Woodcock29

Tony Here is the Triang Brick wagon that I did up earlier this year. Basically I fitted Ratio bogies, vacuum hoses to holes I drilled at the top of the moulded standpipes. Completed the missing parts of the brake handles over the bogies - these have brass rod reinforcing behind them, very basic brake linkages to the vacuum cylinders and a wire between each pair of V hangers. Whitemetal oval buffers similar to GN versions. Its good to see some discussion/photos of wagons. I have probably spent as much if not more time building wagons over the last 40 years as doing anything else on the layout. My original copy of Tatlow is the most used book I have. Andrew

Hello Tony Interestingly I upgraded one of the old Triang brick wagons earlier this year, albeit a later version than yours as it had the plastic bogies. I made it into an earlier ex GN version and fitted Ratio bogies that I'd had in stock for longer than I care to remember. Not long ago I disposed of two of the earlier Triang brick wagons with metal bogies but without their brick loads, I kept these for my Parkside model and the upgrade! I had hand lettered these into LNER back in the 70s. When I get home I'll try to remember to post a photo of the wagon I upgraded earlier in the year as we're currently at our daughters in Qld. Andrew

Cambrian do several nice LMS and Midland Railway van kits. I have several, including a nice meat van. Andrew

On the subject of Hornby loco failures, over here in Adelaide I was able to purchase 4 packs of gear sets (gives you 4 small gears and 8 large gears from memory) which I use to repair locos of BRMA members here in Adelaide. We're lucky we have the Australian Hornby wholesaler here in Adelaide so I checked first to see if they were in stock and then went around the corner to order at the local model shop. Mind you they took about 3 weeks to get around the corner! Still that didn't matter. I reckon I've fixed two Brits (one was mine), a Coronation, a Stanier 2-6-4T, an A4 and a Bulleid pacific. I've also got a mate who has 3 Royal Scots suffering from Mazac Rot he was going to contact Hornby. One member sold me his Royal Scot suffering from Mazac Rot for $20 - worth it for the motor, gears and other parts as spares. I've also got one of probably the first batch of 31s which suffered from Mazac Rot - both ends of the chassis had expanded and then broke off. I contacted Simon Kohler at the time who put me onto the right people at Hornby and instead of sending the whole thing to the UK I said just send me the chassis block I'll replace all the parts on it! Stupid idea really when you look at how complicated the wiring etc is. Never mind I might get around to it one day after all its only a diesel and would be lucky to get an annual outing on my layout. Andrew

Steve It was all pretty straightforward. I did use the MJT Queen posts and cross brackets. The 60ft truss rods are not exactly the correct length but near enough in my view. The Hornby fittings just popped off. The battery boxes can be levered off by putting a small screw driver blade under the rear after you have removed the metal strap that supports the boxes. I found most of the bits went back on in different locations without much trouble. More surgery would be required if you wanted to replace the brake cylinders with a more correct diameter version although this could be simply made from a piece of round plastic of the right diameter rather than using MJT cylinders which would require more surgery if I remember correctly. I reckon I spent more time thinking about it than actually doing the job! Also the most difficult part is to dismantle the coaches without breaking the clear plastic lugs that are part of the glazing and hold everything together. Andrew

I think I posted a photo of the twin I made from two Hornby non-gangwayed coaches earlier this year. I made a 1st/3rd twin as used on the outer Marylebone services. I had intended initially to use the MJT articulation coupling set that uses press studs but as the pieces to be fitted to the coaches were brass I decided to make my own using plastic with an 8BA screw to join them. I disassembled the coaches and in the process removed the Hornby couplings and their spring fittings. I cut two pieces of plastic, 40thou from memory and filed slots in the top of the ends of the chassis such that one would sit over the top of the other and I could drill a hole in each and fit an 8BA screw into the top piece. I will eventually fit a heavy duty bogie (when I can get some MJT bogies, unless I'm prepared to use an old PC bogie from 4 old PC Gresley coaches I have stashed away made in the 1970s!) but for the time being I have used one of the Hornby bogies. I simply cut off the two prongs on the top of the Hornby bogie - cleaned this up a bit and drilled a hole to take the 8BA screw. The ride height was ok and did't need any adjustment. I have made them so they will just negotiate 3ft radius. I also rebuilt the underframes to centralise them between the bogies. I used MJT 60ft turnbuckle truss rods and MJT vacuum reservoirs plus all the original Hornby parts, even though the Hornby vacuum cylinders are rather undersize. The roofs have now been painted grey not white as in the photo below. I hope the photos show what I've tried to describe? Andrew

