2750Papyrus

When coming home from Devon,it's always a toss up between staying on the M4 then M25 or coming off and making way via Oxford, MK etc. The A34 usually backs up from the M40 roundabout and the growth of Bicester is slowing through traffic. I try and avoid the Black Cat roundabout whenever I can. A couple of years ago i had to take the dogs from haircuts in Sandy to kennels near MK and made the mistake of going that way - solid traffic from just north of Sandy to the BC meant a half hour's delay and urgent phone call to say we would be late. Both of these junctions were made far worse, in my opinion, by theinstallation of traffic lights. Roundabouts were supposed to keep traffic moving - traffic lights stop it. I think closure of the Varsity route must rival that of the GC main line as amongst the most short-sighted actions of the railway-bashing '60s. I would love to think Bedford - Cambridge could be re-opened to help reduce congestion, but I doubt funding will ever be available.

I look forward to seeing the layout again. Royston is a good "local" show for those who have not been before - it's held at the village college my sons attended.

LNER Passenger Trains and Formations (Steve Banks and Clive Carter) was published by OPC at £45 in 2013, so maybe the price quoted is not so outrageous. A reprint would be in this order of magnitude but is perhaps unlikely - the second volume by Banks and Carter has yet to be published.

Whilst walking dogs this morning, spotted Common Darter sunbathing on broken ivy branch (no picture as phone battery flat). Checking in Dragonflies of Bedfordshire shows latest recorded sighting as 16th November...... Hope the sun shines tomorrow!

Valour on those Pullmans is, for me, what railway modelling is about. Super - it's a loco I would love but, I fear, wishful thinking!

I find it sadly ironic that the Russian fleet is passing through the channel on Trafalgar day......

I have always understood that, historically, bullhead track was more robust and/or stable. As pointed out in another post, early F/B rail was spiked directly to sleepers whilst B/H had a reasonably substantial chair increasing contact with the sleaper, to which it was attached by a threaded fastener. Maybe a bit like the difference between a nailed or screwed joint? This also gave early FB advantages in component cost and laying time.

Many happy returns, Tony.

I remember seeing this in the mess of what used to be MVEE (Christchurch). This is the first time I have seen any reference to it - people tend to disbelieve the story! Does anyone know what happened to it?

Crikey, yes, I'd forgotten that! It was a great disappointment to a 9 or 10 year old frightened of a soldering iron!

No, it stands for "Southern" and is always at caution!

PECO "Wonderful Wagons" are one of the few things I can afford to collect. I first saw them with my Dad at a MRC Easter Show at the Central Hall in, I think, 1954. Having "done" the exhibition, we returned to the PECO stand to buy a couple of kits but they were not yet available for sale - delays between anouncements/displays and issue are nothing new! Eventually, my Dad managed to buy two (I suspect he didn't admit to Mum how expensive they were - 7/6 when a Trix or Dublo open wagon would have been around 4/6). He built them using a soldering iron to melt over the plastic pips and an adhesive called "Durofix" for other assembly. We thought they were marvellous - truly "wonderful" as at that time, our Trix wagons were printed tinplate with no underframe detail at all. Here were wagons with underframe detail, bodies with 3D relief (the embossed card) and novelties like sprung suspension and buffers, even though the plastic was very visco-elastic. And the colours.... by this time, coal wagons on BR were uniformly liveried in coal dust. I knew from our Trix "Charingons" and "Hinchcliffe" wagons that at one time PO wagons were dark red - but these new wagons were yellow and green (C & G Ayres) and pale yellow (Hickling)! Later on, these two were joined by a Mangers salt wagon but by then, HD and Trix were making wagons by die-casting and injection moulding, so the PECO fleet did not grow further. Fast forward 40 or 50 years and I think I have managed to collect all that were made, as they were available cheaply at toyfairs and on E-Bay. Some were bought as kits which i made up, but the bulk were bought assembled. I cannot help but think of the previous builders and owners, who must by now nearly all have gone to the Great Heavenly Railway (with pearly gates at the terminus rather than a Doric Arch!). I started to convert them to tensionlock couplings from the original Simplex, though the project has stalled for a while, but to be honest, the original wheels (and I think they are all moulded) need replacing as well. But one day, I will run them as a train behind the BG or Tango. The last time I looked at the PECO catalogue, the only 00 Wonderful Wagons available as complete kits were tankers but many of the embossed cards were still available, as were the underframes..........

