thegreenhowards

Two reasons: 1. What an evocative name - the others weren’t bad, but the Wolf takes the biscuit (or should it be the lamb?!). 2. It’s one of only two that can be built from the DJH kit ...and doesn’t number 5 require some tweaks (to the dome perhaps?). Could you remind us of how you would set about building the other four? Regards Andy

Tony, The cottages look great and I’m relieved that the gardens seem to fit very well having been worried about the orientation of the smaller one. I showed your kind words to Ellen and she was chuffed. Suitably encouraged, she now wants to help me build a canal over Xmas which will be a big help. Thanks. Andy

I have received items at least three times, but only when dealing by phone, and on one occasion I had to chase. If you talk to him and ask him what he has in stock he’s generally happy to supply it. I think he’s being rather harshly treated on here, although for understandable reasons. I’d put him down as 90% IT illiterate incompetent, and only 10% fraudster. Having said that, the website is unforgivable, and I have every sympathy for those who’ve lost money. Andy

Tony, The Carter article on LNER Kitchen cars in Backtrack v10 number 11 has a section on triplet workings. It states that one did the 10:18 am KGX-LDS and 5:15pm return from about 1952 until commencement on the 1959 winter timetable. That should provide your perfect excuse! Regards Andy

I'd say you need the Cravens SO. Southern Pride do a kit. You also probably need the '38 triplet, although that had been dropped by '60/61 for a Mk1 RKB/FO, so you could make your life easier (and less interesting?!) if you so choose.

David, The simple answer to that question is 'no'...obviously! But the SO lasted quite a while. Firstly, there was only one vehicle and the Northumbrian set was rather inefficiently used heading north one day, and then doing nothing until working south the next day. So the Cravens coach alternated with one from BRCW, E4637, which looked rather more conventional from the outside, but still had the generous leg room of the Cravens coach with only 39 seats. According to the carriage workings (thanks to Robert Carroll) the Cravens SO started working in winter '58/59 and continued until winter '62/63. They were built in 1957, so in practice I suspect they were in the formation by early 1958, but it took the carriage workings a while to catch up. Initially, there was also a Cravens FO, E3082 again alternating with a BRCW FO, E3081 in the Northumbrian. This appears in the winter'58/59 carriage workings, but had disappeared by Winter '59/60 (I don't have summer1959). I don't know what they did after they came out of the Northumbrian. Parker's Mk 1 book mentions Euston-Liverpool services, but the allocations in the Longworth mk 1&2 book show the SO moving to a 'NE' prefix in 1965, and the FO to a 'W' prefix at the same time. I should stress that this is all based on the carriage workings whereas Tony and Gilbert base their formations to some extent on photos, so they may be more accurate to what actually happened. Regards Andy

Love the triplet Gilbert, and the Cravens is icing on the cake! Thanks Andy

Thanks Tony, Angle trussing would give the game away, I hadn't thought of that! Phil, Gilbert, I'm pretty sure it's not on the Wizard website. I assume Andrew will be at Warley - I'll ask him there. Andy

Great photo of the Northumbrian Tony, but I don't know how you can be certain that the triplet is the 1938 one rather than a '24 or '28 version - very impressive powers of observation if you can! I like the Cravens coach - makes a change from the standard mk 1s. I intend to base my Northumbrian on the winter 1958 formation which had the Cravens FO as well as the SO. It's good news if Comet are introducing a kit for the 1938 triplet but I can't see it on their website. Is it available now? I thought they only did the earlier version and had resigned myself to substituting one of those as must of happened from time to time in real life. Regards Andy

...or how many extra trains you could fit in

That's great. I just hope it doesn't lead to some insoluble problem 50 moves later - wouldn't want my gold star rescinded!

I'm confused. You said that 60111 was on the 1230 KX-Newcastle. I thought that was the Northumbrian?

Love the goods train Gilbert, can we have more? Would also love a look at the Northumbrian if you can manage it - particularly the triplet! Andy

Thanks Tony, I knew you'd have the definitive answer! Andy

Thanks Bernard and Andrew, I did look on the green book, but while it was easy to find out that Banjo domes were introduced in 34/35, I couldn't find any reference to when they went out of service. Anyway, looks like I'll have to replace the one on my A3. Luckily it's soldered on so will be easy to replace! Andy

Tony, Can I just say that I think there's a world of difference between trying to glue together a brass chassis or the motion, which is surely doomed to failure, and glueing together a white metal body. The latter I have done several times (before I saw the light!), and I think it's possible to produce quite acceptable results using epoxy to glue white metal. Can I change the subject to ask you a question about banjo domes/ steam collectors on A3s. I'm aware that there were round domes and two different sorts of more streamlined domes. One that looked like a banjo, and another that was more streamlined but still sometimes seems to be called a banjo dome. I have acquired a ready built Wills kit with the 'true' banjo style dome. My question is did these still exist in the 1950s? And, if so, how do I found out which engines had them and when they were carried. Photos are very difficult as most are from too low an angle to tell the difference. Regards Andy