Hi Mike I also made a number of changes or added additional details to my garratt. Its also the only kit I've built as soon as I got it - 1983 seems along time ago now. Great work on the S1. Andrew

The Garratts are lovely models, and I never realised they had 16 spoke wheels rather than the 14 found on GC 8 coupled locos, one day I might do my DJH kit. John. The garratt did have 14 spoke wheels. The wheels included in the early DJH kits were wrong - mind you Romford probably didn't make 14 spoke 18mm wheels in 1983 when the kit was first released? It would be a very expensive exercise for me to rewheel my garratt with Markits wheels! So I haven't bothered. Andrew

'Valour' in my main station today carrying wreaths as in the 1930s. 'Valour' drew into my station just before 11am UK time. I was also thinking of the ceremony at the Great Central War Memorial at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Sheffield today. I visited the memorial in 2013. Lest we forget. Andrew

As Graeme says the cast Gibson ships wheels have 8 spokes not the 6 of GC. Still most of my ex GC locos have these in the absence of anything else being available. I'm most definitely in the pedant category you only have to ask my mates! Andrew

Tony out of interest are they the old Kings Cross plates you've 'stuck' on Valour? I always thought they were the best as far as the etching goes. My Valour has KX plates on it. Mike I presume the 'ships wheel' water pickup operating wheel is on an etch with other parts? What chance is there that they could be made available on a small separate etch? Say 4 or 6 to an etch. Brassmasters do an etch with various wheels on it but their version of the ships wheel is too big. Andrew

Most interesting reading chaps. GC tenders have fascinated me for some time - starting I guess when I built my Valour back in 1992 and renewed when Bachmann brought out the O4 in 2009. If I remember correctly Graeme King and I had quite some dialogue following the release of that model by Bachmann, much of which we wrote up in the GCRS Journal Forward. The tender attached to the preserved O4 is I think a modified original GC tender despite the fact it has the ROD type simple water filler - happy to be proven wrong. In 2008 I had a footplate ride on the D49 at Boness - in fact if I say it correctly I rode on the front plate of the tender! Unfortunately due to my closeness I couldn't easily take any photos of the front nor did I take any when I saw the tender in the yard at Llangollen early in 2017 when it was separated from the loco. I have plenty showing other aspects though. Using the photo above of the front coal plate showing the tender number plate 6032, assuming its the original plate (maybe a big assumption), I have found from Yeadon's Appendix 2 Locomotive Tender Numbering A General Survey & the Great Central Group Allocation (a must for any GC modeller) that tender no. 6032 was coupled to J11 5325 to 2/26, Q4 6075 4/26-1/29, Q4 5058 1/29-1/42, recon 21/4-1/5/42 thence to Eastfield shed 13/5/42, D49 2759 (The Craven) 26/6/42-?/9/47. No later info after that which is interesting as a lot of the tender data goes until the attached loco went for scrap often in the late 50s early 60s in the case of O4s or J11s. D49 The Craven wasn't withdrawn until 13/1/61. So on this basis it would appear to be an original GC 4000 gallon tender built for a J11. Tony the photos from the top of Butler Henderson's self trimming tender are great - thanks. The arrangement of the box structure over the water filler and pick up apparatus is as I believe it was on both self trimming and standard 4000 gallon tenders. Mike I think the clue to the arrangement of the structure is shown in the plan drawing of a standard 4000 gallon tender in E Johnson's Locomotives of the Great Central Railway Vol 2 1912 to British Railways on p157. The positioning of the handle of the forward central lid is offset indicating to me that the lid and box was in fact offset somewhat to the right and not central. Hope this helps. Andrew

Tony the D3 is lovely. Like the J3 I showed the other day I agree its not likely to be available ever in RTR form. I actually have two of the old Premier kits - one to build as a D2 and one as a D3 (both acquired over here secondhand) plus a Nucast D2. Two of these will be required to run on Gavin's exhibition version of Spilsby, so I'll need to build them next year even though in reality it probably saw nothing more than a C12. I'm working on a C12 at the moment - one I acquired part built. Realised yesterday that the chassis is not quite square - as its all soldered up fairly well I might just move one of the bearings using the Poppyswood jig to get it right. Andrew

