wainwright1

I presume that RailWells did not happen this year either ? Ray

I was wondering if anyone knows whether the old Blacksmith etched coach/loco kits had been rescued from Coopercraft , like the Slaters plastic wagon/coach kits ? These included the old Mallard coach kits. Thanks Ray

So was that the problem, rather than the footplate being distorted ? Ray

The looks odd. Is the footplate deformed or is there something wrong with the chassis. The axles look like they are not level with each other, is the quartering on the first axle out, emphasised by the coupling rod ? I don't know how much lateral free play there is. Possibly the body is not fixed onto the chassis properly or the chassis is twisted. Difficult to tell. Does it run o.k. ? Nobody responded to my enquiry as to whether the problems with the Rails Terriers were mostly with one batch (livery) or if they were across the board. It would be useful to know. All the best Ray

One of them is in the post 1936 livery, so not from the previous batch. Lets hope for the best. Ray

Bearing in mind that this is a ballast wagon, some careful weathering would be able to add a little red to the livery before a ballast dust finish.

Looking at the posting on Hattons site, the new LSWR and SR ones appear to the wrong colour again, although not necessarily the same colour on both models. Neither appear to be a chocolatey colour though. Awaiting confirmation. Ray

Exclusive First Editions, a trading name for the former Gilbow company who made many die cast bus and lorry models. Ray

I was correcting my own mistake. Ray

Correction - Dapol did Warrington in Army green. Had a quick trawl, through the internet, though not 100% conclusive. Hornby did around three versions in LMR livery and DJ Models did one. I think 196 might have been done by both, but this new one appears to be 195, so offers another version. DJM also did Royal Engineer in Army Green and Waggoner is the other army one preserved on the Isle of Wight. All the best Ray

Quite agree. I have five four car sets and three two car sets of the original EFE tube stock: 1938, 1959 & 1962 stock varieties. Motorising chassis would be most useful and economical. I cannot see a large number of people rushing out to pay £350 for a new four car set particularly with those heavy moulded handrails still in place. The re-issue of the J94/Austerity is interesting. Dapol produced Waggoner as one of its original J94s, however it was a different version with the lip-less chimney for the underfeed stoker and also had a different style of nameplate. Will have to check if the LMR version has been done before. I think that the price for these is reasonable, especially with the motor/gear upgrade. All the best Ray

Hi will. You can get nice white metal point levers form Dart Castings. I think that if you look through their etched brass range, they also do brass ones as well. All the best Ray P.S. Picked up my Carisbrooke yesterday as well.

Hi Ian. Interestingly, my father worked at Deptford Power Station as a turbine operator. My uncle Charlie also worked there. He worked in an outside area called 'The Stowage' where they unloaded the coal for the station. Deptford Power Station is long gone, but I am not sure what has been built on the site. Must have a walk around there. All the best Ray

Hi Ian. Looks very good, bringing back the flavour of South East London. I remember Fanto's in Deptford High Street well. Unfortunately, the High Street is a poor shadow of its former self, and Deptford Station has been mucked about with leaving little of the original. I also know the remains of Spa Road Station very well and was involved when they were being renovated and modernised for industrial purposes. All the best Ray

Hi Bill. I have seven of the new Hornby Terriers and they are all good runners. All the best Ray

I am contemplating purchasing one of these. Could you advise precisely what the query is. Are the colours wrong, or is it the application ? Many thanks Ray

Were there Somerset and Dorset and Midland and Great Northern variations of these locos as well ? i.e. Different height chimneys and domes. tablet catchers for example ? All the best Ray

By the way, the layout looks very good. Ray

Tony. 'You fool Kato.' Stop all this monster nonsense and get back to Brixton Hill. All the best Ray

Hi All. I ventured up to the Ian Allan Book Shop this morning. New on their shelves (from last week) was Robert J. Harley;s latest issue: 'Wires Above South East London' by Heathfield Publishing. An interesting potpourri of all things tram and trolleybus in that corner of London. Lots of useful photos and drawings including some rare unseen things like a proposed 6 wheeled horse tram ! I note that Colin has several mentions in the credits especially for his memories of the M Class cars. I particularly liked the picture of Bexleyheath Trolleybus Depot soon after opening, uniquely the only purpose built Trolley Bus depot I think ? All the best Ray

Don't forget that the IWCR brake van was re-built with a veranda at the other end and ran in the weed killing train. I have acquired some of the Slaters brake kits as sold off to the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway, Longmoor Military Railway, Isle of Wight Central Railway and others. The two tank wagons used in the weed killing train were oddities, especially the one with the strange shaped tank. I have an old Smallbrook road van which I never got around to building. It has stretched the top and bottom of its ends outwards length ways. Maybe its got growing pains. I have not studied all the coaching stock and possible permutations and modifications, but Mike King has covered a lot of them with his drawings. With all these I o W terriers coming out and the E1s hopefully next year, I will have to consider a small I o W layout. All the best Ray

I would be interested to know how good the mouldings for the wagon kit are. I have been tempted by the Smallbrook Stoudley 4 wheel coaches in the past, but having seen them in the flesh, albeit quite a while ago, there seemed to be quite a bit of distortion in places especially with the top of the bodies and the roofs. Maybe he has been able to improve on the earlier production. I can vouch for the Cambrian kits, although I have not built the LBSCR open yet. I have built some of the Maunsell/Lynes wagons including the Dance Hall brake van and they are well detailed and go together nicely. The ones you could definitely use would be their LBSCR open, the Southern 8 plank open and the 15 ton 'Light' Pillbox brake van. I can't get to my book of Southern wagons Vol.3 at the moment, but I don't think they had any Southern 5 plank opens on the island. There is also the Parkside kit or Bachmann utility van with a quick renumber. I do not think that there is a kit for the LBSCR box van available at the moment. Nu-Cast used to do one, but that was quite a while ago and they do not seem to turn up at exhibitions. 5 and 9 Models do an earlier one, (not sure if it is the same body length). which could possibly be converted with upgraded brake gear and the door bangs fitted. Of course there is the ex LSWR road van. Once again Smallbrook do a kit, but Kernow's have a ready to run model coming fairly soon I believe with a fair selection in I o W liveries. Have you tried doing the conversion of the Ratio Midland Railway suburban all third coach. The sides are almost a dead ringer for a Brighton coach, but needs a straight end to replace the tumble homed one, plus LBSCR bogies. I have seen these used on quite a few I o W layouts. The only problem is that the other coaches in the range do not have enough plain panelled area to cut and shut for other types of LBSCR coach. You could of course scratch-build these bits yourself. Mike King's drawings of these coaches are most helpful. I hope that this is of interest. All the best Ray

Hi LBSC. Caution with the point rodding. We are/were putting this on Crystal Palace High Level at the moment. The Wills stuff is a bit chunky and the cranks take up space it also sits rather high, although we have not put cork under our track. I believe that the purpose of using cork was to deaden sound. However, if you are ballasting with granite chippings once you have glued this down the glue solidifies the cork and you are back to square one. In the end we have used the white metal rodding stools and etched cranks from MSE and piano wire which is strong and will not bend easily. Cut it with Xuron hard wire cutters or it will ruin your side cutters. I can see with your layout you want the cork to add a bit more body to it as well as keeping the noise down. By the way, what is the resin wagon on display ? All the best Ray

That's RC447 Southern Mineral Wagon. Ray

Hi Matt. Is the Southern Railway long wheelbase coal wagon in your range the same tooling as that Colin had, originally tooled by Ian Kirk ? All the best and looking forward to some more Southern kits. Ray