Phil, I've used three methods: Method 1 is to remove the Kirk lump and replace it with the elegant MJT solution. This is clearly the best solution but is most cost and time effective when replacing the bogies with MJT ones as in this restaurant car. Method 2 is to cut the Kirk lump off and replace it with the Bachmann mounting off a donor coach. This works very well, and was cost effective for me because I have a number of Bachy Thompson coaches being converted to MJT heavy duty for my Elizabethan rake. Method 3 is the one I described above, which involved filing down the Kirk lump, glueing a washer on top to give a smooth bearing surface and drilling two 2mm holes in the bogies into which 8BA bolts should be screwed tightly. Then replace the bogie and screw in the 8 BA bolts until touching the Kirk underframe, then losening about half a turn. This is not very elegant but gives very good lateral stability. Ggg You may well wonder given that I have the solutions why I took a Coach with a wobble to Little Lytham! I can only plead that I built this Coach before I knew about any of them, and had not got round to retrofitting such older coaches. Let me know if you need more details. Andy Method 1 Method 2 Method 3

Tony, Thanks for the tip on You Tube, I'll try that next time. How about I demonstrate the Aberdonian when you pay a return visit? Andy

Hi Andrew, Yes the Wolf is a DJH kit, and you're right about binding - I have fitted tender pick ups, but they are temporarily disabled as Tony had some tweaks to help me get it running smoothly. The wires are tucked up inside the tender and braking one of the wheel sets a little. But I think the main thing is for me to add extra weight - I haven't added any yet. You were also spot on with the back to back on carriage number 10. I corrected that and the wobbles through points improved, but there was still some. So I tried a trick that 'Sir' taught me on a previous visit which is to put two 8BA bolts up through the bogie either side of the pivot and tighten them so they are almost touching the underframe. This has cured any remaining wobble. Your diagnosis from a distance is quite remarkable! Andy

Yes, the Wolf almost sounds like it's sound fitted in this video! It was slipping a little as Andrew noted - part of my 'homework' is to fit some weight. Andrew, the coach that wobbles is quite old and I think that a rather unsophisticated attachment of Bachman bogies to a Kirk underframe is responsible. On more recent builds I've cut the bogie support from the underside of a donor Bachman coach and glued it onto the Kirk underframe - that seeems to cure the wobbling. Another job for the roundtuit pile! Andy

I think I've managed to shrink the video of the Aberdonian on Little Bytham down sufficiently to post it (with some help from my son!), so here goes....

Thanks Andrew, My modelling is nowhere near your standard, but I appreciate the help that you gave me in working out the details of the train, and I really enjoyed putting it together. Regards Andy

Tony, Thanks for your hospitality today and for helping me with the valve gear on the K3 and fettling the Wolf. I really enjoyed the day - it's always a treat to operate Little Bytham, even if I again showed my incompetence as a signalman! The Aberdonian has been a very enjoyable project - thanks to those who helped with the details a few months back. The modelling is not to as high a standard as I would like, but I think it looks great as a long layout train and it's lovely to model a formation of a top rank express which was still mainly Gresley rolling stock in the late '50s. It's the exact formation shown in the Summer 1956 carriage workings for FX and SUN (except in high summer when the Fort William portion ran separately), although given it has some maroon coaches, I'm assuming it's Summer 1957 (for which I don't have the carriage workings, but have no reason to assume it changed). The formation was as follows: Gresley BG: Hornby Gresley BSK(4): Mousa sides, 247 ends, Kirk roof, Hornby underframe Thompson SLTP: Mousa sides, 247 ends, MJT roof, spliced and modified Hornby underframe, MJT heavy duty bogies Gresley 61' SLF: Hornby Gresley 66' SLF: Kirk sides cut and shut to form longer body, Kirk ends, MJT roof and spliced Kirk chassis/ underframe. Gresley SLC (twin): Cut and shut Kirk sides from SLT and SLF grafted onto Hornby railroad bodies, MJT and Hornby bits for underframe, MJT heavy duty bogies Mk 1 CK: Standard Bachmann Gresley SK (end vestibule): Kirk with MJT underframe details Gresley SK (end vestibule): standard Kirk Gresley BG: Hornby Gresley SLC: Mousa sides on Hornby donor (Fort William portion) Mk1 BCK: Bachmann (Fort William portion) Gresley RU (diag 11): An unusual vehicle for which no kit is available (AFAIK). Cut and shut parts from Kirk Gresley Buffet and RF with Kirk ends, floor and roof and MJT underframe, MJT heavy duty bogies. This vehicle was attached to the rear for serving dinner and detached at York and returned empty. I have a video of it in operation on Little Bytham. However, it is 52MB and I can't upload it! Does anyone know how to edit down videos made on an iPhone? As for your evidence, Little Bytham is perfect evidence that the 'Wright' way produces fantastic results. My comment on your book was that you don't always justify why it is necessary to go to a lot of extra work to achieve these results. The example I used was attaching wires to every section of track whereas I get away with every second or third piece. Out of interest, do others religiously attach wire to every section of track, or are some people as lazy as me and rely on fishplates for some electrical connectivity? Regards Andy

Tony, I don't think that your last point necessarily follows. Having a greater range of RTR in 'O' gauge may persuade some people to make the move 'upscale'. They then may provide more of a market for kit manufacturers and builders to fill in the inevitable missing gaps in their fleet. There will surely be many missing gaps for the foreseeable future. Just leaving Kings Cross and look forward to seeing you later to continue this debate (and doubtless many others!). Regards Andy

Tom, I'm coming to this slightly late, but I think number 7 looks pretty good as well - as presumably do precision paints! One questions I may. You have some very effective knots in the wood effect on your samples. What size are your samples? Either you've got very big knots for 4mm scale, or you have painted them incredibly finely. Regards Andy