects it on cost grounds. He uses Hornby Jinty wheels reamed out to fit the Princess axles and cylinders and valve gear from Hornby A3 and A4 respectively. Front pony truck is from a Hornby 9F, back one from an A3. //Simon

A great shame, a lovely shop with very helpful, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff and an excellent range. I wish them well, they deserved far better landlords than these. //Simon

Likewise I had a Brigadoon experience, I felt sure I’d seen a sales stand when I got there but couldn’t find it later on.

Some photos from yesterday. Bodmin & Wadebridge Clutton Clutton Mini MSW Pwllheli Navigation Road

Brilliant show as ever with inspirational layouts, knowledgable demonstrators and traders with all those bits you just cannot find anywhere. So many great layouts but Mini MSW (of course), Clutton, Bodmin & Wadebridge, Navigation Road, Amiens, ...in fact they were all superb. Also the exhibition guide includes track plans of many of the layouts, how good is that? Thanks to all involved for all their efforts in making this the great show it is. //Simon

Apologies if it has been posted here before but found this commentated 1963 journey from London to Bath on YouTube Fascinating stuff and interesting to see how little some places have actually changed.

Harry Marshall, a good friend of both Reg Jebbitt and myself, asked me to add his own memories of Reg. I first met Reg. on walking into the then upstairs Clubroom at the church near St. Helier roundabout for the first time, and was absorbed into the Club from that moment on. He and I became friends as a result of working together on the then current Southern layout, and we continued to assist each other with various projects both in and outside the Club orbit. I had a little to do with his layout in the loft, and he very kindly did some painting of wagons for me. All nine of those wagons are still running on my present layout at home. I also have two kit-built coaches that he put together and painted. They appear on my “South Dorset” layout when that is shown, and I am now very proud to have such keepsakes of him. Reg. and “Steve” Stratten were the driving forces within Wimbledon Model Railway Club for many years, and the Club is very much in their debt in consequence. They had both moved ‘out of orbit’ before the move to the address in Sutton, the passing years having brought about changes in their circumstances. My wife and I had the pleasure of his company with Sheila to a number of railway sites, as well as social events such as their son’s wedding. My wife had the experience of helping with the catering at the Club shows held at the Church hall, subsequently deployed again for Weymouth M.R.A. We still remember with gratitude their assistance when we moved to Dorchester, over twenty years ago. For various reasons we have not been in touch so much recently, but I felt that I should come to say farewell to a much appreciated friend both on a personal basis, and also as the Life President of Wimbledon Model Railway Club, which he served as secretary for many years. Harry Marshall.

I was told that if you take landscape format pictures on your iPhone you should hold it with the volume buttons on the lower side to avoid this issue cos once you move any reoriented images onto other platforms they revert.. Don’t know how that pans out on an iPad but try a couple of experiments noting which way the volume buttons are up at the time. //Simon

My brother worked in a HiFi shop amongst whose customers was a one named Hugh Janus. Cruelty or sheer naivety on the part of his parents. // Simon

Seen at Doncaster on 5th July, the power car on the other end was still a Virgin. Simon

Just spotted this one, A1 models have been running out their 47901 roof etch. It was designed for the Hornby Duff but it looks nice and was only £6.50. Find them on eBay under a1models-doncaster and ask them when they will next be etching it, they are very helpful. No connection other than a pleased customer. Simon

I am sad to announce that Reg Jebbitt has died aged 85 after a short illness. Reg was a LSWR and SR modeller and an active club member. He was Club Secretary of the Wimbledon Model Railway Club for many years throughout the 1970s and 80s. After he and Sheila retired and moved to Winterbourne Earls in 1995, he joined the Swanage Preservation Society and the Pewsey Vale Railway Society where he was responsible for editing and producing their monthly newsletter. The service at Salisbury Crematorium on the 28thJune was well attended and a collection was taken for the Heritage Coaches Appeal at Swanage. Reg’s life’s work was his layout which portrayed the LSWR mainline from Waterloo to Woking and he will be sadly missed by all those who had enjoyed running sessions on the layout always generously refreshed by Reg’s excellent home brewed beer with an accompaniment of plenty of good jokes and laughter. Goodbye Reg, R.I.P. Simon

I always remember the smell of the coal as my Dad used to drive us past on the motorway when I was a kid.

My uncle was also captured when Singapore fell and ended up as forced labour on the Burma railway. Like most of them he never spoke much about iwhat happened although we did find out much later that he was instrumental in a deliberate derailment of one of the narrow gauge locos they were using during the construction to delay progress. But for the rest of his life he never bought or used anything made in Japan, something which became increasingly more difficult in the 1970s and 80s.