Woodcock29

My LNER version arrived this week. It seems to run ok and has had a reasonable period of running in now. Last night I had it hauling 73 empties - a mixture of Bachmann and kit built PO wagons. The kit built wagons would all be slightly heavier than the Bachmann wagons although I haven't weighed any of them. Interestingly the Bachmann O4 I tried on this train did haul it but with some slipping on start up but once it got going it was ok and I have 3 ft min radius curves. My Crownline P1, although lighter in weight than the O2/3 hauled this train quite ok. A Hornby O1 struggled. My kit built O4 and O2/2 would have no problem and are probably heavier than the Heljan O2/3. Nothing fell off during transit to Australia but later the day it arrived one of what I suppose are the injectors under the cab fell off - fortunately I noticed it and it is now glued back on (just been back out to the shed whilst writing this and noticed the other injector has disappeared!). The chimney, although too tall for this version is not too bad on mine so it might be useable with a bit of mild filing to remove the sprue marks on the top. I'll either need to slice a bit of the stem of the chimney out or manage to get the top off (it is a separate part but seems to be well glued on) and file the top of the stem down by about 1mm. Alternatively I might fit a whole new chimney. The smokebox dart whilst quite neat is not seated in far enough and needs to be sliced off, the hole drilled out and then be fitted back on - set further in. As indicated before from viewing photos it has long tender handrails on the right hand side and short ones on the left - so I'll need to fit long ones on the left hand side. One curious fact about the tender - the front and rear coal plates don't reach right out to the stepped out coping plates. I suspect this is an error - from perusing various volumes of Yeadon looking at stepped 4200 gallon tenders it appears this is an error. I checked a friends O2/4 last night and his flush sided tender has the coal plates reaching the sides so I'm thinking that Heljan have just copied the top of this version in dimensions. I have a query over the location of the rear coal plate on the stepped tender - it is immediately in front of the water pickup dome, nearer to where they were relocated in the mid 50s under BR so maybe in this respect this tender is meant for a BR period? I'll need to alter that an make a new one that fits over the water pickup dome where it should be located but at the same time I can make it full width. Another point about the tender - it has right angled corners at the front top of the side sheets - from all the photos I have seen the corners should be curved - another job for the file! The motion brackets are separate fittings either side, I originally supposed they might be one fitting going right across the chassis. Mine has the one on the left hand side sticking out too far and this needs to be refitted if I can delicately remove it? As the motion bracket is also part of the slidebars it means the slidebars stick out too far at the rear. The slide bars also stick out too far at the rear on the right hand side suggesting that motion bracket should also be pushed in slightly. Incidentally one side is in forward gear and one is in reverse! On mine the left hand side valve rod was set above the pivot of the expansion link and the right hand one is set below the pivot of the expansion link. These are not in anyway connected to the expansion and link and do have a reversing linkage which can be twisted so that the right hand side rod is now also in forward gear. The return cranks seem to be almost centrally located and not set with the forward lean that they should have. I found I could gently push these around into a forward set so hopefully they stay that way. I might need to carefully tighten the hex screws that hold them in place. BEWARE though the coupling rods are quite malleable and deform easily so handle with great care. By the way also whilst writing this I have gone and dismantled the loco - BEWARE I broke one of the very fragile wires coming from the motor - not a problem I was going to rebuild the drawbar anyway to close couple it. It comes fitted with very neat screw couplings and the hook and bar couplings are in a separate packet to fit. The paint finish overall in my opinion is not good, just like the LMS Garratt it seems to have a plastic look to the finish - I think it is painted though as the finish looks marginally different to the unpainted footsteps under the cab which definitely look just like plastic. However, despite these issues (certainly the quality control aspects shouldn't have arisen) it does look like an O2/3 and is not the debacle that Hornby's Book Law was. I guess provided they run okay the majority of modellers will be happy with theirs. It will get a repaint and be numbered/lettered in pre-war shaded letters. Woodcock29

