thegreenhowards

And now the final move of the sequence. This is definitely a case of last but not least as The Night Scotsman is one of my favourite rakes and here it is headed by A1, 60154, Bon Accord. This time is now 23:59 so very much the end of the day. The loco is a DJH kit bought second hand and converted to one of the roller bearing examples. The two Gateshead roller bearing A1s monopolised the Night Scotsman through much of the 1950s working south one night and returning north the following night. I'm assuming that continued into 1958 although I'm not sure exactly when the working finished. My eventual aim is to model the 1958/9 winter SX service which was formed BG, SLSTP, SLSP, SLSP, SLF, SLF (twin), SLF (twin), SLF, SLF, BG. However this requires another twin SLF (which is on my workbench) and the Thompson 'interlocking' berth SLSPs for which no kit or brass sides is available and will need scratchbuilding. So for now I've modelled the Summer 1958 SO service which had three seated Mark 1s at the front and then SLF(twin), SLF, SLF, SLSTP, SLSTP, SLSTP, BG. I'm short of one SLSTP, but otherwise the formation is correct. The six sleepers are all scratch/ kit built and have featured on my workbench thread over the last year or so. Here are some pictures of the sleepers. And here is the video. Andy

Today I feature a full on parcels train (class C rather than class A like the 2245). This is the 2310 from King’s Cross which the carriage workings suggest was a hotch potch of different B’s, BZ,s, BG’s and vanfits for destinations as varied as Skegness, Durham, Manchester and Bradford - seemingly one van per destination. I imagine that, in practice, it would have varied on a daily basis depending on the traffic on offer. Therefore I haven’t tried to match it directly, but just put out my ‘mixed’ parcels train. I thought this was another V2 type of train, so here is double chimneyed 60862. This is a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis with Mashima motor. I bought it off eBay c.6 months ago but it needed valve gear and pickups sorting out and a ‘curly six’ front number plate all of which I did on Friday - the benefits of ‘lockdown’! I hoped to use it on the 14 coach train yesterday, but despite being packed with lead, the wheels just span, so I resorted to 60835 for that. I’ve worked out how to reduce my image sizes. When I upload the photos RMWeb prompts me for ‘image size’ and one can choose small, medium or large. I don’t remember seeing that before. Anyway, I’ve chosen ‘medium’. Let me know if the resolution is too poor. Here is the video.

So it is - in a senior moment I completely forgot about that photo. You must have a very good filing system!

Tony, I have three K3s on Gresley Jn, which is probably more than I need - but I love them! One is Bachmann with a little detailing and weathering, one is the Wills body you sold me on a Bachmann chassis which I showed on here relatively recently (probably just a couple of hundred pages back!). I won't bother putting them on here though they featured recently working on my Gresley Jn thread if anyone's interested. The third is my pride and joy which is a SE Finecast kit. I've shown you this before, but I'm not sure whether it has featured on the thread, certainly not recently. I bought it off eBay with wheels and motor and someone had made a start on it, but apart from the frames (which luckily were square) not much had been done. I based her on an example picture in working steam- LNER 2-6-0s. I do think the SE Finecast kit is brilliant. it certainly makes you learn about K3 variants with all the options they provide. This one, like most of my kits, is painted with Halfords rattle cans and finished with Modelmaster decals. Here is a video of her on an up fish train on Gresley Jn. Andy

We’re getting right to the end of the day now. This is the 2245 from King’s Cross to Leeds/ Bradford/ Hull and Doncaster which seemed to be a parcels train with some passenger accommodation included. There a couple of passenger coaches for Leeds and Bradford with the back six going to Doncaster only. Hull just got a BG. The train took a bit of putting together as I had to raid my parcels trains to find enough BGs, and then realised that some of the roofs were still in ‘Bachby plastic’, so the roof dirt paint came out yesterday! The formation is the 1960 one, but it didn’t seem to change much over the years. As it’s 14 coaches long not many of my engines will haul it. I decided this was a likely role for a V2, and only one was up to the job - my namesake 60835, The Green Howard (although it’s the Deltic which attracted me to the name). This is a Nucast kit stuffed with lead and fitted with a mashima. I acquired it from Tony Wright who was disposing of it for someone else - ex Gamston Bank I think. Here is the video.