None of our contributors match the derivation of the word "expert" explained to me many years ago by my-then technical director: "x" - an unknown quantity "spurt" - a drip under pressure

I have only just discovered this topic, having spent much of the summer away. Your earlier thread on Diagram 3D prompted me to build a couple of the bogie coaches, which I completed using mainly butchered MJT components. Even these had issues due to the narrowness of the prototypes - I had to trim the supplied solebars and the Fox bogies fitted to one are really too wide. However, the Diagram 3D kits are good fun to build and this thread shows us how to tackle a 6 wheel underframe reasonably simply. Thanks very much, and well done!

Oh help - lots of O gauge tinplate in the loft that hasn't run for years. Now an opportunity to buy my nom-de-plume!

Sounds fishy.....

I like the thought of a train with a privy.......

Hi Tony, Given your knowledge of the limited nature of infrastructure changes in the 40's and 50's, have you ever been tempted towards an alternate pre-war set of stock for LB? That would enable you to model the products of Messrs Ivatt and Howlden in non-black liveries. The only Thompson rebuilds would be B12s and D16s, which somehow look very Gresleyish and you could build one of Danny Pinnock's dynanometer car kits and recreate a famous event which took place the other side of the garden fence.......

Mr Jinks speaking of Pixie and Dixie. The other two cartoons in a programme of three were Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear.

Don't know - front end looks like a Sprite but the back looks too long. I can help with the vehicle on the left - a Bedford Utilabrake (12 seater). I learned to drive and took my test in my Dad's one. Had to reverse around a corner on the driver's side and got away with opening the sliding door and pushing it back so I could see the curb all the way round! It had a front bench seat and curtains all round - very useful when taking a young lady for a drive.....

That's a King Arthur I never copped - Sir Vanfit........

Have gone back into this link this morning with no problems. I've not had the message displayed by my virus checker before but will note details if it recurs.

Beware - when I clicked on this link, my virus checker detected an attack!

Very pleased to see this initiative and note that it is aimed at "the average modeller". Didn't somebody else once headline that?

I looked at this also but am a little daunted by the apparent complexity and soldering required (I have been "a beginner" for the last 60 years!). I have built two of the Diagram 3D bogie coaches, figuring that if I could build cardboard building kits, I could build the coach bodies. One runs on Gresley bogies, whilst the other runs on MJT compensated bogies with 8' Fox cosmetic overlays - minimal soldering required and successfully accomplished. I also used cut-down MJT trussing (but would make my own in future), with brass rod for gas cylinders and interiors, teaking (and toilet windows) as per the Mike Trice thread. I found building these to be enjoyable and useful for developing both skills and experience. I would like to try the 6 wheelers but am undecided as to the best way of tackling the underframes. These Howlden coaches are narrow, which may limit sideplay. By coincidence, the Mousa Models brake 3rd kit was delivered today and looks good. This will be my first resin kit and I had read of potential proplems with blow holes etc in this medium requiring filling and fettling but the mouldings are crisp and sharp, and free of such problems. Most impressed by the way the body, roof and underframe clip together. These are complete kits (less wheels) and will probably prove simpler and quicker to build than 3D but are considerably more expensive. If Bill does release 6 wheelers, I would be seriously tempted - I believe he has previously posted a method of mounting the middle wheels on a 2mm tube free to slide across a 1mm axle. So the situation regarding coaches for the GN Atlantic and forthcoming single is improving - no RTR yet but two different simple approaches to build Howlden GN stock. I still live in hope that Locomotion will commission some 6 wheel bogie ECJS clerestories to go with their locos!