AJCT

About 3-4 years ago I bought a 4mm scale Poppy's "Loco Builder Box" - I went for the 10-coupled version as I have this insane ambition to build a BR 9F one day, but also because I naively thought that it would also cover all the sort of 4- and 6-coupled wheelbases I'm more likely to build. Wrong... so after some thought and a great deal of research into coupled wheelbase dimensions, I decided an extra hole in each side was required. With the box's ruler markings as a guide I drilled very very carefully at 8mm (2 scale feet) along from the existing centre hole, starting with a 0.5mm bit and working up in stages until I got to the requisite 1/8th". So far I've only built one chassis with it (6-coupled, P4, sprung using Kean-MayGib units) and it runs beautifully, but there are plenty of others in the "to-do" pile and my modification should enable me to construct them all. When I bought the jig I encountered a little scepticism in my local modelling group that the laser-cut MDF would be accurate enough, compared with the all-metal products featured above, to cope with the discipline of P4. In my limited experience so far I'd say that it is - the horizontal dimensions are determined by the coupling-rods (as in traditional construction methods) and any slight variation in the vertical dimension should be absorbed by the springing or compensation. Hope this makes sense ! Alasdair

Well, as Blandford implies, you'd want to be sure of having it available at the end of the day. Many years ago I did a few Trainee Fireman turns on a heritage railway and there was occasionally also a need during the shift to rake over the fire, to break up clinker and drop the ash through the bars into the ashpan. Most modern tender engines (eg the BR Standards) had a fire-iron rack or "tunnel" in the tender accessible from the footplate, though accessing the irons and turning them end-for-end to insert into the firebox could be unwieldy in the cab. The pic shows the rack on my rewheeled Bachmann WD (247 Developments etching, I think). HTH... Alasdair

Isn't it for shovelling out the fire at the end of the day for locos without a rocking- or drop-grate ? Alasdair

Yes, I wondered about using the Replica glazing, but was put off by the amount of filling required. It might fit the Tri-ang RMB which I think has slightly shallower window openings but I haven't tried this out yet ! Alasdair

Yup... that looks like what I did... what glazing are you going to use ? Alasdair

Hi Richard - Thank you: perhaps I missed that bit, but what did you stick it on with ? Cheers - Alasdair

In the pic of the real 5127 above, I think the open door gives access to the Battery Isolation Switch, but perhaps someone on here with more recent Diesel Footplate experience than me can confirm ! Alasdair

As stated on another thread - see - here's one of the BGs which I hung on to (Rule 2 - "you can never have too much NPCCS") rebuilt to P4 using MJT torsion-bar bogies, Comet gangway end-plates and cast buffers, and SE Models flush-glazing. I might replace the glazing - some unused examples I have seem to have yellowed with age, and I should try and replicate the security bars on the insides of the windows. Alasdair

Following this with much interest as I've got one of these in the "to do" pile. What thickness of brass sheet did you use for your rivetted overlays ? I've also got a DJH Peppercorn A2 under construction (bought long before the Bachmann one came out...) which may need similar treatment. Cheers - Alasdair

I too have a "Brown Jack" which I've de-blinkered and to which I've added the smokebox-side handrails, but IIRC I replaced the whole handrail back to the cab on each side. Unfortunately... while admiring my handiwork I then held it too close to a hot lamp-bulb which distorted the smokebox front slightly, but luckily I was able to replace it with a spare from an earlier A3 bodyshell. This does have the numberplate-above-handrail arrangement, so it matches the pic here - https://web.archive.org/web/20181213171118/http://www.davidheyscollection.com/page25.htm - the pages do take a while to load, but then scroll down to the pic of 60043 at Steele Road; I believe this was taken in June 1961 so it carries the dia.107 boiler as Mr Wright says. This is fine for my layout which is set in 1961, but I'd accept this is a bit late for your 1958/59 period. On p68 of my late friend Harry Knox's "Steam Days at Haymarket" book there's a pic of "Brown Jack", and checking the boiler/chimney details in the RCTS LNER "Green Book" Vol.2A suggests a date in the spring of 1959. One thing I haven't yet done is to remove the builder's plates from the cabsides and add new ones to the smokebox sides, from where they'd have been moved when the blinkers were fitted. And then of course there's the Brassmasters EasiChas P4 conversion to do.... Much enjoying following this thread - keep up the good work ! Alasdair

Well, I do know some-one who claims to have seen it, but he didn't say what time of day it was - I'll try and remember to ask him next time I see him....

Ha ! That'll be 1646, then... I think I encountered it on late-1950s family holidays in the Dornoch area, though it was classmate 1649 which gave me my first footplate trip. As a memento of that I've always had an eye out for a 4mm model and my patience was rewarded a couple of years ago when I picked up a pre-owned built-up Nu-Cast one from Hatton's for a very reasonable price - complete with P4 chassis and Portescap 1219, no less. It was sold as a "non-runner" but that was only because no-one had wired up the pickups ! So with a repaint and new number-plates it's now 1649, but it could still do with some brake gear - some of the the bits are still in the box but there are no kit instructions, so if anyone can tell me how this goes together I'd be grateful. Anyone want a set of cabside plates for 1650? My main interest is of course the Waverley Route, but interestingly it seems that both 1646 and 1649 were recorded as being hauled through Hawick on their way north to the Highlands. Alasdair