Hi Brush Veteran You are to be commended for the work achieved in getting the O2s developed with Heljan. I've also made comment on another site about the cab spectacles in the past. I've been studying the photos on the Kernow site as these appear definitely to be photos of the production batch. I do see the difference between the absolute right angled shape and the so called rounded shape in the photos you have included above but the model appears to have very accentuated rounding to the bottom of the spectacles. I take your point about removing material rather than adding it - I might just try that. I'm curious though about the chimneys as both the LNER O2/3 and the 'British Railways' O2/4 have chimneys that appear to be too tall, ie they look like the original GN versions fitted to the earliest O2/1s and O2/2s. In contrast the earlier emblem BR O2/4 appears to have the shorter chimney that should also have been fitted to the other two. Although I shouldn't have to tinker with a model to get it right I don't really mind doing that as mine is then a bit different to the straight out of the box modellers and it takes me away from kit building for a while! I will have an LNER O2/3 shortly once it arrives from Liverpool. I'm hoping it performs well given the comments above. I will be re-lettering it to pre war LNER shaded lettering and it can join my old Nucast O2/2 which has plodded along very satisfactorily for almost 34 years now, driven by it early Portescap. Andrew Emmett

In regards to the worst kits, I have to confess I've not yet got around to building what might be the worst I have which is the McGowan LNER B4 referred to above by Graeme. I plan to use a spare Bachmann O4 boiler on mine along with a custom etch of a B12 chassis and a Bachmann tender. One interesting kit that I built a few years ago for a friend, which I have recently purchased back, is the Falcon Brass (formerly Jidenco) L&Y Steam Railmotor. I know Falcon Brass or Jidenco kits are infamous for being bad. Initially the kit looked ok apart from the fine, underscale valve gear (yes 'underscale', that was a surprise, the opposite to what one might expect!) having half the holes broken out. Once I commenced building the coach it became obvious that the coach etches were poorly designed. The ends, as etched and intended to be constructed were not aligned with the sides - a minor issue. The rear of the cab was etched as part of the coach sides - but the coach has a tumblehome and the cabsides are flat - also the cutouts in the rear cabsides were way too large. The engine chassis had holes way too large for the standard top hat bearings supplied - so a friend turned me up some custom bearings. The coach sides were different to the photos I had but when compared to the original Horwich blueprint that was sent to me by the L&YR Soc it was clear the coach builders didn't follow the blueprint so one can hardly blame Falcon Brass for getting that wrong. The fittings supplied for the coach roof didn't match the photos. So essentially the model once built had part scratch built valve gear (there was also no provision in the kit for mounting the expansion link), scratch cab and coach interior, scratch rear cabsides, scratch rear bogie frame, scratch coach underframe and steps and scratch coach and cab roof details. Fortunately the chimney and dome were very nice! Its powered by a Black Beetle bogie under the coach. However, I was reasonably pleased with how it came out - you can judge for yourselves. I must say the L&YR Soc was wonderful as apart from the blueprint it sent me, I was also supplied with about half a dozen really good photos of the actual loco and coach I wanted to build. Andrew Emmett

Tony my Hornby LNER version arrived here in South Australia a week ago. On trial running I noticed distinct binding when running forward. Running in did nothing to improve this. I studied the coupling rods carefully when in motion and noted that there was binding in the rods but individually (given they are jointed) there was no apparent tightness. I studied the wheels very carefully and thought the centre driving wheels were quartered marginally differently to the outer wheels, so with no real trepidation, I slightly rotated one centre wheel in the direction I thought it should go - this only made matters worse. So back the wheel went the other way and it did run marginally better but still not good enough. Studying the degree of slop in the driving axles (something RTR chassis are renowned for!) I noted that the rear axle was in fact rather tight, although rotating freely in its bearings. I thought maybe I might need to ease the slots in the chassis with a file (this idea did indeed worry me somewhat!). Then I noticed that what I had thought was grease in the slots for the bearings for the front and rear axles was in fact a thin piece of packing of some sort that went half way around the axle bearing. I removed these from both sides of the rear axle and reassembled the chassis and hey presto it went fine! I have since placed it on a piece of plate glass to see if there is now any rocking about the centre axle but there is no significant rocking - I suspect there will be if I removed those from the front axle slots. Previously I found with my Bachmann J11s that they both rocked on the centre axle and I alleviated that by packing the front axle in its slot with a very thin piece of plastic card. Makes one wonder if Hornby discovered they had a problem with the J50 chassis and decided to place packing above the front and rear axle bearings? Andrew Emmett

