thegreenhowards

Tony, At the rate you build kits you must have a lot of shelves!! Andy

I will indeed! Just approaching Leicester courtesy of East Midlands Trains and can’t wait to see PN in the flesh. Andy

Tony, I’m not scared of valve gear any more (after your lessons) and I will do some more one day. But I only have limited time for modelling, and valve gear seems disproportionately fiddly and time consuming and not particularly enjoyable. I’d rather make the valve gear on something not available RTR and concentrate my valuable modelling time on the rest of the roundtuit pile. Regards Andy

Tony, You might need to sit down before you look at this example! This is a 35-40 year old version built in my teenage years, and I can't remember the details, but I think it's Wills or Nucast and it appears to be on a Hornby B17 chassis with tender drive. Why I used a donor with overlarge drivers I can't remember! Does anyone else remember these kits - was I the only one to make the chassis mistake or was this recommended? I'm wondering what to do with it. I could plonk it on a modern Bachmann or Hornby chassis, build a comet chassis (but all that valve gear turns me off this option) or possibly look at a B2 conversion. Any suggestions (apart from binning it!). Regards Andy

Gavin, My own version of the TTP is the same as yours with Hornby 1928 brakes (one new and one converted railroad with Gresley bogies) and Bachmann Mk 1s. I run this alternately with a production Deltic (surely the finest locomotive to grace British Railways ) and an A3 with double chimney and no blinkers. There is a fine picture on page 8 of Keith Pirt's 'Steam Colour Portfolio, Eastern and North Eastern Region) showing 60110 in this form on the Yorkshire Pullman formed of 1928 brakes and Mark 1 Pullmans. This proves that the periods are compatible although whether A3's ever pulled the TTP in this form I can't say. Andy

Coming back to Grimsby fish, there is a very good article in BRILL June 1995 entitled 'Teatime Fish' with 10 pages on the Grimsby fish traffic. Lots of lovely pictures including K3, Brit and a class 37 on the Whitland fish (dieselised April '64) and a 4:48pm to Nottingham with predominantly midland power (Black 5, standard 4MT and a LYR 2-6-0) and a B1. The pictures are all from the early '60s.

I love the CC1. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of that in Southern livery before.

Tony, I love the brewery - it really looks the part. I know what you mean about lost mojo - I’ve hardly touched my layout since you visited in January. Although I have done some rolling stock in that time. Andy

Gilbert, I love the Thompson RK. I’m glad reason has prevailed and you’ll keep it. There are a fair few of these in the carriage workings on what might be termed secondary expresses, so I’m sure you can find a use for it. Regards Andy

Thanks Tony, The loft based layout is in OO and very different to the N gauge one. Sorry if my post was confusing. Andy

Tony, Was the other KX the N gauge one that featured in the model press a few years ago, the OO gauge loft based one which has a thread on RMWEB ("The Kings Cross Layout Mid 50's to Mid 60's") or is there another one that I don't know about? Andy

Gilbert, I had to do a bit of searching to find where I'd read about it. I think it was Nick Campling's LNER diagrams book p23 which states "As built there were no ventilators in the windows on the corridor side, but in due course complaints by passengers prompted the company to rectify this matter, and from 1938 onwards as vehicles went through works, the windows were rebuilt with sliding ventilators as shown." This is on the page for the BTK, but I think the text applies to all end vestibule coaches. I was rather hoping you'd prove me wrong so that I'd have a good excuse to run my unaltered Mousa coach. As you say, the LNER were strapped for cash and the war would surely have got in the way of such a programme, so it's possible that not all were converted. It's a shame that 1950s photographers were not as diligent as you at taking photos of the rolling stock behind the engines! ​Can anyone else shed any light on this issue? ​Regards ​Andy ​PS. Did you receive my reply to your PM on Saturday?

