Zunnan

You are a naughty bunch with such temptations, duly done! Hopefully its possible to amend orders for 4 wagons with one for a few more!

My eyes! That needs a health warning!

Griff was a good location for that, especially around the crossing and junctions at Bermuda. The Midland had running rights over the LNWR branch to Stockingford, Griff Clara Pit locomotives worked the canal exchange and internal trips and Griff No.4 locos worked the tip trains and brickworks. Plus in NCB/BR days theres plenty of records of Big Green engines working the branch, which thanks to the severity of curvature going out towards the main line often held back at Bermuda to charge the branch flat out. Apparently the internal tip workings were good at borrowing BR wagons and losing them in 60ft of water in the tip too! I wonder who's doing Griff RCH wagons, and I wonder where I could get a 14" Andrew Barclay from...🤤

I have vivid memories of seeing a couple of rotten wagons being dismantled and burned at a colliery which was being cleared with huge front loaders and HAA hoppers. Theres not many in relatively short distance from Sutton Coldfield, and even fewer which ceased production recently enough for me to remember the clearing trains. I've a feeling the last of Baddesleys wood bodied internal user wagons may have 'survived' rotting away in a quiet corner until 1989, otherwise I'd probably have been a bit young to really remember seeing them dismantled; but its likely it was earlier. Baddesley was a favourite for my uncle to take me to as my grandparents used to take us to the Rose Inn at Baxterley regularly, so I kind of had a hunch to check photos of Baddesley and Birch Coppice. I may have been a bit greedy in ordering a few No.1s, that really didn't take much persuasion with their markings rather typical of this neck of the woods. Perfect for Holly Bank No3, but William Francis would be even better! 😉

They survived surprisingly late in some places. I'm sure I've seen more recent dates than this but if you look to the left of the locomotive poking from under the screens you can see a raft of them in this view taken in 1980 at Baddesley Colliery

I'm not too fussed if they intend on producing a working headlight, but that weird over sized trapezium appendage off the smokebox door can't seriously be the answer; and hopefully isn't! At least mount it off the top of the smokebox so that the door can 'open'. It does appear a bit underscale, but I can't decide on whether thats down to the way they've stuck it on with a mahoosive block below it. You're right about the downward bias too.

Its good to see they've listened when it comes to the safety valves, but I'd like to see what they've decided on for the other side of the locomotive. The side shown in the CADs and livery renders isn't the side which carries quite substantial differences between the versions offered. I do hope they do something to finesse the lamp before it goes to tooling, the render looks rather poor there.

Aaron Aaden to put it beyond doubt! I vote for chronological order...but only because mine are dated 16/12/21 😎

And very much on topic thanks to Griff Colliery, 'Good Luck' and 'Success' with these! (yes that also doubles as a wish list! 😄 )

Good grief, the permeations for one branchline around the Griff example alone...Stockingford, Haunchwoods, Stanleys...I wouldn't say no to Hartshill, Ansley Hall, Arley for more Nuneaton based goodies. Or Birch Coppice, Baddesley, Piccadilly and Kingsbury for that matter.

I very much agree there. I think the Revolution/Kernow IZA still just about wins on the kinematic couplers, I feel they are more lightly sprung and yet feel a bit more positive. There is some stiff competition, but I think to date the VIX is probably the best overall RTR 00 wagon on the market. Some have a claim in one aspect or another, but overall the VIX is pretty much the complete package. I'm glad the Bachmann VEAs are as good as they turned out, otherwise you could almost say the Rapido ferry vans are too good. Its all a far cry from using the Hornby class 25 with the old VIX and VEA also from the red box stable way back then.

I found that my VIX/RBX don't like the Bachmann OBA/VDA type chassis if the Bachmann axles are allowed to articulate. When coupled to models which I've modified to keep the axles in alignment I have had no issues (touch wood). I put it entirely down to the Bachmann solution not being ideal rather than the VIX as nothing else I have presents a problem. My Bachmann AB stock are about 50/50 modified and this just gives me motivation to finish off the job as a few other wagons aren't too happy with them either; unless there are Kadees involved. I've been testing on a circuit which involves the inside route of setrack curved turnout crossovers and subsequent second radius curves which is not unknown to trip up a surprising number of models, so I know I'm being a bit cruel on them. Looking forward to the other RBX arriving, these vans are sublime...now if only someone were to take on the PWA vans... 😉