Tony, Thanks for the K3 pictures - all very informative. How about a ‘book of the K3s’ to follow your B1 tomes?! Andy

Tony, Sorry about the confusion. I did think 'how did he miss that bl...y obvious coach' - now I understand! My general principal on such things is that if it states it should be a certain way round in the carriage workings then I follow it. This is often true for catering cars - Kitchen South End or similar. Otherwise I assume it was random. I guess for the Lizzie, once it was marshalled a particular way round, it stayed like that for a long period even if there was no plan as such. Anyway, I'm glad you've found some counter examples as I use 'Wright' couplings on this rake, so turning it round would mean remaking them. Now if only I used tension locks...………….. Andy

Tony, Mine is the up service. The FK-LRR is at the south end next to the BG - coach number 2. The SK-LRR is coach number 7 towards the north end. When the train was shortened, this SK-LRR was lost to the Heart of Midlothian and the Thompson SK in the Aberdeen portion took its place. I have never managed to track down a copy of ‘What’s on the Lizzie’ so I’m ignorant about what worked in each year. I’m building No.9 at the moment, so when that’s complete it can take 13’s place. Silver Fox is also planned at some stage, but I will never have 60022 (or 60103) - too much of a cliche! Andy

Tony, You show me yours...and I’ll show you mine! Here’s a video of my Elizabethan rake on Gresley Jn I hope you’re a year out in saying that the buffet was gone from 1957. I think the full rake was repainted for the Summer 1957 season and the buffet and SK with LRR were moved for the 1958 season. I think I got that from the Banks and Carter book. The rake above is the 1957 formation with special SK (coach 7) and buffet (coach 8). Andy

Thanks. That confirms the one photo I found which seemed to have some coal in the space between the divisions. So if I fill it with a fine layer of coal dust that would presumably be about right?

No new train tonight as I have spent the last couple of days trying to sort out the footbridge which Tony identified as too high. It was certainly more than a 'five minute job with the Xurons', mainly because Hornby seem to have built it out of a plastic which is resistant to all known glue! In the end it was a combination of plastic weld, evostick and strengthening with epoxy. Then it needed some filler and touching up. And I then decided to weather it which has been on my list for a while. Anyway, I think it looks better now. I have tried retaking the shot of the N2 and quad arts. I tried using my Nikon SLR on F22 for this shot to get a better depth of field. It's marginally better than the iPhone photo, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. These low angle shots are particularly difficult. It does seem to have highlighted just how wonky the Superquick island platform building is. But this is due for replacement fairly soon, so will stay for now.

Indeed, more vital than the five diagrams that they do produce. The ordinary stock was relegated to secondary services and strengtheners by the late ‘50s. I’m sure a RF/ RSP (or RSO) pair would sell well.

Thanks Tony, I think you’re right. They’re already soldered in place. I think I’ll round them off at the edges as the prototypes were rounded. Mine is also a DJH kit - another eBay purchase ready built I’m afraid, but for £78 with a (fairly quiet) Portescap I don’t think I could go wrong. I’ve renumbered it and I’m sorting out some detail (lamp irons etc.) as well as the roller bearing stuff. The bridge never looked wrong before, but it certainly looks tall now. The new one is a big improvement. Andy

David, I’ve always found Southern Pride excellent. Dave is old school so you have to send a cheque, but he turns it round quickly and his stuff is very good vfm. It’s worth emailing him first to check that everything is in stock. I’ve made the whole Elizabethan rake of his, plus a few mark 1s (mainly BSOs before Hornby did their version) and some other Thompson catering cars. Still got a couple of Gresley artics and the Cravens mark 1 prototypes to build. Highly recommended. His interior seats and tables are also worth considering. Andy

Tonight I feature the 1758 New Clee to King’s Cross fish train, the second of the two daily trains. This is headed by EE Type 3 (Class 37) D6801. 37s and 47s replaced 9Fs on the New Clee fish trains in the early ‘60s. I think it was mainly 47s on the London run with 37s doing the cross country trains. However, I regard 47s as the spawn of the devil and no 47 will ever tarnish Gresley Jn’s metals. So tonight’s train involves a 37 substituting for the more normal 47. Here is the video. This one is sound fitted.

