robertcwp

There was a Mark 2 air-con EMU, built for Taiwan.

Has anyone managed to get frog juicers to work with the Code 75 3-way point, please? There are really only two frogs to switch as the first two from the toe end are always the same polarity.

The B3 shot looks as though it might be more recent than Roy's time as the first carriage appears to be a Hornby BSO. It's a great photo for giving an impression of speed. I thought the photo of a 47 was of the full-size version to begin with!

A further small Retford update, but without any photos or video as I forgot to do any, is that 60027 Merlin has retired from Elizabethan service after many years and has been replaced by 60012 Commonwealth of Australia, which is a Hornby model, modified and regauged by Sandra. It ended up being something of a hybrid of two separate Hornby A4s. It can shift the train without the slightest trouble and was clocked at - if I recall correctly - a scale 112 mph on one run.

Yes, there is a photo of a maroon Thompson pantry car in the Harris LNER Carriages book with restaurant car branding. I have no yet found a photo of a Gresley one in maroon with the branding. However, the final batch of Gresley ones was built during WW2 and ran initially as open firsts, later downgraded to open thirds/seconds, and I believe their pantry equipment (if fitted) was never used. The Mousa etches are of the earlier variant with shallow window vents. I found a photo of one with shallow vents and the later angle-iron trussing but it was in LNER livery. It did, however, provide support for the variant Brian produced for me. Brian and I decided against RESTAURANT CAR branding on my one.

Some Retford developments. There was a minor reshuffle of the trains last weekend, which saw two existing trains replaced and some others revised. The main development is the reappearance of a down 'Postal' train, which includes two vans kindly loaned by Geoff West, that were built originally by John Houlden for his 'Gamston Bank' layout. Sandra has a further TPO van under construction to complete the train. The set also includes two Bachmann Thompson full brakes, which have been improved by Brian Kirby with reprofiled roofs, new roof vents and rebuilt underframe detail. This video shows the train in action, hauled by 60539 Bronzino whilst a J6 shunts in the goods yard. Here are a few images: IMG_0460am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr IMG_0461am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr IMG_0462am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr The other new train is a King's Cross-York/Hull service. Going by the 1956 carriage workings (as we don't have 1957) this included a pantry car running as an ordinary open second and had no catering provision north of Peterborough, where a buffet car was detached from the rear. This Gresley pantry car was built by Brian Kirby using Mousa Models (Bill Bedford) sides on a Hornby Gresley buffet car. It has turned out well. IMG_0464am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr And finally, here is a video of the (unchanged) Yorkshire Pullman.

I can confirm that your extract was from the Winter 1959-60 book. So far as I am aware, the East Coast books were all Landscape at least from Nationalisation until Winter 1964-5. All the ones I have are in that format. The GN Main Line books were all portrait. From the Summer 1965 timetable, the two books were merged into one portrait format book.

Perhaps things changed after the carriage working books had gone to print. This is what is in the GN Main Line book for the Summer of 1958:

From the Summer 1958 East Coast carriage workings:

One issue with the book is the statement by the authors that analysis of photos was a key part of the research. Why then are there so many clear errors in terms of incorrect identification of carriage types in photos? This is the aspect of the book that is most straightforward to challenge objectively as the evidence is right there in front of you. A more subjective point is the balance of the coverage, as I mentioned in the review I wrote for the LNER Society, essentially that large parts of the LNER, and the wartime years, are not covered to a significant degree but other areas, such as the few Pullman trains, are covered in detail. This aspect is, as the authors acknowledge, due at least in part to availability of information. A substantial list of errors was compiled by a group of people for potential publication but for various reasons the list never appeared in print. I don't know whether it made its way to the authors as it was not mine to send. Overall though, Volume 1 is worth having and I particularly welcomed the large number of photos I had not seen before. Volume 2 should be better in the sense that it covers subject matter that barely has a mention anywhere else.

As I noted in my post, I found a photo of 7005 with yellow panels and still with a whistle. I changed the buffet car bogies to Commonwealth ones - the EMU versions are available as spares from Bachmann at £12 per bogie, so not cheap, but they go straight in. I added red and yellow bands for buffet and first class from an old HMRS transfer sheet. The end doors with yellow panels were spares from my two green 4 Cep units, which have the smaller headcodes. I changed the headcode on one end to 40 by removing the old one with T-Cut on a cocktail stick and making a new headcode to put in. The headcode assembly comes apart easily. The other thing to do with any 4 Bep from Bachmann is ignore the instruction sheet about the buffet car position as they have it the wrong way round. It will go in the correct way.

And a couple of short video clips. This one shows the 4 Cig and a 2 Hap also built by Colin Parks (from a DC Kits kit). The 4 Bep and a 4 Cep on test.