Hi Tony I'm wondering if the picture you posted of Heljan O2/3 3965 is the new example you were expecting? If so I note that Heljan have still got the wrong chimney on it, as it should be the short version. The tall version is only suited to an O2/2 before being brought within the LNER composite gauge. I also note the model still retains the incorrectly shaped base of the spectacle plates which should be squared off not rounded as on the model. I can understand that in photos they often look rounded because that is the effect created after they have been cleaned - but close observation shows the base is actually squared off. I'm contemplating removing the glazing and squaring mine off with a file and them filling the gaps produced with a liquid material like Crystal Clear, as well as making good the spectacle frame which will be damaged in the process. It is surprising that no O2/3 in pre-war livery is being produced as LNER 3965 is a post 1946 number. Not an issue to me I'll just have to renumber it to pre-war shaded numbering/lettering. I suppose in due course the O2/3 will appear in pre war livery and hopefully the O2/2 will be produced, not that I really need one as my old NuCast model built in 1982 still trundles around with its early Portescap having done many real miles with its 40 wagon coal train, even with its old whitemetal chassis! But how could I resist after all the O2s are one of my favourite locos and a nice companion to my P1. I also have a later unbuilt NuCast O2/3 with brass frames but that will probably be used as a basis for a Gresley O1. But what to do with the 'botched' Nucast O2/3 I picked up for a song a few years ago? Perhaps it will get rebuilt as I originally intended - its not damaged in any significant way it really just fell apart and needed a bit of tinkering with the chassis to get that running? I totally agree with you Tony on haulage of kit built locos vs RTR. My old Ks O4 fitted with its early Portescap about 1982 will out pull anything that any of my Bachmann models will haul (as will the NuCast 02/2). Fortunately my layout is not large enough to require the Bachmann O4s to pull more than about 40 coal wagons. As a lover of LNER freight locos I've never had it so good! Thought you might like to see my old NuCast O2/2 so I've added it below. Woodcock29

Tony G you stole the words right out of my mouth - 'gorgeous' was the first word that came to mind when I saw Morgan's Sam Fay then I scrolled down and found your reply! That loco is just superb and agree that it does look like it could be 7mm. In regards to the on-gong discussion on model railway photography - Tony W I find it all very interesting as one who has dabbled in this area for a long time and dabbled is about what it is. I've got a couple of Nikon DSLR's (D70s and D7000) but not the quality of yours and I know the lenses could be much better eg they're not the quality of my Olympus lenses from film days. I've mostly managed to get by. Since Phil Parker's stay with me in 2014 I've purchased a second hand Canon G12 and now use it for all my close up photography of specific models. However, I'm yet to master taking a range of shots with different focus points and then stacking them - something to try in the New Year. The attached photo below is the one that Hornby Mag published on the front of their 2016 calendar of my friend Alan Harrison's London Road layout. I've had to reduce it in size of course to post it on here. What a difference a decent background sky is - anyone with the Hornby Calendar just compare this with what Hornby have done in adding a real sky. Andrew Emmett

Sorry Barry 6103 above is definitely a B4. Love seeing the GC 4-6-0s - many thanks. Have attached photos of my three. B2 (built about 1988, B5 (built in 1987)and B3 (built in 1992 - hopefully those that asked for a B3 might like this). I've still to build a B8 - I have a custom etch for the chassis and some of the parts plus a dodgy old Ks B2 I got for a song which I've salvaged the boiler from, a B7 - I have a spare Ks B2 kit to use like I did for Valour - but will need to get a chassis from the guy who etched the B8 chassis as the wheelbase is the same, and a B9 - from Mike Edge's etch with a Millholme B5 boiler -thanks for the tip on the B9 etch Tony G. Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year with lots of modelling in 2016. Anyway back to building GN coaches in South Australia where at last its cooler again after a December record last week of 4 days in a row above 40C! Andrew Emmett

I have built 2 Craftsman C12s and had no trouble with either - the first was my first attempt at a brass kit way back about 1979. The second was for a friend's Nottingham Victoria layout (a photo of the layout taken by Phil Parker was in the February 2015 BRM) and was built when I had much more experience about 12 years ago. I have another to build now which I picked up part built quite cheaply here in Australia about 12 months ago. Graeme in reference to my two 6 wheel GN coaches shown in post 6081 you are quite correct I have mucked around with the duckets. I substantially reduced the thickness of the lower section so they would more or less line up with the bottom of the coach side - there is not much thickness left at the bottom! Andrew Emmett

