robertcwp

3 hours ago, Pint of Adnams said:

 

A colleague of mine in the LNER Society was helping out by fact-checking the image captions some time ago; he identified a substantial number of those caption corrections to the first volume posted on Steve Banks' website. Other offers of assistance have apparently been declined or ignored, and the author has previous for his continuous rewrites, revisions and additions to text.

There are plenty more caption errors than the ones listed on his website, including some very basic ones such as on page 154: Upper photo caption: “…and the Tourist twin on the rear (BTO-TO)…”. There were no Tourist twin BTO-TO pairs.  The image appears to show two (non-articulated) Tourist BTO vehicles at the rear of the train.

11 minutes ago, RichardT said:

Thanks for relaying the news.  I’m increasingly feeling that the author(s?) may have taken some of the criticisms of the first volume far too much to heart and are now attempting the impossible task of not submitting a MS until they’ve 100% criticism-proofed it. Which they’ll never achieve - so we get paralysis by analysis.

 

Just publish what you’ve got. Publish it online if you’re worried about being able to make corrections.

I'm inclined to agree. I think one of the authors in particular is agonising over it all at such great length that it might never appear. Part of the problem is that said author has quite possibly burned so many bridges that others who might have sufficient knowledge to assist won't be keen to help by reviewing things.

At what point will Crécy simply pull the plug and direct the authors to another publisher or to self-publish?

Some more Mark 2 air-braked variety from the 1970s:

This working is unidentified and is probably a portion of a longer train. 2xTSO 2c, TSO 2a, BFK 2a:

47_1C94_SEP-74 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

This was at the time part of the Saturday working of the 'Master Cutler' set. Nine carriages - the rear is indistinct but the leading two are Mark 2b and 2c firsts and carriages five and six are Mark 2c TSOs. Per the carriage workings, the formation was FK, FO, RB, RMB, 4 TSO, BSO but it is evident from the photo that the two TSO added at the north end on Fridays and Saturdays are outside the brake. The Monday to Thursday formation had an additional FO, making an 8-car set including two catering cars:

47377_Derby_31-8-74_m by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

11 in the formation for this Cheltenham Spa-Paddington service in 1973, formed FK 2b, FK 2a, FO (Mark 1, Diag 72), RB, BFK, 5 TSO (two 2b, three 2a) BG:

1949_WhiteWaltham_0805-Chelt-Pad_31-1-73 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

This set in 1970 has been strengthened to 13 carriages and is a mix of Mark 2a and 2b, with Mark 1 BG, RB and FO:

D1927_Denchworth_1970 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

This is the Manchester Victoria portion of a Liverpool/Manchester-Glasgow service in the early 1970s. The Liverpool portion comprising BFK, 3 TSO, would have been added to the front at Preston. The whole set returned south as a Glasgow-Euston service. This portion comprises Mark 2c stock with a Mark 1 RKB and BG, formed 3 TSO, RKB, FO, 2 FK, BG:

428_Salford by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

A 'Deltic and Eight' comprising BFK 2a, 2 FO, RU, RMB, 3 TSO 2a:

55_1A21 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

And, for a bit of variety, a 'textbook' 10-car WR air-con Mark 2e set:

1937_WhiteWaltham_0807-WSM-Pad_31-1-73 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

And, remaining with the air-con stock, a Deltic and Eight:

55012_Darlington_1700-Newc-KX_c1974 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

A couple of mid-1790s WR formations:

I suspect this train should have an RMB but it is missing. Formation is TSO 2a, FK 2a, BSO 2c, TSO 2a, TSO 2b, TSO 2b.

1049_Taplow_6-1-76 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

This rather longer set has at least one 2a towards the rear but after the BSO 2c at the front, the next five Mark 2 carriages are all 2b:

1029_Waltham_1Z55_1974 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Not all Mark 2 air-braked trains were 10 or more carriages in the 1970s. There are plenty of examples of shorter 8 or 9 car sets, such as some Midland Main Line services and the 'Deltic and 8' sets. Neither of those had a BG. On the WR, there were 9-car sets, some without a BG, on West of England services. There were also a few portioned workings, such as Hull portions and Penzance portions of London trains.

The location and working for this image from 1975 are unidentified but the set looks like one of the 9-car Cornish Riviera/Golden Hind sets:

45012_5-2-75 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

3 minutes ago, davidw said:

Any idea what the date of that would be. I'm always fascinated when crimson cream disappeared in numbers. Photo evidence seems to suggest 59/60

Photo is dated 22/4/57. Crimson and cream was around into the 1960s. 

