wainwright1

I ordered a grey no crest one yesterday and paid the first instalment. The website was mucking about quite a bit and it took around six attempts before I could get it to go through the whole ordering process, However, I have now received all the acknowledgements that the order has gone through properly. Ray

Bejabbers and Begorra. That blows my mind ! With regards to the ballast, have you looked at the Greenscene range. They do black ash ballast and similar which you can use per se or blend. All the best Ray

Hi Liam. Have you seen the latest issue (March) of Model Rail ? There is an article about using the Magnorail system. Might be of interest. All the best Ray

Thanks for that Ruff. Now we can see how it all goes together. It still looks a bit difficult to get at the back head to paint up the details, but the other fittings can be detailed. I don't think I will pull mine apart. Once you put a crew in there it will probably hide most of it anyway. All the best Ray

Branchlines do or did a etched kit for the six wheeled van with duckets at both ends. I have an unbuilt one. The duckets were cut down at one end for the weed killing train conversion. I am trying to think what else was in the train. looks like a motley collection of old tenders on the postcard. I am sure that there has been an article about it somewhere. Ray

Quite right Ruston, you have beaten me to it. I have just found my copy of The Locomotives Built by Manning Wardle and Co. Vol 2 Standard Gauge by Fred W. Harman. For some reason, there is no class G. Yes it is a Class F. Dispatched 12th May 1881. I think that is one that you have already been working on Tom, according to you website. Not sure how far you got with it. Would not mind a model of it with its interesting curved cab backplate. By the way, I am trying to find out if the Wainwright lining transfers that Dave Ellis formerly of South Eastern Finecast, commissioned are still available. What I also found, which might be of interest another book, Peckett and Sons Ltd. An Album of Official Photographs. Compiled by Andrew Smith. Mostly side views, plus some pictures of the works and some advertising material. Hope that is of interest. All the best Ray

Hi John. That's the one I have got, but can't find at the moment. If I remember correctly, it has a list of works numbers and identifies the classes of the locos and give a little bit of historical info. I cannot remember what pictures there were in it though. Volume 1 was narrow gauge and volume 3 was broad gauge. I could have got all three at a good price, but just got the standard gauge one. All the best Ray

Hi Tom. I have found one book, which is not necessarily the one I was looking for. 'Locomotives of Quality' A pictorial history of Manning Wardle and Co. By John E. Simpson. Not much to add. A repeat picture of 313 in Southern livery, but there is another more side on view of 353 in battleship grey with its tall stovepipe chimney. All the best Ray

I think that I have got a book on Manning Wardle standard gauge locos somewhere, but I will have to find it. Not sure if it will provide much more info than you already have. Glad to be of help. All the best Ray