I find it interesting that St Enodoc couldn't get the quote function to work today. It never works for me - must be something to do with the set up of my PC? Anyway to more interesting matters - modelling and what we make. I thought I would post photos of 2 coaches of Dan Pinnock's that I have just made - they have been in the drawer for way too long. They are modelled in 1930s period long after they were lined but before they have become so dilapidated they had to be painted brown. Woodcock29

Brian D See my comments on the D16/3 in post 5962 Woodcock29

Tony My comments on the Hornby D16/3 were posted in Phil Parker's MREmag yesterday - www.mremag.com (scroll to bottom of Monday 28 Sept). I'm a complete 'luddite' (to use one of your words) when it comes to posting things on RMweb and have been unable to copy my comments across. Perhaps someone reading this knows how to do it? Andrew Emmett South Australia

Many thanks for all the photos and the comments on the show. I really appreciate being able to see such a wonderful layout from afar. The layout is a credit to all involved. Andrew Emmett Adelaide South Australia

Thanks for your kind comments Tony. I must say that I enjoy building things - locos more than anything else in my modelling, although I have also built a lot of wagons over the last 40 years or so plus quite a few coaches. Shortly after building the A2/2 I also built an A2/3 for the same friend and quite some years previously I built the DJH Peppercorn A2 - this time for my father and that one is now in my possession. I had no difficulty with either of the Thompson pacifics and must admit I tend not to pay too much attention to instructions for loco kits these days! I did however stumble a bit with the Peppercorn A2 in getting the boiler/firebox joint correct and know for a fact its not quite right but I don't think I'll ever get around to fixing that although it is probably possible but requires a rebuild of the loco body - life is too short and I've got too many other kits that I've been given or have bought for a song that require rebuilding not to mention all the kits I have bought that are still to be built in the first place. Interestingly, the only kit I built immediately I obtained it was the DJH LNER Garratt. Others have always had to join the queue. Andrew

I have been inspired by many of the layouts mentioned over the last few days. Starting with Buckingham of course and on which I had the privilege to run a few trains when I visited Tony G in 2013 - thanks for that Tony it was terrific. Borchester Market would come next along with Hitchin, which my Dad got to see about 1987 on one if his visits back to the UK. The layouts that inspire me in recent times are The Gresley Beat, which I was privileged to see and run a few trains on also in 2013, along with Retford and Peterborough North also visited that year, Retford for the second time. They all offer something different but are of course all LNER or ER focussed which is the key for me. Another layout I have enjoyed is David Woodward's Oakwell Central - in which case the locos and rolling stock were the key - many of which I have also got either running or waiting to be built. The other layout I'm inspired by is of course LB which hopefully I can visit on my next trip back to the UK probably in 2017. Although I'm retired, having been able to take an early retirement nearly 4 years ago, time is still the key factor in achieving one's modelling aims. Last evening I spent operating on a large South Australian layout here in Adelaide, Huntingdale and Grange that was featured in Continental Modeller in June and July this year, which I took Phil Parker to see when he was here nearly 12 months ago. Tony W likes to see what we build so I have inserted a photo of a B17 I built about 2002 based around the original Hornby body, but which has a Comet chassis - with three layered expansion link - I think these look wonderful, a tender body based on the Triang B12 body but with new top and front and additional height added to the base of the body and a scratchbuilt underframe. I even cut the old Kings Cross nameplates to remove the gap between the words as Hatfield House was so long there was no space between on the real loco. I have also included a photo of A2/2 Thane of Fife that I built from a DJH kit for a friend here in Adelaide and which was seen in the article on his layout London Road in the July 2015 Hornby Magazine. Anyway I must head out to the shed to continue building the pair of D&S GN 6 wheelers I'm currently working on. Woodcock29 (Andrew Emmett)

Looks very nice overall. A nice companion for the Hornby O1 and the Bachmann O4. Interesting it has different length handrails on the two sides of the tender - perhaps still a trial for different tenders with the different models? Also the front spectacles still appear to have rounded bottoms which in photos is only due to the fact they have been dirty and the cleaning has left the glass looking rounded at the base. The rear row of rivets for joining the boiler to the extension piece should be on the extension piece not the front of the boiler according to the photos in Yeadon. Call me a rivet counter - many have. Still I won't be cancelling my order! Woodcock29