To me the 6-wheeler looks more like a Thompson LNER BZ rather than the LMS-type Stove R. I have an extract from the June - Sept 1962 ScR Carriage Marshalling Circular which (for the Down "Waverley") says "Attach rear Galashiels - BZ (SX) Galashiels to Edinburgh" although it's entirely possible that changed operating requirements by 1965 meant attachment at Carlisle. The Up working has the note "N.F.W. from Carlisle" which I think means "no vehicles with wheelbase less than 15 feet" (but perhaps some-one more knowledgeable can confirm). That would tie in with your thoughts on line speeds south of Carlisle. Alasdair

Following this with interest as I still have several Airfix ones to complete. When I started in P4 I conscientiously rebuilt all my 00 16-tonners to P4 with compensated W-irons, but your post suggests that's not really necessary. I do weight mine to 25gm per axle though, ie 50gm per wagon, and replace the wee handles on the end doors with wire. Alasdair

In Scotland it's called "harling". Not yet tried replicating it in 4mm, though. Alasdair

You're welcome... Alasdair

Quite so... but I was looking for examples of double-track main lines splitting into 4 tracks through the station as per Peter's plan above. Forgot about Kilmarnock, though: Stannergate on the D&A Joint is another possibility. But given Peter's Waverley Route preference I thought the original layout at Melrose with the application of a little Modeller's Licence or Rule One might be a way forward ! Alasdair

Here is my essentially-completed horsebox with its opaque white toilet window. I "glazed" this with a piece of white 20thou plasticard fitted into the rebate from behind, leaving a gap of 2mm at the top. The vent is represented by a 2.5mm deep piece of white 30thou plasticard stuck in so it's flush at the top and projects out at the bottom. Reference to photographs shows the edges of the "frame" are quite narrow (which is why I didn't like the one in the kit) and I achieved this by scribing lines to mark out the edges and painting them maroon with a very fine brush and a very steady hand... not one of my better efforts, perhaps, but you get the idea. Alasdair

You're welcome... the 4-track station arrangement you suggested was rare in Scotland: Larbert is the most obvious one which springs to mind. But, on the Waverley Route, I believe the original layout at Melrose was so (see https://www.railscot.co.uk/locations/M/Melrose/ ) - finding the date when the layout was changed would require some research, but pics in this collection show clearly that the platforms were widened at some time. Scope for some Modellers' Licence, maybe ? Cheers - Alasdair

Pleased to hear you're on the mend and planning your next layout... one can't keep a keen modeller down. Sorry to be picky, but this is Cupar in Fife, on the ECML from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, between the Forth and Tay bridges. As shown, there were only 2 platforms and no additional running lines, but until the mid/late 1960s there was a single centre road with trailing connections off the Up and Down Mains which functioned as either an Up or a Down Refuge Siding - hence the gap between the tracks shown here, and the interesting overbridge design seen in https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/3/337/ . Coupar Angus was on the now-closed Strathmore line between Perth and Kinnaber Jn, the one-time continuation of the WCML from Carlisle to Aberdeen - see https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/70/429/. My Sectional Appendix says there was an Up Refuge Siding, and a Down Goods Loop - possibly the outer face of the island platform, which would have handled local passenger trains for the Blairgowrie branch. HTH ! Alasdair

A number of years ago I got from the Hawick & District MRC a spreadsheet list of steam locos recorded as having worked through Hawick, and 60045 Lemberg is included under the A3s - no date(s) or details of workings, though. HTH. Alasdair

Great, thanks very much for that - unfortunately I don't have the Tatlow book, but while searching the internet I did come across a pic of the interior of a BR Std horsebox as preserved at Shildon, and that appeared to be the same configuration as you described. But it doesn't do to assume that they were all like that ! Cheers - Alasdair

That pic would suggest that the walls of the groom's compartment are a lighter colour, so I've painted mine cream as suggested by others, with the seat to be dark red. Does anyone have any info on where the toilet door was from the groom's compartment - centred or to one side, and if so which ? I've never been convinced about the toilet window vent on this kit, and plan to make up my own - see the top pic on the next page of the Bradford Barton book Paul refers to, showing the LNER horsebox in the bacground with the toilet window vent at the nearer end. Alasdair

This all takes me back to the days when (like others on here) I had a go at creating other types of Mk.1 stock from Tri-ang-Hornby coaches, at a time before Lima or Mainline when you could only get BSK, CK, RMB and Sleepers - and the overlength BG. I had a wonderful time hacking up several pairs of BSKs to create correct-length BGs from the brake ends, and then making up SKs or TSOs from the bits left over! Other BSKs plus bits of CK went into a BCK and a couple of BSOs, and I think that parts from a couple of CKs went into an FK. With the advent of the Bachmann product some of the conversions were sold on but I still have the BGs and BSOs. As it happens, I never went for Lima or Mainline because I felt that the plastic sides were thicker and made the windows even less convincing than the Tri-ang-Hornby ones. For me, this was inspired by articles in the Model Railway Constructor from the early 1960s on carving up Kitmaster coaches to represent other BR Mk.1 types: by the time I started wielding my hacksaw the Kitmasters were long since unavailable, although I've subsequently been able to collect quite a few built-up Kitmasters (in various states) from second-hand stalls at shows. By the time I became aware of the Coopercraft versions I reckoned I had more than enough BR Mk.1 stock to last me a lifetime... happy days ! Alasdair

The shed had certainly gone by 1977 - in fact the roof had gone by the date of the green BRCW Type 2 pic further up this thread. The turntable was out-of-use after the observation car was withdrawn which I think was in the late 1960s but I'd have to do some research to check. Didn't get a run in the Kyle line car but I think managed a short trip in the Mallaig one in about 1962 or 63. After the first 2 BRCW 26s (D5300/01) were restored to green livery for railtour etc work in August 1992 they may have sported yellow ploughs, but that was probably due to contemporary safety requirements. HTH Alasdair