On 05/11/2023 at 10:07, robertcwp said:

Something I have not managed to work out is which Thompson BGs carried crimson and cream and which were plain (or lined) crimson. Those with the valances to match the pressure-ventilated stock carried crimson and cream but not sure about others. There may have been examples. Some were built new during the time that lined crimson was the livery for non-passenger and non-gangwayed stock and there are photos of Thompson BGs clearly in that livery. Lining was discontinued around 1951. Later, lots of vans carried plain maroon post 1956. So, there are three more liveries for Bachmann to do.

 

I should look at my own photo collection. This one is crimson and cream and does not have valances. The number is not visible but it confirms that crimson and cream was carried by at least one (and quite possibly more) of those without the valances.

55217_ThorntonJct_22-4-57 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

2 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Wouldn't HST diagrams be included in the usual carriage workings book, rather than a separate publication?

Not in the early 1980s on the Western Region.

Just now, Barry Ten said:

I've found the Continental "Epoch" system quite handy when finding my way in French railway modelling. As long as it's just taken as a rough guide, not hard and fast rules, I don't find it unhelpful.

Indeed, a rough guide is all that it can realistically be.

1 hour ago, Flanged Wheel said:

Good morning Tony,

 

I took the table below from the Hatton’s website (https://www.hattons.co.uk/newsdetail?id=799). It’s not a concept that I find very helpful but it seems to have taken hold.

 

What I don't like about this system is that it can easily be read as a series of compartments. These eras overlapped. Some of the dates are misleading too as most TOPS renumbering took place in 1974 although a few TOPS numbers appeared prior to that, mainly on electric locos, and from 1973 on Class 45 Peaks as they were overhauled and 50 were fitted with electric train heating.

It also does not differentiate between pre- and post-abolition of headcode displays (1 January 1976 if I recall correctly) nor between pre- and post-yellow first class bands (on some SR EMUs from 1960, more generally from c1962) or the appearance of yellow panels on green diesels (c1962). Blue diesels in general changed from two emblems to one on each side from 1969 and D prefixes were dropped from late 1968. So, you could split things up further if you were really keen.

Even setting aside XP64, blue/grey livery appeared in 1965 on new Mark 2 stock and Mark 1 stock repainted to run with it for the forthcoming completion of the Euston-Liverpool/Manchester electrification. Class 86s were outshopped that year in rail blue, contrary to some reports that they were electric blue. Spot the colour difference:

E3107 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Something I have not managed to work out is which Thompson BGs carried crimson and cream and which were plain (or lined) crimson. Those with the valances to match the pressure-ventilated stock carried crimson and cream but not sure about others. There may have been examples. Some were built new during the time that lined crimson was the livery for non-passenger and non-gangwayed stock and there are photos of Thompson BGs clearly in that livery. Lining was discontinued around 1951. Later, lots of vans carried plain maroon post 1956. So, there are three more liveries for Bachmann to do.

I agree with others that some Thompson catering cars would be a good addition to the range. I would go for a restaurant first and open third/second. The first batch of RFs carried mock teak when new, although built post-nationalisation and with BR Gill Sans lettering.

On 03/11/2023 at 19:08, mardle said:

I am pretty sure that the only thing "retooled" about the Thompson BG is the chassis. The body looks the same one that has been around for years. If I am right, the price seems somewhat excessive!!

 

No, it will be a completely new model, just like the other recent Bachmann Thompson stock.

12 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

How rare were the right-facing totems?

 

They were standard on the right hand side from when the emblem was introduced until the College of Arms found out and told BR to change it. I don’t have an exact date but it was late 1950s. 

I somewhat belatedly purchased 9479 yesterday and noticed it has a right-facing emblem (ie the wrong way round) on the right-hand side. I then looked at a photo in my own collection which confirms this is correct.

9479_OOC_11-60 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

51 minutes ago, dasatcopthorne said:

Really enjoyed my day there showing Elbow Lane. Great show, well run and plenty of space. Congratulations to BWWMRC.

 

Dave.

Busy scene on Elbow lane today:

Just now, Geep7 said:

I thought that they were fixing the gangway to improve the look? If that doesn't include moving the gangway door forward, then what's the point? I also think that the horns are still too small.