Hi Tom. I have extracted the following details form my library which you may find of assistance. LOCO 313 In my copy of D L Bradley - The Locomotives of the South Eastern Railway. G class. Ordered 1881, works No. 767 £780. Cylinders 10in x 16in. Coupled wheels 2ft 10in. Wheelbase 4ft 9in. Boiler diameter 2ft 8in. Copper capped chimney. New cylinders fitted August 1893 and cab enclosed with side sheets and back plate at same time. New boiler August 1904 and chimney replaced December 1913. Repainted from Stirling black livery to SE & CR Brunswick green December 1899. Repainted battleship grey October 1916. Sent to Ashford for general repair May 1919, but not considered worthy of attention and laid aside. Transferred to Service Stock March 1925 and moved to erecting shop where cylinders smokebox and chimney were renewed. painted Southern lined black and saddle tank lettered Southern Railway (A) Engineer's Department. Used for piloting wagon works or shunting permanent way sidings at Canterbury West line until March 1927. Then transferred to the company's ballast quarry at Meldon. Before leaving, the wheels were re-tyred, the boiler re-tubed and the buffers replaced with large rectangular type to avoid buffer locking. Worked there until March 1938 when the firebox failed to pass inspection. Sent to Eastleigh Works for general repair. On arrival, the frames were found to be badly wasted and loco withdrawn to be replaced by ex LC & DR T class. There are two nice pictures of the engine, one in SER livery and one in full Wainwright livery. In Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives by J.H. Russell there are two pictures, both in the Southern Departmental livery. LOCO 353 In my copy of D L Bradley - The Locomotives of the South Eastern Railway. Q class. Ordered 6th March 1890. Works No. 1154. Cylinders 14in x 20 in. Coupled wheels 3ft 6in. Wheelbase 5ft 11in + 6ft 1in. Boiler diameter 3ft 6in. Tall chimney fitted with attractive copper cap. Painted SE & CR Brunswick green in November 1899. New cylinders fitted May 1901. An ungainly stovepipe chimney fitted April 1917 and painted battleship grey at the same time. Taken into Southern Railway stock in use piloting carriage and wagon works. Boiler condemned January 1928. Offered for sale, no bidders, so withdrawn December 1929. Officially re-numbered 236S in Southern Railway Service Stock in June 1925, but the number was never carried. There are two nice pictures of the engine. Not sure what the livery of the first is, probably some form of SER. The second is battleship grey. In Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives by J.H. Russell the first picture is also shown in a larger size. Might be useful. There is also a very basic outline drawing. LOCO 752. In my copy of D L Bradley - The Locomotives of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. K class. 12in x 17in cylinders and 3ft coupled wheels. Coupled wheels 3ft 2in, wheelbase 5ft 5in + 5ft 4in. Boiler diameter 2ft 10in. Built in 1879 for Joseph Firbank a contractor of East Grinstead, Sussex and named Grinstead. Sold 1899 to William Rigby of Duffield, and re-named Middleton. Painted dark blue with red and white lining. This contractor was engaged in various works at Folkestone Harbour. On completion of works, sold the engine to SE & CR in 1904 for £400. Repairs carried out at Ashford works and a large square cab fitted. Painted in full Wainwright livery. New Ashford boiler fitted in 1911 and new cylinders in 1913. Shortly after outbreak of WW1, transferred to Tonbridge, then on to Maidstone West. Hop picking season 1915 was shunting at Hawkhurst. 1916-17 stored at Tonbridge. General repair at Ashford June 1917, then returned to Folkestone and remained until the grouping. Ornamental chimney cap removed in June 1918. After grouping moved to Dover and nicknamed Thumper. Heavy repairs required again in 1925, so laid aside at Ashford until sold to George Cohen and Sons in 1926. After repairs, resold to Thames Deepwater Wharf Company Ltd and named Dolphin and painted dark green. Later passed to its successor, Northfleet Deepwater Wharf Ltd until mid 1943. Seen partially dismantled in July 1944 and gone for scrap March 1945. NB. Two sizes of wheel quoted. There is also a nice photo of the loco in full Wainwright livery. In Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives by J.H. Russell this is a picture of the loco in battleship grey and minus its chimney cap looking rather drab. I believe that the K class was one of the most numerous and that there are two preserved examples. Definitely need a model of this for my Hawkhurst layout in full Wainwright livery. All the best and look forward to seeing these being developed. Ray

That's very helpful. Many thanks Ray

Just thinking. Would there not be a partition between the Guards compartment and the luggage part of the coach ? This was the case on similar SER goods break vehicles, with either a door or open doorway between the two. Not sure if they had similar passenger vehicles. If that were the case, you would just need to add a piece of plasticard or similar painted to the appropriate interior colour and the battery holder could be hidden behind it. All the best Ray

I have seen some video of the Magnorail system which uses something similar to a plastic bicycle chain with magnets set into it at chosen points running in a dedicated channel below the road surface. Assuming the the magnets on the vehicles and in the chain are well matched, you can run quite a number of vehicles on it which will keep spaced and not catch each other up. The only issue I can think of is how flexible is the chain and can it go around in a circle or similar. I also thought that it appeared quite noisy. All the best Ray

