CKPR

Thanks Jol and those pliers sound like they would very useful addition to the toolkit for building brass kits.

The Caley, of course, reached the M&C itself at Brayton via the Solway Junction Rly. All told, the M&C, NBR and Caley lines in north west Cumbria are eminently modellable a la Ian Futers 1970s Northumbrian layouts.

And Iceland

The instructions in the Geo. Norton kit admit that forming the footplate is tricky, a warning that is also in the instructions for the LRM Cauliflower! Trouble is, there are even trickier footplates on the M&C 0-4-2s and 2-4-0s, so I need to get some practice in with the LNWR kits before tackling these. This is where the NER or the Lanky begin to look very attractive to me, what with straight footplates (or w/m kits with cast splashers for the big passenger engines), inside valve gear and being proper Northern. Of course, if I'd taken that job at Edinburgh back in 2013, I'd be modelling the NBR or the Caley by now, both of which ran to Carlisle and so can be classed as Cumbrian in my book.

Looks like another lost story by Arthur Machen has resurfaced - excellent !

Mid to late 1980s I think - it's the precursor of the London Road kit and it'll be interesting to see how it builds compared to the Special DX and the Cauliflower.The tender is the same type in all three cases but I haven't inspected them to see if there are any obvious differences/improvements in the LRM iterations compared to the Geo. Norton original.

Good question - I'll have a look in the definitive source that is Harold Bowtell's 'Rails through Lakeland' and see what is in there about the M&C workings.

Yes, Cockermouth it is, not least because I was born there. I did consider Maryport, albeit in its 1976 format, which is very modellable compared to 1906. In fact, the whole of the M&C would be feasible with the 1976 track plan - even the Mealsgate line was still connected and used as a siding, complete with a TOPS code!

Nearly there and if it's not Brigham, then that only leaves one other possibility...

I don't know if it's just me but the last screen shot looks much more 'painterly' than previously with almost a 1930s-1950s neo-romantic vibe to it.

Pre-grouping modelling puzzle picture #1 - this is pretty much the core motive power for the second part of CKPR's 'last great project'. Any guesses what it is to be? A couple of clues are the title of this thread and then the really obvious one.

Talking of village shops and the presence or otherwise of book shops, our local shop & PO sells amongst other reading matter, five different farming weeklies , several classic tractor & farm machinery mags, 'Kerrang!' and MRJ.

As I commented a few weeks ago in The Gruaniad, round our way on the Shropshire - Herefordshire border (literally as the county border goes through our village), it's basically the 18th century with electricity...

Based on the G&SWRA monograph, here is the backhead for No. 7 - I need to sort out the R/H side and I'll be adding a couple of small damper & sanding levers to the sides. The water gauges will be represented by a couple of small pieces of Evergreen strip after painting - these will be the only pieces of plastic in the model as the cab floor will be made from very thin ply or obeche. I have made the firebox door and this will have to be glued on (utterly heathen, I know), as previous attempts to solder it resulted in the inevitable falling off of everything else!

From photographic evidence, the LMS seemed to have scrapped a lot of the smaller MR 8t vans before the war and then used the bodies as sheds and stores all over the LMS system, not just on the ex-MR lines. Hence, the old Slaters kit, which is / was sold as a grounded van body, would be probably be quite appropriate for layout set from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Reading the GSWRA booklet on Smellie' '22' class engines, the Scottish cousins of Smellie's M&CR engines, it looks like one of the 'pipes' from the cab front going diagonally to the injectors is actually a control rod going to a valve on the injectors. Should be straightforward to reproduce this with some straight wire.

Looking in John Hooper's NBR wagon book, the upper photograph on p46 of 55605, described as an '8 ton wood frame wagon' built by Pickerings in 1896 seems to show one sided brakes (with brake at the end with the end door). However, it's obviously a works photograph and the reflections on the axles suggest that the floor hasn't yet been fitted. In which case, the apparent absence of the brakes on the other side might reflect expediency in order to get the photograph taken ( it might well be unlettered on the other side!).

T'other injector now fabricated - I assembled this one straight onto the pipework from the steam feed and clack valves and I'll definitely use this technique again when I get round to No. 4 and No. 20. There's still some minor pipework and the sandbox operating rods to add but I think I'll make the backhead and rest of the cab fittings next as a break from making things in pairs. Just realised the water feed end trunnion is a bit wonky but it'll be a simple job to align it at the next session on the bench.

One down, one to go - time for a brew I reckon.

I'm chancing fate here, but at least I've got all of the necessary tube, wire, washers and nuts. Better have my tea first - you don't want to do this sort of thing on an empty stomach!

Alas, No. 20 has been shunted in the box containing my other stalled projects (M&CR 0-4-2 No. 4, an FR 2-4-2T, and a WISC YEC 0-4-0 DM, to name but three). Her cab needed more work and the amount of bodging was getting too much, together with the fact that her frames were all wrong. I'll probably rebuild her Crewe-style, reusing just the wheels, rods and bufferbeam with a new all metal body. No. 20 Mk II won't be the first rebuild in my M&CR stud as both No. 17 and No. 26 are replacement engines and contain the odd part or two from the previous attempts that were scrapped in the cold light of day.

A few evenings work on No 7 has seen handrails fitted together with the bulk of the pipework. There were obviously injectors below the footplate beside the ash pan and fabricating these will the next job. I also need to enlarge the spectacles, which would have been much easier to do in the flat but I forgot. Plenty of progress by my standards but where is No. 20?

As a newcomer to 7mm, I have been surprised at the cost and quality of 7mm kits and not in a good way. With the exception of Slaters and ABS (now D. J. Parkin), the need to upgrade underframe parts and add/replace detail seems comparable to 4mm and, dare I say, unnecessary and avoidable. Parkside u/frames verge on the representational in 4mm but this scales up to caricature in 7mm. That said, I've got some scratch-building planned (NBR and NER brake vans) and the experience from doing up the Parkside vehicles should come in handy. I'll draw a discreet veil over the two 3H 7 plank wagons rebuilt as GNR opens...

Hi John - All my West Cumberland rolling stock is scratch built bar a 51L FR open and a couple of D&S LNWR wooden hopper wagons - I scratch built the Flimby Colliery PO wagon before realising it was the same design as the LNWR wooden hoppers.

The trio of C&WJR coke hoppers are substantially complete bar detailing and the end brake gear (I'm going to cheat and use the NER end brakes available from Wizard Models). And the end pillars. I thought I could use some old Kenline parts but these just aren't chunky enough and do spoil the look of the ends, especially with the prominent end brake levers. As I have neither a lathe nor a 3D printer, recourse to a jig and the rather natty little plane that has been cluttering up my toolbox for years will be in order. NB By 'jig', I am of course referring to something constructed from mounting board and soaked in Rustin's knotting (shellac), not a proper jig machined from mild steel.