Compound pretty much sums it up. Though the answer isn't a resounding 'no', the definition of 'main line' would need to be massaged somewhat. Prior to the arrival of the ex-LNWR diagram 333 on the Cannock Wood paddy in the 1950s, a short rake of 6 wheelers which included a full brake was used. Technically the route it traversed was BR owned metals as it was built by the LNWR for the Cannock Chase Railway and Littleworth Tramways. The owners holdings were sold outright to the LNWR under an agreement made in 1861, prior to construction. From there it passed to the LMS and on to BR right up until full closure of the system in the early 1970s. There are photos of the Paddy arriving at the bridge crossing Rugeley Road, which once crossed will have put it into Hednesford Station; which was without doubt 'the big railways' property. https://chasewaterrailwaymuseum.blog/tag/paddy-train/ https://chasewaterstuff.wordpress.com/cannock-wood-colliery-and-paddy-train-part-1-b-j-bull-2/ So, not a resounding no...but this is very rare example none the less, and thankfully it is quite well documented. edit to add in a better photo of the rake, which gives up more detail of the full brake https://chasewaterstuff.wordpress.com/2014/08/30/some-early-lines-old-railway-companies-furness-railway-and-furness-midland-joint-railway/05069-frmcrger-paddy-train-at-pool-pits-junction-24-2-1951/

Grease removal has pretty much solved my hesitant Hunslet, though I wouldn't describe the original grease application as heavy; it just got to places you wouldn't want it to go. Now lightly re-lubed on the gear only and with a bit of graphite powder where the bearings sit in the chassis and on the axles at the bearings. Day and night difference in running.

Cheers Corbs, I'll keep that in mind. The symptoms are near identical to a lot of N Gauge repairs I get on the more modern 0-6-0s which use bearing pickups and have lubricant where it shouldn't be. I have a batch of repairs to do for the club shop this weekend so while those are being cleaned down I'll pop the keeper plate off and see if cleaning out the factory grease does the trick. I'm 99% sure this is what I have going on as on testing between the pickup tab on the PBC and the power feed to the rollers when its cut out its going high resistance until nudged enough to tweak the pickups in the bearings. My gut is telling me its just a bit much grease in the mechanism which has found its way into the pickups. Fitting a stay alive is more a personal preference thing than problem solving my pickup issue here. I like to have them on smaller locos, it works a treat on my next18 converted V5 fitted Model Rail Sentinel which I can lift from one fiddle yard to another without it cutting out! 😂

The DCC sound fitted Holly Bank No3 arrived at Hill Top today, it really is a painfully pretty little thing! And on the rollers the sound project has come out very nicely. I like the way that you can gently open up the throttle to keep the chuff down, while throwing open the throttle thrashes the nuts off it with a distinctly different bark. Away with the saddle tank piping as Holly Bank No3 doesn't have it as at Chasewater now, nor the original locomotive; nice and easily done as it has been made removable for access to the DCC gubbins which is great. I'll have to source some vac and steam heat pipes and cobble up that roof vent to complete the 'as she is now' appearance. I haven't really noticed much of a tightness in the chassis. Mine negotiates down through a vicious curve I have into an industrial siding on my roundy-roundy layout which dips close to 1st radius, though running forwards she doesn't like diverging on right handed curved turnouts but is fine through them bunker first at all speeds; I guess that dictates the direction of travel! A couple of things I have noted. A stay alive is going to be pretty much essential, I ran mine in on rollers and the longer I ran in for the more erratic the pickup has become. I turned the inertia off and can crank directly to 50% and literally can't get out of the room before she's stopped on the rollers now. On the roundy-roundy with a train in tow the cutouts are balanced by the wagons clattering into her to keep things moving, but the break in pickup is enough to cut the sound. With inertia turned on, forget it! Its a dead stop due to reverting to a crawl to pick up speed. I haven't taken the keeper plate off yet, but right now I'm assuming this is down to the grease getting into the bearings, which will need a clean out. Fitting a stay alive should be the belt and braces it needs, but in the mean time a thorough degrease and tiny dab of lubrication on the gears only is next on the agenda. Its fixable, but frustrating fresh out of the box. The real heart sinking moment came after 15 minutes running-in on the rollers when she stopped dead in her tracks and completely unresponsive to a gentle nudge and wiggle to get things going again. Initially suspecting the pickups as by then every few seconds at half power she was stuttering or maybe the decoder. I waved a multimeter over the PCB to make sure I had continuity and no high resistance from controller feed to PCB, which tested fine and was about to drop in a blanking plug to prove all worked on DC when I noticed something else. Thankfully it tracked down to a simple fix, the wires for the firebox LED are just resin coated strands and had shorted to the metal chassis block in the small passage where it passes over between the PCB void and the space alongside the motor. I've put a small square of insulating tape between the chassis and the firebox LED wires at this point and all is back up and running, but this may be something to check if anyone else experiences a sudden stop and subsequent unresponsiveness. Are there solder pads on the PCB to support a stay alive, or is it going to be a solder to the decoder job? I'm assuming its a standard next18 V5.

