Mike 84C

If you guys who build stuff are interested in Branch Lines Midland coach kits and SEC etched chassis kits please pm me . Other wise they are on the bay of e's.

Not so much kissing of buffers but complete compression. It made getting the loop of the shackle ( thats what we called them) over the coach hook much easier underneath the corridor gangway with maybe a hanging buckeye. Shackle, vacuum, steam and reverse order to uncouple. It always seemed much easier to roll up to the train at 2/3 mph than to stop and do a controlled( hmm) reverse onto the train. H&S is in my view a double edged sword in many instances. But how do you argue against it? So lets just ignore it and use our common sense.

On the Western, a shallow pit perhaps 4ft deep and it would be emptied by a man with a shovel. Lots of pictures out there. Look on Flicker Banbury 62 to 66 is I think the title.

So Tony, allowing for your present work rate to continue unabated, stash of kits should be built in just over six months! Wish I could build at that rate! The calculation only came into my head because at Sleaford club on Wednesday night we of the Bantry group were asked will it be ready for a May debut? No of weeks x hours in the evening = less than a week. Do they still sell Midnight Oil at hardware shops?

A cornucopia of J15's, like the pacing shots really good. Have you left the roof's loose for loading later? Must get my track working again, got train envy.

Thanks davefrk I had totally forgotten Bowness in Cumbria.

Gordon Highlander still looks very good in the museum at Bowness, my wife and I both thought how stunning it would look in steam, maybe on the Far North line. Bowness is well worth a visit lots of interesting 'stuff' there.

I think with the platform. But please make it the same length as the coaches, cold dark icy mornings could mean broken legs if detraining before the carriages were at the platform.

Clive has got it right with his comment about flow around depot layouts and many being unworkable in real life. I find, I admire the loco's and pass on to other layouts. The constant moving from siding to siding is not an observed, loco arrives, serviced, parked and departs but a confection to give interest for the paying public. As modellers we should remember that real railwaymen do not like shunting, much better to stay in the cabin, keep warm, drink tea, play cards and rank up your locos as needed for departure. How do I know? got the tea shirt donkeys years ago. As an aside, I do remember when I was driving on the Festiniog, having to do a large carriage shunt at the end of the day, maybe seven or eight separate moves. When the guard was asked why so many moves? He liked shunting! He was also a railway modeller.

Nile, thank you so much very helpful. I shall order some on Monday. Help is so freely given on RM Web. Mic

On one of your wagon detailing threads you show a very nice brake lever and ratchet etch, I liked the very fine holes for the lever peg. whose etch was it please? As I have some early wagons to detail which need single blocks per side. Mic

Could the greater number of fish trains run by the LNER have a bearing on it? I also am a fan of the L&Y 0-8-0 but with the large boiler they remind me of an elephant stood on a drum.

Thanks for all the input and interesting comments that have been made after my puzzlement remark about LNER 2-8-0 classes. And of course it has brought up interesting facts on fitted wagon numbers etc; I think it was Headstock who commented on O4 disposal times being very quick. If that's because the disposal crews pulled the firebars out and pushed the fire through the ashpan, yes that's quick but I never saw it done on the Western. The fire droppers always had their own individual long shovel and arms like my thighs! As for preperation times I seem to remember a small engine was 45 minutes, a 4 cylinder was 1hr 15min and the rest were an hour. 9fs did need a certain style of firing which involved keeping the back corners as full as possible which often meant scorched overalls even if you blacked the fire in under the, large door!,with slack or small coal. Several drivers at Banbury would let you drive one part of a trip if rostered long firebox locos. I never got to drive a 9f on the main line! As for a Black 5 being an improved Hall, never in a month of Sundays. And steam was not at its best when I was a fireman! Although there were exceptions.

I like the look of LNE 2-8-0's but the complexity of the classes with all the modifications baffles me! Makes Western engines a piece of cake to understand! Churchward got it so right with the 28's ;should I don a flack jacket?

JD that 350 could be the Patent Shaft jocko shunting at Wednesbury. A Bescot turn back in the day and a very boring duty for a second man, believe me I know!

The white pipe will be the feed pipe to the exhaust steam injector, which should be under the footplate outside the frames somewhere near the cab steps on the firemans side. I presume they were fitted with one and one live steam.

Thanks for posting this info on the Far North line. My wife and I love the whole area from Inverness northwards with Brora being our favourite spot. If in Helmsdale in the evening a visit to "La Mirage" is worth it, some of the decor just makes me smile! The food is excellent and also, in Helmsdale is a very well restored late 1950's Albion lorry that is worth photographing. The community museum on the old colliery site is well worth visiting if your in Brora.

B15nac, your Manor looks really good. I like the chimney you have fitted which is far,far better than the thing that Bachmann put on. A heavy dose of weathering and it will remind me of all the Manors I fired back in the 60's!

Meant to say I like the Courage cockerel, remember them well.

Ford D800's, I took my HGV test on one of those but it was a 28t or maybe 30t one as it had a V 8 Cummins I think. The cabs were mounted higher to get the bigger engine in! I think your tractor unit should really be a 28/30t one with that twin axle trailer. I never really liked Ford's much, more of an AEC man! but they must have been a tough bit of kit as firms like British Vita and the biscuit companies ran them with large single axle box trailers and they always overtook you!

Do you mean the range of Irish Models John Mayner produces? Quality is very good. I have some etched coach sides and they work well.

Your post prodded me to look and see what I have got. Drawings for the ex T@D carrs 21&22 and the bogie van and a drawing for a Passage 2-4-2 plus some stuff from other ng lines. If you pm me your address I will post them to you. Regards Mick

Thanks for the pointers and suggestions I shall be tyring them.

An oops! moment. I remember being with Bennie Bennett on a Type 2 Sulzer which split the 3 way point in the Down local yd at Bescot. I was surprised how much angle we got before the loco stopped! It didnt seem to have done any damage 'cos we drove it down the depot for inspection! The guy in the little loco office Norman John ? gave us a lot of grief, ca'nt remember getting a form 1, but the PW were out repairing the switches bloody pronto. Happy days !

Who is the Driver with the pipe in the Saltley notice board shot? I remember him from my Bescot days but think he was from Tyesley.