I have had a BR weathered version on loan so I could write a review for the BRMA Journal The Clearing House, of which I'm the Editor. On reading above about the lack of pulling power on gradients I tested this version and found it would haul 5 of the later Hornby Gresley teaks up a 1 in 50 grade (2%). This grade even started with a 90 degree 3 ft radius curve, admittedly it did slow around the curve (as expected) but recovered speed on the straight up the 1 in 50 of my branch. On the flat it comfortably hauled 7 Hornby teaks and 3 Kirk teaks. I can't imagine that any of the versions should differ in this respect. Will be interesting to see what my LNER version will do when it arrives, hopefully later this week. Andrew Emmett South Australia

Thanks for posting this update on Bill Richmond's layout, John. It summarises very well my understanding from Bill's obituary that I published in our BRMA Journal The Clearing House in March 2014. Andrew Emmett

Tony Thanks so much for posting the photos of Retford. It brings back my visits to see Retford in 2008 and 2013. Roy and his team certainly have my admiration for what I believe is the greatest railway modelling project of a British subject. I have also had the privilege twice to see the late Bill Richmond's LMS Mainline in S4 based on Euston to Tring in New Zealand (MRJ 26, 27, 105 and one other the number of which escapes me at the moment). Andrew Emmett South Australia

Hi Tony I'm interested in following your construction of the DJH C2. I built one over 20 years ago and found a number of issues related to scale, originating perhaps from the fact the kit has an over-scale driving wheelbase to enable it to accommodate near scale driving wheels. I shortened the footplate at the front by about 4mm (from memory) and reduced the width of the footplate by cutting it down the centre to remove about 1.5mm. I have attached a photo of my C2. More recently I have become aware that the frames of the tender and the loco below the cab are too deep and this becomes more evident when looking at photos of the prototype as more of the wheels are visible than in the kit loco. Mine is also too tall overall but I'm not sure that can be fixed as the buffer height is about right. Its too late for me to alter mine but you might consider removing maybe 1.5mm from the top of the brass tender and loco frames. Andrew Emmett South Australia

Thanks Alan for your comment re Morayshire. Morayshire is certainly one of the D49s that received a GC tender. In fact I rode on the footplate of Morayshire at Bo'ness in 2008, or more correctly I rode on the footplate of the tender as the cab was rather congested. I have a similar photo of the tender as that in your reference. From studying Yeadon's Tender Appendix it is unclear which tender is now coupled to Morayshire - I believe it to be an ex ROD tender because of the small round water filler - but I may be wrong. Yeadon's Tender Register only seems to cover the ex GC tenders when they were first coupled to D49s not all subsequent changes that may have occurred. The register indicates the first ex GC tender coupled to Morayshire was from Q4 5071 and was with Morayshire from 2/6/41 to 6/46. But there is no record of what was coupled to Morayshire after that date. Possibly this question could have been solved if I had taken a photo of the front of the tender as this would have shown the tender number plate, assuming it was still in position on the front coal plate. I took photos of the coal space to show the fittings for fire iron holders and the backplate in the cab and the crew and just about everything else other than the front of the tender - isn't hindsight a wonderful thing! Once I can figure out how to attach photos I can add some of mine to show what I'm talking about! Andrew