The end looks better but the gangway door is still wrong so I agree, what's the point?

40 minutes ago, MikeParkin65 said:

Didnt get to talk to anyone on the Hornby stand at the Milton Keynes show last weekend but they had samples of the Coronation set on display. Unfortunately they looked to be the same as displayed last year at Warley, 3D test prints. Not sure this project has advanced much though the fact that Hornby are displaying gives reassurance it will appear 'in due time'. 

Summer 2024 was the date shown on the display. 

The retooled 4 Vep was on display too, still with a howling error on the end in that the gangway door is flush with the line of the unit front instead of being in line with the inner half of the gangway.

Up Red Dragon:

D7028_OOC_RedDragon_21-8-62 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

In service with the arrows:

D1733_undated by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

I have made frog juicers (Tam Valley Hex) work with a Peco Code-75 3-way point. The way to do it is to modify the point. They worked fine unmodified with bogie diesels but not with short wheelbase locos such as an 03 as you end up with the loco straddling two frogs without at least one wheel in contact with each pole of the power supply not coming via a frog juicer. This is what I did:

IMG_0505acm by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Looking from the toe end of the point, it's the left-hand route that is most problematic. I bridged the existing break between the first and third frogs with fuse wire and made new breaks at either end. The one by the first frog is tricky to cut without too much collateral damage. I then put a feed to this section of rail. I also bridged the adjoining rail and put a new break in. Finally, on the straight route, I cut a new break and bridged the existing one. As I had already installed an insulating joiner further along, I had to bridge that. What this all does is that it ensures that even for very short locos at least one wheel is on each pole of the track feed - in this case, red is at the top and black is at the bottom.  

Incidentally, the first two frogs from the toe end are always the same polarity and are worked by one frog juicer. A separate one works the third frog, which only comes into play for the straight and left routes. Note that I also bridged the three rails on each side to eliminate issues with blades not making electrical contact, which is a weakness of this point. I did that before I laid the track.

As I had already laid this point, I did the modifications in situ. 

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Robert,

 

That's very true.

 

On the other hand, have you tried selling railway books on behalf of bereaved families? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

No, and I would not try to.

Another issue in dealing with collections is that relatives don't appreciate that the tatty, yellow-brown old paperwork that the deceased relative collected might well be where the serious money is. Individual carriage working books can go for three-figure sums, for example. Similarly, original slides and negatives if of decent quality can fetch good sums.

The Hornby tool mentioned is invaluable for dealing with those annoying little plugs and with the aid of the tool they don't present any problems.

There are particular techniques for getting into different models and manufacturers' instructions are often inadequate or non-existent. I recall on the old RMWeb there was a thread specifically about dismantling Bachmann Mark 1s. Easy once you know how but knowing how is the key. The Austerity 2-8-0 was another notorious one until you cracked the code then it was easy to get apart. Bachmann Peaks are not difficult but come in I think three varieties as the number of screws has increased over time. With 24 of them, I have had plenty of practice.

The Bachmann Cravens DMU was mentioned earlier in this thread I think. I happened to take delivery of a second hand one today which needs its chips removing as it's for my DC layout. Getting them apart is no problem, once you know how. There are no screws, it's just four lugs on each side that hold body (more specifically the glazing) to the underframe. I have lots of wooden drinks stirrers cut in half and use those to help separate body from chassis on many models. They are an essential part of my toolbox. I got the Cravens unit apart in no time. Bachmann DMUs are inconsistent, though. The 108s have a screw under the cab end and the Met-Cam units have screws at the inner ends. I forget the arrangement on the Derby Lightweight as it's a while since I have had one apart.

I have occasionally encountered models where body and underframe have been put together with glue still wet, thus effectively sticking them together. Overtightened screws have been another problem and I had to almost break one loco apart. I forget exactly how I did it. It was risky but ultimately successful.

One of the worst Bachmann models for getting apart that I have encountered is the 2 Hap as the lugs are very tight and the full-length footboards on the motor brake mean it is very difficult to even get a fingernail in to start prising body off of underframe. The 4 Cep is not much better but the footboards are not continuous, which helps. 

Hornby models often have very brittle lugs that snap off easily. Their 2 Bil and 2 Hal are particular offenders. Once broken, it's difficult to keep body and underframe together. I have one 2 Hal where the body is held on partly with black tack due to broken lugs. It seems to work.