Norton961

Sandy, thanks for identifying the LRM rods being too deep, but they will be significantly better than the Bachmann ones. When I build the rods I need to get my files out! David

I have been giving some thought to converting to P4 my BR liveried CT when it arrives. The current thoughts involve using a London Road Models chassis kit from their own Coal Tank kit. This will give some scale coupling rods and I will be looking to use the kit chassis side frames to pack out the Bachmann chassis enabling me to keep the Bachmann motor. If this is not possible I will build up the LRM chassis complete. What is everyone else thinking. David

PGH, thanks for posting some great shots of Granville Colliery. I take your point abouty wher known to credit the photographer but in some cases there is no name on the back of the photo i have posted. My friend Tim Shuttleworth took a number of shots in the area and of the Lillishall Co and he took the photo I am attaching. The question I have is why is the loco been stripped down in the steel works area rather than in the custom built shed and workshops at New Yard? The caption on the back of the photo says No 6 but that was one of the Lilleshall built 0-4-0 tanks, this looks like one of the ex TVR 0-6-2 tanks. I am attaching another view of Granville Colliery loco shed, again dont know the photographer and there was no caption but I recognized the location immedietly. I am pleased with the response to my thread and hopefully it has generated further interest in the Company and its railway. David

Re the use of Jubilees from Shrewsbury on the C Wales line. (See Ian Hargreaves comments In Post 505) they did indeed work on the CWales line but that was not the only workings they were seen on. They were regularly on Paddington - Birkenhead expresses between Wolverhampton and Chester, Shrewsbury -Stafford trains, Shrewsbury -Pontypool on summer expresses on the North and West route. They were also seen all over the Midlands on sundry workings including troop specials. I remember being hauled by one of them on a Shrewsbury -Wolverhampton train. Remember when they arrived the failure rate amongst the diesels was high so they were substituting for the failures.

As the person responsible for the design of the front bogie arrangement of the BM POW/Experiment/Precursor/George V I should explain the thinking behind it. Remember that the kit was designed over 25 years ago and Jim Barnes and I wanted to get away from the then "standard" bogie arrangement which had the bogie "floating" around in the air and not carrying any of the locos weight. I basically stole the idea of the BM bogie from Guy Williams book. The design solved the problem of supporting the weight of the front of the loco but it had a built in resistance to sideways movement, better but not perfect. As Jol has said it has been now further revised since LRM have taken on the chassis. As an aside the kits were ariginally supplied with some nice then walled brass tube for the boiler but this then became unobtainable so we were forced to fall back on thick walled copper tube which was not ideal. The thin walled brass tube is now avaliable again so that problem is solved.

The elephant in the room regarding modelling the LNWR is painting coaches in full LNWR livery. As someone who once modelled LNWR and painted some coaches to a good standard I gave up as the amount of time it took to fully paint and line an LNWR coach exceeded the amount of time it took me to build a LNWR loco in P4. My problem was I wanted a large number of coaches so I reluctantly decided to switch my modelling to an ex LNWR line but in BR days (Trench Sidings). My time frame for my layout allows me to run one of the last BR Coal Tanks (58904) which was at Shrewsbury so I have a Bachmann one on order. Therefore if we want to see some serious LNWR layouts we need some RTR coaches in LNWR livery and Coachman is correct in picking a 6 wheeler as these can be also liveried in LMS and many lasted to early BR and then some lasted until the early 1960s in departmental stock. If we want Bachmann to produce some LNWR coaches (at a price no doubt) then we need to offer them some alternative liveries.

David you are correct there is not a wheel specific to the Peckett but there nearest equivalent from Gibson is 4839G listed as Industrial Garrett. You will also need some 1/8" to 3mm reducing bushes (4M68) also from Gibson as well as 2mm axles as these are the sizes of the Hornby wheels. Pete Hill of the EM Gauge society has converted a Peckett and provided me with the information here. What we need is a nice etched overlay to replicate the flat faced spokes of the Peckett.

Just had notification from Hattons that Hornby will be releasing the next Peckett, Lilleshal No 10 in September. I have already ordered some etched works plates from Narrow Planet so just now need to order some P4 wheels for it. David

Just had notification from Hattons that the Lilleshal No 10 is now scheduled for delivery in September 2017. I have already ordered the works plates from Narrow Planet. David

John, You have further demonstrated how good these Digitrains chips are. David

David, yes I noticed the misalignment of the coupling rods, I will have to do further checks. Yes I can't afford to fit DCC sound to all my locos so I still need to have both DC and DCC controllers for the layout. However I will certainly look at more Sound chips. The Digitrains ones certainly give me some thinking.

Some very interesting ideas well worth copying. Excellent work.

Great photo of the enthusiasts special. I notice that the middle wagon does not appear to have been used for some time as it is full of grass! Whilst strictly a Lilleshall Co loco it would be appropriate to include in this thread the locos of Granville Colliery, which was Lilleshall Company owned untill it was passed to the NCB. The NCB bought it some modern locos to work the various yards around the colliery and also the loaded coal trains down to Donnington sidings where they were passed over to BR usually with a destination of Buildwas Power Station at Coalbrookedale. Granville Number 5 arrived new in 1952 and in later years was fitted with a Geisel ejector and chimmney. The second photo was taken by me in 1965 and shows Granville No 5 at Donnington about to push the loaded coal train into the interchange yard. The garage in the right background was on the main road between Wellington and Newport and I worked there as a petrol pump attendant as a Saturday job. No doubt Steaman will post a few more photos of Granville! The third photo is by A J B Dodd and shows the engine shed at Granville in the 1960s with Granville No5 on the right and probably No 8 on the left. I have a model built of Granville No 5 with nameplates from Narrow Planet, as soon as they are fitted I will post a photo.

