thegreenhowards

Thanks Rob, Duly ordered. Andy

Thanks. I think it’s the best in my fleet. I’ve fitted all the others myself but not this one. I must take it apart and work out what he’s done. Andy

That’s very useful, thank you. Does the book have that sort of information for all the 37/4s? If so, it’s on my shopping list! Andy

I’ve just been reading September 2023 Backtrack. It has a lovely spread of the Mallaig extension including pictures of 37423 in triple grey livery on a nice rake of four MK2s dated 2April 1988. I was pleasantly surprised by this as I thought the first triple grey liveried locos were after sprinterisation. Can anyone confirm the dates of the first repaintings? I’ve looked on the cl37 website but it’s first mention of painting for ‘423 is into Mainline in 1989. Andy

Some new toys came out to play today. I felt that my model of Glenfinnan needed a’Concrete Bob’, and when this one came up on eBay already ‘Legomanbiffo-ed’ I pounced. It’s a bit late for my chosen era in triple grey, but I’m rather fond of the livery, so I’ll make an exception - I’m not running a 156 to go with it though! I also picked up a couple of Cargowaggons recently and a Heljan red stripe van and open. I’m running these together but I’m struggling to find prototype pictures of Cargowaggons mixed with the older stock. Can anyone confirm if they did work together? I’ve also done a video. I think this one sounds particularly good. Sound was fitted by BBMR and seems to have the decoder in the fuel tanks and a speaker where the decoder normally goes. Andy

I’ve now finished re-weathering the fish vans which I bought at Guildex and posted on here on 6 Sep. They’re a bit dirtier than I would have chosen, but I think it’s worked OK and they look credible. I did a mixture of removing the dirt down the stanchions with a lot of rubbing, white washing over them and just heavy weathering over them. All the wagons then had a dusting of roof dirt from my airbrush. Here’s a video of the fish train with a few other vans, which I also picked up at Guildex. Andy

Looks like you might be right! I got them off the Fox sheet ‘earlier lettering/ numbering for black locos’. I ordered this set because the larger LNER lettering didn’t fit the tank side. Did the numbers change size, or is this yet another misleading Fox description? I’m not sure I can face changing them now as they’re under several coats of varnish and weathering. Andy

More weathering last week, this time on my O Gauge N7 as featured above. This was an eBay purchase which came in a hideous brush painted LNER livery. I’m pleased with how it’s turned out. Here it is posed on our club layout, Smithfield. Andy

It does amuse me how they think a nice sealed plastic bag adds value! I don’t trade on a regular basis but when someone contacts the club with an estate sale, I see it as an opportunity to offer a benefit to club members. Anything left over, I flog on eBay. Andy

I’d also like to run one, so I was just looking for some justification! And I also have a 26!

My impression is that the second hand market has peaked. Prices rose dramatically 10+ years ago as eBay took off and created a much wider market for second hand kit. Traders took a while to catch up and there were still a lot of bargains at toy fairs and model railway shows. More recently I’ve noticed far less bargains at physical shows as traders have woken up to higher prices although a few bargains are still there where people are trying to shift stuff quickly. However, in the last year or so, eBay prices seemed to have gone into reverse, perhaps due to the cost of living crisis or perhaps due to Tony’s oft quoted fear over the demographics of the hobby? In due course I hope that traders at shows will recognise this, but there will probably be quite a lag. In the meantime, our club has just bought a job lot of old model railway kit and we have wagons at £1 and coaches at £3 for a short while! Andy

How common were 25s on the WH extension? I’ve only seen one or two pictures.

It was moving up and down the yard on Thursday.

I also received mine today. I’ve skimmed it this evening and it’s well up to the standard I would expect from Andrew Donnelly. I’m looking forward to digesting it thoroughly. Andy

Lovely photos Rob, I look forward to seeing your attempts at ‘108. You’d need to be brave and very skilful to replicate the condition in that photo. I remember ‘081 only too well. It became a bit of a ‘bowl out’ engine as it was always turning up when I was hoping for something new. What I’d give for a run behind it now! Andy

I prefer the first - beautifully framed by all those signals.

‘108 looks good. I appreciate tension locks, sharp curves and bufferbeam detail are not happy bedfellows! On my 00, I tend to use a fixed brass wire loop instead of the tension lock on my locos. This allows bufferbeam detail on curves down to 3 ft, but I haven’t tested it on anything tighter. My O gauge is a roundy roundy and I tend to use Kadees because I can’t stand screw/three links which seem to be the O Gauge standard. I have a Kadee on one end and screw links on the other and the loco always runs in one direction (with the screw link leading). Both coupling standard support bufferbeam detail. I appreciate this is not much use to you with Fort William reversals! Regards Andy

Me too. But you can’t argue that the railways were at their zenith, had a huge variety of stock or colourful liveries. I grew up with BR blue on the SE EMU railway. The weekly highlight was a class 33 hauled train to Beckenham Jn coal depot. Apart from that it was all CIGs, EPBs and SUBs. But once I was old enough I found Finsbury Park and the Deltics and then the West Highland line - fantastic! I now model 1920s London and 1980s West Highland in O gauge and the GNML in 00 so covering all bases! You can’t beat a split box 37 on Mk 1s! Andy

…or the complete opposite - 1980s blue!

I work on the Schools one day per week. There’s still a fair bit to do, but the end is in sight! I can’t wait to see her steam again. As for the Dukedog, shame it’s tied to the Bluebell as I feel she’d be more suited elsewhere. Maybe some sort of loan would be possible within the terms of the donation? Andy

Personally I think that we have too many locos which never get to steam and the Dukedog doesn’t really fit the Southern theme. So we should either sell or lease it to another railway for them to restore and use. Andy

Are you going to add the buffer beam detail when you weather? I think that makes a big difference. Andy

It looks like I’ve c…ed up on my 9016, which has black windows! I’m sure I’d seen a photo of it with black - could that have been a later change or am I imagining things?! It seems I’ve also got the wrong vents and window frames, so it looks like I need to renumber my conversion. Just when I thought I’d put it to bed! Andy

Right, I think I’ve finished the inside of mine. When photographed outside, I do wonder whether it was worth it! I guess the best that can be said is that you can’t see seats through the window which used to be possible! Inside with the interior lights on, the buffet is more evident. Now I think the remaining jobs are removing the top three steps at each end and the periscopes. Have I missed anything? Andy

I was wondering about a simpler explanation of either alumina being imported into Mallaig or a second Aluminium smelter being built west of Glenfinnan. Would either be remotely credible?