By the time they get around to another batch of Blue/Greys it wouldn't surprise me if they crack £111, so saying that is a bargain could be rather prophetic! DC ones do seem to have been fetching more than DCC, £150-200 for the past 18 months has been rather typical between them. Lately they seem to have settled down, but even so...

Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to renumber them anyway... 😇

As noted, the Holly Bank trio moved over to Littleton where two of them were certainly photographed in colour, leaving no doubt what colour at least two of them were. Its fairly safe to assume that Holly Bank no3 was so treated while at Littleton, but if you're going to go for earlier condition and repurposing a green model, don't forget the buffers too. The original No3 had rather more slender buffers with a bit of a taper to them. One reason why the model is better suited to the preserved ex-Darfield No1 or with a few livery and plate location tweaks will cover Robert Nelson No4 and Carol Ann No1. You're right about that pipe, it is not present on the original Holly Bank trio nor on preserved Holly Bank No3 version 2 (Darfield No1). Thankfully its loose to aid access to the DCC socket so can simply be removed and left off. For various reasons (buffers, brasswork, plate placements etc) I'm assuming that the model of Holly Bank No3 is of the preserved example which was turned out blue in 2012. As such would need to source vac and steam heat pipes; carried from the early 80s throughout preservation. Patiently waiting for the sound models to be checked over, really looking forward to seeing what they manage given how loudly No3 was barking away while they were recording.

I think you mistyped Precursor and George V there! 😉

I'm hoping for an IC Exec Duff and a banger blue cutaway bufferbeam split box 37, both being rare beasts from the original tooling. Less likely, the demise of the old Mainline LMS P1 coach tooling also has me hoping to see a new tool at some point. All those lovely LMS locomotives and no LMS coaches in the range anymore unless they get fictitious with the Portholes. Something older than Hornbys Staniers will always be most welcome in this neck of the woods.

Have a look for 32-806, D1842 in two tone green with serck shutters, and I think the same boiler port as the Mammoth model too.

I think the last time I saw Bachmann churn the old Mainline coaches out was with the Midland Compound in the Thames Clyde Express set plus some loose coaches...come to think of it, that was quite a long while ago! You could also use the 60 footer Portholes as a basis for grafting Comet sides to produce an earlier 1930s 60' CK. The plain roof lends well to stripping off the vents and putting ribs on, I can't remember which ones have the BR fitted fire extinguisher shelves as that would need removing too. The Porthole Firsts sat around for ages and made it into bargain bins, so that could also be another route if you can still find any for a decent price. I've used the old Mainline models for a few projects, you can probably buy 3 of them for the price you'll find one Porthole for. Considering the scale of work in either case I think I'd go down the P1 route as most of the work is in the bits which get painted black and/or weathered as long as the livery is in good shape.

Construction of the composites started in 1947 (according to the SVR the first was started in 1947 and completed in 1948), and continued being built by BR until 1950. So in a nutshell, yes some of them will have been in service in LMS livery right at the end of the Big Four. I'll have to have a look in the Essery coach bible when I get home later today to confirm numbers, liveries and dates though. I seem to recall 75 were built by BR in unbranded LMS livery, but of how many were completed in 1947 to receive full livery I'll have to check. edit to correct, no composites were completed before the LMS ceased to exist, but the first 75 were turned out in unbranded LMS crimson. Another option is to use the older ex-Mainline LMS P1 coaches which Bachmann still churn out from time to time. As they're a 1920s design, they're better suited for LMS livery, but a bit long in the tooth. Some Comet bits for the chassis, buffers and gangways and some Shawplan lazerglaze for the windows and they're still a decent model which can be brought up nicely to sit alongside Hornby stock.

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