Hi Tony Thanks for your response to my email about the D49. I could have made some of what I said a bit clearer. I was aware that the water pickups on the GC tenders were not removed specifically at transfer to D49s. I am as certain as Willie Yeadon's records that no D49 was paired with a self trimming tender. I perused Willie Yeadon's Tender Appendix prior to my previous post to confirm my understanding of the situation. It appears that the self trimming tenders were only ever paired with D11s, B3s and B7s. You are absolutely correct about GC tenders being a minefield but at least it has been covered in Yeadon's register. It is a pity equivalent data has not been published for the GN tenders as that is a similar minefield for modellers in my view. I quite enjoy the research required to ensure that as far as possible I attach the correct tenders to my locos, mind you I know I have got some wrong in the past. I have recently finished modifying 2 Bachmann J11s. On one I fitted a GC chimney and dome and to both I modified the tenders to represent 3250 gallon tenders which most of the J11s ended up with. I used spare Bachmann O4 tender bodies that I had and started by cutting the footplate away from the base of the tank and then removed 1.5-2mm from the base of the tender body. I didn't worry about reducing the width of the tender bodies as I considered the most obvious difference was the height. I also removed the round water filler and rear coal plate and fitted Graeme King's resin combined water filler / water pickup boxes. I also removed the coping plates and fitted spare Millholme etched GC coal rails and overlaid these on the outside with thin plastic card to represent coal rails that had been plated over. I fitted a 'ships wheel' water pickup operating wheel to the top front of each tender. This was a Gibson fitting which is not really correct as it has 8 spokes instead of 6, but is the best I have been able to find - Brassmasters do an etched one on a brake wheel etch but it is about 30% too big). The moulded plastic wheel that Bachmann have made for their D11/1 tender is excellent - if only I could obtain 20 of those! I fitted the J11 tender chassis to these bodies (I had only been able to obtain the O4 tender bodies - they came without chassis) but then the J11 chassis are far superior to the earlier ones made for the O4 as the brakes are now in line and they come ready fitted with tender pickups which I like. Note the ships wheels fitted to the Bachmann LNER J11 tenders are actually wrong as they have 8 spokes, not 6 - makes me think that during the development of the model they might have studied a Gibson kit built example? It was necessary to enlarge the 4 screw holes in the chassis as they do not align perfectly with the O4 tender top. Small washers need to be fitted so the screws don't simply go through the enlarged holes. Both J11s were fitted with replacement vacuum pipes at the front as the ones supplied by Bachmann are too thin. A repaint by airbrush with 'killed' black (black with about 25-30% brown added), lettering and numbering and finally a spray with satin varnish. Eventually they'll get weathered. An article on my conversions was published last year in the GCRS journal Forward. You may well ask why I didn't simply modify the J11 tender bodies - they are too good to cut up! I'll use these to attach to a B8 (to be built using custom etches I have had done here in SA for the chassis, footplate, splashers and cab to be combined with a salvaged Ks B2 boiler from a badly built B2 that I got for a song) and B9 (using Judith Edge etches which will be combined with a salvaged Millholme B5 boiler from the same source as the B2). In my view the Hornby O1 tender is the best of the RTR GC tenders but I couldn't get any spare ones. They are finer in detail and also have the brakes in line with the wheels (well for 16.5mm gauge modellers they do!) Also they are of the ROD type like the Bachmann O4 tender which only have the small round water filler and the rear coal plate set well back. What I'm not clear about is whether any of the GC tenders that had water pickup removed were completed in this form or whether they just had the side section of the water \filler/pickup box removed? I tried to upload photos of the J11s but couldn't seem to achieve this - not sure what went wrong? Tony I really liked the photos of your storage tracks as these are an important part of any layout and we seldom see photos of these. I note you have the elevated platforms for storing spare locos like I saw when I visited Gilbert Barnatt in 2013. Regards Andrew

Hi Tony This is my first post on RMweb and hope it comes out in the correct place, as it relates to a post of yours a few weeks ago when you showed the Hornby D49 that you were doing up with a GC tender attached. Firstly though let me say I have been an admirer of your work for a long time and one day hope I might be able to meet you and see LB in the flesh on my next visit to the UK in a year or two. I have been thoroughly enjoying reading through a lot of the pages of your blog on RM web but I have yet to read many of the earlier ones. I am a devoted LNER/ER modeller with some significant experience behind me and am an acquaintance of Graeme King. My comment on the D49 is that it is a pity that you were provided with the wrong type of GC tender for this project. The one in the photo, as attached to the Bachmann D11, is the GC self trimming 4000 gallon tenders, fitted initially to several D11s, then transferred to B3s (some later returned to D11s) with subsequent tenders being built to run with B7s. The tenders transferred to D49s were GC standard 4000 gallon tenders, from I believe scrapped Q4s and maybe other locos. These were quite different to the self trimming type. The self trimming type had a wider body and consequently reduced flare around the top, plus a different layout at the front with a high centrally mounted tool box. The GC standard 4000 galloon tenders fitted to D49s also didn't have water pickup at the time of the transfer. The tender with the preserved Morayshire is of this type. A tender from a Bachmann O4 would have been perfect for the project. I look forward to reading more of Wright Writes in the future. Regards and Happy New Year Woodcock29 (Andrew Emmett, Adelaide, South Australia) - why Woodcock29 you may ask - well Woodcock was the only A4 I travelled behind in regular service as a child prior to our departure to Australia in 1964.

Hello Gilbert I will be in the UK on a holiday shortly and was wondering if it is possible to arrange a visit to see Peterborough? I am a long term LNER/ER modeller living in South Australia. My email address is aem02457@bigpond.net.au Regards Woodcock29