I had a nice chat with Oliver Squire yesterday. My understanding is that all the assets and stock for the SEF kits have now passed to Squires and Dave Ellis will retain and continue with the Nucast Partners kits. I do not know if they have actually started to cast the kits again, but are probably just getting everything sorted and catalogued into their system. I was advised that Dave will continue to assist them with any problems until they get everything running normally on a day to day basis. With regard to the possibility of new kits being produced, I think that the principal problem is that there is a lack of people who can do the pattern making, which apparently has to be done in metal so that the moulds can be vulcanised. Branchlines would as suggested probably be the best point of contact for the Nucast kits. I hope that this helps to verify the situation. All the best Ray

Hi Liam. More good stuff. Can you advise me which kit that is, and do you have a picture from above showing the motor you have used and how it is mounted. What are the two things in the outer middle sections ? I would guess a reed switch for one of them, but the top one does not appear to have any wires. I assume that your battery will go in the middle ? Are the wheels the Little Bus Company ones that are a complete one pieces wheel and tyre ? Those are the ones that I might use just for the rear wheels, and are moulded in a hard rubber. I have fitted them to an earlier experiment and after some careful preparation, they run fairly true and do offer a degree of grip which could perhaps be enhanced with a coating of something. For the front wheels there are some options: I think that the wheels on Oxford and BT Models are plastic, not well moulded and too hard to get traction. Those on EFE buses are rubber and have potential. The problem is that they are force fitted onto the knurled end of their axles and it is difficult to get them off without damaging the holes in them. I have few new unused ones and have not been able to measure the inside diameter. It appears to be less than 2mm, but more than 1.5mm. It can also be difficult to get the tyres to seat properly on their hubs to prevent wobbling. I have not had a close look at the Corgi Original Omnibus ones yet. There are also the Faller wheels which can be purchased separately. These have an approximately 1mm hole which is a tight fit on the pins on their steering units. The problem with these is that they only produce one diameter and one style suitable for older type British buses. (There may be others that suit more modern ones and in different sizes). These do have rubber tyres, but again are too small in diameter for mainstream 1/76 traditional buses, but might be used if the clearances in say a mudguard on a half cab bus prevent the use on a scale size wheel, obviously juggling the height of the steering unit to achieve clearance. I mounted my 2mm back axles in brass reducing bushes or bearings available from Branchlines and they seem quite free rolling. I have not made my own guides for the steering unit yet, but have some small magnets similar to yours to play with. Will also experiment to see what length these need to be, although this will probably vary according to where the front wheels sit in relation to the front proper of the bus. i.e. on the Beadle coach the wheels are right at the front, whereas on the RF bus the wheels are behind the entrance. With regard to friction from the guide, I think that it will be a question of determining the weakest magnet that will actually keep the guide on the wire and therein keep the friction to a minimum. It will also reduce excess wear on the road suface. Speaking of road surface, I have been thinking about the options for that. Faller do a paint which provides a texture, though probably quite expensive. Some time ago I bought some Fablon type self adhesive sheet with a matt black finish which might work, but the guides will probably scrape through it quite quickly. I have also looked at some aerosol type texture paints, but these actually look too coarse. So I will continue to look for what else might be available. Lots more experimenting to do. All the best Ray

Might work. Need to experiment. All the best and stay warm. Ray

The wheel coating sounds about right. The only thing that I can think of off hand that would do that would be Bullfrog Snot an American product which is a liquid that you brush into the grooves to replace traction tyres on locomotives. The only problem with that is that they only seem to do it in bright green, hence the name. I would have though a black or grey version would have been more appropriate All the best Ray

I have used something like that to glue windows in some pub doors which are in the open position. The only issue might be how long it takes to dry, as my windscreen would be surface mounted and I would have to hold it in place while it set. A bit difficult if it takes 20 minutes ! Many thanks All the best Ray

