robertcwp

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I have a growing stock of 'withdrawn' carriages, including some old Southern Pride kit-built printed side Mark 1s and various old Thompson and other obsolete stock.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 As I don't have old wheels to put in the withdrawn stock, I decided to effectively scrap some of the old stock by recovering re-usable things such as wheels, couplings and in some cases bogies.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.

I cannot now recall from where but a while back I heard that there had been avid collectors of HD who competed against each other and bid up the prices. Several of them passed away and others ceased buying so demand fell and the market was flooded with relatives of the deceased selling off collections. Hence, prices crashed.

A pair of quad-arts from Ellis Clark Trains will lighten the wallet a bit more!

And now it runs with a Bachmann Mark 1 on each end! It compares well.

Sandra banished that carriage from the layout a long time ago. All the old Kitmaster Mark 1s have gone too along with all except one of the old conversions of Tri-ang carriages to Thompson stock. The remaining one is scheduled for withdrawal soon. Roy did have four of the newer Hornby Gresley carriages on Retford - a full brake, a corridor second (with new underframe) and a couple of brake composites. They were there when Sandra acquired the layout. A few more Hornby Gresleys have gone on since, mainly as a quick way to plug gaps in the stock on the GC, which was very short of carriages. They can in time be replaced by better carriages if anyone is keen enough to provide some. The hybrid SK has already gone as it was in maroon with the awfully prominent lining that Hornby applied.

I don't think you failed at all in that quest. I thought the model had etched sides until I picked it up to clean the wheels and put roofboards on it. I see that Mousa Models list etched sides for an end-door CK.

This is the Gresley carriage on Retford that is built from a Kirk kit, with much modification, which I referred to recently. IMG_0390am by Robert Carroll, on Flickr Also, as a bonus, here is a short video clip of The Elizabethan. https://youtu.be/WYFwwE4ZfKI

I buy lots of things on eBay. The odd item here or there turns out not to be a great buy but most are fine. As others note, the key is not to be drawn into bidding wars. Good recent purchases include new, unused crimson and cream Bachmann Thompson carriages (the latest models) for £25 on a buy it now and assorted reasonably priced wagons.

Retford is an interesting case study of different ways of doing motive power, ranging from kits old and new (some must date back 40 or more years to Gainsborough Central days and others have been or are in the process of being built by Sandra and Tony so are new to the layout since Sandra acquired it) RTR bodies modified with new frames, mechanism, wheels, etc, including several A4s and B1s, conversions such as 60113 and 60700 and re-gauged RTR still with their original mechanisms, motion and driving wheels, such as two (or more) of the A4s, a WD and a Britannia amongst others. Both the Hornby A4s have been tested on the Elizabethan set, which is 11 carriages of which 10 are metal kits, and they shifted it without difficulty. A quiz for any new visitors might be to identify the origin of each engine. Some of the carriages will catch people out too - spot which Thompson stock is Bachmann and which ones are kits, for example. I didn't realise one of the Gresley carriages (an end-door composite) was a Kirk kit until I picked it up to service it. I thought it had brass sides, like most other Gresley stock on the layout. The wagons are a diverse bunch too, with lots of RTR amongst the kits of various makes. Sometimes, it's not easy to tell which is which.

Several are on eBay. Here is one.

I have a 46120 in store as a spare, bought second hand as I thought it was free of the pest. I shall check to see if it is showing signs of problems. I have written off two other Royal Scots and a Patriot already but my other two Scots and a Patriot seem fine. They are 46146, 46165 and 45535. I also have a 45531 which has been rebuilt but it's probably only a matter of time before it fails completely.

These and other comparison shots show how good some RTR models are. Whilst assisting Sandra with Retford, I have occasionally been surprised to find a loco I thought was probably kit-built was in fact RTR, including an A2, A1, Britannia and O4, amongst others.

The discussion about how to do an O4/8 is interesting. It would be good if Bachmann were to do one but I think it unlikely. Might there be a market for some kind of conversion kit to use with a Bachmann/Replica B1 body? Retford could do with another O4/8 or two.

I have just finished going through this and thought it was very good.

I know, I have used lots of Hunt ones on the Mark 1 stock on Retford.

The Hornby buck-eye magnetic couplings are too short for Bachmann Mark 1s. I tested a long Hornby pipe coupling on one that was coupled to coach with the NEM box at the correct height and it worked on my layout. As well as being at the wrong height, the NEM boxes on Bachmann Mark 1s are a long way back and the shorter version of the Hornby pipe couplings and the buck-eye version are both too short.

I recall this now. Something went wrong between the UK and the factory.

Following up on the 73050 point, here is an image of the engine in preservation: 73050 by Duncan Harris, on Flickr Note the absence of a handrail at the back of the cab and the presence of one on the front of the tender. This indicates the later cab/tender arrangement, with 73050 being the first to have this. The Bachmann model depicts the earlier arrangement where there was a full height handrail at the back of the cab and no full fall-plate.

Did the cab and tender change in preservation?

Does the Bachmann 73050 have the wrong engine cab/tender? It looks like the early arrangement which went only as far as 73049 if I recall correctly. 73050-64 had the later style with a proper fall plate and 1G/H tenders. The real 73069 was unlucky not to make it into preservation as it survived until August 1968.

Heljan seem to think a 3-car 104 is viable so there is hope.

In my view, Cross-Country DMUs are one of the biggest gaps in RTR in 4mm scale post-steam.