`Tony, Going back almost a month and 37 pages, I have tracked down some Romford crankpin washers. Here they are in position on one side of 60154, Bon Accord’s tender. She will be my engine for the ‘Night Scotsman’ as one of the two Gateshead roller bearing examples seemed to be ever present on that train during the 1950’s. I suspect having re-read your post that these are the retaining ones rather than the spacing ones. They are slightly smaller in diameter and thicker in depth than the last ones I used. The depth seems fine, but the diameter is a little small compared with prototype pictures, but I think they’re probably the best I can do in the absence of any other source - do you have any comments? Should anyone want some they come in packs of 10 (just right for converting a roller bearing A1) for £1.50 from 247 developments. Andy

Tony, Given what I’ve seen of your modelling is to a very high standard, it’s a sad inditement of some people of RMWeb that you feel like that. I never achieve perfection but I post all sorts of stuff of different standards and, as long as I write about them with humility, I have found the support both encouraging and often very useful for improving things. Andy

I’ve had a frustrating morning working on the footbridge. Cyano proved useless with bits of plastic slipping all over the place. In the end I found that Plastic weld did the job, strengthened by epoxy in one or two places. There’s still some work to do, but I should be able to post a photo in the next couple of days. This evening’s train is the 2221 King’s Cross Baldock headed by Hitchin’s 61027, Madoqua. Here is the video.

Thanks Paul - I think I’ll go for one. Did you use the Gibson wheels he seems to offer with the kit? I always use Romfords so would prefer to stick with them if they will work with the kit. Andy

Peter, All the best for as speedy a recovery as is possible. Just thought I’d show my iPad with keyboard. This is an excellent solution as the keyboard doubles up as the case and stand. I can take photos on my iPhone. They transfer almost instant doubly to my iPad without me doing anything. Then I can use the photos via the keyboard to put updates on RMWeb. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Andy

Very impressive - I wish I could get my kits running on DCC so quickly! Where did you put the decoder in the end - tender or boiler?

Thanks for sharing that. Your T1 model looks great, although if I was being picky, the lining could be straighter. What did you use for that? I find Modelmaster lining easy to apply and, while not as good as a bow pen in the right hands, it generally produces good results. I’m slightly nervous about building an all brass or nickel silver kit having only built white metal kits (some with brass tenders and/or cabs) in the past. Do you think a 52F kit would be suitable for a first time all nickel silver modeller? I also note that his chassis is compensated with the gearbox built in. I don’t quite understand how that would look but it sounds scary. Was yours the same and did it go together OK? Andy

Thanks Tony, Their layout looks good to me. Obviously not up to finescale standards and I do hate setrack, but it looks much more finished than mine. I think I can honestly say that I have never built a Metcalfe kit. I built lots of Superquick stuff when I was a lad and some of it still ‘graces’ the town area of Gresley Jn and more recently I have built some Scalescenes stuff which I think looks much more realistic than Metcalfe. The only Metcalfe on Gresley Jn is the coaling stage which I picked up for £2 at a show and the engine shed which was free and is definitely a ‘holding’ building. I think the coaling stage is really GWR so should be banished, but Hatfield had something similar in the 1930s. I think Metcalfe stuff is fine for bulking out a layout but needs is crying out for detailing and particularly weathering. As built it looks too ‘chocolate box’. The bridge is on today’s todo list. Watch this space. Andy

Tony, Yet again you notice something which had completely passed me by! Now you mention it they do look too tall, so I will have a go at the surgery you suggest. Surely Hornby designed it to go on a platform, so I don’t understand why it’s too tall, but I agree it looks that way. I had already done some surgery to join the two halves together to make a double span and I found it difficult to get them to glue together - poly cement was useless. What glue did you/they use? I think I ended up with cyano. They are also crying out for weathering which I will do at the same time. Coming back to cameras/ photos as discussed on your thread, I realise that the camera has focussed on the footbridge rather than the loco. This is a definite weakness of my iPhone approach and difficult to control particularly for the low angle shots. I may have to dig my Nikon D80 out for the ‘after’ shot! Andy

Ahh, was it you fighting me on eBay for the Bill Bedford kit?! The Night Scotsman varied over the years, but had up to 7 of these long Gresley SLFs - at least according to the CWN. I think I will have to find a slightly more practical formation. I will probably start with the SO version which needs two and a artic twin (which I have built). The 61ft version was quite rare by the late 50s except as a weekend/ summer strengthener. When required I use the Hornby version. I know its a bit fat, but the rest is better than I could achieve, and I think it looks fine in the middle of a rake (where the tumblehome is partly hidden). Andy