Thanks for that info Phil. I would not have thought the plastic wheels from the kit would have gripped the road surface. It is normal to use wheels with a reasonably soft rubber texture to get grip. I have three of the recent Roden B Type* kits put by, much better detailed. These are also 1/72, but being a fairly small bus would not be too noticeable. I would have thought that there was not much room for the steering unit to fit though. * Distributed by Bachmann. Red London General, Old Bill Bus and WD Mobile Pigeon Loft

Posted just now Are the duckets also a separate moulding ? All the best Ray

Are the duckets also a separate moulding ? I wonder if there is any intention to provide alternative ends for more generic coaches ? All the best Ray

Liam. That is also very interesting. I had previously given considerable thought about building my own steering units using various brass materials and have gathered various items for the purpose. These included brass strip, U section and would you believe stanchions intended for model boats. I have not got around to putting one together yet and there would be a fair bit of precise soldering required. Ooh, and I just remembered that I was given some etches for the link bars which form the back part of the unit by Tony Asquith the former proprietor of Little Bus Company. He had been working with the late Tony Chlad of Walford Arches working trolleybus layout fame, to produce some steering units, but the idea was dropped after Tony died prematurely. Tony's trolleybuses picked up their power from the overhead wiring using sprung trolley booms and they worked very well. He also built a working B Type bus that ran on the layout. I would like to see how that was assembled. Not sure where he would have got suitable wheels from, presumably with pneumatic tyres not the solid ones that they were built with. Would also like to see how he fitted the mechanism and steering. Not much room inside a B Type. All the best Ray

Thanks Liam. Very interesting, Is that a home made steering unit What's the construction ? I have found epoxy very useful for certain jobs, but with a tendency to be rather sticky and to string, if you get my meaning. I thought that the odourless type superglue might be good, but not sure how quickly it goes off once you apply it. My working buses will use the Faller style road system with a wire or tape just below the surface to guide the vehicles, This may not use the Faller steering units as there are other wider tracking types which are better suited to British 1/76 scale models of older type buses with 7ft 6in and 8ft wide bodies. I am currently playing around with an Oxford Diecast Beadle coach which has a diecast chassis. This needs openings cut out for the steering unit, a AAA battery box and a motor/gearbox with final drive bevel gears to drive on the rear axle. The latter needs to be mounted on bushes or bearings and the axle will be 2mm. This will have a 3mm sheave over it to take the bevel gear which has a 3mm bore. The shaft on the motor/gearbox also has a 3mm shaft. The collars of the bevel gears are a bit long so will probably need reducing by 50% to get everything in the tight space. The other bus that I had played around with previously and still hope to motorise two of is the EFE RF single deck bus/coach. This has a plastic chassis, so is a little easier to cut and shape than the diecast one. In both cases it should be possible to hide most of the working parts inside the vehicle where they cannot be seen. I had some other ideas and have contacted a 3D printer to see if a chassis could be scanned and the details then modified to suit this purpose. Currently awaiting a reply. No thread at the moment, but I might set one up when I get a bit further into this. I hope that is of interest. All the best Ray

Hi Liam. That conversion on the Metropolitan looks like hard work. Are you going to thicken up the seats a bit, or leave them as they are ? My mods for the working buses are more fiddly, but retain most of the original fittings, trimmed where necessary for clearance. I would be interested to know how you fit your external glazing. I have been converting a Scenics lorry based on a coal merchants dray I have a photo of at Crystal Palace. The side windows no problem, but the windscreen ? I have looked at Chocolate Orange packing which is about the right shape, but it needs a thin frame. What adhesive do you use and how do you apply it to avoid it showing on the glazing ? All the best Ray

Are the sides moulded in clear plastic. The ends on the brake coaches appear to be, which has caused a problem with light leakage as the paint appears to be quite thin. I am currently awaiting some LBS&CR coaches with lights, so have not been able to check this for myself yet. Ray