Hello Gilbert I love your photos please keep them coming. On a different subject now, we have hazards on our golf course that you wouldn't encounter. Playing twilight golf last week on our 6th tee at the white tee block one of the people I was playing with had to duck out of the way as a massive female grey kangaroo came bounding by with a joey hanging out of her pouch. The even bigger male kangaroo wasn't far away, merely watching us from up on the blue tee block. This morning we saw a koala strolling across the first fairway. More importantly we need to watch out for the snakes which are now starting to come out as it warms up - they're all venomous! Regards Andrew

Hello Tony On the subject of J11s I post photos of my two Bachmann models - both significantly modified with cut down tenders for the 3250 gallon variant with which most were coupled. Also 5311 has been fitted with an original GC chimney and dome. I may have posted photos of these before? In addition, I have posted a photo of my latest kit built loco - a J3, which has been made from a very cheap Ks kit but with a Mainly Trains scale J52 chassis, and a LRM Stirling tender. The chimney, dome and safety valve came from my spares box as the none of the Ks items were correct. It also has a Graeme King J6 smokebox front which very significantly enhances it over the Ks part supplied. I had originally intended to use Graeme's resin J6 boiler as I understood the Ks boiler to be significantly undersize but upon measuring this and comparing it with the Ks boiler the difference was less than 0.5 mm in diameter so I used the heavier Ks boiler which was quite a good casting even if the washout plugs are not totally correct. Andrew

Andrew that is the best model of a Thompson scumbled teak coach I have ever seen. Terrific painting. I almost wondered if it was photo of the real thing at the NYMR! Andrew

Here is the DJH J10 I built last year - it was a kit I had in storage for quite some time. Whilst it is an old style DJH kit in that the body and tender are all whitemetal I thought it went together quite well. Despite the perhaps oversize of the rivets on the cab side it looks ok. I did remove some of the rivets on the cab sides to match the photo of the loco I was building. It is powered by a small Portescap. Andrew

There were a range of numbers of rivets on J10 cabs. The J10s were built by three different companies, the Great Central Railway itself at Gorton, as well as Beyer Peacock and Kitson and I expect the numbers and placement of rivets reflects the different builders. However, the Magna kit appears to be totally devoid of rivets so that's probably a reflection of the kit manufacturer rather than the builders of the original locos! Andrew

As stated above SE Finecast already have these in their kit so that is the logical place to go for replacements. Back in the 80s I revamped my old Wills N7 (originally my 16th birthday present from my parents) into an LNER built one - moved the cab windows to the rear, round-top firebox, revamped bunker and cab roof. I actually made a flowerpot chimney for that. As to the whistles - of course there should only be one - to me it looks like GE built ones had it on the right for right hand drive and LNER built versions on the left for left hand drive. Andrew