I recently (last week at S4 North) aquired an MPD 3F built in P4 and fitted with a sound chip from Digitrainsound Zimo specifically for a 3F with a sound file by Paul Chetter. Now whilst I have DCC/sound for most of my diesels I have never been impressed by the sound chips for steam locos, untill now! I was blown away by the sound and that when you turn of the power the loco coasts (no chuffing) before coming to a stop. I had considered just running the layout in Dc for the steam era and DCC for the diesels, but this sound chip is causing a major re think. The problem will now be fitting sound chips into locos that are complete and where there is no chance of putting a speaker in the tender. Paul Marshall Potter on his Albion Rd blog has fitted some chips into ex GWR Pannier tanks so I think further investigation will be required. I also see that people have fitted sound chips into the delightfull Hornby Peckett so if it goes into one of them then anything is possible. The 3F since I aquired it has been renumbered (and re weathered to hid the shiny bits around the new number) to one of Shrewsburys allocation in the mid 1950s and the loco was photographed on the Coalport branch so I know it worked in my area. This could be expensive!

Thought it was about time to post some more photos of the L:illeshall Co in this thread. The first is a close up of a works plate of one of the Lilleshall Co own build locos. The second photo is of Alberta a Barcley 0-4-0 which was only purchased by the Company in October 1956 from Lever Brothers in Port Sunlight having been built in 1913 and delivered new to Lever Brothers. The loco was one of the last in operation and was reputed to be in excellent condition. The loco was used to haul 3 open wagons around the system carrying enthusiats on 26 September 1958 shortley before the system colsed. The loco was scrapped on site in 1959. My next post will cover the locos built by the Company and used on the system. David

I have finally managed to buy an example of Dodo, which is the version I really wanted. Not sure if this is permissible but I am willing to sell my MSC No11 if anyone is interested. PM me I will sell at the price I payed for for it. Now having Dodo I am even more impressed with the livery and detailing of these models as wel as the slow running capabilities. I can't wait for Lilleshall No 10 to arrive as I now have an idea to built a small Lilleshall Co based. Shunting layout.

I notice the photo taken of 42968 allegedly taken at Crewe in 1963 also seems to show it is still not fitted with AWS as there is no small air tank on the footplate.

Interesting observation regarding the potential of the cab back for No10 being removable. The photo I posted in post 88 (the front view) taken after 1954 shows the cab back in place. Having the cab back removable would make sense given the confined space inside the cab and during the summer it must have been very hot. Given the engineering capability of the Lilleshall Company it would be easy for them to manufacture a removable back.

Pete, yes the photo is the inspiration for the recent Bachmann model. I just wish there were more photos of other Lilleshall wagons!

Having been following the debate of how pit props are transported I bought the attached photo last weekend showing how different types of wood are loaded into wagons. This is taken at Wooferton Junct and as there is no brake van or loco in site there must be some shunting happening. Interesting stock.

I am attaching a photo of an ancient wagon which has suffered some heavy shunting so that it has broken its back. The photo was taken at Granville Colliery in 1954 but I presume the wagon was one one from the Lilleshall Co and handed over to the newly formed NCB. I will also include some photos of Granville as it was prior to being NCB wa a Lilleshall Co pit and at the formation of the NCB the Lilleshall Co handed over some locomotives and wagons. The locos included This loco was ex Taff Vale and purchased in 1932 from the GWR. The livery was a light green which it seems to have retained through its life as an industrial engine.It was passed to the NCB on 1-1-1948 at Granville but does not seem to have had much use, being stored by 1951 and scrapped by early 1954. Presumably the Lilleshall Co passed over to the NCB a loco they could afford to loose. The NCB certainly bought in a number of 0-6-0 Austerity tanks and also the Lilleshall Co passed to the NCB one of its own built locos (from 1869) to the NCB in 1950 to the NCB possibly as a recognition that the ex Taff Vale loco was duff!

Finally got round to scanning in the last 2 photos of Lilleshall No 10 and one of the trackwork somewhere on the system. The location shows the left hand line going to Lodge tip, the centre line to Granville Colliery and the far right is part of the triangle for Donnington brickworks. The photos of No 10 clearly show that at some point in the early 1950s the open back of the cab was filled in and it was registered by the railway executive. The Tim Shuttleworth shot of the trackwork also shows one of the systems primative signals.

This is an official LNWR track plan showing the interchange sidings and the line down to the various Iron works. The need for a small 0-4-0 tank loco was the presence of a weighbridge just after the line crosses the main road and this had a weight limit. The only change I have made to the track plan is to add in another siding parallel to the one marked for the Lilleshall Company. This will allow me more shunting movements on the layout.

Photographing the rolling stock for this blog has made me rethink all the wagons that i have built. I have tended to just build things that interest me rather than thinkinging hard about what is appropriate. The wagons here fit clearly into my proposed traffic patterns but I notice Midland Mole has actualy sat down and worked out the rolling stock for each of his trains(along with the loco hauling it). This to me seems an eminantly sensible way to procedd so I will be making a start on this process which will then reveal all the wagons that no longer fit! The excess will be passed onto my friends Tony Wilkins (who need lots and lots of wagons for his new layout) and to John Jennison who is constructing a model of Gresty Lane,Crewe. The same applies to the locomotive fleet, I have 4 times the quanity of locos that the layout needs, so the exercise of matching locos to wagons to trains should prove interesting. 2 locos that will definately be staying are 2 8fs, one being a Shrewsbury engine and the Fowler tender one being one of Staffords. The Shrewsbury 8F is a DJH kit and the Fowler tender on is a mixture of Comet chassis, Bachmann body and Brassmasters Fowler tender.

The photo of No 10 just before it was cut up shows that it still had its works plate and the registration plate. What happened to them after the scrapping? Perhaps the scrap man kept them?