Sorry to be so predictable! I think it was worth it though because that is a lovely rake. The 'orrible Hornby's don't show up too much when looking at the rake as a whole although the tumblehome is very evident in close up next to your lovely kit built coaches. I wouldn't worry about the Gresley CK; I imagine that these FO relief trains would be made up of whatever scratch stock was available so would not necessarily follow the carriage workings very closely. One uber critical point is that I believe that the d.155 SKs were fitted with ventilators in alternate windows on the corridor side after the late '30s. The Kirk kit has this mod, but not the Mousa sides which I assume you have used. It may be that not all of them were modified so you may be OK - do you have any evidence for this as I'm wrestling with what to do about mine? Andy

Gilbert, It may not be the most glamorous of trains, but the stock looks a lot more interesting than a bunch of mark 1s. Could we see some close ups of the coaches? Andy

I took this photo of Tony’s pins when I visited. I subsequently found them on eBay and they work very well.

I love seeing the wagons Gilbert. It’s always good to see what’s behind the tender.

That is a lovely looking train Gilbert. I'm impressed that you've actually got the roller bearings modelled properly in true 'Wright' style. That's still on my to do list! I'm interested that there is a top shed pacific on this service. Would it have been a lodging turn or a loco change at Grantham?

Tony, I agree with the problems with heavy kit built stock - as we discovered with my Aberdonian rake! However, tension locks are pretty reliable on fairly long rakes of RTR coaches. 12 seems fine on my layout, and the closer coupling they allow while still negotiating tighter than prototypical curves is useful. Andy

Very well put Mick, Tension locks are horrible, but they do work, and no other system is perfect for British outline. Tony’s method works very well for fixed formations, and I’m gradually converting my fixed rakes over - particularly those with kit built coaches in them. However tension locks are almost invisible in the middle of a rake of coaches especially when gangway connectors are fitted. To me, a see through gap between coaches is a far greater ‘crime’ than a relatively discreet coupling. So I would campaign first for corridor connectors and then worry about the couplings. On goods, it’s more of an issue, and I’m slowly trying to convert my fixed formations goods trains over to 3/screw link. However, this causes a problem whenever I want to take them to the club as it takes forever to recouple a train. My compromise for the time being is to permantly couple four wheel wagons in groups of three or four (to fit in my carry box) with tension locks in between. Does anyone have a better idea? Locos, being generally the prime focus of attention, are worth extra effort. Obviously the coupling should come off the front unless it’s needed, although for me they tend to stay on the back where it’s less visible. For tank locos which need to run round their train or shunt, I tend to go for the ‘TW’ goalpost working with tension locks on the ends of the coach or goods rakes as the best compromise. The person who invents an automatic screw coupling for 4mm might get quite rich!! Regards Andy

Why is it unfair,? You said yourself that Tony had to fix it. Andrew, That’s a reasonable point, but, as Tony says, I don’t think there was much wrong with it. Just a bit of bent valve gear which can happen to any loco. Andy

I think that’s unfair on the Heljan O2. I bought mine from Tony as a seconds return which he had fixed. It has run for two years on my 45 wagon coal train with no problems and no bits have fallen off. I appreciate that one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but I think it’s pretty good (apart from the chimney which definitely needs replacing).

This one works for me Gilbert. The earlier really bright one with clouds detracts from the subject matter which we wouldn't want.

Tony, If you'd asked me this 2 years ago it would have been a resounding YES. However, now that I have one of each A2 variant, with a Graeme King A2/3 still to build, I'm not so sure. Selfishly I rather like the exclusivity of having the kit built versions, even if I only built one (largely) myself. I think Bachmann (or whoever) should be encouraged, so I'm sure I'd have one, and £200 is cheap compared to the price of a DJH kit, even if you build it yourself. In practice, I would do what I always do with new releases and wait a few months until the price had dropped a bit. Now if you asked me about an A1/1, then it would still be a resounding yes! Regards Andy

I believe that Stay alive is a DCC product. It may be possible to do something similar for DC, but I've never seen it discussed.

I've fitted a lot of these stayalives. You are correct in connecting blue to blue and black to black. I've never had the buzzing sound. I would say that the stayalives are pretty useless if they're the same as the ones I fitted a couple of years ago. The energy stored is insufficient to get the loco over an insulfrog point. DCC concepts have introduced a higher capacity capacitor, but I haven't made that work successfully as yet (still trying).