I tested some EMUs for my planned new layout today. Firstly, a 4 Cig built by Colin Parks which I purchased second hand after Colin passed away. P1090137am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr Colin converted it from Bachmann Mark 1s with new sides. It's powered by what appears to be a Hornby Class 73 motor. The standard of the modelling is very high. Secondly, a Bachmann 4 Bep. P1090135am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr P1090136am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr The green Bachmann 4 Bep is modelled in original condition whereas I am planning a mid to late 1960s layout (I know 4 Cig 7429 wasn't built until 1972). So, I forward-dated a Bachmann model by substituting end doors with yellow panels and adding first class and buffet stripes (and 1s on the appropriate CK doors, which Bachmann missed off). I also replaced the buffet car bogies with Commonwealth ones, as the buffets were rebogied during the 1960s. The only photo I can find of 7005 in green with yellow panels shows it still with a whistle, so this did not need to be changed.

Thanks from me too.

There were once morning peak hour trains to Waterloo that started from Ashtead, simply because the stock had berthed in the sidings at Leatherhead, so the trains came out of the sidings and picked up at the first stop along the route. Until 1967, one morning peak hour train to Waterloo started at Worcester Park. For several years around 1960, there was an Exmouth/Sidmouth-Cleethorpes summer Saturday service, which seems to have been two holiday trains covered by one working, ie returning holidaymakers from Devon to the Midlands and outward bound ones from the Midlands to Cleethorpes, and vice versa on the opposing working.

I don't have many Hornby Gresley carriages. I did try the Stanier ones which were OK but I forget which length I used. It may depend on what gangways you have on them.

I recently tried out the new Hornby magnetic pipe couplings on some stock on Retford. The stock in question has NEM boxes that expand the gap between carriages according to the curve radius. The 17mm ones work fine on Bachmann Thompson stock and the gangways almost touch on the straight. The 20 mm ones are just long enough for Bachmann Mark 1 stock and the gangways touch. Most of The Heart of Midlothian and the front three coaches of The White Rose have them, along with some trains on the GC section, including one of the Boat Train sets, which is all RTR. I tested them on my own layout too, which has 2' 6" curves in the fiddleyard, and they were fine. Although the Bachmann Mark 1 NEM boxes are at the wrong height, I found that a Mark 1 would couple to a Thompson. I removed the rather floppy arms on my Bachmann Mark 1 stock long ago so my own stock is no longer suitable for these couplings. I also have lots of other stock without proper NEM boxes. I have used the magnetic pipe couplings within set on Bachmann and Hornby Bulleid stock and Hornby Maunsell stock and they give a pretty close coupling. They also work well on Hornby non-gangwayed Thompson, Gresley and LMS stock. The LMS stock needs the longer ones. They work on the older Bachmann DMUs too and give a closer coupling within set than the 'Continental' style couplings the units come with. The Derby Lightweights need the long ones but the short ones are fine for Cravens and 108s on 2' 6" curves. They might not work on sharper curves though.

I have never managed to find a photo or diagram of this conversion, let alone one of it in blue/grey.

To clarify, 60014 does not have a Hornby mechanism. It is a Hornby body on new frames/motor. However, there are several Hornby A4s on Retford, including 60006, 60008 and 60033. They will soon be joined by 60012, seen here on test - hence no lamps or headboard yet. This is a Hornby A4 which I acquired and Sandra has regauged and is working on improving in various ways. There are two ex-Trix bodies, 60027 and 60018. 60027 has been the regular Elizabethan engine but is strictly speaking out of period as it has a double chimney, which the real thing did not have in 1957, hence why 60012 is joining the fleet. It worked The Elizabethan more times in 1957 than any other engine. 60018 has been very problematic. It was built compensated and after a lot of work Sandra has now made it run properly. It was on the Scotch Goods last weekend.

Yes, I think so.

Very impressive. The train may be only eight carriages but six are heavy metal ones - the other two are a Mailcoach plastic kit. Retford is a remarkably good test track for EM. Whilst trying to clear out some old magazines to make space, I found a photo of a Kestrel on Retford in an article by Tim Shackleton. And in case anyone is wondering, I mean a model of this: Kestrel_Cricklewood_12-7-69 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

None. The scrap ones now minus wheels and in some cases couplings are a few blue/grey, maroon and green Mark 1s. They are a mix of types. I built lots of them in the 1990s. Some have been sold and others were rebuilt with etched sides and are still in service.

I have a growing stock of 'withdrawn' carriages, including some old Southern Pride kit-built printed side Mark 1s and various old Thompson and other obsolete stock. The main issue is that most have very good Romford wheels, which I believe are no longer available. As I don't have old wheels to put in the withdrawn stock, I decided to effectively scrap some of the old stock by recovering re-usable things such as wheels, couplings and in some cases bogies. Each carriage stripped of wheels effectively saves the £6.80 a new set of Gibson wheels would cost for another carriage. I don't need the hassle of trying to sell such stock.

Some years back, I was loaned a large collection of Western Region carriage working books from the 1950s and 1960s which were rescued from a skip at Swindon Works in the 1980s. They had lots of amendments to reflect changes during the timetable, which made them more useful. I was also given those covering the period from 1971 to 1985 (an almost complete set) that were rescued from the same skip. Scans of many of them are now available via my coaching stock group.

Reminds me of the collection I helped dispose of a couple of years ago. Not the same standard of model but hundreds of individual items. The family would probably have thrown it all in a skip. They received around £16,000 from the sales I achieved.