Do I have layout - yes. Have I ever been without a layout? Not really. When I was young Dad had a small 6 x 4 railway in our timber garden shed at Potters Bar. For my 7th birthday I received my own layout on a board a bit smaller than 6 x 4 which I could lay down on the floor of our sitting room. About 18 months later in mid 1964 we emigrated to Australia taking all our locos and rollingstock packed in steel deed boxes Dad had got from his work. I've still go some of those boxes. For about 4 months I lived on my uncle and aunt's farm whilst Dad looked for work and Mum and Dad looked for a house in Adelaide. A few months later and we were in our own home - but not much space for a layout so Dad built another 6 x 4 which rested on two of the steel deed boxes and took up most of the spare floor space in my bedroom. A few years later we demolished the old steel garage at the end of the garden and had a new 30 x 11 shed built - for a car and a 10 x 11 railway room. The railway in this room just grew and eventually went around all the walls. When I got married in 1978 little did my wife know she was marrying a guy who came with two 4 x 2 baseboards! These were built at my parents home whilst they were away on their first trip back to the UK just before the wedding. They were erected in the spare bedroom of the flat/home unit we lived in after our marriage - basically just to provide somewhere to lay some track for loco testing purposes - no real intention of building a proper layout at that time (I built a Wills K3 and GEM D34 and some wagons in those few months). Six month later we moved to Mt Gambier in the SE of South Australia where we were able to rent a Govt house that came with my job. This had 3 bedrooms - so a spare for visitors and the smallest (12 x 8) for a layout. So in that room I built my first proper layout with proper ballasted track - just a simple through station with 3 storage tracks in each direction on the other side - this was really a layout on which to run the stock I was building. Three years later we bought our own home in Mt Gambier - which had a former single garage that had been converted by the previous owners into a rumpus room. So the layout was moved and erected in this 21 x 11 space. But the layout remained 12 x 8 at that stage as we had to be able to walk partly through the room to get to the double garage the previous owners had built on. That layout did eventually grow slightly with the addition of a high level branch. Almost 10 years later (end of 1991) we moved back to Adelaide, where we rented a house for 3 months whilst we looked for our own home. The layout was in storage for those 3 months and a few more in the new home - that didn't stop me modelling though as I built my model of B3 Valour in that time. Our new home had a 24 x 13 shed which we lined and unfortunately I needed to make space for 5ft wide tool/garden shed at one end, so I ended up with 17.5 x 13 for a railway. The existing layout was erected for about 12 months whilst I planned the new layout which duly got built, taking up 17.5 x 8 and incorporating the branch station from the old layout, that station being relaid previously with C&L track (previously Peco Code 100) - but I never got the tiebars to work to my satisfaction, so the the bulk of the new layout was built using the then new Peco Code 75. The layout never got sceniced, It was really only a test track/storage for all the stock I was building. Another move of home in late 2005 provided me with a shed 24 x 18 and a double under house garage for 2 cars - why else would one move home! So the current layout which is very slowly being sceniced, has been up and operating for the last 10 years plus. Since I took an early retirement 7 years ago it has been operated to a sequence about once every 6-7 weeks by our Wednesday Club, a group of six mostly British Railway Modellers of Australia (BRMA) members. So what of the future? I need to continue with the scenery but at the same time I'm building locos and stock for a new exhibition layout being built by Gavin Thrum based on Spilsby in Lincolnshire in the mid to late 1930s with a deadline of 2 years for the next BRMA Convention in Adelaide in 2020. For some time I've also had ideas on building a portable South Australian layout (for the SAR stock I've been accumulating over the last 10 years or so) - this would be built in half of the garage under the house and based on a prototype for the first time (about time I hear Tony say). Also another proposal is a portable layout based on Sutton on Sea on the Mablethorpe loop and modelled on a summer Saturday with day trippers from the Midlands. Also I need to build at least a plank type layout for a couple of SAR narrow gauge locos I have to build! Will any of this happen - who knows? Does it matter - not really. Sorry Tony if I've taken up too much space but your question about who has a layout got me started! Andrew

The flowerpot chimney, dome and safety valves still appear to be too tall on the BR version. I can't see Oxford correcting those now. It will be interesting to get measurements of their actual heights on the model. Andrew

I hadn't thought much about this but I have ordered plates for Lord Faringdon. I will probably substitute thin brass strip for the nickel silver beading. I have added thin brass strip to Bachmann D11/1s on which it was missing - its not too difficult to bend it up. Andrew

I've always kept H&M units as back up supplies. I think I currently have a Duette, a Powermaster and a Clipper. Good robust units and useful for extra 12v + supplies when needed. I sold an old Powermaster, a Duette, a Clipper and a Safety Minor a while back though. They still fetch reasonable prices here in Australia. . However, my eight layout controllers are all Gaugemaster Controllers supplied by individual transformers located in a large Power Box. Andrew

John There is the Hotham Valley Railway at Pinjarra - south east of Perth - see http://www.hothamvalleyrailway.com.au/ One of my friends has ridden on this railway not long ago. Whether they'll still be running steam as we head into the summer down here I'm not sure, although I think they have had a lot of rain in the SW of WA this year, the web says they're marginally ahead of their average annual rainfall to the end of Oct. I rode the Mary Valley Rattler 12 years ago - not long before it closed as a result of lack of people to operate the railway as well as due to track damage from flooding from severe storm events. It was great trip. The proposed Mary River reservoir that would have inundated some of the line was scrapped a while back, fortunately. I had heard it was going to reopen and now checking the website it looks like its up and running again although only about two thirds of the length of the line at this stage. Whether they'll go right through to the end of the line at Imbil remains to be seen. Andrew

I think you are referring to the two non-slip adhesive patches Andrew