Ian Hargrave

FYI all ANTB disciples….Rapido Toads now £20 in Black Friday sale at Hattons.

And that is arguably the most perceptive comment I have read here for some time.

Don’t worry.I’ve had mine three years & I’m only just beginning to get the hang of it. If you do master the tech bit,your consolation is that there are some decent railway videos to be seen on YouTube. As an example I’ve just watched one taken just a few days ago at York of a Steam Dreams special excursion arriving behind Deltic 9022 (with both Napier Deltic engines powered up btw ) .The Deltic is then replaced by an immaculate A4 6007 which then takes the train forward to Newcastle. Most diverting it was….so perseverance will reap rewards. For GW diehards there is also the Didcot Castle extravaganza earlier in the year and the SVR steam gala with Accurascale’s 7714 Pannier ,Hagley Hall, Pendennis Castle and lots of chocolate & cream.

If you have a widescreen digital tv with YouTube facility,sit down and watch Accurascale’s superb promotional video of their new Pannier. It’ll sell,sell and sell. I imagine their Warley stand will be overwhelmed and indeed deserves to be. Rejoice.( And yes I’m aware there are some long disappointed faces because we didn’t get a Saint,a County or a U1 but there are other things currently in preparation,so who knows ? ) We have a new Pope….er sorry Pannier but they do also emit white smoke. One feature that might cause raised eyebrows however ( CK ? ) is that it will come equipped with a powerful ( quote ) coreless motor. Please do not shoot the messenger.

The TFW website says it’s the wires btw .I’ll take a look soon as I’m in Llwynypia over Xmas & my niece lives next to Dinas station. Both she and my brother in law need regular and reliable trips to London & have to use their cars to Cardiff Central for the SWML which is in any case unreliable. To park a car there overnight or a couple of days must be costly,though my niece puts it on her expense account. The replacement bus service is a sick joke on top of trains that either are cancelled or overcrowded .

Well then..think Paddington,just as Rapido have done with the Hawksworth 15XX Pannier. And current thinking,at least on this forum is that so-called “oddities” …..e.g. Heljan Garratt…..sell. ATM we’ve nice new Panniers to enjoy.In my long departed youf ,a stalwart performer on the Vale of Neath,trailing a couple of Colletts or Toplights over the Crumlin Viaduct. Last saw one busy on the SVR in April. In this case,black is beautiful.Whatever….well done guys,once again.

A Pannier ! !

Aberdare was the Cinderella service of the valleys and indeed suffered the Beeching axe quite early in the 1960’s before resurrection,albeit following a track diversion away from the old TVR route to the now demolished Low Level station to the site of the former GW High Level “terminus” aka Vale of Neath. The current replacement bus service to Treherbert causes a great deal of inconvenience locally,given the congestion and road conditions between Ponty and Treherbert. So will it be wires or batteries from Taffs Well or Ponty ? Or will the WAG run out of cash before completion? The days of the auto train waiting in the siding at Abercynon for the up Merthyr to clear are bur a memory. Aberdarian. 1942-1965

Appears to have just been through The Works,judging from its unusually clean appearance . Great photo.

Bearing in mind that some regulars to this thread will be eyeing Rapido’s Titfield Thunderbolt extravaganza and accessories a 14/58XX might be tempting,especially with its W&U “prop” colourful coach & Toad.I refer you to Simon Castens (of this forum ) excellent newly published book.

Of that,I’m unsure.Except that I never saw a single example . I think their allocation was mainly In Scottish sheds.That is not to say that they didn’t stray into England. It might be safe to say that they didn’t work into the WR & SR. Having posted that ,there’ll be someone here who’ll quote chapter & verse dates & times they were observed on the ACE & CRE….Even the Belle between Brockenhurst & Southampton…. But one final thought…if the locomotives themselves didn’t work south,then their tenders might have during the 1948 Exchanges due to their extra water capacity,the SR not having any water troughs.

Talking of the WD,any attempt at a sound version must include the clank. You always heard it before you saw it.

Weren’t the 2-10-0 WD’s to be seen mainly in Scotland ?

But for complete ANTB chronological accuracy no Brits whatsoever. They weren’t delivered to the WR until 1953.However as Rob runs a Heljan/Rails 18000 Gas Turbine already,I suspect that won’t deter him.

But in its day it was no “oddity “ and was widely recognised and known for its place in the British railway scene prior to the wires going up over the Woodhead and subsequently as a less than successful Lickey Banker. Every locospotter and enthusiast of that generation knew of it. My only qualm is what exactly do you do with the monster on the average ( if there is such a thing ) layout ? 2X pony trucks + 16X driving wheels to rail Plus what will be the challenge of a lifetime for arthtically inflicted wrists and fingers. Still I’m sure it’s set to be a cracking model. Now where’s Lady of Lynn,Saint David and County of Cornwall ( Hawksworth ) ?

And Bachmann will probably do the WHR Garratt in OO9 in due course I would think.

I think with the modified hand grip smoke deflectors ( as a result of the fatal 1956 accident between Swindon and Didcot when the crew were apparently unsighted by the previously installed handrails)

I think yes. L/C 70015 Apollo. Surely an E/C Canton example ( 70025-70029 ) is due ? When originally allocated to Laira,one had the North Road -Penzance duty on the CRE,taking over from the King at Plymouth.

She was an 83D resident from new I think. I remember copping her at North Road from my train which had stopped there en route from Penzance to Cardiff…August 1953. Later in the 50’s,like all WR Brits,she moved to Canton.

Anyway,I had a great run behind a WHR Garratt just last month….

Oddly enough,mine’s ok,after some discreet weathering to tone the lining etc.down.It’s a powerful 4mm beast,like its prototype,so performance wise is outstanding. Don’t also overlook the ER O2 which is another mighty beast. Ben is I think aware of the issues of past failings and is doing his best to reassure us. As to whether any of us can find “space” for this new mammoth is entirely a different matter.

I think there’s one in preparation isn’t there ?

Both the O2 and the 47XX are excellent,very powerful models….well at least mine are anyway….and their grunt will outpull most other machines.So given this BG (I think ) was designed for banking duties and spent its working life assisting heavy goods trains from the rear,I ponder just how it will operate in 4mm model guise ( DC only ) behind such a train with,say,a Hornby 8F or Bachmann O4 at the front. I imagine that could be interesting .I wonder too if its arrival will stimulate the construction of split level layouts . Top marks to Ben for engaging with us straight away ,dispelling concerns that we may have.

Bling ! Bling ! And to think I ascended the Lickey on Wednesday evening in an XC voyager ( then running 20 minutes late ). It was not a success there.The one hope I have for this is that it doesn’t meet with the disasters that their LMS BG did some years ago.A bold and brave venture which hopefully will be a success

Indeed they do. This specific model is however an NRM Locomotion special edition.And they use UPS. It appears that the delivery service you receive is dependent upon your locality.